fennel, onion and radish salad

Doctor Who in the background - children quiet. I didn't even bother to suggest that they try this since this kind of salad is probably 'not for them'.
This plate was a reward for trudging around a woeful car-boot sale, looking for Nintendo Gamecube games that the middle boy has to have but will rarely play. I'm glad I went though since the plate was the inspiration for the salad which was very nice indeed with roast chicken and new potatoes. It is delicious with fish too and, in my opinion, almost anything else! Ruth just slipped in that she has just finished the left overs, making it 'serves 2' when it could feed a couple more!

Ingredients:

serves 4

• one red onion (finely sliced)
• 1/2 a bulb of fennel (cored and finely sliced)
• 6 or 8 radishes (finely sliced)
• fresh flat-leaf parsley (chopped)
• salt and pepper
• extra virgin olive oil
• juice of 2/3 of a small lemon

1. combine the vegetables and parsley
2. make an emulsion of the lemon juice and oil by whisking - about 3 or 4 times as much oil as juice
3. combine the dressing with the vegetables
4. season, serve and eat

sardine and potato tagine

The kids ate rubbish whilst Ruth and I dined like the proverbial kings. This is a combination of a couple of recipes from the excellent 'The Food of Morrocco' by Paula Wolfert. To be fair, the bones can be a bit of a faff but the flavour is worth the extra effort. I'm going to try this with sea bass fillets to retain the flavour but lose the bone bowl! The kids thought it looked like the kind of food we like to eat and thanked us for the road-kill they ate!

ingredients:
serves 4

• 12 fresh sardines (gutted with heads and tails removed)
• 1 onion (finely sliced)
• 4 cloves of garlic
• flat leaf parsley
• coriander
• 2tsp cumin seeds
• 1 small bag of new potatoes (1cm thick slices)
• 1 courgette (sliced)
• handful of black olives
• 1tsp of smoked paprika
• 2tsp of sweet paprika
• 1 preserved lemon (pulp discarded - rind finely sliced)
• olive oil
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 green pepper (cored and sliced)
• 1/2lb of cherry tomatoes (sliced) no real reason for cherry tomatoes as larger ones would be easier

1. bring the paprika to boil for a few minutes in a very generous glug of oil and several tablespoons of water
2. crush the garlic with the parsley; most of the coriander; the salt and cumin seeds in a pestle and mortar to make a chermoula
3. when the paprika oil/water has cooled mix 3/4 of it with the chermoula and stuff the sardines with it. Try to coat the sardines with the oily, herby mixture before setting the fish aside for an hour or so, to marinate
4. layer a deepish earthenware or glass casserole with half of the potatoes, courgettes, tomatoes, olives, onions and fish.
5. repeat the layers before scattering the lemon over the top
6. pour in enough water to cover the first layer of potatoes etc
7. drizzle the remaining parprika oil/water over the top
8. cover and bake at about 200/gas mark 5 or so for 90 minutes or so - until the potatoes are tender
9. garnish with a few chopped coriander leaves

We ate this with a pile of couscous made with chicken stock. Oh and too much rose!

looked so good before cooking

sausage casserole

It's been a long time since this blog went into hibernation but I think it may be back now. Ruth has a new camera and the clocks have sprung forwards, heralding British Summertime and better lighting. The kids will still turn their noses up at perfectly lovely food, but hey, everyone will get fed and we'll have a little slice of heaven. Eldest boy has been in his room for 2 years now and looks tall and pale - a bit like a broad bean plant that has been germinated in a dark cupboard. Middle boy is out videoing for his rigorously dull YouTube channel whilst the youngest has whisked my tablet away for the afternoon.

