Bridgnorth Beef Barrels

A delicious  dish, that punches well above its weight in terms of flavour and cost.  This is what slow cooking is all about - taking a cheaper cut of meat, adding some additional ingredients and producing a fabulous result.

This takes the classic combination of steak and mushrooms, as used for classic pub grills, stroganoff, pies and the ultimate - Beef Wellington, and marries them together as something new.

This would be as welcome mid week as it would centre stage for Sunday lunch.... I'm thinking of Yorkshire puddings with gravy here too!!

Our spun iron frying pans do make excellent Yorkshire pudding pans  - as you can see from this Toad in the Hole

You will need

500g braising steak - in a single piece


I bought this beautiful piece of meat from Checketts in Ombersley; great meat, great service, great advice.

And
2 medium field mushrooms, finely chopped
1 large onion, sliced
70g fresh breadcrumbs
1 egg
6 sprigs of fresh thyme
100 ml port
1 litre stock

Method
Hammer out the steak to twice its original size -  use a meat hammer if you've got one, otherwise a rolling pin will do a good job.



Finely chop the mushrooms and mix together with the breadcrumbs, egg, thyme and seasoning.
Slice the onions.
Put the cast iron pot onto the hob and heat 1 tblsp oil over a medium heat.
Add the sliced onion and cook until softened, but not brown.

Spread the mushroom stuffing over the steak.


Then roll it up like a Swiss roll and sit it on top of the onion slices. Secure with cocktail sticks or string.
(Please do not use Bridget Jones style blue string!! Check the link if you've never read the book/seen the film/done the trivia quiz....)

Any "escaped" or leftover stuffing can be added to the dish.



Add the port and the stock and put the lid on.



Transfer to the heater base and cook on LOW for 6 - 8 hours or HIGH for 4 hours.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2014 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Pattacake

A pan fried version of a nut loaf, that is very quick and easy to prepare and which will appeal to vegetarians and omnivores equally.
It's also nice served cold with coleslaw and a baked potato.

Cashew and Halloumi rissole

1 onion, peeled and finely chopped
½ butternut squash, peeled and chopped into ½" chunks
75g chopped roasted cashews
100g breadcrumbs
1 block Halloumi, grated
Salt and pepper  to taste
2 eggs

Place a crepe pan on the hob and gently heat 1 tblsp oil.
Fry the onion and squash until soft.
Remove from heat. Place all the other ingredients into a mixing bowl, then add the onions and squash.
Stir well to mix. Season to taste - Halloumi is quite a salty cheese, and if you are also using  salted cashews, make sure you taste the mixture before adding additional salt. 
A handful of chopped fresh herbs will give this dish some extra zing - try parsley, thyme or mint.

Leave for 20 minutes for the breadcrumbs to absorb the egg.

Replace the crepe pan on the hob, add 1 tblsp oil and turn the heat to medium.

Add all of the mixture to the pan and spread out evenly.  Press down with the back of a wooden spoon.

Cook for around 7 minutes until the underside is browned and the "cake" holds together.

Place a large plate or serving board over the pan, invert and turn out the cake.

Slide back into the pan, cooked side upper most.
Continue cooking for another 7-10 minutes until the underside is cooked..

Slide out onto a plate and cut into slices.

Serve with greens, tomato sauce and, if you fancy, real chips!
We finished off the last of the Christmas cranberry sauce with this, which was a delicious accompaniment.

Cranberry sauce -  a quick and simple version
Simply cook some fresh cranberries with a splash of orange juice and sugar to taste.  As soon as the fruit softens, remove from the heat and leave to cool.

© Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2014

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Broomfield bhajis, what to do with yet another carrot

I arrived home with a massive haul of super fresh, super cheap carrots for my local farm shop, Broomfields - so after the soup, the cake and the salad, a little inspiration was called for.
This is what I came up with;  a variation on one of my son's favourite foods - onion bhajis from our local takeaway.

Carrot bhajis with spiced tomato sauce

First make the tomato sauce

1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
1" ginger, peeled and roughly shopped
2 tblsp water
2 tsp kalonji
1 tsp turmeric
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tsp salt
2 tsp sugar


Blend the onion, garlic, ginger and water to a smooth paste.
Heat 1 tblsp of oil over a medium heat.  Add the onion paste and fry for 2 minutes.
Add the kalonji and turmeric and cook for a further minute.
Add the tomatoes, salt and sugar.
Simmer for 20 minutes.
Remove from the heat while you cook the bhajis - serve the sauce warm, not piping hot.


