Mince Pies - with Duerr's Luxury Mince Meat (with dark chocolate)

Ok, the time has arrived .  Things are already looking Christmassy in town and as someone who will eat pretty much anything I have one major dislike.  Mince Pies. Shop bought, with the bizarre almost shortbread-like pastry.  This being said, I absolutely love the mince meat and since it's only the pastry that puts me off I decided to make some with puff pastry using Duerr's Luxury 1881 Mince Meat-with Dark Chocolate. I found it in Tescos in Hailsham and was wondering if the dark chocolate would be overpowering and too sweet,  however it is a very subtle taste amidst a very luxurious richly fruity mince meat. 

I have to admit to being rather embarrassed by the look fo my mince pie,  however once I'd cut out the puff pastry circles, dolloped a generous spoonful of the mince meat inside before popping the lids on they only took ten minutes in the oven on 190%.

For me puff pastry for a mince pie is most definitely the way forwards - and try Duerr's mince meat, it is a favourite for me and at £1.69 a jar (in Tescos) will easily make about 24 mince pies!

Patisserie Valentin

Patisserie Valentin - Pain aux Raisin - huge, crispy-edged pastry, crammed full of raisins and a delicious custard . YUM!

Patisserie Valentin - 100 High Street, Heathfield, East Sussex

Rendezvous Cafe - Heathfield

Rendezvous Cafe is a small bustling Turkish themed cafe in Heathfield.  Yesterday I ventured in,  slightly drawn always by anywhere that offers cream teas, with my six year old daughter. It has a lively feel to it, and as yet I have never seen it empty.  It is also in a prime location, being right in the centre of the high street, to gaze out of the window and see life bustling by.

The menu offers a variety of lunches from breakfasts and toasted sandwiches, to jacket potatoes and salads.  There is also a new large cake stand in the window with some rather enticing, beautifully decorated fairy cakes, danish pastries and banana loaf to name a few!

I had to opt for the cream tea!  The scone was very large, soft, warm and crammed full of fruit.  A pot of strawberry jam, a pot of clotted cream and a pot of tea.  While everything tasted lovely I couldn't help feeling a little cut short on the cream which was just enough to cover the scone, but not enough to layer thickly. Still, at only £3.50 it was good value.

My daughter had chosen a cheese burger and chips from the children's menu, with a banana milkshake.  The milkshake was delicious and full of ice-cream, but it was also nearly a pint and for the first time in her life my daughter was defeated by the size of it and had to leave half.  The cheese burger and chips was really a comically large portion, even for an adult. Half a burger and maybe a tenth of the chips later she was again defeated by the sheer volume of food.  As she described it herself, the burger had 'an interesting flavour' and the chips were a little oily, however there is a limit to how much you can complain when receiving such an enormous meal for only £2.75.

All in all it has a good atmosphere and everything is very well priced, I would say an excellent place to go for its' tea and cakes over anything else.

Rendezvous Cafe, 49 High Street, Heathfield, East Sussex

REVIEW Marina Mediterranean - Heathfield

Well the weekend was cold and dreary and my friend and I decided to head out in search of a late brunch!!

Marina Mediteranean in Heathfield has a warm cosy atmosphere and it certainly has something for everybody.  We were pleased to find such a glorious selection of breakfasts to choose from, which ranged from the traditional to a 'posh breakfast' with smoked salmon.

I opted for a traditional breakfast, which for just £5.40 was great value and utterly delicious. Everything was cooked beautifully and the sausages were wonderfully herby.  The hash browns were crisp and added what I find is usually missing when you finish your toast - something else to mop up your egg and beans with!

My friend as always had to invent a breakfast which wasn't on the menu at all, which they were also perfectly happy to do.

Marina Mediterranean specialises in authentic dishes from Turkey, Italy and Greece.  The menu covers everything from jacket potatoes, omelettes and burgers, to calamari and Sigara Borek (filo pastry stuffed with feta cheese).

The main meals looked equally appetising and exciting and also includes pizzas, pastas and salads.
There are great value set lunch and dinner menus and these are all available to view online at
http://www.marina-heathfield.co.uk/

My recommendation - for something a bit different try their Turkish Coffee, it's very strong and I find I need a fair bit of sugar in it, but it is definitely my favourite coffee to date.

Marina Mediterranean - 104 High Street Heathfield, East Sussex 

Growing Carrots and Salted Butter Carrot Recipe

Carrots - one of my favourite things to grow as they seem to be happy growing almost anywhere!! This year I was lucky enough to have been given a little plot to use in someone's garden and sowed the carrot seeds directly into the ground, however last year I was just as successful growing them in pots in my own little garden.  A very easy veg to grow, especialy if you have little space.  All you really need is a tub about 12 inches deep and 10 inches in diameter! I tend to sow late spring and then sow more seeds every few weeks, which should give a crop until very late in the year!

I have just pulled up the last of my carrots this year and was experimenting with different ways to cook them and this was my favourite!

Salted Butter Carrots

Skin carrots and slice into batons, then cook the carrots in a little bit of well salted water with a knob of butter.  Keep simmering until the carrots are soft and the water has evaporated. Serve while hot and top with a blob of creme fraishe.

Sweet Spiced Pumpkin Cake !!

Following last nights Hallowe'en fun and pumpkin soup, I still had absolutley loads of pumpkin flesh left over, so I decided to invent a pumpkin cake recipe.  There are many recipes for pumpkin cake out there already, but as they all seemed to have bran, oats or other things that weren't in my cupboard I invented my own recipe and made a delicious soft fruity pumpkin cake. I have to say the results were rather divine!  I have ended up with a very soft sweet cake, not disimilar in texture to a bread and butter pudding!!

FRUITY PUMPKIN CAKE
Ingredients;
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup oil
2/3 cup soft brown sugar
2 eggs
2 cups cold shredded pumpkin flesh
2 tbsp golden syrup
1& 1/3 cups raisins
2 cups self raising flour
1/2 tsp mixed spice
pinch of ground cinnamon

Method;  Cream together the butter and sugar until creamy, then continue whisking while adding  the oil a little at a time.  Whisk in both of the eggs, then fold in the remaining ingregients until well mixed together.  Grease with butter and then lightly flour a cake tin (I find ones with removal bottoms the best) and bake in a preheated oven at 160'C/325'F gas mark 3 for 1 hour until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.

Pumpkin and Coconut Soup!

So...the eventually found pumpkin soon turned into this.....

And the flesh was well and truly scooped out and turned into this....

PUMPKIN & COCONUT SOUP

Ingredients;
Flesh of half a pumpkin
1 Large potato
1 large onion
1/2 can of coconut cream
salt & pepper
optional chilli

Method;

Fry one whole onion until soft,  add about 430 ml of water, the chopped potato and the pumpkin flesh.
Bring to the boil and then simmer until soft. Add the coconut milk and salt and black pepper to taste.
Blend the soup for a creamy texture and serve with warm crusty bread.

If you like a bit of spice add one finely chopped chilli when frying the onion!