A day in the life of my Rayburn

Got up to another showery day, with gaps between the showers too brief for a walk, and the flue on my fire requiring a bit of attention so a studio day out of the question, all leaving me a bit loose endy feeling.

So I reverted to my default setting for a rainy day, I lit the Rayburn and spent the day cooking.

I started by playing a little game I like to call  'Deep Freeze Tease', which basically involves finding random unlabelled packages in the chest freezer and cooking something out of the contents.

Today I found:

2 duck breasts
1 small joint of shin of beef
1 handful of chestnuts
5 hot dog sausages

which translated to:

1 spicy chinese duck with noodles
1 beef curry
1 mediterranean beef casserole
6 spicy beef kebabs
10 sausage rolls

So here are my recipes for June

Spicy Beef Kebabs

500g  lean beef 
3 slices of bread
1 teaspoon chilli powder
1 onion
2 garlic cloves
4 tablespoons of dried parsley
2 tablespoons of lemon juice
1 tablespoon of tomato puree


I started by piling all the ingredients into my food processor and whizzing them all up together.

If you are going to barbeque these, then make sure you soak the kebab sticks, but as I am going to grill mine I haven't bothered.

Flour your hands and take a golfball size of mix and roll between your palms to create a sausage shape, then push the stick up through the centre.  Coat with flour and leave to set in the fridge for at least an hour before cooking.

 This the joint I found in the freezer, as you can see it is not that big, but it was half price, and that is always a selling point.

After taking the bit required for the kebabs, I cut the rest up into little chunks and spread them out between two further dishes, a curry (on the right) and a light summery mediterranean casserole.



Mediterranean casserole

2 large onions roughly chopped
1 kilo of tomatoes roughly chopped
4 cloves of garlic
500g of lean beef cut into small cubes
1 large courgette cut into chunks
12 pitted black olives

Fry all the above in a little olive oil, then add a litre of water and a veggie stock cube and leave to cook overnight in a Rayburn or 4 hours at 150°C, season and serve with hot crusty freshly baked bread.

Spicy Duck Noodles

Marinade ingredients:


2 cm of fresh ginger
2 cloves garlic
1 fresh red chilli
1 tablespoon of soy sauce
2 limes
1 tablespoon of sesame seeds
1 teaspoon of chinese 5 spice powder
1/2 teaspoon of ground black pepper

Blitz everything up together in a food processor.

2 duck breasts
1 small glass of wine
1 teaspoon of brown sugar
250g of dried rice noodles

Take 2 duck breasts or chicken or pork or whatever meat you have, and cube, then stir over the marinade and leave for about 4 hours in the fridge.

Scoop the meat out of the marinade with a slotted spoon and fry.

Once browned add back in the marinade juices and leave to cook for a couple of minutes. 

In the marinade dish break up the dried noodles and pour over enough hot water to just cover the noodles, cover and leave for 5 minutes, enough time for the noodles to swell and soften and absorb most of the water. 

Add the noodles to the meat pan, pour over a little glass of wine and finally add a teaspoon of brown sugar to thicken and sticky up the sauce.

And finally, what are you supposed to do with 5 random hot dog sausages and a handful of chestnuts.....

....well sausage rolls of course.

Chestnut Sausage Rolls

Whizz up some hot dog sausages with a couple of teaspoons of whole grain mustard and a handful of blanched and peeled chestnuts.

Roll in some pastry, either filo or flaky, whichever you have or whichever you like to make, I like to make neither but usually have a roll of flaky in the fridge for tarts and the like.

Bake in the oven at 180°c for 20 minutes and eat either hot or cold. 

Well - that's the rainy day cooking over, just enough residual heat to make me a pot of coffee!

Another Friday night dinner party

We had friends over for dinner on Friday, and a good time was had by all, so here are some of the recipes from the dinner party.

Starter: Deep fried crab balls with Thai pea dip

Take one tin of drained crab meat, to it add 2 tablespoons of soft butter, 1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard, 2 tablespoons of breadcrumbs, 2 egg yolks, a splash of tobasco and season.  Form into little balls by rubbing in floured hands, then coat each ball in flour, refridgerate for at least 30 minutes to firm up before frying in some vegetable oil.

