Category: Sauces

Jerk glazed ham recipe

I love jerk, this kid a request from the Facebook page and sounds like a good combo to me!

Here’s how I’d go about it,

To the recipe!

Ingredients: makes about 700g of ham

  • 750g unsmoked gammon joint
  • 1 onion
  • 1 carrot
  • 2 sticks of celery
  • 5-7 peppercorns
  • 3-5 cloves
  • 3-5 bay leaves
  • Small bunch of fresh thyme
  • 4-5 allspice berries (pimento)
  • Water

For the glaze/sauce

  • 5 scotch bonnets
  • 1 medium onion
  • About 2 inches of fresh ginger
  • 1-2 tbsp ground allspice
  • 1-2 tbsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 tbsp of garlic paste
  • 5 spring onions
  • 1 tbsp ground black pepper
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 2 tbsp dark soft brown sugar
  • 1-2 tbsp dark soy sauce
  • 1 tbsp dried thyme
  • 1-2 chicken stock cubes

Equipment

  • Large saucepan with a lid
  • Baking tray
  • Food processor or immersion blender and measuring jug.
  • Knife
  • Chopping board
  • Ladle

Prep and cooking: 90-120 minutes

  1. First get the ham on, put it in a saucepan big enough to cover it with water and put the lid on, add the other ingredients (not for the glaze/sauce) and fill with water.
  2. Put on a high heat, as it comes to boil skim the foam off the top with a ladle. Turn the heat down low and put the lid on, it will take about 60-80 minutes to cook.
  3. While it’s cooking make the glaze by putting all the ingredients in a food processor or mixing bowl and blitz until pastey, it will probably be a little bit runny.
  4. About 15 minutes before the ham is cooked turn the oven on to 200°c fan.
  5. When the ham is ready take out of the water (now a stock) and put on a baking tray/roasting dish. The stock is handy for another soup or sauce.
  6. cover the ham with as much jerk glaze/sauce as you like. Put in the over for 15-25 minutes. Leave to cool, slice and serve.

Alternative recipe

My favourite way to do jerk ham is to cooking for about and extra hour in the water so when it comes out you can pull it (like pulled pork) and the mix it with the jerk sauce and cook

in the oven (jerk pulled gammon)

Costing

The cost for the above recipe is about £8.25, or about 75p per slice.

Keep in mind as well as the ham you get a wonderful stock to use as well that’s easily worth £2-3.

The main cost comes from all the spices in the jerk sauce and the ham, seeing as you can’t really cut down on the ham you could buy premade jerk sauce which may be cheaper but honestly I’m not sure.

Nutrition

The above recipe should get you about 12-15 slices. Weighing about 70-80g each.

Here’s the nutrition info per slice

Carbohydrates of which sugars: 4.97g

More recipes soon!

Hollandaise sauce recipe

It’s breakfast time!

Perfect with eggs or great on fish, hollandaise sauce sounds like it should be complicated but it’s really not.

This simple sauce has 4 ingredients that are easy to obtain and it’s a lot cheaper than buying it pre made.

Here’s 2 easy ways to make it, let’s get to it!

Ingredients: serves 2

  • 2 egg yolks
  • 50-100g butter
  • 1 tsp white wine vinegar
  • Salt
  • (Optional) lemon juice

Equipment

  • Saucepan, 2 depending which method you use
  • Metal or glass bowl big enough to sit on top of saucepan
  • Whisk
  • Knife

Prep and cooking: 5-10 minutes

  1. Put a small amount of water in the saucepan (about 1/5 full) and heat it up until steaming then turn the heat down low.
  2. Separate the egg yolks by cracking the egg in your hand over a bowl (clean hands!) and let the white run through the gaps in your fingers. Put the yolk(s) in the bowl with the white wine vinegar, salt and about 10ml of water and whisk well for a minute or two.
  3. Put the bowl on top of the saucepan and keep whisking until the yolks start to go pale.
  4. Cut the butter into cubes and add 1 at a time, whisk until its fully incorporated before adding any more butter. Keep adding butter until you have the desired consistency, it will thicken as you add and whisk butter in.
  5. Drink. I mean eat.

Method 2

  1. Follow steps 1-3 above.
  2. Melt the butter in a separate pan. Skim the foam off the top as it heats up and let the milk solids separate to the bottom (white bits). Decant into a jug leaving the mills solids in the pan.
  3. While the butter is still hot pour it into the eggs a little at a time whisking well before adding more until the desired consistency is met.

If the sauce becomes too thick just add a little cold water and whisk in.

I would say the second method makes the sauce noticeably nicer, but not so much that there’s anything wrong with the first method which is slightly quicker.

Costing

Looking on tesco.com a 150g pack of hollandaise costs £1.20.

The above best recipe makes about 136g if you use 100g of butter (egg yolks weigh about 18g) and costs around 87p, a saving of about 30%.

As you can see the butter is where most of the expense comes in, and you can’t cut out too much as the sauce is pretty much just butter and eggs.

