Poets and Pork Chops

Today was the last day of my Mum's visit, as she goes home tomorrow. We drove down the coast to spend part of the day in New Quay, Ceredigion. We had lunch in the beer garden of The Black Lion Hotel , which is reputed to have been a favourite watering hole of poet Dylan Thomas. in fact, a film crew recently descended on the town to make 'The Edge of Love', starring Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller and Matthew Rhys.

Our supper tonight was a simple affair and, as it was pork chops, very popular with Karl. My Mum and I cooked this together - it's one of her 'regulars', but I'd never done it before. I will certainly be doing it again, though. We used a couple of Discovery apples out of the organic fruit-and-veg box and a big spoonful of Rachel's Organic créme fraîche. You might need to add a little more if you use a different type, as this sort is very thick and creamy, much more so than standard supermarket own-brand offerings


Pork Chops in Cider

4 pork chops
1 large onion
2 apples
strong dry cider
sage leaves
créme fraîche

Heat the oven to 200°c and melt a little butter and oil together in a large roasting tin. Slice the onion thickly and turn the slices in the hot fat, then core and slice the apples and add them to the tin. Place the pork chops on top of the apple-and-onion mixture and pour over some cider to come about halfway up the chops. Grind some black pepper over the chops and sprinkle some sage leaves over the top. Bake in the oven for 1 hour. Just before serving, stir in a good dollop of créme fraîche.

I think just simple steamed potatoes and some green vegetables are just right with this, as there is plenty of nice creamy sauce to coat everything. We 'grown-ups' drank some more of the cider with our meal. Christopher and James enjoyed the cider sauce (where the alcohol is cooked out anyway), but drank apple juice and water respectively, don't worry!

Holiday Diary

After spending a week at my Mum and Dad's with the boys, we came home on the Saturday, ready to spend Sunday packing up to go away again on the Monday. We drove up to Yorkshire and pitched camp at Brompton on Swale Caravan and Camping Park, just a few miles outside Richmond. The region is so rich in things to do and see that we were hard pressed to choose just a few, and are already planning a return to the area next year. Richmond itself is a beautiful place, unspoilt (as yet) by the relentless march of chain stores and fast-food restaurants. The views from the castle walk are stunning, and it wasn't too arduous with a toddler and a pushchair in tow. We discovered a fantastic dry goods store, selling everything by weight, and a lovely deli. Yorkshire is, of course, a great cheese-producing area and Swaledale, where we were based, has a few gems of its own. I bought chunks of Swaledale Blue and the local goats' cheese both of which were soft, creamy and extremely good.


We took a long drive out to Whitby later in the week, with fish and chips in mind. It was a very fishy day in the end; as well as lunch at Roberstons Fish Restaurant (where James had his first fish-and-chips), we visited The Whitby Catch and bought some potted shrimps, as well as some fish to take back to the camp for our supper. It was hard to choose what to buy as the selection was so great, but in the end we settled on some beautiful fillets of wild sea trout (or sewin, as it's called in Wales) They even packed it up with a free ice pack to keep it in good condition. When we got back, we fried the fish in a little butter and ate it with some herbed-and-and-buttered new potatoes and a bit of salad.

From Whitby it was just a short trip over to Robin Hood's Bay, to make a pilgrimage to the spot where Hubby

finished Wainwright's Coast-to Coast Walk 10 years ago . He celebrated not having sore feet this time with a pint of Theakston's in the pub overlooking the bay. Christopher poked around in rockpools and shared a lime and soda with his Mum. James, bless him, was fast asleep after a long day.

For a quieter day, we spent the morning in the lovely little town of Reeth. Karl suggested it; he knew it from the good old Coast-to Coast and what a good job he did! There was a small, but brilliant market, where we bought fruit and vegetables, homemade mint and redcurrant jellies, some fantastic beef and more cheese (Wensleydale this time). We also enjoyed a great lunch at The King's Arms, which served particularly good-quality children's meals (Chris chose Yorkshire pudding with sausages and onion gravy), plus there was a fabulous ice-cream parlour and a bakery selling bread made by hand, every day, on the premises.

Our other 'big day out' was a visit to York, where we went to the National Railway Museum in the morning before having lunch in the city and a walk around. The picture was taken just after we'd walked down the Shambles, hence James being asleep (again). Cobbles seem to do that...

