Crafty cooking

Lasagne

2012-01-29T12:34:00.000Z

Ingredients
1 batch of my Bolognese Sauce
1 batch of my White Sauce
1/2 box of lasagne sheets (normal or verdi(green) or mix of both)
75g/3oz grated cheese, you can use cheddar or mozzarella (either ready grated or fresh cut into slices)

Method
Preheat oven to Gas Mark 4/180C.
You need a wide dish suitable for lasagne, ideally about 10cm high. I use a square lasagne dish, you can use a casserole dish, but it need so be large enough to take at least one sheet of lasagne at a time. Don't worry, the lasagne sheets break easily.

Add a couple of large serving spoon size spoonfuls of the bolognese sauce to the dish, I use a ladle, spread it so it just covers the base.
Now drizzle over some of the sauce, about a large serving spoon size.
Now cover with a single layer of the lasagne sheets. (see next step below if you have just used the last of the sauce)

Repeat steps 1-3 a couple more times. You will need enough of each sauce left to cover the final layer of lasagne so it is all covered.

Sprinkle over the grated cheese or place on the fresh mozzarella.
Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes until golden brown.

Serve with a salad and garlic bread.

White sauce

2012-01-29T12:12:00.002Z

Ingredients
250ml/ 1/2pint milk
25g/1oz plain flour
25g/1oz butter/spread suitable for cooking
Salt and pepper

Method
Put all the ingredients in a small pan, grab a balloon whisk and put over a medium heat, keep stirring until the sauce has thickened. (don't leave it, just keep stirring, trust me it will look impossible to start with but it works)

When it has thickened and starts to bubble, allow to simmer for 3 minutes to "cook" the flour.

Season to taste.

Cheese sauce - simply stir in 1 tsp dijon mustard, add 75g/3oz grated cheese and heat gently until melted.

Parsley sauce - stir in 1 tbsp finely chopped parsley

Bolognese sauce (ragu)

2012-01-29T11:54:00.002Z

Ingredients
1 onion, finely chopped
1 stick celery, finely chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
2 rashers streaky bacon, chopped into small pieces, or 1 pack of cubed pancetta/bacon lardons
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
500g/1lb minced beef
1 carrot, finely diced
1 tbsp tomato purée
100ml/ 1/4pt milk
1/4 nutmeg grated (use fresh, it's much nicer)
1 glass red wine (there won't be any alcohol left after cooking)
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 oxo cube
Water
Salt and pepper

Method
Heat the oil on a medium heat in a large saucepan, add the onions and celery and gently fry until they are soft, add in the bacon and fry for about 3 minutes. Turn up the heat and add the garlic and minced beef, break up the mince as you fry it, it should start to crumble, fry until none of the mince is pink. Add in the carrot, tomato purée, nutmeg and milk, bubble until the milk has vanished. Now add the wine, again bubble until it has vanished. Sprinkle over the oxo cube add the tinned tomatoes and enough water to just cover the ingredients, season. Bring to the boil and then turn down to a very low simmer so that the odd bubble breaks the surface, cook for a good hour, stirring occasionally. At this stage you could pop this in a slow cooker and leave on low all day to cook.
Check seasoning and then serve.

Our Christmas feast

2011-12-26T11:15:00.001Z

We believe that it is important to make celebration meals key memories for the future and to be the best nature can provide, hopefully cooked to perfection.
Family traditions develop over the years. Over the years we have introduced a fresh free range Goose to our Christmas table, truly a seasonal meat, only available between Michaelmas and Christmas. Our supplier is now Michael Coleman at Hewish Farm near Milton Abbas. We've been buying our goose from Michael since 2006 and the trip to collect the goose is now the start of the excitement. Last year was the longest trip yet due to the snow, this year it was lovely and mild. We collect the goose on the 23rd of December having ordered it in November.
A couple of years ago at Christmas lunch my Dad said even though he liked the goose, he missed turkey, now here was the conundrum, do we swap to turkey? That would have caused a riot, so the alternative was, cook a turkey too. Last year I managed to pick up a turkey crown from Waitrose on Christmas eve at half-price, it was a Norfolk Bronze, and tasted great, but hubby and I vowed that we would try and source a local turkey this Christmas, perhaps Laura would actually eat some then, she has always loved goose and hasn't liked turkey in the past.
After plenty of research on the web, we decided that we'd order our turkey from Danestream Farm Shop near Bashley. After dropping the goose of at home, we drove to Bashley to collect the turkey, which was properly boxed, no plastic wrap in sight. The turkey was from a farm in Romsey, free range, a norfolk bronze. We also bought all the necessary additions, the chipolatas, streaky bacon, sausagement and a lovely smoked gammon to roast for Christmas Eve (hubby's traditional birthday meal). To top it off, all the butchers took your meat to your car for you, now that's what I call excellent service. We bought all our veg and fresh chestnuts too.
So Christmas Day arrived, hubby prepared the chestnuts for me (next year, these are going to be prepared Christmas Eve as they are really fiddly. I picked the fresh herbs from the garden and then made the chestnut stuffing. We aren't sure if Laura is wheat intolerant at the moment, so I used gluten free breadcrumbs in the stuffing. I used it to stuff the necks of both birds, perfect amount with no spare.
I always make my own Cranberry sauce and Cumberland sauce for Mum (for those on Wharfarin, who aren't allowed cranberries, this is a great alternative, the tang without the worry).

Gravadlax with Sweet Mustard and Dill sauce

Roast Turkey
Roast Goose
served with roast potatoes, roast parsnips, sprouts with chestnuts and bacon, carrots, pigs in blankets, cranberry and orange sauce, cumberland sauce, gravy

Christmas pudding

For the first time we also served sprouts with chestnuts and bacon pieces, I've always been a bit worried about whether Dad would like this, but decided to just go for it this year, a huge success, add that to our tradition.
Wow, the turkey was so moist, it was still oozing juices as Dad carved it, the goose was amazing and it was great having meat from both. AND Laura actually decided to try the turkey, and then had another slice as it was so delicious.
Traditions started this year, turkey from Danestream, sprouts with chestnuts.

