Bonfire Night Food …
2020 - Seems to me that Guy Fawkes had a few good quotes when it comes to what is going on in the world at the moment … Without wanting to make it to heavy … I will quote a few - So - ‘Remember Remember the 5th of November!
Guy Fawkes - ‘A desperate disease requires a dangerous remedy!’
This post is about making Bonfire Night Food as simple as possible … Usually we would have a big party & I would make big bowls of simply served food for everyone to help themselves to, in there own time …. Keeping the food warm either on the outside barbeque or on the hob, served usually with piping hot baked potatoes ladled with butter & cheese. In this recipe I have used rice, which to serve ‘ad-hock’ with a large party of people is more complicated but as we have the rule of six it makes sense!
A Bean Chilli ….
Guy Fawkes - ‘Give a man a mask & he will show you his true face!’
500g of lean mince - in this I have used a mixture of beef & pork
2 onions chopped
1 - 2 tsps. Chilli powder
1 - 2 tsps. Smoked paprika
4 garlic cloves
250ml of stock, use stock cubes or make your own [which is better!] Add this fluid as necessary, don’t flood the recipe with too much liquid, let it reduce down & then add more
1 Stock cube if you are using your own stock
400g tinned tomatoes
400g tinned beans, in this recipe I have used butter beans
150g red wine
4 tbsp. Tomato puree
3 tbsp. tomato ketchup
3 tbsp. Worchester sauce
Bay leaf or 2
2 tbsp. English mustard
Salt & Pepper
In this recipe I have also added a good splash of ‘liquid smoke’ which you can buy on line. It gives the flavour a barbeque smoke which works on Bonfire Night
As quoted by Guy Fawkes!
Put some oil in a pan & fry the onions until they are translucent, take these out of the pan & swop to the mince in the pan & fry until it colours. [To be honest, I just put the meat in with the onions once they are done, but I needed to give you the right way to do it!] If the meat dries out a bit add in a small splash of the stock.
Once the mince & onions are cooked through, add chilli & paprika & garlic cook this mixture through, then add the tomatoes & puree, add half the stock & the stock cube if you are using one, splash in the wine bring to the boil & then reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for approximately 25 minutes. Keep an eye on it to make sure it remains a nice slow bubbling liquid. Don’t let it dry if it looks like it needs more liquid then top it up with more stock as you go.
Now add the rest of the ingredients, the beans the tomato ketchup, Worchester sauce, bay leaves & mustard & then season with salt and pepper. Also the liquid smoke if you are using it. Continue to simmer for another 20 minutes, topping up with the stock as requires. Watch the sauce as it thickens nicely. Taste & adjust the seasonings to your taste.
Tip: This type of sauce, Chilli, Bolognese, Lasagne, Shepherds pie any Ragu, sauce really is always so much better if it is allowed to cool and left over night, it really improves the flavour, this is why leftovers always taste so good! Here is the science bit - The chemicals working in the food, flavour molecules combine & work together to create an ‘umami’ [umami - a category of taste in food, {besides sweet, sour, salt & bitter}, corresponding to the flavours of the glutamates.] Enough of the science - Just trust me it works!
Serve the next day, sprinkled with parsley eat with either rice, baked potatoes, crusty bread & grated cheese. Or serve with all of them! Enjoy!
Vegan / Vegetarian Chilli
Omit all the meat from the above recipe - Obviously!
Add all the other ingredients used in the meat dish
Plus!
3 celery sticks - chopped into small bite size pieces
2 large carrots - grated
A selection of coloured peppers - 3 - cut
100g red lentils
Juice of 1 lime
Cook the onions, then add the celery sticks & carrots, until just turning in colour.
Add all the other ingredients, except the peppers & cook for about 20 minutes then add the peppers & cook for another 15 minutes minutes.
Let cool.
Please see above tip: The umami - ‘Trick’ which makes the sauce a ‘Treat’!
235g Plain Flour
150g Granulated white sugar
50g Brown Sugar
1 tsp. baking soda/powder
1/2 tsp salt - Good pinch!
3/4 medium ripe bananas
2 large eggs lightly beaten
115 grams [unsalted] butter melted and cooled (or cooking oil)
2 tsp. vanilla extract
175g chocolate chips
Heat oven to 180°C. Lightly grease a 9 x 5 x 3 inch loaf tin, I have two smaller ones that I use. Line with parchment/baking paper. [See Tip below].
Mix the flour, sugars, baking soda, salt, in one bowl. In a separate bowl mash the bananas until squidgy, add the eggs & the cooled melted butter/oil & add the vanilla. Fold together the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients until just combined, do not over work this step. Gently add the chocolate chips. The batter should be thick and lumpy. Pour the batter into the prepared tin/tins. Bake for 55-60 minutes, or until bread is golden brown. Inserted a knife into the centre of the bread, if it comes out ‘relatively’ clean take out of the oven & cool for 20 minutes in the tin/s. Serve warm or at room temperature, however on Bonfire night I like to serve sliced cold. We always have a scoop of vanilla ice-cream on the top! Enjoy!
Tip: I like an easy life [If only I had one - But hey in my dreams!] - So when you grease the tins, instead of having all the ‘faff’ of trying to get the parchment lined all around the bread tin, just put a slice of the greaseproof paper, one way in the tin leaving the paper hanging over the sides. This makes it easy when you take the cake out of the tin as you have two handles!
Vegan & Vegetarian options - Baked Apples with Sugar Bread
I have cooked a form of this before, but this is my Vegan version …
12 Apples Desert Apples - not cooking apples
180g Vegan soft butter - cut into small pieces or if you are uncomfortable using this then use 180ml Apple cider - Works really well or you can use 180g coconut oil - Depends on your flavour choice
180g caster sugar
12 Apples - halved with the stork & core removed
Sliced white bread
Olive Oil
Brown sugar for sprinkling
Put a saucepan on the hob & heat to a medium heat add a third of the sugar/ & butter/cider/coconut oil to the base of the pan, as the mixture melts & sugars start to sizzle add the apples skin side down.
Sprinkle apples with the rest of the butter/cider/coconut & sugar, making sure that the scooped out apple cores each get a bit of the mixture, don’t worry as it will all dribble over the edge. Now cook gently until the apples begin to darken, but not collapse about 20 minutes, don’t let the caramel fully form.
Whilst the apples are cooking, paint both sides of the white bread with olive oil. Grill carefully until lightly brown on both sides. Slice each bread into quarters. Put some of the bread on the base of a oven proof dish & rest the other quarters around the edge. Carefully scoop the apples and place them on top of the bread, skin side down and pour the caramel juice into & over the apples. Sprinkle with a little more sugar.
Bake in a 180 degree oven for 15 - 20 minutes, until the edges of the apple skin just colour/catch. Watch like a hawk to make sure the bread does not burn.
This can be served with a dairy free cream…. Enjoy!!
HAPPY & SAFE BONFIRE NIGHT!
People should not be afraid of their Government - Government should be afraid of their people - Guy Fawkes!
