Curried Bubble & Squeak (Potato Cakes) with Coriander Relish

Got leftover boiled or mashed potatoes, cooked carrots and greens? I thought I'd jazz up Bubble & Squeak with some curry spices and some coriander relish to use up some odd leftovers.

Serves 2

200g potato

Handful of cooked carrot, cabbage, Brussel sprouts etc

1 tsp garam masala or curry powder 

1 tbsp plain or chickpea flour

2 tbsp olive oil for frying

Relish

30g pack of coriander 

1 large garlic clove, peeled and roughly chopped

2 cm ginger, roughly chopped

1/2 tsp hot chilli flakes 

2 tbsp dried mint

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar 

1-2 tbsp water

Mash the potato well, before adding in the finely chopped vegetables and spice.  Do not add any oil or butter as you need a stiff mash that you can shape into four 'burgers' and keep their shape.  Add a little flour to the mash if needed to make it stiffer.

Fry the potato cakes in the olive oil in a non-stick pan over a medium high heat for about 5 minutes each side or until golden brown.

Whilst frying the potato cakes, whizz together all the relish ingredients until you have a pourable, double cream-like, consistency. Add more water and vinegar if needed to get a pourable relish.

Dip the potato cakes into the relish or pour over.

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Braised Red Cabbage

Quick braised red cabbage to accompany our Christmas Dinner of slow roast mutton. The other half of the red cabbage went in Red Cabbage Coleslaw.

Serves 4

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, peeled and diced
350g red cabbage (half a red cabbage), thinly sliced

1 large cooking apple, cored and diced

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

large pinch of nutmeg1 tbsp brown sugar or maple syrup

4 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tbsp cranberry sauce optional

Soften the onion over a medium heat in the olive oil in a saute pan for about 5 minutes.

Stir in the cabbage and the spices and fry for a a few minutes until shiny.

Add the apple, sugar, and red wine vinegar. Stir in well then cover, turn down the heat to the lowest, and cook gently for half an hour.

Stir in the cranberry sauce if using, adding a little water if the cabbage is drying out a little.

Serve warm with mutton, pork, duck...

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Sloe or Damson Port

This recipe was on an allotment Facebook group I was on a few years ago.  I saved it as a screenshot, but am now saving to my blog for easier reference.

The recipe presumes you have made Sloe Gin.  More recently I have been making Damson Brandy, and this port works just as well if not better with brandied damsons.

500g drained sloes, after straining your sloe gin.

750ml cheap red wine

100g sugar

200ml brandy

Add (return) the sloes to a large preserving jar, together with the red wine and the sugar, seal and shake.

Shake (or stir - one of my cheap preserving jars leaks if upended) the jar every day for 3 weeks to dissolve the sugar.

After 3 weeks add the brandy and shake/stir again, then leave in a dark place for 3 months.

Drain, decant into bottles, and finally discard the sloes.

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Pear & Date Chutney

Every year I hunt around for my tried and tested Pear & Date Chutney recipe, so I have finally typed it up and posted it so I can find quicker next time.

1kg firm pears, peeled and cubed

2 onions, finely chopped

250g dates

500ml pickling vinegar
500g sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground ginger (optional)

1/2-1 tsp chilli flakes

Simmer pears, onions, dates, vinegar and spices for 20 minutes to soften the onions.  Add the sugar and salt and simmer for another 20-40 minutes until the chutney is dark and glossy.  Stir frequently to ensure it is not catching on the bottom of the pan.

Pot in sterilised jars and seal with clean lids scalded with boiling water.  Keeps for at least 12 months.

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Chicken Liver Pâté

The smell of chicken liver pâté cooking is a smell that takes me back to New Year’s Eves in the 1970s and my mother cooking it in the morning for a party that evening.

I’m not a fan of liver, but chicken liver pâté I love (and so do my fussy kids).

This is a lighter version than most on the web, which are covered in butter. I have switched the butter from my mother’s original recipe to olive oil.

400g chicken livers
300g streaky bacon

1 clove of garlic
1 tbsp olive oil 
1 tbsp brandy (optional)

Roughly chop the bacon and fry in the olive oil over a medium heat in a saucepan until golden brown.

