ANOTHER WINTER WARMER

WILD MUSHROOM AND POTATO BROTH

(Suitable for vegetarians)

 

 

 

 

 

 

A great dish but let’s start with some practical, time-saving thoughts.

Not very often, but occasionally I manage to put ten – fifteen minutes of spare time and a spare bag of potatoes together. I never peel potatoes for baking or roasting, but I don’t particularly like the look or taste of potato skin in a casserole or, heavens forfend, mash. So, I peel the potatoes, cube them on the small side and sauté them until they just turn pale golden. Then, feeling really good about myself, I leave them to cool and pack them off for freezing.

I do the same with onions of any size or colour.

NOTE about chopping onions painlessly:

I’ve found this video on YouTube.

http://www.savingdinner.tv/featured/tearless-onion-cutting/

The lady goes on and on and on about very little, but if you cut out the dross, peel, fan and chop the onion starting from the root end towards the tail, you won’t be crying over it. Not ever.

As simple as that!

Doesn’t happen very often in shops, but at the market every now and then there will be wild mushrooms on sale. I tend to buy the whole lot, all the available varieties on offer. No, I don’t call it extravagance, I call it investment. Wash them well in lukewarm water, dry them, and sauté them the same as their friends, potatoes and onions. Depending on what I want to do with them, they don’t always need chopping or slicing,but for this broth, they do. Not too thinly, though. And never ever peel them. The flavour is in the skin.

OK, so now I’ve got potatoes, onions and mushrooms all nicely prepared and ready for the pot/casserole dish.

Preheat your oven on the highest setting.

Mix the potatoes, mushrooms and onions together so that potatoes make roughly one half of the dish and onions and mushrooms the remaining two quarters, season lightly with salt and pepper, add a handful or two very finely chopped flat-leaf parsley, mix in boiling water or unseasoned stock of your choice, leaving about two fingers of liquid above the solids, cover well and place in the middle of the oven. Turn the heat down to 180C and leave to cook for about one and a half hours.

(You can warm up your egg and milk glazed crusty rolls in the oven during the last ten minutes of cooking.)

When it’s done, adjust seasoning to taste.

Let me know if you liked it, please.

 

Winter Warmers

Good morning

It’s a bright and sunny and freezingly cold Sunday morning here. The frost has covered my garden with shimmering white icing. I’m watching a blue tit and a red robin feeding on shredded suet and peanuts still left in the feeders after yet another invasion by the starlings. None of them need to worry about Tufty, the cat, sneaking upon them. She’s curled up on the radiator side of the bed, quite happy to trust my skill with the tin opener for her meals today.

There’s a wonderfully reassuring smell coming from my kitchen. I’ve got my favourite winter warmer slow cooking  in the oven. My pasta fazool carbonara. In other words, pasta with mixed beans and bacon.

Turn the oven to its highest setting.

But, a word about bacon first.

I love bocek, Polish bacon, but it’s not always available in the Polish deli in my area. Obviously, I also like pancetta but it’s hideously expensive. So, if I can’t have the best, I buy the cheapest. You know the large packs of cooking bacon piled up on the bottom shelves in the supermarket? Yes, that. Fatty, full of water to increase the weight, full of chemicals to prolong shelf-life, full of salt for who knows what reason.

I open the pack, wash the bacon under cold water, then boil it for about 10 – 15 minutes. Throw the gunky water away, wash the bacon under cold water again, not least to save my fingers from being burnt and to save time waiting for it to cool, but mostly to get rid of any gunk that may stick to it. You may want to taste a piece of the cooked bacon at that point. It’s not as delicious as bocek or pancetta, but it’s perfectly acceptable and flavoursome.

While the bacon is boiling,  I chop two large onions and sauté them till they turn pale yellow. Also, I poach tomatoes in hot water, peel them and add them chopped to the onions. Once the bacon is done, I chop it and add it to the pan with tomatoes and onions. I mix well together and fry the lot for a minute or two. When that’s done, I mix in a clove or two or five of pressed garlic.

Now, I take out my best crock pot or any suitably large pot, add a pint of home made or bought passata, a pint of water or vegetable stock, four tins of mixed beans, and the contents of the pan, i.e. the bacon, onions and tomatoes. Mix well.

