Chapter XV – handy snacks and lunches …

...for an Autumn day! It's chilly outside so what could be more inviting for lunch than home-made bread and a bowl of soup – so comforting, so simple.

Not for nothing have I chosen this recipe – it's delicious, it's easy to make and it's very much in the cheap and cheerful category!

Soda bread

170g self raising wholemeal flour

170g plain flour

½ tsp salt

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

290ml buttermilk

an optional sprinkle of semolina – try a sprinkle of semolina

to flour your baking sheet and after you've added your “x”

on top of the loaf

Pre heat your oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6.

Tip the flours, salt and bicarb into a large bowl and mix.

Make a well in the centre, pour in 290ml of buttermilk and mix quickly with a large fork until you have a soft dough formed. You may need an extra drop if your dough is too stiff but take care it should not be too wet or sticky.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly.

Form the dough into a round and flatten slightly. Place on a lightly floured baking sheet.

Slice an “x” on the top of the loaf and bake for 30 minutes – the base should sound hollow when tapped.

Just to confuse the issue I've found buttermilk in different weights. A low fat version weighing 284ml and a full fat version weighing 300ml – a tip – if you can only source the 284ml rinse out the pot with a drop of milk.

Here it is :

Then there's the soup, this is a firm favourite – as an added bonus it's healthy too!

Carrot, Coriander and Chickpea Soup

1lb/500g Charlotte potatoes, peeled and diced

l large onion, finely chopped

4 large carrots, peeled and diced

2 stockpots, vegetable or chicken

1 litre of water

1 tsp mild curry powder

1 heaped tsp coriander

Salt and black pepper

Rapeseed oil

1 can chick peas, drained

Soften onion and carrot in drop of rapeseed oil for approx 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Add curry powder, coriander and black pepper, cook the spices with the onion and carrot for 2 minutes so that the flavours are released.

Add the stockpots, plus 500ml water and simmer until the pots have melted.

Add the diced potatoes and the remaining 500ml of water, bring to the boil then simmer for 10 minutes until the carrot and potatoes are cooked. Taste, then add salt to personal taste.

At this point you can set aside the soup until you are ready to serve.

Before serving pop 3 ladles of soup into a food processor/liquidiser and blitz. Tip the thickened soup back into your remaining soup, add the chick peas, heat and serve.

By blitzing a portion of the soup no artificial thickening is required. You also get visible vegetables with your chick peas.

Note

Don't put potatoes in with the carrots, onion and oil – the starch that is released from the potatoes means that they will cement themselves to the bottom of your saucepan!

If you're lucky you might get two lunches – yum.

Editor’s December Pick #5: Here’s what I mean by resourceful and creative

Editor's note: I’ve been craving some flavour lately after a fair few cold evening meals of soups and the like and this recipe is just the ticket. Spiced Salmon is a tried and tested favourite of MiamMiam and just the ticket for a little something different. It's recipes like this that inspire the most – I would never have put salmon in a frittata without reading it here, but you won’t look at a plain cheese omelette the same again!

Here's what I mean …

… by resourceful and creative – a canapé that can turn into a lunch or a supper.

Spiced Salmon Frittata

For the spiced salmon marinade :

Marinade

2 x 4oz Salmon fillets

2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tsp powdered star anise or one star anise

1 tbsp dark soy sauce

Mix together the marinade, pour over the salmon fillets, turning to coat thoroughly, cover and leave in fridge for an hour or so – preferably in a foil tray – much easier to transfer straight to the oven later.

Pre-heat your oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6. If you've used a foil tray to marinade the salmon then wrap it in foil and bake it for 10 minutes. Remove and set aside to cool. When the salmon has cooled flake it into small pieces, ready to add to the frittata.

For the frittata :

5 spring onions, finely chopped

tiny drop of rapeseed oil

100g/4oz mature cheddar cheese, grated

4 large eggs

salt and black pepper

Whisk four eggs in a large mixing bowl, add the cheese and whisk again. Add a touch of salt and plenty of black pepper.

Using a non-stick frying pan – as a guide 28cms/11” in diameter. Heat a tiny drop of rapeseed oil and add the spring onions. Sauté until softened, sprinkle in your salmon pieces including any residual marinade, then pour in the egg and cheese mixture. Cook on your hob for 2/3 minutes to set the bottom. Transfer the pan to the grill - cook for 2/3 minutes REMOVE USING OVEN GLOVES – SEE WARNING!

Words of Warning!

