It might be a bit late but....

Happy Christmas!

So, I've been AWOL for a while, I guess I got carried away with festivities... not that I haven't been cooking, there's been plenty of that and I even have pictures to prove it! Any visit home means brownie baking, I'm not sure I'd be allowed over the threshold without them. Mum and Dad have a penchant for the white chocolate and my siblings the dark chocolate. This year, I baked them the night before I left and cooled them in the fridge. not only did they travel really well, but it meant I could cut them into cute bite sized pieces too to go into gift bags.


I also want to talk about a pre-christmas dinner I had with friends in early December, what an excellent idea for starting festivities early! I won't go into detail as I'm sure no one wants to see another Christmas dinner for a long time, but I have to say it was amazing! Possibly even better than the main event.


All of my friends are fabulous cooks (obviously) so we each cooked a bit of the dinner - roast pheasant and chickens, roast potatoes, carrots and parsnips, sprouts with bacon and pine nuts, braised red cabbage, gingerbread stuffing. Naturally many recipes from Feast were used but the piece de resistance was a huuge dish of macaroni cheese that embarassingly we managed to pretty much finish off along with everything else! It may sound a bit strange to have macaroni cheese with a roast dinner, but believe me, you haven't lived until you've tried it. I've converted all of my friends!

Of course I got many foodie presents for Christmas, some probably too sad to talk about (electronic scales) but I am currently besotted with my Slow cooker and Global Knife, more on both soon...


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Lamb meatballs and couscous

Nigella comes up trumps again, although I have to say this is from her book rather than the TV show. It seems everyone is quick to criticise anything she does on TV, and while she does verge on the ridiculous much of the time, I think her genuine greed and love of food is really very endearing.

You also cannot escape the fact that she cooks delicious food, every single recipe book is crammed with recipes, all delicous and generally all guaranteed to work. So this is a recipe from Feast (possibly one of my favourites in terms of abundance of recipes, beautiful pictures and a good range of food).

The dinky lamb meatballs are served with the root vegetable stew that I've made many times before and eat happily with some couscous alone. We decided to go the whole hog this time and make the meatballs complete with all of Nigella's suggested adornings, namely pomegranate seeds and coriander.


I piled the couscous and stew high on a plate, with meatballs atop and the pomegranate seeds and coriander sprinkled over. Definitely a dish for bringing forth whilst entertaining. I know some people are not convinced by pomegranate, my dining partner included, but I think they work perfectly as not only a beautiful jewel pink topping that goes particularly well with the vibrantly green coriander, but also as a sweetly sharp contrast in many savoury dishes like this one and this one.

The lamb meatballs were of course delicious, I'm a big fan of using meat like this, i.e. making them into little meatballs and serving with a hearty vegetable stew so that it's healthier but also goes farther. They are also perfect stuffed into a pitta with hummus and salad

Ingredients (adapted from Feast)

500g minced lamb
½ onion, pureed or chopped very finely
½tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp salt
3tbsp breadcrumbs
1 egg, beaten

Mix the onions into the lamb.
Sprinkle over the spices and breadcrumbs and mix well.
Stir in the beaten egg, cover and leave for 30mins to allow the flavours to meld.
Using about ½tsp mince, roll into small balls and drop into a hot pan.
Continue rolling, dropping and cooking, shaking the pan every so often, you want to cook the meatballs for about 5mins until golden on all sides and cooked through (this will depend on how big your balls are).

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Roast Parsnip and Chickpea Salad

A really simple salad I learnt at pieceofplenty that does something a bit different with parsnip and carrots. Yoghurt and parsley goes perfectly with the spicy oily chickpea and roast parsnip salad. Eat with hummus, pitta and some green leaves.

Serves 4 as a side dish

4 parsnips, peeled and cut into chunks (works equally well with carrots)
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2tsp smoked paprika
1tsp dried chilli (depending on how hot you like it!)
3tbsp olive oil
1 can chickpeas, drained
squeeze lemon juice

To serve:
1 bunch chopped parsley, finely chopped
greek yoghurt

• Lay the parsnip out on a roasting try.
• Sprinkle over the garlic, chilli and parpika and season well.
• drizzle over the oil, stir the parsnips and make sure thay are well coated in the oily spice mixture.
• Roast at 200C for 20-30mins until soft and brown around the edges.
• Tip into a bowl with the chickpeas, add the lemon juice ans stir well, you might want to add a little more oil.
• Stir in half the parsley and serve the rest sprinkled on top.
• That's it! eat with a dollop of greek yoghurt

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Seared Scallops with Bean mash, Roasted tomatoes and Crispy Bacon

This is a really old post from my birthday that I forgot to publish!

