bFeedme

Cooking, Recipe and Food Blog

Archives for October 2010

Ideas for Adult Halloween Parties

By

You never outgrow Halloween. You just change the trick and treats.

Adult Halloween Party

Decorations

Decorating the venue is a big area to make the difference. Make it spookier, rather than cute like you would for a childs party. Try to get enough small tea-light candles, and not use the main electric lights. Of course, be careful with these, you don’t want to burn it down though!

You can get Candle Holders with spaces for Plastic to give the lights a spooky orange or red glow – these are great for different events throughout the year – blue and white around Christmas, and all sorts of bright colours at New Years and Birthdays.

Of course, decorations will look out of place if the music isn’t right. Some spooky organ music would fit in perfectly, but a quick online search comes up with plenty of free results.

Food

Let loose your creative side. Turn donut holes into Eyeballs, decorated with Jam and icing sugar, Pumpkin Pies can easily be made into spiderwebs or pumpkins, Pizzas can be made using French breads and transformed into broken-off arms or legs! You could have bowls of popcorn or crisps with small suprises in them (but not too small people wouldn’t realise if they ate a big handful!)

Drinks

The main part for an Adult Halloween Party. Create a range of different cocktails, which are easy and quick to make, or have a dedicated bar-person for the night!

You could try some of these, or create something completely random:

White Witch

½ cup Vanilla Ice Cream
30ml Vodka
30ml White Crème de Cacao

Add all of the ingredients into a blender, and blend for at least ten seconds, until they’re smooth and creamy. Serve in a tall glass, with a spooky straw.

Black Cat

30ml Vodka
30ml Cherry Brandy
Cranberry juice
Ccola

Pour the Vodka and Brandy into a highball glass filled with ice and gently stir together, before topping the glass up with Cranberry Juice and Cola.

Bull Frog

30ml Vodka
12.5ml Crème de Menthe (Mint Liquer)
1½ Shots of Cream
1½ Shots of Milk

Shake all the ingredients together over Ice. Strain into a fresh Glass over fresh Ice.

Photo courtesy of Rusty BoxCars

Halloween Childrens Party Menu

By

This menu is to give you an idea of what you could prepare and serve if you have a party to prepare for. All of the dishes serve 6 people, and are relatively easy and simple to make – meaning that you should be able to get the help of any children around.

Kids Halloween

Spooky Fruit Punch

An alternative to an ordinary punch, which looks great and is fun to make! Using the cranberry juice for ice cubes gives a different taste, and also freezes clear so you can still see the Gummy Worms

2 Packages of Gummy Worms

1 litre Cranberry Juice

1 litre Strawberry Smoothie

500ml Orange Juice

3 Cans Lemonade

1.       Put a gummy worm into each ice cube space, with half hanging out. Pour the cranberry juice into the trays and freeze for at least 2 hours.

2.       In a large punch bowl, pour the Strawberry Smoothie, Orange Juice and Lemonade, and stir.

3.       Before serving, add the ice cubes to the punch bowl, and fill glasses with a ladleful.

Carrot Fingers

A healthy snack, which looks lovely and gruesome! Just what’s needed at your party! Great idea, especially if you have any vegetarians at your party, just be careful with Nut Allergies

1 bag of peeled baby Carrots

Enough sliced Almonds for 1 per Carrot

Cream Cheese

Bottled Ranch dressing

1.       Put a bit of cream cheese on the end of each carrot, and place an almond face-down on top of it-  little hint, it should look like a fingernail!

2.       In a bowl, pour the Ranch dressing in it – just enough to allow you to stand four or five carrot fingers in it. On a small platter, lay the other carrot-fingers out.

Pizza Mummies

Very easy, simple and great fun to decorate! You can use tomato Puree to add extra blood, or bits of meat to be cuts and scars, Sweetcorn for pupils, and virtually anything else you can get your hands on really! You can make 1 parge pizza for everyone to have slices of, or even 6 small individual ones

Pizza Dough

Sliced Cheese

Tomato Puree

Sliced Green Olives

Vegetable or Olive Oil

1.       Add extra Tomato Puree to the pizza bases, before cooking the pizzas for 10 minutes less than needed

2.       Lay the sliced cheese out so it looks like bandages, leaving a small space where you can put two bits of sliced Olive to look like eyes. Brush with oil

