Lamb Madras

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No speel just one hugely yummy recipe. I learnt this recipe on the Cooks Academy Certificate course - it's really good, especially the next day. Worth considering if you're cooking for a dinner party reduce the stress on the day in question.

 Serves 6

Ingredients

Sunflower Oil for frying

1kg of diced lamb - trim off excess fat

2 big onions 0 diced

4 large cloves of garlic crushed

1-2 tablespoons of fresh root ginger grated

1 handful of coriander roots - chopped

400g / 1 tin of tomatoes

1 pint good chicken stock

3 tablespoons ground cumin

1 tablespoon of curry powder (depending on strength and taste)

1/2 tablespoon of ground coriander

2 tsp of cardamon pods - seeds removed and ground in a pestle and mortar (or a spice grinder if you have one - please santa - hint hint!)

a big bunch of fresh coriander roughly chopped

Method

1) Brown of the lamb in the sunflower oil. Do in batches and set aside.

2) Sweat the onion off for a few minutes after you have finished the lamb.

3) When the onion has gone clear, add in the garlic, ginger, spices and coriander stalks. Cook out the ground spices for a few minutes stirring constantly.

4) Then add in the tomatoes and chicken stock. Cook for 10 minutes.

5) Liquidise the mixture with a stick blender.

6) Return the lamb to the pan and bring to a gently simmer. Cover and cook for 1.5 hours - 2 hours depending on the size and quality of your lamb.

7) Serve with rice or naan and some nice homemade chutney - or Sharwoods mango chutney. That stuff is like crack cocaine for me honestly can't get enough of the stuff.

I made my own naans for this recipe - but the recipe is not quite perfect so I'll wait till it is before I post one. If anyone has any good naan recipes they'd like to share that would be great. I also served it with a spiced vegetable and lentil dish and rice.

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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Chicken Rice

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Inspired by a meal I never ate in Singapore

On my travels in Thailand there were some anti government demonstrations that closed down all the airports. I had to travel overland through Thailand and Malaysia to get to Singapore to make a flight. The trip down was great fun and met some great people along the way, who were all in a similar position to me. So really felt like a bonus as I got to visit Kuala Lumpur and see parts of Malaysia. Also I got to visit my friend Alan who was living in Singapore at the time. This is the most incredible city for food - every corner is overflowing with amazing places to eat, every kind of food imaginable - super extra bonus food!

Alan's friends insisted on taking us to eat 'Chicken Rice' that she'd always had growing up. After some driving we arrived at the place only to discover it was closed, we found something else equally delicious to eat in an old golf club. The idea of the dish however never left me. This recipe is based on what I think chicken rice would have been like!

Ingredients

1 chicken

2 onions - peeled and halved

3 carrots - peeled and halved

2 sticks of celery - halved

1 thumbs length of ginger finely sliced

6 cloves of garlic gently crushed

1 red chili finely sliced
2 cups of rice (I used basmati) but any fragrant rice would be good

2 tablespoons of soy sauce

2 scallions finely sliced

1) Put the chicken, onions, carrots, celery, ginger, garlic and chili in a large saucepan. Cover with water and bring to the boil. Leave to simmer gently covered for about 2 hours.

2) Remove chicken and veg from the pot. Discard pieces of ginger, celery and most of the garlic.

3) Add the rice into the stock then bring to the boil. Simmer until the rice is cooked. 

4) Meanwhile shred the chicken, and chop up the carrots.

5) When the rice is nearly cooked add back in 4/5s chicken, carrots and add in the soy sauce. Serve scattered with some scallions and the remaining shredded chicken.

Perfect for a grey wintry day - oh yes! This dish is only a little Asian but very delicious

French Onion Soup

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Oniony Goodness

Onions and garlic both have great medicinal properties. What better way to enjoy them coming into colds and flu season, than in a rich and dark french onion soup and topped with melty guyere - in case you were feeling too virtuous!  

