Saturday 27th of April 2013

Another lovely sunny day here today, so a light lunch was called for, in order to allow for maximum time spent in the garden and minimum time spent actually having to do anything.  Baked eggs are, anyway, a bit of a weekend lunchtime favourite at Distracted Towers and this is a lovely version.

Baked Eggs on Mushrooms and Spinach

large lump of butter
200g chestnut mushrooms, finely chopped
150g spinach leaves, washed and shaken dry
1 tbsp whipping cream
2 tbsp chopped fresh tarragon (optional, and see below)
8 small-to-medium-sized eggs
25g grated parmesan cheese

Preheat the oven to 180ºc. Melt the butter and fry the mushrooms over a high heat.  I have some rather wonderful porcini mushroom powder called, endearingly, Shake O'Cini, and I added a few shakes here to boost the mushroom flavour, but you don't have to be as elaborately specialist if you don't want to be..!  When the mushrooms are brown and almost 'squeaking' as you stir them, pack the spinach into the pan and put on the lid.  Remove from the heat and leave for a few minutes.  Remove the lid, stir well and then replace the lid for a few minutes more until the spinach is well wilted.  Tip the vegetable mixture into a sieve over a bowl, and press down on it with a spoon, allowing the scant, but flavoursome, juices to drain through the sieve.  Stir the cream into the strained juice.  You can just as easily use double cream instead, but whipping cream is what I mostly have in the 'fridge.


Arrange the vegetable mixture in shallow ovenproof dishes and make a 'hole' for each egg, as shown in the picture, left, and scatter over the chopped tarragon, if using.  Tarragon is a great addition to the triumvirate of mushroom, spinach and egg, but leave it out if you don't have it, or don't fancy it.  There's no mileage in using dried tarragon here... Put the dishes onto a baking tray (I lined mine with one of my silicon mats to provide a non-slip surface, stopping the dishes from sliding around on their short journey to the oven. Crack each egg into one of the 'holes'.  Drizzle over the cream-swirled cooking juices, then scatter over some parmesan.

Bake for 10-12 minutes, then remove from the oven.  The eggs will continue to cook in the dishes, so err on the side of their being slightly underdone when you take them out of the oven, rather than risk overcooking them.  Serve with a nice loaf of bread and some crunchy salt to sprinkle over the eggs.

Cath xx  

Wednesday 20th of March 2013

Tonight was, most definitely, a risotto night. Comfort food at its finest.

Risotto alla Carbonara

That is all....

Cath xx

Sunday Soldiers

I love a man egg in uniform!  Admittedly, this isn't really much of a post, this, just a quickie...  How fabulous is this soldier egg cup and toast cutter set? My boys were lucky enough to be given one apiece by my parents and it continues to prove, almost every weekend, that it is just the thing for 'dippy' boiled egg and soldiers.  The soldier sets are widely available on the interweb and the sort of cool gifts-homewares-and-novelty shops I spend far too much money in.

Eggs are easy enough to boil, but hobs are fussily awkward about producing them until you get the timing and temperature just right for the stove you're using.  Luckily (?), with two small egg-o-holic boys, I get lots of practice!

Cath xx

Confession Time

Tonight I broke one of my own golden rules and sat at the table with the family for dinner to eat a completely different meal to the rest of them.  My lovely hubby had decided, with the children, last night, to have turkey burgers and chips for supper this evening.  Not being the biggest fan of chips in the world, and having absolutely no interest whatsoever in a breaded turkey burger, we came to a decision that they would eat theirs and I would have something different, but that we would, at least, still all eat together at the same time

Scrambled eggs is, at a time like this, one of the easiest and quickest meals to put together and, luckily, is also one of my favorite things to eat.  Not a traditional supper dish, perhaps, but one that I find welcome at pretty much any time.

I'm not going to give you 'a recipe' for scrambled eggs, as they seem to be quite a personal thing; a real matter of taste, but I will tell you how I like mine.  I prefer scrambled eggs to be very soft and creamy.  The very firm, fluffed-up version one so often encounters is all very well, but when I make them at home,  I cook them like this.  Have the toast ready before you begin and keep it warm.  Heat a knob of unsalted butter in a small pan (non-stick, if at all possible, washing up the scrambled egg pot is a particular bête noire of mine!).  Crack 3 eggs into a jug and beat them with one teaspoonful of anchovy sauce or a little squeeze anchovy paste, in lieu of salt.  Tip the beaten eggs into the foaming butter in the pan and quickly give them a good stir.  Season with plenty of black pepper and continue to stir until the eggs are cooked, but not dry – they should be nice and oozy.  I like my scrambled eggs next to toast, not on it, but that's another of those personal things.  I would have to eat this many, many times before I even began to tire of it.  It really IS one of those things, I suppose...

