Going Vegan / Macrobiotic......

WEll as I said - just before Christmas I ended up going into hospital. I was having incredible pain attacks. I had thought it was food poisoning and marvelled how it kept coming back after a lifetime if never getting food poisoning suddenly I was getting it every couple of weeks. Hmmm..... Anyway eventually whilst in Korea on Christmas Holiday it struck again 3 times in 10 days so I went into the ER and the next thing I knew I was on my way to a hospital in Seoul being whizzed to this hospital and that for CAT scans, Ultra sounds and ERCP procedures and talking to a surgeon about getting my gall bladder removed.

I spoke to my Mum who is big on dietary matters having healed her self of a liver related problem in the past and as the gallbladder is part of the liver's system I wanted to pick her brains. She sent me some information on detoxing your liver. The diet she suggested meant cutting out various food groups for a period of time and then re-introducing them group by group in small increments, allowing your liver to jump start itself and heal somewhat. The book my Mum recommended to help with this Detox is called "The Liver Detox Plan: The Revolutionary Way to Cleanse and Revive Your Body - By Xandria Williams



The Dr told me I also had the onset of pancreatitis brought on by the ERCP I had in Korean Hospital this complicated matters further and cut out more food types, so with a bit of research and moderation my new diet emerged for the time being at least.... Meat Free, Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Nut and Seed Free and cutting out a number of vegetable families: No Brassicas, No Legumes (pulses), No Nightshades (potato/tomato/pepper family) and no raw vegetables so really hardly anything I could eat!!! But amazingly the diet seems to be working wonders no more pain, no more attacks and my pancreas seems to be functioning normally again now.

Time will tell how long I can keep it up!

Stained Glass Cookies

These were such good fun to make. We spend a whole day making different types of cookies and decorating them. Not for us to eat ourselves (we'd be the size of a house by now...) but to give as gifts and to decorate our home. It kept my 5 year old fully occupied and she really enjoyed the kneading of the dough, the rolling out, sifting flour, cutting out shapes, crushing the boiled sweets with a mallet (she liked that a little too much!) and all in all it was a great success. I'll be making these again next year!




Stained glass cookies

Ingredients
1 cup / 8oz sugar
2 sticks / 8oz butter
2 eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3 cups /12oz plain flour (all-purpose flour)
Assorted brightly coloured boiled sweets (hard candy)
An array of different shaped cookie cutters - some small enough to fit into the large ones leaving a good margin.

Directions

Preheat oven to 180c / 350 F.

Cream the sugar and butter until smooth. Add the egg and the vanilla extract. Mix in the flour. Mould the dough into a ball, then wrap in up wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Remove from the refrigerator and cut dough into 1/3. Roll out dough, 1 piece at a time to a 3/16-inch thickness. Then the fun part starts. Cut out some big cookie shapes then fit smaller shapes inside. You can be as creative as you like!! Well as creative as the array of cookie cutters you have will let you be.

Place the boiled sweets, separated by colour, into small plastic bags. Then smash them mercilessly with something mallet like. Then fill each hole you have made in each cookie with a colour of crushed sweets. we even got creative using different shades in the same cokie which worked pretty well. Don't be tempted to out too much in or it just spills over the edge and spoils the effect somewhat,

If you want to use them as decorations you can hang them from your tree or in a window. Don't forget to make a small hole in the top of each cookie with something like a chopstick so you will be able to thread a ribbon through when it is cooked.

Pop them in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes or until lightly golden brown, and the candy has melted.

I love Nigella's Feast Book!!

I was browsing through a second hand bookshop yesterday and found a copy of NIgella Lawson's book "Feast" it has the recipe for one my my husband's favourite cakes - Chocolate Guinness Cake - its completely unhealthy but completely decadent. I'll have to do some playing over christmas and see if I can come up with a healthier equivalent! Check it out the original in all it's splendor here on her website:

www.nigella.com

I think I might spend some time making this and some of my other christmas specialities - such as:

Brown Bread Ice-Cream laced with Whiskey,
Whiskey Mac Cake,
Stained Glass Cookies,
and of course Christmas Dinner with all the trimmings well as close as I can get to an English Christmas Dinner with the trimmings in Korea where I will be over the Christmas Break visiting hubby who is working out there at present. So I am imaging there will have to be some compromises.

