Friday 26th of April 2013

 Well, Happy Friday everyone!  After a gruelling week, I was (well, to be frank, we all were) ready for something wonderful.  Duck is something that I crave as a special treat, spoiling supper; that fatty richness, that crisp skin, it gets me every time... Roasting duck legs over potatoes provides, for me, the best of both worlds; the soft, creamy potatoes with a crisp and  flavoursome carapace of crunch, along with the rich, meaty flesh of the legs provides the perfect Friday night supper. A vibrant dish of mixed green veggies sits perfectly alongside...

Be sure to prick the skin covering the fatty deposits on the duck legs prior to roasting;I use a large safety pin kept for the purpose, but a darning needle or fine skewer would do just as well.  Sit the duck legs, skin side down in a tray, on top of your parboiled potatoes for the first twenty minutes of the forty-five that the dish will need in total.  This will allow the gorgeous duck fat to ooze and seep out of the legs to flavour your roasties.  Keep basting the meat and potatoes and it will surely become its own reward...

For a truly fabulous accompaniment to the duck and potatoes, try this brilliant green vegetable medley, that I have shamelessly pinched from my Mum; the best cook I know, and the undisputed maker of the world's best roast potatoes and gooseberry mousse.  Love you, Mummy!

Cook handfuls of fine green beans, broccoli florets, chopped asparagus, sugar snap peas and (frozen) soybeans until each is tender.  Serve combined in a large dish.  I, personally, like to swish over some cold-pressed rapeseed oil just before serving and add a smattering of Maldon salt, for crunch and savour.  This medley makes for a fabulous lunch the following day if you eschew any leftover cooked broccoli (add it to the soup box) and crumble over some feta and, perhaps, a few toasted walnuts.  Nommy weekend treats!

Cath xx

Sunday 7th of April 2013

Home from a lovely week staying with my parents and guess what? I'm straight back into the kitchen!

For some reason at the moment, I've gotten a bit obsessed (again) with French food, so today for lunch we ate one of my personal favourites, poulet à l'estragon (chicken with tarragon).  This is such a French classic, and it's a shame that this herb is often so overlooked, as it really is magical when combined with chicken like this.

For my Distracted version of this dish, I marinade eight chicken thighs (bone-in, skin-on) in about 100ml of rapeseed oil mixed with a dash of vinegar, a minced clove of garlic, a good pinch of sea salt flakes and a teaspoonful of dried tarragon.  Leave this for an hour or two.  I like to cut some potatoes up and parboil them during the marinading. then put them in the bottom of the tin I'm going to cook the chicken in.  When you're ready to cook, put the chicken pieces, skin-side up, on top of the potatoes and pour over the remaining marinade.  Cook at 180ºc for 20 minutes, then pour a glassful of dry white wine into the roasting tin.  Cook for another 25 minutes, then transfer the chicken and potatoes to a serving dish and keep them warm while you make the sauce.

Tip all the juices from the tin into a small saucepan and bring them to a simmer.  Whisk in the juice of half a lemon, a little white pepper to taste and 2 tbsp double cream.  Add some chopped fresh tarragon.  Simmer, still whisking, for a few minutes until the sauce thickens slightly, then pour over the chicken and potatoes in the serving dish. Throw over a bit more fresh tarragon and serve with a green salad.

To follow lunch, and in keeping with the obvious (though admittedly unintentional) theme of the day, we ate some madeleines that I made this morning.  I then proceeded, in clearly-obsessive Francophile mode, to make gougères for supper, but that's another story...

Cath xx

Wednesday 13th of March 2013

Owing to a marathon baking session inspired by the children's school's 'red nose day' request, which saw us making 40 (!) gingerbread men to ice, with red noses,. tomorrow, tonight's dinner needed to be a quick, and relatively effortless production tonight. A bag of chicken thighs sitting in the 'fridge, plus a couple of lemons and some soy sauce from the storecupboard easily made this Soy-and-Lemon Glazed Baked Chicken, then all I had to think about was the side dishes.

8 chicken thighs (though I think you could use up to 12 with this amount of glaze)
juice of 2 lemons
120ml soy sauce

Put the chicken pieces in an ovenproof dish.  Pour over the lemon juice and soy sauce.  Bake at 180°c for 45 minutes, basting often.  Lift out of the liquid to serve.

