More than just mash......

I was hoping to bring you all some jolly news about my July menu starter attempts last night but I forgot to pick up some Parma ham on the way home so those plans were scuppered.

But fear not for another success was born......

There's something very comforting and very nurturing about British food. When I think of traditional British dishes the first things that spring to mind are big family meals, one pot wonders that form the centrepiece to the dining table. I envisage Mum or Dad being responsible for portioning it out or perhaps everybody in turn getting a chance to tuck in for themselves.

British cuisine is very much maligned throughout the world but that is completely unjust because we have just as much regional variation in our traditional dishes as Spain, France or Italy. One of our hearty stews is a match for any variation of Estofados, Cassoulet or Osso Bucco (Does that count a stew?)

We may have only the Fat Duck still in the worlds top 10 restaurants but that matches the Italians and the French too have only Le Chateaubriand in Paris up there and had that not have jumped two places from last year those Gallic Gastronauts wouldn't be represented at all.


To me there is nothing more comforting than a portion of Shepherds or Cottage Pie and it's the latter that I whipped up last night. Just to clear any confusion a Shepherds Pie uses Lamb and a Cottage Pie uses Beef and as long as either is topped off with some mashed potato then the rest of the filling is up to you.

It was the topping yesterday that made my one so special. Instead of using the traditional boiled potato mash I made up a healthy portion of potato mousseline, well I say healthy but perhaps that should be "generous" as there really is nothing healthy about using nearly a full block of butter and around 200ml of double cream in anything......but this is comfort food.

Potato mouselline is really easy to make, the ingredients and quantities are also really simple to remember. The real difference from this type of mashed potato versus the standard is that instead of boiling the potatoes you bake them and then scoop out the insides once completed. This really gives a great potato flavour because rather than all that potatoey goodness dissipating in the boiling water it gets concentrated inside the skin giving it an almost nutty taste.

For 1kg of baking potato flesh (King Edwards or something else floury) you need 200g of unsalted butter, 200ml of slightly whipped double cream, 4 egg yolkes and some grated Nutmeg plus seasoning to taste.

Very simple numbers to remember and then divide or multiply dependent on how much you need.

Method is simple too........

1. Tip the potato flesh into a saucepan and give it a good mash (Larousse instructs you to pass it through a fine sieve first or you could use a potato ricer but I like the odd lump in mine)

2. Put the saucepan over a lowish heat and add in all of the butter giving it a stir until it all melted and fully combined with the potato.

3. Slowly add in the egg yolks stirring all the time so that they don't form big lumps of scrambled egg.

4. Remove from the heat and then fold in the cream again until it's fully combined.

5. Add the grated nutmeg and seasoning to your taste and then it's ready to pipe on top of your filling.

6. Heat the oven to around 190/210C and cook it until the top has a nice golden crust. Perhaps stick some grated cheese on top......

Potato mouselline can replace standard mashed potato in any dish, try it and think about how else it can be used...............

Toodlepip xx

Laptop back.....

After an incredible amount of laziness I finally have my laptop back.....yippeee.

Friday was my only source of blogspiration from the weekend. I knew from the moment I left work that it was going to get a bit out of hand due to it being a birthday and leaving celebration for my friend who had been visiting for a few weeks but was now back off to his bar in Thailand.

Earlier in the day I'd noticed a 25% discount offer on Twitter for one of my favourite Reading restaurants LSQ2 and thought there really could be no better way to start out than to have a tummy full of delicious grub so a table for two was booked for 7:30pm.

With me was a friend who is not normally known for his adventure with food so I was interested to know what he thought of the place. The menu at LSQ2 is one of fusion so for him some of the combinations may have seemed a bit exotic or perhaps even a little obscure.

I started with the Romsey Free Range Duck Egg (£8.95). This is served up with some white asparagus, air dried ham and some wonderful little wild mushrooms. The egg was cooked perfectly with a touch of crispiness around the edges and the texture those mushrooms gave was like little explosions going off in the mouth. I especially liked the enokitake mushrooms, well that's what I think they were!

