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. 

 

Sweet and Sour pan-fried Chicken

Basmati rice cooked with finely diced root ginger. Pan-fried chicken goujons, cooked slowly (mostly under glass). Plus a sweet and sour sauce which had been in the fridge for a few days, which I made for a previous dish (essentially two teaspoonfuls of tomato puree, a dash of fish sauce, a little sugar, and diced pineapple I added arrowroot as a thickener). I added diced spring onion. Served with a little white pepper and a dusting of coriander leaf. Delicious!

Sweet and Sour Roast Pork

Sweet and sour roast  pork served with brown basmati rice. 

The sweet and sour sauce was made from scratch, with a teaspoonful of arrowroot (as opposed to corn starch or cornflour), two squirts of tomato puree (ketchup will do fine), fish sauce, half a teaspoon of chillli powder, and three teaspoonfuls of sugar. Plus three diced rings of pinapple from a tin, along with a couple of dessert spoonfuls of pinapple juice.

The pork came from two previously roasted pork steaks, which were cut into strips and fried in sunflower oil until slightly browned.  Excellent dish.  

 

Strawberry and Blackberry Bourbon Surprise

Wow! Diced Scottish Strawberries and Blackberries soused for a couple of days in two shots of blended Bourbon whiskey, and two dessert spoonfuls of Demerara sugar. Kept in the fridge. Plus a handful of crushed almonds (I've made this dish before with almonds which were ground in a coffee grinder). Stirred occasionally.

Dress in a little black or white pepper before serving on a bed of Greek style yoghurt.

Any other whisky or whiskey will produce an excellent result. Utterly delicious! Strawberries Rombauer is often touted as the the apex of fruit salads (using Cointreau). It's good, but this has it beat.

Strawberries in Chocolate Ice-cream

An excellent dish, made with simple ingredients. 150g of strawberries were halved, and dressed in 100g of sugar. Left in the fridge overnight, under glass. After which the juices from the strawberries is largely extracted.

Add some black pepper to the strawberries (a Scottish affectation which works really well). Stir.

Served with several spoonfuls of  chocolate ice-cream, cold (in this case Luca ice-cream, which is the best in this part of the world)..

Pear and Apple Crumble

Two cored and diced apples, and five cored and diced pears, stewed in a pan of boiling water for an hour and a half. After that the contents of the pan were gently mashed. The lid was removed, and the contents allowed to thicken (judge by eye).

Two dessert spoonfuls of demerara sugar were added to a bowl, along with three dessert spoonfuls of spelt flour. plus 70g of salted butter. All mixed together by kneading. This can take ten minutes or so.

Cooked in the middle of the oven at 180 deg c for between 40 and 50 minutes (again, judge by eye). Served in this case with a couple of spoonfuls of Greek yoghurt. Eat hot or cold.

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.

Strawberry and Walnut Salad

Quartered Scottish Strawberries,  soused for four or five hours in granulated sugar, which produces excellent juices.

Decant to a serving bowl and add two handfuls of walnut pieces.

Add three or four dessert spoonfuls of plain yoghurt (or single cream if you prefer). Chill in the fridge for half an hour before serving. A fabulous dish!

Sweet and Sour Chicken Noodle

A simple dish of pieces of roast chicken in a sweet and sour sauce, on a bed of steamed egg noodles.

The meat came from a chicken thigh. The sauce came from Aldi, though I often make sweet and sour sauce from scratch, which I've described elsewhere on this site.

The noodles were steamed rather than fried. They were semi-dried, though you could blanch them for a couple of minutes if you prefer your noodles to be particularly soft. Completely dried egg noodles need to be soaked for several minutes before actual cooking.

The noodles were decanted from the steamer to the serving bowl, and were drizzled in a little sesame oil. The chicken pieces in the sweet and sour sauce were also prepared in a steamer, and placed on top the noodles. Dressed with a little black pepper.

American Cornmeal Pancakes, with Stewed Apple

A wonderfully filling and satisfyingly delicious breakfast. Made with two eggs, two dessert spoonfuls of  cornmeal flour, milk (a third of a pint), half a teaspoonful of salt, and a little sugar, or alternatively a dessert spoonful of maple syrup.

Prepare the mixture in a glass bowl. Add the cornmeal, the milk, the salt, and the sugar, and stir together vigorous with a whisk, until the mixture is smooth. Decant the mixture into a measuring jug which has a lip for pouring. 

