Pizza the Hutt

The Sunday before the jubilee found me on a wonderful walk with an old friend that saw us stumble across my parents and their ginger Dogg, lots of remarkable wildlife and a fistful of wild garlic that went into a gluten free pizza recipe.

After returning from my walk I opened the conservatory door and let sunshine slide in while I put on Status Quo's powerful and direct 2002 effort "Heavy Traffic". The Quo's music always sounds better on long, sunny days when cooking or going on a long drive. The record begins with the skilled shuffle of "Blues and Rhythm" and takes in along the way a strong cover of "Jam Side Down" with a good deal of trademark piledriving thrown in for good measure. 

For the Pizza dough I placed into a mixing bowl 400 hundred grams of gluten free bread flour, a heaped teaspoon of xanthan gum and five tablespoons of olive oil. I made a well in the middle of the mixture and gradually added in 250 millilitres of warm water. Then I added all the dry parts of the mixture into the water and then kneaded the dough powerfully to create a flat circle at the bottom of the mixing bowl. I covered the bowl with clingfilm and left it in the fridge for a couple of hours. 

When I resumed making the dish I took the pizza dough from the fridge and rolled it out on a greased baking tray. I spread evenly over the top of the dough, until it covered it, slices of charcoal cheese that I found at the wonderful Stretton Hall Farm | Facebook   . I used two of the five leaves of Wild Garlic that I had foraged locally to place on top of the cheesy base. 

Next I spread a tin of chopped tomatoes atop the pizza and the three other Wild Garlic leaves together with a diced, homegrown Cayenne Pepper. 

I cooked it in the oven for ten minutes on Gas Mark Seven and then served the Pizza with a side of homegrown lettuce. It proved to be a pizza that was spicy and rich with a dough that didn't make me bloated what with the lack of gluten. 

Gluten Free Jubilee

 I'm no Royalist but I do like the excuse to make a good biscuit and this week set to work on some gluten free jubilee biscuits. 

I made these jubilee biscuits, which were shaped roughly like the flags found on Royal Navy Ships of yesteryear, by taking 140 grams of Demerara Sugar and creaming them in a mixing bowl with 100 grams of Unsalted Butter until the mixture was rather fluffy. 

Then I added 350 grams of Gluten Free Plain Flour and a heaped teaspoon of xanthan gum. This gum takes place of the gluten as an agent to bind the mixture together. After stirring this into the butter and sugar it was time to soften the dough mixture with seventy five grams of treacle and a beaten Duck Egg.  Once this had been carried out, I squeezed the dough mixture to ensure the cold butter was crushed and I kneaded the dough.

With more Quo, this time their fine 1986 effort  "In the Army Now", playing; I rolled out the dough and cut rudimentary flag shaped pieces from it. 

The pieces were added to greased baking trays and cooked for ten minutes on Gas Mark 6 before they were put out to cool and then placed in an airtight container. 

A couple of days later I came back to the biscuits to make the icing. On the player was the Verve's excellent "Urban Hymns" album which has the right mix of stadium filling energy and mellow introspection. 

I took some blue rolling icing and red rolling icing and arranged it atop the biscuits to make a rudimentary Union Jack. The only thing that didn't quite work was that the white icing sugar was too runny to use effectively, but the general pattern of the flag just about made the design work. 

What the biscuits might have lacked in accuracy, they certainly made up for in taste as the treacle gave a burned feel to the biscuits that stopped the rich topping being too overpowering. Tasting the biscuits for the first time just before my weekly cricket training session was just one of several things I was to discover during this week that were exciting and new. 

The taste was a little better than the design, but you get the idea.

Wild, Wild Pesto

 It was the morning after an action-packed pie and pea supper at the cricket club. I was somewhere but I was nowhere. I was here but I wasn't and any other similar oxymoron you'd care to think of. What I did know was that I was at a hilltop over a disused quarry surrounded by nature and clear views fifty miles to the south, west, east and north-east. I could also see my house and the two schools where I grew up. All those sights made me realise I was closer to the destination I needed to reach than I thought.

After the Dogg and I searched thoroughly in quarry turned nature reserve for exotic butterflies, we descended into the valley and soon found ourselves in a wooded area with a stream gently flowing south. There the smell of Wild Garlic, synonymous with the start of summer and lots of bright sunny days to come, was everywhere. It flowered around the banks of the stream and I gathered clumps of the leaves. They had the feel of moist recycled paper and the smell of the best Italian Restaurants in the City.

At home I was inspired by a good friend of mine and a talented cook, who is making one of the bravest decisions of her life to leave town to live on a Western Island, who recently made Wild Garlic Pesto. All recipes for this are slightly different. My one goes like this:

Ingredients:

Five large Wild Garlic Leaves.

The juice of half a Lemon.

100 grams of Pine Nuts.

25 grams of grated Charcoal Cheese that I sourced from the brilliant Stretton Hall Farm Shop. Check them out at: Stretton Hall Farm | Facebook 

Three tablespoons of Sunflower Oil. 

