Well sell loads of these at work when the weekend starts looming and the people who buy them absolutely rave about how good they taste. They're oak smoked in Craster, Northumberland. We have The Woo's dad over for supper and staying the night so we decided to try them this evening. I picked up three lovely looking specimens after I finished today and we're going to have them with some decent bread and butter with a homemade apple and blackberry crumble and custard to follow.
Kippers can be cooked in loads of different ways. Usually I would simmer mine in water for about 4 - 5 minutes but as there are three of them of a good size and I haven't got a massive enough pan to do them all at once I'm going to lay them in a little hot water in a baking tray, add a little butter and bake them in a 180* oven for around the same sort of time.
The Woo rustled up the crumble. Three Bramley apples were peeled and chopped up then cooked down in a pan. A bowlful of blackberries gathered by me on a dog walk yesterday were added to the hot apple and about a table spoon of sugar was stirred in. She used caster sugar but more or less anything will do. Her crumble mix is a failsafe handed down from her lovely mum. Half fat, in this case unsalted butter, to plain flour and then the same amount of sugar to fat. In this case that's 8oz of flour, 4oz of butter and 4oz of sugar. This was all rubbed together until lump free and then poured on top of the apple and blackberry mix. This will be cooked in a 180* oven for about 25/30 minutes until the crumble is golden brown.
I'm writing this in advance of the cooking as I'm knackered today after three early starts at work and a 4.30am alarm call tomorrow so I'm going to cook, eat and chillax!
Ciao for now!
About Me
- CampervanChef
- Welcome to the new Campervan Chef blog! This started out life as a blog called 'Kylie's Kitchen' and ran out of steam some time ago. Since then life has changed and Kylie's Kitchen as it stood is no more. I started out as an an enthusiastic home cook but now work as a chef and cook for others in all sorts of situations. You'll find out more about this side of me if you keep tabs on my scribbles on here. I blog about food and cooking, life, family, friends and pets. I will also be keeping you up to date with our travels to our second home; the beautiful Greek island of Skiathos and the dog shelter we support there. Join us as our journey through life continues...
Friday 31 August 2012
Thursday 30 August 2012
Prawns and asparagus
Bit of a quiet day on Meat and Fish at work today so had a bit of a think about what to do my Rock Chick and I for supper. A customer came in and bought some lovely looking crevettes and there were some uncooked king prawns on display which looked lovely and plump and juicy. I decided to do a spicy prawn and asparagus pasta with a couple of the crevettes as a garnish. I've done this a few times before and it works well with either pasta or noodles. I used spaghetti this evening only because the one we like was on offer recently and we have shed loads to use up!
So, in a large non-stick pan I softened half a small onion, which had been finely chopped, in a good lug of olive oil. To this I added four cloves of finely chopped garlic, a handful of small cherry tomatoes (halved), three sliced red chillies, about a dessert spoonful of tomato puree, half a teaspoon of ginger and the same of lemongrass and a good splash of white wine. I also bunged in the finely chopped stalks of about half a handful of the coriander that I would be using later to finish the dish.
I love coriander. Adding the chopped stalks early on really adds flavour to a dish. The soft leaves only need to be added last thing or as a garnish as they need little or no cooking. The ginger and lemongrass came out of a jar on this occasion. For a heavily spiced dish where all you want is some background flavour I can't see the point of buying fresh and throwing most of it away.
I cooked all of this together on a low heat for about 15 minutes until everything was soft and the flavours had all joined together in a happy clappy kum ba ya sort of way.
Whilst all this was going on I had salted water on for the pasta and part cooked some asparagus. I cut off the tips (about 2") and sliced the rest into half inch chunks. The woody bottom bits I always freeze and make up a batch of asparagus soup when I have accumulated enough.
Once the kum ba ya point had been reached it was action stations. The heat was whacked up under the pan, the pasta was added to the boiling water and the raw prawns, asparagus (tips and smaller stem bits) and pre-cooked crevettes were added to the kum ba ya mix. The prawns and asparagus were stir fried in about the time it took the spaghetti to cook then whilst the pasta was draining I added chopped coriander to the pan, stirred it in and then turned the heat off.
The drained pasta was then stirred in and it was turned out into nice big bowls. The crevettes were ceremonially plonked on top and with a last garnish of coriander and a good squeeze of lime juice it was ready for eating.
Simples!
PS For those of you reading this in Russia, Germany and other non-histoically Imperial countries - 2" is about 4cm and a half inch chunk is just under 1cm!!
So, in a large non-stick pan I softened half a small onion, which had been finely chopped, in a good lug of olive oil. To this I added four cloves of finely chopped garlic, a handful of small cherry tomatoes (halved), three sliced red chillies, about a dessert spoonful of tomato puree, half a teaspoon of ginger and the same of lemongrass and a good splash of white wine. I also bunged in the finely chopped stalks of about half a handful of the coriander that I would be using later to finish the dish.
I love coriander. Adding the chopped stalks early on really adds flavour to a dish. The soft leaves only need to be added last thing or as a garnish as they need little or no cooking. The ginger and lemongrass came out of a jar on this occasion. For a heavily spiced dish where all you want is some background flavour I can't see the point of buying fresh and throwing most of it away.
I cooked all of this together on a low heat for about 15 minutes until everything was soft and the flavours had all joined together in a happy clappy kum ba ya sort of way.
Whilst all this was going on I had salted water on for the pasta and part cooked some asparagus. I cut off the tips (about 2") and sliced the rest into half inch chunks. The woody bottom bits I always freeze and make up a batch of asparagus soup when I have accumulated enough.
Once the kum ba ya point had been reached it was action stations. The heat was whacked up under the pan, the pasta was added to the boiling water and the raw prawns, asparagus (tips and smaller stem bits) and pre-cooked crevettes were added to the kum ba ya mix. The prawns and asparagus were stir fried in about the time it took the spaghetti to cook then whilst the pasta was draining I added chopped coriander to the pan, stirred it in and then turned the heat off.