I served this with steamed broccoli and some steamed new potatoes, which I had tossed in melted (salted) butter that I mixed with lots of very finely chopped herbs; I vary these according to what I have on the kitchen windowsill, but tonight it was lots of parsley , chopped with a smaller amount each of fresh basil, mint, dill and thyme.  This is my favourite way to eat potatoes at the moment...

Cath xx

Pork Rescue

After a fabulous weekend with friends, the centrepiece of which was surely the 4kg shoulder of pork we roasted on Saturday afternoon, I found myself with a huge hunk of meat still left in the 'fridge.  As pork seems to roast so much better when cooked in a large piece (and anyway, you get more crackling this way), it seems silly not to cook a large piece when you get the chance, especially if the only 'problem' is having meat left over; leftover pork is so lovely, whether you cook it or not , and so versatile when you do. This recipe also, happily, uses up the rogue green peppers so often lurking in my 'fridge; refugees from bargain mixed bags of peppers.  The frozen 'mini rösti' I sometimes use to top this sort of meal are easy enough to get hold of in most supermarket freezer sections;  the usual mashed potatoes for the top are great, but ultimately, on a cold Monday evening, these are the easy option, however lazy it may seem... and, justifiably so, as it's very tasty either way!


Pork Pot (as named by James)

1 tbsp dripping, oil or butter
1 onion, peeled, halved and sliced
1 stick celery, chopped
1 green pepper, de-seeded and chopped
200ml pork gravy (or water)
500ml passata
400g can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
3 or 4 handfuls of shredded cooked pork
frozen mini rösti (12 or so)

Heat the fat in a large casserole and fry the onion, celery and pepper until softened.  Add the gravy (or just some water if you don't have gravy left over, or to hand) and the passata, then stir in the chickpeas and the shredded pork.  Stir well to mix, then turn it all out into an ovenproof dish.  Top with the frozen rösti (and see picture) and cook at 200°c for 25 minutes.  Serve with something a little crunchy, whether salad or vegetables.

Cath xx

Slow Spuds

I haven't got a recipe for you today, but I do bear news of a bit of a fab discovery.  Did you know, if you have a slow-cooker, you can use it to bake potatoes?  Well, you can.  Granted, they come out more like jacket spuds that have been cooked in the microwave than the (still infinitely superior, to my mind) crisp-skinned and fluffy version baked in the oven BUT... this has changed my life.  With this 'in hand', as it were, I can come home knowing that supper will be on the table in less than 10 minutes; very handy when life takes over, as it so often does, especially when there are the children's social lives to manage, not to mention all the other commitments one rashly takes on.

First thing in the morning, prick your potatoes, pop them in the slow-cooker and stick the lid on - no water necessary - then, and this is the part I really like, you are free!  Go back to bed, go to work, go off out for the day and leave them to it.  They need about 10 hours on MEDIUM, or a little less on HIGH and, when it comes to suppertime, your potatoes will be ready; needing only the customary knob of butter and whatever filling(s) you and your fellow diners currently favour.  That'll be cheese for all of us, then; with baked beans added for the boys - big and small - of the household and a heap of coleslaw for me (and a spot for my little James as well, who never likes to feel that he might possibly be missing out on anything, bless him!

Cath xx

Cobblers!

Our friendly door-to-door fish man brought, among other things, some river cobbler round on his van this week.  I'd never tried this fish before, only knowing that it had been implicated in a couple of Trading Standards cases where it was being sold as cod by unscrupulous fish-and-chip shop owners.  If it can pass for cod while being more sustainable and therefore less culinarily unethical , I'm interested...but then, I love a bit of controversy, me!

While I love a good fish pie, it can be a bit of a production for a simple weeknight supper.  These little jackets are a time-and-stress friendly option; always welcome on the first day back at school! 

Fish Pie Jackets

4 large baking potatoes, scrubbed and pricked
2 fillets firm white fish (and see above)
milk
200g spinach, washed
50g parmesan cheese, grated
salt and pepper to taste

Bake the potatoes.  I bake them for 90 minutes in a 160°c oven.  Meanwhile, poach the fish in enough milk to just cover it.  I do this in the microwave for speed; one of the few things that I do use the popty ping for.  Just make sure that it's in a covered dish!  Put the spinach into a large bowl.  When the potatoes are ready, halve them and scoop out the cooked potato into the bowl on top of the spinach; the heat from the spuds will wilt the leaves.  Mash the potato and spinach together, the add the fish, flaking it and folding it in carefully.  Add as much of the poaching milk as you need, to make a nice soft 'mash' consistency and then season the mixture (mainly with pepper, don't forget that the parmesan is salty too!).  Fill the potato shells with the fish mixture and sprinkle with the grated cheese.  Put the jackets on a baking tray and bake at 200°c for 20 minutes to heat through and crisp up.

