Have you ever …

waited ages for a bus or a train and then three come along all at once?

It's the same in our house with visitors – there must be something in the air!

I'm off to visit my Sister for a few days – after all we girls deserve a spot of retail therapy and bargain hunting.

Before I set off we do our usual “catch up, is everyone ok” call to the big kids who remind us they are away shortly, in Sussex on a mini break. They ask if they can break their return journey home and pop in to see us. Their journey home is not just around the corner – 5 hours – 270 miles approximately and that's on a good day with the wind in the right direction! That's code for food too – I say this with love since there is no greater pleasure for me than to cook for people who appreciate it and they do.

Erm, then I realise I can't be in two places at once – in particular cooking at home for lunch on Saturday or it may be an evening meal and an overnight stay. Crikey, sort this one out.

A brainwave … slow cook braising steak, freeze the steak and the stock. Boom!

I make sure I add Maris Piper potatoes to the shopping list – mashed potatoes is another good idea.

Done and done.

Fast forward – I'm now with my Sister and bringing her up to speed. I'm trying to explain how I'm going to serve the dish – keep it simple - in a large bowl so that it's easy to control. A generous portion of mashed potato and an even more generous ladle of steak and gravy - “Oh, says Whizzer (my nickname for my Sister) it sounds like an upside down shepherd's pie.”

Genius!

Nearly there!

Assembly :

Split your brioche buns and either warm in

the oven for a couple of minutes or toast lightly

Drizzle aioli on the bottom of the bun and add your

slice of coated and fried halloumi

Top with your miso roasted mushroom, add

another generous drizzle of aioli, enough so that

it oozes out – if you don't get it on your fingers and

down your chin, add more – complete with the brioche “hat”

This is what it looked like :

Ta dah!

I am my own worst critic and I loved it – Lucas and Sam were very complimentary. My best effort yet.

Miso Mushroom Burger – the marinade

Miso marinade

Serves 4

4 x Portabello mushrooms, peeled and stalks trimmed

3 tbsps miso paste

2 tsps soy sauce

2 tbsps mirin

1 tbsp dark soft brown sugar

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

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.

10 minutes in to your mushrooms roasting time, heat the oil for the halloumi in a frying pan (29cms/11” diameter) using enough oil to cover the base – the pan is the perfect size for the four slices. Coat each slice of cheese both sides. Test your oil with a small piece of bread – it will sizzle when it's ready. Fry each slice for 2 minutes then turn and repeat. Keep the halloumi warm, wrapped in foil, whilst you're plating up.

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

Just so you know what you're looking for :

Nearly there!

The Miso Mushroom Burger - Aioli and Halloumi

Remember the two gigantic bulbs of garlic in the veggie box which I roasted and committed to the freezer? Now is the time they come into their own!

I think of Aioli as posh mayo – really it's a sauce made of garlic and olive oil. There are many variations of the sauce – the current French-Provencal version is probably closer to a mayonnaise but originally both the French and Catalan recipes don't contain egg yolks and have more garlic.

Aioli

Serves 6

2 large cloves of roasted garlic

2 egg yolks

½ tsp of Dijon mustard

½ tsp salt

60ml/2½ fl oz extra virgin olive oil

180g/6½oz rapeseed (Canola) oil

2 tbsp water

freshly ground black pepper

Blend the roasted garlic, egg yolks, mustard, salt and 2 tbsps of water in a food processor. Keep the motor running and add the olive oil, then the rapeseed oil – slowly. The sauce will emulsify to a thick, pale consistency similar to mayo. Taste for seasoning. Box and fridge, ready to use.

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 shop bought version is fine. If you'd like to try your hand at making your own check out “Halloumi – seasoning and dips to go with” for inspiration.

You'll never think of it as squeaky cheese again!

The veggie burger – the quest continues

I can't get away from the archetypal image of a veggie burger – dry as sawdust, bland, boring and the best use for it is as a frisbee!

In March this year we had the “Bazzin' Burger” made with chick peas and spices.