Simples!
Tuesday 28 August 2012
Anchovy pasta
I got into cooking about 15 years ago when things like Ready Steady Cook etc were really popular and celebrity chefs were very much the new kids on the block. I got the bug really quickly and then was hooked for life. Cooking, even simple meals, is a genuine pleasure for me. I don't know why or how it happened but the theory I have in my case is this.
Many blokes of my generation grew up with their mums doing all the cooking while their dads were out at work. My early married life was much the same. I worked long hours to try and pay the hefty mortgage while my then wife did all the other stuff. Consequently, even though my kids were (and still are) amazingly unfussy eaters, I didn't have that 5pm drudge seven days a week. Most of my male peers who enjoy cooking seem to have had a similar background and came to it in their mid to late 30's.
Despite my addiction starting around the late 90's with the likes of Worral-Thompson, Ainsley Harriot, Paul Rankin et al titillating our early evening taste buds; one of my favourite simple suppers, which I still regularly make, originated from a conversation with a guy I used to work with. Frank de Juan and I were Sergeants together on a training team based at Hendon. Frank was part Italian and, like me, was a passionate home cook. The main difference was that he had learned to cook from an early age and had a wealth of knowledge whereas I was merely an enthusiastic amateur. Every morning we would have an 8.30am meeting to discuss the day's events. This usually lasted about half an hour. The day's business was conducted in about 10 minutes and then we would spend the remainder of the time discussing food over a cup of coffee. Such high level stuff, eh? But, when all was said and done, Frank was my Italian food guru.
The first thing he suggested I try was what he called 'Cart driver's pasta' For the life of me I can't recall what he called it in Italian. It was just loads of olive oil gently heated in a pan into which was melted a couple of anchovy fillets, a little tomato puree, a sprinkle of dried chilli flakes and some pepper. This was all stirred into some spaghetti and served with a grating of parmesan cheese. It tasted wonderful!...and as a budget meal was an instant hit!!
I never make it the same way twice these days. I always melt a few anchovy fillets in the oil as a base and there is always chilli, in some form, and parmesan but I tend to just throw in anything in the fridge to bulk it out.
This evening's 'Cart driver's pasta' was:
In about six tablespoons of olive oil I gently melted down four anchovy fillets. The Woo and I shared the rest of the fillets off a fork as we love them! To this I added about a tablespoon of finely diced onion, four finely chopped cloves of garlic, a handful of halved cherry tomatoes, two large finely sliced chestnut mushrooms, a squeeze of tomato puree and a good twist of black pepper. All the salt needed comes from the anchovies and parmesan! Last but not least was a quartered scotch bonnet pepper for some (in our opinion) essential heat. This was cooked through for about the time it took to cook enough linguine for the pair of us and then all mixed together and served with a generous topping of parmesan cheese and, in my case, a bit more black pepper.
It was yummy! The salty goodness of the anchovies was pepped up by the chilli and the chilli was mellowed by the gentle frying in the oil. Try it with your version of 'fridge leftovers' and let me know how you get on.
Many blokes of my generation grew up with their mums doing all the cooking while their dads were out at work. My early married life was much the same. I worked long hours to try and pay the hefty mortgage while my then wife did all the other stuff. Consequently, even though my kids were (and still are) amazingly unfussy eaters, I didn't have that 5pm drudge seven days a week. Most of my male peers who enjoy cooking seem to have had a similar background and came to it in their mid to late 30's.
Despite my addiction starting around the late 90's with the likes of Worral-Thompson, Ainsley Harriot, Paul Rankin et al titillating our early evening taste buds; one of my favourite simple suppers, which I still regularly make, originated from a conversation with a guy I used to work with. Frank de Juan and I were Sergeants together on a training team based at Hendon. Frank was part Italian and, like me, was a passionate home cook. The main difference was that he had learned to cook from an early age and had a wealth of knowledge whereas I was merely an enthusiastic amateur. Every morning we would have an 8.30am meeting to discuss the day's events. This usually lasted about half an hour. The day's business was conducted in about 10 minutes and then we would spend the remainder of the time discussing food over a cup of coffee. Such high level stuff, eh? But, when all was said and done, Frank was my Italian food guru.
The first thing he suggested I try was what he called 'Cart driver's pasta' For the life of me I can't recall what he called it in Italian. It was just loads of olive oil gently heated in a pan into which was melted a couple of anchovy fillets, a little tomato puree, a sprinkle of dried chilli flakes and some pepper. This was all stirred into some spaghetti and served with a grating of parmesan cheese. It tasted wonderful!...and as a budget meal was an instant hit!!
I never make it the same way twice these days. I always melt a few anchovy fillets in the oil as a base and there is always chilli, in some form, and parmesan but I tend to just throw in anything in the fridge to bulk it out.
This evening's 'Cart driver's pasta' was:
In about six tablespoons of olive oil I gently melted down four anchovy fillets. The Woo and I shared the rest of the fillets off a fork as we love them! To this I added about a tablespoon of finely diced onion, four finely chopped cloves of garlic, a handful of halved cherry tomatoes, two large finely sliced chestnut mushrooms, a squeeze of tomato puree and a good twist of black pepper. All the salt needed comes from the anchovies and parmesan! Last but not least was a quartered scotch bonnet pepper for some (in our opinion) essential heat. This was cooked through for about the time it took to cook enough linguine for the pair of us and then all mixed together and served with a generous topping of parmesan cheese and, in my case, a bit more black pepper.
It was yummy! The salty goodness of the anchovies was pepped up by the chilli and the chilli was mellowed by the gentle frying in the oil. Try it with your version of 'fridge leftovers' and let me know how you get on.
