Liver, Bacon & Apple with Potato & Leek Cakes

I know - another strange apple recipe. Delicious, though, and we should really make full use of the harvest.

Ingredients

400g ox liver - use whatever you prefer
1 tbsp veg oil
6 shallots
125g bacon
2 apples, cored and chopped. Dessert or cookers!
1 ham stock cube - use beef if you don't have the ham
500ml boiled water - use the water from the veg (we had sprouts) if you can
1 teaspoon garlic powder (or fresh cloves)
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
½ teaspoon chilli powder
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the Potatoes:
500g potatoes, diced
50g butter
1/2 leeks, sliced
1 tbsp sunflower oil
Cheddar cheese
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Peel and chop the potatoes. Boil them and, when nice and soft, mash them.

Meanwhile, chop the shallots and fry in the oil. Chop the liver and the bacon and add them to the pan. As they brown, add the apple, chilli, garlic and smoked paprika. Once browned add the stock cube and the water. That's really all there is to it.

Whilst all that's going on chop the leeks finely and fry in the butter. Once soft add the mashed potato to the pan and give it a good stir. Form into whatever shape you fancy and fry in the oil. Turn over and try to not lose the crispy bit on the bottom. As you fry the second side put some grated Cheddar cheese on the top. When you've crisped the bottoms, stick them in the grill to melt the cheese.

Smoked Haddock & Apple Pie with a Kick

There's no pic of this one for the simple reason that we were feeding Nav, who brought some lovely Ryton Organic veg to accompany the pie and I forgot to take photos in all the excitement. 

The smoked haddock was a half price bargain from the Co-op, but I think the flavour would have been better from Clive Miller on the market. I incorporated the apple because I think we should work season free fruit into our meals where we can - hardly a chore as it was a real winner. 

Ingredients

2 filets of smoked haddock 

2 apples, cored and roughly chopped - no need to peel

Spring onions

A few of Mel's delicious French beans

Potatoes

Butter

Milk &/or cream

Cheese (I used cheddar)

Salt & pepper

Smoked paprika

For the cheese sauce:

Tablespoon butter

Tablespoon flour

Milk

Half tspn cayenne pepper

Ground black pepper

Grated cheese to taste, I used cheddar

Boil the potatoes for the mash. Add salt to the water if that's your thing. 

Fry the apples and the spring onion in the butter. Take the skin off the fish, roughly chop and add to the pan. Fry for a few minutes and then add the beans. Leave on a low heat while you make the sauce. 

This is a simple cheese sauce. I'm not a big measurer of ingredients (apart from rice - I'll always cook too much rice unless I weigh it) but if you keep the butter and the flour roughly equivalent, all you have to do is melt the butter then add the flour & the cayenne pepper and stir to make a roux. Add milk whilst stirring vigorously until you have a nice, smooth sauce. Then turn the heat down and add the cheese, stirring until it's melted in. Taste it and add more cheese to taste. The sauce will have a kick, but that will subside as the pie cooks, so don't panic at this stage. 

Put the fish into an oven-proof dish and pour the sauce in, then mix well. 

Drain and mash the potatoes. Don't stint on the butter and milk - add cream if you have some in the fridge. You want them fluffy. 

Spoon the mash onto the fish and sauce. Grate cheese onto the top and sprinkle smoked paprika. 

Pop into the oven for 20 - 25 minutes until the topping is golden brown. 

We served with buttered cauliflower and courgette. 

Chicken, Bacon, Carrot & Lentil Soup

We picked up a splendid half-price free range chicken at the weekend, which did for a roast and a really rather excellent chicken, smoked bacon and chorizo dish with the leftovers. 

Chicken being the bird that never stops givin', the carcass was used to make stock which forms the basis of this soup. Stock cubes can be used, of course. 

The total cost of this soup would be about a quid. Lentils are dirt cheap, the carrots were about 30p and the bacon probably about 10p. Sadly, this dish sees the end of a 800gm 'bacon bits' from the market (discussed in a previous post) that had the finest smoked bacon I've ever tasted. Unbelievable. 

Ingredients

Small splash of veg oil

1kg carrots

100gm lentils

Large onion

3 cloves garlic (or tspn garlic powder)

3 rashers bacon

About 1.5 litres of chicken stock 

2 tspns mild curry powder / paste 

1/2 tspn celery seeds / salt

1/2 tspn mustard powder

Squirt of tomato purée 

Splash of cider vinegar or equivalent 

Chop the onions and the bacon and fry on a low-medium heat in the oil. Olive oil is great, I used rapeseed - don't use palm oil as no soup is worth the death of an orangutan. When the onions are soft and the bacon slightly browned add the garlic and give everything a good stir. 

