Just had a potting shed put up in the garden – I was ridiculously excited about it coming!  Also bought myself a little rotovator to dig over the vegetable patches and fruit patch.  We had 2 lovely days last week (Spring?) so I was out there digging and raking and planting!  I’ve put in spinach, carrots, parsnips, beetroot, broad beans, dwarf beans and peas in the ground with cucumber and courgette seeds (hopefully) sprouting in pots on the shelf in front of the shed window.  Rhubarb is going well with black and redcurrants, rapsberries and gooseberries leafing up nicely!  You can almost hear everything growing!  Had to net it all, though, as the lovely hens thought they would just scratch up everything sown!

All this got me to think about vegetarians and how I haven’t really posted much for them.  Also, most of the past Wednesday posts have been what to do with individual vegetables – so this week we are going to put them altogether!

Goulash with Horseradish Dumplings

• 1 onion
• 1 carrot
• 1 large potato (ordinary or sweet)
• 1 stick of celery
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme
• 1 teaspoon paprika (I like the smoked one but it’s up to you)
• 1 tin tomatoes – whole or chopped
• 1 vegetable stock cube
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 1 teaspoon chilli sauce (or our favourite secret ingredient, Heinz Fiery Tomato Ketchup)
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 red pepper

Chop all the vegetables.  Heat some oil in a saucepan and add the onions, garlic, thyme and paprika and fry gently for 5 minutes.  Add the carrot, potato and celery and fry for another 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, stock cube, tomato paste and chilli sauce and bay leaf.  Bring to the boil and simmer till the vegetables are soft.  Halve, deseed and slice the pepper and fry in another pan for 6 – 8 minutes till soft and charred. Add to the goulash.

Dumplings

• 50 grams Self raising flour             25 grams vegetable suet
• 1 large dessertspoon horseradish sauce (or more to taste)
• 1 teaspoon tarragon (optional)

Combine all above in a bowl, adding enough water to form a soft dough and shape into small balls

You can now either add the dumplings, cover and simmer gently for about 25 minutes for soft dumplings OR transfer the goulash to an oven dish, add the dumplings and put in the oven at 180oC uncovered for about 20 minutes if you like your dumplings crispy on the top (I do!). To serve a  spoonful of sour cream if you have any and some shredded spring onion to decorate

Sometimes, I add some spinach, shredded kale or cabbage to the goulash with the peppers to give it a little more colour and taste. You could also vary the vegetables to add parsnip, swede, leek – whatever is lurking in the bottom of your fridge!

PS My husband, a true carnivore, loves this so even non vegetarians should enjoy this! And, if you have any left over, you can whizz it all up in a blender (obviously you will have eaten the dumplings so not them) with a little more stock and have some lovely vegetable soup for another day!

 Granny – just engaged to Grandad

Food – the planning, the buying, the preparation, the eating and remembering who with.  It isn’t just feeding to sustain the body – the one thing I’m hoping with this blog is that you will come to love cooking and baking as much as I do and not as a chore.

Thus, the two recipes for today are about memories and the person who gave them to me – granny.  I was brought up with my brother and parents outside Glasgow and each year we went to my mum’s mum in the Lake District for nearly all the school summer holidays.  For 6 years – 1960 to 1966 when granny died – mum, Stewart and I took the steam train from Glasgow to Lancaster and then a little train that stopped at every little station down the coast to Roose (dad came for his 2 weeks in the middle).  A trunk filled with our clothes was sent on ahead and the days counted down.  Granny’s garden was filled with roses (from which my brother and I made “perfume”) and raspberry and blackcurrant bushes to be picked all summer long.  Her garden went out onto a field and we used to spend ages out there catching frogs and toads. One of my main jobs was shelling peas into a chipped enamel bowl – I can still hear the ping as they hit into it.  Next door lived Mr and Mrs Story who owned a bookshop (yes, really!) and Whisky the cat who let me put him in my dolls pram and wheel around the garden.