I serve these with sweetcorn as an extra 'fish pie' ingredient and very good it is too!

Cath xx

Summer Lovin'

I just adore this sort of meal in the summer months; simple to throw together in the suicide hour, but not sacrificing anything for that.  It's really tasty, full of flavours that suggest the season, without being too obviously contrived.  I also love this for using only things that anyone might have in store at any time; the only thing might be the fresh basil, for which you could easily substitute a tablespoonful of pesto, let down with a little extra olive oil, stirred in at the same point in the recipe.  Similarly I use chipolatas, because my butcher sells beautiful ones, but you can (obviously) use whatever you prefer; just please bear in mind the meat content of sausages and look out for ones with a high percentage - some can be terrifying low in meat content, once you look at the label.

Summery Sausage Traybake

4-6 tbsp olive oil
2 red onions, halved and sliced thickly
10 chipolatas
8 new potatoes, quartered
4 tomatoes, quartered
handful fresh basil, torn (and see above)

Pour the olive oil into a roasting tin and add the onions, sausages and potatoes, mixing well to coat everything.  Cook in a 180°c oven for 10 minutes, then add the tomatoes to the tin, toss well and return to the oven to cook for a further 30 minutes.  Stir in the torn basil (or the oil-and-pesto substitute mentioned above) and cook just 5 minutes more.  Serve straight from the tin at table, you need nothing else at all (though a glass of red does go down beautifully with it, if you insist).

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

Pish Pie

Known forever as 'pish' pie due to the  semi-Spooneristic tendencies of a friend when I introduced her to this idea, this has, for a long time, been my way of getting a fish pie (lush comfort food, filling, child-friendly, etc, etc) on the table at suppertime without too much fuss or washing-up.  The portions of fish in butter sauce may initially seem a little spooky in their plastic carapaces but, once combined with the other ingredients and blanketed with mash, they are very delicious, believe me.

Quick Fish Pie

4 large potatoes, peeled and quartered
2x 300g packs frozen 'fish portions in butter sauce'
326g can sweetcorn, drained
3 hard-boiled eggs,  roughly chopped
handful parsley, chopped
milk and/or butter for mashing potatoes

Boil the potatoes until soft.  Meanwhile, cook the fish portions as directed, but for only half the time stated.  Mix the sweetcorn and parsley together in an ovenproof dish, then squeeze the fish & sauce out of the packages and stir through the sweetcorn with the chopped egg.  Drain the potatoes and mash, as you like, with milk and/or butter.  Dollop the mash over the top of the pie, scratch the top with a fork and bake at 200 for 15-20 minutes until slightly browned.

Have a lovely Bank Holiday weekend and try not to mind the rain too much, eh?

Cath xx

Bunking Off in the Garden

Lovely, isn't it? To see the signs of Spring appearing everywhere, to feel warmth from the sun on your bare arms, to hang your laundry out in the breeze and even to be brave enough to eat supper out on the patio... I have been outside for so much of the last couple of weeks, often just sitting and breathing in the glory of nature (hence no posts - sorry about that, I do feel sort of bad). I have attempted to get our little garden in some sort of order and made plans for summer bunting and outdoor picnics (rather than the carpet picnics we have been restricted to for what feels like years, rather than months!).

Tonight's supper was a slightly spicy little number. We ate my version of Keema, a simple spiced meat dish, accompanied by the Spiced Potatoes with Spinach which my boys love so much. It somehow felt so right to be eating it outside.


Spiced Potatoes with Spinach

This, I suppose, is my approximation of the Indian restaurant classic Saag Aloo, which I love, love, LOVE!  Anything with spinach is A-OK with me, especially if the children love it too!

2 tbsp oil
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 bay leaf
1 onion, halved and sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, minced
2cm piece ginger root, minced
 400g potatoes, cut into 2cm-ish cubes
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp kalonji (AKA black cumin or nigella seeds)
140g bag baby spinach leaves

Heat the oil in a large pan (it needs to be one with a lid).  Frizzle the bay leaf and mustard seeds briefly, then add the onion to the pan and fry until soft.  Stir in the garlic and ginger and fry for a moment more before adding the spices.  Stir well, add the potatoes and then pour in 150ml water and clamp on the lid.  Turn the heat down and simmer for 10 minutes, then stir the spinach through the potatoes as best you can.  Lid back on, heat back up and cook for 3 minutes or so until the spinach has wilted down.  Try not to eat it all straight out of the pan before serving it (though this is the hardest part of the recipe for me).