My friend opted for a starter version of the Hot Scotch Egg (£3.50) which came cut in half to reveal the runny yolk and juicy Meon Valley pork casing. It looked vibrant on the plate as most dishes here do and I think the orange pumpkin ketchup in contrast to the white plate and golden yolk colour gave it a really nice first impression which he said carried on through the eating of the dish.

We'd (read I'd) decided that best for drinks would be a bottle of white wine and as they'd run out of the Sauvignon Blanc that I usually have we instead chose the Saam Chenin Blanc, 2010, South Africa (£21.00) which had lots of fruit and nice aromatics but was still fairly light to drink and certainly complimented my starter.

For main course I fancied something fishy so I went for the Roasted Cornish Monkfish (£14.50). The Monkfish comes wrapped in panchetta which keeps it as moist as you could hope for and it's served inside a very light Yorkshire pudding. The cider, chorizo and caper sauce was quite rich but very tasty and packed with flavour.

All classic combinations but my only gripe would be with the Yorkshire pudding. It was so incredibly light which made me question why it was actually there. Sure it looked nice and did give a slight bit of crunch but I couldn't help but think that a piece of fried bread underneath the monkfish (Steak Rossini style) might have been a bit better because it would have made the fish more of the centrepiece rather that the Yorkshire pud..............was a fantastic piece of delicate cooking though, take nothing away from that.

My fellow diner went for the Isle of Wight Lamb Two Ways (14.95) again I think he thought he was playing it safe and was surprised when the dish actually came out because again it looked very vibrant and was well presented. Judging by the "mmmm's" and "ooooh's" I'm guessing it was tasty too. He did have to ask me what the ravioli was, I'm sure he was expecting something you'd get out of a tin and not a 10cm disc sized parcel :-)

We couldn't hang around for dessert as there was some serious drinking to do elsewhere but it was pretty much a perfect start to the evening. It was the first time my friend had been to the restaurant and I'm absolutely certain he'll go again.

Not that my last experience was all that bad but I did mark it down on the finer points to give it a very good 6 out of 10. This time however I'd happily give it and extra 2 points to make it a very good 8 out of 10........high marks indeed for me and I'm looking forward to the restaurant that can give me my first ever 9 out of 10.

Like I say the rest of the weekend was pretty uneventful. In hindsight it probably wasn't a great idea to go out on Friday because my right leg was very sore after bashing it during a cricket match. I'm currently having to wear flip flops to work because shoes and socks are a no go. I think I twisted my ankle, bashed my calf and my shin all at the same time.....





Oh well, sport hurts and effort is required.

Going to start experimenting with the starter for my July menu this evening so I'll let you know how that goes..

Toodlepip xxx

With distinction..........

I do get confused by some company advertising and in particular the use of phrases associated with certain trades. One that really got on my nerves yesterday was a butchers in Watford who used the phrase "Butchers of distinction" under their company name.

After going in I have to ask myself what criteria does a butchers shop have to meet to become a "Butchers of distinction"?

I this case I think the only thing that set it apart from any other in the locality was that is was not at the back of a supermarket next to the deli counter. It was quite possibly the most pointless butchers I've ever been in.

If you wanted beef, pork, chicken or lamb you'd find what you need or if you wanted to be adventurous you could always take a peek into their deep freeze containing frozen exotic meats such as wild boar or kangaroo but these days I'd hardly called that distinction.

The lamb was all from New Zealand too! What's wrong with the produce on our own doorsteps?....knocks the spots off this imported rubbish.

Where was the game? An independent butchers of any pedigree should have venison, rabbit, hare, pigeon, pheasant etc but there was absolutely none of this to be seen. I want to see it hung up in the windows. I want to see kids pointing at it and wondering what it is and maybe saying "eeeeeewwww I can't eat Bambi" or "Is that a little bunny rabbit?". I want to see grandparents telling children how they used to eat it when they were kids.

