Marks and Spencer Pork, Sage and Onion garnish selection - gluten free

I noticed this box of stuffing balls, bacon rolls and cocktail sausages in the freezer section in M and S.  Missing out on the stuffing and just being given plain turkey and vegetables (often without gravy) is a standard complaint at this time of year - too many work Christmas lunches just leave us feeling annoyed and left out.  One person wrote that their piece of turkey had the hole in the middle where the stuffing had been removed, despite the catering team having been given ample notice.  This would mean that the turkey wasn't safe to eat.

I cooked these according to the instructions but think that left them overcooked.  When 35 of the specified 45 minutes are finished check to see if they are done.  I would also recommend placing baking paper on the baking pan as I found they stuck to the tin.

The stuffing balls were tasty, good consistency, and not cloying or overpoweringly flavoured.  They are made with rice flour, chickpea flour and cornflour. The sausages had a good balance of flavours and were neither bouncy or bready. The bacon was crisp and well flavoured.

This little pack of 'garnishes' makes giving people a full plate of goodies to go with their turkey very easy.  Highly recommended.

new gf flour mix - pizza without corn or tapioca flours

More tests on a corn and tapioca-free flour mix made from a third each or urid lentil, buckwheat and brown rice flours.

Set oven to 175 and place baking tin into oven to get hot.

150g flour (1/3 each urid, buckwheat, rice)
1 tsp baking powder
water to produce damp dough

Mix ingredients together and then shape into circle on a sheet of baking parchment laid on a baking sheet. I just press the mix out to shape using my fingers  Cover with topping as desired.  I use a rich tomato and herb sauce, often with some chilli.  One my side I used sliced avocado (I am lactose intolerant so don't use cheese) grilled peppers..anything that I fancy.  The other side has mozzarella and pepperoni on.  As I am no longer a vegetarian we just have half the pizza each - otherwise make two small ones to solve the same problem.  And yes, sorry, it does have fresh pineapple on too.

Slide the pizza on its baking parchment onto the hot tin.  This process, though a bit awkward, means that the base is well cooked by the time the toppings have cooked and saves that dreary floppy bottom problem.

Cook for about 20 minutes until cheese is melted and crust golden.

The crust behaved well, and was possible to pick up as a slice if you like to eat it by hand.  I thought it a little less crisp than my usual pizza base, but my husband said he slightly preferred it.  A bit of millet would crisp it up if wanted.

Samphire tempura with fish and spicy sauce

Spotted some samphire in the supermarket so bought some on a whim.  Looked at a few recipes, and was tempted by some aspects of this recipe.  It is based around crab and has a many step recipe, but I took a few key aspects from it to make a quick and easy supper.

I made a chili sauce by frying two fat cloves of garlic with some chopped chili and chopped rosemary, stirred in a heaped teaspoon of caramelised onion marmalade I had been given for a present, the zest and juice of a left over quarter of a lemon,  half a teaspoon of ketchup and some water.  I cooked this just to bring all the flavours together and blitzed it smooth.

Tempura samphire
700g samphire, rinsed
50g rice flour
cold water

Mix the rice flour and cold water together together to make a slurry - the recipe says the consistency of double cream.  I just made it thick enough that it lightly coated the samphire.

I used a small heavy-bottomed stainless steel pan to cook these in rather than getting my deep fryer out for such a small quantity of food.  I put about 1cm of vegetable oil in the pan and heated until a blob of batter dropped in fizzed and cooked quickly but didn't burn.

Put a few pieces of samphire into the batter, then lift each one out and place carefully in the hot oil.  Tongs make this task easy. I found they worked best when each strand was put in separately - it cooked quicker, looked nicer and made a more crunchy cooked product.  Take the samphire out of the oil when the batter begins to go golden.  Place on kitchen paper to drain.  Repeat until all the samphire is cooked.  I recommend wearing a long sleeved garment to protect your arms as the oil will spit when you put the wet samphire in.

I served this with fish (salmon and haddock depending on preference) which only took 3 minutes in the microwave each from frozen, baked potato, sliced tomato and the chili sauce.