Sausage, Bacon and Black Pudding Terrine

I came up with this idea for those of us who love an occasional treat of a Full English breakfast, but who just can’t face all the cooking and frying on a Sunday morning, not to mention all the washing up afterwards! 

Just prepare and cook this terrine on a Saturday afternoon, leave to cool and slice up ready for the morning.  Leftovers can be frozen and simply need defrosting before reheating on a griddle when you want a good breakfast. 

All you need with this are some grilled tomatoes, maybe a fried or scrambled egg and a piece of toast. 

I used : 

1 ½ x 450g packs of Cumberland sausages

250g whole black sausage (cut to fit your tin)

10 medium thickness rashers of bacon 

2lb loaf tin

 

Firstly line your loaf tin with the rashers (slices) of bacon, overlapping one another and overhanging the sides of the loaf tin. 

Skin the sausages and place in a basin, season to taste with a little salt and black pepper (and some fresh sage if you have some to hand), and then mix to form a large ball of sausage meat. 

Take half of the sausage meat and layer in the bottom of the loaf tin, on top of the bacon.  Cut the black pudding to fit your loaf tin and place that on top of the bottom layer of sausage meat.  Take the remainder of the sausage meat and form it around, and on top of the black pudding, encasing it completely. 

Finally, fold over the overhanging bacon to cover the sausage meat. 

Bake at 190^oC  / 375^oF  /  gas mark 5 for 45 minutes.  Turn out of the loaf tin and place on an oven proof plate or tray and pop back into the oven to brown the sides and (now) top of the terrine.

 

You can eat it straight away, or you can leave to cool and slice up, reheating in a griddle pan, under the grill or in the oven when you are ready.

 

Stifado

Another of my Greek favourites!  We used to order this lovely stew in Corfu, and I have some very happy memories of that holiday so I had to recreate it at home. 

This is another simple assembly job on these hot summer days. 

 

If weather is more favourable to standing at the hob then by all means brown the shallots and beef before continuing.  

For two of us I used : 

1 ½ lb diced casserole beef

7 or 8 medium shallots

4 large cloves of garlic

1tb olive oil

1 generous sprig of rosemary, and the same of fresh oregano or marjoram

2 bay leaves

1 x 450g tin chopped plum tomatoes

1tb tomato puree

½ bottle of red wine

Salt and pepper to taste 

Simply add the olive oil to a medium casserole, peel the shallots and garlic cloves and add whole to the pan, add the diced beef and chopped herbs.  Give everything a stir and then add the tomatoes, tomato puree and red wine, season to taste and pop a lid on the pan. 

Pop into the oven and leave to cook quietly.  I cooked mine at 150^oC / 275 ^o F / gas mark 2 for 3 hours.

 

Serve with chips (French fries) or sauté potatoes,with a Greek salad on the side.  Some crusty bread for mopping up the lovely sauce wouldn’t go amiss either!

 

 

 

* if you have some black olives to hand, a few of those added before cooking makes a nice addition too.

 

Kleftiko

Continuing the Greek theme, and because it’s simply too hot to be cooking at the moment I thought I’d share this little beauty with you. 

It does need two and a half hours in the oven, but you aren’t required to spend any time at the hob before it goes in!  This is nothing more than an assembly job. 

The recipe given below will serve two, with lots of crusty bread on the side, but you can very easily adjust the quantities to serve more.  You could replace the diced lamb with lamb chops, lamb steaks, lamb shanks or even a whole leg or shoulder depending on the numbers you want to feed.  It’s perfect one pot cooking and will happily cook away quietly leaving you to enjoy the sunshine and the company! 

For two of us I used : 

1tb diced lamb

8 baby new potatoes (two large ones would do too)

4 cloves of garlic

Sprigs of mint, marjoram and rosemary

¼ pint of lamb stock

½ lemon

Salt and pepper to taste

1tb olive oil

In a medium casserole add the olive oil, lamb, baby potatoes and whole peeled garlic cloves.  Season to taste with salt and pepper. 

Either finely chop the rosemary and mint or, pop the large mint leaves and rosemary in a muslin square and tie into a little package.  Bruise the little parcel before adding it to the pan if you do this.  Add the leaves of marjoram and the small mint leaves. 

Halve the lemon and gently squeeze some of the juice from one half over the meat mixture, quarter it and add to the casserole.  Pour over the stock and stir well to combine. 

Cover with a lid and pop into the oven and leave to cook quietly until the lamb is cooked and falling apart.  I cooked mine at 150^oC / 275 ^o F / gas mark 2 for 2 ½ hours, uncovering for the last half an hour.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

note : the lemon flavour is quite strong so omit the quarters if you prefer a less lemony flavour.  There will be pips in the finished dish, so take care when eating.

 

Tzatziki

The recent hot spell, and swim in the sea has reminded me of happy holidays taken in the Med many years ago (when weather like this was commonplace!); and in particular two very happy holidays spent in Greece.  Sidari in Corfu, and Hanioti in Halkidiki specifically! 

For lunch we would take off for the shops and pick up a loaf of fresh bread, a lump of Feta cheese and a big pot of tzatziki.  The four of us would then tear into the bread and cheese and slather it with tzatziki. 

For a recent beach visit I couldn’t resist whipping up a batch of tzatziki for our picnic! 

For two to four people : 

200g Greek yoghurt (I like Total best)

2tb  extra virgin olive oil

1tsp white wine vinegar

2 cloves of garlic, very finely chopped

1” of cucumber, deseeded and diced small

Generous sprig of mint, chopped

Black pepper to taste 

This really couldn’t be simpler, simply whisk the oil and vinegar into the yoghurt, season to taste with black pepper, add the garlic, cucumber, mint and stir well together.  Set aside for half an hour or so for the flavours to develop. 

