Pulses

I'm making a Lentil Bolognaise for tonight's tea.
And I'm on the lookout for Aduki Beans either tinned or bagged to make a Red Dragon Pie.
A beany Goulasch is on the cards too, probably for one day next week.
I won't, as I said in yesterdays post, subject Mother to a non-meat diet she has though expressed willing ness to try a meatless menu.
Good.

Something I do want to make and soon, is a Spinach and Ricotta pie. I tried a slice in  the Birdwood cafe in Southend and it was yummy.

More food tomorrow...

For a cook to lose interest in food is catastrophic.
I have and it is.
I'm eating but only fragments of what is usually on my plate. The gusto has gone.
I've been trying to rekindle my adoration of food by flicking through books but nothing has the power to keep me interested. My concentration levels are below low!

I made Sausage Saxony for tonight's tea. Mum liked it but only ate one sausage, Mr Horsehound loved it, I though thought it was just ok.
I think I'm just dead tired.

I'm thinking about cooking with less meat. A few beany veggies meals and flans with spinach and ricotta seem tempting. I wont though be serving these dishes to mum, it wouldn't be fair to inflict vegetarianism onto the old carnivore.
She'll still sink her tooth into a portion of pig.
I on the other hand can't bear the thought of eating anything which might possess a soul. I think tonight's sausage is the end.

More?

I haven't eaten much today.
A slice of wholewheat toast, half a pizza.
Numerous cups of tea.
And two chips stolen from Mr Horsehound's late night plate.

Sort of Oriental

A Mary Berry recipe which uses a lot of my fav ingredients:

Spicy Pork with Cabbage

Pork shoulder
Cabbage
Onion
Soy
Curry Powder
Carrot
Garlic
Chicken stock

Noodles

This so simple and quick to make and absolutely scrummy.

Brown the pork then add the onion, carrot and garlic. Stir fry. Add curry powder and soy and about 150ml of chicken stock. Stir and bubble.
Cook for about 20 minutes or so. No definite time. Just make sure it doesn't run dry.
Then.
Blanch cabbage leaves add to pork mix.
A handful of frozen garden peas can be thrown in too.

I always serve this with noodles. I prefer white but you might like wholewheat.
If I want to go totally Oriental a plate of spring rolls and dipping sauce is ideal.

Mary Berry recipes never fail.
I love her and want to move into with her.

Her new cooking programme on BBC2 is to-the-point and brilliant. No fussing, no excessive laughing and playing to camera just honest information from the down to earth Cordon Bleu cook.

Saucisson

Sausagemeat pasta is my favourite Italian style meal. Served with warm garlic rolls and sweetcorn it never fails to satisfy.

Here's my version of Josceline Dimbley's recipe.

For 4 people

4 or 5 pork herby pork sausages, skinned and mashed. Today I'm using Cumberland.
Pork and Leek are excellent too. As are pork with red onion and any other spicy sausage on offer.
1 onion, chopped
can of tomatoes or passata
2 big carrots, peeled and grated
about a pint of chicken stock
dried or fresh Marjoram
plenty of freshly milled salt and black pepper.
a little sugar.

Fry onions and sausagemeat till brown.
Add rest of ingredients. Simmer for about 40 mins. Till pulpy and thick.

Serve with any pasta and top with grated cheese.

This can be frozen.
This can be re-heated in the microwave.

For pudding..

I've made Peach Cobblers.
4 x four inch ramekins filled with canned drained peaches which have been swished in flour and sugar. Then a cobbler topping is added.
Plain flour, margarine, sugar mixed then 5 tablespoons of single cream added to make a stiffish dough.

Rolled out............ then discs cut out slightly smaller than the ramekins and plopped on top.
Bake for about twenty minutes till bubbling and the scone top nicely browned.

A Day of Two Meals

1.
Steak and vegetables for my friend Ken

and

2.
Roasted Chicken breast, roasted potatoes, peas and mashed swede for Mr Horsehound, mum and myself.

My Carrot Cake went down a treat too.

To me sharing food is showing love.
I like doing both.

Lentils

A smashing Lentil Bolognaise is simmering and will soon be sandwiched between a white sauce and lasagne.
I'll garlic butter some plain white bread and oven bake it.
For mudding? Oh I don;t know.
Probably some kind of fruit thing.

I made a chocolate cake today.

