Hello again! I’m delighted to be bringing you a whole series of new recipes, thanks to Sarson’s. Over the next few months, I’ll be sharing my ideas for dishes using their brill new product - Sarson’s Pickle in 15 Minutes. It’s very simply a ready-to-use pickling blend that means you can create all sorts of pickled things really easily and quickly. Instead of making your own pickling liquor (by adding sugar and spices to vinegar, basically), this product means you cut out a whole stage in the recipe process and simply pour it over the veg/fruit, straight from the bottle. Wait (you guessed it) 15 minutes, and it’s done!
This second idea is for a pretty epic toastie – it uses three different cheeses, a quick homemade cranberry jam (use shop-bought cranberry sauce if you want to) and some super quick and ridiculously easy pickled pears, using the Sarson’s Pickle in 15 Minutes.
Use any cheese combination you like for this – a great way to use up the remnants of a Christmas cheeseboard! Adding at least some mozzarella into the mix will give you those sexy stretchy cheesy bites!
Serves 2
For the cranberry jam (makes about 6 tablespoons)
200g Frozen or fresh whole cranberries
100g Sugar
3tbsp (45ml) Water
3 tbsp (45ml) Orange juice
Put all ingredients in a medium saucepan, stir to combine and heat over a medium heat to dissolve the sugar. Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer and cook for approx. 20 mins, stirring occasionally to burst the berries.
Use a stick blender to blitz until smooth then pass through a fine sieve.
Pour into a jar and cool. Once cold, move into the fridge and it will keep for 2 weeks.
For the pickled pears
1 medium pear
1 bottle Sarson’s Pickle in 15 Minutes (I used the ‘Lightly Seasoned’ variety).
Halve the pear lengthways from stalk to base, then thinly slice widthways and place in a bowl. Simply cover with the Sarson’s Pickle In 15 and put to one side for 15 minutes.
This will make enough pickled pear for at least 2 sandwiches.
For the toasties
50g Mature cheddar, grated
50g Gruyere, grated
75g Mozzarella, finely chopped.
4 slices of Sourdough
4 tsp Mayonnaise
4 tsp Cranberry jam
Quick pickled pear slices, drained
Blitz all the cheeses together in a food processor. Spread the outside of your bread with mayonnaise and the insides with the cranberry jam. Lay the slices jam side up and divide half the cheese mixture onto two slices, top with a few slices of pickled pears and then the rest of the cheese. Season with plenty of black pepper and a bit of sea salt. Close the sandwiches, mayo side up. If you have a sandwich press, now’s the time to use it! If you don’t then you can fry the sandwiches in butter in a large frying pan, weighing it down with something heavy like a heavy bottomed saucepan, then flipping it over and repeating until golden on both sides.
Serve with the remaining pickled pear slices and the extra jam on the side.
