Fully Loaded Nachos - the turkey version!

I'm a bit of a novice at the Fully Loaded Nachos game, however I do love them!  This evening's version was so good, its recipe definitely requires blogging.  Well, I say "recipe" but in truth it's more of an assembly job than a recipe!

Along with the luscious goodies that are included in this turkey version, I also contemplated adding things like beans - red kidney or cannelini - sweet corn, fresh coriander, avocado and sliced red chilis.  All the kinds of things that you might find in a Mexican dish.  While I can see all of those things working, I'm glad I didn't add everything because it would have been far too much - so hark to my word of caution that Fully Loaded, whilst encouraging heaps of ingredients, can easily become too much to eat!  As it is, these nachos came in at around 725 calories per portion which required some jiggery pokery of the other meals, in order to fit it in without exceeding my daily calorie limit!

Anyway, the best thing about this meal is that you can include or exclude whatever you like.  So long as there are nacho chips and cheese, whatever else you add is entirely up to you.  My recommendation is that you use this recipe as help regarding how you make the dish, but free wheel about what you include.

Oh and it's worth knowing that these are like iron filings to a magnet for teenagers.  They just can't resist!  :D

FULLY LOADED (TURKEY) NACHOS   (serves 2)

Ingredients :

1 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 small red onion, chopped finely
half a bell pepper (any colour), diced
250g turkey mince
a pinch of sea salt
a pinch of freshly ground black pepper
sufficient barbecue sauce to coat
half a tsp of hot smoked paprika
150g or thereabouts, of nacho chips
100g of grated cheddar cheese
100g of grated Mexicana cheese
2 small tomatoes, sliced finely
sliced jalapeno peppers, to taste
100g approx of tomato salsa
150ml of sour cream
2 spring onions, finely sliced on the diagonal
crispy fried onion bits (optional)
fresh lime wedges.

Method :

Pre-heat your oven to 180degC/350degF/Gas 4.

Heat the rapeseed oil in a frying pan and add the onion, bell pepper pieces, salt & black pepper.  Cook over a moderate heat until the onion is softened and the bell pepper has begun to soften.  Move the vegetables to one side, increase the heat to high and add the turkey mince.  Fry until the mince has changed colour by 90% and stir in the vegetables.  Continue to fry until all the liquid has gone and the mince mixture is beginning to caramelise.

Reduce the heat to moderate and add the barbecue sauce & smoked paprika.  Stir everything together and cook until you have a fairly dry mix, which should only take a few moments.

Remove from the heat and set aside.

Take two baking trays and cover each with a sheet of baking paper.

Arrange a handful of nacho chips in the centre of each sheet, in a relatively flat layer.  This is the "plate" upon which the dish will be built - so don't take it too broad or you'll use too many chips, or too high or you won't fit the end result in the oven!

Next, sprinkle on a quarter of the cheese onto each bed of chips.

Then, heap on a quarter of the mince mixture onto each bed of cheesy chips.

Arrange the tomato and jalapeno slices across the mince mixture.

Dollop on the salsa, dividing between the two batches of chips.

Take another handful of chips and heap them on top of everything, on both trays.

Add the remaining quarters of the mince mixture, balancing it on top of the piles.

Sprinkle everything liberally with the remaining cheese, again dividing it between the two trays.  You can even add more jalapenos at this stage, if you're keen!

Carefully place the two trays into the oven for 10-15 minutes.  Keep an eye on them at half time, as you don't want the chips to burn.

When the cheese is melted and the mince is sizzling, remove the trays from the oven and have some warmed plates waiting.

Taking the baking paper, make it into a chute and slide the nachos onto the warmed plate.  They should go in one fell swoop, so be brave!

Add dollops of sour cream, sprinkle with the sliced spring onion and crispy onions, if you're using them and add the two wedges of lime, for squeezing at the table.

Prepare to accept the grateful and adoring thanks of the masses.  

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Cheddar & chorizo quiche : a super-tasty surprise!

For some reason I decided to make a quiche. I haven't made one in literally ages and I don't really have a reason for it. But I was considering what to make for dinners this week and up popped "quiche" in my head. Well, it seemed like a good idea - particularly if I got some ready made pastry, that would make it a lot easier. So I did.  You can make your own pastry if you wish - feel free!  On a good day, so would I.

I already had some finely sliced chorizo in the freezer, left over from a paella. The idea of some good, mature cheddar with chorizo seemed to have merit. Ultimately, I also added some char-grilled red pepper - just a little bit - and a handful of chopped fresh parsley.  I also had a rush of blood to the head and added a teaspoonful of vegetable stock powder (bouillon, in other words) and I'm glad I did.  It didn't make a huge difference to the flavours, but it just savouried (is that a word?) everything up nicely.

The big difference with this quiche is that I took it upon myself to use sour cream.  I figured that the slight sourness of the cream would work well with the rich cheese and smokeyness of the paprika in the chorizo and so it did.

I think this is one of the best quiches I've made in a very long time.  I wasn't sure how it would all work out, but it worked out perfectly. Definitely a "do-again" quiche.

I have two Cook's Tips for you - firstly, there is no failure to using shop bought, ready rolled pastry.  It's quick, it's so simple to use and these days there are some really lovely tasting ones out there.  I got mine from Asda and it's perfectly acceptable.

