JALAPEÑO BACON WRAPPED POPPERS

Keto Poppers Nitrate Free 

Fabulous slightly healthier swap out for my most beloved crispy panko fried cream cheese stuffed jalapeño poppers, I do love my poppers, but I’m trying to find low carbohydrate way of having some of my favourite foods still loaded with flavour, these seem to be a winner as there are never any left when I make them for my family!  

Fresh jalapeños halved, seeds removed and mixed with sour cream cheese, I like Philadelphia, stuff the jalapeños with the cream cheese, toss in freshly grated Parmesan and wrapped in bacon, bake for 15 minutes and enjoy, these are a great alternative, not as great as a crispy panko fried popper, but still a good alternative.

Preparation time 10 minutes / Cooking time 15 minutes 

Ingredients

(makes 20)

10 fresh jalapeños 

20 rashers streaky bacon nitrate free

250g cream cheese

100g grated Parmesan 

Pre heat your oven 180 C / 356 F

Very simply cut the jalapeños in half long ways, scoop out seeds, mix with the cream cheese, stuff the jalapeños with the cream cheese, roll in the grated Parmesan then wrap up in the rasher of bacon, that’s it, pop in the oven and bake for 15 minutes and enjoy.

These are super quick to assemble and a great family treat.

HOMEMADE BUTTERMILK

This is a really simple clean and quick way to make your buttermilk in five to ten minutes, so there is no reason you can't have delicious pancakes or waffles when ever your family wants them.

Prep / Waiting time 10 minutes

Ingredients

(makes 500ml)

2 cups 473ml whole milk

2 tbsp fresh lemon juice 

or

2 tbsp white wine vinegar

Place the milk in a jug and gently whisk in without frothing up lots of air bubbles the lemon juice or white wine vinegar and leave to stand for five to ten minutes and that really is it, buttermilk ready to go.  I prefer to use lemon juice but have used white wine vinegar when I have had no other choice and the difference was minimal.

Storing Buttermilk

Place any unused butter milk in a glass jar and cover the top with a piece of muslin and tie on or use a rubber band to secure in place, this is so that the butter milk can breath.

Now you can make some gorgeous maple syrup pancakes and waffles.

Maple Pancake Recipe

1 apple peeled, cored and grated

1 cup self raising flour

1 cup buttermilk

1 tbsp maple syrup

1 egg beaten

1 pinch salt

1 pinch cinnamon

Combine all the ingredients together to form a smooth batter, I like to leave the batter to stand for about half an hour if I can but no worries is not.  This makes around eight pancakes.

BUTTER HOMEMADE

How Cool is This...

I found a old french 1900 wooden butter churn in a local reclamation yard but is was highly over priced and even the over the top decedent Huguenot in me could not stretch to spending that amount on really beautiful and historic used product, however would I really have ever use this?  No it was definitely historically unhygienic!  As luck would have it a few weeks later at Sissinghurst Castle Farm I found a New Kilner Glass Butter Churner and I’ve never looked back!  You can purchase this Kilner butter churn on line easily.  

You do not need a butter churn to make butter, a hand or electric whisk will do the same job.  

Really simple and so easy to make your own butter in minutes, outstanding gorgeous and creamy and I was able to season my butter with Himalayan sea salt to my personal taste.  Store your homemade butter in the fridge wrapped in parchment paper, this will last a few weeks, but it wont last that long!

Ingredients

(makes 250g)

500ml double cream (organic)

1 tsp Himalayan Sea salt (optional)

Place the cream in your churner or in a small bowl if you are using a electric hand whisker or a kitchen aid and start to churn if you are using a electric whisk set the speed to the slowest.  First you will achieve thick whipped cream and the churning will be stiffer, keep going until the churning becomes loose again and this is where you will have separated the buttermilk from the cream leaving you with butter and buttermilk.

This is how your separated butter and buttermilk should look when you are ready to start the butter patting stage this is to squeeze out the remainder of buttermilk 

Drain off the buttermilk and keep in the fridge, this is what the best pancakes and scones are made from, the buttermilk will keep for a couple of days.  Now the fun part of squeezing the remainder of buttermilk from the butter and at this stage you can salt and or flavour your butter with anything you fancy.  I will update on this, right now I fancy a Mexican zing as the corn in my garden is almost ready and I think I will flavour the butter with zesty lime, coriander and chilli for a Mexican butter coating for my corn on the cob.

