Fish and Bacon Chowder - new improved recipe

 

We always used to make the recipe from the book that came with our pressure cooker, but since I made potato peel soup (Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall recipe) this version has come out on top. It is very smooth and creamy, much thicker than the old version and the fish is cooked more gently.

600g potatoes

500ml semi skimmed milk

500ml stock

1 or 2 bay leaves

250g smoked bacon rashers or cooking bacon

1 large onion and 1 medium onion

sprinkling of dried mixed herbs

about 400g frozen white fish fillets, eg pollock (doesn't need to be fancy), or fish pie mix, defrosted and chopped into large chunks

salt and freshly ground black pepper

butter/oil

1. Scrub the potatoes thoroughly. Peel thickly, putting the potatoes into water for later and chopping the peel roughly. Chop the large onion.

2. Melt the butter with a splash of olive oil in a dutch oven and fry the large onion gently with the bay leaves until softened about 5 minutes or so.

3. Throw in the potato peel and one of the reserved potatoes, roughly chopped. Simmer for a couple of minutes, then add the milk and stock, and salt if the stock is not salty.

4. Simmer very gently for about 25 minutes, stirring regularly, until the potato skins and chunks of potato are cooked.

5. Remove the bay leaves and blend the soup with a hand blender. Set aside. (You can eat it as potato peel soup at that stage - but it's even nicer if you make it into chowder. )

6. Finely chop the medium onion and cut the bacon into chunks. In a frying pan, fry the bacon until the fat starts to run out and add the onion, frying until slightly browned. Add a sprinkling of dried mixed herbs and stir.

7. Tip into the potato peel soup and return it to the heat.

8. Cube the rest of the potato, add to the soup and stir over a gentle heat for 10 mins or so until the potato is almost cooked.

9. Add the fish and simmer gently until it is cooked (around 5 - 10 minutes). Check and adjust seasoning.

10. Serve with a grinding of nutmeg if you like it and some fresh bread.

Baked peanut butter and 5 spice tofu, stir fried vegetables and satay sauce

For the tofu:

Firm tofu,  drained and cubed (I used 2 280g packs of Tofoo Naked Tofu from the Tofoo Co which was enough for 4 people)

Marinade:

1 tbsp peanut butter 

2 tbsp soy sauce

 good dash maple syrup

1 garlic clove  crushed 

1 tsp 5 spice

1tsp dried basil

2 tsp sesame blend oil

Salt and pepper

1 tsp fresh ginger crushed 

Mix together and marinate the tofu for at least 30 minutes. 

Sprinkle with black sesame seeds and bake at 200 fan with the marinade for about 25 minutes. 

Sauce:

1 small onion finely chopped 

1 clove garlic

1 tsp thai red curry paste (or more if you like it spicier)

Half can coconut milk (about 120ml)

3 tbsp peanut butter (about 90g)

Juice of half a small lime

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 tbsp brown sugar

Saute onion garlic and curry pate in mix of sesame and olive oil. Mix i sugar. Stir in coconut milk and peanut butter, soy sauce and heat gently. Remove from heat. Stir in lime juice

Veg:

Any mixture of stir-fry veg eg carrot, beansprouts kale red pepper spring onions  garlic courgettes, red chilis. 

Fry in choice of oil eg sesame and sunflower. Stir in a tbsp of the satay sauce and a splash of water at the end and mix around to coat the veg. 

Serve with steamed sushi rice.

Pumpkin Spiced Muffins

 (Adapted from BBC Good Food - reduced the amount of sugar)

200g cooked pumpkin puree (see below)

225g self raising flour

1 tbsp cinnamon/mixed spice/tea massala mix

100g brown sugar

2 eggs

125g melted butter

1. For the puree, cut fresh pumpkin into chunks, put in a pyrex in the microwave and cook until soft, then mash. You may need to drain off some liquid - I added it to pumpkin soup). Leave to cool.