Nutrition

Sorry! But it’s not looking good here 😂 that’s what you get for eating butter and egg yolks (!)

More recipes soon!

Romesco sauce recipe

This is one of many Spanish recipes I picked up whilst working with a top bloke in a makeshift tapas restaurant for about 3 months, he was my head chef and he’d come to England from Barcelona for work.

Romesco sauce is more of a cold dip, but it goes great with most meat especially steak.

It’s nice and easy to make so let’s get to the recipe!

Ingredients (makes about 400g)

  • 200-250g red peppers, roasted. You can roast your own or use ones in a jar from the shop.
  • 100-150g blanched almonds
  • 2-4 plum tomatoes
  • 1-3 tbsp garlic paste, more garlic will give it more heat I usually chuck quite a lot in
  • Either sherry, cider, white/red wine vinegar or lemon juice (1 or 2 tbsp)
  • 1 tbsp smoked paprika
  • 70-100ml olive oil
  • Handful of fresh basil

Equipment

  • Frying pan
  • Food processor or immersion blender and measuring jug (food processor works best)

Prep and cooking (5-10 minutes)

  1. First you want to lightly toast the almonds so heat the frying pan to a medium-highish heat.
  2. When it’s nice and hot add the almonds and stir/toss them constantly for a few minutes until there’s nicely browned parts on the almonds, remove onto a plate and put to one side.
  3. Drain the red peppers so there’s not too much oil on them and put them in the food processor with the almonds, tomatoes (cut into quarters), garlic, paprika, vinegar and basil. (Everything except the oil).
  4. Blitz until you have a lumpy paste looking concoction.
  5. Leave the food processor running and pour in about 1tbsp of olive oil. After 5-10 seconds (or until the oil is fully mixed in) do this again until you have the consistency you want (the oil will emulsify the whole thing binding it into a sauce/dip)
  6. Add salt and pepper if you think it needs it.
  7. Dip! Or drink?

¿Cuál es la fruta que más se ríe?

La naranja, ja, ja, ja, ja…

Bad jokes aside, romesco is a delicious and easy sauce that can be whipped up in about 5 minutes.

It’s great on a buffet as a dip or you can use it to marinate meat.

Goes well with a bbq 🔥

Thai green curry paste recipe

I’ve had a few requests for a Thai green curry, specifically one that uses ingredients that are easily obtainable in the UK.

I would advise making your own Thai curry paste as it packs more of a flavour punch, it’s cheaper than that from the shop and it’s more fun doing it yourself.

I thought I’d start with a Thai curry paste recipe, as a good curry paste (should) make a good curry!

To the recipe!

Ingredients (makes about 500ml)

  • 2-3 medium onions
  • 10-15 green chillis
  • Ginger paste (2-3 tbsp)
  • Garlic paste (2-3 tbsp)
  • 1-2 lemons
  • 2-4 limes
  • 2 tbsp coriander seeds
  • 1 tbsp ground cumin
  • 50ml Thai fish sauce
  • 20ml light soy sauce
  • 30-50g fresh coriander
  • 100ml olive oil

Equipment

  • A food processor, or,
  • A mixing bowl/measuring jug and an immersion blender

Prep (5 minutes)

  1. Zest and juice the lemons and lime into bowl.
  2. Dice the onion and add to bowl.
  3. Slice chillis, remove seeds if you don’t want it so hot and add to bowl.
  4. Lightly crush the coriander seed, add to the bowl with the rest of the ingredients.
  5. Blitz until smooth and keep in the fridge for upto 3-4 weeks.

Lemon squeezy

Nice and easy.

You can vary the amounts of ingredients depending on personal taste.

I’ll be doing a Thai green chicken curry recipe next so keep an eye out for it.

Looking at costing, the above recipe works out about £1.45 cheaper if you were to buy the same quantity from a supermarket, not too shabby!

Chip shop curry sauce recipe


Perfect with some nice chunky chips.

For me this is another big comfort food!

Love it or hate it, it’s a staple when it comes to fish and chips, or more importantly chips.

This recipe is somewhat similar to Chinese curry sauce, but with a slight variation on flavour and a few raisins thrown in.

Ingredients (makes enough for about 6 people)

  • 60g butter for cooking
  • 1 large onion or 2 medium
  • Garlic paste (about 1tbsp)
  • Ginger paste (about 1 tbsp)
  • 3-4 tbsp mild curry powder
  • 1-2 tsp ground turmeric
  • About 50g of raisins
  • 1 star anise
  • 1-2 tbsp of malt/white wine vinegar
  • 500ml chicken or vegetable stock
  • Salt and pepper

Equipment

  • Saucepan
  • Knife
  • Chopping board
  • Wooden spoon
  • Measuring jug

Prep and cooking (60-90 minutes)

  1. Heat the butter in a pan, dice the onion and cook for about 5 minutes on a medium heat.
  2. Add the garlic and ginger paste and cook for another 5 minutes. You want to get the mixture nice and soft, but not too much colour developing.
  3. Mix the curry powder and turmeric together with a little bit of water and add to the pan with the star anise, raisins and vinegar. Cook for another 1-2 minutes, be sure to keep stirring so nothing burns to the bottom of the pan.
  4. Add the stock and turn the heat up full to bring to the boil.
  5. When it starts boiling turn the heat down low and simmer for about half an hour, again be sure to stir occasionally to ensure nothing sticks to the bottom of the pan and burns.
  6. Take out the star anise and mix 3-5 tbsp of cornflour with some water to make a slurry, add it bit by bit to the sauce, cook for a minute or so before adding any more until you reach the desired thickness.
  7. I like to serve the sauce how it is, but if you want it smoother just put it in a food processor or blend it with an immersion blender.

