Tips and more tweaks

... for the chowder and it turns out that there are more than three tweaks – there's a surprise!

There are three thickening choices to add to a chowder, crushed crackers, the hardtack ships biscuits also crushed or a roux. The recipe given uses the roux method.

If you're Lactose intolerant, use stock to replace the milk and a plant based spread that is suitable for cooking.

In case you were wondering why the diced potato wasn't added to the other veggies when sweating it was entirely deliberate. Potato tends to stick like cement to a pan because of the release of starch and so will wreck your soup base. Submerging the potato and the corn later into the soup is a perfect solution – problem solved.

Speaking of corn - it is definitely not sweetcorn season and I mentioned cobs of corn in the recipe. When the season arrives and you use cobs you'll need to strip them. Please note you don't have to risk your fingers stripping a cob. Years ago I treated myself to a piece of kit that really does what it says – say hello to my sweetcorn stripper – I bought mine in South Carolina, Charleston Cooks to be precise and it's made by Oxo. I found, researching recently, the same one imported at a ridiculous amount of dosh. There are however alternatives out there.

Here it is :

the stripper with its guard

the stripper without

More photos – from the beginning

The second tweak ...

There are traditional accompaniments or garnishes to add to a chowder - Tabasco and Worcestershire Sauce both would be served at the table so that each person can add to create whatever strength and flavour they prefer and entirely optional.

the chowder with blobs of Worcestershire Sauce

the chowder sprinkled with chopped flat leaf parsley too

Next … tips and more tweaks

Three tweaks for the Chowder

The first tweak is not just for the chowder but useful in all sorts of ways. Way back when I started the multitasking ideas and filling your oven whilst cooking your Sunday roast, one of my favourite tips was to pop a tray of bacon into the oven – 180fan, 15 minutes turn and repeat. Let the bacon cool on the tray and then break into tiny pieces, box and fridge.

Add a sprinkle of bacon bits on top of the chowder especially for the meat eaters – the bonus here is that you don't have to wreck a veggie soup or dish. The bits can be placed in a bowl and people can help themselves.

It looks like this :

There are deals to be had out there – I got two packets of Wiltshire Cured Smoked Back Bacon – 8 rashers in each – 480g in total - for £5 and you can freeze it.

If you'd like another “bacon” idea then you could fry diced chorizo until crispy then sprinkle with the released oil over the Chowder.

More tweaks …

Back to mid week supper ideas …

… another soup – with tweaks to follow.

There are so many soup recipes to try - here's my version of a Sweetcorn Chowder.

The Chowder originates from long journeys by ship – they used ingredients that would survive and the soup was thickened with hardtack. Hardtack we know as a “ships biscuit” - it was inexpensive and long lasting – perfect for long sea voyages. It arrived in North America from England and France. Probably the most famous version, certainly in the USA, is clam chowder but there are many variations. It is principally a soup with cream or milk, although you can use stock, adding potatoes, sweetcorn and other veggies or add fish and seafood if that's your bag. I suppose you have to like sweetcorn but, by its nature, it's quite popular with the kiddies.

Sweetcorn Chowder

Serves 2 large or 4 smaller portions

300g/10½oz Charlotte potatoes, peeled and finely diced

1 medium carrot, finely diced

1 medium onion, finely diced

90g/3½oz Two small red sweet baby peppers, finely diced

50g/2oz of unsalted butter

175g/6oz sweetcorn or two cobs, stripped

1 tbsp plain flour

2 pints of milk – I use semi-skimmed

(568ml or 1.2 litres)

celery salt and pepper – white or black

chopped flat leaf parsley to sprinkle

Sweat the carrot, onion and peppers gently in the butter for 10 minutes, covered. Add the flour and the celery salt and pepper of your choice. Add the milk gradually – I use a whisk - this will prevent lumps. Add the diced potato and sweetcorn and simmer for 20 minutes, stirring frequently. Taste and adjust the seasoning to suit. Check the thickness of the soup – if it's not thick enough, again to suit you, blend a ladle or two and add it back to enrich.

You don't have to use celery salt, you can use sea salt if you prefer. I love the extra oomph it gives – a fab flavour, especially in soups. I also mention a choice of white or black pepper – it's entirely a matter of choice, either is fine. If you're not fond of black flecks from black pepper then white is right!