Cranberry and Orange Sauce

2011-12-26T11:06:00.001Z

Ingredients

1 pack fresh cranberries
1 large orange
3 oz/75g caster sugar
3 tablespoons port

Method

Wash the cranberries, put in a pan with the zest of the orange and the juice, pop in the sugar. Put over a medium heat and cook until all the berries are burst, they pop as they cook. Taste and add more sugar if you prefer it sweeter. Remove from heat and add the port, stir well and pour into a serving dish. Serve either warm or cold.

Tip
If you can get hold of cranberries earlier or reduced, just pop the bags in the freezer and use from frozen in this recipe.

Chestnut Stuffing

2011-12-26T10:49:00.001Z

Ingredients

1 large onion, chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pack sausagement
2 oz/50g breadcrumbs
1 packet/jar cooked chestnuts (fresh if you want to fiddle)
1 tablespoon fresh thyme (remove leaves from sprigs)
2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
zest of 1/2 lemon
salt and pepper

Method

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan, add onion and lightly season with salt, fry until soft. (If you season before you cook, the onions taste so much nicer). Leave to cool while prepare the rest of the ingredients.
In a medium mixing bowl, put the sausagemeat, breadcrumbs, thyme, parsley, lemon zest (I do recommend a microplane grater, it produces the most amazing results). I chop the chestnuts into 4 pieces, I like some chunks in the stuffing rather than mush. Add in the onions and then season with salt and pepper. Mix thoroughly and use to stuff the neck of the turkey/goose, you can also make stuffing balls with any left overs and pop them in with the pigs in blankets when roasted in the oven.

Cauliflower cheese

2011-10-27T11:06:00.001+01:00

1 cauliflower
1oz plain flour
1oz butter
1/2 pint milk
1tsp Dijon mustard
3oz cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper

Break cauliflower into florets and boil or steam until tender. Drain.

Make a simple white sauce use all in one method, 1oz plain flour, 1oz butter, 1/2 pint milk, pop in pan and put over gentle heat, use a balloon whisk and keep stirring until thick, allow to bubble for about 2 min until cooked, add 1tsp Dijon mustard, stir in, salt and pepper, then about 3 oz grated cheddar cheese.

Heat and stir until thick and creamy, pour over your cauliflower.

You could put cauliflower in an ovenproof dish, pour over sauce and then top with more grated cheese and then put under a grill or top of oven until golden brown.

Jaeger schnitzel

2011-10-27T11:00:00.001+01:00

Now that I can obtain veal that is humane, I am able to cook a couple of dishes that are very scrummy, jaeger schnitzel being one of them. I was fortunate to be shopping in m & s and spotted some packs of veal steaks reduced, oh well two packs hit my basket and then the freezer.

4 Veal steaks
Plain Flour
Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons Olive oil
1 Onion, chopped
1 stick Celery, chopped
1 Carrot, chopped
1 glass Red wine
1/2 pint Beef stock
Bouquet garni (bay leaf, thyme, parsley stalks)

Heat oil in a frying pan. Season the flour, coat veal steaks in flour and shake off excess. Fry the steaks until golden and remove to a plate. Don't worry if the flour stays in pan. Add the onions, carrot and celery to the pan with the bouquet garni (you don't need to tie it up unless you want to, I just put the individual ingredients in the pan, you can always fish them out later if you want to). Gently sauté the veg, then put in the red wine to bubble (deglaze the pan), add the stock and season, replace the veal steaks and simmer until tender, only about 20 mins. For a family meal, serve with mash. If doing a dinner party, remove the steaks onto the plates, strain the juices and reduce if necessary, pour over the steaks. The veg are lovely, but not dinner party food. You can also serve with noodles.

Cooking is therapy

2011-10-24T08:49:00.001+01:00

Unfortunately I suffered from a migraine yesterday, so was feeling a little after shocked today. My way of coping is to do some cooking.
I started gently, finishing off the green tomato chutney I started a few days ago, now I had some more lids I could put it in the jars.
We started to check the freezer last night, time to start using up some of the elderberries. I chopped up some of the mountain of apples we have on mum and dads ancient apple tree, plus some lemon juice, then boiled until lovely and soft. I strained it through a sieve lined with muslin. Quick trick, for every pint of juice add one pound of preserving sugar. I then boiled until setting point. Now I have some wonderful jars of elderberry and apple jelly. I also decided to treat my daughter and make some lemon curd, guaranteed to put a smile on your face and sort out any thickly throats.

It's never too early or late to start cooking

2011-10-19T07:05:00.001+01:00

Cooking is fun and a necessity if you are going to be able to look after yourself and family as economically as possible. It isn't difficult if you have easy recipes to give you confidence.
I'm sharing my blog of easy recipes with those who may have never had anyone to help them cook and need to start now, or those that are already happy cooks, but just need some inspiration.
I believe that you need to buy natural ingredients, if they don't have flavour to start with, you can't give them flavour later.
Buying cheap meat is a false economy, by the time it has cooked I've found that the amount of water released during cooking is astonishing, leaving a scrap of actual meat. When you weigh what is left, it is actually more expensive than good quality meat. Try to buy free range where possible, local even better, no nasty additives, antibiotics or steriods either.
Look out for reduced items and either cook immediately or freeze. We eat really well, but don't spend a fortune.
If you are university, club together, it's cheaper, and try some of my recipes. There's always beans on toast if you need it, but you don't need a recipe for that.
The most important thing is to get adventurous with your cooking once a week and try something new.
And
Have fun cooking.

Coq au Vin

2011-05-29T17:59:00.000+01:00

I love reading cookery books, but sometimes I just cook from the heart. Today was one of those days, my daughter wanted coq-au-vin, I decided to just go with the flow, so here's my recipe.

