Potted Ham

“Hold hard a minute, then!” said the Rat … and after a short interval reappeared staggering under a fat, wicker luncheon-basket.

“Shove that under your feet,” he observed to the Mole, as he passed it down into the boat. …

“What’s inside it?” asked the Mole, wriggling with curiosity.

“There’s cold chicken inside it,” replied the Rat briefly; “cold-tongue-cold-ham-cold-beef-pickeled-gherkins-salad-french-rolls-cress-sandwidges-potted-meat-ginger-beer-lemonade-sodawater-“

“O stop, stop,” cried Mole in ecstasies: “This is too much!”

(“The Wind in the Willows” by Kenneth Graham)

There is something distinctly Edwardian about potted meats, coming from a time before the privations of the First and Second World Wars, but when pâté was positively exotic and probably not to be trusted. Even my grandmother would have felt it was old-fashioned. But I have to say that, both from the point of view of reducing waste, and just the sheer enjoyment of eating it, we have been missing out!

I am sure this is a theme to which I will return (there being a glut of potential variations) but to begin with I’m turning to the rather sad, dry nugget of leftover ham which is looking a bit unloved at the back of the fridge … Continue reading “Potted Ham” →

“Best of Both Worlds” Flapjacks

I recently found an old box of books from my youth and childhood in the loft. Amongst my old A-level text books was a vintage gem from my formative years – Katie Stewart’s “The Pooh Cook Book” – a treasure trove of A.A. Milne endorsed, evocative recipes which featured heavily during the wet and wintry weekends of my West Country childhood. Flapjacks I remember being a particular favourite, and the recipe still has my lovely mum’s annotations to scale the recipe for the roasting tin that fitted our late lamented Belling oven (1976-2000).

Thinking (or rather dreaming) of flapjacks led me back to my all-time favourite food columist Felicity Cloake’s definitive Flapjack article (from her most excellent “How to cook the perfect …” series)*. Her advice regarding the mix of bog standard porridge oats and larger rolled jumbo oats guarantees no more batches of accidental flapjack-flavoured granola. She also nails the crunchy vs chewy instructions.

Tinkering with perfection is a dangerous business, but, being a chewy flapjack fan whilst still loving crunch, I was rather tempted by Tom Norrington-Davies’s retro cornflake addition. (My mother’s 1980s health-food obsession meant that the only packaged cereal we had at home was All-Bran which would have been revolting!).

Wanting something a bit more “grown-up” I came across these unadulterated puffed oats which do the trick perfectly. I substitute 25g of these for 50g of the jumbo oats in Felicity’s recipe. (They also add fantastic lightness and crunch to granola and museli and taste nutty and interesting too.)

My tuppence worth is to press the mixture down quite firmly before you bake. An old fashioned masher would be perfect if you have one! Continue reading ““Best of Both Worlds” Flapjacks” →

Butternut Hummous

There are all kinds of “exotic” hummous about the place – caramelised onion, red pepper, chipotle and lime, cumin and coriandar etc.. and that’s just in our local supermarket. Don’t get me wrong, they’re great. But if it ain’t broke why fix it?!

That said, I’m always looking at ways to boost our vegetable consumption. I read somewhere that the “Five A Day” recommendation was mainly based on what it was felt the good people of Britain would be prepared to eat, rather than what would be best for them (somewhere closer to “Nine A Day” with a much heavier emphasis on veg than fruit). So, even though our children are pretty good about eating their veg, I still like to sneak extra veg into whatever I can. (We call it “Stealth Veg”.)

Butternut and chickpeas really work together – the earthy and the slightly sweet. I’ve been bunging them together in tagines for years (probably with inauthentic abandon – do gourds grow in North Africa?). Needless to say, they are awesome together in hummous. Continue reading “Butternut Hummous” →