Gnocchi with Spinach, Bacon and Mustard Cream Sauce and a Giveaway

I've always wanted to make gnocchi but there was one thing missing.  I didn't have a Potato Ricer and, while I could have spent hours mashing and pushing potatoes through a sieve - it never really appealed.

However, just before Christmas OXO Good Grips sent me a Potato Ricer to review and it is now one of my favourite kitchen tools. It makes the most fantastic smooth mashed potato, lumps are a thing of the past and that is why you need one to make good gnocchi.


I made my gnocchi using a recipe I found on Pinterest which was posted by Nicole at Cooking for Keeps: How to make Light as Air Gnocchi.  It was a very simple process, once the potatoes have been pushed through the ricer, you add eggs, flour and salt, then roll out the gnocchi, cut and press a fork into the cut edge.  The gnocchi is then boiled for 7 minutes before being served with sauce.

One of the joys of social media and the Foodie community is that you get some great advice about making the best of new recipes you are trying.  I had posted a photo of the uncooked gnocchi expressing my hope that it would taste as good as it looked once cooked.  Becca from Amuse Your Bouche replied to suggest that I sauted the gnocchi in butter after boiling in water to improve the flavour and texture.  You can read more about Becca's Sauted Gnocchi in Simple Garlic Butter Sauce  you don't need much more than this simple sauce when you saute your gnocchi.


The sauce I made had a few more ingredients wasn't too complicated. It's another recipe I found on Pinterest for Gnocchi in Mustard Cream from Maras Wonderland (it's a German blog, but if you scroll down Maras also has the recipe in English.  I added about 200g of spinach to the pan with the onion and let it wilt down before adding the other ingredients.

The most excellent news is that I have one OXO Good Grips Potato Ricer worth £30 to Giveaway to one lucky person, just follow the instructions on the Rafflecopter.


a Rafflecopter giveaway

Labels: Amuse Your Bouche, bacon, cream, giveaway, Gnocchi, mustard, potato, Potato Ricer, spinach, win

posted by Janice @ 06:00 122 Comments

Sausage Stuffed Croissants

I've almost cleared all the excess food from the festive season, however there was quarter of a pack of frozen cocktail sausages in the freezer and a can of croissant dough in the fridge which was heading towards it's use by date. 

Originally I'd intended to make one of the sausage and croissant rings like the one made by Claire at Foodie Quine.  However, my good intentions came to naught and the other can of dough was baked into ordinary croissants.

I cooked the cocktail sausages in the oven making sure they were cooked through.  I took them out and left them to cool a little.  I unrolled the dough and separated the pieces, spread them with grain mustard and rolled up the dough around the sausages (two cocktail sausages per croissant) and baked for 15 minutes until puffed up and browned.


These Sausage Stuffed Croissants are ideal for lunch and would slip nicely into a packed lunch box too.

I'm entering this dish for the No Waste Food Challenge  originally created by Turquoise Lemons and now being run by Elizabeth at Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary.

I'm also linking up to Daisies and Pie - Lunchbox Ideas

Labels: croissants, mustard, No Waste Food Challenge, sausages

posted by Janice @ 07:30 8 Comments

Venison cooked in Cider and a Giveaway

Venison is one of those meats that many people shy away from.  Perhaps because they are not sure how to cook it, and then there is the 'Bambi' factor.  Neither of these reasons would put me off and I have cooked venison in the past but I find that it is just not readily available at the butcher or the supermarket. It's nice to know that I'm in tune with top chefs Valentine Warner and Ainsley Harriott who were championing Venison and Mustard on the Great British Food Revival and I couldn't  believe how closely Valentine Warner's views  about venison were to mine!

So I was excited to see that as part of  Flavour Fortnight in August this year, a Vension Farm Walk and tasting was offered by Millbank Parkland Venison just outside Lockerbie.


Millbank Farm is run by Emma Boyes with her husband Gareth, and after a walk around the farm to see the deer, Emma  prepared some recipes which we were able to taste.  The sausages and burgers were delicious and all the dishes were full of flavour.  I was intrigued to see what I could make with this local produce, so last month I contacted Emma to see if she would like me to make some dishes with venison from her farm.



