A scottish feast

 

Film night at Kitchen Fairies HQ, Macbeth.  

Venison casserole, neeps and tatties with spring greens seemed appropriate.  The venison, however was much more Yorkshire than Scotland - from Bracewell's in Todmorden Market Hall.

Onion

Olive oil

Garlic

Bay leaves

Venison

Flour

Carrots

Mushrooms

Red wine

Stock

Worcestershire sauce

Tinned tomatoes

Potatoes

Swede

Butter

Cabbage

1.  Gently fry chopped onion in olive oil, add bay leaves and crushed garlic.

2.  Add venison, brown slightly.  Sprinkle with flour and fry for a minute or so.

3.  Add chopped carrots and mushrooms, then half a bottle of red wine.  Simmer for a few minutes to let the alcohol evaporate.

4.  Add stock and a tin of chopped tomatoes, and a splash of worcestershire sauce.

5.  Simmer for about 2 hours, adding more stock/water if necessary.

6.  Peel potatoes and swede, and boil.

7.  Mash potatoes and swede with butter, and plenty of black pepper.  If there is time pop into the oven to brown the top.

8.  Steam the cabbage.

9.  Serve, scoff.

Squib pie

 

Film night at KitchenFairies HQ again - which means firing up the imagination (and Google).  The film was Official Secrets, and the whistleblower was employed by GCHQ - so I found some traditional Gloucestershire recipes.  Well one (and adapted it a bit) - and we had double gloucester and crackers for "pudding".

The traditional squib pie would have been made with mutton, onions and apples - flavoured with nutmeg - and baked for 2 hours.

We don't like pudding with dinner so omitted nutmeg, but I did include the apple - bulked it out a bit with swede and potato.  It worked very well!

Onions

Olive oil

Diced lamb

Swede

Potato

Apple

Flour

Stock

Flour

Butter

Plain yogurt

1.  Sweat off chopped onion in olive oil.

2.  Add diced lamb and brown a bit.

3.  Chop swede, potato and apples into small dice, add to the meat mixture.  Season.

4.  Stir and cook a bit, then add a spoonful of flour and sir in - to help thicken the gravy.  Pour in a pint or so of stock and simmer until its cooked.

5.  Meanwhile make the pastry, rub in the butter until it resembles breadcrumbs, add a spoonful of plain yogurt and work into a paste.  Chill for at least 30 mins.

6.  Keep stirring the meat mixture.  When it's reduced down transfer to a pie dish, cover with foil, and put in a medium oven to keep cooking gently.

7.  Roll out pastry and cover the meat mixture with it.  Wash with soya milk (or dairy milk).

8.  Bake at 180 for 35-40 minutes.

9.  Steam carrots and cabbage.

10.  Serve, scoff ... was delicious.

Bobotie with geelrys

 

It was film night again, at Kitchenfairies HQ.  Mandela - Long Walk to Freedom. So, I thought I would make the South African national dish - Bobotie.  I had never made it before, and have an aversion to "pudding with me dinner" ie. sweet in savoury, so I toned down the fruitiness - but kept some.  I was also a bit wary of savoury custard over the spiced mince, but it works well.  The traditional accompanying geelrys also usually has dried fruit in it - that would have taken me over the edge - so perhaps this was really more of a pilau.  It was delish all the same.

Bobotie

Onion

Garlic

Olive oil

Butternut squash

Minced beef

Curry powder

Grated apple

Mango chutney

Stock

Worcestershire sauce

Frozen peas

Soya milk (or dairy milk, if you're not lactose intolerant)

Bay leaves

4 eggs

Geelry

Onion

Olive oil

Cinnamon

Turmeric

Basmati rice

Stock

1.  Soften chopped onion and garlic in olive oil.

2.  Peel butternut squash and cut into small dice, add to the onion.

3.  Add minced meat to the vegetables and brown.

4.  Add curry powder to taste (I used mild caribbean, with a little black pepper) and keep cooking.  Add stock and simmer for a few minutes.

5.  Heat soya milk with a few bay leaves.

6.  Add grated apple and a couple of big spoons full of mango chutney to the meet.  Simmer again.  When the mince is just about done add a handful of frozen peas and a good splash of worcestershire sauce, stir in.

7.  Transfer to and oven dish and bake at 180 for about 20 minutes.

8.  Start the geelrys by frying finely chopped onion in olive oil.  Add cinnamon and turmeric, then add basmati rice and turn in the spice mixture until every grain is coated.  Add stock to 1 inch about the surface of the and bring to the boil.  Ass soon as it hits the boil, slam on the lid and turn it down as far as it will go.

7.  As soon as the milk hits the boil turn it off, remove the bay leaves, and let it cool a little.  Whip together the eggs.

8.  Pour the milk onto the eggs and whip together quickly (if the milk is too hot it'll just be scrambled eggs, so do let it cool a bit).  Return to the saucepan and keep whisking as it thickens a bit.

9.  Pour the custard over the meat mixture, and bake for a further 20 minutes.

10.  Serve, scoff, with a bit of salad ... have seconds ... no really - it was fab!  Quite astonishing for something which was pudding with yer dinner.

"Tibetan" beef curry with steamed pak choi

So, film night again at Kitchen Fairies HQ.  The chosen film was Seven Years in Tibet, so I looked into Tibetan cuisine.

Apparently the diet is quite calorific, to cope with the climatic conditions, and there is quite a lot of meat included.  There is an absence of yak around these parts, so I made a stew with shin of beef instead.  Also, I was surprised to learn that a lot of root vegetables are used.

Less surprising, possibly, is that there is a real combination of spices used, both from Chinese and Indian influences.  Anyway, this is what I invented, and it was tasty.

coconut oil

onion

garlic

ginger

cumin

shin of beef, cubed

chilli

soy sauce

oyster sauce

rice wine

rice wine vinegar

celeriac

butternut squash

carrots

chicken stock

tomatoes

new potatoes

pak choi

1.  Sautee chopped onion in coconut oil.  Add garlic, ginger and cumin seeds.

2.  Add cubed beef and brown off.

3.  Add soya sauce, oyster sauce, rice, wine, rice wine vinegar and chilli flakes.

4.  Add a little water and simmer for a while.

5.  Prep celeriac, carrots and butternut squash - cut into fairly even sized pieces and add to the meat mixture.

6.  Simmer again, after adding chicken stock and a few chopped tomatoes, for about 2 hours.

7.  Boil new potatoes in a separate pan.  When they are nearly done, strain and add to the stew, simmer for another 20 minutes.