Add the garlic and chicken livers. Cover and cook gently for 15 minutes.

Leave to cool for about 10 minutes (so it's not too hot for a plastic blender cup) then chop in a food processor with the brandy until smooth.  Serve with toast.

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Delia's Braised Red Cabbage

We make this massive batch of braised cabbage before Christmas, and then eat it throughout the holiday period.

I use Delia Smith's recipe, just substituting the buttering the original recipe for olive oil. And cook it on the hob rather than the oven.

1 kg red cabbage (we make Red Cabbage Coleslaw & Purple Sauerkraut with any leftover cabbage)
450g onions, chopped small
450g cooking apples, peeled, cored and chopped small
1 clove garlic, chopped very small
¼ tsp ground nutmeg
¼ tsp ground cinnamon
¼ tsp ground cloves
3 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp wine vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil

Salt & pepper

Put all the ingredients except for the apples in a large saucepan or casserole dish and season. 

Cover and bring to the boil over a medium heat, then turn down the heat and simmer for 45 minutes until the cabbage and apple are very tender.

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Christmas Minestrone

Hope it's not too late to save the cooking liquid from your Boxing Day ham? My Christmas Minestrone is made with ham stock (cooking liquid), leftover ham (or turkey, or pigs in blankets), Brussel sprouts (or cabbage).

Makes 4 hearty servings

1 large onion, peeled and diced
1 large carrot, peeled and diced 
1 large stick of celery, diced

1 large garlic clove, peeled and crushed 
100g leftover chopped ham, turkey, or pigs in blankets
1 can of tomatoes
1 can of beans (haricot, cannellini, kidney, whatever)
1 litre ham stock or chicken stock
2 heaped handfuls of finely sliced Brussels sprouts, cabbage, spring greens, kale, or spring greens
1 handful small pasta or macaroni
1 tbsp olive oil for frying
2 bay leaves (optional)

Parmesan or extra mature cheddar for serving

Fry the onion, carrot, and celery in the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat. When slightly coloured add the chopped meat.  Stir and put the lid on for a few minutes to let the vegetables sweat. 

Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to the boil. Simmer for 30 minutes with the lid on.  Stir from time to time to ensure the pasta is not sticking to the bottom of the pan

My mum always used to say that this soup was better the day after, as the flavours seemed to develop more, but I am never organised enough to do this nor have enough space in the fridge to keep it cool overnight. 

Serve with a grating of parmesan or extra mature cheddar.

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Purple Sauerkraut

I came across red cabbage sauerkraut (with beetroot) through @michaelmosely_official Just One Thing podcast on BBC Sounds. I did look a recipe up but it seemed to vary a little in every source, so now I’ve just made my own up.

1/4 large red cabbage (about 500g)

1 medium beetroot

1 turnip (optional)

1 small onion

1 tsp salt

Finely slice the cabbage and onion and place in a large mixing bowl.

Grate the beetroot, and turnip if using. I don’t bother to peel, and just discard any large bits of skin that won’t grate.

Add the grate vegetables to the mixing bowl together with the salt. Squish and mix the vegetables with your hands, taking handfuls and squeezing like you are trying to squeeze the liquid out, and pushing down with hands like you are flattening to the bottom of the bowl. I have heard of people using the end of a rolling pin, and pounding. 

Squish/squash/pound for a few minutes until the cabbage is limp and some liquid is collecting at the bottom is the bowl. 

Take small handfuls and cram them down firmly into a large jar, and pour in any liquid that has accumulated. Cover loosely so the fermentation gases can escape but no bacteria can get in, and leave out on the kitchen counter.

I start eating mine pretty much the next day when it tastes like a undressed red cabbage coleslaw, but ideally leave it a week or longer and it will start to taste like pickled cabbage.

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Red Cabbage Coleslaw

It's Christmas Eve, and with poor communication, we have ended up with 3 red cabbages.  Three quarters of the largest (about 1.5kg!) has been braised to have with our Christmas Day pork. A small one past it's best has been made into sauerkraut (recipe to follow), and another large quarter has been made into my favourite coleslaw.

