Changing Lanes

Sometimes, no matter how much I think about, and organise, my weekly menus in advance, when the time comes to cook I just don't feel like the cooking, or the eating, or indeed both and so I change my plans. Tonight I was going to make some lamb kofte to eat with salad and pitta, using up some Mint Raita I made at the weekend to go alongside. However, it became this filling and very moreish rice dish instead, which borrows heavily from my Vaguely Middle Eastern Coucous. I have a horrible, sneaking suspicion that this went down better than the originally intended, more labour-intensive dinner. Never mind, if nothing else, it provides proof indeed that the very best meals are often little more than happy accidents brought about by my fickleness.

Lamb Pilaf with Fruit & Spices

Lamb stock is more useful than you might initially think and I make it easily with whatever bones we happen to have from chops, shanks or other joints. It's really worth having in the freezer, but if not, I should substitute vegetable stock.

1 onion, sliced
500g minced lamb
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger
500g basmati rice
handful sultanas
handful dried apricots, chopped
1 litre lamb stock
plenty of chopped fresh parsley

Heat some oil or butter, or indeed both, in a large pan and fry the onions until soft and beginning to colour. Add the lamb and brown it, then tip in the spices and stir well to mix. Stir in the rice and the dried fruits, then pour the stock into the pan. Bring up to boiling point, then clamp on a lid and simmer for 10 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and without removing the lid (no peeking at all, trust me), leave to stand for 5 minutes. Fork through some chopped parsley; I would have loved to put some fresh mint in too, but I didn't have any, then take it to the table and serve straight from the pan. Yum!

Cath xx

Freezer Burn

Back in cyberspace again...don't ask. Suffice it to say that my absence has not been entirely down to laziness on my part. But no matter, onwards and upwards!

Keeping the freezer organised can be a problem for me, to often it seems to become a black hole of food amnesia if I don't keep on top of it ALL THE TIME. I have to force myself to use the freezer properly, that being said I do enjoy having it all efficient and fabulous! As well as the inevitable cache of frozen vegetables (so useful, I don't know what I'd do without them), homemade stock and the boines to make it with, I keep hunks of meat bought when there are good deals to be had, and a stash of both sweet and savoury crumble topping, ready mixed to be used from frozen.


I don't very often cook specifically for the freezer, though that time of year when I do is fast approaching. More often what I do is double up on things I'm cooking anyway; pies, casseroles, chili con carne and bolognese sauce (to name a few) are as easily made in double or triple portions as in single and then I've an extra meal or two to parcel away, in anticipation of a busy day.

Today I had a good quantity of leftover meat from a whole turkey leg joint I cooked for our Sunday roast at the weekend so this, combined with a tin apiece of ham and sweetcorn, plus a little leg-bone stock to make a savoury sauce went into two pies. The pie for tonight's dinner is in the oven as I type this, and you can see the other in the freezer picture above. I lined the (oiled) pie tin with some (oiled again) foil, then open-froze it in the tin once I'd assembled it. Once hard, it's the work of a moment to pop it out of the tin and wrap it in more foil. Thus, my pie tin is not buried on Hoth for weeks on end!

Cath xx

A Legend, Lost...

Photo: BBC News

R.I.P. Keith Floyd
1943-2009

An inspiration

Lazin' on a Sunday

With our little mini-summer (at last, is all have to say...) still going strong, today was a day for just chilling out. The children and I had a late breakfast of Eggy Bread ( the Girl Guide in me will never call it French Toast), followed by a lot of messing around in the garden, before I headed inside to get this little beauty into the oven for our supper. Days like today are just made for this sort of dinner; a little bit of none-too-taxing preparation and a long, slow cook which allows for knitting, reading and running round the garden with the kids, while they hold plastic swords aloft and scream "By the power of Grayskull!" at the tops of their voices. Blame my sainted brother's 1980's He-Man collection, or blame my recent LoveFilm rental of He-Man Vol. 1, but they are currently OBSESSED with everything Eternia...

Shin of Beef with Mushrooms & Chestnuts

Phenomenally long recipe, but very little actual work...

2 or 3 tbsp oil
800g shin of beef, cut up to your liking
2 tbsp plain flour
1 onion, peeled and sliced
2 sticks celery, sliced thickly
2 cloves garlic, minced or finely chopped
250g mushrooms, halved
240g can vacuum-packed chestnuts
a large glass of red wine
a little tomato purée
500ml beef stock
splash of Worcestershire sauce
few bay leaves

Put the flour and some seasoning into a large plastic bag. Add the beef and toss it around to coat it in the flour. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large casserole and brown the beef in a couple of batches (this keeps the heat up and ensures a good sizzle to really brown the meat). Remove to a plate and set aside.

Add another tbsp of oil if you think the pan need it, then chuck in the onions, celery and garlic. Fry these until soft. Add the rest of the seasoned flour from the bag and mix well. Throw in the mushrooms and chestnuts, then add the wine, stirring up any and all sticky bits from the bottom of the pan. Squidge in a little tomato purée and stir well to mix (this is not so much for flavour as to correct the purple colour brought by the wine). Pour in the stock and the Worcestershire sauce, bung in the bay leaves and bring to boiling point. Cover the casserole pan and transfer it to a 180°c oven for 1 hr 30 minutes. Check it at 1 hr 15 minutes; if it seems to 'wet' for your liking, cook it uncovered for the last quarter of an hour. If not, leave it be for the rest of the cooking time.

Serve from the pan with whatever vegetables you fancy. I personally think that the chestnuts make potatoes de trop, but you may feel differently. Anyway, sweetcorn is such a favorite with the males of the house as to make it an unavoidable, inevitable inclusion, but I have to say that good old Savoy cabbage is always a favourite, and definitely my first choice here!

