This is very useful to have in the freezer.

You can add a jar of shop-bought sauce to the ingredients if you like, and any vegetables finely chopped.  My favourites are a pepper, courgette, mushrooms. carrot – use up bits and pieces. just make sure you chop finely and simmer gently very slowly for a nice long time to soften everything

Basic Ingredients

1 onion, finely chopped

2 teaspoons garlic puree or to taste

1 tin tomatoes (about 15 oz size)

1 carton tomato passata (sieved tomatoes)

1 heaped teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried parsley

pinch brown sugar (NO MORE!)

pinch salt

shake of black pepper

olive oil

How to make it

1. Gently cook the onions in a little olive oil in a  large saucepan until they are softened.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients and allow to simmer gently for about half an hour.
3. Stir occasionally and do not allow to burn! Add a little water if it seems too thick.
4. Adjust seasonings to taste.
5. Allow sauce to cool and freeze in portions. I use old Chinese takeaway cartons with lids and freeze in portions for 2 people. Then I can serve one carton with one bag of meatballs (16 in bag) between 2 people. Easy!

It doesn’t have any meat in it so it is very versatile when you want to use it. Just add mince, meatballs, chili and kidney beans etc, or use in lasagne, or use it on its own.

Tags: garlic, onion, passata, tomatoes
Posted in Vegetable based | No Comments »

This is a handy recipe to make and freeze in portions for emergency meals. The quantity given here will make approximately 150 walnut sized meatballs. I usually freeze in bags of 16 meatballs – 8 each for 2 people, and make 3 trays of 42 meatballs altogether. It’s up to you how large your appetite is!

It is very easy to half the recipe and quantities don’t need to be exact. Use the seasonings to your taste. If the mixture seems very stiff and difficult to mix, add a little milk to make the mixture softer, but not too much, you don’t want it sloppy!

You will need a large bowl and a small scoop if possible but this is not essential.

Once I’ve made the mixture I scoop out the meatballs onto a baking tray and bake for about 10 minute, just to half cook them and help them to stick together. As soon as they come out of the oven and have cooled, I bag them up and freeze.

Try them with the spaghetti sauce recipe, you can make and freeze that in batches too for a quick meal. When you want the meal, defrost the tomato sauce and simmer the meatballs gently in the sauce for about half an hour, to give lots of flavour to the sauce and make the meatballs tender.

Ingredients for Meatballs

2 lb beef mince

1 lb pork mince

2 eggs, gently beaten

1 cup grated cheddar cheese

2/3 cup breadcrumbs

3 tablespoons garlic paste or 2 teaspoons garlic powder

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon ground black pepper

1 teaspoon dried oregano

3 tablespoons dried parsley

How to Make the Meatballs

Before you start, prepare 3 baking trays by lining with greaseproof paper, silicone sheet or baking parchment.

Put all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix together as evenly as possible. Use your hands. ( I use a large Kenwood Chef foodmixer, but I don’t think a handheld one would be powerful enough, although it might work for a half quantity).

Now pull off small pieces of mixture about the size of a walnut, and roll into a ball between the palms of your hands, and lay it on the baking sheet. If you have a small scoop it will make the job quicker.

Bake in the oven at 180C for about 10-15 minutes until the meatballs are brown and set. but not too baked. You don’t want stones! They will finish cooking in the tomato sauce.

Once they are out of the oven, scoop them onto a cooking tray so that they aren’t sitting in fat, and allow to cool. Then bag in the required quantities and freeze.

To use them, you can defrost them and simmer in tomato sauce, either home made or from a jar. Defrost by leavung out for an hour or in the microwave. I just put the frozen meatballs in the simmering sauce and allow to cook gently but thoroughly.

Serve with spaghetti with a couple of spoonfuls of pesto stirred through.

Tags: bbef mince, breadcrumbs, cheddar cheese, garlic, oregano, parsley, pork mince
Posted in Beef Mince Meals | No Comments »

This is a delicious vegetable soup, very easy to make and it freezes very well. The quantities given do produce a large amount of soup – I like to freeze it in individual portions so that a quick meal or snack is always available. The recipe as written will make two very large saucepans full. Try halving the ingredients if you want a smaller amount. It is very forgiving – you can omit things you don’t like and add those you do! If you half it you can omit one lot of lentils, whichever you like, as they thicken the soup, and you won’t need so much.

