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Thursday 30 December 2010

SO, what was in those Pengelly Hampers?

It's become a bit of a tradition of mine since I've been married that every year I make up hampers for my family and close friends and I make 100% of all the goodies that go in them! I didn't want to tell you before Christmas about what went in them as it would have spoilt the surprise!

I try to add something new or different every year. I make jams and chutneys all year round, so I save some special ones aside for the hampers, but I start to make the Christmassy ones from September onwards. I also like to make Sloe Gin and Vodka and they are lucky to make the hampers each year! And of course, there are the bits and pieces which have to be made the week up to Christmas as it won't last... I normally spend the week up to Christmas frantically running around the kitchen, making, baking, preparing... and then the sewing... goodness, it never ends! But I wouldn't have it any other way!

This year the hampers contained:
- Roasted Shallot and Cranberry Relish
- Christmas Chutney
- Nigella's Chilli Jam
- Pengelly Piccalilli
- Lemon Curd (recipe from the Pink Whisk) which is uber zingy!
- Double Chocolate Biscotti
- Candied Orange Sticks dipped in dark Chocolate from the River Cottage

A selection of goodies about to go into their Christmas Bags!

Lovely glistening candied orange peel covered in dark chocolate! Mmmm!
 With making the candied orange, my only tip would be that when you go to peel the oranges, cut the top and bottom off the orange, and them score 4-5 lines down the orange and then peel as it gives you lovely straight lines and good size pieces that you can then cut into slices. I juiced the remaining orange flesh for fresh juice on Christmas Morning. This recipe is really cheap - 5 large oranges cost me 99p at our local grocers, plus £1.00 for a bag of sugar, and a bar of dark chocolate for £1.50... in return it make enough slices for 5 sweetie bags with 15-18 sticks in each! Thanks River Cottage!

I made my mum and my mother in law napkins this year.... do you like them?

Festive napkins!
And the lovely patchwork ones for my mum....
Patchwork napkins with assorted central panels
As you can imagine, I never have any complaints and the edible contents never last that long! Oh well, better start thinking about what I can put in them for next Christmas.... fudge maybe?

I'm happy to share any recipes if anything takes your fancy!

Cheerio,

Nic xoxox

A Pengelly Belly Christmas!

Hello everyone! I hope that you all had a lovely Christmas! Sorry I haven't posted for a while, but the festive season got in the way! Plus we haven't been home and I haven't been near a computer for a day or two!

Anyway, Mr P and I had a lovely start to the Christmas Holidays. On the Thursday before Christmas I went down to Penzance to have brunch with some girlfriends at the Mackerel Sky Cafe which is a lovely little place tucked away down a side street. Great food and great coffee to defrost with! I trotted over to see Kim and John at the Polgoon Vineyard as it was en route to my parents house. Luckily for me I was walking so I could try some samples! I picked up a bottle of their Aval for Mr P and I to enjoy on Christmas day. Kim kindly gave me a bottle of their new Cornish Pink Cider which has an extra squeeze of raspberries added to it. I've had to hide it so that Mr P and I can enjoy it on New Year's Eve!

I was lucky to enjoy lunch on Christmas Eve at the Porthgwidden Cafe in St.Ives with Mr P and some friends. St.Ives was quiet, no doubt getting ready for New Year's Eve, so we had a pre-lunch bimble around the town. Lunch was very good as always. I did enjoy a nice aperitif of Polgoon Raspberry Aval to get me in the festive mood! It went down a treat with the paella. Finished the dinner with Moomaid Ice cream which is made in Zennor and a double espresso!

Christmas Day was a quite affair for us this year. We had a lie in and cat came and joined us in bed. Bless. We always have local eggs for breakfast on Christmas morning - boiled with toast on the side. As it was such a beautiful clear day, we popped on the walking boots... the only present that Mr P would let me open on the morning was a new pair of walking boots... and stanked up to the top of Carn Brea! Breathtaking!
On top of Carn Brea, looking down over Camborne, Portreath and over to St.Ives
There was no wind, no rain, no snow... just clear blue skies and an amazing view!

