Gram Flour Chips

Ingredients:
15ml vegetable oil, plus extra for greasing and deep-frying
5ml cumin seeds
15 fresh curry leaves
5ml ground turmeric
15ml finely minced ginger
½ green chilli, finely chopped
½ bunch fresh coriander, finely chopped
200g gram flour or chickpea flour
600ml water
2ml salt
2ml freshly ground black pepper
5ml nigella seeds
30-50ml polenta meal

Method:

Heat the oil in a heavy-based saucepan. Add the spices, ginger, chilli and coriander and cook for a few minutes until aromatic.

Sift the gram flour into a bowl, then whisk in the water until smooth.

Pour the paste into the saucepan, add the salt and pepper and stir over a moderate heat with a wooden spoon or spatula for 10-12 minutes, or until the mixture thickens and comes away from the sides of the pan (the process is similar to making firm polenta, but the gram flour takes a little longer to thicken).

Grease a small oven tray and sprinkle with the nigella seeds and a little polenta. Pour over the gram flour mixture, cover with a piece of greaseproof and quickly flatten out the mixture. Chill in the fridge until the mixture has hardened.

Preheat a deep-fat fryer to180C. (CAUTION: hot oil can be dangerous. Do not leave unattended.)

Carefully turn the hardened gram flour mixture out onto a chopping board and cut into chips. Dust the chips with polenta meal.

Deep-fry the chips for 2-3 minutes, or until golden-brown. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside to drain on kitchen paper.

Green Beans With Parmesan, Garlic Butter and Almonds

Ingredients:
400g fresh whole green beans
30g butter
1 clove garlic
15ml grated parmesan cheese
60ml slithered almonds

Directions:
Top and tail the beans and cook them for 2-3 minutes in salted boiling water. Lift them out of the water with a slotted spoons and drain on kitchen paper.
Meanwhile, melt butter in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and sauté for 2-3 minutes until the garlic is tender, but not coloured, stirring frequently. Add the almonds and continue to cook for 1-2 minutes.
Add the cooked green beans to the garlic butter and stir to heat through, coating the beans with the butter and nuts. Transfer to a serving dish and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.

Lamb Shanks in Dark Ale

My family absolutely love lamb shanks. When you cook them until they're just falling apart, they develop the most amazing flavours. This recipe is all about investing in dark sticky sauce and tender meat. In the UK we're spoiled for choice when it comes to interesting ales, and adding a good dark ale to the onions creates the most brilliant depth of flavour. Whatever you do, do NOT skip the mint oil or spring onions. It's like flipping a light switch - just that simple little touch makes the whole dish sing.

Ingredients:

3 red onions, peeled
olive oil
sea salt and ground pepper
2 handfuls of raisins
100ml thick-cut marmalade
30ml tomato ketchup
50ml Worcestershire sauce, plus extra for serving
200ml smooth dark ale
6 lamb shanks, roughly 350g each
8 sprigs of fresh rosemary
1 litre chicken stock

To serve:

a small bunch of fresh mint leaves
a few tablespoons olive oil
2 spring onions, trimmed
cider vinegar

Method:

Finely chop the onions and put them into a really large casserole-type pan (roughly 26cm in diameter and 12cm deep), with a good splash of olive oil and a reasonable pinch of salt and pepper. Cook over a medium to high heat, stirring as you go, until the onions start to caramelize. Add the raisins and marmalade, then add the ketchup, Worcestershire sauce and dark ale. Give it all a good stir, then leave to gently simmer.

Put the lamb shanks into a large frying pan (roughly 30cm wide) on a medium to high heat with a drizzle of olive oil – you can cook them in batches if needed. Turn them every few minutes; once they have some good colour, pick in the rosemary leaves and move them around in the pan to get crispy, but don’t let them burn. Use tongs to move the shanks into the pan of onions, then pour in all their juices and the crispy rosemary. Add the stock, put the lid on, turn down the heat and leave to blip away slowly for around 3 hours, or until the meat falls off the bone easily. Try to turn the shanks halfway through so they cook evenly.

When the lamb shanks are ready, carefully move them to a platter, making sure the meat stays intact. Whiz or liquidize the gravy with a stick blender until smooth, then allow to reduce and thicken. Pound most of the mint leaves in a pestle and mortar with a good pinch of salt and the olive oil, then take to the table. Finely slice up the spring onions and toss on a plate with the remaining fresh mint leaves, a drizzle of cider vinegar and a pinch of salt.

Gently, so they don’t fall apart, transfer the shanks to a serving platter. Add a little splash of cider vinegar and a few more splashes of Worcestershire sauce to the remaining gravy in the casserole, then ladle it all over the lamb shank and pour the rest into a jug for people to help themselves. Scatter the vinegary spring onions and a few fresh mint leaves all over the top, drizzle the mint oil all around the shanks. Serve with mashed potatoes or rice.

Langoustine and Salmon Tart

This is a more sophisticated version of salmon en croute

with a rich langoustine sauce to serve.

Ingredients:
For the langoustine tart:
500g all-butter puff pastry
600g salmon, skin and pin bones, about 2.5cm/1in thick
1 egg white
50ml double cream
20 langoustines, peeled, de-veined, shells reserved for the sauce
125g baby spinach leaves
2 egg yolks, beaten

For the sauce:
50g butter
1 onion, roughly chopped
1 carrot, roughly chopped
½ head fennel, roughly chopped
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2ml cayenne pepper
10ml tomato purée
75ml white wine
500ml fish stock
75ml double cream
½ lemon, juice only

Method:

For the tart, preheat the oven to 200C.

Roll the pastry out on a floured work surface to a 3mm thickness. Cut out a 30cm x 10cm rectangle and a 37.5cm x 15cm rectangle.

Trim the salmon into a 27.5cm x 7.5cm rectangle

Roughly chop the salmon trimmings (about 175g). Blend the salmon trimmings and egg whites to a purée in a food processor. Add the cream, salt and freshly ground black pepper and blend together until smooth.

Place the smaller piece of pastry onto a baking tray and spread over half of the salmon purée. Cover with the langoustines and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Arrange the spinach leaves on top, then the piece of salmon. Cover with the larger piece of the pastry and crimp the edges. Trim the edges and brush with the beaten egg yolks. Score the pastry with a table knife.

Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes, or until the pastry is cooked through and golden-brown. Set aside to rest for five minutes.

Meanwhile, for the sauce, heat a frying pan until hot and add the butter, onion, carrots, fennel and thyme and cook for 2-3 minutes, or until just softened but not coloured.

Add the langoustine shells, cayenne and tomato purée and cook for a further minute. Add the white wine and continue to cook until the volume of the liquid is reduced by half.

Add the fish stock, bring to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.

Blend the sauce in a blender until smooth, then pass through a sieve into a saucepan. Return the sauce to a simmer, add the cream and cook for a further minute. Season, to taste, with salt, lemon juice and freshly ground black pepper.

To serve, carve the tart into slices and spoon over the sauce.

Tamarind and Miso Onglet Steak

Onglet steak is an inexpensive cut that is full of flavour. In France this is a classic bistro and brasserie steak. In this country, we tend not to use it as a steak cut; sadly, it goes into the stewing and mincing bin, along with other similarly tasty cuts of beef. It is, however, slowly starting to gain recognition over here and some gastro-pubs are using it as their steak of choice.

In the US it is referred to as a hanger steak because it hangs from the diaphragm, which comprises the skirt - a cut we are vaguely familiar with but which we often stew. If butchers got a bit more clever with their knives they would break down some of these muscles like they do in France and sell them as prime cuts instead of stewing steak.

Because you get only about 4-6 onglet steaks per animal it may not be commercially viable, but it's worth it because it has such a unique flavour, being next to the kidney on the beast.

If you have a good butcher, he'll know what you are talking about because this cut is sometimes referred to as butcher's steak - the butcher would traditionally keep it for his family as a bit of a treat. You could ask him for a bavette or flank steak which has similar eating qualities, but they need to be trimmed of all muscles and sinew.

Try it with Asian flavours in this delicious recipe.

