Chestnut Meatloaf with Brussels Sprouts

Made with outdoor bred pork sausage meat from Sainsbury's, one diced apple, one diced onion, three medium handfuls of porage oats, one beaten egg (actually optional, and it was skipped in this case), 100g of diced cooked chestnuts, and 40 g of salted butter, Mix together thoroughly by hand in a large glass bowl.

Herbs and spices used were a pinch of nutmeg and a generous pinch of rosemary.

 Cooked in the oven on the previous day at around 180 deg C, for forty minutes (watched carefully). Sliced when cold, and stored in the fridge.

Because the meatloaf contained pork sausage meat it was important to make sure it was thoroughly heated. Cooked under the grill, and the slices were turned once using a fish slice (about seven minutes each side - judged by eye). Can also be reheated in a flat lidded pan.

Served with brussels sprouts (6 to 9 minutes in boiling water under glass), and semi-skinned potatoes. Can also be served with roast parsnip chips.

Peppered Chicken Salad, with Cherry Tomatoes and Yellow Pepper

Meat from a chicken drumstick in the fridge, liberally coated in freshly ground black pepper. Served with a Maris Piper potato salad (in mayonnaise), dressed in coriander leaf, a lettuce salad (purple and green) dressed in olive oil, diced cherry tomatoes, and sliced yellow pepper.

A pretty simple dish to prepare. Enjoyed with an Orvietto Classico Italian wine.

Peppered Gougons of Chicken, with Oven-roasted Potato Chips

Pan-fried goujons of chicken, in a peppered chicken gravy (chicken stock), thickened with cornflour or gravy granules. The gravy was prepared separately, and spooned over the goujons, along with a generous dressing of freshly ground black pepper.

The chipped Maris Piper potatoes were dressed in a little vinegar, tomato ketchup, olive oil, and dried basil. Cooked for fifty minutes on the middle shelf of the oven at 190 deg C. Watch progress carefully.

The chips were served with another dusting of basil.

Roast Pork with Crackling

A medium sized pork joint with crackling fat, cooked for an hour in a casserole dish in the oven (190 deg C, on the middle shelf), and then for a further fifteen minutes without the lid, to brown the crackling. The dish was brushed with sunflower oil, and the crackling was dressed in a dusting of sea salt.

The gravy was made with the juices from the joint, augmented by some ham stock, and some Bisto gravy granules.

The pork was cut into slices with a sharp knife, running with the grain of the meat.

Served with batonned carrots, cooked for twenty minutes along with the Maris Piper potatoes, and halved Brussels sprouts, cooked for eight minutes.

Brisket Beef in an Onion and Tomato Gravy

A traditional Jewish dish, made with Brisket beef and a gravy of tomato, onion and carrot, served with brocolli spears, and boiled Maris Piper potatoes.

The brisket joint was about 800g, which is enough to feed six people. This meal was for three people, so I used about half of the joint for the meal.

The joint was first browned in the oven  (180 deg C.) in a roasting dish, for 30 minutes each side. Then it was placed in a large saute pan with salted water, and cooked for four hours, with occasional turning.

That left lots of time for creating the gravy. I batonned two medium-sized carrots, and diced a large Spanish onion. These were cooked for twenty minutes. Then I added sixteen diced cherry tomatoes and cooked the ensemble for a further twenty minutes. Crushed and diced garlic was added, along with tomato puree (or passata), beef and vegetable stock. Two dashes of cardamom, plus Herbes de Provence, Coriander, and Basil were also added.

Since this meal was intended for a dinner party the next day, everything went into the fridge as soon as it had cooled.

The next morning the brisket joint was cut into thin slices using an electric carving knife, against the grain of the beef. Tougher to cut, but it is the best way to do it.

The slices of beef were put into a flat pan with the onion and tomato gravy, and cooked for around half an hour to forty-five minutes, by which time the beef is incredibly tender. During which time I prepared the potatoes and the brocolli. The former cooked for twenty minutes plus, and the brocolli for ten minutes under glass at a low heat.

Served in this case with red wine, and utterly delicious!

[Celery can be added to the ingredients of this dish, as well as bay leaf, and rosemary and thyme. There are lots of variations. All delicious.]

Chorizo and Mushroom Tapas

The Spanish like to move around on an evening out, and not park themselves in one place for the evening. Hence the tradition of tapas in Spain: small dishes of tasty food which won't fill you up, leaving room for another dish in another bar or restaurant.

This is a simple dish made with only four ingredients: diced chorizo sausage from a chorizo ring, cherry tomatoes, each cut into three, four quartered white mushrooms, and some diced potato.

The chorizo was added to a flat pan first along with the potato, since the oil for cooking the dish comes from the sausage. From an initial high heat, the hob was turned down to the lowest. After about seven minutes, I added the tomato pieces and the mushroom quarters. The dish cooks under glass in around fifteen further minutes, with the ingredients moved around the pan occasionally.

Serve as is!

Chicken Stew with Green Beans

A simple chicken stew, served with fried flat-cut Maris Piper potato and green beans.

The chicken pieces were roasted on julienned Spanish onion for 45 minutes in an oven preheated to 190 deg C. A little water was added to the base of the roasting dish (about 50 mls).

After cooling, the chicken stew was stored overnight in the fridge.

The stew was reheated on the hob the next day, with added water and chicken stock. I added two pinches of Herbs de Provence. Heat for at least six minutes under glass.