Secondly, don't be tempted to skip the part-baking of the pastry case. It really does help to eliminate those soggy bottoms that can make quiche eating something of a trial.  All you need is some greaseproof paper and a pot of ceramic baking beans (or a quantity of dried beans - my Mum used hers for years and her pastry had an unmistakeable nuttiness because of them). It only adds 20 minutes to the baking time and in that time you can be making the filling. As the Nike ad. says, "just do it!".

Anyway, to the recipe!

CHEDDAR AND CHORIZO QUICHE   (serves 4-6)

Ingredients :

Approx. 300g shortcrust pastry (sufficient for an 8" flan dish, approx. 1" deep)
4 large eggs
250ml soured cream
a good pinch of ground black pepper
1 tsp vegetable stock powder (or vegetable bouillon powder)
40g finely sliced chorizo, sliced into small ribbons
50g mature cheddar cheese, grated
2 spring onions, sliced diagonally
1 tbsp char-grilled red pepper (from a jar), rinsed and sliced small
1 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped fine.

Method :

Your first job is to part-bake the pastry case.  So, pre-heat your oven to 180degC/350degF/Gas 4.  Then, cut a square of pastry that is significantly bigger than the baking dish or tin you will be using and gently sink it into the tin, making sure there are no bubbles under the pastry and it is pressed gently into the corners.  Trim off the excess with a sharp knife.

Cut a piece of greaseproof paper that is correspondingly bigger than the baking tin and crumple it up as though you're going to throw it away, then smooth it out again.  You'll find when it comes to laying it over the pastry, it will fit better now!  Lay it over the pastry and lightly smooth it across the base.  Pour in your baking beans in an even layer.

Place the tin centrally into the oven and bake for 20 minutes.  You can use this time to make the filling.

Break each of the eggs into a cup and pour them into a large bowl.  Doing this ensures that if one of your eggs is off or even slightly dodgy, you don't lose the lot!  Add the soured cream, black pepper and stock powder and give everything a good whisk to combine.  Add the chorizo ribbons, grated cheese, red pepper, spring onions and parsley and stir until everything is combined.

Remove the pastry case from the oven and gently lift out the baking beans by holding the greaseproof paper.  Set the baking beans aside to cool down.

Using a slotted spoon, spoon the solids from the mixture into the pastry case and distribute them around evenly.  Pour the leftover liquid into the pastry case.  You may find that you have slightly more than will go in - and better to do it this way around than find your quiche is full of egg mixture and there's no room for the chorizo!

Gently place the quiche into the oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, until the filling has risen, turned golden and feels fairly firm when pressed.

Remove from the oven and place onto a cooling rack for 5-10 minutes.  If your tin is a loose-bottomed one, you can now remove the quiche from the tin and place it back onto the cooling rack.  Serve whilst still a little warm with a crunchy garden salad.

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Yummy breakfast idea - Baked tomatoes, egg & cheese

I don't have a million words to say about this one - well, it's breakfast so that means it needs to be a) quick and easy to put together and/or b) easy to cook - and it's both.

I wouldn't recommend trying to make this for the family on a weekday before school - but when you've got half a tin of plum tomatoes without a job to do, it's a definite.

For those of you who aren't following my Facebook page, you might not realise that I'm having a serious crack at whittling the waistline.  As such, I'm trying to keep my calories for the day to 2,100 - and it can be a challenge.  This breakfast rocked up at under 200 calories, so it's a goodie!

You need (for one person) :

half a tin of plum tomatoes, each tomato roughly chopped into three;
a dessertspoonful of tomato ketchup;
a whisker of tabasco;
a pinch of sea salt;
a good pinch or more of ground black pepper;
one fresh egg, and
a very small piece of mature cheddar cheese (just enough to grate over).

You can, if you have them, add anything you like to the tomatoes - such as chives, basil, parsley, chargrilled peppers - anything you like.

Hungry people can add another egg - but that will increase the calorie total by 80 or so.

What you need to do, is :

1.  Get yourself an ovenproof individual dish about twice the size of a ramekin.

2.  Mix the tomatoes with the ketchup and whatever other flavourings you are using, including the salt and pepper.  I mixed them directly in the dish.

3.  Crack the egg onto the top of the tomatoes.

4.  Grate the cheese - sparingly - over the top.

5.  Place into a pre-heated oven for 30 minutes or so until the top is lightly browned and the egg is firm.  I cooked mine in my combi oven (the Beastie) on the oven/grill/microwave setting which sped things up even more - but I appreciate that not everybody has a Beastie in which to do that.  You could always pop it under the grill if the cheese isn't golden enough for you by the end of the 30 mins.

Mmmmn.  The slightly spicy tomato mixed with egg and cheese is a time honoured match made in heaven that didn't need anything more.  What a great way to start the weekend.  Gets a great big thumbs up from me!



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Beef, ale & cheese soup - hearty flavours!

Are you, like I was, looking at the concept of a soup containing beef, ale (beer) and cheese and thinking "erm .. well how does that work, then?".  If so, then it works very well, surprisingly well in fact.

