Duck in a Pineapple and Ginger Sauce

I had some left over duck to use up and was wondering how to prepare it to serve for dinner.   It’s very hot at the moment so I was looking for something hot and tasty to ofset weather.

I remember that many years ago…..far more than I am going to admit I often stayed in a family run hotel in Aberystwyth on the Welsh coast.   I probably visited there six or seven times a year  with my work and usually stayed for a week.  Of course, visiting that regularly allowed me to get to now the family and staff of the hotel very well.  It was a lovely hotel right on the seafront at Aberystwyth.

One evening, I went down to dinner and the chef told me he had prepared duck in a pineapple and ginger sauce, which was truly delicious.    I guess this was about 35 years ago so maybe the fact I still remember it is testament to just how delicious it was!!!

This is the recipe for my own version.   I hope you enjoy it.

 

Duck in a pineapple and Ginger Sauce

I used left over duck cut into small chunks.

First, prepare the sauce:-

Ingredients

1 large tin pineapple pieces
3 teaspoon ground ginger
3 tablespoons cider vinegar
1/4 cup brown sugar (adjust according to taste)
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup fresh red pepper (cut finely) (no seeds)
2 teaspoons cornflour
1/4 cup cold water

Method

Set aside the red pepper, cornflour and water.

Put the remaining ingredients in a medium saucepan and bring to the boil. Simmer for about 10 to 15 minutes.

Mix the cornflour and water before slowly adding to the sauce. Make sure to keep stirring continuously to avoid any lumps forming The aim is to just thicken the sauce and you may not need all the cornflour/water mixture. The sauce should become thicker and coat the back of a spoon.

Bring back to the boil for about a minute.

Remove from heat and stir in the red peppers.

Once the sauce is ready put the chunks of duck in an oven to table dish and pour over the sauce.

Place in the middle of a hot oven and allow to cok for about 30 minutes.  Ensure the meat is piping hot

 

I served it with some boiled new potatoes and a few broad beans,  however, the sauce would also be delicious as a pouring spicy/sweet accompaniment to many other meats especially pork.

Liver and Bacon Casserole

I had a couple of guests coming for dinner last night and was looking for something very tasty that would chase away the cold winter blues.

I settled on a four course meal with Liver and Bacon Casserole as the main.    I coupled it with a liver pate for the starter to keep the liver theme going and then served a quinteplet of French cheeses before finishing with my own cherry crumble, using cherries I picked back in the autumn and froze.

Ingredients:

• · 1lb liver –pig or lamb
• · 4 rashers of smoked bacon, chopped
• · 2 onions, chopped
• · 14oz tin of chopped tomatoes
• · 6 carrots
• · a little bit of oil for frying
• · some seasoned flour
• · 1 tablespoon Worcester sauce
• · ½ pint beer (light)
• · 100 gms mushrooms (sliced)

Method:

• · Peel and slice the carrots and boil in lightly salted water for about 15 minutes
• · Fry the onion and bacon together in the oil for a few minutes to soften,
• · Put in casserole dish.
• · Chop the liver into bite-sized pieces, lightly coat in flour and fry gently
• · Add into casserole dish
• · Deglaze the frying pan with boiling water and a splash or red wine
• · Add the beer to the water/wine mix and bring to boil
• · Add to the granules to make gravy, stirring until smooth
• · Add tinned tomatoes and Worcester sauce and bring to the boil
• · Stir well and pour into the casserole dish.
• · Cook, covered at 210C for 45/60 minutes.

I served this with boiled potatoes but I think it would be nice with a mashed potato and peas.  

Hope you enjoy it.

Tomato, Onion and Potato Tart

Firstly, yes, I am still alive and I can only offer my sincere apologies for the extended delay since my last post.    I’ve not been in very good health and have had a spell in hospital.

The other day a couple of things happened that made me decide to do this post.    My neighbour and farmer arrived with  a couple of sacks of tomatoes, potatoes and onions, all of which he had grown on the field I own.    When I first moved here, the land I bought included a couple of agricultural fields.   I’m no farmer, and the two fields together were not enough to do much with so I spoke to my neighbour and we agreed he would manage them on my behalf.   He grows a few kitchen vegetables, wheat and straw or hay and I pay him for managing them with the produce.  In fact these days, we just split the produce between us, lovely warm produce straight from the field or bails of straw to add to my own kitchen garden

After he had gone another friend invited me for supper  and I decided I could use the fresh produce to make a tart.  I’m afraid I didn’t measure anything but I’ll tell you what I did.   

 

First I blind baked a pastry tart shell, about 30cms by 20cms (12” x 8”)   I used a rectangular pie dish and lined it with greaseproof paper.

