This is a recipe that is as old as the hills. Necessity being the mother of invention and all. In the old days wash day took up a considerable time and effort on the lady of the household's part.



It could take hours and hours . . . with the water needing boiling in the copper . . . boiling and stirring the clothes . . . beating and rinsing . . . pushing them all through the mangle, etc. There was little time for much else on wash day . . .



Hence Wash Day Dinner . . . and there are probably as many versions of this as there are homes . . . and families.




Basically an oven bake which involved layering vegetables, grains and meats into a casserole dish, covering with a liquid of some sort and then baking until everything is tender and flavourful.



Essentially a hot pot . . . but without the lamb! And a tad bit fancier. It left a wife and mother's hands free to do all that she needed to do on the day without having to worry about tending to supper.



A few crusty rolls and dinner is complete. It may not be that pretty, but what it may be lacking in looks, this simple dish more than makes up for in flavour! (You could add a layer of thinly sliced cabbage too if you wish. Today I added a layer of sliced chard. Scrummy yummy and oh so colourful. You can also scale it up or down according to your need. It's delicious!)



*Wash Day Dinner*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

Easy to make, painless and so delicious.

3 medium potatoes, thinly sliced (peel or not as you wish)
1 medium onion, peeled and sliced into rings
3 medium carrots, peeled and thinly sliced
2 small handfuls of uncooked rice (or a rice,spelt and barley mix Nom Nom!)
2 mugs of frozen peas
1 pound of good quality pork sausages (you want a nice and spicy one)
1 tin of tomato soup
240ml of boiling water
salt and pepper to taste
1 tsp summer savoury

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a deep casserole dish.

Layer the ingredients into the dish in the order given, beginning with potatoes and ending with sausages, and seasoning each layer lightly as you go. Whisk together the tomato soup, water and summer savoury and additional seasoning if desired. Pour this mixture over top of all. Cover and place into the oven. Bake for 2 hours, until all the vegetables are tender. If you like you can remove the lid for the last 15 minutes of cooking time to lightly brown the sausage.

Spoon out onto hot dinner plates to serve.



Over in The Cottage today, some delicious Oatmeal Raisin Cookies!

*Crock Pot Barbeque Chicken*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

Tender, sticky delicious chicken. You can use only breasts or a combination of breasts and thighs. Delicious.

4 to 6 pieces of boneless, skinless chicken
1 bottle barbeque sauce (I used the Jack Daniels one)
1 ounces white vinegar (1/4 cup)
1 tsp red pepper flakes
2 ounces soft light brown sugar (about 1/4 cup)
1/2 tp 1 tsp garlic powder

Place your chicken pieces into the slow cooker. Stir together the barbeque sauce, vinegar, pepper flakes, brown sugar and garlic powder. Pour this over top of the chicken and give it a stir. Cover and cook on low for 4 to 6 hours.

The next recipe I tested on it was for a Crock Pot Beef Dip Sandwich. I love Beef Dip Sandwiches. It was always one of my favourite things to order when I lived in Canada and we would go out for supper. I remember having a particularly delicious one in Winnipeg Manitoba back in 1977 whilst we were waiting to board a train for Calgary. (You know something is good when 30+ years later you are still thinking about it!)

This recipe is one I found online (forgive me as I can't remember where right now). The meat turned out deliciously tender and we both enjoyed this very much. I will make again. It was almost as good as that one back in 1977, and I loved that I could brown the roast a bit first by using that function in the Flavour Savour.








*French Dip Sandwiches in the Slow Cooker*
Serves 6 to 8
Printable Recipe

Easy to make and oh so delicious with meltingly tender beef tucked into a soft roll, topped with cheese and then served with a beef broth for dipping.

1 medium brown skinned onion, peeled and thinly sliced
6 fluid ounces beef broth/stock (3/4 cup)
2 fluid ounces dark soy sauce (1/4 cup)
4 fluid ounces water (1/2 cup)
1 TBS Worcestershire sauce
1 TBS grainy mustard
2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
3 pounds beef roast for braising (I used a rolled brisket)
Salt and pepper to taste

To serve:
6 to 8 soft sandwich rolls
6 to 8 slices of provolone cheese, or an equivalent
amount of grated emmenthal cheese
one pint of beef broth (about 2 1/4 cups)







Rub the beef all over with some salt and pepper. Place the onion slices in the bottom of the crock pot. Stir together the beef broth, soy sauce, Worcestershire Sauce, mustard, garlic and water. Put the beef into the crock pot on top of the onions. Pour the broth mixture over top. Cook on low for 6 to 8 hours until meltingly tender.

