Smoked mackerel and potato cakes

Smoked mackerel with potato cakes

Not for lunch, but a lovely supper that uses up any leftover mashed potatoes you might have. (Being from the North, I hate waste.)

I used the following quantities for 2 people, and ate far too much - I could have happily done with half the amount. Admittedly I served this with a corn on the cob, which was wholly unnecessary. The potato cakes need a lot of oil too, so this is more of a mid-week indulgence than a healthy supper. I don't think you should add any flour to potato cakes - this may help keep them in one piece but their taste will be spoiled.

Ingredients for the potato cakes

• Approx 250g cooked mashed potato
• About 30g goat's cheese
• About 2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley

To serve with potato cakes

• 1 pack smoked mackerel fillets (ie 4 fillets)
• 4 cornichon (small gherkins), chopped
• 10 baby plum tomatoes

 

Optional vegetables to serve with potato cakes if you're greedy (like me)

• Greens
• Corn on the cob

Method for making potato cakes with smoked mackerel

1. Add enough rapeseed oil to cover the bottom of a large frying pan then heat till hot.
2. Heat the grill to medium, ie about 230 degrees C.
3. Add the finely diced goat's cheese to the mashed potato.
4. Stir in the parsley.
5. Season well with tons of salt and black pepper.
6. Shape the potato mixture into 4 equal sized balls, then flatten ball to give flatish cakes.
7. Lower each cake into the hot oil in the frying pan.
8. While the cakes are cooking, line a baking tin with tin foil, pour in a small drop of rapeseed oil and spread this all over the tin either with your fingers or a pastry brush. 
9. Add the smoked mackerel to the lined tin along with the baby tomatoes and scatter over the chopped cornichon.
10. Place under the grill for about 5 minutes till the fish is warmed through and the tomatoes are bursting. 
11. Once the underside of the potato cakes are crispy, carefully turn them over to brown the other side.
12. Boil the kettle, then fill a large pan with the boiling water, and place on hob.
13. Remove the thick vein from the centre of the greens' leaves, cut into even sized pieces and place in a bamboo steamer. 
14. Put 2 plates in the oven below the grill to warm.
15. Lower the corn cobs into the boiling water and add a little salt.
16. Boil for about 4 minutes before placing the bamboo steamer over the pan and steam the greens for another 2 minutes. 
17. Remove everything from the pans/grill and transfer to the warm plates to serve.
18. Add a small drizzle of rapeseed oil to the corn on the cob, plus plenty of salt and pepper. 

 

Potato cakes cooking

Blackberry jam

Despite warnings of heavy rain, yesterday was a beautiful sunny autumnal day with only a small shower. I went out picking blackberries, which were perfect, if a little on the small side. This does mean though that they have even less pectin than slightly under-ripe blackberries which are best for making jam.

I based my jam recipe on the one in delicious. magazine but made a few tweaks. This, it turns out, was a mistake - my jam is more of a thick paste. Here is the recipe I used:

Blackberry jam ingredients

• Just under 2kg blackberries
• 2kg preserving sugar
• Juice and rind of 6 lemons

How to make blackberry jam

1. Remove any stalks and dirt from the blackberries but do not wash them or they will become soggy.
2. Place in a preserving pan.
3. Grate the zest from the lemon and squeeze out the juice - add both of these to the pan.
4.  Put on a low heat and stir regularly for about 5 minutes, till the blackberries have released their juice.
5. Add the sugar to the pan and stir for about 10 minutes until the sugar has dissolved. 
6. Increase the heat and boil for about 15 minutes.

 

I actually took out a teeny tiny pots' worth of blackberries to have with my breakfast cereal but since the blackberries were so ripe I thought the slight discrepancy in the blackberry/sugar ratio would help the jam set. Having dropped my sugar thermometer into the jam I couldn't tell whether it had reached the setting point, but since it looked far too runny,  I continued to boil for about 15 minutes. I potted the jam while warm as directed. 

The next day I checked the jam and it was practically solid, with a slight hint of toffee flavour. I unpotted it all back into the pan (resulting in a bent spoon) and added a little water. After cooking gently for about 10 minutes I repotted the jam into resterilized jars. Clearly it still had a slight burnt sugar taste but was slightly runny so at least can be spread on toast. But it's not right, and I feel I have wasted nature's bounty. 