I'd seen various incarnations of this idea appearing on recipe sharing websites for a while and have to admit that I'd thought it was just one of those fads that occurs from time to time.  Like cheese stuffed meatloaf, prosciutto wrapped chicken breasts and cakes decorated with maltesers.  You know the sort of thing - not something that's going to last, a bit of a fashion thing - a flash in the proverbial pan.

However, I'm not sure if it was familiarity with seeing it turn up so regularly or just sheer curiosity that did it, but whatever it was - I succumbed, tried it out and it works.

Now you'll know that I'm rarely keen on a recipe that involves lots of procedures, lots of ingredients (well, except maybe for curries) and lots of faffing about.  You'll also know that my hubby isn't keen on "bouncy meat" and any type of beef requires a long, relaxing bath in the slow cooker in order for it to gain the thumbs up.

So when I began seriously considering how to make this warming wintery gem, I started from those two standpoints - simple and slow cooker.

Now it's soup we're talking about here - not stew.  So I had to choose a liquid base that would be interesting enough in flavour to be there in quantity plus also able to withstand a long cooking time.  Now obviously, beef stock would have done the job on at least one of those counts.  However, I didn't want the soup to be too weighted to one ingredient or the other.  I was after an amalgous whole.  An affinity between ingredients.  I also didn't want it to be too "gravy" flavoured.  Too much of a "gravy" flavour would be too stew-like.

Tomato passata was out, as it took everything down too much of an Italian route.  Creaminess was out, too.  Nobody wants a beef soup that is creamed.

Inevitably, the ole grey cells turned to alcohol.  After all, I'd done a fair few "in cider" dishes and knew that they worked.  I'd also cooked with ale a few times and knew what a lovely savoury end result you wind up with.  Yes, that was the thing - a light ale.  After all, beer and cheese were made to go together.  Light enough to still be there in the flavour profile, but without dominating either the beef or the cheese.

I knew that building up the flavour in layers is often the way to go - so what vegetable matter to put in there.  Some for flavour, some for texture, some for thickening.  Onion was a given and it would have to be fried so as to avoid that horrible raw onion flavour overpowering everything.  Celery is a good one, but no carrots, not this time.  I didn't want it to be a stew, remember?  Garlic always helps savouriness along, so that was a definite.  As for herbage, I was torn between parsley, thyme and oregano.  Son and heir had complained recently about everything having parsley in it, so I restrained myself to providing a mere sprinkling of parsley as garnish and decided to go with thyme.  Well, oregano was going too far down the Italian/pizza flavour route again.  I had declared myself done with thyme just recently, as it seemed to go in everything and I had got distinctly fed up with it.  However, there was just no alternative - and it went very well.

I was a little bit worried that a lot of these flavours were "top end" and there was nothing really backing up the garlic and beef at the "lower end" of the flavour spectrum, until I remembered I had a few mushrooms.  Perfect.

Now potato was a given as it tends to disintegrate and act as a thickener.  I needed something else though, something that had inherent sweetness that would counteract the bitter, hoppy flavour of the ale.  There in my veggie drawer of the fridge, was sat a half a butternut squash.  Again, perfect.  I peeled it, cut it into cubes and in it went, providing colour, beta carotene and the desired amount of sweetness.

With the combination of mature Cheddar's tangy, salty flavours and the Red Leicester's softer tones, the cheese was relatively easy to pin down.  I felt they both worked very well, although perhaps a medium matured Cheddar might have been better for my palate.  If you can cope with the big flavours of a tangy, salty, matured cheddar then go ahead with it, if you're a bit wobbly about cheese, I'd recommend a medium matured Cheddar.  Just don't reduce the quantity, as it makes a huge difference to the texture of the soup.

Now, what Cook's Tips can I offer you?  Well, apart from the type of Cheddar used (as above), I really don't think the type of beef that you use matters all that much.  Quite obviously, you wouldn't want to be using rump steak, nor a sirloin roast.  However any of your stewing, casserole, braising types from brisket right down to good old shin, would work.  Just adjust the cooking time to suit.  I used a stewing type of beef that had already been diced - not my favourite type of beef to use, but we were fortunate in that it turned out to be just perfect for the job.  I suspect it was probably a combination of shin with a bit of braising steak mixed in, as there were two very different textures of meat in there.  However, I'd use it again as it was really good.  It had around 8 or 9 hours in total on high and was absolutely as soft as butter and completely delicious.

I served the soup with some lovely sourdough, rustic bread from our local Patisserie Mark Bennett bakery.  You need bread with some "oomph" alongside the soup, but if you haven't got it don't worry.  The soup is the star!

BEEF, ALE & CHEESE SOUP   (serves 4)

Ingredients :

3 tbsp plain flour
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1-2 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
750g braising or stewing beef - I used shin - trimmed of fat and cut into chunks
1 onion, chopped small
2 stalks of celery, chopped small
4-5 mushrooms, sliced
1 large garlic clove, crushed and chopped finely
1 medium potato, peeled and cut into cubes
half a butternut squash, peeled, de-seeded and cut into cubes
half a teaspoonful of dried thyme
500ml bottle of light ale beer
500ml cold water
a teaspoonful of low salt veal or beef stock powder (or a low salt stock cube)
100ml single cream
200g grated cheese - I used 50/50 Cheddar and Red Leicester
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh parsley, for garnish.

