It's a simple recipe which basically cooks itself into a tender juicy pot roast with beautiful flavours . . . fork tender it is.   Absolutely delicious.  I got the recipe from off a packet of dry onion soup mix back in the 1970's and have tweaked it through the years to make it my own.   An improvement on the original, which was really very good to begin with I think.



I cook the beef on a bed of carrots, onions and swede, which help to flavour the resulting gravy . . . and give you the added bonus of deliciously cooked vegetables to serve up with your meat.  Sometimes I mash some of them into the gravy for added flavour.


I like meals like this . . . they cook themselves.  They're economical.   They're delicious and they're easy to do.  I like to serve some peas and mashed potatoes on the side, which pleases my meat and potatoes loving husband to no end!  Using this gravy mix added a slightly different flavour to the finished dish, which we both quite enjoyed and which may come a regular thing from now on!




Place the onions, carrots and swede in the bottom of a roasting casserole that has a tight lid.  Nestle the brisket amongst them.  Sprinkle the dry onion soup mix over all, along with the pepper, and thyme.  Add the beef stock and enough apple juice so that the liquid comes halfway up the sides of the roast.  Cover tightly.

Roast in the preheated oven for 1/2 hour, then reduce the temperature to 165*C/325*F/ gas mark 3.  Continue to roast without disturbing for about an hour and a half.   At the end of that time, flip the roast over carefully.  Recover and roast for another hour and a half. (Check periodically to make sure it is not going dry.   Don't worry if the liquid is reducing somewhat.  That's ok.  You just don't want it to go dry.)  Flip the roast for a final time and cook for a further hour to hour and a half until the roast is very tender.  Remove the roast and vegetables from the pan, leaving any cooking juices in the pan, and discarding the bay leaf. Tent with foil to rest and help to keep it warm for about 20 minutes.  Add the boiling water and then whisk in the gravy mix.  Cook on top of the stove to thicken.  Taste and adjust seasoning as desired.  Serve the roast cut into slices along with a portion of the vegetables for each person.  We like to have mashed potatoes with this.

Alternately - if you can't get any gravy mix you may shake together 3 TBS of flour in a jar with 125ml (1/2 cup) of cold water in a jar until smooth and whisk it into the hot pan juices and boiling water.  Cook, stirring constantly until the mixture bubbles and thickens.   Taste and adjust seasoning as required.

Alternately you can layer this in a nice shallow bowl for dipping or spreading on crackers, leaving out the appetizer cups.



They also have a line of veggie pastry cups. These ones were shaped like little flower baskets and were a lovely pink/red colour.  Again there was no real jarring flavour from the cups.  They went very well with the pizza type filling I created for them.

Pidy’s newest retail range the Veggie cups are available in four flavours beetroot, carrot, spinach and celeriac and come in packs of 12. The four flavours capture the true nature, colour and essence of the vegetables as they are made with 30% real vegetable juice extract and no E numbers or artificial colours. The canapés are also made with Pâté à Foncer dough which is lighter and contains 50% less fat than standard pastry.

Again, they were very crisp and the shape and color made for a very pretty little presentation.

 


Alternately this can be spread into a shallow dish and layered like a dip and served with crisp bread sticks or crackers.  I would double the amounts in this case.



Finally I was sent these Vol-au-Vents Pastries.  Crisp puff pastry shells, perfectly baked and waiting for me to fill them with my chosen filling.   These were the perfect size for a first course and so I created a tasty spinach, cranberry, red onion and blue cheese filling to serve in them. 

 


Melt the butter in a large skillet.  Add the red onions and cook, stirring over medium heat until softened.  Begin adding the spinach a handful at a time, cooking just to wilt.  Stir in the dried cranberries and heat through.  Season to taste with salt and coarsely ground black pepper.  Divide the mixture equally amongst the pastry cups.  Top each with an equal portion of the blue cheese crumbles.  Pop into the oven to heat through and melt the cheese.  Serve immediately.



Pidy manufacture a huge variety of products, including savoury pastries for main course, sweet pastry cases, dessert products, canapés and ready to fill pastries. For further details go to their website or follow them on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.

You can buy these fab products on Amazon.uk as well as in select farm and garden shops throughout the UK.

