Chicken and leek soup

We woke up today to a good covering of snow. With much excitement we all got ready for the school run, excitedly putting on snow boots, gloves, hats and coats and marched off into the white stuff. Brilliant fun.

I then proceeded with my morning tasks; butchers (sausages, bacon, an amzing single rib of beef), posting cards, plumbers merchants (don't ask...third trip this week, due to faulty heating system, ugh), and by the time I got back was pretty cold. A hearty soup would be required.

In my fridge was the leftovers from monday's roast chicken. A good stock made from it, and lots of meat. With other vegetables and a few herbs, the soup was made in no time, and was just the ticket. Perefct for a day like today.

Ingredients

1 onion cut in half and sliced thinly

1 large leek, washed and sliced

3 sticks of celery, sliced

3 carrots, cut into smallish chunks

1.5 litres of chicken stock

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme

1 bay leaf

leftover chicken

Sweat the onion in a little olive oil with salt and pepper until softened. Add the other vegetables and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the stock and herbs and simmer for about 20 minutes with a lid on. Add the chicken and cook for a further 5 minutes. Check the seasoning and serve. This is a soup that 'warms your bones.'

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Dukan bread

I have read many posts about this bread. Some negative some positive. Carbs are a no-no on the Dukan diet, and one of the issues people can't get their heads around is, missing bread. What NO sandwiches???!!
I first excitedly made this bread when I came across a recipe for it. Although it was lovely to have stuff on toast or in-between something again, the bread tasted pretty horrid. Just quite salty and dense. Eventually through trial and error I have developed this recipe. I like it. It satisfies my 'every now and again' carb cravings. So that works for me. This recipe is enough for 5 days worth of oat bran allowance. I eat the first 5th that day, warm from the oven. I top it with roast ham, cottage cheese, or mackerel pate. It's also really good with fresh crab. I slice it into batches of 3 and freeze. Toast from frozen.


Ingredients
10 tablespoons of oat bran
6 tablespoons of wheat bran
4 tablespoons of wheat germ
10 tablespoons of skimmed milk powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
Large pinch of sea salt
1 tablespoon low fat yoghurt
3 tablespoons low fat from age frais
3 eggs
2 packets of yeast
5 tablespoons of warm water

Line a loaf tin with baking paper and preheat the oven to 200 °C.

The correct way to blend theses ingredients is to mix all the dry ingredients in one bowl, the wet ingredients in another bowl and then mix the 2 together. More often than not though I start with the wet ones then add in the dry. So do what works for you.

Once the ingredients are fully mixed (I whisk them together), I pour the bread mixture into the prepared loaf tin, put a clean tea towl over the top, and leave somewhere warm for the mixture to rise a little. This makes for a much lighter loaf.

Place the loaf tin in the preheated oven for 10 minutes at 200 °C. Then turn the oven down to 180 °C and cook for another 20 minutes.

Turn the loaf out onto a cooling rack. Slice into 15 slices (just under 1cm thick).

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Chicken soup

This is my recipe for a basic chicken soup. Currently I am doing the Dukan diet so I have added the optional ingredients later. So for those of you following Dukan, the basic soup is fine for 'P' days and I add greens on'PV' days. Needless to say, peas noodles and sugar are all no-no's still. However, the basic soup recipe is delicious and so wholesome. You can simply add to it it depending on your mood or needs.

Ingredients
1 quantity of chicken stock. Home made or shop bought. I usually have about 1.5 litres, but you can have more or less.
1 stalk of lemon grass (I keep mine in the freezer)
1 red chilli chopped
Dash of soy
Dash of fish sauce
Leftover chicken

Optional ingredients
Noodles
Spring onion chopped
Greens (spinach, cabbage, pak choi, mangetout, sugar snaps...)
Sugar
Lime juice

This soup is so easy and comforting. Heat stock. Add the lemon grass and allow the stock to be infused by it. Add chopped chilli. I leave this to simmer gently for at least 10 minutes but it can be left for however long you need it to be.
Just before you are ready to eat, add the chopped chicken and fish sauce and soy sauce to taste.
If you are using the optional ingredients, just precook the noodles and poor over the soup. The vegetables can be added to the soup earlier to cook through.
Once the chicken is heated through, serve.