Ingredients
1 onion sliced
2 whole garlic cloves
1 tbsp butter
1 pack of smoked bacon lardons
chicken portions
1 large tomato chopped
1 bouquet garni
1 bottle of red wine
1 chicken stock cube
salt and pepper
Butter
Button mushrooms
Baby onions (if you have some)

Method
Start by gently frying the onion in the butter, (I had some bacon fat left from cooking carbonara for lunch). Add to 2 whole garlic cloves, continue frying.
Add the pack of bacon lardons, continue to fry. Add the chicken and brown. Pop in the tomato then the entire bottle of wine (I know it seems a lot, but it really is worth it). Crumble over the chicken stock cube, season.
Make the bouquet garni and add, I used a couple of sprigs of fresh thyme, some parsley stalks, a bay leaf and half a stick of celery with it's leaves. I tied it together with some string and popped it in the pot.
Simmer until the chicken is tender, this is about 1 1/2 hours.
Heat some butter and then in small batches fry the mushrooms until golden adding them to the casserole, do the same with the onions if you are using. Stir thoroughly and leave with a lid on until you need to reheat for lunch/dinner.

If you have some fresh parsley, chop and garnish the finished casserole.

Salmon with Watercress Sauce

2011-02-26T21:03:00.000Z

I love a bargain and today we managed to buy some wonderful wild atlantic salmon steaks, reduced to half-price. I'd also bought a bunch of fresh watercress from the Ferndene farm shop in the morning, a perfect combination.

Ingredients:

Salmon steaks
Sunflower oil
25g unsalted butter
25g plain flour
250ml milk
1/2 bunch watercress
Salt & Pepper
Juice 1/2 lemon

Method:
Heat the oil in a frying pan and then fry the salmon skin side down until crispy. Don't worry if the skin comes off when you turn it over, just remove all the skin. Cook for a further minute and take off the heat, leave to cook in the residual heat.
Make the white sauce using the normal roux method. Alternatively, put the milk, butter and flour in a small pan and whisk with a balloon whisk over a gentle heat until bubbling. Chop the watercress roughly and add to the sauce. Add the lemon juice and cook gently for another couple of minutes, season well and then use a hand blender, whizz the sauce until smooth.
Put the salmon back over the heat to bring back to temperature.

Serve with mashed potato and spinach.

Sausages in Onion Gravy

2011-01-05T21:00:00.000Z

We love camping and this is one of the favourite recipes, especially our daughter's friend who has now joined us in Cornwall for the ast 2 years. It is true comfort food. We serve with lashings of mashed potato (the girls cheat with Smash on holiday), and a pack of frozen peas.

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
Good quality pork sausages
1 onion sliced
1 tsp bisto gravy powder
1 oxo cube
1/2 pint boiling water

Method:
Put your potatoes on and veg.
In a separate frying pan, heat the oil and start to fry the sausages over a medium heat, keep an eye on them and turn them regularly until they are nice and brown, add the onions and keep frying until just soft turning the sausages occasionally. Dissolve the oxo in the boiling water and add to the frying pan, stirring carefully to scrape all the meat juices off the bottom of the pan. Mix the bisto gravy powder with about 1 tablespoon of cold water in a small cup, add this to the pan and stir until the gravy thickens. Simmer for about 4 more minutes.
Make the mash and serve.

Pasta Carbonara

2010-12-31T12:13:00.000Z

This is one of those recipes that is really quick to make and is great to rustle up when you have to fill starving kids. It is also great as a power lunch before rehearsals etc.
It is so easy, it's great as a dish for the kids to learn to cook. If you have left over ham, use that instead of the bacon, it also doesn't need to be frazzled first either. I always have little packets of pancetta in the fridge, there's normaly some double cream and parmesan is a staple. This makes a great starter or main course.

To serve 4
Ingredients
250g spaghetti or liguine (cook amount you would normally cook for 4)
150g cubed pancetta or streaky bacon cut into thin strips
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 eggs (free range if possible)
150 ml double cream
75g parmesan cheese freshly grated
Salt and Pepper

Method
Put the pasta into boil in lots of salted boiling water, check the pasta for timing, you want the pasta to be just al dente.
Whilst the pasta is cooking fry off the bacon/pancetta in the olive oil until browned.
In a bowl mix the eggs, cream and salt & pepper, beat well together.
As soon as the pasta has finished cooking, turn off the pasta and strain in a colander, return to the pan add in the egg mixture, toss through the pasta, the residual heat in the pasta and pan will cook it, throw in the parmesan and continue tossing, then add the bacon and toss through. It should be lovely and creamy and cling to the pasta. If the "sauce" seems a little too thin, carefully put the heat back on very low and toss carefully and quickly, you want it to thicken and not turn into scrambled eggs.

Serve. For a dinner party, you could serve with a green salad and some garlic bread.

You can also add sliced mushrooms when frying the bacon to make a change.

Beef Goulash

2010-08-13T17:31:00.002+01:00

It's great when I feel relaxed, that's when I get inspired to start cooking and love to refresh old recipes and try new ideas too. The days are beginning to shorten, it's cooler in the morning and I start to get the preserving bug. I can't resist the roadside stalls with gluts of fresh vegetables and fruit which cry out to be pickled, made into chutneys or jams. I need elastic cupboards though, there is never enough room to store the pots and jars. Even my husband is raiding the reduced shelves at the supermarket bringing back ingredients that he knows I'll be using.

I've also decided that I'm going to make the Christmas Cakes over the next couple of weeks, they can then be matured and drizzled with brandy, I'm determined to have them ready before the start of term this year.Yesterday was a cold and damp day, so I decided that something warming was needed and I haven't made a Goulash for ages. I hope you enjoy the recipe.

Ingredients
Goulash:olive oil
1 onion, sliced
1lb Braising steak, in 1 inch cubes
seasoned flour
1 red pepper, sliced
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
1/2 tsp caraway seeds
2 tsp paprika
1/2 pint beef stock
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 sprig thyme
1 bay leaf

Dumplings:
4oz SR flour
2oz suet
Salt and pepper
1 tsp Chopped fresh thyme
1 tblsp chopped parsley
cold water

Method
Preheat oven Gas 4.Fry off the onion in some olive oil until the onions are soft. Pop these in a casserole dish. Add more oil if necessary. Toss the beef in seasoned flour and fry in small batches until browned on all sides, transfer to the casserole dish. Add the peppers to the pan, fry for 1 minute, add the garlic and caraway seeds, fry for a few seconds and then add the paprika. Pour in the stock and bubble to release the juices on the bottom of the pan, add the tomatoes, heat through and pour into the casserole. Add the bay leaf and thyme sprig. Stir together and cover with a lid. Cook in the oven for 2 hours until tender.