Divorce is a funny thing.   You not only lose your spouse but in most cases you lose an entire branch of people that have been your family for a very long time, as if by still associating with you they are being disloyal or some such.  Fair dues.  I completely understand.   This is my ex sister in law's recipe that she shared with me eons ago it seems.  It's the best bean salad you could ever eat.   I love it around the holidays because it goes great on the buffet table, lasts forever and tastes better with each day that passes.  Oh, and it serves a lot of people!  The lime juice is my addition to the recipe.  I like the extra tang it gives.



I dug it out and made it recently for a party we were having at church for the ladies.   Each had been asked to bring a salad to share and I thought this would be the perfect one to bring as it makes a lot and everyone always loves it.



I was completely wrong.   I was the only one who ate any of it.   The British don't seem to understand bean salad.   To them it's like eating a kangaroo, or an armadillo . . . maybe even snake.   They avoided it like the plague.  Nobody else touched it at all.   I was quite fascinated by their disdain of it actually.  Perhaps someone can enlighten me?  In any case, this is the best bean salad ever.   And I stand by that statement.  Unless you are a Brit, in which case, it's extremely suspect and to be avoided at all costs! ha ha



Whisk all of the ingredients together for the dressing in a large bowl.  Taste and adjust seasoning as necessary.   Dump in all of the well drained tins of beans along with the chopped vegetables.   Toss to coat. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for several hours to allow the flavours to meld, giving them a stir every so often.  (This is a salad which gets better with sitting.  In fact I usually make it the night before I want to serve it, storing it in a well sealed plastic box and giving it a good shake every so often.)  Use a slotted spoon to serve.

One thing that I like to make each Christmas is Peanut Brittle.  It's easy to make and makes a nice hostess gift if you are invited out.  I have never had anyone turn their nose up at a pretty little box of it yet!



Making it in the microwave takes all the guess work out of it.  It goes together easily and always turns out.  I have never had it fail.   Just be sure to check it frequently and if you think it is getting too brown, stop.  It should never be more than a golden brown.



It's made in less than 10 minutes, and that is 10 easy minutes where you aren't standing laborously over a stove, stirring and watching.  The microwave does all the work.  The only thing you need to be careful of is that you use a glass bowl that is truly microwaveable safe and that you use oven mits taking it out of the microwave.  Glass conducts heat very well and this is candy.  Candy is hot.



Also be very sure to take great care in handling the sugar mixture, once again . . . it's really hot and it will stick to your skin, so do please be very careful.  I would hate for anyone to get burnt badly.



This year I added a chocolate dip to mine . . . if there is anything that tastes better than homemade peanut brittle . . . it's homemade peanut brittle dipped in chocolate.  Semi sweet chocolate flavoured with peanut butter.  



Oh baby.  This is good.  I may have to make another batch to give away!  This first batch seems to be shrinking rather quickly.  Oh I do so love the Holiday Season, don't you!




Place the chocolate pieces into a smaller microwaveable bowl.  Cook on high for 1 to 2 minutes, until the chocolate melts when stirred.   Stir in the peanut butter until it melts.  Dip half of each piece of peanut brittle into the chocolate, scraping any excess off on the edge of the bowl.  Place on a wire rack to set.  Alternately you can let it set in the refrigerator.  



Note:  If you are not fond of chocolate and peanut butter, then just leave that final bit out and just make the brittle.  Store in an airtight container.

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4.   Line several baking sheets with baking parchment.  Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface, using a floured rolling pin, to 1/4 inch thickness.  Cut out the cookies to your desired preference and place onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 1 1/2 inches between each.   Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through the baking time.  They should be firm and lightly golden brown around the edges. Allow to stand on the baking sheets for several minutes before scooping off to a wire rack to finish cooling completely.  Reroll scraps and repeat until all the dough is used. Store in an airtight container.



The cookie cutters I used to make these are the set of Tala  5 star cookie cutters.   There are five to the set in graduating sizes from only 1 1/2 inches to four inches in diameter.   They were easy to use and are dishwasher proof.   They also store easily, fitting snuggly together.



Available at all good cook shops for approximately £4.99.  I highly recommend.

I have always been a fan of Leerdammer cheese.   Sweet and nutty it's long been a choice of  mine for in salads and sandwiches . . . and yes, I confess, I have even been known to just snack on it neat . . . without anything else.  It just has a nice mellow flavour which I enjoy.  That's why when I was recently asked would I like to participate in the Leerdammer Toastie Challenge, I jumped at the chance!

 

I was sent several packs of the new Leerdammer Toastie cheese and challenged to come up with a new toastie sandwich.   This new Toastie cheese is creamier than the original and comes in a new square shape, the perfect size for fitting into a toastie.  The original sweet and nutty flavours remain!



