Mellow Belly Guest Post

Mead from Local Honey, by Daniel Wainwright.

I visited my mum recently and saw that she had cleared out some of my dads old wine making equipment from the garage. There was a demijohn and half a dozen wine bottles (complete with contents aged 30 to 40 years, the less said about those the better!). I've dabbled in home brewed beer for a few years now and with reasonable success. I usually stick to bitter and ale from malt extract (in a kit). Any way, recently I'd been thinking about making cider or mead. We usually have a glut of cooking apples in the  autumn and I wondered if I could put them to good use. After some research it seemed clear that cider from a single variety of cooking apple is not a good prospect. Back to my other option; mead. My interest was initially drawn when I was served mead earlier this year at a Coombe Abbey Medieval Feast and I very much liked it. The methods/recipes I found online seemed straight forward enough. I'd need a lot of honey but I figured there would be a local apiarist who could supply that^[3]. So when I saw the demijohn at mum's I thought “Right then, I'm going to make some mead!”.
I've used a 'Basic Mead'^[1] recipe as it's my first attempt. Basic mead is made with honey and water but no fruits, spices or other adjuncts. Yeast cannot thrive on honey (sugar) alone though. This necessitates the use of yeast nutrient (amino acids aka protein). The type of yeast for mead brewing needs to be able to keep working up to much higher alcohol concentrations than those typically used for ale. The recipe also calls for 'acid blend', this is a blend of citric acid and tartaric acid which should give the final mead a more balanced and slightly fruity taste.  As with all brewing, cleanliness is key to success. You don't want your time, effort and ingredients going down the drain because your brew turned rank due to contamination leading to bacterial or fungal colonisation. Yuk! So, make sure all the kit that will be in contact with ingredients is spotlessly clean and sterilised just before you start the brewing process. Keep things covered with clean tin foil or lids after sanitising to keep out dust and airborne contaminants. If possible, work in a clean, draught free area too. I acquired the sanitising chemical and brewing ingredients online^[2].

Ingredients

• 5 litres un-chlorinated water
• 1.5kg Local Honey^[3]
• 1tsp Acid Blend
• 1tsp Yeast Nutrient
• 1 packet Champagne Yeast

Brewing Kit

• 5 litre stainless steel 'stock pot'
• 2 demijohns with bungs and air locks
• funnel
• other 'normal' kitchen items

Method

1. If like me you use dried yeast then it will need rehydrating/starting. In a shallow dish, dissolve 2 tbsp of the honey in 200ml of freshly boiled water. Cover with clean foil and leave to cool until lukewarm (just below 37°C , body temperature). Once cooled sprinkle the yeast over the surface of the honey solution and re-cover. After 10mins stir then re-cover and store in a warm place for at least 2hrs (I used the airing cupboard).
2. Boil 3.3 litres of water in the pot. If using tap water, keep boiling for 30 mins to get rid of the chlorine. If you've used bottled or otherwise chlorine free water just bring to a rolling boil then remove from the heat.
3. Add the honey slowly (you may need help here), stirring continually to ensure it dissolves rapidly and doesn't sink to the bottom and scorch on the base of the pan. Be very careful not to scald yourself and look out for delayed boiling over. Stir in the acid blend and yeast nutrient too.
4. Cover the pot with clean foil and leave to cool until lukewarm. With the aide of a sanitised funnel transfer the pot contents to the demijohn. Get your yeast starter mixture and give it a stir then pour it in too. Give the demijohn contents a swirl to help mix the ingredients. Place a bung with an airlock firmly in the neck of the demijohn. It shouldn't be full to the neck,  leaving space for the initial and hopefully vigorous fermentation. Put the demijohn in a warm place and wait.
5. Within 24hrs or so the fermentation should be well under way. A steady stream of bubbles should be coming through the airlock and a foamy head may have formed on the demijohns contents. Mine had a 'tide mark' up into the neck the following morning. It seems I was right to take the precaution of standing the demijohn in the empty 5 litre pot in case of overflow.
6. Once the fermentation is progressing, store the demijohn in a cool dark place and make daily checks. After about a month the bubbling should be slowing down and a layer of sediment forming in the bottom of the demijohn.
7. When the sediment reaches a depth of 2 to 3 cm the mead should be racked. This means carefully syphoning the liquid into another (sanitised) demijohn, leaving the sediment behind, and after topping up with clean water to the neck, bunging with an airlock again. It is important to minimise the meads exposure to oxygen. Don't be lazy about this step, leaving your mead on the sediment too long will spoil it's flavour.
8. Daily checks should continue. Each time the sediment builds up repeat step 7. If the liquid level drops below the neck then top up with clean water. If a couple of weeks go by without you seeing any bubbles through the airlock, the fermentation has come to an end. Patience though, this could take up to 6 months! Premature bottling could lead to a pleasant fizz or exploding bottles!
9. Finally then, using the same careful syphoning, transfer your mead to (sanitised) bottles and seal them up to age. As with most brews, the flavour tends to improve with ageing. Store in a cool dark place.

