Devilled Sausages & Fruity Quinoa Salad

Time has run away with me again!  How does it do that?  ~scratches head~  Well, I suppose it's down to having Son & heir home from school.  Tending to the requirements of his social life can leave you with little time left to do anything else!

So.  We'd got up to the Devilled Sausages with Fruity Quinoa Salad, I believe.  Hmmn, well, the sausages were great as ever (see recipe, below) but the jury is still out as regards the Quinoa.

I've said in previous blog posts how much I dislike having anything gritty.  Well, that includes quinoa with little tiny pieces of grit in it.  Does quinoa usually contain small pieces of grit, or was I unlucky, or maybe I bought a cheap & cheerful variety?  Certainly, if grit is a feature of a quinoa salad, you can count me out of future quinoa adventures.  I darned near broke a tooth on a small stone I encountered while I was tasting for seasoning.  I know the packet recommends that you rinse the quinoa very well before cooking, but I was under the impression that this was to improve the flavour, rather than wash out the gravel!

So, gravel aside, quinoa seems to have another problem.  I don't much like the way it stayed wet (yes, I drained it very well and it was still hot when I drained it).  Pasta and rice both dry off when you drain them, however not so quinoa.  Having put the dressing onto the salad, everything was becoming somewhat waterlogged and soggy.  I was very careful to not over-cook the grains, but of course, being the first time I'd cooked it I don't rule it out as a  possibility.  So, looking at the photograph here - what do you think? Does it look over-cooked?

Apart from those two problems, the quinoa salad wasn't exactly a hit as the dried fruit mixture proved to be way too sweet and dominated the flavour.  Even with fresh coriander, lemon juice, garlic and Dijon mustard involved, the sweetness just stomped all over that lot, regrettably.  As such, I won't be passing on the recipe.

I'm in two minds as to whether to give quinoa another go, mostly because of the grit problem.  So I'll be interested to hear your feedback!

DEVILLED SAUSAGES (Feeds 3)

Ingredients :

6 cumberland sausages (working on 2 each)
2 tsp brown pickle (Branston type)
1 tsp marmalade
1 tsp mango chutney
2 tsp peanut butter
1 heaped tsp curry powder
1 tsp mustard (your favourite type - I use English)

Method :
 
1.  Pre-heat the oven to 180deg C/350deg F/Gas 4.

2.  Line a roasting tray with non-stick silver foil.  Lay the sausages onto the tray and commence to splitting them from nose to tail - until they resemble boats (i.e. still joined at either end).


3.  Take a small bowl and include all the remainder of the ingredients, then stir to combine.


4.  Fill each sausage "boat" with the devilling mix, which should be quite thick.


5.  Place into the oven to bake for 25-30 minutes or until the sausages are quite brown and the devilling is showing signs of caramelisation.

6.  Serve with salad.

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Cheesy Parsnip Flan - perfect for al fresco eating

Not that we ate al fresco on the night we had the flan, but it would seem like a very civilised thing to do.  Maybe once we've got a table and chairs for our new patio!

I've had some success with tarts and flans since I bought the new flan/quiche dish and - owing to an oversight on the shopping front - had two packs of ready-rolled shortcrust pastry in the freezer, doing nothing.

So, I began to think about what I could put into a pastry case.  Sweet flans are relatively easy - and pretty much off limits at the moment.  Hence, I began to ponder on what went with what, savoury-wise.  Smoked haddock immediately sprang to mind, but have you seen how much it has gone up in price just lately?  I can only think that it's out of season - and as I like to eat seasonally (where possible) I rejected that on both those grounds.

Chorizo was the next on the list.  I don't know why Chorizo keeps on coming to mind, considering I don't really like it.  It's one of those things that I think I'll like, but when it comes to it, it's just to strong on the paprika.  I suppose it could be the type of Chorizo I buy and maybe I should source some from elsewhere and see if I like it better.  I wonder if Spring Fields butchers does it?  I'll have to find out.

So anyway, that was out for obvious reasons.

I'd recently done a Quiche Lorraine, so that ruled bacon out - unless I could find a flan topping that was so far from Quiche Lorraine as to be unrecognisable.

However, before I could come across a flan topping that used both chorizo and bacon (well there's bound to be one!), my mind travelled down the celeriac lines (remember the Cheesy Celeriac Slice?), and after a quick dalliance there, it hopped over to parsnip.  I pondered on whether if you cooked your parsnip pieces (just boiling them), then riced (or mashed) them and added oodles of sharp cheddar, some cream (just a small amount), maybe some mustard (Dijon or English?), before topping up the whole thing with some beaten egg - whether you'd wind up with something good?

Well, funnily enough, you do!  In fact, you wind up with something that is so good, it quite defies belief.

It isn't as deep as a quiche's middle, and the parsnip gives it a totally different kind of texture.  The cheese and the parsnip go together quite ridiculously well.  I had been worried that the parsnip would stamp all over the cheese, but so long as you make sure you've got a good flavoursome sharp mature cheddar, it'll be fine.  Incidentally, at the last minute, I added a teensy bit of Grana Padano just to add another dimension to the cheesy flavour.