I took about 4 good sized potatoes and  cut them just enough to get them into my food processor, where I used the very finest slicer to produce wafer thin potato slices.  I blanched the potato for just a couple of minutes in a little salted water, taking care not to let them burn.   I didn’t use too much water as I wanted them to say rather firm.  Once blanched I immediately dipped them into cold water to arrest the cooking, then drained them.

Next I took about three of the medium onions and sliced them  and to the sliced onion I added about 5 cloves of garlic also sliced.  I fried the mixture, adding a touch of salt and black pepper until the onions started to caramelise.  Then I put that dish aside.

To assemble the tart, I started by layering about half of the blanched potato in the bottom.  The potato was a bit wet still so I added just a dessert spoonful of rice under the potato to soak up any juices.

On top of the potato I layered tomato, sliced fairly thickly.   Again seasoned with a bit of salt and pepper.

Next, another layer of potato.

Then a layer of the fried onions and garlic before putting the final layer of tomatoes on the top.

I scattered some fresh basil leaves over the dish and returned it to the oven to bake at about 180C (350F) for 20 mins

Oaty Cherry Crumble

Friends coming for lunch has forced me out of my cold hibernation in front of the fire, and back into the kitchen.

Luckily a thaw has arrived here, so the extreme temperatures (for us) have abated a little and we are no longer seeing –18C (about 0F), or anywhere near that cold.

All that being said, I still thought I ought to make a hot dessert to accompany my fairly traditional British main course of Cottage Pie

In the depths of my freezer I still have several bags of cherries from the summer, so I quickly decided on one of my favourite dishes Cherry Crumble.  But, as ever, I decided to look for a new twist.  My usual crumble Cherry Crumble was posted on here back in 2010.

At times like these, I tend to turn to the Internet for inspiration.  I don’t usually cook anything I find but pick off pieces and ideas from several sources  before combining them in my own version.  It usually works, although I’m sure you all realise that this is by no means a guaranteed route to success!!

On this occasion. after rejecting all the usual cherry tart recipes, one of which advocated taking a ready made pastry tart base and adding a can of Cherry tart mix!!!!  which, whilst I agree is simple, in my mind hardly represents the best of home baking and, to be honest, if you are going to do that why not just buy a delicious ready made cherry tart? 

Anyway, I digress.  I eventually came across a recipe for adding oats to the crumble.   I didn’t much like the recipe itself, but the idea of adding oats appealed, and so, my Oaty Cherry Crumble was born.

I took this photo before  cooking it, but when it came out of the oven, it went straight to table and, well, to be honest, there wasn’t enough left to photograph.  I suppose that is a compliment though.

A friend recently emailed me saying that she loved the way I often incorporate a bit of history in my pieces.  However, I don’t know very much about the origins of crumble.  But here goes.  It appears that what we call crumble is the same as crisp in the US.   I’m sad to admit, that from all my research I have to admit that it seems to have originated in the USA.   Many early settlers to the US came from England and other parts of Europe.  These settlers carried with them their favourite recipes, such as fruit pies.    Pies , in Europe, date back to Roman times when a mixture of  flour and olive oil was used to seal meats etc. and were very popular by the time the early settler to the US set sail.

These early settlers were, by necessity very resourceful and when they found that they didn’t really have the basic ingredients to make their pies, they compromised and came up with a simple mixture of flour, sugar and fat that they could easily combine into a coarse crumbly topping for fruits.    The topping goes crisp on baking, which is why in the USA it is know as Crisp.     Interestingly enough, many people suggest the crumble, now a traditional British dessert originates in the second World War.   I tend to disagree with this interpretation, merely suggesting that, in my opinion, the shortages caused by food rationing in Britain during the Second World War caused the same inventiveness in the Britsh that those early settlers had found.  And believe me, if I could have found a way to attribute it to Britain, I would have!    However, it is very likely that those early settlers were, in fact, British, trying to do what the British abroad continue doing to this day! 

Here is what you do…

Pick a bowl full of cherries, or, at this time of year, defrost them out of the freezer.

Remove stalks, wash and destone them

Enough cherries to half fill an ovenproof dish.

A few drops sweet white wine

A tablespoon of brown sugar.

Oaty Crumble Topping

150g  flour 
150g brown sugar 
150g butter 
75g rolled oats

Oven

180degrees C

15 + 20 minutes (pre-warmed oven)

This oaty crumble is a simple 1:1:1, flour, sugar, butter mix with 1/2 portion of oats added

and I find I like golden granulated sugar for this crumble....

I put the cherries in an oven proof dish.....oven to table dish...... and then sprinkle some sugar over them. The cherries will be wet from washing and destoning so I add only a few drops of sweet white wine.    Add a knob of butter and bake until the cherries are just cooked. (about 15 minutes).

To make the crumble topping I put everything in a blender and pulse for a few seconds until it appears, well,  “crumbly!”

Add the crumble mixture on top of the fruit...not underneath or it gets messy...on top of the cherries and return to the oven for a bit longer.... About 20 minutes

Cook for about a further 20-25 minutes until the crumble topping is golden brown.