Add the chopped carrot and lentils. Stir and add the curry, celery seeds and mustard. Don't worry if you don't have celery seeds / salt and do feel free to use any mustard if you don't have the powder. A quick squirt of tomato purée and a bit of vigorous stirring. Doesn't really need to be that vigorous but I need the exercise. 

Don't let anything burn: add that splash of vinegar. I actually used the vinegar from a jar of gherkins from the Polish Deli on Shelton Square - spirit vinegar infused with charlock, celery, bay leaf as well as what appears to be chopped garlic and black pepper seeds. You wouldn't want to throw that deliciousness out when you've finished the gherkins, would you?

It'll only be a minute or so before you need to add the stock. Bring to the boil and then reduce the heat right down and cover. Should be ready in about half an hour. 

I actually whacked this through a food processor, but most adults can cope with bits of carrot and it works as a lumpy soup. 

I served with a little raw courgette, thinly sliced, as I had some in the fridge that needs eating. 

Lentils with Cabbage and Bacon

The ingredients for this dish probably total about £1, if you shop sensibly. Oh - and it's delicious!

Ingredients

Four rashers of bacon (I used bacon bits from the market, hence coming in on budget)
Four cloves of garlic
Two large carrots
One turnip
One onion
The outside leaves of a cabbage
150gms lentils
Splash of olive / cooking oil
Pork stock cube
Teaspoon of smoked paprika
Pinch of cayenne pepper (to taste)

Fry the onion in the oil. I love olive oil, but I used rapeseed for this and I'd defy anyone to be able to tell - partly because I use very little. Add the garlic and the bacon. Chop the carrots and turnip fairly small and throw those in. You can use pretty well any veg with this recipe - I just happened to have them in the fridge.

Give everything a good stir and add the smoked paprika and the cayenne pepper. Watch the latter as it's hot! Far easier to add more later in the process than have a meal that's too hot for comfort. I just chop the stock cube, throw it in and add hot water to the mix. If you want to make it up in a measuring jug, do feel free. Add a decent amount of water stir vigorously and then add the lentils.

The lentils will absorb the water - add more to keep the sauce from burning and to achieve the finish you're looking for. I wanted to serve this with rice, so I was looking for a sauce the consistency of a nice madras curry.

Immediately add the cabbage. I've said use the outside leaves, which retain a really nice texture and flavour, but you can use any type of green that you have available.

The lentils will take between 20 minutes and half an hour to cook, by which time the sauce will be delicious. As well as the spices, you have the garlic and the cabbage producing a really good flavour. I have put both chorizo and black pudding in versions of this meal. The black pudding can either be cooked separately and added at the end or put in with the bacon, in which case it'll disintegrate and add to the overall deliciousness of the sauce.

In the picture I've served this with Cajun egg fried rice.

Smoked Haddock Fishcakes

Or how to feed a family of four with a £1.60 fillet of naturally smoked haddock...

As the Coley recipe suggested, I'm a big fan of Clive Miller on Coventry Market. I was really buying veg, but had a bit of a hankering for comfort food and purchased a small smoked haddock fillet. Natural in this case means without colourants. 

Ingredients 

Small smoked fish fillet

Butter

Cream (optional)

Milk

1 egg

Breadcrumbs 

6 small potatoes

Three spring onions

Peel and boil the potatoes until they're ready for mashing. Broadly, this means they fall off a fork if you prong them and they're starting to crumble. Drain and mash the potatoes. Add finely chopped spring onions. 

Whilst the potatoes are boiling you've time to prepare the fish. I deboned and pulled the black skin off the fish before putting it into a small frying pan with a knob of butter and enough milk to cover the bottom of the pan. Season with black pepper to taste. The butter will stop the fish sticking as the milk reduces. It needs about four minutes on each side. The trick is for the milk to reduce as the fish cooks, leaving a delicious reduction to fold into the potatoes. 

When the fish is cooked flake it and add it to the mash with the reduced milk and butter sauce. I added a little double cream at the stage because I had some in the fridge. Don't add too much or you'll not be able to form the fish cakes. 

You don't need to breadcrumb the fish cakes, but I had a crust and an egg going spare. I zapped the crust in a food processor, although you can use a grater. Some like to bake the breadcrumbs to make them crunchy, but I think that comes with the frying anyway. Breadcrumbing is easy but messy - into the flour, then the egg, then the crumbs. 

Your fish cakes are now ready for frying until golden on both sides. 

I served with stir fried pak choi and peas in a cheddar cream sauce and finely cut chips. 

If you want a bit more zing, finely chop a chilli (or use powder) and add to the pan when cooking the fish.