First of all this isn't a shepherd's pie made on a particular American cooking programme that was mad with beef. This is actually made with lamb. You know. What the shepherd's look after.
After you`'ve got your lamb mince cooked, add sliced onion and garlic to sweat down. Once this done add what ever vegetables you want. I used courgette, green pepper, mushrooms and a handful of frozen peas. Once this has cooked down a bit add rosemary. The next thing to do is add lamb stock cubes to your shopping list when you realise you haven`t got any and use onion gravy granules instead!
Whilst your cooking the filling, you should be boiling your potatoes. My process was to measure the potatoes in the tin the pie wad going into. Once they are a snug fit this should be enough. I boiled them in their coats and once done I held them in my a clean towel whilst flaying them with a knife. You can use whatever you like in your mash. On this occasion I just used the potatoes seasoned with salt and pepper.
Construct with filing on bottom. Mash on top. Cook at 180° for about half an hour until golden on top and bubbling. Serve with either a side of freshly cooked greens or a tin of baked beans and cheese. Lovely!!!
Monday, 30 December 2013
Sunday, 29 December 2013
Post Christmas dinner
So with Christmas still sitting firmly in the belly the need for something that wasn't Turkey or roast ham related was rather pressing. As was the need for some fresh vegetables to beat of the threat of survey. With this in mind I cooked my wife's recipe for spaghetti Bolognese.
Start off by frazelling some bacon or pancetta in a pan. Add beef mince and brown. Add nutmeg and beef stock so it goes brown and sticky. Add sliced onion and crushed garlic and cook until soft. Add chopped corvette, green pepper and mushrooms and sweat down.
Add wife's `secret` tomato sauce (or tin topped tomato`s), basil, marjoram and oregano. Cook for as long as you can stand it then serve with pasta and parmesan.
Start off by frazelling some bacon or pancetta in a pan. Add beef mince and brown. Add nutmeg and beef stock so it goes brown and sticky. Add sliced onion and crushed garlic and cook until soft. Add chopped corvette, green pepper and mushrooms and sweat down.
Add wife's `secret` tomato sauce (or tin topped tomato`s), basil, marjoram and oregano. Cook for as long as you can stand it then serve with pasta and parmesan.
Thursday, 18 August 2011
Meatballs in Tomato Sauce with Tagliatelle
This particular dinner was made using frozen meatballs from IKEA and is as follows:
Chop up bacon and render some bacon on a high heat. When the bacon is nice and crispy add some chopped onion and finely chopped garlic and cook until the onion is soft. Add the chopped celery and after a couple of minutes add your chopped up courgettes and peppers. Allow to cook down for a while and then add the mushrooms.
Once these are looking nice and cooked, add your chilis (I used a scotch bonnet and a red chili, but the choice is open), tomato purée, some chopped tomatoes and season with a few dried herbs (I used a good shake each of basil, oregano and thyme).
Once everything is in, turn down to a lowish heat. Cook approximately 12 - 15 frozen meatballs per person and once done add to the sauce.
Eat with your pasta of choice
Chop up bacon and render some bacon on a high heat. When the bacon is nice and crispy add some chopped onion and finely chopped garlic and cook until the onion is soft. Add the chopped celery and after a couple of minutes add your chopped up courgettes and peppers. Allow to cook down for a while and then add the mushrooms.
Once these are looking nice and cooked, add your chilis (I used a scotch bonnet and a red chili, but the choice is open), tomato purée, some chopped tomatoes and season with a few dried herbs (I used a good shake each of basil, oregano and thyme).
Once everything is in, turn down to a lowish heat. Cook approximately 12 - 15 frozen meatballs per person and once done add to the sauce.
