slow cooked pork with ras al hanout, rosemary and salt cured orange

This is the first of, hopefully, an ongoing series of recipes from my sister. I'll ask her to introduce herself in a future post but in the mean time enjoy this delicious slow cooked pork recipe with a side of split peas.

Ingredients
2kg pork shoulder 

1 large onion
2 or 3 sticks celery
1 large carrot
1 salt cured orange pith removed (preserved lemons can be substituted)
3 large garlic cloves 

Spice rub:
2 tbsp ras al hanout mix
3/4 cloves
2 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp black pepper
2 rosemary sprigs

1. Mix spice rub ingredients and rub over pork joint. Leave to marinade for at least a few hours - I leave overnight. 
2. Add roughly chopped veg, orange and pork to the slow cooker with water to reach half way up the joint. 
3. Cook on low-medium for 6-12 hours. It's done when it is tender and pulls apart easily. 
4. Served shredded or in large chunks with accompaniment of choice 
5. Good served with flat bread/wraps/rice/potatoes - I am happy with most carbs as a accompaniment to this recipe! 

 Split peas with mint, lemon and chilli
2 cups split peas
1 chilli
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
2 lemons (zest and juice)
Olive oil
Handful Fresh mint
Salt/pepper
Pinch of Paprika/ras al hanout 

1. Soak split peas overnight
2. Rinse well then place in large pan with lots of water 
3. Add 1/2 the mint, 1 chopped onion, 1 lemon zest, chilli, 
4. Boil for 10-15 mins uncovered then simmer covered until tender (approx 40 mins-1 hour) Can also be cooked in slow cooker. I did this for about 6 hours on med-high setting but they're done when soft.
5. Drain when done and add remaining mint (leaving a small amount back for garnish) lemon juice and zest, garlic, salt, pepper, olive oil 
6. You can leave chunky but I blend it then add pinch of paprika or ras al hanout and some mint to serve. 
7. Good warm as an accompaniment or cold as a dip or on toasted bread.

dr pepper cupcakes with cherry almond frosting

This started as a completly experimental recipe and uses some of my favourite flavours. Sometimes it's just got to be done. This is a little trashy but good. Go on, you know you want to.

Ingredients
100g unsalted butter
330ml can dr pepper
100g plain flour
50g cocoa powder
2 tbsp dark cherry jam/conserve
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp almond extract
150g dark muscovado sugar
2 eggs

Makes 10 cupcakes.

1. Start by reducing the dr pepper in a saucepan over a low heat until it is 1/3 of the original volume (110ml)
2. Preheat the oven to 180C fan oven. Put the paper cases in the muffin tray and fill a large oven proof dish with water and place in the bottom of the oven. The steam that is produced will help the cakes to rise and be lovely and light.
3. Put the butter the saucepan with the dr pepper reduction and melt over a low heat. Remove from the heat then add the vanilla and almond extracts along with the cherry jam
4. Sieve together the dry ingredients, including the sugar, to get rid of any lumps, then beat in the dr pepper mixture followed by the eggs until thoroughly combined. It is aboslutely fine to do this by hand or with an electric mixer. This recipe does not require a huge amount of physical effort.
5. Put a dollop of the mixture into each of the paper cases, if you have a cup measure it's about 1/4 cup per case.
6. Bake in the oven for around 20 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
7. Allow to cool completely before decorating with frosting.

Cherry Almond Frosting

It has been difficult to decide what to top the Dr Pepper cupcakes with. The flavour is quite complex and I was unsure what to accentuate. Anyway, I decided upon this sweet but slightly tart topping. The tartness comes from the fact I used a polish sour cherry cordial but feel free to experiment with maraschino cherry syrup, cherry brandy or other cherry cordial you may have to hand. Of course you could also go for a cherry variation of my berry frosting. 

Ingredients
120g butter, at room temperature
240g icing sugar, sieved
1-2 tbsp sour cherry cordial to taste
1 tbsp cherry jam

1 tsp almond extract

1. In a bowl, use an electric mixer to beat the butter until soft.
2. Gradually add the sugar until thoroughly combined, smooth and creamy.
3. Next, the almond extract and jam followed by the cherry cordial a bit at a time. You may not need to add it all but keep going until you have your desired colour, flavour and consistency. 
4. Chill for at least 30 minutes before using.

spicy quadruple ginger cupcakes with ginger cream cheese icing

This recipe is sticky, sweet and spicy and just what I like in a ginger cake. It is adapted from 'How to Cook Perfect Ginger Cake'. The ginger cream cheese is my own addition and I find it adds another spicy, creamy layer of flavour but you could experiment with citrus flavours instead, I have a suspicion that a banana flavoured frosting would be awesome too.

