Ingredients:

• 500 g pork sausages
• 175 g flour
• ¼ tsp salt
• grinding of black pepper
• 3 eggs
• 300 ml milk and water mixed
• 2 tbl dripping or 3 tbl vegetable oil

Ingredients: Onion Gravy:

• 3 tbl vegetable oil
• 3 onions, finely sliced
• 1 tbl flour
• 600 ml chicken or vegetable stock

Preparation:

• Brown the sausages all over and halve them – it isn’t necessary to cook them through at this stage.
• Sieve flour and salt into a bowl, make a well in the middle. Break the eggs into the well and with a hand whisk incorporate the eggs into the flour adding the milk and water mixture as you go.
• Alternatively, drop everything into a food processor and using the pulse button at first, blitz the whole lot together until it forms a smooth batter. Guess which method I use?
• In either case allow the batter to rest for about 30 minutes.
• Put the dripping or oil into a fairly shallow baking pan, and heat it at about 220 C for a couple of minutes.
• Take it out of the oven, and working quickly, pour the batter into the hot fat and arrange the sausages in the batter.
• Return to the oven and bake for about 30 – 35 minutes, until puffed and browned.
• To prepare the onion gravy, cook the onions in the oil until they are soft and lightly browned. Stir in the flour, salt and pepper and cook for 2 minutes. Slowly stir in the stock, bring to the boil, and taste for seasoning. Add a little gravy browning if you want the gravy to look more appetising.

Serves about 6.

Ingredients:

• 750 g topside/H-bone roast
• 4 whole cloves
• 1 – 2 garlic cloves
• oil & butter to cook the meat
• ¼ tsp grated nutmeg
• 1 tumbler Port plus 30 ml sugar
• salt & freshly ground black peppe
• about 2 – 3 rashers streaky bacon
• vinegar marinade, diluted 1/3 – 2/3 parts water
• 1 large onion, grated fairly finely
• 15 ml cooked tomato (thick) (reduce fresh peeled, seeded tomatoes or tinned Italian tomatoes)
• Beef stock as needed / Telma stock cube

Preparation:

• Lard the meat with slivers of garlic and strips of bacon to taste – pierce the roast with a sharp knife, push in the handle of a thin wooden spoon, and in the hole so made insert the bacon and garlic.
• Place the meat in a non-reactive bowl and pour over the diluted vinegar in sufficient to cover the roast completely. Add the cloves.
• Cover and leave overnight, but not in the refrigerator – if you leave it longer than about 18 hours, then it will need refrigeration.
• Remove the meat from the marinade, dab it as dry as possible and tie it to keep its shape while cooking. Season with salt and pepper.
• Heat the oil and butter in a deep saucepan, large enough to for the meat to fit fairly snugly. Start browning the meat, and when it is halfway browned start adding the grated onion over the meat so that the onion is finished by the time the meat is well browned all over.
• NB. Be careful not to cook at too high a temperature as the meat and onion burn easily, but also not too low as allthe juices of the meat will run out, leaving the joint very stringy and tasteless.
• This stage is a pain, as it cannot be hurried, and you need to give it your attention. Start adding the sugared port, into which the 15 ml of thick, cooked tomato has been stirred, little by little, waiting until most of the liquid has disappeared before adding more.
• Keep turning the meat so that all sides of the joint cook in the port. When the port is finished, sprinkle on the grated nutmeg, and add stock as needed, cooking on a gentle heat until the meat is tender.
• Remove the meat, skim off any fat, and, only if real necessary, thicken the gravy with a little cornflour slaked in water.
• Rest for at least 15 minutes, then slice fairly thinly.

Serves 4 – 5.

Ingredients:

• 1 roasted/bought barbequed chicken
• 1 medium pineapple
• ½ cup shredded coconut
• 4 spring onions, sliced

Ingredients: Dressing:

• 1 tsp curry powder
• ¼ tsp 5 – spice powder
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 tsp grated ginger
• ¾ cup mayonnaise
• ¼ cup coconut milk

Preparation:

• Toast coconut until golden – either in medium oven for about 5 minutes, or on a dry frying pan, stirring constantly.
• Peel pineapple, and cut the flesh into bite-sized chunks.
• Pull the skin off the chicken, then strip off all the flesh from the bones, and cut it-tnto bite-sized pieces.
• Combine in a bowl with the coconut and spring onions.
• Whisk together all the dressing ingredients, then pour over the salad. Stir gently but thoroughly. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Notes:

• Use dessicated coconut, though, I think, the original recipe meant fresh shredded coconut to be used.

Serves 4 – 5.

