And why? Well, with two vegetarians, three meat eaters and one nut allergy in the family, what were we to eat for the main Christmas Day meal? I wanted one main meal for all, rather than doing separate meat and veggie things with even more hassle and washing up. But it would have to be something impressive, because for the last few years (when we were all meat eating) we’ve been used to magnificent roast pork with crackling  (always from W George Butchers in Talgarth). With nut roast off the options list, I had to find something that could hold its own as a centrepiece, having the same impact and presence as roast goose or pork. So I settled on a “Leopard Pie”. Now this doesn’t seem promisingly vegetarian at first glance, but I felt it was one of those classic recipes that has one defining feature and can then be adapted creatively. In this case the defining feature is the macaroni (in a pie!).  I did a trial run, and this final recipe benefitted from that enormously. But I confess the quantities below may be inaccurate, as the final version used leftover frozen filling from the trial run, augmented with other ingredients, and the final quantities have been adapted but remain largely theoretical until I make it again.

Here’s the finished article, or rather what was left of it on Boxing day!

The bulk of the filling is roasted vegetables, egg, various cheeses, and macaroni.  I had recently harvested an enormous Musquee de Provence squash from the garden, but I think a butternut would be fine.

The filling can be made in advance, and frozen if required (omitting the eggs, cream, cheeses and macaroni until just before assembling the pie).

Ingredients

300g macaroni

12 quails’ eggs (or 2 good quality eggs if these can’t be found)

6 medium/large good quality eggs

Whipping cream (small pot)

Olive oil

White wine (half a bottle)

A stalk of rosemary

3/4 lb squash (butternut or similar), peeled and de-seeded, chopped into 1 inch chunks

2 onions, in large chunks e.g. 1/8ths

1 large carrot, in large chunks

1 fennel bulb, sliced and chopped

2 sticks of celery, chopped

1/2 lb mushrooms (quartered or sliced)

4 cloves of garlic, crushed and sliced

10 stoned prunes, roughly chopped

1 cinnamon stick or 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

100g grated parmesan cheese

Taleggio cheese (typical half-pound pack, about 200-250g). Limburger/Herve would be a worthy alternative, or possibly Gruyere.

1 Halloumi pack (150g)

Salt and pepper

For the pastry

360g flour

180g butter

1 medium/large egg

Equipment

1 roasting tray, 1 large pan, cheese grater

23cm cake/pie tin, preferably springform

Method

Roast the vegetables with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil, and the rosemary, at 180°C for one hour. After 30 minutes, turn the vegetables and add a glass of white wine and some salt and ground black pepper. After an hour, they should be browned around the edges and well cooked. Set aside, removing any rosemary twigs.

While the vegetables are roasting, fry the mushrooms over a medium heat in a little oil until well browned. Set aside or add to the vegetables.

In the same pan, add a little more oil and the garlic, and fry for a couple of minutes (we don’t want to burn the garlic), then add 2 small glasses of white wine, half a pint of stock, the chopped prunes, the cinnamon stick, a pinch of salt, and simmer for 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and leave to infuse for at least 30 minutes. Then discard the cinnamon stick. If you don’t have a cinnamon stick, add half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon instead.

Combine the above cooked ingredients, and add the grated parmesan. This mixture can be made in advance and frozen or kept in the fridge for a day or two.

Weigh out the flour and butter, roughly chop the butter, place bowl of flour and butter in the freezer for ten minutes.  Then whizz in the food processor until mixed. Break the egg into the mix, add a tablespoon of cold water, and pulse to mix until the pastry comes together (a little more cold water might be needed).

Separate into roughly 1/3 and 2/3 portions (lid and base/sides).  Roll out thinly between sheets of clingfilm, and line the base and sides of a 23cm tin with the pastry. Allow sufficient height in the sides to fold over the lid when it’s added. Put the tin and the remaining pastry in the fridge until ready to fill.

We’re now going to assemble the filling, so a large pan or mixing bowl is needed. If resuming here with defrosted or chilled mix, we want to reheat the vegetable mixture so it’s warm, without cooking it any more.

Hard boil the quails’ eggs, cool, peel and remove the white. We will add the unbroken yolks to the mixture later. If you can’t find quails’ eggs, just chop the hard-boiled yolks of 2 hens’ eggs.

Cook the macaroni in lots of salted boiling water until just done – this taking exactly 10 minutes for a typical supermarket dried macaroni. Drain, add some olive oil to prevent sticking, and add to the main mix.

