Chinese Style Beef Strips with Vegetable Stir-Fry

Roasted beef strips stir-fried first in the wok in sunflower oil, along with spring onion, garlic and a little soy sauce. The vegetables are added when the beef is thoroughly heated and has absorbed the soy sauce. The vegetables are: carrot, courgette, yellow pepper, mushroom, onion, chilli, and chopped root ginger. Plus a handful of cashew nuts. 

Chinese Style Beef Strips with Vegetable Stir-Fry

Roast Beef and Vegetable Stew

Slices of roast beef, served with a vegetable stew containing carrots, onion, green pepper, red kidney beans, and chopped courgette, and mushrooms, in a gravy made with beef stock. Serve with freshly ground black pepper. 

Roast Beef and Vegetable Stew

Chorizo with Penne Pasta and a Cheese Sauce

Sliced chorizo sausage, with penne pasta, chopped chestnut mushrooms, chopped red pepper, in a cheddar cheese sauce. Serve with lots of freshly ground black pepper.

Chorizo with Penne Pasta and a Cheese Sauce

Fig Salad

Sliced figs served with single cream. Two minutes to prepare!

Fig Salad

Roast Pork with Cabbage and Pepper Stir-fry

Chopped white cabbage, thinly sliced green pepper, and chopped onion and spring onion. Lightly stir-fried in sunflower oil. The roast pork was garnished in a little dark soy sauce. 

Roast Pork with Cabbage and Pepper Stir-fry

Whiting Fillet, with Roast Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts

Leftover boiled potatoes brushed in sunflower oil and roasted in the oven for twenty five minutes at 180 deg. C. Whiting brushed in sunflower oil and lemon juice,  and roasted in the oven for fifteen minutes at 180 deg. C. Sprouts cooked in the steamer for fifteen minutes. Serve with tartare sauce, or just as it is.

Whiting Fillet, with Roast Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts

Pasta with Roasted Pepper and Stuffed Olives

Wheat Free pasta spirals with roasted peppers, stuffed olives (pimiento), coriander. garlic and black pepper.

Pasta with Roasted Pepper and Stuffed Olives

Roast Gammon in a Sherry and White Wine Sauce

Sliced Roast Gammon joint, in a sherry and white wine sauce, flavoured with a hint of mace. Served with green beans and roasted parsnip. I had this today and it was delicious! No herbs, no pepper. Just the sauce, which was thickened with a smidgin of cornflour.

  

Roast Gammon in a Sherry and White Wine Sauce

King Prawn Paella

Paella with King Prawns steaming after being removed from the hob. Made with Spanish arborio rice, onion, diced yellow pepper, chopped mushroom, and turmeric. I added fish stock to the rice, which was cooked first. Later on I added some dill. The prawns were added, along with more water, for the final ten minutes. Stirring occasionally.

King Prawn Paella

Burger Salad

Burgers made with ground beef, finely chopped iceberg lettuce, sliced vine tomatoes, served with a tablespoon of mayonnaise. Also good served with horseradish mustard.

Beefburgers are often made with a binding ingredient, such as egg and cornflour. Commercially available burgers often use wheat, which is cheaper, and therefore they should be avoided. If the burgers are to be cooked in the oven, then a mix of onion and ground beef will usually stay together.

Burger Salad

Vegetable and Noodle Stir-Fry

Because of the noodles, this dish is not gluten free. Cut various vegetables cut into strips. In this case I used carrots, green beans, courgette and mushrooms. Stir-fried along with some crushed garlic, diced root ginger, and decapitated green chillies. At the same time the egg noodles were soaking in a pan of boiled water (ten minutes until soft). Shortly before the stir-fry was ready, the noodles were drained and added to the wok, and quickly stirred into the mix.  A spiral of dark soy sauce was added to the plate before serving, along with a sprinkling of black pepper. 

Vegetable and Noodle Stir-Fry

Pear, Plum & Blueberry Salad

Another quick to prepare fruit salad, made with whole blueberries, and slices of pear and plum. Mixed with two spoonfuls of Greek Style Yoghurt.

