Penne Pasta, Chorizo and Blue Stilton

The gravy was made with one red onion, six shallots, half of a yellow pepper, cut into strips, a shredded salad or vine tomato, a dash of a Sauvignon Blanc, a teaspoonful of black pepper, parsley, some tomato puree, two spoonfuls of yoghurt, and ham stock,

The gravy was made by frying the red onion and the shallots, both chopped, until they were browned. I mixed some  cornflour with water, and added the ham stock. Then added this to the pot and allowed to thicken over ten minutes, stirring regularly. Then the rest of the vegetables, the tomato puree,The yoghurt, the parsley, and the pepper were added. The Blue Stilton cheese was grated in a rotary grater, and used as a topping. A delicious combination!

The penne pasta was Dove's farm brand, and is wheat free. Cooked in boiling salted water for 9 to 10 minutes under glass at a low heat.

Penne Pasta, Chorizo and Blue Stilton

Sweet and Sour Pork Loin Stir-Fry

Cabbage, bean sprouts, sweetcorn, red and yellow peppers, red onion, pork loin, carrot, plus a sweet and sour sauce,

The pork was stir-fried first in order to make sure it was properly heated. It had been cooked on the previous day, and had spent the night in the fridge. Chopped into small squares. After three or four minutes at a high heat, the vegetables were added to the wok. Stir-fried at a high heat for three to four minutes, or seven minutes at a medium heat. 

The sweet and sour sauce was added and stirred into the mix for about ninety seconds before serving. Serve in a bowl, or on a flat plate.  

Sweet and Sour Pork Loin Stir-Fry

Beef Burger in a Beer and Shallot Gravy

Commercially bought beef burgers (from Sainsbury's), so not a wheat free dish. The gravy was made with one red onion, six shallots, a dash of  Deuchars IPA beer, a teaspoonful of black pepper, parsley, some tomato puree, and beef stock, Served with half a head of brocolli.

The beef burgers had been fried the day before, so they were reheated in a steamer,  The head of brocolli (cut into four sections) was cooked in another level of the steamer. 

The gravy was made by frying the red onion and the shallots, both chopped, until they were browned. I mixed some browned cornflour with water, and added the beef stock. Then added this to the pot and allowed to thicken over ten minutes, stirring regularly. Then the tomato puree, the parsley, and the pepper was added.  

I learned the art of cooking with beer from Pamela Vandyke Price, who wrote a whole book about cooking with wine, spirits, beer, and cider. Well worth digging out if you can. 

Beef Burger in a Beer and Shallot Gravy

Pork Ratatouille

Pork Ratatouille, made with Chantenay carrots,  green peas, haricot beans, aubergine, garlic cloves, tomato, spring onion, tomato passata, ham stock, yellow pepper, green pepper, and some oregano,

The vegetables were prepared first. Everything cut into chunks, with the exception of the peas, garlic cloves, and the carrots. These were boiled first until soft, and then the other vegetables were added to the pot and allowed to simmer under glass for another half an hour. A small amount of tomato passata was added, along with ham stock and a pinch of oregano. 

The pork loin chop was prepared in a ridged griddle pan, and cooked for fifteen minutes each side at a medium, and then low heat (on each side), in its own fat, and mostly covered by a glass lid.  

Simmer the ratatouille for another ten or fifteen minutes before serving with the pork. 

Pork Ratatouille

There is a more or less standardised version of this dish, with aubergine, courgette, tomato and garlic, but the dish is one in which vegetables which are to hand or in season can be used. Which is how I proceeded in this instance. A delicious result!

Another way to make pork ratatouille is to prepare squares of pork loin (boneless of course), stir fry them until golden brown, and to add them to the pot of vegetables with at least half an hour of cooking to go. 

Fish Pie with Stilton Cheese Sauce

Modelled on a fish pie my mother sometimes makes. Though she generally dislikes cheese, so she wouldn't have made one like this :-). 

