Cheesy Ham and Potato bake - a trip back in time

Oh I only wish I could show you how excited I am by this dish - and how completely stuffed but happy I was by the time I'd eaten it.  You see, it took me back to years ago when I would spend a week at my cousin's house and then she would spend a week at ours.  Happy days!  My aunt would cook dinners like this - comforting, kids' dinners of potatoes and cheese.

A Facebook friend was responsible for the inspiration for this dish, though.  She posted photographs of a very similar thing, but with sliced potatoes instead of chunks, that instantly reminded me of this sort of meal and how much I liked it.  Her recipe was very much made for adults though, being a version of scalloped potatoes and using garlic, much more double cream and some creme fraiche.

So I looked at various recipes and tried to recall the way my Aunt's dinner looked and tasted - and this is the result.  No, it won't win any awards for gastronomy but I suspect it could win a few where reminiscence is concerned!

It really is simplicity itself.  Par-boiled potatoes are mixed with diced ham, sliced spring onions and a good, thick and cheesy sauce seasoned with English mustard powder and nutmeg.  Cover with cheese and bake in the oven.  I love dishes that have a great payoff for minimum effort - and this is definitely one of those.

You can tinker about with the recipe as much as you like, to your own preference, too.  Add peas or sweetcorn, use a cooked supermarket ham hock for the meat instead of sliced ham - just shred the meat before you add it.  Add the chopped chives to the cheese sauce.  Maybe adultify it a little by adding garlic granules to the sauce.  All manner of tinkering about could go on!

I served mine in two ways - I served mine simply with a baked tomato.  For my son, I cooked some sausages and gave him some raw tomato that had been tossed with chives as growing boys need their protein and he doesn't like cooked tomato.  Oh boy, it was so good!

CHEESY HAM & POTATO BAKE   (Serves 2-3)

Ingredients :

4-5 medium sized potatoes, peeled and diced into half inch pieces
4 spring onions, sliced
10-15g salted butter
2 tbsp plain flour
300ml skimmed milk (you may not need it all)
100ml double cream
1 tsp plain Philadelphia cream cheese
a scant pinch of sea salt
a good pinch of ground black pepper
a quarter tsp of grated nutmeg
1 tsp English mustard powder
250g of mixed cheeses, grated (I used Gouda and mature Cheddar)
200g thick sliced ham, cut into half inch pieces
30g of grated cheese (I used Red Leicester)
chopped chives to serve.

Method :

Place the potato dice into a saucepan with salted water and bring to a boil. Cook for 1-2 minutes until just slightly softened, then drain and tip the potato into the baking dish.

Slice the spring onions and add them to the potato in the baking dish.

In a non-stick pan, melt the butter and once melted, add the flour and stir well. Cook over a moderate heat for 1-2 minutes, then add a little milk and remove the pan from the heat. Stir the milk into the butter/flour mixture until lump free, then return to a reduced heat and add a little more milk. Stir that in and add the cream, cream cheese, seasoning, nutmeg and mustard powder and stir through.

As the sauce heats, make sure to keep stirring to prevent it from catching on the bottom of the pan. You need a fairly thick sauce at this stage, you can always add more milk once the cheese is melted, if necessary.

Add the mixed grated cheese and remove from the heat as it melts. You need the sauce to be fairly thick, but still of pouring consistency. When you are happy with the sauce, plate it on one side.

Add the ham pieces to the potato/onion mixture and stir through. Pour the cheese sauce over and give a light stir, just to make sure the sauce is right the way through the potatoes. Sprinkle with the remaining cheese and place into a pre-heated oven at 180degF/350degC/Gas 4 for 45 mins or until the potatoes are soft and cooked through.

Sprinkle with chopped chives for colour and serve.

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British Rose Veal & Cauliflower Dhansak

This curry was really never meant to happen.  You see, we were doing a freezer audit yesterday when out came a plastic bag with what appeared to be meat in it.  The appearance looked for all the world like as though it was the other half of a roasted joint of meat, that we'd forgotten about and had been pushed to the back of the freezer.  I decided to defrost it and use it up over successive lunches, whatever it was.

Well, it turned out to be two lovely but raw British rose veal steaks.  Oops!