Granny was a wonderful cook – nothing fancy – meat and potato pies (see an earlier post for the recipe, my dad’s favourite), Lancashire hot pot, crumbles and scones and amazing cakes! She pickled and jammed (no freezers then) and rolled pastry on a marble tabletop (keeping pastry cool when you are handling it is the answer to perfection).  The following recipes are hers – lemon curd and treacle toffee (my mum made it when there was a sore throat in the house so another memory there!)

GRANNY’S LEMON CURD

• 225 grams sugar
• 50 grams butter
• juice and zest of a lemon
• 2 well beaten eggs

Half fill a pan with water and put on to heat.  Put all the ingredients in a bowl, big enough to put into the pan without the water bubbling over.  Keep on a low heat until everything melts, stirring occasionally. Continue cooking until a spoonful on a cold plate wrinkles when pushed.  Pour into small jars, cool  and keep in the fridge.  Its lovely on hot buttered toast and also as pudding by swirling it into natural yogurt.

GRANNY’S TREACLE TOFFEE

• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 100 grams butter
• 3 tablespoons treacle
• 1 tablespoon water
• 2 teaspoons vinegar

Put everything into a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Keep on a rolling boil (I keep a wooden spoon in it so it doesn’t over boil).  It is ready when a small spoonful goes hard when dropped into a bowl of cold water.  Pour into a greased baking tin (BE CAREFUL AS ITS VERY HOT AND WILL BURN YOUR SKIN).  Allow to harden, turn tin over and tap till it drops out.  Keep in a airproof tin or tupperware.

My brother and I – and Whisky the cat

PS I know the above recipes are for more than one but preserves and toffee can’t ever be made for just one sitting!  The lemon curd will keep for up to a month in the fridge particularly if you put it in small jars rather than big one – and it’s up to you how quickly you eat the toffee!  If you want to just make a little you can substitute the tablespoons for dessertspoons and just 50 g butter and 1 teaspoon of vinegar.

For some reason that I’ve never really worked out, lamb (Spring lamb?) is to Easter as turkey is to Christmas.  Obviously, you are never going to cook a whole joint of lamb for yourself (actually, my lovely brother in law would – and does!) but most of us, even two people, wouldn’t so instead I am going to give you a posh lamb stew that you pop in the oven for a couple of hours – giving you plenty of time to go out and roll your eggs down the hill – and, of course, a chocolate dessert.

Lamb Tagine (a Moroccan stew, so called because of the special cooking pot they use – but any casserole dish will do if you haven’t – even a slow cooker) with Harissa Jam

• olive oil
• 1 red onion
• 1 – 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (or a stick if you have)
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 250 grams diced lamb
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 300 ml stock
• 1 teaspoon sugar

Traditional tagines have chopped apricots and/or prunes  and/or dates – it’s up to you whether you want to – it will still taste good!  Add them with the tomatoes.

Heat the oil in a deep pan and fry the onions till beginning to colour. Add the garlic and all the ground spices (if using a cinnamon stick put in last). Season the lamb and add to the pot and cook, stirring, for 5 minutes.  Add the chopped tomatoes and stock and put in the oven at 160 oC for 2 – 3 hours until tender.  If it looks like getting too dry add some more stock. If too “wet” at the end (but the meat is cooked) put it back on top of the stove and cook uncovered till thickened.

Serve with flatbreads or a baked potato, scattering chopped parsley and/or coriander over.  Chopped pistachios and pomegranate seeds will make it look really pretty with the jam served on the side to mix into the lamb.

Harrisa Jam

• 3 tomatoes       2 -3 cloves of garlic, chopped      1 -2 teaspoons sugar
• olive oil
• 1 – 2 teaspoons harrisa paste (you should still have some from the last blog recipe)

Quarter the tomatoes (or half if small) and put in an ovenproof dish.  Scatter the garlic and sugar over and olive oil to coat.  Put in the oven with the lamb and cook until the tomatoes are soft and browning.  Take out and put in a bowl (should be saucelike) and add the harissa to taste.

