maggie'skitchenmenus

SOB - I've killed it......

2011-12-07T16:25:00.000-08:00

....my lovely, lovely Mac. So sorry. Too distressing to explain.......apologies for not posting but I'm working a long way from home on a toy of a machine. And LL - I did continue the Stuff Christmas theme, honest. Maybe it vanished when my Mac, hiccup, blow nose, died.

Will be back when possible. Sob. AND I CAN'T EVEN POST ANY RIDICULOUS PICTURES. Sob .

mx

no wonder the clam's laughing…….

2011-12-03T13:52:00.001-08:00

It does look as if it is, doesn't it? That would be because it knows its chums are safe. Testing trials on the best ever clam chowder didn't make it. The recipe was perfect. (Thank you New Hampshire.) Sadly, the the ingredients are not. Clam juice? No. Fresh clams. No.

Never mind. When next I can get my greedy hands on seafood fresh from the sea I'll try again.

desserts is stressed spelled backwards……..

2011-12-03T10:36:00.001-08:00

….so I get the puddings for Christmas out of the way, into the freezer, as soon as I can.

Sticky Toffee Pudding always features, for those who don't like Christmas pud and don't like change.
I have posted it elsewhere on the blog but here it is again for Claire, who's doing her first Christmas dinner ever. This quantity makes two good sized puddings or three slightly smaller ones. It freezes beautifully so it is worth making a big batch. It is an incredibly forgiving pudding. It will seem very sloppy and runny when you pour it into the tin, or baking dishes which work just as well, but don't worry: it will firm up.

Set the oven to 170C

Pudding

250g/8oz soft brown sugar

250g/8oz soft butter

4 free range eggs, lightly beaten

375g/12oz self-raising flour

pinch of salt

2 tsp vanilla essence

375g/12oz dates, stoned and chopped roughly

1 pint hot water

2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

SAUCE

250g/8oz brown sugar

250g/8oz butter

200ml double or whipping cream

I use a food processor to puree the dates but I'll give an alternative method (2) below.

FIRST METHOD; if you have a food processor:

Whizz the dates, bicarbonate of soda and water in the processor - put the stopper in the lid or it will splutter everywhere, and pulse until amalgamated.

Pour into a mixing bowl. Stir in the vanilla extract.

Put the flour, sugar, butter and eggs into the processor - no need to wash it - and whizz for a minute until it coheres.

Now pour the dates and water mix back into the processor and switch on for a couple of minutes until everything is combined.

Pour into the buttered tins or cooking dishes and bake in the oven for about 40 - 45 minutes until brown and firm on top.

SECOND WAY without a processor

Chop the dates finely. Put in a pan with a pint of water and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and stir in a teaspoon of bircarbonate of soda and the vanilla extract. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar, add the eggs bit by bit. Fold in the flour. Now add the date mixture to the batter and combine.. Pour into the tins or baking dishes and bake for about 40 - 45 minutes or until it is brown and firm on top - press gently with a finger to test. Careful, it's hot.

SAUCE - method

Melt the butter over a very gentle heat then add the sugar. Pour in the cream and turn up the heat to medium.

Bring up to a bubble and let it boil away for about three minutes.

Pour some over the cooked pudding and set it aside to let the sauce sook in. Set aside the rest of the sauce in a jug for pouring over.

This freezes so well and

reheats beautifully, under tinfoil, in the oven with a slosh of the sauce poured over, for about 20 minutes at 160C.

Or drizzle it with sauce and microwave for three minutes.

We serve it with a big dod of thick cream on the side. Or a splodge of vanilla ice cream - we like Mackie's or Luca's ice-cream best.

I think not……..sorry Fanny.

Claire's Christmas: late but coming up…...

2011-12-02T14:25:00.001-08:00

Claire is doing Christmas dinner for the first time and I promised to tell her how I've done it for the last twenty-too-many-to-think-about years.

Promise I won't be Fanny-ing about. Imagine deep fried sprouts, imagine poor Johnny peeling the tats. Sob. None of that…………

For all first time Christmas-dinner (I refuse to call you virgins) timers, I'll post honest notes over the next few days.

I don't have a dining room. We do a pop-up Christmas dinner table. I do simple - once, a long long time ago I followed the blessed Delia's how-to-do-Christmas in a frenzy of cooking over two months including making sausage rolls to carols on Christmas Eve. Completely knackered by Christmas morning. Don't do it!

Claire - are you there? First things first………turn your front room into a Christmas dining room. Hire or borrow a catering table. Push all chairs back against the walls. Stay with me, we're on our way…….

Oh, have you booked your bird for the day? Find a local butcher and do it NOW…….

More tomorrow……….

best chowder but not in Boston…..

2011-11-23T09:55:00.001-08:00

We have eaten some magnificent meals in Boston. At Legal Seafront last night it was delicious lobster soup with a morsel of exquisitely poached meat afloat. Scallops at the Barking Crab. Defeat in the shape of a plate of mixed seafood at the No Name Restaurant. We've been testing the chowders all around town. All were good but none matched up to a bowl of seafood chowder - in New Hampshire.

In a restaurant stumbled upon because everything else was closed for the holiday season……..

The River House in Portsmouth…….the best seafood chowder I've ever tasted. The chef kindly gave me the recipe. I'll test it out when we get home.

Bye bye then Boston……..I'll be back.

A CHEEKY WEE POMEGRANATE PROSECCO...

2011-11-22T12:32:00.001-08:00

What do you think girls? We thought we'd tried it everyway. This is a new one……courtesy of the Hard Rock cafe, Boston.

Prosecco, something called White Tequila, a splash of pomegranate juice and a few berries. Topped off by a sprig of rosemary. May be the festive drink of choice this year then. Joni, I sipped this and thought of you and Brian. Bet Harry's Bar has still never served so many Bellinis on a Saturday afternoon.

Baked oysters. Staged a recovery…...

2011-11-20T16:10:00.001-08:00

in Salem. Rockafeller oysters, in the eponymous bar/restaurant that used to be a bank.

Just the four of them, perfectly baked with cream cheese, spinach and lemon juice. And a streak of applewood smoked bacon on top. Mmmmmmmmm……..

Still tasting our way round clam chowders, my girl and me. Will make a definitive decision when we've finished which is not yet, not by a long way.

And LL - you're right. The zinc level's rising, as Ethel Merman nearly said. Not sure I certainly can can can right now…..

But I want to tell you about the merengue! A very very large man got up on the dance floor on our dinner cruise around the harbour with his sylph like wife. I mean he was BIG. And you know what….I've never seen anyone dance so beautifully. Rhythm, he's got rhythm. I decree that every male over the age of 9 months has to learn merengue.

Oh and I nearly forgot. The Crab Shack lobster roll didn't defeat me either. More of that later. Here's the reason we're here. My girl.

A very happy girl. And I don't want to know why the university has its own police force. I really don't……

What a great city, Boston.

Defeated. DEFEATED by a seafood platter…...

2011-11-19T19:27:00.001-08:00

Hands up. I just couldn't do it. The simplest most beautiful plate of seafood, cooked with no fuss, served by a no nonsense man. And I couldn't finish it. Maybe it's the time difference? Whatever, I'll regret it all through the winter months…….

Loving Bwauston: it is the easiest US city. No crap, so polite. And the jakies are very warmly and well dressed for the winter and piercing winds howling round a city with bright blue skies.

It was the restaurant called No Name, down on the waterfront, that managed it: you know those waiters that have been around? The kind that nudge you along, easy does it, no in your face enjoy? That's them.

Annamou says Germany doesn't sell self raising flour…...

2011-11-15T13:55:00.001-08:00

maggie pretends to be perfect. annamou knows better

so we add 1 level teaspoon of baking powder to 4 oz (125g-ish) of plain flour. And proceed. And Annamou - I always use yoghurt, milk with a tablespoon of lemon juice, or creme fraiche in my scones. They like it and it makes them rise. Oh - and don't forget the salt. They really need it.

bring on the clam chowder, Boston…...

2011-11-14T15:02:00.001-08:00

Can't take you with me. Off to see my girl. She and I are partial to clam chowder. Will test and taste. Her dad will sit and raise his eyebrows as we enthuse. Sadly Alice's Restaurant is no longer with us…..

……never mind. We'll find somewhere to check out the clam soup.

well may you look feart

Norma, Brian - thanks for the intro: will certainly try to take up kind offer of dinner.

Anna - can't bring the wellies: case too wee. Do the trips Saturday and Sunday? If we're still awake.
Cadbury's: will do.

Phew. We didn't forget to remember…….

2011-11-13T12:00:00.001-08:00

….our anniversary this year, unlike most of the others. As I've posted before, one of us wakes up a fortnight later, digs the other in the ribs, slaps the forehead and says 'we've done it again!' Not this year, maybe because it was 25 years and that's remarkable in itself. So we had chums and family round late afternoon to plant a tree (is it dead? Brian asked. Slap. No, merely sleeping.) Fizz and nibbles and a right good laugh at the wedding album which clearly had not been opened for, ooh, maybe 25 years?

Finger licking chicken wings: recipe below

It was just a wee wedding - the way we wanted it. Ross, my wonderful nephew looking about seven. Well he was. Sarah looking impossibly elegant - shame she couldn't manage work the next day. Colin looking, well, sorry Colin: pie-eyed. Must have been the flash, I say. And my amazing mum: cheers mum, we toasted you and remembered you. Dad in law, Nessie and Johnnie - you all too.
Of COURSE I'd love to post the pics so that everybody else can have a hoot. But, shame, not possible. And much as I'd love to post the pictures of us planting the tree, can't work out how to get them from the iPhone to the computer. So instead here's the wee toads in the hole we ate.

A mouthful of toad in the hole

A skype visit from my faraway girl (see you Thursday sweetheart), an evening meal with my boy in a restaurant chosen by him: just because it has a ridiculous name - Angels with Bagpipes (!) - don't be put off. The food was absolutely wonderful. And I didn't want to tear up the menu into tiny strips and eat it. It was perfection - one simple description for each item. Smoked haddock and the most perfect boiled egg - teary eyed at the thought.

Thanks everyone for still being around. If I were not British I'd tell you how much we love you all. But I am, so I won't…….

Sticky chicken wings

A pack of chicken wings (free range!), around 1 kg

2 tablespoons sunflowser oil

2 tablespoons sesame oil

2 tablespoons clear honey

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon Dijon mustard, or similar

Mix together the oil, honey soy and mustard. Tip the chicken wings into a large baking tin and pour over the mix. Use your hands to rub all of the chicken pieces with the sauce. Leave in the fridge for a couple of hours.

Preheat the oven to quite hot (around 200C). Put the baking tin in the oven and roast for around 35 minutes.

You can let them cool and eat now. Or do as I did. Make them ahead and reheat in a similarly hot oven for 10 minutes then serve. Yum. This is serious finger food. Offer paper napkins. And seconds.

Wee toad-in-the-holes

(I used mini-muffin tins to make them)

4 oz plain flour

1 egg, free range

half-a-pint of milk and water, mixed

salt and pepper

sunflower oil, or similar

A pack of cocktail sausages: you need one for each wee muffin holder. I used uncooked but I suppose you could get away with pre-cooked.

Heat the oven to hot, around 210C.

If using uncooked sausages, bake them for about 10 minutes≥

Make a well in the flour in a bowl. Add the egg. With a whisk, or beating madly with a wooden spoon, add the liquid. Keep beating until the lumps disappear. Add salt and pepper.

Pour a smidgeon of oil into the mini-muffin tins. Rub it around. Now add about 1 cm of oil and put into the oven to heat up.

Take the tin out of the oven and carefully, carefully now - it's hot - pour a good tablespoonful of batter into the holes. Drop in a sausage.

Bake for 12 - 15 minutes. Check after about 12 - the wee toads need to have fluffed up and look quite brown around the gills.

The secret with Yorkshire pudding batter is always - always - to use plain flour and hot oil.

TABLET

Oh, sorry - I'm going to post this later. It's not easy and I want to be absolutely sure I get it right.

Tomorrow, hot water and lemon juice. Or maybe the day after.

COCONUT ICE…..WITH A KICK

2011-11-10T05:45:00.000-08:00

The rum used to flavour this old-fashioned sweetie is not necessary but it is nice. It keeps for ages, stored in waxed or greaseproof paper in the fridge or in a jar. Like the one I found at the back of the cupboard. Memo to self: must clean out kitchen cupboards more often. Some interesting things back there……

Coconut ice with a kick in a long-lost kilner jar. Oh and the last of the roses……….

COCONUT ICE WITH RUM

1 tin of condensed milk (it's usually around 395ml)

400g icing sugar, sifted

400g dessicated coconut

1 large tablespoon of rum

A couple of drops of pink food colouring (see note below)

Add the condensed milk and icing sugar to a large bowl. Stir to mix. Add the coconut and rum and keep stirring. You will find it is really tough to mix with a spoon or spatula. You can do what I do - get your (clean!) hands in there and squidge it together. Halve the mixture.

Press half of the mixture into a greased dish or tin - about 9 in. square. Put it aside to dry.

Now add the colouring to the second half and mix it in. (Note: I used a teaspoon of beetroot juice - from a packet of vacuum-packed beets. Great colour and no taste. Don't think pickled beetroots would work though!)

Again, pack into a greased dish and set aside to dry out.

I leave it out overnight, lightly covered to keep the beasties (and foraging fingers) away. I use a large serrated knife - a breadknife - to cut it into squares.

It makes a good gift, wrapped in cellophane and a bow or in a pretty bowl.

You can of course omit the the rum. But it does make it taste rather grown-up, like a coconut rum punch.

…..in your dreams

2011-11-09T15:50:00.000-08:00

……LL, I'm very sorry to disappoint you. Even if you had turned up with the Windolene and the chamois I would not have met you with bright eyes and a Hoover. Red eyes and a cocktail, now that's a less remote possibility.

'I dreamed my whole house was clean and LL came round to let me see the world through my window..'

SPICY TATTIE AND LENTIL SOUP…...

2011-11-07T13:45:00.000-08:00

for Hebe, a British girl in Washington. So she can tick it off her to-do list. (OK Hebe: here's the deal. You either chop the veggies VERY carefully or you wear a pair of leather motorbike gloves to do it. No more trips to the emergency room with festering fingers, please.)

2 big tablespoons olive oil, or similar

1 onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, chopped small

1 big potato, cut into small chunks

2 tablespoon ground cumin

1 tablespoon ground coriander

1 tablespoon ground ginger

250g red lentils (roughly half a normal pack)

2 pints chicken stock (two stock cubes made up with hot water will be fine)

A very big handful of baby spinach leaves

salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil slowly in a big pan. Keep it on a low heat and throw in the onion. Let it cook very slowly for about 10 minutes, stirring to stop it from sticking. You want it to be soft but not brown. Add the garlic and stir it around for a minute.

Now add the spices: stir them around and keep cooking slowly until the scent of the spices hits your nose. Now throw in the potato and stir.

Add the stock and the lentils and stir. Turn up the heat to medium and let the soup come up to the boil. Let it boil for about five minutes - careful though: if the heat's too fierce the lentils will erupt like a volcano. If it threatens to do that, lift the pot away from the heat for a minute.

Now, turn the heat to a simmer. Let it cook away merrily for about half an hour. Now taste it. Careful! It's hot. A scorched tongue looks no better than a festering finger to a casualty doc.

Add salt and pepper - how much depends on how salty the stock is. You have to taste it and adjust to suit yourself.

Now toss in the baby spinach leaves and let it all simmer again for a minute until they wilt.

That's it Hebes. Oh, and it's even nicer next day. It will have thickened up a lot so you'll have to put in a cup or so of hot water to loosen it.

It's lovely served with a daud of thick yoghurt on top.

Now, what were the other things on that F-list?

scallops with an 'ah'…...

2011-11-06T04:17:00.000-08:00

….not scollops with an 'aw'. Pronunciation does matter. 'Scollops' in Scotland are thin meat slices, from the French 'escalope', in a creamy sauce. Scallops are juicily delicious seafood.

There are those who will cavill. Such as those who pronounce the seaside town of Gullane (Guuuuuuhhlin) in East Lothian
as Giiillliin. May be some old class hangover in the matter of language. Whatever, here's how I cooked last night's scaaaaaahhlops for supper.

