Pork and Chestnut Meatloaf, with Hash Browns

400g of finely ground pork sausage meat from Sainsbury's prompted the making of this dish. I chopped up two small white onions, about 100g of Merchant Gourmet chestnuts (chopped), two handfuls of porridge oats, and a level dessert spoonful of cornmeal. Mixed together by hand in a glass bowl for about ten minutes. I added a little salt and a pinch of oregano. You can add a beaten egg to make sure the resulting loaf stays together, but it should be fine without it.

Place the sausage meat into a bread baking tray. I used a silicon bread tray since it is so easy to get the contents out, and to clean it. Texture the surface with a fork, and sprinkle a little paprika on the surface. Cook in the preheated oven for between fifty minutes and an hour at about 180 to 190 deg C. Check frequently toward the end of the cooking process.

The hash browns were leftover potato pieces from an earlier dish. Cooked and browned in an omelette pan. The sauce was made with onion, celery, yellow pepper and tomato puree in a small saucepan. The vegetables were stir-fried first until tender. Add a third of a vegetable stock cube and water, plus some oregano and rosemary. Simmer for twenty minutes.

Reheating the slices of meatloaf is easy in a flat lidded pan. Cook at a low heat under glass for at least fifteen minutes.

Ground Beef with Shredded Brussels Sprouts

Stir-fry chunks of carrot, diced mushroom, green beans, and onion in olive oil in a large saute pan, until tender (about fifteen or twenty minutes). Add 450g of ground beef to another saute pan and cook at a medium heat. After the beef has begun to brown, stir the beef and the vegetables together, and cook for another twenty to twenty-five minutes at a moderately high heat, stirring every minute or so.

Add the bay leaves (I added two), the beef stock, the paprika and the gravy granules. Add black pepper, a diced half of a green pepper,  Stir together. Cook for another hour, stirring every five minutes, before serving.

Cut the Brussels sprouts into six pieces, and steam under glass for about seven minutes. This is a common way to serve sprouts in Italy.

Burgers in a Chilli and Mushroom Sauce

Two beef burgers from Aldi, cooked in their own fat, along with two red onions and chopped tomatoes. Twenty minutes is sufficient to cook the burgers thoroughly, turning them twice. Move the onions around the pan during this time, so that they caramelise, but do not burn.

The sauce was made with finely sliced mushrooms, five finger chillies, some onion gravy powder, vegetable stock, and two squirts of tomato puree.

Stir fry the mushrooms in a separate lidded pan until they squeak. Add half a pint of water. Add the destemmed finger chillies, the gravy powder (two teaspoonfuls), the vegetable stock, and the tomato puree. Stir until the sauce thickens. Add one bay leaf.  Turn down the heat and simmer until the burgers are ready.

Once the burgers are cooked, decant to a serving plate along with the fried tomato and onions. Spoon the chilli and mushroom sauce, and serve. Delicious, simple, and warming!

Minestrone Soup

The ingredients of the soup are: shredded carrot, half a red pepper, one chopped red onion, chopped celery, haricot beans (actually half a standard tin of baked beans), tomato passata (about 150g), shelled peas, spinach and coriander, two pinches of oregano, a handful of spelt grains, and broken spaghetti pasta. Plus a dessert spoonful of cornmeal, chicken stock, and vegetable stock.

Start with the vegetables. Stir fry the carrot, pepper, onion and celery in sunflower oil at a medium heat until tender. Shred the spinach and the coriander and stir into the pan. Add about 200g of boiling water, then add the passata, the peas, and the haricot beans. Add the chicken and vegetable stock.

Add the broken pasta. Add some finely ground cornmeal in water, as a thickening agent (a flat dessert spoonful in about half a pint). Mix the cornmeal and water cold, then add to the soup in the pot. Turn down the heat to prevent adhesion to the bottom, and stir frequently. Simmer for one hour before serving, stirring regularly.

Cod, Haddock and Salmon Pie, with Sweet Potato

A simple fish pie made with potato, sweet potato, red onion, shelled peas, cornmeal, salmon, haddock, cod, Cheddar cheese, white pepper, salt, and turmeric.

The pack of fish pieces was bought from a supermarket, and was first steamed for fifteen minutes, while I stirfried the sliced red onion, and boiled the potato and sweet potato chunks until soft.

The sauce was made with four dessert spoonfuls of Greek style yoghurt (instead of the more usual milk), plus two heaped teaspoonfuls of cornmeal (instead of the more usual cornflour). Add water. Stir the ingredients together, and bring to the boil. Add a quarter teaspoonful of Dijon mustard, and a quarter teaspoonful of black pepper. Add two pinches of salt. Add a quarter teaspoonful of turmeric powder. Stir together. Finally, add about 80g of medium strength cheddar cheese, sliced into squares. Stir together until the cheese has dissolved into the sauce. Turn down the heat, and allow to simmer for ten minutes, stirring regularly.

The sauce was allowed to cool, and then half of it was added to the small casserole dish chosen for the pie. I added the fish pieces, the onion, and about 100g of shelled peas. I added a layer of grated cheese to the casserole dish.

When the potato and sweet potato had cooled after being drained, the pieces were mashed together in a glass bowl. The mash was added on top of the layer of grated cheese and grooved with a fork.

Cook in a preheated oven for fifty minutes at between 180-90 deg C. Serve with three dessert spoonfuls of the cheese sauce.

Chicken Sausage Stew with Kopytka Dumplings

Polish chicken sausage (Morliny) from Asda. This stew isn't based on a traditional Polish recipe, but the dumplings are.

The other ingredients of the stew are: shredded carrot, half a red pepper, one red onion, celery, haricot beans (actually half a standard tin of baked beans), tomato passata (about 150g), spinach and coriander. Plus chicken stock and vegetable stock.

