Stormy Soup

The storm quickly closed in on Friday as we left work. A colleague hurried quickly to her stables so as to move her horses to new pastures. I meanwhile pushed the Panda to the limit to retrieve the Dogg from a local safe house and do the shopping before the worst of the weather hit. 

I had been selected for the first game of cricket of the season, which was supposed to be taking place the following day. That said I had the usual mix of excitement at the promise of good cricket and making more memories, slight nerves and burning anticipation that comes before the first match of the season after long months of practice in Winter and early Spring. If the game was going to go ahead I realised that I needed to be fortified with a warming homemade soup as the match temperatures would be Baltic and the wicket and outfield a sodden glue pot fashioned from the hordes of local clay and buckets of rain. 

I went for a Leek and Potato Soup recipe but decided to put a bit of a twist into it in order to make it more flavoursome and avoid the blandness this recipe can create if it's not done properly.

On the player was, appropriately in light of the weather outside, Bob Dylan's 1977 live album "Hard Rain". The record documents Dylan's legendary 1975/76 Rolling Thunder Tour and while there are better recordings of that tour available, this album still packs a primal power that makes it essential listening. 

The ingredients for this soup are:

8 Shallots, topped, tailed, peeled and finely sliced. 
1 Leek, topped, tailed and sliced thinly.
1 Garlic Clove, topped, tailed and sliced narrowly. 
1 ounce of Mustard.
1 ounce of Mustard Seeds.
1 ounce of Dried Tarragon. 
1 White Potato, peeled and cubed. 
Half a pint of Vegetable Stock. 

The method is as follows:

1. Stew the Shallots, Leek, Garlic Clove, Herbs and Spices in Olive Oil in a Le Cresceut on a medium heat for ten minutes. Stir periodically and when not stirring keep the lid on the Le Cresceut dish to help cook the ingredients. 

2. Add the Potato and repeat the stewing process referred to above for a further ten minutes. 

3. Add the Vegetable Stock and then simmer the ingredients on a medium heat for forty-five minutes. 

4. Leave ingredients to cool and once cooled blend them. 

5. Once blended warm the soup through in a pan or Le Cresceut and once warmed serve in bowls with a garnish of Fresh Parsley. 

Tarragon and Mustard always make a tasteful pairing and when they were coupled with the overripe Shallots it give a richness and flavour to the Leek and Potatoes that made this a filling soup that was delicious. Although the horizontal rain put paid to the cricket match the soup proved good brain food as I used Saturday's Downtime to plot a new course. 

Fancies Allsorts

My Gran always warned us about hanging washing outside on Good Friday. Apparently it's bad luck because of what Christians believe happened on Good Friday and therefore could mean that hanging washing outside could lead to the death of someone close to you. Fortunately for me my washing remained hidden inside the house. Hopefully that meant I had dodged a bullet. 

One activity that isn't frowned upon on Good Friday however is baking and in my case during this Good Friday some Fancies. I put a twist on the traditional approach to preparing Fancies, that usually involves putting Dolly Mixture Sweets atop the cakes, by decorating mine with Liquorice Allsorts. 

As the late April Sun slow cooked the Chilli Plants in the conservatory, I commenced work on the Fancies. On the player was Rush's excellent live album "Snakes and Arrows Live". I was lucky enough to see the band on the UK Leg of the tour this record was culled from with two people who've had a very positive influence on my life. There's something about the rhythm and feel of Rush's music that tends to make me push hard to produce quality food and this cooking project was no exception to that rule. 

The ingredients for this recipe were: 

For the Cake Mix

175 grams of Unsalted Butter.
175 grams of Brown Sugar.
175 grams of Self- Raising Flour. 
3 beaten Eggs. 

For the topping

525 grams of Icing Sugar.
5 tablespoons of Warm Water.
Some food colouring.
Various Liquorice Allsorts. 

The method for this recipe is:

1. Cream the Butter and Brown Sugar until it is fluffy. 

2. Gradually mix in the beaten Eggs until you have a thick paste. 

3. Stir in the Self-Raising Flour until you have a thick paste mixture.

4. Grease 12 Bun Cases and distribute the mixture equally between each bun case. Add the bun cases to a baking tray with 12 spaces for the Bun Cases. 

