LAMB PILAFF

This quantity serves 2. Serve with a green salad if desired.



Ingredients
2 oz butter
1 onion
1 clove garlic - crushed
12oz boned leg of lamb, cut into cubes (or you can use minced lamb)
2½ oz long grain rice
½ pint lamb stock or vegetable stock
seasoning
generous pinch mixed herbs
1 tbsp chopped parsley
1½ teaspoons dried marjoram
½ tsp ground allspice
½ a red pepper - chopped
1 tbsp sultanas
1 tbsp chopped almonds
2 tomatoes

Method
Chop the onion finely and fry gently in the butter until soft.
Add the crushed garlic clove.
Add the meat and rice and stir well until the meat is browned.
Add the stock, allspice, mixed herbs, marjoram and seasoning.
Bring to the boil then cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
Peel, skin and slice the tomatoes and add them to the meat.
Add the parsley, sultanas, red pepper and almonds.
Cook for a further 25 minutes or until the meat is tender and the rice cooked.

Tips
To skin tomatoes, pop them into a bowl of boiling water and the skin will burst. Take them straight out again and with use a sharply pointed knife to remove the skin.
To freeze this dish – cool it quickly and freeze in a plastic container for up to 3 months.
As an alternative you can use diced chicken - which may not take quite so long in the cooking. It's a chicken version starting to simmer (and just about to have its lid back on) in the photo.

STUFFED ONION

Serves two – serve on a bed of green salad.

Ingredients
2 large Onions
3 fl oz Olive Oil
3 fl oz Chinese rice wine
1 tbsp Honey
Freshly ground black Pepper
Salt
4 sprigs fresh thyme leaves
4 oz fresh breadcrumbs
3 oz butter
3 oz flaked almonds
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 clove Garlic, finely chopped
Green salad to serve.

Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180°C


2. Remove the onion outer skins and cut each to half way with a sharp knife. Then cut again to half way at a right angle. You should now have a cross shape that goes half way down the onion. Then make another two cuts to a quarter of the way down forming eight divisions but not separating the onion at all.
3. Put the onions in a roasting tin and drizzle the olive oil over them. Season with salt and pepper and place the sprigs of Thyme across the top.
4. Cover the tray with foil and put in the oven for an hour.
5. Remove the onions from the oven and take the foil off. Drain away the olive oil and pour the rice wine and honey into the roasting tin. Return to the oven until nicely roasted – about 15 to 30 minutes.
6. In a dry frying pan, gently toast the almonds without burning them.
7. Pre-heat the grill. Put the breadcrumbs, butter, flaked almonds, parsley and garlic into a bowl and mix well.
8. Remove the onions from the oven. open out the leaves a bit and press the filling into all the spaces.
9. Grill under a hot grill for 3 to five minutes or until golden brown.
10. Serve on top of a bed of green salad.

MSG

I don’t like Monosodium glutamate. I have known for years that if I eat a dish (usually a take-away) that has too much MSG in it I get a migraine. I also get an upset stomach (not related to the migraine stomach). The potential ill-effects caused by MSG were first described in a medical journal as ‘Chinese Restaurant Syndrome'. Symptoms including numbness and palpitations were reported shortly after visiting a Chinese restaurant. Such claims have never been specifically linked to MSG however, and could be due to common allergies to ingredients like peanuts and shellfish. MSG has been linked to many conditions including migraines, asthma, depression and Alzheimer's, but has never been isolated as a cause. Huge amounts of MSG have been fed to humans without causing ill-effects, and MSG is considered a safe additive by every government which tests these things. For all its testing I’m pretty sure it has an adverse effect on me and interestingly I have a neurodegenerative disease and MSG has now been implicated in a number of neurodegenerative diseases, including ALS (Lou Gehrig's disease), Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, multiple sclerosis and Huntington's disease.

I have now heard rumours that MSG lacerates your taste buds – that’s how it enhances flavours. The problem is that the taste buds then scar over and that reduces their effectiveness in the future. I don’t know if there is any truth in the rumours but it’s one more thing to put me of it.

All in all I think I shall continue to avoid it – after all, my cooking must be pretty poor if it needs a chemical additive to make it eatable.

RISSOLES

This creates about five medium sized rissoles.
As an alternative the tuna fish can be replaced by a tin of corned beef (chopped and broken into small pieces) or 6 to 8 oz of grated cheese (Cheddar or Double Gloucester preferred). I never weigh cheese so I hope I’ve got the amount right!
Serve with salad or baked beans.

Ingredients
Four large potatoes or the equivalent
3 oz butter
1 tbsp Olive Oil
1/3 cup plain white flour
Flour to cover lightly
2 tins of Tuna Fish (in oil or brine as preferred)
Salt
Fresh ground pepper

Method
Boil the potatoes and mash well with 2oz butter.
Drain the oil or brine from the tuna fish.
Add the flour and tuna fish to the potato, season and stir well.
Cover your hands in flour and take a small handful of the mixture (ouch, hot!) and pat it into an oval about three quarters of an inch (2cm) thick, then add a sprinkling of flour to the surface.
Put the other 1oz of butter and a tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan and heat it up.
Put the rissoles in the frying pan and turn occasionally until both sides are a crisp golden brown.
Serve with baked beans or a green salad.