A big thanks again to Des Moriarty for the lovely photos

Serves 4

About 8 medium size onions

4 cloves garlic

1 tsp sugar

½ pint white wine

1 pint beef stock

1 tsp worcester sauce

1 small baguette 

Grated Guyere cheese or cheddar or conte

Peel the onions and chop them in half from root to stem. Then slice them thinly into semi-circles. Finely chop the garlic. Melt some butter and olive oil in a large pot and fry the onions and garlic with the sugar until everything has started to caramelise and turn a nice brown colour about 15 minutes.

Add the wine and stock and simmer for about 40 mins on a low heat. Add Worcester sauce, taste and adjust seasoning with salt and pepper. When done, cut the baguette into slices, 2 or 3 per person and flash them quickly under the grill to toast on both sides. Grate the cheese. Ladle the hot soup into flameproof bowls and float the toast on top of the soup. Top the toast with the grated cheese and place under the hot grill until the cheese is melter and a bit bubbly. Serve with plenty of black pepper.

Tomato Chutney

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This ain't no Ballymaloe Relish - they've got that secret recipe in a secret vault, inside a pelican, inside a safe, inside an iceberg in the North Pole! 

But this is a lovely relish - If you can resist the temptation of testing some, in the one month it has to be left to mature on the shelves. I made this after I worked an incredible week of 16/18 hour days - and thought my brain was inside out. Producing a large quantity of lovely things in jars was very soothing to my mind.

Ingredients
1kg ripe tomatoes chopped
450g white onions finely chopped
6 garlic cloves finely chopped

2 red chillies
3 apples, peeled, cored and finely chopped
4 tsp black mustard seeds
4 cloves

4cm piece fresh ginger, grated
300g sultanas
200g dark brown sugar
600ml malt vinegar

couple of sprigs of rosemary
10 cloves

Olive Oil

8 jars & lids - sterilised - I boiled them in a big pan of water, to clean and sterilise them. Then I baked them in a hot oven for 15/20 minutes just before they were ready to be filled. 

Cellophane

Grease proof paper

Rubber bands

Pretty lids

A big huge pot

Throw everything except the vinegar into your huge pot. Then add half the vinegar. Season. Bring this slowly to simmer - giving a good stir every now and then, to help dissolve sugar evenly. 

 Simmer for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add in the rest of the vinegar. Cook for another 30 minutes, stirring often until thick. 

Remove jars from hot oven and spoon chutney into them. Allow to cool.

Place a disc of waxed paper on top of the chutney and seal with airtight lids or Cellophane and rubber bands. Store for a month to allow time to mature. It should keep for up 6 months. Keep in the fridge after opening and use within 1-2 months.

This is great with cheese, I won't lie and say that I've eaten it with anything else but cheese at this stage. It would be wonderful with cold meat. macaroni cheese, pies or cold plate. Also great little things to give away as gifts. I might knock up a special Christmas batch soon - you have been warned friends and family! 

AND once again a big thanks to the lovely Des Moriarty for the pictures! 

Carrot, Chickpea & Harrisa Soup

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A Thoroughly Super Soup

So I spent a lovely weekend at home with my parents and visiting my friends and all of their little babies! Cute the lot of them. My mum cooked a great soup which she got from the BBC Food magazine. It was delicious, spicy filling soup, with a hearty consistency. A real winner and super healthy of course, thanks mum!

Ingredients
Olive oil
1 onion dices
50g of carrots
2 cloves of garlic
1 tsp of cumin seed
1 tsp of coriander seed
1 tsp of caraway seed
1 tbsp of harrisa paste
1 litre of vegetable stock (or chicken of you like)
a small bunch of parsley
410g can of chickpeas
To serve – plain Greek yogurt

In a large pan cook the onion in some olive oil on a medium heat for 5-10 minutes until translucent and soft. Next add in all the carrots and the garlic and cook uncovered for another 5 mins.