Divine with a dollop of raita; my lazy version is here.  Enjoy!

Cath xx

A Very Porky St. Patrick's Day

James and I had a lovely St. Patrick's Day lunch today, cooked for us at the Aberystwyth family centre by some Irish friends.  Coddle is not so very dissimilar to the Welsh favourite, cawl;  a casserole of bacon and sausages cooked in stock with potatoes, parsnips, swede and carrots.  Served with some gorgeous soda bread it was, truly, a meal to make you sit up and beg!

Wanting to offer the rest of the family a little of the culinary comfort they had missed out on at lunchtime, tonight I opted for an easy midweek roast; potatoes, parsnips and (unpeeled) carrots, chopped up and roasted with a small, 1kg joint of pork loin.  I added a glass'-worth of chicken stock (as I had no pork stock) and cooked it all at 200°c for an hour.  Served with some stuffing balls and some steamed broccoli (plus the inevitable sweetcorn), it made a meal with very little work on my part. Result!

Happy St. Patrick's Day, Cath xx

Taking It Easy

Those after-school dinner decisions are tough, Aren't they?  Even if you make meal plans, sometimes life kicks you to the kerb and you have to come up with something fast and filling for the family.  Something you can cook easily while dealing with the aftermath of the school run and children tired and fractious after a busy day.  Not for nothing do I (only half-jokingly, sometimes) refer to this time of day as 'the suicide hour'.

Now, baked beans are not something that I would ever choose to eat in the normal run of things, but they can occasionally be a useful ingredient in cooking and this is one of those times.  Likewise with stock cubes; I only rarely use them but when you are cooking with minced meat from the supermarket, rather than the butcher, they can add an extra boost of flavour.

Easy Home-From School Hotpot


Obviously switch the lamb mince and stock cube for their beef equivalents if you'd rather...


3 or 4 large potatoes, sliced thickly
1 onion, sliced
500g lamb mince
1 lamb stock cube
420g can baked beans

Put the sliced potatoes into boiling, salted water, return to the boil and cook for 10 minutes until just tender in the centre.  Drain carefully (i.e. don't break them up!). Meanwhile, heat a littl oil in a casserole pan and fry the onion until softened.  Add the mince and brown it, then crumble in the stock cube.  Cook for a few minutes, then remove from the heat and stir in the baked beans.  Lay the slices of potato on top in a spiral fashion (see picture), drizzle with a little melted butter and transfer to a 200°c oven for 15-20 minutes to brown the top.

Cath xx

Housebound

 Being at home is lovely at the moment, isn't it?  Looking out of the window at the snow-blanketed countryside; seeing the cat shaking frost from his fur when he comes through his door; hearing the crunch of snow on the road outside as cars edge gingerly down the hill - all while we're snuggled up warm inside.  I'm a  homebird at heart anyway, but poking round the house with the perfect excuse for not going out is heaven... domestic bliss!  A cheering, baked all-in-one supper like this provides a touch more winter warmth without any pressure on the cook - and allows for more time in front of the fire with a cuppa.

Comforting Creamy Chicken Bake

1 leek, sliced
250g bacon, chopped
500g small waxy potatoes, halved lengthways
4 tbsp wholegrain mustard
squeeze of lemon juice
284ml carton double cream
200ml milk
4 chicken thighs

Put the chopped bacon, halved potatoes and sliced leeks into the bottom of a large ovenproof dish.  Mix the mustard, cream and milk together with a squeeze of lemon juice and some seasoning.  Pour this over the ingredients in the dish, then nestle the chicken pieces in the top, skin-side up.  Bake at 180°c for 45 minutes until the chicken skin is crisp and the top of the bake is nicely golden.

Eat up and keep warm!

Cath xx

Favourites Old and New

This first course is a 1950s American favourite. Retro-Food.com informs me that the Lipton company first printed the recipe for its 'California Onion Dip' on the back of Lipton onion soup mix packets in 1954.