Ingredients:
For the den miso:
100ml sake
100ml mirin
600g white miso
300g caster sugar

For the steak:
125g tamarind paste
75ml den miso (see recipe above)
2 garlic cloves, finely sliced
5ml chopped fresh thyme
6 x 150-175g onglet steaks, trimmed
50ml olive oil

For the watercress salad:
15ml pomegranate molasses
30ml cider vinegar
75ml extra virgin olive oil
2 bunches watercress

Method:
For the den miso, place all the ingredients into a saucepan and whisk over a medium heat until the sugar and miso have dissolved. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside to cool. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.

For the steak, mix the tamarind paste, den miso, garlic and thyme in a bowl until well combined. Add the steaks, make sure they are well coated in the marinade and set aside to marinate for at least three hours, preferably overnight.

Heat a griddle or a heavy-based frying pan over a high heat until hot but not smoking - if the pan is too hot, the outside of the meat will burn before it has cooked enough.

Brush the steaks with the oil and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Cook for 2-4 minutes on each side, or until cooked to your liking.

Transfer the steaks from the pan to a rack, cover with foil and set aside to rest in a warm place for up to 10 minutes - this helps the meat to ‘relax’ and maximises taste and tenderness.

For the watercress salad, whisk the pomegranate molasses, vinegar and olive oil together in a bowl until well combined, then season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Coat the watercress with the dressing.

To serve, place the steak onto serving plates with the watercress alongside.

Orange and Almond Cake

This orange cake is deliciously moist.

Serve it with a dollop of lightly whipped double cream for tasty dessert.

Ingredients:
2 oranges
225g caster sugar
6 eggs, separated
250g ground almonds
50ml flaked almonds

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease a 9in springform cake tin.

Simmer the orange in a saucepan of simmering water for 45-60 minutes, or until very soft. Remove the pan from the heat and leave the oranges to cool in the water.

Drain the oranges and roughly chop, discarding the pips. Blend to a purée in a food processor.

Whisk half the sugar and the egg yolks in a bowl until thick and pale. Whisk the puréed orange into the mixture and then mix in the ground almonds.

Whisk the egg whites in a separate bowl until soft peaks form when the whisk is removed. Whisk in the remaining sugar and continue to whisk until the mixture is thick and glossy.

Fold the egg whites into the orange mixture until just combined.

Spoon the mixture into the cake tin and sprinkle over the flaked almonds.

Bake in the oven for 25 minutes, then cover loosely with aluminium foil and bake for a further 25-35 minutes, until cooked through or a skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

Pumpkin Soup

This velvety pumpkin soup recipe is great for Halloween -

It’s served with a splash of sherry in a hollowed-out pumpkin.

Ingredients:
1 x 4kg pumpkin
125g butter
2 medium onions, peeled, finely chopped
1 cinnamon stick
freshly grated butmeg
salt and freshly ground black pepper
1.7 litres chicken stock
50ml sherry

Method:

Cut the top off the pumpkin and set aside. Scoop out the seeds and fibres from the middle and discard.

Using a sharp knife and a spoon, carefully hollow out the pumpkin, removing the flesh and setting aside. It is imperative that you do not cut right up to the inside of the skin or pierce it.

Leave 1inch of flesh all around the inside.

Roughly chop the scooped-out pumpkin flesh.

Melt the butter in a large pan with a lid over a low heat and add the onions. Cook the onions gently for 10-15 minutes, until they are softened and golden-brown.

Add the pumpkin flesh, the cinnamon and nutmeg, and season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Increase the heat to medium and cover with the lid. Cook for 40-45 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent the base from burning, until the pumpkin is cooked through.

Add the stock and bring to the boil. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly. Transfer the soup to a food processor in batches and blend until smooth.

Return the soup to the pan and bring to a low simmer and cook for a further half an hour.

Forty-five minutes before eating, preheat the oven to 170C.

Pour the soup into the hollow pumpkin shell, add the sherry and stir to combine.

Place the reserved pumpkin 'lid' onto the pumpkin and place onto a large baking tray. Cook in

the oven for about 45 minutes, to bring the soup up to temperature.
To serve, carefully remove from the oven and serve the soup in the pumpkin at the table. Ladle into bowls and serve.

Blueberry Bakewell Tarts

These delightful little tarts are a treat with a cup of tea or coffee, or even for a dessert after a delicious meal.

Ingredients:
For the blueberry jam:
125g fresh or frozen blueberries
15ml caster sugar
A squeeze of lemon juice

For the pastry:
200g plain flour
100g butter, chilled and cubed
40g icing sugar, sifted
1 large egg, beaten

For the frangipane:
55g butter, softened
55g caster sugar
1 large egg, beaten
40g ground almonds
15g plain flour

To decorate:
50g icing sugar, sifted
Fresh blueberries

Method:
Preheat the oven to 170C.

In a small saucepan, combine the ingredients for the jam and heat gently until the berries start to burst. Cook for a few minutes until the mixture is very thick and has lost its watery appearance. Press through a sieve to remove the skins. Allow to cool completely.

To make the pastry, sift the flour into a bowl and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the sugar. Using a palette knife cut in the egg, press the dough all together to form a ball, wrap in cling film and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Roll out the pastry between a sheet of greaseproof paper and the cling film to 3mm thickness. Use a 5cm round cutter to cut out 12 discs. Use the rounds to line the base of a greased 12-hole, non-stick muffin tray. Cut 12 strips 1cm wide and 20cm long from the remaining pastry. Use these to line the sides of the muffin tray, carefully pressing the pastry together at the seams to seal. Chill for 15 minutes.

Place the ingredients for the frangipane in a bowl and beat with an electric mixer until smooth and thoroughly combined. Prick the bases of the pastry cases with a fork. Divide the cooled jam among them, placing half a teaspoon in each. Top with the frangipane.

Bake for 25 minutes, or until the frangipane is risen and golden. Cool in the tray for a few minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely.

Mix in the icing sugar with a little water to form a runny paste and use to decorate the tarts. Top with blueberries.

Coffee and Walnut Cake

This English teatime cake is found in every museum and gallery café for good reason.

It is a wonderful pick-me-up in the afternoon.

Ingredients:
For the cake:
200g walnuts halves
200g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
200g caster sugar
4 eggs
50ml coffee granules, dissolved in 30ml boiling water
200g self-raising flour

For the icing:
600g full-fat cream cheese
100g light brown sugar
Icing sugar for dusting

Method:
Preheat the oven to 170C. Butter a 20cm spring-form or loose bottomed cake tin, about 7cm deep, and line the bottom with baking paper.
Spread the walnuts out on a baking tray and place in the oven to very gently toast for about 7 minutes. They need to be just turning golden. Remove the tray from the oven and allow the nuts to cool. Roughly crush half of the walnuts with the side of a large knife and set aside. Reserve the remaining nuts for decoration.
In a bowl, cream together the softened butter and caster sugar until pale and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Beat in the coffee. Fold in the flour and the crushed walnuts. Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the top with a spatula.
Bake in the oven for 45-55 minutes, or until the cake is springy to the touch and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean.
Remove the cake from the oven. Allow it to cool in the tin for 10 minutes. Run a knife along the inside edge of the tin and turn the cake out onto a wire rack. Allow the cake to cool completely –could take up to 2 hours – before icing it. In the meantime make the icing.
In a bowl, beat the cream cheese with the light brown sugar until creamy. Place the cooled cake on a serving plate or stand. Spread the mixture over the cake and cover with the reserved walnuts. Dust with icing sugar.
This cake will keep in the fridge for 2-3 days.

Beef and Onion Suet Pudding

This slow-cooked pie with a suet pastry crust is comfort food heaven. Suet pastry is an old family favourite and the first pastry I learned to make. It’s as easy as pie! This pastry is typically English and can be used for savoury and sweet dishes; for the latter you might want to add about 60-100g caster sugar to use for puddings.

Ingredients:
For the filling:
750g stewing beef , diced
50ml plain flour
salt and freshly ground black pepper
60ml olive oil
150g whole baby onions, peeled
1 onion, sliced
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
150ml beer
300ml beef stock

For the suet pastry:
500g self-raising flour
250g beef suet
325ml water
Pinch salt

For the cabbage:
50g butter
1 conical cabbage, core removed, shredded
50ml chopped fresh flatleaf parsley

Method:
For the filling, preheat the oven to 150C.