And of course there is always exploring Korean Cuisine to do...... Yum!

Leftover Turkey and Vegetable Korma

I love curry!!! Being English its completely wired into my psyche. I adore curry and Naan Bread and most of all Mango Chutney!!! Over the years I have realised that all the cream in my favourite creamy curries is not really good for me so I have found other ways of thickening them. This curry is by no means authentic but it works for me and it is also a lazy curry to make as really all I do is bung things in the oven!

Leftover Turkey and Vegetable Korma (Serves 4)

1-2 tbls Korma Curry Paste (use a good quality one) alter to your taste preferences.
1/2 a small butternut squash peeled and diced.
1 large red onion - finely siced
2 large sweet potatoes - peeled and diced
2 cups of left over turkey meat - diced.
3 cloves garlic
1 tin of low fat coconut milk


Heat up your oven to 180c / 350f / GM 4 and heat a roasting dish in the oven.

While the oven is heating up finely slice the onion and crush the garlic - empty into the hot pan along with the korma paste and pop back into the oven - stir well first. After about 6 minutes remove the pan and add the vegetables stir through well and return tot he oven for about 20 minutes. Add the turkey meat and the coconut milk and return to the over for a further 10 minutes.

As you stir the butternut and sweet potato will begin to disintegrate into the sauce thickening as is goes. If you wanted a more traditional curry house sauce feel you could get your stick whizzer out and whizz the vegetables a bit before you add the meat. I do it this way as I can remove some of the vegetable sauce before adding the meat and after I have stirred in the coconut milk for vegetarian visitors so everyone can enjoy the same meal but to thier own needs. This korma is mild enough for kids and newcomers to curry - my little one adores it and scoffs down little suspecting how much veg in hidden within, Roasting the vegetables makes them really sweet and delicious and is perfect in a curry!

Serve with brown rice cooked with a little turmeric in the water, Naan Bread and my favourite Mango Chutney!!

Turkey and Leek Pie

I made this for some freinds after Thanksgiving and they loved it so much they have asked for the recipe ever since - so here it is:

Turkey Leek and Potato Pie.

Serves 8 (I make this in my biggest lasagna dish - you could of course make it smaller and half the amount!

4 good sized fat leeks (8 if they are skinny small leeks)- Thinly sliced
5 cups cooked turkey - chopped
1 pint turkey stock
8 medium sized potatoes (approx 1 per person) - Maris Piers work well as they mash well.
1/2 tub cream cheese (if you are diary free you could substitute soy cream alternative here about 1 cup)
1 tbls corn flour (corn starch)
2 cups grated cheese (I often use a mixture of cheddar and grana padano (or vegan equivalent if dairy free)
1 tsp Oregano
Ground black pepper to season.

Dice your potatoes (I leave them skin on if clean and organic) and boil them until soft enough to mash (this will depend on the variety of potatoes you use but I often find 10 minutes is about right.

While your potatoes boil, In a pan slowly fry down the leeks in a small amount of olive oil cook on a low slow heat until the leeks begin to melt down beautifully. When you have melty leeks add your turkey and seasonings. Cook a few more minutes at the same heat, then add the cream cheese and allow it melt in. Add the stock a small amount at a time. Retain a small amount.

Put the corn flour into a bowl, add a little of the stock at a time and stir in until smooth, add a little water if required to thin the mixture until its is no longer thick. Add this to the pan and simmer. This will thicken your sauce over a few minutes. Turn off the heat and pour your sauce into your lasagna dish or casserole.

When the potatoes are cooked mash them, add a little butter or olive oil if dairy free and some milk or soy cream substitute, then add your cheese (retaining 1/2 a cup) Mix the mixture well - then spoon over the sauce in your dish covering the sauce entirely. Top with the remaining grated cheese and pop in the over for about 20 minutes at about 180c / 350f / Gas Mark 4 until golden on top.

Serve with some nice steamed vegetables (I like it with broccoli!) and enjoy.

I have also made this in the larger quantity and then made one smaller dish to cook and eat now and a second dish for the freezer to defrost and cook

Thanksgiving....

