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Oh Elle!

We've been trying to cut down on bread too!

What we've been doing is making salads for lunch by using grains as a base.
Couscous, millet, barley, another one that the name escapes me....buckwheat!

We like the grain to be al dente. So what I'm doing is put the grain in a pot, cover with cold water, bring to a boil, put a tight fitting lid on, then shut off the heat. I'm starting to get a feel for how long each grain takes to cook in the hot water but I just taste it after 10-15 minutes. If its still really hard, I bung it in the nuker for a few minutes. When it's soft enough I rinse it in cold water through a mesh sieve and let it drain well.
To make into a tasty lunch I add all sorts of chopped veg. Tomatoes, cucs, spring onion, green pepper, raw courgette, carrot, whatever is in the shop, really. If I run out of veg, I use chopped apples, pears, any fruit I've got hanging around, dried fruits and nuts if I'm really behind on the shopping.
Then, the flavour bit. Extra extra virgin olive oil and a touch of pomegranate reduction. It's very much like balsamic syrup, not sweet but with a slight fruity taste. We use it cuz it's like a tenth of the price of balsamic syrup here. Can buy it by the gallon.
I once found a load of different flavoured balsamic syrups in Aldi or Lidl though. There was plain and orange and I can't remember what else...

Sounds really yum! Must have a trip to Aldi/Lidl at some stage soon! Thanks Patti!

This is a nice, quick and easy soup recipe. I tend to keep most of the ingredients in stock anyway, so it's handy when I want to make something up quickly.

Tomato, pasta and flageolet bean soup
(recipe by Antony Worrel Thompson)

Serves 4

10g (1/2 oz) unsalted butter (I often use olive oil)
1 onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, finely diced
Large pinch of dried chilli flakes
400g (14oz) tin of chopped tomatoes with basil (or I just use ordinary tinned and add basil separately)
1 litre (1 3/4 pints) vegetable stock
75g (3oz) small pasta shapes
1 sachet bouquet garni
375g (13oz) tin of flageolet beans (tinned in water), drained and rinsed
Ground black pepper
2 tablespoons pesto (optional)

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan, then fry the onions, garlic and chilli flakes until soft but still colourless, adding a dash of water if necessary to prevent sticking. Add the tomatoes, stock, pasta and bouquet garni, and simmer for 15 minutes. Stir in the beans, bring back to a simmer and season to taste with black pepper. Add extra stock to thin as necessary.

2. Serve in warm soup bowls, with a little pesto, if wished, and some hot crusty wholemeal bread.

:0)

Curried Butter (Left-over) Chicken.

1 Huge Onion (roughly chopped)
2 cloves garlic (crushed by any means necessary)
1 bit of red pepper found hiding in fridge (sliced)
1 handful (and I have big hands) good proper butter
1/2 teaspoon caster sugar (don't know why)

Place above into saucepan on low heat and wait for 30 minutes (ie open wine and read) whilst it goes unctuously yum.

Add big fat tablespoon of curry powder (I blend my own but whatever you have would be fine)stir in and let it pervade for a few minutes whilst pulling apart chunks of left-over (cooked obviously) chicken and tossing them willy-nilly into the pan.
Wait for the kettle to boil.
Prepare a chicken stock cube with the boiled water; add to pan, turn up heat and stir away to your heart's content.
After another slurp of wine or two the gravy will have miraculously transformed into whatever consistency you fancy.
Serve with pre-prepared Bubble & Squeak (or anything else you have left over from yesterday's dinner).
For a wine to go with please visit the Wine Discussion Thread.

Mago (Mark) wrote: "Curried Butter (Left-over) Chicken.

1 Huge Onion (roughly chopped)
2 cloves garlic (crushed by any means necessary)
1 bit of red pepper found hiding in fridge (sliced)
1 handful (and I have big ha..."

*slurp*

Thanks!

Does anyone have any good recipes for beef skirt?

Erm.

Is that something one would co-ordinate with a sheep's blouse?

Sorry Judster. What part of the cow is it?

Ah.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skirt_steak

Sounds perfect for the slow cooker.

It comes with diaphragm attached so its that area of the cow. Was hoping for a non slow cooker recipe cause we want to cook it tonight.

I googled recipes and found several.

Seems the trick is to trim that bit off really well and marinate it.

I'd marinate it in wine (if you've got any) and a bit of vinegar and lemon juice or tomato juice or whatever. Anything acidic you got in the cupboard. Have a google for marinades.

Then have Gareth bash the heck out of it.

Then just cook it as you would any steak. BBQ would be nice.

Thanks patti!!

Well? Was it yummy?

