Share your family recipes to win a copy of Rachel Allen's Recipes From My Mother PLUS a £100 Lakeland voucher

[SorchaMumsnet]

Full of warmth and nostalgia, Rachel Allen's Recipes from My Mother is a book of culinary inspiration passed down through the generations. To celebrate, we're asking you to share your own family recipes.

Rachel’s food is heart-warming. She uses gorgeous ingredients in abundance to create comforting, vibrant meals. Her love of food started when she was very young, sitting in the kitchen with her mother, helping and tasting. Her mother taught her their Scandi family recipes, as well as those she picked up from living in Ireland. Rachel became more and more passionate about food as she grew up, and she drew inspiration from her childhood memories of helping her mother cook and sitting around with her family enjoying delicious meals and treats.

In Recipes from My Mother, Rachel celebrates the food memories of her childhood, alongside those of friends and other members of her family. Packed with much-loved recipes and stunning photography, this is the book to make you fall back in love with cooking.

One of our favourite recipes from the book is the mouth-watering Mother's Plum Shortcake. See how to make it for yourself.

For a chance to win a copy of the cookbook and a £100 Lakeland voucher, just share the recipes that have been passed down to you from your mother or family.

This discussion is sponsored by HarperCollins and will end on midday, 29 March

Books T&Cs apply

Mum passed on a really simple soup recipe to me and it's a lifesaver on cold winter days and has just a few ingredients...

8oz red lentils, garlic, 2 carrots and an onion.
Chop all veg and crush garlic, add to lentils in pan and cover with 1.5pints of veg stock and season. Simmer for approx 45 mins.

Vegan and veggie and tastes amazing.

Here's my dear old nan's recipe for a great Chicken Pie.

Potato scones;

200g cold mashed potato, 50g plain flour.

Knead into a dough, roll out and cut into small patties.

Cook on a hot griddle or frying pan on both sides until browned to taste. Cool between tea towels. Delicious hot with butter.

Grandma's chicken noodle soup:
Fry leeks with salt and pepper
Boil chicken broth with a clove of garlic added
Add a handful of thick noodles
Remove the garlic
Add sliced roast chicken, peas and chopped dill.

Warm and comforting in the winter or when you're ill!

My nan's leek and potato soup, so delicious!

1lb leeks
1lb potatoes
1 onion
2oz margarine
1.25 pints chicken stock
1/2 pint milk

Slice leeks, dice potatoes and chop onion. Lightly fry all in margarine until tender but do not brown or burn.
Add all stock, bring to the boil then simmer for 15-20 minutes until veg is tender.
Add the milk and salt & pepper to taste.

Liquidize and serve.

Roast chicken.
Nothing too difficult, but all 7 of us would sit down at the table and listen to Radio 2's Sunday Favourites with Ed Stewpot Stewart. And didn't Terry Wogan do a show before FF for the Forces?

Anyway...
Roast chicken with rosemary and garlic
Peas
Roast potatoes
Stuffing - my favourite ingredients include bacon, dates, walnuts, breadcrumbs, sausagemeat - all together, with salt & pepper & maybe a few chives and other herbs thrown in for good measure.
Any favourite veg - we like butternut squash, sprouts, carrots and mashed parsnips.

Oh - and homemade blackberry jelly (or any shop-bought similar!)

Granny Mac's Clootie Dumpling

Granny Mac was my great grandmother and I have resurrected the family recipe after the baking bug missed a generation.

(Cloot is Scots for cloth, it's a steamed pudding a bit like spotted dick)

Clootie dumpling
3 cups SR flour
1 cup caster sugar
3 tablespoon syrup
3 tablespoon treacle
1/4 lb suet
3 teaspoons mixed spice
2 lb mixed fruit
About 3/4 pint milk

Pudding cloth is normally linen
Wet cloth and sprinkle extra flour over cloth, set aside.

