GROWING MICROGREENS

GROWING AND EATING TOP 10 MICROGREENS

Powerful super microgreens, loaded with up to 40% - 90% more vitamins, minerals and antioxidants than its full sized counterpart, these pack a major punch of nutrition in such a small portion, microgreens are so much more than a pretty garnish on your dish.  The reason microgreens are so nutrient dense is the high levels of sulphurphains and polyphenols, powerful important natural chemicals that are found in many foods, these are more consolidated in microgreens and contain powerful antioxidants that help prevent the build up of harmful free radicals, free radicals are highly reactive compounds that form in the body and can cause damage to cells and support chronic disease.

Polyphenols have been linked to reduced risk of heart disease, diabetes, obesity, prostate and gut related cancers, inflammation, Alzheimer's disease, bad LDL cholesterol and triglycerides, what a super hero of the vegetable world.

Microgreens grow all year round, are really easy to grow and are ready to eat from 7-14 days from sowing.  All vegetables are microgreens once they reach the two true leaves stage they are ready to snip and sprinkle on your dinner.  However never grown any vegetables from the deadly night shade family, tomatoes, potatoes, aubergine and rhubarb, as a rule if you can't eat the leaves of a plant then don't grow as a microgreen.

For a continuous supply of microgreens every 7 - 10 days sow a new batch, once you pass the first 7 days while you wait for your first microgreens to reach the two tree leaves stage you will then be able to eat week one's microgreens, followed by week two, then week three and so on just re sow each week for a continuous supply.  Some microgreens grow faster than others, radish and buckwheat grow really fast and most other microgreens take up to 7-10 days peas and sunflower seeds being one of the the longest to grow.  These slower growing microgreens give you more variety to eat.

Magnificent 

TOP MICROGREENS 

BEETROOT

Vitamin C, folate, magnesium, phosphorous, potassium, high in flavonoids and beta carotene.

Organ and blood cleansing, lowers risks of heart disease, helps stimulate and improve overall liver function..

BROCCOLI

Vitamin A, enzyme Q10, calcium.

Supports the liver, helping cleanse, sulferapheme triggers your bodies natural protection against disease.

CABBAGE

Vitamin K, C, B6, B1, B2, B3, iron, manganese, fibre, potassium, folate, copper, choline, phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, selenium, pantothenic acid.

Liver and organ detox, a perfect food, special cholesterol lowering benefits (steamed), sinigrin is converted into allyl-isothiocyonate (AITC) this compound has unique anti carcinogenic preventative properties to the bladder and colon.

CORIANDER

Vitamin K, A, C, volatile oils, flavonoids, phenolic.

Heart and circulatory protective coumarins, effective antiseptic, linalcol, anti inflammatory, cholesterol lowering, lowers LDL bad cholesterol, antimicrobial properties, anti bacterial.

FENNEL

Vitamin C, B3, fibre, potassium, molybdenum, manganese, cooper, phosphorus, folate, calcium, pantothenic acid, magnesium, iron, flavonoids, phytonutrients, anethole. 

Protects the liver from toxic chemical injury, neutralises free radicals, activates liver enzymes that help the liver flush out toxins, essential oils prompt the secretion of gastric juices, helping to lower inflammation in your digestive tract and allows your body to adsorb nutrients more efficiently, strong antioxidants, reduce inflammations, anti carcogenic, anti microbial, supports immune system, helps reduce cholesterol levels, lowers blood pressure

SPINACH

Vitamin K, C, A, B2, B6, E, B1, B3, omega 3 fatty acids, manganese, folate, magnesium, iron, copper, calcium, potassium, fibre, phosphorus, zinc, protein, choline, pantothenic acid, selenium, carotenoids, flavonoids.

Regulates blood pressure, supports immune system, neutralises heavy metals, chemicals and pesticides.  Powerful protective for liver, high in chlorophyll that suck up enviromental toxins in the blood stream protecting the lining of digestive tract from damage, especially unwanted inflammatory.  Top green for protection prostate.  High in oxalic acid, protects against oxidative stress, cardiovascular and bone.  Dozens of different flavonoid compounds hugely anti carcogenic, slows down cell division, lowers risk of blood vessel problems and blood pressure.  Supports healthy eyes, vitamin K1 helps bone health.