Chocolate Mousse (this will give you more than one portion but it’s impossible to half an egg – and it will still be Easter on Monday1)

• 100 grams dark chocolate
• 1/4 pint single cream (if you’ve only got double use half cream and half milk
• 1 egg yolk (put the white in a carton in the freezer – when you have enough you can make meringues or coconut pyramids)

Break up the chocolate into a bowl.  Put the cream into a saucepan and bring to the boil for few seconds. Pour over the chocolate and stir till blended.  Beat in the yolk and pour into a small dish.  Put in the fridge to set and serve with some more grated chocolate and cream!

Eggs are amazing – each a little powerhouse of food just waiting to be used! You can boil, fry, poach, and scramble them; make an omelette and French toast – and nearly every baking recipe uses them!

If you’ve been following this blog you will know I keep my own hens:

so I have lots of lovely fresh eggs – but for those of you who haven’t this is the week’s supermarket prices – I’ve gone for free range which may be a little bit more expensive (but you’re worth it!) and much better taste.  I can’t bear to think of all those caged birds when I look at my girls roaming the garden!

• Aldi  £0.90p                                Asda £1.00                          Morrisons £0.93
• Sainsburys £1.25                       Waitrose £1.00

As eggs are so basic, I’m obviously not going to be just giving you any recipes you already know – so here is just an  “out of your comfort zone” one. I do hope you will give it a try!

Green Shakshuka – from the Middle East

• 1 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 leek
• 1/2 bag of spinach
• 125g frozen peas
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 1/2 tablespoon cumin seeds
• 1/2 pack of parsley
• 1/2 pack coriander, roughly chopped
• 1/2 pack of mint, chopped
• 2 eggs
• 1 dessertspoon harissa paste – or to taste (find in the spice shelf – we’ll be using this again at the weekend)
• natural yogurt
• pitta bread to serve

Heat the oil in a wide, shallow frying pan over a medium heat. Add the leeks with a pinch of salt and cook for 4 mins until softened. Add handfuls of spinach to the pan, stirring until wilted. Stir in the peas, garlic, cumin, herbs and some seasoning. Cook for a few mins until it smells fragrant, then create 2 gaps and crack an egg into each. Cover and cook for 10 mins or until the whites are set but the yolks are runny – they will carry on cooking slightly as you take them to the table. Season the eggs with flaky sea salt, dollop spoonfuls of the yogurt interspersed with the harissa, and scatter over a few mint leaves.

 

Sometimes, recipes just evolve in a family.  Someone will find a basic one, someone else adds another ingredient, another person another.  This meal recipe is one of those – my daughter, Alice, started making this at least 8 years ago as she left home then! I’ve added to it and her fiance, Ben, added a side dish – to which I added to as well!  You will all recognise it – but perhaps this is a little bit different – and the best of it is that this is actually best made the day before so the flavours have time to marinade. The weather looks good for Sunday – sunny, 11oC and no rain – so make this ahead and go out for the day, knowing you have got something warming to go home to!

CHILLI CON CARNE (looks like this may be complicated because of  number of ingredients but I promise it isn’t)

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 chopped onion
• 2 crushed garlic cloves
• 250 grams minced beef
• 1 glass of red wine
• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon tomato puree
• 1 – 2 tablespoons Heinz Fiery tomato ketchup (secret ingredient)
• 1 red chilli/dried chilli flakes or to taste (don’t forget you can buy chilli, garlic and ginger frozen so you don’t have to buy a load and then not use)
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1/2 stick cinnamon (optional)
• good shake of Worcestershire sauce
• 1 beef stock cube
• can of red kidney beans
• some fresh coriander, roughly chopped
• 2 squares dark chocolate (secret ingredient 2)

Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the onion and garlic until soft.  Add the mince, cooking quickly till browned.  Pour in the red wine  and boil for 2 – 3 minutes (have one for yourself whilst you are waiting).Stir in the tinned tomatoes, puree, chilli, cumin, ground coriander, cinnamon, Worcester sauce and Tomato sauce and crumble in the stock cube.  Bring to a simmer, cover with a lid and cook gently for about 40 minutes. If the mixture still looks wet, I then cook it more fiercely until rich and thickened.  Add the beans and fresh coriander – and chocolate! Serve with lime wedges, guacamole,  rice and/or crusty bread/baked potatoes/salad/ or –

Ben’s Quesadillas (I’d never bothered with these before but my son-in-law-to-be introduced them to me and now we have them every time!)

