Hearty Red Bean Stew

I know I said my next post would be chocolate brownies, but I tried this last night and it was deelish. And let's face it, you'd only get fat on chocolate brownies.

Maybe I'll post chocolate brownies dependent on demand. Then maybe I can up my quota of comments (Rach, this is war).

Back to business. This recipe very kindly comes from my friend Emma.

Hearty Red Bean Stew

1 tin red kidney beans
1 tin chopped tomatoes
half a white cabbage, chopped
2 or 3 carrots, chopped (the original recipe I got from a friend had green pepper but I much prefer carrots)
1 onion, chopped
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp chili powder
enough stock to cover the veg
coconut milk/creamed coconut, as much or as little as you like

Fry the onion in a little oil then add all the other ingredients except the coconut. Bring to the boil and then simmer until the veg is cooked. Add the coconut and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes (Emma often make this ahead of time and then add the coconut when she's reheating it). Serve with baked potatoes, rice or crusty bread.

This is a really odd mixture of things, or so I thought until I did a little research. Apparantly the soy sauce/coconut mixture is an island (particularly Jamaica) thing, and by gosh is it yummy. Of course Jamaican recipes use black-eyed or pinto beans (along with goat...) rather than kidney beans.

I forgot to put stock in it and put in more soy sauce for flavour (just until it was salty enough). I'll try it with stock, but I wonder whether it wouldn't be better this way.

Right, all you who want to reduce your meat and up your pulse consumtion: get cooking!

Chicken Satay

Sorry, the recipes have been somewhat thin on the ground recently. I'm back with new vigour!

Anyway, this is Alex's absolute favourite. It's my corruption of a West-Indian dish a friend used to go on about.

I've given you a recipe using chicken breasts, because it's healthier I suppose and I know what the cooking time should be. But I much prefer using chicken joints. Increase the simmering time accordingly.

Chicken Satay (for 4)

3 or 4 chicken breasts, cut into chunks
1 large onion
a few cloves garlic, crushed
a little oil for frying
2 carrots (or 1 if they are really big) cut into small pieces
2 different coloured peppers, cut into bigger chunks
1 tin tomatoes
1 squirt tomato puree
1 chicken stock cube (and no, OXO won't do)
a good glug of lemon juice
chilli (fresh, dried, sauce, whatever. Depends how hot you like it!)
3 big tbsp peanut butter (or more...)
salt, pepper

Fry up your onion and garlic for a few minutes, and add you chicken. When it has gone white add your carrots and pepper and continue frying for another few minutes. Add your tomatoes, tomato puree, stock, lemon juice, chilli; cover with water (it looks too much, but it will thicken with the peanut butter) and simmer for 20 mins. Stir in your peanut butter, season to taste and serve with rice.

Deeelicous.

Coming soon: chocolate brownies (the best you've ever tasted).

Felt hat disaster

I attempted to make a felt hat last night. It didn't work.

I was being ambitious, and tried to make it from scratch: laying out the wool fibres, felting them together, shrinking the felt sheet over a bowl, then shrinking it more it over a hatshaper until it was stiff and held it's shape.

Felt Hat making: Hard Lessons Learned no.1

When laying out your wool fibres make sure they are teased out thinly and run in all sorts of different directions. I didn't do this very well and the layers of fibre felted only within their own layers, so I ended up with a sort of 4 ply felt that peeled apart easily. The top layer of felt kept peeling and rolling up like bad sunburn when I was shaping the hat.

Felt Hat Making: Hard lesson learned no.2

Don't be so keen to get it on the hatshaper - let it felt up and stiffen quite a bit first, rolling it lots in your bamboo mat or bubblewrap. It's much quicker and effective than hours and hours of shrinking by hand on the shaper. My hat did eventually shrink to fit, but it took about 3 hours. My hands were like prunes.

Felt Hat Making: Hard lesson learned no.3

If the instructions say 'leave to dry naturally on the hatshaper' then follow this wise advice. My hat was looking a pretty good tight shape (apart for the peeling areas) but then I got impatient and put it in the washing machine for a spin cycle. When I took it out it was lovely and dry, but enormous and more like a Sou'wester than the neat little cloche I had prior to the spin.

There is a good little video of how to do it properly here. Scroll down the the bottom of the page and click on the moving pictures. (Sorry I couldn't get it to link properly.)

I will be trying again tonight, and will let you know if my technique improves. I am determined to make a wearable hat before it gets too warm to wear it.