Turn the oven down to 180C.

Place the well covered pot in the middle and leave it to cook for about an hour and a half. Then I take it out and add any pasta that I happen to have at home or better still, gnocchi, mix it all in, recover the pot and return it to the oven for another 10-15 minutes.

I’d love to say that it can feed an army for a month.

It doesn’t.

It disappears very quickly.

Wonder why?

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/ref=sr_nr_p_n_binding_browse-b_mrr_2?rh=n%3A266239%2Ck%3Akolar-brown%2Cp_n_binding_browse-bin%3A368165031&bbn=266239&keywords=kolar-brown&ie=UTF8&qid=1326954086&rnid=492562011

http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_2_5?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=kolar-brown&sprefix=kolar%2Cstripbooks%2C420

 

The Next Big Thing

Read Faith Helen Mortimer’s wonderful Next Big Thing interview at http://www.faithmortimerauthor.com/5/post/2012/11/queenie-for-a-day.html

mirabooks

The Blog Chain: The Next Big Thing

Thank you Mary T. McGuire http://mtmcguire.co.uk/2012/10/17/the-next-big-thing/ for including me in this blog chain.

THE INTERVIEW

Q. What is the working title of your book?

A. The current working title, For The Love Of Honey, is also The Final Title. But, for quite a while I called it The Governess. I still like that but it doesn’t reflect the content enough to serve the purpose.

Q. Where did the idea come from for the book?

A. For The Love Of Honey is the third book in the Simon Grant Mysteries series. To some extent, it’s rooted in the first two mysteries. It picks up on two or three themes that haven’t been quite resolved before. But, it also has a discrete identity of its own.

Q. What genre does your book fall under?

A. Psychological Murder Mystery

Q. Which actors would…

View original post 450 more words

 

The Next Big Thing

The Blog Chain: The Next Big Thing

Thank you Mary T. McGuire http://mtmcguire.co.uk/2012/10/17/the-next-big-thing/ for including me in this blog chain.

THE INTERVIEW

Q. What is the working title of your book?

A. The current working title, For The Love Of Honey, is also The Final Title. But, for quite a while I called it The Governess. I still like that but it doesn’t reflect the content enough to serve the purpose.

Q. Where did the idea come from for the book?

A. For The Love Of Honey is the third book in the Simon Grant Mysteries series. To some extent, it’s rooted in the first two mysteries. It picks up on two or three themes that haven’t been quite resolved before. But, it also has a discrete identity of its own.

Q. What genre does your book fall under?

A. Psychological Murder Mystery

Q. Which actors would you choose to play your characters in a film rendition?

A. Ah, well, now we’re talking.

Some ten years ago Colin Firth would have been perfect for the part. My current cast of recurring characters:

Rupert Penry Jones as DI Simon Grant:

Michelle Dockery as Pippa Martin (Simon Grant’s wife)

Emily Blunt as Emma Martin (sister-in-law):

–      James D’Arcy as Philip Martin (Emma’s husband)

Vanessa Redgrave as Eve Hamilton Grant (mother):

John Bird as Adam Hamilton Grant (father)

Stephen Fry as Rudi Hamilton Grant (brother):

Others may include Saoirse Ronan, David Suchet, scores of others.  My books are densely populated. They could keep most of the British actors in work for years.
Q. What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

A. Why should Secret Service feel sufficiently threatened by an elderly gynaecologist and a policeman’s wife to kill them?

Q. Will your book be self-published or represented by an agency?

A. Self-published.
Q. How long did it take you to write the first draft of your manuscript?

A. A long, long time. I write slowly at the best of times. On top of that, when I reached about 40,000 words mark I realised that one of my central characters had outgrown their motivation/back story.  So, it was back to square one. Such recoveries are very difficult because a major character tends to seep into all the others, their actions and reactions as well as dominate the overall feel and tone of the story. The storyline remained fairly intact but the way it was told had to be drastically changed. I’m still at it.
Q. What other books would you compare this story to within your genre?

A.  Hmmm… My books are often compared to the works of John Le Carre and P. D. James. But that’s the overall style, not the content. By format they are police procedurals in the good old British tradition.
Q. Who or What inspired you to write this book?