2. Preheat the oven to 180 C fan.

3. Whisk the puree, melted butter and eggs together.

4. Whisk together the dry ingredients and whisk them into the puree until smooth and properly mixed.

5. Put into muffin cases and bake for about 15 minutes or until skewer comes out clean.

Eve's Pudding

 (From BBC Good Food)

For 4 people:

3 - 4 large apples

100g butter

70g sultanas

50g dark brown sugar

2 large eggs

dash of vanilla essence

100g SR flour

1. Peel, core and slice apples. Put in the base of a casserole dish with the raisins.
2. Cream together butter and sugar, add vanilla.
3. Beat in the eggs.
4. Mix in the SR flour to make a sponge batter.
5. Drop the batter over the apple and bake at 170 degrees fan for around 40 - 45 minutes.
6. Serve with custard.

Large Sour Dough Loaf

 

You need to have active starter ready to go for this. If you don't, you need to feed up the starter and allow enough time for it to get active. I always have starter in the fridge and it can be fed and active enough in about 8 hours. From active starter to ready to eat loaf you need around 18 hours.

Feed up your starter. You'll need 140g of lively for the recipe and enough to feed up for the next loaf (at least 10g, preferably 25g or so). If you start this early enough in the morning, you can prepare the loaf the same day and put it in the fridge overnight to bake the next morning. Otherwise prep the starter the evening/overnight of day 1, then prep the loaf day 2 and leave it overnight to bake on day 3.

Sour Dough

140g lively starter

580 g flour (strong white or mixture of strong white and malted)

380g lukewarm water

8 - 10g salt

Day 1 

7am Feed 60g starter with 60g organic rye flour and 60g lukewarm water in a large jar. Stir, mark with a rubber band and leave to bubble up and double in size. 

4pm Mix the dough ingredients, leaving remaining starter in the jar. Either put it in the fridge or if you want to make another loaf the next day leave it out and feed it up. You can feed it up and leave it out for a couple of hours before putting it in the fridge to keep it nice and lively.

4.30pm Fold the dough on sprayed wet surface 12 - 15 folds

6.30pm 2nd fold (6 -8 folds), on wet surface

8.30pm 3rd fold (6 -8 folds) on wet surface

9.30pm Fold the dough on floured surface, around 6 folds and put in proofing basket upside down. Put in fridge overnight, uncovered.

Day 2

Take out of the fridge about half an hour to an hour before baking. If not risen much, leave a bit longer at room temperature or in airing cupboard. (It won't have puffed up that much, and will puff up in oven).

Preheat oven to 220 degrees C with lidded Dutch oven inside. 

Turn the loaf into the Dutch oven, replace the lid and bake for 20 minutes.

Remove the lid, reduce temperature to 190 degrees C and bake for a further 20 minutes.

Leave to cool before cutting.

Quick Sour Dough and Yeast Loaf

 We've been trying out lots of sour dough recipes recently. Some of them are a huge faff. Others slightly less. I like the Bake with Jack recipe here https://www.bakewithjack.co.uk/blog-1/2018/7/5/sourdough-loaf-for-beginners, but I also wanted a recipe that doesn't need as much attention through the day and doesn't need an overnight proove. This one is loosely based on this King Arthur Flour baguette recipe.https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/sourdough-baguettes-recipe. It is quicker than other sour dough recipes and it does have a little instant dried yeast in it to help speed it along. I'm experimenting with less and less yeast and will try leaving it out all together. You do get a slightly less open crumb from this one, but it is still really good.

You will need a lively sour dough starter to make this. Check out Bake with Jack for how to do that. I got some sour dough starter from my son Tom. I keep its descendants in the fridge (and have an insurance one in the freezer). I get it out of the fridge the afternoon before I want the loaf and feed it up ready to use the next day. Take 30g starter, add 60g organic strong flour and 60g room temperature water, stir and leave in a warm place. A few hours later feed again with 100g each of flour and water, leaving it again in a warm place overnight and checking that it is bubbling well, preferably doubling in size by the morning. Once you've got a bubbly lively starter that's doubled in size, you can be eating this loaf in about 4 hours with minimal faffing during that time.