Pear, Plum & Blueberry Salad

Spanish Omelette

Spanish Omelette, made with three eggs, with spring onions, yellow pepper, drycure bacon, boiled potato, and chestnut mushrooms. Plus some sage, salt, and smoked paprika. Also works well with Brocolli instead of potato. Made in a small pan and turned out onto the plate. Large enough to feed three people, if served with a side salad.

Spanish Omelette

Chicken Paella

Chopped roast chicken, onions, red pepper, tomato, sliced ginger, crushed red chillies, chopped mushrooms, paprika, turmeric, and arborio rice. Rice cooked with turmeric until it approached the consistency of paella, and the chicken and vegetables were added and allowed to simmer until ready.

Chicken Paella

Minced beef with Penne Pasta

Lean minced beef, chopped tomato, mushroom, green pepper, green chilli, onion, beef stock, fresh basil and coriander, chopped garlic, and wheat-free pasta (Dove Farm). Ground black pepper to taste. Minced beef browned in olive oil before spending about six hours in the slow cooker.

Minced beef with Penne Pasta

Beef Casserole, with Onion and White Wine Gravy

 I used stock from Brisket beef, with spinach leaves, tomato, onion, mustard powder, oregano, basil and rosemary. garlic and white wine for the gravy, plus beef stock. Potatoes, carrots, parsnips, and sliced runner beans.

People have lost all sense of the importance of fat in cooking meat. Just because fat is involved in cooking doesn't mean that you have to eat it. But now much of the fat is gone before you get the cut, since a low fat content is perceived as the healthier choice. I find it much trickier to cook lean mince than mince with a significant fat content, and nowadays often avoid the leaner option. The Brisket was from Tesco's, and had some fat around the outside, so it was straightforward to roast.

Beef Casserole, with White Wine Gravy

Vegetable Risotto, with Basmati Rice

Vegetable risotto, with basmati rice, black wild rice, spring onion, spinach, spelt, green pepper, sesame oil, and Swazi firepot chilli. Served with soy sauce

Vegetable Risotto, with Basmati Rice

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Scrambled Egg, with Danish Blue Cheese

Scrambled egg made in the traditional way, with the addition of some pared Danish blue cheese at the start. Served with wheat-free buttered toast and black pepper to taste. Several cheeses work well with scrambled egg, including Cheddar, Haloumi, and Stilton. Yoghurt can be used instead of milk. 

Scrambled Egg, with Danish Blue Cheese

Pork and Leek Soup (sans Lentils)

 Pork and Leek soup made without lentils. The chopped leek was stir-fried with cubed courgette, water and pork stock were added, and simmered for about an hour and a half. The vegetables were then mashed, and the cubed pork was added, with black pepper and some sage. Cooked for at least an hour, stirring occasionally.

Pork and Leek Soup (sans Lentils)

Pork in Black Bean Sauce

Pork in black bean sauce, with carrot, courgette, red pepper, ginger, and spring onion.

Pork in Black Bean Sauce

Vegetable Tikka, with yoghurt and cucumber

Vegetable Tikka, with yoghurt and chopped cucumber, mango chutney, with a toasted wheat free pitta bread. 

Vegetable Tikka, with yoghurt and cucumber

Chicken, Parsnip and Mixed Pepper Casserole

Chicken breast, parsnips and mixed peppers casseroled with Spanish onions, and some sage. Served with boiled or steamed potatoes and black pepper to taste. 

Chicken, Parsnip and Mixed Pepper Casserole

Roasted Red Pepper Soup

 Excellent roasted red pepper soup, with spinach, onion and celery. Plus paprika, tomato paste and herbs (marjoram), and a vegetable stock.

Roasted Red Pepper Soup

Cream of Chicken Soup

Made with chicken liquor and chicken stock, pieces of breast of chicken, some dried sage, maize flour. Milk (not cream) was added before serving. The Maize flour was allowed to stand in water for a couple of hours before it was added to the soup. Cooked for about an hour.

