Stokes Sauces: Winter Warmers - warm homecomings after the service

http://www.stokessauces.co.uk/page/sauces/traditional-condiments

Warm homecomings

Many of us will be out on Sunday morning to watch, wonder and remember on this remarkable Remembrance Sunday, one hundred years after the Armistice that ended the Great War.

We remember those who couldn't come home in order that we can.

We have three delicious lunches that will cook slowly in the oven. Come home to the aromas of slow roasting shoulder of lamb, a hearty Irish stew or ham hock braising in beans.

You might even turn the heat down on a big free range chicken as it roasts gently over water on a trivet of onions, carrots, celery and sliced oranges. This makes a great stock for a fantastic gravy with Stokes Classic English Mustard stirred into the roux.

Welcome Home

Slow Roasted Shoulder of Lamb

http://www.stokessauces.co.uk/page/sauces/ketchup-and-sauces

Here's how:

Pre-heat the oven to 160°C/Gas mark 3. Cut potatoes, carrots and parsnips into large chunks and spread them over the base of a roasting tray with 3 or 4 crushed garlic cloves and 1 orange, sliced.

Add water to a level half way up the vegetables, put a few sprigs of thyme on top and nestle the lamb on top of that. Stir 2 tsp of Stokes Mint Sauce and 1 tsp of ground Sumac into softened butter to spread onto the skin of the lamb. Fold a foil lid over the tin and place it on the lower shelf of the oven.

You will need to pour off and reserve the excess juices from time to time during the first 3 hours of cooking, then remove the foil for a further hour. Wrap the lamb in foil and let it rest. We mash the carrots and parsnips with a spoonful of Stokes Cider & Horseradish Mustard and fry the potato pieces in butter to crisp the outsides.

Do all of this while you reduce the reserved cooking liquor with a vegetable stock bouillon. The more you reduce it, the more you intensify the flavour. It is a little fatty from the lamb, so counter this with 1 tsp of our Mint Sauce and a good couple of glugs of Stokes Tomato Ketchup.

Ham Hocks

You'll need:

4 ham hocks (or 2 large ones)
2 onions, roughly chopped
3 sticks of celery, sliced
1 tin of cannellini beans
1 tin of bartoli beans
1 tin of butter beans
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 chicken bouillon
4 tbsp of Stokes Tomato Ketchup
2 tbsp of Stokes Brown Sauce

Here's how:

Blanch the ham to release the salt by putting them in a large pan, cover them with water, bring it to a boil for 2 minutes then drain. Rinse the hocks by filling the pan with water and emptying it - twice.

Put the onion into the pan with the blanched ham and cover with water. Boil, cover and let it simmer gently for 3 hours. Carefully remove the hocks and set aside.

Pour the cooking liquid into a jug. Into the pan now tip the tinned beans, tomatoes, bouillon, ketchup and brown sauce. Stir it all together then pour in sufficient reserved cooking liquid to cover, turn the heat up and reduce the volume for 10 minutes.

Add the hocks back for a further uncovered 10 minute simmer, topping up with the cooking liquid if you need it.

Irish Stew

You'll need:

200 g of smoked streaky bacon
850 g of lamb cubes
3 onions, sliced
4 carrots, roughly sliced
2 sticks of celery, roughly sliced
2 or 3 sticks of thyme
2 tsp of Stokes Mint Sauce
2 tbsp of Stokes Brown Sauce
2 tbsp of Stokes Bloody Mary Ketchup
100 g of pearl barley
800 ml of lamb or chicken stock
5 or 6 potatoes, cut to thick slices

Here's how:

Pre-heat the oven to 160°C/Gas mark 3.

Cut the bacon into 2 inch chunks and fry it for 5 minutes in a casserole dish then add the lamb. Cook both together for 5 minutes, stirring the meat around for even cooking.

Add the onion, carrot, celery and thyme and stir it into the meat before adding the pearl barley, mint sauce, brown sauce and ketchup.

Pour the stock over the contents and bring it to a gentle simmer. Arrange the potato slices over the top and put the dish in the oven, without a lid, for 2 hours.

Make Autumn Awesome - just add Stokes