Main Courses
Shepherd's Pie
Vicky's contribution to the flat meals. A great success!
Ingredients for 4-6
1 lb (500 g) mince (US ground beef)
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
1 small tin of sweetcorn
a handful of peas
half a red pepper
half a green pepper
1 large carrot
1 courgette (US zucchini)
1 gravy stock cube
4-6 large potatoes
butter
milk
Worcester sauce
seasonings
Chop the onion and garlic into small pieces, and brown in a large pot. Add the mincemeat and brown again before draining off the excess oil. Then add the Worcester sauce and seasonings to taste, and leave to simmer. Chop all the vegetables (apart from the potatoes) and add to the pot. Stir and leave to simmer again. Crumble the gravy stock cube into the pot and simmer for a further 20 mins. In the meantime, chop and boil the potatoes until well cooked. Drain them and mash until smooth, adding milk and a little butter. When the meat and vegetables are well cooked, transfer to a shallow pie dish. Spread the mashed potato evenly on top. Grill (US broil) until golden brown.
Chilli con carne
This was to be the first of our Wednesday evening communal meals, and Anthony was itching to make use of the enormous pot of chilli powder he had bought (we think he may have gone a bit over the top with it!). This was the result ...
Ingredients for 4
1 lb (500 g) mince (US ground beef)
1 large onion
1 can kidney beans
1 or 2 tins plum tomatoes
chilli powder ad lib
seasonings
Chop the onion and fry it gently in a large saucepan; add the beef and brown. Add the chopped tomatoes and the kidney beans, then as much chilli powder as you dare. Season and mix well. Serve hot or cold.
Lasagne
Kari chose to make this because she said she hadn't had any good lasagne here, so she showed us how to make the real stuff.
Ham Chowder
Mushroom and Bacon Risotto
Anthony and Vicky made this one evening when they happened to have the necessary ingredients.
Toad-in-the-Hole
For ages, Vicky and Anthony fooled the rest of us (that is what they think!!) into thinking toad-in-the-hole was exactly what it sounded like, spinning tales of going out to catch the toads at night, mincing them up and shaping them into sausages - the fact that the sausages tasted of pork was, of course, pure coincidence ...
Ingredients for 3
6 pork sausages
flour
1 egg
milk
seasonings
Place the sausages in a shallow oven-proof dish and bake (if you prefer crunchy skins, fry or grill them). Break the egg into the flour add mix well, adding milk until the batter is fairly liquid. Season and pour over the sausages. Bake in a hot over for 25-30 minutes. Serve with green vegetables and roast parsnips.
Chicken in Black Bean Sauce
This was a joint effort by Joan, Vicky and Anthony to celebrate Stuart's birthday.
Turkey Burgers
A Vicky special!
Fish Pie
Anthony learnt how to make this at home and thought himself clever enough to repeat it at university. It wasn't quite as good, but here's the recipe anyway.
Spinach and Ricotta Cheese Cannelloni
Joan gave us a three course meal towards the end of November, of which this was the centre-piece.
Ingredients for 4
1 tbsp sunflower oil
1 onion
1 clove of garlic
250 g frozen spinach, defrosted and well drained
1/4 tbsp. grated nutmeg
250 g pot ricotta cheese (full fat)
seasonings
8-12 cannelloni tubes (depending on the size)
Heat the oil and fry the onion and garlic for a few minutes. Place in a large bowl with the spinach, nutmeg and ricotta cheese. Season. Using a teaspoon, fill each tube and place in a large ovenproof dish. Pour the sauce (either or both) over the cannellonis and cook in the centre of a pre-heated oven for 30-35 minutes 190 C (375 F) gas mark 5.
Cheese sauce
Ingredients for 4
50 g low fat margarine
50 g plain flour
600 ml semi skimmed milk
75 g low fat cheddar cheese
Place all the sauce ingredients except the cheese into a saucepan. Heat, stirring constantly until the sauce thickens. Stir in the cheese, reserving 25 g. Once the cheese has melted, pour the sauce over the cannellonis and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.
Tomato sauce
A lighter alternative to the cheese sauce
Ingredients for 4
oil
1 onion
1 glove of garlic
1-2 cans of chopped tomatoes
tomato puree
salt, pepper, oregano and basil (fresh or dried)
cream
Stir fry the vegetables, add the puree, chopped tomatoes, seasoning and cream. Leave to simmer for 15 minutes.
Knoedel (dumplings) with Mushroom Sauce
Heike, the only vegetarian in the flat, cooked us this warming food on a cold night. It's also heavy, but it still worked a treat!
Ingredients for 4
5 rolls (fresh or stale)
200ml single cream
3 eggs
500g semolina
250g mushrooms, sliced
2 or more large onions
vegetable stock
cornflour or flour (to thicken)
cream (optional)
salt, pepper, parsley, garlic
Slice the rolls and place them in a large bowl. Pour the cream on top and leave to soak. Then mix in the eggs and sufficient semolina to make the mixture fairly stiff; season (salt, pepper and parsley). Make four balls from it and boil for twenty minutes.
In the meantime, fry the onions and garlic. Add the water, mushrooms, soup stock, salt and pepper; leave to cook for 10 mins. Stir in the cream (if desired) and thicken or dilute as necessary. Serve poured over the dumplings.
Vegetarian burgers
Another of Heike's secret recipes.
Ingredients for 6
150 g ground barley (or other grain)
500 ml vegetable stock
1 large onion
1 clove of garlic
40 g butter
2 eggs
60 g porridge oats
1 red pepper
salt, pepper, mustard, paprika, fresh oregano and basil
Fry the finely chopped onion and garlic in the melted butter. Add the stock and the barley. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 mins, then remove the pan from the heat. Once it has cooled down, add the remaining ingredients and season well. Form burgers from the mixture and fry.
Spanish Omelette
Here we bow to Vicky's skill. Quite delicious!
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