The flat cut potato pieces were fried in some sunflower oil in a lidded pan, for ten minutes each side at a low heat. The green beans were boiled in slightly salted water for seven minutes, and then they were drained before serving.

Pan-fried Basa Fish (River Cobbler)

Smoked Basa Fish from Sainsbury's, pan-fried in some salted butter. With boiled Maris Piper potatoes, and broccoli.

I melted a small knob of butter in a non-stick and lidded skillet. I turned down the heat before adding the fillet. Cooked slowly, altogether for ten minutes under glass, and turned once with a fish slice.

Dressed with a little black pepper. Good with some tartare sauce also. Quick, easy, and delicious!

Baked Potato with Ground Beef Chilli

Maris Piper baked potato, with a ground beef chilli, made with leek, red kidney beans, chilli, and basil. Plus grated cheddar cheese.

The potato was partially cut in two, and with a v-aped wedge in the middle. Brushed with sunflower oil, and then cooked in the oven at 190 deg C for an hour, wrapped in tin foil.

The ground beef was prepared first - cooked in sunflower oil for twenty minutes to half an hour, until browned. Then the (chopped) leek was added. After ten minutes, add boiling water, tomato puree, kidney beans, chopped basil, vegetable stock, and five topped finger chillies. Cook under glass for another 90 minutes.

Mix grated cheddar with black pepper, and chopped basil. Spoon the ground beef chilli into the groove of the potato. Add the grated cheese on top. Allow to stand for a couple of minutes. Garnish the dish with sprigs of basil, and serve.

Scottish Rump Steak with Hash Browns

Bargain rump steak from Sainsbury's. Cooked in sunflower oil for ten minutes at a medium heat in a lidded pan, and turned four times.

Served with hash browns, and fried salad tomato, cooked separately (ten minutes under glass, and turned a couple of times).

The steak sits on a couple of squeezes of tomato ketchup, and freshly ground black pepper.

Simple and delicious! A retired trucker friend in Michigan has described this meal as 'truck stop vittles!'

Baked Potato with American Coleslaw

Preheat the oven. Two large Maris Piper potatoes, semi halved, oven cooked with butter inside aluminium foil on a roasting tray. Cook at 200 deg C for around forty to forty five minutes in the middle of the oven. An oven thermometer is recommended.

When the potatoes are ready, add slices of cheddar cheese, and dress the potato with an American coleslaw. This is very similar to UK coleslaw, but with added sliced gherkin. So essentially it is a mixture of diced cabbage, onion, carrot and gherkin, in mayonnaise. Can feature instead sour cream and a little apple vinegar, if there is no gherkin included.

Serve with black pepper.

Fish Pie with Stilton Cheese Sauce

Modelled on a fish pie my mother sometimes makes. Though she generally dislikes cheese, so she wouldn't have made one like this :-). 

First I boiled eight medium sized potatoes in their skins for 30 minutes under glass (in salted water). I used three different kinds of fish in chunks - salmon, smoked Pollock, and Haddock. Enough to cover the base of a small roasting tray. The chunks were stir-fried in some sunflower oil at a medium heat under glass, 4-5 minutes each side, then were placed in the roasting tray. I made a sauce with some cornflour and water, and cut thin slices of about 150 grams of Blue Stilton cheese. Half of it went into the sauce, along with two handfuls of freshly podded peas.  

The boiled potatoes were drained, and placed in a large glass bowl, I mashed the potatoes, first with a masher, and once there was a mostly even mash, I used a fork. I also used the fork to introduce the rest of the Stilton cheese into the potato, along with a knob of butter. 

Once the cheese sauce was sufficiently thickened, I poured it over the cooked fish pieces in the roasting tray. Then I spooned the mashed potato on top. The surface of the potato was textured with a fork, in order to produce crispy ridges in the pie crust. 

The pie tray was placed in an oven preheated to 180 deg C for an hour, until the surface of the pie was golden brown. Voila! A delicious and nutritious fish pie, which can be adapted to whatever fish you have available. 

Fish Pie with Stilton Cheese Sauce

Pork Belly with Baked Beans

Pork Belly with Baked Beans, boiled semi-skinned Maris Piper potatoes, with roast onion and tomato. 

Great comfort food! The strips of pork belly were roasted in an open roasting dish for 45-50 minutes until browned (turn once), along with the onion quarters and the tomatoes, on the day before serving. The pork, the tomatoes and the onion were reheated in a steamer while the potatoes were cooking, and the baked beans heating in a small pan. 

I've made my own baked beans before now, because I was interested in the process. It isn't difficult, but it takes preparation, is time consuming, and given the cheap availability of good beans in tins, it isn't worth the effort. Generally I add some paprika and basil to the beans while heating them. 

Pork Belly with Baked Beans

Irish Stew

Some braising beef (which I didn't bother to braise), browned in a saute pan with onions, chopped parsnips, and sunflower oil.  Once browned I added boiling water and some beef stock. I added freshly podded peas, chopped green beans, and two sticks of celery. Simmered for half an hour. Then I added peeled and quartered Maris Piper potatoes. Simmered for another forty-five minutes under glass at a low heat, stirring occasionally, by which time the beef was tender. 

No herbs required for this dish, since much of the flavour comes from the celery and parsnips. But you could add pinches of rosemary and thyme, or oregano, according to choice. 

Irish Stew