Northern Planner

What I've learned from cooking

I'm not bad at cooking, I'm not amazing either. Most of my stuff never looks particularly beautiful, but I know how to make things taste good.

 

And that doesn't really come from recipe books, it doesn't come from being dictated to by Gordon Ramsay, it certainly doesn't come from following crap rules like never adding cheese to shell-fish based pasta dishes. It comes, first and foremost from knowing yourself and what you love, along with an understanding what will delight other people.

It reqires the honest graft of trial and error, developing your own shtick, growing and instinct for food -  what works for you and what doesn't. 

You have to master the simple stuff and then move to more challenging things, following recipes at first, then developing your own twists and turns. All the time askng yourself what you like, what you don't, how to make this better, what others thought, what things you've done before will go together.

In other words, work hard at the basics genty try new things and gradually find your voice, always with instinct, intuition and your senses, not just 'craft and rules'.

It takes confidence to follow your own tastes, but it's only then when you really start to cook, when you can make things you can truly call your own.

And you can taste the difference, people can tell when you've enjoyed making something, when you've made the effort.

That's the magic ingredient and it's often missing from restaurant food, the sense that someone cares about how much you enjoy eating the food, rather than how impressive it looks or how trendy the location is. I guess that's why I tend to prefer little, more down to earth places when we go out.

So what I've learned from cooking are not bad guidelines for living, come to think of it, they're not bad for being a planner.

At the beginning, know you know nothing. Hoover up every scrap of guidance and information, work hard at the basics, don't run before you can crawl.

Every meal starts with good ingredients, you can augment this with craft, creativity and added variety, but you can't but quality back in if you don't start with it.

But never lose your own individality, never forget you own instincts. Once you get proficient and you know the rules, start bending them, find your own voice, first augment tried and tested recipes more to your liking, eventually you'll have developed the intincts to conjure your own magic. You'll know what flavours go, you'll know what textures work, you'll be able to put all sorts of stuff together in new and interesting ways.

So respect people with more experience, but only so much, once you get your confidence, value input but only treat it as such, it's what works for you that counts.

But never lose sight of the fact that a proper cook loves making others happy. There are times to cook for you and times to cook for others. Make the effort to know what turns them on, and cook for that, rather than what some over important famous idiot thinks, your audience doesn't care and neither should you.

So never go for show and coolness over fundamental joy and enjoyment.

Never pretend you know everything. There is always something else to taste, something else to try, another way of doingt things. The world is too big, with too many ingredients and people for you to ever have covered everything, but if you always try to do just that, it wil make you a better cook, a better person and, I guess a better planner.

And finally, enjoy it. Don't make it a chore or harder than it has to be. Your food will taste better that way, and so will the other things you do.

 

Comfort food fast - quick duck/goose fat chips

Who doesn't like chips? But what kind of chips? The lovely, soft, slippery greasy chips from a good British fish and chip shop? The big fat chunky and robust chips from a pub? The European 'fry' thin cut and dipped in mayonnaise?

I love all of the above but on a cold, dark winter's night, one of those that requires a thick pullover and something good to drink, when only a comfy sofa, good telly and warming, casual food will do, I'm going to share the chips I want - or wedges really. Made with love, without fuss or waiting, but well worth the effort.

Now that the clocks are changing in the UK, seems like the right time to share. Step forward duck, of goose fate, chips.

You want Maris Piper Potato's. Don't bother peeling them, just make sure they're scrubbed. Cut into nice thick wedges.

Choose a baking tray your chips will fit into with plenty of room and put in a good knob of duck fat or goose fat (you can buy it in the supermarket these days). Put the tray in an oven at 220 degrees C.

Put them in a pan, cover with water and bring to the boil. Then boil for another 10 minutes. Drain the water, sprinkle with sea salt and shake it all about to rough up the edges and coat with the salt.

Bring your tray out of the even, with the fat now hot and spitting a bit - gently tip in your chips and toss in the oil until they're all coated. Put the tray back in the oven, check after ten minutes. They should be nice and crisp and a fork should go through them easily. If not, give then another five minutes.

Then enjoy however you like - I like Heinz ketchup and if I'm hungry, make a couple of sandwiches with lovingly buttered soft bread. The chips will be nice and crisp, but outrageously soft in the middle and there's something about the chunky, crisp softness laced with the duck or goose fat that lifts the spirits and warms the soul.

 

Sausages

If you've loitered around this blog for any time and you're still here, you're probably aware I talk about food a fair bit and even throw in the odd recipe.

There's a few reasons for this, a little to do with wanting to share how easy and wonderful proper food can be, but mostly because cooking is one of my favourite things to do - I mean it's creative, it's making something, it's losing yourself in a task, it's showing people you love them and it's as endlessly exciting as world culture itself.

There's so much story in food where the recipe came from, your own experiences that wrap around it and the ingredients too - along with where it came from, how it was introduced and what context it once had.

I love this Gladwell article on coffee for that reason and I'm a fierce champion of bread in these low GI, post Atkins times (if I may, carbs are essential, it's only personal greed that makes them bad, there's nothing more satisfying that simple, well make bread, nothing filled with so much history and ritual).

Then, in a wierd confluence of seperate threads, my thoughts have returned to the sausage. Partly to do with the call to return to proper blogging, the nostalgia for the Meat Bracket that signifies that golden age, along with the fight for the sausage, but also thoughts about Marcus, the sausage champion and his heroic walk.

Any way, there are two types of sausage in my book. The great sausage that is made with quality ingredients, is probably bought from an independent butcher or a small firm that has got distribution in a large supermarket, and the mass produced, big brand or own label rubbish that is made of all meat that is only called meat thanks to dubious legal tapdancing.

The former is made with craft, care and attention, the other isn't. Trust me, you can taste the difference.