Serve with warm crusty bread for dipping, and feta cheese on the side. 

Best enjoyed in glorious sunshine, with maybe a bottle of Retsina on the side!

Linguine with Bacon, Parsley and Garlic Oil

I cannot claim any authenticity for this recipe, it must be in almost every cookbook ever written.  Nonetheless, I thought it was worth sharing with you all because it is simply so quick and easy to put together, and absolutely delicious! 

Hubby is off playing cricket today so I was looking for something low effort.  It is much too sunny and warm to be spending time in the kitchen! 

 

 

 

 

 

For two people you need : 

200g linguine or spaghetti

6 rashers of bacon (smoked preferably)

1 tb or so of chopped flatleaf parsley

1tsp garlic olive oil 

Cook the pasta according to packet directions. 

While the pasta is cooking, slice up the bacon into strips and brown gently in the olive oil.  Wash and chop the parsley. 

When the pasta is cooked, drain and return to the pan, then add the contents of the bacon pan.  Add another drizzle of garlic oil if needed.  Add the parsley and mix everything together. 

Season with ground black pepper and an avalanche of grated parmesan cheese.

Holly's First Year

This is the little sweetheart who’s been taking up all of my time these last several months! 

Holly came to us in August last year, at nine weeks of age.  The months since have been occasionally chaotic, very rarely frustrating, frequently funny and always rewarding.  The time I’ve spent buried in dog training, dog behaviour and dog psych books has paid off in spades.  At almost a year old, Holly is a delight.  Full of beans and with a huge personality, she is constantly entertaining and can be playful yet  still gentle.  My 89 year old father adores her, and she him.  She is incredibly gentle and patient with him and loves nothing more than to sit at his side. 

The biggest, and most unexpected bonus, to having Holly join the household is the amount of time we’ve been spending at the beach.  I have long maintained that I have mermaid blood, and Holly was born within earshot of the waves; an afternoon at the beach is the perfect excursion for both of us.  Throughout the winter months there weren’t many weeks where we didn’t pay a visit to the coast.  On one or two occasions these were very fleeting visits, but we got there nonetheless! 

Life around the old homestead has changed significantly too.  From being quite houseproud, I can now often be seen sitting with a cuppa while chaos reigns around me.  My motto these days is “it’s a house where a dog lives”!!  It only takes five minutes to do a quick tidy up, and another five with the vacuum cleaner to restore some order! Holly favours an outside feel to the living room so I am constantly picking up bits of stick, leaves, moss and occasionally muddy grassy clumps where she’s strewn them around.   

The best part of my day now are our walks.  It’s come as quite a surprise how bonding these walks are.  We wander along with me encouraging and praising her while she’s on the lead, calling her and keeping her close-by when she’s off the lead and playing with her when we get to the field.  Despite the mess it makes, and the time it takes to clean her off afterwards; watching her splashing and racing through muddy puddles and getting filthy just reduces me to laughter.  The look of utter joy and delight on her face is impossible to deny! 

The winter months brought their own joys for Holly; Autumn leaves to be chased along, and brought inside endlessly!  For one glorious week in January we had snow.  Proper snow, disruptive snow, drifts of snow, the snow I remember from my childhood.  Holly LOVED it!  I would find her lying outside, flat out on the snow all day, and all night if I’d let her!  She used to love running and jumping through it, catching snowballs and looking to see where they’d disappeared to, but most of all rolling and rolling around in it, making snow dogs!  Another bonus to the winter months were cosy early nights.  Holly and I would often take off for an early night, she curled up asleep at my side, I with my nose buried in a book!

 

At nearly a year old now she is pretty much fully grown, and is a lovely petite little lady.  She has a beautiful fine coat, with white ‘angels wings’ on her shoulders, white pants and mane.  She has a lovely sweet nature, loving and gentle, she is still full of mischief from time to time and has a huge personality.  For all of that, she is incredibly well behaved and loves to please. 

We’ve been on an incredible journey over the last ten months, and I have loved every minute of it.  Life now is very, very different – but I wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

 

 

 

Holly my darling, here’s to many, many, many more years of chaos xxx

 

 

 

Tuna and Pasta Salad

Almost unbelievably, I’ve managed to get my puppy addled brain into gear, stumble into the kitchen and cook up a new recipe to share with you! 

Waking to a surprisingly warm and summery morning, I wanted something nice, light and summery for lunch.  This tuna and pasta salad fit the bill perfectly. 

It’s based around a recipe from the lovely Bill Grainger, but adjusted to suit my tastes, and what I had to hand at such short notice this morning!  This is a lovely flexible dish, and you can add whatever you have to hand, or whatever you want to.  You can increase or decrease the quantities, depending on how many you are feeding.  It also makes a lovely working lunch; made the evening before, popped into a plastic box and stored in the fridge at work until lunchtime. 

For two of us, this was what I used : 

1 small tin of tuna

1 ripe tomato

3 small spring onions

Zest and juice of a lemon

Appx 1tb of chopped flatleaf parsley

Ground black pepper to taste

½ tb of extra virgin olive oil

120g of penne pasta (or whatever you have to hand).

 

First drain the tuna and tip into a bowl.  Deseed and slice up the tomato and add to the tuna, cut the spring onions into generous pieces, grate the zest of the lemon and then the chopped parsley.  Add the lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil, season to taste and give everything a good stir and set aside. 

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the packet.  Drain and add to the pasta.  Combine everything well and serve.