A couple of years ago I made this recipe and served it at my bonfire night party, I had quite a few to feed so I used a huge pork leg which only just fit into the oven and slow roasted overnight on the lowest possible heat. Everyone said it was amazing, falling apart tender; we ate it stuffed into crusty rolls with rocket and relish. But the real triumph of the recipe was the spiced apple relish that goes with the pork. Just thinking about it makes my mouth water; I'm going to have to cook it again.

The recipe came from the November 2006 issue of BBC Olive magazine.

Ingredients:

• 3-3.5kg Boned and rolled pork shoulder - skin deeply scored


• Olive Oil


• 300ml Dry Cider


• 4 Cooking Apples - peeled, cored and cut into chunks


• 3 tbsp Golden Caster Sugar


• 1 Cinnamon Stick


• ½ tsp crushed dried chilli


• Nutmeg


• Crusty rolls or baguettes - to serve


• Wild Rocket - to serve

 Spice Paste:

• 2 tsp fennel seeds


• 1 tsp coriander seeds


• 1tsp black peppercorns


• 1 tsp crushed dried chilli


• 3tsp sea salt


• 4 garlic cloves  - crushed


• 1 lemon - zested and juiced

What to do:

1. Heat the oven to 230 c / fan 210 c / Gas 8.
   
   
   
   1. To make the spice paste, lightly crush the fennel seeds, coriander seeds and peppercorns with a pestle and mortar
   
   
   2. Add the chilli, salt, garlic, and lemon zest and mix to a paste
   
   
   3. Using your fingers push the mixture into the slits in the pork skin
   
   
   4. Put the pork, skin side up, on a rack in a roasting tin and drizzle with a little olive oil
   
   
   5. Roast for 20-25 minutes until the skin starts to crisp
   
   
   
   


2. Turn the oven down to 150 c / fan 130c / gas 2.
   
   
   
   1. Turn the pork over, pour over the lemon juice and cook for 1 hour
   
   
   2. Pour 150ml cider into the roasting tin and cook for a further hour
   
   
   
   


3. To make the relish,
   
   
   
   1. Put the apples in a pan with the sugar, remaining cider, cinnamon stick, chilli and a good grating of nutmeg.
   
   
   2. Cover and cook over a low heat until reduced to a thick pulp.
   
   
   3. Add more sugar if needed
   
   
   
   


4. Remove the pork from the oven
   
   
   
   1. Tip the pan juices into a saucepan.
   
   
   2. Turn the oven up to 220 c / fan 200 c / gas 7
   
   
   3. Cook the pork for a further 25-30 minutes until the skin has turned golden and very crisp.
   
   
   4. Rest for 10-15 minutes.
   
   
   
   


5. Spoon off the fat from the pan juices and warm over a gentle heat. Thinly slice the pork and serve in rolls or baguettes with a drizzle of warm pan juices, a handful of rocket and a good spoonful of apple relish


6. And don't forget the crackling!

This chutney is yummy with cheese or cold meats. I first made it the year I grew tomatoes from seed and because I couldn't bear to be ruthless and discard the weakest seedlings I ended up with 26 tomato plants. They were totally organic and tasted amazing. We ate an awful lot of tomatoes that summer and had quite a few green ones left at the end of the season. I originally found this recipe on The Foody Uk & Ireland, although my version is now slightly different.

I love making jams and chutneys because it puts my jar collection to good use. I am a compulsive collector washing out all shapes and sizes of jar and saving them for future use. I can't bear to throw them away, but sometimes it gets a bit ridiculous when you can't actually close the cupboard door and I have to give in and put some in the recycling bin. Happily making jams and chutneys means some of my many jars eventually do get reused!

Ingredients - organic and local where possible which is not too difficult with this ingredients list although you might struggle to find organic root ginger and organic chillies:

• 
  
  1.8kg (4lb) Green Tomatoes


• 
  
  675g (1½ lb) Onions


• 450g (1lb) Cooking Apples


• 450g (1lb) Soft Brown Sugar


• 600ml (1 pint) White Vinegar


• 225g (8oz) Sultanas (or other dried fruit, you could use a mixture of what's to hand such as apricots, dates and raisins too)


• 25g (1oz) Root Ginger


• 8 Red Chillies


• 2 tsp Salt

 What to do:

1. Prepare your jars by washing and rinsing them thoroughly. Allow them to drain but don't dry them and then stand them in a baking tin. Put them into the oven on a very low heat 70 to 100°c which will dry them out and sterilise them. I put the lids in the tray too, but it depends which ones you're using if they have any plastic on them, leave them out of the oven!


2. Wash the tomatoes and chop them, not too small, you probably want a medium sized tomato to make about 8 pieces.


3. Peel and chop the onion and apples to about the same size.


4. Put the tomatoes, onions, apple and ½ the vinegar into a big heavy bottomed saucepan, bring to the boil and then turn down to a simmer and cook until tender. Probably about 20-30 minutes. Stir occasionally with a wooden spoon.


5. Peel the ginger and cut into a few large pieces, split the chillies lengthways and place inside a muslin bag. If you don't have one you can always use a square of muslin and tie it all into a bundle but make sure the chilli and ginger don't escape into the mixture, they'll make the chutney to hot if you do.


6. Add the sultanas or other dried fruit.


7. Continue to cook gently until the mixture starts to thicken stirring every now and then. This might take up to an hour


8. Add the sugar, the rest of the vinegar and the salt. Stir until completely dissolved.


9. Continue to simmer until the mixture becomes thick pressing the muslin bag occasionally with the spoon.


10. The mixture is ready when it is thick enough that when you draw a line through it with the spoon it stays for a while.


