Hampers completed!

Hello food.....

So on 22nd December the Hampers were finally completed and delivered to everyone expecting them!

Had some great feedback so far and look forward to hearing back from more people!

On describing my 'Stupendous Samosas' - Joseph Rudi Pielichaty said, "They were like a dream, spice clouds floating through the skies and into my mouth where they rained a tropical storm of sex onto my tongue."- He's always had a wonderful way with words.

I' ve got one more delivery to go on 2nd January then that part of Jess's Messes is complete (for now) then some reformatting of the book (which you can see slightly in the picture) and it will be ready for anyone and everyone to get their hands on!

Hope everyone had a fantastic Christmas and had a wonderful Christmas dinner, thanks to Mum Barrowclough Christmas dinner was as fantastic as ever! Wonderful!

Happy New Year!!!

The baking begins

Hello food.....

Christmas Hamper madness has commenced - very short blog post as there just isn't time!

Here's a couple of pictures so you can see it's actually happening!

Get excited everyone! Hampers are delivered NEXT WEEK!!!

Hamper Orders FLYING IN

Hello food.....

The Christmas Hampers are selling amazingly well! Looks like people will be getting good Christmas presents this year with the money I'm making!

Don't miss out on your opportunity to order yours! From £12 for a whole hamper. See post below for further details!

Everything is home made, completely from scratch and uses fresh ingredients!

7 days until order taking closes!

Get ordering!!

Love Jess
xxxx

Jess's Messes CHRISTMAS HAMPERS FOR SALE!!!

Hello food.....

It's finally happened:

a) I have organised myself

b) The hampers are ready to sell

An example of what you can get for a very reasonable price of homemade Jess's Messes goodies. >>>>>>>>>

I am delivering them to your house. So if you're in the Manchester/Cheshire area I will deliver on the afternoon/eve on 22nd December and if you're around Nottinghamshire it'll be daytime on the 23rd.

I'm not taking deposits, but be sure you want to order, as I don't want loads left over, and I will just collect payment on delivery!

Please make sure orders are in by 1st December so I know how many ingredients to buy!

The Exciting Bit

So the choices are:

Beautiful Bags

1. Tangy, Cheesy, Twisty Snackingtons
2. Secret Shortbread
3. Giggly Gingerbread Peoples
4. Magical Mince Pies
5. Tarts
6. Vivacious Vanilla Fairy Cakes



Jolly Jars

1. Ravishing Red Onion Marmalade
2. Funky Chunky Tomato Relish
3. Barrowscotch Butterclough Sauce
4. Snuggly, Cuddly Chocolate Sauce
5. Sharp, Sherry Vinaigrette




 The Essential Bit

Prices

These are the ‘standard packages’, anything other food or different combinati ons are wanted, please j ust
ask and I’m s ure I can do it!

5 Bags / 4 Jars—£18
4 Bags / 3 Jars— £15
3 Bags / 2 Jars—£12

Opti onal extra - Jess's messes book - £10
Op tional extra - Mu lled wine kit - £10






Please email orders to jessesmesses@hotmail.co.uk along with delivery address, or send a message on my Facebook page

Remember deadline for orders is December 1st 2011!

I look forward to your orders!

Love Jess

xxxx

Mess of the week - NOODLEY DOODLEY DOO SOUP

Hello food.....

It's cold, I've got a cold. Need something quick, but healthy, but warm, but tasty. So many things to consider! Noodley Doodley Doo Soup was the obvious option. Have the basic essentials in the fridge anyway. Just some beansprouts to buy. Nice and easy and so so warming. Chicken noodle soup is that 'typical' dish people seem to have when they're ill. This is different though, it has some lovely Asian flavours - which will always be my favouties. Don't get me wrong, this is no Pho Bo (my favourite noodle soup creation). But to get that recipe you'll have to either ask, or get a copy of Jess's Messes!