30 minutes before serving, in a medium bowl, mix the flour, suet, chopped herbs, salt and pepper with enough cold water to make a stiff dough. With wet hands, break off walnut sized pieces of the dough and roll into balls. Remove casserole from oven, stir and then pop the dumplings around the stew, leaving space between each, cover with the lid and pop back into the over for approximately 30 minutes for the dumplings to steam.

Serve with some fresh steamed beans, broccoli or peas and a dollop of sour cream.

An easy Lamb Curry

2010-02-19T14:46:00.001Z

My daughter loves Lamb and also curry, so her treat for the end of half-term was a lamb curry for lunch. I don't use spice mixes, but this is such an easy and tasty curry, you will be really surprised.

Ingredients
1lb neck of lamb fillet cut into cubes
1 large onion finely sliced
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic
1 inch piece of root ginger
1 small onion
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp ground turmeric
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 pint water
4 fresh tomatoes cut into quarters
1 tsp salt

Method
Fry the sliced onions in the 1 tbsp oil, keep an eye on the onions and make sure they don't burn, they need to turn a reddish brown. This will take about 5-10 minutes, remove from pan. In a small food blender, pop in the garlic, ginger, small onion and about a tablespoon of water and blend until a puree. Add remaining oil and fry the puree over a gentle heat until turns golden brown, add back in the sliced fried onion. Add the spices and fry off for a minute, add the 1/2 pint of water, pop in the lamb and the tomatoes, add salt, ensure water is topped up to cover the meat. Pop on a lid and simmer gently until lamb is tender (about 1 hour, but keep testing). When tender, remove lid to allow liquid to bubble off if necessary.
Serve with basmati rice.

Ox-cheek in red wine

2010-02-16T18:30:00.000Z

Well I love the Ox-cheek with mushroom ragout recipe is use, but suffering from a cold, feeling rough, and realising that I didn't have any mushrooms, I thought it was time for a change.

Ingredients
2 ox-cheeks cut into 1 inch cubes
2 onions cut into large chunks
2 garlic cloves, chopped
2 sticks celery cut into large chunks
2 carrots chopped into large chunks
plain flour
salt and pepper
1 bay leaf
1/4 pint red wine
2 tablespoons tomato puree
1/2 pint beef stock
olive oil

Method
Preheat oven gas 3.
Fry off the onions, garlic, celery and carrots until the onions have slightly coloured, add to a large casserole dish. Toss ox-cheek in seasoned flour and brown on all sides in batches, adding to the casserole. Once all the meat is browned add the red wine to pan to bubble off the juices that are on the bottom of the pan, add the tomato puree and stir together. Add the stock, bring all the to boil and pour over the meat and veg. Put a bay leaf in and cover. Put in the oven and leave to cook for about 3 hours until tender.

Faggots with peas

2010-01-17T15:24:00.001Z

Family recipes are great, Mum showed me this and it is a firm family favourite. This is a really easy cheat that gives a lovely hot luscious meal, great during cold weather, you just cook in one pan.

Ingredients
2 faggots per person
2 tins oxtail soup (sufficient for 8 faggots)
small packet frozen peas (I prefer petits pois)

Method
Put the faggots with the oxtail soup in a pan, bring to the boil then simmer for about 30 mins. Add in the frozen peas and continue to simmer for another 15mins.

Serve in large soup plates.

A tradition in my family is to break open your faggots and then shake over some malt vinegar (optional).

Raspberry fool

2010-01-16T20:18:00.002Z

Ingredients

1 punnet Raspberries

250ml Double cream

50g Icing Sugar

Method

Reserve a couple of raspberries to decorate the top of the dessert

Mash raspberries with icing sugar in a bowl, then push through a sieve (this is called "coulis").

Whip cream until soft (careful not to overbeat), then fold in 3/4 of the raspberry coulis.

Layer the coulis with the fool in a glass and then decorate with raspberries and a drizzle of coulis.

Cheesy Dauphinois Potatoes

2010-01-16T20:17:00.001Z

Ingredients

3 potatoes, cut into thin slices

250ml double cream

125ml milk

55g Butter

1 garlic cloves, chopped

100g cheddar cheese grated

salt and fresh ground black pepper

Prepare the potatoes by cutting into thin slices 0.5cm . Preheat the oven to 190ºC/Gas 5.
In a saucepan heat the garlic, potatoes and cream and butter, add enough milk to just cover the potatoes. Cover and bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Season with salt and freshly ground pepper.
Transfer the potato mixture to a shallow gratin dish, top with the grated cheese. Bake the potato mixture for 30 minutes.

Salsa

2010-01-16T20:15:00.002Z

Ingredients

3 Tomatoes (finely chopped)

1/2 small onion (finely diced)

1/2 green chilli (finely diced)

Juice from 1/2 lime

Salt & Pepper

Method

Mix together and serve

Guacamole

2010-01-16T20:14:00.000Z

Ingredients

1 avocado

1/2 small onion (finely diced)

1/2 green chilli (finely diced)

1 tomato (finely chopped)

Juice from 1/2 lime

Salt & Pepper

Method

Mash the avocado, then add the other ingredients and stir. Season to taste

Beef Enchiladas

2010-01-16T20:12:00.000Z

For the Enchiladas

1 packet of flour tortillas (only 4 needed)

250g minced beef

1/2 green pepper (sliced)

1/2 red onion (sliced)

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp cayenne pepper

Olive oil

1/2 tin chopped tomatoes

1 tin kidney beans

1 beef stock cube

Method

Put the oil with paprika and cayenne in frying pan, gently warm the spices, add the onion and fry until softened, add the minced beef and fry until all browned, add the pepper and continue to cook for 1 minutes. Add the tomatoes, kidney beans and sprinkle in the oxo cube. Stir and cook for 15 minutes. Season to taste. Allow to cool slightly.