A. I’ve always liked mysteries. With the exception of well researched historical novels, that’s the only genre that appeals to the brain rather than senses and emotions. Only, I’m a little bit like a child and its toys. I like stripping my toys to pieces to see what’s inside, what makes them tick. That’s what I do with my characters and the stories are strongly character-driven.
Q. What else about your book might pique the reader’s interest?

A. All the three stories are told from two different but complementary points of view. The third book, For the Love of Honey, also employs some other ways of telling the story.

Please visit the following blogs and webpages

http://www.faithmortimerauthor.com/5/post/2012/11/queenie-for-a-day.html

http://casutton.tripod.com/cazutt/

http://slpiercebooks.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/the-next-big-thing-blog-hop.html

http://jcallenbooks.weebly.com/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/James-A.-Anderson/e/B004DANB0Y/ref=sr_tc_2_0?qid=1351070554&sr=1-2-ent

http://www.amazon.com/Rebecca-Stroud/e/B00460RZMQ/ref=ntt_dp_epwbk_0

http://pathester.wordpress.com

 

On This Day – Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em

The House of Lancaster

1399 Henry IV (the first King of the House of Lancaster) was crowned king of England.

The Lady for All Seasons

1853 The birth of Lillie Langtry, actress and mistress of King Edward VII, also the Earl of Shrewsbury and Prince Louis of Battenberg.

The Time Centre

1884 Greenwich was chosen as the universal time meridian of longitude from which standard times throughout the world are calculated.

Merseyside Derby

1894 The first Merseyside ‘derby’ football match was played at Goodison Park between Liverpool and Everton, with Everton winning 3 – 0.

The Pickles Style

1904 The birth, in Halifax, of Wilfred Pickles OBE, actor and radio presenter. Pickles was a proud Yorkshireman and was the first newsreader to speak in a regional accent. His BBC Radio show ‘Have A Go’, ran from 1946 to 1967 and launched such catchphrases as ‘What’s on the table, Mabel?’ and ‘Are yer courting?’, all delivered in Pickles’s inimitable style.

On the Wireless

1924 Labour Party leader Ramsay MacDonald became the first Prime Minister to make an election broadcast on BBC radio.

Some Mothers Do ‘Ave ‘Em

1925 The birth of Margaret Thatcher British Prime Minister from 1979 to 1990. Known as ‘The Iron Lady’ she was the longest serving Prime Minister for more than 150 years. She was born above her father’s grocer’s shop: No 1 North Parade, Grantham, LIncolnshire

The Future Queen

1940 Princess Elizabeth, aged 14, (now Queen Elizabeth II), made her first radio broadcast to child evacuees.

The Spycatcher

1988 The British Government failed to stop publication of the controversial book Spycatcher, written by a former secret service agent.

We’re Not Amused

1988 The Queen sued The Sun newspaper after it printed a private photograph.

Answers On A Postcard

Here for me?

Or, is that the other way round?

2008 The government said that they would pump billions of pounds of taxpayers money into three UK banks in one of the UK’s biggest nationalisations. Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS), Lloyds TSB and HBOS would have a total of £37bn injected into them. In return for the investment, the government would get a say in how the banks were run, including controls over the bonuses paid to management.

 

RIP Mersad Berber

RIP MERSAD BERBER

The world renown  artist Mersad Berber was born in Bosanski Petrovac, Bosnia and Herzegovina on 1 January 1940.

He died in Zagreb on 7 October 2012, aged 72.

A lot has been and will be written about his life, his works and his fame.

But nothing and no one can say more about him than his paintings.

May you rest in peace, my friend. You made the world a worthier place.

 

On This Day – The Last Roll and Simon Cowell at 53

The Stamp Act

 American newspapers reacted to the Stamp Act with anger and predictions of the demise ofjournalism.

1765 Delegates from nine of the American colonies protested against the British Stamp Act, which raised a direct tax on the colonies.