I'll probably be 'tasting' mine at bottling time, which could be around christmas, and then every few weeks after! All in the name of research, of course!

References:
1. Home Brewing by Kevin Forbes. ISBN 978-1-90723-105-6
2. http://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk
3. Mr Paul Kime, 311 London Road, Wyberton. http://www.boston-beekeeper.co.uk

Fabulously Fudgy Gluten Free Brownies

I found this recipe on Food.com and it's so easy as it's all in cup measurements and there are very few steps for when you need a chocolate fix!

You will need:

A 9 x 13" traybake tray

1 cup sunflower/vegetable oil
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 x 1/3 cup cocoa
Pinch salt
1 cup gluten free plain flour
100g dark chocolate

Preheat your oven to 170 deg

Mix together the oil and the sugar until blended.
Add in the eggs and the vanilla.
Mix the dry ingredients together in a separate bowl.
Add the dry ingredients to the oil, sugar, eggs and vanilla.
Chop up the dark chocolate into small chunks and add to the mixture.
Transfer to the traybake tray.
Bake for up to 30 mins. The brownies should have a slight crust on the top but still be fudgy in the middle.

Happy Eating!

Breakfast Banana Muffins with Cinnamon Glaze 
(made with Maud Foster wholemeal flour)

You will need:

A deep cupcake/muffin tin lined with cupcake cases

Makes 15 (ish) muffins

3 ripe bananas, mashed 
200g sugar (any is fine, caster, muscovado, granulated) 
1 egg 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract 
120ml vegetable oil 
240g Maud Foster wholemeal flour
80g porridge oats  
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger 
1 tablespoon baking powder

For the glaze:

2 tbsp Icing Sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
few drops vanilla extract
enough milk to make a smooth paste 

Preheat the oven to 180 deg (fan)

In a large bowl, stir together the bananas, sugar, egg, vanilla and oil. 
Combine the wholemeal flour, oats, cinnamon, ginger and baking powder; stir into the banana mixture until blended. 
Spoon the mixture into the prepared muffin cases. 
Bake in the preheated oven until the tops spring back when lightly pressed for about 25 minutes.

When the muffins have completely cooled, make the glaze by placing the icing sugar in a small bowl with the vanilla and the cinnamon. Using a small whisk, mix in enough milk to make a smooth paste. Drizzle the glaze over the muffins.

These are great for a quick breakfast substitute if you're in a hurry! 

Family Chicken Curry

You Will Need:

Ideally a cast iron casserole pot you can use on the hob and in the oven 

5-6 Chicken Thighs (either boned or boneless)
100g Lentils (pre-cooked and drained)
1 large red onion (sliced)
1 red pepper (sliced)
2 Medium Potatoes (cubed)
1 Red Chilli (de-seeded)
1 tbsp Curry Powder (hot or mild, whatever your preference)
1 tbsp Garam Masala
1 tbsp Tomato Puree
50g sultanas
Chicken Stock (enough to just cover the curry, I used two cubes) 
Vegetable or Sunflower oil

Preheat your oven to 160 deg (fan assisted)

Heat the oil in the casserole pot. 
Put the chicken thighs in and brown over a medium heat for between 5-10. Remove from the pot and put to one side.
Put the onions, red peppers, potatoes, chilli in the oil and fry until softened for around 5 minutes.
Add in the curry powder, garam masala, tomato puree and the sultanas and stir. 
Add in the lentils and place the chicken thighs back on top. Pour over the chicken stock until the chicken thighs are just covered.
Put the pot in the oven and cook for 1 and a half hours.

Serve with naan bread and mango chutney.

Happy Eating!

