In our wisdom we bought some veal mince that had been reduced in price and put it in the freezer to use another time only now we're having trouble coming up with something to do with it!

Does anyone have any suggestions? Would prefer something other than meatballs or spaghetti bolognese.

Thanks

Helen

Could you do a few different canapes as starters rather than just one dish for everyone? Then that way people can have whatever they like or takes their fancy plus you can eat as much or as little as you like.

For example, you could do prawn cocktail served on gem lettuce leaves for those who like fish, grilled figs wrapped in parma ham for those who like fruit, goat's cheese or brie crostini or a baked camembert for those who like cheese, or do mini filo tartlets that you can put a variety of fillings in.

If you want to do a 'proper' starter here are a couple of ideas....stuffed mushrooms, beef carpaccio salad, red onion tart, tomato tarte tatin.

Does anyone know of a good and reasonably priced place to buy spices from?

I know of Fox's Spices as we have seen them at the Good Food Show in the past but they do not seem to have a working website and it would make life easier if I could order online.

I know that you are supposed to make these a while before Christmas to let them mature but I haven't actually come across a recipe that tells you how long in advance it should be made!

Obviously, there is only a couple of weeks to go now and I would like to have a go at making something but wondered if it's too late for it all now?

Also, a little while ago I saw a Christmas cake that used different dried fruit in than the norm, more tropical but I can't remember or find it again. Anyone have any ideas for something like this?

Does anyone know any really good recipes for Christmas, such as mincemeat, Christmas cake and Christmas pudding, that do not include nuts.

My friend has a nut allergy but loves Christmassy stuff although more often than not she can't enjoy them because of the nuts in them so I thought I'd do her something as a little gift. However, I keep finding recipes that even if they do not have whole nuts in they use ground almonds. Any suggestions??

Here's some ideas for you, don't know if they are things that teenagers specifically like but are British. Also try looking under recipes and British cuisine on this site - there are loads!

Meals - roast dinner (pork, beef, chicken, etc), toad in the hole, fish and chips, shepherds or cottage pie, Lancashire hotpot, sausage and mash, pies (chicken, steak and kidney, etc), cauliflower cheese, cornish pasty, coronation chicken, kedgeree, fish pie.

Puddings - spotted dick, jam roly poly, apple pie, crumble, bread and butter pudding, trifle, treacle tart, eve's pudding, steamed or sponge puddings, apple charlotte, rice pudding, bakewell tart or pudding, brown betty, custard tart, eton mess, queen of puddings, gypsy tart.

Any ideas what to do with them??!! For some unkown reason I picked up a punnet of them when I went shopping the other day thinking that I'll do something with them. Now I just have to come up with the 'something'!

I don't want to do a traditional cranberry sauce and haven't really found anything on the site that floats my boat so does anyone have any interesting ideas what you can do with a tub of cranberries?

Helen

We had a leek and butter bean bake a few months back. I have never been a fan of butter beans but actually really liked it so have tried to find a recipe to do at home, to no avail.

It was sliced leeks and butter beans (as well as possibly mushrooms?) in a creamy, white sauce with a layer of sliced potatoes on top. Does anyone know of something similar or a variation of this that we could try?

Helen

I have seen it in my local Tesco and Waitrose (in the oriental food section) although I think you can use light brown sugar as a substitute.

Have you tried the cooking sections of supermarkets? I am sure I have seen a higher content Green & Black's chocolate there rather than the normal chocolate section so you may be able to get the Lindt one too (or just use Green & Black's instead!).

My dad has recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, which means it is controlled by diet rather than injections. My mum is obviously worried about the health implications of this but is also concerned about what she can do in terms of the food she cooks for him.

He was also diagnosed with high blood pressure about a year ago (so has cut back on salt and the obvious culprits as well as being on pills) and slightly high levels of 'good' cholesterol, which wasn't a problem until now with the diabetes.

He is still waiting for the appointment to see the dietician to come through but my mum wants to start getting things right now.

Does anyone have any experience of this? Do you know what sort of things he should and shouldn't be having? Any ideas for something interesting my mum can cook for dinner?

Thanks for any help!

Helen

I am guessing that making the base of blinis would be the same or similar as Scotch/griddle pancakes? In which case they're not too hard to do I don't think.