For a roughly 900g loaf:

320g lively sour dough starter

190g lukewarm water

400g strong bread flour (all white, or a mix of white, wholemeal or granary)

2 tsp salt

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp instant dried yeast

Method

1. Mix all the ingredients together with a rubber spatula. The dough should be quite wet.

2. Knead in a stand mixer for 7 minutes.

2a. Optional step, but I think it improves the texture of the bread: Turn the dough onto a wet work surface and stretch and fold it (see Bake with Jack video to get folding technique). 

3. Put the dough into an oiled bowl, cover and leave in a warm place.

3a. Again optional step, but as above you get a better texture. Repeat the fold after about 60 minutes, leaving it to rest for another half hour.

4. Shape the dough into your chosen form (if you haven't done the extra folds, this will be about 90 minutes after you kneaded it; you'll need to gently deflate the dough and gently shape it) - I put it into a well-floured round proving basket, but you could just put it in a loaf tin for a sandwich loaf, or you could shape it into baguettes.

5. Leave to proove for another 90 minutes to 2 hours, preheating the oven towards the end of the prooving time. You want the dough to have risen, although not necessarily to have doubled in size. It should look slightly puffy and be about a third bigger than before.

6. For a nice crusty loaf, heat a large Dutch oven (Le Creuset) in the oven set as hot as it will go (around 230 C). When it is up to temperature, carefully transfer the loaf into the Dutch oven (I struggle with this, as it's hard to get the wet dough not to stick to the basket. I turn it out onto a floured bendy silicon chopping bard and try and slide it into the Dutch oven without burning myself. It usually manages to flip over on one side and I lose the nice round shape, but it still tastes great). Replace the lid and bake for 20 minutes with the lid on. Remove the lid and bake for a further 15 - 20 minutes. Turn out to cool on a rack.

Example timing:

Day before - feed up the starter in the afternoon, give it another feed before bed and leave in a warm place

8am - Mix and knead the dough/fold if folding

9.30am - Fold again if folding

10am - Gently shape and place in prooving basket or loaf tin

11am - 11.30am Preheat oven and Dutch oven with lid

11.30am - 12pm Bake the loaf

12.30 - 1pm Eat the loaf!

Bibimbap

 

A Korean classic that we ate regularly when we lived in Korea. The best ones are Dolsot Bibimbap, where they use a super hot stone bowl to put the rice and veggies in - it gives the rice a nice almost burnt crispy crunchiness and keeps everything hot. But it works in a normal bowl.

For two generous portions:

200g short grain rice /sushi rice

1 medium courgette

2 large carrots

200g fresh spinach

100g mushroom

200g beansprouts

2 cloves garlic

1 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted for 5 minutes or so in a hot oven or in a dry frying pan - don't let them burn

sesame oil

soy sauce

2 eggs

Other proteins of choice eg salmon, beef mince fried with a little garlic and soy, marinated fried or baked tofu, chicken thigh marinated in hot sauce/soy and oven cooked. You only need a small amount per bowl.

For the kochujang sauce (you may need more, depending on how much people like):

