Chicken and Chips

Diced breast of chicken, with carrots, brussels sprouts, and roasted chips dressed in vinegar, sunflower oil, herbs (oregano and tarragon), and smoked paprika. 

The chicken breasts were roasted inside a lidded casserole dish, on a bed of carrots. Cooked for forty minutes under glass, and another twenty minutes with the lid removed. The chicken was dressed in a little sea salt. 

The chipped potatoes were parboiled for ten minutes before being placed in the oven for about twenty five minutes. Turned once. 

The sprouts were cooked in a small lidded pan for about seven minutes. 

Omelette with Brunswick Ham

New Year's eve breakfast. Brunswick Ham with a two egg omelette, seasoned with a little salt. Served with some tomato ketchup. The omelette was cooked slowly and turned, so it was pale on both sides.Cooked in some salted butter.  

 

Yellow Pepper Soup with Chicken

A simple soup made with half a yellow pepper diced into small cubes, chopped carrots, potatoes, and some leftover sugar snap peas and about one quarter of a chicken breast, finely sliced. I added a dozen mustard seeds, and two small diced cloves of garlic, plus some chicken stock. 

Cooked slowly for two hours. Mash a little before serving. 

 

Christmas Lunch with Chicken

A stripped down Christmas lunch for 2020. Brussels sprouts cooked for about seven or eight minutes in a steamer, roast potatoes, pork sausages wrapped in bacon (pigs in blankets), boiled carrots and parsnips, a whole chicken breast roasted for thirty minutes in a lidded casserole dish, then for another fifteen minutes without the lid (judge by eye). The pork and bacon sausages could have been cooked along with the pork, but I did them separately since the sausages cook in half the time the chicken takes. Doing them separately means you don't have to stand around the hob the whole time, watching progress. 

A gravy was made  with the stock from the boiled carrots and parsnip, with chicken stock and some cornflour, plus a pinch of sage. The chicken breast was dressed in a pinch of coriander leaf. 

What did I skip this year? Chestnut stuffing, and cranberry sauce. I used no onions at all (those would have been a component in the pork and chestnut stuffing). 

As I've said before, the trick is to have all the ingredients ready at the same time. The entire dish was prepared by lunchtime on Christmas Eve, put into the fridge overnight, and reheated in a casserole dish the next day. 

I've discussed the making of good roast potatoes here. 

Sea Bass Fillets

A simple dish of two boneless fillets of Sea Bass, served with boiled semi-peeled Charlotte potatoes. The fillets were cooked in 15 mls of sunflower oil in a flat pan at a medium heat. 5 minutes on each side, starting with the side with the fish skin. Served with a dusting of dried Tarragon, and some white pepper.  

I've had this dish around Europe, but rarely  in the UK. The fillets were bought from Aldi, but Sainsbury's also sells Sea Bass fillets. 

 

Spaghetti Bolognese with Cheese

Fabulous dish, though not authentically Italian, as I've mentioned before.The ground beef was browned in sunflower oil, and then simmered under glass for an hour or so, with the addition of some boiling water and tomato puree. During which time the vegetables were added (diced). Plus diced garlic, and some dried chilli peppers.  

The spaghetti (wheat free) was cooked separately, with some salt for fifteen minutes, stirred frequently. 

Once the dish was served, the cheese was added as a garnish. I used cheddar. Use your favourite. Add white pepper. Delicious!

 

Fig, Date and Cashew Salad

Fruit salad made with diced fresh figs from Sainsbury's, stoned Deglet Nour dates, unsalted cashews, mixed in a Greek yoghurt. Two minutes to prepare, and delicious! Works well also with almonds instead of cashews. Also good with a dash of cinnamon. 

 

Lorne Sausage and Roasted Parsnips

 A simple dish of Lorne Sausage (a Scottish favourite, also known as 'square sausage'), with chipped parsnips, fried baby plum tomatoes, and raw spinach. 

The sausage was slow-cooked in a little sunflower oil for twenty minutes, mostly under glass, along with the chopped baby plum tomatoes. Turned once. 

The chipped parsnips were dressed in tomato ketchup, sunflower oil, and vinegar, plus the herbs oregano, basil, and coriander leaf. Also some ground white pepper. Grilled for about fifteen minutes (judge progress by eye). 

Curried Singapore Fried Noodle with King Prawns

A favourite dish from student days, when we used to hop on a bus to Chinatown in London, to have Singapore fried noodles at Wong Ki's restaurant (Gerrard Street). 