We decided to forgo a fabulous birthday meal, I got that with my best friend, she took me to Benares - amazing! Instead, we had a wonderful time in Borough Market and bought some beautiful scallops. The recipe below is from Jamie Oliver - The Return of the Naked Chef.

Anyway, this turned out to be an absolute treat, sweet tender scallops, with crispy salty bacon, roasted cherry tomatoes and a bean mash. Perfect indulgence in every mouthful. All washed down with some Moët, naturally...


Ingredients
Serves 4

125g cherry tomatoes
pinch dried oregano
olive oil
4 rasher streaky bacon
1 small clove garlic finely chopped
1 red chilli, finely chopped
3 anchovy fillets
1 can flagelot beans, drained (you could substitute cannellini or butter beans)
6-8 scallops
small bunch parsley chopped

Roast the tomatoes in the oven skins side down for 10-15mins.
Place the bacon beside them and roast for 10 more mins.
Meanwhile, fry the garlic, chillis and anchovies in 1 tbsp olive oil.
Add the beans, and a small glass of water.
Bring to the boil and mash, finish off with some oil and seasoning.
When the tomatoes are cooked, season the scallops and sear in a pan for 2mins on each side.
Serve a mound of the bean mash with the scallops balanced atop, scatter the bacon and tomatoes around and drizzle over some olive oil.

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Rice and Peas

Mmmmmm rice and peas, actually one of my favourite things ever. I am salivating at the thought, my mum is the expert here, family and friends often demand a big pot of this to go with her legendary curries. As with most family recipes, this is impossible to transcribe, I've given below a basic recipe, but in reality my mum just adds a bit here and there of anything she thinks will be nice. An optional extra would be to add a whole scotch bonnet pepper to the rice as its cooking for a bit of spicy flavour, cooking it whole means you get all the flavour without too much spice, watch out if it does split though as it will be HOT!

Eat with Daal, other curries or roast chicken and macaroni cheese for a truly Caribbean feast. This version was made with brown rice simply because I forgot we'd run out of basmati, a little longer cooking time, yes. But, surprisingly delicious, the nuttiness of the brown rice works really well and makes it a lot healthier! As usual, make lots and freeze if you're so inclined.

Rice and peas is basically onions cooked with garlic, chilli and maybe some thyme, then some black eyed peas (my favourite) or gungo peas or plain old kidney beans and lots of coconut milk, you then cook your rice in this rice creamy broth until its all absorbed and you're left with sticky, aromatic, flavourful rice ready to be eaten with anything you'd eat potatoes with really...

My mum is a complete convert to cooking this in the microwave, but I find if you can turn the hob low enough, you can leave it to putter away there.

Ingredients
Serves 4

1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, chopped
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 can black eyed peas, drained
½ can coconut Milk
250g basmati rice*
1 bay leaf
1 stock cube
2 sprigs thyme

• Cook the onion and garlic in 2 tbsp oil for 5 or so mins until soft, add the thyme sprigs half way through.
• Once cooked, add the beans and stock powder and coconut milk
• Tip in your rice and ½tsp salt, stir well.
• Add 250ml water and the bay leaf.
• Bring to the boil and turn the heat down to the lowest setting, cover tightly and simmer for 15mins until the liquid is absorbed (add more water if necessary).
• Remover from the heat and let sit for 10mins before serving.

*If using brown rice, add 375ml water and cook for 40mins. Read more...

Parsnip and Potato Hash

I'm really getting into winter cooking and my current love affair is with parsnips, so sweet and tasty, roasted up with some paprika and chilli to balance the sweetness, there's not much better.

I made this hash for breakfast the other day, the parsnips were my effort to sneak in a few more vegetables but actually add something more interesting to your classic potatoes, I also think some sliced red pepper could work well here too. Top with baked beans and a fried egg on top and you're set up for the day...