Cath xx

For Goodness Sake...

Making this for supper always reminds me of that old advert for British Lion eggs, where the guy is listening to his flatmates debate what they could make for supper with the paltry contents of their fridge and he exclaims, in a really broad west of Scotland accent, "for goodness sake, you could have a courgette frittata".  Don't mind if I do, actually...


I've mentioned my other half's liking for attempting to 'do' accents before.  He found (and still finds) it hilarious the way the chap says "for goodness sake", and apes him, even now, at every opportunity which presents itself. He is also currently rather keen on the accents of the Big Brother narrator and the guy from the Co-Operative adverts who says "Haalf- Priiiice".  So this, dear readers, is the soundtrack of my life...

Potato and Courgette Frittata

You need, really, to use a frying pan with a heat-proof handle for this recipe so that you can put it under the grill safely.

olive oil
2 large courgettes, sliced
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
about 300g leftover cooked potatoes, sliced
8 eggs

Lay the sliced courgettes on a baking tray with just a spritz of oil.  Roast for 15 minutes, turning the slices over once.  Meanwhile, soften the oil in a good slick of olive oil, adding the mustard seeds and garlic.  When the onion is soft, add the potatoes to the pan, followed by the courgettes.  Beat the eggs with some ground pepper, then pour the eggs into the pan.  Preheat the grill to a medium heat and let the frittata sit, without stirring or fiddling with it, on a medium hob for 10 minutes. Turn the pan occasionally if, like mine, your hob has some spots hotter than others.  When the frittata is set around the edges and almost on top, stick the pan under the grill to cook the top.  This will take barely a couple of minutes.  You could, I suppose, turn it out onto a plate or a board to serve it, but that strikes me as too much hassle, having the potential for disaster as it does, so I just leave it in the pan.  In any case, let it cool slightly before slicing or serving it as this does improve it.   Cut into wedges and serve with a leafy salad.

Cath xx

Chocolate Mousse 1 - Football 0

Just as I do with sponge cakes, I think of chocolate mousse in imperial terms.  Not in a neo-colonial way, no, but in as much as the imperial weights and measures just seem to work with certain recipes. For each serving, use one egg and one ounce of chocolate.  A little dash of a carefully chosen flavouring and that's all you need.  Good, simple food at its best!

As far as flavourings for chocolate mousse go, I have tried many, many variations over the years.  Brandy is always my classic fall-back.  Fruity liqueurs work well, as does good old fresh orange juice.  I love mint chocolate mousse, but really good peppermint extracts are few and far between.  I'd be interested to know if anyone has a source...?  Dark rum is nice in the winter (for me, rum is very much a winter flavour) and coffee is an elegant flavour as long as no-one is going to object to a coffee-chocolate mix.  Some people seem to feel inordinately strongly about that; maybe brought on by too many cheap chocolate-covered 'coffee creams' as a child..?

Classic Chocolate Mousse

4 eggs, separated
4oz plain chocolate, chopped
1 tbsp brandy (and see above)

Melt the chocolate in a big bowl.  Let it cool, then stir in the egg yolks, one by one.  This is the point at which to add any flavouring.  Whisk the egg whites until stiff peaks form, then carefully fold the whites into the cooled chocolate mixture.  Pour the mousse into serving pots and chill until set.  I don't usually garnish my chocolate mousse at all; today I used some strawberries from my friend Avril's garden; a few raspberries or a blob of whipped cream with a light dusting of cocoa are equally nice, when the urge for a little lily-gilding comes upon one.

The chocolate mousse was tonight's pudding, following a supper of Chicken, Leeks and Bacon with a Crumble Topping.  Very good it was too, unlike the football result!

Cath xx

A-Hunting We Will Go...

Thank you, sunshine, for making today a lovely day for an Easter egg hunt.  I hid pairs of little foil-wrapped eggs all over my parents' garden (then had to move some to new locations when I spotted my children 'cheating' through the French windows!).