Meanwhile grind all the whole spices in a pestle and mortar or spice grinder. Tip this mixture into with the carrots and onion long with the harissa. Stir well to mix and then add in all of your stock. Bring to a nice simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes until the carrots are soft.

Then add in the drained chickpeas, and allow these to heat through. Remove one cup full of the mixture and blend the remaining with a stick blender. Add back in the cup and stir before serving with a big dollop of yogurt.

This soup sounds pretty simple – but it’s pretty spectacular. It must be the harissa – seriously make it – it’s great!

I went a bit crazy with this photo – but I like it.

Jerusalem Artichoke and Roasted Garlic Soup

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The Worlds Tastiest Soup?

I have been reading the British Larder blog for a while now, this is the first recipe of theirs that I've tried. They're cooking is of a different echelon to mine, this soup seems a good place to try and up my game a little. It's amazing, well worth the little extra effort, slow roasting the garlic lends a rich depth and a little sweetness. I am forwarding it for most tasty soup ever, anyone argue that?

You can find the recipe here, check out their other recipes while you're there too!

 If you're not familiar with a Jerusalem artichoke - then it's the little knobbly guy there on the bottom right in the picture above.

This is the best picture I got of the finished product - hot soup may have been fogging my lens - try it you really won't regret it. The other half of the roasted garlic can be spread on freshly toasted sourdough and eaten as is  -just don't serve it with the soup - that would be complete garlic overload - even for me!  For a dinner party this would be thoroughly impressive starter, and the garlic could be roasted along with other parts of the evening menu.

Braised Ham Hocks with lentils

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Lu has been talking about cooking ham hocks for weeks now. I have been seeing them in butchers windows for around €1 each so I thought it would be a challenge to figure out what on earth to do with them. I couldn't find any recipes for what I had in mind. On Mothers day we went for lunch in The Arch in Churchtown, and I had the tenderest shreds of ham hock with lentils and lambs lettuce and a piece of crisp pancetta for a starter and it was oh so delish. This recipe does not quite make the grade, its not nearly as refined as they managed to make it in the Arch, but its cheap, easy and delicious in a much more down to earth way.

Ingredients

2 ham hocks

200 grams green or puy lentils

1 large onion

2 cloves garlic

2 sticks celery

2 carrots

1 bay leaf

1 tbsps fresh thyme leaves

water

Begin by steeping the ham hocks in water overnight for at least 12 hours to get rid of some of the saltiness. Then in a big pot with a lid, cover them with fresh cold water and bring them to the boil. When the water has begun to boil, drain it and cover again with fresh cold water. Bring this to the boil and simmer continually for about 2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 250c

Chop the onions finely and dice the other vegetables. Drain the ham hocks and reserve some of the cooking liquid (about a pint) Fry the onion, chopped garlic and thyme in the same pot you used to boil the ham hocks (just needs to be big enough to fit everything and have a tight fitting lid). Then add the chopped vegetables and cook for a minute, followed by the lentils and bay leaf. Cover this with a mixture of water and the cooking liquid until you have covered everything by about an inch of liquid. Add the ham hocks and cover with tin foil and the lid, and place in the oven for 1 hour and 30 mins. Check every half and hour in case the liquid is running low, you don't want it to go dry!

When cooked, the meat should be falling away from the bones. serve with the lentils and some cabbage.

You can use any leftovers to make a delicious lentil soup with ham!

Yum yum pigs.... foot?

Chicken soup

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For your sick chicken

I've been languishing in bed for the past three days- thank God for laptops! I even missed our St.Patrick's day party, which sounded like it went with a bang judging by the noises coming from downstairs and the state of my friends coming upstairs to pay me a visit. When Lu and I first lived together in College, I introduced her to the joys of a good chicken soup, which, according to my mother can cure everything from a broken heart to a broken toe, but its definitely the best comfort for a cold or flu.

So Lu, like the great friend she is came home from work last night and cooked me this, my Mum's chicken soup special. Joy! I had some for dinner and just ate this delicious bowl of goodness for my lunch-in-bed. I feel better already!