Eat with lashings of a runny cream, or, even better, custard

Spag Bog… Well, not really.

Spaghetti Bolognese is a popular dish across Europe, the USA, Australia and as far as I know, much of the rest of the world, and just as it is popular in many countries and households so, there are just as many recipes for it.

Spaghetti Bolognese, however, is not truly an Italian dish.  Any self respecting Italian will politely explain that if you are making a rich meaty sauce, such as Bolognese, then you need to marry it with a broad pasta tube which is capable of swallowing the sauce whole!  I’m not very well up on Italian pasta names as I have never lived in Italy, and indeed, despite it is only a few hours drive away, have rarely visited it.  All that having been said, I love the textures and flavours generated by the thin spaghetti and the rich sauce.

The next thing is that, apparently, a Bolognese sauce should have little if any tomato content.  Well again …  I’ve never been served Spaghetti Bolognese in Italy (surprise surprise), but I have eaten it in France, Germany, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the USA and every time it has been a delicious tomatoey meaty sauce!

Finally, I know that a true Bolognese sauce takes many hours to make.  I never have enough time, although I do prepare this sauce in advance and leave to develop overnight.  I finish the sauce, store in the fridge, and then gently reheat it when I’m ready to serve.  But I also know that, following the recipe and cooking the sauce immediately before serving is great too.

Many years ago I had a young lady staying here with me and one day I duly served my version of Spaghetti Bolognese.  She watched me cook it with interest and not a small smile on her face, before announcing that what I had made looked delicious but was not Spaghetti Bolognese, which got us into a big discussion about what it truly was. However I duly continued with my recipe and after lunch there were several clean plates.   It’s also true to say that the same afternoon, (It was the middle of summer) we were all sunbathing by the pool when the said young lady got in the pool, immediately complaining that my lunch was making her sink.  I simply pointed out that as she was swimming sans maillot, she didn’t have the added buoyancy afforded by such apparel.

So here is my recipe for a  dish I better call

Spaghetti with a rich meaty sauce

Serves 4 people

Preparation about 15 minutes

Cooking time about 30 minutes

 

For the Sauce

400g minced beef (lean)

2 medium onions, chopped

3 cloves of Garlic (finely sliced)

4ozs mushrooms (chopped)

4 rashers streaky bacon

Herbes de provence

Tinned tomatoes

Tin Tomato puree (4oz)

Cup of sweet white wine

Grated parmesan cheese

For the Pasta

You need a pasta that is large enough to hold the meaty sauce, or, do like I do and ignore everybody and use Spaghetti

 

Method

Chop the bacon into small pieces then In a large casserole, fry till crisp,

Add the minced beef and onions and fry everything till the onions are translucent

Add the apple, peeled, cored and chopped into small pieces

Add the wine, garlic, herbes de provence and tinned tomatoes

Bring to the boil and stir in the tomato puree

Bring to the boil again and add the mushrooms

Simmer about 15/20 minutes(while you cook the pasta)

(At this point the sauce can be kept overnight to allow the flavours to develop)

Bring a pan of water to the boil

Add the pasta and boil for 7 to 10 minutes depending on preference

Drain pasta and rinse with more boiling water, then add a small amount of olive oil to the pan and heat. Add the pasta back into the pan with the oil and shake pan to coat pasta

Serve pasta, and sauce, and sprinkle parmesan cheese over the top

 

I often add chorizo, but on this occasion I knew one of my guests didn’t like Chorizo so I omitted it.

I served it with garlic bread and a glass of wine!

 

Hope you enjoy it as much as we did

Clam Chowder

 

It’s been very cold here recently with temperatures getting down to –18C (about 0F) overnight.  We even had snow.  About a week ago just over 6” of it fell and unusually, it is still lying on the ground almost unchanged.

I was trying to think of a nice warming fish dish for this evening’s supper to combat this particularly cold snap.  I started off thinking about a basic fish stew.  The French do a great fish stew called Bouillabaisse and are famous for it in it’s home town of Marseille.   Bouillabaisse comes from the old Occitan language which was spoken across this part of France. and really simply means to boil then to simmer.  I guess that is how you make Bouillabaisse after all.   Interestingly enough, a local farmer neighbour  of mine, in his late 80’s still speaks Occitan and myself, along with many of my neighbours, both French as well as British, have a certain amount of difficulty understanding him.

But Bouillabaisse is really a warm climate dish and the one thing I don’t feel we have here at the moment is a warm climate, so I started to think about other fish stews from colder parts of the world:  Ukha from Russia, Lohikeitto from Finland, or even the Bergensk Fiskesuppe from Bergen in Norway.  Moving away from Europe I thought of Canada, but couldn’t really find a traditional local fish stew so moved on to the USA where I found, of course the wonderful chowders and in particular my own favourite New England Clam Chowder.