If you don't think you'll have enough time then buy them. I have seen that Waitrose sells the blini bases on their own without any ready made toppings (in the chiller section), which I think would be better as then you could make your own toppings. I always think that the ready made stuff will either be too dry or too soggy!

You could probably top the bases with anything you wanted really. How about a dollop of a cream cheese/creme fraiche mixture on then top some with smoked salmon, roasted peppers, roasted or sunblush tomatoes, or whatever else you think of?

Hope that helps and you have a great New Year.

Helen

If you want to buy a really good chilli oil instead of making it, you should check out ones by Belazu and Cuisine de Provence. We have had these before - they have dried chillies still in the oil and are not coloured. Because they are not coloured, though, you may think that they are not very hot - but be careful as they are pretty potent and get hotter the longer you keep them!

We have found them in different supermarkets so you may have to look around to see if you can get them locally.

Helen

Thanks for your help.

We have got two ducks as they were a good price (bought fresh and put in the freezer) and weren't sure if they would feed 5 (although we now have 6 to cater for). We didn't know if you allowed roughly the same amount weight wise per person like you do for turkey.

A fruity sauce, such as cherry, would be good and I had vaguely thought this would go but haven't been able to find a recipe yet so I will keep on looking. Will also do another search on here to see if I can find anything in 'chat'.

On the vegetable front, cabbage is definitely out - half the family doesn't like it!

Helen

To have something a little different to celebrate the New Year my husband and I have offered to cook duck for my family. It seemed such a good idea at the time but neither of us have cooked whole duck before just eaten duck at restaurants.

Does anyone have any suggestions for what they think goes well to accompany it - sauces, vegetables, etc? Or any suggestions what we could do to the duck itself?

How much, weight wise, should we be thinking per person? and how long should it be cooked for?

And finally, does anyone have any ideas for what to do with any leftovers? If we have any!

Thanks

Helen

On the subject of vegetarian cheese, be aware that parmesan is not vegetarian. However, you can get a parmesan style cheese that is vegetarian. We've had this from Tesco before but other stores may sell it.

If you are looking for something a little more substantial rather than just 'nibbly bits' I have just picked up the Waitrose's free Christmas magazine. It has a section, albeit a little short, for vegetarian Christmas. One of the recipes, which I think would probably be OK cold, is called Lebanese Pizza and has aubergine, houmous, onions, herbs, pine nuts, pomegranate seeds and feta cheese in it.

Something we've done in the past is a tart made with a puff pastry rectangle base with a 'border' scored around it. The middle is then filled by layering slices of tomato, roast pepper and/or other veg and mozzarella (although is this veggie, even the non-Buffallo type?). Bake in the oven until pastry cooked and then serve with basil leaves scattered on top. You could always bake the pastry 'case' first then finish with the layers to serve cold. It may be better to make this up as near to the time as possible so that the liquid from the mozzarella doesn't make the pastry go too soggy. Also, we have had the cooked tart cold as leftovers and it tasted perfectly fine.

You can also do something similar using caramelised onions and thyme.

We do a recipe using tagliatelle, lemon zest and juice and grated parmesan all mixed together with some black pepper for seasoning and often serve it with chicken or fish.

The proper receipe was taken from a Delicious or Sainsbury's magazine a few months ago so can't post it unfortunately but the ingredients are basic and we generally just do it to taste rather than follow the recipe religiously.

An easy carbonara sauce (not sure if it's how you do it 'properly' but it's what my mum always used to make!) - fry some chopped bacon (can also include chopped onion and sliced mushrooms if you like), beat a couple of eggs with some cream, cooked the pasta and drain then return to the pan with the bacon and egg mixture, add in some grated parmesan and seasoning and mix together. The egg should cook slightly with the heat from the pasta (but not so that it is like scrambled eggs!) but if it doesn't cook to your liking you can always put a low heat back on.

I have also seen recipes using 'spring' vegetables and cream, such as peas, broad beans, asparagus.

You could do a roasted vegetable lasagne and leave out the toms. Roast aubergine, courgette, mushrooms, onion, etc and layer with cooked dried lasagne sheets (as there is not enough sauce it won't cooked as well if used uncooked), or fresh lasagne, with a white bechamel sauce. Finish the top wth bechamel sauce, grated parmesan and breadcrumbs. This way of doing lasagne is also quicker because you only really need to brown the top and make sure it is heated through as everything is already pre-cooked.

