Sea My Pie

I've made quite a lot of fish recipes for this blog but never a fish pie. I thought it was time to change all that with a recipe that used two kinds of fish and some prawns. It was early in November and the afternoon sun shone before the fog once again returned. I had been to the shop early to avoid the needless queues and been able to source the following ingredients:

500 grams of Salmon

500 grams of Cod

500 grams of Prawns

25 grams of Fresh Dill

300 ml of White Wine.

1 White Onion carefully diced

200 grams of Garden Peas

Mashed Sweet Potato and White Potato made from 1000 grams of Sweet Potato and White Potato 

White Sauce created from 100 grams of Unsalted Butter, 50 grams of Plain Flour, a tablespoon of fresh Chopped Parsley and 300 ml of Milk.

On the player was the first great Yes Album simply called "The Yes Album" and it can be listened to at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_nY-QvLEUh8bovdW1btwUXJHE8I_W5bIbA    

It finds the band mastering in full long-form songs that contain much melody, strong backing tracks, top-notch musicianship and above all accessibility without over- indulgence. 

The method to make this Seafood Pie is:

1. Stew the Fish, White Onion, White Wine and Prawns in some Sunflower Oil on a low heat in a Le Cresceut or very deep frying pan for ten minutes. Add the Dill and Garden Peas and stew for another five minutes then leave to cool on one side. 

2. Steam the Potatoes for around thirty minutes until soft. Drain and mash. 

3. While the Potatoes are steaming make the White Sauce by melting the Butter in a saucepan and then mixing it with the Flour and Parsley. Then add the milk and stir on a medium heat until all the ingredients are combined into a thin, runny White Sauce 

4. Put the fish mixture in a greased pie dish. Add the White Sauce. Add the mashed potatoes and spread evenly over the top of the dish.

5. Cook in the oven on Gas Mark Six for thirty-five minutes before serving. 

Richness without it being overpowering is the key to this meal, which contains lots of protein from the Seafood and freshness from the Parsley and Dill while the White Wine creates a strong flavoursome taste. 

Shut it, you Tartlet

The mixture of rain in the valley coupled with the sun bursting through a crack in the clouds produced a kind of liquid mercury hue as I gazed down into it from the hill I occupied with the Dogg on our early morning walk. 

Later that day I tried my hand at a spot of baking. On the player was the Who's seminal 1970 live album "Live at Leeds" an album I bought first during the seminal second is year of my A-Levels. A link to the full gig this live album was culled from can be found at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLD2Z2HKHDDj2RHp7wjMY54HiJF1z4akc0 

Having looked back for the last time during the October Holiday I was taking, by listening to this music from the past to inspire me in my new future, I focused on the making of some Butter Tartlets. This dish of pastry cases filled with sweet mixture and topped with icing and a glace cherry apparently comes from Canada. 

The ingredients are as follows:

For the shortcrust pastry:

Eight Ounces of Self-Raising Flour. 

Four Ounces of Unsalted Butter. 

Two tablespoons of water if required to soften the pastry to allow it to be rolled.

For the filling

Four Ounces of Mixed Peel

Four Ounces of Demerara Sugar.

One Ounce of Unsalted Butter. melted.

One Egg Beaten. 

For the Topping

A sheet of ready to roll Fondant Icing.

Some Glace Cherries. 

The method goes like this:

1. Rub in the Butter and Flour to make the Pastry. Roll it out then spread it between twelve greased patty-cake tins. 

2. Mix the Mixed Peel,  Demerara Sugar, Egg and Melted Unsalted Butter together in a bowl. Add evenly to the patty-cake tins. 

3. Bake in the oven for twenty minutes at Gas Mark Six. 

4. Turn out the Tartlets and leave on a wire rack to cool. 

5. Once cool top with the Icing and the Glace Cherries. 

Hummus be joking

 In my quest to limit the salt in my diet I recently tried my hand at making Hummus from scratch after the supermarket produced Hummus purchased had felt salty and stale recently. I was inspired by a prominent influencer in my roster to watch a video showing a leading chef make his own Hummus from scratch and his description of how smooth and fresh it is. 

With Chris Rea's mellow, refined and Jazzy 2004 effort the Blue Jukebox on heavy rotation, a sample of which can be found at https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL66877F885A21CC23 , I set about preparation of this simple but effective meal.

The ingredients are as follows: 

720 grams of Chick Peas

2 tablespoons of water. 

The juice of 1 Lemon.

2 Garlic Cloves, topped, tailed, peeled and cut finely.

1 tablespoon of Ground Cumin.

1 Green Chilli, the top and seeds removed and cut finely. 

1 teaspoon of Sesame Seeds. 

The method in this recipe is very simple. First put the Lemon Juice into the blender, then add the Cumin and Sesame Seeds. Add the Garlic Cloves next with the Chilli. Finally add the Chick Peas and water then blend everything to a puree. 

The difference between this recipe and supermarket Hummus is telling. Whereas supermarket Hummus sticks to the spoon like the noxious glue we used at Primary School, this homemade Hummus rolls smoothly off the spoon and is smooth and silky rather than claggy and dry. The taste meanwhile is fresh and immediate thanks to the fresh chilli and the Garlic. After this I don't think I'll every buy anything but homemade Hummus. 

Pump My Pie

So far on this blog the Pumpkin Recipes I've shared have all been for savoury dishes. However I had long been aware of the American Thanksgiving night dish Pumpkin Pie, which is a sweet dish. 

I have only ever been to a thanksgiving meal once. It was nearly twenty years ago, when I was a university student living in dilapidated halls of residence in a city with connections to Ancient Rome. An American exchange student was over in our halls for the semester and to make her feel at home we decided one evening to make her a thanksgiving meal using our primitive ovens and low-budget ingredients. Pumpkin Pie was on the menu as well as the traditional turkey. It was a night darker than a glass of porter and the radiators were colder than slabs in a morgue, we tucked into that meal as overawed teenagers fresh away from home for the first time. It was a cold night but there was communal warmth between us all.  Basic living conditions they may have been but at least we were students with freedom. 

