Linseneintopf

Warming, tasty one pot thick lentil and bacon soup that we first tasted in mountain restaurants in Austria. You can vary the veg according to what you have hanging around. 

200g green or brown lentils 

1 litre chicken stock 

200g bacon, chopped 

1 small onion 

1 leek

1 red or yellow pepper 

1 red chilli 

1 large carrot 

1 large sweet potato 

2 parsnips 

2 medium potatoes 

2 cloves garlic 

1 courgette 

2 sticks celery 

1 heaped tablespoon toenjang (Korean soybean paste)

1 tbsp tomato puree

1 tsp dried oregano 

1/2 tsp smoked paprika 

3 sun dried tomatoes in oil

2 bayleaves

1/2 tin tomatoes 

Dash of truffle oil 

Pour boiling water over the lentils and leave to soak for an hour. Chop the bacon, fry it gently with some oil from the jar of sundried tomatoes. Chop all the vegetables. Toss the onion, leeks, celery, Chili, courgette, oregano and pepper in with the bacon and cook for 3 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to the boil. Close the pressure cooker, bring to pressure and cook for 10 minutes. Remove from heat and let it come down from pressure slowly. Serve with crusty bread and butter.

Roast pork Thai style Mu Deng

Marinade:

1 pork loin about 1kg

1/2 tbsp fish sauce 

1 tbsp soy sauce 

2 tbsp hoisin sauce 

1 tbsp mirin 

1 tbsp cooking sherry ( I used sloe whisky)

2 tsp sugar

1 tbsp grated ginger 

3 cloves garlic crushed 

1/2 tsp five spice powder

3 star anise crushed

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 hard boiled egg

1 tbsp cornflour 

Put all the marinade ingredients in a large ziplock.

Put the pork loin into the bag, cutting it in half if necessary to fit it in.

Shake the bag around to coat the meat, then leave it to marinate for at least 2 hours or overnight.

Take the meat out of the marinade and put on a baking sheet on foil. Preheat the oven to very hot, 230 degrees. 

Roast for 10 minutes, en reduce the heat to 180 degrees. Baste the meat with the marinade, then roast for a further 40 to 45 minutes turning and basting occasionally until cooked through.

Leave to stand for 15 minutes while you make the sauce , then carve into slices.

For the sauce, put the reserved marinade in a small saucepan with the hard boiled egg. Bring it to the boil, then take out the egg once it has boiled. Mix 1 tbsp cornflour with some water to make a paste, then top up to 2 cups. Stir the flour water into the sauce and heat until thickened.

Slice the egg, and serve with the pork, some rice and shredded spring onions and cucumber with the sauce.

Kedgeree

This used to be a favourite, making frequent appearances on the family menu. However, we must have overdone it, as the mere suggestion of it suddenly produced wrinkled noses and shaking heads. Anyway, we thought it was time to give it another chance and, hey, it was really tasty! And quick and easy. You can get loads of different flavours of smoked mackerel now. Today I used sweet chilli flavour,which was very tasty and moreish with a surprising kick.

For 2: 

250g smoked mackerel, flaked and checked for bones

2 hardboiled eggs, chopped 

1 onion or 2 shallots, finely chopped 

175g basmati rice

1/2 tsp ground turmeric 

1 small courgette, finely chopped 

Olive oil

50g butter

Small bowl frozen garden peas

1. Fry the onion/shallots and courgette in olive oil in a large frying pan until caramelised 

2. Boil the rice with the turmeric for about 15 minutes, until cooked, adding the peas halfway through.

3. Over a low heat toss the fish and eggs into the onion and courgette mixture with the butter until warmed through. 

4. Toss in the drained rice and peas and mix well. Check seasoning; usually the fish is pretty salty so don't add any until you've tasted it. Add a grind or two of black pepper.

5. Serve immediately.

Chestnut Soup

Foraging has become a bit trendy recently, but we've always liked getting something for nothing, so we headed out to a local wood for a stroll and chestnut gathering opportunity. There were loads, and in the end, with two full big bags, we had to force ourselves  to stop looking down at the ground trying to spot yet more candidates, bigger and glossier than the ones already in our bags.

Back home, we headed to the Internet to find out how to deal with the mountain of shiny brown nuts.

First attempt involved laboriously and hazardously cutting an x into each nut before roasting them in the oven for half an hour and attempting to peel them whilst still warm. I left the other half to it, and a couple of hours and a couple of bleeding fingers later about a third of the chestnuts were cooked and peeled. There had to be an easier way.