 

Just look at this commercial for Richmond Sausages (mass produced rubbish). Dwell for just a second on the horrific theme of nostalgic home cooked food, a generic space any food brand could fiddle with, and hopefully with a fresh point of view rather than thus dross, but lo, tear your attention away from the strategy (that was artfully proved by TGI and other wonderful data I'm sure) and just look at the sausages themselves. Perfect, each exactly the same size, with an unearthly pink hue that makes each identikit sausage look like a sunburned penis cloned from a cavalier nude sunbather. Horrific, processed rubbish. An insult to the amazing good stuff that's out there...

There's is just too much variety to pick a favourite - the Germans, the Polish, Spanish and the French have amaxing examples of smoked, cured and even just normal varieties. I love chorizo in stews, a Cassoulet can never be acceptable without good Toulouse sausages and the Italians produce sausages with a course texture that electrify pasta in a way no others can.

 

MY favourite happens to the ones my local butcher makes. Big juicy cumberland ones, the epitome of British sausageness. They are amazing when:

You roast them at around 170 degress for 25 minutes and put them in between two slices soft, lovingly buttered bread, with piles of onions fried slowly so they caramelise, making them outrageously sweet, with lashings of Dijon mustard cutting through that sweetness and complementing the juicy meat.

Or when you roughly peel and chop enough carrots, potatoes and sweet potato to feed you and yours well, along with a head of garlic, putting them in a casserole dish, pouring in enough hot chicken stock to nearly cover the veg, with the lid on for 40 minutes at 180 degrees, then taking the lid off,  covering the veg with sausages and putting back in the oven for another half hour (or until the sausages are sizzling and nicely brown) serving with good crusty bread

Or when they're roasted on a bed of red onions, which, once the sausages are cooked, gets mixed with a bit of flour and some great quality chicken stock to make an incredible gravy (and is perfect with a dash of balsamic vinegar) - and a pile of creamy mashed potato, made with lots of butter and hot milk, or even mixed with cooked cabbage to make colcanon.

Or cooked on a barbeque, with the grill high so they cook through, served in floury buns with the humbly fantastic Heinz ketchup.

And then there's chorizo, the king of cured sausage.

 

Incredible just eaten as it is of course, turns a chicken sandwich into a feast, especially with good mayonnaise (and make it yourself, it's so easy and a different planet to what you can buy in a jar -

I use Nigel Slater's. It rarely fails me.

large free-range egg yolks - 2
olive oil - at least 300ml
half a lemon

Break the yolks up. Now pour in the olive oil very, very slowly at first, almost drop by drop, stirring as you do until the mixture starts to thicken. If you get impatient and add the oil too quickly you will never get it to thicken, believe me.

Once you have a small amount of thickening mayonnaise you can turn up the speed a little, adding the oil in a long, thin trickle, stirring all the time. Stop when you have a thick mayonnaise. It need not be so thick you could cut it with a knife, but it should be well on the way. Squeeze the lemon juice in at the end, still stirring. The colour will fade, but should be almost crocus yellow.)

But gently fry it and it will transform and tin of tomato soup, a bowl of pasta with a tomato based sauce, a risotto of you fry it with the onions at the beginning.

Ladies and gentlemen, the sausage. My God I love it it.

Perfect lamb shanks

Sometimes there's nothing more comforting than really slow cooked meat, that's so tender you could eat it with a spoon. The added bonus is that meat that's best for slow cooking tends to be the cheaper cuts that no one wants: pork or lamb shoulder, pork belly, lamb neck etc.

One exception is lamb shank, but it's so tasty and meltingly gorgeous, it's worth it.

Here's what I do with them, to serve four people.

Put for lamb shanks in a bowl, pour in a bottle of red wine, a handful of fresh rosemary and a whole head of garlic, chopped in half. Cover and marinade in the fridge for 24 hours.

Then:

Use big roasting tin, wide enough for all the shanks, deep enough for all the wine. Cover the bottom in olive oil and put in the hob until the oil is spitting.

Lift out the shanks, pat loosely with flour and put into the oil until the outide is brown (turning once).

Throw in 3 large chopped onions, stir in and leave to caramelise for about 15 minutes, Turn every now and again, don't let the onions burn, you want them golden.

Then put the shanks back in, pour over the marinade, including the garlic,cover with foil and put in the oven at 160degrees for two hours.

When they come out, they'll be outrageously tenders and you'll have a lovely sweet, sticky sauce.

Serve with whatever vegatebles you like, I love it with mashed potatoes.

The perfect evening

There isn't one of course, it depends on your mood, your preferences etc, but for me, last night seemed as if was at the time.  

I got home at 6.45pm, which is pretty good for me and dived in to play with my 6 month old boy who can't stop smiling and generally wants to play all the time. 

So while Mrs Northern got ready, we did the usual demented pantomime that consists of silly dancing, a bit of talking, bad singing, tickling , throwing around and general buffoonery that makes us both laugh like loons.

That's the amazing bit that's happening now, he's not just the helpless little thing that just wants looking after, we have a relationship, we're friends. And we really like being around each other.

Nothing makes me happier than coming in at the end of the day and him giving a little yelp of joy.

By 8pm he was getting tired, so it was time to give him his last feed an haul into his sleeping bag. This is always Will  and Daddy time. We get settles on the sofa and cuddle while he slowly drifts off.

It was a little different this time, he stayed awake for another hour. So while watched a bit of telly, we kept staring and smiling at each other. He kept on putting his hands out, wanting to explore my face, he seems to like feeling th texture of stubble (he seems to get very excited exploring my bald head). I can't tell you how happy I felt, just smiling at my little boy and him smiling back. His eyes seemed to be saying, "I liked the rough and tumble, but I love just being together like this too". I quietly talked to him, nothing special, just thoughts and stuff and eventually he dropped off.

Finally, it was time for a bit of late night cooking and eating alone. I had no idea what to have, hadn't thought about, but making it up as you go along is sometimes half the fun.

It was, roughly, spaghetti with roasted tomato and chicken.

What you need to do is:

Roast a punnet of ripe tomatoes until they're squishy and a little black around th edges. Glug some olive oil on them before they go in the oven- set it at about 180 degrees c.

