Sloe Whisky

My Matey and I had a day trip out of London to pick up some chandeliers (as you do) and decided that we would go for a good tramp around a hunting forest. Gloriously autumnal day, mild concern about the freely wandering bulls and this little lot:
 

Thousands! Not having planned this we were not equipped with a handy plastic bag. However with a used coffee cup and a crumpled paper bag we picked enough to make one bottle of Sloe Whisky. "Whisky!" I hear you cry "Don't you mean Gin?" Nope! While on happy holiday we came across these chaps at the York Food Festival: http://www.sloemotion.com/sloe-whisky.html. After loitering around the stand for just a bit too long we reluctantly decided we didn't NEED to buy any REALLY.

This recipe is an intelligent (or so I fondly imagine) amalgamation of previous Sloe Gin making and several internet recipes.

Ingredients
1 bottle whisky (70cl)
400g sloes
110g sugar

Method
1. Wash your sloes and destalk and deleaf them.
2. Put them in the freezer. The traditional method is to prick them all over with a needle. Life is too short and freezing them has the same effect.
3. Defrost the sloes then put in a bottle/jar with the sugar. Pour the whiskey over.
4. Put in a dark cupboard and shake it upon occasion.
5. After 3 months strain the sloes out and bottle the whisky. Have a wee dram then put it somewhere out of temptations way ready for next Christmas.

Bangers in a Beany Tomato Sauce

Aside from having to resist the urge to mutter something about mists and mellow fruitfulness I rather like this stage of Autumn. It's still warm and with plenty of layers it's fun to wrap up and do STUFF without wondering whether I'm going to freeze.

Not a fan of Halloween (neurosis that if the zombies don't get me then I'm going to be murdered by trick or treaters) but Bonfire night.....now you are talking. A whopping great fire, an anatomically odd guy and being wowed by fireworks. This has been known to be recreated with a candle, some sparklers and over performed oohs and aahs in the back garden.

Few things are more autumnal than beans and bangers and this recipe will make you forget that the summer is a whole year away. It 'ain't glamorous but it's hearty, warming and makes a pack of sausages go a lot further.

Ingredients to feed four
6 sausages chopped into 4-6 chunks
2 tins of chopped tomatoes
1 tin of mixed beans (I used biona beans because I think they are great! Don't use beans in a tomato sauce though I think the two tomato flavours taste odd and metallic)
1 chopped onion
1 large clove of garlic
Salt and pepper
Slug of red wine (not essential)

Method
1. Fry the chunks of sausage until they are brown and set aside.
2. Using the fat from the sausages fry the onion and garlic till brown then add the tomatoes, beans, seasoning and red wine.
3. Simmer until the excess liquid has been reduced by half. Then add the sausages and continue simmering until you have a thick slightly chunky tomatoey, beany sauce.

I chucked it on top of a  jacket potato but this is also splendid stirred in some pasta with plenty of cheese on top to make a quick supper. It is also brilliant to freeze so worth making loads if you are a super efficient mood one day.

Sausage, mushrooms and onion in cider

I could  wistfully go on about how autumnal and warming this is.....but in reality it came out of opening the fridge and realising all we had left was half a pack of sausages, some mushrooms and onions. Googling what could be done with such meagre rations I found a truly delicious sounding recipe for sausages with mushrooms and onions. Unfortunately I read on to discover that, while simple sounding, it had hundreds of other ingredients in it and took HOURS which made it useless as leftovers recipe.

The trouble was that I had decided it sounded good and I was getting hungry. So I ignored the recipe and made it up instead. It was great and, unlike most leftovers meals, it was an entirely reproducible kind of great.

Ingredients to feed 2-3
Half a pack of sausages - I was lucky and had 8 chipolatas which felt less stingy when serving
1 onion
1 pack of mushrooms
Half a can of cider - Strongbow courtesy of the 24 hour shop

Method
1. Chop the onions roughly and put them in a casserole dish with the sausages and a glug of oil and bung in the oven on the highest setting.
2. Poke the sausages and onions every 5-10 minutes so they don't stick.
3. When everything is going brown and caramlised roughly chop and add the mushrooms. Give it all a good stir in so that the mushrooms pick up on the flavour from the sausages.
4. Put back in the oven for 5-10 minutes until the mushrooms are starting to cook nicely.
5. Add the cider, salt and pepper and cook for a final 15-20 minutes

While this would be great with mustard mash we had it with roasted mini potatoes discovered in the back of the cupboard. Flippin' marvelous.