With Van Morrison's excellent recent venture into the Great American Songbook, 2017's "Versatile", playing quite loudly, I embarked on preparation of the Pesto. It went like this:

1. Shred the Wild Garlic with a small, serrated knife into as small pieces as possible. 

2. Pour the Sunflower Oil into a small bowl. 

3. Squeeze the Lemon Juice into the same bowl. 

4. Add the Wild Garlic, Charcoal Cheese and Pine Nuts and mix well together.

5. Serve with your choice of main. I served mine with Roast Chicken Pieces, Mashed Potato with homegrown Fresh Mint and a side of Homegrown Pak Choi. 

The Wild Garlic has a less strong but more flavoursome taste than Garlic Cloves. It also blended well with the Cheese, Lemon and Pine Nuts. It certainly help to give my Sunday Dinner a certain sophisticated richness. 

Pesto Power

 The hot weather had returned and a recent weekend had yielded a warm evening slurping craft beer in a hipsters' paradise close to a fourteenth century tavern and the discovery of a jade insect that had appeared two weeks earlier than usual. Also some unexpected time on my hands last Sunday saw me emulate the late Duke of Windsor, who killed much spare time during his retirement by working hard in the garden. 

The fruits, or should that be herbs, spices and vegetables, of my labour in the garden yielded some homegrown chilis, rocket and basil. With the warm weather I elected to use these in a Mediterranean Pesto and Pasta Dish. 

The second of two 10cc supported Sedaka Albums was on the player in the shape of "The Tra-La Days Are Over" which was the straw that broke the camel's back in as far as shaking Sedaka's backing band out of their funk to form their own band and fly high with commercial success of their own. Recorded at the famous Strawberry Studios in Stockport, it's hard to believe this very listenable and commercial pop offering came out of the same studios that around six years later yielded Joy Division's bleak and iconic masterpiece "Unknown Pleasures". 

This dish is a simple and filling one to make and the ingredients are as follows:

200 grams of Cherry Tomatoes cut into halves.

2 dried homegrown Chili Peppers, diced. 

3 fresh homegrown Basil Leaves.

4 fresh homegrown Rocket Leaves plus extra to garnish. 

A pinch of Black Pepper

0.1 litres of Sunflower Oil.

4 spheres of Tagliatelle. 

200 grams of Halloumi cut into cubes.

5 tablespoons of tap water. 

Pine Nuts to garnish.

The way to make this dish is as follows:

1. Blend the Tomatoes, Chili Peppers, Sunflower Oil, Tap Water, Rocket, Black Pepper and Basil in a food processer until they are pureed into a Pesto Mixture. 

2. Add the Halloumi and Pesto Mixture to a Le Cresceut Dish and warm through on a low heat for about fifteen minutes.

3. Boil the Tagliatelle for fifteen minutes while the Pesto Mixture is cooking, drain and then mix with the Pesto.

4. Once the Tagliatelle and Pesto is stirred together, serve it with a garnish of homegrown Rocket and some pine nuts. 

This dish is light yet has a rich taste offset by the freshness of the Rocket and Chilli Peppers. 

Gluten Free Easter

 Some people are social smokers and drinkers. However I am a social gluten eater as I can only eat a limited amount of the stuff and so just consume it on meals out with friends. That has encouraged me to find new, gluten-free twists on classic recipes. Today I bring you an Easter Bank Holiday Monday gluten free recipe for a Simnel Cake.

The weekend prior to Easter was a time to rest up after a Covid Scare and use the downtime to prepare a gluten free cake to distribute to friends and colleagues alike during Holy Week. On the player were the summery sounds of Sedaka, the eternally unhip yet compelling singer songwriter, who on the offering being listened to was backed by members of the nascent 10cc. The record in question is called "Solitaire" and its title track tells the story of an indifferent lover. It's a cautionary tale to anybody who is thinking of passing up true love and fulfilling relationships by hiding behind indifference. 

So the ingredients of this cake which are as follows:

• 250g mixed dried fruit- a mixture of sultanas, currants and raisins 
• The juice of 1 Orange
• 300g pack marzipan
• 250g unsalted butter , softened
• 200g light brown soft sugar
• 4 eggs , beaten. The eggs I used were sourced from the wonderful Stretton Hall Farm | Facebook
• 175g gluten free plain flour
• 100g ground almonds
• The juice of 1 lemon 
• 2 tsp All Spice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 100g glacé cherries , halved
• 3 tbsp apricot jam

The way to make this dish is as follows:

1. Grease a cake tin. 

2. Cream the Butter and Sugar together until a fluffy mixture is formed. 

3. Add the beaten Eggs and stir them into the mixture to form a paste. 

4. Carefully add the Gluten Free Flour, fruit juices, almonds, vanilla extract, spice and dried fruit and stir together to get a thick and pliable cake mix. 

5. Place half the cake mix in the cake tin. Then take a third of the Marzipan and roll it out. Place it on top of the cake mix in the cake tin. Then cover with the other half of the cake mix. 

6. Cook in the oven on Gas Mark for two hours. The cake will be ready when a skewer, poked into it, comes out clean. 

7. Remove the cake from the cake tin and leave it to cool.

8. Once the cake is cooled, cover the top with Apricot Jam. 

9. Roll out the balance of the Marzipan and put it on top of the cake. Take some bits to make eleven balls, representing the non-traitorous apostles, to put on top of the cake with extra marzipan to be used for a decoration of your choice. 