Being an Anglo American Household we celebrate Thanksgiving here - and even though hubby is currently working away and Thanksgiving is not a holiday I have ever celebrated in England I have ended up hosting a Thanksgiving meal here at home in England. My little girl is learning about her American roots as well as her English ones....

So first the Turkey.... I bought one but sadly as its not quite turkey season here I had to get what was available and all they had was an absolutely enormous beast of 24lbs enough to feed a football team. I decided there was no way I wanted to be cooking this beast for a week - so I butchered it up, carefully removing the crown to roasr for Thanksgiving supper and reserving the rest of the carcass for other dishes, soups and stock. This worked out fabulously!!!

I'd highly recommend roasting the crown separately, when you roast the whole bird you end up often drying out the breast in an attempt to get clear juices from the legs which always seem to take longer. This meant I had lovely moist turkey and was not quite so swamped with meat. Also it out me in the odd position of eating left overs before the actual thanksgiving dinner as I roasted the other part of the bird first stripped out of meat and made some of my favourite turkey left overs recipes of Turkey and Vegetable Korma and Turkey and Leek Pie - Yum! It also meant I had some lovely stock to make my thanksgiving gravy with and I had had the chance to let it cool and strip off the layer of fat to keep it healthier!

I have also learnt a new way of carving it - I saw it last year on Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's River Cottage Christmas show - he removed the whole breast and then sliced it meaning that everyone has a good piece of turkey - no one gets left with the dry bits and everytone gets a bit of bit of skin as well.

I made my favourite goose fat roasted potatoes, honey and cumin roasted root vegetables, sweetcorn, and steamed brocolli, with five spice gravy, homemade cranberry sauce and homemade redcurrant jelly. And as my american freinds I had invited didn't make it we missed out on the traditional american trimmings - but the meal was absolutely delicious!! Viva Roast Turkey!!!!

Morrocan Spiced Roast Chicken with Cheesy Cous cous and roasted vegetables

I've said it before - I love Chicken!! I am also very lazy. One of my favourite ways to cook it is just to roast a whole chicken and use it over a few days in a few different ways.

Thats exactly what happened here.

Morrocan Spiced Roast Chicken with Cheesy Cous cous and roasted vegetables.

Ingredients:
1 whole chicken (preferably a tasty free range one!)
1 Lemon (stabbed furiously a few times to relsease the juices)
A few squirts of Olive Oil (I use a pump action one)
2 tsp Morrocan Spice (I love a nifty little one by Nomu)

Chopped vegetables (I'll be honest and say i just chopped what was lurking in the fridge but this worked well - feel free to fling in whatever you have lurking...)
2 roughly chopped courgettes,
1 chopped leek
1 peeled and roughly chopped sweet potato
1/2 a peeled and roughly chopped butternut Squash
2 cups cous cous
1 cup cheddar cheese

Stab the lemon mercilessly then stuff into the chicken's cavity. (This will keep the bird moist and juicy) Spritz a little olive oil onto the bird and then rub over the spices. Scatter the vegetables around the bird in the tin - cover and roast (make sure you calculate long enough for your size of bird)

When the birds is cooked and resting prepare your cous cous. I place mine into a bowl, just cover with boiling water then cover for 5 minutes. Tne stir in the cheese. This works just as well without the cheese - but my little one loves making little cous cous balls - and adores how with the cheese it becomes pliable. - Hey if it helps her eat it I'm not complaining!

Serve the cous cos with the roasted veg from the pan. For this dish I remove the chicken breasts, chop and share. This makes it a delicious light meal and leaves plenty of chicken left for other recipes (and the carcass for making stock - yum!) This tastes fabulous with hummous and flat bread!

Hope you like it :)

We need to talk about Salt....

No recipes today... Just an observation. Who in this day and age would slather a child's meal in salt?? I try not to be too pedantic in the whole healthy eating thing - I suppose it is tiresome to some folk, but these days everyone is talking about salt and how much salt is in our food.

I haven't cooked with salt in more than 10 years.... Perhaps that is a slight exaggeration, I do use salt when the chemical balance of the recipe requires it - in baking for example. Otherwise I leave it to my guests to add salt at the table. When I want something salty I embrace the natural salts that exist within foods to give a salty kick - in bacon / pancetta etc. Pity my poor hubby who is American and was raised with half a ton of salt in everything and then on everything. He practically went cold turkey when I moved in. But ask him now and he still likes salt but he doesn't add it to his food often (perhaps to chips which we eat on occasion) and his health is much better for it.

