I managed to make these rolls in just over an hour the other day – albeit with the aid of a little modern technology.  .  Either use a 500g bread mix (I used Wright’s mixed seed) or make a basic mix yourself (500g strong bread flour, 320ml warm water, 1tsp fast acting yeast, 1tsp sugar, 1tsp salt).  Put it in the bread maker and set it to ‘Pizza’ – I think most bread makers have  this setting – on mine it mixes the dough, kneads it, and then proves it for about 30 mins, but doesn’t bake it (the overall time is 45 minutes).    While this is happening, heat the oven to fan 200C, grease a baking tray, sprinkle a large dinner plate with flour and beat up an egg into a cup.

As soon as the bread maker is finished, tip the dough out and quickly divide into 8 pieces.  Shape them into rolls and put them on the floured plate.  Turn the microwave to 10% power (or defrost if similar) and cook for 4 minutes (keep an eye on them during this and be ready to turn off quickly if it looks to be actually cooking).  The rolls should be risen a bit after this – they will rise more in the oven.  Brush quickly with the egg and sprinkle with some seeds.  Slam in the oven and cook for about 15 minutes or until brown and sounding hollow when tapped.

This really works as you can see in the picture – they also tasted very nice.  They were also absolutely huge – much better risen than my usual method of making them.

Fry two medium onions and a sweet pepper in a little olive oil. When soft, add a couple of cloves of finely chopped garlic and fry a bit more. Then add a few roughly chopped carrots and some slice celery sticks and turn over in the oil a bit more. Add a can of chopped plum tomatoes and another can of ratatouille (this may sound strange but it is a quick way of getting lots of different Mediterranean tastes in without spending hours chopping vegetables). Then mix in about 500ml veg stock and simmer for 10 mins or so.

Add some macaroni (I suppose about 100g) and a can of cannelloni or broad beans and simmer gently until the pasta is well cooked. Finally add a jar of pesto (green or red). Can be served with grated parmesan and some torn basil leaves.

I serve this with some olive rolls, which are the easiest thing to make in the world. I put a white bread mix in the bread maker with a couple of handfuls of olives, finely chopped and thoroughly dried with a paper towel and then add the amount of water recommended. I then put the breadmaker on the ‘pizza dough’ setting – which on my machine is only 45 minutes. At the end of that, it is part risen, so I empty the dough out on to a board well greased with olive oil, divide into eight rolls and prove again in a warm place (covered with a tea-towel) for about an hour. Heat the oven to 220C and then brush the rolls with milk and sprinkle with whatever nice seeds you have going. They should be ready in 15 to 20 minutes.

All pretty good, easy to make and cheap. Not vegan unless you use special pesto sauce, but I tried it the other day with a vegan pesto Asda are now selling and it was just as good as the one with the cheese.

So last week just as we were leaving his house, N suggested somewhat sarcastically that I should cook the Woolton pie again for him.  I’m nothing if not open to suggestions, so I came up with the idea that when they came over today, I would have the table all laid and a big steaming Woolton pie ready for consumption.  Then when faces had fallen adequately, I would whisk the pie away (to be frozen for later consumption) and out would come the real lunch (quiche, salad, smoked mackerel pate etc).

So I prepared my little gag and was expecting the guests at the usual time when we got a phone call.  The A82 was closed by an accident and they were stuck at Balloch.  Half an hour later they rang again to say that they were going to have to turn back and come tomorrow instead.

So R and I were left with both sets of food.  We couldn’t in all conscience freeze the Woolton pie without eating at least some of it – so R and I had it for our supper.  It certainly proves the old adage that you know if you are really hungry if you would schnarf down a meal of boiled fish and green beans – but I will modify it to say you know if you are really really hungry if you will eat Woolton pie.

R says he thought it was ok – but I must admit I didn’t eat mine so the joke was on me.

A layer of carrots, cauliflower, and kale (basically any veg you have going) is topped with a scant layer of onions which are boiled to save your fat ration.

Topped with (fatless) mashed potatoes mixed with oats.  The oats contain some natural fats and have the advantage of being grown over here.