For 4 as a starter, 2 as a main

12 large scallops with roes attached

2 shallots, very finely diced

1 garlic clove, very finely diced

2 slices of smoked bacon, finely sliced

3 tablespoons butter

100ml Noilly Prat (a dry vermouth: something similar such as Martini dry or even white wine would do)

250ml fish stock or water (see note below)

2 large tablespoons double cream

5 tablespoons of finely grated Parmesan

To serve:

A couple of large handful of frozen broad beans

Sprinkling of chopped tarragon or parsley

Method:

Gently detach the roe and skirt from the scallops. It's easier to do this with your fingers than a knife.

If you have fish stock, bring it up to a bubble in a small pan and throw in the roes and all leftover bits of scallop, chopped shallots and garlic. Simmer for 5 minutes or so to extract the flavours. Strain. Turn up the heat and boil the liquid, reducing it by about two thirds.

(If you don't have fish stock, add the chopped bacon, roes, scallop leftovers, shallots and garlic to a pan of cold water and slowly bring to the boil. Let it simmer for about 15 minutes to extract maximum flavour before straining.)

When the stock is reduced, add a tablespoon of butter, the finely chopped bacon and simmer for a minute or two.

Add the vermouth (it adds a hefty herby flavour) and bring to boil. Again let it reduce, standing over it all the time in case it vanishes! It will be quite syrupy now. Add the cream and stir it in. (If it is too thick just add a tablespoon or so of hot water to make it cohere.) Now add the cheese, stir it in to melt.
Set the sauce aside while you cook the frozen broad beans. You can make it ahead and reheat before serving which is less faff.

Throw the frozen broad beans into a pot of boiling water for a couple of minutes. Refresh under cold water. Now, if you happen to have a stray teenager hanging about, persuade them that popping the skins off the beans is nearly as much fun as squeezing blackheads. If not, you can cook them ahead, skin them and leave them to one side.

Slice the scallops in half. Bring a tablespoon of the remaining butter up to a slow sizzle and add the sliced scallops. Don't crowd the pan or they will steam rather than saute. Do it in batches if your pan is small, adding the remaining butter if needed. They take only about 30 seconds on each side to cook. Trust me. Set them aside as you cook them.

Gently warm the sauce and taste it. It may not need salt because of the bacon but test it anyway. If it is too thick, again add a spoonful or so of hot water.

Throw a handful of beans onto a small plate (I used scallop shells because I had them). Pile on the scallop slices. ( I don't entirely cover the scallop with the sauce but spoon it across some, see pic). Strew on the tarragon or parsley and serve.

The Scotch Scollop (also known as Collop just to confuse you) recipe is best described in Cookery and Pastry as Taught and Practised by Mrs Maciver, Teacher of those Arts in Edinburgh, 1783-97 as a traditional dish adapted from the French during the Auld Alliance.

In case you don't have it handy, here's an adaptation -

4 thin slices veal, pork, beef or venison

A little seasoned flour

Two tablespoons of butter

pinch ground mace

Three tablespoons white wine

Three tablespoons chicken or veal stock

One egg yolk

Two tablespoons thick cream

salt and pepper

Beat the meat slices with a wooden mallett or a rolling pin until they are thin. Dredge in seasoned flour. Heat the butter and when it foams, brown the slices well on both sides. Add the mace. Pour over the wine and stock and simmer gently for about 10 minutes. Taste for seasoning.

Put the veal on a warmed dish. Beat the egg yolk with the cream and stir into the pan juices. Reheat gently, stirring well, but do not reboil. Pour over the meat slices and serve.

Serves four

Jessie hosts the prototype dinner for Come Dine With Me in which fisticuffs ensue over the proper way to pronounce collops-scollops-scallops.

sometimes you want it simple……..

2011-11-04T08:38:00.000-07:00

….whether it's a cake or a blog.

The new design is supposed to make it simpler and easier to find items and recipes on the blog. I know, I know, I don't much like alleged 'improvements' in technology either. If it doesn't work for you, if you don't like it, or if you even give a hoot, let me know and I'll try something else.

Simples cake was made in a hurry for the slater who's been toiling away on the roof all week. We were comparing recipes for shortbread - he bakes in the evenings when there's not much on the telly so he has lots of experience - and he said he was allergic to chocolate. Which was a shame. I'd made a chocolate crispy cake.

Never mind - 40 minutes later, the simples cake - or plain Victoria sponge - was out of the oven. The top looked a bit like Vesuvius (run out of SR flour so used plain and a mite too much baking powder) but nothing that a sharp knife and a heavy dusting of icing sugar to the top couldn't disguise.

It's ages since I made a plain cake. Must do it more often. The slater enjoyed it too. He's bringing me his recipe for clootie dumpling on Monday. Shame his apprentice didn't get some: he was sent off the job on Thursday for being 'impertinent' to his gaffer. My new best tradesman, who's been climbing roofs for 56 years, tells me that cheeky laddies, unlike cakes, are not to his taste.

SIMPLES SPONGE CAKE

Pre-heat oven to 170C

4 free-range eggs

Their weight in self-raising flour (or plain plus baking powder), caster sugar, and soft butter.

Either whizz everything in a food processor to a cream

OR

Put everything, at room temperature, into a large bowl and beat with a mixer until creamed

OR

Beat the butter and sugar with a wooden spoon. Add spoonsful of beaten egg and flour, alternately, and keep beating until smooth and creamy.

Butter two 6.5in/16.5cm sponge tins. Base line with greaseproof paper. Divide mixture between both tins.

Bake for 35 - 40 minutes, until the top is risen and golden brown. You can check whether it's ready by gently touching the top with a finger. If it's springy it's ready.

When you take them out of the oven, let them cool in the tin for 10 minutes then turn out onto a rack.

I sliced the top of one volcanic top and turned it upside down to use as the base. Spread good jam thickly. Sliced the second cake in half and put the flat side on top. Spread on another layer of jam. Pop on the top and dust with icing sugar.

CHOCOLATE CRISPY CAKE

Lingering in the cupboard were those annoying individual packs of cereals left over from variety packs. We don't eat cereal in this house but friends' children often do. The chocolaty ones always go. The ricicyles, rice crispies and various other puffy cereal type things languish behind. This is how I use them up……..

Base -
225g/8oz rice crispies or something similar

2 large tablespoons cocoa

125g/5oz butter

2 large tablespoons golden syrup

Line a 7in x 11in shallow baking tin with greaseproof.

Melt butter and syrup, gently, in a deep pan. Add the cereal and cocoa powder. Keep stirring until it's amalgamated.

Press into the baking tin

Topping -

120g good dark chocolate

Two tablespoons of coffee (I use the remains from the coffeepot but instant made up with hot water will do.)

1 large tablespoon of butter

Put the chocolate, coffee and butter into a bowl over simmering water and stir until it is soft. If it goes claggy, add a tablespoon of hot water, take it off the heat and beat until smooth.

Or

Put the chocolate, coffee and butter into a bowl and microwave for a minute or so. Stir. Microwave for another 20 seconds and beat until smooth.

While the chocolate topping is still soft and warm, pour it over the crispy base and spread gently to cover.

Leave it aside to set.

Don't put it in the fridge though - the chocolate gets a 'bloom' and although it tastes fine it doesn't look so gorgeously deliciously shiny.

I cut it into squares. It will keep in a tin for four or five days.

If you don't have cereal, you can use bashed up biscuits - digestives work well. Take rolling pin to the biscuits placed in a plastic bag and bash until they are in bits. Not too finely. You can do it in the processor but it tends to leave them too sandy for my taste.

BOO......

2011-10-31T07:57:00.000-07:00

I am a Scot. We invented Hallowe'en to help cheer us up in the dark nights. The US obviously borrowed our grim festival. When small people appear on our doorstep and ask 'trick or treat', I say neither: the correct plea is 'Please to help the guisers and I'll sing ye a bonnie wee song.'

a spooky breakfast.......

When ours were small, Hallowe'en was another excuse for a party. Dressing up as ghouls, dookin' for apples, jumping up to grab a bite of a treacle-smeared scone suspended from a string.......and none of your namby-pamby pumpkin lanterns for us - it had to be a tumshie, a big hard purple swede. Hollowing it out was hard enough but carving the face with jaggy teeth and upside-down triangular eyes was blisteringly sore on wee fingers.

The myth describes it as a day when the dead can return to the earth. On the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain, Celts would light bonfires and wear costumes and masks to ward off these roaming ghosts. There are certainly some sair sights to be seen roaming the streets of Stockbridge and Morningside.

Who could forgetthe Canadian dad who turned up at our dooking partydressed as a panda in a tutu. Certainly not him. Taxis wouldn’t stop for him.He had to walk home – at pub throwing out time.

As they got older, the children liked ghoulish, disgustingly described grub - snot dip (mashed avocado mixed into a tub of cream cheese with a dab of chilli sauce), snake pits (orange and green jellies in see-through bowls in which sweetie snakes were suspended, torn fingers (cocktail sausages with a fingernail carved on each, liberally sprinkled with blood, or rather tomato sauce.

Juice was served from a large bowl in which a hand torn off at the wrist floats.....fill a new rubber glove with diluted blackcurrant juice and freeze it solid. When you're ready to serve, cut the glove off with scissors and float it in the juice.

I'm tired out just remembering all the work that went into Hallowe'en. Time for a wee lie down.....

"will we ever be wise..?": Joni, 29 Oct 2011....

2011-10-30T16:50:00.000-07:00

.....oh I hope not, never.

What laughs, what a wonderful time we had. Joni's home grown tatties, beetroot and fresh herbs. Look, she's doing it here.

Beetroot, garlic, shallots....

and the cucumber for the gin.....

well it serves you right if you go tattie hawking in your designer troosers....

Yup, the bestest Sicilian potato cake..........made by Joni

Roast sirloin, from Charley Barley, on a bed of rocket and roasted beetroot and shallots. Mmm.

Thank you Mairi, thank you Ronan.......and thank you Eoin for the dance. Much love. mxxx

Random yes but och what the hell....

2011-10-26T15:11:00.000-07:00

So this is Elizabeth David's very own 'poultry roaster' - given to me as a gift far too many years ago to remember. Thank you Ben. He found it in an auction. Don't think it was ever used. Haven't dared try it - she was too, too scary.

mushroom puffs....

2011-10-25T05:36:00.000-07:00

......are so more-ish it might be safer to make twice the quantities. These vanished like snow off a dyke. I wanted to use up the chanterelles left over from the weekend. I made them bite sized (a good bite!). The plan was to fill them but they didn't last that long, sadly.

Pre-heat oven to 210C

Grease or line a large baking sheet

150ml chicken stock

50g butter, diced

60g plain flour

2 large (or 3 small) eggs, beaten

A small handful of mushrooms, chopped very finely or whizzed in a food processor

1 teaspoon salt

Drop the butter into the chicken stock and bring to the boil over a medium heat.

Take it off the stove and pour in the flour.

Beat it very hard with a wooden spoon (a mixer would make short work of this) until it is smooth and the paste is coming away from the side of the pan.

Now add one egg at a time, beating hard for a minute or so until it's absorbed into the paste.

Beat in the minced mushrooms.

Take a tablespoon of the paste and use another soon to drop small mounds onto the baking sheet. I got about 20.

You could, if you were more refined than me (not hard) use an icing bag to make even sized puffs. But it's a bit of a faff and anyway I quite like the raggedy look.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes. Do try not to peek too often.
When you do look, they should be golden brown. They are deeply savoury and the temptation to eat one or six is very great. Be warned.

If you deconstruct (not compulsory but I'm like that) the recipe, you'll see it's basically a choux pastry, using stock instead of water and adding mushrooms. Next time I really will try them with a filling.........
cream cheese or pate would be good.

If you made these using gruyere cheese and a pinch of dry mustard, instead of the mushrooms, they would freeze well. Not entirely sure that the mushroom in the mix would work for freezing - might make them too soggy. Not that I got the chance to find out......

Illustration: Sir John Tenniel

In a minute or two the Caterpillar took the hookah out of its mouth and yawned once or twice, and shook itself. Then it got down off the mushroom, and crawled away in the grass, merely remarking as it went, `One side will make you grow taller, and the other side will make you grow shorter.'

`One side of WHAT? The other side of WHAT?' thought Alice to herself.

`Of the mushroom,' said the Caterpillar, just as if she had asked it aloud; and in another moment it was out of sight.

wild thing.........

2011-10-24T09:58:00.000-07:00

....it's a beauty, a chanterelle mushroom. They grow wild in Scotland but I'm a fearty on the mushroom foraging front. Berries fine, but not mushrooms. Bought a bag from a stall in Durham yesterday. Made a very easy gravy with mushrooms and madeira and served the soaked mushrooms alongside the roast - about which more later.

A handful of chanterelle mushrooms, cleaned and chopped

A tablespoon of butter

A good glug of madeira (port, marsala or brandy would work too)

A cupful of cold water

Salt and white pepper to season

Soften the chopped mushrooms in the butter over a low heat

Add the madeira and turn up the heat until it bubbles

Add the water and give it a good stir until it bubbles again

Now turn off the heat and put a lid or foil over the pot

Leave it aside to soak for as long as you have

I left the sauce to infuse for about an hour and slowly reheated it for a minute or so. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Took the mushrooms out with a slotted spoon and served them alongside the roast

The soaking juices I added to the little juices in the tin in which I baked a......

Five Bird Roast......

Which is turkey, stuffed with pheasant, stuffed with chicken, stuffed with partridge, stuffed with duck - with a stuffing. No I didn't make it myself - I bought it from the Cumbrian butcher Shaw Meats, based in Wigton, who had a stall at the food festival in Durham. I wanted to taste it before deciding whether to have a stab (ha!) at it over the festive season.

It's not as weird as it sounds: Hannah Glasse's Art of Cookery (1747) called it Yorkshire Christmas Pye and described how the pies were often sent to London in a box as presents. Hers were cooked inside a strong pastry crust. The birds - 'a turkey, a goose, a fowl, a patridge and a pigeon' were encased one within the other, like a Russian doll, then cooked in a crust using 'a bushel of flour' and baked in a hot oven for at least four hours.

I'll never get away with at Christmas - it's turkey or torn faces all round our table. So I might give it a shot for Hogmanay. On the other hand, I might just ask the butcher well in advance to make one for me. There are lots of butchers now selling them online. And Mr Saunderson always rises to a challenge.........

Shaw Meats version was good but there was a lot of turkey with much smaller pieces of the game birds. It wasn't cooked in a pastry crust - I used a double layer of thick tinfoil and cooked it at 170C for 1 hour and 50 minutes. It needed the mushroom gravy because there was little juice at the end of cooking time. The meats were tender though. Served with roast potatoes, a big butch plate of cabbage and the chanterelles.

There were plenty of the wild mushrooms left over to experiment with this morning.....I'll post a recipe separately (in case you've already nodded off at the length of this entry).

I promised Claire, the organiser of the wonderful Durham Book Festival, that I'd do a post on how to do a pop-up dining room for Christmas lunch. Promise to post that when we're past Halloween and Guy Fawkes, Claire. Waving to Jonathan and Olivia too - thank you for a lovely evening.

go Kirsty....you can do it

2011-10-20T14:52:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know the three finalists in Celebrity Masterchef know already. But I don't - so please shut up - because I'm rooting for Kirsty Wark and the final is tomorrow and DON'T EVEN DARE DO A SPOILER on me. Only caught up with this series last week. You know what - I get so cheesed off with sneering at this show. It is, admittedly, incredibly annoying in format. Can't stand the formula. The voiceover and stilted scrtipts of the presenters is like the sound of fingernails on blackboards. But put that aside and just look at the passion and the pain of those who put themselves forward for this one, or the other non-sleb shows. They love food......

So go Kirsty. And I'm sorry it has to be one winner. Phil and his cauliflower ears and fat fingers producing such delicate plates. And the other guy - oh he puts his all into the food he offers. That's cooking that is. An emotional gift.......

Go Kirsty.

Thinks: does a uniform normally denote brain death? Only asking.

take one crappit heid.......

2011-10-18T16:56:00.000-07:00

You asked for it Mary Macleod. Stuffed cod's head - ceann cropaig in the Gaelic - is a rare delicacy nowadays. I'm giving you an old Lewis recipe, similar to F. Marian McNeill's. I will not be testing it.
I leave that up to you -

Take one large head of a cod. Wash in clean seawater and descale. Stuff with oatmeal, chopped onion, suet, white pepper and the chopped liver of the fish. Sew the aperture closed. Boil in seawater for 30 to 40 minutes, depending on size. Remove the fish head and serve with boiled potatoes. The cooking water can be used to make a fish broth.

You can see where this came from - fisher folk, from the Hebrides and the North East of Scotland and undoubtedly elsewhere got what was left of the fish that they sold on. Kenneth - I know you like it but I can't do it, sorry.

