Chard Remains

During the longest Saturday of the year I was sitting watching the river flow, after some weeks of action packed adventures away, meetings with remarkable people and captaining the cricket team. I had also been tending to my vegetable garden and noticed that there was plenty of Swiss Chard that had been growing now for quite some time.

I was inspired to make a Swiss Chard Flan from a vegetarian cookbook from the 1970s my parents had that contained a Swiss Chard recipe.

Bob Dylan, the man who wrote the song "Watch the River Flow", was on the player in the shape of his dark, brooding 1997 masterpiece "Time out of Mind". The record was Dylan's first set of original songs for seven years and showed why it was wise for him to wait to make the record until he had enough superior songs. Everything on this disc is top-notch with highlights such as "not dark yet" and "make you feel my love" that was later covered by Adele. It's worth checking out at: Bob Dylan - time out of mind album - YouTube 

The ingredients to make this flan are as follows:

Short Crust Pastry made from 250 grams of Plain Gluten Free Flour, 125 grams of Unsalted Butter and some milk to bind it together while kneading it.

Fifteen Swiss Chard Leaves, shredded into small pieces. I used some picked from my garden. 

Three Duck Eggs, beaten and mixed with quarter of a pint of Almond Milk or Cow's Milk if you prefer.

Tablespoon of Nutmeg.

Grated Cheese of your choice..

The method to make this recipe goes like this:

1. Knead together the Flour and Butter together to create a breadcrumb mixture and then add some milk if necessary to bind the mixture together to make a dough. 

2. Roll the dough out and add the pastry to a flan tin, lining the tin evenly with the pastry. 

3. Add the Nutmeg, Egg and Milk Mixture and the Chard pieces to the pastry tin and space the mixture of ingredients evenly in the flan tin.

4. Grate the Cheese over the top of the mixture. I used a Cheddar flavoured with Rioja Wine.

5. Bake in the oven for thirty minutes on Gas Mark 5.

This recipe felt reasonably healthy with the fresh Swiss Chard while the Nutmeg added a sharp feel to the taste. The only thing I will do different next time I make this dish is use Cow's Milk in the Egg mixture as the Eggs bind together much better with Cow's Milk than with Almond Milk which left the dish a little watery.  I later made it with Cow's Milk and got a much thicker mixture, as shown below, which enhanced the taste.

D'Yer Mak'er

The first weekend in July was quite tropical both in temperature and the number of wet storms that took place. It was enough to cancel my game of cricket on the Saturday, albeit that hardier teams in our club still played their matches. Still it left some time for experimenting with new recipes.

The day before we had visited a new Steakhouse that's opened in a building that once housed a rough and ready boozer. A link to their website is at: (2) BIG JIMS BBQ Steakhouse | Facebook Their owner, who was a classmate of mine for 11 years at Primary School and then Secondary School, has created a recipe roster of first class steaks and the best chicken goujons that I've had since I stopped at a diner in Massachusetts in 1990. Chatting to him, in person for the first time in twenty years, and hearing his business plans made it clear he's got the drive and the focus to succeed spectacularly. 

On the player, as I flicked through some recipes online for my own inspiration, was the Band's 1971 double record "Rock of Ages" that shows they were a force to be reckoned with onstage. The edition I have also features a cameo by Bob Dylan during his "retirement" period between 1971 and the start of 1973. 

I was inspired by Big Jim's example to make an exciting and new meat dish with some low budget minced beef the Tag Team Partner had unearthed from the bargain bin earlier that week. The dish is a Jamaican Dish and the ingredients are as follows:

For the chilli Minced Beef:

500 grams of Minced Beef.

Some Chilli Flakes.

A teaspoon of All Spice.

A teaspoon of Jerk Seasoning.

One Red Pepper cut into small squares.

A grated Carrott.

A tin of Red Kidney Beans in Chilli Sauce. 

For the Minty Sweetcorn

A tin of Sweetcorn.

Some chopped fresh mint, around two tablespoons worth. 

An Orange Pepper cut into small squares.

Two diced Tomatoes. 

For the Coconut Rice

125 grams of Rice.

A small Tin of Coconut Milk.

50 grams of Creamed Coconut sliced into pieces. 

To make the mince mixture first fry on a medium heat the mince with the spices for around ten minutes. Then add the Red Pepper pieces and fry for around another ten minutes. Add the Red Kidney Beans and stir them into the mixture to make a thick sauce. 

The Minty Sweetcorn is made by frying it with the Orange Pepper for ten minutes on a medium heat and then adding the Tomatoes and frying the ingredients for another fifteen minutes. Lastly add the fresh mint in readiness to serve. 