Just back from holiday spaghetti

O is obsessed with spaghetti. On a recent trip to Bruges he claimed it was 'the Venice of the North', famous for its spaghetti. Sadly, he didn't manage to have any spaghetti while in Bruges, so I made some for him the day we got back from holiday.

Spaghetti with sundriend tomatoies

Since we'd only been away for a couple of days I had some parsley and an onion to hand. The beauty of this recipe, though, is that you can still make it using only store cupboard/freezer ingredients in a matter of about 20 minutes from start to finish. 

 Easy, speedy spaghetti ingedients

• 6 sundried tomatoes in oil
• A handful flatleaf parsley, finely chopped
• A handful toasted pine nuts
• 1/3 pack low fat feta cheese
• 1 onion
• 1 garlic clove
• 3 rashers streaky smoked bacon 
• Enough spaghetti for 2 people

How to make easy, speedy spaghetti

1. Heat a large frying pan over a medium heat.
2. Fill the kettle and switch it on to boil. 
3. Add the bacon to the frying pan and cook till crisp then remove from the pan.
4. Chop the onion in half, peel, then slice each half into thin slices.
5. Turn down the heat under the frying pan and add the onion. 
6. Fill a large pan with the boiled water from the kettle, add a little salt, then add the spaghetti.
7. Refill the kettle and put it on to boil. 
8. Cook the onion till slightly caramelised, ie do not move around too much. Add a little olive oil if there is insufficient fat from the bacon left in the pan.
9. Finely chop the garlic or crush using a garlic crusher and add to the pan.
10. Continue to cook for a few minutes taking care not to let the garlic burn. 
11. Using kitchen scissors cut the sundried tomatoes into small pieces then add to the frying pan.
12. Drain the pasta once it it al dente - this will probably be about 3 minutes before the cooking time specified on the packet.
13. Rinse the cooked pasta with just boiled water from the kettle and shake the colander to remove most of the water. 
14. Return the pasta to the pan you cooked it in and tip in the contents of the frying pan. 
15. Add the feta, crumbled, the chopped parsley and the pine nuts.
16. Toss together with the spaghetti and serve.

Apple chutney x2

I have almost given up blogging, it's been so long since I posted anything. Yesterday, I almost gave up cooking, having experienced several culinary disasters:

1. Over-set chutney. Yes, let me just say that again: over-set chutney. How on earth did that happen? I have never, ever over-set chutney before in my life. And, according to Google, neither has anyone who has ever published anything on the web. But the apple, chilli and ginger batch I made on 1st October has over-set, bearing an striking reseblance to jam.

2. Over-set crab apple jelly. Crab apple jelly seems like more faff than its worth. Cleaning, boiling, straining then cooking. Never again. Jams are not for me. I am sticking to chutney from now on (which I will NOT over-set again).


3. Mutton curry without the mutton. I left the mutton in the fridge instead of the freezer for too long and had to throw it out (it went to the foxes, not the bin). But by this time I'd made the curry sauce, so I ended up with a sauce-only curry sauce

On a more positive note, here's a chutney recipe that does appear to have worked. The apples for this one were courtesy of Tanya's friend Diana. 

Apple chutney #2 ingredients

• 2kg peeled and cored apples, cut into smallish chunks
• 5 medium onions, roughly chopped
• 1 litre cider vinegar
• 500g sultanas
• 1kg soft brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon mustard seeds
• 1 chilli, chopped finely
• 1 double thumb-sized piece root ginger, grated
• 1 teaspoon peppercorns
• 1 cinnamon stick, broken in half
• 1 teaspoon cloves
• 1 tablespoon allspice berries
• 2 teaspoons salt
• Juice 1/2 lemon

How to make apple chutney

1. Put everything in a preserving pan, bring to the boil and then reduce to a simmer. 
2. Continue to cook until thick, but not too thick.
3. Turn off the heat and leave to cool down a little.
4. Pot into warm sterilized jars.
5. Label before you forget what it is.