I was planning a lamb & cauliflower curry this week, so it occurred to me that to make it veal instead of lamb was no bad thing.  I'd never had a veal curry before and the thought appealed to me.

It had been ages since I made a home-spiced curry - that is, one where I choose the type and amounts of spices used, instead of one where we just use a Sharwood's curry paste for speed - and for all that the results can be a bit hit and miss, I thought I'd give it a go.

I had been intending to make the lamb curry one that was finished in the oven, rather than the speedier "on the hob" type of curries that we so often make and continued with that for the veal.  British rose veal is naturally very tender and as such not really suited to the more hurried "on the hob" type of cooking, which can either dry it out or toughen it.  You really need one of two ways with it - either quick cooking in a frying pan which doesn't allow it to toughen or longer, slower cooking that softens the fibres and gently encourages them to become tender, whilst retaining all the natural moisture in the meat.  So the long, slow, oven based cook was perfect.

One aspect of currying British rose veal did concern me, which was that I didn't want to lose the delicate flavour of the meat by bashing it over the head with curry spices.  However, for all that the sauce is right up there in the flavour department, the meat withstands it exceptionally well and if anything the flavour was enhanced rather than overpowered.  To make sure that your veal doesn't become swamped, make sure to cut your pieces into a decent size.  Ours were a decent forkful sort of sized and I'm quite sure that smaller pieces would easily have succumbed to the powerful flavours going on in the sauce.

I know that the spice list seems a bit daunting and over-long, but bear with it.  The riot of all those different flavours - coupled with the onion, garlic, veal and cauliflower - is really lovely and well worth the effort of digging them out of your spice rack and working your way through them.

The other thing that is very well worth doing, is toasting the three types of seed.  I know this seems like a faff and you find yourself thinking "well it can't affect the flavour THAT much, surely!", but it does.  It really does!  As such, you would be well advised to make the curry earlier on in the day, when you have more time to spare and aren't watching the clock so badly as at dinner time.  That way, you can take your time and carry each process out with care and a little bit of extra love, which will all tell when it comes to the eating.  At dinner time, just switch the oven back on, pop the casserole dish back in and give it a half hour to heat up.  In the meantime you can be cooking the rice and everything will happen in a relaxed and easy manner.  Perfect.

The end result is not a saucy, wet curry - but a hearty, filling curry that is best eaten with rice and maybe some poppadoms with chutney.  Definitely not a naan bread, dipping style kind of curry.  It is also quite light on the tummy from a fat point of view, as British rose veal is naturally very lean and no extra yoghurt or cream goes in.  However, it definitely isn't light on the tummy from a spices point of view!  So many of the spices used here are good for you in various ways, however, that instead of leaving you feeling heavy and sluggish, this curry can leave you feeling rather energised and you can almost feel it doing you good.

As the recipe stands, the curry is not a spicy hot one.  There is very little actual chilli goes into it - just a pinch of red chilli flakes and however much there is in the curry powder and Garam Masala.  So, if you like your curries rather more in the nose-meltingly spicy range, you might need to up the quantities of chilli flakes you add.

Also, please don't be tempted to drop the jaggery goor or brown sugar at the end of the curry.  The sugar is quite fundamental to the sweet/bitter flavour balance of the spices and without the added sugar, the curry might taste too bitter to your palate.  You can always add the sugar to taste and if you like it with less, or want to add more, then go ahead!  Everyone's taste buds differ.

I thoroughly enjoyed creating this curry - and I hope you enjoy it too.

I'm really quite proud to announce that this recipe has been awarded eRecipe.com's "Recipe of the Day"!




BRITISH ROSE VEAL & CAULIFLOWER DHANSAK   (serves 3-4)

Ingredients :

1.5 tsp whole cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
0.5 tsp fennel seeds
1.5 tsp ground coriander
0.5 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground fenugreek
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground ginger
3 tsp mild curry powder
a pinch of red chilli flakes
2 tbsp groundnut oil
500g British rose veal, trimmed and cut into cubes
2 cloves garlic, chopped
5 baby onions, peeled & halved
1 large onion, chopped finely
1 tomato, chopped
1 potato, peeled and cut into cubes (a waxy potato such as Jelly is best)
1 baby cauliflower, divided into eight pieces
500ml veal stock
3 tbsp red lentils
1 heaped tsp Garam Masala
1 tbsp dried fenugreek leaves
1 tsp jaggery goor, or light brown sugar.

