Cheats Trifle

I love making a trifle from scratch; baking a lemon madeira cake, making jelly with gelatine, making your own vanilla custard etc. but at this time of the year time is too short and the cheats version is quick and delicious so go for it. It has great colouring with the different layers. I will post a full trifle recipe at a later date.
This one serves 8-10 but I often reduce the quantities just for 2 people, so up to you.

Ingredients:

• Shop bought madeira/walnut cake
• 2-3 tbs Liqueur of your choice (optional)
• Raspberry jelly (optional)
• 1 tin of mangoes
• Frozen raspberries defrosted
• 1 carton full custard
• 300ml Whipping/double cream (liqueur to taste)

In a food processor blitz your cake and put into the bottom of your trifle dish. I always use a walnut cake for added taste.
Drizzle your booze, if using, over the cake. It is traditional to use sherry but I always use Amaretto.
Dissolve 4 jelly cubes, use extra water as it is just a layer that is helping to boost the firmness of the sponge to hold the rest of the trifle, but you can miss out if you prefer. Leave in your fridge to set for a couple of hours.
In the processor blitz the mango and spread over the base as your 1st fruit layer. Keep the juice, see my rice pudding recipe. Do likewise with your raspberries. There is no need to sweeten them as there is plenty of sugar going on, I find that the tartness can be a nice contrast. 
Now spread your custard over the fruit.
Whisk your cream. I always add some Cointreau or Grand Marnier to the cream to give it an adult boost. Spread onto the custard layer. Use a fork to create a nice pattern on the top.
Decorate in any way you like. I usually just sprinkle some finely chopped walnuts and grate some dark chocolate. If you have some spare raspberries add these.
You now have a quick and simple trifle that looks just great and tastes even better.
You have the contrast of the layer of cake, followed by the yellow/orange of the mango, then the red raspberry layer, the yellow custard and the white cream. Pretty as a picture.

Scrumptious Potato & sprout croquettes

At Xmas I can happily ignore roasted potatoes but I must have my croquettes. Far tastier in my opinion. Sometimes I have them simply with potato & onion coated in a parmesan crust. But today I am having them bubble & squeak style simply as there are always sprouts to use up & if you have family or friends who say they don't like sprouts give them these. Simple and fun to make.

Ingredients list is for 10 croquettes but it depends how big you want to make them. The larger will take slightly longer to cook. Again you can easily increase or reduce quantities. They freeze well so you might as well make a bigger batch.

Ingredients:

• 4 large potatoes
• The same weight in sprouts
• Butter
• Flour
• Egg
• Breadcrumbs

For the breadcrumbs, either buy some or make your own, better doing your own. I sometimes blitz old bread in a processor and toast under the grill which does give the best outcome BUT life can be too short so here are a couple of options. Blitz bread in processor and blitz in a handful of cornflakes to give it a crunch ( an Aussie tip). Or, when I'm coating fillets of haddock I simply blitz oats and cornflakes. Its a top tip and it works.

Peel the potatoes, cut into 3 pieces and boil for 15 minutes. Set timer for 8 minutes then cook the sprouts.

Tail the sprouts and peel away any loose leaves and boil for remaining 7 minutes or until cooked.

Drain the potatoes and put back into the pot under a low heat for 2-3 minutes, simply to dry them out a bit. You don't want the mixture sloppy.

Drain sprouts and slice finely.

Mash the butter into the potatoes and then beat in the sprouts with a wooden spoon, season to taste and mix well. Allow mixture to cool for a couple of minutes so that you can easily handle the mixture, then roll into ball shapes. Put in fridge to cool for about an hour to make the next stage easier.

Now lay out 3 small containers. Put plain flour in one, a beaten egg in the next and the breadcrumbs in the 3rd. Now roll one croquette in the flour, then roll in the egg and finally roll about in the breadcrumbs to coat. if you want a real crunchy coating repeat the process again but once works for me.

You can now keep them in the fridge for 2-3 days, freeze for a month or use straightaway.

To cook I put them in the oven with the bird for 15 minutes or so until they have heated through. If you want to fry them for 5 minutes or so each side make them a flatter shape rather than a ball.

If making the plain version grate fresh parmesan into into your breadcrumbs, lovely or do it to this version also.

Enjoy and I bet you soon make more!!

