I’m beginning to think my middle is name is Noah with all the rain we have been having! I can’t remember the last time the field opposite us wasn’t like a lake, although it has gone down a bit now and looks like a paddy field as the cows have been allowed back in to graze on what they can find. Today has dawned with some frost so at least we have some sunshine and things looking a little brighter!

I have been thinking that the last few posts have all been about comfort food so we can put up with the awful weather. However, if we carry on with these we’ll all be the size of a house by Christmas – so this week is about winter salads – but with a hint of warmth to keep out the chill. You can eat them on their own – but they will easily sit happily alongside lamb or pork chops or baked fish.

Mushroom and Wild Rice Salad

If you’ve been following this blog, you will know that last weekend I went home to Scotland for a family weekend to see my brother and sister-in-law, niece and nephew, nephew’s wife and great-niece, little Bethany.  My 2 daughters flew up from London too and on Sunday, my best friend, Sandra, of 48 years (how did that happen?!) joined us. We don’t see any of each other that often but always meet as if we had only parted a few days ago. We talked about everything and everyone, including those no longer with us and daughter No 1 (in order, only!) reminded us of Granny’s spaghetti Bolognese which she considers second to none. And, so, here it is in all it’s glory with the secret ingredient Jennifer never knew about till much later – chicken livers, giving it a great depth and richness.  This recipe is for one – but I will allow you double it if you want to freeze the remainder and make a lasagne at a later date.

Mum’s Best Bolognese

•  30g pancetta or bacon
• 15g (½oz) butter, plus extra for serving
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 small carrot, finely chopped
• 1 small piece of celery, finely chopped
• 75g lean minced beef
• 35g chicken livers, chopped
• 1 tbsp concentrated tomato purée
•  1/2 glass of white wine (pour 1 glass and drink half whilst you are cooking!)
• Salt and pepper
• Nutmeg
• 1/2 wine glass of stock or water
• 85 -100g fresh or dried spaghetti
• Parmesan cheese, grated          Basil leaves to decorate

Cut the ham into very small pieces and brown them gently in a small saucepan in the butter. Add the onion, carrot and celery. When they have browned, put in the minced beef, and then turn it over and over so that it all browns evenly. Add the chopped chicken livers, and after 2 or 3 minutes the tomato purée, and then the white wine. Season to taste with salt and pepper and a scraping of nutmeg, and add the stock or water. Cover the pan and simmer the sauce very gently for 30-40 minutes. Cook the spaghetti in a large pan of boiling salted water until al dente (just soft), then drain and put into a warm dish. When the Bolognese sauce is ready to be served, mix it with the hot pasta. Add a good piece of butter before serving with the grated Parmesan cheese.

Keeping with My Mum theme – to follow, a pudding so wonderful you will keep making again and again.  Mum came from the Lake District, in particular, Cartmel, which was the original home of Sticky Toffee Pudding. I’m not going to give a “normal” recipe for this as it’s impossible to scale down – but this is made in a mug and microwaved so it can become your guilty pleasure as often as you like!

First, test your mug! Place your (obviously not metal) mug in the microwave, empty and heat for 1 minute.  If it is hot, don’t use. A 350ml would be best, too.

• 2 tablespoons soft butter, plus a little for greasing
• 4 tablespoons toffee sauce (you can buy this in any supermarket under the name Dulce Leche. Once opened, store in the fridge.  You can use it on ice cream – even porridge – or until you make this again!)
• 1 egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons dried dates, roughly chopped
• 3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
• 4 tablespoons self raising flour

Grease your mug with a little of the butter and spoon in 3 tablespoons of toffee sauce. Melt remaining butter, add egg, remaining sauce, vanilla and dates and beat with a fork. Fold in the sugar and flour and beat again till smooth and spoon into the mug. Cook for 2 minutes 35 seconds (600W) or 2 minutes 15 seconds (800W).  Cool slightly and tune out onto a plate.

There is another reason for Mum’s best recipe – it is 23 years today since she died.  I think of her every day and know how proud she would be of all the family that has come after her.  This blog was started to encourage people on their own to get back into the enjoyment of cooking. Today, I want you to think hard, though.  Are you really on your own – or just lost connections? A family doesn’t always mean blood – it can be friends and workmates, too – you don’t even need to agree all the time! If you are truly on your own though, make today the day you smile to the postman, put a coin in a homeless cup and make a step outwards.  Call it a friendship, a network, a tribe or a family: whatever you call it, you need one. 

