I love Christmas and its not just for the presents either! in fact its more about my families traditions in the kitchen. Nanny making the Christmas pudding and steaming it for 8 hours on stir up Sunday. Mum and I planning the menu and shopping list, ordering the goose and buying every Christmas food related magazine we can get our hands on in November to get ideas, as well as dusting off the old magazines we've saved over the years and always returned too. This recipe is from Nigella's Christmas book and is a vegetarian friendly mincemeat which leaves out the suet and uses fresh cranberries and port! It has a lighter taste to traditional mincemeat and is totally delicious and one I highly recommend as its easy and fast! But have no fear I also make Lotte's Boozy Mincemeat as well because, well because why not its Christmas!
Ingredients
75g soft dark brown sugar
60ml any port you have in the cupboard - I have also used sherry with great success.
300g fresh cranberries
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cloves - I didn't have ground cloves so I popped a 4 whole cloves in and then fished them out at the end
75g currants
75g raisins
30g dried cranberries
1 Clementine, zest and juice only
25ml brandy
A few drops almond extract
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp honey
In a large pan, dissolve the sugar in the ruby port over a gentle heat.
Add the cranberries and stir. Add the spices, dried fruit and the fresh cranberries and the zest and juice of the Clementine.Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 20 minutes, or until the fruit has broken down and has absorbed most of the liquid in the pan. (You may need to squish the cranberries a little with the back of a wooden spoon to incorporate them fully.)
Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little. Then stir in the brandy, almond extract, vanilla extract and honey and stir well with a wooden spoon to mash the mixture down into a paste.
Spoon the mincemeat into sterilised jars and, once cool, store in the fridge for up to two weeks.
75g soft dark brown sugar
60ml any port you have in the cupboard - I have also used sherry with great success.
300g fresh cranberries
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground cloves - I didn't have ground cloves so I popped a 4 whole cloves in and then fished them out at the end
75g currants
75g raisins
30g dried cranberries
1 Clementine, zest and juice only
25ml brandy
A few drops almond extract
½ tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp honey
In a large pan, dissolve the sugar in the ruby port over a gentle heat.
Add the cranberries and stir. Add the spices, dried fruit and the fresh cranberries and the zest and juice of the Clementine.Bring to a gentle simmer and cook for 20 minutes, or until the fruit has broken down and has absorbed most of the liquid in the pan. (You may need to squish the cranberries a little with the back of a wooden spoon to incorporate them fully.)
Remove from the heat and allow to cool a little. Then stir in the brandy, almond extract, vanilla extract and honey and stir well with a wooden spoon to mash the mixture down into a paste.
Spoon the mincemeat into sterilised jars and, once cool, store in the fridge for up to two weeks.
I have also used frozen cranberries and swapped the raisins and currants for sultana's as that's all I had in the cupboard. Do add the almond extract its really worth it!
I like to make mince pies with sweet or plain short crust pastry from Sainsburys and line the little bun tins with the pastry top with a teaspoon of the mincemeat and for the lid a little disc of marzipan and bake for 20-25 mins in a hot oven until the pastry is cooked through and lightly golden. Serve warm with lots of thick double cream! hmmmmmmm I want these right now!
I like to make mince pies with sweet or plain short crust pastry from Sainsburys and line the little bun tins with the pastry top with a teaspoon of the mincemeat and for the lid a little disc of marzipan and bake for 20-25 mins in a hot oven until the pastry is cooked through and lightly golden. Serve warm with lots of thick double cream! hmmmmmmm I want these right now!
No comments:
Post a Comment