Orange Segments, Blueberries and Cinnamon

 Another simple fruit salad, made with orange segments and blueberries, and dressed with single cream and a dusting of ground cinnamon. 

Blueberry and Mixed Nut Salad

 A pretty straightforward fruit and nut salad, and highly nutrititious. Blueberries from the fridge, plus a nut selection from the supermarket. Soused in single cream, and dressed in cinnamon. Delicious!

Lamb and Cinnamon Stew, with flat Noodles

 Ground lamb, with chickpeas, red pepper, spring onion, courgette and carrot (both spiralised before being added to the stew). With some added ground cinnamon. Plus lamb stock and vegetable stock. 

The lamb was cooked the day before for about two hours at a medium heat under glass until tender. Cooked again for another forty-five minutes with the spiralised vegetables. 

Served with flat chinese noodles (Blue Dragon brand in this case). The noodles were salted and infused with some sesame oil. 

Bramley Apple Turnover

Shop bought apple turnover (a treat), served with single cream. Essentially stewed apples and some sugar, folded in light pastry, and cooked in the oven. In addition to the cream, I served this with a dusting of cinnamon, which is a great accompaniment to apples. 

 

Hot Beef Chilli, with Yoghurt and Rice

 

A hot beef chilli, with five finger chillies, plus a level dessert spoonful of chilli powder, one julienned onion, a whole yellow pepper (diced), and a tin of Napolina chopped tomatoes. 

The beef was just 5 per cent fat, which is great in itself, but it makes it more problematic to cook. So I drizzled the flat pan in some sunflower oil before adding the beef. Cooked at a high heat for ten minutes, stirring frequently, then the heat was turned down low. Cooked under glass for half an hour, stirring occasionally. 

Then I added the julienned onion and the diced yellow pepper. Allowed to cook for another twenty-five minutes. Then I added boiling water, the diced garlic, the beef stock, and the chopped tomatoes. Allowed to cook for another 45 minutes.

I cooked black Thai rice for half an hour, adding ground cinnamon. Plus basmati rice for fifteen minutes in Pilau Rice seasoning.. When both rice components were ready, the black rice was drained and rinsed in boiling water, then added to the basmati rice. Served together with a Greek style yoghurt, dressed with a pinch of coriander leaf. Delicious! 

Apple and Banana Crumble, with Cinnamon

A simple crumble, made with four apples (diced and cored, but not peeled), and one small peeled banana. Stewed in a lidded pot for a couple of hours at a low heat, along with one cinnamon stick (powdered cinnamon will do just as well).

The crumble mix was made with four dessert spoonfuls of spelt flour, four dessert spoonfuls of sugar (in this case preserving sugar, but any granulated sugar will do, including demarara). Mixed together with around 75g of salted butter (best done with your fingers, for around fifteen minutes).

After removing the cinnamon stick, the stewed apple was spooned into a pie tin, and the topping was laid on top. Cooked on the middle shelf of an oven heated to 180 deg. C for forty minutes. Judge progress by eye! Served with several spoonfuls of Greek yoghurt.

Pear and Apple Crumble

A crumble (apple, pear and apple, rhubarb, etc.) is one of the simplest dishes to make (my mother told me how to do it in two sentences, on request).

Apple crumble was one of my favourite desserts at school, but somehow I never learned how to make it, and it is generally not something which is available pre-packaged from a supermarket.

Actually that isn't correct - Sainsbury's sell apple crumble pre-packaged. I've just not noticed it before, since I don't spend a lot of time looking in their fridges and freezers.

There are only two components - the stewed fruit, and the crumble topping. I used four medium sized pears from my mother's pear tree, and two apples bought from a local market. I peeled them, and cored them. Then I cut them in half lengthwise, and cut the halves into thin sections crosswise. After that they were put into a pan of boiling water, along with a dessert spoonful of table sugar, and a shake of cinnamon powder. The heat was turned down low, and the fruit was allowed to stew for at least an hour and a half. After which the pieces were roughly mashed with a wooden spoon.

