Tuesday 30 December 2014

Christmas recipes

Well now that the dust has settled I wanted to do a post of the recipes and things I made over the festive period so I can remember for next year.

Firstly, cranberry sauce.  Yes, you can buy this and there are some lovely ones but I love it and it's so easy to make and just so much better than shop bought stuff.  Even my brother waxes lyrical about this and he doesn't do waxing.  You know what I mean.

Cranberry Lushness
200g cranberries
170g sugar (caster or granulated)
Juice and zest of one clementine or satsuma
Port
Water

Juice the clementine into a jug, and top up the liquid to 2oz with port.  Then add in 2oz of water.
Add that mix to the cranberries along with the sugar and zest in a saucepan.
Bring to a rolling boil and cook for approximately 5 mins, you'll know when the mixture becomes thick and syrupy, some of the cranberries will still be whole but most should be a delicious, jammy mush.
Allow to cool and store in the fridge.

I did turkey and ham, with the following glaze which I will be making again it was fantastic, both on the ham and drizzled over when cold.

Morello Cherry Glaze

1 jar of morello cherry conserve (not jam, you want one with a high fruit content)
1 tspn heaped of mixed spice
2 tblsps dark muscovado

Mix the ingredients and warm in a saucepan until they are well combined.
Cook your ham as per the instructions/your preference.
30 mins before the end of cooking removed the skin and as much or little fat from the ham as you wish
Pour over glaze coating the ham well, but don't use all of it just enough to provide cover.
Put in the oven for 15 mins at 180c for a fan oven, 200c for a non fan version.
Remove and pour over more glaze, return for another 15 mins.

Serve hot or cold with remaining glaze.

I'll post some more stuff but those two were the ones I really wanted to set down for future use.