Very easy project for beginners

Here's a project for everyone:

Find your local chinese supermarket.

Now you just have to be prepared to look fairly silly as you spend ages trawling past shelves for something you recognise.

I only had the guts to go in mine fairly recently and I'm hooked - things that I would buy in Tescos (creamed coconut, soy sauce, ginger, sesame oil... the list is endless) are so much cheaper, but on top of that I've only just begun to discover delicious new things. My latest favourite is Thai Green Curry paste, which will feed about 12 hungry people per jar without being stingy, and is fabulous when you want dinner on the table in 20 mins (I use frozen fish for minimal fuss and its mouthwateringly good).

I still wander around in hopeless disorientation, but I do plan to get a book and start being adventurous (green curry doesn't count, I know).

Apparantly the one in North London sells things half to the third of the price of the one here. I can smell several bargains...!

Easy and virtually free patchwork quilt – Part 7

Read part 1
Read part 2
Read part 3
Read part 4
Read part 5
Read part 6

Machine Quilting

Quilting is necessary to hold all 3 layers of the quilt sandwich together. Traditionally you would do this with tiny running stitches. I have hand quilted one quilt in the past. It looks lovely, and was therapeutic, but it took a long long time. Now I only machine quilt - much faster!.

There are loads of books available to tell you how to do this, but let me bust a myth. It’s just sewing lines. The only tricky part to it making sure your 3 layer sandwich doesn’t slip about. That’s why good basting is essential.

Decide on your pattern of lines, and colour of thread you want to see. The quilting lines will become a beautiful feature if you use a contrasting colour. On this quilt I used white so that you could see what I was doing.

Use tailors chalk to mark up your quilting pattern. Use a ruler if you want straight lines. As this quilt is supposed to be an easy project I opted for simple straight diagonal lines.


If you don’t want to buy tailors chalk, try this: line up the edge of your presser foot with the seams of the pieced blocks. By doing this you will sew a line that is a nice consistent distance from the seam and is always straight. Most of the quilting I do is wobbly and wavy on purpose so that I can skip the marking up step. I’m aiming for the ‘naïve’ look. Works for me!

Another way to keep the quilting process simple is to run your sewn lines off the edges of the quilt to avoid having to pull through loose ends and tie them and tuck them inside. The above diagonal pattern does exactly this - I start at one side and sew right across to the other. All the end of the threads will eventually be tidied up in the binding.

Before you start, layer up some scrap fabric and wadding to test how the quilting lines will look and to check the tension on your machine.

When you are ready, dive right in and get quilting. A nice play on Radio 4 is the perfect quilting entertainment.



After I had finished the diagonal lines I decided it needed more quilting so I kept adding more and more stitching. Personally I am a fan of quite dense quilting. This part is up to you though – be creative.




Tips for successful machine quilting:

Manoeuvring such a large thing through the machine can be hard. Roll up the sides of quilt if you are fighting with it, and it should fit better through the machine. I use bicycle clips or safety pins to keep the roll together.


If your quilt is large, place your ironing board on your left hand side, adjusting it so it’s at the same height as your table. You can then rest the quilt on it, which takes a lot of the weight from your left arm.

Try not to pull the quilt through the machine, or allow it to drag back. Let the feed dogs pull it through naturally.

Use your fingers to gently spread and flatten the quilt as it goes under the needle. This will help avoid any wrinkles and puckers. I find that I always get more wrinkles on quilts with thick puffy wadding than I do when I use the flatter wadding, which is why I don’t like to use the thick stuff.

To keep the middle layer of wadding in place in the long term you should ensure there is not more than 6 inches between the quilting lines. Otherwise you will get lumpy duvet syndrome. Yuck.

My machine has a walking foot attachment which is perfect for quilting. It has feed dogs (the little caterpillar tracks that grips the fabric) on the top as well as the bottom meaning that the quilt sandwich feeds through evenly. Having said that, I have made loads of quilts with a normal foot.

If you basted using safety pins take them out as you go. If you used running stitch wait until the end and then pull them out. If you used spray you don’t need to do anything!

Practice makes perfect. You will get better as you practice, and the stitches will come out more even and straight.


The final step is to finish the edges and you're done. Come back soon!

Project Perseverance Awards

As Eleanor mentioned, we are pleased to award the first Project Perseverance Prize to Jenny, who has been making her very first patchwork quilt by using my instructions.

She has been doing so well she emailed to say that she had caught me up and was waiting for the next batch of instructions so she could carry on! Now that's perseverance!