WATERCRESS SUPER FOOD

Vitamin A, C, E, thiamin, riboflavin, iron, calcium, iodine.

Purifies blood, gives iodine, packed with essential vitamins and minerals, has a higher amount of nutrients than most vegetables, highest level of antioxidants. Can increase the ability of cells to resist damage to their DNA helping to protect against the cell changes that lead to carcinogenic damage.  If eaten daily will supply high levels of calcium.

KALE

Vitamin K, C, betacarotenes, calcium, chopped contains sulforaphare, anti carcogenic properties, carotenoids, lute in, zeaxanthin, boosts DNA cell repair, blocks growth of cancer cells, lowers cholesterol and decreases absorption of dietary food.

RADISH

A plethora of health benefits, a alkaline forming food keeping PH levels in check, related to kale, broccoli, cauliflower and horseradish, good fiver, top for vitamin C, B6, potassium, folate, manganese a remedy for jaundice, detoxes blood toxins and waste, removes bilirubin, the high level of vitamin C is a antioxidant that can help limit free radical damage, anthocyanins a type of flavonoid you find in blueberries a anti inflammatory, reduces risk of heart and kidney disease also great for healing the skin with anti bacterial properties.

SUNFLOWER

Rich in vitamin E, B3, B6, B1, thiamine, phosphorus, folate, selenium, magnesium, copper, essential fatty acids Lin oleic acid, amino acids especially tryptophanthe building blocks of proteins, phytosterols, healthy fats are building blocks for cell membranes that allows your body to balance hormones, helps slow down absorption of food during meals and acts as a carrier for important fat soluble vitamins A, D, E and K.

CHIA

Superfood, original one, nutrient dense packs a punch of energy boosting power, high in omega 3 ALA, fiber, manganese, phosphorus, calcium, zinc, copper, potassium, fatty acids, alpha-linolenic and Linoleic acid, moulin, strontium, vitamin A, B, E, D, minerals, sulphur, iron, iodine, niacin, thiamine and a rich source of antioxidants.

BUCKWHEAT 

So nutrient packed with Rustin, tannins and catechism making this a superfood, gluten free (groats) seeds supports heart heart, diabetes, digestive disorders, vitamins and minerals, amino acids, antioxidants, practically no fat.  The amino acids give buckwheat special biological activities including lowering cholesterol, anti hypertension effects, improves digestion, relieves constipation, flavonoids oligomeric proanthocyonidins protects cell function by protecting DNA from free radical oxidative stress damage and cell change formation.

BEST EVER THANKSGIVING TURKEY

Guaranteed 

Fool proof perfect juicy moist succulent Thanksgiving Turkey every time.  This simple method guarantees your turkey will be the star of the table and relieves that pressure of cooking the perfect family Thanksgiving dinner for everyone.  Since I learnt this method I have never had a dry turkey since and beleive me I have cooked the odd couple in my youth!  

TO COOK THE PERFECT TURKEY

To start you need a beautiful slow raised old fashioned breed turkey, this year I ordered a Organic COPAS Hen turkey, a bronze free range out door living, rain forest diet feed, loved turkey that was raised to full maturity and game hung (with innards) for two weeks.  This turkey was magnificent, the size and shape of the bird echoed it's rooting lifestyle.

I follow the simple minutes per pound cooking rule, which for a turkey is 15 minutes per lb as a guide line but I do use a thermometer to test the temperature of the bird and I remove the turkey from the oven as soon as the centre reaches 64 / 65 degrees C, 148 / 149 F.  Then the most important part is to rest the turkey for at least 1 hour covered in foil and a towel for insulation keeping the bird warm.  This cooking method has always given me the most juicy moist succulent roasted turkey ever.  As soon as my turkey reaches 64 degrees out she comes and this ensures the turkey stops cooking at 65 degrees.

