3 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, skinned and diced neatly
1-2 fat cloves of garlic, skinned and diced
about 2\" / 4 cm. root ginger, skin pared off and the ginger diced
1 lb. / 450 g lean minced beef
1 lb. / 450g minced belly pork
2 oz. / 50g fine breadcrumbs, white or brown, but preferably from a baked loaf, rather than a steamed sliced loaf
2 eggs, beaten
¼ pint / 150 ml. milk
1 tablespoon Worcester sauce
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt, about 20 grinds of black pepper

Put the breadcrumbs and milk into a bowl and leave for a couple of hours. Then add the beaten eggs to this mixture. You can do this a day ahead if it is more convenient for you.

Heat the olive oil and fry the diced onion for several minutes, until soft and transparent. Then add the diced garlic and ginger to the onions, and cook for a minute. Then cool.

In a mixing bowl, put the minced beef and minced belly pork. Add the Worcester sauce and paprika, salt and pepper, the cooled onions and ginger and the eggs, milk and breadcrumbs. With your hands - there really is no other way to do this - combine everything thoroughly. Put this mixture into a non-stick roasting tin and shape it into a neat long mound. Cover with the bacon rashers, tucking their ends neatly under the meat loaf.

Bake in a moderate oven, 350\'F 180\'C gas mark 4 for about1 hr. 10 minutes. If the bacon isn\'t crispy, and I think this is always necessary, pre heat a grill and put the meat load under it, watching all the time, until the bacon crisps up to how you like it.

Leave the meat loaf to stand for 10-15 minutes before slicing it thickly, to serve.

Shoulder of Pork Braised with Apples and Cider
Serves 6

2 lbs. / 900g pork shoulder, trimmed and cut into chunks about 2cms in size
2 tablespoons flour
1 teaspoon salt, about 15 grinds of black pepper
3 onions, skinned and diced neatly
4 tablespoons olive oil
1-2 fat cloves of garlic, skinned and diced
4 eating apples, peeled, cored and sliced or chopped
1 pint / 600 ml. stock
1/2 pint / 300 ml. dry cider

Put the flour, salt and pepper into a large polythene bag and shake, to mix. Add the pieces of pork to the seasoned flour in the bag and shake vigorously to coat each piece of meat in flour.

Heat the olive oil in a large stew pan or casserole and brown the floured pork in relays, turning the meat over to make sure it browns all over. remove the browned meat to a warm dish. Fry the onions for several minutes until completely soft and transparent, then add the apples and garlic to the onions, stir well, and replace the browned pork. Stir in the stock and cider, stirring until the liquid simmers. cover with a lid, and cook in a moderate heat, 350\'F 180\'C gas mark 4 for 1 hour. Cool. Reheat to serve by bringing the liquid around the meat to simmering point on top of the cooker, then cook in a moderate heat, as before, for 30 minutes from simmering. Taste, add more salt or pepper if you think it is needed. This is very good with steamed new potatoes and green beans.

Lambs\' Liver with Onions, Orange and Red Wine.
Serves 6

2 lbs. / 900g lambs\' liver, trimmed of membrane etc. and cut into pieces as near in size as you can, approx. 3 cms.
2 tablespoons plain flour mixed well with
1 teaspoon salt and a good grinding - about 20 grinds - of black pepper
2 onions, skinned and sliced very thinly
3 tablespoons olive oil
2 oranges, well washed and dried, their rinds grated, and their juice, made up to 1 pint with stock - I use Marigold stock powder and boiling water
1/2 pint / 300 ml. red wine
2 teaspoons redcurrant jelly
2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Heat the olive oil in a sauté pan or casserole and fry the thinly sliced onions until they are very soft and transparent. Then scoop them into a warmed dish and, if necessary, add another tablespoon of olive oil to the pan.

Meanwhile, toss the pieces of trimmed liver thoroughly in the seasoned flour - I find this easiest done by shaking everything together in a large polythene bag.

