Mash Pancake and Onion Gravy with Meatballs, Leeks and Carrots.

I was tidying up my Freezer and found a little bag with 10 small meatballs made from Cumberland sausage meat. I also found one portion of frozen Mash, I thawed them both. In the meantime I had also found 3 different trays with 50g chopped onions, 75g leeks cut in rings and 75g small diced carrots in my fridge.

I was raking my brain for what to make with my finds and this is what I came up with.

• I placed 15g butter in a saucepan, once the butter was melted, I added the chopped onions and a handful lardons. Let it fry until the onions were translucent and the bacon started to crisp.
• Then added 50ml gravy made with 2tsp Bistro onion gravy mix and 50ml boiling water. If the gravy is too thick add a little more boiling water. When the gravy is ready pour it over the onions and bacon.
• Then add the meatballs, give it a stir, then add the vegetables, cover and leave on low heat for 5-15 minutes depending on your mash pancake.
• If you didn’t place the mash in a bowl to thaw then pour the thawed mash into a bowl. You do not want the mash to be too thick nor too thin. If its too thick add a little milk or water, if its too thin add 1 tsp potato flour or equivalent flour. Heat in a microwave for 20 seconds, and check the consistence; maybe add a little more flour.
• Heat 2tbsp oil in a frying pan, and pour the mash into the middle of the pan, it should spread evenly, if not just shake the pan until the mash is spread across the whole pan. Lower the heat to half heat. Leave for 5 minutes before turning and fry for another 5 minutes.

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Nearly Vege-Burgers

I had seen something similar on TV but didn’t make a note of the recipe and I didn’t look it up. I already had a similar recipe but as I didn’t have all 10 items needed for that recipe I decided to improvise and I used leeks instead of onions. It worked, so much so that my 2 guinea pigs wanted the recipe straight away.
PS. Leave the Bacon out and you have vege-burgers.
Serves 2-3          Prep time max. 5 minutes             Cooking time 8 minutes

•   

• • 90g Courgette, pealed, deseeded and finely chopped
  • 60g Leek, finely chopped
  • 60g Broccoli, finely chopped
  • 1 Garlic clove, finely chopped
  • 90g bacon, finely chopped
  • 1-2 eggs (it might be too moist with 2 eggs)
  • Salt and Pepper to taste
  • 1-2 tbsp Cassava/Tapioca flour, if needed
  • 1 tsp olive oil (for frying)
  • 10g butter (for frying)
  1. I used a small blender – instead of finely chopping everything. Pulsing each of the ingrediencies individually.
  2. Beat the egg and herbs in a mixing bowl.
  3. Add the remaining ingrediencies, bar the flour,
  4. Mix well. If the mixture is too moist, add some of the flour a little at the time.
  5. Heat a frying pan and when it’s hot, turn down the heat (to 5 out of 9) then add the oil and butter.
  6. Spoon the mixture onto the pan making 5-6 small burgers, Fry these for approx. 4 minutes each side. You may have to lower the heat, as you don’t want burned burgers.

  Calories: 135 per burger (55 if no bacon).

Venison Stroganoff

Serves: 2-3

Prep: 10 minutes

Cook: 2 ½ – 3 hours

Ready in: 3+ hours

Ingredients

3 tbsp olive oil
500g diced venison
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped finely
1 can cream of mushroom soup
.. or 500ml homemade mushroom soup*
½ the can of water (keep for later)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground black pepper
1-2 bay leaves
½ tsp mixed herbs
1-2 sprays of fresh thyme or 1tsp dried thyme
A pinch of nutmeg

* See ”My Gluten and Milk Free Mushroom Soup”

Directions

1. Pre-heat oven to 180°C.
2. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat.
3. Cook the venison in the hot oil until browned on all sides, about 5-8 minutes.
4. Once browned, remove from the frying pan with a slotted spoon and put aside, leaving the remaining oil in the frying pan.
5. Reduce the heat to medium-low, add the onions and garlic; and fry until translucent.
6. Pour the contents into a Dutch oven or ovenproof dish, add the meat and the remaining herbs.
7. Add the can of mushroom soup to the Dutch oven, rinse the can with water and then.
8. Clean the frying pan with the water; and add to the Dutch oven.
9. Cover, and cook in oven for 2½-3 hours, or until the venison is tender;
   check now and again making sure that the liquid hasn’t totally evaporated.

Thicken the Stroganoff with rice flour, if needed.

