Time on our hands – the Tiddy filling

Since you probably won't have the box of filling leftover in your freezer, it occurs that you might like to make a batch to create the Tiddies so here's the recipe :

The Cheese, potato and onion Tiddy filling

or Serves 2 as a pie

2 medium sized baked jacket potatoes

approximately 400g – peeled and cut into cubes

measuring 1.5cms/½”

1 medium onion, finely diced and

sautéed with a knob of unsalted butter and

a drop of rapeseed oil until softened – 5 minutes

add 1 teaspoon of Dijon mustard to the onion

150g of grated cheeses – 50g each of Mature

Cheddar, Red Leicester and Gruyere

You could do worse than make a batch and divide and freeze in quantities to suit – a pie or tiddy pastries – both delish!

If you'd like to see what the pie looks like, there's a series on the blog beginning with A Christmas Gift with a difference - giving a complete photo guide too – Cheese label15/12/19.

Photo guide for the Tiddy up next!

Time on your hands and in the face of adversity …

… desperate times call for desperate measures! I don't mean to sound like a drama queen but may be we should be paying a little more attention to food that we waste – or more to the point, now more than ever, trying not to waste.

Do you know what's in your freezer? I think I have a rough idea but there's always a surprise or two if you dig deep enough. I have a habit of always prepping too much which, by definition, means I create leftovers.

I found a box of filling left over from a cheese, potato & onion pie I made recently. I'm about to show you that it can come in handy. There wasn't a huge amount - 270g ish – another rummage, this time in the fridge, produced a nugget – not of gold – but as good as – gruyere which, grated, gave me a grand total of 330g of filling. The only other ingredient required is a beaten egg.

Perfect for a Tiddy – a small pastry.

Okey dokey – I have the filling – what's next?

In the spirit of desperate measures and the crazy behaviour at the moment in the supermarkets I think it's time to make your own – in this case puff pastry – from scratch. Check the Pastry label for the Fast flaky pastry recipe. This is not difficult and it freezes well too so you can make it when you've a spare ten minutes and that's all the time it takes. All you have to remember is to weigh, wrap in foil and freeze your unsalted butter ahead of the game to give it time to chill.

When you've made your batch of pastry shape it into an oblong, then chill or freeze. Line a baking tray with baking parchment. “Glue” the parchment to the tray by greasing each corner lightly with a butter wrapper – I always keep one in the door of my fridge!

When you're ready to begin, flour your surface and roll out the pastry – take care to roll in the same direction to prevent stretching, otherwise the pastry will shrink, keeping the oblong shape or lengthways if you prefer! Cut into two strips - you're aiming for each strip to measure 30cms or 12” long and 8cms/3” wide, approximately, then lift each strip onto the lined baking tray.

Tip the filling and the added Gruyere into a medium mixing bowl and mix. The original filling contained small cubes of potato which were too big for this idea. I used an ordinary knife and fork and refined the size of the filling.

Divide the filling between the two strips placing it in the middle of each. Egg wash each edge and pinch the ends together. Lift the pastry edges to the filling, creating a sort of open “sausage roll”, egg wash the sides and ends of the pastry.

Fridge until you're ready to bake, together with the remaining egg wash.

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

Egg wash again and then bake for 30 minutes.

Voila – Tiddy pastries!

Just in case you haven't got a box of leftover filling in your freezer ...

Time on your hands – lets not waste it!

Wasting food is bad at any time – even more so at the moment.

I'm as guilty as the next person. Here's my latest “rescue”. I'm keeping track of what fresh fruit I have and particularly which perishes first. I forgot to check the apples. I suppose I thought they'd have a longer “fruit bowl life” than grapes – oops!

Enter my four Pink Lady apples – they were not as fresh as they could have been - here's my solution based on my “I'm not wasting food” philosophy - “Toffee Apples” :

Toffee Apples

4 Pink Lady apples, peeled, cored & sliced

60g unsalted butter

656g soft dark brown sugar

2 tbsp of orange juice

Cook in a large frying pan for 10 minutes, and you get these :

Shazam!

My four apples gave me 466g of toffee apples which I divided into two boxes and popped into the freezer. Serve warmed for a few seconds in the microwave, over vanilla ice cream.

I cannot tell you how good it feels to rescue food and turn it – in this case – into a yummy pud!

A Croque, the relish and a wedge

Cooking doesn't have to be complicated – the simpler the better. Here's an example - recipes for a sandwich, with two sides.

The beauty of these recipes are that they are straight forward – the Croque can be made ahead, ready to fry whilst your wedges are in the oven.

I know the Croque is indulgent – it's meant to be – perfect for the weekend in front of your favourite film.

The Croque :

Croque Monsieur

4 slices of medium sliced wholemeal bread

2 tsp Dijon mustard

75g (3oz) Gruyere cheese (grated)

2 slices of ham or try 45g of cooked ham hock

if you can get it – omit the ham for the vegetarians

30g (1½oz) unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 160fan/180c/Gas 4

Spread ½ tsp of mustard over each slice of bread.