I first came across the idea in my copy of Kitschy Canapés by Babs Harrison and recently rediscovered it while book-trawling retro catering ideas for my 30th birthday party later this year. As the vrai Lipton Recipe Secrets Onion Soup Mix is un available to us limeys, I substitute a sachet of Knorr French Onion Soup mix. Mixed with a 300ml carton of sour cream and chilled for an hour or so, it makes for something that is way more than the sum of its parts. Things become classics for a reason, don'cha know..?

Speaking of which, may I present my new best thing. After a Facebook-based conversation with an old (the friendship, not the friend) mate, I was introduced to this, and could hardly wait to cook it for dinner tonight to accompany some plain-cooked Lincolnshire bangers.

Daniel's Favourite Potatoes

new potatoes
mustard
mature cheddar

Boil the potatoes until tender, then drain them and 'crush' lightly with a potato masher, to break them up but not too much. Mix in some mustard (I used wholegrain, but Daniel's original uses English mustard). Bung in a dish, top with cheese and melt it, in the oven or under the grill.

This is the sort of food you SCOFF!

Dearth (of ideas) Row

Sausage Casserole. Not necessarily an imaginative dinner, but a good one nonetheless. Ever since we had a sausage casserole like this at my parents' house a few weeks back, Christopher has been obsessed with it; in fact it feels like nearly all questions of "what would you like to eat?" have been answered with "that sausage casserole with potatoes on top like Granny makes" ever since. When he doesn't want "fish and chips" or (whisper) "sweets", that is.

It's hardly rocket science, and I feel kind of daft even typing it out as a 'recipe', but them's the breaks, kiddo. So here's what I did tonight to get supper on the table...

4 medium potatoes (child's fist-sized?)

1 onion, halved and sliced

8 sausages, your choice

2 x 400g tins chopped tomatoes

butter

Slice the potatoes (I can never be bothered to peel them for this) and put them in cold water. Bring them to the boil, then drain. While that's going on, fry the onion, in a little oil, and brown the sausages. Tip in the tomatoes, and one can of water, and bring to the boil. Top with the drained sliced potatoes, cover the pan and bake in the oven at 180­°c for half an hour. Go and see what the kids are doing. Watch 'Superted' on YouTube (Christopher's new black) with them. When time is up, remove the pan's lid, dot the potatoes with a little butter and return to the oven (still uncovered) for a further 30 minutes. Set the table, referee a fight over a half-deflated balloon, trip over the cat (again) and get drinks for everyone. Serve the casserole straight from the pan at the table, with some green veg on the side - frozen peas, for sanity's sake.

No Basket Required

Chicken and Chips is, to us, a pretty perfect Friday night feast. I made my Crisp Chicken, supplemented today by Nigella Lawson's 'Fast Fries' from Nigella Express. I used maincrop potatoes instead of new and cooked them in the oven instead of frying them. I find that I am always less harried by food that is out of sight (and the reach of children) in the oven than on the hob. I am hugely grateful for the idea of breaking up the spuds by bashing them with a rolling pin. Totally therapeutic! Also, because the potatoes are bagged up, there's nothing more than the oven tray (not even a knife) to wash up after making these.


To start tonight's meal, I adapted one of my favourite party snacks. I know, I know, "life's too short to stuff a mushroom" and believe me I agree with you, but this way makes it quicker, honestly. I make no apologies for using 'Bacos' rather than actual bacon - I know they're as proceesed as you can get, but I do have rather a soft spot for them (and see here for more on this subject). No matter, though, here we go.

Cheese & Bacon Mushrooms

mushrooms
'Bacos' (or cooked bacon, if you'd rather)
chopped parsley
grated cheese

'Pull the stalks out of the mushrooms and put them, cup-side up in an ovenproof dish. Don't throw the stalks away, will you - there's always 'shrooms on toast or an omelette to be had with the leftovers! Sprinkle 'Bacos' into each hole and cover with chopped parsley. Blanket the whole lot with grated cheese, grind over some pepper and bake at 200°c for 20 minutes. Serve with salad leaves.

Supper in the Garden - just!

Only just, as well - the end of our meal was rudely interrupted by a crash of thunder, so (putting aside any wistful thoughts of a evening spent lingering in the sun with a drink) we rushed the children and the crockery inside before the rain came down. And how it came down!