It's a shame you can't just stay on holiday forever. Now Hubby's gone back to work, the house looks like Mount Washmore, there's no food in the fridge and I've just rashly invited people for lunch tomorrow. I've never been happier!

Another Simple Supper

We've been away since Saturday morning, visiting Hubby's parents in Sheffield, who celebrated their Ruby wedding anniversary on Sunday. The highlight of the weekend was certainly their the anniversary party on Sunday night, in 1960s fancy dress, which was great fun. Karl and I also managed to slope off on Monday night for supper at the Beijing City Chinese restaurant in Stocksbridge. In fact, we'd intended to go somewhere else, but the dreadful floods all over Sheffield put paid to that. Still, we were very lucky not to feel worse effects from the flooding than a cancelled restaurant table.

After a long drive back yesterday, we left the house in disarry and went to bed early. So today I had a lot of tidying-up, unpacking and laundry to organise. Plus, I had to go to a meeting first thing to make arrangements for our playgroup to continue, as our much-loved leader is moving away from the area this summer.

A nice simple supper was definitely in order tonight. This is a great thing to have up your sleeve (though not literally). Use whatever quantities of vegetables you need and however many pieces of chicken. Do use portions on the bone, however, as breast fillets wil dry out before the veg are sufficiently cooked.

Chicken with Roasted Vegetables

red onion
aubergine
courgette
red and yellow peppers
small tomatoes
garlic cloves, peeled
chicken pieces, legs or thighs
fresh thyme

Pile the roughly cut-up vegetables into a large roasting tray and drizzle over a little olive oil, tossing to coat them thoroughly. I use my hands, which is easiest. Lay the chicken portions on top of the veg. Grind on plenty of black pepper. Tuck some sprigs of thyme here and there amongst it all, then cook for 40 minutes at 200°c.

The best accompaniment I've found is a big bowl of rice, and tonight I cooked some mixed Basmati & Wild Rice. I say 'cooked' but actually what I did was bung it in the electric rice cooker with some water and leave it until we were ready to eat.

Comfort Food #1

Today has been very hectic, but lovely with it. After the usual Thursday at Stepping Stones we went shopping in Aberystwyth. punctuated nicely by lunch at the excellent Fresh Ground Café on Cambrian Street. It's a brilliant place to go with young children; they offer a £1.99 'pick 4 items' menu for little ones, with choices like cheese on toast, baby bagels and several type of fruit. The meals are served in 'froggy' bowls (I think they're from IKEA), so it has the novelty appeal of a childrens' menu without all the chips.

Having left the house early for playgroup we didn't get back until mid-afternoon, so dinner had to be fairly low on effort, but still good and filling. Kedgeree is my all-time favourite comfort supper and this is how I cook it. I use my electric rice cooker to do the rice, but you could cook it in the microwave, or in a tightly lidded pan on the hob. I generally use smoked coley or hoki for kedgeree, as I do for most dishes needed smoked fish. I avoid using cod or haddock because of the worrying overfishing of these species. Plus coley and hoki tend to be cheaper, so that's a bonus.

Kedgeree

300g smoked fish
milk
1 medium onion, diced
butter
250g basmati rice
fresh parsley, finely chopped
black pepper
2-3 hard-boiled eggs

Poach the fish in just enough milk to cover it. Lift the fillets out out the milk, wrap them in foil and keep warm. Measure the milk in a jug and top the liquid up to 450ml (3/4 pint). Use this liquid to cook the rice (and see above). Meanwhile, fry the onion in a large knob of butter until soft and just tinged with brown. When the rice is cooked, flake in the fish and then stir in the cooked onion and the parsley. Season with plenty of black pepper (no salt, as the fish is usually quite salty enough). Slice the hard-boiled eggs, or cut them into wedges if you prefer, then very gently fold them into the kedgeree.

Kedgeree freezes very well if you leave out the hard-boiled eggs. You can reheat any leftovers (not likely in this house!) in the microwave the next day but, as with all dishes containing rice, please take care to cool it quickly, chill it as soon as it is cool and don't keep it more than a day before thoroughly reheating it.

Not Gonna Stop!