Chicken & bacon pasta with cheese sauce & honey mustard

This is great comfort food which takes no time to put together. It can be really simple or you can add extras to your chicken combo, mushrooms, olives, garlic etc. This recipe can be scaled up for as many as you like. Sometimes I make extra to keep for lunch the next day, your workmates will be jealous.

Ingredients for 2:

• 160-200g any pasta you like tonight I am using penne
• 2 chicken breasts sliced
• bacon lardons or chopped bacon
• 1 small leek or small onion
• 1/2 red or yellow pepper, jarred peppers will do fine.
• Cheddar cheese of your choice grated
• Flour
• Butter
• Milk
• Honey mustard, I use Arran products smooth honey mustard, (you can use any mustard of your choice or leave out)

Cook your pasta in boiling water 10 minutes or so.

Start making the cheese sauce. This is simple to master and is so useful for many dishes.

Start by slowly melting a tbs of butter in your pan. The more butter & flour you use the thicker your sauce. The same for the milk, less for very thick sauce, more if you want it runnier. When the butter has melted add the same amount of plain flour and stir all together. It will be in several bits at this stage, don't worry. Pour in a small amount of milk and whisk continually. It will thicken quickly. Add more milk and whisk hard again until thick, it will take a bit longer to thicken and repeat one more time. If you have kept whisking there will be no lumps. Add your grated cheese and stir through, then add a tsp of the apple mustard. Taste, you can add more cheese/mustard if you want at this stage. I now leave the sauce off the heat, it will thicken slightly but come back when reheated. There that's the hard work done.

Gently fry your leek/onion in olive oil. Toss in your bacon to get the juices released. Throw in the sliced peppers and then your chicken and stir until everything cooked.

Now mix in your cheese sauce to all of this and add to the pan of drained pasta.

Serve with grated fresh parmesan, black pepper and nice bread.

Enjoy.

Mince & Tatties....its all in the gravy (jus if you want to be posh)

There are not many Scots who don't like a good plate of mince & tatties. It is simple to make but so tasty, one of my comfort foods. This will take 30 minutes to make but best left for a few hours before eating to allow the flavours to blend, some say overnight even better but I usually eat it on the day I make it as the smell is so enticing I can't wait. The gravy always makes this dish, I cannot repeat my grans fab method but this one works without the need for stock cubes.
This is for 2 but we are greedy and eat more than we should. You can add easily increase for more people.

Ingredients:

• 400-500g mince, the best you can get.
• 1/4 turnip
• 2 carrots
• 1 onion
• Worcestershire sauce (I always use Lea & Perrins)
• Soya sauce
• Tomato ketchup

Firstly chop up your carrot & turnip into small dice and boil for 5 minutes. You are going to use this cooking juice for your gravy.
Put your mince in a pan and cook slowly to brown the mince. If you are using cheaper mince drain off any fat at this stage, you will be surprised how much there can be. In better quality mince there will be very little wastage and you can just leave these juices to add to the taste.
Add the turnip and carrot to the mince. Add as much cooking juice to make the amount of gravy you like, there will be little evaporation during this cooking stage.
Mix in a tbs of L & P & the soya sauce. These darken and taste your gravy. Also squirt in a tbs of tomato ketchup.
Cut onion in half and place in the middle.
Season with pepper, go easy with salt as the soya sauce has this, put a lid on the pot and simmer for 30 minutes.
Taste and add more seasoning, sauce if you desire.
That's it, as simple as that. You will not be disappointed. Plenty of mash potatoes to soak up the juices and it would not be the same without processed peas.
Enjoy.

Pasta Tomato & Pepper Sauce (with Chorizo sausages)....Never buy processed sauce again

This tomato & pepper sauce I make at least twice a month. You can make it tomato only if you do not want or don't have peppers. We love it with any type of sausages, tonight it will be chorizo, both for their taste and colour. But really use any links type sausage you can get. If you can, buy from your butcher or deli to be confident of what goes in them. In this case usually the cheaper they are, the less quality meat is in them and the sausages are bulked out with all sorts of stuff you don't really want to know about.
These quantities can be easily doubled or more to freeze. But, it is so easy that I tend to make it fresh each time.
You can use this sauce for many other recipes, it is a great standby.

