Random Cooking

Revisiting my cooking blog

A while back, well quite some while back actually, I had a cooking blog.  As I was working full time and also had a book blog, I found it a bit difficult to keep up and it slowly got sidelined.

Well, I have decided to have another go at it.  After retiring my weight slowly but surely crept up and I finally decided to do something about it a few years ago and have managed to shed 21lbs with the hope I can shift some more.  

One thing I have discovered while losing weight is that Going on a Diet is not going to work. We tend to use the word Diet only when we are trying to get rid of the extra flab, but one's diet is how we eat and live everyday and I have learned that Dieting does not mean fasting and depriving yourself of everything that you enjoy.

I am now well aware of how to eat well and healthily and I can assure you it is pretty easy once you get the hang of it. 

In the meantime do please scroll back and see what I posted all those years ago. The last posts I wrote were on Christmas cooking and food presents so as it is now that time of the year I hope they will be of interest.

Do leave comments below and let me know what you think.

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!

Cooking up a storm

Now that it will not be long before it is autumn I feel my interest in cooking and baking returning. The Great British Bake Off is also back and so I feel like getting out my bun trays and my loaf tins and getting stuck in.

At the moment I am helping with catering for a good friend's 70th party which is taking place on Saturday. About sixty people coming and, though some food has been ordered (salmon, birthday cakes) the rest is being done by me and another friend of Rosemary who is a stalwart of the WI and also takes a lorry to Croatia about twice a year, is a retired nurse, and is no slouch at organising. We have divvied up the cooking between us and today I got stuck in.

I am making quiches and here are the contents for the fillings. Smoked salmon with cream and chives, asparagus and cream cheese, red pepper, red onion and red Leicester cheese and a bog standard bacon and egg one with tomatoes on top.  

As I write this they are cooking away and the kitchen smells wonderful. I have also cooked up a heap of red Camargue rice for a salad a la Mary Berry from her latest book which has a dressing the ingredients of which include honey and limes. Should be interesting...

Also two tiramusus to be made tomorrow.   So I have a busy day ahead of me.   More anon of the food and will be taking pics of the spread on Saturday.

Holiday Menu

A friend and I recently had a lovely week in Robin Hood's Bay in Yorkshire. Must be one of the most enchanting and delightful places to stay even if there is an awful lot of up, and we had a good time.

Neither of us are exactly flush with dosh and we both live on a limited income. If there is one thing that will pile up the expenses on holiday, it is food. Great to eat out all the time if you want to and/or if you can afford it. Fortunately neither of us are gasping for the hots spots or night life when on holiday but we do need to eat.

As we were renting a cottage and self catering I decided to sit down and work out a menu for the week, much as I did when I had small children and a husband to cook for. I find I don't do this so much these days but after the holiday am determined to do so.   We both have bus passes so trolling around our part of Yorkshire was fun and free and, liberated from the wheel, I could look around and enjoy the scenery. I wanted to have money left over to spend on things we both wanted to (books in the second hand bookshops of York for one) and I would rather do this than spend about £8 for a panini and a coffee in Starbucks or whoever.

So I sat down and worked out a menu for the week and this is what I came up with:

Saturday - driving up and as I did not want to waste money at an overpriced service area I made sandwiches, bunged in fruit and plenty of water. As it happened, the drive was awful and we hardly stopped at all except for a quick cup of tea.

On arrival, as planned, fish and chips so no cooking It was delicious

Sunday - roasted a chicken and roasted all the veg along with it. Cheese and biscuits and/or fruit for dessert.

Monday - leek and bacon quiche which I had made and brought with me. Sauteed spuds also. Stripped chicken and boiled up bones etc for stock. Rest of chicken in fridge for next day.

Tuesday - remains of quiche for lunch with salad. In evening chicken risotto made with the stock and the left over chicken

Wednesday - in Whitby so had fish and chips at a restaurant down by the harbour. Fresh fish, superb, and wonderful chips.   In evening sandwiches etc

Thursday - Mince and onion pie which I had made and brought with me with plenty of fresh veg.

Friday - remains of pie cold with salad in the evening. We had been in York and had a toasted sarnie for lunch.

