Festive Feasting
Beeches of Walkley have their award-winning sausages, bacon, free range chicken, lamb, beef and pork alongside festive hampers.
Roney’s on Sharrow Vale Road have their famous Kelly Bronze turkeys, 28-day aged beef, lamb, pork and chicken, plus sausages and bacon for your pigs in blankets.
Mr Pickles on Abbeydale Road have a fine selection of beef, pork and turkey, on top of Christmas Yorkshire hampers, baked treats from Lottie Shaw’s, condiments including Rosebud Preserves Boxing Day chutney, and Christmas coffee from Frazer’s Coffee roasters.
wedoliver.com
hogroastsheffield.co.uk
mrpicklesfoodstore.co.uk
Greengrocers
Barra Organics on Sharrow Vale Road stock festive favourites such as sprouts on stalks, figs, pomegranates and clementines. They are also selling Christmas wreaths made by the local biodynamic growers and young people of Freeman College.
Beanies Wholefoods on Crookes Valley Road have a great selection of organic and non-organic produce, some grown by Sheffield Organic Growers. They are offering a 'let us do your shopping for you' service and a Christmas collect veg box containing all your festive essentials.
New Roots wholefoods not-for-profit shop on Glossop Road is run by volunteers, all veg is sourced as locally as possible and their veg boxes are delivered by bicycle. All proceeds are passed on to charities such as ASSIST.
facebook.com/thebarrasheffield
beanieswholefoods.co.uk
newroots.org.uk
Photo by Mike Licht (Flickr)
|Starmore Boss on Sharrow Vale Road have lots of Christmas drinks ideas and recommendations, with some amazing single cask whisky from family-owned Douglas Laing and The Crystal Head Skull Vodka, owned by actor Dan Ackroyd, which comes bottled in a stunning skull-shaped bottle.
Hop Hideout on Abbeydale Road have lots of gift sets and special Christmas ales, including Brouwerij De Ranke’s Pere Noel, Great Heck’s Bad Santa and Ilkley Brewery’s Mary Christmas. Look out for in-store tasting sessions this month.
Beer Central in the Moor Market have 14 Christmas beers plus gift boxes. Bradfield Brewery’s Belgian Blue, Welbeck Abbey’s Cocoa Noel Choc Stout and Wiper and True’s Plum Pudding Porter are festive favourites.
starmoreboss.com
hophideout.co.uk
facebook.com/BeerCentralLtd
Gifts
Filthy Gorgeous on Abbeydale Road have bespoke apple crate Christmas hampers, fine natural wines, raw chocolates and organic turkeys and geese to order. You can even book a wine tasting session for your Christmas party.
Cocoa Wonderland on Ecclesall Road has festive bird boxes filled with shards of handmade chocolate. The limited edition flavours are Christmas cracker, popping milk chocolate with honeycomb, Christmas pud, dark chocolate with rum, raisin and eggnog, and white chocolate with rich, spicy eggnog flavours.
Urban Pantry in Crookes is stacked with food goodies, with an abundant cheese selection, cured meats and deli treats, plus a range of Yorkshire products like Sheffield Honey, Pure North Cider and Tipple Tails cake.
wildstarfood.com
cocoawonderland.co.uk
urbanpantry.co.uk
Recipe by Starmore Boss
2 bottles of 75cl cider
4 cloves
2 star anise
1 nutmeg, whole
1 vanilla pod
4 tbsps sugar
1 cinnamon stick
Zest of 1 orange
Put all the ingredients into a big pan and heat gently. Don’t boil the mix, but simmer for about five minutes. Strain and serve.
Cinnamon-infused Vodka
Recipe by Starmore Boss
Vodka
Cinnamon sticks
A simple way to make vodka a bit more festive. Get hold of some reasonably decent vodka. Get 3-4 cinnamon sticks. Place them in the bottle, give it a bit of a shake and let it infuse for a couple of weeks. Strain to remove any broken cinnamon bits.
If you make some sugar syrup up by gently heating two parts sugar to one part water in a pan - never getting the pan hot enough so you can’t comfortably touch it - then you can use this to turn the vodka into something a bit more liqueur-like.
|Recipe by Mr Pickles
Serves 4-6
Brisket is a great economical alternative to turkey at Christmas. It’s one of the tastiest cuts available and, as it demands a long and slow cook, it means you can spend more time with the family.
1.3kg brisket - ask your butcher to roll it for you
Salt & pepper
Spices: 2 bay leaves - torn, 4 whole cloves, 10 black peppercorns, 2 star anise and 1 cinnamon stick, snapped in half
2 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp Henderson’s Relish
600ml red wine, or beef stock
Sunflower oil for frying
175g carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
450g leeks, roughly chopped
3 medium onions, peeled and cut into quarters
The night before you want to cook, place your brisket in a bowl and add the spices, sugar, Hendo’s and wine or stock. Cover and refrigerate overnight.
Preheat the oven to 170°C/gas mark 4. Remove the joint from the marinade (do not discard), pat dry and brown on all sides in a large frying pan.
Place in a casserole dish that can also be used on the hob, and use some of the marinade to deglaze the frying pan before adding all the marinade to the casserole along with the vegetables.
Bring everything to the boil and transfer to the oven to cook for around three hours.
Transfer the casserole dish to a warm spot in your kitchen, a top oven if you have one. Make sure you keep the lid firmly shut to keep it as warm as possible.
Now that your oven is free, you can turn up the heat and cook your Christmas trimmings. When you’re ready to make the gravy, remove the meat from the casserole dish and keep it warm. Strain the liquid into a bowl using a sieve and muslin cloth. Discard the onion, carrots, leeks and spices. Skim off the fat from the cooking liquor, or use a fat separator jug, and reduce on the hob over a medium heat. Remove the string from the brisket, slice and serve with the gravy.
Photo by geishaboy500 (Flickr)
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