Carry on Cooking

Well, the next day brought a return invite from the Heslop's to sample roast pork in Mat's baby, the home-made pizza oven in their garden. The pork was delicious as was the rest of the food.
Ice cream for pudding and the stuff had been put into the box in a rather rude fashion..

We are all on our hol's now, Stonehenge on Friday then Tankfest so expect a few posts soon unless we are turn into hippies at Stonehenge and run away to a commune!

Chicken Paprikash

Hi all,

Saturday brought a full house with a visit from the Heslops and the Wallaces and their pesky kids.. pesky because my garden was ruined when I looked at it the next day! BUT I have to say in their defence that it was more than likely my Blixa's fault..he was going nuts with excitement.

I woke up with an urge for chicken (cue rude joke from Deano), mainly because my guests were meat eaters, but didn't know what to cook. A cup of coffee and a read of the guardian brought the magical recipe...Paprika Chicken, a Hugh Fernley Whittingstall recipe. The dish was really nice and I served with chunky white bread and roasted baby potatoes but I used supermarket smoked paprika not La Chinata which is my favourite. Let this be a lesson, don't skimp on quality! I think the dish would have been 100 times nicer with the good stuff. Anyway, fairly easy to do and tasty.

1 free range chicken, jointed. (I actually used free range thighs and drumsticks)
S&P
1 tbsp olive oil and 15g unsalted butter
2 onions diced
1 clove garlic minced
2-3 tbsp sweet paprika
1 tsp hot paprika
1 tbsp plain flour
3 tomatoes, cored, deseeded and chopped
350ml chicken stock
2 red peppers - cut into think strips
Handful chopped parsley
140ml sour cream

Season the chicken and brown in a large, heavy bottomed, hot pan with the olive oil then set aside, you may need to brown in batches.
In the same pan saute the onions for about 15 mins until soft then add the garlic, flour,paprika, and stir. Then stir in the tomatoes and stock.
Return the chicken to the pan and simmer for about half an hour. Add most of the peppers and parsley and simmer for another 30 mins.
Finally take a scoop of the chicken broth and add the sour cream, mix well and the pour back into the pan.

Moroccan Fare

I had a funny experience going down the market on Friday, I bumped into a a local trader who offered me his wife in exchange for a goat, well I didn't have a goat so I gave them dinner and he gave me his word that he would stop offering his woman out for livestock.
Then as the night progressed a strange handsome dealer came into town, shook hands with the trader and before I knew it I was married and we eloped into the sunset.
Moroccan night at the Holden's brought Lisa and Christian,some friends who we haven't seen in ages and what a grand night was had!



I'd been given a Moroccan cookbook for my birthday and I haven't had chance to use it yet so was dying to try it out. I chose well, recipes that were quick and easy.

Carrot and orange salad- lovely, fresh and aromatic
Sardine sandwiches - deep fried with chermoula
Baked eggs - delicious

All served with tomato salad and home made babaganoush (see recipe from another post)

Carrot & Orange Salad
3 x sweet oranges
1 lb carrots
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 tablespoon caster sugar
1 tablespoon orange flower water
Small mint leaves to serve
Cut off the tops and bases of the orange, peel ensuring all the pith is removed then segment into pieces.
Peel and julienne the carrots.Add the lemon juice,cinnamon,sugar,orange flower water, and a small pinch of salt. Cover the carrots and refrigerate until required.
When ready to serve, place the carrots in the middle of a serving bowl and arrange the orange around the side.

Sardine sandwiches
8 sardines gives 1 sandwich each so just double up as required
Olive oil for frying
1 tablespoon grated white onion
1 garlic clove
3 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley
3 tablespoons chopped coriander
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp lemon zest
2 tsp lemon juice
2 tsp olive oil

Have the fishmonger butterfly the sardines
To make the stuffing take the onion, add the garlic,parsley,coriander,cayenne pepper,paprika,black pepper,cumin,lemon zest, juice and oil- mix well.
Place the sardines skin side down, spread the stuffing evenly and then cover with another sardine. Place in seasoned flour.
Heat the oil to a depth of 5mm,get the oil really hot and then place the sardines in the oil and cook until evenly brown but don't cook too long, about 3 mins.

Baked eggs- another Yottam Ottolenghi!
300g rocket
2 tbls olive oil
4 free range eggs
1 garlic clove crushed
50g unsalted butter
pinch sweet paprika and dried chili flakes
6 shredded sage leaves
Maldon sea salt

Place the oil in a pan and add the rocket and a sprinkle of salt, cook until wilted.
Transfer to an oven dish and make 4 wells in the rocket, brake the eggs into the wells. Cook for 15 mins.
Mix yogurt and garlic
Melt the butter in a pan until foaming then add the paprika, chili and sage leaves
Take eggs out of the oven cover in the yogurt then the butter and serve.

Falafel

So its the day after glamping we have just done our what feels like 100'th wash and put everything away, blimey does it stop and really all that fun is bl**dy tiring!
So an easy tea was required and mighty tasty it was too! Easy because I built up the component parts in the ad breaks of Goks fashion fix!