The (red) meat on show at this "butchers of absolutely no distinction at all" was bright red in colour with hardly any marbling. To me that means no ageing, intensive (predominantly indoor) farming and protein pellet feeding, these combined means no flavour.

Meat needs to be hung (aged) for a period of time to break down enzymes and muscle fibres which in turn makes the meat more tender. Cheap meats come virtually straight from the slaughterhouse and because they are not hung they have more moisture in them adding up to 15% more in weight and what happens when you cook this? The moisture comes out, it shrivels up and it becomes tough.

The butchers who sell this know exactly what they are doing, they know they can sell more per kilo for a mass produced poor quality product than they can for something locally sourced and well farmed. Low end supermarkets do exactly the same so where's the "distinction"?

So what are my tips for buying good red meat?............

Look for a darker coloured meat, more deep, dark red than bright red. This shows some signs of ageing. An aged joint of similar size to a non-aged joint will weigh less as it has less excess moisture, it'll also shrink less when cooked and it'll have bags more flavour. Don't be afraid to ask how long it's been aged for, a good butcher will gladly tell you, two weeks should be minimum. If they can't or won't give you an answer walk away......this includes supermarkets!

Think of what you are going to cook and how long you intend to cook it for before buying. Meat from the harder working parts of the cow are cheaper to buy but will be tougher as they have more well used muscle fibre and these will take longer for the heat to break down.

Cuts from the less used part of the animal are usually sold at a premium because they are the most tender and take less time to cook but that does not mean they will have a superior flavour, quite the opposite. One nice beef middle fillet medallion for one might set you back the same amount as a whole beef brisket for 8 people. Cooked the right way the brisket will have much more flavour and can be equal or even better in texture.

When buying a roasting joint or thick steak look for thin layers of fat weaving between the meat. This is know as marbling, it's a natural baste for the meat, as you cook it the fat will melt into the joint keeping it moist and giving it extra flavour. Joints with little or no marbling will go dry unless you thread other fat pieces through it using a process called "larding", even then it's usually pork fat that is used.

Where possible with any meat if the budget allows do yourself a big favour and by something that is 100% organic and certified as such. It's more than just a marketing ploy because it really does reflect in the flavour and texture of the meat.

One day I'm really going to go into the science of meat in a blog because it's fascinating once you really take a look at it and understand how it works from field to table.

Toodlepip xxx

Part 2 - Main Course......

Yesterday I gave you part one of the easy seasonal dinner party menu and today I give you the main course, again it's very easy to do, it takes little effort but gives a great result.


I'm using Lamb which we're told is best at this time of year but as renowned chef Paul Clerehugh will tell you however this is not necessarily true. The notion of British spring lamb is really just a bit of a marketing ploy originally intended to push the sales of New Zealand lamb in the UK because for a Lamb to be ready to eat in spring it needs to have been born in November.

Anybody with even the slightest knowledge of seasonal Britain will be all too aware that weather conditions in November really do not tend to produce the lush green fields necessary for good grazing. Around the end of March is when most lambing occurs so in fact the ideal time to really be eating British lamb is around September or October when they have had a whole summer of lush vegetation to eat rather than being bred mainly indoors and fed on protein pellets which only diminishes the flavour and texture.

Nevertheless good lamb can be found but you need to be picky. Don't go for the cheapest you see on the shelf. Look for something with pedigree and preferably organic. Better still go to your nearest specialist butcher rather than the supermarket.

My defence for calling this a seasonal dish comes from this public perception of spring lamb and because the flavour of lamb really does lend itself to a warm sunny day especially when using rack of lamb which I do in this dish.

It comprises of three elements and I'm starting with the lamb element but you could easily prepare the vegetable and broth parts in advance because they only need re-heating prior to plating up.

Like I keep stressing this whole menu requires very little cooking on the day which leaves you to be the stress free and cool as a cucumber host that makes other people jealous.