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The Dukan Diet

The summer holidays were brilliant for us (despite the weather). Lots of time spent together as a family, trips to the zoo, beach, etc and lots and lots of socialising. Happily we have great friends who enjoy doing it with us, so like many, lots of fun equals copious amounts to eat and drink. I, like the majority of the people I know ended the summer needing a full detox, weight reduction, exercise programme to commence ASAP, (as soon as the bank holiday weekend finished though).I had read about the Dukan Diet and liked the sound of it. I hate diets. I hate calorie counting, points, red & green days yadder yadder. I hate people who talk about weight, losing weight, gaining weight. Boring. However I found the Dukan Diet interesting. More because there were scientific explanations as to the effects of the diet on the body. As you have to include oat bran daily. There are also new recipes to try, the 'Dukan pancake' or 'galette' for exmple and no limits on how much you eat, just what you eat. Heavy on protein, and being a fan of meat and fish in pretty much any variety, it looked like a good option.
I commenced my diet on the Tuesday immediately after the bank holiday weekend. I had my mind ready for it. My research was complete, and my fridge was full of Dukan friendly foods. Similar to smoking, I was ready to quite my unDukan friendly foods.
The Dukan Diet begins with an Attack phase. You can stay in this phase for up to 10 days. This is where you see an initial dramatic weightloss. I decided I would do 5 days. During this time you eat low fat protein only, adding 1 and a half spoons of oatbran to a yoghurt or pancake, walk for 20 minutes a day and drink at least 1 and a half litres of water. At first it is quite bizarre to just eat protein at a meal. It is something, like most things though, that we do out of habit. A meat and 2 veg attitude. Sandwiches for lunch. Bread to dip in soup. Potatoes or rice or pasta as part of nearly every meal. To actually sit and just eat piri-piri chicken with yoghurt or burgers with chilli and cottage cheese, sounded weird but was actually delicious. Weirdly I found that afterwards, I honestly wasn't hungry. What was even more strange was that after a couple of days my appetite became really low. My understanding is that this is a part ketosis. Ketosis happens when your body is not getting enough carbohydrates for fuel so it turns on its deposits of fat, for energy. What also happened at this stage (about day 3) was that I had terrible headaches and felt quite lethargic. Exercise, a snack, and lots of water helped here and these nasty side affects also happily disappeared.
I reached the end of the Attack phase and excitedly began the Cruise phase. I'd lost 8 pounds during this first 5 days so was spurred on to achieve more.
It was brilliant to include vegetables every other day now. Celery really does becoming exciting if you've not been allowed it! In the 3 weeks following I have lost a further 7 pounds. You are warned that the weight loss slows down in the Cruise phase. However its still happening so all is well.

I'll post some recipes later, but my favourite meals have been things we would normally eat, with a tweak. Tonight we are looking forward to theses lovely steaks, with mushrooms, garlic and spinach. Just missing the red wine to wash it down with...

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The Pointing Dog v The New Victorian

For some time the local residents of Bramhall and Cheadle Hulme have eagerly awaited the opening of their newest eatery, the latest addition to the Felicini chain. There has been an impressive redevelopment of the property where the old 'Smithy' stood and an exciting menu suggested that this could be something special. I visited the Pointing Dog during it's first week of opening. It was the first Sunday they were open and we were there at about 5pm. We rang to book. On arrival we entered into a spacious bar area. The reception area for the restaurant had someone loosely standing there. After a moment or two I informed them that we had booked and they motioned us towards a table. Not the welcome I expected from a new restaurant wanting to create a good vibe. The restaurant is large and they have created a choice of seating areas. As the restaurant was only about a quarter full, we decided on a more central area of the restaurant to sit in, so we could watch what was going on. (These things are vital in order to entertain small children!) We decided to sit where we could see the kitchen.
The menu's are printed on brown paper and folded to look like knapkins. Thankfully the waitress pointed this out. On another occassion, I arrived to join my quests a little late. I sat down and opened my menu. My guests hadn't realised that they were the menus, assuming they were knapkins as they hadn't been told otherwise. The menu offers an interesting array of dishes, possibly too many. Lots of fish and meat and some DIY salads that I found a little confusing, no vegetarian option and nothing for children. However, when we asked what they could offer to children, they did say that they could do 4 of the menu options in half portions: The shepherds pie, chicken wings, burger, and fish and chips. As it was a Sunday I enquired if the Sunday roast option could also be done in a half portion which they agreed to. It is interesting to note that CAMRA state that 'The cask ale offering is for the moment four beers - it is hoped to keep a changing Dunham Massey beer on at all times'. Great to have a local pub with quality beers.
I had the mushrooms on toast to start and my husband had the mussels. The mushrooms were delicious served with a touch of tarragon and cream. Just the ticket. The mussels were served in a rich saffron and cream sauce which was really tasty. A usual accompaniment would be to serve bread here for dunking. We had to ask for bread, which took a long time to come as it needed to be prepared, heated and served in the obligatory brown paper bag.
The children had the roast beef and fish and chips. Both were good. The roast dinner had a good variety of vegetables, and the fish and chips were eaten with gusto. The minted mushy peas were lovely with the fish and chips. My daughter didn't appreciate them, but she may do in the future. I had the burger which was ok but the fries which accompanied it were overdone. My husband had the sea bass which was good but uninteresting. Especially for the money. All accompaniments are extra. The bill including a bottle of wine and some soft drinks came to £80. We were charged extra for the bread. We left with a feeling of good, but nothing special pub food, for steep restaurant prices.
The New Victorian in Bramhall is a favourite haunt of many in Bramhall. The site as a pub has fallen in and out of favour by local residents but finally with the 'New Victorian' we have got a decent pub back in the heart of the village. Many are happy to get 'a proper pint' back. What is more of a surprise is how they have developed and are continuing to develop the menu and offer seriously good food for adults and children for a good price. The menu also changes seasonally and the manager is more than happy to talk to the customers and develop the menu with them in mind. It's also not a safe and obvious menu. They offer specials and house platters which show creativity and tempting flavours which deliver. Finally a pub with personality.
We return to this pub for many reasons. Being in the heart of Bramhall village it has acted as a meeting point for many of us with young families. The New Victorian offers a friendly welcoming atmosphere, including towards children which is a refreshing attitude in the UK. The menu reflects this with a children's menu, offering the usual favourites which are thankfully cooked in house from fresh ingredients and the children have a choice of peas or beans. Hallelujah.
The house platters to share are certainly worth a try. During the winter they had one which included a ham hock which was simply delicious. In the spring it was replaced by a more seasonal platter including home made brown shrimps, Cajun chicken, fish cakes and asparagus. Lots of boxes ticked here. The menu has it's usual burgers, offering a variety of toppings but always well made, cooked beautifully and generous. In my opinion the best burger for miles.
There are many usual suspects, fish and chips, pie etc, but also some more unusual options. We've had a beautiful sea bass dish here. Another pull towards this eatery are the prices. All the menu options are well priced anyway. However they do offer burger night and Monday to Wednesday they offer 6 meals for £6 currently including burger, chicken and bacon Caesar salad, home made pie, fish and chips. Some places may produce smaller portions in this deal. Not here though.
One final touch is that the management really value excellent service here. The staff are without fail, friendly, courteous and attentive. This is a consistent thing at any time of day, busy or quiet. Again refreshing and welcomed.