This variant of the dish uses curried noodles from Sainsbury's. The Vietnamese king prawns (also from Sainsbury's) were cooked for a couple of minutes in a little sunflower oil. The vegetables were cooked first for about four minutes at a high heat - diced red pepper (one third of one pepper), one diced spring onion, some chopped root ginger, and two cloves of garlic. No chilli this time. 

I added the noodles to a wok containing the stirfried vegetables, and mixed them together. Cooked in two and a half minutes, stirring often. I then added the king prawns. Decanted to a serving plate, and dressed in a medium dark soy sauce. 

 

Ham Hock with Peppers, Spinach and Rice

The first dish I made with the ham hock was a soup. Once it had cooled in the pan, I removed most of the fat from the suface, and spooned out some of the meat and vegetables (peas, leek and carrot). I added them to a flat pan with some lightly fried red and orange pepper strips, cooked in olive oil. Then I added two handfuls of undiced spinach leaves. Plus two squirts of tomato puree, and 200 mls of boiling water. 

The dish was allowed to simmer under glass for half an hour, after which the spinach shrivels (as it does). 

Served with basmati rice cooked in slightly salted water, and a little sage mixed through.

 

Ham Hock soup, with Leek and Peas

Ham hock soup, with leeks and garden peas. Utterly delicious. The ham was cooked for an hour and a half in water, and then I added a diced leek. Cooked for another hour, and then I added half a can of garden peas. Cooked for another forty-five minutes. No added salt, no added spices, no added stock. Just delicious as it is!
 

Haddock Risotto

 A delicious haddock risotto with turmeric basmati rice. Also includes half a red onion, a diced carrot, and a third of a courgette, cut into cubes, plus half a tin of garden peas, drained before serving. The rice was cooked for fifteen minutes, and the heat was turned off, and the peas added. The other vegetables were cooked in the base of a steamer for twenty minutes. The fish was the last thing to be cooked in a dish in the steamer (no more than fifteen minutes). Dressed in black pepper. No herbs, no stock. 

Salmon and Pollock Seafood Pie

A strightfowrard oven based meal.  A tray of fish pieces intended for a fish pie: I used the salmon and the pollock for this. Cooked on a base of julienned purple onion, in a wheat and milk sauce, dressed in fines herbes and vegetable stock. 

The fish base was covered in mashed and textured potato, mixed with salted butter, and cooked for at least an hour at 180 deg C on the middle shelf of the oven. Served with garden peas, cooked separately. 

As a Scot, I love fish food. It was a major part of our diet until recently. We've been favoured with ingredients and dishes from all over the world. I can live with all of it :-).

 

Baby Plum Tomato and Mustard Salad, with Carrot and Olives

Good to have occasional salads during winter (both vegetable and fruit varieties).Halved baby plum tomatoes, diced red pepper and garlic, in a mustard sauce of either American or German yellow mustard. I was looking for a courser Dijon mustard at first, but I settled on American mustard. The tomatoes were drizzled in Olive Oil before the mustard was added, along with a little salt and some basil. Allowed to stand for at least half an hour. 

A single carrot was batonned, and then blitzed for ten seconds in a Kenwood mini-chopper, along with coriander leaf and some tarragon. Served with stoned black olives, preserved in brine.  

Haggis, with Potato, and Carrot and Turnip Mash

This dish has appeared on this blog before, Traditionally, it is haggis, plus potato and turnip or swede mash. I like to sweeten the turnip mash with carrot, but I love it in most forms. This was a MacSween haggis, which is, by general agreement, the best haggis available. I'm not sure however if they include some minimal amount of wheat in the recipe. I'd like to know. Haggis needs oats, but it doesn't need wheat. 

One of the great things about this dish is how it is possible to do the whole thing in a single steamer. No extra herbs, no extra salt, no added stock. 45 minutes cooking time all told, and ready to serve on the plate.I've had deep fried haggis (in the distant past), which is also quite delicious. But that was decades ago, and I won't revisit that.  

 

Lancashire Hot Pot

Traditional lamb dish with gravy, onion and thinly sliced potato,  roasted on the middle shelf of an oven preheated to 180 deg C.The surface potato was drizzled with a little sunflower oil, and some thinly sliced slightly salted butter.  

Often made with diced lamb, but I used ground lamb for this particular dish. The gravy was made with the juices from the lamb, with added lamb stock and tomato puree. Dressed in Basil and Coriander leaf. I added some dried red finger chillies for heat. 

