Figs in Rum Syrup

I am married to a domestic god - almost! 10 figs were ripe to a stage where they were falling off the tree - not normally an issue as I'm good at eating figs! However, I can't eat solids atm due to some dentistry. We dug out the recipe books & found one for figs in a rum syrup which Husband duly assembled - will report on how they taste in a few weeks!

Anyway, recipe came from Nigella Lawson's "How to be a Domestic Goddess" .

Lots more figs to come - as you can see from the pic!

Fried Green Tomatoes

I almost got creative at the weekend! Well, as close as I get to being creative in the kitchen.... We had a few green tomatoes due to tomato plants trying to fall over & I was trying to work out what to do with them. A mentioned that she's done a green tomato tarte tatin before so I messed around with the idea:

Melted a small knob of butter & added my green tomatoes (halved as they were cherries), let them goa bit brown & then knocked the heat right down for about 15 mins, moving them around to try & release some moisture. I added a teaspoon of soft brown sugar towards the end, mixing well.

I skipped the pastry bit as the dish was looking calorific already & pastry tends to give Husband bad indigestion.

We had the tomatoes as a side dish for a roast dinner & it worked quite well - the sharpness took the edge off the rich food. I wouldn't pick green tomatoes to make this, but it was a neat way to avoid throwing them straight into the compost....

Pasta with Carrots & Sausagemeat

I think this started off as a dish from a Sainburys pasta cookbook I used a lot as a student - but again, it's been warped over the years! Long cooking time is essential - at least 1 hour but the most arduous stage is grating the carrots if you don't have a food processor!

Serves 4

Ingredients:
3 Big Carrots grated
1 pack of Sausage Meat or 6 Pork Sausages, skinned
1 Onion roughly chopped
1 can of Tomatoes, roughly chopped
Butter or olive oil
Worcester Sauce
1 tablespoon of Marigold or a stock cube (chicken or vegetable)
300-400g short dried pasta (penne, shells or rigatoni work well)
Parmesan or Cheddar, grated, to serve

Method:
1. Heat butter or oil in a large sauce pan & add onions, cooking gently until transparent.
2. Add the carrots, stir well & continue to heat gently for about 5 minutes.
3. Bump up the heat & add the sausage meat in teaspoon sized pieces, browning off the meat.
4. Add tomatoes & stock cube/marigold & bring the mixture to the boil. Then reduce to a gentle simmer.
5. Add seasoning & some worcester sauce. Leave simmering (uncovered) for at least 1 hour until it looks like a sauce.
6. Cook the pasta & stir into the sauce.
7. Serve with the cheese sprinkled on top.

Salad Dressing

Husband's patent salad dressing:

1 tablespoon walnut oil (or olive oil)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1/2 teaspoon soft brown sugar

Shake & serve.

If I'm making this, I tend to downplay the oil to 1 teaspoon.

Potato & Onion Layer Bake

When you’ve got friends coming over for a meal, it’s often useful to have a potato dish that can be prepared in advance and that involves very little last minute activity…. I find this dish easier than roast potatoes (worrying about if they are bullet hard or burned = stress) or mashing (too much last minute activity) – but it has more of an impact than just boiling or microwaving!

This dish works well with Charlotte or any other waxy potato.

Feeds 4-6 as a side dish but exact quantities will depend on the size of your dish.
Cooking time – 1 hour plus.

Ingredients:
Potatoes – washed & sliced thinly (don’t peel them)
2-4 Onions sliced & separated into rings
Olive Oil
Black Pepper
Grated Cheese (Parmesan or Cheddar work well)

Method:
1. Preheat oven to moderate temperature (Gas mark 6)
2. Place a layer of onion rings in a large oven proof dish.
3. Cover with a layer of potatoes.
4. Grind black pepper over potatoes & distrtibute about a teaspoon of olive oil over them.
5. Cover with another layer of onions.
6. Another layer of potatoes.
7. Repeat the pepper & olive oil routine
8. Carry on layering until dish is full and/or you run out of ingredients!
9. Cover with foil & put in the oven for at least 1 hour.
10. 20 minutes before you want to eat, take dish out of oven, remove foil & sprinkle the cheese on top. Put it back in the oven without the foil.
11. Serve.

