Pork and Leek Meatloaf

Bargain sausagemeat from Sainsbury's, so I made a meatloaf with it, using oats, cornmeal, diced leek and herbs (rosemary in this case, but sage is also a good choice).

The ingredients were mixed initially by hand in a large pyrex bowl, until the vegetables and meat were thoroughly mixed together. I also added a little sunflower oil, and one large egg.

The mixing can take up to ten minutes. I added a little salt and the rosemary during this process.

After that I continued the mixing process using a medium sized wooden spoon for another seven minutes or so.

Then the mix was decanted into a silicon bread tin, patted down and textured with a fork. Cooked for one hour at 190 deg C on the middle shelf of the oven (check progress occasionally). The meatloaf will shrink a little during the cooking process, so there is no problem getting the loaf out of the tin in one piece after it has cooled.

Served in this case with Brussels sprouts and some cranberry jelly, and some sliced yellow pepper. Dusted with a little parsley. 

Chilli Chicken Soup, with Sweet Potato, Leek, and Black Rice

Sweet potato and leek work very well together as a soup base. This soup features chicken, carrot, garlic, paprika, spinach, tomato passata, leek, and black rice.

All the vegetables were cooked first in boiling water, along with the black wild rice. Half an hour to forty-five minutes at a low heat.

Then the chicken pieces were added. Plus the chicken stock. Simmered under glass for another half an hour.

After that the tomato passata was added, along with the herbs (basil, oregano) and a pinch of paprika.

Served with a garlic and coriander flatbread. Delicious!

Garlic and Black Bean Pork Noodle

Buying joints of meat is an extremely economical way of feeding yourself and your family. This dish was made with pork slices from a roast joint, which was the basis of a number of other meals.

It was made with the aid of a steamer. The noodles were cooked in the water in the bottom part, and the roast pork and the garlic and black bean sauce was heated in a bowl inside the top half of the steamer.

The process takes around fifteen minutes. The noodles were semi-dried and in an airtight pack. Dried noodles might take a bit longer, and require occasional stirring, which means adding some extra time for the contents of the top of the steamer. The vegetables were stir-fried in a little sunflower oil in a separate pan. These were diced celery, deseeded chilli, garlic, green beans, onion, red and yellow pepper, and spring onion. Plus a splash of vinegar. Ready in ten minutes!

Lentil, Leek and Sprout Soup

A nutrition packed soup made with Brussels sprouts, carrot, leek, lentils, potato and chicken stock.

All the vegetables were boiled together in a pint of water. I used about 12 sprouts, 2 medium carrots, one medium leek, and some leftover boiled potato. Plus half a cup of red lentils. Cooked for half an hour to forty minutes.

I mashed the vegetables for a minute, and then used an electric blender for another minute. After blending, avoid high heat, or the soup may burn at the bottom of the pan (stir frequently!). Then I added a quarter teaspoonful of turmeric, a pinch of paprika, the chicken stock, two splashes of Worcester sauce, and a large pinch each of oregano.and Herbes de Provence.

Stir together, and simmer under glass for another ten minutes before serving. Add more water if it becomes too thick. Served with a toasted garlic and coriander flatbread. Delicious!

Mushroom and Cabbage Stir-Fry, with Chilli Chicken

Mushroom and cabbage stir-fry ingredients from the local Co-op, and onion and bean sprouts. Stir fried-for seven minutes at a medium heat (I have an efficient cooker hood, but I still try to avoid cooking at very high temperatures). The stir-fry was decanted to a plate heated in the oven.

The chopped roast chicken was prepared in a separate small pan, with chicken stock, deseeded and diced red chilli, plus a quarter spoonful of powdered ginger (fresh is better if you have a root in your fridge). Simmered under glass for ten minutes until most of the chilli salsa has been reduced.

Serve on top of the stir-fry and drizzle with some dark soy sauce and some white pepper.

Roast Pork Soup with Chickpeas

Fabulous soup made to use up some roast pork in the fridge.

The chickpeas were soaked overnight in unsalted water until soft. A white onion was caramelised in a small pan with some sunflower oil (diced leek will do instead).

The chickpeas were added to the pan with the onion, and water, plus chicken stock, was added. After that I added the tomato puree, the diced carrot, the roast pork, the diced spinach and courgette. Add a generous dash of soy sauce. Stir together and simmer for 45 minutes under glass.

Ten minutes before serving, add the herbs - oregano, and Herbes de Provence.

Serve with a garlic and coriander flatbread and freshly ground black pepper!

