Nose to Tail

You will have heard us go on (and on) about not wasting food, about our rejection of the throw away society, our ethos of buy well, buy once.  It is an undercurrent that runs through our daily lives, sometimes a studied and analytical approach to a particular issue, but mostly just the humdrum everyday acts of composting the tea leaves, putting the bean tin in the recycling box and only running the washing machine with a full load.

Any of you have bought something from us will know that we extend this to our packaging; we do not use polystyrene foam and plastic bags. You can re-use or recycle the paper and card in which your Netherton purchase arrives.  We are told that the slow cooker boxes make excellent cats' toys.

When Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall  launched his War on Waste campaign, we signed up straightaway, his words an echo of our own mantra, his voice so much louder than ours.

Naturally, we try and minimise food waste and any leftovers here at Netherton towers get added to next day's menu in some guise or another.  The kids grew up on bot-bot soup; a Bit Of This-Bit Of That, any uneaten veg, pulses etc, whizzed up with some additional stock and frequently garnished with the grated rind of an old piece of Parmesan.
As a child, I grew up eating every bit of the animals slaughtered for our culinary pleasure.  Amongst the liver and onions and steak and kidney pies, we would savour brawn and pork pies made from long boiled pig's head (to be honest the reek of boiled pig's head resides in the darker, murkier recesses of my childhood memories, even though the end result was delicious), marrow bone on toast, boiled and pressed ox tongue and hearts, both lamb and ox.
In the late seventies, I discovered the delights of lambs' tongues and chicken livers, a taste of luxury and exoticism, attainable on a student grant.

In more recent times, these cheaper, less "sexy" cuts of meat have become harder to come by. With the rise of British gastronomy, the homely and earthy gave way to a different approach, mostly ludicrously epitomised at the height of the nouvelle cuisine wave, whose jus spattered breakers broke across the large white plates of the London cognoscenti.  In an era of excesses, nouvelle cuisine came to symbolise the absurdity of it all.  Five peas and a smear of purée being the Emperor's new clothes made from vegetable matter.

The financial crash, which reverberates to this day, put paid to that particular fad.  Simultaneously, there was a growing awareness of our impact on the planet and a new perspective on all aspects of our lives.

From within this new wave of thinking emerged Fergus Henderson, one of the leading proponents of Nose to Tail eating.  

He showed us what our parents and grandparents had known all along, summed up in his own words:  It would be disingenuous to the animal not to make the most of the whole beast; there is a set of delights, textural and flavoursome, which lie beyond the fillet.

To be honest, it's not always easy to get hold of some offal, you certainly won't find it on the smaller supermarket shelves and not all butchers will stock it either.  We come round to the Catch22 position of their not stocking it because there is "no demand" and customers not asking for it because they know they won't have it.
No doubt a lot of the offal by products from the abattoirs go to the animal food processing plants and I have it on good authority that hearts are used to make cheap mince "redder".  Equally I suspect that a lot of these organs are simply  thrown away.

Which brings us to this recipe; stuffed lambs' hearts, gently braised in the slow cooker to bring out their rich flavour and to reduce them to tenderness.
If you can get hold of them, these hearts are amazingly good value at about 50p each and cooking them in the slow cooker is both time and energy efficient, so you can feel justifiably smug when you serve these.

4 lambs hearts

1 leek

100g breadcrumbs

4 sundried tomatoes, chopped

1 sprig rosemary, finely chopped

1 beaten egg

1 tablespoon oil, we use Bennett and Dunn rapeseed oil

250ml stock

2 tsp redcurrant jelly

Salt and pepper

Trim any excess fat from the heart and any residual sinews.

Finely chop the white part of the leek and put into a mixing bowl with the breadcrumbs, rosemary, and tomatoes. Stir well and bind together with the beaten egg.

Stuff this mixture equally into the cavities of the hearts; don't worry if you have some left over. Secure the tops of the heart parcels with cocktail sticks.

Slice the green part of the leek and set aside.

Place the slow cooker casserole on the hob and add the oil.  Warm over a medium heat and then add the hearts.  Brown on all sides.

Transfer the casserole to the slow cooker heater base and add the stock, jelly, green leek and any remaining stuffing mix.  Pour in the stock and season.  You may want to add only the pepper at this stage and check for saltiness when it's cooked, this will depend to a large extent on your stock.

Put on the lid and cook on the HIGH setting for 5 - 6 hours or on LOW for 8 hours.