What you like for 10 minutes, then put a handful of spaghetti in a pan of boiling water. I also put in a handful of dried sun dried tomatoes.Not only does this rehydrate them quickly, the juices that come out flavour the spaghetti.

Leave it to boil for 12 minutes.

When the tomatoes are done, pour in a glug of white wine, put it back in the oven,

Drain the pasta and sun dried tomatoes, throw them it back in the pan with a handful of chopped, roast chicken, a teaspoon of basil and a teaspoon of dried chillies.

Tip in the roast tomato mixture, along with a handful of rocket and toss it all together. Eat straight away.

It's absolutely magic, really juicy, and the sweetness of the tomato contrasts with the bitter rocket and basil, the kick from the chilli and the dry wine. It tastes of summer.

That was one version of a perfect evening. There are others of course.

Spicy coconut and vegetable soup

This will serve four generously.

Heat 2 tblsp of olive oil in a large pan and fry two chopped onions, I peeled, diced carrot, 2 sprigs of thyme over a medium heat for 4 minutes.

Add two peeled and diced sweet potatoes, a can of chopped tomatoes and can of coconut milk, 250ml of vegetable stock and a bay leaf.

Add a teaspoon of west indian hot pepper sauce, bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for half an hour. 20 minutes into simmering time, add a drained can of black eyed peas.

Then serve.

For thicker soup, blitz half in blender once it's cooked.

It's ready to serve.

Eating alone is brilliant

So much brand communication when it comes to food is all about family and groups. Yet about a  third of adults in the UK are single. The obvious point is why this isn't looked at a little more.

Less obviously, even if you're attached in some way, there's some mileage in a conversation about eating alone.

Those nights when everyone else is out, you can do what you want. Might be read a good book, favourite DVD, telly of your choice or even playing music as loud as you want.

It also means you can eat what you want, make as little or much effort as you fancy (and time allows). The shape of the whole thing is different. There's the lovely, slightly wicked sense of indulgence.

It might be quick....a naughty cornish pasty, a ridiculously large fish finger sandwich (my record is 12 mashed between two soft slices of farmhouse bread), you can go straight to pudding with a microwave sponge or something.

Or you can take your time and make an effort on yourself. Personally, I love pottering in the kitchen, playing a CD, or maybe some Radio 4, sipping some wine. Here's a couple of things I like to cook on my own.

First off is a zingy, tingly pasta. My other half doesn't like food that's too hot while I love it. This only takes 20 minutes.

Boil a big handful of spaghetti it will take about 10 minutes. On the hob, put a good glug of olive in pan and put on the hob, add a knob of butter and when it's foaming, add 1 chopped garlic clove, a heaped teaspoon of chili flakes and a sprinkle of dried parsley, As soon as you can smell the cooking garlic, add a glass of wine and bring to the boil. Keep it warm until the pasta is boiled.

Then drain the pasta, tip in your chili wine mixture along with as many big, plump, tiger prawns as you fancy. Toss it together over the hob for thirty seconds and eat. I have at least one pitta bread with it, and stuff spoonfuls of pasta into it, but that's up to you.

Depending on how long I've got to myself, it will probably be eaten while watching an episode of The Thick of It, or really good film.

Second choice is a juicy steak sandwich. My other half isn't a steak fan. I love it

You'll need some good thick slices of bread of course, along with a steak that's at least an inch thick. Sod fillet, it's too expensive and has no fat...i.e tasteless. I suggest good sirloin or rib eye.

Slowly fry some chopped onions in olive oil, so they're brown and sticky sweet...it will take around 15 minutes. You must keep stirring or they'll catch and burn. Once they're done, fry your steak.

In pan, put in a table spoon of olive oil and a knob of butter, When it's foaming, put your steak in and press it down firmly. leave it for two minutes, then repeat in the other side. That should cook it medium. You'll know it's perfect when you press a finger onto the mean and springs back up.

Shove it in the buttered bread with the onions and whatever sauce you fancy. A purist would say mustard, but if you want ketchup or even brown sauce, it's your sandwich, have what the hell you like!

Slow roast pork shoulder

It's been a little cold recently, perfect time for a warming, comforting recipe. This is one for the weekend, or to prepare the night before. Not only is it worth it, for the tender meat falling apart as soon as the fork tickles it, it's no work, the time is dedicated to slow marinading and cooking.

That gives you lots of time to do something else.

This is best eaten with people you like, the telly off and the fire going.

You'll need:

A boneless pork shoulder joint, the best you can find. That usually means sourced locally, ideally from a butcher. Supermarket ones are fine of course, but please try and avoid Dutch pork, they castrate their little piglets without anesthetic.

Four garlic cloves

Olive oil

Two onions

Plenty of scrubbed, chopped carrots

One large sweet potato sliced into thin discs (skin on)

Two tablespoons of flour

One pint of hot stock, ideally ham stock, or chicken if you prefer. We're all busy, make it from a good quality stock cube

Ideally the night before you want to eat it, take the pork out of its wrapping. Thinly slice two garlic cloves and then crush with a fork, stir into a tablespoon of olive oil. Rub the oily garlic all over the meat and wrap tightly in kitchen foil.

This needs to marinade for at least two hours, in the fridge if you're cooking on the same day.

10 minutes before you want to cook the meat, set the oven at 190 degrees C. Put the meat, still wrapped into a deep roasting tin and then put in the oven.

You want to cook the meat for 35 minutes per half kilogram, with another 35 minutes added on.

You have lots of time then to chop your vegetables. They'll need to be ready for the last 35 minutes of cooking.

At this point, take the tray out, unwrap the meat, pour the juices back into the pan and toss your vegetables in it. Put the meat on top (the fatty, skin side up), and cook for that last 35 minutes. spoon some of the juices over the meat before it goes back in.

When it's ready, take the pan out the oven, remove the meat, wrap in more foil to rest for twenty minutes.

Stir in two tablespoons of flour into the vegetables left in the pan and pour in a pint of stock. Stir it all up and put back in the oven for the twenty minutes the meat is resting. This will create a lovely, thick, tasty sauce and finish off the veg. You might also fancy adding a glass of cider.