Ingredients:

4 chicken legs

1 large onion, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 inch cube of fresh ginger, grated

1 red chilli, chopped and de-seeded

about 2 1/2 litres water

2 carrots, cut in half

2 sticks celery, cut in half

1 bay leaf

6 whole black peppercorns

In your largest pot, saute the onion, garlic, ginger and chili in some olive oil until the onion is translucent. Add the chicken legs and the water (the water should cover the chicken legs by about 1 inch, and will probably reach the top of your pot), followed by the rest of the ingredients. Bring to the boil, and then simmer at a low heat for anything from 1 -2 hours. depending on how long you have.

Remove the chicken legs from the broth and strip away all the meat. Discard the skin and bones and shred the chicken meat. Return this to the pot. Fish out the peppercorns. You can eat the carrots and celery too if you like, of leave them out if you don't fancy it.

Serve with noodles, rice, dumplings, or just by itself. Its nice garnished with spring onions.

Make a huge pot and eat it for a couple of days... until your cold is all gone!

Beetroot & Celeriac Gratin

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This is a very simple recipe that I got from the Irish Times this weekend - by Domini Kemp. it sounded tasty and involved a turnip that had been hiding in my veg drawer for some time, so that was enough to convince me!

It's a nice simple dish that would be great served along side some roast beef and horseradish.

Ingredients

1 head of celeriac - finely sliced

2 small beetroot finely sliced

1/2 turnip - finely sliced

3 cloves of garlic crushed

300 mls of cream 

Some fresh nutmeg

Seasoning - quite a bit is neede

Layer all of your veg up in an oven proof dish. Mix together the cream, seasoning and the nutmeg. Pour this over the veg and bake at 150 or gas mark four for an hour and a half. Check that it's not drying out after about an hour - if it's getting too crispy - just pop the lid on.

The beetroot gives this dish a nice pink hue and celeriac a nice texture. It's covered in a thin crispy top which gives way to layers and layers of delicious creamy sauce and bright dashes of colour.

Lemon & Ginger Green Tea

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A kick for your immune system

If I ever feel a little yucky, I make myself a big pot of this and drink it all, beside the fire/computer/tv. The next day I'm feeling wonderful and dance my way to work! Well maybe not quite, but it's a big shot of vitamins and anti-oxidants and re-hydration that can't be bad for you. Sarah has a bit of a cold - so she added whiskey to hers, and said it was lovely.

Ingredients

makes one big teapot full

1 lemon - juiced

2 teaspoons of green tea

1 thumb sized piece of root ginger - sliced finely

Boil the kettle and heat your pot. Put in the tea leaves and ginger. Pour over the boiling water and leave to steep for 3 minutes. Then before serving add in the fresh lemon juice.

There's lots of variations for this, so if you like mint - add some fresh mint, add some honey if you'd prefer it sweeter - or have a sore throat. I've added cayenne pepper before and also a sprig of fresh rosemary makes for a nice brew also. Replace a lemon with a few oranges, the options are endless.

In other exciting blog related news - I bought a new camera - watch our pictures improve (I hope!) Big thanks to Kate and Brian for helping me out with the purchase - you guys rock!

Roast Pear & Parsnip Soup

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The Bare Necessities

My sister in law Jessica is the healthiest person I know. She's a veggie who rarely indulges in sugar, wheat or dairy and as a result she is never sick, has a figure that I would kill for and perfect, skin, hair, teeth etc etc. Her two year old has never had a cold or any other ailment in her life. Go figure...
 

Anyway, Jessica is also a great cook and over the years has become adept at making delicious recipes with none of the naughty stuff included, but you would hardly know. I'm talking baked goods here, chocolate brownies, muffins and the like with no sugar wheat or dairy but still amazingly light and delish. (I'm angling for a guest blog from her some time soon!). I was telling her about our vegetable box and the fact that we had a surplus of parsnips, and she suggested I try making pear and parsnip soup. So I did, and here is my version of what sounds like a strange combination... its pretty sweet but if you don't eat any refined sugar I guess it could be a nice treat if you have a sweet craving. In typical me - style, I ate it with toast slathered in butter and melted cheese, which kind of defeats the purpose of such a healthy, satisfying and filling soup.
 