Shoes on, they were handed tin buckets and we all counted 1-2-3-HUNT! Hiding the eggs in pairs implicitly seemed to encourage them to share, and to help one another out rather than simply piling all the eggs they could find into their proverbial 'one basket'.  I will DEFINITELY be doing that again next year.  Hope the good weather holds for the rest of the long weekend... Happy Easter, all of you!

Cath xx

Tonight's Dinner...

This is a slightly more upmarket version of my usual cheese strata. It occurs to me that, as a supper dish, it might be nice to layer some pieces of ham in the sandwiches with the Brie. I served it with a green salad and followede it with chocolate cake for pudding.

Baguette Brie Bake

1 baguette
250g Brie, sliced
4 eggs
300ml milk

Cut 20 slices from the baguette and use them, and the sliced Brie, to make 10 sandwiches. Put these in an ovenproof dish, with crusts facing up. Beat the eggs and milk together and season with salt and pepper. Pour this over the bread-and-cheese in the dish, then leave for 10 minutes to soak. Bake at 180­°c for about 35 minutes until the eggs are just set, but keeping some wobble.

Hot Scotch

Tonight I finally got around to trying the little deep-fat fryer that I was given at Christmas by my folks. It's the perfect size for a single Scotch egg, so guess what I made... you got it! Scotch eggs are one of those traditional foods that have acquired a bit of a bad reputation, probably because the manufactured versions are so widely available and therefore nothing to look forward to. The meat is cheap, the crumbed exterior mushy rather than crisp and the egg rattles around in a central void. A homemade Scotch egg, still warm from the fryer, is an entirely different matter and we've been horribly deprived since our old fryer packed in after being dropped (don't ask).

You can get great sausagemeat for this recipe by slitting open some good porky bangers and seasoning the meat to your own taste. I don't like a pronounced flavour of herbs in a Scotch egg, but I do like plenty of black pepper and a good pinch of ground mace, which somehow gives pork pies, Scotch eggs and the like that authentic 'British' flavour you just can't replicate without it.

Scotch Eggs

4 eggs
450g sausagemeat (and see above)
seasonings of your choice
fine breadcrumbs

oil, for deep-frying

Hard-boil the eggs, but err on the side of them still having a bit of 'squidge' in the middle; after all, they're going in the fryer as well, aren't they? Season the sausagemeat and divide it into four. Pat each portion of meat out flat in your wetted palms, then place a shelled egg on top and bring the sides up to encase the egg completely. Roll in the crumbs, then repeat for the rest of the eggs and meat. In my fryer (a Moulinex Minuto), the eggs took about 5 minutes each to be cooked, with the oil at 170°c.

As Scotch eggs are one of the best traditional picnic foods, I served them in that style, with some crudités and a few pickles on the table. Christopher wanted ketchup (bien sûr), but James preferred just to wolf down his egg at lightning speed with no additions.

A word of advice: The recipe will only make four, so hopefully you'll have no leftovers, but try, if you can, not to put these Scotch eggs in the fridge. I find that if you chill foods like this, they go a bit woolly and end up with a texture no unlike the plastic packaged ones (though the taste, still, is quite different).

Mulling It Over

It's been a really busy weekend for us; my parents came to visit and, as we won't see them over Christmas, I wanted to give their stay a bit of festive spirit. We went to Aberystwyth on Saturday afternoon and visited the Christmas market; Mum and I both bought some mutton for the freezer and I also brought home some big slices of Welsh Black braising steak. We nipped into Ultracomida to get some cheese before driving home. I was able to pick up my annual cheese treat, a Vacherin Mont d'Or.

Mulled wine is a Christmas favourite, so a good home recipe is helpful if you want to avoid buying the supermarket alternatives of ready-mulled bottles, or teabag things purporting to be an 'easy option'. If you want to take a shortcut (always useful at this time of year), I would suggest the cloth-tied mulling bundles available from Julian Graves. What I would do without JG at this time of year I really don't know, a big sortie for snack foods and spices is de rigeur. This year we are mostly eating their gorgeous (and very moreish) Garlic and Herb Grissini.

Mulled Wine

This makes a lot, but you can use half of it for the chicken recipe below (which freezes very well). Nor do you have to drink all of it in one evening (ahem). If you strain it into a jug it will keep in the fridge for a couple of days to be reheated. You can even microwave it by the mugful if you like... Please don't try to use cheap nasty wine for this, you need something halfway decent or it will just be foul.

