Ellie’s Guide for Grandad

What you need

Plus, either way: a stick of celery if you’ve got one, a good knob of butter or a spoonful of lard for the vegetables, milk and butter for the mash, a bay leaf from the garden, a spoonful of cornflour if the stock looks thin, and a splash of Worcestershire sauce.

What you do

1. Potatoes first, in a pan on the hob. Boil them as you normally would, then drain and mash in the pan with milk and butter. Set them aside. On a hot day, do them in the combi instead: chopped, in a Pyrex dish with a few tablespoons of water, covered, Medium for about 15 minutes until a knife goes through easily. Drain, and tip them into a separate bowl to mash — you want the Pyrex free for the next bit.
2. Now the base. Onion, carrots, celery and the butter or lard into the Pyrex dish. Medium for 5–7 minutes, until softened.
3. Add the mince, then the gravy, the bay leaf and a splash of Worcestershire sauce. Stir a spoonful of cornflour in if the stock looks thin. Cover and cook on High for 15 minutes — 20 for the big pack. Leave the bay leaf in, it carries on adding flavour while it cooks. Just don’t eat it.
4. Into an ovenproof dish, unless the Pyrex will do the job as it is.
5. Mash on top. Spread it over, then fluff the top up with a fork the way Mommy used to, so it crisps up properly. Dot a bit of butter over, or brush with milk.
6. Combi, around 200°C, about 20 minutes, until the top is golden and it’s bubbling round the edge.

What you need

• Potatoes — about a kilo (2lb), peeled and cut moderately small. Not tiny
• Two onions, chopped
• A tin of corned beef (340g / 12oz), broken into chunks
• A mug or so of beef stock
• A good knob of butter, or better still a spoonful of lard or beef dripping
• Salt, and white pepper — it makes a real difference in stovies

What you do

1. Everything into a Pyrex dish: potatoes, onions, corned beef, stock, the butter or lard, and a good shake of salt and white pepper. Give it a stir.
2. Cover and cook on High for about 20 minutes, stirring halfway. Add a splash more stock if it looks dry.
3. Check the potatoes. They should be soft enough to squash against the side of the dish. If not, another five minutes.
4. Stir it well. You’re not mashing it, but it wants to go a bit mushy and hold together. The corned beef should have melted into it.

What you need

• Potatoes — about 800g (1¾lb), peeled and chopped
• A big onion, chopped
• A tin of corned beef (340g / 12oz), broken into chunks
• A knob of butter, or a spoonful of lard
• Half a mug of beef stock or gravy
• A splash of Worcestershire sauce
• Milk and butter for the mash
• Salt, and white pepper if you’ve got it

What you do

1. Potatoes first, in a pan. Boil, drain, and mash with milk and butter. Keep it on the firm side — you want it to sit on top rather than sink in.
2. Onion in the Pyrex dish with the butter or lard. Medium for 5 minutes, until softened.
3. Add the corned beef, the stock and the Worcestershire sauce, and season well. Stir it about — the corned beef will start breaking down, which is what you want. Cover, Medium for 8 minutes.
4. Mash on top, spread over and fluffed up with a fork. Butter dotted on, or a brush of milk.
5. Combi, around 200°C, about 20 minutes, until the top is properly brown and crisp.

What you need

• A tin of condensed milk (397g / 14oz). Carnation is often two for £2 at Farmfoods, and Lidl do their own at about 85p
• 750ml double cream (1¼ pints)
• A good dash of vanilla extract

What you do

1. Whip the cream until it peaks and the peaks stay formed. Don’t take it past that point or it might collapse, and you won’t get it back.
2. Pour in the condensed milk and the vanilla, and fold it through gently until it’s uniform.
3. Into a tub, lid on, freezer for at least 6 hours. That’s a lovely vanilla ice cream for you as it is, and it doesn’t set rock hard, so it scoops straight from the freezer. Or you can add other things to it, like the fruit one below.

For the fruit one

1. Tip a bag of frozen mixed berries into a pan (Farmfoods often have good offers on them), or a bowl in the microwave, with a few tablespoons of sugar. Cook it down until it’s soft and syrupy. Taste it before it gets too hot, and add more sugar if it needs it — but remember the ice cream is very sweet, so don’t make the fruit too sweet.
2. Let it cool completely, then mash it up.
3. Use a slotted spoon and add a few big spoonfuls to the ice cream, folding it through just before it goes in the freezer — only a few turns. Too much liquid stirred all the way through will make it icy.

What you need

• A packet of ready-rolled puff pastry (320g / 11oz) — the sort that comes rolled up in its own greaseproof
• A pack of your favourite sausages
• A bit of brown sauce, chutney or mustard. German mustard if you have it
• A drop of milk for brushing

What you do

1. Oven on high. The small oven does these very well.
2. Unroll the pastry onto some greaseproof paper and add a touch of flour to stop it sticking. You can use the greaseproof it comes on, but you might need a bit of extra flour to be sure. The sheet goes on the tray with it. Cut the pastry lengthways into two long strips, or three if you’d rather have them slimmer.
3. Squeeze the sausages out of their skins and press the meat into one long line down each strip, sitting along one of the long edges with a small border of bare pastry left at that side. Then spread a little brown sauce, chutney or mustard along the top of the sausage.
4. Brush milk along the far long edge to act as the glue. Roll the pastry over the sausage until that edge meets the near one, and press the two together. Press along the join with a fork to seal it properly and give it the ridged look.
5. Use a knife to cut the sausage rolls to the length you’d like. Then use scissors to snip two or three little holes in the top of each one so the steam can get out.
6. Brush the tops with milk and in they go, for about 25 minutes, until they’re deep golden and properly puffed.

What you do

1. Turn the telly on with the Sony remote, if it isn’t on already.
2. Press the input button on the Sony remote — the one marked with a square with an arrow going into it: It’s usually near the top of the remote.
3. Choose the Apple TV from the list that comes up, using the arrow keys and the middle button.
4. Now pick up the small Apple remote and press any button on it. The Apple TV wakes up and you should be there.