Cottage Loaf

This is a recipe for a classic english loaf, the cottage loaf. It's a fairly easy recipe, and can make a delicious and light loaf. The placement of the top part of the dough is very important, as it can fall off, but proper placement will prevent that.

300g white plain flour
150g white bread flour
2 tsp salt
25g fresh yeast
200ml warm water
2 tsp vegetable oil
1 egg, beaten


Step 1
Sift the flours and salt into a bowl and make a well in the centre. Crumble in the yeast and add the water, stir with  finger or two to disolve the yeast, then add the oil and mix. When the dough leaves the side of the bowl turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface and knnead for about 10 minutes, adding more flour if needed. The dough should end up firm.

Step 2
Leave the dough to rise i a bowl covered with oiled clingfilm in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled in size. turn out onto a lightly floured work surface and knock back. Form the dough into two balls, one of a third of the dough and the other of two-thirds of the dough. Leave to rest with oiled cling film over the top.

Step 3
Place the larger ball on a floured baking sheet and gently flatten the top, flatten the bottom of the smaller ball, and moisten with a little water before placeing the small ball on the large ball in the centre. Carefully press a hole through the centre of the top ball to the centre of the bottom, using three fingers in a cone shape.

Step 4
Brush the loaf with the beaten egg , then cover with oiled clingfilm and a bowl inverted over the loaf, and leave to rest for 40 minutes in a warm place, menwhile heat the oven to 200°C. When proved brush the loaf with egg again then, using a pair of scissors, snip small cuts in the top and bottom loaf at 5cm intervals to help the expansion during cooking.

Step 5
Bake the loaf under an overturned saucepan or metal bowl large enough to cover the loaf with room for growth during cooking. Bake for 20 minutes like this before removing the cover, and bake for a further 15-20 minutes to make the crust brown and crisp. Cool the loaf on a wire rack.

This loaf is a very delicious one, and it can be really very soft compared to other loaves. It's soft and light, and will make delicious sandwiches.

Chicken Soup

Chicken soup, at its best it is a simple and really tasty way to make leftover roast chicken go further. It's one of the most comforting dishes, and this recipe is so simple a child could make it, under supervision of course.


250g-500g chicken
2 small, or 1 medium, onions, chopped
3 large carrots, chopped
2 leeks,chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
2 small potatoes, chopped small
1small swede, chopped small
1.5l chicken stock
2tbsp vegetable oil
salt and pepper to season


Step 1
Put the oil in a large saucepan on a medium-high heat and add the onions, leek and carrot when hot. Reduce the heat to avoid browning the onions, and stir frequently. Add the stock and simmer.

Step 2
Add the swede and potatoes, and simmer until tender. Add the chicken, celery, and season to taste.Serve hot with a crunchy bread roll on the side.

This chicken soup recipe is really delicious just as it is, but if you want a little extra crunch in it you could add 150g of sweetcorn at the end with the chicken. You can also add more flavour by adding either chopped tarragon or thyme at the end of the cooking time, just before serving.

Chicken with Potato Dumplings

This is a recipe I found in a book, but I'm using a slightly different version of it. The original version called for chicken breasts, whilst I am using chicken drumsticks. I've also added the carrot and celery and changed the herb from tarragon to thyme.

1 onion, chopped
300ml chicken stock
120ml white wine
10 small-medium chicken drumsticks
200ml double cream
1 tbsp fresh thyme
3 large carrots, thinly sliced
2 sticks celery, roughly chopped
salt and pepper to season
Potato Dumplings
3 small, or 2 medium potatoes, boiled and mashed
175g suet
115g self-raising flour
50ml water
2tbsp mixed fresh herbs
salt and pepper to season

Step 1
In a deep-sided frying pan place the onion, stock wine and chicken. Bring to a simmer, and leave covered for 15 minutes.

Step 2
Remove the Chicken from the stock, then strain the stock and discard the onions. Reduce the stock, by about a third, on a high heat before lowering the temperature to simmer. Add the thyme and the cream and simmer until thickened. Stir in the chicken and season with salt and pepper

Step 3
Boil some water with the carrots, and simmer for 5 minutes. Preheat the oven to 190°C. Add to the chicken and sauce, then spoon the mixture into a 1L ovenproof dish. Mix the solid dumpling ingredients, then stir in the water, using your fingertips, to make a soft dough. divide up the dough into balls and place on top of the chicken mixture before placing uncovered in the oven to bake for 30 minutes.

