Fresh Mango Chutney

This is a great mango chutney. I found it on one of the blogs I follow and I made it tonight. It is really easy to make and a great condiment for cold meat and salad. I had some tonight with the cold ham. I added a little honey to this recipe for texture.

Mango Chutney(makes 4+ cups)6 cups mango (stoned, peeled, chopped)1 onion (chopped)1 red chili (chopped)1 tablespoon garlic (grated)1 tablespoon ginger (grated)2 cups brown sugar1 cup raisins6 cardamom pods (crushed and ground)1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric1/2 teaspoon ground cloves1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon1 teaspoon cayenne3 cups vinegarDirections:1. Place everything in a large pot and boil until it thickens, about 30-60 minutes.2. Pour into sterilized jars and seal.

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Easy Night

Cold Virginia ham, homemade mango chutney, Caesar salad, potato salad and pickled egg. All with a glass of Rolling Rock .

Boulangere Potatoes

4-5 Russet potatoes

Garlic to taste
I or 2 large tomatoes
2 Large onions4 bay leaves

Chicken stock or water
Olive oil to cook the onions
Thyme and bay leaf

Peel the potatoes and slice them thinly, preferably on a kitchen mandolin but if not with a sharp knife. Keep the slices the same thickness
Crush the garlic
Slice the tomato
Slice the onions thinly and sauté them very slowly until tender. Deglaze with a little white wine and cook till dry then allow to cool.
Put a bottom bed of potatoes in an ovenproof flat dish. Add a later of onions then add a layer of tomatoes. Sprinkle some thyme on the tomatoes and add the crushed garlic. Add another layer of onions and season with salt and pepper. Add final layer of potatoes and cover with chicken stock or water.

You can add as many layers as you want.

Cook in a medium oven until the top layer is cooked. Remove from oven and allow to settle before serving. Top layer of potatoes should be slightly browned.
This is a classic potato and goes back a long time. It is usually served with roast lamb. It will go with any roast but it is particularly good with lamb. The original idea was to cook the lamb over the potatoes so the fat would flavor them. This was when the whole lamb was cooked on an open spit and the potatoes would placed under it. The original recipe does not have tomatoes in it but I like them with tomatoes.

You have to be a little careful about these potatoes getting too dry. Don't be afraid to a add a little stock or water during the cooking process. Always make sure the stock or water is just a little over the top when you put them in the oven and if necessary cover the potatoes during cooking with foil or lid to keep them moist. The potatoes will soak up the water and you can always pour any excess off.....

If you are roasting lamb it is not a bad idea to take a little bit of the juices from the pan with a spoon and add them to the potatoes.

Smoked Beef Rib Rack, Spuds And Sprouts.

With a locally brewed Porter. Yum!

Pickled Cherries

'Tis the season here. These are great with cold meats and such.

2 lb. Cherries

3 cups white vinegar

1 cup of sugar

8 tbsps salt

tarragon

Pick through cherries and keep the good ones. Put the brine on to boil and then let it go cold. Pour the brine over the cherries and leave them for 3 weeks or so.

Parpadelle Pasta, Sauteed Vegetables And Shrimp, Garlic Cream Sauce.

Parpadelle is a kind of very wide linguine and one of my favorite pastas.

The vegetables here are crimini mushrooms, white mushrooms, okra, sweet peppers and tomato.

They are sauteed, then dashed with white wine and then some chopped garlic.

The sauce is chopped shallots sweated in Olive oil, a good amount of white wine and reduced by 3/4. Add double cream to this and bring to boil. Add a generous amount of garlic and allow to simmer with the addition of a bay leaf. When it comes to a sauce like consistency remove from heat and strain through a fine strainer.

Put the pasta on to cook in very fast salted water.

Add the sauce to the vegetables, correct seasoning and consistency, add a little white wine, water or stock if too thick. Add more garlic if you want.

When pasta is cooked, strain and add to the sauce. Bind in a little parmesan cheese and serve.

Beef Goulash With Parsnip Cheddar Mash.

I think the recipe is somewhere on the blog. Just looked it is not so .................... recipe anon!

3 large onions

2 lbs beef or pork cut for stew

4 tbsp flour

6 cloves garlic, chopped

beef or chicken broth, or water

3 tsp white wine vinegar

2 bay leaves

3 tablespoons oil

1 tablespoon paprika plus more for the sauce.

Caraway seeds
Citrus zest
Soft butter
(A little of each)


Sauté onions in oil until they become soft and translucent. The ratio of onions to meat is almost the same. This is an onion and beef/pork dish as is so common in those countries.
Put the cubed pieces of meat into a bowl and sprinkle paprika over them. Cover and allow to marinate until onions are cooked.
When onions are cooked add a little white wine vinegar and reduce to dry. This will give the dish body and counteract the sweetness in the onions.
Then add the meat to the onions and allow to cook on a medium heat to bring out the flavors, keep stirring or it will stick.
Add a couple of tablespoons of paprika to this mix and cook for a minute or two. The mix should be a deep red almost brown mixture.
Add a little flour to thicken the sauce but not too much.
Cover the meat with water or stock.
You don’t really need stock for this. It will be cooked for a long time so it will make its own stock.
Cook on a medium to low heat or in a slow cooker until meat is cooked.