Method :

1.  To begin with, make the spice mix by taking a small frying pan and adding the cumin seeds, mustard seeds and fennel seeds.  Dry fry the seeds until they are toasty, slightly coloured and fragrant.  Decant them into a pestle & mortar and grind them into powder.  Add the ground coriander, ground cinnamon, ground fenugreek, ground turmeric, ground ginger, curry powder and chilli flakes and mix to combine.  Set this mixture aside.

2.  Take a large high sided frying pan and add the oil over a high heat.  Once the oil is smoking hot, gently add the veal pieces and fry until caramelised on at least two sides.  Decant, using a slotted spoon, into a casserole dish (with a lid) and add the potato and cauliflower to the dish.

3.  Add the onion, baby onions and garlic to the pan and season with a pinch of sea salt and a good quantity of freshly ground black pepper.  Cook slowly over a moderate heat until the chopped onion is transparent but a light golden colour and just beginning to caramelise on the edges.  Beware of burning the garlic, so don't try to hurry this process by increasing the heat.

4.  Add the tomato and cook for a few moments to soften.

5.  Add the spice mix and stir to combine.  Cook, stirring often, for 3-4 minutes until the raw edge has gone and the spices are smelling fragrant.

6.  Add the veal stock and stir to combine.

7.  Add the lentils, fenugreek leaves, Garam Masala and jaggery (or sugar).  Stir to combine, then once the sauce begins to thicken, taste for seasoning and add more if necessary.

8.  Decant the sauce into the casserole dish and stir gently to make sure everything is coated.

9.  Add the lid and place into a pre-heated oven at 160degC/325degF/Gas 3 for 2 hours.

10.  Once the two hours are up, remove the lid and very gently stir the contents.  If necessary, add a little more boiling water to loosen the sauce - and serve with steamed basmati rice.

Printable version

Homity Pie - well, the low calorie version!

There has been a lot of interest shown on the Rhubarb & Ginger Facebook page, in the Homity Pie that I found on the Slimming World website and which I have now cooked twice.  So, I thought I'd open it up to a wider audience and blog the recipe.

Now, first thing I will say about this recipe is that the true Homity Pie is contained in a pastry case and is a vaguely Quiche-like "pie".  However, because this is the low calorie version, we've jettisoned the pastry case.  Don't let that stop you from putting the pie filling into a pastry case if you're not watching your weight, or want to present it to an audience other than the family.  I would recommend a shortcrust or filo pastry crust, as it could all get a bit heavy with puff or flaky.

So, what actually is "Homity Pie"?  Well, it has an interesting history - going back to wartime rationing, land girls and making use of what you've got available.  It is basically, mashed potato with added flavourings such as onion, leek, cheese, garlic, peas - whatever you've got by way of veggies, with eggs to provide a little rise and lightness.  So simple, but it works so well!

Both times I cooked it, I used it as an accompaniment to a roast chicken.  Well, sometimes you fancy something other than roast potatoes.  Not often, I grant you, but when you do - Homity Pie does the trick.  I could imagine it would go very well with whatever you want to add it to - sausages, chops, steak, braised beef, gammon - I can't think of anything that it would be out of place beside.  Well, discounting things like curry and apple crumble, of course!

The leftovers have been useful to accompany things like bacon, a fried egg, cold meats and pickles for lunch, too.  A quick turn or two in a dry frying pan to heat it up and draw off some of the moisture that inevitably accumulates and it is good to go.

Once again, another wartime recipe proves its worth in these times of austerity.  As with the rice pudding I recently posted, I do love a flexible recipe!  The ingredients of a Homity Pie are about as flexible as can be, the only essentials being the mashed potato, cheese and eggs.  After that, you can add whatever the heck you like by way of vegetables - however, I would recommend that any hard veggies like carrots are pretty much cooked before they go in.  Having your teeth bounce off a piece of uncooked carrot could easily ruin what was otherwise a great dish.