500g thinly sliced red cabbage

1 large carrot, grated

1 medium onion, peeled, halved and thinly sliced

3-4 heaped dessertspoons greek yoghurt

1 levelish dessertspoon Dijon mustard

1 tbsp olive oil

Salt & pepper to taste

Simply mix together all the ingredients, seasoning to taste.  The longer you can leave this before eating, the flavours develop more. But it is still great straight after mixing. Not sure it tastes different to coleslaw made with green or white cabbage, but I think it looks nicer!

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Sloe Gin

 Just putting it here for reference another year

750ml cheap gin

500g frozen sloes

250g sugar

Stir every week till Christmas.

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Leftover Roast (Pork, Turkey, Chicken, Nut Roast) Fajitas

Wraps are a big favourite in our family, and fajitas turned out to be a handy way to use up our leftover roast pork from Christmas Day.  Big Boy is now vegetarian, and had his with reheated nutroast crumbled in, although I did have a back up can of black beans as a Plan B vegetarian option.

Serves  4

Large onion, peeled and thinly sliced

Red pepper, deseeded and cut into strips

1 garlic clove, peeled and crushed

1/2 tsp cumin seeds

1/2 tsp smoked paprika

1/2 tsp chilli

1 tbsp sunflower oil

1 lime or lemon, juiced

8 wraps
Lettuce leaves, washed & torn

One small handful of roast per person

Sour cream or Greek Yoghurt (optional)

2 avocados, destoned & sliced

Fresh chilli, deseed and thinly sliced (optional)

Fry the onion and red pepper over a gently heat until both are soft and slightly brown.  Add the garlic, spices, lime juice, and leftover roast and fry to reheat the roast.

When ready, assemble your fajita as desired. 

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Pea & Ham Soup

A simple but tasty soup, made with ham stock from boiling a ham.

Serves 4

1l ham stock

1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped

1 stick of celery, roughly chopped

1 clove of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped (optional)

1 white potato (about 200g), roughly chopped (optional)

100g ham (optional)

400g frozen peas

Simmer the onion, celery, garlic, potato, and ham in the stock in a covered pan for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes add the frozen peas, increase the heat, and heat uncovered until it comes back to the boil. Liquidise and serve.

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Scouts Mincemeat

I have always made Delia Smith's mincemeat, which takes 2 hours in the oven plus overnight steeping.

My 12 year old son was taught how to make a quicker version over a Scouts Zoom cookery lesson at the end of November. The speed of it won me over, although I would use vegetable fat to make a vegan version. Here it is, with a few little tweaks (nuts added at the beginning rather than the end, brandy added at the end rather than the beginning, and sugar heated to bubbling before turning off the gas rather than stirred into the cooling mixture).

Makes 3x 454g jars

650g mixed dried fruit
Zest & juice of 2 oranges

Zest & juice of 2 lemons

1 large (about 300g) cooking/firm apple

100g butter

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp ground ginger

½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg

½ tsp mixed spice

50g flaked almonds

3tbsp brandy

175g sugar

Add all ingredients, apart from the brandy and the sugar, to a large heavy bottomed saucepan. Heat gently for about an hour stirring regularly until the dried fruit is nice and plump and the apple looks light brown.  If the pan starts to stick, add the brandy a tablespoon at a time.

After about an hour stir in the sugar and brandy and heat gently again until it starts to bubble. Turn off the heat and bottle in sterilised jars and with sterilised lids.  The mincemeat will keep for 3 weeks in the fridge.

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Swedish Gravlax Dill or Mustard Sauce

Made Dill Sauce in June for a Scandinavian Midsummer's Party to go with prawns and rye bread.  Making it again tonight to go with pan fried salmon.

3 tbsp sweet mustard
3 tbsp brown sugar
2 tbsp white wine or cider vinegar
150ml sunflower oil
1 bunch of chopped dill, or 1 tbsp crushed mustard seeds

Place mustard, sugar, & vinegar in a liquidiser jug and blitz with a wand until incorporated.

Add the oil one tablespoon at a time, blending well after each spoonful, until all the oil has been added and the mixture has thickened.  Add the dill or mustard seed and give one final whizz.

