CELERIAC REMOULADE

This on a menu, with a few thin slices of proper jamon, makes me squeal with glee. If there were space, I'd make a vat-load to fill jars for every corner of the fridge, and dip in and out when I pleased.

Celeriac remoulade wins for its true rooty flavour; no ingredient is lost even though tossed through buckets of spicy mustard and soused in tart lemon juice. It's a frugal combination and is easy to make. It is bed-friend to my favourite things: slather it on good bread; spoon it into a jacket potato and eat with baked beans (yes); gobble fork-free with piggy bits.  

CELERIAC REMOULADE

Serves 4-6

1 x 500g celeriac, peeled

olive oil, to drizzle

3 tbsp creme fraiche

1 tbsp grainy mustard

3 tbsp dijon mustard

juice of a lemon

freshly chopped parsley leaves, to serve

Coarsely grate the celeriac into a large bowl and drizzle with olive oil.

In another bowl, mix the creme fraiche with the mustards then stir through the lemon juice. Taste then season with salt and pepper as you see fit. Mix through the celeriac and, just as you are about to serve, toss with the chopped parsley.

Serve a handful on salty jamon and drizzle with a little olive oil.

ROAST CHICKEN

There's no fuss with this recipe just simple, amazing flavour. Sage, lemon, butter, garlic. Oh, and a cracking gravy.

My nostrils are tickling. Let's have some chicken. 

MY FAVOURITE ROAST CHICKEN

serves 4-6

30g butter, softened

2 cloves garlic

1.5kg free-range chicken, giblets removed, room temperature

6 sage leaves

1/2 lemon

olive oil, for drizzling

1/2 tsp plain flour 

100ml white wine

200ml chicken stock or hot water

Preheat the oven to 200C/fan180C/gas 6. 

Mix the butter with the garlic in a bowl and season. Place the chicken on a roasting tray and loosen the skin from the neck. Gently push your fingers up and under the skin, taking care not to tear it. Slide up the softened butter and massage the skin to spread the butter across the breast. Then, slide the sage leave so that they sit flattened between the butter and flesh. When the skin crisps, the sage leaves will to. Tuck the skin under the bird.

Press the lemon into the chicken cavity. Drizzle the bird with olive oil and season with sea salt flakes. 

Put the chicken in the oven and roast at the high oven temperature for 10 minutes. Turn the oven down to 180C/fan160C/gas 4, roasting for a further 50 minutes until the juices from the chicken run clear.
Transfer the chook to a large board. Leave the chicken to rest, loosely covered with foil, while you make the gravy.

Pour the juices from the roasting tin into a small pan with the flour. Whisk the juices so the flour is soaked up, then add the wine. Turn up the heat and boil for 2 minutes before adding the stock/water. Simmer for 5 minutes, strain and serve. Perfect with mashed potato and buttery carrots. 

GUINEA FOWL DUMPLINGS

I'm crazed over little wanton wrappers and, despite having to queue through the back door of Loon Fung for them, they're within (quite) easy reach for a last minute supper, or sneaky dim sum in the middle of the day.  You can even cook them in the office microwave.

They're a great vehicle for leftovers - the weekend's roast, a couple of raw prawns that need cooking, shrinking vegetables, or stray rice noodles at the bottom of the packet.

For this recipe I used leftover stuffed guinea fowl made by my darling housemate - all hard work done. Make sure you have always have fish sauce, sesame oil and rice wine vinegar on hand and you're away. Peel the wrapper, fill it, crimp it, steam it, dip it and pop it in.

 ASIAN-STYLE BROTH WITH GUINEA FOWL DUMPLINGS

SERVES 2

ingredients

FOR THE DUMPLINGS

150g leftover guinea fowl, roughly chopped

2 tsp sesame oil

1 tsp fish sauce

1/2 tsp rice wine vinegar

1 spring onion

10 wanton wrappers

FOR THE BROTH 

750ml guinea fowl stock (or chicken)

3 tbsp fish sauce

1 tbsp mirin rice wine

1 tbsp soy sauce

2 star anise

thumb-sized knob of ginger, peeled and finely sliced

1 red chilli, finely sliced at an angle, extra to serve (optional).

5 shitake mushroom, sliced

3 spring onions

Place all the dumpling ingredients in a food processor, and blitz to a rough paste. Transfer to a small bowl, cover and set aside.

Heat the guinea fowl stock in a medium-sized saucepan over a medium heat. Add the fish sauce, rice wine and soy sauce and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and add the star anise and chilli. Cook on a low simmer for 10 minutes so all flavours can infuse.

