This is a recipe transcribed from my late mother’s hand-written recipe book. As children in the 1970s we thought this was amazing. Our consumption of it was severely limited, as if it was an expensive indulgence. Today? Not so good.
Grease tin or flan ring. Crush digestive biscuits. Melt margarine & golden syrup & stir in biscuits. Press into a tin and leave to set.
Wash, trim & cut rhubarb.
Dissolve sugar in water in a saucepan. Add rhubarb & cook gently until tender. Drain off syrup. Place cornflower & cinnamon in basin & mix to a thin paste with 2 tbs rhubarb syrup. Add to rhubarb in pan & cook for 2 mins, stirring continuously. Pour into biscuit case & leave to set.
Mix sausage meat with herbs & onion. Peel core and slice apples & place in bottom of dish. Sprinkle with sugar, cover with sausage mixture. Cover with potatoes. Decorate with the sliced tomato. Bake in moderate oven for 30 minutes.
Melt in a pan & pour over shortbread while warm.
Use a loose bottomed tin, 6–7 inches, 15–18cm.
Crush biscuits & toss in 1oz/28g melted butter.
Cream together butter & icing sugar. Add egg.
Line bottom of tin with half the biscuits.
Spread on half the creamed mixture.
Layer—pineapple, nuts (almonds), whole of the cream.
Top with remaining biscuits.
Refrigerate overnight or freeze. Serve upside down.
This one is ideally best served on a sunny evening in Eskdale, after having spent at least an hour pitching a new tent. Twice. Preparing this is a lot easier.
Mix all the above ingredients in a bowl.
I found the above quantities enough for 3 people as a starter. I can imagine making a large bowlful for diners to help themselves to before the main courses arrive.
In 2013 a friend was kind enough to buy me a course at the Curry Academy. I highly recommend it if you’re anywhere near the splendid garden city of Huddersfield. The particular course I took was Restaurant Style Cooking, the point of which is summarised here:
Have you ever wondered why curries cooked at home never taste like the ones ordered from a restaurant? This course will de-mystify the cooking techniques used to produce restaurant standard dishes.
What I hadn’t appreciated was how much time could be taken out of the process, without losing any of the flavours of a properly home-cooked dish. And how few ingredients are required.
Continue reading “Curry in a hurry”