My mum's beef skirt is wonderful - long, long, slow cooking - perfect for a slow cooker! Long cooking really brings out the flavour, but it really is surprisingly tender for faster cooking if you're careful to trim it. A friend told me it's the traditional meat used in Cornish pasties?

My googling told me its the preferred cut for fajitas. Which was really surprising.

That is surprising! We're on tenterhooks here Jud!

Gareth didn't like it but I did. We're going to get another cut and try it in the slow cooker next time. Ill stick it in with a tin of tomatoes. Want to try it on the BBQ sometime too

Tin of tomatoes, onion, garlic, green pepper and mushrooms. Oxo cube. Bit of ginger and some dried chilli.

A glug of red wine or some ale.

Serve with rice or couscous.

Yum

And lots of baby carrots. Or elderly carrots, sliced.

Oh I'd do them on the side. But I don't like floppy carrots.

Sounds delish!

Gareth doesn't like mushrooms so I might have to do them on the side

I made something of an experiment which turned out really well, Ginger cupcakes with fudgy caramel icing. Naughty but oh so delicious with a nice cup of tea!

Ginger cupcakes:

115g margarine
100g caster sugar
1 egg
175g golden syrup
200g plain flour
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger or 1 packet of fresh ginger paste
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
125ml water

Preheat oven to 180 C / Gas 4.

Cream margarine and sugar.
Add the egg and golden syrup and beat thoroughly.
Sieve together the flour, salt, bicarb of soda, ginger and cinnamon and mix in.
Bring water to the boil and add slowly to the mixture, beating well after each addition.
Pour batter into cupcake cases about 3/4 full (it will be really runny but that's normal.
Bake at 180 C / Gas 4 for 12-15 mins until springy.

Fudgy caramel icing:

115g of unsalted butter
200g of light muscavado sugar
60mls milk
200g icing sugar

(I know, I know it's a heart attack waiting to happen!)
Melt butter and brown sugar together on low heat.
Bring to boil and boil 2 minutes, stirring constantly.
Add milk and heat just until boiling again.
Remove from heat and cool slightly.
Mix in powdered sugar until smooth ( I used an hand held electric whisk to get this smooth).

Leave to cool- it will seem runny but will go thick.

Once cupcakes are completely cool, swirl this thick icing around their tops and leave to set.

Delish- spicy gingercake against the fudgy caramel. I'm going to make some for my friend's birthday this weekend.

The easiest cake you'll ever make.

equal amounts of fat, sugar and SR flour (4oz, 6oz, 8oz) depending on the size of your cake tin/family. You can add slightly more flour than fat/sugar for a less rich cake without losing much in taste.

The fat can be butter or margarine (butter tastes best!)

IMPORTANT: the fat must be soft. Remove from fridge and allow to soften or soften for 10-20 secs in microwave.

The sugar can be granulated, caster, soft brown or dark brown or a mixture of any of these depending on your personal preference.

Throw all ingredients into a mixing bowl. Add one, two or three eggs (4oz, 6oz or 8oz mixture). Add some milk (one, two or three tablespoons).

Mix together with an electric mixer -- takes a few seconds.

Spoon into a greased tin or two greased tins for a sandwich cake.

Variations: for a fruit cake, add dried fruit and/or candied fruit/cherries (use brown sugar or a mixture of brown/white).

For a citrus cake add lemon/orange juice and grated rind.

For healthy muffins add half a cup of bran and 4oz, 6oz or 8oz sultanas (makes a great tea loaf too).

Bake in preheated oven for 20mins-45mins (depending on size) at between 160C/325F/Gas 3 and 180C/350F/Gas 4 (depending on your oven and whether fan assisted or not).

Allow to cool slightly in tin before turning out. For a sandwich cake, add jam/cream/strawberries.

For a citrus cake, top with icing mixed with juice.

For a fruit cake: sprinkle with coarse brown sugar before adding to oven.

For all bacon lovers!
http://www.channel4.com/4food/recipes...

Speaking of bacon has anyone tried cooking in coke?

PS: I meant Gammon joint?

Never heard of cooking in coke, Wren.

Beer, yes. Not coke.

Also what are and how do you make Grits?

Grits

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grits

Tasteless gruel.

Thanks Patti, I always thought they were like pancakes.
So I don't think Ill bother :)

RE Coke, Its very good I use a pressure cooker and boil first in coke. Then do the usual cris cross and stud with cloves, then cover with treacle and bake!
Done this for several years now its wonderful.
But this year I'm thinking of adding a bit of BBQ sauce
to make it more Brunswick?

Mmmmmmmmmm

Sounds yum!

I tried the gammon in coke once and to be honest it was OK. It didn't taste much different really to boiling in water but it did leave the outside an unusual dark colour, I'm not sure I'd do it again. I cook gammon often but usually boil for 20 minutes then bake with cloves, honey and fruit juice or cider for a change.