Ingredients

Serves 4

6-8 rashers streaky bacon (optional)
1 onion, sliced
1 red pepper, deseeded and finely sliced
350g potatoes, peeled and cut into matchsticks
350g parsnips, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 red chilli, finely chopped
2 cans baked beans
4 eggs

• Heat a large frying pan and cook the bacon until golden and crispy then remove.
• In the same pan, fry the onions in a little oil for a few mins, then throw in the potato, pepper and parsnip along with the chilli and garlic
• Cover, turn to low and cook for 15mins, stirring every so often to make sure nothing burns on the bottom.
• Meanwhile, heat the baked beans and fry the eggs.
• Once the potatoes and parsnips are cooked through, season well.
• Serve a mound of the hash with a spoonful of baked beans before topping with an egg.

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Venison Sausages with Mash and Mushroom Sauce

Mmm... this was a seriously decadent, rich and comforting dinner. We got some venison sausages with our veg box this week (they were on offer). Naturally we immediately thought of sausage and mash and I had a little braised red cabbage in the freezer. It was the wine and mushroom sauce (inspired by our Abel and Cole Cookbook) that really made this into something extra special even though it was cooked in the time it took to boil some spuds and grill the sausages.

Ingredients

Serves 4

20g dried mushrooms
250ml stock (chicken or beef)
50g butter
1 red onion, finely chopped
250g mushrooms (preferably a mix of wild and chestnut), sliced
250ml port or red wine
1tbsp cornflour

Make your sauce whilst the spuds are boiling anf you grill the sausages.

Cook the onions in the butter for 5 mins until soft
Turn up the heat and throw in the mushrooms, fry for 5 more mins until starting to turn golden.
Pour in the port and allow to bubble away for a few mins until most of the liquid has gone.
Mix the cornflour to a smooth paste with a little water and slowly stir into the pan. Add the stock, bring to the boil and cook a for another few minutes, stirring until the sauce thickens, add a little more stock or water if the sauce gets too thick.



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Braised Red Cabbage

Another inspiration from The Big Bang, I'd never really had it before I had it there, so now I always associate it with sausage and mash and that is really where it comes into its own, kind of like a warm chutney, but better...

Other strong flavours pair well, such as a Sunday roast or salmon and mackerel. either way, its delicious, cheap as chips and you can make a big and save leftovers, which as you've probably realised is always a good thing in my book.

Recipes vary, most braise it in red wine and typical Chritmassy flavourings, but I've had great success with apples and cider. What follows is my current favourite, but as usual its all about using what you have so feel free to experiment. This does benefit from being made the day before and allowing flavours to develop

Ingredients

50g butter
2 onions, sliced
1kg red cabbage, quartered and finely sliced
4 apples, peeled, cored and cubed
1 orange, zest and juice
100g brown sugar
3tbsp cider vinegar
300ml cider

• Cook the onions slowly in the butter for about 10mins.
• Tip in the red cabbage and stir well.
• Add the rest of the ingredients, stir well, cover and simmer for 1 hour.
• Season well before serving.

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Mashed Potatoes

I can't believe I've not waxed lyrical about my love for mash before... it is possibly one of my favourite foods, I always defer to stodgy 'comfort' food and mashed potato is the ultimate, I could eat bowls and bowls. Given the proliferation of potatoes in my veg box recently, I've had plenty of excuse to make it, especially with a bit of sauteed cabbage thrown in to make it a bit 'healthier', any leftovers made into potato cakes. I must also admit to a love of mash with baked beans, but maybe that's just me.

Of course, when I think of mash, I think of The Big Bang and then I get hungry, asude from sausage and mash, working there gave me the idea for my current favourite: mustard mash, made with grainy mustard. They also did a fabulous mash made with pureed beetroot that turned it bright pink.

To make good mash, I think you need to start with good (organic) floury potatoes, boil them until really soft, otherwise you'll get lumps, then drain them really well, you can even leave them in the colander to steam for a bit to make sure all the moisture's gone. I push my potatoes through a ricer, but you can mash like mad. Meanwhile heat some milk, butter or cream; this step is essential as adding cold milk turns the mash gluey instead of smooth and creamy. Mixt the milk in with plenty of seasoning and bea like mad with a wooden spoon to get a creamy consitency. Other ideas for variations include:

Cheddar Cheese Mash: Add 175g grated strong cheddar and mix until melted in (you may want to go a little easier on the cream).