Cooks notes :  the original recipe (see Slimming World link above) is a really low calorie version, if you're interested in taking the recipe that far.  I have added mushrooms to my version of the recipe, which doesn't add much to the calories, but does add heaps to the flavour.  I have also used a full fat mature cheddar, as half fat cheese just isn't worth calling cheese, in my opinion.  I've also used olive oil instead of the recommended low fat cooking spray, as I'd rather know what I'm using - and anyway, olive oil is good for you!

So, the next time you're pondering on what carbohydrate to put with a meat, whip up a Homity Pie.  Your family will thank you for it.

HOMITY PIE  (Low calorie version)   (serves 4-5)

Ingredients :

400g potatoes, peeled and cubed
100ml milk
knob butter plus 10g butter
sea salt
freshly ground black pepper
2 tsp olive oil
225g onions, chopped
225g leeks, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
3 large chestnut mushrooms, halved and sliced
198g frozen peas
a handful of fresh parsley, chopped
half a tsp dried oregano
2 eggs, lightly beaten
85ml of vegetable stock
160g mature Cheddar cheese, grated
Salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Method :

1.  Preheat your oven to 220degC/425degF/Gas 7.

2.  Boil some salted water in a large saucepan and add the potatoes.  Cook on a medium heat for 15-20 minutes, or until tender. Drain, return to the pan and mash with 100ml of milk, a good sized knob of butter and some seasoning, but a good deal of pepper. Set aside to cool until needed.

3.  Add the olive oil to a frying pan and cook the onions on a medium high heat with a pinch of salt to draw out the moisture, until softened and transparent.  Add the garlic, leeks and mushrooms and reduce the heat slightly once they have started to soften.  Add the peas to defrost and finally add the stock to deglaze the pan.  Set this aside to cool slightly.

4.  Grate the cheese then add half to the mashed potatoes, along with the parsley, oregano and eggs.  Give a quick stir to combine, then add the vegetables and stock.  Stir through quickly, so as not to allow the egg to set. Spoon the mixture into your ovenproof dish and scatter over the remaining cheese.

5. Bake for 30-45 minutes or until risen slightly and golden in colour.

Calories per serving : 275 (reference : Calorie Counter)

Printable version

Saag Aloo - perfect accompaniment to a curry.

So there I was, plucking up courage to cook the Beef Rendang.  However, I knew that the Rendang didn't contain anything in the way of vegetable matter (well, except for shallots and chillis).  You know how I'm always keen to get some vegetables into my chaps, so I set out to find a recipe for an accompaniment that would complement the Rendang, whilst ticking off some of the all-important vegetable matter.

I knew the Rendang was likely to be saucy (ooh, matron!), so didn't really want another saucy dish for fear of swamping out the plate.  What was required was something like a bhajee - a fairly dry vegetable recipe.

There, on the My Dish website, I found a recipe for Saag Aloo which was attributed to someone called Renu.  Thank you, Renu, for providing the perfect accompaniment!

Now you won't be surprised to hear that I deviated from the original recipe somewhat.  After all, it'd be unusual if I didn't, hey?

Firstly, I couldn't find any frozen spinach in our local supermarket so bought the biggest bag of fresh spinach it was possible to buy - and wilted it in a dry pan at the beginning of the recipe.  To be honest, I think this was probably an improvement on the requirement for frozen spinach, as it wasn't all munched up and indistinguishable.  Even after being squeezed out between two plates (my Nanna's preferred method for removing the water from spinach or cabbage) it was still distinguishable as spinach leaves.  Plus, it just feels worthier to be using fresh spinach, even if it isn't.

The second deviation from the original, was that I added a chopped onion to the mix.  Now I can recall seeing and tasting fried onion in Saag Aloo that I've had from the takeaway and it didn't seem right to not include some.  I do appreciate that it may not have been authentic to include the onion, but I was going for "what we like" rather than "authenticity", on this occasion.

I also didn't have any asafoetida or any jaggery, so left the former out and substituted soft brown sugar for the latter.  It may have made a huge difference, but we were certainly happy enough with the results, so I think it worked.

The recipe was very acceptably simple to produce and I was perfectly able to conduct the trio of pans (Rendang, Saag Aloo and Rice) without getting all stressed and in a flap.