If you do not have butter pats to hand then a pair of spatulas will suffice, place your squeezed butter on the worktop and roughly shape in to a rectangle then using the pats firm up the butter, wrap in grease proof paper and store in the fridge, this will keep for a few weeks in the fridge.

HOMEMADE CREAM CHEESE

Making you're own fresh clean cream cheese at home is really quite simple and very rewarding, this is a really fresh gorgeously creamy cheese that we have enjoyed in many dishes and on it's own, this is a keeper recipe and I was most pleased with myself for a few reasons, first another culinary notch to my belt and one more product that I will never have to purchase again fulfilling our self sufficient life even further along with the knowledge that this cheese is as pure and clean as can be. 

How Do I Get Fresh Milk?

 I only collect milk direct from our local (ish) Jersey milk farmer, I will admit it some miles (20 miles) from home but I make a special journey and as a family we get to wander around the farm with our son and see all the cows, chickens, goats, pigs, geese lamas etc so it is dual purpose visit, well ok ok thats how I sell it to myself..  The pay off...Gorgeous fresh cream cheese!!!

Making Time A Lot Of  Waiting 24hrs Twice / Hands on Time 5 minutes

Equipment: Thermometer / Saucepan / Tea Towel / Muslin / Skewer

Ingredients

(makes 450g)

2 tbsp pre-made starter culture

(recipe to make your own below)

4.5 ltrs whole un homogenised milk

4 drops vegetarian rennet

Sea salt

1 bunch fresh chives chopped

1.     First bring the whole milk to 90 C / 194 F remove from the heat and cool rapidly by placing the hot saucepan in the sink filled with cold water and bring the temperature down to 22 C / 72 F.

2.     Then add the starter culture and the rennet, cover the saucepan and leave at room temperature for 24hrs to allow the curds to form.

3.     Next strain through a cheese muslin cloth, tie up the corners on a skewer over a colander in the sink and leave to drain for a further 20 hours

4.    Remove the cheese from the cloth and flatten out, sprinkle with sea salt and chives, at this point you can add any flavours you like, garlic, black pepper, pineapple, walnuts, basil etc...  Massage in your seasoning to fully incorporate.  

5.     Store in a mason or kilner air tight jar in the fridge and use within 4 weeks.  The older the cream cheese gets the stronger the flavour will be.

MAKING A CHEESE STARTER CULTURE

1 sachet freeze dried cheese starter, 1 litre milk, thermometer, glass jug 1.5 ltr, saucepan, cling film and 2 ice cube trays.

HANDS ON COOKING TIME

10 minutes hands on time several times over 48 hours.

Waxing Time:  20 minutes on day three.

STARTER CULTURE

This is your first and a once only job and will give you approx 20 batches of starter that can be kept in the freezer until needed by filling two ice cube trays and then sealing the frozen cubes in a zip lock food bag.

Ingredients

1 ltr un homogenised milk

1 pack freeze dried cheese starter

MAKING THE STARTER CULTURE

Bring the litre of milk up to 85 C, just under boiling and hold at this temperature for 10 minutes, remove from the heat and cool rapidly by standing the saucepan in cold running water in the sink until the temperature is down to 20 C, sprinkle the freeze dried cheese culture into the milk and whisk vigorously, this is important and is to ensure that the powder is thoroughly mixed into the warm milk.

Sterilise a glass jug in the oven at 180 C for 5 minutes and then leave to cool, pour in the starter culture and cover with cling film, leave in a warm area 20 C - 22 C for 24 hours to incubate, your starter is ready when it smell wonderfully sharp and clean.  Pour in to ice cube trays and freeze, then store the ice cubes in zip lock food bags in the freezer.  Two ice cubes are enough culture for 1 gallon / 4.5 ltr of milk.