Brown the floured pieces of liver on each side in the hot olive oil, removing the pieces, as they brown, to the dish with the onions.

When all the liver is browned, add the red wine, orange juice and stock to the pan, with the redcurrant jelly, and stir, scraping up any bits of flour from the base of the pan and stirring until the sauce boils. Bubble fast for a few minutes, to reduce the liquid by about 1/3 . Then stir in the browned liver and fried onions, cover with a lid, and cook, simmering very, very gently - with the liquid only just bubbling gently - for 10 minutes.

Serve, but stir the chopped parsley through the liver in its sauce just before serving. this preserves not only the fresh taste of the parsley but also its vivid colour.

This is equally good with boiled basmati rice or with very well mashed potatoes, and with a green vegetable such as beans, or peas.

Lambs\' Liver Stroganoff
Serves 6

2 lbs. / 900g lambs. Liver, trimmed of membrane and sliced into finger thick strips
1 heaped tablespoon plain flour
1 teaspoon salt, about 20 grinds of black pepper
4 tablespoons olive oil
2 onions, skinned and thinly sliced
1-2 fat cloves of garlic, skinned and diced finely
½ lb. / 225g mushrooms, sliced
3 tablespoons olive oil - as well as the above amount
½ pint / 300 ml. double cream, or the reduced fat content Elmlea double cream
finely chopped parsley

Start by roasting the mushrooms - put the sliced mushrooms into a roasting pan with the 3 tablespoons olive oil. Rub the mushroom slices with the olive oil and then roast in a hot oven, 400\'F 200\'C gas mark 6 for 20 minutes. Take out of the oven,

Meanwhile, put the flour, salt and pepper into a large polythene bag and add the strips of trimmed lambs\' liver. Close the top of the bag and shake the contents vigorously, to coat each strip with seasoned flour.

In a large sauté pan heat the 4 tablespoons olive oil and fry the sliced onions for 5 minutes, stirring, until they are soft and transparent. Then stir in the garlic and cook for a further minute. Scoop the onions and garlic from the pan onto a warmed dish, raise the heat under the pan and add the floured liver. Stir fry briskly for a couple of minutes, then replace the onion, and the roasted sliced mushrooms into the pan, and stir in the double cream, stirring until it bubbles. Cook for barely half a minute once bubbling, draw the pan off the heat, dish up onto a warmed serving dish and dust liberally with chopped parsley. This is good with plain boiled Basmati rice and a mixed leaf salad.

Marinated Pork Fillet in Lemon, Garlic and Soya sauce
Serves 6

This is such a good recipe for a special occasion. It is quick to cook, has to be prepared in advance in order for the meat to marinade, and it is good with any green vegetable, or mixed leaf salad, and with either very well mashed potatoes or with boiled Basmati rice.

2 lbs. / 900g. pork fillets, trimmed and sliced into finger thick strips
5 tablespoons olive oil
finely grated rind of 2 lemons -both well washed and dried before grating (to remove the preservative)
3 fat cloves of garlic, skinned and diced small
3 tablespoons Soya sauce - strong, not the light soy
about 20 grinds of black pepper

For cooking:
½ pint / 300 mls. double cream - this is optional; I always include it for a party, and it gives a delicious sauce, but if you would prefer to leave it out, then do so, aware that you will have a succulent but sauce-less stir-fry.

Put the strips of pork fillet into a wide bowl. Add the lemon rind, garlic, olive oil, soya sauce and pepper, and mix all together very thoroughly. Cover the bowl with clingfilm and leave in a cool place - a larder, or the fridge - for 24hours, stirring up the ingredients once or twice during that time.

To cook, heat a large sauté pan over a high heat - no need for oil - and stir fry large spoonfuls of the meat and its marinade, making sure that the meat is well browned and then scooped into a warm, clean bowl before adding more meat to the sauté pan. When all the meat is well browned, all over, return the whole amount to the pan, stir fry all together for a minute, then stir in the double cream. Just let it bubble, then serve in a warmed serving dish.

