Spit Roast was absolutely fantastic, it was amazing + everyone commented on it, thank you so much for all the hard work you put into making it so special, and I, and the Rugby Club will definitely be using your services again.
Joanne Thornton
Billingham
by Jenny Myhill
But don't worry, Autumn is here and it's the season of deep green, dark yellow and brilliant orange coloured fruit and vegetables. These colours mean the fruits and vegetables are rich in disease-fighting phytochemicals. The more colourful the fruit, the better it is for your health. FACT!
A good source of fibre, vitamin C, calcium and iron. Look for smooth and firm, small to medium sized parsnips for the best quality. Large coarse roots usually have woody or fibrous centres. Did i mention they are deliously sweet when roasted?
A member of the mustard family, turnips (known as swedes in Scotland and Ireland) have a white flesh with a tough outer skin that ranges from yellow to purple, and a more bitter flavour than potatoes. They are a good source of vitamin C and like their cousins, broccoli, cabbage and Brussels sprouts, these cruciferous vegetables contain the potent phytochemical sulforaphane, which has been shown to protect against cancer, especially breast cancer.
Try exchanging your potatoe for a turnip next time. They work well boiled, mashed or roasted.
Would you believe me if i said that the sweet potato wasn't actually a potato? Potatoes are classified as tubers, while the sweet potato is a storage root (geeky food stuff here!). Good-quality sweet potatoes will be firm, smooth-skinned and tan to light rose colour. They contain four times the recommended daily allowance for vitamin A and 50% of vitamin C in a serving. You would have to eat 23 portions of broccoli to consume the same amount.
They are ideal for baking, grilling or steaming, and you can substitute them in any recipe that calls for potatoes.
Known more for their Halloween docoration qualities more than their culinary value, it's no wonder it's a popular veg this time of year. Their bright orange colour is a dead giveaway that it's loaded with important antioxidants, as well as being rich in vitamin A and C. Even the seeds are packed with nutritional value. In fact, they are only second to peanuts in protein content and a good source of zinc and omega-3 fatty acids, which can help reduce your risk of heart disease.
It's great served as a tasty side dish for a main meal and ideal for making hearty winter soups, as well as being baked into bread and pumpkin pie. Remember pumpkins also come canned if a full pumpkin is too much.
Winter squash develops hard rinds and the tough seeds and fibrous centre are inedible and must be scooped out. Here's an interesting fact – Winter squash is one of the few vegetables that, during storage, the vitamin A content increases, and they already contain more than 100% of the RDA for vitamin A. They are also a good source of heart-healthy nutrients, folate and fibre.
There are several different kinds of winter squash and many of them have a very unique taste. Butternut is probably the most popular squash and easiest to find. Acorn and spaghetti squash are also found quite easily. Buttercup and kabocha squash are delicious as well but harder to find.
Here's a nice recipe for Butternut squash, goat’s cheese and walnut pasties
Quite an obvious one, but apples contain flavonoids, some of the most potent antioxidants around and pearsare high in fibre. Very easy to get hold of and transport as a snack. Hundreds of recipes out there, you can use them in low-fat pancakes, sliced on sandwiches or poached and drizzled with syrup for a warm, sweet dessert.
This recipe is part of our working lunch recipe series, suggesting easy meals that can be prepared in bulk and frozen for when you want them.
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Overview
For the meat
For the topping
This recipe is part of our working lunch recipe series, suggesting easy meals that can be prepared in bulk and frozen for when you want them.
Share this recipe with your friends on your favourite social network…
OverviewHeat the oil in a pan and brown the meat.
Remove beef, turn down the heat and add the onions and garlic. Cover and cook until softened, 10-15 minutes.
This recipe is part of our working lunch recipe series, suggesting easy meals that can be prepared in bulk and frozen for when you want them.
Share this recipe with your friends on your favourite social network…
OverviewFor the dumplings:
Preheat the oven to 180C/gas 4. Remove the breasts from the chicken and cut them in half. Remove the leg portions and divide them into thighs and drumsticks. This will give you eight pieces of chicken. Season them well.
Pour the oil into a large casserole dish on a high heat, add the bacon and fry quickly for 1–2 minutes or until crisp. Remove and drain on kitchen paper. Add the chicken in batches and sear on each side until golden, and remove. Add the onion and carrots and fry for 2–3 minutes or until golden.
Return the bacon and chicken to the dish, pour on the stock, add the thyme and season well. Bring slowly to the boil, cover with a tight-fitting lid and bake in the oven for 20 minutes.