Again, this is another dish that is so easy to do, it'd be a great one to prepare with your kids (if you've got some - if not, then borrow some just for this).  You'd better issue them with their own little piece of cheese to munch though, or all your recipe cheese will disappear!

We ate it with some gorgeous chutney from the Isle of Wight Garlic Farm, that my parents had brought back for us.  The pair of them were made for each other.

CHEESY PARSNIP FLAN  (feeds 4 hungry people)

Ingredients :

A piece of shortcrust pastry, enough to line your quiche dish
200g of cooked parsnip, cut into chunks
175g strong cheddar cheese, grated
75g grana padano or another cheese of your choice, also grated
3 large eggs
100ml double cream
1 tsp Dijon mustard
freshly ground black pepper.

Method :

1.  Pre-heat your oven to 180deg C//350deg F/Gas 4.

2.  Line the quiche dish with the pastry, then crack one of the eggs into a bowl and give it a light whisk with a fork.

3.  Brush some beaten egg onto the surface of the pastry and prick with a fork.  Line with non-stick baking paper and baking beans, then blind bake for 15-20 minutes.

4.  Remove the beans and baking paper and leave to one side while you prepare the filling.

5.  Into a large bowl, either mash the parsnip pieces or put them through a ricer.  You are aiming to have a smooth paste of parsnip.

6.  Add all but a handful of the cheeses to the parsnip.

7.  Crack the remaining two eggs into the bowl with the original egg and add the cream,  mustard and some freshly ground black pepper.  Whisk them up until they are nicely combined.  There is no need to add salt, as the cheeses will take care of that.

8.  Add the eggs to the mustard and cheese and stir gently to combine.  Pour onto the pastry case and smooth the surface, giving it a final flourish with the remaining cheese.

9.  Put back into the oven to bake for around 35-40 minutes, or until browned all over and firm to the touch.

Serve with a lovely piquant chutney and some salad.

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Tuna & lemon pasta - one for when you're just too tired.

There are times in everyone's life when you're just too tired, or too sad, or just too meh! to cook, yet the desire for comfort food is warring with the desire to continue sitting where you are, quietly dissolving into further misery.

Well, this is the perfect recipe for one of those occasions - and what's more, quite apart from being so tasty it could bring a teensy glimmer of a smile to your face, it's good for you!

I have got to admit that I wasn't feeling either too tired, too sad or too meh! on Tuesday evening when I served this up for our dinner, but as a contender for "Pizza Tuesday" (when we're trying to ignite Son & heir's interest in foods other than those on his plate), it was perfect.

Son & heir, you see, has decided that tuna is one of those ingredients that shall no longer sully his particular plate.  "It's too dry!" he complained, the last time I served it to him.  (Although it would appear to be okay as tuna pasta bake.  Work that one out if you dare).

I'd bought him a Lasagne to have that night but he managed to finagle his way in to his friend's house where he had been invited to stay for tea, which left us to tuck into our pasta in peace.

Mind you, it wouldn't have been difficult to have made expansive gestures of delight and deliciousness over our plates of pasta, as the recipe really is quite lovely.  Hubby had only managed about 10 minutes of anticipatory napping, when the call to attention was made.  Quite literally, all you need to do is put four things into a bowl, two things into a saucepan of water - and you're done!  Just about enough time to warm up some plates.

TUNA & LEMON PASTA  (serves 2)

Ingredients :

350g pasta shells
200g pack trimmed fine green beans, cut into short lengths
200g can of tuna in olive oil
grated zest of a lemon
1 heaped tbsp baby capers
a generous pinch of chilli flakes
freshly ground black pepper
olive oil for drizzling.

Method :

1.  Fill a large saucepan with water, add a pinch of salt and put on a high heat to boil.

2.  Cook the pasta according to pack instructions.  (Usually around 8-9 minutes).

3.  With around 3-4 minutes to go, add the beans and cook until tender (or until the pasta is done.  If you're dubious about timing these two correctly, just cook the beans in a separate pan).

4.  Into a bowl, tip the tuna (including the oil) and flake the fish gently.  Add the lemon zest, capers, chilli and a good helping of pepper.

5.  Drain the pasta and beans, return them to the pan and toss in the tuna mixture.  Stir gently to combine.  If the mixture is looking a little dry, add a drizzle or two of extra virgin olive oil.

Serve on warmed plates.

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Meal planning - heading towards healthy!

Can't see me ever achieving this!

This week's meal plan has, of necessity, something of a bias towards the healthy.  Only a bias, you understand - I've not gone completely mad and thrown out ALL the cream, or the cheese, or the pastry!

I decided that once my birthday was out of the way, I'd knuckle down to concentrating on making the meals a little lighter, healthier and better for us.

