Red 2

Carrying on from the morning after the night before there was still some of the Red Cabbage dish left. I thought it would be a different twist on the recipe to turn it into a Red Cabbage Hash. The way I did this was by quartering a medium-sized red potato, after first peeling it of course, and frying it on a medium heat turning the potato pieces frequently.

After twenty minutes the potatoes were passed al dente I added them to the Red Cabbage, which remained in the Le Cresceut from the day before, with the yolk and white of an egg. I turned up the heat to medium on the hob and stirred in the potato pieces and the yolk and white for around ten minutes until I was sure the egg was cooked properly prior to serving.

There is something about pre-cooked red cabbage that's been allowed the night to ferment in alcohol that gives it an extra edge to its taste. This dish was no exception to this rule and with the fried potato and egg it felt like a very rich brunch with a twist.

Purple Haze- freshly cooked with the steam still coming off the top of it.

Red Pole

Although the cons of the winter months are the shorter days, sometimes dangerous weather and lower temperatures the trade off is that winter ingredients give you the excuse to make lots of one pot recipes and warming soups. Often these recipes involve the use of plenty of alcohol, which again is a plus.

On the final Saturday evening of November 2016 I was on a high having coming off a couple of pre-booked days from work where I had caught up with numerous important people in my life both old and new. Not only that but the winter sun had shone brightly on me during some excellent country walks.

With the cleansing and pure electronica of Tangerine Dream's 1974 masterpiece Phaedra flowing through the speakers I set about making a red cabbage dish that is Polish in origin and it contains the following ingredients:

1 Red Cabbage.
1 Red Onion.
2 Sprigs of Rosemary.
1 Tablespoon of White Pepper.
2 Tablespoons of Chilli Flakes.
Quarter of a pint of Red Wine.
2 Tablespoons of Red Wine Vinegar.
Quarter of a pint of Chicken Stock.
Quarter of a pint of Water

The first job was to tail the Red Cabbage and remove the outer leaves. Next I topped and tailed the Red Onion and skinned it before finely dicing it. The Red Cabbage was also sliced up finely. I then poured some Sunflower Oil into the bottom of the Le Cresceut Dish and sweated the Onion, Cabbage, Rosemary, White Pepper, Red Wine Vinegar and Chilli Flakes with the Le Cresceut's lid on the dish on a medium heat for ten minutes.

I then added the Red Wine Vineger and the Red Wine and simmered the food on a medium heat with the lid on for another twenty minutes until the Red Wine and the Red Wine Vinegar had almost been absorbed. At this point I added the Chicken Stock and after another fifteen minutes of simmering with the lid on this too had almost been absorbed.

Then I added the water to the Le Cresceut and after another ten minutes of steady simmering, which meant about an hour and five minutes' simmering and sweating in total, the stewed Red Cabbage was ready to serve. This I did with some fried Vegetarian Sausages and glazed Carrots.

The Red Cabbage was rich and flavoursome with a tint of sourness, due to the Red Wine Vinegar, but not so sour that it undermined the rich and revitalising flavour. In fact there was so much of the dish prepared that I kept half back for a very exotic cooked breakfast that you'll hear all about in the next edition of this blog...

Deep Purple- perfect as part of a main meal with Glazed Carrots and Vegetarian Sausages

Dr Pepper and Mr Fennel

It was time to crack open a can of Gin and Tonic, left over from my birthday party in August, as I had a bit of a break from the busy professional life I lead.

I'd heard the weather was on the turn and the chilly weather, that froze my tailored suit trousers during a wonderful curry with great company the previous week, was to return. As a result my thoughts turned to making a strong soup with some Fennel Seeds that I'd purchased.

The ingredients for the soup were as follows:

1 Red Pepper, de-seeded, topped and cut in half lengthways.
1 Large Red Onion, topped and tailed and cut into large strips.
5 Cloves of Garlic, topped and tailed and cut into small pieces.
2 Teaspoons of Fennel Seeds.
2 Teaspoons of Italian Seasoning (containing Rosemary, Thyme and Marjoram).
2 Teaspoons of dried Parsley.
1 Tablespoon of Red Wine Vinegar.
0.3 litres of water.
1 Teaspoon of Chilli Powder.
1 Teaspoon of White Pepper.

On the player was an excellent collection of BBC recordings by the Who showing how vital their early live work was when they were trying to establish themselves in the mid 1960s as a viable force in contemporary music.

To start the preparation I covered the bottom of my Le Cresceut Dish with cooking oil and put the halves of Pepper in there with the inside facing up. I then filled them with the herbs, spices and the Garlic.

Next I put the Onion pieces in the dish and spread them out between the halves of Pepper and I added the Red Wine Vinegar evenly.

After this I turned the heat up to medium on the hob and sweated the contents of the Le Cresceut for twenty five minutes with the lid on. I turned them occasionally and adjusted the heat to stop them burning too much while still keeping the temperature high enough to smoke the peppers.

After twenty five minutes I added the water and let the food cook on the hob for another twenty minutes until it was a little more softened. I then turned the heat off and left the food to cool for a time.

Later I blended it and returned it to the Le Cresceut dish and warmed it through prior to serving. I served it in a soup dish with a healthy sprinkling of fiery Cayenne Pepper on top. Keeping the skin of the Pepper on gave the soup a real texture and the garlic, fennel seeds together with the other herbs and spices gave this soup a kick and an energy that went well with my lunchtime cheese and biscuits as I enjoyed some time out.

Spark to a flame; this soup has an orange glow to it.

Straight outta tuck shop

Saturday 12 November 2016. There was Pea Soup everywhere and not in my kitchen either; rather outside as the November Rain was causing visibility to be of the same consistency as that well-known starter dish. Eventually this gave way to weak beams of sunshine in the late afternoon, but still with weather like the stuff we'd had earlier a bit of comfort food was definitely needed.

I remembered the sweet yet hard-edged biscuits we used to get served at break time from the tuck shop during my school days twenty years previously and that, together with the fact I was seeing two close mates from my schooldays later that evening, inspired me to make some very sweet biscuits.

The ingredients for the dough of the biscuits were as follows:

150 grams Caster Sugar.
200 grams Margarine.
250 grams Flour.
A tablespoon of Madagascar Vanilla Essence

In a mixing bowl I creamed together the margarine and Sugar using a wooden spoon until  it was fluffy. I then added the flour and Vanilla Essence and mixed it in until I had created a cookie dough that was about the consistency of dough or slightly damp clay.

I then rolled out the cookie dough and then cut it into eleven circles. Next I put the pieces of dough on a greased baking tray and then cooked on Gas Mark 4 for forty minutes before leaving them to cool on the worktop.

While all this was going on I listened to the Who Live at the Royal Albert Hall, a live album from the early 2000s that found the band reinvigorated and forging a fresh new direction. This was something I could definitely relate to.

After the biscuits had cooled down I mixed together 350 grams of Icing Sugar with quarter of a pint of boiling water. I spread a little bit on each biscuit and before the icing dried up I added a Glace Cherry to the top of each of the freshly iced biscuits.

The next day a good friend of mine came round for afternoon tea and we had an enjoyable time chewing the fat on life and the vagaries of well-known housing estates. We also chewed up some of the biscuits and I found that the sweet taste and the crumbly consistency made it feel like I'd travelled in time to a wet November breaktime in 1996. Nothing wrong with that.

Cherries aplenty on these delicious throwbacks.

Romanesco Dynasty

"I'm wet and I'm cold, But thank God I ain't old" - lyrics from the song "Sea and Sand" which is one of the best of an excellent bunch on the Who's 1973 masterpiece Quadrophenia. They were lyrics I could well relate to on a wet mid-week evening in November with the weak daylight already gone and the heating turned up to eleven at my house.

With the prospect of another busy day before the weekend rolled around I needed something that was quick to make, spicy, filling and full of protein. Having been on the lookout for new ingredients and recipes for some time I stumbled across one for an Italian Winter Dish that uses Romanesco. My local fruit and veg shop sells these unusual vegetables, which are a hybrid of Cauliflower and Broccoli and so I was able to pick one up from there for this excellent seasonal recipe.