In summary.
The Pointing Dog offers much, but for the money, it falls short. On my second visit, they had a set lunch menu which thankfully offered much better value than the a la carte menu ( at £12.95) for 2 courses. The fish and chips is a steep £14.95 so as one of the 4 options on the set lunch menu, it was a good deal. I had mushrooms ( a smaller dish than you get normally) and the mussels. Everyone else had a designer salad to start and there was a goats cheese and beetroot salad for main. All the food was good. My friends said the starter salads were excellent We shared a bottle of wine and some soft drinks and paid £20 each. The service generally is ok, however the waitress seem stressed at being a quarter full. It is something which should improve with time. There is a lovely area at the back with lots of tables and space. Great for a summers day. The overall impression is overpriced and mean, pub grub.

The New Victorian has very little outdoor space and is right next to a car park and busy main road. This is not ideal with small children. However it wins hands down in all other areas. Delicious, interesting and personal food, good value for money, vegetarian choices and great kids food. The service is excellent and welcoming.
Everyone loves the new thing but don't forget what you may have overlooked. The New Victorian produces better quality food, has great service and is cheaper than the Pointing Dog.
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Mexican slow roast pork fajitas

Delicious slow roasted pork. Easy, bang in the oven food that will please all.Ingredients
800 g boned rolled pork shoulder
4 bay leaves
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
1/2 teaspoon oregano

1 red onion sliced
1 red pepper sliced
Garlic oil
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon oregano
Squeeze of lime juicep
2 large tomatoes chopped
10 basil leaves
1 avocado mashed, pinch of salt and squeeze of lime (or shop bought guacamole)
1 tin of sweetcorn
Grated cheddar
Sour cream or creme fraiche
Shredded crisp lettuce
Chilli sauce (optional)
Soft flour tortillas


Heat oven to 230 degrees Celsius
Put the bay leaves in a roasting tin and put the pork skin side up on it.
Season the meat with fennel seeds, oregano and salt and pepper.
Put the pork in the oven for 20 mins then turn the heat down to 140 degrees Celsius for anything between 3 and 5 hours.
If the crackling needs it, whack the heat up to maximum at the end to crisp it up. Keep an eye on it though.

The pork can sit and rest until it is needed.

When ready to eat. Heat a tablespoon of garlic oil in a large pan. Gently sauté the onion and peeper until soft with some seasoning. Add the spices and continue to cook for a few more minutes. Shred the pork and add to the onions and peppers. Add a squeeze of lime juice.
Chop the tomatoes and add the torn basil and some seasoning.
All of the accompaniments are to be put in bowls for people to help themselves.
Warm the tortillas in the microwave or oven as per packet instructions.

Everyone can then assemble their own tortilla at the table.
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A cracking egg...omelette

In honour of my clever husband who does on occasion listen to me, I have included one of his finest omelettes. Omelettes have become a great addition to our family mealtimes, probably in part due to the inclusion of a low carb diet in our house. Even better is the added bonus that we can both cook them (easily) and all 4 of us like them. In fact my son actually requested that I should 'blog' about them, so here goes.
Omelettes as we all know are a brilliant fast food. I consider myself to be extremely lucky in that I have a few friends who keep chickens and one in particular who kindly brings me boxes of Heidi and Hilda's produce. You really can't beat fresh eggs. However most of us have eggs in, and we can add to them, whatever else happens to be lurking around. Rarely have I shopped for an ingredient for an omelette, but rather taken it as a good opportunity to use up whatever needs using up.
My favourite recipe currently consists of the following. However if one or more ingredients are not present, I do continue to live and always still end up with a good meal.

Ingredients (2-4 people)

• tablesoon olive oil


• knob of butter


• half a red onion, sliced


• 3 mushrooms, sliced


• tablespoon sweetcorn


• 6 eggs, whisked and seasoned


• few slices of cheese (e.g. cheddar, gruyere, any good melter)


• about 3 peppadew peppers, chopped (sweet, slightly hot and bought from supermarket in jars)


• few slices of ham, torn

Start off in a large frying pan. Slowly saute the onion with a pinch of salt until it is gently caramelised. Add the mushrooms and a small knob of butter. When cooked add the sweetcorn and the eggs. Turn to a low to medium heat and cook the omelette until not quite set on top. (Keep disturbing the omelette so that uncooked egg can run throught o the bottom of the pan and cook. Be careful not to scramble though!) You want the omelette to be not quite set and only just starting to go golden underneath. Add the cheese, ham and peppers to the top and let the omelette finish cooking gently. Turn the omelette out onto a plate and serve with salad.

