Category: Food & Drink

Lobscouse (AKA Scouse)

This is a dish I have eaten regularly since a child and is most welcome on a cold winter night.

Ingredients
Serves 4-6

  • 1/2 pound of stewing steak
  • 1/2 pound of breast of lamb
  • 1 large onion
  • 1 pound of carrots
  • 5 pounds of potatoes
  • 2 OXO cubes (beef stock cubes)
  • 2 teaspoons of vegetable oil
  • Salt & Pepper
  • Water

Cooking Instructions
Cooked slowly for approx. 4 hours

Dice the meat into large cubes & lightly brown in the vegetable oil.

Place meat into a large saucepan, chop onion into large chunks and add to the meat. Add sliced carrots and 1 pound of finely chopped potatoes.

Half fill saucepan with cold water and then crumble the stock cubes into the water. Add salt & pepper to season.

Simmer for 2 hours, stiring occasionally. Peel the remaining potatoes and chop roughly, add these to the saucepan and simmer for another 2 hours.

Serve hot with crusty bread.

The Scouse can be made in advance and kept covered & refrigerated for up to 2 days and reheated in a saucepan. The dish usually tastes better after being reheated.

Menemen (Turkish Omelette)

This is a recipe I picked up on my travels to Turkey. Both myself and my wife really enjoy this dish and have served it to guests on numerous occasions.

Ingredients
Serves 2-3

  • 6 large eggs
  • 1 medium onion
  • 1 pound skinned chopped tomatoes (or 1 tin chopped tomatoes)
  • 4 ounces mild green chilli peppers
  • 1 ounce margarine/spread (oil doesn’t work so well but can be used if nothing else)
  • 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • 1 hand-full chopped parsley
  • salt for seasoning
  • water

Cooking Instructions

Peel and finely slice the onion. Remove most (but not all) of the seeds from the chillis then slice them into rings, keeping as many seeds as required for hotness.

Melt the margarine into a large frying pan then add the onions & chillis. Sweat the onions until they become soft.

Add the tomatoes and allow to reduce (at a fairly high heat) for approx 10 minutes.

While the tomatoes are reducing, beat the eggs with the salt and pepper.

When there is almost no liquid left in the tomatoes, add a small quantity of water and the beaten eggs.

Stir the mixture until the eggs have all firmed up and the dish is ready to serve with crusty bread and a fresh Parsley garnish.