Sow that Seed
A goodly number of comments - and many thanks to readers for keeping in touch. Here goes:
Thank you Flo for your reply. Was delighted to see that you live in the same place that my grandson (often mentioned on this site) has very recently moved to. His firm had moved there some months back and now he can walk to work without needing to spend petrol.
Thanks Marjorie for the details re Jamie Oliver. His new series begins this coming week, and he is also appearing on chat-shows to promote his new venture. His aim is to get Britain cooking again and it will be interesting to see if much progress is made there. Sometimes it can seem as if we are banging our heads against a brick wall when we try to get people back into the kitchen. The trailer advertising his programme is asking us to encourage at least two people we meet to start cooking again, with the hope that eventually we all do. Chance would be a fine thing. But - as the old saying goes: Great Oaks from Little Acorns Grow, let us hope it works. The Bible does say something about sowing seed on stony ground, but even that can be tilled in advance to make it more friable.
Mentioning acorns to oaks - seems a squirrel must have hidden an acorn in one of our garden tubs (normally contains daffodils at the base, the top potted with summer annuals to be replaced by winter flowering pansies and when time the daffs then come back up). A year ago a small shoot appeared with the leaves being obviously 'oak-shaped'. Left it to die down in the autumm and this year it is over a foot tall. Must repot it into a pot on its own where it may be able to be controlled into a bonsai.
Now to your queries CheesePare. Firstly regarding the lemon cake. This type of cake is often made with the old fashioned 'pound' cake ingredients (4 oz each flour, butter, sugar and eggs - adding up to 1lb) . Proportions (but not the weights) for the lemon cake are the same apart from the eggs - one less was used and the extra liquid made up using milk. Doing this makes it a bit cheaper and also not quite as rich or dense.
Your mention of the Sicilian Cassata - a Charlotte Russe has the sponge (fingers this time) around the sides of the cake/dessert whereas the Cassata has the cake in layers. In the traditional recipe it is a Madeira type cake that is used and ricotta cheese, with a final coating of chocolate ganache. My cheaper version uses a fatless sponge (either home-made or bought trifle sponges) and either sieved cottage cheese or could be a home-made curd cheese. The advantage is that as the Cassata needs to be made the day before eating (as kept under weights and also chilled in the fridge, and have found the dryer sponges then absorb the surplus liquid from the cheese, thus making a softer 'cake' (which itself has been flavoured with liqueur), giving a firmer cheese filling. Have never added the chocolate coating as there is chocolate in with the cheese and so it is rich enough, but still light enough without needing more.
This Cassata has possibly been the most demonstrated dish of my collection as it is so simple to make. Do remember being asked to give a demo at one of the large hotels in Windermere where it went down a storm. Like Blue Peter - was able to show "one I had made earlier" (several in fact) and they were all gobbled up. Most of the audience were 'uppercrust', and everyone said it would be made for their next dinner party.
Duxelles: as mentioned these are part of Beef Wellington, and also be used as a toast topping. The main uses are to add a spoonful to a casserole to deepen and enhance the flavour, also added to spag.bol sauce, cottage pie, just about any dish that would normally use mushrooms. The duxelles are particularly useful when making mushroom vol-au-vents as when mixed with some undiluted condensed mushroom soup they make an excellent filling. Can also be added to the diluted soup to make a stronger (more home-made-flavoured) soup.
They can also be mixed with a little tomato puree or ketchup and spread over the base of a pizza before adding cheese and/or othr toppings, they can be slackened with a little creme fraiche and stirred into hot pasta to make a sauce. They could be mixed in with eggs and milk (or spread over the pastry base) when making a quiche. They can be used when making omelettes. Uses for duxelles are just about endless. Where you would use mushrooms in a dish, duxelles can take their place.
As to the economics of making home-made sausages. Much depends on the price of the ingredients used compared to the price of quality sausages bought ready-made. Myself, if making without skins feel they would need to be coated in something to prevent them sticking to the pan. Rissoles are 'sausage without skins', so cook skinless sausages as for rissoles. Myself would prefer to make them burger shaped because the same mixture can be used, and they are easier to brown all over and possibly take a little less time than if cooking 'real sausages'. As with anything like sausages, rissoles, meat balls, patties, burgers, the name of the dish is to do more with the shape of the product than a difference in ingredients.