5. Cook in the top shelf of the oven on Gas Mark 5 (or 190 degrees) for 35 minutes. 

6. Remove from the oven and cool in the fridge for an hour. 

7. Make the topping by sieving the Icing Sugar into a bowl and gradually stirring in the water and no more than three tablespoons of food colouring. This should result in a thick paste. 

8. Once the cakes have cooled spread the Icing evenly over each of them and top them with a Liquorice Allsort of your choice. 

9. Return to the fridge to allow the Icing to solidify and when ready to eat remove from the fridge and allow to warm up at room temperature for about 30 minutes. 


These alternate take on Fancies proved popular both with a good friend, and intellectual giant, when he consumed one after we'd conquered a challenging local mountain on Easter Saturday. While another visitor enjoyed one with a strong glass of pale ale after an evening shift at work. 

They were tasteful cakes for a tasteful and extremely memorable Easter Bank Holiday. 

Two of the Fancies made a delicious late night snack accompanied by some strong Pale Ale.

Duck in the Canaries

The new collection of Duck Eggs had arrived at the greengrocers.Some were a pale shade of turquoise, like a cloudless sky at dawn, while others were speckled and white. I picked a speckled white egg. The day was Saturday and it was the second one in April. 

Freezing hale cut into the Dogg and I as we sat in front of a memorial, that can be seen for miles around, for our picnic dinner of raw lettuce, hummus and cheesy crisps. That said it was the case that by the evening a warm curry with the crew in town was just what was needed. 

The morning after a wonderful night, that was chock full of entertainment, insight and a variation on the Five "Megamix", my eyes were opened by the weak sunshine and I drifted slowly down the stairs to make breakfast.

I employed some ideas from my time in the Canary Islands to poach the Duck Egg and garnish it with a rich Mediterranean Tomato Sauce flavoured with a North African spice that is typically used in sauces of the Canary Islands.

The first Seal Album was on the player with the funky, energetic third track "Crazy", one of the standout tracks, leaping from the speakers. 

This is what I used:

• Three Spring Onions, topped, tailed, and sliced finely.
• Three Tomatoes cut into cubes. 
• Three Basil Leaves that have been shredded thinly. 
• A tablespoon of Smoked Paprika.
• A tablespoon of Ras-El-Hanout Seasoning. 
• One Duck Egg.
• Some Olive Oil.

This is how I did it:

1. Gently fry the Spring Onions and Spices in Olive Oil in a Le Cresceut or a deep frying pan on a medium heat for five minutes.
2. Meanwhile grease the poaching pods of an egg poacher and bring the poaching pan to the boil on the hob. 
3. Add the Tomatoes and Basil to the Le Cresceut or frying pan and stew on a medium heat with the lid on for fifteen minutes. 
4. Crack the Duck Egg and put the white and the yolk in one of the poaching pods and boil in the poacher for five minutes.
5. Serve with the sauce and you should have a runny egg that is very rich but spicy thanks to the tomato sauce. 

Microbrewery in a Stew

The heat-haze had lifted and as the Dogg and I sat at the top of a high hill with sun filtering down through the remaining clouds; it felt like we could see all of the National Park we were currently visiting. We were in the middle of a nine mile walk over familiar and less familiar terrain and were indulging in a picnic of Hummus and Onion Rings. At least I was. The Dogg stuck to her favourite dried food and the sheep dung scattered around our picnic site. 

We descended into the valley and I saw a house I had visited almost exactly nine years earlier. On that date I had a meeting that changed my career forever. The house looked the same as I remembered it. I almost wanted to go and knock on the door and say "thank you" to its current occupant. Yet something, an almost intangible and pathological force, pulled me away from doing that. 

As we drifted through the village to find our car and drive home, we took time to visit the cricket pitch that had staged three significant games in my amateur cricket career. The first was my first competitive game for the club I currently play for. The second was a memorable cup final and the third saw my return to competitive cricket after a hiatus of five years. That said I felt a number of emotions that left me fulfilled but mindful of old ghosts. 