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Piccolino's Bramhall

As a Bramhall resident, we have become spoilt in the last few years with an ever growing number of eateries on our doorstep. Some are better than others obviously and everyone has their favourites (sometimes there's no accounting for taste though).

Piccolino's opened here in 2006, serving modern Italian food. During that time it has remained a constant favourite with the locals, praised for its quality of food and service. The doubters in the community complain about the cost at the end of the meal and the noisy surroundings. Its one of the few restaurants in the area which doesn't do cheap weekday offers, early birds or vouchers. It does however do a fixed price lunch which is very good value, and seasonal.

Friday was a beautiful, weirdly sunny (for March), day and my husband, again unusually, was off work. It would have been a crime to not make use of this opportunity of kid free time to go out for lunch. We decided on Piccolino's being so close and reliably good. Being such a beautiful day we opted to sit outside.

I noticed the lunch menu looked interesting on the board outside and chose a sausage, fennel and tarragon risotto to start and a pizza with prawns, courgettes and chilli to follow. My other half chose the carpaccio followed by sea bass en papillote which was on their daily specials menu.

The risotto was exceptional. I would usually be wary of ordering a risotto for a starter, however the starter portion was just right and had so much flavour. Slowly braised fennel and sausage flavours that packed a real punch. The pizza that came next although good, was not as stunning as the starter. The chilli and tomato gave a real kick to the excellent prawns. However, although I like my pizzas cooked freshly, thin and crisp, this was a little over crisp, and just a little boring. Perhaps it may have been just in comparison to the exceptional risotto though.

My husbands carpaccio was good, presented nicely and just how it should be. His sea bass was the star of his meal. Served en papillote, it was flavoured with wine, olives, and lemon and had been cooked in the paper with potatoes. All the flavours had combined beautifully, and the fish was cooked perfectly.

By this time, we had decided to have a glass of wine each and it certainly helped to feel like we had been transported to a sunnier climate. Along with the great food, and service we felt suitably relaxed and well fed. This is one of the few places I know which greets guests properly and professionally and they have a number of obviously well experienced waiting staff. The whole experience is always pleasurable. We and many of our friends find it great to bring kids here also. It is a busy, bustly restaurant and your children will not get glared at.

Overall, a slightly pricier than usual lunch, but fantastic seasonal food, served professionally in very pleasant surroundings.

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A thai soup with serious attitude

Tuesdays help start the week off well for me. This is the day where I begin with a back to back class of core stability and body combat. Whilst I am exercising I quite often (weirdly) plan food ideas as my mind is wandering. Today during the slow torture of core stability I planned this soup. It did change, however, by the time it was made. In fact it started off by being just a normal veg soup. I hate throwing food away so quite often I'll make soups with leftovers, using up all the remnants that are left in the fridge. Knowing that we had a fair amount of vegetables lurking in there, and bearing in mind the 'healthy' eating lifestyle we are currently enduring, I concocted the notion of a wholesome vegetable soup for lunch.

As I began making it, sweating onions, chopping celery and carrots I had an urge to create a bit of heat and decided to veer towards the asian soups I've made before, but with a thicker vegetable background. Thank the Lord, it worked. After all that excercise I was so hungry and this bad boy filled the hole nicely. A thai soup that kicks butt...nice.

I would suggest that you could use any veg you like for this. The joy of making soups is that you can use what you have. If you decide to make this soup, which I really hope you do, then please go with stuff you have in. It will work.

Ingredients

I onion, chopped

Assortment of vegetables. I used (1/3 head of brocolli, 3 pak choi, 2 carrots, 3 sticks celery, 1/6 white cabbage) chopped

1 garlic clove chopped

4cm piece of ginger peeled and chopped

1 thai red chilli deseeded and chopped

1 litre of chicken stock

200ml coconut milk

2 tablespoons fish sauce

1 teaspoon turmeric

1 teaspoon tamarind paste

1 teaspoon sugar (palm if you have it)

1 tablespoon lime juice

handful of spinach, beansprouts, chopped pak choi

chopped coriander

Start the soup off as you normally might, sweating the onion in a little oil with a pinch of salt to stop it browning too quickly. Add the rest of the chopped vegetables and sweat for another 5 mins stirring regularly. Add the stock and cook for about 20 minutes or until all the vegetables are tender.

Blitz until smooth.

Add the cocunut milk (fill the can with hot water, if using the last half, to get every bit out), fish sauce, turmeric, tamarind, sugar, lime juice and a handful of spinach. Blitz again. Check for seasoning and add more sugar or lime or fish sauce if you think it needs it.

Add the handful of beansprouts or pak choi. You could use other vegetables here. The idea is that they should be things that need little cooking, if any, and will add a little crunch and texture to the soup. You could use sugar snaps or spring onions. Whatever you fancy.

Put the soup back on the hob to reheat and let the vegetables begin to wilt. Add the chopped coriander and serve.

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Chantra Thai red curry kit

Always being up to test anything, I was asked to try out this thai red curry kit. As many of you know I am a keen advocate for making from scratch and dislike much processed foods, however I am not blinkered in this view. There is a time and a place for everything. Saying that, on 1st inspection these kits are great. They are more of an assemblage of ingredients. The herbs and spices are clear to see, simply dried. The coconut cream included is a powder, rehyrdrated when added to the liquid. The curry paste is ready made but again when you look at the ingredients list for it is an authentic list of ingredients with no added rubbish chemicals or flavour enhancers. Simply the usual suspects of chiili, lemongrass, garlic, shallots, shrimp paste, kaffir lime, and cumin. Immpressive. Not many companies would stick with authenicity and flavour over cost and ease.