1 tbsp kochujang

1 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp maple syrup

small clove garlic, crushed

dash rice wine vinegar

water to thin slightly

1. Prepare all the veggies - cut the courgette lengthways in quarters, then into thin slices. Put in a colander and sprinkle with coarse salt, then set aside for 15 minutes.
2. Peel and cut the carrots into matchsticks.
3. Wash, dry and thinly slice the mushrooms.
4. Wash the spinach and beansprouts.
5. You can use different veggies, depending on what is available. Swiss chard is good as is onion. I have also saved time by frying it all together like a stir fry, in vegetable oil and sesame oil, then adding soy sauce and more sesame oil to taste. Not authentic, but when it's all mixed up anyway it tastes the same.
6. Prepare and cook the rice: rinse it several times in cold water, then leave to soak in cold water for about 30 minutes. Drain and put in a heavy based saucepan with a tight-fitting lid  (preferably non-stick to help when cleaning up). Pour in 250ml cold water (125ml of water for every 100g rice), then bring to the boil with the lid on. Reduce the heat and cook for 10 minutes, importantly not removing the lid at all, then take it off  the heat and leave it for another 10 minutes, again without removing the lid. Alternatively use a rice cooker - I wish I had one.
7. Rinse and drain the courgettes. Bring a large pan of water to the boil, then blanch the courgettes for 1 minute. Remove from the water with a slotted spoon, drain them in a colander, then toss them with a dash of sesame oil and soy sauce.
8. Bring the pan of water back to the boil, drop in the beansprouts and cook them for about 3 minutes. Drain and toss them in a little sesame and soy sauce.
9. Cook the carrots for about 1 and half minutes in the microwave with a tablespoon of water. Drain them and toss them in the same sesame soy sauce mix.
10. Fry the mushrooms a little sunflower oil, adding some crushed garlic if you like.
11. Tip the mushrooms into a dish, then put the spinach in the frying pan and let it wilt over a low heat until it looks cooked - press it in a sieve to get the excess liquid out, then toss in sesame and soy sauce.
12. It doesn't matter if the veggies are at room temperature - the rice should be hot though.
13. Fry the eggs.
14. Assemble the bibimbap - put the rice into warmed bowls, top with the fried egg, then arrange the veggies around the edge. Sprinkle with toasted sesame seeds. 
15. Stir together the ingredients for the kochujang sauce - allow each person to put as much of it as they like into their bowl, depending on how spicy they like it. Give it all a good stir and devour.

Raspberry and Apple Jam

 

500g cooking apples (weigh after peeling and coring)

500g raspberries

1kg granulated white sugar

squeeze of lemon juice

5 1lb jam jars, cleaned and sterilized in a low oven (put the washed and rinsed jars into the cold oven, then turn it on to 100 centigrade and leave to warm up thoroughly). Sterilize the metal lids in Milton.

1. Chop the apples up fairly small. Put in a large saucepan with a little water and a squeeze of lemon juice and simmer gently until they start to soften. When they are fairly soft, add the raspberries and continue to simmer on a low heat until the fruit is more or less cooked. Meanwhile, put a couple of saucers in the freezer for testing the setting point later.

2. Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar to dissolve.

3. Return to heat and bring to a rolling boil, stirring to stop it burning or boiling over.

4. After about 5 minutes test if the jam has reached setting point - put a spoonful onto one of the cold saucers from the freezer, leave for a minute then see if it is set by running your finger through it. If not, continue boiling the jam for another couple of minutes, then test again.

5. Once setting point is reached, remove from the heat, get your jam jars out of the oven and put them on a tray, then ladle the jam into the jars, covering them straight away with the sterilized lids. Wipe and label the jars when they are cool.

Swiss Chard Risotto

A bit of a glut of Swiss Chard in the garden after 5 days away. This used some of it up. 

Because there's a glut of runner beans too, this portion has added runner beans, which are not part of the recipe!

Serves 3 - 4 

big bowl of chard leaves with stems attached (about 400g)

1 onion, finely chopped

3 cloves garlic, crushed

dried mixed herbs to taste

sprig thyme

50ml (ish) white wine

stock (about 1 litre, perhaps slightly less - I used chicken stock, and when that ran out a veg stock cube and boiling water)

250g arborio rice 

grated cheese to serve (although I used it to accompany salmon, so didn't add cheese this time)

1. Wash the chard, cut off the stems and chop them into 2cm pieces. Roll the leaves up and cut them into strips with scissors.

2. Gently saute onion, garlic, chard stems and mixed herbs in olive oil until softened.

3. Add the rice and stir it together, then pour in the wine and stir as you let it evaporate.

4. Pour in a good ladle of stock, stir and let the rice soak up the stock. Continue adding stock and stirring until the rice is cooked, but not mushy and there is very little liquid surrounding the rice.