Ingredients for 2:

• 150-200g any dried pasta you have in the cupboard
• 6 link sausages
• 1 small onion
• 1 thumbnail fresh ginger (optional but do not use powdered ginger in this recipe).
• 1 pepper either red or yellow (you could use one out of a jar)
• 12-16 cherry tomatoes or 4 normal salad size ( if you do not have fresh then use either 1 carton passata or 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• tbs fresh herbs basil/sage/oregano or tsp dried oregano (optional)
• 1 fresh chilli or hot chilli sauce to taste (optional). I use Lingham's ginger, garlic hot chilli sauce, it kicks.
• parmesan cheese
• crusty bread

Finely chop the onion, ginger (if using) and pepper and put in a non stick pan with oil (olive preferred) and simmer for 5 minutes.

Chop the fresh tomatoes and add to the pot, no need to skin or seed the tomatoes.

Chop & de-seed the fresh chilli, unless you like it hot, and add to the mixture. 

Put a lid on simmer gently, stir occasionally for 20 minutes.

Add the herbs and chilli sauce if using, give a stir to mix in and simmer for another 10 minutes. We like it rustic & chunky but if you want it smoother you blend to your taste.

Cook the sausages, if grilling 18 minutes turning every 6 minutes, if on hob 30 minutes cooked on a lower frame turning regularly.

Cook the pasta in a big pot boiling water for the cooking time on packet, normally around 10 minutes.

Drain the pasta, add a tbs of the liquid to the sauce. Put pasta back into pot, add some olive oil & seasoning. Mix in well and put pasta in your pre-heated bowls. Put sauce on top and arrange the sausages.

Sprinkle with parmesan (try freshly grated if you can as the processed tubs are just not as nice) and also have some bread to mop up the juices.

Simple just enjoy.

Cauliflower & Walnut soup....it's a WOW taste

This is now a firm favourite. It might seem an odd combination but it works, an excellent dinner party dish that is so simple to make. When I first stumbled across this in Spain I was immediately a fan and this is my version. 

Ingredients:

• Half a leek, white portion only. It can be substituted with 1 medium white onion or half a large one, if you prefer.
• 1 whole cauliflower
• 10 walnuts, from a packet finely chopped.
• 400 ml vegetable stock or water and a vegetable stock cube
• 300-400ml full milk
• Seasoning
• Smoked Paprika we use Pimenton de la Vera, Santo Domingo, Sweet

This is so easy. Chop leek and add to a pot. Remove the outer leaves of the cauliflower, break into florets and add to the pot. 

Add the stock/water, stock cube if using, season salt & pepper, bring to the boil, reduce heat, cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Add the walnuts and the milk. Depending on the size of the cauliflower it might need less liquid so you can put 2/3rds of milk in and add the rest later.

Now blitz with a hand blender or blender/food processor until you get the consistency you like. Add more milk if required and adjust seasoning if required.

To garnish sprinkle on some smoked paprika. The bright red paprika gives a great colour contrast as well as adding a bacon taste. We add quite a lot as we love the taste. Sprinkle on some finely chopped walnuts.

Now enjoy.

Sweet Potato & pepper soup....what a colour

Another simple soup recipe which is a doddle to make and the colour is stunning. Why would you buy tinned soup?
I went soup mad today so another recipe coming after this.
Always keep your eye out for vegetables going cheap or on offer as home made soup is no doubt the best. This recipe will make enough for 6 portions but you can easily double and put the rest in the freezer.
No fancy knife skills required as the soup will be blitzed at the end.
You can add a clove of garlic at the softening stage if you want but I prefer not to.

Ingredients:

• Half a leek
• 2 or 3 large sweet potatoes
• 3 peppers any mix of red/yellow will do
• 12 cherry tomatoes or chop up a couple of bigger ones
• vegetable stock cube if you have not any veg stock (see previous tip spicy soup)
• sprig of fresh thyme if you have any in your garden/window basket (optional)

Chop up your leek and put in the pot with some butter or oil to begin the softening process, add some salt to bring out the flavours and keep the lid on. Peel the potatoes, chop into smallish pieces and add to the leek. Chop the peppers removing the seeds and white pith and add to the pot. With the lid on heat gently for 5 minutes.

Add enough stock/water to just cover the vegetables. If using water crumble in your stock cube. You can add more liquid if you prefer your soup thinner.

Now add your sprig of thyme and season with salt & pepper. Bring to the boil the put the lid on and simmer for about 25-30 minutes.

Remove the thyme sticks as you do not want any wood in the finished soup. The leaves should have fallen off during the cooking. Either use a hand blender or put in blender/processor until it is the soup has pureed. The longer you blitz the thicker it will be.