Spring Onion Mash: Finely slice a bunch of spring onions and warm with the cream before adding to the potatoes.

Garlic Mash: Boil a couple of cloves of garlic along with the potatoes, peel and squeeze the gooey insides into the mash.

Mustard Mash: Add 1-2tbsp grain mustard

Horseradish Mash: Add 2 tbsp fresh horseradish , ready grated horseradish from a jar, or creamed horseradish to give your mash a real kick.

Now, mash isn't confined to potatoes alone, swede, parsnip, squash, sweet potatoes all make fabulous mash and count as one of your 5-a-day, this article from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall in Last week's Weekend Guardian was brilliant, so many ideas, i'm currently dreaming of Parsnip, Leek and Potato Mash...

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pieceofplenty Christmas Fair

I spent Sunday afternoon at my friend Sally's house. She runs a small artisan food business in North London making fabulous homemade granola and muesli. I worked for her (that's how we met) earlier this year, back when she still did farmers' markets in Barnes and Alexandra Palace, we made beautiful salads (try the brown rice salad), preserves and lemon curd, standing me in good stead for my marmalade making!


Sally stopped doing the markets in September to concentrate on supplying delis in the area. So this Christmas 'open house' was a bit of treat, a sort of invitation only for loyal customers of the market to stock up on Christmas goodies. What a spread it was, date and ginger granola, raisin and almond granola, muesli, luxury christmas granola, piccalilli, chutney, grapefruit and cardamom marmalade... I even bought along some fudge to add to the mix. As you can see, the cupboard was heaving with treats, to top it off we had homemade mince pies and mulled wine whilst we decided. I of course, didn't come home empty handed, some seedy sprinkle - pumpkin, sunflower, poppy ans sesame seeds and nuts all toasted in paprika and chilli, completely addictive, I have it on every salad I make. I was taken by the spicy fruity chutney and of course the luxury christmas granola, vanilla toasted oats, dried cranberries, candied pecans and chocolate coated apricots, I can't wait for breakfast!

I'm in the process of helping make the website - coming soon! So hopefully, you'll all be able to order these seasonal treats straight from the website very soon...

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Chocolate and Pistachio Fudge

I normally give people food related presents at Christmas, partly because they love it, and partly (mostly) because its cheap! In the same vein, this year I decided to branch out from my usual brownies and try something different. Something different being this insanely easy fudge recipe from Nigella Express,, of course, its not really fudge in the strictest sense of the word, but it is delicious and has that soft 'fudgy' texture.

...I was drawn to it because I know any recipe of Nigella's will be delicious, but also because she says you can prepare it in advance and then stash it in the freezer. Hurray! No more mammoth baking sessions on Christmas Eve! Although I'm sure my family won't let me get away with it that and I'll be baking brownies too...

I think 'easy' is a bit of an understatment, simply melt the chocolate with condensed milk, stir in chopped pistachios and leave to set, cutting it into squares the next day. I made one batch with pistachios as per the recipe and the next with hazelnuts, both delicious.

I got the bags on Cakes Cookies and Craft Shop - an amazing website for anyone who likes baking.

Taken From Nigella Express


Ingredients

350g dark chocolate, chopped
1 x 397g can condensed milk
30g butter
pinch salt
150g chopped pistachios or hazelnuts

Empty the condensed milk into a saucepan and tip in the chopped chocolate with the butter.
Heat gently, stirring slowly until completely melted.
Add the salt and chopped pistachios and mix well.
Pour into a 23cm square tin (I used a Silicon one) and spread until a smooth layer.
Leave to cool and refridgerate overnight.
Cut into small pieces and enjoy!
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Pea and Leek Tart

So, I've been a bit lax with the blogging, christmas seems to have come even earlier this year and time is just slipping away from me!

I have of course, still been cooking, dutifully storing up pictures to share... I've also really gotten into cooking lots at the weekend so there's always something tasty and filling at the end of the day. I made this tart in the same vein and it worked perfectly - leeks sweated down slowly and sweetly with peas thrown in, all encased in a cheesy, eggy custard and baked in flaky pastry ( although I did cheat and buy it from a shop!). Perfect for lunchboxes, or a little slither as a snack, not that is lasts that long...

