***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on canvas. Inspired by the flatness of poster art and the childlike fun of the artwork of Australia's much loved Michael Leunig. I like the idea of the eating paddock to plate, or in this case, garden to pie. Look how fresh this Spring pie is. The plants are still growing!!

***

The meatless meals recipe - Spring Pot Pie

It's not as much work as it seems! Don't be put off by the long recipe. This is really a straightforward pot pie where the actual vegetable filling can be flexible. Most of the flavour is in the stock which then makes a thick filling sauce and a pea sauce for topping. This is one of those recipes good for using up all sorts of odds and ends from the garden or left over in the fridge.

For 4 individual pot pies when served with mash

Stock

6 peppercorns
4 bay leaves
8-10 large fresh sage leaves, finely chopped (about 2 teaspoons) Dried sage is far stronger than fresh so use far far less if substituting
2" fresh rosemary
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 teaspoon salt
Liquid volume should total 1L:
1 tablespoon / 20ml olive oil
1 tablespoon / 20ml lemon juice
1 tablespoon / 20ml white wine vinegar
1 cup dry white wine
690ml water

Pie Filling

1 small-medium parsnip
2 cups finely shredded silverbeet or cabbage
1 leek or medium-large onion, chopped or sliced
240g cooked beans
1 small turnip or swede, chopped
1 1/2 medium carrots, sliced or diced

Thick Stock Sauce

1 cup stock liquid (after cooking)
1 tablespoon cornflour

Pea Sauce

2 cups peas
2 tablespoons fresh mint
2 tablespoons fresh parsley
2/3 cup / 180ml stock liquid (after cooking)


500g shortcrust or puff pastry for pie lining and lid


Put stock ingredients in a pot with a lid on.
Simmer gently for 15 minutes.
Add pie filling ingredients to the pot.
Simmer gently for another 15 minutes. Keep the lid on.
Test that veg are done and keep simmering if necessary.
Grease pie dishes with olive oil.
Line with pastry.
Strain pie filling ingredients. KEEP THE STOCK LIQUID. Remove bay leaves and rosemary stalk.
Fill pies.
Using 1 cup of stock liquid, make a thick stock sauce by whisking in 1 tablespoon of cornflour to thicken.
Pour equal amounts of the thick stock sauce into each pie.
Put pastry lids on the pies.
Bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 180c to cook the pastry.
Make the pea sauce by putting cooked peas, mint, parsley and stock into a blender and whizzing until smooth.

Serve pot pies with pea sauce and mashed potato.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on canvas. Another painting inspired both by a wandering through the artwork (not the cartoons) of Australia's much loved Michael Leunig, and the repeated suggestion from a friend to give other-handed drawing a go.

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The meatless meals recipe - French Toast

Once upon a time, it may have been when I was first introduced to the heaven that is French Toast, I cooked this up for breakfast, oh, every morning for at least a week. Or two. Or more? I can attest that even for a skinny someone with a crazy metabolism, this such a breakfast regime will put weight on you.
Moderation is key. Not too often. Not too much.
Unfortunately.

2 slices bread
1 egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon butter
honey or similar to top

In a flat bottomed container (large enough to lie a slice of bread flat), beat the egg and milk together to blend thoroughly.
Heat the frypan up and melt the butter.
When the pan is quite hot, quickly dip each slice of bread in the egg/milk mix long enough to thoroughly coat each side.  There should be just enough mix for two slices of bread.
Fry immediately in the pan until golden and a little crispy (it will still be soft but should not be soggy).

Top with honey or maple syrup to serve.

Tickles 1 tummy.

Versatile. Thrifty. Leisurely. Unusual.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on linen. You may know by now that I am quite a fan of rock art, petroglyphs and ancient Neolithic symbols. Onion jam, which starts out as a very large pile of rings of our ancient onion friend, seemed a perfect excuse to explore the ancient symbols of spirals and concentric rings.








Did you know you can download images of the paintings for your own personal (not commercial) use? Computer wallpaper, Facebook profile picture, yes you can. Find your favourite painting on Flickr, go to actions, view all sizes, download the size you want to your device, set it as your wallpaper or profile. And tell your friends where it came from :)

Original artwork can be purchased in the Official Art Store. This particular piece is currently drying and will be available shortly for $150. To find out exactly when that is, get on the mailing list, yellow box top left.