8.  Chop pak choi - steam the soft leaves, and add the white stalk to the stew.

9.  Serve, scoff ... it was very tasty, the beef just melting!

I'm not sure how authentic it was, but it was a decent invention.

Pork chops, in a mustard cream sauce, sauteed new potatoes and carrots, peas parisienne

 

Well , the photo is a disappointment, but the dinner wasn't!  It was film night at KitchenFairies HQ, and I try to theme the dinner with the film.  The film was "Hugo" ... the connection was that the film was set in Gare du Nord, Paris - so it was French Bistro food.

Also, I have no idea if peas parisienne have any authenticity to them - it's just what I have always called leeks, peas and lettuce cooked this way.

Pork loin chops

Olive oil

Meat seasoning (black pepper, garlic, celery salt, paprika)

New potatoes

Carrots

Butter

Leek

white wine

Little gem lettuce

Garlic

Chicken stock

Dijon mustard

Cream

1.  Rub the pork loin chops with the seasoning and olive oil, set aside for an hour.

2.  Peel new potatoes and carrots, cut potatoes in to quarters, length wise, and the carrots into diagonal chunks.

3.  Wash and shred leeks.

4.  In a heavy frying pan with a lid melt butter (lots ... twice as much as you think you need) and add the potatoes, carrots and cup of water.  Put the lid on and simmer for about 10 minutes.

5.  Take the lid off the potatoes and simmer off most of the water.

6.  Sweat the leek off in olive oil, add crushed garlic.

7.  20 minutes to go ... heat butter and olive oil in a frying pan, when hot add the chops and cook for 3-4 minutes on each side.

8.  Stir the potatoes and carrots, put the lid back on and let them crisp up.  Shake about every 3 minutes to stop them catching.

9.  Remove chops from the pan, add white wine to the pan, with a little chicken stock and a teaspoon of dijon mustard, stir and simmer.  Add cream.  Put chops back into the sauce and keep on a low heat.

10.  Add frozen peas and wedges of little gem lettuce to the leeks, add a splash of white wine.  Simmer for 3 minutes.  Add a drop of cream.

11.  Serve, scoff ... it was delicious!  really rich - but fabulous.

Pork and beans with pasta

 An exercise in using up the veg and pasta oddments.

• Onion
• Olive oil
• Garlic
• Fajita spice mix
• Mushrooms
• Green beans
• Yellow pepper
• Pork chops
• Tomatoes
• Wholegrain mustard
• BBQ sauce
• Sweetcorn
• Flour
• Cannellini beans
• Pasta
• Grated cheese

1.  Sautee chopped onion in olive oil.

2.  When onion is softening, add garlic, spices and other chopped vegetables.  After a few minutes move them to the edge of the pan.

3.  Chop pork into bite sized pieces and add to the pan, stirring so that they get the heat from the bottom of the pan.

4.  Keep cooking for 10 minutes or so, then add chopped tomatoes, mustard, BBQ sauce and sweetcorn.  Stir in.

5.  Add a spoonful of flour to thicken the sauce, stir in until you can't see it any more, then add water or stock.

6.  Simmer for about 30 minutes, adding more water if necessary.

7.  Cook pasta.

8.  Add tinned beans, stir in and heat through.

9.  When it's ready mix pasta into sauce, serve, with grated cheese an dscoff.

Camping breakfast

 

Left KitchenFairies HQ for a short camping break - so cheese dreams and baked beans for breakfast.  Easy, but delicious.

Olive oil

Butter

Sliced bread

Cheddar cheese

Eggs

Baked beans

1.  Butter bread, make sandwiches with sliced cheese.  Cut into quarters.

2.  Whisk eggs, dunk sandwiches into eggs, seal on all sides.

3.  Fry cheese dreams in olive oil and butter.   Turn over and cook on the other side.

4.  Stack cheese dreams to make room for the beans, add beans and heat through.

5.  Serve, scoff ... don't laugh, it was fab and very welcome.

Stuffed pork chops, chips & beans

 

There's a thing about this home delivery malarky which means you kind of loose the "oh that looks nice, what should I do with that?" Don't get me wrong I also support my local shops and market.

So today, the veg box comes tomorrow - the outside market opens on Wednesday - so it was very much - what have we got?  and trying to do something a tiny bit different ...

So - cheese and mustard stuffed pork chops, coated in breadcrumbs - frozen chips, steamed green beans and baked beans.  Surprisingly, it worked well - and it got some green things into the veg dodger!

Pork chops

Flour

Eggs

Breadcrumbs

Mixed herbs

Whole grain mustard

Sliced cheese (maasadam)

Olive oil

Frozen chips

Green beans

Baked beans

1.  Bash the pork chops out until quite thin (I reckoned on doubled in area, halved in depth)

2.  Match the pork chops up as close as possible to each other.

3.  In the pairs, smear wholegrain mustard on one, top with cheese and plonk the other squished chop on top.

4.  put the chips in the oven.

5.  Squash the pork "sandwich" together, and then pop into flour, dust, and then shake off the excess.

6.  Now add the "glue" - put the porky cheesy thing into whisked eggs, and cover every surface.

7.  Transfer the pork to breadcrumbs seasoned with herbs.  Squish into the breadcrumbs making sure all surfaces are covered.

8.  Chop the green beans, put them over a pan of water to steam, put the baked beans in an oven proof dish in the oven.

9.  Fry the pork in a hot pan - 3 minutes on each side.  Transfer to an oven dish and bake for a further 20 minutes.

10 Serve, scoff ... delish

Caribbean chicken curry and rice

 

Movie night at Kitchenfairies HQ ... the film is "Straight Outta Compton" - a wholesome american tale of rap, drugs and alcohol, etc ... but also, dig deeper - Dr Dre (the dj) has dug deep in these troubled times and donated a shed load of money to help feed the community in Compton, joining up with restaurant chain "Everytable" ... and has provided 150K meals to people who need them in his community.  Respect!  This is my interpretation of one of the dishes on the menu.  It were lovely!

Vegetable oil

Onion

Garlic

Caribbean curry spice mix

Green beans

Chicken thighs 

Yellow pepper

Mushrooms

Courgette

Tomatoes

Chicken stock

Mango chutney

Basmati rice

Natural yogurt

1.  Sautee chopped onion and crushed garlic in oil, add in curry powder.  Add chicken thighs, skin side down to brown a little.