Spread half the cheese on two slices of bread followed by the ham, remaining cheese on top. Sandwich together with the other two slices of bread.

Heat the butter in a frying pan until foaming – fry your Croque Monsieur for 1-2 minutes on each side. If your frying pan is suitable for the oven then pop in for 4-5 minutes. If not then transfer the Croque to a baking sheet.

If you haven't got or can't get hold of Gruyere then use Mature Cheddar instead – nothing is set in stone!

Adaptable for meat eaters and vegetarians too.

The relish :

Bazzin' beetroot relish

300g vac pack of organic cooked beetroot

drained and cut into small cubes

1 sharp eating apple, peeled, cored and cut

into small cubes

1 medium onion, finely chopped

75g soft dark brown sugar

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 tbsp olive oil

salt and black pepper

Don't forget to use gloves when prepping your beetroot!

Mix well and place all the ingredients in a medium saucepan – 16cms in diameter. Simmer on a low heat, uncovered, for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally until all the liquid has been absorbed.

Take the pan off the heat and allow to cool. Box up and fridge until ready to use.

Finally the wedges :

You can use Charlotte or any waxy potato for wedges. If in doubt check the instructions on the bag. King Edward potatoes are great too – crispy on the outside – fluffy on on the inside. Cut your wedges into similar sizes and place on a large baking tray, drizzle with rapeseed oil and pop into a pre-heated oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6 – 20 minutes then shake and repeat. The more wedges you have the longer it will take for them to be crispy and brown. Tip into a bowl and sprinkle with a seasoning of your choice – Chinese 5 Spice, Chilli Flakes, or Classic Paprika & Onion, to name but three. Shake again and serve.

The dumpling stuff!

Vegetarian suet is a truly wonderful product and dumplings are really easy to make.

100g/4oz of self-raising flour

50g/2oz of vegetable suet

large pinch of salt

80ml cold water

Mix the flour, suet and salt with the water

Divide and shape into four for large or eight for smaller versions

Drop into simmering soup and cook for 20 minutes

Here's the thing … traditionally dumplings are placed on top of a casserole with a tightly fitting lid. Casseroles have a thicker consistency than soup and obviously, usually, slow cooked in the oven. Soup simmers on top of the hob and saucepan lids “sit” on top of the pan and are not what I'd describe as “tightly fitting”. Here's my tip - tear off a sheet of foil large enough to overlap the pan, push down slightly and then secure with the lid. Make sure your soup is simmering gently before you add the dumplings and seal with foil. 20 minutes later you'll have dumplings the size of which you wouldn't believe!

A bowl of soup with dumplings – what's not to love and it can be veggie or not!

Radio Information

As promised here are the labels to be found on the blog and recipes and the bits and pieces mentioned too during my chat with Bernie Keith, on his Radio Show, The Bernie Keith Show, BBC Radio Northampton on Thursday 2^nd April, 2020 at 11.45am

Veggie label

Dressings and home-made mayo

Halloumi

Bazzin' Beetroot relish using

Vac pack beetroot

A roast or a pie?

Jack Fruit

A raw slaw

Pasta

Fettuccine Alfredo – the ultimate

pasta and sauce

Orzotto – fast risotto – no rice involved!

Comfort Food

Rummage Pie

Champ or Colcannon?

Soup

Chowder

Cream of Chicken

Carrot, Coriander and Chickpea

Pastry

Where has all that flour gone? If you have some :

Wholemeal pastry

Fast Flaky pastry

Pasty Pastry

Bread

Beer bread

Soda bread

Cheese & Onion Muffin Loaf

Fish

Fish Mornay

Fish Pie

Fish Cakes – the best ever!

Asian Spiced Salmon

Smoked mackerel paté

Beef label

Posh Chilli – doesn't have to be steak, mince

will do!

Posh Cottage Pie

Steak pie filling – slow cooker style

Stew and dumplings

Burgers and meatballs

Desserts

Where would life be without a sweet treat?!

No-churn ice creams – check out the Ice Cream label too

Cakes

Compotes

Chocolate stuff – Bark and Rocky Road

Sticky Toffee Sauce

A Muddle or a Hodgepodge (aka a Mess)

Tiramisu – NOT coffee

Microwave Lemon Curd

There are Labels for Meal Planning and Hints and Tips too.

None of the above is exhaustive, it's just to give you ideas.

Time on your hands – roasted garlic photo guide

I had a larger foil tray so roasted three bulbs -

it never gets wasted

consider it therapy

I love saving time!

I filled eight pots which I bagged in Bacofoil SafeLock bags – four pots in each. Handy to stash in that small freezer tray that never gets used because you never have anything small enough - another problem solved.

The best garlic - no bitterness - sweet and ready to use. Just think how easy it is to make your own garlic butter with a sprinkle of celery salt - don't forget to add a handful of chopped flat leaf parsley too - ready to bake with mushrooms and/or to spread on a French stick, wrap in foil and bake for your own garlic bread … just another thought or two!

How about a recipe for leftovers?