Me Maw, Me Maw...it wisnae Me Maw

The kids and I went to an open day at the local fire station; we saw a chip pan fire, dogs catching baddies and rescuing bodies, falconry in action, the kids got to touch the tawny owl, sit in a police car and put the siren on and left with an armful of useless but delightful goodies.

We walked into the mini nearby town and then home via the park and ski club. I wanted to lie in the middle of the busy road and have a car just run me over after the third hour walking. Energy, where are you? I'm thinking I can't be eating enough cake! Yeah...that's what it is...I need more cake. And gin. Wonder if you can make a gin cake.....?

I've not had to shop for a while as I'm using up all the ingredients already littering the kitchen cupboards, freezer and fridge. A few items were purchased yesterday alongside the beef for the steak pie; milk, croissants and sweeties for the kids.

Today, I made a large pot of vegetable and lentil soup, pot pies, a fresh fruit loaf and triple chocolate muffins of which I had none....greedy kids! I used all store cupboard ingredients and the cost was minimal.

The pot pies used the remainder of the beef in stock from yesterday with added vegetables and topped with mashed potato and an equal mixture of cheese and breadcrumbs. They bake in the oven for around 20 minutes at a medium heat or until breadcrumb topping turns brown. They were lovely.

The soup used up the rest of the carrots and turnip and the muffins contained a mixture of dark and milk chocolate chips as well as some chocolate buttons sitting in the sweetie drawer.

Tomorrow, it could be anything; pesto potatoes or pepper pancakes; chili chocolate or chicken chausseur. Whatever it shall be, it shall be after brunch with my mum as it is her birthday! I've left bacon in the fridge and eggs in the cupboard for the family to fend for themselves during my short absence....what's the chances of them waiting til I come home?

Raindrops keep fallin' on my head.

It's a rainy day in Scotland; the natural state of things. I cooked most of the day and looked up various hotels and venues for my trip to Canada in a few weeks...I'm really excited at meeting up with my old friends in Toronto, visiting Montreal and walking the Bruce trail, possibly staying at Niagara on the Lake and visiting some wineries. Can you hear that high pitched noise? That's me, screaming in a pitch reserved for cats and dogs, so the kids can't hear how excited I am.

I made Carrot, Honey and Ginger soup for lunch today, alongside pan toasted ciabatta with cheese and chorizo, cheese and ham and just plain ole cheese. I stuck to the soup only, letting the rest of them wire in to the bread, having lost another 2 pounds this week and not wanting to put it back on in one sitting!

Carrot, Honey & Ginger Soup
5oz/150g onion, thinly sliced
3/4 oz/20g root ginger, thinly sliced
3oz/75g unsalted butter (I used much less than this-around 1oz/25g)
1oz/25g honey
21oz/600g carrots, sliced
1.5 pints/1 litre water (I used a mild chicken stock)
One third oz / 8g salt (just added it to taste!)
Fifth oz/5g white pepper (just added it to taste!)
Squeeze lemon juice

Sweat onions and ginger in butter over gentle heat for ten minutes...do not brown so keep and eye on them. Add a droplet or two of water if required.
Stir in the honey and let it melt.
Add carrots and stir. Pour in water or stock.
Add seasoning to taste, bring to boil, cover then simmer for 45 minutes.
Pour into liquidiser and process to a puree.
Check the salt and pepper, add more if required, add lemon juice and serve with a little cream.

This soup is excellent if left to get cold, placed in fridge and reheated.

For dinner, I made pizza & chips; not any old pizza and chips but homemade pizza: the dough, the sauce and I even milked the buffalo myself....ok, I lie but the rest is true. The chips were made with sweet potato, cut into chips, drizzled with a little olive oil, sea salt and thyme and roasted in a medium to high oven for 20-30 minutes, until soft and browned a little on the outside.

Home-made Pizza with fresh Tomato Sauce and sliced Mozzarella
Pizza Dough
250g plain flour, good Italian 00 flour is best but isn't necessary
1 heaped teaspoon easy-blend dried yeast (half 7g sachet)
Half teaspoon salt
150ml warm water with 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil added
1 baking sheet, lightly oiled

Combine flour, yeast and salt and pour in water and oil mix. Form a dough, adding more water if necessary. When it looks bound...it'll still look messy though...plop onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5-10 minutes. Put into an oiled bowl, turning once to oil both sides of the dough, cover with clingfilm and leave in a warm place to rise for an hour.

Make the tomato sauce. This is the same as my usual tomato sauce recipe except I use 2x500g cartons passata and I do not add the water/stock or milk. This can then be used as a pizza sauce and for a variety of other uses.


Put oven on to 240 degrees Celsius/gas mark 9.

Make the chips.

When dough has doubled in size, punch all the air out of it and knead for another minute. Press out onto the baking sheet, atop a baking tray or pizza tin; press out until it nearly fits the tin. spoon over some sauce and bake in the oven for approx. fifteen minutes. Check, you don't want it to burn.

Turn oven down to about 220 and add a little more sauce...just a little and fresh mozzarella, sliced. Sprinkle with a little salt and black pepper or any other toppings of choice. Pesto or basil would be lovely with this. Cook until mozzarella has melted and browned a little...approx. 5-10 minutes.Serve with the chips, salad and some cold meats; you have the option of course of putting the meats...salami, chorizo, pepperoni...on top of the pizza before the cheese. Enjoy.


