Thick, chunky creamed vegetable soup (with a little bacon)

It's the 29th December, 2017.  We have eaten our own body weight in turkey over Christmas.  It is time to give our digestions a bit of consideration, hence, a vegetable soup.  However, because we're not vegetarians, it's got a wee bit of bacon in it too - just for the flavour input, don'tcha know.

Now for all that I like the brothy kind of soups, I wanted this one to be hearty, thick and worthy of being served as a dinner soup.  Perhaps with some crusty bread, or as it turned out, a gorgeous thin flatbread with mozzarella, basil and olive oil.  Mmmnn, delicious.

Truth be told, you could use just about any vegetables you wanted for this soup.  I will give you the full rundown of vegetable input in the recipe, but you need to follow a few rules, no matter what veggies you use.  Said rules go like this :

a)  chop some veggies very small, so that they cook down and disappear into the vegetable stock.

b)  chop some veggies into bite sized pieces, so that they will be retained and create lovely texture.

c)  start with a tasty oil - coconut, or butter, or rapeseed - and a finely chopped onion.  Do not be tempted to use a bland vegetable oil, or a slightly bitter olive oil.  If you start wrong, you won't ever be able to come back from it.

d)  use the best vegetable stock you can source.  It is the base of your soup and deserves to be delicious.

So there you are.  Not difficult at all, but make sure to set aside a good time to be spent  choppin', cuttin' and a-peelin'.  Not to mention a good hour or so in the preliminary cooking stage and a pause in the middle of however long you've got.  Good soup does not come about in a half an hour.  Well actually it can, but not with this one.

Here comes the recipe!

THICK, CHUNKY CREAMED VEGETABLE SOUP    (Serves 4)

Ingredients :

1 tbsp coconut oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
4 rashers of streaky bacon, finely chopped (optional)
2 tsp ground coriander
a large pinch of sea salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
half a tsp dried thyme
half a tsp dried parsley

Peeled and chopped small :

1 medium carrot
1 large stick of celery, with fluffy green bits if possible
1 large leek
2 chestnut mushrooms
6 sweet cherry tomatoes (halved works for these)
half a medium potato

Peeled and chopped into bite sized chunks :

2 medium carrots
2 large sticks of celery
5 chestnut mushrooms (quartered)
1 and a half medium potatoes
2 small parsnips
a decent sized chunk of swede or turnip

plus :

750ml of strong vegetable stock (I used 1.5 tsp Marigold vegetable bouillon and 1 tsp Essential Cuisine vegetable stock powder)
4-5 tbsp dry split red lentils
3-4 large leaves of Savoy cabbage, ribs removed and leaves sliced
2-3 tbsp double (or heavy) cream
2 tsp cornflour mixed with a drop of water to thick pouring consistency
sea salt & ground black pepper to taste.

Method :

To begin, make sure you are using a pan which can contain the entire contents.  It needs to be BIG and have a lid which fits.  I used my steep sided wok, which worked perfectly.

Heat the oil and add the onion & bacon (if using).  Cook, stirring often, until the onion is transparent and the bacon is beginning to render its oil.  Add the coriander, sea salt, black pepper and herbs and stir through.

Add all the chopped small ingredients and cook on, stirring regularly to turn the pan contents.  Once the leek and mushroom pieces are softened and the whole is beginning to look cooked, add the vegetable stock.

Increase the temperature under the pan and bring the contents to a gentle boil.  Add the bite sized chunks of veggies, the red lentils and the cabbage.  Gently stir through, cover the pan and bring back to a gentle boil.  Cook on for 30-40 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Taste to check the seasoning levels - which should be fairly high as when you add it later, the cream will obliterate a certain level of seasoning.

Remove from the heat, leave covered and go and have a sit down for a couple of hours.

When you return, using a hand blender, blitz a certain amount of the soup to your preference.  I probably made it 50:50 blitzed to chunks which seemed to go down well.

Turn the heat on under the pan and add the cream and cornflour slurry and stir through.  As the soup heats up to a lively simmer, the cornflour will thicken the soup to a consistency where it will coat the back of a spoon - which is what you are aiming for.  If it becomes too thick, add a little water.

Finally, check the seasoning and adjust to your taste.  Serve into warm bowls with crusty bread for dipping.

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Chicken in a Marsala & mustard cream sauce - as easy as winking!

