Turkey Wellington

 

 

I had some of my school friends over for a pre-Christmas dinner last weekend which was great fun - we had Christmas crackers containing whistles, that were numbered and sounded at a different pitch, and came with a songsheet so we attempted to play some Christmas carols, which was very funny.

 

I was planning to cook dinner for 9 people - my biggest dinner party ever, but now we have a new house there's a lot more room - but unfortunately one of my friends was ill so she and her husband didn't come.  When I was planning the food though I knew I needed to cook something that would feed a lot of people (aside from one vegan, as I made something different) and wanted to do a turkey as it was Christmas. But I wasn't sure how big a turkey I needed to feed 8 people, and didn't want to faff around with all the side dishes. I also didn't want to cook the exact same thing they would all be eating about ten days later!

 

I had an idea for a turkey dish that would be a one-pot meal (with some easy side dishes), go quite a long way and also not cost as much as a whole turkey - turkey wellington. I had a look online to see if I could find a recipe and was immediately taken with this turkey, brie and cranberry wellington from BBC Good Food. Mine didn't turn out anywhere near as pretty as the picture and I wasn't convinced by the brie in the middle - rather than melt, it held its shape and took on a bit of a rubbery texture. I wonder if there is another cheese that work better in this, though brie is quite Christmassy. So if you decide to give it a go, let me know what you think! Overall it was a really nice dish, a change from roast turkey but still very Christmassy. You could make this at any time of year and you could also make smaller portions - maybe individual wellingtons- with chicken breasts.

 

I bought a large turkey breast from Ocado and cut a slit in the middle, into which I spooned some cranberry sauce and then an entire wedge of brie. You also need to preheat the oven to 180C.

 

 

 

I used ready-made puff pastry to save time. I did make my own stuffing from sausage meat, adding sage, onion and breadcrumbs. I found it easier to roll out the pastry and spread the stuffing over the centre of the pastry than to put the stuffing onto the turkey breast.

 

I also found it easier to cover the turkey breast with two pieces of puff pastry and join them around the sides by rolling over the edges, rather than trying to wrap it in one huge piece of pastry. I finished the pastry with an egg wash (a beaten egg, brushed over, to help it brown) and then covered with foil as it went into the oven, as I didn't want the pastry to cook too quickly. I followed the packet instructions for the turkey and I think in total it took about three hours to cook.

 

Here it is when it came out of the oven.

The wellington was easy to slice and you can see the cheese and cranberry in the middle. One thick slice was plenty per person; I served this with roast potatoes and a selection of vegetables, and of course gravy. The turkey breast I'd bought had been cured so it fell apart easily; the texture was likened by one of my friends to slow-cooked ham!

 

 

It made a great centrepiece for a pre-Christmas dinner and was suitably festive without being exactly the same as what my friends would be eating on December 25th, so I was really pleased with it.

 

 

 

 

Five Ways with Capricorn Goat's Cheese

Last year I won a "best blog award" sponsored by Capricorn goats cheese, and my prize was... a year's supply of goat's cheese! I was very pleased and quite intrigued to see how much a year's supply would turn out to be, and whether they would send it all in one go... luckily they sent me vouchers instead. I received 24 vouchers, each for 100g of goat's cheese worth £2, which works out at a packet of goat's cheese every fortnight. Unfortunately it took me a little while to find anywhere that would accept the vouchers  - through trial and error I found that the only supermarkets which appear to stock Capricorn are Waitrose and Tesco and the vouchers could only be used in store and not for online orders. There was a small Waitrose and a small Tesco near my office (there is neither near my home) and for several weeks I went in only to find the shelf space for the Capricorn cheese empty. I'm not sure if they were having supply issues - this was near the start of the year when big parts of the west country suffered from flooding and Capricorn is based in Somerset after all. Eventually the goat's cheese came back in stock and I was able to use my vouchers, though Tesco told me I could not use more than one voucher at a time. Even so, it won't be hard to use them all!

I love goat's cheese, particularly the soft kind, and there are so many things you can do with it. Here I'm going to give you five ideas.

First of all here's an idea from my mum as I gave her a few of the vouchers: grilled mushrooms with goat's cheese. You need one large portabello mushroom per person, which you fry on both sides in plenty of oil to keep them moist. Slice the cheese and place on top of the mushroom, and place under a hot grill for a few minutes. These are great as a starter or as part of a salad.

