Bill Farmer

Fabada Asturiana

A highly flavoured Asturian version of pork and beans. Enough for four or more.

Ingredients

• 375g or thereabouts packet of dried butter beans
• 4-500g belly pork with or without skin, cut into chunks
• Smoked gammon hock, or 4-500g cooking bacon. If lucky, it’s possible to find a packet of cooking bacon that is just one big chunk of unsliced bacon by rooting through the supermarket shelf.
• 100-125g picante chorizo, cut into chunks
• Crushed black peppercorns
• Heaped teaspoon paprika
• Heaped teaspoon turmeric
• 2 bay leaves
• 4-5 garlic cloves, chopped
• 3-4 onions, chopped
• Olive oil
• Water

Method

1. Soak the beans overnight in plenty of water.
2. Cover the bottom of a large pan with a few glugs of olive oil and place on a lowish heat.
3. Add the pork and gammon hock or bacon and the chorizo.
4. Add the garlic, onions, bay leaves, black pepper, paprika and turmeric, cover and allow to cook gently until the pork is looking cooked.
5. Drain the beans, rinse and pour into the pan.
6. Cover the beans with water and replace the lid.
7. When the pan comes to the boil, allow to boil for a few minutes, then turn the heat right down to a gentle simmer.
8. Allow to simmer for 2-3 hours. If using a gammon hock, take it out before it disintegrates , and remove the bones, chop up the meat and return it to the pan.

This goes well with green cabbage.

Vegetable Soup Plus

A vegetable soup with a bit of meat that’s full of flavour. Similar to leek and potato soup recipe. Make it into a meal with plenty of bread and butter. Enough for two, double the recipe for four.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 small potato, cubed
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1/2 a fresh chilli, if desired
• 1/2 a vegetable stock cube
• Additional vegetables as available: grated carrot, leek, courgette, cabbage, etc
• a few slices of chorizo or other tasty sausage, chopped
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Milk

Method

1. Heat the oil in a large pan and add the vegetables, sausage and stock cube. Cook for 3-4 minutes until starting to soften.
2. Grind over some black pepper.
3. Add the milk and heat gently until it is about to boil. Simmer until the vegetables are tender.
4. Whizz with a hand blender or in a blender until most of the vegetables have been liquidised, but leave some lumps of vegetables and sausage for a more interesting texture.

Mexican Breakfast

This is an adaptation of a recipe I saw recently in the Metro. Not Huevos Rancheros, but something else. The original recipe was most insistent that the black pepper be added to the pan, not the eggs, and the eggs should be stirred, not beaten.

Ingredients

• Small potato, chopped
• Small onion, chopped
• Chili pepper, sliced
• Chorizo, chopped
• Tomato, chopped
• Fresh ground black pepper
• 2 eggs
• Oil

Method

1. Put some oil in a medium sized skillet or frying pan and warm up.
2. Add the potatoes, chili, onion, and chorizo, put a lid on, and allow to cook gently until the potatoes and onion are cooked through.
3. Add the tomato, give a stir and shake to loosen up any stuck on potato, grind over some black pepper, and put the lid back on until the tomato is heated through.
4. Meanwhile, crack the eggs into a suitable container and stir until they are well mixed.
5. Pour the eggs over the mixture in the pan, and stir and shake to ensure the eggs have penetrated under the mixture.
6. Put the lid back on and cook gently until the egg is cooked through.
7. If you are a wizard with an extremely non-stick pan you might be able to get this on to a plate in one piece. Otherwise, just pile it on.

Clementine Cake

This is an adaptation of a Marguerite Patten recipe dated 1963. As adapted by She-who-shall-be-ignored, with additional chutney technique.

Ingredients

Cake

• 7oz self raising flour
• 1/4tsp Baking powder
• 5oz margarine or butter
• 4oz golden granulated sugar
• 3 medium eggs
• 3 clementines, chopped up into small pieces and any pips removed

Icing

• 3oz Icing sugar
• 2oz margarine or butter

Method

1. Put the sugar and the chopped clementines in a small saucepan on a gentle heat. stir occasionally until you have a thick marmalade.
2. Turn on the oven, about 175 degrees.
3. Meanwhile, sieve the flour on to a plate with the baking powder, beat the eggs in a bowl, and weigh out the margarine.
4. Zizz up the marmalade with a blender until the peel is incorporated. Keep some back for the icing.
5. Beat the margarine and most of the blended marmalade together with a little flour in a mixing bowl.
6. Add about a dessert spoonful of flour, and about half an egg’s worth of whipped egg mixture to the mixing bowl, Then add another dessert spoonful of flour and mix it up.
7. Keep doing this until you have incorporated all the whipped egg.
8. Add about half the remaining flour to the mixing bowl, and incorporate gently with a spoon.
9. Repeat with the rest of the flour.
10. Divide the mixture between two sandwich tins and place in oven for about 30 minutes until done.
11. Meanwhile, Put the sieved icing sugar, margarine and left over blended marmalade in to a bowl and incorporate with a fork.
12. When the cake halves have cooled down, spread the icing on the bottom half, stick the top half on top, dust over a smidgeon of icing sugar and enjoy with a nice cup of tea.

Doug’s Seafood Risotto

This is my interpretation of my brother’s risotto. This is in no way a conventional risotto recipe, but it works nicely. Hearty dinner for four.

Ingredients

• 2 cups of risotto rice
• Three or four onions, depending on size
• Three cloves of garlic
• A red pepper and a green pepper
• A punnet of mushrooms, approx 200g
• 350g approx of seafood selection
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Oregano
• A chicken stockpot
• Butter
• Water
• Olive oil

Method

1.  Warm up a large saucepan with a good glug of olive oil in it.
2. Chop up the vegetables and add to the pan.
3. Sprinkle over a generous amount of oregano, a good grind of black pepper, put the lid on, and let it sweat for a while.
4. Add the rice and the stockpot, give it a good shake and put the lid back on for a bit.
5. Add about the same quantity of water as rice, or slightly less. Stir well. Do not add more, water as lots of liquid cooks out of the ingredients.
6. Add the seafood when it begins to bubble.
7. Let it simmer gently with an occasional stir to prevent sticking until most of the liquid has been absorbed.
8. Add a generous lump of butter and stir in.
9. Turn off the heat and let it sit for a few minutes.
10. Serve.