When it's all done, carve the meat. Pull the fatty skin off first and, when I say carve, I really mean distribute the soft chunks as it fall apart.

Pile the veg into big bowls, put the chunks of meat on top and pour lots of sauce over it. You want a nice soupy, saucy finish (so serve with lots of good bread to mop up the juices and let everyone have a spoon).

Really easy summer, fish, pasta

This perfect for summer, really quick so you won't miss much tennis. This is a doddle. It's really tasty and if you shut your eyes when you eat it, you'll think you're in the Mediterranean. And, in cash strapped times, really cheap.

For two people you'll need:

Two whole mackerel, filleted (any decent fish counter in a supermarket will do it)

Large glass of white wine

Handful of fresh parsley, or heaped teaspoon of dried

Small punnet of cherry tomatoes.

I large clove of garlic, chopped.

Big handful of dried spaghetti

Wrap the fish in foil, with a few sprinkle of parsley and half a glass of the white wine. Roast in the oven at 180 degrees c for 20 minutes.

Roast the cherry tomatoes in the oven at the same time, uncovered for and splashed with a little olive oil.

While they're roasting, finely chop the garlic and fresh parsley

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, in the spaghetti, make sure it's covered and cook until it's soft, but with a little bite left in. Should take ten minutes.

While it's boiling, in another pan, gently fry the garlic in olive oil, don't let it colour. When your whole kitchen smells of garlic, pour in the wine, turn up the heat, bring to boil and keep boiling until 1/3 of the liquid has evaporated,

Pasta should be ready now, drain away the water from the pan, pour in the garlicky wine, take the tomatoes and fish (remove the skin from the fish if you like) from the oven tip in the parsley.

Return the pan to the heat and stir like a madman for a minute, mashing at all together, coating the pasta - leaving a think, tasty sauce coating your spaghetti. Serve immediately with crusty bread and a glass of chilled white wine.

Enjoy!

Tip - tastes better outside.

Seafood linguine

I spent most of myweekend on the sofa, moaning about being ill. Despite this, along with missing a golfing for idiots session with friends (just call me Jim Hacker) and following drinking activities, it didn't turn out that bad. I got to cook some good stuff.

Mrs Northern was out, so I was able to make something something that's banned usually - seafood linguine. It's off the menu because she's pregnant, making shellfish a no-no and as far as I'm concerned, it needs a stinging dose of chilli.

Here's a very, simple version, takes 10 minutes. It's nowhere near the classic version, but it's simple and very tasty.

You'll need:

1 glass of dry white wine

Small carton of tomato passata

1 garlic glove, finely chopped

A good handful of cooked mussels

A good handful of cooked prawns

A good handful of cooked squid

Packet of linguine

Glug of olive oil

Two teaspoons of dried chilli

Teaspoon of dried parsley

Pinch of sugar

In a pan, ggently fry the garlic in the olive oil. Don't let it colour. You know it's ready when you can start to smell it. Pour in the white wine and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and add the passata, chilli and parsley.

In another, big  pan, fill it two third with water and start bringing to the boil.

Then turn up the heat on the sauce and bring to the boil. Once boiling, turn right down to simmer and add all the fish. This will gently warm the fish through.

Once the water is boiling properly, cook the half the packet of pasta, should take ten minutes. Drain, return to the pan, add the sauce, whack the heat right up until the sauce starts boiling again, stirring it all the time.

Then you're done. Serve with crusty bread. If anyone likes it hotter, more chilli sprinkled on works a treat.

That's it, easy.

Roast tomato soup

Since Andrea asked, this is the easiest of soups. Roasting everything first adds a depth of flavour.

You need:

10 decent sized tomatoes with the top sliced off

2 peeled red onions

A handful of fresh basil or 2 teaspoons of dried

2 cloves of garlic

Hot vegetable stock (the cubed stuff you get in supermarkets is fine)

Pre-heat your oven to 180%c.

Put all the vegetables in a roasting tray big enough so they all fit snugly, none piled on top of the other.

Drizzle well with olive oil, sprinkle on half the basil.

Put in the oven for 20 minutes, the shake the tray well, leave in for another 10 minutes - but take out if the tomatoes start to go black.

While everything is roasting, dilute your stock cube in hot water as directed by the packet, keep warm in  pan on the hob.

Put all the roasted veg in a blender, make sure you scrape the side of tray, those bits are full of taste.

Whiz the blender until smooth. Sprinkle in the restof the basil.

It's ready to serve - you MUST eat with good crusty bread.

Easy.

Throw away the recipe book

I haven't done much recipe posting for awhile, it seemed like folks might be getting a little bored. I think I might perservere nonetheless, but even so, this post is anti-recipe.

I did a fair bit of cooking this weekend, we had family over and personal pride forbids just coasting. I want people to enjoy it - cooking is an expression of love for me, I want people to taste how much effort has gone into it.

But nothing I cooked came out of a recipe book. Everything was hybrid of things I've tried, liked and then tinkered with. That's when it gets fun, creating your own signature dishes. Trying stuff, failing, learning and trying again. That's proper cooking.

Getting creative. not accepting that there's only one way of doing things. It takes time to develop the instincts required to experiment - and you have to learn the basic craft skills first. Reminds me of the day job come to think of it.

Love you can taste

The love we put into making a meal becomes a part of it and alters its nature. Through our touch, even unconsciously through our breath, our emotions are transfered to the stuff we're preparing and then on to the people we're feeding. I think this explains why food made with love is always a feast and over complex food that has been no fun to prepare can be so very unappealing. I read a book about home cooking from Mumbai and this quote stayed with me, "The most important ingredient's in our samosas is laughter". All food should fee this way.

That's why I love making tea in the pot, and appreciate when it's done for me. It's not that much more effort, but it represents makes all the difference in the world.

It's also why I love buying food from a local butcher, or a farmer's market. You can taste the love, care and attention in what they're selling too.

