In the Mood for Entertaining, still cooking

Maple, pecan and sultana swirls, ready for the oven
I’ve continued cooking from Jo Pratt’s In the Mood for Entertaining, and still loving this book. Doing more of the cold weather food now. I think mostly everything I’ve made from this book has been good, and lots more planned. If you are new to my blog do go to the books title in the ‘Books Cooked from so Far’ column on the right hand side and see other things I’ve cooked from this book.

Chocolate and Hazelnut Macaroons
I’ve developed a real passion for macaroons, they are just so delicious. These were hazelnut ones sandwished together with a little Nutella. Lovely.

Sweet Potato Hash Browns with Sausage and Tomatoes
This is more cooking than I can cope with of a morning, so we had this for supper one night instead.
Harissa Salmon with Minted Bulgar Wheat Salad
This was really good, not sure which bit was best, the salmon or the bulgar wheat. Either way they were fabulous together.

Chocolate Cookies
If you are anything like me you’ve probably tried a lot of chocolate cookies (and cakes too, but that’s another story) looking for the ‘perfect’ one. These cooled a bit but still warm and gooey from the oven are really perfect. Easy too!

Pork, Stilton and Port Pie with Root Vegetable and Mustard Mash
I made this for the gorgeous Hubby, because as Jo says boys do love their pies. It was a glorious pie, I liked it just as much as Hubby, the root mash complemented it very well, leaving only a little green vegetable to think about for a great meal.

Pimm’s and Strawberry Ripple Creams
I made these loads of times last Summer, we loved them. Very easy to leave the alcohol out of if you like, and for a portion of it I did so, so Missy wouldn’t get any booze! I topped hers with a little grated chocolate so I could tell the difference.

Lazy Tray Baked Chicken
Good Mediterranean inspired chicken bake, peppers, rosemary, garlic. Also has potatoes and carrots in it with a little honey to sweeten it up at the end. Yum.

Plum, Apple and Almond Crumble with Amaretto Cream
This one was lovely too. More complex flavour wise than you might expect, orange zest with the fruit, cinnamon in the topping and then the Amaretto cream. I added a bit of sugar to the cream to soften the alcohol, as is my wont.

Creamy Sausage and Mustard Casserole
I really wanted to make this when this book came out last Summer, but this was just to hot for the warm days of that time of year. Just perfect though for when there is snow on the ground and a nip in the air. Very good, so well complemented buy the salad.

Winter Salad Bowl
One of the things I really like about Jo’s food is she gives you treat food, but she usually also incorparates lots of vegetables as well, and this salad is a case in point. Five a day is easy with this sort of salad. It has a little chilli in it, but it’s easy to take out the little peoples portions before adding it.

Maple, pecan and Sultana Swirls
These are very easy indeed, primarily because they use bought puff pastry. You cut the puff pastry sheet into strips, then top with the filling mixture, roll up and bake. Easy as that. They were good hot but I actually liked them best cold, had a real Danish pastry feel to them like that.

Feta, Pea and Mint Tortilla
I didn’t plan to make this one, but happened to have the bits needed so went with it, really yummy, more so that the list of ingredients would suggest.

Granola
We are especially enjoying my take on Jo’s granola just now (recipe below). It’s so fruity, nutty and oaty with a lovely honey taste. This is the first granola I’ve tried without extra added sugar in it – just the honey here, and although I sort of missed it on first tasting, I’ve come to love it for what it is, a gorgeous breakfast, that is actually sweet enough. Our favourite way with it is atop Greek yoghurt, but I tell you it is good even just by the spoonful, both hubby and I might just be addicted to it!

Cranberry, Pistachio and Honey Granola
My spin of Jo Pratt’s recipe from In The Mood For Entertaining

175g runny honey
100g unsalted butter
325g rolled oats
100g flaked almonds
50g pumpkin seeds
50g sunflower seeds
25g desiccated coconut, unsweetened
200g dried cranberries
125g pistachio nuts
(1) Put the oven on and preheat it to 160oC /140oC fan / gas 2-3.
(2) In a big pan melt the honey and butter together, take off the heat.
(3) Add the oats, almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and coconut. Mix well and spread out on a big (non stick is easiest) baking tray. Cook in the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring up every 10 minutes ( I use a non stick fish slice here) for even browning.
(4) Once cold place in a bowl and add the cranberries and pistachios. Will keep for up to a month in an airtight container.