Apple chutney #3 ingredients

• 2.5Kg apples
• 7 onions (just under 1kg)
• 800g raisins
• Approx 1.25 litres malt vinegar
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger
• 1 tablespoon ground coriander
• 1 tablespoon hot paprika
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 tablespoon brown mustard seeds 

Make the chutney as for Apple chutney #2 

Lentil loaf

I don't understand people who don't like lentils - what on earth is offensive about a lentil? They don't really taste of anything, are really good for you, fill you up and are cheap. In other words, an ideal ingredient for an inexpensive lunch at work. Add a bit of cheese, onion and chili and it tastes of cheese, onion and chili. (It does not, as O once said, taste of socks.)

The original recipe for this lentil loaf was obviously written in the 70s as all the ingredients are in imperial and the first line reads 'Pick over the lentils for sticks and stones'. Luckily lentils have come on a long way since then and you don't need to worry about stray sticks and stones.

Lentil loaf ingredients

• 175g red lentils
• 100g mature cheddar
• 1 onion (today I used a red onion, but any colour will do)
• Pinch chili flakes
• 1 large egg
• Salt & black pepper
• 1 tablespoon chopped parsley (optional)

  How to make lentil loaf

1. Rinse the lentils thoroughly under cold running water.
2. Put them in a small pan that has a tight-fitting lid.
3. Cover with about 250ml cold water, put the lid on and bring to the boil.
4. Turn down the heat to a simmer.
5. Cook for about 15 minutes, checking regularly that there is still sufficient water - I have lost count of the times I have burnt the lentils to the pan (including today).
6. Chop the onion finely.
7. Grate the cheese.
8. Beat the egg in a small bowl or jug.
9. Heat the oven to 190 degrees C.
10. When the lentils are ready they will have collapsed and formed a stiff puree: 

• Add the cheese, onion, chili, salt, pepper and parsley (if using) to the lentils and mix thoroughly.
• Add the egg and lemon juice. 
• You now needs to turn the mixture into a prepared loaf tin. You can prepare the tin by greasing it with butter, adding a disposable loaf tin liner or, like I do, adding a strip of greaseproof paper across the base and sides of the tin: 

• Bake for about 50 minutes, till the loaf feels firm and is golden.

While you can serve this hot (in which case leave it to stand for 10 minutes before eating) I prefer it cold, in which case its best made the day before you want to eat it. The recipe states that this serves 4, but I find this gives portions that are a little too large. Slice into 5 pieces, wrap in tinfoil and eat each slice with a salad for lunch. Just vary the salad or the dressing to stop it becoming boring.

Lime pickle

Limes, marinading

Lime pickle ingredients

 

I'm getting a little bored with chutney and so am branching out into pickles. To be honest, I'm not sure what constitutes a chutney versus a pickle and would probably call this lime pickle a relish, since it doesn't contain any sugar. It is a very tangy version of the stuff you get in jars to have with poppadoms, but equally as oily. It was delicious served as a dip for cocktail sausages. 

• 12 limes
• 2 medium-hot green chillies
• 1 heaped tablespoon grated ginger
• 2 teaspoons brown mustard seeds
• salt
• 500 ml white wine vinegar
• 250 ml sunflower oil
• 3 lemongrass stalks
• 6 garlic cloves
• 2 teaspoons chilli powder
• 1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes + seeds

 How to make lime pickle

1. Slice the limes thickly into a large bowl.
2. Sprinkle with 2 teaspoons coarse salt.
3. Cover the bowl with cling film and leave overnight.
4. The next day rinse the limes under cold water and drain. 
5. Chop the chili, garlic, ginger and lemongrass finely.
6. Heat the oil in a in a large heavy-based saucepan.
7. Add the chopped vegetables and the chili powder and mustard seeds.
8. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring. 
9. Add the limes and the vinegar and bring to the boil.
10. Reduce to a simmer and cook for 10 minutes, uncovered.
11. Spoon the hot pickle into hot sterilized jars and seal.
12. Leave for at least 1 week before using.
13. Store in the fridge once opened. 

 

Gingered rump steak salad

A variation on chilli beef salad. In this version I marinaded the steaks for about half an hour then served them whole with the salad on the side. 

 

The salad bit

  Asian marinade/dressing ingredients

• 1/2 JOT* grated ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon sambal oelek or 1 red chilli
• Sambal oelek is a hot Malaysian/Thai chilli sauce - I used a small amount of this as I didn't have a fresh red chilli. If you're using fresh chilli, chop it finely and remove the seeds.
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce
• 2 tablespoons fish sauce
• pinch sugar

*Jamie Oliver's Thumb: the official measurement used for root ginger.

