Mini Sausage Wraps With Crispy Onions

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Wraps, filled with sticky sausages and onions, make great party fare. Children will love these as they are sweet and easy to eat. For a more adult party try other speciality and spicy sausages and perhaps add some tongue[1]tingling mustard or chilli relish to the wraps.

Makes: 6

Ingredients

  • 12 pork chipolata sausages
  • 2 red onions, cut into wedges
  • 1 tbsp sunflower or vegetable oil
  • 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
  • 1 tbsp clear honey
  • 1 tbsp dark brown muscovado sugar
  • 1 tbsp ordinary dark or Indonesian sweet soy sauce
  • 6 plain or seeded tortilla wraps

Method

  1. Preheat the oven if necessary to 220°C/ ESSE Dial Guide HOT. (Aim for the dial reading to be at the top end of HOT).
  2. Line a roasting tin or baking tray with baking parchment or easy glide. Place the sausages and onion wedges on top.
  3. In a small bowl, mix the oil with the tomato ketchup, honey, sugar and soy sauce. Drizzle over the sausages and onion wedges and toss to coat well. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the sausages are thoroughly cooked and have browned without burning, and the onion wedges are starting to crisp.
  4. To serve, place 2 of the sausages and some onion wedges on each wrap and fold up to enclose. Allow to cool a little then serve with napkins.

Tip

Vegetarians can still be catered for with this recipe, simply replace the traditional meat sausages with Quorn sausages or Quorn fajita style strips (cooked according to the pack instructions).

Roasted Tomato Soup With Crispy Bacon

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This wonderfully warming soup is made with English vine-ripened tomatoes that are oven-roasted to bring out their natural sweetness. It’s perfect to serve on Bonfire Night with crusty bread. For outdoor eating serve in warmed mugs.

Serves: 4

Ingredients

  • 950g English vine-ripened tomatoes, quartered
  • 2 red onions, finely sliced
  • 4 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 6 rashers dry cure smoked streaky bacon
  • 1 litre hot vegetable stock
  • 4 tsp balsamic vinegar

Method

  1. Preheat the oven if necessary to 220°C/ESSE Dial Guide HOT. (Aim for the dial reading to be at the top end of HOT).
  2. Place the tomatoes, red onion and garlic in a roasting tin. Drizzle with the olive oil and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Roast for 20 minutes until softened and slightly charred.
  3. Meanwhile, put the bacon on a rack et over a baking tray and place in the oven for the last 15 minutes of the tomatoes cooking time. Remove when crisp, leave until cool then break into pieces.
  4. Bring the stock to the boil in a large pan, add the roasted tomato mixture and mix well. Puree until smooth.
  5. Reheat if necessary then ladle into warmed bowls or mugs. Drizzle with the balsamic vinegar and scatter with the crispy bacon to serve.

Variation

This soup is also delicious served cold in the warm Summer months. Prepare as above, chill and serve drizzled with balsamic vinegar and torn Parma ham rather than crisply bacon.

Sticky Ginger and Beetroot Muffins

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These muffins have a dark side to them… from the beetroot added to give colour and flavour.  Great for Hallowe’en, they provide a sweet, sticky end to the festivities!

Makes: 12 large muffins

Ingredients

  • 200g golden syrup
  • 200g black treacle
  • 150g unsalted butter
  • 125g dark brown sugar
  • 100g stem ginger, finely chopped
  • 4 tsp ground ginger
  • 2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 250g pack cooked beetroot
  • 250ml milk
  • 2 medium eggs, beaten
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • 300g plain flour

Icing:

  • 150g icing sugar
  • zest of 1 lemon, plus 1 tbsp
  • lemon juice

Method

  1. Preheat the oven if necessary to 180°C/ESSE Dial Guide MODERATE. (Aim for the dial reading to be at the top end of MODERATE or very low end of HOT). Line a large 12-hole muffin tray with cases.
  2. Place the golden syrup, black treacle, butter, sugar, stem ginger, ground ginger and cinnamon in a pan and warm until the butter and sugar have melted.
  3. Meanwhile, puree the beetroot with the milk, eggs and bicarbonate of soda. Add to the slightly cooled sugar mixture, mixing well.
  4. Sift the flour into a bowl then beat in the beetroot mixture until the mixture is smooth.
  5. Divide between the muffin cases. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until firm but springy to the touch. Be careful not to overcook the muffins, they are nice a little sticky. Remove from the rack tray and leave to cool on a rack.
  6. While the muffins are cooling make the icing. Mix the icing sugar with the lemon zest and lemon juice to make a smooth paste. Drizzle over the muffins when completely cold.

