Spanish Omelette - Delicious and Simple

Something for a Weekday Supper

Almost the most important part when making a Spanish Omelette is the pan you use. You need a medium size oven proof pan, so no plastic handles.

Ingredients

6 Large Eggs

8 New Potatoes

I Small Onion

Red Pepper (optional)

 2 Tbsp Olive Oil

Salt & Pepper

Cook the potatoes then cut into 1/2 inch chunks. Break and beat the eggs in a bowl, season. Slice onion thinly

Pour oil into pan and place over medium heat. Fry onion till soft, together with red pepper if used. Add potatoes, cook for a minute.

Turn up heat then add the egg.  After a minute or two remove from heat and place under pre-heated grill until cooked firm.

Can be served either in wedges or served as a canape (see picture).

A Simple Winter Supper

Spaghetti with Chicken Livers & Curly Kale

Ingredients

250 grams Chicken Livers

500 gram Curly Kale

1 Large Onion

I large clove garlic

2 Tablespoons Olive Oil

200 grams Spaghetti
Salt & Pepper

Put the water on for the spaghetti, then get a large lidded frying pan or wok, place on a low heat, add oil.

Slice the garlic and onion thinly and cook gently, when soft add the chicken liver, season well, when the livers are browned add the curly kale, place lid on pan.

Add spaghetti to water once water has boiled. Once spaghetti has cooked add to pan with kale and chicken livers.

Serves 2. This dish is healthy and cheap overall cost £1.75, feeds 2. It has a lovely sweet background taste which contrast beautifully with the liver.

Bon appetit!

Two Lunch Buffets

One of my clients asked for buffet lunches for a training session on two consecutive days. They stipulated that the menu had to be different on both days.

We have long given up making sandwiches. Most people seem to prefer wraps at the moment.

Menu Day 1

CHEESE WRAPS

WRAPS

PRAWN COCKTAIL WRAPS

• Ham & Coleslaw, 
• Egg Mayonnaise, 
• Prawn Cocktail,
• Cheese & Salad

QUICHES

• Cheese & Onion
• Chicken & Bacon

INCIDENTALS

Butchers Chipolata Sausages with a Honey Mustard Dip

DESSERT

Chocolate Brownies

Menu Day 2

PASTRAMI & CREAM CHEESE WRAP

TUNA SWEETCORN WRAP

WRAPS

• Tuna Sweetcorn,
• Humous & Salad,
• Pastrami and Cream Cheese,
• Chicken Salad.

QUICHES

• Quiche Lorraine
• Broccoli & Cheese

INCIDENTALS

Sausage Rolls with a Ketchup Dip

DESSERT

Chocolate or Blueberry Muffins

Hog Roast - Hey Mister what made that Hole?

When I received the booking to cook a hog roast at the White hart at Stopham Bridge in West Sussex, I was more than happy. This pub is set in an idyllic location on the banks of the River Arun near Pulborough. We were to provide the food at an evening of '60s tribute acts in aid of The Chestnut Tree Children's Hospice.

Our hog roasts are cooked over  real wood charcoal (as opposed to the rubbish you buy in supermarkets). The process takes several hours.

With only a couple of minor hiccups during the day "Percy" as we called him was cooking away quite nicely apart from one thing. For some reason his anus had become distended and was now the size of a pocket on a snooker table.

This provoked ribald and may I say, quite tasteless, comments from passing musicians and my colleague.

However when a family of three arrived to look at the pig cooking, the young son, aged about six, was bursting to ask a question - and there was only ever going to be one topic. His parents tried in vane to deflect him "can't you see the man is busy". Finaly the question burst out, "Mister", the young lad said, "did you make that hole in the pigs bottom when you shot him or did you do it with a knife?"

By the way the pig was delicious!

Hen Party - No time to be chicken!

I know, I know, me at a hen party, at this time of year and in these clothes!

Unfortunately there was no vacancy for a male stripper at this particular event. I didn’t even think of volunteering.