The crumble topping has just three ingredients: four dessert spoonfuls of cornmeal flour, three dessert spoonfuls of table sugar, and about 100g of slightly salted butter. Cut the butter into thinnish slices, and add to the cornmeal and sugar in a glass bowl. Mix together with your fingers, until you have a mixture with no chunks of butter left (this is very therapeutic activity. It should take around seven minutes or so). Then the topping is ready to add to a pie dish containing the stewed fruit.

Before adding the fruit to the pie dish, reheat the fruit to the point where there is no moisture remaining around the fruit pieces. But do not dry out the fruit! Add the fruit, and roll the crumble topping mixture flat with a rolling pin. Then lay it on top of the stewed fruit, and seal the edges around the dish.

Cook in a preheated oven at around 180 -190 deg C, on the middle shelf, for between 40 and 50 minutes (this is a dish which needs to be judged by eye). As delicious and satisfying today as it was when I was a child! Serve hot or cold.

In this case, the crumble was served with two dessert spoonfuls of Greek yoghurt.

Plum Fruit Salad with Red and Green Seedless Grapes

Chopped plums with halved red and green grapes, served with cream. About seven minutes preparation time.

Put the salad in the fridge for forty-five minutes before serving.

You can add a little cinnamon or nutmeg to this dish.

Black Pudding with Carrot and Cinnamon Mash

A simple dish of black (blood) pudding, served with boiled and mashed carrot, suffused with some ground cinnamon.

Scottish black pudding is sometimes flavoured with a little cinnamon, though these pudding slices were not.

Black pudding doesn't take long to cook. Generally I start them off at a high heat in order to sear the surface, and then turn the heat down low, and cook them for seven minutes on each side. The last seven minutes under glass, which stops them drying out.

Cook the carrots for at least twenty minutes in boiling water, and then drain. Add a quarter teaspoonful of cinnamoon to the bowl of carrots, along with a pinch of sea salt. Mash and serve with freshly ground black pepper..

Chole Palak (Chickpeas and Spinach)

A vegetarian chickpea and spinach curry, which is simple to create.

The other ingredients are: diced onion, garlic, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf, ground in a mortar, which should be stir-fried until the onions are golden brown.

For the Palak sauce, I used some left over tinned tomato, two handfuls of spinach leaves, turmeric, three Indian finger chillies, Some asfoetida, garam massala curry powder, a dessert spoonful of ground coriander, and salt. Blend.  I added a dessert spoonful of cornflour for thickening. Maize or Gram flour may be used instead.

Add the chickpeas and the stir-fried ingredients to the Palak sauce, plus a handful of finely chopped spinach and some chopped potato (optional), and simmer for at least ten to fifteen minutes. Serve with basmati rice, cooked with a pinch of sumac. Delicious!

Aloo Palak Curry

A vegetarian potato curry, which is essentially simple to create, though I have seen recipes which look like a lot of work.

The ingredients are: diced onion, garlic, ginger, cloves, cinnamon, bay leaf, ground in a mortar, for frying in a small pan.

For the Palak sauce, I used some left over tinned tomato, two handfuls of spinach leaves, turmeric, three Indian finger chillies, Some Asfoetida, garam massala curry powder, and salt. All blended. I added a dessert spoonful of cornflour, though maize or gram flour would be more traditional.

Add the stir-fried ingredients to the Palak sauce, and simmer for ten to fifteen minutes.

The potatoes were boiled before being added to the dish. Some julianed ginger was added as a garnish, along with some spinach leaves.

Chicken in a Honey and Mustard Sauce

Chicken breast, red skinned potatoes, and red onion. The honey and mustard sauce also contains a little orange juice. The chicken was dressed with black pepper, ground cinnamon, and herbs, such as coriander and oregano. 

The chicken was oven cooked in a roasting tray for 20 minutes at 190 deg. C, on the middle shelf. After 20 minutes, the tray was removed to the top of the cooking hob, and the honey and mustard sauce was drizzled over the chicken. Then the roasting tray was returned to the oven for another five to six minutes. Serve piping hot. 

Chicken in a Honey and Mustard Sauce

Black Pudding with Cinnamon

Sunday breakfast. Scottish black pudding from Simon Howie, flavoured with cinnamon, cooked in a skillet for seven minutes each side at a medium heat, reduced towards the end of the process. Best cooked slowly rather than quickly. Cooked along with the quartered tomatoes. 