For the pea dip, boil a cup of fresh or frozen petit pois peas until soft and tender, then drain and whizz up in a blender until they form a puree, add a teaspoon of green thai chili paste and a teaspoon of yoghurt, serve either immediately while warm or refridgerate until needed.

Main: Asian Salmon with spicy noodles

Next time I buy the salmon steaks, because it took me over an hour to pin bone the fish.

I cannot take any credit for the recipe because it is Jamie Oliver's from his 30 minute meals.

Into a food processor, add 1 medium onion peeled and quartered, 2 cloves of garlic, a 2 cm piece of peeled ginger root, half a large fresh green chili, a teaspoon of soy sauce and the juice of two limes, whizz together to create a slurry mix.

Into a shallow oven proof dish, drizzle a little olive oil, spoon in the spicy mix, and add the salmon skin side up, sprinkle over a tablespoon of chinese 5 spice.

This will need to cook for about 20 minutes at 180°C.

For the noodles, start by making a spicy broth base.  Fry 1 onion finely chopped, 2 cloves of garlic, 2 cm of peeled and grated fresh ginger and half a finely chopped chili, add a teaspoon of Chinese 5 spice, and 3 teaspoons of cornflour, then pour in about a litre of chicken stock to a 250g packet of dried egg noodles.

Just as a digression here, I hang my ginger root from a piece of kitchen string in a dark corner and after about a week it starts to sprout.  I have successfully cultivated ginger for the garden from these sprouting corms, leave until the green tips are at least 10 centimetres long, then plant a 5 cm by 5 cm section of the root in the ground until just the top 1 cm of the green tip is showing.  The first year you will just get some green foliage but by year 2 you should have enough root to either harvest or split into other plants.

Dessert:  Lemony cheesey titchy puds

OK - I admit this recipe is the biggest cheat around (thank you Nigella for the idea) but it is very quick, very easy, and very very very yummy.

Take a packet of biscuits, for us the ones normally left at the bottom of the biscuit barrel unloved and uneaten are custard creams, and whizz them up in a blender.

The joy of this is that you don't need to add any butter, the cream sticks the base together.

Stir together a 125g tub of ricotta or the like, 4 tablespoons of lemon curd, and the juice of one lemon to form a rich lemony cheesey cream.

Press the biscuit base into individual little pots, I used some glass tealight holders, then spoon over some of the creamy mixture and leave to refridgerate for a couple of hours before eating.

The final touches for our evening were - 4 bottles of faux champagne fizz, and 3 bottles of red wine.

Dinner Party Menu - Roast Wild Boar

Great night last night with great friends.

so here is my dinner party menu

~   Starter :  Goats cheese and red onion tartlets  ~

Cheat number 1: ready roll shortcurst pastry  - I have way too much to do to be making pastry too, so ready roll will do.

Roll out pastry, cut and blind bake for 15 minutes at 180°C using tin foil until pastry is crisp and golden, then leave to one side to cool.

Meanwhile slice 3 large red onions thinly, and fry in a couple of tablespoons of olive oil until translucent, then add a couple of tablespoons of water and leave to simmer on a gentle heat for 20 minutes.  

When pastry cases are cool fill with the onions, top with a thin slice of goats cheese, a cherry tomato and a some walnut pieces.  

Then throw in the oven to heat through for 10 minutes before serving.  I just balanced mine on top of the meat tray so I can only estimate the time and heat required here - but 10 mins at 180°C seems reasonable.

~ Main : Roast Wild Boar on a bed of Puy Lentils  ~

Boar should be marinated for at least 12 hours before cooking but once again I have a handy hint:  if you are using a frozen piece of meat, put it in a large bowl to drefrost with about 500ml of water, leave for 24 hours to defrost to allow the meat to marinade in its own blood - sounds ghoulish but makes for a tender roast.

Sanglier Marinade:  500ml red wine

teaspoon of sea salt

teaspoon of black peppercorns

1 whole head of garlic - just break the cloves apart

3 onions quartered

4 carrots cut into small chunks

3 cloves

4 sprigs fresh thyme

2 tablespoons of olive oil

8-10 juniper berries roughly crushed

Leave the meat in the marinade for 4-6 hours.

Brown the meat in olive oil on all sides in a large meat pan before adding the marinade to the pan, cover the meat tray and put in the oven for about 2-4 hours depending on the age of the meat - the older the longer.

