Author: Simon James
BBQ Pulled Pork Recipe
I have trawled through a lot of recipes and books for a great pulled pork recipe. This recipe is my favourite, and believe it or not, it comes from Slimming World.
ingredients
1.5-2kg pork shoulder, all fat removed 
5 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp mustard powder
500g passata
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
3 tbsp sweetener
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
method
In a small bowl, mix passata, Worcestershire sauce, balsamic vinegar, mustard powder, garlic, sweetener( I like to use a Dark Brown Sugar) and seasoning. Transfer to a small pan and simmer for 15 minutes, or until the sauce thickens.
Meanwhile, trim and remove all visible fat from the pork and sear all sides in a hot frying pan. Transfer to a slow cooker coat with the sauce and cook for 8-12 hours on LOW.
Remove the pork from the slow cooker and place on a cutting board. Allow the meat to cool for approximately 15 minutes, then shred into bite-sized pieces using two forks.
Remove the sauce from the pan and set aside to drizzle on the meat later.
Celery Soup
A healthy soup to warm your cockles -Celery Soup…..
Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
300g celery, sliced, with tough strings removed
1 garlic clove, peeled
200g potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
500ml vegetable stock
100ml milk
Method
Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat, tip in the celery, garlic and potatoes and coat in the oil. Add a splash of water and a big pinch of salt and cook, stirring regularly for 15 mins, adding a little more water if the veg begins to stick.
Pour in the vegetable stock and bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 20 mins further, until the potatoes are falling apart and the celery is soft. Use a stick blender to purée the soup, then pour in the milk and blitz again. Season to taste.
Chicken Chasseur
This is my version of a french classic, Chicken Chasseur. The beauty of this dish is that it is a one pot dish – minimal washing up.
I would like to add, there was enough creamy sauce to fill up a mug each and dip one of my bread rolls in.
Serves 2/3
6 chicken thighs
1 tablespoon olive oil
20g butter
200g button mushrooms, halved
1 Onion, choppped
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tbsp tomato puree
250ml chicken stock
250ml dry white wine
1tin chopped tomatoes
2 bay leaves
2 hyme sprigs
15g flat leaf parsley
125ml cream
Meat Feast Calzone
So today I was asked to make Calzone for 4 at Whirlikidz, Chepstow. The challenge was set, I did a bit of homework and promised I would have them delivered within 3hrs.
The Recipe was as follows
Ingredients
For the dough
- 225g/8oz plain strong flour, plus extra for dusting
- 90ml/3fl oz milk, warmed to body temperature
- 50ml/2fl oz water, warmed to body temperature
- 1 tsp dried yeast
- 25ml/1fl oz olive oil
- pinch salt
For the filling
- 150g/5oz cherry tomatoes, halved
- 200g/7oz buffalo mozzarella, roughly chopped
- 50g speck)
- 1 tbsp capers, rinsed and drained
- 30g grated parmesan
Method
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For the dough, sift the flour into a bowl.
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Mix the milk, water and yeast together in a separate bowl.
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Add the yeast mixture to the flour and mix together to form a dough. Knead the dough for five minutes on a floured and even service.
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Add the olive oil and knead again to combine. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave somewhere warm for two hours.
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Preheat the oven to 230C/450F/Gas 8. Place a baking tray into the oven to preheat.
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Add the salt to the dough and knead again, then divide the dough into four equal portions and roll into balls.
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Place each ball onto a floured work surface and roll out into 20cm/8in circles.
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For the filling, place all of the filling ingredients into a bowl and mix together well.
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Place one quarter of the filling mixture onto one half of each dough circle, leaving a 2cm/1in gap around the edge.
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Brush the clean edges with water then fold the other sides over to cover the filling and pinch the edges to seal the four parcels.
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Place the calzones onto the preheated baking sheet and transfer to the oven to bake for eight minutes, or until the dough is cooked through and the filling hot.
Easy Wholemeal Rolls
Each morning, I get asked by Jen, “What’s for dinner today”. I normally respond, “let me think”
So today I wanted a simple life as I was going out to see Chepstow Male Voice choir practice this evening. Burger and Chips it is……..
Of course you can buy your own baps from the bakers but I am going to make my own.
Wholemeal Rolls
Ingredients
450g strong wholemeal bread flour
2 tsp salt
1 x 7g sachet fast action dried yeast
300 ml milk
50g butter
Method
So the first job is to melt your butter in the milk in a small saucepan.
Measure out your flour in to a bowl, add the salt to one side of the bowl and the yeast on the opposite side. As soon as your milky mixture is finger warm, you can add this to your dry ingredients. Now mix all the ingredients together with a cutlery knife until it all comes together.
Once mixed together, tip it onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 7 or 8 minutes. Once the mixture looks smooth, place it in a bowl, cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place for an hour.
In that hour, I might have a cuppa but today I will make my burgers up.
Your hour has gone and you should finish up with this – and it will have doubled in size……
Now knock this out, meaning take out any air bubbles, then divide in to 8 baps
Leave these for another hour in a warm place, covered up with that same tea towel. Heat the oven to 180c then bake the buns for 20 mins. I brushed the buns before I baked them with an egg wash, this gives them a lovely shine.
Chocolate Marshmallow Teacake
I just happened to spot this Paul Hollywood recipe this morning, I thought, shall I, shan’t I? So, I checked out the cupboard for ingredients, I had them all, so it was rude not to.
These teacakes are TWICE the size of those bought ones, and they taste so much better.
Ingredients
400g dark chocolate
50g wholemeal flour
50g plain flour
pinch salt
½ tsp baking powder
25g caster sugar
25g butter
1 tbsp milk
For the marshmallow
3 free-range eggs, whites only
150g/5½oz caster sugar
6 tsp golden syrup
½ tsp salt
½ vanilla pod, seeds only
Method
Melt 300g of the dark chocolate in a bowl set over a simmering pan of water (make sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water). Leave aside to cool slightly – you can’t line the moulds if the chocolate is too runny.