Now that doesn't mean that you won't find pastry, or cream, or cheese working their way in to the recipes, but what it does mean is that there will be rather less than there has been of late.

Also, (don't tell Son & heir) I'm going to be increasing the fruit and vegetable intake and trying to reduce the emphasis on meat.  I'll be trying to make the meat and vegetables work as a team, as opposed to the vegetables just taking up space on the meat's plate.

This first week, we're just going to be easing into the routine.  I can't just jump into it, because I've got foodstuffs in the cupboard and fridge that need using up.  I'm not going to throw away something that's perfectly good and that we paid good money for, just because I'm changing the emphasis of our meals.  However, hopefully, as we go along you'll notice a healthier trend (with the occasional "less than healthy" meal, just to create balance!).

So, here's how this week is looking :

Tuesday (Pizza night) : Son & heir is out, so hubby & I are having Tuna & lemon pasta.

Wednesday : Cheesey Parsnip Flan and salad.

Thursday : Smoked sausage, lime rice & succotash.

Friday : Devilled sausages and fruity quinoa salad.

Saturday : Beef & spinach pasta bake.

Sunday : Chicken & Sweetcorn Pie, roast potatoes, broccoli & carrots.

Monday : Crunchy fish (minus batter, for me), potato croquettes & peas.

I'm looking forward to that lot!

Well, today is Wednesday so we had the Tuna & lemon pasta last night.  It really is such an easy dish to prepare - and is almost a complete store cupboard recipe, except for the green beans.  The mixture of tuna, lemon zest, capers and chilli is just delicious - and keeps your taste buds interested!

Tonight's Cheesey Parsnip Flan and salad was a triumph, if I say so myself.  This was another recipe that was incredibly easy to produce.  I've tried to make all this week's recipes easy to make, in the belief that if I don't challenge myself too badly in the kitchen, I'll live to fight another day with a bit more energy than otherwise!

I'll be blogging both the Tuna pasta and the Flan immediately after this one, so I won't talk too much about them here, or I'll have nothing to say in their own dedicated blogs!  (That's how simple they are to produce!).

I'm intrigued by hubby's smoked sausage, lime rice and succotash idea for Thursday's dinner.  He's got a very definite idea in mind that he's trying to reproduce, he's been doing a lot of research via the internet on various recipes and it all sounds pretty good!

Friday's dinner is a meal of two halves, I'm afraid.  The devilled sausages are a pretty dead cert to be a Good Thing, but the quinoa salad is a completely new entity for all of us.  I'm dead keen to try quinoa and devised the recipe for this salad after doing extensive reading up on what other people have put into successful quinoa salads.  I'm hoping that the fruity aspect will go well with the curry/spicy aspect of the sausages.

I'm having a go at the Beef & Spinach Pasta Bake from www.foodwhine.com on Saturday.  Hubby has an extensive spinach patch developing at the bottom of the garden and it would be just fabulous to make a meal from it.  It's one of those recipes that is a cross between a pasta bake and a casserole, so I'm hoping the weather won't be roasting on Saturday, or you may find that this gets changed to a prawn salad!

Sunday sees the return of the home-made Chicken & sweetcorn pie.  I've been wanting to make a pie for ages and before we decided to upgrade the health value of our meals, had bought the double pack of frozen pastry.  Well I'm not about to let that go to waste - and making a pie gets rid of both packs at once, so it gets to stay on the menu!

One of our peas - the formative years

We were running out of time (and inspiration, if I'm honest) when it came to deciding what hubby was going to cook on Monday.  Hence the "crunchy fish" (aka fish in batter), potato croquettes (hideous things!) and peas.  I'm quite determined to de-crunchy my fish and so reduce the fat content, but I can't guarantee that either of the boys will be doing the same thing!  In truth, they probably don't need to, as they are both normally active people - unlike me who is sedentary at best!  It would be just fabulous if our pea vines were to yield enough peas to cope with feeding the three of us, but we'll just have to wait and see where that's concerned.  We had a sneaky taster of a couple of fresh peas from the vines just yesterday and they are truly gorgeous - so sweet!  Yum!

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T 

Birthday dinner - and a weird lunch at The Woolpack, Sopley

Yes, apologies for the lateness of the appearance of the "dinner" blog, only I was a bit busy eating it, then watching a DVD (Burke & Hare - which was unremarkable) and then going to bed.  Sunday was spent with my parents (see below, as regards that!), more going to bed and then I then went to work - and now here I am!

Hubby (you may have noticed a "Chillibob" commenting in places - that's him) did a wonderful job on the roast lamb dinner for my birthday.  We didn't need to worry about son & heir as he went out to a sleepover.  So it was just the two of us, tucking into the lovely lamb, roast potatoes, roast parsnips, onion sauce, mint sauce, peas and carrots with Yorkshire puddings and gravy.  What a feast!

I'd studded the lamb with rosemary sprigs, slices of garlic and anchovies before wrapping it in silver foil and roasting for 3 hours.