Roast some tomatoes and peppers with olive oil, salt and balsamic vinegar, about 3/4 hour should do it. Then the easy bit, cut up an avo, add herby salad, some humus (we had lemon and coriander) and some falafel.

Deeelicious

xx

Cowboy Food

Hi all,

Well a lovely weekend was had in Oxfordshire, camping, playing, walking (just a bit) and cooking. Now my new book the gourmet camper is a long while off at the moment as I really only got as far as bacon and eggs but we did have a lovely BBQ with sardines marinated in chili, lemon and parsley along with tuna steak and BBQ asparagus which you toss in lemon juice and maldon sea salt. So no real recipes but some nice pictures to show you. Note my new hur do which I was sporting, its glamping not camping don't you know!

Just had to show you this it was the funniest thing a camper van full of kids dancing!

Blackened Tofu

Hi all,
1000 apologies for being rubbish and not posting for what seems like ages. For those of you that don't know me that well my job can get a bit busy at certain times of the year and this has been one of them. I put together the Argos catalogue, well about 150 pages and together with my colleagues we put together about 800 pages of it! at this time of year the book is starting to go to print so it has meant long days and weekends so I simply haven't been cooking that much of interest. Anyway, here I am again with a new recipe. I think Yotam Ottolenghi is my favourite cook at the moment and he should pay me for putting all his receipes on this blog or give me a signed book at the very least...! (Deano if you are reading this a meal at his restaurant for my birthday please?)
Tofu, that pesky stuff you get with your Chinese and tastes a bit bland...I like tofu, always have and love it in the Tom Yum or in a curry but I was pleased to find this new recipe where I could try something new. Its easy and would be great for the vegetarian option if you are cooking a meal for mates. I didn't have any spring onions...
You need a glass of water with this and my lips were burning for ages...

serves 4
800g firm tofu - cut into cubes
Veg oil for frying- fill the pan up to about 5mm height
Cornflour- for dusting the tofu
150g butter
12 shallots- finely sliced
8 mild red chillis - thinly sliced
12 garlic cloves - crushed
3 tbsp chopped ginger
3 tbsp sweet soya sauce
3 tbsp light soys sauce
4 tbls dark soya sauce
2 tbsp caster sugar
5 tablespoons crushed black pepper
16 sm spring onions cut into 3cm segments

Pour oil into pan, toss tofu in cornflour and deep fry until golden brown, if you have a small pan then do in batches to avoid stewing and mulching together. Once cooked transfer to kitchen paper to drain.
Melt the butter in a pan and add the shallotts, chilli, garlic, ginger and saute on a medium low heat for about 15 mins.
Add all the soya sauce and sugar and finally the black pepper.
Add tofu back to the pan along with the spring onions and cook for about a minute then serve with steamed rice. The rice is lovely with this as it's so bland. Yummy!

We are going camping this weekend so I'm hoping to post some cowboy food recipes

Pirate food

Mamas Pasta

Give me the badge, give me the badge!! I finally got the pasta maker out and it was easy! Blix and I made pasta, or rather I made pasta Blix made some weird mixture and then threw Spider Man in there for good measure!
Deano and I sat there quite cheesily saying 'mmm, tastes so good and so much nicer than the bought stuff' but for a first atempt my tagliatelle was lovely. I served with home made pesto and some courgette muffins. Deano did take a picture of the pasta making but it was sooo unflattering that I'm not going to show it...

The muffins were delcious and I used a receipe by Dan Leppert- check out the link below
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/apr/10/courgette-mozzarella-muffin-recipe

Leek & Gruyerre Tart

Blimey, it's like the good life in these parts at the moment! Our good friend Sarah is a landscape architect (available if anyone has any positions at the moment!) but she's also a very good gardener and between her and another friend Iona I'm soaking up their green fingered knowledge. Sarah was coming to tea on Sunday and in exchange has brought me loads of lovely plants for the garden including a 50 year old peony from her granny's garden (better treat that one well). So in exchange I've made her some dinner. The tart is easy to make and I'm not going to apologise I used ready made short crust pastry and served with roasties and some pan fried courgettes which I marinaded in a little lemon juice, olive oil and sea salt then just fried on the griddle.

1 packet of short crust pastry
300ml single cream
3 x beaten eggs
Gruyere cheese (about 2/3 of a good wedge)
Sea salt and pepper
4 leeks

Head and tail the leaks, cut in half and then slice. Fry the leeks in olive oil with S&P and the juice from half a lemon until soft.
Line a flan dish with butter and place the pastry in, cover with grease proof paper and fill with baking beans then bake blind for 20 mins.
Mix the cream with 3 beaten eggs, season.
Place the fried leeks at the bottom of the tart. Cube the Gruyere and scatter over the top then cover in the creamy mixture. Bake for about 45 minutes. Check the tart with a skewer, if it's dry then the mixture is cooked. It was yummy, especially straight out of the oven and still warm and gooey.