5. Remove from heat, add cheese if using. Serve straight away.

Cheat's prawn tempura sushi rolls

 

100g sushi rice per person

125ml water per 100g rice

sushi vinegar

Nori sheets (seaweed)

Iceland tempura prawns cooked in the oven - 3 per roll or make your own!

an avocado

cucumber

pickled ginger

sesame seeds (black and white)

Hellmans mayo

sriracha

soy sauce

You also need a sushi rolling mat, or two if you are making the 'rice on the outside' rolls.

For 5 rolls use 300g rice and 15 of the prawns

Wash the rice in lots of cold water until it runs clear, then leave to soak in fresh water for about 30 mins. Pour off the water, then put in a saucepan with the right amount of water, put the lid on and bring to the boil. As soon as it is boiling, turn it down to a simmer - don't remove the lid and leave simmering for 10 minutes. Turn it off and leave it with the lid on for another 10 minutes - don't be tempted to lift the lid at any point. By then it will have absorbed all the water and be cooked.

Stir in about a teaspoon of sushi vinegar for each 100g of rice (uncooked weight), then spread it out on a tray and leave to cool, covered with a damp tea towel.

Take a sushi rolling mat, put a piece of nori on the top, then with wet hands spread a layer of rice all over the nori. Press it down a bit, then lay prawns in a row near the bottom edge, along with a row of cucumber or avocado (you can also spread a bit of wasabi along it if you like it, I don't). 

Roll the whole lot using the rolling mat to form a tight roll, putting a little water along the edge of the seaweed to ensure that it sticks. Set aside and continue to make the rest of the rolls. You need roughly 80g rice (uncooked weight) for each roll.

Cut the rolls into slices and serve with pickled ginger, sriracha mayo made with Hellmans and a squirt of sriracha and a squeeze of lemon juice, or simply with soy sauce to dip them in.

You can also put tinned fish in the middle, or smoked salmon or cooked prawns. 

Alternatively you can make 'rice on the outside' rolls - you need two mats, one covered with clingfilm.

Lay the nori on the mat without clingfilm, on top of a chopping board, cover with rice, sprinkle with white and black sesame seeds, and press down, then put the clingfilmed mat on top of the rice. Put a chopping board on top, then turn the whole lot over, remove the bottom board, then put the prawns and cucumber/avo at the bottom of the seaweed and roll as above. They are a bit more tricky to get neat than the one with the seaweed on the outside.

Courgette lemon pistachio cake

2 large eggs, beaten

125 ml sunflower oil

85 g brown sugar

zest of one lemon, finely chopped

400g grated courgette

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 tsp tea masala spice or mixed spice

300g SR flour

pinch salt

80g shelled pistachios (unsalted) roughly chopped (blast for a few seconds in the food processor)

140g sultanas

for the icing: juice of one lemon, reserving about a tablespoon

100 - 150g icing sugar

1. Beat together the eggs, oil, sugar, vanilla. Then stir in the courgettes and lemon zest.

2. Fold in the remaining ingredients.

3. Pour into a lined loaf pan (large one - 2lb, or a small one with batter left over for a few muffins)

4. Bake in a preheated oven at 160 C fan (180 C non fan) for 50 - 60 mins, or until a skewer comes out clean.

5. As soon as you remove it from the oven, poke holes in the cake with a skewer while it is still in the tin, then pour over the tablespoon of lemon juice to soak in. Leave to cool.

6. Meanwhile, make the icing: beat the remaining lemon juice with the icing sugar to form a smooth, thick liquid - you should just about be able to pour it, but it should be quite thick or it will slide off the cake).