Fried Savoy Cabbage

Another veg & bacon combo! This is a wintry kind of side dish that works well with roasts. Bacon & butter add lots of flavour & richness. Very little water is added but putting the cabbage in the pan when it’s still wet from washing helps to steam cook the leaves. Adding 1 chopped shallot with the bacon also works well.

Makes about 4 portions in about 5-10 minutes

Ingredients:
1 Savoy Cabbage chopped into bite size pieces
2 rashers of Dry Cured Bacon cut into bite size pieces
Small knob of butter

Method:
1. Use a saucepan, saute pan or even a wok – but it must have a lid.
2. Wash cabbage but don’t dry enthusiastically!
3. Put butter & bacon in pan & heat gently so that butter melts and bacon cooks.
4. Add the cabbage & stir so that it’s coated in butter & bacon fat.
5. Take the heat down to the hob’s lowest setting & put the lid on the pan. If it looks/smells as if the cabbage is burning, shake the pan.
6. Serve when the cabbage is looking wilted.

Pea or Broad Bean Risotto with Herbs

I have tried to rework this as a low calorie thing - but somehow, it doesn't work as well. I've specified chicken stock below, but to be honest, marigold in hot water is nearly as good. Fresh Herbs - and lots of them - are essential. The herbs and peas/beans give this risotto loads of fresh flavour. The peas should be either frozen or just-picked fresh.

Serves 2 as a big rich main meal.

Ingredients:
200g Risotto Rice
500ml Chicken Stock (but you may need more)
1 glass Dry White Wine (optional)
50g Butter
50g Parmesan Cheese
1 Onion, finely chopped
1 clove Garlic finley chopped
2 good handfuls of either Peas or double shelled Broad Beans
Lots of fresh herbs, all finely chopped - whatever you have access to: Rosemary, Thyme, Oregano, Basil (keep the Basil separate) all work well.
1-2 Bay Leaves

Method:
1. Heat the stock to boiling point.
2. Melt half the butter in a large pan & add the onion & garlic. Cook gently until it is transparent.
3. Add all the herbs except basil.
4. Add the rice and stir well so the rice is coated with butter. Keep stirring for a minute or 2 ensuring that the rice doesn't catch & burn.
5. Add a ladle of the stock & stir manically until the rice absorbs it. Repeat until you are out of stock.
6. Add the wine (if using) & stir until the rice absorbs it.
7. Look at & taste the risotto - if you think it needs it, continue to add hot water, stirring all the time.
8. Risotto will be cooked after 20 minutes-ish depending on the rice.
9. Add the peas or beans.
10. Add the remaining butter and the parmesan. Stir then take it off the heat. This stage is essential to making the rissotto taste really creamy. This is also a good time to add fresh Basil.
11. Put the lid on the pan and leave it for a few minutes.
12. Serve!

Variations

• If you want to add chicken or ham, I suggest to add bite sized cooked pieces at the same time as the peas/beans. Alternatively serve with meat cooked separately.
• Peppers & courgettes are good additions - I tend to put them in at the start so they become part of the sauce.

Broad Beans, Bacon & Pasta

It's a bit cheeky calling this a recipe - but it's the way we've most enjoyed broad beans as the flavour isn't overpowered. If using young beans, just get them out of the pods. For older or frozen beans, double shell them as the skins will be tough. Dry Cure Bacon makes all the difference here - no vast quantities of salty water mysteriously appearing in the pan! If you are using another type of bacon, cook it separately so you can drain it off before adding.

2 big portions

Ingredients:
Broad Beans - lots of!
1 pack Dry Cure Bacon
Small knob of Butter
1 onion, roughly chopped
1/4 glass of white wine or cider
2 dessert spoons of creme fraiche (optional)
150-200g dried pasta

Method

1. Put the water on for the pasta.
2. Gently melt butter in a sute pan & cook onion until transparent.
3. Add Bacon & cook through keeping the heat gentle.
4. If the water's boiling, cook the pasta in the normal way.
5. Put the beans in the saute pan & mix with the bacon & onion.
6. Add the wine/cider to the pan, take the heat up so that it boils off.
7. If using, add the creme fraiche to the pan
8. Drain the pasta, mix with the contents of the saute pan & serve.