Elsewhere this weekend, I went to a vintage fair in Headingley and bought Deano a great tiki bowling shirt, a car boot sale at Yeadon and got a great 'shabby chic' gilt mirror for 2 whole pounds and went for a good curry at Akbars with Mat and Emma. So all in all a great weekend.

Summer Pasta

Sometimes I feel like the pasta queen, we eat it all the time, it's our fast food in this house. Probabbly my expanding tummy has something to do with this... Deano bought me a pasta maker which I have as yet not tried...please don't let it become one of those gadgets in the cupboard. I now solemnly declare to try it out this bank holiday..I promise to post the results or take my girl guides homecooking badge away from me.
Anyway, tonights tea is a fresh summery kind of meal that's quick, easy and you can do other stuff whilst it's doing it's thing.

Linguini
1 courgette - cut it into slithers with a potato peeler or mandolin
Slices of mushrooms, I used about 8
a handfull of quartered cherry tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
Juice of 1 lemon
A few sprigs of thyme
About 4 tablespoons of olive oil

Place the courgettes, mushrooms, tomatoes, oil, garlic and lemon juice along with oil into a large bowl. Add S+P along with the leaves of the thyme and leave to marinade for about 1/2 hour.
Boil the linguini aldente then toss in a bit more oil and salt. Then add the mixture and mix well. Serve with parmesan.

Pan Fried Mackerel, Spanish Squid, Babaganoush and lemony Potatoes

Good evening, a lovely weekend with lovely food. Friday after work was a gorgeous evening and just right for a pint in a beer garden, the first of the summer. we decided to go to The Royalty near Otley Chevin but to our horror it was a pub without beer, A PUB WITHOUT BEER!! not sure what was going on but they didn't have a license so we swiftly left and went to The White Hart at Poole which was very nice and a good place to go if you are ever in these parts.
Saturday, my friend Rosie came to visit so after a nice walk in The Hollies (Dean over did it and his leg has been killing him since!) and a trip to the donkey sanctuary we headed home for supper. Squid and babaganoush was a bit over exciting for blix so we gave him his toddler tea, Rose bathed him and I started on the supper. I love teas like this, loads of seafood and yummy Mediterranean stuff to pick at. I served with sourdough bread and olive and balsamic dipping oil. YUMMY.
For pudding I tried something I've wanted to do for ages good vanilla ice cream topped with a cup of espresso...it's that easy and very, very delicious.

Babaganoush
Take 2 Aubergines, slice in half and bake in the oven for about an hour but keep checking, what you are after is really soft flesh which you can scoop out. Place the flesh into a mixer and add 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika (the wonder stuff), juice of 1 lemon, tablespoon of olive oil, 3 garlic cloves and sea salt and wizz. Season further to taste.

Mackerel
Fillet the mackerel and sprinkle with S&P and a few dried chili flakes and drizzle olive oil over, leave to marinate for about half an hour then fry on a grill pan, only a few minutes each side is necessary.

Lemony Potatoes
Boil new potatoes in their skin, once soft drain and put back into the pan, put the lid on and shake vigorously to bruise and crush the spuds. Add juice of 1 lemon, s&P and chopped parsley and mix well.

Hot Spanish Squid - a recipe by Rosie Lovell
1 red pepper
4 garlic cloves
2 chillies
lots of olive oil
tsp smoked paprika
tsp ground cumin
tsp caraway seeds
3 tubes of squid
tsp golden caster sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
1/2 bunch fresh parsley

De seed the pepper and cut into hunks, whizz with the peeled garlic and chillies to make a paste.
Warm olive oil in a pan and fry the paprika, caraway seeds and cumin for a few minutes then add the puree. Cook the mixture for about 1/2 hour until reduced, add a tablespoon of water if required.
Prepare squid and cut into rings - add this to the pan last minute along with the sugar, lemon juice and parsley then cook for a few minutes.

Herby, Gurdy Man

Hi all,
We have been eating but lazy meals or variations on a theme but I wanted to check in and let you know about Deano's pie. It was delicious and a real treat for a weekend. It was time consuming (or at least it was for Deano) but worth the effort. This pie would be really good on a spread and a nice change for that pesky vegetarian who comes to dinner. We are all fine but have been going out and about a bit lately. Last week was Easter and we had dinner at a friends and then took Blix jousting at the Leeds Armouries. This weekend was Homebase nightmare on Saturday then off to York Airfield today....what fun.... lots of planes...I know I should have stopped off at that retail park on the way!
Do you know what, this is very lazy I know but follow the link below to yummy herby happiness. I like this blokes receipes, sometimes he uses strange, unheard of ingredients as I think he is from Iran, which I don't know much about but his receipes are always interesting and delicious.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/2010/mar/20/herb-pie-recipe-vegetarian-ottolenghi

Easy Musrooom Stroganoff

Hi there, yes I know I'm like a bus, nothing then 2 posts in one evening! I've been busy... Our band was great the other night, The Jim Jones Revue... rock and roll tastic... 40 year old men all with died black hair, as my friend said, made us look like natural black heads! Brilliant band, check them out on the tinternet.
Well the bank holiday is upon us and I have grand plans to paint our garden wall blue, I've been meaning to do this for about a year so this weekend definitely has to be P - day! We are also going jousting at the Leeds Armouries, well just watching but blix will love it, I can't wait.
I have loads of veg left this week as my cooking has been a bit lazy and a veg box due on Thursday so I'd expect a few recipe's this weekend.
Deano shock horror may be cooking tomorrow night so I'll post it if he does ....

