Baked well tart

Much classic cooking is simply about creating different textures and combinations from basic ingredients such as flour, eggs, milk and water.

So we set about making a salicylate-free equivalent of the Bakewell Tart. And it worked.

Actually my other half did the work. I'm told this is what you do.

Partly cook a thin layer of pastry on the bottom of a baking pan.

Lay sliced Golden Delicious apple on top - and then plain cake mixture on top of that.

Bake.

Delicious!

It's not quite as jammy as proper Bakewell tart. We need some ideas. Perhaps prepare the apple beforehand and add some sugar?

* Talking of apple, we bought some cut-price green apples from Asda's. I was wondering why I had symptoms today - itching in various places and a strange bleed on the lip tonight. Then I realised that although they looked like Golden Delicious there was no guarantee they were. They tasted a little stronger than GD. They were probably something else such as Granny Smith.

I tend to live with mild symptoms without complaining - but maybe I should make more effort to identify what is causing them.

RAS

But this is bad news...

http://www.hpa.org.uk/NewsCentre/NationalPressReleases/2010PressReleases/100929SalmonellaBariellybeansprouts/

Not long since I kept a packet of bean sprouts in the fridge for quite a long time. Has anyone ever successfully managed to cook bean sprouts?

RAS

Salads

I'm  not one for spending time making salads but now it's summer, the cupboard is bare and I wanted a light but filling lunch. I normally keep a stock of crisp lettuce and celery.

I've noticed that commercial salads increasingly are fleshed out with red cabbage - and it's ok. We had some grated cheese sandwich filler in the fridge and nobody knows more about chopping red cabbage than me.

So that's what I've done - mixed red cabbage and grated cheese, eaten with a fork. Mmmm! It's been delicious and filling.

Perhaps I can come up with more ideas for tasty and easy salads over the summer. Any thoughts?

RAS

Fish pasta sauce

 I promised to list all the recipes I've put together and then discovered I had never posted some of them.

So here is a simple and quick fish-based pasta sauce:

start cooking your pasta

• chop white cabbage and leek;
• stir fry in saucepan until white cabbage starts to brown;
•  add tin of fish - sardines or mackerel are best but tuna is manageable;
• add parsley;
  
• stir until it simmers;
• add milk, also yoghurt, cream or cheese if you wish;
• simmer and stir until pasta is ready.

Delicious!


RAS