Once again, as I write this, the rain pours down and another grey day.  Thankfully, yesterday was lovely and I got a lot of gardening done, having recently dug out a bed full of nettles and weeds and found a whole piece of new garden to plant up.  The new hens have bonded in beautifully with the old and have soon learnt that when they see me with a spade, worms and grubs will follow.  They actually try to stand on the spade as I dig, toppling over in their eagerness to see what is underneath!  I really love my “girls” and thank them all the time for their great, completely free range, eggs.

So in the light of them – and the need for comfort food yet again – something to warm me up and give a little sunshine on a plate, this week’s recipe is kedgeree – 2 versions so no one misses out. And with a touch of curry to the dishes, even The Husband has no cause for complaint!

Smoked fish Kedgeree

• 100g undyed smoked haddock fillet (you can also do this with smoked mackerel fillets (in which case no need to cook!)
• a little milk
  1 bay leaf
  50g basmati rice, cooked
  1 free-range egg, hard boiled
  25g frozen peas (optional) cooked
  20g butter
  1 dessertspoon rapeseed oil
  1/2 – 1 small onion, finely chopped
  1 dessertspoon medium curry powder
• a couple of chopped tomatoes (optional, but gives some colour)
  1 tablespoon double cream
  1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley or coriander (you could go mad and add both if you have them!)
  ½ lemon, juiced
  freshly ground black pepper

Place the haddock in glass dish. Pour over a little milk, add the bay leaf and cook in a microwave  for about 5 minutes until it is just done and flakes easily. Drain in a colander and discard the bay leaf. Melt the butter with the oil in a large pan and cook the onion (and tomatoes, if using) over a low heat for five minutes until well softened, stirring occasionally. Add the curry powder and cook for another 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the cooked rice into the pan with the peas, cream, parsley and a few twists of ground black pepper. Flake the fish into chunky pieces and add these to the pan. Gently stir the lemon juice and cook for 1-2 minutes. Cut the eggs into quarters and place them on the rice. Cover the pan with a lid and heat through for 2-3 minutes or until the eggs are warm, then serve.

And so the vegetarians don’t miss out :

PS I am off the Scotland tomorrow for the weekend to spend some time with my Scottish family hence an early blog.  With the weather the way it is, though, perhaps a good day to spend in the kitchen – and hope the weekend turns out better!

Another very  wet week – and yesterday was the greyest one of all – truly dreicht (as we say in Scotland).  Cold, no light and deeply dismal. All I wanted when I got home was to sit by the fire and eat something hot and comforting.  And I wanted it straight-a-way – no messing around in the kitchen waiting – and this fits it all.  I make no apologies for much of it out of a can but sometimes needs must – and it all came together beautifully – and still healthily!

½ red onion, roughly diced
400g can mixed beans, drained
200g sweetcorn frozen sweetcorn
400g can chopped tomatoes
1tsp ground cumin
2tsp smoked paprika
25ml single cream or crème fraiche           chopped coriander

Fry the onion in a pan in a splash of olive oil over a medium heat for a 2-3 mins until soft. Add the beans, sweetcorn, tomatoes, cumin, 1tsp of the paprika and some black pepper. Stir, then simmer for about 15 mins until the soup has thickened. Serve in a bowl with a drizzle of cream or crème fraiche and chopped coriander.

ADD a QUESILLADA!

Take 2 soft corn tortillas.  Lay one down and cover with some cooled fried onions, cooked spinach and cheese (I use a cheddar with chilli pieces but you can use whatever you have plus some chilli if you like).  Lay the other on top and sort of squash together.  Put a tiny bit of oil in a frying pan and when hot put in the tortilla sandwich and cook both sides for about a minute each, so the cheese is all squishy.  Take out, slice and use to dip into your soup.

And to follow – anything with custard.  Try a baked apple (score the skin lightly around the middle, core and stuff with mincemeat and bake for about 30 minutes at 180oC).  Or stew some apples and make a crisp topping with breadcrumbs fried in butter with brown sugar and cinnamon.  Or just have a bowl of custard!

Pookie isn’t impressed with this weather, either – she reckons cuddled up on the sofa is definitely the place to be!

My youngest daughter, Alice, has just berated me for not including her absolute favourite comfort food in my previous blog about potatoes!  So just for her . . . .

Milly Molly Mandy was a series of books written in the late 1920’s about a little girl who lived with her parents, her grandparents and uncle and aunt in a little house with a white picket fence. She had lots of adventures with her friends Billy and Susan – and her mother used to make for dinner baked potatoes with cheese.  The books were Alice’s favourite when she was small and remains her comfort food even thought she is now 30! I am now doing the same for my granddaughters so another generation can enjoy – and I read the books to them whilst they are eating!

Milly Molly Mandy Potatoes

Bake a potato (you can actually do this in the microwave as it will go under the grill or into an oven to finish) .  Scoop out the middle and mash with LOTS of butter and cheese and season and pile back into the skins.  Grill or put back into the oven till golden. Serve with absolutely anything!

