Bonfire Night!!!

Hello!!!!!

Today as you all know is November 5th! the night best known for Guy Fawkes -

Its history begins with the events of 5 November 1605, when Guy Fawkes, a member of the Gunpowder Plot, was arrested while guarding explosives the plotters had placed beneath the House of Lords. Celebrating the fact that King James I had survived the attempt on his life, people lit bonfires around London, and months later the introduction of the Observance of 5th November Act enforced an annual public day of thanksgiving for the plot's failure.

But the celebration of lighting fires is also shared by others, "In the ancient druid religions, bonfires were held between 31 October and 5 November to celebrate Samhain, a harvest festival where they used bonfires " bone fires" to burn the bones of the slaughtered livestock they had prepared and stored for the winter months. People and their livestock would often walk between two bonfires as a cleansing ritual and the bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into its flames. Some modern day Druids and Pagans see bonfire night as a significant celebration to end the harvest festival."

So yesterday i was very much in the foodie mood and thought about making something fitting for this time of year. firstly i baked!, a parkin cake.

Parkin, is a cake most associated with Yorkshire and being eaten on bonfire night. Its a rich taste and very filling!!
Now I've made it before so I'm not sure if i did the right recipe but here's the one i followed -

Ingredients

• 200g butter , plus extra for greasing
• 1 large egg
• 4 tbsp milk
• 200g golden syrup
• 85g treacle
• 85g light soft brown sugar
• 100g medium oatmeal
• 250g self-raising flour
• 1 tbsp ground ginger

Method
Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3. Grease a deep 22cm/9in square cake tin and line with baking parchment. Beat the egg and milk together with a fork.

Gently melt the syrup, treacle, sugar and butter together in a large pan until the sugar has dissolved. Remove from the heat. Mix together the oatmeal, flour and ginger and stir into the syrup mixture, followed by the egg and milk.

Pour the mixture into the tin and bake for 50 mins - 1 hr until the cake feels firm and a little crusty on top. Cool in the tin then wrap in more parchment and foil and keep for 3-5 days before eating if you can - it'll become softer and stickier the longer you leave it, up to 2 weeks

The smell of this baking is divine!, rich sweet and spicy!!
once it cooled i cut me a few slices, sat down with a brew and just relaxed for a little while.... well a few hours actually. but sometimes its needed.


So as the day worn on, around came tea time, and what with being the festive kind of mood, i decided to make something that would be perfect for those of you holding your own bonfire party,


As I've mentioned before, sometimes your fridge can be your best inspiration, and on the occasions mine did just that.. as well as a little foodie hunting on the Internet.


Here we have-
Sticky Sweet Sausages with melted cheese topped baked potatoes. 


Ingredients
6 Sausages
1 Medium Red Onion
2 Shallots
50g Cheese with Garlic and Herb (cheese counter at Tesco) or any cheese of you liking
5  Potatoes
2 Tbsp of Soy Sauce
2 Tbsp of  Sweet chill with garlic sauce -  I get mine from The Garlic Farm here on the Isle Of Wight
2 Tbsp of Honey


Method:
preheat the  oven to180c/ gas mark 4.

Place under the grill the sausages and while their cooking, in a
bowl mix the honey, soy and sweet chili together, move over to one side and chop your onions and shallots.. big or small its totally up to you, mine were a bit mixed and matched.

In a pan cooked the onions and shallots until soft, aid it on by using a bit of oil not to much as you don't want them greasy, they'll produce there own juice which is helpful to the softening process,


 Once your sausages are cooked through, place in a oven proof dish and pour over the sticky sauce and add the soften onions in as well.
Mix them up abit so you get a good amount on all the sausage, then pop in the over for about 20mins.


pierce the potatoes and pop them in the microwave, at a high heat for about 10/15 minutes,While there cooking, grate up all the cheese and once the potatoes are done slice down the middle, open them all up and sprinkles each side with the cheese, then place in the over for the last 5minutes to allow the cheese to melt.

Fresh out the oven!

It was a perfect way to end a very chilled out day, a no fuss cake and a no fuss dinner.
Tonight i'm headed to Sandown to watch the fire works with some friends, i'm takin the parking and marshmallows and a friend is bring a hot flask of hot chocolate!


What ever you get up to tonight keep warm and of course safe!!!

xXx