Cornish Pastie Pie

8 oz plain flour
2oz lard
2oz block marg
ice cold water to mix


Some rump or topside of beef, thinly sliced
a good grating of fresh swede
a chopped onion
2 grated potatoes
fresh parsley
freshly milled black pepper and salt



Make the pastry. Rub fat into flour etc etc. Add water, mix with hand NOT knife. Only way to know the true consistency of the pastry.
Leave to rest.



Very thinly slice lean steak. (I bagged a piece of rump £1.66) Reduced in price.
Add all the veg and parsley.
Turn it around in bowl.
Add lots of pepper but be careful with the salt.
Turn it again.

Cut pastry into two pieces. One slightly larger than the other.
Roll out the bigger piece and line a greased pie dish.
Pour in the meat and veg mix.
Dampen the edge of the pastry and top with smaller bit of pastry.
Decorate if  you must. I usually just crimp the edges. Brush either with beaten egg or milk.

Bake at gas 4 for about 90 minutes or so... keep an eye on the pastry. If it's going too brown, cover loosely with foil.

I'll be serving simple boiled poatoes which will be lightly crushed after cooking and seasoned.
And to add some sweetness...Spicy baked beans.

Devonshire Apple Cake

450 g cooking apples
juice of half a lemon
350 g self raising flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
350 g caster sugar or golden granulated
4 eggs
1 teaspoon almond extract or a touch more
225 g melted butter or block marg
a generous sprinkling of flaked almonds

Heat oven to gas 4
Peel core and chop apples squeeze lemon juice over them.

Put flour, baking powder, sugar, into large bowl.
Beat eggs together with almond extract and stir into flour.

Add melted butter/margarine.
Stir thoroughly to mix.

Spread half this mixture into a 12 x 9 greased and lined tin.
Top with apples.
Then carefully top with remaining mixture. It won't cover the apples evenly but fear not, it spreads out during baking.

Cover with almonds and bake for about 75 minutes or until a skewer comes out a clean when poked through the middle!

Allow to cool. Then cut into squares or fingers. Dust liberally with caster or icing sugar.

Enjoy as a pud with cream or ice cream or cold with a coffee or tea.

Don't tell the government.

Shrove Tuesday

My pancakes slid all over the too large pan resulting in lip shaped pancakes.
We all laughed.

Cake and Pie

I've just iced a Carrot Cake and will soon make a Shepherd's Pie.

The cake is one of my all time favourites. Very simple to make and oh so easy to eat. It's a Mary Berry recipe with a few tweeks.
And what makes this cake so gorgeous is that it's made by the all-in-one method. Flour, margarine, walnuts, bananas, carrots, sunflower oil, brown sugar, baking powder in the bowl then thoroughly mixed either ny hand or electric beater. Then into a cake tin to bake for 55 minutes.
No peeking otherwise it'll sink.

Then when cold it's iced with a mix of icing sugar, full fat cream cheese, margarine or butter, vanilla extract. Mix till perfectly smooth and lump and bump free. Slather on with a palette knife and decorate with walnuts.
I prefer to crush my walnuts because then everyone gets some nuts.

For our tea tonight a Shepherd's Pie.
For pudding, probably the cake.
Although I am edging towards something fruity. An apple crumble or similar. My cakes are usually for 1.Eating with a cup of tea. 2. Inclusion in Mr Horsehound's munchbox.  3. Photographing for this blog! I'll see what I can muster.

It's Shrove Tuesday tomorrow. I have lemons and syrup on the shelf. Lovely.

Just what I'll be cooking for Wednesday night I have no idea. But it'll be something tasty, chummy and easy to prep. All on account of Wednesday being FOOTBALL day.
England v. Denmark.
The highlight of my week:)

Now I must make Pie...

A Bowl Of Chilli

Minced beef and pork (Morrisons value pack)
red green and yellow peppers (a little of each)
onion (sliced)
garlic (three cloves)
passata ( a carton)
cumin seeds/chilli flakes ( however fiery you prefer your chilli)
tomato puree ( a lengthy squirt)
dark brown sugar ( an indecent amount)
Salt /pepper

Simmered till thick and rich then served in bowls with perfectly cooked white rice. A generous sprinkling of crushed tortillas on top adds a necessary crunch.
I think this is one of the nicest ways to serve minced meat.


I bought a book today. The Pudding Club recipe book. Perfect reading on a cold night. Perfect eating on any night!

Dinnertime I made a few Hot Dogs.
Fat floury Finger rolls split and filled with franks and fried onions, and covered/decorated with English mustard and tomato ketchup.
Light, tasty and very moreish.