Serve with mashed potato or sloppy polenta and a leafy green vegetable, such as Savoy cabbage, spinach or cavolo nero

Netherton Foundry Shropshire  © 2017

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Chilli

You may have seen our "guest photos" on Facebook and Twitter @NethertonNews.  We have certainly met some talented folk out there since we started selling our cookware and what is so wonderful is that they are prepared to share their talents with us.


This recipe is from the lovely Dan or @reddan956, as he is known on Twitter. You can see from this posting why we love him so much.............. flattery will earn you oodles of affection every time.

Reddan ‏@reddan956  Mar 30

@NethertonNews a variation on the #MexicanChilli #recipe but the best slow cooker on the planet no question!

Apparently the following recipe is from a a book called 100 Mexican Dishes that he bought when hanging out at Art College in the '80s.  Try it and tell us what you think.

Sausage casserole

This is an incredibly easy and tasty dish for chilly winter days, serious comfort food.

I came up with this when I was about to sit down with Sam Gray's delightful book "Doing it in Wellies", as I knew that once I started, I wouldn't be able to put it down.

In fact the combination of the book and the slow cooker struck us as such a good idea, it is listed as one of the inspiring combinations in the Shropshire Creatives section of our website.

8 sausages, browned in a frying pan or the slow cooker bowl
2 onions, sliced and browned
4 carrots, chopped
1 butternut squash, peeled , de-seeded and chopped in chinks
2 tomatoes choped
1 red pepper, de-seeded and chopped
400g chopped tinned tomatoes
250ml stock
Thyme and marjoram

Buy the very best sausages you can - it really does make a difference and this is just as true of veggie sausages as it of pork sausages.

Place the slow cooker bowl on a medium heat and add a little oil.
Brown the sausages - they do not need to be cooked through, this is just to make the finished dish look even more appetising.

Add all the other ingredients - I picked some fresh thyme and marjoram from the garden, but dried herbs will work as well, just don't overdo it!!

                                                  

Place on the heater base and cook on LOW for 4 hours or 8 hours on Keep Warm.  Serve with buttery mashed potatoes.

Can be adapted as a vegetarian dish using veggie sausages.

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Bootstrap Black Oi'd Peas

This was cooked up on Hallowe'en in readiness for a day at Bootstrap Artisans in Wolverhampton. Update: sadly this shop is no longer open

We have known Ange, one of the leading lights and creative thinkers behind Bootstrap, since she ran a craft shop at Apley Farm, just up the road from us and she has been a great and generous supporter of what we are doing.
So, as small recompense, we agreed to do our bit to help them by spending a day at their new premises, demonstrating our wares.  Since they sell a wide selection of products from our range, it seemed only right that we should create them their very own recipe to share with friends, collaborators and shoppers.

We also wanted to show off the fabulous collection created for us by Rachel Frost, one of the Shropshire Creatives

As Wolverhampton is home to a wide diversity of cultures, I wanted something that everyone could try, which is one of the reasons for creating a vegetarian dish.  another reason was to demonstrate that there is far more to slow cooking than a traditional stew - delicious though those can be.

As it turned out this was a hugely successful dish - there was certainly none left!!

The principal ingredient of this dish is black eyed peas, but the "oi, oi, oi" reaction of one of our tasters led to the renaming of the dish as Bootstrap's Black Oi'd Peas - which rescues us from any embarrassing comparisons with Will.i.am and Fergie :-)
I made huge quantities for the shop- but have scaled down the recipe to serve 6 people.

4 onions, quartered
3 tsp cumin,
12 cloves,
1 dried chilli,
10 black peppercorns,
2 tblsp desiccated coconut
300g sweet potato, pumpkin or butternut squash
2 tins black eyed peas
1 tin chopped tomatoes,
250 ml water,
1 cinnamon stick
2 chopped red peppers

Toast the coconut over a medium heat until golden brown and set aside to cool - the crepe pan is perfect for this
Dry fry the cumin, cloves, chilli and peppercorns - one of our 8" frying pans is ideal - until the chilli darkens and you can smell the aroma from the spices.
Remove from the heat and allow to cool.
Grind to a powder

Heat 2 tblsp of oil in a cast iron casserole bowl and add the quartered onions.

Fry until soft and translucent.

Add the spice mix, stir thoroughly and cook for 2 minutes.








