Sloe Gin Coming

At the start of September I was wandering round a wide playing field that had two smaller than average goalposts at either end. To those of my generation it was known as the "Playscheme". A place where many of us would go on hot summer evenings after a day at Primary School to play football and many other things. During my recent trip there I was reflecting on a very memorable summer that I had been lucky to be a part of.

The Playscheme is bordered on one side by lots of red brick council houses with steel frames hidden beneath the brickwork. One such house was the scene of one the most exciting, yet dangerous, house parties I ever attended back in the summer of 2009.

Nine years on I found the Playscheme and the Council Houses to be separated by thick hedges containing wild Sloe Berries. These wild berries prove a fantastic ingredient for festive Sloe Gin and with some foresight I was inspired to procure fifteen ounces of them from a local source.

When the Dogg and I returned home I stuck onto the player Jethro Tull's difficult yet rewarding effort "A Passion Play". If you want to tackle this album then why not have a listen at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FZFlq3zQhQ0 

It's an album that was willfully obscure in terms of the concept behind it and the lyrics. However it contains some of the band's best playing and strong musical themes even if the interlude, which sounds like it was meant to emulate Monty Python, "The Story of the Hare Who Lost His Spectacles" can grate a little after several listens. Nevertheless like all the best albums you hear something new every time you listen to it.

I took a one litre plastic bottle and added the Sloes to it with five ounces of Caster Sugar and two thirds of a litre of Gin. I screwed on the bottle cap very tightly and shook the contents well. I then left it for three months and two weeks, in the back of one of my kitchen cupboards, apart from making sure I shook the bottle once every week or two weeks and then replacing it back in the cupboard.

I also made some Elderberry Gin by taking six Ounces of local elderberries and added them to a  half a litre plastic bottle with three ounces of caster sugar and one third of a  litre of Gin. I stored this bottle of Gin for the same time and in the same manner as the Sloe Gin.

When the Gin was opened it was the Christmas Holidays. After bottling it up in September I had returned briefly to the North Country to take the ashes of a close relative back home. Then after closing that part of the book I had achieved three big victories in my professional life and been partying and socialising non-stop since the start of the month. I was a lucky man to have done all this. The holiday season and the month of December had reminded me of the many good people in my life.

As I type this I've got Mike Oldfield's 1982 record "Five Miles Out" on the player. It's a record that shows how an artist who had been requested by his label to make a 'pop' album was able to come up with something that ticked that box while still having one track that is a twenty-four minute opus as well as two big hit singles. It is a good metaphor for life in the sense that; you should be sure you have plenty of memorable moments that you can share with many others but don't forget to create things that are uniquely yours. Have a butchers at this album and then, if you like it, buy it to support the artist. Here's a link to the record: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WAiEZhVPekI&list=PLfimnwaZdumhjRFkLSiHSB0y9ag5XJUw5

The Sloe Gin was tested on my Dad at the inaugural family Boxing Day Gathering at my home. Although he's usually a beer and whisky fan he enjoyed the Gin and it contributed to many new memories that were made that evening on what could have been a day of melancholy for the family.

The girlfriend of a very good friend of mine also thought the Sloe Gin was a hit when the pair of them visited me the day after Boxing Day. As she is a genuine connoisseur of Gin this was a great compliment that was as kind as the wonderful Christmas Presents they presented to me on their visit.

Sloe Gin with some Tonic, Juniper Berries and a Lemon

The Dogg looks on as I prepare to sup a glass of Elderberry Gin

Red and White Christmas

"Christmas comes but once a year, relatives come from far and near" so starts the famous song by the Two Ronnies that covers the ups, and downs, of the Christmas. Also made once a year for this occasion is Christmas Cake. In my family for as long as I can remember it was the job of my grandmother to make the Christmas Cake. However these days although she's still here in body, her mind has long since started its final journey into the sunset.

That said I volunteered to step into my Gran's Shoes and make a family Christmas Cake this year. Preparation began early in November by soaking the Sultanas and Raisins used in the recipe in whisky for around three weeks. I got round to making the cake towards the end the last working week prior to the Christmas holiday.

I felt pretty punch drunk but was aided in being motivated to make the cake by listening to "Christmas" by Low. The album is one of the most mellow Christmas Albums out there and offers a different and enjoyable musical take on the holiday season. A link to this great album is at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IippcraBPKA&list=PLPaztBWnatcifcyPsq5cymXi4V8kYhXab

The ingredients for this rich cake were as follows:

Cake Mix

Five hundred grams of Unsalted Butter.
Five hundred grams of Brown Sugar.
Five hundred grams of Plain Flour.
Four hundred grams of Sultanas.
Four hundred grams of Currants.
Four hundred grams of Raisins
Two hundred grams of Glace Cherries.
One hundred and fifty grams of Mixed Peel.
Eight Eggs.
A tablespoon of Mixed Spice.
A tablespoon of All Spice.
A tablespoon of Vanilla Essence.
One hundred and fifty grams of Ground Almonds.
Five Tablespoons of Black Treacle.
Five Tablespoons of Syrup.
A quarter of pint of Whisky.

Decoration

One Kilogram of ready to roll Marzipan Icing.
A quarter of a Kilogram of Red Icing.
A tablespoon of Icing Sugar.

The way to make this cake is as follows:

1. In November at some point towards the middle of the month soak the Sultanas, Currants and Raisins in a bowl with the Whisky. Cover the bowl in clingfilm and leave in the fridge until the third full week in December.

2. When preparing the cake pre-heat the oven to Gas Mark Two and grease a twenty-five centimetre wide and ten centimetre deep cake tin with Unsalted Butter.

3. Stir the Unsalted Butter and Brown Sugar together until they become light and fluffy.

4. In a separate bowl or measuring jug beat the eggs together.

5. Once the Eggs are beaten together add them gradually to the Butter and Sugar and stir them in carefully.

6. Add the Glace Cherries, the Fruit soaked in Whisky, Mixed Peel, Vanilla Essence, the Ground Almonds and flour and stir them all together. Once this is done add the Black Treacle and Syrup and stir them in thoroughly.

7. Carefully pour the ingredients into a the Cake Tin and bake in the Oven for around five hours on Gas Mark Two.

8. Remove from the oven and remove the Cake from the tin and leave it to cool overnight.

9. The next day roll out the White Marzipan Icing and cover the cake in it. Add the red icing to decorate the top and sides accordingly with it and then dust with Icing Sugar.

This cake was extremely rich and heavy with the Treacle and Whisky giving it a smoky and burnt taste that took me back to Bonfire Night and the taste of Bonfire Toffee and the smell of smoke in the November Air.

A cross section of the finished cake. Don't mistake the Red Icing for uncooked Sirloin Steak.

Chili Cheese Calzone

A very close friend of mine got me a wonderful birthday present recently. It was an afternoon making street food at a leading local restaurant. At the course he and I learned a number of new recipes and tips to improve our cooking as well as having a lot of fun in doing so. I can safely say that it's one of the best birthday presents I've ever had. One dish we learned to make, while I sported an extremely ironic "Vegan Chef" hat supplied by my friend, was Calzone. The version we made contained Rocket, Mozzarella Cheese and Mushrooms. I'm not the biggest fan of Mushrooms but I saw the potential of the concept of calzone and decided to do my own take on it.

There was more Clapton on the player when I started the project. This time his landmark 1992 offering "Unplugged". In common with many other contemporary music legends the record sees Clapton treating some of his most famous numbers, plus some newbies and lesser known pearls, with acoustic instruments. Along with Neil Young's, Rod Stewart's and Kiss' take on this genre, Clapton's is one of the best. For those who wondered if Clapton, after a turbulent creative period in much of the 1980s, was still God, here's proof that the epithet remained justified.

