Back to normality......?

I was looking forward to my post today; the food for the week, a receipt, under fifty pounds.. basically, normality. This being the winter autumn still...? of discontent when it comes to illness, I was naive to think it would be so. Lulled into a false sense of security, I floated to bed last night, with a list in my head of all I would achieve come Monday lunchtime. This list became null and void yet again when a small lass, shivering and sad, appeared by my bedside in the wee hours with a fever. One lass turned to two and, once again, I find myself with children home from school.

Calling the school up, I felt guilty, as if I'd somehow concocted an evil plan to keep them off, so that I could send them up some chimneys later. Its not that the school isn't lovely and they always respond well but it just seems to be every other week. I suppose this is what happens when you have three children. Soup for everyone!

But still... the cooking continues. Lentil soup, spicy onions, pakora, chicken noodle soup, breads, cakes and stews. This week, it will once again be soups and stews with a few pasta dishes thrown in for good measure. I'll be going shopping later, ensuring I take cash...a good little ploy to ensure I don't spend over the budget...and this is how the menu for the week looks:
Macaroni Cheese
Beef Stew with Dumplings
Haddock Chowder
Spaghetti and Meatballs
Rigatoni al Forno
Parsnip and Apple soup
Vegetable Soup and homemade bread
Hearthbread pizza
Tomato and Chilli soup
Fruit Loaf
Birthday Cake for Grandpa
Yet More Indian Food for Friday Night's Dinner with Friends

I tried out a new pakora batter. I mixed flour with bicarbonate of soda and made the batter thinner with a quick beating at the end to get a light, frothy but crispy coating; I tried it on onion rings which were ideal but this would work well with bhaji or any other pakora.
New Batter
100g plain flour
40g gram flour
1tsp salt, ground cumin, turmeric, bicarb
Half teaspoon chilli powder
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons coriander seeds, lightly crushed
*You could just use a pakora mix or, as I did, I added in a bit of both.
2 onions, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons veg/groundnut oil
Oil for frying
Water to make a batter

Sift all the powdered, dry ingredients together and add the lemon juice and oil; it'll froth a bit because of the lemon juice reacting with the bicarb. Slowly, stir in water to make a thin batter, consistency of single cream. I beat this at the end for 30 seconds to air it as I believe that is what creates a crispy batter. Mix in onions (or veg of choice) and coriander seeds.

Heat oil, and test by dropping in a tiny amount of batter; it should immediately start to bubble and float to the top. Place tablespoons or more of the onion batter mix into the hot oil and cook until brown on both sides. I've videotaped my efforts for you to giggle at....

I went to Fi's house with Jo on Thursday evening and took some hearthbread; it was tasty but I realised this is always better hot....it reheats beautifully and remember to add a drizzle more olive oil when you take it out the oven...also, remember just how garlicky it is. The original recipe calls for 3 heads of garlic....yes, 3!!! I use one, roasted beforehand but this is still a lot of garlic! Beware. That's all I'm saying....

I made thank you cards last week, to give out to my friends and family who very kindly bought me wonderful gifts. I used an image of the flowers my friend Ann sent me; they really were incredibly beautiful....the flowers, I mean.

Soups

"This week, I'll be cooking mainly soups." the blogger announced.
"Why soups, Helen?!" they cried, most interestedly.
"Well, I shall tell you!" said she.

Autumn has reached us good and proper; the leaves have turned golden and scatter the landscape. The clocks went back an hour, the trees sway in the strong wind and the rain lashes down, reflections seen in puddles lit up by the orange glow of a street light as we hurry by. This is all we need to prompt us Scots to use one of the hundreds of ways we have to describe the weather, in particular, the rain:
"It's awfy dreicht!" cry some.
"It's pishin' doon!" cry others.
"Awa' and bile yer heid; it's only a smirr".

Translation:
It's rather wet and dismal, don't you think?
I rather think it's a bit more like a downpour myself.
Away and boil your heads, you pair, it's only a light rainfall.

The temperature has dropped, the woolies are oot, it's time for something warm and it's name is soup.! I love soup season; the parsnips get crisped and the pumpkins get roasted, haddock gets smoked and shallots get toasted. Gruyere is grated and bacon is fried and second helpings are never denied.