2.  Chop all the veg, turn the chicken, chuck veg in the pot, stir.

3.  Add about a pint of chicken stock and simmer for 30 minutes, stir in a couple of spoons of mango chutney and simmer again for about 10 minutes.

4.  Cook the rice.

5.  Serve, with natural yogurt, scoff ... 

Chicken, ham, leek and mushroom pie

 

This was actually an exercise in using up leftovers, but it was delicious as well as "frugal".  We had chicken left over from some roast chicken thighs and ham left over from BBQ pulled gammon.

I made a sauce using the last of the leeks and mushrooms from the veg box, and some soya milk.  Threw on a pastry lid, bunged some potatoes in the oven, and we finished the coleslaw.

Olive oil

Leeks

Mushrooms

Cooked chicken

Cooked ham

Plain flour

Soya milk

Flour

salt

butter

Yogurt

Cold water

1.  Make pastry - rub butter into salted flour.  When it resembles breadcrumbs add a couple of spoons of natural yogurt and a splash of cold water, work together gently to make the pastry.  Form into a ball, wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes.

2.  Fry mushrooms and leeks in olive oil, add cooked meats.

3.  Sprinkle a spoonful of flour into the pie filling mix, coat all of the elements, then add about a muful of soya milk, stir in to form the sauce.

4.  Transfer pie filling to pie dish, roll out pastry and cover the top.  Wash with soya milk.  Bake for about 30-35 minutes.

5.  Serve, scoff

Pulled gammon and coleslaw (Movie night - Gangs of New York)

Movie night - Gangs of New York - well, there's drinking involved, and "Bill the Butcher".  The biggest lump of meat we had was a big gammon joint, so I tried pulled gammon.  It was tasty, but if I did it again I might boil it a couple of times in water to reduce the saltiness.  I made it with a tin of peaches to add a fruity note to the BBQ sauce - which worked, to a certain extent.

• Big lump of gammon (or pork)
• Tin of peaches
• BBQ spice
• Cider
• Wholegrain mustard
• Tomato Ketchup
• Sugar
• Chilli sauce

• Red onion
• Carrots
• Cabbage
• Radish
• White wine vinegar
• Olive oil
• Mayonnaise

• Chips and bread rolls to serve

1.  Make the marinade by zizzing up peaches into a puree and mixing in BBQ spice, cider, wholegrain mustard and enough water to sit two thirds of the way up the joint of meat.

2.  Remove fat and rind from the gammon joint, turn over in marinade, put in a medium oven for 4-8 hours.  Checking every now and then, turning the meat and add more liquid if necessary.

3.  Make the coleslaw by chopping the veg - sprinkle with a little salt, stir in a splash of olive oil and white wine vinegar, let it set for 30 minutes to start to soften a little, then stir in mayonnaise and chill in the fridge.

4.  Remove joint from marinade - "pull" with 2 forks.  Moisten with a ladle of the cooking liquor.  Keep warm.

5.  Make additional BBQ sauce by straining the cooking liquor, and then stirring in ketchup, sugar and chilli sauce to taste.  Heat through briefly to help the flavours meld.

6.  Serve, scoff .... we were SOOOOOO full!

 

Vegetable, cashew nut and noodle stir fry, with seared ginger soya steak

Steak

Peanut oil

Garlic

Ginger

Soya sauce

Spring onions

Garlic

Red pepper

Carrots

Mushrooms

Pak choi

Udon noodles (rice noodles)

Cashew nuts

Beansprouts

Rice wine

Rice wine vinegar

Oyster sauce

Tomato ketchup

Soya sauce

1.  Marinate steak, in crushed garlic, ginger, soya sauce and peanut oil.

2.  Chop the veg, into this slivers, for the stir fry, crush garlic.

3.  20 before due to serve - bring a pan of water to the boil, put a wok and a grill pan on to heat up.

4.  When the grill pan and wok are hot put the steak in the grill pan, and start the veg stir fry in the wok - using ingredients from the list down to the pak choi (the white bits of the pak choi, save the green leaves until the last stage.  Put the noodles in the water to boil for 5 minutes.

5.  After 2 minutes turn the meat.

6.  Keep stir frying veg, add condiments and a spoonful of noodle water, keep moving in the wok.

7.  Take the meat out of the pan and leave to rest.

8.  Drain cooked noodles and add to the veg, add beansprouts, cashew nuts and the green tops of the pak choi - keep tossing together.

9.  Serve, scoff ... was delicious.

Pork, chorizo and mushroom pasta, with peas

I'm trying not to run out of inspiration in these very dark days - though I admit we have had more than a few comfort dinners eg. sausage, mash and beans, in the past weeks.  Today there were pork chops in the fridge - and I was heading towards another tray bake (nothing wrong with that) ... but then, I remembered there was a chorizo sausage to use up and some proper decent pasta ... so, a little bit more effort in chopping the meat later - I enjoyed this much more than I would have done big lumps of pork.

Onion

Garlic

Olive oil

Pork chops

Chorizo

Mushrooms

Flour

(Soya) milk

pasta

peas

black pepper

1.  Gently sautee chopped onion and garlic in olive oil.

2.  Chop pork into small pieces, and add to the onion mixture.

3.  Chop chorizo into small pieces and add to the pan.  Keep stirring and cook out for a while.

4.  Chop mushrooms and add to the pork mix.

5.  Cooks the pasta.

6.  Add a couple of spoonsful of flour to the pork mixture, stir in, then add a cup of soya milk.  Stir it in to make a sauce.  Simmer.

7.  Add a handful of frozen peas to the sauce, then add pasta.

8.  Toss together, serve, scoff ... it was delish!

Movie night: Flight

Theming dinner to movie night can be entertaining.  The things most consumed in Flight are booze and cocaine ....

But, we needed an actual dinner - so I made us airline meals ... smoked salmon cocktail;  roast chicken dinner, ice cream and cheese and crackers.