As my Rayburn is not necessarily accurate on its temperatures, I would say 180°C would be OK.

In the meantime, pour a cup of lentils per person into a large pan of cold water, cover and bring to the boil, then leave to simmer for 45 minutes.  Puy lentils don't need soaking.  Just sieve once cooked.

To serve, carve the meat onto a large dish, sieve out the bits from the marinade and scatter over the meat, pour the juices over the lentils and there you go. 

As a side veg dish I did   ~ roasted red cabbage gratin with carrots.

Just thinly slice red cabbage, carrots, onions and celery and layer into an oven dish, season and oven cook for 40 minutes.

Then make a gratin top with flour and butter or lard, just rub together with your fingers to make breadcrumbs,  grate in some hard cheese like Cheddar or Cantal and scatter over the semi cooked veg.  Bake for a further 40 minutes until all the veg is soft.

~ Dessert :  Foraged Plum cake with Chantilly Cream  ~

For this I am using a tried and tested recipe (here)  but substituting peaches for the red fruit.  Roughly peel the peaches and quarter, remove stones and if slightly unripe as these were just cook in a pan with a couple of tablespoons of sugar for a couple of minutes.

These are foraged peaches and have red flesh, I have no idea what variety they are but they taste and smell very peachy, once baked they tasted more like a damsony peach.

My Chantilly cream is my last cheat, to 200 mls of double cream, add 50g of icing sugar, and a packet of powdered Chantilly fixing powder, whisk for a few minutes until cream stiffens then refridgerate until serving.

A dinner party fit for Nigella the goddess of food herself.

Vegetable cakes - Chocolate Beetroot Brownie takes on Green Tomato Cake

Carrot cake is of course a given, but this year with my domestic goddess cap pulled firmly down on my forehead I am experimenting with other exciting sweet veggie cake options.

In the blue corner, the defending title holder, - Chocolate Beetroot Brownie, and the new contender for the title, in the red corner - Green Tomato Cake.

Chocolate Beetroot Brownie

Preheat the oven to 180°C, and in an oven dish place 250g of quality cooking chocolate, I use a mix of milk and dark patissiere chocolate, and 250g of unsalted diced butter.  Put the dish in the oven to melt the chocolate and butter rather than wasting energy using a double boiler on the hob.


Whisk together 3 eggs and 250g of sugar, add a teaspoon of vanilla extract then the melted gooey chocolate and stir together.

Add 300g of cooked beetroots after whizzing them into a puree in a food processor - you could grate them but it depends on how keen you are on pink fingers for days afterwards.

Into the mixture sift 100g of self raising flour, a pinch of salt and 25g of cocoa powder, fold a few times but don't over work as this can make your brownies a bit tough.

Then bake for 20 minutes, checking with a skewer before taking out of the oven (insert a skewer and it should come out clean without chocolatey goo on it when the cake is cooked).

Leave in the tin to cool fully before turning out onto a wire rack.

TOP TIP - leave the chocolatey mess lying around and little fingers come and clean it for you.

Green Tomato Cake

In a large mixing bowl beat together until smooth:

2 1/4 cups of sugar

1 cup veg oil

3 eggs

2 teaspoons of vanilla

Into the mixture sift:

3 cups of plain flour
1 teaspoon of salt
1 teaspoon of baking powder
1 teaspoon of cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg (optional - I detest it so I don't use it but it was part of the original recipe)

Beat the mixture together creating a stiff cake dough.

Add:

1 cup of pecans or walnuts (I actually used almonds because the walnuts are not ready for picking yet)
1 cup raisins
2 1/2 cups of chopped green tomatoes

Pour the mixture into a greased cake tin - springform if you have one.

Sprinkle with a couple of tablespoons of dessicated coconut, and bake at 180°C for 1 hour.

Righto - off to tend to my green tomato and ham soup - recipe to follow......

Quintessentially English

Whilst in the UK one of the most enjoyable times I spent was with some friends for a birthday 'house' party (here).

The party venue the morning after,


and just some of the grapes, shame they were not ripe enough to pick.

Magnificent house and a fantastic couple of days - thank you for inviting me.