Monday 27 August 2012
Annie's birthday
Family gathering at the Hilden Manor for Annie's birthday yesterday evening. Joe, Lisa, Prim, Darcy, Joe and Sam were missed as was a certain lovely lady who, I'm sure, was there watching over us all. Bit of a wait for the food and a rather disorganised service but it was a great evening and the 'bottomless chips' certainly went down a treat! Oh, and so did the pints of Spitfire!
Ex-colleagues please note the creases in the sleeves of my Shite Shirt...old habits die hard!!
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| Me and the lovely Woo |
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| Me and The Birthday Girl |
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| The Ladybird Cake |
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| As you can see in the background...Marilyn is not dead but very old and living in Hildenbrough! |
Wednesday 22 August 2012
Ham, egg and chips
Specially requested by The Woo this evening as another way to dig into the egg glut. It's amazing how, with just three chickens, the egg mountain can run away with itself.
Bulk standard ham to use up out of the fridge, a couple of the girls' donations each and a pile of homemade, thick cut chips.
How do you do your chips? I always deep fry them twice. Once on a really low simmer in vegetable oil until they are almost cooked through but with no colour at all. Then I whack the heat up and get the oil in the wok (I always do mine in a wok but have been promised a proper fryer!) good and hot before finishing them off until lovely and brown and crispy.
Turned out onto kitchen roll in a colander, sprinkled and shaken with sea salt so it can stick to any undrained oil and then dredged with malt vinegar before heading plate wards. Yum!
Bulk standard ham to use up out of the fridge, a couple of the girls' donations each and a pile of homemade, thick cut chips.
How do you do your chips? I always deep fry them twice. Once on a really low simmer in vegetable oil until they are almost cooked through but with no colour at all. Then I whack the heat up and get the oil in the wok (I always do mine in a wok but have been promised a proper fryer!) good and hot before finishing them off until lovely and brown and crispy.
Turned out onto kitchen roll in a colander, sprinkled and shaken with sea salt so it can stick to any undrained oil and then dredged with malt vinegar before heading plate wards. Yum!
Measuring Marcel
Wasn't quite sure how big a 'rod' is. All I could find out from Wikipedia is that a rod is the same size as a perch and a pole and that a chain is so many rods. All very confusing! So this afternoon The Woo and I trundled up to the plot with a trusty old tape measure and found out that marcel is 13m x 7.5m; which is almost 100 square metres of growing space. All that for £7.50 per year. Bargain!
Hopefully I can get some strimming and rotivating done after work over the weekend and then get some late summer bits in. Wouldn't mind a few days rain, though, as the flippin' ground is rock hard!
Hopefully I can get some strimming and rotivating done after work over the weekend and then get some late summer bits in. Wouldn't mind a few days rain, though, as the flippin' ground is rock hard!
Tuesday 21 August 2012
Pork with roast potatoes and leftovers ratatouille
Wanted to use up some of the stuff in the fridge and also to incorporate the freebies found on the allotment today so this is what I came up with.
I marinated three nice big pork chops from Hayward's in some chopped up sage from the garden with a lug of olive oil and a bit of seasoning. This was left for about 30 minutes and turned once to give it all a good coating of the marinade.
Some of the potatoes I found on the allotment were peeled, par-boiled and will be served roasted. I put them in a 180* oven about 20 minutes before browning the pork and bunging that in the oven as well.
In a separate pan I softened a couple of small (freebie!) finely sliced onions in a little olive oil and added garlic, some chopped up heritage tomatoes (from Hadlow Farm Shop), mushrooms, diced yellow courgette and chopped runner beans (both from Arthur's garden) and a good squeeze of tomato puree and a little chopped oregano. This was all stirred round until everything was coated in everything else then I added half a pint of water, some salt and pepper and left it covered for 15 minutes and then uncovered to reduce a bit for another 15 minutes.
The pork was cooked for about 40 minutes in all so the rind was a nice crisp crackling. Putting the potatoes on that bit earlier ensured they were nice and crispy. My ratatouille was finished ahead of time so I re-heated it to serve.
I marinated three nice big pork chops from Hayward's in some chopped up sage from the garden with a lug of olive oil and a bit of seasoning. This was left for about 30 minutes and turned once to give it all a good coating of the marinade.
Some of the potatoes I found on the allotment were peeled, par-boiled and will be served roasted. I put them in a 180* oven about 20 minutes before browning the pork and bunging that in the oven as well.
In a separate pan I softened a couple of small (freebie!) finely sliced onions in a little olive oil and added garlic, some chopped up heritage tomatoes (from Hadlow Farm Shop), mushrooms, diced yellow courgette and chopped runner beans (both from Arthur's garden) and a good squeeze of tomato puree and a little chopped oregano. This was all stirred round until everything was coated in everything else then I added half a pint of water, some salt and pepper and left it covered for 15 minutes and then uncovered to reduce a bit for another 15 minutes.
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| The heritage tomatoes |
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| The ratatouille |
Morning with Marcel
This morning was spent down on the plot trying to make a start on the overgrown mess. As there was no one around with a key to the shed where the strimmers are kept it was a case of 'what can I do now?' At the west side are two large areas which were once obviously raised beds so I decided to start with these. Once the weed cover was removed from the front bed I was delighted to find some lovely onions which had obviously been missed when the last tenants did a bunk.
Not only have I got this plot free until October because they cut and run...but freebie onions as well!
A quick trip to Homebase to buy another fork. One of their own so less than a third of the price of the naff branded one. Another hour or so and bed number two was done and dusted.
Good job I took care with bed number two when I recognised some fairly forlorn looking potato plats as I found a couple of kilos of these beauties!