Rack of Lamb with summer vegetables and lamb broth

Serves 4

For the lamb -

2 x Rack of lamb
Unsalted butter
Olive oil
Dried thyme
Salt & Black Pepper


1. French trim the lamb (video) and cut each rack in half leaving 4 joints with equal amounts of meat, usually works out at 3 or 4 cutlets per person. Season each half rack all over with some salt and pepper.

(If you think there is too much fat on the topside of the meat then shave some off with a sharp knife. Some of the fat will render off when cooking but anything more than about 5 millimetres won't be pleasant when eating)

2. Set the oven to 140C/285F to preheat then take a frying pan and put on the hob over a medium heat. Add in a good knob of butter and a glug of olive oil and let this melt down until the butter/oil mixture starts to bubble.

3. Brown off the lamb on all sides in the butter so it they have a nice uniform colour all over then transfer to an roasting tin.

4. Before putting in the oven sprinkle over some of the dried thyme then place in the middle of the oven. It'll take around 20 minutes for the lamb to cook rare and around 25 minutes for medium which is what I would recommend. It's important to let the lamb rest for at least 5 minutes (preferrably 10) before carving into individual cutlets.




Summer Vegetables

400g x Jersey royal potatoes
300g x Asparagus
200g x Shelled fresh peas
200g x Fresh Broad Beans (skinned)
1 x Bowl of iced water





1. Wash all the vegetables under cold running water then boil the potatoes until they are tender then drain and transfer to bowl of iced water.

2. Put the peas and broad beans into a saucepan of water and bring to the boil. While they are boiling remove the woody root ends from the asparagus by holding them lightly at each end and bending them until they snap (discard the woody bits). Cut off the whole of the tips then slice the remaining stems into 1/2 inch thick pieces before adding to the pan of peas and broad beans.

3. Boil the vegetable for a further 3 minutes then drain and tip into the iced water bowl along with the potatoes. This halts the cooking process as well as keeps the brightness of colour.

As I mentioned before this can be done a few hours in advance because the final process before serving is to simply drain them off and heat them through in a frying pan over a medium heat with some butter and seasoning. (Cutting the potatoes in half before heating through is a good idea)

If you do decide to prepare them early then once they have fully cooled in the water drain them off, transfer to another bowl and toss in a little lemon juice. This will also preserve the colour of the veg.



Lamb Broth

500ml x Lamb Stock
1 x Small onion
1 x Small carrot
1 x Celery stick
1 x Clove of garlic
Fresh mint
Salt & black pepper
Olive oil



1. Heat a little olive oil in a pan over a medium heat.

2. Slice up the onion, carrot, celery and garlic and then add to the pan and allow to cook a while until the onions soften then pour in the stock and allow to simmer. There is no need to be dainty with the veg, it'll be sieved off later.

3. After a minute or two throw in around 8 or 10 chopped mint leaves. You could use dried but if you do bear in mind that dried herbs are stronger than fresh ones and for me they lack the zesty zing you get from fresh herbs.

4. Keep it simmering away making sure you taste regularly and add seasoning as you go. The stock I've pictured is from the cooks ingredients range at Waitrose. You could make your own, buy one like I have mentioned or if absolutely necessary use a stock cube or two although I find these very salty and nowhere near as good as decent liquid stock.

5. Once you are happy with the taste strain the broth through a fine sieve and either leave to cool for heating up later or keep warm until you are ready to serve.

Again presentation is up to you but because the broth is involved you will need fairly high sided serving plates and large pasta bowls would work perfectly.

Just pile up some of the warmed vegetables in the centre of the then on top of these rest your carved lamb cutlets. Finally spoon over the liquid broth. Maybe sprinkle over some finely chopped mint to garnish and there you have a wonderfully light and tasty seasonal main course.

And what do we have in tomorrows blog? Dessert of course.............

Crème caramel with dark chocolate





Yes I did have a little difficulty getting them out of the moulds but because I did I can explain why you don't have too :-)

.............toodlepip xx

Freddie rocks up......

I'm still a bit dumbfounded about yesterdays antics. Did I really spend a whole day knocking about on a cricket field with my ultimate sporting hero?