Because of the salty bacon & butter, you may find you don't need to season with additional salt. Black pepper is a good addition though.

Variations:

• Fresh herbs work well - especially thyme, oregano & basil. I wouldn't use rosemary or sage as they may overpower the beans.
• Works with purple sprouting broccolli instead of beans but discard any fibrous or tough stems.
• Very nice with peas too - especially just-picked fresh ones.
• Butter could be replaced - but it really does help with the falvour & richness.

Quick Tom Yam Soup

This is tasty if made with water but even better with proper chicken stock – it’s often a Monday night meal for us if we’ve had roast chicken on Sunday.
I suggest going easy on the tom yam paste the first time you make this – it tends to be hot & whilst you can always add more, you can’t take it away!

Cooking time – about 10 minutes

2 portions as a main meal

Ingredients

1-2 tsp Tom Yam paste mix (available in many supermarkets in the oriental food or spice section)
Chicken or vegetable stock
3-4 Pak Choi, quartered with the bases sliced off
4-6 Chicken Thigh Fillets, skinless & cut into bite size chunks.
Mushrooms – oyster or chestnut both work well
2 portions of straight to wok Noodles (udon or medium both work well)
1 tsp Groundnut Oil
Fresh Coriander to serve (optional)

Method

1. Heat oil & add chicken & tom yam paste. Seal the chicken.
2. Add the stock, bring to boil then down to a simmer.
3. Add Pak Choi, mushrooms & noodles & cook for just a couple of minutes.
4. Serve in big bowls & garnish with coriander.

Variations

• Works very well with prawns or tofu instead of chicken – add after the noodles just before you serve.
• No reason not to use dried noodles.
• I have been known to make this with just tom yam paste, water & noodles as a post-pub alternative to a kebab or peanut butter on toast……
• I’ve also tarted it up on occasion with lemon grass and ginger or galangal and added some fish sauce.
• French beans, bean sprouts and purple sprouting broccoli all work well in this dish too.

Pumpkin Soup

An easy & fairly quick recipe that makes good use of any squash. The taste seems to be improved by ensuring that the squash cooks in fat rather than in liquid - which I guess is also why squash roasts so well.

I'm not giving estimated number of portions here as it really depends how much squash you use, variety, age and how thick you like your soup. Ingredients here are based on 1 butternut kind of quantity. Spices - use what you know you like. I tend to use about 1 inch of fresh ginger, 1 tsp chilli powder, loads of black pepper and a couple of teaspoons of cumin as I think that some warmth suits the sweetness of squash well.

Ingredients
Squash or Pumpkin, chopped into bitesize pieces
1-2 Onions, roughly chopped
25g Butter
Vegetable or Chicken Stock (works well with a couple of teaspoons of marigold in hot water too)
Spices
Creme Fraiche to serve (optional)

Method
1. Melt butter in a large pan at a low-ish temperature.
2. Add the spices and onions & cook until the onions are transparent.
3. Add the squash & mix about so that it is coated with butter & spice.
4. Take the heat down even lower (if poss) and put the lid on the pan. Let the squash sweat gently until it's soft - about 15-20 mins.
5. Add the stock & bring to the boil. Simmer for a few minutes.
6. Liquidise the lot.
7. Serve with a swirl of creme fraiche in each bowl.

Baked Squash Gratin

A useful 1 dish meal that works well with any squash or pumpkin but I've made it most often with butternut. If using a very large one, you may want to use just half & make soup with the rest.

Prep time is about 10-15 minutes (cutting up the squash takes up the majority of this!), cooking takes about an hour.

Makes 2 big portions.

