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April 1st, 2012Mains, Cooking with Cranberries
This recipe is great if you’re looking for a lighter alternative to Sunday lunch, but is versatile enough to work as a mid-week meal.Recipe and Image Ocean Spray (www.oceanspray.co.uk)
Salmon with Spiced Cranberry RelishIngredients
- 1×1 1/4 pound salmon filet, 3/4 to 1 1/4 inches thick
- For the relish
- ½ pint Ocean Spray Cranberry Classic Juice Drink
- 170g pack of Ocean Spray Craisins (Sweetened Dried Cranberries)
- Small onion, finely chopped
- 1 teaspoon grated orange zest
- 3/4 teaspoon five-spice powder
- For the marinade
- 2 tablespoons soy sauce
- 2 tablespoons orange juice
- 1 teaspoon honey
Method
- Combine all the relish ingredients in a medium saucepan. Cook over a medium heat until the mixture boils, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat and simmer for 6 to 8 minutes or until the onion is tender and the mixture thickens. Allow to cool.
- Combine the soy sauce, orange juice and honey in a shallow glass dish and mix well. Add salmon, skin side up. Cover and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
- Heat grill to medium. Place salmon skin side down and grill for 20 to 30 minutes or until the salmon is opaque and flakes easily with fork.
- Cut the salmon into 4 pieces. Serve with relish.
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April 1st, 2012Mains, Cooking with Cranberries
A hearty Sunday roast and Easter feast that the whole family will love. The vegetables in the recipe can be replaced with others if you wish such as potatoes, parsnips, carrots, courgettes or aubergines. The timings giving are for cooked lamb that is still a little pink so if you prefer your meat pinker or well done, adjust the times accordingly.Recipe and Image Ocean Spray (www.oceanspray.co.uk)
Roast Leg of Lamb with Cranberry and Redcurrant JusIngredients
- 1.8kg (4lb) part-boned leg of lamb
- 4tbsp olive oil
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 6tbsp Ocean Spray redcurrant and cranberry sauce
- 1tbsp soy sauce
- 1 butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into 2.5cm /1in chunks
- 6 plum tomatoes, quartered
- 3 courgettes, chopped or sliced
- 50ml (2fl oz) port
- 1tbsp flour
- 425ml (3/4pt) lamb or beef stock
Method
- Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/gas 5. Lift the lamb into a large roasting tin and drizzle or brush with half the olive oil. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and roast for 1 hour, basting occasionally.
- Beat together 2tbsp redcurrant and cranberry sauce and the soy sauce until smooth.
- Remove the roasting tin from the oven and spread the lamb with the cranberry mixture. Add the squash and courgettes to the tin and drizzle the remaining oil over the vegetables.
- Roast for 15 minutes. Tuck the tomato quarters amongst the squash and courgettes and roast for a further 15 minutes or until the lamb is cooked to your liking.
- Transfer the joint to a carving plate and the vegetables to a serving dish. Keep both warm while you prepare the jus. Pour off any excess fat from the roasting tin and place the tin on the hob. Add the port and cook for 1 minute, scraping the bottom of the tin to incorporate any juices.
- Stir in the remaining redcurrant and cranberry sauce and heat until it dissolves. Mix the flour with a little of the stock until smooth, pour into the tin with the remaining stock and bring to the boil, stirring constantly. Pour the jus into a warmed gravy boat and serve with the carved lamb and vegetables.
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April 1st, 2012Mains, Cooking with Cranberries
This dish is just perfect for Easter Sunday lunch. Serve with mashed potatoes and a selection of seasonal greens.Recipe and Image Ocean Spray (www.oceanspray.co.uk)
Cranberry, Tomato and Thyme Crusted Rack of LambIngredients
- For the rose wine and cranberry gravy
- 1 garlic clove, crushed
- 1 bottle rosé wine
- 1 large sprig fresh thyme
- 4 tbsp Ocean Spray Wholeberry Cranberry Sauce
- 2 tsp caster sugar
- 25g/1oz butter
- For the lamb
- 2 garlic cloves
- 50g/2oz sun-dried tomatoes
- 3 tbsp Ocean Spray Wholeberry Cranberry Sauce
- 2 tsp fresh thyme leaves
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 3 racks of lamb (6 cutlets on each) chined
Method
- To make the gravy: put the garlic, rose wine and thyme into a large pan, bring to the boil and boil rapidly for 15 minutes until reduced by half. Strain, discard the thyme and return the wine to the pan. Add the Ocean Spray Wholeberry Cranberry Sauce and caster sugar and stir over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside.
- Preheat the oven to 200*C/Fan oven 180*C/ Gas mark 6. Put the garlic, sun-dried tomatoes, Ocean Spray Wholeberry Cranberry Sauce and thyme into a food processor and whizz together to a smooth paste. Season well with freshly ground black pepper.