• 2 Flour tortillas (find them in the bread or world food aisles)
• cheese (if I can find it there is a mexican (cheddarish) cheese with tiny chopped chillis but any kind of hard cheese will do if not)
• cooked spinach (my add )
• to taste – minced garlic, chilli, spring onions or a little chopped red onion

Put one tortilla on a board and cover with whichever of the other above ingredients you like (the cheese is a definite). Cover with the other one and press together. In a large enough frying pan to take the tortilla whole, put in a tiny bit of oil and heat hot. Put the quesadilla in and quickly fry for about a minute, turn over and fry again for another minute (the cheese inside should be melted). Cut into slices and mop up the chilli!  (I’ve since discovered if you have any left over you can pop them in a toaster bag and toast them for a couple of minutes in the toaster for breakfast with a boiled egg!)

Firstly – I thought you might like to see my kitchen where all the recipes come from . . . .

Secondly, apologies for slight lateness – technology is great when it works -.but it wasn’t this morning! 2 courses for Sunday for the wait, though!

Salmon used to be considered only for the wealthy but it has now come down a lot in price – you can get it from all the supermarkets – and is really good for you.

Sweep this morning had for 2 fillets ( you can freeze one)

• Asda – £395                                  Aldi – £3.69                                  Morrisons – £4.00
• Sainsburys – £4.00                      Waitrose £5.99

So, thought we would do something a little different for Comfort Sunday – and because it’s comfort Sunday, a little pudding in a mug!

Sicilian-style salmon with garlic mushrooms

• 100g salmon fillet, skin removed (you could go all Masterchef and pan fry the skin till crisp and use to decorate!)
• 1 lime juice only
• olive oil for drizzling
• 1/2 teasp dried chilli flakes
• 1 teaspoon ground paprika                       salt and black pepper
• 100g button mushrooms, slice
• 100g broccoli, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
• 2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley (optional)

Put the oven on at 180oC.

Put the salmon fillet on a lightly oiled baking tray and drizzle over the lime juice and olive oil.  Sprinkle with the chilli flakes and paprika and season well.  Bake for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan.  Add the mushrooms and garlic and stir fry for a few minutes.  Add the broccoli and cook till your liking.  Stir in the parsley if using and serve immediately with the salmon.

Chocolate Orange Mug Cake

Did you know you can cook individual cakes in a mug in the microwave?  Try this one as an indulgence for Sunday!  And its all in spoonful measurements so you don’t even have to get the scales out!  You will need a 1/2 pint mug.

• 1 small egg
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 3 tablespoons milk
• 1 tablespoon orange zest
• 2 tablespoons marmalade
• 2 tablespoons plain flour
• 1 tablespoon ground almonds
• 1 tablespoon castor sugar
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 12 teaspoons baking powder
• 10 grams dark chocolate

Put the egg, oil, milk, zest and marmalade in the mug and whisk with a fork till fully combined.  Add the rest of the ingredients and stir thoroughly.

Microwave uncovered on full power for 1.5 minutes and leave to stand for 2 minutes.

Serve with a dollop of whipped cream!

Onions – cheap and cheerful and plentiful – and so good for you!

Look at their incredible health benefits:

• The phytochemicals in onions along with their vitamin C help improve immunity.
• Onions contain chromium, which assists in regulating blood sugar.
• For centuries, onions have been used to reduce inflammation and heal infections.
• Do you enjoy sliced onions with your food? If yes, rejoice! Raw onion lowers the production of bad cholesterol (LDL), thus keeping your heart healthy
• Got stung by a honeybee? Apply onion juice on the area for immediate relief from the pain and burning sensation.
• Onions scavenge free radicals, thereby reducing your risk of developing gastric ulcers.
• Those bright green tops of green onions are rich in Vitamin A, so do use them often.

