Chicken Torunska

 Another simple dish, made with diced torunska sausage and chicken, plus carrot and leek. Fried, and then I added water and tomato puree. Cooked for half an hour. The sweet potato wedges were cooked in a lidded casserole dish, after being soused in some vinegar, paprika, rosemary and basil. Plus a little black pepper. For about forty minutes (watch by eye).

Pepperoni Salad

 Slices of pepperoni sausage, served with stuffed olives, diced red pepper, and wheat free pasta dressed in dried basil. Great salad. 

Torunska (Copernicus) Sausage, with Spinach and Baked Beans

 Spinach leaves dressed in freshly ground black pepper; baked beans dressed in coriander leaf and dried basil, plus fried torunska sausage, slightly browned. Cook the sausage for about ten minutes or so, moving the sausage around the skillet. No oil necessary, since the sausage cooks in its own fat. A favourite dish. 

Ardenne Pate Salad

 Some great Ardenne pate from Aldi while I was waiting for a bus, plus some useful looking tomatoes. Served with cold boiled potato, a dash of dried basil, and some fresh coriander. The tomatoes were quartered. Delicious! 

Pork Loin Steak with Spicy Chips

Pan-fried outdoor-bred pork steak, cooked in a little olive oil for eight minutes each side at a medium heat. Served with diced mushrooms and spring onion, and spicy chipped potatoes (French fries).

The spiced potatoes (first parboiled for about eight minutes) were soused in a mixture of olive oil a chilli sauce and tomato ketchup, along with the herbs oregano and basil. Then grilled for about seventeen minutes until they began to brown (watch by eye, since all grills are different).
 

Thick Cut Bacon with Peppers in a Tomato Salsa

Half a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes, in which diced carrot, red pepper, and orange pepper strips were cooked at a medium heat for a couple of hours under glass.

The bacon pieces were cooked in a little olive oil for about twenty-five minutes, drained, and added to the vegetable salsa.

Add some white wine, a dash of bloody mary spice, the herbs and a pinch of paprika. No added salt or stock. Delicious!

Pollo Napolitano

Great Italian chicken dish, simmered very slowly under glass (for forty minutes) after sealing with a brief stir-fry, along with four cloves of garlic. I made the neapolitan salsa in the same pan, adding the various ingredients one by one (including the tomato puree), stirring frequently.

The peas were fresh from the Co-op, so I spent ten minutes or so extracting the peas from the pods. Cooked separately in salted water for ten to fifteen minutes under glass.

Utterly delicious meal! Often eaten with a dressing of grated Parmigiano Regiano (or some other Italian cheese), but the dish is fine all by itself. 

Garlic Sausage, Onion, and Chestnut Mushroom

A simple dish, made with deskinned garlic sausage, white onion (diced), and chopped chestnut mushrooms. Pan fried for fifteen minutes, and then cooked in water and tomato puree along with Basil and Oregano. Served with boiled basmati rice. 

 

Chicken and Chorizo Casoulet

Recipe built on what was left of a Chorizo Casoulet. I added extra potatoes and diced onions. Plus diced red pepper. 

I chopped up one chicken breast, and added the pieces to the pan, along with extra water, and chicken stock, and half a garlic clove. Plus a squirt of tomato puree. Cooked for half an hour under glass at a lowish heat. Dressed with dried basil ten minutes before serving. Fabulous dish!

 

King Prawns in a Lime and Tomato salsa

The rice for this dish was prepared first. A small handful of Thai black rice was boiled for twenty minutes, then drained and set aside. Basmati rice was cooked in a little turmeric at a low heat for about half an hour (the black rice was added after ten minutes), until most of the water had been soaked up, and the rice grains became stuck together (easier to eat rice with chopsticks that way).. 

The lime and tomato salsa was made with arrowroot, water, tomato puree, a pinch of turmeric, and a teaspoonful of lime pickle (a squeeze of lime juice would do just as well). I also added a red finger chilli for heat, and a pinch of basil. Simmered for ten to fifteen minutes until the salsa thickens.

The rest is easy. 140g of Nicaraguan King prawns were steamed for about seven minutes. I cut a quarter of a red pepper into strips, and diced a purple onion. The dish was assembled with a  lettuce salad. The prawns were added, and dressed in the salsa before serving. Delicious!

 

King Prawns with Spaghetti, Garlic, Chilli and Ginger

Some nice pre-cooked Nicaraguan King Prawns sourced from Sainsbury's today. I looked through a number of relevant recipes first, and then came up with this one. 

I filled a large flat pan with water, and brought the water to the boil, adding a drizzle of olive oil. I added a handful of wheat-free spaghetti.  Cooked for ten minutes, stirring frequently. Cooked for a further ten minutes with a couple of spoonfuls of chopped tomatoes and about 100g of diced green beans (under glass). White pepper and dried Basil were added shortly before serving. 

three cloves of garlic (diced) were fried in another pan containing a little olive oil, along with diced fresh ginger and two green chillies. I allowed the contents of the pan to brown just a little, and then added the king prawns (140g). Stirred frequently, but largely cooked under glass at a medium heat for five minutes. 