If you fancy a taste of this record you can do worse than click on: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLQL8vLGlM3mmh0vEpglq9x2LAPThDj19T

The ingredients of this dish were the following:

For the filling:

Five tomatoes cubed.
Ten leaves of Fresh Basil Shredded thinly.
Five Spring Onions cut into thin pieces.
Eight Ounces of Chili Cheddar Cheese cut into four equal pieces.

For the Dough

Two Hundred Grams of Wholemeal Bread Flour.
Four Ounces of Garlic Salt.
One Hundred Grams of Olive Oil.
One Sachet of Yeast.
One Hundred Grams of Water.

The method:

Prepare the filling by frying the Tomatoes, Basil and Spring Onions on a low heat in Olive Oil for around fifteen minutes stirring regularly. Once this is done leave the ingredients on one side to cool down.

Next make the Dough by adding the Bread Flour into a large mixing bowl with the Garlic Salt and Olive Oil. Stir these ingredients together and then form a hole middle of them.

In another bowl stir the Water and Yeast together and try and ensure the yeast is fully blended in with the Water. Add the Water and Yeast to the Bread Flour and the Garlic Salt and stir the ingredients together.

Then knead, which you may find very cathartic, the ingredients together until you find you have made a large ball of dough. This should take you around five to ten minutes. Then cover the bowl with cling film and leave the dough in the fridge for one hour to rise.

After one hour remove the dough from the fridge and cut it into two equal pieces. Roll each piece of dough out into a large circle. Add one part of the mixture each to the two circles of dough and  two pieces of the Cheese.

Put the Calzones on a foil-covered baking tray and bake in the oven on Gas Mark Seven for fifteen minutes. After that remove them from the oven and consume or leave in storage to eat cold no more than two days after cooking.

These Calzones had plenty of freshness from the Basil, Tomato and Spring Onion while the Chili Cheese added a real fire and richness.

All Hallows Soup

The reason the Pumpkin has become associated with Halloween in this country is that it is usually hollowed out to look like a skull and then a candle is inserted in it to create a Jack O'Lantern. It wasn't always like that. In fact until the Pumpkin became widely available, following influence from the United States, the Turnip was the vegetable of choice for making such Lanterns. The legend of the Jack O'Lantern originated in Ireland where it is said an individual made a bargain with the Devil and as punishment is forced to walk the Earth with only a hollow turnip to light his path.

Less well-known on this side of the pond are Pumpkin's qualities as a source of food. Over in the States it is used in the sweet Thanksgiving Dish Pumpkin Pie. Here however it is often overshadowed by its more flavoursome counterpart in the squash family, the Butternut Squash. The taste of the Pumpkin is certainly not as accessible and immediately likable as the Butternut Squash, but when combined with the right ingredients it can make some wonderfully comforting Autumn and Winter dishes.

The clocks had just changed and the crisp winter sun crept through the park like the rust of red and gold over the green leaves of the trees it contained. I was having a spot of downtime having in the space of less than week taken in a gig by legendary blues guitarist Robert Cray, Tuesday Tapas, Snooker and Darts through work, a cookery class with a very good friend of mine, a night out in a midland city, a meal in another midland city with a close friend and a buffet tea with my parents. To follow up I had the christening of the first child of some other friends to look forward to,plus a possible midweek game of pool and a lot more.

The temperature had quickly dropped and some heat was needed which inspired me to make a Pumpkin Soup.

I had acquired the only studio album by Eric Clapton's side project Derek and the Dominos. It's not only one Clapton's greatest works, either solo or as part of a working band, but also one of the best records of all time. The record, called "Layla and other Assorted Love Songs", features not just the timeless title track but lots of other country blues classics generated by a man seemingly at war with himself emotionally.

The ingredients for this soup were:

One Pumpkin, de-cored and de-seeded and cut into cubes.
Five Pickling Onions diced.
Two Cloves of Garlic diced.
Four Tomatoes cut into cubes.
Eight Ounces of Red Lentils.
One teaspoon of  Dried Basil.
One teaspoon of Ground Cumin
One of teaspoon of Black Pepper.
Two Birds Eye Chili Peppers ground down very finely.
Six Pumpkin Seeds.
Pine Nuts.

The method is as follows:

1. Warm some Olive Oil on the hob in the bottom of a deep sauce pan or Le Cresceut.
2. Add the Pumpkin Seeds and cook them for ten minutes turning regularly. Then remove them and set to one side.
3. Add the Pumpkin Cubes and heat for fifteen minutes.
4. Add the Pickling Onions, Cloves of Garlic, Chili, Lentils and all spices and heat through for a further twenty minutes stirring regularly.
5. Add the Tomatoes and stir them thoroughly to allow their juices to soften the mixture- especially the Red Lentils. Stew on the hob for another twenty minutes then leave to one side to cool.
6. Blend the soup and return to the Le Cresceut dish.
7. Warm through and serve topped with the Pumpkin Seeds and some Pine Nuts.

The Tomatoes and Spices gave this soup a rich yet fiery taste that brought the taste of the Pumpkin Flesh to life. Meanwhile the seeds added an extra crunchiness that made the Soup something out of the ordinary.

HOLY FLAPS!

It was a wet Sunday and therefore a day for doing some baking. However I’d already enjoyed an action-packed weekend with an evening of whisky on the Friday Night, followed by a sly game of Darts in the Amber Valley and a catch up over a cup of the not so hard stuff in the industrial suburb of the town I reside in.

The record on the Player was Seal’s excellent sophomore effort “Seal II” . There’s something extremely uplifting about listening to this album on a wet Sunday Morning. The captivating voice and powerful arrangements, which somehow combine mild rave, trance and easy listening, are more than enough to motivate. The pick of the tracks are the storming opener “Bring it On” and the ubiquitous love song “Kiss From a Rose” . I say ubiquitous, it certainly was in the summer of 1995 when it was constantly on the radio during a holiday I took to Canada that summer. For me the record also brings back memories of long-gone, wet Sunday mornings lying half conscious on a sofa in a flat in Huddersfield while staring out of the window at the distant, dark hills of the Northern Peak District. It was during this experimental period in my life that I first picked up my copy of this wonderful album.

The ingredients of this recipe were as follows:

195grams of  Unsalted Butter.
195 grams of Caster Sugar.
195 grams of Porridge Oats
50 grams of Sultanas and Mixed Peel.
2 tablepoons of Honey.
1 teaspoon of Nutmeg.
1 teaspoon of Almond Essence.

The method to make this recipe is as follows

1. Mix together the Butter and Sugar until it is fluffy.
2. Add in Porridge Oats, Honey, Nutmeg and Almond Essence.
3. Stir together until there is a thick paste.
4. Pour into a high-sided, thoroughly greased baking tray and cook in the oven on Gas Mark 4 for 45 minutes.
5. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool down for 5 minutes.
6. Put in the refrigerator for 5 hours.
7. Remove from the fridge and cut the mixture into bite size squares to serve.

Initially I thought I’d blown it in making this recipe as when I took it out of the oven it was too runny. However by putting it in the refrigerator for a time I was able to make the ingredients solid again. The Honey and Almond Essence gave the flapjacks a genuine sweetness while the use of the Oats made the flapjacks high in fibre to create a sweet but healthy treat.