Have a sneaky feeling that our house may have a covenant that bans us from keeping chickens, but the deeds are at the solicitor's at the moment. Will have to phone the council to find out. Although love hens, just thought that bantams, being a smaller version, would still give us enough eggs (by weight) and be cheaper to feed. Pipe dreams at the moment.
Kathryn, even in our garden the berries have not been quite as juicy as previous years. Many have been good, but still plenty left that are smaller and reluctant to ripen. With all the rain we have had, really expected a better crop. The apples too have been much smaller than normal and with having to peel and core, not that much left to freeze away. Some years they have grown as large as Bramley's, this year they are about the size of small Cox's.
There is a good preventative for colds, and that is echinacea. At one time it was believed that taking them for six weeks at a time (no longer) helped build up the immune system so a cold came and went very rapidly if it developed at all. New research has proved they should be taken immediately we feel a cold beginning, and this is said to work even better. Personally I always know when I am going to start a cold for I feel exceptionally well the previous day - perhaps due to the immune system beginning to work (and this is without taking the tablets). Would like to say that since following the above have not had a bad cold since, even when Beloved is sneezing non-stop. Now that this has been said, what's the betting that before the end of next week I am myself sniffling. Better get the ecinacea out of the drawer and recommence the treatment.
By the way it seems to take three days for a cold to develop - one to catch it, the next for your immune system to kick in (hence the 'well' feeling), the third day it is obvious to everyone. Often, back-tracking, we can pin down the actual time we caught the cold - and from whom.
Sorry you are having problems with your yogurt Jo. Hope that readers will be able to help. Myself never adjust the EasyYo, using just the sachet and water as recommended and have always found this to be fine. As it lasts at least 2 weeks once made (kept in the fridge) it works out so much cheaper than bought, especially as it is the Greek Yogurt mix I use. If using semi-skimmed milk then perhaps it should be boosted up with dried milk powder to give it enough strength to turn into yogurt as I presume a lot of the EasyYo is dried milk with the dried culture added. This could be cheaper than using evap. milk.
Back to me, me, me. Do love talking about myself. This Challenge is not making me a happy bunny. First the disaster over the Stir-Fry Soup (although caused more by Beloved than myself). Yesterday saw me start the day well by putting yeast, bread mix and water into my bread machine and switching on. A very strange sound when it began 'paddling'. Realised the paddle wasn't working properly so had to tip the lot out into a basin (and some of it splashed onto my clean navy T.shirt in two places). After a good soak in hot water the paddle then seemed a lot easier, so reassembled, poured the sloppy mess back into the tin in the order it fell from the bowl, and started again. This time fine apart from screeches that came intermittently (this often happens - and must get the vacuum cleaner to suck up all the bits that seem to work their way down under the bowl that contains the dough). In the end had to leave the kitchen, retire to another part of the house and shut the doors so I could barely hear it. Soon it seemed ominously quiet and felt the machine had probably broken - almost believing I could smell burned rubber - so was moving back to the kitchen when I heard it bleep. The dough cycle complete. No smell of rubber in the kitchen, the dough looked fine, felt fine. Seemed to take ages to rise - perhaps because the kitchen was cooler, and more probably because the yeast was past its b.b. date. But eventually it rose and was baked in the oven and turned out a perfect loaf (Beloved has just brought in my Marmite on toast using the bread and it was gorgeous)..
While the bread was rising decided to chop up half of the last of this year's rhubarb and put it in a dish with a little sugar to heat up in the oven as the oven itself was heating up ready to bake the bread. Felt quite smug that I had made use of this ever-increasing heat, and when I took the rhubarb from the oven it was still in shaps and actually tasted really lovely. Just a bit wizened as I had forgotten to cover it. So added more uncooked rhubarb and mixed it in with the rest then make a crumble topping (forgetting to add the oats) and it was cooked later (and perfectly edible despite the problems).
As the rhubarb was heating up, decided to make custard to go with it, and enough to keep to put on to the trifle that I would be making today. Discovered that we were a bit short of milk, so decided on making a third less than usual. While some of the milk was heating in the microwave, the custard powder was being slaked with more milk in a small plastic (ex-creme fraiche) container, using a large spoon. The spoon was left in the containerm then as I turned to bring out the milk to put the jug on the table (was sitting down at the time), knocked the spoon with my elbow - this tilting the container onto its side and most of the slaked custard fell into my lap, the rest on the table and floor. So now I had bread dough stuck to various parts of my top, and custard down the middle of my skirt. Had to use more milk to slake another lot of custard and didn't use enough powder so the custard was thinner than I wished.
