Sausage Bake

I am continuously on the lookout for new and exciting flavour combinations and because so much had been - NOT ALLOWED - anything is new to me. Cherry tomatoes may have been bought every now and again with the sole purpose of being eaten out of the packet. If I'd attempted to cook them, I would have been met by screwed up faces. Now that I am free to cook almost anything, I can experiment all I wish - and I do. I'll admit that I haven't always enjoyed everything, but with a new philosophy of anything goes I can honestly say I am no longer missing out.

 

Tomato and Sausage Bake

700g ripe cherry tomatoes

1tsp each of dried thyme, rosemary and oregano

1 bay leaf

 1 clove of garlic, peeled and chopped

4 of your favourite sausages

Olive oil

Balsamic vinegar

 

Salt and pepper to taste

1.       Preheat your oven 190˚C/375˚F, place all the tomatoes and the sausages into a roasting pan, if you can place all your tomatoes in one tight layer and then sprinkle all the herbs on top, drizzle with olive oil and vinegar then season with salt and pepper. Carefully toss it altogether making sure that the sausages remain on top. Put it in the oven for 30 mins, take it out give it a good shake and then return it to the oven for 15-30 minutes.

2.       If the sauce is too loose when you remove it from the oven, remove the sausages and place the roasting pan on the hob and reduce the sauce a bit, to the right consistency. Return the sausages to the sauce and serve with crusty bread, rice or mashed potato.

 

 

Sautéed Potatoes with Tomato and Bacon

Most of the time I follow a recipe, as I've said before I alter them slightly to suit our tastes, but sometimes I get the urge to just throw stuff together. The problem is I tend to think of everything in portion size, my portion and Glen's portion and I forget to write down exactly what I have done - how much of what and as for why? I have no idea. This next recipe was one of the few occasions I knew exactly what I did. Two potatoes - one each, four rashers of bacon (slices) - two each, three tomatoes - one and a half each, dash of hot sauce - mostly because hot sauce was my new thing at the time, 1 tsp minced garlic - Americans have it definitly right when it comes to grocery shopping, you can buy massive jars of minced garlic, and none of that rubbish in vinegar that you get in England, nope this stuff is preserved in like a brine type stuff. One teaspoon of savoury - the sprinkle lid was broken so I stuck in a teaspoon, three tablespoons of red onion. I keep saying I'm not very creative, that my artistic vision is circumscribed by my own negativity, when in truth if I was really that uncreative I wouldn't be able to cook at all, neither would I be able to put pen to paper. I find that if I break things down into pieces, rather than looking at things as a whole, it makes things easier for me to find, the inspiration I need, to develope my idea into the final product whether that's a meal or one of my pieces of writing.

Sautéed Potatoes with Tomato and Bacon

2 potatoes, chopped into bite sized pieces

4 rashers of bacon, diced

3 tomatoes, diced

dash hot pepper sauce

1 tsp garlic, minced

1 tsp savoury

3 tbsp red onions, finely chopped

salt and pepper to taste

1. Par boil the potatoes, meanwhile gently fry the bacon and red onion, when the potatoes are done pat dry and add to the bacon along with the remaining ingredients, fry until the potatoes are lightly browned.

I like this for it's simplicity, great for lunches, or light suppers!

Trout Swiss Style

Well if you like trout, then this is one for you, it’s traditionally a Swiss dish. It was made equally by the rich and the farming homes. Trout used to be cheap around the around the lakes, and were bigger than those found in the brooks – I’m a fountain of useless information…….

 Lake Geneva Trout Fillets

2 large trout, filleted but not skinned

100g shallots, finely diced

50g mushrooms, thinly sliced

2 tomatoes, sliced

50g butter

150ml sour cream

100ml white wine

Juice of 1 lemon

4tsp chopped parsley

2tsp salt

Pepper

1tsp garlic powder 

1. First preheat your oven to 180˚C, 350˚F, gas 4. Grease a shallow oven proof dish with the butter, then place a thick layer of the shallots in the bottom, sprinkle with a little salt. Next season your trout with salt and pepper, the lemon juice and garlic powder, put them in the dish on top of the shallots, next layer with the mushrooms followed by the tomatoes and parsley.
2. Pour the wine over the top, cover with baking paper and cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes.
3. Remove from the oven and carefully pour the cooking fluid into a pan, add the cream and cook for a few minutes. Then put it over the trout again. Serve with buttered potatoes and a crispy green salad.

