It's not what you know …

it's who you know.

I have two Nephews – Lucas my IT Guru and Editor I've already mentioned. Nathan among his many talents is a steel fabricator.

On holiday altogether earlier this year I was grumbling to my Sis that I couldn't find rings or cutters if you prefer – large enough for neat flatbreads. I know that rustic is good but sometimes it's good to be precise.

From nowhere came - “I'll make your rings, let me know what size you want”.

Happy Birthday to me. I was cheeky and asked for two different sizes – 12 and 15 cms (4¾” and 6” respectively).

A while later, I received a present in the post - check these out – in food grade stainless steel no less!

a thing of beauty is a joy forever, to quote John Keats.

Thanks Nathan - the world is now my neat flatbread lobster!

Stock isn't just for soup

Your veggie stock isn't just for making soup.

There are excellent recipes using potatoes – try this one on for size, as they say.

Boulangere potatoes uses onions, fresh thyme, thinly sliced potatoes and veggie stock.

Boulangere potatoes

Serves 8

2 onions, sliced thinly

2 sprigs of fresh thyme

2 tbsp rapeseed oil

1½kg/3.3lbs of potatoes – Maris Piper

or Desirée, sliced thinly *see below

425ml/15fl oz/¾ pint of veggie stock

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

Fry the onions and thyme sprigs in the oil for 5 minutes.

Spread a layer of potatoes over the base of a 1.5litre oiled gratin dish. Sprinkle over a few onions and keep layering with the potatoes. Your top layer should be potato. Add your stock and bake until the potatoes are cooked and the top is golden and crisp. 50/60 minutes.

There is nothing to stop you prepping and part cooking this dish in advance – when time permits. Cook it for half the time. Remove from the oven, cool, cover with foil and fridge.

Supper the next day. Pre-heat your oven as above. Line a baking sheet with smoked back bacon – as much as you want to serve.

Place the potatoes and the bacon in the oven. Set your timer for 15 minutes, turn the bacon, repeat.

Enjoy!

Notes:

*If you wanted a couple of suggestions for a suitable US variety of potato, Yukon Gold or Russets (my favourite) would fit the bill.

Finally, a useless bit of information - do you know why they are called “Boulangere” potatoes?

I'm sure I'm stating the obvious. A “boulangerie” is a bakery “en francais”. There would be one bakery in a village. Villagers would take their potato dishes to the baker and they'd all be cooked in the one oven after the bread was baked for the day, making the best use of the ovens as they cooled down.

That's what I call organised!

What to do – take two!

Having been given one invention test I was not expecting another – that'll teach me. The previous test used cooked veggies. This time were were given a bowlful of raw ingredients. The only other rule was that it had to have a different texture and appearance.

You could include a potato, so I did, hence my title :

Soup de Ssoise (not quite Vichy!)

2 medium leeks, top, tail and finely sliced

3 sticks of celery, top, tail and finely sliced

1 medium onion, peeled and chopped finely

Glug of Rapeseed/Canola oil

1 medium sized old potato, cubed

pinch of Marjoram

pinch of Fines Herbes

salt and black pepper

1 litre/1¾ pints of veggie stock

Heat the rapeseed oil, in a large saucepan. Add the veggies and sweat for 5 minutes. Add the Marjoram and Fines Herbes and cook through so that their flavours are released into the veggies. Add the stock and potato then simmer until the potato is cooked.

This soup is meant to be smooth – blend two ladles to begin. Do the spoon test as mentioned in Soup de Loop and decant into a large jug or bowl until you've achieved a smooth consistency. Taste your soup – add more herbs if desired together with black pepper. Finally add salt to taste.

Once I'd got over the shock of having to work without any recipe – it was good fun creating something from nothing.

I suppose what I'm trying to show is that you can create something from nothing - go fridge foraging and use up either cooked leftovers or stray raw ingredients. You never know you may cook extra veggies deliberately!

A herb note or two.

Marjoram is delicate and sweet in flavour – the French sometimes add it to Fines Herbes. Fines Herbes are French and a classic combination of herbs – parsley, chives, tarragon and chervil. Just thought you'd like to know.

P.s. I should explain the “not quite Vichy” quote in the title. Vichyssoise is a French soup traditionally made with leeks, onions, potatoes, cream and chicken stock. It is usually served cold but can be hot. The ingredients we were given just reminded me of the soup but since I had no cream and it was to be served hot it wasn't quite Vichy!

What to do …

… with your stash of veggie stock.

Back in the day when I was working for my Cordon Bleu Certificate and, may I say, before there were such programmes as Masterchef one of the tasks we were given was an invention test.

The brief was - make a soup with a bowl of cooked peas, sweetcorn, carrot and broccoli.