Ingredients
1 Butternut (or other) Squash
4-6 Chicken Thigh Fillets, Skinless
1 Onion
1 Yellow or Red Pepper
2 Courgettes
8 or more Chestnut Mushrooms
1 crushed garlic clove
Olive Oil
50g strong flavoured hard Cheese, grated (e.g. Pecorino, Parmesan or Cheddar - all work well)
2 tsp Pesto

Method
1. Preheat oven to a moderate temperature (gas mark 6).
2. Cut up the squash, chicken and all other veg into bite size chunks.
3. Put all veg except the mushrooms into an oven proof dish. Add the chicken & garlic.
4. Pour over about 1 tbsp of olive oil and mix well so that everything is coated lightly.
5. Cook for about 30 minutes then check & stir.
6. 10 minutes before you want to eat, add mushrooms, stir in the pesto and sprinkle cheese on top. Return the dish to the oven.


Variations

• I like making this dish as a very yellow affair - yellow peppers, yellow courgettes
• Carrots, Aubergines and/or Sweet Potatoes also work well either in place of some of the squash or the courgettes.
• It makes a good vegetarian dish - add more veg, delete the chicken.
• It doesn't have to be basil pesto - it works well with pretty much any including rocket.
• It can be done as a spicy chicken dish instead - mix in some harrissa paste before cooking and delete the pesto later on. Aubergines work very well with this variation.
• If using chicken breast instead of thighs, don't add until about 30 minutes before you serve to stop it from drying out.

Leek & Bacon with Pasta

This idea came originally from a Sainsburys pasta cookbook published in the late 80's but Husband & I have changed it considerably over the years. Very much a kitchen table kind of meal rather than something posh! Tastes pretty good without the bacon too, but I would add some marigold stock powder.

2 portions

Ingredients:
4 Leeks
1 pack of Dry Cured Bacon
Butter (about 1 ounce - but can work with much less if you are calorie counting)
1/2 glass White Wine or Cider
2 dessert spoons of Creme Fraiche (half fat version works too)
200g Dried Pasta
Grated Parmesan to serve (optional)

Method:
1. Chop bacon into bite size pieces & put in saute pan. Heat so that the fat is released. Add the butter so that it melts.
2. Chop up leeks roughly & add. Take the heat right down so that the leeks don't brown. Stir into the butter/bacon mixture.
3. Put the lid on the pan & let the leeks sweat for a bit. Make sure they don't brown!
4. Take the lid off after about 5-10 mins - the leeks should be nice & soft.
5. Add the wine/cider, stir & let the leek mixture absorb the liquid - they will now be more of a sauce than recognisable as chunks of leek.
6. Cook the pasta in the normal way.
7. Add the creme fraiche to the leek sauce.
8. Stir in the pasta & serve with the cheese on top. Good with lots of black pepper.

Variations:

• Use ham instead of bacon - but add at the end.
• Unsalted butter is a good option as the bacon will be salty.
• If using a non-dry cure bacon, cook separately, drain & add at the end as this type tends to release lots of salty water.
• Nice with a few mushrooms or peas added towards the end

Easy Eton Mess

The world's easiest dessert - I've been relying on this way too much over the years as a quick & fail safe end to a meal. Our raspberry harvest at the allotment isn't up to much beyond an occasional handful - but that's as the canes only went in this year - so anything is a bonus!

Ingredients:
1 box Meringue Nests (8)
Big tub of Double or Whipping cream
Raspberries - big punnet of fresh, but frozen works equally well here (defrosted!)
Additional raspberries or Strawberries to decorate

Method:
1. Whip cream to stiff peaks
2. Crush meringue nests
3. Mix cream, meringue & raspberries
4. Put in fridge for at least an hour so that the ingredients get to know eachother.
5. Decorate (optional) & serve.

Variations:

• Use strawberries instead of raspberries. Blackberries would also work well.
• Grated chocolate on top?
• Amarretti biscuits - either crush a few to decorate it or serve with some.

Roast Tomato Sauce

Great way to deal with a glut of tomatoes - freezes well and makes an excellent base for pasta dishes. Use it in a similar way to passata.

I developed this for the Firkin variety we grew last year - sadly, we have none this year - however, any large-ish tomato will do. I wouldn't use all cherry varities though as the skin:flesh ratio may make it a bit fibrous. It's really quick on the preparation side as there's no skinning, cooking consists of leaving it in the oven for a bit. To be honest, the most time consuming element is handwashing my liquidiser afterwards as it's not dishwasher proof!