Coming up - three tweaks and a photo guide …

A geographical guide to a bread roll …

… or when is a bread roll not a bread roll?

Do you ever come across bakery products and bread that you've never seen before? If you holiday in the UK then that's quite likely.

I grew up and worked in the Midlands and I'd pop to the local bakery to buy my lunch – usually a cheese cob – it could be soft or crusty.

Years later I moved to London to live and work. I followed the same routine for lunch and asked for a cheese cob – they did give me a strange look, clearly thought they'd misheard this funny girl with a weird accent and offered me a large uncut loaf – that they called “a cob”. Having translated my cheese “cob” became a “cheese roll”. I'm sorry to appear picky but – as far as I'm concerned – a roll is a shape that means just that . When in Rome and all that – I conformed and my bread education began.

From London I relocated to the North West, lived in Bolton and worked near Eccles, where they make the cakes – the smell on baking day was divine!

In the North West there's the muffin – not “roll shaped” at all – soft and flat. Then there's the tea cake – please note, not to be confused with a toasted teacake version that contains currents and sultanas – just plain.

The barm cake is from Manchester and the surrounding area. It's not much different to my Midlands “cob” but on reflection I don't think I've ever seen a crusty barm cake.

My favourite from the North West and North Derbyshire too is the oven bottom – flat as can be and so called because it is said they were baked on the bottom of the oven. It's more likely that they were made with the remnants of the dough when the loaves had been baked. I feel I should set the record straight – the oven bottom is a much later name – the original “oven bottom” originated in the North East and is called a “stottie” (or Stotty).

Most of us know the bakery Greggs which began as long ago as 1939. Its first shop opened in 1951 in Newcastle upon Tyne and is now the largest bakery chain in the UK. Greggs baked the best oven bottoms ever and I used to buy them freshly baked in bags of 6. Even when I'd left the North West I'd stock up when I visited and freeze them. Imagine my joy at the thought of an oven bottom when Greggs opened in the South – such joy was short lived. With the exception of the pasties Greggs bakery products are completely different – definitely in Northamptonshire and I now discover in the South generally. What a disappointment - they are missing a trick, as they say!

I can't say I'm up to date with bakery products in London but I wouldn't mind betting they still don't know of an oven bottom or, for that matter, a barm cake.

I felt I should set the record straight and if you're not confused now – my husband is a Lancashire lad. One of his favourite lunches is a currant teacake with cheese. There's nothing better than a fresh currant teacake, buttered and topped with thin slices of Crumbly Lancashire cheese - you can get a Creamy Lancashire version too. If you live in Lancashire or the North West you'll also be able to buy Lancashire Tasty cheese – it's exactly the same as the crumbly version but matured for longer and gives a more mature taste – yum!

I've recommended the currant teacakes with cheese to lots of friends and they love them – I say “them” one never seems enough!

Next, back to more mid week supper ideas

The Daim Road serving idea …

… simplicity itself – use your freezer.

Here's a product you may be interested in – particularly if you are fond of sweet stuff. This Swedish Glace “ice cream” is vegan, dairy free, lactose free and gluten free – I think that just about covers it!

The “ice cream”

raspberry flavour – available in vanilla and chocolate too

There are heaps of Swedish Glace dessert products to choose from – check them out when you're browsing!

The story so far – we have frozen Daim Road and Swedish Glace. The final touch and probably the most important – frozen raspberries – no sprinkle of anything, particularly sugar, there's enough in the Daim Road to sink a battleship!

It's a handful of this and a scoop of that and restraint with the cubes of Daim Road. You could use any sharp fruits of your choice to balance the sweetness.

Here's my “freezer” dessert :

You'd never know the Swedish Glace isn't a traditional ice cream – it's delicious.

The moral of the story … make your freezer work for you, not as a receptacle for ready-meals you've bought!

Coming up – a geographical guide to a bread roll and then back to more mid-week supper ideas.

Daim Road photo guide

The XXL bag – 460g

The saucepan with the tiny Daims, the butter

and the golden syrup

A tray full!

A bowl of the bite sized beauties

As with any of the “Rocky Road” recipes this version freezes well.

A serving idea up next …