Wild Boar Salami with Chilli and Quinoa

 A simple dish made with chopped salami, green chilli, garlic, shredded tomato, spring onion, onion, and chopped red pepper. No herbs, no stock, no salt, and no white or black pepper. Just a couple of spoonfuls of tomato puree.

The salami was stir-fried for four minutes in a saute pan, then the vegetables were added. Cook until the tomato pieces start to lose their structure, then add boiling water, and the two spoonfuls of tomato puree. Simmer for twenty minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve with drained quinoa (cooks in around twenty five minutes under glass at a low heat).

Wild Boar Salami with Chilli and Quinoa

Wheat Free Smoked Paprika Brown Bread

I modified a standard wheat-free recipe for brown bread, using Dove's Farm brown flour, by adding a heaped teaspoonful of Spanish smoked paprika. The recipe and preparation details are available on another page.

This loaf has a cracked surface, probably because the preheated oven was too hot when the loaf was put in. Better perhaps to have the start temperature a little too low, and to raise the temperature after that. The first yeast I used was ineffective, so I added another batch of yeast and remixed the dough. That might also have had something to do with it. But the integrity of the loaf was fine, and it was very easy to cut thin slices from it.

The result is delicious! The texture of the bread seems to be softer than without the addition of the smoked paprika. Great to eat with French Brie, or a cottage cheese with pepper and a dash of Tabasco Sauce.

Wheat Free Smoked Paprika Brown Bread

Tomato, Onion and Brocolli Soup

You could make this with a tin of tomatoes or some tomato passata, but I made this dish with a bag of tomatoes bought for a bargain price at Lidl's supermarket. I chopped up about ten medium sized tomatoes, and cooked them in boiling water until they were soft (about twenty minutes or so. An Italian chef would take me to task for not removing the skins first by dipping them in boiling water and peeling them). Then I made the tomatoes into a puree with a hand blender. 

Add chopped onion, and about half of the spears from a head of brocolli, chopped into thin strips. Cook until both the onion and brocolli are soft enough to mash. Mash for one minute. Add shredded basil and a little oregano, plus some vegetable stock. Cook for another twenty to thirty minutes or so. Put freshly ground black pepper in the bottom of the bowl before serving (according to taste). That's it! Utterly delicious, and can be made from scratch in under ninety minutes. 

Tomato, Onion and Brocolli Soup

Omelette, with Belly Pork and Churrasco Salsa

A simple omelette made with thin strips of grilled belly pork, green pepper, and shredded tomato. The belly pork and the vegetables were stir-fried for three to four minutes in a saute pan, with some churrasco salsa. I prepared two large eggs in a bowl, and beat them together for a minute. Once the vegetables were piping hot, I added the beaten eggs to the saute pan, and covered it with glass, and turned down the heat. The omelette was cooked until the top side was firm (effectively cooked by steam and the temperature inside). The omelette was not turned over. 

Served with white pepper on a spiral of churrasco salsa. 

Omelette, with Belly Pork and Churrasco Salsa

Spinach and Chicken Casserole

The casserole can be prepared and cooked in an oven dish, or on the hob in a saute pan. This one was cooked on the hob.

The ingredients for this casserole are: onion, spring onion, celery, carrot, spinach, chicken stock, vegetable stock,  roast chicken breast,  and red potatoes. Finely chop two large handfuls of fresh spinach leaves, and stir-fry in some sunflower oil. Add finely chopped celery, carrot, white onion, and more coarsely chopped spring onion. Cook until the bulk of the spinach is reduced in volume, and the onion becomes golden brown.

Add boiling water, and mash the vegetables. Add the chicken and vegetable stock. Cook for another twenty to thirty minutes at a low heat under glass, then add the chopped chicken breast to the sauce. Cook for another thirty to forty-five minutes at a low heat under glass. Add some coriander, oregano and sage.

Serve with boiled semi-skinned red potatoes, or whatever other potato variety you have available.

Spinach and Chicken Casserole

Apple and Fig Salad, with Pomegranate Molasses, and Single Cream

A straightforward fruit salad, with chopped apple and figs, soused in pomegranate molasses for a couple of hours, stirring occasionally. You can add some white wine also, if you wish.  Once decanted into the serving bowl, add the single cream, and stir. Delicious!

Apple and Fig Salad, with Pomegranate Molasses,  and Single Cream

Roast Chicken in a Tomato and Churrasco Salsa

This dish began as a simple chicken chilli in a chicken stock, with an assortment of vegetables - onion, green beans, spring onion, tomato passata or chopped tomatoes, and red or yellow pepper, served with a mixture of brown basmati rice and camargue red rice. On the second day I added some Hellmans' Brazilan churrasco sauce once the salsa was thoroughly reheated, which adds more chilli heat, and a strong (and delicious) smoky flavour. 

The salsa contained a number of herbs to start with, including coriander, basil and oregano, plus a little sage. The rice mixture was cooked for thirty minutes under a partial lid of glass (to prevent boiling over), and once drained, was spooned from the sieve directly into the salsa in a serving bowl. 