***

The meatless meals recipe

There are so many cooking notes to go with this. I made at least ten versions, testing out all sorts of variables. Where do I start?

Ok first, the onions. It doesn't matter which colour you use. The long slow cooking is the real secret to this recipe. Red onions do give a fuller deeper rich colour, as you may expect, but the flavour is most affected by thoroughly caramelising whichever onions you use.

Sweetener. Either white or brown sugar in the quantities given works well, but avoid honey as it's sweetness is too unpredictable. One version I did was sickly with just 1/4 cup of honey. That is not right. Honey is usually less sweet than sugar, but this is not reliable.

Vinegars. Balsamic vinegar gives the most robust and flavoursome onion jam by far of all the variations I tried. If you prefer something milder, I recommend red wine which was easily the tastiest of the milder variations. Then there is white wine (untested), white wine vinegar (insipid), apple cider vinegar (really weak flavour with no depth), red wine vinegar (ok, a bit weak and lacking in flavour depth), malt vinegar (good - mild but acceptable), or sherry (really weak flavour with no depth). If you decide to use one of the weaker flavoured vinegars, cutting back the sugar a little seems to help them in the taste department.

Spices. A clove or two of garlic, a couple of chillis, and olives are other spices that are sometimes added to onion jam. Whatever floats your boat. I didn't like any of these variations.

1-4 tablespoons olive or canola oil, as required to prevent sticking
550-580g onion slices - about 4 large onions of any colour (white, brown or red)
1/4 cup white sugar or 3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 x 5cm stick cinnamon
2-3 star anise, or a few big pinches of ground nutmeg if you detest anise flavour

Cook the onions long and slow in a pan with enough oil to prevent them sticking. Stir frequently. Do not let them burn or crisp at any stage. Keep cooking. They need to be FULLY softened with absolutely no crunch whatsoever. If in doubt, keep cooking. I find this stage takes at least 20 minutes.

Then add in the sugar, vinegar and spices.

Keep cooking long and slow, stirring as needed, until the onions have fully caramelised into one dark sweet sticky mass. I find this takes about an hour.
Again, if in doubt, keep on cooking.

Makes about 1 cup of onion jam. Keep in a container in the fridge. It improves with age :)

Enjoy as an accompaniment to cheese or roast tomatoes (OMG!). Use it wherever you might use chutney. It tends to pair very well with eggs, cheese and tomatoes, and in some instances, potatoes and pumpkin.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on linen. A literal interpretation of 'banana bread' - a banana which turns into a loaf- which inevitably has a touch of the surreal. Painted in a pop art icon style reminiscent of the 1960's and similar in style to a previous painting, Mushroom Burgers.

Interior photo by suzettesuzette

Original art on your wall.

Like this painting but having trouble picturing what this might look like on your wall? Email me a photo of your space and I'll Photoshop it into place (like I did with the picture above) so you can get an idea of it framed, hung and to scale.

Original artwork can be purchased in the Official Art Store. This particular piece is currently drying and will be available shortly for $150. To find out exactly when that is, get on the mailing list, yellow box top left. Alternatively, email me to let me know you're interested (fi at wherefishsing dot com).

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The meatless meals recipe

After you're done with making smoothies, banana splits, instant icecream and fruit salad, you could try this way of eating the cargo loads of summer bananas. As a bonus, it is easier to mash defrosted bananas than fresh ones, so you can just pop any older bananas in the freezer and pull them out when you're ready to use them up.

2 cups self raising flour

1/4 teaspoon bicarb soda (the banana is heavy, extra rising power is required)

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup sugar

3 eggs, beaten

1 cup mashed bananas (approximately 3 medium bananas) - frozen then defrosted is easiest

1/2 cup milk

Thoroughly mix dry ingredients together.
Gradually mix in the wet ingredients, one by one in the order given, into a well in the centre of the bowl.
Pour into a VERY well greased (get into those corners and thoroughly coat the bottom) loaf tin (rectangular, approx 10 x 22cm).
Bake at 220C for 10 minutes.
Reduce oven to 180C and continue baking for at least 50 minutes and until a dry knife stabbed into the centre comes out moist but clean.
Let it stand in the tin for 5-10 minutes before trying to turn it out. This greatly increases the likelihood of it coming out in one piece.
Sit on a wire rack to cool.

