Southampton F.C. ~ Saintchiladas

Introduction: The club has been called “The Saints” since it was founded on 21st November 1885 by members of the St. Mary’s Church of England Young Men’s Association (St. Mary’s YMA). So, it was an historic homecoming in 2001 when the team returned to St. Mary’s stadium next to that same church over a century later.

In case you’ve not come across one of these (as I hadn’t) an enchilada is a tortilla rolled around a filling, chicken in this case, and smothered in a sauce of some description.

Preparation time: 30 mins

Cooking time: 15 mins first half and 20 mins second half

Home kit: A medium and large saucepan, two mixing bowls and a large baking tray

Away kit: 4 plates, knives and forks

Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1.5 pints chicken stock
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips
• 6 green chillies
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 jar salsa
• 4 oz. grated cheddar
• 2 oz. grated parmesan
• a handful of fresh coriander, chopped
• 1 jar sliced black olives, drained
• 1 jar enchilada sauce
• Mexican hot sauce
• 2 tsp. Cayenne pepper
• 8 corn tortillas (6 inches across)

Method:

First half – before the match

Bring the stock to the boil in the medium pan, reduce the heat and add the chicken, chillies and garlic. Cook for 15 minutes or until chicken is cooked through. Strain chicken, run cold water over it and shred into a bowl. Mix in the jar of salsa and set aside.

In the other bowl, mix up the cheddar, parmesan, coriander and olives.

In the large saucepan over medium heat, combine enchilada sauce, Mexican hot sauce and cayenne pepper (to taste). Stir until simmering then remove from the heat and set aside.

Second half – After the match – Preheat the oven to 220^oC

Grease the baking tray (unless it’s non-stick). Microwave the tortillas for 20 seconds to soften them. Place small handfuls of the cheese mixture and chicken in centre of each tortilla, roll up and place on the baking tray, seam side down. Ladle on sauce and top with any remaining cheese mixture. Bake 20 minutes.

Full time results

Serve with remaining sauce on the side.

Southampton F.C. ~ Currie McMenemy

Introduction: Lawrence “Lawrie” McMenemy MBE (born Gateshead, 26 July 1936) is a retired English football coach, best known for his spell as manager of Southampton Football Club.  He was on the Newcastle payroll but never played for the first team. Lawrie McMenemy is rated in the Guinness Book of Records as one of the twenty most successful managers in post-war English football.

His 12 years at Southampton put both him and the club on the map by guiding Southampton to FA Cup victory with a 1-0 win over Manchester United in 1976. They were runners-up in the League Cup in 1979 and the First Division in 1983-84. He persuaded Kevin Keegan, the then England captain, to join Southampton in 1980 after two years in the Bundesliga.

He is an ex-Coldstream Guardsman.

Blimey I’ve not cooked this in a while. I think the last time was for that great kickball aficionado David “Rodders” Carr.

Preparation time: 30 mins

Cooking time: 1 match

Home kit: large shallow casserole and a boiled kettle

Away kit: 4-6 plates, knives and spoons

Serves: 4-6 (well it should but often gets completely scoffed)

Ingredients

• 1 lb. Neck or leg of lamb cut into 1 inch cubes
• 4 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 1 large onion
• 4 cardamom pods, bruised
• 4 green chillies, chopped
• 2 red chillies, chopped (torn up if dried)
• 1 thumb fresh ginger, grated
• 4 cloves garlic, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 tbsp. ground coriander
• 2 tbsp. Paprika (Spanish is best, Rodders bought me some)
• 1 tsp. turmeric
• Some hot water
• 1 tsp. tamarind paste or juice of 1 lemon
• Some salt
• A handful of fresh coriander leaves

Method: Preheat the oven to 180^oC

First half

Fry the onion and cardamom pods in the casserole dish over a medium heat until the onion begins to brown. Reduce the heat and add the red and green chillies, ginger, garlic, coriander, paprika, turmeric and fry them for a minute. Add the meat and fry until the pieces are evenly browned, about another 5 mins.

Second half

Add a little hot water, the tamarind paste or lemon juice and place in the oven for 1¾ hours.

Or reduce the heat to 140^oC and you can leave it for as long as you like, say a trip to the kickball and back again.

Full time results

Serve with plain boiled rice and dahl which you can pick up from the Indian on the way home from the match. Eat with a spoon, curries are always eaten with a spoon in our family.

Southampton F.C. ~ St. Mary’s Jelly

Introduction: St Mary’s Stadium is the home of Southampton F.C. in the lovely city of Southampton. It is a UEFA 4-star rated stadium and with a capacity of 32,689 is the largest football stadium in the south of England, outside London.

The Saints have played there since August 2001 when they moved from The Dell, which for held just over 15,000 spectators. The first match was played on 1 August 2001 against RCD Espanyol.

I have been to this stadium when I watched The Millwall from the stands. I was completely dressed in black for style purposes on that eventful day.

Here’s a strawberry and cream recipe for the colours.

Preparation time: 20mins

Cooking time: 5 mins

Home kit: large jug, 2.7 litre (4¾ pint) non-stick kugelhopf mould (ha!) or large bowl (more likely), medium saucepan, another bowl

Away kit: 11 plates and spoons

Serves: a kickball team

Ingredients

• 2 x 135g packs strawberry jelly, Hartley’s is recommended.
• ⅛ tsp. edible gold glitter, optional for the next FA Cup Final win.
• Light oil for greasing, optional
• 100g (3½oz) caster sugar
• 1 vanilla pod, split lengthways
• 300ml (½ pint) double cream
• 600ml (1 pint) milk
• 8 gelatine sheets

Method: Preheat the oven to 0^oC (It’s a jelly!)

First half

Start by making the jelly. Snip the jelly into cubes and put into the large jug. Pour over 300ml (½ pint) boiling water and leave to dissolve, stirring occasionally. Top up the mixture with cold water until there is 1.2 litre (2⅛ pint). Stir in the glitter, if using.

Pour the strawberry jelly mixture into the kugelhopf mould or large bowl (if non-stick, grease lightly with the mild oil). Chill until completely set, which will take about three hours or one kickball match.

Second half

Meanwhile put the sugar, vanilla, cream and milk into a pan and heat gently, whisking occasionally to help release the vanilla seeds, until mixture just begins to boil. Take off the heat and leave to infuse for 15min.

Put the gelatine sheets into a bowl and cover with cold water. Leave to soak for 5min. Lift the soaked gelatine out of the water (discard water) and add to the cream pan – stir to dissolve (if the cream mixture is not hot enough to dissolve the gelatine, then reheat gently until it dissolves). Lift out the vanilla pod and leave the cream mixture until completely cool –the strawberry jelly needs to be fully set before proceeding.

Gently pour the cream mixture over the set jelly and refrigerate to set completely – about 5hrs. Or two games of kickball.

Full time results

To serve, turn out the jelly on to a serving plate. If it doesn’t come out easily, dip the base of the mould briefly into a bowl of hot water (take care that the water does not touch the jelly). Turn out and serve.