Some Winter comforts, roast & pud

Friday night was freezing and I hadn't baked since the weekend so I had an irresistible urge to make a pudding.  As this weeks theme for the Cookbook challenge was comfort food I thought it was also necessary for the good of the challenge, so my excuses to myself made I whipped up a batch of very quick golden syrup puddings that then took an hour to bake.  Note that I did a session on my exercise bike while they were in the oven to prepare for my sins!   This recipe was from The Good Living Winter cookbook & features on the cover.  Note that the cover also looks much better than mine, they seemed to end up with a lot more sauce & a much richer syrupy color, think I added too much butter/not enough golden syrup.  Other than that, really tasty pudd without being too heavy.  Love the flavour of golden syrup so really it was bound to be good.

Note - I used baking paper topped with foil rather than buttering foil - it all seemed to messy for me.  I also didnt tie mine up & only one spilled out a little while cooking.

Little golden syrup puddings - Good Living Winter - recipe by Jill Dupleix

150g butter
150g soft brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tspn vanilla extract
2 tbspn golden syrup
150g self raising flour, sifted
2 tbspn milk

Sauce

2 tbspn golden syrup
2 tbspn butter

Preheat oven to 180c.  Lightly butter 4 ovenproof 150ml ramekins or pots.

Beat the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and golden syrup with an electric mixer for 4 minutes.  Fold in small amounts alternately of the flour and the milk until you have a fairly stiff batter.

Tip the mixture into the pots, cover each with a piece of buttered foil and tie foil with string.  place in a baking tray and pour in boiling water halfway up the sides of the ramekins.  Bake for 1 hour or until the puddins spring back to the touch.

Sauce:  Gently heat the golden syrup and butter in a small pan.  Turn out the puddings and spoon the sauce over the top.  Serve with ice cream if desired.

And for my savoury comfort food of the week, I felt a nice roast pork was in order.  For something different I went for Bill Granger's roast pork with braised veggies on the side rather than roasted.  The idea being to cut down on the fat content a bit.  The pork had lovely flavours though I dried mine out a bit, cooked it a bit too long and took the baking paper off to try & get my crackle crisp (Bill's didnt have crackling).  I compensated by making some gravy to pour over the top.  The veggies were nice but I have to say it just wasn't quite the same without nice crunchy roast spuds, soft, caramelized pumpkin, etc so now I am still craving a roast, the proper way!

Slow-Roasted Pork Shoulder with Cumin and Coriander Seeds - Bill Granger - Holiday

Serves 6

1 tspn cumin seeds
1 tspn coriander seeds
2kg Pork Shoulder on the bone
olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 240c.  Crush the cumin and coriander seeds with a mortar and pestle.  Put the pork in a large roasting tin, drizzle with olive oil and rub with the crushed spices.  Season well with salt and pepper.  Put in the oven and roast for 30 minutes or until the pork is browned, then remove from the oven.

Reduce the oven to 180c.  Moisten a large piece of baking paper with water and place over the pork, tucking the edges underneath.  Return to the oven and roast for 2 hours or until tender.  Rest for 10 minutes before carving. 

Braised Potatoes and Peppers with Bay

Serves 6

3 tblspns olive oil
2 red onions, sliced
750g yellow waxy potatoes, peeled, cut into wedges
1 large red capsicum, cut into thin strips
1 large green capsicum, cut into thin strips
3 garlic cloves
3 bay leaves
250ml (1 cup) chicken stock
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper

Heat the olive oil in a large non-stick deep frying pan over medium low heat.  Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, for 10 minutes.  Add the potatoes, capsicums, garlic and bay leaves and cook, stirring occasionally for another 10 minutes.  Add the stock and bring to the boil.  Reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer for 20 minutes.  remove the lid, increase the heat to medium and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10-20 minutes until all the stock has evaporated and the potatoes are tender, coloured and starting to form a crust.  Season well with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.