Method :

1.  Place the flour and a pinch of sea salt and half a teaspoonful of black pepper into a large plastic bag and toss to combine.

2.  Add the cubes of beef and toss well to coat the meat.

3.  Heat the olive oil in a deep frying pan on a high heat, then place in handfuls of the beef to sear.  Take care to not overcrowd the pan, which will lower the temperature and so cause the beef to stew instead of sear.

4.  As the beef sears, remove it with a slotted spoon to the slow cooker and continue to sear the next batch until all the beef is done.

5.  Add the onion, celery, mushrooms and garlic to the pan - you may need a little more oil - and reduce the temperature.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions have softened and coloured a little.  Decant into the slow cooker and turn it on to Low.

6.  Add the potato, butternut squash and thyme to the slow cooker, stir to combine and replace the lid.

7.  Pour the light ale into the frying pan and add the stock powder, plus 500ml of water.  Stir to combine, making sure to deglaze the pan and heat until simmering point, whereupon you can add the contents of the pan to the slow cooker, turn the heat to High and replacing the lid.

8.  Cook for a minimum of 6 hours on High and a maximum of 8 on Low - or until the beef is tender and the vegetables are cooked.

9.  Remove the slow cooker's lid and stir in the cream and the grated cheese until the cheese has melted.  Taste for seasoning and adjust if necessary.

10.  Serve into warmed bowls, adding a sprinkle of fresh parsley to garnish and crusty bread for dipping.

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Creamy Parsnip and Squash Bake

The first instalment of summer squash got used to make this fantastic - and soon to be made again - creamy bake of a side dish.

It all came about because I was looking for a simple recipe that would enable me to tell how the squash tasted and how it behaved during cooking.  The recipe was perfect for that and I was able to glean that it held together very nicely, was sweet and didn't dissolve into water once cooked.

I had four lovely little parsnips from thevegibox.com that were waiting to be used in something and I started to think about what hubby particularly likes.  Now it goes without saying that he likes chilli, and Mexican flavours, Spanish flavours, Mediterranean flavours and a whole raft of Indian and Chinese flavours.  However, none of those really matched up with parsnip and squash.  However, creamy flavours did - and hubby loves creamy flavours.  So then a picture came into my mind of Dauphinoise potatoes - but made with parsnip and squash.  Except, the garlic didn't really go.  Aha!  But finely chopped shallot would - and so would thyme and parmesan.  Bingo.

So what meat would go nicely with this combination?  Well, chicken was an obvious choice and I'm always keen to have a roast chicken dinner.  Plus, Vegibox had delivered some more lovely rainbow chard and this would be a perfect opportunity to try some cooked quite plainly and as a side vegetable.

I contemplated what to do with the chicken next.  Yes, I could have just roasted it with a little oil and seasoning, but that was a bit dull and if the bake didn't come off it would be a very disappointing dinner.  Lemon was out because of the cheese and cream in the bake, but I was already using thyme so that was a possibility.  So what goes with cream?  Well, you have mustard cream sauces but I didn't want to use more cream.  What do you use with chicken that would go with mustard and with the cream in the bake?  Honey!  Aha!  Honey mustard chicken!  Perfect.

So there we were - the creamy parsnip & squash bake, with honey mustard chicken, rainbow chard and carrots.  Yum.

Now assuming you're rather better with a mandolin than I am, you'll be able to cut your parsnips and squash into evenly sized slices without losing any skin - which is the recommended method.  I lost the edge of my little finger - and this is the not-to-be-recommended method.  Alternatively, you could just use a knife, but be sure to get your slices even widths or they will all take different times to cook.

Owing to the relatively few ingredients required for the bake, it came together really quickly (even with a first aid break) and my Nanna's lovely brown heatproof glass casserole was perfect for it.  I was able to control the browning of the cheese on top by use of the casserole dish lid and it sat very politely waiting to be served when it was done some 10 minutes early.

All that contemplation as to what hubby liked paid off when, after his first few forkfuls, he declared "this parsnip & squash thing is fabulous!".  After my first taste, I had to agree - it was fabulous.  You could still taste the parsnip, but it didn't take priority over the other flavours (as parsnip is wont to do).  The squash was there, adding sweetness and that lovely gentle flavour that is uniquely squash.  The cream, onion and thyme bound the whole ensemble together and the cheese added that richness to the flavour that just finished it off perfectly.

Oh, and for those who are interested in such things - the rainbow chard was really very good indeed!  I used the cooking juices from the honey mustard chicken as a light gravy over the chard and carrots and they went together beautifully.  People who have seen the photographs on Rhubarb & Ginger's Facebook page, have asked me what the "rhubarb looking" thing is - and it is interesting that chard has the same effect on your teeth that rhubarb does!  Rather less than rhubarb in fact, but it is nonetheless still there - that furry, odd feeling.  Its flavour is almost tinny, but in a nice, juicy, veggie kind of way.  I was expecting it to be more cabbage-like in flavour, but in fact it turned out to be much more spinach-like.  Really very acceptable - and it makes rather more sense as to how it can be used in flans and quiches now!