Was the weather so nice that I'm current sat here trying not to change any facial expressions due to the pinkness of my sun scorched head?

Also just how big are world class international (ex) cricketers?

The answer to the first two questions is "Yes" and the the third is "Huuuuuuuuuuuuuge"





Freddie was down at Sonning CC quite out of the blue to film a documentary for the BBC on the effects of weather on sport. He was a really nice guy and had no quarms about signing autographs for the kids when they came over once school had finished.





Having dropped him in the deep early on I was singled out for catching practise, pretty unsuccessfully I might add. My hands today are aching.....that lad can get some height on those cricket balls I tell you !!!





Ultimately though "safe hands" Zagorski proved too good for the young upstart and he had to make the lonely walk back to the pavilion (or maybe it was just the end of filming that segment.....you decide)





All in all a really good and wholly unexpected experience. We only knew about the shoot the day before. I'm guessing they keep the schedule tight so that there isn't enough time to get the word around and have hundreds of people turn up making background noise and harrasing the celebrities.

We were told that our club was chosen for the film shoot because of recommendations from other clubs for our reputation as a hospitable and picturesque venue. Personally I think it was all down to the hanging baskets and flowerbeds :-)





Back to normality today and a busy day ahead it is too. I have a few technical bits I need to tidy up at work then at 2:30pm I have to head off to the Royal Berks Hospital to have a small operation on my hand......nothing to do with Freddie and the dropped catches I might add although the local anaesthetic might be a welcome relief.

After that I have my very good buddy Razer coming over for dinner. I take Razer's opinion on food very seriously, he's a bit of an aficionado so I'm keen to make a excellent spread. The menu is -

Starter - Hot smoked mackerel pate with pickled fennel and gooseberry purée.
Main - Rack of Lamb with summer vegetables and a minted Lamb broth.
Dessert - Crème Caramel with tempered dark chocolate.

I've tweaked the starter even more from my previous efforts this time using hot smoked mackerel rather than fresh and added some horseradish. I've combined a bit more spice and seasoning with the pickled fennel and I've retained more sourness in the gooseberry purée rather than have it too sweet.

I've never tried the main course before, it's something that just popped into my head and I think it's really going to work well.

The dessert again is something I've not really tried. I did have a trial run a couple of days ago and since then I've given it a bit more of a tweak especially with a bit more vanilla in the custard and less caramel. I've never tried to temper chocolate but I think a small sliver of bitterness will be a nice contrast to the sweetness of the caramel.

As a menu it's really rather a good one to use for a dinner party because the starter and dessert can be done a day or two in advance and the only really cooking on the day is for the main course which really shouldn't be difficult at all. It's seasonal, has lots of good flavours and is well balanced.

I'll let y'all know how it goes....toodlepip xxx

B or G .......

We're halfway there. 20 weeks is up and today we are off to have the scan that'll tell us which of the English cricket teams my first offspring will captain in the future. Emily is coming with us too and I can't wait to see her face when she see her little brother or sister wriggling around inside mummy's tummy. I reckon I'll cry.......

Whatever the outcome we'll be celebrating tonight and I can imagine my mum is already sat by the phone with knitting needles in hand ready to get clickety clicking with a ball each of pink and blue wool by her side.

I've also decided that for Sunday's cooking demonstration at Eat Reading Live I'm going to cook not one but two dishes at the same time. Completely different ones but both really quite simple and tasty.

First will be Rack of Lamb with puy lentils and wild rice and while that's cooking away I'll whip up a quick favourite of mine and an Italian classic Spaghetti, aglio, olio é peperoncino.

The first dish has a provincial French feel to it and it's a recipe I created myself but it's inspired by Elizabeth David. The second is just a true Italian dish, I must have had it at least 4 times a week when I was working away in Rome. I can't believe it's not more widely known in the UK because it is so easy to make and so cheap too.