Serve slices as is, or lightly toasted and smothered with butter.

Makes one banana loaf.

Chunky. Thrifty. Homely. Filling.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on board. England is known for it's dreary grey days. The greyest and foggiest of these days are called pea soupers, when the fog is so settled and thick that you can barely see a few feet in front of you. This painting is an interpretation of a 'pea souper', with a nod to the lovely misty and ethereal tree paintings of Melbourne's Kathryn Ryan.

Original artwork for Autumn and Winter paintings can be purchased in the Official Art Store. To be kept updated on the availablity of Spring and Summer paintings, get on the mailing list, yellow box top left.

***

The meatless meals recipe

This recipe is an inspired conglomeration of several pea soups I have known and enjoyed. The first was a family recipe for your bog standard Pea and Ham soup. Very flavouful, somewhat missed once I stopped eating meat. The second was another family recipe for a Pea and Mint soup which was interesting for it's enormous use of mint, but not outstanding in itself. And finally there was the Ainsley Harriet cup-o-soup version of Shropshire Minted Pea Soup from when I was working in London. Drinkable in a cup-o-soup kind of a way, it caught my attention with it's unusual spice and tang. Unfortunately this was due to the inclusion of the world famous Worstershire Sauce which contains anchovies and I stopped drinking this once I realised.  But then it was game on to create my own Pea soup which was flavourful like the Pea and Ham, super minty like the Pea and Mint, and tangy and spicy minus the anchovies like the Shropshire soup. Success below!


1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon butter
a few cracks of pepper and salt
500g dried green split peas
7 cups weak stock
2-3 small bay leaves
up to 1 teaspoon hot paprika
1/4 - 1/2 cup balsamic vinegar
2 cups roughly chopped fresh mint (this is about 36g of leaves or 4 cups unchopped) - err on the generous side

Saute the onion in butter until soft with a little pepper and salt.
Add stock, split peas, bay leaves, 1/4 cup balsamic vinegar, and two big pinches of hot paprika.
Simmer gently with the lid on until the peas are completely broken down. This means at least for one hour, and preferably, for two hours.
Taste test. Check for heat/spiciness and cautiously add more hot paprika to suit. It's heat will vary depending on it's age (less heat with age). Also check for tartness/tang. Depending on the balsamic vinegar and your tastes, you may want to add more to suit.
Finally, stir in all the roughly chopped mint.


Makes 4 rather hearty bowls.

Thrifty. Delicate. Homely. Quick.

Chunky. Satisfying. Homely. Thrifty.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm acrylic on Crescent Museum RagMat board. This is museum quality board, 100% cotton, made to withstand time.

Abstract Expressionism. A very sixties style of painting. The typical working method is to stand before the canvas and start and let the ideas bubble up from the subconscious while painting to make themselves known. It's not unusual for the artist to only figure out what they painted well after the piece is finished.  This method has had a huge impact on many current artists. The paintings tend to be very abstract and are meant to invoke emotion in the viewer. That's my understanding anyway.

I went about trying abstract expressionism, holding the idea of ministrone soup in my mind while aiming for the particular style of layered large shapes. I was particularly taken by this image by Pamela Scott, available here. It was exactly what I wanted to achieve - a balance of large abstract colour shapes with a retro sensibility.

I have to admit that it was a hundred times harder than it looked. If you like the ministrone soup painting, snap it up, it's a true one off. I won't be working in this style again in a hurry.

***

The meatless meals recipe

This ministrone is the genuine article. Though I'm sure there are as many variations on ministrone as there are Italian cooks. This version was originally from the Italian mother of a friend from the distant past.  I'm sure I've put my own twist on it in the intervening years, but I honestly don't remember what was original and what adjustments I may have made. I've cooked this so many times over the years so it's sure to have evolved. My suspicion is that the lambrusca instead of any red wine is my personal twist.