Decided then to call it a day as regards the marmalade. Everything goes in threes, so did not want boiling sugar over my feet. Managed to plate up a presentable cold meat and salad for B (and myself), and very nearly spilt beetroot juice but just managed not to. Did not do a Waldorf as there was plenty on the plate and no point in over-egging the pudding I thought. For the first time in my life forgot to serve tomatoes with the salad.
As far as it went, the days happenings added more to my learning curve. Seems that it doesn't really matter (unless on timed baking) when it comes to the order of ingredients put into the breadmachine - for mine really got mixed up yesterday before it even started paddling. But suppose there has to be a reason why one machine would require the yeast first, another the yeast last, so am not suggesting moving the goalposts, just stating what happened.
Neither B nor I noticed we didn't have a tomato with our salad - it was only later I remembered - and can only assume that because I cut up the remaining bit of red bell pepper (started the other day) to scatter over the salad leaves (watercress, rocket and baby spinach), the sight of red made ne believe that a tomato was there. That in itself was a useful thing to learn. In any case, the pepper was far more tasty than a tomato would have been. So why use both if not necessary? By the same token, the Waldorf Salad would have been good, but then I can make use of the apple, celery and walnuts in other dishes.
So often we add something to a dish just for the sake of it, not because it is a necessary ingredient - when by holding back, we still have them to use in a better way.
As almost certainly mentioned previously, when we use any ingredients we should treat them with respect and make the fullest use of them - only this way can we begin to apprectiate their flavours and how versatile they can be. Today for instance, that last bit of celery will be added to that half carrot (both diced) to form part of a vegetable soup for supper tonight. As parsnips were delivered last week, then part of one will be added, plus onion and maybe a potato. No, not a potato - they are quite expensive compared pearl barley - so makes sense to use that instead when the soup is made with chicken stock. If deciding to use beef stock then it will be red lentils and not the barley. With trifle to follow Beloved will be happy with that. As often we eat different meals and B does not care for courgettes, may make myself a 'tortilla' type omelette, first frying onion, courgette and mushroom then pouring over eggs - maybe topping with grated cheese and finishing off under the grill. Soup almost certainly, my supper a maybe.
If nothing else, restricting ourselves to use only what we have in store will make us think a lot harder about how far we can make them last, and not only that, to turn them into something that we would enjoy eating. So often we take a lot of the food we have for granted, still fill our trolley's full at the supermarket when we still have food at home waiting to be cooked and eaten. This leads to much 'fresh' ( on and over the use-by dated) food being eventually chucked into the bin (when with a bit of knowledge it could still be fit to eat). We should build up stocks - no question about that - but store the ingredients in tins and packets that have a long shelf life. Even best-before dates can be ignored up to a point.
Am really looking forward to watching Jamie Oliver's new prog. If it gets more people cooking then it will have done its job. But cooking is not just about recipes. Real money-saving - and dare I say leads to more interest in cooking - comes from the Knowledge. Yes, we do need to all begin to cook more often, but along with that we do need to be able to control where our money goes. The hints and tips that save both time and money and not always to do with a specific recipe or ingredient, am hoping that Jamie will also be giving.
As woke late this morning, time has almost caught up with me, but thought I would include one recipe - this to make a pork pie using a hot water crust. This pastry is so easy to make and simple to handle. The filling also is traditional, and you could choose to use ordinary minced pork (as sold by the butcher) with the bacon as in the recipe given, or use belly pork instead of the bacon. Shoulder pork that contains a good amount of both flesh and fat makes good sausages, and so could be used as total weight of the pork/bacon. Mince it up yourself or ask your butcher to do this for you. Much depends upon the price of the cut you choose to use.
Coming from Leicester know that Melton Mowbray Pork Pies used to (and probably some still do) contain a little anchovy, so a squirt of anchovy puree would not come amiss. It does not give a fishy flavour, just gives the pork a stronger depth of flavour. Normally carrots would not be included, but these do work. Grated apple could be used instead of carrot. Experienced cooks may wish to omit the cake tin and wrap the pastry around the base/sides of a tin or largish bottle and once the container has been removed, the pastry should stand up by itself and then the filling added. Even if the pie bulges a bit here and there, this makes it look all the more traditional and home-made.