Take a tortilla, put 1/4 of the mix in the tortilla and roll up, place in serving dish. Repeat with other tortillas.

Mix the other 1/2 chopped tomatoes with 1 tablespoon of tomato puree and season. Pour over the tortillas.

Grate 75g of cheese and sprinkle over the top, put in a hot Gas 6 oven for 15 minutes.

Serve with Guacamole and Salsa

Beef Stroganoff

2010-01-16T20:10:00.003Z

Ingredients

1 onion, sliced

125g button mushrooms, sliced

50g butter

250g sirloin steak

25g plain flour

Salt & pepper

1 tablespoon tomato puree

125ml pot sour cream

Method

Fry the onions in the 25g of the butter until soft add the mushrooms and fry together until soft. Spoon the onions and mushrooms onto a separate plate, keep the remaining butter in the pan, add the rest of the butter and melt.

Slice the beef into thin strips and then toss in seasoned flour. Remove excess flour and then fry the beef until golden brown. Return the onions and mushrooms to the pan with any juices. Add the sour cream and tomato puree, stir carefully over a gentle heat, season to taste.

Serve with boiled rice or noodles.

Thai Green Chicken Curry

2010-01-16T19:19:00.001Z

Ingredients

1 tablespoon cooking oil

2 dessert spoons thai green curry paste (start with Amoy paste)

2 tablespoons thai fish sauce

1 tin coconut milk

chicken breast (raw or ready cooked) cut into 1inch pieces

1 mug of thai fragrant rice

cold water to cover by half an inch

salt

Method

Add rice to a saucepan and wash under the cold tap a couple of times. The water will turn cloudy, this is the starch in the rice which would make it sticky when cooked. Cover the rice with enough cold water to reach half and inch above the level of the rice and add salt. Bring to the boil, stir once, cover with a tight fitting saucepan lid and turn heat to the lowest simmer possible. Don't be tempted to look at the rice, leave it for 10 minutes then turn off the heat. Leave rice until you are ready to serve the curry. Fluff the rice with a fork before serving.

In a wok or large frying pan, heat the oil of a medium heat, add the curry paste and fry for about 1 minute stirring continuously, be careful it spits.

Add the coconut milk and fish sauce, stir and simmer for about 1 minute.

Add the chicken to the sauce and turn heat to a simmer, if raw cook for about 15 minutes, if using ready cooked, for about 5-10 minutes.

Serve

Tips:

I cheat and use left over roast chicken and then strip the breast meat straight into the curry sauce.

Curry pastes vary with the brand, I have found that the Amoy paste is very tasty and mild, suitable for those who don't like fiery curries, if you do like them hot, buy the traditional green paste which comes in plastic tubs, be warned, use only 2 teaspoons of paste unless you book the fire-brigade.

Roast Lamb with Garlic and Rosemary

2009-04-04T21:38:00.006+01:00

We decided to celebrate my parents return from holiday and our wedding anniversary today.
A whole roast shoulder of lamb. This recipe works with half-shoulder's too.

Serves 5-6
Ingredients
2.5kg Whole shoulder of lamb
3 garlic cloves
1 tablespoon fresh chopped garlic
2 sprigs rosemary, off stalk and finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
salt & pepper

Method
Oven temp 160 deg C/Gas 3.
Cut the garlic into slivers. Chop the rosemary finely.
Place the lamb into a roasting tray. Using a sharp knife pierce sideways into the outer fat of the skin and insert a slice of garlic. (As the fat melts, the garlic will infuse into the fat and steep into the meat). Keep inserting the garlic all over the lamb. You can also insert garlic deep into the meat if you wish.
Drizzle over the oil, then grind over salt and pepper. Sprinkle over the chopped rosemary.
Roast for 30 mins per pound, plus an additional 30 mins. Baste regularly.

Served with roast potatoes, carrot matchsticks and the most wonderful purple sprouting broccoli.

Ox cheek and kidney pie

2009-03-28T19:35:00.003Z

Wow, I love steak and kidney pie, but have just made ox cheek and kidney pie. It's really amazing, so much nicer and so moreish.

You will need to cook the ox cheek and kidney very slowly in the oven for about 2.5 - 3 hours.

Ingredients
1 onion - sliced
2 ox cheeks (1lb roughly)
8 oz beef kidney (we do love kidney, so drop this if you prefer)
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
2 oz butter
3 oz plain flour
salt & pepper
1 glass red wine
2 tablespoons tomato puree
1/4pt beef stock
couple of dashes of worcestershire sauce
2 bay leaves
Puff pastry (ready rolled is a great timesaver)

Method

Preheat oven to gas mark 3 - 170C/325F.
Put the oil and 1oz of butter in a frying pan and saute the onions until they are golden.
Slice the ox cheek into 1 inch cubes. You will need a sharp knife due to the connective tissue, but don't worry, it helps give flavour and tenderises as it cooks.
Put the flour in a bowl or plastic bag, season with salt and pepper, then toss the ox cheek in the flour.
Remove the onions with a slotted spoon and place in the bottom of a casserole dish.
Add some more butter to the pan and brown the pieces of meat. Make sure you don't add too many at a time as you want them to go slightly crusty. When browned remove with a slotted spoon and pop on top of the onions.
Cut the kidney into 1 inch cubes, remove any core as you go. Toss in the flour after you have finished browning the meat.
Add more butter if required. Brown the kidney in the pan. Remove with slotted spoon and add to the casserole.
Pour the wine into the frying pan and let the meat juices bubble off the bottom of the pan stirring constantly.
Add the tomato puree and stir. Add the stock and worcestershire sauce. Bring to the boil and pour over the casserole.
Add the bay leaves and stir everything together.
Cover with a lid or foil and pop in the oven.
After 1.5 hours, remove from oven and stir carefully. Return to oven until the ox cheek is tender.
When the casserole is cooked, remove from oven.
Turn up oven to gas mark 7, 220C/425F
Take pastry out of fridge, cut as many squares as you need for lids, lay on a baking tray, carefully using a sharp knife, score the top of the pastry sheets so that you make a diamond pattern. Bake for approximately 20 minutes.
Serve large spoonfuls of the ox cheek and kidney, top with pastry lid and serve with boiled potatoes, the most wonderful fresh purple sprouting broccoli.