1 cup cooked or 1/3 cup dried cannellini beans
1 cup fresh or 1/3 cup dried whole green peas
7 cups stock
2 medium carrots, sliced
1 stick celery, sliced
1 largish onion, chopped
8 tomatoes rough chopped or around 600g tomatoe puree
optional 1/2 cup of any leafy green roughly chopped
optional 1/2 chilli, finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 cup uncooked macaroni
optional and highly recommended 1 cup sweetish red wine (something like lambrusca is fabulous)

Warning. You will need a big pot.
For dried beans and peas, soak them overnight in the stock and then simmer for 1-2 hours with the celery, carrot and onion until the beans and peas are soft.
For cooked beans and fresh peas, just simmer these together with the stock, celery, carrot and onion for 40 minutes.
Then add the tomato, leafy greens, basil, oregano and chilli. Cook for 10 minutes.
Add the macaroni (and frozen peas here if you are cheating) and cook until the pasta is tender.
Add the red wine and heat through.

Serve with big chunks of crusty bread.
Feeds at least 6.

Easy. Versatile. Thrifty. Moreish.

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Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on linen. Thanks to Pia, Mimi and Sara for helping out with identifying the essence of roast tomatoes.

Here are some pointers:
squishy
intense
red
charred
bursts.

Can you feel it?

Did you know that all the food painting artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store?  If you want to get your mitts on the original, it is drying and awaiting it's professional photoshoot before being allowed in the shop.

To be kept updated on available paintings, get on the mailing list, yellow box top left.

***

The meatless meals recipe

Both of these roast vegetables taste heaps better than they sound and are dead easy to make. They're also good with some mediterranean herbs sprinkled on them. The roasting brings out the flavour of the vegetable and intensifies it in a really moreish way.

Roast Tomatoes

Use as many or few tomatoes as you have or like. It's wonderful to make a large batch of these and keep them in the fridge to use in salads, or on the side of a main meal or whenever they take your fancy.

Chop tomatoes into 1/8ths and put on a baking tray in a single layer. 

Sprinkle with salt. Use the same amount of salt coverage as you would for a tomato sandwich, plus a little more.

If you like, smear the tomatoes with pesto or basil infused oil.

Bake in a 180C / 350F oven for 30-60 minutes.

Remove from the oven just as bits on the tomatoes begin to go black.

Roast Capsicum (Peppers)

As with the roast tomatoes, it's superb to do a large batch of these and have them to hand whenever you feel like a hit of their intensified flavour in your meal.

Place whole red capsicums on a baking tray in a single layer and bake in a 180C / 350F oven until the skin bubbles and starts to burn.

Remove and place in a lidded container (tongs!) so the skin is steamed off.

When cook, peel and de-seed.

Add to any salad or dish as you see fit!

Fresh. Versatile. Thrifty. Fun.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm acrylic on board. Can you sense the translucency of the rice paper? The freshness of the fillings? The simplicity of this dish?

All artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store. This particular painting is drying and will be made available soon for $150. To find out the instant it's ready, get on the collectors list, yellow box top left.

***

Rice paper rolls, in case you haven't had the delight of trying them, are like a tasty little salad meal in an edible wrapper. Eaten cold, they are perfect for hot days. I love making these at home because I get to fill them any way I like, which incidentally is with a little cucumber, loads of lettuce, enormous quantities of mint and a touch of tofu fried in soy sauce and sherry.

This recipe is more like a collection of ingredient suggestions and some pointers on how to construct the rolls than a set of instructions. Fill them however you like!

You will need:
rice paper roll wrappers, they are usually sold in packets of at least 20 for just a few dollars and are about 20cm in diametre.
lettuce - a soft variety or finely shredded leaves to prevent tough pieces poking through the wrapper

Your choice of other fillings, here are some ideas:
cucumber, sliced in lengths
fresh coriander or vietnamese mint
fresh mint
chopped peanuts
spring onion, chopped fine
glass/vermicelli rice noodles, these often only need to be soaked in cold water to be ready to use, but follow the directions on the packet
bean sprouts
carrot, in thin sticks
egg, beaten with a little soy sauce and sherry, fried into an omelette shape and cut into strips
tempeh (as is) or tofu (preferably marinated/pre-fried - I suggest a soy sauce and sherry mix)

Suggested dipping sauces:
Peanut (mix peanut butter, a little oil, a little water and a dash each of soy sauce, chilli, sugar and sherry to taste)
Soy sauce (a dash of rice wine vinegar added in can be quite enjoyable)
Sweet chilli (fresh minced chilli or sambal oelek with a little rice wine vinegar or white wine vinegar and sugar, to taste)



Construction tips:
The rice paper wrappers only need to be dipped into warm water for about 30 seconds to be ready to use. I fill my largest flat bottomed frypan with very warm water and dip the wrappers in as needed. They are ready when they have become soft and pliable, which is almost straight away. Also, they stick to themselves once ready so I never prepare a stack of them, just one by one.