Carbon Copy

1806 The first carbon paper was patented by its English inventor, Ralph Wedgwood.

Full Time Blue Stocking

1920 The first women were admitted to study for full degrees at Oxford University

2LO Calling

1922 The first royal broadcast was made, by the Prince of Wales, on 2LO, 11 days before it changed its named to the BBC.

De-Slime Your Flannels

1946 The BBC presented its first edition of Woman’s Hour, a daily programme of music, advice and entertainment for those in the home. The programme included an item on how to de-slime your flannels (!) and also broadcast the first episode of the thriller serial ‘Dick Barton, Special Agent’.

Happy Birthday, Jayne Torvill

1957 Jayne Torvill, English ice skater, was born. With fellow skater Christopher Dean, they won a gold medal at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics and a bronze medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics. The 1984 Winter Olympics led to world fame when they performed to the music of Maurice Ravel’s Boléro and received twelve perfect 6.0 marks, one of five occasions when they were awarded all perfect scores for artistic impression. English ice skater, was born. With fellow skater Christopher Dean, they won a gold medal at the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics and a bronze medal at the 1994 Winter Olympics. The 1984 Winter Olympics led to world fame when they performed to the music of Maurice Ravel’s Boléro and received twelve perfect 6.0 marks, one of five occasions when they were awarded all perfect scores for artistic impression.

Happy Birthday, Simon Cowell

1959 The birth of Simon Cowell, television producer, entrepreneur, and television personality. He is known as a talent judge on TV shows such as Pop Idol, The X Factor, Britain’s Got Talent and American Idol. He is also the owner of the television production and music publishing house Syco.

The Last Roll

1966 The Rolling Stones made their last appearance on ITV’s ‘Ready Steady Go’.

A Very Swedish Shopping Trip

1977 Ninety sets of Swedish identical twins travelled to Felixstowe for a brief shopping trip!

Independent At Last

1986 A new British newspaper, The Independent, was published.

Touch the Money

1992 The first Braille cash dispenser was installed, by the Northern Rock Building Society in Gateshead, Tyne and Wear

 

 

Boiled egg and soldiers – Nathan Outlaw

Boiled Egg and Soldiers

The quaint simplicity of Nathan Outlaw‘s egg and soldiers recipe belies the degree of work involved, so have your equipment at the ready when starting this dish. With homemade saffron bread and smoked duckbreast, this takes a well-known combination of flavours, deconstructs them, and presents in a delightfully unique sense. Egg and soldiers will never be the same again

Egg and soldiers recipe

4 hours

METHOD

1. To make the saffron bread, put the saffron strands and tepid water together in a bowl and leave to infuse for 10 minutes

2. Combine the bread flour, fermented dough, yeast, butter and bread improver in the bowl of an electric mixer and stir in the saffron liquid

3. Mix for 5-6 minutes, using the dough hook, then add the salt and mix for 1 more minute, until a smooth dough is formed

4. Transfer to a floured bowl, cover with cling film and leave in a warm, dry place for 20 minutes

5. Tip the dough onto a floured work surface, knock back and place in a loaf tin. Leave to prove again in a warm, dry place until the dough has tripled in size, about an hour

6.Preheat the oven to 240°C/Gas mark 9, or its highest setting

7. Shape the risen dough into a round loaf and bake on a tray in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown on top

BAKING BREAD

When the bread is done, it will sound hollow when the bottom is tapped.

8. Remove the bread from the oven and cool on a wire rack. Cut four 75g slices from the loaf ready to make the saffron breadcrumbs and reserve the remaining loaf for wrapping the asparagus

9. To prepare the duck, mix together the sea salt, sugar, orange zest and five spice in a bowl, then rub the mixture all over the duck breasts. Leave to marinate for 2 hours in the fridge

10. To make the saffron breadcrumbs, tear the sliced bread into small pieces

11. Heat the oil in a non-stick frying pan, then fry the bread pieces for 2-3 minutes, tossing frequently, until golden brown and crisp

12. Sprinkle over the caster sugar, then season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Transfer the fried bread to a tray and allow to cool

13. Once the fried bread has cooled, pulse it to rough crumbs in a food processor. Measure out 250g to coat the duck eggs, and reserve the rest for serving

14. To cook the duck eggs, bring a large pan of water to the boil and get ready a large bowl of ice-cold water

15. Boil the eggs for 3-4 minutes (for soft-boiled) then drain and plunge into the iced water for 1-2 minutes. Peel the eggs and drain them on kitchen paper