Serves: Inside a plain rice ring (the common way to serve Stroganoff)
. . . . . . .or with pasta: Pappardelle, Bucatini, Angel Hair, Orzo, Spaghetti or Penne
Decorate with parley.

Can be frozen – keep for max 3 month, in the fridge for 2-3 days.

Gammon to Honey Roast Ham with Crackling

I love home cooked ham at Christmas and New Year. But I also dread cooking it mainly because I am not sure how to cook it. So this year I searched the net, both Danish and English, and was pleasantly surprised at how easy it was. All of the recipes agreed on the cooking time, and I opted for a version of half boiled and half roasting.
I had purchased a small raw gammon joint of 1.4kg and here is how I cooked it.

I wrote this in January 2017; but forgot to post it.

Prep time 10 minutes	Cooking time 20 minutes per 500g plus 20 minutes
Serves 8	Rest Time 2x 10 minutes

For boiling:

• 1.4kg gammon joint
• 5 cloves
• 3-4 bay leaves
• 1-2 Onions, peeled and quartered
• 1 tsp Pepper
• 1 tsp Mustard seeds

For oven:

• Many cloves, enough to poke into each diamond
• 1 tbsp Honey
• 1 tbsp Mustard

1. Place the gammon in a saucepan, cover with water add 5 cloves, bay leaves, onions, pepper and mustard seeds.
2. Bring to boil, then lower the heat and let simmer for half the total cooking time.
3. Remove from saucepan and let it rest for at least 10 minutes.
4. Now remove the rind leaving as much as possible of the fat on the gammon.
5. Crisscross the fat with a knife making a diamond pattern.
6. Mix the honey and mustard, and spread it over the fat
7. Then poke each diamond with a clove.
8. Place in a 180°C oven for the remaining time. Keep an eye on the joint and cover with foil if it colours too much.
9. Remove from oven and leave to rest for 10 minutes before serving hot.

Make the Crackling:

1. Once the rind is removed slice it into bite size
2. Place all the pieces on a shallow baking tray
3. When finished place another tray on top to prevent the slices curling
4. Place in the oven with the ham on a lower rack and bake for 10-20 minutes
5. After 10 minutes remove the upper tray, and salt the cracklings, and bake for 10 more minutes or until cracklings are nicely browned.

PS. The best about the rind is; that it can be purchase from Morrison’s for 40-50p
Just pre-boil the rind (5-10 minutes). The time it takes to heat the oven.

Deep Fried Rabbit

I was experimenting and mixing a couple of recipes and came up with this one. I am not a great lover of deep frying but this is worth it. You don’t need a deep-fryer all you need is a steel/iron saucepan and 1 ltr of rapeseed oil. I must admit it’s the first time that I have cooked rabbit; but not the last. I was pleasantly surprised with the result, even though it wasn’t quite successful. The batter was a bit thin & runny; thus it fell off the rabbit. Never the less it was fun and a very nice result; for all it was relatively quick produced. I changed the recipe to be coated in egg and bread crumbs. I went to the butcher who stocks game and asked for a cleaned and jointed rabbit. The pieces he had were too big so he cut the saddle in half and separated the legs. I ended up with 8 pieces and it wasn’t OTT expensive.

• 1 ltr rapeseed oil
• 50g Parmesan, finely grated
• 2 x 50g sachets panko breadcrumbs
• 2 eggs
• 1 wild rabbit, jointed and each leg also
  jointed into a drumstick and thigh
• Lemon wedges, to serve

• Heat oven to 160°C/140°C fan and have ready a large baking tray with a wire rack placed over it.
• Heat the oil in a large, deep saucepan (or use a deep-fat fryer) until the oil reaches 140°C. Depending on the size of your pan you will be frying 3-4 pieces at a time; hence the hot oven. So fry the biggest pieces first.
• Meanwhile dry each piece of rabbit.
• Beat the eggs in a plate/soup plate (I like to add some herbs to the egg – e.g. salt, pepper and maybe some thyme).
• Mix the Parmesan and breadcrumbs on another plate
• Dunk each piece of rabbit in the beaten egg, lift out with a fork
• And coat in the bread crumbs.
• Repeat with a couple more pieces.
• Lower into the fat and fry for about 9 mins for smaller, 12 mins for larger pieces (11 mins if resting in oven), until deep golden and cooked through. Don’t overcrowd the pan.
• Lift out with a slotted spoon and drain on the rack in the oven while you do the next batch. Never leave the pan unattended.

