Russian Baguette

It’s no secret that the boy is the sandwich monster. We are trying to make the most of the last of summer and are having a picnic. The boy has been sent out to get some fresh French bread. Knowing how much value he places on sandwiches, his choice will be good.

1 Baguette

75g cooked, shelled prawns

1 handful green beans

1 medium sized waxy potato

A handful cos lettuce

1 small cucumber

1 red or yellow pepper

2 pickled cucumbers (dill pickles)

1 bunch parsley, chopped

2tbsp Greek yoghurt

Salt & pepper

I am using quite large prawns as I find the small ones taste a bit fishy; I want them to taste prawny. For some reason cooked ones are cheaper than raw ones.

Peel the potatoes and trim the beans. Slice the potato and boil for 10 minutes. Chop the beans into 1 inch pieces and add them to the boiling water and give it another 10 minutes. Drain and leave it cool and dry out a little.

The boy has turned up with the baguette. Split it open.

Grate most of the cucumber and it to the baguette along with the chopped lettuce. Slice the rest of the cucumber thinly.

Put the prawns in a bowl with the yoghurt, green beans and parsley and mix well. Season well. Thinly slice the dill pickles and red pepper.

Spoon the prawn mixture into the baguette and top with slices of potato, cucumber, pepper and pickle.

Close it carefully and if not eating straight away, wrap in parchment and tie it up with string. Cling film just makes any sandwich taste of cling film.

The boy quite rightly questions its Russian provenance. No idea.

Chow Chow Hot Dogs

The boy is very happy that we are having hotdogs for lunch. He’s perfectly happy to have them with ketchup and French’s American mustard, but these are special with their sweet and sour relish.

4 hot dogs

4 hot dog buns

2 sweet white onions

2 Jalapenos

4tbsp cider vinegar

2tbsp olive oil

2tbsp brown sugar

1tbsp English mustard

1tsp ground turmeric

½ tsp caraway seeds

Salt & pepper

The hardest part these days is finding decent frankfurters. Check the ingredients and reject anything that says MRM or similar on the label. This means it will be made of stuff that I’m not happy with the boy eating. It means mechanically rendered, which frankly is unfit for human consumption. Sadly most commercial frankfurters are made from this. Herta are decent though too thin, as are Matteson's which are too thick. I have found just the right one in Lidl. If you love him hunt down the right ones. I do, so I do. I think the rolls should be soft rather than crisp.

Make the relish first. Slice the onions finely and chop the jalapeno. I have deseeded them and am saving the seeds to plant next year as jalapenos are so expensive in the UK. Saute for 10 minutes in the oil (use cheap olive oil), and add the vinegar, mustard, sugar, turmeric and caraway seeds. Keep on a low heat and mix until it thickens into a relish texture. About another 10 minutes.

Fry the frankfurters for a few minutes – they should be already cooked, so you’re just improving the flavour and texture. At this point the boy and his cat will pad in, having smelled something good going on. Give his cat an inch of sausage and tell the boy to wait.

Assemble the hotdogs – this doesn’t needs instructions. Stuff in as much chow chow relish as you can manage. I can’t resist a shake of Frank’s Red Hot Sauce on mine.  Wrap in kitchen paper and make sure the boy isn’t wearing a white T-shirt. 

Lebanese Chick Pea Salad

As summer is waning, the boy wants to have a last barbeque. Whilst he is busy charring lamb chops, I am whizzing up this Lebanese inspired salad.

1 can chick peas (Garbanzo beans, drained & rinsed

1 medium red onion

2 tomatoes

1 bunch coriander (cilantro)

½ a small cucumber

1tsp Za’atar

Olive oil and lemon juice to dress  the salad

Salt & Pepper

The recipe is pretty much just chop, chop, chop, chop. I have put on a CD called The Rough Guide to Bellydance, as it amuses me. I’m not trying it, even though the CD comes with a free instructional DVD.