Preparing The Turkey 

Herby butter stuffing.  This is to go under the skin of the turkey, with the back of a dessert spoon facing up, slide the spoon between the skin and the breast meat gently all over creating a pocket between the breast and skin, stuff lots of seasoned butter in to the pockets you’ve made this gives extra moisture to the meat while cooking.  Rub a generous amount of the herb butter all over the turkey skin too.

TO ME THIS IS TURKEY COOKING LAW 

This method results in a perfect cooked turkey every time.

15 minutes per lb 

Probe temp max 65 degrees C / 149 F

OVEN  TEMPERATURE

Pre-heat to 220 degrees

Place your Turkey un-covered into the oven and immediately turn the temperature down to170 degrees / 338 F.  Cook for 30 minutes, by then your turkey skin will be browned all over, baste the turkey all over several time with the juices from the bottom of the roasting pan, then cover well with tin foil and leave to cook.  Half way through baste again.  Some recipes reverse the cooking temperature method by cooking at 170 degrees C then for the last 30 minutes cranking the heat up to 220 degrees to brown off the bird.  I don’t do this as I feel it toughens the meat, the turkey has cooked relaxed nice and slow then by increasing the heat it’s like if you sat on a hot grill, tense!

Once cooked I then give my turkey a extra baste and sometimes using my Cajun injector, inject the cooking juices into the breasts.  Now wrap up the turkey in generous amounts of foil and cover with a couple of tea towels and leave to rest for at least 30 minutes.  Your ready to serve.

Drain off the cooking juices into a jug and now we can finish off the gravy.  

THE MOST AWESOME GRAVY

1 knob of butter

1 dash of olive oil 

1 onion chopped

2 carrots chopped

2 sticks celery chopped

Turkey giblets

2 bay leaves

10 black peppercorns

200ml dry white wine

2 ltrs water

In a large pan melt the butter and olive oil together, soften the onion, carrot and celery then add the giblets, bay and peppercorns and cook for 10 minutes then add the wine and reduce by half.  Add 2 litres of water and simmer for an hour or so until the stock has reduced by half.  You should be left with approx 1000ml.  This is your base for the most awesome gravy.

I do this stage on Christmas Eve so on the day all I have to do is add some seasoned flour to my turkey pan, let it melt into the fat, you can always add a little more fat if needed, cook out for a minute or so and then add your stock and whisk to a smooth gravy, taste and season well.

GET AHEAD GRAVY

This is something you can do the day before and keep in the fridge ready to go on the day.

12 chicken wings

2 carrots rough chopped

1 onion quartered 

3 sprigs thyme

1 bulb garlic halved

Glug olive oil

2 ltrs water

Pre heat your oven to 200 degrees C 392 F, place all the ingredients in a deep roasting tin and roast in the oven for 30-40 minutes until the skin on the wings is crispy.  Add 2 ltrs of water to the roasting tin and cook for a further 10 minutes so that the water can de-glaze all the lovely caramelised bits on the bottom of the roasting tin and infuse from the roasted chicken skin.  Remove the tin from the oven and then using a potato masher crush all the wings, garlic, onions and carrots in to the water creating the most wonderful flavours.

Drain in to a large bowl through a sieve and push all that wonderful liquid through the sieve.  That is your fabulous base gravy made for the big day, just add this to your roasting pan cooking juices on the day and following the gravy making tips above.

WOOD FIRED PEPPERONI MOZZARELLA PIZZA

I Sooo Love Pizza...

There is good reason why wood fired pizza’s are probably the best you can ever eat, when someone goes to the effort of firing up a oven you can rely on the fact they have done their homework on the best grade flour, olive oil and yeast for the dough. The fast wood fired cooking and highest quality dough ensures a light fresh chewy crust with a thin layer of your favourite toppings, just mouthwatering gorgeous.

I like to make the base tomato sauce with the most gorgeous deep full of flavour DOP San Marzano tomatoes, these grown on the slopes opposite Mount Vesuves in Valle del Samo Italy, I get my DOP tomatoes through google and I treat each can like gold...

