Cooking for one (Mark Three)

Glad

8p cauliflower from Morries tonight and some down priced cheese so surprise surprise cauliflower cheese tonight

Brambling

caronc wrote: »

My smiddy loaf/dumpling is a boiled fruit cake - sugar, dried fruit, marg/butter, bicarb and water are brought to just under the boil until the fat is melted, cooled then eggs, flour and mixed spiced added before baking. Can be baked as a loaf or a round cake. It's very good and wrapped keeps really well. Mine is called "dumpling" because it tastes pretty similiar to a "clootie dumpling" though not steamed, a slice is lovely fried in a cooked breakfast.:)
ETA - this is the same as my recipe except mine uses mixed fruit and granulated sugar http://strathardlehighlandgames.org.uk/smiddy-loaf-recipe.html

Thanks Caronc my mum made a boiled fruit cake I think my eldest sister has the recipe somewhere must ask

I had cauliflower cheese a couple of nights this week Glad but not such a good bargain as yours

caronc

I have about 1/3 of a cauli left though mine wasn't 8p! Cauliflower cheese is always a winner:D

UncannyScot

My wee granny's recipe for Smiddy Dumpling

My Gran worked "In Service" as a young woman and became the head cook in the busy kitchen of a large wealthy household.

Her recipe was quite basic / simple and I've seen a lot of other recipes the same.
It is in two parts as follows;

First Step:
• A cup water
• A cup sugar
• 2 1/2 cups of mixed dried fruit (sultanas, raisins etc)
• A teaspoon baking soda (bicarbonate)
• A dod of butter, that's about 4oz (100g)
• A cup of grated carrot
• A teaspoon of mixed spice
Put all these ingredients into a large pan and mix, bring it to the boil and let it simmer for a couple of minutes. Then allow it to cool.
Whilst doing that, preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F) or Gas Mark 2 and line a large loaf tin with grease-proof paper.

Second Step :
Half n half flour mixture of;
• A cup plain flour
• A cup self-raising flour
With,
• 2 large eggs well beaten
Add the mixed flour and eggs to the cooled mixture and stir them in well. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and then bake for approx. 1 1/2 hours. The resultant loaf should be roughly double the size of that put into the tin.

Put on a wire rack to cool and enjoy at your leisure

Gran wasn't exactly precise with her measures and her recipes were full of references to a "dod of" or "a bit of" etc. She knew by sight and feel just how much to add to what she was making, it's thanks to my wee mammy and my aunties that I was able to decipher her recipes

UncannyScot

STOVIES RECIPE
Stovies – if you were to ask 100 Scots how to make them, you would get 100 different variants…
Every family, it seems, has their own recipe that has evolved through the generations with each one adding their own wee bit into the mix.
This is MY recipe which has evolved from my Gran’s recipe. Feel free to give it a try and adapt to suit your own tastes.
You’re going to need a BIGGER pot…

Ingredients
Tatties (Potatoes) – 6 big ones, peeled and diced
Neeps (A medium sized Turnip or Swede) & 4 large Currets (Carrots) peeled and diced (or a large pack of these ready diced)
A large Leek – chopped into rings…
Two large Onions – sliced and diced (or a pack of ready chopped, sliced n diced)
Diced Beef (400 – 500g)
Minced Beef (400 – 500g)
Lorne (Flat Square Beef Steak) Sausage – 4 of cut into quarters
Beef links Sausages (8 – 12 sausages)
A Tin of Heinz Baked Beans
A Tin Garden peas
Beef Stock (One pint)
A generous dash of Brown Sauce (Henderson’s Relish, HP sauce or Lea & Perrins Worcester sauce)
Method
Firstly, get a BIG pot for this… or adapt the recipe to suit a smaller batch.
My Gran made this in a HUGE pot and it would last a week…
Prep the veggies and put them in the bottom of the pot.
Brown the Diced Beef and the sausages in another pot and put in a large casserole dish or bowl to the side
Brown the Minced Beef and put that to the side too
Prep the stock and pour it over the veggies
Put in the Minced Beef, then the Diced Beef and sausages
Add the tin of Baked Beans
Add the tin of Garden Peas
Add another 2 pints of water to pot
Cook as you would a big pot of stew…
When it’s almost ready, add a generous dash of your favourite type of brown sauce (HP, Worcester etc.)
It needs no accompaniment, it’s a meal all in it’s own.
Serve in a large bowl…
Enjoy

