Mulled apple juice

 

Ingredients

• 1l apple juice
• strips of orange peel
• 1 cinnamon stick, plus extra to garnish, if you like
• 3 cloves
• sugar or honey, to taste
• Prep: 5 mins Cook: 10 mins
  Easy
  Serves 8

  Method

  1. Simmer the apple juice with the strips of orange peel, cinnamon stick and cloves for about 5-10 mins until all the flavours have infused. Sweeten to taste.
  2. Serve each drink with a little orange peel and a piece of cinnamon stick, if you like.

Rhubarb crumble muffins

 

Ingredients

For the muffin mix

• 175g caster sugar
• 175g rhubarb, halved lengthways then diced
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 125ml buttermilk
• 200g plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

For the crumble topping

• 50g light muscovado sugar
• 50g plain flour
• 25g porridge oats
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 50g butter
• Prep: 25 mins Cook: 15 mins - 18 mins
  Easy
  12

  Method

  1. Heat oven to 220C/200C fan/gas 7. Line a 12-hole muffin tin with paper muffin cases. Stir the sugar and rhubarb together and set aside while you make the crumble topping. Mix together the muscovado sugar with the flour, oats and cinnamon, then rub in the butter until clumpy with your fingertips.
  2. Stir the oil and egg, vanilla and buttermilk into the sugary rhubarb (don’t worry if it’s a little bit juicy). Now, add the flour, baking powder and bicarbonate of soda and stir well.
  3. Quickly spoon into the cases, then scatter each with a thick layer of the crumble mixture. Bake for 15-18 mins until golden and a cocktail stick poked into the centre of a muffin comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Coffee cocktails & star biscuits

 

 

Ingredients

For the star biscuits

• 200g soft butter
• 140g caster sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 280g plain flour, plus a little extra for rolling

For the cocktails (per person)

• 50ml strong coffee, cooled
• 1 tbsp Kahlúa
• 2 tbsp double cream
• cocoa powder, for dusting 
  Prep: 20 mins Cook: 15 mins
  Easy
  Makes 40 biscuits

  Method

  1. Stir together the butter, sugar, egg yolk and vanilla using a wooden spoon. Stir in the flour – you might need to get your hands in at the end. Tip onto a floured surface and bring together into a smooth dough.
  2. Roll out the dough – half at a time if you like – and stamp out 5-6cm stars. Keep re-rolling trimmings, and you should get about 40 biscuits. Cut out a thin triangle about 2cm long and ½cm wide at one of the indents of each star. Arrange on trays lined with baking parchment, cover with cling film and chill for 30 mins.
  3. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/ gas 6. Remove cling film and bake the biscuits for 8-12 mins until golden. Cool, then dust with icing sugar. The cooked biscuits can be frozen for up to 3 months.
  4. Mix the coffee and Kahlúa in a Martini glass. Slowly pour in the double cream over the back of a teaspoon so that it gently settles on the top of the coffee. Dust with a little cocoa and serve with a star biscuit slotted onto the glass and a plateful of Mint chocolate truffles, if you like (see 'Goes well with').

   

Beef massaman curry

 

 

Ingredients

• 85g unsalted peanuts
• 400ml can coconut cream
• 4 tbsp massaman curry paste (we used Bart)
• 600g stewing beef steak, cut into large chunks
• 450g waxy potatoes, cut into 2½ cm chunks
• 1 onion, cut into thin wedges
• 4 kaffir lime leaves (available from Thai shops or dried from supermarkets)
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1 tbsp tamarind paste
• 1 tbsp palm or soft light brown sugar
• 1 tbsp fish sauce
• 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced, to serve
• jasmine rice, to serve
•   Prep: 15 mins Cook: 2 hrs, 10 mins
  Easy
  Serves 4

  Method

  1. Heat oven to 200C/180C fan/gas 6, then roast the peanuts on a baking tray for 5 mins until golden brown. When cool enough to handle, roughly chop. Reduce oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4.
  2. Heat 2 tbsp coconut cream in a large casserole dish with a lid. Add the curry paste and fry for 1 min, then stir in the beef and fry until well coated and sealed. Stir in the rest of the coconut with half a can of water, the potatoes, onion, lime leaves, cinnamon, tamarind, sugar, fish sauce and most of the peanuts. Bring to a simmer, then cover and cook for 2 hrs in the oven until the beef is tender.
  3. Sprinkle with sliced chilli and the remaining peanuts, then serve straight from the dish with jasmine rice.

Easy cheesy frittata

 

 

Ingredients

• 2 spring onions, ends trimmed off
• 4 tablespoons of frozen peas, defrosted
• 1 courgette, halved with the ends cut off
• 2 slices of ham
• 100g feta cheese
• 4 eggs
  
  Prep: 5 mins - 15 mins Cook: 30 mins
  Easy
  Serves 4

• Method

  1. Ask a grown-up helper to switch the oven on to 180C/ 160C fan/gas 4. Snip or cut up the spring onions and put them in a bowl. Add the peas to the bowl.
  2. Grate the courgette using your rotary grater, one half at a time, then add it to the bowl.
  3. Cut the ham into pieces with your scissors, if you do this over the bowl it will fall straight in.
  4. Break the feta into the bowl by crumbling it with your hands.
  5. Crack the eggs into a bowl and, if any bits of shell fall in, scoop them out with a spoon. Whisk the eggs until the yolks are mixed into the white.
  6. Pour the eggs into the other bowl and stir. Brush a round ovenproof dish, about 16cm across, with oil. Tip everything into the dish. Ask a helper to put the dish in the oven for 30 minutes or until the egg is set. Serve with salad and crusty bread.
   