3.       Cook for the remaining 10 minutes.

4.       Allow to cool before serving

Pumpkin Nachos

No, they aren’t made from Pumpkin. Ordinary Nachos, but cut in the shape of Pumpkins, so you’ll need a cookie cutter (or similar) in the shape of a pumpkin. If you can find another spooky shape, then you can use that, and mix and match them

1 pack of Soft Corn Tortillas

¼ cup Vegetable or Olive Oil

Chilli powder (optional)

Red and Yellow food Colouring

Salt

1.       Use the cookie cutter to cut out Pumpkin shapes from the tortillas

2.       Pour the oil into a small bowl, and add some food colouring to a bowl to get the desired colour – should be a bright orange. You may have to leave it a one or two minutes before mixing the oil to make sure it doesn’t separate

3.       Dip the shapes (or use a brush) so the tortillas are well coated on both sides

4.       Lay the Shapes out on an ungreased tray, and sprinkle with salt (and chilli if you would like). Bake at 175 C/ 350 F for 10 minutes, or until crispy.

Halloween Cakes

Using a range of small cupcakes, you can decorate these in a wide variety of ways, depending on the age of your helpers. The younger they are, the more basic patterns (i.e., Pumpkins, bats, moons), and for the older, you can go for more delicate patterns – spiders webs, bats, haunted houses, skeletons – the list goes on!

Try different decorations depending on the shape of the cake – for example, if you’ve got a large oval cake, look at getting a Pumpkin decorated onto it, or if you’re particularly creative, try a haunting scene!

Photo Courtesy of Ivanx

Pumpkin Pie

By

A great use for the inside of those pumpkins you’ve turned into Lanterns. For best results, use ‘Pie Pumpkins’ – usually available from late September through to mid December. They’re smaller, sweeter and have a more edible texture (less grainy than the lantern type). If you do want to use the Lantern type, add 25% more sugar, and blend for much longer after cooking.

Serves 8

Pumpkin

1 cup Sugar

1.5 tsp ground Cinnamon

1 tsp ground Cloves

1 tsp ground All Spice

½ tsp ground Ginger

½ tsp Salt (optional)

4 large eggs

3 cups pumpkin puree (that you’ll be making!)

1 ½ cans of Evaporated Milk

½ tsp Vanilla Extract (optional)

Pie base

1.       Wash the exterior of the Pumpkin in cool or warm water – with no soap, before cutting the pumpkin in half. For cutting the pumpkin, use a blade that’s serrated – a bread knife, or a handsaw (as I’ve seen happen for large amounts of pumpkins!)

2.       Remove the stringy substance and the seeds (keep the seeds for this recipe: roasted pumpkin seeds)

3.       Cook the Pumpkin. You can steam it, microwave it or bake it until soft. I’d recommend microwaving it – the simplest way of doing it. Start off with fifteen minutes, and add more time in small increments – it might take twenty or thirty minutes

4.       Scoop out the cooked pumpkin. It should be soft enough to scoop with a large smooth spoon (like a tablespoon). If cooked well enough, and in large enough chunks, it should be able to be peeled off with just your hands. If there’s any standing water, you might want to let it set for thirty minutes, before pouring any excess off of the pulp.

5.       Puree the Pumpkin. This is where you need to add any extra sugar (if you’ve used a Lantern Pumpkin). Use a handheld blender to make sure that there are no lumps, and that it’s a constant, smooth satiny texture. It should take around two or three minutes, depending on the amount of Pumpkin.

6.       Make the pie crust. You can either make a shortbread pie crust, or buy one from the store. Pre-heat the oven to 210 C or 425 F

7.       Mix the remaining ingredients using a hand blender or mixer.

8.       Pour the pie mix until it’s 1cm (1/2 inch from the top of the dish). Don’t worry if it looks very runny.

9.       Bake the pie at 210 C for the first fifteen minutes, and then turn down to 175 C or 350 F, and bake for another forty five  to sixty minutes – until a clean knife inserted into the centre of the pie comes out clean.

10.   Enjoy! Serve warm or chilled. Whipped Cream, Ice Cream or on it’s own, it’s a beautiful pie – and goes very well with coffee!