Ingredients

(makes 6 pizzas)

Authenic Italian Pizza Dough

500g 00 Caputo flour

50g cold pressed olive oil

10g Himalayan sea salt

15g yeast, keep away from the salt

320g water

San Marzano Tomato Sauce

1 tin DOP san Marzano tomatoes

1 glut olive oil

1 onion finely chopped

1 clove Italian garlic grated

1 pinch Himalayan sea salt

Toppings

1 ball fresh di bufala campana mozzarella

100g fresh pepperoni

Or personal choice of toppings

Cooking In A Wood Fired Oven

Fire up your wood oven at least 1-2hrs before you are ready to cook.  I like to have white glowing embers that only need a couple of logs periodically thrown on so that I can roughly control the temperature between 300 - 400 degrees Celsius.  I never cook after throwing on a new log but as soon as the flames lower after five minutes or so then I gage how far to place the pizza in the oven, less flames then the pizza can go all the way in, hot fresh flames then cook your pizza nearer the oven door, position in the oven is how you can control the cooking heat.

Cooking In A Oven

A must is a pizza stone, pre heat your oven with the pizza stone in as hot as it can possibly go for at least 20 minutes before your going to cook.  Place the pizza on the stone and bake for around 10-15 minutes, this is still a great pizza.

The Dough

This is a brilliant old fashioned honest pizza dough, you can prove this dough for a minium of one hour and up to four hours after mixing on the side or once made pop in the fridge and prove for 24hrs so it is ready for the next day, just leave to come up to room tempretaure before use and even more helpful after proving on the side for one hour you can portion up the dough and freeze, then when needed defrost, leave to come up to room tempreature, roll out and use.  These also make great flat breads, roll out and dry pan fry for a minute on each side and you will have gorgeous flat breads great for stuffing with salad, meats and kebabs...

Place all the ingredients in your mixer and using a dough hook knead for seven minutes, if doing by hand which I often do, bring all the ingredients together to form a sticky dough and turn our on a barely floured surface and knead until the dough is smooth and springy around 7 minutes, try not to add in any extra flour, dough loves to be wet and will come soft, dry and smooth just keep kneading !  Leave to prove for one hour covered at room temperature.

Tomato Pizza Base Sauce

Next make the gorgeous San Marzano tomato base sauce, heat the olive oil in a pan, add the garlic and onions on a medium heat soften for around ten minutes, add the tomatoes crushing them with your hands, leave to gently simmer for five minutes, blitz to a smooth sauce and season with sea salt.

Making Your Pizza

Now your ready to rock and roll, divide the dough into 6 portions roll out each dough ball into a thin pizza base, spread a ladle of the San Marzano sauce over the base, top with torn pieces of the buffalo mozzarella and pepperoni, place on your pizza stone or in your pizza oven and cook until bubbling, remove and leave to rest for a minute then add the torn fresh basil leaves, that's it Ta da done...

CORDON BLEU

Such A Classic

Thick gooey Raclette cheese and fresh ham off the bone generously stuffed in to a chicken breast, tossed in seasoned flour, fried until crispy and golden with a serious cheese pull centre this classic recipe is still going strong.  Originating in the United States in the 1960’s this classic recipe was served in all,the high end restaurants and became a fashionable meal to impress your friends with at dinner parties.

Ahead marinating 6-24hrs / Prep time 10 minutes / Cooking time 10 minutes

Ingredients 

(serves 4)

4 large thick chicken breasts

150ml buttermilk

500g Raclette cheese

2 thick slices fresh ham off the bone
2 beaten eggs

200g flour

Himalayan sea salt 

Fresh ground black pepper

1/2 tsp onion powder

1/2 tsp garlic powder

2 ltr oil for frying

First turn on the heat for your skillet or fryer and slowly leave to come up to 180 C / 355 F.  

Cutting The Pocket

To make a pocket in the center of the breasts for stuffing take a chicken breasts and using a small knife insert from the top of the thick end straight down the center making sure not to pierce the breasts, gently move the knife back and forth cutting the pocket, be as daring as you can be as the bigger the pocket the more gorgeous cheese you can stuff inside.

In a glass bowl add the buttermilk and chicken coating all over, leave to marinated during the day or even better the night before.