Ingredients

1 onion
6-8 parsnips
1 pear
1 ltr veg stock 

salt & pepper

Cut up the onion into 8ths, peel the parsnips and cut them lengthwise into quarters and then cut these quarters in half. Cut the pear in half and remove the core. Place everything on a roasting tray and drizzle with olive oil. Roast in a hot oven for about 3/4 of an hour until the parsnips are soft all the way through.

Transfer to a large saucepan and add the hot stock. Using a stick blender, whizz everything together until smooth. If you think it's too thick, add more stock. Season to taste.

Reheat and serve!

Paneer Tomato & Green Bean Masala

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So it's been a while since we went to the land of curry. I'm on a bit of an 'eat less meat buzz' right now, and I had some paneer lurking in my fridge for a week or two now. I think I should prob brush up on new Indian recipes, I've fallen into a rut with the spices and herbs I use - but hey they work - so why change!

Paneer is a lovely dense cheese, used in Indian cooking, like tofu, but much nicer. It comes in a block, and can be added to curries and cooked in the mixture, or I prefer to fry it a little to give it a nice golden brown colour and then allowing it to bubble away in the mixture to absorb all the depth and spice of your chosen curry. I made a Panner Butter Masala which is delicious, creamy and rich, make this if you feel like a treat, this however is a more healthy way of using this great cheese - inspired by the delicious food served at Govindas if you've never been it's well worth trying one of their three restaurants in Dublin City for a HUGE portion of healthy delicious food.

Ingredients

I block of paneer - cut into small cubes 2cm squares

2 small red onions - finely diced

4 large tomatoes - chopped (skins removed if you prefer)

3 cloves garlic crushed

1 inch of ginger root grated

a handful of green beans cut in half

1 red chilli (seeds optional - I optioned them in!)

1 teaspoon of mustard seeds

1 teaspoon of cumin seeds

1 teaspoon of turmeric

1 teaspoon masala curry powder

1 pinch of asa foetida (optional)

3 curry leaves (bay leaves will do)

3 cardamon pods

1/2 teaspoon of funugreek (ground)

1/4 stock cube

First dry roast the whole spices (mustard seeds, cumin and cardamon seeds) in a dry frying pan for a few minutes until fragrant. Remove to pestle and mortar and crush to release the flavors. The heat some oil in your frying pan and fry the cubes of paneer 10 or so at a time - till a nice golden colour on a few sides. Then remove to a plate and continue till they're all done.

Alternatively - use a pre-mixed spice - like garam-masala - or any type of curry powder/paste that you  have, don't let my extensive list of spices put you off!  

Add in the onion, cook for one minute before adding in the garlic and ginger. Cook these for several minutes until the onion is translucent. Then stir in your crushed spices and cook for a further minute or two, then add in the dried spices and stir. After this tip in the chopped tomatoes and stock cube add a little water and bring up to simmer, cover and leave o cook for about 20-25 minutes. Before you're ready to serve put the green beans on top of the curry - cover for two minutes, and then shy should be cooked but not mushy, stir well and serve.

I serve this with some jasmine rice and a side of aloo-gobi.

All veggies came from our box from Fruitfellas - I feel healthier just looking at this!

Roasted pepper and butternut squash soup

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All the Kings Veg

The aforementioned Fruitfellas box of goodies arrived and we found we suddenly had what seemed like several hundred red and yellow peppers in the fridge and in the box, and we needed to do something with them. The communal fruit/veg bowl also harboured half a butternut squash that was approaching the end of its time on earth. Something needed to be done. Fast.

So of course, we made soup, and very delicious it was too.