 

Salad ingredients

• 5cm piece carrot
• 5cm piece courgette
• 5cm piece cucumber
• 1/2 red pepper
• 2 spring onions 
• 1 small little gem lettuce
• Small handful mint leaves
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds, toasted 

 

How to make marinaded rump steak salad

1. Mix all the marinade ingredients together in a shallow dish.
2. Add the steaks to the dish and turn to coat both sides.
3. Cover with cling film and set aside for at least 30 minutes - don't, however, chill in the fridge as you want the steaks to be at room temperature when you cook them. 
4. While the steaks are marinading, cut the vegetables into julienne (ie thin strips).
5. Toast the sesame seeds for a minute or two until slightly coloured and there is a noticeable aroma coming from the.
6. When you are ready to cook the steaks, heat a griddle pan till it is very hot.
7. Remove the steaks from the marinade and place on the hot griddle.
8. Leave to cook for about 3 minutes, then turn over and cook the other side for the same time - this will give you medium-rare steaks. 
9. Remove the steaks from the pan and leave to rest for at least 5 minutes.
10. Let the remaining marinade bubble for a few minutes till it becomes syrupy. 
11. Tear the mint leaves and add to the vegetables.
12. Pour the thickened marinade over the salad and toss together.
13. Sprinkle the sesame seeds over the salad then sever with the steak.

 

The steak bit

A word on toasted seeds

Toasted seeds add taste and crunch to a salad, but sometimes seem like a bit of an unnecessary hassle to bother with. I normally toast a couple of tablespoons each of:

• linseeds
• sunflower seeds
• poppy seeds
• pumpkin seeds

then keep these in a small jar for sprinkling on salads. I also keep a jar in my drawer at work, but normally forget to add them to my lunch salads. 

Asian-poached chicken salad

Chicken noodle salad

 

Feeling utterly uninspired last night I decided to poach a whole chicken with Asian flavours. 

I had no idea how it was going to taste as the recipe was loosely based on several I found online, what sounded right to me and what I had in the fridge.  

Asian-poached chicken ingredients

• 1 large free range chicken
• 2 sticks celery, cut into batons
• 1 large carrot, cut into thick slices
• 2 spring onions, cut into long sticks
• 1 onion, peeled and cut into quarters
• 2 star anise
• 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
• I large piece root ginger, peeled and cut into rough chunks
• 5 tablespoons soy sauce
• 3 fat (or 5 normal) garlic cloves, crushed but not peeled
• 1 lime, halved
• 5 tablespoons Shaoxing rice wine

 

Method for making Asian-poached chicken

Poaching a chicken

1. Add all the ingredients to a stock pot
2. Cover with water 
3. Bring to the boil for 20 minutes
4. Reduce to a simmer and continue to cook for 40 minutes

A couple of recipes I found online gave instructions to switch off the heat after the 20 minutes boiling and leave the chicken in the poaching liquor for 3 hours. However this would have meant eating at about 10.30pm so I simmered it for 40 minutes instead.

After 40 minutes I switched off the heat and left the chicken to cool slightly in the poaching liquor for about half an hour.

Chicken and vegetable noodle salad

 

I pulled some of the meat from the poached chicken to add to a noodle salad. 

Chicken noodle salad ingredients

Meat pulled off the chicken

• 5cm carrot
• 5cm courgette
• 5cm cucumber
• 2 spring onions
• 1/2 red pepper
• A couple of slices of a small red cabbage
• 2 nests noodles (I used medium egg noodles, but feel free to use whatever type you have)
• 1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds 
• A handful mint leaves
• A handful coriander leaves
• As much chicken as you want to eat, torn into strips
• Chopped red chilli, to serve

Chicken noodle salad dressing ingredients

 

• 3 tablespoons sesame oil
• Juice of a lime
• 2 tablespoons peanut relish
• 1 teaspoon fish sauce

How to make the chicken noodle salad 

1. Combine the dressing ingredients in a screw-top jar and shake vigorously.
2. Cut all the vegetables into long strips.
3. Chop the mint and coriander finely.
4. Cook the noodles per the instructions and rinse under a cold tap.
5. Tip the noodles into a large serving bowl and pour over the dressing.
6. Add the herbs, vegetable and chicken strips and toss to coat with the dressing.
7. Sprinkle over the sesame seeds.  
8. Serve with the chopped chilli on the side for people to add as much as they like. 

