Cottage Pie

Definitely an all time classic and something I make many times a year as it's so easy and so scrummy every time! It's one of those recipes you can adapt and play with as you like, but mine goes something like this...

Ingredients:
lean steak mince
onions - cut as you wish
carrots - diced small
beef stock cube
red wine
brown sauce (HP, not Daddies!)
seasoning
mash

First, fry off the mince until browned.
Remove from the pan and use the juices to fry off the onions and carrots until just tender.
Return the mince to the pan, crumble in a stock cube, pour over a good glug of red wine, add a splodge of HP and stir. Let simmer until the meat is cooked through and a thick gravy has formed. If necessary, add a little more wine or water.

Put mixture into a large oven-proof dish and dollop mash over the top. cover with cheese and heat til hot and the cheese bubbles and browns.

Serve with crusty bread to mop up the sauce!

Raspberry Souffles, well soup!

I was very excited about this recipe when I saw it on Britain's Best Dish as it looked so simple. As you can see from the pictures, however, it wasn't all that easy! I think my principle mistake was not whisking the eggs enough at the start, and from then on, it seemed to get runnier and runnier!

Despite it's look, I often find myself eating raw egg mixture (scraping the cake bowl, etc.) so had no qualms about eating it anyway. the taste was scummy, but I think I'd serve it as Raspberry soup next time!

At least they rose!

Weekend Treats

It's the weekend, and I find there's always that little extra time in which you can make a pudd!
So, I've put together a list of ideas to fulfil that after dinner sweetness craving we all get from time to time!

Chocolate Fondant - click on Dan's name to find the recipe link

Buns - dead easy and fun with children. Recipe is as a comment under post

Toffee Apple Puddings - again, easy and tasty

Key Lime Pie - bit more work required for this one good dinner party pudd.

Rhubarb Fool Trifle - tasty and easy, especially in summer

beef stew - thanks to allens of mayfair

Again, this was made with the meat - it seems an endless selection I know - that the OH butchered at a recent course at Allen's Of Mayfair. Today it was the turn of Featherblade Steak, a piece of meat taken from the shoulder blade of the cow. It needs a long slow cooking time, so OH got to work early in the day!

He followed the recipe sent with the meat and created a tasty and warming meal. It's really easy to follow...


You need: beef, shallots or onions, Guinness, beef stock, peppercorns, thyme


Fry off the chunks of beef and remove from the pan.
Fry off the shallots or onions.

Place the beef back in the pan and add Guinness, beef stock, fresh thyme and a few black peppercorns.
Simmer gently for as long as possible.
Serve with champ and a couple of crispy Yorkshire puddings!

We found it a little runny and a little bitter, so half way through cooking, took the beef out, coated it in in flour, then returned to the pan. We also stirred in a spoonful of redcurrant jelly to sweeten it a slightly.

Saturday Night Supper Suggestions

If you're searching for something to make for those dark, cold, winter evenings, look no further. Perfect for snuggling down with in front of the fire...

Lamb and Herb Stew - delicious. Make it as hot or mild as you want by adding more or less Harissa.

Oxtail Stew - you could spice this one up with the addition of chilli flakes.

Tartiflette - reminiscent of those bright cold ski days - one of my favourites, though make sure you do something during the day to deserve this winter treat!

Green Thai Curry - you don't have to make your own paste for this one, but the addition of onions and green pepper makes it even more tasty. Serve with coriander flatbread.

Gnocchi - very easy so don't be put off by making your own pasta. It's simple. And a range of sauces to choose from too.

Herby Lamb Cobbler - a great winter warmer for those chilly evenings.

Mushroom and Spinach Pancakes - if you use shop-bought pancakes it takes even less time to prepare!

Come Dine With Jemma

Menu

Selection of Olives
Scottish Mussels with Spicy Tomato Sauce
Lemon Chicken and Pea Risotto
Tangy Lime and Mascarpone Torte

So, what do you normally do on a Monday evening? The obvious answer may not be, Come Dine With Jemma, but that's what three of us did last Monday. We previously discussed rules and regulations and it was with excitement that we all attended our first! Well, excitement, that is, apart from Jemma, who found it all a bit nerve-wracking, until we arrived and she settled beautifully into the evening!

What can I say...well, not too much actually All scores are held secretly by an 'independent adjudicator' until we have all hosted!

So, onto the food and the evening: Olives some stuffed with pimento pepper, others with chilli - delicious. Even Stacy tried one!

Last minute menu change for starters as the (super)market didn't have the promised mussels they said they would, so Jemma chose to keep the same sauce and toss in some prawns instead. With lots of crusty brown bread and butter to dip and soak up the soggy tomatoes, it all mopped up beautifully. Delicious with just the right about of heat and spice.