Most vegetables work well in this quiche-like set up, try this Swiss Chard and Onion Tart, or Potato, onion and Goat's cheese. Combinations on my list to try are:

Bacon, cheddar and tomatoes

Smoked mackerel and dill

Roast tomato, pesto and mozzarella

Broad bean and goats cheese

Asparagus, Lemon and Ricotta

Broccoli and blue cheese

Ingredients

300g shortcrust pastry
2-3 large leeks, finely sliced
50g butter
200g frozen peas (or fresh peas when in season)
3 eggs
400ml cream
175g cheddar, grated
1tsp dijon musard

• Line a 24cm tart or flan tin with the pastry and bake blind
• Boil a kettle and cover the peas in boiling water. Leave to sit for 5mins, then drain.
• Meanwhile fry the leeks gently in the butter for 5mins until completely soft and pour in the defrosted peas, seasoning well.
• Whisk the eggs, cream and mustard together with plenty of seasoning.
• Once the pastry is cooked, tip the pea and leek mixture in and spread out across the whole pastry base, sprinkle over the cheese and pour over the eggy custard.
• Bake at 190C 25 mins until the top is golden and firm to the touch.

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Simple flatbreads

In the some of the larger Asian or continental shops, you can get some lovely big, soft flatbreads, I love them, so much better than pitta breads and used in much the same way. I like them with spicy chickpea cakes, or as really easy pizzas.

So, today, off I went to get some to eat with chickpea cakes, haloumi and sticky caramelised peppers. All they had was dissappointing cardboard pitta, so I thought I'd give it a go and make my own. I amalgamated a Nigella and Jamie Oliver recipe, super easy to make, flecked with aromatic cumin seeds, delicous for all your dipping needs.

Again, I urge you make bread, it really is one of the best things to have homemade, ludicrously easy and at the same time it feels like such a treat.

Ingredients

Makes 4 large flatbreads

1½sachets dried yeast
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp salt
1tbsp cumin seeds
1tbsp plain yoghurt
½ pint tepid water
500kg strong bread flour ( I used 300g white flour and 200g rye)
extra flour for dusting

• Pour all the dry ingredients into a large bowl.
• Add most of the water and the yoghurt, saving about 100ml and stir until it resembles a dough, incorporating as much of the flour as possible.
• Tip out onto a floured surface and give it a good kneading for about 5mins until you get a smooth elastic dough. Add the rest of the water or more flour if you need to.
• Once ready, transfer to large greased bowl, cover and leave in a warm plac until it has doubled in size. Depending on the temeperature this can take up to an hour.
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 230C
• Once its risen and puffy and doubled in size, tp it back onto the floured surface and 'knock it back' i.e. give it a good punch to get rid of all the air.
• Divide into 8 and using a rolling pin, roll out to ½cm thick.
• Place directly onto the bars of the oven and cook for about 4mins until puffy and golden.

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Marmalade

I'm not particualrly a fan of marmalade, except for in bread and butter pudding, where the aromatic bitterness is divine, especially with brioche...

But, we did have a glut of oranges and with no other ideas for how to use them up, marmalade it was. I was thinking edible Christmas presents as the plan this year is to make a hamper for everyone with homemade treats, credit crunch presents if you will.

Preserve making is tricky, I won't lie, a whole other skill apart from cooking with, it seems, complex rules that I don't even know or understand yet. Thankfully, I made A LOT of marmalade whilst working at Pieceofplenty and learnt an awful lot there, so today wasn't too stressful but it did cover everything in the kitchen with sticky orange goo. Judging by the fact that a certain someone has already had several slices of toast slathered in the stuff, I reckon it was a success!