Foolproof Cupcake Recipe

You will need:

A deep cupcake/muffin tin lined with cupcake cases

Makes 12 cupcakes

170g Stork or butter (softened)
170g Caster Sugar
3 eggs
170g Self Raising Flour
3 tbsp Buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 170 deg (fan)

Cream together the butter and caster sugar.
Alternatively, mix in one egg and then a third of the flour until all mixed in.
Add in the buttermilk and vanilla.
Spoon into the cases and bake for between 18-20 mins.

You can easily alternate the flavours with these. If you want chocolate cupcakes, just take away 40g of the flour and add in 40g of cocoa (I also add in a couple of tablespoons of warm, strong coffee. It really brings out the chocolate flavour). If you want lemon cupcakes, mix the juice of a whole lemon with a couple of teaspoons of granulated sugar. With a skewer, piece a few holes in the cakes while they're still warm and drizzle over the lemon syrup.

Happy Eating!
 

Flapjacks are not something I make that often. I tend to make more cakes. But somehow with flapjacks, you feel that they're that little bit healthier!

The recipe below is ridiculously easy. My little girl and I made it together and she basically did most of it!

Apple & Raisin Cinnamon Flapjacks

You will need:

A 8" x 8" square baking tin greased and lined at the bottom with baking paper 

Makes approx 12 flapjacks

125g butter or Stork

125g light brown/soft brown demerera sugar

3 tbsp golden syrup 

250g porridge oats 

2 small eating apples, grated (either with skin on or peeled)

50g raisins

1 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 160 deg (fan)

Melt the butter, sugar and syrup together in a pan on a low heat. Leave to cool slightly. 

Combine the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and pour in the butter mixture. 

Mix well, tip into the baking tray and pat firmly down using the back of a spoon. 

Bake for 20-25 minutes until lightly golden brown. The flapjack will still be very soft so leave to cool in the tin. You can score out the portions while it's still warm.

Once cool, cut into squares.

Store in an airtight tin. 

Happy Eating!

Quick and easy evening meal!

I bought some turkey steaks this week (in a bid to become everso slightly healthier) and wanted to serve them with brown rice and peas. Very uninspiring though I hear you say!

Not when you have wholegrain mustard, double cream and some runny honey! Ok, so the double cream kind of ruins the bid to become everso slightly healthier but, hey-ho!

I'm not listing this as a recipe as it's so simple!

I snipped my turkey steaks into bitesize pieces and fried them in a little oil until just cooked. I then added a heaped dessert spoon of wholegrain mustard, a dessert spoon of runny honey and around 100ml of double cream. I cooked it all down for about 3 - 4 minutes and served it with the brown rice and peas!

Happy Eating!

 

I was on fire in the kitchen today! I kept meaning to use that bag of macaroni in the cupboard and today was the day.

We love macaroni & cheese in our house. To me, it's the ultimate comfort food. My youngest wasn't feeling too well so I thought she would really like some.

And the obvious way to 'local-it-up' is to incorporate one of our delicious local cheeses!

This is so easy, it feeds an army and it makes really good leftovers too! 

Lincolnshire Poacher Macaroni & Cheese

Serves 6

You will need:

A large ovenproof dish (mine was approx 13" x 9")

450g Macaroni
70g butter (plus a little extra for greasing the dish)
60g plain flour
700ml whole milk
1 dessert spoon wholegrain mustard (optional)
4 rashers thick cut unsmoked bacon (optional)
100g Lincolnshire Poacher Cheese (grated)
200g Mature Cheddar (grated)
Dried breadcrumbs (enough to cover the top)

Cut the bacon into small pieces and fry until crispy in a little oil. Set aside.
Cook your Macaroni in boiling, salted water as per instructions.
In a large saucepan, melt the butter. When melted, add the flour and whisk to form a paste. Cook for a minute or two, continually whisking. Gradually add in the milk, whisking all the time until you have a smooth sauce. Take off the heat and add in the mustard and grated cheese.
Once the macaroni is cooked, drain and rinse in cold water. 
Place the macaroni in the greased dish with the bacon pieces. Pour the cheese sauce over and mix to combine.
Sprinkle over the breadcrumbs and place under a medium grill until golden brown 
and bubbling.

Happy Eating!

http://www.lincolnshirepoachercheese.com/
 

Ribs 'n' Bibs Review - Saturday March 1st

Myself, my husband and two of our friends visited this cosy American Smokehouse last Saturday night. It was a double birthday celebration so we wanted to visit somewhere new and a little bit different.