16. Put the flour and saffron breadcrumbs in separate dishes and beat the hen’s egg and milk together in a bowl

17. Dredge each duck egg in flour, then dip into the beaten egg and roll in the saffron breadcrumbs. Place on a tray and chill until needed

18. Wash the marinade off the duck breasts and pat dry with kitchen paper

19. Head outside to smoke the duck. Put your oak chippings in a large pan or wok and rest a wire rack or trellis on top. Carefully light the chippings with a blowtorch, then allow the fire to burn out

20. When the chippings are just smouldering, lay the duck breasts on the rack and cover the pan with a large wet tea towel

21. Leave to smoke for 10-12 minutes, or until the duck is cooked through. Remove the duck, leave it to cool, then wrap in cling film and chill until needed

22. To cook the asparagus, snap off the woody ends and peel the stalks

23. Blanch the spears for 1-2 minutes (depending on thickness) in a pan of boiling salted water, then drain and refresh in iced water. Drain again then trim the spears so that they are all the same length

24. Slice the smoked duck breast, on the grain, so you have 12 thin slices, and slice 12 thin pieces from the remaining saffron loaf

SAFFRON BREAD

Keep any remaining saffron bread for another occasion – it’s delicious served with good butter and jam

25. Preheat the grill to high. Wrap each asparagus spear in a slice of smoked duck, then wrap again in a slice of saffron bread

26. Place on a grill-pan and dot with butter. Grill for 1-2 minutes on each side, or until golden brown and crisp all over

27. To deep-fry the duck eggs, heat some vegetable oil in a deep-fat fryer to 160C

28. Working in two batches, fry the breaded duck eggs for 2-3 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and crisp. Drain on kitchen paper

29. Pile the last of the saffron breadcrumbs on four serving plates

30. Slice the base off each fried duck egg and stand it on the breadcrumbs, then slice off the top to reveal the runny egg yolks

31. Lay the asparagus bundles alongside and serve immediately

INGREDIENTS

Saffron bread

• 2 pinches of saffron strands
• 280ml of water
• 500g of white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
• 120g of fermented bread dough
• 30g of fresh yeast
• 15g of soft butter
• 1 tsp of organic bread improver
• 20g of salt 
  

Smoked duck

• 100g of flaky sea salt 
  
• 100g of sugar
• 1 orange, zested
• 1 tbsp of Chinese five-spice powder
• 2 225g duck breasts

Saffron breadcrumbs

• 40ml of olive oil
• 20g of caster sugar
• salt
  
• freshly ground black pepper 
  

Duck eggs

• 4 free-range duck eggs
• 50g of plain flour
• 1 egg
• 20ml of milk
• vegetable oil

Asparagus

• 12 asparagus spears
• 1 tbsp of unsalted butter

EQUIPMENT

1. Electric mixer with dough hook
2. 135g oak chippings
3. Large wet tea towel
4. Blow torch

 

On This Day – Five Firsts and a Penny Bazaar

The Bastard of Normandy

1066 Claiming his right to the English throne, William, Duke of Normandy (or William the Bastard, as he was often called at the time, due to his illegitimate status ) landed at Pevensey in East Sussex to begin his invasion of England.

William was the son of the unmarried Robert I, Duke of Normandy by his mistress Herleva. His illegitimate status and his youth caused some difficulties for him after he succeeded his father, as did the anarchy that plagued the first years of his rule. During his childhood and adolescence, members of the Norman aristocracy battled each other, both for control of the child duke and for their own ends. In 1047 William was able to quash a rebellion and begin to establish his authority over the duchy, a process that was not complete until about 1060. His marriage in the 1050s to Matilda of Flanders  provided him with a powerful ally in the neighbouring county of Flanders.  By the time of his marriage, William was able to arrange the appointments of his supporters as bishops and abbots in the Norman church. His consolidation of power allowed him to expand his horizons, and by 1062 William was able to secure control of the neighbouring county of Maine. 

Normans Are Here to Stay

1106 Henry I of England defeated his brother, Robert Curthose, the Duke of Normandy at the Battle of Tinchebray, in Normandy. It was a decisive victory and the battle lasted just one hour. The Duke was captured and imprisoned in England and then at Cardiff Castle until his death. England and Normandy remained under a single ruler until 1204.

