Tomato and Chilli Soup, with Potato Doughballs

A tomato chilli soup made without onions. The ingredients are blended brocolli, celery, and red pepper. Plus chilli powder, tomato puree (a couple of squeezes from the tube), plus vegetable stock.

Cook the vegetables for at least half an hour before blending them. Once blended, add the tomato puree, the chilli powder, and the vegetable stock. Simmer for at least another half an hour under glass, stirring occasionally.

The potato dumplings are Polish style: made with boiled and mashed potato, and cornmeal. Use three dessert spoonfuls of cornmeal per two peeled potatoes. Mash together with a fork in a glass bowl. Add a little milk (50mls) and drizzle with some sunflower oil.

Squeeze into sphere shapes by hand. Heat a small pan containing sunflower oil at a high heat. Add the doughballs, and drizzle with some more sunflower oil. Turn down the heat to low, and put the lid on the pan. Cook for twenty minutes altogether, turning the doughballs every five minutes to brown them evenly.

A very satisfying meal!

Spinach Omelette Wrap

 A simple and delicious dish, which can be prepared very quickly. A two egg omelette, with with diced spinach, oregano, and a pinch of salt.

Dice a handful of fresh spinach with a sharp knife. Heat the omelette pan with some sunflower oil to a high heat. Put one half of the spinach into the oil. Allow to sizzle for a minute, and then add the two beaten eggs and the pinch of salt.

Turn the heat down to middling, and cook for two minutes. Add the rest of the spinach to the still fluid top of the omelette, and pat down into the egg. Flip the omelette. Cook for another two minutes at a low heat. While you are waiting, smear half a dessert spoonful of mayonnaise on the inside surface of the bread wrap. Alternatives to the mayonnaise are Thai red chilli sauce, or some harissa paste.

Add the omelette to the wrap. fold in the sides before rolling the wrap to produce two sealed ends. Cut the wrap into two with a diagonal cut with a sharp knife. Serve hot!

Shepherd's Pie

Shepherd's Pie, made with ground lamb mince. The lamb was browned in its own fat for twenty minutes or so. After that the fat was drained into a small pan via a metal sieve.

Leave to drain for for twenty minutes, before returning the lamb to the pan. Add chopped carrot, onion, courgette, and stir fry together for three minutes at a medium heat. Add boiling water, and simmer under glass for an hour and a half to two hours. At the end of this period, add the lamb and vegetable stock. Stir together for at least five minutes. 

Allow to cool, then decant the lamb filling to a ceramic or pyrex vessel (I used a casserole dish). You can store it in the fridge for a couple of days before adding the potato topping.

The potatoes were cooking in boiling water for thirty minutes until soft. Decant to a bowl, and add a little salted butter and sunflower oil. Mash together, and allow to cool.

Once the mash is cool, add it to the top of the lamb filling. Texture the mash with a fork.

Place the pie on the middle shelf of an oven preheated to 200 deg C, and cook for between 45 and 60 minutes. After 35 minutes, check the appearance of the pie, and the extent to which it is browning. Watch it carefully until it is ready.

Serve immediately, with a side-serving of garden peas.

Mexican Scrambled Egg Wrap

I first had scrambled egg wraps at a conference in San Antonio, Texas, which is not far from the Mexican border.

Made with two beaten eggs. I had a cheese sauce in the fridge, made with some cheddar cheese, milk and cornflour, and some vegetable stock. I added this sauce to the beaten eggs in a small pan (with a drizzle of sunflower oil) and mixed everything together thoroughly.

Cooked at a medium heat for ten minutes or so, stirring every minute or so.

I smeared a little brown pickle on the herbed wrap, and added the scrambled eggs. I tucked in the sides of the wrap at right angles to the the line of the eggs and pickle, and rolled the wrap. The wrap was then cut at a 20 deg angle with a sharp knife. Can be served hot or cold. Delicious!

Honey Ham Pasta with Sage

Honey ham trimmings, stir-fried with chopped spanish onion and diced red and yellow pepper in sunflower oil. Add one shredded salad tomato. Add two thinly sliced cloves of garlic.

Once the contents of the pan begin to brown, turn down the heat and add boiling water. Then add a squeeze of tomato puree, and a ham stock cube. Also add a bay leaf. Stir occasionally.  Simmer for at least an hour under glass. Ten minutes before it is ready to serve, add half a teaspoonful of dried sage.

Prepare the penne pasta ten minutes before serving. I used Dove's farm wheat-free pasta in this case, which behaves very much like the standard Durum wheat version during cooking (i.e., it doesn't dissolve into nothing). It also has the texture and taste of regular pasta.

Fish out the bay leaf, and add the ham and onion sauce to a bowl. Drain the pasta and add it on top. Stir through a little. Serve!

Honey Ham Wrap

This is a substantial meal which can be put together in minutes. Honey ham trimmings, sweetcorn, spring onion and mayonnaise, in a herbed bread wrap.

Chop up two spring onions and place in a glass bowl. Add a small tin of sweetcorn (drained), and two dessert spoonfuls of mayonnaise. Add a little black pepper. Stir together thoroughly.

Lay the wrap on a plate, and add the honey ham on one side. Add a few spoonfuls of the sweetcorn and spring onion salsa on top. Roll the wrap, folding at the side along the way to close off the ends. Then cut the wrap diagonally with a sharp knife. Voila!

Spanish Cherry and Scottish Strawberry Fruit Salad

A delicious dish which is easy to make, and which will keep in the fridge. I topped the strawberries  (400g) and cut them into four slices each. They were placed in a glass bowl and covered with two dessert spoonfuls of granulated sugar. They were then soused in a wineglassful of white Soave wine (any decent white wine will do). Stirred until the sugar dissolved.