The Panda guided me skilfully home with its windows wound down and James Taylor's underrated 1974 effort "Walking Man" booming from the vehicle's bad ass sound system. Our arrival at home saw me do my annual work of laying ant poison outside the house to stop the expected attempt by the creatures to create an infestation.

It was soon time for tea and I realised I needed something with protein and lots of iron. The recipe was inspired by my purchase of a local beer from a nearby farm shop. The beer is made by a local  micro brewery called the Ashover Brewery and this particular brand is called "The Fabrick". It takes its name from a local rock that forms a viewpoint from which you can see six counties and, on a clear day, a distant cathedral. It is amazing in this day and age you can get a beer named after such an obscure, to those not from the locality, local landmark. I say this as in my early drinking days the choice of beer was mainly restricted to the bland dross of Carling, Fosters, Heineken, Worthington and others. Luckily we,as consumers, are now spoiled for choice with great beer. 

The decision was made to put half of "The Fabrick" in a beef stew. On the player was James Taylor's polished 1976 record "In the Pocket". Tracks such as "Shower the People" prove a timely reminder to value and appreciate the friends and family in your life, while "A Junkie's Lament" pushes the envelope (at least in James Taylor terms) by charting an individual's recovery from heroin addiction. This overlooked album is one to seek out on a sunny day, stick on the player, crack open a beer and close your eyes to allow yourself to be transported somewhere special by the music. 

The Ingredients for this recipe were as follows

For the stew 

400g Diced Beef. 
1 heaped tablespoon of Plain Flour. 
25g of Fresh Parsley.
15g of Black Pepper. 
10g of Onion Salt. 
1 Bay Leaf.
5 Raw Pickling Onions, peeled, topped, tailed and finely sliced. 
Half a Pint of Ashover Brewery "The Fabrick" Beer. 

For the side dish.

5 Steamed New Potatoes, 100g Fresh Broad Beans and 50g of Rocket to serve with the Stew. 

The way to make this meal is as follows:

1. Steam the New Potatoes and Broad Beans on a medium heat for about half an hour to forty minutes or until soft and tender. 

2. Fry the Beef, flour, herbs and spices in a Le Cresceut in Olive Oil for ten minutes stirring regularly to stop the Beef Pieces sticking and to bind the ingredients together. 

3. Add the Pickling Onions and fry all the ingredients for another ten minutes. 

4. Add the Beer and simmer for around twenty five minutes on a medium heat while stirring regularly to avoid the Beef Pieces sticking.

5. Serve with the New Potatoes, Broad Beans and Rocket. 

The Beef was made spicy yet rich by the introduction of the Beer while the flour helped parts of the stew form a thick, flavoursome stock. The Beer was a light one with a sharp, citric taste made refreshing by the warm temperatures. The New Potatoes, Fresh Broad Beans and Rocket lent a welcome taste of summer to the dish and made my restless, questing mind turn to thoughts of new challenges in the coming months. These were challenges that I realised that I had numerous ways of overcoming. 

Bearnise hard left

It seemed like I was falling, but in truth I was shattered and as the erratic March Sun glistened through the windows of the back bedroom I passed out and slept for most of the afternoon. I had been lucky with how the year had started as I had set professional records in its first two months and personally I had experienced lots of  fulfilling times.

Often January and February can be tricky months. However I had sailed through them positively and gained lots of wonderful experience, just as I had done with everything that had happened to me since Easter 2018. That meant that by the time it came to March 2019 I felt,perhaps, that I was suffering from imposter syndrome. Sure enough I found that by a weekend in the middle of that month I had hit a wall and realised that in my personal life some sort of reckoning over a few longstanding matters was on the way. 

When I woke up the Dogg jumped on the bed, barked in my face and pawed me in the head. It was time for tea. I felt like something had sucked all my energy away with an enormous hoover. A nutrition expert I had consulted perhaps thought my tiredness was related to a lack of iron in my diet. 

With that in mind I decided to cook some Beef Medallions in Bearnise Sauce with a side of Watercress and Rocket. There was more iron in this recipe than you could shake a stick at. 

On the player was the Rolling Stones' smoothly played 1991 live album "Flashpoint". This record documented the Stones' triumphant 1989 world tour in support of their solid comeback album "Steel Wheels". It was a tour that saw the band hit the road  for the first time in eight years after Mick Jagger and Keith Richards had patched up their differences and the band came back strongly with a quality record and tour. Their situation was one I could learn from in my own life. 