Pork Pie: serves 8 - 10
hot water pastry:
12 oz (350g) plain flour (pref strong flour)
half tsp salt
5 oz (150g) lard, melted
7 - 8 tblsp very hot water
(egg to glaze)
Put the flour and salt into a bowl, and pour in the melted lard and enough hot water to make a very stiff but pliable dough. Set aside, covered and leave to cool.
pie filling:
20 oz (600g) minced pork
8 oz (225g) streaky bacon (rind removed) chopped small
2 tsp finely chopped fresh sage (or 1 tsp dried sage)
1 tsp anchovy puree (optional)
8 oz (225g) carrots, grated
salt and pepper
Mix all the filling ingredients together, adding seasoning to taste. Set aside.
Using a greased 6" dia cake tin - pref loose based - take threequarters of the pastry and roll out into a circle to fit the tin with a little overlap at the sides. Press the pastry well into the tin, making sure it sticks to the base and sides, then gather up the filling into a ball and dump it into the pie as hard as you can - this pressing out air that might get trapped. Press the filling flat then roll out the reserved pastry to form a lid. You can either place the lid on top of the filling and fold the overlap pastry onto it - crimping the edges to seal, or fold the edges over the filling first and top with the pastry. Either way moisten the pastry where it touches the lid to make a good seal.
Make two holes in the lid (one to let air in, the other to let air out. Glaze with beaten egg and bake at 160F, 325F, gas 3 for 2 hours 15 minutes, then leave in the tin to cool. When cold, remove from tin and chill for a few hours but serve at room temperature.
Have had a quick read back and discovered the spell-check has gone on the blink, so apologies for errors undoubtedly missed. More to do with typing at speed than not knowing how to spell (but still not sure whether it should be stony ground or stoney ground- neither looks correct).
Now blogger have put up a read warning: could not contact Blogger.com. Saving and publishing may fail. Retrying... thank goodness back to normal, probably the Broadband connection cut off and had to redial itself. But had better leave while the going is good. Back tomorrow.
Thank you Flo for your reply. Was delighted to see that you live in the same place that my grandson (often mentioned on this site) has very recently moved to. His firm had moved there some months back and now he can walk to work without needing to spend petrol.
Thanks Marjorie for the details re Jamie Oliver. His new series begins this coming week, and he is also appearing on chat-shows to promote his new venture. His aim is to get Britain cooking again and it will be interesting to see if much progress is made there. Sometimes it can seem as if we are banging our heads against a brick wall when we try to get people back into the kitchen. The trailer advertising his programme is asking us to encourage at least two people we meet to start cooking again, with the hope that eventually we all do. Chance would be a fine thing. But - as the old saying goes: Great Oaks from Little Acorns Grow, let us hope it works. The Bible does say something about sowing seed on stony ground, but even that can be tilled in advance to make it more friable.
Mentioning acorns to oaks - seems a squirrel must have hidden an acorn in one of our garden tubs (normally contains daffodils at the base, the top potted with summer annuals to be replaced by winter flowering pansies and when time the daffs then come back up). A year ago a small shoot appeared with the leaves being obviously 'oak-shaped'. Left it to die down in the autumm and this year it is over a foot tall. Must repot it into a pot on its own where it may be able to be controlled into a bonsai.
Now to your queries CheesePare. Firstly regarding the lemon cake. This type of cake is often made with the old fashioned 'pound' cake ingredients (4 oz each flour, butter, sugar and eggs - adding up to 1lb) . Proportions (but not the weights) for the lemon cake are the same apart from the eggs - one less was used and the extra liquid made up using milk. Doing this makes it a bit cheaper and also not quite as rich or dense.
Your mention of the Sicilian Cassata - a Charlotte Russe has the sponge (fingers this time) around the sides of the cake/dessert whereas the Cassata has the cake in layers. In the traditional recipe it is a Madeira type cake that is used and ricotta cheese, with a final coating of chocolate ganache. My cheaper version uses a fatless sponge (either home-made or bought trifle sponges) and either sieved cottage cheese or could be a home-made curd cheese. The advantage is that as the Cassata needs to be made the day before eating (as kept under weights and also chilled in the fridge, and have found the dryer sponges then absorb the surplus liquid from the cheese, thus making a softer 'cake' (which itself has been flavoured with liqueur), giving a firmer cheese filling. Have never added the chocolate coating as there is chocolate in with the cheese and so it is rich enough, but still light enough without needing more.