It was lovely to use the whole spices (mustard seeds and cumin seeds) and toasting them in the pan beforehand almost had me feeling like a proper chef.


One point worth noting is that, regarding the potatoes and because of hubby's hatred of the poor old things, I gave them three minutes in the microwave (with a small amount of water) once I'd diced them.  This just softened them down enough that once they went into the pan, they didn't take so long to cook and were at the stage of just beginning to break up by the time they were served.  Hubby declared that he wouldn't have wanted the potatoes again, but the spinach was fine.  Both he and son & heir cleared their plates though, so not only was this a vote of confidence in the recipe, but I managed to get an unfeasibly huge amount of spinach into the pair of them!  Result!


SAAG ALOO (serves 3)


Ingredients :


350g bag of fresh spinach, washed
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 knob of butter
1 onion, chopped fine
3 medium potatoes, peeled and diced finely
2 cloves garlic, grated
1 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp sea salt
1 tsp soft brown sugar or jaggery
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp chopped red chilli
1 tsp ginger paste
a handful of chopped fresh coriander.


Method :


1.  Gently heat a large wok, then add the fresh spinach.  Allow to wilt without browning and drain the excess water from the pan.


2.  Once wilted, place the spinach onto a plate and place another identical plate on top of the spinach.  Squeeze the two plates together, effectively squashing all the water from the spinach.  Once water has stopped running, set aside.


3.  Dry the pan and replace onto a medium heat.  Add the mustard and cumin seeds and occasionally toss, to toast them evenly.  You'll know when they're done as the cumin will darken, the mustard seeds will pop and the aroma will be fabulous.


4.  Add the knob of butter and onions and stir to combine.  Cook the onions for 4-5 minutes or until they are softened and just beginning to brown.


5.  Add the potatoes and a splash of hot water and stir to combine.  Allow to cook for 2-3 minutes, so that the potatoes begin to take on a little colour.


6.  Add the garlic, turmeric, salt, sugar, ground cumin, ground coriander, chillis and ginger and stir to combine.  Allow to cook until the potatoes are tender.  You may need to add a little more water to encourage the potatoes to cook, but take care to not swamp the mixture.


7.  When the potatoes are done (and not before), add the spinach and fresh coriander and give everything a good stir to ensure the vegetables all have a good coating of spices.  Place a lid on the pan to help the vegetables to heat through and serve.


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Corn Chowder main-course soup style!

I think that sweetcorn (or corn-on-the-cob) has to be right up there on my list of favourite vegetables.  I love it in all its forms, even as polenta.  I used to make cornbread, up until it dawned on me how fattening it was, but a home-made chilli with cornbread was one of life's little pleasures for a while there.

One of our regular family favourite soups is the Smoked Haddock Chowder, which contains sweetcorn.  From there, it was a short step to finding a great recipe for corn chowder.  I found just the thing, by accident, on www.fresh365online.com.  The recipe contained potatoes, sour cream and most interestingly, a cupful of cheddar cheese.  I liked the idea of how that sounded as a recipe, but felt in order to turn it into a main course soup, it needed the addition of some meat - smoked bacon, to be specific.  I felt the bacon would "butch" up the soup, plus add a lovely smokey flavour.

Well, I wasn't wrong as although the sour cream and cheese help provide depth, the bacon just makes all the difference to how hearty the soup feels.

Do be careful though, not to use corn at the end of the season.  I have had corn cobs that have absolutely refused to cook so, if you decide to make this recipe out of corn season, my advice is to go for frozen corn.  It takes a twinkling to cook and the flavour really isn't that different.

CORN CHOWDER  (feeds 4)

Ingredients :

2 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 pack (250g) streaky bacon, diced small
1 garlic clove, grated
1 onion, chopped
half a tsp of cayenne pepper
2 medium potatoes, diced small
500ml vegetable stock
5 cobs (kernels removed) of fresh corn or 800g of frozen corn
150g sour cream
a large handful of cheddar cheese, grated
black pepper to taste
2 spring onions, chopped fine for garnish
red chilli infused oil, for garnish.

Method :

In a large saucepan and over a moderate heat, add the oil and once hot add the onions and garlic.  Cook for 5-10 minutes, until the onions have softened but not gained any colour.