Crunch time- the flapjacks are neatly arranged on a plate for serving 

Smoked Shepherds

It was heavy cloud but there was no rain. The trees retained almost all their leaves and were very still in the slight breeze. Whether trying to make sense of the week at school, a term at university or, latterly, the events of the working week, I've always come back to the same wood over the last twenty years. Normally it's been with a Dog in tow. Various Dogs over the years have joined various incarnations of me in wanderings through the quiet security of the wood. It's the best place I know to switch off from the cares of professional life.

On this occasion the wood and the Dogg were aiding me in stepping back from a challenging, but not insurmountable, hurdle in my professional life that had raised its head that week. One the difficulties of doing the job I do is switching off from events at the office when I'm away from there. As I've got older I've learned to be less neurotic and anxious and learned to let go. On the last Sunday in September I found three ways to do this. The first was the walk in the wood.

The second way was music. On the player  when I got home was Dire Straits' superlative live album "Live at the Majestic San Antonio 16 August 1985". The album finds the band well into their record-breaking tour in support of their best-selling 1985 smash "Brothers in Arms". They are on form with strong versions of classics such as "Sultans of Swing" and "Walk of Life". However the pick up of the tracks is the deliberate, gritty opener "Ride Across the River".

The third way was creating a new recipe in the kitchen. I hit upon a vegetarian version the classic dish "Shepherds' Pie". I aimed to give the dish a smoky and earthy taste to reflect we were well now into the Autumn Season.

The Ingredients of this dish were was follows:

For the Filling:

One tablespoon of Caraway Seeds.
One tablespoon of Smoked Paprika.
One teaspoon of White Pepper.
One tablespoon of Tomato Puree.
One Leek, topped and tailed and sliced thinly.
One Red Pepper, de-cored and de-seeded and cut into small squares.
Two Shallots, topped, tailed, peeled and then diced.
Six Spring Onions, topped, tailed, peeled and then diced.
Three Hundred Grams of Quorn Mince.
Three quarters of a pint of Carlsberg.
A quarter of a pint of Vegetable Stock.

For the Topping:

Six Red Potatoes, peeled and cut into slices.
One Sweet Potato, peeled and cut into thin slices.

The method was as follows:

1 Fry in a Le Cresceut in Olive Oil the spices, Tomato Puree, Red Pepper, Leek, Shallots and Spring Onions on a medium heat for twenty minutes.

2. Add the Quorn Mince and cook for a further ten minutes.

3. Add the Carsberg and simmer for fifteen minutes.

4. Add the Vegetable Stock and warm through for ten minutes.

5. Steam both sets of Potatoes for twenty-five minutes.

6. Spread the filling in a rectangular, greased ovenproof dish.

7. Mash the Potatoes and spread over the top.

8. Bake for twenty-five minutes on Gas Mark Four until the topping is crisp.

In making this dish I had set out to create something with the taste of the smoked and earthy stews you find on the continent. I achieved this with the use of the Caraway Seeds, Smoked Paprika and the Carlsberg. The Tomato Puree meanwhile gave the filling a real richness and the Quorn Mince provided plenty of protein.

So as to ensure the topping was a little more healthy, I mixed the Red Potatoes with Sweet Potato which meant less starch that would turn sugary when consumed. It also made the topping a little brighter.

Smoked Top- the colourful pie is fresh out of the oven and ready to serve. 

Side on- the smoky filling sits well next to a sample of the topping

Scotch Cornered

I had covered almost five hundred miles in two days but the Dogg, The Panda (the make of car not the animal) and I had made it. We had found ourselves in the far North East at a converted cooperage overlooking the bay with stunning views inland to fields festooned with hay bales. The spire of a Church, that was almost steampunk in design, jutted up from near a set of thin trees huddled on a hillside. It was picture postcard stuff no question . 

The building we were in had a conservatory with a glass ceiling and the place had almost every facility you could think of. On the Sunday Night, which was the third one in September I was cooking for challenging and specialist tastes. 

I found inspiration from a cookbook of traditional Scottish recipes many of which seemed to be stews laced with Game and/or Beef. However it was necessary to make the chosen stew vegetarian so as to make it suitable for those I was cooking for. 

On the Player on the way up, and therefore fresh in my mind while prepping this meal, was Mark Knopfler’s peerless soundtrack to the film “Local Hero” . This film was set near to where we were staying and in fact the iconic phone box featured in the film situated at nearby village Pennan was once painted by my Genial Great Uncle. 

The album itself contains lots of atmospheric synth work, trademark twanging guitars, one song sung by the late Bearded growler Gerry Rafferty and “Going Home” a tune used regularly at football matches as well as an encore at Dire Straits concerts and his own solo gigs once Knopfler binned that band. The pick track however is “Stargazing” it may be short but it has epic qualities and is a good one to listen to if you’re looking for motivation to do something out of your comfort zone. 

The ingredients for this recipe were as follows: 

10 Ounces Green Lentils 

5 Red Potatoes Cubed 

3 White Onions fully diced

3 Shallots fully diced 

2 Cloves Of Garlic diced 

4 Rainbow Carrots Sliced thinly two yellow one purple one orange 

Tablespoon of Rosemary 

Tablespoon of Thyme

Tablespoon of Smoked Paprika 

Quarter pint of Vegetable Stock

Quarter of a pint of Red Wine 

The method was as follows: 

1. Boil the Lentils in a pan of water on the hob for thirty minutes. 
2. Fry the Potatoes with the Rosemary and Thyme in a deep frying pan for fifteen minutes.  
3. Add to the frying pan the red wine, Smoked Paprika  and the carrots and fry for a further twenty minutes.
4. After this add Onions Shallots and Garlic and fry for a further ten minutes 
5. Drain the Lentils and add them to the frying pan with the Vegetable Stock and stew everything for a further twenty five minutes . 
6. Serve with some boiled Broccoli.

The Rainbow Carrots which were yellow, purple and orange respectively added a sweetness and flavour to this dish. The Lentils and red Wine also provided a richness that would otherwise been provided by the game had I made this as a meat dish.

Far East Fish

It was Saturday, it was showtime it was work and it wasn't. It was attending a show at a former industrial hotbed in England. Myself and two of my dynamic colleagues were promoting our business at a show that featured a fairground, medieval battle re-enactments and a free massage. It was a successful day and round two of promoting the show was to start the following day.

It was early Saturday Evening by the time I got home and I decided I needed a spot of brain food in the form of oven-baked Cod. However I decided to put a different twist on it. I was inspired to do so by a fantastic book, that's written by Niki Segnit called "The Flavour Thesaurus". The book was gifted to me by two good friends residing in the land of Blonde Beer and Northern Mill Towns. This book looks at pairing different ingredients that work well together in recipes and there are some pairings that are unusual but effective. One such pairing involved pairing White Fish, Dill, Ginger Root and Turmeric in a way that chefs often do in Far Eastern Countries like Laos.

The ingredients for the meal of Baked Cod with a side of baked Sweet Potato pieces was as follows:

For the Baked Cod

2 Cod Fillets.
One tablespoon of Dill.
One tablespoon of Turmeric.
One tablespoon of Soy Sauce.
Four Spring Onions chopped up thinly and topped and tailed.
Five ounces of diced Root Ginger.
Sesame Oil.