Ingredients

Makes about 3kg

12-14 oranges
2.8l litres water
2kg granulated sugar
2 lemons

• First sterilise the jars, wash in soapy water, rinse well and then place in a cool oven, 130C - for 15-20 minutes.
• Wash the oranges and place in your largest saucepan. Cover with the water and boil for 1½ hours. You can do this the day before and leave the oranges, covered on the stove.
• Once cool, remove the oranges. Cut each in ½, scoop out all the flesh and add back to the pan, pips and all.
• Cut the lemons in ½, squeeze the juice into the pan and toss in the lemon too.
• Boil rapidly for 20mins uncovered until reduced by half.
• If you like smooth marmalade, discard the oranges. But if you like it chunky, and I think it looks nicer, slice the skin into thin strips.
• Once reduced, sieve the liquid and return back to the pan. Tip in the orange skin (if using) and sugar.
• Place a saucer into the fridge.
• Bring to a vigorous rolling boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Boil uncovered for 5mins.
• Now, here is the tricky bit, you need to test the marmalade to make sure it will set once cooled.
• Spoon a teaspoonful of marmalade onto the saucer. Allow it to cool for a minute back in the fridge, then push it with your little finger – if a crinkly skin forms, it has reached setting point. If not, continue cooking and do more testing at 15-minute intervals.
• Once ready, allow to cool for about 30mins so that the skin is dispersed evenly and ladle into the jars.

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Bacon and Cabbage soup

This is a hearty and healthy soup perfect for a chilly wintry day. Even better with lots of toasted potato bread slathered in buttered. I came up with this to use up yet more cabbage, along with various odds and ends in the vegetable basket.

The base is a simple vegetable soup, and here lies the beauty as you can use whatever vegetables you have to hand, we used leeks and potato, but carrot, parsnip or celery would all work equally well. Blend it up, add the finely chopped cabbage and simmer for about 5mins until soft. I then added some flagelot beans, just for added texture and to make it into more of a meal, of course leave these out if you like and you're still left with a delicious filling soup. A bit of salty crispy bacon at the end and you're done, optional too!

Ingredients

1 onion, chopped
3 leeks, sliced
25g butter
2 cloves glaric, sliced
500g floury potatoes peeled and cut into cubes
2 bay leaves
1l vegetable stock
½ green cabbage such as a savoy (about 200g), shredded finely
1 can flagelot beans, drained (or butter or cannellini beans), optional
8 rashers streaky bacon, cut into strips

• Sweat the onion and leeks in the butter over a low heat for 10mins until really soft.
• Add the garlic, bay leaves and potatoes, stir to coat in the buttery juices and pour in the hot vegetable stock.
• Simmer for about 15mins until the potatoes are completely soft.
• Remove the bay leaves and blend until smooth. Season to taste (easy on the salt!)
• Pile the cabbage in, stir and simmer for about 5mins until the cabage is soft.
• Meanwhile heat a frying pan unti very hot, fry the bacon until golden and crisp. Tip into the soup, with a smuch of the bacony juices as possible.
• Serve with lots of bread and butter.

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Sweet Root Vegetable Stew

This recipe is adapted from Nigella's Feast, my favourite book after How to be a Domestic Goddess and is a perfect way to cook all the wonderfully sweet winter root vegetables that are about now, the spicy stew goes perfectly with the starchy sweetness of the veggies. I added chickpeas because I love them and they add a bit more oomph, but you could easily subsitute 250g red lentils instead for a thicker stew. Either way this is warming winter food at its best, as usual make lots and eat leftovers the next day or freeze for a treat at a later date.

Toasted almonds and chopped coriander go perfectly, but pine nuts are delicious too as is parsley and I'm guessing pomegranate seeds would be great as well as pretty. Serve in a large bowl, pile the stew onto a big mound of couscous and sprinkle the flaked almonds and coriander on top. A dollop of yoghurt is a must.

Ingredients

serves 4

2 onions
2 carrots
3 cloves garlic
1 small red chilli
600g assorted root vegetables (carrot, swede, parsnip, pumpkin, squash, celeriac)
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp bouillon 9vegetable stock powder.
150g dried apricots, chopped
2 cans chopped tomatoes
2 cans chickpeas, drained
To serve:
200g couscous
½ lemon
3tbsp olive oil
1tsp salt
plenty of yoghurt
50g flaked almonds or pine nuts, toasted
1 small bunch (about 30g) chopped coriander or parsley

Heat a generous glug of oil in a large frying pan.
Peel the onions, garlic and carrots, chop roughly and blend in food processor with the chilli to a fine mush. Tip into the pan and fry gently.
Chop your remaining root vegetable selection roughly and add to the pan as you go along, giving it a quick stir now and then. Sprinkle over the spices and stir to coat the softened vegetables.
Now add the chickpeas and chopped tomatoes along with an extra canful of water.
Bring to the boil and leave to simmer for about 45mins.
Whilst the stew is cooking, boil the kettle and pour the couscous into a large bowl, sprinkle over the salt and give it a quick stir. Pour over 200ml boiling water, cover with a plate and leave to stand for 5mins. Once the couscous has absorbed all the water, fluff it up with a fork, squeeze over the lemon juice, pour in the oil and stir well.

