June 28th 2007

I am still in love with my new cooker/stove!!! Still testing it out on all sorts of dishes lately. And some more baking too. Brian has even used it now for the first time to bake his rolls. He does do bread. I think it has something to do with him being a bit of a scientist and he enjoys the experiment of putting the ingredients together like in Chemistry class and then producing something totally different from them. He is very good at baking bread and rolls too!! Now if I could just get him to learn to cook something else occasionally.
I tried to make Pita Bread for the first time and so far they are okay... Must remember to make them a bit thinner. Although they were very nice. And they do have a bit of a pocket. I put the dough in the bread maker and then finished them up by hand and baked in the oven. Still not sure if I should use the fan setting or the traditional setting. Used the fan this time so next time I will try the other one and see what they do. They didn't brown up too much, but then again they don't bake very long at all.


My Friend Linda dropped by last Saturday to see how things were going and to check out the new stove and to try a piece of the lemon cake. She brought me a pressie!!! Some lovely Rhubarb and some broadbeans. Broadbeans are a new vegetable for me as I have never had them before. Didn't grow them back in the US in my vegetable patch so really wasn't too sure what to do with them. So found a recipe in AWT's Weekend cookbook that sounded yummy. Broadbean and Brie salad. The thing I am finding out about broadbeans is there is an extreme amount of waste to them. Too bad I don't live where I can have some chickens or a pig. Then I wouldn't feel so bad. I did price them up at my local grocery store and have found out that fresh are really expensive then the canned ones come in price next and the cheapest is frozen. I still have the canned and frozen ones to try yet.
Well with a prize of fresh broad beans I wanted something that would sort of showcase them, and this salad is a nice recipe for doing just that.


First you must shell your beans out of their pods. Pods went to the compost bin.

Next you pop the beans into boiling water for about a minute or so. Then pop them into cold water to stop the cooking. Now you pop the inside bean out of the leathery skin....

Again the skins went into the compost bin.... And now you have the end result. Some lovely little emerald green tidbits.
To make up the salad.... I put some fresh baby lettuce leaves (from my garden!!!) into a bowl. Then took an advocado and sliced it into chunks, into a separate bowl. Sprinkle in the broadbeans, and in chunks some nice brie... Take juice of 1/2 lemon and squeeze over the bean mixture and some extra virgin olive oil... Salt and pepper to taste.... Put over the salad leaves and sprinkle on some pine nuts. You can toast the pine nuts if you prefer.

This is the base of the salad, other nice additions could be cherry tomatoes sliced in half and I like onion in mine too, spring onions would have been lovely.
Linda says she doesn't like Broad beans as they are rather bitter. Maybe it is the skin that makes them that way as these were so sweet and tender and really tasty!!!

Unlike the broad beans the rhubarb yields are high!! And they are going into the freezer until I can come up with a recipe to do it justice. (Actually haven't made my mind up as to what I want to make.... Rhubarb pie... cake.... crumble.... fool..... oh!!!!! So many choices!!!)

Polenta

Something I have been wanting to make for ages was Polenta and this looked like a yummy recipe to try as it had another of my favourite ingredients Courgettes/zucchini.
First you start by frying some grated courgettes in a little olive oil... Now I couldn't leave well enough alone so added 1/2 chopped onion, some chopped garlic and some dried oregano.

Next you boil up some stock.... Chicken stock about 3 cups


Once that starts to boil.... Sprinkle in the polenta stirring all the time. (3/4 cup of instant polenta)

I did get into a bit of a hurry and dumped at the last moment..... don't do this.... it Lumps!!!

Cook for about 3 minutes stirring all the time until it gets really thick and pulls away from the sides of the pan a bit.

Take off the heat and add in your courgette mixture. I added in more oregano as it looked like it needed it.

Then place into a square tin that has been buttered.... sprinkle on some grated parmesan. And let set for about 1 hour or longer if you like. In America we make something rather similar but only using the polenta and water and just a touch of salt. Put into a loaf pan and let set over night. Then slice and fry and serve with maple syrup. This is usually served at breakfast with bacon or sausage patties and eggs and is called Cornmeal Mush. One of my fav breakfast treats when we visited Bob Evans. But easy to make yourself.

Once the polenta is set, you can slice it into triangles and fry in some olive oil or brush with oil and grill it.