For the Baked Sweet Potato Pieces

One Sweet Potato, topped, tailed, peeled and cubed.
One Red Pepper, de- cored de-seeded and cut into small squares.
One tablespoon of Ground Coriander
One tablespoon of Dried Mint
Sesame Oil

On the player was Tricky's  masterful1995 portrayal of Urban Grime filtered through the medium of trip hop "Maxinquaye". On tracks such as "Hell is around the Corner", "Black Steel" and "Ponderosa" Tricky tells dark tales of urban suffering and dark places. That morning as I walked past the crumbling red-brick terraces and bay windows framed by fading curtains on the way to the showground, I imagined similar stories to those Tricky told being enacted inside these houses.

The method then for this dish was as follows:

1. Cover the bottom of a high sided ovenproof glass dish with Sesame Oil. Add the Sweet Potato Pieces, Pepper, Ground Coriander and Dried Mint. Stir them together and then spread evenly throughout the dish.

2. Cook in the Oven on Gas Mark 5 for 45 minutes.

3. In the meantime put the Cod Fillets on a sheet of foil and lay the Ginger Root pieces and Spring Onion pieces on and around the Fillets.

4. Spread the Dill, Turmeric and Soy Sauce evenly on the Cod Fillets then use a brush to glaze the Cod with Sesame Oil.

5. When the Sweet Potatoes have cooked for 45 minutes remove the dish from the oven and stir it.

6. Wrap the Cod its accompanying spices and Spring Onions in the foil to make a parcel, place on a baking tray and add to the oven with the Sweet Potatoes. Cook the Cod and Sweet Potatoes for a further 20 minutes on Gas Mark 6.

The Pepper, Sweet Potato, Ginger Root and Spring Onion all came from the excellent local greengrocer close by to where I live. The dish itself lived up to and exceeded my expectations. I'm quite traditional when it comes to making dishes with Cod and prefer to make it with traditional English Root Vegetables or as part of Fish & Chips. However injecting Mint, Turmeric, Sesame Oil, Coriander and the Dill into the recipe took it in a new and delicious direction.

The Sweet Potato cubes, Red Pepper and spices cooked with them also provided a substantial but healthy adjunct to the dish and helped keep my energy levels for the forthcoming adventures at the show the next day.

Orange is the new white- the Cod and Sweet Potato are clustered together on the serving plate and give an authentic taste of Laos. 

Jockeying with the Bourbons

The first weekend in September 2018. A time to rest, a time to re-group and a time for Dogg and I to disappear off on a fourteen mile walk deep into the countryside so that I could reflect on an epic summer. Traditionally the first or second weekend in September is one where I do little bar a quiet walk, a spot of pottering and the odd cooking project. Self-care in this way after a busy summer is an important lesson I have learned over the years.

The weekend's cooking project was a spot of baking. I realised I hadn't put many baking recipes on the blog for a while. Accordingly I decided to make some Bourbon Biscuits. This was something I'd not done since an ill-fated attempt to do so back in 2009 for some erstwhile workmates during my infamous "Fat Elvis Years."

The preparation of the Bourbons was a two day process. On Saturday 1 September I made the dough for the biscuits using the following ingredients:

7 Ounces of Caster Sugar
8 Ounces of Margarine
19 Ounces of Plain Flour
The White & Yolk of 1 Egg
1 tablespoon of Drinking Chocolate

Neil Young’s 2010 effort “Le Noise” was on the player. The album finds Young teaming up with producer Daniel Lanois, famed for his work with U2 and Bob Dylan, who puts his own unique touches to Young's Sound and in the process helping create a record that is fresh and vital.

The method for this part of the baking was as follows:

1. Cream the Margerine and Sugar until fluffy.
2. Add the Egg and drinking chocolate and stir in.
3. Add the flour gradually and stir in until all the ingredients are combined.
4. Knead the ingredients together until a thick piece of dough is formed.
5. Roll out the dough into a flat circle.
6. Cut up into 18  rectangles that are of an equal shape as much as possible.
7.Cook in oven on a greased baking tray for 14 minutes at Gas Mark 3.
8. Leave to cool overnight in the fridge.

The next afternoon on 2 September it was time to make the buttercream filling. The record on the player this was Jethro Tull's professional and occasionally outstanding 1974 effort“Warchild”. The edition I listened to had a large number of bonus tracks that were as good as the original album and if you want to invest in the record I'd recommend this version.

The ingredients for the Buttercream were:

8 Ounces of margarine
8 Ounces of icing sugar
1 tablespoon of powdered drinking chocolate

The method was simply creaming all these ingredients together in a mixing bowl until I had created a pliable spread. I then spread the Buttercream on 9 of the biscuit pieces. Next I put the other pieces on top of each of the buttered pieces to make 9 Bourbon Biscuits.

I recall how I had also made these biscuits back in the early summer of 1997 as a thirteen year old with little behind me and how things had changed so exciting since then. The biscuits went down well with family and friends alike during the ensuing week and were definitely an improvement on the 2009 version I made of these biscuits.

Sunshine Shine Brightly on my Bourbons today- the biscuits after preparation were arrange tastefully for serving. 

Stacking the chips

"Have a good night" smiled hotel receptionist calmly as I barreled out of the double doors and into the glare of the streetlights. Across the road was the car park I sometimes used for the day job. It was empty save one car in the middle. As I walked along the pavement I could see the first bar in the near distance. I broke into a run, the adrenaline was pumping through me. I was already on a high from having a wonderful time at my cousin's wedding, located at a wood in the Midlands, earlier that day. I had spent a very important and enjoyable time with a number of family members I'd not seen for years. I was genuinely touched by the warmth with which I was greeted and received, which meant any initial nerves or doubts about the day dissipated, leaving nothing but wonderful memories.

Now it was time for part two. As I raced towards the tavern it was time to slow down. Tonight was an important night. It was necessary to make a proper entrance and that involved not looking sweaty and out of breath.

The summer was coming steadily to an end. It had already been so much better than I could I have imagined back in early spring when the death of a close relative and the voluntary disappearance of another part of the roster occurred in quick succession. Since that time I had been to another memorable wedding, a beer festival, started to resurrect my cricket career, hosted a birthday party and hung out with the best people I could ask for both old and new.

I nodded a confident "good evening" to the bouncer and wheeled into the bar where I found the group and the birthday boy hidden under dim lights. I switched on the torch feature on my mobile phone, held it to my face and introduced myself. Not long after that the lights went up and the food arrived. I found myself sharing a plate of homemade chips and so began the start of a night that was exciting, memorable and felt as wonderful as breaking out of jail.

That brings to me the recipe for today's blog. I was inspired to make my own homemade chips and to do them as well as possible as I wanted to cook them more than one person one day.

The record on the player was Elvis' 1969 effort "From Elvis in Memphis". The album is one that for him marked an exciting new direction that its own way was as much a part of his legend as his groundbreaking early records for the Sun and RCA Labels. It also re-ignited his career. It was an album to take inspiration from for that reason, as well as appreciating the darn good music contained within.

The Potato I used to create the chips was a Red Potato sourced from local greengrocer who also runs a tasty sideline vending Lion Bars.

I peeled the Potato and then cut it into pieces that were around six centimetres long, one and a half centimetres wide and roughly a centimetre to half a centimetre deep.

I put some Olive Oil into a frying pan and then warmed it up on a medium heat. As I didn't have a deep fat fryer available I knew that creating these chips was going to take concentration, precision and timing to ensure they weren't underdone or too burnt.

The trick I used was to fry them on a medium-sized hob on a medium heat for around forty minutes. The trick was to turn them very regularly, probably around every five minutes, to ensure they didn't get overdone and one side, be burned on the outside but raw in the middle. This means you have to spend a lot of time close to the hob not doing much else but it's definitely worth it.