Speaking of salad, goat's cheese is a lovely addition to any kind of salad but one flavour it goes particularly well with is pear. For this salad I made some toast - Melba toasts would probably be better to use here - and used little gem lettuce as it's my favourite kind. Peel and slice a ripe pear and arrange on the plate and then place a portion of goat's cheese in the middle. This is particularly nice if you warm the cheese in the microwave for a few seconds so it softens and the inside is runny. Finally drizzle with balsamic glaze or balsamic vinegar and serve.

From salad to burgers... my staff canteen at work was advertising a burger with goat's cheese one day which I thought sounded lovely, and wasn't something I had eaten before. But when I got to the counter I found that while the sign said goat's cheese, what they put in my burger was most definitely stilton. Never mind... so the next time I cooked a burger at home I decided to try it with a slice of goat's cheese. If you haven't tried this particular combination then I recommend it!

Gnocchi
I don't often eat gnocchi and have never made it before but I do enjoy it, so when I came across a recipe on the BBC Food website for goat's cheese gnocchi I decided to give it a go. It's fairly simple to make but there is obviously a trick to getting it just right as mine was quite doughy. To make enough for three or four people (depending on appetite) you need:
2 large potatoes
200g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
150g goat's cheese

For the sauce:
200ml chicken stock
150ml double cream

Peel the potatoes, bring to the boil and simmer for 20-25 minutes until tender. Mash the potato and gradually add the flour, mixing together to make a dough. Add the goat's cheese and mix in.

Roll out the dough on a lightly floured surface into a long sausage shape and cut into small pieces.

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and drop in the gnocchi. They only take a few minutes to cook and are ready when they float to the surface.

To make the sauce, bring the stock to simmering point in another pan, remove from the heat and stir in the cream. I made this to go with chicken breasts so I cooked the chicken in the sauce. Add the gnocchi to the pan with the sauce and serve.

Ravioli
On a similar note I decided to make ravioli. You can easily find a recipe for the basic pasta dough online; I have a pasta attachment for my Kitchenaid which is great.

Roll out the pasta and cut into squares and place a few pieces of cooked bacon and a bite-sized piece of goat's cheese on each pasta square.

Place another square of pasta on top and press the edges to seal. Bring a pan of salted water to the boil.

Boil for a few minutes until the pasta is cooked. I served these sprinkled with parmesan cheese - the ravioli parcels are quite uneven so I think I should get the special ravioli attachment for my Kitchenaid next!

Best Blog Award- Capricorn Challenge

I was thrilled to be chosen as "best food blog" for the month of October by Capricorn Goat's Cheese. I had a lovely email from Ethel the Goat telling me they had picked me and that my prize was a year's supply of goat's cheese! The reason that I am only mentioning this now is because I was waiting until my prize arrived to discover how much they reckon a year's supply is! Rather than fill my fridge with a ton of cheese at once, they very kindly sent me 24 vouchers for a 100g packet of Capricorn goat's cheese. So that's 2.4kg of cheese altogether - a decent amount for a year, I think!

Having said that, I doubt I will keep the vouchers all to myself. You will undoubtedly see some recipes using goat's cheese on my blog over the coming year however! I'd be interested to know if anyone has any suggestions or a favourite recipe using goat's cheese; if so please let me know in the comment box below!

ABC of me

Ros from TheMoreThanOccasionalBaker recently gave me an Awesome Blog Content (ABC) award - thank you! The idea is that you think of something relating to you personally for each letter of the alphabet, and share it with other bloggers. This is quite appropriate given that Ros and I run the Alphabakes challenge!

A - animals. I love all creatures great and small, and after a joke comment from my boyfriend about how many pictures I have of me with animals,I've started a facebook album called "pictures of me with animals". Highlights include me holding a baby crocodile, riding an elephant and playing with lion cubs in Africa.

B - baking, of course! Though my efforts can be a bit hit and miss, I can be quite impatient and I'm sure I have a temperamental oven as well.

C - cats. My little tabby Tilly is the sweetest thing and I love her to bits.

D - diet. Always seem to be on one, officially anyway - hopeless at sticking to them!