Potatoes – you can do so much with them – boil them, roast them, bake them, mash them – even make cakes with them, both savoury and sweet!  The ultimate comfort food  – so in a week when the view from our garden got us thinking we were by the sea and the poor hens are paddling  (I’ve just rescued 4 battery hens to join the clan from life in a shed but they may not be too sure about this mud business yet!) I thought I would give you some suggestions for something new to do with them.

Black Pudding and Cheese Hash Browns (this does make 4 but you can freeze them – impossible to half an egg white!)

• 500g potatoes           1 teasp chopped chives     1 teasp chopped parsley
• 1 egg white               4 slices black pudding       125g cheese

Boil potatoes in their skins till just soft. Grate them into a bowl and mix in the chopped herbs. Add a pinch of salt to the egg white, beat lightly with a fork to loosen and mix with the grated potato. Divide mixture into four. Pat out each one into a circle slight larger than the pudding. Put a slice of pudding in the middle topped with a slice of cheese. Fold and shape the potatoes over the stuffing so it is fully enclosed. Deep or shallow fry until golden. Top with a poached egg to serve.

Baked Potato with Smoked Haddock and Mustard

• 1 large baking potato                 150g smoked haddock       100 ml double cream
• 1 tablespoon grain mustard      chopped parsley

Put the smoked haddock in a shallow baking dish. Season the cream with mustard and parsley and a little salt and pepper and pour over the haddock. Bake in the same oven as the potato – about 20 mins. Break open the potato and scrape into a bowl and return the empty skins to the oven to crisp. Mash potato with the cream from the haddock. Flake the fish and stir into the creamed potato. Pile back into the skins and place briefly under the grill to brown.

Warm potato, spinach and parmesan salad 

• 2500g waxy potatoes                                      2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• juice of a lemon
• 1 heaped tablespoon Dijon mustard           6 tablespoons olive oil
• lump of parmesan                                          4 rashers streaky bacon
• 3 – 4 handfuls of spinach leaves

Lower the potatoes into boiling water and cook till tender. Drain and slice thickly. Whizz the vinegar, lemon juice and olive oil with 2 heaped tablespoons of grated parmesan. Fry the bacon till crisp and cut into small strips Put the spinach in a bowl and the warm potatoes and bacon and toss lightly in the dressing.

Home by the Sea last week!

When I was little, living in Scotland, my father used to make porridge with oatmeal, water and salt.  I hated it – grey, tasteless, gloopy stuff, I thought.  Forty years later The Husband (he wasn’t then ) took me to his place his France.  He offered to make me porridge which obviously I declined.  He persisted and as is the way of new romances when you are trying to please and not be the one who won’t try anything, I gave in.  And loved it!  Jumbo oats and milk, a little demerara sugar, it was a completely different dish (it could have been France, the weather, swimming in the lake and the fireflies at night – but I like to think it was the love with which it was made as well as its taste!). I have eaten it since every single morning – even in hot weather – for the last 20 years!

A week or so ago, a friend made me the above – it’s a SPURTLE and is used to stir the porridge when it’s cooking so I thought this week we could look at this excellent breakfast dish and see who else I could convert!

Porridge is made from oats which is one of the most natural and healthiest foods around. Naturally low in calories, they have many health benefits – lowering cholesterol, a number of necessary vitamins and because they have a high content of complex carbohydrates and soluble fibre, they release energy slowly. A bowl of porridge for breakfast should provide you with all the energy you need until lunch time.

I prefer to use JUMBO OATS – they are really not much more expensive than ordinary and well worth it! Some people, soak them overnight but I like a little bit of bite – and anyway whilst its cooking I can make the coffee and toast to go with it!  I put a handful of oats to a pan, add a cup of milk and put on a slow heat. (For a different taste, put the oats in the pan and dry roast them till slightly brown – the kitchen will smell amazing and the porridge will taste toasty).

The fun part is what you serve it with – demerara sugar for a bit of crunch; soft brown for a caramelly flavour. And do add a twist of salt – it makes all the difference.  You could also choose honey or syrup to sweeten – and, of course, raisins or any other dried fruit or any poached or pureed fresh fruit. By trial, the other day I made a carrot cake porridge (trust me!). I had made a cake the day before and thought I would just try the different spices on it – a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg each and a few raisins.  I even grated a little carrot over it!  And it definitely kept me going all day!