On the player was a live album, that was meant to be the last farewell from the Who, called Who's Last that documented their 1982 tour. I hadn't heard the record myself since Autumn 2001 when I was in my first semester as a fresher at York University and made new friends, tasted new alcohol and picked up a new type of Freshers' Flu.

I cut up the Romanesco into medium sized pieces and discarded the leaves and the core. I then steamed it for twenty-five minutes until it was soft enough to almost pick apart with a fork.

During the period the Romanesco was cooking I boiled some pasta shells and pasta twists for around fifteen minutes in a pan of boiling water.

The other key part of preparation was, in my Le Cresceut, lightly frying two cloves of Chopped Garlic, the juice of a Lemon, a diced Green Pepper with the core and seeds removed, three tablespoons each of Chilli Powder and Dried Parsley and two tablespoons of Pesto and Pine Nuts (thank you local farm shop) during the period that the Romanesco was steaming away. 

When the Pasta and Romanesco had been steamed and boiled respectively for the appropriate length of time I put them in the Le Cresceut with the other ingredients, warmed the food through and served it.

The Pasta gave this dish the protein to help give me extra energy for the last day of the working week. The pine nuts, lemon and other spices elevated the taste of the Romanesco from semi-bland and obscure winter vegetable to flavoursome pleasantness. This recipe is a great one to have as a lighter alternative to the numerous roast dinners and one pot recipes out there on the standard winter menus.

Green and Gold- pasta, spices and Romanesco are a winning combination.

Pumpkin Soup (to warm you through the night)

It was around Halloween, I'd dodged the local trick or treat posse/ rude boys (take your pick) and bundled myself onto the bus. It was the weekend, time to take a step away from the inferno of an intense week and have a night out in a place that was very familiar but, most importantly, on this particular evening it was a night out that was chock full of things that were exciting, new and wonderful.

The next morning the weak Autumn light crept through my lounge curtains and although I felt a little drained I also felt rejuvenated and positive. Slowly I acclimatised and thoughts turned to cooking a soup to set me up for the week as my batteries recharged following the best evening out I had experienced for some time.

I had purchased a large pumpkin the day before from the local fruit and veg shop, it's the best place around for fresh fruit and veg, cakes, obscure canned products, liquorice allsorts and exotic flavoured Lion Bars. Plus you can get a week's supply of decent fruit and veg for under fifteen quid. Beat that mainstream supermarkets.

The first job was to prepare the Pumpkin and I achieved this by taking a sharp knife and slicing the top and the bottom off the Pumpkin. I decided not to do a carving with the parts of the pumpkin I didn't use in the cooking as I got a grade F in GCSE Art and so didn't trust my carving skills. Instead I removed from the Pumpkin all the seeds and the stringy flesh. Next I proceeded to halve the Pumpkin and cut the flesh from it which I then cubed and set to one side.

Next on the list to prepare were two white onions which I topped and tailed and then diced. After that came the preparation of two Sharon Fruit, thank you again local fruit and veg shop. Sharon Fruit have a short season between October and December and to get the best out of them you should ripen them for around a week after purchasing so that they taste very sweet. I topped and tailed these two Sharon Fruit, removed the thin cores and then cubed them.

Now it was time to cover the bottom of my Le Cresceut with sunflower oil and add the Pumpkin, Onion and Sharon Fruit pieces. I also added two table spoons of coriander and two table spoons of curry powder. I stirred the ingredients together, put the Le Crescent lid on and sweated the food for around twenty-five minutes on a medium heat stirring occasionally so that the food did not stick to the bottom of the dish.

After twenty five minutes I added seven hundred millilitres of vegetable stock and simmered the food for another half an hour. I then turned off the heat and left the food to cool for a time.

Later on I blended the contents of the Le Cresceut and returned them back to it. I added 300 millilitres of sweetened soya milk and warmed the food through. I served it in a bowl with a dash of curry powder thrown on top; the results were very satisfying. Pumpkin on its own has quite a bland, plastic taste but when given life by the Curry Powder and the sweetness of the Sharon Fruit it takes on a new life and is rich and tasty.

I had prepared so much soup that it lasted me until the middle of week and gave me lots of energy as I pushed through the working week with renewed purpose.

Golden Brown: a hint of curry powder helped spice this winter dish up a lot

Corn in the Quiche

8 October 2016. Another day of marking time; fifteen years since I started University and a trip over to a place I lived at until 1988 and that I'd not been back to visit since December 1996. Sometimes  your instincts push you in certain directions and with me they usually tell me to push forward regardless but on the 8th it was a day for looking back perhaps to help find out where I needed to go from here.

When I returned home I remembered I was to go a walk in the Peak District on the Sunday with one of my oldest friends and as he'd agreed to drive I thought it was only fair that I prepared something to eat on the walk. As the weather was getting a little colder a quiche that was fortifying and also inspired by my recent holiday to Herefordshire was the order of the day.

Herefordshire is known for Cider, Cheese and Beef both roast and corned as well as its orchards. This quiche recipe included all these ingredients in some way and the ingredients were as follows:

For the Pastry Case:

12 ounces plain flour.
6 ounces of margarine.

For the mainly dry ingredients of the filling:

3 sliced Spring Onions.
1 Diced White Onion
Topped with 2 tablespoons of cider.
4 slices of cut up Corn Beef.
5 ounces grated Oak Smoked Cheddar.
1 teaspoon of nutmeg.


For the liquid mixture:

1 and a quarter cups of milk
1/8 pint of cider.
2 tablespoons of flour.
4 beaten eggs
A pinch of nutmeg.

Having decided to listen to nothing before 1988 when I drove over to the village I used to live in I had chosen for that journey R.E.M's 1985 classic Fables of the Reconstruction and when I started cooking I continued the theme by playing the follow up to "Fables..." 1986's Life's Rich Pageant an album full of raw and rocky emotion, spindly guitars and powerful hooks.

The first step was to make the pastry case by rubbing together the flour and margarine and making it transform into breadcrumbs before mixing it together with around a tablespoon and a half of milk in order to form a dough that could be easily rolled out. I then spread the rolled out dough out into a pie dish that was thoroughly greased and about 25 centimetres wide and 5 centimetres deep.

Next I added the mainly dry ingredients by putting the onion pieces and spring onions evenly on the bottom of the dish. I then added the Nutmeg and the Corned Beef, which I tore into small squares, and then on top of that I added the pieces of Oak Smoked Cheese and the Cider.

Separately I put together the liquid mixture by beating the four Eggs together in a large measuring jug and then adding the Cider, Milk, Nutmeg, Flour and Milk. I then poured this mixture evenly throughout the pastry case and then cooked it in the middle of the oven on Gas Mark 4 (or 180 degrees for non-fan oven or 170 degrees for fan ovens) for 40 minutes.

After 40 minutes I did the usual test of putting a skewer through the mixture and when the skewer came out clean the Quiche, I knew, was cooked. This dish has a bit of everything; the great taste (albeit with a high fat content) of the Corned Beef, the fresh goodness of the White and Spring Onions and the richness of the Cider and the Smoked Cheese. It was just as well it was eaten by my friend and I in the middle of a great five mile walk as it gave us something with plenty of richness and flavour to keep us going on a nippy early October Sunday Afternoon.

Oven Fresh and ready to be stored overnight for a long walk the next day

A spare slice to take to work on the Monday and set me up for a big week.

D'Yer Mak'Er Chicken

I'd been off the radar or totally off the grid you might say. I'd been there in that place for most of a working week give or take a few extra days. Phone signal was limited, Wi-Fi was partial but scenic walks, fresh Apples, fresh Damsons, locally produced cider and bitter as well as quality pubs were plentiful. There was no question that it was a positive break for me, and my dog, and it gave me some much needed thinking time.

It's always good to come home though, especially when it's your home. Having been inspired by tasting a Venison Pie laced with Scotch Bonnet Chillies while I was on my travels I decided to make a spicy dish that is essentially a vegetarian version of the famous Jamaican recipe Jerk Chicken.

On my return home a mail order delivery of Blur's 1995 effort The Great Escape, which I had last heard as a sophomore politics student thirteen years earlier, awaited me on my welcome mat in a Jiffy Bag. The album was stuck on the player immediately. It boosts many excellent singles such as "Charmless Man", "Stereotypes", "The Universal" and "Country House" which was the record that won the famous Britpop battle with Oasis for the coveted number one spot in the charts all those years ago. There are some great album tracks as well like "Top Man" which, like many tracks seems to be written about suburban characters and the minutiae of their lives living in new build houses in the suburbs of Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire or any other similar area of Middle or Southern England you might care to think of.

The first thing to do after initial preparation of the vegetables and herbs listed below was to mix them with all the spices a fruit shown below into a paste in my Le Cresceut dish. The paste consisted of the following:

3 finely diced Garlic Cloves.
1 sliced up White Onion.
Tablespoon of Nutmeg.
Tablespoon of Cinnamon.
3 diced Scotch Bonnet Chillies with all the seeds removed.
Juice of 3 Limes.
1 Lime halved.
2 ounces of Raw Root Ginger peeled and diced up.
2 Sprigs of Thyme.

I then fried the paste in the Le Cresceut on the hob on a medium heat for thirty minutes stirring the paste regularly to stop it sticking to the bottom of the dish. I at the same time put two Quorn Chicken Fillets on top of the paste. In order to make sure the recipe was properly cooked and the various spicy flavours were locked into the dish I kept the Le Cresceut lid on for most of the time the food was cooking.

When the "Mock Jerk" was ready I served it with a side of White Rice that had red Kidney Beans mixed into it. The Rice and the Beans were crucial for giving plenty of protein and also some stodge to the dish which helped balance the extreme spice of the ingredients that came out of the Le Cresceut. I find that any dish which contains fresh Ginger to have a really strong flavour and this meal was no exception and the flavour was enhanced by the powerful Scotch Bonnet Chillies which lived up to their reputation as being some of the strongest chillies available for legal consumption.

A good contrast in the mixture was the more neutral taste of the Quorn Chicken Fillets while the Lime, Cinnamon and Nutmeg added an exotic flavour to the dish without making them seem like they should be just confined to being in a sweet dish.

This is certainly a dish for those who like their food strong and flavoursome and that means that if, like me, you like your food prepared in this way then you'll love this twist on a traditional dish.

Plenty of spice, Rice, Beans and a complimentary lime.

Cod Peace

It was the first Saturday in September and things felt a little subdued as they often do at this time of year. This was because it was the first weekend after the August Bank Holiday and therefore a sign that summer was ending and we were looking towards Autumn already. Still there was much to enjoy as I managed a mild morning walk and just avoided the monsoon-like rain that started just as I dashed indoors.

That evening I had trip round to the house of one of my oldest friends lined up but before that the heavy rain meant I couldn't get out into the garden and I had more time on my hands to do indoor activities. That said I took the opportunity to write a few blog posts as well as put down a few thoughts about events from my past that might end up as an autobiography one day.

Quickly enough tea time rolled around and it was time to cook. After the success of the Sea Bass recently I decided on another fish dish. This time it was Cod. Often Cod is associated with nothing but fish and chips or fish pie and normally isn't used for anything else in cooking.

However I found a recipe for it that used Sweet Potatoes, Leeks and a sweet and savoury dressing. The ingredients you need to make this one are:

2 Large Cod fillets.
Half a large Sweet Potato.
1 Leek.

For the dressing:

Half a red onion.
2 Cloves of Garlic.
The juice of 6 Limes.
The juice of 1 Orange.
1 Teaspoon of Chilli Powder.
1 Teaspoon of Mint.
1 Teaspoon of Dill.
1 Teaspoon of Coriander.
1 Teaspoon of Parsley.

Today's album was R.E.M's 1984 offering "Reckoning" the album was recorded by the band when they still had a cult following, but before they turned the world into their cult following, which was something that happened later on in the 1980s. It features many great songs with spindly yet jangling guitar lines and the album has a very basic feel that makes it sound like it was recorded in a garage, these are all things that give it it's special charm.

I cut up the sweet potato after peeling it and as it was a large sweet potato I only used half of it and I cut it into strips around 1 centimetre thick to create Sweet Potato chips . I cut the leek into thin circular pieces and laid them with the Sweet Potatoes on a high-sided baking tray lined with foil and Sunflower Oil. I then cooked all this on Gas Mark 7 for 20 minutes.

I then took the dish out of the oven and turned everything  over and cooked it for another 15 minutes.

In the meantime I made a dressing by finely slicing into the tiniest pieces possible the Red Onion and the Garlic. I put these ingredients in a bowl with the herbs and added the juice of the Limes and the Orange and a little zest from one of the limes. I mixed all these ingredients together thoroughly and left them to stand in the bowl.

Then after the 15 minutes were up I took the Sweet Potatoes and Leek out of the oven and put the Cod fillets atop them. I then topped the Cod  with the dressing and let some of it run down onto the Sweet Potatoes and the Leek. I reduced the oven's temperature to gas mark 4.5, put the dish back in the oven, covered the Cod with cooking foil and cooked it for a further 22 minutes.

When I tried this dish the dressing was a delicious and flavoursome mix of sweet and savoury and the fish was tender yet well-cooked despite this. Definitely an innovative way to eat Cod instead of in batter with chips and mushy peas.

Cod- but not as we traditionally know it.

Tarragon Times

The second Saturday in September saw a real change of pace. I was feeling a touch jaded from some long hours at work that I had been putting in so as to ensure the decks were clear for a week off I was taking later in the month. I was also briefly back at my parents' house for the weekend to look after their new puppy while they had a break in the South.

The morning saw myself and the puppy/beast go hunting for blackberries in the local wood through some driving rain, while a short trip in the afternoon to my Grandparents was followed by the need to make a quick but nourishing tea before heading round to the house of a very close mate of mine with another of my oldest friends.

It was a risotto and the ingredients were as follows:

5 Cloves of Garlic.
1 Shallot.
1 Red Onion.
3 ounces of dried Tarragon.
Olive Oil.
A teaspoon of White Pepper.
8 ounces of Risotto Rice.
Half a pint of White Wine.
Half a pint of Vegetable Stock.
14 ounces of fresh Peas.
8 ounces of Rocket.
3 ounces of grated Parmesan Cheese.

Today's album of choice was Jack Bruce's 1986 offering Somethin' Els. Bruce is best known for being one third of, as the principal songwriter and singer, for rock's first ever super group Cream. As rock fans will tell you the other two thirds were peerless drummer Ginger Baker and one of the greatest guitarists ever, Eric Clapton.

The album is distinctly eighties without sounding too dated and Bruce's song craft shines through with the keening Waiting on a Word, the drive of Willpower (featuring Clapton on guitar) clearly shows Bruce to have possession of The Funk and other highlights include the yearning "Criminality" and a duet with Kirsty MacColl called "Ships in the Night".

The best way to prepare this risotto is to slice finely the Red Onion and Garlic and then fry them in a Le Cresceut with the Black Pepper and Tarragon and the lid on the Le Cresceut in the olive oil on a medium heat for about fifteen minutes.

After that I added the Risotto Rice and stirred it for another ten minutes before adding the White Wine and letting the Rice absorb the majority of it to soften it up. This took another ten minutes after which time I added the Stock, Peas and the Rocket. I simmered these ingredients lightly while constantly stirring them for a period of about twenty minutes until the Peas were soft, the Rice properly done (as there is nothing worse than undercooked rice in a risotto) and the Rocket integrated into the dish.

The final touch was to add the grated Parmesan which, together with the wine, gave this risotto a richness and flavour that was an antidote to the stormy rain that had occurred earlier in the day and set me up well for a great catch up with my friends that evening.

Summer vegetables with a richness in the stock that is often found in winter stews, a good mix at this time of year with the change of the seasons.

Black and Blue

One of the great cooking opportunities that the last days of August and the change of the season in early September bring is picking Blackberries. This year the local Blackberries have been a little behind and it was the second Saturday in September that, in the company of my parents' Airedale Terrier, that there were enough berries which were ripe for the pickings for putting in a fruit pie.

We braved a rainstorm to acquire some on a local walk and I made sure to treat them on my return home by pouring boiling water over them to kill off any germs from birds or other creatures that had tried to get at that them. One tip for getting good quality Blackberries is to make sure that you don't pick ones too low to the ground in case animals have fouled on them and avoid picking them from places by the roadside where fumes from cars may have infected them or from places where you know weed killer or other pest control chemicals have been used.

As is seasonal tradition I decided to put them in a pie and I made eight ounces of Shortcrust Pastry using eight ounces of Plain Flour, four ounces of Margarine and about five tablespoons of Soya Milk. I did the usual trick of kneading the Flour and Margarine together until it resembled breadcrumbs before stirring in the Soya Milk gradually to create a flexible dough that I rolled out without it sticking to either the rolling pin or the work surface.

A recent enjoyable discovery in the shape of Blur's first album Leisure was playing in the background as the pastry was rolled. Apart from containing great singles such as "There's No Other Way" it is chock full of songs driven by churning guitars that find the band residing in the Alternative Rock Neighbourhood light years away from the dross of the album "13" and its sentimentally pants single "Tender" both of which would blight the public in 1999 eight years after the great start to their career that they enjoyed with this record.

I greased with margarine a pie dish about an inch and a half deep and half a foot wide and used half the pastry to line the bottom, sides and rim of the dish. I then poured in eight ounces of Blueberries and the Blackberries which probably amounted to twelve ounces' worth.

I spread the fruit throughout the pie dish and sprinkled two teaspoons of Brown Sugar atop the fruit. I then used the remainder of the pastry to make a lid for the pie and put it on top. I cut three narrow slits in the lid to let the heat out during cooking and then used the remaining pastry to make two leaves that I stuck to the pie to decorate it.

Prior to putting it in the oven I brushed the entirety of the top of the pie with milk. I then put it in the oven at 230 degrees (220 for a fan oven) and cooked it for ten minutes. After ten minutes I reduced the heat to 190 degrees (180 for a fan oven) and cooked the pie for a further twenty minutes. After this I took it out of the oven and left it to stand for half an hour to cool down.

The results were positive as the Blueberries and Blackberries worked together as well as Coffee and Cream and the Blackberries seemed to taste better for being picked from the wild rather than being bought at a supermarket, while the hint of sugar helped offset the slight stodge but delicious taste of the pastry. With its use of handpicked wild fruit, this dish is certainly one that marks the change in the seasons.

Step one- add the fruit and sugar to the pastry-lined dish.

Step two- freshly cooked with complimentary pastry leaves on top. Now leave it to cool.

Step three- enjoy!

Middle Class Mash

The recent week consisted of an early get up, working very hard, arriving home, having tea, bed and repeat the process throughout the week. However it was one of those weeks where I felt positive and like I was making good things happen.

I was shattered by the time I got home on Friday and the weather had changed after the surprise heatwave that squeezed into the listed building that is my workplace during the working week. It was a lot fresher and the high winds and heavy rain made me start to think of kicking the falling leaves around as Autumn approached.

As a result of this something fortifying and hot was needed that evening. I had a pack of sausages that had been defrosting during the day that were purchased for, but not used in the end, my birthday party that had happened the previous month.

I made Bangers and Mash but decided to put a sophisticated twist on it by making the mash with potatoes, parsnips, rocket and carrots. I also decided on a different flavouring for the gravy.

The evening's music for the cooking process was something new in the shape of Blur's third (and best) album 1994's Parklife. When I say new I mean new for me as I had bought it second hand the previous month, as most people of my generation either own a copy or have heard it a lot as it was a key record of our school years together with the two Stone Roses albums, Suede, early Radiohead and Oasis amongst others. Blur are a band that polarise people as you either love or hate singer Damon Albarn's nagging southern drawl and sardonic lyricism. Still there's no denying the quality on this record with the great singles like the title track sandwiched between the Kinks soundalike "Tracy Jacks" amongst others while "This is a Low" tries to turn the thorny subject of depression into something anthemic.

The first job was to peel three potatoes and top and tail three carrots and two parsnips. I then sliced all these fairly thinly and steamed them for around thirty minutes.

While the vegetables were steaming I put the sausages under the grill on a medium heat and turned them regularly during the twenty-five minutes I cooked them for. I found the best tactic was to first pierce a hole in each of them before the grilling commenced as that way the fat didn't spit out of them and turning them regularly ensure they cooked very evenly on each side.

While the sausages and vegetables were cooking I gently fried a sliced up white onion with ten leaves of purple sage from my garden in my Le Cresceut in sunflower oil with some black pepper and did so for 15 minutes with the lid on the Le Cresceut. I made sure to stir the onions regularly to stop them sticking to the bottom of the dish.

Next I took a quarter of a pint of Old Golden Hen real bitter, but any blonde or mild ale will do, and poured it into the Le Cresceut. I stirred the booze in until it thickened the mixture and then added a quarter of a pint of vegetable stock. I left this then to stew steadily while the sausages and the vegetables finished cooking.

When the vegetables were done I mashed them with some margarine and make the dish a bit more interesting I added ten ounces of washed rocket leaves and stirred them in as well with a hint of real bitter.

The taste of this one made it feel like a deserved reward after slugging it out successfully during the week. The sausages were crisp but not overdone while the gravy added a pleasant charcoal taste that was in keeping with the dish and the mash mixture tasted of fortifying winter meals while the fresh rocket reminded me that summer was not over just yet...

One for the album, the crisp sausages go well with the alcoholic gravy and unusual mash mixture.

Prawn Again

The weekend had arrived, I had worked hard and pushed through challenges during the week and even though it was a four day week it had been a very busy one but the weekend was here and with it plenty of downtime and a new cooking project or two to, literally, get my teeth into.

Having recently visited the excellent and local Kathmandu Gurkha Restaurant, a restaurant that has the happy ability to make excellent quality curry without it being too rich, I was inspired to make a curry with plenty of prawns. Seafood, with the exception of squid, octopus and other similar sushi type food, is one of my favourite types of food. I also like spicy food so this dish was the opportunity to cook something with the best of both these worlds.

The ingredients for this one so you can give it a go too are as follows:

2 Garlic Cloves.
1 Red Onion.
1 Pepper.
1 Medium-Sized Chilli Pepper.
2 Teaspoons of Turmeric.
2 Teaspoons of Garam Masala.
2 Teaspoons of Coriander.
1 tablespoon of Tomato Puree.
10 ounces of pre-cooked prawns.
A tin of Coconut Milk.
8 ounces of long grain rice, or a rice of your choice.

After slicing the Garlic, Red Onion and Pepper up very finely I added them to my Le Cresceut dish with plenty of sunflower oil so that when I cooked them on the hob they did not stick to the bottom of the dish. I then added the spices and the Tomato Puree. I'm a great believer with curries that to get the best taste you must add the spices to the dish early on.

I left the food to sweat on the hob on a medium heat with the Le Creseut lid on for about twenty-five minutes on a medium light while turning them periodically as they cooked.

Tonight, as the sun was shining and I could see the sunny fields and hills from my conservatory, it seemed only appropriate to stick some country music on the player. I went for Area Code 615's eponymous debut, which is an instrumental record mixing bluegrass, country and a hint of hard rock on original tracks like the peerless opener "Southern Comfort" and the epic closer, which is a cover of Bob Dylan's "Just like a Woman".

After twenty-five minutes in went the Prawns to the dish and after another ten minutes the coconut milk. I turned up the heat on the hob and stirred hard repeatedly to make the coconut milk mix in with the other ingredients and make sure that by the end of the cooking, which was after a further fifteen minutes of stirring, the curry was thick and not too runny.

While I had been stirring the curry together I had also boiled up some Long Grain Rice which I now served up with the curry. The taste of the curry was not dissimilar to that when I've had curries at restaurants and the plan to put the spices in from the get-go as well as boil some of the coconut milk away and stir the rest in towards the end of preparation was the secret to making this end-of-week dish a success.

Brightness of the day- the Turmeric made this dish shine almost as brightly as the late summer sun.

Harissa Happening

It was a Thursday night, a day of going at full pace at work to give me a sense of achievement and well-being. I was also a touch tired, to say it was only a four day week it had felt very busy; perhaps because I was trying to cram five days' work into four days.

I wanted something quick for tea so I could get an early night and be up at the crack of dawn to push on with my work at the office prior to the phones starting to ring at 9am. I have recently become a fan of Turkish and Moroccan Cooking and it was a Morccan Dish laced with Harissa Powder that I decided to make. The ingredients were as follows:

10 ounces of Quorn Meat Strips.
2 Garlic Cloves.
1 Red Onion.
1 Red Pepper.
2 Teaspoons of Harissa Powder.
1 Tablespoon of Tomato Puree.
8 Baby Tomatoes.
1 Can of Chick Peas.

The artist and the album I was listening to were such a guilty pleasure that when I purchased the album for a pound earlier in the week, the shop assistant at the counter had to try and hide his laughter considerably as he sold me the record. Mind you, as a piece of undemanding but fun listening it did the job after a tiring day.

The first task was to slice very finely the garlic, red pepper and red onion. I then poured some sunflower oil into the bottom of my Le Cresceut dish and added these ingredients to the dish with the Harissa Powder and the Tomato Puree. I stirred in thoroughly the powder and put the lid on the dish. I left the vegetables and the Harissa Powder to sweat on a medium heat for twenty minutes, while stirring them occasionally to stop them sticking to the bottom of the Le Cresceut.

After twenty minutes I added the Quorn Meat Strips and repeated the above cooking process for another fifteen minutes. We were now thirty-five minutes into the cooking process and I added the Baby Tomatoes and the Chick Peas. At this time I removed the lid of the Le Cresceut stirred the food in the Le Cresceut for a further ten minutes as it cooked and allowed the water from the can of Chick Peas to evaporate a little. This meant that the mixture wasn't too watery when it had finished cooking.

I then served it and found that the Harissa gave the onions, garlic and pepper a stronger and more smoked flavour than they would otherwise have had. I'm a real fan of smoked food and this is the reason why I'm drawn to Moroccan Dishes as many of them include Harissa in their recipes. The Tomatoes and Tomato Puree also gave the dish a sweetness to stop the smokiness being too overpowering and the Chickpeas and Quorn Meat Strips gave plenty of protein to this dish.

If you want an alternative version of this recipe then instead of the Quorn Strips try using strips of beef and trying them separately before cooking them in the Le Cresceut with the vegetables.

A quick to make mid-week meal with plenty of protein.

Mediterranean Sea with added Bass

I went flat out at work on Friday having woken extra early to cadge the bus and train in which gave me the opportunity to make some early headway at the office, as well as allowing me to have a tasty beer or two after working hours had finished. The reason for the post-work beer was it was an old school friend's birthday. He is currently a student at one of the universities in the city where I work and he had decided on a night out on the Friday.

We went in one pub called the University Arms, which I had last drunk in as a student when I studied at the university myself nearly a decade earlier. I'm not a great one for looking back these days, however the walk up to the University Arms was an exception to this rule, as heading towards the pub I felt a little like the ghost of a student from semesters that had long since vanished into history. However when we entered the pub through the double doors I felt the intervening decade slip away and the memories of afternoons in there drinking after lectures and seminars came stampeding back to the front of my mind. The other punters in the pub were an eclectic bunch from fresh-faced youngsters who had not even finished school when I was last a student, a mature student with a laptop and a pint of something hoppy and a bloke in a tweed jacket and fedora combo who looked stoned.

Beer, whisky and chilli flowed through the late afternoon and early evening and during the celebrations individuals from key stages of my friend's life were present at different times; his parents and gran who were all there at the beginning and have always been there, two people from his original university days in the noughties, someone from his current degree and me from his schooldays. We spent plenty of time reflecting on nearly twenty-two years of drink, decadence, walking encyclopaedias and comedy before I barrelled off into the night suitably stuffed with alcohol as I zig-zagged home to my bed via the train and the bus.

Yesterday morning I woke with a slightly thick head that was cured by high-fibre cereal, boiled eggs and paracetamol. After a day of pottering and avoiding the heavy rain showers when walking the dog I settled on a suitable evening meal and the recent hot weather made me think of a Mediterranean recipe, which was roasted Sea Bass with vegetables. 

The album of choice was a throwback to the 1980s in the shape of Tears for Fears' excellent Songs from the Big Chair, containing the brilliant singles "Shout" and "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" amongst others plus the expressive and powerful "Head Over Heels" and "Listen" not to mention a photo of the duo sporting fashionable (for the time) mullets. With all these obvious plusses what's not to like about the record?

The first job in preparation of the meal was to take a red onion, peel it and then slice it widthways. Next I diced an orange pepper and five cloves of garlic. I added them all to my Le Cresceut dish and fried them lightly in sunflower oil and black pepper with the lid on the Le Cresceut for about half an hour. The reason I did this was because although I was going to subsequently roast them with the Sea Bass there was a risk, if I did not pre cook them, of the vegetables being too crunchy and getting burnt in the oven.

In the meantime I sliced a whole lemon widthways into six or so slices and cut eight cherry tomatoes in half. Once the vegetables in the Le Cresceut were cooked I used them plus the lemon and tomato as the bed on which the Sea Bass was to lie. I was able to make this happen by taking an ovenproof dish and lining the bottom with foil onto which I poured sunflower oil and then spread the lemons, tomatoes and the vegetables from the Le Cresceut on the dish evenly together with a sliced up chilli I had grown previously.

Next I put two Sea Bass fillets on top of the dish and garnished the fillets with sliced green olives and sprigs of Rosemary and Thyme from my garden. I cooked it all on Gas Mark 6 ( or 200 degrees for electric ovens and 180 degrees for electric fan ovens) for half an hour. When I removed it from the oven I was greeted with the flavoursome smells of Thyme, Rosemary and Lemon. The pre-cooking of the vegetables was a sensible move as they were soft because the sunflower oil had kept them from burning and becoming crunchy. The Sea Bass flesh was tender and full of protein, a perfect meal to revitalise me after Friday's excitement and the meal was rounded off by a side of steamed new potatoes.

Finished off with the new potatoes.

The bed that they lie on- the fillets on top of the lemons, tomatoes and the vegetables.

Soup for the Weather

Yesterday was a good day. It had been one that began with a quiet walk early on with the dog in the nearby woods and then a great carvery at a well-known local pub which was followed by another walk that, although it took place in a familiar part of the world, contained much that was exciting and new.

Although the sun had shone a lot during the walk, the rain had arrived in miniature monsoons that bathed the leaves on the trees bordering the old railway tracks and parkland that the walk took in. This meant despite the time of year I knew that a good quality soup with plenty of body was in order.

Having already had some Game Soup as a starter prior to my carvery I concluded that a similarly substantial soup was needed for tea. I decided the make a sausage soup using a batch left over from a recent indoor barbeque.

The playlist for this weekend was an eclectic mix of mainly and/or introspective music and included Scott Walker (both the avant garde version and the easy listening version), ...and you will know us by the trail of the dead, Suede, R.E.M and at the time I was preparing the soup, Roy Harper. Harper is man who is his own genre as nobody has quite combined the worlds of progressive and folk music in the way he can. The two albums of his that followed each other on the playlist at this time were 1992's Death or Glory and 1988's Garden of Uranium. The former was a fighting response to his partner of some years running off with someone else and includes the track "Miles Remains" a reflective acoustic piece with a soaring quality that is one of the best tributes out there to late Jazz Giant Miles Davis. Garden of Uranium meanwhile is a worthy effort too despite having some songs undercut by synths that although appealing for nostalgic value to a child of the 80's like me, were probably a touch disconcerting for the fans who had been following the great man since he started out in the 1960s.

The Le Cresceut was back in action for today's dish and I started by slicing up finely four carrots, a white onion, two sticks of celery and two cloves of garlic. I added these to the Le Cresceut with some sunflower oil and three ounces of dried parsley. I stirred the ingredients well and put the lid on the Le Cresceut before cooking the contents of it on the hob on a medium heat for around twenty minutes while stirring the food occasionally to stop it from sticking to the bottom of the dish.

While the vegetables were cooking I prepared the sausages. They had been on ice in the freezer since the indoor Barbeque and had been defrosting on my worktop for the last twelve hours. I used a separate knife from the one I used to prepare the vegetables and cut the sausages into narrow slices. I then fried them in a frying pan for fifteen minutes on a medium heat while turning them regularly.

I have a bit of a phobia about undercooked meat; it stems from a time when I accidentally consumed on a night out some raw chicken, which on the face of it looked cooked, and got food poisoning that de-railed me for a good week. This was the reason I pre-cooked the sausages prior to throwing them into the Le Crescent as I wanted to be sure they were cooked properly first before adding them to the vegetables. After fifteen minutes the sausages were ready and I dunked them in with the vegetables in the Le Cresceut. Once the vegetables had cooked for the twenty minutes they needed I added half a pint of vegetable stock and simmered the food for another ten minutes to ensure the carrots were softened as I did not want them al-dente.

After this I added a tin of Canelli Beans to the food and after warming it through for five minutes the soup was ready to eat.

This is one of those soups that is more like a casserole or a stew than a soup, which after a nine and a bit mile walk that featured almost every type of weather known to British meteorology bar snow, was a perfect dish to have as the last meal of the day. The Cannelli Beans and the sausages gave it a rich edge while the parsley, onions and the celery gave a flavour to it that was powerful in the best possible way.

Freshly cooked, crisp sausages simmered in parsley with vegetables and beans- the perfect match for the unpredictable British Weather

Beef, beer, herbs and a school reunion

Last Saturday was already a positive day by the time I'd had a lie in and been to have my swede cut at the local barbers. The reason was that my dog and I had spent Friday night with great company who had made my weekend start in the best way possible.

After walking the dog in muggy heat it was time to prepare a fortifying tea. It needed to be fortifying because I was heading out that evening to a school reunion at my local where plenty of beer was going to flow freely.

I don't eat a lot of meat partly because when I still lived at home my parents were largely vegetarian and as a result I've discovered a wide range of vegetarian recipes that mean I don't need to eat a lot of meat. However once in a while I find the need to cook a meat dish as I think meat gives you much-needed protein that is not always available in vegetarian dishes.

I therefore decided to stew some beef chunks in herbs with ale. As the re-union I was going to was, without giving my age away too much, the class of 1999 some suitable nineties music was in order while I prepared my meal. I put Suede's 1997 effort Coming Up on the player, although not quite as good as their first two albums it does have some excellent melodic moments like "Trash" "Filmstar" and the "The Beautiful Ones" to name but three.

I took a box of beef chunks and fried them for five minutes turning them regularly until they were brown on each side. I also prepared a herb dressing comprised of diced Thyme, Purple Sage, Parsley and Black Pepper that I mixed in a measuring jug with some sunflower oil and half a pint of Tetley Bitter. All the herbs were plucked straight from my back garden.

I put the beef into a glass ovenproof dish with olive oil covering the bottom and then spread evenly over the beef the herb and ale mixture. I then cooked the beef in the oven at Gas Mark 4 for two hours. After two hours I took it out of the oven and turned each of the beef chunks. I then added another half pint of bitter to stop the beef getting too try and then cooked it in the oven for another hour on Gas Mark 3.

After an hour I served it with some steamed green beans, asparagus and butternut squash chunks. A good friend of mine, who was jetting to Vienna the following day, shared the dish with me and as with me it fortified him for an excellent night catching up with him and another close friend as well as meeting some wonderful people who it was great to see back in my life.

Well done, but still tender enough with plenty of herbs and bitter to make this beef come high up in the flavoursome charts

Purple Haze

A colleague of mine, who is a fan of elephant spotting- a hobby that we both indulged in during our lunchbreaks last week- long story, also keeps an allotment and grows lots of flavoursome and decision fresh fruit and veg there. Amongst the produce that I obtained last Friday and gratefully placed in the boot of my aging jallopy just before work commenced for the day was some beetroot.

After I had cleaned up two lots of it I topped and tailed them and peeled them. As is always the way with preparing beetroot the chopping board turned a bright purple, as did my hands, which made them glow as if I was some kind of radioactive mutant.

I next quartered the beetroots and placed them in a glass ovenproof dish, the base of which was covered in sunflower oil, together with some diced cloves of garlic and some sprigs of thyme. I them sprinkled a liberal helping of cumin over the dish and placed it in the oven at gas mark five and cooked it for thirty five minutes.

As the beetroot cooked the music played on in the kitchen; it was more of the Incredible String Band. This time it was their 1969 album "The Big Huge" the record finds the members in, at least as they saw it if not their fans, a better place mentally after their embracing of a new religion and this is reflected in the fact that although the beautifully clear acoustic sounds flow freely, the record is a little too unadventurous even though it contains some solid songs.

Also while the beetroot was cooking I brought a pan of water to the boil and boiled six ounces of spinach for around ten minutes, drained the pan and set the spinach to one side.

After the thirty-five minutes were up I pulled the beetroot out of the oven and turned all the pieces over, as well as hiding the well-cooked garlic cloves under some of the beetroot pieces, and put them back in the oven for another five minutes. Next I took the beetroot out again and laid the spinach on top of it with some slices of mozzerella and put them back in the oven for a further ten minutes.

When I pulled the dish out of the oven ten minutes later I found the mozzerella had browned just enough and the beetroot was crisp, as was the spinach. The cumin also gave it a sharp taste while the the homegrown beetroot was of the highest quality.

Melted Mozzerella, warm spinach plus glowing beetroot with plenty of cumin makes this dish a winner

The Green Man

Today was a day to reflect on a week just passed that, as with this morning, was a mix of old and new. The week saw me return to the Temple for a Monday night meeting out in the Dales that was my first since giving up the Presidency of a club I joined in 2010. It also saw a round of golf with a colleague I've worked with now for nineteen months that was followed by a curry at a longstanding favourite restaurant of mine in Chesterfield and then the following day another colleague vanishing like fat in the frying pan after a quarter of a century's service.

This morning on a walk in clammy and sticky conditions I saw the father of two people I was at Primary School with, he looked tired but hopeful about soon becoming a granddad for the second time in his life.

For me after two weekends involving alcohol related enjoyment with excellent company it was a time also to re-charge my batteries, even in summertime when the longer days give you more energy you still need these type of weekends.

In keeping with the summer theme, and the fact I'd just mowed the lawn for the first time in the month, I decided to cook a green risotto featuring peas, asparagus, runner beans and mint. The ingredients were as follows:

5 shallots.
6 ounces risotto rice.
900 millelitres of vegetable stock.
6 ounces of frozen peas.
3 tablespoons of dried mint.
5 ounces of mozzerella.
3 Runner Beans.
3 Asparagus tips.
3 Large spring onions.

The music I played today was part of what I call my weekend collection, which ostensibly comprises of folk-rock, folk, singer-writer and mellow electronica. The music is more mellow than the type I like to listen to during the long drive to work as that music, largely heavy rock or at the very least up-tempo rock, gets me in the zone to go to work.

Today's soundtrack was the music of the Incredible String Band an almost forgetton psychedlic folk act, and incidentally former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams'  favourite band, who's clean guitar sound and use of instruments from different musical cultures remains unique and enjoyable. The second album "5000 Spirits or the Layers of the Onion, was the record of choice for preparing this dish. It has many highlights including the opener "Chinese White" and, despite its twee title, the suprising lesson in living life that is "The Hedgehog's Song".

The first task was to line the bottom of my Le Cresceut with sunflower oil and then top and tail and dice the shallots. I then stewed them slowly in the Le Cresceut on a low heat in the hob with the lid on for nearly ten minutes so as to make the onions translucent.

After that I added the rice and stirred it constantly, as you always should do when cooking risotto rice so it doesn't stick, for a further five minutes. Then I added about a quarter of the vegetable stock and stirred the rice again regularly until the rice began to soak the stock up, although the rice was still al-dente at this stage.

After another five minutes I added the asparagus, spring onions and the runner beans after first cutting them into 1 centimetre x 1 centimetre (roughly) pieces and washing them. I also added another two quarters of the stock and simmered the mixture with the dried mint for about twenty-five minutes so as to allow all the ingredients, especially the rice, to soak up the stock.

I then added the peas and took a Facetime call from a good friend of mine, who after successful spells at leading international brands, is once more a student and very much enjoying being one. I also added the rest of the stock at this time and after another ten minutes, which included encouragment via Facetime from my friend to ensure the risotto wasn't too runny, I added the mozzerella and let it melt into the risotto and thicken it enough to make sure it wasn't too dry but not have excess liquid at the same time.

I served it quickly and sat in my conservatory looking at the hills as I did so. The mint and green vegetables gave the dish a fresh taste, perfect on a hot summer's day,while the mozzerella added a richness that lifted the risotto way above the ordinary.

All the greens of summer with an extra dusting of mint atop it

Orange is the new squash

The red light was on and there was no gas left in the tank and by the end of last week I was comparing myself to a "H" Reg Ford Fiesta in that I was a little battered and some of the parts felt like they needed replacing. It was clear that I needed a bit of a break and sure enough this up coming week was my first off work since the Christmas Holidays. It had been six months but it had been six months of rewarding hard work personally and professionally.

Yesterday was a day of unwinding and not doing too much as well as revisting an old recipe from six or seven years ago when I first became interested in cookery. I had about twelve ounces of butternut squash in cubes going spare as well as a large white onion, a clove of garlic, a hint of white pepper and a couple of teaspoons of powdered ginger.

I sliced up the white onion finely and the garlic clove and fried them in a saucepan with the lid on for about fifteen minutes. I added the ginger and the white pepper while they were frying. I stirred the ingredients periodically to ensure they did not stick to the bottom of the pan.

After the fifteen minutes was up and I was sure the onions, especially, were suitably softened I added the cubed butternut squash and fried it with the other ingredients for another ten minutes. I then added half a pint of chicken stock and simmered the mixture for around twenty-five minutes.

The soundtrack to the simmering of the soup mixture was Fairport Convention's 1978 effort Tippler's Tales a rustic folk record who's songs are all themed around drinking. The album was their last before their temporary disbanding.

After the twenty-five minutes were up I blended the soup, which transformed it into a bright orange mixture that glowed in the sun coming into my conservatory when I served it in a bowl topped with some fresh chives from my garden.

The soup was perfect for the unseasonable chill in my part of the world and the chives added a freshness to the always flawless taste of butternut squash.

Bright and bubbling with extra chives

Haddock Friday

On Good Friday the sun shone for what seemed like the first time in a couple of weeks, I was off work after a long week of fulfillment and new light through old windows. I also had insurrection to deal with at the charity of which I am President for part of this year. I, as I do when I have challenges to face and overcome, took a long walk with my dog in the sun which lasted nearly five hours and was around ten miles long.

The walk cleared my head and after utilising a trick popularised for me, at least as far as the sleeping part is concerned, by my octagenarian grandad who is also my role model, I had an afternoon nap while listening to the Allman Brothers' Band's wonderful 1972 epic album "Eat A Peach". After walking on the problem earlier in the day and then sleeping on it I was about ready to deal with it. Although first I needed a big meal.

As it was the Easter weekend coming up I had decided to get some fish in during the week. The fish was a smoked haddock fillet and it had been defrosting in my fridge during the course of the day.

I first pre-heated the oven at Gas Mark 4 and once it was warmed up I put the haddock in wrapped in a foil parcel and covered it in rapeseed oil on a baking tray. The haddock was to be cooked for around 22-25 minutes.

In the meantime I set to work frying in my Le Cresceut a leek I had sliced lengthways with some diced onion. I fried it lightly for around fifteen minutes in some rapeseed oil with a hint of squeezed mustard. I then added some fresh cress as well to garnish this element of the meal.

I also steamed for about twenty-five minutes some white potatoes I had cubed several weeks earlier and then frozen to keep them fresh so they could be put straight into my steamer when they were ready to use. I steamed them with some frozen peas that I added to the steaming potatoes after about twenty minutes of steaming.

After the potatoes and peas were cooked I added them with two tablespoons of chopped mint and two of milk to the blender. I then blended them until they resembled the consistency of mushy peas as sampled from one of the many great local chippys in the area. The milk was crucial in the blending as without it the blender struggled to cut through the potato pieces despite the steamer doing an efficient and economic job of cooking them.

After the potatoes and peas were blended I put them in a serving bowl while the other ingredients were still being prepared.

I made a dressing for the dish by putting three tablespoons of honey in a saucepan with four sprigs of fresh Thyme, two tablespoons of dried Tarragon, some Rapeseed Oil and the juice and zest of one lemon. I stirred these ingredients together and warmed them through in the pan before putting them in a serving bowl.

Once the dish was all ready to serve I added the Haddock, some of the dressing, some of the peas and the leek, cress and onion to a plate as shown in the picture. With the Cocteau Twins' charming offering Heaven or Las Vegas playing loudly, I sat down to tea.

There was a real mix of flavours in the meal although not enough to spoil it. The smoked haddock contrasted well with the sweet and sour of the dressing and the freshness of the mint puree seemed all the more appropriate in the sunny weather. Definitely a dish for the end of an exacting week when the sun shone.

Here is the dish ready to eat with a presentation that attempts to give local restaurants a run for their money.

Our Laksma

The 23rd January was a Saturday and it involved a walk in the crisp winter sun in the local wood and exploring the large network of streams in the wood; mainly due to my dog's love of water and my need to get her clean after she found almost every muddy patch of ground possible on our walk.

The day before that I had found time to visit the winter gardens in my local city of Sheffield for a cup of tea with an old schoolfriend to end an exciting week on a high.

When I got home I stuck on the MP3 player Love's string laden and warped masterpiece Forever Changes which was followed by R.E.M's Green which saw them cross over with an album that is at least half successful in terms of creativity.

Following recent exposures to Oriental Culture through various sources I decided to make a dish known as Laksma. The method and the recipe of it from the version I made are as follows:

1. I created a paste that I put through my blender before frying- it as you will see I did later on in the recipe. The paste had in it the following:

1 diced onion.
2 diced garlic cloves.
1 teaspoon turmeric.
1 teaspoon ginger.
1 teaspoon coriander.
2 diced green chilli peppers.
1 tablespoon olive oil.

A close colleague and friend of mine at work swears by making her pastes from scratch rather than buying ready made ones from the shops. I have to say that I totally agree with her, there is certainly something more authentic and flavoursome about making your own paste from scratch even if it takes longer.

2.After leaving the paste on one side I then grilled a salmon steak I had found I my freezer for a period of twenty-five minutes.

3. While the salmon was cooking under the grill I boiled some noodles in a pan of water on the stove for  fifteen minutes.

4. While the noodles boiled and the salmon was cooking I fried the paste in my wok with some light soy sauce, fish sauce, one and a half cups of chicken stock and one and a half cups of coconut milk as well. I fried it for around five minutes until it was warmed through and kept it warm on a light heat while the noodles and salmon were cooking.

5. Once the Salmon and the noodles were ready I combined them in the wok with the paste and served the dish. This is one of those dishes that feels it does you nothing but good and also tastes delicious too. The Salmon and noodles give it plenty of protein while the texture and taste of the paste help increase your intake of fresh vegetables.

I also served it with some spinach which took the edge off the spices in the paste to give the food a more rounded flavour.

The meal definitely helped motivate me to seek out more types of Oriental Recipes which you'll see on the blog in the coming weeks.

Like a lot of Oriental dishes this is best off being served in a bowl because of the liquid content.

Squashed Risotto

It was Wednesday, it was January it had rained (again) and spring seemed rather a long way away. As is the way at this time of year it was dark by the time I got home from work, although to be fair as I was leaving the office the last vestiges of daylight were clinging to the rooftops of Rawmarsh as I climbed into the car.

Rather than making something quick from, to borrow one of my secretary's catchphrases, "out the freezer" I decided to treat myself to making a dish I would usually reserve for the weekend when I had more time on my hands.

It was a recipe I learned from my dad in the days when I lived at home. The ingredients I used were as follows:

1. 8 ounces of risotto rice.
2. 3 cloves of garlic.
3. Half a red onion.
4. 1 litre of vegetable stock.
5. Teaspoon of paprika.
6. Teaspoon of white pepper.
7. Half the flesh of a butternut squash.
8. Half a bottle of red wine.
9. 10 ounces quorn pieces.
10. 3 ounces of grated Red Leicester cheese.
11. Salad leaves to garnish.

The album on my MP3 player was something that was a little downbeat to say it was the middle of the working week and I tend during this time to listen to energetic music to keep me pumped up and in the zone for the challenges of the day job. The album was Radiohead's 2003 effort Hail to the Thief that had arrived in the post earlier in the day. It is an album that combines their nascent guitar driven work with their, at the time, more recent dalliances with the world of electronica. The project is a real success and beneath the fog of electric swirls and Thom Yorke's wintry whine is hidden a great record that rewards repeated listens.

As I had not had time, or cash, to invest in a Le Cresceut since I moved to my new place I had to use the wok and I covered the bottom of it with rapeseed oil. Next I diced the garlic and onion and fried them gently for around five minutes together with the paprika and the white pepper.

After five minutes I added the butternut squash pieces, quorn pieces and the rice and another five minutes of frying, whilst constantly stirring the ingredients to stop them sticking, ensued. I then emptied half a bottle of red wine into the wok and stirred it into the food steadily until it had been absorbed. I used a Riocha Wine which had a rich taste to say the least.

After the wine was absorbed I poured in half of the vegetable stock and stirred it in until it too was absorbed. Next came the second half of the vegetable stock and when around two thirds of this had been absorbed I added the grated Red Leicester which ensured that, once it had melted, the risotto was thick and not overly runny.

I then served it with some salad leaves to garnish as well. The trick with risotto is making sure that you have some surplus liquid so it is not overly dry while at the same time ensuring the risotto rice is fully cooked and not unecessary al dente. This was something I managed to achieve with this dish, which proved to be real comfort food on a dark winter's night that left me in a positive and energetic frame of mind for work the next day.

The red wine gave the Quorn Pieces and the risotto rice a claret hue and a rich taste.

Scrambling Spinach

The mild weather returned towards January's end and as a result it suddenly became easier to get out of bed in the morning and the sunshine returned too which is always as bonus at this time of year.

That said towards the end of the month the weather was better for walking in and one of my closest friends and I on a Sunday, not far from payday, took to the hills with our respective dogs for a long, cathartic walk where we shared our recent experiences and set the world to rights. It was after a post-walk cup of tea that I decided to prepare a healthy but rich lunch that was one step beyond my usual Sunday Lunchtime fare of cheese and biscuits.

The dish I settled upon was scrambled eggs with spinach which is a simple dish to make and very healthy. The ingredients I used where as follows:

Three eggs
Four ounces of light margarine.
Three tablespoons of semi-skimmed milk
A tablespoon of dried Tarragon.
A tablespoon of white wine vinegar.
Half a tablespoon of squeezed mustard.
One ounce of grated cheese.
Two handfuls of spinach.

The album on my MP3 player was one I bought at the start of my second year at university, nearly fourteen years ago, being Love's 1967 effort Da Capo. This album is best categorised as a psychedlic record and it encapsulates both the best and the excessive elements of this sub-genre. On one hand you have the first six songs that are short, sharp and memorable as well as ground-breaking. However this is balanced out by the nineteen minute jam which closes the record that is typical psychedelic excess although having said that it is much more interesting than many similar jams by other artists as it includes amongst other things a saxophone solo.

I broke the three eggs in a mixing bowl and then whisked them together very rapidly. In the meantime I melted the margarine into a sauce pan and once it had melted I added the Tarragon to it. Then came the whisked eggs followed by the milk, white vine vinegar and the mustard. While keeping everything on a low heat I stirred it constantly with a wooden spoon until the mixture had thickened.

After this I put the spinach into the mixture and once it had blended in sufficiently I added the grated cheese and melted this into what was now scrambled eggs with spinach. Soon the dish was ready to serve and I added some more spinach to the top of it for decorative purposes.

Spinach has plenty of iron in it and it also gave the meal a fresh taste that was offset by the richness of the eggs and margarine, albeit low fat margarine, while the tarragon, vinegar and mustard added a matureness to the meal that worked very well.

More interesting than your average Sunday Snack complete with decorative spinach leaves

Garbanzas Compuestas

On the 16th January it was a bitterly cold day on which the sun shone and it was easier to walk on the local paths than it had been for some time as the dampness had been replaced with icy but solid ground. In short the wet and mild weather had given way to a typical, sunny, crisp winter day. It was certainly wonderful to get out in it and as the sun shone through the pine trees in the local wood I realised being out in the fresh air was the perfect therapy for the exciting challenges that I was experiencing.

It was also my dog's 4th birthday so I treated her by making the walk seven miles long and then giving her cooked bacon for her lunch when we returned to my home. In the evening the light vanished early and was replaced by extreme cold and snowfall. To remind me of warmth and sunshine I dug out a recipe book relating to Tapas of the Canary Island that I brought back from a holiday in Fuerteventura the October before last.

I settled on a recipe called Garbanazas Compuestas which is essentially the Canary Islands of a meat casserole. The soundtrack to cooking today was Suede's 1994 masterpiece Dog Man Star which was as dark and cold as the weather outside my window. The album has elements of The Smiths' sound, early R.E.M and most tellingly mid to late 70s David Bowie; an artist at the forefront of my mind after the announcement of his sad death earlier that week.

The Ingredients were as follows:

1 Can of chick peas.
8 ounces of diced bacon.
8 ounces of pre-prepared chorizo.
1 diced red onion.
Half a diced red pepper.
6 halved baby tomatoes.
2 cloves of garlic.
1 teaspoon of paprika
2 sprigs of  fresh thyme.
1 teaspoon  of black pepper.
1 teaspoon of cumin
1 tablespoon of white wine vinegar.

The method I used to make the meal was as follows:

1. Fry the onion, garlic and pepper for 10 minutes in a wok with some olive oil.
2. Add the bacon and fry for 10 minutes.
3. Gradually add each spice and vinegar stirring them in one at a time.
4. Add the tomatoes
5. Add the chorizo.
6. Add the chick peas.
7. Stew for 20 minutes.

The outcome was a dish with plenty of warmth and spices that was substantial and succeeeded in banishing the winter blues because of this and also because it brought back memories of my trip to cloudless Fuerteventura, a trip that is still one of the best I've been on.

A delicious looking meal that attracted a lot of attention when I first posted this picture on Facebook