E - elephant. I plucked up the courage to ride one while I was in Africa, which was a big deal since I'm terrified of heights. But I was at a point in my life where I decided I needed to "feel the fear and do it anyway!"

F - friends who you can go ages without seeing or talking to, then when you do get to catch up, you pick up just where you left off! Which is also linked to the other F I can't live without - Facebook!

G - Google. Don't know how I managed before we had it!

H- Hobbycraft. Only been there a couple of times as they always seem to be on trading estates, and difficult to get to if you don't drive (which I don't). So when I do get to go, it's like a wonderful mecca of papercraft and cake decorating products!

I - Ian, my wonderful boyfriend who I am planning to spend the rest of my life with. And am currently trying to persuade to move in with me!

J - journalist. What I wanted to be while I was at university and what I did for the first 5 years of my working life, until I became disillusioned and went to be a writer at a financial services firm

K - kindle. I love reading and books - the actual feel and smell of the paper, even. So I wasn't convinced of the merits of the Kindle when it came out... until I got one (thanks, Ian!). I still read physical books but don't know where I'd be without my Kindle on long train journeys or holidays.

L - lists. I love making lists of things to do and crossing items off - partly because I like to be organised, and partly because I'm quite forgetful!

M - money. I like to have it, spend it, and save it. And I like to think I'm quite good with it as I've never been in debt other than my mortgage.

N - Namibia. Last year I went to this amazing, beautiful country with the Bobby Moore Fund and helped renovate a school. It was a fantastic experience and one I will always remember.

O - organised. The day I discovered I could send Outlook calendar invites to my boyfriend and if he accepted them, I would have put something in his diary for him - was a happy day indeed. I'm very organised, possibly to a fault, and don't like not knowing what I'm doing a month from now, let alone a week from now.

P - public transport, which I use more than most people I know. I learnt to drive when I was 18 (I am now 33) and haven't driven since! It's been so long that I'm now terrified of the idea of having to get behind a wheel again, even if I had lessons.

Q - queuing. I'm of the polite British sort that waits patiently in queues without getting annoyed. I recently had a visit from a friend from another country and he definitely didn't share this trait!

R - research. I have to do a lot of this for my job, and have got pretty good at finding things, whether it's what happened in bond markets ten years ago, a discount code for event tickets or the best hotel to stay in on holiday. Not to be confused with Facebook stalking.

S - Surrey, where I now live. I work in central London but like the fact that when I come home, I can get away from the hustle and bustle, and have a house with a garden whereas for the same money in London I'd be living in a shoe box.

T - travel. I was never much of a traveller before - I was 17 the first time I went abroad, and that was to Belgium. Then holidays through my 20s were generally Greek islands and the like. Now I've decided I want to see the world, and am on a mission to visit as many different countries as I can. In the last couple of years countries I have added to my 'where I've been' map include Italy, Russia, Namibia, Botswana, Zimbabwe and the Netherlands.

U - untidy. I don't know how I can be so messy when I am also so organised - I think it's because I make so many lists, and organise things into piles, then am too busy or lazy to put them away!

V - vegetables. I'm really fussy when it comes to food and literally only eat a handful of types of vegetable. Which is a handful more than my boyfriend eats!

W -Wilton, where my family is from (in Wiltshire). I have had a penfriend in our twin town of Wilton, Connecticut, since I was 8 years old, and went to visit her for the first time a couple of years ago! My local paper even decided it was newsworthy.

X - my ex (see above). I have to include him on this list as he was such a big part of my life, for such a long time. We met as teenagers, moved in together, bought a house, got a cat, never got married because he always said he didn't believe in marriage... then when I turned 30, he left with no warning. I still don't entirely know why he did that, and after 11 years together it almost killed me, but I do know that I'm better off without him.

Y- yes. Something I say far too often - I can never say no. Whether it's taking on work for a charity I don't have time to do, or having friends to stay when I'm actually quite busy, I'm actually a bit of a pushover.

Zzzzzz - sleep! Something I never seem to get enough of - and I don't even have children! I do have a cat who likes to wake me up for breakfast as soon as it's light, which is about 4.45am at the moment.

