Chicken Broth

A great winter warmer of a soup. Made with chopped turnip or swede, two potatoes, two carrots, two small onions (or a medium sized leek), spinach, chicken stock, sage, a small handful of spelt grains, black pepper, and a third of a cup of green lentils (red lentils will do instead). Plus chopped breast of chicken.

The soup base should be prepared first. The lentils, the spelt grains,and the chopped vegetables should added to a pan of boiling water, and cooked at a low simmer under glass for twenty to twenty five minutes until soft. Then use a masher for one or two minutes to produce the broth consistency.

Add the chicken stock, a large pinch of sage, and a few shakes of ground black pepper. Stir together.

The chicken was pre-fried on the previous evening (bought from a supermarket close to the sell-by date), and stored in the fridge. The chicken breast should be chopped into small pieces and added to the pot. Stir into the broth. Simmer under glass for at least half an hour before serving. Even better on the next day, which is often the case with soups.

Lima Bean and Spinach Soup

Soup made with lima beans (or similar), leek, shredded spinach, and chicken stock.

The dried lima beans should be soaked in a covered bowl overnight, and  cooked separately while the soup base is being prepared, and then drained.

Once the chopped leek and the shredded spinach have been brought to the boil, add the lima beans, and the chicken stock. Simmer together for at least an hour under glass.

Serve with freshly ground black pepper.  I served this soup with a garlic naan bread (which is what I had in the fridge at the time), but any variety of garlic bread would be fine.  

Chorizo Stew

A simple stew made with chorizo sausage, sun-dried tomato, sweetcorn, leek, onion, spinach, kamut, vegetable and ham stock, paprika, white pepper, and garlic.

Bring water to the boil in a deep pan, and add chopped leek, onion and spinach. Slice the chorizo and add to the pan, along with the vegetable and ham stock. Add 4 crushed garlic cloves. Add the sweetcorn and the sundried tomato (cut into small pieces).

Return the contents to the boil, and add a large pinch of paprika, and a quarter teaspoonful of white pepper (or according to taste). Add a small handful of kamut grains, which acts as a thickener, as well as adding a flovour of its own. Simmer at a low heat for ninety minutes, stirring occasionally.

Serve with toasted pita bread. Dampen the pita and drain before putting it into the toaster. Use it as a tearing bread. The garnish is a baby leaf salad of chard, spinach, purple lettuce, and rocket.

Egg Mayo Salad Wrap

A breakfast salad wrap, made with two hard-boiled eggs, mayonnaise, spinach wrap, babyleaf salad (spinach, rocket, chard, purple lettuce), baby plum tomato, spring onion, and white pepper,

Dampen the wrap and allow it to soften while you are preparing the contents. Cool the boiled eggs in a bowl of cold water. Chop the onion and shred the tomato. Shred a handful of the baby leaf salad, and mix together in a bowl with two dessert spoonfuls of mayonnaise.

Use an egg slicer on the eggs once they are free of the shell. Add to the vegetable and mayo mix together with a half teaspoonful of ground white pepper. Dice the mixture with a spoon, so that the egg pieces are thoroughly mixed with the mayo salad.

Roll the mixture in the wrap. Serve with a dressing of the babyleaf salad leaves.

There is a lot of scope for variation with this simple dish. Cumin seeds could be added for example. Coriander, marjoram, tarragon or other herbs. You could also add chopped red pepper, mushroom, sweetcorn, etc.

Lima Bean Soup

A simple bean soup, which exists also in more complex versions, fortified with more vegetables and other kinds of bean.  This version consists of Lima beans, celery, onion, carrot, leek, chicken stock, white pepper, ,

Soak the Lima beans overnight in water. Chop two sticks of celery, white onion, the white part of a large leek, and the carrots. Stir fry the vegetables for a few minutes, and then add boiling water. Add the beans and the chicken stock, and the white pepper. Simmer under glass for at least forty-five minutes. Stir occasionally.

Add other beans and herbs according to choice, though this version of the soup is just fine as it is.

Haggis, Turnip and Potatoes

A variation on haggis, neeps and potatoes, the Scottish national dish eaten on the 25th of January (Robert Burns' birthday), and any other time you feel like it. Haggis was a favourite dish of Serge Gainsbourg, which he sought out nearly every time he visited London. He found it exotic. It is.

I've never made an actual haggis, largely because it is easy to get ready made in both traditional and vegetarian forms. Essentially it is made with minced sheep lungs, oatmeal, pepper and spices, and used to be sold in the form of a large sausage made from sheep offal.

