John Llewellyn Moxey

Dear Dame, your curry is delicious. Many thanks!

John

Chevy's is next.

Chevyman

I'm flattered John

Which one?

"One appears to have dropped one's monocle in the soufflee"

Why not visit the Festive Fayre section?

Chevyman

It's a "goer" will post it tomorrow

"One appears to have dropped one's monocle in the soufflee"

Why not visit the Festive Fayre section?

David Brent

Fish and chips are very popular in Australia and they are usually served with added salt but surprisingly, very rarely with vinegar.
If you do happen to get vinegar supplied it is usually a watered down tasteless version.
I used to love the old fish and chip shops in England and the wonderful vinegar they supplied to splash your meal with. The aroma was mouth watering. The taste was superb.
I have checked out different vinegars at the supermarket but cannot recapture that English taste that I remember.

Can anyone tell me what type of vinegar was used by the English fish and chips shops?

Dave.

Chevyman

Sarson's Malt Vinegar is the one our local chippy uses Dave.



Hope you find some

"One appears to have dropped one's monocle in the soufflee"

Why not visit the Festive Fayre section?

Chevyman

Serves two

A delicious casserole that is easy to prepare and uses only one pot.

Ingredients

1 tbsp Olive Oil
1 tbsp Butter or Margarine
1 large Onion (thickly sliced)
1/2 tsp Dried Sage or 1 tsp fresh if you grow it (optional)
6 Sausages of your choice
1lb Potatoes (sliced)
1 Carrot, topped tailed and chopped into chunks
200ml Stock of your choice
1 clove Garlic chopped (optional)

Method
Preheat the oven to 160c
Heat oil and butter in the bottom of the casserole.
Gently brown the sausages set aside and keep warm.
(If you prefer them “bite sized” cut them now)
Fry onions until slightly browned, set aside.
Place half of the sliced potatoes in the bottom of the casserole
Add the cooked sausages, onion, sage, carrot and garlic.
Arrange the remaining sliced potatoes.
Pour over stock and season to taste.
Cover the casserole and bake in the oven for about 1 hour.

Tips
If you don’t have a casserole use an oven dish and cover it tightly with a double layer of kitchen foil.
You might add any vegetables you have left (celery, turnip, swede etc)
Vegetarians can use vegetarian sausages and vegetable stock
Sprinkle some grated cheese, of your choice over the top before you serve

Tipple
A glass of Classic English Ale

"One appears to have dropped one's monocle in the soufflee"

Why not visit the Festive Fayre section?

Dame Starry

British Supermarket Worldwide

Britz In Oz

lordtednfs

Wanna try something from The Philippines

Chicken Afritada with Special Fried Rice

For the chicken dish you will need:

4 Chicken Breasts
2 Large Onions
2 Large Potatoes
2 Large Carrotts or 4 small ones (but not tinned ones)
1 Liver Pate (Mattesons is ok, you will only use about half)
1 Medium sized packet of tomato sauce (nothing too expensive)
2 to 3 hot chillies depending upon your tastes
1 Green Red Pepper
1 Red Pepper
1 Large can of Peas (frozen is ok but don't add the water from the can)
Soy Sauce (if you don't like Soy you can use Worchestershire Sauce)
Fresh Garlic (your choice of how much, but put this in at the end!)

For the Special Fried Rice:

Your choice of rice (if you have not a rice cooker try doing it in the microwave)
2 Large or 3 Small Eggs
6 to 8 Hot Dogs
2 Large Onions
2 to 3 chillies depending upon your tastes
Soy Sauce (if you don't like Soy you can use Worchestershire Sauce)

1. Peel the potatoes and carrotts and cut into bite sized pieces and boil until half cooked (6 - 8 minutes and you can do both in the same pan).

2. Peel and chop the onions into medium sized pieces and fry in a little vegetable oil until just begining to turn golden brown and add the chillies with seeds halfway through cooking.

3. Chop the chicken into bite sized pieces and add to the onions when light brown and stir the chicken round the pan until all the chicken has turned white, no need to worry about being fully cooked at this time.

4. Add half of the pate and stir around the pan to coat the chicken, you may need to add a little water if it's begining to stick.

5. Add 6 to 8 Tablespoons of Soy or Worchestershire Sauce, if you don't like Soy, and again stir in the pan to coat the chicken.

6. Drain off the water from the Potatoes and Carrots and add them to the pan. Stir everything around again so that everything get's a fine coating of Soy or Worchestershire Sauce.

