Incidentally welcome to 2012 – the year which in the future we will look back on as marking the beginning of the end. Quietus anyone?

Preparation time: 5 – 10 minutes
Cooking time: about an hour
Skill level: easy
Serves: 4 – 6

Ingredients

• waxy potatoes – thinly sliced – 1kg
• 1 large onion – thinly sliced
• 1 clove of garlic – crushed
• fresh thyme – 10g
• double cream – 250ml
• semi-skimmed milk – 320ml
• mature Brie – 250g
• olive oil
• s & p

*OK so this uses the wrong cheese and doesn’t contain any lardons so purists and pedants will probably insist this is not a true tartiflette.

Preheat your oven to 180c/gas mark 4.

Gently fry the onion in some olive until soft and beginning to colour. Set aside.

Strip the leaves from the thyme sprigs and finely chop.

Put the cream, milk, garlic and thyme in a large saucepan and bring to a simmer.

Add the sliced potato, cover with a lid and cook for 5 minutes.

Stir in the cooked onions and season with salt and black pepper.

Butter a suitably sized ovenproof dish.

Chop the Brie into slices.

Place half the potato mixture into the prepared dish and sprinkle over half the cheese.

Repeat, finishing with a layer of cheese.

(At this stage the dish can be set aside and cooked at a later time.)

Bake in the oven for 40-45 minutes until bubbling with a golden crusty top and tender when stabbed with a knife.

Serve as a side or main with a healthy salad.

Verdict: Potato and melted cheese works, this is a fact and this is another excellent example of the genre. Creamy smooth rich filling comfort food.

Drink: Red – we are still bravely drinking our way through our substantial Christmas stash of booze.

Entertainment: The third and final episode of ‘Black Mirror’ followed by Old Jews Telling Jokes.

Happy New Year – You decide when.

Here in the UK Gordon Ramsay has them on the menu at his authentic East End pub ‘Gordon Ramsay’s The Boozer’ as ‘Marrowfat Cassoulet with a Mint Persillade Suggestion’ and charges a reasonable £16.99 per portion, and on her ground-breaking cookery series ‘The Delicious Miss Dahl‘ Sophie added her own inimitable tweest and reimagined them as ‘Sophie’s Luvely Wubly Mushy Wushy Fluffy Wuffy Ploppy Pea Poos’. But that is as maybe, here up north us no nonsense northerners simply call them as they are – ‘Mushy Peas’. And they are reet good.

Preparation time: pretty much none – plus 12 hours soaking time
Cooking time: 30 – 45 minutes
Skill level: easy
Serves: 4

Ingredients

• dried marrowfat peas – 300g
• bicarbonate of soda – 2tsp
• butter – knob
• mint sauce – 1-2tsp (optional)
• salt ‘n’ pepper

Start by soaking your peas overnight (or for at least 12 hours) in plenty of cold water mixed with the bicarbonate of soda (the more you use, the mushier the end result). The peas will expand by about three times, so make sure you have a large enough bowl and sufficient water.

Drain the peas and place in a saucepan. Cover (just) with cold water, bring to the boil, turn down the heat, and simmer until the peas are at your preferred level of mushiness. Keep an eye on the water level and top up if it looks like it is getting too dry.

Stir in a knob of butter and season to taste.

If using, stir in some mint sauce.

Also, if so inclined you could add some food colouring at this stage:

Hi-vis Green (aka E120) – for that authentic Batchelors look
Kooky Blue – for all those scatter-brained Bridget Jones types
Bloody Red – to scare the vegans

Serve as an accompaniment to whatever you fancy, or alternatively as a snack on its own with a splash of malt vinegar.

Verdict: Delicious. We had ours with the Simon Hopkinson cheese and onion pie we serve it up to all our first time guests, plus sage-roasted new potatoes. If you like mushy peas, you’ll love these. If you don’t like the mushy peas you’ve had in the past, you still might love these. The (trad) way of eating them on their own with just a dash of vinegar is also thoroughly endorsed here at Yumblog. Tuck in.