Now, not everyone has the time to put loads of effort in, but like most things, A little bit of effort goes a long way. Fresh pasta you've cut yourself instead of the dried stuff, roasting a chicken as normal, but coating with a crumbled stock cube to crisp the skin...or tucking garlic under the skin, fresh herbs chopped into a bought soup, fresh vegetables added to a bought sauce. Just little things that show you've been thinking about someone while you've made this, that's all it has to be.

Bread

For thousands of years, the ritual of daily bread has been deeply rooted in Western culture. The phrase, 'our daily bread' still has religious weight. The word companion  comes from the latin meaning 'one who eats bread with another'...meaningful bonds are made over the breaking of bread. If we make our own, it's an act so basic it's deeply satisfying. And then there's that smell.

Leavened bread was first made back in Egypt as far back as 1500BC, supposedly the result of using ale instead of water to make the loaves. For many centuries, the masses survived on a diet based on bread. It reached the level of magic - the marriage of earthly and symbolic, sacred and profane.

Our attitude towards bread today shows much of our attitude to food in general. As living standards have improved, we've cared less about the basics. We spend less (relatively) on food than we ever have, and such a disconnected attitude to food we're highly succeptible to fads. Fear of carbs means bread is being rejected. But, while more of us should eat less, not just less bread, is would be a shame if a thread that links us right back to our ancient struggle to survival was let go. Bread connects us to out roots. Each culture has its own - the jewish challah, Greek Pitta, Irish Soda bread. It's edible history.

I think it's a question of quality (more) over quantity (less). That goes for all food. And to that end, we'll be doing some bread recipes food.

Rabbit Ragu

It's January, it's dark, wet, cold and miserable. Time for another recipe, something  comforting, warming and cheery.

This one takes a bit of effort, but you're probably skint after overspending in December, the weather out is rubbish, so it's not as if you've anything else to do.

Just a word on rabbit. It's lean, cheap, has a deep, complex taste and shreds like a dream. You can get it at any good butcher - which is a good excuse to not go to a supermarket and buy something local. Ask for it jointed, with the sweet meats removed.

So.............

Put the jointed rabbit in pot with one large onion. peeled and halved. Put it on the hob and bring it up to light simmer, leave it gently bubbling for two hours.

You'll have plenty of time to make a simple tomato sauce. Finely chop two cloves of garlic, gently fry in a small pan for a minute or so, tip in a can of chopped tomato and sprinkle in a teaspoon of dry oregano. Bring all that to the boil and leave.

Then open a packet of fresh lasagna and cut into chunky, 1 inch thick ribbons. You could use papardelle, bit there's something even nicer about thicker, uneven pasta. It seems to hold more sauce, and if you're having people over it looks like you made the pasta yourself.

When the rabbit is done, take it out of the pot and remove the meat from the bones, shred it finely and leave ready for later.

Strain the remaining stock and then boil as hot as you can, until it's reduced by a half. Then pour in a glass of white wine and reduce by a half again.

Tip tomato sauce into the stock wine and bring to the boil, tip in all the rabbit meat and simmer for five minutes.

While it's simmering, bring a pan of salted water to the boil and throw in the pasta, boil it for three minutes and drain.Return it to the pot and pour in the sauce. Stir it all on the heat until the sauce thoroughly coats the pasta and serve it immediately, ideally with grated Parmesan cheese.

This mean is a dream, trust me. A proper winter warmer - and pretty impressive if you're having people 'round.

Next time we'll do some hearty vegetarian cooking.

Cassoulet

It's Autumn, it's getting cold. Time for comfort food. And in my book, there's nothing better than a the a pot of Cassoulet, the lovely breadcrumb crust, the smell of garlicky beans, the intense flavour from slow roasted pork, duck and sausages.

Since  the French can't agree where it originated, or even on a definitive recipe (they come to blows over the legitimacy of using breadcrumbs) there is no right way of doing it. What follows is the gleanings of trial after trial, and them made just a little bit easier.

This comes as close to my signature dish as they come, except maybe for salmon with tagliatelli.

This isn't a half hour recipe by a long chalk. There's a quicker version here if your in a rush. Even this isn't the absolute pedant's way of doing it, but it's good enough. It's still a weekend job though.

You can taste the care, the slowness and the rustic Gaulic charm in every mouthful. And you won't need many mouthfuls either - it's very filling. I wouldn't have anything other than a green salad with this.

You'll need:

6 Toulouse sausages

8 rashers of good quality smoked bacon, chopped into inch squares

1 duck

6 big strips of belly pork cubed

1 tin of organic chopped tomatoes (or 3 fresh beef tomatoes finely chopped)

2 cans of baked beans. 1 thoroughly rinsed of sauce in a colander

5 cloves of garlic

1 large onion

1 day old baguette

• The day before you want to eat it, roast your duck according to the instructions. Pour the fat into a jug (not a plastic one), let it cool and then put in the fridge. Once the duck has rested for half an hour, strip the skin and cut off all the meat - make it pretty big chunks. Put that in the fridge overnight. (If you fancy duck soup, put the carcass in a big pot, put a whole onion (peeled), three scrubbed carrots and a sprig of time and put over a low heat on the hob for four hours. Do not let it boil. Sieve the liquid into another pot, boil until it's reduced by a third, with whatever vegetables you fancy in it. I like leeks and carrots, plus a little shredded duck)
• Next day, melt a spoonful of duck fat in the frying pan. Brown the sausages and put on a place. Then brown the belly pork and add to the plate.
• Finely chop the onion and 1 garlic clove. Melt another spoonful of duck fat in a big pan and slowly fry them until they go translucent. Add the bacon and fry for 2 minutes.
• Add the can/chopped tomato and bring to a simmer. Then add the two cans of beans. Throw in the other garlic cloves and slowly bring to the boil, then let it simmer for 30 minutes.
• Two minutes before it's done, throw in the sausages and belly pork.
• Put the mixture into a large, heavy pot and tuck in the duck you cooked yesterday. Stir it all so everything is evenly mixed.
• Put the oven on at 160%c.
• Blitz the baguette into fine breadcrumbs. Spread half on top of the mixture in the pot. Put the lid on and put it in the oven for 1 hour.
• 5 minutes before you take it out, melt two tablespoons of duck fat in a pan.
• Take the pot out. Mix the breadcrumbs on top into the the mixture below. Make sure it's all even. Spread the rest of the breadcrumbs on top, then evenly pour the melted fat over it.
• Put back in the oven with the lid off for another half hour...or a bit longer. When the crust goes golden and the liquid bubbles though the sides it's done.
• Leave for 5 minutes and then serve. Don't have much at first, it will fill you up quickly.