Here's my recipe :

Soup de Loop

1 onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 green chilli, chopped – seeds removed

glug of rapeseed/Canola oil

1 old potato, cubed

1 litre/1¾ pints of veggie stock

1 dessert spoon of medium curry powder

1 tsp mace

salt and black pepper

Dice the carrots and keep the broccoli in small florets and set aside.

In a large saucepan sauté the onion, garlic and chilli in the oil, add the curry powder and mace. Add the stock and cubed potato and bring to the boil, then simmer until the potato is cooked but firm. Place two ladles of the soup into a blender and blitz until thick.

If you want to gauge the texture the trick is to dip a spoon into the blitzed soup – check the back of the spoon – it will show the texture. If you're happy with the consistency add it back into your remaining soup. Complete by adding your cooked peas, sweetcorn, diced carrots and broccoli. If you want a thicker consistency repeat the “blitz” with two more ladles.

As with all soups taste and adjust the seasoning at the end and you're ready to serve, piping hot.

The result was a chunky, thick soup with visible veggies.

I passed!

A breakfast treat

The kids wanted to take us to a fab place they'd found in Southport – only minutes from where they live in Birkdale.

First up, and most importantly, the establishment allowed well behaved dogs – gets my vote, off to a good start.

May I introduce you to Bistrot Pierre.

To say I was impressed with the décor is an understatement. I'm not going to waffle on, have a look at these photos, decide for yourself!

We chose Brioche et champignons – with or without Alsace bacon – veggie or not and Pancakes with Maple syrup, Mascarpone and fresh berries. £5.95 and £4.95 respectively.

One word – excellent. Not just the food, the surroundings speak for themselves – the staff were lovely, couldn't do enough. We'll definitely be returning.

If you're in that neck of the woods, I'd highly recommend it.

Meals on wheels!

We're off on our travels, back to the North West of the UK visiting Family for a few days.

I never go empty handed and had promised to take two firm favourites – lamb and roast potatoes.

I slow cooked lamb shanks, then stripped them into beautiful nuggets of sweet meat. I then bagged it and placed in the treasure chest.

Granddaughter Alyce is addicted to roast potatoes – I could think of worse! I par boiled Maris Piper potatoes then drained and sprinkled with semolina and shook until the semolina sticks to the potatoes. I heated rapeseed oil in a large foil roasting dish then added the potatoes, sizzling as they landed in the hot oil and then into a hot oven 200fan/220c/Gas 7 - I set my timer for 20 minutes, turned and repeated. Set them aside to cool. Divided into two strong freezer bags, clipped firmly and added to the treasure already in the chest.

Whilst out shopping I picked up a chicken - an excellent deal, not to be missed and popped it into the slow cooker when I got home. Instead of sprinkling with herbs I added whole star anise to the cavity. The following day having strained and fridged the stock I stripped the chicken, bagged and fridged the meat. The cold stock went into the treasure chest for another time.

Taking care to make a list, I now had the makings of a decent roast and I shipped the chicken too.

Delving through the freezer bag of goodies my Dil (much better than Daughter-in-Law) Chezza suggested we go get some delicious bread and make chicken sandwiches for lunch. There is an old saying, Jewish in origin I'm sure, that chicken soup is good for the soul. We now have a sandwich for the soul – I've never seen food disappear as quickly for a long time. They loved the chicken – tender, moist and full of flavour.

Very often you find that an afterthought turns into a huge hit. I'll be serving chicken sandwiches for the soul again – soon.

Roasted Veggie Stock

This does not have to be a chore, quite the reverse – think of it as therapy!

What follows will give you 2 litres of stock. Arm yourself with “pour and store” bags, suitable for liquids.

450g/1lb celery

700g/1½lbs onions

450g/1lb carrots

450g/1lb tomatoes

450g/1lb green peppers (bell peppers)

225g/8oz parsnips

2 tbsp olive oil

3 cloves of roasted garlic

1 bay leaf

6 whole black peppercorns

1 bunch fresh, flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped

2.5litres/4pints/8fl oz water

Pre-heat oven 200fan/220c/Gas 7.

Remove the leaves and the inner parts of the celery and set aside.

Toss the onions, carrots, tomatoes, green peppers and parsnips in the oil. Place them in a large roasting dish and onto a baking tray, into the oven and roast for approximately one hour, turn them every 20 minutes – when the onions have begun to caramelise and the veggies brown.

Place the veggies, plus the set aside celery leaves and inner bits, garlic, bay leaf, peppercorns, parsley and water into a large stockpot. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat and simmer, uncovered until the liquid is reduced by half.

Pour the stock through a sieve, catching the stock in a large bowl or pot.

Freeze in boxes with lids, in amounts that suit you best.

If you're going to use an “off the shelf” stock, I'd use Knorr stock pots – a great product. Knorr have a new “ready to use” organic stock which comes in 300ml packs. If you wanted to be persuaded to make your own here's a comparison - the 300ml packs are on offer at the moment for £1.49 – original price £2.20. That's a lot of dosh!