Photo courtesy of Maggie Hoffman

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

By

There’s a whole heap of food and drink you can make from anything left over from Pumpkins. One example of a very healthy snack are these seeds. They’re very good for you, tasty, very easy to eat and extremely easy and fast to make. You can also mix and match different flavours by using various sweet and savoury spices – I’ve usually got a pot of these seeds roasted with Cinnamon and Nutmeg.


All you need is the seeds from as many pumpkins as you have.

1.  Rinse the seeds under cold water, picking out the pulp and skins. To make this easier, try to do it as soon as possible – the longer you leave it, the drier the pulp and skins get, making it harder to separate.

2.  Put a teaspoon of Oil on a baking sheet, and place the seeds in a single layer on the sheet. Add in any herbs and spices you’d like at this stage. Make sure that all of the seeds are completely covered in oil.

3.  Bake at 150 C/ 300 F for 15 minutes. Take out, stir and put back in for a further 10 minutes.

4.   Take out of the oven, leave to cool and then store in an air tight container. Try mixed in with a variety of different nuts, seeds and fruits.

Photo Courtesy of WordRidden

Halloween Childrens Drinks

By

Fire-breathing dragons, Evil Witches Brew and Gruesome Buckets of Blood, these drips will provide the finishing touches to any Childrens party that you’re organising.
Really push the boat out, and decorate the cups you’ve got to look like Witches and Wizards hats, and the bowls to look like bubbling cauldrons

Witches Cauldron

2 Cups of Lemonade
1/2 Cup of Orange Juice
Juice of 1 Lime, or 2 tbsp Concentrated Lime Juice
4 Cups Apple Juice
2 tbsp Cinnamon
1 tsp Coconut Flavouring (optional)

1. Combine all the ingredients in a large punch bowl, and stir well
2. Refridgerate until needed to serve

Bug Juice

10 Cups of Frozen Strawberries
3 cups of Ice
3 cups of Fruit Punch (lots of different flavoured Juices – Orange, Cranberry, Apple, Pineapple, Tropical)
2 cups of Limeade
2 cups Raisins

1. In a blender, add the Frozen Strawberries, Ice and Fruit Punch and mix on pulse. You may have to do this in several batches, depending on the size of the blender!
2. As you finish blending the batches, pour into a large Punch Bowl. When all the mix is in the bowl, mix in the Limeade.
3. Add in the Raisins, and serve

Photo courtesy of KidCityNY.com

Trick or Treat Suprises!

By

A whole host of different ideas for what you can offer Trick or Treaters. These can be used as treats at a party, as treats to give away to Trick of Treaters, or as little suprises in Games.

Worm Burgers

This recipe makes little cookie treats that are easy enough to use as prizes in games, or as suprises for Trick or Treaters.

You will need:
40 Vanilla Wafer Cookies
1 1/2 Cups of Dark Chocolate Icing
40 Gummy Worms.

1. Mix up the Icing, and spread onto twenty of the cookies.
2. Lay out 2 Gummy Worms on each Cookie
3. Add some more of the icing onto the cookie, before laying the second Cookie on top.

Cup Cakes

Okay, not too menacing or scary on their own, but let loose whilst decorating them! Use green icing to make them into tombstones, orange to make them into Pumpkins, or black and green for bubbling cauldrons.

To Make 6 cakes:
50g/2oz self raising flour
50g/2oz Caster sugar (superfine)
50g/2oz Butter or margarine (shortening)
1 Egg

1. Add the butter and sugar together, and mix until they stick together on their own. Add the egg, then the flour. Alternatively, place all the ingredients in a mixing bowl, and use a food processor or blender to mix thouroughly.
2. Spoon into cases, making sure you don’t fill the case more than 2/3rds full.
3. Place in the oven at 190 C/ 375 F or Gas Mark 5, and cook for 15 minutes. To check that they’re cooked through, push a toothpick or knife through it and make sure that it comes out clean. If not, cook for another 5 minutes.
4. Before decorating, allow them to cool completely by placing them on a wire rack.
5. Mix any toppings together, and then let loose!!!

Jellied Worms

Something different, quite a useful addition to any games which involves lucky dips (or not so lucky dips!)

1 Pack of Jelly Cubes
Gummy Sweets

1. Make the jelly up as per instructions on the packet.
2. Before letting it set, you need to pour into plastic cups or Ice cube trays, with a Gummy sweet in the cup or tray, and leave to set in these.
3. Serve either on a tray, or as suprises in Lucky Dips.

