Mini-Spanikopita (Flaky spinach and fennel pastries)

This is my cross between Rose Elliot's Flaky Spinach and Fennel pastries and Spanikopita.

Ingredients:
8 sheets filo pastry
3oz butter, melted

Filling:
1 onion, peeled and finely chopped (spring onions can also be used)
1 tbsp olive oil
1lb fresh spinach, cooked, well-drained and chopped, or 8oz frozen spinach thawed and squeezed as dry as possible
2 tbsp chopped parsley
2-4oz feta cheese, crumbled small
1tsp fennel seed (optional)

1. Make the filling by frying the onion in olive oil in a large saucepan until soft but not browned, then remove from heat and add the cooked spinach, chopped parsley and fennel seed.
2. Preheat oven to 190C/Gas mark 5.
3. Unroll the filo pastry and spread out in a pile with a damp cloth over.
4. Take one sheet of filo pastry, place on a large board and brush all over with melted butter. Lay another sheet on top and brush that too. Cut into five equal-width strips.
5. Place a teaspoon of filing 2.5 cm from the end of one strip. Fold the top corner over, making a triangular shape. Then fold the whole triangle over itself again and again until you get to the end of the strip. Brush with melted butter and place on greased baking sheet.
6. Continue with the rest of the filo and filling in the same way until it is all used up and you have lots of little triangles on baking trays.
7. Bake for 15 min until the pastry is golden-brown and crisp.

NB can be frozen after step 6, then cooked from frozen.

Lemon Curd

For this recipe you will need a microwave oven (conventionally it is done in a double boiler saucepan).

Makes about three jars.

Ingredients:

1 lb sugar
4 eggs
4 lemons
8 oz butter

Method:

1. Find a large mixing bowl, made of glass, plastic or china (not metal).
2. Put the pat of butter in the mixing bowl and warm it in the microwave for 30 seconds to soften it.
3. Add the grated rind and juice of the lemons to the bowl.
4. Add the sugar.
   
5. Put the bowl in the microwave again and heat it for a minute or two till it's all runny. Stir it.
   
6. Add the eggs and beat the mixture with a hand whisk (or a fork would probably do okay) until it's all smooth and a consistent colour and consistency all through.
7. Microwave for 30 seconds on full power. Remove and whisk the mixture again.
8. Repeat step 7 for as many times as required (about 7-8 times) until the mixture becomes thick and creamy. It must not boil. Use medium power for the last one or two sessions if you are anxious about going too far.
9. Pot into warm glass jam jars, and screw on the lids while it is still hot (or use the traditional wax paper and cellophane jam covers).
10. Use within about 4 weeks. May need to be refrigerated after opening depending on how fast you eat it.
    

Victoria Sponge

Quantity for 8" sandwich tins or approx 18 fairy cakes.

Ingredients:
6oz butter
6oz (vanilla) sugar
6oz self-raising flour
3 eggs
vanilla essence (optional)

1. Line base of sandwich tins with greaseproof paper and grease tins.
2. Cream butter and sugar until 'soft and fluffy' - if butter is hard, give it 20 second in microwave on full power.
3. Weigh up flour ready but do not add to mixture.
4. Beat in eggs one at a time. Beat enthusiastically and add a spoonful of flour between eggs to prevent curdling.
5. Beat in remaining flour (and a few drops of vanilla essence if desired).
6. Divide evenly into two tins and spread out (or dollop into cake cases for fairy cakes using a teaspoon).
7. Bake in oven gas mark 4, 180C (160C in fan oven) for 20-25 mins until golden on top and starting to come away from the tin at the edges. Fairy cakes take 15-20 mins.

Allow to cool, then fill with butter icing - or jam, or lemon curd, etc.

Lemon option - add grated rind of 1 lemon to cake mixture, use juice from the lemon in butter icing for filling.
Chocolate option - replace 1oz of the flour with 1oz cocoa powder.

Red Cabbage

For four helpings.

Ingredients:

1 oz dripping or oil
1 lb red cabbage, shredded
1 large onion peeled and sliced
1 cooking apple peeled and sliced
2 tbsp stock, or water, or apple or orange juice
2 tbsp vinegar
1 tsp salt
a little pepper
1 tbsp brown sugar
(raisins, sultanas or a little spice can be added if desired)

Method

1. Choose a large pan (not uncoated aluminium).
2. Melt the dripping in the pan and add the chopped onions.
3. Add all the other ingredients.
4. Put on the lid and cook gently for 30 to 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Serve hot, with pork, sausages, steak and kidney pudding or other traditional fare.
   

Basic Bread (wholemeal)

For wholemeal bread, one rising is enough. Fresh yeast can be bought from specialist grocers and whole foods shops, and from real bakeries where they bake on site, or ask for it for free from the Tesco in-store bakery.