I made a quick tomato sauce to serve with it. Take a tin(in my case a box) of chopped tomatoes place in a sauce pan with a teaspoon of sugar, some oregano and some chopped onion. Can also add some dried basil, red peppers and some vinegar if you like a more sweet tasting sauce.

Here it is served with the broad bean salad and sprinkled with more freshly grated parmesan cheese. The other dish is some cod, onion, lemon tomatoes in a foil packet with a dash of red wine and some oregano baked in the oven for about 20 minutes. The plates were totatly clean when we finished!!! Bon Appetit!

Zucchini flowers

I have said that one of my fav veggies of all time is Zucchini/courgettes. Coming from America we call them Zucchini and over here in the UK they are called Courgettes. I have seen some cooking shows such as Antonio Carluccio's where he stuffs the flowers with the most amazing cheesey concoctions and then deep frys them. Now coming from a family that deep fried dandelion flowers and knowing the amazing taste of those I thought.... Hmmmmm I would like to try this sometime. But our grocery store is definately lacking in experimental type of ingredients such as courgette flowers. So with my courgette plants growing so well here I thought I might get to try this recipe. Problem is do I go ahead and pick the little vegetables and then miss the meals ahead that take more of the veg for the recipe or do I go ahead and try it.... I then happened upon a blog that has solved my dilemma....
Cook Almost Anything And Haalo
has a recipe for using the male flowers of the plant!!!! Male flower recipe So problem solved!!!!! I used the batter recipe for coating the flowers and frying them. I think possibly next time I may add some cornmeal(polenta) to the flour combination just to get an added crunch. The night before I made a lovely Chicken and risotto recipe. Using some butternut squash in the rissotto. And as always I made too much rissotto.... I love the leftovers for lunch the next day. But this time decided to use it differently. The chicken by the way is grilled with a coating of honey and smoked paprika..... I love Smoked Paprika!!! Well worth trying if you haven't.

Anyway I wanted to use some of the rissotto for stuffing the flowers... So I took a rather large spoonfull of the leftover rissotto and mixed it well with some chopped up goats cheese and a little cream cheese and freshly grated parmesan. The goats cheese I used isn't the soft kind with the rind. More like a cheddar cheese. Then I proceeded to stuff the flowers. I first wash the flowers and took out the stamen like Haalo suggested and then gently stuffed them. Then I dipped them in the batter and deep fried for just a few minutes.

They came out really lovely and golden brown.

I served them with our roast beef dinner, which was well.... not a complete success. But the flowers were a success and I can't wait for my plants to produce some more male flowers!!!

(Have you ever had a day when no matter what the Yorkshire puddings just wouldn't rise???) Other than that the dinner was yummy!!!

June 22nd 2007

Okay I am back to finish what I started. The Lemon and Lavendar cake. As I said it took an hour and a half in the oven to bake. And it smelled yummy!!!

After it had cooled I made a lemon glaze to go over it and then sprinkled on a few more lavendar buds.



Now yesterday you could definately taste the lemon and the lavendar in the first bite, which was a bit unusual. But after the initial bite, you didn't taste the lavendar only the lemon.



And today the cake has had time for the flavours to meld together and you really don't taste a strong lavendar taste at all. It did turn out very nice and moist even for that long baking time..

And here is the recipe....

Adapted from the American cookbook The New Pillsbury Family Cookbook 1975. This was my first cook book I ever owned or rather a copy of the first one as my son has my original copy. I have since found this one on the internet and had it shipped over to the UK. Anyway here is the recipe and my additions.
Lemon Lavendar Pound Cake
2 1/4 cups plain flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp grated lemon zest ( I used the zest of a whole lemon)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup butter softened
1 cup yogurt
3 eggs
And my addition of 2 tablespoons of fresh lavendar flower buds.

Preheat the oven to 325°F (I used fan at 170°C). In large mixing bowl combine the sugar and the butter just till mixed, then add all the other ingredients and on low speed until blended of an electric hand mixer. This is a really heavy batter. Beat for an additional 3 minutes at medium speed scraping the bowl's sides several times. Pour batter into a greased and floured 9x5 inch loaf tin. Bake for about 1 hour and 3o minutes. Until golden brown and when a tooth pick inserted into centre comes out clean. Cool for 15 minutes then remove from pan. Cool completely befor icing the cake.

Lemon glaze icing...

Well this is my own and there are no measurements. Just till it looks right.