For now here is another easy tea that tastes good and can be knocked up in a few minutes.

Chopped fresh parsley
Lots of mushrooms - I used shitake and portobello
Chopped red onions - chop in thin half moons
2 crushed cloves of garlic
1 chopped tin of tomatoes
Smoked paprika
S&P
Chili flakes
Creme Fraise

Fry onions in olive oil until soft but not browned then add the mushrooms and garlic, continue to fry until mushrooms are soft.
Add tomatoes, 2 tsp paprika, pinch of chilli's to taste and S&P
Add 2 tablespoons of creme fraise and a handful of chopped parsley then simmer for about 10 mins until reduced.
Serve with rice

Aubergine with Fresh Pesto & Feta

Hello,
I urge you to make this. If you can't be bothered to make your own pesto then try and buy the fresh stuff from the chiller, not the jarred stuff... I find aubergine quite a good substitute for meat, no really I do, especially when you add the pesto. You could serve this as a starter with just one slice but I like a few as it's soo delicious. It's really just a posh cheese on toast!

Pesto
Approx 2 handfuls of basil
2 cloves of garlic
A good glug of olive oil but you may need to add more
A handful of grated Parmesan
S&P
2 aubergines
Feta cheese

Throw the basil, oil and garlic into a blender and whizz - check the consistency and add more oil if necessary. When just right then add the Parmesan and season.

Slice the aubergine length ways and liberally sprinkle salt over the slices then leave for about 10 mins - this draws out the moisture. Then just wipe the salt off with kitchen towel. Heat a griddle pan or frying pan until smoking hot then throw on the aubergine. Cook for approx. 3 mins each side.

Spread the pesto over each slice and then cover in sliced feta (not too thick) then place under a grill until browned.

Tom Yum Soup

Yummy Tom Yum!

Hi all, hope everyone who reads this is ok, we are all fine. Dean's leg is on the mend, I am busy at work and Blixa is a cute little monkey as always! I am getting excited as we are going to see The Jim Jones review on Sunday who are rock n roll-tastic! it's keeps us happy to see a band every now again and reminds us of our hey days when beans on toast was the best meal we had and Jack Daniels was better than a cuppa! Blimey we sound old...

Tonights tea is a one pot wonder and boy was it delicious! It's dead easy to make my cheats version but I bet the 'real' cooks out there would shake their heads...

I tend to use a pre chopped stir fry mix which includes mushrooms, beansprouts, waterchestnuts and a selection of veg but you could chop up peppers, shitake mushrooms or any veg you think would go and then all the other bits.
1 tin of coconut milk
About 2 inches of fresh, grated ginger
2 crushed cloves of garlic
Sprinkle of dried chillis to taste
2 tablespoons of fish sauce (nam pla)
Pepper and salt but wait until the end to add salt as the fish sauce is already quite salty
Vegetable stock
Noodles (rice or egg) - about 2 layers
Fresh chopped corriander or tonight I used some basil leaves or chicken
Tofu or you could use prawns

Simply stir fry the veg then add the coconut milk and about a litre of stock.
Throw in the ginger, chilli and garlic and then the fish sauce along with the tofu and leave to simmer for about 10 mins then throw the noodles in. Once the noodles are cooked then it's ready.
Finally add the herbs and season to taste

Tuna Nicoise

Hello everybody, sorry for the lack of posts and yes we have eaten but some of the food I have already posted so thought it might be boring and some of it was just plain boring! I do however have alot of ingredients to cook this week so hopefully there will be more to come.
We are all ok, Dean's pot came off today but it still might be a while before he can get back to normal. Blixa is lovely and would still recomend Scooby Doo pasta as his greatest delicasy!
Tonight's tea is tuna nicoise or tuna salad and I love this, it's really easy and really delicious. It's really just putting components togeather. You should also use green beans put I didn't have any. I'm adding bits and pieces like cheese and capers but you don't need them, I just like em!

1 x cos lettuce - wash the leaves
2 x hard boiled eggs - quartered
2 x potatoes- quartered. New potatoes would also be lovely but I only had old, you could also leave in their skins.
Tablespoon of capers
About 15 black olives
Sprinkle of parmesan
2 x tuna steaks - cook in a frying or grill pan and I used a dash of garlic infused oil and cooked for about 2 mins each side
French dressing - 6 tbls good olive oil and 2 tbsp white wine vinegar - S&P. Just whisk togeather.

Layer up all of the ingredienst except the tuna then cover in the dressing. Serve the tuna as whole steaks or in strips.