The young lady and her friends had organised a day which was centred around drink, beauty treatments and more drink. All this was taking place at a house in the wilds of North Shoreham.

I arrived with some sandwiches and other bits at lunchtime (Humus and Pea Shoots is a really good combination) and then I fled to finish preparing the dinner.

Dinner was to be a hot buffet which the girls served themselves.

In the afternoon the girls had organised beauty treatments and a little drinking.

Stuffed Tomatoes

Quails Eggs

Starters were to be a selection of canapés and dips with crudités. The star amongst the canapés were the halved quails eggs on cucumber and the baby tomatoes stuffed with tuna. Apart from mayonnaise I added capers, a drop of Worcester Sauce and a touch of chilli to the tuna. These small additions lift the tuna from the mundane.

 The main course was a choice of Beef Bourguignon, Moroccan Style Meatballs  and a Vegetable Tagine, all served with new potatoes, green beans, broccoli & cous-cous.

Beef Bourguignon is a standard dish that you can find a million recipes for so I won’t re-hash it here. The main ingredients have to be a ballsy red wine and good quality meat. (Please don’t use stewing steak).

Vegetable Tagine

The Vegetable Tagine combined Mediterranean Vegetables  with a tomato sauce flavoured with Harrisa (a Moroccan Spice paste widely available)  Start by frying vegetables in oil, once sealed add the tomatoes and simmer until the vegetables are cooked al dente.

The Moroccan Style Meatballs are a variation of Koftas (sausage shaped meat patties)

Ingredients

Beef 750g

Sausage Meat 250g (or use top quality Pork sausages and remove skins)

Onion

Parsley

Sumac (Moroccan Spice available at good food shops)

Oil

Seasoning

Sauce Ingredients

Onion (small) chopped

Garlic (3 cloves) chopped

1 Chilli Pepper (seeded) chopped

7508g Tomato (peeled and chopped)

2tsp Harrisa (Moroccan spice paste)

Pine kernels

Seasoning

Make the meatballs first, round about ping-pong ball size. Fry in Olive oil turning once. Drain in a colander lined with kitchen paper to absorb any excess oil.

Moroccan Style Meatballs

Once you have finished cooking the meatballs, tip out most of the oil leaving the pan just lightly covered. Introduce the sauce ingredients one at a time cooking slowly. Once cooked, (20 minutes) add the meatballs and  scatter withe pine kernels and some chopped parsley, cover. Reheat gently.

Dessert was a delicious Orange, Rosewater & Pistachio Cheesecake made by friend Yoav at the Home Cakery (http://www.homecakery.co.uk) or there was a Brie served with grapes.

Great party, all the food went. Proves that the one thing you can’t give at a hen party is chicken feed!

Pig in The Middle

I have done, (strange choice of word) cooked, (that’s better) loads of hog roasts, so to report on an individual event would be strange unless there was something new to report. And there is.

I have bought a new hog roaster, primarily because my old one has died and secondly because my client was insistent that the hog had to be roasted over charcoal.

With little time to go before the event, using the tinternet I found a company called Roti Grill (http://www.rotigrill.com/) who make roasters and barbecues. With only a couple of weeks to go before the event I rang them up to discuss ordering a machine. They were on holiday put rang me up from some sun drenched spot (hog roaster business must be good) promising delivery two days before my event on their return. I also spoke to their daughter who they had left in England in a freezing house chained to a computer with only stagnant water and a mouldy crust for sustenance. (The last bit might not be entirely true).

The machine arrived in due time with satisfying clear instructions. The whole machine is properly engineered  Parts fitted together with no problem and the larger bits went together with a satisfying “thunk” that you usually only get from doors on expensive cars.  The owners were really helpful answering my dumb question. No call centre – thankfully.

So I bought charcoal as advised only slightly more than advised (anyone want to buy four 12kg sacks of charcoal).

The Roti Grill system is well thought out so spiking the pig was relatively easy and the clamps were easy to insert and screw tight. I only wish that a 70kg pig wasn’t quite as heavy. My young assistant, Connor,  ended up under the pig when he was trying to lift it. I put it down to teenage enthusiasm rather than perversion.

