Salaric Cooking

Due to having been flooded out of our own house we found our selves staying with a friend in London. I came to make me and my two year old lunch which ment it was time to once again raid his fridge and cupboards now the night before he had cooked us an obsolutely fantastic meal of which there were remnants of in the fridge.

I took out the sliced potatoe the wine vinigar, olive oil and basal dressing and wulnut pesto ricotta cheeese mix. I also extracted a Lloyeds Grosman Tomatoe and basil suace from the pantry.

I put the dressing in the wok on a moderate heat (he had a gas hob which I found so much better than my electric one). Once it was sizzling merily I added the potatoe slices – It was about two medium sized potatoes worth. As soon as the potatoe slices start to fluff slight (ie slightly full apart) I added half the jar of tomato and basil sauase.

I used a spatular to make sure the potatoe slices werent sticking to the bottom of the wok and then once the suace started bubbling I added the walnut and recotta mix which slowely melted in.

I served this to me and my daughter with chedder gratted on the top.

It was nice though I think it was really enough to feed about three adults if with something else.

*Sundried tomatoes *Mozarella *Chopped tomatoes *Nice pasta such as large shells – the sort of pasta they sell in the finest sections of up market super markets or in farm shops – you know in little celophane bags held together at the top with a ribbon!

Cook pasta and drain it. Place in baking dish. Sprinkel in sun dried tomartoes and chunks of mozarella cheese. Pour on the chopped tomatoes. Place in the oven for 1/2 hour at 180 degrees C

Works well with steamed asparagus and dough balls with garlic butter dip.

*1 tin of black eye beans in water *1 tin of green lentils in water *2 tins of chopped tomatoes *2 teaspoons of very lazy chopped garlic *5 drops of tabasco suace *ground black pepper *Rosemerry *Cheese

1)Take a medium/large suacepan and empty the lentils with their water into it. 2)Then the black eye beans should be drained and added. 3)Add the chopped tomatoes. 4)Place on a medium heat. 5)Grate and stir cheese into it until the red of the tomatoes becomes a sort of pinky colour and the mixture starts to stick together. 6)laddle into bowls and grate cheese on top. 7)Serve

You might also like to add things like tuna or bacon to this, different herbs and spices would add to the mix and as a result it is a highly versatile dish. I came up with it as there was a limited amount of stuff in the kitchen and so I just combined what I had!

*Broccoli *Carrots *Tofu *Noodles *Vegitable Oil

Cut the florettes off of the broccili (the little minni trees), make sure they are about a mouthfull each. Chop the carrots up preferably in sticks. Cube the tofu Put lots of oil in a wok – about three times the amount you think you need as the broccoli absorbs it! Put the noodles on in water to cook. Add tofu, broccoli and carrot to wok – sizel moving them all the time with a spatular or equivalent. Add more oil if nessacery. Drain noodles. Divide noodles into large bowls. Put the stir fry on top of the noodles and serve – preferably with chop sticks!

Flour, water, frying pan – this is what my friend uses to cook gipaties. These are like an unleven bread you eat with curries and stuff.

He sprinkeled flour on the work surface mixed flour and water into a stiff dough and then stretched it out with his fingers – I can’t remember if he then rolled it or not, it was very quick! He then dry fried it in the frying pan.

*1 tin of black eye beans in water *1 tin of green lentils in water *2 tins of chopped tomatoes *2 teaspoons of very lazy chopped garlic *5 drops of tabasco suace *ground black pepper *Rosemerry *Cheese

1)Take a medium/large suacepan and empty the lentils with their water into it. 2)Then the black eye beans should be drained and added. 3)Add the chopped tomatoes. 4)Place on a medium heat. 5)Grate and stir cheese into it until the red of the tomatoes becomes a sort of pinky colour and the mixture starts to stick together. 6)Pour into baking dish. 7)Grate on more cheese to cover the top and pop under a medium grill until it starts to brown. 8)Serve

My neighbour Maureen gave me this recipe along with a tub of rosehips from her garden – I then went and got alot more rosehips from my garden to make it worth while putting the preserving pan on – but then I have a huge pan!

She also provided about three different types of apple from her garden for me as well!

Her recipe goes: *1 lb rosehips *1 lb green cooking apples *1/2 pt of water *3/4 lb sugar per 1lb of pulp

Wash and cut tips off the rosehips (she’d already done this on the ones she gave me!) Cut up apples Simmer until tender Press through a sieve – this is the nasty hard work bit Put pulp in pan with sugar Simmer till thick – this bit takes suprisingly little time

Christmas day we packed the pie and christmas cake up and headed for Essex.

For the meal itself I had made six glittery napkin rings – one for each of us – Jeans was the christmas tree, Davids the bualbal, mums the bell, mine the star, Alarics the holly and dads the santa hat (well he is the Hat Man after all!). Mum had made some snowmen christmas napkins for said rings to go onto.

You can see how I made these on my craft blog, the origonal has come from my personal blog.

The pie was baked and did Alaric proud – it contians fennel, quill pasta, spinache, pin nuts, red pepper, feta cheese, cream and marmite.

Christmas Eve was spent making mulled wine both alcoholic and non-alcoholic even though it did mean sending someone to the shops on an emergancy tour! I also decorated the christmas cake I’d got dad to bake the actual cake in the house we were staying in back in Gloucestershire as we were spending Christmas in London. It was a rich fruit cake – we soaked the fruit in brandy 🙂

I went for christmas trees on the snowy tundra (it would have been spikey but this was my first time using the instant royal icing mix rather than making it up myself). Becuase I am me and was thus unprepared I ended up having to improvise an icing bag out of greese proof paper and everything.

You may have noticed from the picture that I have some little creatures that should not be there – my little family of marzipan hedghogs – these are special hedghogs who have awoken for the Snow Ball and it has nother NOTHING to do with the fact my brother loves marzipan and hedghogs – I didnt then refused to let anyone else have a hedghog honest!

Cooking wise we also roped in friends who’d come for mulled wine – namely Clair into helping us prepare the leopard pie which is Alarics traditional veggi christmas dinner as we where going to be spending christmas day at my perants we where preparing the pie to take with us and cook once there. I have only one thing to say at this juncture – ‘Mmmmm Pie!’

If I ever track down the photos of cake baking and decorating I will do a post on how I made it!

*1 bottle of red wine *1/2 a carton of orange juice *1 cup of brandy (we’ve been using french brandy) *1 cinnamon stick *1 mug of demara sugar (any sugar will do its just this gives it an extra taste that we like) *1 teaspoon of cloves *1 mixed spices in a muslin bag or a mulled wine sachet from the super markets *1 Apple *1 orange

Basically put everything into a large suacepan and gently heat, the fruit should be cut into slices and float on the top. You probably want to add the sugar and stir it in before you add the fruit. Top up with water.