Yummy, yummy, yummy x

Les Filets De Merlan Vallee D'Auge

Sounds posh doesn't it? In reality it's a simple dish of whiting in a cider sauce.
I bought some whiting for the first time and didn't really know what to do with it so I consulted the fish bible by Jane Grigson called 'Fish Book'.

This is really simple and really lovely so try it. Whiting is part of the cod family so it's a firm white fish and should be cheaper than cod, it has a really nice earthy flavour. I served this with olive oil mash and creamed leaks, both were yummy but in hind site I wouldn't recommend as all together the texture of the meal was too soft and would have been better served with a really good crusty white bread.

6 whiting fillets
S&P, cayenne pepper
5 tbls butter
2 small-medium chopped onions
300ml dry cider - use good cider, I used Aspals - use cider you would want to drink, not white lightning!
6 tbls grated Gruyere cheese

Chop the onions and as normal I would recommend half moons, some how they are just prettier than chopped onions. You need to use a pan which can go in the oven or a oven dish with a diffuser on the hob.
Season the whiting with S&P and a sprinkle of the cayenne.
Melt the butter in the pan and they fry the onions until soft, don't let them go brown. Place the whiting in the pan skin side down.
Coven with the cider and then the grated cheese.
Place in an 180 oven for 5 mins but do not over cook the fish so keep checking after about 4 mins.
Et voila

This is a lovely meal and an easy dinner party winner, as ever this was a dinner for 3 and Blix had extra cider to get him off to bed, no not really I just roasted his with a bit of butter!

xx

Mama's Spaghetti Sauce

I am a mama and this is my sauce.

Tomato sauce, so simple to make and so delicious, why do people buy those jars of dolmio which taste bland and full of sugar?
This is an easy sauce that makes a delicious tea. I've been working today and travelled to Milton Keyes and back but got home to find my man and boy hungry. Deano was fuming as he bought his mum some perfume online which turned out to be from a rogue website and I had visited the lego shop in MK and bought Blixa some Star Wars men so both were occupied and it seemed didn't care if they ate or not..cue mama and her sauce!

2 sticks of celery- chopped finely
1 carrot- diced
1 onion cut into half moons
pinch of sugar
1 tin of anchovies- chopped
2 x tin of chopped tomatoes
rosemary- this is all I had but you could alternatively add thyme or bay leaf

Fry the celery, carrot and celery until soft but not brown
Add tomatoes, anchovies & the oil they came in, sugar and rosemary
Bring to the boil and then simmer for at least 20 mins but could be an hour, the longer you simmer the thicker it becomes and the flavours are more intense! I also added some chopped fresh tomatoes (could be one or as many as you like) which I find adds more juice and flavour but are optional.
Towards the end add a slug of olive oil which just adds to the flavour and gives it a glaze. You don't need to add salt as that comes from the anchovies.
You can blend and i should have but couldn't be bothered as this would give a smooth sauce.
I served with spaghetti which you want to be aldente (a bit of a bite and not sloppy), once cooked add a slug of oil and sprinkle with rock salt.

You could add the sauce to the spaghetti and toss through but I kind of like the heap of sauce on the top with the oiled spaghetti below.

Sprinkle liberally with fresh grated parmesan

I also added black olives because Blix loves them and artichokes because they were in my veg box and needed using up but these are optional and not essential.

Sorry, one more thing, whilst Blix likes wiggelly worms (AKA spaghetti) I served his with Scooby Doo pasta- much more preferable with a mystery machine or monster don't you think?

delicious

Ciao

Spinach Pt 2 or Fish Florentine

It's now tea time and that bag of spinach is still half full (or half empty depending on your thinking!) despite my efforts at breakfast! I had a fish pie mix from the fish mongers which was cubes of salmon, smoked fish and haddock and decided that somehow I had to incorporate the spinach. You could just use salmon fillets cubed or whatever fish you like.

But, just to let you know, this was a happy accident of a dinner and was lovely. Blix liked the fish and cheese sauce also, so it's good for kids!

For the fish
Spinach & nutmeg
Fish - about the equivalent of 2/3 salmon fillets - cubed and whatever fish you want to use.
Milk
Cheddar
Flour
Butter
S&P

Start by roasting the fish in some olive oil - heat the oil up first then just put the cubes of fish onto the oil and roast for about 10 -12 mins.
Get a frying pan and heat up, place a good handful of spinach into the pan and let it wilt in the heat, grate some nutmeg into the pan (not too much as it will taste soapy). Once cooked then place into a oven proof dish.
Take the fish and place on top of the spinach.
Meanwhile make a cheese sauce. Making a cheese sauce is easy. Melt a knob of butter in a pan, once melted then add about 1 tablespoon of flour to make a paste, then gradually add milk a bit at a time so it isn't lumpy. Once you have added all the milk then add the grated cheese, I used cheddar then season. Do you know what, add as much cheese as you like, you could also leave as a white sauce if you wish? Poor the sauce over the fish and then add more grated cheese, place in oven for about 10 minutes.
I served this with buttered cabbage ( I have sliced my thumb off in the process of this!), peas, roast parsnips and potatoes.
My top tip for roasties is part boil then rough them up in the pan getting all the edges bashed. Place on a baking tray of hot oil and sprinkle with semolina.