Stuffing the Breasts

Take the block of raclette cheese and slice in to a 5 inch long finger about 1 inch thick then tear a piece of the ham slightly smaller than the cheese, place the ham on top of the cheeese and gently stuff in to your pocket, pushing all the way down so that you can push closed the top of the cut hole.

Dredging The Chicken

Take two large bowls, in one place the beaten eggs with a pinch of salt and pepper, in the second mix the flour, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, coat the chicken breasts in the flour, dust off, roll in the beaten egg then back in to the flour, dust of any excess.  They are now ready to cook.

Place the breasts in your hot fat and fry for around 7 minutes turning every couple of minutes until golden brown all over, your know your chicken is cooked if the cheese just starts to bubble out, serve with a knife and fork!  

DEODORANT NATURAL HOMEMADE

This is a really simple and easy make takes five minutes, costs 50p and my bar lasts me a year, what’s more your natural deodorant gives you that feel good feeling of natural living, loving your body and mother earth, not contributing to plastic land fill and the best bit is no chemicals on or in your body.

This homemade deodorant bar has for my family and friends worked better than any store brought deodorant and other natural options I have ever used, and believe me I think I have tried them all with little success, until I suddenly started to think outside of the box and back to time with my Nan and Grandad and days gone by where people, family relied upon themselves and local producers for what they needed and I found this recipe on Wellness Mama and have never looked back.

Prep Time 5 minutes / Ready to use in 3 hours

Equipment: 1 mason ball glass jar for this job only

The Wrap: 30 x 30cm cotton / 50g solid bees wax / buttons / twine

It was not a hard decision to go organic in fact it has been liberating and the further my family travels this path the more clearer the obvious becomes, when I am asked why go organic my simple answer is WHY NOT?  When you realise that all the man made chemicals are harmful long term and that mass produced products are about profit for the manufacturers and nothing to do with your personal well being or with any respect or regard to the environment it is a simple easy answer. 

If we all had to use our gardens as our own personal rubbish dumps/tips it would not be too long before people started to want to reduce that pile and to stop adding to the pile that would eventually take over their garden, so with this thought in mind we pre-cycle, up-cycle and re-cycle.

Ingredients

(makes 1 bar)

4 tbsp organic coconut oil

3btbsp organic shea butter

2 tbsp baking powder (3 for a stronger protection)

(I found 3 tbsp irritated my skin, 2 tbsp perfect protection and no irritation)

3 tbsp organic arrowroot

40 drops organic essential oil tea tree or chamomile

Bring a tall pan 1/4 filled with water to a gentle simmer, in a ball mason or glass jar add the coconut oil and shea butter, place the glass jar in to the saucepan, in effect a bain marie, when the mix has virtually melted remove for the pan and add the baking powder and arrowroot, stir well until all dissolved, add the essential oil and stir in and that is it done!

I use a small single portion cake tin to set my bar in, pour in the liquid and place in the fridge until set around 3hrs, I like to keep my deodorant bar in the fridge as a set bar.  You can pour your deodorant mix in to a kilner or mason jar and keep on the side and use it like a thick cream.  If you want to make a wax proof cover the instructions are below, It is just a nice touch to finish off your deodorant and great if you are giving them as gifts to friends and loved ones.

Bee's Wax Cover

 

Ingredients

1 organic bees wax bar

1 sheet of cotton 30cm x 30cm

2 buttons

30cm natural twine

Pre-heat your oven to 150 degrees C, 290 F, line a baking tray with baking paper and place the cotton on the paper, grate the bees wax and sprinkle over the cotton sheet, pop in the oven for 3-5 minutes until the bees wax has melted, using a pastry brush that will now only be used for this job brush the melted wax evenly all over the cotton sheet.  I now pick up the cotton sheet by the corners and just hold it in the air for about 3 minutes, this just allows the wax to cool and set, you can peg the cotton sheet to a string washing line if you were making multitudes, this I have done too!

  

  

Now for the folding, as you can see in the photos above fold the sheet in to three equal sections, like a menu, you can work this out by just gently bringing over the left and right side of the fabric loosely without making any creases in the stiff fabric until you feel you have a equal measurement.

