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Saturday 28 December 2013

Panettone & Brandy Butter Pudding

Now is the time to buy panettone and brandy butter in the sales at the shops and supermarkets. Most are selling them half price even though they are not short dated. I make bread and butter pudding from them and freeze for later in the year. I usually make several in differing sized portions from single servings to give to my dad to a very large famly sized portion which will feed 6 to 8 people which I take with me on my weekends away with my sister and her family.

Simply slice the panettone and be generous with buttering it with the brandy butter. Arrange in layers in a dish of your choice and then pour over a ready made custard or one that you have made yourself from scratch (personally I never bother and use ready made). I then spinkle with sugar - vanilla sugar is lovely to use if you can get it, otherwise a soft brown sugar tastes equally as nice, othewise just plain sugar will do.

I then partially cook in the oven until almost done - still slightly soft in the middle and just starting to get a little crispy on the outside. Once cooked for approx 15/20 minutes, I leave to cool, cover in clingfilm and again cover just the top with tin foil. I put in the freezer and it will last for up to six months. Simply defrost and heat through in the oven. I remove the tin foil & clingfilm, replace the tin foil and initially cook for about 10 minutes with the tin foil on and then remove the foil for the last 5/10 minutes to make the top crunchy.

This makes a delicious, cheap and easy pudding which is great with cream, ice cream or more custard. I also make this at Easter when hot cross buns are in ready supply as a substitute for the panettone.

Friday 27 December 2013

Christmas Leftovers

I was saddened to hear that so many people throw away the remains of their Christmas turkey after the big day even when there is still plenty of meat left on the bone. I have spent some time today shopping for fresh vegetables to make a turkey soup which I prepare every year. It usually tastes lovely and makes a great lunch for over the Christmas and New Year holidays. 

As a family we had a turkey crown this year but it did come on the bone, so I took off most of the meat and put this aside. I have then covered the turkey bone in water in a large pan, added some salt & black peppercorns and then slowly brought to a low simmer. Once it has simmered for about an hour, I have left it to cool down and then removed the bone, pulled the remaining meat off the bone and set this aside.

I have chopped up fresh celery, carrots, and onion and added this to the stock, brought this to a low simmer and then added left over vegetables and turkey from the two Christmas dinners that I had prepared for family on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. There were carrots, parsnips, chestnuts and the turkey meat that I set aside plus some remaining gravy added before I left to simmer for a final 20 minutes. I have then blended the whole soup with a hand blender and this has resulted in a thick hearty soup. The kitchen smelt lovely while this was cooking and I can't wait to have a bowl of this for lunch tomorrow with some fresh bread.

I hate any waste and find this to be an easy way of using any leftovers. I am a real bargain shopper when it comes to buying food. The problem that I have is that I find my cupboards and freezers starting to get overloaded with food that I have bought because I could not resist the offer in the supermarket. So, I am planning on using up the majority of this food over the next few months and will see how long it takes me to use up this food without having to do a large shop in the supermarkets.

I'll keep you posted !