Everyone, without exception, really liked everything on the plate but particularly the creamy parsnip and squash bake.  To the point that, at washing-up time when I discovered a spoonful of it left - cold - in the dish, son & heir and myself were to be seen sharing it.  Well, it was too small to keep!  I think that was testament to how good it truly was.

CREAMY PARSNIP & SQUASH BAKE  (serves 3)

Ingredients :

butter, for greasing & several small knobs for the surface
500g parsnip, peeled and finely sliced
500g butternut squash, peeled and finely sliced
1 banana shallot, finely chopped
1 tsp dried thyme
300ml double cream
25g parmesan cheese
15g strong cheddar cheese
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Method :

1.  Pre-heat your oven to 160degC/325degF/Gas4.

2.  Rub the bottom and sides of a gratin dish with butter.

3.  Place the parsnip and squash slices into the dish and toss together with the shallot, thyme and some salt and pepper.  Arrange the slices randomly but fairly evenly to give a fairly flat surface, in the dish.

4.  Pour over the cream and sprinkle on the cheeses.  Add a dot of butter here and there on top of everything else and give an additional sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper.

5.  Cover the dish and put into the oven to bake for 45 minutes.  Remove the lid and replace into the oven for the remaining 15 minutes, to brown the surface.  The bake is complete when a knife will insert easily into the vegetables.

Serve.

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Cheesey Seafood Gratin - fish is delicious on a budget!

Now, don't go looking at the title of "Cheesey Seafood Gratin" and immediately think "oh, I can't afford that".  I know that there are people out there for whom the price of this dish would be prohibitive, lord knows I've been one of them, but it really is about the cheapest way short of having a friendly fishmonger nearby or going out and catching your fish.

Most supermarkets, these days, are selling what they call "Fish Pie Mix" in their frozen food section.

These fish pie mixes contain a selection of fish - mine had smoked haddock, salmon and cod - and are obviously there to catch all the little bits of fish that are offcuts from making bigger chilled dishes.  They also provide an outlet for all those tiny fish that are caught along the way.  You only have to look at a cross section of one of the fish pieces to realise that it had to have come from a teensy fish.  Well that's fine, because at the price they're offered - mine was £3 for 300g - they aren't exactly cheap, but then they're not exactly THAT expensive either.  Now, across 3 people, 300g of fish isn't that much, so I added one of Asda's "cheap as chips" 200g bags of coldwater prawns - which at £1.50 made the price of the fish up to £4.50.

Once upon a time, I'd have been looking to spend no more than £3 on meat or fish for a meal - but no longer.  The upper limit has had to be moved to no more than £5 these days, so this just fitted.  The only thing you have to remember, when using frozen fish of any kind, is to squeeze it gently between some kitchen paper before adding it to your dish - otherwise you'll find it releases a ridiculous amount of water and turns your lovely sauce to soup.

I found this particular recipe in the BBC Good Food magazine for September and don't seem to be able to find it anywhere else online at the moment, otherwise I'd send you there.  So, just for the moment, this is about the only place you'll find this particular recipe!

Just out of the grill and as hot as the surface of the sun!

I was immediately attracted to the photograph - I'm a total sucker for anything remotely gratinated.  Show me a cheese sauce, white sauce, seafood sauce - you name it, if it's with a roux style sauce, I'm interested.  The combination of cheese and fish was attractive too, not least because so many of the t.v. chefs who cook Italian style food are adamant that cheese and fish should not appear on the same plate.  Oh, I'm just a little rebel at heart, you see.  What?  That's news to you?  Just ask my Mum, she'll tell you.
 

What you can't see in these photographs, though, is that hiding under the fish and prawns (which I do accept, you can't see those either) is a layer of sauteed leek.  Now for me, that little layer of soft green leek really made this dish.  Without it, the texture would have been too squishy.  However, with the addition of the leek, they gave the texture a lovely soft crunch that, along with the wholegrain mustard, brought the dish together beautifully.

As for the mechanics of making the dish, well it couldn't have been easier.  I opted to make my own cheese sauce because I find making a roux based sauce extremely easy, but if you were in the market for a quick meal or have physical challenges in the kitchen, just buy a pot of cheese sauce.  Yes, it adds to the price - but it will speed things up.  I simply made the sauce, sauteed the leeks, assembled the dishes (I made it in three individual dishes as you can see from the photographs) and while it was in the oven, put together the simple salad and buttered some bread.  I even had time to do the small amount of washing up that had accumulated.

A word must be had about the type of cheese you use.  I used an extra mature cheddar because I like the way it behaves in a cheese sauce and we like our cheese sauces to be really, really cheesey.  However, there is a slight problem with extra mature cheddar in that it really doesn't like being grilled.  Doesn't like it at all.  So when it came to grilling the tops to provide a nice baked crust, as you can see, it didn't really work.  What I should have done, was buy a less mature cheese to use in grating over the top - but for the sake of a few moments grilling, it seemed an unnecessary expense.  However, if you aren't so bothered about a REALLY cheesey sauce and like the baked top, opt for a medium cheddar and that should work better for you.

The mustard is a must-have in this dish.  Without it, the sauce wouldn't have that piquancy that stops it from becoming sickly.  I dare say it doesn't have to be wholegrain mustard - I should think that a good slug of English would do nicely and at a pinch maybe Dijon, but I'd be careful about the Dijon making the sauce a little bit too piquant.