Never mind, at least we did get supper outside tonight. We've had lunch outside for the last few days, but I hadn't been quite brave enough to go the whole hog until this evening. It was a lovely supper, though; just right for a warm evening and not too many pots to wash up afterwards. We started with chickpea patties and tzatziki. I used to make the patties for the children, when they were babies, as early finger food and I suddenly thought how easy it would be to make them again; to use for ambulant snacks or as part of a first course.

Cheesy Chickpea Patties

Strong Cheddar or Parmesan are my choices for the cheese, however any hard cheese would suffice.

2 x 410g cans chickpeas, drined and rinsed
60g cheese, grated (and see above)
1 egg
1 tbsp flour
1 tbsp tahini paste (if you have it)
2 tbsp olive oil
chopped parsley

Bung everything in the processor and whizz to form a nubbly purée. Scoop out spoonfuls of the mixture onto baking sheets, then bake for 30 minutes at 160­°c until just tinged with brown. Cool on a rack, then store in an airtight box until needed.

To go with, I made tzatziki. For me, it is the apotheosis of hot-weather food and during the summer I make it once a week or thereabouts, as inevitable as the rain which follows the heat. I should own up, here, that I have never been to Greece, but I did know a lot of Greek students at university and something rubbed off, I guess. This is so easy and way better than the dismal stuff you can buy in a tub.

Tzatziki

The easiest way to dry the rinsed cucumber is to put it on a clean teatowel, gather up the corners and squeeze!

1 cucumber
salt
500g tub Greek yoghurt
2 tsp 'Lazy Garlic'
1 tsp lemon juice
chopped parsley

Quarter the cucumber lengthways and scoop the 'seedy' bit out of the centre with a spoon. Chop the cuke and plce in a colander. Sprinkle with salt, mix well then put a plate on top and set aside for 20 minutes or so to draw out excess water. Rinse and dry (see above). Mix the dégorged (for that is what you have done) cucumber with the other ingredients in a large bowl. Serve with, well, anything you like really.

The main course that followed is really simple and well received by all (maybe not veggies). You can, once assembled, freeze this in the dish, if it's freezerproof, then cook it (once defrosted) for 20 minutes at the same temperature given in the recipe. If you aren't prepared to 'lose' your oven dish to the freezer, line it with a big sheet of foil before you assemble the melt. You then freeze it like this and, once solid, simply 'pop' out the foil-bottomed block, wrap it over and return to the freezer. Bingo! I made one of these towards the end of both my pregnancies, to provide sustenance after each of our babies were born.


Tuna Melt

750g potatoes
25g butter, melted
1 small onion, finely diced
1 stick celery, finely diced
2 x 160g cans tuna in spring water, drained
chopped parsley
4 tbsp mayonnaise
150g Cheddar cheese, grated

Peel and grate the potatoes. Line the bottom of an ovenproof dish with the grated potato, press down and brush with the melted butter. Bake at 180°c for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, mix the other ingredients (bar the cheese) together. When the potato-lined dish is ready, spread the tuna mix over the base and top with the grated cheese (this is the point at which to cool and freeze it). Return to the oven for a further 15 minutes.

Stewing Bee

I would describe myself as a happy, healthy omnivore; we all four enjoy eating meat, and I make sure to buy as much as I can from the local butcher or direct from the producers at the farmers' market. What I don't like is the term 'carnivore' being attached to those of us who choose to eat meat; we almost invariably enjoy more than just meat in our diets and so, pedant that I am, I prefer the correct term to be used. If I'm going to be labelled, I want it done accurately!

Having said that, however, I love vegetables and enjoy the challenge of cooking a meal with nothing but veg, especially with the beautiful produce we get in our weekly organic box. Vegetables give the cook such a wide palette of flavours, colours and textures that I can't imagine life without them; nor could I enjoy eating wholly without meat and its by-products. Tonight I made a really hearty vegetable stew, though I admit the dumplings on top weren't 100% vegetarian-friendly; I can't resist a dumpling made with proper beef suet. If your tastes differ, substitute vegetarian suet (whatever that is) or vegetable shortening (something like Trex; chilled in the freezer and then coarsely grated). A touch of spice livens up the starchy roots no end, and pulses bulk it out perfectly.

Chunky Root Stew with Dumplings

I used ground de arbol chillies from Mexgrocer, which are very hot - use your favourite and adjust the quantities to your taste.