The monument on top of Carn Brea, looking towards Redruth, Truro and St. Austell
We were out walking for 2.5 hours so we had built up and appetite by the time we got home. After a spot of lunch (homemade Christmas Gammon and Pengelly Piccalilli) Mr P finally let me open my presents!

Christmas Ham from Nigella's Christmas Cookbook

Hoorah! As you can imagine, lots of food orientated goodies, several new cookbooks including The Great British Bake Off, Sophie Dahl and Antonio Carluccio, a lovely green leather bag with cupcakes on it (I'll take a picture for you one day!), but one of our favourite presents was a lovely food hamper from our good friends Mr and Mrs H... Mrs H made the lovely rosewater shortbreads and the little felt gingerbread man that is now hanging on our tree! Look how beautiful it was.... shame to take it apart and eat / drink all the goodies!

Lovely hamper full of goodies... edible of course!
We didn't sit down for dinner until 6pm where I served up a mushroom wellington (from the Cranks Vegetarian cookbook) which I made the day before. We had all the trimmings, including sprouts and chestnuts! Dinner was finished off with a light Christmas Pudding made by the lovely people at Trevaskis Farm which we brought at their Christmas Market, and a lovely cheeseboard an hour later. Stuffed!

All in all, a lovely Christmas Day!

Watch this space for my next blog about the food hampers that I made and what went in them! They went down a real treat!

Wishing you all a Happy New Year! See you in 2011! A big thank you for supporting and following my blog!

Love and best wishes,

Nic xoxox

Wednesday 22 December 2010

Christmas Spiced Beef... Done! Hurray!

It only seemed liked yesterday that I brought the hunk of silverside, tenderly massaging day after day throughout December. Today was a momentous day, the spiced beef got cooked! Oh yes, the house smelt divine, totally Christmassy! And it tastes 'ansome! There is also an advantage with living with a vegetarian, I don't have to share the "nubby" ends of the beef with anyone! All mine, mine I tell you! (well, unless you pop on over to try some, I might share!).

And here is the beauty!


Ready to pop into the oven for 6 hours... slowly cooked...

After it has been cooked, you have to let it rest and go cold... which is really hard to do! But once it has gone cold, you thinly slice the beef, enjoying the spices and you will be in food heaven!

Tender, juicy, spicy... heaven!
The beef will last upto three months... but in our house, it won't be around for that long!

Oh well, that's the spiced beef for this year! Roll on December 2011!

You really must give it a go!

Cheerio,

Nic xoxo

Monday 20 December 2010

Christmas Holidays at last!

Well, I am officially on Christmas Holidays! Finished work on the 17th December and don't go back to work until the 4th January 2011! Hurrah! So lots of time to dedicate to the kitchen.

I'm currently busy making goodies for Christmas pressies - I can't tell you what they until after the big day as it will spoil the surprise for some people, but I promise to take some pictures. I'm also going to be knocking up a special birthday cake for a special little boy who turns two on Christmas Day, but again, I don't want to go into too much detail... watch this space for photos!

Mr P doesn't finish work until the 23rd so I am enjoying some peace and quiet at home and like I said, really busy in the kitchen. The spiced beef will be cooked on the 22nd December along with Nigella's Christmas Spiced Ham which is one of my favourites. I'm hoping to catch up with some festive sewing on Wednesday whilst the house is filled with the lovely smells from the beef. The beef is looking good, nice and dark... which reminds me that I need to go and give him a turn!

We've decided to spend Christmas day with just the two of us this year, and catching up with the rest of the family on Boxing Day. So this year, I am going veggie and making a Mushroom Wellington for myself and Mr P... not a quorn roast in sight (thank god!).

Sorry it's bit of a "bits n pieces" blog posting today... there is so much to make and do this week before the big day! Hope everyone is well and has been good this year!

Hugs, Nic xoxox

Wednesday 8 December 2010

The Christmas Spiced Beef Diaries - Day 1 of marination!

As promised, here are some photos of my Christmas Spiced Beef! I thought I'd do "The Christmas Spiced Beef Diaries" to follow its journey! It will be worth it!

So, today is day one of the marinating process. Yesterday the beef was placed in a large bowl along with some dark brown sugar and left to sit in the fridge. This evening I made the spice mix.