After a good 45 minutes of fairly hard graft the first plot was weeded and dug over. It was a warm day and I did suffer a bit but the only real casualty was my fork which I bought about 18 months ago and was supposedly guaranteed for 10 years.A terse email to Spear and Jackson has already been sent off!
Good job I took care with bed number two when I recognised some fairly forlorn looking potato plats as I found a couple of kilos of these beauties!
Monday 20 August 2012
Bad day for ironing
Decided it was looking a bit grey after the morning dog walk so decided to attack the ironing pile. Bad decision! I looked out of the window after doing just one shirt and the sun was blazing down. I'm now about a stone lighter through heat exhaustion but at least the trugs that were hidden under the stairs are now empty.
A lovely early evening in the garden with The Woo playing backgammon. Since I introduced her to the game a few weeks back she's starting to play like a demon! Or should that be demoness? Paprika chicken with mash and broccoli for us tonight but watch this space for a bit of experimental leftovers/use up stuff in the fridge night tomorrow!
A lovely early evening in the garden with The Woo playing backgammon. Since I introduced her to the game a few weeks back she's starting to play like a demon! Or should that be demoness? Paprika chicken with mash and broccoli for us tonight but watch this space for a bit of experimental leftovers/use up stuff in the fridge night tomorrow!
Sunday 19 August 2012
Barbie time!
Well the sun came out again after a brief rainy spell so the barbie went ahead as planned. Well, I say as planned...as planned about 3 hours ago when we invited Annie (and Jack of course) and The Woo's dad over. Ben's working so dropped them off, stayed for a bit and then went to earn his daily crust.
Decided to make a few burgers and get some fresh air in the late afternoon sunshine. It's absolutely belting out there at the moment.
Burgers are easy and everyone has their own favourite way but these are so simple and relatively cheap.
In a bowl I mixed up 800g of steak mince, a finely chopped red onion, a clove of garlic also finely chopped, a sprinkle of dried
oregano, a squeeze of tomato puree and some sea salt and pepper. This was all mixed together with an egg yolk and then divided into burgers. I use a small 8cm mould to get them roughly the same size and tightly packed. This amount made eight large and two small Jack sized burgers. In the fridge for an hour and then on the hot coals. We had ours with a salad made by The Woo and a warm potato salad into which was mixed a sliced fried red onion and some green beans from Arthur's garden. Yummy!
Good job we made enough as Sam came home just as we finished eating and polished off the last couple of burgers. Sunshine and lovely people. Great stuff!
Decided to make a few burgers and get some fresh air in the late afternoon sunshine. It's absolutely belting out there at the moment.
Burgers are easy and everyone has their own favourite way but these are so simple and relatively cheap.
In a bowl I mixed up 800g of steak mince, a finely chopped red onion, a clove of garlic also finely chopped, a sprinkle of dried
Good job we made enough as Sam came home just as we finished eating and polished off the last couple of burgers. Sunshine and lovely people. Great stuff!
Garden breakfast
Alex came over yesterday evening for a curry and a few beers. He stayed over and then left this morning to get back to base as he's running a pre-para selection course next week. We gave him a good feed to send him on his way. The eggs were courtesy of our girls and we gave him an extra half a dozen to take to work with him as we have a bit of a glut at the moment.
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| Alex and The Woo tucking in |
Friday 17 August 2012
More scotch bonnet
Still some to use up so for tonight it's a veg loaded rice packed full of chicken and chorizo with a couple of the old SB's sliced in for good measure.
Red onions and garlic sweated down in butter and some olive oil. Quartered baby plum tomatoes, sliced mushrooms, tomato puree, the sliced bonnets, sea salt and pepper added. Then went in some sliced chorizo and a few minutes later a couple of packs of boneless chicken thighs which were roughly chopped into 1cm cubes. All stirred together on a highish heat to cook the chicken and then reduced to a simmer to cook out a bit. Once more or less cooked in went a tin of sweetcorn and a couple of handfuls of frozen peas. When ready to serve in went some pre-cooked brown rice. All stirred together and left on a very low heat for a few minutes to get all the flavours singing.
Yumster!
Red onions and garlic sweated down in butter and some olive oil. Quartered baby plum tomatoes, sliced mushrooms, tomato puree, the sliced bonnets, sea salt and pepper added. Then went in some sliced chorizo and a few minutes later a couple of packs of boneless chicken thighs which were roughly chopped into 1cm cubes. All stirred together on a highish heat to cook the chicken and then reduced to a simmer to cook out a bit. Once more or less cooked in went a tin of sweetcorn and a couple of handfuls of frozen peas. When ready to serve in went some pre-cooked brown rice. All stirred together and left on a very low heat for a few minutes to get all the flavours singing.
Yumster!
We shall have a fishy on a little dishy!
When the booooooooooooat comes in!
Another great day on the meat and fish counter at Waitrose. I love my new part-time retirement job! Had an interesting conversation with a customer today who bought some lemon sole. She said that she and her partner tried a new fish or cut of fish every week. We're big fish eaters in this house so watch this space for some fishy updates!
Lovely late afternoon couple of pints with The Woo and Sam at the Carpenter's Arms in Hadlow. Great pub and very friendly. We went there for Sunday lunch with Arthur at the weekend and it was fantastic. A sunsoaked garden and great company...bargain!
Alex is up for dinner and an overnight stay tomorrow so I imagine that more drinking games and poker is on the cards. With my alarm set for 4.45am tomorrow for an early start baking bread for the well-heeled of Tonbridge it may well get messy!
Another great day on the meat and fish counter at Waitrose. I love my new part-time retirement job! Had an interesting conversation with a customer today who bought some lemon sole. She said that she and her partner tried a new fish or cut of fish every week. We're big fish eaters in this house so watch this space for some fishy updates!