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Breakfast Potato Cakes

This is the perfect way to use up leftover mash, although I would actually make extra so I could fry these up for breakfast the next day, mashed potato and baked beans is possibly one of my favourite combinations, so any excuse really... all you need to do is shape the mash into little cakes, dust in some flour and fry until golden and warmed through. you end up with little cakes of creamy mash inside a crispy fried shell, heat up some beans whilst you're frying and maybe poach an egg to sit atop the cakes, a perfect breakfast!


I actually made these from scratch, admittedly a bit of hassle for a Sunday morning, but I was already boiling up potatoes to make potato bread (and here's the perfect excuse to urge you to make this divine bread!) so it was no biggy, plus I always like to get ahead on Sunday and cook up big batches of food for the week...

Ingredients
Makes enough mash for dinner and breakfast the next day!

800g organic floury potatoes
1 small green cabbage (savoy cabbage or kale also work well)
50g butter
1 clove garlic, finely chopped.
125ml milk, preferably warmed through
flour for dusting

• Peel, the potatoes, cut into chunks and boil in salted water for about 20mins until very soft.
• Drain well and either push through a ricer or mash throughly.
• Add the milk and half the butter along with lots of salt and pepper.
• Now you need to beat furiously with a wooden spoon to get a really smooth mash. Cover and set aside.
• Meanwhile, half and quarter your cabbage, cut out the heart and slice as finely as possible.
• Boil or steam for about 5mins (this will depend on the type of cabbage used) until soft and drain.
• Heat the rest of the butter in a frying pan with a little oil until sizzling, add the garlic and the cabbage and fry for a few mins, season generously and stir the cabbage through the mash, making sure you get all the buttery juices in too.
• This is where you would eat it with anything that has a sauce to soak into the mash or some fish or maybe just on its own from a bowl.
• To make the cakes, coat your hands in flour and sprinkle some onto a plate.
• Take a small handful of mash, roll into a ball and flatten, dip both sides in the flour and place into a hot frying pan with a little oil, fry for a few mins on both sides until golden and warmed through.

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Easy Lentil Curry with pilaf

I love lentils, so cheap, tasy, filling and a portion of your 5-a-day, what's not to love? This is a really easy, one pot curry, you can make it days in advance and it actually gets better with age. The pilaf is mellow and fragrant, and also really easy to make. I turned the leftovers into a rice salad for my lunch the next day, proper credit crunch cooking...


Ingredients

Lentil Curry
250g green lentils (red lentils work just as well)
½tsp turmeric
½ can coconut milk
½tsp salt
2 onions, finely chopped
1tbsp cumin seeds
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 red chilli, finely chopped

• Wash the lentils well in a sieve and tip into a large saucepan. Cover with 600ml water and add to the turmeric. Bring to the boil and simmer for 20-30mins until completely soft.
• Add the coconut milk and salt and stir well.
• Meanwhile, fry the onions in oil until completely soft, add the garlic, chilli and cumin seeds and fry for a minute or two more.
• Stir your onion mixture into the lentils and enjoy!
• Serve with rice and plenty of yoghurt.

Pilaf
1 onion, finely chopped
1 cinnamon stick
3 cardamom pods, bruised
1 bay leaf
250g basmti rice
500ml vegetable stock
25g flaked almonds
small handful parsley, chopped

• Toast the almonds in a dry pan until golden and set aside.
  
• Fry the onion in a glug of oil for a few mins, add the cinnamon, cardamom and bay, fry for a second.
• Add the rice, stir to coat in the oniony oil.
• Pour in the vegetable stock and bring the pan to the boil, cover and turn to the lowest heat possible. Cook for 20mins.
• Fluff the rice, scatter with the parsley and almonds.

