recipes

Red Pesto and Sausage Gnocchi

Tue, 14 Jan 2025 12:00:00 GMT

Red pesto is a really good ingredient to have kicking around as a dollop (see: generous spoonful) will lift most things. Finally using it as the main ingredient seems only fair.

I've had this jar kicking around in the fridge for far longer than I'd like to admit to, 2/3 of a pack of "Chorizo-style" sausages sat in the freezer, and a tub of sour cream languishing in the fridge that needed using up - in other words.... the main ingredients for this recipe!

Stats

Makes: 3 portions

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

4 "chorizo style" sausages
3 white onions, peeld and thinly sliced
2 tbsp garlic oil
100g red pesto
1/2tsp chilli flakes
90g spinach, shredded
sprig of basil, leaves thinly sliced
50g sour cream
250ml hot chicken stock
500g fresh gnocchi
45g grated parmesan

Method

Remove the skin from the sausages and cut each sausage into six pieces
Put the garlic oil into a wide frying pan over a medium heat and when warm, add the sausage pieces
When the sausage pieces are browned, remove from the pan and set aside
Add the onions to the pan with a teaspoon of salt, stir well and cover
Cook the onions for 10 minutes, stirring every now and then, until softened
Turn the heat up, add the pesto and chilli flakes and stir well until the onions are coated
Add the chicken stock to the pan along with the sausage pieces, stir well and reduce the heat
Cook until the sauce has begun to thicken
Whilst the gnocchi are cooking (reserve a mug of the cooking water), per the instructions for them, add the spinach to the pan and stir through
Add the cooked gnocchi to the pan along with as much of the reserved cooking water as you need to loosen the sauce, stir through and cook for a minute
Turn off the heat, stir through the basil and sour cream and then season to taste with salt and black pepper
Serve topped with grated parmesan

Apple Crumble with an oaty top

Mon, 14 Oct 2024 19:53:00 GMT

A heavily tweaked crumble recipe, taking principle inspiration from my step-moms crumble, where she also used eating apples. The recipe is to serve four, but you could reasonably get away with serving six.

The topping of this crumble is very oaty, you could well reduce the quantity of oats to 80g and instead use 180g of flour and 115 of butter. On the subject of salt; if you don't have flaked sea salt then halve the quantity. There should be a hint of a salty note to the crumble, with the flaked sea salt giving occasional bursts, rather than the crumble tasting overtly salty in any way.

Stats

Makes: 4 portions

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients

2 large red eating apples (c. 450-500g in weight)
30g sultanas
165g demerara sugar
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tbsp lemon juice
25ml water
160 plain flour
100g cold butter, cubed
100g rolled oats
1 tsp flaked sea salt

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 170°C (fan-assisted)
Peel, quarter and then core the apples. Slice into thin (at most 0.5cm) slices
Put the apple slices into a dish with the sultanas, 40g of the demerara sugar, cinnamon, lemon juice and water. Mix them together well to ensure everything is evenly coated and the sultanas are evenly distributed
Put the plain flour and butter into a food processor and blitz until a breadcrumb texture has formed. Some large bits of butter remaining are absolutely fine
Add 100g of the demerara sugar, the oats and the salt and mix well
Top the fruit with the crumble mix, smoothing it roughly and tamping it down gently into the corners
Sprinkle the remaining demerara sugar over the crumble before putting in the oven and cooking for 40 minutes
When cooked, remove from the oven and leave to cool for 5 to 10 minutes

Chicken, Salami and Cannellini

Sun, 17 Mar 2024 14:22:00 GMT

This came about through using up bits and bobs that were left-over from other meals so is likely to be reasonably forgiving to substitutions. You could swap in chorizo instead of salami, chicken breast instead of thighs - though only if you must.

