Slow cooked ham hocks with parsley sauce and roasted roots

Ham hocks are a super cheap but a really tasty cut if they're done right! The ones I used here I bought for £2 each, and for very little love just a lot of time the result was delicious falling off the bone loveliness to generously feed 4 people! The hock is the cut from the ankle/calf region, it comes completely covered in skin and there's a lot of bone involved... But that all adds to the flavour! Slow and low is definately the way forward, and to add even more flavour I popped mine in the slow cooker with full fat coke, onions and bay leaves! Then on the side I served maple roast chantenay carrots, roasted beetroots, buttery British asparagus and homemade parsley sauce. Here's how to do all of this yourselves!...

Ingredients

(Serves 4)

For the ham...

2 ham hocks totalling 2kg

2 small onions

6 dried bay leaves

1 litre full fat coke

For the sauce...

25g butter

25g plain flour

1 pint full fat milk 

1 tsp English mustard

1 tbsp white wine vinegar 

Pinch ground black pepper

Handful fresh flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

For the veg...

20 stalks asparagus

4 large beetroots 

500g chantenay carrots 

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp maple syrup

20g butter 

Salt and pepper to season

Method

1. Quarter the onions and pop into a slow cooker with the bay leaves and ham hocks, then cover with coke. Put it on a medium heat and leave it for around 6 hours. Longer won't hurt if you want to leave it whilst your out or at work all day! 

2. Put the carrots in a saucepan and cover with cold water, then bring to the boil. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 200C fan. 

3. As soon as the carrots come to the boil, drain them, and pop them in a roasting tin. Drizzle over 2tbsp oil and the maple syrup and season, then toss all together to coat.

4. Prep the whole beetroots by just chopping off some of the stalks so you're left with just over an inch, and give them a wash. Pop in a roasting tin just as they are. 

5. Pop the veggies in the oven for 45 minutes. 

6. Chop off the woody ends of the asparagus. 

Holly's Hints- if you bend the stalks they should snap at just the right point between the nice part and the woody part. 

Pop them in a large frying pan and cover with boiling water from the kettle. Set aside. 

7. Remove the ham hocks from the slow cooker and pop into a chopping board. Use a slotted spoon to remove the onions and pop them in the oven along with the carrots... Waste not want not! 

Using a small sharp knife, cut away the skin and fat from the ham hocks and discard, then the meat will just pull off the bone with a fork. Pop the meat back in the juices in the slow cooker until ready to serve. 

8. To make the parsley sauce, melt the butter in a small saucepan over a low-medium heat, add the flour and stir to create a roux. Continue to stir the roux to cook it out for a minute or two, then stiring constantly with a whisk, slowly add the milk a little at a time to prevent lumps. Stir constantly until thickened, this may take around 10minutes. Add the ground black pepper, mustard and vinegar, then chopped parsley, and stir through. 

9. Drain the asparagus and set aside whilst you heat the frying pan to a high heat. With the butter and 1 tbsp oil to stop the butter burning. Add the asparagus back to the pan and fry for a couple of minutes until just charred and still firm.

10. Remove the beetroots from the oven first, and wearing a pair of clean washing up gloves, peel away the skin and chop off the tops and roots. 

11. Serve the rest of the veggies, meat and a good helping of parsley sauce, and dig in! 

Red Pepper Jam

My first attempt at this jam ended in disaster! After tending to it very carefully for it's first 40 minutes of cooking, I took my eye off it for one minute and returned to a burnt toffee! Not the desired result! But you will be pleased to hear my second attempt went much better! And it was worth the perseverance! It's actually quite simple! You just need to watch it like a hawk towards the end of it's cooking so that you don't cross the line between jam and toffee like I did! The finished result is a very tasty and sweet yet savoury jam! It would be great on a cheese board to accompany a strong cheddar, feta, or goats cheese! I served mine with a batch of my Great Nan's cheese scones! 

