Scouse and a recipe

Being a bloke from Liverpool, I am called a scouser. Why? Well here goes…

Scouse was brought to Liverpool by Northern European sailors, it was originally called Labskause. This was finally shortened to Skause and over time the spelling changed to the more Anglicised version we have today, Scouse.
The people who ate Scouse were all generally sailors and their families and eventually all sailors within Liverpool were referred to as Scousers. Time has now taken its turn and everyone from the region of Liverpool is known as a Scouser.
Scouse holds a place in the heart of most Liverpudlian's as the taste of their hometown and is still regularly eaten today by a great number of families, including my own.
There are records showing that it was also served to the inmates of the Birkenhead workshouse way back in 1864. The recipe was much simpler then than today's refined version but was predominantly the same staple ingredients - meat, vegetables and potatoes.
Scouse can be ready made and kept for up to 2 days. Keep it covered in a refrigerator and reheat in a saucepan. Most people prefer the added depth of flavour that reheating adds.
Blind scouse was a variation on the above recipe and was eaten by the poorer people as it was cheaper to make because it did not contain meat.

Recipe

INGREDIENTS
Serves 4-6 people
Half a Pound of Stewing Steak
Half a Pound of Lambs Breast
A Large Onion
1lb of Carrots
5lb of Potatoes
2 Oxo Cubes
2 Teaspoons of Vegetable Oil
Worcester Sauce
Salt and Pepper
Water

HOW TO COOK
Takes 4 hours of slow cooking
Cut the meat into large cubes and fry in the vegetable oil until lightly browned all over. You may wish to add some Worcester Sauce at this point for added flavour.
Transfer the meat to a large saucepan and add the onion that should have been chopped into large chunks. Follow this by chopping the carrot into medallions and place this on the meat. Peel and then Finely dice 1lb of the potatoes and place on top of the carrots.
Fill the pan with cold water until it is half full. Break up the Oxo cubes and sprinkle into the water. Add salt and pepper for seasoning. Let the pan simmer gently, stirring occasionally. The large pieces of onion will start to break up and the potato will become soft and will make the final sauce thick.
Simmer for a total of two hours, then add the remaining potatoes that should have been peeled and roughly chopped, along with a few splashes of Worcester Sauce. Then simmer for another two hours.
Serve piping hot with red cabbage, beetroot, pickled onions and crusty bread. You may add Ketchup and HP for flavouring.

I Love a curry

I love a good curry, as does the Lady of the villa, and I am always trying out variations of my recipes. That is until recently.
I stumbled across, what I feel, is the best curry recipe sit on the Internet. A boast, I know, but, I have been using this site for a year now and I have yet to have a failure.
It cost a small, it is small, registration fee for all the recipes, but has a few taster recipes to try for free.
Can’t fault it. Cant recommend it more.
The site is www.curryhouse.co.uk

Fondant Potatoes

I am always on the lookout for new ways (well to me) of cooking potatoes. This is a brilliant recipe.

Ingredients

• 4 good potatoes
• 2 cloves garlic, just a bit smashed
• 2 or 3 of sprigs of thyme
• 150g (5oz) butter
• 75ml (3fl oz) chicken stock (you can use vegetable stock to make this recipe vegetarian)
• Sea salt flakes and black pepper

Method

1. Peel the potatoes, cut a flat top and bottom on your spud. Cut out a round of potato with a pastry cutter. Cut off the sharp corners to make a nice barrel shape.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan over a medium heat until it starts to foam. Place the potatoes in the pan and cook for about 5-6 minutes until golden on the bottom. When done turn over the potato and cook for the same time again.
3. Add the stock. Put in the crushed garlic clove and thyme sprigs, watch out for this exploding everywhere. Season well.
4. Cover and simmer gently until the potato is cooked. Keep warm.

Earl Grey Surprise

Years ago , longer than I can remember I gave up, like most people, sugar in my tea and coffee.
About 7 years ago I gave up milk, after I went on an Aid convoy to Belarus, were there was no milk due to the background and soil radiation from the Chernobyl disaster.
I found after much testing the best tea to have with no sugar or milk was Earl Grey. Whenever I wanted something stronger, especially in the afternoon I had Gin and tonic.
Now thanks to the Sunday Times Magazine and our best mate Susie Q we can have both.
Here is the Ingredients and recipe.

• 5 earl grey tea bags
• 4 tbsp sugar or to taste
• juice of 2 lemons
• 200ml gin.
   
  Brew the tea for 1 minute in 200ml of hot water then remove the bags, stir in sugar and add 500ml cold water. Cool in fridge or for speed add ice. Add lemon juice then 25ml gin per cup or to taste! This serves 8-10 cups!

Hurry up over Suzie Q, Hic

Gazpacho Soup

This is a brilliant soup for a hot day. If you cant chill it for a few hours or overnight add a few ice cubes. It’s much better cold.


8 Tomatoes or a large tin of Plum Tomatoes
2 Small Cucumbers
1 Clove of Garlic
1/2 Onion
2 Green Peppers
3 Spoons Olive Oil Vinegar, salt, pepper and water.
Cooking Instructions:
Apart from the above ingredients you need a blender. To prepare a good Gazpacho is a simple and quick job. First Clean and chop the vegetables. Then puree all ingredients in a blender.
Strain, discarding any vegetable pieces that did not puree fully.
The Gazpacho is best served cold. Drink a nice Spanish wine with your homemade Gazpacho to have the full Spanish experience!

Scouse Recipe

Being a Scouser I had to put up a Scouse recipe. Here is one we used on more than one occasion to keep us warm!