This produces a really nice chicken dish, and because of the cream is very rich. Due to the cooking  of the sauce after the reduction I found that it was a bit too thick, and my solution was to make up a quick sauce with some more chicken stock, a bit of the thick sauce, salt and pepper, and a touch more thyme. It turned out really well though, and balanced out the sauce in the main dish. The potato dumplings are quite filling, so with the carrots you may have all the vegetables you need, or you may want to, like me, add something like peas on the side.

Chicken Stock

 Chicken stock, an important ingredient in many dishes and a really useful thing to have saved up. You use it in soups, risotto's, stews, cous cous, casserole, sauces, pretty much anything really

1-2 Chicken carcasses
2 sticks of celery roughly chopped
2 medium onions quartered
1 leek roughly chopped
2 carrots roughly chopped
1 bouquet garni
3-4 cloves garlic, bashed or roughly crushed
6 litres cold water

Step 1
Put the carcasses into a large stock pot with all the other ingredients. Bring to the boil and turn down the heat to simmer for about 4 hours. Allow the stock to cool a little before putting seiving into a container, and put in the fridge or freezer. Skim any dirt/scum from the top of the stock during the cooking.

At it's heart you only need the chicken carcass for this, but just the carcass gets you something really simple. for added verve you need to have the vegetables. If you do not have a bouquet garni use a selection of herbs including thyme, rosemary, basil, bay leaves, and oregano. The stock will keep best in the freezer, for a few months, but in the fridge is best kept for only a few days. With the stock try and think what you'll be using it for, and you can try to add extras to it for the best effect. For example, if you plan to use the stock in a curry or thai dish you may want to include chilli pepper in with the vegetables to add that flavour. Reducing the stock will concentrate the flavour, and help reduce the amount of space needed to store it.

Minestrone Soup

This soup is an excellent dish to make if you have lots of different vegetables to use up and can be made with most cold meats, although ham is usually used. If you've made your own pasta with the Pasta Dough you can cut it into strips and then make small diamond shapes to put into the soup instead of the dried spaghetti or pasta shapes that the recipe calls for.

2 tbsp olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2-3 carrots, chopped
2 x 400g chopped tomatoes
1L stock, chicken or vegetable
3 celery sticks, chopped
1/2 medium cabbage, shredded
3 medium potatoes, chopped
1 leek, chopped
120g frozen peas
120g pearl barley
100g  pasta shapes or small pieces of dried spaghetti
1 bay leaf
2-3 sprigs of thyme
salt and pepper to season


Step 1
Prepare the pearl barley as instructed on the packet. In a large saucepan heat the oil then add the onion, garlic, leek, celery and carrot and cook for five minutes on a medium heat, stirring to prevent any browning.
Add the stock, tomatoes, cabbage, bay leaf, thyme and potatoes. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

Step 2
Add the pasta and pearl barley and season to taste before cooking for another 5 minutes. Add the peas and simmer for a final two minutes. Throughout the cooking stir to prevent the ingredients settling at the bottom and sticking.




This soup is a real winter-warmer. You don't have to use all the vegetables stated in the ingredients list, you can swap out some for others or even add some if you like. If you make this soup after christmas you could swap out the cabbage for brussel sprouts for example, and don't be afraid to add any vegetables. The main veg to make this dish are the ones down to celery, anything else you can change. If you'e made your own pasta I highly reccomend you use it in this dish, homemade pasta makes a difference you can taste.

Pasta Dough

A staple for any aspiring chef who likes to make, or try making, everything at least once. I've only made a few batches so far, but this is the recipe i think works the best for me.

275g pasta flour
3 medium eggs

Step 1
Place the pasta flour into a bowl and make a well in the centre for the eggs. Add the eggs one at a time, mixing them into the flour with a fork. Stir the well with the fork until all the dough is smooth and shiny, adding more flour from the sides if needed.

Step 2
Using your hands, incorperate the rest of the flour until it becomes solid enough to turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead the dough until smooth and elastic adding more flour if needed, especially f the dough becomes sticky or too pliable. Cover the dough with cling film, and leave to rest for 30 minutes.

Step 3
Make 4 portions of the dough and then use the following method if you have no pasta roller. On a lightly floured surface roll out the portions of pasta until you get to your desired thickness, usually around 1mm, and cut into the desired shape.



