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.