American Cornmeal Pancakes, with Stewed Apple

A wonderfully filling and satisfyingly delicious breakfast. Made with two eggs, two dessert spoonfuls of  cornmeal flour, milk (a third of a pint), half a teaspoonful of salt, and a little sugar, or alternatively a dessert spoonful of maple syrup.

Prepare the mixture in a glass bowl. Add the cornmeal, the milk, the salt, and the sugar, and stir together vigorous with a whisk, until the mixture is smooth. Decant the mixture into a measuring jug which has a lip for pouring. 

Heat a dessert spoonful of sunflower oil in a standard omellete pan. Don't let it burn, but let the oil get close to that temperature (check your cooker hood is working properly before you start just in case!). Add one third of the mixture to the pan evenly. Turn down the heat to the lowest setting. Allow to cook for two and a half to three minutes, and then turn or flip the pancake. Cook for another two to three minutes. Repeat the process for each of the other two thirds of the mixture, after turning up the heat again, and adding a little more cooking oil if necessary.

Served in this case with stewed apples. Normally I would prepare my own stewed apples, prepared with a little preserving or jam sugar (ordinary granulated will do just fine instead). In this case I had some commercially produced stewed apple in the fridge, and I used that, after allowing it some standing time to come close to room temperature.

Orange, Blueberry, and Deglet Nour Date Salad

A really easy, quick and delicious fruit salad, made with segments from three small oranges, 125 g of fresh blueberries, and six destoned and chopped Deglat Nour dates.

Once the fruit is prepared, decant to the serving bowl. Add a five second drizzle of maple syrup, and a whisky tumbler full of white wine. Stir together for a minute or two. Then add about a third of a cup of milk. Stir again for half a minute. Ready to eat!

Plain yoghurt, or Greek style yoghurt will do in place of the milk. Also excellent when served with walnut pieces.

Ground Beef with Leek and Green Beans

Some excellent 5% fat ground beef (400g) from the local co-op. Browned at a medium heat in some sunflower oil for twenty minutes or so, stirring frequently.

I diced a large leek, after topping and tailing, and then cutting it into four lengthwise. Easy to prepare this while the beef is browning.

Turn up the heat and add the leek,  and stir together with the beef. After five minutes turn the heat down to medium, and stir-fry together for another ten minutes, until the diced leek begins to brown.

Add three quarters of a pint of boiling water, along with the vegetable and beef stock, and one large bay leaf.

Simmer under glass at a low heat for ninety minutes. Add more water if necessary.

Served with green beans boiled in salted water, black pepper, and with a serving of grilled french fries in a home-made spicy salsa.

Scrambled Egg with Fried Mushrooms and Mustard

A simple breakfast dish, with mushrooms and scrambled egg, laced with a squirt of yellow mustard. In this case with French's yellow mustard, which is more or less identical to German mustard (German immigrants took the formula to the US).

The scrambled egg was made with one large fresh egg, some milk, and the squirt of mustard. The mushrooms were quartered and cooked in a little sunflower oil, though they could be cooked in some salted butter.

Serve as it is, or with some buttered wheat-free toast, and black pepper.

Winter Vegetable Soup

A simple and satisfying soup, made with turnip (1), carrot (2), onion (1), potato (1) and half a head of brocolli.

Everything was diced, including the brocolli. The onion, carrot, turnip and potato was stir-fried in a saute pan for fifteen minutes at a medium heat. The brocolli was added, and the mix stir-fried for a further five minutes.

Then I added about a pint of boiling water, plus vegetable stock. Allowed to simmer under glass for about forty minutes. Then the soup was thoroughly mashed. I added three dashes of Worcester sauce, and the herbs thyme, and tarragon.

Allowed to simmer slowly for another forty minutes before serving. Delicious!

Cheese-topped Beef and Mushroom Tortilla

The filling: the beef was browned in a saute pan with a drizzle of sunflower oil. Started at a high heat, and then lowered, stirring regularly.

After ten to fifteen minutes I added two medium sized diced onions, and two diced carrots. Stir-fried for fifteen minutes or so until the onions became semi-transparent.

I added half a green bell pepper, cut into strips. Cooked for another five minutes before I added about half a pint of boiling water, a little tomato puree, and vegetable and beef stock. I added diced pieces of three large mushrooms.

