Cumberland Casserole

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From the Snowy Peak District

 I was lucky enough to be taken away with my parents this Christmas. We spent a week in the snowy and icy Peak District in Derbyshire in England. My mother was born in the area and we still have some relations. It was wonderful to catch up with my aunt, uncle and cousin. I was filled in on some fascinating family history which has been lovingly traced by my uncle, right back to the mid 1700's! Amazing. We enjoyed many slow leisurely meals and long walks in the beautiful snow covered moors. All very idyllic and relaxing.

I made dinner for the family one evening. It being a holiday house I stuck to a simple supper. The inspiration came from a recipe by Tamasin Day-Lewis. I bought some Cumberland sausages from the local butcher. This butchers shop contained a staggering amount of pork pies. The back wall was lined 4 deep and 15 high. When we returned on Stephen's Day (Boxing Day in the UK) they were gone, all of them! I was amazed by the Christmas Pork Pie consumption of these Derbyshire Folk. I guess it must be a Christmas tradition. I was lucky enough to snap one up before they were all gone - and it must have been the best pork pie I've ever had. Perfect pastry, a little jelly on the meat and moist filling - perfect with some English mustard.

Ingredients

Serves 3

5 Cumberland Sausages - skins removed

3 rashers

1/4 of a head of green cabbage - finely sliced

4 potatoes - peeled and finely sliced

1/2 large onion (or 1 small) finely sliced

1 heaped tablespoon of grainy mustard

1/2 teaspoon of dried thyme

1/2 pint of stock

A few small knobs of butter (it's Christmas)
Seasoning

Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees. Grill the rashers and cut into small pieces. In an oven proof dish make a layer of half of the cabbage, half the rashers and half the onion. Then top with the sausage meat - go on squish it out of the casing, it feels lovely! Make it into a rough layer. Top this with the grainy mustard and thyme. Then add the remaining cabbage, rashers and onion. Pour over your stock and a good grind of black pepper. Then top with the potato layer. Cover your dish with it's lid (or tin foil if you don't have a lid. The stock should be coming up past the first layer of cabbage and the sausage. As longs as the potatoes aren't covered it should be fine. Bake in the over for 1 hour and fifteen minutes. Top with freshly chopped parsley before serving with some steamed veg.

This is a lovely non-nonsense supper, that is really delicious despite it's modest ingredients. Greater than the sum of it's elements let's say. Quick and simple to put together and forget about while it bubbles away - yumbo!

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Balsamic roasted beetroot, orange and feta salad

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A recipe and some waffle - not a waffle recipe!

I’m celebrating by heading off to a festival for the bank holiday. It’s called Vantastival  - so we’re taking down our lovely van Mister to hang out with all the other old VWs. There is lots going on for the weekend - lots of music, Kila, Sleep Thieves, Fred, Ambience Affair - and little xs for eyes (my band)

Most importantly - I will be entering the second cooking competition of my life! The first was Aoife Mac’s Pie Off. This is  a camper van cook-off. All contestants must cook up the best meal they can with limited ingredients and the cooking facilities of their vans - for me that’s a two ring hob. We toyed with the idea of connecting a rotisserie arm to the engine - but sadly that ‘s not allowed - any suggestions for how to cook a nice desert on a hob would be appreciated I’m drawing a blank right  now. See picture  of the Facilities!! Wish me luck

I’ll update you all when I return - have a great bank holiday you guys!

Also a fail to report - I tried and failed to make yoghurt yesterday - but I have not been put off I will persevere - blog post to follow when successful

What a load of Waffle, here’s a recipe

Balsamic roasted beetroot, orange and feta salad
2 fresh beetroots - diced (1cm cubes)
1 orange segmented
big handful of parsley - chopped
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper
1/3 block of feta

Toss your beetroot in 1 tablespoon of olive oil, 1 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar and season. Pop into a preheated oven for 35 mins at a high heat (gas mark 7)

When it’s roasted and turning nicely deep red, remove from the oven. Prepare the rest of your ingredients in a bowl. Mix together the olive oil and 1/2 teaspoon of balsamic vinegar. Combine the beetroot with the other ingredients and toss well with the dressing.

This is a great salad - with a huge range of flavour. I had sprouted some watercress especially for this salad (it took a week to sprout) then I forgot to add it in. The sharp peppery taste would definitely add to the overall flavour, but it was still delicious without.

Here's a photo of this salad from Jenny Hammerton from Silver Screen Suppers Blog. Thanks for sending it onto me - always good to get feedback. Check out her blog - it's great themed around food the glamourous stars of yesteryear cooked! 

