Random Cooking

Cooking Challenge - set by me for 2024

As you can see I only drop in on this blog now and then. The last year or so has been a tricky one as I have been in pain from a deteriorating hip and, quite frankly, pottering about in the kitchen was not really an option. I cooked as swiftly and as simply as possible and then got out of there.

Well, I now have a new hip and am mobile again and have been visiting my shelves of cook
books. Some I have given to charity shops and have had a clear out as I know full well that some of the more esoteric books are never going to be utilised.

It was while clearing out that I came across my mum's old cook book. This was originally given away with Be-Ro flour and I remember her using it regularly. I sat down and felt a wave of nostalgia sweep over me as I looked at the pages, battered and stained, and remembered the pies and tarts and cakes she used to make. I learned a lot from this book. Be-ro cooks books are one of the highest selling books ever and I can understand why.  No nonsense recipes. Four on a page. Simple instructions. No 'a glug of this' and a 'dash of that' everything is concise and oh joy oh rapture all in pounds and ounces.  I have the centenary cook book which gives the metric measurements as well but I still cling to the old weights.

I have discovered a group on Face Book full of Be-ro devotees and joined immediately and discovered loads of people like me who love and cherish these books and it is clear that we all remember our mums using them.

So I have decided that in 2024 I am going to make a recipe a week using this old battered cook book and see how I get on.  So far I have tried two.

The first was plain biscuits.  The recipe could not be simpler:

8ozs flour. Not specified which so I used plain

4 oz caster sugar

4 ozs margarine

3 tablespoonsfuls of milke and 12 drops of vanilla essence (see what I mean about being concise?)

Mix flour and sugar in a bowl and rub in the maergarine. Mix to a stiff paste with the essence and milk. Roll out thinly with the milke and essence. Cut into rounds with pastry cutter put on greased baking sheet and bake in a moderate overn (350-375F) for about 15 mins.  

I did what they do on the Great British Bake Off and sat in front of the oven watching in case I wandered off and did something else and forgot them. I have done this in the past...

OK they came out well. The books says you can add 4 oz stoned and chopped dates if you. I had some dried apricots in the larder to use up so chopped those up and put them in.

They came out beautifully but, and I have to be honest, after a day or two in a tin they became rather soft and lacked the crunchiness when they first came out.  I shall have another crack at them.

I have also made a quick Spice Cake which was excellent and I shall post about that another day.   I have some rather squidgy bananas at the moment so am eyeing up the banana tea bread...

 

 

Watching the Calories

Once upon a time "diet" cookbooks had you existing on a lettuce and a tomato and cutting out the carbs. Thankfully those days are long gone as we have more nutritional advice available and a wider scope of food.  If I wanted to lose weight and calorie count when I was younger, and I did, finding sunflower or vegetable oil, fat free youghurts (youghurts? What on earth are they?) was difficult and the idea of roasting vegetables when the English way was to boil them to mush, was unthinkable.  If I remember rightly you could only buy olive oil in Boots in tiny bottles and that was mainly to bung in your ear to get rid of wax. Hard to believe but it was so.

Now the emphasis is on healthy eating and though sometimes I think the foodies go a bit too far with some of their meals (most of which I could eat in 30 seconds and still be hungry) there are many cook books now which have great recipes which will fill you up and still are pretty low in calories.   I have tried quite a few and here are some that you might be interested in.

Two Chubby Cubs, the Cookbook and Two Chubby Cubs Fast Filling. Nearly all the recipes are under 500 calories and both books are well laid out with easy and clear instructions.  The origin of the Chubby Cubs (of whom I had never heard until somebody mentioned them) was a blog which started with playing around with an app on an Ipad which they turned into recipe cards, and they were off.  The Chubby Cubs are a gay married couple James and Paul Anderson and the two books are very very funny. You could just read them for fun and not cook a thing and they would be enjoyable.   However, I freely admit that I found the relentless humour on each page a tad wearing after a while.  