Roasted pepper and butternut squash soup

1/2 a large butternut squash

6 red and yellow peppers

handful cherry tomatoes or 2 normal tomatoes, quartered

1 head garlic

about 1 pint light stock (chicken or veg)

Olive oil

salt and pepper

Peel and slice the squash and place in your largest roasting tin along with the tomatoes and the deseeded peppers which have been cut into quarters. Bash the head of garlic so that it comes apart but don't peel the cloves. Add them to the tin and drizzle everything with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.

Roast in the oven at 200c or about 40 mins or until the squash is totally soft and the peppers are browned.

Transfer the vegetables to a saucepan. Peel the roasted garlic cloves and add these in too. add in the stock until it just covers the vegetables in the saucepan. Using a stick blender, whizz everything together until smooth. If its too thick, add a bit more stock until you get to the consistency you like.

Season to taste and serve with !

Lamb Tagine

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Cinnamon girls

Never really having been a fan of cinnamon with meat/savory things, I had never cooked a Tagine. Now I see the error of my ways. Cinnamon and meat can be truly amazing as long as you are not too heavy handed with the spice rack. The balance of flavors in the spices in this recipe are just perfect. I found it on this great blog, and have altered it only ever so slightly.

Cook it for three hours and it becomes melty, savory, sweet and delicious. I really want to make this again soon, it was so the perfect supper for a cold Sunday. The kind of thing that makes me say 'MMmmmmmm' repeatedly and at an inappropriately loud level.

Ingredients
Serves 4

2 tsp turmeric

2 tsp paprika

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

2 tbsp plain flour

600g diced lamb shoulder

1 large onion, finely chopped

4 garlic cloves, chopped

2 tsp cinnamon

2 tbsp grated ginger

2 tbsp tomato puree

2 tsp coriander seeds, crushed

12 cherry tomatoes

12 dried apricots

2 tbsp sultanas

olive oil

salt and pepper

2 tbsps natural yogurt

Pre heat your oven to 160c. Mix together the flour and the turmeric, paprika and cayenne, then use this to coat your lamb chunks. In a large casserole (one that has a tight fitting lid) heat some olive oil and fry off the meat until it has browned. Remove from the casserole and set aside

In the same casserole, sweat the onions and garlic until they are soft and translucent. Then add the rest of the spices, and stir, followed by the rest of the ingredients and the browned meat.

Add in hot water until you have nearly but not quite covered the meat. Stir everything around to get all the meat juices and flour at the bottom of the pan to dissolve into the water.

Cover the casserole with the lid (or some tin foil if you have no lid) and bake in the oven for 2 hours and 30 mins (or longer if you like).

Check the Tagine, give it a stir and if its too liquid, place back in the oven with the lid off for about 20 mins. Taste and add salt and pepper to season if necessary. Stir in the yogurt before serving to give it a bit of extra richness and a lovely creamy texture

Delicious served with cous cous or bulghar wheat

Lancashire Hotpot

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Its Snowing!

This was one of the first dishes I ever learned how to cook when I was a kid. My mother used to make it all the time and I loved to do the layering bit as a wee-un. Anyway, my mum is not from Lancashire, in fact she is from the south of England, but Im sure she knew what she was doing.

So in the midst of the recent snowy weekend after coming home wet and cold from making a snowman in the Phoenix park (pictured below!) I decided this would be perfect dinner for a sunday night in in front of the fire. It was.

Ingredients

2 potatoes per person

2 lamb chops per person

1 onion

1/2 litre water per person

1 tsp worcester sauce per person

1 tbsp flour per person

Thyme sprigs

1 bay leaf

First, heat a tablespoon of oil in a casserole and brown the lamb chops off until they have a good brown crust. Se them aside. Chop the onion. In the same pan, saute the onion, put the lid on and cook for about 10 mins until the onion is soft. Add the flour to the pan and stir for a minute until all absorbed. Then slowly add the water, stirring all the time. The sauce should thicken a bit, but not too much. Pour it into a jug or some other vessel temporarily.

