TARRAGON & THYME

In a hurry during the week don't have time for weighing up as you are desperately trying to get the family a meal make this up and you can give them pancakes or Waffles or both; its also pancake day soon so what better than to have this ready to go in the fridge. Ingredients 6 cups/900g Plain flour  or half plain flour and half wholemeal flour 3 1/2 tablespoons baking powder 1 cup/100g skimmed milk powder 1 tablespoon of salt 2 cup 200g solid vegetabke shortening such as Copha or Trex (you can use lard if you want) Makes about 1.2kg Method In a large bowl sift together the flour, baking powder, milk powder and alt and then stir until well amalgamated. Add the vegetable shortening/lrd and using  pastry blender tool or two knives cut the fat into the flour mixture until it resembles fine crumbs. Put into a self-sealing bag. Label, date and refrigerate for up to 6 weeks To Use TO MAKE PANCAKES Ingredients: 2 Cups/300g of Pancak...

I love home made soup.  I could live on it but I have never yet made tomato soup from scratch - i Have threatened to but that is as far as it has got.   Sunday I have a gammon joint to cook for packups but we are also having roast chicken for tea so double whammy on the stock front. Funnily enough I bought fresh tomatoes today so I seem to be set up for a spot of soup making. Ingredients: Some bacon lardons 500g chopped peeled tomatoes fresh or canned 1 small celery stalk diced 1 small onion diced 1 carrot diced 1 tablespoon vegetable oil 2 tablespoons plain flour 250ml single cream 1 teaspoon of salt (optional you may not need this because of the bacon taste first) pinch of pepper 3 tablespoons of sour cream 3 tablespoons finely chopped parsley (optional) Method Fry off the lardons in on a medium heat then add the tomatoes, celery, carrot and onion and bring to the boil.  Reduce the heat to low and cover and simmer for 15 minutes stirring ofte...

I am otherwise engaged today doing housework and having a good go through, but it is time consuming and it has taken me away from what I wanted to do i.e. cooking that has been rescheduled for tomorrow.  Sometimes you just have to get on with it but it has grounded me down a little.  There's nothing like a touch of scrubbing floors to bring you right down to terra firma.  I am currently waiting for my tea to cook some pasta and tomato sauce. I have just been round to the Coop and managed to bag two chickens @ £2.50 each - I can always do something with a chicken.  I have also bought some reduced bananas 2 bunches at 50p each - I freeze them down and then either pop them into a milk shake or to make ice cream and there was quite a bit of other stuff too including some ready meals, miniature pork pies, scotch pancakes, grapes, blueberries, a bag of mixed peppers (I can always use those too).  There was also three pots of single cream.  So I am chuff...

Well today was D Day for the bacon we have had bacon sarnies for tea and they were tasty and i was well chuffed with the results. I shall see if I can get a couple of loin joints to do next so that we have a house stock of bacon for the best part; i.e the streaky and the loin joint for back bacon; it is so useful having a ready supply of bacon there is always a meal to be made. So I think we can mark that one down as a success.I like it when a plan comes together its good to experiment it makes you grow.  I am buzzing with all sorts of ideas at the moment. I hit Holland and Barratt at dinner time. I went in for Caraway seeds which I had been looking for and I remembered that they had them but at £3.00 odd for 150g - I got done - a bit more about that below. I also picked up one or two other bits as well. I shall have to go in again on pay day as they had quite a lot of dried fruit which I was interested in as well as cereals.I did get some dried Apricot...

I am rather partial to Lincolnshire Plum Bread and love slices of it with proper butter on.  You can buy it commercially but it can be a tad expensive and  we are fond of fruit loaves of any description I have been on the look out for a recipe.  I have one in particular that I cannot lay my hands on at the moment but this is very similar Ingredients Fat for gresing 100g/4 oz prunes 100g/4 oz butter 100g/4 oz soft light brown sugar 2.5ml/ 1/2 a teaspoon ground mixed spice 2.5ml/ 1/2 a teaspoon ground cinnamon 2.5m;/ 1/2 a teaspoon of gravy browning (optional) 2 eggs lightly beaten 14ml/1 tablespoon of brandy 100g/4 oz sultanas 100g/4 oz currants 175g/6 oz self raising flour pinch of salt Method Soak the Prunes overnight in cold water to rehydrate and plump up Next day grease a loaf tin  9 x 5 x 3 inches and put the oven on to 140 degrees C/275 degrees F/Gas Mark 1.  Drain the Prunes well and pat dry.  Remove the stones and chop the p...

 Here is another recipe for Haslet this time a Lincolnshire Haslet taken from, the book The Farmhouse Kitchen.  Mary Norwak collected a lot of traditional recipes so I suspect this is a traditional older recipe probably from the days when most cottagers kept a pig. This is a very simple recipe that I have not tried yet but purportedly is a Lincolnshire Haslet.  Its not from the book I was looking for - that will turn up at some point.  This is not the recipe I posted earlier on Ingredients  2lb lean pork 1 small onion 8oz stale bread 1/2 oz of salt 1 teaspoon of white pepper 1 teaspoon of sage chopped (think this must be fresh sage recipe does not specify)  Method Mince the meat coarsely with the onion.  Cut the bread into cubes and soak in a little water.  Squeeze out the water and mix the bread with the meat.  Season with the salt and pepper and add the finely chopped sage.  Pour into a loaf tine or...

Want some dips for the family to munch on that will not cost an arm and a leg even cheaper if you make flatbreads to dip with (other than raw veggies that is). Ingredients for Basic Houmous: 250g dried chickpeas 1 1/2 tablespoon bicarbonate of soda 4 tablespoons of Tahini Juice of 1 Lemon 2 garlic cloves crushed 1 teaspoon of cumin 4 tablespoons extra virgin oil Paprika to finish Pitta bread/flatbead and olives to serve Method Pop the chickpeas into a bowl and cover with plenty of water.  Stir in 1 tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda.  Cover the bowl with a tea towel or clingfilm and leave to soak overnight. The following day check the chickpeas they will have absorbed a lot of the water and swollen up.  Drain the chickpeas and rinse them well.  Pop them into a saucepan and then add the 1/2 tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda which has not been used.  Add water to cover. Bring the contents to a boil; during this process scum will form on the top ...