a little of wat you fancy..

Well I made it to Australia and had my first hot Christmas which is really weird but it has been a fantastic experience so far. I have been bad with the one recipe a week resolution since I arrived as making new recipes requires my own kitchen and a bit of planning which hasn’t always been possible. So here are two recipes I did over Christmas as a means of a catch up for the 6 weeks I missed…oops!

I had a few people to get present for so I decided to make chutney for all my relations. My sister gave a foolproof quick to make recipe which I used and has gone down a treat. It is ready straight away and this recipe makes about 6 jars.

Nai’s Red Onion Chutney

Ingredients

• 1kg red onions
• 150g stick butter
• 1 cup sugar (castor)
• 2 tsp salt and same of pepper
• 3/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 1/3 cup red wine
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Method

1)    Peel and slice onions thinly.

2)    Melt butter and hold your nerve until it becomes deep brown nut colour, careful not to burn though.

3)    Chuck in onions salt sugar and pepper. Stir well and then simmer for about 30 mins covered, keep an eye it doesn’t catch.

4)    Add rest of stuff and cook another 30 mins stirring regularly. Cook gently, don’t reduce too much and you can skim off excess butter that floats to top when it cools.

5)    Put into clean jars that have been blasted in the microwave for 2 mins on high then allowed to cool.

6)    Let the mixture completely cool before fastening the lids. Present with material covering the lid and a label.

Next is the figgy puddings! These are a relly cute idea that looks good, is relatively simple albeit a little fiddly. We had a big Christmas carols party at the family’s home I am staying so naturally gave people a hand in the kitchen. Anyway we made these to go out on Christmas Eve and they went down really well.

Figgy puddings

Ingredients

• A pack of teacakes (the marshmallow chocolate covered biscuits)
• White chocolate
• Strawberry liquorish or some other red confectionary item
• Green gummy sweets like snakes etc

Method

1)    Take the teacakes out and put them on a tray in the fridge so that they are nice and cool. In the meantime melt the white chocolate in a bowl over a saucepan with hot water in it.

2)    Take a sharp knife or scissors and trim really small pieces off the green gummy sweet which you’ll use later as leaves. Roll up the strawberry liquorish into balls for the berries.

3)    Let the melted chocolate cool slightly then put into a piping bag and then bring out the cold teacakes piping on the chocolate so that it looks like icing. Be warned the piping bag will probably get very hot.

4)    Before the icing has cooled assemble the berries and green leaves then place in the fridge again to cool. Serve when you are ready!