Stats

Makes: 4 portions

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients

1 tbsp garlic infused olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and thinly sliced
4 chicken thigh fillets, skinless
100g salami, skinned and diced
400g white potatoes, cubed
400g can cherry tomatoes in juice
1 tsp dried rosemary
1.5 tbsp olive oil
75ml red vermouth
1 tbsp baby capers
2 bay leaves
400g can of cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
300g jar of roasted red peppers (drained weight c. 200g)
80g mascarpone
Fresh parmesan cheese, for grating

Method

Put the garlic infused olive oil into a large pan and bring to a low heat
Add the sliced onions and soften for 10 minutes
Move the sliced onions to the edges of the pan before adding the chicken thighs and salami
Cook the chicken thighs, turning as required, until lightly browned
Put the olive oil into a medium sized pan and bring to a medium heat
Turn the heat up, add the red vermouth and allow it to reduce
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees C (fan assisted)
Add the cubed potates to the medium pan, along with the rosemary and seasoning and cook, turning regularly until browned
Once the red vermouth has reduced in half, add the cherry tomatoes along with half of the can filled with water, the capers, bay leaves, drained red peppers and cannellini beans
Allow to simmer whilst the potatoes finish browning
Turn the heat down, stir in the mascarpone and season to taste
Tip the potato cubes out of the pan, evenly over the top of the chicken, grate over plenty of parmesan and put in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes before serving

We had this with a salad of lettuce, cucumber, tomato, beetroot, avocado and plenty of feta which suited it perfectly

Moo 'n Blue Pie

Fri, 29 Dec 2023 08:50:00 GMT

I absolutely love pie, albeit I more often than not top them with puff pastry. The Beef & Ale Matchday Pie from Simple Comforts by Mary Berry reminded me that pies don't all have to have puff pastry on the top (incidentally, the Paneer and roasted vegetable curry recipe from that book is awesome too!), hence this pie is shortcrust all the way. If you like pie, my Steak and Guinness Pie and Chicken and Ham Pie are definitely worth a look too.

Stats

Makes: 4 portions

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 2 1/2 hours

Ingredients

For the filling:

500g stewing steak, cut into bite size pieces
20g beef dripping
2 heaped tbsp plain flour
2 medium red onions, trimmed and thinly sliced
140g carrots, diced
2 stalks of celery, thinly sliced
1 bay leaf
250g new potatoes
250ml red wine
600ml beef stock
80g Stilton

For the pastry:

300g flour
150g butter, cold
1tsp salt
1 egg, beaten

Method

For the filling:

Put the flour, with some salt and pepper, onto a plate and toss through the pieces of steak to coat well
Heat the dripping in a pan over a medium heat and brown all the pieces of steak, in batches, before setting the beef aside
Add the onions, carrots, celery and bay leaf to the pan with a generous sprinkle of salt, lower the heat and allow to soften for ten minutes before setting the veg to one side
Add the red wine to the pan slowly, using it to de-glaze the pan, before leaving to reduce for 5 minutes
Add back the steak, cooked veg and potatoes before adding the stock and cooking on a low heat, partially covered, for an hour and a half or until the meat is tender. Stir from time to time to ensure it doesn't catch
Leave the pie filling to cool

For the pastry:

Put the flour, butter and salt into a food processor and blitz until breadcrumbs form
Add 75ml of cold water and pulse the food processor briefly to form a rough dough
Lay out a piece of cling film, drop the dough out onto it, bring together and wrap tightly
Refrigerate for at least half an hour

To assemble:

Pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees, fan assisted
Split the pastry into 2/3 and 1/3 pieces
Roll the larger piece of pastry out on a floured surface until it's big enough to line a 22cm pie dish
Oil the pie dish lightly and then place the pastry into it before trimming the edges
Fill the pie dish with the cooled pie filling
Crumble the blue cheese evenly over the filling
Roll the smaller piece of pastry out until it's big enough to top the pie with a decent overlap
Lightly brush the pastry edges with the egg before laying the pastry over the top and trimming the edges
Crimp the edges of the pie with a fork
Use the excess pastry trimmings to decorate the pie, if you feel the urge to
Brush the pie with the beaten egg
Cook in the oven for an hour, though check at 40-45 minutes for doneness, let the pie rest on the side for 10 minutes and then serve

Sweet Potato, Chickpea & Pepper curry in a hurry

Sun, 05 Sep 2021 13:38:00 GMT

I use a jar of Sainsbury's 'Fragrant Tikka Curry Paste' when I make this (admittedly the first time I made this it was to use a jar of curry paste that was languishing in the back of the cupboard and barely the right side of its 'Best Before Date') but I'm sure it would work well with pretty much any curry paste making it easy to customise this recipe to suit your taste - assuming you like sweet potato and chickpeas!