Photo Courtesy of Scott Van Der Chijs/

Strawberry and White Chocolate Torte

By

Insanely rich yet still very simple. A small amount of this cake is just enough to leave you wanting more and more! Let your creative side go free when you are decorating the torte – sliced strawberries, marbled chocolate patterns, strawberry Coulis, or even as the image below shows…Strawberries dipped in Chocolate!

To serve 10
100g melted butter
100g Digestive Biscuits
100g Ginger Nut Biscuits
400g White Chocolate
2 tbsp Golden Syrup
2 tbsp Orange Juice
600ml Double Cream
450g Strawberries

1. Heat the oven to 180 C/ 350 F/ Gas Mark 4
2. Butter the sides of a cake tin, and line the base with baking paper. Crush the biscuits, and mix with the melted butter
3. Put the biscuit mix into the tin, and push down evenly with a large metal spoon and bake for 10 minutes. Leave to cool.
4. Put the White Chocolate, Orange Juice, Golden Syrup and a quarter of the cream into a heatproof bowl, and put the bowl over a pan of simmering water for 2 minutes– make sure that the bowl doesn’t touch the water, or it’ll burn!
5. Turn the heat off after the 2 minutes, and combine thoroughly. Leave until cool, but still liquid
6. In a fresh, clean, dry bowl, whip the rest of the cream until it begins to hold its shape. Fold into the chocolate mix, making sure it’s all mixed in properly.
7. Pour onto the base, and chill for at least 3 hours, decorate with the strawberries

Photo Courtesy of rox sm

Chicken fried in Batter

By

Succulent Chicken, Crispy Batter…party food doesn’t get much more appetising than this! Over time, you’ll work out how to adjust the tastes with different marinades – if you like softer chicken, add more lemon juice, if you like it crisper, add more oil and if you feel like experimenting, make some with chilli paste in the marinade.

battered chicken

Serves 8
1kg boneless chicken
5 tbsp olive oil
Juice of 1 lemon
3 crushed garlic cloves
12 tbsp plain flour
Vegetable oil (for deep frying)
3 beaten eggs
Salt and pepper

1. Strip most of the fat of off the Chicken, before cutting it into chunks that are about 4cm thick, and a mixture of lengths.
2. Mix the olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper in a bowl, then add the chicken and mix well – use your hands to make sure that it’s fully covered
3. Leave to marinate for at least an hour in a fridge
4. Spread the flour on a plate, mixed with a pinch of salt and pepper
5. Take the Chicken out of the marinade, removing any excess.
6. Heat the oil to 180 C/ 350 F
6. Cover the chicken in the flour, and then in the beaten egg. Drop into the oil immediately. CAUTION: Make sure you’re very careful with this step. This is very hot oil, and can burn your skin very easily. If you’ve got a fryer with a basket, use that. If not, be extra careful. If you do get any burns, read this article
7. Fry for about 5 minutes, until golden brown, before taking out of the pan, and drying on a piece of crumpled kitchen paper

Fruity Party Cheesecakes

By

You can make this as a whole dish, or in individual portions for people. Experiment with different fruits for the topping – Passionfruit seeds, Raspberry Coulis or Fresh Blueberries all work well.

To Make 6 individual dishes
12 Ginger snaps
30g Melted Butter
70ml Crème Fraiche
200g Soft Cheese
40g Caster Sugar
Juice and Zest of 2 lemons

1. Crush the Ginger Snaps, and mix with the Butter. Lay a small amount in the bottom of a ramekin or small bowl, and pat down firmly.
2. Mix the Crème Fraiche, Soft Cheese, Caster Sugar, Lemons (Zest and Juice), and chill overnight.
3. Place the topping of your choice on top, and serve!

Photo Courtesy of  Toby Otter

Sour Cherry Smoothie

By

This smoothie is quite a sharp flavour, with a creamy, smooth texture. The mix of the flavours and feelings makes this a sure-fire hit, and a great way to wake yourself up in the morning. You can also use it as in Ice Cream sauce if you add less yoghurt, and pour it over the top of Vanilla Ice cream for a lovely treat, even more so if you warm it up slightly first – just thirty seconds in a microwave is all that’s needed.

