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.

National Pie Week: Cheese and onion (gf) pie

Look at 'em go!  There was no stopping them diving into today's cheese and onion pie - for day 1 of national pie week.  The pastry was gluten free so that, for once, we could all share the same dinner - the gluten intolerant, the veg dodger and the veggie … oops, we lactose intolerant decided we would "pay the price" rather than miss out on the cheese pie.

Baby roast potatoes
Steamed carrots and cabbage
Baked beans

… and cheese and onion pie

Pastry

Plain flour
Salt
Butter/ butter substitute
Greek yogurt
Cold water
Soya milk (or dairy milk)

The filling

Onions, sliced
Grated cheese

It's dead easy really.

1.  Make the pastry by rubbing the fat into the seasoned flour, until it resembles breadcrumbs.  If it's too floury, add more cold butter.  If it's too sticky add a little more flour.
2.  To the "breadcrumbs" add a spoonful of greek yogurt and a splash of cold water.  Form into a dough.  Don't handle too much, it makes it go really hard.
3.  Chill for half an hour.
4.  Cut potatoes into chunks, roast in olive oil and a sprinkle of salt for 1 hour.
5.  Prep veg, put on top of a steamed.
6.  Slice onions, grate cheese.
7.  Roll out half the pastry to form the bottom of the pie.  With gf I find it easier to roll onto baking parchment, and then flip over onto the pie dish.  Often you have to neaten out the edges, and mend small breaks by smushing the pastry together.
8.  Spread a little flour in the bottom of the pie - just to stop melted cheese seeping into the bottom.
9.  Starting with a layer of cheese - layer up the pie filling cheese, onion, cheese, onion ending on cheese.
10.  Top with the other half of the pastry, rolled out.  Crimp the edges with a fork, slash the top a little to let the steam out, glaze with soya (or dairy) milk.  Bake for 30-40 minutes at 180.
11.  Turn the heat on under the vegetables and let them steam.
12.  Pop the beans into the oven to heat through.
13.  Serve, scoff … seconds all round.

Movie night "Moneyball"

 Kitchenfairies has been noticeably quiet for many weeks - so, let's try to bounce back into action.  Today's offerings are not so much of a recipe, just a bit of a game.

At Kitchenfairies HQ we periodically have "movie night", and just for a laugh we try to theme the food to the film.  Tonight's selection was "Moneyball" with Brad Pitt - so - it was food which you commonly eat at a baseball match.  So - here we have hot dogs and natchos - home style.  None of us like frankfurters, so we went with the more traditional English pork sausages and veggie sausages in a buttered baguette, with lots of fried onions, and nachos with grated cheddar cheese.

The only "recipe" would be for the kohlrabi slaw.

Finely slice 1/2 an onion, place in a mixing bowl and add salt.  Then shred half a small red cabbage, peel and chop into julienne strips 2 carrots and half a kohlrabi.  Add a splash of wine vinegar, a splosh of olive oil and the juice of half a lemon.  Mix well and leave to stand so the vegetables mellow slightly.  Mix mayonnaise into slaw for those who like it (we have one who hates it).

Serve, scoff.

Tapas tea

We fancied a bit of a change, and a bit of a cheer up - with the weather being continuously grim.  So, for the veg dodger pork and chorizo, for the pescatarian garlic prawns … and for the using up of the veg box - potatoes, onion and pepper, creamy cabbage, avocado and radish salad and some manchego … delish.

Olive oil
Onion
Garlic
Yellow (or whichever) pepper
Potatoes
Sherry
Cider vinegar
Pork loin chops
Chorizo
Cabbage
Lemon
Egg
Soya cream (or sour cream)
Little gem lettuce
Radishes
Avocado
Cherry tomatoes
Prawns
chilli flakes

1.  Chop one white and one red onion.  Sautee the white onion in olive oil, add a little crushed garlic.  Then add chopped pepper, sliced potatoes, a splash of sherry, a splash of cider vinegar and some water.  Simmer gently, turning occasionally.
2.  Sautee half the red onion in olive oil, add chopped pork loin chops and chopped chorizo.  Brown a little, then leave to stew gently.
3.  Sautee the other half of red onion, with a little garlic, add shredded cabbage and a little water.   Season and cook until soft, squeeze on juice of half a lemon.  Whisk an egg into cream, add to the cabbage mixture and stir in.
4.  Chop salad vegetables, spritz with lemon juice to stop the avocado discolouring.
5.  Fry crushed garlic, prawns and a little chilli in olive oil.
6.  Serve, scoff ...