Ingredients

(Makes 1 small jar, approx 10 servings)

2 red peppers

2 hot red chillis

2 plum tomatoes

1 clove garlic

1 tsp ground ginger 

100g golden caster sugar

3 tbsp cider vinegar

Method

1. Very finely chop, or blend in a food processor, the peppers, tomatoes, chillis and garlic. 

2. Add all the ingredients to a small saucepan and stir together.

3. Bring the contents up to a boil and simmer, stirring occasionally for 40-50 minutes. Be sure to keep a close eye on it for the last 10-15 minutes! 

4. Once a jammy consistency has been reached, turn off the heat and spoon the jam into a small, sterilised jam jar. Pop a waxed disk or a little cling film on top of the jam, in contact with it, then screw on the lid to seal and allow to cool. 

5. Label your jar and store in the fridge. It should keep for up to 1 year unopened providing everything is sterile, but once opened consume within 3 days.

Great Nan's Cheese Scones

I'm almost a little reluctant to share this recipe! It's very precious to me! And it feels like sharing something very personal! I have very fond memories of Saturday afternoons as a child at my Great Nan and Gramps' house, my Nan always put on a spread of home baked goods for the family when they visited, and the cheese scones were always a firm favourite of mine! Just a couple of years ago, as my interest in cooking grew, I visited Nan and had her show me how to make them myself. They are surprisingly simple, but to me, nothing compares! I'd know one of my Nan's scones in a line up any day! And I like to think mine are very similar!

Ingredients 

340g self raising flour

2 tsp baking powder

85g margerine or slightly softened, cubed butter

100g cheese- you can use any hard cheese that you like, although Nan used mature cheddar!

1 egg, beaten in a measuring jug and made up to 6 fluid oz liquid with milk

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 170C fan. 

2. Put the flour, baking powder and butter or margarine in a large mixing bowl, and rub lightly with your fingers until the mix resembles breadcrumbs.

3. Stir through the grated cheese.

4. Pour the egg and milk mix into the bowl and stir through until just combined.

Holly's Hints- take care not to over work the mix, to ensure a light and crumbly scone.

5. Gather the mix into a ball with your hands and place on a lightly floured work surface, roll into a long sausage shape, about 6-7cm thick.

6. With a sharp bread knife and a sawing action, slice the sausage into 12 round scone shapes.

7. Place the scones on a baking tray, brush the tops with a little milk, then bake for around 20minutes, or until risen and golden.

8. Slice through and serve spread with butter and a little pickle if you wish. In the picture here I had mine with a little of my red pepper jam.

BBQ Beer Butt Chicken

Exactly what it says on the tin!...  Chicken  with a can of beer up it's butt!! :D You can actually use a can of whatever drink you like! I did 2 chickens, one with a can of Pepsi and the other Lager... Both with great results! Sat upright on the can whilst it cooks, the contents of the can evaporate, keeping the meat lovely and moist and at the same time imparting the flavour of the drink into it! Soooo good!

Here's how to...

Ingredients 

A medium/large chicken

A can of whatever drink you like, don't be afraid to go bold with flavour

Herbs to compliment the drink if you like- I used a small bunch of thyme in with the lager but you can use whatever you like!

2 tbsp olive oil

Salt and pepper

Method

1. Get the BBQ lit and at a good cooking temperature of around 170C. Have the coals around the edge of the BBQ so the chickens can go in the middle and cook from the indirect heat. You can put a foil tray of flavoured wood chips to create smoke too if you like! I would also recommend cooking some fatty sausages or belly pork around the edge of the BBQ at the same time too, this will help maintain the heat and get some smoke going from the splashes of fat, which will help flavour the chicken further! 

2. Crack open your can, pour out the top third of the liquid, and pop in the herbs if required.

3. Prepare the chicken by rubbing olive oil and a good helping of salt and pepper into the skin with your hands. If using herbs, give these a good rubbing over the skin too. This will help crisp up the skin and give it a delicious flavour.