I served these chips drizzled in Parsley, Dill, Spring Onion and Butter Sauce with some fillets of Mackerel that I had fried in my Le Cresceut. In doing so I seemed to have created some kind of sophisticated version of Fish & Chips. The time it had taken to make the chips was totally justified by the taste. Unlike Oven Chips these chips were soft, juicy, tasted of genuine Potatoes and didn't have the industrial taste I often associated with those type of pre-cooked chips.

A new recipe, a new direction? Let the good times roll.

Stage One- the finished chips are tastefully arranged on a serving plate

Stage Two- the Mackerel and Sauce are placed on top of the chips to give an alternate take on the popular dish of Fish & Chips.

Beef Bracket

I don't cook lots of meat dishes when I'm at my home. I think that's because when I lived with my parents we tended to eat together and enjoy a diet of vegetarian meals with a spot of fish thrown in. That was until the last four years of my time living with them when they went totally vegetarian.

Since I left their place I have tended to continue with a diet of vegetarian food with a spot of seafood thrown in. However I think on occasion it's good to have a proper meat dish to keep the diet balanced and the protein levels up.

Towards the middle of August, having hosted a memorable birthday party and tackled some professional challenges, I disappeared off to the hills with the Dogg and we took in a good seven mile walk. The walk included a sneaky wander over the top of a waterfall and down into the grounds of a famous stately home.

Later that day, following a much-needed siesta, I got on with the business of cooking a Beef Steak with a side of Watercress and White Wine with Blue Cheese and Shallot Sauce.

The ingredients for this dish were as follows:

One medium sized Beef Steak.
Three Sprigs of Watercress

Ingredients for the sauce:

A quarter of a pint of White Wine.
Three teaspoons of Olive Oil.
Five grams of Unsalted Butter.
Four Shallots; topped, tailed, peeled and finely sliced.
A teaspoon of Black Pepper.
A teaspoon of Malt Vinegar.
A teaspoon of Dried Chives.
A teaspoon of Dried Tarragon.
A teaspoon of Dried Thyme.
Ten Ounces of Blue Stilton.

On the player was New Order's sophomore 1983 effort "Power Corruption and Lies". Although they are best known for blissful, uptempo dance floor hits such as "Blue Monday" and "True Faith", this record finds them still very much in the grip of the dark legacy of Joy Division. This band of course was the one out of which New Order was formed. The present record does have much to recommend it from the humming opener "Age of Consent" to the languid remake of "Blue Monday" that is "5-8-6".

This dish was surprisingly quick to prepare and the method was one where you should cook the Beef Steak and the Blue Cheese, White Wine and Shallot Sauce concurrently.

The method for the Beef Steak was as follows:

1. Pour Olive Oil into the bottom of a Le Cresceut.
2. Warm the Olive Oil on a medium heat for two minutes.
3. Add the Beef Steak.
4. If you want the Steak well done cook it in the Le Cresceut, with the lid on, for six minutes on each side. If you prefer it more rare then cook it for three minutes on each side.
5. Serve on a plate with the Watercress as a side and drizzle with the Blue Cheese, White Wine and Shallot Sauce.

The method for the Blue Cheese, White Wine and Shallot Sauce was as follows:

1. Put the Olive Oil in the bottom of a sauce pan.
2. Add the Butter, Black Pepper, Vinegar, Chives, Tarragon and Thyme.
3. Warm these ingredients through on a medium heat. Once the Butter has melted add the Shallots.
4. Simmer the ingredients for five minutes.
5. Add the Wine and continue to simmer for another six minutes.
6. Add the Blue Cheese and once it has melted into the Sauce, then serve the sauce by pouring it over the Beef Steak on the serving plate.

Although the Blue Cheese made the sauce quite rich, the side of Watercress and the White Wine in the sauce itself gave the dish a freshness that was much needed following the muggy conditions on the walk earlier in the day. The tasteful Beef Steak meanwhile resembled one of the rich looking Beef Bracket Fungi I had spotted in the grounds of the stately home earlier that day.

Tu aimes Le Bifteck? A spot of steak surrounded by Watercress and covered in flavoursome sauce. 

Purple Sage and Butternut Squash Soup

It was the first Saturday in August and the month of my Birthday. A lot had happened in the year since my last Birthday had taken place. Some things I could have predicted, others I couldn't have. That's life though. You just roll with it and find the way to make the best of it always. 

Plans had changed on this particular Saturday as the anticipated game of Cricket was cancelled at the eleventh hour. Instead Dogg and I went searching for exotic butterflies and found colonies of Common Blue and Small Copper in a new part of the local area.

On our return home it was time to make a Soup to keep me going through the weekend. I plumped for a variation upon a traditional Butternut Squash Soup Recipe.

On the player was Robert Wyatt's "Rock Bottom". This mournful record was produced by the former Soft Machine Drummer after a life-changing fall had left him partially paralysed and unable to drum. He therefore had to re-model his career on his hypnotic, high- pitched voice. The challenges he must have faced put what I had faced in my personal life in the last year into context and made me realise they weren't glitches at all. 

The ingredients for this soup were as follows: 

One Butternut Squash, cubed, peeled & de-seeded.
Six Spring Onions topped and tailed but not cut up.
One White Onion peeled, topped, tailed and sliced thinly.
Two teaspoons of Paprika.
One clove of Garlic, topped, tailed and then diced.
Seven leaves of Purple Sage.
Half a pint of vegetable stock
Three ounces of grated Parmesan Cheese.
Four leaves of Purple Sage to Garnish.
Pine Nuts to Garnish.

The method was as follows:

1. Sweat the Squash Pieces, Spring Onions, Garlic, White Onion, Paprika and Seven leaves of Purple Sage in Olive Oil on a medium heat in a Le Cresceut with the lid on for thirty minutes. Stir regularly to avoid ingredients sticking to the base of the Le Cresceut.

2. Add the Stock and simmer for a further half an hour with the lid off the Le Cresceut.

3. Take off the heat, leave the ingredients to cool and then blend them.

4. Return the Soup to the Le Cresceut and warm through.

5. Serve and add to the serving bowl the remaining four leaves of Purple Sage, the Pine Nuts and Parmesan Cheese to decorate.

This soup was certainly a rich one thanks to the taste of the Parmesan, Purple Sage and the Pine Nuts. All these ingredients gave the flavour of the healthy but bland Butternut Squash a real boost also.

Salmon Sunday

Spontaneity can take you to new and unexpected places. The penultimate Friday in July featured a planned trip to  re-branded local pub with a very close friend that was followed by a post-pub coffee and his parents that featured some very life-affirming conversations. Then, as my plans for cricket and live music faded the following day a chat over the fence while weeding yielded an extremely enjoyable barbecue at the house of my neighbour.

I wasn't done yet. On the Sunday the Dogg and I searched for, and located, a rare Wall Brown butterfly at two separate sites. At a nearby beauty spot we then stumbled upon one of my oldest friends, his energetic and extremely intelligent son, other half and lively Labrador Dogg. We had a good chat, took in the views from one of the highest hills in the area and enjoyed a short wander.

That afternoon I followed my maxim of having some Sunday fish to help focus my mind to tackle the week's challenges. The fish dish today was inspired by a Salmon Dish I tasted at a Rotary Meeting the week before that utilised a Lemon, Chive and Butter Sauce to dress the Salmon.

I had concocted a suitably mellow Sunday playlist that featured the likes of Talk Talk's peerless 1991 album "Laughing Stock" introduced to me by a friend who is following his dream as a talented Hockey Coach and competitive player. However the record on the player while I prepared my Salmon Dish was the Lightening Seeds' 1994 effort "Jollification".