Preheat the oven to 170C.
To make the biscuits, put the flours, salt, baking powder and caster sugar into a bowl and rub in the butter with your fingertips. Add the milk and stir everything together to form a smooth ball.
On a floured surface roll out the dough to about 1/2cm thick. Cut out six rounds with a 7.5cm straight sided round cutter.
Place the rounds on a flat board, I used a baking tray and chill in the fridge for 10 minutes. Make sure the biscuits are perfectly round and well chilled, otherwise they might spread or shrink when baked.
Bake the biscuits for 10-12 minutes. They do need to be hard, not soft as they form the base of the teacake.
Remove the biscuits from the oven and cool on a wire rack.
Coat the inside of the moulds with the melted chocolate. The thickness of the chocolate should be enough to make them sturdy but not too thick. This is best done with a spoon, using the back to run the chocolate around the moulds. If the chocolate is too runny it will mean that the top of the dome is too thick and the side too thin.
Set aside to set. Do not put the domes in the fridge as the chocolate will lose its shine.
Meanwhile dip the cooled biscuits in the remaining melted chocolate, covering them completely (you may need to melt more chocolate). You can either dip the biscuits in the chocolate or spread the chocolate onto the biscuits with a palette knife. Place the coated biscuits onto parchment paper.
For the marshmallow, place all of the ingredients in a large bowl set over a pan of simmering water (make sure the bottom of the bowl does not touch the water), and whisk with an electric hand whisk for 6-8 minutes, making sure it is smooth, silky and doubled in volume. Make sure it is very stiff, the consistency of whipped cream, so it will hold when piped – you don’t want it runny.
Spoon the marshmallow mixture into a piping bag.
Melt the remaining chocolate, and place into a disposable piping bag with a sealed end. Set aside to cool and stiffen up a bit, but not harden.
Peel the biscuits off the parchment and place them onto clean parchment, flat side down.
Pipe the marshmallow into each chocolate-lined mould just up to the top.
Snip a 2cm end off the piping bag with the chocolate in it.
Carefully pipe some chocolate on the marshmallow and a rim of chocolate around the biscuit base and swiftly place the biscuit on top of the marshmallow filled dome. Smooth the join with a knife.
Leave the teacakes to set until completely cool and sealed together. About an hour.
Very carefully remove the completed teacakes from the mould – be careful of fingerprints on the glossy dome.
Place on a plate and keep cool – but do not refrigerate, to make sure the chocolate keeps its glossy shine.
Eggs Benedict
I subscribe to two or three magazines, in the Baking Heaven magazine I came across English Muffins a week or so ago. Today I was feeling a bit under the weather and the only thing to do when I’m feeling low is to bake. Muffins it was then……..
not content with just a muffin, I’ve gone and made Eggs Benedict for breakfast.. DELICIOUS!!!
EGGS BENEDICT RECIPE
INGREDIENTS
olive oil
400 g baby spinach
1tsp ground nutmeg
1 lemon
2 English muffins
4 eggs
4 rashers of back bacon
FOR THE HOLLANDAISE:
100 g unsalted butter
2 large free-range egg yolks
white wine vinegar
Method
Preheat the oven to 180ºC/350ºF/gas 4.
Put the spinach with the nutmeg and seasoning into a large frying pan on a medium-low heat with a little drizzle of oil.
Cook down until dark and delicious, and any excess water has cooked away, then add a squeeze of lemon juice to taste, and keep warm.
To make the hollandaise, melt the butter in a small pan. Put the egg yolks into a heatproof bowl over a pan of gently simmering water and whisk with a tablespoon of lemon juice.
Whisking constantly, very slowly (otherwise it will split) pour the melted butter into the egg mixture, until well combined, adding a splash of water to loosen, if needed. Whisk in a splash of vinegar and season to perfection.
Turn the heat off and keep warm over the pan of water, stirring occasionally, and loosening with an extra splash of water if needed.
Warm the muffins in the oven.
Grill the bacon.
Poach your 4 eggs, don’t forget a splash of vinegar and salt.
Halve the warm muffins, then divide over the spinach and bacon. Balance the eggs on top, spoon a tablespoon of hollandaise over each one, then cut the eggs open and enjoy.
MUFFIN RECIPE
Ingredients
300g/10½ oz strong white bread flour, plus extra for flouring
2tsp yeast
2tsp salt
15g caster sugar
15g softened butter, cut into small pieces
1 egg, lightly beaten
170ml milk (should make a soft dough)
oil, for greasing
15g semolina, plus extra for dusting
Method
Tip the flour into a large mixing bowl. Sprinkle the yeast on one side of the flour and the salt into the other side of the flour. Add the sugar, butter, egg and milk, then mix all the ingredients together to form a soft dough.
Turn the mixture out of the bowl onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 10 minutes, or until soft, smooth and stretchy.
Lightly grease a large bowl with oil. Place the dough in the oiled bowl, cover and leave to prove for about one hour, or until doubled in size.
Dust the work surface with a mixture of the semolina and flour. Tip the dough out onto the work surface and roll out to about 2.5cm thick.
Lightly dust two baking trays with half of the semolina.
Using a 9cm straight-sided cutter, cut out 6 muffins. Place 3 muffins, evenly spaced apart on each of the dusted baking trays. Dust the remaining semolina or polenta over the top of the muffins.
Leave to prove for another 30 minutes.
Preheat the a heavy-based frying pan on the hob to a very low heat. Griddle the muffins for approximately 5 minutes, then flip over and griddle for another 5 minutes on the other side.