 

Ham, Egg, and Chips

Something like a British truckstop favourite. The ham component came from an unsmoked gammon joint, thinly sliced, and was steamed for ten minutes. The chips were parboiled for seven minutes, drained, and decanted into a glass bowl, and allowed to cool. Mixed with tomato ketchup, black pepper, and the herbs oregano, coriander, and basil. Plus a little salt. Grilled in a roasting tin for ten or twelve minutes, until they begin to brown. 

At a truckstop, the chips would be plain and deep-fried, and there wouldn't be any herbs in sight. This is better, and the only oil used, cooked the fried egg (sunflower oil). 

Served with one or two fried eggs on the ham. The chips were dressed with a little ketchup. Fabulous dish!

 

Unsmoked Gammon Soup, with Carrot, Parsnip, Onion and Turnip

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This soup began as a vegetable dish, made with a small white onion, one peeled parsnip, two medium carrots, and half a turnip (peeled). It was complete with some vegetable stock, and half a teaspoonful of white (or black) pepper. Simmered under glass for an hour, and then mashed before serving. 

I then added diced unsmoked gammon from a joint I'd roasted the day before. I also added the juices from the roast (done in a casserole dish). Again, simmered for an hour under glass before serving. I added black pepper as a final garnish. One of the most delicious soups I have made. 

 

Tomato and Unsmoked Gammon Risotto

A simple Italian style dish, made with chopped roast gammon (from a 1 kg joint, cooked in the oven for one and a half hours), carrots, courgette and red pepper. The carrots, the red pepper, and courgette (all diced) were stir-fried in a drizzle of olive oil for fifteen minutes at a low to medium heat. After which water was added, along with two squirts of tomato puree. Allowed to boil down until the sauce had thickened (about twenty-five minutes). The herbs rosemary and basil were added. Plus diced garlic. 

The rice (basmati or long grain) was prepared separately, cooked for fifteen minutes at a low heat in slightly salted water, and allowed to stand for another fifteen minutes. Then drained. 

Stirred together on the plate, and dressed with ground white pepper. 

 

Torun Sausage, with Brocolli, Yellow Pepper, and Tomato

Polish Copernicus sausage, as part of a tapas style dish (Aloha amigo!). The flavour of Torun sausage is of course different from Spanish Chorizo, but both are preserved pork sausage with paprika and garlic, so they can be interchanged without crashing the gears of your palate. 

Fried in a little olive oil (the diced sausage, the pepper strips, and the quartered cherry tomatoes) until the sausage pieces begin to brown. The chopped brocolli florets were cooked in boiling water for four to five minutes at a medium heat, before being drained. About ten to twelve minutes preparation time, and a delicious result!

Lamb Chilli with Sultanas and Red Pepper

200g of lamb mince (ground lamb), browned in a little olive oil. Plus julienned white onion, diced red pepper, and three diced Aleyna red and green chillies. And a handful of Turkish sultanas (an unexpected detour into a Marks and Spencer store produced that find). I added lamb and vegetable stock, and some coconut, tomato puree, and water. Simmered under glass for an hour. Served with Basmati rice. 

 

Chorizo Risotto with Turmeric

A simple dish - essentially diced chorizo with julienned white onion, cooked in the oil which comes from the sausage. That is part one of the dish. The second part is basmati rice in salted water, cooked with turmeric. Cooked for fifteen minutes and then left for twenty minutes to absorb water. 

After an hour the rice was drained and washed in cold water. The rice and the chorizo were mixed together, and cooked slowly for an hour until the base of the rice had become crispy. Served with a dusting of black pepper, and a little lettuce side salad (Bistro salad), . 

 

Chickpeas, Green Beans, and Spicy Chips

Chickpeas soaked for several hours before being cooked in unsalted water for three hours. With an added dried red chilli. The green beans were steamed for ten minutes. The spicy chips were parboiled for seven minutes in salted water, before being drained, and then dressed in tomato ketchup, olive oil, Oregano and Basil. Cooked under the grill for fifteen minutes (judge progress by eye). Served on some dark soy sauce. 

 

Tomato and Onion Salad in Red Pesto Sauce

The main component of this dish is quartered piccolo tomatoes, a finely diced small onion, black pepper, and red pesto sauce (tomato, olive oil, basil, and parmesan cheese). Carrot was finely diced by a Kenwood chopper, after being batonned. I made a potato salad with boiled potato, mayonnaise, and coriander leaf. Served with a bistro leaf salad (lettuce), drizzled in a little olive oil.  