Breakfast was cereal or boiled eggs or whatever was our choice. I had also baked a walnut and banana bread which lasted us all week and was good to eat in the evening with a cuppa. I had also taken a bag of pasta with me and a jar of tomato sauce but in the end we did not use that and it came back with us. There was cheese and biscuits and a bagful of Kit Kats in the fridge as well.

Our two meals 'out' which we did not cook were fish and chips. In such a location it would have been daft not to have these as the fish was fresh and tasted simply wonderful.  Both of us felt we had eaten well all week and did not feel deprived of treats in any way. There was a great coffee shop we visited in the Bay a few times  where they served a wonderful variety of teas and also a great strawberry shortbread. Lovely to sit in the sun and free wifi so we spent a lot of time there sipping, emailing and just looking out at the glorious views.

My daughter Helen and her husband both love to eat out when on holiday and treat themselves to a great restaurant now and then and when I am with them when away, we usually go out to lunch. As I was in catering myself for several years I do find it difficult to eat out without wondering how much the mark up is and knowing what the ingredients cost etc and I know this is a guaranteed enjoyment spoiler, but afraid I cannot help it. I dislike spending money in expensive restaurants but, funnily enough, am quite happy to fork out for a good pub lunch where I feel I am not necessarily paying for the ambiance.

By planning in advance and taking everything with us that we needed, we spent very little extra on food, and were able to spend our money on more important things. As I said we discovered the bookshops in York, and the two in Robin Hood's Bay and our expenditure there was only possible because of this planning. £5 for a paninini or two books. No contest as far as I am concerned.

I am now sitting down and thinking about applying this menu planning for myself at home. It really makes sense. I intend to write about supermarkets as well and how I feel about them all.

Gosh this column is exciting isn't it?  

 

Poached Plums a la Jamie

I mentioned a recipe of Jamie Oliver in my review of recent cookbooks I have received/used. I am off to the family for the weekend and am taking a dessert along as my contribution to the feast so decided to cook this particular recipe.

Take as many plums as you want, I have allowed two per person, cut in half, twist and take out the stone. Lay them face up in a bowl. When all done brown sugar scattered on top, grated zest of two/three oranges, squeeze said oranges and pour juice over the plums. I also poured some Amaretti over them. Break a cinammon stick or two and put in with plums.

 

Bung in oven on fairly low heat, will go at the bottom if you are cooking other things, and cook until soft and ready. This will be a variable thing depending on ripeness of plums.   I serve this up with a very good vanilla ice cream with the juices poured over.

The smell when I took this out the oven was simply wonderful. I used ground cinammon last time as I did not have any cinammon sticks but this time I had bought some and used them and think it is much better to do so if you can get hold of them.

No ice cream? then use cream but double or clotted in my view...

Random Cook Books old and new

A few years ago I had a clear out of my cookery books. I had over two hundred on shelves buckling under the weight and I really really needed the space.   I am sure I am not alone when I say there were books I kept simply because I used one favourite recipe from each tome. Easy to see which it was. Open the book and it automatically falls to the correct page which is easily identified because it is covered with stains of soup or cake mix or whatever.   Now I freely admit that I took a pair of scissors and cut out those that I wanted to keep, yes I know I could have photocopied them, but I did not have one of those all dancing all singing printers which do everything at the time.  These were popped in my file. Well, file is a misnomer really, more like a folder with heaps of scraps of newspapers, magazines etc which I need to sort out as well. Then a huge heap of books went to the charity shops.   I freely admit that I panicked more or less immediately as I realised I really wanted to keep one book or two after all and hoofed it down to the charity shop in question and bought those back.   And, yes I know....again.

Well the books are building up again and I feel I need to have another sort out but before I do I thought I would bring you my thoughts on the books I use regularly.

First of all, Delia. Surname is irrelevant. We all know who she is.   I learned to bake from watching my mum, I learned to do casseroles, pies, pate etc from Delia when she started her first cookery course back in the seventies and I still have her cookery book and always will do. Packed both my girls off to Uni with a copy of this and it has never let them down.

