The best sausage rolls ever!

These sausage rolls are from Delia Smith's Christmas recipe book - one of the NSLM's Mom favourite cooks and the NSLM's Mom loves making them, especially at Christmas. They can be made in bulk and frozen and are great to have in the freezer when lots of people call around. They can just be taken from the freezer and defrosted at room temperature for about an hour and heated in the oven for 5 mins.

The problem in this house is that they never last long enough in the kitchen to get into the freezer!

For the pastry
Ingredients
175g butter
225g plain flour
a pinch of salt
cold water to mix
(or you can use 400g of ready-made puff pastry)

For the filling
450g good-quality pork sausagemeat
1 medium onion, grated
4 tablespoons chopped sage leaves
1 egg, beaten, to glaze

Step 1
The butter should go into the freezer for 30-45 mins to its rock-hard. Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl and grate the butter into the bowl over the flour. Keep dipping the butter down into the flour to make it easier to grate.

Step 2
Take a palette knife and start to mix the grated butter into the flour - don't use your hands. Try and coat all the pieces of butter with the flour until the mixture is crumbly. Then add enough water to form a dough that leaves the bowl clean, using your hands to bring it all together. Put the dough in a polythene bag and chill for 30 mins in the fridge.

Step 3
To make the sausage rolls, mix the sausagemeat, onion and sage together in a mixing bowl. Then roll out the pastry on a floured surface to form an oblong approx 42 x 30cm. Cut this oblong into three strips 42 x 10cm and divide the sausagemeat also into three, making three long rolls the same length as the strips of pastry.

Step 4
Place one roll of sausagemeat on to one strip of pastry. Brush the beaten egg along one edge, then fold the pastry over and seal it as carefully as possible. Lift it up and turn it so the sealed edge is underneath. Press lightly, and cut into individual rolls each about 5cm long. Snip three V shapes in the top of each roll with a scissors and brush with beaten egg.

Step 5
Place the rolls on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. Remove to wire rack to cool.

They're so yummy they won't stay around long!!



we took a photo of them baking in the oven the other day and meant to take a photo of them cooked, but they were all gone with a few minutes!

These sausage rolls are wonderful with Delia Smith pickled onions! We'll be back with that recipe tomorrow!

Our Christmas pudding recipe!

Well, okay we know this should be made two months in advance and we did make some a month ago but really it can still be made now and will be great on Christmas Day!

This makes 4 x 450g puddings ...

Ingredients
450g sultanas
450g currants
450g raisins
100g glace cherries (halved)
450g brown sugar
275g breadcrumbs
275g self-raising flour
2 teaspoons mixed spice
1 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
225g nibbed almonds
110g mixed peel (whole peel chopped)
350g butter, melted
6 eggs
grated zest and juice of 2 oranges
1 small bottle of Guiness
a little milk (optional)
2 tablespoons of whiskey (Irish, of course!)

Step 1
Wash the sultanas, currants, raisins and cherries. Place the sugar, flour, spices, almonds and mixed peel in a large bowl and mix well. Melt the butter and beat the eggs lightly. Add the butter, eggs, orange juice and zest and Guinness to the dry mix and stir thoroughly. If the mixture seems a little dry, moisten with milk.

Step 2
Spoon into four 450g pudding bowls and cover with a lid. If using delph bowls, place a double piece of parchment paper over the bowl, followed by a double piece of tin foil and tie down with string. Steam for 4-5 hours, then leave pudding to go cold. Remove the lid and wash it. Spray the pudding with whiskey and cover with a clean lid.

On Christmas Day, place the pudding in a pot on a raised metal ring (like a large cutter) and pour in enough boiling water to reach 2/3 up the sides of the pudding basin. Simmer over a gentle heat for 1.5 hours making sure it does not boil dry.


With thanks to the Avoca Cafe Cookbook 2 for this recipe. Murray's Mom has used this recipe for six years with great success. She doesn't like suet in her Christmas pudding so this recipe suits her perfectly.

We do add in extra cherries (double the amount given) because we love them!

We don't include the almonds (someone in the house doesn't like them)

Any whiskey or bourbon will do (of course!)

But you must use a small bottle or can of Guinness!

Our green tomato chutney ...

Okay, we're back with the food recipes - today, we'll start back with a very simple recipe!

Green tomato chutney

Makes approximately 4 jars

Prep time: less than 30 mins

Cooking time: 30 mins to 1 hour

Ingredients
15g /1/2oz root ginger
8-10 chillies
2kg/4lb green tomatoes, chopped
500g/1lb apples, peeled, cored and chopped
250g/8oz raisins, chopped
625g/1 1/4lb shallots, chopped
2 tsp salt
500g/1lb brown sugar
570ml/1 pint malt vinegar

Step 1
Bruise the ginger and tie in a muslin bag with the chillies
Step 2
Place all the other ingredients in a preserving pan and suspend the muslin bag among them
Step 3
Bring to the boil, stirring until the sugar has dissolved, and simmer until the desired consistency is reached.
Step 4
Remove the muslin bag. Pour into warmed sterilised jars, cover and label.