Pre-heat your grill – BEFORE YOU TURN IT ON ENSURE THAT THE FRYING PAN YOU'RE USING WILL SLIDE EASILY INTO THE SPACE LEAVING AT LEAST TWO INCHES GAP BETWEEN THE PAN AND THE GRILL ITSELF, OTHERWISE YOU'LL BURN THE TOP AND THE MIDDLE WON'T BE COOKED.

Using a fish slice gently flatten down the frittata so that you break the top – you may find that the

mixture is still not quite cooked. Place back under the grill for another 2/3

minutes and check – it should be golden brown but if your preference is for a darker colour

carry on to your desired taste.

For a canapé I used a straight sided cutter measuring 6cms/2½” in diameter and you should get 12-14 canapés depending on how careful you are cutting out.

Minimum effort – maximum taste. Can definitely be made ahead as a canapé. A frittata is excellent served cold in whatever guise!

Don't forget to salmon fillets to your freezer shopping list. There are good deals out there – usually individually packaged – in bags of six. You can pull out whatever you need. The bonus is that they don't take up too much space in the freezer.

What to serve with … hmm

Editor's Pick - Tartare Sauce – faster and the building of the burger!

Editor's note: Throw black olives in anything and I'm there in a flash. So adding them to a sauce is even better. It will hopefully amuse some but I hadn't ever considered the ingredients of tartare sauce included olives until I read the MiamMiam recipe. Assemble your sauce, fry up some halloumi to taste and boom! Just make sure you've enough sauce for another meal.

 

Tartare Sauce – faster and the building of the burger!

I appreciate that not everyone wants to make their own mayo, which is just fine – use a good quality brand – two heaped tablespoons as mentioned previously – you'll need to add lemon juice and Dijon mustard and I'd suggest you begin with 1 teaspoon of each. You may need a little more – it's a matter of personal taste, together with a little celery salt and white pepper. All that remains is to add your capers, cornichons and black olives! Don't forget a drizzle of double cream to loosen the consistency.

A note of caution with seasonings, as I'm fond of saying, add gradually and taste as you go, you can always add a little more, you can't take it back!

If you'd like a vegan version, use a vegan mayo and a vegan plant alternative to double cream.

Now for the burger!

A few of my favourite ingredients :

Brioche buns – warmed in the oven or toasted

Spiced Halloumi – shallow fried in a drop of rapeseed oil

Roasted sliced onions – made ahead

Sliced avocado

shredded lettuce

sliced beef tomatoes

This is just my take on a burger stack, filled with stuff I love – it's whatever floats your own boat – I'd probably include beetroot too in some form – either sliced and added to the stack or a relish on the side.

It's important how the burger is assembled – a brioche bun, split and warmed – or toasted if you prefer – a generous spread of dressing on each side, add the avocado, lettuce and tomato to the bottom half, add spiced Halloumi to the top, add another spread of dressing and fold together!

This is not set in stone – it's just an example of what you could “build”, the world is your “Big Veg”.

I'm thinking that by calling this “burger dressing” a version of tartare sauce everyone will have the thought of scampi and chips in their heads! It began life as an homage to the dressing in the Big Mac and so I think it deserves a name of its own so, I name this sauce Quasi-T - it seems appropriate since its meaning is partly or almost a tartare sauce!

Finally the Spiced, Sliced Halloumi …

I make no apology for repeating the Spiced Halloumi recipe, it's much easier when you've got all the elements for an idea at your fingertips!

Spiced Halloumi

Serves 4

225g/8oz Halloumi sliced into 4 pieces

45g/2oz plain flour mix with

1 tbsp of seasoning of your choice

Rapeseed oil for shallow frying

The 225g pack will give you four portions, sliced lengthways – 8x7cms/3x3½ inches approximately. Open the pack and discard the liquid, pat the cheese dry with kitchen roll and then slice into four. Pat each slice dry, then box and fridge ready for cooking.

The seasoning for the Halloumi is your choice – a good quality shop bought version is fine and on that note here are a couple of suggestions :

the Chip Seasoning is suitable for vegetarians,

it is mild in flavour, a blend of paprika, onion & garlic

Old Bay is “bolder” in flavour but does not blow

your head off!

Both seasonings are versatile and excellent store

cupboard additions to zhuzh your veggies, particularly

over roasted new potatoes or wedges

Editor's Pick #4: Veggie or not, here I come! Miso Roasted Mushrooms

Editor's note: Okay so not only does this selection have one of the best titles on the blog, it's also one of the best and quickest lunch ideas for anyone who's a fan of mushrooms. A large number of us are working from home at the moment, so if you're not having the best day on video calls, take a break and treat yourself to some amazing flavours before heading back to 'the office' - not a mushroom pun in sight. The jokes aren't for everyone but they do grow on you.