Add the sweet potato and stir again.
Add all the other ingredients, EXCEPT the red peppers and mix well. Cover with the cast iron lid.

Transfer to heater base and cook on LOW for 4 hours.



Add the red peppers , turn up to HIGH and cook for another 40 mins.
Season to taste.
Vegetarian/vegan/gluten free

These were served up with sweetcorn pancakes, cooked in a crepe pan on the Kitchen Companion heater base.

8oz self raising flour
4 eggs
Approx ½ pt milk
Salt and pepper
1tsp paprika
1 tin sweetcorn.

Place the flour, eggs and half the milk in a bowl with the seasoning.
Mix well.  keep adding milk and whisking until you have a thick batter.

Heat the crepe pan slowly on the Kitchen Companion or on the hob and add a knob of butter.
Drop dessertspoons of batter in to the hot pan.
When the bubble rise to the surface, turn the pancakes over and cook on the other side until golden brown.

Also delicious with grilled bacon and tomatoes.

Vegetarian

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Keeping the pulses racing

We wish you all a wonderful Diwali

We wish you all a Happy Diwali

You all know how much I appreciate someone else writing this blog for me and this one is no exception.

This wonderfully detailed explanation of how to create delicious and authentic Indian dishes was sent to us following a long conversation with one of our customers.

Jas is a doctor and is learning to cook with the help of her relatives.
Her Sikh background means that she fully appreciates the benefits of cooking in iron pots and she shares our opinion that meals cooked in our cookware are superior to those cooked in other vessels.
She has a great collection of our cookware, including a cast iron casserole a couple of frying pans and a saucepan.

I adore pulses, so this is an absolute gift for me - a great blog and lots of new ideas to experiment with. As always though, we'd really like to hear what YOU think.

Over to Jas.................

The first batch of recipes are all 'one pot curries', using the following beans, pulses or lentils.  I have grouped each combination into groups A-F.  If I know the alternative name for the dal, I have added it.  Each group of dals is prepared in the same basic manner, and then is embellished individually at the end, so please follow the basic stem recipe and then refer to each recipe ending separately.  I will use the term 'dal' to refer to the dried beans of whichever recipe you are following in the dry and 'pot' stage.  Each dal has been tried and tested in the iron cookware.

I personally prefer to use either Natco or East End brands (good quality yet cheap to buy in large quantities).  


Group A: yellow split lentils and red split lentils ( masar dal)
Group B: red kidney beans 
Group C: black eyed beans
Group D: split chick peas (chana dal)
Group E: whole chick peas- many varieties, all prepared in the same way (sholay)
Group F: whole brown mung beans, chana dal, black urid beans, whole green mung beans.


Preparation

Group A dals do not need to be soaked prior to cooking so are ideal for when you need a quick emergency meal for a lot of people. 
For groups B-F:

To make the maximum amount of your end product dal, with a 4 litre pot, you will need 600ml of dry weight dal. I usually make a brimful pot of dal and we eat it until all gone and then make another!

Measure out 600ml of dry dal if using a single dal recipe, or measure out equal parts of dal to make up roughly that amount if attempting a combination dal recipe.

Transfer into a clean bowl and cover with plenty of cold water and leave to soak for at least 10 hours.  Please make sure to soak in plenty of water as the dry dal will absorb a lot.  This will reduce the cooking time and ensure lovely soft, creamy dal.  If the weather is hot, I leave the covered dal in the fridge whilst soaking to prevent it fermenting.  

The soaking stage is particularly important to soften the red kidney beans, which are potentially the most toxic type of bean, unless prepared and cooked properly.

And here is my interpretation of chana dal, following Jas's guidelines

Cooking stage

Cleaning
Boil the kettle using fresh water.
Rinse the dal very thoroughly until the water runs completely clear.
Transfer to pot.
Add hot water until dal completely covered and then half a pint more.
Prepare the kettle again.


Boiling stage
Bring the heat up gradually until you reach a fast boil.
Keep at this heat for 10-15 min for all dals, except the red kidney beans which need at least 30 min ( these are toxic unless cooked in this way)
You will notice some froth rising to the surface, this should be gently skimmed off and discarded. Using a wooden spoon, mix regularly to prevent any sticking ( using these pots, so far, I have not had food stick to the bottom of the pan)

Simmering stage
Once the boiling stage is over, cover the pot and leave to simmer for at least one hour, stirring regularly and adding more hot water if your dal is becoming dry. 