Back to the land of YouTube we went, this time appending our search with 'easy way'. Bingo! Cut the nuts in half, bung a handful of nut halves in the microwave for 12 seconds, remove from the microwave and ease the skins off with some pliers whilst the nuts are still warm. Repeat until done. Then roast the nuts in the oven at 180c for about 15 minutes, but keep an eye on them as you don't want them to dry out or burn. 

Next question, what to do with the stockpile of foraged goodness. We made this soup. It was delicious; rich and creamy and full of flavour. I'm not sure I'd have guessed that chestnuts were in it, but this recipe is definitely a keeper.

2 onions, chopped (I might try leeks next time)

3 sticks celery, roughly chopped 

1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped 

2 large carrots, peeled and chopped 

A couple of sprigs of thyme 

A bayleaf

About 75g cooking bacon, diced

500g peeled cooked chestnuts 

1.5 litres gammon or chicken stock (I used half of each because that's what I had in the freezer)

For the croutons:

75g stale white bread, cubed

1 tbsp cooking bacon, finely chopped 

Small clove garlic crushed 

Glug olive oil

Fresh thyme leaves, about half a teaspoon or a couple of sprigs worth.

Sauté the onion, bacon, celery, and garlic in olive oil until slightly softened.

Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to the boil.

Simmer for about 40 minutes until everything is soft.

While it's simmering, make the croutons by frying the bacon in the olive oil for a couple of minutes, before adding the bread cubes and thyme. Fry the cubes until they are golden toasty and crispy, adding the garlic for the last minute to stop it from burning.

Remove the thyme and bayleaf from the soup and purée with a hand blender.

Scatter with the croutons and serve immediately.

Smoked mackerel pate

Easy, quick and irresistible.

250g smoked mackerel fillets, skin taken off and bones removed (use plain or any flavour that takes your fancy, eg sweet chili or peppered)

2 tbsp sour cream or creme fraiche

2 tbsp soft cream cheese 

2 spring onions roughly chopped or some snipped chives (optional)

Lemon juice to taste

Roughly flake the fish, checking it for any stray bones, then put it in a blender with the sour cream, cream cheese, onions and about 1 tbsp lemon juice. Blend until fairly smooth,but still with some texture;you want to get rid of any big chunks of fish. I don't usually measure the sour cream and cream cheese and sometimes I just use cream cheese on its own. Just add until you have your ideal texture and flavour; it's a very forgiving recipe.

Taste and add more lemon juice if you feel it needs it.

Serve with Pita bread or any nice bread, or as a dip with crudités.

Ri

Blackberry and apple crispy crumble bars

100g plain flour 

80g rolled oats 

85g butter

70g Demerara sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon 

120g blackberries 

2 small apples, peeled, cored and sliced

2 tsp granulated sugar 

1 heaped tsp. Cornflour 

If you use a microwave safe baking dish about 20cm x 20 cm square you can save on washing up.

Put the butter straight in the baking dish and melt in the microwave (about 1 min, stirring occasionally).

Mix together the oats, flour, brown sugar and cinnamon in a separate bowl, then stir it straight into the butter in the baking pan. 

Mix it well, then remove 1/2 cup of the mixture and set it aside.

Press the remaining mixture into the baking pan with the back of a spoon.

Toss the fruit into the cornflour and granulated sugar, then put it on top of the base mixture.

Sprinkle the reserved half cup of oat mixture over the top and bake at 180 c for about half an hour until golden.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool in the pan before cutting into 9 squares.

Serve as is, or with cream or ice cream.

Blackberry and apple cobbler

This was a delicious alternative to a crumble. The scone topping was light and fluffy. We picked the blackberries that morning and paired them with some apples from my aunt's tree. Serve with custard.

About 8oz 225g blackberries 

About 5 medium apples, peeled, cored and roughly chopped.

A tablespoon or two of sugar, depending on the tartness of the fruit and your taste

225g self raising flour

75g sugar 

75g cold butter, cubed

1 egg, beaten 

About 6 tbsp buttermilk (normal milk would probably work ok)

Put the fruit and the 1 or 2 tablespoons sugar in a microwave proof lidded dish. Cook for 5 mins or so until the fruit is slightly softened, but not completely cooked. 

Transfer the fruit to a 20 to 25 cm square baking dish.

Make the scone topping:

Using a stand mixer or food processor or fingers, rub the butter into the flour. 

Stir in the sugar.

Mix in the egg and buttermilk; you want quite a wet dough.

dollop lumps of the mixture roughly on top of the fruit.

Bake at 200c for about 30 minutes until topping is golden.

Dollops of dough!

