I love leeks – they are easy to grow, cheap to buy and you can do lots with them.

Having looked around the supermarkets this morning, it seems 500 grams of leeks are about £1.00 from Asda, Morrison’s, Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and Waitrose with the cheapest (as I write) at Lidl for 69p. We better get using them!

Leek Macaroni and Cheese

• 100 g macaroni
• 10 grams of butter
• 1 leek, roughly chopped
• a little thyme
• white sauce : 20grams plain flour   300 mls milk   100g cheese

Cook macaroni as per instructions on packet in boiling water.

Melt butter and add leeks with some thyme to taste and cook till soft.

Add the flour to the leeks in a pan and cook for 2 mins. Add milk slowly, stirring all the time till thickened. Add grated cheese and stir well.

Add the drained pasta and pour into an ovenproof dish.  Top with breadcrumbs and grill until golden.

Leek and Potato Soup with cheesy mustard croutons

• 10 grams butter
• 2 leeks
• 1 teasp dried tarragon (optional)
• 1 large potato
• 500 ml stock with boiling water and a stock cube
• 30 grams watercress (optional)

Melt butter in a large pan and add chopped leeks and tarragon. Add the chopped potato and stock.  Bring to boil and cook until potato is soft.  Add the watercress if using, simmer for 3 minutes and blend till smooth.

Preheat grill to high and toast 2 slices of bread/baguette until crisp.  Spread each slice with some Dijon mustard and top with some grated cheese (any kind you like)

Put the soup into a bowl and top with a cheesy crouton and serve.

Leek risotto with poached egg (one of my all time favourites)

• 30 grams frozen broad beans or peas, cooked
• some butter and oil
• 1 leek
• 10g / 2 oz Arborio/ risotto rice
•  ½ glass Dry white wine (don’t worry if no wine, just make up with extra stock)
•  ½  pint hot chicken or vegetable stock
•  1 Teaspoon butter
•  1 Teaspoon olive oil
• A little cream or crème fraiche
•  30g/1oz grated parmesan cheese
• juice and zest of 1/2 lemon
• 2 tablespoon parsley chopped

Obviously, we are now experts in risotto but  (just in case you don’t want to keep looking back) here it is again.

Melt a knob of butter with a little oil and add the thinly sliced leek and cook till soft over a low heat.

Increase the heat and add the rice turning it in to the buttery leeky mix.  SLOWLY add the stock (remember a tablespoon at a time to begin with), stirring all the time in between additions until the rice is soft.

Add the beans and/or peas.

Remove from the heat and add the lemon, parsley and cheese.

Pile into a bowl and top with a poached egg – delicious!

 

 

 

 

I never knew my Scottish grandparents as they had died before I was born, but was very close to my English mum’s parents who lived near Barrow-in-Furness.  Every summer, my mum, brother and I took the train from the Glasgow to Lancaster, then a small one from there to Roose where granny met us, walking home to her house where we would spend most of the summer holidays.  I adored Granny – loved slipping into bed with her first thing in the morning for a cuddle in her crepe de chine nightie!  She was a pastry chef and baker and made the most wonderful cakes and pies.  One of her “specials” was meat and potato pie – and it turns  out John’s grandma was also the maker of meat and potato pies. Thus, this special pie is definitely one of our favourite comfort dinners – particularly on such cold and raw days.  It’s taken me a while to experiment with the pastry but I think  his is it.

Meat and Potato Pie (I’ve scaled down the recipe for 2 – but it will taste good tomorrow with pickles and mustard)

• 250 grams stewing steak
• 2 – 3 potatoes and 1 chopped onion
• 110g Self raising flour
• 40 grams suet
• 30 grams chilled butter

Braise the meat till tender in some stock (oxo)on top of the hob. Boil the potatoes and onions till soft. Drain, keeping the water to thicken for gravy with the meat juice.  Put the meat, potato and onion into a pie dish. Make up the gravy with the vegetable and meat water with granules till thick, pour over and allow to cool.

