Pickled Beets Recipe INGREDIENTS 1 bunch (4 or 5) beets 1/4 cup cider vinegar 1 Tbsp sugar 1 Tbsp olive oil 1/2 teaspoon dry mustard Salt and pepper METHOD 1 Remove greens from beets, save for future use (see beet greens recipe). Cut beets to uniform sizes so they will cook evenly. Steam or boil around 30 minutes or until done. (Alternatively, you can roast them by wrapping them whole in foil and cooking them in a 350°F oven for about an hour.) A fork easily inserted into the beet will tell you if the beets are done or not. 2 Drain the beets, rinsing them in cold water. Use your fingers to slip the peels off of the beets. The peels should come off easily. Discard the peels. Slice the beets. 3 Make the vinaigrette by combining the cider vinegar, sugar, olive oil, and dry mustard. Whisk ingredients together with a fork. The dry mustard will help to emulsify the vinaigrette. Adjust to taste. Add salt and pepper to taste. Combine beets and vinaigrette in a bowl and allow to marinate for a half hour at room temperature. Serves four.

Lemon Chicken

Lemon Chicken

Ingredients

• 3 juicy lemons
• 50g butter
• 3 tbsp clear honey
• leaves from 4 rosemary sprigs
• 1 garlic clove , finely chopped
• 8 chicken pieces, such as thighs and drumsticks, with skin
• 750g potatoes , peeled and cut into smallish chunks (You could also serve with rice!)

Serves 4
Easily doubled

Preparation and cooking times

Prep 5 - 10 mins
Cook 1 hr

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6/fan180C. Squeeze the juice from 2 lemons into a small pan and heat with the butter, honey, rosemary, garlic and salt and pepper, until the butter melts and it smells fragrant.
2. Lay the chicken in a roasting tin - don't pile it up or it won't cook so well. Add the potatoes and drizzle with lemon butter to coat evenly. Cut the third lemon into 8 wedges and tuck them in. (Can be made up to 2 hours ahead up to this point.)
3. Roast for 50 minutes - 1 hour until the chicken is cooked and the potatoes are crisp and golden. Serve with a green salad.

Meatloaf from Delia Smith

Ingredients
1 lb (450 g) minced beef
1 lb (450 g) minced pork
2 medium onions, very finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, peeled
3 heaped tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 level dessertspoon chopped fresh thyme
1 large egg
3 oz (75 g) white bread, sliced and crusts removed, cut into 1 inch (2.5 cm) cubes
3 tablespoons milk
1½ rounded teaspoons mustard powder
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
4 fl oz (110 ml) dry white wine
about 8 slices (6 oz/175 g) traditional smoked streaky bacon
salt and freshly milled black pepper
Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 2, 300°F (150°C).

Equipment
You will also need a 2 lb (900 g) loaf tin, 7½ x 4¾ x 3½ inches deep (19 x 12 x 9 cm deep), preferably non-stick.

This recipe first appeared in Sainsbury's Magazine.

Method

1.The best way to make a meatloaf is in a large food processor, if you've got one. In which case you can begin by chopping the onions, garlic, parsley and thyme all together until the onion is very finely chopped, then add the meats and break in the egg. 

2. Place the bread in a little bowl, spoon the milk over, then mix it with your hands or a fork until the bread has broken down to fine crumbs. 

3. Add these to the processor along with the mustard powder, Worcestershire sauce, wine and a really good seasoning of salt and pepper. 

4. Now, switching on and off, or using the pulse button, mix the whole lot together until thoroughly blended. 

5. If you don't have a food processor, grate or mince the onion, chop the garlic finely then mix everything thoroughly in a large bowl. 

6. When the mixture is ready, pack it into the loaf tin and smooth the top with the back of a spoon, then snip the rinds off the bacon and lay the slices all along the top of the meat, slightly overlapping, and press them down firmly.