From the picture you will see some of my old favourites. The Best of Sainsbury's Baking is now over twenty years old. Sainsbury used to produce excellent cookery books and this one has been used constantly by me ever since it was purchased. Old and battered copy covered in stains and squashed fruit and with a torn cover and I kept it until one day I found a pristine copy in a local book sale and pounced.  Have I chucked out the old one?  you know the answer....

Traditional Tea Time Recipes by Jane Pettigrew. This was picked up in a charity shop for 50p. It is a National Trust book and it is full of basic scone, sponge and biscuit recipes and I keep it to hand at all times.

Afternoon Tea - Michael Smith. I have written about this book before. I simply love it and have kept it for two recipes, his Coconut Cake and Chocolate and Pineapple Truffle Cake. Have not chopped this one up as I it is a delightful book and there it will stay.

The Chocolate Cookbook - Helge Rubinstein. Over thirty years old and a battered paperback. Have endeavoured to get rid of it but each time it is rescued and goes back on my shelves.

So what is new and what have I received and am using at the moment?

Well the ubiquitous Jamie Oliver has crept onto my shelves but not sure if he will stay much longer. I admire Jamie enormously, his recipes are really excellent, but I am afraid his persona seriously gets on my nerves. Just one of those things so I never listen or watch him but read his books instead and have cooked some of his recipes with great success.   However, I just get fed up with his 'slug' of olive oil or a good 'glug' of something else. What is a slug or a glug for heaven's sake? A tablespoon, a teaspoon, a ladleful?   Sometimes he is just too cool for school. I appreciate that this is a generational thing and for one reared on Delia is unlikely to be a favourite.   I have his Thirty Minute Meals cookbook which my daughter Kathryn raved about, so got a copy.   The only way these are Thirty Minute is if you spend about half an hour ahead of time assembling all you need, then time yourself from the start of actual cooking.   If you do that, fine it is half an hour, else it is an hour or so for even the most seasoned cook. So I find this a pain.

BUT some of his cooking is wonderful and one recipe from this book is simply divine. It is incredibly simple and easy and the end result is superb. Tried it out on my friend Rosemary a few weeks ago and we just sat and drooled.

18 ripe plums or mixture of any stone fruit you like, such as nectarines of apricots. Half and stone plums and put them in roasting tin with one teaspoon of vanilla paste or extract and 2 heaped tablespoonfuls of caster sugar (I used brown sugar as had no caster sugar handy and it was fine). Speed peel (?? speed peel? Take your time) zest from half an orange, then squeeze in all the juice. Add cinnamon stick (did not have this so used tspoon of ground cinammon instead) and stir in a good swig of brandy (here we go - swig. Least it is not a glug. I had no brandy so used Amaretto instead). Cook on bottom shelf of oven until soft and done.

When cooked layer the plums, either hot or cold, in a nice see through glass, with a really good vanilla icecream. I tell you, this is DELICIOUS.   Perhaps Jamie will stay with me a bit longer.

Recently received are the books on bread and baking by Paul Hollywood. Have tried several recipes from these books and have turned out well and I adore PH and find him very sexy and gorgeous with those piercing blue eyes. And I know he makes others cringe but there is no accounting for taste. Am going to one of his shows in May and I have VIP tickets, present from my girls, and seems I get to meet him prior to the show. Swoon....

And I cannot let this post go without mentioning the lovely Mary Berry. I have several of her old books on my shelves which I have let go over the years but, like Delia, she is so reliable and dependable and those two attributes have tended to fall out of favour with all these super duper poncy chefs bouncing around. It is therefore a great joy to me that she has come back to notice again after she and PH were the judges on the Great British Bake Off.  I have just watched her latest series on the BBC and note there have been a few sarky remarks along the lines of her cooking being SO seventies (thought retro was back myself) but the food she has demonstrated each week is simple, straightforward and delicious.   Love her and have treated myself to the book of the series.

My last recommendation, only last because I am working my way through a pile, no other reason is a small, delightful book called The Smart Book of Recipes and Tips by Ann Louise Hood.  She is the founder of the Smart School of Cookery and an ex-contestant in Masterchef (one of those TV food progs I never watch because of the style of presentation by the BBC, building up tension over a souffle and a disaster over a boiled egg), but this little book is free of affectation and fuss and full of simple ideas and tips. Her recipes are similarly fuss free and presented in a simple style which makes even the most posh dish easy to do.  I have already produced her asparagus risotto and it was delicious, her chicken in lemon and herb served with garlic potato crush went down very well when cooked for a friend recently and I have found other useful tips throughout.