Stew and dumplings - vegan stylee

Rain, rain, rain, rain … and cold - and injuries, so we are almost housebound at the mo.  Today demanded serious comfort food - so, vegan butter bean autumnal casserole with DUMPLINGS!!! yay.. and gluten free dumplings at that.  This was a triumph - served with red cabbage braised in apple juice (and flash fried steak for the veg dodger).  This plant based rib sticker stew was a total winner.

For the stew:

Olive oil
onions
garlic
swede
carrots
potatoes
mushrooms
butternut squash
vegetable stock
mustard
tinned tomatoes
butter beans
red cabbage
apple juice
red wine


Dumplings

Self raising flour (gluten free for us)
salt and pepper
olive oil
plant based veg spread (soya margarine for us)
soya milk
parsley

1.  Slowly fry chopped onion and crushed garlic in olive oil.
2.  Prep veg - peel, chop into more or less even sized pieces - all of the veg.  Chucnk into the pan with the onions.  Stir around and then add some stock.  Simmer.
3.  Add a spoonful of mustard and season to taste.
4.  Drain a tin of butter beans.    Add a tin of chopped tomatoes to the pan, follow with a tinful of water - turn it down and simmer for 20 minutes or so … until the veg yield to the tip of a knife.
5.  Make the braised cabbage (optional, obvs … but it goes really nicely)  sweat off chopped onion and crushed garlic, add a splash of apple juice and a splash of red wine - then shredded red cabbage - simmer gently - add more water if needed .. keep simmering and checking water level until done.
6.  Mix self raising flour with a little salt and a grind of pepper, add chopped parsley - drizzle in some olive oil and a knob  of plant based marg - cut the fat through the flour, then add soya milk and mix to a firm dough.
7.  Add the drained butter beans to the stew.
8.  Make the dumplings by mixing the mixture until you can form small balls in your hand - add more "milk" if too dry or more flour if too wet/sticky.
9.  Drop dumplings onto stew … cover … steam,/simmer for 20 minutes
10.  Serve, scoff (fry minute steaks in a hot pan for 5 minutes before serving if necessary!  the veg dodger was happy with good stew, dumplings, cabbage and MEAT)

Cheese and onion pie - gluten free! ta dah!

Once again we were in need of comfort food - and you can't beat pie, chips and beans … the pie needed to be gluten free, and the chips were baby roasties - the beans came out of a tin.  Altogether delicious - totally hit the spot!  The veg dodger didn't complain about lack of meat once.

Gluten free pastry is incredibly crumbly, so roll it out on greaseproof paper to transfer to pie dish and the top of the pie.  Also, be prepared to patch up cracks!

I am lactose intolerant, but know the price I have to pay for cheese … which is why I use soya milk to glaze and seal.

Gluten free flour
Soya spread (or butter)
Salt
Natural yogurt
Dijon mustard
Potatoes
Olive oil
Onions
Cheese (I used cheddar, but Cheshire and Lancashire or a mixture works well too)
Baked beans

1.  Rub the fat into the flour, with a pinch of salt, until it resembles breadcrumbs.  Stir in a spoonful of natural yogurt, a teaspoonful of Dijon mustard and a splash of very cold water.  Mix until it starts coming together in a ball - add a drop more water if it needs it, more flour if it has got sticky.  When it comes together as a ball knead it gently until it is a convincing "ball".  Do not try to knead it much - the paste is very fragile, as it has no gluten which would normally give some elasticity.  Wrap with reusable sandwich wrap/cling film and pop in the fridge for 30 minutes.
2.  Slice onions into half rings, toss them about so they separate.
3.  Grate the cheese.
4.  Cut potatoes into cubes and toss in olive oil, sprinkle with salt.  Roast for 1 hour.
5.  Roll half the pastry onto greaseproof paper, lightly dusted with flour.  Transfer pastry to a greased pie dish,  patch little broken bits where necessary.
6.  Spread a little flour in the bottom of the pastry case (to help prevent the soggy bottom) - add layers of cheese and onions.
7.  Roll out the lid onto greaseproof paper ducted lightly with flour.  Brush a little soya milk around the edge of the base pastry.  Transfer the lid onto the pie - I held it over the top and did a speedy flip over - patch up the gaps and neaten the edge.  Brush the top with soya milk.  Bake for about 40 minutes.
8.  Put beans in oven proof dish and pop in the oven with everything else, to heat through.
9.  Serve, scoff