Prior to discovering my intolerance for excessive amounts of gluten, I wasn't able to enjoy cakes as I used to and for someone with a sweet tooth this was hard, quite literally, to swallow. However this recipe enabled me to enjoy one of my favourite seasonal cakes without any side effects. It also went down well with those I distributed pieces of the cake to. 

One of our Apostles is missing- there should be eleven on this cake.

Scotch Cornered

A trip to the country to grab some Quail Eggs and a meeting with an icon of the local town during a special night out inspired today's Quail Scotch Egg Recipe. 

I discovered Quail Eggs when , during the first lockdown, a local dealer at a nearby farm had left someone in an honesty box. That time I used them in Vol Au Vents. with Smoked Salmon. This time I picked some up at the ever-dependable Stretton Hall Farm Shop. Check them out at: Stretton Hall Farm | Facebook  

Another inspiration was a local pub that, pre lockdown, had become a cliquey craphouse but following lockdown it was reborn as an inclusive place to be that's chock full of interesting beers, its own micro brewery and Pizza of the highest order. The creator of the Pizza is an individual who knows of everything and everyone in Chesterfield. If you wanted an ambassador for the town then this bloke is your man.  I await eagerly the time when he will run for mayor of the town, with his take no kack attitude he will do a sterling job . He has also found his vocation as a talented chef. His enthusiasm, imparted to us as we sought a nightcap at his pub after risking our necks at another local pizza vendor, for his food including his innovative use of Quail Eggs on pizza was something I drew on for today's recipe.

On the player was the latest Red Hot Chilli Peppers album "Unlimited Love" . Of their three recent albums, it is probably the best one. "I'm With You" was unspectacular and sounded dangerously like a tribute band at times. "The Getaway" was more eclectic and experimental and definite leap forward that incorporated new sounds. "Unlimited Love"  meanwhile makes better use of the new sounds discovered on "The Getaway", cuts down on the cliched California themes and, on the whole, crucially leaves enough space for the songs to breathe and the instruments and vocals to be heard clearly. 

So to the ingredients for the Scotch Eggs, it goes like this:

• 9 Quail Eggs
• 100 grams of Breadcrumbs 
• 100grams of  Blanched Almonds
• Half a teaspoon of fresh Rosemary
• Half a teaspoon of fresh Marjoram. 
• 80 grams of Cooked Chorizo,
• 2 Hen's Eggs
• 3 tablespoons of gluten free plain flour
• sunflower oil

The method goes like this:

1. Place the Quail Eggs in boiling water and boil for ninety seconds. Remove them and place them in a bowl of cold water. 

2. Put the Breadcrumbs, Almonds, Rosemary and Marjoram in a food processor and blend them to a fine powder. Then place the mixture into a separate bowl. 

3. Blend the Chorizo and one of the Hen's Eggs in the food processor and put in another separate bowl. 

4. Put the Plain Flour in another separate bowl. 

5. Peel the Eggs.

6. Take one Egg at a time and wrap it in the Egg and Chorizo Mixture. Then roll it in the flour, then the beaten egg mixture and then the breadcrumb mixture so that the eggs are fully coated. 

7. Heat the Sunflower Oil in a pan and get it up to temperature. 

8. Fry the Scotch Eggs, three at a time for best results, on a medium heat turning them gradually so that all sides are evenly cooked. 

9. Serve with a side of Fresh Rocket. 

Although the weekend adventures, with eclectic and inspiring people new and old, this dish rounded off a wonderful time with the tang of the Chorizo meeting well the crunch of the battered breadcrumbs and the richness of the runny Quail Eggs. 

Lentil Gloss

 In late September, before the pandemic had reached its halfway stage, I wore a bow tie and shiny grey suit to travel to a French Themed Evening at a restaurant that lay on the edge of one the most ancient forests of them all. On the menu  that night was an exquisite Duck Shepherd's Pie with Lentils and gravy that helped inspire a fish dish one evening in February.

The ingredients for this were as follows:

Two Fresh Haddock Loins sourced from a local fishmonger. 

One Hundred and Fifty Grams of Lentils Verts. 

A Red Onion, skinned, topped, tailed and diced.

Two Carrots, topped, tailed and then cubed.

Quarter of a pint of Vegetable Stock, just enough to cover the Lentils, Carrots and Onion in a saucepan.

The zest of half a Lemon. 

Five shoots of Fresh Dill. 

On the player was the Eagles' 1994 comeback album "Hell Freezes Over", a record that showed after a fourteen  year hiatus they had regained enough juice in the tank to return as a important act that retained a huge following. 

So to the method which goes as follows:

1. Put the Carrots, Onion and Vegetable Stock in saucepan, cover and simmer for around twenty-five minutes. 

2. In the meantime steam the Haddock Loins for about fifteen minutes until the fish starts to become crumbly. 

3. When ready to serve, decorate the Haddock with the Dill and Lemon Zest and serve on top of the Lentil, Onion and Carrot Mixture.

The trick of using just enough stock to cover the Lentil Mixture meant a Lentil, Carrot and Onion mixture that was not too runny and soft and struck just the right balance between properly cooked and al dente. This was as close as I had come to replicating the wonderful lentil mixture I had consumed on the French Themed Evening on a sunnier day. 