Helen

I'm looking for a recipe for cooking crispy duck to go with pancakes and hoisin sauce. Will be cheating a bit by using shop bought pancakes and sauce but wanted to do the duck myself.

Does anyone know where I can find a recipe or does someone have one of their own? I don't want to deep fry the duck, though, as I've seen on some recipes.

I've done various searches on here to try and find what I'm looking for but can't find it so I hope someone can help.

Thanks

Helen

My husband wants to make a Morroccan style dish with some diced lamb we have in the freezer but I can't seem to find anything on the site. Can anyone help with some ideas, where else to look or if you have any recipes of your own?

Thanks. Helen

This is kind of related to the post I've just done about an Italian meal but thought it would be best to go in a separate message.

We had, amongst other things, a black olive tapanade whilst at a restaurant last weekend. It was the first time I'd tried it and quite liked it.

I thought it would be good to have for our dinner aprty on Saturday and have seen green and black olive versions in the supermarkets. However, I thought it must be pretty easy enough to make myself (or more likely my husband who is the chef in the household!). Does anyone have a recipe or know where I can get a recipe from?

Thanks

Helen

I'm looking for ideas for a dinner party for four on Saturday and wondered if anyone could help.

I would like to do an Italian meal with antipasti and breads to start perhaps followed by a second course and then dessert. I know the typical Italian meal has more courses than this but not sure if we'd be able to cope with the amount of food!

I like the idea of some different bits that we can tuck into so we can have whatever we want but the main thing I am looking for is some different ideas/recipes for antipasti. Can anyone come up with something different to the usual grilled/roasted veg, meats, olives, etc? I've already done a search on the site for antipasti but there wasn't that many different things that came up.

I'm wondering whether it might be better just to do lots of antipasti 'type' stuff we can nibble on (I guess you may call it 'grazing'!) and then just do dessert, but think we would need a few dishes that are slightly more substantial.

One of the guests is vegetarian, although don't know if she likes fish and we will be able to have some meat it's just she won't have it of course!

For desserts I'm thinking something easy such as affogato or baked peaches with ameretto and creme fraiche.

Thanks for any help.

Helen

Thanks for the tip Wino.

I've heard of the Wild Duck before and it may be a bit too far south for our Christmas dinner from where we're planning to stay but could certainly be a good stopping place if we go out anywhere.

Have you got any favourites or do any places in Central Cotswolds spring to mind?

Helen

Hi Georgie

We haven't booked anywhere yet but will probably stay quite central - Stow-on-the-Wold, Bourton on Water, that sort of way so don't know if you can help?

Helen

Me and my husband are already planning our Christmas and decided to go away this year renting a cottage in The Cotswolds. Can anyone give us some good ideas on places to eat and places that do a good Christmas Day dinner!

We'd probably usually go for a 'gastropub' type place or a fairly modern restaruant/inn but are open to any suggestions.

Thanks

Helen

I would think about some things that you can perhaps do in advance and freeze or put in the fridge then make up at the last minute. Another option would be to get some ready made stuff that you can add to so that it's different and to make it your own.

Here are some ideas for you:

Salads - sliced plum tomato, fresh basil, thinly sliced red onion, black olives, olive oil and freshly ground black pepper (you can also include slices of mozzarella or avocado).

Mixed salad leaves (baby spinach, rocket and watercress are nice although most salad bags are fine), sliced ripe nectarines, parma ham slices, mozzarella (get the fresh buffalo mozzarella and pull bits off rather than slice), this can be drizzled with a little olive oil or a kind of vinaigrette dressing if you would like.

Ceasar style salad - cook chicken breast in advance and cut up, cut up some bread and fry in olive oil to make croutons, grill or fry some bacon until crispy and break up, use some gem lettuces (or other leaves if you prefer) and take off the leaves then mix them in a large bowl with the chicken, bacon and some black olives and some bought fresh ceasar salad dressing (a bit of a cheat but makes it easier!) when mixed serve it with the croutons on top and add parmesan shavings if you want.

Roast or grilled vegetable salad - roast or grill a mixture of veg (e.g. peppers, courgette, aubergine, red onion, squash, asparagus) and serve, either warm or cold, mixed together with a dressing made from balsamic vinegar, olive oil and seasoning.

