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).
 

Beef Chilli with baby leeks

Basmati rice cooked slowly in a flat pan with a quarter teaspoonful of turmeric.

The Ground beef was cooked for forty five minutes along with the vegetables, and then water, the vegetable stock, and the paprika was added, and cooked for another hour slowly under glass. Fabulously tender.
 

Green and Black Olives with Feta Cheese

Simple dish bought from the local Co-op. Green and Black stoned olives in olive oil, with feta cheese and the herbs oregano and rosemary. Cheaper than assembling the ingredients myself separately.
 

Chicken Minestrone

Minestrone has always been a dish based on using up various left-over ingredients. This version used left-over diced roast chicken and carrot. With added garlic and some red chilli. I used arrowroot as a thickener. Great dish!
 

Spicy Garlic Lamb and Spinach

Ground minced lamb which had been browned and then simmered under glass for two hours. Then I added diced mushrooms, lamb stock, oregano, and two bay leaves. Then simmered again under glass for another 45 minutes, with some onion gravy granules. I added diced spinach leaves and spring onion, plus half of a chopped yellow pepper. 

I added several crushed cloves of garlic, and a couple of red chillies, which I removed (along with the bay leaves) after an hour or so. 

Served with steamed potatoes (thirty minutes or so), and boiled podded peas. 

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. 

Baked Potato with Ground Lamb

The baked potato was begun first, with a little butter, in a roasting tray in an oven heated to 190 deg C. It took one hour and fifteen minutes to cook (not wrapped in tin-foil). Check every fifteen minutes, particularly if you don't have an oven thermometer.

From the fridge I took the Fresh ground minced lamb I cooked a couple of days ago, which had been browned and then simmered under glass for two hours. Then I added diced mushrooms, lamb stock, oregano, and two bay leaves. Then simmered again under glass for another 45 minutes, with some onion gravy granules.

I added diced spinach leaves and spring onion, plus half of a chopped yellow pepper. Serve hot.

Ground Lamb and Mushrooms, with Brocolli Spears

Fresh ground minced lamb, browned and then simmered under glass for two hours. Then I added diced mushrooms, lamb stock, oregano, and two bay leaves.

 Simmered again under glass for another 45 minutes, with some onion gravy granules. Served with Brocolli spears, cooked in salted water for ten minutes under glass.
 

Ras el Hanout Beef and Bean Curry with diced Garlic

Beef and Bean curry with Ras el Hanout seasoning and diced garlic. Based on an earlier meal with well tenderised beef. 

The beef was cooked with diced leek. Served here with additional spring onions, plus Oregano.

 

Creamed Ham, Leek and Tomato Soup

Soup made with diced cherry tomatoes, tomato puree, diced leek and diced turnip, plus vegetable and ham stock, plus tomato puree. Cooked for seventy minutes at a low heat under glass. After that I added diced garlic and deseeded red chilli. Plus paprika, oregano, and black pepper. The diced ham went in last, with some red wine and single cream. 

 

Lancashire Hot-pot

 A dish based on the preceding beef chilli. The remains of the beef chilli was placed in a pie tin, and the red chillies were removed. The beef was covered by thinly sliced potato, drizzled in some sunflower oil, and cooked in the oven for about seventy minutes - fifty minutes at a high heat (190 deg C), and the rest at a lower heat (150 deg C). Follow progress by eye. The dish was dressed in coriander before being put in the oven. 

Traditional? Lancashire hot-pot would not have had chillies, or sweetcorn. Just beef, and perhaps onion and carrot. I added diced green beans and a splash of red wine before it went into the oven.  

Beef and Sweetcorn Chilli

 A simple dish of Scottish minced beef and sweetcorn. 

The beef was browned with a little sunflower oil. Stirred frequently for around twenty five minutes. Then boiling water was added, and the beef was cooked slowly under glass for two hours. 

The tinned sweetcorn (200g) was added after an hour. Along with three red finger chillies, four garlic cloves (diced), two pinches of coriander leaf, two pinches of oregano, two pinches of paprika, beef stock, and two glugs of Italian red wine (Merlot). 

Served with some potato bread, or another bread of your choice.

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. 

 

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]
 

Chicken Mayo with Roasted Chips and Salad

 Diced chicken breast in mayonnaise, infused with coriander leaf and a small pinch of oregano. Served with oven grilled chips drizzled with sunflower oil. The chips were originally parboiled for fifteen minutes. 

Served with a baby leaf salad and stoned black olives. Dressed with a little American mustard. 

Chicken and Chips

Diced breast of chicken, with carrots, brussels sprouts, and roasted chips dressed in vinegar, sunflower oil, herbs (oregano and tarragon), and smoked paprika. 

The chicken breasts were roasted inside a lidded casserole dish, on a bed of carrots. Cooked for forty minutes under glass, and another twenty minutes with the lid removed. The chicken was dressed in a little sea salt. 

The chipped potatoes were parboiled for ten minutes before being placed in the oven for about twenty five minutes. Turned once. 

The sprouts were cooked in a small lidded pan for about seven minutes. 

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). 

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!

 

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.