Halloween Meal

I managed to get myself volunteered to cook a Halloween meal so I'm cooking pot roast pork with roasted root veg, baked leeks, pumpkin and potato mash and onion sauce.

Autumnal Cooking

So it turns out that I've basically spent the day cooking, not that it's a bad thing, I actually quite enjoy cooking. I made a thoroughly weather/time of year appropriate rustic root veg, chicken and noodle soup with a side of buttered toast. The basic recipe can be found here "Chicken "Noodle" Soup", I added some hefty chunks of parsnip and swede to make it extra hearty and warming for the time of year.

Homemade Cinnamon Raisin Oaty Cookies

I'm putting my time off to good use, homemade cinnamon raisin oaty cookies.

Monday Morning Selfie

There's something deeply satisfying about watching TV on a Monday morning, when you'd normally be working, even if there's absolutely nothing worth watching.

Simple Pumpkin Pie

Another autumnal sweet treat with a few warming spice notes thrown in. This is probably better known as an American classic, traditionally served around Halloween and Thanksgiving, but I've tried to cater it more for my personal tastes by reducing the sugar and ramping up those spices.

You will need:
500g ready made shortcrust pastry (I suck at making pastry so nearly always use ready made)
2 large eggs
75g soft brown sugar
75g granulated sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 can (425g) pumpkin puree
1 can (410g) evaporated milk

Method:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 200°C.
2. Roll out the pastry and use it to line the base of a 9 inch flan tin.
3. Line the pastry with baking paper, fill with baking beans, I don't have baking beans so I used uncooked rice, and bake blind for about 15 minutes until just cooked.
4. In a large bowl lightly beat the eggs together.
5. Mix the sugar and spices, in a small bowl, until thoroughly incorporated. I find pre-mixing the sugar and spices helps prevent the spices from clumping in the eggs.
6. Add the sugar mixture and pumpkin puree to the eggs and stir until well mixed.
7. Gradually stir the evaporated milk into the pumpkin mixture, until the desired colour or consistency is reached, I used about 2/3 of a can.
8. Reduce the oven temperature to 180°C.
9. Pour the filling mixture into the pastry base, return to the oven and bake for a further 35 to 40 minutes.

Notes:
Another great accompaniment to a freshly brewed coffee and a crisp cold evening.

Simple Pumpkin Loaf

A sweet and spicy loaf that is really easy to make and unquestionably autumnal. The pumpkin puree makes for a moist and uniquely flavoured loaf that is a real treat alongside a freshly brewed pot of coffee.

You will need:
250g self raising flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp grated nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
175g unsalted butter, softened
175g light brown sugar
175g granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 can (425g) pumpkin puree

Method:
1. Pre-heat the oven to 170°c and line a 2lb loaf tin with baking parchment.
2. Add the flour, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cloves and ginger to a bowl, mix until thoroughly incorporated and set aside.
3. In a large bowl mix the butter and sugar until just blended.
4. Add the eggs to the butter mix, one at a time, mixing well after each egg.
5. Add in the pumpkin puree and mix until completely incorporated.
6. Add in the flour and fold through the mixture thoroughly.
7. Spoon the mixture into the lined loaf tin and bake for about an hour or until an inserted skewer comes out clean.

Notes:
This can be eaten warm or cold and is great lightly toasted and buttered.

Review: Posh Chips, Brierley Hill

I've been a big fan of street food for a while now and I guess when I tried posh chips I probably had slightly inflated expectations, unfortunately, this has meant I ended up slightly disappointed.

I would like to clarify that It certainly wasn't the toppings that I found disappointing, they offer a really great selection, were good quality, had plenty of flavour and, although I found the beef on the British a little dry, were pretty damn impressive.

It was actually the chips that let them down, they seemed like run of the mill oven chips straight from the freezer. To their credit, they were soft, fluffy and clearly from the higher end of the quality spectrum, however, they suffered from the classic frozen chip issues of being quite dry and basically tasteless. For a place that clearly puts a lot of effort into other aspects of their food, and seeing as chips are literally their name, I expected them to be better.

With that said I really do recommend this place, it’s great to see a local fast food joint raising the bar and doing something a little bit different, but I obviously feel some improvements could be made.