In fact, I have made this stew for many years and have slowly developed my own recipe along the way.   It uses tinned clams rather than fresh, but I usually chuck a few fresh ones into the pot for decoration and with it’s rich creamy thick stew is just the thing for a cold winter’s evening.

It’s really easy to make and tastes superb

Clam Chowder

Preparation time 20 minutes
Cooking time 20 minutes
Makes enough for 6 people

 

INGREDIENTS

4 Rashers finely chopped streaky bacon
1 cup diced onion ,
4 cups potato cubed
1 grated carrot
2 cans condensed cream of mushroom soup
2 teaspoons coarse sea salt 
good pinch ground black pepper
fresh chopped thyme
2 cups water
4 cans clams (8oz) 
2 cups single cream
A few Fresh clams
¼ cup butter

·

METHOD

• Sauté the bacon and onion in a little olive oil then transfer to a large saucepan;
• add potatoes, water, carrots, salt and pepper
• bring to the boil then simmer until the potatoes are cooked
• Slowly stir in the soup, clams and clam juice, cream, butter and thyme
• Simmer for 20 minutes
• Sprinkle with a little chopped fresh Thyme and serve whilst still piping hot.

And there it is, a delicious Chowder.

 

I usually make this dish a day in advance as I think it improves as all the flavours round together.

Reheat slowly until the dish is almost, (BUT NOT!) boiling.  If you allow it to boil the cream will curdle.  Then add the chopped thyme and serve

I can’t always get clams here, (either fresh or canned) so I have made this dish very successfully with other seafood, such as prawns

Serve with a lovely crusty bread.   I especially like this with my home made olive bread.

I hope you enjoy it, I know I shall.

Mediterranean Fish Casserole

Many, many years ago I decided that I wasn't eating fish on a regular enough basis and I resolved to eat a fish meal at least once every week.   It didn't take me very long to discover that, even though I had my resolution, weeks would sneak by and I would discover that, once again, I'd not eaten fish for another week.

Reflecting on this, after one particularly long fish free period, I decided on a new resolution.   Every Friday, I would consider whether I had eaten enough fish in the past week, and if not, I would make a fish supper.

Of course, for a fish lover like me, the answer is very rarely, yes I've had enough fish this week.

Today was just such a day.  I considered what fish I had eaten in the past week....  I had a Jacket Potato with a tuna topping, I had a salad with shrimp and surimi in a hot marie rose sauce, and a tuna sandwich for lunch.    Oh only two meals, so No, that's not nearly enough!

I looked around to see what I had.

There were left over shrimp from the salad.

There was also a bag of frozen hake.

I decided to throw together a fish casserole

Now, many of you will know that when I say throw together a dish, that is exactly what I mean, so no accurate measurements for today.

I took 3 fillets of hake out and left them to thaw.

At the same time I also emptied a good handful of tiny cocktail shrimp to drain.

I found a casserole with a good fitting lid.  I didn't want to let too much moisture out whilst the dish was cooking.

The fridge also revealed a good handful of green olives, which I pitted.

In the stock cupboard I had some lemon juice and a bag of Herbes de Provence.

I found a couple of cloves of garlic, which I crushed and peeled.

In the casserole, I first put the hake, cut into about 2" squares.

Then I added the shrimp and the olives

I sprinkled the herbs over and added a splash of olive oil and the zest and juice of a couple of lemons.

It looked ok but a bit dry, so I added just a small splash of cider, (left over from the pork in cider)

Then I put the lid on and put it to cook in a hot (240C) oven for about 30 minutes

Finally, after 30 minutes cooking, I took the lid off, stirred everything and put it back in the oven for a further 10 minutes

I enjoyed it with some sweetcorn.

Pork chops in a Creamy Mushroom Cider Sauce

I often like to cook pork chops in cider and have various recipes I use.  I like the way cooking pork in cider really enhances the flavour and renders the meat so deliciously tender.

I was thinking about all this today and, as always, turned to the Internet for inspiration, which is exactly what I got.

A blog I had never visited before jumped off the page at me, Called "Girl Interrupted Eating", the quirky title was exactly my cup of tea, and when I read that Becky was a 30 something year old from Nottingham in the UK I knew I had found my source.

I like Nottingham.  It's famous for being where my brother lives, but it's probably more famous for the infamous....  the infamous Robin Hood, who allegedly stole from the rich to give to the poor.  Well, on this occasion, Becky, I guess I'm sort of keeping up the tradition as I unashamedly studied your recipe for "Pork Chops with Cider and Rosemary" in order to steal the ideas.....  erm, I'm not exactly sure where the giving to the poor comes in but give me time!!!

Becky's recipe sounded delicious to me,and, apparently, lucky Beccy discovered this wonderful dish when her boyfriend cooked it for her.Having got my inspiration, I rebuilt the recipe with my own variations.  In fact, I changed very little but I completely changed the taste with the addition of mushrooms and cream.