Get Ahead

These muffins keep really well for up to 4 days if stored in an airtight tin.

Penne With Roast Shallots and Pumpkin Seeds

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This is a delicious vegetarian pasta dish with contrasting flavours and textures from the soft shallots and pumpkin, to the al dente pasta (with a bite) to the crunchy pumpkin seeds.

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 1 small pumpkin
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 20 small shallots, peeled
  • 300g dried or fresh penne pasta
  • 1 chilli, seeded and finely sliced
  • 15g butter
  • 6 tbsp water
  • 1 sprig rosemary, chopped
  • Grated Parmesan cheese, to serve

Method

  1. Preheat the oven if necessary to 180°C/ESSE Dial Guide MODERATE. (Aim for the dial reading to be at the top end of MODERATE or the very low end of HOT).
  2. Peel and cut the pumpkin into bite-sized pieces, reserving the pumpkin seeds. Place the pumpkin in a pan with the olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Sauté for about 5 minutes until coloured on the outside. Add the shallots and cook for a further 5-10 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.
  3. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in boiling, salted water according to the packet instructions. Drain, rinse and keep warm. Toast the pumpkin seeds in the oven for 5 minutes.
  4. Return a quarter of the pumpkin and shallot mixture to the pan with the chilli, butter, water and rosemary. Heat through to make a bubbly sauce. Add the remaining pumpkin mixture then finally fold in the cooked pasta.
  5. Serve on warmed plates dusted with a little Parmesan cheese and scattered with the pumpkin seeds.

Variation

Those who miss meat might welcome the addition of come cooked and sliced spicy sausage at the end of cooking.

Lemon Tart With Fresh Fruit Topping

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This creamy lemon tart is perfect all year round but especially good in the late Summer or Autumn months when fruit choice for the topping is abundant. The fruit selection in the photograph gives some ideas but feel free to choose your own favourites.

Serves: 8

Ingredients

Filling:

  • 3 eggs
  • 160g caster sugar
  • grated zest and juice of 2 lemons
  • 160g butter, melted
  • 90g ground almonds

Topping:

  • selection of fresh fruit like sliced
  • green apples (dipped in lemon juice), sliced fresh or canned peaches, apricots and pears, sliced strawberries, sliced kiwi, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, sliced and halved grapes
  • mint sprigs, to decorate (optional)

Method

  1. Preheat the oven if necessary to 190˚C/ ESSE Dial Guide HOT. (Aim for the dial reading to be at the low end of HOT).
  2. Make the pastry according to the recipe instructions. Roll out and line a 23cm fluted flan tin and chill for 10 minutes. Cover with foil and weight with baking beans then bake ‘blind’ for 15 minutes. Remove the foil and beans and cook for a further 5 minutes.
  3. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs and sugar until they are very thick. Stir in the lemon zest and juice then the melted butter and almonds. Pour into the prepared pastry case. Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until the filling is golden and set. Allow to cool.
  4. To serve, top the tart with a selection of fresh fruit and decorate with mint sprigs if liked. Cut into wedges to serve with cream, crème fraîche, yogurt or ice cream

Get Ahead

The tart can be made up to 24 hours ahead but to avoid the fruit drying out, glaze with a mixture of 2tbsp apricot jam warmed until syrupy with 2 tbsp water. Spoon over the fruit when cooled but still liquid

Five Spiced Pork with Roots

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Bring a touch of the Orient to a Sunday lunchtime in Autumn with this wonderfully spicy and slightly sweet flavoured roast. Pork offers great value for money and when served with root vegetables in season has a great taste. Vary the roots if liked to include parsnips, beetroot, salsify, celeriac and swede.

Serves: 6

Ingredients

  • 2tsp Chinese 5 spice powder
  • 3tbsp olive oil
  • 15g fine sea salt
  • 1.3kg pork loin roast, rind scored
  • 2tsp grated root ginger
  • 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
  • ½ tsp chilli flakes (optional)
  • 3 large floury potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
  • 6 carrots, scrubbed and trimmed
  • 6 small turnips, scrubbed and trimmed
  • 2 sticks celery, each cut into 3 pieces
  • fresh herbs, to garnish (optional)

Method

  1. Preheat the oven if necessary to 200°C/.ESSE Dial Guide HOT. (Aim for the dial reading to be in the middle of HOT).
  2. Rub the Chinese 5 spice powder, 1 tbsp of the oil and the salt over the pork, making sure it gets into the cuts in the rind. Place on a rack over a roasting tin and cook for 1 hour.
  3. Mix together the remaining oil with the ginger, sesame oil and chilli if used in a second roasting tin. Add the potatoes, carrots, turnips and celery, tossing well.
  4. Pour the fat and juices from the pork over the vegetables and return both to the oven (place the vegetables above the pork). Roast for a further 1 hour, turning the vegetables once, until both are tender and cooked.
  5. Allow the pork to rest in warm place, wrapped in foil, before slicing to serve with the roasted vegetables. Garnish with a few fresh herbs if liked.