Served together in a pasta bowl. Will feed two, but I polished off all of it by myself :-). 

 

Tomato Soup with Coriander and Garlic Naan

A simple tomato soup, made with chopped tomatoes, three dessert spoonfuls of Greek style yoghurt, diced white onion, vegetable stock, and the herbs Oregano, Coriander and Basil. Cooked for at least forty minutes, and served with a shop bought toasted garlic and coriander naan bread. 

[This is recipe idea number 1000! Posted on February 13, 2021]
 

Lorne Sausage and Roasted Parsnips

 A simple dish of Lorne Sausage (a Scottish favourite, also known as 'square sausage'), with chipped parsnips, fried baby plum tomatoes, and raw spinach. 

The sausage was slow-cooked in a little sunflower oil for twenty minutes, mostly under glass, along with the chopped baby plum tomatoes. Turned once. 

The chipped parsnips were dressed in tomato ketchup, sunflower oil, and vinegar, plus the herbs oregano, basil, and coriander leaf. Also some ground white pepper. Grilled for about fifteen minutes (judge progress by eye). 

Baby Plum Tomato and Mustard Salad, with Carrot and Olives

Good to have occasional salads during winter (both vegetable and fruit varieties).Halved baby plum tomatoes, diced red pepper and garlic, in a mustard sauce of either American or German yellow mustard. I was looking for a courser Dijon mustard at first, but I settled on American mustard. The tomatoes were drizzled in Olive Oil before the mustard was added, along with a little salt and some basil. Allowed to stand for at least half an hour. 

A single carrot was batonned, and then blitzed for ten seconds in a Kenwood mini-chopper, along with coriander leaf and some tarragon. Served with stoned black olives, preserved in brine.  

Lancashire Hot Pot

Traditional lamb dish with gravy, onion and thinly sliced potato,  roasted on the middle shelf of an oven preheated to 180 deg C.The surface potato was drizzled with a little sunflower oil, and some thinly sliced slightly salted butter.  

Often made with diced lamb, but I used ground lamb for this particular dish. The gravy was made with the juices from the lamb, with added lamb stock and tomato puree. Dressed in Basil and Coriander leaf. I added some dried red finger chillies for heat. 

 

Ham, Egg, and Chips

Something like a British truckstop favourite. The ham component came from an unsmoked gammon joint, thinly sliced, and was steamed for ten minutes. The chips were parboiled for seven minutes, drained, and decanted into a glass bowl, and allowed to cool. Mixed with tomato ketchup, black pepper, and the herbs oregano, coriander, and basil. Plus a little salt. Grilled in a roasting tin for ten or twelve minutes, until they begin to brown. 

At a truckstop, the chips would be plain and deep-fried, and there wouldn't be any herbs in sight. This is better, and the only oil used, cooked the fried egg (sunflower oil). 

Served with one or two fried eggs on the ham. The chips were dressed with a little ketchup. Fabulous dish!

 

Tomato and Unsmoked Gammon Risotto

A simple Italian style dish, made with chopped roast gammon (from a 1 kg joint, cooked in the oven for one and a half hours), carrots, courgette and red pepper. The carrots, the red pepper, and courgette (all diced) were stir-fried in a drizzle of olive oil for fifteen minutes at a low to medium heat. After which water was added, along with two squirts of tomato puree. Allowed to boil down until the sauce had thickened (about twenty-five minutes). The herbs rosemary and basil were added. Plus diced garlic. 

The rice (basmati or long grain) was prepared separately, cooked for fifteen minutes at a low heat in slightly salted water, and allowed to stand for another fifteen minutes. Then drained. 

Stirred together on the plate, and dressed with ground white pepper. 

 

Chickpeas, Green Beans, and Spicy Chips

Chickpeas soaked for several hours before being cooked in unsalted water for three hours. With an added dried red chilli. The green beans were steamed for ten minutes. The spicy chips were parboiled for seven minutes in salted water, before being drained, and then dressed in tomato ketchup, olive oil, Oregano and Basil. Cooked under the grill for fifteen minutes (judge progress by eye). Served on some dark soy sauce. 

 

Minestrone Soup

Always a favourite, and a great way to use up surplus ingredients from another dish. In this case, some yellow pepper, batonned carrot, chickpeas, white onion, chilli, mustard seed, and basmati rice. I added tomato puree (three squirts), two spring onions, diced, a drizzle of olive oil, plus black pepper, and vegetable and chicken stock. And a handful of broken spaghetti. I added the herbs basil and oregano. Cooked for an hour before serving. 

 

Beef Chilli with Carrots, Red Pepper, and Coriander

A healthy ground beef chilli with lots of vegetables - red kidney beans, carrot, onion, mushroom, chillies, red pepper, garlic, tomato puree (or tinned tomatoes), plus the herbs coriander and basil. 

The beef had been prepared the day before (with the Bisto browning), and was added to the pot, along with the diced vegetables, the red kidney beans, the garlic and the chillies, and tomato puree. Simmered under glass for an hour and a half. Added coriander and basil during the final ten minutes. 

Served with basmati rice, and dressed with a dusting of dried coriander.