First I played with it a bit, creating a panini pressed sandwich, which had several slices of the leerdammer toastie slices, along with some sliced Italian ham, some grainy mustard and a pickled red onion relish, and whilst it was good . . . I felt it was lacking in some way.  It wasn't quite pushing all of my taste buttons and so I went back to the drawing board.



I decided to stick with the panini bun because I like their texture . . . crisp and yet chewy.   I love a toasted panini, don't you?



Something smokey goes really well with the sweet and nutty flavour of Leerdammer cheese, but the ham wasn't quite doing it so I scrapped that as well and decided to go with something a bit smokier and a tad sweet . . . rich dry cured smoked streaky bacon.   Cooked until crisp . . . 4 rashers because I am greedy that way.



I liked the idea of the pickled onions, but they were too sharp I thought and so I decided to replace them with a really good red onion marmalade.  I had a jar of this particular brand in my larder just waiting to be opened and this is what I chose, but you could use another brand if you wanted to, or even make your own from scratch.   There is a lovely recipe on the BBC Good Food page.



The red onion marmalade added just the right touch.  It is sweet, but not cloyingly so . . . there is just a small hint of sour and a smack of spiciness that goes so well with the bacon and that creamy sweet nutty cheese . . .



So . . . with each bite you get the crisp chewy panini bread . . . buttery (or if you really feel hedonistic, you can pan grill it in the bacon fat from cooking the bacon.  mmmm . . . I was and I did.), the sharp sweetness from that lovely red onion marmalade, the crisp smoky saltiness of that lovely bacon  . . .  all intermingled with that oozingly rich sweet and nutty Leerdammer!



In short, this was a toastie that rang all my bells and tooted all my whistles!  This was a winner/winner toastie dinner!  I just adored it, and I think you will too!  To me, this is the perfect Toastie!  Oh so incredibly scrumdiddlyumptiously good.  The perfectly tasty toastie!



First cook the bacon.  Place it into a cold nonstick skillet and cook according to your preference.  I like mine just a tad crispy, but still a bit flimsy.  Others may want their totally crisped.   Once cooked, drain well on paper towels.  Spread the bottom slice of the panini bun with the onion marmalade.  Top with one slice of Leerdammer, cut into halves diagonally and placed slightly overlapping over the onion marmalade.  Top with the cooked bacon and then top the bacon with another slice of the Leerdammer, again cut into halve diagonally and placed slightly overlapping.  Place the top half of the panini bun over all.   Lightly butter both sides of the panini.  Heat a clean skillet (or a panini press) to medium high.  Add the panini, top side down first.   Grill for  several minutes until just toasted.  Flip the panini over so that the top is upright and continue to toast in the pan until the bottom is golden brown and the cheese has melted and is all gooey.   Remove from the pan and cut into half diagonally to enjoy.   Delicious!



Don't be surprised if you are addicted at first bite!  Many thanks to the Leerdammer people for sending me this wonderful toastie cheese and inspiring me to stretch my creative toastie wings!

Leerdammer Toastie is the latest addition to the Leerdammer range, which also included the original and light slices, as well as the original block.  Leerdammer Toastie is now available nationwide in Tesco, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Waitrose and Asda, prices at a RRP of £1.75 for a pack of six slices.

Sometimes the nicest things drop through my mailbox, and certain times of the year it gets more exciting than ever.  I was especially excited the other day when I opened a box to find this tasty treat inside!

 

It was a personalized stocking, just for me and filled with lots of little packages . . . but what could they be.  Why cheese of course and a very timely arrival as well!  As we all know there is nothing tastier or more welcome during the holidays than a deliciously appointed cheeseboard to share with your guests!

I am no stranger to the wonderful cheeses which are produced by Castello Cheese.  I often buy their Danish Blue, which is one of my favourites when it comes to blue cheeses.  Here is what I found inside all of those lovely little festive packages . . .



Not one, but two packages of their lovely Danish Blue . .  the Traditional and the Extra Creamy.  A creamy blue cheese, bursting with flavour and thick with blue veins.  This has always been my choice when making my homemade Blue Cheese Salad Dressings . . . and an absolute favourite with my Baby Gems Salad.





*Little Gems With a Blue Cheese Dressing*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

This is one of my favourite salads. Simple ingredients, complex flavours. It all adds up to a truly delicious salad. Just perfect for these warmer days.