The longer you simmer for, the softer and creamier your dal will be.

Thurka stage
Thurka is what gives your dal flavour and this is how I make it using the same dal pot.  As taste is very individual, vary the amounts according to your own preferences.

Add as much butter as you feel like!

Add one large chopped onion, chopped garlic, chopped green finger chillies and a small amount of ginger.  Squeeze a small amount of concentrated tomato paste into the pot.

Add one small 'spice spoon' worth of salt.
Add the double the amount of dry garam masala 
( I use East End whole mixed spice and grind it in small batches to keep it as fresh as possible)
Add one spice spoon of ground turmeric
Add half the amount of powdered red chilli 

Stir thoroughly and continue to simmer for at least one hour for all groups of dal, except group A, which will only need 20 minutes.

This stage is complete when the onions are meltingly soft, and the dal is completely soft.

You are almost done! Taste and add spice accordingly, but ensure you continue to cook to release the flavour, rather than just add salt and spice to correct the flavour at the very end to avoid that 'uncooked' taste.

Finishing off
Red kidney bean dal goes extremely well with potatoes, and Black eyed beans go well with potatoes and mushrooms, these can be washed, cleaned, chopped and added at the end. Continue to simmer until the potatoes are soft.  Cooking times vary really, I just usually keep cooking until everything is soft.

All dals can be finished with fresh, chopped coriander and freshly squeezed lemon to serve.

Cumin toasted lightly in butter in a frying pan is perfect for masar dal.


This is pretty much what I do on a daily basis using your amazing pots and my family are all pretty happy.  I hope that my suggestions for recipes are of some small use to you.   
Jas

The Lichfield Oink

We were very privileged to be asked to attend the Lichfield Food Festival by the lovely crew at the Kitchen Shop, Lichfield and in honour of the occasion, decided to create some special recipes, just for them, to demonstrate the range and versatility of our wares.
After a rather dubious conversation, which propriety prevents me from including here, the combination of Staffordshire pork products that formed the heart of the dish resulted in the delightful name of the Lichfield oink being coined for the main dish.

If you are in the beautiful city of Lichfield, please go and visit their gorgeous shop, I can't guarantee they'll have any Oink to taste - Joe will have eaten it all - but they may have Netherton Foundry products and a wide range of kitchen goodies to offer.

We were also delighted that Tamara from Street Food Sat Down came along to help out - I couldn't have managed without her.  It has to be admitted that Tam is just a little bit obsessed by good kitchen ware, so her high opinion of our pans is much appreciated by all of us here at the Workshops.

                                          

I was also rather embarrassed when she described the food we served up as the "most appreciated recipe she had ever seen" - only wish we could have captured the expressions on the faces of the numerous tasters - some of the staff at the George Hotel, where we were based seemed to alter their route in order to pass by our table more times than was strictly necessary.

We had the Town Crier ringing his bell and declaring the Lichfield Oink a joy to be savoured, and I seem to have ended up being unofficially "married" to the lovely Natalie from I.O. Shen Knives, based on feeding her nibbles of the Oink throughout the day. 

 So here we go - the recipes, with quantities scaled down for a meal at home, rather than the "feeding of the (almost) five thousand at the Food Festival

Lichfield Oink

500g minced pork
200g good quality pork sausagemeat - the best you can lay hands on
I used pork and leek sausages and "extruded" the meat from the sausage skins
100g bread, soaked in water - this is a great way to use up stale bread*
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 tsp ground cinnamon
Ground black pepper
4 rashers bacon, optional
2 tblsp oil
200ml sherry
500ml chicken or vegetable stock

*be warned, soaking white sliced in water will simply give you wallpaper paste 

Drain the bread and squeeze out as much water as possible.
Place in a large mixing bowl.
Add the pork, sausagemeat, fennel, cinnamon and pepper.
You shouldn't need any additional salt, as there is generally enough in the sausagemeat.
Mix together thoroughly - the easiest way is to use your hands!!

Place the cast iron slow cooker bowl on the hob and add the oil.
Heat until hot.  
Meanwhile, lay out the bacon on a board and using the back of a spoon stretch it as thinly as possible.
Lay the rashers side by side, with each one just overlapping its neighbour.
Place the meatloaf mix on top and roll the bacon round to form a parcel.
You can omit the bacon and simply form the mixture into a loaf if preferred.  If you have made the sauce in advance, you can spread a little on the bacon before rolling.