Edvard Munch: self portrait with a cod's head. I don't know if this was painted before or after The Scream.

a scone at any door......

2011-10-18T02:18:00.000-07:00

...is an old Scottish saying for someone with a face that would melt rock. Here's the basic scone recipe for Connie. Quicker and easier than a schlep to the shop for biscuits. It's, like everything I make, a guide, not a recipe. Vary it at will, why don't you.

8 oz/225g self raising flour

pinch salt

2oz/55g butter

1oz/25g caster sugar

150ml milk - or plain yoghurt

1 free range egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 220C

Rub butter into flour. Stir in sugar. I use a knife if making by hand. Add the beaten egg to the milk or yoghurt. Pour into the scone mix and use the knife to mix it together. The secret to scones is to handle the mixture as little as possible. It should be a very soft and sticky mix. Turn out onto a floured board. Pat it out gently, about an inch deep. Cut out and carefully lay on a floured baking sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes, depending on your oven. That's it.

In a hurry, I throw everything into the Magimix and whizz for a minute or so until the dough coheres.

Variations:

A good handful of dried cranberries stirred through the mix before cutting

Or a handful of sultanas or raisins

1oz/25g strong grated cheese

A handful of sesame seeds

Let the scones cool before scoffing - otherwise you end up with indigestion. Scones are best the day they are made. 'Not a scone of yesterday's baking' - another Scottish saying indicating that someone was not born yesterday.

SCOTCH EGGS...proper ones

2011-10-15T15:30:00.000-07:00

There is something slightly disspiriting about Scotch Eggs. The horrible ones on offer in bars and cafes and Marks & Spencers. It's a shame. No idea if they are originally Scottish but cooked fresh they are so delicious. And they don't have to be made with, gagging slightly, cheap sausage meat.

A few ideas.......

8 free range eggs

6 oz cooked ham

4 anchovy fillets

2 oz fresh breakcrumbs

1/2 teaspoon of mixed spice

olive oil

handful of flour

one mixed egg

salt, black pepper

Put eggs into a pan of hot water - more than hand hot: when they come to the boil, let them cook for 6 minutes. Take off the boil and run under cold water. Once they are cool, peel under running water. They will be not gritty with a black rim but beautifully yolky.

Stick the ham into a processor with the anchovies and breadcrumbs and mixed spice. Process for 20 seconds. Add half of the mixed egg. Process again until it starts to stick together - about 10 seconds.

If you don't have a processor, finely chop the ham and anchovies, add the breadcrumbs and mixed spice and add half of the mixed egg. Use a fork to bring it into a mixture.

Roll each cooked egg in the flour then dip it in the half mixed egg. Take a handful of the ham mix and
mould it round the egg until it is covered.

Fry in hot olive oil, turning over and over, until brown all over. A couple of minutes for each will do it.

Let them cool then slice in half and serve with a crisp green salad.

ANOTHER WAY....

You could encase the egg in really, really good sausage meat - taken out of their skins and used to wrap around the eggs.

A bit of crumbled black pudding forked through the ham mix or sausage meat is delicious too.

Overdose on the pictures I know - but don't they look delicious?

murder most fowl..........

2011-10-06T14:57:00.000-07:00

The beast died in vain. The guinea fowl was not nice. It was so not nice that someone is wondering if it might have been a seagull. I tell you this not to put you off guinea fowl - which are a sort of cross between chicken and game birds - but to say: it happens. So what? There's always another meal. But perhaps, not in our house, not another guinea fowl, for a while at least.......

And this is not an excuse not to post a recipe. If you want to know, and I'm not confident that you do, I sat the guinea fowl, seasoned and rubbed with olive oil, on a bed of sliced onions, garlic and grated lemon rind. Put it into an oven at 160C. After half an hour, once it was brown-ish, laid slices of streaky beacon over it, a lazy baste. Cooked for another 20 minutes. Served it with roast tatties. It was really, truly, horrible in a way that the Scots have a perfect description for their reaction to.......boke.

PS;
Now....don't get me started on the Great British Bake Off. I've only caught up with it tonight. And much as I admire Mary Berry, I do despair when the outcome of people's cooking is judged on perfection. Where's the fun in that, eh? So sometimes my scones are rough looking, sometimes when I'm in porcelain painting mode (thank you Bill: your original idea) they are dainty. What matters is that it TASTES GOOD. What matters in the kitchen is CONFIDENCE. The confidence to make mistakes which will probably still taste good anyway, except perhaps if it's a mistaken guinea fowl. Enough ranting for tonight, anyway.

Yoohoo.......

2011-10-05T16:36:00.000-07:00

Yes, I know but it's been a bit madly busy really and I haven't cooked much that inspired me to write what you might want to cook. Sue made me think about posting about spam. The real stuff, invented to replace meat, not the rubbish in your inbox. Spam spam spam spam.....Monty Python sang about it. Sue was nostalgic for it. But perhaps not. I always preferred corned beef.

Did a rolled lamb shoulder for Sunday supper: took the elastics off, unrolled it. Mixed a cupful of dried breadcrumbs, chopped parsley, grated lemon rind, a handful of capers, a couple of pulverised anchovy fillets (or a teaspoon of anchovy paste would do it) bound with a beaten egg and spread it across the lamb. Rolled it up. Covered it in tinfoil. Cooked at 150C - it was about a kilo in weight - for two hours. It was very good.

Out for supper tonight - do remind me never to order scallops and oxtail ever, ever again. What possessed me to order it? What possessed someone to invent it? The unlikeliest combination ever? I suppose I was just wondering if such a match could be as, ahem, foul as it appeared and indeed it was. Never mind. But I tell you - London restaurants get away with murder. Michelin stars are scattered across the city. Yet they are like stardust in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Weird.

I do give a fig........

2011-09-21T05:35:00.000-07:00

For fresh fig chutney. Very easy, very delicious.

2 onions, finely chopped

8 tablespoons soft brown sugar

1 cinammon stick
1 star anise
thumbnail sized piece ginger,
8 tablespoons wine vinegar
8 figs, cut into wedges then halved

Put the onion, sugar, spices, ginger and vinegar in a pan and cook slowly until the onion is very soft.

Add the figs and cook for another 10 minutes, until the figs are beginning to break down.

I served this with racks of lamb. Dusted the lamb fat with plain flour, salt and a teaspoon of smoked paprika. Baked at 170C for about 25 minutes, then left them to rest for ten minutes.

I don't know whether this chutney will keep. I didn't make enough to try. The leftovers are in the fridge and I had a spoonful with a slice of manchego cheese for lunch. A really good combination.

I made this for supper with friends. Like me, they long taste memories of a spoonful of Syrup of Figs before bedtime were the deterrent. Yuk. But the figs just sat there on the shelf in the shop looking so beautiful, I thought it was worth a try. We are all now late converts.

meditteranean tarts......

2011-09-20T07:57:00.000-07:00

I know, I know: there's a backlog. Trying to catch up now. Made many, many of these for the wedding. They freeze really well. They also travel very well. Himself drove 300 miles in a car packed with tarts and giant meringues. All arrived safely. A motorway pile-up would have been inexplicably messy........

crumbly pastry

12oz plain flour
8 oz butter
1 oz icing sugar
pinch salt

Preheat oven to 170C

Whizz above into fine crumbs in food processor then press with your fingers into a greased tart tin - there's enough here for a 12in tin - and freeze the remainder. You can do it by hand.....rub cold butter into the flour/sugar/salt until it looks like breadcrumbs.

This is such an easy pastry - no rolling out or resting. Place the tin in the preheated oven to bake for about 12 to 15 minutes until it is tinged brown.

Filling

2 tablespoons grainy mustard
4 tomatoes, deseeded and each quarter sliced into about three bits
2 aubergines, sliced
1 red pepper, sliced thin
3 eggs yolks
Half a pint of creme fraiche
1 garlic clove, chopped fine
6oz mature cheddar, grated
black olives, for topping
A handful of basil leaves
Olive oil

Turn the aubergine slices in olive oil, lay on a metal sheet and bake until tinged brown - 10 minutes or so.

Spread the mustard over the pastry base.

Scatter over the tomato slices. ( I have used drained chopped tomatoes in a hurry)

Lay the baked aubergine slices on top of the tomatoes.

Scatter on the red pepper and the garlic.

Evenly strew the grated cheese over.

Mix together the egg yolks and cream. Ladle it carefully over the tart.

Scatter some stoned olives on top.

Bake for about 20 minutes. Remove from oven. Scatter over some torn basil leaves. Return to the oven until the filling is puffed up and golden - another 15 minutes or so, depending on your oven.

And that's it. Serve warm rather than hot. It is very filling and a 12 inch tart easily feeds 8. A simple green salad of leaves lightly coated in olive oil and salt is all you need to go with it. I usually throw a few extra basil leaves over the top.

here comes the pudding........

2011-09-13T12:30:00.000-07:00

and her helpers. What a team! What a laugh.

Step we gaily on we go....down the garden to the marquee for Torsten and Katherine's wedding on the farm. It was a wonderful day. Thanks for entrusting me with 150 guests' digestions. Thank you too to a fantastic bunch of youngsters who, with no experience but loads of energy and enthusiasm, turned into a lean, mean serving team. If I was ever mad enough to set up a catering business I'd snap them up.....

Simple menus, seasonal food and some fantastic suppliers (we'll pass on the online wholesaler who failed to deliver the ingredients for the stovies: forgive and forget) made it a remarkably pain free day.

Flying the flag for Lincolnshire - the Boston Sausage Co - from Katherine's home town who provided the chipolatos for canapes.

Not exactly an authentic Swedish crawfish party, granted auntie, but we did at least hoist the Swedish flag. Thank you IKEA. But mostly thank you Jane for valiantly making 300 blini. You are hereby exempted from blini duty forever.

Served Scottish tablet with the coffee. It was declared, by those who know, those who make it themselves, whose teeth have suffered in the cause, the best they'd ever tasted. Thank you Donnie at the Loch Leven Tablet company, www.highlandfavours.com who hand-cooked batches specially.......

Never have so many people taken to a dance floor after canapes, a three course meal, coffee and tablet, a late supper of stovies and a plate of E-numbers, in the shape of sweeties, to top up flagging energy

I will post some of the recipes I used over time - I'm still a bit scunnered and hope to stop thinking about giant meringues, Mediterranean veggie tarts and hot potato salad for a while.

One last word - if you ever go to a wedding and you happen to be vegan, it might be a good idea to let your hosts know in advance. There are only so many people you can serve with eight Portobello mushrooms.

It was great fun.........just not to be repeated too often. Well, not until at least Anna's 21st......

courgette and cheese lasagne.......

2011-09-08T04:41:00.000-07:00

Image by africa

for Joni. Or rather, the boys.

3 large courgettes, roughly grated

1 big onion, or two small, chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

big pinch of chilli flakes

300ml jar tomato pasta sauce (or make your own)

250g tub mascarpone or ricotta

4 big tablespoons grated parmesan or strong cheddar

2 big tablespoons olive oil

salt, pepper to taste

8 sheets lasagne

Preheat oven to 170c

Fry the onion gently until softened - about 10 minutes. Add the crushed garlic and the chilli flakes and cook for another minute more.

Add the tomato pasta sauce. Cook until warmed through. Taste and add salt and pepper.

Place a layer of the tomato sauce on the bottom of a lasagne dish. Top with some of the courgettes and blobs of mascarpone or ricotta. Lay sheets of lasagne over. Make another layer. Finish with a layer of the tomato sauce. Scatter parmesan or cheddar over. Bake for about 30 minutes or until a fork easily pierces through the layers. That's it. A doddle.

How many more courgettes have you left Joni? Could you not make a few jars of picallili with the rest? mx

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BLOG.........

2011-09-07T09:52:00.000-07:00

One year old today. Back now after six months absence. You've probably all gone away. Come back! Below is the pudding served most over the summer.......

...because it's quick and delicious and easy. My sort of food.

LEMON MERINGUE ROLL

Ingredients

6 free range egg whites, medium
1 pinch of salt
300g caster sugar
1 tub creme-fraiche - doesn't matter if it's full or half fat
1 jar of good quality lemon curd
Berries
Icing sugar to dust

Baking parchment or greaseproof paper cut to fit a flat oven tin, around 18" by 14", with an overhang of about one inch.

Oven temp. 170c

Whisk the egg whites - best at room temperature than straight from the fridge - adding the salt, until thick and glossy.

Start adding the sugar, spoonful, slowly, by spoonful while still whisking. It takes a while but it does make a difference to the end result.

Dollop onto the paper. I use a palette knife to gently even it out. Now place in the pre-heated oven for 15 to 20 minutes until it's tinged brown. Take it out and leave to cool completely.

Mix the creme-fraiche with the lemon curd. When the roll (or roulade as posher people might say) is cooled, spread the filling over it. Drop berries over the surface. I like a mix of brambles (blackberries) and raspberries but you can use whatever you like.)

Now the fun bit: stay strong! It's easier than it sounds.......

Grasp the paper overhang along the longest side closest to you. Gently roll the meringue over itself, carefully peeling off the paper as you go. Slide onto a serving plate. Don't worry if it cracks a bit. Dust the roll with icing sugar using a sieve. Strew some more berries around it, or across it.

It doesn't have to look perfect - more a tad rugged or raggedy.

Serve sliced on the diagonal.

I served it a couple of times with a coulis made from an over-ripe mango, whizzed into a sauce with a squeeze of lime juice and a tablespoon of icing sugar. Lovely tart taste alongside richness of the roll. You don't have to.

It's lovely to be back.........

....waving, sorry, back soon......

2011-03-10T16:17:00.000-08:00

...away for a while but love this blog and won't be away forever. Waving to you all. Back soon as.....

mxxxx

a rib tickler....crusted lamb

2011-02-26T15:19:00.000-08:00

Whizzing round Costco with a trolley filled with the assorted things I'd otherwise always run out of, essentials - bumper sized thick tinfoil, toilet rolls agogo, another trio of reading glasses and a cashmere cardi, oops, accidentally encountered in an aisle on the way to the tinned tomatoes, the butcher gave me a wave and pointed into the fridge. Now, he's a man with a good memory because I don't often go there. Probably still damaged by the recollection of a desperate woman begging him to butterfly three legs of lamb, just before closing, around New Year. He's obviously forgiven me because the racks of lamb he was pointing out, on special offer, were delicious. (And they were Scottish lamb, from the Borders, so that's all right.) Just hoping my real butcher's having a night off and doesn't see this. Saundersons, you are my favourite of favourites. You were closed when I needed the lamb legs, honest........

The two racks, eight bones in each, would serve eight if you were to serve two measly portions. If you serve lots of vegetables or salads and potatoes, and were having a pudding after, that would be fine. Wouldn't get away with it in this house. Each rack served two. But there was no starter and no pudding. So that's nearly
an excuse.

Preheat oven to 200C.

2 racks of lamb

1 tablespoon of good mustard - Dijon's good

3 slices of bread

1 lemon, finely grated

3 tablespoons of parsley

Olive oil

Rub a little olive oil into the fatty side of the racks. Place them in a roasting tin, skin side up, in the oven for 10 minutes. Whizz the bread, lemon rind and parsley in a blender or processor. Or grate them separately and mix.

Remove the tin from the oven. Careful; hot. Rub the mustard across the skin side of each rack. Pat on the breadcrumb mix, as thickly as it will hold. There will be some left over. See below.

. Drizzle olive oil generously over the breadcrumbed racks. Return them to the oven for about 30 - 40 minutes - depends whether you like them pink or very pink. They should be golden brown and crusty looking

Take them out of the oven and let them sit for about 10 minutes in the tin. Slice between the bones to serve. I don't do them individually, rather serving two - or four in our house - onto each plate. Served with a big salad of green leaves, cherry tomatoes and toasted pinenuts. A zingy lemony salad dressing - six parts olive oil to one part lemon juice, a smidgeon of mustard, salt and pepper, works well with the lamb.

You are allowed to pick up the bones and gnaw your way round them - they are a natural finger food. More refined guests might need some encouragement.

There was enough breadcrumb/parsley/lemon mix left over for another day. Used it on Friday to coat haddock fillets - dipped first in egg, before cooking over a medium to high heat for a couple of minutes on each side. I cook them in olive oil and it has to be quite hot before you put the fillets in to cook, otherwise the breadcrumb mix comes astray from the fish. Fish really does not need a lot of cooking - just show it a high heat for a couple of minutes and let it rest for a minute when you take it out. Served the fish with lemon wedges and a baby spinach and walnut salad.

