What's Cooking, Good Looking?

He loves your red lips, your Heidi dress and those sexy garters, but does he love your cooking? Tonight, we're staying in and channeling our inner June Cleaver. So grab your scarf, your sexy apron and unplug that microwave because we are cooking, good looking!

Wait, before you turn on the oven, get in the mood. Pop in the film Casablanca, make a couple of Gin martinis and put on a little makeup and earrings. When I see old pictures of my grandma from those days she was dolled up, even while she was cooking..

Here's what's on the Menu:

WarTime Pumpkin Soup

• 2lbs pumpkin
• 1 onion
• 1 oz margarine
• salt and pepper
• milk
• 1 litre of vegetable stock

Method

Cut open pumpkin and scoop out seeds and stringy insides

Slice and chop into medium/large chunks

Place on baking tray and dot butter or marg over the top (if you had garlic in your cupboard you can add 1 or 2 whole cloves to roast on tray too)

Roast for 45 minutes or so, turning over once or twice (oven moderate/hot about 22o c )

Meanwhile chop onion, place 1 oz margarine into large saucepan and cook onions gently until soft

When pumpkin has roasted remove skin and place pumpkin pieces into saucepan (and cloves of garlic if available)

Add vegetable stock

Bring to a simmer and continue cooking for about 20 minutes stirring occasionally

Place all the contents of saucepan into a liquidizer (or rub through a sieve like they did in the old days!) and pulse until a thick puree is achieved

Put puree back into saucepan, add lots of salt and pepper to taste and reheat adding milk to achieve desired consistancy

Lord Woolton Pie

• Various in season veggies like swedes, turnips, potatoes, cauliflower, broccoli, leeks, onions, carrots
• Potatoes for mashing
• Flour, butter and milk for sauce
• Strong grated cheddar cheese
• Herbs such as sage or thyme for sauce

Method

• Peel washed potatoes (save peelings to bake in oven with salt and herbs)
• Dice potatoes and cook in salted water until soft
• Mash with butter, a little milk and add salt
• Peel, wash and dice in season veggies as applicable and boil until nearly cooked
• Drain and place in pie dish
• Make sauce-Use dessert spoon of butter and melt in pan, add two dessert spoons of flour and mix and slowly add in milk, keep stirring. Add salt and herbs and pepper
• Pour thick sauce over the vegetables
• Put mashed potato in piping bag (baggy with a hole in the corner)
• Pipe over the top of veggies and sauce
• Finish by placing some grated cheese over the top
• Place in oven at 220 C for around 30 minutes until the potatoes have browned

Bread Stuffing Balls

Ingredients

• Loaf of bread
• 1 or 2 oz butter
• dried or fresh herbs such as sage, thyme and parsley
• onion
• 500 ml of vegetable stock

Method

Get a large bowl and take all the slices of bread and tear them up into small pieces and place in bowl

Sprinkle on your herbs to your own taste (I like lots!) Add salt and pepper

Dot the butter/margarine over the top

Chop onion finely, saute in butter and then add to the bowl of bread and stir

Take the warm vegetable stock and pour a little of the stock over the bread to moisten it.

Stir until it starts to stick together (not too moist)

Place it in ovenproof dish or form into balls

Cook in oven at about 200 c for 30-40 mins until browned and turn once

Makes 16-20 balls or serves a LOT of people!

Apple Crumble

• 8 apples (2 per person)
• 4 dessert spoons brown sugar
• cinnamon
• 2 oz margarine/butter
• 4 oz wholewheat flour
• 4 dessert spoons of white sugar
• weeny pinch of salt

Method

Peel and chop apples into thin slices

Place in saucepan, sprinkle a little water over, brown sugar and cinnamon

Simmer gently for 5 minutes

Drain a little and place in greased cooking dish

Mix together flour, salt and white sugar

Add in the margarine/butter in small pieces and rub together with fingertips until a breadcrumb look is achieved

Sprinkle over the softened apples

Place in over at 220 c for about 30 minutes

Not feeling these recipes? The world wide web is chock full of yummies from the 40's and 50's. Play around, mix it up and he'll begging for more, Trust me!