I love sausage casserole, especially when it's cold outside. Anything that has little firm lentils and meaty sausages has to be a winner in my book.

ingredients:
(serves 5 with some left over - add more sausages to cook for more)

• red onion (chopped)
• 1 clove garlic (finely chopped)
• 1 leek (sliced) 
• 1 stick of celery (chopped small)
• 1 carrot (diced)
• 1 green pepper (diced) 
• olive oil (glug)
• butter (about the size of two thumbs)
• handful of black olives
• freshly ground pepper and salt
• 4 small cooking chorizo (chopped up)
• 10 plump sausages (5 venison, 5 Old English)
• 2 bay leaves
• thyme
• 1.5 pts chicken stock
• about a cup of green or puy lentils

1. sweat the onion, garlic, leek, celery. carrot and pepper in oil and butter. Lots of black pepper at this point creates just the right aroma to keep you hanging around in the kitchen
2. brown the sausages in a little oil
3. add the chorizo to the onions etc and warm through
4. add the lentils, bay leaves and thyme, just folding it all through, coating the lentils
5. pour in the stock and bring to a simmer - add salt but be careful if your stock is salty (also the olives will impart some saltiness)
6. tip the lentils etc into a reasonable sized casserole and gently place the sausages on the top
7. throw on the olives and add another knob of butter
8. cover and place in a medium oven for about an hour and a half, checking later on that the whole dish has enough liquid

I'm going to serve this with some kind of potatoes (maybe mash, maybe sauted) and buttery cabbage.

here again

hopefully this will be a lovely summer and I'll be able to post lots more lovely meals!

roast chicken and asparagus pie

The light is now good for photos and the weather has warmed up so I'm back on the blog again. There are vegetables in the garden and a few flowers are springing up. Thanks to the silver jubilee, there is bunting flapping about in the hedge, frightening the blackbirds.
The link - 4 and 20 blackbirds baked in a pie! Although I'm sure blackbird would be equally as good, this delicious pasty is made from the leftovers of 2 chickens (mostly leg meat). The asparagus came from a caravan in a lay-by. There seems to be a fleet of these vans parked around North Norfolk, possibly all owned by the same farm, serviced by Eastern European girls.

ingredients:

• left over roast chicken (diced)
• handful of asparagus
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 small red onion
• splash of cream
• milk
• splash of white wine
• butter
• table spoon of plain flour
• salt and pepper
• 1 slab of ready to roll puff pastry (500g?)
• 1 egg yolk
• fresh thyme

1. trim the asparagus and steam it in a glug of wine with a knob of butter and a bit of water. I gave it about 10 minutes (retain the liquor).
2. melt a largish knob of butter and soften the onion, finely chopped, and the chopped garlic.
3. add the flour to the onion pan and cook over a low heat for a couple of minutes.
4. add the liquor from the asparagus and stir. Gradually add milk and cream to loosen the sauce until it is a good consistency to bind the filling.
5. add the chicken to the sauce and warm through.
6. add the asparagus and fold gently into the mixture.
7. sprinkle some finely chopped thyme leaves - go easy because they can over power the more delicate flavours.
8. roll the pastry into a large square. Butter a baking tray and lay the pastry on it.
9. pile up the filling after brushing milk about an inch wide around the perimeter (I'm a maths teacher!) of the pastry.
10. fold the pastry over the top and crimp down with a fork, forming a seal.
11. prick some holes in the top and brush with the beaten egg yolk.
12. cook in a medium oven for about 20-25 minutes.

Oldest boy loved it, youngest boy hated it and the middle one had a fried egg instead! Strawberries (£2.50 from Olga) and ice-cream afterwards.

garden cooking

recipe by demand :)

lemon thyme steak marinade

This weekend shows few new recipes since all cooking has been performed across the road by neighbour, Justin. Much meat grilled over charcoal along with a delicious 'kind of' paella with lamb chops, home made sausage and chicken breasts. Delicious.

I did, however, make a very nice steak marinade:

• 600g rump steak
• juice of a smallish lemon
• 3 heaped tsp wholegrain mustard
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed with about a tsp of sea salt
• about 1 tbs of fresh thyme leaves (Ruth picked mostly lemon thyme which worked very well)
• big glug, maybe 2 tbs? extra virgin olive oil

Marinated the meat in these ingredients for about 5 or 6 hours then barbecued. No photo since that's a bit difficult whilst eating out lol :)