Stirred thoroughly, and simmered under glass at a low heat for another hour and a half, until the beef is deliciously tender.

The tortilla wrap: dampened to make sure it was flexible. Allowed to dry for five minutes, then laid on the serving plate. I added two thin rectangles of cheddar cheese, and added the beef and mushroom mixture. I then folded the sides, and  rolled the tortilla up. The pre-grated cheddar (about 50g) was sprinkled on top of the tortilla wrap and patted down. The plate was put under the pre-heated grill, and left there for five minutes, until the cheese began to brown.

The tortilla was dressed with a little tomato ketchup. Delicious!

Beef and Mushroom Stew

A delicious beef and mushroom stew, served with spicy french fries.

The beef was browned in a saute pan with a drizzle of sunflower oil. Started at a high heat, and then lowered, stirring regularly.

After ten to fifteen minutes I added two medium sized diced onions, and two diced carrots. Stir-fried for fifteen minutes or so until the onions became semi-transparent.

I added half a green bell pepper, cut into strips. Cooked for another five minutes before I added about half a pint of boiling water, a little tomato puree, and vegetable and beef stock. I added diced pieces of three large mushrooms.

Stirred thoroughly, and simmered under glass at a low heat for another hour and a half, until the beef is deliciously tender.

The chips were made with two medium sized potatoes, flat cut, and then divided up. The salsa they were dipped in was made with tomato ketchup, some chilli powder, oregano, salt, sunflower oil, and a little Worcester sauce. Cooked in the oven in a roasting tray at around 180 deg C for between twenty and twenty five minutes, depending on their thickness. Turn the chips once. Watch carefully!

Cubed Beef Stew

The beef was browned in a saute pan with a drizzle of sunflower oil. Started at a high heat, and then lowered, stirring regularly.

After ten to fifteen minutes I added two medium sized diced onions, and two diced carrots. Stir-fried for fifteen minutes or so until the onions became semi-transparent.

I added half a green bell pepper, cut into strips. Cooked for another five minutes before I added about half a pint of boiling water, a little tomato puree, and vegetable and beef stock.

Stirred thoroughly, and simmered under glass at a low heat for another hour and a half, until the beef is deliciously tender.

Before serving I added a pinch each of dried rosemary, and dried thyme.

Served with half a head of brocolli cooked for about twelve minutes in a steamer. I cut it into smaller pieces once on the plate. Dressed with black pepper.

Seafood Risotto, with Mussels, Prawns and Squid

I rarely escape Morrison's fish section without buying something. Yesterday I bought some fillets to go into the freezer, and also a selection of seafood which I thought might be part of a curry. I changed my mind, and decided on a risotto.

First I prepared diced vegetables - carrot, half a courgette, and half a yellow pepper. Plus two crushed cloves of garlic. Boiled for around twenty-five minutes under glass. Drained and set aside.

The rice was prepared next - cooked in boiling water for about 12 minutes, which is a bit longer than how long you would cook basmati if you were serving it with a curry. I wanted a sticky texture to the rice for this risotto. I used a quarter cup of rice for this dish.

The seafood was already cooked, so it was a matter of reheating it. I did this in a bowl in a steamer. Five minutes is enough, if the steamer is already steaming.

While the seafood was being heated, I added the vegetables and the rice together in a pan. I added lots of freshly ground black pepper to the mixture, and a few dashes of Tabasco sauce for heat. I added the seafood when it was ready, and stirred together. Then I decanted it onto a serving plate.

A really satisfying risotto, which disappeared from the plate very quickly!

Basa Fish Wrap

Fried basa fish (catfish from fish farms in the Mekong delta), wrapped in a flatbread tortilla, along with a smearing of American style mustard.

The fish was cooked in a frying pan at a high initial heat in some sunflower oil, but the heat was reduced, and the pan was covered with a glass lid. Cooked altogether for 15 minutes. Turned twice during the cooking process.

The bread wrap was seasoned with some dried coriander before the fish was decanted to the wrap.

Cut at 20 degrees into two.

Basa fish fillets are usually free of bones, which was the case here. A delicious fish, and a delicious wrap!

Spaghetti Parmigiana, with Bell Pepper and Spanish Onion

A simple and tasty vegetarian dish (at least before the grated cheese was added). I stir-fried diced carrot, Spanish onion and half a green pepper, together with four green finger chillies (topped) and four crushed cloves of garlic.