The ingredients of this dish were as follows: 

Four Shallots, peeled, topped and tailed and sliced thinly. 

A tablespoon of chopped Fresh Parsley.

A tablespoon of dried Tarragon. 

A tablespoon of dried Thyme. 

A tablespoon of White Wine Vinegar.

Four ounces of Unsalted Butter. 

A tablespoon of Plain Flour. 

Five tablespoons of unsweetened Soya Milk. 

The first job was to make the Bearnise Sauce. Traditionally this sauce uses several eggs, chervil and some cream. However I substituted the chervil with the Fresh Parsley and the cream with the Soya Milk to help make it more healthy. 

I melted the Unsalted Butter in a sauce pan on a low heat. I then added the Vinegar, Shallots and Herbs and stewed them for about ten minutes to soften them up. Next I added the flour and stirred it in until it had formed a paste. After that I added the Soya Milk and stirred that in thoroughly until I had a thick, flavoursome sauce. I turned off the heat and left the pan of sauce on one side. 

Now it was time to fry the Beef Medallions. If you like your Beef rare then it's worth frying the Medallions on a medium heat in olive oil in a frying pan on both sides for three minutes each side. However if you like it done medium, as I do, then it's better to fry the Beef on both sides for seven minutes each side. 

When the Beef was almost cooked I reheated the Bearnise Sauce and then served the Beef Medallions on a bed of Fresh Rocket and Watercress with a topping of the Bearnise Sauce. The meal revitalised me with plenty of protein from the Beef, iron from the Watercress and Rocket and the rich taste of the sauce. 

The weather over the weekend had, like my mindset, contained a bit of everything. It featured some full force gales, hale, thick snow, rain and wonderful sunshine. Now it had settled and slowly a positive plan was developing in my mind. 

Pickle and Chutney

The end of January 2019 saw me play in a Demolition Derby of a Darts match in a quiet old mill town. The form I displayed was shocking but the company was more important than the quality of my play. 

On my return home I plumped for a spot of Rush on the player in the shape of their breakthrough 1976 live album "All the World's A Stage". Although its predecessor, the magnificent "2112", is usually considered the band's breakthrough album, this record charted much higher on its debut and started the run of Rush albums debuting in the top thirty of the charts, a feat that they kept up for the majority of the remainder of their career. 

Not long before Christmas I had visited the local Gurkha Restaurant with some good friends to catch up with them before the festive season swallowed us. While there I noticed how delicious the restaurant's dips were; especially their Lime Pickle and Mango Chutney. That said I was inspired to make some of my own dips as an adjunct to a forthcoming trip to my house by my parents for a homemade curry.


The ingredients for the Lime Pickle were:

• 2 Limes.
• 3 tablespoons Olive Oil
• 2 teaspoons of Mustard Seeds.
• 3 Garlic Cloves chopped very finely. 
• 3 centimetre squared piece of Fresh Ginger peeled and finely chopped. 
• 2 teaspoons of Ground Cumin. 
• 2 teaspoons of Ground Coriander.
• 1 teaspoon of Chili Powder. 
• Three Ounces of Brown Sugar
• 2 tablespoons of White Wine Vinerar. 

The method was as follows:

• 1. Cut each lime in half and set to one side. 
• 2. Heat the Olive Oil in a small saucepan over medium heat. Add the Mustard Seeds, the Garlic, Ginger, Cumin, Coriander and Chili Powder

• 3. Stir in the Limes, Sugar and White Wine Vinegar and squeeze out the juices of two of the limes.  
• 4. Bring to the ingredients to boil. then reduce to a low heat and simmer, stirring them occasionally, for fifteen minutes.  
• 5. Seal in a plastic container and put in the fridge for use as a side to the curry, specifically as a dip for poppadoms. 

I then prepared the Mango Chutney while to another Rush Live Album, this time 1981's Exit... Stage Left which the band recorded at a stage when they were starting to fill stadiums and had a number of hit albums under their belt. 