The finished article with a healthy portion of sprouts…  I would say ‘yum yum’ but…

First I made some ‘Cornish’ pasties – these were definitely not authentic (I know there is a lot of controversy about carrot v. swede v. potato), so perhaps I should call them ‘Argyll’ pasties.

I made a basic pastry with 10oz plain flour and 4oz rolled oats. I then added 4oz hard vegetable cooking fat (Trex) and 1oz margarine (or butter) and rubbed in before adding water. This was an idea I got from WWII recipes (ration book cooking) about how you could reduce the fat content in pastry by adding oats which contain their own fat, and it seems to work. Make a stiff dough – not trying to make it too short because it has to be firm to hold the filling together. Roll it out quite thickly and cut into circles using an ordinary side plate as a template.

Make the filling – fry onions and leek together in a little oil. Slice some new potatoes (or cube old ones), and cube some carrots and swede. Steam until nearly cooked (I have to admit that I hate undercooked potatoes), then mix with the onions and leeks. Brush the outside ring of the pastry with water, and put a big blob of the vegetables in the middle. Season – then if you want it to be vegan, seal it up. Otherwise I made some cheese (grated strong cheddar – Cornish Cove from M&S is very nice), and some meat (sirloin steak cut into small cubes) ones. Bring the edges up together and crimp with your fingers to firmly close the seal. Brush with egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Bake at 200C for 20 minutes, then reduce temp to 160 and bake for a further 20 to 30 minutes until golden brown. Very nice (I think the cheese ones are nicest).

I also had a go at making a healthy(ish) trail bar for taking walking as the ones from the supermarket are packed with fat and sugar. I used apples from my garden for this – it is vegan if the margarine is.

Melt 6oz low fat spread or vegan margarine. Add 6oz golden caster sugar and two tablespoons golden syrup and melt together. Add 2oz sultanas and two large cooking apples peeled and grated. Then add rolled oats (about 1lb) and mix together to a thick dough. Line a deep baking tray or ceramic dish with baking parchment, grease and press the mixture down – it should be about 3/4″ thick. Bake at 180C until brown which should take about half an hour. Cut into bars (this makes about 12 to 16) and leave to cool. Note that these are not sticky like a flapjack but softer and moister. Absolutely delicious but I don’t think they would keep well so I froze most of mine in small batches (also not good for the will power to have them sitting there in the kitchen!).

Heat oven to 180C. Fry two large roughly chopped onions and two green or yellow peppers in olive oil. While these are getting nicely brown and a bit crisp – cook about 6oz brown basmati rice until nearly but not quite cooked through (about 15 mins and then drain). If you are organized, you have soaked six ounces of dried chickpeas overnight and then boiled them for about half an hour until soft – if you are not – use the canned ones. Mix 4 fluid oz of veg stock with a good glass of dry white wine and mix in some (one standard supermarket jar) saffron, 1 tsp ras al hanout (don’t overdo this or it will swamp the saffron) and juice of one lemon. In a large oven proof casserole, mix the drained rice and chickpeas. Roughly slice lots of green and black pitted olives and add to pulses, add the onion/pepper mixture, season well, and finally pour over the liquid. Stir well. The mixture should be moist with a bit of visible liquid but not swimming wet. Cover tightly and put in the oven. After about 20 minutes give it a stir – if the rice is cooked through and it is steaming hot, it is ready – otherwise give it another ten minutes.

Serve with garlic flatbreads, humus and tzatziki – yum yum. Actually – this is a genuine 45 minute meal – a lot quicker to make than some of Jamie’s thirty minute efforts.

Unfortunately we had to leave early as J and N were coming for lunch – but I left a gooseberry pie for the Lochgoilhead ‘Bake off’. Unfortunately I don’t think it was a winner as at least one of the others looked much nicer.

Anyway – there was homemade soup, bread, assorted preserves (including Donich plum jam and chutney from me) and it looks like a promising venue for the future. I certainly have some experiences to share from gardening here on the edge of the wilderness for the last year.