INGREDIENTS
Half a Pound of Stewing Steak
Half a Pound of Lambs Breast
A Large Onion
1lb of Carrots
5lb of Potatoes
2 Oxo Cubes
2 Teaspoons of Vegetable Oil
Worcester Sauce
Salt and Pepper
Water


HOW TO COOK

Takes 4 hours of slow cooking
Cut the meat into large cubes and fry in the vegetable oil until lightly browned all over. You may wish to add some Worcester sauce at this point for added flavour.
Transfer the meat to a large saucepan and add the onion that should have been chopped into large chunks. Follow this by chopping the carrot into medallions and place this on the meat. Peel and then finely dice 1lb of the potatoes and place on top of the carrots.
Fill the pan with cold water until it is half full. Break up the Oxo cubes and sprinkle into the water. Add salt and pepper for seasoning. Let the pan simmer gently, stirring occasionally. The large pieces of onion will start to break up and the potato will become soft and will make the final sauce thick.
Simmer for a total of two hours, and then add the remaining potatoes that should have been peeled and roughly chopped, along with a few splashes of Worcester sauce. Then simmer for another two hours.
Serve piping hot with red cabbage, beetroot, pickled onions and crusty bread. You may add Ketchup and HP sauce for flavouring.

Pitta Bread

Homemade Pitta Bread Recipe. Makes 8 pitta breads  

Ingredients.

300ml/10fl.oz. Warm Water
1 teaspoon Active Dry Yeast
350g/12oz Plain Flour
2 teaspoons Salt
2 teaspoons Olive Oil, plus a little extra
 

Instructions.
1. Place the warm water in a small bowl and sprinkle over the yeast and stir to dissolve.
2. Sift the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl then add the yeast mixture and olive oil and mix to a dough.
3. Turn onto a lightly floured work surface; knead for 5-8 minutes until smooth and elastic, then form into a ball and place in an oiled mixing bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave in a warm place for about 1 hour to rise until double the size.
4. Preheat oven to 220C, 425F, gas Mark 7. Turn the risen dough onto a work surface, divide into 8 pieces and form each piece into a ball. Cover them loosely with a piece of plastic wrap to keep the dough from drying out then roll each ball into tear shapes about 6mm/ ¼ -inch thick
5. Place onto ungreased baking sheets and bake for approximately 8 minutes until puffed and light brown. Cooking two at a time will prevent the rolled out pitas from drying out whilst you roll out two more.

The Curry House

Up until recently, well last November, I used various Indian Cookery books (Madhur Jaffrey, Anjum Anand etc). Then one day surfing the net I came across this site www.curryhouse.co.uk. It is in my opinion Brilliant.
There is a public area with a few recipes and a write up of the approach being adopted. For a small fee (I think £7.50) you can access the whole recipe "book". I say "book" but it is a series of pdf files each with a single recipe. It is a one-off cost and more and more recipes are added as they are perfected.
I have not had a failure yet and the Lady of the Villa says the curries have improved. Rare praise indeed from her ladyship!

AFELIA

I like cooking. The Lady of the Villa does not. So we are a matched pair. She thinks my signature dish is Afelia. If your interested here is the recipe.

Pork Afelia

2 to 4 servings

Ingredients

455 g pork tenderloin

180 ml red or white wine

30 ml olive oil

3 g coarsely crushed coriander seed

2 cloves of garlic peeled and crushed

salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Trim the pork and cut into chunks. Put in a glass dish or bowl

Pour over the olive oil, add the coriander seeds and the garlic and stir the pork until it is covered in the oil, coriander and garlic.

Put in the fridge for at least 2 hours the longer the better. Overnight is best.

Add the pork and the marinade to a heavy-based saucepan and "brown" or seal the meat..

Once the pork is browned (sealed) add the wine and cook on a high heat.

Bring the liquid to a boil; reduce heat and let it simmer.

When the meat is cooked, the liquid should be reduced and thick.

If it is too thin, remove the meat temporarily and reduce the sauce by raising the heat.

Serve on the top of boiled rice.

Give us our Bread

Once a week I make bread. Here is this weeks offering. Why four loaves? Because I only have 4 tins and under normal circumstances only myself and the Lady of the Villa are in residence and 4 loaves lasts the whole week. When friends and relatives arrive baking days increase to two or even three a week. The whole process takes about 3 hours including baking and waiting for the bread to rise.

Here is the recipe for 1 of the loaves in the picture.

Ingredients

200g/7oz whole milk, at room temperature
150ml/5½ fl oz water, at room temperature
2 tsp fresh yeast, crumbled
200g/7oz plain white flour
300g/10½oz strong white flour
1½ tsp fine sea salt
olive oil, for greasing
flour, for dusting

Method

1. Place the milk and water into a bowl. Add the yeast and whisk gently until dissolved.
2. Place the flours and salt into a clean bowl and mix together well.
3. Add the milk, water and yeast solution and mix together until it starts to come together as a sticky, cohesive dough, then cover and leave for 10 minutes.
4. Turn on to a lightly floured work surface and knead until the dough is smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes.
5. Put in a clean bowl and cover. Stand in a warm place for 1 hour to rise.
6. Shape each into a ball and leave, covered, on a flat, floured surface for five minutes.
7. Heat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas 7. Lightly grease a 1kg/2¼lb bread tin.
8. Turn each ball on to work surface and knead for 5-10 minutes.
9. Shape the dough into a long French sticks and place it onto a flour-dusted baking sheet OR shape the dough into loaf shape to fit the tin.
10. Cover with a clean tea towel and allow to rise back up again, about 15 minutes.
11. Bake in the oven until golden and risen, about 30-40 minutes.
12. The base of the loaf should sound hollow when you tap it. Turn on to a wire rack to cool.