Cake Ingredients
100g butter
100g dark muscovado sugar

Pinch of salt
175g self-raising flour
4 tsp ground ginger
175g golden syrup or agave
1 tbsp ginger wine
2 free-range eggs, beaten
Walnut-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
150g candied/crystalised ginger, finely chopped

1. Preheat the oven to 160C and grease and place the paper cases in the cupcake/muffin tin. Cream together the butter and sugar with a pinch of salt until fluffy and the colour of milky coffee.
2. Pour in the syrup and ginger wine and mix to combine.
3. Beat in the eggs then gradually sift in the flour and ground ginger. Finally, stir in the fresh and candied ginger then spoon into the prepared paper cases.
4. Bake for about 25 minutes until a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
5. Allow to cool in the tin before frosting.
6. They may sink back down a little on cooling but don't worry about this. They'll still be delicious.
7. Decorate with the ginger cream cheese and some crystalised or stem ginger slivers.

 

The frosting

200g cream cheese

100g butter

600g icing sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground ginger

1 tbsp ginger wine (use milk or ginger cordial if you don't want the alcohol or miss it out completely and have a thicker icing)

1. Make sure the cheese and butter are at room temperature then beat together for a couple of minutes using and electric whisk. You want the mixture to be light and fluffy.
2. Little by little sift in the icing sugar and ground ginger beating carefully after each addition. Take care with this stage to not go too fast otherwise your kitchen will be covered in clouds of icing sugar.
3. Finally beat in the ginger wine, you may not need all of it but adjust until you have your desired consistency. 
4. This made more than enough icing for a batch of the ginger cupcakes with plenty left over for another project.

I've entered this recipe into A Kick at the Pantry Door's 'Feel Good Food Challenge'. Why not take a look at all the other great recipes featured. 

dark chocolate topped coconut cupcakes

This recipe is totally inspired by the Bounty chocolate bar but far less sweet. I started off with a standard vanilla cupcake batter but added coconut cream and dessicated coconut to help the flavour along.

Ingredients
1 quantity of vanilla cupcake batter
75ml coconut cream
4tbsp dessicated coconut
100g dark chocolate

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/350F/Gas 4 and place 8 muffin/cupcake cases in to the muffin tin.
2. Make up the basic cake batter but before you add the flour beat in the coconut cream for about 20 seconds then add the dessicated coconut along with the flour.
3. Place a dollop of mix into each paper case then bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes until a skewer comes out clean.
4. Once the cakes have cooled completely melt the chocolate in a heatproof bowl over gently simmering water. When the chocolate is completely melted carefully spoon it on top of the cupcakes taking care to not let any drip out over the cake cases (there should be a small lip between the cake and the case.
5. Top in chocolate covered cupcake with a sprinkle of coconut then leave to set hard.

homemade jaffa cupcakes

This classic starts out with a basic vanilla cupcake batter but is made special with the addition of the orange jelly and plain chocolate. I made this using smaller cake cases as I wanted a more even balance of cake, jelly and chocolate, this means you should get at least 12 from the basic mixture. Feel free however, to make the cakes in muffin cases, it will just change the balance of cake to jelly and chocolate.





Ingredients
1 quantity of vanilla cupcake batter
1 packet of orange jelly
2 tbsp marmalade
1 tsp lemon extract
squeeze lemon juice
250ml boiling water
100g good quality dark chocolate

1. Break up the packet of jelly into pieces and dissolve in the boiling water in a heat-proof jug. Once all the lumps have disappeared stir in the marmalade, lemon juice and extract. It's up to you whether you want the pieces of orange peel from the marmalade in your jelly, I chose to leave it out. Pour the jelly mixture into a shallow tray or plate so that it is around 0.5cm deep. Set to one side until set and you have completed the other stages.
2. Preheat the oven the 180C/160C Fan/350F/Gas 4 and place the paper cases in the tray. 
3. Make up the cupcake batter. Once cooked you want the cake to come just below the top of the case so that the jelly and chocolate will be contained within. When cooked set to one side until completely cool.
4. Next cut the jelly into discs just smaller than the top of the cupcakes. It's easiest to do this with a biscuit cutter or an upturned glass. 
5. Place each jelly disc on top of a cupcake.
6. In a heatproof bowl melt the chocolate over a pan of gently simmering water. Take care not to over heat otherwise the chocolate will go grainy.
7. Once the chocolate has melted remove from the heat and using a spoon carefully cover the top of each cupcake with a thin layer of chocolate. Take a piece of orange peel from the marmalade and place on top of the chocolate for decoration.
8. Chill the cakes until the chocolate is completely set and ready to eat.