The spice mix - juniper berries, allspice berries, seasalt, peppercorns, bay leaves, cloves
The spices are blitzed together to make a course powder. I don't over-blitz mine as I like a bit of texture.


If only we had scratch n sniff computers!
Next, pour the spice mix over the beef (which has been turned in its juices and sugar already).

Looking good!
And now comes the fun part! Rub and massage the spice mix into the beef, making sure that you keep turning it in the bowl, covering it with the sugar / spice mix. When well covered with the mixture, cover the bowl with clingfilm and pop it back into the fridge... until tomorrow when you have to turn it and give it another good rub!

Mmmm, well covered! Ready for a rest in the fridge...
Just keep turning and massaging for another 14 days! It really is that simple! The results are worth it!

Enjoy!
Nic xoxo

Tuesday 7 December 2010

Christmas Spiced Beef Recipe - Get yours marinating now!

I'd like to share with you a little family tradition that has been passed down to my brother and I from my mum. Every year, for as long as I can remember, mum always does spiced beef at Christmas. I have great memories of opening the fridge in the mornings of December to be greeted by the heady aroma of spices and staring a great slab of beef marinating in the fridge... and the excitement that follows once mum has cooked it as my brother and I always fought over the "nubby" ends of the spiced beef! When you cook the beef, the smell fills the house and you know Christmas is here! It needs to cut thin once cold, and has lovely spiced edges leaving you with a pastrami style beef... I'm drooling!

This is what you need:
- 2oz juniper berries
- 2oz sea salt
- 1.5oz black peppercorns
- 0.5oz cloves
- 1oz allspice berries
- 2 bay leaves
- 4oz dark muscavado brown sugar
- 5lb silverside beef

This is what you do:
- Place the meat in a big dish and cover with the sugar and leave to stand in the fridge for 24hours.
- Blitz the spices together in a food processor until powder like.
- Cover the meat with the spices. Don't drain the sugary juices away, they help to keep the beef moist!
- Cover with cling film and pop in the fridge.
- Every morning turn the beef and massage, with love, the juices and spices back in to the beef!
- Do this for 14 days. I have been known to ask people to "beef" sit for me if we go away for weekend in December!
- ON the 14th day, scrape off most of the spices. Place the beef in a roasting tin. I tend to line mine with tinfoil as it's easier to clean afterwards. Cook slowly in a preheated oven 130C/Gas Mark 1 for 6hours. Get giddy with the smell! I put mine in the oven in the morning, and then spend a day pottering around the house, inhaling as I go!
- Leave to stand. Carve when cold and fight over the ends!
- Will keep for a long time and freezes really well!

I'll post some pictures over the next couple of weeks of the beef! I'm off to pick it up from the butcher later! Can't wait!

Cheers,

Nic xoxox

Sunday 5 December 2010

How to make a Cornish Pasty!

Sorry not to have posted for a week, both Mr P and I have been struck down with the lurgy and food has been the last thing on our minds!

However, I really wanted to share with you all how to make a Cornish Pasty! I have been asked numerous times in the past and also wrote about it on the BBC food message board years ago, but since I now have my own blog I felt it only right that I did it "proper" with photos...

I have very fond memories of going to my Gran's at the weekend when I was younger and having her pasties for lunch, served with a glass of "pop" and Russian Cream for pudding (another traditional Cornish recipe). All of my female relations can make pasties and I used to love watching them make them when I was a child. It really is something that has been passed down to me. I have many Cornish girlfriends who have never even tried to make on! They aren't that hard, and they are cheap to do!
Even when I was at University at Scarborough 12 years ago, I used to get frustrated with what they used to sell in the canteen - A square puff pastry "pasty" with chopped carrots, mince and peas! No! I was that taken aback that I used to make the real deal for my uni friends and the caterers to show them what they were missing out on!

Anyway, it's Sunday, a nice day for whipping up a pasty or two. Mr P has gone to watch rugby and will no doubt be frozen solid by the time he gets home, so a hearty supper is in order - pasty and sweet tea... but Mr P is a veggie I hear you all cry! Fear not, I make a meat one for me and a quorn beef pieces pasty for him... easy!