Venison is regarded as the premier meat for the health conscious. With the lowest fat, lowest cholesterol and the highest protein content of any meat combined with high iron content and omega 3 it is ideal for those on a healthy or low cholesterol diet.
Venison: 6g/100g fat (beef/chicken/lamb/pork 12-20g/100g)
Venison: 198 kcal/100g (beef/chicken/lamb/pork 214-286kcal/100g)

Millbank Parkland Venison is exclusively sourced from 14 to 22 month old animals in prime condition, the meat is hung for the optimum period of 1 week, resulting in venison which is consistent, tender and of very high quality.
Not all venison is the same. Venison varies within species, age, gender, whether farmed venison or wild venison as well as the condition and health status of the deer. There are 6 deer species in the UK. Scottish venison includes fallow, red, roe and sika deer. We believe fallow and roe venison are of the highest quality due to the texture and flavour of the meat. At Millbank, through the choice of deer combined with how they manage and select the deer, they aim to consistently provide the very best culinary experience.

Millbank Farm Parkland Venison is Fallow Deer venison and wild Roe deer which are less gamey than  Red Deer venison and much more tender, it is low in fat and Millbank Farm venison is ethical, welfare friendly, stress free, low food miles, low carbon footprint, processed in their natural environment. This information and more is available on the Millbank Farm Parkland Venison website.

Haunch of Millbank Farm Parkland Venison in a Cider and Mustard Sauce

I wanted to come up with a recipe full of the flavours of autumn, which complemented rather than overpowered the venison, apples and squash seemed to be the answer!

Serves 4-6

1 small haunch of venison (approx 500g)
1tbsp olive oil
10g butter
6 sage leaves, chopped
150ml vintage cider
1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
100g creme fraiche
1 tsp cornflour
salt and freshly ground black pepper



You could easily increase the quantities to serve a larger group, this haunch will provide two half inch thick slices of venison per person for 6 people, or three slices for four people.



1.  Heat the olive oil in a pan on a medium heat.
2. Brown the haunch of venison in the pan, then remove to an oven proof dish.

3. Add the butter and sage leaves to the pan juices  and cook for 1 minute, then add the cider and mustard. Let it bubble up for 2-3 minutes, then add to the venison in the ovenproof dish.

4. Cover with foil and bake in the oven at 180C for 45 minutes.
5. Once cooked, lift the venison onto another plate cover with foil and allow to rest.
6. Pour the  mustardy juices into a small saucepan and heat until simmering.
7. Mix the teaspoon of cornflour with the creme fraiche and add to the juices.
8. Cook until slightly thickened.
9. Carve the haunch of venison in thick slices and serve on butternut squash and apple puree with the sauce poured over generously.

Butternut Squash and Apple Puree

1 medium butternut squash
2 Cox's Apple Pippins
3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp salt


1. Heat the oven to 200C
2. Peel, deseed and chop the butternut squash into cubes. Cut the apples in half and take out the core with a teaspoon.
3. Put the 3tbsp of olive oil into a roasting tin and add the butternut squash and the apples to the tin and roast in the oven until the squash is tender, about 30 - 40 minutes.

4. When the squash and apples are soft, remove the apple pulp from its skin and puree both with a stick blender or liquidiser, season to taste.  The consistency should be similar to mashed potato.


The Millbank Farm Parkland Venison should be served slightly pink to be enjoyed at its best.  The flavour of the meat is excellent and goes really well with the sharp heat of the mustard and creme fraiche sauce and the sweetness of the butternut squash puree and cider.

If you would like to try some Millbank Farm Parkland Venison you can buy it from the
online farm shop  or take part in the giveaway below for a chance to win a taster pack for two people containing 2 rump steaks, 2 vension burgers and a ring of venison sausage.  Details of what you need to do are in the Rafflecopter widget with opportunities for bonus entries.   Please remember to read the terms and conditions.



a Rafflecopter giveaway

Labels: apples, butternut squash, cider, creme fraiche, Flavour Fortnight, giveaway, Great British Food Revival, Millbank Farm Parkland Venison, mustard, venison, win

posted by Janice @ 20:20 126 Comments

Easy Barbeque Pork Chops without a BBQ!

If you look carefully, you will see that it is a Mary Berry recipe, but unfortunately I haven't said which book it is from and as I probably wrote this out in about 1981 I certainly can't remember.  You can always tell a good recipe from the splatters on the page and of course my own 'star' system where I award recipes up to five stars and this is definitely a Five Star Recipe.

Labels: barbeque, BBQ, ketchup, mustard, peppers, Pork chops, sauce, soy sauce, tomato

posted by Janice @ 21:40 6 Comments