Braised Ox Cheek with Mushroom Ragout

2009-03-07T21:00:00.004Z

While watching Heston Blumenthal's tv programme about Little Chef, I remembered seeing him make a steak and kidney pie and he used Ox Cheek which they were drooling over. I was shopping in Waitrose the other week and saw ox cheek on the butchery counter, very reasonably priced. The lady serving was extremely helpful and had a file of recipes from the Internet, it gave me the inspiration to buy some and try it. I realised that the recipe sheet was quite involved, so had a surf for other recipes. This recipe is the one I picked, it is free to register to get the full details and well worth it from chefspencil.com.

You do need a sharp knife to cut through the ox cheek, but never fear with the long slow cooking, the finished ox cheek melts in the mouth. It was so scrummy I took some over to my parents, who were equally impressed. The taste really lingers, it's suitable for a dinner party.

If you love braised steak, you will adore this, it's much better, more succulent and the best meat for braising slowly.

Curried Parsnip Soup

2009-01-07T18:00:00.005Z

It has been really freezing here all day, woke to find the water pipes frozen, so took until 12.30 to defrost. I was wondering if I was going to get the soup pot on or not today.

Took the fork to the garden at 2.30, it was hard to get it in the soil as it was still frozen, but managed to dig up 2 wonderful parsnips.

Curried Parsnip Soup
1oz butter
1 Red onion
2 parsnips
1 medium potato
1 garlic clove
1 tbsp curry powder
1 tbsp plain flour
1 pt chicken stock
1 pt water
2 tbsp double cream
salt & pepper

saute the chopped onion, parsnip, potato and garlic in a large pan for approximately 10 mins, add curry powder and flour, fry gently to release the spices. Add the stock and water and then simmer until all veg is soft. Whizz with a hand blender until smooth. Add the double cream and then season to taste. Serve with a swirl of cream (optional).

Watercress soup

2009-01-06T18:21:00.005Z

Oh dear, you know when you do something and then make a rod for your own back. Homemade soup yesterday went down so well, that I got another request today. It's just as well that soup is so easy to make, chuck it in, simmer, whizz it with a hand blender and you have soup.

Watercress soup
2 tblsp olive oil
1 large onion
2 large potatoes
1 pint chicken stock
1 bag of watercress, washed
double cream
salt & pepper

Chop the onion, saute in a pan until soft. Add the chopped potato, cover with chicken stock, add the watercress, bring to boil and then simmer until the vegetables are soft. Whizz soup with hand blender until smooth, season to taste and thin with water if required. Add a couple of tablespoons of double cream and stir. Serve and add a swirl of double cream if desired.

Lentil soup

2009-01-05T18:13:00.001Z

Oh well, a little soup for the soul - so as I'm feeling really poorly, decided I'd pop on some soup for my lunch and daughter's afterschool snack. It's freezing today, so soup will certainly warm her up before her singing lesson.

Lentil Soup
2 tblsp olive oil
1 large onion
4 carrots
1 stalk celery
4 oz red lentils
1 pint chicken stock
1 pint water
2 tblsp tomato puree
salt & pepper

Chop the onion, celery and carrots into small dice. Sweat them off in the pan in the olive oil until the onions are soft, then add the lentils, fry off for about 30 secs. Add the stock, water and tomato paste, simmer until all veg are tender and the lentils are cooked. Add salt and pepper to taste. Whizz using a hand blender until smooth. Add water if needed to get the right consistency.
Serve

New Year 2009

2009-01-02T21:30:00.004Z

Wow a whole year has passed and I haven't written to my blog. I'm still obsessive about organic food, have now dropped the riverford box as I'm growing loads of my own veg and now buy fresh meat and any spare veg from Ferndene farm shop. My weight has dropped off since I have been eating meat that isn't fed on feed laced with steroids, wonder if the steriods keep us fatted up.

Must get more veg in the garden this year, will be popping veg in amongst the flowers this year too and building raised beds too. Want a bed that is 3 feet high so mum can pick veg without help.

All seeds bought at the end of last year in loads of sales, so must now have about 100 packs of seeds to plant. Loads in the greenhouse ready to go in already. Have been making my own pots too out of newspaper using my paper potter.

About

2008-12-30T19:35:00.002Z

Local food is really important. We have found a brilliant farm shop "Ferndene" with a great butcher and wonderful local produce.
Every week we buy our meat from Ferndene and here are some of the recipes that I have created from vegetables from the garden (if we have any) and our shopping sprees.

Happy New Year

2008-01-06T09:31:00.000Z

Happy New Year to everyone.

Medium box contents this week
Curly Kale
Potatoes
Onions
Carrots
Leeks
Green pepper
Red pepper
Cauliflower
Swede
Savoy cabbage

I roasted a lovely shoulder of lamb last night, studded it with garlic slivers and sat it on a bed of rosemary to permeate as it roasted, also seasoned with freshly ground black pepper and some maldon salt. It was scrummy.
Popped some of the potatoes in to bake, I scrub them, dry them, then rub them with olive oil. I tried Nigella's trick and put them onto a metal skewer to help the centres cook more quickly. They were really crispy and fluffy middles.
Steamed some carrots and savoy cabbage and braised some leeks with butter and water.

Simple food, but scrummy.

A few ramblings about food.

Another year when food is going to be even more important, I do worry about the things that are in our food that shouldn't be. I heard part of a broadcast on BBC radio 4 this week about flavourings and how they are used to provide tasty food for the poorer people, grrrrrr, no nutrients, all those chemicals, no regulation.