Lovely late afternoon couple of pints with The Woo and Sam at the Carpenter's Arms in Hadlow. Great pub and very friendly. We went there for Sunday lunch with Arthur at the weekend and it was fantastic. A sunsoaked garden and great company...bargain!
Alex is up for dinner and an overnight stay tomorrow so I imagine that more drinking games and poker is on the cards. With my alarm set for 4.45am tomorrow for an early start baking bread for the well-heeled of Tonbridge it may well get messy!
Thursday 16 August 2012
Pasta bake
Leftovers again!
As usual made enough sausage pasta to feed an army and The Woo came up with the suggestion of a leftovers pasta bake. Into an oven proof dish went the remains of yesterday's supper with a couple of handfuls of quartered baby plum tomatoes that were lurking in the fridge sprinkled over the top for a bit of moisture. Over this was liberally dashed a healthy amount of grated mature cheddar.
Into a 180* oven for about half an hour and then the heat whacked up to around 200/220* for the last five minutes to crisp up the top. It smelt and tasted amazingly like pepperoni pizza!
As usual made enough sausage pasta to feed an army and The Woo came up with the suggestion of a leftovers pasta bake. Into an oven proof dish went the remains of yesterday's supper with a couple of handfuls of quartered baby plum tomatoes that were lurking in the fridge sprinkled over the top for a bit of moisture. Over this was liberally dashed a healthy amount of grated mature cheddar.
Into a 180* oven for about half an hour and then the heat whacked up to around 200/220* for the last five minutes to crisp up the top. It smelt and tasted amazingly like pepperoni pizza!
Wednesday 15 August 2012
Celebrity Masterchef
Busy day then over to Joe's for a couple of hours to wish him a Happy 24th Birthday and thrash all and sundry at table tennis. Sam was surprisingly good, though and Matt has clearly been working on his spin!
Back home for a very spicy sausage pasta made with yet another scotch bonnet. Cooked this afternoon and reheated once home. Eaten in front of yet another amazing episode of Celebrity Masterchef. Bye bye, Ann...stick to acting, maybe?
Back home for a very spicy sausage pasta made with yet another scotch bonnet. Cooked this afternoon and reheated once home. Eaten in front of yet another amazing episode of Celebrity Masterchef. Bye bye, Ann...stick to acting, maybe?
Tuesday 14 August 2012
...and here we are!
With this we're having cheesy mustard mash, green beans, carrots and some of The Woo's magical onion gravy.
Toad in the Hole
The Woo's dad is over for supper tonight and staying the night in the newly painted guest bedroom. We've promised him eggs and bacon courtesy of the girls tomorrow morning and have decided on Toad in the Hole this evening. Poor Arthur will be egg-bound by Thursday!
The batter is resting in the fridge as we speak. For the batter I always use the same 1-3-5 ratio of ingredients; for every one egg I use three ounces of plain flour and five fluid ounces of milk. Sam's back for a few days so there are four of us eating and I've decided on a three egg batter. I will leave you to work out the rest! Whenever I make more than a two egg mix I always stick in an extra yolk for a bit more richness. The biggest batch of batter I ever made was recently at the luncheon club I help out at and it was a 10 egg batter...all hand whisked by me! I was completely knackered!!
We have gone for pork sausages from Hadlow Farm Shop. We went in yesterday to get some of their yummy Pembury Porkers but they were all sold out so went for the plain bangers as an alternative.
More in a bit. Got to get these bangers on the go!
The batter is resting in the fridge as we speak. For the batter I always use the same 1-3-5 ratio of ingredients; for every one egg I use three ounces of plain flour and five fluid ounces of milk. Sam's back for a few days so there are four of us eating and I've decided on a three egg batter. I will leave you to work out the rest! Whenever I make more than a two egg mix I always stick in an extra yolk for a bit more richness. The biggest batch of batter I ever made was recently at the luncheon club I help out at and it was a 10 egg batter...all hand whisked by me! I was completely knackered!!
We have gone for pork sausages from Hadlow Farm Shop. We went in yesterday to get some of their yummy Pembury Porkers but they were all sold out so went for the plain bangers as an alternative.
More in a bit. Got to get these bangers on the go!
Monday 13 August 2012
Feeling hot hot hot!
The rain's come in and there's steak mince in the fridge that needs using up. That calls for one thing and one thing only...CHILLI!
Everyone knows how to make chilli so I won't bore you to death with yet another same old same old recipe. This evening, though, I'm using a couple of scotch bonnet peppers. Just had a taste and it still needs a lot more cooking time to let everything come together but, WOW, it's a hottie!
Scotch Bonnet (capsicum chinense) is well used in Caribbean cooking but also grows in The Maldives, Guyana and parts of West Africa. Apparently it's so named because of its resemblance to a Tam O'Shanter hat! They have a Scoville rating of 100 000 - 350 000 compared to the humble and well used jalapeño, which measures mere 2 500 - 8 000 on the Scoville Scale!
Iced loo roll on the morrow, methinks!
Everyone knows how to make chilli so I won't bore you to death with yet another same old same old recipe. This evening, though, I'm using a couple of scotch bonnet peppers. Just had a taste and it still needs a lot more cooking time to let everything come together but, WOW, it's a hottie!
Scotch Bonnet (capsicum chinense) is well used in Caribbean cooking but also grows in The Maldives, Guyana and parts of West Africa. Apparently it's so named because of its resemblance to a Tam O'Shanter hat! They have a Scoville rating of 100 000 - 350 000 compared to the humble and well used jalapeño, which measures mere 2 500 - 8 000 on the Scoville Scale!
Iced loo roll on the morrow, methinks!
Sunday 12 August 2012
Marcel the Parcel
Permit me to introduce Marcel the parcel. Looks like I have my work cut out before I can start putting anything in the ground! Why Marcel? Well it rhymes with parcel, of course! Why parcel? It's French for a plot of land...the nearest thing I could think of to the word 'allotment'; as the old enemy are yet to advance to the status of a plot owning nation.