2x 75cl bottles red wine
500ml water
1 lemon, sliced
1 orange, sliced
inch of root ginger, sliced (no need to peel)
2 cinnamon sticks
pinch of whole cloves
pinch of whole black peppercorns
1/2 nutmeg
50ml brandy
50g caster sugar, or to taste

Bung everything into a big pan. Bring to boilking point, then turn the heat down and keep the wine just below simmering point for about 20 minutes. Either dole it out straight from the pan, or decant into a punch bowl if you have one (we were lucky enough to be given one as a wedding present). Either way, serve in heatproof glasses or nice chunky mugs. Mulled wine and good cheese is a great combination on a cold winter's night.

This chicken casserole, which we had for dinner on Saturday night, is something that I first made a few years ago when Hubby's parents came to visit just before that Christmas. Most of the work can be done a day or two in advance, then finishing it off takes only about ten minutes of hands-on work and half an hour in the oven, making it ideal if you want to spend time with your guests rather than your stove.

Mulled Wine Chicken

half-quantity of mulled wine recipe above
5 rashers streaky bacon, chopped
6 small onions, quartered
400ml hot chicken stock
6 chicken legs

Boil the mulled wine, reducing the quantity by half, to concentrate the flavour. Heat a knob of butter and a drizzle of oil in a large casserole and fry the bacon and onions until just browning. Add the hot stock and the (strained) wine, bring to the boil, then lay the chicken legs in the liquid. Cover the pan and transfer to a 200°c oven for an hour.

*At this point you can quickly cool and then chill the chicken for two days, or freeze it for up to a month. Defrost thoroughly, bring to the boil and then proceed as below.*

250g chestnut mushrooms, quartered.

Stir in the mushrooms and return to the oven for 30-40 minutes. Serve with steamed potatoes or rice and some green vegetables. We had broccoli and sprouts from this week's veg box.

Pudding was another Christmas favourite of ours; Mincemeat Meringue Tart. This is my bastardisation of Michael Barry's 'Mince Pie Royale' from his lovely Radio Times Cookery Year. I make an almond pastry for the base, top it with my homemade mincemeat and then pile on meringue made according to the original recipe in the book. Dust it with icing sugar and serve with dollops of thick cream.

Wyau Ynys Môn - Get me, eh!

The whole 'learning Welsh' thing is going surprisingly well. I'm using a lot of little bits and pieces with the children and even trying it out with real Welsh speakers when I feel brave. Of course, being me, I have made a big effort to learn what lots of different foods and drinks are so I can now proudly offer the children a choice of breakfasts and lunches yn Gymraeg. They are, as promised by all authorities on the matter, having no trouble with it whatsoever.

With all this in mind I have been on a bit of a theme lately, cooking lots of Welsh food. Tonight's dinner was a real Welsh classic and a great family meal, containing lots of our favourite things; leeks, potatoes, eggs and cheese. I have no idea why this dish is known as Anglesey eggs, nor have I been able to find out. It's very lovely, popular with the children and, as an added bonus, it can be prepared in advance and baked at suppertime if you prefer, which is what I did today.


Anglesey Eggs (Wyau Ynys Môn)

500g potatoes
3 leeks
6 hard-boiled eggs
300ml milk
1 tbsp plain flour
3 tbsp butter
handful grated cheese

Peel the potatoes and cut them into chunks. Steam for 25 minutes,, then mash with 2 tbsp butter. Halve the trimmed leeks lengthways and thinly slice them. Steam these for the final 8 minutes, then stir into the potato once it is mashed. Meanwhile, put the milk, flour and 1 tbsp butter into a pan and heat to boiling point, whicking all the time. When the sauce boils and thickens, reduce the heat and simmer for a few minutes, before switching off the hob and whisking in the cheese.

Spoon the potato and leek mixture around the edges of an ovenproof dish, then halve the hard-boiled eggs and pile these into the centre hollow. Pour the cheese sauce over the surface and either brown the surface under a hot grill, or cool quickly and chill until ready to cook the dish. In this case it will need 30 minutes or so at 180°c . Serve with some nice bread to mop up the cheesy sauce

Feeding Friends

It's been over a week since my last post, but things just don't stop for us (for which read me) at the moment. The boys and I had a fabulous week staying with my folks and were thoroughly spoiled - just what you need from your Mum and Dad, or Granny and Grandpa.