Wednesday2000

I haven't had any food yet as I have to go for the blood tests again as they keep messing up the results! Idiots!:mad:

Glad wrote: »

8p cauliflower from Morries tonight

Bargain!:T

puffintail

Ah it sounds like you take a really similar approach to me, Brambling . I really like to go for high quality meat (so not eat meat often so I can afford it) because of the animal welfare standards and supporting local butchers. I love the chicken stock idea that you and Caronc mentioned!

Thanks so much for sharing your recipes UncannyScot and Caronc - I bloody love a traditional family recipe, something so lovely about it compared with more commercial recipes from books and websites (although I do owe a lot of BBC G00d F00d)

I'm so sorry you're having a rough time with them getting the result right, Wednesday2000 fingers crossed for this time. It's perhaps saving a bit of money by missing breakfast, not that you'd want to save money that way!

caronc

UncannyScot wrote: »

My wee granny's recipe for Smiddy Dumpling

My Gran worked "In Service" as a young woman and became the head cook in the busy kitchen of a large wealthy household.

Her recipe was quite basic / simple and I've seen a lot of other recipes the same.
It is in two parts as follows;

First Step:
• A cup water
• A cup sugar
• 2 1/2 cups of mixed dried fruit (sultanas, raisins etc)
• A teaspoon baking soda (bicarbonate)
• A dod of butter, that's about 4oz (100g)
• A cup of grated carrot
• A teaspoon of mixed spice
Put all these ingredients into a large pan and mix, bring it to the boil and let it simmer for a couple of minutes. Then allow it to cool.
Whilst doing that, preheat the oven to 150°C (300°F) or Gas Mark 2 and line a large loaf tin with grease-proof paper.

Second Step :
Half n half flour mixture of;
• A cup plain flour
• A cup self-raising flour
With,
• 2 large eggs well beaten
Add the mixed flour and eggs to the cooled mixture and stir them in well. Pour the mixture into the loaf tin and then bake for approx. 1 1/2 hours. The resultant loaf should be roughly double the size of that put into the tin.

Put on a wire rack to cool and enjoy at your leisure

Gran wasn't exactly precise with her measures and her recipes were full of references to a "dod of" or "a bit of" etc. She knew by sight and feel just how much to add to what she was making, it's thanks to my wee mammy and my aunties that I was able to decipher her recipes

Pretty similiar to my Gran's one though mine doesn't use grated carrot.:) I have lots of recipes that use "dods" from my Mum/Gran:)

UncannyScot wrote: »

STOVIES RECIPE
Stovies – if you were to ask 100 Scots how to make them, you would get 100 different variants…

Wouldn't you just.......:cool:
(PS mine is pretty different and yours is pretty much what I call hash:rotfl:)


Good morning everyone,

Hope you get your results sorted out Wednesday <<hug>>
It was very frosty first thing but nice and sunny now. "Wonky donkey" paid another visit overnight so taking it easy this morning. I'm going to pop a load of veg & spuds in the SC to make a pot of corned beef hash, not a very Spring-like dish but easy to make and it's still cold on an evening. This afternoon I'm going get myself settled in my chair in the conservatory with my book and enjoy the sunshine as it looks as though this might be the last day of it for a bit.

Wednesday2000

puffintail wrote: »

It's perhaps saving a bit of money by missing breakfast, not that you'd want to save money that way!

That is a very positive spin on it.:p

I felt so hungry when I got in, although luckily the queue in the clinic wasn't too bad today.

I had a smoothie, a salad and then a sandwich afterwards.:)

puffintail

Wednesday2000 wrote: »

That is a very positive spin on it.:p

I felt so hungry when I got in, although luckily the queue in the clinic wasn't too bad today.

I had a smoothie, a salad and then a sandwich afterwards.:)

Ah that sounds delicious, Wednesday2000, strong choices! Well deserved too after such a wait.