Back in the present I continued to follow Chris Rea's eleven disc adventure through the history of the blues as cooking commenced on this unique sweet treat.

The ingredients for this recipe are as follows:

300 grams of Sweet Shortcrust Pastry made using Unsalted Butter, Self-Raising Flour, Demerara Sugar and All Spice.

800 grams of Pumpkin Flesh cut into cubes.

• 75 grams of Demerara Sugar.
• A teaspoon of Nutmeg.

A teaspoon of Cinnamon

• 2 beaten Eggs.
• 25 grams of melted Unsalted Butter. 
• 9 tablespoons of Almond Milk. 
• A hint of Vanilla Essence

This recipe is made like this:

1. Boil the Pumpkin Flesh for around twenty minutes. Drain it through a sieve and then purify it in a blender. 

2. Mix the Sugar, Eggs, Cinnamon, Nutmeg, Unsalted Butter, Almond Milk and Vanilla Essence in a bowl.

3. Roll out the Pastry and use it to line a greased pie tin around twenty-five centimetres wide and five centimetres deep. 

4. Cook the Pastry in an oven on Gas Mark Four for around fifteen minutes. This method is called "baking it blind".

5, Take the Pastry out of the oven and add all the remaining ingredients from the mixing bowl to the pie tin containing the blind baked pastry. 

6. Cook the pie on Gas Mark Four for around fifty minutes. Leave to cool once cooked prior to serving. 

This meal was something else. While my initial instincts told me a savoury vegetable in a sweet dish could not be right I was proven wrong by the spicy yet sweet flavours of this uniquely wonderful American Dish. Perhaps cooking this meal will now become my family's own thanksgiving night tradition.

Carrot Camaraderie

 I should have known it was coming. A 5am get up had followed the day before of an evening workout and the rush of emotions that naturally follow after one finishes employment at a job that had been a part of my life for six years. It shouldn't have come as a surprise that a powerful headache briefly knocked me for six after all this activity. It was my body, and the Gilbert's Syndrome I was diagnosed with seven years ago, telling me to slow down and rest. I took my body's advice and drank a glass of water prior to rolling into bed for an early night.

Luckily my syndrome only means a few extra quid on the travel insurance if I go abroad and it doesn't stop me doing anything else. It is something that's now a part of me and I learn to manage and live with in the same manner a prolific test cricket batsman might refine their technique to avoid playing certain shots due to a longstanding injury. 

Some longstanding followers of this blog may have noticed that I use very little salt in my cooking. That's because with having Gilbert's Syndrome if I get too de-hydrated it triggers the headaches and slight confusion. Salt of course is a natural de-hydrating agent which is why I avoid it in my recipes and keep up my fluid intake. 

I also think that salt makes a lot of recipes taste artificial, dry and stale. That's why I like to go for recipes that contain lots of fresh ingredients. To assist in recovering I woke up fairly early the next morning and walked through a partial rain storm with the Dogg to a local farm shop that contains all kinds of innovative products I aim to feature in blog posts over the next few months. Why not check them out at https://www.facebook.com/strettonhallfarmshop/ 

After weathering the slight storm and seeing some stunning rainbows, the sun bathed the Dogg and I as we picked our way through the fields home and talked to a neighbour about his exciting new summer house. For dinner I fancied something largely fresh that lacked too much salt and settled on an old favourite; Carrot and Coriander Soup.

On the player was one of the Chris Rea Albums I'd acquired with some of my leaving money from the job. The album was 1996's "La Passione". If you fancy a listen you can do worse than check out this compilation of the best bits of the album and more at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLfp1EzKOEX0dZrs4ITtGyMr7VmaFMN4fT 

The album was the soundtrack to a film and it was pilloried subsequently by Rea because he believed the record company had made some changes to it that ruined the record. His judgment is a little harsh on this eclectic album that features more soaring strings than one might find on a Chris Rea Record, a left-field duet with Shirley Bassey and in the song "Girl in Sports Car" a track that swings and sways to move quickly through various moods in a fragmented yet driving manner. 

So to the recipe which comprises of the following:

Six large Carrots, topped, tailed, peeled and cut into slices widthways. 

Three Shallots, topped, tailed, peeled and diced. 

One Chilli Pepper, the top cut off and de-seed then sliced thinly. 

A bunch of Fresh Coriander. 

Quarter of a pint of Chicken Stock.

This one can be made by the following method:

1. Sweat the Carrots, Shallots, Chilli Pepper and Coriander in a Le Cresceut with a small amount of Sunflower Oil for ten minutes. 

2. Add the Stock and simmer for a further ten minutes.

3. Blend and serve.

This soup is a recipe that's seen everywhere from supermarkets to restaurants. It is however a hard recipe to get right as too many takes on it use too much stock, cream and dried coriander. The trick is to use Fresh Coriander, in this case I used some I had grown myself, and only use enough stock to cover the other ingredients before simmering and blending. If this approach is followed a flavoursome soup that packs a fiery punch can be made. 

Holed Out

One of the more pleasant aspects of lockdown was discovering some local food shops with plentiful and tasteful produce not available in the main supermarkets. Just a short Dogg walk across the fields from my home and located at the top of the drive to a old-world farm is Stretton Hall Farm. This place serves fresh meat, eggs of various types, exotic cheese, bakery produce of all kinds, chutney, jam and things for your Festive Hamper. They also sell other types of food and I'd heartily recommend their flavoursome and reasonably priced produced to anyone. A link to their website is at: https://www.facebook.com/strettonhallfarmshop/ 

Prior to restrictions coming back in, and thanks to a longstanding friend I first met twenty-six years ago, I was lucky enough to go to a gig by an excellent tribute band for the band Rush. They are called Bravado and having been to a gig by the real Rush I can tell you Bravado sound as close to the real thing as you can get. Why not check them out at: https://www.planetbravado.com/ 

As a result a few Saturdays ago I had my Rush collection on heavy rotation to remind myself of the wonderful gig and just what a great band Rush were and their grand legacy. The album I was listening to, when making an innovative Toad in the Hole recipe, was their live compilation covering gigs from 1997, 1994 and 1978 called "Different Stages" . The album was released in 1998. The first two discs capture the band in 1997 and one track in 1994 and show them to be a slick, well-oiled outfit who play with passion. The third disc includes songs from a gig at the Hammersmith Odeon in 1978 and shows the band as a rawer, heavier outfit. Both incarnations of the band showcased on the collection are peerless however and can be checked out at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLA2K7Uhu9TwANSOSlERMZHUkdF1Ihe7CG 

The recipe for the meal I made was as follows:

Four Tomato Sausages purchased from Stretton Hall Farm Shop. 

