Sausage and Lentil Hotpot
I wanted something different and stole this one from Waitrose.
My version used the following ingredients.
- 1 leek, sliced
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 pack of Black Farmer sausages
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 large carrot, cut into cubes
- 1tsp ground cumin
- 2 bay leaves
- 200g lentils
- 200g cavolo nero cabbage, shredded
The method was as follows.
- Heat the oil in a large pan, add the sausages and fry for 5 minutes until browned. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon. Add the onion, garlic, leek and carrot and cook for 5 minutes until softened.
- Add the cumin, bay leaves and lentils with 1.5 litres water. Bring to the boil then simmer for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally until thick and soupy and the lentils are almost tender.
- Stir in the cabbage, return the sausages to the pan, cover, and cook for a further 5 minutes until the cabbage is tender.
- Discard the bay leaves and season. Serve in warmed bowls
It was good.
Shepherd’s Pie
This a low fat take on a classic English dish. Shepherd’s Pie was traditionally made with leftover meat–usually lamb or beef. This is a recipe that can be made ahead and frozen for later use. I have modified it slightly to use metric measurements and make it gluten-free.
It came from Fiona Haynes of About.com.
My version used the following ingredients.
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1 medium onion, finely chopped
- 2 large carrots, chopped
- 500 grams extra-lean minced beef
- 2 tbsp gluten-free Worcestershire sauce
- 2 tbsp Waitrose organic tomato paste
- 2 tsp dried mixed herbs
- 250 ml, beef stock
- 1 cup frozen peas
- 1 kilo of King Edward or similar potatoes
- Milk and fat to mash the potatoes with
The method was as follows.
- In a large pot, heat olive oil on medium-low heat. Saute onions and carrots until softened. Turn up heat to medium-high and add beef; cook until no longer pink. Add Worcestershire sauce, tomato paste, herbs and broth. Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for 15 minutes. Add peas, then simmer 5 minutes more.
Tip: If sauce seems a bit thin for your liking, add some cornflour or gluten-free flour and stir into beef mixture. - While sauce is simmering, bring a large pot of water to boil. Add potatoes, reduce heat to a simmer and cook until tender, about 15-20 minutes. Drain water. Add milk and butter. Mash with a potato masher until smooth. Season if you like.
- Pour sauce into an 11-inch by 7-inch baking dish and allow to cool slightly. Top with potato.
- Bake in the bottom of the top over of the AGA.
I actually cooked two, with one going in the freezer and the other shared with my son.
Baked Haddock
I needed a new recipe for some haddock and a friend messaged me this one.
My version used the following ingredients.
- Two haddock filets. These were line caught from Waitrose.
- The juice of two limes.
- One chopped medium-sized onion.
- Four quartered tomatoes.
- Some fresh parsley from my herb garden.
The method couldn’t have been simpler.
- Place the fish in a shallow dish.
- Combine the lime juice, onion, tomatoes and parsley and pour over the fish.
- Bake in the bottom of the top oven in the AGA for 20 minutes.
The dish looked like this before I cooked it.
Baked Haddock Before Cooking
After cooking, the tomatoes had created a sauce.
Baked Haddock After Cooking
It worked and the fish was very tender. I did get a bit too much sauce and next time I cook it, I think I’ll used a second onion and also add a crushed clove of garlic.
But it was very quick and simple. And no saucepan to wash up.
Chicken Goujons
This is a recipe I used for my party. Everybody liked them.
I used the following.
- A pack of four boneless and skinless chicken breasts. I don’t know how to bone and skin!
- Half a pot of natural yogurt.
- A good teaspoonful of curry powder.
- Zest of a lime.
The method is simple.
- Slice the chicken into long, thin strips. I found it best to slice slightly across the chicken. These are then places in a baking tray. As it was a party I used disposable ones.
- Mix the yogurt, curry powder and zest of the lime in a bowl and then spoon it all over the chicken. I also turned the chicken, so that everything was well covered. It was then left to marinate for about twenty minutes.
- I then cooked it in the bottom of the top oven of the AGA for about twenty minutes, turning them in the sauce every five minutes or so,
Everybody liked them. They also seemed to keep well for a couple of days in the fridge.
Rabbit Casserole
I got this from Nigel Slater at the Guardian. I made five this evening and the one I ate was very nice. The other four are now in my freezer.