Heat a dessert spoonful of sunflower oil in a standard omellete pan. Don't let it burn, but let the oil get close to that temperature (check your cooker hood is working properly before you start just in case!). Add one third of the mixture to the pan evenly. Turn down the heat to the lowest setting. Allow to cook for two and a half to three minutes, and then turn or flip the pancake. Cook for another two to three minutes. Repeat the process for each of the other two thirds of the mixture, after turning up the heat again, and adding a little more cooking oil if necessary.

Served in this case with stewed apples. Normally I would prepare my own stewed apples, prepared with a little preserving or jam sugar (ordinary granulated will do just fine instead). In this case I had some commercially produced stewed apple in the fridge, and I used that, after allowing it some standing time to come close to room temperature.

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.

Chicken Pasta Bake

A simple pasta bake with chicken, bacon, tomato and cheese.

First I fried some diced smoked bacon in some olive oil, at a medium heat, until it became a little crispy. I removed the bacon from the pan to a dish, and then added diced onion (two) and tomato (one 400g can) to the pot. I used a spatula to break up the integrity of the plum tomatoes, added a quarter of a pint of boiling water, and then allowed the sauce to simmer under glass, while I prepared the chicken.

I used two previously roasted chicken drumsticks from the fridge, and cut off the meat.. I then added a teaspoonful of sugar to the pan, plus a dessert spoonful of vinegar. I'd saved some of the jelly from the previous chicken roast (the fat drained off beforehand), and added that along with some chicken stock.

 Stir together thoroughly, then add the chicken and the bacon. Again, stir in thoroughly.  Add a fresh and diced red chilli, and some lemon juice. Add 50g of grated cheese, and melt it into the sauce. Allow to simmer under glass at a low heat for 40 minutes or so. Add 100g of dried wheat free pasta, and cook for another fifteen minutes.

Decant into a tray or dish, and cover in 75g of grated or thinly sliced cheddar cheese. Cook in the oven at 180 deg C until browned (somewhere between fifteen and twenty five minutes, but watch it carefully)

Serve piping hot!

Chicken Cacciatura

A simple Italian dish with tinned tomatoes, chicken and bacon.

First I fried some diced smoked bacon in some olive oil, at a medium heat, until it became a little crispy. I removed the bacon from the pan to a dish, and then added diced onion (two) and tomato (one 400g can) to the pot. I used a spatula to break up the integrity of the plum tomatoes, added a quarter of a pint of boiling water, and then allowed the sauce to simmer under glass, while I prepared the chicken.

I used two previously roasted chicken drumsticks from the fridge, and cut off the meat. That took about five minutes. I then added a teaspoonful of sugar to the pan, plus a dessert spoonful of vinegar. I'd saved some of the jelly from the previous chicken roast (the fat drained off beforehand), and added that along with some chicken stock.

You can add herbs at this stage if you like. I added some dried rosemary. Stir together thoroughly, then add the chicken and the bacon. Again, stir in thoroughly. Allow to simmer under glass at a low heat for 40 minutes or so.

During this time I prepared some semi-skinned potato as an accompaniment. Before serving I added another pinch of dried Rosemary. A  dish without peer! Absolutely delicious!

The dish can be served with pasta or rice if you prefer.

Spanish Cherry and Scottish Strawberry Fruit Salad

A delicious dish which is easy to make, and which will keep in the fridge. I topped the strawberries  (400g) and cut them into four slices each. They were placed in a glass bowl and covered with two dessert spoonfuls of granulated sugar. They were then soused in a wineglassful of white Soave wine (any decent white wine will do). Stirred until the sugar dissolved.

Stone the cherries, and cut them into halves, making sure that the stalks are removed. Add to the bowl of strawberries, and stir together thoroughly. Cover the bowl and place in the fridge until required.

Serve the dish cold with its juices, with two dessert spoonfuls of Greek style yoghurt. A joy to eat!

Minimal Wheat Brown Bread

Made with Dove's Farm wheat-free brown bread flour, with 20 per cent of Khorasan wheat (Kamut), which is an ancient variety that is often ok for people with a wheat intolerance to eat. So this is not a wheat-free loaf, but eighty per cent of it is wheat-free.

Essentially the process is easiest if you use two glass bowls, one for the wet ingredients, and the other for the dry ones.

