Golden Bacon Pea Soup

2Golden Bacon pea Soup
Bacon joint choose one with as little fat as
possible
soak overnight well covered in cold water
rinse and cover with fresh cold water
boil till soft next day (about an hour?) then
drain and cool so you can get the fat off the
top before adding the other stuff
big onion dice
split peas preferably yellow – 3 spoons ish
but green, or any kind of lentils will do
boil peas and onion in bacon stock with bit of garlic, pepper and
bayleaf if liked. Takes about half an hour to an hour. (Or ten to 15
minutes in a pressure cooker). The yellow peas dissolve completely
and delicious golden yellow soup left.
reboil thoroughly if you don’t use it all at once – and don’t keep
longer than 3 days in the fridge
use the bacon sliced for sandwiches, or eat with creamed
potatoes, peas, sprouts, pickle and apple sauce (if you
like that kind of thing)
This is from Mrs Lily McBride who great-Granpa Harold Lomas lived with in Dalston,
Cumbria after Gran died in 1958. She made wonderful scones, ham sandwiches (in thick
white bread) and gooseberry tarts. Also rice pudding – see later. Famous sayings: “Reach
up now….”
Claimed never to eat anything but banana sandwiches herself.
Carolyn stayed with Granpa Harold and Mrs McBride for several days in 1974 to collect
information for a thesis on dialectology. Mrs McBride imparted plenty of gossip and family
history over the kitchen table. Granpa Harold knew even more, but rarely passed it on –
main source of input his domino appointments at the Bridge End pub.
Mrs McBride’s granddaughter Bridget was a great favourite with Great Granpa Harold. She
used to follow him around “helping” as he worked in her father’s upholstery business,
doing general odd-jobs. One day a sycophantic visitor caught sight of her peering round
from behind Harold’s legs, aged about 3. “Who’s a sweet little girl, then?” he asked in an
oily voice. Bridget took a firm stance, announcing scornfully “You daft bat”.

List of things to come...

Roast beef
Yorkshire pudding
Mark’s soda bread
Mark’s rye bread
Mark’s sourdough bread
Lamb shanks
10Tuna cheese pie
Lemon meringue pie
Sittilingi salad
Scones
p'—akes (dropscones)
savoury pancakes
long life tomato sauce
beka’s risotto
gill’s mushroom risotto (via delia)
cous cous (gill)
waffenfuffel
hallah
hot cross buns
oggit for babies of all ages
spicy chick peas
Christmas cake
doughnuts
allan melzack’s smashed cucumber
soft brown sugar 2 teaspoon
garlic 4 cloves
rice wine vinegar 2 tablespoons
soy sauce 1 teaspoon ish
11toasted sesame oil 1 tablespoon
chilli oil 1 teaspoon
cucumber 1 smashed
allow to infuse
“of course you cut the knobbles off, thought everyone knew that.
And then smash them however you like and chop a bit too.”
jo melzack’s Lebanese beans
boil beans until al dente (with a bit of salt)
slice lots of onions
and cook them slowly (in olive oil), gently, you know so they don’t
burn and just get soft and sweet, not burned. You can caramelise
them but I like to leave them just pale.
Mix onions together with the beans; add lemon juice. You want
quite a lot of lemon juice. And more salt and pepper to taste if
needed. And more olive oil if needed.
And that’s it really.
12

Bread

Bread to build homes with
Wholemeal strong flour 2 measures
Maltgrain organic 2
Rye flour 1
9
 Oats 1
Barley/wheat/rye 1
Seeds (mix sunflower, pumpkin
Pine, sesame) 1
Linseed (ground in grinder – 1 grinderfull)
Water (lukewarm) 3+
Malt, 1 dessertspoon
Oil 1 dessertspoon or teaspoon if small measure
used
Yeast 1 dessertspoon
Salt 1 dessertspoon

