Chorizo and Bean Stew

A delicious bean stew, made with chorizo sausage (about 150g), flageolet beans, chopped fine beans, chopped roasted red pepper, chopped mango (peeled), chopped onion, spring onion, a 400g tin of Italian plum tomatoes.garlic, chillies, sunflower oil, a pinch of coriander seed, and a little cornflour.

Stir-fry the chopped fine beans, the chopped chorizo, and the onion, until the onion begins to brown.

I used dried flageolet beans which were soaked overnight. Add boiling water to the pan, and add the other vegetables, including the soaked beans, and stir together. Add the ham or pork stock. Then add the plum tomatoes, and mash them into chunks with a wooden spoon or a spatula.

Mix up cornflour and water (a heaped teaspoonful), and add to the other ingredients. Stir well in. Turn down the heat and simmer under glass for at least half an hour, stirring every five minutes.

Can be served as it is, or with some kind of flatbread or garlic bread, or with rice or potatoes, according to choice.

Ground Lamb with Green Beans and Potatoes

A rich lamb mince made for a family meal.  The mince was browned first in a saute pan. While that process was under way, I prepared the vegetables which were going to be part of the mix. These were: mushrooms, red pepper, sun-dried tomatoes, a large onion, some celery, spring onion, paprika, two finger chillies (minus the stems), and lamb and vegetable stock. Plus two teaspoonfuls of tomato puree. the chillies were removed before serving.

Once the lamb was browned, boiling water was added to the pan, and the mince was allowed to simmer under glass for two hours (ninety minutes will do).

Served with semi-skinned potatoes, and Kenyan fine beans. The beans were cooked for five minutes in boiling water and some salt.  Serve with batoned carrots if you prefer.

Worth the preparation time for wonderfully tender minced lamb!

Beef Burger with Onion and Red Pepper Gravy

A four pack of quarter pounders required that something different be done with the burgers cooked on the hob, on the first day, for the third day. I prepared an onion and red pepper gravy, with beef stock,  paprika and cornflour, and with some coriander leaf. I  mixed the cornflour with cold water before adding it to the gravy (as you should).

The gravy was made first, and thickened with the cornflour. Then it was decked with the paprika and coriander. After the gravy was created, the burgers were added to the mix, and simmered under glass for thirty minutes. Some black pepper was added.

Served with peeled boiled potatoes.

Ground Beef with Flat Bread, Garlic and Cheese

500g of ground beef, cooked in its own fat in a saute pan for twenty minutes or so at a high heat, stirring frequently until browned. Then add four small finely sliced onions, half a red pepper in strips, and eight sliced white mushrooms, four cloves of garlic, diced, black pepper, and a pinch of coriander seeds.

Cook until the onion and the red pepper soften, stirring frequently. Turn the heat down and continue to stir. Add boiling water and beef stock, plus one bay leaf.

Cook for another hour at a low simmer under glass. Mix a heaped teaspoonful of cornflour with about 150 mls of cold water, and at to the pot. Turn up the heat and stir frequently until the gravy thickens. Turn down the heat, and allow to simmer under glass until you are ready to serve.

Prepare about 80g of grated cheddar cheese in a bowl. Soak a flat bread in water for a minute or so, and allow to drain. When drained, cook the flat bread under a grill, or in a toaster, until a little browned.

Place the flat bread in the middle of the serving plate, and spoon the ground beef on top. Add more black pepper, and sprinkle the grated cheddar on top. Voila!

Mustard Ham Salad with Black Olives

A delicious and quick salad, made with mustard ham, baby leaf salad (rocket, chard, purple lettuce, spinach), pitted black olives (in brine), shredded salad tomato, and sliced red pepper.

Wash the baby leaf salad, and dress in a little olive oil and freshly ground black pepper. Add the shredded tomato, sliced red pepper, and the black olives, and stir together.

The delicately flavoured mustard breaded ham came from Aldi's. Serve with two slices.

This combination is adaptable to almost any variety of ham or roast pork. I chose not to add any herbs, but basil and oregano would be good choices.

Stewing lamb (lamb neck).

Stewing lamb covers a lot of lamb cuts. In this case, it is the neck of lamb. So, lots of verterbrae, and spinal cord. Cook for a long time with root vegetables and you will not be disappointed.

Add carrot, onion, lamb stock, and herbs (oregano, thyme, rosemary, etc.). Cook the lamb for at least two hours, and you have the opportunity to separate the meat from the bones  before serving, as well as the spinal cord.

Serve with potatoes or rice.

Chilli con Carne, with Yoghurt and Spring Onion

Aberdeen Angus beef, browned in a saute pan for twenty minutes to half an hour. Add sliced onion, diced carrot, and cook until the onions are softened and beginning to brown.

 Add some boiling water, plus six chillies with the stems removed, three chopped cloves of garlic, a tin of kidney beans in juice (add the juice), and six sliced mushroooms. Add three squirts of tomato puree, and four finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes, a pinch of paprika, beef stock, and some chopped basil leaves.

Turn down the heat and simmer the beef for two hours under glass, until tender. Stir occasionally. Remove the chillies before serving if you do not want to eat them. They provide lots of heat just by being in the dish while it is cooked.