Next measure the length of your bar and fold the bottom of the wax cloth up to just short of equal of that measurement, now I sow on the two buttons, these buttons for me are so personal as my nan collected all buttons from any garment that was past its day over her life and I have all of these in my care, in fact I know I can name some of the garments they were removed from, such memories, such up cycling, it really is not a  new thing, it really is a lost gift to the slow western greener world.

Place your set bar in your cloth and wrap up as you folded the cloth, left to right then bottom up, tie the natural twine around in a figure of eight the buttons to secure the pouch, as you use the deodorant just move the bottom fabric up, scoouch the deodorant bar up the fabric holder and re tie the twine.

VINDALOO CURRY POTATO AND PEA

OUTSTANDINGLY BRILLIANT RECIPE 

This is a slight twist on my best ever vindaloo recipe and it is even more lip smackingly gorgeous, in fact my family feels it is even better being vegetarian, the potatoes and squash soak up all the vibrant curry spices giving a deep rich fragrant curry that you will find your spoon going back for more.

Prep Time 20 minutes / Cooking Time 20 minutes

Ingredients

(serves 2 as main or 6 as side dish)

The Vegetables

1 onion finely diced

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

3 large tomatoes chopped

3 fresh green chillies sliced length ways

1/2 butternut squash diced

1 potato pink fir peeled and diced

1 sweet potato peeled and diced

1 cup of peas

The Vindaloo Marinade

1 tsp black peppercorns

2 cloves

1 tsp cumin seeds

seeds from 12 cardamoms

2 inch piece of cinnamon stick

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp sugar

2 tbsp kashmiri chilli powder

1/2 tsp turmeric

5 tbsp white wine vinegar

2 tbsp tamarind liquid

2 tbsp grated ginger

4 cloves garlic chopped

1 onion roughly chopped

The Vindaloo Marinade 

First make the marinade, heat a dry skillet warm and gently warm the whole spices the peppercorns, cloves, cumin and cardamom remove from the heat and in a coffee grinder or pestle and mortar grind to a powder and place in a bowl along with the salt, pepper, sugar, chilli, turmeric, tamarind and vinegar.  In a food processor blitz the onion, ginger and garlic and add to the bowl, mix to form a paste, throw in the potatoes, squash, peas, fresh chillies and tomatoes, leave to marinate for half an hour to 24 hours, the longer the better.

To Cook The Vindaloo

Heat a large pan over a medium heat and add the ghee then the diced onion, garlic and ginger, cook for around ten minutes without colouring the onions, add the marinated vegetable mix along with all the paste and 300ml of water, turn the heat down low and pop on a lid.  You may have to add a little more water as the vegetables cook to stop them sticking until you have fork tender vegetables and a thick sauce made from the marinade paste and tomatoes, check the seasoning and adjust if needed, then enjoy with some flat breads, cool sour yogurt and mint dip and a onion and carrot mint salad.

Quick Chapatis Breads

500g gram flour

water

Place the gram flour in a bowl and add the water until you form a medium stiff dough, wrap in paper and leave to rest in the fridge for half an hour.  Cut the dough in to large golf ball sizes and roll out into 6 inch flat breads.  

To Cook

Heat a cast iron skillet or non stick frying pan to a high high heat, once up to temperature add a flat bread and cook for around 45 secs to 1 minute on each side, wrap in a tea towel to keep warm until needed, these will store well for a day or too in a air tight container.  To freshen up run the day old flat bread under running water and pop in the oven for 5 minutes this brings them back to new.

Carrot and Onion Mint Salad

1 carrot grated

1 onion finely sliced

10 leaves fresh mint sliced

1/4 lemon juiced

Combine all the ingredients.

Yogurt and Mint Dip

1 cup fresh sharp yogurt

1/2 tsp lemon juice

10 mint leaves finely sliced

Combine all the ingredients.

Enjoy this delicious carnival of food and as a bonus any leftover potato could be crushed and pan fried crispy and served for breakfast with a soft poached egg and watercress and avocado salad.