Za’taar is the secret ingredient  - there are endless variations, and I’m sure the closely guarded family secrets are the best ones. It is essentially a blend of dried oregano, marjoram, sumac, sesame seeds, salt and sometimes cumin. Ours is Palestinian, from Oxfam. It’s super – buy some.

So after doing chop, chop, chop, put it all in a bowl and do mix, mix, mix.

I haven’t given amounts or proportions for the oil and lemon juice dressing as I think this is a really personal decision. The boy and I like our dressings sharp and would do a 1:1 ratio. If you can find it, Kalamata olive oil is awesome. I think the chalkiness of the chickpeas can take it on the sharp side so am generous with the lemon juice. If you don’t like coriander, a mix of mint and flat leaf parsley would also be great.

Check for seasoning, bearing in mind the Za’atar should have done a lot of the work.

Enjoy with the burnt lamb chops. The boy is looking winningly sheepish.

Mojo Verde

As summer draws to a close, I feel the need to eat as much fresh produce as I can. The boy has made crudités – carrot, cucumber, red pepper and celery batons to have with some hummus. I’m having mine with this, which is too hot for him.

1 large bunch coriander

6 green chillies

1 garlic clove

200ml  extra virgin olive oil

Juice of a lemon

1 tbsp sherry vinegar

½ tsp ground cumin

Some decent salsa music will lift this no end.

Roughly chop up the coriander, including the stalks. Deseed the chillies and roughly chop. Ignore the derisive looks from the boy. Slice the garlic clove.

Blitz in a food processor along with the lemon juice, vinegar and oil. White wine vinegar with a pinch of sugar would also work.

Decide whether you want it smooth or rough. The boy prefers it with a bit of texture and less chilli but this is for me so it’s hot and smooth.

Fresh Pea & Bacon Soup

I have posted a recipe for pea and ham soup using dried marrowfat peas and I have to confess it is my favourite. This uses the last of the summer’s fresh peas.

25g butter

5 spring onions,

500g fresh peas

250g  smoked bacon lardons

500ml ham stock

100ml full fat milk

I almost always start with a bit more than 500g of peas as I know how many the boy will eat while we are podding them. As it is September now, thoughts turn Autumnal so we are being frugal and making our own stock, though the “jelly pots” are very good these days. Ours is water, a chopped onion, peppercorns, a carrot, a stick of celery , a handful of the pea pods, a little thyme and a ham bone that the butcher gave us for free. See if you can get a pancetta rind or anything that will be cheap or free but is full of flavour. Just simmer for an hour and skim off any foam that rises to the surface. Fry the lardons and add any pan scrapings to the stock. Set aside.

Oddly, our cat, Ragout loves chewing on pea pods! He doesn’t eat them, but enjoys a good chew. This soup is all about enjoyment so we are happy to indulge him.

If you have made your own stock, feel extra virtuous and strain it.

Slice the spring onions (the green bits went into the stock), and fry gently in the butter. Add the stock. Once it comes to the boil, get the peas off the boy and add them too. Let it cool a little and then blend it. I always feel that when we blend soups we only do it for a few seconds and it needs much more than that. Put it back in the pan to warm it back up and add the milk to thin it a little. I prefer soups that are not too thick. Pourable rather than only spoonable.

Add the lardons and stir through. I have left the boy to the rest of the meal and he has come up with crusty bread, thickly spread with cream cheese. Wise boy.

Chipotle Bloody Mary

It’s a bank holiday in the UK. It’s cold and raining so we haven’t been out other than to get the newspapers. The boy loves a Bloody Mary and I found this recipe from Tabasco, and thought I would ring the changes. I prefer mine without the vodka. The boy doesn’t.

The recipe uses American cups – UK cups are marginally larger but as you should taste and adjust to you preference to go along, this won’t matter.

¾ cup vodka

3 cups tomato juice

1/3 cup freshly squeezed lime juice

3 ½ tsp Tabasco Chipotle Sauce

1 ½ tsp celery salt

¾ tsp black pepper

Garnish

Lime wedges

Celery stalks

Salt to rim the glasses

This recipe doesn’t need instructions but my thoughts on the ingredients….