Take a small bit of butter and melt into a measuring jug. Add a tablespoon at a time of sifted icing sugar and mix. When thick then add a little vanilla extract and the zest of 1 lemon and the juice of 1/2 of a lemon then start adding more sifted icing sugar until it is of a fairly thick, but also runny consistency. You can make it as thick or as thin as you want by adding either more sugar or more liquid (lemon juice or milk). Now spread onto cooled cake and I sprinkled about a teaspoon of more Lavendar flower buds.

It was and is an interesting cake. If you want what we Americans call a pound cake just leave out the Lavendar buds and there you have it. It is very similar in texture to the British Maderia cake, but the flavour is different. My work colleague liked it and is taking some home to her husband to try. My hubby likes it too.

Smoothies

We have been having the occasional smoothies still and Hubby really likes them. I did and will admit to having one that we both didn't really care too much for and it is this one. I put the oranges in whole and the skin didn't blend up as much as I had hoped, so well.... let's just say it wasn't as smooth as it should have been.

But to make up for it this one here we both gave the thumbs up!!!
A handful of fresh blueberries, 1 banana, 1 mango, about 5 large strawberries, juice from 1/2 lemon, two heaping teaspoonfuls of yogurt and lots of ice cubes all in the blender and pulse till smooth.... This one was very creamy and very cold too!! Excellent for the hot summers day we had after the cooker arrived.


Last night's supper meal 2 from the new cooker.

Okay I wanted to test out different parts of the new stove so looked for a recipe for grilling... Take a Chicken breast and cut a pocket into it. Stuff with goats cheese and some fresh thyme leaves and seal with a wet cocktail stick. Coat in honey and sprinkle on some paprika (I used smoked paprika, have you lot tried this stuff it is lovely!!!!!) Place on a preheated grill pan and grill for about 7 minutes per side. I had to turn my grill(broiler for the Americans out there) down. It was rather hot. In the meantime I sauteed some potatoes and with a griddle pan cooked some sliced onion and peppers that were tossed in some olive oil and some thyme leaves. The broccoli is frozen I just cooked quick in the microwave, thought we needed something green to eat. It all turned out lovely and actually quite quick again to cook. Guess this is the biggest difference between the old stove and this new one, the timing of the cooking. This one is like a super powered high performance machine and the poor old cooker (it did serve us well for over 15 years) was like an old sedan. We are going to be cooking a roast this Sunday and I will let you know how that gets on....

21st June 2007

The new Cooker/Stove has arrived!!!!!

It is here and it is working!!! And it is sooooooo cool!!!! I really do love it. And so far have only used it twice. I do find myself just going down to the kitchen and sitting looking at it. Occasionally walking past it and wiping it with a cloth. Sad isn't it. It is my very very first brand spanking new stove ever. And not only that it is a gas hob!! I have only ever had electric before. So a huge huge change for me. One thing I have found out already I must not lean on the knobs. I did that a few times yesterday evening and I keep hearing the click click of the auto ignition. All will take some getting used to I am sure.

Last night for supper I fixed a stirfry!!! Got the ole wok down from storage and put on a pot of basmati rice.... and after I had all the ingredients ready. Whoosh Stirfry veggies and prawns in less than 10 minutes!!!!!!!!! Amazing or what??? It would have taken me ages on the old stove and even then it wouldn't have been a stir fry!!! More of a steamy boiled attempt at a stir fry.

Wow!!!!



I Love this cooker!!!!!

Now today I got up this morning and I begged Brian to let me cook him a breakfast. But he had his usual..... Muesli and yoghurt..... So no cooked breakfast today.... Even offered to grill him some toast, but still he didn't want any. :(

But I did bake a cake today.... I wanted to test out the oven.... This is going to take some getting used to. It is nothing like any oven I have ever had in the past. Not only is it a fan oven, but it has a setting for a conventional oven and then there is a setting for roast meat, fish, poultry, cakes, bread and rising!!!!!!!!! Wow!!! And apparently the grill on this baby is super powered!!!

I do love this cooker!!!!

Anyway, after reading Ivonne's Cream Puffs In Venice blog and having some really lovely lavendar blooming out in the front garden, I decided to make a Lemon Pound cake (I think over here it is called a Maderia cake) with Lavendar flowers....

So I washed off some sprigs of lavendar and sat down and proceeded to pull off the flower buds until I had about 2 tablespoons. Then I followed an old fav American recipe from one of my many cookbooks and added the flower buds with the rest of the ingredients.