The ingredients for this Chutney were:

• 3 tablespoons of Olive Oil
• 2 large Mangoes, peeled and sliced thinly. 
• 2 cloves of Garlic, Peeled and thinly diced. 
• 3 tablespoons of Brown Sugar. 
• 1 Cooking Apple, peeled, cored and chopped. 
• 1 tablespoon of  Mustard Seeds
• 1 tablespoon of thinly diced fresh Ginger Root. 
• 2 tablespoons of White Wine Vinegar. 
• 1 tablespoon of Cayenne Pepper. 
• The juice of 1 and a half Lemons. 

• 0.2  litres of Water

The method was: 

• 1. Place the Garlic pieces, Brown Sugar, Apple, Olive Oil, Mustard Seeds, Ginger, White Wine Vinegar and Cayenne Pepper in a sauce pan and, over a low heat, dissolve the Brown Sugar into the rest of the mixture.
• 
  
• 2. Bring to the boil and add the mangoes and the water. Simmer for half an hour. 

3. Take off the heat and pour the contents into a blender. 

4. Blend the contents. 

5. Add to a plastic container, seal and put in the fridge for use as a side dish to a curry. 

The introduction of these dips to the curry with the parents took them out of there comfort zone and to a place where they found the dips added something extra to the Vegetarian Daal I had prepared for them. Indeed the dips tasted not too dissimilar to the ones I had enjoyed in the Gurkha Restaurant previously. 

The Dips plus a Fresh Mint and Plain Greek Yoghurt Dip

P-P-P Poach a Pear

The sky hung low and shone a claustrophobic, dull metallic grey colour. It was mid-morning on the ridge by the wood. A lone, long-billed bird the size of an underfed chicken darted overhead Northwards in silhouette. It was the second weekend in January and the weather was characteristic of that time of year in that it still seemed dark even though sunrise had long been a feature of the day.

The Dogg and I realised that it wasn't a day for staying out for a long period. Also I realised that I had a recipe I wanted to prepare so as to make best use of some Pears recently acquired from the specialist fruit and veg vendor in my local town. 

The cold pale, grey day acquired appropriate music to fit the mood. That said on the player was wintry and wonderful electronica duo Neu's final release; the version I had was released under the title Neu! '86. It was recorded in 1985 but not released at the time as the duo behind the band, ex Kraftwerk men Michael Rother and Klaus Dinger, fell out with only a few of the songs for the album fully complete. After Dinger's death in 2008, Rother worked to finish the album that was released as Neu! '86. 

The record is as vital and essential as their other three albums and combines the atmospheric, cold, yet wonderful moods of Neu! 75', the proto punk of Neu! and Neu! 2 with a fistful of contemporary synth sounds that fit the bill well. It was a handy coda to their career. 

Why not have a listen for yourself at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qugv2kbxAHI&list=PL511fSPfMr9IDVwyFtOXQOTJezTIlxsUh   

So the recipe. The ingredients comprised of:

Five tablespoons of Scotch Whisky. 
Three tablespoons of Brown Sugar. 
Nought point three litres of Water.

Two pears, peeled but not topped and tailed. 

Three tablespoons of powdered Dark Chocolate.
Nought point two litres of Almond Milk. 

This tasty yet surprisingly healthy treat is relatively easy to make:

1. Combine the Whisky, Sugar and Water in a saucepan and leave to soak overnight with the lid on. 

2. The next day bring the contents of the saucepan to boil. 

3. Add the Pears and simmer for ten minutes.

4. While the pears are simmering, combine the Dark Chocolate Powder and the Almond Milk in a saucepan. Stir together thoroughly and warm through while stirring regularly on a medium heat until the Pears are ready.

I served the Pears by dolloping a healthy amount of the chocolate on each and presenting them in a serving bowl. The Pears benefited from rich but sweet taste of the whisky and sugar water. They were also soft but not so soft that they lost their texture and taste. The chocolate sauce meanwhile used strong Dark Chocolate Powder and Almond Milk that are much more healthy than their lighter and dairy counterparts. It was certainly a cheat meal without the need to cheat, too much, because some of  the ingredients were quite healthy in themselves. 

Get saucy- this chocolate sauce is a surprisingly healthy adjunct to the Whisky Sodden Pear.