Bishousha

Bishousha
• Courge- courgette- or pumpkin- leaves – a basket full of young
ones
(the most distal 4 or 5 on the shoot.)
• Onions, sliced finely or chopped
• Tomatoes, cut very small
• Garlic (and possibly a small amount of fresh ginger if you like)
• Chillies chopped finely (or left whole if you prefer to remove
them
• Peanut butter – 1 spoonful roughly
wash, and carefully strip out the thready bits (the spiky bits come
off at the same time) from the stalk towards the leaf.
Cut very finely into a pan
Pour in water till just below the surface of the leaves
Boil till tender (may take about 15 mins or more)
meanwhile

Foufou

8
Warning!!!!!!!
THIS IS NOT
BOB-or-POPPY PROOF
aaaaaagh PEANUTSFoufou
Fine maize flour
Manioc flour (or white wheatflour, preferably unbleached)
Heat some water in a heavy pan. When just too hot to put finger in,
and definitely not boiling – pour in some maize flour, stirring well,
and keep stirring till a thick but still loose paste…
Turn down the heat
Allow to cook for a good while, stirring from time to time so it
doesn’t burn. When it starts to smell cooked (slight hint of cheese
or maybe good ghee, rather than wallpaper paste!) add a sprinkling
of manioc, stir well and repeat until too thick to stir. Take off the
heat and beat hard for a minute or two – turn out on to a plate and
shape into balls with wet hands.
Eat with bishousha, or with south Indian tomato chutney – or both!

Tamarind Chutney

7Tamarind chutney
Coriander
Urad dal
Red chilli roast and grind
Channa dal
Fenugreek
Sesame oil
Mustard
Urad dal fry till a little cooked
Red chilli
Channa
Peanuts
Then pour in tamarind pulp, salt, turmeric
Simmer till the raw smell goes
Add the ground masala and boil for a few minutes
This will store in the fridge for up to a month and can be added to
rice when needed. Add a little hot water if very cold.

Bit of fried onion and garlic mixed with the rice and tamarind
mixture – maybe a few pine kernels – packed lunch to die for.
This tamarind rice travels very well wrapped in a banana leaf, outer-wrapped in
newspaper and tied with thin string. Throw the “plate” out of the train window when
you’ve finished!

Tomato Chutney

6Tomato chutney (South Indian)
1. cumin
mustard half teaspoon roasted in oil
uraddal
2. garlic (crushed)
ginger
fry till brown
3. onion – cut very thin and fry well
4. salt
turmeric as powder
chilli
coriander
5. cut tomatoes
half teaspoon sugar
fresh coriander leaf (chopped)
half tumbler water
Cook till thick.
This can be added to boiled dal, or chickpeas, potatoes (boil all
together) or to cooked rice to make takali sadam.
Or serve neat with adei.
Again Durga’s recipe – lasts a few days in the fridge in a steel box. She says South Indians
use mustard and uraddal. North Indians use turmeric, chilli and coriander…….
Seems ok with the lot actually.

Adei

5Adei (rice pancakes with pulses and greens)
1. Rice 2 measures (preferably “boiled” rice – this doesn’t
mean
cooked)
Dal 1 – 1 ½ measures (eg chick peas ¼, mung ½, uraddal
¼, or sambar dal aka harad dal ¼
Soak 2-4 hours
put in liquidiser and grind to thick paste with water - to consistency
of ………. very thick pancake (like scotch pancake/drop scone)
consistency.
2. pepper
dry red chilli
curry leaves add while grinding
asafoetida
green chilli
salt
3. cabbage
onion chop very small and mix after
grinding.
(NOT garlic)
Put dollops or ladlefuls on to very hot frying pan greased with onion
on a fork dipped in oil and rubbed over the surface. Smoothe out
into a pancake with circular sweeps. Sprinkle some oil on top.
Don’t try and turn over until the edges start to lift up by themselves.
Serve with tomato chutney (see next page) pickles, mint chutney,
yoghurt and salad……
This is Durga’s recipe from Tamil Nadu…. And of course it tastes best eaten in India for
breakfast after frothy coffee…and always with the fingers.