Although this salad was good, it did lack a little oomph. I'd used the last of my root ginger poaching the chicken, but think a teaspoon or so would have been a welcome addition to the dressing. Personally, I would have added the chilli to the dressing too, but put this on the side because I was cooking for someone with a very low heat threshold. 

Chicken stock for soup

 

Today I made chicken stock to use in chicken or noodle soups.

1. Heat the oven to 180⁰C.
2. Strip the remaining meat from the carcass.
3. Strain the poaching liquid through a sieve then return to the stock pot.
4. Put the bones and carcass in a roasting tin and roast for 25 minutes.
5. Add the bones to the strained liquid.
6. Bring everything to the boil.
7. Reduce the heat to a simmer and continue simmering for 1 hour.
8. Strain the liquid through a sieve again. 

Magic number tomato sauce

The magic cooking number is 190⁰C fan assisted. If in doubt about oven temperature, this is what you use. But sometimes, just like in life, 3 is the magic number. 

Here is my 3 is the Magic Number utility tomato sauce recipe.

I used to make tomato sauce using approximate quantities of 2, but this leaves an annoyingly small amount of leftover sauce which is not quite enough for another meal. So I thought I'd make one and a half quantity, which also happens to be an easy recipe to remember. 

Magic Number tomato sauce ingredients

• 3 onions
• 3 tins plum tomatoes (not chopped - this makes the sauce to watery)
• 3 very fat garlic cloves
• 3 celery sticks
• 1.5 carrots. The 3 ratio slips a little here as 3 carrots would make a very sweet sauce, unless they were very small. I hope you can remember to use 1.5 carrots instead.
• 3 herbs: parsley, thyme and oregano
• 3 small bay leaves
• Splash red wine (optional)

A very bad photo of tomato sauce

This is a basic tomato sauce that goes with a myriad of dishes. Today I am making a batch for vegetable lasagne so will add some grilled veg, but will have enough to stick in the freezer for another meal. This may be sausages and lentil, pasta and feta, gnocchi and cream, pizza base, white fish...

How to make 3 is the Magic Number tomato sauce

1. Heat a little olive oil in a large casserole dish.
2. Chop the onion as finely or roughly as you want.
3. Chop the celery into very fine slices - some people hate cooked celery so it's best to try and make it look like pieces of onion and deny its existence. 
4. Add these to the pan and fry till soft. 
5. Finely chop the garlic.
6. Grate the carrot. 
7. Add the garlic and the carrot to the pan and stir everything round. 
8. Cook for a further 5 minutes till softened.
9. If you want to add a little richness to the sauce, add a splash of red wine to the pan and turn  up the heat till most of the wine has evaporated (otherwise it will taste harsh and horrible).
10. Add the tins of tomatoes to the pan.
11. Add a little water to one of the empty tomato tins and swill it round to dislodge any remaining juice from the side of the tin.
12. Pour this into the next empty tin and repeat, till you have rinsed the remaining juice from all 3 tins. Pour this into the sauce.
13. Bring the sauce to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for about 45 minutes.
14. Break up the tomatoes with a wooden spoon.
15. Leave to simmer for a further 15 or so minutes till the sauce thickens slightly. 

Your tomato sauce s now ready to use.

Party nibbles

My friend Kerry is hosting a party at her house and wants some suggestions for nibbles. Here's a few ideas.

Honey and mustard cocktail sausages

You will need:

• William Rose cocktail sausages*
• Runny honey 
• English mustard

1. Heat the oven to 190 degrees C (the magic cooking number)
2. Mix together equal quantities of honey and mustard in a large dish
3. add the cocktail sausages and toss to coat
4. Add a few grinds of black pepper
5. Tip into a roasting dish
6. Roast for about 10 minutes, then shake the tin and roast for another 10 minutes
7. Serve warm or cold

Variation

If you don't fancy using mustard, or just want to have a couple of different flavours, try sprinkling the sausages with dried chilli flakes instead of coating with honey and mustard.