Mix the beef, flour and seasoning together in a bowl.

Heat some of the olive oil in a large flameproof casserole until hot. Shake the excess flour from the beef and fry, in batches, for 4-5 minutes, or until browned all over. Remove the beef and set aside.

Add the remaining olive oil and onions to the pan and fry for 3-5 minutes, or until softened and just coloured.

Return the beef to the casserole and add the garlic and beer. Continue to cook until the volume of the liquid has reduced by half then add the beef stock and bring to a simmer. Cover with a lid and cook in the oven for 2 hours.

Season, to taste, with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Set aside to cool completely.

For the suet pastry, mix the self-raising flour, suet, water and salt in a bowl to form a soft dough. Do not overwork the pastry.

Roll out three-quarters of the pastry to a 1cm/½in thickness and use it to line a 1.2 litre pudding basin. Fill with the cold cooked beef filling and moisten the pastry around the rim of the basin with water.

Roll the remaining dough to a 1cm thickness and place over the top of the basin. Pinch the edges firmly together and trim off any excess.

Cover with a double layer of greaseproof paper and a single sheet of aluminium foil. Tie around the top edge with string.

Steam the pudding for 1½ hours in a steamer, or on an upturned plate in a covered saucepan half-filled with water.

For the cabbage, heat a frying pan until hot, add the butter, cabbage and 50ml water and cook for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until just tender. Stir in the parsley, salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Serve the pudding in slices with the cabbage alongside.

Red-Braised Pork Ribs with Sticky Rice

These spicy, sticky ribs are tender and wickedly moreish.

You could use pork ribs, lamb ribs or beef flat ribs.

Ingredients:
For the red braised ribs:
1.5kg pork ribs

250m water
125m shaoxing rice wine
5ml salt
60ml dark soy sauce
3 star anise
1 cinnamon stick
4 garlic cloves, crushed
5 large slices of fresh ginger
2 spring onions, roughly chopped
pinch chilli flakes
2 pieces dried tangerine or lemon peel
100g Demerara sugar

For the rice:
400g glutinous rice, soaked overnight in 1.litres pints water

For the sweet shallots and peanuts:
60ml vegetable oil
2 banana shallots, finely sliced
3 garlic cloves, finely sliced
2 large red chillies, finely sliced
15ml caster sugar
2 spring onions , finely sliced
50ml crushed peanuts


Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C.

Cut the ribs into 2-3 pieces and place in a large, flameproof roasting tray.

Mix the remaining ingredients until well combined and pour over the ribs.

Place the tray over a medium heat and bring to the boil. Cover tightly with foil and place in the oven for 2 hours. Turn the ribs in their cooking liquor every 20 minutes.

Increase the oven temperature to 220C. Continue basting the ribs every 5-10 minutes or so, or until the sauce is well reduced.

Drain the rice, line the steamer with clean damp cheesecloth, spread the rice on the cheesecloth and cover lightly. Cook in the steamer for 15 minutes, or until tender.

Meanwhile heat the oil in a large heavy fry pan, add the shallots, garlic and a pinch of salt. Cook for 4-5 minutes, or until golden-brown. Add the chillies and the sugar and continue cooking until lightly caramelised.

Stir in the spring onions and drain through a sieve. Finally stir in the crushed peanuts.
Allow the ribs to cool slightly then serve with rice and the sweet shallots and peanuts.

Curried Three Bean Salad

Ingredients:30ml olive oil
2 large garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 red medium chilli, finely chopped
5ml curry powder
1 tin (410g) chopped green beans
1 tin (410g) butter beans, drained
1 tin (410g) baked beans with tomato sauce
15ml tomato paste
150g natural yoghurt
Spring onions chopped to garnish

Method:Sweat the garlic, shallot, and red chilli in the olive oil over a medium heat until the onion is translucent. Add the curry powder and mix into the vegetables. Add the green beans, butter beans and baked beans and fry for 4-5 minutes. Add the tomato paste and yoghurt and simmer for about 10 minutes, stirring from time to time. Allow to cool, place in a salad dish and garnish with chopped spring onions.

October Fruit and Vegetables

The days are growing shorter, autumn winds are blowing and the harvest is being brought in from the orchards and fields. October is sometimes thought of as the ugly sister of September, but the reputation is not deserved. Summer, when orchard and vine are exploding with juicy, sun filled abundance, may be passed, but the warm months have helped breed new things for autumnal abundance, some being uniquely enjoyable. This year the apple trees are especially heavy laden with succulent fruit, ready to be made into jams, preservers and beverages. Wild mushrooms are abundant and squash and pumpkins are ready early for Halloween.

Americans think of pumpkin as something you put in a pie and serve at Thanksgiving. Europeans know it primarily as a savoury ingredient. In this case, the old world and the new both have it right. Pumpkin is delicious in sweet pies, but it can be put to good use in all manner of savour dishes as well. The simplest is to cut the pumpkin into pieces, removing the seeds and strings from the central cavity and steaming or baking the pieces for serving with a little butter as a vegetable. Some care needs to be taken with cooked pumpkin as it becomes fragile when cooked because of the high water content. This may be acceptable if the flesh is to be drained of excess water and served mashed. One of the nicest ways of preparing this vegetable is to roast it in pieces at low temperature for an extended time, which cooks them and simultaneously evaporates much of the water.

Some vegetables from summer are still available, especially in the early part of the month: beans, courgettes, peppers and aubergines from Europe, and beetroot, sweetcorn, sweet potatoes, celery, carrots and marrows are available in abundance.

Root vegetables are now coming into their prime. Look for parsnips, celeriac, Swedes and turnips this month to use in soups and stews as we progress into colder weather. There should also be a good selection of onions available in October. If you like to make pickled onions, now is the time to make them.

The last, but not the least, of the vegetables to be considered for consumption in October are spinach, chard and cabbages. These seem to come into their own as the days become shorter and the nights grow colder. Red cabbage is especially good when cooked with onions, pears or quinces.

Most of the berries of summer are now gone, but other fruit make up for their depletion. The apple season is in full swing, and with them come delicious pears and damsons, perfect for preserves and puddings. Autumn is also the season for nuts, with fresh walnuts being the first to be seen. They are never better than at this time of year, before the flesh has lost its moist, delicate freshness.

Figs are another October highlight, picked from the tree when fully ripe, they offer their incomparable sweet flavour for a short time before they become too soft. They are perfect torn open and savoured raw, but are also delicious baked with honey and feta cheese.

Quinces are another top choice for October, especially for jam and jelly making. Pomegranates, coming from the Mediterranean, are also abundant now. They may be one of the hardest fruit to eat, but the succulent pits are delicious in both savoury and sweet salads.

Mint Jelly

This summer I have a mountain of mint in my garden, taking over about a quarter of the space I have! I planted a sprig left from a supermarket pot a couple of years ago and it has thrived so that it's now about 100 times the size it was to start with. It is luscious and fragrant and just begging me to use it, so I made it into a jelly that I can store and use all year through.

Mint jelly is just to die for if spread on lamb chops before grilling them. The flavour permeates the meat, tenderising it as it cooks so the result is not just flavoursome, but succulent and tender at the same time.

When making mint jelly, use tart apples like Granny Smiths or Bramleys. The tarter the apple, the more pectin it has. If you are using home picked apples, picking early in the season is best, and smaller apples will have proportionately more pectin as well. Don’t peel or core the apples as most of the pectin is found in the core, and almost all the rest is found in the peel.

Ingredients:
1.8-2 kg tart apples, unpeeled, chopped into big pieces, including the cores.
375-400ml fresh mint leaves, chopped and lightly packed.
Zest and juice of 1 lemon
500ml water
500ml white wine vinegar
875-1000ml sugar ( about 220ml for each 250ml of juice).