Dice the Taleggio into cubes about 1.5-2cm, and give the Halloumi similar treatment though a bit smaller. Add to the mix. We don’t want the Taleggio to melt away at this stage, so the mix should not be too hot.

Separate the yolks of 4 eggs (set aside the whites for something else), mix with two whole eggs and about 100ml whipping cream. Add to the mix.

Add the hard-boiled egg yolks.

The mix should now be moist but without pooling liquid. If it seems dry, add some more white wine and cream.

The seasoning of the filling should be OK already, but use your judgement and add more S&P to taste.

Fill the pie and add the lid, folding over the sides to seal. Prick the lid and brush with egg/milk. Here’s the pie before the lid goes on:

And ready to go in the oven:

Bake at 200°C for ten minutes, then 180°C for 50 minutes. The pie should be nicely browned. Remove from the oven and rest for ten minutes while finishing off accompaniments (for our Christmas Day lunch this meant roast potatoes, sprouts, peas, bread sauce and onion gravy!).

The pie should hold together reasonably well on cutting into slices, and will keep well for Boxing Day picnics.  Leopard Pie Curry is not a thing.

Here’s the pie just out of the oven (onion gravy in the background):

And after carving and serving half of it. Eagle-eyed observers might spot some chick peas – that’s right, and I left them out of the recipe above as we didn’t think they were needed.

Why not give it a go, and please feel free to comment below with any suggestions!

It’s a Brecon Cathedral take on the famous Turkish dish "Imam Bayildi", which translates as "The Imam swooned".  One variant of the story has him swooning at the unctuous delights of the dish, the other when he discovered how much expensive olive oil his wife had used to make it.  If made well it is indescribably delicious – far exceeding the promise of the raw materials. A certain former Brecon chorister, who normally hates aubergines, described this a “surprisingly yummy”.

This recipe is derived from one published online by the New York Times, with practical modifications in the light of personal disasters experience.

The dish is not quick, if made in one go – about 2 to 2.5 hours. However the component parts of the dish can be prepared ahead, and the whole dish is best made in advance and served warm.

Allow half an aubergine per person as a starter, or as a main with other things (e.g. stuffed vine leaves, baked feta, rice/chips, salad), or dish up two halves with light accompaniments.

Ingredients

2 aubergines (each 15-20cm long)

1 large or 2 medium onions

1 red pepper (optional)

6 cloves of garlic

4 tablespoons Olive oil (extra virgin)

3 teaspoons sugar

Salt

Water

Either:

1 tin chopped tomatoes

A handful of chopped fresh parsley

A handful of chopped fresh basil

A handful of chopped fresh dill

Some fresh thyme and/or oregano, or dried if fresh not available

Or:

if you cannot lay hands on fresh herbs, it's (almost) OK to use a jar of good Bolognese sauce instead of the tomatoes + herbs.

Or+: 

I have sometimes used both, i.e. raw ingredients plus a jar, in order to have loads of lovely sauce left over.

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 220 degrees C.

The aubergines:

Half the aubergines lengthways.  Don’t remove the stalk, halve it - this helps keep things together during the long cook. On the inner faces, make two or three slits in the flesh lengthways - as deep as you can without going through the skin on the back. Place the aubergine halves face down onto an oiled tray, or onto oiled greaseproof paper on a tray to help avoid sticking. Put in the oven for 30 minutes.  When done, the skins should be wrinkly and the face slightly browned. Flip the aubergines face up, and sprinkle with some course salt (including in the slits), and set aside to rest for 30 minutes (NB this can be done in advance).

The sauce:

While the aubergines are baking, mix the chopped tomatoes and herbs in a large bowl, with a tsp sugar, a tablespoon of olive oil, and a little salt. If using a Bolognese sauce, don’t add salt.

Finely dice the red pepper (optional), slice the onion very thinly and gently fry them in about 2 tbsp olive oil for about 20 minutes, stirring regularly. The onions and peppers should be completely soft but not browned.

Mash/chop the garlic and add to the frying onions for the final minute. Then tip the lot into the bowl of tomatoes, mix, and set aside. NB this tomato sauce can be prepared in advance.

Bringing it all together:

Place the aubergine halves in a large, heavy-bottomed lidded pan or skillet. There needs to be room to get in with a spoon for basting, so use two pans if you don’t have one large enough.