And for those of you who would rather eat breakfast on the run try these –

The Best Oaty Biscuits
4oz Oats, 3oz golden caster sugar, 2oz self raising flour, 3oz unsalted butter
½ tsp baking powder, 2 egg yolks.
Cream all the ingredients together and work the dough by hand until smooth. Grease and flour 2 baking sheets and split the dough into 8 well spaced pieces on each. Bake at 180oC for 15 to 20 minutes until coloured. Use a palette knife to slide them onto a wire rack to cool.
PS Waste not want not : Whisk the egg whites with a dollop of crème fraiche and a couple of grinds of black pepper to make the best omelette you ever tasted!

Do you know that if you click “follow” in the right hand corner of this website, a copy of the week’s recipes will drop nicely into your inbox without even having to think!

What a week we have had weatherwise! Everything from brilliant sunshine to monsoon! The poor hens have either been ankle deep (do hens have ankles?) in mud or lying on their side, wing lifted, sunbathing. Lots of gardening, tidying up for the winter, in between the mega showers.  I’ve still got some beetroot and carrots growing and my late raspberries constantly please me when I find some hiding away. I have also, been tidying up my wardrobe and reluctantly putting away light summer dress and sandals.  I am still sticking to my guns over bare legs yet (that is definitely giving in!) as long as The Husband wears his shorts!

So whilst in need of some comfort food for the Autumnal weather, I still want to hang on to the idea of summer and this recipe, I think, encaptures both.  Think Mediterranean, hot sun and lemons – but also comfort in a casserole, warm and welcoming when you come in from the cold.

Sausages, with Lemony Potatoes

•  3 – 4 meaty sausages – I prefer Toulouse ones but use your own favourite
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 small onion, thinly sliced
• 1 – 2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
•  1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds (optional)
• about 400g small waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into quarters
• pared zest and juice 1/2 lemon (Zest all but wrap the half you don’t use in clingfilm and the 1/2 juice into an ice cube and freeze – ready for when you want to make this again!)
•  2 bay leaves
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley (again, if you buy a whole packet, chop it all and freeze the rest for another time)
• salt and pepper

Put the oven on to 180oC.  Heat a little of the oil in casserole dish.  Add the sausages and fry until nicely browned all over.  Lift out and set aside.  Add the onion, garlic (and fennel if using) and another slug of oil to the casserole and fry until soft and golden.  Stir in the potatoes, sausages, lemon zest and juice, bay leaves, half the chopped parsley and salt and pepper. Pour over any remaining oil along with 80ml water, cover tightly and bake for 30 minutes or so until the potatoes are tender. Sprinkle with the rest of the parsley before serving.

Sunshine on a Plate – Orange Salad 

• 1 – 2 oranges
• 1 tablespoon icing sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon orange flower water (keeps for ages and I am sure we will use again!)
• cinnamon                           pomegranate seeds

Peel the oranges, taking as much of the pith off as you can. Turn on to their side and thinly slice. Sprinkle with icing sugar and flower water, cover and put in the fridge for about an hour.  Sprinkle with a little cinnamon and the pomegranate seeds to serve, with cream or cream fraiche – or a lemon ice cream  (scroll back through the recipes as I gave you a recipe a few months ago).

I think we have to accept that Summer is over and Autumn, with all its gilded colours is with us. I actually love all the different seasons and never regret the passing on as we do different things in them and I look forward to the changes.  One of the things I like is that in Autumn and Winter we have friends for Sunday lunch more often.  In the Spring, there is lots of gardening and the Summer brings days out so we tend to eat in the evening.  Thus, I started thinking of whether people cooking for one are missing out, thinking it wasn’t worth the effort – and what to do with the leftovers which there would inevitably be? Obviously, you are worth it – so buy the meat of your choice from a friendly butcher who will cut it to the size you want/need – and for chicken, you could roast a poussin (a small chicken). Enjoy the making – you may even now have a Sunday lunch when you know what you can do with the leftovers!

Leftover Patties

• 3 -4 leftover roast potatoes, roughly chopped
• 100g leftover Sunday lunch vegetables (carrots, swede, broccoli, cabbage etc), roughly chopped
• 75g leftover roast meat, shredded
• 1/2 tsp horseradish (or mustard)
• 1 sprig rosemary, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp oil (for frying)
• 1/2 tbsp plain flour
• Fried or poached eggs, to serve

In a large bowl slightly mash the potatoes with a fork and add the vegetables. Stir in the roast meat, horseradish (or mustard), rosemary and season. Divide the mixture into 4 and mold into cake-like shapes. Chill for 5-10 minutes. Heat a large non-stick frying pan over medium heat with the oil. Toss the cakes into the flour, shaking off any excess and fry for about 5 minutes on each side until golden. Serve hot with a fried or poached egg and a little brown sauce.

Leftover Chicken Wraps