First I boiled eight medium sized potatoes in their skins for 30 minutes under glass (in salted water). I used three different kinds of fish in chunks - salmon, smoked Pollock, and Haddock. Enough to cover the base of a small roasting tray. The chunks were stir-fried in some sunflower oil at a medium heat under glass, 4-5 minutes each side, then were placed in the roasting tray. I made a sauce with some cornflour and water, and cut thin slices of about 150 grams of Blue Stilton cheese. Half of it went into the sauce, along with two handfuls of freshly podded peas.  

The boiled potatoes were drained, and placed in a large glass bowl, I mashed the potatoes, first with a masher, and once there was a mostly even mash, I used a fork. I also used the fork to introduce the rest of the Stilton cheese into the potato, along with a knob of butter. 

Once the cheese sauce was sufficiently thickened, I poured it over the cooked fish pieces in the roasting tray. Then I spooned the mashed potato on top. The surface of the potato was textured with a fork, in order to produce crispy ridges in the pie crust. 

The pie tray was placed in an oven preheated to 180 deg C for an hour, until the surface of the pie was golden brown. Voila! A delicious and nutritious fish pie, which can be adapted to whatever fish you have available. 

Fish Pie with Stilton Cheese Sauce

Pork Belly with Baked Beans

Pork Belly with Baked Beans, boiled semi-skinned Maris Piper potatoes, with roast onion and tomato. 

Great comfort food! The strips of pork belly were roasted in an open roasting dish for 45-50 minutes until browned (turn once), along with the onion quarters and the tomatoes, on the day before serving. The pork, the tomatoes and the onion were reheated in a steamer while the potatoes were cooking, and the baked beans heating in a small pan. 

I've made my own baked beans before now, because I was interested in the process. It isn't difficult, but it takes preparation, is time consuming, and given the cheap availability of good beans in tins, it isn't worth the effort. Generally I add some paprika and basil to the beans while heating them. 

Pork Belly with Baked Beans

Pork Belly Stir-Fry

I bought some pork belly strips from the supermarket, which I cooked in the preheated oven, in an open roasting dish for 45-50 minutes at 180 deg. C. Cooled and left in the fridge overnight. 

I cut up three of the strips into squares the next day, and put the squares into the wok first, with some sunflower oil. Cooked for five minutes, before adding the mix of vegetables - bean sprouts, mushroom, two kinds of cabbage, yellow and green pepper strips, thin-cut strips of carrot, onion, two kinds of cabbage and some cashew nuts.

Cook for five minutes at a medium heat, stirring frequently. Rather than add chopped fresh chilli, I drizzled some sweet chilli sauce in to the wok a minute before the end of the cooking process. Simple and quick to prepare. 

Pork Belly Stir-Fry

Thai Green Vegetable Curry

Thai Green Curry, with chopped tomatoes, one medium leek, two spring onions, podded peas, red and green chillies, half a green pepper, a handful of cashew nuts, half a teaspoonful of Nam Pla fish sauce, plus a Thai green curry paste. Add the cashew nuts to hot sunflower oil in a wok, along with chopped leek, tomato, peas, spring onions, and the red and green chillies. Stir-fry for ten minutes, turning the heat down after five minutes. Add boiling water, and simmer the vegetables for twenty five minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the Nam Pla fish sauce, and the green curry paste. Stir the paste into the vegetables thoroughly. Cook for another fifteen minutes at least before serving. Most, if not indeed all cuisines often have a number of signature sauces which are the basis on which dishes are created. Curry sauces serve the same function. So there is no definitive Thai green curry in terms of ingredients, beyond the ingredients of the curry paste and its spices. The ingredients I used in this particular vegetable curry were items in my fridge which needed to be used, and which would be harmonious with the curry sauce.

The sauce can be augmented with (more) coconut, ground almonds, and yoghurt or cream. Served with brown basmati rice and a handful of black wild rice (cook for thirty minutes). 

Black Pudding with Cinnamon

Sunday breakfast. Scottish black pudding from Simon Howie, flavoured with cinnamon, cooked in a skillet for seven minutes each side at a medium heat, reduced towards the end of the process. Best cooked slowly rather than quickly. Cooked along with the quartered tomatoes. 

Two onions were chopped into thin strips and stir-fried in sunflower oil in a saute pan, until partially caramelised. A high heat to start with, and then reduced to a medium heat, stirring frequently. The hash browns were cooked in the same pan. All ready to serve after fifteen to twenty minutes of cooking. Requires no condiments, but German or Dijon mustard is recommended.