Spinach Pt 1

Hi all,
Hope you are well and enjoying yer food! I've had alot of nice dinners this week but haven't posted any...sorry! blue cheese risotto, artichoke pasta ....yum
Anyway, I have a rogue bag of spinach in the fridge as I thought I might make a lasagna but haven't so what to do before it turns?
Breakfast - I love Sunday breakfast that's a bit like a brunch and carries you through. We also have an abundance of eggs so scrambled eggs is definitely on the cards. This is easy but tastes fresh and really nice as a brunch. It doesn't need a recipe just put a knob of butter in the pan and scramble the eggs. Add the chopped tomatoes at the beginning and spinach at the end along with the basil.
Eggs
Milk & butter
Spinach
Chopped tomatoes
S&P
Fresh basil leaves

Sunday Dinner

I love Sunday dinner, it's my absolute favourite meal and if I had to choose it would definately be my last supper!

It's been pretty busy here lately and quite exhausting, I've had a bad, bad cold and Deano still has the pot on (but a lighter one, it was changed today, I nearly posted a picture of his stiches but I thought it would put you off yer tea!). My mum has been helping out alot lately so I wanted to cook her a nice Sunday lunch, and a meaty one at that! I woke up on Sunday with a caveman type yearning for a pork chop! I consulted the books and came up with a recipe by Elisabeth David. Now, E.D. is a cooks cook and the one you will hear all of those TV cooks citing as one of their influences. I once saw on the TV that Delia taught herself to cook by giving dinner parties entirely from her cookbooks! Soo, I'm serving spiced pork chops with potatoes dauphinois, honey carrots, slow pan-fried fennel (Nigel Slater) and peas and absolutely yumptuous it was too. I like to give my mum veggies she doesn't normally eat, mainly because it secretly makes me laugh at her pretending she likes it 'mmmm, interesting' but I have to say she never stopped about the fennel, it was a winner.

PS- I posted another picture of Blix cos he looked so cute in his knight's helmet, sheild and sword which I made him today...I didn't cook him or anything!

The spices for the chops are easy but as E.D. says well worth the time it takes.
3 tsps white peppercorns
1/2 small nutmeg
1 tsp juniper berries
1/2 tsp of whole cloves
If you have a spice grinder then place everything in and wizz, if not and I don't then use elbow grease and a pestle and mortar. Then liberally cover the chops (both sides) in spices (don't think you have to use it all, you can place in a jar and save for another time and use on lamb chops). I cooked the chops on a grill pan for about 4 mins each side.

The Fennel was easy but tasted delicious
2 Fennel bulbs, quartered
Butter
Water
S&P
Parmesan

Put a generous knob of butter in a large fry pan, put fennel in and fry for a few mins then turn the fennel over and cover in water, up to about 1/4 of the height of the fennel.
Allow to boil then simmer gently with the lid on for about 1/2 hour.
Take lid off and let the water reduce then sprinkle liberally in Parmesan and serve.

carrots - I used those posh baby carrots and placed in a oven dish, a slug of olive oil and a good squidgy of honey then some sea salt and roasted.

Potatoes Dauphinois
About 5 lrg potatoes - peeled then cut very thinly, I used the processor.
A big pot of cream, about 250ml and about 1/2 pint whole milk
Garlic

This is my fave potato dish and dead easy. Put the cream and milk in a jug and then put about 3 cloves of crushed garlic into the cream along with some sea salt and freshly milled pepper.
Place the potatoes into an over dish and pour the cream mixture over - mix it about a bit to disperse the garlic then place in a 180 oven for about an hour.

For pudding Deano made a lovely fresh fruit pudding which he liberally immersed in evaporated milk...I by this point was asleep!

Lentil & Chick Pea Dhall

Hi all,

Fancy a ruby murray? well, sorry, it's not a meaty vindaloo with a couple of stellas but here is a tasty curry for a midweek tea...I love this, I love lentils and it left Deano and I going for seconds..go on it's only lentils, can't be that fattening can it? mmmm, we'll have to wait and see who wins the trumpalumpa contest later(crude, sorry!)
I might add that I have a stinking cold so my taste buds were a bit out this evening, did my hand slip with the chilli's?

1 lrg onion- cut into 1/2 moons
tsp coriander seeds
tsp cumin seeds
2-3 cloves garlic
tsp coriander powder
tsp garam masala
Pinch of chili flakes or a red chili to taste
Approx 250g lentils - green or red - I used green
Tin of chopped tomatoes
2/3 lrg fresh tomatoes - chopped but optional
tin chickpeas
1 litre vegetable stock
Bunch coriander

Fry onions in vegetable oil until soft then add crushed garlic
Add spices with the exception of Garam Masala and continue frying for a couple of minutes then add chili
Add lentils and stock
Add all tomatoes and chick peas and simmer for approx 1/2 hour until lentils are soft
Add Garam Masala and continue simmering for about 5 mins then turn heat off
Add chopped coriander and rock salt to taste and serve with basmati rice or naan bread

Enjoy your meal, please come again!