- Trim the lamb of most of the fat. Spread the cranberry mixture firmly onto the outer side of the lamb to coat evenly. Put crust side up into a roasting tin and roast in the middle of the oven for 20 minutes for medium-rare or 30 minutes for well done, covering the crust of the lamb loosely with foil if the crust starts to burn.
- Remove the lamb from the oven and transfer to a warm plate and leave to rest in a warm place for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, pour the rose wine mixture into the roasting tin and bring to the boil, scraping up all the pan juices into the gravy. Whisk in the butter until glossy. Season to taste.
- Cut each rack of lamb into cutlets and serve with the rose wine and cranberry gravy, creamy mashed potatoes and fine green beans.
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April 1st, 2012Mains, Cooking with Cranberries
A good alternative to a traditional Sunday roast!Recipe and Image Ocean Spray (www.oceanspray.co.uk)
Turkey with Parma and Cranberry Glazed VegetablesIngredients
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 1 onion, finely chopped
- 1 tbsp fresh chopped rosemary
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 50g/2oz fine white breadcrumbs
- 3 pork sausages, skinned
- 75g/3oz walnut halves, roughly chopped
- Small handful fresh chopped parsley
- Finely grated rind of 1 lemon
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 800g Turkey breast joint
- 10 slices Parma ham
- 1 butternut squash (about 850g/1lb 14oz) peeled, seeded and cut into chunks
- 6 small parsnips, trimmed, halved and cored
- 3 carrots, trimmed, peeled and cut into chunks
- 1 large courgette, trimmed and cut into chunks
- 250g jar Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce
- Small handful fresh rosemary sprigs
Method
- Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large saucepan and sauté the onion, rosemary and garlic for 4-5 minutes until softened. Remove from the heat and allow to cool. Mix with the breadcrumbs, sausage meat, walnuts, parsley and lemon rind and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Preheat the oven to 190*C/Fan oven 170*C/ Gas mark 5. Remove and discard the skin from the turkey breast joint and cut a pocket into the side. Fill with the stuffing mixture.
- Arrange two slices of Parma ham end to end on a piece of clingfilm. Arrange the remaining Parma ham side by side to create a rectangular shape. Lay the turkey breast in the centre. Fold the two side of Parma ham over the turkey breast and then roll the turkey breast using the clingfilm to help you to completely enclose the turkey breast with the Parma ham and place in a roasting dish, cover with foil and roast for 40 minutes.
- Toss the butternut squash, parsnips and carrot with the remaining olive oil and arrange in a separate roasting dish and roast for 30 minutes.
- Toss the roasted vegetables with the rosemary sprigs, courgettes and Ocean Spray Cranberry Sauce. Remove the foil from the turkey joint and sit it on top of the roasted vegetables and return to the oven for 20 minutes.
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April 1st, 2012Starters and Light Bites
This salad is the perfect summer starter – but can be served with fresh, crusty bread for a light lunch!Recipe and Image Ocean Spray (www.oceanspray.co.uk)
Roasted Goats’ Cheese Salad with Toasted Hazelnuts and Blueberry DressingIngredients
- 250g goats’ cheese, sliced
- 4 -5 tbsp olive oil
- 2 baby gem lettuces, washed
- 100g mixed baby lettuce leaves, washed
- 50g hazelnuts, lightly toasted
- 4 tbsp Ocean Spray blueberry or blueberry light juice drink
- 1 tbsp walnut oil
- Salt and pepper
- 4 slices of sourdough bread
Method
- Pre heat oven to 200°C, fan oven 180°C, 400°F, gas mark 6
- Place the goats’ cheese on a baking tray. Drizzle the cheese with a little of the olive oil, cook for 6 minutes, or until the cheese has melted inside but retained its shape.
- Shred the baby gems and mix with the salad leaves. Add half the hazelnuts to the leaves. Lightly crush the remaining hazelnuts with your fingers and set aside.
- Gently heat the Ocean Spray blueberry juice drink in a small pan until reduced by half. Cool slightly. Whisk together with the walnut oil and four tablespoons of olive oil. Add the crushed hazelnuts and season.
- Toast the bread until golden and rip into croutons.
- Drizzle a little of the blueberry dressing over the salad and toss together.
- To serve, arrange the dressed salad onto plates. Top with the goats’ cheese and sprinkle with the croutons. Spoon over the remaining blueberry dressing and serve.
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April 1st, 2012Sweets, Easter Bakes
The taste and smell of Easter all wrapped up in a quick and easy scone loaf. Best eaten fresh with a little butter though pretty good toasted for breakfast the next day too!This Easter-themed recipe was created by Great British Bake Off finalist Holly Bell on behalf of Natural Selection, the UK’s leading independent supplier of dried fruit and nuts. You can save £1 off products in the Natural Selection range on their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/NaturalSelectionFoods.