Chicken in a Marsala & mustard cream sauce is quite probably my absolute favourite chicken dish from my repertoire. I've used Marsala wine, our home made Mead and even sherry in it, with excellent results for all three. I've also swapped out the wholegrain mustard for Dijon and loved that version too. So, it's a very flexible and forgiving recipe that provides incredibly yummy results.

Right at this moment, I'm on a white meat only diet following on from a really bad gout attack and I'm so glad that I remembered this one. Eating just chicken, turkey and white fish can get a bit ho hum, even after just a week. So it was nice to have chicken with a lovely unctuous, tasty sauce and I'm only surprised that I haven't got around to blogging it before now!

Another good thing about this recipe is that if you ever find yourself with no onions but a tub of cream in the fridge and chicken in the freezer, you're half way there. It's not often, these days, you find a recipe that doesn't include onion. I've often pondered on including a sauteed onion or maybe some garlic in the sauce but always reject the idea on the basis that the sauce is so good without it, why mess with perfection?

As for Cook's Notes, there's really only one you need to be aware of which is to monitor the temperature of the pan when you're frying the chicken. Of course, you don't want your chicken to burn, but equally you really don't want it to be more than a gentle golden brown or your sauce could end up a little bitter. It all depends on your particular pan. You know it best, so just keep your eye on it during the cooking.

Mmmmnnn, I could eat this all over again today if I had the chicken!

CHICKEN IN A MARSALA & MUSTARD CREAM SAUCE (serves 3)

Ingredients :

3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts

a pinch of sea salt
1 tbsp olive or rapeseed oil
120ml Marsala wine (or Mead, or Sherry)
2 tsp wholegrain mustard
100ml water
1 tsp low salt chicken stock granules (or half a low salt stock cube)
a pinch of ground black pepper
1 tsp thyme
150ml double cream
1 tsp cornflour, let down with a small amount of water.

Method :

Trim each chicken breast of any gristle or fat, then slice each breast through horizontally from the thick end to the thin end, creating two thin halves.

Place the olive or rapeseed oil into a frying pan and heat until sizzly. Gently lay each chicken breast down - and leave it alone apart from to sprinkle with a small amount of sea salt. You are aiming to achieve some colour on the chicken breasts, so they will need to stay in one position until they achieve a lovely golden colour.

Flip each breast over onto the other side and again, leave it alone to cook and gain colour for another few minutes.

Remove the chicken to a warmed plate, it doesn't matter if it isn't quite cooked through - it will finish cooking once it is in the sauce.

Pour the wine into the pan and deglaze by stirring and releasing any crispy bits that may be stuck to the pan. All these are flavour!

Once the wine has reduced by half, add the mustard, water, stock granules, black pepper and thyme. Stir thoroughly to combine.

Add the cream and stir through, then return the chicken to the pan, together with any juices that have accumulated under the chicken. Stir gently and allow the sauce to simmer.

When you are satisfied that the chicken is cooked through, if necessary add the cornflour/water mix and stir to combine. Once the sauce has thickened to your preferred consistency, serve with a selection of steamed vegetables and new potatoes.

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Greek style gorgeousness - Chickaleekaka!

Well, what a thing of great beauty this recipe turned out to be!  I found it on Petit Chef, in a vegetarian version without the chicken (and other bits), here.  I really liked the combination of flavours and was intrigued by the use of the white wine.  However it didn't have enough "oomph" for my menfolk as a main course, yet seemed too heavy for a side dish.  So after a bit of mental juggling with a few protein sources such as ham (which I'm sure would be great, but good ham is hard to find for an affordable price), salmon, smoked haddock or sausage - I decided to continue the theme of delicate flavours and go with chicken.  After all, chicken and wine, chicken and leek, chicken and cheese, all go well together and it certainly isn't going to argue with eggs!

Just baked - and you can see the importance of the cheesy crust.

Yes, it takes a little bit of fiddling around as it's a three-stage dish where cooking and assembly is concerned, but if you start early and leave yourself a bit of time in which to give the ingredients the respect they deserve, it really isn't difficult at all.  I served mine with a tomato, spinach & red kidney bean salad (primarily for me!) and a few garlic butter doughballs (as a bit more carbohydrate for the menfolk).

Evaporating the wine.

This family all have a marked soft spot for a Greek recipe - there's something about the ingredients and the style of cooking that just hits the spot with us.  It must be the rich/healthy combination of a baked dish paired with a side salad, using indulgent ingredients like cheese and eggs, plus juicy tomatoes and healthy spinach.  Put it this way, not one person had an ounce of anything left on their plate, so it must have been good!