Cream of Chicken Soup

Green Bean and Lentil Soup

Chopped green beans and a chopped head of celery blended together. Red lentils added and simmered for 45 minutes. Blended again, with organic chicken stock, a dash of Worcester sauce, and a pinch of Tarragon. Black pepper to taste. Delicious lukewarm.

Green Bean and Lentil Soup

Plum and Blueberry Salad

Plum and blueberry salad, soused in a mixture of whisky and port, with a dash of maple syrup, left to stand overnight, and served with Scottish double cream. Fruit from Aldi. Cream from the Co-op.

Plum and Blueberry Salad

Fruit Salad with Walnuts and Havana Rum

Chopped nectarine, plum, apple, banana, and grape, splashed with Havana Club rum (ideally leave the dish standing for a few hours after adding this), and a dash of nutmeg and cinnamon. Serve with double cream.

Fruit Salad with Walnuts and Havana Rum

Feta Cheese Salad

 Feta cheese, spinach, rocket and watercress, chopped vine tomato, red pepper and spring onion, dressed with lemon juice and olive oil. Plus black pepper, and  finely chopped garlic. Go easy on the lemon juice. Horiatiki salata without the olives and cucumber. 

Feta Cheese Salad

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Bacon Risotto with Arborio Rice

Finely chopped bacon misshapes fried with chopped onion. Sauce made from tomato puree and shredded cherry tomatoes, garlic, red chilli, chopped coriander and a little basil. Topped with grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and ground black pepper.

Bacon Risotto with Arborio Rice

Yellow Carrot and Orange Soup

Freshly squeezed orange juice, blended yellow carrots, red lentils, vine tomato, spring onion, vegetable stock, white pepper, oregano, sage, coriander, smoked paprika, and a little nutmeg. The yellow carrots (how they used to be) came from Sainsbury's. 

Yellow Carrot and Orange Soup

Casoulet with Torunska Sausage and Roast Pork

Smoked sausage from Torun, now in Poland, but formerly a German town. One of the old Hanseatic ports on the Vistula river. Lots of paprika and garlic in the sausage, hence not necessary elsewhere in the recipe. It was delicious.

Casoulet with Torunska Sausage and Roast Pork

Potato Chilli

Based on a meal I had at the Kartoffelkeller, Albrechtstrasse 14b, 10117 Berlin. around 2003. Potatoes with everything, and washed down with Schnapps. So this is chillied minced beef, with onions, tomatoes, kidney beans, with potatoes, beef stock, and garlic. The mince was cooked gently over 3 hours, and the potatoes were cooked separately for twenty minutes, and added five minutes before serving. 

 Menu available at: http://www.kartoffelkeller.com/cms/kk/front_content.php...Fantastisch!  But heavy on the carbohydrates.

Potato Chilli

Vegetable Soup

Made with cubed potatoes, carrot (3), sliced onion (2), sticks of celery (3), plus mushroom stock, a spoonful of tomato puree, and 1 or two chopped vine tomatoes. Dashes of paprika and fenugreek added, and two pinches of basil and parsley, and a small quantity of olive oil or butter. Black pepper to taste.

Vegetable Soup

Venison Broth

Made with the potato leftovers from venison stovies. I added carrots and onions, later mashed, and vegetable stock, plus a couple of pinches of rosemary. Black pepper to taste.

Venison Broth

Celery, Leek and Lentil Soup

Celery, leek and chopped savoy cabbage were briefly fried in corn oil, then water and red lentils were added, and simmered for an hour. Plus, at the end of the process, organic (Kallo) chicken stock, and freshly ground black pepper.

Celery, Leek and Lentil soup

Swazi Fire Beef Chilli Strips

Beef chilli strips, with potato, onion, haricot beans, tomato paste, spinach and herbs. I added Swazi Fire Chilli Sauce, which has a distinctive flavour (made with garlic and sunflower oil). Served with basmati and wild black rice.

