Hash

On Sunday we had a lovely shoulder of lamb with salad, pitta, hummus and a few extra bits,  it was delicious.  Although we all ate well there was a fair bit of lamb left.   Now for some reason I kept thinking of corned beef hash out of The American Diner cookbook I have and decided to follow the recipe kind of for that using lamb.

We started picking the lamb off the rest of the bone and leaving it in bite size ish chunks,  peeled 4 medium ish potatoes and cubed and boiled until just tender but still firm then drained and set aside.  I actually peeled 5 potatoes but my granddaughter thought these were fab and kept coming out in the kitchen to demand yet another piece of cooked potato.

I chopped an onion and fried until soft in a big knob of butter.  When softened and sweeter but not brown I tipped in the potato and lamb mixing well with some pepper and smushed it down a bit.  I turned the heat up to medium and now and then when the bottom got crusty and crunchy I turned it over with a spatula and mixed it round a bit.

Ok, it doesn't look pretty but was smelling great already.

See the crusty bits? They may look burnt but they are flavour explosions ;o) I carried on like this for a while but I still wanted a mix of soft meat/potatoes and slightly crunchy crusty ones to.

Once I had got a good ratio of crispy and soft I made a few wells into the mixture and cracked in some eggs. and left to gently simmer in the pan with a lower heat for 5 minutes or so.  I then put the pan lid on for 5 minutes although I would do a little less next time for more oozy eggs. 

Not looking the best pan of food I have to admit

With some peas and tomato sauce for sauce lovers it was a lovely meal.  I might of added bread and butter for people with bigger appetites but we didn't need it.  We had almost decided on using the lamb for shepherds pie but very glad we didn't. I suppose it is not much different to bubble and squeak but with no vegetables. 

Vanilla extract

Being the keen baker of cakes that I am I love to use a decent vanilla extract. But some of them can work out expensive even for a small bottle. Especially when you have a budget, So a bit of thriftyness was required.  Our local wholefood shop sells some really nice but reasonable priced vanilla pods.  I use them then stick them in a jar of sugar resulting in vanilla sugar for baking with or even in coffee mmmmm :o)

But while waiting for the kettle boil I realised there was a fair bit of vodka left in the bottle on the kitchen side, and though it's great to drink I probably wouldn't be drinking it any time soon.  So I went and found a jam jar,  Then I went and bought 2 fresh vanilla pods and added them cut in half and split to the jar with about 3 dried ones from the sugar jar.  As you can see it doesn't look particularly wonderful however.........

Give it a few gentle shakes and a few hours and the vanilla starts to infuse into the vodka and starts going that classic brown colour we are used it.  Bit weak and wobbly now but I will give it a week and see how it is then. 

Really simple and I bet it would make a welcome gift for any foodie in a small cute bottle maybe. 

Quick gnocchi and chorizo side dish

Friday night I was clearing out the vegetables that needed using up and roasted them in the oven with some dried thyme and lots of Garlic,  I also topped with some herby halloumi in the last 10 minutes. But to turn this into a meal with a bit of pizzaz and make it go far enough for 4 of us I opened the fridge and pondered.  Some things are always almost in my fridge, one of them being Chorizo and the other that vacuum pack of chorizo, cheap and cheerful.  

Nigella Lawson once showed us how to turn gnocchi into tiny roast style potatoes by frying them in oil in a pan or in the oven.  Very quick and surprisingly good.  So the brain started ticking  that if I fried off the chorizo until the lovely oil leeched out I could use that delicious oil to then fry the gnocchi in.

Although I didn't get them fully crispy and crunchy because I would of reduced the chorizo to black lumps, they still came out very light and fluffy with mostly crunchy outsides and mildly flavoured with chorizo. Just a few minutes on each side and stirred a few times made an easy and fast side dish.

Although thinking now I should of fried the chorizo until crispy and removed it with a slotted spoon and added it back at the end.  It's funny how your brain can go dead to these simple ideas when you have a toddler clinging to your leg screaming because you have just told her she cannot kick the cat anymore!

Such a colourful meal we had with so many tastes and textures.  And for a vegetarian version of the gnocchi I am going to try it with some smoked paprika soon I think. 

Low fat fruit tea loaf

At the moment I am going through a phase of really looking at what I have stashed away in my kitchen and trying to use it.  At some point this year we are going to have a new kitchen fitted, which means the less that is squirrelled away in the cupboards the better. So the other night I had a yearning for an old fashioned sultana loaf like we used to have when younger.  I have no idea who made it as it wasn't my Mum but I do remember fruit soaking in strong tea and I made these before.  The recipe? who knows? So I did my classic hunt the Internet via google, Look up at least 5 recipes and cobbled together a recipe with what I actually have.

So I started Tuesday night taking 250 g of dried mixed fruit with peel and soaking it with  250 ml of tea made with 2 tea bags, a LARGE glug or 2 of Malibu and a splosh of orange blossom water.  The Malibu and blossom water didn't end up being tasted so I think it's a case of either the tea or the booze in future.