Drink: We had guests up from that there London, so plenty.

Entertainment: Our guests talked long into the night of their sophisticated London ways. We sat slack jawed as they regaled phantasmagorical tales of bright lights, a giant metal eye, trains that travel underground, and most fanciful of all, beer at £4.60 a pint.

Warren sucks eggs says Charlie

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 2 hours
Skill level: easy
Serves: 6

Ingredients

• 1 cabbage (white, savoy or red) – finely shredded – 900g
• 2 medium onions – finely chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic – finely chopped
• wine vinegar – 1tbsp
• olive oil – 120 ml
• 10 juniper berries (optional)
• s and p

Quarter the cabbage, cut out the hard inner core and cut very finely into shreds.

Put the oil and onion into a large pan.

Cook, stirring over a medium heat until the onions have taken on a golden colour.

Add the garlic and continue to cook until that too has taken on some colour.

Next add the shredded cabbage and stir until completely coated in the oil. Cook until wilted (about 5 minutes).

Add the vinegar, juniper berries (if using) and season generously with salt and pepper.

Stir everything together, turn down to a minimum heat, cover with a tight fitting lid and cook very slowly for one and a half hours.

Stir occasionally and if it looks like it is about to dry out add a small splash of water.

When cooked and very tender, taste and adjust the seasoning.

Allow to rest for a few minutes before serving.

Verdict: A rich oleaginous* (with a touch of acidity from the vinegar) side dish which was the perfect accompaniment to a Simon Hopkinson cheese and onion tart (recipe soon). The slow cooking gives this a texture not dissimilar to sauerkraut. So far we’ve used white cabbage and savoy – both were excellent.

Drink: Ale, wine, sloe gin and a brandy.

Entertainment: We had a guest for dinner.

* Look it up. I did.

Again, click here for the recipe.

As we were making this along side the Piedmontese peppers we couldn’t use the grill and so we baked the aubergines (30-40 minutes) instead.

Verdict: It was this dish’s misfortune to be served up along side the now legendary Piedmontese peppers and as a result paled slightly in comparison. That said, it is still very very good. Be generous with the feta and don’t be as cautious with the seasoning as suggested.

Drink: See Piedmontese peppers

Entertainment: Ditto Piedmontese peppers

Preparation time: 10 minutes plus a few hours (or overnight) for drying*
Cooking time: 15 – 25 minutes
Skill level: easy
Serves: 2 as a side

* Not entirely necessary.

Frisk along and collect these

• 3 courgettes – thinly sliced lengthways (use a potato peeler)
• 3 garlic cloves – thinly sliced
• mint leaves – coarsely chopped – a good handful
• balsamic vinegar – 1tsp (or to taste)
• extra-virgin olive oil
• s & p

Place the courgette slices in a single layer on a tea towel and leave to stand overnight to dry.

Heat a little olive oil in a small frying pan and fry the garlic until just turning golden. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Place a lightly oiled griddle pan on a high heat and lay on some courgette strips. Turn over when bottom side is cooked (about a minute) and repeat.

Set aside on some kitchen paper and griddle your next batch of courgettes. Continue until you have run out of courgette to griddle.

Put the garlic, mint, courgette and vinegar in a bowl and mix.

Season to taste.

Serve with a few extra mint leaves and a drizzle of olive oil.

Eat warm or cold.

Verdict: Very good indeed and a pleasant change from our usual salad.

Drink: See ‘Wilted greens and potato with cheese sauce’.

Entertainment: Ditto.

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 40 minutes
Skill level: easy
Serves: 4

Ingredients

• Cyprus potatoes – 1kg
• fresh rosemary – 6 decent sized sprigs
• fresh sage – roughly chopped – a generous bunch
• olive oil – a gerenous slug
• s & p

Preheat oven to 200C/Gas mark 6.