4. Now for the gruesome part... With the help of a friend to hold the can still and upright, hold the chicken wings up, legs down and lower the chicken onto the can, pushing the can into the empty cavity through its bottom! The chicken will now sit upright on the can! 

5. Park them on the BBQ and let the magic happen for around 50minutes.

6. Cut into the thigh to check the juices run clear and it's cooked through. Remove from the BBQ and rest for 10 minutes before holding the base of the can and lifting off the chicken. Most of the liquid will be gone but perhaps not all, take care to keep it upright just incase, to avoid spillages! 

7. Carve up into portions as you wish and tuck in! 

BBQ stuffed peppers

BBQ season is here! There's no denying that a BBQ is all about the meat (even coming from someone who was veggie for 7 years!), but if there is some greenery involved why not get that on the BBQ too!? These stuffed peppers are really versatile, as you can pretty much stuff them with anything you have lying around! Here I've used onion, garlic, rice, chorizo, spices and cheese, but as long as there's some sort of pulse and cheese involved the rest is up to your imagination! Why not try cous cous instead of rice, with spices, raisins and feta? Or minced meat chilli con carne style? Pesto and sundried tomatoes? Garlic and mushrooms? Whatever you fancy! Here's the recipe for my cheesy chorizo version to get you started...

Ingredients 

(Serves 4) 

4 bell peppers 

400g long grain rice

150g chorizo sausage

1 onion

2 cloves garlic

1tsp chilli powder

1 tsp cumin 

1 tsp dried oregano 

150g mature cheddar

Pinch salt and pepper 

Method

1. Put the rice in a saucepan, cover with water, bring to a boil and allow to simmer until just cooked, approx 20 minutes. 

2. Meanwhile, remove the skin from the chorizo sausage, slice it in half lengthways then finely slice.

3. Finely chop the onion and garlic.

4. Fry the onion over a medium heat until soft and slightly golden.

5. Add the chorizo and cook for 5 minutes until the oils have been released and the onion has turned a nice red colour.

6. Add the garlic and sauté for a further 2-3 minutes.

7. Stir in the chilli powder and cumin, frying for a minute more until fragrant.

8. Drain the rice and put it back in the saucepan before adding to it the onion, garlic, chorizo and spices.

9. Take 4 thin slices from the cheese and set aside, then grate the rest into the rice pan and stir it through. Also stir through the dried oregano.

10. Allow the rice mix to cool and hollow out the peppers. There are several ways of doing this. As I wanted to put mine on the BBQ without the contents spilling out, I simply cut a hole in the top side of the peppers as they sat balanced on the chopping board, the. Hollowed out the seeds with a spoon. I then reserved the section I cut out to put back as a lid later. Alternatively if you wanted to oven bake them for another non-BBQ occasion, it looks pretty if you cut off the top section with the stalk, you can then pack them tightly the right way up in a baking tray. Or if you wanted smaller portions you could halve them lengthways, serving half per person without a lid. 

11. Pack the rice into the peppers, lay a slice of cheese on the top then replace the lid.

12. Wrap in foil and cook on the BBQ for 10 minutes, then unwrap and cook for a further 10 minutes to get some nice charring. OR bake in a 180C oven for 25 minutes, or until piping hot all the way through. 

Jumpin' Jambalaya

Given it's name here "Jumpin' Jambalaya" for its spicey, flavourful kick, this recipe is an easy one-pot with impressive flavour. The word Jambalaya comes from the Provençal word 'jambalaia', meaning a 'mish mash', but don't let that put you off! It is simple, punchy, Louisiana soul food, with Spanish and French influences. 