Start with the vegetables. Stir fry the carrot, pepper, onion and celery in sunflower oil at a medium heat until tender. Shred the spinach and the coriander and stir into the pan. Add about 200g of boiling water, then add the passata and the haricot beans.

Slice a six inch length of the sausage into thin slices (about half a centimetre) and add to the sauce. Add the chicken and vegetable stock, plus a little pepper. Stir for a couple of minutes, and then simmer under glass for twenty minutes to half an hour. The smoked paprika flavour of the sausage will suffuse the sauce during that time.

The dumplings are made with boiled and mashed potato (two of them), half a cup of cornmeal, some salt, and one beaten egg. Cool the potato and mash. Add to a glass bowl. Add the beaten egg, the cornmeal and the salt (two pinches), and work together by hand. When the ingredients are properly mixed, take out small handfuls, and roll into cylinders about half the length of a standard cigar. When they are all prepared, cut them in half crossways. Cook six at a time in an omelette pan, with a little sunflower oil at a middling heat for about ten minutes, turning once. Allow to brown.

Serve the dumplings with the chicken stew. Delicious!

Smoked Haddock in a Cheese and Pepper Sauce

Pan fried angel cut smoked haddock (uncoloured), with traditional cut runner beans, and a cheese sauce.

The sauce was prepared first, with four dessert spoonfuls of Greek style yoghurt (instead of the more usual milk), plus two heaped teaspoonfuls of cornmeal (instead of the more usual cornflour). Add water. Stir the ingredients together, and bring to the boil. Add a quarter teaspoonful of Dijon mustard, and a quarter teaspoonful of black pepper. Add two pinches of salt. Add a quarter teaspoonful of turmeric powder. Stir together. Finally, add about 80g of medium strength cheddar cheese, sliced into squares. Stir together until the cheese has dissolved into the sauce. Turn down the heat, and allow to simmer for ten minutes, stirring regularly.

Drizzle a flat non-stick pan with some sunflower oil, and heat it untl the oil is hot. Add the haddock fillet, and cook for seven minutes, turning once (carefully!) after three and a half minutes. Turn down the heat, and allow the cooking to take place mostly under glass.

The runner beans were cooked in a small pot in water. They should be cooked for around seven minutes in boiling water.

Decant the fish to the serving plate first, then drizzle it with a little of the sauce (the instructions above are for a sauce which will accompany several meals). Add the runner beans with a slatted spoon so that they are drained.

Truly delicious! The combination of smoked fish with a cheese sauce is rarely bettered!

Ham and Eggs, with Hash Browns

A guilty pleasure. Breaded ham trimmings bought from Aldi, with hash browns made from flat cut raw potato, fried in a little sunflower oil under glass.

Normally hash browns are made from potatoes which have been boiled previously. Which means they are already cooked, and it is a matter of heating and browning. Cooking the raw potato from scratch can take up to twenty minutes at a medium heat. So start with those before beginning to fry the eggs. Turn the potato pieces a couple of times.

The ham was served cold. The ham was taken from the fridge a couple of hours before the meal was prepared, and allowed to reach room temperature.

Serve with black pepper and mustard according to taste.

This works as well with poached or scrambled eggs.

Venison Casserole with Chestnuts

A completely delicious dish, made with six venison sausages, each cut into four, and about 150g of halved chestnuts.

Other ingredients are:: chopped celery, two chopped red onions, two finely chopped chestnut mushrooms, tomato puree, beef stock, two large
splashes of red wine, a heaped dessert spoonful of cornmeal, and about 400g of water.

Begin the vegetable component of the dish first, by frying the red onion and the celery in half a dessert spoonful of sunflower oil, until the onion begins to brown. Stirring frequently. Then add the diced chestnuts, and the mushrooms. Cook for another seven minutes or so at a medium heat.

Add boiling water, the tomato puree, and the beef stock. Add cold water to a jug containing the cornmeal and stir together. Add the mix to the pan of vegetables. Stir continuously for at least three minutes.

Preheat the oven to around 190 deg C. Decant the casserole gravy into a ceramic lidded pot.

Cook the venison sausage pieces in half a dessert spoonful of sunflower oil, initially at a high heat, which should be considerably reduced. Cook the sausage pieces for at least twenty minutes, turning frequently until they are browned. Add the venison to the casserole, and place in the middle shelf of the oven. Cook for 100 minutes, lidded.

Now you have time to prepare the potato mash. Boil chopped potato for twenty minutes, then decant to a bowl with a slatted spoon. Add three spoonfuls of plain yoghurt, and half a teaspoonful of Dijon mustard. Mash together. Keep the mash hot in a bowl in a steamer.

Serve together, with or without pepper.

Pepperoni in a Neopolitan Sauce

A simple pepperoni dish served with wheat-free spaghetti.

The ingredients are sliced and diced pepperoni sausage (about 150 g), sliced onion, garlic, hot finger chillies, half a green pepper, sliced, spelt grains, half a carton of tomato passata, diced fresh basil, diced fresh spinach leaves, and some onion gravy granules.

Fry the onions until golden brown, then add the diced pepperoni sausage and the green pepper, and cook for five minutes at a medium heat.

Add boiling water and the tomato passata, and stir together. Add the basil and the spinach, and stir through the sauce. Add the garlic and the finger chillies (remove the stems). Add half a handful of spelt grain, and finally two teaspoonfuls of onion gravy granules. Stir thoroughly until the gravy granules have dissolved.

Simmer under glass at a low heat for about twenty minutes until the sauce is reduced to the required consistency. Serve with spaghetti and freshly ground black pepper.