Spaghetti bolognese

I would class spaghetti bolognese as a classic recipe, popular everywhere! I could go into the origins of where it comes from and include the traditional recipe, however that isn't really what this blog is about, my mission, so to speak, is to blog about MY antics in the kitchen, besides you can wiki it, in fact here's a link, I hope! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaghetti_bolognese and get the information if you like... I like my bolognese simple, I sometimes add a little sour cream or creme fraiche and a tin of tomatoes, but it entirely depends on my mood and what I have to hand at the time. I'm slowly but surely, turning into the, little of this, little of that cook, learning as I go, that, things like 3 garlic cloves are great, 4 and you are doing that back of the throat gagging hiss noise (depending on what you are using it for). This of course is just an example and not to be taken literally. Although too much garlic does cause a back of the throat hiss noise - also known through experience. I hate this phrase, but I guess it's very much a case of 'learn by doing.' You learn by doing a recipe, that a little more or a little less is more suited to your palette. I am still learning what flavours go together, and what flavours 'cut into' each other - still really bad at it too.

Spaghetti Bolognese

1 tbsp evoo (extra virgin olive oil)
500g mince
1 large onion
200g mushrooms
500 ml beef stock
tbsp tomato puree
gravy granules to thicken
salt and pepper to taste

1. Add the evoo to a skillet and heat. Roughly chop the onion and then add the onions to the skillet, once the onions have started to soften add the mushrooms.

2. Remove the onions and mushrooms, then fry the mince, once the mince is done add the mushrooms and onions again, along with the tomato puree, stock and gravy granules, bring to a boil then gently simmer.

3. In a large pot, cook spaghetti according to package directions, once cooked drain and place the spaghetti on the plates, season the bolognese if need be and then spoon on top of the spaghetti....

You could sprinkle it with a little grated cheese, or add the cream, tinned tomatoes to the bolognese before you serve.... etc..

Pasta Bakes

 Pasta bakes, perfect for lazy days, busy days, quiet days or lazy next day left overs. Easy to make, fast. Tasty and the combinations between ingredients, you can use mean that no two pasta bakes, ever need be the same. I’ve used Kassler a German cured and slightly smoked pork, tuna, chicken and ham. You can throw in all kinds of veggies. Use tomato sauce, white sauce, creamy vodka sauce or cheese sauce, top it with cheese or bread crumbs or both. With a ready in time of 30-40 minutes and the most effort required is turning the dial of your oven, what’s not to love? For even less effort you could use store bought sauces, I normally have several of the powdered sachets from knorr, and there is a jarred tomato and garlic one we like, to hand, just in case. Although I prefer to make my own – on days where you need no fuss and ease, a pasta bake is the perfect answer, it can be whipped up in minutes. Of course there’s nothing stopping you from also adding your store bought sauce! Like I said the sky is your limit.

macaroni and bacon gratin

300 grams macaroni, cooked according to directions, drained

100 grams bacon strips, diced

1 tomato, diced

1 tap Italian seasonings

1 tsp basil

100 grams grated cheese

salt, pepper and cayenne to taste

3 egg yolks at room temperature

125 grams cream

1/8 litre milk

1. Mix the macaroni, bacon and tomato with the herbs and season with the salt and pepper.

 2. Preheat the oven to 200°C (410°F approximately). Mix the cheese egg, cream and milk with a little salt and pepper.

 3. Grease the dish you are using, put in the macaroni with the cheese and cream mix. Bake for the 30 minutes.

 As I said earlier I am all for “shortcuts” after all if it’s good enough for the likes of Jamie Oliver, it should be good enough for us all, especially on those busy days when cooking is the last thing on our minds, I think most of us live busy lives, whether it’s because we work or are stay at home parents. However when I say “shortcuts” this by no means, means take out every night, or pre-cooked, pre-prepared frozen meal or some such. By “shortcuts” I am referring to, store bought pastry or naan bread, jarred tomato sauce, powdered sauces, basically anything which will help reduce cooking times……. I take a dim view on anyone – unless single, buying frozen meals or eating take out everyday. There comes a certain satisfaction out of cooking when you make a meal, even when minimal effort has been applied and I defy anyone even someone who can’t abide being in the kitchen, to tell me that they don’t get some austere satisfaction or sense of pride when they’ve put a meal on the table that everyone has eaten and enjoyed! I guess that’s easy for me to say because I love being in the kitchen, I love buying cookbooks and kitchen gadgets or utensils, I only buy what I’m going to use though. My kitchen is not big enough to buy just anything! Cookbooks on the other hand are bedtime reading for me. I have read them all and once they go on the bookshelf they become points of reference, if I was asked for a recipe I could easily pull one or two books of the shelf and have it for you in a matter of minutes maybe even more than one variation of the same recipe. I’m quite possibly a kitchen zealot in which case I’m in no position to be defying anyone to do anything.