Method:
Combine the apple pieces with lemon zest, lemon juice, water and mint in a large pan. Bring to the boil and reduce the heat to a simmer for 20 minutes, or until the apples are soft. Add the vinegar and return to the boil. Simmer covered for another 5 minutes. Use a potato masher to mash the apple pieces to the consistency of thin apple sauce.

Spoon the apple flesh into a clean tea towel in a colander or large strainer over a large bowl. Leave to strain for several hours. Most cooks say not to squeeze, but I do squeeze very carefully to get the last of the juice out of the apple mash without getting any of the pulp in the syrup. Note, if your apple mash is too thick you can add about 100-125ml more water to it. You should have between 1000-1250ml of resulting juice.

Measure the juice, then pour into a large pot. Add the sugar ( about 220ml for each 250ml of juice) and heat gently, stirring to make sure the sugar dissolves and does not stick to the bottom of the pan and burn. Bring to the boil and continue to boil for about 10-15 minutes, using a metal spoon to skim off the surface scum. Continue to boil until a jam thermometer shows that the temperature has reached 105°C or 220-222°F, not quite at the thread stage. Additional time needed for cooking can be anywhere from 10 minutes to an hour or longer, depending on the amount of water, sugar, and apple pectin in the mix.

If you don’t have a jam thermometer, test by putting a small amount of jelly (half a teaspoon) on a chilled plate (chill the plate in the freezer in preparation for testing). Allow the jelly to cool a few seconds, then push it with your fingertip. If it wrinkles, it’s ready.

Pour the jelly into sterilised jars almost to the top of the jar and seal. This makes about 8 x 100ml jars.

September Fruit and Vegetables

September this year has been a fickle month of misty mornings, an inordinate amount of rain that has come late in the season, which can’t be making the farmers very happy, cool breezes that have turned into gales and the leaves have seemed to turn to the russet tones of autumn earlier than normal.

We spent the first part of this month on the Isle of Mann with friends, which has made me a bit late in posting my normal suggestions for the month, but better late than not at all.

Where fruit and vegetables are concerned, September is the end of summer rather than the beginning of autumn. It’s still quite hot in southern Europe, even if the weather here in the UK is beginning to get a bit nippy.

This month is the best for tomatoes, with UK farms producing their best long-ripened varieties, often selling them at a premium low price because of the end of summer glut. If you like to make tomato preserves and sauces for storage, this is the time to buy. Local farmers’ markets may have plenty to offer, perhaps not as perfect as the EU would expect, but still perfectly good for cooking. Perhaps the best to use for sauces, and even for chutneys too, are the small cherry tomatoes because the skins give such a good colour to the resultant product. Tomatoes are also great roasted, sun-dried or dried overnight in a very low-heat oven, or in salads and soups. Consider making ketchup too.

The same end of summer abundance makes this the time to eat and cook all the soft fruits you can: peaches, nectarines, plums, damsons, strawberries, blackberries and raspberries. For UK fruit there is nothing better than Scottish raspberries, considered by many to be the finest in the world.

The first UK pears should also be coming on to the market now, and the first Cox apples as well. Until they arrive, the fruit to look for are the melons from France, and figs and grapes from the Mediterranean. However, if you are impatient for the British Cox’s season to start, there are other varieties available. The best places to look for them are at farmers’ markets as these apples will come from small growers who don’t usually sell through the big supermarkets.

The end of summer theme follows through with vegetables: courgettes and marrows, peppers, beetroot, aubergines, fennel, garlic, carrots and the last of the sweetcorn for the year. There is certainly no shortage of good things to cook and serve at your table.

You’ll also start to see the first arrivals of squash in all sorts of varieties. Experiment with them in soups, stews and curries, roast them in olive oil or try stuffing them with rice or forcemeat. Don’t forget the last of the summer beans and the new season leeks, which will be coming into the shops this month.

Most of all, remember to look for a group of edibles that are not only world-class, but free: wild mushrooms, that is if you are a seasoned forager; if not, find someone who is to teach you or buy a reliable guide book for proper identification. But beware: some mushrooms can cause illness and occasionally death!

The season for wild mushrooms is dependent on weather conditions, but the message is clear: you should eat these delectable morsels every chance you get. Even though they are not for me, as I am allergic to mushrooms, I hate to spoil the fun for others who love them, so here’s the deal...

Some supermarkets keep them, but the prices are astronomical and quality that varies greatly. The much better option is to collect them yourself; they may be closer to your home than you realise. There are so many varieties, so I won’t go into much detail about habitat, but generally speaking woodlands is where you will find them. One exception: common field mushrooms, which can grow in open grassland.

The best know varieties found in the UK are ceps, or penny buns, chanterelles, which usually begin earlier than others, and oyster mushrooms, but you may find dozens of other varieties. Once you get the fungi-foraging bug and the taste for these delicacies, it bites hard and tends to last a lifetime. For now, even if you don't get to search for them yourself, buy wild mushrooms from a reputable supplier and enjoy preparing these seasonal splendours.

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Plum Jam

Makes about 4.5kg

Ingredients:

2.7kg plums
2.7kg sugar
A knob of butter

Method:

Put the plums in a preserving pan with 900ml of water and gently simmer for about 30 minutes, until the fruit is very soft and the contents of the pan are well reduced.
Remove the pan from the heat, add the sugar, stirring until dissolved. Add the butter and blend well into the mixture. Bring to the boil and boil rapidly for 10-15 minutes, stirring frequently, until the setting point is reached.
Take the pan off the heat. Using a slotted spoon, skim off any scum from the surface of the jam and remove the plum stones. Pour the hot preserve into warm sterilised jam jars, then cover and label.

Cooks Tips

If dessert plums are used, rather than the cooking variety, add the juice of 1 large lemon.
This jam can also be made with peaches, but the stones should be removed before putting in the pot and the juice of 2 lemons should be added.
For a more savoury variation on this jam, add 5ml crushed chillies. This jam is great added to sauces for pork and chicken.

Gooseberry and Elderflower Jam

Makes about 1.6kg

Ingredients:

900g green gooseberries, topped and tailed
900g granulated sugar
Juice of 1 lemon
300ml elderflower cordial

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Put the gooseberries in a preserving pan with 150ml water, then cook over a low heat until the gooseberries are very soft. Meanwhile, put the sugar in a large roasting pan and warm in the oven for 10 minutes.
Add the lemon juice, elderflower cordial and warmed sugar to the gooseberries, bring to the boil and simmer gently until the sugar has dissolved. Increase the heat and bubble for 25-30 minutes or until the jam is set. Pour the hot preserve into warm sterilised jam jars, then cover and label.

Apricot Jam

Makes about 3kg

Ingredients:

1.8kg apricots, halved and stoned, stones reserved
Juice of 1 lemon
1.8kg sugar
A knob of butter

Method:

Crack a few of the apricot stones with a nut cracker, take out the kernels and blanch them in boiling water for 1 minutes, then drain.
Put the apricots, lemon juice, apricot kernels and about 450ml of water in a preserving pan and simmer for about 15 minutes or until well reduced and the fruit is soft.
Off the heat, add the sugar, stirring to dissolve. Add the butter and boil rapidly for 15 minutes or until the setting point is reached.
Remove any scum with a slotted spoon. Pour the hot preserve into warm sterilised jam jars, then cover and label.

Strawberry and Redcurrant Jam

Makes about 1.4kg

Ingredients:
700g granulated or preserving sugar
1kg strawberries, hulled and halved if large
225g redcurrants, stripped from their stalks
Juice of 1 lemon

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Put the sugar in a roasting tin and warm in the oven for 10 minutes. Put half the strawberries and all the redcurrants in a preserving pan over a low heat and cook until soft and the juices run.
Add the remaining strawberries to the pan and bring to the boil. Add the lemon juice and warmed sugar to the pan, bring to the boil, then simmer until the sugar dissolves. Bubble for 25 minutes or until set.
Pour the hot preserve into warm sterilised jam jars, then cover and label.