The last week has just been so hectic. After a week of barrelling around with Hubby's parents and our nieces, doing all sorts of fun things, I am definitely ready for a rest. Thankfully, my Mum has come to stay for a couple of nights, so the boys can play with their Granny for a bit and we can all be a bit spoiled.

We took the boys into Aberystwyth this afternoon. Because of a combination of holiday traffic, roadworks and the like, it took us an hour to drive 10 miles! We were definitely ready for lunch after that, so we took the boys to Shilam, a lovely Indian restaurant in the centre of Aberystwyth. They run a lunchtime buffet, with 'all-you-can-eat' for a very reasonable £5.99. I'm very proud to say that Christopher loves his curry. Today he was especially keen on the onion bhajis and potato pakoras. Despite having taken some food for James with us, he still tasted a good variety of the dishes on offer.

After that huge meal at lunchtime, Mum and I decided on bread and cheese for supper - so that meant a trip to Ultracomida to buy some lovely Welsh cheese. We decided on Drewi Sant, Perl Las and, as an experiment, Caws Preseli, which we haven't tried before. Cheese, bread, a few tomatoes and a good bottle of red wine - what a treat.

Titchy Toads

After a busy couple of days, I'm really ready for a sit down tonight. I spent most of Friday doing laundry and tidying up our bedroom; turfing out yet more clutter which had been uncovered by our furniture-moving antics the day before. Karl was working a late shift, so I cooked some pasta, with tomato sauce and a bit of cheese, to share with Christopher at dinner. Yesterday the boys and I had a fairly quiet day and then, in the evening, Hubby took care of the boys while I went out for a meal with some friends at 'Casablanca', a restaurant in Aberystwyth. We had a great evening; I chose Stuffed Vine Leaves for my first course, then had some gorgeous Grilled Chicken with Lemon. No pudding (such restraint!), then we went on to a bar. No booze for me, as I was driving (and I'm still breastfeeding, which rules out drinking much alcohol anyway), so I drank lime and soda. I'm ashamed to say that I felt like a dirty stop-out when I got home at midnight, which shows how long it's been since I went out. A few years ago I would have scoffed at the idea of getting home so early.



This morning we went food shopping. Stocked up for the next week or so, give or take the meat, and some fresh bits I'll need to pick up in a few days. The boys had their lunch when we got back, then Chris played with his toy farm. I read the paper and had a sandwich, then joined him in his game. He'd decided to use the farmhouse as an oven instead, so that was a little surreal. Particularly when he shoved his stuffed Postman Pat inside and informed me that it needed "40 minutes".


I've already given my recipe for Toad in the Hole. For supper tonight, I cooked it in three portions; two in individual pie dishes (with 1 sausage apiece) for Christopher and me to eat at teatime; one in a larger pie dish (with 4 sausages!) for Hubby to eat when he gets home from work - he's got a long day today and he'll need something good and hearty to fill up those hollow legs of his. Goodness only knows how he manages to stay so slim.

Easter Holiday (Phew!)

Well, we've really enjoyed the Easter holiday weekend. I love having family or friends to visit at any time, but especially when we can enjoy some really great festive food together. On Thursday we had a fairly ordinary family meal; our great favourite, Savoury Mince Crumble. On Thursday evening, before we all went to bed, I made some hot cross bun dough (for the first time ever) and left it to prove overnight.

On Good Friday, I finished off the hot cross buns and we ate them for breakfast, still warm from the oven, with butter and a little cheese. They were so good that I was convinced to make a second batch of dough that evening for Saturday's breakfast.

The weather was not as good as had been forecast, and very misty, so we decided to spend part of the day shopping in Aberystwyth and went for lunch at 'Le Figaro', a restaurant which Hubby and I used to go to quite often when we were first married.

For supper that evening I cooked a Fish Pie, with smoked and unsmoked coley, sweetcorn, wilted spinach and wedges of hard-boiled eggs, all coated in bechamel sauce and topped with mashed potato. I served it with some broccoli. James had a small portion, whizzed in the blender and seemed to absolutely love it; opening his mouth, kicking his little legs and shouting for more.

On Easter Saturday, the weather was glorious, so I took my parents and the children to one of our favourite spots for a picnic of rolls, salad, cold meats, eggs, fruit and some homemade bara brith.