Its not that I dislike salt, I love it - I just don't want it in any quantity on a daily basis. I actually don't miss it so much any more. Not being used to salt means I only want to eat a few crisps if they're offered. Helps with the old dieting thing!

I suppose I was just shocked that with even the dreaded McD's leaving salt off thier fries these days that my daughter's kids meal was absolutely drenched with the stuff. It was in an otherwise healthy farm shop nr Hungerford j ust off hte A4 for those in the know - dissapointed?? You bet.

Sneaky Chilli with extra vegetables

I'll have to admit I had never been one for Chilli - its the beans. My mother tortured myself and my sister in childhood with a chili inspired dish called "Red Dragon Pie" I loathed it and as a result for many years avoided all things with beans in like the plague. I am now cured thanks to a dinner invitation to a lovely friend's who cooked the most delicious chilli. I could not possibly not eat it in good manners and I was won over.

This chilli is a gentle warming chilli because its made with families and tender young palates in mind. Of course you can hot things up by adding extra chili powder or better still raiding my greenhouse for some of the fresh chillis growing within and chop one or two more in.

Sneaky Chilli with extra vegetables. Serves 8-10
(the trick is to make loads and freeze the extra for another day!)

Ingredients
2tbsp corn or vegetable oil
500g minced beef or pork
500g stewing beef, or pork, cut into rough 2cm chunks
2tsp ground cumin
1tbsp flour
2tsp fresh oregano, or thyme
1tbsp tomato purée
1 x 350-400g can chopped tomatoes
1 x small butternut squash (peeled and diced)
2 x sweet potatoes (peeled and diced)
3 x medium sized courgettes (sliced and diced)
2 x 500g tinned red kidney beans
1 litre beef stock
Ground black pepper
2 red onions peeled and finely chopped
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed
1 medium red chilli, seeded and chopped (or more, or less)

Heat the oil in a heavy-based pan and fry the minced and diced beef on a high heat, stirring until browned. Add the cumin, flour and tomato purée then stir in the chopped tomatoes, sweet potatoes, butternut squash and courgette and beef stock. This will allow the cumin spice to cook for a while and release its lovely flavour.

Meanwhile whizz the onion, garlic and chili together in a blender with a dash of water until smooth. Add this mixture to the pan. Bring the mixture to the boil, season and simmer for 1 hour.

Wash the kidney beans and add to the pan and continue cooking for another 45 minutes, or until the beef chunks are tender. The vegetables will break down to become part of the sauce and almost vanish in it altogether.

I like to serve this with brown rice (its much better for you and good for the digestion) but use white rice if you prefer. Its lovely with nachos too!

Chocolate and Raspberry Slice

We were invited to freind's for Sunday lunch and volunteered to bring dessert, as any good guest should... So I opted to make a simple tray cake, eaten hot it makes a delicious pudding when served with either custard or ice cream, cold it becomes a lovely cake slice. We have an abundance of raspberries in our garden and this is an excellent way to use them up - especially the ones that have gone a little squishy.

This is another fat free recipe and this one is also sugar free as I have sustituted sugar with xylitol which is a great sugar replacement, less of it turns to fat in your body, and it has fantastic health benefits including helping to boost the immune system and being great fro healthy teeth!

Chocolate and Raspberry Slice

Ingredients:
2 eggs (as always I'd say for baking duck eggs work best!!)
150g Xylitol
150g peeled and finely grated courgette
120g rice flour
2tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
60g good quality cocoa powder (or for a stronger dark chocolate taste try 60g grated 100% cacao - try Willies Cacao its amazing)

1 preheat oven to 180c/350f/gm4, grease 20cm x 20cm (or equivalent) brownie tin.

2 beat eggs and sugar until light and pale (about 5 mins), add grated courgette and beat. Add flour, baking powder, cocoa and salt.

3 Pour into tin and scatter raspberries on top

4 Cook for 30 minutes, cool - you can sprinkle with either cocoa powder or icing sugar but I prefer it as is.

This makes a really juicy cake that holds its body and retains its moisture. Try it its delicous - and again as its made with rice flour its another gluten free recipe.