 

Here is my recipe:

 

INGREDIENTS

Two Pork Chops
2 tbps of olive oil
1 knob of butter
2 tbsp of rosemary finely chopped
1 medium onion finely chopped
3 cloves of garlic finely chopped
1 handful of roughly chopped mushrooms
1/2 a bottle of cider
200ml single cream

METHOD

Preheat the oven to 180C

Sprinkle the pork chops on both sides with salt and pepper

Fry the pork chops in butter and olive oil. Use an oven proof lidded saucepan.

Once browned, remove the pork chops and set aside

Add the onions , garlic and rosemary into the pan and fry till onion is soft and translucent.

Add the mushrooms and cook a further minute or two.

Pour the cider in to the pan and bring to a simmer before returning the pork chops to the pan

Remove from heat, cover and place in the preheated oven for 120minutes. Then, remove lid and leave in oven a further 15 minutes

Remove the pork chops and whisk in the cream, thickening a little if needed.

 

To serve, place the pork chops on plates and pour the sauce over .

Serve with mustard mashed potato and cabbage dressed with nutmeg, and the remains of the bottle of cider.

 

Now for those readers thinking that I might have made a heck of a lot of potato and cabbage to accompany this simple dish, I have one word to say...  Well, I could probably come up with one word but the real reason probably needs three....

 

Bubble and Squeak....     which will be supper tomorrow.

Ranch vegetables

I’m taking a break and visiting family in the USA.

One of the first meals I was given here consisted of a great lasagna, served with broccoli and baby carrots. It was very nice.

I was about to add some butter to my vegetables when I was asked if I would prefer a dressing?

To be honest I wasn’t too sure what they meant but just said “sure” (trying out my best American!!)

I admit I was surprised when a beautiful ranch salad dressing was produced and even more surprised when I tried it on the vegetables. It was fabulous.

Try it! I’ll see if I can prise out the recipe for the Ranch Dressing.

Balsamic Vinaigrette

I always make my own vinaigrette salad dressing, and I particularly like one made with Balsamic Vinegar.  I always use olive oil as it's by far the most healthy.

Balsamic Vinaigrette

mix 1 part water with 3 parts Balsamic Vinegar.

Add a clove of garlic, crushed and a teaspoon of herbs de Provence (Or mixed herbs)

Then add 5 parts of olive oil and shake vigorously until all the ingredients are blended.

This balsamic Vinaigrette will keep for a couple of weeks with no refrigeration.

The basic portions, 1 to 3 to 5 makes any vinaigrette.

Baked Beans

It's funny what you miss when you move to a new country.

7 years ago, when I decamped from the UK to come and live here in France I was asked the question many times. My answer was always the  same and, at the time I believed it to be honest, Family, Friends, those kind of close personal things.  However, now that I have lived here for 7 years I realise that was wrong.  Yes, I do miss my family, yes I do miss my friends, but  with the internet and a telephone those people are just a short call away.  I keep in touch with my Family almost weekly and with my friends often.   On top of that, both my family and friends have discovered that I now live in a gorgeous part of Europe and that they have an ideal excuse to come and make a holiday here.  I'm delighted to say that both family and friends often come to visit and possibly, I now see a little more of them than before I moved.

So what do I really miss?   BAKED BEANS!

When I lived in the UK, I didn't even consider Baked Beans as part of my stock cupboard.  True, there was always a tin in there, but hey, it got used from time to time to supplement a quick easy meal or simply as a toast topping for a light supper.   Once I moved here I quickly discovered that Baked Beans, rather than the throw away item in the UK had graduated to a Gourmet food shelf and were being sold at about eight times the price. 

End of desire to have an occasional tin in the cupboard

Except, it wasn't.  I still made those easy meals from time to time, and there was no doubt about it, Baked Beans certainly improved the meal.  I compensated by bringing a few tins back from my occasional visits to the UK, Stubbornly refusing to accept the attitude that they were now a gourmet item.

Then, ages ago now, Kate, from down under, gave me a recipe and told me to make my own.   I had never even thought of this simple solution.

I gave it try and made my first batch which were delicious.  I subsequently made them regularly and kept them in the freezer. ready for those snacks.  I've even had a guy from England tell me they were the best baked beans he had ever tasted!!

Here's the recipe she gave me, all those years ago, modified over time to reflect what I now do.