This is the kind of cook book which I love. I don't want a Jamie or a Gordon hollering in my ear and yelling pukka or swearing if I get it wrong. Cooking should be a pleasure and this book makes me feel happy when I read it or use it.

Do check out her website, linke above, looks wonderful.

I understand that this is the first in a series of many more to come so Ann rest assured that they will be welcomed in Schloss Random any time.....

Bon appetit (have I spelled that right?

To Be(ef) or not to Be(ef)

OK sorry for appalling title of this post but could not resist it.

Beef - very expensive meat and I very seldom buy it as, living on one's own, I don't have huge roast dinners any more. I do, however, treat myself every now and then when it is on offer and invite my friend Rosemary round and cook up the full works, Yorkshire pud, the lot and enjoy.

And this is what happened a week ago. I had purchased a piece of beef on offer over Christmas and deemed it time it was hauled out of the freezer. Cost me £8 and was a silverside rolled joint. My preference is always for a rib roast with beef but I have to admit that this kind of joint is easier to slice and use up and is more economical.

So one gorgeous Sunday lunch. Roast beef, Yorkshire pudding (I seem to have the knack of making these now after years of failure; all down to the fat), sprouts, carrots, cauliflower and gravy made from the beef juices in the roasting pan.   It was simply delicious and we just sat there in ecstatic silence stuffing our faces.   I had made a treacle tart for pudding which we ate after a bit of a break, with custard of course.

 Next day I tackled the left over beef. I had already sent Rosemary home with a few slices for her lunch on Monday but there was still a lot left. So I sliced half of it up and filled four freezer cartons with the cuts and poured over the reamining gravy.  I find that when meat is frozen in this way the flavour intensifies when you reheat later. So in the freezer they went. Four portions ready to go.

Then I chopped up the rest and minced it up in my food processor. Chopped up the left over carrots from the day before and popped those in. Bit of gravy and topped with mashed spud and I had three more individual cottage pies.   I had one for supper a few days later and the flavour of the mince knocked spots off the bought packets for flavour. 

I then sat down and worked out that out of this £8 (half price) piece of beef Rosemary and I had two meals, she took a portion home, three more went into the freezer and three cottage pies were also produced.   That means that this was a really economical buy, eight portions so £1 each. Even if I had bought it at full price it would still have worked out well.   So I think I may buy beef more often in future.

And one portion of beef in gravy coming out of the freezer for my supper tonight. Indoors on a horrid windy, bleak day with no voice and sore throat so very glad I have these meals in the freezer.

Might bake a cake tomorrow as well as this kind of weather makes me want to have a warm kitchen full of cooking aromas. So will rummage in my store cupboard and likely to make my everyday fruitcake as I have all the ingredients to hand and it is more or less fail safe.

Random on a cooking economy drive

Now I have time I find that I can cook more cheaply and economically. I still keep the odd ready meal in the freezer for those days when I simply cannot be bothered, but cooking fresh and/or using ingredients you already have is just so much cheaper.

Last week I was in my local Co-op store. It is local and I use it a lot for odds and ends and a small shop to shore up the large one I do once a month where I spread my spending around between the Superstores. Last week they had an offer on chicken breasts, chopped up and ready to go. I usually avoid these as one pays for the chopping more than anything else but this time the packet was on offer at £1.50. So I bought two and one is in my freezer as I write.

One half of these pieces went into a stir fry. You can either stir fry fresh veg or frozen and I always have a packet of stir fry mix in the freezer as it is very useful. So bunged in some of this and the chicken and got stirring.   While stirring I put some Basmati rice in the microwave to cook. I never cook rice in a pan now, this method is so much quicker and you don't end up with a pan to soak. Ditto pasta.

When it is all cooking nicely I pop in some black bean sauce and stir and then leave to simmer for a few minutes to make sure the chicken is cooked through. Serve with the rice and I worked out that this meal, which was delicious and took about fifteen/twenty minutes to prepare, cost in the region of £1.25.