1 onion, peeled, halved and sliced
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
pinch ground chilli (and see above)
4 potatoes, peeled and chopped
3 parsnips, peeled and chopped
4 carrots, peeled and chopped
400g tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
80ml/⅓ cup split red lentils

Heat a little butter and oil in a large casserole and gently fry the onion with the spices until softened. Add the vegetable chunks, chickpeas and lentils and pour in enough cold water just to cover everything. Bring to the boil, then transfer to a 180°c oven and cook, covered, for 30 minutes, while you get on with the dumplings. God, I love dumplings - even the word itself is comforting.

150g self-raising flour
50g suet (and see above)
1 tsp mixed dried herbs
salt and pepper
milk

Stir the suet, herbs and seasoning into the flour, then add milk to bind to a sticky dough. Divide into eight ball-like lumps and drop into the top of the stew. Cook, this time uncovered, for a further 15 minutes. If you like your dumplings less crusty on top, either baste them with some of the juices from the stew, or cover the pan completely for a really soft dumpling. I do them this way on top of stews in the slow cooker, too - which works really well. Just plop them in for the last half-hour before you want to eat.

I steamed some broccoli for a bit of 'green', but it was more because we had it left in the fridge from this week's box; the children and I are going away for Easter tomorrow and somehow I can't imagine Hubby cooking broccoli for himself while we're away...

Food for the Cold

What could be better on a cold, rainy Sunday evening than a baked potato? That crisp, crackly skin without and soft, steamy flesh within? It's no work at all to bung a few scrubbed potatoes into the oven, even less to leave them there for an hour or so. Then a quick bustle to prepare some toppings and supper is ready.


My personal favourite (for the moment,at least) is a dollop of coleslaw and some grated strong cheddar. Karl and the boys prefer the (I dare say more manly) combination of cheese and baked beans. We all like to have a plate of crudités on the table, scooping up potato flesh and ribbons of melty cheese as we chat. If any of the crunchy skins get pushed to the side of a plate I hover, ready to snatch up the leavings to wipe up the last of my coleslaw. Atkins who?

For pudding tonight we cut into a Tea Loaf that had been maturing in one of the tins for a few days. I made this one with fat Chilean Flame raisins and some dried cranberries left over from Christmas and it was heavenly; dense, moist and rich with plump fruit. The crust had taken on a pinkish hue from the cranberries, even better. In fact I think another slice, with a cup of tea in front of the fire, might be in order later this evening.

In Dreams

Now, I know this is not the way that normal people do things, but the other night I had a dream in which I was cooking something along these lines, so after a bit of thought I decided to try it out! The dream did also includeC hristopher tap-dancing on the kitchen worktop, but I thought we'd give that a miss - he has school tomorrow and that sort of accident could be hard to explain! I based the recipe loosely on my regular recipe for a Sausage Supper, but tinkered with it a little to get the effect I imagined. I used some cocktail sausages which were still languishing in the freezer after Christmas, but I think next time I'll do this with some well seasoned coarse bangers, perhaps cut into chunks after browning. Regarding the stock, use what you like; chicken, vegetable or beef all work well with the sausage supper, so I should think they'd all be equally good here too. If I have any leftover gravy from a beef stew, I like to save it, and freeze it, to use in dishes like this. It's a big "if", though, having married a man whose familial reaction to leftover gravy is to fetch a mug and a hunk of bread


Sausage Suppertime Bake

1 large onion, halved and sliced
450g sausages
500ml stock (and see above)
mixed dried herbs
black pepper
1 heaped tsp cornflour
4-6 potatoes, depending on size

Heat some oil in a large frying pan and fry the onions over a low heat until soft and just golden. Turn up the heat and add the sausages, browning them a little all over. Pour in the stock and bring to the boil. Add a good pinch of mixed dried herbs and grind over some black pepper, then remove from the heat . Remove a little of the gravy to a measuring jug and blend with the cornflour. Stir this mixture back into the sausage-and-gravy mixture, then transfer it to an ovenproof dish. Cover with slices of potato (I didn't bother to peel them) and bake at 200°c for 30-40 minutes, until the potatoes are cooked through and crisp on top.

It tasted great. I rather love the way it looks, too, with the overlapping potato slices just scorched and crunchy at the edges and the gravy bubbling up around them. The children, particularly, couldn't wait to get stuck in, and I'm pleased to report clean plates all round this evening. We had a big, gorgeous head of grey-green broccoli delivered in the vegetable box this morning - and we all adore broccoli - so I cut that up and steamed it to go with the bake. The cabbage we also got would have been just as good, I'm sure - but I have other plans for that...