Shopping this week:

• Aldi                   45p/ kilo
• Asda                  75p /kilo
• Morrisons        68p/kilo
• Sainsburys       80p / kilo
• Tesco                 75p / kilo
• Waitrose           80p/kilo

Classic French Onion Soup

• 1 tablespoon butter
• 2 large onions, thinly sliced
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar
• 1 dessertspoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 – 3/4 pint of beef stock  (you can make this up with some red wine if you have any)

Slowly melt the butter in a saucepan and add the onions.  Cook over a very low heat, stirring occasionally for about 30 minutes until soft and lightly browned.

Stir in the sugar and vinegar and cook for a further 5 minutes.  Add the stock and bring slowly to the boil and simmer, uncovered for about 15 minutes.

Ladle into a bowl – and the nicest way to finish off is to toast some bread, top with grated cheese and float on the top!

French Onion Tart (keeping the theme going!)

• Pastry made with 50 grams of butter and 100g plain flour
• 1/2 kilo onions
• 25 grams butter and 1 dessertspoon olive oil
• 2 egg yolks and 100 ml of double cream
• 50 grated cheese

This is the easiest pastry recipe known to man (or woman) – rub the butter into the flour and enough cold water to bring the mixture together and simply press it straight into a small tart tin, using your hands, without even rolling.  You now want to bake it blind – which means laying some greaseproof paper on top and filling it with clay baking beans or dried pulses – even bread crusts – as a weight.  Bake it in a oven for about 15 mins at 200oC.

Meanwhile, heat the butter and oil in a pan and add the sliced onions and cook very gently till soft  – about 1/2 hour (just like the soup).  Remove from the heat and season well (a little nutmeg tastes nice, too!)

Beat together the yolks and cream and finely grate the cheese.  Add to the onions and spread evenly into your pastry case.  Bake at 190oC for about half an hour until the filling is lightly puffed golden.  Serve with a crisp salad.

Delicious recipes – and doing you good as well!

I’m sorry it’s taken so long to click but I suddenly realised that I really ought to give you the Comfort Sunday recipe on a Saturday so you can gather your ingredients!  I know you can go shopping on a Sunday but for those of you who don’t want to, I shall now try and post your recipe on a Saturday!

Last week, I gave you my husband’s cheese broth recipe – today I am posting one of  John’s choice of comfort food – moussaka.  It really isn’t difficult – and you can make the meat mixture in the morning before you go out – or even the day before – and just assemble when you want it!

Moussaka – a greek lamb dish that just oozes pleasure!

• 120 grams minced lamb
• 1 chopped onion
• 1 – 2 cloves garlic chopped
• 1/2 – 1 tin of tomatoes
• pinch oregano, salt and pepper
• oxo cube
• tomato sauce (SECRET ingredient – I read somewhere that a lot of well known chefs use some tomato ketchup in their recipes – and I love mine – Heinz FIERY tomato ketchup)
• 1 aubergine,sliced
• 1/2 pint white sauce made 10 grams butter, 10 grams flour, 1/2 pint milk (or you could just use a sauce mix as we are looking after ourselves today and don’t want too much worry)
• grated cheese

There is a lot said about how much oil aubergines soak up in their cooking.  Whilst this is true, I find if you roast them you can get away with a lot less than frying.  So slice the aubergine, toss in some olive oil and roast for about 20 minutes at 180oC till they are soft.  Switch the oven off and leave in until you need them.

Put some olive oil in a saucepan and add the chopped onion and garlic.  When soft, add the mince to brown.  Tip in the tin of tomatoes and oxo cube and bring to the boil.  Add the oregano if you want and a couple of squeezes of ketchup. Cook ( a bit more than a simmer but less than a boil!), stirring occasionally.  I like to cook it all down so it is still moist but with no excess liquid – nice and thick.

Take an ovenproof dish and put in the mince. Take the aubergine and lay on top in a layer.  Make the white sauce (melt the butter, add the flour and slowly add the milk, stirring all the time so it doesn’t go lumpy) and pour over.

Top with grated cheese and bake in the oven at 180oc for about 25 minutes until the top is golden and all is bubbling loveliness!  Serve with some cooked spinach and/or a nice salad and garlic bread to mop up the juices.