I'd be put off cooking with coke after reading too many emails that claim coke can clean silver and rid your toilets of limescale! (meaning, what does it do to your insides then...)

I've never tried it, but cooking gammon in cider appeals more...

So does vinegar. And lemon juice.

I think the hydrochloric acid in your stomach whoops the namby pamby phosphoric acid in coke quite easily!

Gammon cooked in ginger ale is good - add lots of cloves, allspice and bay leaves. And then smother with molasses for the final baking mmmmm

I found cooking in coke to have little effect on the taste either Lynne.

Glad it wasn't only me then Elle, the ginger ale sounds better.

I shouldn't even be reading this thread, but since I'm here, here's a tasty tomato sauce for pasta, meatballs, or starting stews.

Brown finely sliced onion with herbs de Provence plus extra parsley, throw in a big helping of crushed garlic, add a can of Roma tomato puree, mix with the onion as if you're trying to brown the puree, let cook for a bit, before it burns thin out with liquid tomato puree (ours comes from Lidl in a blue carton), add a vegetable stock cube, thin with a glass of hearty red (one of the colonial varietals is what I use), thin with hot water to taste if required. Put the lid on and let simmer on the lowest setting on your stove for at least fifteen minutes. If you're in a hurry, and intend to give the simmering stage a miss, you need to add half a teaspoon of sugar to take the wild taste off the tomato. Note that there's no additional salt added, nor pepper, as the extra parsley provides a peppery taste.

This is a tasty sauce to eat with just cheese over pasta for a starter, or to pad out with sliced baked sausage (we have a prize-winning butcher who makes fabulous sausages on the premises; you are invited to come see what goes into them), or meatballs, or to cook a stew of diced meat in. The meatball version is good with garlic bread and salad replacing the pasta, hearty comfort food. I serve it as a replacement for my notorious Sicilian Meatballs in Red Wine, in which the amounts of olive oil would cause my cardiologist to throw an instant thrombie.

While this is cooking in the oven I thought that I'd share the recipe with you. It's rather tasty and I'm making it for the second time. It's from a Riverford leaflet.

Oven Baked Pork Chops with savoy cabbage and apple

serves 4, prep 10 mins, cook 30 mins

4 pork chops
frying oil, eg. sunflower or light olive
4 small apples, cored and cut into wedges
1 small to medium savoy cabbage, cut into 4-6 wedges, core left in
12 sage leaves, roughly chopped (I've had to use rosemary this time as I don't have enough leaves growing on my little sage plant at the mo!)
olive oil
50g butter

Preheat the oven to 190c. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in a frying pan. Seal the pork on both sides to brown it, then use tongs to hold it on its fatty side to crisp it for a few mins. Put the cabbage, apples and sage in a baking dish that fits them snugly. Season, drizzle with a little oil and dot over the butter. Place the chops on top and drizzle over any juices from the pan. Roast for about 25 mins, turning everything half way through, until the pork is cooked (no pink juices) and the cabbage is tender. Pour over any juices in the pan to serve.

I don't suppose anyone's got a decent recipe for fig rolls? I'm having a cupboard clear out and have found a jar of fig preserve that is far too sweet for anything other than being splodged in a roll of pastry.

Oh!

I've got a fab recipe for oatmeal fig turnover cookies. Basically, it's a big oatmeal cookie that you fold over a fig or date filling.

Can you wait til tomorrow for the recipe?

I've just crawled into bed and the recipe is downstairs.

I was going to don my apron tomorrow so that would be great, they sound delicious.

Cool.

I'll post it in my morning.

I'll sort it later.

Gotta go out for a few hours.

Okay here's the recipe!

Flopovers!

Cream a cup of marg or butter and cup of brown sugar together until light and fluffy. Add 2 cups sifted flour, 1/2 teaspoon salt and 2 cups quick cooking oatmeal. Lastly add 1 teaspoon baking soda that has been dissolved in 2 tablespoons hot water and then 1 teaspoon vanilla. Mix well.

Roll out on a floured board to 1/4 inch thick. Cut circles (I use a saucer).

Put a dollop of fig or date filling in the centre of the circle and flop over. Pinch lightly to seal.

Bake at 350F 180C until golden brown.

Sound cracking. I'll make them this arvo and report back. Cheers!

I'll need to taste one to be sure you made them correctly. ;)

Well???.

They were very, very tasty, let down only by the fig preserve itself which is still too sweet for me. I'm going to give it another crack with a figgy filling of my own concoction.

Thanks again, Patti. I've sent yours by raven.

Yay!

I prefer a date filling, myself. Just be sure to buy pitted dates!