Roast Chicken in a Tomato and Churrasco Salsa

Vegetable Tikka Massala

I need to use up some vegetables in the fridge, so this was the result. Ingredients were: chopped green beans, mushrooms, celery, strips of yellow pepper, green chilli, diced carrot, and a large chopped onion. If I'd had some spinach in the fridge, I'd have added some of that too. 

The tikka massala sauce came ready made (Pataks), but I've explained elsewhere how to make it yourself, and why there is an element of mystery about what an authentic tikka massala sauce actually is. Click the label 'tikka' and you will find the other versions I've made and posted on this blog. 

All the vegetables were stir-fried in sunflower oil until tender, and then I added a little water to the pot, and simmered under glass for ten minutes. Then I added the sauce, and stirred it in. Cook at a medium heat for another ten minutes or so, and serve with basmati rice. The illustration shows the tikka massala in a balti-style serving dish, with the rice served in a ceramic bowl. 

Vegetable Tikka Massala

Chicken in a Honey and Mustard Sauce

Chicken breast, red skinned potatoes, and red onion. The honey and mustard sauce also contains a little orange juice. The chicken was dressed with black pepper, ground cinnamon, and herbs, such as coriander and oregano. 

The chicken was oven cooked in a roasting tray for 20 minutes at 190 deg. C, on the middle shelf. After 20 minutes, the tray was removed to the top of the cooking hob, and the honey and mustard sauce was drizzled over the chicken. Then the roasting tray was returned to the oven for another five to six minutes. Serve piping hot. 

Chicken in a Honey and Mustard Sauce

Tomato Salad with Wheat Free Penne Pasta

A quick and easy salad to make, which is both nutritious and delicious. The tomato salad can be made in the time the wheat free pasta takes to cook, which is nine to ten minutes.Shred two tomatoes and place in a glass bowl with the lemon juice and sunflower oil. Stir together. Add freshly ground black pepper, chopped garlic (three cloves), the paprika, turmeric and a pinch of salt, the basil and the coriander leaf. Stir occasionally while the pasta is cooking. 

When the pasta is ready, drain it for a minute, shaking the sieve occasionally to prevent the tubes sticking together.  Decant the pasta into the glass bowl and stir together gently. When properly mixed together, spoon the mixture into a serving bowl, and top with a little finely grated cheddar cheese.

Tomato Salad with Wheat Free Penne Pasta

Salami Breakfast with Hash Browns

Roughly cut sections of Wild Boar Salami, stir-fried with white or chestnut mushrooms, flat-cut potato, and a salad tomato cut into eight pieces. The potato was cooked first in a little sunflower oil until soft and browned, then the other ingredients. Stir-fry for around ten minutes, judging the progress by eye, and then leave under glass at a low heat for another seven minutes, to ensure thorough heating. Stir occasionally. 

The egg can be prepared in a separate pan, to prevent any discolouration from the paprika in the salami. 

Salami Breakfast with Hash Browns

Ham Broth

A very simple dish made with three large carrots, one white onion, a third of a celery plant, 100g of chopped green beans, and 150g of diced ham. Plus freshly ground black pepper and some ham stock. 

Briefly stir-fry the chopped celery, onion, carrot and green beans, then added about half a litre of boiling water, the black pepper and the ham stock. Simmer for forty minutes until the vegetables are tender. Mash thoroughly. Add the diced ham and simmer again under glass for at least half an hour. 

No herbs necessary, though you might add a little paprika or coriander leaf. 

Ham Broth

Stir-Fry Marinade, with Crispy Pork

The vegetables - white and green cabbage, onion, carrot, red pepper, brocolli, red chilli, root ginger, chopped garlic cloves, cashew nuts, bamboo shoots - are marinaded in a little white wine, rice wine, fish sauce (nam pla), and sunflower oil. Leave for at least an hour and a half in a covered glass bowl, occasionally turning the mix.

The pork I used is some ham trimmings, cut into strips. Cook the ham first at a medium heat for at least four minutes, until the edges start to become crispy. Drain the marinade from the bowl, and add the vegetables to the wok. Stir-fry at a medium heat for about seven minutes. Serve piping hot.

Stir-Fry Marinade, with Crispy Pork

Ground Lamb with Garlic and Ginger

A delicious dish which can be made with a number of ingredients, depending on what is available, in addition to the core of lamb, garlic and ginger. 

Brown the lamb in its own fat for forty-five minutes or so at a medium heat, and drain the excess fat. Add the vegetables - chopped spring onion, tomatoes, carrot, red pepper, leek, finely chopped ginger and garlic, etc., and stir-fry for a further ten minutes at a medium heat. Then add boiling water, lamb stock, and some tomato puree or passata. Turn the heat down to a simmer, and cover with glass. Stir occasionally. Allow to simmer for at least an hour (one and a half hours is better). 

Serve with basmati rice. 

Ground Lamb with Garlic and Ginger