Cover each half aubergine with the tomato sauce, easing it into the splits as far as possible. Put on enough to cover all the flesh of the aubergine, but you don’t want it falling off the sides. Don’t worry if you have sauce left over – use it in tomorrow’s veggie pasta or chilli. Or eat it.

In a jug, mix 2 tablespoons oil, the same amount of water, 2 teaspoons sugar, and a bit of lemon juice (optional).

Pour about half of this around the aubergines, perhaps 0.5 centimetres deep.

Put the pan(s) on a low-medium heat until the liquid is simmering, then cover and reduce the heat to minimum.

Cook gently for at least an hour, and preferably an hour and a half. Remove the lid occasionally and lose any condensate from the lid. Baste the aubergines with the liquid from the pan, and add a little more from the jug if it’s becoming too dry.

By the end, there should be not much liquid and it should be slightly caramelised – dark goo is good, so long as it hasn’t burnt.

Allow the aubergines to cool in the pan, and (as mentioned above) serve whenever you need to, but ideally when warm. Any remaining juices in the pan can be spooned over. They are just as good for tomorrow’s lunch with crusty bread.
Crispin  ...]]> https://flowerbunch.org.uk/father-mark-swooned crispin.flower@live.co.uk (Crispin) https://flowerbunch.org.uk/father-mark-swooned https://flowerbunch.org.uk/father-mark-swooned Sun, 10 Mar 2019 08:45:15 GMT With Lois moving into a shared house for her second year at Durham, and Helen starting out in Hereford, both are needing to fend for themselves for the first time.

All students need dhal to survive – I ate very little else when at Sheffield and Leicester, as far as I recall. So how is it begotten? Well I’ve not referred to a recipe ever, but I remember watching someone making it in Sri Lanka, and that probably inspired my method. And my dhal has always been flexible in the extreme, according to what’s in the cupboard. But here’s a basic version, which I’ve just tested for the quantities.

This dhal can be served on toast/chapati (etc), or as a side with a curry. Or eaten with a spoon out of the pan.

Ingredients (serves 2, or more typically 4-6 as a side dish)

Red lentils (half a mug)

Water (nearly two mugs, i.e. approx. 3-4 parts water to 1 part lentil).

1 smallish carrot

1 smallish onion

1 tbsp oil (not olive) and/or ghee (some find the latter too sickly, so I sometimes use 50/50 ghee to sunflower oil)

1 tsp salt

1 cinnamon stick

1 clove of garlic

1 fresh green chilli (or red dried, or both, or more, to taste!)

2 tsps Panch Puran (i.e. a mix of spice seeds. If you can find Panch Puran it provides a convenient and interesting mix, instead of having to have jars of each that will go stale)

Fresh lemon or lime juice (optional)

Fresh coriander (optional)

Method

Chop the onion and carrot and put in a medium saucepan with the lentils, cinnamon stick and water. Bring to the boil then reduce to a simmer for 15 minutes. Check every now and then that it is not getting too dry, and add a little more water if so.

While this is simmering, Finely chop the chilli and garlic.

Heat the oil in a pan until hot but not actually smoking. Seeds should sizzle when dropped in. Add the Panch Puran seeds, then the chilli and garlic. Fry and swirl about a bit until the garlic is browning then remove from the heat – you don’t want burnt seeds and garlic, but a bit of browning is tasty. This takes less than 30 seconds if the oil is at the right temperature. If you burn it, chuck it away and do a new lot, or the dhal will be horrid.

In this photo the lentils are coming to the boil and we’ve fried the spices and whipped them off the heat.

When the lentils are cooked, add about half a teaspoon of salt, then more to taste until it’s definitely not bland.

Add some lemon or lime juice at this stage – perhaps half a lime would do. This changes the character of the dish dramatically, so try it with and without, and see which you like. I prefer without.

Now bring the spicy oil back to a sizzling temperature, then pour it into the dhal pan with all the seeds – there should be a satisfactory whoosh. Stir it in, but no need to be too thorough.

The thing can be eaten now, but really benefits from a few hours standing around with a lid on.

Before serving, stir in and garnish with some fresh coriander (unless you hate the stuff!).

Zero expensive sachets of mulled wine spices, and zero bottles of glühwein!