HEALTHY GUILT FREE LAMB KOFTE KEBAB AND FLATBREADS

One of my most favourite face stuffing foods, the gorgeous traditional wood fired or cast iron skillet cooked flatbread that brings its own level of flavours from the slightly charred crunch and soft dough envelopes the flavoursome spiced charred lamb kofte kebab, pickled kebab chillies topped with a raw apple cider vinegar and mayonnaise garlic slaw finished off with a drizzle of hot fermented sriracha sauce this is sooo lip smackinly good, what’s more it’s a gorgeous fresh healthy kebab that is not only great for your tastebuds but good for you too, guilt free, no nasties and so much healthier makes this a family winner dinner all round, quick to assemble and truly fabulous fast food you can prep ahead of time so that it is ready to go at a moments notice.

Ahead of Time Prep 15 mins / Cooking time 8-10 mins

Serve family style

Ingredients

(serves 2)

The Kebab

1 onion finely diced

2 cloves garlic finely diced or grated

1 tbsp coconut oil

1/2 tsp fresh turmeric grated or 1/4 dried

400g grass feed or organic lamb

2 tbsp chopped fresh oregano

1 tsp fresh chopped rosemary

1 tsp fresh chopped thyme

1 generous pinch of sea salt

1 generous pinch of fresh ground black pepper

The Salad

1/4  finely sliced white cabbage

1/4 finely sliced red cabbage

1 lrg onion finely sliced

1 carrot julienned optional

1 garlic clove grated optional

1 tbsp apple cider vinegar

The Mayo

Store brought or...Make your own

3 egg yolks

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp white wine vinegar

300ml cold pressed olive oil

sea salt

white pepper

I find this a quick simple cook and assemble because I prep everything earlier in the day and store in glass bowls in the fridge ready to go, therefore it only takes me a few minutes to cook and serve this.

First make the dough, this you can do three or four hours in advance, or twenty four hours in advance and leave in the fridge to prove.  Place all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and bring together with your hands or if using a mixer with a dough hook, gently knead for seven to ten minutes, form in to a large ball and place back in the bowl, dust with a little flour and cover with a cloth, leave to prove for a minimum of one hour when the dough would have doubled in size, this dough is happy to be left proving at room temperature for up to four hours.  If you are not using all the dough, once proved you can then freeze the portions of dough, when you want yo use them just defrost and leave to come up to room temperature before rolling.

If proving in the fridge for twenty four hours, bring the dough up to room temperature, this takes approx one hour before using.

To make the lamb kofte kebabs, gently soften the onions and garlic in the coconut oil for five minutes, leave to one side to cool slightly, in a large bowl place the lamb mince and season with the salt, pepper, turmeric, oregano, rosemary and thyme, add the onions and garlic and mix well squiding together as you mix.

Take your skewers and a handful of your mince and squish the mince around the skewer so that it is around  the thickness of half an inch, repeat until you have filled the skewers.  Store in the fridge until needed.

To make the mayo, place the egg yolks and white wine vinegar in a large bowl, take your whisk and add a teaspoon of the oil and start to whisk, keep adding a teaspoon amount of oil every few seconds while whisking, once you see the emulsification of the oil and yolk you can add the oil in bigger glugs, stop when you have ribbons and your happy with the thickness of the Mayo, add the Dijon mustard and season with salt and pepper.

To make the slaw combine all the ingredients and then mix with the mayonnaise. 

When ready to cook, pre heat your grill or cast iron skillet, place the kebabs under the grill or on the skillet these will take approx eight minutes, turning once half way through the cooking time, meanwhile divide the flatbread dough into six or eight balls, on a floured surface roll out each ball into a approx 8" circle, heat a non stick frying pan hot, place the bread in the pan and cook for one to two minutes, turn over and cook again for around one minute, remove and repeat with the rest of the dough, wrap the cooked flat breads in a warm tea towel  yo keep warm while you cook the rest.  

Serve family style on the table with a stack of breads, bowls of the salad, a stack of kebabs and a big bowl of mayonnaise, I also serve with some chopped fresh chillies, garlic and herbs along with a home made jar of hot sweet chilli jelly and just enjoy.

The Flat Bread

(makes 6)

500g 00 flour

15g dried yeast

10g sea salt

50ml Olive Oil

320g warm water

Flatbreads

Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and either by hand or by machine with a dough hook mix for seven minutes, then dust a little flour over the dough mix and gently form into a ball, cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave in a warm area to prove for 1-2 hours until doubled in size if you want to use immediately, then other options are leave to prove slowly in the fridge for 24hrs, this is what I do as it gives me much more control over time and usage, this will keep for 48hrs in the fridge ready to go when you are, you can also freeze any left over dough at this stage, then when ready to use remove from the freezer defrost and once up to room temperature use as you would fresh.