GOOEY COOKIES

2011-02-22T11:44:00.000-08:00

.....here you are Anna, as promised. Sorry about the delay.

225g soft butter
170g soft brown sugar
340g plain flour
100g of milk chocolate, chopped, or chocolate chips
4 big tablespoons golden syrup
4 good tablespoons of milk

Preheat oven to 170C - gas mark 5

Cream the butter and sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy.

Add the syrup, milk and chocolate and mix together.

Slowly add the flour and mix it in.

Spoon out onto two greased baking trays. You should get about 10 cookies. Don't worry about the shape - they will end up the same. Just leave space around each one because they will spread.

Put the trays into the oven and check after about 10 minutes. You want them to be golden brown. If they're not give them another two or three minutes.

Take out and let them cool slightly. You'll need to be careful taking them off the tin - they're soft.

The cookies are lovely eaten warm: that's when you get the best gooey texture. If you're doing them ahead, just stick them into the microwave for about 30 seconds to warm up. They will go gooey again.

You can, if you like, replace about 40g of the flour with cocoa powder which makes them a more dense chocolate colour.

Enjoy.

...and here's the cake Anna and Caris made for Emma. Yes, I did say cake. Really impressed.

supper for one

2011-02-15T13:27:00.000-08:00

2 free range eggs, poached

Two heaped tablespoons of baked beans, heated

1 slice of toasted sour-dough bread, buttered

Cooked, served and eaten in complete silence.

Bliss.

Stop being fykie. Veal is good.

2011-02-14T15:14:00.000-08:00

It is. Veal is the meat of calves from around six to nine months old. They come mostly from the dairy industry. Not going into the ethics, over-rehearsed already, just make sure you are eating British veal. It won't be crated, nor inhumanely slaughtered. If you eat animals then accept it. You can't bash one on the head and only eat the prime fillet. Not going down the nose-to-tail route of St John's. Sweetbreads - bleurgh. Just saying, we have to stop being so precious. Veal is to beef as lamb is to sheep. Enough already. Here's a recipe. We had it for supper last night - served six.

Oh shut up: bet you eat sausages

Prheat oven to 150C.

500g British veal, shoulder - cut into good mouth sized bits

250g smoked bacon, cut into postage stamp pieces

1 onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, sliced

Tablespoon of paprika

Big handful of capers - maybe two tablespoons

Two glugs of brandy

A cup of white wine

2 cups of chicken stock (you can use stock cubes)

Butter and olive oil

Heat the olive oil on medium, add the butter.

Brown the meat. Remove from pan.

Add the smoked bacon, turn up heat a bit and cook for a couple of minutes until it's coloured.

Remove and set aside with veal.

Now add the chopped onion to the pan, turn heat to low, and stir it around to pick up the flavours . Let it cook slowly for around 15 minutes. This matters. The longer and more slowly you cook onions, the sweeter they are.

Add the chopped garlic and coat it in the oniony juices. Let it cook for a couple of minutes.

Throw in the ground paprika, stir around. Let it cook for about 30 seconds.

Pour in two good glugs of brandy. It will sizzle, fine. Stir for a minute or so. Add the cup of white wine. Turn up the heat for a minute until it bubbles.

Add the chicken stock and stir everything around for another couple of minutes.

Now pour the boozy, oniony mix over the veal and ham. Pour into a casserole and cook at 150C for a couple of hours. I used the slow-cooker - on low - and let it simmer for about three hours.

When you're ready to serve, taste it - you might but probably won't need salt but a grinding of black pepper won't go amiss.

Add a big tablespoon of creme fraiche to the pan, stir around until it's mixed in.

Serve with mash and a crunchy green veg mix.

I didn't. You get torn faces in this house if there aren't roast potatoes on a Sunday. They worked fine too. But a good creamy mash will sook up all the lovely flavours from the gravy. And I'm thinking....Sicilian potato cake (see somewhere else on the blog) with just the cheese without the meat.....

no gilt on this gingerbread....

2011-02-10T15:18:00.000-08:00

Hey Cary - another use for the tin with no name

...but there might be cream cheese frosting or lemon icing on it tomorrow. Yes, I know gingerbread is better if you mature it for a few days. But it's too tempting. This recipe, be warned, is rich, dense and sticky. Oh and very gingery. You can, as with most of the cakey things I make, use it as a pudding. Multi-tasking for cakes. I will halve it, ice one side and serve the other in squares with custard and pears on Sunday.

I use a brownie tin - but a 23cm square tin or a small roasting tin would be fine. Butter it well. I use baking parchment on the base but it's not vital.

Pre-heat oven to 160C

250ml milk, soured with a big squeeze of lemon or a tablespoon of wine vinegar

175g plain flour

175g butter

175g brown sugar

175g treacle (molasses)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

1 tablespoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

A pinch of ground cloves

A pinch of salt

A good grinding of black pepper

Add the lemon juice or wine vinegar to the milk and set aside.

Put the butter, sugar and treacle into a pan and place on a low heat to melt.

Sift the flour and mix in the spices.

When the treacle/sugar/butter mix has melted, let it cool slightly. Now add to the dry ingredients and beat in. (I use a mixer but, as ever, elbow grease also does the trick). Beat in the eggs. Finally add the milk which might look lumpy. Don't panic. That's how it should look. Stir everything together. Ladle into the greased tin. Bake in the oven for about 50 minutes - it really does depend on your oven. When time's up, it should be springy when you touch the centre gently with a finger. If not, let it bake on for another few minutes.

I let it cool in the tin.

Cream Cheese Icing

250g cream cheese (Philadelphia's fine)

2 heaped tablespoons of icing sugar

Beat the cream cheese to soften it. Stir in sifted icing sugar. Keep beating until combined. Spread onto one half of the cake.

Lemon icing

6 tablespoons icing sugar

2 tablespoons or so of lemon or lime juice

Some milk

Sift the icing sugar. Add the lemon or lime juice and beat until combined. If it's too thick, dribble in some milk.

If it's too much trauchle to make custard and pears to serve alongside it on Sunday, it's also good with creme fraiche with a tablespoon of ginger cordial stirred through. Or a few spoonsful of Crabbie's Green Ginger - invented in Leith, wooohooo - poured over some good vanilla ice cream. The gingerbread reheats well in the microwave or oven. And any remainders - aye right - freeze well.

UPDATE: Didn't ice it after all. Had a slice buttered instead.

And a random caption of Ginger Rogers just because I can

frozen grapes....who knew?

2011-02-08T04:04:00.000-08:00

Not me. But Fiona did. She served them last night after our Leftovers' Supper. (Along with pineapple and mint and chunks of watermelon.)

Delicious. A consistency not unlike sorbet. And after my rant about how to get eight-a-day down your neck, was foiled by F's lovely roast veg platter. Colourful, healthy and tasty. Polished off the remains of the pork loin with the remaindered picalilli too.

As Mae West almost said - 'Beulah, peel me a grape. And make mine frozen.......'

Spiced pork loin

2011-02-07T05:00:00.000-08:00

Just the two for Sunday night supper this week. A small pork loin rolled in some of the spice rub brought back from Istanbul (despite giving away vast quantities, there's still enough to see us out) was good. Unless you happen to be passing the spice bazaar some time soon - and if you are, check whether the merchant's returned from his world cruise on the proceeds of my purchases - here's a rub I've made before......

1 tablespoon chilli powder
1 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon thyme - dried will do

Mix all together and spread out on a plate..

Preheat oven to 170C

Rub a small pork loin with a handful of oil. Now roll it in the spice mix, patting it in well. Set aside for as long as you've got. It was about an hour this time. The pork weighed around 750g. I roasted it for about an hour and 10 minutes. Left it to sit, to let the juices settle, in the dish for 15 minutes.

The juices were very spicy so I added a cup of chicken stock and boiled them up for a couple of minutes.

Served with an apple sauce - two eating apples, peeled, cored and sliced and cooked over a low heat in a covered pan with three tablespoons of water until soft. I used Cox's apples because they don't turn to mush.

I like the loin sliced thinly.

Tasty leftovers too. Especially when - oh joy - you discover a jar of the picallili you made for Christmas and forgot about lurking in the cupboard. Did I post that one? Off to look........

fancy a bit of beef?

2011-02-04T13:07:00.000-08:00

....memo to self: must get that fringe trimmed

Have a keek at www.bruehighlanders.co.uk

....out for a wee paddle

home for tea

would you believe it? yes, no, maybe.....

2011-02-04T05:40:00.000-08:00

Shaun Doyle and Mally Malinson's 'Fascist Fruit Boys' series parodies the obsession with the five a day culture. They'll have to make some more soon. Now that 'the experts' say it should be eight-a-day.

Once upon a time, a boiled egg and soldiers was good for you. Then it was bad. Eat cereals instead, they said. Cut down on protein and eat more carbohydrates - remember the food pyramid? - they said. Blood sugar levels soared, so did the incidence of type II diabetes. Eat a low-fat diet, they said. Except that our bodies need fats after all, it turns out.

And the evidence for all this wildly-conflicting advice comes from studies soon overtaken or debunked. Not that you'd know. Hysterical newspaper headlines trumpeting the latest scares ( breast cancer? It's your own fault for being fat) never stretch to telling us when they are disproved.

Excuse the rant. It's just that if I continue to cook with the seasons and buy local, it's hard to see how the eight-a-day would work. Four apples, cabbage, leeks, broccolli and neeps a day anyone? No I thought not.

Never did give up the eggs anyway.

...can't comment again and am

2011-02-02T14:03:00.000-08:00

So saying hello to Lesley in New Zealand. Luca's.....well, growing up could get there on the bus every weekend. Now have one round the corner in Bruntsfield. Woohoo. They now do an IrnBru flavour but vanilla and strawberry still the best. And if you like Maltesers in your brownies, will let you know how puff candy works.......

Hello LL....well reminiscenses flow because we're, ahem of an age? Yes, we shall have tea and talk about the unspeakable: one day.

Zwi Lin in So Korea.....really sorry, didn't get your earlier comments. You can buy Scottish products online from lots of different sources. Suggest you have a look at GreenerMonday. Stornoway black pudding? Don't know whether it would pass your customs though.

Annie in China: see above. Big wave.

....all others, really sorry I can't respond to your comments. Hope blogspot will sort out the problem very soon.

mxxxxx

pear and almond pudding

2011-02-01T03:56:00.000-08:00

This is a tweaked version of a delicious pudding that my sister-in-law made for us over the holiday. And it was the second of two puddings, necessarily simple, I served for the nine-decade lunch on Sunday.

Preheat oven to 180C

3 pears, peeled, cored and cut into chunky slices

25g butter

25g demerara sugar

100g self-raising flour

50g ground almonds

150g soft butter

150g caster sugar

3 medium or two large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

A handful of flaked almonds for topping (optional)

Heat the butter and demerara sugar in a thick bottomed frying pan. Add the pears and stir to coat. Cook on a low to medium heat until you can pierce them with a fork. If they are rock hard it might take a good six to seven minutes. Set aside. You can, as I did, do this well ahead.

Put the flour, almonds, butter, sugar, eggs (sans shell of course) and vanilla into a food processor and whizz until well mixed.

(OR cream the butter and sugar until fluffy, lightly beat the eggs and add them a spoonful at a time, alternating with the flour and almonds (stops the mix curdling) and finally add the vanilla, until well combined)

Put the cooked pears into the base of a buttered medium-size baking dish. Dollop the cake mixture on top, gently smoothing it out. You can now strew over the flaked almonds. Or not.

Bake in oven until the top is nicely browned and springy to touch - about 35 to 40 minutes depending on your oven.

I made it ahead and warmed it up before serving, with custard. You could reheat it in the microwave for a couple of minutes. It's good with creme fraiche too.

And if you're really short of time you could use a tin of pears. A handy store-cupboard option. It freezes well too.

brownies......

2011-01-31T11:48:00.000-08:00

....always go down well as a pudding. This is my basic recipe, devised after years of tinkering, seething, occasional cursing. I rarely use nuts as a filling - too many people forget to tell you about their allergies until too late. This time I used a couple of packets of Maltesers because they were in the cupboard. I vary the flavour of the chocolate - although it seriously calls for good quality chocolate. And
it's a great pudding for Ceoliacs or anyone with a wheat allergy - there's so little flour in it, you can easily substitute gluten-free flour for plain and it makes not a jot of a difference.

Basic Recipe

Preheat Oven to 180C

375g soft butter

375g best quality chocolate

6 large eggs, room temperature

500g caster sugar

250g plain flour

Smidgeon of salt

Melt the butter and chocolate, broken into pieces, in a heavy-bottomed saucepan (or in a bowl above a pot of simmering water if you're of a nervous disposition) on a low heat, stirring with a wooden spoon to combine.

Whisk the eggs and sugar together (I use a free-standing mixer but elbow grease works too) until they have doubled in size and look white and smooth.

Add the melted butter and chocolate to the eggs/sugar and fold in with a large spoon, or on a gentle mix if using an electric mixer.

Now stir in the flour and a pinch of salt until everything is combined.

Pour half of the mix into a greased and lined brownie tin or a loose bottomed cake tin. (See below).

Now dot the mixture in the tin with whatever you fancy - I used Maltesers on Sunday: in the summer I use fresh raspberries: broken biscuits and some dried cranberries are a good combo: you can use chopped nuts and dried fruit if you like. Now carefully pour or spoon the rest of the mixture on top and smooth it lightly.

Put the tin in the oven. If you like gooey brownies, leave for about 25 minutes. If you prefer them with a caky texture, leave for 30 to 35 minutes. Remember, they carry on cooking a bit as they cool.

Leave them to cool in the tin. When cold, use a sharp knife to loosen the edges and mark into squares. They are fragile so I use a spatula to gently tease each bit out of the tin.

I serve them with S.Luca's vanilla ice cream - Mackie's is good too but somehow Luca's hits the spot superbly with dense chocolate.

That's the delicious bit, here's the technical bit.....

These are the sort of brownie tins I use - idiot proof. I base line the tins with baking parchment or greaseproof. Dimly recall buying them online but Lakeland and John Lewis sell similar. If you don't want to invest, you can line a baking tin, about 4 to 5cm deep, on the bottom and around the sides. Or use a loose-bottomed square cake tin. The quantities above give a good deep brownie in a tin of about 30cmx23cmx5cm.

SUNDAY LUNCH spanning 9 decades

2011-01-30T14:00:00.000-08:00

Bit of a challenge, coming up with a lunch to feed everyone from a nearly three- year- old up to a knocking on 90 years young. Got there. Two roast chickens, stuffed with haggis: bread sauce: roast potatoes: a big plate of broccolli, sauteed courgettes, brussel sprouts with chestnuts: red cabbage with apples. And two puddings - chocolate brownies with Maltesers served with ice cream, pear and almond sponge with vanilla custard - topped it off.

Roast Chicken with Haggis

Free range chicken

Half an onion, sliced

Haggis - I used a McSween's for two or three

Greenery - rocket or parsley or something similar, for garnish

A palm-full of olive oil or a tablespoon of butter

Pre-heated oven 170C

I prefer to use a bigger chicken - about 2 kilos. Both chicken and haggis should be at room temperature. Slit the haggis and crumble it before stuffing into the body cavity of the bird. Lay the onion slices on the base of a roasting tin and place the chicken on top. Anoint the bird with the oil, or butter, rubbing it into the skin, much as you might use sunscreen on yourself.

Roast for around 1 hour 30 minutes to 1 hour 40 minutes. When you take it out, let it sit in the tin for at least 15 minutes. This allows the juices to settle.

Now remove the chicken to a serving dish and dot some greenery around it. Put the roasting tin on a low to medium heat and use a wooden spoon to stir up all the gooey bits from the bottom of the tin. Keep stirring and cook for about 3 minutes. Add a teaspoon of salt and a half-pint of stock. I use the cooking water from the brussel sprouts and broccoli. Keep stirring until it comes to the boil. Now add a splosh of white wine or a glug of whisky and stir for a minute or so more. Pour into a jug and leave to settle for a couple of minutes. Skim the fat off the top of the jug and serve with the chicken and spoonsful of the haggis.

Roasters

I use Maris Piper or King Edwards because they are the right consistency for good fluffy potatoes and don't fall to bits before they go in the roasting tin.

