Cookery Calendar Challenge - April

Hello and welcome to my kitchen for another Cookery Calendar Challenge hosted by Penny at The Homemade Heart. I will start with a confession, this is not the recipe book I'd mentioned last time. To be truthful, time ran away from me and with the Easter weekend drawing to a close and abysmal rain today, I felt like cooking cheese scones and chocolate cake with mini eggs on top. I haven't baked anything sweet or savoury for the Cookery Calendar Challenge before and it seemed a good day for baking. Both of these recipes are made differently to how I've previously made them in other recipe books.  


                                           

The cookery book that I choose to use 'on impulse' was this one. The book is approx 8" x 4" ish in size and £2.99 inc p&p UK. The link provides information about Be.Ro as a company which is an interesting read. Inside the book is divided into sections - Scones, biscuits, pastry, cakes, puddings, batters, young bakers, sauces icings and fillings. In short a baker's dream without being overloaded with too much choice. There isn't any 'chat' preceding each recipe that we've become accustomed to in recipe books such as a Nigella cookery book, with her familiar magazine style, gorgeous photography and entertaining read. That said, each recipe has a clear photo, a prep and cook time printed on an oven glove symbol.

All the recipes are clearly labelled and most have a tip or alternative such as - serve hot with butter or delicious served with your favourite soup. Which was the tip for the cheese scones. This is the second copy of this recipe book that I've bought. The only thing I'm not keen on is the 'well used look' achieved by printing tea stain looking splashes throughout the book for authenticity. It sounds crazy now but I remember trying to wipe off a stain, thinking I'd ruined my copy. I'm the sort of person who'd never write in a book - except for studying purposes. 

So onto the recipes, first up was the Cheese scones which I absolutely love. Warm and cheesy, split open with butter gently melting on top. You get the idea. They were delicious. I've made cheese scones many times before in lots of different ways; with mustard powder, with paprika, with cream of  tartar and without one or more of those. I've made them with both large and small round cutters, incidentally mini cheese scones buttered at kids parties for adults only - are divine! Makes up for everything. I was hopeful that this method of making scones would give a good rise.   

The trick with scones, once you have your dough mixture just right - together but not cracking or too wet - is not to roll it too thin. An inch and no less is perfect and not to over handle. I always double the mix with cheese scones because... well because. I omitted the mustard powder, mainly because we didn't have any but also M doesn't like mustard, no paprika, cayenne or tartaric acid either, though this recipe doesn't call for them anyway.

Having first mixed the self Raising flour, salt and pepper, butter, cheese, an egg and milk in the food processor with the blade (cheese cut up small) saving on needing to grate cheese. I placed 2 stoneware pizza plates in the oven to heat up 220* I divided the dough and rolled 2 circles before placing them on baking paper, cutting each into 6. I brushed them with milk and sprinkling them with some grated cheese. Then lifted them onto the pizza plates and baked for 12 minutes.

I will definitely cook them this way again, so much easier than continual rolling and cutting. Having the pizza plates hot - cooked the underneath straight away. Also having double the mix but on separate plates ensured that I didn't roll the dough too thin to gain 12 decent sized slices. I was happy that they rose well and the family loved them. 

Next was a chocolate cake for Easter. I made this as an 'all-in-one' recipe so used soft cake margarine. I made it in the Kenwood mixer and kept feeding ingredients in. I know that mixers are supposed to be better than food processors for cake making (light and airy) but... they never seem to mix the fat in that well. I ended up using a spatula to mash and beat things up a bit, before turning up the speed and hoping everything didn't curdle.

With the self-raising flour, cocoa powder, bicarbonate of soda, soft brown sugar, eggs, plain melted chocolate (which is the secret that makes it taste so good), fat, vanilla extract, sour cream and milk everything is mixed well.
The mixture is split between 2 cake tins and placed in the oven on pre-heated trays, then left to cool completely.
For the filling, double cream is whipped and placed between the sponge halves. 200g of melted chocolate is drizzled over the top and roasted chopped nuts can be sprinkled on the top. I don't eat nuts and it is Easter so... mini chocolate eggs are perfect.

