Fruit Salad, with Chocolate Cake

 A fruit salad of blueberries and raspberries. The chocolate cake was made separately of course. Made with khorasan wheat, oats, yeast, and ground chocolate. Cooked in the oven for about 45 minutes (watch by eye). Allowed to cool, and then diced into small squares. Served with single cream.  A very satisfying dish.

Strawberries and Cream, plus Bourbon Whisky

 A simple fruit salad made from 500g of fresh British strawberries from the customer counter at the local Co-op (they had a glut). 

The strawberries were soused in a mixture of demerara sugar plus a generous glug of Bourbon whiskey. Allowed to stand in a glass bowl for a couple of hours, stirring together occasionally. Park the bowl in the fridge if you intend to eat the strawberries the next day. 

Add a couple of dashes of finely ground white pepper before serving (the way it is done here). Dress in fresh single cream. Fabulous!

Blueberry, Banana and Walnut Fruit Salad

A simple fruit salad with blueberries from the fridge, chopped banana, and two handfuls of walnut pieces, in some single cream. Also excellent with Greek style yoghurt.
 

Apple and Mango Fruit Salad

A simple and delicious fruit salad made with fresh slices of Gala apple, chopped mango (yellow and orange), plus black grapes. Kept in the fridge with some demerara sugar for a week, and turned occasionally.

Decanted into a bowl with the juice from the mango pieces, and dressed in some single cream.
 

Clementine segments with Black Grapes

No instructions really necessary here. Clementine segments, black grapes and cream. Add cinnamon if you wish. 

 

Tarragon Chicken in a Cream, Onion and Mushroom Sauce

Chicken breasts roasted in an open casserole dish for 40 minutes at 190 deg C, and then another fifteen minutes lidded. With a little sunflower oil. Dressed in some sea salt. Cooked a mixture of julienned white onions (two), plus five destalked and diced chestnut mushrooms, for twenty minutes in sunflower oil.

Decanted the onion and mushroom into a small pan, and mixed with a couple of dessert spoonfuls of single cream, and a shake of dried tarragon. Lots of freshly ground black pepper. 

Served with green beans boiled in salted water for seven minutes.  

 

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. 

 

Strawberry and Blueberry Fruit Salad

A simple and delicious fruit salad, made with chopped blueberries and Strawberries.

The fruit was prepared and decanted into a bowl, to which was added a couple of dessert spoonfuls of demerara sugar (any form of granulated sugar will do instead). Stirred together, and allowed to stand for an hour or so. The juices of the fruit will emerge by their interaction with the sugar.

Served with a dressing of fresh cream. Add grated nutmeg if you prefer a spiced flavour to the dish.

Grape, Fig and Walnut Salad

Bargain green seedless grapes from the Co-op, plus figs and double cream from the fridge.

The semi-dried figs (about ten) were diced and added to the serving bowl along with two handfuls of the seedless grapes. Plus one handful of walnut pieces. Souse in half a measure of whisky (I used Bell's blended whisky), or some white wine, and stir together.

Add a drizzle of double cream.

Fantastic dish, which can be put together in less than two minutes!

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.

Blueberry, Grape and Mango Fruit Salad

Mango and melon chunks, with seedless red  or green grapes, plus two handfuls of blueberries. Add to the dish.

Add eight dessert spoonfuls of double cream to the serving bowl (whipped or unwhipped according to preference), and a dessert spoonful of authentic maple syrup.

Simple, and completely delicious!

An alternative to the maple syrup is pomegranate molasses, if you have that to hand in your cupboard. A quite different flavour, but equally delicious with fruit and cream!

Chicken, Carrot and Coriander Soup

250g of diced chicken breast from the freezer, three carrots, one onion, some diced green beans, lots of coriander and some sage.

The vegetables were cooked first. I boiled them until tender (about thirty minutes at a low heat under glass), then blended them. Then I added the diced chicken, chicken and vegetable stock, plus the coriander and sage, plus some white pepper.

Cooked under glass for another hour at a low heat. A delicious and simple chicken soup. Can be served with single cream.

Pork Stew with Creamed Potatoes

The ingredients are: chopped white onion, red and yellow pepper, roast pork shoulder, mushrooms,  spring onion, pork stock, rosemary, and creamed mashed potato.

The pork shoulder joint was roasted in the oven for two hours at 200 deg C under aluminium foil, with the final fifteen minutes with the foil removed. It was allowed to rest for an hour (fifteen minutes will do) before carving.

The pork slices were cooked in a pot with the juices from the joint, and some additional pork stock. Add the onion, the chopped peppers, the mushrooms and the spring onion, and simmer at a low heat under glass for an hour until tender. Add the rosemary towards the end of this process.

The potatoes were cooked for twenty minutes in boiling salted water, after which they were drained and mashed in a pyrex bowl with three dessert spoonsful of single cream, and then served with the pork stew. Dress with a generous amount of freshly ground black pepper.

