Smaller Giant Beans

I love Greek food, the simpler the better. A plateful of char-grilled lamb chops with dried origano, lemon and garlic eaten with chilled wine at an outdoor taverna is pretty close to perfection. To round the meal off a little I'd order potatoes baked in chunks with the same flavourings as an accompaniment, Greek salad, and gigantes beans.

The latter can be bought at the supermarket in rather stingy jars that cost about £2.50. Very nice, very easy to present as part of a mezze, but given it's a few beans and some tomatoey sauce Jack's bargain with the family cow was not much worse, so I had a go at making my own. They turned out to be, if not magical, pretty delicious.

The tomato sauce was just a tin of pulped toms, 35p from Lidl, some ground cumin and pepper, dried origano, 1/2 tsp of smoked paprika and 1/2 tsp of sugar, plus four cloves of garlic bashed under a wide knife-blade and added to the pot to bubble gently for 10 minutes. Two tins of butter beans were needed to retain the right bean/sauce ratio, heated through in the same pot then seasoned before serving. That gave us a warm version with Saturday's BBQ and cold with Sunday lunch. Butter beans at 55p a tin, so the full cost of the two servings (both more generous than one of those jars) was say £1.60.

They were not exactly like the shop-bought ones, as butter beans are not gigantic, but were still reminiscent of taverna offerings, especially as an accompaniment to lamb chops on the barbie. I'd use less sugar next time, and add some thyme leaves, but there will definitely be a next time.

The Fire Still Burns

First BBQ of the year yesterday at the suggestion of our Dear Leader, and an excellent suggestion it was too.

The leg of lamb I was to roast was instead butterflied and cooked over the charcoal, having spent a couple of hours in a garlic and garlic marinade. Not a complex recipe, you crush six cloves of garlic and rub them over the non-fatty bits then leave for as long as is prudent. With the meat varying in thickness between say three inches and half that there was something for everyone in there. Everyone who doesn't like lamb horribly overdone.

The meal fitted the health kick we're on at present. I didn't use any oil in cooking the lamb, nor a parcel of prawns steamed in their own juices and given an edge with lemon-grass, chilli and cumin. Patatas Bravas (nothing if not eclectic this) or Braves if you are Catalan had a few drops of the chilli-infused stuff that packs a massive punch, and the skewers of mushrooms and peppers needed none either.

In fact cooking over charcoal is a good way to remove fat from meat, so is healthy. Yet you'll see a regular summer story run in the papers that eating BBQ food is akin to signing your own death warrant. Only if you burn stuff badly, or underdo pork or chicken. But why spoil a good scare with conditions?

A barbie in March. Salad from the garden in there too, or the green house to be accurate. March.

Small son and I have lost half a stone and more each with what we have now officially dubbed the alternative eating programme. It basically has involved avoidance of frying, keeping oil and butter to a sensible minimum, no sweet stuff except at the weekend, and going for good carbs, lean meats, and loads of raw or steamed veg.

I can see my feet again when standing upright. We feel better generally, and felt wonderful in the sunshine of semi-tropical Fulwood yesterday, glass of Rioja in hand, the scent of meat (and, well, garlic) wafting across from the BBQ, and the knowledge that our Dear Leader had made another brilliant call.

How Much for a Memory?

Anyone who has read a few of the posts here will realize that we are not living austerely. We try to make the most of what we have, which is plenty; to reduce waste; to grow many of our own vegetables; and to eat fresh foods freshly cooked, rather than rely on cook-chill crap. I cook and shop carefully because that is the way I'm made, not because we are skint. But when we feel the need to do so we push the boat out, and Friday was one such occasion.

Last year we didn't have a single BBQ as far as I can recall. The weather for the last two weeks has been so good that we have eaten half our evening meals outside, and on Friday I thought it was time to fire up the charcoal. We don't have a good butcher nearby, though Booth's supermarket is not at all bad. I headed instead for a farm shop about five miles away, knowing they would be likely to have T-bone steaks. They did.

If there is anything that cooks better on a BBQ than T-bone I have yet to find it. It helps that the fillet is tender to start with; the bone somehow keeps the meat moist; and the fat around the sirloin caramelizes superbly. You may start with knife and fork, but unless you are totally po-faced you end with fingers, gnawing at the bone.

Behind the extravagance was the thought that this was buying a special moment for us and our son. I have a terrible feeling that our climate has changed, with a mild wet season having replaced summer as it used to be. Let's hope that is wrong, but meanwhile nothing is lost by surfing this heatwave, beyond a rather eye-watering £34 for three huge steaks. Which is still cheap for a memory. 

Good Bread for Pennies?

There really shouldn't be a question mark in the title as three recent attempts, all successful, at making flatbreads has proved. No pun intended. Honest. HFW should get the plaudits, though I did make chapattis ages ago with a similar recipe. I was inspired by his recipe in River Cottage Everyday to give it another go as an accompaniment to his equally excellent spiced-up lamb burgers. Credit where credit is due.

You need (again no pun etc) 250g of flour, plain is ok but bread flour works best, 1 tsp of salt, a good tbsp of decent oil (best results so far with a delicious rapeseed oil), and 150ml of water on the warm side. Mix together, kneed for about 6 - 7 minutes, then cover and leave to prove for at least 15 minutes, ideally 30. Divide the dough into 8 - 10 pieces and roll them into very thin round(-ish) crepe-thin breads, using a bit more flour to prevent them sticking to the surface on which you roll them. Cook on a dry (no oil), non-stick frying pan that you have got very hot beforehand, each side only needs about a minute, you can tell how they are doing by the bubbles that puff up and the savoury bread smell, but lifting an edge to peek is fine too. Keep them warm in the oven while you do the rest. Great stuffed with crunchy salad, better with a homemade burger. These will replace buns for me in the coming BBQ season.

As regards ease, my 15-year-old son did last night's, nothing burned, nothing wasted, and only a bit of flour on his school trousers to show he had been involved. The one tricky bit is removing surplus flour from the pan after each is cooked - necessary to avoid creating an insulating barrier and as it burns and doesn't look great on the finished articles.

The lot cost less than 20p, though under the system of bribes we operate for help in the kitchen said son gets £1 bonus added to his pocket money. Worth it either way, they are at once crisp and light, free from supermarket-bread additives, and dead easy to fill and eat.

Do use them quickly, they don't improve with age (according to Hugh FW - we have never had leftovers).