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Breakfast Muffins

Well, winter has arrived, we're all wrapped up in coats, scarves and gloves have been dusted off, we even had snow! Of course, this means that in the vegetable box there are a lots and lots of carrots, onions and potatoes. This is no bad thing, I love carrots. The thing is, they seem to be going limp disappointingly quickly, which again isn't exactly a disaster, carrots roast up so well, especially in a soup, maybe with some lentils?

This time though, I decided carrot cake was the way to go, I started off with this carrot cake recipe intending to make muffins, but then as I started, I kind of got carried away, adding some plump juicy raisins, walnuts and oats for texture, a grated apple because, well, why not? So, what came out of the oven wasn't exactly carrot cake, but still delicious in a plainer sense, more something I can carry out the door with me in the morning to munch on on the tube, feeling a teeny bit healthy, well... all those oats, walnuts, carrots and apples!


Makes 12-15 muffins

250g sugar
200g flour
100g oats
1tsp salt
2tsp cinnamon
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
250ml oil
4 eggs
3 medium carrots, grated
1 apple, grated
100g walnuts, chopped
100g raisins

• Boil the kettle and cover the raisins with the hot water in a bowl.
• Meanwhile measure out the sugar, flour, oats, salt, cinnamon and soda in a large bowl.
• Add the oil and whisk well to combine.
• Crack the eggs in and whisk.
• Drain the water off the now plump raisins, add to the batter along with the carrots, apple and walnuts. Stir well.
• Spoon the mixture into the muffin cases, bear in mind that the mixture doesn't rise an awful lot so you can fill the cases at least 2/3 full.
• Bake at 180C for about 20mins until golden and a skewer comes out clean.

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Leek and goat's cheese risotto

Another autumnal treat - leeks. I love this milder cousin of onions, when sweated down slowly, they are incredibly sweet and work well with peas, that other deliciously sweet vegetable. I love them with cream and cheese, a little bit of mustard or lemon for sharp contrast. My default idea is usually to have this decadent sauce with pasta.

In the interest of expanding my culinary horizons, however, I looked for inspiration and came across this risotto. Sounded simple enough so I gave it a go. Obviously, the deliciousness of your risotto is all down to stock, the better it is, the richer the flavour and the less butter and cheese you need to use. I must admit that often I don't bother making my own, especially if its a mushroom risotto as you can use dried ceps to boost the flavour.

Having said that, as I made this at the weekend, I sliced my vegetables in advance and popped all the skins and bits of vegetables left over into a pan, I added a carrot, some peppercorns, a bay leaf and the stalks of the parsley, covered with water and simmered for an hour whilst I went about my weekend business (reading the paper and drinking coffee). Then, strain into a pan, ready for risotto making.

This turned out really well, I loved the little pockets of sharp goats cheese that added a lovely contrast to the rice. I also threw in some peas for added colour and a little lemon juice and zest to freshen it up.

Recipe Read more...

Rocket Pesto

I'll never understand why people buy those horrid, bland ready made pasta sauces from the supermarket, full of who knows what and expensive! Pasta is the quickest, easiest thing to cook, you can often assemble a sauce in the time it takes to cook the pasta. Like this rocket pesto, and if you make lots, you can keep leftovers in the fridge for future quick pasta dinners. Below we had it as a quick lunch with some cherry tomatoes and bit of goats cheese that was languishing in the back of the fridge


This is a recipe from Cranks Bible, one of my favourite recipe books. I remember discovering this at university when rocket was the trendy new thing, what a revelation, rocket pesto is completely different to a classic pesto with the sweet creaminess of pine nuts and basil, this is altogether different; peppery, garlicky, it really packs a culinary punch.


Rocket, parmesan, looots of garlic, lemon juice and almonds all blended into a knobbly paste. You can then keep it in a jar in the fridge for at least a month. Eat this with linguine, some oily black olives, and a few sunblush tomatoes for a pleasing colour contrast as much as anything. Cranky also suggests stirring into a risotto, half way through cooking the rice for rocket and parmesan risotto.

Ingredients

Makes about 6 portions

3 cloves garlic
50g parmesan or strong cheddar, grated finely
50g blanched almonds
150ml olive oil
a few basil leaves (optional)
½tsp grain mustard
juice ½ lemon
1 red chilli

Throw everything into a small blender with a generous amount of seasoning and whizz until smooth. Simple as that! Adjust the amount of seasoning and lemon juice according to taste and decant into a clean dry jar. Read more...