Quiche

Used my 9"x 6" (2" deep) rectangular baking dish for a quiche for a change and think it will be something I repeat regularly. One packet of shop bought ready rolled short crust pastry fits nicely. (Don't tell my grandmother that I don't always make my own pastry!). Alternatively use an 8" flan dish.

Recipe

One pack of ready rolled short crust pastry
3 eggs beaten
300ml milk
Filling of choice
Grated cheddar

Heat oven to 180C
Line baking tray/flan dish with the pastry. Prick the base all over with a fork and brush with egg (taken from the beaten egg for the filling).
Bake 'blind' (ie with no filling) in oven for 15 minutes.
Remove from oven and add filling and cheese
Mix together the beaten eggs and milk and pour over filling
Put back into oven and cook for 30-40 minutes (until skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean)

Filling ideas
Fillings without the grated cheese should come to about half way up the dish (loosely added, ie not pressed down in any way)

• Gammon/ham and onion (fry onions until transparent)
• Asapargus (suggest use flan dish rather than deeper baking tray)
• Caramalised onions (finely chop 1.5lb onions and cook long and slow in 2oz butter until caramalised, ie deep brown)

Soups

Soups
- Asparagus
- Carrot and Coriander
- Chicken and Sweetcorn- Curried Parsnip
- Lamb and Pearl Barley
- Leek and Potato
- Lentil
- Mushroom
- Nettle
- Portuguese Chicken Soup
- Refrigerator
- Thai: Sugarsnap and Beansprout Laksa
- Tomato

Meat Rissoles

I was looking for my recipe for rissoles on this blog and couldn't find it. As it is one of the ultimate uses for 'left over roast' of any form...

Basics recipe is

8oz cooked meat minced with 1 small onion and a clove of garlic
Stir in:
1.5 oz breadcrumbs
1 beaten egg
2 tbsp parsley
salt and pepper

and add spices/seasoning depending on the meat (eg cumin and coriander - half tsp max of combined - for lamb)

Make into 6 - 8 thick rounded burgers (aka 'patties'). Coat with seasoned flour and then shallow fry for about 5 minutes on each side.

For chicken/turkey - I don't add anything else
For lamb - as suggestion above ie cumin and coriander (serve with yogurt and rice)
Other cold meat - too many other recipes for me to have tried rissoles with them!

Salads for this week

Have been picking a selection of differing leaves from the garden daily for the last few weeks. Rocket, chard and lettuce being the main ones

M: Gammon, celery and green pepper
T: Beef and beetroot in horseradish and yogurt dressing
W: Broad bean and butterbean
Th: Egg and anchovy (using up anchovies from warm pea, tomato and potato salad)

Lentil soup

I cook gammon joints in my trusty pressure cooker. The cooking liquid I then turn into lentil and gammon soup:

500g red lentils - rinse in seive until the water runs clear
2 onions chopped
5 carrots chopped
3 pints of cooking liquid topped up with water or stock and water

Bring slowly to the boil then simmer for 20-25 minutes until the carrots are cooked.
Liquidise when cool enough to do so.

If sufficient gammon left over from joint (and I try and make sure there is), shred and add to the soup.

Redcurrants

Picking redcuarrants this weekend. I love them fresh dipped in white sugar. Rest of family not so sure. So a collection of ideas for trial over the next week:

Warm redcurrant dressing (this recipe is with goats cheese salad)
With duck breast
Redcurrant compote with baked cambemert

Later update: I made something that took elements from all of the above recipe links:
200g redcurrants
dash of olive oil
2tbsp balsamic vinegar
1tbsp dark brown soft sugar

Put all into saucepan and cook gently for a couple of minutes.

Not perfected as yet, but a very good first pass if I do say so myself. I added half of the above quantity (cooked) to deglaze pan used for cooking lamb chops. Yum. Used the rest to serve with cold gammon and new potatoes. Double yum.

Warm potato, pea and tomato salad

A friend gave me this recipe some years back, but I can't find her version. I made the following from memory; it turned out just fine:

15-20 cherry tomatoes halved
8 oz frozen peas (fresh will of course be fine, just cook for less time)
half a tin of anchovies (about 3) roughly chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
6-8 new potatoes scraped, halved and boiled.
Bunch of mint chopped (have a feeling original recipe used basil)
1 tbsp balsamic vingegar
Black pepper (NO salt - the anchovies provide this)

Heat olive oil and lightly fry anchovies with peas until anchovies have 'melted' (about 15 mins)
Mix in with potatoes, tomatoes, mint, vinegar and season with pepper.
Serve!

A platter of this salad (the above does for two if served this way) topped with barbequed chicken and lamb goes down well and is also simple as nothing else is required to accompany it.

Otherwise the above quantities will easily serve 4 with other salads etc.