Opened at the end of 2012, Ribs 'n' Bibs promises to serve authentic, regional American food. They smoke locally supplied meat 'in house' fresh every day.

The atmosphere as we walked in was warm and inviting. There wasn't a great deal of room to stand in the 'bar' area while you waited to be seated but luckily this wasn't an issue as we were shown to our table pretty much straight away.

We had a good table on the 1st floor. It was slightly cramped with how close the tables were but that didn't spoil the experience. We were given our menus and asked for our drinks order. I asked for the Grape Soda which unfortunately they didn't have (you don't often find that here in the UK). 

We placed our order from the menu. I liked that the menu wasn't overwhelming. We all found something different to eat (sometimes too much choice is a bad thing).

We ordered 3 starters between the 4 of us; Buffalo wings, Pizza fries and the Pulled pork Nachos. The wings and nachos were delicious. We actually said if we were to return for anything it would be for the nachos. The pizza fries however were disappointing. All of the fries on the menu were described as being 'crispy, skin-on fries'. All of the fries we were served were not. They tasted like oven fries.

The mains were tasty. We ordered the Smoked Garlic Chicken burger, the Pulled Pork burger, the Lincoln's Glory Hole and the Full rack of ribs. 

After suffering a little from the 'meat sweats' we decided to have just one dessert. We ordered the Sugared Churro's. I was apprehensive as I love Churro's but I wasn't disappointed. They were delicious.

Overall, it was a very nice evening. The service was prompt and pleasant and even though the food wasn't outstanding, it was tasty. The meat was delicious and definitely tasted, as they claimed, homemade. 

I give Ribs 'n' Bibs a rating of 3.5/5.

Happy Eating! 

http://www.ribsnbibs.co.uk
 

The Food Wish List

I want to be the 'Mum who cooks'. The one who's always in her apron and when her children are older and have friends round, will have a freshly made Macaroni and Cheese or Cottage Pie to hand at any given moment.

I'm not quite there yet. There are so many things I would like to try and make. There are so many cookbooks staring at me as I type this, taking up the entire bottom row of my bookshelf. 

I need to make a pledge to make something new every week. It's so easy to get stuck in a rut of making the same things week in, week out. 

But I'm not looking to make complicated, advanced dishes. I want to get the basics right: Bread, pastry, the perfect roast dinner. Because, it's better to cook a few things well rather than a lot that aren't as good, right?

What dishes have you meant to make for the last few months but haven't actually got round to trying yet?

 

As I have just listed my Buttermilk Pancake recipe, I was thinking about the hero products we all have in our kitchen cupboards.

The products that spring to my mind straight away are:

Buttermilk

I buy a carton of this every week now. It's 52p for a carton from Asda (I'm pretty sure Tesco's stock it too). I use it to make cakes (any type of cake), as I think it makes them particularly fluffy and moist. 

I also use it in my pancake batter instead of regular milk as it has the same effect. 

Worcestershire Sauce

I pretty much use a splash of this little gem in every casserole, pasta dish or stir fry I ever make. I splash it on cheese on toast or in baked beans. I've never come across anyone who doesn't like this and I would feel lost if I ran out!!

Sweet Chilli Sauce

I'm sure someone out there will tell me it's easy to make this but I do admit I buy it in a bottle! I had some tonight in fact with salmon fillets and brown rice. It just adds a spark to so many savoury dishes and is also a quick cheat's dip to go with crisps or veggie sticks.

I'd love to know what your hero products are! Comment below!

Buy yourself a set of measuring cups. I order you. You can pick some up for under five pounds online (see the link at the bottom of the post). You will find quite a few recipes online now list cup measurements and they're oh-so-easy to use.

A perfect example would be tonight's recipe. I make these lovely, fluffy pancakes pretty much every weekend for breakfast and we're not bored with them yet!

Buttermilk Pancakes

Serves 4 very hungry people

3 cups self-raising flour
1 cup buttermilk
1 and a half cups milk
3 medium eggs

Whisk all of the ingredients together in a large bowl. The mixture should be pretty thick. If it's too runny, add some more flour. 

You can then add pretty much anything you like to the batter. Mashed or chopped bananas, grated apple, raisins, cinnamon, chocolate chips etc etc. The list is endless!

With a little oil in a frying pan over a medium heat, use a ladle to spoon out each portion. Cook until golden brown on each side. Check that they are cooked in the middle before serving. 

Happy Eating! 

