You've got to try this with Stollen!

Just a quickie to tell the world about the lovely, easy breakfast I just ate.

This morning I found a few little pieces of Stollen and 2 mince pies in a tin in the back of the cupboard, maybe the last of the Christmas leftovers!  

I was going to make bread pudding with the stollen but then, having no particular breakfast in mind, decided to experiment.

I chopped up the Stollen poured over some double cream and baked for about 15 minutes in the oven preheated to  190ºC/375ºF/170ºC fan/gas 5.  And the result?

Gobsmackingly delicious (and rather naughty). Give it go sometime!

I’ve said it before, and I’ll … I’m so, so, so glad I can cook. 

Every day I eat food that is, for me at least, outstandingly delicious (not only can I cook, I also have a big head) yet it costs me very little and takes me hardly any time.  

Anyone who doesn't learn the crucial skill of cooking is a daftie!

Loads and loads more ideas on my Pinterest board ...

Lovely Leftovers ~ Delicious Ideas

  

The Best Idea Ever for Bacon!

Although I do have other great ideas for leftover bacon ~
see end of post!

I made something simply marvellous the other day, hopefully you will be as delighted with this as I am!

Clearing out the fridge preparatory to filling it up again I found I had one single sad rasher of bacon left so I suddenly made …

Bacon Salt

1 rasher bacon

1 tsp crunchy sea salt

~   Preheat the oven to 375ºF/190ºC/170ºC fan/gas 5 or so.

~   Cook the bacon till it seems to have gone too far and looks yukky, like this …

~   Pat off any fat and let it cool and harden.

~   Break into pieces and crush together with the salt in a pestle and mortar.

~  Store in a sealed jar in the fridge and sprinkle willy nilly on all sorts of things.

As mentioned above, today I had it for lunch sprinkled over Brie and caramelised onion marmalade on nubbly toast comme ça …

Yesterday I sprinkled bacon salt on poached freshly laid eggs (see here for the easiest and best way to poach eggs) …

Tonight I plan on eating it with cod.

I have never made this before but am delighted with it; so much yumminess for so little effort and hardly any money, I shall certainly keep some by for the rest of my life! 

If you fancy doing the same please pin this handy image so you don't forget! 

This is just one of 35 ideas for leftover bacon included in Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers ~ don't you wonder what ideas I have for the other 450 potential leftovers? 

~ Great preview here ~

Abel & Cole's "Cooking Outside the Box" ~ a review

~  Menu  ~

Roasted Apple and Butternut Squash Soup

Croissant Croutons

The Merest Tad of Red Wine

I wish to review a rather lovely book I discovered in the library.  It is Abel & Cole’s “Cooking Outside the Box” and I picked it up because I was already vaguely familiar with their informative website and it turns out their book is exactly my kind of thing. I really like and collude in their style of recipe writing “a dollop” or a “glug” and their list of food alternatives means that, in reality, using this book one can still be creating a dish all one’s own.

Reading “Cooking Outside the Box” reminds me of when I was young; their Cheesy Woosty Eggs and Spinachio Pie recall our own dear Caribbean Banana Thingy and Toad in the Crevasse at our restaurant The House on the Strand. 

The Abel & Cole Cookbook is not brand new on the market, it was published by Collins in 2006 but if you haven’t already got a copy I really do recommend adding it to your collection.  Lots of good ideas in there including not one but two recipes for swede which I am tempted by even though I can’t abide the stuff!!! 

As I say “Cooking outside the Box” by Abel & Cole was published by Collins in September 2006.  It is an attractive hardcover book with some quirky illustrations that add to its charm  You can get it from Amazon  or Abel & Cole  will send you a free copy if you order a box of superb veg from them

Pumpkin (or Butternut) and Apple Soup 

I decided to try this soup but in the very spirit of the book used butternut squash instead of pumpkin.  It is a simple but utterly delicious recipe involving roasting apple and pumpkin together with a little chilli till tender and yum and then puréeing it all together with some veg stock.  I couldn’t help trying the purée before adding the stock and it would make a very fine side dish.  The soup was gorgeous particularly served with croutons made from a rather stale croissant.