Watch this space for more pics and updates.
Nock Nock Who's there? Mr and Mrs Wakeman!
An amazing afternoon and evening celebrating Mr and Mrs Phil and Becky Wakeman's wedding. More later when I've unpacked and had a bath!
Right! Here we go!
Worked yesterday morning and then home, shower and quick change into my charity shop Edwardian picnic clothes before getting a lift from Cathy to the venue at Whetsted Farm. The Woo had already gone over earlier to set the tent up and sort out plotting up for food etc. It was a gloriously sunny and warm day. The venue was gorgeous; swings made from sofas and armchairs in the trees, a couple of tree houses and a massive teepee in the marquee field just for starters.
A couple of beers to quench the thirst and then rare roast beef cooked yesterday by The Woo together with some horseradish cream. This went remarkably well with some tasty cheese and onion sandwiches and home made sausage rolls. She makes GREAT pastry as I may have mentioned before.
Horseradish cream
I make the this quite often when feeding a lot of people. To one jar of basic cheap horseradish sauce I added a small tub of creme fraiche and then a couple of teaspoons of English Mustard. All stirred stirred together and in the fridge to let the flavour develop - it's very tasty (and cheap!).
A good old chinwag with some really nice people over a few more beers and then The Woo and I started (well she'd started a lot earlier!) drinking some fizz out of our bone china cups and saucers. The theme of the day (for those who made the effort) was period summer picnic which was where the teacups came in.
Then things moved into the marquee for speeches and toasts (more fizz!). Instead of a first dance there was a first song by The Vibes. They then did a few more cracking numbers before the mike was opened up. The highlight of the evening for me was a whole bunch of talent on stage doing a series of carnival (Rio not Notting Hill) tunes. Once a couple of red wines kicked in the Woo and I were bopping for England!
Collapsed into the tent (Literally! I managed to break two of the poles in a spectacular drunken stumble) and up reasonably early on another sunbaked morning for coffee and a bacon sarnie cooked on the barbeque.
A seriously great night with some seriously lovely people. Well done Phil and Becky - you make a great couple!
Right! Here we go!
Worked yesterday morning and then home, shower and quick change into my charity shop Edwardian picnic clothes before getting a lift from Cathy to the venue at Whetsted Farm. The Woo had already gone over earlier to set the tent up and sort out plotting up for food etc. It was a gloriously sunny and warm day. The venue was gorgeous; swings made from sofas and armchairs in the trees, a couple of tree houses and a massive teepee in the marquee field just for starters.
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| Me and The Woo |
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| My gorgeous Rck Chck |
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| Joe and me...in competition for best dressed! |
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| A day full of laughter |
Horseradish cream
I make the this quite often when feeding a lot of people. To one jar of basic cheap horseradish sauce I added a small tub of creme fraiche and then a couple of teaspoons of English Mustard. All stirred stirred together and in the fridge to let the flavour develop - it's very tasty (and cheap!).
A good old chinwag with some really nice people over a few more beers and then The Woo and I started (well she'd started a lot earlier!) drinking some fizz out of our bone china cups and saucers. The theme of the day (for those who made the effort) was period summer picnic which was where the teacups came in.
Then things moved into the marquee for speeches and toasts (more fizz!). Instead of a first dance there was a first song by The Vibes. They then did a few more cracking numbers before the mike was opened up. The highlight of the evening for me was a whole bunch of talent on stage doing a series of carnival (Rio not Notting Hill) tunes. Once a couple of red wines kicked in the Woo and I were bopping for England!
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| The lovely Mrs Wakeman nee Nock |
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| Mr Wakeman in full flow |
A seriously great night with some seriously lovely people. Well done Phil and Becky - you make a great couple!
Friday 10 August 2012
Backgammon
Backgammon in the garden with The Woo this evening. The obligatory glass of wine was obviously a given...but imagine my surprise when she said that she couldn't find her dice! Can you see what she did with them?
Yep! The new winey dice beaker! lol
Spicy paprika chicken this evening with a few new potatoes from Arthur's garden. With it I did a tomato and onion salad which worked really well. A small red onion finely sliced, some heritage tomatoes from Hadlow farm shop quartered and added, Finely chooped garlic clove, salt, pepper, a good lug of decent olive oil all given a good stir and about 30 minutes in the fridge. Job done!
Thursday 9 August 2012
Meze
Well the only cooking I did tonight was the hot prawns. These I stir fried in garlic, scotch bonnet chilli, lemon grass and coriander. The rest was all shop bought and made up a meze spread for The Woo, good friend Cathy and yours truly. Washed down in a sunsoaked garden with a glass of fizz. I'd been working until half one and the stonebaked baguette was baked by my own fair hands. The Woo had sorted out the front and back lawns and done loads of other stuff in my absence. We all deserved a relaxing evening and are currently winding down with another tipple and some re-runs of Friends. A great evening but another early start tomorrow!Wednesday 8 August 2012
Lamb and ping pong
Nice dog walk in the sunshine today while The Woo got stuck in traffic taking Sam to the station. Massive diversions due to an early hours crash in the High Street that was still causing problems late morning. Over to see Lisa in Hildenborough as we're looking after their veggie patch whilst they're away in Turkey via the new allotment to show it off to the better half. Found out yesterday that's it's only going to cost £7.50 a year and is free until 1st October...BARGAIN!
Bit of Olympic horsey stuff and a pile of ironing this afternoon then off to Joe's new place in Hempstead for supper. Worked up a serious appetite playing table tennis with Matt. I hadn't played for about 15/20 years but the old spin soon came flooding back. It's a young man's game, though! I was dripping after half an hour of jumping about.