I believe there is a correlation between the foods our children eat and the special needs that appear. I currently teach a variety of students, but interestingly those that haven't achieved very well yet, majority have dyslexia or dyspraxia or ADHD, how come so many have these conditions. Look at low sugar diets, where sweeteners are used like aspartame (yuk look it up on google) I can identify if aspartame is in a product, it leaves a terrible taste in my mouth, many a time my DH has bought me a snack or drink whilst we are out, I take a sip or mouthful, get that horrid taste and go straight for the ingredients, sure enough out pops the name aspartame. I'm about to start the topic of healthy eating with 16-17 year old boys, that's going to be fun, trying to get them to try different things, seeing if they like it.

Apparently carrots are like sponges and absorb all the chemicals and pesticides that they are dosed with, we then happily chop them up and feed our children.

I am determined to get my parents veg plot productive this year. We have just bought 20 bags of mushroom compost, which will go on the garden to improve the very sandy soil. It needs some organic matter to hold onto the water and nutrients. The whole point of organic is to put the nutrients in the soil for the plants and they can take what they need. I'm going to use the seaweed nutrient too to help with germination and then improve the plants growth, tried it last year on a small scale and it was brilliant, really helped to grow strong plants.

We've got a few packets of seeds (Dad seems to think his pile of packets dated 2002 will still germinate, oh dear, he does waste his time and effort). We're concentrating on those that need to go in now on the windowsill, once germinated we can move them to Dad's greenhouse.

I'm cooking more from scratch and am much more fussy about what we are putting into our bodies.

What a shame that there is a whole generation who didn't get taught the basics of cooking, let's see a return to simple food, home cooked, it doesn't need to take an evening to make one meal, my slow cooker is my godsend.

Not only good food in, but good family exercise too. We've just discovered geocaching
it's fabulous fun, treasure hunting with a handheld GPS. We've reached 26 finds so far and love every minute of it. It really fits in well with the whole fit person idea.

I'm off to get a coffee.

Chicken Paprikash with dumplings

2007-08-29T21:36:00.002+01:00

Ingredients

1 tablespoon Oil

Chicken thighs

1 large red onion sliced

1 green pepper sliced

1 tin tomatoes

1 tablespoon paprika

1 teaspoon dried oregano

Salt & Pepper

Dumplings

4 oz SR flour

2 oz suet

Salt & Pepper

Water

Method

Preheat oven Gas 5

Heat oil in frying pan and brown the chicken pieces. Place in casserole dish temporarily, sprinkle over half of the paprika onto the skin.

Soften onions, then add peppers and continue to fry for 1 minute. Add remaining paprika and fry for another minute. Put chicken pieces back into frying pan add tomatoes and oregano, season well. Transfer mixture back into casserole, put on lid and place in oven for 2 hours.

30 minutes before finished cooking. Mix flour and suet and seasoning. Add water to make a thick dough. Roll into small balls the size of walnuts.

Remove casserole from oven, stir well and then pop the dumplings on the surface. Cover and put back in oven for a further 30 minutes.

Serve with wilted spinach.

14th June - Summer Box

2007-06-16T19:32:00.000+01:00

Well I've been so busy, I haven't been popping on my box contents for ages. So I've decided it's high time I started again.

This week I decided on a Summer Box, it looks great:-

Cos Lettuce
2 Red peppers
Box Mushrooms
4 large Tomatoes
Spring cabbage
2 x Wet garlic
Aubergine
Purple kohlrabi
3 x Courgettes

Just managed to get some crayfish tails reduced at ASDA (only £1 a pack), so mixed some of the wonderful tomato sauce I bought today from a new farm shop locally with some mayo. Shredded some of the cos lettuce and piled on the crayfish tails, dolloped some marie rose sauce on the top and served with a wedge of lemon, really scrummy.

Need to think of some ideas with the rest. Haven't had kohl rabi for ages.

Latest box

2007-03-09T11:50:00.000Z

Yummy, box arrived at 9.30 and love the contents.

estima potatoes
shallots
carrots
sweet mama squash
January King cabbage
purple sprouting broccoli
Jerusalem artichokes
swiss chard
beetroot

I adore purple sprouting broccoli, first time in the box this year, I must admit to adoring it steamed with either some white sauce over or hollandaise sauce.

I also saw a recipe recently for jerusalem artichokes dauphinois, simply replace the potatoes with slices of artichoke. I think that would be a great accompaniment to a roast at the weekend. I suppose it would also work alternating layers of potato and artichokes.

The swiss chard looks more like pak choi, it is in bunches, actually I think it is bok or pak choi. I need to look it up on the web and check, but can be used very similarly.

Last night I cooked some red cabbage, sliced it and braised it with some unsalted butter, sherry vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper. I also added a little water and cooked gently for about 30 minutes. A really subtle sweet and sour flavour.

Courgette fritters

2007-02-11T11:29:00.000Z

Just had to dream up something for daughter's breakfast and then I remembered a conversation we had on Friday evening about the vegetables she would like to grow in the garden this year. She remembered picking one of her courgettes and then having courgette fritters last year for breakfast. Then I realised that courgettes had arrived this week in my organic box.

Courgette Fritters

1 courgette - grated on large holes
1 egg
self raising flour
salt & pepper

Grate the courgette and put in a bowl, season with salt and pepper add the egg straight into the bowl with the courgette, mix well then add enough self-raising flour to make dropable batter.
Heat some sunflower oil in a frying pan, spoon in tablespoons of the batter then shallow fry until golden brown, turn and fry the other side.
Serve with some tomato ketchup.

Recipe - Eggs Florentine

2006-11-05T09:39:00.000Z

My DD love's poached eggs florentine for a brunch. cook off the spinach/chard, strain well then chop and add a grating of fresh nutmeg, some seasoning and a little cream, poach some eggs whilst the spinach is cooking.

Place spinach/chard on the plate in a pile in the middle, pop the poached egg on top grate a few shavings of parmesan over the top.

Serve with some hot buttered toast.

Recipe - Baked mushrooms with ricotta and pesto

2006-11-05T09:21:00.000Z

This is a scrummy recipe that was in my BBC Good Food Magazine, it is one of our favourites, and they still taste great cold. I normally put them out at Christmas on a buffet table, they are perfectly bite sized and smell delicious. Use normal mushrooms if you can't find the chestnut, also great in the large field mushrooms as a main course for Veggies.