I decided to make this one night where we came in late, after the usual after school demands, fed the kids quickly, and realised that left us! Looking at what we had in we had some leftover chicken some king prawns, pak choi, and sugar snaps. Perefct ingredients to test this kit!

I've made thai currys before and although not difficult, you do need a lot of ingredients. Some of these are store cupboard ingredients. As I make sporadic trips to a chinese supermarket I am normally well stocked with shrimp paste, fish sauce etc, but the desire to make a curry sauce at 7 oclock at night doesn't happen often.

Therefore kits like this do have appeal. The paste is made for you. This a good paste too.

So the actual cooking time looks short and indeed it was. The instructions were good but I did make a couple of adjustments and 'tweaks'. That is the beauty of these things though. Even though there are instructions to follow, don't be afraid to trust your own palate and cravings and add, delete or adjust whatever you think.

You fry the paste for 1 minute in a tablespoon of oil. It suggestes you use varying degrees of the paste depending on the the heat you like. We used it all.

Our chicken was precooked so I didn't add that as suggested (for raw chicken). Next I added the coconut cream powder and water to create a sauce. This needs whisking in to get a smooth sauce. Then I added the cooked chicken, and the packet of herbs and spices and simmered for 5 minutes.

The vegetables I used needed a minute or so, so they were added next, but if you used green beans as suggested, they would be added earlier (as per instructions).

A teaspoon of sugar is suggested ( I only added half, but that would be preference). It says fish sauce to taste ( I used just over half of the given sachet). I also added for my own taste about a teaspoon of lime juice.

The finished curry was excellent and finished in less that 10 minutes. Brilliant. It had a really good background heat that was pretty hot but not fiery. Good flavour, and tasted fresh. We did think it should be suggested to remove the spices and herbs (dried chillis, basil, lime leaves, and chilli) before you serve. However if you don't mind pushing them to the side of the plate as you eat then don't worry.

All in all this is a great buy. A delicious curry made from your store cupboard, in inder 10 minutes. Brilliant.

You can order a range of products via their website http://www.thaicurrycompany.com/ or from http://www.amazon.co.uk/

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Pancakes!!!

It would be a crime to not address today correctly, so here goes.

We decided (last night at my daughters swimming lesson) that we would 'aim' to do pancakes for breakfast. So a quick stop on the way home to buy eggs and milk, and we were set. The pancake batter was made as soon as we got home. There are so many recipes for pancake batter but please believe me, it is seriously hard to make bad pancake batter. The recipe I use is,

150g plain flour

325ml milk

1 egg

(This makes about 6 pancakes)

Whizz in food processor. Done.

You can of course by packets or containers of ready made batter, but seriously, why?

I made triple this quantity, just in case we needed it. I have an impulsive desire to always make too much food. I'm weirdly happy doing that, but cannot stand not having enough. Perhaps because I love messing with leftovers, or I'm greedy...anyway I've sidetracked.

So, batter made, the kids went excitedly up to bed and were told as long as we were up early enough we would do pancakes for breakfast. I needn't have worried. They rose to the challenge, and were promptly up at 6 a.m.

Pancake cooking commenced at about 7 a.m. I like to brush my frying pan, or crepe pan with a little butter. I have one of each on the go to speed up proceedings. The fillings on offer this morning were

• lemon and sugar
• Nutella and banana
• maple syrup

The children managed a fair number each and after various combinations, my daughter's favourite was Nutella and sugar and my son's maple syrup and sugar. I'm guessing sugar was the favourite. I love the traditional lemon and sugar but have to admit to loving the Nutella/banana combo. After asking a few friends their top pancake fills included the ones we had but also honey and golden syrup.

On a savoury note, a ragu filling, rolled and baked in an oven with tomatoes and cheese on top, is lovely. Cheese and ham is always a favourite, and based on this, for my lunch I had cheese, ham a little spring onion for crunch and a chopped 'Peppadew' pepper. These are my new favourite ingredient. I love the slight heat from them and they have a fantastic flavour. Great on quesadillas too.

This is by no means an exclusive list. We tend to use pancakes once a year in this country, whereas in other countries particularly Italy and France, they are used much more widely. The Italians use them really beautifully in some savoury recipes. There are some fantastic seafood ones I've come across too.

Have fun today and it would be great if you could let me know of any 'inventions' you or yours discover.

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Risotto

...or rice, chicken and peas as it’s known in our house. This is an almost weekly meal in our house. Depending on the season, it varies slightly, but the essence of it stays the same.

Ingredients

Serves 2 adults and 2 kids

1 tbsp olive oil

Bacon or pancetta

1 onion finely chopped

1 garlic clove chopped

1 stick of celery chopped

4 mushrooms

Risotto rice, 6 handfuls

½ glass of white wine or splash of vermouth

Chicken stock

Parmesan cheese 2 tbsp

Butter

Optional ingredients, depending on your mood or the season. Chicken, prawns, asparagus, broad beans, parsley, fine beans.