A great recipe from Keith Floyd from Floyd on Britain and Ireland

Those quantities made the three jars above! It was delicious - it went so quickly, eaten with cheese, cold meats and spiced beef.

We'll be back tomorrow with our Plum Pudding recipe with Guinness - we promise Persephone and Buster!

We'll keep the recipes for another day!

Well, we did have lots more recipes to post - lots of traditional Irish Halloween treats and we had even thought about our Christmas recipes - we do a lot of cooking at Christmas.

However, we need to take a break so apologies for no more recipes for a while .....

Maggie & Mitch - we never got to put up our 'green chutney' recipe - sorry!! We did want to share that with you. Maybe again in the future ....

Until then ...

Our Garlic Chicken!

You will need:
900g (2 lb) chicken thighs with bone in
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons plain flour
3 tablespoons groundnut oil
15 whole garlic cloves, unpeeled (although we use 30 or 40!!)
2 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry
1 tablespoon light soy sauce
3 tablespoons Chicken stock or water (although we use a little more - we like lots of sauce!)
Step 1
Blot the chicken thighs dry with chicken paper, sprinkle them evenly with the salt and pepper, then sprinkle withe the flour, shaking off any excess.
Step 2
Heat a wok or large frying pan over a high heat until it is hot. Add the oil and, when it is very hot and slightly smoking, turn the heat to low. Add the chicken skin-side down and slowly brown on both sides for about 10 minutes.

Step 3
Drain off all the excess fat, add the garlic and stir-fry for 2 mintues. Then add the Shaoxing rice wine or dry sherry, soy sauce and stock or water. Turn the heat to low as possible, cover and braise for 20 minutes until the chicken is tender.

Step 4
When the chicken and garlic are cooked, sprinkle with chives and serve at once!

This is a really yummy recipe (provided you like garlic!). If we feel any little chill or sneeze coming on - we immediately make it and eat plenty of the garlic cloves which are delicious when they are cooked. Clive is particularly fond of some of the chicken (taken off the bone for him) and mixed in with some plain rice.

This dish serves 4 and with best served with plain rice and another vegetable dish.

Strawberry Meringue Roulade!

You will need:
4 large egg whites
225g / 8oz caster sugar
300ml / 1/2 pint double cream, whipped
450g / 1lb strawberries, sliced
Extra whipping cream and strawberries to decorate

Step 1
Line a 30x20cm / 12 x 8 inch swiss roll tin with baking parchment. Put the egg whites and half the caster sugar into a bowl and use an electric whisk to whisk to snowy peaks. We also put in a drop of white vinegar - helps the meringue to stiffen!


Step 2
Then gradually add the remaining sugar, continuing to whisk for 10-15 minutes, until it forms stiff peaks. (How you know it is stiff enough is when you can hold the bowl over your head and it doesn't fall out!! - Murray would only place the bowl on his head!!) Spread the mixture into the tin and bake for 1 hour in an oven preheated to 150 degrees celius/300 degrees Fahrenheit/gas mark 2.

Remove from the oven and cool. Turn out on to a fresh sheet of baking parchment and carefully peel off the lining paper. Spread over the cream and strawberries and roll up. Then decorate the top with more cream and strawberries!

A really simple dessert and a great way to use up egg whites!

That Guinness ice-cream!

Ice-cream with Guinness - it's really yummy!

We had got several requests for the Guinness ice-cream that we made to celebrate Arthur's Day - here's the recipe ...

You will need:
6 egg yolks
125g (4oz) light muscovado sugar
300ml (1/2 pint) single cream
150ml (1/4 pint) draught GUINNESS
2 x 40g (2 x 11/2oz) crunchie bars (or any chocolate covered honeycomb bar), chopped
Step 1
Put the egg yolks and sugar in a large ovenproof bowl sitting over a saucepan of simmering water, making sure that the bottom of the bowl is not touching the water. Stir until the sugar has dissolved, then remove from the heat.
Step 2
Heat the cream and Guinness in a non-stick saucepan to just below boiling point - don't worry if the mixture looks slightly curdled at this stage. Pour over the egg yolk and sugar mixture, beating well with a balloon whisk.Step 3
Return the mixture to the non-stick pan and cook over the lowest possible heat, sitting constantly, until the custard starts to thicken and coats the back of the spoon. This can take about 10 minutes and up to 20 minute (don't panic!)
Step 4
Pour the mixture back into the heatproof bowl and leave to cool completely, then stir in the chopped crunchie bars. Turn the ice-cream into a shallow plastic container and freeze for 2 hours, then remove it from the freezer and stir well. Return to the freezer until completely frozen.


Step 5
Remove the ice cream from the freezer and leave at room temperature for a few minutes to soften slightly before serving.

Enjoy!!

Preparation time: 30 minutes, plus freezing (more with Clive and Murray helping!!)
Cooking time: 15-20 minutes
Serves: 4


The not-so-little man's mum originally got this recipe from Guinness - An Official Celebration of 250 Remarkable Years. It's a great book detailing the history of Guinness, famous Guinness Adverts and of course, lots of yummy Guinness recipes.

She makes it at the same time as making her strawberry meringue roulade so she can use up the egg whites in the roulade.