Leek and mushroom tart

wholemeal pastry with leeek and mushroom filling. Wholegrain mustard spread over the base, then a bit of cheese sprinkled over that. A mixture of milk and egg with seasoning was poured over the lot and a little cheese sprinkled on for good measure. All cooked together. I need to hone the recipe, but the flavours were terrific. You could use a white sauce instead of the egg mixture.

stock from double chicken roast + chicken

At the end of a wet Sunday we shared supper with Alex and Derek. We walked our food round to theirs, and had two roast chickens. Alex had made roasties to the usual high quality, I had thrown some cooked new potatoes around in pounded garlic with paprika, lemon and olive oil and let them cook for 15m on the shelf above my chicken. I had carefully removed the drumsticks and set them aside with another set of legs, remaining from the chicken we'd bought to eat just the breast meat. After all, the breast meat being sold on its own cost the same price as a whole chicken. So I roasted a chicken without its drumsticks, adding the chicken wings from the other bird. It was a mismatched puzzle of a roast chicken... because Derek really likes chicken wings, and that way there were six to choose from (remember, they were also roasting a chicken. Fascinating.

The upshot, after the meal was eaten and we waddled home, was that I ended up with three chicken carcasses. There were a couple of legs missing, and a couple of drumsticks (being made into stew soon), but it was still a whole heap of bones. So into the large pot went the bones with a bayleaf, a small bunch of parsley, an onion studded with four whole cloves, a leek, several cloves of garlic, peppercorns, a carrot and some mixed herbs. On top of that went about three litres of water, and then it was all boiled together for around an hour. The result? Stock, lovely gelatinous stock.

Soup follows

Little tasty turnovers

Inspired by a visit to an Afghan restaurant, these little turnovers are deliciously fresh. If I say so myself. I'm not a great fan of fiddly cooking, still, I reserve the right to say this isn't fiddly. It just involves lots of chopping. And a bit of boiling. And rolling out pastry (shop bought in my case). OK, it's fiddly, and the pay-off makes it worth it. Little parcels of loveliness. I served these up with a tarator, a bit lumpy, because it was my first time making it. Tarator is a nut sauce, a bit like maionnaise (apart from my first attempt). The combination is perfect for vegetarians, vegans and anyone with tastebuds. If you are wheat intolerant the whole thing would work with rice pastry. 

Oh, what's in it? Leeks, carrots, potato, coriander, teeny bit of dill, pepper and salt. The shop bought pastry is made just with oil. 

RECIPE

Two large leeks (or a bunch of spring onions)

Two potatoes (cooked in their skins, peeled when cool enough)

Generous handful of finely chopped coriander (cilantro to some) including stems

Pinch of dill

One large carrot, cooked

Ground black pepper

Salt

Tablespoonful of oil

½ block of ready-made puff pastry

Set the oven to Gas Mark 7/425F/220C

• Cut the leeks (or spring onions) into fine slices
• Cook gently over low heat in the oil – careful not to burn, you don’t want that caramel taste
• Peel the cooked potatoes and cut into very small cubes, chop up the carrots in the same way
• Take the softened leeks off the heat, season with pepper and salt and stir through all the other ingredients

You can make this mixture the day before if you want to

Roll the pastry out very thin, keeping the rectangular shape

Cut into nine square of approximately equal size

Put two heaped teaspoons of the mixture in each, moisten the edges of the pastry, fold over, and crimp together with a fork

Snick a little hole into the top of the turnover (pasty)

Brush with egg if you like, to give golden colour

Cook in oven for 20 minutes or until golden.

warming and cleansing soup

Feeling a bit leaden, cold ridden and not really hungry, with a stonking headache only receding when plied with paracetomol, I am avoiding milk. And eating when not hungry. So I reached midday today on mint tea alone, and as my appetite returned my thoughts turned to ginger. Fresh ginger. Very cleansing, very warming and very refreshing. I have to buy some more, as I used mine making this soup. I've just eaten it and my mouth is tingling happily.

Cooks in one pan.

Recipe

Ingredients
1 large carrot
1/2 onion
1 leek
1" ginger
2 cloves garlic
1 egg
soy sauce
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp powdered vegetable stock
three mugs of water
1 nest of fine rice noodles


Method
Put the water in a pan and bring to the boil.
Peel the carrot and slice thinly. I like to slice mine at an angle.
Slice the onion and leek.
Peel the ginger and garlic, and chop finely.
Add Veg stock to boiling water, followed by 1/2 carrot, onion and leek and 1/2 chopped ginger and garlic, cook for a minute.
Add everything else and cook for two minutes while you beat the egg together with a slosh of soy sauce and the chilli powder.
Pour egg mixture into boiling water with other ingredients, leave for a moment, then stir.

Eat. Mind your mouths it is hot.