The cake was a success and the family loved it. Mind you - chocolate cake, how could anyone not like it. Saying that, my Dad doesn't like cooked chocolate in any form, maybe there are others? I would cook this recipe again but would make sure the fat was room temperature, it would probably mix better then.

I don't always follow every step of a recipe, I change things to suit me depending on how long something will take or the ingredients in the cupboard. For this cake I had everything I needed and plenty of time, so it was more about cooking purely for the enjoyment. Overall I like this cookery book, though it's a shame it's small in size. Reading glasses help of course but... if someone wants to speak to me or I need to dash out the room, the world looks very strange. I'd definitely cook from it again.

It was a shame M was asleep after working taxi weekend. It's handy to have someone to 'de-bomb the kitchen'... oops! I cooked both of these recipes in one morning and there was an awful lot of washing up.

Thank you for reading about my Cookery Calendar Challenge, maybe next time I'll take another look at the Lincolnshire cookbook and try 2 things from there.
Cx

                                                            

Cookery Calendar Challenge - February

Hello, welcome to my kitchen. I'm joining Penny at The Homemade Heart for February's Cookery Calendar Challenge. The challenge is to pick 2 recipes from one of your cookery books and cook them. Then using photographs of your chosen dishes, talk about how the recipe went and what your family thought about the meal. I'm going to cook 2 recipes from one of the many cookery books that are hidden away in the pantry. The book I chose this time is Simply Good Family Food by Peter Sidwell.

I bought this book after borrowing it from the library. I was instantly attracted to the biscuits section in 'Rainy days' with family favourites such as Bourbon biscuits, Custard creams, Caramel dodgers  described as 'something else' and Sidwell's version of the humble hob nob. These include sultanas, if you should make these, prepare to be amazed and have ready a large storage container or 2 smaller ones, as the recipe makes a lot. Peter Sidwell lives in the Lake District so it's no surprise that he's included a rainy days section.
 

The book itself is split into sections with 'Days out', 'I'm starving', 'Weekends' and 'Fresh from the garden' etc so the sweet thingss are interspersed at the end of each section as opposed to all at the end. Before I tell you the recipes I chose, I want to thank Jo from Three Stories High for sharing her idea about choosing the weekly menu. Her family sit down with a cookery book and each choose a recipe for the week. I like the way she says it builds tolerance to meals you wouldn't normally wish to eat.

Generally speaking in my family, on Sundays after entering work schedule times on the calendar for the week, I usually plan the weeks menu. I choose casseroles, chops and bakes, roasts at the weekend and fish, rice and pasta dishes. Sometimes the teens put in requests, such as sausages or tuna pasta bake. Teen 1 has cooked some meals in the past, when he did catering for GCSE. He cooked lots of sausage rolls, homemade bread and chicken masala, all of which was delicious.

So onto the challenge, this time I asked the family to choose some dishes. The teens chose one dish each which I will show you now. The first one in 'Easy Entertaining' was 'Smoked Salmon Doughnuts' which I initially thought sounded just plain weird! 

Smoked salmon doughnuts

They are described as tasty little nibbles to start a dinner party or for a light supper.

                           

Collecting together the above ingredients - egg yoke in pot, plus lemon, whisked egg whites, self-raising flour and oil for deep frying.

First of all the chopped smoked salmon is folded lightly into the whisked egg whites with the chopped basil, flour, salt and lemon zest. Once the oil has heated to 170*, you can test the heat by adding a tiny bit on a spoon. It should crackle when hot enough.

Once it's hot enough you simply spoon 4 generous tablespoons at a time of the mixture into the hot oil. After 45 seconds, turn them over. They should be golden and crispy. 

Place them on a warmed plate with kitchen towel to absorb some oil. I served ours with a ready prepared stir fry and egg fried rice using the egg yoke only. It was a bit dryer than past egg fried rice dishes but... it used up the yokes.