Spring onion
Red pepper
Smoked salmon
Mayonnaise
Paprika
Salad leaves

Chicken thighs
Chicken rub
Potatoes
Butter
Carrots
Green beans
Leeks
Mustard
Cream

(Ice cream out of a tub, cheese and crackers with butter)

1.  Rub the chicken thighs with olive oil and a little herbed rub.  Roast for about an hour.
2.  Prepare potatoes to make fondant potatoes by chopping into almost they same, almost cubes.  In a deep frying pan melt butter, add potatoes, and water to about half way up the potatoes.  Simmer gently for ages, basting frequently and turning now and again.
3.  Prep other veg.
4.  Mix chopped spring onion, finely diced red pepper and smoked salmon together, bind with a little mayonnaise and add a sprinkle of paprika.  Fridge until ready to plate up.
5.  Steam carrots and beans, fry/poach the leeks in a little olive oil and water, when soft stir in a teaspoon of mustard and a spoon of cream.
6.  Keep an eye on the potatoes, add more water when required.  After about 40 minutes the butter water mixture will have reduced down, now start browning the potato cubes ... keep basting but turn them over, about 3 minutes on each edge.
7.  Line started "dishes" with salad leaves, blob in the salmon cocktail.
8.  Put ice cream in ramekins, cover in foil, and pop in their well.
9.  Add cheese and biscuits.
10.  Plate up chicken and potatoes, with a spoon of meat juice in one well, and veg in the other.
11.  Serve, watch people fall about laughing,  scoff.

Italian sausage pasta

Italian sausages from Nick Fielden's family butcher in Todmorden Market Hall inspired this dinner - and it was delicious.

Italian sausages
Olive oil
Onion
Mushrooms
Red pepper
Green beans
Cherry tomatoes
Pasta
Spinach
Cheddar cheese

1.  Squeeze the sausage meat out of the sausage skins and form into small balls.
2.  Fry the sausage balls in olive oil until slightly crispy around the edges.
3.  When the balls are done, removed them and start to sautee the chopped veg in the meat juices, you may wish to add a little more oil.  Start with the onion, then red pepper and green beans, then mushrooms, finally add the quartered cherry tomatoes.
4.  Cook the pasta in salted water.
5.  Add the sausage balls back to the sauce, adding a little water if it looks a bit dry.  Just before the pasta is done wilt spinach into the sauce.
6.  Drain pasta and add it to the sauce, grind over plenty of black pepper.
7.  Serve, with grated cheddar to taste, scoff.  Have seconds.

BBQ chicken pie

We had lots of BBQ chicken bake left over, and it would have been criminal to waste it - so I stripped the chicken meat from the bones, mixed it back in and topped it with sliced tomatoes, strong cheddar and a pastry top.  It was delicious served with good old baked beans.

Leftover chicken bake
Tomatoes
Cheese

Plain flour
Salt
Butter
Natural yogurt
Water


1.  Make pastry, rub butter into salted flour, when it resembles breadcrumbs add a dollop of natural yogurt and a drop of water.  Work into a smooth paste.  Put in the fridge for 30 mins or so, to make it easier to handle.
2.  Strip the meat from the chicken bones and mix the leftovers together.
3.  Put the mixture in an oven dish and cover with sliced tomatoes and slices of cheese.
4.  Roll out the pastry and layer over the top, pushing the edges into the oven dish.  Slash/stab to let out steam, and brush with milk/soya milk.
5.  Bake for about 35 mins at 180.
6.  Serve, scoff.

Barbeque chicken bake

Chicken legs ... and various bits and bobs from the veg box - but wanted to make it a bit more tasty (but easy) ... so BBQ marinated chicken, and chucked it all into a baking tray ... it was delicious, and created its own sauce.

Olive oil
Potatoes
Carrots
Fennel
Onion
Red pepper and tomato relish
American mustard
Soy sauce
Ketchup
Black pepper
Chicken legs
Garlic
Red pepper
Peas

1.  Slosh olive oil into a big oven dish and add potato chunks.
2.  Add peeled carrots, chopped into decent sized pieces (ie. average carrot, chop top third off, halve the rest and chuck those chunks in)
3.  Add fennel bulb and onion, both cut into wedges.
4.  Make "BBQ" sauce by mixing relish, mustard, olive oil, ketchup, pepper and soy sauce - squish the chicken legs around until well coated.  Then add peeled garlic cloves.
5.  Stick in the oven, at 180 for 45 mins (ish)
6.  Add chopped red pepper, stir around.
7.  After about 20 minutes add podded peas (or frozen), stir around.
8.  10 minutes later - stir, scoff ... have seconds ... it was proper tasty.

Fish curry

An interesting fish curry, as most of the vegetables were very definitely English ... but a small tin of bamboo shoots added a tiny oriental edge ... A malaysian curry powder and coconut milk - mildly spicy, and a really nice texture.

Onion
Garlic
Groundnut oil
Malaysian curry powder
Carrots
Mushrooms
Coconut milk
White fish (pollock)
Bamboo shoots
Frozen peas

Basmati rice

1.  Finely chop onions, and crush garlic, fry in groundnut oil.  Put the rice on.
2.  Add curry powder and stir in well.
3.  Add chopped carrots and mushrooms, then add coconut milk and simmer until the veg are a bit cooked.
4.  Put the fish on the top, cover and allow to steam/poach for a few minutes.
5.  When the fish is nearly done add a tin of bamboo shoots and a handful of frozen peas.
6.  Stir in - ready in 2 minutes.
7.  Serve, scoff - easy and very tasty.

Sausage pasta ... lockdown inventions

The veg box lands tomorrow, and we're trying to use stuff up from the cupboard.  The fresh stuff was tomatoes, spinach and salad leaves.  The fridge/cupboard stuff was some sweety peppers and half a jar of Polish salad.  What to do with sausages which is tasty, but not too faffy?

Sausage pasta!  It was very, very tasty.

Red onion
Olive oil
Chipolata sausages
Sweety red peppers in a jar
Tomatoes
Spinach
Pasta (fusilli in this case)
Sweetcorn
Spinach

Polish salad in a jar
Mayonnaise

Salad leaves

1.  Sautee chopped red pepper in olive oil, add sausages, and cook them through.
2.  When sausages are nearly cooked - chop the into bite sized pieces.
3.  Dice sweet peppers and tomatoes.
4.  Drain and rinse the polish salad, stir in mayonnaise and put in the fridge until ready to serve.
5.  Cook pasta.
6.  Chuck peppers and tomatoes into sausages, simmer gently.  Add sweetcorn after a few minutes.
7.  Drain pasta, chuck into sausage mixture and handfuls of spinach.  Stir until spinach is wilted.
8.  Serve, with salad leaves, scoff.  (veg dodger had thirds!)

Roast salmon, with dill and mustard sauce, garlicky beans and a kind of pilau - for Moulin Rouge!

Many Saturday's we have movie night, and I try to theme dinner with the movie.  This week it was Moulin Rouge! so I took a French take on dinner.  It's not restaurant quality presentation, but though I say it myself I was very, very tasty.