Here's the recipe for Noodley Doodley Doo Soup:

Ingredients

1 shallot (diced)

1 ½cm cube ginger (diced)

1 clove garlic (crushed)

2 green chillies (deseeded and chopped)

2 stalks lemongrass (chopped)

1 Chicken Breast (sliced)

250 ml Chicken Stock

2 handfuls of fresh spinach

50g beansprouts

Large bunch coriander (roughly chopped)

1 portion of egg noodles

Method

1.      Fry the shallot, ginger, garlic, chillies and lemongrass on a medium heat until softened.

2.   Add chicken and cook until slightly browned

  3.    Add stock and simmer for 5 minutes.

4.     Add noodles and cook for a further 3 minutes.

5.     Add spinach, cook for a further minute, then remove from heat.

6.     Sprinkle coriander over the mix and stir in.

7.     Serve immediately.

Mmmmmm

Enjoy! And hopefully recover if you're feeling slightly off colour too!

MESS OF THE WEEK: Lincolancashire Hotpot

Hello food.....

 So I had a request for a Lancashire Hotpot recipe and this is what was created. The name is because, my family all being Yorkshire, I can't officially make anything called 'Lancashire' however, I don't class myself as being from Yorkshire as I was born in Lincoln, so I'm bringing that in.

This recipe Is a goooood one for making and leaving to eat later as it takes a while to get the lamb nicely tender. I decided to put it on now, as it is getting soo much colder now, a good 'winter warmer'

Ingredients
600g Lamb Shoulder/Neck (diced)
20g Plain Flour
2 Tsp Sea Salt
2 Tsp White Pepper
20g Butter
4 White Onions (Sliced)
1 Red Onion (Sliced)
2 Cloves Garlic
10g Rosemary
10g Thyme
200ml Red Wine
600g White Potatoes (Peeled)
150ml Lamb Stock.
Salt and Pepper

1. Place Lamb in bowl with sea salt, white pepper and flour and mix until lamb is thinly coated with seasoning and flour and place in hotpot dish.
2. Place 15g Butter in a pan and fry onions, garlic rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper slowly until onions are softened. (You can also add some carrot here, if you want to get some of you '5 a day' included).
When onions are soft, add red wine and cook on a high heat until wine reduces and onions have absorbed the wine.
3. Cover the lamb with the onions.
4. Slice the potatoes about 2-3mm thick, depending how you prefer them. Melt the remaining butter and place in a bowl with potato slices and some salt and pepper and mix until all potatoes are coated.
5. Place Potato slices on top of the onion in layers until all is used. You can do this artistically or just as it ends up, it doesn't affect the flavour in any way.
6. Pour lamb stock over the potatoes and sprinkle with salt and pepper.
7. Place lid on hotpot dish then bake in oven 180 degrees/ gas mark 5 for 30 mins.
8. Turn oven down to 130 degrees/gas mark 3 and bake for 2 1/2 hours.
9. Finally take the lid off the dish and turn oven back to 180 degrees/gas mark 5 and bake for a further 30 minutes, or until potatoes are golden and slightly crispy.
10. Serve with whatever you like (we had pickled red cabbage).


Enjoy!!!

Let me know if any requests!

MESS OF THE WEEK (7) Zesty, Citrusy, Drizzley, Cakey Cake

Hello food.....

So, As I've said in the previous post I decided to make a lemon drizzle cake. However, I wanted it to be slightly different so I made it just a general citrus one rather than focusing on just lemon.

Here it is, a cakey creation, that worked out quite nicely and hopefully will for you too!

Zesty, Citrusy, Drizzley Cakey Cake

Ingredients 


225g Unsalted Butter
225g Caster Sugar
4 Eggs
225g Self Raising Flour
1/2 Lemon (Juice and zest)
1/2 Lime (Juice and zest)

Frosting - 180g Caster Sugar
                1/2 lime juice
                1/2 lemon juice
                20g Icing sugar

Method

1. Place Butter and Caster sugar in bowl and beat until light and fluffy.
2. Add eggs gradually and make sure it doesn't curdle, because then it is nooooooot nice!
3. Add flour gradually and fold in gently to make sure it stays lovely and light!
4. Add lemon and lime, again folding nice and gently!
5. Grease and line a 20cm x 20cm baking tin with greaseproof paper and spoon mixture into tin. Smoooooooooooooooth over and put in oven at 180 degrees for 20 minutes.
6. Check by putting a skewer into the middle and making sure it comes out beautifully clean. 
7. Turn out onto cooling rack.
8. Mix together caster sugar, lime juice and lemon juice. Pour over cooled cake.
9. When frosting has set dust the top with icing sugar. Cut into squares and SERVE! 
10. Lovely CAK!