Black Pudding with Cinnamon

Sea Bream Fillets with Mushrooms, Butter and Ginger

Two Sea Bream fillets from Sainsbury's supermarket, served with butter, ginger and soy sauce, and accompanied by mushrooms cooked in sunflower oil,  a dash of rice wine, and a half teaspoonful of Squid brand Nam Pla fish sauce. 

The finely sliced mushrooms (four altogether) were cooked first in a saute pan at a moderately high heat, so they would brown slightly. Altogether they were in the pan for no more than four minutes, occasionally being turned. The mushrooms were then decanted onto a warmed plate. 

The hob was turned down to a moderate heat, and the Sea Bream fillets were lowered into about 15ml of sunflower oil skin side first, and cooked for three minutes. After a minute the pan was lidded. The fillets were turned, and cooked for another three minutes at a moderate heat, also under the glass for two of those minutes, to ensure thorough heating. 

The fillets were decanted onto the serving plate, skin side down, and butter, soy and ginger were melted together in the saute pan, before being drizzled onto the fish. 

A fabulously tasty dish, quick to prepare and cook. The flesh lifted easily from the skin and was entirely boneless. 

Sea Bream Fillets with Mushrooms, Butter and Ginger

Parsnip and Green Pea Soup

A simple soup made with twenty five pods of fresh peas, two parsnips, one leek, a dozen Chantenay carrots, vegetable stock, two small handfuls of porridge oat flakes, vegetable stock, and some Herbes de Provence (the link is to a Wikipedia article which points out the relatively recent commercial homogenisation of the idea of Herbes de Provence). Tarragon or Marjoram are good choices, as are Rosemary and Thyme. Sage also. Experiment. 

Peel the parsnips, slice the leek, and top and tail the carrots. Place in boiling water along with the podded peas, and simmer for half an hour. Then mash the vegetables. Add the vegetable stock and the herbs, and the oat flakes. From this point on there is the risk of the oats sticking to the bottom of the pan, so frequent stirring is required to prevent this. Cook for another twenty minutes or so before serving. 

Parsnip and Green Pea Soup

Egg Noodle, with Peppers and Mushroom

Fresh egg noodles from the Co-op store, with chopped mushrooms, red pepper, green pepper, thin strips of carrot, cashew nuts, onion, spring onion, two cloves of garlic, six green chillies, half of them chopped, and some powdered ginger. 

The chillies and the carrot strips were stir-fried first at a high heat for about three minutes. Then the other ingredients were added (they'd been soused in rice wine for twenty minutes, with frequent stirring). Stir-fried for a further three minutes at high heat. 

Then 250g of fresh egg noodles were added, and cooked for five minutes. The high heat was turned off as soon as they were added to the wok. Stirred frequently to ensure even cooking of the ingredients. 

Egg Noodle, with Peppers and Mushroom

Served on a bed of dark soy sauce. A delicious and satisfying meal!

Poached Eggs with Pease Pudding

This dish could have been prepared and enjoyed in the neolithic in northern Europe. They had peas, herbs, probably some form of fermented condiment, sea salt, butter, milk, cream, and perhaps some form of yoghurt. And they had eggs. 

Preparation would have been different (which I will describe later), but the result would have been very similar. 

I blended about thirty pods of peas, along with a couple of pinches of dried tarragon, decanted the blended mixture into a small pan. I added a small pinch of sea salt, and about half a teaspoonful of Asian Nam Pla fish sauce, which is the sort of condiment which they may have had, similar to Roman garum. Cooked at a low heat with a knob of butter and two teaspoonfuls of yoghurt (or fresh cream) stirred in,  for ten minutes under glass, stirring occasionally.  Peas when pulverised take up more water than they do when intact, as I discovered while cutting spelt flour and pea flour together to make bread. So do not be afraid to add a little water to the mix. 

The poached eggs were lowered into a lidded pan of boiling water in silicon poachers, and cooked for four minutes with the hob turned way down, so that the yolks were still runny in the centre. 