Although the band is best associated with the hit football song "Three Lions", which has been launched back into the public consciousness recently through England's excellent World Cup run, this album is a gem. I acquired it second hand for £0.40 and it may have been one the best bargains I've ever found. Its mix of upbeat, jangly pop with a spot of sampling is irresistible and standout tracks include "Marvelous", which was featured in a car advert in the 1990s, and "Lucky You" but in truth every number is a great song.

The salmon dish featured the following ingredients:

Two fillets of Salmon.
Four Shallots, topped, tailed, peeled and sliced thinly.
Two teaspoons of dried Dill.
Ten Ounces in total of fresh Peas and Broadbeans.
Five Ounces of Unsalted Butter.
A large leaf of Fresh Sorrel shredded into small squares.
One Avocado, peeled, de-stoned and cut into cubes.

The way I made this dish was as follows:

1. Put the Salmon on some foil on a baking tray.
2. Put two of the sliced Shallots evenly on top of the Salmon and spread one teaspoon of Dill evenly on the top of the Salmon.
3. Wrap the foil loosely over the Salmon and cook it the oven for twenty-four minutes on Gas Mark Four.
4. While the Salmon cooks steam the Peas and Broad Beans for twenty-four minutes until tender.
5. With about fifteen minutes to go until the Salmon, Peas and Broad Beans are ready, melt the Butter in a saucepan, add the other two sliced Shallots and the Sorrel Leaf pieces and a teaspoon of Dill. Simmer on a medium heat for seven minutes to ensure the Shallots are cooked.
6. Add the Avocado pieces to the saucepan and cook on a low heat for a further three minutes with the other ingredients in the sauce.
7. Add the Salmon to a plate, cover with the sauce and serve with the Peas and Broad Beans.

The Salmon proved to be rich but nutritious and the sauce added a richness and flavour that was enhanced by the Sorrel and Avocado.The Peas and Broad Beans meanwhile carried a freshness that cannot be found in their frozen counterparts.

#PurpleMac

Some say fish is brain food. I think there's some truth in that and I often cook a fish dish for Sunday Lunch or Tea to help focus my mind prior to the tackling the intellectually challenging job I do during the week.

The middle Sunday of the month was one where I followed this approach. It had been another enjoyable weekend that featured the fourth game of my comeback to competitive cricket, having not previously played the game competitively since August 2013.

On the player was one of several new records I had acquired recently. My music is very important to me; in fact it is one of the things that makes me get up in the morning. I find that listening to a great album can make a tricky day better, turn a mediocre day into a good one and a good day into a corker of day.

I recalled buying a magazine produced by the Observer in 2004 that listed the 100 greatest British Albums. Reading it all those years ago had turned me onto the Smiths, Nick Drake and John Martyn. I decided to return to that list again to acquire a few albums by artists not already in my large collection. For those of you who are interested a link to the list is at: https://www.theguardian.com/observer/omm/idx/0,,1242360,00.html

The album I had acquired from this list was Soul II Soul's outstanding 1989 "Club Classics Vol 1". It is a distinctively British take on Soul and R 'n' B with hints of dub and shades of rap thrown in. The key track is the propulsive "Keep on movin" a number that is an excellent motivational piece.

So as to set myself up for the week I decided to make a light dish featuring pan-fried Mackerel and some light, fresh ingredients to dress it. I'm quite particular about what seafood I have in my diet as studies have confirmed that a lot of sea-going fish are riddled with plastic and therefore you as consumer are essentially eating this plastic, a habit that is clearly not healthy.

I chose the Mackerel as I knew it was sourced in this country under circumstances that meant it would have no exposure to plastic pollution. The ingredients to the recipe were:

2 Fillets of Mackerel.
2 fresh Beetroot, topped, tailed and then boiled in a pan of water for 90 minutes and left to cool in the fridge overnight.
0.1 litres of zero-fat Greek Yoghurt.
The juice of 1 Lemon.
1 teaspoon of dried Dill.
1 Fennel Bulb, topped, tailed and sliced very finely.
The fern-like fronds of the Fennel Bulb.
7 Slices of Cucumber.

I made the recipe by following the method below:

1. Make the dressing by slicing the Beetroot into quarters and add it to a serving bowl.
2. Add the Lemon Juice, Dill, pieces of Fennel Bulb, Cucumber Slices and stir these together thoroughly with the Beetroot pieces.
3. Add the Greek Yoghurt and stir this thoroughly into the mixture.
4. Cover the bowl and leave in the fridge while you prepare the Mackerel.
5. Fry the Mackerel in a frying pan covered with Olive Oil. Fry it on a medium heat for seven minutes on each side.
6. When the Mackerel is ready place it on the plate and top it with the dressing from the fridge and the fronts from the Fennel Bulb.

The taste of this recipe was just what I was looking for on a warm Sunday Evening in the middle of a heatwave. The Mackerel had a taste that made me think it had been prepared by being grilled over a campfire on the shores of a Scottish Loch, while the dressing combined the earthy flavours of the Beetroot with the aniseed flavour of the Fennel and the Yoghurt, Cucumber and Lemon added a welcome freshness to the meal.

Sesame Salmon with Oriental Sweet Potato Mash

The  heat continued during a week that also featured a memorable and inspirational meet up with a friend I first met at uni nearly seventeen years ago. It was our first meet up for nearly five years. Having been energised by some positive, different and innovative perspectives forged during our meeting, I decided to try a new twist on a traditional fish dish.

I first became aware of Salmon as a viable main course dish through adverts on the television during the early nineties for recipes involving Salmon Steaks served with a side of Watercress and Yogurt complimented by Roast Potatoes. My usual method for preparing Salmon often revolved around this type of recipe.

However for today's blog recipe I gave proceedings a more Oriental Twist by making a Salmon Fillet with Sesame Seeds, Broccoli Shoots and Sweet Potato Mash.

Partly as the result of a wonderful trip to the North Country towards the end of June for a friend's birthday party, I had been motivated to acquire a number of albums by artists whose work I was largely unfamiliar with. One of the albums in question was Nic Jones' final album from 1980 called "Penguin Eggs". Jones was a dyed in the wool traditional folk artist whose career was sadly cut short in 1982 by a near fatal car crash. At least "Penguin Eggs" saw him take an extended sabbatical from the music business on a real high.

The pick tracks on the album include "Canadee I-O", the arrangement of which Bob Dylan borrowed for his take on the song on his measured 1992 record "Good as I been to You". Other top drawer numbers include "The Humpback Whale" and "The Little Pot Stove".

The ingredients for this dish are as follows:

Ingredients for the Sweet Potato Mash 

1 Sweet Potato with the skin kept on but any crunchy bits cut out.
A palm sized piece of fresh Root Ginger peeled and then diced.
A Red Pepper, de-cored, de-seeded, topped, tailed and sliced thinly.
5 Spring Onions, topped, tailed and sliced thinly.
1 Bird's Eye Chili cut into very small pieces.
1 tablespoon of Sesame Seeds.
1 tablespoon of sweet Soy Sauce.
Sesame Oil to fry the above ingredients.
1 teaspoon of Honey
1 Lime cut into 5 slices and de-seeded.

Ingredients for the Sesame Salmon 

1.Fillet of Salmon
5 shoots of miniature Sprouting Broccoli.
1 teaspoon of Sesame Seeds.