Use a good vodka – the boy likes Russian Standard. As this is mostly tomato juice, choose a good brand. Our choice is Libby’s or Princes. Increasingly we like Lidl’s own brand. Del Monte is insipid and a waste of time. Whichever brand, it needs to be “from concentrate” and not freshly pressed for the same reason.

Chipotle is made from smoked jalapeno’s. I make my own chipotle in adobo from dried ones – there is a recipe on here. Tabasco’s version comes in a bigger bottle with a wider opening than their usual red sauce as it is thicker.

Start with getting the glass rims ready. Rub a lime wedge around the rim and dip into a saucer of salt. Our favourite is Fleur Du Sel, a damp salt from Brittany, but a flaky salt would be good too. Cut the celery stalks into a suitable size - they should be thin as well as fairly short.

Mix the Bloody Mary ingredients and pour into a jug. Refrigerate. I don’t hold with ice as it just dilutes it, though it does need to be cold. We have been known to pop a jug into the freezer when we are impatient.

Pour into the salt rimmed glasses and garnish with the celery and a lime wedge.

Consume the newspapers with the boy.

Discuss the world at large.

Greek Bean Soup

It is freezing for August. The boy and I are layering up  as we refuse to put the heating on in mid-August. A hearty soup is the answer.

500g dried haricot beans (or other white beans)

A good glug olive oil

1 large onion, finely chopped

400g can of chopped tomatoes

1tbsp tomato paste

2 carrots, chopped

1 celery stalk chopped (keep the leaves)

1 small dried chilli

1 small green bell pepper, chopped

1 litre water

Pepper

Bread, olives and pickles to serve

You need to soak the beans overnight. I find this supremely satisfying. I love watching them plump up ever so slowly. Next morning put on some Rembetika music and drain and rinse them. Put them in a pan with water to cover – bring to the boil and then let them simmer for 30 minutes. They shouldn’t be quite tender as they will finish cooking in the soup. Drain and put to one side.

The boy has done a fair bit of the chopping, so he may as well sauté the veg. They need to be soft. Meanwhile blend the tomatoes and tomato paste. I admit to buying a huge can of Greek tomato paste because I love the design on the tin. Once washed I will keep pencils in it.

Once the onions, carrots and celery are soft, add the green pepper and celery leaves. Crumble in the chilli. Pour in the water – ideally boiled in a kettle first, and tip in the drained beans.

Give it a stir and that is pretty much soup. Simmer for an hour to 90 minutes. This will allow some of the beans to break down and thicken the soup. You may need to add more water so it is still recognisably a soup. Nothing to do now, but wait. The boy is playing with his cat.

When it is ready, grind in plenty of pepper. Serve with bread- I think any kind with sesame seeds would be really good. I’ve put out a small side plate for each of us with a selection of olives and pickles. The sharpness cuts through the chalkiness of the beans. I notice that the boy avoids the pickled chillies, even though they are the big mild ones. Never mind. More for me.

Sauerkraut

It has turned decidedly cool for August – the boy thinks cool enough for making Sauerkraut, so we have sought out some tight white cabbages.

This recipe is very scalable and really depends on the size of your container. However as it takes a while to ferment, I think it’s worth making a fair amount.

2kg cabbage

50g salt

1tsp caraway seeds

The boy’s favourite way to remove the stalk of the cabbages is to whack it hard, stalk side down on the kitchen surface. That way you should just be able to pull it out. Remove the outer leaves and finely shred the rest. Our food processor is too small so it’s a knife job for us. The boy gets his consignment even finer than mine. Well done him.

Layer the cabbage into your container – we’re using the fermentation tub that we use for brewing beer. Sprinkle salt on each layer , but turn them and mix as you go along and sprinkle in a few caraway seeds as you go. There is some debate about what salt to use but I think the cheap table stuff will be fine.