The family loved them, bliss a great success! I've cut one open so you can peep inside. It just goes to show, it's good to try new things. I definitely wouldn't have attempted this recipe anytime soon. I would've thought it too posh for family meals and thought - one day... maybe.

Sausage and sage meatloaf

The teens also chose another meatloaf, the last one I cooked was from The Hairy Dieters and required some pre-cooking. This meatloaf is from the weekends section. Here's the best bit, it requires no pre-cooking, no sauteing at all. Simply chop the onion, prepare some breadcrumbs and place in a mixing bowl add sage, eggs, milk, salt & pepper, honey and wholegrain mustard. Using your hands mix thoroughly and place in a 2lb loaf tin, covered in oiled baking paper. I lined my tin too as I hate ruining my tins trying to get things out again. Though the liner called have caused the difficulties in slicing the meatloaf to serve. Bake in the oven for about 1hr 20 mins until cooked through. 

We served ours with pasta and a ready made tomato pasta sauce. The family loved it. You could of course serve salad with this meal, or swap the pasta for mashed or jacket potato. Although this meatloaf requires no pre-cooking and it's not that I'm reluctant to cook, I have indeed made many a sauce from scratch, it's just nice sometimes to rustle up a quick meal. The meatloaf could easily be prepared the day before and left in the fridge ready for cooking when needed. 

I saw this book recently in a charity shop for £2. I'm going to pick 2 recipes from it to cook during March. Thank you for joining me today for the Cookery Calendar Challenge. I hope it may have inspired you to try something new.
Cx

NB I found this recipe on-line which has half the ingredients in the book, though the 3oz sultanas are missing. I've made the hob nobs gluten free before.  

There's even a Christmas present idea in the book to make in September. Vanilla and blackberry vodka for the grown ups. You can leave it to mature for 8 weeks or to consume asap, checking the bottle top is screwed on tight, place it in the dishwasher on your usual setting. The heat infuses the flavours. Chill well. 

                                                           

Cookery Calendar Challenge - January

Hello, I noticed that Penny at The Homemade Heart is back with her Cookery Calendar Challenge! I'd taken these photos a while ago, shutting myself in the kitchen to do some serious cooking. That's me, doing what I love without thinking about ironing and cleaning etc. I bought this cookery book, 1000 Freezer Recipes a very long time ago, whilst living in Hampshire.

For anyone living nearby, I've lived in Purbrook, Southsea near Portsmouth and Cowplain among a few other places too. I've holidayed frequently in The New Forest, both as a child and with my own family. I loved Staunton Park, though as kids we called it Leigh Park Gardens, Langstone Harbour and Bosham, which was M favourite place.

At one time I worked in Petersfield and visited a book shop. I came across this particular cookery book when requesting the set books to begin my Open University learning adventures. After a few years I took a break from learning, later completing a teaching assistant qualification and continued the higher level through the OU. I then finished my BA degree some 20 years later. The courses themselves were a lot of work, I've not looked at any study books since but this book has been consulted many times.

The book has cook, freeze and thaw guidelines for each recipe. The contents page has the usual sections to tempt you such as, vegetable dishes, hot and cold deserts, cakes, cookies & tea breads. My copy has been well and truly marked and thumbed through. It cost only £2.50 at the time and is surprisingly still available. There are no photographs artfully styled and presented beautifully, instead the recipes are on cream paper with a smattering of line drawings of food, pots, pans and utensils throughout.

I've chosen 2 recipes to cook from, both are ideal comfort food for this time of year. The first is in the soup section - Leek and Celery Soup. I must confess to being a bit of a Delia Smith fan and have cooked many of her recipes. I had misgivings about this recipe in terms of flavour, not a good start but I'd set out with the makings for Leek, onion and potato soup on my shopping list. Trying to ignore Delia's instructions engraved in my mind that would've had me sweating the veg for 20 - 30 minutes in butter with plenty of salt and pepper, I cut and cooked the vegetables for this soup for only 5 minutes. Soon it was time to simmer until soft in the stock then season and blend it smooth. Perfect for a Saturday lunch.

