Hobgoblin Casserole

This is nothing more than beef in beer; I named this after my favourite ale to make it with!  You could use any good beer, I just prefer the Wychwood Hobgoblin.  Wychwood’s Goliath is another very good one, or you could try one of the Black Sheep ales which are very good.

This is a bit of a cheat’s recipe in that I cut out quite a few corners because of time pressures.  With the flavour of the ale and the long slow cooking it makes little difference to the finished dish though! 




 

For two people : 

1 large onion, peeled and diced

1 large carrot, peeled and diced

½ lb of stewing beef

4 large mushrooms, cleaned and sliced thickly

1 sprig of rosemary washed and finely chopped

1tb Worcestershire sauce

1tb tomato puree

1tb flour

1 bottle of good ale/beer

Salt and pepper to taste 

Gently cook the onion and carrot in 1tb of olive oil for a few minutes, while you chop the rosemary. 

Add the beef to the onion and carrot and stir together, then add the rosemary and the flour and stir well.  Slowly add the beer (because it will froth up) and then the Worcestershire sauce, tomato puree, mushrooms and seasoning. 

Cook,covered in a slow oven for 2 ½ to 3 hours at 150^oC/300^oF/Gas mark 2

 

This is delicious served either with mashed potatoes, or brown rice and a green vegetable.

 

Redcurrant Muffins

The basic muffin recipe here is a Delia Smith one (from her summer collection) that I have been using for very nearly 20 years!  It’s a very adaptable recipe, easy to scale up or down and you can add whatever variety of fruits you have to hand.  

For 12 muffins : 

10oz plain flour

½ tsp salt

1tsp baking powder

3oz caster sugar 

8fl oz milk

4oz butter (melted)

1 egg

1tsp vanilla extract 

4oz redcurrants (or blueberries, blackcurrants, cranberries etc!) 

Simply sift the flower into a bowl together with the salt and baking powder. Add the sugar and stir together. 

Melt the butter and leave to cool slightly.  Beat the eggs and add to the milk, then add the cooled butter. 

Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients with a gentle folding action until both are combined.  Rinse and add the fruit to the bowl and stir. 

Spoon into muffin cups and bake for 30 minutes at 200^oC/400^oF/gas mark 6.

 

 

A Disturbing Development

I’ve just taken a peek at the old homestead to see how preparations for my arrival are coming along and have a very, very disturbing development to report.

 

This is Mum & Dad’s bed.  Note the Sealy Posturepedic pillow top mattress, topped with a feather mattress (I appear to have been adopted by the Princess and the Pea).

This travesty appears to be my bed.  Note the plastic box with a duvet folded up in it.

This will never do.  I intend to make my first goal sleeping on the big bed.  Obviously I need to ask my cousin Ruby for a few tips – she seems to have it all worked out from this picture.

Slimmers Creamy Pea and Ham Pasta

This is a lovely comforting dish for those rainy days, pasta is always a real comfort food!  It’s very quick and simple to put together and well worth making double the quantity and freezing the surplus as a pasta bake for another time.  Made with light, or extra light Philladelphia cheese this is quite low on the calorie front for such a creamy dish. 

For two people : 

1 cup of peas

2 or 3 slices of ham

200g dry weight of pasta

Half of an 8oz (200g) pack of Philladelphia

½ pint of chicken stock 

Boil the pasta according to packet directions. 

While the pasta is cooking, simmer the peas in the chicken stock and roughly dice the ham.  When the peas and pasta are cooked, add the Philladelphia to the stock and stir well in to make a smooth creamy sauce, add the ham and heat through. 

Drain the pasta and return to the pan, adding the sauce and stirring through to combine.

The Visit

What an eventful few weeks I’ve had.  I’m now all of six weeks old and my breeder has started weaning me onto puppy food.  I’m liking this development very much!

I’ve started exploring outside, what an interesting place this seems to be.  My brothers and sisters and I have lots of fun scampering around in the sunshine, although Mum seems to do a disappearing act from time to time, looking for what she calls peace and quiet.