We had a fairly simple supper on Saturday night, a casserole of chicken thighs, with sausages and butter beans. I cooked it last week and put it in the freezer so that I could simply defrost and then reheat it , topped with a thick layer of breadcrumbs. A few vegetables were the only accompaniment necessary and then we had Jane's Grapes for pudding, which I had prepared the night before

Jane's Grapes

Small Seedless White Grapes

Whipped Double Cream

Granulated Sugar

Fold the grapes into enough whipped cream to just coat them. Pack into a serving bowl (about two-thirds full) and smooth the surface as much as you can. Cover the top with a thick layer of granulated sugar and chill overnight (don't cover the dish). Just try it...

For breakfast on Easter Sunday, we all had boiled eggs, even Hubby, who didn't have to go to work (hooray!). Christopher and I had made Easter baskets for everyone, which I filled with a selection of small chocolate eggs. We all exchanged eggs and some other gifts, and later spent some time in the garden, before having a lunch of Leek and Potato Soup, homemade Granary Rolls and some cheese (including Drewi Sant, Perl Las, and some Gorwydd Caerphilly).

Leek and Potato Soup

large lump of butter

5 sliced leeks

2 large potatoes, peeled and roughly cut up

1 litre vegetable stock

2 bay leaves

500ml whole milk

Melt butter in a large pan, turn the prepared leeks and potatoes in the butter until well coated. Pour in the stock, add the bay leaves and bring to the boil. Simmer (with the lid partly on) for about 15 minutes, until the vegetables are well cooked. Remove the bay leaves and purée. I use my hand-held stick blender, but use what you like. Stir in the milk and heat through. I topped it with a swirl of cream and some chopped fresh parsley.

This soup freezes very well, but you may need to purée it again when you reheat it after defrosting; sometimes it can get a little lumpy with freezing.

The Easter Sunday dinner was the highlight of the weekend for me. We spent some time in Aberaeron that afternoon, so before we left, I prepared the (2kg) leg of lamb by stabbing it and stuffing the slits with garlic and fresh rosemary. I rested the joint on a couple more large sprigs of rosemary in my Silverwood roasting tin and poured over a glass of red wine.

When we got home, when I put it in the oven and gave it a couple of hours at 200°c, adding about 200ml of water to the tin after an hour. While the meat was resting, for 10 minutes or so, I tipped all the juices from the tin into a small pan and added a teaspoon of redcurrant jelly, Simmered for a few minutes, with the meat juices from the carving dish added just before serving.

I served Hasselback potatoes and plenty of vegetables with the lamb and gravy, then we followed it with a lemon cheesecake. This recipe works really well and everyone always likes it. My brother, in particular, is very partial to it and in the past has phoned me from the supermarket to ask what ingredients he needs to make it.

Really Easy Lemon Cheesecake 

200g digestive biscuits, crushed

60g butter

405g tin condensed milk

200g cream cheese

142ml carton double cream

zest and juice of 3 unwaxed lemons

Melt the butter and mix in the biscuit crumbs. Press into the base of a 20cm springform cake tin to form a crust and chill (not you, the tin) while you make the filling. Whisk the condensed milk and cream cheese together until smooth. Mix in the cream and then add the lemon zest and juice. Stir well, but quickly as it will start to thicken immediately. Pour the filling over the base and cover the tin. Leave it in the fridge overnight. Leftovers will keep for a couple of days, unless Graeme's around.

There was enough lamb and gravy left over to make a superlative Shepherd's Pie for our supper tonight, after my parents had embarked on the long drive home.

Shepherd's Pie

1-2 tbsp leftover lamb dripping

1 onion, chopped finely

leftover gravy

300g leftover roast lamb, minced

6 medium potatoes, peeled and halved

butter and milk, to make mash

Cook the potatoes (I prefer to steam them). Meanwhile, melt the dripping in a deep frying pan and gently fry the onion until cooked, but not coloured. Add the gravy, and a splash of water if needed, and bubble for a moment. Tip in the minced meat and mix well, then turn into an ovenproof dish. Mash the cooked potatoes, with butter and milk as you like. Use the mash to top the pie. Rough up the surface a little with a fork and then bake at 180°c for 30 minutes until browned and bubbling hot. Serve with peas.

James had a spoonful of pie whizzed in the mini-blender with a few peas and wolfed it down. It hardly touched the sides. He's turning into a right little greedy guts, that one, can't think where he gets it from...