Claire's Cake Bake & Other Foodiness

The second part of my pre-Christmas cooking started yesterday with Cranberry & Sloe Gin Sauce – a recipe I found on The Cottage Smallholder.

You’ll need:

• 300g cranberries
• 4 clementines – squeezed with some pulp
• 120g granulated white sugar
• 25ml Sloe Gin

How to Do It

1. Wash the cranberries thoroughly – taking out any soft fruit
2. Wash the clementines and then squeeze the juice out of them (i did this by hand quite easily)
3. Put the cranberries in a large pan together with the sugar and clementine juice and pulp – mix around
4. Turn the heat on under the pan to allow the mixture to come up to a simmer then taste for sweetness, adding extra sugar if you desire
5. Pop the lid on the pan and let it simmer for about 15 to 20 minutes until all berries have burst and it resembles a jam type consistency
6. Take off the heat and stir in the sloe gin
7. Decant into warm sterilised jars

Ps: Just wanted to say a quick hello to anyone popping by here after following the C4 food website link :)

Regular readers amongst you have probably noticed I don’t cook or eat much red meat. I’ve never been a big fan partly because of the taste. But the worst part for me is the smell of cooking meat, especially the browning part. It turns my stomach. So at home I stick to chicken which I can just about deal with and fish when Mr C approves!

To cut this story short, I was leafing through Jamie’s Italy earlier in the week and hit a small jackpot – tuna meatballs!

I made them last night and they were surprisingly pleasant. The cinnamon on the tuna was a great mix.

Le migliori polpette di tonna (Serves 4)

For the sauce:

• olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic, finely sliced
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 x 400g tin plum tomatoes
• red wine vinegar

For The Tunaballs:

• 400g steak tuna
• olive oil
• 55g pinenuts
• 1 level teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• handful chopped fresh parsley
• 100g stale breadcrumbs
• 55g Parmesan
• 2 eggs
• juice of 1 lemon

How to Do It

1. Chop the tuna in 1″ squares
2. Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil in a frying pan
3. Add the tuna, cinnamon and pinenuts. Season with salt & pepper and cook until tuna has browned on all sides
4. Tip the tuna mixture into a big bowl and leave to cool for 5 minutes
5. Once cooled, add the other ingredients and using your hands mix together
6. Squeeze the mixture into small balls (slightly smaller than a golf ball)
7. Pop the meatballs on an oiled baking tray and leave them in the fridge for an hour

As soon as the meatballs go in the fridge, start the tomato sauce:

1. Heat 2 tablespoons of oil on pan and gently fry the onion and garlic until soft
2. Add the oregano, tomatoes and season with salt & pepper
3. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes
4. Then using a hand held blender liquidise until smooth
5. Taste for seasoning & add a dash of red wine vinegar if needed
6. Once out of the fridge, heat oil in the same frying pan as before and gently fry the meatballs until golden all over – be careful as my first batch crumbled away into lots of bits!

Serve with the tomato sauce and spaggetti

I made 1/2 the tuna amount but the full amount of tomato sauce and have frozen it for next time – or another pasta dish.