Almond Pesto

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With roasted vegetable pasta

Lu and I recently came across this new company, fruitfellas, who are better known as Rob and Gav, two lovely lads who for a mere 20 quid will deliver a box of gorgeous, colourful fruit and veg straight to your door. If like me you don't have a car, this is a godsend as it eliminates the need to carry tesco bags up a hill with your arm muscles straining and the bags cutting into your hands. Also, the produce is fresher & nicer than Tescos, and straight from the markets of Dublin to keep everything nice and local, kinda.

We got very excited about or box of fruit and veg, and, finding out that you can also get fresh herbs we ordered a silly amount of basil and flat leaf parsley. One week later, said herbs were still sitting around the kitchen looking slightly the worse for wear. 'We could make pesto if only we had some pine nuts' said Lu 'No way', I'm never eating pine nuts again, I'm too scared of getting Pine nut mouth' said I.

This pesto is subsequently made with almonds, which worked out perfectly. I don't know whey I never tried it before. Much cheaper than pine nuts too which I have seen at an aforementioned super market for €8 a bag!

Almond pesto

NB- I didn't really measure anything, so this is a kind of guesstimate recipe. Use your instincts about how pesto should look and you will be fine

Ingredients

1 big bunch Basil

1/2 a big bunch Flat leaf parsley

about a double handful of flaked almonds (i dunno, about 1 cup in American measurements)

about 100 ml olive oil

2 oz Parmesan cheese, finely grated

1 small clove garlic (or half a big clove)

salt and pepper

In a food processor, whizz up the herbs and almonds. Then add the olive oil slowly while you whizz until the mixture reaches your desired consistency (you know, pesto-like) stop whizzing and transfer to a bowl. Add the Parmesan and crushed garlic clove and mix with a fork. Add salt and pepper to taste, and more olive oil if you think it is too stiff.

We made a delicious pasta with this pesto.

We roasted some vine tomatoes, whole cloves of garlic(in their skins) red peppers and broccoli (that we had blanched in boiling water) all for about 40 mins. Then we cooked some pasta, threw in all the veg (took the skins of the roasted garlic first!) and a couple of big dollops of the pesto. Man was it good! It was so good I decided that Lucy and I are true culinary geniuses (genii?)

Speaking of which, I will be blogging a recipe from my new Julia Child cook book very, very soon, so get ready for butter, and lots of it.

Sausage and Lentil Supper

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Oh, Nigel!

Nigel Slater, I think I love you. Seriously, I love Nigel. Hes better than all of them, Jamie, Anthony, obviously, Hugh Fernley Whathisface, and even though it pains me to say it, he is better than Delia and even my idol Nigella. Everything he does is so amazingly simple and delicious, and he has an uncanny way of matching flavours and textures in the most basic ingredients so that his recipes sometimes look boring on paper but always work out spectacularly. His food is clean and frugal, but somehow at the same time luxurious and he uses way less fat and cream than Nigella, who, as fabulous as she is can go a bit over the top sometimes.

So I try and cook something from Nigel's Observer food column as often as possible, we've done his super delicious Lemon Posset before. A few weeks ago, Lu and I made this. True to form, it was amazing. AMAZING. You have to cook it. We stuck religiously to the recipe so I have just copied and pasted it from the observer website below. The pic is ours though.

Sausage and Lentil Supper

I make bean and sausage hotpots for winter weekends, leaving them to putter away in a slow oven until everyone comes in, freezing and begging to be fed. During the week I'd like to come back to that sort of thing, too, so I use this quick version. The parsley is crucial, as is a good meaty sausage. Serves 4.

2 tbsp olive oil

120g streaky bacon, diced

1 onion

1 large carrot

a rib of celery

300g green lentils

1 litre chicken stock

2 bay leaves

8 plump pork sausages

chopped parsley

Warm the oil in a deep, heavy casserole. Put the bacon in and let it cook over a medium heat so it colours lightly. Meanwhile, peel the onion, chop it finely and add to the bacon. Cut the carrot and celery into rough dice, and stir them in, letting them soften a little. Don't let them colour. Tip in the lentils, pour in the chicken stock, then tuck in the bay leaves and sausages, cut into short lengths if you prefer, and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat so the liquid simmers gently, season, then leave it for 30 minutes, stirring from time to time. Check the seasoning (I like it peppery), and stir in a handful of chopped parsley.

Isn't he lovely?