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

Fish Pie with Mustard Mash

I made this on Saturday after Deano left the hospital, I think we just needed something homely and comforting and fish pie hit the spot.

About large 2/3 fillets of fish, pollack, smoked haddock, salmon

Whole cream milk

Potatoes

Pepper corns (about 10), bay leaves and an onion

Parsley - chopped, about a tablespoon

Whole grain mustard

Butter

Tablespoon of flour

Place cubed fish into a saucepan along with about 1/2 pint of milk. Add the onion (cut in half), peppercorns and bayleaves and poach in the milk. Don't let it cook too long, just long enough for the fish to cook through so about 10 mins.

Take of the heat and drain the fish into a collander and set aside the milk taking out the onion etc

Meanwhile boil potatoes until soft, mash spuds with butter and milk and add a good dollopp of wholegrain mustard.

Place a tablespoon of butter into a pan and heat until melted, take off heat and slowly stir in a tablespoon of flour to make a paste. Then gradually stir in the set aside milk until there are no lumps and place back onto the heat to heat through and thicken. Add chopped parsley. At this point you could also add some good cheddar or spinach to the sauce. Add salt & papper to taste.

Pour over fish then place mash over fish - make rough peaks with the mash.

Bake in the oven for about 20 mins. You could add grated cheddar over the mash to make it cheesier if you wish.

Fishtastic!

Chocolate Orange Sponge

Good evening gastronorms,

I'm going to catch up on a few posts this evening as life is slowly getting back to normal for the Holdens, well not Deano as he is holed up on the sofa and starting to feel sorry for his self (but not too much as it's slowly dawning on him that he now has 8 hours a day to play 'Call of Duty' on the X-box and watch as as much Myth Busters and WW2 docs as he likes, so he is filling his boots until the boy and I come home and start to winge until he puts on 'Ace of Cakes' or 'Scooby Doo' on the telly.

I recently made a yummy chocolate orange cake which is a Nigella receipe. This cake isn't an unctious, cream dripping out of the sides Mrs Miggins cake but a nice sponge that goes well with good vanilla ice cream or custard. I'm basically going to give you the receipe verbatim but upload the shots of Deano enjoying the cake on 3 consecutive nights.)

125g unsalted butter

100g dark chocolate, broken into pieces

300g thin cut marmalade

150g sugar

Pinch of salt

2 lrg eggs

150g self raising flour

20cm springform tin, buttered & floured

Pre-heat oven to 180/gas 4

Put butter in pan and melt, add chocolate when nearly melted and leave for a minute or so then take off the heat and let it just melt in the heat of the butter

Add marmalade, sugar, salt & eggs and stir in with wooden spoon

Beat in the flour bit by bit

Pour into tin and bake for 50 mins

When cooled dust with ice sugar

Chicken, Bacon and Leek Pie

Hi all,

Well it's been a busy weekend and there is lots to tell. It was my birthday on Saturday and we all went out to the skating rink in Millennium Square, it was fun but full of spotty teenagers so not quite the romantic 50's vision I had in my mind! Deano slipped on the ice and now is in hospital with a broken ankle, poor love. We thought it was sprained but no, he has broken his tibia and will need an operation...

Thanks to everyone for all of my lovely presents, I got some heart shaped cookie cutters which will definitely be making an appearance and a brilliant cookery book called 'Spooning with Rosie' which I'm dying to try and will let you know all about.

Tonight's tea had to be quick as it was 4.45 and we had to visit Deano is the ossie at 6 so made a quick pie. It's a bit of a weird one as Deano is away so I could eat meat but it has Quorn chicken in it also! You could either omit the bacon or use real (free range) chicken.

A few rashers of streaky bacon
A bag of Quorn pieces or about 2 fillets cubed
Vegetable or chicken stock
Potatoes
Cheese
Cream - I used Elmlee
Rosemary

Boil potatoes
Fry the leek (I cut in half and then sliced)and bacon until leek soft
Add Quorn and then about 1/2 pint of stock - add the chopped herbs
Add about 3 tablespoons of cream
Simmer until sauce is thick (if necessary add some cornflower)
Mash spuds - I just used butter and milk but you could add a clove of garlic to the boiling water or some mustard.
Put pie mixture in a bowl and top with mash - add grated cheese (I used Gruyere but cheddar is fine) and grill

Ta da instant yummy pie for tea

Enjoy

next post - tales from the hospital bed, Deano is missing my food as he keeps getting a microwave om elate and mash for tea!