SAUSAGES IN RED ONION MARMALADE SAUCE SERVED WITH BUBBLE AND SQUEAK

MRS DARLINGTONS  Jams, Marmalades and Chutneys sell rather well here at Skylark.
It all started for The Darlingtons in 1981when a surplus of eggs from their farm were used, to save waste, to make some lemon curd with the intention of seeing if they would sell to local villagers.
They did sell, and further requests poured in for possible other jams and chutneys.
Sales increased and by 1985 farm buildings were converted into a new kitchen with local village ladies drafted in to help with production. Another move to bigger premises came in 1992 with the addition of mustards,table sauces, pickles and now a new range of cooking sauces.

For todays Special's Board in the farmhouse cafe i have used Mrs Darlingtons Red Onion Marmalade.

First i browned off some sausages in butter in a large pan. I made half a pint of chicken stock and topped up to a pint with red wine and added to the pan with a whole jar of the red onion marmalade.

 

I brought it all to the boil, stirring well and left to simmer and reduce for about 20 minutes.

 

While the sausages were cooking i chopped an onion and sweated it off in a pan then added it to mashed potaoes, carrots and cabbage left over from Sundays roast dinner. A little mixed herbs,salt and pepper were also added for seasoning then i cooked in batches on the griddle til browned.

 

And here is the finished result and mighty tasty it was too!!

 



sausages served on bubble and squeak with red onion marmalade sauce

If you want to find out more about Mrs Darlington or the companys products take a look at their website here .

BRITISH SANDWICH WEEK

12TH-19TH May is British Sandwich Week.

So the story goes that John Montague, the Fourth Earl Of Sandwich, was such an enthusiastic gambler that he didn't like leaving the gambling table whilst playing. So, instead of breaking for dinner, he asked that someone bring him some meat between a couple of slices of bread. Later on, others would do the same saying something like "I'll have what Sandwich is having" and, eventually, people would just ask for a "Sandwich"

Nowadays the humble sandwich has become big business in the catering industry and fillings and bread types have become far more  adventurous than in the days of The Fourth Earl Of Sandwich!!

Today, at Skylark, our sandwich of the day was Steak, Mushroom & Melted Cheese on Toasted Farmhouse Bloomer Bread.
 Served with salad and homemade coleslaw it went down a storm.

Steak,Mushroom and Melted Cheese Toasted Sandwich.

So what's your favourite filling??

MEATBALLS WITH CHUNKY TOMATO SAUCE AND SPAGHETTI

MINCED BEEF , a most versatile and economic meat and the housewives favourite i would say. I remember when my children were small, and we were strapped for cash, i used to make as many different meals with mince as i could during a week.
But just because it's economic doesn't mean it cant be extremely delicious!
I first made this recipe for meatballs years ago but it is so tasty i have tended to put it on the specials board of every establishment i have worked at over the years and it is always enjoyed immensly.

FOR THE MEATBALLS
250g Minced Beef
6 Slices Bread (processed to make breadcrumbs)
1 Onion (finely chopped)
Clove Garlic (crushed)
2 Tbsp Mixed Herbs
Salt & Pepper
1 Large Free Range Egg (Beaten)
FOR THE SAUCE
2 14oz Tins Chopped Tomatoes
1 Onion
2 Courgettes
1 Red Pepper
4 Tbsp Tomato Puree
1/2 Vegetable Stock
Clove Garlic (Crushed)
Glass Red Wine (Optional)
Double Cream (Amount to suit taste)

Put all ingredients for the meatballs into a mixing bowl and work together with your hands until all ingredients are evenly mixed in.
Divide the mixture and roll into individual balls. I cant say how many balls you'll make as it will depend on what size you make them!

Heat a small amount of oil in a frying pan and add your meatballs. Seal the outside of the balls, then put in an ovenproof dish.

Make your sauce.
Chop the onion, courgettes and red pepper and fry off for a few minutes in an oiled pan with the garlic. Add the tomatoes, puree and stock (red wine also if desired), bring to the boil then simmer for 5 minutes. Pour over the meatballs, cover with foil and cook in the oven at 180C (160C Fan), 350F, Gas Mark 4 for approx 30-40 mins.
Cook spaghetti and portion on plate. Remove your meatballs from the sauce and place on spaghetti. Stir some double cream into your sauce for that lovely creamy taste and pour over the meatballs.

Meatballs And Spaghetti

Serve immediately!

CHIPOLATAS

CHIPOLATAS, the small thin sausages usually associated as an accompaniment to the turkey at christmas, wrapped with streaky bacon.
This weeks task at Skylark was to free up the freezer so a recipe was needed for a large supply of chipolatas.
It was my day off on Tuesday so it was up to my 2 staff to come up with something different for the specials board.
GOOGLE, as usual threw up lots of suggestions for recipes and they decided on this one for "Cheese, Chutney & Chipolata Pinwheels"

3 chipolatas were used per portion and twirled round into a pinwheel and secured in place with a cocktail stick then baked in the oven.
Big, thick slices of farmhouse loaf were toasted on our griddle and, just before the chipolatas were taken from the oven some cheese was piled on top to melt over the pinwheel.
Selected, as an accompaniment, was Mrs Darlington's Autumn Fruit Chutney (which can be found to purchase in the Skylark Farm Shop).