I had some visitors last weekend when my new Mum & Dad came to visit me.  We had just had our lunch and were enjoying a little snooze in the garden when they arrived to see us all.  It was very exciting.  I had lots of cuddles and kisses and got to show off all the new things I’ve been doing.  My brothers and sisters enjoyed the excitement too.  I was quite glad to have a sleep after all of that.

I see things on the home front are improving.  My toy collection has grown since I last looked.  I have lovely new water and food bowls, and a smashing new red collar and leash.  I’m looking forward to debuting that when we go on our walks.

I am quite perturbed to see that Mum has installed a baby gate across the bedroom door.  I was hoping to spend my days lounging on the big bed – it looks very comfortable up there.  Oh well, I’m sure if I practice my pitiful look she’ll crumble and let me have a lie on there.

I only have just over three more weeks left here now before I go to live in my new home.  I’m quite looking forward to seeing my new home and all the exciting things to explore there.

Green Olive & Lemon Tapenade Stuffed Chicken Breasts

This is simply a twist on the sun dried tomato tapenade stuffed chicken breast recipe I gave earlier. 

I made a green olive and lemon tapenade, based on Delia Smith’s tapenade recipe from the Summer Collection and used that to stuff the chicken breasts.

For two people I used: 

2 chicken breasts

4 slices parma ham

2dsp green olive and lemon tapenade

2 or 3 basil leaves

Freshly milled black pepper to taste 

For the tapenade : 

14oz (400g) green olives, drained and rinsed

3oz (75g) capers, drained and rinsed

2oz (50g) anchovy fillets

2 big cloves of garlic

1tsp Dijon mustard

2tb extra virgin olive oil

Zest of a lemon and the juice of half a lemon

2tb fresh basil

Freshly milled black pepper 

To make the tapenade you simply place all the above ingredients into a food processor and pulse so that you get a coarse mixture.   

(The quantities given above will give you far more than you need for this recipe, but it is such a versatile paste that it never goes to waste.  Stir some into cooked linquine, tagliatelle or spaghetti; spread some on toasted rustic bread, smear some onto a crust as you pass the fridge etc etc!  In theory, this should keep in a jar in the fridge for up to two weeks, but I find it gets used up well before that!) 

To stuff the chicken, simply butterfly the chicken breasts, season with pepper and spread each with a dessertspoon of tapenade.  Add 1 or 2 torn basil leaves and fold over the top flap of the breasts.  Wrap in the parma ham and place in a baking dish.  Drizzle them with a little olive oil and give another seasoning of ground black pepper. 

Bake in a hot oven (190^oC / 375^oF / Gas Mark 5) for 30 minutes or so, until the chicken is cooked through. 

You can serve this with pasta, buttery boiled new potatoes or over rice.  A crisp salad alongside is always nice too.  Ditto some crusty bread and a bowl of olive oil and balsamic vinegar for dipping!

The New Arrival

My name is Holly and I was born a few weeks ago.  This week my new Mum & Dad came down and chose me out of the whole litter to go and live with them.  I’m too young to leave my real Mum yet, so for the next few weeks I’ll still be living here with all my brothers and sisters. 

My new Mum probably hasn’t realised it yet but I chose her, I cleverly clung to her arm so that she would know I wanted to stay with her and my new Dad.  Humans are so gullible like that! 

Clearly, my new Mum & Dad are book parents; just look at all the books they have on puppy care and living with a Golden Retriever.  I’ll teach them all they need to know about looking after me in the first few days!! 

Mum seems to be very taken with this particular book, it even seems to have taken over from her go-to book – Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course.  She is taking this very seriously.  Perhaps I should humour her when I join the household so that she doesn’t think she’s wasted her time. 

This seems to be my toy basket.  It’s looking very lean; just a satanic looking teddy bear, a ball and a raggy bone looking thing.  They’ll do to be going on with but I hope that they are going to give me a better selection of toys ....... or look out furniture!! 



This looks like Mum’s best moose-fur slipper – I bet a chew on this will get me some attention.  I must bear that in mind if she seems tardy to respond to me! 

I’m going to have a sleep now because I am only a very little girl.  You’ll be hearing some more from me in the coming weeks as I join my new family and find my feet.