This weeks shopping came to just under £50. The menu this week is as follows:
Roasted Pumpkin Soup with melting cheese and croutons
Curried Parsnip & Apple soup with Parsnip Crisps
Indian Chicken Stew
French Onion Soup with gruyere croutons
Cullen Skink (fish soup)
Stovies (sausage and potato soup...!)
Omelettes (not a soup)
Chicken Bites & Baked Potatoes
Tuna Pasta
Bacon, eggs and beans

Scones
Welshcakes
Brown Bread
Toasted Baguettes
Pancakes

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Poor wee Kelly was sent home from school last week and had to stay off for yet another few days; illness is trying to consume us but we've been fighting it and it's nearly gone. To cheer the wee lass up, I made her...

Helen's Incredibly Delicious You May Just Die But It Will Be Worth It Hot Chocolate.

Do not underestimate the healing power of such things; tis magical!

How to make Helen's Hottie Hot Hottie (for short)

In the bottom of a cup, add two heaped teaspoons of grated chocolate/Green & Black's Organic Hot Chocolate/ Belgian Hot Chocolate flakes or a mixture of all of the above (or similar-as long as it's proper chocolate) and (this is very important; I'm revealing my secret ingredient so shhh, tell no-one) a heaped spoonful of Nutella! Yup. You heard me right.

Add a little cold milk, stir to make a paste and heat up in the microwave; feel free to do this in a pan of course. Once it heats up-check every 10 seconds in the microwave-and the chocolate is melted, stir vigorously adding more milk at the same time. Fill the cup 3/4 to the top and add a little sugar if the chocolate you use requires some. Re-heat. Stir well.

Plop a small handful of mini marshmallows into mug and top that with scootie cream, i.e. cream from a can! Dot the cream with marshmallows and grate/sprinkle over some of the chocolate. Serve with a long spoon and give to little child/adult/granny and watch that smile wash all over their face. It'll warm the cockles of any heart.

From Last Week....

Lemon roast chicken sprinkled with olive oil, thyme and salt. Half way through cooking, add potatoes and 15 minutes later, add an onion, quartered or chopped, carrots, peppers and any other root veg. Add stuffing balls near the end, depending on how much time they need to cook and crisp up and I sprinkled over some couscous to soak up the gravy. Lovely.


See that chicken? Yes, that one up there. It was picked clean and shoved into a bowl with the remaining stuffing, veg, gravy and couscous. Then tonight, I emptied it into an oven proof pie dish, added puff pastry and served it with broccoli and green beans. Doesn't exactly look pretty but tasted great.

Ugly cookies, eh? The kids loved them though. I used a basic cookie recipe and added 100g of breakfast cereal; any cereal to your taste would do. I added some Nutella and a white chocolate button. It's not all about appearances although I do agree it helps but the kids wolfed these down as an extra special breakfast treat at the weekend.

Onion Bhajis; very similar to the pakora recipe except without the spinach and with a mix of white onion and red onion plus a bunch of coriander. Served it with the pakora sauce and rice.

I went to Anne's for a wee soiree on Thursday night and a visit to another house for a little reunion party on Friday. To Anne's, I brought some of these basic little breads rolled small with goats cheese, herbs, tomatoes and Parmesan on top.

I also brought little quichelets; recipe to follow....

...and mini peanut butter bites. I made them with marg instead of butter though; nice but not quite the same. I also brought these to the reunion as well as some tikka bites which I didn't get a photo of.

Curry Fest

Saturday, I made enough curry, pakora and bread to choke a horse, if he were so inclined to eat Indian food.

The great thing about pakora which is basically any vegetable or meat dipped in a spicy batter and fried, is that it is almost as good reheated in the oven and it freezes beautifully. Any Glaswegian will tell you this; most of us have came back from the pub or club having picked up pakora as a scooby snack on the way home and fell asleep before being able to consume it. Being frugal, we'd then freeze it the next day for future imbibing. It's a right of passage.

Most of us have also participated in ordering enough Indian food...including pakora of course... to feed a small army when there are only two of you and end up reheating and living off the remains for weeks to come.

I shall be having a 40th birthday party soon no WAY I hear you all cry...no way are you 40! I know, I know, I'm some kind of baby faced freak...meh and whereas I'm still contemplating the venue, I know for a fact that the fayre will be Indian, the starter spicy and the drinks cold.