Raspberry and Cinnamon Jam

Makes about 1kg

Ingredients:
900g granulated or preserving sugar
900g raspberries
Juice of 1 lemon
1 cinnamon stick, crushed and tied in muslin

Method:
Preheat the oven to 180°C.
Put the sugar in a roasting tin and warm in the oven for 10 minutes. Put the raspberries in a preserving pan and cook over low heat for 5 minutes or until the juices run. Add the warmed sugar, lemon juice and the cinnamon stick.
Bring to the boil, then simmer until the sugar has dissolved. Bubble for 15 minutes or until set, then remove the cinnamon stick.
Pour the hot preserve into warm sterilised jam jars, then cover and label.

Making Jam and Preserves

The end of summer, when there is lots of fruit around, is a great time to make jam and preserves. Here are a few things you should know about making jams.

Tips

• Before you start, put four saucers in the fridge or freezer to chill ready to repeat testing for setting as needed.


• A large preserving pan with a wide top id essential for its size and shape – it helps the evaporation process, ensuring the finished preserve is not too runny. Stainless steel or non-stick pans are best.


• Preserving sugar is a superior quality course grain sugar that gives a clear set ideal for jellied preserves, but it’s not essential for marmalade and jam and it’s much more expensive than granulated sugar.


• Jam sugar is not the same as preserving sugar – it’s a granulated sugar with added pectin and citric acid to aid the setting of fruits that have a naturally low pectin content such as strawberries and cherries.
  

Setting Agents

• Preserving sugar produces less scum, dissolves easily and produces sparkling jellies and lams. Jam sugar is used for fruits with low pectin and acid level.


• Pectin makes preserves set when fruit is heated with sugar. However, many summer fruits are low in pectin, so if your jam or marmalade is not setting, add extra lemon juice – a good natural source of pectin. Alternatively, use an artificial pectin – add one sachet per 1 kg of granulated sugar.
  

Setting Point

When jam reaches setting point it’s ready to bottle. Test regularly for a set. If the preserve is boiled for too long it darkens and caramelises. There are two good ways of testing this stage:

• Spoon a little jam or marmalade on to a chilled plate, then chill for a minute or two. If it crinkles when you run your finger through it from the edge, setting point has been reached.


• Take the guess work out of getting the perfect set by using a jam thermometer. Generally speaking, the setting point will be around 105°C.
  

Bottling Tips

• Before use, wash jars in hot water, drain, then leave to dry in a warm oven (150°C). Boil the lids. Alternatively, a fast wash in the dish washer is ideal.


• Always pour hot preserves into warm jars.


• Always fill to the rim to allow for shrinkage on cooling.


• Cover with waxed discs, waxed side down, and dampened cellophane covers, dampened side up.


• For longer-term storage, cover the screw-on lids, too.


• For best results, store preserves in a cool dark place.
  

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Lamb Dhansak

This is a one pot curry that just needs rice and a relish or chutney to go with it. You could also make it with chicken instead of lamb. Ideally, this needs to be started the day before it is to be eaten.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:
500g stewing lamb or mutton, cut into cubes
500g yellow lentils
110g red lentils
110g mung beans, soaked overnight
Oil or ghee for frying
2 red onions, peeled and finely sliced
5ml turmeric powder
5ml coriander powder
5ml cumin powder
1 brinjal (aubergine), peeled and diced
250g pumpkin or butternut squash, peeled and diced
Salt
500g fresh spinach leaves, well washed and drained

For the Curry Paste:
6-8 garlic cloves, peeled
5cm piece of fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
6-8 dried red chillies
6 green cardamom pods
1 cinnamon stick
5ml black peppercorns
15ml coriander seeds
15ml cumin seeds

Method:
Rinse and drain the lentils and mung beans. Grind all the curry paste ingredients with a little water to make a smooth paste.

Heat the oil or ghee and fry the onions until golden brown, then stir in the curry paste, turmeric, coriander and cumin and stir-fry gently for about 5 minutes.

Stir in the lamb and cook gently over a low heat until the meat is coated with the curry paste and any liquid from the meat has been absorbed. The dish should be quite dry.

Add the lentils, mung beans, brinjal and pumpkin or squash and stir in a little water to form a gravy. Season with salt. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat, cover and simmer gently for about 30 minutes until the meat is cooked and tender.

Remove the meat from the pan and put to one side. Purée the lentils, vegetables and gray with a hand blender and return the meat to this mixture.

Quickly stir-fry the spinach in hot oil, then add to the lamb mixture and serve.

A Pickle of a Pawpaw

We call them pawpaws in South Africa, but here in the UK they are referred to as papaya. This wonderful fruit of the Carica papaya is native to the American tropics and was cultivated in Mexico for hundreds of years before becoming known in other parts of the world. Today it grows in many warm countries including Natal, where it springs up all over the place, its seeds spread by birds in their droppings. The ripe fruit is normally eaten raw, but in South East Asia, in particular, the green unripe fruit is cooked and eaten in salads and chutneys. They can also be used to make jams with other fruits as they have a high pectin content.

The seeds of the pawpaw, or papaya, are quite an interesting commodity. They can be dried and used as a substitute for pepper, their sharp spicy taste giving piquancy to a dish. Papaya seeds have also been used in India and Pakistan as an abortifacient in females and contraceptive in males, but I don’t recommend this application without proper advice.

One of the great benefits of pawpaw, for which I can recommend it from personal experience, is that it is an asset in weight management. It contains a protease enzyme known as Papain, which not only helps to tenderise meat, but also helps in the breakdown and removal of fat from the body. So if you’re looking to manage your weight, eat the ripe fruit regularly. It is also known to contain Lycopene, which is an immune stimulant with anti cancer potential.

To make Pawpaw Pickle

Ingredients:
Makes 3 x 175ml (6oz) jars

1 green or unripe pawpaw – papaya
15ml salt
1 medium red or white onion, roughly chopped
1 green chilli, seeds included and finely chopped
185ml malt vinegar
185ml water
250g sugar
30ml tandoori masala or chilli powder

Method:
Peel and chop the pawpaw into quarters and remove the seeds. Cut the flesh into thin slices and place them in a glass or plastic bowl. Cover the fruit with the salt, tossing to ensure complete coverage and marinate for at least an hour.

Drain the excess liquid that has been drawn out of the fruit by the salt and place the fruit into a saucepan with the onion, green chilli and chilli powder. Add water, sugar and vinegar and bring to the boil. Simmer gently for about 15-20 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside to cool.

Spoon the fruit mixture into sterilised jars and pour over the vinegar syrup and seal the jars while still hot. Store at room temperature, or in the fridge once opened.

Mixed Vegetable Achar

Achar is a type of pickle, which originated in Malaysia. Some achars use vinegar and oil as preservatives, but I was taught to make it with mustard oil as the preservative medium. I have seen recipes that use vegetable oil and mustard powder added, but they don’t give the genuine result of the ‘Indian Achar’ I know and love, but rather come out more like piccalilli. If you are unable to get mustard oil, which is readily available from Indian or Asian supermarkets, then use vegetable oil but add more mustard seeds.

This makes about 8 x 454g jars.

Ingredients:
1 – 1.5kg carrots
500g green beans
1 small cabbage – preferably white cabbage, not Savoy
1 small cauliflower
15ml mustard seeds
15ml cumin seeds
15ml sesame seeds
12 chillies, split lengthwise, seeds left in
15ml salt
5ml ground mace
5ml ground cloves
5ml ground cardamom
30ml tandoori spice or ground chilli powder
250ml muscovado sugar
750ml mustard oil – or vegetable oil and mustard seeds

Method:

Peel the carrots and cut them into julienne pieces. I’m lazy; I put them through the chipper plate in the food processor. It might give a bit of a choppy mess with lots of little bits, but it’s for pickle, so it doesnt need to be perfect...

Wash the beans well – I find they always have a bit of dirt on them and if you don’t wash them they can add grit to your pickle. Top and tail the beans , then cut them on a slant into ½ cm lengths – the thin slither eradicates any stringiness they might have.

Remove the outer leaves of the cabbage and cut it into quarters. Cut out the hard central core and slice up the rest of the cabbage as you would for coleslaw – again, I’m lazy and run it through the thick slicer plate in the food processor.

