Moussaka

A great dinner that is easy to prepare and tastes scrummy. You can make with either beef or lamb mince. If you are gluten intolerant, substitute Dove's gluten free plain flour, if lactose intolerant, use lacto free milk.

You can also use turkey mince for this dish, just add 1/2 tsp oregano, 1 tsp soy sauce to boost the flavour.

Ingredients:

1 aubergine, sliced into 1cm slices

Olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1 lb/500 g mince beef or lamb

1 tablespoon flour

1 beef stock cub pinch cinnamon

Salt and pepper

1 tin tomatoes, chopped

1 pint milk

25g plain flour

25g butter

2 egg yolks

Method

Heat a frying pan, add enough olive oil to cover the base of the pan. Add the aubergine, don't panic it will soak up all the oil, but persevere and fry until golden brown, turn over and the oil will start to release as the other side browns. It is important that you fry off the aubergine until it has a golden brown colour on both sides. Remove the aubergine to a plate.

Fry the onion until soft, add the mince, continue to fry until browned. Add the flour, stir and fry until all the meat is coated. I add the stock cube, either crumble or melt into the mince, add about 1/2 cup of hot water until the meat is moistened. Drain the juice from the tinned tomatoes and add to mince, fry for a couple of minutes, season and add cinnamon.

Pour the mince mixture into the bottom of a lasagne dish.

Arrange tomatoes over the mince.

Arrange the aubergine over the tomatoes.

Put the milk, flour and butter into a pan and stir over a medium heat with a whisk. Continue stirring until the sauce is thickened. Cooke for a couple of minutes. Season with salt and pepper. Remove the sauce from the heat.

Separate the 2 eggs and add to the sauce, whisking in until thorough mixed. Keep the whites for some meringues, you can freeze them.
Pour sauce over the aubergine.

Bake in the oven gas 4 for 45 minutes until golden brown.

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The meat scandal

Phew am I relieved that I learnt to cook and know that to get great food you need to know where your ingredients come from. You can't make something taste good unless the original products had flavour in the first place.
There is nothing wrong with odd shaped produce, a blemish on something, it's how it was grown that matters. Flavour develops over time, so force fed, speedily produced veg, fruit and meat cannot have the same flavour as something that has been nurtured and grown without masses of chemicals and steroids.
It doesn't need to be expensive either, actually we need to demand the imperfect fruit and veg to bring the price down. Buy direct from farmers and butchers. But most of all learn to cook.
I'm so pleased that Delia Smith is launching a new cookery school online for free at the end of this month. Her recipes and methods are so easy and I use many of them in my weekly menus. Have a look at http://www.deliaonline.com/home to find some amazing recipes.
With the current problems with the content of mince being not what it seems, start with the basics, pick one new recipe every week and try your hand at cooking from scratch, it's easy and cheap, most of all it's so rewarding knowing that you are putting good food into your family, friends and own body. After all, would you put cheap oil and petrol into a Lamborghini if you owned one?
Start with small steps, but lets get everyone cooking,

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BBC Student Food

Get maximum flavour and minimum fuss with simple-to-make, cheap and filling recipes.
A great site full of easy recipes.

http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/content/recipes/favourites/student/

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Jäger Schnitzel

For years I wouldn't eat veal as I didn't agree with how it was reared, then in 2012 I watched the Jimmy Doherty TV programme where he explained how rose veal production should increase as it is a by product of the dairy industry.
I now have no guilt and actively look for veal if it is available so that we help the UK farming industry.
We were lucky enough this weekend to spot a couple of veal escalopes at our favourite farm shop Danestream.
I found a brilliant recipe on the web for Jäger Schnitzel and as our daughter is currently on a gluten and lactose free diet, used gluten free breadcrumbs (whizzed a couple of slices in my food processor), gluten free flour, lacto free butter, cream and milk, plus fresh thyme from the garden.
It was very scrummy and will definitely cook again.

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