Final Thoughts - I Did It!

Well 2010 is drawing to a close and whilst I didn’t stick to my original ‘one new recipe a week’ resolution, I’m thrilled that overall I managed to create an entire 52 new recipes. It has been an interesting and useful experience for me. I have learned some new cooking skills and flavour combinations, which I’m using regularly now, and I have also discovered some brilliant new recipes that are now made regularly. I’m also pleased to have made some things that would have terrified me in the past – my personal highlight being the venison. It was something I was very nervous about cooking, but I managed to cook it exactly as I wanted, and felt very proud of myself.

I started this resolution in the hope that I would get out of the rut of making the same food all the time, and I definitely feel I have accomplished that. However, this has also given me more. Those who know me will know that I have had a difficult year with stress and anxiety, and whilst initially these difficulties stopped me cooking and completed sapped all motivation I had to get into the kitchen, cooking was one of the first things that helped me get on the track to recovery. The kitchen is where I feel confident, and where I can create happiness out of a few ingredients and some time and effort. Being able to immense myself in this world helps me feel like me again – and having 52 recipes to make certainly gave me the time to immerse myself!

I started this blog as a way to keep track of what I have cooked over the last year – and it’s done exactly that. Over the next year, I hope to keep trying new recipes to further my cooking skills, but I also want to revisit things from the year and cook more of them again. My other aim is to try and have one place where all these recipes are saved with easy access so that I always have plenty of options for what to cook.

Finally I would like to say thank you to those who have been following my progress. If anyone would like any of the recipes, then please let me know!

Recipe 52 – Bubble and Squeak Cakes

My mum and I always cook far too much food at Christmas, and there is always plenty of leftovers. In previous years, the leftover turkey and stuffing always gets eaten in sandwiches (or by the dog!), and my mum and I are both particularly to a cold roast potato (or five) later on in the evening. However the leftover veg always ends up in the bin, which I’ve always thought was a particular shame.

This year the veggies didn’t end up in the bin however! I had found a recipe for bubble and squeak cakes to use up the left over potatoes and veg from your Christmas dinner. We mashed up the leftover veg (we had sprouts, broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, parsnips and sweetcorn), and then added some left over roast potatoes and croquettes. These were all mashed for a while until everything was nice and mushy! We then fried an onion and some bacon rashers chopped into small bits, before adding this into the potato/veg mix along with some cheese and seasoning.

Once everything was fully mixed, I shaped some cakes with my hands, and popped them on a greased baking tray. Finally we brushed them with melted butter and let the oven do the rest of the work.

The cakes were fantastic – very tasty, and I was really pleased that I had finally found a use for the leftover veg. We ended up with about 20 out of the whole batch, and have frozen some too, so that nothing has gone to waste.

Recipe 51 – Suet-Free Mince Meat

Last year I had made mince pies for the first time – though with a cranberry studded mincemeat, that was very different to the normal kind. This year I repeated my cranberry mince pies, but also wanted to make something more traditional, though without the hassle of having to make mincemeat ages in advance. The suet free recipe was perfect as it only took about half an hour to pull the mincemeat together, and tasted delicious!

The mincemeat consisted of currants, raisins, grated cooking apple, port, brandy, honey and lots of Christmas spices, with the ingredients just being mixed together and simmered on the stove until they formed a paste.

I really enjoyed having two different kinds of mince pie this year, and for the first year ever didn’t buy any pies from the shops!

Recipe 50 – Pan Seared Saddle of Venison with a Red Wine Jus

This was the main course in our Christmas Come Dine With Me parties. I was looking to create something Christmassy but different. A few months ago I had attended a foodie event where we had been given venison, and I had found it absolutely delicious. Since then, I had been looking forward to trying to cook it myself, and this seemed the perfect occasion. The venison was marinated in a mixture of red wine, herbs and vegetables for 24 hours in advance of the meal to ensure that it was nice and tender. It was then seared on all sides in the frying pan, before transferring it to the oven to cook for 20 minutes. After resting, it carved beautifully, and was served with goose fat roasted potatoes and honey glazed carrot and parsnips. A red wine jus was also added to the meal by reducing some red wine and beef stock with some herbs.

The meal went really well, and when it came to the results time, my night won our little competition (mostly thanks to the venison I think!)

Recipe 49 – Goats Cheese and Cranberry Parcels

My friend Hazel had suggested that we hold our own Christmas Themed Come Dine With Me parties with another two friends. Normally I have soup as the Christmas starter with my family, so I wanted to try something different, and found a recipe online for these parcels.

They were very simple to make – cut a sheet of filo pastry in two, cross one sheet over the other and brush with melted butter. I then added a dollop of home made cranberry sauce and a dollop of goats cheese to the pastry before folding the parcels up. These were then brushed with melted butter again and cooked in the oven.

The result was delicious fruity, cheesy and crunchy bites, that went down well with my guests!

Recipe 48 – Paprika Chicken and Pepper bites

Another Christmas Party recipe – this time I marinated some chicken and peppers in paprika, oil and lemon juice before quickly stir frying. Individual bits of chicken and pepper were then put onto cocktail sticks, with the left over juices from the pan poured over the tray for additional flavour.

Whilst these were nice, overall they were my least favourite Christmas party recipe, and not something I will rush into making again.

Recipe 47 - Chilli and Soy Glazed Cocktail Sausages

Yet another Christmas Party recipe. I used a mixture of sweet chilli sauce, soy sauce, cranberry sauce, sugar, lime juice and Clementine juice to marinate some cocktail sausages, before oven cooking them.

The result was lots of little sticky and spicy sausages.

Recipe 46 - Chilli Cheese Crostini

These were another Christmas Party recipe, and probably my personal favourite. I mixed some cream cheese with finely chopped red jalapenos, paprika, sour cream and Worcestershire sauce. A little dollop of this mixture was then placed on a chilli tortilla chip.

They were incredibly simple but the combination of flavours was excellent.

Recipe 45 - Cheddar and Stilton Rolls

My fiancé and I decided to host a Christmas party this year – mostly because I was looking for an excuse to cook some new canapés. I had seen the idea for the Cheddar and Stilton rolls in a magazine – basically think homemade sausage rolls filled with the two cheeses, red onion and rosemary.

These ended up quite fiddly to make, as it was difficult to get the mixture to stay in the pastry – particularly when I cut it. However, it was worth the effort as they all went quickly at the party!