1 kilo potatoes, peeled (if very large, halve them)

1 teaspoon of sea salt

Three or four big tablespoons of olive oil

Add the potatoes to a pot of cold water, enough to cover. Bring to the boil on a medium-to high heat. Let them boil away for about 4 minutes. Drain. Now rummel them around in the pot with a lid on, shaking the pan to let the edges go fluffy. This makes them crunchy once roasted. You can do this well ahead - saves that mildly demented feeling of too much to do at the same time. I cook them in the morning and leave them in a colander until ready to roast.

Half an hour before the chicken comes out of the oven, pour the oil onto a rimmed tray and place in the oven to heat up for about 10 minutes. Take it out carefully and add the potatoes to the tray, using a spoon or spatula to turn the potatoes to coat in the oil. Put them back in the oven until the chicken is ready to come out. Once you've removed the chicken turn up the oven to 200C. Carefully pull out the tin and shake it so the potatoes turn in the oil. Leave them to roast for another 40 minutes or so. When you take them out, throw a good spoonful of sea salt over them.

Green Veg Plate

I cooked the brussel sprouts ahead of time, in boiling water, for about 5 minutes. Steamed the broccoli at the top of the pot for another couple of minutes. Drained the veg, saving the water in a jug for the gravy. Sliced the courgettes into rounds about the size of a £2 coin. Sauteed in a tablespoon of olive oil and a teaspoon of butter for a couple of minutes to brown and soften. Laid out the vegetables on one large oblong dish in serried ranks. Browned some vacuum packed chestnuts in a dry fry pan to roast for a minute or so and tossed them over the greens. Left them to cool. Set aside until about half an hour before serving the meal. Covered in tinfoil. Placed in the oven to reheat.

Red Cabbage and Apple

Bought it ready cooked from the supermarket and reheated in the microwave in a serving dish, according to pack instructions. Because I am not a martyr.

Bread Sauce

My quantities on this are probably ridiculous. This is because everyone in this house loves it, so by the time the visitors are served there has to be enough to satisfy the need for enormous dollops or faces fall.....

1.5 kilos milk

Half a large onion, very finely chopped

A half loaf (this is a Scottish quantity: it generally means a medium sized loaf of bread, good quality, white)

Two large tablespoons double cream or two tablespoons of butter

Salt and pepper to taste

Add the onion to the milk in a large pan. Put on a whisper of a flame......the lowest possible and leave to cook very slowly until it comes to simmering point. This can take what seems like forever but it is worth doing: the onion softens and cooks and gives the milk a gloriously sweet oniony flavour. When the onion is finally soft, tear the bread into wee bits (you can whizz it to crumbs in the processor but it just means more washing up and it's not really necessary) and add them to the milk. Take it off the heat, stir it around and put it aside. The bread will swell. It should be soft and thick. If it's too thick, add a bit more milk. When the chicken has come out of the oven and is sitting waiting, patiently, to be served, very slowly on a low flame, start to reheat the sauce. Add the cream and stir with a wooden spoon, breaking up any lumps, until it is smooth and unctious. If you are using butter instead of cream, you might need another glug of milk to help smooth it. Taste. Now add the salt until you like the taste then grind in some black pepper, again to taste.. Take it off the heat and set it aside. Serve from a bowl with a big spoon.

Puddings tomorrow.........

...glitching again

2011-01-26T14:19:00.000-08:00

....so I can't respond to comments. But I won't be foiled by Blogspot...where there's a will, there's a way. So LisaLater - wonder what haggis tikka would be like? Bleurgghhh. Still, leftover haggis makes a brilliant bhaji and an even better pakora. So pleased you've shared the larks of de-lousing. Sorry. Think iit was when Anna started to feel sorry for them and wonder if we couldn't just keep them as pets that we decided to get her a hamster. Another story for another blog......but he was a very smart hamster. Escaped and found trotting insouciantly down the gutter in Morningside Road.

Aw LL - what a lovely story. Made me quite leaky eyed. Mind you, I do worry about your newspaper reading habits - if you only look at the pictures you must get through the pinky in, what, 17 seconds? But it is a wonderful newspaper and my favourite in the whole world. As a recovering journalist I know how good the Financial Times is in balance and quality - and they must be the only paper left standing that still invests in developing the skills of its journalists.

But back to the louse.....have to tell you that when I first saw the type begin to move around page three of the pinky I was inclined to think it was an eyesight problem. When the entire double page spread started to dance before my eyes, well, the head scratching stopped....

nearly missed Burns' night.....

2011-01-25T14:19:00.000-08:00

...but not quite. Been away again but got our haggis supper in last Friday. Shame it is that it's only eaten once a year by the many. Such an easy supper and a great starter, in lots of guises. Think people might be put off by instructions to boil it....noooooo, don't, horrible. Just remember it's already cooked so you are only reheating it. I slit it open and reheat gently in the oven, about 140C, for half an hour. Or - look away now all you microwave deniers - prick it with a fork and heat in the microwave for five minutes or so depending on the size. If you don't have a good butcher to buy from then McSween's, easily found in supermarkets now, is the best you'll find. They were once a butcher shop, in Brunstsfield in Edinburgh, but their haggis became the biggest seller so they went into selling direct to suppliers. Always serve it with bashed neeps - mashed Scottish turnip, boiled and served with butter and black pepper - and tatties. Just mashed potatoes, not waxy ones, something like Maris Piper or King Edward, boiled then drained and left to dry off a bit in the steam. Oh - and no fancy sauces with it please. But I do like HP sauce, a great big daud, on the side.....

Rabbie Burns: No' bad lookin' either, eh?

He was a rogue, Robert Burns. A looker, and he knew it, and not the half-daft laddie with a plough either. He was very well educated, for his time; could hold his own with confidence in the salons or the cowsheds. How many bairns by how many women did he faither? Who knows. Just as well he never did fetch up in the sugar plantations of Jamaica.....

But for a'that and a'that......it's hard to be hard on a man who can write a paen to headlice.


a wee beastie..... To A Louse, his poem seems very modern. So he's sitting in church watching lice climbing over a lady's hat. Me, when they fell out of my head whilst reading the Financial Times in the office, was less inclined to poetry, more inclined to scream and hide in the lavvy before running home with some horrible shampoo..... But oh Burns had a better sensibility.... O would some power the giftie gie us, to see ourselves as ithers see us See. How modern was he? And how well the history of the louse remains unchanged.

auld claes and porridge...

2011-01-10T13:48:00.000-08:00

is what we revert to when the festivities end as they surely have. I can tell by the pile of washing coming down the stairs to meet me.

The finale was going to be Saturday, then it was Sunday and because Anna came home from the university ski trip in need of a vitamin fix it was, finally, tonight. In a spirit of frugality (makes a change from austerity, which as a description of the times now has something of the same effect as an overdose of itching powder to the senses) tonight's supper (s) because, yes, we're back to everyone wanting to eat at different times, involved a free-range chicken which will have supplied four separate meals before its bones go for biling.

First was Anna's big chicken salad......

No recipe. Cos lettuce for the greens, sliced avocado, , tomatoes, baby potatoes, nuts and fresh herbs, with chopped warm chicken breast on top. Oh and a dressing of two tablespoons thick yoghurt, one teaspoon grainy mustard, one teaspoon honey and a big glurp of olive oil.

Second was a Spanish-flavoured mixter-maxter....

Love the packaging on this.......

A dozen slices of Chorizo sausage, chopped off one left over from a paella

A garlic clove, sliced thin

Two or three sliced scybies (spring onions)

Half a dozen cherry tomatoes, halved

Tablespoon of smoked paprika

A chopped cooked chicken breast

A good glug of sherry

A dozen slices of cooked small potatoes, sliced

A big handful of chopped parsley

Olive oil

Slowly fry the slices of chorizo in a glug of olive oil until they start to ooze their orange oil.. Throw in the garlic glove and the scybies and soften on a low heat for a minute or so. Add the tomato halves and stir around for a minute or so to let them soften.

Now add the paprika and stir around for about 30 seconds. Add the cooked chicken and coat in the flavours from the pan. Add the sherry, turn up the heat and let it bubble for a minute. Add the potatoes and stir around to let them colour. Now throw in the chopped parsley and serve from the pan.

I served long-stem broccoli with it. Fresh crunchy bread would be good but we've all eaten far too many carbs lately so I left it out.

Tomorrow I'll decide what do with the leftovers......two legs and all the lovely juice bits from the bottom. Oh and there'll be soup from the bones of course.

PS: Sorry, forget the leftovers: they went back to the uni flat leaving a sorry pile of bones.

clootie dumpling for auld lang syne

2011-01-06T09:11:00.000-08:00

Here's the clootie dumpling recipe. You can have it but only if you join in a chorus of Auld Lang Syne, which we forgot to sing at Hogmanay, before swallaying a big nip. (Waving wildly at facebook friends around the world). Then we'll have had a virtual Hogmanay. Altogether now.......

Thank you. Delightful.

And I'm making it in real time. Which means it's sputtering on the stove right now......

It's not my granny's recipe but it's probably close to it - although hers were the size of big canonballs and mine is rather more a shot-putt. The recipe is from historian F. Marian McNeill's The Scots Kitchen, first published in 1929.

I give it to you as she writes......

Oatmeal, flour, suet, sugar, sultanas, bicarbonate of soda, cinammon or mixed spice, buttermilk or thick sour milk.

Mix in a bowl three ounches of oatmeal and three of flour, three ounces of shredded suet and three of sugar, four ounces of sultanas (or two of sultanas and two of currants), one teaspoonful of ground cinammon or mixed spices, and half a teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda. Stir in enough buttermilk or thick sour milk to make a thick soft batter - about three-quarters of a cupful.

Dip a pudding cloth into boiling water and dredge lightly with flour. Spoon in the batter. (If the cloth is held inside a bowl large enough to hold the batter, it will give the pudding a round shape.) Draw the fullness of the cloth evenly together and tie firmly with string, leaving room for the dumpling to swell. Place an old plate in the bottom of a large pot. Lower the dumping on to this and pour over enough boiling water to cover.

Simmer for two and a half hours, adding more boiling water as required. Turn out carefully on to a hot ashet and dredge with castor sugar. Serve with custard sauce.

In the absence of buttermilk I substituted soured cream. Milk with a couple of teaspoons of lemon juice would work as well, I suppose. I used vegetable suet. As you can see (sort of) from the pic above, I tied string across the top of the pot and then tied the pudding on to that.

One and a half hours down and counting...........off to top up the water.

Back again......just taken it out of the pan

It's dripping into a pudding bowl, into which I placed it to give it some shape. Left it for a minute or so then opened it up. Inverted it onto a tin tray, sprinkled it with castor sugar and put it in the oven to dry out.......

Which is where it is now. In the old days it would be dried out in front of the fire. This gave it a lovely skin. Will see if the oven - on low at 130C - works as well. Shame I didn't have any silver thrupenny bits to hide in it........

Here it is. Gave it 30 minutes drying out in the oven at 130C then whapped it up to 230C for about 5 minutes to brown it.

Does strike me that if I'd included a tablespoon of treacle it might have browned faster.

But the truth is in the tasting. And that's not until the weekend.

Couple of pointers for the enthusiasts who might actually get round to making this:

I used an old-fashioned napkin in pure cotton bought from a charity shop - it still had the family's initials embroidered into it - and it was around 18 inches square. It worked fine. My granny used an old linen tablecloth kept specially for the purpose. It was massive as befitted a table that regularly served 14.

And for those who can't be bothered.......just raise a glass, sing a chorus and the toast is Lang May Yer Lum Reek.

FIRST FOOT FAVOURS

2011-01-05T07:06:00.000-08:00

Excuse the excess of alliteration. Couldn't think of anything snappy to use in the headline for polpettone - so in answer to the question has the first footing finished yet? The answer is a vehement no....not a chance.

It is traditional to serve black bun ('a black substance inimical to life' according to Robert Louis Stevenson) which is a densely rich and spicy fruit loaf and shortbread, a buttery biscuit, along with a nip of whisky..

Black Bun is, according to the food historian F. Marion McNeill, the old Scottish Twelfth Cake. It was transferred to Hogmanay after the banning of Christmas and subsidiary festivals, by the Reformers. But I think we've likely had our fill of sweet stuff - scunnered, to use the Scottish description - so instead here's the recipe I promised Caroline for polpettone - an Italian rolled meat loaf. Nothing at all to do with first footing though.

Pat the meat out into an oblong on a sheet of parchment or greaseproof paper

This is slightly different every time I make it. I vary the ingredients. It is not precise but this is the one I cooked for our supper with neighbours before Christmas.

250g pork mince

250g minced beef

1 large slice of bread

Scant cup of milk

A small onion, minced

3 garlic cloves, minced

Finely grated rind of a lemon

A handful of fresh chopped herbs - marjoram or parsley or similar

A tablespoon of thyme leaves

120g blue cheese, crumbled (Gorgonzola or similar)

2 eggs, lightly beaten

Salt and pepper

Filling:

12 boiled quail's eggs OR

4 boiled eggs

A couple of handsful of baby spinach leaves

50g of freshly grated parmesan or pecorino

Preheat oven to 160C/gas 3

Start by breaking up the meats, mixing them together with a fork or your fingers. Break the bread into the milk and squeeze out the excess. Crumble bread into the minced meats. Discard the milk.

Grate in the onion and add the garlic. Add the lemon rind. I use my hands to mix everything together but you can use a fork if you prefer. Stir in the crumbled cheese. Now strew in the chopped herbs and mix. Finally add the eggs to bind everything together and add a large teaspoon of salt and a good grinding of black pepper. Make sure everything is well mixed.

Now lay out a large rectangle of parchment or baking paper. Lay the meat mix on it and using your hands pat it out into an oblong, leaving a good inch or two of paper all around the edges. Now you will fill the middle.....

Place the quails eggs up the centre (or quarter hen's eggs lengthways and lay them along the middle). Lay the baby spinach leaves all over the top of the mixture. Scatter on the grated cheese.

Now start to roll up the meat loaf, along the widest side, using the paper to help you. Fold the edges of the paper underneath, like a parcel.

I then wrap it in another layer of paper to make sure the edges are all sealed. Place in a baking tin and cook for about an hour.

When you take it out of the oven let it sit for 10 minutes or so in the tin to firm up. Carefully peel off the paper.

There will be lots of juice which you can pour into a jug. Use a sharp knife and slice the roll about an inch to two inches thick. Serve the jug of juice alongside. I scatter more chopped fresh herbs over the roll to serve.

It is good hot and just as tasty cooked ahead and served at room temperature.

.........and if you still want the Black Bun recipe, just let me know.

LETTICELEAF'S POTATO PASTRY, A TRIUMPH.....

2011-01-04T14:52:00.000-08:00

love the frock LL. Was it in the sales?

One of our Hogmanay dishes was a game pie, topped by LetticeLeaf's potato pastry........woohoo, it was

droolingly delicious. And I'm passing on this message to LL from everyone round the table -

Thank you: we love your pastry.

LL, I hope you don't mind me posting this. Please tell me if you do.

175g (6oz) self-raising flour

125g (4oz) butter

175g (6oz) mashed potatoes)

Salt and pepper to taste

Crumble the butter into the flour until it looks like breadcrumbs. (I did it in the Magimix) Add the mashed potato to bind. LL says do not be tempted to add extra liquid, just keep going until it all adheres. Add about a teaspoon of salt and a good grinding of pepper.

Put the pastry into the fridge for 15 minutes to rest.

Roll out to top your pie dish. Brush with beaten egg. Bake for about 30 minutes until it looks golden on top.

Dive in.........

Thank you LL. It was a triumph. I doubled the quantity because we'd lots of people here and it worked perfectly.

mxx

TWELFTH NIGHT COMING UP

2011-01-04T14:17:00.000-08:00

No need to look at the date. You can tell by the baubles bouncing off the tree. And then it collapsoed tonight........aw, shame. It was lovely. So quick resume of what worked and what didn't quite on the food front.

well I had thought we might pop out for a curry.....but then again....

The goose was so good. Warmest thanks to my butcher - John Saunderson at Tollcross in Edinburgh: Mrs Saunderson senior you are wonderful. I love going there and standing in the queue (although you've still to sort out quite where to stand and join the queue John). The turkey was very good, as it always is. A Kelly's Bronze. And the order, was spot on. Big, huge, thank yous to all of you in the shop. Get a rest. You looked, em, mildly harrassed when I last saw you over the steak pies' corner......

tell you what......how lucky you were not to believe this, my dearest family

What didn't work.....well the Christmas cake was rubbish. Must have missed something out. Tasted good but far too dry. Oh and what a disappointment - there was an underwhelming response to my wee pet Nigel Slater's beetroot salmon. Sob. It looked so lovely. But it just didn't do it for the others.