This is pre baking stage! It took an hour and a half in the oven!!! I didn't use the cake setting as it is for sponges and this I know isn't a sponge cake. It is a very rich dense cake. And I can't wait to try it.... Will post more later after we have cut into it.... I will let you all know the verdict... Off to play (ummmmmm I mean cook) with my new cooker as it is supper time.....

June 17th 2007

The other day I decided I wanted a salad of sorts for supper, and so we had this I sometimes over do things and probably could learn to simplify things a little. But it was rather yummy!!!
I started out pan frying some butternut squash and boiled some salad potatoes and about 10 minutes till they were finished threw in some fresh trimmed green beans just till they were blanched. Drained the potatoes and beans and placed in a bowl with the squash, Some halved cherry tomatoes and a tin of mixed bean salad. Tossed all together with a little fresh lemon juice and some olive oil, Fresh ground black pepper and served on a bed of rocket leaves. Sprinkled on some cubes of the Comte cheese and there you go.... Supper. Served with the remaing tomato bread that I toasted under the grill...



COOK BOOKS!
Something about me maybe some of you don't know. I know that anyone that has visited my home knows.... I collect cookbooks... Some people say ' you can't cook every recipe!!!' I know that. Some folks read novels, I read cookbooks. I may not follow the recipes in them to the letter, but they do inspire me to cook and to experiment with food. And I love them all and can't bring myself to part with any of them. Even the one Delia cookbook I have put in the loft. She isn't my fav chef at all. Sorry to the Delia fans. I have some very old ones that you would need to visit an antique shop to buy the equipment that they suggest you use.... I have some of my American ones, which I shipped over when I came about 10 years ago and some that I have bought and had shipped over since. Like one of my old favourites that I left behind... the 1975 yellow binder Pillsbury cookbook. That was my first cookbook and I left it with my son Dan when I moved here. I love my French, German, Belgium and Austrian cookbooks as they are what inspire me to learn their secrets by learning to translate them. It takes alot longer to cook from them than the others, but when I visit these countries I know what to order from the menus. I have a whole set of Australian Womans weekly ones. I have celebrity chef ones..... AWT,Gary Rhodes, Robert Carrier, Madhur Jaffrey, Pat Chapman, and Jamie Oliver to name just a few. Not got a Gordon Ramesey one yet or a Keith Floyd. But there is still time. The problem is space...

I have a couple of shelves in the dining area...

A whole bookshelf that is bowing from the weight!!!

And I have moved into the Living room and upstairs too in the computer room, bed room and some are actually in the loft. Now you would think with this many cooking books that every possible recipe that has ever been cooked would be in them.... But you know what there are still more possibilities out there....... It is just fascinating that people write so much about food!!! And now there are blogs with recipes on them. Amazing! But not sure what it does for an obsessive collector like myself. It means not only will I be filling my shelves with recipes, but my computer will be filled with them too!!!! It is probably a good thing I haven't figured out how to use an Ipod or it would be filled with recipes too.....Just learning about podcasts here....I found this lovely site while surfing and it has video recipes....Video Recipe site.
Am I the only one with this obsession or are there more out there just like me???????

Smoothies

After visiting Borough Market and buying a smoothie to help quench our thirst, Brian has decided he would like to have some made here at home. So here is our first one! Take a couple of handfulls of red seedless grapes, some pitted fresh cherries, two apricots, 1/2 grapefruit, 1 banana and some ice cubes a bit of orange juice and a dribble of leftover lemonade all in the blender and Whala!!!! Smoothie!!!Now I think we have had our 5 a day in one drink!!! So anything else is a bonus, right? Will be trying other smoothie recipes out... I did manage to find a whole bunch of smoothie recipes on the net. But again will only be using them as a starting point for our own concoctions.

Classics
Okay I cook, but I don't always follow recipes. I like to use them as guides. And recently I have been thinking I need to probably start learning some of the classics of cooking such as sauces. And I came across this recipe and decided I had all the ingredients to make it. And it is something I have never done before.... So it is the start of my learning the classics.... a Sabayon.
Take 2 egg yolks in a bowl, finely grated rind of a lemon and 44 grams of caster sugar.. and mix on high for about 8 minutes.