Stone the cherries, and cut them into halves, making sure that the stalks are removed. Add to the bowl of strawberries, and stir together thoroughly. Cover the bowl and place in the fridge until required.

Serve the dish cold with its juices, with two dessert spoonfuls of Greek style yoghurt. A joy to eat!

Unsmoked Gammon with Potato and Brocolli

An unsmoked gammon joint, cooked in the oven in a roasting tray in some loose wrapping in aluminium foil, cooked at 190 deg C for one hour and fifteen minutes. Allowed to cool and stored in the fridge. The juices were collected and formed the basis of a gravy.

The gravy was made with water, cornflour, paprika, a vegetable stock cube, and the juices from the joint (remove any fat from the top). Also some rosemary and thyme.

In this case I cooked the slices from the joint in the gravy in a flat glass-lidded pan, but did not serve the gravy with the dish. The flat cut semi peeled potato was cooked in the same pan with the gravy (thirty minutes altogether).

The brocolli was boiled for ten minutes in a separate pan under glass. Delicious! Served with a dusting of black pepper.

Pork and Potato Madras Curry

A delicious curry made with one whole chopped leek (topped and tailed), about 100g of fresh green beans, chopped into centimetre lengths, one diced pork steak, boiled potato, finger chilli, and garlic, and one quarter cupful of red lentils.

Stir-fry the leek in a little sunflower oil at a high heat, stirring frequently. When the leek begins to brown, add the green beans and turn the heat down low.

After two or three minutes of stirring, add boiling water (about half a pint), a dessert spoonful of Madras curry powder, and add the cupful of lentils. Add the chopped pork, and boiled potato. Add more water if the curry over-thickens.

Add three finger chillies, chopped ginger, and a diced clove of garlic. Add vegetable stock, and half a teaspoonful of black pepper. Simmer for 45 minutes under glass before serving.

Peppers & Spring Onion with Rice

A simple vegetarian dish which is quick to make (ten minutes or so). Chop halved red and yellow peppers into strips, and then dice the strips into squares. Dice two large spring onions into similar sized chunks.

Cut the stalks off two finger chillies and add to the mixture. Fry in sunflower oil in a small non-stick pan at a medium heat for about seven minutes, stirring frequently.

Boil the rice (one third of a cup) for five minutes in water with a little sunflower oil added to prevent sticking. Drain, and shock with cold water. Add the rice back to the pan, and add more boiliing water. Cook for a further five minutes, and drain. Add the vegetables and stir together.

Remove the chillies before serving. Serve the dish with a dressing of dark soy sauce.

Rasberry salad, with Greek Yoghurt, and Maple syrup.

Scottish raspberries, served with Greek style yoghurt, and a dessert spoonful of Maple syrup. Such a great combination!

Haddock Fishcakes

Breaded haddock fishcakes from Aldi, cooked in the preheated oven for 18-20 minutes at 200 deg. C.

Served with green beans, topped and tailed, and boiled for 8 to ten minutes in salted water, and batoned courgette (zucchini) fried in a little butter until it begins to brown.

Stir-Fry with Beef Strips in a Garlic and Black Bean Sauce

Beef strips fried in a little sunflower oil. Allow to cool, and then marinade in a garlic and black bean sauce. Store for a day or two in the fridge, after thoroughly coating the beef with the sauce.

Wrap the beef strips in an aluminium foil parcel and place in a roasting tray. Preheat the oven to 190 deg. C., and cook for thirty minutes.

The stir-fry of bean sprouts, sliced mushrooms, cabbage, green finger chillies, red onion, and coriander, was cooked at a high-heat in a wok for the first two minutes, and then at a low heat under glass for another five minutes or so, to ensure thorough heating.

Decant the vegetable stir-fry to a plate, and top with the strips of marinaded beef. Serve with freshly ground black pepper.

Lentil, Leek, and Green Bean Soup

A delicious soup made with one whole chopped leek (topped and tailed), about 100g of fresh green beans, chopped into centimetre lengths, and one quarter cupful of red lentils.

Stir-fry the leek in a little sunflower oil at a high heat, stirring frequently. When the leek begins to brown, add the green beans and turn the heat down low. After two or three minutes of stirring, add boiling water (about half a pint), and add the cupful of lentils. Add more water if the soup over-thickens. Add vegetable stock, and half a teaspoonful of black pepper.

Allow the soup to simmer under glass for at least an hour at a low heat. Serve with bread (in this case wheat-free Genius bread).

Chilli Chicken

Chicken breast, chopped into small pieces and stir-fried in sunflower oil until the pieces start to brown a little.

Then the chicken is added to a salsa consisting of chopped tomatoes (tinned), strips of yellow and green pepper, diced onion and carrot, chopped celery, finely chopped garlic, and some topped and tailed green chillies.

Add half a tin of red kidney beans, chicken stock, some basil and coriander.

Cook the chicken salsa under glass at a low heat for at least 45 minutes.

Serve with basmati rice. Delicious!

Beetroot, Ham, and Green Pepper Salad

A really simple dish but delicious and also nutritious. Sliced cooked beetroot in vinegar, sliced salad tomato, strips of green pepper, and slices of breaded ham.

I love cooking, but sometimes I want to make something simple and fast out of what is to be found in the fridge. That was the case with this dish.

Can be served with a little Dijon or German mustard (French's Mustard will do as well), but it is fine just as it is.