The original recipe required 10g of fresh parsley to be chopped and half added to the sauce and half reserved to sprinkle over at the end.  I, stupidly, had forgotten to order the parsley so we did without.  I didn't miss it, although it would have made the end photograph a bit prettier!  So, it's up to you whether you include it or not.

I should also think that this is one of those dishes that could transcend the seasons.  In the spring and summer, serve it with salad - and in the autumn/winter it would be lovely with mashed potato, carrots and peas.  You could also jazz it up with lovely things like lobster (yes, I know, I'm laughing at the very idea too) and scallops (sometimes you can find some affordable scallops, depending on the time of year).

In short, this is a really flexible but truly delicious meal that everyone here enjoyed.  Son & heir liked it so much he even bothered to stop long enough to wipe his dish clean with a crust of bread.  Now that's a seal of approval, if ever there was one.

CHEESEY SEAFOOD GRATIN   (serves 3)

Ingredients :

50g unsalted butter
3 dessertspoonfuls of plain flour
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1 pint of whole milk
2 tsp wholegrain mustard
200g cheddar cheese, with some held back for sprinkling
2 tsp rapeseed oil (or olive oil)
2 large leeks, cleaned, halved and thinly sliced
300g frozen fish pie mix, defrosted
200g frozen prawns, defrosted
salad and wholemeal bread slices, to serve.

Method :

1.  Pre-heat your oven to 200degC/400degF/Gas 6.

2.  Skip this bit if you've bought yourself a pot of cheese sauce - except to add the mustard to the sauce, then go to stage 4.

If you haven't bought cheese sauce, take a small saucepan and melt the butter in it.  Once melted, add the flour and stir to combine.  Let it cook for a few moments, but without turning brown.  Add a teensy tiny pinch of salt (there's loads of salt in the cheese and the fish, so go carefully) and a good twist or four of black pepper.

3.  Reduce the heat and add the milk in instalments, stirring like a mad thing in between instalments so as to remove the lumps.  However, don't stir too madly or you'll be washing floury milk off your walls.  Once you've added approximately half the milk and the lumps are (hopefully) all gone, increase the heat and stir until the sauce thickens.  I was left with just a touch of milk in the bottom of the pint container, but it all depends on how much flour you put in as to how much milk you will need to achieve the right consistency.  You're looking for a really quite thick sauce, as the addition of the cheese will let it down a little.  So, remove the sauce from the heat and add the mustard and cheese.  Stir to combine them through the sauce while the cheese melts.  Once it has all melted, set it aside while you take care of the leeks.

4.  If you're clever at multi tasking, you could do this stage at the same time as the sauce.  I can't - I'm rubbish at multi tasking and generally only have one hand to stir with as the other is holding myself up.  Ooh, arthritis is such fun!

So, gently heat the rapeseed or olive oil in a frying pan and add the leeks.  Cook them slowly, stirring often to prevent any from going brown, until they are softened but still have a soft crunch to them.  Remove from the heat and begin to assemble the dish.

5.  Decide whether you are going to make this in one big dish, or in individual dishes.  I'll assume that you've gone with the individual dishes route, for the sake of this recipe.

6.  Take the leeks and divide them equally between the dishes.

7.  Take the fish pie mix and drain off the water.  Drop the pieces of fish onto several pieces of kitchen paper and lay another couple of sheets on top.  Squeeze gently, to remove the bulk of the water from the fish.  Then divide the fish equally between the dishes.

8.  Do the same process for the prawns - drain, kitchen paper, squeeze, divide equally.

9.  Take the cheese sauce and again, divide it equally between the dishes, making sure all the contents are covered and the top is levelled.

10.  Sprinkle with the remaining grated cheese and place the dishes into the oven for 15 minutes.

11.  To achieve the baked cheese effect on the surface of each dish, place under a hot grill for a few minutes, or even give them a blast with a blowtorch.  However, take note of the fact that an extra strong cheddar just won't bake in the way that a medium cheddar will.

12.  While the dishes were in the oven, assemble some salad ingredients on each plate and butter some wholemeal bread.  Once the dishes are done, add one to each plate and serve amidst dire warnings as to the temperature of the gratin, which is something akin to the surface of the sun at this stage.  Blow a lot on the first few forkfuls!

Printable version

Slow cooked Cumberland beef stew with donkey carrots

When I first set out to make this meal, it was supposed to be a crispy topped Cumberland pie.  However, I ran out of puff part way through it - and discovered how yummy just the beef part of the recipe could be on its own.

As with a lot of my recipes these days, this one has taken bits from several different recipes.  However, the original inspiration came from the BBC Good Food website and their Crispy topped Cumberland pie.

The original version was made with feather blade beef, however I opted to use our favourite shin of beef because a) I was going to be slow-cooking it and b) the flavour of beef shin is amazing.  However, this plan back-fired on me this time around - as you'll discover later.

I liked the idea of the sliced potatoes on top, along with the baked to crispiness cheese coating.  Cheddar always goes so well with beef, they are a real comfort food pairing.  I was a bit nervous about the sliced potatoes, however, as I've not had a lot of luck with them in the past.  They either wind up still hard (not long enough in the oven) or turn black and unappetising looking (wrong type of potato, left too long before baking).  You see, I know what I did wrong in the past - so I was determined not to commit any of these crimes this time around.  Hubby always greets the idea of sliced potato on top of a savoury dish with great scepticism, so I not only had my own failures to beat, I had his expectations to exceed too.