7. When the cake is cool, pour over the icing.

Spicy roasted butternut

Great added to risotto or blitzed up with some stock to make a soup.

butternut, peeled and chopped into big chunks

dash sesame oil

about half a jar of sundried tomatoes in oil - chop the tomatoes and use the oil

2 tsp grated ginger

2 grated garlic cloves

2 tsp gochujang

1 tsp maple syrup

salt and pepper

Change the quantities of these ingredients to taste.

Mix the butternut with the other ingredients and bake in the oven at 200C until the butternut is cooked and turning brown on the edges. Stir it around part way through.Needs about 40 mins total.

Runner Bean and Gorgonzola Soup

or runner bean soup if you don't like blue cheese

500g runner beans, destringed if necessary and chopped

1 large onion, chopped

4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

1 carrot, peeled and chopped

about 700ml stock

fresh mint leaves from 3 stems

Saute the veg together in a mixture of olive oil and butter for about 10mins, then add the mint leaves and stock and season. Bring to boil and simmer until the veg is soft, about 20 minutes. Blitz with a hand blender.

Pour into soup bowls and top with some chopped up gorgonzola (or some cooked crispy bacon bits if you don't like cheese).

Courgette, bacon and egg pie

Shortcrust pastry made with 250g flour. I actually blitzed some leftover spicy tortilla chips (about 50g) and substituted them for some of the flour - it worked and added a bit of texture to the pastry.

1 onion, finely chopped

2 small courgettes, diced

500g cooking bacon

2 large eggs, beaten

chopped parsley or other herbs

Fry the bacon in its own fat, pouring off excess liquid, then add the onion and courgette and fry until golden and slightly softened and not liquidy. Set aside to cool.

Beat eggs and herbs together, season with pepper (not salt as the bacon is salty enough)

Roll out the pastry into 2 discs, line a pie dish with one, then put the bacon mixture in, then pour over the beaten egg mixture. Put the lid on and crimp the edges together.

Bake for about 30 minutes at 180 fan.

We preferred it cold the next day, but it was nice lukewarm with some fresh veg.

Blackcurrant compote

350g blackcurrants

80g sugar

2 - 3 tbsp water

Remove berries from stalks, put in a saucepan with the sugar and water, bring to boil and simmer gently until the sugar has dissolved and the berries start to burst (about 3 or 4 minutes).

Delicious stirred into plain yoghurt.

Baguette

Ingredients

Poolish Starter:

For 750g dough total:
150g strong white flour
150g cool water
1/8 tsp dry yeast (or 2g fresh yeast)

For 1kg dough total:
200g strong white flour
200g cool water
1/6 tsp dry yeast or 3g fresh yeast

Dough:

For 750g dough total:
300g strong white flour
1.5 tsp dry yeast or 13g fresh yeast
150g cool water
2tsp salt
the poolish as above based on the 750g total

For 1kg dough total:
400g strong white flour
2 tsp dry yeast or 17g
200g cool water
2 2/3 tsp salt
the poolish as above based on the 1kg total

1. 12 - 15 hours before you want to start the actual dough (16 - 19 hours before you want the bread to be completely finished and ready to eat) make the poolish by mixing all the poolish ingredients together with a rubber spatula until just combined. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave 12 - 15 hours (overnight) at room temperature. At this stage, make sure you have some ice cubes made ready for baking the bread.

2. The poolish should be bubbly and expanded after that time, so add all the dough ingredients and mix roughly with the rubber spatula again - it will be cohesive, but lumpy with some flour. Leave it for 20 minutes for the liquid to absorb.

3. Knead the dough, either by stretching, pulling and folding by hand, or in the Kitchen Aid with the dough hook for 3 - 4 mins. Do not over-knead - it should not be smooth at this stage, otherwise the finished bread will be tough.

4. Take the dough out of the bowl, oil the bowl, put the dough back and leave it for half an hour, covered.

5. Stretch and fold the dough a couple of times and replace in the bowl, cover. Leave for another half an hour and repeat the stretching and folding. Cover and leave for a further hour to rise

6. Transfer the dough to an oiled work surface, divide into 3 pieces and gently pre-form into 3 log shapes. Leave to rest for 20 minutes.