We'd got the butcher to bone and roll the joint for us and he'd kindly included the bones in the package, so they formed a neat trivet for the lamb to sit upon.  Ooooh, it was absolutely gorgeous and such a treat!  It had been so long, I'd quite forgotten just how much I enjoy mint sauce - not to mention the onion sauce - with lamb.  I knew I liked it - which was why I chose it for my birthday dinner, so it was lovely to re-acquaint myself with just how much I enjoy it!


I finished off the last few slices, cold, last night with some chutney.  Roll on next birthday, if birthdays mean I get roast lamb!

The following day, Sunday, we met up with my parents for lunch at The Woolpack in Sopley.  It is in such a lovely area, being within the New Forest National Park.  The pub itself is thatched and sited beside a stream.  Where we were sitting - in the conservatory - we were right beside the stream, where a duck brought her babies to paddle.  We were tempted to throw pieces of bread for her, but resisted.  I'm sure those ducklings would be far better off eating natural food (of which there had to be enough)!


Regrettably, I forgot to take the camera with me so there aren't any photographs of the food, but my point in writing about it is to comment on the quite ridiculous portion sizes.  If, in the weeks to come, I see in the local newspaper that The Woolpack has gone out of business, I shan't be surprised.  It'll be all their profits that they've thrown away in the shape of lettuce leaves and cucumber slices!


We ordered two starters - a Salmon & Prawn salad and a Butternut Squash soup.  The soup arrived in the usual tureen, but accompanied by three inch-thick half slices of wholemeal bread.  There had to have been enough bread there for three people to have had soup.


The Salmon & Prawn salad also had two of the inch-thick slices of bread (without butter), along with a good helping of prawns, a slightly meager helping of smoked salmon and an enormous heap of salad leaves incorporating iceberg lettuce, sorrel, spinach, radicchio and at least three other leaves that I didn't recognise, as well as cress, tomato, cucumber and red onion.  Not one of us finished the salad, as it was just too much.


This trend continued.  Son & heir had fish & chips, which came wrapped in newspaper (which made his day) and were the only "normal" sized portion to appear.

Hubby had Scampi, chips and salad - and had the over-sized portion of salad, all over again.

My Dad had a portion of Lasagne (which he declared was very nice), but again, accompanied by what looked to be a portion of salad some eight inches across, by three inches high with countless different types of salad ingredients, including coleslaw and potato salad.  The unfortunate part about it was that the sheer quantity of salad made the portion of Lasagne look meager in the extreme.

My poor Mum had opted for the smoked chicken salad.  Her plate arrived, a good seven eighths covered in salad some three inches high, with a bald chicken breast clinging on for dear life, at the side.  In fact, she had to hunt for the chicken under the salad.  What made matters worse, was that the chicken had been very poorly trimmed before smoking, which left a nasty-looking bloody patch at the thick end.  She cut it off and left that bit, which effectively reduced the amount of meat she had to eat with that enormous mountain of salad.  Needless to say, neither of them made it to even half way.


As for me, well I'd ordered the Mussels in cream, coriander and garlic.  I had seen that it would include crusty bread and garlic bread and was prepared for there to be too much bread - but not for the sheer weight of quantity that turned up - and not just bread but mussels too!  The earthenware pot which contained the mussels was (and I'm not exaggerating here) some ten inches across.  Now I know that mussels need a lot of room because of their shells, but there had to have been enough there for two people.  There was also three pieces of garlic bread and three slices of wholemeal bread (again, with no butter).  I didn't even touch the wholemeal, nor did I manage to finish the mussels.  I had a damned good try at finishing them, but there had to have been a third of them left by the time I ground to a halt.  They were gorgeous and the sauces was just divine - but there was so much there, that you just didn't know where to start!


Quite apart from the "throwing away their profits" aspect of the issue, there's also the point of view that when you're served with such a mountain of food, your immediate reaction is one of "good god, I'll never get through that" - which puts you off even trying.  Another aspect is that when you're being taken out for a meal, it is only polite to attempt to eat everything that is put before you - after all, someone else has paid for it and it seems only polite that you do justice to their financial outlay!  So, it's embarrassing to have to send back untouched piles of food.  Lastly - and not by any means least - is the issue of waste.  The amount of food that went uneaten last Sunday, could have fed our little family of three for at least two days.  It was a wicked and wanton waste that just didn't sit well with me at all.


The end result, was that the quality of both the foodstuffs and the cooking (which were, in the large part, both extremely good) were overshadowed by the ridiculous quantities.


I'll be writing to the pub to put these points of view across.  Don't suppose I'll get a response, but I'll feel better anyway!


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Kentish Pie - what an amazing thing!

My hubby used to enjoy this pie when his Mum used to make it and so when I was looking for ideas for the menu planning, he suggested it.

Now he only had a very loose idea of what was in it and the way it was prepared.  It sounded like a quiche, but with bacon, cheddar cheese and apple - but that didn't coincide with his memory of it.  So, following a telephone conversation with his Mum where she put him straight, we had a go at re-creating the elusive Kentish Pie.

