A delicious take on sausage and mash

Saturday November 30 th and a chapter headed "Snorkers and a windy night". 

Mr Slater suggests "....a cheap supper that will warm cold guests". 

The recipe is Slow baked sausages 

This is a plate of beer braised sausages served on a bed of mash. A delicious take on sausage and mash - but make sure you have some mash left over for the Swedish inspired snack - comfort food indeed !!!!

The Swedish inspired snack consists of hot mashed potatoes on a thin wrap with a couple of sausages and red currant jelly. Personally I am not sure that I liked mash in a wrap!!!

Good advice

29 th Nov - Friday A chapter called "Putting the garden to bed". 

Good advice given in this chapter- get something put in the oven before you start the pre winter tidy up of your garden   

Today a bowl of a deep savoury soup is made  - no recipe given as such - more a suggestion. 

Can only disagree, didn't enjoy this at all, mine was really awful !!!

Did get the garden sorted a little bit however!!

Helsinki inspired

November 28 th Thursday and a chapter headed " A piquant soup for a Finnish sky "

In this chapter I find another soup inspired by Mr Slater's visit to Helsinki. 

Tomato fish broth. 

I cooked this for my daughter- in- law and my step - daughter and they both loved it!

A very good, easy to make fish soup which doesn't break the bank. Served with lots of crusty fresh bread. Also an interesting chapter about adding acidic ingredients - worth a read. 

Not for the faint hearted

Tues and a chapter headed " Sour crisp,soft. A sandwich for the senses". 

Wow - interesting, interesting sandwich, not for the faint hearted. 

Makes my mouth water

Sunday and a chapter headed " A warming soup in Helsinki market". 

As always Mr Slater has a way with words and his description of the soup served to him in Helsinki market has my mouth watering and eager to try out today's recipe - Salmon soup. 

Wasn't sure as I cooked this , it looked pale and uninteresting to start with - swede, cauliflower and potato looked unappetising . But the addition of tomatoes, cream , salmon and dill livened it up. 

The result - a wonderful soup, ideal for a cold winters evening like tonight. 

Another learning curve

Wednesday and a chapter headed "Medlar day"

Reading Mr Slater's kitchen diaries has not only been a learning curve in terms of cooking skills but also in knowledge of ingredients. 

A medlar tree - apparently bears fruit like a russet apple. The flavour I am told is part lychee, part over ripe apple. However I cannot bake this as suggested because I don't know - and my friends don't know anyone with a medlar tree!!!

So on with the recipe of today A pie of mushrooms and spinach

I ended up with far too much sauce and filling - maybe it was the size of my pie dish. Not sure what the pastry should have looked like - Mr Slater said cut into 5 cm squares and overlap them, which I did. 

Good pastry , crisp and cheesy.

Before winter strikes

Yesterday Mon 18th November a chapter headed " An autumn stock take and a new pear cake"

Here Mr Slater is delighted, when taking stock of his garden, that he has created something so beautiful. 

He says for many his garden " ....is not a scene of romantic melancholy .....but an unholy mess in desperate  need of weeding, raking, sweeping and pruning" 

Which reminds me my garden is in desperate need of a huge tidy up before winter strikes!!!! Which apparently it is about to do according to the papers. 

However rather than do that I am going to make A pear and hazelnut cake. 

In Mr Slater's photo it looks divine. 

I over blitzed the crumble but the addition of a little more flour got this sorted! 

This was a very good tea time cake or coffee time!!!

Excellent flavour combination. Fruit is quite a surprise as you bite in. 

Needless to say this cake won't last very long!

Add chorizo

Sunday 17 th November and a chapter headed "Poor mans potatoes"

Mr Slater says " patatas pobre" was the inspiration for this dish, but this is a " more rustics hearty version"

This was delicious, made it for my daughter and her friend Zabrina. Zabrina decided the addition of chorizo would make this perfect , have to agree!

Mum's trifle

Saturday and a chapter headed "A regression session". 

Mr Slater talks about food which takes him back to childhood - Birds custard powder- being one. He does add it's better to make your own from eggs, cream and vanilla. 

Another childhood food remembered is trifle. A memory of mine too, and my mums trifle was the best - no jelly, a heavenly sherry soaked bottom - I still make it today. 

Introducing my family to a new trifle was going to be difficult!!!!

Banana trifle. 

Here goes. 

Very, very good, liked by the whole family even though it was so different to our regular one. 

Was able to use my crystallised rose petals too

Very good and not so good

Today's chapter is headed "Something for cheese". 

Mr Slater discusses which cheese suits which bread. Interesting reading. 

The first recipe is Fig and hazelnut loaf for cheese ( Mr Slater says goats cheese is its best accompaniment ). 