I even managed to fit in a couple of solo days out while my Mum looked after the children, which was bliss. I love them to bits, but sometimes it's nice to walk at your own pace and just poke around in shops for a bit of retail therapy. Souring the treat was my fruitless search for some attractive daytime shoes in a size 9, even after visiting a major shopping centre and (I think) every shoe shop in Bath! I bumped into more than one person on an identical mission while I was out, and nearly all the shop assistants admitted that mine is now a common problem - so WHY aren't the suppliers meeting the demand? Yes I'm tall, but I still want to be able to buy glamorous shoes with a decent heel, not ugly pumps and things that look like orthopaedic school shoes. Sorry, rant over.

When we got home on Friday night, it was a quick turnaround before some friends arrived to stay on Saturday. The boys stayed up a bit late for dinner and I cooked chili con carne with all the trimmings, followed by a Baked Alaska.

My Big Fat Chilli con Carne

1 onion, sliced
1 tbsp mild chilli powder
1 tsp each of ground cumin and dried oregano
1 beef stock cube
500g beef mince
400g can chopped tomatoes
400g can red kidney beans, drained
200g can sweetcorn, drained (or equivalent amount of frozen sweetcorn)
1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped

Heat some garlic-infused olive oil in a large ovenproof pan with a lid and fry the onion with the spices and herbs until soft. Add the mince and brown it really well, then tip in the tomatoes, the crumbled stock cube and half a can of water. Bring to the boil then put the lid on the pan and transfer it to a 150°c oven for 30 minutes. Stir in the drained kidney beans, the corn and the red pepper, then return the covered pan to the oven for another half an hour or so.

For a family meal I usually serve this with baked potatoes or rice, some salad and a bowl of grated cheddar cheese but, for something a little bit special I like to have all the trimmings; rice, tortilla chips, guacamole, soured cream and grated cheese. Even after all that we had room for a bit of pudding , so another retro favourite was delivered with a flourish...I used a bought sponge flan case for the base, topped with some caramel dulce de leche, but you can equally use some good jam or fresh fruit, puréed or not and even - gasp - make your own cake base if you like.

Baked Alaska

small bought sponge flan case
Dulche de Leche, jam, fruit or similar to cover the sponge base
ice cream, preferably not 'soft scoop'

For the meringue:

3 egg whites
150g caster sugar

Put the sponge on an ovenproof plate and top it with the caramel or whatever. Preheat the oven to 210°c. Whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks, then whisk in the sugar to make a thick and glossy meringue. You can have this done before dinner and just finish things off at the last minute. When you're ready for pudding, pile the ice cream onto the prepared base, then thickly, and completely, cover it with the meringue. nPop it in the hot oven for about 5 minutes until the meringue is crisp and golden on the outside. Serve immediately, it doesn't keep well as you can imagine!

After the children were in bed, we shared drinks and some cheese while we played Scrabble, before moving on to Pass the Pigs and 'Simpsons' Monopoly.

For lunch today I whipped up a batch of my Split Pea Soup with Prosciutto, which went down very well.

Easy Peasy (Nice and Cheesy)

This is something I occasionally make as a lunch for me and the boys; tonight, with the addition of some prosciutto that needed using up, it made a good evening meal for the four of us. It is essentially a rip-off of spaghetti alla carbonara, but I find it to be a little more child-friendly with the short pasta and the peas (always a favourite, I find). You could, of course, substitute chopped ham or cooked bacon for the prosciutto, or leave the meat out altogether (which is how I cook it as a lunch dish anyway).

Cheesy Peasy Pasta

200g penne

60g frozen peas

knob of butter

100g prosciutto, chopped

2 large eggs

60ml milk

60g grated cheddar cheese

Boil the pasta, adding the peas for the last couple of minutes of cooking time. Drain, reserving a cupful of the cooking water, then return the pasta and peas to the pan with a knob of butter. Stir the shreds of prosciutto through the pasta, then beat the eggs, milk and cheese together and add to the pan. Stir well, adding a splash of the reserved cooking water to bring the sauce together if necessary. Season with black pepper and serve immediately.

I like to have, quite simply, a good-sized portion of green salad to go with; though Karl and the boys had garlic bread too, I find this meal filling enough without any extra carbs.

