Today:
Leg of pork chops with roast potatoes, Yorkshire puddings, roasted onions, brussel sprouts, gravy and apple sauce.
Ice cream to follow.

Yesterday's tea was very good...Lentil bolognaise, grated cheddar to scatter, garlic bread made with homemade malted bread. And for sweet (very sweet) my own take on bread and butter pudding...
White bread, crusts cut orf,, buttered and spread with damson jam cut into triangles. Then laid in buttered dish with dessicated coconut and white sugar in between.
A simple eggy custard is then strained over.

It puffed up brilliantly, all golden and the coconut toasted to perfection.
Such an amazing tasting pud made from store cupboard standbys. We over indulged by pouring over a little evaporated milk.

I'm getting excited at the thought of Christmas baking. Already decided on the cake, already have a small to-do list. I'll be making all my presents this year.
More on that on that on my other blog.

Now I must fly...

On my path a small table holds a few small aloe vera plants for sale at an amazing price of 50p. They were put out early this morning, I haven't checked how they're going because I've been cooking.

A seeded tin loaf is on its second proving while a chicken and corn flan cools down after a long slow bake.

For dessert some canned pineapple and evaporated milk.

All good stuff but I'm wondering if Bake Off winner Nadiya would approve...
I have to admit I wanted Ian to win but hats off to Nadiya for her almost faultless efforts. Her lemon drizzle wedding cake took the biscuit. And although it looked madly pretty I preferred Ian's wild multi-story carrot cake.

For tea yesterday we had cold roast chicken with curried pasta salad and chappatis. Cool lettuce and mango chutney added more yumyum.

Saturday's offering was sweet and sour chicken, fried rice and pancake rolls.As you can clearly see I've been overdoing it on the poultry front.

For lunch today: chicken sandwich.

Already thinking about christmas.

After a bout of the sniffles I needed something sweet and gorgeous so I made a cherry pie.
A simple buttery and sweet shortcrust pastry is home to bottled cherries which have been added to a thickened sauce made with cherry juice cornflour, brown sugar and almond essence.
Baked and served cold with a little single cream.
I was particularly happy with the pastry. Almost cakey in texture but with a lightness.

I bought a cauliflower today and will make a caukiflower cheese, added bacon will orbit the everyday dish to a bigger level.

Love at first bite

Last night's hearts were so good I can hardly contain my excitement.
A rich sauce poured over tender meaty hearts and served on a bed o' mash.
Just perfect food for a chilly wet day.

Tonight's dish is the ever reliable Beef Cobbler. When I first started making this dish I used too much water and although it tasted fine it looked a bit insipid. Now I don't use water at all. Just a tin of chopped tomatoes. The result is a magnificent mix of lean minced beef, onion, carrot, tomatoes, herbs and stock cubes. Peppered liberally and on account of the stock cubes a miser with the salt. A nice cobbler topping is dropped on top and then baked to near perfection.
I'll be serving it on a steamed sweetheart cabbage leaf.

Lamb's Hearts

Two tonight. Stuffed and braised in a cider sauce.

After washing them and cutting out the tubes I trimmed off a little of the surrounding fat leaving a bit to enrich the sauce.
Roll the hearts around in some seasoned flour and rest them while you make the stuffing.

The stuffing is easy.
Fresh breadcrumbs mixed with lightly fried chopped onion, finely diced apple, marjoram, sage, thyme, parsley and pepper and salt.
Mix well then stuff the cavities by holding the heart in my left hand while poking in small amounts of stuffing using the thumb on my tight hand. Keep going till no stuffing remains. The ingredients for a stuffing are endless, I'll add some dried apricot next time or sultanas or even bacon and mushrooms. I'll use what comes to hand.
Whilst cooking some stuffing will probably escape but it will only serve to thicken the sauce. So happy days.
Heat some oil and fry the offal till well browned. Take time over this. Make sure the hearts have a crusty coat. Remove from pan and place in small casserole.

Now the sauce.
Fry a chopped onion in butter and oil till browned and soft then add a little flour stirring all the time. Stir in some hot lamb stock and cider and a dollop of redcurrant jelly. Season.
Pour over the hearts.
Pop a lid on and braise in the oven for 2 and a half hours. Longer cooking won't harm. Probably improve it.

I am serving the hearts sliced on top of a bed of Two Potato mash. White pots and sweet pots. Then pouring the sauce over the top so it colours the mash and makes the hearts glow.

Yesterday's Victoria sponge may not have looked pretty but it tasted divine.
I've made hundreds of cakes and this one has to be one of the lightest. It was like biting into a bubble.
Needless to say but I'll say it anyway, everyone loved it.
I am a very happy cookess.

My mate Ken enjoyed his sausage and onion sandwich and devoured the jam and cream sponge shortly after. Clean plates are good plates.

Haven't done much cooking today apart from the frying of the aforementioned sos and onions, but the weekend is coming....

My Victoria sponge has turned out well.
Very light, warmly golden and springs back when prodded.
All I need to do now is fill it with raspberry jam and cream.
And when that's done and the kitchen is tidy I'll see how other amateur bakers fare in The Great British Bake Off. BBC1 20:00hrs.

Cake with a waist

 My Many Seeded Loaf