Peel the potatoes and cut lengthways into wedges.

Combine all the ingredients in a roasting pan and season to taste.

Roast until golden (30-40 minutes).

Serve with whatever you like… we had ours as a side to a slightly disappointing tuna stuffed pepper dish.

Verdict: So good we had this 2 nights in a row. Remember to be generous with the herbs.

Drink: A few early beers at the excellent ‘Su Sazzagoni‘ followed by a bottle of red back home.

Entertainment: The freak zone.

Yumblog Junior settles down for an afternoon of people watching at Su Sazzagoni

Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 45 minutes
Skill level: easy
Serves: 2 as main, 4 as side dish

Ingredients

• Cyprus potatoes – thinly sliced – 650g
• 1 medium onion – thinly sliced
• 4 garlic cloves – finely chopped
• 1 bunch of greens (spring, sprout tops, cavolo nero, chard, etc.) – coarsely chopped
• extra-virgin olive oil – slug
• butter – 80g
• plain flour – 80g
• milk – 800 ml
• Provolone piccante (or some sort of fancy cheese) – 100g
• Parmesan – finely grated – to gernerously scatter over the top
• s & p

Preheat oven to 200C/gas mark 6.

Boil the sliced potatoes in salted water until tender, drain and layer in the bottom of a suitably sized (approx 22cm x 30cm) oven-proof dish.

Meanwhile, heat oil in a large saucepan, add the onion and garlic and sauté for a few minutes until the onion begins to transluce.

Add the greens, cover with a lid and cook for a further 3-4 minutes until the greens are wilted but still have a little bite.

Spread greens over the potatoes.

Meanwhile make the cheese sauce by melting the butter in a saucepan, adding the flour and cooking for a further 2 minutes until you have a sandy coloured roux.

Gradually add milk, whisking continuously.

Next add the Provolone piccante and stir until melted.

Spoon over wilted greens, and scatter with grated parmesan.

Bake until golden and bubbly (10-15 minutes).

Serve hot.

Verdict: Essentially cheesey mash, so how could this be anything other than delicious? The use of a cheese other than Cheddar gave this a very distinctive flavour.

Drink: A few cans of Polish followed by a bottle of red…oh and some dessert wine too.

Entertainment: Eurovision, with a surprisingly unironic nod to Jedward and their ‘Pet Shop Boys meets Gilbert and George’ outfits

Yumblog Junior ironically sports a Jedward

As well as the excellent fishmonger where we bought the salt cod for this recipe, the ‘village’ boasts a quality butcher, greengrocer, delicatessen, wine merchant and chippy, plus the usual array of gastros, watering holes and restaurants. On the downside it is almost entirely populated by Bugaboo pushing interlopers who radiate the complacent sense of entitlement common among those who consider their birthright to be a life of ease and privilege.

Where do you go when you feel out of place on both sides of the tracks?

Preparation time: 10 minutes plus 24 hours soaking
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Skill level: easy
Serves: 8 – 12 as part of a tapas

Ingredients

• salt cod – 500g
• 1 largish potato – 175g
• milk – 200ml
• extra virgin olive oil – 160ml
• 3 garlic cloves – finely chopped
• juice of a lemon
• black pepper

Soak the cod in cold water for 24 hours – with several changes of water.

Cut the potato into chunks and boil in water until cooked. Drain, mash and keep warm.

Meanwhile place the cod in a pan, cover with cold water, bring to a boil and then turn off the heat. Leave for five minutes and then remove the skin and bones.

Pour the milk into a small saucepan, add the garlic and warm through over a low heat.

At the same time warm through the olive oil.

Place the cod in a food processor and blitz until smooth. Gradually (and alternately) add the milk and oil to form a loose paste.

Add the mashed potato and quickly mix together – do not over-process or it will become like wallpaper paste.

Stir in the lemon juice.