I was very interested to see how the wine infused itself into the chicken and suffused the leeks with a subtle but very much "there" flavour of sunshine and fruit which added the necessary acidity to cut through the richness of the Bechamel and cheese.  I added a small amount of thyme for an additional layer of flavour, which worked beautifully and didn't swamp the dill at all.

The additional mustard in the Bechamel was a great idea too, as it gave the mild, creamy sauce just that tiny edge which stopped it from becoming too much.

I can hear you wondering what cook's tips I might have for you about this one.  Well, as it happens, I do have a few!

Now you might wonder why I used skimmed milk, but added double cream.  Well, I wanted a richness through the sauce but not too much and considered that using semi-skimmed milk would mean I had to reduce the amount of cream I used.  Using the skimmed gave a perfect balance between milk and cream that didn't make the sauce too heavy.

However, the biggest tip I have for you is to make the Chickaleekaka (which, by the way, is a combination of "chicken", "leek" and "Moussaka-like-thing") in a dish which you've lined with non-stick silver foil, so that once cooked, you can lift it out of the dish and onto a chopping board.  From there, you can gently peel down the edges of the silver foil and the Chickaleekaka should stay, in one set piece, without collapse.  (The eggs are fundamental in this as they are what cause the lower layer to set).  You can then cut it into neat portions which helps to make it look that little bit more deliciously intriguing - and you don't lose those lovely crusty edges by leaving them in the dish!

A quick word about what size dish you choose might be in order, too.  You need to make the Chickaleekaka in a dish that is deep enough to give you a good 1-2cm of chicken & leek, with a nice deep layer of Bechamel on top.  Use too big a dish and it will be spread too sparsely.  Far better to go small - but deep - than too big and shallow.

My tomato/spinach/kidney bean/cress "hot plate" salad.

As for what would you serve alongside the Chickaleekaka, well I went for a "hot plate" salad, i.e. a salad that could be served on a hot plate.  This consists of items that can stand up to heat - so tomato, baby spinach, red kidney beans and cress were my choice on this occasion, but the possibilities are endless.  Just steer clear of things that wilt quickly like iceberg lettuce, if you're going to be serving it on a hot plate!

I know I'm going to be making this again very soon - and I'd really love to hear what you think of it, if you give it a go too.  So do leave me a message, if you try it!

CHICKALEEKAKA    (serves 4) 

Ingredients :

1-2 tbsp olive oil

2 skinless, boneless chicken breasts, sliced small

500g leeks, sliced small

half a tsp white pepper

a tiny pinch of sea salt

half a tsp of dried thyme

100ml (or thereabouts) dry white wine
20g fresh dill, finely chopped
3 large eggs
250g mature cheddar cheese, grated.

For the Bechamel :

3 tbsp of salted butter

4 tbsp of plain flour

a generous pinch of white pepper

a tiny pinch of sea salt 

350ml of skimmed milk

2 tbsp double cream

half a tsp Dijon mustard

half a tsp of fresh grated nutmeg

20g parmesan cheese, grated

50g mature cheddar cheese, grated.

Method :

1.  Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and once hot, add the chicken.  Spread the chicken across the pan to cook evenly, as it won't take long, being such small pieces.  Toss the chicken a few times to make sure every side is coloured - but don't allow it to turn golden.

2.  Once the chicken is coloured but not cooked through, add the leeks and seasoning.  Continue to fry until the leeks are softened.  You will need to toss and stir regularly to prevent the pan contents from colouring further.

3.  Add the wine and continue to toss and stir until the wine has all but evaporated and the pan is almost dry.

4.  Decant the chicken & leeks into a large pyrex bowl  and set aside to cool for 5 minutes or so.

5.  Once cooled, add the dill, crack the eggs in and add the grated cheese.  Mix and stir until everything is evenly distributed.  Set aside, while you make the Bechamel sauce.

6.  In a medium pan, set the butter to melt and add the flour, salt and pepper.  Allow the flour to cook out gently for 3 or 4 minutes, but don't allow it to brown.

7.  Add a little of the milk and stir it through.  The mix will set up quickly, so take if off the heat and keep adding a little milk, then stirring - you will probably need to swap to a hand whisk - until you have a saucy textured mix which is somewhat wetter than you would require.  Add the cream, mustard and nutmeg and whisk them through, then put the pan back on the heat and keep stirring or whisking as it heats through to simmering point.  If the mix becomes too thick, add a little more milk - but not too much, or it will quickly become too thin.  You're after a consistency reminiscent of thick custard.