Christmas pudding ice cream went down a storm. Went totally over the score on the puddings' front at Hogmanay. I'll get it right one day. Tip:if you ever do the River Cafe chocolate nemesis recipe - which you can Google - just don't believe the timings: it takes at least an hour to cook. Then you have to let it set by cooling it overnight in the fridge.

Back soon.......

HAPPY NEW YEAR......

2011-01-04T13:51:00.000-08:00

just a tad late. I've been busy.

Lots of fun with friends and family. Put him DOWN Cary.

No television for, oooh four weeks: thank you, not, Sky.

And we missed the fireworks because we were huddled round the wireless waiting for the bells.

Posted fireworks twice because they were spectacular and we missed them. Sky: are you listening? No, thought not.

Holding to my promise not to post the photos.......

But this is for Pete: you weren't even born then but it's the first Hogmanay party on Scottish Television in 1957. And it's to apologise on behalf of Sky for not being able to see your artistry on the night.

They're back. So Festive greetings and cheerio for now...

2010-12-20T15:51:00.000-08:00

Yes, they're home, well most of them, so the computer's now hijacked and out of bounds - except for a small window between 7 and 9am, and I'm not up for that. So thank you for all the fun and support since September. It's been great fun. Have a peaceful time, wherever you are - waving to So. Korea xxxxx - and Guatemala....what? very happy to see you online though.......

but what will we do? The servants have gone home for Christmas.

Sorry to Caroline - promise to post the polpettone recipe as soon as I recover use of the keyboard - but thank you for a lovely night. It was great fun and, really, why don't we all get together more often? If the weather goes on like this none of us will have to or be able to go any farther anyway.....

And much as I'd love to give you my granny's recipe for clootie dumpling.......

This is not my granny nor her pudding

I can't. She never did write it down. She did, though, make it in the boiler.......

.......which was also used for boiling clothes and nappies. Not at the same time.

"Two or three bars of Mama Mia and there's no stopping him."

Wherever you are in the world, greetings from a very beautiful Edinburgh......

Who said transport problems were so last century......

Travel safely

Deck the Halls with....

2010-12-17T06:27:00.000-08:00

....all the greenery lost to the snow. So many bushes and tree branches collapsed under the weight it seemed a shame not to find a use for some of it.

I'm sure the organised amongst you have a Christmas cake sooking up booze in a tin. For those who, like me, squash preparations into days rather than months here is the cake which is cooking in the oven right now. It started out a couple of years ago as an emergency version. Now we prefer it......it's fruitier, less dense and so much easier than the traditional versions.

LAST MINUTE CHRISTMAS CAKE

500g dried fruit (I've mixed sultanas, raisins, chopped prunes and dried cranberries)

180g brown sugar

125g butter

1 teaspoon mixed spice

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1 teaspoon cinammon

A pinch of salt

A grating of nutmeg, about a quarter of a teaspoon

Grated zest of a satsuma or similar

200 ml water

50 ml whisky or brandy

25 ml marsala or madeira (or more whisky/brandy or simply water)

2 eggs, lightly beaten

300g self-raising flour

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

Heat the oven to 180C/gasmark 4. Butter or oil a 22cm approx. cake tin.

In a saucepan combine the dried fruit and sugar, spices, salt, and grated rind. Pour in the booze. Chop the butter and add it to the pan. Now add the water.

Bring it slowly to the boil, stirring. When it starts to bubble, turn down the heat and let the mixture simmer for a couple of minutes. Take it off the heat and let it cool down a bit.

Beat in the eggs. Sift in the flour and bicarbonate of soda and beat well.

Pour into a lightly oiled cake tin, around 22cm diameter.

Bake for one hour or until a skewer comes out clean.

This is what it looked like on the stove.

....and here it is fresh from the oven.

Let it cool in the tin for a while then remove and cool completely. Store
in an airtight container - or wrap in greaseproof and cover with foil.

The added bonus is that the house smells like Christmas Eve.

Wee Beetroot and Pork Burgers

2010-12-14T13:10:00.000-08:00

These are so delicious. I made them first because I had leftover pork and fresh beetroot from the farmers' market and was looking for something simple to serve as a nibble with drinks before dinner. They were so good, and went down so well, I've now made them from scratch. And they are equally good. So, as requested by Jane, here's how I made them.......

.
PREHEATED OVEN: 180C

A Food Processor*

1 small onion, chopped roughly

3 garlic cloves

3 tablespoons of breadcrumbs

250g good quality pork mince

4 cooked beetroot*, chopped roughly

1 egg

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 teaspoon all-spice*

Put the onion, garlic cloves, breadcrumbs and pork mince in the bowl. Whizz for about 30 seconds to finely chop. Add the beetroot and egg and pulse for another 30 seconds. Add the salt, fennel seeds and all-spice and whizz for 30 seconds.

The mixture will seem very sloppy. Worry not. It is meant to be like that. Take a tablespoon at a time and pat with your hands into small balls. Mine were about an inch round. Then flatten them, slighty, just a wee bit, by patting them in your hands.

Heat a greased griddle or heavy bottomed pan on a medium heat. Drop the wee burgers on - don't crowd them, take your time - and let them brown for two or three minutes then flip over to brown the other side.

As you brown them, lay them on a baking tray. When you've used up the mix, place the tray in the preheated oven and let them cook through for about 15 minutes.

They are moist and delicious by themselves. You can serve a dip alongside though - I put a couple of dollops of thick natural yogurt in a small bowl and stirred through a teaspoon of creamed horseradish. Or a few tablespoons of creme fraiche with a squeeze of lemon or orange juice works too.

* Food processor - if you don't have one, you could grate the onion, finely chop the garlic and dice the beetroot: the result will be slightly rougher but the taste will be just as good.

* I had fresh beetroot in the fridge but I've also used the vacuum-packed ready cooked beetroot which you'll find amongst the salads in the supermarket.

* Don't do as MaggieC did and confuse all-spice with mixed spice! All-spice is a Jamaican berry with a deeply aromatic taste. I buy the seeds and grind them.

Cooked beetroot - vacuum packed will save time

LEFTOVER VERSION

So quick, if you happen to have some cooked pork to be used up.

About 250g cooked pork, chopped

4 beetroot, cooked

2 shallots, chopped

3 garlic cloves

3 tablespoons of bread crumbs

1 teaspoon sea salt

1 teaspoon fennel seeds

1 teaspoon all-spice, ground

1 egg

Olive oil

Place everything in the food processor and whizz for about 30 seconds. Stop the machine and scrape down the sides. Whizz again for about 30 seconds.

Heat a greased griddle or thick bottomed pan on a medium heat. Roll tablespoons of the mixture in the palm of your hands. Don't crowd the pan. About 3 to 4 minutes on each side, or until crustily brown, should do it. You don't have to cook them further in the oven - remember the meat is already cooked. If you want to make them ahead, you can reheat gently at about 160C for about 10 minutes. Or microwave for a minute.

All-spice NOT mixed spice.

Including the half a dozen I demolished before counting, this made 28 wee burgers.

Now think I'll try to concoct a veggie version. Will report back......

Beware Black Pudding Imposters......

2010-12-12T07:36:00.000-08:00

Stornoway black pudding's reputation as a local delicacy is threatened by imposters from the mainland. Don't be deceived by mealy-mouthed pretenders......the Stornoway Black Pudding Producers Association are on the case. They want it to be a protected brand under EU rules. Don't blame them - I've been presented with something bearing an uncanny resemblance to black boot polish in more than one London restaurant, listed on the menu as 'Stornoway' black pudding. The guisers just can't match the real thing.

Local butchers on the island have come together to find common cause. Everyone who loves 'marag dubh' should support them......even though many of us are still arguing over whether Charley Barley's or WJ Macdonald's make the best.

Charley Barley's Stornoway black pudding is our favourite......

.........while Seamus MacInnes, famous chef and author of the Stornoway Black Pudding Bible, favours
Willie John MacDonald's pudding

TATTIE SCONES

2010-12-12T06:03:00.000-08:00

Leftover mash from last night transformed into potato scones for breakfast. Yum. They were originally cooked on a girdle, a round flat iron dish on top of the stove or fire. Use any thick bottomed flat pan you have, lightly greased. Afraid I used the fat from the bacon which made them extra delicious. Oil or butter would do as well.

225g mashed potatoes, floury like Maris Piper or Golden Wonder is best

75g flour

(3 tablespoons butter melted in half a cup of hot milk, 1 teaspoon salt)*

*(My leftover mash already had butter and milk added - if you are making the mash specifically for the scones, add the hot milk and melted butter and beat it in.)

Add the flour to the mashed tatties and use your hands to mix it in. Use as much flour as the potatoes will absorb. It depends on the kind of potato used.

It is traditional to turn out onto a floured surface and roll into a circle about 0.5cm/a quarter inch thick. Then cut into quarters.

Me, I just patted it flat and cooked in the greased pan, on a low to medium heat for about 3 to 4 minutes on each side or until they are browned. These are wonderful served hot. You can keep them warm in the oven. Any leftovers - and I never have, sadly - can be toasted and slathered with butter.

Ooooh, try a pot roast to stay toasty

2010-12-11T14:14:00.000-08:00

The garden's drookit, the house is cold (but warming up, slowly) and much as I love soup something more substantial was needed. Pot roast. I'd never tasted it until a friend came home from a trip to Bermuda clutching an in-laws recipe. It seemed soooo posh and sophisticated. It's been tweaked and then some down the years but, 30 years on, Sandra's marriage might be long over but her borrowed recipe worked tonight. It will taste even better reheated tomorrow.

2 kilos brisket

6 - 9 plums, halved and stoned, or soft dried apricots

2 tablespoons flour

50g butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 medium onions, chopped

1 big leek, white only, chopped

1 tablespoon tomato puree

1 teaspoon thyme leaves or half-teaspoon dried

Half a pint of water

250g small waxy potatoes, sliced

A glass of brandy

A tablespoon of apricot conserve or redcurrant jelly

Salt and pepper

Very low oven - 130C/gasmark1

OR A SLOW COOKER

Coat the brisket in flour, melt the butter and oil and brown the meat, turning it round and round until it's coloured on all sides. Place in casserole or slow cooker. Slowly fry the onion and leek until it's soft - about 10 minutes. If it's too dry add another glug of oil. Stir in the tomato puree, and the thyme and pour in the water. Add the plums or apricots.

Bring to the boil. Spoon the contents over the meat. Cook for around three and a half-hours.

An hour before it's ready, add the sliced potatoes, the brandy and the apricot conserve or reducurrant jelly. If it looks dry, throw in a cup of hot water..

Finally, when it's ready, taste it - now add the salt and pepper.

To serve - slice the meat into a shallow serving dish. Pour everything else over. Keep warm to serve now. Or even better, cover with tinfoil and reheat slowly next day at about 150C/gasmark2, for around 45 minutes.

You only need a green vegetable to go with this.

SOOR PLOOM TART

2010-12-11T07:52:00.000-08:00

Sook a soor ploom and keep a straight face.......was an Edinburgh saying that meant something similar to keeping a stiff upper lip. The sweeties were boilings - candy balls - with a zingy acidic flavour. Sweet and sour. They are supposed to have originated in the Borders, in Galashiels, in the 14th century when locals found intruders from across the border raiding their plum trees. The first sook - suck - of a soor ploom - sour plum - is a mouth punishing experience. Weird, really. This tart reminds me of them although I promise it is much more mouth pleasing than punishing.......

Soor Ploom Tart

Base:
150g plain flour

25g ground almonds

125g hard butter

1 tablespoon of icing sugar

Filling:
450g plums

275ml creme fraiche

25g caster sugar

3 large egg yolks

1 teaspoon mixed spice

50g demerera sugar

Preheated oven: 180C/gas4

Flan tin, 25cm, greased

Make the pastry: either tip the ingredients for the base into a food processor and whizz to crumbs. Or rub the butter into the flour and almonds and add the icing sugar.

Now press it into the flan tin. No need to roll it.....just pat it down, using your knuckles to get it up the sides of the flan tin.

Halve the plums and remove the stones. Add the creme fraiche, caster sugar and mixed spice to the egg yolks and beat them together.

Pour or spoon the mixture over the base. Arrange the plum halves over the top, cut side facing you. Bake for 25 minutes.

Carefully remove the tin from the oven and scatter the demerara sugar over the top. Put it back in the oven, turn up the heat to 220C/gasmark7 and bake for another 10 minutes or so until the top is nicely brown.

You can serve this warm or cold.

A Harlequin Terrine

2010-12-11T05:30:00.000-08:00

Your wish is my command Letticeleaf.....

Over the years I've made lots of different vegetable terrines. These two are the ones with ticks on the corner of the scribbled pages. Which means they went down well. The first is rich and special, the second is more everyday and - ssshhhh - I've made occasionally with leftover veggies.

HARLEQUIN TERRINE

This is adapted from a Leith's recipe. The vegetables were cooked and served in individual moulds. Too much faff I thought. The only tricky bit is turning out the terrine. If you cook it in a loaf tin there's a tendency for it to stick a bit on the sides. You could line the greased tin with baking parchment, BakeO-Glide cut to fit or, even clingfilm. I use a greased loose-bottomed cake tin and wrap the outside of the tin with tinfoil to stop it leaking. Works every time.

1 leek, white part only, chopped very finely

425ml double cream or creme fraiche

300g carrot, coarsely grated

1 teaspoon spice - ginger or nutmeg

salt

1 tablespoon finely chopped herbs, parsley, coriander or sage

200g courgettes, coarsely grated

120g frozen peas

1 tablespoon mint, finely chopped

100g baby spinach leaves

3 large eggs

1 egg yolk

Preheated oven 180C/gas4

Grease the baking dish and line.

Put the leek and cream or creme fraiche, into a medium saucepan and cook over a low heat for about 10 minutes until the leek is soft. Set aside to cool.

Cook the carrots in just enough salted water to cover for 3 or 4 minutes until soft. Strain and add the spice.

Cook the courgettes in the same way. Add the chopped mint for the last minute of cooking. Strain

Cook the peas for a minute or so and strain.

Beat the eggs and egg yolk and mix into the leek mixture. Add half the mixture to the carrots and the other half to the courgettes.

Now you are going to layer the vegetables in the cooking dish.

Start with the courgettes and spoon into the dish. Level. Now scatter over the peas. Next, layer on the carrots and smooth the top. Now scatter the raw spinach on top. Cover with greased baking parchment, cut to fit, or with tinfoil.

Place the dish in a baking tin and surround with hot water to come about half-way up the sides. Place on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for 45 to 50 minutes.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool for a few minutes to make it easier to turn out. It tastes best lukewarm.

You can make this in advance, turn it out and reheat in the microwave for three minutes.

I serve it with dollops of creme fraiche with a tablespoon of horseradish or chopped mint stirred through.

STRIPY VEG TERRINE

This has been adapted over the years but started out as a recipe from Rose Elliot. It makes a good first course and also looks good on a buffet turned out onto a big plate. Following quantities will serve about 6.

225g carrots, chopped into even sized pieces

225g frozen peas

225g spinach

3 large egg yolks

3 tablespoons creme fraiche or double cream

Salt and pepper

Teaspoon grated nutmeg

Preheat oven 170C/gas4

Grease a 450g loaf tin and line with a strip of greaseproof paper to cover the base and extend up the narrow sides. You'll use this to turn out the terrine.

Cook the carrots and peas in separate pans in just enough water to cover until tender. Microwave the spinach or cook in a pan with just a tablespoon of water for 3 - 4 minutes.

Drain the vegetables well then puree each separately - a blender, food process or stick blender makes short work of it. Add one of the egg yolks to each mixture.

Add the cream to the purered peas and stir it in.

Season each of the mixtures with salt and pepper. Add the nutmeg to the spinach puree.

Spoon the carrot into the bottom of the tin, levelling with a spoon. Spoon the pea puree in an even layer on top. The paniach puree goes on top of that.

Cover with foil and bake for about 50 minutes. Leave to cool in the tin, if serving later, then turn out. Again it can be reheated gently in the oven until lukewarm or given a couple of minutes in the microwave.

So excited - a virtual farmers' market in Leith

2010-12-10T13:14:00.000-08:00

I don't do placement or advertising. So this is a genuine thank you to GreenerMonday - a very small outfit that deserves to grow big time. Used them to send a box - I know, ridiculously big - of local products to my nephew in London as a birthday gift. They tick all of my boxes - local, Leith (sob, where I come from) and thoughtfully green.

And they have the patience of a batch of saints. So thank you GreenerLeith. You are my new bestest site.

