The slow cooker chef: Carnivores on a budget soup recipe
Cayenne pepper is not something I have used very much over the years. In fact, until last week, we were using a jar that I had bought when I moved into my first flat in 1979. It was just sprinkled on egg mayonnaise as a garnish. It still smelt spicy to me. Cayenne seems to be a handy ingredient for vegetarian dishes so in two weeks we used the final 95% of the small vintage canister. When I opened a new jar I instantly twigged that we were dealing with a much livelier beast. I was using our new slow cooker to make soup for Danny’s lunch...
read moreThe slow cooker chef: Tasty steak and kidney pie recipe for alpha carnivores
As the mention of steak and kidney led me to buy our slow cooker, there had to be a ceremonial christening of the beast with meat. Last Saturday I motored into Newmarket to buy the essential ingredients for this mission. I had two alternatives on my list – oxtail or steak and kidney. “Well I’ve got both, so which would you prefer?” Smiled our excellent butcher, Fred Fitzpatrick. I dilly dallied as both were equally tempting. I finally plumped for steak and kidney. Having chomped through several vegetarian days, just...
read moreThe slow cooker chef: Spicy Creole bean and summery vegetable soup recipe
Having been a bit sniffy about slow cookers for years I am now a convert. It has just been a week since I tottered into the cottage with our virgin slow cooker. Since then she has slaved away preparing wonderful food. Generally this is fat free and so tasty that I need to officiate towards the end of the cooking time. Otherwise Danny is tempted to visit this well of wonder several times a day. If I’m late back from work there is no longer a pinched face at the door. D might have polished off a litre of soup during the afternoon but he...
read moreSlow, gentle cooking with a slow cooker
“Oh I mustn’t forget to go into the garage!” Angela turned the internal key and disappeared into the darkness. “Fiona, do you happen to know where the light switch is?” I could find it blind. The first few days when I was working in their empty house the fuses tripped regularly and I was in darkness. Fine if I was near the garage, not so fun if I was upstairs. Within seconds she was carrying a large cardboard box into the hall. “It’s a slow cooker. If it works, I’ll take it to France.” Back...
read moreSlow braised oxtail recipe for six hungry people
A few years ago I was in Fred Fitzpatrick’s butcher’s shop and spotted a tray of oxtail. My mum was coming for the weekend and somewhere in the vague backwaters of my mind I connected her with oxtail. So I bought the oxtail and rushed home to ring her and announce that we were cooking something very special for the weekend. She arrived in a fever of excitement. I couldn’t contain the good news until the meal. “We’ve made you a wonderful oxtail dish.” When I saw her back straighten and a certain stiffening of...
read moreSlow roast belly of pork on a nest of Victoria plums recipe
Last night we were at a super party where the hostess had cooked a wonderful lamb tagine with squash, chick peas and spinach. It was intense, rich and delicious. She mentioned later that she hated the combination of fruit and meat. “Apricots in a tagine will lift it and not overpower the dish.” “I know that you can use anything seasonal but I just don’t want fruit.” “Have you tried dried fruit?” I love fruit and meat. Coincidentally, we had decided to try cooking belly of pork on a nest of plums the...
read moreDanny’s slow roast belly of pork to die for recipe
We have Sunday Lunch in the evening and Danny usually cooks it. If I have the day off, I can spend hours in the garden and totter in at dusk to a great meal. Perfect. Last week he cooked the best pork that I have ever tasted. I had bought belly of pork from Fred Fitzpatrick on a whim. Danny was polite and definitely suspicious when I showed him the thin joint. Belly of pork is a slim, boy racer sort of cut. A rib of small bones and meat that appears to be stingy. Wrong. BOP has loads of meat. I was working last weekend and arrived home to...
read moreSlow cooked roast Spanish lamb recipe infused with thyme and white wine
One Sunday many years ago, Danny and I were pressed for time before a lunch party. In a desperate, ‘they’ll be here in 5 minutes’ move, we threw all the dirty pots and pans from the sink onto the lawn. It was deep winter and we felt confident that our friends wouldn’t venture further than the kitchen table. Danny locked the door to the garden, just in case. All went well until a child, bored with the extensive lingering over coffee and Armagnac, got up and peered out of the tiny window that overlooks the garden. I knew...
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