Pickle Salad

Pickle salad
4 or 5 finely chopped salad veg – e.g. cabbage, cucumber, onion,
tomato, celery,
or some grated carrot, beansprouts, grated beetroot
add chopped pickled herring, pickled gherkins or beetroot
garnish with sunflower seeds.

Cannellini Bean and Fish Lunch Box Salad

Cannellini bean and fish lunch box salad
1 cupful white cannelloni beanssoak overnight
boil for about 45mins to 1 hr
or pressure cook 20 mins
drain and use hot
1 red onion slice thinly into strips
41 tin tuna or salmon open and drain juice into hot
beans
add pepper coarsely ground, and oil or vinegar if any more seems to
be needed.
Mix fish and onion, broken up, after juice absorbed by beans.
Add a chopped tomato or two if using for packed lunch.
This is really a Delia Smith recipe and the original is in the book….somewhere…. spotted by
C on tv while ironing (which shows how desperate you get)

Lentil Salad

Penelope’s lentil salad
This is very easy but you have to chop the veg extremely small
1 tin prepared brown lentils preferably a French tin
1 carrot
1 onion
drain most of the juice off the lentils, but not all of it
mix ingredients well, season with lots of oil, vinegar, salt and
pepper.
This was a great favourite in the long summer in Vinca in 1993 and 1994, and was invented
by Penelope Coard who makes it best.

Red Kidney Bean Salad

Red Kidney Bean Salad
1 tin red kidney beans drain off most of the juice
31 large onion chopped in very small pieces
1 green apple ditto
3 inch chunk cucumber ditto
half to one red pepper ditto
5 or 6 tomatoes put these in last, just before serving
chopped small of course
mix well, and season with plenty of olive oil, vinegar (cider, wine or
balsamic, or any combination)
don’t forget a little salt and plenty of pepper
if you want to prepare it in advance, do everything except the
tomato, and pop that in at the last minute.
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Sausage Casserole

Sausage Casserole
6 or 8 sausages grill or fry and drain on kitchenpaper
use high meat-content or quorn sausages
1cut into 4 or 5 pieces and put in casserole
dish
onion 1 large. Cut in half then in thin slices.
carrot cut carrot in tiny cubes or use a bag of
sweet corn frozen mixed veg
peas
stock chicken/veg cube dissolved in hot
water
Cook in casserole dish in oven with lid, or perhaps with slices of
par-boiled potato as a covering (sprinkle with salt and dripped olive
oil to make crispy)
or do it in the slow cooker on HOT for an hour or so.
Takes about ¾ hour or so at 150C (I think)
if you want the gravy thicker boil a handful of split peas or red
lentils till soft in the stock while you are preparing the rest.
This is a favourite of David and Carolyn invented by Sheila. They could eat this much each,
with lots of boiled potatoes.

Beef Stew

Beef Stew
½ kg to 1kg shin beef (preferably sliced or in one big lump,
not cut in small bits with the grobblies still
on)
trim off gristle, cut in chunks and if time
brown in olive oil
onion
carrots cut in chunks
onions can be browned after meat if time
turnip
garlic
tin tomatoes
stock ie cube or one spoon bovril
splodge of red wine adds flavour
yellow split peas 2-3 dessert spoonfuls
boil in water for 10 mins while doing other
preparations if using oven rather than
pressure cooker
assemble all above; add hot water if necessary and cook in
pressure cooker for about 35-40 minutes after getting to pressure,
or bring to boil in hot oven then turn right down to 120 ish and cook
very slowly for about 3 hours.
If you make this with braising steak it takes less time in the oven –
1-2 hours?
Can be frozen after cooling rapidly (stand pan in cold water in the
sink) in plastic bags. If freezing keep fluid to minimum and add
water after defrosting if needed.
After the browning stage it can be done in the slow cooker for 6-8
hours.
This is a concoction by R and C from student days in Leeds after Sheila revamped her
kitchenware and passed on the pressure cooker. Used to get cheap shin beef and vegets
from the old Leeds covered market which burnt down the day before we got married in
1975. You could see it from the attic window of our flat in Brudenell Avenue.