The Lemon and Dill meanwhile leant a sharpness to the Haddock that was the perfect contrast to the earthy richness of the Lentils. 

The Great Gates of Kiev

 This blog is rarely, if ever, a political forum. However in light of the dire situation in the Ukraine, today's dish is one that is a tribute to the brave individuals who are putting up stern resistance to the unlawful and unprovoked invasion that is taking place. 

There are many different types of Ukrainian Dishes but, perhaps, the most famous is the Chicken Kiev. Those of a certain age will no doubt remember their parents purchasing frozen bags of Mini Kievs as a treat in the nineties as well as Alan Partridge having a hypothetical argument with Chris Rea about the virtues or otherwise of this dish. 

Spring and the longer days had ignited some fresh inspiration into my choice of dishes and, on the last weekend prior to the clocks jumping forward, I had a pop at making Chicken Kiev. It was a Sunday and after a very early walk, courtesy of the Dogg waking me up at 6am, I set to work. 

On the playlist was the Smiths Third, and by a hair's breadth, best album "The Queen is Dead". The post punk guitar firepower of Johnny Marr and sardonic wit of Morrissey combine to best effect on the title track, "Cemetery Gates", "Bigmouth Strikes Again" while "There is a Light that Never Goes Out" manages to be poignant and uplifting with its keyboard and synth-bass textures. 

So to the ingredients of this dish:

125 grams of Gluten Free Breadcrumbs. 

100 grams of Gluten Free Plain Flour.

5 beaten Eggs.

1 teaspoon of Smoked Paprika. 

2 Chicken Breasts, mine were obtained from the dependable Stretton Hall Farm | Facebook 

2 Diced Cloves of Garlic. 

5 shredded Chive Sprigs.

2 knobs of Butter. 

The method goes like this:

1. Stir the Eggs and Breadcrumbs together in a mixing bowl. 

2. Add the Plain Flour and Smoked Paprika and stir into the mixture.

3. Make an incision into the middle of the Chicken Breasts and insert the Garlic, Butter and Chives into the incision. Fold the Chicken Flesh back over the incision so as it covers the filling. This gives the best chance of avoiding the filling bursting out during cooking. 

4. Coat the Chicken Breasts in the Breadcrumb, Egg, Smoked Paprika and Flour Mixture. Then place on an oiled baking tray, cover with clingfilm and place in the fridge for a couple of hours. 

5. Cook for 40 minutes on Gas Mark 6 before serving.

The mixture of melted butter and herbs that had diffused inside the Chicken while it cooked, coupled with the thick, flavoursome breadcrumb batter made this a recipe to return to time and again. 

Fare Thee Well, Jamaica

 When times get challenging, some of us head to the coast and others to the hills to get our heads together. I'm in the latter category. Heading to the hills is just what I did recently before making a Jamaican Jerk Chicken Recipe. 

It was one of those Sundays that happen in March; not quite winter and not quite spring. The sun was high and the way was clear for miles. I could see a panorama to almost  all points of the compass to places over fifty miles away. The lingering chill in the air reminded me that it was not yet spring, but the sun and the long-distance views gave real hope of exciting travels in sunny summer weather as well as long, light days being just around the corner.

There had been some potentially game- changing decisions made since before the holiday season, in a manner not seen for about four years. Now as then, it seemed I would have to  ride the Tiger.

One way of gaining perspective on all this is to go the hills for a walk and look at the long-distance views to remind yourself there's a huge wide world outside of your comfort zone. Another is to cook good food and listen to quality music while doing so. I followed those tips by pulling out Mark Knopfler's bouncy and folky 2002 effort "The Ragpickers Dream", a record I often associate with the start of spring, positive renewal and important change. The record was the soundtrack to the making of some Jamaican Jerk Chicken. 

There are several different ways to make this recipe that all involve a mix of sweet and savoury spices plus liberal doses of Chilli. I like to make mine like this:

Two Chicken Breasts, mine were sourced from the ever wonderful Stretton Hall Farm Shop. Check them out at: Stretton Hall Farm Shop | Facebook  

The juice from two fresh Limes.

A diced Clove of Garlic.

A diced White Onion. 

A teaspoon of Jerk Seasoning.

A teaspoon of All Spice.

A teaspoon of Nutmeg.

A teaspoon of Chilli Flakes.

Twenty-Five grams of sliced Fresh Ginger. 

Half a teaspoon of Black Pepper. 

The first step is, a good four hours before cooking, to marinate the Chicken Breasts by rubbing them in Sunflower Oil with all the other ingredients so that these ingredients are spread evenly around the Chicken. Once the ingredients are rubbed into the chicken, put it on a deep and oiled baking tray and seal with clingfilm to keep the flavours in and allow them to infuse with the chicken.

When you are ready to cook, remove the clingfilm and cook the chicken for around thirty to thirty five minutes on Gas Mark Six. 

The difference early infusing makes is that the chicken is much more flavoursome than it would be otherwise and has that classic sweet and sour flavour that makes Caribbean Cuisine special. 

I served the chicken with another classic Caribbean Dish which comprised of boiled white rice mixed with Kidney Beans in Chilli Sauce. 