Heat the oil in a large sauté pan. Brown the bacon or pancetta. Before it becomes too browned, add the onion and celery and soften. Add the garlic and continue to cook gently. You don’t want the garlic to brown. At this stage, as you can smell the garlic gently cooking, add the mushrooms with a good pinch of salt. Turn the heat up slightly. Sauté the mushrooms until they begin to soften (you will see them beginning to release moisture). Keep the heat on roughly medium. Add the 6 handfuls of rice. Stir the rice around in the hot pan. The idea is that the outside of the husk will begin to soften you may be able to see it becoming less opaque. This will take a minute or so then add the wine or vermouth. Let it bubble away, stirring. Now you begin to add the stock. Making risotto is a relaxed thing. Don’t think you have to stand at the hob slavishly stirring. What you need is your hot stock next to your pan and add a ladleful, stir & leave. I use this time to prepare the other ingredients that need to go in. Keep popping over to the risotto to ladle and stir, adding a ladleful of stock when the last lot has been absorbed by the rice. Watch the heat also. Too high and the outside of the rice will cook too quickly. Too low and it won’t cook through. Your risotto should bubble gently.

After 20 minutes your risotto is nearly done. At this stage add your optional ingredients. When they are cooked or heated through, check your risotto for liquidity and seasoning. Risottos need to be loose, not dry. Its not a soup, but if you tip the pan it should gently move. Turn the heat off, add the butter and parmesan and put a lid on the pan. Now just leave it to sit for 5 minutes. Stir and check the seasoning again and serve.

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Roast chicken

ChickenStock

I love roast chicken. I love the smell, as its cooking. The sticky bits in the roasting tray that help to make incredible gravy. At the end of the meal, I love pulling the flesh off the chicken, & nibbling the tasty bits for myself. The bones are put in a pot and along with a stick of celery (broken in half), a carrot broken in half), an onion (cut in half), a large sprig of parsley, 6 peppercorns and enough water to just cover everything.

Simmer very gently for 3 hours, Strain. When cool, refrigerate or freeze.

Roast chicken in 45 mins

Sometimes, even during a busy week, (and quite often I do this on a Monday), I want roast chicken. Generally, its just time, that puts us off, but then I discovered you can actually roast a whole chicken in 45 mins. The reason the start of the week is good to do this means that you can use the stock that you can make with the bones and all the leftovers to make further meals during the week. Whether you buy cheap supermarket chickens or a lovely free range bird is down to you, your conscience and your budget. Regardless of these factors, this way of cooking a bird, produces a beautifully roasted chicken with juicy, delicious meat and a crisp skin. What more could you want!

1 whole chicken (spatchcocked)

6 unpeeled cloves of garlic

1 sprig of rosemary

1 lemon

Few glugs of olive oil

Freezer bag

Preheat the oven to 180°c.

As most people buy their chickens from the supermarket, it makes sense to expect that you can do this yourself. You can do this with a pair of sharp scissors. Turn the bird on its breast and cut down either side of the backbone. Remove it. Turn the bird back over and press down firmly on the breast bone to flatten it out. Easy! You can, however, ask your butcher to spatchcock your chicken for you.

If you have time, do this bit in the morning. If not don’t worry. Put the chicken, garlic and rosemary in the freezer bag. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice into the bag. Throw the skin in too. Pour a good glug of olive oil into the bag and give everything a good squish around. Leave in the bag preferably for at least an hour on the kitchen side, or in the fridge until you are ready to cook. Preheat the oven to 180°. Empty the contents of the chicken bag into a roasting tray. Lay the chicken flat with the skin side uppermost. Season, and put in the oven for 45 mins.

Chicken Gravy

Remove from the oven after 45 mins and check that the chicken is cooked through, by inserting a knife where the thigh joint is. Then let the bird rest for 10 mins before carving. I serve this in the summer with salad and bread. In the winter with mash.

You can make a gravy with the pan juices. Put the pan on the heat. Add 1 tablespoon of flour. Stir to make a paste. Add a good splash of white wine or vermouth. Stir in to loosen the paste. Gradually add chicken stock . (I tend to use hot water from the kettle, and add a few drops of liquid chicken stock). Stir or whisk, to form a gravy to the thickness you like.

Leftover gravy must never be thrown away. It can be frozen. A little bit of proper chicken gravy has so many uses. One is to add it to the risotto recipe below. Cooking is more about instinct than recipes. If you think something needs it, then add it. Usually that works.

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Thai soup

This is a dish to warm those winter blues. It takes you to the flavours and smells, and the warmth of far away places. Its also wholesome, nutritious, satisfying and uses store cupboard ingredients. The perfect midweek tea in a hurry. I used chicken here, but another time I used a mixture of monkfish and prawns, just slicing the monkfish thinly and dropping into the soup for a minute or so to cook through. The point of this kind of soup is to have the basic recipe which you can add whatever you fancy or have in the fridge. Sometimes I use noodles (rice noodles are easiest, those glassy ones you just pour boiling water over and leave for a couple of minutes), but if I'm feeling more virtous I leave them out. I have so many of my friends getting cross with me when I suggest that they could change a recipe or just thow a bit of this or that in. If you're one of those people who needs order and a recipe to follow, then stick with the basic soup recipe to ensure the balance of flavours, and then throw caution to the wind and honestly, add any, or all of the suggested extras. Or try anything that you are yearning for here. A little of what you fancy goes a long way... Ingredients
1 litre of chicken stock
200ml (or half a tin) of coconut milk
a 3-4cpm piece of ginger, peeled and sliced into strips (I keep mine in the freezer. You can cut or grate it from frozen honestly)
1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and chopped
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon tamarind paste
1 teaspoon sugar (palm, soft brown, white whatever you have)
2 tablespoons lime juice

2 tablespoons fish sauce
2-3 tablespoons chopped coriander (again I often use this from the freezer, it crumbles from frozen)

Suggested extras
Cooked chicken, fish, prawns, squid, beanspouts, pak choi, water chestnuts, sugar snaps, noodles.....

