Roast Beef

Ingredients, left to right: Fennel, Mushrooms, Streaky bacon, Tomato purée, Beef joint, Mustard powder.

A strong red, opened before food preparation even begins. This wine has a cork so probably benefits from being opened for a few hours before drinking.

The tomato purée is squirted into a small bowl. This is probably about half the tube. Mustard powder is mixed in, gradually. Using a sieve like this ensures that there are no lumps. This is easiest as a two-person operation.

The joint has been untied. A loose piece of fat from one side has been removed and placed in the roasting tin. This gets put in the oven, to melt the fat. Some fat was later poured off and used for the roast potatoes.

A cut has been made into the beef joint. All lean surfaces, including the cut, have been coated with the mixture of tomato purée and mustard. The mushrooms have been peeled and the caps separated from the stalks. The stalks have been chopped and piled into the cut joint. The bacon has been trimmed of its rind. The joint is now quite loose, because it is no longer tied up with string.

The ensemble is ready to go in the oven. The bacon has been wrapped around the coated joint. This is the same pan in which the fat was melted off the loose piece of the joint. The fatty stuff that did not melt has been removed. The mushroom caps, whole, have been put in the pan with the chopped fennel and some peeled garlic. The wrapped joint sits on top of the mushrooms.

The roast starts at a high temperature, for a short time. The bacon is falling off somewhat but this is OK.

After half an hour or so, some juices have dripped out of the joint. At this point, the joint was covered in foil and returned to the oven.

After the full cooking time, determined by weighing, plenty of juice has dripped into the pan. The mushrooms, fennel and garlic have been cooking in this juice. At this point the joint and bacon was removed, wrapped in the foil in which it was covered for cooking, and left to rest. The mushrooms, fennel and garlic were removed from the roasting tin with a slotted spoon and kept warm. The tin was then heated on the hob to reduce the juices.

Served with leeks and roast potatoes.

Chorizo and tomato stew, with potatoes

Raw chorizo. I cut it in half and then peeled the skin off and then cut it into chunks.

Raw onion, chopped.

I cooked the chorizo in the pan for long enough to melt off enough fat to fry the onions. The metal grille is a splash protector.

The wine. Spanish wine goes well with Spanish food..

Raw potatoes, from the garden.

Potatoes cooking in a large pan of water. Started with cold water, not boiled in the kettle first.

Tomatoes from the garden. I soak them in boiling water to make them easier to peel.

Blurred but shows how easy it is. They'd been soaking for a while. The water was no longer boiling but the jug and dish were on a warming plate.

Skinned tomatoes in the casserole dish. One they were bubbling, I added the chorizo and onion, and spices and let that simmer a bit. Then I put the cooked potatoes on top, added some small courgettes and their flowers, and put it in the oven for half an hour or an hour.

Chilli, of which I put in only a small amount. Paprika, of which I put in quite a lot because I have bought a few too many cans over the years.

Finished and on a plate

Bratwurst

The ingredients in their packaging.

Just the sausages, fresh out of the packet.

The beer in the pan.

Sausages in the boiling beer, first time.

Sausages on the barbecue after one turn. I kept the barbecue lid closed.

Sausages back in the beer after being turned a couple of times.

Sausages after several sessions on the barbecue, and then back in the beer.

As served, with sautéed potatoes and onions, and fried courgette.

Chicken à la brun

I make this all the time. The recipe is from Larousse.

Six raw chicken thighs, rinsed and patted dry. It was a sunny evening.

Heating bacon rind in the pan, so that some fat melts off, for initial lubrication.

After searing the skin and non-skin sides for a few minutes each. The pan is then moved to the smallest burner, and the heat turned down to the minimum.

After cooking for 45 minutes or more at the low temperature. Plenty of juices have come out of the chicken, which now looks paler for same reason.

The chicken has been removed from the pan. It is in a dish that is also covering the small pan in which leeks are cooking. The chicken pan is moved back to the larger burner and heated to reduce the juices. The half lemon was rubbed on the pan to de-glaze. The juice of the other half has been poured in.

After the juices have reduced and thickened, the chicken is returned to the pan for a few minutes and rolled around in the sauce.

On the plate with leeks and chard. The leeks were cooked in butter, water and caraway seeds.

Chicken Noodle Soup

Ingredients: Chilli oil (home-made), celery, chicken thighs, coriander, carrots, golden shallots (Thai ingredient, noodles, chicken stock in a can, chicken stock cubes, garlic

Heated the casserole in the oven

Raw chicken about to be roasted. There's chilli oil in the bottom of the pan. (Six thighs in total.

)

After the chicken has roasted, the stock is poured in. Onions, bay leaf, and golden shallots have been added. The lid is put on and it simmers gently for about 3 hours.

After simmering. The meat is removed, and the rest is poured through a sieve to remove the onions etc.

Supporting cast: Noodles boiling, carrots frying with caraway seeds and garlic in goose fat.

The roasted and boiled chicken is
shredded into three piles: Skin for cats, meat for soup, bones for discard.

Arty angle on the finished soup

Sensible angle on the finished soup, with coriander leaves stirred in