April is a fickle month

Wouldn't it be lovely to be able to rely on the weather and arrange our social lives in the certainty of knowing we weren't going to get wet through or freeze or even need the snow boots – stranger things have happened!

When I was planning my menu for the supper with friends I took a risk and decided on the safe bet, that it would probably be cool – sadly I got that one right - typical!

Righty ho, back to the hotpot – the meat is ready when you are. For the gravy, use the garlic infused lamb stock – discarding any fat. If you wished you could sauté onions and carrots, (small dice) in a knob of unsalted butter and then add your stock – thicken with a little slaked cornflour. Cover the lamb with your stock and vegetables.

As part of my prep yesterday I baked jackets potatoes – 3 medium to large – cooled, peeled and then sliced, bagged and fridged, ready for assembly. Grated Red Leicester cheese – 50g to sprinkle on the top of the potatoes.

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

Layer the sliced potatoes on the top of the lamb and stock. Season with black pepper, then sprinkle the cheese to complete. Bake in the oven for 35 minutes.

The hotpot will give you four generous portions, here's one of them :

It may not be a traditional hotpot for the purists out there but who cares.

If you should try this recipe I hope you enjoy it - I think it's good any time – by the way – you can freeze any leftovers – well, you never know.

Comfort food is not just for winter!

Shop Smart!

I know that what follows is too late for the Easter holidays but, as we've two long weekends in May I decided to share – you might find it helpful.

Friends coming for supper on Sunday. I wanted to prep and cook as much as I could the day before and decided ahead of the game that I was cooking a hotpot, or rather my version of it. Normally for hotpot I'd use lamb shanks, slow cooked then strip them ready to use.

I don't normally buy meat from a supermarket – but I'm sure you've noticed that we've been bombarded with deals. So I decided to try an experiment and see what was on offer. I bought a half leg of lamb joint for £5.40 – weight 1.079kg - £5 per kilo – half price. I sealed the joint and then de-glazed the pan using 2 tsps of garlic paste and then added lamb stock. I slow cooked for 3 hours.

Here's the result :

As you can see the bone lifts away leaving a plateful of tender, moist meat – just like this :

I suppose the lesson is keep your eyes open. I didn't want a huge leg of lamb but some smart supermarket person decided to offer the half leg. A very loud message to all supermarkets out there – not everyone wants a huge big lump of meat nor, and more importantly, can they afford it! End of rant.

The lamb deal was so good and definitely cheaper than shanks – sadly they've become fashionable – like beef cheeks but that's another story.

I'll let you know how it goes!

Hodgepodge … again

Having gone to the bother of giving you the blueberry compote recipe it seemed rude not to give you another recipe in which to use it!

Hope you like my latest :

Lemon and Blueberry Hodgepodge

Serves 1

3 lemon meringues, crushed

1 scoop vanilla ice cream

30g lemon curd – microwave on medium for

10 secs – stir and then the curd is ready to pour

1 tbsp blueberry compote

sprinkle of toasted flaked almonds to decorate

Before we go any further – a couple of pointers. The lemon meringues I found in Marks and Spencer – see photo below. We've spoken about lemon curd – you can make your own or buy a good substitute as a back up – mine is Marks and Spencer's Sicilian – see photo below.

Finally, the toasted flaked almonds. I toasted them in the oven – 160fan/180c/Gas 4 for 5 minutes. I set my timer a minute at a time – checked and gave the baking tray a shake - the colour of the almonds is up to you but don't forget them or you'll be really cross!

Construct as follows :

Meringues, crushed

add scoop of ice cream

drizzle the loosened lemon curd over the ice cream

add the blueberry compote

decorate with a sprinkle of toasted flaked almonds

It is best served in a glass dish or bowl as you can see :

Another easy assembly dessert option to include in your store cupboard arsenal!

The Compote Compilation

A cook can never have enough compotes to choose from – here's another – this time blueberry. They are quick and easy to make and have a gazillion uses – the usual suspects like toppings for pancakes, cereals and yogurt. Dressing up desserts like cheesecakes – giving that much needed sharpness - quick and simple over ice cream.

Here it is :

Blueberry Compote

250g blueberries – defrosted if frozen

100g caster sugar

juice of one small lemon

Pop the blueberries and the sugar into a medium sized saucepan and cook gently until the sugar melts and the mixture begins to thicken – add your lemon juice. This should take approximately 15 minutes. Stir occasionally taking care not to break up the fruit – this is a marathon not a sprint – be patient – it's only 15 minutes. If you must walk away from the stove then make sure you've got your timer around your neck.