Double peeling the broad beans is tedious, but the resulting beans are worth it, as you don't have to chew the rubbery green coatings.






Broad beans
Green beans
Tomatoes
Garlic
Olive oil

Salmon fillets
Olive oil

Butter
Shallot
Dill
Dijon mustard
Juice of half a lemon
Flour
Natural yogurt

Olive oil
Shallot
Rice
Stock

1.  Prep the broad beans by podding and peeling grey layer.  Chop green beans and finely chop tomatoes.  Sautee gently in olive oil, with A LOT of crushed garlic.  Add a little water/stock and simmer, with a lid on for about 30 minutes.
2.  Drizzle salmon fillets with olive oil, cover with foil and roast for about 20 minutes.
3.  Melt a good bit of butter, and add very finely chopped shallot.
4.  Start the pilau, sautee finely chopped shallot in olive oil.  Add rice, turn in the oil until every grain is coated with a film of oil, then fry a little longer until the rice starts to cook slightly.  Now add flavourful stock, stir in, turn the heat right down and put the lid on.  Should be ready in 15 minutes.  Turn the heat off and let it just sit there and keep warm in the steam.
5.  Finish the sauce by adding dill, a teaspoon of dijon mustard and a spoonful of flour.  Whisk in lemon juice.  It might look a bit split but just keeping whisking.  Just before you are ready to serve stir in natural yoghurt, keep it on a very low heat.
6.  Serve, scoff ... it was delicious.

Pork 'n beans: Cowboy Stew

Onions
garlic
Olive oil
Cumin
Chilli flakes
Pork loin steaks
Red pepper
Green beans
Tomatoes
American mustard
Stock
Kidney beans
Chopped tomatoes (tin)
Basmati rice

1.  Sautee chopped onions and crushed garlic in olive oil.
2.  Add chopped pork loin steaks, and stir around, add cumin seeds and chilli flakes. 
3.  When the pork starts to brown a little round the edges, add chopped pepper, beans and tomatoes.
4.  When the veg have softened slightly add a good dollop of american mustard (the sweet hotdog sort is best).
5.  Add stock, from a cube in our case, and a tin of drained and rinsed kidney beans.
6.  Simmer for a good 20 minutes.  Add the tin of chopped tomatoes, salt and pepper.
7.  Put rice on - I use the adsorption method - rice in the pan, cover with cold water to an inch above the level of the rice, bring to the boil.  As soon as it boils turn the heat right down and slam the lid on.
8.  Simmer again (putting the tinned tomatoes and salt in later reduces the toughening up of the skins of the kidney beans).  Stir occasionally to prevent it sticking to the bottom of the pan, check that it doesn't get too dry, add a little water if it is.
9.  Serve, scoff, seconds ....

Thai red chicken curry

OK, I "cheated", I used a curry paste - but everything else was from scratch.  Using up vegetables in the bottom of the fridge, it was a bit of a change.

Peanut oil
Diced chicken
Onion
Garlic
Thai curry paste (red)
carrots
broccoli
green beans
coconut milk
pak choi
fish sauce
beansprouts

Jasmine rice

1.  In a wok, fry diced chicken in peanut oil, add chopped onions and cook for a few minutes.
2.  When chicken is nearly cooked add a spoonful of curry paste and crushed garlic, stir around.
3.  Add a little water and let the chicken cook through a little.
4.  Put the rice on - absorption method - rice in pan, cold water to 1 inch above the rice, bring to the boil - slam the lid on, turn the heat right down.  Ignore.
4.  Chop carrots, broccoli stems, green beans, and the chopped white end of the pak choi and add into the mixture.
5.  Add a tin of coconut milk and simmer for 5 minutes.
6.  Splash in fish sauce, add green ends of pak choi, tiny broccoli florets and beansprouts.  Stir.
7.  Serve, scoff

Roast chicken thighs, mediterranean veg pasta bake

The veg box arrives in two days, so we're using up what's in the fridge.

Chicken thighs
Olive oil
Chicken run

Onion
Garlic
Aubergine
Courgettes
Tomatoes
Red pepper
Passata

Pasta
Pecorino

Mixed leaves

1.  Drizzle chicken thighs with olive oil and rub in chicken rubs, roast at 180 for about an hour.
2.  Sautee finely chopped onion, crushed garlic in olive oil.
3.  Chop all other veg into small cubes and add into the onions and garlic, fry until a bit soft.
4.  Add passata and water, simmer until veg is soft - about 40 minutes.
5.  Meanwhile, make pasta according to packet instructions.
6.  Drain pasta, add to sauce, transfer to oven dish.
7.  Top with grated pecorino, and pop in the oven to melt.
8.  Serve, with a green salad, scoff.

Prison dinner?

Theme-ing dinner with film night - when the film is "I love you Phillip Morris" ... In other days I would have popped to an Asian supermarket for those sectioned thali trays ... but these are tricky times, so I followed the theme of separate items, rather than a casserole type thing.

So, burgers, roast potatoes, carrots roasted in cumin, cauliflower cheese and wilted spinach.

Toad in the hole ...how retro can you get?

Redefining comfort food?  I don't know - but we all enjoyed this classic tonight.

Sausages
Olive oil

Self raising flour
Salt, pepper
Eggs
Soya (or dairy) milk

Baked beans
Carrots
Beans

Onions
cornflour
bit of stock

1. Stick the sausages in an oven dish, and bake for a bit.
2.  Make the batter mix ... some flour, break  some eggs in, whisk, add salt and pepper - should still be sticky - add milk and whisk again.
3.  When it's smooth, and a bit thicker than double cream, it should be OK.  Leave to rest for 20 mins
4.  Start gently frying onions for the gravy.
5.  Prep the rest of the veg - put baked beans into the bottom of the oven, steam, the beans and carrots.
6.  Shake the sausage pan, pour in batter mix, and put back in the oven - put the baked beans in an oven proof dish in the bottom at the same time.
7.  Steam the veg, and finish the gravy with stock/cornflour ... or gravy granules.
8.  25 (ish) mins later ... serve, scoff ... it was GOOD!

Roast pork ... wow!

OK - we all deserve a Sunday dinner ... and by heck did we have a Sunday dinner - roast pork, roast veggies and damn good gravy!  It were proper lovely.