Break up the cauliflower into small florets, cutting the larger florets in half or quarters and discarding the thick stalks. I usually cut up some of the thinner stalks into thin slithers just to add some bulk and crunch to the achar.

Blanch all the vegetables in a large pot of boiling water for 5- 10 minutes, until they are softened. Drain the water off and allow them to dry. In Durban when I made this I would lay the vegetables out on a large sheet in the sun, but we don’t have the space or get that kind of sunshine in the UK, so here I put the vegetables on baking trays and dry them for about 30 minutes in a low oven, about 150C. Once the vegetables are suitably dried – they only need to have some of the moisture taken out so they are not wet – put them into a large pickling basin.

Now you need to sterilise your jars. I usually do this by first soaking and washing the jars well in warm soapy water to remove any dirt they may have left from their previous use and to remove any labels. Once they are clean, I rinse them in warm water and place them on a baking or roasting tray. Into each jar, I pout about 1 inch of water and then put them in the oven at about 120-150C for a half an hour. If your jars have metal caps, the best way to sterilise these is to put them in a pot of water on the stove and boil them for about 10 minutes. Leave your jars in the oven and the caps in boiling water until needed.

When your jars are almost ready in the oven, make the tempering to go on the vegetables. Put the mustard seeds, cumin seeds, sesame seeds and chillies in a frying pan with about 100ml mustard oil and bring them up to heat until the cumin seeds are spitting and the mustard seeds are jumping. Pour this tempering over the vegetables in the bowl and mix through.

Mix the salt, ground mace, ground cloves, ground cardamom, tandoori spice or ground chilli powder and sugar in a bowl and add to the vegetables, blending the spices through the mixture. Now you can spoon the vegetables into prepared sterilised jars.

Lightly heat the mustard oil – or vegetable oil and mustard seeds if you prefer – in a saucepan. As soon as the oil begins to smoke, remove it from the heat and allow it to cool slightly for 4-5 minutes. Pour the oil into the jars over the vegetables until the vegetables are covered – this may take a couple of top ups in each jar as the oil makes its way through the vegetables and settles in the jars. Once all the jars are filled, you can seal the jars with their lids. Store at room temperature for about 2 weeks before using. This pickle should keep for at least 6 months or more.

August Fruit and Vegetables

August is the month to make the most of the last lazy days of summer and its abundance of fresh produce. The crops may be changing, but the picture for this month closely resembles that of the last, July. This is the month to gladden the hearts of vegetable lovers. Good English strawberries are now on their way out and asparagus and Jersey Royals are mostly finished, but other potatoes like Maris Piper, which are great for summer salads, are particularly good this month.

As for greens, there is so much to get excited about in August that it’s hard to know where to start. Sweetcorn, peas, tomatoes, cucumbers, salad leaves, and courgettes – these are all continuing to thrive under the summer sun. This is also the peak time for UK herbs, which will be popping up in domestic gardens and on commercial farms; get maximum mileage out of these summer luxuries while they last.

Other new vegetable arrivals will be aubergines and peppers, which are grown outdoors in the hot weather of southern France and Italy. Take advantage of these sunshine fruits now and through to September with ratatouille, relishes, and salsas or add them to the barbecue with courgettes to make a seasonal summer vegetable platter.

Another true August star is runner beans, always at their best if picked young before they have had a chance to develop the powerful string and skins that make preparation and eating a bit of a chore. Slicing and buttering them with buttery hazel or cob nuts is an unusual way to serve them. If you can only find the larger beans, de-stringing, slicing, and long cooking are more or less essential, or you could use mangetout, which should also be at their best this month, which make an easier replacement.

Don’t forget the new crops of cauliflower, beetroot, carrots and leeks, all of which should be at their youngest and most tender. This is the prime time to eat cauliflower and carrots raw, as crudités with dips or vinaigrettes, and also the best time to put up a store of achar or piccalilli for the year ahead.

Vegetable soups are also an area to explore in the month of August. Be adventurous with ‘Tomato and Red Pepper Soup’ or a delectable Magic Vegetable Soup’.

Another vegetable to pounce on when you see them are the best of the summer’s globe artichokes from France and Italy. They should start arriving early in the month. Globe artichokes, the flower head of a member of the thistle family, are among the strangest of all vegetables. Something like 80% of each flower is inedible, but these are also one of the most luxurious of vegetables, which are at their height in high summer. There are two types available: small ones from Italy and large ones from Brittany in France. Care is needed in buying: there should be no sign of browning or shrivelling, and the tips of the leaves should feel soft rather than sharp and spiny. Go for specimens with tightly packed, crisp green or purple leaves with a slight bloom. Fresh ones should feel heavy for their size, and the leaves should 'squeak' when the bud is gently squeezed. Artichokes hold a lot of grit, which is best removed by soaking and then giving a vigorous shaking in the water.

When cooking artichokes, iron, copper and aluminium cookware may cause artichokes to discolour; stainless steel, glass or enamel is the better cookware to use.

To prepare whole, cut the tough tips of the leaves off with scissors, holding the stalk to keep the artichoke steady. Using a knife, slice the base off, so that it will sit upright, before trimming off the pointed top - the younger the artichoke, the less you'll need to cut off. Pull the pale centre leaves out, then scoop the choke out with a spoon, without disturbing the heart underneath.
To prevent browning, drop each one in a bowl of water to which a little lemon juice has been added. Cook them in a pan of boiling salted water for 35-45 minutes - when they're ready you should easily be able to pull out a leaf. Drain upside down.

To prepare artichokes for storing, steam or boil them as described above, then bottle them in olive oil. These are great as part of an Italian anti pasti, for putting on pizza or serving with salads.

Artichokes can also be barbecued or grilled: cut in half lengthways, remove the choke, brush with olive oil and grill for 30 minutes, until tender.

For fruit, most summer berries are available and it’s definitely time to get out your jam making equipment, if you haven’t already. August is the start of the blackberry season. With the help of this wonderful dark berry you’ll be able to make summer puddings of distinction or make the most marvellous jams. Good English cherries are also in abundance now, as well as blackcurrants and blueberries. Peaches, apricots and nectarines are at their best now and the same goes for melons, which are never better than they are at this time of the year.

Apple Butter

Making apple butter is a great way to use up the glut of apples at harvest time. Although that is not for a few months yet, I'm including the recipe here as it goes so well with Homemade Sausages. As the name suggests there is butter in this preserve, need ti dispel the myth; 'butter' is a bit of a misnomer. The name comes from its smooth and buttery texture. It is delicious served with pork of any kind as well as with bacon or just served on toast at breakfast.

Ingredients:
2kg Granny Smith apples
250ml apple cider vinegar
500ml water
about 1000ml sugar
Salt
10ml ground cinnamon
2ml ground cloves
2ml allspice or ground pimento
grated rind and juice of 1 lemon

Method:
Cut the apples into quarters, without peeling or coring them. Much of the pectin in in the cores, seeds and peels. Cut out any damaged parts of the apples.

Put the apples into a large pot, add the vinegar and water, over, bring to the boil, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 20 minutes until the apples are soft. Remove from the heat.

Ladle the apple mixture into a conical sieve (or food mill) and force the pulp through the sieve with the back of a spoon into a bowl. Measure the resulting purée. Add 125g sugar for each 250ml of apple pulp. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Add a dash of salt, the cinnamon, ground cloves, allspice, lemon rind and juice and blend through the apple mixture. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Transfer the apple mixture to a large, wide, heavy-based nonstick saucepan and cook on a low heat, stirring constantly to prevent burning. Scrape the bottom of the pot while you stir to ensure a crust does not form on the bottom of the pot. If your pot is nonstick, it shouldn't form a crust, but just to be sure, constantly clear the base of the pot. Cook for 1-2 hours until thick and smooth. To test when it is ready spoon a small amount onto a chilled plate - it should be thick, not runny.

Pour into hot, sterilised jars and seal. This makes a little more than three jam jars. Store in the larder until opened, then store in the fridge.

Farmhouse Beans

This is a traditional Afrikaans way of preparing green beans, also known as "Boere Boontjies". I learnt to make this behind my Ouma's apron. As children, it was a treat and I still enjoy beans prepared this way.