7. Now place a piece of foil over the top and twist or pleat the corners. 

8. Stand the tin in a shallow baking tin, pour about 1½ inches (4 cm) boiling water into the tin straight from the kettle and place the whole thing on the middle shelf of the oven. 

9.Let it cook slowly for 2 hours. 

10. After that remove the foil and dig a skewer into the meatloaf; press it down to make sure that the juices are running clear. 

11. Now, if it's cooked, remove it from the oven then let it cool for about 30 minutes and after that, if you're serving it cold, replace the foil and place something heavy on top to weight it down. Leave it weighted like this until it's completely cold. This makes the meatloaf easier to slice. 

12. If you're serving the meatloaf hot, just allow it to rest for 30 minutes in the tin, covered with foil, then turn it out on to a board and serve cut in slices.

Dinner from the fridge and cupboards

I was going to cook the duck which I had taken from Nina's fridge when I emptied in.  However, I looked at the use by date and discovered that it had been in Nina's freezer since 2005 so I thought better of it.  However, I do have pork mince in the refrigerator and I have found this recipe from Nigel Slater that sounds interesting.  I have decided not to tell anyone about the ingredients until after they have eaten it.  Read ahead and you may understand why!

Pork meatballs with anchovies

Ingredients

• couple of good handfuls of pork mince (about 500g/17½oz)
• good handful fresh white breadcrumbs
• 1 lemon, zest only
• small handful freshly grated parmesan
• handful flatleaf parsley, roughly chopped
• handful thyme, leaves only
• 8-10 canned anchovies, drained, chopped
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• few good glugs of fruity olive oil
• enough hot chicken or vegetable stock to come halfway up the patties
• Swiss chard leaves, to serve

Preparation method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6.
   
2. Mix together the pork mince and breadcrumbs in a mixing bowl with the lemon zest and parmesan. Add the herbs and the anchovies, season with a little salt then more generously with freshly ground black pepper.
   
3. Using your hands, mix together well and then form the mixture into 6-8 large patties.
   
4. Heat the oil in a large frying pan, then fry the patties until brown on both sides. Place in a shallow ovenproof dish and cover with enough stock to come halfway up the pork patties. Cook in the oven for 20 minutes. They will have crisp tops but be deliciously moist underneath.
   
5. Serve them in a shallow bowl with some steamed Swiss chard with some of the stock they were cooked in.
   

Quiche Lorraine

Though Quiche Lorraine doesn't see like a dish that would be economical, you could feed 6 people with this and a salad.  

Quiche Lorrraine (From the BBC website, The Good Cook programme)

For the pastry

• 60g/2oz butter, cut into small pieces
• 60g/2oz lard, cut into small pieces
• 200g/7oz self-raising flour
• pinch salt
• 2-3 tbsp ice-cold water

For the filling

• 8-10 thin rashers good quality smoked streaky bacon
• 4 free-range egg yolks
• 3 free-range eggs
• 400ml/14fl oz whipping cream
• salt and freshly ground white pepper
• freshly grated nutmeg

Preparation method

1. For the pastry, place the butter, lard, flour and salt into a food processor. Pulse the mixture until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
   
2. Place the pastry into a mixing bowl and, using a round-bladed knife, stir in enough water to bind the mixture together. Lightly knead the dough until well amalgamated, dust with flour and slip into a plastic bag. Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes before using.
   
3. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and warm a baking sheet.
   
4. Roll out the pastry as thinly as possible. Line a 20cm/8in wide by 4cm/1½in deep tart tin and lightly prick the base of the pastry with a fork all over. Place onto a baking tray, line with greased aluminium foil and baking beans and bake blind for 15-20 minutes.
5. Remove the baking beans and foil. Place the tart case back into the oven and cook for a further 10 minutes, or until it is pale golden, crisp and cooked through.
6. Fry the bacon in a dry, non-stick frying pan for 1-2 minutes, or until crisp. Drain onto kitchen paper and spread out evenly over the base of the cooked tart case.
   