I can't say I particularly liked it but the family did. Unable to buy fresh watercress at this time of year, I'd bought a watercress, spinach and rocket mix in the salad section. I threw it in and blended it the next day. The spinach gives a strange taste but I thought the peppery watercress improved it in flavour.   

Sauteing with a red onion

Leek and Celery Soup with lots of salt and pepper (fancy pepperpots from my brother)

The second recipe is in the poultry and game section, Chicken and Wine Casserole.

This recipe has a fruity tang with the wine, grated rind and juice from an orange and sweetness from the sultanas. The onion is fried gently first then the seasoned, coated chicken portions. Once everything is in the casserole dish, liquid is added and it cooks for an hour in the oven. Wanting to avoid the barley malt in Worcestershire sauce I swapped that for balsamic wine vinegar.

After clearing the kitchen of the washing up and sorting laundry (as you do, whist dinner cooks) soon it was time to dish up.

Served on a bed of rice with vegetables, it was delicious. You could thicken the sauce with cornflour and add cream to make a richer sauce. I would definitely cook this dish again. 

The rules for the Cookery Calendar Challenges are changing, allowing you to cook anything in future. I'm going to cook from Peter Sidwell's Simply Good - Family Food cook book next time. I've only cooked a few things from this book, so it'll be nice to try something new.

Thank you for visiting the Cookery Calendar Challenge, I'm off to visit the others.
Cx

Cookery Challenge Challenge

A while ago I cooked 2 recipes for the Cookery Calendar Challenge, led by Penny at Homemade Heart. I missed last months though Gillian at Tales from a happy house took part. The book 'Ministry of Food' by Jamie Oliver accompanied his TV series stating 'that anyone can learn to cook in 24 hours'. Inside the book he pays tribute to Marguerite Patten, one of the original Ministry of Food girls. Calling her a national treasure and incredible food guru. There is a wealth of info on-line about how you can get involved in your community, with his mission to see the nation eat, cook and educate themselves with better choice and less waste. 

I enjoyed the TV series, the people's stories were emotional at times and excerpts feature in the book. Jamie Oliver sets out with a clear aim to empower the nation to cook one recipe at a time and then teach it to someone else. As each person develops in confidence, they feed their families well and commit to the 'pass it on challenge'. There is a pledge to sign in the book - agreeing to learn a recipe from each chapter and teach them to 2 or more people, on the condition that they pledge the same. Did I do that.... er no, but please don't tell anyone. 

The book itself is divided into sections, the usual breakfasts, quick meals, salads and curries etc. The emphasis is on easy but also to cook from scratch, though the curries are made using Patak's curry pastes. There is a section further on in the book for making your own curry pastes when you've gained more confidence. The salads work in a similar way in that you start with a basic salad and make an 'evolution salad' by adding further ingredients. One last thing I like about the book is the stew type recipes that he then tops in different ways eg dumplings, a pie lid, mash or hot pot.

To many who have been cooking for years this book may help with different ideas or encouraging you to 'try' making your own curry pastes, salad dressings or meat burgers. Or even to think about doubling recipes and eating stew today and a pie the next. Other than that, I was just fascinated with his enthusiasm at cooking good enjoyable food and encouraging others to do the same. It is photo heavy with steps and stages and would suit anyone who hasn't much of an idea for cooking and for people who already love cooking and looking at cookery books that teach rather than simply list instructions. 

So onto my 2 recipes, the first was 'Meatballs and Pasta'. I must confess that I've never made meatballs before, I envisaged a stodgy mince ball in a thick gravy and this put me off. These ones were nothing like what I had in mind, they were delicious. You can use beef or pork mince or half of each. Everything, including cracker biscuits in the meatballs is chopped, smashed and mixed, rolled into balls drizzled with oil and placed in the fridge. I omitted the mustard which would've given a moist texture but not everyone likes it. When you are ready to cook, you begin with making your tomato sauce, then cook the spaghetti whilst frying the meatballs for 8-10 minutes. The spaghetti is drained and half the sauce added and stirred into it. After serving the meatballs on top of the pasta, add the remaining tomato sauce then some small basil leaves and Parmesan. 