Measure the flour and suet into a bowl.  Grate in the butter and rub together.  Make the pastry adding a little water to come together.  Roll out on a floured board and cover the meat mixture in the dish.  Score a cross in the top and pop in a hot oven (about 200oC) and bake till golden brown.  Serve with green vegetables and mustard.  Guaranteed to fill you up and keep out the cold!

I succumbed to the dreaded lurgy at the beginning of the week and had two days in bed – unheard of!  Now, of course, we have snow and the Beast from the East to contend so my lovely husband John decided to make one of his signature dishes – cheese broth – and thought I should share it with you.  It really is incredibly easy to make and wonderfully filling and comforting with some crusty bread.

Cheese broth

• 1 onion chopped
• butter
• 1/2 pint milk
• 1/2 pint boiling water
• strong cheddar cheese
• lots of pepper

Fry the onion in a wok or saucepan with a little butter.  When starting to colour add the milk.  Bring to the boil, add cheese (he just keeps adding until “it tastes right” but probably about 4 ozs should do.  Simmer, stirring all the time until the cheese has melted.  Now add some boiling water – about 1/2 pint again. Serve with lots of pepper.

(At the minute, I have one of my chickens in a box in the kitchen by the fire.  She hasn’t been very well and would never have survived this cold weather outside.  I like to think when the light goes out at night, Sally (hen) and Pookie (cat) have a bit of a party and snuggle up together towards dawn – certainly no blood has ever been spilt and they still have all their respective feathers and fur!)

 

 

Peas, in my opinion, are a much under rated vegetable – apart from just tasting great on their own with a knob of butter, there is so much else you can do with them!

So, here’s a few recipes for the price (per kg bag) . . .

• Aldi    £0.94p
• Asda £1.19
• Tesco £1.30
• Morrisons £1.33

Pea Soup:

• 1 onion or shallot chopped finely
• 400 g frozen peas
• 1 -2 potatoes, peeled and chopped
• 800 mls stock
• crème fraiche or cream.

Fry the onion in a saucepan with a little butter till soft.  Add the potato and stock.  Bring to the boil and simmer for about 20 minutes.  Add the peas, bring back to the boil and simmer for another 5 -10 minutes or so till all soft.  Blend till smooth and serve with a little cream.

Above is the basic – but you can play around with it – adding (not altogether!) :

• some garlic with the onion
• some mint with the stock
• some pesto at the end
• shredded ham
• watercress and/or spinach
• soup pasta

Pea Risotto (you’ve done this before but here’s the recipe again (save you looking back!)

• 60g / 2 oz Arborio/ risotto rice
•  ½ small onion
•  1 chopped garlic
• 150g peas
•  ½ glass Dry white wine (don’t worry if no wine, just make up with extra stock)
•  ½  pint hot chicken or vegetable stock
•  1 Teaspoon butter
•  1 Teaspoon olive oil
• A little cream or crème fraiche
•  30g/1oz grated parmesan cheese

Melt the butter in a large pan, add the onion and gently sweat for about 10 mins until really soft. Meanwhile, put 50g peas into a food processor with a ladleful of stock and whizz until completely puréed.

Stir the rice into the onion, increase heat to medium and sizzle the rice for 1 min. Pour in the wine, then bubble and stir until completely absorbed. Continue cooking like this, adding a ladleful of stock at a time, and stirring continuously until the rice is tender and has a good creamy consistency – this will take 20-30 mins.  Stir in the puréed peas, remaining (cooked) peas, Parmesan and cream, then turn off the heat and leave to stand for a few mins. Give the risotto a final stir and spoon into shallow bowls.  NB you could add some chopped ham if you liked, too.

And, finally, if you just want a little snackette:

Pea, mint and chilli dip

• 200grams of cooked peas
• 50 grams of yogurt
• juice of 1/2 lemon
• 1/2 teasp cumin (to taste)
• chopped mint leaves (or even a small spoonful of mint sauce)
• chopped chilli to taste (don’t forget – most of the supermarkets now sell frozen chopped herbs so less wastage)

Blend all of the above to a smooth paste and serve with toast/pitta bread and/or batons of carrots, cucumber.

That’s 750 grams of peas for 3 recipes and you’ve still got some in the bag to use as veg!