Meanwhile, assemble the dumplings. Lay a dumpling wrapper in the palm of your hand and place a heaped teaspoon of the mixture in the centre. Fold up the sides around the filling to form a flower shape. Press to hold, using a little water to bind if necessary. Place on a lightly floured and continue until all the mixture has been used.

Drop the dumplings into the simmering broth along with the shitake mushrooms and cook for two minutes until the pastry is soft and they are hot all the way through. Ladle the broth into two bowls and divide up the dumplings. Scatter with the spring onions and the extra red chilli. Serve with a cold beer and extra soy sauce. 

AUTUMN COLESLAW

I adore this dish. The colour kicks us straight into autumn - bright pink and vibrant. It keeps to all the promises of a perfectly constructed salad: sweet crunch from the roots, creaminess from the yoghurt, citrus to cut through, a light nuttiness and a well-balanced freshness from the herbs.

It works wonderfully well alongside meat, hot or cold - a classic pulled pork, leftover roast ham or crispy chicken wings - or seasonal fruits - pears, apples or plums.

I could eat this for every meal. Even breakfast.

BEETROOT, CELERIAC & CABBAGE COLESLAW

serves 8

ingredients

1/2 white cabbage

1/2 celeriac, peeled and grated

3 small beetroot, peeled and grated

finely grated zest and juice 1 large lemon

2 tbsps greek yoghurt

sesame seeds to garnish, optional

large handful mint, finely shredded

large handful coriander, finely chopped

olive oil to dress

Add the grated beetroot to a large bowl (not the one you are going to serve the coleslaw from). Finely shred the white cabbage, discarding the tough core and slicing up any large pieces, and add to the beetroot with the celeriac. Add the lemon zest and juice, and lightly toss - you want to avoid over tossing the beetroot at this stage as it will stain the other vegetables.

Keep covered in the fridge until you are ready to eat it. Just before serving, stir through the yoghurt so that it is evenly distributed. Move to a clean bowl, then dress with the sesame seeds, mint and coriander. Drizzle, generously, with olive oil.

* If you are not going to eat all of the coleslaw, leave aside some of the salad after adding the lemon juice. Any leftovers can keep for up to three days or can be cooked up as an autumn gratin. Butter an oven-proof dish and pour in the lemony root vegetable mix. Pour over cream, season, grate with parmesan and bake for 25 minutes in a hot oven (200°C/fan180°C/gas 6). Heaven.

MAC AND CHEESE

I love cooking mac and cheese in disposable tin trays. They look like something you'd pick up from the school canteen, (Mrs Wiggins don't do china), serving up no-frills nursery food in no-frills containers. It puts macaroni cheese in its rightful place as stodgy, cheesy, creamy comfort food. Nowt fancy, like. Just (unbelievably) tasty.

I've gone a little off track with this recipe - leeks, ham and tarragon (ooh er), and tortiglioni in place of macaroni - but a good 'old fashioned' you can't beat.

LEEK, HAM AND TARRAGON MAC AND CHEESE

serves a very greedy 2 - a polite 4 

ingredients

200g tortiglioni or penne (or any old tube)

100g unsalted butter

1 large leek

250g smoked ham

150g flour

500ml milk (whole or semi)

200g mature cheddar, grated, and extra for the crust

salt, pepper 

handful tarragon leaves, roughly chopped

two tin trays (roughly 20x10cm)

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and add the pasta. Cook til al dente and drain. Refresh under cold water and set aside.

Melt 25g of the butter in a small sauce and throw in the leeks. Cook over a low heat with a lid for 10 minutes so the leeks become soft and buttery. Add the ham and a pinch of salt and pour the mixture into a bowl. Set aside.

Melt the rest of the butter in the leek pan. Add the flour and set over a low heat. Fry the flour and butter for a minute or two so the gluten can develop. Add the milk a little at a time or each time the sauce thickens, and stir constantly. This should take around 5-7 minutes

When the sauce is glossy, and creamy, add the cheese, salt and pepper.

When the cheese has melted, stir in the leek mixture and the tarragon. Taste the sauce and add a little more salt if necessary.

Combine the pasta with the sauce and divide between the two tins. Ideally, you want a generous amount of sauce to pasta.

Grate the extra cheese over each dish and place in the oven for 15 minutes to crisp up.

Best served with a mustardy salad and a dollop of ketchup.

Peas are a good veggie replacement for the ham. Throw them in as you add the tarrgon.

Ding-a-ling. Back to class.

EASY PLUMS

Got some plums from Portobello market last week; 10 juicy, round, purple little devils for a mere £1. Shared them round, oohed and aahed and took the rest home.

