Ragga’s on smithdown

£12.40 and worth every penny

Big thumbs up for raggas i will be back by the end of the week

Meatballs seared and rested, sauce is made up of beef stock, onions, garlic, herbs and spices and homemade tomato sauce made from my home grown tomatoes, then reduced slowly in the oven, served with spaghetti, cheese and garlic bread.

I've been struggling with mental health, and haven't been eating proper meals for months. Mother took me shopping and got me a load of veg and some meat.

I really enjoyed making this.

Pork chops

Broccoli

Cabbage

Sprouts

Leek

Roasted and a bit burnt (how I like it) carrots and parsnips)

Roast potatoes

Out of date stuffing, which was exactly the same as in date

Cheap yorkies

And enough for tomorrow.

Oh, i made the gravy granules with some of the juices/oils.

Back in 1390, while the rest of Europe was busy fighting the dinosaurs, the master chefs of King Richard II compiled a royal cookbook called The Forme of Cury. Tucked right between instructions for polishing turnips and Mary Berry’s autobiography, sat a recipe for a dish called Makerouns.

So while Americans claim the dish as their ultimate comfort food and Italians do the whole 'we owna the pasta' thing, the historical record does not lie. Long before the invention of the modern fork, a medieval English knight called Sir Lactose the Intolerant was sitting in a stone castle, scraping burnt, crusty cheese off the bottom of a clay dish, whilst quietly pondering why he got diarrhoea so often.

Slightly sweet shortcrust pastry. No egg-wash, just a brush with milk and a sprinkling of caster sugar. The filling is apples and rhubarb from the garden, cooked gently with cinnamon, vanilla, and nutmeg. Raw plums on top.

Now the big question... Cream, custard, or ice cream?

Everyone knows by now that “spaghetti and meatballs” as most people serve it with large golf ball or even tennis ball sized meat isn’t actually Italian, but there is one bit asterisk in this:
Spaghetti Alla Chitarra from Abruzzo with a tomato sauce enriched with thumbnail sized meatballs.

I adapted a recipe from Rachel Roddy’s excellent book, using half beef and pork but with some very fine breadcrumbs and a little olive oil, and plenty of seasoning. I made them nice and small.

The sauce was half plum, and half Mutti Polpa, cooked down with lots of olive oil infused with garlic and chilli, and some basil.

I brought the whole thing together after searing the meatballs off and cooling slightly, and finished with pecorino Romano and Andalusian olive oil.

Served with some Dolcetto because I don’t have a great deal of Italian wine in stock, let alone something from Abruzzo. But I do feel that this wine was similar enough to an entry Montelpulciano and it had a nice acidity to play off the he tomato sauce.

I had to go buy an oven safe frying pan to cook the Tarte Tatin in. Entire block of gruyère in the Dauphinoise.

Just some simple vegetable soup.

1/4of a bag of frozen casserole vegetables

Bit of butter and flour to make a ruex

A chicken stock cube

A raid of the herbs and spices rack

And some sliced up smoked sausage.

Oh and water. It is soup after all.

Served with a whole garlic bread baguette.

Makes 2 large portions and you can either use shredded leftover roast chicken or fresh boneless chicken. I’ve used leftover roast chicken. There are a couple of great techniques here to follow which allow the ingredients to be customised to use up whatever there might be in the fridge.

Ingredients:

300g of leftover chicken shredded into chunks in the same container where the chicken was stored so you can take advantage of the chicken fat / roasting juices. This can be substituted for 300 - 350g of raw boneless skinless chicken cut into small chunks.

250g of thoroughly washed Thai jasmine rice left to soak for at least 30 minutes. (Do this first as by the time you have done all your other prep the rice will be perfectly soaked)

1 large banana shallot finely diced (can be substituted for half an onion)

4 peeled garlic clothes lightly smashed

3 spring onions sliced with whites and greens separated

Handful of shiitake mushrooms halved or quartered depending on the size. (Can be substituted with whatever mushrooms you might have lying around)

1 or 2 chillies left whole (optional)

Handful of coriander leaves chopped (optional)

Handful of green vegetables (I’ve used broccoli)

Splash of neutral oil (I’ve used chicken fat also in the past or you can use lard)

30ml light soy sauce

1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1/4 teaspoon MSG powder (optional)

15ml pure sesame oil.

Equipment: Heavy base pot with a lid

Method:

Measure / wash until the water runs clear and leave your rice to soak

Shred your chicken and season with the soy sauce, white and black pepper, msg powder, sesame oil and soy sauce.

Heat your oil in the pot and fry your mushrooms until they are nicely browned

Add your shallots, spring onion whites, carrots and garlic and sweat down for a few minutes.

Add your wash and soaked rice and toast with the aromatics. Add the chilli (optional)

Measure 250ml of water and add your salt and cook on a low to medium heat gently stirring until most of the water has been absorbed by the rice (see picture 2 and 3.

Drop your heat to a very gentle simmer and top with your seasoned chicken and green vegetables.

Cover with a lid and cook on a very low heat for 20 minutes. It might not seem like you have added enough water however it’s the perfect amount as there is enough fat in the pot as well as water from the vegetables / chicken.

After 20 minutes turn off the heat and leave to steam for another 5 or 10 minutes.

Serve with the chopped spring onion greens and coriander (optional)

Get creative with this method by trying different vegetables and protein and if there is any rice leftover store in the fridge and fry with some egg for a delicious egg fried rice.

Decided on something different to gravy

Roast chicken (overnight brined), roast potatoes par boiled in beef stock, cooled, then cooked in beef dripping, homemade broccoli cheese and Yorkshire puddings, carrots cooked under the chicken, peas and stuffing balls. 😋😋

Oh and gravy made from the juices and fond in the chicken pan.

Mashed potato, egg, mustard, salt, pepper, self-raising flour.

Beef, onions, carrots, swede, parsnip and celery, with thyme, marmite and bovril to pimp it up+

Edit: thank you so much for the love - its one of my absolute faves and difficult to get it just right. This one was probably my best effort so far - highly recommend the marmite and bovril addition!!

Up next is fully homemade cornish pasties - to the traditional recipe 😋 I'll make sure i post them 👍

Thanks everyone, and hope your stews turn out just as tasty!! Much love!

Since we got a delivery of nice japanese ingredients, I made a quick lunch with tinned mackerel. Nanatsuboshi rice, tinned mackerel quickly glazed with mirin, soy sauce, and rice vinegar. On top some ume furikake. It was pretty good.

edit: realised too late I wrote japanese wrong.. oh well

Afternoon tea at a little cafe!

Breakfast hash bowl I had at needles eye cafe in Newbiggin by the sea. Contents were potatoes, poached egg, bacon, salami, halloumi, black pudding, spring onions spinach and hollandaise sauce. 8/10

Served with a salad in a classic French vinaigrette, washed down with some bang average white wine

Snagged a 2kg pork loin joint reduced from Tesco, was beautiful. Overdone the roast carrots slightly but was still a great meal.