The Coconut Rice is made by adding the Rice to a frying pan then covering it with some boiling water. Simmer it on the hob for around ten minutes, stirring regularly to stop the Rice getting stuck to the pan. Then add the Coconut Milk and the Creamed Coconut and let it cook on a low heat for another five minutes to create a creamy rich rice. 

This dish was a good mix with the fieriness of the Chilli Minced Beef getting quenched by the minty Sweetcorn and the Sweetness of the Coconut Rice. An enjoyable leap into the unknown which may see a few more Jamaican Recipes on this blog. 

Getting in Tuna

Gardening leave from a game of cricket one Saturday gave me some thinking time. It made me realise that one of the things the game has lost as a result of the Covid Pandemic is the Cricket Tea. Cricket teas have advanced in my time involved in the game from being a simple affair of a glass of squash, some custard creams and a bag of corner shop crisps, to more exotic fare of Hummus and well-crafted sandwiches.

While I had time on my hands I decided to make a quiche that included homegrown and locally sourced ingredients and would stand fit to make it onto a spread for a cricket tea. 

The ingredients for this quiche are as follows:

Shortcrust Pastry made from 200 grams of Plain Flour, 100 grams of cubed, unsalted butter with around a tablespoon of Almond Milk to thicken the pastry.

240 grams of Tinned Tuna. 

2 Duck Eggs, beaten.

1 Chicken Egg beaten.

A quarter of a pint of Skimmed Milk.

50 grams of Fresh Dill- I used some that I'd grown from seed in the conservatory. 

25 grams of Fresh Parsley- I used some that I'd grown in my garden. 

100 grams of strong cheese. For this recipe I used Isle of Arran Cheddar however plain Cheddar, Red Leicester or, for the Pro Europeans amongst us, Gruyere will do. 

On the player was a classic band, who I only knew from a few listens during the dying days of my A-Levels, called Santana. The album on the player was their recent offering Santana IV which saw some of the original members return and successfully rekindle the Latino swing- rock that made them so famous in the first place. 

Now to the method of this quiche. I first prepared the pastry by rubbing together the Flour and the Butter in a bowl until they formed something with the consistency of breadcrumbs. Then I added the Almond Milk and kneaded the mixture with some forceful punches until I had a pliable dough.

Next I rolled the pastry out and used it to line a circular cake tin that I had previously greased to avoid the pastry sticking. 

I distributed the Tuna, Dill and most of the Parsley evenly throughout the cake tin. I cut the Arran Cheddar into pieces and spread them as well.

Then I beat the eggs together in a measuring jug before adding the Skimmed Milk and whisking thoroughly to create a golden paste in the measuring jug. I poured this into the cake tin and watched it distribute widely to cover and flood the Tuna, Cheese and Herbs. After that I added the final piece of Parsley in the centre of the Quiche to provide some decoration. 

The Quiche was then cooked in the oven on Gas Mark 3, or 160 degrees for an electric oven, for 45 minutes. 

After it was cooked, some of the Tuna atop the quiche had a smoked feel to it and the fish itself contained plenty of protein. As did the Eggs, especially the Duck Eggs which tend to be larger and richer than the eggs of chickens. The Dill and Parsley meanwhile gave this one a real freshness and bite that would help fill anybody's stomach between innings in a game of cricket. 

New Baconcy

 White Fish and Bacon are a combination that traditionally goes together very well. Recently we acquired some back Bacon Rashers from the wonderful local farm shop at Stretton Hall, see their website at: (2) Stretton Hall Farm Shop | Facebook for more about them. 

Prior to making to dish we had prepared the garden and set out the seeds we were going to grow for this summer's vegetable garden project. On the player was the downbeat, claustrophobic thud of the Manic Street Preachers 1994 offering "The Holy Bible". It can be heard at: Manic Street Preachers The Holy Bible (1994) - YouTube . It's the last album to feature contributions from guitarist Richey Edwards who vanished in mysterious circumstances not long after its release. 

To make this dish you need the following ingredients:

Six Rashers of Back Bacon.

Two Hundred Grams of Samphire.

Three Mooli Radish, peeled, topped and tailed and sliced thinly. We used some that had been freshly grown out of my garden. 

Two Cod Fillets.

A head of Broccoli, cut into small florets.

This one is a simple recipe to make and it goes like this. 

1. Layer the Broccoli florets across the bottom of a steaming pan. 

2. Put the Cod Fillets on top of them. 

3. Steam for thirty minutes.

4. Meanwhile fry the Mooli Radish and Samphire on a medium heat for ten minutes. 

5. Add the Bacon and continue to fry lightly for another ten minutes.

The moist and succulent feel of the Cod offsets the sharp taste of the Mooli Radish and salty texture of the Samphire and the Bacon making this a tasteful combination for all.

