Chilli Con Carne with Chilli Cheddar Dumplings

This is my absolute favourite time of year. The time for hats, scarves and that heavy winter coat has come. Seeing your breath in the morning. Listening to the leaves crackle under foot and drinking a little too much mulled cider/wine/whatever! Venturing out into the darkest of frost-bitten evenings to see the world set aflame with the whizz-bang-pops of gunpowder and returning to the comforting glow and warmth of the inside world. Evenings at this time of year surely must be filled with foods that are delicious and heavy. Comfort food. And chilli is a prime example.

Ingredients
Chilli Con Carne
500g stewing beef, cut into inch-ish chunks
2 tins of plum tomatoes
1 large onion, diced
50g of Chorizo, diced
1 red chilli (or 1 - 2 teaspoons of dried chilli flakes)
1 heaped teaspoon of paprika
1 heaped teaspoon of cumin
1 large clove of garlic, crushed
1 bell pepper, preferably red, cut into chunks
1 beef stock cube
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon of Veg oil
Salt and pepper
Garnish with a sliced spring onion and some grated cheddar
Chilli cheese Cornbread dumplings
2 oz fine corn meal (the yellow stuff)
1 oz white spelt flour (or white wheat flour if you're so inclined)
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 egg
2 fl oz of milk
2 tsp of plain yoghurt
1 small red (very hot!) chilli, diced
50g of grated cheddar


Method
Chilli - Start by frying off the onion in a little veg oil and salt until translucent over a medium heat in a heavy bottom saucepan or casserole dish (something suitable for hob and oven cooking). The salt will draw out the moisture out of the onion and help it cook a bit quicker. Throw in the chorizo, paprika and cumin and fry for a further couple of minutes. Turn up the heat and add the beef. Brown stirring often to ensure it doesn't catch on the bottom. Remove from the heat and add in the remaining ingredients. Stir well and return to the heat. When it has come back to the boil, cover with a lid (tin foil will work too) and place in a preheated oven at 170oC for 2 hours, stirring occasionally.
Dumplings - Just before the 2 hour mark, prep the cornbread mixture. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix well. Remove the chilli pot from the oven and take off the lid. Blob the cornbread mixture around the edge of the pot, replace the lid and return to the oven for 15 to 20 minutes. Like a cake when the cornbread is done it will be dry and springy to the touch. Remove from the oven and serve immediately garnished with some spring onion, grated cheese and a smidge more chilli if you can handle it!

Curry Spiced Pumpkin chips

Last week I bought a pumpkin and discovered when I got it home that I don't know what to do with a pumpkin! So, it waited. I plotted, made up my mind and changed my mind. And in the end it became a pan fried pasta topper, a sumptuous savoury soup and this, (by far the winner) chips!

Ingredients
A medium pumpkin, deseeded, peeled and cut into long chips
2 teaspoons of cumin seeds
1 teaspoon of cardamon seeds (you'll need to bash the pods a bit to get the seeds out)
2 teaspoons of coriander seeds
1 teaspoon of ground tumeric
1 teaspoon of mustard seeds
1 teaspoon of dried garlic flakes (or 1 fresh clove, crushed)
2 teaspoons of rock salt
1 teaspoon of black pepper corns
A good glug of olive or sunflower oil
Method
Start preheating the oven to 175oC.
Toast the spice seeds in a hot dry pan. They'll only need a couple of minutes once the pan is hot and keep moving them around so that they don't burn. Remove from the heat when the fragrance is resonating from the pan. Then bash them using a pestle and mortar along with the salt, pepper, tumeric, garlic (a food processor will do the job too). 
Arrange the pumpkin on a large baking tray and drizzle over about 4 tablespoons of oil and then the spice mix. Toss to ensure everything is well coated. Bake for 30 mins. Serve hot.


Prep time 10 mins. Cooking time 30 mins. Serves 2 on its lonesome, 4 as a side dish.

Food for thought: The Ham Sandwich

Here follows a little snippet of something I read today by Andy Hodgson.