Swimming around happily

When it got closer to the time when I would make the transfer from the slow cooker to the oven, I think I had got myself so wound up over the potatoes failing (again), that I just opted for the easier route and didn't bother.

The marriage of beef and cheese is what makes a "Cumberland" something, Cumberland.  So, rather than miss the whole point of the recipe, I remembered seeing Jamie Oliver adding some grated cheese to a beef casserole - and did the same.  It was very definitely counter-intuitive to be grating cheddar into a beef casserole, but for all that it didn't taste obviously of cheddar cheese, it very definitely made a difference in both flavour and texture.

I must pause here and comment on the carrots.  You see, carrots have such a fundamental part to play in British cooking.  They appear on so many plates over the course of a lifetime's meals, yet rarely do you see anyone doing anything exciting with them (apart from the occasional carrot cake and maybe a carrot & coriander soup).  Now, I'm not saying that adding them to this stew was exciting, but if we could just have a little bit of appreciation here for the 'umble carrot in all its many forms, I think it would be appropriate.  The carrots used in this stew were the big fat donkey carrots.  None of your thin, springtime carrots, or your fancy Chantenay carrots.  Oh no.  What you need are big, fat, coarse carrots that are going to stand being cooked for a long time and have loads of sweetness to impart.

I love the name "donkey carrots" and have been wracking my brains to try and remember where I first heard the term.  It was either care of Raymond Blanc on his "Kitchen Secrets" programme - he is so funny in this programme! - or with Michael Caines during his carrot episode of the Great British Food Revival.  Either way, "donkey carrot" just suits this great big honking lump of carrotiness perfectly - and "donkey carrots" they shall be, for me, in future.  (I can remember when I owned horses and a donkey, buying a 25kg bag of just these type of carrots, for their feed!  More than one of them went home with me and wound up on my plate!).

Now, what was the end result like, I hear you ask?  Well, I loved it, son & heir loved it but hubby - oddly - couldn't take the texture of the beef shin.

See what I mean by connective tissue?  Can't trim it all out!

I'm really not sure what the difference was, as we've had and eaten beef shin on many other occasions and he hasn't experienced the same problem, plus I didn't notice any difference in the meat as I was trimming it up.  Trimming up beef shin is always a labour of love, so I very definitely went over it with a fine toothcomb for yukky fat and globby bits.  Shin of beef contains a lot of connective tissue, which during the course of slow cooking melts into the gravy and gives it a very rich, almost glutinous texture.  It makes me wonder if the addition of the cheese to the gravy didn't just push the texture over the edge of palatable for hubby, as he really is so terribly sensitive to soft textures in food.

For me, the cheese made the gravy incredibly savoury, rich and unctuous along with giving it a certain indefinable and very pleasant something.  I really liked the carrot and the combination of onions and celery had just melted away into the gravy.  I used my favourite Knorr Rich Beef Stock Pot to provide a good amount of additional "oomph!" to the gravy base - they really are indispensable to me, now.

That oddly coloured carrot on the right, is a purple carrot!

So all in all, I'd very definitely do this recipe again - but I think I'd choose something like Brisket of beef, or perhaps Silverside (depending on the price!), both of which have far less connective tissue and thus would make it palatable for hubby.  After all, there's no point spending all that time trimming, cooking and serving if he can't eat it!

SLOW COOKED CUMBERLAND STEW WITH DONKEY CARROTS   (feeds 4)

Ingredients :

1 tbsp rapeseed oil
6-700g beef brisket (or braising cut of your choice)
2 big donkey carrots, peeled and chopped into chunky pieces
2 onions, chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
3 bay leaves
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1 Knorr Really Beefy Stock Pot (or a beef stock cube)
1 tsp Bovril
half a tsp of freshly ground black pepper
500ml hot water
1 tbsp softened butter
2 tbsp plain flour
a large handful of grated mature cheddar cheese.

Method :

1.  Heat the oil in a frying pan until really quite hot.  Add the beef - you may need to do this bit in stages, so as not to overcrowd the pan - and sear until you have a good dark golden brown colour on at least two sides.  Decant into the slow cooker with a slotted spoon and turn it to low, making sure to replace the lid.

2.  Add the carrots to the slow cooker and replace the lid.

3.  Add the onion to the frying pan (you may need a touch more oil) and cook gently for 5-6 minutes until softened, transparent and just beginning to take on colour.

4.  Add the celery and continue to cook for another 2-3 minutes.

5.  Add the bay leaves, tomato puree, tomato ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, stock pot (or stock cube, if using), Bovril, pepper and water and stir gently to combine as it heats through.

6.  In a small dish, mix the butter and flour together.  Remove the frying pan from the heat and add a teaspoonful of the flour mixture to the gravy.  Stir well to ensure it mixes in without forming lumps.  Continue until you have the consistency you prefer - less flour mix for thinner, more flour mix for thicker.