*William Rose is the excellent butchers in East Dulwich. I always buy meat from there when I have people round. Of course if you don't live near East Dulwich you will have to get your sausages elsewhere, but do try and get them from the butchers and not the supermarket.

Pesto pastry puffs

Pesto pastry puffs ingredients

• 1 quantitiy ready rolled puff pastry
• I quantity homemade pesto
• Parmesan or good cheddar cheese

How to make pesto pastry puffs

1. Spread the pesto over the pastry.
2. Sprinkle with a thin covering of finely grated cheese.
3. Either roll up the pastry into a tiht roll, then thninly slice the roll, and lie each piece flat on a baking dish.
4. Bake at 190 degrees C for about 20 mins, or till the pasty is golden and cooked through.

Variation:Feta and sundried tomato puffs

• 1 quantitiy ready rolled puff pastry
• I quantity homemade pesto
• 1/2 pack feta cheese
• About 5 sundried tomatoes

1. Spread the pesto over the pastry then cut the pastry sheet into small squares and place on a baking sheet.
2. Bake for 20 mins, remove from the oven and allow to cool.
3. Cut 1/2 pack feta cheese into small cubes.
4. Cut the sundried tomatoes into small pieces using scissors.
5. Mix the feta and tomatoes together in a bowl with some olive oil, salt and pepper.
6. Top each square with about a teaspoon full of the cheese and tomato mix.

Salmon and cream cheese rolls

Salmon and cream cheese rolls ingredients

• Smoked salmon or trout
• 1 tub Philadelphia cream cheese
• 1 bunch watercress
• lemon

How to make salmon and cream cheese rolls 

1. Cut the salmon into long strips.
2. Spread each strip with a thin layer of the cream cheese.
3. Place a sprig of watercress in each strip.
4. Roll each strip up lightly.
5. Place on a serving plate, grind over some black pepper and squeeze over some lemon juice.

Cannelini bean hummus

Make just like normal hummus but use cannelini beans instead of chickpeas. You probably won't need as much oil as for chickpea hummus as the beans are very creamy.
Serve with toasted pitta bread.

How to stop colleagues stealing your salad dressing at work

Let's face it, dressings are what make salads worth eating. Without dressings, your salad is essentially tortoise food. Having been told that I look like a tortoise when I eat, I am keen to remove myself from further comparisons, and so prefer my salads to be dressed with a healthy portion of oil and vinegar. For some reason, I find the addition of salt and pepper to a salad to be hedonistic, and never add either. Except to tomatoes.

I always make salad dressings myself rather than buying them. I normally make at least double, more often triple, quantity, so I always have some in the fridge when I need it. Basic dressings made with oil, vinegar, honey and mustard can be stored for months in screw-top jars. Since fresh herbs will go black once cut, you can always sprinkle herbs over the salad rather than adding to the dressing if you want to include them.

Do not store your salad dressing in the fridge at work: someone, or, more likely, several people will steal it. Unless your dressing contains dairy, it doesn't need to be kept in the fridge; just keep it in your drawer (which, for a reason I don't know, we call a pedestal).

Strangely, I always keep salad dressing in the fridge at home. It is unlikely someone will steal it from here. In fact, the opposite is true: I often hide things I don't want O to eat in the salad drawer of the fridge, as I know he will never look in there for snacks. 

Here's some salads to have with your dressing:

Ham salad, 70s style 
Apple and rocket salad
Roasted vegetable salad

Or some more substantial salads:

Sausage salad
Vegetarian salads
Chicken noodle salad

Ham salad

Cara, Angel, Joyce, Kate, Grace, Danielle, Courtney, Gabi

This reminds me of salad we used to have for our 'tea' in the summer when I lived with my grandparents in Tynemouth, near Newcastle.

All the salad ingredients were grown by my granda in his garden or allotment.

We would have:

• cucumber, from a frame in the garden
• round lettuce, from a frame in the garden
• tomatoes, from the greenhouse
• cress, from the windowsill
• radishes, I'm not sure where they grew
• eggs, sliced with an egg cutter (you never see egg cutters anymore)
• ham, from the butcher
• boiled new potatoes, tossed in mint (from the garden)

All with a dollop of salad cream, since salad dressing hadn't been invented in the 70s.