8.  Take your baking dish (I used a small roasting dish that I lined with non stick silver foil) and decant the chicken & leek mixture into it, making sure to push it into the corners and level off the top surface.

9.  Pour the Bechamel over the top and again, encourage it to form a smooth layer.

10.  Sprinkle first the parmesan, then the cheddar, over the top so that the surface is entirely coated.  This will form the gorgeous cheesy crust - too little cheese and the crust will be patchy at best.

11.  Place into a pre-heated oven at 180degC/350degF/Gas4 for 30-35 minutes or until the top is a gorgeous golden brown.

12.  Remove from the oven and allow to settle for 5-10 minutes before serving with a side salad.

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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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Today's dinner : Indulgent potatoes and pesto chicken

Owing to the Vegibox deliveries - which are a weekly delivery of locally grown fruit and vegetables - we have had something of a potato glut in the house.  Now this is very okay where myself and son & heir are concerned, but not so good for hubby - who would see all potatoes fired into the face of the sun, if he had his way.

So this has set me the difficult task of trying to find potato dishes that hubby either does like (one in a million) or might like (even rarer).

I remembered that I cooked a dish of scalloped potatoes that he enjoyed - and reported that he really quite approved of - so I decided to go there again.
 

Looks good to me!

Scalloped potatoes (well, my recipe anyway!) involves slicing the potatoes very thinly and laying them in a dish interspersed with finely cut celery and grated garlic and pouring over a concoction of milk, cream cheese and cream.  Bake in the oven for the next hour or so until the potatoes are soft.  So very indulgent!  Definitely not something to have more than once a year!  I paired them with some chicken that had a layer of green pesto through the middle - just for a bit of added flavour - and was then roasted with a little butter on top for around 30 mins at 180degC.  A final flourish of steamed carrot, broccoli, peas and a little gravy rounded off the plate.

Myself and son & heir loved it - poor hubby was less than impressed with both the potatoes and the chicken.  Oh dear.  I'll try to do better next time!

For dessert, son & heir and myself had our current favourite thing - little pre-packed jellies with fruit inside.  Our choice this evening, was orange flavour jelly with mandarins.  They are so refreshing - and just a few spoonfuls big.  They really hit the spot.

Chicken, asparagus and peas in a Marsala cream sauce : a "once in six months" dinner dish!

I am quietly very proud of this recipe.  To me, this represents a little of where I am in regard to my cooking experience.  Put in Masterchef terms, this is "my own food" - but not everyday food.  Because of the quantity of double cream, this is very definitely a "once in six months" dinner!

Even so, I'm still proud of it.

You see, at one time, I'd have cooked this a) from a recipe instead of following my own thoughts and b) if I had have been making it up from scratch, I'd have done it a totally different (and not so successful) way.

To put not too fine a point on it, we've been having a few tummy issues in the family just lately, which has resulted in our relationship with food being a bit hit and miss.  We either just haven't wanted to eat - or what we could eat has been a short list!  Still, we're getting a bit better on that front now - exhibit A being the Tapas meatballs, which had been on the menu list for probably three weeks or more.  We eventually got around to being able to face them and were jolly glad we did.

I wanted something "nice" for our Sunday dinner.  Something a little out of the ordinary, something inoffensive and unchallenging to eat, that would tempt the taste buds and satisfy the tummy.  I had a number of favourites to choose from, as anything involving cheese, bacon, curry or chilli usually gets a thumbs up of approval.  Also on that list is anything in a cream sauce, which doesn't get made that often because of the general naughtiness of the cream sauce.

The obvious choice for a cream sauce was chicken and the minute I had decided on that, the rest of the recipe just fell out of my head with virtually no amendments once I'd written it down.

Now, in days gone by, I'd have sweated off the onion and garlic, then added the chicken and in so doing would have burned the garlic, making it bitter.  I'd have then added the cream and tasted, only to find it was bland and too gloopy.  So I'd probably have added the vegetables in the hope that they'd cheer the flavour up and when they didn't, I'd probably have added something completely random like Worcestershire sauce.  The end result would have been a slightly bitter sauce with overcooked vegetables and reduced cream - all of which was pretty horrid.

Well, I reckon you have to fail at making something (and probably several times) before you begin to work out where you went wrong.