Ingredients 

(Serves 6)

4 skinless boneless chicken thighs, diced

100g chorizo sausage, thinly sliced

150g (approx 30) raw king prawns 

600g easy cook long grain rice

1 green chilli, seeds removed, sliced 

1 onion, roughly chopped

1 green pepper, roughly chopped

3 roasted sweet red peppers (from a jar), roughly chopped

4 cloves garlic, crushed

1 can chopped tomatoes

1.5 litres chicken stock 

2 3 tbsp Cajun seasoning 

1 tbsp olive oil

Method

1. Fry off the chicken thighs in the olive oil until lightly browned all over, remove from the pan and set aside.

2. In the same pan, fry the chorizo and onion on a medium heat for 5-10 minutes, until the onions are soft and the chorizo has released some of it's oils, 

3. Add the garlic, chilli and green peppers, and fry for another 5-10 minutes.

4. Return the chicken to the pan and the Cajun seasoning and stir through, frying for a couple of minutes until really fragrant.

5. Add the rice to the pan and cover with  1l stock and the tomatoes, stir to combine. Bring to the boil then cover and allow to simmer for 20-25 minutes, adding the other 500ml stock as required, until the rice is cooked through. 

6. Add the raw prawns, and chopped sweet red peppers, re- cover and cook for a further 5 minutes until the prawns are pink and cooked through. 

7. Serve it up and dig in.

Homemade Pasta- Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli

I absolutely LOVE making pasta! It does take quite a bit of time and effort but it is well worth it! There are so many shapes to try, and so many fillings if you wish to make filled pasta such as Tortellini or Ravioli. All you need are store cupboard ingredients and a relatively inexpensive pasta machine. I bought mine from Lakeland for £22.99. It simply clamps to your worktop or table, has 9 thickness settings and even comes with attachments for making Tagliatelle and Fettucine. It's so easy! There are extra attachments and gizmos you can buy for it such as a ravioli press and a ravioli attachment but I just use a square ravioli stamp which does the job perfectly.

Basic pasta is usually made from 2 ingredients... flour, and eggs. You can however alter it a little for different purposes if you wish. It can be made without eggs, replaced with water, if you need to, but to do this you will need strong white flour. This is because the stronger flour has higher levels of gluten, which when developed with plenty of kneading will help keep it together, reducing the need for the eggs. The most common type of flour to use is 00 flour, which is very finely ground. 00 flour however does have lower gluten levels, so you must use eggs and not skimp on the kneading, but it does produce a lovely silky, delicate pasta. For pasta with more bite, and for when you need a firmer pasta to create more intricate shapes, or withstand slightly wet fillings, it is also common to use semolina flour in conjunction with the normal flour, up to a 50:50 ratio. Because this dough will be a little drier and tougher, you may need to knead it for a little longer than normal, and use wet hands, in order to make it a little more malleable. It is also easier than you might think to make coloured and flavoured pasta. Just a blob of tomato puree and you have tomato pasta, a little cuttlefish ink and you can create a rich black Nero di Seppia Spaghetti, pureed beetroot and you will create a rich red/purple beetroot pasta, spinach or herbs can also be finely chopped or blended and added to pasta too. So many possibilities!

This weekend I made spinach and ricotta ravioli with a sage and butter sauce, here's how...

Ingredients
(Serves 2, but could easily be doubled)
For the pasta-
150g 00 flour
50g semolina flour
3 large eggs- 2 for the dough and 1 beaten for sticking the sheets together later

For the filling-
50g cooked spinach, water squeezed out and finely chopped
100g ricotta cheese
1 egg yolk
pinch nutmeg
pinch each salt and pepper

For the sauce-
200ml vegetable stock (made with a stock pot and pasta water)
50g butter
12 sage leaves
Parmesan, grated to serve

Method
1. In a large bowl, or on your worktop if your brave with the mess, create a volcano shape from the flour and crack the eggs into the middle.

2. Using a fork, begin to stir the flour into the eggs, starting in the centre and working your way out, bringing in more of the flour as you go.

3. Get your hands in and bring it together into a ball of dough, knead on a work surface for 15 minutes, add a little flour to the work top to stop it sticking if you need to, but try not to add too much and dry it out.