Pinch of Nom and Pinch of Nom Light by Kate Allinson and Kay Featherstone.  I had to look up the meaning of Nom as I was slightly puzzled by the title and I gather the word is used to "express pleasure at eating, or at the prospect of eating". So then once I knew this it all makes sense.   Lots of lovely recipes and most of them are 600 cals or less.  One of my favourites is that for Onion Bhajis cooked in a muffin tray and they are delicious. Then a dead simple chicken curry at 181 cal per serving (rice is extra by the way) and which I have made several times, individual Bakewell tarts using a wrap instead of pastry and cheese caked stuffed strawberries which are a bit fiddly but with the strawberry season upon us, are delicious.

The Hairy Bikers.  I love their cookbooks. Totally unpretentious, no faff and, as I have always found with my beloved Delia Smith, they are fool proof. Never had one gone wrong yet.   In the Hairy Dieters there is a recipe, Our Special Cassoulet,which I have made dozens of times and really enjoy. There is also a recipe for Paprika chicken which has become a favourite.   As with all the cookery books I own you can tell which recipes I like best as the pages are covered with splashes of tomato sauce or gravy.

Finally, a very understated simple little book called The Skinny Slow Cooker which does not appear to have any authors names at all but is part of a series.  I have found this incredibly useful as I have a slow cooker and swear by it for casseroles and stews as the long cooking tenderises the cheapest cuts of meat, but there are various things I have never tried and after reading this I decided to try cooking a whole chicken in my crock pot. 

A layer of leeks in the bottom of the cooker, garlic powder and paprika rubbed into the chicken and then pop the bird on top and cook slowly for 8 hours or so.   The chicken falls off the bone and is beautifully moist. 

The reason I mention these books is because they are straightforward and there is a lack of faff that appeals to me. This is why I am and always will be a fan of Delia Smith because of the lack of affectation.   Some cookbooks I have read seem to have been written as a Phd exercise and some list ingredients that you have to scour the internet for. I really cannot be bothered with that kind of cooking at all.

After all, my mum came from Newcastle and I was brought up on steak and kidney pie and her mince and dumplings so subtlety is a bit beyond me...

 

Christmas cakes I have made over the years

Just a bit of fun!

 

Random Cookbooks - old and new

I have a larage collection of cook books and keep on buying them. I had a huge clear out a few years ago and then regretted it and have been scouring second hand shops and websites to repurchase them.

Yes I know.

As you probably all realise by now I am a fan of Delia Smith. Back in the seventies when I was married with young children and my cooking skills were pretty basic, she appeared on tv in her landmark series.  The books accompanying the series were in three small volumes and I got the lot as they came out and, quite frankly, they taught me to cook.   Up till then we had Robert Carrier, remember those? All those little cookery cards? And other books that were way over the average persons head.  So I pinned my colours to Delia’s mast and they have stayed there ever since.

Later she brought out a one volume Delia Smith’s Cookery Course which I was glad to have as my paperbacks were getting tatty and torn.  I have used this book constantly over the last thirty years and the pages have gradually been spotted with gravy, tomato sauce, jam, etc etc. The cover was lost and it was coming away from its binding.  About a year ago I was in a charity shop and came across a totally pristine copy and pounced.   It was clear it had never been used and I wondered where it had been all this time. Reader, I bought it.   And, no, I have not chucked out my battered copy. I simply cannot bear to part with it.

Joscelyn Dimbleby – Marvellous Meals with Mince.  Along with Delia this was my go to book as we had so little money that mince was on our meal tables more often than not and these recipes were cheap and cheerful and delish.   And once again, in a mad fit a few years ago, I got rid of it. WHYWHYWHY. Answer comes there none.   And yes I came across a copy at a second hand book sale a year or so ago and practically came to blows with a woman who had spotted it as well. I beat her to it…just.

Cranks Cookbook and Entertaining with Cranks.  I freely admit I have these because I simply love the illustrations. Very Edward Ardizzone and simply delightful and nostalgic.  Cranks was, still is I think, a vegetarian restaurant in Carnaby Street (supposedly the centre of Swinging London in the sixties but really rather tatty) and was a first.  I have cooked several of the recipes in these books and really enjoyed them. Looking at them now they appear a little earnest with everything brown and whole wheaty but hey we know it is good for us and they have stood the test of time. And they are simple and short.