This time, I browned (or maybe that should be - more correctly - "goldened") the chicken and removed it.  Then I sweated off the onion and garlic (without burning it) and added the Marsala wine, then some stock.  (Wouldn't have thought to use stock in the past!).  I re-introduced the chicken, which cooked as the stock reduced.

Then, when the stock had reduced sufficiently that adding the cream wouldn't affect the texture of the sauce, I added the asparagus (no, not the chicken - it would have taken up too much room and the asparagus wouldn't have cooked properly) and cooked that for 2-3 minutes in the stock.  Then I re-introduced the chicken (so that it could re-heat), then the peas (as they only need seconds in which to heat up), then in the final few minutes, the cream.  Leaving the cream until last means that the ingredients all cook and exchange flavours with the stock - so it's essential to use a good stock.  It also means that the cream doesn't have time in which to reduce, so maintaining the integrity of your sauce.  Bring it all back up to temperature and serve.  Perfect.

I made a couple of mistakes with the accompaniments though.  Firstly, I used rather too much thyme on my garlic and thyme roast potatoes and parsnips.  This is purely a personal taste issue, as I find too much thyme to be redolent of disinfectant.  Hubby and son & heir enjoyed them though.  Oh, and they'd have been a lot more crispy if the oven hadn't decided to turn itself off (for some reason, it switched over to timer-controlled.  I lost some 15 minutes of cooking time, thanks to that!) half way through.

Secondly, I decided to make a variation on Vichy Carrots.  I didn't want the sweetness that a Vichy carrot brings with it, so decided to use vegetable stock to cook them in, but omit the sugar - adding the butter that makes the glaze and cooking them in the same way as Vichy carrots.  Well, it kind of worked.  They tasted great, albeit a teensy bit overcooked as I used too much stock which took too long to reduce and the use of stock instead of water gave them an odd colouring.  That one needs further work, I think!

However, there were murmurs of appreciation all round as the family tucked into their chicken.  The chicken breasts were still tender and moist - not overcooked - and deliciously flavoured from being cooked in the stock and Marsala wine.  The asparagus was perfectly cooked with just a teensy bit of bite left in each piece and the cream sauce was just delicious.  Real lick the plate stuff!

If we had three more chicken breasts, I'd be perfectly happy to eat that again for dinner tonight, it was that good.   Aaah, happy sigh! 



CHICKEN, ASPARAGUS AND PEAS IN A MARSALA CREAM SAUCE   (serves 3)

Ingredients :

1 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
3 boneless, skinless chicken breasts 
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced finely
150ml sweet Marsala wine
200ml chicken stock, using 1 tsp stock powder or 1 stock cube
150g asparagus, cut on the diagonal into 1" pieces
3 handfuls of frozen peas, defrosted
sea salt & black pepper
150ml double cream.

Method :

1.  In a deep frying pan or wok, heat the oil over a moderate to high heat.  Add the chicken breasts and fry, undisturbed, on each side in order to gain a little golden colour.  Reserve on a plate.

2.  Add the onion to the frying pan and reduce the heat to moderate.  Stir fry, not allowing the onion to brown, until demonstrably softened.  Add the garlic and continue cooking for another minute.

3.  Quickly add the Marsala wine and allow to frizzle for a moment or two.  Add the stock (or water and stock powder) and bring to a boil.

4.  Gently return the chicken to the pan and maintain the boil so that the stock begins to reduce.  Cook like this until the stock has reduced to a third of its original quantity.

5.  Remove the chicken breasts back to the plate and add the asparagus and black pepper to taste.  Cook for 2-3 minutes or so until softening, then return the chicken to the pan.  Continue to cook for another minute or so to bring the chicken back up to temperature.

6.  Add the peas and as soon as the sauce has returned back up to temperature, add the cream and, once again, bring back up to temperature.

7.  Check for seasoning, adjust if necessary and serve with roast potatoes and a selection of vegetables.

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Minty mustard lamb's liver pitta bread - a spur of the minute lunch

I'm currently going through a phase of loving pitta bread.

Now I've always liked pitta bread, but just recently I seem to have taken to them in a big way.  I suppose the fact that my tummy seems to accept them more readily than ordinary bread (~sob~ I love my bread!) has made all the difference.