Although suet is the genuine fat used by the 'Boere Vrou', it is not considered as a suitable fat to use today as it is saturated fat. You could replace it with butter or olive oil, or a bit of both.

Ingredients:
1 small potato, peeled and chopped into quarter inch cubes - or coarsely grated
1 shallot, peeled and chopped
1 packet of green beans, topped and tailed and chopped into 1 inch pieces - smaller if you wish
30g suet for frying - or butter and/or olive oil
salt and ground black pepper to season

Method:
In a frying pan, melt the suet and add the potatoes, frying for a few minutes until the potato becomes a little translucent. Add the shallot and beans and fry for about 5 minutes until the onion is a little coloured and the beans are cooked, but still crunchy. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper a keep warm until ready to serve.

Double Mash

This is a mash potato made with potatoes and sweet potatoes mixed. It is much more flavoursome than ordinary mash and is more beneficial nutritionally.

Ingredients:
2-3 large potatoes, peeled and chopped
1 large sweet potato, peeled and chopped
30-50ml milk
20-30g butter
salt and white pepper to season

Method:
Boil the potato and sweet potato together in salted water until the potatoes are tender. Mash them with a potato masher, adding milk and butter to soften the mixture, until the mash is soft smooth and creamy. season with salt and ground white pepper to taste.

Homemade Pork Sausages

'Bangers and Mash' is traditional British comfort food, but coming from South Africa, we have a different take on this family meal. These homemade sausages are ever so tasty and perfectly easy to make. Even better than the traditional pork sausage, they have no casings and can have the herbs and seasonings of your choice added to them. Instead of serving them with plain mash potato, we like to have 'Double Mash', 'Farmhouse Beans' (Boere Boontjies), and Apple Butter.

Ingredients:
450g fatty minced pork
breadcrumbs made from 2 slices of white bread - or 50/50
1 egg, whisked
1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped
1 small shallot, peeled and chopped
30ml fresh coriander leaves, chopped
celery salt and ground black pepper for seasoning
2-5ml chilli flakes, to taste
15-30ml soy sauce to taste
50ml olive oil for frying

Method:
Mix together all the ingredients, except the olive oil, seasoning well with celery salt, ground black pepper and as much chilli flakes as you enjoy. Fry a tiny bit of the mixture in a pan with a dash of olive oil to test the seasoning, adjusting to taste. Divide the mixture into 8-12 pieces and shape each into a sausage. Place on a baking tray or plate and set aside until ready to cook them. Chilling them for a couple of hours in the fridge helps to firm them up.

To cook the sausages, heat a frying pan on a low to medium heat. Add 50ml olive oil and gently fry the sausages for 12-15 minutes, until golden on all sides and cooked on all sides.

Serve with Double Mash, Farmhouse Beans and Apple Butter.

Herby Summer Salad

Salads are always popular for summer eating, with a braai or barbecue, or just for a light lunch or accompaniment to an evening meal. This delightful lemon dressed herby salad only takes minutes to make and has fragrance from the herbs, sharpness from the lemon and saltiness from the bacon. All in all, it's a nicely rounded salad and the dressing can be used for many other salads as well as this one.

Ingredients:
For the Salad:
8 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, finely sliced
olive oil
A small bunch each of tarragon, basil, flat-leaf parsley, coriander and dill, leaves picked
a punnet of baby cress
60-70g rocket
Parmesan cheese shavings, for garnish

For the Dressing:
finely grated zest of 1 lemon
45-50ml lemon juice
100ml olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to season

Method:
Put all the dressing ingredients in a jar with a little salt and pepper, then shake to combine. Taste and add more seasoning or lemon juice if required.

Fry the bacon in a drizzle of olive oil till crisp. Drain on a piece of kitchen paper, then place in a bowl with the herbs, cress and rocket. give the dressing a shake, then drizzle over enough to coat the leaves; toss with your hands. Sprinkle with Parmesan shavings and your salad is ready to serve.

Braai Grilled Onions

These savoury onions are great to grill during the last 15 minutes while cooking your meat. They go well with almost all cuts of meat.

Ingredients:

4 medium onions, topped and tailed and skins removed

30ml Worcestershire sauce

30ml balsamic vinegar or red wine vinegar

30ml soy sauce

30ml olive oil

1-2ml dried tarragon

salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Cut each onion in half lengthwise and place the halves in a shallow, flat container. Beat the Worcestershire sauce, vinegar, soy sauce, tarragon and oil together and pour this mixture over the onions. Allow them to marinade at room temperature for about 1 hour, basting occasionally.

To cook, arrange the onions around the edges of the grid. Cook until the onions are tender and brown, basting occasionally, for 10-15 minutes. These cook best on a covered grill, but may also be done on an open fire. Once done, remove the onions to a serving dish and season with salt and pepper.

Easy Barbecued Roasties

If you have never thought to do roast potatoes on the braai or barbecue, give it a try.

These are just amazing!

They take about an hour to do, so they will need to go on long before your meat, unless you are doing a large chunk of meat for a roast, with which they make a great accompaniment, but we like them with any chargrilled offering....

Ingredients:
6-8 potatoes, peeled and quartered
60ml boiling water
60ml olive oil
60ml butter, melted
salt and freshly ground black pepper
2ml turmeric
2ml paprika

Method:
Prepare a direct fire, if you are doing steaks, chops or chicken pieces, or an indirect fire if you are cooking a roast on the barbecue.

Par boil the potatoes in salted water for about 10 minutes and drain. Arrange the potatoes in a single layer in a cast iron pan or in an aluminium foil drip pan.

Combine the remaining ingredients and pour over the potatoes; toss to coat all the potatoes well. Cook over the drip pan until you put your meat on, then move to the side of the fire while you cook your meat if you are using an indirect fire. If you are using a direct fire put the tray of potatoes on the side of the fire for about an hour; the potatoes will absorb all the liquid and will be puffed, crispy and golden brown.

Cooks Tip:

Using a Kettle Braai or Barbecue...

There are two different ways to cook over a braai, especially if you are using a kettle braai, which has a lid or cover - what we call a 'Weber', the favourite Braai in South Africa, which is also available in the UK.

The method you select will depend on the type of food to be cooked. As a rule of thumb, place the most emphasis on the type of meat you are going to be cooking - vegetables usually cook just as well on both methods of cooking, but many meats benefit from what is called the 'indirect' method of cooking over coals, especially if you are preparing large pieces of meat, such as roasts, hams, whole chickens, duck or turkeys. It is also the best method for cooking fatty meats, such as ribs, park rashers and duck breasts.

When using the indirect method, food is cooked by reflected heat, not directly over the coals. Hot coals are positioned at either side of the fire bed and a drip pan is placed between the two beds of coals. the food is placed on the grid over the drip pan. food cooks slower than by direct heat. Because there are no coals directly under the food, flare-ups and smoke are minimised.

The second method id the 'direct' method. This is suitable for cooking steaks, hamburgers, chops, sausages, kebabs and most vegetables. A direct fire requires the hot coals to be spread over the fire bed and food is placed directly above the hot coals. Food to be cooked by this method may be placed in an open or covered Weber.

'Open' or 'covered' are the further two options, which the kettle braai permits - to cover or not to cover.... Open grilling is probably the method of choice for cuts of meat that are no more than 6-7cm thick, such as fish fillets, vegetables, steaks or chops. These will probably cook in 10-12 minutes, before excess charring occurs on the outside.

Most foods cook more evenly on a closed braai. Very thick steaks, roasts, chickens, chunky vegetables or large whole fish need to cook slower in order to cook through. the covered barbecue will also keep the food from drying out while cooking and fatty foods that may cause flare-ups, or foods with oily marinades or sauces will cook better if covered.

Gingered Chicken on the Braai or Barbecue

Summertime ... and the living is easy...

I love summer because it's a time you can get outdoors and enjoy fresh air....

Or it's supposed to be.

Even if we are having a bit of a wet spell, my hubby and I try to make the best of it; perhaps we are becoming a bit British - we stand in the rain to cook over the Weber if we are forced to by this inclement weather we are having this year. One moment it's sunshine and the next the wet stuff is coming out of the sky again, just when we have put the meat on the fire! Ah well, that's life...