Ian's Baked Beans

Preparation     30 mins
Waiting           24 hours
Cooking           2 ½ hours

Ingredients

	A	2 cups haricot coco white beans
	B	3 large cloves of garlic 3 medium onions 1 small pork chop
	C	1 400g tin tomatoes 1 140g tin tomato paste 2 tbs brown sugar 1 tbs soy sauce 1 tsp Herb de Provence (or mixed herbs) (dried)

 

Method

A.     Cover the beans with cold water and soak for 24 hours in a large casserole
         Drain and recover with lightly salted water, bring to the boil and simmer for 1 ½ hours

B.     Peel and finely chop the garlic and onion. 
       Chop the pork into small cubes and then sauté them all in a little oil. 
        Include the pork chop bone

C.    Combine all ingredients at C and mix well.
       Let stand until beans are cooked

When beans are cooked, drain them and reserve the water. 
Add the cooked onion mixture (B) and the combined tomato mixture (C). 
Add 2 cupfuls of the reserved water.      Make up with hot water if needed. 
Add a good dash of Worcestershire sauce. 
Bring to the boil and simmer, uncovered, for one hour

 

Once cooled, the beans freeze well and keep for several months.

Although, to be honest, mine don't keep at all, they just get eaten!

Muesli

I love to have muesli for breakfast but prefer to make my own rather than use any factory produced blend.

I usually keep the muesli in a 2 litre Le Parfait storage jar (air tight).  I guess that is the equivalent of a half gallon mason jar.   I make it whenever I run out so that there is always a jar of it in the store cupboard.  I find it doesn't seem to suffer any storage problems although I've always eaten it long before it has time to go stale, usually in four to five weeks.  I do, however, keep it in my cool dark store cupboard.

I made some today:  Here's my recipe

I start with the empty storage jar and about half fill it with rolled oats.

Then I add a good layer of desiccated coconut.

Next goes in the dried fruit.  I just throw in about a handful of each fruit, always raisins and golden sultanas, and anything to hand.

Next it's time for nuts.  I love whole almonds but only add about a half handful. I do know, however, that lots of people prefer sliced almonds.  Personally, I love the crunchy texture form using whole ones.   I also add a handful of salted peanuts.   Lots of people turn their noses up at salted peanuts, but I love them in the dish so I use them!  In fact, I use salted peanuts in all sorts of recipes and they are a basic in my kitchen.

The last thing to go in is about a half handful of sunflower seeds.  I use the hulled ones as I can't eat the dry husks.

And that's it, close the jar, give it a good shake, and put it away for a delicious and very healthy breakfast cereal

Today, I didn't have dried apricots, or indeed any other fruits so I just added a few whole prunes to the bowl.  I sometimes add dried banana or dried cranberries or any other dried fruit that catches my eye at the market.

I usually just serve it by pouring the mix into a bowl and adding milk.  Some days, if I'm feeling particularly wicked, I'll add half and half or make my own by mixing cream and milk.  At the same time, If I'm feeling I ought to be good, I replace half the milk with plain yogurt.  Actually, I'm increasingly serving it with a mixture of milk and yogurt and I find that I have really got to like that taste.

Sometimes, I will soak the muesli overnight in apple juice, then just add yogurt in the morning.

I do like muesli, so I don't restrict myself to having it just at breakfast either!    I often have a bowlful as my evening snack, when I have eaten our main meal of the day at lunch time.

Laying the table

Someone asked me recently how you lay a table for dinner, so here is my version!

 

What to do with half a chicken

Wednesday for me is a funny day for dinner.   It's the day I look in the fridge!!

What I mean is that once a week, usually about Wednesday, I check the fridge to see what has been put in there over the weekend and maybe needs to be dealt with.   Mostly it doesn't need to be eaten right away but it allows me to plan a meal in the next couple of days that will reduce my wastage by using up the left overs.

Some days I'm truly surprised at what I find.  Oh, sure, I can usually remember cooking it and know when it is from, but often I have completely forgotten about it's existence.

Today was just such a day.  This morning I dutifully checked the fridges.  For reasons I won't go into I have two fridges, one in the kitchen and another one in the utility room.  Today I found half a roast chicken.

I remember cooking roast chicken when a friend popped in at the weekend but I had completely forgotten that a whole half a chicken was residing in the cool spaces of my fridge.

and so the title emerged.  and to be honest I didn't really have a clue.  Oh, I know plenty of ways of using up chicken but nothing tempted my taste buds.

I didn't want to make a huge production but just do something different and, of course, tasty.

I considered the plethora of sauces that you can use to brighten up cooked chicken, but, to be honest, no, I just didn't want anything like that.

I turned to my even colder spaces and looked for inspiration in the freezer.  The freezer has a regime much like Fridge Wednesday... I really should start to do this on a Friday.  I like the idea of Fridge Friday! Anyway, the freezer regime is much less disciplined and I also realised that it too was due for a bit of a sort out.

There were, however, a few king prawns that needed using up in the next week or two.  I was supposd to be looking for inspiration and now I had just added king prawns to my.....

King Prawns and Chicken....    Paella

and so, just about an hour later I was on my way to the market to buy some more seafood.   I was feeling a bit lazy so I decided to buy a frozen mix of seafood and a few mussels.  I already had prawn and the king prawns and on checking in the fridge I had enough chorizo and some ham.   Most paella recipes call for some sort of bacon but I often substitute ham.