There are a number of other benefits to pitta bread, as I've discovered.  For instance, there's very little on this earth that can't be put into one for a yummy and fairly portable lunch.  Everything from steak and chips, through stew, to trifle can be contained in a pitta bread.  Although why anyone would want to put trifle in a pitta, is another matter.  Anyway - I do think that soup is really the only thing that won't go into a pitta bread - but you can dip your pitta bread into soup, so it still wins!

Pitta bread is also self-limiting, quantity wise.  As an example, I was making scrambled egg to go in my pitta this morning.  As I was just scrambling the one egg, I used just the one pitta.  Now had I have been making scrambled egg on toast, I might have felt I should just use the one slice of bread - but you could guarantee that I'd have put two into the toaster because of habit.  With pitta, just one comes out of the packet at a time and just one does the job with no reason to feel hard done by.

Creamy, minty, mustardy - what's not to like?

The whole butter question is another thing that is improved by the use of pitta bread.  With a sandwich, you would butter both slices of bread.  Not so with a pitta.  Very often it isn't necessary to use butter at all - but if you do, then just butter the one side and the job is done with half the amount.  How good is that?

With regard to quantity, putting a whole bucket load of salad into a sandwich just results in your having to use two hands to hold the whole collapsing mess.  Not so with a pitta.  Jam the salady loveliness in there as hard and fast as you can!  You might need two hands as you go, but only because of the sheer weight of health giving salad inside your cheese or egg pitta.  *wink*

So, when we picked up a little pack of fresh lamb's liver from the Ferndene Farm Shop at Bashley, Hampshire the other day, it got me wondering what to do with it.  Naturally, "put it in a pitta" was right up there as a suggestion.

I was in two minds whether to go down the "devilled, mustardy" route with it, or the "redcurrant and rosemary" route.  They both seemed as enticing as one another, but I could tell from the way my mouth was watering at the idea of the mustardy version, that this was the one.

I love mint sauce with lamb and felt that just the mustard sauce wasn't going to be quite enough.  I didn't have any fresh mint (the awful weather has terminated our mint plant's delusions of grandeur) but suddenly remembered putting mint sauce onto cooked new potatoes and how good that is.  So, if I use Dijon mustard for its piquancy, then add a little mint sauce for the sweet/sour thing it brings with it, hmmmn.  What can I use to lengthen and de-intensify the sauce with?  Aha!  I've a teensy tiny bit of double cream in the fridge looking for a home.  Perfect!  And it was.  The cream - only a dessertspoonful at the most - was sufficient to just saucify (is that a word?  If not, it ought to be) all the lovely flavours.

My friend Suzy Bowler entitled her brilliant food blog "Sudden Lunch" and I had her in mind all the time I was making this lunch, as apart from a little thought, it came together in a twinkling.

MINTY MUSTARD LAMB'S LIVER PITTA BREAD    (serves 1)

Ingredients :

1 pitta bread
1 tbsp rapeseed or olive oil
sufficient lamb's liver for one person, trimmed and sliced
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp Dijon mustard
half tsp Mint sauce (the vinegary kind, not Mint jelly)
1 dessertsp of double cream
small handful of rocket leaves.

Method :

1.  First of all, put your pitta bread in the toaster - put it in diagonally (or as diagonally as you can muster) so that as much as possible of it sees the heat.  Once toasted, split down one side and turn your attention to the liver.

2.  Heat a little rapeseed oil in a frying pan and chuck in the liver pieces.  Fry hard and fast - I like mine to have completely stopped bleeding, but I know there are others who can cope with a little red stuff, so it's up to you how long to cook it for.  A few seconds before finishing and adding the sauce ingredients, throw on a little sea salt and a lot of black pepper.  Then turn off the heat and leaving the pan on the hot plate, add a teaspoonful of Dijon mustard, half a teaspoonful of mint sauce and a dessertspoonful of double cream.  Stir to combine.  Pack the rocket leaves into the pitta and pour in the liver mix.

I can recommend either something tangy to drink with it, or a nice big mug of tea or coffee.  Mmmmn, glorious!

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Spiced Rhubarb Foolish

Being the beginning of October, it isn't altogether surprising to hear that our rhubarb bushes are beginning to shut up shop for the winter.  Now, because they are so abundant, we had a complete triffid in the shape of Ruby (the original bush) and a triffid-in-training in the shape of Ruby 2 (her daughter).