Auntie Vicki's Stuffed potatoes

My daughter eats most things - but she is none too keen on potato skins. She adores her Auntie Vicki so I figured I'd try one of Vicki's recipes on her and see what happened. She scoffed the lots skins and all!! We've used this dish as an accompaniment to a meal and also as a light lunch in itself, try adding chopped ham or pancetta to the mix to beef it up a bit. If you want to make it a bit more fancy you could sustitute parmesan for the cheddar.

I have also made extra of these and frozen them and they are easy to pop out and oven cook for a quick easy meal.

Auntie Vicki's Stuffed potatoes (serves 4)

4 baking potatoes
300g cheese (cheddar / parmesan - whatevert akes your fancy - this is also nice with blue cheese)
A knob of butter
2 tablespoons yoghurt

Pre heat oven to 170c Bake potatoes in oven for about 30 mins (you can cheat by microwaving them on high for about 10 - 12 minutes but the skins won't be as crispy and tasty)

Remove from the oven and with a sharp knife slice them lengthways in half. With a large spoon scoop out the potato from the centre leaving about .5cm of potato flesh inside to give the skin shell some strength.

Mash your scooped out potato, add the cheese (retain a tablespoon for topping), butter and yoghurt and mix well.

Place the potato skins on an oven tray, scoop your cheesy filling into the potato skins and sprinkle with cheese.

Return to the oven and cook for about 20 mins until golden on top.

I try to serve this with a meat or accompaniment which also requires cooking in the oven so as to be less wasteful with energy use. It goes well with breaded fish or chicken gougons or with roasted sausages.

Paivi's Blackberry Slice (a fat free version)

One of my dear freinds Paivi makes this amazing tray cake. Its out of this world and I nagged her for a long time for the recipe. Now I have fiddled with it and created a fat free version. Its delicious and the perfect way to use up those late blackberries still in the hedgerows... oh and its also gluten free so great for those tricksy gluten free visitors!

Paivi's Blackberry Slice (a fat free version)

Ingredients:
2 Eggs (I always use Duck becasue I have them on hand but chook eggs work just as well)
150g Caster Sugar
150g Peeled and finely grated courgette
120g White Rice Flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
200g Blackberries (preferably freshly foraged!)

1 Pre-heat oven to 180c/350f/GM4 Grease a tin (Paivi often uses a cute heart shaped one)

2 Beat eggs and sugar until light and pale (about 5 mins) Add grated courgette and beat. Addf lour, baking powder and salt.

3 Pour into tin and scatter with blackberries

4 Cook for aprox 30 minutes, cool and sprinkle with icing sugar.

Yummy Chicken and Butternut Squash Risotto

I haven't had much chance to post recently - life has been pretty hectic here. Seasons have shifted and we are now firmly in Autumn, so I have been cooking some of my favourite Autumn dishes. For me risotto is a huge comfort food. It is full of warmth and conjours thoughts of crispy autumn leaves and breath so cold you can see it like fluffy clouds. My butternuts are ready now and this is a perfect recipe for home grown squashes which are often smaller than the shop bought variety. I have to say my little one adores risotto and this is her absolute favourite!



This one is a huge family favourite. This is often a great recipe to cook the day after a Sunday Roast. As you can cook up the bones for your fresh chicken stock and use the pickings from the carcass in your risotto. So its tasty and good value for money! I am a firm believer in using good quality chicken, free range (organic if possible) and making this better tastier bird earn its keep and last over several meals. The tast difference is huge from the cheap plastic chicken you find in many supermarket's value ranges - explore your local farm shop or farmer's market - or pay a visit to your local butchers and test out the difference - you'll be amazed!


Chicken and Butternut Squash Risotto (Serves 4)

800ml chicken stock
1 small butternut squash (about 500g) peeled, deseeded and cubed into little cubes.
500g chopped cooked chicken (I often use the pickings from a chicken carcass after a roast)
1 tablespoon olive oil
200g carnaroli or arborio rice
2 tablespoons finely chopped oregano
1 tablespoon freshly chopped basil
4 tablespoons double cream (or plain yoghurt works well if you are feeling healthy)
50g freshly grated parmesan cheese

N.B My mum is a dairy free lady (well no cows milk products) so I often make a dairy free version using Alpro Soy Cream and either a vegan cheese for completely dairy free or for a cows milk free a good sheeps cheese like manchego.