Once served, they can be topped with honey, yoghurt, chocolate spread, jam or my preference, good old salted butter.

You can buy Buttermilk easily from a large supermarket. At just over 50p for a carton from Asda it also luckily equates to a cup!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?ie=UTF8&keywords=cup+measuring+set&tag=googhydr-21&index=kitchen&hvadid=34729082388&hvpos=1t2&hvexid=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=473311154654610105&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=b&hvdev=c&ref=pd_sl_45621qph2v_b

Boston Sausage Goulash

 

Serves 4

You will need:

Ideally a cast iron casserole pot you can use on the hob and in the oven

1 medium red onion (roughly chopped)

1 red pepper (roughly chopped)

8 Boston Sausages

2 garlic cloves (crushed)

1 red chilli pepper (de-seeded and finely chopped)

75g chorizo sausage

1 can chopped tomatoes

1 cube beef OXO

1/2 tsp paprika

1 can chickpeas (drained)

dash of Worcestershire sauce

Small pot of sour cream to serve (optional)

Preheat your oven to 150 deg (mine is a fan assisted oven)

Using a little oil, brown all of the sausages in your pot for about 5-6 minutes.

Remove them and put them on a plate.

In the same pot, gently fry your onion, pepper, chilli pepper, chorizo and garlic until everything is golden and soft.

Put your sausages back into the pot together with your chopped tomatoes, chickpeas, paprika, OXO cube and Worcestershire sauce.

Give everything a good stir and add enough cold water to almost cover everything.

Transfer to the oven and leave for up to an hour and a half, checking half way through.

Serve in bowls with a dollop of sour cream and eat with warm, crusty bread.

Happy Eating!

I thought I would mention a couple of things -

My children both like food with a bit of a kick and as this was the first time making this dish, I thought it would be a bit too spicy. It wasn't at all but if you really don't like spicy food, I would leave out the red chilli pepper entirely and even the chorizo.

This dish went down a storm. In my opinion it would work with chicken, diced beef or pork. I will probably add a little more chilli next time and remember to serve it with the sour cream!!

http://www.bostonsausage.co.uk

 

 

 

My first featured recipe is in the oven as I type this but I couldn't wait to post!

I'm only 2 days into this blogging lark and I'm already breaking the rules! The recipe below doesn't actually have an ingredient produced locally but if it did, it would definitely be the honey (see the below link).

Now, I'm sure you have all encountered this problem. You have some very overripe bananas and you're not sure what to do with them.

Normally, I would make banana pancakes for breakfast but that opportunity had passed me by. So, I decided to get out my trusty recipe book and make the easiest Banana Cake in the world, ever.

I know a lot of you out there (including some of my friends, not naming names) think that it's just as easy to pop to the supermarket to buy some cake. Well, you have to look in some way presentable to nip there but you don't in your own kitchen! Plus, you would still have to throw out your bananas!

Easy Peasy Banana Cake

 

You will need:

4oz softened butter or margarine (I used Stork)
6oz sugar (granulated or caster)
8oz self-raising flour
2 medium eggs
2 large bananas (the riper the better)
1 tbsp runny honey

Preheat your oven to 160 deg (mine is a fan assisted oven)
On a plate, mash the bananas with a fork (good job for your children)!
Cream together the butter and the sugar. Mix in the eggs.
Mix the butter, sugar and egg mixture with the mashed bananas.
Stir in the flour.
Bake in a loaf tin for 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Happy Eating!

http://www.bbka.org.uk/local/lincolnshire/contacts/index.shtml


 

Welcome to Mellow Belly! 

I've taken the plunge on this glorious sunny day and, amidst the noise of my children playing on their Leappads, am typing this introduction to you all.

My vision for Mellow Belly is for it to be an enjoyable and informative way of learning about what food is produced locally and in turn, being able to turn that produce into delicious meals and treats.

You can spend less than half an hour online and you will find everything from organic vegetables delivered to your door, a virtual grow-it-yourself allotment scheme and sausages that are so famous they're sold at London's Borough Market. 

The most fantastic thing is that all of these things can be found within a 20 mile
radius of Boston.

But, as I laud the praises of the more famous businesses in our area, I also want
to find more of them!

So, look out for my next post, which will be a recipe using at least one of
our local delights. 

http://www.bostonsausage.co.uk
http://www.woodlandsfarm.co.uk
http://www.abbeyparks.co.uk