To serve, warm the rolls and cut open. Shred the cooked beef and pile onto the warmed rolls, top with some of the onion and a bit of the juice from the pan, along with a slice of cheese. Close over, cut in half diagonally and serve along with a small bowl of beef broth for each person to dip their sandwich in.

I then decided to test out it's normal cookery function and did a tasty stew in it. I was able to brown my meat and vegetables perfectly and then proceed as per the recipe. At the end we were rewarded with a deliciously tasty Irish Lamb and Barley Stew.

Everyone needs a simple recipe for a dessert that can be whipped up at a moment's notice when unexpected company drops by, or even just when you want a dessert, but don't want to have to go to the shops.



This fits the bill on all counts. It's quick and easy to do. It can be whipped up at a moment's notice because it uses ingredients most people keep in their store cupboards all the time, and you won't need to go to the shops!



It's a deliciously rich date and nut cake which creates it's own lucious toffee sauce while it bakes. Each warm mouthful brings you all the flavours of a sticky toffee pudding without any of the angst and work that making a real sticky toffee pudding involves!



Actually I'd call this a scrumdiddlyumptious doddle! (Don't worry if you are not fond of dates, you can use 3 to 4 apples, cored and chopped (leave the peels on) instead! Of course then it's actually an Apple Walnut Pudding.) It's also very low in fat, having only 1 TBS of butter which when divided amongst 6 people amounts to about 3/4 tsp a piece! (We won't talk about the cream which you are going to pour on top when you eat it. If you don't talk about it . . . well, it doesn't really count does it??? shhh . . . )



*Date and Walnut Pudding*
Serves 6
Printable Recipe

This is an old fashioned, economical pudding, very similar to a sticky toffee pudding with a cake on the top and a lucious toffee sauce on the bottom, which forms while the whole thing is baking.
It's very easy and quick to make.

4.25ounces of plain flour (1 cup)
7 ounces granulated sugar (1 cup)
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
125ml of milk (1/2 cup)
5.25 ounces chopped pitted dates (1 cup packed)
4 ounces chopped walnuts (1 cup)

Topping:
7.5 ounces soft light brown sugar (1 cup packed)
500ml of boiling water (2 cups)
1 TBS butter

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Butter a 10 by 10 inch square baking pan, or a deep round dish, 9 inches in diameter. Set aside.

Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt together in a bowl. Stir in the milk and briskly mix together until smooth. Stir in the dates and nuts. Spread the batter into the prepared baking dish. Heat the brown sugar, water and butter together in a saucepan until it comes to the boil again. Pour this carefully over top of the batter. Immediately place into the heated oven and bake, uncovered, for 1 hour, or until the top is golden and the sauce is bubbling up from underneath. Serve warm with or without pouring cream, custard or ice cream.



There are some delicious Grilled Lamb Chops with a Mint and Coriander Sauce cooking over in The Cottage today.

We recently signed up to Abel & Cole again for a small veg and fruit box delivery each week and our first one arrived this morning. I was so thrilled to see a big bunch of rainbow Chard in it! We tried to grow chard this year, but the slugs never gave it a chance.



I know we could use slug pellets, but we just don't like to use them (bad for the birds) and the other stuff is largely in-effective. One night Todd went out into the garden and picked up no less than 40 slugs. We are going to have to do something about that before next year for sure.



Anyways there was this lovely big bunch of beautiful rainbow coloured Bright Lights Chard in it and of course I just had to cook it tonight for our supper. It was so very pretty with it's deep emerald green leaves riddled with beautiful veins and stems of raspberry pink, blood red, orange and yellow . . .



I just love chard . . . or silverbeet as it is also called. It has an almost earthy flavour . . . and is beautiful to eat when properly cooked. You don't to over cook either the leaves or the stems . . . it goes without saying that the slimmer stems are a bit more tender than the thicker ones, but no less tasty. They just need to be cooked that little bit longer.



I always separate the stems from the leaves and cook them separately, which seems to work very well for me. It's delicious simply steamed and then sprinkled with a dressing of lemon juice and olive oil, or vinegar as my mother used to use . . . but if you really want it to shine . . . prepare it as a gratin!



Oh so unctuously rich and creamy . . . with earthy undertones, and just a hint of sharpness from some grainy mustard, this is a real winner all round.