• It's best eaten with an intense french red wine. Chateau Neuf du Pape really works, or another full bodies Rhone. Medoc or Saint Emmilion are great too. On the other hand, a Leffe works great too.

Chicken and sweetcorn soup

This is the chinese version. Warming, comforting, perfect for feeling a bit positive. Wonderful for using up roast chicken.

You need  - a litre of good, not chicken stock chicken stock - organic cubes are fine to use with boiling water. I''l show you how tro make your own stock another time.

A big handlful of shredded roast chicken

Teaspoon of chinese five spice

Heaped tablespoon of cornflour

A big tin of sweetcorn - make sure it's the kind you get in unsweetened, unsalted water.

Tablespoon of sherry.

Put the stock,spice and the sherry in big pan, bring to the boil.Throw in all the sweetcorn and shredded chicken and bring to the boil.

While it's boiling, put the cornflour in glass and add two tablespoons of tepid water. Stir hard until it becomes a paste. Just before the stock comes to the boil, add the paste and stir thouroughly.

As it boils, it will thicken and become slightly gelatinous. Perfect.

It's that easy.

Aubergine swindle

I think it's worthwhile being proven wrong, so it's with great delight that I learned that my sage advice about applying sliced salt to Aubergine, to draw out the bitter juices, is codswallop. In the Oxford Campanion to Food, Alan Davidson tells us that modern varieties of Aubergine have no bitter juices to draw out.

Aubergines are now officially an instaneous vegetable. Shame actually, I liked the ritual.

Quick food for comfort and energy

Being unhappy requires comfort food, while getting mad enough to do something about it needs an energy boost. So here's two recipes.

First up is lasagne. This is quick version, we'll do a slow, deep and unctuous one another time. This is in no way authentic, just really comforting - it's about a quick loving hug. You need:

Quick bolognese sauce (same quantity)

Dry lasagne sheets

Pint of milk

Heaped teaspoon of flour

Decent block of  cheddar cheese grated

Big knob of butter

Make the meat sauce first (or even better, you'll have made a big vat in one go, divided into portions from the freezer whenever you need them).

Then make this easy white sauce. Put the butter in small pan and melt gently over a hob. Then whisk is all the flower - you'll have a thick paste. Pour in all the milk and whisk it like crazy until it all goes smooth. Turn the hob up to a moderate heat and keep whisking briskly until it comes to the boil and thickens. That's it. You MUST do it slowly, or the milk will burn and stick to the pan. 5 minutes all told.

Now put it all together in  a square lasagne dish. Smooth a thin layer of meat sauce over the bottom, then a layer of pasta. If you like lasagne runny, make sure it doesn't go to the very edges. Sheets never fit, so you'll have to snap some to fit.

Put on another layer of meat sauce. If you like it runny, use half the sauce left, if not, use a third. Dot all over with white sauce, but not too much, and add a layer of pasta. If you're going for the runny version, do just once more. If not, twice more.

Then  pour the rest of the white sauce over the final layer of pasta, spreading evenly with a wooden spoon. Finally, cover the mixture with grated cheese.

Cover the dish with foil and put in the oven for half an hour at 180 degrees C. Then take off the foil and leave for another ten minutes. It's ready, and it's marvelous. In case you were wondering, the foil stops the cheese burning and keeps the top layer of pasta moist, making sure the middle is piping hot.

The second recipe is an simple chilli spaghetti. Quick, packed with carbs and fiery enough to fuel some action.

Put a big pan of salted water on to boil. While it's heating up, chop up a clove of garlic, and two red chillis. If you don't like too much fire, remove the chilli seeds.

Once the water's boiling put in a good fistful of spaghetti. It will take ten minutes to cook.

Put a tblsp of olive oil into small pan and gently fry the garlic and chilli. While it starts to bubble, half the cherry tomatoes and throw them in. Add a glug of white whine, turn the heat up until the wine starts to bubble.

The pasta should be about done. Drain in in colander and return to the pan, over a moderate heat. Straight away, pour in the tomato and chilli mixture and stir it all in as hard as you can. Serve straight away, preferably with grated Parmesan. Done.

Yet another recipe

This is for basic tomato sauce. A sauce that's perfect for pasta, and is ripe for countless variations depending on your tastes.

You need:

Tube tomato puree

Tin plum tomato

1 large onion finely chopped

1 clove garlic finely chopped

Glass red wine

Teaspoon sugar

dash lemon juice

Teaspoon white whine vinegar

Teaspoon mixed italian herbs

The key to this is taking your time at the start. Gently fry off the onions and garlic until they begin to go golden grown. It should take ten minutes. If you're meat eater, cubed pancetta, or even some smoked bacon at this point really adds depth to flavour.

Then add in the red wine, bring to the boil and add the tomato puree and the plum tomato. Stir it all in, bring back to the boil, add all the rest of the ingredients and leave to simmer, After ten minutes, squash the plum tomatoes into pulp with a spoon and stir back in. Simmer for another fifteen minutes and you're done. Trust me, it's perfect.

At the point you're putting in the final ingredients, you may want to add basil for a sweet/ bitter tang, or some cooked meat.

If you want to spice it up, put some chopped/dried chill is when you're frying off the onion - and indeed whatever veg you want. Mushrooms are great, but so is courgette, aubergine or whatever you fancy. It's quite simply a brilliant base for anything. Enjoy.

Another recipe

There's nothing wrong with bolognese - or should I say, GOOD bolognese. It's popular because it's simple, cheap and very tasty. What's not to like?