Traditionally served with boiled potato and boiled turnip or swede. It is fine just like that, but I prefer to serve the combo with the turnip leavened with mashed carrot, which makes it a sweeter dish.

Preparation is straightforward. The potatoes should be boiled for twenty minutes, and the same for the chopped turnip and carrot. Mash the turnip and the carrot together in a bowl, with a knob of butter, The potatoes can be mashed also (separately), but I prefer to mash them as the meal proceeds. Traditionally the haggis is boiled for forty-five to fifty minutes, but these days I tend to cook it in a steamer for fifty minutes to an hour, at a low heat.

I lived for years in London, and eating haggis there was a reminder of home. A cosmopolitan friend lived close by, with an enormous collection of cookery books and a fabulous kitchen, and sometimes cooked haggis.  She once served (without warning) a heretical variation of the dish, which involved substituting the turnip with baked beans, with a little red wine mixed in. It worked. I did some cat-sitting for her, which was a great opportunity to explore her books. I've been riffing on some of those recipes ever since.

Potato, Onion, and Stilton Omelette

Finely chopped potato, spinach, and onion, with some shredded baby plum tomato, stir-fried slowly for fifteen minutes in sunflower oil, in an omelette pan.

Stir in a few grams of Blue Stilton cheese, thinly sliced, after ten minutes. Two beaten eggs were added to the pan, and the whole cooked slowly for between ten and fifteen minutes, for a little time under glass.

Served with a cheese coleslaw and black pepper, and a babyleaf salad of chard, rocket, spinach and purple lettuce.

Beetroot and Tomato in a Spinach Wrap

A commercially bought spinach wrap, from Aldi, with a beetroot and red onion salad in malt vinegar and honey, plus a four leaf salad  of chard, spinach, rocket and a purple lettuce; completed with some sliced baby plum tomatoes. Dress with freshly ground black pepper. 

Avoid overfilling the wrap, otherwise lots of the contents will spill out when the wrap is rolled. Cut the wrap (diagonally) in two.Serve with a garnish of the four leaf salad. Delicious!

Chorizo Casoulet with Courgette and Red Pepper

A simple casoulet with chorizo sausage, sliced red pepper, chopped courgette, chopped onion, and boiled potato. With a gravy based on ham stock. Served with black pepper, according to taste.

Potatoes boiled first, and the rest of the ingredients were stir-fried until tender. All added together with the ham stock, some water, and simmered under glass for at least half an hour. Add some paprika.

Chole Palak (Chickpeas and Spinach)

A vegetarian chickpea and spinach curry, which is simple to create.

The other ingredients are: diced onion, garlic, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf, ground in a mortar, which should be stir-fried until the onions are golden brown.

For the Palak sauce, I used some left over tinned tomato, two handfuls of spinach leaves, turmeric, three Indian finger chillies, Some asfoetida, garam massala curry powder, a dessert spoonful of ground coriander, and salt. Blend.  I added a dessert spoonful of cornflour for thickening. Maize or Gram flour may be used instead.

Add the chickpeas and the stir-fried ingredients to the Palak sauce, plus a handful of finely chopped spinach and some chopped potato (optional), and simmer for at least ten to fifteen minutes. Serve with basmati rice, cooked with a pinch of sumac. Delicious!

Aloo Palak Curry

A vegetarian potato curry, which is essentially simple to create, though I have seen recipes which look like a lot of work.

The ingredients are: diced onion, garlic, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf, ground in a mortar, for frying in a small pan.

For the Palak sauce, I used some left over tinned tomato, two handfuls of spinach leaves, turmeric, three Indian finger chillies, Some Asfoetida, garam massala curry powder, and salt. All blended. I added a dessert spoonful of cornflour, though maize or gram flour would be more traditional.

Add the stir-fried ingredients to the Palak sauce, and simmer for ten to fifteen minutes.

The potatoes were boiled before being added to the dish. Some julianed ginger was added as a garnish, along with some spinach leaves.

Beef in Oyster and Spring Onion Sauce

Stir-fried beef strips, with batoned carrots, chopped onion, and sliced red pepper and three finger chillies.

The beef strips came from a roast, so did not to be cooked from scratch. Everything else was. The onion, red pepper, carrot and chillies were stir-fried for five to seven minutes at a medium heat. Then the beef strips were added, and the contents of the wok cooked for another five minutes.

Then the oyster and spring onion sauce was added, with a little water, and the mixture was further cooked at a low simmer for another half an hour. Served with Basmati rice cooked with two pinches of Sumac.

