Corned beef and lentil soup

This recipe (see also Cowboy corned beef 'n' beans pie for details) takes a lentil and bacon/pea and ham soup and gives it a twist. Instead of using cured pork products, I'm using beef instead! I figured it would work well. If you happen to Google corned beef soup, you get a lot of American recipes using the fresh cured product so this product is made for the tinned version instead. It has a slight spice kick to it, but not too hot that the children will turn their noses up to it. Mine won't anyway. Anyway, this is another really easy store cupboard recipe that will fill you up and warm you up on a cold winter's day. No need for tinned stuff.

Corned beef and lentil soup
Serves 6

Ingredients

2 tbsp oil
1 medium onion, chopped
About half a 340g tin corned beef, cut into 1cm cubes
2 carrots, chopped quite small
4 cloves garlic, crushed or chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp turmeric
1 tsp mild chilli powder (or hot if you dare or 1 fresh chilli, chopped and deseeded)
2 litres beef stock
500g split red lentils, rinsed and picked over

1. Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a large saucepan, and add the onion and carrots, cooking for 5 minutes to soften over a medium heat, then adding half of the corned beef cubes to the pan. Cook for another 5 minutes, stirring as little as possible so that the corned beef gets some crisp and colour.

2. Add the garlic, cumin, turmeric and chilli powder, and cook for another 2 minutes until you can smell the spices. Pour in the stock and add the lentils. Cover and bring to the boil, then turn down to a simmer for about 20 minutes. The lentils will lose their shape and look pale yellow when properly cooked.

3. While the soup is cooking, heat the rest of the oil in a small frying pan and cook the rest of cubed corned beef until crispy. Serve the soup sprinkled with the cubes of corned beef sprinkled on top and with some nice crusty bread.

(I was asked by Princes to develop some recipes using corned beef and they sent me 6 tins and an apron for this purpose.)

My day out at Good Food Show Winter

You may remember that last year, if you've stuck around these parts that long, I went to the Good Food Show Winter for the very first time after a lovely blogger gave me the ticket that she had won and couldn't use. I had a great time and vowed to go back. Somehow, going to the Summer show never quite happened and before I knew it, November was upon us again and I was trying to decide if this year, I really ought to buy a ticket. When, out of the blue, an invitation arrived from Sainsbury's to come to the last day of the show to a blogger's lunch. I was not going to say no! I found it funny that I then had to register as press to attend the show.

This year, I decided to travel down to Birmingham on Saturday - and this gave me the opportunity to meet up with my lovely friend Ruth and head down to the pub for some food that evening and get to the show bright and early. And bright and early it was, because my hotel was at the end of the runway of Birmingham airport and the planes start landing and taking off at 6am.

I got there just before the show opened, as I wanted to get round the parts that get crowded early on. I went to collect my press badge and discovered the press office was an oasis of calm - and free coffee. Still, not much time to enjoy it as the show opened and the race was on to get out round the stalls before the crowds arrived and try lots of different things. This was why I'd had no breakfast! This year, there was a lot of cheese on offer, as well as flavoured oils and oatcakes. My favourite things I tried were:

Findlater's Pate
Cornish Sea Salt (who made me try sea salt and then table salt and wow, what a difference)
Rubis Chocolate Wine (yes, really - and it was lovely)
Orkney Herring and Salmon in different sauces, especially honey, mustard and dill

And, after a while, I was feeling full. Even the ice cream samples (admittedly huge) were too much for me so no more trying to fit in my lunch! It really struck me how much competition there is if you go into business selling food products in this country. That's good for the consumer, but it must be really hard for the producers to get noticed and their products established.

Some of our lunch, coconut prawns on the right

Talking of which, we met Thomas from Sainsbury's on what was by then a very packed stand and he took us all, including Ruth, myself, Chris, and Maggie - a real mix of parent and foodie bloggers - off to a room. Our lunch consisted of many items from the Sainsbury's party food ranges for Christmas. My favourite things were the coconut prawns, the whisky smoked salmon, and some lovely little individual christmas pudding desserts in shot type glasses.

After lunch, and a trip round some of the stalls for a closer look and a peaceful retreat to the press office again for coffee and a quick charge of my phone, we met up again and collected tickets to go into the Supertheatre to see a cook off between Mat Follas and Tim Anderson, both Masterchef champions. It was gratifying to see that part of Mat's dish didn't work - even if I was gutted for him as well - because I like to think no-one is perfect and everyone has off days, and that just proved it. Of course, John Torode and Greg Wallace were also there with their usual banter, although it felt more like Ready Steady Cook than Masterchef! By the time we had taken our seats, I'd also bought a new toaster and we'd been given a Sainsbury's goody bag so it was also nice to get a sit down and not have to lug all my stuff around. One day, I will remember to take a trolley!

