My Christmas Recipes 2011 :-)

Moist and Tender Turkey Breast

• 1 (5 -20 lb) fresh or frozen turkey breast (thawed) or 1 (5 -20 lb) turkey
• 60 g (1/4 cup) butter, melted
• 300 ml (12 oz) chicken broth or beer or white wine
• 1 -2 tablespoon mayonnaise

Directions:

 
Place turkey or turkey breast in a roasting pan. (I use a foil-lined 13x9-inch pan) 

Combine melted butter and chicken broth and pour over the turkey. Rub mayonnaise all over turkey's exterior. Salt lightly if desired.
Roast at 150°-160°C (300°-325°F) (I raise the temperature to 170°C (350°) for the last approximate 30-45 minutes to crisp skin). Remove from oven and let sit for about 30 minutes before slicing.

Note: because the butter and broth are for making gravy, if you need to make a lot of gravy, double the amount of both.

To make gravy: pour pan drippings into a saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Add 1 Tbls. cornstarch per cup of broth/drippings to 1/4 cup cold water. (You'll usually need 2-3 Tbls) Mix well to dissolve. Stir cornstarch mixture into broth and stir until thickened. Add salt and pepper to taste. If too thin, dissolve more cornstarch in water and add until desired thickness. If too thick, add water or more broth to thin.

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Sticky marmalade ham 

Ingredients:

• 1 raw gammon ham, smoked or unsmoked, approx 5-6kg/11-13lb 3oz with bone in
• 454g jar good quality orange marmalade
• 300g light muscovado sugar
• jar whole cloves

Method:

1. Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/ gas 6. Put the ham into a large roasting tin, then tip in 500ml water. Cover the whole thing loosely with greaseproof paper, then cover with a large sheet of foil, scrunching and sealing it around the edge of the tin. Make sure you leave some room around the ham. Put it in the oven, then turn the heat down to 160C/140C fan/ gas 3 and leave to cook for 5 hrs. Meanwhile, mix the marmalade with the sugar and 50ml water in a small pan, bring to the boil, then set aside and leave to cool.
2. Take the ham from the oven. Be careful when you lift the foil as there will be a good amount of steam, which can burn. Once the ham has cooled just a little, remove the rind by gently prising the skin from the fat and lifting it away. Try to keep as much fat on the leg as you can as this will keep the ham moist as it roasts. Drain off most of the liquid (this is very good ham stock - keep it and use it for soup), leaving a little in the tin. Turn the oven up to 200C/180C fan/gas 6.
3. Score lines into the fat with a knife to make large diamond shapes, with the lines about 4cm apart. Brush a third of the marmalade glaze over the joint, really pushing it into the creases and cuts. Now stud the ham with the cloves by poking a clove into the corner of each diamond.
4. Put a trivet into the roasting tin (if you don't have one, a few halved carrots will do), then sit the ham on top. Roast the ham, uncovered, for 45-50 mins, brushing with the remaining glaze a few times during cooking, until caramelised and delicious. Carve hot or cold.

Perfect goose-fat roasties

Ingredients:

• 6 tbsp goose or duck fat
• 2kg potatoes , peeled and cut into a similar size (King Edward or Maris Piper are good)
• rosemary needles from 2 sprigs (optional)
• Maldon sea salt

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Put the tin with the fat in the oven to heat. Drop the potatoes into a pan of boiling water and cook for 5 minutes, then drain really well in a colander. Shake the potatoes around in the colander to rough up the edges a bit then carefully tip them into the hot fat, turning them over to coat.
2. Put back in the oven for about 50 minutes or until crisp and golden. Turn them halfway through and add the rosemary if using. Drain on kitchen paper and sprinkle with salt before serving.

