French onion soup

Onions, skinned and ready to slice finely

This is two onions
Together they were around 600g

Now finely sliced


Up close


Fresh garlic


Oil in the tureen


Softened onions


Onions plus tomato, garlic, salt, sugar


With beef stock, red wine and brandy


Sliced focaccia, for croutons


Focaccia fried on one side


The finished dish: French onion soup with focaccia and gruyere croutons

I thinned the soup with a little water, and baked the croutons for a few minutes topped with grated cheese

Gnocchi in a spicey tomato and bacon sauce

Cubed pancetta in the pan
No oil: there is enough fat in the bacon

Onions added
Frying in the fat already melted off the bacon

Tinned tomatoes added

Once the onions are soft
No need to chop; just split up with a spatula

Dried herb and spice

The pancetta was not that full of flavour

Raw gnocchi

Gnocchi in the bottom of the pan
When it's cooked, it will float to the surface

Cooked gnocchi in the colander

The finished dish

Monmouth mini-filters

Monmouth mini-filters, originally uploaded by Jeeklutz.

My face

07042008(001), originally uploaded by rosco.aitken.

At work

Madeira cake from scratch

The ingredients assembled: Caster sugar, caraway seeds, plain flour, lemon, self-raising flour, unsalted butter, eggs


Preparation of the lemon: juice and zest


The butter as removed from the pack


After a good bit of softening with the spoon, the sugar is added


Once the sugar and lemon zest is fully creamed in, the first egg is added with some flour


All three eggs have been added


All the flour has been added


Close-up showing the caraway seeds, which were added with the lemon juice


In the baking tin, the top smoothed with a spoon


After one hour or so at 150 degrees, fan-assisted


Close up


Cut end


The recipe is from Nigella Lawson, How to be a domestic goddess

Roast leg of pork

Here it is as purchased

Rubbed with salt and with a few carroway seeds and cloves added

About to be covered in foil and go into the oven. In the roasting tin is a sliced onion and some water

After 90 minutes cooking under foil

(No picture for it after a further thirty minutes not under foil, sorry)
The pan juices get some white wine and flour to make gravy

On the plate with leeks and carrots, a glass of rosé accompanies

(The gravy was pretty much ruined by me using too much salt)

Graphic lyrics