Versatile blogger and Sunshine award

I'm very pleased to say that I have received a Versatile Blogger and a Sunshine award from Anuja at Simple Baking - do check out her site if you aren't already familiar with it. I particularly like the makeup bag cake she made for her daughter's birthday!

Rules for both the awards are :
1. Thank the person who nominated you for this Award and link them back.
2. Say some 5 random facts about you.
3. Spread the  joy by nominating other bloggers.
4. Convey the blogger about the nomination.


Random facts about me:
1. I helped renovate a school in Namibia with the Bobby Moore Fund last year which was the most rewarding and possibly most challenging experience of my life.

2. I used to be a financial journalist on the Daily Telegraph and once realised I was wearing a fake Burberry scarf when I was about to meet the CEO of Burberry so had to quickly stuff it inside my bag. That would have been embarrassing! (Note: most journalists are not paid enough to afford real designer labels). 

 

3. I am extremely short-sighted and have worn contact lenses since I was 12. You know the sight chart in the optician's that starts with one big letter at the top and gets smaller? That one big letter is all I can read without glasses or contacts.

4. I gained a grade 3 certificate in ice skating when I was 31 - it means I can skate backwards and on one leg (though not at the same time!). 

 

5. I have joined Slimming World in an effort to shift the extra pounds that have come from making - and eating - so many cakes! Though it's not going too well so far....

I would love to share these awards with:
1. Ros at TheMoreThanOccasionalBaker
2. Mel from SharkyOvenGloves
3. Janice from FarmersGirlKitchen
4. Gem from CupcakeCrazyGem
5. Laura from LauraLovesCakes

Please pass on the love!

I'm happy!

I'm pleased to say that Kit from i-lost in austen - one of my favourite blogs - has given me a Happy Blogger award.

The idea seems to be to celebrate blogs that you like and pass the award on to others! So in no particular order are some Happy Bloggers I would like you to meet:

Ros aka Baking Addict at TheMoreThanOccasionalBaker

Laura from LauraLovesCakes

Ren from Fabulicious Food

Choclette from the Chocolate Log Blog

Karen from Lavender and Lovage

Dom from Belleau Kitchen

Alastair from Alastair's Miscellany

Nelly from Nelly's Cupcakes

Kate from What Kate Baked

Chele from Chocolate Teapot

and a non-baking blog but one I couldn't leave out: the irrepressible Amy from Amyless Wanderer

Liebster blog award

Thank you Baking Addict from TheMoreThanOccasionalBaker for giving me my first blog award. She's a good friend and my partner in crime for the Alphabakes challenge, and her blog is full of amazing bakes - I can't believe she has time to bake so much!

Apparently, "The origins of the Liebster Blog award are somewhat unclear but the general consensus is that it originated in Germany, Liebster meaning favorite or dearest, to showcase bloggers with fewer than 200 followers. Upon accepting the award the recipient must then pass it on to five more blogs of note."

Here are the rules:

• Thank your Liebster Blog Award presenter on your blog.
• Link back to the blogger who presented the award to you.
• Copy and paste the blog award on your blog.
• Present the Liebster Blog Award to 5 blogs of 200 followers or less who you feel deserve to be noticed.
• Let them know they have been chosen by leaving a comment at their blog.

So to keep the Liebster award going, I am giving out the Liebster blog award to the following 5 amazing blogs which you should also check out if you haven't already:

(I should just say at this point that I have tried to choose blogs with less than 200 followers but in some cases I wasn't able to see how many followers they had).

1. http://www.i-lostinausten.blogspot.com - her beautiful bakes are interspersed with passages from Jane Austen's works which makes a wonderful treat!
2. http://www.catscupcakes.blogspot.com - I must get the recipe for her oreo brownies!
3. http://katemakescakes.blogspot.com - this woman has an icing printer, I'm so jealous! And her cakes are amazing - check out the 80s one!
4. http://www.craftstorming.com - a trio of bloggers. I love their macarons, which I find particularly hard myself!
5. http://thatskinnychickcanbake.blogspot.com - great photos and an amazing chocolate mousse cake!

It was really hard to choose just five - there are so many wonderful blogs out there that put mine to shame! And of course I want to give an honorary Liebster award to TheMoreThanOccasionalBaker but as she has already chosen her five favourite blogs, I thought I'd pass it on to five other people :-)