Tempting to eat with pepper, but they probably (and almost certainly) had no access to pepper in the Neolithic in northern Europe. 

Poached Eggs with Pease Pudding

Cooking in the European neolithic was often a communal affair, with many different items being cooked in cloth bags or other metal or ceramic vessels lowered into a boiling cauldron. So, the peas may have gone into a cauldron whole, in a cloth bag, until they lost their integrity. They would then be further mashed before serving and other possible ingredients of a tasty pease pudding added (such as the butter, cream, and the condiments). Boiled eggs they would certainly have eaten, but hard to say about poaching them. The end result is very similar, though the shape of the poached egg is different because it has been shelled first.

Pease pudding was probably used in much the same way as we use potatoes or rice - as the staple to accompany the main part of the dish, such as fish, pork, beef, lamb, chicken, etc. 

This is a delicious and subtly flavoured dish which takes very little time to make, and gives the lie to the idea that food in the neolithic was generally a bad experience.  

Lamb and Leek Chilli

Excellent aroma and flavour on the first day, and a wonderfully subtle dish on the second day. The ingredients are: 400g of ground lamb (minced lamb), mushrooms, chantenay carrots (halved), one whole finely chopped leek, podded peas (about twenty pods), a dozen halved cherry tomatoes, chopped green beans (about fifteen of them), a quarter of a red pepper, paprika, lamb stock, and six red and green chillies preserved in vinegar. 

Brown the minced lamb slowly in a saute pan along with the chopped leek. After ten to fifteen minutes or so, with regular stirring,  add some boiling water. Allow the mince and leeks to simmer under glass for half an hour. 

During this half hour there is plenty of time to prepare the vegetables, which can be added to the contents of the pan at the same time. Stir them in thoroughly. Add the chillies, half chopped, the other half of them whole, except for the stem. Add the lamb stock, and the paprika. Simmer at a low heat for another forty five minutes. 

Prepare the basmati rice during the last fifteen minutes before serving. Measure a third of a cup of basmati rice for each person, and drop the portions into water already boiling vigorously. Turn the heat down. Add some sunflower oil to stop the grains from sticking to each other. Half lidding the pot allows you to cook the rice quite slowly at a much lower heat than usual. After twelve to fifteen minutes at the lowest heat, rinse the rice in boiling water, drain, and serve. 

Lamb and Leek Chilli

Grilled Cheddar Omelette

A simple three egg omelette with sliced red and green peppers, topped with roasted mature Cheddar cheese, and served with a brown pickle.

Put a little sunflower oil into an omelette pan, and brush evenly over the surface. Once the pan is hot, add the sliced peppers and stir-fry at a medium heat for about six or seven minutes.

Beat three eggs thoroughly with two pinches of paprika powder. There is no need to add water to the mixing bowl, since the omelette will get moisture from the sliced peppers. Allow to stand. Slice 100 grams of the cheese into squares, or grate it if you prefer.  Beat the eggs again, and pour into the pan. Turn down the heat so the base of the omelette does not burn, and cook for two minutes. Cover the surface of the omelette with the cheese. Sprinkle a few drops of Lea & Perrins Worcester Sauce on to the cheese, and dust with white pepper.

Remove the pan from the hob and place under a preheated grill. All grills are different, so this part of the process needs to be watched by eye. The pan should be just a couple of inches under the grill element, with the handle facing outwards. Turn the pan left after a couple of minutes, and then right after a couple more, keeping the handle away from the element as far as possible. Grill until the surface of the omelette is golden brown. Depending on your cooker, the omelette should be ready to serve after about seven minutes under the grill.

Serve with brown pickle or ketchup.

 

Grilled Cheddar Omelette

Egg and Chorizo Sausage

No bacon in the fridge on Sunday morning? Try this excellent alternative with chorizo sausage. Two fried or poached eggs, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, spring onion, green beans, and thin slices of chorizo. 

Prepare the chorizo first, and place in a saute pan at medium heat. The sausage will provide sufficient oil for cooking the vegetables after a few minutes. Prepare the vegetables - halve the tomatoes, top and tail the green beans and slice into two, halve the mushrooms, and chop the spring onions into small pieces. Turn down the heat and allow to cook slowly under glass for fifteen minutes. Remove the lid and fry for another five minutes, removing any surplus juices in the pan. 