 The toasted bread was put on the plate, topped with the chipolata and melted cheese and a good serving of chutney. Finished off with some diced, fried potatoes and salad this special was a big hit with all our customers this week.

CHOCOLATE AND GUINNESS CAKE

GUINNESS, a popular Irish stout and one of the most successful beer brands worldwide, being brewed in almost 50 countries and sold in 100.
I often use it in the filling for my steak and stout pies but this week I saw a recipe for a chocolate and guinnes cake. Bit like chilli and chocolate I was curious to see what it would taste like in a cake rather than a main dish.

 

INGREDIENTS

4oz Butter (Room Temperature)

8oz Light Muscovado Sugar

6oz Plain Flour

2oz Cocoa Powder

1/2 Tsp Baking Powder

1 Tsp Bicarbonate Of Soda

3Free Range Eggs (Beaten)

7Floz Guinness

Cream the butter and sugar together then whisk in the eggs gradually. Sieve all the dry ingredients into the bowl and mix in. Finally whisk in the Guinness.

Line an 8ins cake tin with greaseproof paper, add the mixture and bake in a pre-heated oven 160C/325F/Gas Mark 3 for approx 30-40mins.

Turn the cake out on a cooling rack and whilst cooling make a buttercream for the top.

*Top Tip*  As a guideline, quantities for basic buttercream is double icing sugar to butter.

In this recipe I used 5oz butter to 10oz icing sugar. Beat the butter til soft then beat in the icing sugar. Add a couple tsps of milk if required to loosen the mixture.

Spread over the cooled cake and use a fork to pattern through the mixture.

Cut yourself a slice and enjoy this dark, rich chocolate sponge.

Homemade Custard

Ok, hands up who has a jar of Bird's Custard in their store cupboard??
I must confess, up until i started working at Skylark Farm i had only ever made Bird's Custard or worse just bought a tin!!!



But now that i work on a free range egg farm it is imperative that i use our fresh eggs in as many dishes as possible.

And i cant believe how easy fresh custard actually is to make!

You will need:

1 Pint Hot Milk

2floz Single Cream

1tsp Vanilla Extract

4 Egg Yolks

1oz Caster Sugar

2 tsp Cornflour

Method

Place the egg yolks,caster sugar,cornflour and vanilla in a pan and mix to a paste.

Whisk in your hot milk.

Put your pan on the stove and bring to boil, whisking continuously. Simmer for 1 minute and remove from heat.

Stir in your cream.

Serve hot or cold.

Hope you found this recipe interesting and dont forget to keep your egg whites and use them to make the meringues in my Strawberry Meringue stack recipe http://chefatskylarkfarmhousecafe.blogspot.co.uk/2012/04/strawberry-chocolate-and-cream-meringue.html

Please feel free to comment on any of my posts.

STRAWBERRY, CHOCOLATE AND CREAM MERINGUE STACK

SO summer is coming and strawberries are appearing on the shelf at Skylark Farm shop. Thinking cap on for me again and looking at the tub of egg whites i have in the fridge i think MERINGUES!
Even though these take a while to cook in the oven they are an easy dessert to make and very effective to look at. The meringues can be made in advance a day or 2 before you need them.
So to make 8 stacks i used:
4 Egg Whites
8oz Caster Sugar
3ozs Dark or Milk Chocolate (depending on preference)
10-12 Large Strawberries
8Floz Double Cream

First whisk the egg whites. Make sure both the bowl and whisk are dry and completely grease-free. If you drop any yolk at all into the whites when seperating your eggs, scoop it out with a piece of shell, as even the tiniest amount of yolk will prevent the eggs from whisking.

Whisk until very thick and form firm peaks. If you are not sure whether they are ready, turn the bowl upside down- if they stay put then they're ready!!!

*Top Tip* Egg whites whisk to a greater volume when at room temperature.

Gradually whisk in the sugar an ounze at a time. It may seem a slow process but it creates a thick meringue.

Spoon the meringue into a piping bag. I then pipe in a long row, side to side, about 2 1/2 ins wide on greaseproof paper, the length of my baking tray, as shown in the photo below.

Set your oven to 100C/220F/Gas Mark 1/4 and bake for an hour and half. Turn off your oven and leave the meringue inside until the oven has cooled.

Divide the meringue rows into 16 equal pieces and cut.

Whisk the cream until stiff and pipe or just spread a layer onto each meringue piece.

Slice the strawberries and lay on top of the cream.

Melt your chocolate, and using a teaspoon, flick it in an erratic manner over all the strawberries.

Each stack is made of 2 meringue slices so sit 8 pieces on top of the other 8.

Dust with icing sugar for effect and serve.