TOAD IN THE HOLE

This serves three or two hungry folk! Ideally the batter should be made the day before but it doesn’t suffer too much from being made at the time.

Ingredients
8 Pork Sausages
4 rashers streaky bacon halved lengthways
110g (4oz) Plain White Flour
300ml (½ pint) Milk
2 Small Eggs
8 long thin slices of cheese
½ tsp Salt
Gravy granules made up to 1 pint.

Method
Sift the flour into a mixing bowl, then make a well in the centre and break in the eggs.
Mix in half the milk using a wooden spoon and work the mixture until it is smooth; then add the remaining milk. Season. Beat or whisk until fully combined and the surface is covered with tiny bubbles.
Allow to rest for 15 minutes and whisk again before use.
Preheat the oven to 230°C; 450°F: Gas 8
Fry the sausages and bacon in a pan to lightly colour them and remove excess fat.
Put the sausages and bacon to one side and place the fat in a small roasting tin or Yorkshire Pudding dish adding a little oil, if needed, to bring the amount of fat up to about 4 tbsp. Heat the fat until smoking hot then pour in the batter.
Add the sausages and place the strips of bacon on top with the cheese slices on top of the bacon.
Place into the hot oven and bake for about 5-10 minutes at 230°C; 450°F: Gas 8, then reduce to 200°C; 400°F: Gas 6 and bake 15 to 25 minutes or until the batter around the sausages has risen and is a deep golden brown.
Serve immediately or the pudding will deflate.

If you are like Richard and I you will want plenty of gravy to accompany this dish! Jo prefers it without. (Observant folk will notice the example in the picture doesn't have eight sausages and the bacon and cheese weren't laid out perfectly. I had not originally aimed to do it for a blog posting - the principal objective was to eat it!)

NOT SIMPLY ICE CREAM

Sometimes you want a quick and easy dessert to follow a complex dinner menu. Ice cream is hard to beat and when you add a couple of blackberries, some chocolate or strawberry sauce and a brandy snap it can look and taste first class. And it only takes a minute to put out. Of course, if you’re really out to impress you can add a flake as well!

CHOCOLATE SABAYON

Originally I had intended to only post about recipes I had made but this one from recipes4us seemed so gorgeous that I couldn’t resist posting it here at the start of Chocolate Week, even though I have never made it. It serves four ordinary people or two chocaholics.

Ingredients
4 Egg Yolks
3 tbsp Caster Sugar
120ml/4fl.oz. Sweet Sherry
100g/4oz Dark Chocolate, shavings or coarsely grated

Method
1. Put the egg yolks and sugar in the bowl and whisk until the mixture is light and creamy.
2. Place the bowl over a pan of simmering water, add the wine and continue to beat with a whisk until the mixture becomes thick and forms soft peaks.
3. Remove from the heat then add the chocolate and mix gently.
4. Spoon the Sabayon into individual glasses and serve immediately.

(Don’t forget that the left-over egg whites can be used for meringues.)

WALNUTS ON THE SIDE

I love Walnuts and Jo’s brother Brian gave us some produce from his allotment the other day so I invented "Walnuts on the Side" and had it with a Steak and Kidney Pie. Hope you enjoy it as much as I did. Unfortunately I didn’t take much notice of quantities – I tend to just chuck stuff in when I’m ad-libbing. The following would serve two.


Ingredients
150gm of roughly chopped walnuts
6 small new potatoes
3 small carrots
80 Beans – fresh from the pod
Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Soy Sauce
Sea Salt & Freshly Ground Pepper

Method
Cut the potatoes into quarters and chop the carrot into small cubes. Put in a pan of boiling water with the beans and simmer for five minutes. Roast the walnuts in a dry frying pan over a low heat for five minutes. Then add a tablespoon of olive oil and continue stirring.
Add a generous splash of balsamic vinegar, another generous splash of soy sauce, and season with the salt and pepper.
Drain the vegetables and add them to the frying pan.
Stir occasionally over a gentle heat for ten minutes.
The pan can then be left, heating it up occasionally, for as long as you want while you make whatever the Walnuts on the Side is to accompany.
P.S. I think I’ll add some Parsnips next time as well!

AFELIA

One of my favourite Greek dishes. Ideally the meat should be prepared and marinated overnight in the fridge.