Costing

Looking at price, I was in the chip shop a couple of days ago and got some curry sauce, it came in the usual polystyrene cup which is guess is about 100ml and it set me back £1.40

The above recipe will cost about £1.80-£2, Working out around 30p a serving!

So quite a saving, but it was a long day, we were all tired, and that’s kind of the point of paying someone else to make food for you(!)

The most expensive components here are the curry powder, butter and stock cubes (for chicken stock, unless you have fresh) do you can cut the cost further by replacing butter with oil, using a bit less curry powder and use 1 less stock cube (I usually use 2-3 for 500ml).

Just remember this will compromise in flavour a slightly on texture, but it can cut the cost to about 20p a serving.

Enjoy!

More recipes soon.

Mayonnaise base recipe


The gloopy gunk that people love, it’s white and spunky,

Yes, it’s mayonnaise of course!

On its own, I can’t stand the stuff, but as a base it’s handy stuff, kind of like food glue.

This recipe is for absolute bog standard mayo with no particular flavour but I’ll mention a bit more on that after, to the recipe!

(If you have a food processor then it will do all the hard work for you here, but keep in mind if you have a large food processor you will probably need to make a larger amount, if you have a small/mini one the below recipe should work fine)

Ingredients (makes about 300ml)

  • 2 egg yolks
  • 250ml oil, olive oil makes wonderful mayo but it’s not cheap, any regular oil like sunflower or rapeseed is great for adding flavours to
  • 2-3 tsp white wine vinegar or lemon juice (you can just use water but it’s not quite as easy)

Equipment

  • Food processor
  • If you don’t have a food processor; a mixing bowl or measuring jug
  • A measuring jug
  • Either a whisk, electric whisk or immersion blender (hand blender)

How to make it (5-10 minutes)

If you have a food processor;

  1. Put the egg yolk in the food processor with the vinegar/lemon juice and pulse until fully mixed together.
  2. Add about 1/2 tsp of oil, pluse for 5-10 seconds or until fully mixed, and repeat. Do this about ten times.
  3. Now start to do the same thing with about 1tsp of oil.
  4. Gradually add larger amounts of oil until you’ve used it all and you’re left with a thick mayonnaise.

If you don’t have a food processor;

  1. Put the egg yolks in a mixing bowl with the vinegar/lemon juice and mix well.
  2. Add about 1/2 a tsp of oil and mix until fully incorporate, repeat this about 10 times.
  3. Now do the same thing but with 1tsp of oil.
  4. Keep doing this with increasing amounts of oil until you have a thick mayonnaise.

Things to remember

The acid in the vinegar/lemon juice helps with the emulsification but try not to use too much as it can ruin flavour.

Make sure any oil is properly incorporated before adding any more oil, otherwise it’ll probably split.

Try not to over-whisk, especially with an electric whisk or food processor, as this can cause overheating and again make it split.

Mustard also helps with the emulsification, so if your going to add it I’d recommend putting it in before adding the oil.

When it comes to flavours you can try pretty much anything, different spices and herbs all work well.

Any problems let me know and I’ll try to help!

More recipes soon.

Takeaway style garlic and herb dip recipe


I would class this as a major comfort food but I do love garlic.

Shockingly easy to make, garlic and herb dip goes well with nearly anything, especially any form of potato or a kebab.

Let’s get to it!

Ingredients

  • Mayonnaise (homemade or shop bought)
  • Garlic paste
  • Mixed dried herbs
  • Salt and pepper (optional, I wouldn’t say it needs it)

Equipment

  • Mixing bowl
  • Whisk or wooden spoon
  • Desert spoon

Putting it together (2 minutes)

  1. Put the desired amount of mayonnaise in the mixing bowl.
  2. Put the desired amount of garlic paste in the mixing bowl, I usually go quite heavy on it.
  3. Add dried herbs, it’s easy to overdo as the herb taste can completely overpower everything so it’s best to just add a little at a time.
  4. Mix!
  5. Add salt and pepper if you think it needs it.
  6. Eat a gallon of the stuff.

Where does garlic go for a drink?

The salad bar.

Nope, I don’t get it either, but apparently it’s a garlic joke that I found online.

But there you have it! 4 (or 5(or 6)) simple steps to garlic and herb dip.

Just don’t overdo the herbs, if you want to make your own I’ll be posting a mayonnaise recipe next so keep an eye out.