This Cassata has possibly been the most demonstrated dish of my collection as it is so simple to make. Do remember being asked to give a demo at one of the large hotels in Windermere where it went down a storm. Like Blue Peter - was able to show "one I had made earlier" (several in fact) and they were all gobbled up. Most of the audience were 'uppercrust', and everyone said it would be made for their next dinner party.
Duxelles: as mentioned these are part of Beef Wellington, and also be used as a toast topping. The main uses are to add a spoonful to a casserole to deepen and enhance the flavour, also added to spag.bol sauce, cottage pie, just about any dish that would normally use mushrooms. The duxelles are particularly useful when making mushroom vol-au-vents as when mixed with some undiluted condensed mushroom soup they make an excellent filling. Can also be added to the diluted soup to make a stronger (more home-made-flavoured) soup.
They can also be mixed with a little tomato puree or ketchup and spread over the base of a pizza before adding cheese and/or othr toppings, they can be slackened with a little creme fraiche and stirred into hot pasta to make a sauce. They could be mixed in with eggs and milk (or spread over the pastry base) when making a quiche. They can be used when making omelettes. Uses for duxelles are just about endless. Where you would use mushrooms in a dish, duxelles can take their place.
As to the economics of making home-made sausages. Much depends on the price of the ingredients used compared to the price of quality sausages bought ready-made. Myself, if making without skins feel they would need to be coated in something to prevent them sticking to the pan. Rissoles are 'sausage without skins', so cook skinless sausages as for rissoles. Myself would prefer to make them burger shaped because the same mixture can be used, and they are easier to brown all over and possibly take a little less time than if cooking 'real sausages'. As with anything like sausages, rissoles, meat balls, patties, burgers, the name of the dish is to do more with the shape of the product than a difference in ingredients.
Have a sneaky feeling that our house may have a covenant that bans us from keeping chickens, but the deeds are at the solicitor's at the moment. Will have to phone the council to find out. Although love hens, just thought that bantams, being a smaller version, would still give us enough eggs (by weight) and be cheaper to feed. Pipe dreams at the moment.
Kathryn, even in our garden the berries have not been quite as juicy as previous years. Many have been good, but still plenty left that are smaller and reluctant to ripen. With all the rain we have had, really expected a better crop. The apples too have been much smaller than normal and with having to peel and core, not that much left to freeze away. Some years they have grown as large as Bramley's, this year they are about the size of small Cox's.
There is a good preventative for colds, and that is echinacea. At one time it was believed that taking them for six weeks at a time (no longer) helped build up the immune system so a cold came and went very rapidly if it developed at all. New research has proved they should be taken immediately we feel a cold beginning, and this is said to work even better. Personally I always know when I am going to start a cold for I feel exceptionally well the previous day - perhaps due to the immune system beginning to work (and this is without taking the tablets). Would like to say that since following the above have not had a bad cold since, even when Beloved is sneezing non-stop. Now that this has been said, what's the betting that before the end of next week I am myself sniffling. Better get the ecinacea out of the drawer and recommence the treatment.
By the way it seems to take three days for a cold to develop - one to catch it, the next for your immune system to kick in (hence the 'well' feeling), the third day it is obvious to everyone. Often, back-tracking, we can pin down the actual time we caught the cold - and from whom.
Sorry you are having problems with your yogurt Jo. Hope that readers will be able to help. Myself never adjust the EasyYo, using just the sachet and water as recommended and have always found this to be fine. As it lasts at least 2 weeks once made (kept in the fridge) it works out so much cheaper than bought, especially as it is the Greek Yogurt mix I use. If using semi-skimmed milk then perhaps it should be boosted up with dried milk powder to give it enough strength to turn into yogurt as I presume a lot of the EasyYo is dried milk with the dried culture added. This could be cheaper than using evap. milk.