Cake Five

 It was my Dad's birthday recently and he needed a cake. I decided to take a risk and make a cake recipe I had never tried before all just a matter of hours before his birthday celebrations began. Here's what happened next...

The choice of music to cook to was one my younger self, as well as my dad's younger self, could well have scoffed at. On the player was not only Frank Sinatra's first album, but one of the first album's ever made. In fact original copies came with the records comprising it presented in a booklet that was like an old style photograph album. The record is more primitive than Sinatra's more polished and slickly produced later efforts. It contains lots of songs that seem about adversity and staying power as well as the simple joys of life. Check it out here at: The voice of Frank Sinatra album - YouTube 

Like my Dad before me, the teenage me disliked the Frank Sinatra listened to by the parents before growing to appreciate his music after seeing a bit more of the world and life generally. Plus Ca Change down the generations clearly!

So to the ingredients which were as follows:

The Cake Mix:

150 grams of Gluten Free Self Raising Flour.

2 tablespoons of Cocoa Powder.

4 tablespoons of Instant Coffee. 

150 grams of Unsalted Butter Cut Into Cubes.

125 grams of Demerara Sugar.

25 grams of Ground Almonds. 

3 Duck Eggs beaten well. 

The topping:

150 grams of Icing Sugar.

25 grams of Unsalted Butter.

2 tablespoons of Cocoa Powder.

2 tablespoons of Instant Coffee.

3 tablespoons of lukewarm water. 

The method goes like this:

1. Cream the Butter and Sugar together until they are light and fluffy.

2. Add the Flour, Cocoa Powder, Instant Coffee and Ground Almonds and stir them together with the Butter and Sugar until they are fully combined. 

3. Add the Eggs and stir them in until there is a pliable, semi solid paste.

4. Put the mixture in a greased Cake Tin. Cook in the oven for twenty minutes at Gas Mark.

5. After this stage the interior of the cake will still be pretty moist, so turn the heat up to Gas Mark 6 and cook for a further twenty-five minutes ensuring the cake does not burn. Check it is ready by poking it with a skewer. If very few bits come out on the skewer the cake is ready. 

6. Leave the cake to cool on a wire rack. 

7. While the cake is cooling, combine the topping ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir hard to form a sweet paste. 

8. After the cake is cooled, spread the paste over the cake's top and allow it to solidify. 

The cake and I made it to the celebrations where my Dad enjoyed consuming it as we talked of the way the world is falling about our ears as well as engaging in critical appraisals of our favourite Velvet Underground and Miles Davis Records. 

Steak's Too, Baby

It was a Friday in late February. To celebrate my Dad's Birthday we had took a walk in the White Peak and discovered an ancient carving in a cave, which was like the set from one of the better Indiana Jones Movies.  

On the way home I picked up a fillet steak from my favourite farm shop the excellent Stretton Hall Farm Shop. Check out their website at: Stretton Hall Farm Shop | Facebook  

The sun was shining and it was time to be inspired by something from a place that fate had allowed me to understand a lot more over the past three years. Using that inspiration I made a Chinese style Fillet Steak with a special sauce and freshly steamed Broccoli. 

The album on the player, to help conjure up a feeling I was cooking the dish on a hot beach at the height of a hot August Night, was Santana's sophomore scorcher "Abraxas". The record is chock full of Latin Funk and contains a well-taken cover of Fleetwood Mac's Classic "Black Magic Woman".  Check it out at: Santana Abraxas Full Album - YouTube

The ingredients were as follows:

One Fillet Steak. 

Three crushed Garlic Cloves. 

A teaspoon of Chinese Five Spice

One head of Broccoli cut into smallish florets. 

For the sauce 

Three tablespoons of Chicken Broth.

Two tablespoons of Oyster Sauce.

Two tablespoons of Soy Sauce.

One teaspoon of Chinese Five Spice.

This is a simple dish to make. The first job is to steam the Broccoli for fifteen minutes until it is a little soft but with hints of being still crunchy. Then take it off the heat and leave to one side. 

After that it's time to fry the Garlic Cloves for around five minutes on a medium heat until they start going golden brown. Once that's happened, add the Fillet Steak and fry for three minutes on each side so that it is cooked rare. Meanwhile add the sauce ingredients together in a jug and stir well. Combine them on a serving plate with the Steak and Broccoli. 

Although there is an element of frying, this is still a flavoursome and healthy meal thanks to the iron of the Broccoli and the protein of the Fillet Steak while the sauce gives the flavours a pleasing and different twist. 

Green Gruff Goodness

 An old work colleague used to say that if someone looked tired they probably needed some broccoli to perk them up. What I think she was getting at was that this foodstuff contains lots of iron to help one feel better if feeling a little fatigued. 

After Storm Eunice had vanished and I had completed my mandatory daily exercise programme, prescribed by the cricket club, I slipped on my copy of Fleetwood Mac's 1972 lost classic "Bare Trees". The cover of this album features, you've guessed it, some leafless trees that poke faintly out of the mist in a scene replicated regularly in the English Countryside at this time of year. The music within is however different gravy, being a mixture of driving and swinging rock, stoner sounds and sunny west coast pop. If you want to venture beyond the obvious of "Rumours" in exploring the Mac's Discography you could do much worse than start with "Bare Trees". 