Put a weighted plate on top – we’re using a couple of tins of tomatoes- to press it down.

After about a week, a brine will form so we will remove the cans but leave the plate on. Just check that the top of the cabbage remains submerged. If it isn’t, add some more brine – 25g salt in 1 litre of water.

It needs checking every couple of days. Once it starts fermenting a foam will form on the top which you need to skim off. After about 3 weeks this should stop which means it is ready to eat. Just give your serving a quick rinse and drain it first to get rid of some of the salt.

I like the sour hit of it as it comes though the boy likes his in the German style, gently fried in butter, and with plenty of good sausages. This will be ready in mid-September when my thoughts turn to mellow fruitfulness and the boy’s turn to sausages with sautéed sauerkraut.

Real Sage & Onion Stuffing

I’m posting this as I reckon 90% of all sage and onion stuffing is made with Paxo, which is crazy when it’s such a simple thing to make. The boy is a traditionalist and a Sunday roast is an unmovable feast in our house.

My Mum used to make a version of this but also used a small box of Paxo so it was half hers and half Paxo’s. No need.

500g white onions, chopped

125g fresh white breadcrumbs

60g butter or dripping

3tbsp sage, chopped

Salt and pepper

The boy has chopped the onions and predictably, they made him cry. Pat him on the shoulder and say “there, there”. I think they need to be the white onions rather than the red ones.  I actually don’t measure any of this out but give the above as a rough guide. It’s about 2 medium onions.

Grate the bread coarsely or give it a quick whiz in the food processor, but don’t get it too fine, This is easiest if you use yesterday’s bread.

Gently fry the onions in the butter or dripping so they are very soft but not browned. I don’t let the boy do this as I don’t want them crispy!

Sophie Grigson recommends pouring boiling water over the sage and letting it sit for one minute to tone down the medicinal taste. I probably wouldn’t do this if using shop-bought hothouse sage, but the stuff from the garden is quite potent.

Put the breadcrumbs in a mixing bowl and add the (drained) sage and salt and pepper – plenty. Tip in the onions with all of their cooking fat from the pan.

Mix well and stuff your meat. The boy prefers the stuffing separate, rather than inside a chicken or rolled in a meat joint. In this case, gently add a little boiling water, mixing the stuffing well until it is just moist and plumped up. Let it sit for 10 minutes then put in a greased tin and dot with butter. Put it in with the roast for the last 20 minutes until it crisps up on top.

Make the boy his Sunday Bloody Mary while you wait for it to cook

Campbell's Tomato Courgette Medley from the 80s

I really like old cookbooks and the boy likes ones associated with grocery brands. He found a book by Campbell’s soup from the late eighties. We both love soup and so always have some in the larder. 

There are a lot of things in the book that I would never want to try and are destined to remain in the 80s – i.e. a potato salad made with a can of cream of celery soup. But we did fancy this one.

1 can Campbell’s condensed cream of tomato soup

3tbsp grated Parmesan

1tbsp lemon juice

½ tsp grated garlic

½ tsp dried basil

875g courgettes, sliced

1 medium onion thinly sliced

1 green pepper, deseeded and cut into strips

The original recipe suggested garlic granules but I’m not going that far. The dried basil is a concession. Normally we have Heinz tomato soup in the house but you need Campbell’s for this as it’s condensed and it is from their book after all.

This is hardly a recipe – Put everything in a large saucepan and toss gently so it is all coated. Simmer over a low heat for about 10 minutes , without letting it boil, as this will spoil the soup. This should just cook the vegetables but leave them firm. Sprinkle with additional Parmesan.

The book also offers a Microwave version, which is “Cook on High for 15 minutes”. I suspect that is based on an 80s microwave and that it would need considerably less these days. (Do microwaves still have a High setting?)

It apparently serves 6-8. This must mean as a side dish – either that or we didn’t eat much back then.

Enjoy with Nik Kershaw or Howard Jones (depending on your allegiance), blasting out as loud as the neighbours will bear.