Back to me, me, me. Do love talking about myself. This Challenge is not making me a happy bunny. First the disaster over the Stir-Fry Soup (although caused more by Beloved than myself). Yesterday saw me start the day well by putting yeast, bread mix and water into my bread machine and switching on. A very strange sound when it began 'paddling'. Realised the paddle wasn't working properly so had to tip the lot out into a basin (and some of it splashed onto my clean navy T.shirt in two places). After a good soak in hot water the paddle then seemed a lot easier, so reassembled, poured the sloppy mess back into the tin in the order it fell from the bowl, and started again. This time fine apart from screeches that came intermittently (this often happens - and must get the vacuum cleaner to suck up all the bits that seem to work their way down under the bowl that contains the dough). In the end had to leave the kitchen, retire to another part of the house and shut the doors so I could barely hear it. Soon it seemed ominously quiet and felt the machine had probably broken - almost believing I could smell burned rubber - so was moving back to the kitchen when I heard it bleep. The dough cycle complete. No smell of rubber in the kitchen, the dough looked fine, felt fine. Seemed to take ages to rise - perhaps because the kitchen was cooler, and more probably because the yeast was past its b.b. date. But eventually it rose and was baked in the oven and turned out a perfect loaf (Beloved has just brought in my Marmite on toast using the bread and it was gorgeous)..
While the bread was rising decided to chop up half of the last of this year's rhubarb and put it in a dish with a little sugar to heat up in the oven as the oven itself was heating up ready to bake the bread. Felt quite smug that I had made use of this ever-increasing heat, and when I took the rhubarb from the oven it was still in shaps and actually tasted really lovely. Just a bit wizened as I had forgotten to cover it. So added more uncooked rhubarb and mixed it in with the rest then make a crumble topping (forgetting to add the oats) and it was cooked later (and perfectly edible despite the problems).
As the rhubarb was heating up, decided to make custard to go with it, and enough to keep to put on to the trifle that I would be making today. Discovered that we were a bit short of milk, so decided on making a third less than usual. While some of the milk was heating in the microwave, the custard powder was being slaked with more milk in a small plastic (ex-creme fraiche) container, using a large spoon. The spoon was left in the containerm then as I turned to bring out the milk to put the jug on the table (was sitting down at the time), knocked the spoon with my elbow - this tilting the container onto its side and most of the slaked custard fell into my lap, the rest on the table and floor. So now I had bread dough stuck to various parts of my top, and custard down the middle of my skirt. Had to use more milk to slake another lot of custard and didn't use enough powder so the custard was thinner than I wished.
Decided then to call it a day as regards the marmalade. Everything goes in threes, so did not want boiling sugar over my feet. Managed to plate up a presentable cold meat and salad for B (and myself), and very nearly spilt beetroot juice but just managed not to. Did not do a Waldorf as there was plenty on the plate and no point in over-egging the pudding I thought. For the first time in my life forgot to serve tomatoes with the salad.
As far as it went, the days happenings added more to my learning curve. Seems that it doesn't really matter (unless on timed baking) when it comes to the order of ingredients put into the breadmachine - for mine really got mixed up yesterday before it even started paddling. But suppose there has to be a reason why one machine would require the yeast first, another the yeast last, so am not suggesting moving the goalposts, just stating what happened.
Neither B nor I noticed we didn't have a tomato with our salad - it was only later I remembered - and can only assume that because I cut up the remaining bit of red bell pepper (started the other day) to scatter over the salad leaves (watercress, rocket and baby spinach), the sight of red made ne believe that a tomato was there. That in itself was a useful thing to learn. In any case, the pepper was far more tasty than a tomato would have been. So why use both if not necessary? By the same token, the Waldorf Salad would have been good, but then I can make use of the apple, celery and walnuts in other dishes.
So often we add something to a dish just for the sake of it, not because it is a necessary ingredient - when by holding back, we still have them to use in a better way.
As almost certainly mentioned previously, when we use any ingredients we should treat them with respect and make the fullest use of them - only this way can we begin to apprectiate their flavours and how versatile they can be. Today for instance, that last bit of celery will be added to that half carrot (both diced) to form part of a vegetable soup for supper tonight. As parsnips were delivered last week, then part of one will be added, plus onion and maybe a potato. No, not a potato - they are quite expensive compared pearl barley - so makes sense to use that instead when the soup is made with chicken stock. If deciding to use beef stock then it will be red lentils and not the barley. With trifle to follow Beloved will be happy with that. As often we eat different meals and B does not care for courgettes, may make myself a 'tortilla' type omelette, first frying onion, courgette and mushroom then pouring over eggs - maybe topping with grated cheese and finishing off under the grill. Soup almost certainly, my supper a maybe.