Slice the potatoes finely, leaving the skins on. Place one single layer of the potatoes on the bottom of the pot you used to make the sauce, then put a layer of meat and season, then another layer of spuds. repeat until it is all used up. Pour the sauce over the whole lot.

Cover the pot with a lid and place in the oven at 180c. Cook for about an hour or until the top is crisp and bubbly.

Serve.

Roast Loin of Pork with apple stuffing and roasted winter vegetables

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We had 10 for a pre christmas Monday night dinner. Lu, Sarah & I ( all three residents of number 7) decided we would each cook a course and really wanted to do a big roast, so I asked if I could do the main event. Sucker for punishment, me.

Thinking we were going to be feeding 12, I bought two MASSIVE pieces of pork loin and asked the butcher to open them out so that I could stuff them. In the end we had 10 people but two were veggies. So between 8 of us we still managed to polish off almost all of the pork, which is a testament to how well it turned out!

We dressed up the table with green napkins, my green goblets from Habitat and some gorgeous green and pink woven fabric that Sarah had spare as she works as a textile designer. Then Pamela arrived with a big poinsettia which we used as a centrepiece. The whole thing was very christmassy indeed!

I made the stuffing the night before heres the recipe for it, first of all

Apple and rosemary stuffing:

4 oz butter

4 tbsps olive oil

1 bag breadcrumbs

1 white onion,

1 red onion

4 cloves garlic

1 handful sage

3 or 4 stalks rosemary

1 eating apple, diced.

Melt the butter with the oil in a large pot. Dice the onion and garlic finely and saute in the butter and oil. When almost soft add the diced peeled apple. Cook for 2 minutes or so but don't let the apple get too soft. add the chopped sage and rosemary and stir in for a few seconds, then add the breadcrumbs and stir well so that they absorb all the butter and oil. Season to taste. Leave to cool.

Roast stuffed loin of pork with roasted winter vegetables.

Loin of pork

olive oil

1 quantity stuffing

5 rashers of streaky bacon

8 cloves of garlic

parsnips & carrots peeled & cut into quarters or eighths.

Salt & Pepper

Open out the loin of pork where the butcher has cut or 'butterflied' it. using a rolling pin bash the meat to flatten it out a bit, then make a 'sausage' shape out of the stuffing and place in the centre of the cut. Bring the sides of the meat back together. Cover the join with the rashers and use string (not plastic string or it will melt!) to tie the whole thing together. You will need to ties 4 -6 lengths of string around the joint.

Place the parsnips, carrots and garlic cloves (unpeeled!) in a large oven tray and toss in about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Place the Pork, bacon side up on top of the vegetables. Rub salt, pepper and olive oil all over the joint. The meat will need to cook for 20 mins per pound so weigh it and place it in an oven at about 230c for however long you need. Mine took 2 hours and 20 mins!! so that tells you how ridiculously big it was! Have a peek at it every now and then and if you think its getting burned or dry on the top just put a bit of tin foil over it.

This makes the best gravy as roasting it on top of the veggies will produce delicious juices. When you are almost ready to serve, transfer the meat to a chopping board and let it rest in a warm place with some tin foil over it. Put the vegetables in a dish and put them back in the oven to keep warm. Take the roasting dish and place it on a low heat on your stove. remove any large bits of burned material, and take the roasted garlic cloves out of their skins. Using the back of a wooden spoon, mash the roasted garlic cloves into the juices. Add 1 or 2 tbsps of flour, depending on how thick you like your gravy and stir. Then add some stock & white or red wine. you will need about 1 pint of liquid altogether if you are cooking for 10 people. Stir the liquid in to the pan juices. Season to taste. I also like to add a bit of apple sauce when making pork. Stir until thickened and pour into a jug or gravy boat.

