Roast Leg of Lamb

My house is in such a flurry of activity as my son Dennis and his wife Jackie will be arriving here from the UK in about 10 days time for a visit.
We have scheduled some sight-seeing trips while they are here as this will be Jackie's first visit to the Lake Tahoe area.
I had hoped the weather would cooperate for their visit but it's still very cold with about 4ft of snow on the ground.
One consolation, we can go up in the cable car to High Camp in Squaw Valley as the views around the mountains are magnificent this time of year and as we are still in ski season it should be open when they arrive.


View of High Camp and the ski cable car.

They will be with us for a little under 2 weeks and we thought perhaps even a cruise around Lake Tahoe on the steam ship the Tahoe Gal if it's open this early in the year.


The Tahoe Gal cruising Lake Tahoe......Lovely isn't she!!

Virginia City an old 1800's wild west silver mining town in Nevada is another must see, I took my sister Babs and her husband Terry there when they were here 2yrs ago and they loved it.


Virginia City boardwalk on main street.

Having my family around me is a true pleasure as both my sons, their wives and my grand-children live in the UK and I only get to see them once year on my yearly visits home. You can be sure I will be spoiling Dennis and Jackie rotten and feeding them to the gills.


I love a roast dinner with all the trimmings and roast lamb is a particular favorite of mine. Serve this baby with roasted root veggies, yorkshire pud, roast potatoes, mint sauce and pan juice gravy....Heaven on a plate!


Roast Leg of Lamb


Serves 4-6

1 3lb leg of lamb
2-3 garlic cloves cut into small slivers
3 Tblsp extra virgin olive oil
1 Tsp Kosher or sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary leaves

Place a roasting rack in a roaster pan and set aside, pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees.
Snip or poke small holes in the lamb roast and insert the garlic slivers all over the roast.
Coat the lamb all over with the 3 tablespoons of olive oil, seasoning well with the salt and pepper.
Put the rosemary springs on top of roast inserting a few small picked leaves here and there into the holes with the garlic.
Place roast on the rack and bake in the preheated 375 degree oven for 1 hour to 1 hour and 15 minutes.
Remove roast and tent with tin foil letting it rest for 15 to 20 minutes before carving.

London Particular

One of my favorite things to do on a cold winters day is to make a big bowl of hot steamy soup. London particular (or pea soup) is a favorite of mine as my mum used to make this quite a bit when I was growing up and I in turn made it for my kids.
Unlike the traditional pea and ham soup my mum would replace the ham with grilled streaky bacon cooked to a crisp that gives it a better smokey flavor in my opinion.


Pictures from our deck today.....Snowy Lake Tahoe a winter wonderland. Click on the pictures for the full view and don't forget to click your back button to return to "back to the table".

Ok a little bit of history about London Particular.
In Victorian London, as the industrial revolution reached its height, little concern was given to the environment and cities like London became the industrial power-houses of the country. The smoke from coal fires, railways, and London's factories mixed with the natural fog to create a killer smog known as a 'pea souper.'

Pea soups have long been staples of the British kitchen, filling and cheap, before the days of frozen food dried peas would keep well through the winter and a London particular is a particularly thick pea soup named after the dreadful fogs that enveloped London from the start of the Industrial Revolution to relatively modern times i.e. the 1950's and 60's
Ideally the soup should be made with the stock from a smoked ham or gammon hock, and to be at its most authentic should use yellow split peas to mimic the foul air that blanketed the London of Dickens' day, and later in the same century hid some of Jack the Ripper's handiwork.



I actually witnessed one of those pea souper fogs on a visit to my nanny Sullivan one year in Wapping back in the early 1960's.


I was 5 or 6yrs old and can remember it distinctly. I was sitting on my nan's doorstep and could only see a few inches in front of me as the fog was so thick.


Here is my mum's recipe handed down throughout our family...It has been updated with the croutons and grilled bacon for garnish but the basic recipe remains the same....Enjoy!