Cake, coffee, tea, money

Hello food.....

At work my first event to plan was one of the 'Macmillan world's biggest coffee mornings'. However this was slightly different as had to be held in the afternoon, so was a 'coffee afternoon.' With my limited supplies this is how the room turned out, to be honest, the decoration was not important, people were really only there for the food. I made:

• Zesty citrusy drizzley cakey cake (a new Jess's Messes creation)
• Tangy cheesy twists
• Onion tasty tartlets
• Crazy cupcakes (that aren't crazy in anyway, just have pink icing)
• Secret shortbread (no one will EVER get this recipe)

We managed to raise £164 just through a donation box and a raffle for the below hamper, so I'm thinking of doing a cake sale soon to see how much I can raise through that! People always want to eat cake, so hopefully even mooooorrreeeeeeee.....

76 days!

Hello food.....

So,

I may have always been known for my ridiculous christmas excitement and this may seem like I am taking it to the extreme! However, really I am just being sensible and planning in advance!

Jess's Messes raffle prize hamper

I made this hamper

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

as a raffle prize for a 'coffee afternoon' that I held at my new work and suddenly a plan began forming in my food obsessed head. I am going to offer my hampers for people to buy (at an undecided but very reasonable price) over christmas! I'm going to have to think it through to make sure I make the sort of things that last, so people can get them a few days before christmas and they still taste beautiful by the wonderful day!

I already have an order for 2 from the winner of this hamper, maybe now is the time Jess's Messes takes over the world????

Face on a cake

Well, what can I say?

I apologise dramtically for my lack of 'blogness' over the summer. I was working wierd hours, and having no routine doesn't help. So now I have a normal hours job and therefore the blogging can commence with a vengeance!

So, I started my beautiful new job and a cake had to be made as a leaving present, I'm not going to get into the moustache, but it isn't as offensive as it could appear to the outsider! But anyway, a cake had to be made and the Jess's Messes expertise was required. I cannot take credit for the decorations, and I think they were definitely what made the cake what it is! But anyway, at least I'm getting back into my cooking and baking and returning to the Jess's Messes state of mind!

Again I apologise for my lack of enthusiasm over the last month, but now, I promise I am back, and back for good!

Anyone who wants a cake of their face....... probably not best to come to me!

Enjoy your food everyone, and keep checking back for recipes of the week, which will appear AT LEAST once every week from now on! :)

Love Jess

Abandonment

Hello food.....

Sorry I have not left a Mess of the week in a while, I have been very busy celebrating birthdays and graduating. I am doing this on the wrong computer, where I have none of my recipes and no pictures, therefore this is just to say I will be back in action asap with many many new recipes! Again, anymore requests for recipes just say here, or on the facebook page! :)
xx

BBQ Madness

Hello food.....

So, after Harry Potter fun it was time for birthday fun and I had a beautiful bbq with all the wonderful people in my life! I had to work very very hard with all the food though as I made quite a feast! Luckily Jason was here to be my wonderful sous chef otherwise I would never have got through it. It was a worldwide feast with:

1. Lemon and Basil Halloumi Skewers
2. Turmeric and Lime Leaf Chicken Skewers
3. Prawn Skewers with Mango Salsa
4. Jerk Chicken Legs
5. Lamb and Mint Burgers
6. Beef Burgers
7. Various Sausages
8. Lemon Butter Haddock
9. Potato Salad
10. Pasta Salad
11. Salad Salad
12. Funky Chunky Tomato Relish
13. Meringues
14. Strawberry Cheesecake

Therefore I was very busy, but all the food went, so must have been ok. And I haven't had any reports of food poisoning yet. It was the most wonderful day with the most wonderful people! Loved it!
xx

HAAARRRYYYYY POOOTTTTTTEEEERRRRRR?

Hello food.....

So, Harry Potter final film day, the day before my birthday! What an important moment in my life, cak had to be made and cak was made.... My artistic skills amaze me some times! haha!

MESS OF THE WEEK (6) Big Bowl of Fish

Hello food..... (SORRY FOR THE AWFUL PHOTO)

So, it was father’s day and I know that Noel loves his fish, so decided to make a sort of fish stew type thing. Has some really nice, fresh flavours and is perfect for the summer or winter, as it can be a lovely outdoor eating type dish, but could also warm you up loads on freezing cold winter nights. Can vary fish and put whatever you prefer into it!