Once the onion being to turn golden brown, I added boiling water to the mix, plus some tomato puree, in order to create spicy salsa.

The mix was simmered at a low heat under glass for around forty-five minutes.

While the salsa was simmering, I cut a piece off a wedge of Parmagiano Reggiano cheese and grated it finely. Ten minutes before serving, I put the spaghetti into a pot of boiling water, turned down the heat, and cooked it under glass.

I drained the spaghetti, and decanted it to.a serving plate. After adding a pinch of oregano, I added four wooden spoonfuls of the vegetable salsa on top, and then spread the grated cheese across it. Hot and delicious!

Chorizo Stew with Smoked Paprika

I've been following recipes all week. I cut loose this evening with a stew mostly designed to use up stuff in the fridge: diced salami and chorizo, potato, carrot, tomato, onion, chestnut mushrooms, four cloves of garlic, arborio rice, vegetable stock, oregano, herbes de provence, and a couple of teaspoonfuls of smoked paprika. Fabulous aroma spilling from the kitchen.

Allowed to simmer under glass for between an hour and a half and two hours. Delicious!

Served with basmati rice. 

Mushroom and Pepper Curry

A delicious curry, with a flavour you may not have tasted before. Made with one green bell pepper, deseeded and cut into strips, one Spanish onion, diced, and some large white mushrooms, also diced. Plus half a teaspoonful of mustard seeds, half a teaspoonful of cumin powder, chilli powder, and dried coriander. I used a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes also.

The onion was added to a saute pan containing a drizzle of groundnut oil (sunflower is fine as an alternative). Then I added the mustard seeds. Cook for five to ten minutes at a medium heat, until the onion begins to brown, and the mustard seeds burst.

After that I added the pepper and mushrooms. Stir fried for another five to ten minutes.

The dish was now ready for the chopped tomatoes (I added some boiling water also). The cumin and chilli powders were added, along with the dried coriander, and stirred together thoroughly.

Turn down the heat and allow the dish to simmer under glass for between fifteen and thirty minutes.

Serve with rice, or as in this case, with a toasted garlic and coriander naan bread, along with some plain Greek yoghurt.

Spanish Potato Tortilla (Tortilla de Patatas)

Chefs can be very partisan about the right and wrong way to make a particular dish. Currently there is a row going on about whether or not Spanish potato tortillas (AKA Spanish omelettes) should be made with or without onion.

I'm happy to learn what the right way is, if such a thing can be established. But I treat traditional recipes as points of departure. All of these 'traditional' recipes were invented by someone, and that someone was experimenting with what did and didn't work. I'm doing the same.

And as everbody knows, there are always many regional variations on the same dish. So the current row is more about publicity for the partisan chefs involved than anything else.

The recipe is basically two medium sized fresh eggs, one potato, cut into slices, and then chip shapes, and then the chips are diced into squares. I added a little salt to the eggs once they were beaten together.

The diced potato was fried slowly in a little sunflower oil in an omelette pan. Stir and turn the pieces occasionally. Cook for about twenty to twenty five minutes at a low heat until the pieces start to brown. Distribute the potato evenly across the pan, and add the beaten egg. Cover the pan with a glass lid, and cook at the lowest heat for about ten minutes, or until the surface becomes firm enough to flip the tortilla for another three minutes cooking on the other side.

That's it. Except that another traditional thing about tortillas in some quarters is how runny the egg is. Mine isn't runny, and that's the way I like it. Served with a drizzle of tomato ketchup, and freshly ground black pepper.

Spaghetti Chicken Parmigiana

This is a version of the Chicken Parmigiana recipe posted recently, so this is something of a recap.

Made with the meat from two chicken drumsticks, an onion, tomato passata, two cloves of garlic, and 75 grams of finely grated parmigiano reggiano cheese.  The one difference from the earlier recipe is the addition of four topped green finger chillies.

The chicken drumsticks were preroasted, and still with their skins, into which some sea salt had been rubbed. Both the skins and the flesh were decanted into a small saucepan, together with one diced onion, and a little sunflower oil. Stirfried for four minutes at a medium heat, after which 150g of tomato passata was added, along with the finger chillies.