Stats

Makes: 4 portions

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

160g sliced onions (approx. 3 small onions)
1tbsp vegetable oil
275g sliced red peppers (approx. 3 small peppers)
400g peeled sweet potato, diced to c. 2cm cubes (approx 450g before being peeled)
200g curry paste
400ml hot vegetable stock
240g chickpeas (1 tin, drained)
100g spinach
Optional: Yoghurt and red chilli to serve

Method

Warm the oil in a wide saucepan then add the onions and a pinch of salt and cook until softened on a low heat
Add the sweet potatoes and cook for a few minutes to start them softening
Turn the heat up to medium before adding the curry paste
Cook the curry paste off for 30 seconds to a minute, stirring it round so it coats the sweet potatoes
Add the vegetable stock to the pan along with the chickpeas, peppers and the spinach and give it a good stir
Cover and simmer for 10 minutes or until the sweet potatoes have softened

This is generously filling on its own but could be served up with rice, a flatbread or both if you're feeling really hungry. It re-heats really well

Parsnip, Cumin & Chilli Soup

Sat, 04 Sep 2021 14:30:00 GMT

I used to make curried parsnip soup but we had it so many times we were sick of it. A couple of bags of reduced-to-clear parsnips in the supermarket at 5p a bag were too cheap to resist and the result was a tasty soup, even more so when topped with some sour cream and crispy fried bits of chorizo

Stats

Makes: 2 servings

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

120g white onions
1 small red chilli (or 1/2 tsp red chilli flakes)
450g parsnips
10g olive oil
500ml hot chicken stock
1 tbsp cumin
Optional: 2 tbsp sour cream
Optional: 50g chorizo

Method

Peel and finely chop the onion
Heat the olive oil over a low heat in a saucepan that will accomodate all the vegetables and stock
Add the onion and a sprinkle of salt to the pan and cook until softened, but not browned
Peel and chop the parsnips into smallish pieces before adding them to the pan
Slice the chilli and add to the pan and cook until the parsnips have started to soften
Add the cumin to the pan, turn the heat up slightly and stir round for 30 seconds until aromatic
Add the stock to the pan and simmer for 15 minutes or until the parsnips are tender
Blend until smooth before checking for seasoning and serving

If you want to add the optional sour cream and chorizo, chop the chorizo into small pieces and add to a frying pan over a medium heat when there's about 5 minutes of the cooking time left for the soup. Cook the chorizo pieces, stirring regularly. When the chorizo pieces are cooked and starting to get crispy take the pan off the heat and reserve. Add a tablespoon of sour cream to each bowl of soup before serving along with half the cooked chorizo pieces and the oil that's come from them as they cooked.

To make the soup vegetarian/vegan, skip the optional ingredients and substitute vegetable stock for the chicken stock.

Beetroot & Carrot Fritters

Sat, 21 Nov 2020 11:14:00 GMT

These go really well with chutney (pictured with the Roasted Garlic & Apple Chutney from an Abel&Cole recipe that is delicious!) and a salad that contains chunks of feta cheese. Sweet chutney, savoury root vegetable fritters and salty feta is a really tasty combination.

Stats

Makes: 12 fritters

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

350g beetroot, peeled
350g carrots
250g plain flour
60g spring onions (approx. 1/2 bunch)
50ml water
2tsp dried oregano
1/2tsp salt
1/2tsp ground black pepper
3 tbsp olive oil

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 180ºC (fan-assisted) and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper
Grate the beetroot and carrot together (use a food processor if you have one)
Finely chop the spring onions and add them to the beetroot and carrot
In a large bowl, add the flour, oregano, salt and pepper to the vegetables and mix together with your hand (you want a large bowl so you don't throw flour everywhere)
Test the mixture by gently squeezing a small handful and seeing if it holds together, if it doesn't quite hold then add the water and mix in with your hand
Heat a tablespoon of the oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat
Take about 85g of the mixture and shape into a fritter, keeping it no more than 1cm thick so that it can cook all the way through - do this four times
Put the four fritters into the frying pan and fry for 2-3 minutes until the bottom crisps and gets some colour
Flip the fritters over and cook for another 2-3 minutes
Put the fritters onto the lined baking tray and repeat from step 6 until all the mixture is used up
Put the baking tray into the pre-heated oven for 10-15 minutes - this makes sure that they're cooked all the way through the middle - before serving