Place the loaf into the hot oil and cook for 4 minutes.
Turn the loaf over and cook for a further 4 minutes to create a brown crust.

Pour in the sherry and the stock and cover with a lid.

Place the bowl onto the heater base and cook on LOW for 6-8 hours.

This can be served as we did at Lichfield - described below - or with mashed potato, the residual gravy and kale; left go cold and sliced with salad and pickles, pickled red cabbage would be wonderful; stuffed into pitta breads................ 

We created a devilshy delicious damson sauce and served the Oink and sauce on pan fried flatbreads, both as mini morsels and pizza style.

                                     

Damson sauce

200g damsons
1cm ginger, peeled and grated
1 clove garlic, peeled and crushed
1 tblsp soy sauce
1 tblsp soft brown sugar.

Place the damsons in a pan and add just enough water to cover the base of the pan.
Cover and cook on a gentle heat until soft.
Balance a sieve over a bowl and pour the damsons into it.
Push the fruit flesh through the sieve using a wooden spoon.

Add the rest of the ingredients to the fruit puree and return the mix to the pan.
Heat through gently to dissolve the sugar.
Leave to cool.


Flatbreads

Most bread recipes need to be precise to give good and consistent results, but this is particularly forgiving.

450g unbleached white bread flour
15g fresh yeast (or dried yeast as per the instructions on the pack - I have used 1 dessertspoon fast acting yeast with good results)
1 heaped tsp salt
250ml water
2 tblsp natural yogurt
Olive oil

Pour 100ml of the water into a bowl and add the yeast.
Leave for 15 minutes.
Add all the other ingredients, except the olive oil and bring together, either by hand, with a wooden spoon or in your food mixer/processor.
Add enough olive oil to make a soft, but not over wet dough and knead well.
Cover with cling film, a damp tea towel or the lid of your processor and leave to rise for at least 2 hours - I left mine overnight.

At the festival we cooked these in a crepe pan on a Kitchen Companion base, demonstrating the versatility of this lovely piece of kit.  Tam has now added this to her wish list, not just for herself, but also for Street Food Sat Down - a perfect piece of equipment for a catering company.

    

Place the pan on the base and turn the heat to MAX.
Take a piece of dough, roughly the size of the  palm of your hand - I have small hands!
Either roll it out on a floured board or oil your hands and work the dough into a round, pizza making style.

Add a very small amount of oil to the pan - just enough to coat the surface and add the bread round.
Cook for approx 2 minutes - do not be tempted to turn it, poke it, prod it....
When you see the bubbles rising, check the edge of the bread and if the underside is cooked, flip it over and cook the other side.

We served some of the breads whole - to Natalie - and some we cut into small canape sized portions.
These were topped with a piece of the Lichfield Oink, a drizzle of damson sauce and sliced spring onions.

Inspired by our friend Chris Burt , Tam also created these little fried dumplings by wrapping some Oink and sauce in the dough and gently frying them. 

Hope you enjoy these! 

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Asparagus and paneer curry

Yet another seasonal favourite - English asparagus.  This is one of my absolute favourite vegetables and I just can't get enough of it during its short season.

There are so many ways to enjoy this from simple melted butter, Hollandaise sauce, dipping it into a poached or boiled egg, soup, quiche, steamed, griddled, barbecued, but I have been experimenting and after having pasta sauces and risottos with asparagus, I decided to have a go at adding it to a curry.

I can hear some of you screaming in protest - but I have to say that it was a delicious combination of flavours and because I added the asparagus right at the end, none of its magic was lost, simply enhanced.

1 tsp mustard seeds
1 onion sliced
2 tblsp coriander seed
1 tblp cuminseeds
10 cloves, 
 2 tsp fenugreek seeds
1 dried chill
1 tsp dill seed
1 onion, chopped
1" root ginger, peeled and chopped
3 cloves garlic, peeled
600 ml water
2 tsp turmeric
2 tsp amchoor (mango powder)
4 chopped fresh tomatoes
 2 tsp salt
 1 tsp sugar
2 tblsp double cream
1 bundle asparagus
1 block paneer, cubed

In a frying pan, dry fry the coriander, cumin, cloves, fenugreek, chilli and dill seed until lightly toasted.
Allow to cool and grind to a powder.

Combine the chopped onion, ginger and garlic with 100ml of water in a blender and process to a paste.