Served with natural yoghurt which has had three finely chopped spring onions, one shredded baby plum tomato, and some coriander leaf mixed in. Add the yoghurt mix to the chilli as you eat. Delicious!

Chicken in Hoisin Sauce with Garlic

A mixed pepper stir-fry, topped with roast chicken in a hoisin and garlic sauce. With green and white cabbage, white onion, shredded carrot, bean sprouts, and some finely chopped root ginger.

The pieces of chicken were placed in a bowl in a steamer, and steamed for ten minutes, then the sauce was stirred in, and then the lid of the steamer was replaced, and the combo was cooked for another ten minutes.

Which gave me time to cook the stir-fry in a wok, starting with the ginger in hot sunflower oil for a minute, and then the chopped peppers and other vegetables were added. I turned the heat down, and stir-fried for seven to eight minutes, stirring the contents of the wok with a bamboo paddle every thirty seconds or so.

decant the stir-fried vegetables onto the serving plate, and spoon the chicken pieces in the sauce on top. Delicious and quick!

Chicken, Tomato and Red Pepper Soup

Chicken meat from a drumstick, mashed plum tomatoes in juice, a diced red pepper, two small onions, two spring onions, some Camargue red rice (optional), Black pepper, Oregano, Rosemary and Coriander leaf, a pinch of paprika, a quarter teaspoonful of cumin, and chicken and vegetable stock.

Empty a tin of plum tomatoes into a pan, and mash. Add two cupfuls of cold water. Bring to the boil while chopping the vegetables and chicken into small chunks, and add to the pan. Cook for half an hour at a simmer under glass, and add the vegetable and chicken stock, the herbs, the paprika and the cumin, and some sea salt to taste. Cook for at least another fifteen minutes before serving.

Fruit Salad with Spiced Yoghurt

A Fruit salad containing apple, seeded orange, and melon pieces, plus red seedless grapes, dressed in three dessert spoonfuls of yoghurt (or yoghurt made with soya, which is a pretty good substitute). The Yoghurt was flavoured with a quarter teaspoonful each of mixed spice and ground mace.

Mix the yoghurt and the spices in a small bowl and decant into the serving bowl. Lay the fruit pieces on top, and give the fruit a couple of swirls before serving.

Ragù alla bolognese

A variation on the recipe for the Italian dish Ragù alla bolognese. Made with 400g of ground (minced) beef, with 20 per cent fat, plus celery, carrots, red onion, a tin of Italian plum tomatoes, a handful of fresh basil leaves, a bay leaf, and beef stock. Sometimes the recipe for this dish asks for diced pancetta, which is a type of Italian unsmoked bacon, thyme, nutmeg and milk. I skipped all of those. Garlic is sometimes not specified, but I added three cloves.

Brown the beef in its own fat at a high heat in a large saute pan. Add the onions (three medium red onions), finely diced carrots (two), and finely chopped celery. Stir frequently to ensure even browning of the beef. Add finely chopped garlic. The browning process should be complete in fifteen to twenty minutes.

Add boiling water to the pan, and the plum tomatoes. Mash and chop the tomatoes with either a masher or a wooden slice or paddle. Stir the ingredients together. Add the beef stock, the chopped basil leaves, and the bay leaf. Add a couple of dashes of black pepper according to taste.

Once the pan comes back to the boil, reduce the heat to the minimum,  and simmer for two hours under a glass lid. Stir occasionally.

Serve with tagliatteli, or penne pasta, spaghetti (not done in Italy, I'm told) or fusili. You can choose to mix in some yoghurt before serving. Add a topping of parmesan, or parmigiano reggiano cheese, and dust with black pepper.

If you want to reduce the level of fat in the dish, you can brown the beef separately, and drain the fat off before adding the vegetables (use a metal sieve). Alternatively, you can decant the sauce into a tall glass vessel while it is still warm. The fat will migrate to the top and solidify. You can then spoon it off and reheat the sauce before serving.

Chicken Dopiaza

Made with 3 cardamom pods, chopped chicken breast, or chicken legs, chicken stock, coriander leaf (desert spoonful), cumin (tsp), hot Madras curry powder (desert spoonful), garlic, ginger (tsp), honey, lemon juice, onion, Peanut Butter, Tomato, Turmeric (a dash), Yoghurt. Served with white basmati rice, black pepper, and yoghurt. 

Make the sauce/marinade first. Mix together the contents of the cardamom pods, the coriander, cumin, curry powder, powdered ginger, garlic, and the turmeric. Open a can of chopped tomatoes and decant into a pan. Add the spices to the pot, and the chicken stock. Add a dessert spoonful of peanut butter, a dessert spoonful of honey, and three dessert spoonfuls of yoghurt. Stir thoroughly. Add the juice of half a lemon, or a whole lime. Bring to the boil and simmer. 

The chicken should be precooked. Chop into chunks, and add to the sauce. Simmer the chicken and sauce for at least thirty minutes under glass. 

Caramelise three large chopped onions in goose fat, or sunflower oil if you prefer, stirring continuously in a skillet for fifteen minutes, until golden brown. Add the onions to to the curry sauce, and stir thoroughly. Cook for a further fifteen minutes at a low heat, and serve. Utterly delicious!