So simple, you'll see why its such a good midweek tea.
Place all the ingredients in a saucepan and heat through. ensure the vegetables are tender (most of these vegeatbles will need very little cooking, so if using chicken put this in first to heat through properly. Bring to the boil and cook for a couple of minutes.
If using, put the cooked noodles into the bowls. If using cooked shellfish then also put these on top of the noodles. The heat of the soup will warm them through enought so as not to over cook them and turn them into bullets. Ladle the hot soup ontop of the noodles.
Eat with a spoon and a fork.

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Celeriac soup with melting cheese (only a teeny bit)

Following a bout of flu (proper flu not a cold, which I've never had and never wish to have again), I've been left feeling completely drained and in need of food that is quick and wholesome. Also at the kickstart of the year, I am, (as posted earlier) looking to become super fit for the summer, so have been eating low carb, high protein and exercising hard. Soups have been playing a large role in this diet. I love soup. I enjoy making them and don't feel 'cheated' when eating them as so much 'healthy' food can often leave you feeling.

Celeriac like celery is one of those vegetables or flavours that many people aren't sure of. Like celery, when cooked, celeriac just has an incredible flavour that enhances others. Celeriac soup is a fantastic winter soup that will, I'm sure if you've never had it before, win even the most celery hating amongst you, over.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion

I potato

1 celeriac

chicken or vegetable stock (about 1 litre)

2 tablespoons low fat creme fraiche

handful of parsley

gruyere cheese

Chop the onion, potato and celeriac. Sweat gently in the oil with some seasoning in a large pan for about 10 minutes, with the lid on. Stir from time to time.

Add the stock and simmer gently with the lid on for about 10-15 minutes or until the vegetables are cooked through.

Add the parsley and creme fraiche and blitz with a stick blender until smooth. Check the seasoning. I find that this soup needs quite a lot of salt and pepper. Also if it looks too thick at this stage you can add a little water or milk.

Serve in big bowls with as much or as little grated gruyere on top. This will melt into stringy ooziness as you eat. Or if serving to guests, use espresso cups. Gorg.

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Roast chicken in 45 mins

Roast chicken.

ChickenStock

I love roast chicken. I love the smell, as its cooking. The sticky bits in the roasting tray that help to make incredible gravy. Its economical too. Even if you buy a top end chicken you can get a good few meals out of it. A chicken stock made from the bones will help ensure you get another meal out of it, and its smells so good as its bubbling away. At the end of the meal, I love pulling the flesh off the chicken, & nibbling the tasty bits for myself. The bones are put in a pot and along with a stick of celery (broken in half), a carrot broken in half), an onion (cut in half), a large sprig of parsley, 6 peppercorns and enough water to just cover everything.

Simmer very gently for 2- 3 hours, Strain. When cool, refrigerate or freeze.

Roast chicken in 45 mins

Sometimes, even during a busy week, (and quite often I do this on a Monday), I want roast chicken. Generally, its just time, that puts us off, but then I discovered you can actually roast a whole chicken in 45 mins. The reason the start of the week is good to do this means that you can use the stock that you can make with the bones and all the leftovers to make further meals during the week. Whether you buy cheap supermarket chickens or a lovely free range bird is down to you, your conscience and your budget. Regardless of these factors, this way of cooking a bird, produces a beautifully roasted chicken with juicy, delicious meat and a crisp skin. What more could you want!

1 whole chicken (spatchcocked)

6 unpeeled cloves of garlic

1 sprig of rosemary

1 lemon

Few glugs of olive oil

Freezer bag

Preheat the oven to 180°c.

As most people buy their chickens from the supermarket, it makes sense to expect that you can do this yourself. You can do this with a pair of sharp scissors. Turn the bird on its breast and cut down either side of the backbone. Remove it. Turn the bird back over and press down firmly on the breast bone to flatten it out. Easy! You can, however, ask your butcher to spatchcock your chicken for you.

If you have time, do this bit in the morning. If not don’t worry. Put the chicken, garlic and rosemary in the freezer bag. Cut the lemon in half and squeeze the juice into the bag. Throw the skin in too. Pour a good glug of olive oil into the bag and give everything a good squish around. Leave in the bag preferably for at least an hour on the kitchen side, or in the fridge until you are ready to cook. Preheat the oven to 180°. Empty the contents of the chicken bag into a roasting tray. Lay the chicken flat with the skin side uppermost. Season, and put in the oven for 45 mins.

Chicken Gravy

Remove from the oven after 45 mins and check that the chicken is cooked through, by inserting a knife where the thigh joint is. Then let the bird rest for 10 mins before carving. I serve this in the summer with salad and bread. In the winter with mash.

You can make a gravy with the pan juices. Put the pan on the heat. Add 1 tablespoon of flour. Stir to make a paste. Add a good splash of white wine or vermouth. Stir in to loosen the paste. Gradually add chicken stock . (I tend to use hot water from the kettle, and add a few drops of liquid chicken stock). Stir or whisk, to form a gravy to the thickness you like.