Ingredients

for three large loaves:

4 1/2 lbs wholemeal flour
6 tsps salt
2 oz lard
2 1/4 pints of warm water (see below)
1 oz of fresh yeast creamed with 1 tsp of sugar (see below)
Optional: a spoonful of malt extract or molasses

or for two large loaves:

3 lbs wholemeal flour
4 tsp salt
1 1/2 oz lard
1 1/2 pints of water
1 oz of fresh yeast creamed with sugar as above
Optional: a spoonful of malt extract or molasses

Method:

1. Put the yeast in a small cup and add a teaspoon of white sugar. Stir the sugar in firmly and put it aside. It will become runny after a few minutes.
2. Put the flour into a large mixing bowl (it needs to be very large, i.e. washing up bowl size, for the larger quantities)
3. Add the salt
   
4. Rub in the lard.
5. Measure up the water as follows: boil the kettle and pour approximately one third boiling water and two thirds cold water from the tap into the measuring jug (or each time you fill the jug if it takes more than one filling).
   
6. Pour most of this water into the flour, reserving a small amount to add to the yeast.
   
7. Pour the small measure of water into the cup of liquid yeast/sugar. Stir and add this yeast and water to the flour. (The water added directly to the yeast MUST not be too hot. The other water can be a little hotter since it will be cooled by the flour before the yeast gets there, especially on a cold day, and making the dough quite warm will speed up rising).
8. Roll up your sleeves and wash your hands. Put the bowl on a table at a comfortable height for working. Starting with a knife and then using your hands stir and then knead the mixture until the water is all absorbed and the dough is smooth and springy, forming a clean ball. Drag and pummel it about in the bowl. It should clean all the dough off your hands in the process, though you may need to assist it by using a knife to scrape your fingers off and on.
9. Take the dough out of the bowl and knead it on a smooth surface for a bit, pulling, stretching and folding it and hitting it down hard with your knuckles.
10. Grease the loaf tins.
11. Divide the dough into the right number of pieces, by rolling the side of your hand back and forth across the dough ball like a bread knife at the cutting points.
12. Put the dough pieces into the tins, put the tins into a huge plastic bag and arch the bag up over them so the bread has room to rise inside. Leave the bread to rise in the kitchen or some other warm place.
13. An hour later, check the bread to see if it is well risen.
14. Heat the oven to 450ºF, 220ºC, Gas mark 8. On the fan oven, make it about 200º or the bread setting if there is one.
15. When the oven is warm, put the loaves in and set the clock for 42 minutes. You can glaze the top of the loaves with milk or egg if you like, before baking them.
    
16. Remove the bread from the oven and take the loaves out of the tins. Cool on a wire rack (put a tea towel over the top to keep them slightly moist, if the loaves are to be left out cooling overnight).
    

Whole lemon pudding

Ingredients:

1 lb plain flour
8 oz shredded suet
1/2 - 1 tsp salt
1 egg mixed with milk (or plain cold water)
1 lemon
4 oz Demerara sugar
pinch of grated nutmeg
pinch of ground allspice
1/2 tbsp of cold butter, cut into bits (not obvious how you measure this in tablespoons mind you).

Method:

1. Grease a large pudding basin before you get your hands in the flour.
2. Put a large saucepan of water on to heat.
   
3. Tip the flour gently into a mixing bowl and add the suet. Grate a bit of the lemon rind into this, and add 3 teaspoons of the sugar. Mix these ingredients with a knife and then add the liquid (egg and milk, or water). Add enough liquid to mix to a soft dough with the knife and/or your hands.
4. Put the blob of dough into the pudding basin and dig a hole in the middle of it. Continue to dig it out and pull it up the sides of the basin until you have a big cavity in the middle of the dough.
5. Into the hole, place the lemon (cut in quarters), the rest of the sugar, the spices and the butter.
6. Close up the hole by dragging the sides together and make sure it all seals across the top with no cracks or holes.
7. Put a lid on the basin or tie it up with greaseproof paper and string.
8. Put the basin in the pan of water (water should come two thirds up the basin) and boil over a low heat for 2 to 2 1/2 hours.
9. Lift the pudding basin out of the pan, remove the lid and turn the pudding out onto a serving plate (use a dish with sides, e.g. a flan dish because the juice will flow out when you cut it).
10. Serve with custard, lemon sauce, golden syrup or cream.
    

As you like it Sausage and Bean Stew

Essential ingredients:

4 or 6 tasty sausages
3 small or 2 large leeks
1 or two red onions
at least 3 cloves garlic
2 tins of tomatoes, chopped
One tin of butter, kidney or haricot beans
Herbs, salt and pepper


Optional ingredients:

Half a red pepper
Five to ten mushrooms
A few rashers of bacon
A stick of celery
1 glass white wine
Some like it hot - chilli powder, mustard seed, cumin or other spicy spices

Instructions:
Prick the skins of the sausages and brown them in the bottom of a large pan. While they are sizzling, chop up the leeks, onions, garlic, pepper, mushrooms, celery and bacon. When the sausages are looking brown, take them out, leaving their fat in the pan. Throw the chopped vegetables (and bacon) into the pan and start them cooking in the sausage fat (with the lid on). Cut the sausages into chunks, and throw them back into the pan. When the vegetables are just soft, add the chopped tomatoes and white wine, and season with salt, pepper, herbs and spices. Simmer with the lid on for at least twenty minutes. Then rinse and drain the beans and add them to the stew, and simmer with the lid off for another twenty minutes.

Serve with mashed potato, rice, or a big chunk of crusty bread.