Following a day of storms and walks in the ice, I needed something to warm me up that contained iron and a spot of carb loading. With a potato, Brocolli and Cheese Soup I found just what I was looking for. The ingredients for this one were as follows:

One head of Broccoli cut thinly.

Two large Baking Potatoes that were cubed and with the roots removed but the skin left on. 

A teaspoon of White Pepper.

Half a pint of Chicken Stock

Some mustard and pepper Cheddar acquired from the ever wonderful Stretton Hall Farm Shop. Check out their page at: Stretton Hall Farm Shop | Facebook 

The method is quite simple and goes like this:

1. Sweat the Broccoli, Potatoes and White Pepper in Sunflower Oil in a deep pan or Le Cresceut on a medium heat for around ten minutes.

2. Add the Chicken Stock and simmer for a further twenty minutes on a medium heat.

3. Blend and then return to the pan or Le Cresceut, warm through and add the cheese so that it melts into the soup before serving. 

The goodness contained in the fresh vegetables coupled with the richness and tang of the mustard cheese gives this soup a starring role in the revitalising dishes of the winter months.

A Taste of Honey

In January a spontaneous sleepover, with Dogg in tow, lashings of Campari and a cathartic 10 mile walk that, I now realise, lit flickering embers to make a new light shine brightly and reveal a path towards something exciting and new.

Energised, I returned home in the mist and fading light which induced me to stick on the bleak, yet somehow triumphant final flounce by the Walker Brothers; 1978's "Nite Flights". They knew it would be their last record and so came up with something radical, dark, dystopian, industrial and life affirming. The record's feel could have been a metaphor for my mental state after a month of challenges I was starting to emerge into something potentially brighter.

I decided to cook something that combined sweetness with Salmon as follows:

Two Fillets of Fresh Salmon

Two Homegrown Corn on the Cob 

100 Grams of Noodles

For the Sauce:

Three finely sliced cloves of Garlic.

100 grams of Unsalted Butter.

Three tablespoons of Honey

Three tablespoons of Peanut Oil

The method to make this Sweet Salmon dish goes like this.

1. Steam Salmon, and Corn on the Cob for twenty minutes.

2. Boil noodles for twenty minutes.

3. Melt Butter in a sauce pan and add Garlic, cook for around five minutes.

4. Add Honey and Peanut Oil, stir together.

5. Remove the Salmon from the steamer, then glaze and serve with Sweetcorn and Noodles.

Despite being in the freezer for around three months, the homegrown Corn on the Cob was sweet and fresh in a way its supermarket counterpart isn't. The flavoursome Salmon was also quite rich and made much tastier by the winning combination of Honey and Peanut Oil. 

Ugly Kid Tofu

It was a Saturday of Storms, being chased by 6 Doggs through remote woodland, cathartic sunshine and real hope. It was also a day of some new creativity that was inspired by a pre-holiday season trip to a local Thai Restaurant where I had battered Tofu with a special Soy Sauce. 

Despite not possessing a deep fat fryer I decided to have a go at making my own battered Tofu. 

On the player was Jellyfish's 1990 debut album "Bellybutton" an album that takes pure pop, bouncy lyrics and stadium size hooks to the next level. The band have sold few records during or after their lifetime but for those of us who know them, they are not only one of the greatest bands of the nineties; but one of the all time great bands. 

So the recipe for this one and it's as follows:

One block of Tofu of the standard size sold in supermarkets. 

Gluten Free Rice Flour and Plain Flour that gives a total of 100 grams.

1 Duck Egg, beaten. 

2 Cups of Semi-Skimmed Milk 

Half a cup of Peanut Oil

Half a cup of Oyster Sauce.

The way to make this dish is to first place the flour in a bowl and form a hole in the middle of it. Then gradually add the Duck Egg, Milk, Peanut Oil and Oyster Sauce gradually stirring it into the the Flour as you do so. 

The Tofu needs preparing by putting it between two paper towels and two heavy objects to squeeze excess water out of it. Once it's dried, cut it into cubes and mix thoroughly with the batter mixture to give it the best chance of being fully coated. 

After that I heated some sunflower oil in a frying pan and fried the batter coated Tofu for around five or six minutes turning regularly before serving it with some noodles, fried ginger, sweetcorn, homegrown chilli and a bowl of Oyster Sauce for dipping. 

While not as crisp and golden as battered Tofu found at restaurants, this battered Tofu had a texture and a flavour that lifted it above the blandness usually associated with Tofu. 

Hake yourself at home

It's just before the holiday season. I'm in need of some inspiration, a lot more iron from some green veg and a bit of brain food from some white fish. There's fog everywhere and it envelopes everything. This, coupled with the rise in Covid Cases; that has caused paranoia and stress among my nearest and dearest going beyond that normally expected in the run up to the holiday season.

The edge is taken off this feeling of a siege mentality by a listen of Oasis' confident, slightly leaden but fun 2000 effort "Standing on the Shoulders of Giants". A quick blast of opening track "f%*kin' in the bushes" is just about enough to put some zest into life. It makes do and sometimes resting up and making do is the best thing to do in the run to the Holiday season. 

To make this flavoursome and green fish dish I took the following ingredients:

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

Five Small Garlic Cloves, crushed. 

Two tablespoons of Smoked Paprika.