 Take a oversized golf ball piece of dough, dust your work top with a little 00 flour, roll into a ball and roll out a large disk no bigger than your skillet if your not cooking in a wood fired oven, heat to a hot heat, place the flat bread in the pan and cook for one and a half minutes on each side, keep warm by wrapping in a tea towel until serving, these flatbreads are best served warm but are almost as good used later the same day, to use the following day dip the flat breads in water and pop in a pre heated oven for 3-5 minutes and Ta-Da almost as good as fresh.

Ready To Cook

Pre heat your oven 180 C, if using a clay pot or flowerpot soak in water for 15 minutes.  Heat a cast iron skillet or griddle really hot.  Skewer the marinated chicken and place on the griddle, leave for around 4-5 minutes to char, turn over and char the other side.  Remove from the griddle and place the skewers in your clay pot along with 50ml of water, pop on the lid and place in the oven to finish cooking for a further 10 minutes, leave to rest in the clay pot for 5 minutes before serving.

The Sriracha Sauce

Ingredients 

(Makes approx 300ml)

Store brought or make your own...

 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 

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.

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. 

LAMB SEEKH KEBABS

One of my most favourite face stuffing foods, the gorgeous traditional wood fired or cast iron skillet cooked flatbread that brings its own level of flavours from the slightly charred crunch and soft dough envelopes the flavoursome spiced lamb kofte kebab topped with a raw apple cider vinegar and mayonnaise garlic slaw finished off with a hot drizzle of sriracha this is sooo lip smackinly good

A gorgeous fresh healthy kebab that is not only great for your tastebuds but good for you too, guilt free and so much healthier makes this a winner dinner all round, quick to assemble and truly fabulous fast food you can prep ahead of time so that it is ready to go at a moments notice.

Ahead of Time Prep 15 mins / Cooking time 8-10 mins

Ingredients

(serves 2)

The Kebab

1 onion finely diced

2 cloves garlic finely diced or grated

1 tbsp ghee

1/2 tsp fresh turmeric grated or 1/4 dried

400g grass feed or organic lamb mince

2 tbsp coriander

1 tsp garam masala

1 generous pinch of sea salt

1 generous pinch of fresh ground black pepper

The Flat Bread

(makes 6)

500g 00 flour

15g dried yeast

10g sea salt

50ml Olive Oil

320g warm water

The Salad

1/4  finely sliced white cabbage

1/4 finely sliced red cabbage

1 lrg onion finely sliced

1 carrot julienned optional

The Mint Mayo

3 egg yolks

1 tsp Dijon mustard

1 tsp white wine vinegar

300ml cold pressed olive oil

sea salt

white pepper

3 tbsp fresh chopped mint or 1 tbsp dried

I find this a quick simple cook and assemble because I prep everything earlier in the day and store in glass bowls in the fridge ready to go, therefore it only takes me a few minutes to cook and serve this.

First make the dough, this you can do three or four hours in advance, or twenty four hours in advance and leave in the fridge to prove.  Place all the ingredients in a large mixing bowl and bring together with your hands or if using a mixer with a dough hook, gently knead for seven to ten minutes, form in to a large ball and place back in the bowl, dust with a little flour and cover with a cloth, leave to prove for a minimum of one hour when the dough would have doubled in size, this dough is happy to be left proving at room temperature for up to four hours.  If you are not using all the dough, once proved you can then freeze the portions of dough, when you want yo use them just defrost and leave to come up to room temperature before rolling.

If proving in the fridge for twenty four hours, bring the dough up to room temperature, this takes approx one hour before using.

To make the kebabs, gently soften the onions and garlic in the ghee for five minutes, leave to one side to cool slightly, in a large bowl place the lamb mince and season with the salt, pepper, turmeric, coriander, garam masala, add the onions and garlic and mix well squiding together as you mix.

Take your skewers and a handful of your mince and squish the mince around the skewer so that it is around  the thickness of half an inch, repeat until you have filled the skewers.  Store in the fridge until needed.  To cook grill for around 4-5 minutes on each side.