Croissant Croutons

Croissants, due to their flaky texture, lend themselves to some great interpretations of standard leftover bread usage.  For the croutons I just diced the croissant, tossed it with a little olive oil, sea salt and black pepper and bunged in a hot oven for a few minutes till crunchy and golden

Incidentally Croissant French Toast is also gorgeous. The many layers of the cut side of the croissant go crunchy crisp; make sure to serve cut side up so that the layers trap all the gooey maple syrup and butter or what have you.

The other thing I have made with leftover croissants is bread pudding – I slice the croissant along its length and lay in the dish so that the when baked the cut edges at he top of the pudding go delicately crisp.  

Breaking the Rules of Blogging!

On another matter I’d just like to break not one but two of "rules" of blogging:

1.   I understand one should not apologise for a large gap in posts and yet … I am so sorry I haven’t posted for a while; we have been moving my Father in Law into his own annexe – calloo callay – which has been time consuming and fraught.

2.   I intend to continue referring to my partner as “my real man” or other affectionate terms despite being informed that failing to refer to your spouse by his or her real name is a no no.  My real man (there I go now), on the other hand, is a private sort of chap and would prefer to keep his name to himself.

Lovely Lunch from Leftovers ~ again!

~  Menu  ~

Turkey, Tomato & Coconut Curry

A Few Cashews

Naan Bread

White Wine Spritzer

Brandied Peach Ice Cream

Cornish Coffee

Pretty good lunch innit!  Last night my real men had their last roast turkey dinner from Christmas (its OK, I froze it in between) and I made myself a delicious and too big turkey curry.  I have a very quick and easy curry “recipe” which is ….

Quick and Easy Curry Sauce 

Serves one but if you can multiplication you'll be OK!

 good handful of cherry tomatoes - halved

1 tbsp olive oil

1-2 tsp of curry paste

1 sachet creamed coconut – coarsely chopped

~   Cook the tomatoes cut side down in the oil in a small covered pan over low heat till they collapse into the oil.

~   Add the curry paste and the coconut plus a splash of hot water and stir together till the coconut has melted and you have a sauce situation in the pan.  Add more hot water to achieve your ideal consistency.

~   Add what you like – I added turkey.  I’d have added fresh coriander too if I’d had any.

Anyhoo, I couldn’t eat it all so today I toasted a little naan bread from the freezer and made a sarnie.  I enjoyed it even more than last night which is saying something.

For lunch pudding we all had some ice cream that I’d made out of leftovers.  We recently bought an almost out of date brandied cream from Tesco for 25p and also had an open but hardly used can of peach slices in juice in the fridge so this is what I did …

Brandied Peach Ice Cream (from leftovers) – serves 3-4

410g can of sliced peaches in fruit juice – drained
250ml extra thick cream with Courvoisier in it OR
250ml double cream and a tablespoon brandy
100g condensed milk

~   Purée the peaches.

~   Whisk the cream and brandy together till thick

~   Fold in the peaches and the condensed milk.

~   Freeze

NOTE:  if using extra thick cream it will go runny at first when whisked and it is easiest then to whisk in the condensed milk and keep whisking till thick again.  If using normal double cream and brandy follow the above instructions.

I make many, many ice creams using this simple method - see here for more ices using my easy no-churn ice cream method. 

Find more ideas and recipes for using up leftovers on my Pinterest Board

Leftover Food ~ Delicious Ideas

5 Unusual Salad Dressings to keep in your Handbag!

Yesterday I had a wander around Padstow – it was closed!!!  Almost all the restaurant and about half of the shops said they would not be open in January.  Luckily it was a incredibly lovely day, January 11^th but more like late March, and Padstow was in bloom – I took all these pictures!

11^th January 2012 - Padstow, Cornwall

I met up with my friend Carol and we went to The Cornish Arms, an old pub in the nearby village of St. Merryn which has two claims to fame; 1) I used to work there, and 2) it is now one of Rick Stein’s places.

Lunch was very good, I had a Colston Basset Stilton and Tomato Tart with lots of rocket.  Tomatoes and blue cheese don’t immediately spring to my mind as a great flavour pairing but it worked well.  Carol had a homemade burger which she said was excellent and ordered salad instead of chips.  