One tablespoon of White Pepper. 

A small head of Homegrown Broccoli. 

Three Homegrown Cabbage Leaves shredded.

One Homegrown Swiss Chard Leaf shredded. 

A tin of Haricot Beans.

A Hake Fillet, fresh from the supermarket fishmongers. 

The method went like this:

1. Sweat the White Onion, Garlic Cloves, Smoked Paprika and White Pepper in a Le Cresceut in Olive Oil for around five minutes stirring regularly. 

2. Add the Broccoli , Cabbage and Swiss Chard and fry for around fifteen minutes, stirring regularly. 

3. Add the Haricot Beans and keep the mixture warm on the hob. 

4. Fry the Hake separately on a medium heat five minutes each side. Serve with the bean mixture.

The dish conjured up a freshness like a clean warm, rock pool at the beach in the summertime while the bean mixture held a genuine smokiness and lots of protein. 

Soups you, Sir

 As we walked through one of the two main roads bisecting the valley, we realised that here at the bottom of the valley it had its own weather system. It was a little being at the bottom of the Mariana Trench, you're in your own world away from the surrounding towns and villages at the top of and over the hill where temperatures showed there were vestiges of summer hanging on. 

We walked in the direction of the curry house as a woman in an aged leather jacket and too tight jeans proceeded to stumble backwards showing a full moon to all the townsfolk as she collapsed with her dignity bleeding onto the pavement. 

In the curry house we met the rest of the team. Among them were two members of an amiable family containing three talented cricketers and all are friendly people who tell me they love the soup recipes I put on this blog. That means today's post is dedicated to them and it features a Swiss Chard Soup. 

The lead singer of the Smiths, whose album Meat is Murder, was on the player as I prepped the soup would approve of this dish as it is a vegetarian soup. The Smiths did not bother too much with Politics on their records but the title track, complete with surprisingly tuneful abattoir noises, has an impact in a way that was ahead of its time when the album was released in 1985.

So the ingredients of this soup, they are:

Five large Swiss Chard Leaves and their stems, that I plucked from my garden, and sliced and diced. 

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

Two cloves of Garlic mashed up. 

A teaspoon of Nutmeg.

A teaspoon of British Coriander Leaf.

A teaspoon of Black Pepper. 

The juice of a Lemon.

Fifty grams of Fresh Parsley from my garden. 

Fifty grams of Fresh Mind from my garden. 

Half a pint of Vegetable Stock. 

Fifty grams of Chive and Onion Cheddar. 

The method for making this soup is simple. First fry the Onion and Garlic in a Le Cresceut or deep non stick saucepan with some Sunflower Oil for about ten minutes. Then add all the other ingredients except the stock and the cheese and stir together while warming through until the Swiss Chard has shrunk to about half its size.

After that add the Vegetable Stock and simmer for around twenty minutes. 

When that's done blend and return to the Le Cresceut. Add the Chive and Onion and warm through before serving. 

This soup has a strange dark rusted colour to it that is much like the leaves on the trees at this time of year. The Mint gives it a freshness that offsets the earthy taste of the Chard. It's a soup that's flavoursome and offers lots of health benefits. 

Steaks Alive!

It was another of those blissful Autumn Sunday mornings where the sun flies high and the blue sky appears bright but somehow cold to the touch. We had spent the morning foraging for edible mushrooms and trekking into the rural suburbs of a village that influenced my formative years. It had been a weekend for us to reset ourselves and dress sharply like a wannabe power couple to go and see the new Bond Movie, a movie that left us with dropped jaws and wonderfully wrought spontaneous memories. 

The Sunday trek left us in need of sustenance for Sunday Dinner and we found it in the shape of a steak dinner that used many ingredients that were grown or purchased within no more than a mile of my house. 

On the player was a side project by Genesis member Mike Rutherford in the form of his band of tools called Mike & The Mechanics. Their eponymous debut album was the record of choice. There's a fair bit of undemanding coffee table pop to take in, that serves as good driving music, and the searing dystopian epic "Silent Running" containing lyrics that -although written in 1985- could well have predicted the Covid Pandemic. 

So to the ingredients of this steak dinner:

Two Medallions of Fillet Steak supplied by Stretton Hall Farm Shop | Facebook

Two Free Range Eggs. 

Six Pods of home grown Mange Tout.

Twelve home grown Runner Beans. 

Five leaves of homegrown Iron Man Winter Cabbage shredded thinly

Twenty-Five grams of Unsalted Butter.

A tablespoon of Gluten Free Self Raising Flour. 

Fresh Chopped Parsley from my garden. 

Point one litres of Skimmed Milk 

Grated Arran Cheddar Cheese. 

The way to make this Sunday Dinner is simple and it creates a filling and protein laced meal:

1. Steam the Mange Tout and Runner Beans for twenty five minutes.

2. Fry the cabbage in Sunflower Oil on a medium heat for around fifteen minutes. 

3. Make the sauce by melting the Butter in a small saucepan and then mixing it thoroughly with the Flour. Add the Parsley and Milk and stir together on a medium-high heat until it is thick Add the Arran Cheddar and stir until the Cheddar is thoroughly melted in. 