Cherry Smoothie

250g bottled, stoned Morello Cherries
150ml Greek Yoghurt
Sugar (to taste)

1. Put the Morello cherries, with their liquid into a blender with the yoghurt and process until smooth.
2. Add as much sugar if wanted – start by tasting as it is, then adding small amounts at a time. It’s easier to put more sugar in, than to add more Cherries!
3. Pour and Serve

Lamb Pittas, with a Chilli Yoghurt dip

By

A great dish for Lunch or Dinner. Try to use the larger, fluffier Pittas that are available in some Delicatessens rather than the flatter ones in a Supermarket. The thinner the patties, the faster and crisper they will be. Try adding freshly chopped Mint into the Lamb Mince, or other herbs to mix up the flavourings and give you more variations. You can make entire batches of different flavours, and let people pick and choose what they want for BBQ’s and parties.

To serve 4
500gLamb Mince
2 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tbsp Vinegar
1 tsp Mustard
100g Natural Yoghurt
1 tsp Chilli Powder

1. Divide the Lamb Mince into 8 evenly sized, thin patties, and place in the fridge to chill for at least 10 minutes
2. Mix 1 tbsp Olive Oil, 1 tbsp Vinegar, 1 tsp Mustard, 1 tsp Chilli Powder and 100g Natural Yoghurt together and chilli in the fridge
3. Heat 1 tbsp Olive Oil in a pan and fry until piping hot, and cooked all the way through.
4. Toast or grill 4 white Pitta breads, and halve them. Spoon and spread some of the chilli yoghurt inside, and put two of the patties in each one.

Photo courtesy of Roland

Ginger, Clementine and Orange Juice

By

A great way of making an ordinary Orange Juice a bit more adult and more mature. If you’re going to store it in the fridge, make sure you clean the bottle out thoroughly out first, and store for at the most, 6 days before use. It can be frozen, but I recommend you drink it as soon as possible to make sure it stays fresh. Either way, if not drinking straight away shake the container thoroughly.

Makes 1 litre

300ml Orange Juice

450ml Water

50g Sugar

55g Ginger

8 Clementines

1.       Put the Orange Juice, Water, Sugar and grated Ginger into a pan and bring to the boil

2.       When the pan is being heated, squeeze the juice from the 8 Clementines, and add to the pan slowly, stirring all the time

3.       Simmer for 5 minutes

4.       Allow to cool, and have either warm or cold

Photo Courtesy of Miss Yasmina

Flaky Pie Crust

By

This light pie crust comes out of the oven nice and crisp, and suits so many types of pie – both sweet and savoury.

Pie Crust

Makes a ten inch shell

1 ½ cups Plain Flour

2 tbsp Sugar

½ tsp Salt (optional)

2 ½ tbsp Cold Vegetable Shortening

1/3 cup Cold Butter

¼ Cup cold Water

1.       Mix the flour, shortening agent and sugar together. If you’ve got a blender, use this to make sure it’s mixed thoroughly.

2.       Start to add the water. Add it in slowly, until you get pieces sticking together the size of a pea.

3.       Roll out the dough to an even thickness, until it’s just an inch or two wider than the pan you’ll be using.

4.       Place the flattened dough into the pie pan. Don’t worry if it breaks in small areas, they can be fixed by using some of the leftovers with a small amount of water to ‘seal’ the breaks.

5.       Ready to be filled, and then put in the oven to cook!

‘Bloody Good’ Drink

By

A sophisticated drink, very refreshing and soothing. The rich taste of blood orange makes this drink a lot more explosive flavour wise rather than what you’d think. The combinations of flavours and textures in the Orange juice, Strawberries and Raspberries can be further enhanced and altered by using some of the pulp from the Oranges – either added in before or after the blending.

250ml Blood/Ruby Orange Juice
100g Strawberries
100g Raspberries
50ml Sparkling Water

1. Put all of the ingredients into a blender, and process until smooth
2. Sieve the mixture to remove any pips if you prefer

3. Serve in a straight glass, poured over Ice.

Photo Courtesy of: Derek Purdy

Tropical Sunrise

By

A fresh, invigorating and eye-catching drink.

Serves 1-2
1 ripe mango
1 orange
½ pomegranate

1. Remove the stone and peel from the mango, and peel the orange. Process or bled them together and pour into glasses
2. Peel the pomegranate, save 1 tbsp of the seeds and blend the rest.
3. Pour the pomegranate pulp into the orange and mango juice and sprinkle with the seeds.