Mix all pudding ingredients together
Put into centre of cloth
Flour top of dumpling
Gather cloth around dumpling
Tie string tightly around cloth
Place in large pan, on a side plate, of boiling water
Keep topping up with boiled water
Do not let boil dry
Boil for approx 3.5 - 4 hours
Remove cloth and allow skin to dry

(Granny Mac did this on a stool in front of the fire, I have to resort to an oven)

Grandma's rough cake (a poor man's Christmas cake) The ingredients and amounts varied according to what Grandma had in her pantry / purse. She taught me how to make it when I lived with her in the 1950s and have made it ever since. Luckily as I have more disposable income than Grandma the recipe is more consistent these days . I'm not quite so sure that mine tastes as delicious as hers but it is my family's favourite cake so I must be doing something right! My son and daughter now bake it for their own families. I love it the way family recipes are passed on to the next generation.
My refined version:
Rub 4 oz of marg into 8 oz of SR Flour. Stir in 4 oz of soft brown sugar. Add I teaspoon each of nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger spices plus 2 of mixed spice. Add 12 oz of dried fruit (I use sultanas as a matter of taste but currants, raisins etc or mixed fruit is an alternative) In a measuring jug beat an egg with 1/4 pint of milk, add 2 capfuls each of almond and vanilla essences plus a dash of rum if you have any. Use the liquid to mix all the ingredients together. (add more milk if needed) Finally add a tablespoon each of golden syrup and dark treacle (for colour) A final mix and a wish before pouring into a greased cake tin. Top with halved cherries, sprinkle with Demerara sugar then cook in a moderate oven (160 degrees for me) for about 40 - 50 minutes.
When cool wrap cake in foil and it will keep for a couple of weeks in a tin. Freezes well too.
PS The family think this is one of the few cakes which improves with age and they prefer not to eat it until the day after it is made. It rarely lasts much longer :)

Hiya.
Mum came from Hong Kong in the 60s and recreated this dish from
memory. It's always a showstopper if cooking for guests, and has the advantage of being super low-maintenance!

6 hour star anise pork-

Ingredients:

1 pork shoulder joint
2 leeks, sliced
4/5 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 thumb sized place of ginger, grated
Half cup (125ml) dark soy sauce
Half cup light soy sauce
10 whole star anise
2 tablespoons sugar

Method:

Arrange the leeks on the bottom of a large casserole dish.
Place the pork on top.
Combine all the rest of the ingredients and pour over the pork.
Top up with cold water to just cover the meat.
Cover with lid and bake for 6 hours at 100c, turning the meat once or twice in the liquid.

When it's done the meat will cut with a spoon. Serve with white rice and a plain green veg. It's incredibly yummy!

We've adapted a few family recipes to suit DS who has allergies but this is our favourite and there are usually a few portions in the freezer:

CHICKEN AND MUSHROOM PIE

• Using half a pack of shortcrust pastry, roll out to fit the pie dish and bake blind for 20 minutes.
• Meanwhile, fry some chopped onion, lots of mushrooms and some other chopped veg such as courgette, red pepper and broccoli.
• After the veg has softened, stir in 2 tbsp flour and stir for a few minutes, then stir in enough oat milk gradually so the veg is in a good amount of sauce which is quite thick. Add 2 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes to add a richer flavour and some mixed herbs. Stir in chopped up chicken leftovers.
• Fill the pie case with the chicken mix then cook at around 190c for 20-30 minutes until it has a few nice burnt bits on the top .

Every time my Mum stays with us (usually once a year for a month), I ask her to cook a few of my favourite Russian dishes, like borscht, pirozhki with mushrooms and rice or cutlets. Mum's culinary repertoire is very much Southern Russian.
There are as many recipes for borscht as there are cooks, and even my Mum varies her borscht, depending on the season and also on which meat she cooks with. She makes a vegetarian version or two as well..
This time is a recipe for borscht with meatballs.

Borscht
Ingredients:
400g minced beef
1 medium egg
3 medium potatoes
3tbsp vegetable oil (e.g. sunflower oil)
3 medium carrots
2 beets
3 big tomatoes
1 sweet pepper
1/2 cabbage (about 300g)
beet leaves from 2 beets, finely chopped
1/2 onion
1tbsp tomato paste
salt, pepper

First make the meatballs by mixing the minced beef with a raw egg and a peeled and grated potato. Roll into meatballs about 4cm in diameter, the size of a walnut. Cook the meatballs in salted boiling water for 10 minutes, then remove them with a slotted spoon. Filter the broth in which the meatballs where cooked via a mesh strainer.