I've tried adding the dipping sauce into the unwrapped roll. It doesn't work. The roll becomes very slippery and difficult to roll, sauce squirts all over the place and then the roll won't stick closed. My recommendation is to save the sauce for dipping.

To make a roll, put the soaked wrapper on a plate and fill the middle with your fillings of choice. Leave room around the edges for wrapping.
Fold over opposite 'ends' up over the filling.
Fold over one of the remaining ends also.
Now the bit that takes a little practice. It is easier to do than to explain. Roll the lot towards the final open end. Fold over and compress the fillings as necessary to make them fit.
The wrapper sticks to itself so just press the roll to itself at the end.
Here, let me show you:











3-6 rice paper rolls will make a meal for one, depending on how hungry you are, the type of fillings you use and the amount you manage to stuff into your rolls!

Easy. Versatile. Thrifty. Quick.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on linen. I was really trying to get the texture of icecream into this painting.

Imagine a summer sky filled with fluffy white clouds. Now add a flock of birds. And now also a craving for icecream. It is really hot. You are lying on the grass looking up, squinting, and making shapes out of the clouds. You know your mind can play tricks on you when you do this. That's part of the fun of this game. You see what you are thinking about in the clouds and birds above. Banana icecream.

All artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store. There are prints and originals. This particular painting is drying and will be made available soon for $150. To find out the instant it's ready, get on the collectors list, yellow box top left.

***

The meatless meals recipe

Due to all the floods that happened in Queensland this summer, Australia is suffering a banana shortage. Or not, if you are prepared to pay $13 a kilo! I can only dream of this at the moment. Luckily it's the middle of winter here which tends to keep icecream cravings in check.

This has to be the most astoundingly easy, super healthy and tasty icecream ever. Apparently it's done the rounds online, most often called one ingredient icecream. I first stumbled across it over at thekitchen.com and couldn't believe what I read.

It's so simple to make that it barely counts as cooking and the results are superbly creamy. This icecream is indistinguishable from the real commercial variety minus the weird food additives, and is actually good for you. It's cheap, fast, vegan, no fat, sugar free and stunning.

So how do you make this summer treat?

Take one frozen banana (peeled and chopped and placed in a container before freezing makes life a bit easier at the next step)
Put said frozen banana, peeled and chopped, into a blender.
Whizz madly until it reaches icecream consistency. It starts off slow so have patience.
You may like to add a little vanilla essence to enhance the flavour. Or perhaps some cocoa powder or peanut butter or honey or fresh mint...
What toppings would you like? Chopped nuts, sesame seeds, chocolate syrup, maple syrup, strawberries, au naturale....

One frozen banana equals one serve of perfect icecream.

Easy. Versatile. Thrifty. Quick.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on linen. If you think that the image is a bit bright on your monitor, let's just say that in real life this piece has a 'startling luminosity'.

Gobble gobble fun time. All hands diving in to grab a slice. I was wanting to catch that moment when a group of hungry friends are sharing food straight from the oven, when talking halts and an entanglement of arms descends - no hesitation . That snatched moment when the food is still on the plate before it is all devoured a split second later. Trails of stringy cheese mandatory. 

This is one of my all time favourites so far. Of course I like all the paintings I've done, but it's human to have favourites.

All the food painting artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store. Very limited edition reproduction prints are ready to go right now. If you love and want the original, it is drying and will be made available soon. To find out the moment it's ready, get on the email list, yellow box top left.

***

The meatless meals recipe

I have to admit that I am too lazy to make my own pizza dough. When I want pizza I want it now not in several hours time when the dough base has risen (or not! - what a story that was) and is finally ready to begin cooking. And I find the store bought pizza bases to be too thick and chewy and generally unpleasant. I doubt I'm alone.

There is a third way. Pita bread. If this is too dry for you, try a softer wrap bread such as the sort for souvlaki or burritos. The idea is the same. These flat breads come in packets of half a dozen or more and kick butt for taste over preprepared pizza bases.  They're usually much cheaper. And they offer unbeatable effortlessness. 

To go on the pita bread base I do make my own tomato sauce paste. It's really simple and really flavourful.