One last purchase of a pink baking set for a Christmas present for Missy Woo and I then had to stagger back to my car with everything and get myself home. On getting a proper look in that goody bag, I discovered a kit to decorate my Christmas cake, a fajita kit, some cheese fudge bites, chocolates, some recipe cards, and a bottle of ready mixed mojito. All in this handy canvas bag. Huge thanks to Sainsbury's for inviting me along, I had a brilliant day, and can't wait for the next show already.

If you do go to the Good Food Show, my tips would be:

• Weekdays are apparently much quieter so go then if you can.
• If you do go at the weekend, Sunday is best; apparently, it was really packed on Saturday.
• Sunday is the best day for bargains as many stalls offer further discounts towards the end of the day.
• Plan before you go and check out where any demonstrations you want to see are taking place.
• Get there early, preferably for the show opening, as you'll get a nearer car park and a chance to walk round without too many crowds.
• Comfortable shoes are a must as you will be on your feet an awful lot. 
• Don't wear a coat as it can get really warm and you don't need to be carrying anything else!
• Pace yourself when trying samples, you'll soon fill up
• If you are thinking of buying something, buy it there and then as it can be hard to locate a stall later on.

Epiphanous celebrations

Photo credit: cornnius

By the time you read this, I'll be another year older. For today is my birthday. When your birthday is the first week of January, it's a challenge to celebrate. The whole world spends all its money over Christmas and New Year and by 2nd - or possibly 3rd some years - are on a real diet, or at the very least, a money diet and the return to work marks a distinct end to the party mood. If friends and family have not budgeted for your birthday present, forget it. You might get something in February. Or March. (I had an ex once that finally bought me a present in April. The following year, I lent him the money for my present. The year after that, we'd broken up). My husband hates having to buy me two presents so close together - just because he lacks ideas, not begrudging the money - but forgets that means he's largely off the hook for the rest of the year.

A birthday at this time of year means that you are at the mercy of the worst that winter can throw at you. My 21st birthday meal was cancelled because the snow followed me up the M1 back to university for the start of term and there was no way that 10 of us could go out further than the end of the road. Last year was the same - school was shut for the first week of term, and the in-laws didn't want to come over to babysit, understandable with all the snow and ice. So, like the mad fools we are, we set off on a family trip to the Trafford Centre where they were still trying to clear the car parks with snowploughs where we had lunch in a nearly empty restaurant and the manager gave us free cake when he found out it was my birthday.  I bought steak from M&S and cooked my own birthday dinner.

Winter illnesses can also get the better of you when your birthday is this time of year. Mum tells the story that she went to get me up on my very first birthday, and found I had chickenpox. Lovely. My 7th birthday party was actually a mumps party (remember those?) and one year as a child, I had the gift of a sickness bug. If it's not me, it's someone else. Husband had only just recovered from a sickness bug when we went out for my birthday a few years back,.

We let the feast of Epiphany pass us by in this country, but there are about 20 countries where they make a big deal out of it and have a public holiday. For some, it is their Christmas, or at least the day when they get their presents. I keep saying I'm going to move to Spain for this very reason. Strangely enough, we went to Spain straight after New Year one time for a holiday with Monkey, to Andalusia, the driest region in mainland Europe. It rained and was cold all day long on my birthday (the only day out of 14 it did so) and we sat in just reading books. We went to the Algarve in 2009, which mostly went to plan although Portugal doesn't celebrate it in quite the same way as Spain does.

Oh yes, an epiphanous birthday is a joy. There are upsides. You rarely struggle to book a table at a favourite restaurant (unless they are closing for the staff Christmas party) although the atmosphere can be a little lacking or get tickets for cinema or theatre. You can take your birthday money and shop in what's left of the sales. As no-one has any money, you don't feel obliged to invite lots of people out for the night. They'll say no! Savings made on rounds.

This year, Missy Woo is beyond excited about my birthday. She's reminded me every day of this week how many days it is until my birthday. I know it's because she thinks I'm going to have a party and so she is going to be sorely disappointed. Although, the morning is going to be filled with two little excited faces wishing me Happy Birthday and helping me open presents. They may well be cold excited faces because the boiler broke yesterday and we have no central heating or hot water until the engineer returns with the part he needs to buy.

The official definition of an epiphany is "the sudden realisation or comprehension of the (larger) essence or meaning of something". Well, every Epiphany, I wake up and realise I'm a year older. Scary prospect when you've reached 46. At the same time, I realise I'm probably very lucky in the things I do have, whatever I say about it. I may not get the birthday of my dreams (and I may, on occasion, have sneaked a half birthday in because the weather is better in July!) but my birthday is the only one I've got so I may as well make the best of it.