Mince & Dumplings

Ingredients Mince 450g minced beef 250g beef stock or water 1 large onion, finely chopped 1 large carrot, finely chopped 1 tbsp tomato puree 4 strands thyme small bunch parsley 1 tbsp Worcester sauce 1 tbsp sunflower oil Dumplings 150g plain flour 75g suet salt pepper Method Heat the sunflower oil in a pan and … Continued

It’ll be in the Last Place You Look

Oops! The HMG (trading as Her Majesty’s Revenue & Customs) has misplaced the personal data of about 40% of the UK’s population, including 15 million children. There is “no evidence that it has fallen into the wrong hands”, but there is no evidence that it has not. This is the same government that plans for … Continued

The Queen & Prince Phillip

Today, HRH Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Phillip, Duke of Edinburgh celebrate their diamond wedding anniversary. Little known fact about Prince Phillip: The Yaohnanen believe Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh is a divine being, the pale-skinned son of a mountain spirit and brother of John Frum… When the cult formed is unclear, but sometime in … Continued

The End of an Era

Tony Blair is to step down as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury, and it looks like he’ll soon be taking a job as Steward of the Chiltern Hundreds. He’ll also apparently moonlight as a Middle East peace envoy — in other news, outgoing Deputy PM John Prescott will be taking up a … Continued

Political Map of the UK

(Requires Javascript.) See below for an explanation on how these placements were calculated. UK-Wide Country-Specific (New) Labour Conservative Liberal Democrats Greens Respect Coalition UK Independence Party (UKIP) British National Party (BNP) Scottish National Party (SNP) Plaid Cymru Democratic Unionist Party (DUP) Sinn Fein Social Democratic & Labour Party (SDLP) Ulster Unionist Party (UUP) Alliance The … Continued

Toad in the Hole

Toad in the Hole is a classic British meal which thankfully contains neither frogs nor potholes. Ingredients * 6 pork sausages * 2 eggs * 100g flour * 50g butter/margerine, melted * 100 mL water * 50 mL milk * a pinch of salt * 1 onion * ¾ teaspoon of sage * a little … Continued

Roast Leg of Lamb with all the Trimmings

This should serve 4 or even 5! You may want to also serve it with some autumnal vegetables (such as swede, parsnip, carrot, cauliflower, brocolli or spinach) although I haven't included details of how to cook them here. Ingredients Lamb half a leg of lamb 1 large glass red wine loads of rosemary, preferably fresh … Continued

Shepherd’s Pie

For some reason, there seem to be a bunch of recipes out there for Shepherd's pie that use beef. Obviously, a real shepherd's pie must use lamb or, at a push, mutton! Recipes involving beef, while delicious, are properly called “Cottage Pie”. Serves 4. h1. Ingredients * 650g minced lamb (fresh or forzen — doesn't … Continued