So with a few things from the freezer, and some stuff from the vegetable box I was on my way.

Here's the recipe for my paella.  It looks complicated but it's just a case of adding everything into the pan.

Paella

Ingredients

500 ml (1 pint) chicken stock 1/2 a cooked chicken, 110g/4oz chorizo, cut into thin slices 55g/2oz ham cut into small pieces 1 teaspoon of minced garlic 1 large onion, chopped fairly small 1 red pepper, chopped 1 tsp herbs de Provence ¼ tsp dried red chilli flakes 1 cup (250ml) short-grain rice 1 tsp paprika 1 small glass rose wine 150 g mussels 6 king prawns 450g/1lb bag of seafood cocktail 100g frozen prawns handful of frozen peas 2 large tomatoes, cut into small pieces Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation method

Put the chicken stock in a pan and heat gently

Strip the chicken from the carcase, roughly cutting it into chunks.  remove the joints and cut them into drumstick, thigh, wing etc.

Heat some olive oil in a large heavy-based frying pan. Add the chorizo, ham and dried garlic and fry until meat is crispy.

Next add the onion and pepper and further cook for a couple of minutes.

Add the herbs de provence, chilli flakes and short grain rice, and stir well, coating everything in the juices.

Add the paprika and wine and leave a minute or so and then pour in the hot chicken stock, add the cooked chicken and cook for 5-10 minutes.

Add the mussels into the dish and then add the frozen seafood.   Sprinkle in the peas and chopped tomatoes and continue to cook gently for another 10 minutes stirring from time to time.

Add salt and pepper to taste

I served the dish with a hot baguette.

The Ultimate Indulgence

This is a recipe for a very rich and delicious chocolate fudge cake that is so easy to make it's hard to believe.

What's more, you can make this cake as often as you like and still stay healthy.  You just must NEVER eat it!

The recipe was given to me by a friend ages ago and I make it from time to time.  It freezes well.

Chocolate Fudge Cake

Bake at     180 - 200°C
Makes 1 large square cake. Very soft and delicious.

1 2/3 cups plain flour
1 cups sugar
1 cup 32% Drinking Chocolate powder
1 cup milk
1/2 cup butter
1 1/2 tsp. carb. soda
1 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1 carton Yogurt 125ml
1 tsp. vanilla

Put all the ingredients in a blender and whiz on low speed for 1 min. then turn the speed up to high and whiz for a further 3 mins.

Put into a lined cake tin and
bake  at 190°C (375°F)  50 - 55 mins.

May be iced and split with cream , cocoa and icing sugar.

 

Note 32% chocolate powder is a drinking chocolate not cocoa

A  US cup is 250 ml

Scones

I love scones for afternoon tea.  Scones served warm with butter and jam.... Delicious

Here's a very simple recipe which makes the best, yes, the best scones.

You can substitute the flour and baking powder for 3 1/2 cups self-raising flour if you want

Makes 12 scones

Ingredients

3 1/2 cups Plain Flour
7 teaspoons baking powder
1 cup lemonade
200ml single cream

1 cup sultanas (optional)

Method

If using dried fruit, soak in the cup of lemonade

Sift together the flour and baking powder.

Add liquid, (and sultanas)

Mix as little as possible just until it comes into a rough ball. Press out
on a floured bench to about an inch thick  and cut with scone cutter.

Dab tops with milk
Bake at 180C for about 15 mins

Red Lentil Burgers

A lovely recipe for a tasty vegetarian burger.  I love these and often serve them at barbecues for my vegetarian friends

 

Simmer 1/2 cup of red lentils and 1 bay leaf in water for 15 - 30 min

Saute gently, 2 finely chopped onions and 2 cloves of garlic, sliced.

add parsley, basil, marjoram, and thyme to the pan

Add in the lentils, drained.

Tip into a bowl and add 1/2 cup fresj wholemeal bread crumbs, 2 eggs, beaten, 1/2 cup of flour, 4 table[spoons of tomato paste and stir it all together.  If it's too wet add extra bread crumbs

Form into small balls and then flatten and fry in olive or sunflower  oil.

Traditional Burgers (Ian’s Recipe)

 

Serves 4

500gms minced (ground) beef
2 medium Onions
2 good tablespoons of rolled oats
1 Tbls worcestershire sauce 
2 Tbls of Tomato Ketchup
I Tbls Olive oil
a dash of sea salt
a medium egg

Method    In a food processor, mince the onion then add the Worcestershire sauce, tomato ketchup, sea salt and olive oil and mix a little more
Add the beef, oats and egg and whiz a little more to mix thoroughly.
Adjust the consistency by adding more oats if it's too wet

Take a small ball of the mixture and squeeze tight to compress the mixture together.  Flatten with a spatula and fry gently in a little olive oil
Serve immediately
Or allow to cool and freeze until needed

White Fish in a Creamy Sauce

(Cabillaud sauce crémeuse au Vin Rosé)

This is a delicious sauce to use with any white fish or maybe even gammon using 1/3 bottle of Rosé wine. Great with a vegetable such as haricot vert or haricot beurré
The original French recipe, as the name implies, calls for cod…. But any white fish would be excellent.