Tomato sauce paste
60g sundried tomato
1/2 medium onion
1 fresh tomato (around 100g)
1 teaspoon dried oregano

Put all of these in a blender and whizz until smooth.
This makes enough sauce for 3 pizzas of approximately 30cm diameter, which we find is just right for two people. Remember, the base is really thin and not that filling.

Vegetarian Toppings
Not sure what to put on your pizza? Here are two of my personal favourites and a list of ingredients to consider if you're a bit stuck.

'Mazing Margarita
tomato sauce on the pita bread base
sliced fresh tomato 160-200g
salt and pepper
a mix of grated cheese on top - 60g mozzarella and 30g tasty

Cook in the oven on a pizza stone for 20 minutes at 180C.
After it comes out of the oven, drizzle with olive oil, then spread 1 clove of minced fresh garlic all over the toppings and cover with fresh basil leaves (10-12g).

Mushroom & Olive
tomato sauce on the pita bread base
100g sliced fresh mushrooms (I know, not very seasonal)
40g sliced olives
salt and pepper
a mix of grated cheese on top - 60g mozzarella and 30g tasty
Cook in the oven on a pizza stone for 20 minutes at 180C.
After it comes out of the oven, drizzle with olive oil, then spread 1 clove of minced fresh garlic all over the toppings and cover with fresh rocket (around 25g).

Choices, choices, choices.
Marinated artichoke, mushroom, feta cheese, olives, spinach, onion, caramelised onion, fresh tomato, roast tomato, sundried tomato, capsicum, roast capsicum, fried eggplant, fried zucchini, avocado, fresh basil, rocket, egg (yes, just crack it on right before it goes in the oven), pineapple, corn, cooked potato slices, cooked pumpkin, cooked sweet potato, garlic, oregano, rosemary, thyme, pesto (in addition or replacing the tomato sauce)

What else would you add to this list?

Thrifty. Creamy. Hearty. Easy.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on linen. Inspired by a Twitter comment by the design minded @reese on the innocent quality of blind contour drawing. What's that? It's a drawing practice where you keep your eye on the subject and your pencil moving and you never look at what's appearing on the page. It improves hand-eye coordination and confidence.

I hooked on the idea of using that innocent quality of simple lines and shapes on the completely weird brussel sprout plant. And so we ended up with high brow oil painting meets low brow pencil cartooning. I'm liking this hybrid. For the unaware, the brussel sprout plant is the alien of the vegetable world. When harvested, they look like this (the leaves have been cut off those spikey stalks):

By the way, all the food painting artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store.

***

The meatless meals recipe

In the spirit of finding tasty, easy and hearty things to do with the blander winter veg, I challenged myself to ‘do something’ with brussels sprouts that wasn’t just a side dish. You would not believe how many different incarnations this concept went through before landing here. The original idea was to use chestnuts as they go so well with brussels. 

But. 

After shelling, about half of our chestnuts were rotten and they can be such a time consuming pain in the behind to prepare, that they were dumped. I know when I’m cold and hungry the last thing I want to do is sit down and peel an ingredient for half an hour before I can even get started on making the meal. I am quite sure I am not alone in this sentiment. What we have here is the exact opposite. Quick to prepare and made of humble ingredients. Filling and tasty.

Bingo. 

Oh, and it’s not actually a casserole as it never gets near the oven. Casserole just sounded tastier than stew, which rhymes with ‘ew’. Point taken?

1 tablespoon butter

1 onion, roughly diced

1 ½ green apples, chopped fine but rough

2 cups stock, possibly three

¼ cup split peas

¼ cup lentils

¼ cup rice

1 cup cooked mixed beans

125g mushrooms, chopped

350g brussel sprouts (in quarters) or cabbage (finely sliced)

½ teaspoon dried sage

300ml cream

375g potato in bite size pieces

Saute onion in butter until golden.

Add apple and a little stock, put the lid on the pot and cook the apple until it’s mashable.

Mash into a rough sauce.

Then add everything else and simmer, lid off, until all the ingredients are done. This will be around 30 minutes. Keep an eye on the amount of liquid and add extra stock to prevent sticking if necessary.

Serves 4. 

A generous amount of cracked black pepper works well on top.