250g gram flour
3 tsp cumin seeds
Chilli to taste
1 tsp salt
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 bunch fresh coriander, chopped
4 large carrots, coarsely grated

Mix the dry ingredients with enough water to make a thick batter.
Stir in the coriander and the carrots

I use our 13" wok to cook these
Drop dessertspoonfuls of the mixture into hot oil a few at a time and fry until golden brown.
Lift out of the oil, drain on kitchen paper and keep warm while you prepare the rest.

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2013 ©
www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

One pot, two dishes

I love lentils, cheap, versatile, tasty and low fat!!  This is a dual recipe, which makes two separate vegetarian starters from a single pot of lentils.

This is an ideal recipe to make in the Kitchen Companion - making the most of one pot cooking.

Lentil pate and lentil and tomato soup

1 sweet potato, peeled and chopped
200g red lentils
10 sun dried tomatoes
1 sprig thyme or 1 tsp dried thyme
800ml water
1 fat garlic clove, sliced
1 tin chopped tomatoes
400ml stock
Salt and pepper to taste.

Put the sweet potato, lentils , sun-dried tomatoes, thyme and water in the cast iron bowl. Cover with the cast iron lid. place the bowl on the heater base or on the hob.
Turn the heater base to its highest setting and bring to the boil.
Turn down to a low heat and simmer for about an hour - until the sweet potato is very soft and most of the water has been absorbed.
Add the sliced garlic and season to taste.  Cook, without a lid, for another 10 minutes until all the water is absorbed.

Remove the thyme if you have used fresh herbs.  Blend the mixture until smooth and cool half in the fridge.  
Serve the cold pate with toast.

Use the remaining half to create a tasty and warming soup - ideal on a chilly winter day.
Add the chopped tomatoes and  stock to the other half of the mixture.  Stir well to mix, return to the heat and warm through.
Serve with crusty bread.

Netherton FoundryShropshire 2013 ©

www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Wok fried chicken with plum sauce

Our woks are incredibly popular and I use mine several times a week.  Nothing can beat a stir fry for a tasty meal in a hurry - and with busy lives, weekday dinners are more often a hurry than not!

This dish was inspired partly by Jan's last recipe for pork chops and plum sauce and partly as a variation on the classic duck and plum sauce so beloved in Chinese restaurants

300g chicken breast, diced
1 leek, sliced
¼ white cabbage , shredded
4 cloves garlic, chopped
2 star anise
300 ml chicken stock
1 tblp plum jam
1 tblsp soy sauce
2 tsp cornflour
2 tblsp oil

Heat the oil in the wok oil over a high heat.
Throw in the garlic and fry for 10 seconds, then add the chicken and star anise.  Fry until the chicken is golden brown on all sides.
Add the leeks, cabbage and star anise and fry for 2 minutes.
Add the jam, soy sauce and stock and cook for 20 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.
Mix the cornflour to a paste with water and then stir into the dish and stir until the sauce is thickened.

Serve with steamed rice or noodles.

PS I also use my wok for frying chips!! But not quite so often as the stir fries!

Netherton Foundry Shropshire 2013 ©
www.netherton-foundry.co.uk

Pork chops with plum sauce

It has been somewhat busy at Netherton Workshops over the last few weeks - not least with our latest 2 export orders.
Shropshire made cookware is now making its mark in Germany and the Czech Republic and we have been busy loading the pallets and waving our pans off to foreign homes.

I have been very conscious that it is a bit too long since I posted a new blog, so I was mightily relieved when our fabulous customer Jan dropped me an e-mail.

Jan came to visit our workshops last summer after being disappointed that she couldn't buy a Shropshire made slow cooker in the county town of Shrewsbury - sadly still the case!
But we are always happy to meet customers, so she was, in her words, "treated like royalty" and has been keeping me up to date with her recipes ever since.

Here's the latest, thanks Jan


Here’s a nice simple tasty recipe to add to the blog. I got the recipe from the web. It was for pork ribs, but works very well with chops.  They cooked quite quickly and were incredibly tender.

Slow cooker pork chops with plum sauce

¹/₃ cup plum jam

1 chicken stock cube

2 teasp cornflour – I omitted this as I don’t like glutinous sauces

¼ cup of water

3 teasp soy sauce

1 clove garlic crushed

Chops of course!

I fried the chops briefly on the hob and then added the sauce ingredients. It cooked  in about 4 hours on HIGH. The meat was so tender and sweet. Delicious! This is nice with some simple vegetables, cauliflower, and jacket potatoes.

It seems years since we came over for our cooker, and I think it was one of the best purchases ever! I am always telling my friends about the virtues of slow cooking.

Happy Christmas to all,

Jan

If anyone else has a recipe that they'd be happy to share, please e-mail it over to me, ideally with a photo and I will post it on to the blog.

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