In a large pan  or casserole dish heat the oil and add the sliced onion and mustard seeds.

When the mustard seeds start to pop add the spice powder mix, turmeric and amchoor.
Fry for 2 minutes, stir from time to time.

Add the onion paste and cook for a further five minutes.
Add the chopped paneer and stir well to coat.  Then add 500ml water and simmer for 40 minutes.

Stir in the chopped tomatoes, salt, sugar and cream and cook for 5 minutes.
Add the asparagus and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Serve with boiled rice. 

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Autumn treats

WARM DISHES FOR COOLER DAYS

The leaves are turning colour - those still left on the trees after the recent winds - and the temperature is definitely falling with them, so here are some lovely warming recipes for Autumn.
I made these indoors, I have to admit, but we have recently sold a lot of our Outdoor Hobs, which will no doubt be used on Bonfire Night and on those lovely cold and crisp days which really bring the joys of Autumn to mind. 
One bowl of charcoal will barbecue for up to 4 hours, but if you pop the pot on, you can cook for up to 7 hours - believe me, I experimented in the Springtime ( remember the snowy April we had?).  The seasons really do seem topsy turvy these days.  

 

We should all be doing whatever we can to minimise the impact of climate change and in our own way, we are trying to make a difference with our cookware range - we don't use anything other than iron, wood and flax oil for the pans, we make sure that you can restore the surface and replace most of the parts, but most of all these are built to last - they are durable and get better with use and age.  Sustainable materials, low component miles and a complete contrast to the concept of "disposable" product, with built in obsolescence

Anyway, enough of the philosophy - on with the cooking..............

Baked beans

500g haricot or cannellini beans, soaked and cooked
1 tblsp oil
1 tblsp black treacle
2 tsp grain mustard
4 cloves garlic
1 tblsp brown sugar
½ tsp cayenne pepper (or more to taste)
2 tins chopped tomatoes
250 ml water
Salt and pepper to taste

Warm the oil in a casserole dish over a medium heat and add the chopped garlic. Cook gently for a couple of minutes. Don't let it burn or it will taste very bitter. Add all the other ingredients, except the beans and stir well to mix.  Cook until the sugar has dissolved and then add the beans.
Cover with the lid and simmer for at least a couple of hours, but they will be even better after 5 or 6 hours.  You can do this on the hob, on the slow cooker base (use the LOW) setting or on the charcoal base of the Outdoor Hob

These are fantastic on toast, with baked potatoes, with sticky sausages or chuck in some chorizo, chunky bacon pieces or chestnuts to make an even more sustaining meal.

These sausages were added to a pile of caramelised onions and then I stirred in a large dollop of marmalade to make a very sticky and tangy glaze.

Pumpkin and cashews

2 tblsp oil

4 cloves of garlic

2 heaped tsp cumin seed

2 tsp salt

½ tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp paprika

750g squash or pumpkin (peeled and seeded weight), cut into chunks

Juice of 1 orange

100g cashew nuts

2 large onions, peeled and sliced

Dry sherry

Pre-heat the oven to 180º C/gas mark 4

Crush the garlic with the salt and cumin to make a paste.

Warm the oil in a cast iron casserole and add the garlic paste, cinnamon and paprika.  

Cook gently for a minute, then stir in the squash or pumpkin. Stir well to coat with the spice mix.

Add the orange juice.

Put the casserole in the oven and roast for approx 25 minutes.

Meanwhile heat 1 tblsp oil and a knob of butter in a frying pan

When the butter foams, add the sliced onions and cook over a medium heat til soft and beginning to turn colour.

Add a splash of dry sherry and continue cooking until sticky and caramelised.

Remove the casserole from the oven and scatter the cashews on top - return to the oven for a further 5 minutes to heat the nuts.

Serve the pumpkin and the onions on top of a bed of cous cous.

This would also work well as an accompaniment to roast chicken or roast pork, particularly with some buttered kale or spinach.

If you like these recipes, have a look on the website for more details of the pots and pans I used.

The Outdoor Hob is a fantastically versatile charcoal powered barbecue and outdoor slow cooker, which you can use all year round.

The cast iron casserole has a 4 litre capacity and is great on the hob and in the oven - I use mine for so many thing from curries to crumbles, risotto to rice pudding

The spun iron frying pans have a completely natural flax oil finish, which gets better and better the more you use them.

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2015

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk