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.