Eat with your pasta of choice
Thursday, 4 August 2011
Iron Maiden Setlist NIA Birmingham 31/07/2011
1. Satellite 15...The Final Frontier (The Final Frontier, 2010)
2. El Dorado (The Final Frontier, 2010)
3. 2 Minutes to Midnight (Powerslave, 1984)
4. The Talisman (The Final Frontier, 2010)
5. Coming Home (The Final Frontier, 2010)
6. Dance of Death (Dance of Death, 2003)
7. The Trooper (Piece of Mind, 1983)
8. The Wicker Man (Brave New World, 2000)
9. Blood Brothers (Brave New World, 2000)
10. When the Wild Wind Blows (The Final Frontier, 2010)
11. The Evil That Men Do (Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, 1988)
12. Fear of the Dark (Fear of the Dark, 1992)
13. Iron Maiden (Iron Maiden, 1980)
Encore
14. The Number of the Beast (The Number of the Beast, 1982)
15. Hallowed Be Thy Name (The Number of the Beast, 1982)
16. Running Free (Iron Maiden, 1980)
2. El Dorado (The Final Frontier, 2010)
3. 2 Minutes to Midnight (Powerslave, 1984)
4. The Talisman (The Final Frontier, 2010)
5. Coming Home (The Final Frontier, 2010)
6. Dance of Death (Dance of Death, 2003)
7. The Trooper (Piece of Mind, 1983)
8. The Wicker Man (Brave New World, 2000)
9. Blood Brothers (Brave New World, 2000)
10. When the Wild Wind Blows (The Final Frontier, 2010)
11. The Evil That Men Do (Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, 1988)
12. Fear of the Dark (Fear of the Dark, 1992)
13. Iron Maiden (Iron Maiden, 1980)
Encore
14. The Number of the Beast (The Number of the Beast, 1982)
15. Hallowed Be Thy Name (The Number of the Beast, 1982)
16. Running Free (Iron Maiden, 1980)
Super Sunday
Well, it has been nearly a month since my last post so it must be time for another? Yes. Yes, it is. Or so I've been told for, well....the last month or so. Anyway, "what is Super Sunday?" I hear you ask. No, it isn't the double bill of football shown on Sky Sports, though that was pretty good if you're into that sort of thing. No, our Super Sunday involved seeing one of the worst\most entertaining films so far this year (except Super 8, which is far superior in quality), dodgy burgers and heavy metal.
I won't go into too much detail about the film other than to mention it was at the Electric cinema in Birmingham, it was called Hobo With a Shotgun and you can read my review at the East Proctor Film Club. For those of you who don't know or have never been, the Electric is the oldest operating cinema in the country. It is independently owned and has all sorts of fun events and festivals on (when we were there they had Harry Potter inspired cup cakes for sale, complete with all flavour beans on top). I love the Electric. I love the friendliness of the staff, I love the occasional odd film they show that no one else has on. It's on the whole a great place to hang out on a weekday or weekend night or day. My recommendation is to have noodles at The Village Cafe before or after a film.
As far as the burgers were concerned, we had a voucher for a second burger for £1.00 at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen (or GBK as it is otherwise known). This sounded good as I'd been there before, on the day of my wedding to be precise for a pre-wedding lunch. It was, as as I remember very good. Sadly the second visit didn't live up to expectation. I had the Mexican, which is made up of a beef burger patties, sour cream avocado, spicy kidney bean salsa, mayonnaise and salad. It wasn't bad, but it didn't sit well afterwards. It was quite greasy, though not nearly as greasy as the thing I ate at Perkins in Florida. Probably the most disappointing thing was the milkshake, which didn't really have any taste other than a faint banana tang. This wasn't too good for what was supposed to be an Orio cookie milkshake. Overall, we enjoyed the sides of chunky chips and onion rings the most and we agreed that we would have been disappointed to have spent full price on it.
Now then. On to the best part of the day. Iron Maiden at the NIA. We arrived suitably late to miss the support band, Airbourne. This was decided upon due to the fact that I was reliably informed that they are in fact awful. So, we got to the NIA, found our seats and sat down. Excitement level at about a 7 (there was still a good half hour before Iron Maiden took to the stage. As we gazed about the arena, we noticed that even though there was still some time before the band came out, the arena floor was already more than half full. This was a good sign. Then with 5 minutes to go, excitement level had risen to 10. Then when the show started, my excitement was immeasurable. Predictably they kicked off the show with the opening track from their latest album, which is Satellitte 15...The Final Frontier. They began with red lights flashing and moving in time with opening riffs, then there was a characature of Bruce Dickinson singing the first few verses before the main stage lights came on revealing the band who launched into The Final Frontier with gusto. At this point a loud cheer went up, which bought forth an excited exclamation from Gill and an enthusiastic cheer from myself.