A gorgeous table of food to follow. Lamb marinated in youghurt, mint and garam masala which was baked in the oven, warm pitta bread, a well dressed green salad (Well done, Woo!), cucumber, red peppers and a yoghurty, minty dip. Followed by a lemon cheesecake the recipe of which I am definitely going to pinch!
A great evening so well done, Joe!
Bit of Olympic horsey stuff and a pile of ironing this afternoon then off to Joe's new place in Hempstead for supper. Worked up a serious appetite playing table tennis with Matt. I hadn't played for about 15/20 years but the old spin soon came flooding back. It's a young man's game, though! I was dripping after half an hour of jumping about.
A gorgeous table of food to follow. Lamb marinated in youghurt, mint and garam masala which was baked in the oven, warm pitta bread, a well dressed green salad (Well done, Woo!), cucumber, red peppers and a yoghurty, minty dip. Followed by a lemon cheesecake the recipe of which I am definitely going to pinch!
A great evening so well done, Joe!
Tuesday 7 August 2012
Potato surprise
The Woo and I celebrated our two year anniversary today. We were going to go out for a meal to Loch Fyne in Sevenoaks but when she came home with a couple of gorgeous looking ribeyes from Haywards we decided to cancel the reservation and have a quiet night in with a bottle of champagne and some grub.
The steaks were cooked very rare just as we like them. Tender as anything and full of flavour. Oiled and seasoned then pan fryed for about 90 seconds each side in a blisteringly hot, ridged frying pan.
I knocked up a quick red cabbage; purely 'cos we had half to use up and I thought it would go well with the steak.
The inspiration of the evening was the 'use up everything in the fridge' accompaniament...in a pan I softened two cloves of garlic and a sliced red chilli in about 25g of butter with a lug of olive oil. To this was added four large mushrooms which had been quartered, half a dozen baby leeks which were topped and tailed then cut into 2cm lengths, about half a dozen of the heritage baby toms from the farm shop which were halved/quartered; depending on size, a good squeeze of tomato puree and a liberal seasoning of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. This was all cooked up and then used to dress some baby new potatoes fresh from Arthur's garden. It worked a treat and my Rock Chick loved it.
Job done! Here's to another year!
The steaks were cooked very rare just as we like them. Tender as anything and full of flavour. Oiled and seasoned then pan fryed for about 90 seconds each side in a blisteringly hot, ridged frying pan.
I knocked up a quick red cabbage; purely 'cos we had half to use up and I thought it would go well with the steak.
The inspiration of the evening was the 'use up everything in the fridge' accompaniament...in a pan I softened two cloves of garlic and a sliced red chilli in about 25g of butter with a lug of olive oil. To this was added four large mushrooms which had been quartered, half a dozen baby leeks which were topped and tailed then cut into 2cm lengths, about half a dozen of the heritage baby toms from the farm shop which were halved/quartered; depending on size, a good squeeze of tomato puree and a liberal seasoning of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. This was all cooked up and then used to dress some baby new potatoes fresh from Arthur's garden. It worked a treat and my Rock Chick loved it.
Job done! Here's to another year!
Monday 6 August 2012
Sunday 5 August 2012
Dog walk and dinner
We spent yesterday evening at Joe and Lisa's. Family barbie for Joe's birthday. Great evening. My Joe was there but Alex, Claire and The Woo's Joe were missed. There wasn't even an inkling of a family 'Bohemian Rhapsody'!
Lazy day today. Up late and a huge lunchtime brekkie with all the trimmings then a lovely long dog walk with The Woo in some gorgeous sunshine. All the dogs enjoyed it; particularly our messy partners in crime - Freya and Bobby.
Home then for a very chilled out afternoon of reading and snoozing...well The Woo was doing the reading and I was most definitely in snooze mode. I think yesterday's 4.45am alarm call, a long day in the bakery and then an exceptionally late night followed by a moonlit walk home over the fields just about did me in!
Supper this evening is some lamb steaks which I have marinated in garlic, rosemary and olive oil. With these we are having some lovely new potatoes from the garden; Arthur's garden - not mine - and easy mushy peas.
The peas are so easy to do and we have them quite a lot with all sorts of dishes. I added a small packet of frozen petit pois to a pan of boiling salted water and cooked them, covered, for a few minutes only. In the pan was a clove of garlic which was peeled and halved. The peas need to be a touch over the 'just done' stage. I drained therm whilst hot, removed the garlic as this is for background flavour only and then added some chopped mint from the garden (mine this time). The mint was allowed to warm up in the hot peas for a minute or so and then the whole lot was roughly mashed using a potato masher. You don't need to go mad with this. We're after a rough chop rather than a puree and a few whole peas among the well mashed and those in between are just fine.
To this was added a good lug of decent olive oil which was stirred through. I added a little sea salt and black pepper. Not much salt as there was a fair bit in the cooking water. The mushy peas were left to cool until ready to serve when I warmed them through; stirring occasionally to prevent them sticking to the bottom. You want them warm and not lip burningly hot as this seems to help the flavour.
This is also good with a little onion or shallot. I sometimes lightly soften these in a little butter in a pan and add them to the peas after the mashing stage. All mixed together they make a delicious variant.
Supper this evening is some lamb steaks which I have marinated in garlic, rosemary and olive oil. With these we are having some lovely new potatoes from the garden; Arthur's garden - not mine - and easy mushy peas.
The peas are so easy to do and we have them quite a lot with all sorts of dishes. I added a small packet of frozen petit pois to a pan of boiling salted water and cooked them, covered, for a few minutes only. In the pan was a clove of garlic which was peeled and halved. The peas need to be a touch over the 'just done' stage. I drained therm whilst hot, removed the garlic as this is for background flavour only and then added some chopped mint from the garden (mine this time). The mint was allowed to warm up in the hot peas for a minute or so and then the whole lot was roughly mashed using a potato masher. You don't need to go mad with this. We're after a rough chop rather than a puree and a few whole peas among the well mashed and those in between are just fine.