Whilst there we had a traditional English cream tea, that and the setting, following a game of cricket on the lawn just seemed so evocative of that air of quintessential English-ness that I have been quite inspired and have indulged in some cream tea baking - obviously I have digressed and so my cream tea has more of an international flavour.  I hope that you enjoy the recipes as much as I did.

Lavender Shortbread

50g caster sugar
1/3 teaspoon of dried lavender flowers
175g plain flour
115g unsalted butter, chilled and diced

Preheat oven to 160°C, you will also need a shallow square cake tin.

Whizz up the flowers and sugar in a food processor, then work the butter and flour together with your fingertips to create a crumbly texture, add the sugar and flowers and create a firm dough, working with cold hands.

Press the dough into the tin using the bottom of a glass, prick with a fork and score into fingers.  Sprinkle with a little more sugar then bake for 35 to 40 minutes.  Once baked golden cut along the score lines while hot, leaving the shortbread in the tin to cool.

Strawberry Sablés


225g plain flour
50g ground almonds 
pinch salt
75g icing sugar
130g unsalted butted, diced
1 egg
1 beaten egg for glazing
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
225g small strawberries

Line two greaseproof trays with baking parchment, you will also need a biscuit cutter - I just use a glass with the rim dipped in flour.

Whizz together the flour, almonds, salt and sugar, then add butter and pulse to create a crumbly mix.

Beat together the egg, vanilla and add to the flour until a dough ball is formed, then chill the dough for an hour in fridge wrapped in saran wrap/cling film.

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Roll out the dough to 5mm thick and cut out the biscuit shapes, arrange on the trays, prick each one a couple of times with a fork and brush with the beaten egg before baking for 15 minutes.

Transfer to a wire rack to cool, then assemble into sandwiches with the strawberries cut in half as the filling, dust with some icing sugar to finish.

Russian tea cookies


75g room temperature butter
25g icing sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
40g roasted hazelnuts finely chopped - or almonds or walnuts
100g plain flour


Preheat oven to 180°C


Cream together the sugar and the butter, then add the vanilla and the nuts, finally sift in the flour to create a stiff dough.


With cool hands roll small sections of the dough into little balls about 3cm in diameter, arrange these on a greased baking tray and bake for 12 minutes.


While they are still hot, roll them in the icing sugar to coat, then transfer to a wire rack to cool. 


Roll in the icing sugar again before serving.


White Chocolate and Cranberry Florentines


50g butter
50g caster sugar
3 tablespoons double cream
25g flaked almonds
75g chopped mixed nuts
4 glace cherries chopped (I always seem to have these knocking around - it must be the Martini cocktails!)
40g mixed peel chopped (optional - I hate mixed peel so never add it but the traditional recipe calls for it)
15g dried chopped cranberries
25g plain flour
100g white chocolate broken into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 180°C and line two trays with greaseproof paper.

Put the butter, sugar and cream in a saucepan over a low heat, stir until melted then bring to the boil, remove from the heat and stir in the nuts and cherries, peel and cranberries, then the flour.  Mix to combine.

Drop tablespoons of the mixture onto the trays leaving spreading room between them and bake for 10 minutes.  Press flat with the blade of a knife while they are still hot, leave to cool for 10 minutes on the trays then transfer to a wire rack to allow them to harden fully.

Once cool, melt the chocolate in a bowl over boiling water and spread onto the underside of each biscuit, as the chocolate thickens run fork tines through it to create wavy lines.


Classic Scones

225g self raising flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons caster sugar
50g butter
75ml milk
1 egg

Preheat the oven to 220°C.

In a food processor whizz together the flour, baking powder and sugar, add the butter to create a crumbly mixture.  Tip onto clean surface and make a well.

Beat together the egg and the sugar, pour into the well and form a soft dough.

To get those lovely round high scones I have found that the best way is to roll the dough with cool floured hands out into a thick sausage shape, about the diameter of a rolling pin usually, then cut into slices about 2 cms thick.

Place the rounds onto a lined tray and brush with a beaten egg, then bake for 8 to 10 minutes until risen and golden brown.

Serve with some warmed jam and cream for a traditional cream tea scone.




OK - writing up those recipes and starting the mammoth task of catching up with myself for the blog entries I missed has truly created an appetite.

Tonight's dinner is coming from the garden - I am so happy to be back in my own kitchen.