Best to fry the eggs (preferably in sunflower oil) in a separate frying pan, to preserve the colour of the eggs, and to have both the eggs and the vegetables ready to serve at the same time.

May be served with toast, hash browns, potato waffles, etc. But fabulous just as it is. You may end up preferring this breakfast to bacon and eggs! 

Egg and Chorizo Sausage

Green Pea Soup with Cumin and Coriander

A simple soup made with podded peas, two chopped carrots, one chopped white onion, and a teaspoonful each of powdered cumin and chopped coriander leaf. Plus some vegetable stock. 

Add the vegetables to a small pot of boiling water, reduce the heat and allow to simmer for an hour under glass. Blend the mix with an electric hand mixer, and allow to simmer for another twenty minutes. Serve with two dessert spoonfuls of Greek Style Yoghurt for each serving, stirred roughly into the soup. 

Green Pea Soup with Cumin and Coriander

Raspberries in Gin, with Greek Style Yoghurt

225 grams of Scottish raspberries, allowed to stand for 20 minutes in some London Gin, and a flat dessert spoonful of table sugar shaken over the top. Stir for a minute after adding the sugar, and cover the bowl. 

Decant into a serving bowl, and add two or three heaped dessert spoonfuls of Greek Style Yoghurt. A simple dish, but deliciously tart.  

Raspberries in Gin, with Greek Style Yoghurt

Roast Shoulder of Lamb with Butternut Squash

The ingredients for this are: a stringbound one kilogram boneless shoulder of lamb, one medium sized butternut squash, one small white or red onion, lamb stock, a teaspoonful of coriander seed, a large pinch of rosemary.

I used a large roasting dish with a lid. The oven should be preheated to around 195 deg C. The lamb shoulder was placed in the dish without oil. The squash was cut up into squares and placed around the lamb joint. I added two centimetres of water to the dish at this point. The onion was cut into thin slices and also placed around the lamb. I used a lamb stock cube, cut into thin slices, also placed around the roasting dish. Likewise with the coriander seeds and the rosemary, though some of the rosemary was used to dust the surface of the joint.

Roast Shoulder of Lamb with Butternut Squash

The joint was cooked for 50 minutes per 500g under the lid, followed by thirty minutes without the lid. Gorgeous smells in the kitchen from 30 minutes in! Aluminium foil can be used instead of a covered roasting dish.

Allow thirty minutes for the joint to cool. Remove the string, and cut with an electric knife into slices.

This dish is best served the following day, after the butternut squares and gravy have been in the fridge overnight. The solidified fat then can be removed with a sarsaparilla spoon. The butternut and the gravy can be reheated in a saucepan, and the lamb slices in a steamer.

Serve with the butternut squash and the onion, with spoonfuls of the juices. Will serve five or six people. Cooking the lamb under glass for most of the process results in wonderfully tender and juicy lamb. Utterly delicious!

Peppered Pastrami Wrap

The vegetable sauce was made first, with podded peas, tomato, yellow pepper, chestnut mushroom, carrot, a half of a fresh red chilli, three cloves of garlic, and onion. Stir-fried in sunflower oil for around ten minutes. Then water was added, along with some tomato puree. Simmered for half an hour under glass. 

The pastrami trimmings were added to the bread wraps, and then the vegetable sauce. Folded, and served with a dressing of the sauce. 

Irish Stew

Some braising beef (which I didn't bother to braise), browned in a saute pan with onions, chopped parsnips, and sunflower oil.  Once browned I added boiling water and some beef stock. I added freshly podded peas, chopped green beans, and two sticks of celery. Simmered for half an hour. Then I added peeled and quartered Maris Piper potatoes. Simmered for another forty-five minutes under glass at a low heat, stirring occasionally, by which time the beef was tender. 

No herbs required for this dish, since much of the flavour comes from the celery and parsnips. But you could add pinches of rosemary and thyme, or oregano, according to choice. 