7. Shape the dough properly into baguettes by folding and rolling gently a few times.

8. Put the baguettes into a floured couche or greased baguette pan or baking sheet (you can improvise a couche using cylindrical items such as rolling pins.) Cover with greased plastic wrap and leave for about 40 minutes to rise.

9. About half way through the proving time, pre-heat the oven to the hottest it can go. Put a baking pan at the bottom of the oven.

10. When the baguettes have risen about 85%, score them with 4 diagonal cuts with a sharp blade, spray them with water and put them in the oven (removing the linen couche and/or any cylindrical objects if you used them!) Throw some ice cubes into the pan at the bottom of the oven and bake for around 20 minutes until golden brown.  Ideally, leave them to cool down before cutting them, or they will contain to much moisture and the texture will be gummy. However, you need a will of iron for that.

Example timings:
Day before 7pm make the poolish, make ice cubes
Day of baking
8am          Mix the dough, leave to rest
8.20am     Knead the dough 3-4 mins, put in oiled bowl, leave covered.
8.50am     Stretch and fold the dough, re-cover.
9.20am     Stretch and fold the dough, re-cover.
10,20am   Divide into 3
10.40am   Shape into baguettes and put in couche to prove
11am        Preheat oven to hottest you can, put a baking pan in the bottom to heat up.
11.20 - 11.30
Put the baguettes onto a baguette pan/baking sheet, score them, spray them.
Put them in the oven and at the same time throw ice cubes into the hot tray at the base of the oven.
11:40 - 11:50 (about 20 minutes baking time) remove from oven, leave to cool before devouring!
12pm go on then, try them if you must!
12.10 ideally leave them until at least now before you try them, but you probably haven't.

Arancini

We had some wild garlic risotto left over and I've always fancied having a go at Arancini. I was pleasantly surprised with the results - although mine were way too big. Next time I need to make them more like golf balls - I ended up having to flatten them into rissole shapes to get them to cook through. But they were lovely and crispy on the outside and soft and creamy on the inside. In these times of COVID 19 I was all out of mozzarella and not allowed to nip up the shop to get some, so a mixture of red leicester and philly cheese had to suffice, along with a bit of chopped ham.

left over risotto - about a cereal bowl full made 6 massive arancini
1 egg
90g flour
breadcrumbs
oil for deep frying
a bit of mozzarella or other grated cheese for the filling; chopped up ham worked well too. Basil would be nice I think. You don't need much.

Whisk the egg and flour to a thick batter, adding water as needed.
Put the breadcrumbs on a plate.
Get spoonfuls of the chilled risotto, flatten out, add a bit of filling and shape the rice around it into a ball about the size of a golf ball. Dip into the batter to coat it generously, then roll in the breadcrumbs.
Fry the balls in oil - we used a mix of olive oil and sunflower oil - until they are golden brown.
A tomato sauce would go well with them. I hadn't made one, but I had some garlic mushrooms and a dollop of Thai sweet chili dipping sauce. Heresy or fusion? You decide. I enjoyed it.

Celeriac Mash

Celeriac mash has a tendency to be a bit watery. This version is lovely and smooth and creamy.
Great with a roast, or with some nice sausages and gravy.

1 celeriac, peeled and cut roughly into 3cm chunks
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
sprig of fresh thyme
about 200ml milk, semi skimmed is fine
salt and pepper

1. Put the celeriac chunks, thyme and garlic in a heavy saucepan, pour over enough milk to come about half way up the celeriac, but not cover it all. Add a pinch or two of salt.

2. Bring to the boil, cover, then reduce to a gentle simmer - keep your eye on it. If it looks like it's drying out too much, add a splash more milk. Stir occasionally to stop it sticking and burning.

3. When the celeriac is soft (after about 15 mins or so), remove from the heat and puree with a hand blender.

4. Adjust seasoning, adding pepper and nutmeg if you want. Serve immediately.