SWEET PEPPER SOUP with CHEESY HEART CROUTONS

Winter warmth for a snowy day 

1 red pepper
1 yellow pepper                 (or 2 orange)
1 onion, chopped small
1 carrot, cubed
2 potatoes, peeled and chopped
3 tbsp olive oil

1½l vegetable stock

Slice the peppers into large chunks and place on a baking tray. Drizzle with 2tbsp olive oil.

Cook in oven for about 15 minutes until soft.
Heat remaining tbsp olive oil in a large pan. Fry onion for a couple of minutes, then add the onion and carrot and continue to soften for a few more minutes. 

Add the vegetable stock and the potatoes.

When the peppers are ready, chop them and add them to the pan.
Bring everything to the boil and then simmer for about 30 minutes.

Place in a blender.

Whizz until smooth. Return to the pan and reheat when ready to serve.

Meanwhile, make the croutons

HEART SHAPED CROUTONS
2 slices thick white bread
50g cheddar cheese
2tbsp olive oil
(This is much easier if you have a heart-shaped cutter. If not, feel free to make the croutons any shape you wish.)

Grate the cheese and mix with the oil.

Toast the bread on one side, then cut out hearts. 

Coat with the cheese mixture.

Place under the grill until the cheese bubbles.

Add to the soup and serve.

A Meal for...A VICTORIAN CHRISTMAS

This is a dish which reminds me of my own 'Christmas past' when, as an undergraduate, I used to waitress at seasonal tavern evenings at a local Victorian museum. 

It makes a lovely side dish or a simple tea. 

POTCH NEP

You will need: 
2 medium potatoes

2 carrots

1 sweet potato

1 parsnip    
(or other root veg of choice)

Plus:

1 onion   

handful of fresh mint

salt and pepper

30g butter

2 tbsp milk

1tbsp oil

Peel and chop veg.

Heat two pans of salted water. Add potatoes to one and rest of the vegetables to the other.

Boil for about 15 minutes until soft.

Mash potatoes with 15g of the butter and the milk.

Then mash the other vegetables with the rest of the butter.

Heat the oil and cook the bacon.

Then remove it from the pan. Cut into small pieces.

Chop the onion and cook it in the same pan until gently browned. Then mix with the bacon.

Mix all together.

Chop mint

Mix everything together, season well and place in an ovenproof dish. Score top with a fork.

Cook at Gas 7/ 220°C/ 425°F for 20-30 minutes until crispy on top.

For a more indulgent version or a light meal, sprinkle with 25g grated cheese and place under the grill.

Cook until cheese bubbles and browns slightly.

Fantasy Veggie Dinner Guest – EBENEZER SCROOGE

When first faced with Marley’s ghost, a sceptical Scrooge says, “You may be an undigested bit of beef, a blot of mustard, a crumb of cheese, a fragment of underdone potato. There's more of gravy than of grave about you, whatever you are!”
So, in the spirit of all Christmases, past, present and yet to be, let’s lighten the hardest of pre-haunted hearts with a bit of cheese he might be happy to digest.

LEEK AND SMOKED APPLEWOOD CHEESE TARTLETS

1 sheet puff pastry

1 leek

3tbsp red onion chutney

1 pack smoked Applewood cheese

1tbsp olive oil

25g butter

Heat the oil and butter.

Chop the leek into rings and cook for about 10 minutes over a low heat.  

Meanwhile, place a glass on the pastry, starting as close to the edge as you can, and cut round it to make a circle. Repeat as many times as possible (I made 8). Then, with a knife, score an inner ring.

Place on a baking tray or greaseproof paper and cook at 200°C/ Gas 7 for 5 minutes until the pastry starts to rise.

Remove from the oven and place a small amount of the onion chutney inside the inner ring of each.

Distribute the cooked leeks equally between all the tarts.

Cut small chunks of cheese and place 2-3 on top of the leeks.

Put back into the oven and cook for 10 – 15 minutes until the cheese has melted. 

Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before serving.

SPICY WEDGES WITH RED ONION

4 large potatoes

2 red onions

2tbsp olive oil

1tsp coriander

1tsp chilli powder

1tsp cumin

1tsp salt

Slice potatoes into wedges, keeping the skin on.