Pakora
I used the spice mix that Pauline gave me but have sourced all the ingredients (except the dry mango...I'm attempting to dry some) to make my own mixes. The spice mix should be easy enough to find in one form or another although they may vary a little. The 'pakora masala' I uses is MDH which stands for Mahashian Di Hatti Ltd and is made in India.

The sauce was made by adding tomato sauce, lemon juice, coriander (cilantro) salt and pepper to some plain yogurt.

I made two batters, one for the basic mix with red onions and spinach, the other a bit thinner to coat thinly sliced potatoes and halved mushrooms. This worked really well and tasted delicious. I think we now have enough pakora for the next three months, if we wanted to eat some every week!

Ingredients
2 chopped red onions
1 packet spinach, blanched and drained, water removed by pressing firmly whilst sitting in a sieve
200g gram flour
50g plain flour
25g spices*
5g salt
half teaspoon baking soda

Mix all the dry ingredients together and then add water to make a thick batter. Add onions and spinach and mix thoroughly. Add an inch or two of oil to a pan and place spoonfuls of pakora into hot oil. Turn once brown and cook other side.

*spices-MDH spice mix or similar or else add the following: teaspoon each of ground coriander, cumin, salt. Half a teaspoon dried chili or chili powder...or to taste. A good pinch of fenugreek leaves, bishop's weed and mace, if you can get it. Half a teaspoon each of ginger powder, ground cinnamon and a good grating of nutmeg. One clove and a few cardamom seeds, ground with a pestle and mortar along with a grinding of black pepper. Finally, some dry mango, although this may not be easy to find and you could easily do without it.

Helen's Indian Curry (Basically a slightly different version than Pete's from Jamie Oliver's Book but Pete got it from me (I think). Pete is Scottish, he no doubt came to one of my parties. Rip off merchant. :O) Only joking Pete, don't sue!

I usually make this with lamb; to replace with chicken, use 16 chicken thighs, most of the skins removed. Keep some on for flavour. I browned the chicken(8 pieces) and then added half the sauce from the oven-see below.

Use the sauce as a base for any curry, with meat or veg.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons butter
2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
285ml/1/2 pint chicken stock
1.5kg/3 1/2lb leg of lamb**if using, I prefer to roast it slowly with garlic and rosemary for 3-4 hours, let it cool and then chop meat into large chunks before adding to sauce to simmer for a further hour. Soooo tender.
1 handful of chopped mint and/or coriander
285ml/1/2 pint natural yoghurt
salt and freshly ground black pepper
lime juice from 1-2 limes

Hot and Fragrant Rub Mix – (taken from Jamie Oliver's book)

2 tablespoons fennel seeds
2 tablespoons cumin seeds
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
1/2 tablespoon fenugreek seeds
1/2 tablespoon black peppercorns
1 clove
1/2 a cinnamon stick
2 cardamom pods
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Curry Paste Ingredients -

3 inches fresh ginger, peeled
2 large red onions, peeled
10 cloves of garlic, peeled
2 fresh chillies, with seeds
1 bunch of fresh coriander

Preheat your oven to 170C/325F/Gas 3.

Lightly toast the fragrant rub mix; I place it all in a dry frying pan and shake every 30 seconds or so but you can place in the oven or under the grill. Grind with a pestle and mortar. Chop the curry paste ingredients roughly and, along with the ground rub mix, place into a food processor and puree.

In a large casserole pan (I use a pot and transfer this to an oven dish though), fry the curry paste mixture in the butter until it goes golden, stirring regularly. The smell is wonderful!

Add the tomatoes and the stock. Bring to the boil, cover with kitchen foil (if using a pot, remember and place it in an ovenproof container first) and place in the oven for one and a half hours to intensify the flavour. Remove the foil and continue to simmer on the stove until it thickens (put back into used pot, if that's the way you're doing it). This is your basic curry sauce.

Fry the lamb (or chicken etc) in a little olive oil until golden, then add to the curry sauce and simmer for around 1 hour or until tender. Sprinkle with chopped coriander and/or mint and stir in the yoghurt (if you want, to taste or serve raita instead). Season to taste and add a very good squeeze of lime juice and a handful of chopped coriander leaves. Enjoy!

This is a good curry, very easy and tasty. If you like your curry a little sweeter, add a teaspoon of sugar before putting into oven.