Bring the stock to the boil, add the butternut squash and simmer for 4-5 minutes, until tender. Remove the squash with a slotted spoon and keep for later. Keep the stock hot.

Heat olive oil in a heavy based pan, add the rice and stir over a low heat for a couple of minutes. The key is wait until the rice becomes transluscent. Gradually add the hot stock a ladleful at a time. Keep stirring and make sure that the stock has been soaked up before you add the next ladle of stock. After about 20 to 25 minutes when the rice is almost cooked add the butternut squash, chicken herbs and cream (or yoghurt if you prefer) cook for a further 5 minutes then stir in the parmesan cheese.

It is delicious aal by itself and never lasts for long on my little one's plate. It also freezes well for handy fast meals on those "I don't want to cook" days! note would be if you were to chop a leek or two and slow fry them adding them to the dish with the chicken and (or) the butternut it add a whole new and different dimension. I adore leeks espeically now while they are in season.


This recipe was inspired by the delicious Butternut Squash Risotto recipe from one of my favourite cook books Eat Up: Food for Children of All Ages

Hoi Sin Venison with Noodles

Day one of the venison leftovers....

I decided to try one of my little one's staple favourites. usually I'd make either Duck with Hoi Sin Sauce steamed vegetables and noodles, but this time I sustituted some of the chopped leftover venison. It was delicious!

I did try another new thing too - I usually use a very strong Hoi Sin Sauce (Wing Yip make it)and I dilute it - but it does become very runny and watery. Waitrose also do a lovely one - but this time I decided (inspired by the blog title) to sneak some extra vegetables into the mix.

The recipe is below. This version is what we ate last night - my little one is pretty good at eating vegetables these days so I add chunks of steamed stir fry vegetables too. You can add or pick out what you want to on your child's plate. I have to say kids tend to love the crunchy bean sprouts but are not so fond on the chard strips (which I am using as they are available in my garden right now. So just adjust to what you have available. The version of this I eat on any given day is really a whats in the fridge meal. As long as I have some Hoi Sin in the cupboard and some Noodles I can make a version of this as a quick supper. It works well with cooked chicken leftovers as well.

My final tip is the name - its all in the name for little ones. When I started first served this to my little girl she turned her nose up at the title - so for her it became "sucky noodles" and that is has remained. If the hoi sin sauce is too strong for you why not try it with a gentler plum sauce or experiment. I'm not a great advocate of cook in sauces and Hoi Sin is about the only one you'll find in my cupboard.


Hoi Sin Venison With Noodles

Ingredients:

Cooked Chopped Venison (I had about 2 cups worth)
1 red onion - chopped
2 courgettes - 1 finely sliced for the stir fry - 1 chuncky chopped for the sauce
1 carrots - chopped into narrow spears to stir fry
Rhubarb Chard - about 75g - sliced into strips
Bean Sprouts - about 1 cup
1 broccoli floret chopped into smaller florets to stir fry.
Butter nut squash slices chucnky chopped - about 150g
Medium Egg noodles (enough for your party - I use one nest per person)
2 tbs Hoi Sin Sauce
1 tbs water - to steam the veg.
1 clove garlic - crushed
1 tsp ginger
1/4 tsp chinese 5 spice

Method:
I diced a couple of slices of butternut Squash, and a courgette (zucchini) and boiled them in the pan I would later use to boil the noodles - for 5 minutes until they were soft. I lifted the veg out with a slotted spoon and then popped the noodles in to boil in the vegetable water. Not sure how much goodness would infuse but its worth a try.

I then whizzed the courgette and butternut to a velvety sauce consistency with my little Braun Whizzer and added two tablespoons of the Hoi Sin Sauce (until the smell and taste was right - good colour, good consistency, good taste. Then I used this as my stir fry sauce.

I chopped a red onion and the crushed garlic and fryed it until soft in the wok. Then added the venison and the ginger and 5 spice, My mum has always told me that the combination of ginger / onion and garlic is very good for you. So I often use it.

