Cheese and Chilli

Cheese on the Left, Mild Cheddar on the Right

But it's Chilli tonight
well actually it's chilli tomorrow, because I cooked this yesterday as I've no time today,

Now it's tomorrow, and today as well.

This is based on a recipe first seen in "The Times" calling for a mixture of belly pork, beef and pancetta, and a lemon. And three tablespoons of chilli powder, which is just silly. Some sort of bacon is good for flavour, but otherwise pork or beef is fine (Or lamb if you want a chilli shepherd)

Asmall pack of cheapo pancetta and 750g of brisket, chopped.

For a change, brown basmati rice.
 One coffee mug of rice, to a saucepan full of water,
 boiled for 25 minutes ish, until tender

Fry the pancetta, (streaky bacon is a good alternative) Add a chopped large onion, and a few cloves of garlic, chopped and fry until soft and squishy. Fry/brown  the beef (in a separate pan if you like ) Mix the lot together, add a tablespoon of flour and some tomato puree, and a teaspoon or two of chilli powder, to taste and two teapoons of ground roasted cumin. Stir together, and just over a pint of stock add the lemon cut into bits. Add a tin of red kidney beans, and cook until the beef is cooked.

November Bread

More Sour Dough

The Sponge for this one was all Strong plain white, and the majority of the rest Strong wholemeal, with a bit of rye flour

Ideal for breakfast, with bacon, egg, grapefruit juice and espresso. And on the subject of bacon, why is all the stuff  in the supermarkets rindless?

On the subject of supermarkets, what exactly is mild cheddar for?

Lard has more taste.

Cottage Pie Shepherd

Rumour has it that beef is cottage and lamb is shepherd. This is beef and I've always called it Shepherd. If it was pork would it be swineheard pie or simply Sty Pie?

(Clearly, if it was corned beef it would be on twitter with a  #corned beef hash tag)

Shepherd's pie and sprouts and sprouts

That's bean sprouts, and those from Brussels. Don't ponce about cutting little crosses in the stalk, just cut of the hard bit of stalk, and remove the outer leaves. If you have leftover brussels, wait until they are cold, coat them in chocolate and give them to "trick-or-treaters" (or double glazing cold callers)

This one had about an pound and a half of mince fried together with a few onions, garlic, mushrooms and green peppers. A bit less than a pint of stock (Oxo, with Worcester Sauce, Daddies Browns sauce etc)  Thickened with gravy powder and cornflour



Layer on loads of mashed potato. Brush with beaten egg and season with salt and pepper and grated nutmeg

Stick it in the oven for about 40 mins

Don't you just hate that. You don't see a shepherd for months and then two come along at once

I suspect they were hiding in a cottage, waiting for some flocks to watch

Tandoori style chicken and spicy potato

To colour or not to colour, that is the question.

Does the palette appeal to your palate?

I don't have a tandoor, hence the style. The chicken doesn't need to be bright red,

but somehow it's expected. Here's nine skinned chicken drumsticks, Slash them with a knife and rub a teaspoon of salt and  a few tablespoons of lemon juice from a lemon or a bottle.

Rub in some red food colouring and set aside. For the marinade, chop and onion, 2 cloves of garlic and some fresh or ground ginger. Add chilli powder, turmeric and garam masala. grind to a paste with a few tablespoons of plain yoghurt Pour the resulting goo all over the chickin, run it in, and put in the fridge  - 24 hours is nice if you have the time.

Put the resulting dayglo chicken on a rack in an oven tray, and put it high up in a preheated (to max temp) oven and cook it for 45 mins or so, turning once, until it looks tandoori style - and the chicken is cooked through

For the chick pea curry chop and fry an onion, grind together cumin, coriander, chilli, cinnamon and salt, fry the powder with the onion, then add a can of chopped tomatoes and a can of chick peas. cook for 20 mins or so until the sauce is thick, then stir in a couple of tablespoons of plain (Greek style) yoghurt

Boil and mash some potatoes. Fry a chopped onion, add chilli powder, turmeric, ginger and mustard seeds. add the mashed potato and stir and fry well until the potato tales up the colour evenly, and is hot



Chorizo, Pork, Potato, Paprika and and Garlic

The original recipe was for a soup with chorizo, and potato.
I've expanded this to make a substantial main course

Chop up the meat, two onions (red or white/brown) a pound or so of new taters (or one inch ish chunks of older potatoes)  and 4 cloves of garlic, chopped

Three dessert spoons of paprika one teaspoon of chilli powder,one and a half teaspoons of celery salt. Fry the chorizo gently for a few minutes, add all the other ingredients and stir. Add about one litre//two pints of stock. Veggie or chicken stock cubes are fine. Marigold Swiss Vegetable Bouillon Powder is excellent.Boil until the meat and potato are cooked, tender and soft 45 Mins? Thicken with tomato puree if necessary.

Sausage Update - Black bean Sausages

Pork shoulder joint on special offer, so would be a shame not to --. Half used for standard sausages the rest mixed in with a paste of soaked  black beans, chilli, ginger and soy sauce.

Nearly Ham, egg and chips

Good ham is expensive stuff, so we have to compromise. An economy joint of reformed "gammon", over a kilo for about £4.00. Boiled for an hour and a half ish, cooled and sliced. Potato wedges shaken in oil and chilli powder and put in the oven for 45 mins.  

 And below, one I prepared earlier. Gammon steaks, (economy) Pork chops,
and chicken chunks in pesto.

And sprouts