Spanish omelette
4 medium potatoes diced … small pieces are best and Desiree potatoes make the best omelette
1 medium onion chopped
4/5 eggs depending on size and how moist you like it..
Penty of olive oil to fry
Covered frying pan works really well
Soften onions for 5 mins in micowave then add to hot oil… add finely chopped potatoes and salt … when they are frying nicely use spatula to mix bottom layer with top and reduce heat, cover and leave on a low heat for 15 mins, stir again… recover for another 15 mins. Taste for salt and if needed add now. If all is soft remove from heat
Beat eggs in a bowl add salt, then stir in the potatoes and onions
If there is oil left in the pan use that to fry one side for 4 mins, not too high a heat: then put a plate over the pan, invert pan so the omelette is on the plate then slide the omelette back into the pan to cook the other side for 4 mins, you can use the spatula on the sides to get a nice finish by tucking the sides under.
Pork Loin Fillet
1 pork loin fillet sliced, marinated in garlic, salt and herbs and lightly fried.
Courgettes sliced.
Button mushrooms.
Shallots, peeled and boiled until tender but not too soft.
Double cream.
Mustard.
Salt
In an oven-proof dish arrange slices of courgette.
Add the meat, mushrooms and shallots.
Using the juices from the pan where the meat was fried add mustard to taste and cream, enough to make a sauce. Bring to boil and pour over the meat and vegetables.
Cover and cook for 30 mins in a hot oven. Gas 8.
Serve with mashed potatoes or green beans and new potatoes.
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Chocolate Orange Marble Cake.
Ingredients
6oz self raising flour.
5oz caster sugar.
3 oz good margarine.
2 Eggs
Grated zest of one orange.
Cocoa powder to taste.
Cream margarine and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add eggs and beat in.
Stir in the flour, a small amount of milk can be added here if the mixture is too thick.
Divide the mixture in two.
Stir in the orange rind to one half of the mixture.
Stir in the cocoa powder to the other half.
In a greased and lined cake tin place the orange mixture on one side and the cocoa mixture on the other. Take a spoon and swirl round and round to create the marbled effect.
Bake at no5 for 35-40 mins checking to see when it is cooked. Overcooking will make it dry.
When the cake is cool cut it in half and fill with butter cream.
Melt milk chocolate and spread over the top of the cake
Butter Icing.
1 dessert spoon of softened butter.
Icing sugar.
A few drops of boiling water.
Cream butter and gradually beat in the icing sugar to taste. Add a few drops of boiling water and beat well. More icing sugar can be added to taste.
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Paella
Round grain rice. About 1. 1/2 cups
2 Peppers cut into pieces
1 large onion chopped
2 tablespoons passata
Saffron to taste.
1/2 teaspoon Turmeric
Either 1 roast chicken, jointed or chicken pieces fried
1 cup frozen peas
Mixed herbs
Olive oil
Salt
Garlic
Chicken stock
Water
Heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry onions and peppers until soft.
Add herbs, Turmeric, saffron and garlic.
Stir in rice and coat well with herbs and spices.
Add the passata and stir well.
Add chicken stock, cooked chicken and peas.
Bring to boil then reduce to a simmer,
Season to taste.
Cook until the rice is soft but grains are separate and all liquid is all absorbed.
Extra liquid may be added in the form of water or more stock but there should be no liquid left when it’s cooked.
When cooked cover and leave to rest for 10 mins. At this stage prawns can be added if desired also mussels.
Serve with lemon wedges to squeeze over the rice and a dressed green salad.
A good idea is to coat the chicken in herbs, garlic, salt and orange slices and roast. The juices can be used in the paella instead of stock.
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Spanish Meatballs.
Ingredients.
250 grms minced steak.
3 cloves of garlic, minced.
Salt to taste.
Olives cut in halves.
Beef stock.
Small glass of Sherry
Half an onion chopped and fried until soft and golden
Flour.
1 egg.
2 tablespoons of fresh breadcrumbs
Mix the minced steak, salt, garlic and sherry, stir well cover with plastic film and leave in the ‘fridge over night.
When required, beat the egg mix and add to the mince with the onions. Blend well with a spoon.
Add the breadcrumbs, and some flour and mix well.
Make into small balls and roll in flour.
Heat up a frying pan and add a little olive oil, when the oil is hot fry the meatballs. Turn down the heat so that they fry gently until cooked.
Add the beef stock to the frying pan and the olives , thicken and then stir in a table spoon of double cream. Serve hot. You can accompany them with rice or spaghetti or just eat them as they are with crusty bread. A further tablespoon of sherry can be added with the beef stock.
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Left-over Lamb and Leek Pie .
Ingredients
1 packet of puff pastry
left-over cooked meat, chicken, lamb, turkey etc
3 medium leeks, washed and finely sliced.
1 pint of hot stock
2 tablespoons flour
2 rashers of bacon diced
seasoning to taste
1. Fry diced bacon in a little oil, then add the leeks and cook until soft and tender.
2. Stir flour into the leek mixture over low heat for 2-3 mins
3. Slowly stir hot stock into pan until a smooth mixture remains.
4. Add the meat, cover and simmer for 20 mins.
5. heat oven to gas mark 5/6 and roll out pastry.
6. Strain the leek and meat mix, retain the stock.
7. Arrange mix in an oven-proof dish, cover with pastry and tuck pastry down side between dish and mix.
8. Lighly score pastry and brush with beaten egg.
9. Cook for 35-40 mins or until pastry is golden brown and cooked through
Traditional Oatmeal Parkin
But which tradition is it?
My grandparents claimed Yorkshire emphatically, while my Lancashire friends are just as emphatic. Either way I just love it, and because it’s so easy to make, if you haven’t yet tasted parkin I urge you to try it. Its virtue is it keeps well and goes on getting stickier.
We use a pleated silicone liner in the tin, which helps keep the moisture in during storage.
Method
To weigh syrup and treacle, it helps to place the opened tins in a pan of barely simmering water for 5 minutes to make them easier to pour.
Then weigh a saucepan on the scales, and weigh the syrup and treacle into it. Now add the butter and the sugar to the saucepan and place it over a gentle heat until the butter has melted – don’t go away and leave it unattended, because for this you don’t want it to boil.
Meanwhile measure the oatmeal, flour and ginger into a mixing bowl, add a pinch of salt, then gradually stir in the warmed syrup mixture till everything is thoroughly blended. Next add the beaten egg and, lastly, the milk. Now pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake near the centre shelf of the oven for 1½ hours.
Then cool the parkin in the tin for 30 minutes before turning out. Don’t worry if it sinks slightly in the middle – this is quite normal.
When it’s completely cold, store in an airtight tin.