Ingredients

1 can mixed bean salad

1 can green lentils

2 cans chopped tomatoes

1 can baked beans

Handful of split lentils

2 large leeks

1 large onion

4 large carrots

2 parsnips

Green, red or yellow pepper

2 beef stock cubes

2 vegetable stock cubes

2 chicken stock cubes

salt and pepper

1 teaspoon mixed herbs

Water (enough to cover all ingredients)

How to make it

1. Chop all the vegetables up. If making the full quantity of soup and using two pans, divide the ingredients between the pans as you go, then you will have two identical soups to combine later.
2. Crumble the stock cubes and add the mixed herbs. I just like half a teaspoon in each pan, but you can adjust according to taste.
3. Cover all the vegetables with water, bring to the boil and simmer very gently until all the vegetables are soft. I sometimes leave it on a very low heat for an hour to bring out and blend all the flavours.
4. When the soup is ready, you can choose to leave it chunky as it is, or use a blender to make it creamy. I leave one pan ‘whole’ and blend the second pan, then mix the two together. This gives a creamy soup with chunks of vegetables which makes it very satisfying.
5. Divide into individual portions and freeze. It will also keep well in the fridge for a few days, so you could freeze one pan and eat the other!

Tags: baked beans, carrot, chopped tomatoes, green lentils, leeks, lentils, mixed bean salad, mixed herbs, onion, parsnip, peppers, stock cubes
Posted in Soup | No Comments »

This is the best recipe for nice, soft bread that cuts easilyand keeps well. No more dried up crusts and crumbs on the second day!

Ingredients.

8 fluid oz warm water

4 tablespoons cooking oil

2 tablespoons caster sugar

1 teaspoon salt

14 0z strong bread flour (400g)

1 level tablespoon (1/4 oz) yeast or one sachet

• Remember to check your own breadmaker recipe book to see in which order you need to add the ingredients. It varies from manufacturer to manufacturer and it is important that you follow the correct order for your breadmaker.
• Use a dried yeast that states on the packet that it is suitable for breadmakers.
• Any type of cooking oil is suitable e.g. olive, sunflower, vegetable etc.
• You may find after baking one loaf that you want to modify the amount of yeast, as very much seems to depend on individual circumstances. If it appears over-risen, use less yeast next time. A tablespoon is perfect for my breadmaker, but you may need less. This is a recipe for experimenting with, but gives a lovely loaf as written.

To make a loaf

1. Measure out the ingredients into your breadmaker inthe correct order for your breadmaker.
2. Set your breadmaker to start, and leave until baked.
3. If you wish you can knead and rise the dough in the breadmaker, then when the timer goes off, remove the dough from the breadmaker and plop into a 2 lb greased loaf tin. Pull the dough into shape in the tin, cover with a teatowel and leave to rise again in a warm, draught-free place for about half an hour, until risen and loaf-like. Remember it will probably rise a little more once it is in the hot oven.
4. Bake at 200C, 400F for about half an hour until loaf is golden brown and hollow- sounding when tapped.
5. Turn out the loaf and try to allow to cool before eating!

Tags: oil, strong flour, yeast
Posted in Bread | No Comments »

This is the best Christmas cake recipe! It always turns out well and will keep for months if wrapped in clingfilm and foil. It is moist and dense with fruit, it is not a ‘cakey’ cake, and it stays nice and flat without a peak.I don’t ice it as we prefer it plain, but it looks lovely covered with marzipan and royal icing! Traditionally you should make it months in advance of Christmas, but I have made it as late as 21st December and it has been just as good. I don’t bother to feed it either, I think there’s enough alcohol soaked in with the fruit, but that’s up to individual taste.