When the mixture is cooked leave it to cool – then spoon into the clean jar you've got ready!

Here's one I made earlier – the compote not the jar :

Never let it be said that I don't try and save you time – frozen blueberries are available from Sainsbury's – 400g for £2.15.

Enjoy the 15 minutes of therapy nurturing your compote – I certainly did!

The coleslaw conundrum - the raw slaw principle

For me a coleslaw is not just a summer side for a BBQ. I like the flexibility of having the raw ingredients, prepped and ready to use. This type of “salad” is delicious all year round.

You can use any dressing that takes your fancy and the balance of the cabbage, carrot and whatever else you throw in a bowl is entirely your own choice. There is an added advantage too – if you like to eat sensibly say, during your working week, then making up a batch of raw slaw will be your best friend – so often we set out with the best of intentions but after a long hard day at work your resistance is really low. The answer is to have your ingredients ready and waiting to assemble quickly.

So, with that in mind :

Slice your cabbage – bag, clip and fridge.

Julienne your carrots – as many as you like – bag, clip and fridge.

Spring onions are mild, you could use a Spanish onion if you prefer or a red version. You can get a sweet, mild variety in the Tesco Finest range. Slice, bag, clip and fridge.

Here's an alternative dressing if you aren't fond of a mayonnaise base.

Pomegranate Dressing

2 tbsp pomegranate molasses

juice of two limes

2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce

pinch of nigella seeds

1-2 tsps sumac

Mix all the ingredients together, preferably in a jug then

pour into a clean jar (with a lid!) and shake well

You might have noticed that it's healthy too. If you are a virtuous person and have leftover protein in your fridge, like salmon or chicken - try creating your own wrap together with the pomegranate slaw. Leftover Asian Spiced Salmon would work well too – the recipe is on the blog.

By the way – did you know its origin is Dutch – from the word koolsla, meaning cabbage salad and evolved into the word coleslaw.

I hope I haven't bored the pants off!

The coleslaw conundrum - an uphill battle!

I have friends and students who really dislike coleslaw and would pull a face that you're not supposed to see and then decline. The most frequent comments are - “it's tasteless and too much dressing” “I like the combination of vegetables but the dressing is too creamy and sickly”

I do like a challenge and consequently was delighted to hear “completely different to shop bought” “the dressing is very light not like the shop bought stuff”, “refreshing, tangy and delicious”.

If you don't want to be bothered with slicing and dicing then you could choose a good quality or your favourite shop bought brand of coleslaw and enhance it – there is without doubt a world of difference out there – it does not necessarily follow that the most expensive is the best, if you get my drift.

Obviously industrial processors are used for the mass produced product, hence the huge chunks of tough, woody cabbage in the mixture. So, if you are going to use a ready prepared version and make it your own you might want to fish out the larger pieces of cabbage and slice/chop/dice at will!

Add any of the variations mentioned in the Coronation Slaw recipe – to begin with the curry powder, lime juice and mango chutney then the apricots and sultanas. Add chopped nuts – walnuts or pecans would work well or a sharp flavoured apple, peeled quartered and diced. It's whatever floats your boat but is more practical if you don't have the time to slice and julienne the cabbage and carrots.

There is another speedier option – you can buy bags of coleslaw mix – in theory ready to use. The downside is that this product is mass produced as is the ready-made coleslaw and suffers the same fate - large inedible slices of cabbage et al. However it's nothing a chefs knife can't put right – tip it onto a chopping board and refine! The upside is it's practical and if you want to road test creating your own slaw it's worth a shot.

I don't want you to get the idea that I'm a coleslaw snob – too late was the cry!

The coleslaw conundrum …continued … say hello to your new best friend!

The julienne peeler - every serious cook should have one!

Here's another thing that gets on my wick – entirely related to shop bought coleslaw you understand – carrots either sliced so finely they are mush or so chunky and uneven you have to make an unscheduled trip to the dentist – without being ridiculous your slaw should be of a similar size.

Carrots bleed if you grate them – not to mention pebble dashing every nook and cranny in your kitchen – how is it possible that grated carrot can jettison so far?

Ta dah – enter the julienne peeler.

Here it is, along with the uniformly sliced strips of carrot it produces :

A neat piece of kit and inexpensive too.

The result of all your hard work looks like this :

Of course you could, if you prefer, dust off one of the gazillion attachments that belongs to your food processor/mixer for which you paid an exorbitant price and, if you can remember which bit goes where, use the slicer cum grater. Oh and create a washing up mountain to boot!