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Turkey Rogan Josh Curry

Another curry made with leftover turkey.  In this case it was a pack of minced turkey as we didn't buy a turkey this year.  It could be made with leftover roasts, mince or cubed meat. And I padded this out with a small butternut squash to feed a family of five.

I made a Rogan Josh curry paste off Jamie Oliver's website but was a little disappointed with the strength of flavour.  So if you can't be bothered to make a curry paste, just buy a commercial ready made one.

Serves 4-5

500g turkey mince
500g butternut squash, blitzed in a food processor to the size of the mince
1 onion, finely diced
1 carton of tomato puree
1/2 a carton of recently boiled water
1 tbsp sunflower oil

Jamie's Rogan Josh Paste 
2 cloves garlic
1 thumb-sized piece fresh root ginger
75 g jarred roasted peppers
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
2 teaspoons garam masala
1 teaspoon turmeric
½ teaspoon sea salt
2 tablespoons groundnut oil
2 tablespoons tomato puree
1 fresh red chilli
1 small bunch fresh coriander
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 teaspoons coriander seeds
1 teaspoon black peppercorns

Start by making the curry paste.  I cut a few corners in Jamie's recipe, not roasting spices, using a fresh pepper rather than roasted peppers, and not using fresh coriander, and just whizzed it all up in a mini food processor.

Gently fry the onion in the sunflower oil until it starts to look clear, then add half the curry paste, stir and fry until it sizzles.  Add the meat, breaking up the mince if using.  Add the butternut squash and the rest of the ingredients and bring to the boil.  Cover and simmer for 20 minutes or until the butternut squash is soft.  Season to taste and serve with basmati rice.

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Curried Stir Fry Noodles

Tonight I experimented with Curried Noodles.  It was inspired by Jamie Oliver's Ham & Egg Curried Noodles in his new book 5 Ingredients, and Singapore Noodles. It was also a chance to use up some leftover Brussel sprouts, carrots, and turkey.  But this dish could easily be done with just carrot and cabbage, the meat could be left out, replaced with egg, and vegans could leave out both egg and meat.

Serves 4
4 nests of medium egg noodles
1 large handful leftover roast turkey, chicken, beef or pork
1 large carrot, grated
1 handful of Brussel sprouts, cabbage or leafy greens
1 small onion
2 cloves of garlic
1 cm root ginger
1 tbsp curry powder
4 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sunflower oil

Cook the noodles according to the instructions on the packet.  Once cooked, rinse in cold water and leave in a pan on cold water.

Thinly slice the Brussels, onion, garlic, grate the carrot, finely dice the ginger, and cube the meat if using.

Heat the oil in a wok or large frying pan over a high heat.  Add the garlic and ginger, stir, then add the onion, stir again, then add the rest of the vegetables.  Keep stirring and then add the meat when the vegetables look like they have started to wilt a little.

Add the noodles to the wok straight from the pan, reserving the cooking water, and the curry powder. Add half a mug of cooking water and the soy sauce.  Mix thoroughly and heat through.  Serve immediately.

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Piccalilli (Hot Mustard Bean, Cauliflower & Courgette Pickle)

Been meaning to try this recipe for quite a while.  Some friends made it last year and it was delicious.

I've followed the Hairy Biker's Hot Mustard Pickle recipe to the letter.  Yes, it does seem a lot of salt but I have to say I can't taste it in the remnants in the pan.  And maybe do not cook the vegetables so long? My cauliflower has lost it's crunch. But there is another month before I am supposed try it.

250g green beans, sliced into 1cm pieces
500g cauliflower, cut into 1cm cubes
250g courgette, cut into 1cm cubes
100g fine sea salt
3 onions, finely chopped
300ml malt vinegar
300ml white wine vinegar (I only used malt vinegar)
1 heaped tbsp English mustard powder powder
1 heaped tbsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp dried chilli flakes
25g cornflour
250g sugar

Mix the salt thoroughly into the beans, cauliflower, and courgette in a non metallic bowl, cover, and leave for 24 hours. After 24 hours, rinse the vegetables thoroughly in several changes of water.

Simmer the onions in the malt vinegar for 15 minutes whilst you mix the dried spices and cornflour into 5tbsp of the remaining 300ml of vinegar.  Add the sugar and left over vinegar to the pan with the onions, and the drained vegetables.  Simmer for 10 minutes (I might try 5 minutes next time).