Gina, Peggy and Andrea

Ham salad ingredients

For Salad Club we used the following ingredients:

• Ham, from the deli counter in Tesco
• Hard boiled eggs, cut in half with a knife
• Salad leaves, from a packet
• Coleslaw (was going to be homemade but in the end was from Tesco)
• Cherry tomatoes, from Tesco
• Cucumber, from Tesco
• Mashed potato salad, made by Joyce*
• Salad dressing, made with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, grain mustard and a pinch of sugar)
• Paula's plum chutney 

* Mashed potato salad

I have to admit to having reservations about mashed potato salad, but this old Higgins family recipe is absolutely delicious.

1. Make mashed potatoes as you normally would, by adding butter, milk, salt and pepper to hot cooked potatoes, then mashing till smooth. 
2. When the potatoes are cool, add finely chopped white or red onion, salt, pepper and malt vinegar to taste. In our case, you add a lot of malt vinegar. I know it sounds weird but think about it - you add malt vinegar to chips.  
3. Serve cold.  

 

Ham salad

The photo of the ingredients looks quite sad, so I made it small.

A vegetarian feast

No photos and no recipes this time, just a list of dishes all based on those found in the River Cottage veg book. If you don't have River Cottage Veg Everyday yet, you should seriously consider buying it. I made slight tweaks to most of the original recipes, some intentional and some because I forgot to add a last minute ingredient. The result was a fabulous vegetarian feast - even the confirmed carnivore Ollie said that this meal was delicious. 

 

To start

Pistachio dukkah

Dukkah is an Egyptian spice mix made with toasted cumin, coriander and sesame seeds with dried chilli flakes and some shopped nuts. The version I made used pistachio nuts, and also a little chopped mint. 

The idea is to dip your bread first in some oil and then into the dukkah. It's pretty good and keeps for ages in a jar. It can also be used sprinkled over salads, roasted veg, grilled meats, anything, really.  

Cannelini bean hummus

This is made the same way as normal hummus but since the beans are very creamy when processed they don't need nearly as much oil. Not sure if I used rapeseed or olive oil in this recipe but both work equally well. 

Flatbreads 

I meant to combine the Jamie Oliver Moroccan chickpea flatbreads (add cumin and coriander seeds and chickpeas) with the HFW half plain half bread flour recipe. But since I didn’t read the recipe through before I started, I left the bread to prove without adding the chickpeas and spices. So I ended up with the River Cottage version with a bit more yeast, salt and sugar added.

I cooked these flatbreads in a hot oven (220 degrees C) rather than in a pan. This was probably a mistake. I took them out after almost 10 minutes by which time they were fairly crisp though had not puffed up as I expected. They tasted OK with the butter bean hummus and dukka though.

To follow

 

Roasted squash and shallots with merguez chickpeas

The trick to tasty chickpeas is to dress them while they are still hot. The ones in this recipe are delicious, and I would definitely make them without the roast veg as part of a tapas selection or to accompany to lamb chops. You can make the chickpeas a few days in advance as they will keep well in the fridge.

I didn't make the couscous or spiced yoghurt that you'll find if you follow the link above. Instead I made a few salads.

Date and orange salad with red cabbage and raw parsnip

Parsnips, it turns out, are an excellent raw ingredient in salads. Who knew?
I couldn't find Medjool dates for this salad so I just used regular ones. 

Sweet potato, puy lentil and watercress salad

The actual recipe for this dish uses roasted parsnips, but since I was using raw grated parsnip in the date and orange salad, I used sweet potato instead. This made the dish quite substantial but it still all got eaten, despite the fact that I forgot to add thin slices of the hard goat's cheese I'd bought to especially for the dish.
 

Tahini-dressed green bean salad and oven-roasted tomato salad

Tahini salad dressing is so moreish, especially if it includes a little honey as this one does. Since I don't like cooked courgettes I omitted them, and didn't replace them with anything. I oven-roasted the tomatoes for a little too long but once combined with the rest of the salad ingredients this didn't really matter. I think I forgot to add the mint at the end. 