I don't believe for one second that I'm being optimistic when I say that I think you could feed 4 people quite contently for around £3 with the second dish. By doing two dishes it'll also mean more to hand out to people for tasters :-)

Saturday night I'm also meeting up with my buddy and we're going to go off and eat somewhere in Reading and catch up. We don't know where yet but it'll be reviewed so any restaurateurs ready this best be on their toes.

Watch out on FB and Twitter for the baby news ...... toodlepip xx

Easy no Peasy........

I had one of those days yesterday when my creative juices just weren't flowing. I was feeling lethargic and completely uninspired. That was until I saw that my expectant darling lady was feeling a little pensive so I thought what better way to cheer somebody up than to cook them something delightful.

Even then it was difficult to come up with something inspired. I was always going to use lamb as I know that is her favourite but I really struggled to come up with something to go with it that was healthy and especially light (It had been a nice warm day so anything too rich would have been just too much) but at the same time tasty and filling.

I really wanted to use asparagus as again I know she is very fond of it but even after wandering around my local supermarket for a good hour I just couldn't get my head around any combination of lamb and asparagus (however I will in future) so instead I thought back to a dish I'd had a while back at Jamie's Italian in Reading.

That time it was lamb with lentils and herbs. It was very nice however I thought it was a bit too over herbed and even though the lentils gave it some texture I didn't think there was enough variation. I also felt that it was a bit dry to taste and appearance wise it lacked a bit of colour so my remit then became to not only create something I knew Carley would love but also to improve on what I'd had previously..........I think it worked :-)


Herbed rack of lamb with lentils and wild rice

Serves 2 people as a main summertime course (approx 30 mins cooking time)

Shopping List & preparation -

1 x Rack of french trimmed lamb. If it's not trimmed (bones cleaned and visible) then get the butcher to do this for you.
1 x Small Onion, finely chopped.
2 x Cloves of Garlic, finely chopped.
4 x Strands of saffron.
2 x Tomatoes, quartered, seeds removed and flesh diced into small squares.
2 x Handfuls of small green lentils. (Puy lentils will work too)
2 x Handfuls of mixed basmati and wild rice. (sold together in a packet)
1 x Bunch of mint, finely chopped or chiffonade.
1 x Tablespoon of dried oregano.
1 x Teaspoon of garam masalla.
1 x Juice of half a lime.
75g x Unsalted butter (about 1/4 of a block cut into smaller cubes)
500ml of light vegetable stock. (double diluted stock cube will work)
Small tub of greek yoghurt.
Olive Oil. (standard oil not extra virgin)
Milled Sea Salt.
Milled Black Pepper.

Method -

1, Preheat oven and oven dish (enough to hold the lamb) to 140C/275F
2, Mix together half the mint and half the oregano with a good glug of Olive Oil
3, Season the lamb with salt and pepper then rub the flesh over with the oil mixture and the lime juice, set aside to marinade of a few minutes. (longer if you have time)
4, In a frying/sauté pan over a pretty low heat add half the butter and let it reached foaming point before adding in a glug of olive oil.
5, Take the marinated lamb and fry in the pan all over until it takes on a bit of colour. Do not be tempted to increase the heat too much as you'll begin to burn the herbs in the marinade and that will add a bitter taste to the finished dish.
6, Place the lamb into the oven.
7, Using the same pan and oil tip in the chopped onions, garlic and garam masalla then let these soften down for a minute or two stirring often.
8, Tip in both the lentils and the rice stirring to ensure that each pulse and grain gets a good coating of the oil mixture.
9, Add the tomatoes, remaining oregano, saffron and mint (leaving a little of the mint for garnish) and stir until combined.
10, Pour in some of the stock, enough to just cover the contents of the pan and let it bubble away adding stock a bit at a time until the lentils and rice are cooked through but do not overcook.
11, Remove the lamb from the oven and set aside to rest for a minute or two.
12, Season the lentils with salt and pepper to your taste then stir in a cube of two of the remaining butter to slightly enrichen then remaining juices.

