Bonfire Night

Meal Plan Occasions 2: More Special Occasions

Occasion 6 · Bonfire Night

Today at a glance. A warming meal for 4 people for 5 November, easy to eat outside by a fire or at a firework display with a mug of something hot. The jacket potatoes take the longest, so start them first. The parkin is best baked a day or two earlier. Quantities are for the whole table, in metric with UK names.

Main meal

Main meal · Serves 4 · Pork

Sticky Honey-Mustard Sausages with Jacket Potatoes and Smoky Beans

Prep: 15 minutesCooking: about 1 hour 15 minutesAbout 30 minutes of hands-on workServes 4

Ingredients (4 portions)

  • 4 large baking potatoes (about 300 g each)
  • 2 tsp olive oil, for the potatoes
  • 8 good-quality pork sausages
  • 2 tbsp runny honey
  • 2 tbsp wholegrain mustard
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tins (400 g each) baked beans in tomato sauce
  • 1 tbsp tomato purée
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp mustard
  • 1 tbsp dark brown sugar
  • 60 g butter, for the potatoes
  • 100 g strong Cheddar, grated
  • 1 bunch spring onions, sliced, to serve
Make it ahead
Prick and oil the potatoes and bake them earlier if you like: bake for 1 hour 15 minutes, leave them in the oven with the heat off, and put them back in at 200°C for 15 minutes before serving. Make the beans earlier and reheat them. Wrap in foil to keep warm if you are eating outside by the fire.

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan). Scrub the potatoes, prick them all over with a fork, rub them with the oil and a little salt and put them straight on the oven shelf. Bake for 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes, until the skins are crisp and the middles are soft when squeezed.
  2. The sausages: 35 minutes before the potatoes are ready, put the sausages in a roasting tin and cook for 15 minutes. Mix the honey, wholegrain mustard and soy sauce, pour it over the sausages and turn them to coat. Roast for 15 to 20 minutes more, turning twice, until deep golden, sticky and cooked right through.
  3. The smoky beans: tip the beans into a saucepan with the tomato purée, paprika, mustard and sugar. Simmer gently for 10 minutes, stirring now and then, until thick and glossy.
  4. Cut a deep cross in the top of each potato, squeeze the ends to open it up, and put in the butter and a handful of cheese, letting it melt.
  5. Serve each person a jacket potato topped with beans, 2 sticky sausages on the side, and a scatter of spring onions.
Sausages must be cooked through
Sausages must be cooked until there is no pink in the middle and the juices run clear. Cut one open to check. If you are cooking outdoors, keep raw and cooked meat apart. Chill leftovers within 2 hours and eat them within 2 days, reheated once until steaming hot.

Swaps

Vegetarian sausages in place of pork. A chilli beef topping (leftover chilli) in place of the beans. Hot dog rolls and onions for a hot dog bar. Sweet potatoes in place of the baking potatoes.

Shopping list for this recipe

Dessert

Dessert · Serves 4 to 9

Sticky Parkin with Toffee Sauce

Prep: 20 minutesOven: 45 to 50 minutesAbout 30 minutes of hands-on workCuts into 9 squares, so serves 4 with leftovers

Ingredients (4 portions)

  • 100 g butter, plus a little for the tin
  • 100 g dark brown soft sugar
  • 100 g golden syrup
  • 50 g black treacle
  • 100 g self-raising flour
  • 150 g medium oatmeal (or porridge oats, blitzed for 10 seconds)
  • 2 tsp ground ginger
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 100 ml milk
  • 50 g butter, for the toffee sauce
  • 75 g dark brown soft sugar, for the toffee sauce
  • 100 ml double cream, for the toffee sauce
Make it ahead
Parkin improves with keeping. Bake it up to 3 days ahead, wrap it in foil and keep it in an airtight tin, and it becomes stickier and more gingery. Reheat the toffee sauce just before serving.

Method

  1. Heat the oven to 150°C (130°C fan). Grease a 20 cm square tin and line the base with baking paper.
  2. Put the 100 g of butter, 100 g of sugar, golden syrup and treacle in a large saucepan over a low heat. Stir until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Do not let it boil. Take it off the heat and cool for 5 minutes.
  3. Stir in the flour, oatmeal, ginger and cinnamon. Beat in the egg and milk to give a thin, pourable batter. It will look runny, and that is right.
  4. Pour it into the tin and bake for 45 to 50 minutes, until the top is firm and springy, and the edges are coming away from the tin. Leave to cool in the tin.
  5. The sauce: put the 50 g of butter, 75 g of sugar and the cream in a small pan over a medium heat. Stir until the sugar dissolves, then simmer for 3 minutes, until thick and glossy.
  6. Cut the parkin into 9 squares, warm one for each person for 20 seconds in the microwave, and pour over the toffee sauce.

Swaps

Ice cream or custard in place of the toffee sauce. Chopped stem ginger in the batter. A baked apple on the side.

Shopping list for this recipe
Coming up next
Occasion 7 is Hogmanay on 31 December, with a steak and onion pie with a puff pastry lid, mash and buttered cabbage, followed by a shortbread and raspberry trifle.