I steamed my veg in the wok - Broccoli, carrots, courgette and some rhubarb chard stalk about 2 mins until cooked but not floppy. Add the hoi sin sauce you have adulterated with vegetables and heat through then add the bean sprouts and chard leaf strips. Return the lid to steam for about 45 seconds to 1 minute then serve.

I almost forgot to mention I usually cook a bit more than needed usually an extra portion - and I freeze it in a microwavable tub. Hubby takes these to work (his work seem to be under the impression that greasy spoon food is good for its employees - and then have the cheek to make them all take fitness tests every year!!) so when ever I make a freezable dish I always make a portion or two for lunches. I have them too sometimes for lunch in a rush or a meal when its just me and I'd otherwise eat be tempted by the chip van......

I finally roasted that Venison that I've been avoiding in the back of the freezer.

One of hubby's work colleagues gave him a huge haunch of venison some time ago as a thankyou for some helpful task he performed. We greeted it with lots off "OOhhs" and "mmm how delicious" comments - and then chucked it in the freezer and there it has stayed. Everynow and then I have prodded it and wondered what on earth to do with it, then furtively tucked it back in under the frozen fish. We had visitors to stay for the past week and I decided - thats it I'm defrosting this thing and cooking it.

It took a good day to defrost, and boy did it smell funny. Gamey - well that could be due to the fact its game - but it was smell I was not too hot on. I did a bit of research and found some instructions on cooking times and decided I wanted to cook it with lots of herbs and garlic. I took about 12 huge garlic cloves and crushed them - mixed it in with some Olive Oil and slathered the venison haunch with it. Then I picked some herbs from the garden and dressed it on top and underneath with sprigs of rosemary, bay leaves, thyme and oregano then I wrapped the whole thing in streaky bacon and left it to marinade for 7 hours (I'm sure it would be happy with less that was just how it worked out)

By the time I was ready to roast it the smell was replaced with something promising and I was feeling a lot more confident.

I preheated the oven to 220c / 425f / GM7 and once hot enough popped in the joint covered in my roasting dish. As my joint was dead on 2kg I roasted it on the high heat for 20 mins (if it had been over 2kg then it would have needed about 10 mins more on high) - then turned the heat down to 170c / 325f / GM3 and cooked it for 12 mins per 500g meat. So all in all it only took just over an hour to cook which surprised me (aparently venision needs a shorter cooking time than many other meats due to its leanness and density.) After cooking it needed a good 20mins to rest.

We ate it with a healthy version of a potato gratin (made with yoghurt instead of cream) steamed broccoli, french beans, carrots from the garden (and of course - Purple Greenies for my little one who now cannot get enough of them - thats shelled steamed runners to the uninitiated) and of course the vital home made gravy - yum!!

I have to say it was delicious and I've gone from being uncertain on how to roast this thing to dying for the next one to be offered.

Now I just have to come up with some recepies for the left over meat!!

I Lurve chicken!!

My family love chicken. I could eat it every day and be happy. This is my favourite chicken recipe it was long ago adapted from a Waitrose recipe card and has become a firm favourite. Its great because it used inexpensive chicken thigh cuts, bone in as the bone adds so much flavour to the mix as its roasted. I've been making a huge effort to only buy free range chicken since I saw Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's programme on Tesco and Chickens. If you can't get free range that the the mimimum try the RSPCA freedom food standard which although raised in barns is rasied at a much better level of care and arguably produces a much tastier meat! Lecture over!

This recipe is fab as it only takes half an hour or so to cook and once you have chopped the veg you just fling it all in the oven and let it do its thing! And its a one pot dish so your lowering your carbon footprint by avoiding using 101 different pots pans and heat sources to cook your meal.

The veg in this goes all caremelised and lovely - my little one scoffs it down double quick - she especially loves sweet potato and butternut when cooked this way - and the pancetta adds some natrual salt so no need to add more at the table!