4. After you've taken the above steps leave the ingredients in their pans, but covered to keep warm prior to serving. 

5. Fry the Fillet Steaks on a medium heat for three minutes on each side for a rare flavour. 

6. Remove the steaks and then add the eggs to the pan before frying them for around three minutes. 

7. Serve. 

There's something about the taste of fresh green vegetables that gives them a sweetness that you just don't get with their supermarket equivalent. Meanwhile the mixture of a fried Egg on top of the tender steak too is delicious and sauce provided a richness that was not overpowering. 

Rowan, can I?

It's probably the last week in November, two close friends safely were married two weeks earlier. I'm home alone so I root around in the freezer to discover the Rowan Berries that we foraged in summer time. Maybe making these into something edible might just go to show the importance of this thing that we do.

I never realised you could use Rowan Berries for food, but careful reading of a borrowed foraging book proves that you can and so we had foraged a fair amount in late summer.

I've got hold of about 150 grams of Rowan Berries, leaving plenty on the trees for the birds to chomp on, and boiled them up in some water- just enough to cover the berries, with the juice of a lemon and three tablespoons of Brown Sugar. All these ingredients were then, once the berries had absorbed all the water, mashed up into a paste, mixed with around ten Rosemary Leaves and put in an airtight jar. 

When everything had cooled down enough inside the jar, I put the jar of jelly in the fridge and left it there until the first weekend in January after New Year's Day. 

Saturday 8 January 2022, early lunch taken. The rain had washed out the morning walk, the phone had rung a bit but one important message was still finding its way through cyberspace. It was time to take a pause, reflect, plan, and have cheese and biscuits to which this Jelly was the perfect accompaniment. 

I opened the jar and tilted it slightly. The jelly moved slightly and in a way that confirmed it had reached that perfect medium between liquidity and solidness just as all good jelly should. 

The music on the player to which I would enjoy this sophisticated meal to was Joan Armatrading's first album, 1972's "Whatever's for Us". The sentiment in the title was appropriate to the moment. The record stands as one of the finest debuts of the whole singer-songwriter movement and is up there with James Taylor's first album in that respect. It's produced by Gus Dudgeon and some of his touches with the piano, string and vocal arrangements hint at early period Elton, but the overall sound Armatrading creates is unique and wonderful on the record's 14 superior songs. Each is just the right length and none outstay their welcome.

The Rowan Jelly was served with some Cheese and Almond Biscuits and a couple of slices of Double Gloucester with chives. The Jelly's taste was a little like a richer yet slighter bitter version of Cranberry Sauce. It certainly needed the Brown Sugar to counterbalance the Rowan Berries' and Lemon Juice's very sharp flavour. The Rosemary meanwhile added a lovely sweet and sour tang to it all. 

To be sure the Jelly is set, you're best leaving a gap between making it and storing it of around six weeks prior to using it. Once you've first used it, then it should be good to use for a month before it's fully consumed. 

Dark yet glowing, the Jelly is very flavoursome if served with Cheese and Biscuits

Ploughing through Pudding

During the Autumn lots of foraging took place in Norfolk, a place I have visited on a semi-regular basis over the years. While I know a fair bit about the nature, its most famous fictional character and its main football team, I realised I knew little about its native cuisine. Further investigations led me to discover something called Norfolk Plough Pudding, this is a savoury pudding made with sausage meat, herbs, onions and streaky bacon. It is traditionally served in January to mark the first spring ploughing. 

During the first weekend after the New Year return to work in January, I got myself into spring mode by sewing some seeds in my conservatory and making my own take on this recipe.  On the player was Joan Armatrading's eponymous third album.  It's well produced and contains, perhaps, her most famous song "Love and Affection".

The ingredients for the filling of this recipe are:

Pinch of Mustard

2 Fresh Sage Leaves.

2 Fresh Sprigs of Rosemary

2 Fresh Sprigs of Thyme.

1 Fresh Parsley Head. 

A teaspoon of White Pepper.

1 White Onion that's topped, tailed, peeled and diced 

2 Tomato Pork Sausages shredded.

1 slice of Corned Beef shredded. 

The ingredients for the Dough go like this:

225 grams of gluten free Self-Raising Flour.

80 grams of suet

10 soup spoons of cold water. 

Method:

1. Fry onions, Pork Sausages, White Pepper and Mustard on a medium heat in a cooking oil of your choice for around 10-15 minutes until the onions are translucent and the Sausage meat is browned slightly. 

2. Add the Herbs and Corned Beef and warm through for another five minutes before taking the filling off the heat and leaving to one side. 

3. Mix the Self Raising Flour and Suet together while gradually adding the cold water. This will create a thick pasty, pastry. Knead it into a wide and flat circle and put it in the refrigerator for around ten minutes. 

4. Take the pastry out of the fridge and put the filling on it in a heap about three inches wide and five inches tall. 

5. Mould the pastry round the filling to cover the filling and create a dome shaped object that's a similar shape to the Death Star or the Technodrome in Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles. 

6. Cook in the Oven on Gas Mark Six for around forty-five minutes. 

I served this meal with a side of homegrown Broccoli and Cabbage. The pastry remained moist throughout the time in the oven while the tomato in the Sausages blended well with the Corned Beef and the herbs and onion provided a bonanza of flavour. 

Before and after cooking