Mmmmmmm...

There’s just nothing like it. Comfort food, ultimate meal, call it what you like. Nothing really touches good old egg and chips. Hubby prefers to have something else as well; sausages or, as tonight, a bacon chop, but that’s men for you. As far as I’m concerned, anything more is a step too far.

Deep-frying chips at home is emphatically not for me. Once upon a time we did have a deep fat fryer, but after it broke when Karl dropped it on the kitchen floor, we never bothered to replace it. My method of cooking chips in the oven works brilliantly, is much healthier and safer to cook. The firemen who visited our playgroup earlier this year put the fear of God into us all when they talked about the statistics for chip-pan-related house fires. I’ve got a ‘Misto™’ oil spray which I fill with sunflower oil for this, but use whatever oil spray you have, or indeed just drizzle the chips with a little bit of oil.

Real Oven Chips

Peel your potatoes and cut them into chips. Rinse them in cold water, then plunge them into a large pan of boiling water. Wait for the water to come back to the boil, and then set the timer for 5 minutes. Drain the chips in a colander and leave them to cool a little. Spread them out on an oiled baking sheet, giving them plenty of space - use more than one sheet if you need to. Spray or drizzle with sunflower oil, then cook at 200°c for 20 minutes or so, until the chips are crisp and golden.

While the chips are in the oven you can lay the table, fry your eggs and sort out whatever else you need in relative peace. Even better, the house doesn’t stink afterwards. Or burn down, which is always a plus.

After that little lot, I thought we'd better have some fruit for pudding. So we did.

Fasta Pasta

I’d planned to cook a pasta bake this evening, but the weather proved too hot for any of my usual recipes to appeal very much. We still fancied pasta though, so I threw together this new dish, using what I had in the fridge. Any short pasta would be fine; I used penne, as it's what I have in the house. I limit our stores of pasta as much as I can; one short type (penne) and one long (linguine for preference, but usually spaghetti). I also keep macaroni and some quick-cooking fusilli in the cupboard to do fast meals for the children.

Summery Pasta Bake

200g dried pasta (see above)
2 rashers bacon, chopped
handful mushrooms, chopped
handful cherry tomatoes, quartered
handful spinach

Cook the pasta, then put the spinach into a colander in the sink and drain the pasta over it. This will wilt the spinach. Meanwhile, fry the bacon and mushrooms together. Stir these, and the tomatoes, into the drained pasta and spinach. Tip it all into an ovenproof dish.

250ml milk
2 eggs
100g cheddar cheese, finely grated

Beat all the ingredients together in a jug and pour over the pasta in the dish. Top with another 50g of grated cheese, then bake for 30 minutes at 180°c.

It did feel very summery, actually. A bit of green salad on the side was all it needed; the boys gobbled it up and Hubby, without any prompting, pronounced it "smashing", which pleased me inordinately.

Breakfast for Supper

While we were at the butcher's the other day I picked up some sausages, bacon and black pudding. I can only rarely face a full English breakfast; the timing of it all, the mountain of greasy pots to wash and the guilt of eating so much, so early in the day. I do, however, love all the flavours in a 'proper' breakfast, so I like to combine them in evening main meals when I can. I'm a relatively recent convert to black pudding and like all those converted to something late in life, suddenly evangelical about it.

This rice dish (finally) went down very well with all of us and James particularly enjoyed his first little taste of black pudding. I wanted to cook this a couple of days ago but Karl's overdosing on breakfast-related meals put paid to that. The quantities in this can be rejigged as you like; if you want to add some cooked mushrooms, great. I would have done, but I didn't have any.

Breakfast-for-Supper Rice

250g brown rice
1 onion, quartered and sliced
4 sausages, cut into chunks
4 rashers bacon, chopped
100g black pudding, cut into chunks
1 large tomato, diced
2 hardboiled eggs, cut into wedges

Put the rice on to cook. I used my electric rice machine as usual, but do as you like. Heat a little oil in a large frying pan and cook the onions gently, until soft and just starting to colour. Throw in the bacon and sausage and cook through, before adding the pieces of black pudding. The tomato should be stirred in as soon as the black pudding is cooked, then the whole pan (oil and all) tipped into the (drained) cooked rice. Carefully stir in the wedges of egg and serve immediately. Hubby, as a good Sheffield man, likes some Henderson's Relish with his.