Broccoli and Roll over you

 One of the great joys of Lockdown has been the discovery of growing my own vegetables from scratch. After nursing some Ironman Broccoli through a very cold winter, which involved a lot of night time gardening after work, I harvested it just as the clocks changed for British Summertime and then soaked it in hot water to ensure it was clean. 

We decided to use the Broccoli in some soup with an unconventional ingredient:

A head of Fresh Broccoli that's been homegrown.

One large White Potato, peeled and cubed. 

One hundred and twenty-five grams of fresh Garden Peas. 

A quarter of a pint of Beef Stock. 

One hundred and twenty-five grams of Edami Beans something that doesn't normally get associated with these kind of ingredients for a soup. 

Some Charcoal Cheese, we sourced ours from Stretton Hall Farm Shop at Stretton Hall Farm Shop | Facebook

We also went for something a little unconventional in our soundtrack with the all girl punk band the Slits jagged and wonderful album "Cut". Check it out at: The Slits - Cut (full album) - YouTube 

This Soup was deceptively simple to make as follows:

1. Sweat the Broccoli and Potato in a Le Cresceut for around twenty minutes on a medium heat. 

2. Add the Peas, Edami Beans and Beef Stock and simmer for a further twenty-five minutes. 

3. Blend the soup and sprinkle some Charcoal Cheese in it before serving. 

Broccoli and Potato are known to go together well and the  freshly picked Broccoli certainly dominated this dish while the fresh peas made it feel like summer was not far away. The Edami beans also offered a gravelly texture and a lot of protein. 

#sourkrautsausage

 A line from the film "Lawnmower Man" about "taking my work back underground" heralded the start of the Prodigy's Second Album "Music for the Jilted Generation". The record is a mix of claustrophobic and tinny garage that is interspersed with some epic, sweeping ambience that foreshadows clearly the music of such present artists as Darren Styles. Although it was released in 1994, it's an album that still sounds like it could have been released yesterday. Check it out at: The Prodigy - Music for the Jilted Generation full album - YouTube

It was on the player as we decided to make a Sour Kraut recipe using some Cabbage that had survived through the winter months. It was to be served as a side with some grilled Sage Sausages sourced from Stretton Hall Farm: Stretton Hall Farm Shop | Facebook and some home baked bread. 

The full ingredients are: 

Five large leaves of a green Garden Cabbage, shredded finely. 

Three Diced Shallots.

Three Diced Cloves of Garlic. 

A fresh Yellow Pepper, we picked one that had been growing in the Conservatory, that has been de-cored and sliced thinly. 

Two tablespoons of Caraway Seeds.

A tablespoon of Brown Sugar.

Half a pint of Beef Stock. 

The method is:

1. Fry the Garlic, Shallots, Pepper, Brown Sugar and the Caraway Seeds for ten minutes until the Shallots become caramelised. 

2. Add the Beef Stock and Cabbage and simmer for around twenty minutes until the Stock has been absorbed into the other ingredients.

3. Serve as a filling to the Sausage Sandwiches. 

This take on Sour Kraut comes from a Bavarian recipe and is sweet but not too sweet because of the earthy Caraway Seeds while the Cabbage had a wild taste and texture that is only found in homegrown Cabbage and gets lost in the supermarket version. 

The Charcoal Burner

A Sunday full of light and shade had shards of bright sunlight, a coffee for two, rehabilitation for the Dogg's muscle strain and an exotic new frittata. 

On the player was Jeff Wayne's Musical version of HG Wells' apocalyptic novel "The War of the Worlds". It is a piece that shows how brightness can rise ultimately from seemingly inevitable defeat and so is highly relatable for many of us today.

The ingredients to make this recipe are as follows:

4 Duck Eggs

100 grams of Kale

6 Basil Leaves

2 Tomatoes cut into half.

A pinch of White Pepper.

0.1 litres of Skimmed Milk.

Fifty Grams of Charcoal Cheese cut into small pieces.

The method to make this recipe goes like this:

1. Beat the Duck Eggs together in a measuring jug until they are fully blended. 

2. Fry the Kale in a frying pan in some sunflower oil on a medium heat for around 10 minutes stirring frequently to avoid it being burned. 

3. Add the Duck Eggs, Milk, Tomato, Basil and White Pepper. Split the Tomato evenly over the top of the Frittata.

4. Cook on the hob for around ten minutes using spatula to get under the Frittata to save it from sticking as it warms through. 

5. Scatter the Charcoal Cheese over the the Frittata.

6. Remove the frying pan from the hob, keeping the Frittata in there, and put it under grill on a low heat for two minutes prior to serving. 

The Kale was juicy yet crunchy while the Duck Eggs carry a richness and protein to fortify us through a wild March. The Charcoal Cheese meanwhile is like no cheese I've ever tasted with the charcoal itself being a good aid to the immune system.