Variation

Summer 5 Spiced Pork:

Prepare as above but use a selection of Summer vegetables like sliced courgettes, quartered peppers, wedges of red onion, cubes of aubergine and whole cloves of garlic instead of the roots. Roast for the final 40 minutes of the cooking time.

Wild Alaska Salmon Korma Bake

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This is a wonderful, lightly-spiced, curried, family main meal dish. It is equally good made with either cooked fresh salmon or canned salmon (so makes a good store cupboard standby). Make it in a large roasting tin for a one-pot meal or, to make this meal easier to serve, cook in individual baking dishes.

Serves: 4

Ingredients

  • 400g cooked fresh wild Alaska salmon or 2 x 213g cans red or pink wild Alaska salmon
  • 500g butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • ½ tsp cumin seeds
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 small cauliflower, broken into florets
  • 150g fine green beans, trimmed and halved
  • 300g low-fat natural yogurt
  • 2 tbsp Korma curry paste
  • 2 tbsp mango chutney
  • 2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
  • 4 poppadoms, lightly crushed

Method

  1. Preheat the oven if necessary to 170˚C/ ESSE Dial Guide MODERATE. (Aim for the dial reading to be in the middle of MODERATE).
  2. Skin the cooked fresh salmon and break into chunks or drain the canned salmon (discarding the liquid, skin and bones) and flake into large pieces.
  3. Put the butternut squash in a large roasting tin, add the oil, cumin seeds and salt and pepper to taste, tossing to coat. Roast for 25-30 minutes until tender, turning once.
  4. Meanwhile, cook the cauliflower in lightly salted boiling water for 3-4 minutes. Add the green beans and cook for a further 3-4 minutes. Drain well and add to the cooked squash with the chunks of salmon.
  5. Mix the yogurt with the curry paste, mango chutney and coriander. Spoon over the vegetables and salmon, then sprinkle with the poppadoms. Bake for 10-15 minutes until piping hot. Serve at once

Tip

Vary the hotness of this curried dish according to your preferred taste. This recipe uses mild strength Korma paste but experiment with medium Madras, Tikka Masala or Passanda strengths or spicy and hot Jalfrezi and Vindaloo.

Rack of Lamb with Bubble and Squeak

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A lovely recipe to share for 2 people.

Ingredients

  • 1 rack of lamb, French trimmed
  • Dijon mustard
  • Black pepper
  • A small glass of red wine

Method

Preheat the ESSE to 200C/ESSE dial reading middle of HOT. Brush the lamb all over with the mustard and season with black pepper. Roast in the oven with steam vent closed for 20 minutes or more depending on how you like your lamb cooked. Allow to rest for 10 minutes before carving into cutlets.

For the bubble and squeak

Ingredients

  • 1 large floury potatoes, peeled
  • 100g spring greens
  • 30g butter
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

  • Put the potatoes into a saucepan, cover with salted water and bring to the boil and simmer until tender.
  • Steam the spring greens, wash and drizzle with olive oil and cook direct on the hotplate with the lid closed for a few minutes until just tender.
  • Drain the potatoes and mash them.  Leave too cool.
  • Chop up the steamed greens and add to the potatoes with lots of seasoning.  Make into round shapes.
  • Melt the butter over a medium heat and then add the potato cakes.  Press down and cook until a golden crust has formed on the underside.  Turn over and cook the other side until golden. Serve with the lamb.

Recipe designed by Philippa Vine at Bluebell Farmhouse Kitchen.

Butternut Squash and Chickpea Curry

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Butternut Squash & Chickpea Curry cooked the ESSE way.