I normally serve two fritters per person for a small lunch when accompanied by chutney and a generous serving of salad. This does mean you get a couple of meals from this recipe, or you can use half quantities of all the ingredients to make a smaller amount. I have kept these in the fridge for three or four days and re-heated in the oven for 10-15 minutes at 180ºC

Soft white bread (machine) rolls

Sat, 23 May 2020 11:56:00 GMT

I use my bread maker to do all the heavy lifting of mixing and kneading, and indeed this dough recipe is based on one that comes with the machine. It can be made with 70% white and 30% wholemeal flour for a tastier and slightly more, dare I say it, virtuous, result.

Stats

Makes: 8 rolls

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 2-3 hours

Ingredients

1 tsp yeast
1/2tsp sugar
450g strong white bread flour
40g unsalted butter
1/2tsp salt
1 large egg
270ml water

Method

Put the mixing bowl from the breadmaker on some scales, add the yeast and sugar then zero the scales
Measure the flour in then add the butter, salt and egg
Add the water by weight as it's easier to be accurate with the amount of water by weighing it
Use a dough program on your breadmaker, mine takes 2h 20m
When the dough is nearly ready, pre-heat your oven to 40 degrees then turn the oven off and leave the door shut (or use a dough proving option if it has one)
Place some baking parchment on a baking tray, ready to receive the shaped rolls and get some flour onto the worktop to help with shaping, 2tbsp should be good to start with
Tip the dough out onto the worktop and divide in half, the dough is a little sticky so dust your hands with flour when necessary. I weigh the pieces of dough make sure there's an even split, with each being about 400g. To divide the dough I use a dough scraper like this one, you could just as easily use a knife though it does make it easier to move the dough around if its sticking to the worktop
Divide the two pieces of dough in half again, giving four pieces of about 200g
Divide each of the four pieces of dough in half again, giving eight pieces of dough of about 100g
Shape each of the pieces into a roll shape and place on the baking tray. I shape the dough by folding the corners into the middle repeatedly until it has a nice round shape - where I've folded the corners in becomes the bottom of the roll
Place the rolls onto the baking tray as they're shaped, cover with a clean lightweight tea towel and leave to rise for about 20 minutes in the just warm oven which should allow them to double in size
Remove the rolls from the oven and dust with flour ready for baking
Heat the oven to 220 degrees (fan assisted) and put the rolls in to cook for 12-15 minutes once the oven's up to temperature
Put the rolls onto a wire rack to cool down

These rolls freeze really well if you let them cool completely, bag up and put in the freezer. I can't say how long they freeze for as they're rarely in there for more than a few days, being free of preservatives that are used to keep mass-manufactured bread fresh and soft these rolls are noticeably poorer the next day but come out of the freezer almost as fresh as they went in.

Carluccio's Chicken

Sat, 11 Jan 2020 10:55:00 GMT

This is based on a recipe my dad cooked, which he credited to the late, great, Antonio Carluccio. I've never actually seen the recipe as published by him, if indeed it ever was, that said it's not the most complicated of things to cook. You end up with crispy skinned chicken, miniature crispy roasted potato bites, sweet slightly caramelised onion and the icing on the cake is the roasted sweet and sticky garlic that can be squeezed out of the cloves.

Stats

Serves: 2

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

2 chicken legs, split into drumsticks and thighs
600g potatoes
1 onion
2 tbsp olive oil
10 fat cloves of garlic
Fresh rosemary
Fresh thyme
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 200° fan-assisted
Whilst the oven is pre-heating, pat dry the skin on the chicken with some kitchen towel
Peel the potatoes and chop them into even pieces about three to four centimetres in length - you want pieces that just have to be cut in two so that they can be eaten
Peel the onion and cut into six to eight wedges
Place the chicken pieces in a heavy based roasting tin skin side up, then also place the onion wedges around them
Tumble the pieces of potato into the pan so that they fall around the chicken and onion, adjusting them so that they all have some of their surface in contact with the roasting tin
Drizzle the olive oil over the chicken, onion and potatoes then season everything well with salt and pepper
Finely chop the rosemary and thyme, then sprinkle it over the tray
Cook in the oven for 20 minutes, before adding the garlic cloves and returning to the oven for another 40 minutes