Pork shoulder, boned
Olive oil
Potatoes
Fennel
Carrots
Courgette
Chilli flakes
Mixed herbs
mixed herbs
Garlic
Apple juice
Flour
Cauliflower

1.  Salt the pork joint - at least an hour before cooking it.
2.  Put the pork into a hot oven, for 20 minutes, then turn it down.
3.  Prep the veg ... I mixed everything except the cauliflower in olive oil with a little salt 2 hours before I expected dinner to be ready, into a roasting dish.
4.  Turn the oven down, to let the pork cook.
5.  An hour and a bit before you want to eat ... stick the veg into the oven.
6.  Pour apple juice around the pork (I think this is where I could have gone wrong, had I wanted really crisp crackling... but fortunately for me the preference is for nice fatty/chewy skin ... who knew!?)  but this makes for the fantastic gravy.
7.  Do what ever it is you are doing ... etc
8.  Stick the floret of cauliflower in with the rest of the veg, stir around and put back into the oven.
9.  20 minutes before serving ... pour the juice from the pork roasting tray into a jug.  Spoon off about 3/4 of the fat.  Make a gravy with a bit of the fat off the top, mix in some flour, stir into a smooth paste - then add the rest of the juices ... simmer (add more apple juice/stock if you think it needs it)
10.  Pull the pork out of the oven and let it rest for at least 15 minutes.
11.  Serve, scoff ... receive accolades ... bloody hell, it were gorgeous!  We all had thirds

Chicken tikka, potato, cauliflower and red pepper tray bake - with onion bhajis

Chicken thighs in the freezer - a random jar of tandoori tikka masala sauce in the cupboard - some potatoes and a cauliflower in the veg box ... Tah dah!  Also, luckily the last veg box left us with quite a few onions and I had a bag of gram flour ... so - it was almost as if I had planned it.

Chicken thighs
Tandoori masala cook in sauce
Olive oil
Potatoes
Cauliflower
Red pepper


Onions
Salt
Chilli flakes
Fennel seeds
Bicarbonate of soda
Gram flour
Sunflower oil

1.  Marinade the chicken thighs in masala mix - mine was from a jar - which is unusual - but it was using up what was in the cupboard!  Leave for a couple of hours.
2.  Into an oven dish, with a little oil on the bottom, add cubed potatoes, cauliflower florets and red pepper chopped into biggish pieces.
3.  Mix the veg together in an oven dish/tray.
4.  Plonk the marinated chicken thighs in and between the veg - and mix up gently.
5.  Roast it all for about 45 minutes - an hour at 180.  Mix through a couple of times.
6.  Prepare onions - remove skin - cut into half moons - shake into a bowl.  Add a teaspoon of salt and shake through the onions.  This will release some moisture, and soften the harsh flavours.
7.  To the onions add chilli flakes, fennel seeds, onion seeds (whatever you think might work) and toss about a bit.
8.   To the onion mixture add a scant tsp of bicarb, a handful of gram flour and mix together.
9.  Heat sunflower oil in a pan and fry the onion mixture in hot oil, in small spoonfuls, for 30 se onds - to a minute-ish on each side - drain on kitchen paper.
10. Serve, scoff ... delish..

Comfort pie

Times are hard.  Really hard.  I asked - chilli or pie? ... and PPIIEEEE was the only reply.

So, pie, chips and veg it was.

Onions
garlic
olive oil
steak mince
Mushrooms
stock
tomato juice
worcestershire sauce
onion gravy granules
puff pastry


oven chips, carrots and broccoli

1.  Sautee chopped onion and crushed garlic in olive oil.
2.  Add mince and chopped mushrooms and fry for about 5-10 minutes, stirring frequently.
3.  When mince is brown all over add tomato juice, stock and flavourings.  Simmer for 10 mintues.
4.  Stir in a spoonful of gravy granules - call it cheating if you like, but it gives it a nice sauce.  Simmer for 5 minutes.
5.  Allow to cool, transfer to an oven dish and cover with puff pastry.  Brush the top with a little soya (or dairy) milk.
6.  Bake for 40 minutes - chuck the oven chips in as well.
7.  Steam prepped carrots and broccoli.
8.  Serve, scoff ... was well tasty.

Fried chicken, potato wedges, salad with wild garlic tzatziki

Lots of wild garlic around at the moment - I keep smelling it, but I can't find it!  However, a lovely neighbour dropped some off yesterday, so I made it into wild garlic tzatziki to have with our fried chicken and wedges.

Potatoes
Olive oil
Chicken thighs
Natural yoghurt
fried chicken seasoning (or make your own using flour, herbs and spices)
sunflower oil
salad leaves
cucumber
lemon juice
wild garlic

1.  Wash potatoes and chop into wedges, toss in olive oil and bake for about an hour.
2.  Toss chicken thighs in yogurt, then in the seasoning.  Fry on each side for 5 minutes, until coloured.  Transfer to a drying rack on top of a roasting tray - put in the oven to cook through, for about 20 minutes.
3.  To more natural yogurt add a drizzle of olive oil, a squirt of lemon juice, a pinch of salt, chopped cucumber and finely chopped wild garlic.
4.  Serve, with salad ... scoff

Sausage paella

 Maybe I should have called it a very British paella.  It's the night before the new veg box, so it's very much - use what you have, it'll still be tasty, dinner.

Olive oil
Onion
Garlic
Carrots
Sausages
Red pepper
Green beans
Paella rice
stock
wholegrain mustard
Kale


1.  Sautee chopped onion and crushed garlic in olive oil.  Add finely chopped carrot and fry gently for a few minutes.
2.  Add sausages and turn a few times, until they start colouring.
3.  Add chopped red pepper and green beans, stir in.
4.  Add paella rice, stir everything around until every grain of rice has a bit of a coating, then pour in stock, and a spoonful of wholegrain mustard.
5.  Simmer, check stock level, adding more if it goes too dry.  When the rice is nearly cooked add finely chopped kale, put the lid on and let it steam.
6.  Stir in the wilted kale, let it rest for 5 minutes.
7.  Serve, scoff

Veg dodger 2 "complained" about kale - grown by the devil, or something - but ate it nonetheless.

"Satay" chicken thighs, stir fry veg and rice

It's been the worst of times here at Kitchen Fairies HQ, so I've been "off air" for a good few weeks.  I'm not saying I'm back - but I am trying to put together a decent nutritious meal together for us every evening.

Tonight, headed for a thai/satay inspired roast chicken thigh thingy - with some stir fried veg and rice.

