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!