Serves

4 people

Ingredients

  • 1 butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks
  • 1 x 400g tin of chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 2 onions, thinly sliced
  • 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
  • 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped (optional)
  • 1 knob of root ginger, grated
  • 2 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 2 teaspoons ground coriander
  • 1 teaspoon turmeric powder
  • 400ml passata
  • 300ml vegetable stock
  • A handful of fresh coriander, roughly chopped
  • 2 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method

In a roasting tray tip in the butternut squash and onions, then mix in the olive oil, garlic, ginger, spices, salt and pepper.  Cook in the top oven of the ESSE with the vent open at 200C / ESSE dial reading middle of HOT.  Roast for 25 minutes.

Then stir in the passata, stock and chickpeas.  Return to the oven for a further 15 minutes.  Taste and add more seasoning then scatter over the fresh coriander.  Serve with flat bread and rice.

Suggested serving with flatbreads cooked on the ESSE hotplate.

Recipe created by Philippa Vine of Bluebell Farmhouse Kitchen.

Presented by Dan Blewitt on an ESSE Bakeheart at Humble by Nature.

Chocolate Fondants

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Little chocolate ‘fondants’ – oozy-middled chocolate puddings – are divine, if somewhat ubiquitous these days. I love the combination of chocolate, prunes and brandy so I doctored the original idea a little. Timing is important here – a minute too long in the oven, or even waiting around to be served, and these little puds lose their lovely gooey centres. But you can prepare them in advance, ready to bake when you want to serve them.

Serves

6 People

Ingredients

  • 100g prunes, roughly chopped
  • 40ml brandy
  • A little cocoa powder for dusting
  • 150g dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
  • 150g unsalted butter, diced, plus extra for greasing
  • 3 large eggs
  • 75g caster sugar
  • 35g plain flour

Method

Soak the prunes in the brandy in a small bowl for at least 2 hours (overnight is fine), to absorb most of the liquid.

Preheat the oven to 200°C/ESSE dial guide HOT (aim for the dial reading to be at the top end of HOT) and put a baking tray inside to heat up. Butter 6 dariole moulds well and dust with cocoa.

Melt the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a pan of simmering water. Stir gently to blend and leave to cool a little.

Beat the eggs and sugar together with an electric whisk for at least 5 minutes until the mixture is thick and moussey and ‘holds a trail’ (when a little is dropped from the whisk it should sit on the surface of the mixture and only slowly sink back in).

Fold the melted chocolate and butter lightly into the egg mousse. Sift the flour over the mixture, then fold it in carefully. It needs to be thoroughly incorporated, but don’t overwork the mix. Fold in the prunes and brandy – again, carefully.

Divide the mixture between the dariole moulds. You can prepare the puds ahead to this point, if you like, and refrigerate them for up to 2 hours.

Bake the puds on the hot tray in the oven for 10–12 minutes. Go for the shorter time if your oven is very efficient or if your puds will be sitting around for a few minutes before serving. Go for the longer time if your oven is on the cool side or if they have been in the fridge. Turn out immediately into shallow bowls and serve at once, with chilled cream.

Swaps – Soak raisins in whisky, dried cherries in Calvados, or even dried cranberries in vodka to replace the prunes in brandy.

Recipe demonstrated on an ESSE 990 ELX at River Cottage HQ.

Sourdough

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This is not a true sour dough as we do not have the time but it does contain some sour “leaven” which is the fermentation culture made ready for bread making. This will give extra depth to the dough, and heighten the flavour considerably, as well as helping to moisten the end result.

Starter

To make sour dough there are three distinct requirements. Firstly you need a starter, this is then fed regularly to keep the wild yeasts inside it alive. A starter can be made simply by mixing flour and water in even quantities and leaving it in a tub at room temperature to begin to ferment as the local wild yeasts start to take effect. Alternatively you can acquire an active starter from someone else who already has some.

Ferment or Leven

The ferment or leaven stage is the preparatory step to making bread. Basically it is a 50/50 mixture of water and flour with some added starter – the starter seeds the fermentation into the new mixture and because of all the available food for the yeasts it ferments rapidly.

Dough

The dough phase is achieved by adding enough flour, salt and water to the highly active leaven to get a nice wet dough to form. This is then kneaded in the usual way, by hand or by machine to make a dough. This is then proved, shaped, proved again and finally baked.

Kit – Mixing bowl, dough scraper, scales, proving tray and blade.

Ingredients

  • 250g leaven
  • 500g strong flour
  • 250g water
  • 12g salt

Method

Make the dough and allow it to rise – this could take 3 or 4 hours or longer depending on temperature and how active your leaven is.

Know it back and shape into a loaf shape or two smaller ones, placing it in a proving basket to support its shape whilst it rises again.