I split the sauce into two. One half was used for 8 pieces of browned thigh meat (with bones) and the other half had a good dollop or two of cream and a little sugar added. I covered the other 8 chicken thighs, skinned in a marinade of yoghurt, salt, pepper, curry powder, lime juice and coriander. I left them for at least an hour but if you were better prepared, then overnight. I baked them in the oven for approx. 15-20 minutes, until cooked through; I had to put them back after 15 so it depends on your oven. I then added these to the creamy curry sauce.

Instead of paratha, I made a basic chapati style bread but used gram flour with a little plain flour, salt and a spoonful of oil and butter. I made a batter with water and kneaded until soft, split into 8 and rolled out using a misshapen roller; I don't recommend this but couldn't find my proper rolling pin. How can you lose a rolling pin?? I placed the bread into a hot pan until bubbles starting to form, turned and cooked the other side. I then brushed a little oil on and turned, repeating this process another 3 times.

Rice was boiled and served alongside the rest of the meal. Raita is simply yogurt with a squeeze of lemon juice, a pinch of salt and pepper and a handful of chopped coriander leaves or chopped cucumber...both if you feel like it.

Guest Blogging and Sunshine

I slept like the proverbial baby last night couldn't have been MY babies they were talking about and woke up to the sun shining from the sky. Hurrah! It's still minus 20 but the young lassies will be out in flip flops, shorts and fake tan, ignoring the goosebumps, the blue toes and tsk, tsk tsking from the grannies passing by.

Lucy and Fraser woke me up with a cup of tea and a plate of ginger nuts...can you believe that. I was so amazed at having slept, so chuffed with my kind children that my head started to get around the fact that today, today I could merrily skip to the shops, stop off for coffee and possibly even go up a hill. I even rode the banister down the stairs with a merry 'weeeeeeeeeeeee' to find a forlorn looking lass pouting up at me, clutching her tummy.

Crash and burn, thoughts, crash and burn. So Kelly stayed at home. I questioned her for a moment but Kelly always goes to school, hating to miss anything and once we'd established that nothing was wrong at school, I looked at her pale face and tucked her into a blanket, resigning myself to the house.

It gave me a chance to package up these lovely little gifts from Snapdragon's Garden for my bloggy peeps; the last batch of Scottish lovelies went missing in transit, apparently some little bint somewhere is rubbing my tartan all over her house and 2 months later, I received my double surance: insurance and an assurance from the mailing company that the next batch would be safe. Nuh uh. These little beauties are being posted by my very own hands. Keep your eyes peeled.

I was asked to guest host a blog today by the lovely Charlotte at noteasilyoffendedmoms. As you can guess by the title, it isn't a blog for the faint hearted but definitely worth a look if you can stand the pace. She gave me three subjects to consider: sex, religion and/or politics. Hmmmm. Subjects that normally leave me in palpitations. Of course, having the opportunity to spew my diatribe all over someone elses page with permission didn't leave me thinking for too long. But I warn you now.

I plan to make some pakora and paratha bread for Lyn as she is having a weekend curry feast. I'll also be making some Parmesan crusted mini quiche tonight and will let you know how it turns out. Amazing what you can do with cheese, eggs and flour. Illness always spawns requests for chicken noodle soup and macaroni cheese so that is what is on the menu for the children; if they like the quiche, then supper is sorted.

Back to normal soon as Brian returns tomorrow night from his wanderings and I finally have Time returned to me.

I can see clearly now the rain has gone.

Despite still not sleeping very well last night, I did sleep a little and woke up feeling great. I was reminded by a friend that I felt a bit blue the last time Brian left for a week but it passed quickly. This morning, the sun was shining...for five minutes...but it was enough to cheer me alongside a large coffee, freshly baked lemon cake (I made four!) and a re-run of Friends. It would have been a different story if Lyn's husband Ken had not picked up the kids for me as the clock had stopped and we all slept in.

I had a lovely night with Anne and Karen, all three of us munching through canapes throughout the evening and enjoying a few glasses of wine. Brian took my camera to Greece and alas, the kids camera isn't working properly so no pictures which was a shame as the table looked so festive.