The pig took just about seven hours to cook. I rubbed the pig with oil and salt and scored the skin with a Stanley knife . In the last hour of cooking I basted the hog with a simple baste of water, honey and brown sugar. This caramelised on the skin and made the crackling divine. The smoke from the natural lumpwood charcoal made the meat taste delicious and because of the cooking method we had more crackling than we could cope with.

Cooking over charcoal is no more trouble than gas and the result is so much better. (Apart from singed leg hair)

Woody, Connor & Pig (the pig is the one lying down)

I also made a chilli/apple sauce which was simple to make and a great success. We served the hog with rolls made by a local artisan baker, (http://www.thehomecakery.co.uk/), jacket potatoes and a variety of salads.

The hog was the centre point of the evening but we did also have delicious cannapés made by friend Jacqui (http://www.cooking-in.com/). Jacqui’s food is always delicious and always beautiful. Jacqui gave us: ‘Springs’ smoked salmon and cream cheese mousse on brioche ‘rounds’ with a cucumber twist Spicy honey glazed sausages,(sourced from Perretts Farm shop Ditchling), Rare roast beef in mini Yorkshire puddings with horseradish, Mini Welsh rarebit bites, Home-made prawn spring rolls with ginger, chilli, garlic and fresh coriander. Most of this was served warm.

We also provided the dessert which was a delicious tasting and stunning looking chocolate cake dressed with fresh fruit made by Karen (http://www.nice-slice.com/) I made a red berry coulis to accompany the cake.

The final course was a cheese board accompanied by homemade pickles and chutneys, grapes and celery. I left the guests to the cheese board at midnight when the party was still going.

Barbecue in Portman Square, London W1

We were fortunate for the second year running to cater a barbecue for a company in the heart of London for over 100 of their staff and clients.


The menu was:
100% Sussex Beef Burgers
Locally Made Cumberland Sausages
Veggie Burgers
Fresh Salmon Fillets
Red pepper & Haloumi Skewers
Free Range Chicken Breast Fillets


Green Salad
Cherry Tomatoes
Coleslaw


All served on rolls made at The Home Cakery in Hove http://www.thehomecakery.co.uk/

"The best Curry I've ever cooked"

The Perfect Chicken Curry

Well last night they said, (daughter no.2 & wife no.1) to me that this was the best curry I have ever cooked. It was almost chicken Tikka Massala but not quite, not as sweet, not too hot. Anyway try it for your self. It’s very simple. Serve it with basmati rice and naan (that is if you can find some decent shop bought naan).

Serves 4

Ingredients.

Section 1

3 Chicken Breasts

2 Lime

200ml Live Yoghurt

Salt & Pepper

Section 2

2 tbs Vegetable Oil

2 Onions

2 Cloves of Garlic

1 Good lump of freshginger

I Red Chilli or 1 heaped tsp Chilli Powder

1tsp Ground Coriander

1 tsp Cumin Seed

1tbsp Turmeric

2 tbsp Muscovado Sugar

1 tsp Tomato Pureé

Section 3

2 Tomatoes

100ml cream or crème fraiche

Method

Dice the chicken breast, place in bowl. Squeeze the lime over the chicken.

Coat with yoghurt, season with salt and pepper and leave covered for at least 30 minutes.

Place pan on a medium heat, chop onions medium coarse, add to pan. Make sure the onions do not colour, Chop the remainder of the ingredients in section 2 and add to pan together with the spices & tomato pureé. Cook gently for at least 10 minutes.

Add the chicken & yoghurt mixture to pan and cook for 15 minutes or until chicken is tender & cooked through. Whilst the chicken is cooking, chop the tomatoes coarsely and add to pan for the last five minutes of cooking.

Check the chicken is cooked. Remove pan from heat, add crème fraiche. Return to heat while stirring. Serve with the rice

Yummy Veggie Burgers

Yummy Veggie Burgers

I am not the keenest of vegetarian food fans but I had to find a decent tasting vegetarian burger as it had been requested by a client as part of a barbecue I was catering in June.