Ingredients:

• 1 medium onion, very thinly sliced
• about 30 – 45 ml butter
• about 750 g beef fillet
• 250 – 400 g button mushrooms, sliced thickly
• beef stock or Telma stock cube
• 150 – 250 ml sour cream
• salt & freshly ground pepper
• pinch ground nutmeg

Preparation:

• Cook the onions in the butter in a fairly large frying pan over a slow to medium heat, until the onions are soft and have started to colour.
• In the meantime slice the fillet and cut it into strips across the grain.
• Remove the onion from the pan and reserve. Tum up the heat and put in the strips of fillet.
• Season lightly and stir-fry for a few minutes until the meat starts to brown and is almost cooked.
• Push the meat to one side of the pan (or remove completely – unless your pan is really big, it would probably be better to cook the fillet in batches, so that it doesn’t release too much liquid), and add the sliced mushrooms.
• Season lightly and stir fry over fairly high heat until the mushrooms are almost cooked. Return the onion and meat (if you have taken it out) to the pan, and continue to stir-fry for a couple of minutes longer.
• Add about 100 ml of beef stock or dissolved Telma stock cube and let simmer, stirring frequently, until most of the liquid has disappeared.
• Stir in the sour cream., and bring the whole lot just to the boil.
• Season to taste with salt, pepper and nutmeg.

Serves 4 – 6.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups flour
• 6 tsp icing sugar
• 3 heaped tsp baking powder
• ½ tsp salt
• 50 g softish butter
• 1 egg
• cream and milk

Preparation:

• Sift dry ingredients together. Place in the bowl of the processor. Rub in the butter.
• Break the egg into a 250 ml measuring cup, and make it up to one cupful with the cream and milk. Beat lightly to combine.
• Using the pulse button, and on maximum speed, combine the liquid with the dry mixture. Be very careful not to overbeat.
• Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Pat it out gently to a 1 – 1.5 cm thickness. Cut out rounds with a very sharp cutter, and place on a very lightly floured baking tray. Knead the scraps together and cut more rounds.
• Bake at 210 – 220° C for 8 – 10 minutes.

Variation:

• Reduce the quantity of icing sugar to 1 scant teaspoon, and add about ½ cup of grated sharp cheese. Continue as above, but brush the tops with egg or milk glaze and sprinkle a little more grated cheese on each scone.

Makes about 12 – 14 medium scones.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 kg baby potatoes, unpeeled
• 2 tbl parsley, finely chopped
• 1 small onion, red preferably, finely chopped
• 45 ml wine vinegar
• 45 ml sour cream
• 30 ml German mustard
• 10 ml caraway seeds
• 180 – 250 ml sunflower oil
• salt & pepper to taste

Preparation:

• Scrub potatoes and boil in salted water until tender. Drain, refresh with a splash or two of cold water, then drain again thoroughly.
• Place the onion, sour cream, mustard, caraway seeds, salt and pepper in a bowl.
• Whisk until well combined, then slowly pour in the oil, whisking all the time, until the dressing emulsifies and thickens slightly. Use the lesser amount of oil at first.
• While the potatoes are still fairly hot, cut them into halves or quarters, depending on their size, and drop them straight into the dressing. Stir gently so that the potatoes are well coated with the dressing.
• Because some potatoes absorb more moisture than others, you may find that the salad seems a little dry, in which case add more oil.
• Leave to cool to room temperature. Stir in the chopped parsley, taste for seasoning and serve.

Serves 6 – 8.

Ingredients:

• 250 g flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 25 g sugar
• pinch salt
• 125 g butter/margarine
• 3 ex-large eggs, separated
• fine apricot jam
• 125 g sugar
• 125 g coconut

Preparation:

• Sift together flour, 25 g sugar, and salt.
• Rub in the shortening and make into a fairly stiff dough with the egg yolks – add about 1 tablespoon of milk if necessary.
• Press into a LARGE Swiss roll tin, making it as smooth as possible.
• Spread with apricot jam – more or less, depending on how ‘jammy’ you want the end result to be.
• Whip the egg whites till stiff, then carefully fold in the sugar and coconut. Spread as evenly and as quickly as possible over the jam.
• Bake at about 180° C for about 20 – 25 minutes.

Makes about 36 biscuits.