You could serve an Italian or continental style platter with bought ready sliced meats and salamis, antipastis (e.g. marinated olives, roasted peppers, artichokes, etc), tapanades, different breads and cheeses - all you need to do is buy the stuff and put it out.

Skewers or kebabs, that you cook on the grill or can barbecue if you decide to do that and can be made up in advance - you can put lots of different things on, prawns with a thai style marinade (chillies, lime juice, fresh coriander, lemongrass, a little oil), chunks of vegetables marinated in balsamic vinagar, olive oil and herbs, pork and apricot, lamb and aubergine marinated in yoghurt with spices such as cumin, coriander, turmeric, cloves, etc.

Desserts - Eton mess with either strawberries or raspberries, the fruit can be prepared slightly ahead of time (if using strawberries cut and wash then put in a bowl with some sugar, leave for a couple of hours and you will have a syrup with your fruit) as can the broken meringues (put in airtight container) - before serving, whisk some whipping cream, mix in the broken meringue and strawberries with their syrup and serve in small bowls garnished with a bit of fruit and sprig of mint.

Roasted peaches or nectarines served with crushed amaretti biscuits and creme fraiche or mascarpone.

Hope that helps. There is plenty more you could do!

Helen

How about peaches or apricots?

For starter - peach, mozzarella and parma ham salad (slices of ripe peaches, bits of mozzarella and strips of parma ham with salad leaves in a balsamic and olive oil dressing).

Peach sorbet or ice.

Main - pork stuffed with a peach/apricot stuffing

Dessert - roasted peaches with amaretto biscuits, served with creme fraiche

Cheese course - include a bit of white stilton or wensleydale with apricots (can't remember which it is you can get)

Or perhaps an obvious one, lemon:

Starter - griddled asparagus drizzled with balsamic, olive oil and lemon juice

Lemon sorbet

Main - lemon chicken - I've seen a mediterranean style recipe where chicken is baked with lemon halves and olives

Dessert - lemon cheese cake, Sussex pond pudding or a lemon creme brulee

5th course - make petit fours using lemon

Are you looking for 'plated' food or finger buffet type things? Does it have to be hot or can it be cold?

There was a thread on here recently about food for a 50th birthday and there were lots of ideas on there for a hot plated buffet.

Helen

There's also nowhere in the instructions on when you put the green finger chillis or whether they should be chopped, seeds kept or not or whether they should be whole.

Can you let us know? or have I completely missed it?!

Helen

We had a party for my mum's 50th birthday last July and knew there would be a lot of meat lovers so did a barbecue. Because we had a gas barbecue we could keep it going most of the afternoon and evening. As well as the hot stuff (usual burgers, sausages, meat and veg kebabs, chicken etc) we also did some cold sliced meats, various salads, cheese and biscuits, and cheated with some bought desserts! (although did have a homemade pavlova, which always gets eaten!).

We have also catered for other parties in winter time where we did big bowls of various hot things such as mild and hot chilli, curry, fajitas with all the bits (sour cream, guacamole and salsa), casserole (for the people who don't like 'different' stuff!) - all served with other bits such as french bread, rice, jacket potatoes and salads, with a cheese board to follow. It always seems to go down well because people have what they like or a little bit of everything. However, given that it should be fairly warm when you have your party these types of food may not be favourable at 4pm in the afternoon.

If you don't want to do the catering yourself, perhaps you could do a hog roast? I am sure this would be appreciated by the meat eaters.

Helen

Forgot to say that you can use Campbell's condensed soups for bases for sauces and dishes. They even have recipes on the back fo the tins.

Helen

When I was a student a few years back we had access to fridge and freezer, although they weren't really big enough to hold 10 people's stuff! so we had to shop regularly for fresh stuff.

However, we did use fresh veg and I found it was meat that was expensive.

Some easy and quick meals used pasta. Also, although not terribly cheap I bought Tesco pesto because you only needed a bit at a time so it lasted ages - add this to pesto and you have a quick, easy and filling meal.

Another thing I used to do was add one or two of those small individual portions of Borsin (the ones you get in cheese pick and mix section of supermarkets) to a tins of tomatoes to make a quick creamy garlic and herb tomato sauce for pasta or whatever.