Weigh out 400g of the wheat-free brown bread flour and add to the dry bowl. Weigh out 100g of the Khorasan flour, and add to the bowl also. Add sugar (one dessert spoonful), and a teaspoonful of quick acting yeast. Blend together thoroughly with a wooden spoon.

Add 400g of whole milk to the wet bowl. Add one beaten egg, six dessert spoonfuls of olive oil, one dessert spoonful of vinegar, and blend together with a whisk.

Gradually add the dry mixture to the wet bowl, and stir together. When it gets stiff, use an electric blender the rest of the way. Beat the mixture for five minutes and allow it to rest for a while. Then beat the mixture for another five minutes.

Allow the dough to rest, and to begin to rise. Then decant the dough into a standard bread tin (silicon ones are the easiest to use), and allow the dough to rise to the desired level in a warm dry place.

Bake in the oven at 190 deg C for around 45 minutes (middle shelf), checking by eye frequently toward the end of the process.

Generally the bread will keep for around a fortnight in the fridge in an airtight container.

Sweet and Sour Egg Noodles

A simple Chinese style dish made with mixed vegetables. I used diced carrot, courgette,  a third of a yellow pepper, plus a dessert spoonful of diced ginger root. A wide range of other vegetables can be used, including cabbage, sweetcorn, bamboo shoots, etc.

The vegetables (plus the ginger) were cooked in a little boiling water for twenty minutes until they were soft. Then left to cool under glass.

I used a shop-bought sweet and sour sauce (Aldi own brand), but it is easy to make one with some tomato puree, sugar, salt, and white spirit vinegar. It can be thickened with a teaspoonful of cornflour. It is best to make it separately. Stir in the sauce, and heat until the vegetables and sauce come to the boil.

Serve in a bowl with egg noodles, which cook in less than ten minutes. Stir the sauce and vegetables through the noodles. Add some Szechuan pepper, or black pepper. Delicious and easy to make!

Sweet and Sour Vegetable Soup, with Ginger

A simple Chinese style soup made with mixed vegetables. I used diced carrot, courgette, and a third of a yellow pepper, but a wide range of other vegetables can be used, including cabbage, sweetcorn, bamboo shoots, etc. Plus a dessert spoonful of diced ginger root.

The vegetables (plus the ginger) were cooked in a little boiling water for twenty minutes until they were soft. Then left to cool under glass (while I went shopping).

I used a shop-bought sweet and sour sauce (Aldi own brand), but it is easy to make one with some tomato puree, sugar, salt, and white spirit vinegar. It can be thickened with a teaspoonful of cornflour. It is best to make it separately. Stir in the sauce, and heat until the soup comes to the boil.

Serve in a bowl with some Szechuan pepper, or black pepper. Delicious and easy to make.

Blueberry and Walnut Salad

A good value tray of blueberries from Aldi, and some leftover walnuts, prompted this dish.

The blueberries were washed first in a colander, and added to the serving bowl, along with the crushed walnut pieces. The cream (about two dessert spoonfuls) was poured over half of the contents.

That's it! If you prefer a sweeter and less tart dish, you can soak the blueberries for an hour or two in water (or some white wine) with some sugar, before assembling the dish.

Mango and Apricot Salad with Wild Rice

Peeled and sliced mango, chopped fresh apricots, red camargue rice, black wild rice, served with a babyleaf salad.

The chopped mango and apricots were added to a glass bowl and soused in a glassful of white wine. Plus a dessert spoonful of granulated sugar. The fruit was stirred until the sugar had entirely dissolved in the wine, and then put in the fridge overnight.

The red and black rice (a quarter cup of each) was cooked for thirty minutes in a small pan under glass and a low heat. Drained and rinsed in cold water, and then added to the fruit salad. Delicious!

Blueberry, Black Grape and Strawberry Fruit Salad

A three berry fruit salad, soused in white wine, scotch whisky, and sugar. I used about 150g of Strawberries, 100g of grapes, and about 50g of blueberries.

Halve the strawberries, and half the grapes. Add the strawberries, grapes and blueberries to a bowl and pour in a glassful of white wine, a shot glass of blended scotch whisky, and a dessert spoonful of granulated sugar. Stir together.

Best served after a couple of days in the fridge. Stir occasionally, so that the fruit is evenly marinaded in the alcohol and sugar.

Serve with double or single cream. Delicious! Hard to go wrong with a strawberry based fruit salad!