Showing posts with label Jamie Oliver. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Jamie Oliver. Show all posts

Random Recipe Challenge ~ Botham Burgers

Firstly I feel I need to apologise for my lack of blogging lately.  Not only has finding the time to post my antics hard to come by, but visiting blogs and catching up on all the gossip with my friends has also been difficult.  Sorry!  To add insult to injury, blogger is just not playing fair and has thrown a complete tantrum over photos which is why they have been few and far between on the posts I have completed!!  My picasa work around is quickly wearing thin too as I am now nearing the full storage limit and the increase the limit means handing over cold hard cash!  And now my email has decided to join the club too ...


Pressing on to more important matters, the time is drawing near to get my post completed for Dom's Random Recipe challenge this month, which he very cleverly decided should come from the first cookbook that started all our collections off.  I decided to settle on the first cookbook I got in the UK ... if I went for the proper first cookbook I would have had to ask my Mum to send it over, a classy kids book with cartoon pictures of a cat and a dog let loose in the kitchen complete with chef's hats!  Can't seem to recall any of the recipes!

So, the first cookbook in my UK collection came courtesy of my big brother.  It was part of a birthday gift I received in my first year in the UK and contained a lovely hat, scarf and glove set from Accessorise (which I still use by the way!  My big brother knows me so well!) and a copy of Jamie Oliver's new book "The Return Of The Naked Chef".  To this day I still don't know what on earth possessed him to buy me a cookbook, my love of food didn't develop for another few years but clearly he knew something I didn't.


Following along with the 'what on earth possessed' theme was the choice of recipe from the book for the challenge.  The day after the challenge was set Hubby and I were talking about having a barbie, Hubby was lamenting his recent love lose of the classic burger just as I should flick to the page with the Botham Burger ... I'm pretty sure you can guess the rest!

Jamie Oliver's Botham Burger
1kg minced beef, preferably organic
2 medium red onions, finely chopped
2 eggs
1-2 handfuls of fresh breadcrumbs
1 tbsp coriander seeds, crushed
1 small pinch cumin seeds, crushed
1 heaped tsp dijon mustard
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 230C.  Mix and scrunch all the ingredients together.  Use the breadcrumbs as required to bind the mixture.  Divide into 4, then gently and lightly mould and pack each burger together into a smallish cricket ball sized shapes.  Place in the oven and roast for 25 mins, which should leave the middle slightly pink and the outsides nice and crispy.  Serve with regular burger style sides!

Makes 4
Jamie Oliver's 'The Return Of The Naked Chef'


The above is how Jamie makes them.  I make them pretty much the same, apart from the burgers are flattened to ensure even cooking (Hubby doesn't like pink in his meat!) and we cook them on the barbie for roughly the same amount of time.  I have now made this recipe twice more, Hubby is totally addicted and last weekend we took them along to a barbie with friends and everyone raved about them, so there is some strong testimony from some finicky eaters!  The biggest thumbs up seems to come from the 'Chilli-Cheese' Burger, where these are cooked with a healthy layer of homemade hot chilli sauce and topped with slices of cheese which are then left on the barbie (with the hood down!) to molten lava stage.

Mince Pies and Mulled Cider for Christmas Eve

It was the night before Christmas and all through the house wafted the warm scent of cider mixed with vanilla and anise ... OK OK, poetry is not my forte!

Today has been spent in the kitchen getting a head start on tomorrow's feast. I'm sure I'll be very thankful tomorrow but right now I'm exhausted! But I just wanted to share with you some of today's adventures in the kitchen.

Jamie Oliver's Filo and Puff Pastry Mince Pies - My Way!
1 sheet ready rolled puff pastry
1 packet filo pastry
Home made mincemeat (I used the Apple, Cherry and Hazelnut mincemeat for this)
Melted butter
Icing Sugar, for dusting

Heat the oven to 180C.

Roll puff pastry to roughly 3mm thick. Cover with a thin ish layer of mincemeat and then roll the pastry up along the long edge, swiss roll style. Trim the edges and then slice the roll into approx 2cm wide slices.

Use melted butter to layer 3-4 sheets of filo together. Use to line a shallow bun tin. Sit a slice of the puff pastry and mincemeat mixture into each bun cavity and then brush more melted butter around the edges of the filo.

Bake for 20 to 25 mins. When you are ready to eat these simply snap the filo sheets into mince pie portions and dust with icing sugar.

Makes 21

If you'd like to see Jamie's original recipe then head over to Ruth's blog for the full ingredient list and instructions.

And if you're not quite fed up with Mince Pies just yet then please try the next recipe - this afternoon was the first time I've ever made them but I've decided this is the best ever Mince Pie recipe, especially for the Vanilla and Rhubarb Mincemeat.

Mincemeat Custard Pies
300g ready made custard
375g ready rolled puff pastry
Homemade Mincemeat (Vanilla and Rhubarb - mmmm)
Icing Sugar, for dusting

Heat oven to 220C/fan 200C. Unroll the pastry, then cut out circles using a 7cm plain round cutter. Gather up the pastry trimmings, re-roll, then cut out more circles. You should get 16-18. Use to line a couple of bun tins.

Spoon a heaped tsp of the custard mix into each tart case, then top with a scant tsp of mincemeat. Bake for about 10 mins until puffy and golden. Cool briefly in the tin, then dust with icing sugar and serve slightly warm.

Makes 16-18 pies
Adapted from BBC Good Food Website

And the last recipe was made for my Hubby to welcome him home on Christmas Eve ;0)

Mulled Cider
2 litres good quality traditional cider (scrumpy)
6 cloves
3 star anise
1/4 nutmeg finely grated into the pan
1 cinnamon stick
1 vanilla pod, halved
juice of 1 orange
juice of 2 clementines
juice and seeds of 1 pomegranate
4-5 tbsp caster sugar (I've not added any)

Pour the cider into a large pan on a low heat and let it warm through for a few mins. Add all the spices and juices and turn the heat up. Once boiling, turn down to a simmer and leave to tick away for 5-8 mins. Taste and add sugar as you like - you don't want it sweet. Ladle into glasses or mugs and serve while warm.

Serves 15
Jamie Oliver Magazine - Dec 09 /Jan 10

Clementine Curd

I don't know what it is but I always seem to feel a huge sense of achievement every time I make a batch of curd. Strange I know - but that's me in a nut shell! The most recent addition to my ever expanding collection of curd triumphs is courtesy of Jamie Oliver (generally Jamie and I admire from a far but not today!) when I was flicking through the December 09 / January 10 issue of his magazine and saw his recipe for Clementine Curd ~ I knew I had to give it a go.

I've not actually made it as far as spreading the finished product on a piece of bread or on a toasted crumpet, but the small teaspoon that I did test straight from the bowl had a wonderfully delicate clementine flavour. A word of warning - this recipe makes loads!

Clementine Curd
6 clementines
2 lemons
350g caster sugar
4 eggs, beaten
2 egg yolks, beaten
100g unsalted butter, diced

Grate in the fruit zest and squeeze the juice into a bowl with the sugar, eggs and yolks and mix to combine (I passed the eggs through a strainer to get rid of any of the white lumpy bits that can ruin the finished curd). Add the butter and place over a very low heat. Cook, constantly stirring, until the curd is thick and coats the back of a spoon (with the quantities listed here it does take a while but hang in there!). Pour into sterilised jars, seal and refrigerate. Use within two weeks.

Makes about 850g
Jamie Magazine - Dec 09 / Jan 10
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