I have used this method to make tagniatelli by cutting the rolled dough into thin strips, Ravioli by cutting into squares (though you can have them round) and filling them, and small pasta shapes for minestrone soup. This recipe can be used for ANY pasta you like, so long as you can make the shape for it. One thing you an do to add a little variety to it would be coloured pasta, which can be achieved with different foods. Drained, boiled spinach is generally used for green pasta, red pasta can be made with tomato puree, black with squid ink, or you can make a more yellow pasta with more egg yolks. All of these coloured pastas will need more flour, so be sure to adjust accordingly. Adding more egg yolks doesn't just make the flour more yellow, it enriches the pasta, and makes it richer, ideal for impressing someone.

Porridge

A great start to the day, porridge is really easy to prepare, the only deciding factor is the attention you give it.

40g porridge oats
1/2 pint milk or water
pinch of salt
toppings

Step 1
Warm the milk/water in a saucepan before adding the porridge oats, then stir coninuously with a wooden spoon to avoid the oats sticking to the bottom of the saucepan. After 2 minutes remove the heat and stir in the salt, taste and add smore salt if needed. Add more milk/water if the porridge becomes too thick, or heat for longer if the porridge is not thick enough.

Step 2
Add the toppings and eat.



With porridge it is such a simple dish that so many things can go wrong if you don't pay attention. The best thing to do is to make sure you can attend to the porridge without interruption, as if the porridge burns on the bottom of the saucepan it will impair the taste. However, because porridge is such a simple dish you can enhance it in so many different ways. my most recent favourite has been adding half a teaspoon of vanilla extract to really change the taste, as it makes a much more flavoursome dish. Another way i used was to core and chop an apple and slowly cook it with some sugar and a tablespoon or two of water to make a sweet apple topping. Then, of course, there's always the sugar topping, of which i think brown goes best. Finally, if you want sweet porridge without adding the sugar topping you could always add a tablespoon of golden syrup to it while cooking.

A half teaspoon of this will make the porridge taste even nicer

Roasted Garlic and Rosemary Potatoes

A slight variation of the classic roast potato

3-4 medium potatoes
2 garlic cloves, crushed
2 medium sprigs of rosemary
vegetable oil
20g salted butter


Step 1
Peel and chop the potatoes, place into slightly salted boiling water until par-boiled. Drain the potatoes well and return to the pan, adding the butter a lid before shaking vigorously for 3 seconds.

Step 2
Meanwhile heat the vegetable oil in a roasting dish in the oven at about 220°C . Turn out the potatoes into the roasting dish and place into the oven for about 40-50 minutes. Check regularly on the potatoes to turn them to ensure they get coated with oil and that they get crispy all over. About halfway through the cooking time add the rosemary and garlic.


This recipe is a great variation of the classic roast potato and well worth trying out. The rosemary in them makes them a great accompaniment to dishes involving lamb and ham/gammon.

Spiced Gammon

A good bit of ham is really nice, and can last you a few meals if you plan sensibly. The joint I'm making will be going into a roast, with a cous cous salad, and into a soup. Even then there should be more left over for sandwiches and wraps.


1 gammon joint
1 tbsp fennel seeds
2 tsp black peppercorns
1 tsp cumin
1 1/2 tbsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp olive oil
 8-10 cloves
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped


Step 1
Using a pestle and mortar grind up the fennel, peppercorns, cumin, cloves, and coriander. Once as fine as you can manage add the olive oil and mix well, smear the gammon joint well with the paste, and put the joint into a preheated oven at 240°C for 30 minutes.

Step 2
Remove the joint from the oven, and allow to cool slightly. Using a sharp knife, score the top of the joint and put the chopped garlic in the cuts and rub the rest of the paste into the cuts before returning to the oven for 1 hour, testing the joint by inserting a skewer to the centre of the joint to test if the juices run clear.

Step 3
Cover the gammon and leave to stand for 20-30 minutes to allow for the juices to settle. Then carve and enjoy.



This mkes an exceedingly tasty piece of gammon. Adding herbs and spices to meats enriches the flavour, and lets you try out different things with the meat. A large joint will take longer to cook, while a small one will take less time. This goes very well with the roasted garlic and rosemary potatoes and fries egg.

Gammon with the Garlic and rosemary potatoes, fried egg and peas and sweetcorn