Hubby was very hopeful as it was baking, and even more hopeful when it was done.

Upon his first taste of the pie, rolled his eyes heavenwards and declared "that's the stuff!".  Success!

See my piggy? I'm so proud of that piggy.  LOL

All the flavours - bacon, cheese, apple and egg - go so well together and the apple is, of course, the Kentish connection.

You can just about make out each ingredient, in its layers

This pie, quite apart from being delicious with salad, would be absolutely perfect to take on a picnic, or to a barbecue, or out to Glyndebourne.  It wouldn't let you down, wherever you took it, as it is such a robust individual.  Much in the same way as a pork pie, it won't drip down your ball gown and would be so easy to eat from a paper plate with a plastic fork.  Now you don't get that with every pie!

KENTISH PIE  (feeds 6-8)

Ingredients :

Shortcrust pastry, sufficient for both top and bottom of the pie.
8 large rashers (or 12 smaller rashers) of back bacon, grilled and chopped into pieces
200-250g cheddar cheese, cubed small (depending on how strong your cheddar is)
2 dessert apples, peeled and sliced to approx 3mm (I used a Braeburn and a Jonagold)
7 eggs, lightly whisked, plus 1 egg yolk for glazing
3 tbsp double cream
freshly ground pepper.

Method :

Grill the bacon and chop it into small pieces.  Dice the cheese.  Peel and slice the apples.  While all that is happening, you can be pre-heating your oven to 180deg C/350deg F/Gas 4.

Next, lay your first piece of pastry into the bottom of the pie dish and ensure it reaches the top of the sides.  Cut a piece of baking paper, scrunch it into a ball, then open it out and line the inside of the pastry.  Tip some baking beans into the paper to hold it down and prevent the pastry from bubbling as it cooks.

Bake the pastry for 20 minutes, then remove the paper and beans and allow it to cool slightly.

Sprinkle the first layer of bacon on top of the pastry, then follow with the cheese cubes and the apple slices.  Repeat until they are all used up.

In a bowl, mix the cream with the eggs, season with the pepper and whisk lightly to combine.  Pour the mixture into the pastry case and give it a little shake to distribute it evenly amongst the contents.

Separate the one egg into a ramekin, saving the yolk and discarding best part of the white.  With a pastry brush, break the yolk up and give it a light mix then brush egg yolk around the edge of the pastry case.

Lay the top layer of pastry onto the pie and press down around the edges to seal it.  Trim off the excess and press a fork or knife into the pastry all around the edge, to make a pretty pattern which also helps to seal it.

Cut a cross into the top of the pie to allow steam to escape (otherwise it may blow the lid off) and adorn your pie with decorations cut from the excess pastry.  I made a little apple, a pig (I was quite proud of my pig) and then got stuck as to how to express "cheese", so settled for a simple "C".  Leaves would probably have done, though!

When you're done being creative, give the whole lot a good egg wash and place it into the oven to bake for some 45-60 minutes.

At the end of the baking time, the top layer of pastry will be slightly domed.  To test that it is done, remove the pie from the oven and insert a sharp knife into the centre of the cross.  If you can't see any liquid egg, then your pie is done.  If there is liquid egg visible, pop it back in for another 10 minutes until it's done.

Leave it to cool and eat warm or at room temperature.  After a half hour or so, it is perfectly possible to remove it from its pie dish, which helps it to cool more quickly.

Printable version

Birthday lunch (there's going to be a "birthday dinner" later, you're right)

Ciabatta-style bread, drizzled with extra virgin olive oil, char-grilled.

Then rubbed with garlic and grilled again.

Then the vine ripened tomatoes were char-grilled, while the basil went onto the rolls, followed by the tomato when it was done.

Balsamic vinegar was then drizzled over the tomatoes and salt & pepper added, before a final flourish of Feta cheese.

Absolutely divine.

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Happy birthday breakfast!

You know it's your birthday, when this shows up for breakfast.  :)

Gorgeous, just doesn't describe it.  Oh, and yes, it DID wake me up!  lol

Baked Camembert - forgive me if I drool slightly.

This week was really the first week of our putting hubby's cunning plan into action.  He made us the Porcini Risotto last week, but the cunning plan was really only in it's infancy then.

This week, however, we put it fully into action - with surprising results.

Baking a complete Camembert in its box is something that we have both seen done on the t.v. and have both looked at one another and said "Ooooooooh" in that "we have just GOT to do that, one day" kind of way.

So when we were pondering over what to have on Pizza Night and hubby had the blinding flash of memory regarding it, needless to say we didn't bother to look any further.

Son & heir has, in the past, proven to be sensitive (I hesitate to say "allergic") to cheeses that have involved the Penicillium bacterias that are used in their formation - of which Camembert is one.  Rather than keep him away from such cheeses, I have consistently allowed him to have just a little of each one that has come our way, in the hope that steady, gentle exposure to the bacteria will increase his resistance to them.  It certainly seems to have worked, as he can now eat Brie without looking like an octopus has had him in its fond embrace.