Make yourself a meal. Something easy. OK, so you haven't got the time or the necessary ingredients. A sandwich then, at least. Can you do a sandwich? Everyone can do a sandwich. Good. Go on. Any kind of sandwich. A ham sandwich, maybe. Obviously not if you're Jewish or Muslim. Have you done it? OK. Put it on a plate. Now, contemplate your sandwich. You know what's in it? Ham, and bread, right, and maybe some margarine and mayonnaise?
Wrong.
What you've got on your plate is water, salt, modified potato starch, dextrose, gelatine, carboxymethylcellulose, paprika extract, tri- and poly-phosphates, sodium nitrate, potassium nitrate, sodium ascorbate, and spice extracts. And that's just the ham, 'packaged in a protective atmosphere for freshness', if you're lucky.
You ever think of converting?
What is all this shit? Do you know? Are you interested? You're eating it every day. Have you ever even thought about it? No, probably not. It's like everything else. No one thinks about anything until that Thing comes up and hits them in the face with a piece of 2" x 4".
I have been trying to explain this to my social worker and my psychiatrist: a ham sandwich is not merely ham and bread.

Beef in black bean sauce

Feeling a little bit uninspired this evening. So jar sauce it is. But a little extra effort tarts it up a shed load. Add in a diced red onion, thinly sliced red pepper, a handful of curly kale and a sprinkle of black sesame seeds. Dinner, (courtesy of Sharwoods), done.

Victoria Sponge

The classic British teatime treat. If us Brits were to be represented by a baked good, this would be it. Perhaps a little plain, possibly even pedestrian, but smart in it's simplicity, truly iconic and packing a punch in sheer awe inspiring delightfulness. 

The secret lies in the simplicity: listen to the eggs, they are wise, do what they tell you! I am in search of cake recipes without wheat that are as good as the ones with it. I cant tolerate wheat. I mean my insides cant, not that it just fecks me off. Well, actually it does. It's in everything good! Anyway, the flour I used here was 4/5 corn flour & 1/5 ground almonds. Thus, it's entirely gluten free. Happy days. And the result is light, moist and beautiful (even if I do say so myself), though a touch delicate, so take extra care when your slicing. 


This is the only time I'll advocate dusting a cake (or anything else for that matter) with icing sugar. I usually feel that, a load of sugar has already gone into the cake batter, and that bit extra on top really doesn't do anything for the flavour. So if I must dust, my weapon of choice is cocoa powder (make sure it's a good one, like Green & Black's). Not only does it bring an extra element of flavour, but it's a much better camouflage for any imperfections! However, the Victoria Sponge is somewhat of a legend and who am I to argue with tradition. So this rare beauty gets its icing sugar veil. 


Ingredients
2 Eggs (weigh them in their shells).
Butter, equal in weight to the eggs.
Flour, equal in weight to the butter.
Sugar, equal in wieght to the flour.
1 teaspoon of Vanilla extract.
1 teaspoon of baking powder.
At least 150ml of whipping cream, whipped!
A generous tablespoon or 2 (or 3!) of Jam.
1 or 2 teaspoons of Icing sugar, the natural golden variety is splendid.


Method
Preheat the oven to 180oC/350F/gas mark 4.
Beat the butter until soft and add in the sugar. Beat vigorously until pale and fluffy.
Add the eggs in, one by one, mixing as constantly as you can. 
Add in the vanilla. Mix. 
Sift in the flour and fold to combine.
At this point if the mixture drops easily off a spoon, then it's perfecto. However, if it stubbornly sticks to the spoon add a tablespoon of milk (or cream, or water will even do the trick) to loosen the mixture just a little.
Pour the batter into a cake tin, from as low as you can so that as little air is knocked in the process as possible.
Smooth the top of the mixture, so that it's spread evenly in the tin.
Bake for 25-30 mins, (or until the toothpick test comes out clean).
Allow to cool in the tin for 5 minutes before turning out onto a wire rack to cool completely. Once cool, cut the cake in half along it's midriff. Fill with your jam of choice (raspberry is the traditional option) and heaps of softly whipped cream. Give the top a dusting of icing sugar, and sit the cake atop a doily, if you like, for just a little bit of kitchy charm.
Present to your family/friends/colleagues with massive smug grin :). 