And after that about half the packet of dried chickpeas (cost c.99p) was left over. So the next day I cooked them and turned them in to houmous.. As you can see from the picture – it made another ton of food which I froze in small portions to be defrosted every time I feel like houmous (which to be honest is quite often).

I can’t help wondering if people who buy this ready made actually know how much cheaper and nicer it is to make it from scratch… This is how I do it…

Take a packet (or part thereof) of dried chick peas. Put in a bowl, cover with water and leave overnight. Next day, rinse and boil for about half an hour (the packet says an hour but it doesn’t seem to take that long). Put a big glug of olive oil in a blender and add some peeled garlic cloves to taste (I like lots). Add tahini paste in a ratio of about a third to the weight of chickpeas. Juice of a lemon and season plus add a ladle of the cooking water from the peas. Blend until moderately but not completely smooth adding extra oil and water as necessary to loosen.

Serve with home made flat breads and crudités. Tasty, cheap, vegan….

The herbs in particular smell completely different when picked in handfuls from the garden rather than bought wrapped up in plastic from the supermarket – and it certainly removes the waste factor of having to buy a whole packet because you need two sprigs of it.

Anyway – I should have done a third picture of an empty plate – but I will just say ‘Yum!!’ and now get back to my work.

So I cooked…

For my Dad and R – fresh haddock shallow fried in (homemade) breadcrumbs with chips (made from scratch and deep fried) and peas.
From my Mum and I – salmon (it had to be the red tinned stuff) salad (bits of it from the early garden crops).
All with homemade bread and butter.

Then we had a mound of griddle scones, still warm from the pan and served wrapped in a tea towel.
Rhubarb pie (some from the garden but not enough to fill a pie yet) with cream.
Eccles cakes, strawberry cream sponge cakes, jam tarts, chocolate éclairs.
Simnel cake.

This should have all been washed down with tea. But as it was a birthday and R doesn’t like tea – we had some champagne instead.

Not food for every day but for a treat it was very nice even if I say so myself.

So this is one of my all time favourite veggie recipes – slightly special as it takes a while to make. I was going to entitle it ‘Moroccan Peppers’ but it is not very authentic – just sort of generically North African. So I am sticking with stuffed peppers but also mentioning my first attempt at preserved lemons which I made after Christmas and tasted in this recipe at the weekend. If I do say so myself they have turned out pretty well – they are a lovely mid-golden colour with a strong lemon flavour. They are supposed to darken further if they are kept longer but I don’t see them getting much of a chance at that.

Take four large peppers, slice off the tops and retain. Remove the seeds, brush with olive oil inside and out (bases and tops). Cook in a hottish oven until semi-soft but still holding their shape.
Cook some couscous in a vegetable stock. You want enough to stuff all the peppers and have extra to pile in the centre of the disk – I never weigh things but I estimate about 3oz each – so 12oz couscous and approx a pint hot stock. Mix in a little olive oil and cover while making the rest of the dish.
Lightly fry a large onion and a couple of chopped garlic cloves in olive oil and add a tin of nice chopped tomatoes. Sizzle for a few minutes and then add two large handfuls of cherry tomatoes. Cook very briefly until the cherries start to soften slightly. If you like you can stir in some tomato puree – I am always being accused of using too much of this – so leave out if you are not a tomatophile. Season.
Lightly toast some pine kernels in a dry pan. Take a couple of handful of olives (either colour), chop roughly and add. I put in a few raisins and chopped dried apricots (at least as many as I can get away with because R claims not to like them). Then add a few strips of preserved lemon chopped very finely. Mix well.
Fluff the couscous with fingers or (less efficiently) a fork, and stir in the pine nut mixture. Add salt and pepper and if too dry a little more stock or olive oil.
Place the pepper bases in a large ovenproof casserole (one with a lid). Stuff each pepper with the couscous mixture and replace the lids. Pile the leftover couscous in the middle of the dish. Pour the tomato sauce over everything.
Put the casserole lid on and cook in the oven for about 40 minutes at 180 degrees until hot through.

Serve with garlicky flatbreads, hummus (homemade is best and much cheaper than premade) and a yoghurt dip. A green salad would also be good with them.