The method to make this recipe is:

Sweet Potato Mash 

1. Shallow fry in a Le Cresceut in the Sesame Oil on a medium heat the Ginger,  Pepper, Spring Onions and Birds Eye Chili for five minutes.

2. Add the Sweet Potato Pieces, Soy Sauce, Sesame Seeds, Lime Pieces and Honey and mix these together with the other ingredients.

3. Sweat all the above ingredients on a medium heat for twenty-five minutes in the Le Cresceut. Do make sure to stir them regularly to avoid them sticking to the bottom of the dish and burning.

4. Remove the Limes and mash the other ingredients together.

Sesame Salmon 

1. Cover the Salmon Fillet in the Sesame Seeds and wrap it loosely in a foil parcel with the Sprouting Broccoli.

2. Bake in the Oven on Gas Mark 5 for 23 minutes.

I served the meal by using the Broccoli  to frame the Salmon Fillets and I book-ended them with the mash. The Sesame Oil gave the mash a taste of nuts while keeping the skin on the Sweet Potatoes gave it a very flavoursome texture. The Ginger, Lime and lone Chili blended well too.

The Salmon meanwhile had its usual damp and lush taste that was enhanced by the Sesame Seeds. Some like their Salmon fried or grilled, however I find this makes it too dry and it loses the great taste it retains when cooked in the oven.

The Broccoli I used came from Kenya and was more tender and had a tasteful, salty flavour that our native Broccoli often lacks. It added yet another new and innovative taste to the dish.

Frame by Frame- the Salmon Fillet is framed by the Broccoli Stalks

New York Thymes

It was a Wednesday. In fact it was the Wednesday of the first week that I had allowed myself to take off work since Christmas. The week off had included a very enjoyable adventure to the North, a buffet that featured exotic Hummus, an evening pint in the local watching the sun go down and a tactical Trout that broke up a walk deep in the country.

In among all this I decided it was time to make some new recipes for the blog and I settled on making some New York Style Meatballs with a twist. The twist was the Meatballs in question were vegetarian. However the sauce, with its proliferation of cheese, owed a serious debt to the famous Italian-American recipes made in New York.

The ingredients for this dish were as follows:

6 Vegetarian Meatballs, to be cooked from frozen.
A tablespoon of Oregano.
A tablespoon of Chili Powder.
A tablespoon of Smoked Paprika.
A teaspoon of Tomato Puree.
A tablespoon of Dried Thyme.
A tablespoon of Malt Vinegar.
2 Garlic Cloves, topped, tailed, peeled and finely sliced.
2 Shallots, topped, tailed, peeled and finely sliced.
3 Spring Onions , topped, tailed, peeled and finely sliced.
A tin of chopped Tomatoes.
Seventy Fives Grams of Mozzarella Cheese.
A tablespoon of grated Parmesan Cheese.
Seventy Five Grams of Penne Pasta.

On the player was Eurythmics' second effort from 1982 "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" . Apart from the famous title track, the record is a veritable cornucopia of memorable electronica with the dynamic opener "Love is a Stranger"just pipping the title track as the best song on the album.

For this dish I couldn't use my Le Cresceut as it was engaged in the preparation of some Red Cabbage Chutney, of which more on a future blog entry. Instead I started by frying the Herbs, Tomato Puree, Spices, Vinegar, Garlic, Shallots and Spring Onions on a medium heat in Olive Oil in a frying pan for around fifteen minutes. I stirred the ingredients well to blend them together and to stop them sticking them to the pan.

After twenty minutes was up I added the Vegetarian Meatballs and fried them with the other ingredients for around another fifteen minutes. I turned them regularly and kept stirring them into the other ingredients to get them thawed out quickly. While I was doing this I simmered the Penne in boiling water for around twelve minutes. It was then drained and set to one side.

After the meatballs were ready I added the tin of Chopped Tomatoes to the frying pan and stirred them in. This stopped the other ingredients  sticking to the bottom of the pan and burning. Next I added the Parmesan and, after first cutting it into pieces, the Mozzarella. Once these had melted into the mixture it was time to serve the dish.

The melted cheeses naturally made this dish very rich, while the Paprika and the Herbs plus the Vinegar ensured it was very flavoursome. It was also surprisingly light for a hot summer teatime.

Part 1- frying the vegetables, herbs, spices and meatballs. 

Part 2- adding the Chopped Tomatoes and Mozzarella 

Part 3- after melting in the Grated Parmesan, the dish is served with the Penne Pasta.

Spanish Omelette Incident

On a recent Friday Night I sat quietly in the car as the early evening sun beat down. I was half-reading a slightly insipid Doctor Who Novel from 1996 and half nursing a headache, which was improving gradually thanks to a couple of tactical Paracetamols. I was wearing my best suit and bow tie as I was about to go to a black tie dinner with a colleague and her daughter. The dinner was a charity one featuring top professionals from the worlds of law and medicine. Despite being fully sober throughout the event and handicapped by nursing a possible chest infection, I entertained and spent quality time with many people. I also threw a few "innovative" shapes on the dance floor. It was a late finish to the evening but totally worth it.

The next day featured the arrival of some of my oldest friends from uni days. The lack of hangover also meant I was able to put on a buffet and some home cooking for us and we spent a very enjoyable day catching up, taking in a sun-shiny walk in the park and adjoining fields. It was a day of relaxation and self-care for us all, something we were all in need of for different reasons.

When Sunday teatime rolled round the weather had caused the temperature to rise to tropical levels and I decided I didn't want anything too heavy. That said I followed the route of many in the Mediterranean and made a Spanish Omelette.

The record on player was Miles Davis' early classic "Birth of the Cool", while not having the innovation and bit of some his later albums, there is still enough here to enjoy and even a track or two to boogie to.

The ingredients for the Omelette were as follows:

Two medium sized New Potatoes, scrubbed thoroughly and sliced very finely width-ways.
Two Shallots, topped, tailed, peeled and sliced finely.
About eight ounces of Fresh Basil, shredded into medium-sized pieces.
A teaspoon of Dried Oregano.
Two Eggs, beaten.
100 millelitres of Almond Milk.

The way I made this one was as follows:

1. Fry in Sunflower Oil in a frying pan the New Potatoes, Shallots, Basil and Oregano for twenty minutes on a low heat turning regularly to ensure the ingredients don't stick to bottom of the frying pan.

2. Meanwhile stir together the Eggs and Almond Milk in a measuring jug with a whisk. Then add them to the frying pan.

3. Fry the mixture on a lowish heat for the next fifteen minutes until it begins to solidify.

4. Keep the Omelette in the frying pan and put it under the grill under a low heat for five minutes to make it go solid on the top.

After I'd done all the above it was ready to serve. Potatoes in Omelettes is a common recipe used in Spanish Omelettes while Oregano and Basil are common ingredients in such Omelettes. This one was surprisingly filling and the Fresh Basil made it exceptionally flavoursome and light but effective meal on a hot day.

With the Omelette removed from the frying pan, there was still a further half to remove.

Bread of Wine

Another part of the Bank Holiday Sunday Cooking Project was to make some homemade bread. I was partly inspired by the tale of a former judge, which he told at a Rotary Meeting somewhere in the North. He had started his working life as a Master Baker,careful how you pronounce that, before studying law at night school as a mature student, qualifying as a solicitor and then blossoming into a judge. Apparently, although I never recall this when I was before him, he had his baking certificates displayed in his Court next to his legal qualifications.