7. Now add one half of Red, one half of Green Pepper.

8. Now add the Tomato Sauce and stir well, you can add a little water if you don't like the sauce too thick.

9. Turn the gas down to simmer for 15 to 20 minutes stirring occasionally.

10. Add the peas with 10 minutes left.

11. With 5 minutes remaining add the garlic. For the Ultimate taste, chop your garlic fine and add a little salt on to the garlic and then mash it with the back of the knife until it is a fine paste. Add to the pan in each corner, every 90 degrees and one bit for the middle and stir in. Allow it to finish cooking for the last few minutes.



The Special Fried Rice (Medium Heat)

1. Finely chop the onions and fry in a little vegetable oil

2. Cut the hotdogs into quarters and add to the onions

3. Finely slice your chillies and seeds and add to the pan

4. Add your cooked rice to the pan and stir in well

5. Add 6 Tablespoons of Soy or Worchestershire Sauce and stir so that the rice gets a fine coating

6. Make a small hole in the middle of the rice and add the eggs and then stir everything together until the eggs have cooked and have added to the rice, this will take about one minute.

You are then ready to serve. Enjoy.

You will notice that there is no salt or pepper added as the soy contains salt and there is also chilli peppers. If you wish to add please do.

___________________
Hooked off the line

Chevyman

That looks lovely m'lud.

I must try that. Someone gave me some Vietnamese recipes to try. More stews than stir fries.

Looks like a Spanish influence in your recipe?

Thank you

"One appears to have dropped one's monocle in the soufflee"

Why not visit the Festive Fayre section?

lordtednfs

There is a little of Spanish influence in Filipino food but most of the foods are typically Asian with mixtures of Soy, Vinegar, chillies, noodles, rice, lots of vegetables....I've never been so healthy.

There are some obscure/exotic foods such as Balut, which is a ducks egg with a fertilized baby duck inside that's allowed to grow for 17 days, it's then boiled and then you eat the egg, baby duck and feathers and all. A ducks egg is a little strong tasting but I have at least one a month as it's quite good for the blood.

They also have "One Day Old Chick" which is exactly what it says, it's a day old, humanely killed and coated in spices and deep fried and yes you eat every part and it's really nice, but I don't go much for the deep fried stuff that much but now and again it's okay.

Here in Baguio you can get all the exotic foods and the one to try is Durian, it smells like poo and tastes like custard, it's creamy and as we say here, "Masarap Talaga", really nice, hotels ban them in guests room so as not to offend the other guests.

I thought it would be very hard to change my diet but after 3 months I was hooked on Filipino food and luckily for me, my good lady is an excellent cook and I have to say that if I go for more than one day without veggies, I get withdrawl symptoms and she develops her own receipes to accomodate the western pallete. I will try to get a few more of her receipes and add them here for you to enjoy.

__________________
Hooked off the line

Chevyman

I used to work with some colleagues from the Phillipines and most of them had Spanish surnames which, I understand typifies the mix on the islands.

While I don't think I could run to trying some of the delicacies you've mentioned, I was always interested in the lunches they brought to work. Most of them relied on Chinese/Thai foodstores for their provisions.......including fish heads.

But, as you said, noodles figured heavily in their diet. I love them; cheap, versatile and tasty. It was Angela Hartnett who says in her book "Cucina" that as long as you have pasta in your store cupboard you'll never go hungry. I think the same applies to noodles? Just add some veg and left over meat, add some sauce and you have a meal.

Duck eggs are having a bit of a renaissance on British menus. I remember an old Romany telling me how highly prized they were in his community and how good they were.

Keep them coming?

At this rate I think we might have a recipe book in the making

"One appears to have dropped one's monocle in the soufflee"

Why not visit the Festive Fayre section?

Steve Crook

Angela's an interesting cook. Born in Kent but to a Welsh-Italian mother and both the Welsh and the Italian comes through strongly in her cooking



Steve

Chevyman

She has very high standards; obvious if she was appointed Executive Chef at the Connaught Rooms and one of those stars 'from that tyre company'

It was from her, limited, time on TV and her book that I attempted to make my own pasta. My first attempt would have got me thrown out of her kitchen for sure

But it got easier.

I guess we don't see too much of her because she's "at the stove". Good on her.

"One appears to have dropped one's monocle in the soufflee"

Why not visit the Festive Fayre section?

Steve Crook

She's done a few TV appearances, but not as many as people like Ramsay. As you say, she's more interested in the cooking, Ramsay is more interested in being a businessman and a "personality"

Angela's been on a few rounds of The Great British Menu, but hasn't made it through to the semi-final of any of them - as yet.

In series one she was knocked out by Bryn Williams who cooked his pan-fried turbot with cockles and oxtail for the Queen.

This year she was knocked out by Stephen Terry, who will be cooking his organic salmon and smoked salmon with crab fritters and cockle 'popcorn' at The Gherkin.

Steve

David Brent

Many thanks to the Dame and Chevy for the information on Sarson's vinegar.

I'll try and find some in my area.

Cheers

Dave.