Perfect Sauteed Potatoes

Well, perfect as far as we're concerned!  The secret of a perfect sauteed potato is time.  And a non-stick frying pan.  If you rush your spud, it will brown too quickly and not be cooked on the inside.  Don't par-boil them, either, as they go mushy.  The other secret is not to stir them too often.  And use waxy new potatoes, as maincrop will just go mushy too.  OK, so that's four secrets, not one, but I like to give you value for money.  Chop as many spuds as you like, but make sure you have a big enough pan for them to be in one layer.  Cubes of about half an inch, or the metric equivalent, will be fine.  Heat 3 tablespoons of oil (I never said these were low fat!) in your pan - I like a blend of rape seed and extra virgin oil.  Keep the heat to medium and let the oil heat properly before adding the spuds, which should gently sizzle as they hit the pan.  As they do, toss them in the oil, shake them out to an even layer, sprinkle in some salt and pepper, and LEAVE THEM ALONE.  Let them cook at a moderate sizzle for a good 5 minutes without disturbing them.  Meanwhile, chop a large red onion and a clove or 2 of garlic.  After 5 minutes, stir and toss the potatoes and throw in the onions and garlic.  Stir again, then leave for another 5 minutes.  Stir every 5 to 10 minutes until all sides are brown and the onions have gone a delicious caramelly gooey texture.  Taste the potatoes after half an hour.  Add more salt and pepper, and if they are cooked through, turn up the heat and fry briskly until everything is crisp.  Keep an eye on them so they don't burn and adjust the heat accordingly.  Chop a handful of flat-leaf parsley and stir through at the very last moment before turning into a bowl and eating promptly with whatever takes your fancy - steak, fried chicken, lamb or pork chops, or grilled mackerel, which we had last night.  DEE-lish!

Onion and Pepper Balsamic Marmalade

OK, so this isn't a quick recipe for a 30 minute supper, but it is nice to do at the weekend and it keeps well in a sterilised jar for a week or so in the fridge.  Great to spoon next to bangers, chops,  cheese on toast, with soft goats cheese and a crusty baguette and with courgette fritters - my favourite.  The list is endless.  To make a standard jam jarful, you need 2 or 3 large onions (I like red onions but ordinary ones will do), peeled and sliced, a large red pepper, seeded and cut into strips a little smaller than the onion, a clove of garlic, crushed.  Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a heavy pan and add the prepped veg.  Stir well, turn the heat to low, cover, and leave to cook for 30 minutes, stirring every now and then.  The volume will decrease dramatically.  Now, stir in a dessertspoon of brown sugar and a dessertspoon of balsamic vinegar.  Add some salt and pepper, tasting and adjusting all of these ingredients until you get the balance between sweet and sour that you like.  Stir well, cover the pot and cook for a further 15 minutes or so until all is jammy and caramelised.  Take the lid off, turn the heat up and stir constantly for another minute or so to drive off any remaining liquid.  Either use straight away or pot into your washed and sterilised jam jar and use for up to a week later.  Because this doesn't contain large amounts of sugar, it isn't a preserve, do it won't last for ever!  You can vary the flavours by changing the vinegar you use (Sherry vinegar is good) and the sugar.  I also sometimes add black mustard seeds or chilli flakes depending on what it is accompanying.  PS: to sterilise a jam jar.  Simple if you have a dishwasher - for those of us without, wash in hot soapy water (inc the lid) rinse in really hot water, then put on a baking sheet in an oven set to 150C for 10 minutes.

Pissaladiere - sort-of!

Helping with the nibbles for my friend's party was such fun this weekend.  She is a veggie, and a lover of onions (borderline obsessive - sorry, Anu, but it's true!), so I wanted to give her pissaladiere, but without the anchovies.  And without the traditional bread crust.  Oh, and without the black olives, as there was tapenade to eat too.  So not really pissaladiere, then but just an onion tart!  Anyway, the key is the onions - 3 big red ones and 2 Spanish onions, all sliced thinly, and gently, gently cooked for an hour in 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a knob of butter, with 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar, a dessertspoon of brown sugar, a good dessertspoon of fresh thyme leaves and salt and pepper.  It is important to cover the pan and take your time.  Let the onions collapse and slowly caramelise for the right texture and intensity of flavour.  Allow to cool, and then spread over a sheet of good butter puff pastry, leaving a small border.  Bake for 25 minutes or so until the edges have risen, the onions have darkened even more and all is crispy.  Will serve four people, or can be cut into smaller squares as a canape.

