Henney's cider-soaked pork & apple kebabs

I picked up a recipe card in Waitrose last week for a tasty sounding cider and pork recipe.

Sponsored by one of the big boys in the world of cider-making it suggested a different brand of 'cider' (I'm using the term loosely there), but I thought I'd give it a try with a real cider - a bottle of Henney's Dry. I've changed almost all the other ingredients too, plus I swapped the suggested BBQ for a grill (it was raining) so the recipe has become my own. It's nice - give it a try.

Cider Soaked Pork & Apple Kebabs 

 

Ingredients

 

½ x 500 ml bottle Henney's Dry Cider
4 tbsp honey
4 cloves garlic, halvedfew sprigs rosemary
420g essential Waitrose British Pork Fillet, cubed
2 easting apples, chunked
8 shallots, halved
1 red pepper, seeded and thickly sliced
Extra virgin olive oil

 

Method

 

1. Place the cider in a large glass bowl and stir in 2 tbsp of the honey, the garlic cloves and half the rosemary. Add the pork and leave to soak for an hour or two. Overnight will not hurt.

2. Lift out the pork, discarding the marinade. Thread the meat and vegetables alternately onto skewers, and drizzle with olive oil.

3. BBQ or grill 15–20 minutes, turning regularly until cooked through

4. Chop the remaining rosemary and stir into the remaining honey. Brush onto the skewers and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes until shiny and nicely browned.

Serve with rice, salad and a glass of Henney's.

Jamie Oliver's Overnight Roasted Pork Shoulder - with Henney's Vintage

It was great to see Jamie Oliver using a bottle of Henney's on his latest show a couple of weeks ago - he cooked an overnight roasted shoulder of pork with a fair few glugs of cider, and we thought we'd have a go at recreating it at home.

If you fancy having a go, the recipe is on Jamie's website here: www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pork-recipes/overnight-roasted-pork-shoulder

We downsized on the pork somewhat (there's only two of us at home so a 5kg joint seemed a bit greedy) and roasted our more moderately sized joint for about six hours. We also swapped the Henney's Dry in the recipe for a bottle of Henney's Vintage (not sure what Mike's thinking was there - fuller flavour? Or maybe he just happened to have Vintage to hand) but otherwise we followed the recipe to a T and it was simple, tasty and worked a treat.

Definitely worth a try - and far, far easier than the last "celebrity chef uses Henney's cider" recipe we had a go at - Tom Kerridge's Hay Baked Chicken. Took us about a month to get rid of all that bloody hay....

Slow Cooked Pork in Henney's Apple Sweet Cider

A big thank you to our friends Sam and Anna for sharing this recipe. They sent it over last winter but I failed to get organised and post it, then the weather warmed up and it didn't really seem appropriate for a summer evening.

But I'd say Autumn is pretty much upon us now and it's definitely getting cooler in the evenings, so I think we can safely say it's time to start thinking casseroles!

Slow Cooked Pork in Henney's Apple Sweet Cider

1 Henney’s Apple Sweet Cider
2 Pork chops
2 Bramley apples
5 Potatoes
3 Onions
1 Carrot
1 Red pepper
1 Vegetable stock
Rosemary and thyme

Peel the peelable things and chop everything to bite sized chunks.
Put everything into the slow cooker with a healthy sprinkling of the herbs.
Leave to simmer for 6 hours or so stirring occasionally.

Serve with fresh bread and a glass of cider

Serves 4 - 6

Henney's Vintage & Heston Blumenthal

Every so often Mike casually mentions something about Henney's that I can't believe he hasn't told me before.

For example - the other day I found out he supplies his Vintage cider for use in a recipe at one of Heston Blumenthal's restaurants - The Crown at Bray.

 

The Crown at Bray

Apparently Heston's 'development team' worked up a recipe using bottles of Vintage bought from Waitrose, then the head chef, Nick Galer, contacted Mike to buy in quantity. He now sends it over every so often by the pallet load, so evidently people eat a lot of mussles in cider at The Crown in Bray.

I did try to persuade Mike that we really need a trip over to eat said mussels - as research for this blog post you understand - but apparently this isn't necessary. Ah well.

So if you are in the area do call in and order Cornish Deep Sea Mussels, Cider and Granny Smith Apple (£14.50) - and let us know what you think.

Cider Pancakes with Caramel Apples

A quirky, cidery alternative to a plain pancake. The batter is made using cider instead of milk, and the pancakes are served with delicious caramelised apples  - a great winter pud. Or just a tasty treat on Pancake Day!

Cider Pancakes with Caramel Apples

For the pancake batter:
75g plain flour

pinch of salt

2 large eggs

100ml Henney's Dry Cider

couple of pinches of ground cinnamon

a little oil, for frying

For the Caramel Apple filling:
350g eating apples, cored and chunked

50g golden caster sugar

40g butter

icing sugar, to dust

1. First make the filling. Melt the butter in a frying pan, add the sugar and cook over a medium heat until the sugar dissolves and begins to caramelise.

2. Add the apple and cook for five minutes, stirring to ensure apples are cooking through and covered in the caramel. Keep warm.

3. Make the pancake batter. Place flour, cinnamon, salt and eggs in a large bowl, whisk well until lump free. Gradually add cider, whisking until smooth. Pour into a jug. 

  

4. Heat a frying pan until hot, drizzle a little oil into the pan, then pour in a little batter from the jug, immediately tilting pan to spread the batter as thinly as possible. Cook until top is set and base is golden, then toss your pancake and cook the other side. Transfer to a warm plate and keep warm while you cook the remaining pancakes...

5. Serve each pancake folded over a spoonful of the apple caramel mixture and dusted with icing sugar.

6. Enjoy your pancakes with a glass of Henney's cider!

A Hearty Chicken Casserole with Henney's Cider

I'm looking forward to this part of 'the job' - writing a series of posts on cooking with cider. It certainly won't be a hardship to test out some tasty recipes (and it gives me something to do and write about when Mike's busy doing cider making things...)

Our first recipe, a hearty chicken casserole, is one we've adapted as it originally called for dry white wine, but I contacted Lucy Cash, the recipe writer, beforehand to ask if she thought it would work and she said yes, give it a go. So we used Henney's Dry Cider - and it was very nice.

 

A Hearty Chicken Casserole with Henney's Cider

2 large chicken breasts, skin on

salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon olive oil & a knob of butter

1 large onion, roughly chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

150g chestnut mushrooms, quartered

500g potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks

2-3 carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks

100g fresh or frozen peas

1.5 tablespoons mushroom ketchup

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

2 bay leaves

200 ml Henneys Dry Cider

500 ml chicken stock

1. Season chicken breasts with salt and pepper

2. In a large pan or casserole heat the oil and butter and fry the chicken breasts for a few minutes on a high heat until they are nicely browned. Remove from the pan and place to one side.

3. Turn down the heat, then add onion and garlic and fry for a few minutes until softened. Add the mushrooms, potatoes, peas, carrots and mushroom ketchup, give everything a good stir and season with a decent dosing of salt and pepper. Add rosemary and bay leaves and cook for a few minutes

4. Return the chicken to the pan, add the Henney's cider and chicken stock. Turn the heat up and bring to the boil, then turn the heat down, pop on a lid and leave the casserole to simmer for a couple of hours, until the chicken and vegetables have cooked through and the sauce has reduced. 

5. Serve in large bowls, with hunk of bread and glass of Henney's cider! 
 

A perfect 'one pot' mid week meal, with all your veggies in there too. The recipe suggests serving with crusty bread but, honestly, it's pretty substantial on it's own. The glass of cider on the side is essential though!