As a result, I knew that Son & heir would be interested in our cheese, once he saw it - all baked and luscious.  Prior to that event he was dismissive of it as only a young teenager can be.

However, when hubby and I sat down to tuck into our cheese - dipping into the beautiful liquid centre with our griddled asparagus (asparagus is one of Son & heir's weaknesses) and almost weeping over how lovely the whole experience was, he just couldn't bear it.  Over he came, with a piece of his pizza crust clutched in his hot little hand, to have a taste.  Hubby put a seal on the deal by giving him a piece of asparagus to try with the cheese.  Of course, then we had to suffer being given the evils from him for the rest of the meal, but hey - I was too busy trying not to cry over how incredible the cheese was.

So - on to the cheese itself.  We used President Camembert basically because there were only two in the shop and we know President Camembert is nice.  We did consider poking bits of garlic and rosemary into the cheese, but decided against it because - as this was our first go at it - we wanted to enjoy the full flavour of the cheese, without any adulteration from any outside influence.

Where making a dinner is concerned, it truly doesn't get any easier than this.  Simply remove the cheese from its wrapper, pop it back into its little wooden box, drizzle with olive oil and into a moderate oven for 30 minutes.

While it is baking, assemble a selection of things to eat with it - we had French bread, olives and three types of tomato along with the griddled asparagus.  However, to be honest, I could easily have had nothing but asparagus and bread.  Don't be tempted to butter the bread, as the cheese is quite enough both in the fat and flavour departments.  I can imagine that a drizzle of olive oil, a rub with some garlic and toasted on the griddle pan would have made the bread completely awesome - and I'll definitely do that if ever we get the opportunity to do this again.

Like the New Potato, Bacon & Goat's Cheese salad that I made a week or so ago, this is one of those meals that has to be sampled.  I am just SO glad I did!

23 April 2013 : We've just indulged in our second baked camembert supper - this time, including son & heir in on the lusciousness.

We skipped the asparagus this time, instead opting for one of Mark Bennett Patisserie's loaves of Mediterranean bread that had been cubed and toasted in the oven.  Utter, utter gorgeousness when dipped into the melty soft warm cheese!  For that extra bit of crunch, we had some sweet chilli pitta bread that had also been baked off in the oven and was deliciously crunchy.  Together with some watercress salad - watercress, tomatoes, beetroot, celery and cucumber - you just couldn't fault it.  I am proud to say that I ate all my cheese - inner and outer.  Well, the outer rind is where all the flavour is!  It fair breaks my heart to see hubby's and son & heir's being thrown away.

Son & heir was a little bit dubious about his cheese and cautiously dipped in a piece of pitta bread.  Suffice to say, that it didn't take long after he'd suspiciously placed it onto his tongue, for him to be diving in for a second bite.  I defy anyone to not like these baked camemberts - it's just not possible!   

BAKED CAMEMBERT (for 1) 

Ingredients : 

1 smallish whole Camembert, in its wooden box
a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil
French bread (baguettes work fine)
A selection of things to dip into the cheese. 

Method :


1.  Pre-heat the oven to 180deg C/350deg F/Gas Mark 4.

2.  Remove the plastic wrapping from the Camembert and replace it into its wooden box.

3.  Drizzle olive oil over the surface (you can add slices of garlic, poked into the skin, along with sprigs of rosemary, if you like).

4.  Place each cheese onto a baking tray and bake in the oven for 30 minutes, or until the top of the cheese has domed.

5.  In the meantime, griddle any vegetables you might want for dipping (asparagus, peppers, red onion, tomatoes - all are good) and prepare your bread.

6.  Once the cheese is done, place onto a plate and get stuck in!

Meal planning - against the odds! W/c 26.7.11

I refuse to stop meal planning!  To be honest, I wouldn't know what to get from the shops if I stopped planning our meals.  I'd be wandering around like a little lost sheep.

Since I put the meal plan together on Monday, and before I've even had a chance to talk about it here, it has changed three times.  Firstly because we didn't get the car back from the mechanic until the following day so had to move the shopping because of it, secondly, because it suddenly dawned on me that it's my birthday on Saturday and we're meeting my Parents for lunch on Sunday and thirdly, because the boys had such huge burgers for lunch on Wednesday, that we just had sandwiches for dinner!


Ah well, onwards and upwards - and fingers crossed that it stays put as a plan, now.

Oh!  I've an interesting new routine where the meal planning is concerned.  Because Son & heir is becoming increasingly difficult (for which, read picky) to cook for, hubby had a Baldrick moment and came up with a cunning plan.

Under this cunning plan, Tuesdays have been declared as "pizza day", in that Son & heir has pizza (which is the meal he asks for whenever I ask for input into the meal planning) - and hubby and I have whatever we want.  Which, of course, opens the door for us to have things which otherwise would be rejected - like the mushroom risotto and stir fries.

