Food and Stuff

I know it is fun to go out and buy fish and chips all wrapped up in paper then eat it with your fingers (something I approve of and I believe all adults and children should get stuck in with their paws whenever they can get away with it!), but when I do buy fish and chips I am so often disappointed. Oh, I know some very few establishments cook it beautifully, but most don't and I always end up feeling stuffed and uncomfortable!

So, for people who really love fish, this is my take using one of the cheapest fishes out there - the sprat!

It is always tempting when cooking a pasta dish to use only Italian ingredients, but of course pasta will go with just about anything.

In the UK, we are often fed a diet of crappy processed ham sold in uninspiring thin slices, which is a shame since in this country we create wonderful hams. Dig around on the deli counter at leading supermarkets and find the best hams you can, or better still, find a deli or country butcher that cooks their own using the best pork.

This is a dead simple recipe that pulls together two wonderful traditions.

Sometimes it is the absolute basics, the very simplest of ingredients that can fool us the most; to the point where we can neglect them altogether.

The humble, mass-produced, closed cup mushroom is one such beast, and yet, treated nicely and served on toast... wonderful!

I find mince pies at Christmas, so this dead easy recipe is for an apple, orange and ginger pie that is light, delicious and still full of the holiday season. Actually, I can eat these all year around.

I like to have a nice chunky, chewy rib to get my teeth into, but at other times, ultra tender, falling apart, rich ribs are exactly what I want.

These cook for hours and are irresistible!

Yeah, I know, another omelette! But it is Sunday and that is often an eggy sort of day!

The Hogan Omelette is basically a Spanish Omelette (tortilla) with anything I have around shoved in it, plus potato and fresh chilli. Beat on, my son!

This is so simple that I am getting a fit of the guilts just by even suggesting I tell you how to make this.

Still what is the point of internet vanity if we do not exercise it from time to time. So, read on...

A simple recipe for a rich wonder. This stew is perfect for an evening with friends round a table, especially served up with a rich, red wine and plenty of laughter.

If you are a lover of Pizza Express in Europe, or good old home cooking, then one way or another, you will know dough balls.

Really, they are just little buns, but cooked as part of a stew, they become something magical!

This is a bit of fun, really and not a complete tutorial - I do not have the energy. With Processwire and the Hanna Code textformatter plugin, it is theoretically possible to create a complex blog structure with just one simple template.

Really? Well, yeah!

Occasionally you have to just say "I am not going to take it any more," or some such rubbish and just think out of the box. Or in this case, out of the bottle; the cider bottle. You know how it goes, one glass for me, one for the pud...

Oh, come on! If you don't like baked pasta, then what you been doing all this time? Pasta al Forno is so Italian is almost has the right colours.

A true family dish that is a favourite. Simple and delicious

There is something about a certain famous tomato soup that people love. However, if they have never tried a home made tomato soup, with the larder thrown at it, then they are missing out.

This is one of my favourite recipes. Well, it would be; it is one of mine!

Since the butcher had a pheasant going cheap (no, really), it would have been churlish not to take it off his hands and do something simply traditional with it. So I did.