Sunday Roast & Strawberry Cheescake!

We had my "soon to be" In-Laws over today, their first visit to our new house since we'd moved in, so we wanted to make it special!
The house was blitzed top to bottom yesterday, everything cleaned and polished, even the chickens got a scrub down!

We had a lovely day watching the pheasants in the field at the bottom of the garden and enjoyed seeing the kids running around in the sun, something that doesn't happen often enough in this country!!

My gorgeous other half cooked his impressive roast - A huge joint of Aberdeen Angus with all the trimmings inc. onion sauce & even pigs in blankets!! Yum! I was even asked to make my homemade onion gravy!!!
We finished off with a huge helping of my... (ok, my mums) Strawberry cheesecake which went down well with everyone!

I was super proud of myself as I'm not the domestic kitchen goddess, my other half is a much better cook than me, but I must say, the cheesecake was a hit and so was my onion gravy!!!!!!!

Overall our day has been uber pleasant!!

Mel

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P.S. And if you want my receipes for the onion gravy & cheesecake, here they are:

Onion Gravy

1 tsp butter
1 tsp olive oil
2 Large Red Onion - Halved & finely chopped
1 Large White Onion - Halved & finely chopped
2 Cloves Garlic - chopped
3-4 Sage Leaves - chopped
400ml Beef Stock - Homemade or out the jar!!
Salt & Pepper

In a large frying pan, add the butter and oil and heat gently, once hot add the onion and fry for around 10 minutes until soft, add the garlic & sage and fry for another 5 minutes.

Now add the stock, turn up the heat and let it bubble away for around 20 minutes and not a minute before!!

Right at the last minute add salt & pepper to taste.

If the gravy seems a little "dry" just add some more water until you get the right consistency for you - Its all personal taste!

Thats it!! Now you can either use the gravy as is, or I like to blend mine up.

I find it is best to make this before anything else, even the day before. It can even be frozen. Perfect!

Strawberry Cheesecake

8 Digestive Biscuits
2oz Butter
1/2 pt double cream
3/4 cup Icing Sugar
8oz Light Philadelphia/Cream Cheese
Vanilla Essence
500g Strawberries
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup water

Put the butter in a pan on a gentle heat, while this is melting pop the 8 digestive biscuits into a bag and take out any frustration on them! Crush them up until all crumbly. Add to the butter and mix well.
Pop this into the bottom of the pan/bowl you will be using and squash down, making sure its level, ready for the next layer. Pop in the fridge to set while doing the next step.

Now whisk the double cream until it forms soft peaks,
Then mix togwether the cream cheese, icing sugar and a few drops of vanilla essence. Fold into the cream.
Add to the pan/bowl again making your second layer to the cake.

Pop in the fridge for 2-3hrs.

Decorate with a few of the strawberries, leaving most for the coulis to be drizzled on top.

Heat the water, sugar & strawberries in a pan until bubbling. Once all the strawberries are super soft and mushy, transfer the mixture into a blender and blend until it makes a sauce.
Some people at this point like to strain this through a fine mesh strainer to get rid of the strawberry seeds, I didn't bother!

Once this has cooled, dish up your cheesecake and pour over some coulis! Mmmmm absolutely beautiful!!!!