Bake,,,Updated

Speckled bread otherwise known as Bara Brith

Did lots of cooking yesterday.
For lunch: Pork chops, colcannon, braised carrots and apple sauce, For pudding a sumptuous Upside Down Pear cake served will chilled cream

The colcannon was a last minute decision. I had a small cabbage in the fridge and decided to mix mashed potatoes and barely cooked cabbage together adding some chives, unauthentic but lovely. I made this early and kept it warm in the oven.
The thick chops were placed on a mound of colcannon and surrounded by whole slightly sweet and sour carrots, then to add a little ooh la la a rivulet of gravy was poured on top. No 'jus' just ordinary gravy. The meal was met with applause and I was glad too. Glad, because I've missed cooking and it felt supremely wonderful getting back to doing what I love.

The cake was born out of finding 4 small softish pears lurking in the fridge.
After peeling them carefully I cut each in half and with some butterscotch sauce already in the cake tin I placed the little pears and some halved glace cherries inside.
A simple cake mix was whisked up in no time and dropped onto the fruit, Incredibly easy.
And as soon as the chops, carrots and colcannon were out of the oven the cake went in.
I'll get a photo here as soon as I can...

Upside Down Pear Cake

Good home cooked food is a tonic and salvation as is spending Saturday evening in The Regency Spice.... A new Indian restaurant with simple elegant white decor, attentive smiling staff and the best restaurant food I've tasted in a very long while.

Today's fare is sausagemeat bolognaise with linguine and a herby cheese scone. Pudding might just be an ice cream cone.

Happy Eating!

In my last post I rattled on about aubergine and lentil pasta. I ended up NOT having it. Plumping instead for something else which I can't even remember.
Today though I WILL be tucking into the aubergine dish.
Simmering now is a tomato sauce flavoured with fresh basil garlic and my 'homemade' wine. Being not a great wine drinker I'm often stumped as to what to use as a replacement, cider is always a good idea but today I've used a Prue Leith idea namely to mix vinegar with sugar as a substitute for the booze.
I'll never use malt vinegar only Balsamic sweetened by 2 teeny spoonful soft sugar. Odd but it works a treat..
In with the aubergine onions and tomatoes is a little chopped celery and red and green peppers. Severly seasoned with pepper and miserly seasoned with salt. A vegetable stock cube adds something too.
Braised for a while then it'll top some wholewheat spaghetti and to soak up the sauce some garlic and coriander naan bread. A queer mix but again, it works lovely.
For sweet, strawberries and ice cream. Two punnets for £1:50 from an Asian guy with a loaded stall in Southend-on-Sea.

Brilliant simple food, meatless and meaningful.