Roasted aubergines with feta and pomegranate

To be honest, the dish I made was vaguely inspired by this recipe, but I could hardly say I followed it. I happened to have a handful of new potatoes so added these to some aubergines and roasted with some crushed whole garlic cloves. I added pomegranate seeds and crumbled feta to the dish before serving, but forgot to add the grated lemon zest and herbs. 

To end

Poached pears with chocolate sauce (not from River Cottage book, details to follow. Really.)

Homemade coleslaw that comes with a warning

Homemade coleslaw is a doddle, the only effort required is chopping and grating. You can use whatever raw root vegetables you fancy  - swede and celeriac work well - so long as you include some form of cabbage and a little onion. The pear goes well with blue cheese, but grated apple is also good.

Coleslaw ingredients

• 1/8 red or white cabbage
• 1 very small red onion or 1/2  tennis ball sized red onion
• 1/2 raw grated parsnip
• 1/2 raw grated courgette
• 1/2 raw grated carrot
• 1 tablespoon mayo
• 1 tablespoon yoghurt
• 1/2 very ripe pear, grated
• about 1 tablespoon blue cheese, crumbled
• 1 teaspoon English mustard
• About a dessertspoon poppy seeds 

How to make coleslaw

1. Lightly toast the poppy seeds in a small frying pan then leave to cool.
2. Mix together the yoghurt, mayonaise and mustard in a large bowl.
3. Discard the outer leaves of the cabbage.
4. Cut down either side of the tough stem and discard this too.
5. Shred the remaining cabbage leaves finely. 
6. Finely chop the onion
7. Add to the dressing along with the other raw vegetables and the pear.
8. Gently mix together so that everything is coated with the dressing.
9. Scatter over the poppy seeds and crumbled cheese and fold gently to combine.

Homemade coleslaw: a warning

Do not make too much! You will not eat it. Then you will feel guilty about throwing it away.

Rhubarb and tomato chutney

Last week I had intended to make two varieties of chutney and chilli jam, but having weighed out my fruit I don't have nearly enough tomatoes to make all three. I refuse to buy overpriced fruit and veg from the supermarket for chutney, and since it was Good Friday neither the market nor the greengrocer's were open. I decided to make an experimental rhubarb and tomato chutney instead.

For the chilli jam I need 10 red chillies. I bought £1 worth from the market, giving me about four times the amount I need. I'm going to add more than usual to the chilli jam to give it more of a kick, but also add some to the chutney. 

First, though, I needed to sterilize my jars. This is the boring bit of chutney making, especially when you don't have a dishwasher. I left them in very hot soapy water for about 20 minutes then rinsed them in very hot water. After that, they go into the oven, which has been heated to 150 degrees C. As I was going out in the afternoon, I switched the oven off and left them to dry for a couple of hours. 

Rhubarb and tomato chutney ingredients

• 700g rhubarb
• 2 very large onions (about 950g-1kg)
• 1335g very ripe tomatoes
• 500g sultanas
• 4 cloves garlic, crushed 
• 5 red chillies, finely chopped and seeds removed.
• 300ml malt vinegar
• 300g soft brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons curry powder*
• 1/2 tablespoon mustard powder

  How to make rhubarb and tomato chutney

1. First skin the tomatoes. To do this, place 3 or 4 in a large Pyrex bowl. 

• Pour over boiling water from the kettle to cover. 
• Leave to stand for about 5 minutes.
• Remove 1 tomato with a slotted spoon and peel - the skin should come off easily if the tomatoes are ripe. Don't try and crowd too many tomatoes into the bowl at once or the skins won't slip off easily.

2. Chop the onions roughly.3. Heat a little rapeseed oil in a large preserving pan and add the onions.
4. Fry for a few minutes, then add the crushed garlic cloves and curry powder.
5. Roughly chop the tomatoes and add to the pan.
6. Add the remaining ingredients.
7. Stir, without boiling, till the sugar dissolves.
8. Simmer, uncovered, stirring occasionally until the chutney thickens - about 1.5-2 hours - a wooden spoon scraped across the bottom on the pan should part the chutney.
9. Leave to cool slightly then pot into warm jars. 
10. Leave to mature for at least 2 months before eating.  

*For the curry powder, I used a Madhur Jaffrey recipe, which I found here: 
http://www.loulies.com/curry_powder/