200 grams of Plain Flour.

25 grams of Self-Raising Flour.

2 beaten Eggs from Stretton Hall Farm Shop. 

2.5 cups (or 600 mil of Skimmed Milk) 

1 teaspoon of  Chopped Fresh Rosemary.

1 teaspoon of Chopped Fresh Thyme. 

The method went like this:

1. Put the Flour in a mixing bowl and make a well in the middle of it. 

2. Add the Rosemary and Thyme. 

3. Add the Eggs and stir them into the Flour and the Herbs one by one. 

4. Add the Milk steadily stirring it in bit by bit until a paste is formed that now forms the batter mixture. Leave the batter mixture in the bowl and put in the refrigerator for around three hours to help it solidify. 

5.  Fry the Sausages on a medium heat in Sunflower Oil for around five minutes until all sides are brown then put to one side. 

6. Put the batter mixture in a baking tray lined with Sunflower Oil and Unsalted Butter. 

7. Add the sausages to the batter mixture. 

8. Bake in the oven for 35 minutes at Gas Mark 7.

9. Remove from the oven and serve with gravy and a side of vegetables. I used Lentil and Purple Sage Gravy with steamed Carrot and Leek. 

This meal took the sometimes bland recipe of Toad in the Hole to another place. The presence of the self-raising flour gave the batter extra body while the herbs made it very flavoursome and complemented well the Tomatoes contained in the tasteful sausages. 

Catch a bonfire

It was a bonfire weekend with a difference. The fog, no doubt caused by the cumulative smoke of bonfires held during the week, clung low to the lampposts and shop windows as faint slivers of sun started to poke through the gloom. On bonfire and pre-Christmas winters in The Time Before I had watched fireworks fly in friends' back gardens, seen empty bottles of lager shot out of the sky from the top of listed buildings and drystone walls start to burn. These incidents all had one thing in common; the tar-like, smoky smell that seemed to linger in the air. Yesterday I set out to recreate that smell, and so evoke the feel of those nights out, by making some bonfire gingerbread. 

On the player was Yes' 1991 re-union album "Union" that featured all but four of the band's previous members up to that point. It's partly a case of too many cooks spoil the broth amongst some genuinely stirring moments including the opening track and the hymn-like anthem "The More We Live- Let Go" . It's a record that's worth checking out and a link is at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP59Fs_hB7C2eBJv0-85it-EmMlGCAcua 

The ingredients for this gingerbread are: 

100 grams of Unsalted Butter.

200 grams of Treacle.

100 grams of Demerara Sugar. 

A tablespoon of Ground Ginger.

A teaspoon of Ground Cinnamon. 

200 ml of craft Porter. I used Magic Rock Porter. 

3 beaten Eggs

250 grams of Self-Raising Flour. 

The method is:

1. Combine the Butter, Treacle, Sugar, Ginger and Cinnamon in a small saucepan. On a low heat mix the ingredients together until the Butter is melted and the Sugar dissolved. 

2. Beat the Eggs together in a measuring jug then add the Porter to the jug and mix the Porter into the Eggs. 

3. Pour the Butter and Treacle mixture into a mixing bowl and add the Eggs and Porter mixture. 

4. Add the Self-Raising Flour to the mixing bowl and stir it into the other ingredients. 

5. Pour the mixture into a greased baking tin and cook on Gas Mark 4 for 40 minutes.

6. Turn out onto a wire rack and then, when cooled, cut into cubes prior to serving.

The Treacle and Porter did the job of giving the Gingerbread a burnt feel that evoked memories of dark winter nights in front of warm fires during a time long vanished. 

Stew uprising

The second part of my Halloween cooking programme commenced after what seemed like typhoon had hit the town and the rain had made my windows so wet it felt like the house was a boat sailing through a gale on the high seas. 

Keeping under cover I proceeded to dissect the Pumpkin acquired from a patch on a local farm the week prior and stuck some blues on the player. In this case it was the first disc of Chris Rea's 11 CD, plus one DVD, odyssey through the history of the blues produced as an earbook in 2005 and named "Blue Guitars". What could quite easily have turned into a tiresome vanity project is minted into something quite magic through Rea's clear love of the genre. All 137 songs are written by him and little or no filler is in sight. Each CD deals with one specific genre of the blues and the case of disc one we get songs about the beginnings of the blues in West Africa all of which are primitive but listenable numbers. Check it out yourself if you like at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFW4G6_Ddiy-yew_R7U2IdK2v8ujFq1yo 

So to the recipe for this casserole:

800 grams of Beef Pieces.

2 White Onions, topped, tailed and diced. 

1 Clove of Garlic topped, tailed and diced. 

500 grams of Pumpkin Flesh cut into cubes.

Two sliced up and de-seeded Red Chilli Peppers.

A teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper.

6 leaves of Fresh Basil carefully shredded.

6 Tomatoes cut into cubes. 

Half a pint of Beef Stock

100 grams of Red Lentils.

The method goes like this: 

1. Brown the Beef Pieces by shallow frying them in a Le Cresceut dish for around five minutes on a medium heat. 

2. Add the vegetables, herbs, spices and Red Lentils and sweat for a further five minutes. 

3. Add the Beef Stock and put the lid on the Le Cresceut.

4. Place in a pre-heated oven and cook on Gas Mark three for two and a half hours prior to serving. 

There is something very flavoursome that is produced when Tomatoes, Fresh Basil and Pumpkins are combined to make a comforting winter stew. The Beef and Lentils meanwhile made this an even richer meal with plenty of protein to fortify me on an early winter evening. 