Season with plenty of black pepper – you’ll probably not need to add any more salt.

Serve with slices of good quality baguette.

Verdict: The heavy use of olive oil makes this a very rich dish which is best eaten in moderation and as part of a wider selection of tapas. The flavour is quite unusual and distinct and possibly not to everyone’s taste.

Drink: Somehow we managed to stick with the beer and not open the bottle of red.

Entertainment: ‘Nil By Mouth’ on DVD. 82 varied and judicious uses of the ‘cunt’ word.

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Cooking time: 35 minutes
Skill level: easy
Serves: 4

Ingredients

• new potatoes – 1kg
• olive oil – 1 tbsp
• 3 anchovy fillets – roughly chopped
• crushed dried chillies – a good pinch
• 2 garlic cloves – finely chopped
• double cream – 85 ml
• butter – a knob of (8g)
• 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
• Parmegiano Reggiano – grated – 50g
• s & p

Pre-heat the oven to 200C/gas mark 6.

Drop the potatoes into a pan of boiling salted water and parboil for 10 minutes.

Drain and put in a roasting tin.

Season, drizzle with the olive oil, and roast in the oven for 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and scatter over the anchovies, chilli and garlic.

Pour over the cream, sprinkle with the cheese and thyme and add the knob of butter.

Return to the oven, turn down the heat to 180C/gas mark 4, and roast for a further 10 minutes.

Serve as an accompaniment to whatever takes your fancy – we had hake in parsley sauce and purple sprouting broccoli.

Verdict: Are you kidding? Roast potatoes covered in cream and melted cheese? An utterly delicious indulgence with surprising little piquant explosions of salty anchovy and caramelized garlic.

Drink: A ridiculously expensive pint at The Britannia, Victoria Park – £4.40 for a pint of Meantime London Pale Ale – when queried we were informed this was because it was a ‘speciality beer’. Fortunately exetremely poor service prevented us from buying a second pint. A conciliatory beer and a bottle of red when we got back to Yumblog HQ.

Entertainment: The Big Bus (1976) on DVD. Well we didn’t die laughing, but it was a reasonably amusing and suitably silly period piece well worth a viewing.

Remarkably after only 4 (admittedly onion heavy) meals, we have reached the end of our £2 sack of onions. On this occasion they were consenting adults in a cheeky extramarital foursome with potatoes, cream and cheese – resulting in this very rich and even verier delicious gratin.

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 1 – 1½ hours
Skill level: easy
Serves: 4

Ingredients

• onion – thinly sliced – 450g
• potato – thinly sliced – 450g
• unsalted butter – 30g
• double cream – 400ml
• 2 bay leaves
• nutmeg – a generous pinch
• cayenne pepper – a generous pinch
• Emmental – 100g
• s & p

Pre-heat the oven to 200c/gas mark 6.

Place the thinly sliced potato into a saucepan of salted cold water and heat until it starts to boil.

Immediately it reaches this boil remove from the heat, drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat the butter in a large sauté pan, add the onions, bay leaves and salt and cook for 10 minutes until the onions are soft and beginning to colour.

Add the cream, nutmeg and cayenne and bring back to a simmer.

Taste and adjust the seasoning.

Find a suitably sized gratin dish and rub with butter.

Line with some potatoes and pour over some onion sauce.

Continue to layer in this manner, ending up with the onion sauce on top.

Sprinkle with Emmental and bake in the oven for 45 minutes.

Serve as an accompaniment to anything of your choice (we opted for salmon for him, chicken for her and peas for both)

Verdict: Rich, rich, rich, rich. Delicious, delicious, delicious, delicious.

Drink: A few cold lagers before and a bottle of red during.

Entertainment: Tucking into the third season of ‘Homicide – Life on the Street’. A slight shifting of characters (possibly a bad career move by Daniel Baldwin), but still as good as ever. If you’ve never seen H-LotS, watch this short clip.