Issue 103

Gil

If there’s one thing I like about winter it’s a thick, stick-to-the-ribs pea and ham soup.

My recipe is a simple one.

Slow cook three smoked ham hocks. I did mine in a Shuttle Chef slow cooker – check out our Newell Highway DVD for details. Cook until the meat literally falls off the bones. While the ham is cooking, soak 500gm of dried green peas.

Add some finely chopped celery, a small finely chopped onion, black pepper and a teaspoon of crushed garlic to your pot and pour in the soaked peas with a couple of litres of water.

Chop the ham fine and add to the pot, bring to the boil, simmer for about 30 minutes, then stick it in the Shuttle Chef and leave it for about four hours.

Add some crusty bread and butter and its all good. You’ll have a heap left over, so freeze it in serve-size containers for later.

Sim

I love puddings – especially in winter. But I always think you need to have a nice warm sauce to accompany them. For a yummy sauce to go with a chocolate pudding, pour a litre of store bought custard into a saucepan. Then add a few chopped up Mars Bars and stir it well till they melt into the custard. Pour onto the chocolate pudding and enjoy. Or, if you’re having a vanilla or sticky date pudding, use Toblerone instead of Mars Bars in the custard mix. Yummo!

Tim

For a light lunch, why not try making some BLATs? Fry some short cut bacon in a pan until crispy. While that is happening, cut a Turkish bread roll in half and toast it under the grill. Spread about half an avocado on the roll, and then add some lettuce and tomato. Put the bacon on top, and then squirt plenty of BBQ sauce and mayo into the bun. Very tasty and very quick to make.

Bernie

Mars Bar Slice

This slice is very moreish and goes perfectly with a nice cup of tea on your roadside stops.

You need:
- 3 1/2 King-Size Mars Bars, chopped
- 120g butter
- 1 1/2 tablespoons golden syrup
- 4 cups of rice bubbles

Line a medium sized dish with baking paper

Put the butter, Mars Bars and golden syrup in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly to break up the Mars Bars.

When the butter has melted, increase the heat, stirring constantly.  Keep stirring until the mixture thickens up and is fairly smooth then turn off the heat.

Place rice bubbles in a large bowl. Add Mars Bar mixture and stir it all together, try not to crush the rice bubbles when you’re stirring. Press mixture into the dish and refrigerate while preparing the icing.

For the icing you can either use dark or milk chocolate. I am a big dark chocolate fan, so I normally go with that.

Chocolate Icing
- 225g of milk or dark chocolate
- 45g butter

Melt chocolate and butter over low heat and give it a stir every now and then. Remove from the heat when mixture is smooth. Spread the icing over the slice and whack it in the fridge until its set. Store the slice in an airtight container in the fridge.