Me . . . I could eat just a plate of this and nothing else, but . . . we had it with some steamed and crushed pink firs from the garden and some lightly grilled Barnsley Chops (double lamb chops, English of course!)that I had simply sprinkled with a mixture of chopped rosemary, lemon zest and minced fresh garlic before grilling.



A most scrummy supper indeed! (The quantities given are for 4 as a side dish, but would make a very delicious light supper for two, served on it's own with some crusty bread for mopping up all those lucious juices.)



*A Delicious Gratin of Chard*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

Earthy and moreishly delicious! This is quite simply the best.

450g of swiss chard (a scant pound)
400ml of double cream (about 1 2/3 cup)
2 TBS grainy mustard
fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 ounce freshly grated Parmesan Cheese (1/4 cup)

Preheat your oven to 190*C/375*F/gas mark 5. Butter a shallow baking dish and set aside. Bring a pot of lightly salted water to the boil.

Wash your chard really well. Cut the stalks from the leaves. Cut the stalks into short to medium sized pieces. Plunge the stems into the boiling water and cook for 2 minutes, then scoop out with a slotted spoon and set aside. Add the leaves and leave in the boiling water only until they are wilted. Toss the stems and leaves together (shake offy excess water) and then place them into the buttered dish. Whisk together the cream, mustard and salt and black pepper to taste. Pour this mixture over top of the chard. Sprinkle with the grated cheese.

Bake in the heated oven for about 15 to 20 minutes, until bubbling and the top has lightly browned. Remove from the oven and serve.



And in The Cottage today, a delicous Blueberry Gingerbread.

Shhh . . . I'm on holidays and not really supposed to be blogging, but I just couldn't resist showing you what we had for our dinner last night. This is Lamb Rump with a sweet Honey Roast Parsnip, Rosemary & Breadcrumb crust.

A part of the Cook Menu ready meals put out by Marks & Spencers. I picked up a few of them for us to eat while we are away. It gets a little bit expensive eating out everynight, but the cooking equipment in the cottage is a bit inadequate for anything other than heating things up . . . so I told Todd, if am going to have to eat ready meals . . . it has to be M&S ready meals . . at least there will be some meat in their gravy, unlike some I could mention but won't!

Our first night here we had their beef burgers in a cheese crust along with some of their chips and they weren't bad! I've always liked the M&S burgers. Pretty lean and moist, and the cheese on top was quite tasty.



This was our Sunday lunch and I have to say it was also very tasty. The meat was a little bit tough and not as tender as I would have liked, and the crust didn't get crispy like I would have liked either, but that crust was oh so very delicious. It had a delicious proportion of parsnips to bread crumbs and was nice and moist and very flavourful. I loved that the rosemary in it was not overpowering in the least. I am going to try to replicate that stuffing topping when I get home, because we both really liked it a lot!



I served it with some M&S mash and an assortment of their vegetables . . . some chantenay carrots and baby cabbages. Delicious.

I would give this meal a hearty 8 out of 10 for deliciousness, and ease of preparation. (I took off two points because the meat was a bit tough.)

8 out of 10 ain't bad! Beats the pants off of Mickie Dee every time!

We had such a fabulous sunny day here today! Perfect eating outdoors day. The Missionaries came over and helped Todd to trim the hedge and I thought I would bake them something filling for their lunch. Pasty's are perfect picnic food . . . filling, delicious and great for eating out of hand.



The pasty has been a staple food down South in Cornwall for a very long time. It's been known as many things through the years . .. . tiddy oggy was one name used and hoggen was another name, which was used in particular when they didn't contain potato.



Many things were used as fillings through the years . . . meats, fish, vegetables, eggs and sometimes you would have a savoury filling at one end of the pasty and a fruit filling at the other.



There are pasty shops all over the UK, where you can just about any kind of pasty you could want nowadays . . . steak and stilton, steak and ale, Lamb and mint, cheese and onion, to name but a few. (I confess to having a certain fondness for the steak and stilton ones and the cheese and onion ones. Oh so scrummy!!)



These here today are a traditional, no frills steak, potato, onion and swede pasty. (A swede is a rutabaga, but you could also use turnip.)



Delicious and tender meat and vegetables encased in a delightfully flakey pastry. They're not as hard to make as some would suppose, but are really quite simple to execute. What's not to like!!!