Pumpkin Power

As part of my Halloween Cooking Projects I made a Pumpkin Soup. Things had changed a little for me as professional life had seen me move jobs for the first time in six years. However to balance this out I was thankful that there were numerous constants in my personal life that made the job move a lot easier than it could have been.

Naturally due to the virus, that we dare not speak the name of, Halloween is going to be a muted affair this year as trick or treating is banned. However that doesn't stop the preparation of a number of Autumn recipes that taste extra special at this time of year. 

Last weekend, after I had hollowed out my pumpkin to make a decorative lantern, I used 500 grams of the Pumpkin flesh as an ingredient for a soup. The full ingredients for this recipe are:

500 grams of Pumpkin Flesh.

Six leaves of Fresh Basil carefully shredded. 

A diced Red Onion.

A diced Onion.

Two diced cloves of Garlic.

250 grams of Baby Tomatoes cut into halves. 

0.3 litres of Beef Stock.

Two tablespoons of Sunflower Oil.

To match the Halloween Theme ,as I cooked, was music by a band that wanted to make their songs like horror movies set to music. The band was Black Sabbath and I had the sounds of their third album "Master of Reality" with its sludgy guitar riffs and the odd mellow acoustic number slithering out of the speaker. This was the first Sabbath album to mix a couple of mellow acoustic numbers with their normal riff-laden heavier tracks such as album opener "Sweet Leaf", an ode to the virtues of smoking weed. 

The method for this recipe is quite simple and goes like this:

1. Sweat the Onions, Garlic, Pumpkin and Shredded Basil Leaves in the Sunflower Oil in a Le Cresceut Dish on a low heat on the hob for around ten minutes.

2. Add the Baby Tomatoes and sweat for a further ten minutes.

3. Add the Beef Stock and simmer steadily for another fifteen minutes.

4. Take off the heat, blend, pour into a sauce pan and warm through prior to serving. 

Iconic as it is for Halloween and as an ingredient in the popular thanksgiving pudding Pumpkin Pie, Pumpkin can have a bland taste if it's not flavoured properly. Its natural flavour is quite like wet cupboard. However the Tomatoes and Fresh Basil coupled with the earthy Beef Stock turned this soup into a vibrant taste of Autumn. 

Top: the hollowed out Pumpkin Glows brightly while the flesh removed from the hollowing went into this tasteful soup (above). 

What's the Story? (Tandoori Glory)

 "My chicken isn't cooked," he slurred, the effects of five pints of strong Indian Lager, quaffed before the main course had even been served, were taking their toll. 

"It's cooked in a clay oven mate" the waiter responded with a dash of condescension. 

That's some of the key bits of dialogue I remember from a night out in early 2011. it was a night out that proved to be the only one in which the guy who complained about his undercooked chicken, when we attended a mediocre curry restaurant, took a part. Not long after he was out of our group, so to speak, and now cuts a lone, distant shape on Social Media where his posts make him appear a man wracked with inner torment. I hope he turns a corner. 

However his comment made me wonder whether in fact it really was necessary to use a clay oven to cook tandoori food. On the first Saturday in October I was largely confined indoors because of a biblical rainstorm, albeit the Dogg and I popped out for an essential trip in the new motor. The extra time on my hands gave me the opportunity to make my own Tandoori Chicken.

On the player was a sampler album from Chris Rea's mammoth 11 CD project "Blue Guitars" from 2005. In 2001 the traditional MOR Favourite and Housewives' Choice nearly died from Pancreatic Cancer and spent some time recuperating. The effect it had on him musically was effectively a re-birth. Although his previous records had some blues stylings, the records that followed after his illness were immersed in the blues with touches of Jazz. That's not to say however the music is bland or repetitive. Far from it. In fact in letting the blues fully into his music Rea has painted many dynamic and bright sonic pictures with the albums he's released since his rebirth. Listening to this particular album, extracts of which are at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFW4G6_Ddiy8MEGdlNS2ILkROv08TRrt2 , shows his music to be as hungry and vital as his more commercial offerings in the 1980s and 1990s. It also inspired me to feel positive about a forthcoming career re-birth of my own. 

So to the recipe then. The ingredients for this recipe are:

One Chilli, cut very finely and de-cored. 

Five Shallots, cut finely, topped and tailed.

Four Cloves of Garlic crushed. 

Two Tomatoes cubed. 

One teaspoon of Garam Masala.

One teaspoon of Cayenne Pepper.

One teaspoon of Paprika.

One teaspoon of Turmeric.

One teaspoon of Ground Ginger. 

One tablespoon of Fresh Coriander. 

The juice of half a lemon.

Three teaspoons of Sunflower Oil. 

Two Chicken Breasts

One cup of Low Fat Greek Yoghurt. 

The method goes like this:

1. Combine the spices, Tomatoes, Coriander, Oil, Lemon Juice, Garlic and Shallots in a frying pan and heat through for around five minutes. 

2. Turn off the heat, add the Yoghurt and stir thoroughly. 

3. Put the Chicken Breast into the mixture and coat them thoroughly in the mixture. If possible cut the Chicken Breasts to allow the mixture to meld into the flesh of the Chicken Breasts.

4. Put the Marinated Breasts and the rest of the mixture in a baking dish and cover with clingfilm to allow them to infuse for around 3-4 hours before cooking. 

5. Briefly pull the Chicken Breasts out of the dish and fry for two and a half minutes each side. 

6. Return the Breasts to the baking dish and allow them to cook in the oven with the rest of the marinade sauce for around forty minutes on Gas Mark Five. 

7. Serve with some Boiled Rice containing some Cardamom Pods. 

This dish proved that a Clay Oven isn't the only way to make a Tandoori Meal. My humble gas oven and a bit of pre-oven frying proved more than equal to cooking the chicken through and infusing all the various flavours to make a spicy and filling meal, which took my mind off the heavy rain and over to the many great curry houses I've visited during the years.  