And Ross LOVED the produce. Suspect he's still trying to get to the bottom of the box.

www.greenermonday.com

Nope, still can't comment

2010-12-09T16:03:00.000-08:00

Not me obviously but you get the drift Blogspot

Hello LL,

As you can see I still can't post comments: but thought I'd get round it by posting direct. Yes, you're right, the Sicilian potato cake mix does look and feel very wet. But the eggs are what hold it together and make it work. That's why I use three. But - hey - if two work for you that's great. Always think recipes are guides rather than do-it-like-this instructions anyway. And instinct is what cooking's really about, isn't it? Trust yourself.. Anyway, different potatoes take up different amounts of liquid - so some like Maris Piper and King Edwards absorb lots of milk. Others less so. Especially the waxy ones which sook up very little. Doesn't matter. Do what works I say. And does this work on a diet? Yes, if you leave out the cheese, the milk, the eggs and the potatoes. Oh and probably the breadcrumbs. Enjoy the fresh air......mxxxxxx

LetticeLeaf in her best frock

FUDGIE FRIDGE CAKE

2010-12-09T07:26:00.000-08:00

A no-bake cake that was a standby for birthday parties and was as popular with grown-ups as with the five year olds.

You will need a 7x7in baking tin, about an inch deep. Line with clingfilm, letting it drape over the sides.

150g good quality chocolate

15g butter

125g digestive biscuits

75g mini-marshmallows

50g dried fruit - cranberries, blueberries, cherries or sultanas

Break the chocolate into a bowl, add the butter cut into bits and place over a pan of simmering water. Let it melt gently and stir until smooth.

Meanwhile, bash the biscuits to bits. You want them to be uneven sized, not all crumbs. Less mess if you place them inside a sealed bag before attacking them with the rolling pin. Or blitz them in in the processor.

Add the biscuits, marshmallows and dried fruit to the bowl of melted chocolate and mix with a metal spoon.

Press into the tin and smooth the top.

Put the tin in the fridge for a couple of hours.

To serve, use the clingfilm to remove from the tin and cut into slices or small squares.

I'm just thinking of their teeth.........

BANOFFEE BUNS

2010-12-09T06:29:00.000-08:00

The best use I know for over-ripe bananas.....

.....you want soft chewy toffees to make these, not the hard brittle type. Marks & Spencer and Thornton's work well.

Pre-heated oven 180C/gas4

Individual paper cake cases: you'll get 10 good sized ones or 12 a bit smaller.

125g caster sugar

125g butter, softened

2 eggs, lightly beaten

3 over-ripe bananas, mashed.

150g self-raising flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

Beat the butter and sugar together until fluffy. Add the eggs a little at a time. Dollop in the mashed bananas and mix. Now sieve the flour and baking powder onto the mix and fold in.

Spoon into individual paper cases. I put the cases into a bun tray before they go into the oven but a metal baking tray will do. You should get about 8 to 10 cakes from the mix.

Place in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes until springy and light brown on top.

Cool on a metal rack.

While they are cooling make the topping:

250g soft chewy toffees

300g butter

400g icing sugar

4 tablespoons milk

Grated chocolate - optional

Place the toffee and butter in a bowl over a pan of simmering water and stir until melted and well mixed. Take off the heat and sift in icing sugar. Add a tablespoon of milk and beat. An electric mixer makes short work of this bit but you can use elbow-grease and a wooden spoon instead. If the mixture is too stiff, add more milk little by little. If it is too runny, place the bowl in the fridge for 5 minutes then beat again. Spoon or pipe onto the individual cakes. If I have a bit of chocolate lying around, I grate some over the cakes.

see Rome and sigh....

2010-12-06T03:32:00.000-08:00

thank you Caravaggio

There are worse places to be stranded than Rome. Six cancelled flights later and got as far as London. Three hours in baggage hall later, staggered on to night bus from Heathrow. It was jam packed with shift workers - you know, those often denigrated as 'economic migrants' - and got into sleeping London at 4.30 in the morning. Irish friends set off from Rome at 5am for train to Milan to get flight to Dublin. Why does it feel less like Europe, more somewhere peculiarly Mediaeval when snow falls?

All of which is by way of saying why there have been no postings for a while.

Normal service will resume once I make the last leg home......which may take some time.

Never mind. Memories of the best pizza I've ever eaten - in Piazza Navona, in winter sunshine, amidst the Christmas market - will sustain me.

Meanwhile - a couple of tips: if you want to see the three Caravaggios in the French church, San Luigi dei Francesi, don't go on a Thursday afternoon. It's shut. You could head instead for Sant'Agostino where Raphael frescoed Isaiah in 1512 on the third pillar on the right. Drop a couple of coins into the offertory to illuminate Madonna del Loreto, Caravaggio's moving depiction of two scruffy pilgrims venerating Mary carrying her over-sized Christ child. Bit of a contrast to the stylised, idealised portraiture of the 1600s hanging in our own galleries.

peas, parmesan and black pudding for Joni

2010-11-29T14:17:00.000-08:00

Old friends, fun and feasting......what a good night we had. Such fun that I clean forgot to take pictures. Sorry Joni.

Here's the one you liked best.

FOR FOUR

Set oven to 190C

A small bag of frozen peas - I use petit poit because they are sweeter

75g Parmesan

Twist of black pepper

A dozen clams or six scallops

4 slices Stornoway black pudding (Charley Barley is our favourite)

Bring a pan of water to the boil and add the peas. Cook for a couple of minutes then drain. Grate in the Parmesan, grind in the pepper then mash or whizz in a processor. Let it cool while you.....

Place black pudding slices on a tin in the oven and bake for 15 minutes.

While the pudding is cooking, heat a small pan with a spoonful of olive oil to hot. Throw in the clams and cook, briefly, for about 20 seconds. If using scallops, slice them thinly and flash fry for about 20 seconds.

I used the clam shells to serve - a spoonful of peas, a few bits of chopped up black pudding topped with the clams or scallops.

This was one small dish alongside others - in the style of Spanish tapas. A food memory of that family holiday we shared in Majorca. Will post the smoked haddock brandade later in the week......

WHEN BACCHUS CAN'T DO IT.....

2010-11-29T13:51:00.000-08:00


courtesy of Caravaggio

....just call on Eve, and substitute apple juice for white wine

Or grape juice for red.....

....and add a squeeze of lemon or lime or a teaspoon of vinegar to get the tartness.

I'm posting this in response to Elizabeth's comment that she can't take wine ( still can't post or respond to comments, sorry ). Should also add that the alcohol in wine cooks away, leaving the essence, in main course recipes - I don't suppose Coq au Vin would work with anything other but who knows - but if people don't want to risk it, always happy to meet the challenge.

Thanks for your comment Elizabeth and hope this helps.

FRIENDSHIP IS A SLOW RIPENING FRUIT...

2010-11-28T16:21:00.000-08:00

which is a cheesy way of posting the date recipe for Joni.

8 slices of serrano or parma ham

16 Medjool dates, pitted

16 almonds, preferably roasted or smoked

Place an almond in each date. Wrap in a half slice of ham. Bake in the oven at 200c for 10 minutes. Serve. And remember to tell your guest that it's an almond not a stone inside the date. Sorry Brian.

EASYPEASY LEMONSQUEEZY PUDDING

2010-11-28T15:15:00.000-08:00

I know - what a ridiculous name. But it's really called posset and it puts me off. Posset is what wee babies do on your shoulder when you are winding them. Never mind - this is also a ridiculously easy end to a meal. And it does involve squeezing lemons. So there.

600 mil double cream - approximately: some tubs are just under which is fine

135g unrefined caster sugar

2 lemons, just the juice

Put the cream and sugar into a medium sized pan. Bring it slowly up to boiling point. Let it boil for EXACTLY 3 minutes. Stand over it. You need to watch it like a hawk because it will boil over if you don't. Take it off the heat for a few seconds if it threatens to erupt like Vesuvius. I set the timer on the microwave to make sure the timing is precise.

When 3 minutes are up take it off the heat. Add the squeezed juice of 2 lemons. Whisk it in. Empty it into a jug. Pour into individual pots: I like to use small coffee cups because they are not much use for anything else. You will get 8 generous or 10 slightly smaller servings, depending on the size of the pots.

Place in the fridge for an hour or so. They emerge with a lovely silky texture.

Serve with shortbread or Italian almond biscuits. Sometimes I pour a big teaspoon of Limoncello liqueur over the top before serving.

only working for some of us

2010-11-24T16:57:00.000-08:00

Thank you LL...but there is a big problem which they haven't managed to fix yet. Only favourites can read I think. Comments not working again...sorry.

SORRY TO BE A BORE

2010-11-24T15:35:00.000-08:00

BUT I NEED

The glitch on the blog means I have no way of knowing if I am posting into the cyber-ether or if anyone is still able to read it. Please, can somebody, anybody, let me know if this is publishing?

Thank you.

CASUAL CASSOULET-ish SUPPER

2010-11-24T03:39:00.000-08:00

Chris cooked a lovely warming cassoulet when we were round for supper last week. Proper rib-sticking stuff. It's a controversial dish, the cassoulet - food writers, chefs, culinary commentators have been arguing over its constituent parts for years. Pah. It should be a creature of its maker. Beans, herbs, good sausages and duck or chicken or pork or lamb. Topped with crispy breadcrumbs.
Delicious.......

but I still don't have a functioning oven and Sam was coming round, unexpectedly, for supper last night. So here's my quick thrown together take which can't really be called cassoulet - it was what I had to hand. You can adapt it at will. That's what I like about home-cooking.....

Serves 4

500g good-quality sausages

2 large onions, sliced

4 garlic cloves, sliced

1 teaspoon dried thyme

1 tablespoon paprika

Large glass of red wine

Tin of chopped tomatoes

Half a bottle of passata (sieved tomatoes) or a tablespoon of tomato puree in a mugful of hot water

2 tins of beans, cannellini are good

1 tin of chickpeas

2 cups of roughly grated breadcrumbs

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

olive oil

salt and pepper and a pinch of sugar

Soften the onion slowly on a low heat in a good glug of olive oil. About 10 minutes should do it. Add the garlic and cook for a couple minutes more. Add the sausages to the pan and turn up the heat a bit to brown them - about five minutes should do it. Stir in the paprika and thyme. Add the wine and turn up the heat a bit until it bubbles.

Now add the tinned tomatoes and passata (or tomato paste in water) and stir. When it comes up to bubbling stage, turn down the heat and let it simmer for a couple of minutes. Now add the beans and let it cook very slowly for as long as you have. Mine bubbled away merrily for half-an-hour. Finally, taste and add the salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar (this works to take any metallic taste away from tinned tomatoes.)

Just before you serve it, strew the breadcrumbs over the top. Drizzle with olive oil and brown under the grill. Or if you prefer - and I would, any time - put the breadcrumbs on a baking sheet and brown for 10 minutes or so in a hot oven then strew them over the dish. Finally add the chopped parsley.

Serve it with a loaf of crusty bread and a crisp green salad.

Didn't have time to make Christina's delicious home-made ice-cream but I will another time.......

COCK-A-LEEKIE

2010-11-21T07:21:00.000-08:00

It is a challenge to keep coming up with good food without the aid of a working oven. Until I get home you'll have to bear with me and stove-top cooking. Which is where cock-a-leekie comes in. It is so good and so simple and somewhere between a soup and a stew. Elizabeth Luard, the brilliant cookery writer and author of European Peasant Cookery, describes it as a kissing cousin to ancient English dishes like gallimaufry, the Welsh cawl and the French pot-au-feu. I suspect it borrows its name from the time of the Auld Alliance when the French and Scots traded between ports - coq-au-vin turned into cock-a-leekie using old fowls and leeks perhaps. No idea where the addition of prunes would have come from....but, trust me, it works.

1 chicken (about 2kg/4.5lbs)

or equivalent weight in thighs and drumsticks

3.5 litres/about 6 pints water

1 tablespoon of sea salt

Very good grinding of black pepper

12 prunes

Put the chicken into a large pot. Cover with water, bring to the boil and skim off any grey scum. Season with salt and pepper and leave to simmer for about 2 hours.

Rinse the leeks, trim off just the tough tops - you want to use a lot of the green in this recipe - and slice coarsely. Add half of the leeks to the pot about half-an-hour after it starts to simmer. After an hour and a half, add the rest. Add the prunes now too.

By the end of the cooking time, the first leeks will have boiled down to a mush and the remainder will thicken the dish.

To serve, joint the chicken - it will pull apart easily with a fork - and ladle straight from the pot.

If you want a slightly more substantial dish, add some sliced potatoes about half an hour befor the end of cooking. The soup is sometimes thickened with a handful of fine-ground oatmeal. Some recipes add a couple of handfuls of rice. It is very much up to you. I add a handful of fresh chopped green herbs before serving to brighten it up.

Serve with good crusty bread. A one-pot meal that's almost worth not having an oven for. Almost.

update: SCREAM....there's a glitch in the blog

2010-11-19T05:05:00.000-08:00

I can now post but can't correct on screen. Forgive the typos and blips........

so I haven't been able to post for days and days. Sorry. Nor have I been able to comment so haven't had the chance to thank LettisLeaf for her lovely potato pastry recipe which I am going to try as soon as I get home to an oven that works......

Yes, yes: I've used this before but I like recycling

Add caption

Back soon.

SICILIAN POTATO CAKE

2010-11-14T10:59:00.000-08:00

Am running behind, sorry. Here's the Sicilian potato cake we had last Sunday. Big gathering for lunch. Not often we get so many family and friends together in the same place at the same time.

Main course was pork shoulder steeped overnight in spices, which you'll find under Porcetta for Catherine way back at the beginning of the blog. Served it with cauliflower cheese and cavello nero - Italian black cabbage - simply chopped and steamed.

The favourite, as it always is, was the Sicilian potato cake which Joni first made way back in, ooh, too long ago to remember. It was the year we'd taken a holiday house for the two families in Sicily and to our delight discovered that the rooms for the teenagers - was it really only 10 of them? - were in outhouses surrounding the house. Bliss.......for everyone.

1.2k floury potatoes - Maris Piper or King Edwards

100g butter

250g milk

Big ball of mozarella

250g Parmesan, preferably freshly grated

200g dolcelatta or provelone

8 slices of salami, torn up

6 slices coppa or a dry-cured ham like Parma

3 large free range eggs, beaten with a fork

A cup of breadcrumbs

Handful of chopped parsley or chives

Peel and slice the potatoes and bring to the boil then turn down the heat and simmer until soft, about 15 to 20 minutes.

Drain the poatoes, cover and set aside. Heat the milk and butter together. Mash the potatoes, then add the warm milk and butter. This way they will be fluffy. Cold milk makes them sieze up and go lumpy.

Break up the cheeses and add them to the pan, forking them through the potatoes.

Tear up the bits of meat and fork them through the mixture. Add the herbs and mix. Taste. It might not need salt because of the parmesan and meats.

Now add the eggs and use a wooden spoon to beat them into the mixture.

Butter a loose-bottomed cake tin, about 23cm, and pat breadcrumbs on the bottom and round the sides.
(If you don't have one you can use a shallow dish instead; it just looks wonderful served as a sliced cake.)

Dollop into the tin, even the top and sprinkle leftover crumbs over. Place in the oven for 45 minutes to an hour, until it's browned on top.

When cooked, let it sit in the tin for about 10 minutes before turning out.

This is delicious warm or at room temperature. And it serves around 12 or 8 very hungry people.

If there are veggies around I just leave out the meat and add more cheese, with a handful of fresh thyme leaves to up the flavour.

Happy anniversary, just a bit late

2010-11-13T15:19:00.000-08:00


Fresh beetroot grown and dug by cyreniansfarm.org.uk, organic farm with a difference, home to a community of vulnerable young people.

Would like to say we had a lovely anniversary meal to celebrate 24 years but it would only be partly true. We did what we do every year. Forgot. Never mind, at least the bit about having a lovely meal is true. (Thank you Tarelgin Farm Food's smokehouse in Ayr for braving a cold Balerno farmers' market - the whisky smoked haddock and fresh scallops tasted as good as I hoped they would.) In past years, one of us wakes up a fortnight or so after the forgotten anniversary and digs the other in the ribs to say we've done it again. Only a day out this year so that's a record. Enjoyed the wedding, love the marriage - no reason not to remember. Must be something to do with the odd November date......didn't want to get married on Friday the 13th so it was Thursday 12th. Not a good excuse. Next year for sure. I hope.