This was the fourth time I've seen Iron Maiden live, the first at the NIA and the sound quality was very good. Each time I've seen Maiden has been different. Not just in terms of the set list, but in terms of the type of show they put on. For this particular tour, they seem to be playing a lot more of their older material considering that they are in essence touring their Final Frontier Album. They played 5 of the songs album in total contrasted with all of them when they toured the A Matter of Life and Death album.
Considering the band has been around in total for over 30 years, they still show a lot of enthusiasm and energy. They really put on a show and give everything from beginning to end. I can see why other front men other than Bruce have struggled with the touring schedule as my voice was giving half way through just one show. It was very expensive and we were sitting pretty far from the stage, but I love Maiden and would definitely see them again when they next tour. A band that has to be seen to be believed just how good they really are and why their albums are constantly No. 1 around the world and why they still sell out these massive venues.
What was the highlight of Super Sunday? Spending it all with my beautiful wife.
I won't go into too much detail about the film other than to mention it was at the Electric cinema in Birmingham, it was called Hobo With a Shotgun and you can read my review at the East Proctor Film Club. For those of you who don't know or have never been, the Electric is the oldest operating cinema in the country. It is independently owned and has all sorts of fun events and festivals on (when we were there they had Harry Potter inspired cup cakes for sale, complete with all flavour beans on top). I love the Electric. I love the friendliness of the staff, I love the occasional odd film they show that no one else has on. It's on the whole a great place to hang out on a weekday or weekend night or day. My recommendation is to have noodles at The Village Cafe before or after a film.
As far as the burgers were concerned, we had a voucher for a second burger for £1.00 at the Gourmet Burger Kitchen (or GBK as it is otherwise known). This sounded good as I'd been there before, on the day of my wedding to be precise for a pre-wedding lunch. It was, as as I remember very good. Sadly the second visit didn't live up to expectation. I had the Mexican, which is made up of a beef burger patties, sour cream avocado, spicy kidney bean salsa, mayonnaise and salad. It wasn't bad, but it didn't sit well afterwards. It was quite greasy, though not nearly as greasy as the thing I ate at Perkins in Florida. Probably the most disappointing thing was the milkshake, which didn't really have any taste other than a faint banana tang. This wasn't too good for what was supposed to be an Orio cookie milkshake. Overall, we enjoyed the sides of chunky chips and onion rings the most and we agreed that we would have been disappointed to have spent full price on it.
Now then. On to the best part of the day. Iron Maiden at the NIA. We arrived suitably late to miss the support band, Airbourne. This was decided upon due to the fact that I was reliably informed that they are in fact awful. So, we got to the NIA, found our seats and sat down. Excitement level at about a 7 (there was still a good half hour before Iron Maiden took to the stage. As we gazed about the arena, we noticed that even though there was still some time before the band came out, the arena floor was already more than half full. This was a good sign. Then with 5 minutes to go, excitement level had risen to 10. Then when the show started, my excitement was immeasurable. Predictably they kicked off the show with the opening track from their latest album, which is Satellitte 15...The Final Frontier. They began with red lights flashing and moving in time with opening riffs, then there was a characature of Bruce Dickinson singing the first few verses before the main stage lights came on revealing the band who launched into The Final Frontier with gusto. At this point a loud cheer went up, which bought forth an excited exclamation from Gill and an enthusiastic cheer from myself.
This was the fourth time I've seen Iron Maiden live, the first at the NIA and the sound quality was very good. Each time I've seen Maiden has been different. Not just in terms of the set list, but in terms of the type of show they put on. For this particular tour, they seem to be playing a lot more of their older material considering that they are in essence touring their Final Frontier Album. They played 5 of the songs album in total contrasted with all of them when they toured the A Matter of Life and Death album.
Considering the band has been around in total for over 30 years, they still show a lot of enthusiasm and energy. They really put on a show and give everything from beginning to end. I can see why other front men other than Bruce have struggled with the touring schedule as my voice was giving half way through just one show. It was very expensive and we were sitting pretty far from the stage, but I love Maiden and would definitely see them again when they next tour. A band that has to be seen to be believed just how good they really are and why their albums are constantly No. 1 around the world and why they still sell out these massive venues.