Chop all the vegetables. First add the chopped beets to the frying pan with 1tbsp of sunflower oil (you can use the olive oil as well, or the rapeseed oil). Cook, stirring, on low for about 10-15 minutes, sweating the veg. This brings the sweetness out, and the beets acquire a deeper flavour.
You might skip the frying bit and put all the sliced vegetables together, but you won't get the same depth of flavour. Remove the cooked beets and add them to the broth.
Repeat the process with the chopped carrots. Slightly fry them with the finely sliced onion and garlic.
Plunge whole tomatoes in the boiling water, then into cold one, so that you can peel them easier. Chop the tomatoes. Add the tomatoes to the pan with the tomato paste.
All the vegetables in the pan should be immersed in broth. If there's not enough liquid, add some hot water. Cook for half an hour.
Add the chopped potatoes and chopped beet leaves, cook for another 10-15 minutes.

I always remember being fed tuna rice as a child - it's super easy to make and a great alternative to tuna pasta. The texture also means that children can eat it from a very young age.

Serves 2:
1 can tuna
Big splash of milk
Cooked rice (vary amount depending on age of child)
2 handfuls grated cheese

Place the milk and tuna in a pan and heat gently, add the rice and cheese and stir until all the cheese has melted and the milk has been absorbed (add more if it's sticking).

Put into bowls and serve.

Red Lentil Soup:
150gr. red lentils
1 Onion
2 Carrots
1 Parsnip
1 Stick Celery
1/2tbsp fresh ginger
1/4tsp allspice and ground cumin
Unsalted butter
Vegetable stock
400ml. Coconut milk

Melt the butter and add the spices. After couple of minutes, add the vegetables, and stir and cook them for another 5 minutes. Add the lentils and the vegetable stock. Bring to boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Blend the soup, nnd add the coconut milk :)

My grandads risotto! my favourite meal from when I was younger. My grandad shared the recipe with me and my sisters, and we are always making it when we get together. It brings back so many happy memories.

Recipe:
250g chicken breast
130g chopped mushrooms (chopped very small!)
1x red pepper (chopped very small)
1x onion (chopped very small)
1.5 litre of chicken stock
2tsp of thyme
salt and pepper to taste
long grain rice (3/4 cup per person).
Soy sauce
Garlic bread to serve with.

Method:
Fry the onion, mushrooms and pepper until nicely cooked and browned.
Fry the chicken until cooked.
Add the veg, rice and chicken in the same pan, pour in a little bit of your chicken stock, simmer.
Once nearly absorbed, add some more chicken stock, add in thyme and salt and pepper.
Allow to simmer until almost fully absorbed, then add in the remaining chicken stock. Simmer until nearly absorbed.
Serve with garlic bread and soy sauce [over the rice]. It is delicious!

My mum is an awesome cook, but we used to make a mean lasagne with my dad. (She worked full time).. start with an onion, then add the mince. Then my dad used to add carrots, chopped tiny, and red and green pepper, then a tin of tomatoes. Then whatever other veg was around; it was basically everything you'd need! Then we'd make the white sauce from scratch, with a teaspoon of nutmeg, and make an all in one white sauce... it was wonderful. The best of times.

my nanna used to do the best potato and leek soup:

3 large soups diced and washed
fry in a little butter until tender but not brown.
1 pint of vegetable stock
simmer the stock and add 2/3 of the cooked leeks (leave the other 1/3 for later)
Peel and boil up medium-large potatoes until they are almost to mash.
Add all the potatoes to the simmering stock
Dice 2 large carrots - boil and add to stock
Grate a matchbox size piece of cheese and add to the stock

Bring everything to the boil and then either use a hand blender of a masher and smoosh it up until its thick and smooth.

Bring to the boil and add in about 50g of butter and the left over leek.

Serve hot with warmed bread rolls

PERFECT SCONE INGREDIENTS:

350g of self raising flour
1/4 tsp of salt
1 tsp of baking powder
85g of butter
175ml of milk
1 tsp vanilla essence
A squirt of lemon juice

My sister is 10 years older than me and lives in Canada. One of her recipes that my whole family love and which I can see being passed down is Dorito Chicken. I don't have specific measurements but it goes like this :-

6-8 chicken breasts, sliced into 2-3 thin pieces
2 pks doritos, finely crushed.
grated cheddar cheese
sour cream and salsa.
2 beaten eggs
cocktail sticks

place a large pinch of cheese into the centre of a slice of chicken. Roll the chicken like a pinwheel and secure with a cocktail stick. Dip into the beaten egg and then into the crushed Doritos. Place in a greaseproof dish and continue. Once all the chicken has been used, spread any excess dorito pieces and grated cheese over the top and place in a pre-heated oven (200 C) for 30 minutes. When cooked, remove all the cocktail sticks and serve with sour cream, salsa, new potatoes and broccoli. The chicken is just as nice served cold the following day (although there is rarely any left in our house)!