3/4 pint water in a pan

5 cloves

1/2 a stick of cinnamon

1/2 a tsp of mixed spice (omit if you don't like sediment)

1/2 a lemon, scrubbed and sliced

1/2 an orange, scrubbed and sliced

Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Bash the fruit a bit to release the juices and pulp.

Then add...

3 tablespoons brown sugar (to taste)

1 bottle of red wine (I used Aldi's Baron St Jean but any cheap red will do)

3 tablespoons of cheap brandy (vary according to desired effect). I used Aldi's Napolean Brandy.

Give it a quick stir, and continue heating until it is hot but not scalding. Don't boil the brew.

Serve in handled glasses or pewter.

• Shallots (some)
• Tomatoes (1 tin ?)
• Onion (one)
• Garlic (some)
• Red pepper (one?) roasted and peeled
• Bramley Apple (one or two)
• Beetroot (too many)
• Olive Oil (a glug or two)
• Balsamic vinegar (not enough)
• White wine vinegar
• Ginger wine (still failed to finish that old bottle)
• Port (ditto)
• White pepper
• Black pepper
• Green Pepper
• Salt
• Coriander
• Red chilli
• Sweet paprika
• Allspice
• Brazil peppercorns (eh? what are these? I wrote it down at the time though so it must be true – oh I know it was in a bizarre spice mix that I bunged in)
• Worcestershire sauce (and all that entrails)

The result is disconcertingly pink, and slightly too runny, but tastes good enough to eat half a jar at lunchtime with some cheddar and tongue. It doesn’t keep more than a few days once opened, probably because not enough vinegar and no sugar.

Very straightforward to make and outrageously good to eat. Be very generous when you brush the top with melted butter, and they'll keep very well. Serves six to eight.

175g caster sugar
75g unsalted butter
125g full-fat cream cheese
2 tsp orange extract
1 tsp glycerine (optional; it helps keep the mix soft)
¾ tsp mixed spice
¾ tsp cardamom seeds, ground, husks discarded
1 medium egg
75g ground almonds
100g sultanas
100g shelled pistachios
250g strong white flour
1 tsp baking powder
275g marzipan 
Melted butter and icing sugar, to finish

Beat the caster sugar, butter, cream cheese, orange extract, glycerine (if using) and spices until smooth, then beat in the egg. Stir in the almonds, sultanas and pistachios, add the flour and baking powder, and mix to a soft dough. Chop the marzipan into 2cm pieces and mix through. Line a 20cm square tin with foil and spoon the dough into it. Wet your fingers or a spatula and press the dough evenly into the corners of the tray. Heat the oven to 180C (160C fan-assisted)/350F/gas mark 4 and bake for 30 minutes, until puffed and golden on top. Leave in the tin to cool, then, while still warm, brush generously with melted butter and leave until cold before wrapping well.

To serve, peel off the foil, dredge heavily with icing sugar and slice into fingers. You can make this ahead of time because it will keep for up to a fortnight if well wrapped.

This recipe worked out very well. Lois and I made it this afternoon, substituting orange extract with the zest of one orange, and leaving out the glycerine. We cut the marzipane into smaller chunks than instructed, which gave a better result in my opinion. Here’s the result, acclaimed by all.

Grind up some special soap, and add some ground up chalk. Mix with a little water to form a squidgy mess. Leave in a pot for a few days…

This is what happens – hairy squidge:

and a closer look…

Naomi thought it was mould, but the strands are shiny so I think it is crystals growing. Brecon High School science teachers please enlighten us!

We also found the last of the 2011 puds on top of the cupboards – well matured and delicious.

For 4 pints of mixture

• 8oz plain flour
• 6oz wholemeal breadcrumbs
• 1 level tsp salt
• 2 tsp mixed spice
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 4oz dates
• 4 oz caster sugar
• 8oz soft brown sugar
• 8oz beef suet
• 8 oz sultanas
• 8 oz currants
• 8 oz raisins
• 6 oz mixed peel
• 1 apple peeled and chopped
• 1 carrot (4oz) peeled and grated
• 3 tbsps brandy
• 3 large eggs, beaten
• 1 orange, juice and zest
• 1 lemon, juice and zest
• A slosh of  brown beer or stout
• 1/2 pint milk

Mix all dry ingredients except the lard, then add the wet ones and the lard. Leave overnight.

Grease pudding bowls. Add mixture (leaving a ½ inch gap at the top) and cover with greased greaseproof paper and then foil. Steam over rapidly boiling water.