What was the highlight of Super Sunday? Spending it all with my beautiful wife.
Wednesday, 6 July 2011
Bacon and egg fried rice
This recipe was given to me by my beautiful wife. I believe it comes from my mother in law originally. It's one of those that seems straight forward, but then is easy to make a mistake and then rescue as I found out on my first attempt this morning. I've made 2 and a half portions, which will see me through with 2 portions for work over the next couple of days and a half portion to go with a sandwich or something.
I'll just take this moment to state that in my recipe's and recipe's taken from others, I will be removing the visible fat from the meat. This includes bacon. You don't have to do the same, it's entirely up to you. I choose to remove it, some say the fat is where all the flavour is and if you remove that you remove the taste.
Anyway, I've removed the fat from the bacon and chopped it up into a non-stick pan to cook until crispy. I've got everything else ready. This includes 3 eggs beaten, spring onions chopped, handful of frozen peas, soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce, boiled Basmati rice that has gone cold. Once the bacon is cooked, remove with a slotted spoon.
Now, this is where I made my mistake. Next is to add the eggs. I added extra oil to make sure it didn't stick, but I forgot to turn the heat down and the eggs cooked too quickly when I added them. I didn't want the eggs to cook quickly as I wanted to add all the other ingredients when they were about 3/4 cooked. I managed to salvage it though as when I added the soy sauce, this added a bit of liquid and everything mixed together, but not as I imagined it would.
So, don't distress if things go wrong. It'll still taste good. I think this may be the way forward for lunches/work time break meals. It's quick and easy and you can make portions ahead of time for the week. I think I may try some variations and maybe you could try some yourself.
I'll just take this moment to state that in my recipe's and recipe's taken from others, I will be removing the visible fat from the meat. This includes bacon. You don't have to do the same, it's entirely up to you. I choose to remove it, some say the fat is where all the flavour is and if you remove that you remove the taste.
Anyway, I've removed the fat from the bacon and chopped it up into a non-stick pan to cook until crispy. I've got everything else ready. This includes 3 eggs beaten, spring onions chopped, handful of frozen peas, soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce, boiled Basmati rice that has gone cold. Once the bacon is cooked, remove with a slotted spoon.
Now, this is where I made my mistake. Next is to add the eggs. I added extra oil to make sure it didn't stick, but I forgot to turn the heat down and the eggs cooked too quickly when I added them. I didn't want the eggs to cook quickly as I wanted to add all the other ingredients when they were about 3/4 cooked. I managed to salvage it though as when I added the soy sauce, this added a bit of liquid and everything mixed together, but not as I imagined it would.
So, don't distress if things go wrong. It'll still taste good. I think this may be the way forward for lunches/work time break meals. It's quick and easy and you can make portions ahead of time for the week. I think I may try some variations and maybe you could try some yourself.
Tuesday, 5 July 2011
Sirens (2011)
Working in an accident and emergency department can lead to working some unsocial hours. Well, actually working a lot of unsocial hours would be more accurate. One of the good parts is chatting to the various paramedics/ambulance drivers that pass through our doors (particularly the 'regulars'). Maybe it was my line of work that influenced me to (try) to watch Channel 4's new programme, Sirens.
This comedy/drama follows an ambulance team as they....well......I'm not really sure as I didn't get that far through the first episode before giving up on it. I was hoping that it would be more along the lines of 'they go out to a job, it isn't serious, comedy ensues. Unfortunately this was not the case. Instead what I got was the team coming to terms with the aftermath of having been to a serious road traffic accident. It was supposed to be funny, but I found it boring and the characters annoying.
Suffice to say I gave up after 15 minutes, deleted the episode and the series link so that no more would record.
This comedy/drama follows an ambulance team as they....well......I'm not really sure as I didn't get that far through the first episode before giving up on it. I was hoping that it would be more along the lines of 'they go out to a job, it isn't serious, comedy ensues. Unfortunately this was not the case. Instead what I got was the team coming to terms with the aftermath of having been to a serious road traffic accident. It was supposed to be funny, but I found it boring and the characters annoying.
Suffice to say I gave up after 15 minutes, deleted the episode and the series link so that no more would record.
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