Largeing it

With a large (but forgiving) audience for lunch today, I decided to cook a big cottage pie and an apple traybake.

No shepherds were harmed in the making of this meal

Cottage pie

At about 7 this morning I put 2 chopped onions, a kilo of lean steak mince, 4 chopped carrots, 3
tablespoons ketchup, 2 tablespoons soy sauce, an Oxo cube and one glass of water in the slow cooker on 'high'. I gave it a stir about an hour in to break up the mince a bit, but left it alone after that. At 11.30 I ladled most of it out into a big dish. The mince was a bit clumpy, but so well cooked by this time that a pat with the back of the ladle broke it up nicely. I added 10 mashed (small-medium) potatoes and a handful of grated cheese, before putting it into the oven for 40 minutes, until the top was light brown and the mince was bubbling up from under the potatoes. Served with easy-frozen-peas-y.

Bonus: There was enough mince left over to use as the base for another meal next week.

Apple Traybake

3 large cooking apples
juice of half a lemon
8oz butter, softened
10oz caster sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
12oz self-raising flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
demerara sugar to sprinkle on top

Pre-heat oven to 180/gas 4. Grease and line a baking tin measuring approx 27 x 20cm. Peel and slice the apples finely and pour the lemon juice over them. Meanwhile, place the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour and baking powder in a large bowl and mix until smooth. Spread half the mixture in the tin, top with half of the apples, and repeat. You could add handful of blackberries if you have them. Either way, sprinkle over some demerara sugar, and bake for about 45 minutes until golden and springy to the touch. Serve hot or warm, with something cold and creamy.

Tomato sauce and blackberry vodka...

Seeing red: Today's inspiration was some tomatoes and peppers going squishy in the fruit bowl and half a tin of chopped tomatoes in the fridge.  While I cooked, Jamie Oliver was talking about his new book of meals in 15 minutes, the proof of which was a toasted cheese sandwich cooked live on radio!

Soon to be tomato sauce

Tomato sauce

Chop a couple of onions and cook gently in some olive oil (mine was chilli oil) until transparent. Add a chopped pepper, chopped fresh tomatoes and a couple of cloves of crushed garlic, put the lid on the pan and let them cook on a very low heat for 5 or 10 minutes.  Add the tinned tomatoes and a teaspoon or 2 of sugar, give it a good stir, replace the lid and cook until the peppers are soft.  If it's looking a bit watery then take the lid off and let it cook a bit longer.  Blend thoroughly so that children cannot spot tomato seeds, chunks of actual vegetable or bits of skin.  Add herbs, ricotta or mascarpone, pieces of cooked bacon, prawns etc, as desired and stir through pasta.  It can also be used as a base for spaghetti bolognese if you are in the mood for meat.

I serve pasta with plenty of finely grated Grana Padano cheese - the same taste as Parmesan but made with skimmed milk, and slightly cheaper.  Win-win!

Last chance for blackberries

Depending on who you believe, blackberries can be picked until either the 1st or 10th October. Old wives will tell you that the devil spits (or wees) on them after this.  Be prepared to use them quickly, or put them straight in the freezer.  Handfuls of frozen blackberries are great for adding to crumbles and muffins - or use them in place of raspberries in any recipe.  Fresh fruit can be turned into jam, compote, or blackberry vodka.

Blackberry compote

Blackberries, sugar and a couple of squeezes of lemon cooked slowly in a pan until the fruit disintegrates.  Cool and serve with ice cream or yogurt.

Blackberry vodka

Put 600g blackberries and 200g caster sugar into a large bottle/jar and pour over 1 litre of cheap vodka. Shake it up a bit until the sugar starts dissolving, then put it in a cool dark place and shake once a week for the next 3 months.  Strain and re-bottle, chucking away the berries.  If you get it going this weekend you could be using it at Christmas - gifted in pretty bottles, swigged while you sweat over a large-breasted bird, or sloshed into Granny's Ribena...  And one of your 5-a-day too!

Pear and plum crumble

Yesterday's crumble - pear and plum - ready to eat when the juices have bubbled up over the edges of the crumble and the top is golden brown.