Did someone mention stir fry?  Picture c/o Virgin Media

So, here's how this week is looking :

Tues : Pizza & Baked Camembert with french bread, tomatoes, olives & asparagus

Weds : Sandwiches

Thurs : Sausage casserole

Fri : "Kentish Tart" & salad

Sat : Roast Lamb, roast potatoes & parsnips, peas & carrots, Yorkshire puddings

Sun : Lunch out with my parents

Mon : Tuna Pasta Bake.

As today is now Wednesday, we had the Baked Camembert last night.  I think that all there is to say, at this stage, is that I'll be blogging it right after this.  Oh, and if EVER you get the chance to either have or to do Baked Camembert, have it and do it.  This is one of those "things to do before you die" recipes.  'Nuff said.

Oh!  I must tell you - the Stromboli.  I can give it correct billing now, as I've re-discovered the website that it came from : The Keenan Cookbook.  (Thanks, Chris!).  Do go along and have a look (and sign up for the newsletter, too!) at the original Stromboli that caught my attention.   I dare say you'll be able to understand its attraction!

So anyway, Thursday sees Hubby making one of his awesome Sausage Casseroles.  He's not made one in ages and neither of us can understand why not, as they are munchy gorgeousness.  If you add into the equation the fact that he'll be using our lovely butcher's sausages, we're ready for a cracking dinner, that night!

Friday evening's dinner is an interesting one.  Hubby can remember his Mum making a "Kentish Pie" (or tart) which was egg-based like a quiche, but less custardy (so no cream).  It had bacon, cheddar cheese (surely it should have been a Kent-based cheese? ~shrug~ I guess it's not my memory we're trying to re-create here!) and diced apple.  I can't seem to find a recipe that matches that description, so I'm going to have a crack at creating one and we'll see how close it gets.  If anyone reading this recognises the description and can point me in the direction of a recipe, do let me know!

Saturday is my birthday (wheee! 21 again!) and as is our family tradition, you get to choose whatever you want for your dinner that night.  I have been lusting after a leg of lamb (I suppose that'll take care of the little lost one, above!) with vinegary mint sauce, roast potatoes, roast parsnips and onion sauce, since God was a boy.  So I'm hoping we can get a lovely leg of lamb from the butcher without having to get a mortgage and will cook it long and slow.  Dear hubby has volunteered to cook the rest of the roast, so I'm looking forward to it already.

I don't need to worry about a dinner for Sunday, as we'll be meeting my Parents for lunch at The Woolpack, Sopley.  Apparently they have been there a number of times and approve of the place and looking at the menu online it looks lovely.  So we should have a good lunch and it will be lovely to see them again, of course.

After all the good eating that seems to be on the cards for the weekend, Monday brings a return to easy-going, "normal" food with a good old Tuna Pasta Bake.  Now, if we get that far without a change to the programme, I'll be amazed.


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Creamed Courgettes & Mushrooms : by far and away the most delicious thing to do to a courgette

Sunday dawned and I had every intention of making the Ratatouille Pasta Bake to accompany the roast bacon that I had planned.

The trouble is, it didn't happen that way as around 3pm my "get up and go" just got up and went, without letting me know.

Which was all very inconsiderate, as it left me wondering what the heck I could come up with instead of the ratatouille pasta bake, using courgettes, mushrooms, tomatoes and broad beans.  So the thought process went like this :

"What have I got to use as carbs, if I don't use pasta?".
"Hmmn, I've got some muddy Jersey Royals in the cupboard, doing nothing ...".
"Okay, well, if I use those - maybe I could use them in the pasta bake, instead of the pasta!"  (Which goes to prove it was the pasta that I didn't want, rather than the vegetables!).
"No, that won't do.  It wouldn't be right, I'd better use them alone and not in with the veg".
"So - what veggies can I make?"
~ponder~
"Oh wow!  Courgettes ... and mushrooms .. and yes, I've got a bit of cream left in the fridge .. and some worcester sauce in the cupboard!".
"Oh thank you God, I can make Creamed Courgettes & Mushrooms!  Oh, and maybe add some peas and broad beans".  (As an afterthought).

Creamed Courgettes and Mushrooms is one of the most delicious and simple things you can do, to a courgette.  I first had this veggie side dish when my Mum cooked it to accompany (I forget exactly) either a chop or a piece of steak.  I fell in love with it then and repeatedly asked for it, only to have it rejected because "cream is too fattening" or "it's too expensive, with the cream involved" - which are all valid points, but not when you're 12 or 13 years old.

I have to admit that I appreciate both those arguments now and as such, it hasn't appeared on our menu list more than around 4 or 5 times in the last 14 years.  However, I am just so glad I remembered it in time to take advantage of the ingredients.

Showing promise!