It is firmly on the "do again" list - though I think I was a bit tame on the chilli tonight.

So ....


Peanut butter
Soy sauce
Chinese rice wine
Chilli sauce
Crushed garlic
Tomato ketchup
Vegetarian oyster sauce

Chicken thighs

Jasmine thai rice

Groundnut oil
Leeks
Crushed garlic
red pepper
Pak Choi
beansprouts
Soy sauce
Chinese rice wine

1.  Mix together the marinade ingredients ... peanut butter, sauces, garlic etc.
2.  Put the chicken thighs in an oven dish and smother with the marinade.  Cover with foil and leave for 30 minutes.
3.  Roast at 180 for about an hour.
4.  Chop veg for stir frying.
5.  Put the rice on - 1 part rice, 2 parts water - pinch of salt.  Bring to the boil, turn the heat right down and slam lid on.  Now LEAVE for 15 minutes.  If everything else is not quite finished, simply turn the heat off and let it sit there in its own steam - do NOT open the lid.
6.  Stir fry the veg and flavourings in groundnuts oil for about 8 minutes,
7.  Serve, scoff ... the chicken thighs will have created their own delicious sauce.

Egg fried rice

Left over rice?  Left over meat? ...both?

We had left over ham, from yesterday's roast, and fresh veg - so -leaving the tins in the cupboard (after tonight's instructions for 3 weeks lock down we might need them later) - I thought egg fried rice - tasty- and we've not had it for a while.

We have veggie, gluten reducing*, lactose free and veg dodger in this house - so this is a one(ish) dinner which copes with all requirements.

I used standard soy sauce which is generally not gf -* use gf sashimi sauce if you need to be totally gf.

Rice (I used jasmine thai - but face it folks - use what you have)

Goundnut oil (or whatever you have - I wouldn't recommend olive oil - but otherwise - just some cooking fat)
Veg …. we used the list below, but substitute etc to your taste and availability ..
spring onion
garlic
ginger
carrot
mushrooms
red pepper
courgette
Rice wine vinegar (or cider vinegar, or lime juice - I don't recommend chippy vinegar)
Soy sauce
Eggs


Optional - chopped cooked ham

1.  Cook the rice (or use leftovers, or microwave rice)
2.  Chop the veg into small pieces … julienne etc … it can be a bit fiddly, but it cuts down cooking time - so give it a go - cut the veg into smallish pieces (it also makes it more difficult for the fussier to pick it out).  Fry gently in oil for a few minutes - stirring often.
3.  chuck the rice on top of the veg, splosh on some soy sauce and rice vinegar (optional) -stir in -  keep moving in the pan.
4.  Turn the heat right down.  Flatten the rice/veg mix - pour over the whisked eggs.
5. Leave to stand - a final couple of stirs to make sure the egg is cooked, and then mixed through. 
6. serve, scoff xxx
Eh voila (The veg dodger had thirds! - also thirds of the chopped ham mixed through it)

Roast gammon, potatoes, carrot and swede, courgette frittata and some steamed kale

OK - I'll not pretend that shortages have begun to bite yet - but I though it was still worth sharing the basic timings of a good roast dinner.  This was our Mother's Day tea (not my Mum, sorry Mum - we couldn't risk visiting) - which is slightly hilarious, as the Mum in question is veggie - but this was to cater for all!

The ingredients were all sourced from Tod market - which is doing its best in these troubled times.

The ham joint is a big 'un - so that it can be used for sandwiches and other stuff, over the next few days.  All the left over veg will go into "leftovers soup" so there is zero wastage.

Start the ham early - it needs to poach for 3 hours, then get a glaze on and bake for another hour or so.  It was so worth it!





Baked, glazed ham

Ham joint
Mustard (english and wholegrain)
Honey
Olive oil

Potatoes
Olive oil
Carrots
Swede
Butter
Courgette
Eggs
Kale

1.  1 o'clock - put the ham in a large pot of water, boil for 3+ hours - topping the water up as necessary, but otherwise ignore and get on with the rest of your day.
2.  About 4pm - take the ham out of the pan, transfer to an oven dish.  Leave to settle for 30 minutes.
3.  Make the glaze - mix mustards, a small spoon of honey, salt and pepper and olive oil - paste over the joint.
4.  About 5 ish - pop the ham in the oven - turn to 180.
5.  5:30ish - start the veg prep - cut potatoes into even sized pieces (these were baby potatoes, so I just halved them).  Toss in olive oil and salt and roast - check them after about 50 minutes - if they are doing too fast - take them out and put them back in for the last 10 minutes to heat through again.
6.  Peel and chop carrots and swede - boil for about 20 minutes - when cooked mash them with butter and seasoning and pop in the oven.
7.  Chop courgettes into small cubes, whisk eggs.  Mix the eggs and the courgette and pour into an oiled baking dish - bake for about 25-30 minutes.
8.  Take the ham out of the oven to rest for about 20-30 minutes.
9.  Prep the kale by removing the hard stem, shredding, and steam for 15 minutes.
10.  serve, scoff - delish

The world ...

... but not as we know it.  We are all facing a very challenging time, but it's time to pull together.  There are all sorts of recipes for store cupboard staples on here, including the dinners I made while I was doing the "Eat like a Refugee" week .  As we progress through the weeks I will try to continue to load some simple recipes for decent dinners (ie. what we had for tea) in the hope that it might help.  Please feel free to email me on sian.kitchenfairies@gmail.com if you have questions about what to do with all those forgotten bits and pieces.

Filo pies - Turkey and pepper, chick pea and pepper. National Pie week: day 7, pie #4

 Once again a veg dodger and a vegan version were required - so I made one fil pie with turkey mince, and the other with chickpeas.  Served with patatas (not very) bravas, and a lovely salad with avocado.  Delicious.

The trick with these meals is to make the bulk of it to be shared between the two versions, and then add the meaty / protein alternatives to the appropriate dish.

For this meal start with the pepper filling, the spinach and the turkey (or other) mince filling - then move on to the potatoes.  Return to complete the fillings, build the pies - bake, then construct the salad.