Roast Vegetable Toad-in-the-Hole with Red Onion and Redcurrant Gravy

This recipe arrived with the Riverford Seasons Veg box yesterday and I knew we had to have it - as well as using up a lot of leftover root veg, it was a great meat-free main course.  For 2, simply roast some root veg, about a kilo in total - I used carrot, parsnip and swede, and also added a leek, an onion, a big mushroom, and the remains of a red pepper and some butternut squash.  About 40 minutes in a hot oven with a couple of tablespoons of olive oil and fresh thyme.  Pour over a batter made with 75g plain flour, 1 large egg, 100ml of milk and 25ml of water.  Season well and pour the batter over and around the roasted veg, and bake for 30 minutes until puffed and crisp.  I served this with an onion gravy made by slowly sauteeing a large sliced red onion in a little oil, with a teaspoon of sugar.  When soft, add a teaspoon of flour, then stir in about 250ml of veg stock.  Bring to the boil, add a splash of soy sauce, some red wine if you have it, and a good teaspoon of redcurrant jelly.  Serve with the toad. 

Potato, Leek and Cheese Bake

Sometimes the simple things in life are the best.  Another perishingly cold day today.  After waiting at the bus stop for 20 minutes and walking home through the frostily rimed wonderland of East Oxford, my face had stopped working and the cold had bitten at my already sore throat - I couldn't speak for a good 10 minutes (hurrah!  thought my Hubby!).  We needed something ultra warming and delicious.  So - mashed potato mixed with an onion that had gently sauteed in butter until deeply golden and sticky, a couple of sliced leeks that steamed above the potatoes, and a BIG handful of grated cheddar, all mashed together with lots of black pepper, tipped into a dish, topped with MORE cheese and baked until golden brown and gungy and gooey.  I roasted some tomatoes alongside and steamed some savoy cabbage, and our plates sang with colour, warmth and goodness.  Sorry for the lack of quantities, just go with your instincts and tastebuds.  Cheap, too, and great for feeding loads of hungry kids - they'll want ketchup and/or baked beans with it and won't notice the leeks and onions hidden in there like incendiary vitamin bombs.

Baked Pumpkin and Onion Bhajis

We have so much squash and pumpkin in the house at the moment, and I am constantly looking for new ways to use it.  Pumpkin/squash takes to curry flavours very well, so I made some bhajis to ward off the cold on a bitterly freezing night.  I make no claims for authenticity, and please adjust spicing to suit.  I had no 'gram' flour in the house, but plain flour worked just as well.  This quantity made plenty for 2, and is probably fine for 4 as an accompaniment or starter.  You slice 1 good-sized onion, fairly thinly, and peel and coarsely grate about 200g of butternut squash/pumpkin.  If the squash flesh is a bit watery, squeeze handfuls dry with kitchen paper.  Mix 2 eggs, 120g plain flour, some salt and pepper, a teaspoon each of ground cumin, coriander and turmeric, and half a teaspoon of chilli flakes or a finely chopped fresh red chilli.  Now add the onion and squash and stir well.  Heat the oven to 160 C fan and line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper.  Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a non-stick pan over a medium heat, then drop in tablespoons of the mixture, pressing down lightly to make a round cake.  Cook for a minute or so and turn over.  Cook for a further minute and then transfer to the baking sheet.  Repeat with the rest of the mix, using a little extra oil if needed.  You can 'hold' the bhajis like this  for several hours, overnight even, or bake them straight away - 15 minutes from the frying pan, or 20-25 minutes from chilled.  They should be lightly brown and 'singing' from the oven.  Serve with yoghurt into which you have stirred some grated garlic, chopped mint, grated cucumber, chopped coriander - whatever takes your fancy.  I like sweet chilli dipping sauce too!

Cabbage with Pancetta and Onions

This is the food equivalent of a comforting hug - we had a Savoy cabbage that needed using up - simples!  Remove the ribs from the outer leaves and discard or feed to the rabbit.  Shred the remaining leaves and the tender heart of the cabbage, washing really well.  Chop some pancetta (or bacon), a good-sized onion and some garlic.  Stir-fry the bacon in its own fat until starting to crisp.  Remove from the pan, turn up the heat and add the sliced onions, with a little olive oil if needed.  When starting to go golden, add the garlic, stirring for a minute or two, then add the cabbage and some black pepper.  Stir and cook until bright green and cooked through, adding a little water if it needs it.  Return the bacon to the pan and heat through then serve with a runny poached egg on top.  Yum!  Pop a baked tattie next to it if you want more substance.  The simple things in life are often the best