The roast bacon that I served it with, was truly gorgeous.  I had boiled the bacon in a 50:50 apple juice/water mix, with an added cinnamon stick, pepper and an onion for around 30 minutes.  I then put the bacon into a medium oven (160 deg C) in a roasting dish that was sealed over with baking foil and with a little of the boiling broth inside.  I didn't look at it again for an hour and a half, whereupon it then sat in a warm place to rest for another 20 minutes before uncovering, cutting off the fat and attempting to carve it.  In truth, it just fell apart and turned into a "one lump or two?" carving method and you could have cut it with a spoon, it was so tender.  Amazing.

It went absolutely perfectly with the sweetness of the courgette pieces, the earthiness of the mushrooms and the creamy, savoury sauce.  Goodness, it's making my mouth water just thinking about it!

There'll be another day for the rejected Ratatouille Bake - but it wasn't to be on Sunday!


CREAMED COURGETTE & MUSHROOMS  (Serves 2-3)


Ingredients :


A large knob of salted butter
a splash of olive oil
3 small courgettes, sliced into 5mm rounds
6 or so, chestnut mushrooms, sliced
150ml double cream
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Freshly ground black pepper.


Method :


1.  Take a non-stick frying pan and melt the butter and add the olive oil to heat through.


2.  When the butter is bubbling, add the courgette slices and fry, cut side down, until they have obtained a lovely golden colouring on the one side.


3.  Flip each one over to the other side and continue to fry, but add the mushroom slices to the pan.


4.  When you think the courgettes will have obtained a good colour, mix the mushrooms in so that they are all touching the bottom of the pan (as much as you can) and continue to fry, but reducing the heat a little.


5.  When the mushrooms have become opaque and wilted and the courgettes are softened all the way through, add the cream and the Worcestershire sauce and stir through.


6.  Add the freshly ground black pepper to taste and once everything is piping hot, serve.


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There's nothing plain, about this Quiche Lorraine!

Didja see what I did there?  *chuckle*

I took a sudden fancy for Quiche Lorraine.  Yes, I know, there are a billion different quiches out there that are far more exciting and interesting in their ingredients than plain old Quiche Lorraine, but I was feeling a bit de-tuned in the ingredients line at the time.

I wanted something savoury, that could be accompanied by salad.  I was also fairly keen to use my new quiche dish again.

The plan (which worked to perfection) was to make sure that the ingredients were the best I could achieve, bearing in mind finance and availability.  So that meant shop-bought pastry (because my last attempts at rolling out pastry were a trial, putting it mildly), beautiful Burford Brown eggs (for their unctuous richness and glorious colour), our local butcher's back bacon (because it is by far the best bacon available around here) and some gorgeously strong, salty mature cheddar cheese.

Add to that a pot of cream and some lovely cherry tomatoes and you have all the makings for a superb Quiche Lorraine.

To make extra-sure that the bottom of the pastry was cooked (I have some history with soggy bottoms), I put the pastry back into the oven for five minutes without the baking beans, when I blind baked it.  I'll have to remember to do this more often, as it certainly solved the "soggy bottom" problem.  The bottom of this pastry was as crisp as you could want - even the next day, when I polished off the last slice cold from the fridge.

QUICHE LORRAINE (Serves 4-5)

Ingredients :

1 pack pre-prepared shortcrust pastry, to fit an 8" quiche dish
1 pack back bacon, trimmed of fat
4 eggs
200ml double cream
freshly ground black pepper
a quarter tsp of nutmeg
150g gruyere or mature cheddar cheese
4-5 cherry tomatoes, sliced.

Method :

1.  Pre-heat the oven to 180deg C/356F/Gas 4.

2.  Roll out the pastry so that it fits neatly into the quiche dish, with sufficient up the sides to hold the mixture in.  Place the pastry gently into the quiche dish and trim any excess.

3.  Scrunch up a piece of baking paper that will fit easily into the pastry dish.  Smooth it out and put on top of the pastry.  Next, fill the pastry case with baking pellets or beans - to prevent the case from bubbling up as it bakes.

4.  Bake for 20 minutes, then remove the paper and baking beans and bake again for another 5 minutes or until the pastry has gained a lovely golden hue.

5.  Remove the pastry case from the oven and set aside to cool whilst you make the filling.

6.  Cut the bacon into small squares and place into a dry frying pan.  Fry until each piece is beginning to caramelise, but before the pieces become crispy.  Set aside to cool slightly.

7.  Crack the eggs into a large bowl and give them a good whisk.  Add the cream, nutmeg and salt & pepper and whisk to combine.

8.  Take the pastry case and add the bacon to it.

9.  Grate the cheese and add three quarters of the mixture on top of the bacon, then give it all a little mix - making sure the bacon is evenly spread.

10.  Pour the egg mixture into the case and give it a very gentle stir around, to make sure it has got under all the cheese.

11.  Next, sprinkle the top with the remaining cheese and lay the slices of tomato over it, in an appealing pattern.

12.  Give the tomatoes a sprinkling of freshly ground pepper and place the quiche into the oven for 30-40 minutes, or until the top is risen and golden.

Allow to cool before serving at room temperature with a side salad.

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