Minced Lamb Patties with Mint and Pinenuts
Serves 6

2 lbs . / 900g minced lamb - from the leg, preferably, so as not to be too high in fat content
2 onions, skinned and diced
1-2 fat cloves of garlic, skinned and diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 oz. / 75g pinenuts
2 oz. / 50g mint, leaves stripped from the stalks and chopped
1 large egg, beaten
2 oz. / 50g fine breadcrumbs
3 oz. / 75g plain flour sieved with
1 teaspoon salt and a good grinding of black pepper
oil for frying, either olive or sunflower seed oil

To serve:
1/2 pint / 300 mls. thick plain yoghurt
1 tablespoon chopped mint leaves

Heat the olive oil and fry the diced onions until completely soft and transparent, and beginning to turn golden brown at the edges. Add the diced garlic and cook for a further minute. Scoop the onions and garlic into a bowl, and cool.

In a mixing bowl, put the minced lamb, breadcrumbs, beaten egg, cooled onions and garlic, and the chopped mint and pinenuts. Mix very thoroughly - this is easiest done using your hands. Divide the mixture into even sized small balls, about the size of a walnut, then flatten each with the palm of your hand. Coat each in seasoned flour. Heat oil in a sauté pan to a depth of approx. 1 cm. and, when hot, fry the patties for about 1 minute on each side. Remove to a warm dish lined with a double thickness of kitchen roll.

Mix together the yoghurt and chopped mint, and serve the patties with this dipping sauce.

Oxtail Stew.
Serves 6

This is the best of all stewed or casseroled meat dishes. But it is imperative that the raw oxtail is not frozen, it must be fresh. Once cooked, this stew freezes as well as does any other stew or casserole, which is excellently.

2 oxtails, each piece of meat on its bone trimmed of excess fat
4 tablespoons olive oil
3 onions, skinned and chopped or sliced neatly and evenly
3 carrots, peeled and sliced evenly
1/2 turnip, peeled and sliced into chunks equal in size to the carrots
1 fat clove of garlic, skinned and chopped
1 rounded tablespoon of plain flour
2 tablespoons tomato puree
1 can of lager plus 11/2 pints / 900mls. stock - I use Marigold powder made up with boiling water
1 teaspoon salt, about 20 grinds of the peppermill, a grating of nutmeg

Heat the olive oil in a large stew-pan with a lid and brown each piece of oxtail on either side. as they brown, remove them to a warm dish. When all the pieces of oxtail are browned, fry the onions, stirring from time to time, for about 5 minutes, or until they are completely soft and beginning to turn brown at the edges. Stir the chopped carrots and turnip into the onions and cook for a further couple of minutes. Then stir in the chopped garlic and flour, stirring all together well and cooking for a further minute before adding the lager, stock and tomato puree, stirring until the liquid boils. Season with salt, pepper and nutmeg, and replace the pieces of browned oxtail in amongst the vegetables.

When the liquid starts to gently bubble once more, cover the pan with its lid and cook in a moderate heat for 1 hour, 350\'F 180\'C gas mark 4, then reduce the heat to 250\'F 120\'C gas 1/2 and cook for a further 21/2 - 3 hours - the meat should be literally falling from the bones. Take the casserole from the oven and cool completely. Skim any fat from the surface of the cold oxtail stew. Check the liquid - you may need to add some more stock, but not more than 1/2 pint / 300 ml. Heat, on the top of the stove, until the rich meaty sauce amongst the meat and vegetables is just bubbling, then cover with the lid once more, and cook for a further 1/2 hour in a moderate oven, 350\'F 180\'C gas mark 4.

This is best with very well beaten mashed potatoes containing horseradish, and with a green vegetable - cabbage, or brussels sprouts in season, or kale.