7.  Return the pan to the heat and stir until properly thickened.

8.  Decant into the slow cooker.  Replace the lid and leave to cook for the next 8-10 hours.

9.  Just prior to serving, remove the lid and using the slotted spoon, move the meat to one side of the slow cooker.

10.  Add the grated cheddar to the non-meat side and stir it gently into the gravy.  Once melted, stir the meat back in to the cheesy gravy.

Serve.

Printable version
 

One for Halloween & Bonfire Night - Cream of Tomato Soup with Bacon & Cheese Muffins

Now this is just perfect food for watching fireworks, or for cold and hungry Trick or Treaters (assuming they aren't stuffed to the gills with sugar, that is!).

I didn't set out to make a Halloween or Bonfire Night
meal, I just liked the recipe for the Creamy Tomato Soup and had a sudden brainwave that my Bacon & Cheese Muffins would go really well with it.  I wasn't wrong either.

I found the recipe for the soup in the BBC Good Food Magazine and liked the sound of it immediately.  I can't seem to find the same recipe online - so you've got it reproduced below, albeit with the numbers scaled down a bit, just in case you want to try it too.

The recipe really couldn't be easier - it all happens in the one pot, with a little bit of blender action from a hand blender.  The soup also keeps happily in the fridge, as I was eating leftovers for the next couple of days, it made that much!

I was particularly attracted to the concept of there being celery, carrots and potatoes in the soup along with the tomato.  Any excuse to get a bit of vegetable matter into my menfolk and I'm there.

Son & heir really liked the soup - and enjoyed dunking his muffins in.  Hubby wasn't so keen, in that all he could taste was tinned tomatoes (which was odd, as there was rather more than just tinned tomatoes in there!) and found it too acidic for his palate.  I really, really liked it - and would make it again for just such an occasion as Halloween.

The soup comes up - after blitzing - as very nicely thickened and wholesome, but without degenerating into babyfood.  I liked the tomato flavour and didn't find it acidic at all.

I suppose all you can do is try it - and let me know if you think it comes up acidic, as we just can't agree, here!

If you are interested in the recipe for the muffins - scroll on down!

CREAMY TOMATO SOUP   (serves 5-6)

Ingredients :

1 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 onion, chopped finely
2 celery sticks, chopped finely
150g carrots, peeled and chopped finely
250g potatoes, diced finely
2 bay leaves
2 tbsp tomato puree (Tarantella is my favourite)
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp white wine vinegar
400g tin chopped tomatoes (Tarantella, again)
250g passata (and again, Tarantella is my favourite)
1-2 vegetable stock cubes (I used Essential Cuisine's vegetable stock powder)
500ml boiling water
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
100ml full fat milk
100ml single cream.

Method :

1.  In a deep, large saucepan, heat the oil and add the onion.  Cook gently until it has begun to turn golden brown, then add the celery, carrots, potatoes and bay leaves.

2.  Fry gently, stirring from time to time to prevent the potatoes sticking to the bottom of the pan, until the vegetables have softened slightly.

3.  Stir in the tomato puree, sugar, vinegar, chopped tomatoes and passata, then add the stock cubes or powder.  Add the boiling water and stir well.

4.  Bring to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes or until the carrot and potato are tender.

5.  Remove the bay leaves, then blitz with a hand blender until smooth.

6.  Season to taste (the amount of salt will depend entirely upon the salt contained in the stock cubes), you can afford to be generous with the black pepper.  You may need to add a pinch or two of sugar, depending on which brand of tomatoes you used.

(If freezing, this is the stage at which you would cool the soup for the freezer).

7.  Stir in the milk and cream, check for seasoning and don't let the soup boil from here on in.  Bring up to a simmer and serve.

Printable version

Now, the perfect accompaniment to the above soup, are my Bacon & Cheese Muffins.  The best part about these two combined, is that you don't need to see what you are doing, in order to eat them.  Hence, being out in the dark with a mug of soup and a muffin in your hand, is no problem.  You can keep your eyes on the fireworks without worrying about nibbling around a bone, or whether you've got the best bits on your spoon.  Just dip and slurp - what could be easier?

These Bacon & Cheese Muffins have to be the single most requested recipe in my entire repertoire.  I think of anyone was asking me for my signature recipe, it'd have to be these chaps.

I have made them so often in the past, that the recipe can be utterly trusted to deliver a gorgeously light and fluffy muffin, redolent of cheddar cheese and smoky bacon.  Whether you're eating these for breakfast, lunch or with soup for dinner - they hit the spot.

I have big problems keeping these muffins in the house long enough to take photographs of them, to be honest!  No sooner are they out of the oven than there's a queue of hungry menfolk licking their lips and clutching their woefully empty plates, with hopeful looks on their faces.  It's not just the menfolk either!  While the muffins are cooling, I have to barricade them behind tea caddies, fruit squash bottles and cereal boxes, plus make it very difficult for the Secret Paw (also known an Jonty, the Saluki dog) to get his paws up onto the worktop - or they'd be gone.  All he can do is patrol the area with his nose in the air!

The kitchen suddenly becomes a very busy place, when these muffins are out of the oven!

By the way, it might be worth your while to not let on how easy these are to make - or you'll be being petitioned for more baking before you know it, too!

You'll find the recipe for the Bacon & Cheese Muffins here.