So this murky unpromising looking bowl was left overnight in the microwave (saved cling filming it) until the next morning where it then started to look more plump and luscious than blurgh

Into the fruit mix I cracked into and beat in 2 medium eggs.  In a bigger bowl I added 

250g self raising flour 

100g caster sugar 

1 teaspoon mixed spice

Stirred these together to combine then poured in the fruit with all its liquid into the flour mix and stirred until combined and no white spots of flour were visible in the bowl.  Placed it all into a 2lb lined loaf tin and in the oven at gas mark 4/180 for 50-60 minutes.  

Mine caught a little on top but not enough to interfere with the taste

The outside was slightly chewy but crispy to.  Strange  but good.  Inside was moist and very light. On day 2 it is still moist and same textured despite having no fat in it other than the egg yolks.  

It may be low fat, but do you know what? It is really really good with a good slathering of butter.  But at least you won't feel so guilty ;o)

My son is already suggesting using dried apricots and dried pineapple in this so it is one we will play with again as it is going down well.  And anyway to get extra fruit into the kids has to be good I think. Much better snack than a chocolate biscuit

Ham hock revisited

After cutting most of the meat off for the linguine dish I spent a few minutes picking off rest of meat. Quite a large handful of bits were left.

Usually Friday is pizza day but just lately it's been a bit 50/50 and after a week of feeling yuck just really couldn't be bothered. So opened the fridge and there's the ham and a small chunk of cheese left, tomatoes and a cucumber. Foraging in freezer found oven chips so add some eggs and we have an omelette and a meal kids loved and more importantly a quick, easy tasty meal.

All I did was crack 6 eggs in a bowl, add the finally chopped ham and the cheese in sort of flat slithers and seasoned with pepper. Fried off gently in butter and finished under the grill. Not the gourmet 'proper' way of doing omelette but how kids like it.

So to date one ham hock has given 6 portions of food :-) and stock still to use.

Ham hock

This may not look an exciting bowl of pasta but it what it made up for in appearances it made up for in taste. 

As I was saying in my last post it started with a smoked ham hock.  I took inspiration from a ginger pig recipe and in true Jules style didn't have half the ingredients in the book as couldn't remember where I saw the recipe until after I had been to shop and realised I had creme fraiche but not marscapone. Or parsley to finely chop etc so here is what I did in the end. 

I took the ham hock covered in cold water and brought up to the boil and then simmered for an hour. Took it out of the water to cool and kept the water as stock for a soup ( another meal to come) While the ham started to cool I put on a pan of water and started to cook some linguine  Then as this was cooking removed and discarded the skin off the ham ( cat ate it) and shredded most of the meat and cut into smallish chunks.

I found some dried parsley left over from making my spaghetti spice and put a good heaped tablespoon in a small amount of boiing water to try and bring it to life a bit.  I had a 1/3 tub of low fat creme fraiche and into that I added a small spoon of Dijon mustard and the parsley with the water and put it to one side.  When the pasta was cooked I drained quickly and put back in pot with creme fraiche, shredded ham and good grind of pepper. I needed a little reserved pasta water I saved out of habit to loosen it slightly.  It was just a little bland and we solved that with the tiniest grating of Parmesan cheese. All in all was a nice meal that was made up with things I had open or needed using up.  Both Luke 10 and Ever 19 months ate this and making the right noises so a hit. 

I have a little ham left and the stock from simmering the hock still so there will be a bit more to this story soon. And all from a £1 ham hock.  So far it's given 3 servings. 

New beginnings

Well not yet but soon in a month or 3 (who knows really) I will be having a new kitchen and bathroom fitted. 10 days of absolute chaos promise to be given to me. So I'm left with the joy of going through my cupboards etc and a chance to sort out what is essential and what needs to be given to a new home.

Meanwhile I have decided that I need to start using the food I have squirrelled away in the cupboards and freezer etc. I grew up in a family where money was always short but the food was always good. Very lucky on that score. But it does teach you to have lots on hand for hard lean times. So I have decided to save my money and use these things up and see if I can find some new recipes or ideas for old favourites.

As I was rummaging today I was almost praying there wasn't a tin of steak pie filling in my cupboards. My great aunt used to give them to me. Luckily there wasn't. I'm not fussy food wise but those tins of steak and gravy never tasted or felt right in my mouth and still to this day gross me out. Start me off with a lb of steak any day!

Today though I raided the freezer for a smoked ham hock that was on offer at the butchers not to long ago :-) so I will let you know how that goes later

Posts could get a bit strange cooking wise as I do want to explore more outside my normal comfort zone.

Meanwhile, why not have a rummage in the back of your cupboards or deep freeze and see what you have to use that you forgot you had? You might be pleasantly surprised.