Photo courtesy of Itchys

Kitchen First Aid

By

Kitchens are dangerous places. Knives, Oil and Water are more obvious dangers, but don’t forget that you’ve got water and electric very close together in most kitchens (look at your kettle!).

This shouldn’t put you off of cooking with children, or at all yourself, but you do need to be prepared in case of accidents and emergencies.

ambulance

Cuts

Simple precautions can help protect yourself against cuts. Pay proper attention, use decent quality knives which are kept sharp (a sharp knife will cut smoothly, whereas a blunter knife will rip and tear more, making it more likely to slip and cut), and have a thick, heavy duty chopping board – I’d recommend using a Wooden one, as these are less likely to slip.

A first aid kit of anti-septic wipes, plus various sized blue plasters will be needed. These plasters are very good for this purpose – they’ll show up if you drop them in anything.

Burns

All burns should be treated in a similar way. If the skin has not broken, run it under the cold water tap for 15 minutes. After this, apply an aloe-based salve – I have an aloe vera plant in my kitchen. It’s very easy to look after, and very useful, and smells beautiful.
Any severe burns should mean an immediate trip to the hospital – for example, if you’ve accidentally leant on a hot hob-plate, or tried to remove a wire draw from an oven.

Electocution

This is one of the most dangerous incidents that could happen in your kitchen. Most homes have a washing machine, fridge, kettle, microwave, and sink in their kitchen, as well as a large amount of power points.

It’s very dangerous because if you haven’t paid proper attention, you too could become a victim whilst going to help the original sufferer.

Call for Emergency Medical help. Don’t touch the person until the power is shut off – not just at the mains. Look for the circuit breaker or fuse box and completely remove the current. If you cannot do this, completely dry your hands, and using something non-metallic (i.e., a wooden chopping board, stick, rope, brush, etc.) get the person away from the source of electricity.
From now on, treat the person as you would any other casulty.
There’s many other in-depth articles about how to make your kitchen a safer place, as well as the position of food in fridges to make sure that there’s no contamination or food poisoning.

Gluvine

By

As if a bottle of red didn’t taste good enough on a cool Autumn Evening, try it in this traditional German style. Warm, with such a wide infusion of flavours and smells, served in warmed mugs. A very simple, easy to make drink, which is an immediate favourite at many parties as something different.

Hugely popular at many German Christmas Markets, where you see huge kettles constantly being served from the ornately decorated Stalls.

Serves 6 people

Bottle of German Red Wine

250ml Water

Juice of 1 Lemon (or orange)

1 Cinnamon stick

Cloves

1.       Pour the water and wine into a large pan, and start to heat

2.       Add the cloves, cinnamon and lemon slowly and to taste, making sure the pan doesn’t boil.

3.       Remove the Cinnamon stick and cloves before serving.

4.       Ladle into mugs and serve hot.

Photo Courtesy of Gluemoon

Sauerkraut

By

A very popular European dish, with many countries using it in one way or another in a traditional dish. It’s quite easy to see why too – it keeps for such a long time without the need for storing it in a refridgerator, and goes with Pork, Beef and Lamb, as well as other vegetables and pasta dishes.

Literally, it’s sour cabbage. Don’t let that put you off – it’s very good for you – very high in Vitamins, good bacteria and other important nutrition.

You can always add extra fruit and vegetables to make it your own – carrots, different cabbages, onion, beetroot, apples…the list goes on!

1 cabbage

Fine Sea Salt

Storage Pot (not plastic or metal)

Mixing bowl

1.      Shred the cabbage. Chop it in a fine pieces, or coarsely. Dump it in the mixing bowl and add salt as you go

2.      To add any extra fruit and vegetables, grate or dice them. Personally, I like the flavours that you get from the mix of Carrot and Garlic. Grate and Dice any extra fruit and vegetables, and add these to the bowl, with the extra salt.

3.      Squeeze and mix everything together. Try using your hands to start off with, because you can squeeze harder.

4.      After getting some of the moisture out, start to pack the mix into the ceramic storage pot – make sure you can cover whatever sized pot you use. Pack it into the jar very tightly, making sure you can compress it down further.