If nothing else, restricting ourselves to use only what we have in store will make us think a lot harder about how far we can make them last, and not only that, to turn them into something that we would enjoy eating. So often we take a lot of the food we have for granted, still fill our trolley's full at the supermarket when we still have food at home waiting to be cooked and eaten. This leads to much 'fresh' ( on and over the use-by dated) food being eventually chucked into the bin (when with a bit of knowledge it could still be fit to eat). We should build up stocks - no question about that - but store the ingredients in tins and packets that have a long shelf life. Even best-before dates can be ignored up to a point.
Am really looking forward to watching Jamie Oliver's new prog. If it gets more people cooking then it will have done its job. But cooking is not just about recipes. Real money-saving - and dare I say leads to more interest in cooking - comes from the Knowledge. Yes, we do need to all begin to cook more often, but along with that we do need to be able to control where our money goes. The hints and tips that save both time and money and not always to do with a specific recipe or ingredient, am hoping that Jamie will also be giving.
As woke late this morning, time has almost caught up with me, but thought I would include one recipe - this to make a pork pie using a hot water crust. This pastry is so easy to make and simple to handle. The filling also is traditional, and you could choose to use ordinary minced pork (as sold by the butcher) with the bacon as in the recipe given, or use belly pork instead of the bacon. Shoulder pork that contains a good amount of both flesh and fat makes good sausages, and so could be used as total weight of the pork/bacon. Mince it up yourself or ask your butcher to do this for you. Much depends upon the price of the cut you choose to use.
Coming from Leicester know that Melton Mowbray Pork Pies used to (and probably some still do) contain a little anchovy, so a squirt of anchovy puree would not come amiss. It does not give a fishy flavour, just gives the pork a stronger depth of flavour. Normally carrots would not be included, but these do work. Grated apple could be used instead of carrot. Experienced cooks may wish to omit the cake tin and wrap the pastry around the base/sides of a tin or largish bottle and once the container has been removed, the pastry should stand up by itself and then the filling added. Even if the pie bulges a bit here and there, this makes it look all the more traditional and home-made.
Pork Pie: serves 8 - 10
hot water pastry:
12 oz (350g) plain flour (pref strong flour)
half tsp salt
5 oz (150g) lard, melted
7 - 8 tblsp very hot water
(egg to glaze)
Put the flour and salt into a bowl, and pour in the melted lard and enough hot water to make a very stiff but pliable dough. Set aside, covered and leave to cool.
pie filling:
20 oz (600g) minced pork
8 oz (225g) streaky bacon (rind removed) chopped small
2 tsp finely chopped fresh sage (or 1 tsp dried sage)
1 tsp anchovy puree (optional)
8 oz (225g) carrots, grated
salt and pepper
Mix all the filling ingredients together, adding seasoning to taste. Set aside.
Using a greased 6" dia cake tin - pref loose based - take threequarters of the pastry and roll out into a circle to fit the tin with a little overlap at the sides. Press the pastry well into the tin, making sure it sticks to the base and sides, then gather up the filling into a ball and dump it into the pie as hard as you can - this pressing out air that might get trapped. Press the filling flat then roll out the reserved pastry to form a lid. You can either place the lid on top of the filling and fold the overlap pastry onto it - crimping the edges to seal, or fold the edges over the filling first and top with the pastry. Either way moisten the pastry where it touches the lid to make a good seal.
Make two holes in the lid (one to let air in, the other to let air out. Glaze with beaten egg and bake at 160F, 325F, gas 3 for 2 hours 15 minutes, then leave in the tin to cool. When cold, remove from tin and chill for a few hours but serve at room temperature.
Have had a quick read back and discovered the spell-check has gone on the blink, so apologies for errors undoubtedly missed. More to do with typing at speed than not knowing how to spell (but still not sure whether it should be stony ground or stoney ground- neither looks correct).
Now blogger have put up a read warning: could not contact Blogger.com. Saving and publishing may fail. Retrying... thank goodness back to normal, probably the Broadband connection cut off and had to redial itself. But had better leave while the going is good. Back tomorrow.
posted by Shirley at 6:57 AM
7 Comments:
I do hope Jamie Oliver does get people to cook from scratch. Even before the show goes on air my son asked if I had got a recipe for a Ragu Sauce so he could make his own for his favourite meal Spag Bol! I told him to double the recipe and have it with pasta one night and shepherd pie or as a filling for jacket potatoe the next and I know which option he will make - the easiest Jacket Potatoe!
Jamie is great eye candy but i find some of his recipes to be too fussy.