My Dad taught me this method for making pancake batter;:

1 whole (egg)
1 half (pint of milk)
1 quarter (ounce of flour)
1 pinch (of salt)

I always use this method and will pass his canny way of remembering it onto my own dc.

I love a ham and egg pie which was passed down from my granny! we use puff pastry then layer it with ham and cheese, lovely cheap and filling.

Baba Ganoush

2 large aubergines
Juice of 1 lemon
2 tbsp smooth peanut butter ( I now use Tahini paste)
2 garlic cloves, crushed
3 tbsp chopped mint
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Char the aubergines over a gas , scoop out the flesh & mix with the other ingredients, if it's for a dinner party sprinkle with pomegranate seeds.

My mother always made lovely fruit soda bread (and a version to which she added treacle!). She never weighed anything - she just poured the flour into the bowl etc. but the proportions were roughly:

400g flour, l level teasp bicarbonate of soda, 1 level teasp salt, 4 teasp sugar, 120g plump sultanas and enough buttermilk to make a fairly soft dough. Pour into a greased loaf tin and bake until cooked through - approx 40 minutes at 200C. She also did a wholemeal version just by switching to wholemeal flour.

I can remember making this from a really early age with my mother and now make this my four year old who loves bashing the biscuits.

Chocolate fridge cake

115g butter or margarine
1 tbsp golden syrup
4 tsp drinking chocolate or cocoa if a more intense flavour preferred
230g digestive biscuits
200g chocolate - milk or dark

First smash up the biscuits. If doing my hand easier to do in a plastic bag in small batches
Gently melt the butter, syrup and drinking chocolate or cocoa and mix into the biscuit crumbs.
Grease a baking tin approx 20x20 and then press mixture into the tin
Put into the fridge to chill whilst melting the chocolate - either Bain Marie or microwave method
Pour over chocolate, remembering to score the top before completely set so it is easier to cut into places.

We vary this by using different biscuits but digestive are the easiest to crush by hand. We also add in some raisins or almonds (ground or chopped) to jazz it up a bit. It goes down very well at cake sales.

My Mum has always experimented with recipes & her Black Bean Dip is tasty & versatile. Chunky is great for spreading on tortillas with Mexican food like Quesadillas and smooth is better for a dip but it's even fab in a cheese sandwich!
Ingredients
1 teaspoon rapeseed oil
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 can black beans in water
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon of ground coriander
2 tablespoons crème fraîche
Juice of 1 lime
Pinch of salt
Small bunch of fresh coriander, reserve some for serving.
Method
In a frying pan heat the rapeseed oil over medium heat. Add the onions, garlic and chilli and cook until soft but not brown, about 3-5 minutes. Add the cumin & ground coriander for the last 30 seconds. Remove from heat & set aside.
In a saucepan empty the can of black beans including the water and cook on medium heat until the beans have absorbed the liquid and are starting to break down. Remove from the heat and blend to the consistency you prefer.
Combine all of the ingredients together and blend briefly. Taste to check seasoning. You can add more lime juice if required which will also loosen the mixture if it’s too thick.

My parents didn't have much money when I was growing up but my mum used to roll out this chocolate cake for birthdays etc as it can be made on a budget. It's still my go to recipe even though we're no longer struggling, as it never fails and stays moist for ages! As a bonus it's vegan and works just as well with gluten free flour if you make the swap by volume (1.5 cups) rather than weight.
Wacky Cake:
200g flour
200g sugar
4 Tbsp cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
1 Tbsp vinegar*
6Tbsp veg oil
240ml water
Sift dry ingredients together. Male a well in the centre and add wet ingredients. Stir until moistened throughout. Bake at 375F for 35-40 mins.
*(sounds weird but you don't taste it - think it reacts with the baking soda to take the place of eggs)