Ingredients:-Pork fillet – cut into cubes
1 lemon
2 heaped teaspoons coriander seeds
3 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 clove Garlic – crushed
½ pint (275ml) dry white wine
Salt
Black Pepper – freshly milled
Rice
Green Salad

Method:
Put the pork in a shallow dish and sprinkle with salt and freshly milled black pepper. Pour the oil over the meat and then the juice of the lemon. Then pour over 2 tablespoons of dry white wine. Crush the coriander seeds (in a mortar and pestle – it’s a about time you used it for something). Sprinkle the coriander seeds and crushed garlic over the meat and stir the ingredients together. Cover with a (clean) tea towel and leave overnight in the fridge.

Make a green salad and put the rice on to boil.

Melt oil in a large frying pan and when its nearly hot add the marinated pork and cook over a medium heat. Keep turning them over and when browned add the rest of the white wine. Let it bubble for about ten minutes and reduce to s syrupy consistency.

Serve the pork with the rice and a green salad.

CORNFLAKE CRUNCH

This was Mum's recipe and provides one of the easiest, sickly sweet cakes you could hope to come across.

Ingredients
6oz Butter
6 tblespoons Syrup
9 tblespoons Sugar
½ lb cooking chocolate
Cornflakes

Method
Slowly heat the 6oz of butter, 6 tablespoons syrup, 9 tablespoons sugar and ¼ pound of chocolate in a very large saucepan. When mixed, add crushed cornflakes and continue to mix well. All the cornflakes should have some of the mixture but the overall effect should be one of a sticky mixture rather than a wet one. Turn out into baking trays and press evenly. Cut into shapes. (You can use square, oblong or round trays - the latter give segment-shaped pieces.) Leave for 1 hour to cool..

DOUBLE HADDOCK PIE

Note this recipe takes some time to prepare because the first part needs to be allowed to cool before the topping is added and the pie goes in the oven. Overall, I would allow over an hour. Nevertheless, it is well worth it!

Ingredients
350g (12oz) skinned smoked haddock fillet
350g (12oz) skinned unsmoked haddock fillet
2 leeks, sliced
50g (2oz) butter
50g (2oz) plain flour
600ml (1 pint) hot milk
salt
black pepper
juice of ½ a lemon
2 tablespoons freshly chopped dill
3 hard boiled eggs, roughly chopped
1kg (2 1/4lb) potatoes, peeled, cut into even sized pieces
300ml (1/2 pint) milk
2 heaped tablespoons grainy mustard
75g (3oz) mature cheddar cheese, grated

I prefer undyed smoked haddock - there is no difference in the flavour but I don't see any point in eating chemicals for the sake of it!

Method
Pre-heat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4.
Butter a 2 litre (3 ¼ pint) shallow pie dish, about 6cm (2 ½”) deep.
Cut the fish into 1cm (1/2”) pieces, discard any skin and bones.
Boil the leeks in salted water for about 5 minutes and drain well.
Melt the butter in a good sized pan, add flour and cook for a few moments not allowing it to colour. Whisk in half the hot milk and allow to thicken. Whisk in the remaining hot milk and whisk until smooth. Add the fish and a little salt and pepper. Cook over the heat for 2 minutes stirring at all times. Add dill and chopped egg and turn into the buttered dish. Spoon over the leeks and set aside to become completely cold and firm.

Boil the potatoes in salted water till tender, drain and push the potatoes to one side in the pan. Add the milk and let it become hot, mash the potatoes with the milk with a potato masher then whisk in the mustard.
Season.
Spread the mash over the cooled fish and scatter with the grated cheese.
Stand the dish in a large roasting tin (just in case it boils over).
Bake in the oven for about 30 minutes until the top is golden and the sauce is bubbling at the edges.

FLAPJACK

Ingredients
4 oz margarine
4 level tablespoons golden syrup
3 oz granulated sugar
8 oz rolled oats
¼ teaspoon salt

Method
Grease a shallow tin about 71/2 inch sq. Put margarine and syrup in a saucepan over low heat until melted. Remove from heat and add sugar, oats and salt. Mix thoroughly. Turn into greased tin and cook in a very moderate oven (mark 3; 170) for 30 to 40 minutes until golden brown. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes then cut into 12 bars. Place on a wire tray to finish cooling.