Spot of Cheese on toast

Well, actually I suppose it's just a little bit more than cheese on toast... It's grilled ham, goat's cheese, tomato, walnuts, fresh coriander & thyme on a toasted wheat-free pitta bread. Usually I'd be against any sort of supermarket-bought wheat-free bread, (because it's actually tasteless, hard & disgusting - akin to a mouthful of sand one might say) but Pitta is ok. It can be really REALLY dry, but if you give it a quick, but thorough, run under the tap before you grill it, it'll give it just enough moisture to gain some distance from hot cardboard. Make sure you grill both sides a bit before putting anything on top, otherwise it'll be soggy.

Why is it called a "Conference" pear?

I'll tell you why.. it all begins waay back at a Victorian nursery called Rivers of Sawbridgeworth. Bred out of a belgian cooking pear, the Leon le Clare de Laval. The first orchard was planted in 1895, in Kent. Mr River's was so pleased with his creation that he exhibited it at the International Pear Conference (yes indeed) in Chiswick (obviously!). Here, it was awarded the only 1st class certificate and so, the judges requested it be named in honour of the occasion, and so it was.

Roasted Gammon with peas, mashed potatoes & caramelised onions and apples

I wouldn't normally buy gammon or know what to do with it really. In fact, I wasn't entirely sure what it was (aside from Pork). So I did a touch of research and the BBC tells me that it is meat from the hind legs of the pig, which is cured in the same manner as bacon and that once cooked may be deemed Ham, and that (the cooking) it seems is the only difference.
The rule for cooking a hunk of ham, neigh Gammon, like this is to give it 30 mins for each 500g and then 30 mins more, plus a little resting time once it's out of the oven. 
I never cook peas as such, just warm them by submerging them in freshly boiled water from the kettle, draining and then repeating once more. I find it's really easy to overcook them, so this way that risk is never run and they're little beauts every time. Course it does depend on which peas you purchase. Older ones will need a bit of cooking, but if you've got Petit Pois in your freezer, this is ideal. If you'd prefer a proper smooth gravy, then just mash the contents of the roasting pan with a fork, (after removing the ham - that'd be fairly difficult to mash I'd imagine) add in a cup of veg stock and reduce by half over a medium heat on the stove top, or get the Bisto out!

Ingredients
1 kg piece of (unsmoked) Gammon
300g potatoes per person, washed well & cut into inch chunks
30g (ish) butter 
A splash of milk (probably about 10ml, any variety will do)
1/2 a cup of peas per person
2 cloves of garlic, smashed
1 red onion, top n tailed, peeled & quartered
1 small glass of red wine
1/2 glass of good apple juice
1 sprig of Rosemary
2 cloves
salt and pepper


Method
Preheat the oven to 190oC. Put the apple, onion, garlic, wine, juice & rosemary in a roasting dish. 
Score into the rind and fat on the top of the ham about half way through & stud with the cloves. Rest the gammon on top of the roasting dishes contents. Sprinkle over a little salt & cover loosely with tin foil. Place in the preheated oven for 1 hour. When this is up, remove the tin foil and cook for a further 30 mins. Remove from the oven entirely and allow to rest for at least 15 mins. 
At the point of foil removal, start cooking the spuds in a big pan of water, (with a lid on) over a medium high heat. These will take about 15 mins depending on the potatoes you use. Check "done-ness" by poking a knife into one, if it goes in there easily, and drops off when you lift it up, its looking good. 
Once done, drain and mash with the butter and milk. Replace the lid if you're still waiting for the gammon. Cook the peas by boiling, microwaving or submergence as above. 
After allowing the ham to rest, slice into skinny strips. Pile high atop the mash and peas and allow a couple spoonfuls each of the pan juices.


 Pre time 15 mins. Cooking time 1 hr & 30 mins. 1 kg of ham will easily serve at least 4.