Leftover gravy must never be thrown away. It can be frozen. A little bit of proper chicken gravy has so many uses. One is to add it to the risotto recipe below. Cooking is more about instinct than recipes. If you think something needs it, then add it. Usually that works.

Read more...

Mushrooms with stilton, spinach and walnuts (served by itself or as an accompaniment to steak)

Currently (along with the entire planet it seems), we are eating healthly and exercising more in a a bid to be a God and Goddess this summer. Apparently 'skinny' is out and 'warrior' is in, so there is hope at last! I passionately despise 'diets'. but do believe in changing eating habits. The one thing I know that works for me is lowering my carb intake. Based on this our dinner last night, inspired by Nigel Slater, was a mushroom based dish, accompanied by a beautifully rare piece of rump, which are 7 year old gatecrashed, the carnivore that he is!

Ingredients
6 large flat mushrooms
1 garlic clove chopped
pinch of thyme
knob of butter
water
handful of spinach
stilton cheese
walnut halves
(Optional to serve with or without meat)
slice of rump steak cur 1 inch thick
half a lemon
splash of marsala or red wine

Take your rump steak out and place on a plate to come to room temperature. Rub the steak both sides with a little olive oil. Season quite generously with coarsely ground black pepper and sea salt.
Using a large saute pan with a lid, heat the butter and when melted put in the mushrooms, stalk side up. Let them begin to cook and sprinkle over the chopped garlic and pinch of thyme. season and add a splash of water. Put the lid on and allow this to cook gently, spooning over the garlicky, herby liquid from time to time. As these are cooking, heat a frying pan until white hot. I like my steak rare, so I would give it 2 minutes per side, then allow to rest whilst having a squeeze of lemon over it.
Put a small amount of stilton in each mushroom (you only need a small amount for flavour), scatter over the spinach and walnuts and put the lid back on.
Whilst the cheese is melting and the spinach melts, deglaze the steak pan with a splash of marsala or wine, and pour over the resting meat.
Simply delish, and as long as you are scant with the butter, and stilton (walnuts are rich in alpha linolenic acid which has many nutritional and health benefits including anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties), then believe it or not, this is diet food!

Just one more thing; one of the things we need to be doing is eating food that keeps us satiated. This is low GI food, so therefore takes longer to convert to energy, so there is less chance of surplus unused energy which would become fat. Bonus.



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“You Get What You Get, Don’t You Mummy”

Food. Home food. Food that we eat every day. With family, friends, kids friends. At tea time, lunch, evenings, weekdays, weekends. Can seem endless. Whether you are a keen cook, or a reheat from chilled queen, we all need inspiration at times. I (worryingly), love the challenge of producing meals every day. One day will normally affect what we have the next. Hopefully I can show you what I mean.

I wholeheartedly and emphatically believe in the title of this book...and so do my kids. They don’t always like it...but they don’t get a choice. I do however promise them, that the food they eat is always good. If I taste it and agree its not good, then I’ll agree with them & say “yes you’re right, it tastes horrid, don’t bother”. I will always check their food and never give them something that is horrid.

The idea is this book will give you ideas, not recipes. Things you can try and adapt to your own tastes.

Sausage and pea pasta

This is without doubt the kids favourite tea. Whenever the question “what’s for tea?” is uttered, this is without fail greeted with glee. Phew, and its easy, cheap, uses store cupboard ingredients, nutritious, and is delicious.

This feeds my 2 kids (5 & 7).

Ingredients

2-3 good quality butchers sausages

1 garlic clove (peeled & whole)

Olive oil

Paprika ¼ tsp (smoked preferably)

Dijon mustard ½ tsp

100g pasta

A handful of frozen peas

Crème fraiche/double cream/milk

Parmesan cheese (½ tbsp)

Normally I have sausages in the freezer in bags of 2 or 3. This way I can have tea done quickly.

Heat a tablespoon or so of olive oil in a large frying or sauté pan, and throw the whole garlic clove in. Cook the garlic gently in the oil until very lightly golden. Stop before it turns dark. We only want to flavour the oil, and don’t want a burnt acrid taste.

Next, make a slit in each of the sausage skins. Remove the sausage skin and pinch off small meatball pieces of sausage meat. You don’t need to be too accurate with this, so don’t worry. The idea is to brown these pieces. As long as you have good quality sausages they won’t break up, but try not to stir too often. Let the pieces brown, then turn.

When the pieces are browned, add about a quarter of a teaspoon of paprika and stir.

Next you need something to make a bit of a sauce, whether that is milk, crème fraiche or cream. This will also deglaze the pan and all the lovely sticky bits with the sausages will blend into the sauce. Add the mustard & frozen peas and let this bubble gently while you cook the pasta.

If in the meantime the sauce gets dry, add a little water or milk, to loosen the sauce. The water from the cooking pasta is good here.

Add a good grating of parmesan and taste for seasoning. Remove the garlic clove.

Drain the pasta and add to the sauce. A good tip here, learnt from Mr Oliver is to reserve a small amount of liquid whilst draining the pasta. This can be added to the pasta if required to loosen it slightly. Stir to combine everything. serve to hungry kids. Mine normally ask for seconds and thirds and often end up eating out of the pan!

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