Simmer for fifteen minutes under glass, with a little black pepper. After that, allow to cool a little for five minutes, and then decant into a tray suitable for grilling.

Grate the cheese into a bowl. Then shake the grated cheese over the surface of the grilling tray, ensuring an even spread (I used a dessert spoon for this). Leave to stand for five minutes while you fire up the grill.

Toast the cheese under the grill for seven to nine minutes (check the progress by eye). When the cheese has melted and browned, remove from the grill rack. Allow to cool for five minutes, then decant into a serving bowl.

Served with spaghetti, boiled with a little turmeric. Delicious!

Salami and Mushroom Omelette

Some sliced salami sausage in the fridge needed to be used, so I made this omelette ensemble in fifteen minutes, with three chopped chestnut mushrooms, and one diced white onion.

I cut around 30g of salami sausage into squares, and began to cook them in an omelette pan. Then I added the onion. No oil required, since salami is quite a fatty sausage. Then I chopped the mushrooms and added them also. Cooked at a high heat to start, but then turned down very low. Stir frequently.

I beat two medium sized eggs in a bowl, and added a pinch of turmeric and a pinch of salt. Then I added some water to the mix, and beat it again. I add a bit more water than I used to, since it produces a softer and fluffier omelette, as I've found.

After ten minutes the salami and the vegetable components will be ready. Add the beaten egg mixture as evenly as possible. Cover the pan with a glas lid and cook at the lowest heat until the surface of the omelette becomes firm. Then turn the omelette and cook for another three minutes before serving.

Served in this case with a four baby leaf salad, and a drizzle of tomato ketchup. Delicious!

Spaghetti with Green Pesto

Delicious semi-dried spaghetti, with shredded salad tomato, diced spring onion, garlic, and yellow pepper.

The vegetables were first cooked in a little sunflower oil, and then allowed to cool.

The spaghetti was boiled in water for six minutes, stirring more or less continuously. It was then drained through a sieve, and then added back to the original saute pan.

 I added the vegetables, and stirred them together. Then I added two teaspoonfuls of Sacla green pesto sauce, and stirred the pesto through the spaghetti and the vegetables.

Decanted to a pasta bowl, and served with freshly ground black pepper.

Treacle & Ale Ham, with Egg and Chips

I gave up on deep-fried chips many years ago, in favour of oven roasting them. The result is often just as good, with a fraction of the fat content. Plus you can play around with coating them in herb and sauces.

These chips were a semi-skinned potato before I flat cut them, and then subdivided these cuts into chips.I made a salsa with a squirt of tomato ketchup, oregano, paprika, and some sunflower oil. Add the raw chips, and stir them through the salsa thoroughly. Allow to stand for a few minutes, and repeat every now and then, until the oven is hot.

I preheated the oven to 190 deg C, and greased a glass roasting tray with drizzle of sunflower oil.

When the oven was ready, I added the chips to the roasting tray, making sure all the chips were separate from each other. Cooked altogether for twenty five minutes, turning the chips once.

Served with three slices of treacle & Ale ham from the local Co-op (most other forms of ham will do instead), a fried egg, and a little black pepper. Delicious!

Cured Ham Salad

Every now and then a food technologist goes mad and produces a food item that no-one ever asked for, and somehow it gets to market.

People pick it up out of curiosity, read the label, and put it back on the shelf. It sits there until close by its sell-by date, when it is offered at a discount. The line is discontinued, and is never seen again.

Which is how I came by this ham. The pack was labelled 'Outdoor Bred Treacle and Ale Ham'. If that doesn't immediately hook you into a purchase, the ham is further described as: 'tender ham, cured with rich Theakston's 'Old Peculier Ale' and roasted with sweet black treacle'.

This is one of the Co-op's own lines, so I knew it would probably be just fine. There were several other packs of the ham in the fridge. I should have bought another four.

The ham is actually quite delicious, and also tender, as described. I had three slices of it with some diced Braeburn apple and shredded tomato, dressed in freshly ground black pepper, and a drizzle of sunflower oil. Plus a four leaf salad, from the same Co-op. A delicious meal!

Chicken (Pollo) Parmigiana

A simple and tasty dish made with the meat from two chicken drumsticks, an onion, tomato passata, two cloves of garlic, and 75 grams of finely grated parmigiano reggiano cheese.