Poached Egg with Black Pudding

A simple breakfast with black pudding (aka 'blood pudding'), poached egg, hash browns, chopped fried onion and two peeled tomatoes.

The onion, hash browns and the black pudding were all cooked in a large saute pan for twenty minutes at a medium heat. The black pudding and the hash browns were turned three times during the process, and the onions were stirred around also. The pot was lidded, but at a slight angle, to allow moisture and steam to escape.

The tinned tomatoes were heated slowly for the twenty minutes. The heat was turned up to medium, and the egg (in a silicon poacher) was placed in the middle of the tomatoes during the last five minutes, with the pot completely lidded.

Garnished with some leaves, and served with black pepper.

Beef Curry

The beef came from a joint of Scottish prime silverside, slow roasted in the oven for two hours, at 180 deg C. Cooked on a bed of root vegetables - 2 carrots, 2 onions, one large carrot, and a chopped stick of celery. Sea salt was rubbed into the top of the joint, along with freshly ground black pepper. Roasted in a large casserole dish, with half a pint of beef stock.

The joint was allowed to cool, and was cut into slices the following day, The gravy, made by liquidising half of the root vegetables and the stock from the roast. became the basis of the curry sauce.

I added a dessert spoonful of ground coconut, half a teaspoonful of garam massala curry powder, half a teaspoonful of cumin, half a teaspoonful of powdered ginger (root ginger will do fine instead), half a teaspoonful of cayenne pepper, half a teaspoonful of turmeric, and some dried coriander leaf. I added a whole red chilli, some white pepper, plus two diced cloves of garlic.

I cubed the beef and added it to the curry sauce. Simmered for an hour before serving with white basmati rice.

Silverside Beef with Root Vegetables, and a Black Olive Sidesalad

A joint of Scottish prime silverside beef, slow roasted in the oven for two hours, at 180 deg C. Cooked on a bed of root vegetables - 2 carrots, 2 onions, one large carrot, and a chopped stick of celery (celeriac can be used instead). Sea salt was rubbed into the top of the joint, along with freshly ground black pepper. Roasted in a large casserole dish, with half a pint of beef stock.

The joint was allowed to cool overnight. It was cut into slices the following day, following the grain of the meat, rather than across it.

The gravy was made by liquidising half of the root vegetables and the stock from the roast. The rest of the root vegetables became part of the dish, along with the gravy.

The beef and the vegetables were reheated for 20 minutes in a pre-heated steamer, decanted onto a plate, and dressed with black pepper.

The side salad comprised black olives, a four leaf salad (red lettuce, chard, rocket, and spinach), dressed in fresh lemon juice.

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Pork Salad, with Apple Sauce and Beetroot

Roast pork slices, with a beetroot salad, comprising beetroot, very finely chopped onion and carrot (proportions approximately 70:20:10), soused in balsamic vinegar, with honey; plus a baby leaf salad, comprising red baby leaf lettuce, chard, spinach, and rocket, dressed in freshly squeezed lemon juice.

A pork and apple sauce was made with some of the pork fat and juices from the joint, with ten to a dozen spring onions, one large carrot, half a bramley apple, chopped, pork stock, vegetable stock, parsley, oregano, rosemary, thyme, two pinches of paprika, and a pinch of smoked paprika. Plus a couple of dashes of Nam Pla fish sauce and a squirt of tomato puree.

The sauce was simmered for an hour and then mashed. Cooked for another twenty minutes to half an hour, and then blended with an electric hand blender. Allow to cool to room temperature. 

Tomato Soup, with Red Camargue Rice and Roast Pork

A delicious soup made with 400 grams of baby plum tomatoes, two medium size carrots, ten spring onions, chopped roast pork loin, mustard, herbs, and a sixth of a cup of Camargue red rice.

The baby plum tomatoes were halved, and added to a pan of boiling water, along with the chopped carrot and spring onion. Simmer for thirty minutes, and then mash, and blend with a hand mixer. Add the sixth cup of Camargue rice, one teaspoonful of powdered mustard (I used Colemans), a pinch of oregano and basil, some Nam Pla fish sauce, paprika, and a little black pepper. Add the chopped roast pork. Stir thoroughly. Simmer for another thirty minutes, after which it will be ready to serve.

Beetroot with a Rocket and Baby Leaf Salad

A delicious salad, made with three items available from the local co-op, plus some blue Stilton cheese, and six baby plum tomatoes.