The other half of the chicken was used up a few days later. I put some chopped leaks in olive oil and left to cook until soft, put in chicken to cook.  Add a spoonful of flour to soak up oil and then some milk to make a roux. It will look all sticky and horrid but keep stirring, adding a little more milk if it gets too thick.   I sometimes chuck in some bacon if I have any when making a pie like this as the combo of chicken, leek and bacon is one of those three in a bed partnerships that are made in heaven in my view.

While simmering away I made shortcrust pastry, 4oz plain flour and 3oz lard (ratio of fat to flour is higher than the recipe but always find it makes better and shorter pastry) and after resting it in fridge, rolled it out and found I have enough for two pot pies.  Cooked one and had for supper that night with spuds and veg. Cost again around £1.25. The other pie is in the freezer.

So out of a packet of chicken costing £1.50 I produced three meals at a total cost of around £4 if my maths is correct.

Not bad.

Yesterday I cooked a roast dinner as my friend Rosemary came round for lunch. This was a piece I bought when it was on offer at Christmas time and I am already calculating the number of meals I am going to get out of it.

And I also made treacle tart. More on that another day..

Final Christmas cooking

Well, final for me anyway as I am lucky to have all the cooking done for me now after years of having to do it all myself. I have made two cakes this year, one for me and one for the family and also a Christmas pudding but that is all I have had to do.

Yesterday I made the recipe which was on the Great Christmas Bake Off on TV this week, the mincemeat streusal. Click on link below for recipe. Dead easy, much less fiddling about with cutting out pastry circles etc and tasted wonderful.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/mincemeatstreusel_73426

Mary gives a recipe for her mincement and though I have made it myself in the past I don't bother much nowadays and for this I bought a pot of bog standard mince from the supermarket and then added some cherries to it, a few chopped walnuts, some crystallised fruits I have left over from my cake (pineapple and apricot), sloshed in a bit of Amaretto and then stirred it up and left it for an hour.

Cuts into squares or slices. This recipe calls for a Swiss Roll tin but found that I must have chucked my old battered one out and so used a long thin tin I have instead and found it was just right.

Then today, I decided to ice my cake. Decided not to bother with marzipan this year, nor did I make my own Royal Icing which I did last Christmas, but used the ready to roll. I prefer making Royal icing but always find I have masses left over no matter what I do and as I have made a small cake for 2013, the ready made icing was OK.   It also means I can cut out shapes and decided to keep the decoration simple and not too much faffing about.    Won't win me Star Baker but it will do. Had a nice cream coloured ribbon about me to just shoved that round it and put in two little decorations which were part of those used at my daughter's winter wedding in 2007.  

So that is it.  I am making two tiny individual sponge puddings for Florence and Beatrice on Christmas day otherwise I am all done.

Now to wrapping up all my presents.....

Yorkshire Pudding

I love Yorkshire Pudding. My mum's pudding was wonderful and I have fond memories of it as a child.  I am hopeless at making it, hopeless. I simply do not know why, I have tried every which way but it always turns out a flat stodgy mess.

So I was probably a bit daft to attempt one the other night when I had some sausages in the freezer and decided to make Toad in the Hole.  Out comes Delia Smith and I used her batter recipe. Now I am not going to give it to you as it is the same as all the others, I was merely using it to check measures etc.   Mixed it up and realised it was a bit thick and I just knew it was going to be a stodge again so thinned it out with a dash more water.

I have tried various oils etc to make the batter and all have been failures so remembering my mother's method, I got out an old small pie tin, put a knob of LARD in it. Yes, lard. My mum used to use beef dripping but none of that around. Put in in tin, placed tin at top of very hot oven and left it until it was smoking and I had to stand back a bit when I opened the door. Sloshed in the batter and left it.

To my utter astonishment when I opened the oven some ten minutes later there it was - risen and beautiful. I simply could not believe it and then I practically danced round the kitchen. I had made a decent Yorkshire pudding!!

 

Had a lovely supper and decided that the difference this time is that I had a thinner batter and I used fat which has a higher temperature than oil.  Am going to try it again next week just to make sure that this was not a fluke.

Fingers crossed....