To this was added a good lug of decent olive oil which was stirred through. I added a little sea salt and black pepper. Not much salt as there was a fair bit in the cooking water. The mushy peas were left to cool until ready to serve when I warmed them through; stirring occasionally to prevent them sticking to the bottom. You want them warm and not lip burningly hot as this seems to help the flavour.
This is also good with a little onion or shallot. I sometimes lightly soften these in a little butter in a pan and add them to the peas after the mashing stage. All mixed together they make a delicious variant.
Friday 3 August 2012
Braised red cabbage
Joe and Claire are hopefully up again later this evening. I'm working in the morning (4.45am alarm! Yuk!) but The Woo has promised them a freshly baked croissant breakfast! They won't get here until late so The Rock Chick and I are having the Samuel Pepys pork chops, roast potatoes and red cabbage I've blogged about earlier. I've told you about the chops but here's my braised red cabbage recipe if you fancy trying it. Great with roast duck, good sausages and lamb too. I've added chopped apple this evening as it's with pork but cherries would work well with the duck. With lamb or beef I would tend to leave any fruit out but it's really up to you either way.
You need a fairly large pan as the red cabbage, although it quickly melts down, starts off taking up loads of room.
So, in the pan I gently cooked two small and finely sliced red onions in about a glass and a half of red wine. To this was added sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, a heaped teaspoon of ground cumin and about half as much ground coriander. As the onions started to soften in the wine I added a healthy lug of balsamic vinegar and a sprinkle of sugar. Don't worry at this stage whether it's too sweet or too vinegary as you can adjust the balance later on and it's very much a question of personal taste as anyway. With the pork chops I make it a little sweeter as the accompanying sauce is very sharp but with duck a bit more vinegar helps to cut through the fat. Once the onions were fairly soft (about 20 minutes on a very low heat) I added half of a large, finely sliced red cabbage. You can do more if you want as this cabbage goes really well with cheese and biscuits once it's cooled down, keeps in the fridge for a good three or four days and freezes well too.
This was then cooked on a very low heat with the lid on for about an hour, stirring occasionally to get the reduced wine well and truly soaked up. I tasted a couple of times to check for balance and this is when you can bung in a bit more sugar or vinegar if required. I've done this so many times I had it just about right so left it alone. Once the cabbage is lovely and soft you can either serve or just turn off the gas and reheat when required. With this dish I think it's better to overcook rather than undercook it as you do want it all meltingly soft and unctuous.
You need a fairly large pan as the red cabbage, although it quickly melts down, starts off taking up loads of room.
So, in the pan I gently cooked two small and finely sliced red onions in about a glass and a half of red wine. To this was added sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, a heaped teaspoon of ground cumin and about half as much ground coriander. As the onions started to soften in the wine I added a healthy lug of balsamic vinegar and a sprinkle of sugar. Don't worry at this stage whether it's too sweet or too vinegary as you can adjust the balance later on and it's very much a question of personal taste as anyway. With the pork chops I make it a little sweeter as the accompanying sauce is very sharp but with duck a bit more vinegar helps to cut through the fat. Once the onions were fairly soft (about 20 minutes on a very low heat) I added half of a large, finely sliced red cabbage. You can do more if you want as this cabbage goes really well with cheese and biscuits once it's cooled down, keeps in the fridge for a good three or four days and freezes well too.
This was then cooked on a very low heat with the lid on for about an hour, stirring occasionally to get the reduced wine well and truly soaked up. I tasted a couple of times to check for balance and this is when you can bung in a bit more sugar or vinegar if required. I've done this so many times I had it just about right so left it alone. Once the cabbage is lovely and soft you can either serve or just turn off the gas and reheat when required. With this dish I think it's better to overcook rather than undercook it as you do want it all meltingly soft and unctuous.
Saying goodbye
Jen's funeral was yesterday. It was a sad but exceptionally beautiful event. Tears and laughter; with the laughter probably the greater part. Just what the lovely lady herself would have wanted. Loads of people turned up at the crem for the very non-religious celebration of her life and all five of her grandchildren made everyone exceptionally proud by sharing some very poignant memories of their beloved grandma. Lots of colour in evidence as she left strict instructions to that effect!
Back to The Rose and Crown in Tonbridge for a lovely spread of sarnies, cakes, canapés etc. The guys there did us proud! This is where we have the monthly Tweet Up although The Woo and I have missed the last couple due to circumstances beyond our control. It's a great place for an informal function and the staff are always so helpful and pleasant. Highly recommended.
Then it was back to Coppins HQ for a serious family piss up. The Woo and I don't remember getting home and David can't remember anyone leaving...so it was clearly a good do and well needed!
5am alarm for me this morning as I was doing my first day on the fish counter at Waitrose. The walk in certainly cleared my head and I had a great day. Thoroughly enjoyable. I'm there most Thursdays and Fridays now so pop in and say hello (and buy some fish!) if you're passing.
Back to The Rose and Crown in Tonbridge for a lovely spread of sarnies, cakes, canapés etc. The guys there did us proud! This is where we have the monthly Tweet Up although The Woo and I have missed the last couple due to circumstances beyond our control. It's a great place for an informal function and the staff are always so helpful and pleasant. Highly recommended.
Then it was back to Coppins HQ for a serious family piss up. The Woo and I don't remember getting home and David can't remember anyone leaving...so it was clearly a good do and well needed!
5am alarm for me this morning as I was doing my first day on the fish counter at Waitrose. The walk in certainly cleared my head and I had a great day. Thoroughly enjoyable. I'm there most Thursdays and Fridays now so pop in and say hello (and buy some fish!) if you're passing.
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