This is surprisingly forgiving if you leave it in the oven for longer, though any garlic cloves that are in direct contact with the pan will cook quicker and go from soft, sweet and sticky garlic paste to inedible in fairly short order. Adjust the cooking time up, or down, depending on whether the chicken skin has crisped up or not.

Bolognese Conchigli pasta bake

Wed, 08 Jan 2020 20:49:00 GMT

When we have a pasta bake it's usually a quick and lazy one made from sauce from a jar, fresh pasta that takes only minutes to cook along with a tin of tuna, chopped cherry tomatoes and what is perhaps far too much cheese on the top. This recipe takes a little longer, though the bolognese could be made in advance and frozen, but it's worth it as it's quite substantial and very filling. You could probably serve three or even four people with this when topped up with a green salad. I cook this in individual dishes per person but it could just as easily be put into a large oven dish and cooked whole.

Stats

Serves: 2 (greedy) people

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 50 minutes

Ingredients

225g conchigli pasta
500g beef mince
1 white onion, finely chopped
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp garlic paste, or two large cloves minced
1/2 tbsp worcestershire sauce
100ml red wine
1 beef OXO cube
400g tin chopped tomatoes
25g butter
Handful of fresh basil leaves
50g parmesan, freshly grated
100g grated mozarella

Method

Add the olive oil and onion to a large frying pan over a medium heat and cook until slightly softened
Add the beef mince and cook until the meat is no longer pink
Add the garlic paste to the pan and stir round to cook through for about thirty seconds
Add the crushed beef OXO cube, stir in and then add the wine. Allow the wine to cook down a little
Add the chopped tomatoes, use a small amount of water to clean the inside of the tin and add that to the pan as well
Simmer for about twenty minutes over a low/medium heat until the bolognese has thickened, stirring from time to time
Whilst the bolognese is simmering pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees (fan-assisted), cook the conchigli to the instructions on the packet, drain, stir the butter through and set aside
When the bolognese is ready, finely chop the basil and stir through
Combine the bolognese and pasta together - the conchigli shells will tend to try and stick inside each other so they may need separating
Put the bolognese and pasta mix into a dish, sprinkle the two cheeses over the top and then bake in the oven for twenty minutes or until the cheese has browned

Peri-Peri Chicken Thighs

Sat, 28 Dec 2019 14:19:00 GMT

I've been making this as a meal for a while now, sometimes for a big lunch and less often as an evening meal. Chicken thighs have a much better texture, at least in my opinion, and also take to the marinade thanks to all the little nooks and crannies when they've been boned. Unfortunately this recipe doesn't suit keeping the skin on, so whilst crispy chicken thigh skin is a thing of joy, it's not one that you get with this. The tasty heat and flavour from the marinade more than makes up for it.

Stats

Serves: 2 people

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 30 hours

Ingredients

300g chicken skinless thigh fillets
1 red chilli
1/2 lemon
1 tbsp chipotle paste
1 fat clove garlic, minced
1/2 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp water
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tbsp cider vinegar
1 tbsp tomato puree

Method

De-seed and finely chop the red chilli
Squeeze the lemon juice into a bowl, removing any seeds that pop out of the lemon
Add all the remaining ingredients, except the chicken, and mix well to combine
Add the chicken thigh fillets and mix well to coat with the peri-peri marinade, then cover and leave in the fridge for a few hours if possible
Pre-heat the oven to 200 (fan assisted)
Cook the chicken thights for 30 minutes on a foil lined tray, adding all the marinade onto the chicken
Drain any liquid that's come from the chicken from the tray and then cook for five more minutes to help crisp some of the corners

Once the chicken thighs have cooked, rest them for five minutes before chopping them roughly and serving with a selection of bits and pieces to fill warmed pitta breads with. I chop up avocado, cucumber and tomato and add some lettuce leaves - that's plenty to fill the pitta along with the warm chicken.