Belly Laughs

We've gone without our Sunday roast for the last couple of weeks while we've been on holiday, so today was the day we'd all been looking forward to. I got a slab of belly pork from the butcher the other day. I've used it in cooking before, but never roasted a big piece of it and always wanted to. I asked the butcher to score the skin for me, which he did, then I rubbed freshly ground black pepper and thyme leaves all over the rind and into the slits. I would have added salt, but can't at the moment if I want James to be able to share food with us (and I do).

As well as the usual roast potatoes and assorted vegetables, I made some apple sauce and a tray of Yorkshire Puddings flavoured with sage and onion. My mum made these regularly when I was little; I think it was originally her Mum's recipe. I find that skimmed milk, or half miolk, half water, makes the best Yorkshire puds. You only need one thick slice from an onion for this recipe, so wrap the rest in foil, pop it in the fridge and use it for something else tomorrow. Just don't accidentally give it to your daughter as a mid-morning 'piece' to take to school, eh Mum?

Sage-and-Onion Yorkshires

300ml milk
1 large egg
100g plain flour
fresh sage, chopped
onion, finely diced

Beat the milk and egg together, then beat in the flour with seasoning to taste. Put some fat in the dints of your Yorkshire pudding tin, then heat until sizzling in a 220°c oven. Pour batter into each hollow, then quickly sprinkle a little diced onion and some chopped sage over the surface of each pudding-to-be. Return the tray to the oven and cook the puddings for 20 minutes until risen and golden brown.

Pudding this evening was one of those happy accidents arisen from a kitchen disaster. I tried a new biscuit recipe the other day, which promised crisp, risen biscuits which were hollow inside. Ha! Having followed the recipe to the letter, my result was more like rock hard ginger pancakes. Loath to waste a whole batch of biscuits, I had to come up with something to do with them, and this is it. It's quite gratifying when a dismal failure turns into a resounding success, like this did tonight.

Apple and Bilberry Crisp

250g ginger biscuits
470g jar bilberries, drained
1 Bramley apple

crème fraîche, to serve

Finely crush the biscuits. Peel, core and slice the apple, then put the pieces, mixed with the bilberries, in the bottom of an ovenproof dish. Scatter over a thick layer of biscuit crumbs and bake at 150° for 20 minutes. Serve with crème fraîche.

Super Soufflé

A slow day today - Hubby worked a night shift last night, so the boys and I had to tiptoe around a bit so that he could get some sleep. Not that James can actually tiptoe, or walk at all for that matter. After lunch James had a nap too, so while Christopher played in the garden I did a bit of cooking, when I wasn't being summoned to play 'Yorkshire Bounce', a game Christopher seems to have invented all by himself, the rules of which are a complex mystery to everyone but Chris. I made some lamb stock with the foot and a bit of middle neck from the half lamb we bought yesterday. Lamb stock isn't incredibly useful like chicken stock is, but it's worth having around for things like shepherd's pie and for boosting the gravy when we have roast lamb.

I had planned to make a pilaf with sausage, bacon and black pudding for supper tonight, having all three in the fridge from our jaunt to the butcher's yesterday. These plans were scuppered by Karl coming home and having a BSE (Bacon, Sausage and Egg) sandwich for lunch, then announcing that he'd had a cooked breakfast in the canteen at work before leaving. I don't know how he stays so rail thin, I really don't. Inside he must be half-man, half pork product by now, I'm sure.


So dinner plans needed rejigging. With no time to defrost anything, a cheese soufflé it was. Soufflés have an odd reputation, but they're not hard to make. A soufflé is basically a thick 'flavoured' white sauce with eggs added to it. Cheese is easiest (and my favourite), but cooked flaked fish works well too, as do vegetable purées stirred into the sauce. They are extremely popular with the children, too, which is always good. I mainly do this with mature cheddar, but you can use whatever strong-flavoured cheese you like. It just needs some salad to go with - we had a bowl of Cos lettuce leaves, plus a dish of carrots and radishes and some sliced tomatoes with chopped mint (our current favourite and - to my mind - easily as good as basil with toms).