The First God Save the King

1745 At the Drury Lane Theatre, London, God Save the King, the national anthem, was sung for the first time. The score used was prepared by Thomas Augustine Arne (1710-1778) leader of the orchestra and composer of Rule Britannia.

The First International

1864 ‘The First International’ was founded in London, when Karl Marx proposed the formation of an International Working Men’s Association.

The First Woman Doctor

1865 Elizabeth Garrett Anderson became the first qualified woman physician in Britain.

The Penny Bazaar

1894 Simon Marks, a Polish immigrant, and Yorkshireman Tom Spencer opened their Penny Bazaar in Leeds, setting the foundations for the Marks and Spencer chain.

The First Radio Times

1923 The Radio Times was first published.

Way Back When

1928 Parliament passed the Dangerous Drugs Act outlawing cannabis.

Penicillin 

1928 The Scottish born pharmacologist Sir Alexander Fleming noticed a bacteria-killing mould growing in his laboratory, discovering what later became known as penicillin.

Brixton Riots

1985 Riots broke out on the streets of south London after a woman was shot and seriously injured in a house search. Local people had already been very critical of police tactics in Brixton and a mood of tension exploded into violence as night fell.

Black Day for Bookmakers

1996 At Ascot, Frankie Dettori became the first jockey to win all seven races at a meeting. The odds on this happening were 25,095 to 1. Bookmakers lost over £18 million pounds as a result.

 

On This Day – The King’s Beloved Sister and The Scream

The King’s Beloved Sister

1515 Anne of Cleves, 4th wife of Henry VIII, was born.

Anne was a German noblewoman and the fourth wife of Henry VIII and as such she was Queen of England from 6 January 1540 to 9 July 1540. The marriage was never consummated and she was not crowned queen consort Following the annulment of their marriage, Anne was given a generous settlement by the King, and thereafter referred to as the King’s Beloved Sister. She lived to see the coronation of Mary I, outlasting the rest of Henry’s wives.

Branded

1598 The English playwright Ben Jonson, a contemporary of William Shakespeare, killed an actor in a duel and was put on trial for manslaughter. Jonson pleaded guilty but was released by benefit of clergy, a legal ploy through which he gained leniency by reciting a brief bible verse, forfeiting his ‘goods and chattels’ and being branded on his left thumb.

The First Tenant

1735 Sir Robert Walpole became the first prime minister to occupy 10 Downing Street.

Coronation Day

1761 The coronation of George III. In the later part of his life, George III suffered from mental illness. After a final relapse in 1810, a regency was established, and George III’s eldest son, George, Prince of Wales, ruled as Prince Regent until his father’s death in 1820.

Happy Birthday, Mr. Farraday

1791 Michael Faraday, English chemist and physicist, was born. He was the inventor of the dynamo, the transformer and the electric motor. The Unit of capacitance – Farad – was named after him.

A Chip Off the Old Block

1896 Queen Victoria surpassed her grandfather King George III as the longest reigning monarch in British history.

The Oldest Cinema

1910 The Duke of York’s Picture House opened in Brighton. It is now the oldest continually operating cinema in Britain.

The Killing Waves

1914 Three British cruisers, Aboukir, Hogue, and Cressy, were torpedoed and sunk by German U-boats, killing more than 1,400.

The Gresford Mine Tragedy

1934 The worst pit disaster in Britain for 21 years killed more than 260 miners in an explosion and fire at the Gresford Mine in Wales.

Gibbs SR Toothpaste

1955 Independent Television (ITV) began operating. Only six minutes of advertisements were allowed each hour and there was no Sunday morning TV permitted. The first advertisement screened was for Gibbs SR toothpaste.

Everything I Do

1991 Bryan Adams made chart history when his song – Everything I Do, I Do It For You, had its twelfth consecutive week as the UK No.1.

The Scream

1999 Screaming Lord Sutch’s Official Monster Raving Loony Party honoured his memory with a two minute scream at a pub in Ashburton, Devon. The singer, born David Sutch, hanged himself on 16th June 1999.