For the dumplings Sift the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt into a large bowl add the herbs, mix, then make a well in the centre. Pour in most of the buttermilk or soured milk (leaving about 50ml out). Using one hand with your fingers outstretched like a claw, bring the flour and liquid together, adding a little more buttermilk if necessary. Don’t knead the mixture or it will become too heavy. The dough should be soft but not too wet and sticky.
Tip the dough onto a floured work surface and bring together. Using a rolling pin, roll the dough out to about 2cm thick. cut or divide the dough into 10–12 small balls.
Remove the casserole dish from the oven and turn the heat up to 230C/gas 8. Arrange the dumplings on top, leaving a slight gap between them to allow for spreading. Scatter with the cheese. Return to the oven, uncovered, for 10 minutes, reduce the heat to 200C/Gas 6 and cook for a further 20 minutes until the dumplings are crisp and golden and the chicken is cooked through. Allow to cool.
Divide up into suitable portions with a couple dumplings in each and freeze down. When ready to eat, remove from freezer and thaw slowly in a fridge or cooler bag. Heat in microwave until piping hot throughout.
This recipe is part of our working lunch recipe series, suggesting easy meals that can be prepared in bulk and frozen for when you want them.
Share this recipe with your friends on your favourite social network…
Overview
Start with a shallow baking dish roughly 20cm x 30cm, lightly grease the inside with oil.
To make the ragù sauce, gently fry the onion and garlic in a wide pan with a splash of oil until soft but not coloured. Tip the salami or bacon in along with the minced beef and stir though, breaking up the clumps of mince. Let it fry, stirring from time to time, until it is browned.
Season, then add the tomato purée, oregano, chopped tomatoes and stock. Bring to the boil, and let it gently cook for about 20 minutes. The juices should be a thick, red texture, and not watery.
To make the white sauce, melt the butter in a saucepan, stir in the flour and let it foam a bit, then slowly add the milk, stirring all the time. Keep stirring over a gentle heat until it thickens and bubbles. Season, then remove from the heat.
To assemble, spread about a 1/4 of the meat sauce across the base of the prepared dish, then add lasagne sheets. Spread this with the thinnest layer of white sauce and grate over some parmesan. Cover this with more lasagne sheets, and do the same again with white sauce and parmesan. Now, add another 1/4 of meat evenly. Add another three layers of lasagne sheets, white sauce and parmesan. Continue to the top until everything is used up, finishing with a thicker layer of white sauce and then the grated mozzarella all over the top.
Put into the oven at 190C/gas 5 and bake for about 40 minutes or until the pasta inside is cooked and the top golden.
Allow to cool in fridge, once the temperature has dropped the lasagne will become more firm. Divide portions up and add to freezable containers. When ready to eat, remove from freezer and thaw slowly in a fridge or cooler bag. Heat in microwave until piping hot throughout.
Serve with side salad if possible.
This recipe is part of our working lunch recipe series, suggesting easy meals that can be prepared in bulk and frozen for when you want them.
Share this recipe with your friends on your favourite social network…
Overview
Heat the oil in a saucepan and fry the meat until it browns – roughly 5-6 minutes. Add onion and garlic and stir for a minute before adding the tinned tomatoes, chillies, peppers, and a good pinch of salt.
Now all you need to do is cover the pan and simmer for about an hour, until the meat is tender and the liquid thickens. Add water is it begins to dry out.
Add the cumin, kidney beans (and a bit of bean juice)and the brown sugar. Simmer for 10 mins.
Allow to cool if you are making it in advance. Boil off enough rice for 6 portions.
Portion chilli and rice into 5/6 freezer friendly secure tubs and freeze.
When ready to eat remove from freezer in morning and let it thaw in a fridge or cooler bag. Heat in microwave at full power until piping hot throughout. Add grated cheese or a dollop of sour cream if possible.
This recipe is part of our working lunch recipe series, suggesting easy meals that can be prepared in bulk and frozen for when you want them.
Share this recipe with your friends on your favourite social network…
Pan fried crispy smoked back bacon from a Northumberland pig, a frisee, rocket and endive salad dressed in a sweet lemon and balsamic homemade dressing, sun-ripened juicy spanish vine tomatoes, with a chunky granny smith and cinnamon chutney on a sesame seed torpedo baked white bread bun.
This recipe will roughly make 10 portions. Recipe by Kris at Jackson's Catering of Newcastle