To make the mayo, place the egg yolks and white wine vinegar in a large bowl, take your whisk and add a teaspoon of the oil and start to whisk, keep adding a teaspoon amount of oil every few seconds while whisking, once you see the emulsification of the oil and yolk you can add the oil in bigger glugs, stop when you have ribbons and your happy with the thickness of the mayo, add the Dijon mustard, mint and season with salt and pepper.

When ready to cook, pre heat your grill or cast iron plancher, place the kebabs under or on the grill these will take approx eight minutes, turning once half way through the cooking time, meanwhile divide the dough into six or eight balls, on a floured surface roll out each ball into a approx 8" circle, heat a non stick frying pan hot, place the bread in the pan and cook for one to two minutes, turn over and cook again for around one minute, remove and repeat with the rest of the dough, wrap the cooked flat breads in a warm tea towel  yo keep warm while you cook the rest.  

Serve family style on the table with a stack of breads, bowls of the salad, a stack of kebabs and a big bowl of mayonnaise, I also serve with some chopped fresh chillies, garlic and herbs along with a home made jar of hot sweet chilli jelly, enjoy.

BANGERS AND MASH WITH CARAMELISED ONION GRAVY

There is something so comforting about a hearty plate of bangers and creamy buttery mashed potatoes with outstandingly gorgeous caramelised pan onion gravy.  The term bangers comes from Britains World War II when meat was so scarce more water was added to the sausage mix, during cooking they often would pop going BANG and exploded while cooking!  

This meal is very personal and I’m so proud that everything on this plate we grew, raised and produced from our family small holding and home garden.  Glorious 95% Herby Gloucestershire Old Spot sausages, loved and organically out door naturally reared, preservative free and seasoned with fresh thyme, sage, chives and marjoram from the garden with a hint of salt and fresh ground white pepper.  Served with rich buttery mashed potatoes and caramelised onion and sausage pan gravy.

Prep time 10 minutes / Cooking-oven time 40 minutes

Ingredients

(serves 4)

8 local big bangers

(outdoor reared)

1 kg potatoes

1 large onion sliced

1 tsp sugar (optional)

1 tbsp olive or coconut oil

150g butter + 1 tbsp

1 tbsp white wine vinegar 

pinch of thyme

2 tsp corn flour

sea salt

fresh white pepper

Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees, lightly grease the bottom of a roasting tin and place the sausages in, place in the oven, these will take between 35-40 minutes to cook, turn half way through.  Meanwhile bring a large pan of water to a gently boil, peel the potatoes and halve, place in the boiling water and cook until fork tender approx 25-30 minutes, drain and return to the pan with the butter and white wine vinegar, mash and season with salt and pepper, leave on a very low heat to keep warm while you serve.  

At the same time as cooking the potatoes make the onion (poor man’s) gravy, on a medium heat fry the onions in a tbsp of butter, dash of olive oil and sugar until caramelised, for approximately the same amount of time it takes to boil the potatoes, once caramelised add 500ml of water and the thyme, bring up to a simmer, take the cornflour and mix with a tbsp of water, add to the simmering onions and stir until smooth, when you remove the sausages from the oven, add 50ml of water or white wine to the roasting tin, scrape around lifting off all the caramelised flavour from the cooked sausages and pour the cooking juices into the gravy, season with salt and pepper to taste and serve the mashed potatoes first, top with your gorgeous sausages and fabulous onion gravy, enjoy.

CHICKEN SATAY

Best Ever Recipe 

I can stop eating this!  Outrageously awesome creamy peanut butter, coconut cream, soy, tamarind satay sauce, I need to calm down it’s just a recipe!  Drenched over chicken tenders marinated in fresh turmeric, lemongrass, ginger, garlic, shallots, ground cumin and coriander seeds, chilli flakes and nut oil gives this chicken satay multiple levels of flavour, combine that with charred flavour from cooking on a cast iron skillet this is a winner dinner.  Serve this family style with skewers piled high, a large bowl of satay dipping sauce, flat breads and ginger lime rice for a wonderful sharing family or friends dinner.