In my house, as the only vegetarian, if I want to try out a new recipe I wait, hoping that eventually willing volunteers appear. I've been dying to try out a new “veggie” burger for a while and hey presto my IT guru, Editor, and Nephew Lucas and his girlfriend Sam came for a visit. Perfect!

Lucas and Sam were staying over for one night. I don't get time with them often so I wanted to make the most of it. Happens to us all I know - I want to give them a delicious meal but didn't want to be away from them in the kitchen whilst they were visiting, except for half an hour pulling stuff together.

Here's my menu :

Miso Mushroom Burger et al

Serves 4

4 Brioche buns

Aioli

Spiced coated Halloumi

Miso roasted portabello mushrooms

sides

Bazzin' beetroot relish

Stick fries

The next step is to work out what could be made and prepped ahead. Aioli, the coating for the Halloumi, slicing the cheese too, the miso marinade, and the relish. Nothing major but every little helps and saves precious time.

Sounds good to me – fingers crossed!

More mornay therapy

Before I move on to other stuff, here's a variation on a theme of fish and mornay sauce. Simple and delicious, especially if you're a fish pie fan.

This recipe is structured using my usual “plan ahead” strategy.

Mornay Fish Pie

Serves 4

2 large baking potatoes – stab carefully with a

paring knife, wrap in foil and bake for 1 hour at

180fan/200c/Gas 6

Set aside to cool then slice thinly – skin on or

off – personal choice

Whilst your potatoes are baking wrap 400g/14oz of fresh

fish in foil and bake for the last 15 minutes of your

potato baking time – use a timer!

Set the fish and potatoes aside to cool until ready to assemble

Your fish can be a mixture of whatever you choose – for example, smoked haddock or cod with salmon and prawns – it's whatever floats your boat – pardon the pun. If you're using cooked peeled prawns as part of your 400g/14oz of fish don't add them until you're assembling your pie. You can buy bags of mixed pieces of fish designed for a pie if you don't want to make up your own.

Now for your therapy – the mornay sauce. Make up the sauce as given in the recipe in “Moreish Mornay”.

As I've mentioned already you can make the sauce ahead, cool box and fridge. You can freeze it too if that's more convenient.

Assembly

When you're ready to assemble, preheat your oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6.

As you know I use foil trays – in this case 24x24cms/9½x9½ inches – available from Wilkinsons if you wanted a supply – otherwise a square casserole.

Open up your foiled fish and tip it into a large mixing bowl. Break the fish into chunks, gently, then season with black pepper. If you're using cooked, peeled prawns, now is the time to add them. There will be jelly from the cooked fish – discard or include – it's all flavour and will combine with the sauce you've made. If you've not used any smoked fish then you may want to add a sprinkle of salt. Add your Mornay sauce and fold to mix, gently.

Tip the mixture into your tray or casserole.

Add the sliced cooked potatoes, add a knob or two of butter and ground black pepper. If you're feeling really decadent then sprinkle grated Parmesan over the top.

Bake for 25 minutes until golden brown.

At the risk of sounding like a broken record, you can make each element when convenient for you. All you have to remember is to take the sauce out of the freezer!

Probably a tad early for Autumn/Fall comfort food but who cares. I made the pie for a class recently despite the heat. I'd cooked the potatoes and fish in the cool morning kitchen so it actually worked like a dream and my students had a ready made supper to take away!

Mornay moments – photo guide

These photos show a generous supper.

Place the fish in the bottom of the bowl and add a generous layer of potatoes

Add a generous drizzle or two of mornay sauce, “Jackson Pollock” style

Finally garnish with the griddled asparagus

The verdict … “****** wonderful”!

Hmm, a result and a recipe that will be repeated.

P.s. Feeling adventurous?

Try garnishing the dish with samphire instead of asparagus. Samphire is a sea vegetable and there are two types, marsh and rock. Marsh samphire is very similar to fine asparagus and is the most palatable of the two. Be warned, it is, not surprisingly, very salty so try steaming for a couple of minutes. It is delicious and a perfect partner for fish, which reminds me – you'll find it on the fresh fish counter!