Serves 4

INGREDIENTS

4 good sized pieces of white fish
2 Onions
3 garlic cloves
250ml Vin Rosé
250ml single cream
Butter
Salt and ground black pepper to taste

METHOD

Cut the fish into large pieces (2”)
Coarsely chop the onions and thinly slice the garlic and then fry in a large frying pan with a knob of butter until the onion is translucent
Lay the fish (upside down) in the frying pan (in amongst the onion and garlic) and cook for a minute or two on a low heat.
Carefully turn the fish over and add the wine.
Reduce the mixture.
Add the cream, salt and pepper and mix gently.
Thicken over a low heat (takes about 4 - 5 minutes)
Serve with broccoli, haricot vert or haricot beurre
.
Enjoy

Oh Dear!

I should have thrown it away and had cheese.

The weather here suddenly changed overnight.

After weeks of temperatures around 30°C (upper 80's F), last night the rain came in and temperatures dropped by about 10°C.   I have to say, going out to the market in the rain this morning it felt more like they had dropped by about 110°C....  but maybe that was just me.   I'm not a great fan of rainy, cold weather!

Walking around a very quiet Villereal, passing large expanses of naked street where normally there would have been all the supporting traders that summer brings, I began to think about lunch.  The cold weather, well, it was about 18°C, led me to thinking about a bowl of soup.

About a week or so ago I defrosted my big freezer....  I have a big old chest freezer and a much smaller combination fridge freezer.   Defrosting is something I should do every year....but I don't and when I finally get down to it I am always amazed at the assembled detritus collecting in the frozen depths.

This session had been no different, turning up a couple of bags of forgotten fruit, some completely lost minced steak and a couple of odd tubs of my home made soup, a true French potage made with whatever vegetables were available at the time I made it.   I had no idea what these soups were as the tubs had lost their labels which, interestingly, were not even still in the freezer!!!   I studied the frozen contents.... both tubs were a small portion of soup, one a simple potage and the other, what appeared to be a potage that had been blended to make it smooth.

I decide that on return home, I would mix the two soups and eat it with some crusty French bread.  Anticipating my delicious lunch I plodded round the half empty, very wet market in somewhat better spirits.

I didn't linger long, collecting the various bits of shopping I needed and popping into my favourite bar for a quick coffee, before heading off to the car park and back home.

It didn't take me long to find the two tubs of soup and, in order to speed things up, I gently warmed them before emptying the still frozen contents into a pan with a little water and started to heat them gently.

By the time I had put the greengrocery away my soup had defrosted and was beginning to warm up.  It smelt delicious as I cleared the kitchen table and got out a bowl and bread basket and, yes, why not, the butter dish!

I turned to stir the soup regularly as the big lumps of frozen goo gradually broke up and eventually, I became able to stir a warm liquid.  Habits are hard things to break and one of mine is to taste everything...taste, taste and taste again.  So I stuck my spoon into the now lukewarm soup to taste.... and was very surprised.

Delicious is not exactly the word....   no....   It was sweet, very sweet.  I could see the vegetables from the potage clearly now but, my guess was the blended "soup" was actually stewed apple.

Now, I should have binned the lot, cut myself some tasty French cheese and eaten it with the bread...  I really should have done that.  But I don't like to be defeated.  I'm nothing if not persistent.... some call me stubborn!   So, I decided to rescue the soup.

There were some nice vegetables in the vegetable rack....  There were one or two rather tired vegetables in the same rack... so I started adding bits...  I had the heart of a celery that had gone a bit limp, I had a couple of potatoes that had started sprouting, I had an onion that had split... and quickly I had a collection of vegetables prepared and boiling into the mixture.  Taste, taste and taste again...  It really was very sweet.   A couple more small potatoes, a tiny bit of salt, some fresh herbs, the end of a Belgian endive all were added to the pan, and finally it started to taste acceptable....

Oh, by now I had also realised that the stewed apple which had caused the problem in the first place, was actually the much sweeter stewed plums!!!

And so, my quick lunch was ready.  It had taken about an hour and a half against my anticipated 10 minutes.  It tasted very nice but not great, it was still quite sweet.  But, it had cleared out two old unidentified tubs of frozen food, a collection of tired vegetables, the remainder of last weeks vegetables and I had not used anything from today's shop.... well, except for the bread!

Like I said, I should have thrown it away and had cheese!