Ingredients

1 lb. sweet potatoes (or plain white potatoes)
1 egg
2 tbsp. flour plus additional for coating
Salt
2 tsp. ginger (opt.)
Oil for frying

Method

Quarter potatoes, put in large pot of salted water, bring to boil and cook until tender, approximately 15 minutes. Cool and peel. Mash potatoes until smooth. Add egg, 2 tablespoons flour and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Mix good. Add ginger. Heat 1/2" oil in frying pan to 375 degrees. Flour hands and shape potato mixture into patties about 2" round. Coat with flour and fry until brown, 3 to 5 minutes. Drain on paper towel.

Tags: vegetarian

Ingrediients

8 oz chicken livers
¼ lb butter
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
3 tablespoons sherry
pinch cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon mixed spice
½ teaspoon grated nutmeg
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Trim any discoloured parts from the chicken livers. Melt half the butter in a large frying pan and gently cook the onions in it until they are soft and transparent.
Add the garlic, spices, seasoning and chicken livers. Cook them gently, stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes until they are evenly browned. Add the sherry towards the end of the cooking.
Liquidize the mixture in a blender with the rest of the butter when it is cold. Transfer to a suitable serving dish and chill before serving.

Tags: starter

This makes a somewhat crumbly whole-wheat shortcrust pastry. Leaving it in the fridge for ½ hour makes life easier as does rolling it out between two sheets of grease proof paper. I'm really lazy, I just push the bits of pastry into the quiche dish by hand. This recipe makes about 6 oz of pastry - enough for one quiche.

Ingredients

4 oz whole-wheat plain flour
1 teaspoon of baking powder
2 oz solid fats (e.g. margarine)
1 teaspoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon oil
3 - 4 tablespoons water.
A little salt.

Method

Add everything but the water to the mixer and mix well. With the mixer set at 4, add the water one tablespoon at a time until the pastry starts to bind together and make balls. If the mixture is a bit wet, add a little more flour.

For a change, you can add some grated cheese the mixture, but do this before you add water.

Ingredients

Shortcrust pastry
3 or 4 eggs
grated cheese (cheddar, how much is up to you)
¼ pint milk.
½ teaspoon powdered mustard
1 teaspoon stock powder

Method

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 5 (180°C)
Line a quiche dish with the pastry and put it into the oven for about 8 minutes.
Whilst it is cooking, you can get the filling made. For the mixture; whisk the eggs, then add the milk, mustard and stock powder. For a special occasion, you can use cream to replace some or all of the milk. I like to add mixed herbs or fresh parsley finely chopped.
Add the main ingredients (see below), then any cheese that want, then the mixture over the top.
Put it into the oven for about 30 minutes.
Fillings
bacon - fry the bacon and cut into small pieces
chard and onion - finely chop and onion and fry in butter, add in around 250g of swiss chard, finely chopped and cook until tender. This works well with spinach too.
tomato - finely slice three tomatoes and layer witht hte cheese
asparagus - take the woody stems off and steam for around 6 minutes. Layer with the cheese and pour the egg mixture over.
mushrooms - chop plenty of mushrooms and fry in olive oil. Layer with the cheese and pour the egg mixture over.

Variation

Cook 500g of potatoes and mash them. Mix in the cheese and then the egg mixture. Fill the quiche with this mixture and lay vegetables (for example asparagus) onto the top and cook as usual.

Tags: main meal, vegetarian

This recipe comes from the original (and best) Crank's cookbook. This amount makes about 6 ramekins.

Ingredients

10oz wholemeal shortcrust pastry
¾ lb Potatoes
1lb onions
3 tablespoons oil
1 oz butter or margarine
Chopped parsley
4 oz grated cheese
2 crushed garlic cloves
1 tablespoon milk
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

Method

Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 7.
Line about 6 ramekins with the pastry. Boil or steam the potatoes until tender. Chop the onions finely and saute in the oil until really soft. Add together the onions, potato, parsley, most of the cheese, garlic, milk and season well to taste.
Leave to cool a little and then fill the pastry cases with the mixture. Sprinkle the remaining cheese over the top and then bake in the oven for about 20 minutes or until they are golden.

Tags: vegetables, vegetarian

After watching the programs where each recipe made me want to cook it, I finally ordered his book. Looking through it last night, it looks brilliant and fits really neatly with my attempts to grow my own vegetables. It's coming up to asparagus season, I'm really looking forward to that.

Tags: Jamie Oliver, blog, books

Take a packet of mixed nuts and dollop on an equal mixture of maple syrup and olive oil. Add in a teaspoon of cayenne pepper, oergano, sage, thyme, rosemary and put into a hot-ish oven for half an hour.
Beware, they stick together if you leave them, so get them apart whilst they're hot.

Tags: snack

I thought that I had this recipe in one of my books (I've made it before). I couldn't find it and searched the web. I modified what I found and it turned out ok.

Ingredients

75g butter
120 ml fresh mushrooms (3 large flat mushrooms)
75g finely chopped onion
30 ml sherry
85g cream cheese
fresh parsley

method

Melt the butter, add the mushrooms and onion and cook over a low heat until the mushrooms are browned. Keep stirring.
Mix together the cream cheese and parsley and then add in the mushroom mixture. I used a blender so the mushroom was chopped nice and finely.
Put into 4 ramakins and chill for a few hours.
It goes well with toast.

Tags: starter