Thanks to some high winds the other night, Ruby had suffered a little bit and hubby was required to go out there with his No.1 Slasher (i.e. a big knife) and harvest everything harvestable from her, before the rot set in.  We've yet to tackle Ruby 2 who survived unscathed being as she is, cuddled up in the corner of the garden, yet the freezer is full already and a good many of the neighbours are catered for.

So the requirement was to find good uses of Ruby's bounty.

Now son & heir has been rabbiting on (ever hopeful!) about my making Rhubarb Fool.  For all that I love the idea, I have been resisting it simply because a cream-laden Rhubarb Fool really isn't the type of dessert that any of us should be eating.  However, then I had a blindingly good idea.

You see, Rhubarb Fool can be made in two ways.  Firstly, there's the the cream and fruit variety and secondly, there's a custard and fruit variety - in which case the cream goes into the custard.

My brilliant idea was to use both cream and custard, but separately.  Yes, I know that seems a bit counter-intuitive if you're trying to cut down on the amount of cream that's involved - but hang on.

I had already trimmed the sugar content in the fruit, by using Splenda 50/50 with sugar when I made the rhubarb compote for the fool.  Said compote was, by the way, simply chunks of rhubarb, 1 heaped teaspoonful of mixed spice, a drizzle of ginger syrup and a tablespoonful of water with a 50/50 mix of Splenda and sugar, simmered until the fruit was soft, but not broken up, and retaining some of its tartness.  It is good to have the texture of a soft chunk of rhubarb running through the dessert.

Rhubarb, spice and syrup - just beginning to cook

So - getting back to my bright idea - it occurred to me, that instead of using an entire pot of double cream to whip up and then stir the rhubarb into why not use half the amount of cream - and a carton of Ambrosia light custard?  Inspired!

So, I whipped up a small amount of cream and folded some of the rhubarb compote into it, leaving just enough plain unadulterated cream for a blob on top of the Foolishes (as they had then become known).

I then began to assemble the desserts by spooning some of the rhubarb compote into the bottom of a sundae dish.

Then, it was a blob of the fool mixture, then a blob of custard, side by side.

Drizzle over more rhubarb compote, then add a blob of fool mixture and a blob of custard - except at different angles to the original, so that the difference in colour and texture can be seen.

Add a touch more compote and finish with a blob of the reserved whipped cream.

Oh yes.

The Spiced Rhubarb Foolish dessert was born.  Take me home, country roads - it was gorgeous.


SPICED RHUBARB FOOLISH (serves 3)

Ingredients :

450g fresh rhubarb, sliced into half inch chunks
1 tsp ground mixed spice
200g granulated sugar (use 1 dessertspoonful of Splenda & 100g sugar, if you prefer)
2 tbsp ginger syrup
250ml double cream, softly whipped
250ml Ambrosia light custard.

Method :

1.  Taking a medium sized saucepan, add the rhubarb, spice and ginger syrup and begin to heat on a medium heat.

2.  When the rhubarb has begun to soften around the edges, add the sugar and the tbsp of water if required.  You may not need the water, depending on how much is naturally in the rhubarb.  Stir gently until the sugar has dissolved.

3.  Simmer until the fruit is soft throughout, but not broken up, and retaining some of its tartness.  It is good to retain the texture of a soft chunk of rhubarb, instead of just mush.

4.  Set aside to cool thoroughly, until stone cold.

5.  Whip the cream to soft peaks and reserve three teaspoonfuls separately.

6.  Gently fold some of the rhubarb compote into the cream mixture, until it is softly pink and obviously contains rhubarb.

7.  Begin to assemble the desserts by spooning into the bottom of a sundae dish, some of the rhubarb compote.

8.  Next, add a blob of the fool mixture, then a blob of custard, side by side.

9.  Drizzle over more rhubarb compote, then add a blob of fool mixture and a blob of custard - except at different angles to the original, so that the difference in colour and texture can be seen.

10.  Add a touch more compote and finish with a blob of the reserved whipped cream.

Cover with cling film and keep in the fridge until required.

Printable recipe

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Cooking gets catching : Son & heir's Lemon Curd Syllabub

One evening, just before he retired for the night, son & heir came into my bedroom and began to survey the serried ranks of cookery books.  Watching him out of the corner of my eye - well, I didn't want to disturb his thought process - he appeared to be drawn towards those recipe books that contained dessert recipes.

Eventually he selected one and sat on the end of my bed as he had a quick flick through it.  "Can I take this to read tonight?" he asked.  "Of course!" I told him.  He grunted mysteriously - well, he is a teenager - and off he went.