Hearty. Thrifty. Leisurely. Easy.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on linen. Thanks to cold snowy nights and the possibly true or possibly fictitious history of shepherds pie being the dish of shepherds (as in tending a flock of sheep or indeed eating them!) when coming down from the mountains into the village. Also well and truly inspired by Chagall's 'I and the Village' shown below, thanks to the sheep, village and mountains shared by both the shepherds pie myth and the painting.

By the way, all the food painting artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store.

***

The meatless meals recipe

Middle of winter. Lashings of mashed potato. Hearty filling beans. Veg and herbs all simmered together in beer until meltable. How good does this sound?

To cook this recipe you will need a lidded casserole dish that can hold more than 1.2L or 2 pints of liquid, or be prepared to clean the bottom of your oven of all the burnt on overflow.

Filling:
2 onions, diced
1 carrot, diced
1/2 cup diced celeriac or 2 stalks celery, sliced
1 tablespoon butter
2 teaspoons dried rosemary
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup dried lentils or split peas (not the little red ones as they just turn into mush)
1/2 cup grains, ie rice (barley is not ideal as it doesn't always cook in time)
2 tablespoons plain flour
2 teaspoons sugar

These liquids need to total 1L:
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
around 330ml beer
stock

Topping:
800g potato
milk and butter to taste for mash

Melt the butter and sweat (lid on) the onion, carrot and celery/celeriac with the salt for around 10 minutes until these are all soft.
Take off the heat and add all the other filling ingredients and stir well.
Then add the liquids and stir well.
Bake in the oven for 1 hour at 160C with the lid on.
Meanwhile, boil, drain and mash the potato, adding milk and butter as you like.
Add the potato topping to the filling.
Place back in the oven minus the lid for another 30 minutes.

Serves 4. 

Satisfying. Thrifty. Easy. Homely.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on canvas. Imagine a typical English grey day. You've been walking outside in the mist. It's cold. Everything in sight is a shade of twilight grey. The house is in sight, with a welcoming glow. You're half frozen, all your clothes are damp and you're starving. Now imagine the cosy warm feeling of homely comfort food. Perhaps bangers and mash? A huge helping of fluffy buttery mashed potatoes, some sausages and your favourite sides, all smothered in gravy. Heavenly.

By the way, all the food painting artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store.

***

The meatless meals recipe

Tangy. Moreish. Thrifty. Easy.

***

Food painting artwork

30 x 30cm oil on linen. Hot and sour soup is all about achieving a balance of these two flavours. This piece is also all about the concept of balance, of getting multiple variables just right for your individual taste. A hair or balance spring represents this idea and I'm sure that you can figure out what the lemon and fire denote.

By the way, all the food painting artwork is available to own in the Official Art Store.

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The meatless meals recipe

Hot and sour soup is a staple on Chinese restaurant menus around here and I love it. However, it is not very filling, being little more than a tasty broth. For a hungry person this is bad. Apparently it is often flavoured with blood. For a vegetarian or anyone squeamish this is super bad. Due to both of these issues I devised, long ago in my student days, this cheap, quick, filling and animal friendly version that I could make at home in a gigantic pot and live on for days. I hope you like it as much as I do.

6 cups water

a coriander plant (at least 15g including leaves, stalks and clean roots)

3cm / 10g fresh ginger, sliced

2 teaspoons salt

1 carrot, chopped or sliced

8 closed cup button mushrooms, halved or quartered
about 180g tofu, cubed
2 teaspoons fresh grated ginger
1 tablespoon cornflour
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons sesame oil
about 230g bamboo shoots
approx 125g dry asian noodles
3 spring onions, chopped
3 tablespoons white wine vinegar, to taste
1 1/2 teaspoons white pepper powder, to taste

Put the water, coriander, salt, carrot and ginger slices in a large pot and simmer, lid on, for 20 minutes.
Remove ginger and coriander roots.
Add mushroom, tofu, bamboo shoots, grated ginger and simmer until mushrooms are cooked.
Add your choice of noodles and keep simmering until these are cooked.
In a mug or similar, mix cornflour, soy sauce and sesame oil until all the lumps are gone.
Add this to the soup. Stir until it thickens.
Add spring onions.
Add the pepper and vinegar a little at a time, until the dish suits your taste. I recommend adding the vinegar first until it is pleasantly sour, and then adding the pepper until the heat is right for you.


This feeds 3.