Chickpea, Carrot and Spinach Stew

Made with dried chickpeas, soaked in cold unsalted water overnight. Stir-fried for a couple of minutes in sunflower oil, along with chopped carrot, courgette (zuchini), a hundred grams of green beans, one deseeded chopped green chilli, and a handful of diced spinach leaves.

Add about a pint of boiling water, add the chicken stock, and simmer under glass for a few minutes.Then add about 300g of tomato passata. Simmer for half an hour to forty-five minutes. Add the herbs of your choice (I used basil and oregano)

Serve with a toasted flatbread (I used a garlic and coriander naan).

Roast Chicken, with a Garlic and Bacon Napoletana

Chicken breasts, roasted in a casserole dish in the oven for 50 minutes at 190 deg C. Drizzled in sunflower oil, with a little water. Dressed in coarse sea salt.

The salsa napoletana was made separately, with onion, chopped garlic, tomato passata, chicken stock, oregano, basil, a pinch of paprika, with crispy fried pieces of unsmoked bacon. Cooked for twenty minutes, stirring frequently.

The carrot wedges were boiled in a small pan for thirty minutes under glass, at a low heat. During the last five minutes I added diced spinach leaves. A simple and delicious dish.

Wheat-Free Pasta Salad, with Garlic and Onion Mayo

The garlic and mayo salad was made a couple of days before this dish, and kept in the fridge. Made by using a food chopper to dice one clove of garlic, and half a medium sized onion. Mixed together with two dessert spoonfuls of standard mayonnaise.

The vegetables were: half a dozen cherry tomatoes, each cut into three with a sharp vegetable knife, half a green bell pepper, a handful of diced spinach leaves, and one diced spring onion.

The pasta was cooked for nine to ten minutes at a low heat in salted water under glass, then drained, and rinsed in cold water until cool. Drain again.

The vegetables, pasta and the garlic and onion mayo were stirred together in a glass bowl, and then decanted to the serving dish. Topped with some finely grated parmigiano reggiano cheese. Fifteen minutes preparation time!

Pork and Beans, with Hash Browns

Something comforting from the Oregon Trail. The pork came from an oven roast made a couple of days ago, and the strips of meat were steamed for twenty minutes. The heat was turned down, and 200g of baked beans were added to the bowl in the steamer. Stirred together thoroughly.

The hash browns were made with fresh slices of raw and semi-skinned potato, cooked in a little sunflower oil in a skillet - first at a high heat, and then turned down close to low. This way the potatoes brown, but do not burn. Turned once. Cooked altogether for twenty minutes, mostly under glass.

Once the hash browns are properly cooked, decant to a serving plate, along with the pork and beans, and dress with freshly ground black pepper and a pinch of basil.

Chorizo and Chickpea Soup

I used dried chickpeas for this recipe, so they were soaked in a dish of water overnight. I diced some cherry tomatoes, celery, carrot, onion, red bell pepper, one deseeded red chilli, and added some leftover boiled potato. I also added about 100g of diced chorizo sausage.

The ingredients were added to a lidded pot of water brought to the boil. Three squirts of tomato puree from a tube was stirred through, and the chicken stock added.

Simmer the soup for forty-five minutes. Add a generous pinch of oregano, and another of basil. Stir through. Served with a garlic and coriander flatbread, lightly toasted.

Haggis and Chips, with Fried Turnip

This delicious dish is slightly heretical.  Normally haggis is served with boiled potatoes (sometimes mashed), and mashed turnip. However the main component of the dish has a history much older than the advent of potatoes in Europe, so the dish has already undergone changes.

Traditional Scottish cooking is based on three basic processes, which were standard all the way back into the neolithic, and beyond: griddle cooking (oatcakes, pancakes, etc.), cauldron cooking (puddings, haggis, and meat preparation in general), and pan cooking (porridge and soups).

This version of the haggis dish involved the steaming of slices of haggis prepared as a sausage, the roasting (griddling) of the chipped potatoes, and the frying of very thin slices of turnip.

Normally the turnip is cooked in much the same way as the potato, by boiling. I find this way of preparing the turnip lacking in sweetness. A friend in London told me about the transformation of the flavour of the turnip if fried in thin slices: it is much sweeter.

So this version of the standard combination of ingredients features thinly sliced turnip. Don't do it any other way!