The chicken drumsticks were preroasted, and still with their skins, into which some sea salt had been rubbed. Both the skins and the flesh were decanted into a small saucepan, together with one diced onion, and a little sunflower oil. Stirfried for four minutes at a medium heat, after which 150g of tomato passata was added.

Simmer for fifteen minutes under glass, with a little black pepper. After that, allow to cool a little for five minutes, and then decant into a tray suitable for grilling.

Grate the cheese into a bowl. Then shake the grated cheese over the surface of the grilling tray, ensuring an even spread (I used a dessert spoon for this). Leave to stand for five minutes while you fire up the grill.

Toast the cheese under the grill for seven to nine minutes (check the progress by eye). When the cheese has melted and browned, remove from the grill rack. Allow to cool for five minutes, then decant into a serving bowl. Serve with a four leaf salad (in this case). Add a dusting of oregano if desired. The dish can also be served with spaghetti, penne pasta, or with potatoes. Utterly delicious!

Chicken and Bacon Casserole

Meat from two roasted chicken thighs, with the skin on them, diced, along with two strips of smoked bacon, also diced. Placed on top of a bed of coarsely chopped carrot, onion and potato. Plus one shredded salad tomato.

I added some chicken stock, the chicken jelly from the original roast, a teaspoonful of capers, and two pinches of oregano.

Finally I added 250 mls of cold water, and a drizzle of sunflower oil over the top. Stirred just a little, to submerge some of the ingredients.

Placed in the centre of an oven preheated to 190 deg C, and cooked for one hour to seventy minutes.

Garlic Lamb with Penne Pasta

Ground lamb, cooked in its own fat, along with white onion, peppers, and some dried red chillies.

The lamb was cooked first for 45 minutes, before the onion was added. After that, the diced carrot was added, and the peppers, and about half a pint of water. Then herbs (oregano and basil) and the tomato passata were added, along with the lamb stock. Finally, one crushed clove of garlic was added. Simmered under glass for an hour.

This is the base for a range of meals. Use as the basis of a Shepherd's pie. Add dates and garlic for a middle eastern or Italian style dish. Served here with wheat-free penne pasta.

Roast Chicken Soup, with Green Beans and Garlic

The soup base is very simple - 200g of diced green beans and two diced spring onions, half a teaspoonful of tarragon, one crushed and diced clove of garlic. Cooked for twenty minutes and then blended together for two minutes until smooth.

The chicken came from two freshly roasted drumsticks, cooked for forty minutes in the middle of a preheated oven at 190 deg C. Cooked with the skin, dressed in a little sunflower oil, and with some sea salt pressed in to the flesh.

Add the chicken pieces to the soup base. Cook for a further twenty to twenty-five minutes, after adding some black pepper and some chicken stock (I used half of the juices from the roasting tray also).

Such beautiful flavour! Try the recipe also with Marjoram or Coriander.

Ground Lamb with Peppers and Chilli

Ground lamb, cooked in its own fat, along with white onion, peppers, and some dried red chillies.

The lamb was cooked first for 45 minutes, before the onion was added. After that, the diced carrot was added, and the peppers, and about half a pint of water. Then the tomato passata was added, along with the lamb stock. Simmered under glass for an hour.

This is the base for a range of meals. Use as the basis of a Shepherd's pie. Add dates and garlic for a middle eastern style dish. Serve in a wheat (or non-wheat) wrap.

Herb options are many. The most popular are Rosemary and Thyme, followed by Oregano and Coriander. All work just great with lamb. Basil also, if the lamb  is cooked with tomatoes. Experiment!

Chunky Minestrone

A simple but satisfying soup made with fridge leftovers, plus some broken spaghetti, herbs, and paprika.

First I diced a courgette, cut a carrot into small chunks, diced a whole red pepper, and sliced a white onion. There was some leftover Cavolo Nero cabbage in the fridge. I cut the leaves off the stems, diced them, and added them to the pot. Then I added a handful of broken spaghetti, and brought the pot to the boil. Also added about 200 mls of tomato passata, and some vegetable stock. Simmered under glass for about one hour.

After that I added a pinch of basil and oregano, a pinch of paprika, four red dried chillies, and two finely diced cloves of garlic. Simmer for another thirty minutes before serving.