If you want a receipe and think it's dissapeared then check the archive on your right, click on the months and it will pull out the receipes for that month etc

xx

Courgette, Chickpea, Feta & Mint Soup

I like soup and sometimes it just hits the spot when you don't want a really filling comfort meal. Depends on the soup so something such as Tuscan bean and beef or a hearty leak and potato with crusty bread is a meal in itself but tonight's tea is a summer style refreshing soup with I served with garlic and coriander tortillas; somehow after the weekend when you have probably indulged this seems perfect!

I took this recipe from a smashing book which I got for my birthday called Spooning with Rosie. The book is written by a woman who has opened up a cafe in Brixton Market, the cafe looks lovely and funnily enough I have wondered about the possibility of opening something similar in Leeds market but just not sure if it would work... stuck amongst the bacon butty's and egg and chips (both lavly by the way!). I know that Leeds is lacking a good cafe as the only place we really go to is Pasta Romana and that's mainly for the singing Italian woman and the ambiance as they say!

Anyway, here we go

3 x courgettes
3 x clove of garlic
litre of vegetable stock
Can of chickpeas
Handful of mint- just the leaves, no need to chop
1/2 block of Feta - cubed
1/2 lemon

Cube the courgettes and fry in a little olive oil
Roughly chop the garlic and throw in
After about 5 mins when the courgettes have sweated down then add the stock, chick peas and mint and simmer for about 20 mins
Blitz with a hand blender, add juice of lemon and Feta cheese and pepper to taste.

Pearl's Birthday

Hi all,

Our friend Pearl is seven on Monday so we all went to Pizza Express to celebrate and a good time was had by all!

Happy Birthday Pearl! xxx

What I would say is that we went around 5 and the kids were being kids and actually quite well behaved but there was 6 of them (except Blixa who loves to make me get exercise in restaurants as all I do is runaround after him - quite good really eat the calories then burn them off!)
.....but for some reason people in Britain seems to want children seen and not heard...Maybe I'd had too much vino but I'm sure I heard tutting. I wish we had that European mentality when everyone loves kids.... if you want a cosy meal for 2 go somewhere else not a pizza restaurant or go later when the babby's have gone home. The other thing which really annoys me is that the venues have children's menu's so they obviously want our business... I once went into a gastro pub with Blix and asked for a high chair, the manager said they didn't have one as they didn't really want to encourage kids, at first this made me mad but the more I think about it, the more I respect the venue for being honest...don't take our money and run!
Britain needs a really good family friendly venue which serves nice food and loves both kids and adults alike. I hate Wacky Warehouse but it seems like it's one of the few venues which actually wants children...it's like our kids are a dirty habit to be kept at home!

Sorry, rant over...yes that probably is a business for me in the making...anyone want to invest?

xxxx

Grilled Sardine Croutes

Hello,

I've been buying our shopping from Abel and Cole of late and yes, I know this is poncy and middle class but everything is seasonal, grown mainly in my area and everything tastes nicer, even the baked beans! What it has done has made me consult the books more as I have to order a week in advance so if I buy sardines, I want to know what meal I can make out of them. Saturday's tea was sardines on toast with a bit of nicoise thrown in and it was nice, not yummy and a little dry but if I did it again I would use more oil and dressing. It's another Rick Stein receipe. This would make a really nice picnic lunch in summer.

4 x sardines - gutted and filleted
Olive oil
Pinch crushed chillies
4 slices of rustic bread
1 garlic clove
1 romaine lettuce (I couldn't get this from A & C so used nice lettuce!)
4 vine tomatoes, skinned and sliced
1 roasted red pepper
1 small red onion
2 hard boiled peeled eggs
4 anchovy fillets

Brush sardines with oil and cook on a very hot grill pan or frying pan
Toast bread - rub bread with the garlic
Drizzle olive oil on the bread and then just start to layer everythting up

Linguini with Mussells & chilli

Good evening,

Tonight's tea is one of my favourites, I LOVE it and find it one of the quickest, easiest teas...you could make this with fresh mussels which you steam with garlic and parsley but I just use a packet of cooked mussels from the supermarket. This is just my tea, I don't want it to be difficult and I knocked this up in 5 mins. The only issue I had was that I didn't have any herbs, I'd probably add flat leaf parsley but I didn't have any! Alternatives would be to add a tin of haricot or borlotti beans, you could also add some feta cheese which adds a lavly flavour and a little more saltiness.

Onion- chopped into half moons
Tin of chopped tomatoes
Packet of mussels
Smoked paprika powder
Dried flaked chilli
Black olives or green olives (pitted)
Linguine

Fry onions in olive oil
Add tomatoes and a pinch of sugar
Add mussels
Add teaspoon of paprika and pinch of chilli flakes to taste
Add olives
Simmer for 5 mins and add parsley
Add a slug of olive oil to the sauce
S&P
Cook linguine until aldente - drain then add pinch of rock salt and slug of olive oil and toss.