I would have finished them all that day had it not been for the last minute decision to escape London for the weekend. The lovely plums were left lonely and neglected in my empty and dark flat and, out of spite, turned tasteless and over-ripe in time for my return.

It's not in me to throw things away without trying to revive them first, so with a mind on recycling, I breathed a heavy kiss of life into the wrinkly old dears, dolloped on a knob of butter and drizzled them with honey for an under-the-grill, Nigella-style evening snack. The skins slid off to reveal a vibrant contrast of October colours, crumpling into rose-shaped hats.

This works with any old fruit, literally. And with a spoonful of creme fraiche, alongside cheescake for a real pud, or on porridge the next morning, you'll never throw anything away ever again.

5 over-ready plums.

Cut in half.

De-stone.

Drizzle with two tablespoons of honey.

Small knob of butter to replace the stone.

Under a hot grill for 10 minutes.

Serve and eat. Cold or hot. Easy as plum.

WASTE NOT WANT NOT.

Having a fridge full of leftovers is my fortnightly joy. It is the only time you can scrape the mould off the yogurt and no-one knows the difference. The stew has lost its freshness but tastes better than it did the first time. The wrinkly apples are screaming to be put into a crumble. The stale bread in the bread bin looks the perfect friend to welsh rarebit or pappa al pomodoro. And the old cheese is at its best.

Leftovers let you be frugal yet still generous. Using them up makes you environmentally friendly without giving it a thought. And, best yet, you can be as creative as possible. And who will mind if it goes wrong? It would have only gone in the bin.

So it's time to give the old dears a second chance...

This weeks fresh(ish) leftovers are as follows:
Half a Roast Chicken, Eaten yesterday, Taken off the Bone (approx. 300g)
Stock made from the Bones
1 Rasher of Smoked Bacon
Last Batch of Homemade Yogurt
Broccoli
Three Boiled New Potatoes
1 Browning Banana
Half a Mango

And here are the old pots in the fridge that should have been used a LOOOONG time ago:
Harissa Paste
Tom Yum Soup Paste
Very Lazy Red Chillies
Thai Green Curry Paste
1 Scraping of Pesto

I'm going to try to whip as much of a dîner délicieux as I can using as many as these as possible - the fridge has been rather kind this week, I must admit. So that means the bacon and pesto will have to be left til tomorrow's sarnie, and the Harissa should probably be thrown.

So, who's for giving some life to a Thai chicken curry?

No coconut milk, you squeal? No rice? Rice we have. There is always rice. Coconut milk is also something that must always be in the larder. NEVER let it run out. Leftovers NEED coconut milk.

Curry is a great one for using up what you've got and need to get rid of. It's in the same category as soup: chuck it all in and boil it up. (But do check the sell by date just in case. Most of the time it's there for a reason).

LEFTOVER GREEN THAI CHICKEN CURRYSERVES 3

300g torn chicken
1 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsps green curry paste
1 450g tin of coconut milk
1 ladle of chicken stock
2 scantily chopped shallots
2 broccoli stalks, broken into smaller trees
1 tsp very lazy red chillies.
3 cooked, chopped new potatoes
half mango, sliced
three large tablespoons of natural yogurt - homemade
200g dry basmati rice

sliced banana

Warm up some olive oil, stir fry oil or sunflower oil (see what you've got) in a heavy based pan or wok. Throw in two tbsps of green curry paste, and fry for about 2 minutes, with regular stirring. Now, add the coconut milk and stock.

Make sure the chicken is skin-free and torn into medium sized strips. Add to the coconut mix. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes(If you are using raw chicken, bring to the boil and simmer for 30 minutes until the chicken is cooked through).

Add the broccoli.

Boil a pan of water and cook the rice - cooking times vary so check the packet.

Add the red chilli.

Once the broccoli is cooked, throw in the chopped new potatoes to the curry - if they are already cooked they only need a short simmer to heat up, and they are lovely in their original new potato (or old in this case) form.

Add the mango to sweeten it up - it works deliciously with chicken.

Once the rice is cooked, drain and serve in a large bowl. Ladle the curry over the rice. If you have lime, use it. Give it a good squeeze over the curry. Serve with chopped banana - trust me it's good. Dollop the leftover yogurt on top and devour.

Can't wait until next fortnight's luxury leftover load!

MUM'S SIGNATURE DISH

POACHED EGG ON LEEKY MASHED POTATO W/ HONEY ROAST SALMON.

GIVE OR TAKE? SECONDO PIATTO.

New Year's Resolution Time.