Braised Duck Legs with Onion and Sage

Duck legs are by far the most delicious part of the bird, and this recipe, inspired by Alice Waters of Chez Panisse-fame, managed the difficult task of producing tender, melting meat, a delicious gravy and crisp skin. Simply brown quite a lot of onions in a tablespoon of oil and transfer to a casserole with some chopped garlic and a few sage leaves - go easy as they are a very dominant flavour - and a bay leaf. Now, brown duck legs, skin-side down, in the same pan as the onions. Let the skin take on a good, deep-golden colour. Season the meaty uppers of the leg with salt and pepper, then turn and brown the meat side. Remove to the casserole, pour off the rendered fat (keep it in a pot for roast spuds) and deglaze the pan with a wine-glass of white wine. Pour this over the duck, cover, and braise for an hour. Uncover, pour off the sauce (keeping it, of course) and return the duck to the oven for a further 30 minutes - turn it up high to crisp the skin. Before serving, skim the duck fat off the sauce and add the onions from the casserole. Bring to the boil and allow to reduce a little before pouring over the crisp duck and serving with dark greens and potatoes - mash is good! I will use the remaining two duck legs for a soup tomorrow. Gorgeous with a nice bottle of Pinot Noir.

Potato, Onion and Cheese Pie [#204]

Memories of school lunches from Jo Pratt. However, we drastically cut the quantities of butter and cheese - 10g and 110g respectively, compared to the original recipe's 40g and 200g - she is a young lass and thin as a whippet, so it is alright for her, but not for lardy-arsed old birds in their late 40s, thank you! What's not to like in this recipe? Fluffy mash mixed with gently-sweated onion and a little milk and mustard, with grated cheddar and Lincolnshire Poacher cheeses stirred through, then baked until really golden-brown and crusty. Cheap as chips....erm, except not chips, but you get the idea! We are full as can be and warm from head-to-toe. How people can possibly choose to diet whilst in the grip of the coldest weather for 30 years, I don't know! Lettuce leaf and cottage cheese, anyone?

Baked Onions with Parmesan and Cream [#187]

We used a large Spanish onion for this dish, boiled whole for half-an-hour (it makes for a really great stock, by the way) which was then sliced and baked with cream and Parmesan. A delicious accompaniment to a good smoked Gammon steak from M&S with steamed potatoes and broccoli. Surprisingly nice, elegant little dish, this. We did, of course, scale the recipe down by reducing the quantity of cream to about 4 tablespoons - plenty enough!

Roast Pork Loin with Onion and Marsala Gravy [#181]

Another lovely pork roast from Nigel - instead of the leg he suggests, I went for a boned loin. I also didn't make the gravy separately, as he suggested, but used the pork juices from the roasting tin and deglazed with the Marsala (and a little Madeira) and water. Lovely with a big dish of baked root vegetables and Delia's most wonderful Braised Red Cabbage - absolutely delicious, especially with an Italian Barbaresco to wash it down.

Onion Soup Without Tears.......

......and without too much flavour, too, I have to say! This recipe is not one of Nigel's best, and I shall stick to the tried and tested version of sweating masses of onions carefully and slowly in a pot in future. Sorry Nige. It was a sound idea in principle - bake peeled onions in the oven to avoid the smell and faff, then add to wine and vegetable stock (as specified in the book) and simmer for 20 minutes. As always with me, I went off on another track. Firstly, I felt the onions needed to be sliced rather than halved for baking, otherwise they would never be tender enough. Also, 40g of butter is just too much - this was halved. Then, I really had an aversion to veg stock and substituted it for beef (though the BBC recipe here says to use beef - strange that the book didn't). We used white vermouth and some cognac in place of the wine. I also added some onion marmalade as I thought the flavours needed balancing. The result? OK, but where were the melting strands of sweet luscious onions? The sweating produces almost a stock of its own, a sweet onioniness that should permeate the finished dish. This was a bit one dimensional. So, won't make it again! I noticed that many other bloggers who have tried this felt the same way. In future, I will stick with the tears, which are worth it for the end results. PS: this was definitely better for lunch the next day, when the the onions had a chance to soften and become more integrated into the soup.

Stilton, Onion and Potato pie

OK, so if you have high cholesterol, I recommend you look away now, or eat a rice cake or a bowl of porridge or something. This was rich, AND we used way less cheese and butter than in the recipe. Good though! Nigel's recipe ,halved, used 112g of Stilton and 40g of butter. We used about 70g of Cheddar and about 20g of the remaining Stilton butter from the weekend. This was plenty of cheese! If you try it, do follow Nige's advice to slowly cook and caramelise the onion. You will be rewarded with an unctuous layer of sweet onion and cheese to contrast with the potato. Really good with sharp, minerally Savoy cabbage, au naturel apart from lots of black pepper, as a good foil for the rich cheesey oniony stodge. Perfect for a foggy, chilly night. Would do this again, deffo.