 

Minestrone Soup

Always a favourite, and a great way to use up surplus ingredients from another dish. In this case, some yellow pepper, batonned carrot, chickpeas, white onion, chilli, mustard seed, and basmati rice. I added tomato puree (three squirts), two spring onions, diced, a drizzle of olive oil, plus black pepper, and vegetable and chicken stock. And a handful of broken spaghetti. I added the herbs basil and oregano. Cooked for an hour before serving. 

 

Vegetarian salad, with Chickpeas and Rice, and Bistro Salad leaves

Chickpeas cooked until tender, then cooled, and dressed in red pesto sauce..Batonned raw carrot, and diced raw white onion dressed in tarragon. Basmati rice cooked with salt and two dried red chillies. Plus a bistro salad of lettuce leaves. Delicious and filling I made this dish just minutes before we heard on the wires that Sean Connery had died ( one of Edinburgh's most famous sons).  RIP. 

 

Chicken, Rice, and Blackbean Salad

Chopped chicken breast from the fridge. Served with basmati rice, black beans and chickpeas, red onion, plus a side-serving of carrot and green pepper. 

The chicken was roasted and cooled overnight. The black beans and chickpeas were soaked overnight, cooked, and cooled in cold water. The diced red onion was served raw. The carrots and green peppers were cooked and served cold. Dress in dried herbs of your choice, with a little black pepper.  

 

Beef Chili and Potato Pie

Effectively a spicy cottage pie, with chilli, red kidney beans and chickpeas. Made to use up some leftover beef chilli. 

The beans and chickpeas were soaked in unsalted water over night, and were added to the beef chilli (which already contained onions and carrots). 

The beef chilli was decanted into a standard pie tin, and mashed potato was laid on top, and textured with a fork. Placed on the middle shelf of an oven preheated to at least 180 deg C, for between forty minutes to an hour. Check progress by eye, and remove from the oven when the pie is sufficiently browned. Serve dressed with a little coriander. 

 

Chilli Stir-Fry, with Peppers, Bean Sprouts and Cabbage

Chilli Stir-Fry, with pickled chillies (Aleyna brand), bean sprouts, purple and green cabbage, diced carrot, and slices of orange pepper. Cooked in sunflower oil at a high heat for three or four minutes, and then the heat was turned right down. Stirred more or less continuously for another four minutes. Decanted onto a plate with a spiral of dark soy sauce. Delicious!

Beef Chilli with Carrots, Red Pepper, and Coriander

A healthy ground beef chilli with lots of vegetables - red kidney beans, carrot, onion, mushroom, chillies, red pepper, garlic, tomato puree (or tinned tomatoes), plus the herbs coriander and basil. 

The beef had been prepared the day before (with the Bisto browning), and was added to the pot, along with the diced vegetables, the red kidney beans, the garlic and the chillies, and tomato puree. Simmered under glass for an hour and a half. Added coriander and basil during the final ten minutes. 

Served with basmati rice, and dressed with a dusting of dried coriander.  

Chorizo, Pepper and Spring Onion Risotto

Chorizo based risotto with basmati rice, spring onions, and yellow pepper. The diced spring onions were added to the pan with the chopped chorizo, and they fried in the fat from the sausage. The strips of pepper were added after a few minutes.  Preparation time about twenty minutes.

 At the same time I prepared the basmati rice in another pan filled with slightly salted boiling water. Fifteen minutes cooking time at a low to medium heat. Cooked along with coriander leaf . 

The rice was drained thoroughly and then added to the pan with the vegetables and the chorizo. Stir-fried for five to ten minutes. 

 

Chickpea and Sweet Potato Stew, with Spicy Chips

A chickpea stew with diced carrot, sweet potato and green beans. The chickpeas were soaked overnight in unsalted water until soft. Drained, and decanted into a pot of boiling water, along with the carrot, sweet potato and the green beans. Add some chicken or ham stock, and ground white pepper. Add a teaspoonful of gravy granules and stir through the stew. Cook at a low heat on the hob for an hour.

Served in this case with spicy chipped potatoes, grilled in the middle of the oven for around fifteen minutes. The chips were allowed to stand in a marinade beforehand for a couple of hours The marinade was made with sunflower oil, malt vinegar, tomato ketchup (or puree), salt, garlic, red chilli, dried coriander leaf, tarragon and oregano (the choice of herbs is up to you). When grilled the chips don't need to be turned, and they are less likely to stick to the roasting tray, compared to oven roasting.