Chicken Risotto - great flavour combinations. The chicken was baked in the oven with lemon zest and juice - a little overcooked, as admitted by the cook herself, but this didn't detract from taste, and the peas were plentiful and sweet!

Intercourse Entertainment, (again, as suggested by host) got a few odd looks, until all realised she actually meant between-course, as opposed to intercourse - entertainment! A game of Bowling on the Wii came first and it was Donna who claimed victory with a late run of strikes and spares! We couldn't help a splash of karaoke, with the Wii remotes for microphones as we got a bit distracted, trying to choose a song for the staff to do for Christmas at school! Finally we chose 'All I want for Christmas'. Not sure we're up to Mariah Carey's standards, but...

Back to pudding - rich and creamy with a chunky biscuit base. Again, great flavour combinations, made perfectly.

To end the meal, a box of yummy After-Eights was produced, but only if we played a game. Two of us had never played before, but two had, one as a drinking game! Place the After-Eight flat on your forehead. Now, you can only eat it if you can wriggle it to your mouth without using your hands! It took a couple of tries but I think we all succeeded in the end! Lots of eye-brow wiggling and funny faces were pulled...tongues out, desperately reaching to flick it up and into the wide hole! All good fun!

So, many thanks to Jemma - a great evening. Marks will follow shortly!

chicken soup - thanks to allens of mayfair

This was the second recipe we made from the meat butchery course the OH went to at Allen's of Mayfair a few weeks ago. One of the bags he returned home with was a bag of bones; chicken bones to be more precise. So, being the ever resourceful one who tries, but doesn't always succeed, not to let anything go to waste, I decided a chicken soup would be a perfect lunch, or starter for supper.

You'll need - a bag of bones, or the carcass of an already roast and eaten chicken! A small potato, onion, leek, double cream, herbs.

First, cover the carcass or bones with water and boil rapidly for about 20 mins. Then, pick all the bit of chicken off the bones and set aside. Return the bones to the pan.

Meanwhile, fry off the onions, leeks and chopped potato, ensuring you season them well, until browned but not cooked through.

After boiling the bones for about 2 hours, strain the liquid and return the stock to the pan with the vegetables. Gently simmer until cooked through, adding a chicken stock cube to add flavour if necessary!

When cooked through, blend the mixture until smooth, then add the chicken pieces and stir in the cream. Taste and season as desired and sprinkle with chopped parsley to serve.

Family Favourite Recipes

I thought I'd put together a quick reference list of tea-time family favourites. Some are my recipes, but mostly, I've adapted from others! Have a look and click the link. Happy tea-time!


Burgers:
Tandoori Pork burgers. I serve this in flatbread with salad, and homemade sweet chilli dip!

Mediterranean Chicken:
This recipe was given to me by a friend and every time I make it I add more ingredients! It's essentially chicken breast with a vegetable and cheesy tomato sauce.

Cheesy Chicken Breast:
Chicken stuffed with cheese and herbs and wrapped in bacon. Yum. Serve with potato wedges and beans!

Fish Cakes:
A Delia Cheat recipe - I always use tuna instead of salmon and buy the breadcrumbs. Easy!

Fish Pie:
This requires a bit more preparation than the other, but is delicious filling.

Lamb Kebabs:
A quick and easy combination of ingredients. Fun to make with the children.

Pizza:
An easy base and cover with whatever you fancy. Scroll down past the gnocchi to get to the pizza ideas!

Toad in the Hole:
Quick and easy family favourite, especially delicious served with caramelised onion gravy!

Free Pasta!

Working in London does have its benefits for the OH. He returned home with free pasta a couple of days ago, so I thought I'd give it a try. It was 'Giovanni Rana', stuffed with spinach and ricotta: they must have just brought I out that day as I also saw the tv flooded with adverts for it.

Now, I knew OH wouldn't be full with half of the given packet, so had to think up another idea. For the Tortelloni I simply served it with a sage and butter dressing, the same as I used on the Gnocchi. The pasta itself was thin, and generally held together in the pan, altough a few pieces of 'stuffing' had fallen from their pasta wrap in the packet. The pasta itslef was very tasty, and the thinness helped it not become chewy, while the stuffing was also quite tasty, not as rubbery as some I've tasted!

I also heated some penne and some ragu 'sauce' left over from the Oxtail Stew I had made the night before, which I blitzed with the hand processor. It's always better to use a ridged pasta, such as penne with meat sauces or thick ragu as the ridges 'catch' the sauce and coat it better.

As usual, the OH preferred the penne with ragu, while my choice would be the spinach and ricotta tortellini with sage butter. Each to their own!