Sainsburys used to do a series of cook books costing 75p. Little narrow hardbacks and I had a whole slew of them and yes, no need for me to tell you, I chucked the lot and now keep an eye out for them. They were wonderful.

Sainsburys again – a cake book with basic cakes and little cakes etc and a really good book which I have had for years. There is an everyday fruit cake recipe in there that I must have made dozens of times and never fails.   I have never thrown this one out and recently found a brand new copy in one of my trawls through charity shops and was pleased to have it.  And, yes, I still have the old battered one so stop shaking your head in despair.

Of course with Great British Bake Off came the books by Paul Hollywood and I fell for the hype and bought them all. I have got rid of most of them but have kept a couple one of which is Baking as there are some great recipes in there.  I did meet him once at a Meet and Greet and we had a chat and he was really rather nice and discussed cooking with my children etc and was altogether charming.   Gone off him a bit especially as he was not nice to a recent contestant on this year’s show, Jurgen, and the twitterati got rather heated about it.

Nigella Lawson – I have tried, oh how I have tried but I just find her acutely irritating.  I bought How to be a Domestic Goddess and read it and then thought Oh sod this I have no desire to be one so it went to the charity shop.

Diane Henry – I have a few of her books and enjoy her no nonsense approach to cooking and particularly love her chicken cook book A Bird in the Hand. I eat so much chicken I am surprised I have not sprouted feathers by now and so am always looking out for different ways to cook it.

The Hairy Bikers – as I have been trying to lose weight I have been searching out calorie counted cookery books and the Hairy Ones have brought out two. One I found in a charity shop, amazing the purchases I have made in these shops, How to Love Food and Lose Weight and the second I bought having read the first and loved it. I use this one quite a lot and their cassoulet recipe is simply wonderful.

I have purchased a few more in the last couple of weeks as I just love reading and looking at all the recipes. I find that there are a few I will try in each one and some, I admit, remain pristine. 

I have a shedload more to recommend and write about but I think this is enough for one day.

Minestrone Soup

I have never made minestrone soup before. Never in all my years of cooking. It struck me as being too much of a faff but I was going through all my cook books the other day and hauled out, yes you have guessed it, Delia Smith on Soup and decided to give it a go. And yes it WAS a faff but oh the result was worth it.

And it was a cold dank day so defo a day for soup. Here goes:

2o z (50 gram) smoked streaky bacon or pancetta finely chopped. (My little local supermarket sells offcuts and they are very good and cheap. Let's face it with pancetta you are paying for the fact that they have been cut for you)

I medium onion, 2 celery stalks, 6 oz (175g) carrots, clove of garlic crushed,  8 oz (225g) leeks, 6 oz (175g) green cabbage

3 oz (75g) short cut macaroni.  Or spaghetti broken into pieces if you do not have any macaroni handy

1oz (25g) butter and 1 tablespoonful of olive oil

2.5 pints (1.5 litres) vegetable stock

1 dessertspoon tomato puree

fresh parsley and basil, chopped

First up put the oil and butter in a large casserole dish on top of the oven and when it has melted tip in the bacon/pancetta and cook for a minute or two before adding the onion, celery and carrots.  Stir in the crushed garlic and some salt and pepper then put cover on and cook very gently for about 20 mins to allow the vegetables to sweat a bit. Keep an eye to make sure it does not stick.

Then pour in the stock and bring to the boil and simmer gently, covered, for an hour. When the hour is up stir in the leeks, cabage, macaroni and tomato puree and cook uncovered for about another 15 minutes or until the pasta is cooked.

The add the basil and parsley. I did not have either of these at hand so used dried basil instead.

Then dish up in a bowl with loads of grated Parmesan on top.

I had it for lunch and it is so filling and absolutely delicious. 

Notes:

If you are a vegetarian then obviously leave out the bacon/pancetta

For stock I use Swiss Bouillon which is available in all supermarkets. It is very tasty and has a good flavour BUT if you use this then go easy on the salt. In fact I would leave it out altogether and then taste it before the final cook.   If using plain vegetable or chicken stock then you may need salt

Delia puts a couple of fresh tomatoes in as well but my supermarket was right out of them this weekend so no go, I don't think it makes a great deal of difference to be honest.