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Ingredients:

• 1 9-inch pie shell
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips
• 1 1/2 cup chopped pecans

Method:

Yummy ;-)

I will add photos when everything is done on Christmas day! Can't wait! x

Healthy Low Fat Recipes

Quite often browsing the web I would come across some delicious, healthy and low in fat recipes and each time I'm thinking I will have to make it some day and then of course I never remember or can't find it again!
So I've decided to create this post as my personal recipe compendium and update it every time I find something new that I would like to make :-)

Baked fish fillets 

Ingredients (serves 4)

• 2 green onions 
• 1 red pepper 
• 1 carrot 
• 4 thick white fish fillets, (Perch or ling would be suitable) 
• 1/4 cup reduced-salt soy sauce 
• steamed rice or cooked noodles, to serve 

Method

Preheat oven to 200°C. Cut onions into 5cm lengths. Remove seeds from capsicum. Peel carrot. Finely shred all vegetables and place into a bowl. Toss until well combined.
Line a baking dish with baking paper. Place fish fillets into prepared baking dish. Top each fillet with shredded vegetables. Drizzle with soy sauce. Season with salt and pepper.
Place another sheet of baking paper over fish. Fold all sides of baking paper together to form a parcel. Place dish into oven. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, or until fish flakes when tested with a fork. Serve with rice or noodles.

Ginger Carrot Soup

 

• 1 tbsp Olive Oil
• 1 Medium Onion
• 6 Large Carrots
• 10g Root Ginger
• 1 Vegetable Stock Cube
• 1½ Pints Boiling Water
• 1 tbsp Basil
• 1 tsp Black Pepper, Freshly Ground
• 1 tsp Sea Salt

Method

1. Heat oil in a large pan. Add in onion, carrot & ginger. Let cook for 5 minutes to soften the onion.
2. Mix up vegetable stock using water and stock cube. Add to pan and bring to the boil. Cover saucepan and let simmer for 35 minutes so that your carrots are nice and soft.
   
3. Pour contents of pan, along with salt & pepper, into food processor and blend, adding more water if needed.
   
4. Garnish with basil and serve.

Wash and peel all the vegetables. Grate carrots, parsnips and celery. Finely chop the onion and leak. Fry the onion until its cooked adding a bit of water so that it doesn't burn. Put the rest of the veggies in a deep pan with a couple of table spoons of olive oil and fry for a couple of minutes then add a little bit of water, bay leaves and allspice and onions and cook until carrots start to soften. Mix the tomato pure and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Cut fish into pieces and season with salt. Beat the egg and roll fish pieces in egg then in flour and fry in olive oil until nice and golden and the fish is cooked thru. 

Now all you have to do is layer the fish and the veg in a deep dish. 

It can be eaten hot or cold and tastes best the next day :-)

Chilli Pork Stirfry

Ingredients

• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 inch fresh ginger
• 1 large pack of spring onions
• 1 bulb pak choi
• 1 medium carrot
• 300g pork
• 3 sprays Frylight
• 1 green chilli
• ¾ pint chicken stock
• splash soy sauce
• to taste ground black pepper
• SERVE WITH...
• 175g boiled rice

1. Finely chop up the garlic, chilli and ginger, halve the spring onions and cut the pak choi into strips, lengthways.

2. Cut the carrot in half lengthways. Continue to cut lengthways to produce thin, narrow batons. Pre-cook in a microwave for 2mins.

3. Cut the pork into bite-size pieces.

4. Heat some Fry Light in a wok and add the garlic, ginger, spring onions and chilli. When slightly softened, add the pork.

5. Once cooked, add the chicken stock and a generous splash of soy sauce. Season with black pepper.

6. Add the pak choi and carrot batons and toss well. When the pak choi starts to wilt, it's time to eat!   

This dish is called Greek Style Fish but apparently Greeks have never heard of it!lol  

500g Fish fillet (white fish, cod, sea bass whatever you fancy)

2 Carrots

1 Parsnip

1 Leak small

1/2 Celery (optional)

1 Onion

6 tsp Tomato pure

Olive Oil, 1/2 lemon juice, flour, 1 egg, salt, pepper, 3 bay leaves, allspice