 

What a beautiful day – sunshine, blue sky but really cold!  Today I thought we would keep it simple – soup and a really easy no-yeast bread to go with it , followed by a nursery pudding – you deserve it!  For me, nothing says comfort any more than custard, even just a bowl on its own – and when it’s served with a simple syrup sponge for one, perfect!

Chunky vegetable soup

• 1 ½ tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 6 medium carrots, peeled and cut into chunks
• 2 large onions roughly chopped
• 2 large leeks, thinly sliced
• 1 turnip, peeled and cut into small chunks
• 2 parsnips, peeled and cut into small chunks
• 1 small sweet potato, peeled and cut into small chunks
• 1 large potato, peeled and cut into small chunks
• 6 cups chicken or vegetable stock
• Salt and pepper

In a saucepan, melt butter with oil and add carrots, onions, leeks, turnips and parsnips can cook over a gentle heat till lightly browned

Add sweet potato, potato and stock. Slowly bring to the boil and simmer, covered, for about 20 mins or until tender.

Remove from heat and place half of soup in blender and puree *

Return to rest of soup in pan and gently reheat.

Ladle into bowls and garnish with chopped chives and/or parsley

*You can leave it all chunky if you prefer

And to serve with:

Stilton and walnut Soda Bread:

• 500grams white flour
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 100 grams walnut pieces
• 200 grams of Stilton, crumbled (look out for those shelves in the supermarket with discounted goods – you can usually find some bits of Stilton – keep it in the freezer and grate when you need it
• 400 mls buttermilk (a substitute for this is to add 1 and 1/2 tablespoons of white vinegar or lemon juice to ordinary milk and let it stand for 5 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200oC

Put flour, 1teaspoon fine salt and the bicarb in a bowl and mix well. Add the walnuts and stilton and stir gently.  Make a well in the centre and pour in half the buttermilk.  Using one hand draw the flour into the milk. Continue to add the milk until all the flour has been incorporated and you have a sticky dough.

Tip out onto a floured board, shape into a ball and flatten slightly. Place on a baking tray and make a deep cross with a sharp knife.

Bake for 30 – 35 minutes until golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

It’s best eaten straight away – but freezes beautifully – and also makes lovely toast the next day!

Now for the Piece de Resistance – who will resist? All that lovely syrup oozing out when you turn it upside down?

• 50g Margarine
• 50g Granulated Sugar
• 50g SR Flour
• 1 Egg
• 2tbsp Milk
• 1 – 2 tbsp Jam or Syrup
• Flavours: 1tsp Ginger, 1tbsp Coconut, 1tbsp cocoa (alternatives)

Put the syrup (or jam if you prefer) in the bottom of a small glass bowl.

Beat the margarine with the sugar, add the egg and fold in the flour (if you want to add any other flavourings do it now).  Add the milk (it will seem quite sloppy but that’s ok)

Spoon on top of the syrup and microwave for 4 – 5 minutes.

THE SYRUP WILL BE MEGA HOT so leave it for a moment or two before turning out

Its almost worth delaying Spring for!

 

 

We’ve got a 1960’s jukebox at home and, if he is over, my son always plays this one – so naturally I would have to have this one on my desert island to think of him.

 

And just because I like it . . . . .

As I said before my husband plays in a band and when we met the first time ever, he played this – because I was wearing a red dress!

And this just makes me . . .  Happy!

I love my kitchen. It’s warm and inviting and hopefully filled with all sorts of lovely smells.  If I had my bed in it, I would probably never leave!  I don’t have TV though as it’s also a place where I read the newspaper and books and listen to music.

So I thought I would give you a small selection of what I put on my ipod and play whilst I am cooking – my Desert Island Discs – 8 in all but only 4 today.

My favourite of all time is Maggie May by Rod Stewart.  Love dancing to it, love cooking to it.  When I started nursing in 1971 this had just come out.  My friend and I lived in the nurses home – and we had to be in by 11.00pm or we were locked out!  We had been out with some friends and this came up on the car radio – and listening to it took us over the curfew!  We managed to wake someone up and climbed up the drain pipe to her window.  However, apparently we were seen and reported and we had to confess to the Matron!