London Particular
Serves 4-6



1 tblsp of butter
6 rashers streaky bacon, chopped (reserve 1 tblsp of cooked bacon for garnish)
1 onion, chopped
2 carrots, diced
2 celery sticks with leaves, chopped
1lb split dried peas, rinsed through and drained
6-8 cups ham or chicken stock
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
Chopped grilled bacon and croutons to garnish


1. Melt the 1 tablespoon of butter in a large saucepan or stockpot. Add the bacon, onion, carrots and celery and cook for 5-10mins or until the veggies begin to soften and the bacon is crispy.
2. Add the split peas and stock, bring to a boil and cover and simmer for 1 hour or until the peas are soft.
3. Allow the soup to cool then pulse a few times in a blender or food processor (if you have a hand held blender wand then do it right in the pot being careful not to over process).
4. Return the soup to the pot. Season with salt and pepper and gently reheat being careful not to allow the soup to boil.
5. Garnish with the croutons and the reserved tblsp of cooked grilled chopped bacon.

Cheesey Tuna Noodle Bake

My son Dennis and his wife Jackie will be visiting us here in Lake Tahoe toward the end of March. I am so excited as it's been quite a few years since my son was here last.
This will be my daughter-in-law's first visit to Tahoe although, not to the USA as my husband Craig and I were able to hook up with them in San Francisco as they had a 2 day stop-over there, from their honeymoon in Hawaii before flying back to London nearly 3yrs ago.

My biggest challenge during their stay will be meals as Jackie is a vegetarian although, she will eat fish.
My DH is a total meat and potatoes guy but he also thankfully loves fish especially salmon and I am sure for the 7 days they are here he won't complain having fish on the menu for 4 or 5 of those days as well as planning a few meals out in restaurants.

Here is a recipe that my husband taught me to cook as his mum made this for him as a kid. It's on our menu at least once a month, it's simple, economical and tastes great with a tossed green salad and garlic bread.

Cheesy Tuna Noodle Bake
Serves 4-6



1 (16oz) packet of large shell pasta noodles, cooked and drained
2 cups of cheese, cheddar, swiss, mozzarella, pepper jack, etc. reserve 1/2 cup for the topping.
2 cans tuna fish (packed in water and drained)
1 cup of fresh or frozen peas
2 cans cream of mushroom soup, undiluted
3 dashes of freshly ground black pepper, or to taste
2 tablespoons dried tarragon
2 cups of crushed plain salted chips (UK Crisps)

Cook shell noodles till just al dente. Drain noodles and toss with the cheese of your choice.
In a large oven proof dish put tuna fish, peas, mushroom soup fresh pepper and tarragon. Add cooked noodles w/cheese to dish and combine really well.
Add the crushed potato chips/crisps on top. Top with the remaining 1/2 cup of cheese.
Cover with lid or foil
Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 45mins or until bubbly and heated through.
Remove lid or foil for the last 15mins of baking time.

Serve with a tossed green salad and garlic bread.

Coffee Walnut Cake

My sister Babs sent me her recipe for Coffee Walnut cake which I will share with you all today. Enjoy!

Coffee Walnut Cake



8oz butter
8oz caster sugar (US Superfine granulated)
3 large eggs, beaten
2 tblsp coffee essence (USA Coffee extract)
8oz Self Raising flour, sifted
3oz walnuts, chopped (setting whole walnuts aside for garnish)

Butter 2 8inch cake pans and set aside
Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and creamy
Add the beaten eggs, the equivalent of one at a time, beating well
Add the coffee essence and stir
Fold in the sifted flour and chopped walnuts
Divide the mixture between the prepared cake pans and bake in a 350 degree oven for 35/40 minutes or until an inserted tooth pick comes out clean. Set aside until cool.


Coffee Butter Cream

4oz butter, softened
8oz icing sugar, sifted
1 tablespoon coffee essence

Beat butter until creamy and slowly add icing sugar and coffee essence
Reserve some butter cream for the cake's top decoration
Place some butter cream between the two cakes and sandwich together.
Add the reserved butter cream and the whole walnut pieces on top for decoration.

Teriyaki Chicken

I know I have been so remiss, not posting anything in quite awhile. It's the busy time of year in our business so that means postings will be spotty until next spring when we begin to wind down.
Must of you who are my friends on here know that my husband and I own 2 retail stores (with a service business attached) that sells wood stoves, gas stoves, pellet stoves, BBQ's and formally Spa's.
We live on the mountain range of the Sierra Nevada in California about 6500ft up, so the winter months are especially busy for us and when we make the most of our yearly income.

Craig my husband and I met after we became pen pals....(Pre-internet days) so we wrote by snail mail to each other back and forth...Me in London, England and Craig in California USA.
We wrote for about a year and became quite close in our letters never dreaming we would actually meet in real life.
Well, he did meet me when he came to London for a visit and the rest they say is history. We married in July 1990...18yrs later, still in love, still happy and to the relief of my family my beloved Craig is not a mass murderer. :-)

This sauce is so versatile it can be used on other meats and goes wonderful with salmon.