Ingredients:
Tomatoes - lots of - cut into rough chunks
Olive oil - glug of
Balsamic vinegar - glug of
Onions - a couple - cut into rough chunks
Seasoning

Method:
1. Bung everything into a roasting pan & mix it all about.
2. Put in the oven at a low temperature (gas mark 3 or less).
3. Check after 30 mins & give it a stir if it's looking charred (a little charring adds flavour). After about an hour, it should be done.
4. Blitz in blender, decant into freezer proof tubs.

Some fresh herbs can add extra flavour - thyme, oregano, rosemary, basil etc. I tend to add them pre roasting with the exception of basil which I leave until towards the end as it's a bit less robust.

Barbecued Courgettes

These have been a life saver this summer - and the courgette season has only just started! Prep these a good hour or more before cooking to let the marinade soak in. I have these as a sub for meat, but they make a good side dish as well.

Ingredients:
Courgettes - ideally large ones
1 tsp walnut oil (or olive oil)
2 tsp balsamic vinegar

Method:
1. Mix up oil & vinegar to make the marinade.
2. Thinly slice the courgettes lengthways - the longer they are, the less the barbecue operator will complain. Put them into a bowl (or a tupperware type container if you are taking them to a friend's barbie).
3. Pour over the oil/vinegar mixture & agititate the courgettes until each one is lightly coated. You may need to mix up & add more marinade but it's surprising how far a little goes.
4. Into the fridge for at least an hour, ideally a couple.
5. Handover to barbecue chef (who is likely to be confused at their lack of meat content as it's likely to be a bloke!) who can grill them as s/he would a burger. Nicest when a tad charred.

Runner Beans with Creme Fraiche

Not yet tried out but coud be a winner for the forthcoming runner bean glut! It's an adaptation of a recipe on www.riverford.co.uk where I've made it a bit less calorific. Not hugely healthy - but 2.6 veg portions!

2 big portions

400g Beans, Runner, Average
125ml Creme Fraiche, Half Fat
50g Bread Crumbs
25g Clover spread (or butter)
¼ Tbsp Caraway Seeds
¼ Tsp Grated Nutmeg

Method
1. Prepare the beans and boil or steam them until just tender. Drain thoroughly.
2. Mix creme fraiche with the nutmeg, caraway seeds, and seasoning.
3. Add the beans and toss well together.
4. Grease a 1 litre ovenproof dish with the spread/butter and spoon in the beans.
5. Sprinkle breadcrumbs on top.
6. Bake at 180°C, gas mark 4, for 30 minutes or until the topping is crisp and golden.

Calories per portion (for those of us who care!):250
14g carbs, 5.4g protein, 19.3g fat, 4.6g fibre, 2.6 veg portions

Indexed by Main Ingredient

Broad Beans
Broad Beans with Bacon & Pasta
Pea or Broad Bean Risotto with Herbs

Butternut Squash
Baked Squash Gratin
Pumpkin Soup

Carrots
Pasta with Carrots & Sausagemeat

Cabbage
Fried Savoy Cabbage

Courgettes
Barbecued Courgettes

Leeks
Leeks & Bacon with Pasta

Peas

Pea or Broad Bean Risotto with Herbs

Pak Choi
Quick Tom Yam Soup

Potatoes

Potato & Onion Layer Bake

Pumpkin
Baked Squash Gratin
Pumpkin Soup

Raspberries
Easy Eton Mess

Runner Beans
With Creme Fraiche

Salad

Salad Dressing

Strawberries
Easy Eton Mess

Tomatoes
Fried Green Tomatoes

Roast Tomato Sauce

Indexed by Season

Spring
Broad Beans with Bacon & Pasta
Pea or Broad Bean Risotto

Summer
Barbecued Courgettes
Easy Eton Mess
Fried Green Tomatoes
Roast Tomato Sauce
Runner Beans with Creme Fraiche
Salad Dressing

Autumn
Baked Squash Gratin
Pumpkin Soup
Quick Tom Yam Soup

Winter
Leeks & Bacon with Pasta
Fried Savoy Cabbage