Once fully proved – very delicate and aerated, at least doubled in size – bake in a very hot oven with the ESSE oven steam vent closed for around 28 minutes. Oven temperature around 200 degrees c (ESSE cooker dial guide to be at the low end of HOT).

Tim Maddam’s Top Sourdough Tips

  • Invest the time – it takes between eight and 12 hours to make a good sourdough from scratch. Proving takes four times as long as for a yeast-risen dough
  • Feed your starter or ‘leaven’ regularly – especially if it’s been in the fridge for a while. This is the best way to adjust the sourness to your individual taste
  • The wetter the better – a wet dough mix may be harder to handle, but it will make a better loaf
  • Watch the dough – not the clock. The dough will tell you when it’s ready to bake – it’s just a matter of practice
  • Don’t scrimp on the salt – otherwise your bread will taste bland
  • Respect the dough – handle it gently – take care not to knock the air out of it
  • Use semolina to minimise sticky ‘dough fingers’ without drying out the mixture
  • Make sure the oven is up to temperature well before the bread goes in – between 180˚C and 200˚C (aim for the ESSE cooker dial guide to be at the low end of HOT) – depending on the finish you want
  • Introduce steam to your oven. Close the ESSE oven steam vent.

Crusty Bread

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Wild garlic is only available in the spring. You can substitute with flavouring it with some chopped rosemary and 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

Ingredients

  • 250g strong white bread flour
  • 150ml warm water
  • 15g fresh yeast
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon honey2 tab
  • lespoons olive oil
  • 2 tablespoons of chopped wild garlic leaves

Method

  1. Preheat ESSE to 200C/ESSE dial guide HOT, aim for the dial reading to be in the middle of HOT (ESSE oven steam vent closed).
  2. Place your flour in a large mixing bowl and add the salt, olive oil and wild garlic if using.
  3. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water with the honey.
  4. Add the yeast mix to the flour and mix with a table knife. Add a little more water if it is too dry or some flour if it is too wet.
  5. Turn it out onto your work surface and knead to a smooth dough.
  6. Put the dough back into the mixing bowl and place a clean cloth over the bowl. Put the bowl at the back of the ESSE on the left hand side.
  7. When it has doubled in bulk, knead until smooth and elastic.
  8. Roll out to a shape that you like and place it on an oiled baking sheet. Put back next to the ESSE to prove again until it has doubled in bulk.
  9. Then place direct on the bottom of top ESSE oven and bake until golden brown all over, approximately 15 – 20 minutes, depending on the shape of your loaf.

Happy cooking on your ESSE.

Baking tip for bread making

Gently warm your bread flour at the back of the ESSE, before you start to make the dough. (Speeds up the proving process)
I love to use fresh yeast, better results.
Cover the bread dough for first proving using a plastic shower cap, it fits perfectly over your bowl.
Let your bread dough prove at the back of the ESSE cooker, left hand side.
Bake your loaf on the base of the ESSE, top oven 200C with the vent CLOSED which keeps all the steam in, perfect for cooking the perfect loaf.
Happy baking in your ESSE.

Recipe by Philippa Vine of Bluebell Farmhouse Kitchen.

Kale Crisps

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Demonstrated by River Cottage Chef, Andy Tyrell, using an ESSE CAT Gas Cooking Range

Kale crisps have become a rather fashionable snack in the past few years, and that’s hardly surprising, given how easy they are to make and how delicious they are to eat.

Making your own is a good way to use an excess of kale in the garden, even slightly-past-their-best leaves. They make a great nibble to go with drinks, or you can use them as you would crispy seaweed in salads, or sprinkled on soups.

Ingredients

  • Few handfuls of kale, thickest, woddy stems removed
  • 2-3 tablespoons rapeseed or olive oil
  • Flaky sea salt

Method

Preheat the oven to ESSE dial guide top end of MODERATE/180°C/Fan 160°C/Gas 4. Wash the kale and dry well: it will crisp up better if it is very dry. Tear the leaves into bite-sized pieces and place on a baking tray (or two if you’re making a lot – you don’t want to crowd the trays). Trickle over the oil and massage it thoroughly into every nook and cranny of the leaves. Don’t salt them yet – they roast better just with the oil. Spread the leaves out on the trays in an even, single layer. Bake for 10 minutes, then take the tray from the oven and give the leaves a good stir. Return to the oven and bake for a further 5–10 minutes. The leaves should be crisp but don’t let them get too dark or they will be bitter. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt and serve.

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