MacSween Haggis, with Potato and Turnip and Carrot Mash

A MacSween Haggis cooked in a steamer for fifty minutes. Allowed to stand for fifteen minutes, and then was cut in half with a sharp knife. The vegetables were cooked in a pan of salted water for half an hour. Each of the vegetables was cut in a different way to allow their easy separation, before mashing the carrot and turnip together. 

 

Red Pesto Fusilli with Prosciutto

A simple pasta dish made with wheat-free fusilli and diced prosciutto crudo. Dressed in red pesto. Served cold, with a little black pepper.  

 

Pancakes with Banana and Maple Syrup

Simple pancakes, made with Khorasan wheat and two eggs, plus sunflower oil and (in this case), a little water. Beaten together and then the mixture is decanted into a hot omelette pan. The heat was turned down immediately, and the pancakes were cooked slowly, and turned once. 

Served with sliced bananas, and drizzled with maple syrup. 

Banana Bread, with Oats and Peanut Butter

A simple banana bread, made with Khorasan wheat (about 200g), plus 300g of rolled oats, and three medium sized bananas, mashed. Stirred together with water (300 mls), 100g of Demerara sugar, salt, yeast, and three dessert spoonfuls of olive oil. 

Blend the mixture together thoroughly, and allow the mixture to stand in a warm place, and to rise. 

Spoon into a standard bread tin, and texture the surface with a fork. Bake on the middle shelf of an oven preheated to 190 deg C for fifty minutes (judge progress by eye). 

Allow to cool. Serve with salted butter, and peanut butter. Delicious! 

Omelette with Coriander

A simple omelette, seasoned with a sprinkle of dried coriander. I'm aware that the US prefers more plain omelettes than elsewhere, so I've been working at how to make these.This omelette was cooked in butter at a high heat, which was turned down almost immediately to a low heat. Cooked for four minutes on each side. Folded when plated up.

Cavolo Cabbage Stir-Fry

Simple vegetable stir fry. The Cabbage leaves were removed from the stalks by hand (easier to tear them off than cutting them off with a knife). The leaves were chopped up.

Add julienned red onion, diced spring onion, diced mushroom, sliced yellow pepper, one clove of garlic, crushed, diced fresh ginger.

Mix together in a bowl with a little sunflower oil.

Cook in a flat pan or wok drizzled with sunflower oil, at a high heat for two minutes, and then for another six to eight minutes at a medium or low heat, stirring about every ten seconds or so, until the dish is ready.

Served on some dark soy sauce, and topped with a spiral of sweet Thai chilli sauce. Delicious!

Beef Casoulet with Yoghurt and Coriander

Ground (minced) beef, browned for twenty minutes, stirring frequently.

With added diced onion, diced spring onion, yellow pepper, chopped baby plum tomatoes (four), diced mushroom, diced carrot, a crushed clove of garlic, and potato chunks.

Simmered for an hour and a half at a low heat under glass. Add beef stock. Add a quarter teaspoonful of chilli for heat, if desired.

Served with Yoghurt dressed in two pinches of dried coriander.

Kabanos Sausage Stew

Two chopped Kabanos sausages, stir fried in a little sunflower oil, along with diced carrot, diced brocolli stems, a julienned onion, two diced spring onions, half a yellow pepper cut into strips, and potato chunks. Stir fry until the onion begins to brown.

Add boiling water, two squirts of tomato puree, and the ham (or pork) stock. Simmer at a low heat under glass for an hour.

Add the herbs (basil, coriander and tarragon five or ten minutes before serving the dish). Add a quarter teaspoonful of chilli powder if you would like some heat. A little lemon zest can also be added.

Baby leaf Lettuce Salad, with Chickpeas

A simple salad made with chickpeas cooked in water and a little balsamic vinegar,  served in dijon mustard and coriander leaf, plus a baby leaf salad, diced spring onion,  and grated carrot. Also chopped baby plum tomatoes.

The dish was served with some black pepper.

French Onion Soup

A simpler version of this favourite soup than I've made before. Essentially two diced white onions caramelised in some olive oil, along with three diced cloves of garlic.

Allowed to cool, then boiling water was added to the pan. Cooked for twenty minutes to thirty minutes, then the contents of the pan were blended together.