The first of the three co-op items, the beetroot salad, comprised beetroot, very finely chopped onion and carrot (proportions approximately 70:20:10), soused in balsamic vinegar, with honey; the second was a cheese coleslaw (cabbage, onion, carrot, egg, cream, vinegar, plus a little grated coloured cheddar cheese); the third, the baby leaf salad, comprised red baby leaf lettuce, chard, spinach, and rocket, and was dressed in freshly squeezed lemon juice.

The additional components were six halved baby plum tomatoes, and about 40g of blue Stilton cheese, chopped into small fork friendly chunks.

The dish was put together in a pasta bowl, and served with freshly ground black pepper. Easily reconstructible if you want to make the dish from scratch. Delicious!

Roast Pork Loin

A bargain pork loin joint with crackling just before New Year's day meant that there was plenty of pork around in the early days of 2017.

I don't eat the crackling (essentially the fatty rind), because its chemistry doesn't agree with my metabolism, but I cooked the joint for just over two hours with the crackling still on it. Cooked in a large casserole dish at between 200 and 220 deg C (30 minutes per 500g, plus another 30 minutes).

The joint was allowed to rest overnight before carving with an electric knife (though an hour or two should be enough).

A gravy was made with some of the pork fat and juices from the joint, with ten to a dozen spring onions, one large carrot, half a bramley apple, chopped, pork stock, vegetable stock, parsley, oregano, rosemary, thyme, two pinches of paprika, and a pinch of smoked paprika. Plus a couple of dashes of Nam Pla fish sauce and a squirt of tomato puree. The gravy was simmered for an hour and then mashed. Cooked for another twenty minutes to half an hour, and then blended with an electric hand blender.

The other ingredients of the dish were white potatoes, carrots, and brussels sprouts, cooked for twenty, twenty, and nine minutes respectively. The slices of pork were reheated in a saute pan and simmered in the gravy for ten to fifteen minutes, until tender. Serve with freshly ground black pepper.

Spanish Omelette with Green Beans and Blue Stilton

 An omelette made in a standard flat non-stick omelette pan, with chopped onion, chopped pre-cooked green beans, crushed boiled carrot, about 75 grams of blue Stilton cheese, a pinch of paprika, and four large eggs.

The small chopped onion was fried first in some olive oil, until it was golden brown. Meanwhile I chopped the green beans, and crushed the boiled carrot, before adding these to the pan. Then I cut the Stilton into smallish squares, and stirred the cheese into the mix. The temperature was increased from a low heat to medium heat. Stirred frequently, until all the cheese had melted.

I had preheated the grill while cheese was melting into the vegetables, and while I beat the eggs, with the paprika and two pinches of salt.

I turned down the hob heat to zero after adding the beaten eggs, and waited until the surface of the omelette was bubbling from the heat of the hob. Then the pan was removed from the hob and placed under the grill, at a distance of about four inches from the grill element. Cook for around ten minutes, checking continuously.

Start the process with the handle of the omelette pan sticking straight out of the oven, then turning the handle to the left, and then to the right. When the surface is golden brown, the omelette is ready.

Be careful when removing the pan from the grill, as the handle may be very hot. Use a tea-towel or oven gloves.

Use a plastic spatula or fish slice to loosen the contact between the omelette and the pan, then cover the pan with a plate, and invert the pan and plate (this takes practice!). The omelette should drop from the pan onto the plate in one piece.

Cut into four portions, and serve with black pepper and a small spoonful of mayonnaise.

Lamb and Green Bean Risotto

A simple dish. Arborio rice, plus lean Scottish ground (minced) lamb, browned in its own fat for twenty to twenty five minutes. Two chopped onions were added, plus four shredded cherry tomatoes, and the pot covered.

Cooked at a low heat for another half an hour, stirring frequently. Lamb stock was added, and then boiling water. Add chopped green beans. The lamb was allowed to simmer for two hours until tender. One red chilli was added to give some bite.

The rice was cooked separately in a saute pan for twenty minutes with no salt, and then drained and returned to the pan. Add the lamb and stir together over a low heat. Serve piping hot.

Add a slice of lemon to squeeze over the risotto. Serve with freshly ground black pepper.

Ground Lamb with Brussels Sprouts

Potatoes? You don't need potatoes. It is just a cultural habit. 400g of lean Scottish ground (minced) lamb, browned in its own fat for twenty to twenty five minutes. Two chopped onions were added, and the pot covered.

Cooked at a low heat for another half an hour, stirring frequently. Lamb stock was added, and then boiling water. The lamb was allowed to simmer for two hours until tender.

The large Brussels sprouts were cooked in boiling water for 11 minutes (9 minutes if small), drained, and decanted to a serving plate along with the lamb (serves three to four).

Add freshly ground black pepper to taste.