All the vegetables need to be finely chopped. If you have a food processor then you can bung them in there and do it that way, but I rather like taking my time and chopping them all. I find it theraputic.

I was pleased I made this soup though it does require a bit of preparation. I weighed all the ingredients out before I started and had them all on a tray to hand. I have a soup maker and tend to make quick easy soups using it and it saves time and trouble, but I really enjoyed having a steaming dish simmering away and sending lovely smells through the flat. I used my 45 year old battered Le Creuset casserole which I simply adore.

Do try and let me know what you think.

Pistachio cakes

I am very lucky to have good neighbours and among those living in my little apartment block is a family from Iran who bring me lovely things to eat. I reciprocate with British Baking and have given them cup cakes, Bakewell Tart, Christmas cake and a Victoria sponge all of which went down very well.

I was looking through my cookbooks the other day and one book 80 Cakes from Around the World caught my eye. I had not checked it out for a while and I came across a recipe of Pistachio cakes from Iran. Ooh I thought I must have a go at these and I so enjoyed making them and they were delicious.

So here is the recipe:

225g pistachio nuts, 150 g unsalted butter at room temperature, 120g caster sugar, 2 medium eggs lightly beaten, 20g plain flour, 20g cornflour

To decorate: 2 tablespoons apricot jam, 1 tablespoon water and 100g pistachio nuts

Heat the oven to 170C/Gas mark 3

Finely chop 76g of the pistachio nutes and finely grind the rest. Grease a 12 cup muffin tin or slicone mould and sprinkly with the chopped nuts.

Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy, Add the eggs a little at a time beating well after each addition. Fold in the ground pistachop nuts. Sift the flour and cornflour together and fold them into the mixture and then spoon or pipe into the moulds/tin.

Bake for 20-25 minutes until they are lightly coloured and spring back when you press them gently with your fingers. Cool for 15 mins and then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Gently heat the jam with the water (I bunged it in the microwave) until runny then strain through a sieve. Brush it onto the caskes and sprinkle with the pistachios.

This recipe says is makes 12 but I only ended up with 10. Not sure why.

My neighbours said they loved them and I did too, but they were very moist which I really liked but not sure to be honest whether they were meant to be.  I am going to make them again as they really were quite gorgeous. If you try them do let me know how they turned out for you

 

Soups Soups Soups

Something very comforting about soups and when the nights start to draw in and the leaves fall off the trees I always find my thoughts turn more to soup making than at any other time of year.   Summer soups strike me as being weak and spineless, light and delicate whereas autumn and winter soups can be thick and chunky and creamy and, unless you are being very posh, should be slurped steaming hot out of a mug. That is what I have been doing in the last week or so though I will admit to putting them in nice bowls and tarting them up a bit for when they are having their picture taken....

First up - Roasted butternut squash soup

One butternut squash chopped up, be warned these can be a bugger to chop (I now purchase them already prepared having nearly taken off a finger one time)roasted with herbs and a bit of olive oil, then blended with some good stock, ground pepper and salt and dished up with a scattering of grated cheese on the top.  I was not exactly overwhelmed with this particular soup the first time I made it so the next time I roasted red peppers as well and that made a huge difference

My favourite soup - Leek and Potato.  Heat up some olive oil in a casserole, slice up your leeks and chop your spuds (not too bothered about the ratio of leeks to spuds, I just bung in what I have though perhaps more leeks that potatoes), and sautee for a few minutes.   Garlic, of course, and some good sea salt.  This soup needs a healthy dose of salt I find but go easy on it while cooking as it can always be added when served.   When the veg is cooked through and is soft blend and serve. A dash of cream never goes amiss here either.    Of course if you have a soup maker then you just hurl it all in and go away and leave it to do all the work.   If you make a batch of this I would recommend freezing on the same day as it does not keep very well after 24 hours. It starts to ferment a bit and taste odd.  Lost count of the number of times I have forgotten this and had to pour it down the sink.

