4-5 cups raspberries, washed
3 cups sugar
Put the raspberries in a heavy saucepan and cook gently for 15 minutes, squashing down with a potato masher. Add sugar and bring to the boil. Simmer gently then put in a sugar thermometer. Continue to cook until it reaches 100 degrees, stirring regularly. Remove from the heat and put into sterilised jars. Keep it in the fridge.
BEEF STOCK
1 bag of beef bones (from the butcher). I'm not sure of the weight, just what will fit into your stockpot. Try and get some knuckle bones and some with marrow which will add gelatin.
Olive oil
2 onions, not peeled, cut into quarters
2 large carrots, cut into chunks
Celery tops if you can get them or 2 sticks of celery cut into chunks
2 cloves garlic, not peeled
handful of parsley (use leaves and stems)
2 bay leaves
10 or so peppercorns
Preheat the oven to 190. Place bones, onions and carrots in a large roasting tray and drizzle with olive oil.
Roast in the oven for about 45 minutes until nicely browned.
Pour the whole lot into the stock pot, getting all the brown bits off the bottom of the pan. Add the celery, garlic, parsley, bay leaves and peppercorns. Fill the pot up with water and bring to a gentle simmer, reduce to low and do not let it boil madly, use a simmer pad if you have one, and cook for 3-6 hours.
Skim the stock every now and then but do not stir the stock while it's cooking.
Cook for as long as you can then take out the bones and strain the stock into a large bowl, cool and refrigerate. Remove any fat that has set on the top (don't be too fussy, the fat has flavour too) and put into containers to refrigerate or freeze. It keeps for 3-4 days in the fridge.
This is what happens if you go off and do something else and it boils a bit too hard:
See how it is a bit cloudy....try not to do this, although the flavour is just as good. Five hundred times better than those crappy dried stock cubes you get from the supermarket.
MARINATED LAMB CHOPS
This is a good way to groove up some chops and a good one for summer. This amount should do about 8 chops.
2 tblsp crab apple or quince jelly
2 tblsp homemade tomato sauce
2 tblsp soy sauce
2 tblsp brown sugar
1 tblsp dry mustard (or you can use dijon)
1 dessp Worcestershire sauce
Put the chops in a large dish. Mix all marinade ingredients together and pour over chops.
Leave in the fridge for as long as possible, half an hour is about the minimum, all day is good.
Cook on the barbeque.
SLOW COOKED LAMB
I usually slow cook lamb legs or shoulders that have been in the freezer, or are somewhat older than what could be classed as "lamb". You really need a bit of moisture in the pan when slow cooking. This recipe is similar to the one Maggie Beer adapted from Skye Gyngell.
1 leg or shoulder of lamb
olive oil
4 cloves garlic (left whole)
3 shallots
2 sprigs of rosemary
1 1/2 cups white wine
either 1/4 cup red wine vinegar or 3 tblsp balsamic and 1 teasp sugar (the balsamic gives a much deeper and richer flavour)
s & p
Heat the oven to 150c. Trim the lamb and season well.
Heat a heavy roasting pan over a medium heat and when hot add a tablespoon of olive oil and put in the lamb. Brown well on all sides.
Take the lamb out and return the pan to the heat, turn it down. Add the garlic and shallots to the pan and soften gently, then add the rosemary. Pour over the wine and bubble away, reducing slightly. Add whichever vinegar you prefer and put the lamb back. Cover with foil and cook in the oven for 3-4 hours. If it is drying out, add a slosh of water. Take the foil off for the last hour or so.
Carve the lamb and pour over the remaining juices.
CHOCOLATE ICE CREAM
100g milk chocolate, broken into bits (you can use dark, or a mix of both, my kids prefer milk)
1/4 cup cream
2 eggs plus one yolk
3/4 cup castor sugar
1 1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups cream extra
Melt the chocolate and cream in a small saucepan, stirring until melted and smooth. Set aside.
Put the milk in a saucepan and bring nearly to the boil. (Keep an eye on it as it boils over quickly)
Using and electric mixer mix the eggs and yolk with the sugar until white and creamy (this will take a couple of minutes, scrape down the side as you go).
Slowly pour the milk into the mixer with the beaters on low to mix in.
Return the mix to the pan and heat, stirring constantly, until thickened. Do not let it boil.
Add the chocolate and the extra cream and pour into a container. At this stage Matt would say add a pinch of salt to bring out the chocolate flavour. Put it in the fridge until cool.
Churn in ice cream machine according to instructions.
100g milk chocolate, broken into bits (you can use dark, or a mix of both, my kids prefer milk)
1/4 cup cream
2 eggs plus one yolk
3/4 cup castor sugar
1 1/2 cup milk
1 1/2 cups cream extra
Melt the chocolate and cream in a small saucepan, stirring until melted and smooth. Set aside.
Put the milk in a saucepan and bring nearly to the boil. (Keep an eye on it as it boils over quickly)
Using and electric mixer mix the eggs and yolk with the sugar until white and creamy (this will take a couple of minutes, scrape down the side as you go).
Slowly pour the milk into the mixer with the beaters on low to mix in.
Return the mix to the pan and heat, stirring constantly, until thickened. Do not let it boil.
Add the chocolate and the extra cream and pour into a container. At this stage Matt would say add a pinch of salt to bring out the chocolate flavour. Put it in the fridge until cool.
Churn in ice cream machine according to instructions.
Rhubarb Pudding Serves 8
6 stalks of rhubarb
3 pears, peeled, cored and sliced into wedges
1 tblsp brown sugar
zest of one orange
200g castor sugar
185g butter, diced
3 eggs
1 teasp vanilla essence
150g self-raising flour, sifted
2 tablespoons almond meal
75ml buttermilk (normal milk is ok)
Roughly chop rhubarb and place in a saucepan with brown sugar and 150ml water. Cover and cook for 5 minutes, then add the pears and cook for a further 4 minutes. You don't want the rhubarb to collapse completely. Taste and add more sugar if necessary (it will depend on the rhubarb, I added a tablespoon of my mother-in-law's loganberry jam, you could use strawberry or raspberry, entirely up to you). Add the orange zest and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 180. Cream the butter and castor sugar until pale and beat in the eggs one at a time with the vanilla until smooth. Gently fold in flour, almond meal and milk.
Strain the fruit and reserve the excess syrup in a jug. Put the fruit into a baking dish and spoon the batter gently over the top. Bake for 40 minutes until golden and cooked through (check with a skewer).
Serve with ice cream or cream and pour over the reserved syrup.
I made the Orange and Cardomom Ice Cream from Stephanie Alexander's Cook's Companion which went with it beautifully.