Honey-mustard glazed duck

 

Ingredients

• 1 small duck, about 1½ kg/3lb 5oz
• 1 tsp sunflower oil
• 2 tsp five spice powder
• 200g clear honey
• 2 tbsp dark soy sauce
• 2 tsp dry sherry
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
•   Prep: 10 mins Cook: 2 hrs, 20 mins
  Easy
  Serves 2

  Method

  1. About an hour before cooking, take the duck out of the fridge to come to room temperature. Heat oven to 140C/ 120C fan/gas 1. Pull out and discard any large lumps of fat from inside the duck, then rub it all over with some salt, the oil and five-spice powder. Sit the duck in a roasting tin, then roast for 2 hrs.
  2. For the glaze, mix the honey, soy, Sherry and mustard in a bowl. When the duck has had its time, remove it from the oven, pour off any fat from the tin and baste generously with the glaze. Turn the oven up to 190C/170C fan/gas 5 and roast the duck for a further 20 mins until sticky and bronzed. Remove the duck to a clean dish to catch any juices and allow it to rest for at least 20 mins before serving.
  3. To make a simple gravy, pour the juices from the roasting tin into a jug or bowl and leave to settle. Use a ladle to remove the fat from the juices, then tip the juices back into the saucepan and reheat to serve.

Rhubarb & date chutney

 

Ingredients

• 50g fresh root ginger, grated
• 300ml red wine vinegar
• 500g eating apples, peeled and finely chopped
• 200g pitted dates, chopped
• 200g dried cranberries or raisins
• 1 tbsp mustard seed
• 1 tbsp curry powder
• 400g light muscovado sugar
• 700g rhubarb, sliced into 2cm chunks
• 500g red onions 
  Prep: 25 mins Cook: 40 mins
  Easy
  Makes about 2.25kg/5lb

  Method

  1. Put the onions in a large pan with the ginger and vinegar. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 mins. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the rhubarb, plus 2 tsp salt to the pan and bring to the boil, stirring. Simmer, uncovered, for about 10 mins until the apples are tender.
  2. Stir in the rhubarb and cook, uncovered, until the chutney is thick and jammy, about 15-20 mins. Leave the chutney to sit for about 10-15 mins, then spoon into warm, clean jars, and seal. Label the jars when cool. Keep for at least a month before eating.

Vegetarian club

 

Ingredients

• 3 slices granary bread
• 1 large handful watercress
• 1 carrot, peeled and coarsely grated
• small squeeze lemon juice
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 2 dessertspoons reduced-fat houmous
• 2 tomatoes, thickly sliced
•   Prep: 10 mins
  Easy
  Serves 1

  Method

  Toast the bread. meanwhile mix the watercress, carrot, lemon juice and olive oil together. In a small bowl spread the houmous over each slice of toast. Top 1 slice with the watercress and carrot salad, sandwich with another slice of toast and top with the tomato. Lay the final slice of bread, houmous side down, then press down and eat as is or cut the sandwich into quarters.

Sticky slow-roast belly of pork

 

 

Ingredient

• 1.3kg piece pork belly, boned, rind left on and scored (ask your butcher to do this)
• 2 tsp sunflower oil
• 1 tsp white peppercorns, crushed
• 3 large onions, sliced
• 2-3 tbsp clear honey
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1 red chilli, deseeded and chopped
•   Prep: 10 mins Cook: 3 hrs, 30 mins
  Easy
  Serves 6

  Method

  1. Heat oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Lay the pork, skin-side up, on a rack in a roasting tin. Trickle with a little oil, then lightly press on the crushed peppercorns and a sprinkling of coarse sea salt. Place in the oven, then cook for 1 hr. Remove from the oven and baste with the juices. Continue to cook for a further 1½ hrs, basting every 20 mins.
  2. Put the sliced onions in the roasting tin under the pork. Mix the honey together with the cumin and chilli, brush it over the pork, then increase the oven to 200C/fan 180C/ gas 6. Cook for a further 30-40 mins, basting occasionally, until caramelised with a rich, golden glaze over the pork. Once cooked and tender (this can be easily tested by piercing the flesh with a knife), remove pork from the oven, then leave to rest for 10-15 mins.
  3. While the pork is resting, heat the tin on the stove with the onions, adding 2 tbsp water. This will lift any residue from the pan, creating a moist cooking liquor. Season the onions with salt and pepper, then divide between 6 plates. Carve pork into 6 portions, then serve on top of the onions. Pour any remaining liquor over and serve with the Pumpkin mash (below).