Straight outta tuck shop

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cherries aplenty on these delicious throwbacks.

Romanesco Dynasty

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pumpkin Soup (to warm you through the night)

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Corn in the Quiche

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

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

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

For the Pastry Case:

12 ounces plain flour.
6 ounces of margarine.

For the mainly dry ingredients of the filling:

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


For the liquid mixture:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

D'Yer Mak'Er Chicken

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cod Peace

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

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

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

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

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

For the dressing:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cod- but not as we traditionally know it.

Tarragon Times

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

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

It was a risotto and the ingredients were as follows:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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