Ingredients: Meat:

• about 2kg topside/H-bone in one piece
• salt & freshly ground black pepper
• 2 medium onions, sliced
• 4 tomatoes, skinned, seeded, chopped
• beef stock or dissolved stock cube
• 1 large clove garlic, finely sliced
• butter/oil
• 1 carrot, finely diced
• about 2 tsp sugar
• 1/3 cup sour cream/stabilised yoghurt

Ingredients: Marinade:

• 1 litre water
• 10 peppercorns
• 3 whole cloves
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 375 ml grape vinegar
• 1 – 2 bay leaves
• 2 thick slices lemon
• 1 tbl brown sugar

Preparation:

• Pierce meat at intervals with the tip of a sharp knife and insert slivers of garlic – quantity used is entirely a matter of taste.
• Tie the roast up neatly with string and place it in a large non-reactive bowl. Scatter the second quantity of sliced onions on top.
• Bring the remainder of the marinade ingredients to the boil and pour over the meat.
• Allow to marinate for a minimum of 24 hours, turning every eight hours or so. Refrigerated, this can marinate for up tp 72 hours.
• Remove meat from marinade and dab dry. Season well with salt and pepper.
• Brown the meat all over fairly quickly in hot fat, then lift out and reserve.
• Add the first quantity of sliced onions to the saucepan, and cook until starting to brown – be very careful at this stage as the pan can ‘catch’ and burn very quickly.
• Add the tomatoes, carrot and sugar and cook over a medium heat until the mixture turns mushy and is sticking to the bottom of the saucepan.
• Pour about 125 ml of the reserved, strained marinade, plus about 1 cup of stock and bring to the boil.
• Replace the meat, cover tightly and cook gently until the meat is tender, adding stock as required, and turning the meat over in the sauce regularly (the liquid must never be more than about halfway up the side of the meat).
• Check the flavour of the sauce when the meat is half-cooked as either more sugar or marinade may be need – the sauce needs to have a fairly sharp sweetish-sour flavour.
• Remove the meat when cooked through and tender, and rest, tented with foil, before carving.
• Reduce the gravy if necessary.
• Just before serving add the sour cream / yoghurt to the gravy and simmer gently for 3 to 4 minutes.

Notes:

• A mixture of butter and oil gives the best results when browning the meat.
• The whole fresh tomatoes can be replaced with an equivalent amount of Italian tinned tomatoes.
• Yoghurt that is not stabilised may separate when it boils, so, to prevent this happening, mix about 1½ tsp of cornflour (Maizena) into it before adding to the sauce.

Serves 8 generously.

Ingredients: Salad:

• 250 g instant couscous
• 3 large tomatoes, peeled, seeded, finely diced
• 50 g spring onions, finely chopped
• ¼ cup mint leaves, finely chopped
• ¾ – 1 cup parsley, finely chopped (flat-leaf, if possible)

Ingredients: Dressing:

• 75 ml fresh lemon juice
• 2 tbl olive oil
• salt, to taste

Preparation:

• Combine all the ingredients for the dressing, whisking thoroughly, and set aside.
• Place the couscous in a bowl, add ½ teasp salt, and pour over 1¼ cups of boiling water. Cover and leave to stand for 10 to 15 minutes to allow the couscous to swell and absorb all the water.
• Using a fork stir through the couscous to break up any lumps.
• Combine all the vegetables in a bowl, add the couscous, and mix all the ingredients thoroughly. Pour on the dressing and stir again thoroughly.
• This salad may be served at room temperature or chilled, which means it may be made ahead – I personally think it tastes best made the day before and chilled overnight. Check the seasoning before serving.

Notes:

• Traditionally tabbouleh is made with bulgar/burghul wheat (cracked wheat), which is first soaked then squeezed dry. Again personal taste – I prefer it made with couscous.
• Many recipes add all sorts of extras like cucumbers, and these days, even spices, giving a traditional food a completely different twist.

Serves 6.

Ingredients:

• 1.5 kg rump steak, cubed
• 1 kg onion, chopped
• 2 small chillies, or to taste (fresh or dried)
• butter and oil for cooking
• 20 – 30 ml sweet paprika
• 25 -30 ml tomato paste
• salt, to taste

Preparation:

• Slowly cook the onions in the mixed butter and oil until very soft, bit not coloured. This is a painfully long procedure and there are no short-cuts. The onions must be soft enough to disintegrate while the meat is cooking, and so form the thick gravy which is typical of a real goulash – the use of any thickeners like flour or Maizena (corn starch) is strictly not allowed!
• Stir in the paprika, chillies (finely diced/crushed) and tomato paste, Cook gently for a minute or two.
• Stir in the meat, making sure it is all covered with the sauce, add a couple of spoons of water and bring it all to the boil again.
• Cook on a medium heat at first, adding water sparingly as needed. Reduce the heat as the gravy starts to thicken.
• When nearly cooked, season with salt to taste – add a little more chilli if you want it hotter. The meat should be meltingly tender and the sauce thick and very flavoursome.

Notes:

• For the sake of economy, substitute cubed topside for half of the meat.
• The paprika is the sweet, not hot, variety; try and get imported Hungarian paprika is possible.

Serves 8 comfortably.