7. Whisk the egg yolks and whole eggs together in a bowl. Stir in the cream and season with salt, pepper and nutmeg. Pour the mixture into the pastry case and cook for 30-40 minutes, or until nicely puffed and the surface of the custard is pale golden and just set.
   
8. Eat warm, or at room temperature.
   

Hot or Cold Tomato Soup

Ingredients:

3-4 C (cups) of unpeeled tomatoes
1/4 C chopped onions
2 t (teaspoon) cornstarch
1 T (tablespoon) lemon juice
pinch of thyme
1 t salt
1 1/2 t sugar (optional)
pepper
1/2 C sour cream
chopped parsley

1. Drop all the ingredients (except the sour cream and parsley) in a blender and blend until smooth.

2. Put through a sieve to remove tomato seeds.

3. Bring to a slow boil until thickened.

4. Before serving add sour cream and stir.

5. Sprinkle parsley on top.

(Note:  We first had this soup in Syria where tomatoes were inexpensive and plentiful all year round.  My children didn't like sour cream so I left it out and the soup was still wonderful.  I've also skipped step 2 and no one really noticed.  This will definitely cut down on the time it takes to make the soup.  It's a tasty and quick light supper or lunch.)

About Today's Lunch from Leftovers

To make today's lunch, used leftover turkey chili from the freezer, baking potato from the dark cupboard, spinach from the crisper drawer and low fat sour leftover from New Year's Eve.

Defrosted the leftover chili and kept in warm on stove.

Baked the potato in microwave. Cut it in half and scooped out the white. Mixed it with the sour cream, celery salt, garlic powder and black pepper. Mounded potato back into both skins, making a little trough-like indentation down the centre.

Returned the two potato halves to microwave to warm up.

Mixed some baby spinach leaves with a very light dressing of olive oil, red wine vinegar and seasonings.

Put a thin bed of spinach on each of two plates. Set half a potato on the spinach. Spooned warm chili along the trough and then on top of the trough. Sprinkled on some grated Parmesan, chopped fresh cilantro and chopped green onion. Then gave each plate a good grating of black pepper.

We liked it..seemed to suit a wintery Saturday.

About Pico de Gallo

We like the Black Beans (recipe in previous post) with flour or corn tortillas, Pico de Gallo (recipe below) and some very finely chopped jalapeno pepper on the side.

Pico de Gallo

2 or 3 ripe but frim tomatoes, roughtly chopped
!/2 whote onion, roughly chopped
3/4 cup or so of roughly chopped fresh cilantro leaves
juice os 1/2 a lime
salt to taste.

Mix above together and enjoy with the beans. We like our Pico de Gallo to be made within a few hours of eating it, enjoy the freshness.

Spicy Lamb Pie

I love this pie. The contents would be great inside pasties as well, or just over a baked potato. The pie itself is also nice cold the next day.

350g minced lamb.
Short crust pastry for one 9 inch pie dish.
1 onion, diced.
1 tin of chopped tomatoes.
2 cloves of garlic.
1/2 tsp cinnamon.
1/2 tsp ground cumin.
1 good pinch of ground cloves.
1/2 tsp salt.
Plenty of pepper.
Coriander.

Fry the onion in olive oil until soft and golden, about ten minutes then add the chopped garlic. Fry for a further three minutes. add the lamb and fry until the meat looses its raw look. Add the cinnamon, cumin, cloves, tomatoes, salt and pepper. Give everything a good stir. Allow to cook gently on a low heat for 30 minutes. A lot of the liquid should evaporate leaving a thick meaty filling. Add the coriander. Roll out the pastry and line the pie dish. Pour in the meat filling. Brush the edge of the pastry the beaten egg the add the top. Pinch the edges of the pastry to seal and then brush the top with egg. Place in a preheated oven 220c for 35 minutes.