Edited to add: I forgot to say, with this being served for a family of five, the calorie content per person was 372 calories. There is also lots of tomato sauce left over for pasta and bread pizza.

Potato Scone Recipe

Those of us who enjoy a potato scone usually just purchase them from any nearby shop...woe betide the corner shop who runs out of Morton's rolls or potato scones...sausages we can do without, bacon at a push but not the humble tattie scone.

Bought pre-cooked, we like to re-heat them in a frying pan and eat with our fried breakfast or Sunday Brunch with a sprinkling of salt or some good old tomato or brown sauce. Potato scones however are the simplest thing in the world to make and taste even better fresh. Most traditional Scottish recipes are made from cheap, local ingredients, particularly those that come immediately to hand from the cupboard. The Potato Scone...or tattie scone as we like to call it, was a way of using up left over mashed potato and this is the only time I make it too. I can't help eating one as I cook them but as is the tradition, I let them get cold and reheat them for everyone later.

Potato Scone

Ingredients:
Half pound (225g) boiled and mashed potatoes (Maris Piper is what I always use)
2.5oz (65g) flour
3 tablespoons melted butter and a meagre tablespoon milk
Half teaspoon salt

Method:
Mash the potatoes while they are still warm and add the butter, milk and salt. Add in enough flour to make it a pliable dough but without making it too dry-this is very important. Add more butter if this happens but the type of potato will also affect this.

Turn out onto a floured surface and roll until about quarter of an inch thick. Cut into six inch circles and then into quarters. Prick all over with a fork and cook in a heavy pan which has been lightly greased. Cook each side for about three minutes or until golden brown. Try one with salt and sauce, say mmm and then let the rest get cold to re-heat later.

Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home,
Nothing brings this back than the taste of a scone.

Just call me Rabbie Burns........!

Oh oh, we're halfway there....

The marinades are done, the food is all bought. I made veggie burgers (recipe to follow), marinaded some yellow peppers and onions, spiced up some prawn skewers, bbq sauced some ribs and the potatoes are boiling for the potato salad. This is the point I wonder what I've forgotten.

Veggie Burgers (Non-spicy)

Boil peeled and quartered potatoes with a cupful of washed lentils. Once soft, drain. Peel and finely chop an onion, add some fresh thyme and fry gently in vegetable oil. Once soft, add some thinly sliced garlic and yellow pepper, chopped small. Add salt and freshly ground pepper, a tiny sprinkling of cayenne pepper...it makes the onions look wonderful...and stir. Cook for another few minutes.

Add to the onion mix the potato and lentil mixture and add a few good wedges of unsalted butter. Coarsely mash with a fork...you want little chunks of potato left...and transfer to a bowl. Add some more butter if required, a good grinding of nutmeg and adjust seasoning to taste. Cover and place in fridge until cold.

I plan to make these into small patties and roll in flour...I won't bother with the egg as it should stick fairly well and to cook, I'll place on a bbq foil tray with holes, brush with a little oil and cook. There is a possibility I may need to put a little oil onto the tray; these cannot go directly onto the barbecue as they would fall apart.

Now to make the potato salad....only 5 hours left til bedtime!

Low Fat Fish n' Chips

Gosh, it's hot. The fish needed to be cooked tonight so the 'suitable for a sunny day salad' was put aside and the haddock was brought out. I didn't dip the fish in egg wash as I'd normally do, instead, I placed the fillets on the baking tray (on foil) and pressed the breadcrumbs onto the fish. The breadcrumbs were simply a slice of bread, blended with a sprinkling of salt, freshly ground black pepper and cayenne pepper. Two large fish fillets were coated with some breadcrumbs left over.

The sweet potato (I used half for Brian and I) was peeled and sliced into chip size; normally I'd do these chunky but tonight they were cut small so that they would cook quicker. I've spent the entire day at school courtesy of sports day and hardly had time for lunch; hunger was getting the better of me and the fridge was calling my name.

I poured over the potato chips a little drizzle of walnut oil, some freshly ground black pepper, salt, a little cayenne and a sprinkling of piri piri. I mixed it all together, placed it in an oven proof dish and roasted at 220 degrees Celsius for 20 minutes. Just keep your eye on them. Test if ready by sticking a fork in; it should be soft.

I then moved the dish from the top shelf to the one underneath and place the fish fillets on the top shelf. I turned the oven down to 200. After a further 10-12 minutes, it was ready. I served with some quickly made tartare (capers, parsley, lemon juice, salt and pepper mixed into some light mayonnaise and stirred), some salad and bread and butter. Delicious. It made no difference that it wasn't deep fried or coated in egg first, this was simply tasty. Brian found the chips a bit too spicy...they were...so a bit easy with the piri piri and cayenne next time.

The kids are being fed at The Broons as they have a swimming pool and we don't...so bye bye, mum!

Menu 16th May-20th May 2009

I was in a sunny mood when I went shopping and made my meal plan for the week but the weather has turned and therefore things may need to be heated up a bit! I've adapted my original plan a little. The menu for this week:
Roast Chicken with Roast Potatoes and Fresh Steamed Green Veg.
Fresh Salad including Penne, Potato and Coleslaw.
Stovies
Helen's Kedgeree
Pasta Fest
Parsnip and Apple Soup
Lentil Soup

Tonight, the kids will be having Stovies (see previous entry) whilst Brian and I go to Stravaigan for a birthday meal. I'll make the roast chicken tomorrow and forget about the soup for a day; it'll be bacon and sausage rolls, gallons of tea and the papers...I predict a hangover!