Serve the rabbit with a sprinkling of flaky salt and plenty of lemon wedges.
You can also add small bowls with mayonnaise and/or tartar sauce and/or sweet chilli sauce for dipping.

Every Time Perfect Bacon

Difficulty: Easy
Oven Time: 20 minutes

I had to try this recipe when I found it (somewhere on the net, can’t remember where).
It actually works. No mess and no work once it’s in the oven. Just lovely!

1. Line a baking tray with foil. This will make clean-up easier later.
2. Arrange bacon slices on the foil
3. Place the baking tray on the centre rack in a cold oven.
4. Close oven door. Turn oven on to 200°C and leave for 17-20 minutes.
5. As soon as the bacon is golden brown, but not excessively crisp, it’s done.
   The exact time will depend on the thickness of the bacon slices, and also on how quickly your oven reaches the target temperature.
6. Remove the tray from the oven.
7. Transfer the bacon onto paper towels to absorb the fat.
   Pour the liquid fat – through a strainer to filter out any crunchy bits – into a heat-resistant container for other usage.

Tips:

• Keep your eye on the bacon during the final few minutes of cooking to make sure that it doesn’t burn. Also, remove the cooked bacon from the hot pan right away. The heat from the pan and the hot bacon fat will continue cooking the bacon.
• You can slightly undercook the bacon, then cool it and freeze it in a zipper bag. Then, to reheat, cook two slices in the microwave on medium power for 30 seconds or so.

Rolled Boneless Breast of Lamb

This will make a lovely cheap and cheerful Sunday roast.
Serves 4
Preparation time 5-10 min             Oven time 1 hour 20 min

• 600-700g rolled boneless lamb breast
• 2-4 garlic cloves sliced
• 1 tsp each of:  salt, pepper, garlic salt, onion salt, mixed herbs, marjoram, basil & hot paprika
• 2-3 leeks cleaned and cut into 2.5cm rings
• 8 smallish red onions
• 3-4 carrots peeled and cut into 1cm rings
• 1 large or 2 small heads of broccoli, cut into florets
• 100ml chicken stock

1. Pre heat the oven to 180º-200º
2. Mix all the herbs in a little bowl
3. Gently, without cutting the butcher’s string,
   push 1 slice garlic and ½ tsp of the herb mix into the “pockets between the strings” of the rolled lamb (approx. 6-8 times)
4. Push the remainder of the garlic into either end
5. Spread the remaining herb mix over the breast roll and “massage it in”. Use the ends of the role to pick up any spilled herbs.
6. Evenly spread the leeks in your Cast Iron Casserole (you could use a glass casserole dish)
7. Place the lamb breast on top of the leeks
8. Put the onions tightly around the lamb
9. Add the stock
10. Place the casserole in the oven for 1 hour 20 minutes
    If you are using a glass casserole, you need to place a piece of foil shiny side down between the lid and the dish and increase the cooking time by 15 minutes.
11. Use the accumulated juices from the casserole as gravy.
12. Cook the carrots and broccoli separately.

Serve with Rice, Potatoes or Pasta.

Diced Pork with vegetables

Preparation time about 7 minutes
Serves 1-2 people

• 150-300 g diced pork (any)
• 1 onion
• 1 garlic clove (optional)
• 75-150 g Frozen Peas
• 75-150 g Frozen Sweetcorn
• Herbs to taste: Salt, Pepper, Mixed Herbs, Paprika, what ever you like
• Chopped Parsley and Chive
• Oil or Butter for frying

• Saute the finely chopped onion and garlic;
• Add the diced pork and fry for 2 minutes constantly turning the meat;
• Then add the herbs and stir.
• Then add the sweetcorn and peas and 2 spoons of water.
• Turn heat down, cover with a lid and let simmer for 2 more minutes.
• Serve with cooked potatoes or rice or pasta.

 

Cheesy Beef Burger

 

250g minced meat

3-4 thick slices of strong cheese

Flour

Salt, pepper and other herbs to taste

Butter/margarine/oil for frying

 

 

 

Shape the burger into a solid 7-10 cm burger. Gently cut the burger in half so that you have 2 burgers.

Sandwich the cheese between the 2 halves of burgers.

Make sure all edges are closed and that there are no holes in the burger.

Season the burger on both sides.

Sprinkle the burger in flour (both sides and the edges).

Gently fry for 7 minutes on each side.