Measuring rice. Top Tip.

A top tip for measuring rice.

I don't know about anyone else but I can never seem to get the portions right when I am cooking rice. A friend has now informed me of the simple fact that uncooked rice trebles in weight when it is cooked. So, find a dish or a cup that holds the perfect amount of cooked rice for you and fill it half full with uncooked rice.

Buttered cucumber recipe.

If you grow your own vegetables, such as cucumbers you will know that sometimes they can get away from you. I don't mean that they run away to join a circus or anything like that, just that sometimes if you don't pick them quickly enough they can get a little too big and tough to eat in a salad. I have also found cucumbers on sale cheap because they are too big or an odd shape. This recipe for buttered cucumber is a great way to use up all those poor sad specimens.

INGREDIENTS.
2 Large cucumbers, peeled and cut into chunks.
3oz butter, or vegan spread.
Salt and pepper to taste.
3tbs lemon juice.
1 small bunch fresh parsley chopped.

METHOD.
Place the cucumber into a large pan of boiling water and cook for two minutes. Drain over a bowl. Heat the butter in a large frying pan or wok, add the salt and pepper and then toss in the drained cucumber chunks. Cook for five minutes, stirring regularly until the cucumber has browned. Add the lemon juice and cook for a further one minute, serve garnished with the parsley. This makes a great side dish or an unusual vegetable for a main meal.

How to make perfect Yorkshire puddings.

Sunday lunch in our house just wouldn't be complete without Yorkshire puddings. This recipe and method will allow you to make perfect Yorkshire puddings everytime.This amount will serve four people.

INGREDIENTS.
4oz flour.
1 large egg, beaten.
10fl.oz milk.
Salt and white pepper.
1 tbs vegetable oil.

METHOD.
Sift the flour to remove any lumps and add some salt and white pepper. Stir in the beaten egg and half of the milk. Using an electric mixer or hand whisk beat this mixture together for ten minutes. Add the remaining milk and set aside for thirty minutes.

In a yorkshire pudding tray, either one large or twelve individual, heat the oil in a hot oven, around 220c. Remove from the oven and pour in the batter, return to the oven and cook for forty five minutes or until risen and golden brown. Individual ones will take less time, so keep your eye on them.

Baked stuffed onions recipe.

This is a great recipe that uses up leftover cheese and day old bread.

Any cheese will do for this recipe, if you use a soft cheese like feta just crumble it instead of grating.

This can be adapted for vegans by using olive oil instead of butter and replacing the cheese with quorn mince or some diced aubergine or courgette.



INGREDIENTS

4 Large Spanish onions.
4 oz fresh brown breadcrumbs.
1 oz fresh, chopped herbs.
8 oz chopped mushrooms.
2oz chopped walnuts.
3oz melted butter.
2 oz grated cheese.
Salt and pepper to taste.

METHOD.

Peel the onions and then boil them in a large pan filled with salted water for around thirty minutes or until they are tender. Drain and leave them to cool. Mix together the breadcrumbs, half the cheese, chopped herbs, mushrooms, walnuts, half of the melted butter and season to taste. Remove the centre of the onions and chop them up before adding them to the stuffing mixture.

Take a large shallow ovenproof dish, a lasagne dish is perfect, butter the dish using some of the remaining melted butter. Place the onion shells into the dish and spoon the stuffing mixture into them. Top with the remaining grated cheese. Baste with the left over butter and cook for thirty minutes in a moderate oven. Serve with a green salad for a light lunch or supper dish or as a main course with vegetables.

Vegetable stew recipe.

Nothing beats a great tasting vegetable stew. It's healthy, filling and cheap and easy to make. Meat eaters will enjoy this stew as much as vegetarians and I doubt they would even notice the loss of meat. The quantities given here will serve four people, more if you serve it with dumplings too.


INGREDIENTS.

4 large carrots, peeled and diced.
1 large white onion, peeled and diced.
2 large leeks, trimmed, washed and sliced.
3 parsnips, peeled and diced.
1 large swede, peeled and diced.
5 large potatoes, peeled and diced.
1 cup no soak red lentils.
2 pints water or vegetable stock.
Salt and pepper to taste.

METHOD.

Heat a little oil in a large, heavy based saucepan and fry the onions and leeks until they are softened but not browned. Add the water or stock,parsnips,swede and carrots. Stir well, bring to the boil and simmer for thirty minutes. Add the potatoes and cook for a further fifteen minutes.

Stir again, season to taste and then add the no soak red lentils. Be sure to get the no soak kind as the others need to be soaked overnight or you will end up VERY unwell. Cook over a low heat for a further forty minutes or until the lentils are cooked and soft. Serve hot with crusty bread. Any leftover stew will keep until the next day in the fridge, place in a pan and heat through slowly.

If you want to serve dumplings with this stew then follow this recipe.

INGREDIENTS.
2 Cups of vegetable suet.
2 Cups of self raising flour.
Salt and pepper to taste.
2 tsp dried mixed herbs.
Water to mix.

METHOD.
Mix the dry ingredients together, then make into a soft dough with the water, form into small balls using floured hands and drop into the stew for the final twenty minutes of cooking. You will need to put a lid on the pan to allow these dumpling to steam.

How to make perfect poached eggs.

Poached eggs are one of those things that seem really simple to make but can go really wrong. I have undercooked them and ended up with white and yellow slime on toast and overcooked them ending up with an inedible hockey puck on my plate. This method for poaching eggs is pretty much fool proof, I should know, even I can make perfect poached eggs when I cook them this way.

Don't use too big a saucepan, half fill with water and a splash of vinegar, white if you have it but any vinegar will do, and bring it to a rolling boil, this means a constant boil without the water boiling over. Next put the eggs you are going to poach into the water still in their shells for thirty seconds and then fish them out. Crack the eggs, which will have set a tiny bit inside,into a cup and then float them into the boiling water. Poach for three minutes for a soft poached egg and an extra minute for a harder set. Remove the poached eggs from the water using a slotted spoon, drain and then serve on hot buttered toast.

Rhubarb cobbler recipe.

I love rhubarb, it is such a wonderful looking fruit.

It can be very tart so it does need quite a bit of sugar and or honey to sweeten it. This rhubarb cobbler is one of the best tasting desserts I've found.

INGREDIENTS.

2 lbs rhubarb.
6 oz sugar.
2 tsp honey.
6 oz white flour.
1 tsp baking powder.
2 oz butter.
8 fl oz milk.
Pinch of salt.

METHOD.

Pre heat the oven to 180c. Wash, peel and cut the rhurbarb into two inch chunks.Put the rhubarb, honey and half of the sugar into a saucepan with a little water.Bring to the boil and then simmer for ten minutes.Add a tsp of flour to the rhubarb and stir well to thicken it a little.Pour into a shallow ovenproof dish.

Mix the flour with the rest of the sugar, the salt and the baking powder. Rub in the softened butter until it looks like breadcrumbs. Stir in the milk to make a dough. Take a large wooden spoon and drop spoonfuls of this mixture onto the rhubarb leaving a few small gaps. Bake for twenty five minutes or until the cobbler has turned golden brown. Serve with ice cream, cream or custard.