SRIRACHA

Fermented Homemade Chilli Sauce

This is an outstandingly easy recipe for a fresh vibrant sriracha hot chilli sauce that may have you leaving that Famous rooster bottle named after the ship Huy Fong that he travelled with his family in to the United States of America in the store, I know it is for my family!  Only because we like to be as self sufficient as possible, but we are honest and sometimes we just need to grab a bottle of the best stuff as life is super busy.  We grow and raise most of our food and finally this year I have succeeded in a bountiful yield of Serrano chillies just for this recipe.

FERMENTING  eeeek ! 

This is and was a slightly scary word to me...I have kept a sour dough starter alive for the last 3 years, the longest record sour dough starter is around 160 years old, (Boudin's of San Francisco).  In the UK the Baker Brothers ferment is around 55 yrs old.  I have made kimchi countless times but was always a little scared of what if I fermented bad bacteria!  Well we're all still alive!  I am working on the obvious, clean prep, clean jars and clean food and my nose!  So I thought come on just give it a go!  I brought myself a kilner fermenting jar with a charcole filter lid and made sure I sterlized the jar and cleaned the kitchen with vinegar so that would give me the best chance of a clean ferment.

Prep time 5 minutes / Fermenting time 7 days / Cooking time 10 minutes

Ingredients 

(Makes approx 300ml)

 700g whole red jalapeños 

1 tbsp Himalayan sea salt

3-4 tbsp light brown sugar

4 large cloves chopped garlic

125 ml apple cider vinegar 

The Fermenting 

Place all the ingredients except the white wine vinegar into your food processor or magic bullet and blitz, blitz and then blitz some more until you have as smooth a mixture as possible, around three minutes.

Decant into your kilner jar scraping every bit out from the food processor, pop on the lid and just leave on the side somewhere safe where the jar won't get knocked over and out of direct sunlight for 7 days, after 3-5 days you will see the exciting start of the ferment, there will be some movement in the chilli mash like cracks in a wall, this is good.  

After day 5 gentle shake the jar to mix all the fermenting chillies back to a smooth consistency and again on day 6.  Day 7 over a saucepan strain the mixture through a sieve and using the back of a spoon push through as much of the mixture that will go through, you want a really dry pulp left in the sieve.  Add the vinegar and bring to a rolling simmer, reduce the sriracha sauce down to the thickness you require, I like the sauce to coat the back of a spoon well this way it sticks to food better so you get more of a bang of flavour with each mouthful.

Take off the heat and decant into a hot sterilised ball mason jar, pop on a lid and store in the fridge for up to 6 months, IT WON'T LAST THAT LONG!  Enjoy. 

RACLETTE HASH BROWNS AND HAM

HASH BROWNS, HAM & GOOEY RACLETTE CHEESE

Unbelievably decadently gorgeous.  Why, What and How did I not know of this !!!  Raclette!  There's a whole world of recipes, raclette dinner parties, social eating events and a whole lot more of cooking gadgets specifically just for raclette that for decades that I have completely missed out on!  Ok in my defence I am not the greatest cheese eater but still!  I do love gooey cheese and this is one of the best I have ever eaten.

Cooking time 1 hour

Ingredients 

(serves 4)

1 kg king Edward potatoes peeled, grated

1 onion grated

1/2 tsp Himalayan sea salt 

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

4 slices ham on the bone

8 thick slices raclette 

1 glug olive oil

1 tbsp butter

Place the grated potatoes in a tea towel, fold up and twist the tea towel as tight as you possibly can squeezing out all the liquid from the potatoes over the sink.  Place the squeezed potatoes in a bowl add the salt, pepper and onions, mix together.

Heat a skillet to just about medium heat, add the butter and olive oil then add the potato hash mix and squash flat and to the edges of the skillet, depending on the thickness this will take around 30-40 minutes to cook, turning over half way through.  You want to get a nice crispy brown outer with a soft hash brown centre.

When your hash browns are ready heat your oven to 180 C / 355 F,  layer the ham in top of the hash browns in the skillet and the top with the sliced raclette, pop in the oven for around 10 minutes until the cheese has just melted.  Enjoy.