Here's what you need (to make two large):
- 1lb pastry (I'm afraid I don't make my own as the butchers up the road sells shortcrust pasty pastry which is very good!)
- 2 potatoes, peeled
- half a swede, peeled
- one onion, chopped
- skirt beef, approx 75g per pasty, cut into rough 2cm pieces (if you want to do a veggie pasty, use quorn beef pieces, but fry them off first in some olive oil and half an onion)

1. 1/2lb pastry rolled out to 2-3mm thickness. Use a dinner plate as a template and cut around it with a sharp knife to give you a nice circle of pastry. Score a line just over half way on the circle. The smaller half is where your filling will go.

You can just see the faint "scored" line where the knife tip is pointing - the lower half of the pasty circle is where you will put your filling.

2. Next, get your potato, held in your left hand, and with a small vegetable knife, start to "chip" away at it to create 2/3mm thick slices of potato. Hard to describe, but you are making slithers of potato. I usually use one small - medium potato per pasty. Do the same with you swede. Again, with a small swede I find that 1/4 is enough. You should have two layers, like the photo below. You want to leave 1/4inch gap around the edge of the pastry to allow for sealing and crimping!


You can see the potato on the bottom and the swede on top... leave a 1/4 inch edge around the side for sealing it later on!


3. Next, layer your beef pieces on top of the swede and add your chopped onion as the final layer. I normally use half a small onion, but it's your preference. Season with a little salt and some black pepper. I like mine quite peppery. Place a little knob of butter on top.

When I do the veggie pasty, I allow the quorn beef pieces and onion to cool before placing them on top of the potato and swede layers otherwise you will get soggy pastry. You can also add cheese instead of quron beef as another veggie option.

4. With some milk and a pastry brush, brush around the 1/4 inch edge of the filling. Now comes the fun part! With your right hand, gently slide it under the pastry that has no filling on it, whilst resting your left hand against the filling, almost cupping it. This will stop your filling moving whilst you fold the pastry over your filling. Make sure that none of the filling has moved onto the 1/4 inch edge that you brushed with milk otherwise, when you come to crimp the pastry it won't be smooth. Once the pastry edges have been sealed, you will be left with a semi-circle shape. I tend to use the edge of my right hand to press down the pastry to seal it and shape the pasty. Gently turn the pasty around so that the straight edge is nearest to you.


I gently use my right hand, cupped, to shape the round side of the pasty. You want to keep the filling in a nice half circle shape.

5. Lightly brush a little more milk along the sealed edge of the pastry as this will help the pastry to stick together when you crimp the edge. Crimping is an art. The Cornish Pasty is crimped along the side as the Devon Pasty is crimped over the top. I used to spend hours watching my mother and my grand-mother crimp!

This is for right-handed people - start from the right hand side and gently fold over the corner...

Crimping is a two-handed job, but I was home alone and someone had to hold the camera!
Use your left thumb and finger to keep it in place, then use your right hand to bring over the next crimp.... it's hard to explain and hard to take a picture of when I am on my own, but it is like creating a plait... I am sure that there is a Youtube video out there that demonstrates it better! Anyway, as you continue to pinch down with your left hand and fold over with your right, you will work your way along the edge of the pasty...


And here is the finished product!

Nice and neat crimping - there are other methods that people use to crimp, but this is who I've been taught...

All you need to do now is put a little slit in the top of the pasty with a sharp knife - this will act as a steam hole, pop it onto a floured baking tray, brush with a little milk and pop them in the oven! I actually made mine in the morning and put them on a baking tray and left them in the fridge until 4pm. I always add pastry initials as well.



I have a fan oven, so I put mine in for 10minutes at 180C and then 35minutes at 150/160C. If you are using a normal oven or a gas oven, I'd increase the temperature slightly. They take 40-45minutes to cook.

Serve with a cup of hot sweet tea. I like mine with Tomato Ketchup and pickled onions... though I have known family members (not to name names!) who used to peel the top of the pastry off and pour in pickling vinegar and another used to add a dollop of clotted cream! Each to their own!

If you have any spare pastry left over, you can make mini sweet pasties - filled with jam or apple. Be warned, the insides get very hot, so allow to cool before you dive in!

I'll add a photo when you have come out of the oven and before we eat them all!

HERE YOU GO!