Remove meat when it is cooked and reduce the sauce to the desired consistence.

Chop together the caraway seeds, the citrus zest and the butter until they become a paste. Add this to the goulash and serve with mashed potatoes, dumplings or noodles.

This is an old and great dish. Don’t expect it to be exactly right the first time you make it. Make notes during the cooking process so you can adapt this recipe to your taste.
You can add carrots, tomatoes and a host of other vegetables to this but the original dish is only the onions and the meat.

Gazpacho With Shrimp.

This is a great, refreshing and easy soup to make for the summer and very quick. I bet Mam would love this.

There are five elements to this soup:

Sweet peppers

Onions

Cucumbers

Tomato

Bread

There is also the seasoning and the tomato juice but five is an easy way to remember the recipe. You can also use V8 juice for this recipe.

Method:

You get each of these three elements in equal quantities and cut them up into smallish pieces. Put them in a bowl and add chopped garlic and salt and pepper. Pour in red wine vinegar, or a vinegar of your choice and a little virgin olive oil. Cover and marinate overnight.

Next day drain the vegetables from the marinade and run them through the machine. Add the marinade and some tomato juice until you get the consistency you want. Let the soup rest in the fridge for at least an hour and then serve with grilled shrimp/lobster/crab.

Before you serve the soup correct the seasoning, not only the salt and pepper but also the vinegar and the oil.

If you don't have any seafood then just chop up some sweet peppers and some onions and add them to the soup. I guarantee you will love this.

Smoked Salmon With Honey Barbeque Sauce, Romaine With Dijon Mustard Dressing.

Smoked piece of salmon brushed at the end with a mixture of barbeque sauce, honey and lemon juice. The salmon was marinated in a brine of brown sugar, salt and water overnight.

Romaine leaves tossed in a dressing of Dijon mustard, olive oil and vinegar with a some chopped garlic and parsley.

This was such a great balance of flavors between the mustard, honey and the salty anchovies. Really outstanding.

Fresh Split Pea Soup And Chop Chop Salad.

Fresh pea soup is one of my favorites. I make it with a smoked ham bone which gives it plenty of flavor.

The chop chop salad is a crunchy little salad which is great for the summer.

You need some romaine lettuce, nice and crispy. Next you need to root around the fridge for all the crunchy vegetables you can find like cucumber, sweet bell pepper, radishes, celery etc etc. You will also need some fried croutons and a hard boiled egg.

Chop them all up in bits, toss them in a bowl with your favorite dressing and serve. This one is made with a balsamic dressing which I made myself.

Chopped Garlic and chopped shallots, salt and pepper and equal quantities of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Mix well with a whisk or a blender.

Season to taste, correct sharpness and serve.

Patrick Kennedy

Senator Edward Kennedy's son.

La Tarte a L’Oignon d’Alsace Accompagnée d’Une Petite Salade César.

So! I felt like writing it in French. Excuuuuuuuuuuse me!

Recipe anon. I am too full now. Ony gorgeous.

Simple Menu

Thirteen bean soup and tossed greens with soft boiled egg, bacon bits and croutons. Ony gorgeous all the same. Simplicity is everything.

Smoked And Barbequed Beef Brisket With Boulangere Potatoes And Green Beans.

More Anon.

Fresh Minestrone In A Baked Bread Bowl...

Digital Parsley.

This is a very simple idea that is very popular in the United States. It is often served with chowder and unfortunately not always well done. Too often it consists of a scooped out roll with soup poured into it and then served to the guest. More often than not the bread is cold. These are the reasons I would never order this in a restaurant.

At home however, it is a different story. Here I cut out all excess bread from the bowl. I then toasted it in the oven until it was crisp. Then I rubbed the interior of the bowl with a clove of garlic and finally added the soup and cheese. This was served with a small romaine salad with red wine and garlic vinaigrette and some anchovies. Delish.

Tip:

You can do this with most soups but they must be thick and hardy ( like me ) or they will quickly soak and collapse the bread.

take as much of the inside of the bread out as you can without making it too bare. Too much bread inside gets soggy.

All of this can be prepared in advance, kept warm and then assembled at the last minute.

So ladies: when your man comes in from work tired and grumpy. Make him happy, give him soup in a bread bowl.

Alder Smoked Salmon

In full cinemascope.

Shrimp, Sausage And Smoked Chicken Jambalaya

This is lacking in colour. I had no chopped parsley but it was excellent all the same.

Small Appetizer

Pickled beets, pickled eggs and grapeleaves with chicken liver stuffing.

Mesquite Smoked Shrimp And Greek Salad.

Cottage Pie Sharp Cheddar Cheese

Salmon Cakes, Shrimp And Spinach.

Salmon heads and tails $1.50.

Salmon cakes with shrimp: priceless.

This is Terry's recipe for fish cakes...very good.

I had some home made tartar sauce with this.

Poached salmon
White breadcrumbs
A little mayonnaise
Chopped onion and chopped red pepper
Salt and pepper

Mix salmon, breadcrumbs, onions and pepper
Add mayonnaise to taste
Add a little more breadcrumbs if too wet
Form into cakes and leave in ‘fridge to set.
Fry in a hot pan with some olive oil