That's mint that is!

It was clear, which my longstanding friend and accomplice on a recent off piste ramble had also ascertained, as we moved closer that the proposed path was blocked off by seven foot tall fence that contained sharp spikes at its top. The only other times I had seen this fencing were around the perimeter of my old school and at Wormwood Scrubs. We would have to find another path and that meant cutting back through the dried up riverbed. As we dropped onto it I clasped the Dogg close, like I was holding a new-born baby, and lurched and fell under low hanging branches criss-crossing the riverbed as I did a rugger-like shoulder barge into the side of the riverbank. We soon found our way through to the shoreline and after finding the path again and noting some exotic fruits to forage we crept back to our respective houses having enjoyed a piece of brief but uninterrupted freedom and downtime on a wonderful local walk. 

Upon my return home I fancied something quick and sensed the temperature dropping which made thoughts turn to making a soup. I wanted to try out the fresh mint that I had cultivated in the back garden. Mint is a really versatile herb as it can be used in both sweet and savoury dishes. It needs to be grown with caution however as it's wise to only grow it in a pot otherwise it can quickly take over and run amok if planted directly into the ground. 

A personal Spring and Summer Favourite of mine is Mint and Potatoes and I decided to combine them into a soup that was refreshing and not overly stodgy. 

On the player was a box set by the late, ill-starred but talented original frontman of Pink Floyd the one and only Syd Barrett. The box set in question is called "Crazy Diamond" and I first heard it when I got it as a Christmas present in 1999 just before the millennium landed jamside down on us. It contains Barrett's two studio albums "The Madcap Laughs" and "Barrett" together with the rarities collection "Opel". All three albums are essential. The two studio albums are essential and offer a portrait of a man trying to recover his position after a breakdown while the embers of his original creative fire glow and threaten to ignite fully. The Opel album meanwhile shows Barrett could go from failing epically on one song to successfully knitting fog to make magic on another.  

The recipe for this soup was as follows:

Five large White Potatoes, peeled and cut into eight pieces for each Potato. 

Six Shallots, peeled, topped and tailed and fully diced. 

One White Onion, peeled, topped and tailed and fully diced. 

Five Leaves of Fresh Mint from my garden carefully shredded. 

Half a pint of Vegetable Stock. 

A pinch of White Pepper. 

The method is as follows:

1. In a large saucepan sweat in Olive Oil the Potatoes and Onions for around ten minutes. 

2. Add the Mint and White Pepper and mix together.

3. Add the Stock and simmer for around twenty-five minutes. 

4. Blend and then serve. 

There's always a risk with Mint recipes that the flavour of the mint will overwhelm everything. However this was avoided here as the White Potatoes proved to have a flavour all their own which counter balanced the Mint and gave the feeling of having a fresh meal in a hot beer garden somewhere on a summer's day. 

Yoghurt Tops

The Salted Chilli Chicken and Homemade Bilberry Gin had been yin and yang the night before. The Chicken had induced an unquenchable thirst while the Bilberry Gin had acted as a sturdy thirst quencher that was intoxicating. Hence the next morning a breakfast that was required was one that was simple yet filling. It employed Yoghurt, a foodstuff that originated in Turkey

The Sunday Morning Chillout Playlist was in full cry in the form of Massive Attack's seminal, for many of my generation, Trip-Hop Album "Blue Lines". Its greatness is confirmed by virtue of the fact that no matter how many times you listen to it you hear something different and exciting each time. A link to have a listen yourself is https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLH1JGOJgZ2u1-xaLLgghUc14VtQnXGnjY 

This seemingly light but filling breakfast is made quite easily and involves the following:

Half a pint of plain low-fat yoghurt. 

Two Garlic Cloves, peeled, topped, tailed and sliced into tiny pieces.

Two tablespoons of Paprika.

One Hundred and Fifty Grams of Unsalted Butter.

Three Eggs, poached in an egg poacher for three minutes before serving with the dish. 

The method for this is simple in that all one has to do is combine the Garlic and Yoghurt in a bowl and mix it together well prior to serving on individual plates. Next melt the Butter in a saucepan and mix it thoroughly with the Paprika. 

After you've laid the Yoghurt out on each serving plate put a Poached Egg or two on top of the Yoghurt and then drizzle the Paprika Butter Sauce over it. 

Although the Yoghurt might seem quite light at first blush, combining it with the Poached Eggs creates a real richness that's hard to resist and will keep you going until dinnertime. The Paprika Butter Sauce and Raw Garlic meanwhile give this an authentic fresh and strong flavour that transports you to a hot restaurant in Turkey. 

Assault on Ravioli Mountain

The late September Summer Sun had permitted time for a spontaneous picnic at a site at a place I had known for over thirty years. It had been a weekend of marking time as I had enjoyed my last meal in the house my parents had lived in for thirty-two years before their move that week. It then felt appropriate for me to take a walk and a picnic in the woods where I had walked with them as a boy when they first moved into their old house. 

For some reason for me late summer sun and the music of Neil Young are two things that go together like coffee and cream. It was his rather nostalgic "Harvest Moon" album, which was a nostalgic follow up to his classic 1972 record "Harvest", that was playing through my head as I visualised the younger version of myself and my parents walking near me a lifetime ago as the Dogg and I enjoyed our picnic. 

It was appropriate therefore that as I began to cook tea my upgraded digital copy of "Harvest Moon" was on the player as I allowed myself some, admittedly rare these days, nostalgic thoughts. 

A link to this wonderful record is at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL6ogdCG3tAWhK2kzKKVzTIpGmhJudA72N

For the recipe I went for something simple and rich that I'll aim to make a more complicated version of for this blog in the future. Two good friends of mine had been kind enough to donate me an inspirational Le Cresceut cook book with a number of recipes in that are quick and tasty. The recipe on this post is baked Ravioli recipe and the ingredients go like this:

Two Shallots carefully peeled, topped and tailed and sliced thinly.

Seven Tomatoes cut into quarters.

Five Basil leaves shredded thinly. 