The commercial available veggie burgers were either tasteless, (the main feature of Quorn), coated with breadcrumbs, (at which point it is no longer a burger), or containing so many additives and ingredients not known to a simple chef that I felt the only course was to make my own.

I consulted widely (many thanks to KatetheBake) and came up with the following recipe which has a good taste, appearance and consistency but in no way beats 200 grams of the finest minced beef.

Ingredients

1kg Butternut Squash

2 tablespoons olive oil

2  medium onions

2 cloves garlic

I tsp dried or fresh oregano

1 teaspoon ground Coriander

500 grams red kidney beans (either cooked or canned)

Bunch fresh coriander, chopped (or cilantro if you are American)

Juice of 1 lime

150g dried breadcrumbs (or more to taste)

I tablespoon Xanthan gum

2 tablespoons Engevita

150g dried breadcrumbs (or more to taste)

Salt & Pepper to taste.

Method

1) Cut peel and de-seed the squash, cut in chunks, place on roasting tray sprinkle with, salt & pepper & drizzle with Olive Oil. Place in a pre-heated oven, 180c, for 40 minutes or until soft.

2) While the squash is cooking gently fry the onions and garlic till soft but not brown.

3) Place the cooked or tinned kidney beans in a food processor & process into a smooth paste. Add the oregano & dried coriander blitz or a few more minutes. The remove contents of processor to bowl.

4) Process the squash then combine with the kidney bean mixture. Add the lime juice, fresh coriander, Xanthan gum and Engevita. Add salt & pepper to taste. Start adding & mixing in the breadcrumbs until you get a mixture that will hold together in a ball.

5) Make into burger like patties. Heat oil in pan, cook patties for a minute either side or longer if cooking from frozen.

The patties can be frozen & cooked from frozen.

Baked Sea Trout with Pink Fir Potatoes & Hollondaise Sauce

It felt like the first day of Spring the sun was shining and it was Shoreham Farmers Market. I walked to the always busy fish stall and bought a line-caught Sea Trout, a big boy weighing in at around 2kg more than enough for the three of us for supper. The fish itself had a bright eye and deep red gills the best signs of a freshly caught fish and less than a tenner. What a bargain.

At the vegetable stall run by Crumbs of Sussex (http://www.crumbsofsussex.co.uk) I bought some gloriously misshapen Pink Fir potatoes. Naturally I had to make some Hollondaise sauce so the eggs came from the local farm in Steyning and the salt free butter from the Bookham (http://www.bookham.com) cheese & pasta stall. With few suitable local vegetable around I bought some green beans & mangetout from the local Co-op.

Recipes

Sea Trout

Ingredients

Sea Trout

Olive Oil

Salt

Pepper

Lemon Juice

Method

Brush some foil with the oil, place the cleaned fish on the foil, season well,  sprinkle with lemon juice. Place in an oven pre-heated to 180c. Check after 20 minutes, if the flesh is soft & lifts easily from the bones it’s done, otherwise return to oven for a further few minutes.

Hollondaise Sauce

Ingredients

6 Egg Yolks

250 grams unsalted butter

Salt

Pepper

Lemon Juice

1Tablespoon Wine Vinegar

Method

Fine sauces such as Hollondaise and Mayonnaise hide terrors for some cooks but with care they are both simple to cook.

Ideally you need a double boiler – if you don’t have one place a bowl over a pan of near boiling water.

Place the egg yolks and vinegar in the top of your double boiler, whisking gently. Start adding the butter , roughly a teaspoon at a time letting the butter combine with the egg yolk, keep stirring gently all the time. Once the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, remove from heat. Place the top part of boiler into a bowl of iced water to prevent further cooking. Add lemon juice, salt & pepper to taste.

Cook your vegetables & potatoes to taste – I prefer mine al dente. What a lovely meal, mostly local and almost healthy!

Dinner for 125(ish)

Dinner for 200 - easy enough, a disorganised client - not unusual, a badly arranged venue - par for the course. All three together a bit difficult.