Swazi Fire Beef Chilli Strips

Buckwheat crepes with sauteed mushrooms and chorizo

Apparently a favourite recipe from Brittany. Found in 'The Joy of Cooking'. Made with 50% buckwheat flour (not wheat at all), and 50% spelt flour, water, milk, 3 eggs, salt and corn oil. The batter was mixed with an electric mixer, which was actually less efficient than the whisk, and left to stand for an hour before pouring into a ten inch skillet. Served with salad. 

Buckwheat crepes with sauteed mushrooms and chorizo

Gluten Free Broth by the Pot

Two cups of lentils, chopped organic leek and onion (after extensive desoiling), chopped carrots, parsnips, celery, and potato, Garden peas, black pepper, mustard powder, paprika,cayenne pepper, vegetable stock, two dashes of Lee & Perrins Worcester sauce, rosemary, thyme, and a little coriander. Leeks and onion browned in a little butter and olive oil.

Gluten Free Broth

Nectarine and Pecan Salad

Nectarine and whole pecan nuts in yoghurt. Delicious. Could be topped with a dash of maple syrup.

Nectarine and Pecan Salad

Four Leaf Chicken Salad

Four leaf salad from Tesco, dressed in olive oil and tabasco sauce, chopped vine tomato, spring onion, pitted olives, finely sliced garlic, and pan fried chunks of chicken.

Four Leaf Chicken Salad

Bacon and Celery Soup

Chopped bacon misshapes, onion, celery, courgette and carrot. With ham stock, rosemary and thyme, black pepper. Bacon and diced celery cooked in olive oil. The other ingredients were added after twenty minutes. Stock added after a further ten minutes.

Bacon and Celery Soup

Apple and stem ginger salad, in Greek yoghurt

 Cored and sliced apple, in Greek yoghurt, topped with sliced stem ginger. That's it. Two minutes preparation time. Delicious!

Apple and stem ginger salad, in Greek yoghurt

Spring Onion and Mushroom Soup

One bunch of spring onions, half a savoy cabbage, two large carrots, half a cup of red lentils, one quarter turnip.Two sticks of celery. Vegetable and mushroom stock. Turnip thinly sliced and slightly browned in olive oil. Chopped carrot, celery and cabbage added, plus water and lentils. The assemblage was cooked for an hour and blended. A dash of Lea & Perrins, smoked paprika, fresh ground pepper, and two pinches of sage.

Spring Onion and Mushroom Soup

Five Vegetable Winter Soup

Began as a leek and potato soup, but I needed to use some onion, carrot and swede. Also added chicken stock and some spelt. Served with tabasco sauce and *lots* of freshly ground black pepper.

Five Vegetable Winter Soup

Wheat Free Penne Pasta with Tomato and Onion

Penne pasta with tomato and onion, freshly chopped basil, pepper and grated parmigiano reggiano cheese, garlic, and a pinch of paprika.

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Wheat Free Penne Pasta with Tomato and Onion

Chili Con Carne, with long-grain and wild rice

Kidney beans, cooked in a slow cooker, chopped red pepper, red onion, tomato puree, shredded vine tomato, chopped garlic and red chili, chopped mushrooms, lean beef mince, beef stock, basil, and a little smoked paprika.

Chili Con Carne, with long-grain and wild rice

Slow-Cooked Beef Goulash

Beef cubes cooked overnight in a slow cooker after browning, chopped italian tomatoes, vine tomato, potato, carrot, mushroom, paprika, smoked paprika, freshly chopped basil, a little mustard powder, beef stock, a dash of tabasco sauce, and freshly ground black pepper.

Beef Goulash

Pan fried beefsteaks

Pan fried beefsteaks, with sliced tomato, tesco babyleaf salad, and ground black pepper. Really quick to make!

Pan fried beefsteaks

Fig & apple salad, with Red Leicester cheese

 In addition to the main ingredients, there's chopped cucumber, vine tomato, garlic, a small amount of beetroot, chopped red onion, and fresh parsley. Dressed in olive oil, of course, with a twist of orange.

Fig & apple salad, with Red Leicester cheese