If you wanted to make a peri-mayo to put in the pittas you can reserve a half tablespoon of the marinade before using it and mix with 3 tablespoons of mayo to make enough to go with the pittas.

Slow Cooker BBQ Pulled chicken

Sun, 28 Apr 2019 17:51:59 GMT

I've had a slow cooker for a long long time but it spends most of its life sitting on a shelf seldom used. Since putting this recipe together, it's been made twice and will likely be made again in the next few weeks.

Stats

Serves: 4

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 4 hours

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts
1/2 white onion
1tsp garlic puree
2tbsp brown sugar
25ml olive oil
2tbsp hoisin sauce
1tbsp worcestershire sauce
1/2 chicken stock pot / stock cube
300ml bbq sauce
Salt and black pepper to season

Method

Finely chop, or grate the onion
Add all the ingredients to a slow cooker, stir well to mix everything and ensure the chicken is well coated
Turn the slow cooker to high and cook for four hours
Use two forks to shred the chicken breasts in the slow cooker crock
If the sauce around the chicken is too thin for you, move the shredded chicken to a frying pan, mix in 2tsp of cornflour that's been slaked in 2tbsp of water and heat until thickened

Serve the shredded chicken with iceberg lettuce, cucumber and sliced cherry tomatoes ready to be stuffed into soft flour wraps, pittas or another flatbread.

Chorizo, Lentil and Potato soup

Sat, 23 Feb 2019 15:02:00 GMT

This is a refreshed version of a soup I've written the recipe up for before. It's improved, I feel, by tweaks that have been made to the recipe over time. As with most soup recipes the exact quantities are more of a guide than a requirement, if I've more spinach left and no plans to use it I'll put whatever I have in the soup without hesitation.

Stats

Serves: 4

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

150g chorizo picante
1 red onion
2 red chillis
2 cloves of garlic
150g red split lentils
1 litre vegetable stock
200g charlotte potatoes
1 red pepper
1tsp olive oil
75g babyleaf spinach
1 tin chopped tomatoes
Salt and black pepper to season

Method

Remove the skin from the chorizo and chop into small half moons
Heat the olive oil in a pan and add the chorizo. Cook over a low heat until the chorizo is crispy
Whilst the chorizo is cooking, chop the red onion, red pepper and potatoes into half cm cubes
When the chorizo is crispy, set aside and add the red onion, pepper and potato to the pan
Finely slice the red chilli and garlic cloves, add to the pan as well
Stir and cook the veg until slightly softened
Add the lentils, stir well to coat them in the oil
Pour the vegetable stock into the pan and add the chopped tomatoes
Taste the soup and season as required
Simmer the soup until the lentils and potato are cooked through
Shred the spinach, add to the pan and allow to wilt/cook for a minute or so

Serve it up with thick slices of buttered bread to soak up the scant liquid that the bulk of the lentils, potatoes, chorizo and pepper sit in. If you like more meat in the soup, you could easily double or perhaps triple the quantity of chorizo in the recipe.

Special Breakfast Tomatoes

Sat, 26 Jan 2019 18:41:00 GMT

When I was a child, Special Breakfast was a meal we'd have when we were camping in Wales, it's a rich tomatoey sauce with pieces of bacon, sausage and mushroom (yuk!) in it. I've distilled it down to just the tomato sauce component, which is a great side to have with sausages, bacon, eggs, hash browns and, of course, black pudding.

Stats

Serves: 4

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

400g tin of chopped tomatoes
2 cloves of garlic
2 beef OXO stock cubes
1tsp olive oil
1/2tsp worcestershire sauce
Salt and freshly ground black pepper to season

Method

Heat the oil in a small saucepan - I use a small Le Creuset casserole as it distributes the heat well
Whilst the oil's heating, thinly slice the garlic
Add the garlic to the pan and cook for a minute, don't let the garlic burn though!
Add the chopped tomatoes to the pan and stir well
Add all the remaining ingredients to the pan and mix well
Cook the tomatoes until they've thickened, stirring regularly

Lamb Hotpot

Sun, 13 Jan 2019 14:53:00 GMT

Lamb Hotpot recipes normally use chunks of meat, rather than minced meat. This recipe, based on one from gousto, uses minced lamb which keeps the cost and the cook time to a minimum.