Cooking times:

1 pint = 5 hours

1.5 pint = 7 hours

2 pint = 9 hours

Remove from pans of water to cool. Re-cover with fresh greaseproof paper/foil, and store in a cool place.

To serve, re-heat by steaming, covered with fresh greaseproof paper and foil:

1 pint = 2 hours

1.5 pint = 2.5 hours

2 pint = 3 hours

Anyway, since writing that I did the Saunders MM Scafell class with Ben Crowther, who stepped in at the last minutes to replace Defective Damon.

Here’s the cooking kit we took:

1 x Pocket Rocket stove 86g

1 x full small gas canister 175g (much more than we needed, but better safe than sorry).

2 large and 2 small foil cartons 50g

Total weight: 311g

Aside: solid fuel would have come out at c.120g fuel tablets, 50g foil cartons, Total 170g (without the Highlander stove). Weight saving insignificant (esp when compared to the size of Ben’s man boobs and my love handles).

We had a fantastic day 1, coming into camp in 2nd place after a thoroughly shagging day that covered most of the Lake District. Then the manufacturing of the first hot chocolate revealed that the large cartons now had holes in - great. So all cooking had to be done in the two small ones, which gave us some unusual gastronomic experiences, including Szechuan hot chocolate, and cheesy tea with floaters. And by breakfast time one of the small ones had burned through, but overall they worked OK.

The verdict – I reckon Pocket Rocket + gas + foil cartons is a good combination. But you need to be really careful packing the cartons to avoid punctures.

Unfortunately on day 2 we made a couple of miserable navigation errors, which dropped us around 15 minutes – but still very happy to come 3rd overall.

With the Saunders looming in a couple of weeks I thought I’d check this out.

Stewart’s claimed advantages:

1. Instead of a pan, you can use those foil containers like you get a Chinese meal in.
2. You can just put the fuel tablet on the ground and use some stones to balance a pot (or foil container) over it.
3. So overall you save loads of weight, compared to canister, stove + proper pot.

So I’ve done a little research into the weight savings and the pros and cons. The solid fuel I’ve used is hexamine, with a Highlander aluminium stove box.

The main question is: how much fuel (weight) is required for the event?

Method: I brought 400ml of water to the boil using both methods, and weighed the fuel before and after.

Result:

Gas: 6g used

Solid: 11g used

My estimate of how much water I’d need to boil during the event is:

Therefore the required net weights of each are:

Gas: 63g

Solid: 115.5g

Of course you cannot take gas without a canister, which weighs 100g, and the Pocket Rocket which weights 86g, so the required gross weights are (without cooking vessel):

Gas + canister + stove: 249g

Solid: 115.5g

Now we need to factor in the cooking vessel. My aluminium pot weighs 174g. I’ve not got any foil containers, but I reckon you’d need to take at least 4, and these might weigh about 100g in total. I have actually used foil containers on a Pocket Rocket before, but it was a risky business both for stability and for burning through the bottom because the flame is so intense.

So this gives total weights as:

Gas + canister + stove + pot: 423g

Solid + foil containers: 215g approx.

A saving of c.200g.

And this is without taking the Highlander solid fuel stove that I used for the above tests; if you don’t fancy using stones, that adds another 116g, bringing the weight saving down to below 100g.

What about other factors?

• Solid fuel leaves soot on pots/containers, while gas leaves them clean – OK, minor point.
• Solid fuel really stinks, and I wouldn’t want it in the porch of my tent – what if it’s pissing down?
• The solid fuel weight saving depends on not taking a stove, and relying on balancing on stones – I’m not usually in the mood for collecting evenly-sized cooking stones after running 25 miles in the hills!
• Control: the Pocket Rocket has fine control for bringing to the boil or simmering. The solid fuel block is either roaring, or out.
• Stability: the Pocket Rocket is always a bit terrifying, as it hard to keep it stable on the tussocky slopes that MM campsites tend to be made of. With solid fuel it would be as good as you could make it, but lower to the ground so perhaps more stable and wind resistant.

On balance I’m not convinced. The weight saving is not nearly as much as I’d hoped; if it had been 3-500g I’d switch like a shot, but I don’t think 100-200g weight saving is significant.  If the weather is set fair, and if I can find some foil cartons in time, I might give the solid fuel a go. But if it looks like it will rain, I’d prefer the clean reliability of the gas.