Five sprigs of Thyme

One clove of Garlic, topped, tailed, peeled and sliced thinly. 

Ten slices of Cheddar and Mozzerela Cheese.

Eight grams  of Pine Nuts.

Three hundred grams of pre-made Ravioli with a flavour of your choice. 

The method is as follows:

1. Boil the Ravioli in a pan for two minutes.

2. Fry in a Le Cresceut Dish in Sunflower Oil the Herbs, Vegetables and Pine Nuts for ten minutes.

3. Add the cheese and Ravioli in layers. Cook for about ten minutes on the hob in the Le Cresceut until it's melted. Then serve it. 

The cheese layers and the filling of the Ravioli pieces puts this recipe in danger of being a richness overload. This said the fresh herbs, that I grew in my garden, and the tomato add a healthy edge to it while the pine nuts provide some unexpected protein. Tune in for a future edition where I will make Ravioli from scratch. 

The Mussels from Hustles

The clouds passed slowly over our heads as we lay under the trees on a day of sunshine and showers. It was a strange feeling that had come over me that day as I reflected on the aftermath of a big decision. It was a decision that had, perhaps, upset some people but it was a decision in the fullness of time they would accept and understand. It was not something to be sad about. I thought of it as training for life in that if I want to excel in my future career I would need to make decisions that, like this one, were the right decision even if they did not please everybody.

Lying there with the Dogg and the picnic items sprawled beside me I felt an odd weightlessness and feeling of freedom. The chest pains that had troubled me the past few months had subsided and given way to a kind of content tiredness to put me on the right track. 

An old colleague of mine once said that when people feel challenged or in a sticky scape, they either head to the hills or the sea. One Saturday recently I headed to the hills and a couple of days later it would be the sea. In anticipation of this trip to the seaside, arranged by quietly hustling my first week's holiday since Christmas, I settled on a recipe involving seafood. In this case it was Mussels. 

The record of choice was the Fugees' 1996 classic "The Score". Although I have a few rap records in my collection, it's not a genre that I listen to a lot. However this album, like Tricky's Maxinquaye, is one that transcends the genre to be something special. One of the singles culled from the record was a cover of the classic "Killing me Softly". I have vivid memories of walking passed the common room of a prefabricated building at my old school sometime in 1996 and hearing that song belting out. It's a memory that's stuck with me ever since. If you're interested in listening then check out this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7UfVr5Xib50 

The ingredients for this recipe are:

500 grams of shelled, cooked Mussels. 

2 Onions, topped, tailed and sliced widthways. 

5 fresh Basil Leaves.

3 cloves of Garlic, topped, tailed and sliced thinly. 

2 Tomatoes cut widthways into four pieces for each Tomato. 

1 head of Broccoli cut into pieces.

1 tablespoon of Corn Flour.

25 grams of dried Tarragon.

125 grams of Unsalted Butter.

2 cloves of Garlic cut thinly.

0.1 litre Unsweetened Soya Milk.

The method is as follows:

1. In a Le Cresceut or deep frying pan heat some Sunflower Oil  and fry the Onions and Garlic on a medium heat for ten minutes. 

2. Add the Mussels, Tomatoes and Basil Leaves and fry on a medium heat for another fifteen minutes. 

3. In the meantime steam the Brocolli for twenty-five minutes. 

4. Make the Sauce by melting the Butter in a saucepan and adding the Tarragon and Garlic and stewing for around 3 minutes. Add the Corn Flour and stir it in. Gradually add the Soya Milk, keep heating the Sauce and stir it in until you have a thick sauce. 

5. Serve and drizzle the Sauce liberally over the food. 

It was a hot night when I cooked this recipe and, despite mussels traditionally being rich, felt light and flavoursome thanks to the Fresh Basil and Broccoli while the sauce was not too over the top and sweet thanks to the Soya Milk. It got me in the right frame of mind for a day at the beach. 

Little Green Goddess

On a day that marked an important milestone in my life, we sat at a strategic social distance from the other guests in a room that backed onto a courtyard that was set out in a way to look like a place in Southern Europe. The room was a restaurant in a historic local hotel and the date we went there had been sometime in the fairly recent past towards the end of the first quarter of the 21st century.

The event celebrated at that time was a low key milestone but one that pointed the way, in spite of all the uncertainty, to a bright new future. The first course had arrived in the shape of the freshest and most flavoursome Pea and Mint soup I had ever tasted. It inspired the soup I made yesterday, following an afternoon of planting a series of seeds in the garden that may feature in this blog in the future if they grow to their potential. 

Yesterday had been muggy and almost dreamy in the weather that formed. I was dropped from the cricket team, again, in favour of rotating the squad, again, which is a sure-fire way for players lose match fitness and doesn't do much to bind together a proper team spirit or develop all players' match-play abilities on any kind of a consistent level. Realising life was too short- especially as the team deservedly won the day's game which was what mattered most, I didn't spend time fretting too long about this and, after I had spent the time mentioned in the garden, began my Pea and Mint Soup preparation.

On the player was the equally dreamy "The Big Huge" which is the Incredible String Band's fifth album and was released in 1969. It features lots of hypnotic sitar playing, nasal vocals, pastoral yet countercultural lyrics and a ton of atmosphere. If that's your bag then why not check it out at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_ns6VP3D4JtA1wRmmyptz2KKfh_lIxGkV4  , then support the artists who made it by streaming it on Amazon or Spotify or buying the album outright. 

So to the recipe which is as follows:

2 Garlic Cloves, peeled, topped, tailed and sliced very thinly. 

1 White Onion, peeled, topped, tailed and diced into small squares. 

2 New Potatoes, peeled and cut into circles. 

Half a pint of Vegetable Stock.

250 grams of Fresh Peas. 

4 Fresh Mint Leaves chopped finely. 

1 pinch of Demerara Sugar. 

1 teaspoon of Fresh Lemon Juice. 

2 tablespoons of Unsweetened Soya Milk. 