Stats

Serves: 2

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients

250g lamb mince
1 white onion
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1/2 tbsp tomato puree
1tsp finely chopped fresh thyme
1tsp finely chopped fresh rosemary
1/2 stalk of celery
2 carrots (approx 200g weight)
300g king edward potatoes
1/2 beef stock cube
20g caramelised onion relish
1tsp plain flour
25g unsalted butter
1tsp olive oil

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees, fan assisted
Dice the carrot into 1/2 cm cubes, don't bother peeling them, there's no need
Thinly slice half the white onion and finely dice the other half
Finely dice the celery
Thinly slice the potatoes, skin on
Heat the olive oil over a medium heat and soften the carrot, onion and celery
Whilst the veg are softening, put the sliced potatoes into a pot of boiling water for 2 to 3 minutes then drain and let them dry
Once the veg has softened, add the lamb mince and cook for five minutes until it's browned
Add in half the thyme, the rosemary, worcestershire sauce, tomato puree, caramelised onion relish and flour and mix well
Make up the half stock cube with 150ml of boiling water and add to the pan
Stir and cook until the gravy mixture has thickened before tasting and seasoning with salt and pepper, if required
Put into a dish (I use one with approximately the dimensions of an A5 sheet of paper) and layer the cooked sliced potatoes over it
Sprinkle with the remaining 1/2tsp of thyme and dot with knobs of the butter
Cook in the oven for 25-30 minutes, a little longer if the potatoes haven't finished crisping up

I serve this with Braised Greens onto warmed plates.

Soda Bread

Sun, 30 Dec 2018 17:00:00 GMT

This is a bit of an amalgam recipe that's come together over the last few times I've followed recipes for Soda Bread from others. It's great when I've got soup cooking and realise that there's no bread in the house and no chance of going out to get any

Stats

Serves: 4

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 35 minutes

Ingredients

375g plain flour
125g wholemeal flour
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
325ml milk, warmed
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tsp salt
50g butter, melted

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees, fan assisted
Combine the milk and lemon juice in a small jug and stir together
Mix the flours (plain and wholemeal) in a large bowl with the salt and bicarbonate of soda
Make a well in the dry mixture, pour in the butter and milk/lemon mixture and mix together to form a dough
Flour a surface and knead the dough for a minute or two before shaping into a ball
Place the ball onto a baking tray, squash it ever so slightly and then score a deep cross into the top
Sprinkle it with flour and put into the oven for 35 minutes, adjusting the time up or down if needed

Eat it quick, it doesn't keep.

Sausage Ragu

Fri, 26 Oct 2018 19:58:00 GMT

I went out for dinner with work colleagues last week and had a fantastic penne and sausage ragu. My attempt to re-create it doesn't even come close on flavour, texture, colour or any other metric, but it is a very tasty dish!

Stats

Serves: 2

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 3/4 hours

Ingredients

190g rosemary & thyme seasoned sausages (approx weight of 6 chipolatas from Waitrose)
1 carrot
1 red onion
1 stalk of celery
1 can of peeled cherry tomatoes
1/2 tsp olive oil
1tsp tomato puree
50ml water
1tsp worcestershire sauce
1tsp fresh thyme, chopped
1/2tsp dried rosemary

Method

Chop the carrot, red onion and celery into the smallest pieces you can possibly manage
Remove the sausage meat from the skins, separating it into pea-sized chunks
Warm the olive oil in a pan and add the sausage meat pieces, stir regularly for 10 to 15 minutes until lightly browned and cooked through
Add the chopped vegetables and cook on the lowest possible heat for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring regularly. You want the veg to be softened, browned and breaking down into the oil and sausage pieces
Add the tinned cherry tomatoes and stiry them round to break them up, being careful to not break apart the nuggets of sausage meat
Add the rosemary, thyme and worcestershire sauce then cook on a low heat for 30 minutes, or until thickened
Add the water and tomato puree and cook until again thickened, about another 15 to 20 minutes

Once the ragu is thickened and cooked, season to taste and serve with a pasta that has a decent bite to it, giant penne are perfect.