Apparently this bread freezes well so I go ahead and make two loaves, one for now and one to freeze. The bread was quite easy to make although it was difficult to get all the figs and nuts into the dough, seemed to have far too many. 

This bread was delicious, moist and full of flavour - a great success and the second loaf didn't make it to the freezer!!

The second recipe today is Poached quinces with goats cheese. 

Obtaining the quince was difficult, not to be had locally anywhere, however my step-daughter Sarah was out and about in Ilkley and managed to get me some.  I have never eaten quince before - only in jelly form. Looking them up on the Internet I found that they are only edible when cooked and have a pear like appearance. And apparently were actually the fruit Eve tempted Adam with. 

Quinces poached and baked I serve them with slices of goats cheese. Not appreciated by my daughter who thought the cheese would be better with crackers, and the quince with cream! My husband thought the whole dish too sweet. I didn't care for it at all.

Served sliced

Served whole. 

Memories of school

Yesterday - November 14 th - and a chapter called "Cooking onions". In today's recipe, well not  exactly a recipe , more a suggestion, the onions are cooked and then served with liver and bacon or steak. 

I am afraid school dinners have put me off liver and bacon for life so decide to go for Mr Slater's other option of serving the onions with steak!

Cooking the onions as prescribed and then seasoning them with mustard seeds, raisins, vinegar no vin cotto though ( have ordered some from the Internet but not yet arrived!!!) they were delicious - could have eaten them on their own. 

Walt Disney or carnivore?

Todays chapter headed " Eating Bambi " had two wonderful recipes - Venison with sweet- sour chard and Blackberry and hazelnut friands. 

Both were delicious, but I get ahead of myself!

" Venison, like rabbit , is a meat whose popularity has been killed by Walt Disney" says Mr Slater. Well I have overcome my reluctance to eat rabbit and I have always liked venison. I agree with Mr Slater, once ".... butchered all meat becomes less challenging......."

The chard proved impossible to obtain from supermarkets and farm shops, but I found a ready prepared pack of spinach and chard so that had to do. Sorting chard from spinach took some time and I didn't really end up with enough chard stalks. However the result was still good and the sauce made from pan juices - excellent. 

The Blackberry and hazelnut friands were delicious. I used the blackberries I had picked earlier this year and frozen. Just wish I had had some of the special friand tins - will be on the look out for some now. 

Not just for Halloween

November 12th. In this chapter headed "A different pumpkin pie" Mr Slater says " A pumpkin entering my house is likely to end up as soup, stew or curry....." 

In my house it usually ends up being carved into a ghoulish face and put on the doorstep to welcome Halloween trick or treaters.

Yesterday, following Mr Slater's recipe A savoury pumpkin pie it ended up on the table for dinner. Not a recipe I was looking forward to, not really a fan of pumpkin. However I steamed, roasted ( for extra sweetness) and mashed my pumpkin and put it between layers of puff pastry. 

Surprisingly good we thought, served - as suggested - with a tomato sauce ( I made the one on page 473)

My husband took some left over pie for lunch today!!! 

Another first

Nov 4 th and 5 th and a chapter headed " The mother of all baked potatoes". 

I adore baked potatoes ( even more than twice cooked chips) and of this recipe Mr Slater says "....this is my favourite recipe of all..." And uses words like ".....delectable.."

Yesterday I had to make Rillettes - a first time for me - making and tasting!

This is a coarsely textured pate made from pork. On its own with toast it's wonderful, but then added to today's recipe Baked potatoes, Rillettes and rosemary as Mr Slater says - delectable. 

Further along in this chapter Mr Slater talks about " Righting a wrong" 

This is an idea I didn't follow as it didn't really work for him and he had to try and rescue his recipe. Isn't it good to know that even famous chefs make mistakes? 

His advice "......we need to taste, taste, taste all the way from start to finish."

Love them or hate them

The sprout, in our family it's a case of loving them or intense dislike. The only time I really serve them is Xmas as it is traditional. Over the years I have tried many different ways of serving sprouts but today's recipe has to be the best ever!!!

The chapter is headed " Learning to love the sprout" and today we certainly did!  The recipe was Brussels sprouts, bacon and almonds.

This is a must for Christmas Day.

Pork again!!

Yesterdays recipe was Pork with pears and cream and follows a chapter called" A pan, a pork chop and some pears". 

Mr Slater describes this recipe  as "....A rich dish for a chilly evening and a bit of kitchen magic...."

The magic comes I guess from the delicious sauce made from the sticky sediment left behind after frying the chops. This combined with cider, pears and cream is wonderful.

Although our taste buds are a little jaded with pork , this was lovely and I will definitely do this again.