Taste again and season if required and add water if you want to thin the soup.

This will now be a beautiful red/yellow colour.

To finish add a small blob of creme fraiche or cream in the centre, twirl with a a sharp point to make a nice pattern, but not necessary if you do not have any.

Enjoy...simple and tasty.

Mackerel Pate

This has to be the easiest pate ever to make and I can assure you that you will never buy shop bought fish pate again. You can use all sorts of fish: salmon, trout, haddock etc, but this is the simple bog standard version. This is so easy it involves no cooking, just putting together.
You get the best texture if the mix is given some quick blitzes in a food processor but, if you don't own one, mash the mixture with a fork and use a sharp knife to finely cut up the pepper/gherkin/onion.

Ingredients:

• One shop bought packet of mackerel, any version will do normal, peppered, lemon etc, I am using normal here.
• A couple of small spring onions, white only, use 1 if large.
• 1 large gherkin, 2 if you like these.
• Slice of red or yellow pepper about 1/8 of the pepper
• Creme fraiche/Mayonnaise. Cream if you want to indulge. (sometimes I throw in some cream cheese, you can change the quantities of these to suit your tastes).
• Lemon juice
• Pepper

Wash the gherkin to remove excess vinegar, and put into your processor through the tube whist the blade is spinning. At the same time add the spring onion & pepper, to finely chop all of these. Turn off machine and scrape pieces off the sides and redo if not fine enough.

Peel the skin and add the fish, just pulse a couple of times to gently mix.

Add some creme fraiche and mayonnaise, pulse into the mix. Check and if required add more to get your consistency.

Now pulse to get the coarseness you prefer, I like mine chunky but sometimes I make it completely smooth.

Add lemon & pepper to taste & one final pulse to mix these in.

That's it, another simple meal, get some crusty bread/crackers an enjoy.

Fridge clearout soup.....Spicy

I make soup on a regular basis, sometimes pre planned, going out to buy the ingredients but normally just using what is around and today is one of those days. So simple and it is always well received. Often I freeze a few portions for later in the week. Its time for the fridge to be cleared out and given a clean. Very little gets wasted around here.
Last night when I cooked the vegetables I deliberately boiled in water my carrots, turnip & potatoes. I always retain the cooking juice so now I have flavoured vegetable stock for my soup, no need for stock cubes etc.
Ingredients:
In the fridge I have: (you use whatever you have)

• Onions
• 1/2 butternut squash
• A chunk of turnip, about a quarter.
• Carrots
• Potatoes
• I also have some red lentils.

Brilliant, lets get started.
Into the pan add some butter & olive oil. Chop the onions (I prefer leeks for my soups but as I don't have any onions will do fine today), add to the pan, cover and cook on a low heat for 5 minutes to soften.
Chop up the other ingredients, nothing fancy as they are going to be blitzed later. Add to the onions & again cook slowly for another 5 minutes. I always add salt at this stage to bring out the flavours.
Now to make it spicy, no need for time consuming roasting & processing spices unless you want to, I simply add 2 tsps of Pataks medium curry paste. You can add more or less of the paste depending on your taste. If the soup is for my granddaughters then no paste goes in. Give it all a good stir to coat all the vegetables a cook for a couple of minutes.
Rinse through about a tea cup of red lentils until the water is running clear and add to the pot.
Now add your stock and extra water to cover all the vegetables by about an inch, the lentils will expand in the cooking.
Bring to the boil then turn down to a simmer for 20-30 minutes. Taste and add any seasoning as required.
Blitz the mixture in a processor/blender or using a hand blender until smooth. You can use now but better left to cool and reheat slowly. Sometimes I just crush the soup with a potato masher for a course texture. You can add water if too thick for your taste.
Eat as it is or add some fresh coriander to garnish or a blob of creme fraiche or both. Nice crusty bread to mop it all up.
Simple, just enjoy.