The method is as follows:

1. Warm the Potatoes, Onion and Garlic with some Olive Oil in a Le Cresceut or Deep Frying Pan on a low heat for 15 minutes. 

2. Add the Vegetable Stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes. 

3. Add the Peas and simmer for an additional 5 minutes. 

4. Add the Demerara Sugar, Lemon Juice and Milk and blend on the puree setting. 

5. Return to the Le Cresceut or pan that was previously used, warm through and served. 

The tastes of this soup evoke the feel of High Summer. Fresh Mint and New Potatoes are traditionally served together, as are Fresh Peas and so this soup was perfect for this time of year. 

Butter would melt: a nob of Unsalted Butter is a great addition to this soup once served. 

The Garlic Invasion of Earth

One of the features of late Spring is the abundance of plants and flowers of all colours, sizes and smells. Among these is Wild Garlic. This plant often grows by streams and rivers in damp, wooded areas. It has thick, pointed leaves and blooms cascades of white flowers. The leaves can be harvested for a range of uses in recipes. A note of caution however, Wild Garlic looks very similar to the plant known as Lily of the Valley. This is poisonous and so should be avoided. The best way to tell is when harvesting the leaves, smell them and if they wreak of garlic you are safe to conclude that you have picked the right plant for your recipe. 

Wild Garlic has a range of uses in cooking such as roasted with chicken and cut up to be made into Pesto. Another recipe, and the one I'm going to follow in this blog, is Wild Garlic Scones. 

On the player, when I put this recipe together on a bright Friday Night, was Dutch Band Focus' confident and memorable debut album "In and Out of Focus". It contains many stand out tracks such as the reflective "Focus" , the Gregorian Chant meets Boy Scouts singing round the campfire vocal delivery of "Black Beauty" and the piquant "House of the King" which was recently used to great effect on the hit comedy show "Saxondale". If you fancy a listen then click on the link  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o34Hftlard4

The ingredients of the Scones are:

200 grams of Self-Raising Flour.
40 grams of Margarine. 
100 grams of Wild Garlic,sliced into strips around five centimetres long and one centimetre wide. 
60 grams of Wensleydale Cheese crumbled into small pieces. 
1 teaspoon of Chilli Powder.
1 teaspoon of White Pepper. 
0.075 litres of unsweetened Soya Milk. 

The method to follow is:

1. In a mixing bowl rub in the Flour and Margarine until you have a mixture that resembles powdered breadcrumbs. 

2. Stir in the Chilli Powder, White Pepper and Wild Garlic.

3. Add the Wensleydale Pieces and stir in. 

4. Slowly add the Soya Milk and stir in gradually until you create a moist dough.

5. Knead the dough and then roll it out into a flat rectangle or rhombus around one centimetre deep. 

6. Use a cookie cutter or the top of a jar to cut circles out of the dough.

7. Arrange the circles on a greased baking tray and cook on Gas Mark 5 for 25 minutes.

8. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack until they are ready to eat.

There's something strangely satisfying and almost life-affirming about cooking a recipe that contains ingredients that have been foraged. This is especially true in the totalitarian times we live in that have brought dystopian fiction jumping off the pages of novels and into our reality. 

Wild Garlic has as stronger taste and smell as its bulb counterpart with a more crunchier texture. In this recipe it offset well the mild taste of the Wensleydale while the scone dough was a gold colour with a crumbly texture. 

Before Cooking and After

Shepherd Sunset

As we sat next to the fire pit I could make out the lights of the border town flickering in the distance across the fields that had been mowed that day. We drank homemade wine and well-known soda and reflected on how our careers had changed recently, changed without error by a seemingly unstoppable menace to health, the menace of overdoing it and your body forcing you to slow down.

The next morning the Dogg and I rose early as I was expecting to be a part of match number five of the truncated cricket season. I was set, for the second time in less than a month, to step up to our first team. It's a team captained by a chilled out, talented individual who is one of the best cricketers I've teamed with in the last decade. 

However our opposition had clearly seen us coming as they declined to play us at the eleventh hour citing a fictitious monsoon, which was among the weaker excuses  I have heard for teams bailing on us over the years.

This unexpected cancellation did give me the opportunity to work on some block cooking for the forthcoming, taxing working week. Shepherds' pie is certainly a good meal to block cook at weekends, freeze and then warm up during the week for tea.

My take on Shepherds' Pie includes both vegetarian and meat elements in the recipe as well as a spot of alcohol. 

On the player was the Moody Blues' sixth album from 1971 "Every Good Boy Deserves Favour". One of their strongest records, it is doused with glistening mellotron interludes, eclectic song writing, the Avant Garde and the odd piece of searing guitar. Have a listen at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8a8cutYP7foJnkLyB_gs_5GTs3Nekh7h

The ingredients of this recipe are as follows:

For the filling:

• 2 diced cloves of Garlic.
• 5 Chive Sprigs sliced into small pieces.
• 15 Rosemary Leaves.
• 1 teaspoon of Celery Salt.
• 1 teaspoon of White Pepper.
• 1 gram of Tomato Puree. 
• 7 Carrots, topped, tailed,  peeled and then cut into small cubes. 
• 3 White Onions, topped. tailed peeled and finely diced. 
• 3 Celery sticks, de-stringed and cut into small pieces.
• 8 ounces of Frozen Peas.
• 12 ounces of Vegetarian Mince. 
• A pint of Black Sheep Ale. 
• A quarter of a pint of Gravy made with one Beef Stock Cube and around 2 ounces of Corn Flour. 

For the topping:

• 10 medium-sized Red Potatoes and White Potatoes, peeled and cubed.
• 2 ounces of Dried Thyme. 

The method goes like this:

1. Shallow fry in Sunflower Oil in a Le Cresceut the Garlic, Chives, Rosemary, Celery Salt, White Pepper, Tomato Puree, Carrots, White Onions and Celery Sticks for around fifteen minutes.