Banana Bread

Sat, 29 Sep 2018 15:33:00 GMT

I took this recipe from the internet a while ago, and made a few tweaks to it over a few iterations of baking it, the original had walnuts in it as well, no thank you! If you can hold off eating it for a day or two after baking, it gets gooier and stickier though I'm lucky if the loaf lasts a day or two, let alone not being touched until then....

Stats

Serves: 10 slices

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

4 bananas, as ripe as you can get
300g plain flour
235g golden caster sugar
120g butter, un-salted
2 medium eggs
1tsp vanilla essence
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/2tsp salt
100ml milk
2tsp lemon juice
4tbsp demerara sugar

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees celsius, for a fan-assisted oven
Line a 2lb loaf tin with baking paper (pre-made loaf tin liners are perfect for this)
Combine the milk and lemon juice and leave to thicken
Cream the butter and caster sugar together
Add the eggs to the creamed butter and sugar and mix toghether
Break the bananas into small pieces and add to the mixture, combine until evenly distributed and the pieces have all broken into the mixture
Add the vanilla essence and lemon juice/milk mixture and combine
Sift the flour, salt and bicarbonate of soda onto the mixture and then fold in until combined
Sprinkle the demerara sugar over the top until well covered, using more or less as required
Cook in the oven for an hour, check with a metal skewer for done-ness and cook for longer in 10 minute increments if it does't come out clean

Ham & Cheese Toastie

Sat, 22 Sep 2018 13:51:03 GMT

It feels like a bit of a stretch to call a Ham & Cheese Toastie a recipe, but I don't care. A ham and cheese toastie, along with some coleslaw, some cajun seasoned potato wedges and a little pot of mustard mayo made with Colemans English Mustard is a saturday or sunday lunchtime treat.

Stats

Serves: 1

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

2 slices of bread from a tin loaf
2 slices of decent quality ham
Enough sliced cheddar to cover the bread 1.5x (Reduce to 1x if using optional ingredients)
Optional: A handful of mozarella and a few slices of Shropshire Red
Spread

Method

Pre-heat a George Foreman style grill, if you have one, failing that get a heavy based frying pan at the ready on a low heat on the hob
Spread the opposite sides of the bread (what will become the outside of the toasted sandwich)
Arrange the bread so the two buttered sides are inside (so you can put the two slices down on top of each other)
Put 1/3 of the cheddar dotted across the top of the bread (or the optional ingredients, instead) to hold the ham in place
Cut the slices of ham into quarters (this matters if they're curved slices) and using the square edges you've now got, arrange on top of the cheese
Place the remaining cheese on top of the ham, to cover it
Place the slice of bread that has the fillings on onto the grill/frying pan, so the buttered side is in contact with the grill
Place the other slice of bread so that the buttered side is facing up towards the other half of the grill (or the open air if using a frying pan)
Grill until golden brown and done, turning if using a frying pan - which will probably take a little longer. Don't turn the heat up to brown the bread quicker, the cheese will have less opportunity to melt.

Braised greens

Mon, 17 Sep 2018 12:42:00 GMT

I can tell that the weather's cooling off because we've had a roast dinner two weekends in a row. This recipe for greens is a nice way to lift them a bit for variety and make the meal a little bit richer. The recipe is measured in handfuls of veg, it's the proportions that matter and essentially you want enough green veg to serve two people generously.

Stats

Serves: 2

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

A handful of green cabbage, cut into 1cm slices
A handful of green beans, trimmed and sliced into thirds
A handful of broccoli florets, chopped into small pieces
1/2tsp garlic paste
50ml water
1/2tsp vegetable bouillon powder
Salt and pepper
100ml double cream
1 heaped tsp wholegrain mustard

Method

Put the water and stock powder into a heavy lidded pot and mix
Bring to a medium heat, add the vegetables and put the lid on
Cook, lifting the lid periodically to stir and check that the water hasn't entirely evaporated and the veg started burning for about 10 minutes, until the veg has just softened
Make a gap in the middle of the veg with the spoon, add the garlic and mustard and then stir round to coat the veg
Add the cream, stir well to incorporate (for this stage you should have next to no liquid left) and then continue for a minute or two on a low heat until combined