Chicken Tray Roast

2 large baking potatoes chopped into chunky wedges
1 Butternut Squash, peeled and chopped into chunky wedges
1 sweet potato (or yam) peeled and chopped into chunky wedges
3 carrots peeled and roughly chopped
2 parsnips peeled and roughly chopped
1 Onion roughly chopped (I prefer red onions for this)
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
150g diced pancetta
1 teaspoon rosemary
3 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp cumin seeds
8 chicken thighs

Method:
Preheat the oven to 375F. Arrange the vegetables on the base of a large roasting tray. Season lightly and sprinkle with rosemary. Drizzle with the olive oil and roast for 15 minutes. Remove vegetables from the oven and nestle the chicken between the vegetables. Mix together the honey and soy sauce and pour over the chicken to make a glaze. Roast for a further 25 – 30 minutes, or until the vegetables and chicken are cooked. This dish is great on its own or you could serve it with seasonal green vegetables.

There is currently a "HATE" on Runner Beans!!

I'm drowning in Runner Beans. I made a descision this year not to plant any as none of us are mega keen on them. And I planted French Beans instead. Or so I thought - I swear they looked like french beans, they were certainly the right colour beans - but as they have grown all but two plants have revealed themselves to be cuckoos in the nest and have developed into full on runners. Arrggghhh!!

So now I am drowning in runners but have no-one to eat them all. I've tried giving them away but everyone around here grows them, so I have had to be creative. My freind has one of those nifty bean slicers that cuts them into neat little strips. I figured my 5 year old will like that - I scrubbed the beans to dehair them, then de-stringed and finally sliced - I served them with optimism - she'll have to like them - Nope - she can spot a runner a mile off..

"These are NOT squeaky Beans!!" she grumped. (she calls french beans "squeaky beans" she got the name from her freind) "they're horrid hairy runners Mummy!"

RUMBLED!!!

So last week I decided to try a new tack. I shelled the little pinky beans from the runner pods and steamed them, then served them with our usual mix of steamed veg which we have with many meals. She was intrigued as they had turned a lovely purple shade in the steaming process. She bit into one and discovered the little green squirt of bean inside and proclaimed them to be called "Purple Greenies" she stole all of mine off my plate and has been demanding them at every meal. So a new hit - try it it might work for you - clandestine runner beans AKA Purple Greenies!!!

Ginger Drizzle Cake (with clandestine courgette)

Ok I know it sounds like a really scary concept to those who have not eaten cakes laced with vegetables - but it is delicious, think of it as an extension of the carrot cake premise. The veg keeps it moist and delicious, not sure if it will count towards your "Five a Day" but its worth a try!

I have half a ton of courgettes to use at the moment so I am experimenting with all kinds of creative ways to use them up, this recipie even works well with your courgettes gone crazy who are veering towards a career as a marrow. The inspiration for this recipe came from a freind from the US, where courgettes masquereade under the name of Zuchinni, I've been fiddling and experimenting with it for a while and this is the result... amazingly it tastes gorgeous!!

Try it - go on....

Ginger Drizzle Cake (with clandestine courgette)

1/3 cup crystallized ginger (1 3/4 oz), coarsely chopped
2 cups plain flour
2 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon finely grated fresh orange zest
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 cups finely grated courgette (if you are using a marrow wannabe scrape out the centre)
3/4 cup light olive oil
3/4 cup honey
2 large eggs, lightly beaten (preferably duck but I would say that as I have a daily supply!)
1 teaspoon vanilla

For the ginger drizzle
1/4 cup Freshly grated ginger root
85g caster sugar
a little water

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease one large loaf tin or two small loaf tins

Pulse crystallized ginger in food processor until finely ground, then add flour, ground ginger, cinnamon, zest, salt, baking soda, and baking powder and pulse until combined.

Whisk courgette, oil, honey, eggs, and vanilla in a medium bowl, then stir in flour mixture until just combined.

Divide batter among tins and bake until golden and a wooden pick or skewer inserted in center of a cake comes out clean, this should take 25 to 30 minutes, possibly less if you have a fan oven.

Cool in pan on a rack 10 minutes. Remove cake from tins and cool completely, 1 hour.

Make syrup:

Fine grate the fresh ginger root and sieve juice through a piece of linen or gauze. Squeeze to extract all of the juice. Mix this juice with your sugar, add a tiny bit of water if required.

With a skewer stab the top of your cooled cake. The more stabs the better the drizzle will spread. I use a skewer to allow me to stab right to the bottom of the cake to make sure the drizzle doesn't just drizzle the top!


I've been promising this recipe to lots of freinds for age so - Done!! Enjoy :)