Now this recipe is quick version that tastes utterly slow. Another time, we'll do a brilliant, slow cooked meat sauce that's the basis for chilli, mousakka and even a left - field version meatballs (meatballs,must do them). Anyway.......

You need:

450 - 500g good, lean beef mince

A packet of powdered minestrone soup (one of the few times you'll EVER see a packet on these pages

Decent sized punnet of mushrooms, chopped

1 clove of fresh garlic finely chopped

tube tomato puree

1 medium sized onion finely chopped

1 beef stock cube (Oxo is fine)

Sherry

Gently fry the onion's and garlic in a decent sized pan. When the onion has gone translucent, put in the mince. Break it up as much as you can and fold it into the onion. Turn the heat up a bit and keep stirring until the mince has all browned. Crumble the stock cube in and stir it in.

Then pour in a wine glass of sherry, bring it to the boil. Then pour in the packet of soup. Add just enough water to NEARLY cover the meat, squeeze in the puree and quickly bring to to the boil.

That's it. Just bring the heat right down a bit and simmer for 2 minutes. You'll get a thick, sweet, herby sauce with a flavour that tastes like you've spent hours over it. You may want to add some fresh oregano, but it will have plenty of herbs in already.

Now you don't need me to tell you how to do pasta, but whatever you choose - spaghetti, penne etc, once you've drained the pasta, put in back into the pan, put just a small spoonful of sauce into it and put on the hob on high heat with a knob of butter. Stir it all like a madman. These means the pasta is infused with the sauce, not merely coated. In fact that goes for any pasta dish.

Tomato and Basil Soup

The easiest of recipes. It's better than anything you'll get out of a tin that needs heating up. Fresher, zingier and just more REAL. You need:

Two tins of good quality chopped tomato (no additives please, organic if you can)

A handful of fresh, chopped basil

Juicy clove of garlic, crushed (if you can find smoked garlic than even better)

Put the chopped tomato in a blender and whiz until smooth. Put in a pan with the crushed garlic and half the basil. Heat it gently until it comes to the boil, then throw in the rest of the basil. Done. Serves two.

It's great with some parmesan grated into it, or even a dollop of creme fraiche. DON'T put the creme fraiche in while it's bubbling it will curdle and go manky. Just turn it off the heat and wait a couple of secs for the boiling to stop - and stir hard and well.

If you're feeling racy, you could roast a big punnet of fresh beef tomato chopped into quarters. Just sprinkle it with olive oil and roast at 180% for 20 minutes, or until the edges start to go black. Blend the whole lot. This gives a much deeper flavour, and will have far more nutrients. It just means you have to spend more money and you've a roasting tin to wash.

Another recipe, and goodbye

I'm getting demob happy. It's PSKF tomorrow, them I'm off to Greece for a week with Mrs NP. I thought I'd leave you with one more recipe. It's a goodun. BYEE.

Top vegetarian one - Indian potato curry. It's hot, spicy and not for tiny tots.  This serves 4.

2 tablespoons oil

1 teaspoon cumin seeds

1\2 teaspoon turmeric powder

4 medium potatoes peeled and cubed

1 teaspoon red chilli powder

1 teaspoon coriander powder

1/2 teaspoon garam masala

1 teaspoon tamarind paste

2 tomatoes chopped

1 onion chopped

I clove garlic chopped (pinch of garlic powder if you're really pushed)

1 cup water

Heat the oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Add the cumin seeds and fry 'till they're browned. Add the potato cubes and all the dry spices, mix well. Add the chopped tomatoes and water. Cook covered, stirring now and again (uncover first!), on a medium dry heat for about 5 minutes or till the spuds are cooked.

It's great on it's own with a naan, or with rice. You can't go wrong with boil in the bag rice which takes ten minutes - just start that off first. However, I MUST do something on making proper fluffy rice. You need some specialist ingredients for this, but once you have them in the house, you have them. I promise to do other stuff you'll use them for.

Bugger all washing up too.

Sausage recipe

It was inevitable that the Wurst would rear it's beautifully, meaty head at some point in the recipe series. Today is that day.

Since it's a Monday, we're going to do something that's dead easy; Quick Sausage Cassoulet. Do not confuse this delight with the complex version that takes an age to prepare - but make no mistake either, this wonderful, hearty, garlicky delight is an easy substitute.

You will need (to serve two hungry souls):

4 good quality sausages (Toulouse ones if you can)

4 rashers of smoked bacon - chopped

1 clove of garlic, finely chopped

1 large onion, finely chopped (optional, if you're in a rush)

1 tin of chopped tomatoes (best quality ones you can find)

1 tin of baked beans.

In a big pan, chuck in a tblsp of olive oil and bring to a decent heat on the hob. Throw in the onions, bacon and sausages and move them all around the pan until the sausages are browned on all sides and the onions are translucent and beginning to brown around the edges.

Add the tin of chopped tomatoes and stir in. Reduce the heat to a minimum. With a slotted spoon, add the baked beans spoonful by spoonful - this should mean you've only added about half the sauce to the pan. Stir it all well and bring to the boil.

Then reduce it to a vigorous simmer and leave uncovered for twenty minutes. Then serve in bowls, preferably with crusty bread, but a side salad is good too.

The only washing up is one pan and the bowls you eat from. Brilliant.

Simon has asked for some soups - they're next.

Recipe 3

Lauren pointed out, and rightly so, that there are vegetarians out there. So number three in the recipe list is mushroom risotto.

Comfort food doesn't have to take hours to prepare. This is a culinary hug in less than 30 minutes. Summery too. Great outside with a glass of something cool and dry. This a filling, addictive meal. Mushrooms are packed with 'unami' the elusive flavour that adds incredible depth and flavour to stuff. Parmesan has it too (it's those littlem grainy bits). Wonderful

You will need:

A litre of vegatable stock  - it's fine from cubes but try organic ones.