5.      Cover with a snug fitting cap, or a plate if you have one which fits. Place something heavy on top to weigh it down (large water bottle, or a rock) to make sure that the mix is completely covered under the brine. Cover the whole assembly with a towel or cloth to keep any bugs and insects out

6.      Every few hours for a couple of days, press down on top of the weight to make sure it’s all still submerged. If it isn’t you’ll just have old cabbage, so you’ll have to add more water and some more salt.

7.      After the first two days, check it less often. It will reduce in volume as it begins to ferment, and some mould or scum may appear on the surface. Skim it off as you see it appear, but don’t worry – as long as the Sauerkraut is covered, it’ll be fine

8.      Taste it after three or four days. It should begin to be tangy, and you’ll be able to judge how long you’ll need to leave it to get the right taste – the longer it’s left, the stronger it tastes.

9.      Usually, it’s ready in between three and seven days – if you leave it somewhere cool (like a cold cellar, or a fridge) it can improve for months.

That’s it. Only takes a few minutes to shred and cut everything, but then the time comes in waiting!

Photo courtesy of: bucklava

Bratwurst

By

Keeping with todays theme of Oktoberfest, here’s another traditional German dish: Bratwurst. These low fat sausages are full of flavour when cooked regularly, but follow the recipe below, and a whole combination of flavours, colours, smells and textures make this a great dish

Serves 8
8 fresh bratwurst
1 litre  beer
500g bacon, chopped
2 cups onions, julienned
Fresh ground pepper
1 small head of cabbage, cored and shredded
Salt
2 Tbsp garlic, chopped
1/4 cup whole grain mustard
8 hot-dog buns

1. Preheat your grill.

2. Put the beer into a saucepan, and bring it to the boil on the stove.

3. When boiling, reduce to a simmer, and add the sausages. Cook for ten minutes

4. Remove the sausages from the beer, but keep it to one side.

5. In a fresh large pan, heat it till medium-hot. Add the bacon, and cook until crispy. Should be around six or eight minutes. Once cooked, set aside and remove all the fat from the pan except for ¼ of a cup.

6. Put the bacon back in the pan, add the Onions and Cabbage, season with salt and pepper.

7. Continue to cook on a medium heat until tender, before stirring in the Garlic, Mustard and 2 cups of the beer. Bring to simmer, and cook for ten minutes.

8. Place the sausages on the grill and cook for two minutes on each side.

Continue to sauté for four minutes or until tender. Stir in the garlic, mustard and two cups of the liquid from the sausages. Bring the liquid to a simmer and cook for eight to ten minutes. Place the sausages on the grill and cook for two minutes on each side.

To serve, place a sausage in each bun. Top with some of the cabbage and finish with whole grain mustard.

Photo Courtesy of Stu Spivack

Pretzels

By

If, like me, you like your Beers, you’d know that earlier this month was Oktoberfest. Having spent much of my time celebrating, I ‘researched’ this recipe very well. Although these pretzels are slightly softer and more buttery than ‘traditional’ pretzels, I found them to go excellently with a wide range of beers – the perfect side for any Oktoberfest gathering, sports event or as a snack.

To Make 12

4 tsp active dry yeast

1 tsp white sugar

1 ¼ cups of Warm Water

5 cups all-purpose flour

½ cup white sugar

1 ½ tsp Salt

1 tbsp vegetable oil

½ cup baking soda

4 cups hot water

¼ cup Kosher salt (for topping)

1.      In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast and 1tsp of sugar in the warm water. Let it stand until creamy and frothy – should be around ten minutes.

2.      In a separate bowl, mix the flour, the rest of the sugar and the 1 ½ tsp of Salt. Make a small well in the centre, before adding the Yeast mixture and Oil and mix in well, until it’s a dough. If it’s too dry, add an extra tablespoon or two of water.

3.      Knead until it’s smooth (should take around seven or eight minutes. Lightly oil a large bowl, and place the dough in and coat with the oil. Leave to stand in a warm place until it has doubled in size – around an hour.

4.      Pre-heat oven to 230 C/ 450 F. In a large bowl, mix the baking soda in the hot water until it has dissolved.

5.      Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface, and divide into 12 equal pieces, rolling each piece into a rope, and twisting into the desired shape. Once they’re all shaped, carefully dip each Pretzel in the baking soda solution and place on a greased tray. Sprinkle with Kosher Salt.

6. Bake in the pre-heated oven for around eight minutes, until golden brown

Photo Courtesy of Mercury Jane