A new recipe

Because I don’t really like tomatoes (I find them quite sickly) when it comes to things like spaghetti bolognaise and lasagne I tend to stick with the sauces that I know ‘don’t taste of tomatoes’.

When we’re making lasagne I’ll use Dolmio low fat bolognaise sauce and for spaghetti it’s Colman’s spaghetti bolognaise mix.

It was the turn of spaghetti bolognaise for dinner that night so with me as chef de cuisine and John taking the role of sous-chef we prepared dinner.

After taking a couple of mouthfuls I turned to John and commented, “it tastes different today”.

John nodded in agreement.

“I’m not sure I like it”, I said, “there’s something not quite right about it”. 
“Do you think we’ve used sausage casserole mix by mistake”, replied John.

I checked the bin bag and staring straight at me was indeed the empty sausage casserole packet. “At least we know they don’t use the same mix in all their packets”, I said.

I don’t think this new recipe for spaghetti bolognaise will be making it into my cook book….

Marie

Recipe of the week – Sausage koftas

If you can’t find sausage meat, simply remove the skin from ordinary sausages. They are delicious hot or cold*.

Makes 20

• 1lb of pork sausage meat
• 2 tablespoons of cranberry sauce/jelly
• 20 rashers of bacon, de-rined and cut in half vertically
• Black pepper

Pre-heat the grill to medium. Put some wooden skewers into cold water to soak for at least 20 minutes.

Put the sausage meat, cranberry sauce and black pepper into a bowl. Mix well with your fingers to combine.

Divide the mix into 20 pieces and mould each piece into a sausage shape.

Take two of the cut strips of bacon and one of the sausage shapes and wrap one strip of the bacon around the sausage. With the other strip of bacon wrap a criss-cross pattern around the sausage. Repeat until all 20 pieces have been wrapped in bacon.

Push the kotfas onto the skewers then cook under the grill for 10 minutes. Turn them occasionally until the bacon is crisp and the sausage meat is cooked.

Don’t worry if you don’t have any skewers, simply put the individual koftas onto a grill pan and cook as before.

All the weights are in ‘old money’. If you want them in Metric, you’ll have to convert it yourself….

*’recipe of the week’ is taking a short break but will be back soon with lots more yummies

Recipe if the week – Cottage pie

If you’re not a vegetable lover, this is a great way of getting some of your ‘five a day’ as you don’t notice they are there.

Serves 2

• 6oz mince (lean if possible)
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• A small handful of mushrooms, finely chopped
• 2 small carrots (or 1 large carrot), finely chopped
• A handful of frozen peas and sweetcorn
• 1 pint of hot beef stock (from a cube is fine)
• 1 tablespoon of plain flour
• 1 teaspoon of dried mixed herbs
• 1 tablespoon of tomato paste
• Black pepper
• Worchester sauce (five or six good shakes)
• 2 baking potatoes (medium/large in size, peeled and cut into chunks)
• ¼ pint of milk

Oven: 180º c/Gas Mk 4. Fan oven 160ºc

Dry fry the mince in a frying pan over a medium heat until the mince is browned. If there’s oil from the mince left in the pan, carefully drain it away.

Add the carrots, onions and mushrooms to the pan and cook for a couple of minutes. Add the plain flour and mix well. Next add the tomato paste, black pepper (to taste), dried mix herbs and Worchester sauce to the stock and stir. Add the stock to the pan and mix well. Turn the heat up to high.

Add the peas and sweetcorn and mix well. Leave to simmer, stirring occasionally for 25 – 30 minutes until the mixture is thick.

While the mixture is simmering, pre-heat the oven, boil the potatoes for 20 minutes then mash with the milk.

Put the mince mixture into either two ovenproof dishes or one large one and top with the mashed potato. Make sure the edges are sealed to stop any liquid escaping. Fluff the potato with a fork so the ends get nice and crispy.

Cook in the oven for 25 minutes until the potato is golden brown.

Tip: let the mince mixture cool slightly in the dishes as it makes it easier to add the mashed potato.

The cottage pie mix can also be made in a slow cooker. Lean mince is best for this method as ordinary mince produces too much oil.

Add the mince, onion, carrots, mushrooms, peas and sweetcorn into the frying pan and cook on high for five minutes. Stirring occasionally.

Add the plain flour and mix well. Next add the tomato paste, black pepper (to taste), dried mix herbs and Worchester sauce to the stock and stir. As a slow cooker will not boil away the liquid, you will only need ¼ pint of stock. Add the stock to the pan and mix well.

Transfer to the slow cooker and cook on Low for 8 hours.

Don’t peel or chunk the potato’s, leave them whole. Prick each potato a couple of times and microwave them on full power (850w) for about 10 minutes. Leave to cool slightly.

Half the potatoes, then scrap out the insides leaving the skins behind into a bowl.

Heat the milk in the microwave on full power (850w) for 1 ½ minutes, then mash the potatoes using the milk.

Pre-heat the grill to it’s hottest setting. Fill the dish/dishes with boiling water, about half way is fine. Leave for about three minutes then carefully dry them.

Put the mince mixture into the dish/dishes and top with the mashed potato. Fluff the potato with a fork. Put under the grill for about 10 – 15 minutes until the top is golden brown.

All the weights are in ‘old money’. If you want them in Metric, you’ll have to convert it yourself….

Recipe of the week – Chilli wraps

You could also serve this with rice instead of wraps. Simply add a tin of drained cooked kidney beans to the mix.

Serves 2

• 6oz mince, preferably lean
• 1 green pepper, de-seeded and chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 pint of hot beef stock (from a cube is fine)
• 1 tablespoon of plain flour
• 1 teaspoon of dried Oregano
• 1 tablespoon of tomato puree
• 1 teaspoon of mild chilli powder (or more if you like it hotter)
• 4 wraps

Dry fry the mince in a frying pan over a medium heat until the mince is browned. If there’s oil from the mince left in the pan, carefully drain it away.

Add the onions and the peppers and cook for about five minutes.

Next add the flour and mix until everything is coated in the flour. Add to the stock the Oregano, tomato puree and chilli powder and give it a quick stir.

Turn the heat up to high and pour the stock into the pan then mix well.

Turn the heat down until the mix is simmering and simmer for about 25 minutes or until the mixture is thick. Stir several times during cooking to stop the mix from sticking to the pan.

Heat the wraps in a microwave according to the instructions on the packet.

Spoon the mix into a warmed bowl and serve with shredded lettuce.

All the weights are in ‘old money’. If you want them in Metric, you’ll have to convert it yourself….

Recipe of the week - Rock bars

If you like rock cakes you’ll love these.

Makes 16

• 8oz self-raising flour
• 4oz margarine (softened)
• 2oz granulated sugar
• 4oz dried fruit (sultanas or raisins or a combination of both is fine)
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon of milk
• 1oz demerara sugar

Pre-heat oven to 200º c/Gas Mk 6. Fan oven 180ºc

Line a 11x7x1 inch/ 28x18x2.5cm tin with baking parchment.

Add the flour and margarine into a bowl and rub in (like you were making pastry) until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.

Next add in the sugar and dried fruit. Stir in the egg and milk and mix until it forms a firm dough.

Put the mixture into the tin, pressing it into the corners and levelling it off with the back of a spoon.

Cut into 16 bars and sprinkle the top with the demerara sugar.

Bake for 25 minutes.

Allow to cool before removing the bars from the tin.

All the weights are in ‘old money’. If you want them in Metric, you’ll have to convert it yourself….