A sweet, apple-rich stew for a cool autumn evening. A piece of rabbit or chicken on the bone and a decent butcher’s sausage should be enough for each person, leaving you with four pieces of meat to make a soup-stew for tomorrow. To make soup of the leftovers pull the meat off the bones then return it to the remains of the stew and slowly reheat. Make thick toast croutes to put in the bottom of your soup bowls, then ladle the thick beany soup over them. A drizzle of olive oil is a sound finishing touch. If you need more liquid then add a little stock or water as you reheat.
The qualities shown serve four.
- 250g dried flageolet or haricot beans – I used a large tin of borlotti beans. Perhaps not as good, but easier.
- 3 tbsp olive oil
- 8 large rabbit or chicken pieces on the bone – I used two diced rabbits from the UK Game company.
- 4 decent sausages, cut into four – These were Musks gluten free.
- 2 medium onions
- 400g dessert apples – Two English Bramleys.
- 3 sprigs rosemary
- 2 tbsp flour – Doves Farm gluten-free.
- a bay leaf or two
- 500ml cider, stock or, at a push, water – No prizes for guessing I chose the cyder. Aspalls!
- 3 tbsp double cream (optional)
- 1 tbsp cider vinegar (or more to taste) – Aspalls too!
The method is as follows.
- Soak the beans overnight in cold water. Drain and bring to the boil in fresh, unsalted water. Let them simmer for approximately 40 minutes, checking their progress now and again. How quickly they are ready will depend on the age of your beans. Drain and set aside. I just opened the tin!
- Set the oven at 190C/gas mark 5. Warm 2 tbsp of the olive oil in a shallow pan, add the rabbit or chicken pieces and the sausages and let them colour nicely on all sides. While the rabbit or chicken is cooking, peel and roughly chop the onions, core and chop the apples, and remove the rosemary needles from their stems and chop them.
- Remove the meat to a plate and add the onions to the pan, letting them soften, then introducing the apple, allowing it to colour on all sides, adding more oil if necessary. Stir in the chopped rosemary, flour, bay leaf, salt and pepper, then the cider or stock. Let the liquid bubble for a couple of minutes, stirring to dissolve any crusty bits from the pan. Stir in the drained, cooked beans.
- I put the meat back in now, but the original recipe didn’t say.
- Bake for 45 minutes to an hour, covered with a lid. Check the meat is tender, then stir in the cream if you are using it and the cider vinegar. The sauce should be quite sweet, but if it’s too much so, reduce it by stirring in more cider vinegar. Check the seasoning, adding more salt, pepper, and cider vinegar as necessary.
Serve in shallow bowls.
I just had one with new potatoes and froze the other four!
Jamie Oliver’s Fish Pie
I like this recipe as except for the potato saucepan, there isn’t too much washing up and most of the preparation is done in the dish you cook it in. It’s also very gluten-free without any dodgy ingredient at all.
Here’s what Jamie says about it.
This is a fantastically simple fish pie which doesn’t involve poaching the fish or making a tedious white sauce. Loads of good, fragrant veg are added quickly by grating them in. You can use whatever fish you like, making this as luxurious as you want it to be. If you like your fish pie to be creamy, feel free to add a few tablespoons of crème fraîche to the fish.
For four people and a typical deep dish you’ll get in somewhere like Debenhams, you’ll need the following.
- Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1kg potatoes
- 1 carrot
- 2 sticks of celery
- 150g good Cheddar cheese
- 1 lemon
- ½ a fresh red chilli
- 4 sprigs of fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 300g salmon fillets, skin off and bones removed
- 300g undyed smoked haddock fillets, skin off and bones removed
- 125g king prawns, raw, peeled
- Olive oil
- Optional: a good handful of spinach, chopped
- Optional: a couple of ripe tomatoes, quartered
Note that Waitrose will take the skin of the fish. I suspect other places and of course real fishmongers will too.
This is the method.
- Preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/gas 6 and bring a large pan of salted water to the boil
- Peel the potatoes and cut into 2cm chunks
- Once the water is boiling, add your potatoes and cook for around 12 minutes, until soft (you can stick your knife into them to check)
- Meanwhile, get yourself a deep baking tray or earthenware dish and stand a box grater in it
- Peel the carrot
- Grate the celery, carrot and Cheddar on the coarse side of the grater
- Use the fine side of the grater to grate the zest from the lemon
- Finely grate or chop your chilli
- Finely chop the parsley leaves and stalks and add these to the tray
- Cut the salmon and smoked haddock into bite-size chunks and add to the tray with the prawns
- Squeeze over the juice from the zested lemon (no pips please!), drizzle with olive oil and add a good pinch of salt and pepper
- If you want to add any spinach or tomatoes, do it now
- Mix everything together really well
- By now your potatoes should be cooked, so drain them in a colander and return them to the pan
- Drizzle with a couple of good lugs of olive oil and add a pinch of salt and pepper
- Mash until nice and smooth, then spread evenly over the top of the fish and grated veg
- Place in the preheated oven for around 40 minutes, or until cooked through, crispy and golden on top
Serve piping hot with tomato ketchup, baked beans, steamed veg or a lovely green salad.
I would just point this recipe to Jamie’s site, but I like to print out the recipes as I have a bad memory. And it doesn’t print from his site on my machine.
Organic Food?
There has been a report that says that organic food is no better than non-organic. I probably agree, but then I use it in most of my cooking.
So why?
Take my chilli con carne, that I cooked last night. I use lean organic beef as that is better for me because of its leanness. I also feel strongly that animals should be kept well and that some sort of mark like Organic, means that higher levels of husbandry are used. In fact, I think that near-organic beef is better, as farmers who grow quality beef say that the organic rules are not always to the animals best health and make the product too expensive.
Anyway, the chilli con carne was great!
Economics of Home Cooking
I cooked a pan load of chilli con carne last night using the recipe on this blog.
The kilo of organic lean beef mince from Waitrose cost just under £10, the organic beans and tomatoes another three and if you add in the herbs, wine and spices then the total is under £20. Obviously, using cheaper ingredients could cut this cost. In fact when I made the previous batch a few weeks ago, I used some of the same organic mince, which was just about to go past its sell-by date. It cost just £6. So I always look for more of this, as lean meat is good for my cholesterol.
I make the chilli con carne in one large saucepan, so it really isn’t a great problem for washing up either!
I reckon that for my £20 or less, I get eight portions of about 400 grams each. Last night we ate three large portions with microwaveable rice and the rest I froze in one double and two single ones.
So each organic chilli con carne, with lean beef, lots of spices and included wine cost me £2.50. That’s about £6.25 a kilo.
Perhaps this is expensive, but it is very simple to do and I could cut the cost to about £1.50 (£4.25 a kilo), by using less expensive beef, cheap plonk and ordinary kidney beans and tomatoes.
A look on Waitrose‘s web site shows that they have a prepared chilli con carne at £5.98 a kilo.
Is mine better? Don’t know! But I suspect it has more meat in it and being a coeliac I know that it is totally gluten-free.
Moroccan Chicken Casserole
This is something I wouldn’t have cooked, as if asked I would have said that I didn’t like apricots. But it was very nice. As I cooked it late at night, I actually froze it in four small pots and have only ate it after defrosting in the AGA.
The great advantage for me about this recipe is that it only uses one saucepan.
I got it from Crazy Squirrel.
You will need the following for four.
- 8 Chicken thighs – I used 4 breasts cut in half
- 2 Onions, chopped
- 2cm piece Root ginger, finely chopped
- 1 tsp Paprika
- 1 tsp Turmeric
- 180g Dried apricots
- 500ml Chicken stock – I made a gluten-free stock from a Marigold bouillon powder
- Salt and freshly ground Black pepper
And this is how you make it.
- In a large saucepan fry the chicken thighs over a high heat until brown all over (approximately 10 minutes).
- Add the onion and spices and fry for a further 5 minutes until the onion has softened.
- Add the remaining ingredients, mix well and simmer for 20 minutes. Serve immediately.
It is very simple.
Eggs Florentine
This recipe came from the BBC’s web site and is by James Tanner.
It isn’t that good for cholesterol, but it’s quick and easy.
This is what you’ll need for one.
- 25g/1oz butter
- 75g/2¾oz spinach
- salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 2 free-range eggs
- 100ml/3½fl oz double cream – I use St. Helen’s Farm Goats cream
And this is the method that I use.
- Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. I use the bottom of the top over in the AGA.
- Melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat. Add the spinach and sauté for three minutes, or until wilted.
- Place the spinach into a small ovenproof dish and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper.
- Crack the eggs into the dish and pour over the cream, then place into the oven and bake for 10 minutes, until golden and bubbling.
- Serve in the ovenproof dish.
It’s good and fills a hole!
The Anonymous Widower 