I totally loved his last series where he was growing the food he was cooking and showing us that we could do it too.
I am going to attempt to grow potatoes in buckets next year on our paved patio (posh for no garden just slabs)
Im also going to make a raised bed on the gravel out the front , i cant see the neighbours being too happy about it though as they all have immaculate gravel and lawn and i suppose a few heads of cauliflowers or cabbages will single us out as the weirdos at number whatever..lol.
Since the £500 electricity bill i have been cutting back on a lot of excessive spending and finding ways of saving money has become a challenge for me too.I have managed to cut back on a lot of non essentials.I use the washing line as much as i can and use the tumbledryer as little as possible.
Any tips would be gratefully recieved.
The passion cake went down really well..sorry i didnt take photos..i had to use a round cake tin too as i havent got any loaf tins..I actually have a sandwich tin a roasting tray a bun tin and a cake tin and thats it for baking..i have always bought cakes etc so never had any need.I shall be visiting wilco in teh near future to obtain some though.
Oh and i love Pork pie..my favourite is Walkers in Leicester..our friend gets us a couple every time hes there.I shall have a go at doing my own though since you put the recipe up.
Thanks
Lx
Cheesepare calling ...
Dear Shirley,
Thank you for your advice. I will try your lemon cake mix in the breadmaker next time.
Presently I will try your fatless sponge. I think it should do in the microwave.
I was in Aldi yesterday and buying silcone bakeware - £3-40 per item - rather better than Lakeland who seem to have lost the plot rather!
I think blackberries are probably naring the end. For us it was a better year than last but we started picking a month ago. There are some left and some yet to ripen. Evidently there are hundreds of varieties - I don't know what they are but some are much bigger than others and they taste different so it is important to go to the best briars. I need a better source of elderberries though.
thank you for the sausage/rissole advice. I am minded to try pork chops rather than shoulder because the chops are leaner and seem to be about the same price. I may add a few oats but want to keep them meaty. I will add perhaps a fifth of a good black pudding.
Our butchers used to make brawn and it was good, an opaque paste, not clear. One has started producing "Poloney?" but it is not so appetising.
When I next make a rough pate, I will put some chicken jelly in and around it for a more interesting appearance.
On yogs, sharp taste sounds like either old powder or some sort of infection. I wash everything thoroughly first, then swill with boiling water.
My batch with semi and evap turned out OK. It is waterier than with full cream but I strain it through a sheet of kitchen paper in a large sieve to get the texture I want or leave overnight for soft cheese. Eileen put me on to adding cardomom seeds which is excellent. Otherwise it is good with dried fruits, such as chopped apricots which soak up the juice and add sweetness. It is much better than bought. I generally make a batch when we have a glut of milk - better than making rice pud!
Much love,
Cheesepare
Hi ALL Moira here. ON yogurt;
I have made yogurt off and on for years and in my experience you need to add dried milk powder or evap or reduce the milk by boiling it to get a decent thick yogurt. Basically you get out what you put in. I have even put long life cream in it--it's not that expensive and it makes delicious yog. I also add two or three big tablespoons of yog to the mix, not the teaspoons often given in recipes. I am trying it with long life whole milk at the moment but am finding that on its own the yog is too thin. I will drip my latest batch through a cloth for a while to thicken it.
HOWEVER____ the QUALITY of homemade yog is far superior to the bought stuff. The taste is quite different-milkier and richer. Hope this helps in some way. M
Shirley thanks for the pork pie recipe I'll be using some of my stash of minced pork to make a couple of these.
I quite fancy the Cassatta recipe too.I think it would make a great centrepiece for the Boxing Day table
Having made yoghurt in the past I cant be bothered with all the palaver of heating and cooling the milk so I just use UHT milk at room temp and a couple of tsps of dried milk and it works fine
Lesleyxx
Silicone bakeware - I have noticed when Aldi do it it is indeed much cheaper. However I was in town after work on Friday looking for small tart tins and baking beans (got the beans!) after having a French meal for my birthday rounded off with petit fours. I found them in our Co-Op dept store and they were something like a fiver for a few small silicone tart cases. Wandered round town for a bit and ended up in TJ Hughes and they had really really REALLY dinky ones about 10 for a quid, along with larger ones suitable for heart shaped buns (ahhhhhhhhh) and tarts 4/6 for a quid! A fraction of the price - have a look out for them if you are in TJ Hughes ;-)
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