Prawn & Salmon pasta

Today's offering is so simple to make, very quick around 15 minutes maximum and I can assure you that everyone will go wow!! An easy supper/dinner that has only 5 main ingredients, make it 4 if you omit the salmon. If you want to you can add all sorts of extras to the dish to make it your own but this version does just fine.
If you wish this can be prawn only, still delicious but I prefer the extra dimension of the smoked salmon.
Warm a couple of pasta bowls, I put into microwave for a couple of minutes (assuming yours can go in a microwave, please check).
This is for 2 but easily doubled.
Ingredients:
Butter
Leek or onion
Prawns
Salmon
Creme fraiche
Pasta
Salt & Pepper
The choice of pasta is entirely up to you, in the past I have used spaghetti, penne & fettuccine but today's choice is fusilli. I allow 200g per adult which is enough for us.
First thing to do is to boil the water and throw in your pasta which normally takes about 10 minutes or so to cook. No need to season the water at this stage, see tip after draining.
Put the butter in a pan under a low heat, all the other ingredients going in this pan so use a reasonable size.
I prefer to use a small leek but onions are just fine. Chop to whatever size you prefer and add to the butter to soften.
The prawns I use are Farmfoods frozen raw prawns. These are a larger size and very good value. Again add as many as you want, I use 8-10 per person here as we are not having any other course, but if you are not using salmon then please add more. Add the prawns to the softened leek and keep stirring. You are cooking the prawns from frozen so the juices will add extra flavour.
Cut your smoked salmon into fine strips. There are plenty of these on offer in the supermarket so make this dish when you grab a bargain. I love this so much that I could and do eat plenty of the salmon as I'm slicing. Add the salmon to the pot when you think the prawns are cooked.
Now add your creme fraiche at the same time. As much as you need to make a sauce for the pasta.
All this now on a low heat for a few minutes as you are only warming this through at this stage, not cooking it. I don't think you need to add any lemon as the creme fraiche has its own taste but feel free to add it if you prefer.
Now add a couple of spoonfuls of the pasta cooking water to this mixture to thin your sauce, it does also add taste to the dish. Keep mixing gently to coat everything.
Finally, your pasta should be cooked, drained and added back to your pan. Top tip: at this stage I add a little olive oil, salt & pepper to the pasta and it really makes a difference to the taste of the dish. Give the pasta a good swirl to cover it all in the oil & seasoning and divide into your bowls.
Now add your prawn mixture to the bowls.
You can serve with bread of your choice to mop up the juices.
Now sit back and relax another quick, easy and very tasty meal.

Sausage, Mash, Cabbage, Mushroom & Onion Gravy and Black Sheep Ale

Hi I believe in quick simple cooking. All of my posts will be food that anyone can cook. It takes a little effort but is always worth it.
Tonight's meal is a pre footie fare, relaxing very plain comfort food with a beer or two. It will all be made in 20 minutes.
For 2 people: ingredients easily changed depending on number of people.
Ingredients:
6 good quality sausages of your preference, I am using butchers Cumberland sausages.
Potato mash so simple but oh so comforting.
Savoy Cabbage not everyone's favourite but I enjoy it.
Onion chutney which was pre-made by myself, so simple and I will put a separate post for this. Once made you will never buy this stuff again, guaranteed.
Butter
Milk
Seasoning
Cooking:
Heat grill to 200 gas.
Boil water for the potatoes. I use a steamer as I normally prefer to cook my vegetables this way to keep the texture.
Prepare potatoes any way you want but I am peeling and halving mine tonight.
Chop up half of the savoy cabbage.
The sausages are cooked in the grill for 20 minutes. Line pan with foil to save on cleaning later. Set the timer and rotate every 6 minutes. You can pan fry but I think this is better for consistency.
Boil potatoes for 15 minutes. Then add cabbage to your steamer for the last 5 minutes. Season the cabbage at this time. This will give you cabbage with some bite to it, not soggy drowned stuff we all dislike. There's all sorts of fancy things you can add to the cabbage but not needed for this meal tonight.
With 10 minutes to go chop/slice button mushrooms add to small pan with oil/butter and stir for a couple of minutes. You don't need to add too much oil, the mushrooms soak it up. Add 3 tablespoons of onion chutney and heat through.
Drain the potatoes and add butter (spreadable stuff fine), milk, seasoning all to your taste. I use a potato masher and then the secret is to beat this with a wooden spoon. Great exercise and you do not need potato sieves etc. This turns your mash into creamy perfection.
Put onnto heated plate,s simple but delicious.
Tonight I'm drinking some beer with the meal. I have chosen Black Sheep Ale which is brewed in Masham, Yorkshire. It is a light ale in a modern style. Goes well with the food. A bargain right now at £1.25 a 500ml bottle at Tesco. I have attached the link below so that you can explore the brewery site at your leisure.
http://www.blacksheepbrewery.com/
Give it a go you know you can.