When we were faced with bare shelves at the supermarket thought I would try and challenge myself to make some festive recipes using only ingredients I could find in my local shop.
I started out this challenge quite daunted at the idea of it, thinking I may have very limited supplies and so I thought I would maybe I should use the shop where I live (Sandwick) and another from a village close by – Mackenzie’s Farm Shop, Cunningsburgh.
When I went in to scout the ingredients available to me, I quickly realised that this isn’t a challenge at all, or maybe its because I am fortunate enough to live close to two fabulous shops.
Since Sandwick shop got its refurbishment, it has nearly everything you would need, fresh bread, milk, meat, store cupboard essentials, sweets and treats, a surprising selection of booze and I am still astonished at the spice selection - not even sure the supermarkets here can boast that they always have Juniper berries in stock!
Mackenzie’s is a brilliant shop to have as not only do they provide the essentials but comparing to other local shops they have a great selection of fresh fruit and vegetables, and of course they have their own meat and homemade chutney too.
It also has some items which are slightly more unusual, luxury rye crackers, cloudberry jam and bacon kits.
I am very lucky to have these shops close by and as these shops are so good the “challenge” I thought I had set myself sort of dissolved into obsoletion.
So here are a few recipes that you might like to try over the festive period, it just happens that the ingredients used are available in a local shop if you choose or need to shop there.
Now I realise that this can be easily achieved by boiling a can of condensed milk, but I thought it would be nice to try it with the local milk.
Also thought that its nice to know if you were ever really wanting caramel and you had milk, sugar and bicarbonate and time, you could easily make this silky-smooth caramel sauce. I think it might also make a rather nice homemade gift for someone.
Makes 1 x 380ml jar
Ingredients
1L of Shetland Dairies Whole milk
250g of Granulated sugar
¼ tsp of bicarbonate of soda
Tsp Vanilla Essence (optional)
Method
Mix all the ingredients together in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Be sure to watch the pot as you bring it to the boil as that bicarbonate of soda is going to cause more frothing and foaming than usual so keep an eye on it just in case it boils over.
Once it has started to boil turn the heat down low so that it just simmers and leave it to simmer for about an hour and 15 mins, stirring only occasionally. During this time the sugar will start to caramelise, and you will see the colour change from the pale cream to gold.
After an hour has passed you can turn up the heat slightly, this is where you will need to stir more frequently to avoid burning.
Heat until thickened and dark gold, a spatula should be able to run through it leaving a clear line to the pan below.
Scrape into a sterilised jar and keep in fridge. Serve on top of pancakes or French toast; dip slices of apple, pieces of panettone, marshmallows and other bite size bits to have a dulce de leche fondue.
You could make banoffee pie, millionaires shortbread or use it in my dulce de leche Christmas pudding ice cream recipe or use it however you like, there are loads of options – heck you could even just eat it out of the jar by the spoonful!
Christmas is not quite complete without an overly rich dessert! This might not be and rich and heavy as a Christmas pudding, but it is a nod to it. It is a very handy ice cream base to know (condensed milk caramel + whipped double cream + alcohol) as it doesn’t require churning.
While not containing actual Christmas pudding the mincemeat and the richness of the ice cream base does lend homage to Christmas pudding.
Ingredients
1 batch of dulce de leche (or tin of carnation caramel)
300ml of Shetland dairies double cream
2 tsp of brandy
5 tbsp of mincemeat
Method
Whip the double cream into stiff peaks.
Fold in the dulce de leche, brandy and mincemeat until well combined.
Put it into a freezer proof container and freeze for 24hrs.
Serve however you like, its nice on a cone with chocolate sauce, or along with whatever your Christmas dessert is or you can serve in a bowl and embellish with some stewed cranberries, brownie crumbs and brandy cream.
Its always good to have a stock of these in the freezer, you can just stick them in the oven and have them ready for taking along to a friend’s house, to go along with Christmas drinks or to just have a snack.
If you are freezing them, it is best done when you have cut them to size but before you egg wash them. Lay them out on a piece of greaseproof paper on a baking tray and then place in the freezer for 24 hours.
When they are frozen you can then transfer them into a freezer bag or tub, then when you need them, you can just take them out, place on baking tray, egg wash and cook for 30 mins or until golden in a 200C oven.
(Makes about 40 small sausage rolls)
Ingredients
800g Pork sausage (my local shop had sound butchers, Scalloway meat co and Andersons available)
1 tsp juniper berries
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp yellow mustard seeds
½ tsp garlic granules
1 tsp fresh ground black pepper
½ tsp salt
½ tsp dried sage
50g dried cranberries (or 2 tbsp cranberry sauce is nice too)
2 sheets of puff pre-rolled puff pastry*
Method
Remove the sausage meat from their casings and add the meat into a large mixing bowl.
Grind up the spices and seasonings (use a mortar and pestle, electric spice grinder or blender) and add to the bowl along with the cranberries. Mix until well combined.
Roll out your pastry on a board, keep it on the bit of greaseproof it arrives with for ease of moving. Cut it in half so you have two long rectangles.
Arrange the sausage mix down the middle of each pastry rectangle.
Fold the pastry over the sausage mix to meet the other side of the pastry and press down to seal, secure by crimping edge with a fork.
Set in fridge to rest for 20 mins. Preheat oven to 180C.
Line a tray with grease proof paper. Take sausage rolls out of fridge and cut to desired size and arrange on baking tray.
Brush with beaten egg and cook until golden brown, approximately 20 minutes – all ovens will differ.
Serve along side a nice chutney, they do go very nicely with Mackenzie’s Beetroot chutney.
*You can of course make your own pastry for this - pastry is one thing I never bother with, premade is a fine shortcut as my time can be spent on other things - but if you are feeling particularly festive and don’t mind a bit of faff, I would suggest wrapping them in Bos breakfast croissants dough for some devilishly decadent “pigs in duvets”
** I always have a few packets of cooked chestnuts lying around in the store cupboard this time of year and find that a packet of those roughly chopped up and put amongst the sausage mix really elevates the texture.