Cheese Soufflé

75g butter
50g plain flour
1/2 tsp mustard powder
black pepper
100g strong cheese, grated
300ml milk
3 large eggs, separated

Preheat the oven to 200°c and thoroughly grease of a soufflé dish. Put the butter, flour, mustard, pepper and milk into a large saucepan and heat, whisking continuously, until thick, glossy and smooth. Reserve a tablespoonful of the cheese, then beat the rest into the sauce. Set aside while you whisk the egg whites to stiff peaks. Stir the egg yolks into the cheese sauce and then carefully fold in the whisked whites, one spoonful at a time. Gently pour the mixture into the prepared dish, sprinkle over the reserved cheese and transfer it to the oven. Bake for 30 minutes until risen and golden brown on top. Serve immediately - the success of a soufflé lies in having everyone waiting for it at the table before it is ready.

Do You Like (Normal) Eggs and Ham?

Crazily busy at the moment - mainly with another round of decluttering-mania. We just seem to have accumulated loads of stuff and need to keep ploughing through it to discard all the junk. Hubby is building new wardrobes in our bedroom at the moment, and the project seems to be bringing all sorts of hidden horrors to light. Oh well...


Supper tonight was a quick and easy affair again - I had a meeting with our playgroup leader to sort out what I have to do next year when I take over organising speakers etc. for each week. Doesn't seem too daunting (famous last words). By the time we got home, and I'd done all the jobs I didn't do before going out, this was all I had the energy for. This ham and egg bake is very quickly thrown together in whatever small ovenproof dishes you have, and only needs some decent bread to accompany it. Tonight we tried a Onion Cob Loaf which Christopher took rather a fancy to.

Ham and Egg Bake


225g bag baby spinach
about 8 slices of ham
8 eggs
butter
grated parmesan


Wash the spinach, then put it in a colander and wilt it by pouring a kettleful of boiling water over it. Leave it to drain. Line four small ovenproof dishes with slices of ham, then arrange spinach in th base of each dish. Crack two eggs into each, then dot with a few small bits of butter. Sprinkle over some parmesan and grind over some black pepper. Place the dishes on a baking sheet and bake at 180°c for about 15 minutes, until the whites are just set and the yolks still runny. Serve straightaway, with some nice bread for dipping in.

A (not entirely) Lazy Sunday

Well, it's been a beautiful sunny day, here on the west coast of Wales. The boys and I had breakfast together this morning before nipping out to get the Sunday newspaper. After I'd hung the washing out on the line in the garden, I actually had some time to sit down and read the paper; after a good night's sleep last night, James was in a remarkably good mood.

I treated myself to Asparagus Holstein for lunch today. It sounds fancy but is, in fact, just asparagus and a fried egg (or two). Christopher opted for a fried egg on toast, while James enjoyed a bowl of courgette and rice purée with cheese, and then chewed on a stem of steamed asparagus for afters.

After some confusion about whether Hubby was working late tonight or not, he did eventually rearrange his staff for tomorrow morning and therefore managed to get home for supper. I decided this morning to cook a meat loaf, knowing that it would keep for him if he couldn't get away after all. My meat loaf recipe is based on one in 'The Times Calendar Cookbook' by Katie Stewart. I have a fairly extensive library of cookery books, but of course some are favoured above others and this book, first published in 1976, is one of the chosen. Oven-Fried Chicken with Bacon, Lemon Freeze and Gooseberry Mousse are among my other favourites from this book.

My Meat Loaf

2 slices of white bread, crusts cut off
50ml milk
1 small onion, finely chopped
250g minced beef
250g minced pork
fresh sage and thyme, chopped finely
1 egg
grinding of black pepper
pinch of ground mace
40g butter
a little plain flour

Mix all the ingredients, except the butter and flour, together. Form into some semblance of a loaf, then roll it in plain flour to lightly coat the surface. Melt the butter in a frying pan and brown the loaf all over. Transfer it to a roasting tin, then stir 150ml water into the pan juices. Tip this liquid over the meat loaf. Cover the tin with foil and bake at 180°c for about 40 minutes. Remove the foil and bake the loaf uncovered for the last 5-10 minutes.

I do think that it's best eaten hot, though Hubby has a liking for a cold meat loaf sandwich occasionally! Today, I served the meat loaf with some steamed new potatoes and a salad of Cos lettuce, though creamy mashed potato and green vegetables are a perfect accompaniment if it's cold outside. A slice of meatloaf and a potato whizzed down to a nice nubbly purée for James. Clean plates all round!