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