I usually work my way around this one very well. My annual motto is TAKE UP, don't give up. It's much easier this way and has a rather virtuous ring to it I think.
My favourite one this year is verging on experimental, and may force me to give up more than I take up... I want to step outside the box, I want to explore the new, I want to make my tastebuds tingle. For 52 weeks, I aim to buy something new to fill the kitchen store cupboard, so that when it's just a few grains of rice and some shriveled peas left, there will always be something to make it interesting.

This week, I have bought something for my Last Supper's second course.

Again, taking inspiration from the comment board, I drove three treacherous miles through melted snow and cold rain to buy two small, dark, succulent pigeon breasts from the local farm shop. These delicate morsels had never found their way into my stomach so it was about time that they did.
Mrs Beeton, who has a wonderful selection of pigeon sketches and recipes in her book 'Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management', says good things about these wee feathered creatures, and after last night's supper, I have to agree with her:

'Their flesh is accounted savoury, delicate, and stimulating, and the dark-coloured birds are considered to have the highest flavour'.

So I'd like to introduce, without further ado,
THE MAIN


pigeon breast wrapped in bacon served with dauphinoise potatoes and 2 1/2 hour red cabbage.

Taking example from Islamack's suggestion, I think this one is a corker. Lots of rich colours and deep flavours. The sweetness of the cabbage complements the gamey pigeon, and the creamy potatoes are mouthwateringly good.

I love this ensemble: You can prepare the veg, stick them in the oven, leave them for a couple of hours and then come back last minute, perhaps at the end of the starter, to finish the pigeon.

SERVES 8

THE CABBAGE

1kg red cabbage
2 red onions,finely chopped
2 apples, finely chopped 1 garlic clove, finely chopped
heaped teaspoon of Quatre Espice
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
3 tablespoons white wine/red wine vinegar 15g butter
salt and pepper.

This is so hassle free - just prepare all the ingredients and throw them in a casserole and leave to sweat for 2 to 2 1/2 hours at 150˚C so that the cabbage is soft and the flavours have all infused. It becomes the most beautiful bright purple colour and the aroma is fantastic.

WHEN THESE ARE IN YOU CAN START ON THE DAUPHINOISE.

THE POTATOES

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
30g butter
1.5kg potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
300ml creme fraiche
600ml double cream
salt and pepper

Gently melt the butter and garlic in a saucepan on a very low heat. You don't want the garlic to brown but just release its flavour into the butter. Grease a large oven proof dish. Peel and thinly slice the potatoes and layer them into the dish. Mix the cream and creme fraiche together and stir in the cream mixture, adding salt and pepper, and perhaps nutmeg if desired. Pour over the layered potatoes and put into the overn at 200˚C for 1 1/2 hours. When done the potatoes should be soft and the top crispy and brown.

HERE YOU CAN RELAX FOR AN HOUR OR SO.

THE PIGEON

8 fresh pigeon breasts (or 16 if you want to serve two each)
8-16 rashers of bacon
tablespoon of olive oil
salt and pepper
tin foil

Twenty minutes before the potatoes and cabbage are due to come out, put a frying pan with olive oil on to a high heat. When the oil is very hot, place the breasts in around the edge of the pan so they all cook equally, making a note of the one you put in first. Flash fry for a minute on each side, then remove from the pan. Now, wrap each breast in bacon, before putting it onto tin foil. Season with olive oil, salt and pepper and wrap the breast in tin foil. Place in the oven with the potatoes and cook for 10-15 minutes. Check them to see how fast they are cooking. The end result should be pink and tender, so that it almost melts in the mouth, and the bacon cooked through.

NOW SERVE.

We put a little of The Garlic Farm's Rhubarb and Pear Chutney which went very well with everything on the plate.

A delicious meal - and an ingredient I will definitely take up again in the future.

Bon appetit!

...I'm heading to Somerset for the weekend, where I shall be mulling over my Pudding choice so, while you digest, prepare yourselves for a fabulous third course!

GOOD OL' TRUSTY SOUP

Horrah! Mumsoup has exceeded all expectations. Even Gordon Ramsay thinks it's OK.

Having got the results back from the Times Online Recipe Exchange competition my family soup has got a place in the 21 most highly commended entries. To say the least, I am proud of this chunky blend of vegetables and lentils. Thank you to my mum, her mum and her mum for passing down such goodness.





There is no stopping this soup. It is just so eager to be eaten.

To see Mumsoup in all its glory, as it deserves, http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/recipes/recipeexchange/article6389911.ece

and the rest of the 21 most highly commended recipes from the Recipe Exchange go to

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/recipes/recipeexchange/article6388749.ece

I like the sound of Giles V's Rhubarb and fig jam. I think I would eat the whole lot too...