I then adjusted the menu to allow for the lack of space at the venue, the menu was finalised as:
Starter: Crayfish Cocktail followed by Pheasant with a Cranberry, Orange and Red Wine Sauce served with Red Cabbage, Green Beans and New Potatoes in a Herb Butter, (recipes at the foot of the article) and a desert made by "a chocolate expert" which the client was to provide.


The evening went swimingly apart from the desert which turned out to be a cake called a Japonnaise from a local bakery chain. This confection turned out to be and iced chocolate sponge topped with chocolate butter cream.


The other thing the guest didn't seem to like was the fact that they had to to the washing up. The organisers decided that the guests at this £75.00 per head should roll up their ballgowns and do the washing up. To save money! They guests were not happy but it was for charity. Hey Ho!


Recipes:


Crayfish Cocktail
Ingredients:
Crayfish (shelled, allow about 8 per person)
Rocket
Mayonnaise
Lemon
Paprika

Method
Add the zest and the juice of one lemon to 250ml of mayonnaise, mix the crayfish in with the mayonnaise, coating well. Place Rocket in a glass or small bowl lay crayfish mayonnaise mixture on top, decorate with slice of lemon.


Pheasant with a Cranberry, Orange and Red Wine Sauce (serves 4)
Ingredients
2 Oven Ready Pheasants (allow ½ a bird per person)
1 Large Onion (sliced)
2 Oranges
250 gm Cranberries
Glass Red Wine
Garlic (thinly sliced)
Fresh Thyme
Flour
Salt and Pepper
Olive Oil
Chicken stock

1 large casserole sufficient for all the pheasant


Quarter the birds and dust each piece with seasoned flour. Zest and juice the oranges.
Heat enough olive oil to cover the base of your casserole. Brown the pheasant in your casserole putting it aside when nicely coloured.
When you have finished browning the pheasant de-glaze the pan with the red wine. Gently cook the onion and garlic in the pan until transparent but not brown. (Add another drop of olive oil as needed)
Replace the pheasant in the pan pour in the orange juice and tip in the cranberries. Heat gently until it starts to bubble. Top up the casserole with the chicken stock so the pheasant is covered. Add the sprigs of fresh thyme. Place lid on casserole and put in oven for 2 hours on about 160c.
Serve with green beans and new potatoes.

This sauce and method also works well for Guinea Fowl


Bon appetite!

Cranberries for Christmas

Years ago in the midst of time I won a Gold Award for my Cranberry Sauce. That was back in the day (God how I hate that expression) when a Gold Award at The Great Taste Awards meant something.

Well, when a few days ago I ended up with a shed load of Cranberries left over from a function I got the old pan out and created.

Now if you want to make an award winning Cranberry Sauce just follow the recipe below.

Ingredients

Cranberries

Orange Juice

Sugar

You need half the quantity of sugar to Cranberries. (Eg 1kg cranberries - 500g sugar).

Place pan on a medium to hot hob.

First pour enough orange juice in the pan to generously cover the base.

Add the sugar, start to melt the sugar in the orange juice. If there appears to be insufficient orange juice for the volume of sugar, then add some more juice.

Once all the sugar has melted and you have an orange syrup add the Cranberries.

Stir the pan occasionally to coat all the Cranberries with the orange syrup. After a few minutes the Cranberries will start to pop. Once the majority have popped remove the pan from heat.

And that is all there is to it! Either bottle in sterile jars or keep in the fridge, will last for up to 3 months in a cold fridge.

Happy Christmas cooking!

Pasta with Sausages & Red & Yellow Pepper Sauce

You know when you get stuck for things to cook you often revert to a list that you rotate. This dish is a family favourite easy and quick to cook.

This recipe comes originally from Marcella Hazan's book "Essentials of Classic Italian Cooking" The sausages the recipe suggests are Italian sweet sausages. I use a very herby sausage, made by my local butcher in Shoreham as my alternative. I also make no appologies for using tinned tomatoes - life is too short to skin and seed tomatoes!