Chicken isn't something that a lot of people think to put on the braai or barbecue, but we love it and I have a few tips for you as to how to do it. If you put the chicken over hot coals to cook, especially if you have used a marinade or sauce, it's likely to burn before it cooks. No one enjoys burnt but uncooked offerings! The thing to do is to partially cook it in the microwave first. This will ensure that the flesh is cooked thoroughly but not charred on the outside. I don't choose to use the oven for par cooking because this could dry the chicken out before it is transferred to the hot coals and then you don't get so much of the lovely smoky flavour from the charcoal. I recommend marinating chicken before barbecuing; it helps to 'cook' the meat before the application of heat and keeps the chicken moist while it completes its cooking.

Ingredients:
8 chicken thighs or breasts
60ml olive oil
1 bunch spring onions, chopped - including the green parts
Juice squeezed from 40ml grated fresh ginger
200ml light soy sauce
30ml brown sugar
20ml sesame oil
3 ml black pepper

Method:
Heat the oil in a saucepan over medium heat on the hob and sweat the spring onions for a few minutes. Add the juice from the grated ginger and discard the pulp. Add the soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil and pepper to the onions and pour over the chicken in a microwavable marinating container. Stand for at least 30 minutes, but leaving it to marinade for 2-3 hours is even better.

Meanwhile, prepare a direct fire - one in which the coals are spread evenly under the grid. When the fire is almost ready, transfer the chicken to the microwave, still in its marinade, and microwave on 70% for 8-9 minutes.

Remove the chicken from the marinade and transfer to the barbecue to grill directly over the hot coals. Turn frequently for 10-15 minutes, basting often with the liquids from the remaining marinade.

Serve with your choice of accompaniments.

Lite Coronation Chicken Salad

For those of you who are conscientious about eating healthy, here is a variation on the classic British dish, Coronation Chicken, without the masses of mayonnaise. It's even more delicious than the original and far better for you all round. With crunch and sumptuous flavours of the orient and the juicy peppery taste of watercress, it's ever so quick and easy and you are going to love this as much as I do.

If you can't get mango chutney you could make mine - find the recipe HERE, or use fresh mango slices and a chutney of your choice, something like Apricot Chutney or Autumn Chutney.

Ingredients: - Serves 2
2 skinless chicken breasts
5ml mild curry powder
50ml olive oil
30ml mango chutney
zest and juice of half a lemon
half a cucumber, peeled, seeds removed and cut into 2 inch sticks
2 handfuls of watercress
toasted almond flakes to garnish

Method:
Toss the chicken breasts with 10-15ml olive oil and the curry powder to coat evenly, then leave to marinate for 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, prepare the salad: Reserving 10-15ml olive oil to cook the chicken, mix the remaining oil with the chutney, lemon zest and juice. Put the cucumber sticks and watercress in a salad bowl and dress with the chutney mixture, tossing to distribute the dressing.

Heat a frying pan with the reserved oil and cook the chicken for 5-6 minutes, turning over halfway through the cooking. When done the chicken should be just cooked through but still succulent. Cut the chicken breasts into 1/2 cm slices and allow to cool slightly before tossing through the salad.

Serve, garnished with toasted almond flakes.

Coronation Chicken

Coronation Chicken was a dish devised, as the name suggests, for the banquet for the coronation of one of Britain's monarchs; in this case it was our present queen, Elizabeth II. This royal gem of a recipe was proposed by a florist, Constance Spry, and a chef, Rosemary Hume, to be put together form cold cooked chicken and a creamy curry sauce, supporting the new Queen's love of curry. It's a dish that proved immediate, and continued popularity with the British public as it is so easy to make and can be prepared in advance if required for a special celebration, or even for just a family meal. Although it was tremendously in vogue in the 1950s and 60s, its popularity has waned, but is still often found as a filling for shop-bought sandwiches.

Be a little British and serve this classic party food dish at your next gathering of family or friends.

Ingredients:

For the Chicken:
1.5kg trussed chicken, giblets removed.
½ onion.
½ stick celery.
2 bay leaves.
1 star anise.
4 cardamom pods.

For the dressing:
1 onion, roughly chopped.
1 large clove garlic, roughly chopped.
3cm piece root ginger, peeled and roughly chopped.
2 tbsp olive oil.
2 tbsp mild curry powder.
½ tsp ground coriander.
½ tsp ground cumin.
Seeds from 2 cardamom pods, crushed.
¼ tsp salt.
Freshly ground black pepper.
3 tbsp mango chutney.
120g mayonnaise.
50g Greek yoghurt.
50g raisins or sultanas, soaked in hot water to soften.

To serve:
Toasted flaked almonds.
1 little gem lettuce.

Method:
Put the chicken in a deep stockpot or saucepan and cover with cold water. Drop in the onion, celery, bay leaves, star anise and cardamom pods and cover with a lid. Bring to the boil then turn down the heat very low and poach for 1 hour, or until the leg comes easily away from the bone and the chicken is cooked through (see cook's tip below on poaching). Turn off the heat and leave the chicken in the stock until cool enough to handle.

Lift the chicken out of the stock, reserve 400ml and discard the rest. Remove the skin then remove the meat from the chicken by tearing off large bite-sized pieces and transfer to a bowl to cool. If you're making the chicken ahead, pour over a little stock then cover and chill until you're ready for the next step.

For the dressing, put the onion, garlic and ginger in a food processor and blitz until the mixture takes on a paste consistency. Heat the oil in a frying pan and gently fry the paste for 6-8 minutes to cook through. Add the spices, salt, a good grinding of pepper and cook for a few minutes more until fragrant before stirring in the mango chutney. Pour in the stock and bubble rapidly until the mixture has reduced back down to a paste, then transfer to a large bowl and leave to cool.

Mix the mayonnaise and yoghurt into the cooled paste then stir in the raisins or sultanas and toss with the chicken. Check the seasoning and adjust if necessary. Chill until needed then serve on crunchy lettuce leaves and garnished with scattered toasted almonds.

Cook's Tip:

Poaching is a very gentle technique that gives really succulent meat; the water should only break an occasional bubble. Be careful not to boil the chicken as it'll toughen like old boots.

Lay-Z Cherry Cheesecakes

Plump and sweet British cherries are at their best right now and the season lasts only six weeks through July and August, so make the most of them while you can.

The Romans brought the first cultivated cherry trees from Persia to Britain in the first century AD. Over the centuries, cherry orchards were developed in south and west of England, and the summer months saw orchards lined with juicy, dark clusters of fruit, but with the importation of fruit grown in warmer climes and distributed at more attractive prices, by the early 1980s, these orchards had all but disappeared. However, some industrious cherry farmers still persevere and grow good-quality fruit, which is part of our British heritage.

Cherry orchards provide a vital habitat and food source for many native birds, butterflies and insects, making the continued cultivation of this fruit an important agricultural activity. If it were not for cherry growers like Bryan Neave of Little Sharstead Farm near Sittingbourne, in Kent, endangered species like the noble chafer beetle may have become extinct.

These individual deserts are so much easier than the traditional method of making cheesecake, but are every bit as luscious and can be put together in a matter of minutes and makes an exciting end to a lovely meal.

Ingredients:
150g ginger biscuits, crushed
200g cream cheese. or soft cheese.
300g natural Greek-style yoghurt
50g caster sugar
zest of 1 lemon
200ml water
100g sugar
200g fresh British cherries, stems and stones removed.

Method:
Divide the crushed biscuits between 4 tumbler glasses and press down with a spoon. Mix the cream cheese, yoghurt, 50g caster sugar and lemon zest together. Spoon this mixture into the glasses on top of the biscuit base.

In a medium saucepan, warm 200ml water with 10g sugar over a gentle heat until the sugar dissolves. Turn up the heat and boil for 2 minutes. Reduce to a simmer, add the cherries and cook for about 10 minutes until you have soft fruit in a syrupy sauce.

Spoon the cherries on top of each glass, sharing them evenly. Chill until ready to serve.