After that, I added the vegetable stock, black pepper, a teaspoonful of dark soy sauce, Bisto gravy granules (essentially a thickener), plus a quarter teaspoonful of paprika.

Cooked for another twenty minutes until the soup has thickened. At that point the herbs Oregano and Tarragon were added (two pinches each).

Served with a slice of buttered wheat-free bread.

Cauliflower, Swede and Carrot Soup

One half of a head of cauliflower chopped into florets, half a peeled swede cut into thin strips, one large carrot cut into chunks, and eight diced cherry tomatoes.

The cauliflower florets, the swede and the carrots were stir-fried in sunflower oil for ten minutes at a medium to high heat, stirring frequently.

The diced tomato was added, along with around a pint of boiling water. The heat was turned down low, and the pot was lidded. Simmered for forty-five minutes.

After that, the contents of the pot were mashed for about thirty seconds (I wanted this soup to be chunky). I added the vegetable stock and two pinches of Tarragon. Simmered again for twenty minutes before serving. Great flavour!

Strawberry and Blackberry Bourbon Surprise

Wow! Diced Scottish Strawberries and Blackberries soused for a couple of days in two shots of blended Bourbon whiskey, and two dessert spoonfuls of Demerara sugar. Kept in the fridge. Plus a handful of crushed almonds (I've made this dish before with almonds which were ground in a coffee grinder). Stirred occasionally.

Dress in a little black or white pepper before serving on a bed of Greek style yoghurt.

Any other whisky or whiskey will produce an excellent result. Utterly delicious! Strawberries Rombauer is often touted as the the apex of fruit salads (using Cointreau). It's good, but this has it beat.

Ground Lamb, Sweetcorn and Ginger

Ground lamb cooked with onion or leek, peas and ginger. Plus diced garlic, and half a small tin of sweetcorn.

The lamb was browned for twenty minutes before the other ingredients were added.

 The ginger was diced, along with a clove of garlic. Added to the pot with the sweetcorn and peas, along with the diced onion. Cooked for another twenty minutes under glass. After that the tomato puree was added, along with some water.

Served with boiled rice, Chinese style (sticky enough to be picked up with chopsticks).

Cumberland Sausage in Gravy with Chervil

Cumberland sausage is a favourite dish, though I've noticed the level of herbs diminishing in the actual sausages over the past ten years.

The sausages were fried in a skillet for twenty minutes or so at a medium to high heat, in a drizzle of sunflower oil, and turned frequently.I prepared the onions and the gravy in a separate pan, cooking the onions first, before adding the pork stock, water, and the gravy granules.

The gravy was added to the pan of sausages, and allowed to simmer under glass for another twenty minutes. The herbs were added last (sage, chervil) 

Served with boiled potato pieces.

Minted Ground Lamb with Potato and Onion Patties

Ground lamb with potato and onion  patties.

The potato and onion patties were prepared under the grill, after having been steamed together for twenty five minutes. Then mashed together. Dressed in coriander leaf. I used a pastry cutter as a mould, which works really well.

The ground lamb was prepared in the usual way - browned in oil for twenty minutes or so. Along with diced leek. And dried mint.

After that the lamb was simmered in a lidded pot for an hour or more, with added tomato puree, some potato pieces, chilli, Tabasco sauce, coriander, oregano, plus vegetable and lamb stock, And green peas. 

King Prawns in Mayo, with a Dressed Salad

A simple salad made with king prawns sourced from Vietnam, dressed in mayonnaise, along with a vegetable salad made with red cabbage, carrot, two colours of lettuce, plus a vinegrette of vinegar (from a jar of gherkins) and olive oil.

Dressed in black pepper. Delicious!

Buttered Toast with Brussels Pate

A favourite snack dish made with lightly toasted wheat-free bread (Genius brand), salted butter straight from the fridge, so not very runny, plus 75g or so of Brussels pate. Spread thick across the surface of the buttered toast.

Cut the slices into triangles.

Dressed in black pepper. Delicious! Two minutes to make.

Strawberry and Blueberry Fruit Salad

A simple and delicious fruit salad, made with chopped blueberries and Strawberries.

The fruit was prepared and decanted into a bowl, to which was added a couple of dessert spoonfuls of demerara sugar (any form of granulated sugar will do instead). Stirred together, and allowed to stand for an hour or so. The juices of the fruit will emerge by their interaction with the sugar.

Served with a dressing of fresh cream. Add grated nutmeg if you prefer a spiced flavour to the dish.