The ingredients are:
3 peppers (2 red 1 yellow or vice-versa)
Olive oil enough to cover the bottom of your pan 1/2 cm or 1/4 inch
I medium onion chopped
4 sausages
Small tin chopped tomatoes
Salt
Pepper
Parmesan (some for cooking & some for the table)
Penne roughly 500 grams

First bake the sausages in the oven for about 20 minutes on 180c. While this is happening put the peppers which you have already seeded and cut into halves under a hot grill for a few minutes. Remove any charred skin from the peppers, then cut into pieces roughly 1 inch square (can''t work out what that is in cms).

Remove sausages from oven and slice into 1/2 inch pieces (roughly1cm ish)

Put your pan on a medium heat, add the oil to the pan, then sauté the onion until it becomes pale brown, cook the sliced sausage for a couple of minutes before adding the peppers which need gentle frying for seven or eight minutes. Then add the tomatoes and season well. Let the pan simmer for 20 minutes. Whilst the sauce is simmering cook the pasta. When the pasta is cooked sprinkle with Parmesan and some butter or olive oil and toss thoroughly.

Then add the sauce to the pasta. The sauce can be cooked ahead of time and reheated - I would not reccomend freezing.

Sticky Toffee and Chocolate Pudding

Feeling in a pudding sort of mood and knowing that the only way I can keep three women in my life quiet I resorted to chocolate.

Gordon Ramsay's book "cooking for friends" has many simple recipes that are economic to produce and use mostly standard store cupboard ingredients. This sticky toffee & chocolate pudding has all those attributes. Apart from the medjool dates which cost around a fiver each. (Small exaggeration).

Prior to assembling the ingredients you have to rush down the corridor stripping off and getting dressed in whites (optional step, does nothing to improve taste of food). Prepare 8 small pudding basins or ramekins by buttering them, lining them with buttered baking parchment.

The ingredients are:

First ingredients:

200g dates pitted

175g dark muscovado sugar

250ml water

100g butter (lightly or unsalted)

1tsp vanilla extract

I tbsp strong coffee

3 large eggs

Second Ingredients

150g flour

50g cocoa powder

1tsp bicarb

1tsp baking powder

Sauce Ingredients

100g dark muscavado sugar

75g butter (lightly or unsalted)

250g double cream

Put the sugar,pitted & chopped dates in the water - simmer till soft. Add the remaining first ingredients and process till smooth. (Make sure you remove all the date stones otherwise you get a tsunami). Once processed put the ingredients in a bowl.

Combine all the second ingredients and then sieve into bowl containing the first ingredients folding and stirring gently. Once mixed divide evenly among the 8 basins or ramekins. Place in oven for 25 mins at190c or until the sponge is ready.

While waiting for the sponges to rise combine all the sauce ingredients in a pan and heat gently until all the ingredients are melted and combined.

Remove pots or ramekins from oven and remove sponges once they are cool enough to handle. Pour sauce on top. Serve with cream.

Mrs Woody ate one but daughter no. 2 managed two. I thought they were light and sweet and chocolaty - but I'm not keen on puds.

Chocolate Bread & Butter Pudding

I am not the biggest pudding eater or maker in the world, though luckily with three women in the house I am blessed with a great audience for anything sweet.

Having loads of bread left over I decided to make a Chocolate Bread & Butter Pudding, I found a James Martin recipe on the BBC food web site.

The recipe is :

Ingredients
150ml/¼pt double cream
150ml/¼pt milk
55g/2oz dark chocolate
Splash Whiskey
2 free-range eggs
1 free-range egg yolk
55g/2oz caster sugar
4 slices white bread, cut in half.

I varied the recipe slightly by just using all single cream rather than double cream & milk. I also ommited the whiskey as I prefer my Scotch unadulterated and in any event would not be appreciated by the intended consumers.