I also like making what I call Bottom of Fridge soup or perhaps Remains of the Day.  In other words, anything that is lurking in the veggy drawer of your fridge.   I rummaged the other week and found some carrots, slightly aging, a leek or two, an onion and a potato.   So in the pot they went with some herbs, some good chicken stock made the day before from the carcase of my chicken, simmered for about half an hour, blended and dished up with a swirl of yoghurt this time as I was lacking cream.  It was delicious but the only drawback with this kind of soup is that you will never be able to replicate the recipe though knowing my veggy bit of the fridge it is more than likely I might. A good way of using up veg that perhaps should have been eaten and not left and saves waste.

I do not turn up my nose at commercially prepared soups.  I have a weakness for Heinz tomato soup, I freely admit and don't mind oxtail either.  I have made my own tomato soup and it was simply lovely but part of me yearned for the monosodiumglutinate taste of Heinz with its highly and, no doubt, toxic colour which leaves you with orange lips for hours afterwards.   I keep a stock of a few tins in the store cupboard and Baxters onion is another to which I am rather partial.

You can make soup out of almost anything.  When catering years ago, I did a huge cauliflower cheese, it was a vegetarian restaurant, usually popular. On that particular day it did not sell and there we were left with it.  Well food chucked in the bin = profits in bin so I put it in my food processor with some stock and cream and whizzed it up.  Added a handful of stilton and next day dished it up as our Soup of the Day, Cauliflower and Stilton and sold every last drop of it.   When I used to cook a big roast for the family any left over veg was bunged in the processor, with left over gravy and anything else that remained - bit of Yorkshire pudding or a roast spud or two and blended.  OK sometimes it all came out a murkey sludge colour but add a swirl of cream (my fail safe for making any soup look good) to take away the less than glam appearance and it always tasted wonderful.

Soup is so easy to make and so satisfying to eat. 

So get blending..

Christmas Cake - my favourite Delia Smith recipe

I like Christmas cake but have never really fallen in love with the dark fruited ones that are the norm so when I discoverd a Light Christmas cake recipe by the Blessed Delia I decided to try it and have made it many times since as I enjoyed it so much.   One of the reasons I enjoy making it is that the fruits, when cut up and left to soak overnight in brandy in a clear bowl, look like jewels and are such lovely colours.

The fruit needed is 4oz glace pineapple; 4oz glace apricots; 6oz glace cherries, rinsed and dried (mixed colour pack); 4oz candied peel; 2oz angelica; 8oz sultanas (I bought the golden variety); 2ozs crystallised ginger.   All these fruits need to be chopped up into pieces the size of the sultanas and then, as I said, left to soak overnight.  Also add 4oz finely chopped walnuts.

Note: this is an old recipe so I have left it in Imperial measurements

Tracking down these fruits can be difficult. The main supermarkets do not seem to stock some of the glace fruits need, Waitrose not much better which surprised me and I ended up at Guntons in Colchester which had a good selection and bought them all from there. Angelica is impossinle to get hold of locally and I have tried and Guntons is the only place. Or Amazon. You may need to check out a similar shop in your locale.

Next day, cream up 8oz unsalted butter with 8oz golden caster sugar till light and fluffy. Then whisk four medium sized eggs and gradually beat in. When all the beaten egg has been added lightly fold in 2oz ground almonds, the grated rinds of an orange and a lemon and their juice.  At this stage Delia says bung in the brandy but I have already used it to soak the fruit which makes for a better cake in my humble.  Then fold in 8oz plain flour sifted, add all the fruit and give a good stir until everything is incorporated.

This cooks in an 8" round tin, well greased and lined with greaseproof paper and placed in the middle of a preheated oven Gas Mark 3/325F/170C and cooked for an hour. After an hour cover the cake with a double layer of greaseproof paper so the top does not get too brown and leave to cook for another 2-2¼ hours but do check after 2 hours as sometimes, depending on how hot your oven is, it can be ready then.

When ready it will shrink away from the side of the tin and be springy in the middle when pressed lightly with a little finger.   Leave in tin until cold then peel of papers and re-wrap in fresh greaseproof paper before storing in a tin until ready to be iced.   It can also be drip fed with extra brandy every now and then should you so wish....