You could make a corned beef hash with tinned corned beef, baked beans and instant mash - not that I actually like any of these!

I must say that I find it hard to come up with things just from tinned and dried ingredients.

Helen

We do one that is quite wicked and certainly not for the dieter!

Put broken up double choc muffin (not too small bits though). Drain tin/jar of cherries reserving the juice/syrup and put the cherries in with the muffin. Add some liquer (whatever you prefer, rum, brandy, kirsch, etc) to the cherry juice and then spoon over the muffin so that it soaks in. Make some chocolate custard (we found making it is better than using the bought variety as the latter doesn't really set enough) and put this on top of the muffins and cherries - allow to set. Lightly whip some cream and mix in some mascarpone - put on top of custard when it is set. To finish grate some dark chocolate on top (or use chocolate curls).

Helen

Do you have a microwave? If you do you can par boil or 'steam' veg using that.

You could do what we called scalloped potatoes (not sure if this is the proper term or not) - simply layers of thinly sliced potatoes cooked in milk and/or cream with seasoning, cover with foil for most of cooking then take of foil towards the end to crisp up the top. Boulangiere (sp?) potatoes are similar but I think uses stock instead of milk?

'Fish cooked in a bag' (or chicken) - get some foil and sit a piece of fish on it and place some flavourings with it, e.g. slices of lemon, lime, fresh herbs, etc then close up the foil to make a parcel around the fish. Depending on size of fish you shouldn't need to cook it for any longer than 15-20 mins. Someone else has mentioned on another post (different thread re chilli) about Jamie Oliver's chicken in a bag and I think this had potatoes and veg in too so it's a meal in a bag all cooked in the oven.

Good luck.

Helen

I'm looking for some good soup recipes and wondered if anyone had any that they know work well? I love soup but tinned or even the so called 'fresh' soups in the supermarkets aren't the same or as good as homemade. However, I only have a reportoire of 2 and would like to try some others. Pretty much any veg, except peas, and meat are OK but no fish though!

Thanks

Helen

You could have go for foods all from one country, such as do an Italian meal, Mexican, Indian, Asian, French, anywhere really.

Italian - you could have antipasti (Italian meats, breads, olives, artichoke hearts, roasted peppers, etc - a lot of these can be bought pre prepared and just put together in bowls and plates) followed by a risotto or pasta course, then the meat course (perhaps saltimbocca but using thin turkey or pork steaks instead of veal) with salad and selection of veg served separately in big bowls and finish with a dessert (could be something simple such as ice cream, which you could do yourself in advance, or tiramisu, which I've made the day before and has been fine).

Mexican, Indian and Asian - for these you can do lots of different dishes for people to tuck into as they like so keeps everyone happy!

Mexican you could have quasadillas, nachos, enchiladas, chilli, etc followed by some exotic fresh fruits cut up and served on a platter.

Indian - lots of different dishes you could do for this.

Asian - go fo things from different countries, such as Malaysia, Japan, China, Thailand so that people get different flavours.

Hope you have a great birthday!

Helen

There is a recipe for sticky chocolate pudding by Nigella Lawson in the chocolate supplement with the current Sainsbury's magazine - perhaps this is the one you want? It says it has a sauce at the bottom when cooked.

Helen

Here are some more ideas:

Meat: cornish pasty pie, chicken and leek pie, chicken baked with lemon and olives, chicken in white wine sauce, pasta bake/gratin, meatballs, chicken fricasee

Veggie: asparagus and cheese tart/quiche, stuffed baked potates (stuffed with anything, such as leeks and cheese), pasta bake/gratin, spinach and ricotta slices, ratatouille

Puds: poached plums or rhubarb, key lime pie, lemon meringue pie, Eton mess, trifle, one crust fruit pie, gooseberry (or other fruit) fool, bread and butter pudding, apple raisin and cinnamon strudel

Helen

I am guessing you need things that are easy to do in large quantities and can be kept warm for a certain length of time?

How about stew and dumplings (or cobbler) or casseroles? These can be made meat (sausages, beef, chicken, pork, etc) or vegetarian (root veg, mediterranean veg, etc). I would suggest savoury rice (a bit like risotto but using long grain rice and tin tomatoes) but perhaps this wouldn't be best for keeping purposes?