My second recipe was called 'My Sweet and Sour Pork'. He says it's all cooked fast and to concentrate and stay on the ball. I tend to prepare all the ingredients at once before cooking generally, so this wasn't a problem. It's basically a stir-fry and as you can imagine with Jamie Oliver, it packs a punch in flavour, delicious!

After preparing all the ingredients, you cook your rice, drain and keep it warm, whist stir-frying everything else, the meat first with the Chinese five spice. Removing the meat to keep warm you then stir fry all the over ingredients and then adding cornflour and liquid ingredients before returning the pork to the wok and checking seasoning. The sauce is reduced for a few minutes before serving the dish on a bed of rice with shredded lettuce, sesame seeds and reserved coriander leaves.

I was sceptical about the lettuce leaves particularly as teen 2 never makes healthy choices. The lettuce gave a crisp, fresh texture that I think is perfect to balance the other strong flavours, all of which were amazing. I left M his dinner as he was home late and I dashed out for the evening. He chose not to add the extras at the end which makes me wonder if others find Jamie's habit of - 'just add this', and 'I think it just needs this...' that he's so fond of on TV, a bit annoying too.

Overall, both dishes were fantastic though the meatballs were a little dry, maybe more sauce is needed or something added instead of the mustard next time. Also I forgot to add the Parmesan cheese on top of the first recipe which was a shame, as I'd specially bought it for this dish.

I hope you've enjoyed reading about my cookery calendar challenge this month, where I choose a cookery book off my shelves and pick 2 recipes to cook that aren't cakes or biscuits and then write about them the following month.
Cx

Cookery calendar challenge

During August I bought 'another' new cookery book, The Hairy Dieters Fast Food. I've chosen 2 books for the Cookery calendar Challenge, you can find more on the link at the end.

I'd watched the Hairy Dieters series of cookery programmes and I was pleased to see they'd released a new book. This book promises to help you have a meal on the table within 30 minutes. One that is healthy and lower in calories and hopefully won't be clogging up your arteries or tipping the cholesterol balance.

The book seems to be carrying on in the same vein as their previous books where they lesson the refined sugar carbohydrates and try and look for replacements. For example in this book, they bake bread tartlets with sliced bread instead of high fat pastry and in a previous book they cut leeks open length wise and used the layers instead of pasta sheets in a lasagne. For this healthy reason alone, I would recommend them.  

Each recipe has a short intro that is informative, offering advice and serving suggestions. They provide suitability for freezing, vegetarian and the important calorie count which is after all a huge reason for buying the book.

Si and Dave write in their unique style that feels like they are there with you. You can be sure they've tried and tested each recipe and if they say it's good, it is. Following their testimonials at the beginning of the book, they reveal their new challenge, which is to have 'fast' recipes for the table before you reach for the snacks.

There is a section in the book for slow cooking and making use of the pressure cooker. The slow cooking just means, the preparation required will take up to 30 minutes. I'm tempted by some of the pressure cooked recipes as I love using my pressure cooker. I find stews and casseroles always taste full of flavour cooked in there and have been very disappointed with my slow cooker. My second recipe I've chosen requires the pressure cooker, though you could simmer it for an hour.

The first recipe - 'Stove-Top Granola' is from the 'Breakfast and Brunch' section. I was looking for an oat cereal recipe as most shop cereals contain one or more of these - barley, soya, dried stoned fruits, nuts and coconut. As I can't eat any of these, I was pleased to see a few recipes that are suitable. I will be re-testing the nuts soon and hope these will be ok to eat.

The recipe itself is simple enough, melting the butter and maple syrup with some oil and then stirring in the oats and salt in a pan to coat evenly, this is done in 20 second bursts for 5 minutes. They should give off a nutty aroma and look slightly golden.

At this point you can add your chosen dried fruit, seeds and nuts if wanted. Then tip onto a tray to cool and crisp before serving with milk or yoghurt. It'll store in an airtight container, this amount for one will last a few days. I used sultanas and sunflowers and I also added some fresh fruits to my bowl one morning.