Two onions were chopped into thin strips and stir-fried in sunflower oil in a saute pan, until partially caramelised. A high heat to start with, and then reduced to a medium heat, stirring frequently. The hash browns were cooked in the same pan. All ready to serve after fifteen to twenty minutes of cooking. Requires no condiments, but German or Dijon mustard is recommended.

Black Pudding with Cinnamon

Pineapple and Blueberry Fruit Salad

Fresh pineapple chopped into cubes and halved blueberries, mixed with soft honey and left to stand for fifteen or twenty minutes. Add ground cinnamon and white pepper, plus a dash of grenadine. Stir and serve.

Tinned pineapple in juice will be fine as an alternative to fresh pineapple, though you might want to reduce the quantity of honey if you use the juice.

Pineapple and Blueberry Fruit Salad

Red Grape, Honey, and Pecan Salad

Food of the Gods. Halved red grapes, sliced nectarine, half an apple, finely sliced, diced dates, pecan nuts, a dash each of mixed spice and cinnamon, and a dash of white pepper.

Mix into the fruit a dessert spoonful of soft honey, and allow to stand for 10 to 15 minutes. Add the pecan nuts, and stir in Greek yoghurt. Serve.

Seeing this recipe, a friend said: 'Greek yoghurt is fabulous, and even more so if you use Greek honey... [it has] quite a distinctive, herby flavour...' Which is true. Greek honey is worth trying with this recipe.

Red Grape, Honey, and Pecan Salad

Spiced Lamb with Rice

Ingredients are: minced lamb, onion, chilli, garlic, ginger, cinnamon, tamarind paste, cumin, red pepper, chickory, cardamom, potato, carrot and lamb stock.

Lamb mince was browned in a glass-lidded pot for about half-an hour. Water and lamb stock was added to the pot, then diced potato and carrot, half a head of chopped chickory, a sliced white onion, and a whole red pepper cut into small strips. Followed by the garlic, ginger and chopped finger chillies. The cinnamon, tamarind paste, cumin and the cardamoms were added after a further hour of simmering under glass. 

Served with basmati rice, or a steamed vegetable, such as stringless beans. 

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Spiced Lamb with Rice

Spiced Lamb with Stringless Beans

Almond Lamb, with Ginger, Dates, and Cinammon

Lamb mince browned for half an hour in its own fat. Sliced Spanish onion was added and stirred in to the mince for ten minutes. Boiling water was added, and then about 200g of tomato passata. Other ingredients were then added - freshly ground almonds (two handfuls), sliced ginger, garlic, three finger chillies, half a dozen stoned and chopped dates, sliced sugar snap peas, a whole sliced yellow pepper, ground black pepper, lamb and vegetable stock, a pinch of oregano, and a cinammon stick.

The temperature was reduced, and the dish was left to simmer under glass for another ninety minutes. Served with basmati rice. Don't forget to remove the cinammon stick before serving!

 Almond Lamb, with Ginger, Dates, and Cinammon

Lamb with Cashews and Ginger

Some bargain sell-by date lamb mince prompted this excursion into north african style cooking. I browned the mince for about half an hour with a little sunflower oil. after fifteen minutes I began to add rough-cut chunks of carrot, spring onion, tomato, chopped root ginger, three chillies, stoned and chopped dates, and some garlic. The whole dish was then allowed to slow cook in a saute pan for another ninety minutes. Then some chopped tinned tomato was added, along with two handfuls of unsalted cashew nuts, paprika, and lamb stock. The pan was left to simmer for another thirty to forty minutes. 

Ground almonds could be used in place of the cashews, along with a little cinnamon, and chickpeas. 

Lamb with Cashews and Ginger

Fruit Salad with Walnuts and Havana Rum

Chopped nectarine, plum, apple, banana, and grape, splashed with Havana Club rum (ideally leave the dish standing for a few hours after adding this), and a dash of nutmeg and cinnamon. Serve with double cream.

Fruit Salad with Walnuts and Havana Rum