Teriyaki Chicken

4 boneless chicken breasts
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup soy sauce
1-2 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
1 tablespoon fresh ginger, grated
1/2 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
2 garlic cloves, minced

Rinse chicken under cold water and pat dry with paper towels. Place chicken breasts in a large zip lock bag.

In a mixing bowl, combine brown sugar, soy sauce, rice wine vinegar, grated ginger, pepper and minced garlic. Mix well, and pour over chicken, refrigerate for 4-6 hours.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large baking dish put chicken and marinade uncovered and bake in the oven for 50 minutes or until no longer pink in the center, basting often with the sauce.

Beef Barley Stew

We had a stew or casserole on the menu every week when I was growing up, to stretch it further my mother would pack the stew with lots of veggies and pearl barley to make it go further.

Pearl barley does not seem to be a very popular ingredient in today's stews and casserole's which is a shame because this little grain is so tasty and very economical.

My husband Craig loves a beef stew especially with home-made herb dumplings so when I included pearl barley in it for the first time he thought I had put rice in the stew but after tasting it he thought it was a great addition and gave it a thumbs up, so now I make it for him on a regular basis.

Below is the recipe for my mum's beef barley stew. I hope you enjoy it as much as we do.

Beef Barley Stew



6-8 Servings

2lbs beef stew meat, cut into 1-inch pieces
Flour to coat
2 tbsp oil
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
Freshly ground black pepper to taste
1 teaspoon oregano
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon dried parsley flakes
4 cups beef stock
3 red/white potatoes, cut into chunks
1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
1/4 cup pearl barley
1 cup baby carrots
1/2 cup chopped celery

1. Trim any fat from the meat and cut into bite-sized pieces, in a large zip lock bag place flour and meat coating all the meat really well with the flour.
2. In a large skillet brown the beef in the hot oil, browning on all sides, remove meat and set aside.
3. Add onion and garlic to skillet beef drippings and cook until onion is translucent.
4. In a large dutch oven or soup pot add the meat, onions, garlic, beef broth and pearl barley, cover and simmer on medium low heat for 45 minutes.
5. Next add the fresh ground pepper, Worcestershire sauce, herbs, carrots, potatoes, tin tomatoes and celery, simmer until meat is very tender, about another 40-45 minutes.

British Beer Battered Fish ‘n’ Chips

When I make my yearly visits back home to the UK three meals are on my agenda as a 'must have'.
A good spicy curry, a doner or shish kebab and fish and chips.

Most of the chippies in London at least these days are run by ethnic minority groups, but you can still find an authentic British chippie out near the coastal area's like Margate or Dover where the fish is brought in fresh every day.

The best fish and chips I ever tasted since a kid was when I was visiting my brother Peter up north when he lived in Grimsby. It was plain and simple and to die for, it just so happened to be his local chippie.

Here is a tried and true recipe that I have made many times since living here in the USA. It's the nearest to authentic British chip shop that you can get (apart from the parsley thats my take on this recipe) and my DH loves it and requests it often.

British Beer Battered Fish ‘n’ Chips
Serves 4



4 pieces of Cod or Haddock
1 large sprig fresh parsley, finely chopped. (keeping some aside for garnish)
4-6 large potatoes
Oil for deep frying

For the batter:
1 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1 cup dark beer (Guinness is best but any dark beer will work)

Peel and cut potatoes into chips, run under cold water patting dry with a paper towel. Deep fry chips until golden brown, place in an oven proof dish in a warm oven.

In a bowl, sift the flour and salt. Next, crack the egg into the bowl and whisk the mixture. Slowly add the beer, whisking all the time. Keep adding the beer until the batter is a thick consistency. Set aside.

If you are using the oil you just cooked the chips in, allow it to reheat. When the oil is hot, place the frying basket in the pan. Chop the parsley finely then place flour and chopped parsley in a container.

Wash the fish under cold water and roll in the flour/parsley mixture. Dip the fish pieces, one at a time into the batter and drop into the oil.
(Do not put the fish in the basket and lower the basket in, because they will stick).

Cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until golden brown. Remove with the basket, place on a paper towel to drain and serve immediately with the reserved parsley. Serve with the chips, salt and vinegar, tartar sauce and lemon wedges.