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

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

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

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