 

Cassoulet

I was rummaging in a charity shop a few weeks ago (I love charity shops) and I came across a cook book by the Hairy Bikers called The Happy Dieters.  With that title who could resist? Plus it cost the princely sum of £1.

It is packed with simply lovely tasty recipes and I have made quite a few of them. One of my favourites is their cassoulet. This recipe serves six.

6 good quality sausages.  I bought mine from a local butcher and they are really worth seeking out

6 boneless chicken thighs (about 450g).  I prefer using chicken breast so substituted them which does make the calorie count slightly less but not so much as to make a huge difference

stick of celery, three medium carrots, 2 medium onions, 2 cloves of garlic crushed

200g gammon or bacon

2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes, 400 g tin of cannelloni beans, 400 g tin of butter beans - drain and rinse in cold water

Method

Brush a non stick frying pan with teaspoon of sunflower oil and add the sausages to the pan (I chop them in half) until nicely browned.  Add onions to the pan (I find that I had to add a little more sunflower oil so if you do the same don't forget to add the extra few cals). Add the chicken (thighs or breast whichever you are using) to the pan and cook for a few minutes. Then bung it all in a casserole. Stir in the gammon, celery, carrots, tinned tomatoes and a 150 ml red win if you wish. If not just add water instead.

Put in a bay leaf, thyme and freshly ground pepper and sprinkle over 1 teaspoon of caster sugar.

This recipe also adds 1 teaspoon of dried chilli flakes which I left out because I am not a chilli lover.

Either simmer on the hob and cook for 45 mins or put in the oven. Then stir in the beans and put back for a further 30 mins.

I have made this several times and had a batch cook the other week and have frozen about 10 portions. In fact I am having it for supper tonight.  Add veg of choice or rice - adding extra cals - and enjoy.

The Hairy Bikers bring this in at 464 per portion but that is using chicken thighs.

When I made this myself I only used 5 sausages, a chicken breast, no red wine and it came out as 382 a portion.

When I make these recipes I do measure out every single ingredient and note its calorie content and I would recommend you do the same.  That way I am sure I am not misleading you in any way but sometimes there will be a variant in the calorie count depending on what sausages you use, etc.

OK my version saves only 80 cals but look at it this way. That could be a chocolate digestive biscuit you can now have..............

Home made cooked gifts for Christmas

I find that the usual cooking at Christmas, pudding, turkey, mince pies etc etc gets a bit boring and thank goodness I no longer have the responsibility or the necessity to do this any more. I do make a cake but that is for the family and so I enjoy doing it.  What I always like at Christmas, and what I used to do years ago, is make sweets and biscuits and other home cooked goodies to give to friends and that is always fun. So this year I decided to revive the practice and have made the following.

Colour on this picture is a bit weird. This is coconut ice and it is pink and white not orange. Very easy to make and deliciously sweet and crunchy.

Almond petit fours. Just so easy to make you would not believe and taste simply delicious. I had half a dozen left and have just polished them off while writing this post.

Chocolate cups. These are tricky to make as you have to melt chocolate and then coat small paper cases with layers of choc. When they are set you then peel the paper cases off and you need a steady hand. I had a few disasters but they were just eaten. Inside were chopped up cherries soaked in brandy. More chocolate poured in and then some choc cream piped on the top. Ran out of dark chocolate hence the different shades, had to use some milk in the end. Very rich and very moreish.

I also made stollen. Not sure that it was wildly successful but it tasted good even if Paul Hollywood would have turned up his nose at its appearance. I also made smoked mackeral pate and chicken liver pate which can be made ahead and kept in the freezer.  Today I made up a Christmas basket which my daughter has taken with her up to London as it is a present for Helen's in laws and I wanted them to have it ahead of Christmas Day. I have kept some back for us when I arrive on Christmas Eve. 

It gives me a great deal of pleasure and satisfaction to produce goodies like this and I am already thinking about Easter Eggs which I used to make as well for my children when they were small. 

And, finally, I iced and decorated the Christmas cake. I was a bit tired by this time so copped out and used bought fondant icing and cut the holly leaves and berries with my special cutter.

All these sweet and biscuit recipes came from an old Good Housekeeping book of mine which is over twenty years old and still going strong.

Merry Christmas everyone!