Grandy's Stew

400g stewing beef, cut into small cubes
400g carrot
150g - 200g parnsnip
400g swede
500g potato
2 onions
100g yellow split peas
100g red lentils
300g tin of baked beans
a good squirt of HP sauce
a good squirt of Heinz tomato ketchup
salt and pepper to taste (or you can use a beef stock cube instead of the salt)

A bay leaf 

Cut up all the veg into chunks, or slice it using a food processor.
Put everything into a pressure cooker with enough water to come about half way up the veg - you don't want it to burn and stick to the bottom, but you also don't want it too soupy.
Put on the lid and bring the pressure cooker up to pressure. Cook for about 15 mins, but be careful it doesn't burn - I sometimes bring it down from pressure after about 10 minutes and give it a stir, checking it's not sticking and adding a bit more boiling water if necessary. You want it to cook long enough for the veg to be tender and the lentils and split peas to be soft - they are not pleasant if they are crunchy!

You can eat it as is, with some nice fresh bread, but we like it with dumplings, which is a bit of a pain, because you need to heat up the oven, tip the stew into an ovenproof casserole dish and cook it for half an hour or so in the oven. We think it's worth it though.

For the dumplings:

• 8oz self raising flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp mixed herbs
• 4oz suet
• 1 - 2 tbsp water to mix

Preheat the oven to 190 C. Tip the stew into a casserole dish and put the dumplings on top. Bake with a lid on for about 15 mins, then remove the lid and bake for another 15 mins until the dumplings are risen and golden on top.

Salmon microwave parcels

Really quick, really easy and very little clearing up. Just put salmon fillets and a selection of finely chopped vegetables in a parchment or microwave bag, throw in some seasonings and zap in the microwave for five minutes. Leave to stand while your new potatoes finish cooking, then open up and eat. I had some parchment bags that I brought back from Canada. You can also buy microwave steam bags. Or you could fold up a sheet of parchment, but it might split open.

Ingredients for one person.

About 175 - 200g salmon fillets, cut into 2 pieces.

About half a courgette, finely chopped 

1 large portobello mushroom or a couple of smaller mushrooms 

1 large spring onion finely chopped 

1 small clove garlic crushed 

About a quarter of a large yellow pepper, finely chopped 

A dash of white wine vinegar 

A dash of sesame oil

1 tsp powdered teriyaki seasoning (you could try different seasonings according to what you like) 

Salt and pepper 

Season the salmon with salt and pepper, then throw all the ingredients in the bag, fold it over to seal and give it a little shake to distribute everything around.

Put on a microwave safe plate with the fold underneath to stop it opening up and cook on full power for 5 minutes, giving it another little shake half way through.

Remove from the microwave and leave to stand for about 5 minutes, while you finish off cooking your spuds. Toss the spuds in some butter, tip the contents of the bag onto the plate with the spuds. There will be a nice little sauce in the bag.

The fish and veg will make a delicious sauce whilst it cooks - make sure you tip it all out on the plate!

Finish boiling the potatoes whilst the fish rests in its parcel

Salmon Pie

This recipe is based on salmon coulibiac, a pie of Russian origin containing rice, fish, dill, onion and mushroom. In this version I left out the mushroom and because I happened to have some leftover roasted butternut squash I added that. I don't like dill, so I replaced it with tarragon. This makes quite a large pie, enough to serve about 8 people. In Delia Smith's version, she suggests serving it with foaming hollandaise sauce.

1 onion, finely chopped

1 tsp dried tarragon

1 oz butter

100g basmati rice, soaked for 10 minutes in cold water, rinsed and drained

3 hardboiled eggs, chopped

700g salmon

1 bay leaf

500ml vegetable or fish stock

2 sheets of puff pastry (about 600g)

optional - half a butternut squashed, roasted in oil, seasoned and chopped roughly (I had some left over!)

squeeze of lemon juice

seasonings

1 beaten egg

1. Preheat the oven to 190C.
2. Melt the butter in a heavy based saucepan and gently saute the onion with the tarragon until the onion is softened, but not browned.
3. Stir in the basmati rice, add the stock and bring to the boil. 
4. Cook for around 15 minutes, adding more stock if the rice boils dry, until the rice is just cooked and all the liquid absorbed. Leave to cool.
5. Meanwhile, put the salmon on a large sheet of foil, squeeze some lemon juice over and season with salt and pepper. Fold the foil over to form a loose parcel and bake in the oven for 10 minutes.
6. When the salmon is just cooked, remove it from the oven, pour any liquid from the salmon into the rice and leave the salmon to cool.
7. Flake the salmon into a large bowl and stir in the chopped egg.
8. When everything is cool, place one sheet of the pastry on a sheet of baking paper on a baking tray.
9. Spread half the rice mixture over the pastry, leaving a border of around 2 inches along each long edge.
10. Pile the salmon on top of the rice, pressing it down and shaping it into a brick shape.
11. Spread the other half of the rice over the salmon, pressing down again to shape into a brick.
12. Press the pieces of butternut into the top layer of rice.
13. Brush around the edges of the pastry with beaten egg.
14. Roll the second piece of pastry out so it is slightly larger than the first, and then use it to cover the first piece and the filling.
15. Press down the edges to seal the parcel, crimping them in a decorative manner. Use a knife to decorate the pastry eg with fishes or swirls.
16. At this stage you can cover the pie with cling film and refrigerate overnight until you are ready to bake it.