Ingredients

4 Tbsp Olive Oil

1 Onion (chopped)

3 Garlic Cloves

3 Celery Sticks

3 Star Anise

400g Chopped Tomatoes

700ml Fish Stock

1 Orange (juice/rind)

1 Lemon (rind)

1 Tbsp Fresh Thyme

1 Bay Leaf

250g King Prawns (raw)

250g Mussels

250g White Fish

3 Tbsp Fresh Parsley

Salt and Pepper

Method

1.      Place Oil in Heavy Based pan and heat slowly.

2.      Add onion, crushed garlic, sliced celery and star anise, cook for 10 minutes, or until onions are softened.

3.      Add tomatoes, fish stock, orange juice and rind, lemon rind, thyme and bay leaf and cook quickly for 5 minutes.

4.      Turn down heat and simmer for 20 minutes.

5.      Add prawns, mussels, cubed white fish and cook for 3-5 minutes, until prawns are cooked through.

6.      Add parsley and test for seasoning, add salt and pepper.

7.   Serve with crusty bread!

MESS OF THE WEEK (5) Booming Crashing Banging, Bangers and Mash

Hello food.....


Now this is a recipe I’m proud of. I can’t remember when I invented this, but I have experimented a lot with this to make it how it is now. The gravy is lovely and rich and has a sweet tang from the red onions. I managed to make this for 12 people in one go on my tiny uni hob, so it’s pretty easy in some ways, but very tasty!



Ingredients
8 Sausages
3 red onions
2 Spanish white onions
2 cloves garlic
4 sprigs rosemary
4 sprigs thyme
2 bay leaves
1 ltr good quality beef stock
250ml red wine.
10 large potatoes
50 gms butter
50ml milk
1 tsp nutmeg

Method
1. Seal the sausages in a wok, and set to one side.
2. Slice the onions into this slices and fry quickly in the wok, along with the garlic, careful not to colour
3. Add wine and reduce until there isn’t much liquid but the onions are all red.
4. Add beef stock, thyme, rosemary and bay leaves.
5. Add sausages, season and leave to simmer for 30 minutes.
6. Boil potatoes until they are soft enough to mash.
7. Mash potatoes and add butter.
8. Heat milk and nutmeg up, add gradually to potatoes until they are light and fluffy.
9. Season potato, check seasoning on gravy and serve.

Mmmmmmmm! Enjoy!

Requests

Hello food.....

If anyone has any requests for recipes please let me know and I will do my best to either give you one straight away or experiment and create one!

Love Jess

MESS OF THE WEEK (4) Jess's Speciality - Meringues

Hello food.....

So, I can't remember when I first made these, but my family always loved them, so it became almost a tradition to make them at Christmas and every other family meal, as they're a lovely sweet, but light way to finish the meal. The recipe is ridiculously easy, but make sure you follow the instructions, so they are crispy on the outside, but nice and chewy on the inside. A perfect dessert for a sunny day, eating outside with lovely summer berries or even a cold day with winter berries, just a lovely lovely dessert! I'd always choose this!

Ingredients

3 Large Egg Whites

170g Caster Sugar

300g Raspberries

100g Icing Sugar

10ml Lemon Juice

400ml Double cream

200g Strawberries (quartered)

Method

1. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 1

2. Grease baking trays and place greaseproof paper on.

3. Stiffly whisk egg whites (so you can hold bowl over your head and not get covered in them)!

4. Add sugar gradually, and whisk.

5. Place small dollops on greaseproof paper.

6. Cook for 1 hour.

7. Place 200g Raspberries, Icing Sugar and Lemon Juice in Food Processor and whizz together.

8. Put mix into sieve and push through with spoon into bowl. This is your coulis.

9. Whip double cream.

10. After Meringues cooked, leave in oven to cool.

11. When cooled, place 2 Meringues on plate, cover with cream, strawberries, remaining raspberries and coulis.

12. Sit back, relax and enjoy!

Hope you enjoy this one! It's one of my favourites!

SUCCESS!

Hello food.....