There was a nice buttery taste with this cereal but I was a bit disappointed. When I think of granola, I imagine crisp, hard pieces or nutty oats but this quickly absorbed the milk and became the usual soggy oat based museli breakfast. I did wonder if baking it in the oven rather than a non-stick frying pan would've crisped the oats up a bit.

I would definitely make it again, but would use less butter, as the taste was overpowering after a while, with the milk.

The second recipe I've chosen is 'Pressure Cooked Tomato Sauce' from the 'Slow, Slow, Quick, Quick, Slow' section. We were wanting to use up some tomatoes from the greenhouse and this was perfect. You do need a glass of white wine for this recipe, not to drink whilst it cooks, but to add to the pan as it steams away merrily. The recipe calls for 2 cans of chopped tomatoes, so you could of course make this all year.

You start by lightly frying a chopped onion to brown the edges, meanwhile continue chopping the other ingredients and then adding the garlic. 



All the other ingredients can then be added but don't be tempted to add more water as it won't need it. My assistant was busy chopping for me whilst I stirred and tidied things away.

Here it is in the pressure cooker before the lid went on for steaming. It is very bright, bold and with the red onion, quite something to see.

The recipe says to cool quickly and reduce the sauce on the hob stirring with the lid off. I served some (not reduced yet) in a ramekin dish alongside our jacket potato as dinner had already been planned but we wanted to try it. The sauce was delicious, sweet, fruity and flavoursome.

As it was not yet reduced it was more liquid than it should have been but I ended up tipping it on my plate and it complemented the dinner nicely.

I shall be making this again, they suggest freezing it, eating it with pasta, meatloaf or burgers. I've made tomato sauces before and they have never tasted this good. I've added marrow or other squashes and basically ended up with a very watery tasteless liquid. I wouldn't really like to call them a sauce. This one is delicious and looks and smells good too. There was no complaints from the family which is always good when they like what you've provided.

Next month I'm going to choose 2 recipes to cook from Jamie Oliver's 'Ministry of Food' cookbook. I know not everyone is keen on him or his style of presenting his ideas but I've watched this particular series on TV and bought the book. The whole point of the cookery calendar challenge was to get reacquainted with our long forgotten cook books, this book certainly fills the brief.

I hope you've enjoyed reading about my 2 chosen recipes, I certainly loved making them and hope to make more in the future.
Cx

 

Cookery Calendar Challenge - May

Welcome to another cookery challenge. For April I chose a book I've only cooked one recipe from before, which was Classic Potato Latkes, which were very nice. First of all I'd like to explain why I even have this book on my cookbook shelves. I'm not Jewish, but have been brought up with the same love and respect for the Jewish people that my Mum has.
When I chose this book it was mainly because of how the chapters were laid out. They follow a dated order that reflect the festival seasons of the Jewish calendar. This appealed to me because it wasn't just put together to celebrate seasons of food produce availability, though that would've been nice. It was arranged to inform you about the festivals and the significance they have in Jewish lives. It's not only a celebration of their history but their future as they strive to pass on their traditions celebrated at festival tables.

The book itself is divided into chapters starting with Rosh Hashanah - New year Sept/Oct and finishing with Shavuot - Pentecost or Feast of Weeks May/June 6 Sivan. The book information is here. Browsing through the book I decided to cook my recipes within the Jewish festival calendar too. At the time of cooking this was Pesach Passover March/April 15 Nissan. Below is a clip with the correct pronunciation according to youtube.

My first recipe was Baked Breasts of Chicken in a Crunchy Coating. I wish I could tell you that we all ate round the table as a family thinking about the message within this chapter but alas we did not. M was working and home late, so I ate with both teens and teen 1 girlfriend. It did feel like a pleasant meal together though so I hope that counts for something. It was a while ago now and I can vaguely remember serving this meal with a horderve dish filled with coleslaw, carrot and pepper sticks. Teen 1 opted to bring some cool salsa to the table too - not sure if that was instead or as well as the ketchup. In it's simplest form this is a kind of KFC but without the dairy. Normally this type of food would be marinated in some form of butter milk, but I don't think the Jews mix meat and dairy, or at least not within this particular festival time.  