There seems a lot of ingredients don’t be put off, most of the ingredients double up so it’s a one time preparation then divide and conquer!  I make my own flatbreads but store brought will cut the cooking time, I and my family like their food hot and spicy, lower or leave out the chilli for a equally gorgeous chicken satay.

Marinating time 12-24hrs / Cooking time 15 minutes / 30 minutes

Ingredients 

(serves 4-6)

Marinade

12 chicken tenders

1 small shallot finely diced

1 clove garlic finely grated

1 tsp grated ginger

1 tsp fresh grated turmeric root

1/2 stick lemongrass chopped

1/2 tsp coriander seeds

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp Himalayan sea salt 

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

1 tsp fish sauce

1 tbsp dried chilli flakes

50ml ground nut oil

12 bamboo skewers soaked in water for 30 minutes

Satay Sauce

1/2 small shallot finely diced

1 tsp dried chilli flakes

1 tsp grated ginger

1 grated garlic clove

1 tbsp tamarind paste

4 tbsp peanut butter

1 tbsp soy sauce

200ml coconut cream

1 pinch Himalayan sea salt 

This is a recipe that works brilliantly if you prepare all the ingredients first.  If you can marinate the chicken for at least 12 hours or more ahead of time, this I find easy as I prep while cooking the evening before dinner, so I know the next nights family dinner is already done!  

For the marinade mix the shallot, ginger, garlic, turmeric, lemongrass, ground cumin and coriander seeds, salt, black pepper, fish sauce and chilli flakes with the oil, massage over the chicken and leave to marinate over night.  Thread on to bamboo skewers and drizzle with more ground nut oil.  Heat a cast iron skillet hot and place the chicken skewers on to the skillet to sear and charr for around three minutes each side, remove and place on a platter piled high ready to serve family style.

Meanwhile make the satay sauce, heat a skillet pan with a dash of oil, add the shallots, garlic and ginger and gently soften for a couple of minutes, take off the heat or the coconut and peanut butter sauce may splitadd the coconut cream, tamarind and peanut butter, mix well to combine, add the soy sauce and mix well, taste and assess if your sauce needs a hint of salt and lime juice, this is personal to your own taste buds, I only needed a hint of salt, but felt that lime would have also been great.  Serve in a large or several small bowls around the family table.

Garlic & Lime Rice

2 cups soaked rice

1 lime zested and juiced

4 cloves garlic sliced

1 tbsp olive oil

1 knob butter

Place 2 cups soaked rice in 4 cups of water, bring to a low simmer with the lid on, do not stir at any point, cook for eight minutes, take off the heat add the lime juice, zest and knob of butter, place the lid back on and leave to steam on the side for ten minutes, meanwhile place the garlic in a pan and add a drizzle of olive oil and pan roast the garlic until nutty brown, stir in to the rice and serve.

Flat Breads 1-48 hrs in Advance

500g 00 flour (blue caputo)

15g yeast (optional)

10g Himalayan sea salt 

50g olive oil}

320g water

Flatbreads

Place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl and either by hand or by machine with a dough hook mix for seven minutes, then dust a little flour over the dough mix and gently form into a ball, cover the bowl with a tea towel and leave in a warm area to prove for 1-2 hours until doubled in size if you want to use immediately, then other options are leave to prove slowly in the fridge for 24hrs, this is what I do as it gives me much more control over time and usage, this will keep for 48hrs in the fridge ready to go when you are, you can also freeze any left over dough at this stage, then when ready to use remove from the freezer defrost and once up to room temperature use as you would fresh.

 Take a oversized golf ball piece of dough, dust your work top with a little 00 flour, roll into a ball and roll out a large disk no bigger than your skillet if your not cooking in a wood fired oven, heat to a hot heat, place the flat bread in the pan and cook for one and a half minutes on each side, keep warm by wrapping in a tea towel until serving, these flatbreads are best served warm but are almost as good used later the same day, to use the following day dip the flat breads in water and pop in a pre heated oven for 3-5 minutes and Ta-Da almost as good as fresh.

Ready To Cook

Pre heat your oven 180 C, if using a clay pot or flowerpot soak in water for 15 minutes.  Heat a cast iron skillet or griddle really hot.  Skewer the marinated chicken and place on the griddle, leave for around 4-5 minutes to char, turn over and char the other side.  Remove from the griddle and place the skewers in your clay pot along with 50ml of water, pop on the lid and place in the oven to finish cooking for a further 10 minutes, leave to rest in the clay pot for 5 minutes before serving.