*The Great Cornish Pasty*
Makes 4
Printable Recipe

Buttery Puffed Pastry, all flakey and encasing a delicious filling of beef, potato, onion and swede. Perfect and totally portable!!!

1 3/4 to 2 pounds of puff or shortcrust pastry
1/2 pound of beef skirt or chuck steak, sliced into very thin strips
1 medium potato, peeled and thinly sliced and chopped
1 large onion, peeled and chopped
1 small swede, peeled and thinly sliced and chopped
1 ounce butter (2 TBS), melted
fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 freerange egg, beaten

Roll the pastry out 1/3 inch thick. Cut into rounds approximately 8 inches in diameter. You will need 4. I find a sandwich plate is perfect to use as a template.

Place the potatoes, onions, swede and steak into a large bowl. Season with salt and generously with lots of pepper.. Drizzle the melted butter over all and mix well together.

Divide the filling between the 4 rounds, placing it just slightly off centre. Brush the edges with some beaten egg and fold one half of the pastry round over to cover the filling. Seal shut and then pinch and roll the edges from one edge to the other, giving it a bit of a rope effect. Place onto a lightly greased baking sheet. Pierce the tops in a few places and brush with beaten egg. Place into the refrigerator to ill for about 1/2 hour.

Preheat the oven to 200*C/400*F/ gas mark 6. Place the tray of pasties into the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Lower the heat to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4 and cook for a further 30 to 35 minutes until well risen and golden brown and the filling is cooked through and the vegetables are tender. You can shield with some foil if you think the pastry is getting too dark.

Serve hot or cold as you like. These are great picnic food!



There is a deliciously Creamy Fish Chowder cooking over in Oak Cottage today. If you are a regular reader of A Year From Oak Cottage, you will want to update your bookmarks, as the url has changed! Thanks!

I am just loving summer with all of it's fresh fruit and vegetables! It is by far and away the best time of year for fruit and veg just packed with flavour!



The supermarket shelves (not to mention my garden) are a dancing parade of delicious colour and taste, and I am love, love, lovin' every moment of it!



I especially love the abundance of fresh berries! Blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, red and black currants, gooseberries, . . . oh so lovely. And the stone fruit . . . English cherries, early plums, apricots and fresh peaches from the continent . . . oh so yummy!



There is so very much you can do with them and we have been enjoying our fair share of them fresh and eaten out of hand and then in some pretty scrummy desserts . . . but you know what?



They just aren't for dessert! They also make lovely fruity salsa's that are just perfect with grilled chicken, lamb and pork.



Today I did some lovely grilled chicken breasts, all moist tender and flavourful . . . accompanied by a fruity yet zesty fresh berry salsa.



Each mouthful was a delight . . . the berries sweet and yet at the same time tangy from the lime juice and a bit salty from the salt and the pepper, chili and cilantro gave it a nice zip! And let's not forget the rich creaminess from the avocado!



All in all a truly wonderful combination that I hope you will want to try out for yourself! (I am thinking it would also be wonderful in a wrap with either sliced roast turkey or chicken, and perhaps a gutsy lettuce like Baby Gems or even rocket.) Watch this space!

This is light, fresh, colourful and delicious!



*Grilled Chicken with a Summer Berry Salsa*
Serves 4
Printable Recipe

Berries aren't just for dessert! Moist tender chicken with a delicious berry salsa that has a bit of a bite!

3 TBS olive oil
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, butterflied
fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
the juice and zest of one unwaxed lime
100g of fresh strawberries, roughly chopped (6 large berries)
100g of fresh blueberries (about 3/4 cup)
100g of fresh raspberries (23 raspberries)
1 red chili, deseeded and finely chopped (do be careful not to touch your nose, face or eyes when
working with fresh chilies)
1 small red onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 ripe avocado, skinned and diced
20g of fresh coriander leaves, chopped (Cilantro) (a handful, leaves only, discard stems)

Heat a griddle to medium heat. Brush 2 TBS olive oil over the butterflied chicken breasts. Season with salt and pepper. Cook on the heated griddle, turning halfway through the cooking time, until cooked through and the juices run clear. (4 to 5 minutes per side.)

While the chicken is cooking, whisk the remaining oil with the lime juice and zest. Season to taste with some salt and pepper.

Put the berries into a bowl. Add the dressing along with the onion, chili, avocado and coriander. Toss gently together.

Serve the griddled chicken with the berry salsa spooned over top. Serve immediately.