Baked Breasts of Chicken in a Crunchy Crumb

The timings were all a bit of a disaster too as I just wasn't very organised. The chicken needed marinading in the juice of 4 lemons for at least an hour and preferably 4 hours. Ours had about an hour. The recipe called for Matzah meal fine and course but I was unable to source these locally so I improvised. Which is what many good cooks do. I used both fine and course Polenta which worked equally as well. You need to mix the polenta together and spread it over a baking tray to heat for 15 minutes in the oven. Then have 2 bowls ready for coating, one with whisked egg, oil and herbs and in the other bowl the cooked meal, lemon rind, salt and pepper. You then brush the chicken breasts with one and roll them in the other and place the chicken breasts on an oiled tray.
If I made this again I would make extra marinade mixture and spread over the top of the meal covered chicken breasts. Just in the hope I could brown up both sides without turning the chicken as this is how it lost its crumbs. The book doesn't give serving suggestions but it would definitely be nice with chips, coleslaw and some salad. It was very tasty.    

Lemon Lamb

My next meal was Lemon Lamb which though everyone else liked it, I found the flavours too overpowering. Like the recipe above, better preparation would've been helpful, not least because for both recipes, I used the stated ingredients but only with enough meat to feed 4 or 5 people. Both recipes were for 6-8 people. Maybe in the case of the second meal it if I make it again it'll be more palatable next time.
I've never cooked a lamb casserole without tomatoes before but I soldiered on, hoping it'd be nice. Starting with marinading the lamb for 2 hours (not 50 minutes) in oil, garlic cloves, lemons, black pepper (always seems to be 10 or 20 grinds), cumin, coriander, ginger and fresh ginger.
Then lightly fry the lamb to brown, add onions, and add flour, then stock. Cover with water and place in the oven for 1 1/2 hr. It said you can add more lemon juice later and add the mushrooms but I put everything all in at once and cleaned up in the kitchen.
Then came the tricky part - the recipe wanted the meal to go in the fridge overnight once it was cool. Well, that didn't happen, we ate it with buttered new potatoes but could've had some vegetables with it too. The recipe suggested a garnish of almonds and herbs with new potatoes.

I did enjoy making both dishes but (er umm) would definitely try and read the recipe through a day before hand to allow for any complications. Including the reduction in flavourings if needed.

For next time I thought I'd try Peter Sidwell's book Simply Good Family Food. I never saw him on TV but it says on the cover he was on Channel 4's Lakes on a Plate. I've cooked two things from his book before, some oat cookies and mocha wheels which are a brioche dough. You basically roll the dough flat, scatter with dark chocolate pieces and roll it up like a Swiss roll and slice. Bake, cool and then drizzle mixed coffee and icing sugar over the tops of each swirl. Delicious!

Thank you for reading my adventures as I've joined with the Cookery Calendar Challenge. Do click on the button below to read how others have got on.
Cx

Cooking, Cleaning and Cotton Yarn

Our Christmas triffid amaryllis is growing steadily and ready to pop!

Welcome to my first feed back of the cookery calendar challenge. I started this at the beginning of March and introduced it in this blog. It's been fun, first in choosing suitable recipes that we'd all like and second in food preparations generally. I've cooked two dinners that I've never tried before. My family are thankfully always keen to try new foods and are always very appreciative of great tasting and nicely presented food. The book I choose these 2 recipes from was Eat For Life by The Hairy Dieters based on the TV series. I think their first book in this series The Hairy Dieters was so successful that they wanted to produce another book full of new recipes.

Eat For Life is arranged conveniently with chapters for breakfast and brunch, fast food, family favourites and meals with mates. Then follow what they proudly offer as fab fakeaways, food from afar, meals on the move, snacks and salads, something sweet and along sides. The book finishes with a page on 'what you get for 100 calories'.

