Our Produce, supplying Staffordshire with great value local food

Jane has written in with this delicious take on a bread and butter pudding:

“At the mention of hot cross buns the other week, below is a recipe for Hot cross bun pudding-

4 hot cross buns, each cut across horizontally to make 3 slices, low fat spread, grated lemon rind, 1/2tsp. ground cinnamon, 2 eggs, 3/4pint of milk and some demerara sugar. Reserve the top slices of bun, spread the other slices with low fat spread and then cut them in half.  Arrange the slices spread side up in a round deep 11/2 pint ovenproof dish.Sprinkle with the lemon rind and cinnamon and finish with the 4 bun tops. Beat the eggs with the milk and strain the mixture over the buns. Sprinkle some demerara sugar on top.  Bake at 180C/350F/Gas 4 for 40 mins. or until the top is crisp and golden and the pudding is risen and set. Enjoy!”

a contribution to ‘what we did with Our Produce food tonight’ …

Cauli cheese made with the cheddar with chives and onions (discovered a fab Delia recipe some time ago that produces perfect lump-free sauce every time with no skill; chuck into a pan 1oz butter, 1oz flour – I used spelt – and half a pint of COLD milk [important]. Stick it on the heat, whisking all the time and then voila! perfect white sauce). Bung in the grated cheese, melt it all up and pour on steamed cauli. Pop in the oven while you grill pork steaks. OK, I did put non-Our Produce tomatoes underneath to cook at the same time, but what can you do? I am forever scarred by my cookery teacher who used to screech ‘colour, Julie, where is the colour in your meal?’. Let me tell you, I have never cooked shepherd’s pie followed by rice pudding in my life.

I made lasagne last night because I had some mince that needed using up, some carrots (it could have been courgettes or mushrooms) and odd scraps of cheese, including cheddar with chive and onion which is just fab for cooking with, if you haven’t tried yet. I always fry mince separately first in a hot pan and then take that out with a slotted spoon so I haven’t had to add any extra oil to fry the onion, garlic, herbs and what ever other diced up veg I’m putting in the meat mixture. Put it all back in the pan together, add a tin of tomatoes and some seasoning and cook through for half an hour or so. I just make a normal bechamel sauce but then grate in any cheese leftovers for a stronger flavour - layer meat, lasagne and sauce finishing off with more grated cheese if desired. A final 30-40 minutes in the oven will warm it all through and cook the pasta. Not that quick, but simple to do and very tasty.

This is a bit of a posh name for a great pasta dish I created the other night by slicing up a pork steak (it could have been a chicken breast or piece of steak) into thin strips, dipping it in seasoned flour then giving it a quick fry in the wok in some rape seed oil. I had already fried together some chopped spring onions, sliced mushroom, parsley and garlic so I then put the two together added a small amount of chicken stock, a generous teaspoon of dijon mustard and of honey, then finished it off with some leftover soured cream. The tagliatelli was cooking while I was doing all that and in 15 minutes I had a delicious tea on the table. The kids loved it and if I’d have had any, I might also have added some small fried broccoli florets.. keep it flexible!

This dish is a firm favourite at home and the best thing is….Steven ( my luvverly hubby) cooks it! (In fact it’s the only thing he does cook..apart from a mean fry up!). Now we’re sounding unhealthy….but honestly this is healthy sausage, egg and chips.

Grill the sausages (Bradshaw’s of course!), fry the eggs in a little rape seed oil and the secret to great-tasting, healthy chips is to cut the potatoes into chunky chip shapes, par boil for 4-5 minutes then dry and spread onto preheated roasting tray with just a teaspoon or two of rape seed oil and cook in a hot oven for about 40 mins. Delicious and nutritious!

Thanks for the tip, Annie. I did boiled gammon for tea the other night and tipped away the first lot of water after it came to the boil. This got rid of the ‘scum’ and some of the salt that tend to come out of the joint on cooking and then boiled it again in fresh water for a good hour (it was a 2.5lb joint). Left in the brine while I cooked the veg, made the mashed potatoes and parsley sauce, it was really tender to carve and, for my first ever gammon boiling experience, got a big thumbs up from all the family.