4. Once your dough has reached a lovely smooth consistency, wrap it tightly in cling film and pop in the fridge for half an hour in order th let the gluten relax and make it more malleable.

5. Meanwhile, prepare your filling. Combine the spinach, ricotta, egg yolk, nutmeg and salt and pepper in a small bowl, and place in the fridge until needed.

6. Once the pasta dough has rested, get your machine set up, on the widest setting (number 1 on my machine), on a worktop with plenty of space and split the dough into 4 small balls.

7. Take one of the balls at a time, keeping the others covered with the clingfilm so as not to dry out, and begin to squash it between your hands to flatten it out into an oval shape.

8. Turn the handle on the machine and feed the dough into it, rolling the dough thinner. Fold over the edges and pass it back through on the widest setting a few times, until you have a fairly rectangular shape.

9. Decrease the width between the rollers by turning the knob on the side to the higher numbers, one setting at a time, passing the pasta through once with each decrease. Your sheet of pasta will become thinner and longer. Keep doing this until your pasta is almost as thin as the machine will allow, I went for setting number 8 on my machine.
Holly's hints- If it begins to stick together, dust it with a little semolina, this shouldn't be absorbed or dry it out as much as flour as you can brush it off later.

10. Cut the sheet in half width ways, so you have 2 sheets of pasta.

11. Place heaped teaspoons of the filling, evenly spaced with about 4cm between them, along the length of one of the sheets of pasta, then brush the other with beaten egg.

12. Carefully lay the egg washed pasta, egg side down, on top of the sheet with the filling on.
Holly's hints- start at the back (the long edge of the pasta sheet) and carefully press further forward around the blobs of filling, trying to eliminate any air holes. Press down gently around the filling to seal.

13. Use the ravioli stamp to cut out the ravioli shapes, and place on a sheet cling film dusted with semolina.

Repeat steps 7-13 three more times, until all of the pasta is used up, you should have around 16 parcels.

The ravioli can be kept in the fridge for up to 24 hours but it is best cooked up immediately.

14. Bring a pan of salted water to the boil, and drop in your ravioli, bring back to the boil and cook for no more than 3 minutes.

15. Meanwhile, melt the butter in a small saucepan with the sage leaves, add half a stock pot and ladle in approximately 200ml pasta water from the other pan, stir gently to dissolve the stock pot.

16. Drain and serve up the ravioli in pasta bowls, before spooning over the sauce and grating over plenty of parmesan cheese.

Enjoy the benefits of your hard work!

Quick and easy Ciabatta

This really is very simple to make, and produces lovely bread with a crispy crust and chewy, airy centre. I made rolls as I wanted them for burgers but you could equally make a more traditional oblong shaped loaf. 

Ingredients

500g strong white bread flour plus extra for dusting

450ml lukewarm water

7g sachet fast action yeast

1tsp sugar

1tsp salt

1 tbsp olive oil

Method

1. Place the flour, sugar, salt and yeast in a bowl and mix it together briefly with your hands.

2. Pour in the water and mix together with your hands, it's messy work! But half of the fun! 

3. The mixture will be very wet, so rather than kneading it, keeping the dough in the bowl, stretch it upwards then drop it back down into the bowl to both develop the gluten and help start creating some nice big air holes. Do this for 5-10 minutes, you will be able to feel it get a little more elastic.

4. Pour over 1tbsp olive oil so it just covers the dough, cover the bowl in cling film then leave to rise in a warm place for an hour.

5. Preheat the oven to 200C fan, Prepare a baking sheet by sprinkling it with flour. Also prepare a large bowl or deep baking tray by filling it 1cm deep with flour.

6. Once the dough has doubled in size, with floured hands, shape the dough in your hands, taking care not to knock too much air out, roll it in the flour then place on the baking sheet. I made rolls by taking handfuls at a time and rolling them in the flour but you could create different shapes if you wish. 

7. Bake for 30-40 minutes until golden and they sound hollow when tapped underneath.

Enjoy!