The recipe I chose to cook early on in March from Eat For Life was the All-In-One Spicy Pork and Rice from the Family Favourite's chapter- shown simmering in the pan. This particular chapter promises comfort food that's warm and satisfying. Although I'm not watching calories I do however enjoy eating healthy, tasty food that is relatively easy to prepare. I usually cook meals from scratch but am quite happy opening a jar of sauce for convenience. I do favour casseroles, bakes and stews, simply because once it's cooking there's time for other jobs. Recently I've been making more of an effort to cook one and do the preparation towards the following nights dinner.

This recipe is split into 3 main sections, first frying onions. Then fry the seasoned pork adding chorizo, garlic, peppers and beans, before adding spices, stock and bringing to the boil. Lastly reducing the heat and simmering for 20 minutes until tender. It's all cooked in a large covered saute pan on the hob.

I resisted adding mushrooms to this which I thought was quite remarkable for me as I add mushrooms to any meal I can get away with. I think I was just keen to see how it would turn out 'as is' stated in the recipe. The recipe calls for 150g rice which according to the recipe would be enough to feed 4 people, we usually eat 2-3 oz of rice per person or 1 1/2 cups between us. I felt for us we needed to cook this amount of rice or the teens would be hungry in no time. This is the only thing I altered in the recipe.

This is definitely a recipe that I would love to eat again, we all enjoyed it, absolutely delicious with lots of flavour and colour and as it can all be cooked in the same pan, it was a sure winner.

For the second recipe, this time from the Meals with Mates chapter, it's Meatloaf with Spicy Tomato Sauce. Another absolutely tasty meal, a bit similar in flavour to good quality sausages. I was a bit unsure what to serve it with really as the recipe only suggests garnishing it with parsley. Er, no. We ate ours with mock roast potatoes (not previously par boiled) and green runner beans.

The recipe itself initially looks like it has lots of instructions but on closer inspection it's quite straight forward. After frying the onion, carrot, celery and garlic, adding thyme and removing from the heat, tip into a large mixing bowl.

Adding to the bowl the beef and pork mince, ketchup, Worcestershire sauce, breadcrumbs, parsley, egg, salt and pepper combine until well mixed. Placing everything in a prepared tin to cook in the oven you are then free to prepare the spicy tomato sauce. Teen 2 found this way too spicy but everyone else loved it.

The sauce was easy to put together with fried onion and garlic, tinned chopped tomatoes, chilli, oregano and ketchup. Simmer the sauce and keep it all warm, it can either be blitzed smooth or left chunky, depending on how you like it.

Like the previous recipe from this book, I'd certainly cook this again, we loved it. I suppose you could serve it with anything really, new potatoes, even chips or take on a picnic. I usually look for alternatives to potatoes as I'm not keen on them. I do however adore roast potatoes so that's what we had.

The next cookery book I've chosen from my collection for April is The Essential Jewish Festival Cookbook by Evelyn Rose. I'll be choosing 2 recipes from this book and stopping by early May to let you know how we got on.

Since my last blog I've carried on with teen 1 washcloth and some more blanket. I don't seem to have achieved much as I had so many other things requiring attention this past week. Today after I dropped teen 2 into school for RE revision (he didn't want to go) I whizzed round town shopping, payed a library fine, annoying as I didn't get round to reading it anyway and then popped into a few wool shops. I needed to buy another ball of grey cotton yarn as I will definitely run out before I finish this flannel.  

At the weekend I did some spring cleaning of a different kind, sorting through craft stuff in the ottoman in my room and throwing out old study materials. Why did I keep it all, boxes and boxes of stuff? The craft books and patterns are now in storage baskets or boxes on the shelf unit and all the wool, material and kits are neatly stored back in the ottoman. The room still needs a bit of a spring clean but it's better than it was. Mustn't allow the clutter back in future! 

QT taking a stroll in the garden managing to look mean, moody and magnificent.

Menu tonight- Chicken soup with homemade bread

Jobs for the week- get cracking with finishing teen 1 washcloth.
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