Meat: large pizzas that can be cut up into slices and served with salad, enchiladas, cottage/shepherds pie italian style, pork chops in cider, paprika chicken, toad in the hole, moussaka

Veggies: pizza (as above just different toppings), red onion and cheese tart, savoury crumble, glamorgan sausages, stuffed bell pepper, aubergines, tomatoes or courgette, nut roast, spinach and ricotta lasagne - I think quite a lot of meat dishes can be made vegetarian just by using different veg instead of meat (eg, cottage pie, enchiladas, as above)

Puds: cheesecake (various flavours), rice pudding, apple pie and custard, jam roly poly, different steamed/sponge puds, crumbles, baked apples, egg custards, chocolate mousse, profiteroles

I will have a think of some more but I am sure that will keep you going for a bit!

Helen

Does anyone have or now where I can find a 'proper', i.e. American like, brownie recipe?

I have tried a few in the past and they don't turn out like the ones I've had in the States with the nice crispy top and gooey middle - they all end up to 'solid' and normal cake like.

Other recipes that I've looked at but not tried have shown pictures of brownies that in my opinion aren't gooey enough, including the James Martin one I saw recently on UK Food.

Can anyone help?

Although not oily, tuna is good with lime, coriander and chilli. It's a very meaty fish, a bit like pork, rather than 'fishy'. Can grill it or cook it in foil.

Salmon is nice cooked in foil/paper with lemon slices - you can put anything you like within the 'bag' to flavour the fish. Or you can bake/roast whole trout (get fishmonger to gut it and take off the head if you prefer) stuffed with fresh thyme and lemon slices.

The most important thing to remember is not to overcook fish.

Helen

I would have to agree with Elizabeth, I don't think there is anything worse than ordering a pie and getting heated up filling with a dry pastry top stuck on. Is there anyway that you can make the pies but just cook them to order? I can understand not always easy in that kind of environment but nothing beats freshly cooked food!

Some ideas for you, if I may....

Homemade soups such as pae and ham, roast pumpkin, lentil and pancetta, roast tomato and oregano, potato bacon and leek, chunky minestrone, french onion

Bubble and squeak with the added twist of chorizo instead of bacon and leeks, searched with grilled/roasted tomotoes or poached egg.

Stew and dumplings - stew made with lamb in a Morrocan style or rabbit stew with thyme, or use a cobbler topping instead

A vegetable crumble using roasted veg and tomatoes and cheese in the crumble mix.

Roast spatchcocked chicken (or chicken breasts) with lemon, garlic and olives.

Yorkshire pudding with different sausages or add mustard, herbs or onion to the batter

Shepherd's or cottage pie - add flavourings to the mash or make with italian style meat sauce

Pork chops with an apple and sage topping.

Roast vegetable frittata.

Fillet steaks with soft polenta and blue cheese

Lemon and parsley fried fish fillet

Pork fillet with apples and cider, sauce or pork chops braised with apple, leeks and bacon.

Homemade ice creams - summer berries, pear and cinnamon, banana and honey with nuts,

Chocolate fondant puddings with mascarpone or a good ice cream.

Chocolate brownie with coffee ice cream or sauce.

Strudels, tarts, rise puddings - all can have different additions and flavourings - can also do savoury strudels and tarts with onion, spinach and feta, cheeses, potato/rosemary/goat's cheese

Toffee apple pudding, sticky maple pudding with dates and nuts, bread and butter pudding with apricots and brandy or using croissants or brioche instead of bread.

Looks like I've been thiking too much!! Sorry for the long list. Helen

Another Christmas related message!!

Neither me nor my sister like Christmas pudding, mince pies or fruit cake so we are looking for some alternatives. Any suggestions?

Thanks. Helen

We always go to mum's for Christmas dinner and each year we have starter, traditional turkey, etc. We try and have different starters so that we don't have the same things all the time and my and my husband have now taken on the job of doing them to give mum a bit of a break on Christmas Day!

Anyway, I am trying to find a cheese souffle recipe for either one big souffle or individual ones for 5 people but I'm having trouble as it can't have blue cheese in. I thought this would be quite light for people to have and we have the luxury of a range cooker with 2 compartments so don't have to worry about cooking it with everything else.

I would also be interested to hear other suggestions for a nice starter that we could try.

Thanks. Helen