IF-ONLY-WE'D-KNOWN-IT-WAS-A-CELEBRATORY-RISOTTO.....

I'd have taken a picture. But we didn't so I haven't.

Smoked haddock, leek and spinach risotto with scallops

2 undyed smoked haddock, milk to cover

1 large onion, finely chopped

1 leek, white part only, sliced thin

A handful of spinach leaves

2 big garlic cloves, finely chopped

250g arborio rice

A glass of white wine

500g hot stock, vegetable or chicken

2 big tablespoons olive oil

100g butter

Put the haddock in a pot and just cover with milk. Bring it up to simmering point on a medium heat. When it starts to bubble take it off the heat, cover with a lid and put to one side.

Heat the oil and melt the butter on a low heat in a wide shallow pan. Add the onion and leek and sweat - that means cook very gently - for about 15 minutes until it's soft but not brown. Add the garlic and cook for a couple of minutes more.

Add the rice to the pan and move it about so that it is coated in the buttery juices.

Heat the stock in a separate pan and keep it simmering gently.

Add the wine to the rice/onion mix. Stir it in. The rice will sook it up after about five minutes.

Keep stirring.

Now add the hot stock a ladleful (or cup full) at a time. Let it cook down until it is absorbed by the rice. You need to keep on stirring all the time.

Strain the milk from the fish into the pan.

It will take upwards of 20 minutes for the rice to absorb all of the stock/milk and to soften.

Finally flake the haddock. Add it to the mixture and fork it through. Throw in the handful of spinach and let it wilt.

Taste it. It might not need any salt. Grind in some black pepper if you like.

The consistency you are looking for is a slightly soupy rice.

Cover the risotto and quickly cook the scallops slices in a dod of butter and glug of oil on a high heat.

They really, really just need to be shown the heat - about 10 seconds on each side.

Ladle out the risotto onto plates, dot a few scallop slices on top.

Serve with salad leaves. Enjoy.

Dear Nigel,

2010-11-12T13:20:00.000-08:00

I love Nigel Slater's new Simple Suppers programme. He is real, he is honest and he is inspiring. And he's not a show-off. For years and years I've torn out his Observer recipes and used them as templates. They're not so much recipes as maps. So - go to the fridge. See what's in it. Knock up something delicious from the contents.

And every time I look at him I remember my old editor's saying - ' a face that'd get a scone at any door'.

If he came to my door, these are the scones I'd make for him.

SCONES FOR NIGEL

Oven: very hot, about 230C

225g self-raising flour

1 level teaspoon baking powder

50g butter

25g caster sugar

1 large egg

About 150 plain yoghurt or 150g milk and a teaspoon of lemon juice

Pinch of salt

(The secret to good scones is not to have the mixture too dry. You want a slightly sticky texture.)

Rub the butter into the flour and baking powder with your fingertips until it's like clumpy breadcrumbs. Or whizz in the food processor. Add the sugar and salt.

Add the egg to the yoghurt and beat with a fork. If you're using milk/lemon juice, combine and let it stand for a minute or so until the milk is curdled, then beat in the egg.

Now, pour the liquid onto the flour mix. With a knife, combine the mixtures.

Flour your hands and lift the mixture onto a floured surface. Pat it out until it's about an inch thick. Cut into rounds with a cutter, around 2" is good. If you don't have one, use a tumbler.

Flour a baking tin. Gently help the scones out of the cutter onto the tin using your fingers. Bake for about 12 to 15 minutes.

When you take them out of the oven, let them cool before you devour them. Or else....terrible indigestion. Warm is fine though. And scones are always best on the day you make them.

Serve with good butter or jam and dollops of thick cream or creme fraiche.

YAY ANNA.....looking good

2010-11-03T10:19:00.000-07:00

........Anna made Nessie's chocolate cake, even though she didn't have scales or a sieve, the eggs were cold and it took 45 minutes in the gas oven. A triumph!

And she followed Nessie's method. She creamed the butter and sugar by hand - and I do mean by hand. No mixer, not even a wooden spoon. She just got her warm hands in there and got on with it.

(The list of ingredients is in the cakes and buns section: still haven't worked out how to link recipes despite the best efforts of many to help.)

THE WILD BUNCH WEEKEND: WHAT WE ATE

2010-10-29T06:51:00.000-07:00

Fresh scallops and Stornoway black pudding for starters. And look, here's - who is it? Rhona, is that you? - well, one of us round the table, opening the big heap of scallops. Aided and abetted by a stiff gin, it was almost tolerable.

They were sliced in half, flash fried in olive oil and butter and served with the sliced black pudding, baked on a high heat in the oven for 15 minutes.

photo courtesy of Cary

Followed by paella - the recipe for which is elsewhere on the blog.

Cary took this picture too

He did not die in vain. No. He was plucked from the seas, driven home, and then to be greeted by ungrateful wretches claiming to feel sorry for him and refusing to shake his claw. Get over yourselves.....

Isn't he gorgeous?

The scallops, the paella, the spoons on noses. (Thank you Jan. Very instructive.)

What a great weekend........thank you Helen for initiating, driving and hosting.

Thank you to the rest of you too for the fun and the friendship.

No, I know: not us. But you get the drift.

pudding and pies...more

2010-10-24T12:30:00.000-07:00

EVE'S PUDDING

A warming, homely pudding. I was reminded of it recently when I went to a fundraising lunch for the Eve Appeal - a brilliant charity that raises funds for research into gynaelogical cancers. It was at Le Gavroche. A room full of interesting women, a delicious meal, a welcome from Michel Roux Junior and a very good cause: thank you for inviting me. Can't match the incomparable food served at the lunch. Here's a simple pud instead.

2 large apples (about 500g: Bramley's work well)

2 tablespoons water

30g butter

2 tablespoons caster sugar

TOPPING

80G SOFT BUTTER

100G CASTER SUGAR

100G SELF-RAISING FLOUR

2 EGGS, BEATEN

1 TABLESPOON BOILING WATER

Oven 180C

Peel, core and roughly chop the apple. Put it in a pan with the water, cover and cook on a medium heat for about five minutes until the apples are soft. Take off the heat, add butter and caster sugar and stir them in. Transfer to a pie dish, or similar, 2 to 3 inches deep.

Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy. Fold in the flour and the eggs a tablespoonful at a time. Add tablespoon of boiling water and mix it in. Dollop the mixture over the apples.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes.

Serve with custard, thick cream or vanilla ice cream.

JOHN'S GREAT-GRANNY'S CHOCOLATE LOAF CAKE

Feebee made this for her family's Sunday supper. She says they loved it and scoffed the lot. John kindly posted it a couple of week's ago - his granny made it and the recipe was handed down from her granny.

Don't you love hand-me-down recipes? It deserves a post of its own. Thanks for sharing it John.

Oven: Gas Mark 4 or equivalent

5 oz self-raising flour

6 oz soft butter or marg

6 oz caster sugar

3 oz drinking chocolate (or 2oz drinking chocolate and 1 oz cocoa)

3 large eggs

3 tablespoons boiling water

Beat everything together for two minutes. Put mix into a greased and lined loaf tin. Bake for 1 hour.

Thanks for this John - so simple, so delicious

APPLE AND PRUNE PUDDING...

This is adapted from a recipe by the great Australian home-cook Gretta Anna Teplitzky who sadly died this year. I use a food processor to make it.

Oven 170C.

First stage:

140g soft butter

200g caster sugar

2 eggs, beaten

85g self-raising flour

115g ground almonds

125ml milk

Half a teaspoon baking powder

1 tablespoon very hot water

Second stage:

10 stoned prunes, chopped in half

115g chopped hazelnuts, mixed with a tablespoon of caster sugar

3 big tablespoons demerara sugar

2 red applies, cored and sliced

1 ounce of butter, chopped into bits

Place all of the ingredients from the first stage into the processor and run for about 20 seconds. Scrape down the bowl and process for a few seconds more. Pour the batter into a buttered 9"/23cm round cake tin.

Dot the prunes over the cake. Arrange the sliced apples over the surface. Sprinkle on the hazelnuts and sugar. Bake in the oven for about 45 minutes. Now carefully pull the rack out of the oven and sprinkle the surface of the cake with the demerara sugar. Dot with bits of butter and bake for another 20 minutes.

Cool in the tin.

STICKY TOFFEE PUDDING

This is such a good winter pudding.

I'm going to give the same ingredients with different methods.

Set the oven to 170C

PUDDING

175g dates, stoned and chopped

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

300ml very hot water

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

120g butter

170g caster sugar

2 large eggs

175g self raising flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

SAUCE

200g brown sugar

140g butter

200ml double or whipping cream

FIRST METHOD; if you have a food processor:

Whizz the dates, bicarbonate of soda and water in the processor - put the lid in, because it will splutter everywhere if you don't.

Pour into a mixing bowl. Stir in the vanilla extract.

Put the flour, sugar, butter and eggs into the processor and whizz for a minute.

Now pour the dates and water mix back into the processor and switch on for a couple of minutes until everything is combined.

Pour into the cooking dish and bake in the oven for 30 - 35 minutes.

SECOND WAY without a processor

Chop the dates finely. Put in a pan with a half pint of water and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and stir in a teaspoon of bircarbonate of soda and the vanilla exttact. Set aside.

Cream the butter and sugar, add the eggs bit by bit. Fold in the flour. Now add the date mixture to the batter and combine.. Pour into the tin and bake for 30 -35 nminutes.

SAUCE

Melt the butter over a very gentle heat then add the sugar. Pour in the cream and turn up the heat to medium.

Bring up to a bubble and let it boil away for about three minutes.

Pour some over the cooked pudding and set it aside to let the sauce sook in. Pour the rest of the sauce into a jug for pouring over.

I like to make this ahead and reheat, under tinfoil, in the oven with a slosh of the sauce for about 15 minutes at 160C.

Or drizzle it with sauce and microwave for three minutes.

We have it at Christmas for those who don't like Christmas pudding - most - and it's served with a big dod of thick cream on the side. Or a splodge of vanilla ice cream - we like Mackie's or Luca's ice-cream best.

MARMALADE AND GINGER PUDDING

I like this best with lime marmalade but any sort works. You can also tweak the spices to vary the taste.

Set oven to 160C

150g caster sugar

150g soft butter

3 medium eggs, eaten

75g self raising flour

3 teaspoons ground ginger

25g breadcumbs (I grate them)

6 tablespoons marmalade

Whizz everything in a food processor.

Or beat together everthing with an electric whisk.
Pour the batter into a greased tin or dish - about 9"/23cm.

Put in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes.

I like to serve this with double cream whipped to soft peaks with a squeeze of citrus - if it's lime marmalade, use lemon: if it's lime use orange. You get the drift.

BANOFFEE PIE.....

This is a party pudding. Or for when someone in the family deserves a celebration. Warning: it is tooth-achingly sweet but the sight of it elicits moans of delight. I used to boil tins of condensed milk six at a time and keep them in the cupboard to make this. Now most supermarkets sell jars of Dulce de Leche - a toffee sauce from Argentina. Saves a lot of time and the fear of exploding cans......

200g of dark chocolate digestive biscuits, or similar

100g butter, melted

450g jar of Dulce de Leche

450g bananas, sliced

280ml double cream, whipped

Dark chocolate shavings to decorate

Whizz the biscuits in a food processor to crumbs. (Or bash them to bits inside a freezer bag with something heavy).

Add the butter to the crumbs and press into a loose bottom tin - about 23cm/9". Use your knuckles to press down and even out.

Spoon over the sauce. Top with the sliced bananas.

Spoon the lightly whipped cream over and sprinkle with the chocolate shavings.

Leave it in the fridge to firm up for an hour or so.

Thank you Jeane for reminding me of this.

How many years is it since I gave you the recipe? No, don't answer that.........

HAZELNUT MERINGUE

3 large free range egg whites

175g caster sugar

75g ground hazelnuts

275ml double cream

A punnet of raspberries

Oven: 170c

Oil two sandwich tins of about 7in/18cm

Line the base with greaseproof paper and rub some oil on it

Whisk the egg whites in a bowl until they stand in stiff peaks. Whisk in the sugar, a teaspoonful at a time. It will be glossy. Now gently fold in the ground hazelnuts.

Divide the mixture between the two tins and use the back of a tablespoon to gently even them out.

Bake the meringues for about 25 minutes. When you take them out of the oven, leave them in the tins for about half an hour.

Then loosen round the edges with a blunt knife, turn them out onto a rack and peel off the base paper.

Whip the cream to soft peaks. Spread it over one meringue. Scatter the raspberries over the cream and top with the second meringue.

When the raspberry season is over, I've made this using rhubarb stewed with a grating of ginger and a squeeze of lime. Passion fruit, pips and all, also work well.

Hector and Robert - this is for you. After your 21st parties I never wanted to see another meringue but I've got over it......................

PAVLOVA

6 large free range egg whites

350g caster sugar

a teaspoon of white wine vinegar

a teaspoon of cornflour

Set the oven to 160c

Line a baking sheet with greaseproof paper

Whisk the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Whisk in the sugar a spoonful at a time - patience, patience, it really does improve the pavlova to go slowly with the sugar until it is all used up.

Sprinkle the vinegar and the cornflour over the top and give the mix a final whisk to distribute them.

Ladle large spoonfuls of the meringue onto the baking sheet, so that you make a large circle. Even it out a bit with a light hand.

Put it in the oven then IMMEDIATELY turn down the heat to 140C.

After an hour and a quarter, turn off the oven.

Leave the pavlova inside until the oven is cool

To serve, turn the pavlova turn it out onto a large plate or tray so that the paper is facing up. Carefully pull the paper off.

Whip the cream until it holds its shape. Spread it over the meringue.

In summer strew berries over the top - just strawberries or a mixture of different berries if you like.

In winter, I've used thinly sliced clementines or mandarins and pomegranate seeds. Or passion fruit but you'll need about 10. And there's no harm, in the dark days, of using a bag of good frozen (defrosted) fruits from the supermarket freezer cabinet.

When I make either of the above, I use the yolks to make a second pudding. You don't have to serve both at the same time but the wise Erma Brombeck urges us to seize the moment: "Remember all those women on the Titanic who waved away the dessert trolley."


                                                           RHUBARB AND CUSTARD BRULEE

                                                           Half a dozen stems of rhubarb, chopped

                                                           75g caster sugar

                                                            6 egg yolks

                                                            600ml double cream

                                                             A teaspoon of vanilla extract

                            Either stew the rhubarb in two big tablespoons of water
with the sugar on a low to medium heat until soft or put it, covered, in the oven for about 20 minutes. Let it cool. Strain off the juice into a jug.

Set oven to 160c. Pour hot water into a big roasting tin and put it in the oven.

Lay the cooled rhubarb on the bottom of a large flan dish,  shallow casserole or something similar.

Now whisk the eggs with the sugar for a couple of minutes. Add the cream and whisk again until well-mixed. Add the vanilla extract and stir.

Pour this custard carefully over the rhubarb.   Carefully put the dish into the water bath in the oven. Leave it to bake for about 30 minutes.

Take it out and leave it to cool - it will set a bit which is what you want.

You can serve it like this, with the rhubarb juice on the side. Or you can do as I do and brulee it......

(I want all students to stop reading here RIGHT NOW. You are not to do this unless you are at home under my beady eye.)

Scatter a thin layer of caster sugar over the cooled custard. Use a blowtorch - or a very high grill heat - to caramelise the topping.

I've given up on kitchen blowtorches. Mimsy things. They take forever to caramelise the sugar. I use a big butch blowtorch, the sort you get in B&Q for DIY. When the gasmen were round a week or so ago we compared blowtorches over a cup of tea......mine was bigger than theirs.

carlos porto/freedigitalphotos.net

                                                            LIMONCELLO SEMI-FREDDO

                                                                   Big, big tub of double cream - about 600ml
                                                                   Jar of really good lemon curd
(you can make your own with the leftover egg yolks, great. But if you've got no time there's no shame)
                                                                Amaretto biscuits.

Whisk the cream to soft peaks. Fold in the lemon curd. Crush the biscuits - inside a plastic bag and bash with something wooden is fine. You want lots of knobbly bits and some crumbs. Nothing refined.

Mix everything together. Add a couple of tablespoons of limoncello - or brandy, or vodka, or any alcohol you fancy - the point is that the alcohol stops it freezing solid.

Put it into a fairly shallow - 2 inches sort of thing - dish and freeze for at least 12 hours.

Take it out of the freezer about an hour before you want to serve it - maybe when you start to serve the meal. I put it on the table and serve it with berries or any fruit in season. Nothing else.