Must be pale in colour and thick. Now heat up100 ml of a dry white wine just until it is almost boiling. And then pour the wine into the yolk mixture while beating on low until mixed. Then put all back into the pan on a very low heat and stirring with a wooden spoon for about 4 minutes until it is thickened and coats the back of the spoon. Don't over heat or it will curdle the recipe says. Well I didn't so was rather lucky there. Now place into a bowl over ice and stir occasionally until it is chilled. Now if this was to set, it didn't but instead was really light and airy. I served it over some fresh cherries and mandarin orange segments.

It was a definate thumbs up from hubby. My changes next time would be to possibly use canned cherries or maybe even some fresh peach slices. Or strawberries... It is one to use for when my step son comes for a visit too as it has no dairy in it.


Last nights Supper

I have more sunblushed tomatoes still from the trip to Borough Market and I am trying desperately not to let them go off. Not just because I love the taste of them, which I do... So I made some Focaccia with them. Take210 ml warm water and place in the bread mixer pan, add in a couple of tablespoons of tomato purree, 1Tablespoon olive oil, then ontop of this add in 350g strong bread flour(I used 100g of spelt flour and 250 of strong white) place 1/2 tsp of table salt in one corner and 1tsp sugar in another and 1 packet of yeast in the middle. I put it on the dough setting again and when it knocked to add in the nuts or what ever I added 1 cup full of chopped sunblushed tomatoes, 1 chopped onion, some dried oregano, fennel seeds, chopped fresh rosemary and some pine nuts. Let it go through the cycle and then once it is done then put on board and knead with a little flour. It was a bit on the sticky side. Put into a square 9x9 cake tin that has been oiled well and poke holes into it. Cover with plastic wrap and a tea towel and let stand for about 30 minutes till it doubles in size. Preheat oven to 200°C. Poke holes again and drizzle with olive oil, and top with your fav toppings. I added mor sunblushed tomatoes, poked down into the bread, some onion slices, fresh rosemary and some fresh grated paremsan.

Let sit for 10 minutes and then bake for about 20 -25 minutes. This turned out alot more flavoursome than the tomato bread of the other day.



Now I told you I get ideas when cooking. This one tasted really yummy, but my presentation leaves alot to be desired. I wanted something like Tuna Niscoise, but wanted pasta too. So here is my creation....

Spaghetti ala Tuna Niscoise, minus the anchovies(don't like those!)

I took two frozen tuna steaks and defrosted them. Put into a dish some olive oil, juice of 1/2 lemon, some white wine. Chopped fine 1 clove of garlic, some fresh rosemary, dried oregano and basil, some chopped fresh marjoram and then marinated the tuna in this for an hour or so in the fridge. Turing over once or twice and spooning on the mix.
Cooked some wholemeal spaghetti in one pan of boiling water and in another boiled some potatoes, right before the potatoes were finished I added some fresh green beans and some asparagus. In a large frying pan I sauteed 1 chopped onion then added and in another smaller frying pan, pan fry the tuna on both sides. Add the drained vegetables to the large pan and toss well with some olive oil, chopped tomatoes(4 plum) and some sliced black olives. Drizzle with lemon juice and heat through. Drain pasta and put on plate, top with the veg and at the last minute add the marinating liquid to the tuna pan. Top veg with tuna and spoon over the sauce. Freshly grated parmesan and a sprig of basil. Oh and dress with two hard boiled eggs cut in quarters (these I boiled first and had on hand). I know it looks a bit of a mess, but it was really tasty!!!!

June 14th 2007

Fingers crossed the New cooker/stove should be on its way here next Wednesday!! We went into town last Tuesday and bought it. And I think all in all I did well, as this is a very very much better one than the one from the horrible shop!!!! It has a Wok burner and a super dooper grill that heats up in 15 seconds and a fan oven that has different settings for different foods...... one for cakes, one for breads, roast meats, chicken, fish and even one for letting dough rise!!! I really can't wait for it to get here. This is the one we bought.... Cannon
Brian had treated me to lunch on Tuesday so we weren't too hungry after getting home. And I did so want to use my ceps that I got at Borough Market. I think they also go by the name of Porchini mushrooms. I have never had these before and I think we will have them again if we can find them. Our local Sainsbury doesn't carry these.
Anyway this is how I prepared them. First I sliced them length ways in to ummm about 1/4 inch slices.