Place in a large bowl and coat with the oil and spices. Season. Mix together well and leave for about half an hour.

Segment the onions.

Heat oven to 200°C/ Gas 6.

Spread wedges out across two baking trays. Place the onion wedges in the gaps.

Place in the oven on the top two shelves. Cook for 15 minutes then swap over.

After 30 minutes, check to see if ready. If not, swap again and cook for another 5 – 10 minutes. 

THREE CHEESE SALAD

Perfect for the Christmas tea buffet.

Any cheeses will do as long as the flavours and textures complement each other. I chose a mild cheddar, a smoked applewood and a stilton. Cut chunks of each if hard, or crumble.

6 cherry tomatoes, halved

2 spring onions, chopped on the diagonal

10 black pitted olives

Cheeses of choice

Ground black pepper

Place the olives in the middle of the dish and the tomatoes around them.

Make the hard cheeses into an outer ring. Sprinkle the crumbly cheese and the spring onion over the top.

Grind some black pepper over all.  Serve with soft cheese and biscuits.

BRIE AND 'BACON' TOASTIE

If it feels too cold for a sandwich, this makes a lovely snack.

Serves 2

4 slices fresh crusty bread

100g brie, sliced

3-4 tbsp cranberry sauce

2tbsp (butter) spread

4 slices vegetarian bacon

1tbsp oil

Place bread under the grill until one side of each piece has been toasted.

Meanwhile, heat the oil and cook the ‘bacon’ on both sides. 

Drain on a piece of kitchen roll.

Take two slices of bread off and turn the other two over. Place the ‘bacon’ on top of them and cover with the cheese, then replace under the hot grill.

Spread the other slices on the untoasted side and coat with the cranberry sauce.

When the cheese has melted, remove the bread from under the grill.

 Top each with the other half.

CAUTION: MURDER CAN BE HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH - A Meal for George Hamilton

Jenny at Silverscreen Suppers is in the final stages of preparation for her Columbo Cookbook and George Hamilton's Ginger Snap Dandy recipe needs some final testing. (Here is her original link)

I love George Hamilton on the basis of one role and it all comes down to a very personal memory. In 1983 my family got our first video recorder. Others had been using them for what seemed like eons before us, but when my Mum got a part time job and her first paypacket produced one of these, boy were we happy. My brother and I were both allowed to record one item on our only blank tape. I went for some Duran Duran performances and he taped Love at First Bite. We watched it over and over and soon we were able to recite the entire script word for word. I think I still can. Challenge extended...
George Hamilton played Dracula in what is still (perhaps because of the above) one of my favourite films.

In the Columbo episode, he plays a very cocky psychiatrist who thinks he can outwit the Lieutenant. Say no more.

This is just a guess, but it is possible that when George was asked by some magazine to contribute his favourite recipe, he called his mum and she supplied this. Confident cooks often assume that we know exactly what they mean by their (often brief) instructions, and in this case, I think that a successful rendition of the dish all comes down to interpretation. Follow it to the letter and it won't work. Use a bit of contextual knowledge and it falls into place. 

I used whole milk instead of skimmed but kept the rest of George's ingredients the same. 

3 eggs
950ml whole milk
175g chopped dates
150g brown sugar
butter for greasing
200g Ginger Snaps
2 tsp vegetable oil

Put the eggs, dates and half of the milk into a blender.

Blend until the dates are pulverised.
Pour into a mixing bowl and add the rest of the milk and 100g of the brown sugar.

Pour into a greased baking dish. 

Then,
George says: bake at Gas 5/ 375F/ 190C for 40 minutes
I say: Pour into smaller dishes (ramekins if you have them) and place in a large baking tray. Pour hot water around them and then place in oven as above. Cook for 20-30 minutes until firm.

Meanwhile, make the topping.
Bash the Ginger Snaps with a rolling pin until you have crumbs. Mix this with the remaining 50g of brown sugar and the vegetable oil.

Sprinkle the topping over the set custard and place back in the oven for a further 5 minutes, This makes a crispy topping.

Serve hot or cold.

This was a very tasty dish. It was very rich and I think 10-12 people could be fed from this amount.