Big chunk of butter

olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

200g sliced mushrooms- open cup is best

300g rice. Purists will say arborio, long grain is fine

Wine glass of white wine or white vermouth

125g grated parmesan

2 teaspoons dried tarragon, or 2 handfuls fresh

A big handful of frozen peas

Bring the stock to a gentle simmer. In a pan, melt half the butter with 1 tblsp of olive oil. Add the garlic and onion and fry over a low heat for 3 minutes. Add the mushroom and cook for three more.

Add the rice and stir well, coating each grain with the oil. Pour in the wine and simmer gently until it's absorbed.

Add enough stock to just cover the rice and simmer gently until the stock is absorbed.

Continue stirring and adding the hot stock, waiting until until each batch is absorbed before adding the next. It's done when all the stock is absorbed and the rice is tender. If you run out of stock before before the rice is cooked, it doesn't take 2 minutes to make more from a cube - or just continue with boiling water instead.

Now be quick - add the parmesan, herbs, frozen peas and quickly stir in. Turn the heat off and put a lid on the pan. It will all go outrageously creamy.

While you waiting, you could chop up a fresh salad to go with it - or toast some pittas that are great stuffed with risotto.

This meal just begs to be accompanied by really dry white wine. As you play with this one, you may prefer chives to tarragon, or even parsley. Works well throwing in mange toute or sugarsnap peas, or even asparagus instead of peas (or as well).

Washing up is a doddle - two pans and a chopping board.

More easy food

It seems that OK feedback for the recipe stuff means we'll be carrying on. As usual with these things, you learn as you go along. So there's some additional housekeeping....

Firstly, where possible, ingredients will be fresh, or the next best thing. Packets will be avoided at all costs. Secondly, there will be a washing up rating. You'll also see that most stuff verges on the healthy side. That's just the kind of food I eat.

By the way please do read the comments. Recipes have always evolved as people alter them to their personal tastes - and you'll find some good suggestions, not to mention some additional recipes, like these from Helen and Marcus (no link now he's vanished) here.

Next up cherry tomato and bacon pasta.

To serve 2 you will need:

Two good handfuls of penne (by the way I use wholeweat, if you follow the recipe, you won't taste the difference, but it will fill you up for longer and not give you a dreaded insulin surge if you care about such things)

A punnet of cherry tomatoes

A clove of garlic, finely chopped

A teaspoon of fresh basil (or a handful of fresh)

A teaspoon of dried chilli (optional)

Three rashers of smoky bacon ( back bacon/or Canadian depending on where you're from)

Half a glass of white wine (vegetable stock from a cube is cheaper and works fine - but add a dash white wine vinegar if this is what you use)

Method:

1. Turn the oven on to 200 degrees.
2. Put lots of cold water in a big pan, and bring to the boil.
3. While you wait for the water to heat, put all the cherry tomatoes in a baking tray. Splash with olive oil and put in the oven for 15 minutes - until the skins go a little black and start to crack.
4. The pan should be boiling now - chuck the pasta in.
5. Put another glug of olive oil in a frying pan and and fry the bacon. When it's nearly cooked, thrown in the garlic. Whiz it around the pan for no more than twenty seconds, then splash on the wine and bring it to the boil. Then turn the heat off.
6. The pasta should be cooked, and so should the tomatoes by now. Turn the oven off, drain the pasta and put it back in the pan with a small nob of butter. Throw in the cooked tomato, and the contents of the frying pan. Throw in the herbs, put on a very hot hob and stir vigorously until everything has come to the boil and the tomato is crushed
7. You're done. That should have been no more than half an hour. Serve in bowls. Works a treat with parmesan if you like it.Turn off the oven.
8. You're left with two pans, one baking tray and eating crockery and utensils to wash up - and there won't be much scrubbing. Which is pretty much okay.
9. This meal is great for microwaving for lunch if you have leftovers.

This is great with frozen spinach too (which has as many nutrients as fresh) - and Morrison's is very good.Just put a metal sieve above the pan of boiling pasta and steam four frozen chunks. Stir it in with the rest at the end. That's just one sieve to wash up in addition.

You'll notice that most of these recipes rely on a few ingredients. Not only does that make it simple, I find that a few simple flavours always work best, if they're decent quality. Fresh herbs make a difference for example.

Useful I hope

This post from Rob has got me fired up. Like so many people these days, he's finding it hard to eat properly thanks to having bugger all time. Now while I happen to think cooking a proper meal is actually fun and a great way to unwind, I perfectly understand people who think it's a pain. Especially if you're cooking for one.

But we know enough about the crap that goes into ready meals to know they are less than good for you. Still - I don't believe cooking something tasty and good for you from scratch (which is also cheaper!) AND having enough time for other stuff has to mutually exclusive. And I'm going to prove it.

So I'm going to post recipes. There are two rules; 1.They have to be no more than half an hour to make, start to finish. 2. They have to be dead easy.

The only reason I'm remotely qualified to do this is that I cook from scratch every day, I work pretty long hours AND fit in tons of exercise. My personal view is that too many cookbooks are full of fancy stuff people will only cook on special occasions. Real people need to know how to make real food.

You won't find any of these recipes in cookbooks, these are meals that have evolved since I ate baked beans out of a cold tin on the first day of university. I've never written them down, which is another reason to do it come to think of it.Hope it's useful. And if anyone has a go, let me know how it went.

I'll start with a simple one. Salmon in a bag. Feeds two. You'll need:

• Two salmon fillets.
• Kitchen foil.
• Handful of Sugarsnap peas (or mange tout, or asparagus)
• Handful of cherry tomatoes.
• Splash of white wine vinegar.
• Dried or fresh (chopped parsley).

Turn your oven to 200 degrees centigrade.

Get a big bit of foil. Enough to cover the base of a baking tray and fold over the top. Put the two pieces of salmon in the middle. Spread the vegetables around them. Splash the vinegar all over the food. Sprinkle a teaspoon of dried parsley over the lot (or a handful of fresh). Fold the foil over to make a sealed bag. Put it in the oven (all this will take no more than five minutes).

25 minutes later. Take the parcel out and serve on plates. That's it (but turn the oven off).