 

Just after I met my husband we managed to get tickets for the Cambridge Folk Festival where James Taylor was playing.  It was the perfect weekend music and weather wise and I fell in love with John,  listening to James Taylor.

This one always makes me think of my youngest daughter, Alice, when she left home to live in London – and still can make me cry!

This is my older daughter’s favourite.  My husband and his band recently did a charity concert – and this was definitely the star of the show!  Shall always remember her dancing to this!

I’ll post my other four with a recipe or two – in the meanwhile get thinking about what music makes you happy – and you’ll love being in the kitchen even more!

Whilst we were away, all my husband could dream about (because he couldn’t find any) was – curry!  As I am sure you know, curry is apparently one, if not THE favourite dish of the nation.  It’s not impossible, of course, to make a curry for one – you can always do the usual of making for the freezer too – but Sundays are our comfort, special just-for-me days so go and you can treat yourself to a takeaway.  All that spice and heat without the work. HOWEVER to go with it, a home made tarka dhal – if soups are a hug in a mug, dahl could be love-in-a-mug as you have to make it with care and time but it will reward you with a lovely healthy glow of delicousness!

This will make enough for  2 – 3 but it will keep in the fridge for a couple of days and is lovely cold with hot pitta bread as a snack – or you could add some stock and whiz it up into a spicy lentil soup.

• 75 grams lentils
• 1/2 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 -2 cloves of garlic, grated
• small knob of fresh ginger, grated

Rinse the lentils well and put into 1/2 litre of water in a saucepan.  Bring to a boil, skimming off any scum. Add the turmeric, garlic and ginger and simmer, covered, for about 40 minutes with an occasional stir till the lentils are soft – you may have to add a little more water as you do.

Meanwhile . . . .

• 2 tablespoons vegetable/rapeseed oil
• 1 dessertspoon butter
• 2 dried chillies
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 small onion finely chopped
• 2 small tomatoes chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon garam masala or to taste

Heat the oil and butter and add the chillies and cumin.  Once sizzling, add the onions  and cook till brown.  Add the tomatoes, masala and some salt and pepper and cook down till soft and mushy.

When the lentils are cooked, mash them a little and add to the onions, mix around to pick up all the spices and then combine them all together in one  dish.

To serve, I fry some more onions in oil and butter till crispy and tip over the dhal.

If you are vegetarian, this is excellent on its own with chutneys, rice, naan or pitta bread .

You can make this the day before (in fact, sometimes I do deliberately so that the flavours intensify). Just pick up your takeaway if you want one on the way home after a long walk in the cold sunshine!

Back from my hols!  A lovely break in Cape Verde – doing absolutely nothing but read, swim, sunbathe and eat good food!

Whilst the meals were always of  great quality (lots of fresh salads and fish particularly), the hotel we stayed in was obviously catering for a wide range of tastes and failed to hit the spice notes we like so I didn’t get to find any new recipes worth bringing back.  However, what I did note, was that they were very good at trying to minimise wastage which I thought we could look at it.

Whilst I am hoping to bring you recipes for one without all the maths involved halving even quartering ingredients, sometimes its just not possible so there will be food left over.  For instance, any big breakfast pancakes were used up at night filled with spinach and garlic with a cheese sauce on top; leftover bread was sliced, spread with butter and garlic (and sometimes cheese) and grilled alongside a salad dish; fresh fruit served whole one day appeared the next chopped up small in a fruit salad with yogurt. And, of course, any left over vegetables can easily be made into soups with stock, cream and herbs.

Hope you are enjoying the lovely sunny day – cold but bright keeps away the flu bugs. Blue skies always make me smile and comfort Sunday tomorrow should warm you up!

Snow just beginning to fall – but I’m off on my hols for a week tomorrow!  I’m not sure if we will have wi-fi so have just left two more soups on the Soup Collection section – just in case it gets really cold and you need that hug in a mug!

I’m off to foreign climes – but if I get a chance to badger a chef or two I will hopefully come back with some new recipes!

Keep safe and warm xx