To serve spoon equal amounts of the lentils and rice onto the centre of your serving dishes, carve the rack of lamb between each bone into individual cutlets and place on top. Sprinkle over the remaining mint and place a tablespoon of the yoghurt onto each dish (a quenelle just to one side looks good)

So where do I think this improved on the dish I mentioned?.......Well

Using less herbs is probably most significant but adding just a hint of spice from the garam masalla and saffron gives it more complex and admittedly curious depth.

Whereas the recipe from Jamie's Italian was very heavy on the use of rosemary I've substituted that for mint which apart from taking it down a more Greek route makes it lighter and more summery on the palate.

Mixing the lentils with basmati and wild rice gives that part of the dish more interesting textures as do the tomatoes which also add colour.

Leaving stock in the lentils rather than them absorbing it all creates a sauce when combined with the butter and of course the saffron gives the sauce a golden appearance again making the dish more pleasing on the eye, especially when served on a white dish.

Taking a piece of each component (Lamb, lentils, sauce and yoghurt) in the mouth brings all these flavours together into something that I think works very well indeed.

Give it a try and let me know what you think....even better still try your own variations :-)

Toodlepip xxx

To Curry Favour.....

OK as promised a recipe for a rather hot Lamb Curry for you all. Once you have done this a few times you'll be cooking curries the same way for ages. It's really so simple.

You could actually use any meat for this too, Pork, Chicken and Beef would work as would just adding more vegetables for a vegetarian option or chucking in some fresh uncooked and unshelled prawns towards the end of cooking for a fishier variation.

Lamb or Mutton would be my personal choice which is why I've used it in the recipe but it really more about the spice paste and blended sauce (in Indian cooking referred to as the "Masala" which I'm sure rings bell with you)

I'm only going to do the actual curry itself leaving you to decide what you serve with it. Personally just plain boiled Basmati rice does the trick for me because any extra flavourings can distract from the spices in the curry.

This should serve 4 people.

What you need for this -

1 x Large Saucepan or Stove-top Casserole (In either case they need a lid. If you do use a casserole make absolutely sure it can cope with direct heat otherwise it could crack and be very dangerous)
1 x Blender or Hand Blender.
1 x Pestle and Mortar. (This is preferred but not entirely necessary as any whole spices used could be substituted for their ground variety)
1 x Chopping Board.
1 x Sharp Cooks knife.
1 x Measuring Jug. (This is just to mix up a small amount of stock so if you don't have one then a coffee mug will do)
1 x Empty bowl for preparation.

Ingredients -

2 x Medium/Large Onions.
3 x Dorset Naga Chillis. (If you cannot get these go for 4 or 5 Scotch Bonnet or perhaps about 7 or 8 green finger Chillis. The hotter the better, test your limits)
4 x Cloves of Garlic.
3 x Tomatoes
2 x Medium sized Floury Potatoes. (Estima, King Edward or Desiree)
1kg x Stewing Lamb. (Neck or Shoulder will be best, try and get your butcher to take it off the bone and cut it into chunks for you, they may also already have prepared chucks of Stewing Lamb ready.)
1 x Stock Cube. (Lamb preferably but Chicken or vegetable will work too)
1 x Handful of Fresh Coriander.
1 x Tin of Chopped Tomatoes.
1 x Thumb sized piece of Fresh Ginger.
3 x Tablespoons of Sunflower or Vegetable Oil
1 x Teaspoon of Black Mustard seeds.
1 x Good glug of White Wine Vinegar.
Sea Salt.
Fresh Ground Black Pepper.

Spices - If you do not have a Pestle and Mortar then just mix the spices up in a small pot substituting the whole spices (seeds) for their ground equivalent. (tbsp = Tablespoon/tsp = Teaspoon)

1 tbsp x Hot Madras Curry Powder.
1 tsp x Tumeric.
1 tsp x Cumin Seeds.
1 tsp x Coriander Seeds.
1 tsp x Paprika.
1 tbsp x Chilli Powder.
4 x Cardomom Pods. (Carefully cut open and use just the black seeds inside)
1 tsp x Ground Ginger.
1 tbsp x Ground Cinnamon.
1 tsp x English Mustard Powder. (Optional)

To start get all the spices into you Pestle and Mortar and give a good grinding until there are no large bits then add a touch of water a bit at a time to create a paste, leave this to one side for the time being.

