Lancashire hotpot

As far as traditional English fare goes Lancashire hotpot never appealed to me. I think for some reason (probably some deep seated childhood trauma involving stringy green beans) I associated it with liver, which I loathe. Even the fondness for 'Betty's 'otpot' at the Rovers Return couldn't tempt me, but the recipe in Just Like Your Mother Made by Tom Norrington-Davies looked tasty and I found out recently the my Dad lived in Alderley Edge when he first came over to England from Ireland as an eight-year-old. Except I then realised that Alderley Edge is, in fact, in Cheshire, but my little sister lives in Manchester, so that will have to do.

Anyhoo, so I thought I'd give it a go and it was, if I say so myself, a triumph. It's the perfect recipe - a doddle to make and tastes a-ma-zing! In fact, my husband has just got back from work and is yum-yuming his way through his dinner as I type. Actually saying it was a doddle would be accurate if I'd been sensible and read the recipe properly. It uses lamb neck or shoulder, so I duly ordered lamb shoulder online with my Tesco order and forgot to make sure it was boned. So there I was early this afternoon trying to winkle off as much meat as I could. I was tempted to go to Tesco and buy some more lamb, I was also tempted to wrap it back up, shove it in the fridge and roast a chicken. But no, I persevered, stripped that shoulder bare and carried on.

Like yesterday's beef with stout it was didn't have many ingredients (lamb, onion, thyme, bay leaf, a dash of worcestershire sauce) but certainly didn't suffer from that. When it was cooked the potatoes were soft and creamy and the lamb was deliciously tender. Even Betty ate it! Definitely one to have again... and again... and again.

Beef with stout and dumplings

I love comfort food, and I especially love casseroles and stews. I love the idea of them bubbling away getting more delicious as the minutes pass. So I couldn't really resist the recipe from Just Like Mother Used To Make by Tom Norrington-Davies, especially as it meant I would have to make dumplings for the first time. (I say the first time, but I have actually made dumplings before. However, it was a Weight Watchers recipe and they tasted revolting. Talking to my husband tonight we wondered whether there was any point in making WeightWatchers dumplings. Surely if you're trying to lose weight you just cut something like that out?)

Anyhoo, the stew was simple to make, using few basic ingredients (stewing steak, onions, carrots, and stout), but with plenty of little extras to season it, including bay leaves, tomato puree and a teaspoon of cocoa powder. If I make it again I'll probably use less liquid (it took a pint of stout and a pint of water) and add more veg, but they're minor quibbles.

And the verdict? Betty turned her nose up at it (I daresay being awake since 4.30 this morning had something to do with that) but Henry wolfed it down. The dumplings were a big success and Henry even asked for more, having poked them a few times beforehand and asking what they were. Sadly my husband and I weren't that keen to share.

John Peel Tart

So the first book gets pulled off the shelf and pressed into action - The Jimmy Young Cook Book from 1968. This was one that I rescued from my mum's pile of charity shop books. It's a collection of recipes sent into Jimmy Young's BBC Radio show - for those younger readers, Jimmy Young was one of the country's best known disc jockeys, hosting a show on Radio 2 until as recently as 2002.

The book is really an artifact of its time containing lots of boiled (red) meat recipes, lots of mince and (in a book with 142 recipes) only four chicken recipes. There were a lot that sounded particularly unnappealing - Thursday mince, for example, contains unspecified minced meat, oxtail soup, 2 large onions and grated cheese. Ick.

One recipe jumped right out at me - John Peel Tart. How could I, as a late-'80s/early-90s indie kid, resist a recipe with that name? I also wanted to challenge myself as it was a pastry dish, and as I've mentioned before I've got a love-hate relationship with pastry. I decided to cheat, though, and bought frozen pastry which just needed to be defrosted and rolled out - success! It was brilliantly easy to make, especially once I'd purloined an enamel plate from my mum (I only have 10" tart tins). The resultant tart was delicious, tasting similar to a mince pie - we had two refusals from the kids but Simon and I had ours warm with ice cream.

JOHN PEEL TART
8oz short-crust pastry
4oz golden syrup
1oz butter
6oz currants
1dspn lemon juice
1oz chopped peel
1/2 tsp mixed spice
1oz ground almonds


METHOD: Melt the golden syrup and the butter, together with the currants, lemon juice, chopped peel, mixed spice and ground almonds. Mix all together over the heat, then take off heat and leave to cool. Line a greased 7-in fireproof plate with half the rolled out pastry. Fill with the fruit mixture. Cover with the remaining pastry, sealing the edges well and bake for around 40 minutes in a fairly hot oven, until golden brown. Serve hot or cold.

Cooking the recipe books

Like most women who like to cook a bit I have a lot of recipe books in my kitchen. From the right up-to-date (Jamie's America) to the ones I rescued before my mum took them to the local charity shop (The Jimmy Young Cook Book), and even my first ever cookery book, The Blue Peter Book Of Gorgeous Grub. I tend only to look at my books if there's something specific I want to make and need to find a recipe for. I try to refer to my books first and then go to the Internet if I can't find what I want.

But I've decided to challenge myself to use the books properly and my plan is to take a different book every week and to try at least one recipe from it. I'm also going to exclude recipes I've already tried, so I'm afraid Granny Lawson's Lunch Dish from Nigella Bites is going to have to take a back seat. It should be fun, and interesting, possibly frustrating, and God only knows what's going to happen when I get to White Trash Cooking books I and II!