2. Add the Ale and shallow fry for another five minutes. 

3. Add the Frozen Peas, Vegetarian Mince and simmer for around twenty minutes or until the ale is fully absorbed.

4. Add the Gravy and then take the Le Cresceut off the heat leaving the filling of the pie to cool down. 

5. Steam the Potatoes until they are soft and then mash them with the Dried Thyme. 

6. Grease an ovenproof dish with Margarine and spread the filling evenly throughout the dish. Top the filling up the mashed potato being sure to spread this evenly to create the topping. One good tip to get a level topping is to use a fork to spread the Mashed Potato evenly. 

7. Cook the pie in the oven on Gas Mark 6 for 30 minutes. 

Some of you might be surprised as to why I've used a Beef Gravy in what is essentially a vegetarian dish. However this Gravy together with the Ale and the herbs gave this dish a richness and flavour to elevate it above your standard Shepherds' Pie. 

Plan Quail

I first encountered Quail Eggs as part of a scotch egg recipe that was an appetiser at my cousin's wedding breakfast on a farm in the middle of the country in August Bank Holiday 2018. I had, since then, been seeking a local Quail Egg Dealer and recently found one so as to allow me to make my own recipe using these delicate, tiny yet rich eggs. 

I really planted my feet outside of my comfort zone by for the first time making Vol Au Vents to house the Quail Eggs in with some Smoked Salmon. 

On the player was Terrorvision's final and unjustly overlooked album "Good to Go" from 2001. Despite scoring a massive hit with their previous album "Shaving Peaches" and its flagship single "Josephine" , the band were dropped by their record label. That may be why "Good to Go" sounds so aggressive and direct. A point needed to be proved. It is certainly a focused record featuring powerful songs such as "Fists of Fury" "D'ya Wanna Go Faster" and "Goldmine Jamjar". 

A link to the album if you fancy a listen is at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_kg4SKK1FMjGbUqTj0H5DKq5yveuqaz-Iw 

For this recipe you'll need the following:

For the filling:

5 Quail Eggs. 

1 Sheet of Smoked Salmon

For the pastry:

250 grams of Margarine.

250 grams of Plain Flour.

Half a cup of cold water.

Unsweetened Soya Milk to glaze.

The method for this recipe goes something like this.

1. Make the Vol Au Vents by sifting the flour through a sieve into a mixing bowl and combining together, using the rubbed in method, the Plain Flour and Margarine until the Margarine is in square pieces and chunky. 

2. Gradually add the water by stirring it in steadily. Then knead the ingredients together until a pliable dough, not dissimilar to cookie dough, is formed .

3. Place the dough in the fridge for twenty minutes.

4. Roll out into a square or rhombus.

5. Fold two thirds of the dough into the middle. Put the other third of the dough on top of this. Roll it out and repeat the process around ten times so as to create a layered pastry. 

6. Cut the bases of the Vol Au Vents by using a cake cutter to cut the amount of circles you need depending on how many Vol Au Vents you wish to make. 

7. Cut the tops of the Vol Au Vents from the remaining pastry and cut a hole in the middle of them and place them on top of the Vol Au Vent bases.

8. Put the Vol Au Vent cases on a greased baking tray and glaze with unsweetened Soya Milk.

9. Cook in the oven on Gas Mark Three for thirty minutes. 

10. Leave to cool and prepare the Quail Eggs.

12. Remove the Eggs from the shells and fry on a very low heat for around three to four minutes. Then place one in each Vol Au Vent with some small pieces of the Smoked Salmon. 

The first attempt at Vol Au Vent Pastry went quite well as the pastry was light and not too crisp. The richness of the Smoked Salmon was also enhanced by the full taste of the Quail Eggs that contained lots of goodness within their large yolks. 

Chicken Challenge

A close personal friend of mine recently threw down a challenge to make an exotic marinated chicken recipe and today's blog entry is about the recipe I made to respond to this. 

The week had ended in quite a sombre way as I had learned that an old friend, who I met during my uni days and kept in touch with after graduation, had lost his two year battle with cancer on St George's Day. Another hero the late, great England Batsman Denis Compton also passed away on St George's Day in 1997. However this friend of mine was a hero much closer to home. 

The choice of music to go with the cooking was David Bowie's 1977 album "Heroes". Bowie himself also lost a battle with the same type of cancer that my friend had. I first heard the album on the original vinyl in Autumn 2004 while studying a degree in my parents'cobweb ridden attic. It was on the degree I was studying for that I first met my friend. I noticed when I visited his student house in the City a few months later after first making friends that he too owned a copy of this album. It was one of the many connections I shared with him over the years. He is gone too soon. 

The album, which I chose to listen to as a tribute to him, can be heard at: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=OLAK5uy_mO2pGEUc5-vrZZDGEi9uJI33xEZfYGCh0

The ingredients of this recipe are as follows:

Four Chicken Thighs.

The marinade is made from:

Half a cup of Olive Oil.
The juice of two Lemons.
Six Garlic Cloves, peeled and sliced very finely into small cubes. 
One teaspoon of Black Pepper. 
One teaspoon of Ground Cumin.
One teaspoon of Paprika.
One teaspoon of Turmeric.
One teaspoon of Ground Cinnamon. 
One teaspoon of Garlic Salt.
One teaspoon of Chilli Flakes. 
One ripe White Onion, peeled and sliced finely into small squares. 

The method for this recipe is:

1. Mix the marinade ingredients together in a measuring jug or bowl. 

2. Use a brush to cover the Chicken Thighs with the marinade ingredients. 

3. Place the marinated Chicken Thighs and excess marinade on a baking tray with high sides. Cover the tray with clingfilm and leave for one or two hours to allow the flavours to infuse. 

4. Cook in the oven on Gas Mark Seven for forty minutes. 

5. Serve with a side of your choice. I found that homemade Peas Fried Rice, which I made by boiling some Brown Rice for fifteen minutes and Garden Peas for five minutes before lightly frying them and the Rice with some Soy Sauce, went well with this recipe. 

The recipe was made special by the marinade fusing with the skin of the chicken thighs to create a golden brown colour and a taste that balanced sweet and sour in just the right way. 

The thighs have it- a golden, crispy Chicken with plenty of Peas Fried Rice.