** TIP here - Why not multiply the Spice ingredients and use only what you need for this recipe right now and save the rest in an air tight container for use again saving you having to measure all the spices out again next time. ***

So now take the onions, peel them then cut each in half from root to top. Take one of these Onion halves, slice it widthways into fairly thin slices and save in one of the empty bowls for later.

The remaining Onion and be roughly chopped and added to the blender jug.

For the Chillis just lop off the stalks and also bung into the blender jug. The minimal amount of contact your fingers have with insides of these beauties the better !!

Peel the Garlic cloves and the Fresh Ginger add both of these to the blender jug as well.

Finally give the Fresh Coriander (stalks and all) a little chop so it'll blend easier and throw this in the blender too.

Give all of these ingredients a good blast until its all nicely chopped and there are no lumpy bits. You may find that initially the ingredients won't blend too easily but you can fix this by taking the lid off the tin of chopped tomatoes and adding in some of the juice to the mixture as it blends.

Once you happy with it's texture then turn off the blender and set aside for later.

Now to start the cooking....

Put the pan over a medium heat, let it warm up before adding in the Oil.

After a few seconds add in the Black Mustard seeds.

Keep your eye on the pan because in a while the seeds should start popping a little.

Once they do then take your Spice Paste mixture, add it into the Oil and give it a good stir until it is completely mixed with the oil.

If the Oil and Spice mixture looks like it's cooking a bit too ferociously just take the pan off the heat for a while and stir it until it calms down a bit, it should just be a gentle simmer. The idea here is not to burn the spices but to cook out the powderiness and to flavour and colour the Oil.

If you're happy that it's all nicely mixed together then empty the bowl of sliced onions into the pan and give them a stir round. Notice how quickly they take on the colour of the Oil.

A minute or so later add the Lamb. Many people would say that you should brown off the Lamb first but for me that just restricts the flavours from getting into the meat so for this recipe just bung in in there and give it a stir so it's all coated in the spices.

Let this cook for a few minutes, stirring occasionally but in the meantime you can peel the potatoes and cut into cubes, about a centimetre square, maybe just a little bigger. When done put them into the pan along with the Lamb and again give it a stir to get them coated in all the lovely spices.

Cut each tomato into 8 equal wedges, or near enough then chuck these in too. (In a restaurant the tomatoes would be skinned too. By all means do that if you want but it's a bit of a faff)

The contents of the blender and the rest of the chopped tomatoes can now be added along with a a good pinch of Sea Salt and plenty of Black Pepper. Give it another good stir.

It's up to you to decide how thick you'd like the sauce but I'm guessing that at the moment the curry does look a bit dry so just dilute about a third of the stock cube into about a 300ml of boiling water and add to the pan a bit at a time until it looks how you think you like it to when you serve it up.

You might not need it all but don't throw it away because this is a slow cooked dish, there will no doubt be some reduction in consistency as it cooks so checking every now and then and adding more if required is a good thing.

Finally add in the glug of White Wine Vinegar, stir again, drop the heat down to low, and stick on the lid. I find that the Vinegar will add a sharpness that brings out the heat more. If you feel you put in too much you can temper the vinegary flavour by adding sugar to balance it back again.

It can take anywhere between 60 and 90 minutes to cook but you'll know when it's nearly ready because the floury potato cubes will start to disintegrate adding substance to the sauce.

While it's cooking do keep tasting but try not to stir too much otherwise the Lamb could start to flake up as it tenderises and lose it's shape making you end up with something more akin to a Curry soup rather than a Bendaloo :-)

Lastly..............Put a toilet roll in the Freezer ready for the morning :-)