On the player was Roy Orbison's final and best album "Mystery Girl" which has a host of star collaborations including production by Jeff Lynne and writing credits from Bono and the Edge on the hypnotic and wonderful title track. The album took me back to days playing cricket in the countryside for a local village team as a ten year old and listening to the album on a tape in my Dad's battered old Fiat Uno as he transported me to and from the cricket ground.

The Ingredients for this pleasant bread were as follows:

14 Ounces of Wholemeal Bread Flour.
1 Teaspoon of Yeast.
10 Fresh Rosemary Leaves.
A quarter of a pint of Bordeaux White Wine.
A teaspoon of Nigella Seeds.

The Method was as follows:

1. Stir the Flour, Yeast and Rosemary Leaves together in a mixing bowl.

2. Gradually add the White Wine stirring it in slowly and then combine all the ingredients together until they form a soft ball that can be easily manipulated.

3. Knead the dough together into a flat circle.

4. Leave to rise in a warm place for an hour.

5. Top with the Nigella Seeds and then bake in the oven for twenty-five minutes on Gas Mark 6.

I served this bread with some Unsalted Butter and it was a perfect adjunct to the Beetroot Soup my parents had for starters and the Provencial Stew that was the main course and the subject of last week's blog post. Would the retired judge and former baker have been proud of this bread? I have a feeling perhaps the answer would be yes.

Side of bread- some of the bread freshly out of the oven and festooned with Nigella Seeds. 

Stew You, Provence

The second Bank Holiday Sunday had rolled around quickly. I woke that morning by sitting bolt upright in my bed with a feeling that I'd just been teleport-ed there directly from the bar we'd ended up in the night before, but without the benefit of the eight hours' sleep i'd clearly had in the interim.

That evening my parents were to attend my rural and urban chateau for tea. In the summer of 1993 we ventured to Provence in Southern France. While there we stayed in a gite not for from Pablo Picasso's last house deep in the countryside. I didn't appreciate what a great part of the world it was at the time. Maybe I'll go back someday.

The extreme heat and the fact my parents were coming round had jogged my memory back to that holiday and I decided to use the memories as inspiration to make a Provencial Stew for our main meal that evening.

On the player was Suede's 1994 masterwork "Dog Man Star". It proved to be a watershed for the group; as it was the last with founder guitarist Bernard Butler. At the time the album was made he and lead singer Brett Anderson were at loggerheads and taking lots of drugs. Therefore the quality of record proves the old adage that great art rarely springs from contentment.

The album opens with the rousing "Introducing the Band" with Anderson's best 'David Bowie in a bad mood' voice in full cry. Other top tracks on this largely flawless album include the anti-anthem "We are the Pigs" and the nine minute "Asphalt World" where Butler's guitar work invokes the spirit of Jimmy Page on the peerless Led Zeppelin track "No Quarter".

The ingredients of this stew were as follows:

2 Fennel Bulbs, topped, tailed and peeled then sliced thinly.
1 Red Pepper, de-cored, de-seeded and sliced into small squares.
1 Red Onion, topped, tailed, peeled and then diced.
4 Cloves of Garlic,topped, tailed, peeled and then sliced thinly.
20 Vine Tomatoes cut in half.
15 Fresh Broadbeans.
1 Teaspoon of Dried Coriander.
2 Teaspoons of Dried Parsley.
10 ounces of Black and Green Olives.
A quarter of a pint of Bordeaux White Wine.
A bunch of Fresh Basil Leaves.
A quarter of a pint of Vegetable Stock.

The method was as follows:

1. I shallow-fried the vegetables, save the Olives, herbs and half the Basil in my Le Cresceut in Olive Oil on a medium heat for around thirty minutes. I stirred the ingredients regularly to stop them sticking to the pan and when I wasn't stirring them I put the lid on the Le Cresceut to keep the heat in.

2. After thirty minutes were up I added the rest of the Basil, the Olives and the Tomatoes. I continued  to stir the ingredients and found the tomatoes released lots of juice that helped the dish stew with added flavour without going dry. I carried on this process for fifteen minutes.

3. I then added the Vegetable Stock and simmered everything for a further fifteen minutes prior to serving it.

I served the stew with a side of white wine bread, which you will see on the blog soon. The dish proved to be a light yet filling one that on a hot night was just what was needed. If we had all closed our eyes we could probably have imagined ourselves being back in Provence nearly twenty-five years ago.

Bubbling in the pot and ready to serve

Out and about with plenty of Fennel, Fresh Basil and Olives

Red Sky, Crimson Tomatoes

Last week I was considering re-naming myself the "King of the Gypsies" as during the course of that week my working life and, part of my personal life, had taken me to two cities, two towns and two villages. These locations were largely ones that were once epicentres of classic British Industry while the exception to the rule was previously famous for lead mining but had now re-invented itself as a countrified attraction for tourists.

Needless to say by the time a Friday so wet it could have fooled one into thinking it was the monsoon season rolled round, I was in need of a stiff brew and a well-earned lie down in a darkened room. However before I did that I perused the fridge and the cupboards, not to mention my recipe books, to work out what I was going to be cooking over the weekend and the upcoming working week. I also noticed I had lots of overripe tomatoes that needed using up and elected to turn these into a soup.

Tomato soup is often seen as a tired recipe and one that is over-familiar to millions. It's true to say that often the canned version is something that many people keep at the back of their cupboard in case of a food shortage. I decided to dispel that myth with a tomato soup recipe that contains more taste than your average canned soup recipe. The ingredients were as follows:

5 Tomatoes cut into cubes.
6 Spring Onions, topped, tailed and sliced finely. 
Teaspoon of Oregano.
Teaspoon of Paprika.
Teaspoon of Tomato Purée
Clove of Garlic, topped, tailed, peeled and sliced finely.
A quarter of a pint of Vegetable Stock
Fresh Basil leaves to garnish.

On the player was some music by a band that suffers from the same over-familiarity as canned Tomato Soup. The band was Status Quo. They started their career as a psychedelic act before stepping into the blues and then settling on their most well-known incarnation as purveyors of twelve-bar boogie that you can easily shake a tail feather to. Despite never breaking the United States they have managed to sell around 118 million records worldwide. 

The record on the player was their recent unplugged effort "Aquostic (Stripped Bare)". Although it was released twenty years after the "unplugged" boom of well-known artists releasing unplugged albums peaked, this record has plenty to recommend it. It also dispels the popular myth that the band have been playing the same three chords on their electric guitars since time immemorial. The album sheds new light on the likes of "Pictures of Matchstick Men" and their unique cover of "Rockin' All Over the World" among many other songs on this strong set, which shows the surprising versatility of their back catalogue. 

So the soup, the method was as follows:

1. Sweat the Tomatoes, Spring Onions, Tomato Puree, Garlic and Herbs in Olive Oil in a saucepan on a medium heat for thirty minutes so the juice of the Tomatoes stews. Make sure to stir the ingredients regularly to stop them sticking to the bottom of the saucepan. 

2. Add the Vegetable Stock and leave to simmer for twenty minutes. 

3. Take the saucepan off the heat and leave it to cool off for an hour. 

4. Blend ingredients on the highest setting on your blender. 

5. Add half the Fresh Basil to the Soup and warm the Soup through.

6. Serve in bowls and garnish the bowls with the rest of the Fresh Basil. 

I consumed the Soup the following day and found the herbs, especially the Basil, gave the soup a fresh flavour that was enriched by the overripe Tomatoes,Garlic and Spring Onions. Certainly this recipe showed that Tomato soup can be so much more than that unwanted tin lurking at the back of your cupboard or in the bargain bin at the supermarket. 

Plenty of Basil to top off this soup.