Serve with roast potatoes and apple sauce, which you can make by cutting up 4 or 5 apples and throwing the pieces in a pot with about 3 oz of butter. Stew this for about 10 mins, stirring all the time and add some salt to taste.

Pie Off!!

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Food blogging friends
We got invited by Aoife from I Can Has Cook to enter a pie into the first annual pie-off, so I gladly accepted. I have been reading Aoifes blog for a good while now, by entering this competition I would be meeting her face to face - ha ha! Then we realised we’d already met a few years ago anyway, but that’s another story.

Lola and I thought long and hard over our pie choices, many pies were discussed at length, so thanks guys for indulging our endless food talk. We weighed up our options carefully, considered some bad and good pie puns.

We did make a great Beef and Guinness pie back in July, but we thought we’d need to push the boat out and go a little extra special for this one.

As I undertook the shopping I imagined a master chef style judging -’now this is a big disappointment guys.... hmm awfully bland....’ The pressure was on.
We chose a classic game pie, which we named

Granny Speed on the Game Pie
Now the story behind this was I borrowed a ceramic blackbird from my mum - which you ‘ bake in the middle of the pie’ and it holds the pastry above the filling preventing sogginess and also housing the vent to let out the steam.


This little birdy belonged to my great grandmother whose surname was Speed - get it!
Anyways the ingredients for the pie were sourced from Moore Street and also from Fallon and Byrne. We decided to cook the filing the night before so that the flavours could rest over night and develop properly.


So I wobbled home on Friday after a few Friday pints of Guinness and Rayne prob did most of the work - but I assisted. She even filleted two saddles of rabbit - hats off!Less rambling - More recipe

Ingredients
1/2lb of rabbit - filleted and chopped into 2/3 cm cubes
1/2 lb of pheasant, chopped into 2/3 cm cubes
1/2 pound of venison flank cubed
4 oz of streaky bacon - de-rinded and diced
2 red onions
2 cloves of garlic crushed
1/2 pint of wine
1 oz of plain flour4oz of shitake mushrooms
4oz of button mushrooms
1 bay leaf
a tablespoon of red currant jelly
Seasoning
1/2 pint of chicken stock
Zest and juice of one orange
Puff pastry (bought not homemade - sorry!)

With a little oil - fry off the pheasant and rabbit in batches in your pan to brown on each side. Dont brown your venison as apparently this makes it very tough. Set aside.

Cook your onion for a minute then add in the garlic and bacon - after about 2/3 mins add in the mushrooms. Fry until the onion is transparent and the bacon getting nicely cooked - but not too brown. Stir in the flour and cook for a few seconds before adding in the browned meat, unbrowned venison, wine, stock, bay leaf, orange juice, zest and jelly.

Mix well, bring to the boil and then lower to a gentle simmer. Cover and cook for about an hour and twenty mins. Allow to cool, before refrigerating overnight.

Next day - pop your mixture into a high sided pie dish, around your little birdy. Then cut your pastry to be a lot wider than your dish, as it will puff and shrink. Drape t over your pie dish - and cut a hole for the steam to escape. Brush with some beaten egg. Cook at Gas Mark 6 for 2o mins and then turn down to gas mark 5 for a further 30 mins or so - till golden and delicious on top and bubbly underneath.

The mixture when heated in the oven gets a lot more liquidy so don’t worry if your cold mixture appears a little thick.

The pie-off was a great idea for a fun night. All pies were marked on taste - creativity and presentation. The total scores were added together to determine the winner. We cooked the pies in rotation and then everyone had a little taste then - then a little taste of the next pie - - so nobody got stuffed but everybody was well fed.

Aoife created a shepherds pie with minced venison and juniper berries, which was the tastiest shepherd pie I’ve ever eaten.Darragh created a sumptuous Moroccan lamb pie with toasted cumin seeds rolled into the pastry - a fantastic idea! Nice big lumps of carrot in there too. He added in some 'ras al-hanout' which I've never heard of, so I bet this was the secret ingredient.

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?