11. Remove the bag


12. Fill your warm jars with the chutney. Do this carefully it can be messy if you miss and will burn you. I have a jam funnel for filling jars which makes things much easier, they are not expensive so if you intend to make jams and chutneys more than once it's worth getting one.


13. Leave the jars to cool before applying labels, they won't stick otherwise


14. Leave for 4-6 weeks before eating to allow the flavour to mature, but this will keep for many months (I have some that I kept for a couple of years and it was lovely when I opened it)


15. Remember to write the date you made it and the date from which it can be eaten on the label. You will forget otherwise.

 

This recipe comes from the Delia Bible, the Complete Illustrated Cookery Course by Delia Smith. Yes she can be a bit annoying and sometimes her portion sizes are a bit mean, but I love Delia anyway. Her recipes always work!

 

Ingredients:

• 1 lb (450g) Ripe Blackberries


• 6 fl oz (175ml) Water


• 1 lb (450g) Granulated Sugar


• Juice of 1 Lemon


• A large nylon sieve and a piece of chemists gauze about 14 inches (35cm) square.

What to do:

• Wash the blackberries and place in a thick based saucepan with the water.


• Then stew them very gently with a lid on for about 20-25 minutes.


• Now and then give them a good mash to reduce them to a pulp and squeeze as much juice out of them as possible.


• After that add the sugar and lemon juice to the pan and allow the sugar to dissolve completely with the heat still low.


• There must not be any whole granules of sugar left. This takes about 10-15 minutes.


• Now turn the heat right up and boil fairly rapidly for 8 minutes, stirring now and then to prevent sticking.


• Meanwhile, warm a large bowl and a 1lb (450g) jam jar* in the oven and get them nice and hot.
  And then place the sieve, lined with the gauze over the bowl and pour the blackberry mixture into the lined sieve.*


• Then, using a wooden spoon, get all the liquid through as quickly as possible, squeezing the remaining pulp as much as you can - but do be quick as the jelly sets if you take too long.


• Now pour the jelly into the warmed jar, cover with a waxed disc*, cool and tie down.
  If it begins to set before you've had a chance to pour it into the jar, just reheat it gently.

*Note:

• I actually used 2 smaller jars when I made this.


• Also my sieve was stainless steel not nylon and when I tried to use the gauze I couldn't get the mixture through it so end up just pushing the mixture through the sieve minus the gauze. It worked fine so I won't bother with the gauze at all next time.


• Preserve recipes always recommend the use of waxed discs but I always just use the jar's original lid. If you've washed it thoroughly and then the put it to dry out in the oven with the jar it seems to be fine. I've never had a problem with my jam or chutney going mouldy... and I've kept some for a very long time!

This brilliant little recipe I poached from Erica White's Beat Candida Cookbook. It's yeast free and gluten free making it suitable for those suffering from wheat intolerance and Candida. Candida is a type of yeast, natural to the human body. When this fungi grows to a level where it overtakes the good bacteria in the stomach a number of symptoms will show such as thrush, cystisis, bloatedness and chronic tiredness. Changes to diet are one of the first recommendations to treatment. By making your carbohydrate staples like bread you can avoid yeast and sugars (candida's favourite feast) added to manufactured bread.

This corn bread is delicious, takes no time at all to make, and as its name suggests is deliciously moist. Whilst not all supermarkets stock the flours most health food shops offer the organic varieties.

Ingredients
125g/1cup fine maize meal
60g/1.5cup soya flour
125g/1cup brown rice flour
1tsp potassium (or sodium) bicarbonate
1.5tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp fresh lemon juice
1-2cups soya or rice milk

Directions
Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Mix dry ingredients and stir in the oil and lemon juice. Add sufficient milk to obtain a dropping consistency. Place in a greased loaf tin and bake for 30 minutes. Cool on wire rack.

The quantities for this are really up to you. I've never weighed or measured when making this, I just throw in what I have to hand. You probably know how much sauce you need to make a lasagne in your usual dish so just do what feels right. 

Ingredients:

• Vegetables for roasting: Courgettes, Aubergines, Onions, Peppers (you can include other things such as carrots too, but remember that they take longer to cook so make the pieces smaller than the rest of the softer vegetables.


• Olive Oil


• Garlic


• Rosemary


• Passata


• Béchamel Sauce


• Dried Lasagne Sheets


• Parmesan Cheese


• Salt & Pepper


• Nutmeg

What to do:

1. Cut the vegetables into even sized pieces, not too small but small enough that when you eat the resulting lasagne you will have a couple of different veggies in each forkful.


2. Place the vegetables in a roasting pan, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with the crushed garlic and rosemary.


3. Roast in the oven at around 180 to 200°c until soft and starting to darken and go crisp around the edges (usually about 25-30 minutes)


4. Now make the béchamel sauce (if you don't know how, all recipe books will tell you, but there's no need to go to all the trouble of infusing the milk etc, a basic white sauce will do fine!)


5. Remove the vegetables from the oven, pour in the passata, season with salt and pepper and mix well. There's no need to cook the sauce further, that's it!


6. Now arrange into your lasagne dish, starting with a layer of vegetable sauce, next some white sauce and then the lasagne sheets on top, repeating until the dish is full and finishing with a white sauce layer. Don't be too generous with the sauce in each layer or you'll never fit in enough lasagne sheets and it will be too sloppy to serve easily.


7. Grate some parmesan and some nutmeg over the top and it's then ready to go in the oven. You could keep it in the fridge until you're ready to cook it, or just bake straight away.


8. When you're ready, bake it the oven at 180°c until browned on the top and looking like a tasty lasagne. Probably about 35 - 40minutes.


9. Serve with green salad.