You can then either add sauce to pasta and toss through or just place on top
Liberally add grated Parmesan cheese

Tart Tatin

Another day, another post, another pudding that keeps him in doors happy for another 2-3 nights...

Tart Tatin has a posh name which puts you off trying to make it, but try as it's dead easy and a great pudding for dinner parties, high tea, Sunday lunch etc

If you wanted to be really posh you could make individual tarts using the same recipe. Serve with good vanilla ice cream, creme anglaise, custard, anything.

There was another recipe in the Guardian at the weekend for pear tatin which I'm going to try soon, I keep you posted! (boom boom)

This is a Rick Stein recipe from French Oddesy, I love this book and have cooked loads from it, yes even a meaty recipe or 2....

I also added some cinnamon which was yummy

250g puff pastry
75g butter
175g caster sugar
750g - about 5 firm apples

Peel, core and halve apples
Spread butter & sugar over the base of a heavy based pan then place apples on top flat side down
Cook over a medium heat for 20-25 mins- shake pan every now and again
Pre heat oven to 190/gas 5
Pour caramelised apples into a flan dish with the flat side up
Roll out pastry and cut a disc which is just larger than the dish. Place on top of the apples and tuck in the sides.
Cook in oven for 25 mins or until pastry is cooked.
Allow to cool slightly then place large plate over dish and flip out.

Pancakes part 2

Can I just confirm that Dean and I aren't swingers, well I'm not, Deano may be...who knows if he's swapping the keys during the day when Blix and I are out!

Today is pancake day so Deano made the pancakes and lavly they were. Not being a fan of sweet pancakes I made some creamy garlic mushrooms to go with mine but Blix chose to pile on the sugar and honey and stuff them in his mouth whole...I don't think they touched the sides!

No receipe but I googled ours and used Delia....aaah she's always there, the doyene of British cooking.

Pancakes for Swinging Lovers

Hi all,

Du jour la amour! (is that how you say it, I'm not saying excuse me where is the toilet or anything?)

It's Valentines day and whilst the romance may have been diluted in our house due to a certain 2 1/2 yr old it still lives on in our hearts and occasionally manifests itself with a gesture. Deano bought me a lovely present and made the best card (he's not normally that creative but his current misdemeanour has meant he has to be as he can't get to the shops.. Blixa's craft box has been raided!). I managed to find a picture of a tank which was nicknamed 'the Valentine' due to it being registered at the War office on 14th Feb, 1938 so I think that made him happy!

I made lovely heart shaped pancakes using those cookie cutters I mentioned I got for my birthday.... I prefer to serve pancakes with savoury stuff not sweet but that's up to you. The recipe is another Nigella and it's an American pancake mix which makes those thicker more spongey ones. The mix was made thicker by Blix who missed the food processor by about a mile when he was pouring the milk in....worked out ok though and meant the pancakes turned out a bit like drop scones...lovely. I simply poured the mixture in the cookie cutters in the pan.

225g plain flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

pinch of salt

2 lrg eggs

30g melted butter

300ml milk

butter for frying

Put everything in a blender and blitz!

Lazy Days

Hi all,

the lack of posts this week signifies that I've been a bit tired and lazy, Thursday was freezer fish and chips, Friday takeaway pizza and Saturday we were taken out for a meal to a pub called The Kestral nr Knaresborough...very nice.

I'm hoping to put my pinny on again soon!

Vegetarian Chilli

Hi all,

last and final post of the day. Our friend Julian visited on Sunday, mainly to lend Deano Call of Duty 4 and let him moan to him about how rubbish I was for taking him ice skating in the first place! If I hear 'Ice Skating at your age' once more......

This is one of those meals that you can cook and talk to your friends at the same time, it's easy to do and is quick.

Onion - cut into half moons

peppers - I used 1/2 red, green and yellow - cut into thin strips

Mushrooms (about 10) - cut in half

Packet of Quorn mince or you could use meaty mince - I read somewhere that authentic chilli is actually made from cubed meat not mince.

2 x tins chopped tomatoes or you could use the equivalent of real tomatoes skinned and seeded

Thyme & bay leaves

2 x cloves of garlic

Tomato puree

Smoked paprika powder

Dried, flaked chilli flakes

Tin of kidney beans - drained and washed

Fry onions and peppers until soft then add the mince

Add tomatoes and a bit of water

Simmer for about 5 mins and add about a tablespoon of tomato puree and the thyme (about 3 springs, taking the leaves off)

Add mushrooms & beans (you could add borlotti beans instead)

Add about a teaspoon of paprika powder and chilli to taste (you only need a few flakes at a time then taste until you are happy)

Salt and pepper to taste

Simmer for about 20 mins. If you are using meat then you could potentially simmer for hours as the cooking will only improve the flavour.

Serve with rice, tortilla, soured cream and cheese

Adios