Add the chopped bacon and fry until the bacon is opaque and some of the fat has rendered.

Stir in the cayenne and potatoes and cook for another 3-4 minutes, stirring often.

Add the vegetable stock and taste for seasoning.  Add salt if necessary - I didn't need to, as the bacon and stock meant the mix was quite salty enough.  Add the corn and bring to a lively simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes, until the corn is tender.

Stir in the sour cream and cheddar cheese and cook for another few minutes, to ensure it has all melted and been combined.

Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary, adding some black pepper if you like.

Serve in warmed bowls with a sprinkle of spring onions and a swoosh or two of chilli oil over the top.

Printable version

Back to the Beef Stew - the changing face of Saturday's dinner!

Such a shame those dumplings were so nasty!

You remember how I was intending to make a beef stew with horseradish dumplings on Saturday, but then along came Martin with his intriguing sounding Red Dragon Beef pie?

Well, I'm afraid I had to go back to the beef stew because I couldn't find the Aduki (or Azuki) beans in time to have them soaked, cooked and ready to go.  I did find them, eventually, at Makka's Food Store in Parkstone (don't know why I didn't look there first, to be honest!).  So, I'm all set for this weekend and we'll have another go at it next Saturday.

So, that meant going back to the beef stew and horseradish dumplings.  Which was fine, except I then needed to send faithful Hubby out to fetch a parsnip and a swede.  Thus armed - and with 800g of beef brisket from Spring Fields butchers - I set about making my stew.

I love making stews because they always come out differently, depending on what ingredients you include.  This time, I didn't want to include flour as a thickener.  I thought I'd use red lentils and pearl barley.  The lentils just disappeared, which was lovely as they just added to the thickness and earthiness of the gravy.  The pearl barley just did what pearl barley does and became plump and yummy.  Unfortunately, Hubby isn't so keen on pearl barley and I can really only get away with using it in something like a stew, where it goes down along with everything else and doesn't really get in the way.  The stew came up beautifully thick and with a clarity to the gravy that just doesn't happen when you've used flour.  So I was happy with that.

It looked so good, too!

The beef, as ever, was lovely and wonder of wonders, I didn't over cook the parsnip.  In fact, I do believe some pieces were actually slightly under cooked!

However, I have to take issue with Olive Magazine's rendition of a horseradish dumpling.  The dumplings I made, according to their recipe, were not only a tad wet (which, on its own, would have been forgivable as I don't roll the dumplings but drop them straight into the stew in a kind of free-form pattern) but adopted a really odd kind of sweetness, which I imagine came from the fact that Horseradish Cream was used (as per their recipe).  Put it this way - I won't be attempting horseradish dumplings again, any time soon.  I shall stick to my good old herby dumpling mixture which always works a treat.

As a consequence, I haven't included dumplings in the recipe here.  I don't want to have you thinking that I've tried and tested the recipe and approve of it.

BEEF STEW  (serves 4-5)

Ingredients :

A tbsp of olive oil
800g beef brisket, trimmed of all fat and cut into chunks
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
1-2 onions, chopped
1 clove of garlic, grated
2-3 carrots, peeled and diced
half a swede, peeled and diced
a beef oxo cube
water, to cover
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp marmite or bovril
a pinch of dried sage
a glug or two of Worcestershire Sauce
4 tbsp dried red lentils
2 tbsp dried pearl barley
2-3 potatoes, peeled and diced
1 parsnip, peeled and diced.

Method :

1.  Pre-heat the oven to 160deg C.

2.  Heat the olive oil in a frying pan and, when hot, add half the beef and sear on all sides.  When seared, decant into a deep pan or casserole dish.  Repeat with the remaining beef.


3.  Add the onion to the pan and reduce the heat.  Allow the onion to cook for around 5 minutes or until it is softened and transparent.  In the last few minutes, add the grated garlic.  When cooked, decant into the casserole dish.


4.  Add the carrot and swede to the casserole dish.


5.  To the frying pan, add enough water to approximately cover the contents of the casserole dish and begin heating it as you add the oxo cube (crumbled in), the tomato ketchup, tomato puree, marmite (or Bovril), sage and Worcestershire sauce.  Allow to come to a boil, then decant into the casserole.