Recipe Holly Bell and Natural Selection Foods / Image Natural Selection Foods (www.naturalselectionfoods.co.uk)
Hot Cross Scone LoafIngredients
- 225g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- Zest of 1 lemon
- Zest of 1 orange
- 50g margarine/butter, slightly soft
- 20g slithered almonds
- 40g Natural Selection cranberries
- 10g Natural Selection ginger, finely chopped
- 40g Natural Selection apricots
- 50g Natural Selection crimson raisins
- 150mls whole or semi skimmed milk
Method
- Preheat the oven to Gas 7/220C and check the rack is in the centre of the oven. Lightly grease a baking tray with a little butter or margarine.
- Mix the flour, baking powder, mixed spice and zests in a large bowl. Rub in the margarine or butter with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs. Stir the almonds, cranberries, ginger, apricots and raisins in well so they’re all coated in the flour mixture.
- Pour the milk over the mixture and pull together with a blunt table knife. Once combined use your hand to pull the scone together. The less handling the better when making scones so don’t mix or knead vigorously.
- Place the scone dough on your tray and shape with your hands into a loaf shape about 1 inch thick. Score the top with a sharp knife, about a quarter of the way down, in a zig-zag fashion to make 11 triangles (one for each Apostle to break off easily.)
- Bake immediately in your hot oven for between 20 – 25 minutes until golden all over. Dust with icing sugar if you wish. Best eaten slightly warm, delicious served with clotted cream and marmalade.
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April 1st, 2012Sweets, Easter Bakes
Quick to make, oh so moreish, and all without a sugar thermometer in sight . . . this fudge makes a great Easter gift!This Easter-themed recipe was created by Great British Bake Off finalist Holly Bell on behalf of Natural Selection, the UK’s leading independent supplier of dried fruit and nuts. You can save £1 off products in the Natural Selection range on their Facebook page: www.facebook.com/NaturalSelectionFoods.
Recipe Holly Bell and Natural Selection Foods / Image Natural Selection Foods (www.naturalselectionfoods.co.uk)
Easter Spiced FudgeIngredients
- 200g marshmallows
- 70g butter, cut into cubes the size of a thumb nail
- 200g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- Zest of one orange (no pith though!)
- 100g Natural Selection crimson sultanas
- 40g Natural Selection crystalised ginger chopped
- Small sugar eggs if you so wish
Method
- Place the marshmallows, butter, dark chocolate, ground cinnamon and orange zest into a saucepan. Heat on a low hob until completely dissolved, stirring regularly. Don’t be tempted to hurry it by turning up the heat – the chocolate will burn!
- Remove from the heat and add the sultanas and ginger, stir well and pour into a tin (approx. 24cm x 24cm) lined with greaseproof paper. Push small sugar eggs into the top if you wish then refrigerate for 2 hours. Cut into squares and serve!
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March 31st, 2012Blog
It’s not always easy to put a hot meal on the table. But follow this great time-saving tip from back-to-work mum, Dawn Cromar, and you’ll find slow cooking is ideal when you’re short of time . . .Words Dawn Cromar / Image istock
I love my slow cooker but I will admit to being quite restrictive over what I have tried to cook in it. It always tends to be a steak casserole – I might do different things with the steak, like make it into a hotpot with crispy potatoes on top or a steak pie with a layer of puff pastry sitting on top.
When a friend recommended cooking a whole chicken in the slow cooker, I was skeptical – but also a little excited! She told me that you don’t really need to add any stock or liquid to the chicken as it produces enough of its own juices while cooking. But since I was heading out to work, I did add a small amount of chicken stock to the slow cooker and set it to ‘low’.
When I got home about nine hours later (picking up children time included) the aroma in the kitchen was divine. The chicken smelled lovely.
The real problem began, however, when I tried to lift the chicken out of the slow cooker once I had the rest of my veg and trimmings ready.
The chicken was so moist and soft, that it was falling off the bones. I pinched a bit to taste it and it was lovely, really tasty. But unfortunately, I ended up losing quite a bit of the meat as it had all fallen to bits.
I strained the meat and bones through a sieve so that I could collect the stock to make a nice gravy sauce. I did manage to rescue maybe three quarters of the chicken meat itself – even the meat on the chicken and leg had fallen off the bone – but I lost the rest as it was stuck in with the bones and skin.
I wonder if cooking it for say four hours instead would give it a nicer finish – I would imagine it to still be moist and tender, but it might not fall apart to the same degree. Worth a try I think.
So my first cooking of a whole chicken in the slow cooker was semi successful – but it was really just as well I was only cooking for the four of us, or else someone may have gone hungry thanks to the wasted chicken collected in the sieve!