The haggis was steamed for fifty minutes before serving. The chips were marinaded in a salsa of oregano, sunflower oil, ketchup, vinegar, cornmeal and black pepper, and roasted on the middle shelf of the oven at 180 deg for twenty five minutes, after which the heat was turned down. Watch carefully at this point. The chips will brown nicely because of the cornmeal coating, but the potato will cook properly at a lower temperature.

The thinly sliced turnip was cooked in a lidded casserole dish at the same time as the chips, but at the bottom of the oven. The turnip slices were drizzled in a little sunflower oil, and I added some water. Cooked for the same length of time as the chips.

Singapore Fried Noodle with Chicken

Stir-Fried vegetables and chicken pieces, with fantastic Singapore noodles from Sainsbury's.

The vegetables were stir-fried first in a little sunflower oil, at a high heat initially, but reduced a minute or so after the vegetables were added to the wok (I use an electric cooker, and the hobs take a while to cool down). The vegetables included mushroom slices, bamboo shoots, bean sprouts, green cabbage, onion, and red chilli (deseeded).

I added the chicken pieces, which had been marinaded and pre-cooked in chicken stock with ginger. The stir-fry was on the hob altogether for seven minutes.

The vegetables and chicken pieces were then decanted to a pre-heated serving plate, and the wok was now used to fry the noodles. I added sunflower oil to the wok and cooked the noodles for two minutes at a medium heat, stirring frequently to prevent sticking (the noodles came vacuum-packed, and ready to cook).

Once ready, the noodles were added to the serving plate, and the vegetables and chicken were mixed through. The dish was drizzled with soy sauce. Delicious!

Fried Chicken with Egg Noodles and Green Beans

A simple dish of fried chicken pieces (one diced chicken breast), with red chilli, green beans, onion, chicken stock, onion gravy granules, oregano, and egg noodles.

The chicken pieces were cooked first, in a little sunflower oil, until the pieces became golden brown. Then they were removed from the pan.

Some julienned onion was then stir-fried for ten minutes at a medium heat, along with a deseeded and diced red chilli. After that, chopped green beans were added, and cooked for seven minutes.

The egg noodles were sourced from the local co-op store, and were semi-dried an in an airtight package. They were decanted into a pan of boiling water. The heat was reduced to a low simmer, for ten minutes, and the contents were stirred frequently.

The chicken salsa was made with chicken stock, a teaspoonful of onion gravy granules, and a pinch of oregano.

Serving the dish: the chicken pieces were reheated with the vegetables for four minutes at a low heat. and then the ensemble was added to the drained noodles on the serving plate. Served with a generous amount of gravy, and dressed with a drizzle of soy sauce.

Black Pudding, with Mushrooms and Tomatoes

A simple breakfast dish - two slices of black pudding, and a rasher of crispy smoked bacon, cooked at a medium heat in a skillet. Plus quartered mushrooms, chopped cherry tomatoes and a diced spring onion, cooked in a little sunflower oil in an omelette pan.

The black pudding slices were cooked first, in total for fourteen minutes, seven on each side. After five minutes, the rasher of bacon was also added to the skillet, and turned once. Both items were cooked in their own fat.

The vegetables were cooked for ten to twelve minutes, and stirred frequently.

The vegetables and the black puddings were served on top of a lightly toasted (and unfolded) seeded flat bread. The dish was dressed in freshly ground black pepper, and a pinch of basil. Delicious!

Roast Chicken with Vegetables and Rice

Roast breast of chicken, cooked on a bed of vegetables in a casserole dish - carrot, red bell pepper, celery and semi-skinned potato, served with a mix of black rice and finely chopped Brussels sprouts. And a gravy.

I topped and tailed two medium sized carrots, and then split them in two. These became the basis of the platform of vegetables in the casserole dish. I added the diced celery (about a handful), the diced red pepper, and four semi-skinned potatoes. The vegetables were drizzled in sunflower oil, and then I added about 150mls of water.

The whole chicken breasts were placed on top, and I shook some sea salt over them. The chicken was also dressed in some sunflower oil, and the lid placed on top. Cooked for 70 minutes on the middle shelf of the oven at 180 deg C.

I cooked a large handful of black rice for 30 minutes under glass at a low heat in unsalted water. During this time, I used an electric vegetable chopper to pulverise seven or eight raw Brussels sprouts. Cooked separately for seven minutes in salted water under glass. When the rice was cooked and drained, and the pulverised sprouts, they were mixed together before being decanted to the serving plate.

The gravy was made with the juices from the casserole dish, some chicken stock, and some onion gravy granules. Also a large pinch of oregano. Add a generous amount of the gravy to the serving plate.