Veggie or not, here I come!

Miso roasted mushrooms

Serves 4

250g chestnut mushrooms, sliced

3 tbsps miso paste

2 tsps soy sauce

2 tbsps mirin

1 tbsp dark soft brown sugar

Mix the ingredients thoroughly into a marinade. Box and set aside. Add the marinade to the mushrooms an hour before roasting to give it time to infuse, use a strong plastic food bag.

When you're ready to cook, pre-heat your oven 150fan/170c/Gas 3.

Place your marinaded mushrooms into a foil tray and roast for 15-20 minutes.

In case you're not familiar with miso paste, I used brown rice miso - it is available in most large supermarkets.

It's up to you what you do

You can roast the mushrooms the day before but reduce the

time to 10 minutes and then either re-heat in the oven for 10 minutes

or warm through in a small saucepan whilst making the

orzotto

Here's what to expect :

the marinaded mushrooms

then roasted

and served

Ta dah!

The cracking Three Cheese Tart!

I don't normally “blow my own trumpet” but on this occasion I will – if you're a cheese lover it'll be right up your alley!

Here's the recipe :

Three Cheese Tart

The pastry case

8oz/225g Wholemeal Flour

4oz/110g unsalted butter – sliced, cubed or grated

Pinch of baking powder

Ice cold water to bind

The filling

2 medium onions, chopped

knob of butter, drop of rapeseed oil

12oz/350g grated cheese, 4oz/110g each mature

cheddar, Red Leicester and Gruyere

1 egg, beaten to bind

Black pepper

ice cold water to bind

Grease and line a 9”/22cm dish or spring clip tin. Cling film to wrap.

For the pastry case, use a food processor if you have one, pop in the flour, baking powder and butter and blitz until breadcrumbs. Add a drop of ice cold water and pulse until the pastry comes together - do not over do it. Tip the pastry out onto a sheet of cling film, using the film gather the pastry together into a ball and fridge for 30 mins.

Soften the chopped onions in the butter and rapeseed oil.

Add the cheese, onions, black pepper and beaten egg, set aside and fridge until you are ready to roll!

Roll out your pastry and fridge again until you are ready to bake.

Pre-heat your oven to 180fan/200c/Gas 6.

When you are ready to bake put the chilled filling into the chilled pastry and bake for 35/40 minutes until golden.

Leave the tart to cool, ideally serve it warm. If you cut into the tart when straight out of the oven the cheese filling will ooze – you need to leave it to settle.

This tart is excellent warmed the next day – if you're fortunate enough to have any leftovers!

Coming next a plan and the prep.

Back to reality – a birthday lunch

We're back home and to reality too. It's our friend's birthday and we're hosting a Sunday Lunch to celebrate.

The lunch is salad – boring, I hear you say – absolutely not is my reply.

I love to serve a combination of both hot and cold dishes. The hot dishes are such that they can be made ahead, at least in part and then pulled together easily on the day.

I love potatoes with salad and I don't mean potato salad, I mean hot potatoes. There are two potato dishes I have in mind – Dauphinoise or Tartiflette – both, as you may have guessed, are French and both delicious. Oodles of flavour – tick! Not had Tartiflette for ages – the downside is it contains bacon, so not suitable for the veggie, the upside – smoked bacon bits in a bowl on the side so no-one is short changed. Another tick!

I also love cheese, in any form, and even though I say so myself, make a cracking (meaning excellent!) Three Cheese Tart – my own recipe.

The attraction of both these hot dishes is I can prep and part cook ahead.

There are the usual “salad” suspects – have a look at my menu :

Sunday Lunch for Shirl

Cubed Halloumi Fries

Tartiflette

with smoked bacon pieces on the side

Sweet baby peppers and asparagus

Three Cheese Tart

Beetroot – relish or honey roasted or baby beets

Sliced Ciabatta with Balsamic Vinegar and Extra Virgin

Olive Oil to dip with black olives on the side

Smashed Avocado

Tomatoes

Green Stuff

Large salad bowl with lettuce, cucumber and whole

spring onions – easy for the onion avoider!

Mixed meat antipasti

For the fish lovers

Smoked salmon

Scallops and king prawns stir fried in

black bean sauce

The cracking Three Cheese Tart recipe up next.