Cream of Mushroom Soup

A simple soup made with chestnut mushrooms, carrot, onion and single cream.

Stir-fry the chopped onion (two), mushrooms (eight) and carrot (two) until the onion begins to brown.

Add boiling water, and the vegetable stock. Cook for an hour at a low simmer under glass. Add white pepper.

Blend the vegetable soup, and add the single cream. Cook for another fifteen minutes before serving.

Apricot and Chestnut Mushroom Curry

A delicious apricot and mushroom curry, which can also be served as a dressing for chicken pieces.

The ingredients are: three fresh apricots, basmati rice, haricot beans, cashew nuts, red chilli, grated coconut, single cream, cumin, cumin seed,  garam massala, garlic, root ginger, onion, Californian raisins,  turmeric, vegetable stock, and yellow pepper,

A dish such as this would normally be made with dried apricots, but diced fresh apricot works just as well, particulary when paired by raisins, which add sweetness. Destone the apricots, and chop finely. Chop the onion (two small), the chestnut mushrooms (two), and half a yellow pepper. Stir fry in sunflower oil at a high heat until the onion begins to brown.

Add deseeded chilli, root ginger, and three crushed cloves of garlic.Turn the heat down to medium and stir-fry for another three or four minutes. then add boiling water to the pan. Add the haricot beans (half a tin of baked beans will do just fine), a handful of cashew nuts, another handful of the raisins.

Add the spices - a teaspoonful of turmeric, half a teaspoonful each of garam massala and cumin, and a pinch of cumin seed. Simmer for forty-five minutes to an hour at a low heat under glass.

Finally, add a generous cupful of single cream, and a dessert spoonful of ground coconut, and stir together. Simmer for ten minutes, and serve with white basmati rice.

 

Beef Korma

Made with stir-fried beef strips, peas, scotch bonnet chilli, garlic, and a korma sauce made with turmeric, cream and ground coconut.

Cook the beef until it begins to brown, Add the chopped chilli (1 chilli should be enough) and the garlic. After a couple of minutes add some boiling water and the garden peas. Allow most of the water to evaporate.

You can make the korma sauce from scratch with the turmeric, cream, ground coconut, coriander leaf, and a little sugar (chopped dates are an alternative), or you can add a commercially available korma sauce. Add cumin if you like.

Cook for another seven minutes or so, stirring the mixture frequently.

Serve with boiled basmati rice.

Beetroot with a Rocket and Baby Leaf Salad

A delicious salad, made with three items available from the local co-op, plus some blue Stilton cheese, and six baby plum tomatoes.

The first of the three co-op items, the beetroot salad, comprised beetroot, very finely chopped onion and carrot (proportions approximately 70:20:10), soused in balsamic vinegar, with honey; the second was a cheese coleslaw (cabbage, onion, carrot, egg, cream, vinegar, plus a little grated coloured cheddar cheese); the third, the baby leaf salad, comprised red baby leaf lettuce, chard, spinach, and rocket, and was dressed in freshly squeezed lemon juice.

The additional components were six halved baby plum tomatoes, and about 40g of blue Stilton cheese, chopped into small fork friendly chunks.

The dish was put together in a pasta bowl, and served with freshly ground black pepper. Easily reconstructible if you want to make the dish from scratch. Delicious!

Pear and Apple Fruit Salad

Made with one Williams pear and one Bramley apple, some Creme de Menthe, and some single cream. 

The pear was cut into lengthwise slices, and the apple was cut into eight segments, using a useful tool designed to make this easy.  These segments were then each cut into four or five parts. Mix the fruit together. Add the cream to a serving bowl, and add the fruit. Drizzle two dessert spoonfuls of Creme de Menthe. Ready to serve! 

Pear and Apple Fruit Salad

Raspberry and Red Grape Fruit Salad

A very simple salad. Raspberries from Morocco, with red seedless grapes, soused in a little grenadine, and topped with single cream. Mix the raspberries and grapes together in the grenadine, and allow to stand for twenty minutes. Stir the fruit again, and decant to a serving bowl. Add the cream. Delicious! 

Raspberry and Red Grape Fruit Salad

Fruit Salad with Raspberry, Blackberry and Strawberry

A really easy fruit salad. Since it is December, the strawberries came from Morocco, but I saw some better looking ones from Egypt in Morrison's store yesterday.  But these tasted fine. Halve the blackberries and the strawberries, and souse all three fruits in a little white wine and grenadine,  coat with a dessert spoonful of granulated sugar, and leave to soak in a sealed container for several hours in the fridge. Turn occasionally.

Decant the fruit and the juice into a serving bowl, and pour on some single cream. Delicious!

Fruit Salad with Raspberry, Blackberry and Strawberry