7 meals, 7 days, 2 people, £35

First and foremost, I'm loving my new kitchen and thought I'd begin as I mean to go on with some cooking. I got out of the habit while the kitchen was being 'created', then we went away on honeymoon and so, now I'm back, let's see what can be done!

At the airport, I picked up a copy of the BBC's Olive magazine, which I enjoy as it's a range of chat, recipes, recommendations and home stuff. One of their articles in the August issue was entitled '7 meals for £35'. All the recipes looked summery and tasty and I thought since I'd still got a week or so of holidays left, I could try it out.

First though, I needed to go shopping!

The list gave all the ingredients needed for the week, including any store cupboard ingredients, and cost the Olive team £34.67. Having looked through the list, I already had a red pepper, home-grown parsley and mint and chicken pieces. So I popped down to the shops and bought the requisite items. I couldn't find 'orzo' pasta and had to settle for mini farfalle instead! The cost? £29.06, but that was with the above exceptions.

I did not, however, have several items from the store cupboard list: lamb stock (do people really have a supply of this, or even lamb stock cubes, in their cupboards?); dijon mustard ( usual fridge-favourite of mine); harissa paste and pine nuts. Having been away, I also needed to stock up on eggs, milk, and Parmesan.

If you did have all the items in the stock cupboard, I think the price given would have been nearly spot-on.

When I returned I looked through the recipes in more detail and noticed that if a dish was served with something, for example, a salad, new potatoes, naan bread or rice, those weren't included in the price, but again, most people would have those in the cupboard anyway. I may have to have a go at my own flat-breads later in the week - any recommended recipes greatly appreciated!

So, for the rest of the week, I'll publish a post a day, letting you know how I got on with each recipe, how it looked in comparison with the magazine's lovely-looking pictures, and, most importantly, how it tasted!

Original photograph: Lis Parsons, Recipe: Janine Ratcliffe. Both from Olive, August 2009

First up: Lemon butter fish with pepperonata.

Smoked Garlic

How to use smoked garlic? Well, I bought some from the Chester Food Festival a few weeks ago and have been playing with adding it to recipes as I've been trying out new things.

1st idea:
Add raw, thinly sliced to home-made (or shop-bought!) pizza - bake the pizza as usual.

2nd idea:
Add to pasta dishes instead of the usual garlic. It's delicious with a smoked chorizo, red pepper and tomato sauce. Simply fry off gently after pan-frying the chorizo and onions so it doesn't burn but goes soft, sweet and smoky.

Ok, I know they're fairly basic, and I have used it in other things, but I can't remember at his present moment in time! as I add it to more things, I'll update this post!

Mitchell's

Review

Mitchell's

Venue

Whilst enjoying a break in Chester over the Easter weekend, we visited a restaurant in the little village of Tattenhall. I say 'little village' but it has several restaurants, this being one of the most popular. This was my second visit but my parents, and their friends especially (you know who you are!) are regular visitors.

First thoughts
We went on the evening of Easter Saturday, and mum had thought it wouldn't be very busy, but, as usual, it was full. We even bumped into friends from our village. The menu wasn't large but had plenty to choose from with a list of fish specials, fresh in on the Friday. Between us we ordered a range of different starters and mains, unusual since we generally go for similar things.

Appearance and Taste
To begin, I chose pate, two others the seafood cocktail and dad chose something with cheese in, though I can't remember what! Comments were, on the whole positive, although the boyf. did think the cocktail was a little on the small side. My pate, however, was a huge slice, obviously home-made and deliciously rich and creamy. The onion marmalade it was served with was also very tasty and the two complemented each other well.

For main course, the boys both chose sirloin steak with a Roquefort sauce. Mum and I opted for the lighter fish, for her a sea bass fillet and me, unusually, scallops in a light cream sauce.

If you've read my previous post on scallops, Scallops on Leek Puree, you'll know I am trying to get to like the roe / coral, so I managed to have one, bit by bit, although had to pass the others over to the boyf's plate, for which he was grateful. I'll get there though! The sauce was smooth and didn't mask the juicy sweetness of the scallops themselves and the grilled pancetta was a nice contrast in terms of saltiness and crispiness.

The steak was cooked well, if a little more 'done' than rare with a delicious creamy rich sauce, and the sea bass again was tasty. Pudding came next for the boys - a creme brulee and a sticky toffee pudding, both looking scrummy.



Value for Money
I have no idea what it cost as dad very kindly paid as an Easter treat! At a guess, I'd say our main courses averaged £14, starters £5 and puddings £4. We had a bottle of house red and white, and again I'm guessing £14. Aperos beforehand £11. So, all in all, lets say £125 between 4 of us, £31.25 each. Super atmosphere and very good food. We chose expensively, but I'd still say that it was value for money. I'm sure dad will comment if I've got the price estimate hideously wrong!