I decided to try a different meat again this week – this time, pork fillet. I did very little to the meat, just trimmed some of the fat but I didn’t chop it up; I just popped it into the slow cooker and added some beef stock (I didn’t have any ham stock in the cupboard!).
Again, when I returned home from work, I was greeted by a lovely smell. And when I peered into the glass lid, I did like the look of what I saw.
Again, the meat was quite difficult to pick up and serve as it was falling apart but not to the same extent the chicken had. It was really nice – served with crispy potato slices, oatmeal skirlie (a Scottish favourite), peas and broccoli; a tasty midweek dish that wouldn’t have been out of place on the table on a Sunday.
Apart from saving you time in the kitchen, slow cooking is also a great money saver as you can use cuts of meat such as stewing steak which are cheaper. And you can also keep your energy bills down by using your slow cooker to cook up one pot meals.
Simply add your meat and stock, then after three-six hours have gone by (depending on the meat), add your veg. Sturdier veg such as new potatoes, onions, carrots and turnip are best, but never leave them in there for more than a couple of hours or they’ll turn to mush.
Don’t think that you have to stick to big joints of meat and casseroles – the slow cooker is far more versatile than that and chilli and curries make very tasty slow cooked meals. Just make sure that you reduce the cooking time accordingly.
So note to self – don’t be afraid to experiment with the slow cooker!
Note from the Editor: With a fridge full of veg that was dangerously close to the use by date, I decided to throw some radishes and Brussels sprouts into my slow cooker – and they were divine! Especially the sprouts which really soaked up the meat juices.
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March 31st, 2012Features
Traditionally a time of over-indulgence, you can have a healthier Easter by following these easy ideas . . .Image istock / Words Heart UK (www.heartuk.org.uk)
One of the most common things associated with Easter is chocolate. So instead of overindulging in sweets and chocolate this year, why not treat yourself and your family to some heart-healthy treats instead?
- Avoid buying lots of chocolate for your children – instead of one large chocolate egg, choose mini chocolate eggs and hide them around the house or garden. Children will get exercise while searching for the eggs without realising it and they will end up with less chocolate then they would have with one large egg.
- Create an Easter basket for the children and include active treats like skipping ropes, hula hoops, football and /or creative treats like modelling clay or gel pens. You can include small boxes of chocolate covered raisins or dried or fresh fruit.
- Why not get one good quality dark chocolate egg for adults? There has been much recent research which reveals that dark chocolate may be beneficial for heart health. However do check the cocoa solid content of the Easter eggs because the higher the percentage of cocoa solids the better.
- Start the day off with a healthy breakfast – try breakfast cereals, porridge, bread, bagels or fruit loaf, which are all good sources of energy. Choose wholegrain varieties to ensure a good fibre intake to keep you feeling full, so you are less likely to overindulge on the chocolate.
- Limit the amount of chocolate you eat by filling up with a healthy lunch of fish or lean meat and plenty of vegetables before the chocolate comes out.
- Lamb seems to be associated with traditional Easter Sunday Lunch so make sure you choose a leaner cut. If roasting lightly drizzle the joint with olive or vegetable oil instead of lard or butter and serve with plenty of steamed vegetables. If it’s going to be a sunny Easter Sunday, ask the butcher to butterfly a leg joint so it cooks quicker and then fire up the BBQ and serve with a variety of salads.
- If you are entertaining and drinking alcohol over the Easter period, why not alternate your alcoholic drinks with non-alcoholic ones (remember if you are having fizzy drinks choose sugar free or diet varieties).
- Take advantage of the spring weather and organise an Easter egg hunt or see if there is one happening locally. It s a great way to get the children and adults out in the fresh air.
So don’t miss out on the Easter fun with the family and friends.
For more information and advice about Cholesterol and Heart Health visit www.heartuk.org.uk or email ask@heartuk.org.uk or call the helpline on 0845 450 5988 Mon-Fri 10 to 3 pm
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March 17th, 2012Accompaniments
The perfect partner for soup. Best served warm with butter.Recipe Rachel Green – (www.rachel-green.co.uk) / Image Mike Powell (www.michaelpowell.com)
Soda BreadIngredients
- 170g self-raising flour
- 170g plain flour
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 tsp dried thyme
- 1tsp bicarbonate of soda
- 300ml buttermilk
Method
- Preheat oven to 200°C/400°/Gas 6. To make the soda bread, pour the flours, salt, thyme and bicarbonate of soda into a large mixing bowl and mix together. Make a well in the centre and pour in the buttermilk, mixing quickly with a large knife to form a soft dough.
- Turn onto a lightly floured surface and briefly knead. Form into a large ball and flatten the dough slightly before placing on a lightly floured baking sheet.
- Cut a cross on the top and bake for approximately 20 - 30 minutes or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on a wire rack and serve with the soup.