I served:
Parma bundles stuffed with goats cheese and crispy basil
Chilli bruchetta, chicken tikka, yogurt and coriander with a little caramelised onion chutney
Baked cherry tomatoes on top of crispy ciabatta with olive oil, parmesan and basil
Shredded duck with hoi sin sauce cornets and spring onion with cucumber stuffing
Homemade mini loaf with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and sea salt dipping sauce plus olives

I enjoyed all of them that old modesty of mine kicking in again and the duck, a new edition to my canape repertoire looked lovely and tasted really nice.

I had prepared Pauline's recipe for pakora and reheated it in the oven later on in the night; I served it with a yoghurt and tomato dipping sauce. That went down a treat.

Parma Bundles
Mix together a few tablespoons of goats cheese, the crumbly kind, some finely chopped spring onion, cucumber, tomatoes and yellow pepper-remove skin and seeds from cucumber and seed from tomatoes. Add a little grating of lemon zest and a squeeze of lemon juice. No ingredient has to be exact, just add roughly equal quantities and add extra of what you like. A sprinkling of sea salt...just a little, the cheese and prosciutto is salty enough...and a little grinding of black pepper.

Add a little amount of this to each slice of parma ham/prosciutto or halve the slice if you want smaller bundles. Wrap into a parcel shape and top with a crispy basil leaf; to make these, dip leaves in olive oil and place into a hot oven for a few minutes until they crisp up.

Chilli and oregano bruchetta with chicken tikka
I buy the bruchetta pre-done and crispy from Asda; any type of thin, flat crispbread would work just as well. Chicken tikka, you can make or buy the mini pre-made ones from the supermarket on sticks. I made this batch myself but have been known to buy it and it doesn't make too much difference. Separate the tikka into bite sized pieces, if buying or else cut chicken into bite sized pieces and marinade in tikka sauce and bake in oven.

Make yogurt sauce by mixing some chopped coriander, lemon juice, salt and pepper to half a bowl of yogurt, to taste. Add tikka bites and coat. Place tikka on top of bruchetta and add a little chutney (any kind of chutney would work) on top of that. These are very moreish, so make loads!

Baked cherry tomatoes
Halve tomatoes, sprinkle with sea salt and pepper, dribble over some olive oil and then some chopped basil and thinly sliced parmesan. Bake in oven until the cheese has started to melt and serve on ciabatta, bruschetta or crispbreads.

Shredded duck
Roast half a duck until cooked and the skin is crispy. Shred with two forks until you have a pile of shredded duck with some of the crispy skin shredded too. Thinly slice cucumber and spring onions into three inch sized strips. Buy hoi sin sauce. Buy little wafer Chinese pancakes. Cut pancakes into quarters, of equal sizes. Place on each quarter a little duck and one or two strips of cucumber and spring onion. Spread a little hoi sin sauce (or plum sauce if you prefer) down one side and roll into a cornet or cone shape. The sauce will 'stick' it together and the cucumber and spring onion should stick out. These are so dinky and look great. I served them with some extra shredded cucumber and spring onion on the side.

Homemade mini loaf and olives
The loaf is a standard bread recipe but divided into four small tins...you know I'm going to use those tins to death, right? I added a little golden linseed into the dough, just because I like it and it's good for you. I served it on a wooden board with two small bowls of the dipping oil and my heart shaped dish filled with my own olives. Good enough for breakfast, lunch AND dinner.

The pakora was made with flour, Indian spices, blanched spinach, chopped red onions, salt, pepper and water to make a batter, then fried in oil, both sides for a minute or two. I reheated them in the oven and they tasted great. Thank you Pauline! I think I may add some chopped coriander for the next batch, just to try.

The sauce was made by adding tomato sauce, lemon juice, salt and pepper to some plain yogurt. I also added chopped coriander just because I love the stuff (cilantro?).
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I ran out of milk today and wasn't in the mood to go seek some out as the rain and wind had begun it's usual descent homewards towards Glasgow. I needed a few tablespoons for the lemon cake and thought I would improvise rather than get soaked to the skin; I used condensed milk instead. It definitely gave a slight different flavour but it was lovely, thank goodness.
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A large shop was completed this week with the total bill coming to £118. £18 of the bill was for items other than shopping and I purchased two weeks worth of groceries plus stocked up on all my flour. I shall post the receipt once I find it, alongside the dinners to be cooked, consumed and smiled over.

Have a wonderful weekend.