Mrs Hubbard

When I looked, on one of those dark days between Christmas and New Year, the cupboard was bare.  When my Mother looked she found this:

Hubbard soup (minimal version)

For making something out of nothing, this beats even the tomato and lentil soup that KK makes. Chop one white onion, soften in oil; add a tin of tomatoes and a squeeze of tomato purée.  Cook for a bit - maybe 15 mins - then blend roughly and season well. Serves 3.

Ridiculously Good Sausage rolls

Caramelise some onions by slicing an onion in half, then slicing the halves into slim half moons. Add to a pan with a little oil and cook on a low heat for 30 mins. Add a teaspoon of balsamic and half a teaspoon of sugar and cook a further 15 mins.

Roll out puff pastry into a long rectangle. You will soon fold this in half, lengthwise, so bear this in mind as you place on sausage meat (from Jonathan the butcher, "hardly any fat in there" as Ma kept telling us): keep it to one side, with space all round. Top the meat with caramelised onion then fold the rest of the pastry over the meat, like a long blanket. Tuck the sausage up cosy, press the edges together, and brush with milk. Slice the roll into big chunks; they need to be pretty hefty or the pastry will bounce open as the rolls cook. Bake hot (190 degrees) for about 20 mins.

This was a very warming lunch.