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/425F/Gas 7.
2. Place the cream, milk & chocolate in a pan and heat until the chocolate has melted. Stir gently to combine.
3. Place the eggs, egg yolk and sugar in a bowl and whisk until pale and fluffy.
4. Pouring gradually while whisking, add the hot chocolate milk mixture to the whisked eggs.
5. Transfer the chocolate milk and eggs mixture back to the pan. Heat gently, whisking constantly, until the custard has thickened.
6. Arrange the bread slices in an ovenproof dish and pour the chocolate custard evenly over. Allow to sit for at least fifteen minutes to absorb, then place in the oven to bake for 20 minutes, or until set.
7. Remove from the oven and serve with lashings of single cream.

The entire recipe took less than 15 minutes to make. The pudding was delightfully sticky and eaten greedily - particularly by Mrs Woody who had thirds!

Carbonnade of Beef for a Winters Day

I don't what it is about today but it feels like the first day of winter, perhaps it's because I'm feeling a bit coldy and slightly jaded. So I decided to make some real comfort food for supper.

Like with all stews and casseroles the quality of the meat is the most important thing.

I get my beef from John Howe from Chanctonbury who trades at our local Farmer's Market. John is a true eccentric (borderline nutter) he wears a boater 12 months of the year, wears tweed and drives a Landrover of indeterminate age. His stall is always decorated with signs against the EU and things foreign ("for the convenience of customers we do not accept euros"). He still insists in selling everything in pounds and ounces. However his beef, which comes from a fifty year old herd, is of top quality.

I always use a cut for stews called "Jews Fillet". (The Jews' fillet is part of the silverside and got its derogatory name because it was often disguised and sold as real fillet for a much higher price). Its a lean cut and the same price usually as any stewing or braising cut.

The other vital ingredient is the beer. Most recipes will say you should use a lager, as most of these beers are tasteless I use a bitter, but if you want a really strong flavour you can even use a stout.

The recipe for Carbonnade of beef is as follows:

Ingredients
1 kg stewing beef
4 Onions
1 or 2 cloves of garlic
Thyme
1 Bay Leaf
500ml beef or veg stock
350 ml Beer
2tbsp Dijon Mustard
3tbsp flour
1tbsp brown sugar
Seasoning
White wine vinegar

Method

Fry the onions and garlic gently until golden, remove from pan and put in casserole.

Whilst onions are cooking cut meat into chunks and coat with seasoned flour.

Brown meat in pan in batches then remove to casserole. Put remaining flour in casserole coating onions and meat.

Add sugar to frying pan and de-glaze with stock, add beer to stock in frying pan, bring to boil. Pour over meat & onions in casserole. Add bay leaf, thyme, Dijon mustard.

Cook in medium oven for 3 hours at 160c.

Check for flavour if over sweet add a little wine vinegar. Serve with mashed potatoes and a green veg. (Did I tell you to remove the bay leaf)

Making Chocolate Truffles

Never having made any sort of chocolate and being far from adept at making desserts (or should it be deserts, sometimes spell checker are no use) I started off the process with some trepidation.

After consulting several cookery books, checking recipes on line and taking advice from fellow bloggers I opted for a Nigel Slater recipe.

It is a simple recipe with few ingredients they are: 450gm fine chocolate, 275 ml whipping or double cream and cocoa powder for dusting.

Melt the chocolate gently making sure it is lump free. Whilst the chocolate is melting bring the cream almost to the boil. Add the cream to the chocolate. Chill for at least two hours.

Once the mixture has set have a stiff drink (RIP Keith Floyd). I tried to use two teaspoons to make the balls, but in the end I settled for a melon baller and 1 teaspoon. I did get into a bit of a mess making the first few. To tell the truth it looked like I had been attending a nursery art class. Chocolate everywhere.

Then I remembered reading the advice that you should dust your hands with cocoa powder, this does stop you getting into a total mess.

The result has been tasted by one wife, two children and one random friend of child 2. Wife and child 1 liked the result but found it a bit bitter, child 2 & friend thought they were really good. (3 each and feeling sick).

Excuse the quality of the pictures - I think I got chocolate ganache on the lens, this works far less well than Vaseline in all circumstances.