6.  Add the lentils and pearl barley and stir to combine.

7.  Cover and place the casserole in the oven and cook for 90 minutes.

8.  Remove from the oven and add the potato and parsnip.  If you are adding dumplings, you may need to add a little water to increase the gravy level.  Check the seasoning and give a good stir to combine, then replace in the oven for another 60 minutes.

9.  Serve!

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Lunch from true leftovers : Asparagus, Fennel, Leek, Celery and Potato Soup

I made lunch for myself today.

Nobody else was here - hubby was back at work, son & heir back at school, so all was peace & quiet.


I had a bag in the vegetable drawer of my fridge, which had been collecting "things I could use in soup".  This bag - and the potential soup - had been burning into my imagination ever since Sunday, when I started putting stuff into it.

So, at the commencement of the big soup cook up, my soup bag had all the woody asparagus ends from the Easter dinner, the top ends, i.e. the fluffy bit, stalks and a bit of the sections from the fennel, a limp leek and some celery sticks that hadn't made it into the stock pot.

I chopped the celery sticks up and washed and sliced the leek.  Then I added two of the mangy Maris Piper potatoes that I'd used the better ones of for the Boulangere Potatoes at Easter.  I chopped them into tiny pieces that wouldn't take long to cook.

Then, I melted a knob of butter in a saucepan and added a tablespoon of olive oil to it.  Once melted, I threw the celery, leek and potato on top and got everything sweating down.

I then went back and chopped the fennel and cut each asparagus piece into two.

I had taken a pint or so of home made chicken stock from the freezer and heated that in another pan.  By all means, if going for a vegetarian version, use vegetable stock.  The fennel and asparagus went into the main pot and the chicken stock followed on.

I then seasoned, put the lid on and simmered it whilst I cleaned the kitchen up.

Once the asparagus and potato were softened and cooked through, I set the soup to one side to cool for a moment, then put it through a blender.

Returning it to the pan, I stirred in three or four tablespoons of double cream, checked the seasoning and added a large pinch of chopped parsley, reheated and served.

Did it make a great lunch?  Oh, you bet your life it did.  There's even (don't tell anyone) enough left for lunch on Friday.

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Honey & Lemon Chicken

I absolutely love this recipe.  I love the way the lemon juice caramelises in the roasting tin - and in doing so, it caramelises onto the chicken and the potatoes which are roasting and just absorbing all that lovely lemon juice and honey which has been infused with rosemary and garlic.  With the melted butter, it just winds up with a gorgeusly chickeny, roast potatoey, lemony melange that makes my mouth water.

Son and hubby both decided that it was just "okay", but I am afraid it is going to re-appear at some point in the distant future, because it is just too gorgeous to ignore.  We'll have to call this one a "Mummy Supper" and everyone else will just have to suffer it.  *chuckle*

There aren't many that I insist on cooking, and I do try to avoid potatoes, but I am afraid I just enjoy this one too much.  You need to use a BIG roasting tin so as to give everything room to manoeuver, or it will braise too much instead of roasting.

HONEY & LEMON CHICKEN (serves 3)

Ingredients :

2 lemons, 1 zested and juiced, the other simply juiced

50g butter

3 tbsp clear honey

leaves from 4 rosemary sprigs

2 garlic cloves , finely chopped

4-5 chicken breasts, without skin, cut into biggish goujon shapes

400-500g potatoes , peeled and cut into smallish chunks

green salad , to serve

Method :

Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6/fan180C.

Put the lemon juice into a bowl, together with the butter, honey, rosemary, garlic and salt and pepper then microwave for a minute or so, until the butter melts and it smells fragrant.

Place the potatoes into the roasting tin and drizzle with lemon butter to coat evenly.

Add the chicken to the remainder of the lemon butter and set aside.

Roast the potatoes for 15 minutes.

Add the chicken and the rest of the lemon butter to the roasting tin.  Spread the chicken so that it lays in individual pieces, or it won’t cook evenly.

Roast for another 30-40 minutes, turning after the first 20.  Don’t worry if there is an awful lot of juice in the pan – there’s supposed to be!

Serve with a green salad, or with carrots, peas & broccoli.