Best recipes for leftovers: Moroccan style lamb meatballs on a bed of mint and coriander infused couscous
“I thought that it would be too spicy for them but I suppose that Indian dogs eat curry. And dogs in Morocco must wolf down spicy scraps” “You did feed them earlier, didn’t you?” We were watching our pack guzzling the leftovers from supper. They are fed early evening but we always give them the scrapings from our supper. A sort of canine Little Foodies thing (Little Foodies are in Italy at the moment and all the Min Pins would love it. Pasta has them jumping through hoops. This is a blog that is well worth...
read moreSoup: Broccoli and Celeriac recipe
Years ago I met a lady who had married a famous Hungarian film director. They ran away together and rented a flat somewhere in Europe. Neither of them could cook. She had heard about one pot cooking. Apparently this magical pot stood constantly on the stove. Every day you threw in various tasty things. Cooked them slowly through and the leftovers were the base of the next day’s meal. After a week they gave up. The pot had become rancid and vile. In fact, from that day on they never cooked again for the rest of their lives. Sometimes I...
read moreEasy squid, sweet Romano pepper and Basmati rice salad recipe
Supermarkets are clever. They mark down their soon to be out of date produce. Someone might buy it before it is swept off the shelf and banished (hopefully to a homeless shelter). Danny haunts these shelves when he does the final post run down to Newmarket in the evening. I often return home to find a few bargains on the kitchen table. Last week he had found a fat bag of previously frozen squid, “They were such a bargain that I grabbed them.” There is always a posse around the Tesco shelves. The next evening I returned to find him...
read moreSmart Wife’s leek and potato soup recipe (vichyssoise)
Even though the room was dark, the rustle from the bed indicated that Danny was awake. I shot in, spoon in hand. “I think that I’ve finally got the vichyssoise right! I just need you to taste it.” “But I’ve just cleaned my teeth.” Danny tasted it anyway, gave it the thumbs up and fell asleep. Years ago Smart Wife taught me how to make vichyssoise. I made gallons of the stuff and we would drink it throughout the long hot Chelsea summers. This was Smart Wife’s favourite soup and I must admit I never...
read morePiquant Apple chilli Jelly Recipe
My friend Margaret has a glut of apples. Mainly cooking apples. She has given me loads and the cottage has that sweet smell of ripe apples when I open the front door. I have been simmering great vats of apples – 3 kilos fit just nicely into our marmite and makes about six pints/3.5litres of strained juice. Perfect for experimenting with apple jellies. This juice keeps well in the fridge for a week or so and also will live happily in the freezer until I feel in the mood for making jelly. I plan to try mint and apple, scented geranium and...
read morePiquant pot roast chicken with chilli, garlic and thyme recipe
If you write about food a lot it is easy to keep on trying to develop new recipes rather than improve on old favourites. So last week I thought that I’d play with Emma’s garlic roast chicken recipe. This wonderful pot roast recipe produces a succulent, browned chicken with an excellent sauce. Perfect as a roast and the leftovers are suculent and full of flavour. I bought a ‘small’ (1.75 kilos) chicken from Fred Fitzpatrick (our favourite butcher – Exning Road, Newmarket). His chickens are free range and by far the...
read moreLight Winter Celery soup with blue cheese recipe
Tiny hands clap with glee at the cottage when the winter celery season begins. This celery has been traditionally grown on the Fens since Victorian times. It is now grown in other parts of England too. It is the most celery tasting celery that you will ever find. Great with cheese, and superb for soup, stocks, stir fries and casseroles. The winter celery season runs from now up until Christmas. And it is top of the shopping list for the next few fleeting weeks. We make vast batches of winter celery soup and generally languish in a surfeit of...
read moreSlow braised oxtail recipe for six hungry people
A few years ago I was in Fred Fitzpatrick’s butcher’s shop and spotted a tray of oxtail. My mum was coming for the weekend and somewhere in the vague backwaters of my mind I connected her with oxtail. So I bought the oxtail and rushed home to ring her and announce that we were cooking something very special for the weekend. She arrived in a fever of excitement. I couldn’t contain the good news until the meal. “We’ve made you a wonderful oxtail dish.” When I saw her back straighten and a certain stiffening of...
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