Onions
Olive oil
Garlic
Celery
Peppers (red, orange and/or yellow)
Paprika
Spinach
White wine

Mince (turkey, … or … )

Potatoes
Tinned tomatoes
Chilli

Filo pastry

Salad leaves
Tomatoes
Spring onions
Avocado
Mixed seeds
Garlic
lime juice

1.  Chop onions.   Gently fry about half in olive oil for the pepper mixture, about a quarter in olive oil for the turkey mix, and a quarter in olive oil for the (not very) bravas sauce.
2.  Add crushed garlic to all three pans, stir and continue to fry gently.
3.  Chop potatoes into 1cm cubes, toss in olive oil and a little salt, roast for 45 minutes or so.
4.  Add chopped celery and peppers to the pepper mix, with a pinch of paprika and salt.  Continue to fry until soft, adding white wine and water to allow to simmer gently.
5.  In a fourth pan wilt spinach in a little water.  Turn the heat off as soon as the spinach is wilted.
6.  Add the mince to the second pan of onions and fry until slightly browned,  keep moving in the pan.
7.  Add a tin of chopped tomatoes, salt and chilli flakes, and half a tin of water to the final batch of tomatoes and simmer to create the sauce for the potatoes.
8.  Build the pies - grease pie plates with a little olive oil - layer on three layers of filo, brushing with olive oil each layer - build the veggie one first.  On the bottom - half of the spinach, then peppers, then drained rinsed chickpeas.  Top with three layers of filo, each brushed with olive oil.  Tuck in the edges and drizzle the edge with olive oil.  Repeat with the meaty one - pastry, spinach, peppers, mince, pastry.  Bake for 25-30 minutes.
9.  Salad - add leaves, chopped tomatoes, chopped spring onions, scooped out sliced avocado and seeds.  Spritz with lime juice to prevent avocado oxidising.  Drizzle with a little olive oil.  Serve with a little extra dressing made from lime juice, crushed garlic and olive oil.
10.  Serve, scoff …. it was good.

Haggis Pie: (and a vegan version): National Pie Week, day 4, pie #3

National Pie week - and a haggis in the freezer - natural result "Haggis Pie".  Basically neeps and tatties as the pie top for a haggis/lentil filling - with cabbage and whisky cream sauce.

To cope with the various dietary requirements in this house we actually had two versions - one with haggis and one entirely vegan.

The one with the haggis also had a healthy layer of the lentil mixture underneath the haggis (don't tell the veg dodger - they happily scoffed thirds!)

The haggis needs to be cooked before adding to the pie, so I started with this - 45 minutes simply boiling in its bag, as per package instructions.

Haggis
Olive oil
Leeks
Celery
Courgette
Red pepper
Mushrooms
Lentils
Wholegrain mustard
Marmite
Chilli flakes
Oregano

Carrots
Swede
Potatoes
Dairy free spread

Cabbage

Sour cream
Whisky

1.  Cook the haggis as per package instructions.
2.  Sautee chopped leeks and celery in olive oil until a bit soft, then add crushed garlic, chopped courgette, red pepper and mushrooms.  Stir In.  Add a handful of lentils (I used brown, red/puy would also be fine).  Pour in about a pint of water and simmer.  After a couple of minutes add mustard, marmite, chilli flakes and oregano.  Simmer.  It takes about 30 minutes - check it doesn't go too dry, for taste and that lentils are cooked.
3.  Meanwhile peel and chop root veg and boil.  When cooked, drain and mash with plant based spread and plenty of seasoning.
4.  Assemble the pie(s).  For the vegan one - 2 layers - lentils and mash.  For the haggis pie - lentils, haggis, mash.  Spread the mash around and bake for about 25 minutes - until the top starts to brown.
5,  Steam cabbage.
6.  Whisky sauce - simmer a little water, add a spoonful of sour cream and a splash of whisky.
7.  Serve, scoff - watch veg dodger have thirds, and vegan/vegetarian types have seconds.

Tortilla pies - beef and tofu (not together) - Britsih pie week day 4, pie 2

National pie week - so I thought I would join in the fun again, and see what I could rustle up from the fridge and cupboards.  Basically, I came up with 2 pies  - one with minced beef, and one with tofu - both were very well received.

Served with sweet potato wedges, saffron braised fennel with leeks and a simple salad.

For both pies:-

Tortillas (2 per pie)
Olive oil
Leeks
Celery
Garlic
Red pepper
Courgette
Mixed herbs
White wine
Grated cheese (I used a mixed of smoked and plain cheddar)
Mushrooms
Soya milk (or dairy milk)

For the meat pie:-

Minced beef

For the tofu pie:-

Tofu
Ketchup
Soy sauce
American mustard
Olive oil

For the sweet potato wedges:-

Olive oil
Sweet potato
BBQ seasoning

For the saffron braised fennel with leek

Olive oil
Leeks
Garlic
Fennel
Tomatoes
Saffron
Thyme
Pinch of chilli
White wine

1.  Start by marinating cubed tofu in a mixture of the ingredients from the tofu pie list above.  Leave in the fridge for 30 minutes or so.
2.  Chop 3 leeks.  Split between 4 deepish frying pans, with a splosh of olive oil - 1 for the fennel, 1 for the veg mix for both pies, 1 for the tofu and one for the beef filling.  Sautee gently.

If you were doing all 4 dishes you need to continue with the braised fennel and leek, then the sweet potato, then the vegetables for the pie(s), then the meat and mushroom mixture, then the tofu and mushroom mixtture.  The grate the cheese.  Then build the pies, and bake them for 25-30 minutes.

 so ...

3.  To one lot of sauteed leeks add crushed garlic, stir in, and then add wedges of fennel.  Sprinkle in a couple of strands of saffron, a pinch of thyme and add a few chopped tomatoes.  Stir.  Cover with white wine and water and simmer for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Season with salt and pepper.

4.  Peel sweet potataoes and chop into wedges.  Toss in olive oil, salt and BBQ seasoning and roast for 45 minutes.

5.  To the next lot of sauteed leeks add crushed garlic, chopped celery, courgette and red pepper, with the herbs and a slosh of white wine.  Simmer gently until beg are a bit soft.

6.  To the third lot of sauteed leeks add minced beef and fry until browned.  Add the half of the chopped mushrooms and cook for about 10 minutes.

7.  To the final lot of sauteed leeks add marinated tofu, toss about a bit on a highish heat until tofu is a bit browned, then add the rest of the chopped mushrooms and cook for about 10 minutes.

8.  Grate cheese.

9.  Oil two pie dishes.  Line them both with a tortilla.  Layer the mixtures - veg, meat/tofu filling, cheese.  Top with another tortilla.  Wash with milk (plant based or otherwise) and bake for 25--30 minutes.

10.  Throw salad together.

11. Scoff, serve .... my goodness they were both good.