Irish Stew

Beef and Cashew Stir-Fry

If a meat ingredient is present in a stir-fry, I always cook that first, in order to be sure it is properly cooked through. So for this stir-fry I cooked the braised and chopped pieces of beef in preheated sunflower oil at a high heat, along with cashew nuts, and chopped red chillies, until both the beef and the cashew nuts were slightly browned.

I added a teaspoonful of rice wine and stirred the contents of the wok for a further minute.

Then the vegetable ingredients were added: bean sprouts, cabbage, shredded carrot, chopped water chestnuts, bamboo shoots, onion, and mixed peppers.

Stir-fry the contents of the wok for three to four minutes at Chinese kitchen heat, or around seven minutes at a lower heat. Serve on a spiral of dark soy sauce.
 

Beef and Cashew Stir-Fry

Ground Lamb with Garlic & Leek

This recipe really brings out the flavour of the lamb. Ingredients are: 300g of ground (minced) lamb, six cloves of garlic in sunflower oil suffused with red chilli (bought from Aldi), one medium sized leek, eight Gem baby potatoes, green beans, lamb stock, and some oregano and salt.

The lamb should be cooked n a saute or other suitable pan, at a high heat with no added oil, until it begins to brown. Add chopped leek and stir together well. Cover the pan with a glass lid, and allow to cook for twenty minutes to half an hour at a low heat, stirring occasionally. Blend the six garlic cloves together in a vegetable chopper, and add to the pan. Add boiling water, and some lamb stock. Allow to simmer for another 45 minutes or so. 

Add the washed potatoes to a lidded pan with an inch of water, add salt, and bring to the boil. Dust some oregano on top of the potatoes. Cook for twenty to twenty-five minutes. Add the green beans to the pot six minutes before the end of the cooking time, and allow to steam on top of the potatoes. Remove the potatoes and the green beans from the pot with a slatted spoon or with cooking tongs. Serve piping hot.

Adding water and lamb stock to the ground lamb

Ground Lamb with Garlic & Leek

Bacon Goujons, with Brocolli

Lots of cheap vegetables available at the moment, so I blended about 20 cherry tomatoes, rather than opening a tin. I cooked the bacon goujons first, in a saute pan, then added half a yellow pepper, cut into thin strips. Once the bacon goujons had begun to brown, I added some boiling water, and then the blended cherry tomatoes. 

Cooked at a low heat until the salsa had boiled down to a thick sauce. About thirty minutes altogether. I added two teaspoonfuls of green pesto sauce (Sacla brand), some black pepper, and a dash of Tabasco. 

The brocolli was cooked in a lidded pan (water and steam) for ten minutes at a high heat, and, after draining, cut into segments on the plate. A delicious combination of flavours!

Bacon Goujons, with Brocolli

Tomato and Celery Broth

Some bargain vegetables were bought in the local co-op on a Sunday afternoon, including salad tomatoes, carrots and leek. With celery from the fridge, I had the ingredients to make a tasty tomato and celery broth. 

Chop up one mid-sized leek, four sticks of celery, shred half a dozen salad tomatoes, and 750 grams of carrots.  Add to 2 litres of boiling water, and cook for half an hour. Add two ham stock cubes, and one vegetable stock cubes. Plus a teaspoonful of black pepper. I also added a handful of Khorasan wheat (Kamut), for flavour and thickening (adding that means this is not a wheat-free recipe). 

After the first period of cooking, mash the contents of the pot. Cook for another 45 minutes under glass at a low simmer. Add some shredded basil leaves, and cook for a further 10 to 15 minutes before serving. 

Tomato and Celery Broth

Bacon and Potato Hash

Some cooking bacon to be used up, and some leftover boiled potato? A bacon and potato hash is in order! So, halve the boiled potatoes, halve about a dozen cherry tomatoes, chop up two spring onions, and cut the bacon into thin strips. Stir fry in a saute pan, with a little salted butter, for ten to fifteen minutes, depending on the heat and how brown you want your bacon. The photograph shows the dish midway through the fry.

For really crispy bacon, fry the bacon first before adding the other ingredients. Serve as it is, or with a fried or poached egg, with mustard on the side and black pepper. 

Bacon and Potato Hash