We were, however, rather irritated!

We were both vexed about the same thing which often irritates us when eating out in the UK – 

Why in this country are salads not dressed, dressing not offered and the makings not available on the table???

As it happened I had just bought some Roasted Garlic Mayonnaise so we resorted to that to cheer up our salads!  I am seriously thinking of making myself a little Travelling Seasoning Kit to keep with me when I go out; vinaigrette, chilli flakes, sea salt, black garlic, smoked black pepper, vanilla sugar, that sort of thing.

Here are a few dressing recipes you might like to keep in your handbag!!! 

Caramelised Red Wine Vinaigrette

This a good way to use up leftover wine if you really, really can’t drink it! News from the future - here is a great post giving 23 more ideas for "leftover wine". 

~   Boil together 60ml of (leftover) red wine, 60 ml of water and 60g of sugar till it caramelises. 

~   Add 240ml of red wine and reduce the whole lot down to 60ml. 

~   Whisk in 120ml good olive oil, taste and season – black pepper would be good.

Lemon Poppyseed Dressing

~   Whisk together the juice of 1 lemon, 1 tsp of poppyseeds, ½ tsp finely grated lemon zest and a generous grinding of black pepper.

~   Whisk in 180ml good olive oil.

~   Add crunchy sea salt to taste.

Sweet Chilli Dressing

~   Whisk together Thai sweet chilli sauce and lime juice.

~   Whisk in 2 tsp sesame oil and 4 tbsp light olive oil.

~   Taste and season.

  

Burnt Orange Dressing  

~   Simply boil down pure orange juice till it is reduced to a syrup 

~   Whisk in a little Dijon mustard and 2 parts of olive oil for one part of reduced orange juice.

Balsamic Honey Mustard Dressing  ~ see here for recipe

West Indian Pepper Wine

I used to serve this traditional condiment with Seafood Chowder for drizzling purposes, it contains no wine nor any pepper; pepper refers to chilli pepper and I'm not too sure about the wine bit. It is very simple, however:

~   Put a dried chilli or two into a sealable bottle (small enough to go in your handbag) and top up with rum.

~   Seal tightly and leave for a day or so but as long as you like before using.

Garlic, onions, anchovies, herbs, cheese and other fresh ingredients. can be added to these dressings to some advantage, e.g. blue cheese crumbled into the Balsamic Dressing is very good, but please do consider the ambient temperature of your handbag!

24 more delicious vinaigrette recipes here.

Easy Peasy Duck Rillettes

~  Menu  ~

Rillettes of Duck with Smoked Black Pepper & Cognac

Plum & Balsamic Chutney

Nubbly Bread

Glass of Red

Pear & Ginger Sorbet

I have done myself proud with leftovers today.

With the scraps of a most delicious roast duck I made me some rillettes,  comme ça:

Easy Peasy Duck Rillettes

approx 60g cooked duck meat

approx 60g duck fat

½ tbsp brandy

salt and pepper (I used smoked black pepper)

a smidge of garlic

maybe a little finely grated orange zest – up to you!

~   Cook the duck meat in the fat very, very gently for quite a long while, 45-60 minutes plus, till meltingly tender.

~   Shred the meat into the fat.

~   Add the cognac, taste and season.

~   Put the whole lot in a little dish, pushing the meat under the surface of the fat.

~   Chill till needed.

Supposedly this keeps very well as the fat seals the dish and also, apparently, it is better after a couple of days wait as this helps the flavours meld.  I have tested neither of these suppositions.

We have had a tin of pears hanging about the place for a while so today I thought I ought to deal with it so made …

Pear & Ginger Sorbet

~   Strain the pears (drink the juice with some fizzy water).

~   Coarsely chop the pears and partially freeze.  Actually I wholly froze and had to partially defrost!

~   Run through the food processor with a spoonful of syrup from the Stem Ginger jar till smooth.

~   Freeze (again).

Nice Pinnable image don't you think?

For loads more Creative Ways to Use Up Leftovers follow my Pinterest board ...

Leftover Food ~ Delicious Ideas