Serve family style with a stack of warm flatbreads, all the fixings and enjoy.

LOW FAT CREAMY CHICKEN AND MUSHROOM PIE

EAT MYSELF SLIM IN STYLE

 

This is a no guilty full flavour low fat chicken and wild mushroom stroganoff filo pie, the filo pastry is low in fat and does not disappoint as a pie crust.  The hot smoked paprika rich creamy wild mushroom sauce and chicken filling is everything it promises to be, Ooh I Love a Pie...

 

Each pie approx.: Kcal 309 / 23g fat / 5.2g sat fat / 26.6g carbs / 14.5g protein

Such a passion for Mushroom and Pie, I love this time of the year where mushrooms are growing wild everywhere.  We have recently been on a mushroom foray and found 28 different species of mushrooms in our local woods.  I was most pleased when we were encouraged to pick some, we took a Cep, Chicken of the Woods and some winter Chanterelles, I look forward to learning a more in depth knowledge but I know I will never forage without a expert the risk is just to high.

INGREDIENTS

(makes 4 pies)

 

300g mixed mushrooms

4 chicken thighs meat only

1 small onion fine diced

2 cloves garlic fine diced

salt and pepper

1 tsp smoked hot paprika

2 tbsp ghee

250ml white wine

100ml chicken stock pot

1 can low fat Campbells mushroom soup

200g crème fraiche 1/2 fat

1/2 juice of a lemon

1 pack of filo pastry

 

Pan fry the onions and garlic in a little of the ghee until soft but not coloured, reserve to one side, gently cook the mushrooms for two minutes, mushrooms only need to kiss the pan, remove and place with the onions, now add the chicken thigh meat and sear, sprinkle over the hot paprika and season, add the white wine which will de-glaze the pan lifting all the gorgeous flavours into the sauce and reduce by half, add the chicken stock, crème fraiche, Campbell's mushroom soup and stir well.  

 

Add back in all the mushrooms, garlic and onion to the sauce and bring up to a simmer and taste for seasoning, then leave to one side to cool before filling the pie crusts.

 

I have allowed two sheets of filo per pie, which is generous and gives more depth to the pie crust this is so you really feel you are getting more pie crust than you should when on a reduced calorie intake.  Line your individual or one large pie tin with the filo pastry, this is such a forgiving pastry so don't worry if you tear the sheets, make sure that the filo goes up and hangs over the top of the pie tin by a few inches, this is because you will fold these overhangs into the centre of the pie to create the pie crust top, pour in your cooked chicken and creamy mushroom filling, fold over the pastry to create the lid, brush with egg wash and bake for 20-25 minutes and enjoy.

KEFIR HOMEMADE

Incredibly Simple

Great for gut health and easily made at home not only for a fraction of the price but organic and no added ingredients.  Very simple to make in 15 minutes and yields around two weeks worth of kefir.  What’s more once you’ve made your first batch this will now be your starter for the next batch and so on meaning your culture of friendly bacteria will always come from your previous batch, some peoples cultures are over 50 years old, mine is 5 years old and when we go away on holiday it is like trusting your child or pet to someone!  

Cooking time 15 minutes 

Ingredients 

1 ltr goats milk

1 sachet starter (amazon)

Equipment 

2 wide mouth ball mason jars

1 box sauer fermenting kit self venting lids

Sterilising The Jars

Pre heat your oven to 180 C / 356 F place your clean jars in the oven and leave for 5 minutes, remove from the oven and leave to just cool before filling with your goats milk.

To Make Kefir

Warm the goats milk slowly to 22 C / 71.6 F the milk often peeks just above this temperature, remove from the heat and wait until a stable 22 C / 71.6 F then sprinkle over the starter culture, gently whisk in and pour in to your jars, pop on the sauer lids and leave for 12 hours in a warm kitchen.  After 12hrs pop in the fridge and leave to finish fermenting for another 2 day’s before starting to eat.  

Your kefir should taste slightly sour and creamy with the consistency of doublecream. Enjoy.