I'm entering this for Slow Sunday on Karen's blog 'Lavender and Lovage'

350g dried cannellini beans, soaked overnight and drained

1 tbsp sunflower oil

1 large onion, peeled and sliced

4 sticks celery, sliced

200g chorizo sausage, cut into chunks OR 200g Quorn Meatballs

1 x 200g can tomatoes

2 tbsp tomato puree

1 tbsp molasses or  black treacle

1 tsp mustard powder

600ml chicken stock

Roasted Roots

4 parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks

4 carrots, peeled and cut into chunks

1 small swede, peeled and cut into chunks

2 tbsp 'Do me a Flavour'  Roast Parsnip Seasoning (optional)

2 tbsp sunflower oil

1. Bring the beans to the boil in a pan of fresh unsalted water.  Cook them for an hour until tender but not mushy.

2. Put 2 tbsp sunflower oil in a roasting tin add the chopped veg and the seasoning, if using.  Mix together and roast in the oven at 200C for 40 - 50 minutes.  The swede I had was using wasn't cooking very well, so after about 30 minutes, I covered the tin with foil and cooked it for about 20 more minutes, then uncovered to finish it off for 5 minutes.

3. While the roots are roasting, make the bean dish, put 1 tbsp of sunflower oil in a pan and add the onion and celery, cook gently until starting to soften then add the chorizo chunks, or quorn meatballs (you might want to add half a teaspoon of smoked paprika if you are using the quorn) and stir around until the onion and celery start to take on the colour of the chorizo.

4. Add the beans, the tomatoes, tomato puree, molasses or treacle, mustard and stock.

5. Cover the casserole and cook in a preheated oven (160C) for 1hr 30 minutes.  Add the roasted root vegetables to the casserole and cook for another 30 minutes.

This dish is quite a long way from either Boston or Bilbao but was inspired by both, and also by what I needed to use up from the fridge!

Brian chose the Lanark Blue Salad with Walnuts and Pear which he enjoyed, the pear was red, we weren't sure if it had been marinaded in something or was a red pear!

For the New Year,  Dom at Belleau Kitchen has invited us to cook from a new cookbook.  Now I only got one cookbook for Christmas and it features nothing but...CHOCOLATE!  However, the house is still full of chocs and biscuits, the fridge still has two jars of homemade mincemeat and we have only just finished the Christmas cake, so I really couldn't face making any more sweet things.

So instead I turned to the books I won from Ren Behan at Fabulicious Food, I got all three of the Moro cookbooks by Sam and Sam Clark.  I randomly chose the original Moro book from the three.  Then I opened the book in a random sort of way and found that I had chosen  


Beetroot Soup with Black Cumin

4tbsp olive oil
1/2 large Spanish onion,thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
1 rounded tsp black cumin or normal cumin seeds
750g raw beetroot, peeled and finely diced
1 large potato, finely diced
1.25 litres cold water
3 tbsp good quality red wine vinegar
1 small bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped
100g home-made or Greek yoghurt, thinned iwht a little milk an seasoned with 1 garlic clove crushed to a paste with sea salt and black pepper

Heat the oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat.  Add the onion and a pinch of salt.  Cook for 10 mintues, stirring occasionally, until the onion begins to colour.  Now add the garlic and cumin and cook for 2 more minutes to release their flavour, followed by the beetroot and potato.  Pour in the water, bring to a gentle simmer and cook until soft, about 15 minutes (I don't think I chopped mine small enough as it took much longer to soften).  Place the vegetables and the cooking liquid in a blender or food processor and blend until just smooth.  You may need to do this in two stages. Return to the pan, add the vinegar, half the parsely and salt and pepper to taste, bearing in mind you may need more salt than you think to blance out the acidity of the vinegar.  Servie with a little yoghurt on top, the rest of the parsley and an extra drizzle of olive oil.




The soup was very easy to make and looks incredible, it has an interesting sweet and sour taste with the combination of the sweet beetroot and the red wine vinegar.  I was a bit disappointed that I couldn't taste the cumin and I did actually use black cumin but I can't say it was obvious.  I would make it again but might increase the amount of cumin, or maybe use some ground as well as cumin seeds.

Happy Chinese New Year and Welcome to the Year of the Dragon!  We celebrated Chinese New Year with another recipe from February's Delicious Magazine, San choi bao or prawn, mushroom and vegetable wraps, and I served it with the suggested garnishes of spring onions, fried shallots, toasted sesame seeds and peanuts.  

Dragon – 龍 / 龙 (辰) (Yang, 1st Trine, Fixed Element Wood): Magnanimous, stately, vigorous, strong, self-assured, proud, noble, direct, dignified, eccentric, intellectual, fiery, passionate, decisive, pioneering, artistic, generous, loyal. Can be tactless, arrogant, imperious, tyrannical, demanding, intolerant, dogmatic, violent, impetuous, brash.

My friend has recently been in hospital for major surgery, she is back home now and I went to visit her yesterday taking with me a lunch of this Leek Tart.   The recipe is in the February edition of Delicious Magazine and not available on the website yet, but hopefully it will be once the March edition is published.

I have to say we were both mightily impressed by this tasty tart, the cheesy pastry and leek, creme fraiche and egg filling (I also added an 50g of cheese to the filling mix) was moist and the pastry was still crisp underneath - hurrah, no soggy bottom!

All of this little lot came to me from Kelly Atkins at Food Matters.  They are working with  Henry Harris and Grey Poupon to show the versatility of Grey Poupon Dijon mustard as an ingredient in cooking.  Grey Poupon is one of the finest Dijon mustards, it’s the white wine in the ingredients that makes it superior to its competitors and the flavour it creates when used as an ingredient is very unique.

Lamb Tagine

1.4kg boneless leg or shoulder of lamb

4 parsnips, peeled and cubed

6 medium carrots, peeled and cubed

1/2 Celeriac root, peeled and cubed

2 tsp ground ginger

2tsp ground coriander

1/2 tsp saffron strands

5 tbsp olive oil

salt & pepper

275g pearl onions or shallots (I just used ordinary onions and cut them into chunks)

1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed

1 tbsp plain flour

1tbsp tomato paste

450ml lamb or chicken stock

150ml sherry

2tbsp chopped fresh coriander

2tbsp chopped fresh parsley

1 bay leaf

1 cinnamon stick

75g stoned dates

1 tbsp honey

1. Cut the lamb into 4cm cubes.  Place in a bowl with the ginger, ground coriander, saffron and 1 tbsp oil.  Season, cover and leave to marinate in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours, preferably overnight.

2. If using pearl onions or shallots, immerse them in biling water for 2 minutes, drain, refresh in cold water and peel.

3. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a heavy based flameproof casserole and brown the lamb in batches, using more  oil if necessary.  Add the garlic and stir over the heat for 1 minute.  Add the onions and the cubed vegetables and cook over a medium heat until slightly softened and caramelised.  

4. Return the lamb to the casserole. Stir in the flour and tomato paste, then add the stock, sherry, herbs and cinnamon stick.  Season with salt and pepper.  Bring to the boil, cover and cook at 180C for 1 1/4 hours, stirring occasionally.

There is nothing I like better than making little bits and pieces of party food.  I am not a great party giver, something to do with living out in the country and the general state of tension it leaves me in!!!