Here is a snap of her quilt top, ready for basting and quilting. It looks absolutely fantastic to me. It's flat, with lovely straight seams and perfectly aligned corners.


Well done Jenny!

Jenny is now eligible for the big Greenlaces Annual Award, for which there will be an excellent prize (to be announced.) Emma is also entered, after making falafel, but with a cunning twist.

If you want to be considered all you have to do is email a photo or tell us about your efforts to info@rachelsimons.co.uk

Easy and virtually free patchwork quilt – Part 6

Read part 1
Read part 2
Read part 3
Read part 4
Read part 5

Basting

Now you need to ‘baste’. Nothing to do with turkeys you’ll be glad to hear. The idea is to temporarily hold the 3 layers in place so you can pick up the whole thing to quilt it.

Lay the backing on the floor (right side down) and smooth it out. If you are on your own sellotape the corners to the floor. If you can get a friend to help it’s much easier. Lay the wadding over, followed by your pieced quilt top and smooth out any wrinkles.

The traditional way to baste the quilt is to use large running stitches. Start from the middle and sew a line of large running stitches across the whole quilt.

Repeat with more lines about 6 inches apart until you’ve covered the quilt. Then do it all again perpendicular to the first lot. Frankly I can’t be arsed to do that. My knees can’t take it. I either use safety pins, or for the true speed merchant, quilt basting spray, which is essentially a spray on glue. Quilt basting spray is marvellous but for a larger quilt you definitely need a helping hand or you’ll drive yourself batty trying to get it stuck down straight and flat.

For the safety pin method I use quilter’s safety pins which have a cunning kink in them which helps you to pin while keeping the whole thing flat on the floor. Put the safety pins about 6 inches apart right across the whole quilt keeping all the layers smooth.

When it’s all basted trim off any excess wadding and backing so it’s about an inch bigger than the quilt top. You will neaten up the edges later.

Now you are ready to quilt your masterpiece!

(Or in Jane's case, another gin.)

How to Clean your Oven...

...without needing to fumigate your kitchen afterwards.

This is surprisingly fun and very satisfying. It's a bit like something you did when you were five, along with potato printing. Remember to ask an adult to help you.

You will need....

1 cup white vinegar
1/2 cup bicarbonate of soda
1/4 washing detergent (I think this may be optional, but I haven't tried it without so wouldn't like to say)

a bowl and spoon
a painty thing (a pastry brush is perfect, if not just use the spoon
a scrapy thing (a fish slice is perfect, or a spoon...)
a 'clearing up' thing (hoover is best, or dust pan and brush)
a cloth

Put your oven on high, and while it's heating up mix up your ingredients in a bowl. It should make a paste. If it's the wrong consistency, add some flour until it is. Put your bicarbonate of soda in slowly, or it will fizz everywhere...

When your oven is hot, switch it off, open it and paint the whole of the inside with the paste, using your painting implement of choice. Close the oven door and leave for at least an hour.

(Here's one I painted earlier)

Now it should be dry and cooked, and you get to scrape it all off. Scrape away the grease! You'll get powder all over which is why it's handy to have a hoover on standby. If your oven is black, make sure the door or something you can see is really gross so you have the satisfaction of seeing all the cooked on horribleness disappear.

Now wipe out the inside with a damp cloth to get the rest off.

Hooray!!

I'm conscious that Rach's posts are more interesting than mine because she uses more pictures. So here you are:





(Don't try this method on this type of oven)

This month's awards

This month's Greenlaces Award for Project Perseverance goes to:

Cousin Jenny, for her quilt (pics to follow)

And the award for Entrepreneurship goes to:

Colleague Emma, for her black-eyed bean felafel (which she said was very nice, and a bit pink)

(round of applause)

Please send all nominations via comments for our next round of awards. There will of course be a round up at the end of the year (can we cobble together a prize Rach?), so get busy!!

The best houmous/hummus I've made...

... was this recipe.



Try it as a must.

And since we appear to be on something of a chick pea theme at the moment, I just wanted to let you know that soaking and boiling a huge vat of chick peas and then freezing them in small batches works really well. You can just run them under the hot tap to defrost them as you need them. Readers will remember my earlier chick pea mistake... I don't plan to go back to tinned, and given that my freezer is kept on anyway (and apparantly they function more effectively the fuller they are), I think this way uses a lot less energy than tins, even if you recycle them.

(The tins I mean, not the chick peas.)