Baked mushrooms with ricotta and pesto

The rich pesto helps balance the tangy ricotta and earthy mushroom flavours of this easy starter.
Takes 35-45 minutes. Serves 4 as a starter

Vegetarian

Ingredients
5 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
16 medium chestnut mushrooms
250g tub ricotta
2 tbsp green pesto
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
25g/1oz freshly grated parmesan
1 rounded tbsp pesto and
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley, preferably flatleaf, to serve

Method
Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6/fan 180C. Choose an ovenproof dish big enough to take all the mushrooms in one layer and generously brush it with 1 tbsp of the oil.
Trim the mushroom stalks level with their caps, if you need to, then put the mushrooms, rounded cap side down, in the dish. Mix the ricotta, pesto and garlic and spoon into the mushrooms (there's enough to pile it up quite high). Sprinkle over the parmesan and drizzle over the rest of the oil.
Bake for about 20 minutes or until the mushrooms are soft all the way through and the cheese is just starting to turn golden. If this doesn't happen, put the dish under a preheated grill for a few minutes. If the mushrooms gave given off a lot of juice after baking, you can drain some of it off.
To serve, blob a little pesto on top of each mushroom and scatter with the parsley.

Serve hot or at room temperature.

Initial ideas for this weeks box

2006-11-04T09:15:00.000Z

Trying to plan what I'm going to make from this weeks box.I think I may have to make some broccoli cheese. Aubergine (got to be a moussaka). If I cook enough mash and cabbage for dinner, with the left overs I can make bubble and squeak. Must find a good braised celery recipe, see if my daughter likes it cooked. Crumpets toasted, great for tea with some cheese and celery sticks.The squash will keep for the moment, its great steamed, keeps all the flavour and is real comfort food.Off to think about the rest.........................

Recipe - Buttered Grated Beetroot

2006-11-03T21:15:00.000Z

This came out on a leaflet that accompanies the box, I thought I'd give it a go and everyone loved it. Hubby knew where the recipe came from and I was very impressed that he went on the Riverford site and then cooked it for us, very resourceful.

buttered grated beetroot
Preparation Time: 5 minsCooking Time: 10 mins
Serves: 2

Ingredients
300g grated, raw beetroot
40g unsalted butter
1 tbsp water
2 tsp red wine vinegar
salt
freshly ground black pepper

Instructions
The kitchen bible of the Southern Hemisphere, Stephanie Alexander’s The Cooks Companion is full of ideas for beetroot. Try this simple recipe from the book.
Serve this beautifully shiny beetroot as a luxury vegetable with a grilled steak.
1. Put beetroot, butter, water and vinegar into a small saucepan and cook, covered for 8 minutes, stirring once or twice. Uncover and check beetroot is just tender.
2. Raise heat and boil off any extra liquid, if necessary, and season. The beetroot should be a little crisp.

The contents of box 3/11/06

2006-11-03T19:14:00.000Z

I just thought you may like to see the contents of the box that was delivered today from Riverford.
Today's box has got

leeks,
potatoes,
carrots,
red onions,
celery,
broccoli,
aubergine,
swiss chard,
white cabbage
crown prince squash

all for £11.50.

Here's the box when packed

I've tried to show the contents better here:

The first message off UK Scrappers thread on Organic Boxes.

2006-11-03T18:10:00.000Z

I've had organic boxes now for about 5 years and wouldn't be without it. We did stop for about 1 year as the scheme we used stopped, but now have a fantastic box delivered everyweek. The produce is great, mines just arrived today from Riverford I have a medium box for 2 adults & 1 child, but we do try and push the 5 portions a day. I love the flexibility, never really knowing what I'm going to get. Today's box has got leeks, potatoes, carrots, red onions, celery, broccoli and aubergine, swiss chard, white cabbage and a crown prince squash all for £11.50. It is delivered every Friday (depends on your area) and comes with a newsletter, recipe of the week. You can always check your predicted contents online, but this is liable to change depending on the weather and what is picked. If you decide that you want to change your order you can do this provided it's 2 days in advance of delivery. You can also add to the order. I manage all my orders online, I have a regular order setup, but add things if I want to. They also have a fantastic recipe bank on the site. We are very adventurous with our veg, DH is great at experimenting too. You can really taste the difference and I KNOW that no horrid pesticides are used and that I can safely eat the skins too. You get the odd bug, but that's life. I was amazed the other week, found something not uptoscratch, emailed the company and received free gifts the following week, I hadn't expected that. The customer service is fantastic. My daughter loves the veg and gets excited seeing what is in the box. DH doesn't like celeriac, but I adore it, he doesn't mind though cooking it especially for me.Good for you and the environment and I think much better than buying organic from Tescos, the company aim to buy in as local as possible. Tescos source organic and fly in, the whole idea is to reduce foodmiles too.

Original thread

Crafty cooking

Lasagne

White sauce

Bolognese sauce (ragu)

Our Christmas feast

Menu

Cranberry and Orange Sauce

Ingredients

Method

Chestnut Stuffing

Ingredients

Method

Cauliflower cheese

Jaeger schnitzel

Cooking is therapy

It's never too early or late to start cooking

Coq au Vin

Salmon with Watercress Sauce

Sausages in Onion Gravy

Pasta Carbonara

Beef Goulash

An easy Lamb Curry

Ox-cheek in red wine

Faggots with peas

Raspberry fool

Cheesy Dauphinois Potatoes

Salsa

Guacamole

Beef Enchiladas

Beef Stroganoff

Thai Green Chicken Curry

Roast Lamb with Garlic and Rosemary

Ox cheek and kidney pie

Braised Ox Cheek with Mushroom Ragout

Curried Parsnip Soup

Watercress soup

Lentil soup

New Year 2009

About

Happy New Year

Chicken Paprikash with dumplings

14th June - Summer Box

Latest box

Courgette fritters

Recipe - Eggs Florentine

Recipe - Baked mushrooms with ricotta and pesto

Initial ideas for this weeks box

Recipe - Buttered Grated Beetroot

The contents of box 3/11/06

The first message off UK Scrappers thread on Organic Boxes.