Layering the rice and salmon

17. Brush with beaten egg and bake in a preheated oven at 180 C for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown. 

Adding an optional layer of roasted butternut

Crimped and decorated and ready for an egg wash

Lime Coriander Rice

We had this with some vegetarian chili and some Mexican style belly pork carnitas and it was really good. We had tortillas too, so this quantity was fine for six, but without the tortillas you might need to make a bit more. If you really like lime, you could add the zest and juice of another one as it was quite subtle. It would probably also go well with Thai dishes.

Serves 4 - 6

300g basmati rice
1 onion, finely chopped
sunflower oil
bunch fresh coriander, finely chopped
salt
chopped red chili (optional)
juice and zest of one lime
2 1/14 cups water

1. Rinse the rice, then soak for about 15 minutes in cold water. Drain and rinse again.
2. Fry the onion (and chili if using) in sunflower oil in a heavy based saucepan until soft and slightly caramelized.
3. Add the rice and finely chopped lime zest to the pan, stir it around for a minute to coat with the onion.
4. Pour in 2 and a quarter cups of cold water. Add 1/2 tsp salt and stir, then cover with a lid and simmer very gently for 15 minutes, by which time the water should all be absorbed and the rice perfectly cooked. Try to avoid lifting the lid and stirring too often - once should be enough if the heat is low.
5. Once the rice is cooked, remove from the heat and stir in the lime juice and coriander. Serve immediately.

Summer Pudding

Summer pudding is a deceptively simple traditional British dessert. It's very quick to prepare, but does need a bit of planning as it needs to chill overnight in the fridge. Most recipes I checked called for more sugar than I added, but I like a slight tartness in the fruit. I used cheap white sliced supermarket bread, despite one recipe claiming that it produces a slimy result. We didn't find the pudding at all slimy; in fact it was pretty near perfection. But next time I might just use a fancier loaf, maybe even homemade, to test out whether it is indeed better. The mix of fruit can vary according to your likes and what is available. It can be fresh or frozen. I used frozen packs of summer fruits and Black Forest fruits along with fresh strawberries and cherries plus some frozen blackberries that we picked last Autumn.

1.25kg soft fruits (mixture of raspberries, strawberries, blackcurrants,blueberry, blackberries, cherries)

about 100g sugar (try adding a bit less, then taste for sweetness and adjust)

About 8 slices white bread, sliced, with crusts removed 

fresh cream (single, double, clotted - your choice) to serve

1. Rinse the fresh fruit, keeping the strawberries separate 

2. Stone and halve the cherries and halve the strawberries 

3. Reserve some nice pieces of fruit to garnish the pudding, then, keeping the strawberries out, put the fruit in a pan with the sugar and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for 3 minutes then add the strawberries and continue to simmer for another 2 or 3 minutes until the fruit is just softening. Leave to cool slightly.

4. Line a 2 pint/1 litre pudding basin with cling film. (You could also make mini puds by lining tea cups).

5. Cut one slice of bread into a rough circle to fit the base of the basin.

6. Strain off about a cup of juice from the fruit.

7. Dip one side of the circle of bread into the juice, then place it juice side down into the basin. Cut the rest of the bread into triangles, then, dipping each one into he juice, place them juice side down around the sides of the basin, alternating them pointy or broad end first, pushing them together to get rid of any gaps. 

8. Using a slotted spoon to avoid getting too much of the juice (some is fine - see picture below), spoon some of the fruit into the bread lined basin, to fill it about halfway up. Next cover the fruit with a layer of bread.

9. Top this layer of bread with more of the fruit, filling the basin almost to the top.

Cut some more pieces of bread, dip them in the juice and arrange juice side up on top of the fruit, being careful to plug any gaps.

Cover with a layer of cling film, put a plate that just rests on the pud on top, then weight it down and leave in the fridge overnight.

When ready to serve, remove the cling film from the top, turn the pudding out onto a plate, pour some of the juice over the top and garnish with the reserved fruit.

Serve with cream.