It would appear the bread day went well. I only had time to make one thing yesterday, a 'Sun dried tomato, garlic and thyme' loaf. It had a little false start, as I put it in the airing cupboard, without thinking that it wouldn't be warm in there because of central heating not being on, but, when I found a warm place it proved and then I could cook it! Tasty tasty good! I just need more people to eat all the bread I will make in the next few weeks (I can already tell it's going to be an obsession)! So if anyone has any bread cravings pleeeeaaassseeee let me know!

Bread Day

Hello food.....

Today I will be mostly making bread. I have decided to practice this, as I enjoyed making my first '"loaf" but it definitely needed improving....... successful/unsuccessful posts will follow! :)

MESS OF THE WEEK (3) Pleasy Cheesy Souffle

Hello food.....

So, I first made Cheese Soufflé when on placement and although I'm not the biggest fan of eating it, it is 'such fun' to make! Everyone seems to find making soufflés a challenge, but it's not that difficult really, just make sure you DON'T open the oven when cooking! :D Enjoy!

Ingredients

50g flour

50g butter

150ml milk, warmed

100g strong cheese

4 large egg yolks

5 large egg whites

Method

1. Melt the butter in a pan, careful not to burn, add flour gradually and stir.
2. Meanwhile, heat the milk and nutmeg and bring to boil.
3. Slowly add the milk to the butter mixture, whilst stirring.
4. Add cheese so it melts into the mixture, leaving a few chunks of cheese unmelted.
5. Leave the mixture to cool and separate the eggs. Whisk the egg whites into stiff peaks.
6. When the mixture is cool, add the egg yolks and mix well.
7. Gradually add the egg whites. Fold in gently, careful to maintain air in the egg whites. Season.
8. Completely butter and flour each soufflé mould. Add mixture so ¾ full.
9. Bake in oven for 17 minutes at gas mark 5.
10. Serve with a rocket, tomato and onion salad, ooorrrrrrrrrrr if you're feeling more adventurous: rocket, poached pear and toasted walnut salad.

Jess's first attempt at bread

Hello food.....

So, for father's day I made dad a meal, a few days late because of working, but eventually I got round to it. I made a few things, but the main was a Mediterranean Fish Stew and I decided that crusty bread would be best with it, therefore decided to make my own. It was my first attempt, and although it looks slightly peculiar, it worked quite well, and I will be making much more! Loads of flavours too!

:D

Rewarding times.....

Hello food.....

So today, i got my degree results! I got a 2:1!!!! YEYYYYYYY! Officially a graduate of hospitality management with culinary arts! So happy to have finished and never having to deal with uni EVER again, apart from graduation, but perhaps the best bit so far...... the present from my dad! :)

MESS OF THE WEEK (2) Phuket, Just make a Thai Green Curry

Hello food....

Tasty tasty thai green curry. My dad's genius name! I hope it doesn't offend anyone! The recipe is done with prawns, but it's fantasmical to do with fish, nice meaty white fish like Monkfish, it just takes on the flavours ridiculously well, or use chicken. Or can do it vegetarian style, using some potatoes to give it some substance and various green veg that you like! Also, either take out or add more chillies depending on how spicy you like the curry. This makes a medium spiced one! :) Enjoy!

Ingredients

Thai Green Curry Paste

· 4 Green Bird Eye chillies (seeds removed)

· 2 Lemongrass stalks (peeled and roughly chopped)

· 2 Garlic cloves (peeled)

· 3cm cube Ginger (peeled and roughly chopped)

· 1 lime (zest and juice)

· 10g Lime leaves (fresh or frozen NOT DRIED)

· 2 Tbsp Fish Sauce

· 2 Tbsp Sesame oil to combine into paste

· 30g Coriander

Curry

· 200g Raw King Prawns

· 400ml coconut milk

· 2 limes (Juice and Zest)

· 1 Tbsp Fish Sauce

· 100g Spinach

· 20g Coriander

· 240g Thai Sticky Rice

Method

1. Place all paste ingredients in food processor and blitz to paste.

2. Place curry paste in pan and cook on medium heat for 2-3 minutes, until smells aromatic.

3. Add the prawns to the pan and stir until all are covered in the paste and begin to turn pink.

4. Add the coconut milk, lime zest and juice and leave to simmer for 20 minutes.

5. Meanwhile put the rice and 300ml water in a pan and bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for 15 minutes.

6. Add the fish sauce, check the taste and add more if needed.

7. Add the spinach and coriander and cook for a further 3 minutes, serve with sticky rice