And then sauteed them in some butter (yes, I know not good for the diet, but they were special!!) Added a finely chopped clove of garlic, and a touch of brandy. Then I added some double cream, some fresh oregano and thyme leaves and a good dollop of light cream cheese(trying to not go overboard with the calories.) Then I toasted some slices of my homemade Tomato Bread under the grill. Served it on the bread and topped with some freshly grated parmesan and a sprig of fresh basil. They were very nice and I will definately be buying them again when I see them. They are a very very meaty mushroom and would be excellent grilled and then topped with some stilton and grilled onion to make a veggie sandwich. YUM!!!!


Sun-Dried Tomato Bread
I like the looks of this bread and it toasts up lovely, but I think I maybe improving on the flavour of the recipe just a tad....Possibly adding some dried oregano and basil and minced garlic to the dough. Oh, maybe some fennel seeds too!! But here is the recipe I started with...

350g strong plain flour( I used 250 white bread flour and 100g spelt wholegrain flour)
1tsp. salt
1 Tablespoon caster sugar
1 packet dried yeast
200 ml warm milk
2 to 3 Tablespoons tomato puree
5 Tablespoons olive oil
(I would add some dried herbs too and maybe some garlic)
I put all this into my bread maker putting the liquid ingredients on the bottom as my maker calls for it. I used the dough only setting.
Once it is done,Knock the dough back and then I then kneaded in a little flour along with 35g chopped sundried tomatoes (the kind packed in oil. You can use the oil from the tomatoes instead of the olive oil)and 1/2 of a chopped onion. I might also increase these amounts on the next loaves. Another addition would be olives either black or green would taste lovely. I added fresh oregano leaves, but they weren't strong enough. Knead till well blended and shape into two round loaves. Place on an oiled baking sheet and cover with a dish towel and let raise for 45 minutes. Preheat your oven to 190°C/375°F/Gas5. Bake for 45 minutes or until the loaves sound hollow. Leave to cool on a wire rack. Can be eaten warm or toasted and lovely with mozzarella grilled on it.

I have been in a baking mood lately, guess it could well be the impending arrival of the new cooker/stove that has me in the baking mood. My Blogging friend Wellunderstood from the Checkered Napkin blog made some lovely looking Blueberry muffins and I wanted to try the recipe with my new spelt flour.... So here is the results....

I used her recipe which can be found on her blog....Blueberry Muffins For the folks using metric I used 42g. butter, 56g granulated sugar and 250g flour and 250ml milk, but follow the rest of the ingredients that she has listed. The blueberries I used a punnet, but a mug full would work. And for the flour I used my spelt wholemeal flour. If you are interested in the benefits of spelt you can visit this website.Dovesfarm flour and this one that I purchased my flour from at the market stall Sharphampark. The muffins were really tasty and nutty. I think I may cut the flour measurement in half and then add the equal amount of corn meal (or in the UK use Polenta).

For supper last night I was hoping to grill outside on the BBQ, but Brian was too tired. So I cooked inside instead... But I did the sweet corn like I would on the BBQ. Wash your ears of corn and remove all the silks. Then place on a sheet of aluminum or is it aluminium foil. Then add what ever fresh herbs you have on hand.. and either some olive oil or a small knob of butter. Wrap up tight and either put on the BBQ or bake in the oven at 180°C for 25 to 30 minutes.

I also cooked some asparagus that we got at the market and I wanted to try them with the sunblushed tomatoes again.... (I did buy a rather large tub of the tomatoes and they are yummy!!!)

What I did was to sautee the asparagus in a small bit of butter(Yeah, I know but if you are going to use fat, use the real stuff!)Then once they were close to being done I added some of the chopped sunblushed tomatoes and added some fresh lemon juice. And again it tasted really yummy!!!!!

Then to finish off the meal I baked some thickish boneless pork chops in the oven along with the ears of corn. They were really easy, 15 minutes in a baking dish, turn over, spread on some grainy mustard bake another 5 minutes at 180°C then put a slice of cheddar cheese on top of each chop and pour over some double cream. Another 5 minutes and that is it! They were also very very yummy!!! I did use a special cheddar cheese that we bought on our Peak District tour. It was cheddar with garlic and onion.

There was nothing left on either plate at the end of the meal other than the empty cobs and a bit of the fat from the chops.
I also made a lovely salad with buttercrunch lettuce, and lots of fruit and cucumbers and sprinkled over some chunks of the Comte Cheese we bought at the market.

As if we had room for anymore to eat!!!! But we almost polished this lot off too....

Well it is no wonder this happened after he sat down to watch a bit of telly!!