Cath xx

Back to the grindstone...

Now that school has started again, we are once more in the plod of normality. For all that people (particularly the mass media) talk about parents 'surviving' the holidays I, for one, love them. To have both my babies at home all day, every day, is heaven for me. To make our own rules and basically have fun for 6 weeks at a pop is even better than that.

Back to reality means back to the routines of old; planning our meals and shopping less often. It also means checking the school meals plan so as not to give Chris the same, or similar, meals twice in one day. I am very keen on the ethos os this, and sit down every week to plan our meals add make my shopping list. Some weeks have meals more elaborate than others, by reason of visitors or out-of-the-ordinary events. But the eve of the weekend, especially the end of the first full week back seemed to demand a fanfare of some sort. Friday night is, after all, always a special occasion, however small!

Fruity Spiced Chicken

6-8 chicken thighs
1 red pepper, deseeded and sliced
1 green pepper, deseeded and sliced
2 tsp Jamaican jerk seasoning
200ml pineapple juice
50g creamed coconut
1/2 tsp cornflour

Put the peppers in an ovenproof dish. Slash the chicken pieces a couple of times, then lay them on top of the peppers. Sprinkle the jerk seasoning over the chicken and pat it into the skin. Heat the pineapple juice to boiling point, then blend in the coconut and cornflour. Pour this over the chicken, letting it run into the dish, then bake at 180°c for 30-40 minutes until the chicken is well cooked.

This was lovely served with plain rice (courtesy, as always, of the sainted rice machine) to soak up the lovely juices but, as usual, I felt it necessary to gild the lily; my Black Bean and Sweetcorn Salad provided the extra note required. This is so easy, a quick assembly job in the morning that even I can cope with (having two children under 5 and a 10 mile drive to school of a morning).

I cook the black beans by soaking them in boiling water from the kettle for an hour, then bunging in the slow-cooker with more boiling water from the kettle and leaving them overnight, before draining them, rinsing them with cold water and continuing as below. I realise that not everyone has a slow-cooker to cook the beans this way, but no matter. Some supermarkets sell canned black beans (not ours yet, sadly) Happily, even if you do, like me, live deep in the heart of Banjo-land, Mexgrocer can provide you with canned black beans by mail-order. Hooray for the internet!

Black Bean and Sweetcorn Salad

This does make a lot, but it is lovely for lunch, especially in a tortilla 'wrap' with some sour cream or guacamole (or both for that matter).

140g dried black beans, soaked and cooked
250g sweetcorn, defrosted if frozen
4 spring onion, chopped finely
handful chopped parsley
juice of 1/2 lime
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground chilli

Combine all the ingredients in a big bowl. Stir well, cover and refrigerate for a few hours, or all day. Try to avoid eating spoonfuls throughout the afternoon (though it must be said that, for me, this is a counsel of perfection!)

Take time to smell the...not roses, but seaweed!

In the midst of the maelstrom that is the last week of term before the summer holiday, my youngest and I took time out. We went for a long walk over the sand dunes at Ynyslas, north of Aberystwyth. The beach at Ynyslas is often a good place to see particularly fine examples of gnarled and twisted driftwood, owing to the ancient petrified forest that lies just of the coast between here and Borth.

Dating back to the Ice Age, at low tide it is still possible to see the stumps and even branches of these trees that may have shared the earth with some of our earliest ancestors. Amazing. On our walk we enjoyed a little 'beachcombing', looking for what James rather charmingly called his 'beach treasure'. Fascinated by sea urchin cases, crab carapaces and oyster shells, he then became mesmerised by the sight of a jellyfish that had been washed ashore, though thankfully he soon moved on to other things.

Only a small thing; no money and no effort, really - but a precious and wonderful memory...

In Praise of Slow

I honestly do not know how I'd cope without my slow-cooker. Especially on a day like today, one where I've been out since early this morning, at a study day for local BFN helpers. Being able to come home to a meal that's ready to serve is a huge help when trying to squeeze just one more thing into an already busy life.

That said, I have very little patience for the kind of 'help' one is offered by slow-cooker recipe books (whether those supplied by the manufacturer or written independently). How is it supposed to save time when you are basically expected to cook everything before even putting in in the sainted appliance? The most I ever do is boil the kettle for hot water, or bring some homemade stock to the boil in a saucepan while I'm chopping the other ingredients. If I'm cooking a chicken or a chilli con carne, I just bung stuff in and turn the switch to 'on'.

This, then is our version of having a takeaway because there's no time to cook an evening meal. In the evening, that is. Our nearest Chinese carry-out is 10 miles away, even the nearest chippy is a good 5 miles. So I have to be a little more prepared (dib dib dib) for these occasions.

Sweet & Sour-style Chicken

I don't claim that this is in any way authentic, but it does taste nice. Again, I include some (easily!) homemade Garlic Vinegar, a precious substance I can no longer live without...

6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, sliced
1 onion, diced
1 stick celery, diced
1 green pepper, quartered and sliced
425g can pineapple chunks, drained and juice reserved in a jug

Put all these ingredients into the dish of your slow-cooker. To the reserved pineapple juice, add:

4 tbsp garlic vinegar
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
60g sugar (brown for preference, but no sleep lost, eh?)
2 tbsp cornflour

Whisk together to dissolve the sugar and cornflour, then add a very little salt and some pepper and pour this mixture over the waiting ingredients. Turn your slow cooker to whatever setting is suitable, depending on your model and how long you want to leave it for. Serve with rice or noodles (and a bowl of prawn crackers always goes down a treat).