2 TBS cider vinegar
2 TBS heavy cream
3 1/2 ounces extra virgin olive oil
2 ounces blue cheese
2 fat little gem lettuces
2 spring onions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
1 TBS sugar
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Whisk the vinegar and cream together with a little seasoning. Whisk in the sugar until it dissolves. Gradually whisk in the olive oil. Fold in the cheese.

Wash the lettuces and dry them really well. Cut the lettuces into wedges lengthwise and fan them out on 4 chilled salad plates. Drizzle over the dressing, dividing it equally amongst the salads. Sprinkle evenly with the spring onions. Serve immediately.



*Blue Cheese Salad Dressing*
Makes 10 servings
Printable Recipe

One of my favourite salad dressings is Blue Cheese.  You can't get a decent one in the shops and so I prefer to make my own.  Marks and Spencer used to do a really good one, but you can't buy it anymore, well, at least not around here anyways!  Plan ahead as this tastes better upon sitting overnight.

1 cup good quality Mayonnaise
1 cup sour cream
1/2 to 3/4 cup buttermilk
1/2 tsp ground white pepper
2 TBS grated onion
4-5 drops of Tabasco sauce
1 TBS lemon juice
1 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
1/2 tsp salt
a dash of cayenne pepper
1 clove of garlic, peeled and minced
2 tsp white sugar
6 ounces blue cheese, crumbled

Whisk together the mayonnaise, sour cream and buttermilk, adding as much of the buttermilk as you need to give it a good consistency.  You want it to be pourable.  Whisk in the remaining ingredients.  Mix thoroughly.  Cover and chill for 24 hours before serving.  You may need to add a bit of regular milk if it is too thick.  Taste and adjust seasoning before serving.



Castello Creamy Blue . . . Sharp and salty this blue is perfect with salty nuts, crisp digetives and sweet fruits such as sweet cherries, figs,  juicy grapes . . .



Castello Creamy White . . . a cheese which has a wonderfully creamy texture and buttery taste, not unlike that of Brie, but unlike a traditional Brie, it has a consistently soft texture.  Oh so good . . .



Included as well a lovely little Castello Pineapple Halo.  Filled with alluring chunks of pineapple and chopped papaya and rolled in toasted almonds, this is lucious and almost incredibly impossible to resist, spread upon a crisp cracker, or onto sticks of crisp celery.  Delicious!

 

The Toddster insists that no good cheeseboard would be complete without a nice slab of cheddar, and I would have to agree.   Included in my lovely stocking was a nice package of the newest member of the Castello family . . . Tickler Cheddar!    This is an award winning extra mature cheddar with a sweet, strong and tangy taste which is bound to impress any cheese connoisseur.  With it's distinctive taste and slightly crumbly texture  this was the real prize in my stocking!  Produced at the Taw Valley creamery, Devon and matured for up to 18 months, this was fabulously tasty and the one I find myself slicing a little sliver off of each time I pass the refrigerator.   It's a good-un!



I prepared and served a lot of cheeseboards during my stint as a personal Chef down South.  Every dinner party ended with a delicious cheeseboard after their dessert.   Here is what I learned through my experiences and my top tips for you to have the best cheese board ever.

1.  Make sure your board includes a nice variety of cheeses.  A good cheddar is a must, as is something creamy for spreading . . . a nice blue, something fruity, something sharp, something smelly and covered in ash for interest.  Just don't over do it.   Three or four different cheeses is a perfect balance.

2.  Allow all of your cheeses to come to room temperature before serving.   This helps to bring out the very best of their flavours.

3.  A bit of fruit is always welcome . . .  quartered figs and sliced crisp apples and ripe pears,  sweet grapes in more than one colour.  (Be sure not to forget your grape scissors to your guests can clip off their own little clusters.)

4.  Something salty . . . smoked almonds, roasted cashews, toasted walnut halves . . . all great.

5.  Something different to jazz things up . . . crystalized ginger, some honey comb, pickled walnuts.

6.  A nice variety of crisp breads and crackers.  There are so many nice ones out there today to choose from.  Don't forget the Digestives either . . . these are usually the ones which disappear the fastest!  You can get then in finger shapes, which are a really good size and not as crumbly as the big round ones.

7.  Have fun!

Many thanks to Castello Cheese for sending me this lovely assortment of cheeses in it's fun stocking!  To find out more about them and see their whole range and to find out more about stockists, be sure to check out the Castello Home Page.   

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