Add the spice paste and stir through until it thickens.  Here the Hairy Bikers cook the vegetables for a further 10 minutes, but I would take the pickle of the heat once the sauce has thickened and bottle it straight away.  After all, the heat of the sauce will continue cooking the vegetables for a while longer anyway.

Seal in sterilised jars and leave for a month before using.  I, however, had a little bit leftover from my 5 jars made at the weekend and used it in a ham sandwich yesterday.  It was fantastic!

Post Script: A quick google has turned up River Cottage's Pam Corbin's recipe for Piccalilli.  I note she does not cook the vegetables at all, but instead just stirs them into the hot sauce.  Next time...

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Red Onion Chutney

I spent a while trying out different onion chutneys (seemingly also known as marmalade, jam, or confit) to see which is my favourite.  Well here it is! It is from an outdoor cookery book I borrowed from the library but I forgot to take note of the name and author of the book.

1.5kg onions
1kg sugar
500ml red wine or cider vinegar
1 tsp salt
4 tsp ground pepper (optional)

Peel and thinly slice the onions.  Add to a heavy bottomed pan with sugar and vinegar and bring to the boil then turn down and simmer for about an hour.  Add the pepper if using.  I couldnt be bothered to grind that much pepper and only managed to add about 1 tsp.  The jam is ready when the onions are soft aand surrounded in a thicky syrupy liquid.  Stir in the salt before bottling in sterilised jars.

Use with rich red meat, pate, strong cheddar, in quiche, gravies...

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Turkey, Leek & Noodle Soup

First of the Christmas turkey leftover soups. 

1 small onion
2 leeks
1 carrot
1 stick of celery
1 garlic clove
1 tbsp olive oil
2 large handfuls cooked turkey, diced
100g broken tagliatelle
1.75 litres chicken or turkey stock

Peel, trim, and finely dice the onion, carrot, garlic and celery and fry gently whilst you clean and finely slice the leeks.  I used the food processor to finely chop everything.  Once you've added the leeks put a lid on the pan and sweat for 20 minutes, checking from time to time to make sure they are not sticking.  If they do, add a ladleful of stock and carry on steaming.

After about 20 minutes, when the leeks start to loose their raw onion smell and start to sweet instead, add the rest of the stock, turkey and noodles.  Bring to the boil and simmer for 20 minutes until both the vegetables and pasta are tender.  Taste for seasoning as I was somewhat surprised that I had to add two chicken stock cubes to the turkey stock I was using to give it the right depth of flavour.

My Leftover Turkey Compilation

Picture may date from 2013 but I thought it worthwhile to trawl through my recipes and update a compilation of leftover turkey recipes as I need it every year!

In no particular order:-

• Turkey stock - same principle as chicken stock, you just might need a bigger pan!
• Turkey Minestrone
• Mulligatawny (Curried Vegetable & Meat Soup)
• Jamie Oliver's Sweet Leek & Turkey Pie - a warming winner every year
• Turkey, Mushroom & Sweetcorn Pie or Casserole - swap chicken for turkey 
• Turkey & Chipolata Cassoulet - substitute chicken for turkey
• Red or Green Thai Turkey Curry
• Turkey Chilli con Carne
• Wokless Turkey & Noodles - I would substitute 2 handfuls of chopped cooked turkey for the chicken in this recipe
• Christmas Turkey Noodle Soup
• Turkey Congee (Rice Soup/Porridge) - I made this with duck stock last year but turkey would work just as well
• Spicy Korean Turkey Rice Salad - a fitting end to turkey and cranberry sauce
• Veg Rich Toddler & Kids Curry - use Patak's curry paste with leftover turkey, carrots, sprouts etc 
• Turkey Vindaloo
• Turkey Korma - use cooked turkey instead of diced chicken
• Turkey Katsu Curry -  make the sauce for this curry by simmering the sauce ingredients for 2 minutes.  Add chopped turkey to heat through and then the cornflour to thicken. 
• Leftover Roast Chicken (or Turkey) with Chorizo & Butter Beans

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