Ingredients

• 1 lb (450 g) currants
• 6 oz (175 g) sultanas
• 6 oz (175 g) raisins
• 2 oz (50 g) glacé cherries, rinsed, dried and finely chopped
• 2 oz (50 g) mixed candied peel, finely chopped
• 3 tablespoons brandy, (I use sherry and pour a good glug in rather more than 3 tablespoons!) plus extra for ‘feeding’
• 8 oz (225 g) plain flour
• ½ level teaspoon salt
• ¼ level teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
• ½ level teaspoon ground mixed spice
• 8 oz (225 g) unsalted butter
• 8 oz (225 g) soft brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 2 oz (50 g) almonds, chopped (the skins can be left on) or chopped mixed nuts, walnuts etc.
  
• 1 level dessertspoon black treacle
• grated zest 1 lemon
• grated zest 1 orange
• 4 oz (110 g) whole blanched almonds (only if you don’t intend to ice the cake)

If you wish you can use any combination of dried fruits so long as the total weight is the same as the recipe. I sometimes use bags of mixed fruit. The ‘luxury’ mixed fruit sometimes includes the glace cherries, in which case you wouldn’t need to include them.

You will also need an 8 inch (20 cm) round cake tin or a 7 inch (18 cm) square tin, greased and lined with silicone paper (baking parchment). I actually use an 8 inch (20cm) square tin which makes a bigger cake but not quite so deep.Tie a doubled band of brown paper round the outside of the tin for extra protection.

You need to begin this cake the night before you want to bake it and preferably a couple of days before.. All you do is weigh out the dried fruit, cherries and mixed peel, place it in a mixing bowl and mix in the brandy or sherry as evenly and thoroughly as possible. Cover the bowl with a clean tea cloth or plate and leave the fruit aside to absorb the brandy for 12 hours. I like to leave it for 24-48 hours to get as much flavour absorbed as possible, and to make sure the fruit is nice and plump.Stir it every now and then to make sure the sherry covers everything! Add a little more if it looks as if its all been absorbed and keep stirring now and then.

Next day pre-heat the oven to gas mark 1, 275°F /140°C / Fan Oven 130C. (Yes, it is the lowest temperature in the oven but it works!)

Then measure out all the rest of the ingredients, ticking them off to make quite sure they’re all there.

1.  Sift the flour, salt and spices into a large mixing bowl, lifting the sieve up high to give the flour a good airing.

2. In a separate large mixing bowl, whisk the butter and sugar together until it’s light, pale and fluffy.

3. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl and add them to the creamed mixture a tablespoonful at a time; keep the whisk running until all the egg is incorporated. If you add the eggs slowly by degrees like this the mixture won’t curdle. If it does, don’t worry, any cake full of such beautiful things can’t fail to taste good!

4. When all the egg has been added, fold in the flour and spices, using gentle, folding movements and not beating at all (this is to keep all that precious air in).

6. Now fold in the fruit, peel, chopped nuts and treacle and finally the grated lemon and orange zests.

7. Next, using a large kitchen spoon, transfer the cake mixture into the prepared tin, spread it out evenly with the back of a spoon and, if you don’t intend to ice the cake, lightly drop the whole blanched almonds in circles or squares all over the surface.

8. Finally cover the top of the cake with a double square of silicone paper with a 50p-size hole in the centre (this gives extra protection during the long slow cooking). Bake the cake on the lowest shelf of the oven for 4½-4¾ hours. Sometimes it can take up to ½-¾ hour longer than this, but in any case don’t look till at least 4 hours have passed.

9. Cool the cake for 30 minutes in the tin, then remove it to a wire rack to finish cooling. When it’s cold ‘feed’ it – make small holes in the top and base of the cake with a cocktail stick or small skewer, then spoon over a few teaspoons of brandy, wrap it in double silicone paper secured with an elastic band and either wrap again in foil or store in an airtight container. You can now feed it at odd intervals until you need to ice or eat it.

Tags: almonds, black treacle, brandy, butter, candied peel, currants, eggs, glace cherries, lemon, mixed spice, nutmeg, orange, plain flour, raisins, salt, sherry, soft brown sugar, sultanas
Posted in Cakes | 2 Comments »