A few days pass.

Then, one evening, as hubby was dishing up the meal and we were sitting waiting, he said "would it be alright if I were to make the dessert this Sunday?".  I was momentarily nonplussed (as I'd forgotten about his taking the cookery book up until that moment) and after a couple of beats of "eh?", replied "yes, I'm sure that would be fine!  What have you got in mind?".

See the crumbled biscuit?  Yum.

It turned out that he had selected a recipe from James Martin's "Desserts", for  Lemon Curd Syllabub.  The recipe was simple enough - it required some whipping of cream and a bit of folding, but certainly nothing tricky.  It also sounded completely gorgeous - if a tad fattening.  (This fattening aspect is is why we really only have a "made" dessert on a Sunday, having yoghurt and the occasional helping of ice cream in the meantime).

Hubby was in charge in the kitchen on the day, as he was busy making his Koulibiac.  However, as it had to bake in the oven there was plenty of time for son & heir to get in and make his dessert.

Basil is all attention ...

What neither of them had bargained for, though, was the fact that both Jack Russell terriers decided to have a fit of the naughties at exactly that moment.

The assembly of the syllabub started quietly enough, with the selection of which dishes to use and crumbling of biscuits.  Next was the opening of the wine bottle, which - unusually, these days - was a corked bottle and required hubby to search down a bottle opener.  Son & heir - who has the attention span of a typical teenager - couldn't wait for hubby's return and to entertain himself, wandered out into the garden to investigate what the terriers were up to.

The terriers were being entertained by next door's terrier, who was chasing a huge green ball around his garden.  Well, any sight of a ball demands 100% attention from our little gang - and they were jealously watching every move, just in case the ball flew over the fence - when they'd have pounced.

Having been recalled to the kitchen, son & heir (following another hand washing) then got on with the whipping of the cream, which went without incident.

That'll be Rosie, then ...

It was about this time that all hell seemed to break loose.  It seems that our shortie Jack Russell, Basil, had limbo danced under the fence and was also chasing the ball around the garden, followed by a semi-hysterical Papillion cross terrier and said neighbour's 6 yr old daughter, who was screaming at the top of her lungs with excitement.  No. 2 Jack Russell, Rosie, was semi-hysterical because she couldn't fit under the fence in the same way and was trying to hurl herself at the fence, in the hope of somehow flying over the top - accompanied by lots of maniacal barking.

Basil was returned by the neighbour and put back on the right side of the fence, whereupon he immediately went and limbo danced straight back under it again.

So you can imagine, there's poor hubby and son trying to gently fold dessert wine into whipped cream - with all this bedlam going on in the background and our neighbour calling them to take Basil back across the fence.

Enough was enough - both dogs were confined to barracks and the kitchen door was closed.  I believe that hubby may have taken a deep breath prior to continuing with overseeing son & heir's dessert assembly, but I'm not sure he had time - what with all the sweary words that were being bandied about.

Phew!  Made it - Lemon Curd Syllabub ... simply scrumptious

It truly is a wonder that the dessert happened at all, in the circumstances.  Son & heir (and hubby!) prevailed though - and we all enjoyed outrageously rich, lemony, creamy spoonfuls of calorie laden loveliness for our dessert.

Regrettably, although he enjoyed everything else, son & heir didn't enjoy the wine aspect of the dish - although both hubby and I did, very much!  Hence, if you're considering making this for children below the drinking age, I would miss out the wetting of the biscuit crumbs with the wine for them.

This is very definitely not a dessert that I would want with any regularity, but as a special one-off bowl of complete deliciousness - you just can't go wrong.

LEMON CURD SYLLABUB by James Martin    (feeds 3)

Ingredients :

75g mascarpone (we used light mascarpone)
3 shortbread biscuits (we used strawberry shortbread biscuits, which were yum)
75ml white dessert wine
212ml double cream
3 tbsp icing sugar
90ml lemon curd.

Method :

1.  Crumble a biscuit into each sundae glass and moisten with equal quantities of half of the wine.

2.  Whip the cream, sugar and mascarpone and when it reaches soft peaks, fold in the remaining wine.

3.  Swirl in the lemon curd, taking care not to ensure a marbling of yellow through the cream - so don't mix it too much!

4.  Spoon the mixture into the glasses.

5.  You can scatter with toasted almonds and a mint sprig, but ours had escaped and been eaten by the slugs, respectively, so we didn't worry about this bit!

Serve.

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