Lamb and Lentil Curry

MUNCH RATING: 4/5

 

When I was in Sainsburys looking for some stewing lamb I found a boneless lamb shoulder, which worked out cheaper than those packets of diced lamb. As it was boneless it was easy to cut up into pieces and I managed to make 2 meals from the joint. One was a Thai Massaman Curry and the other was this curry.

 

I adapted a recipe from an old Fresh magazine and I cooked it in my Tefal 4-in-1. The meat was meltingly tender and had incredible flavour as the lamb shoulder had a good bit of fat on it.

 

I served it with brown rice and home-made naan bread.

 

• Serves: 2 (the amount of sauce could serve 4 people if you double the meat)

 

Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons oil
• 500g lamb shoulder (or leg) cut into 4cm chunks
• 1 large onion, sliced
• 1 green pepper, cut into chunks
• 2 Tablespoons of Rogan Josh Curry Paste (I used Pataks)
• 1 (400g) tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1 tin of water
• 1 Tablespoon of concentrated liquid stock (I used Knorr Touch of Taste Beef)
• 2 handfuls of split red lentils, rinsed and drained
• 1 whole green chilli, poked a few times with a knife

 

Directions:

1. Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the lamb in batches until lightly browned all over. Remove the lamb from the pan (set aside in the Tefal cooking bowl) leaving the oil in the pan.
2. Add the onions and pepper to the pan and cook over a medium heat for about 10 minutes until soft and golden.
3. Return the lamb to the pan, stir in the curry paste and fry for a couple of minutes to release the spices.
4. Add the tomatoes, tin of water, the Tablespoon of concentrated liquid stock, the red lentils and the green chilli.
5. Bring to the boil, then transfer to the Tefal cooking bowl. Cook for 4-5 hours. You can transfer the curry back into the pan and simmer uncovered to thicken the sauce whilst you cook the rice in the Tefal.

 

COOK’S NOTES:

• You can cook this on the hob by covering the pan and simmering gently for 1 hour 45 minutes, stirring occasionally. Or you can cook it in the oven at Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C for 2-2½ hours.

Creamy Chicken Kiev

MUNCH RATING: 3/5

 

I was inspired by the Cheat’s Chicken Kiev recipe in the May issue of BBC Good Food magazine to make something similar. We hardly ever eat chicken breast as we normally find it too dry and bland compared to the dark meat (thighs and legs). But I had some soft cheese in the fridge and I thought it would keep the chicken nice and moist, especially when coated in breadcrumbs.

 

CHANGES TO THE RECIPE:

I used Panko breadcrumbs as I always have them in the cupboard for when I make Chicken Katsu Curry. Normally I would pane the chicken by dusting in flour, then coating in beaten egg and then coating with breadcrumbs. But the Good Food recipe said to coat the chicken in olive oil and then coat in breadcrumbs. This method worked just as well as the pane technique and it’s a lot less faffing around! I didn’t flavour the breadcrumbs with parsley or garlic as I flavoured the soft cheese instead.

I flavoured the soft cheese with garlic and fresh chives (from my herb pot!) instead of using a shop-bought garlic and herb soft cheese.

 

TASTE TEST:

I thought the chicken was really moist and tender and I liked the crunch of the breadcrumbs. Steve said he wasn’t too keen on the soft cheese as he thought it had a strange taste, but he’s not a huge fan of it anyway. I think that maybe it was the garlic that tasted strange, as it had a bit of a raw taste to it. So maybe it is better to use a shop-bought garlic and herb soft cheese so that it would have a milder flavour? I would use this method of cooking chicken breast again as the meat was lovely and tender, but I would experiment with the filling. I loved the new technique of coating with the breadcrumbs, so I’ve learnt a new trick!

 

• Serves: 2
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 6/400°F/200°C

 

Ingredients:

• 2 garlic cloves, crushed or grated
• 2 Tablespoons soft cheese (I used Sainsburys Light Soft Cheese)
• 2 Tablespoons chives, finely chopped
• 2 large skinless, boneless chicken breasts
• 4 Tablespoons Panko breadcrumbs (or use fresh breadcrumbs)
• Olive oil

 

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 6/400°F/200°C.
2. Mix together the garlic, soft cheese and chives. Season with salt and pepper.
3. Cut a slit in the side of each chicken breast to make a small pocket. Spoon half the soft cheese mixture into the hole of each chicken breast and press together to seal. (I prepared the chicken up to this stage and then left them in the fridge).
4. Coat the chicken breasts in the olive oil, then coat both sides with the breadcrumbs and drizzle with more oil (optional, I didn’t do this).
5. Place the coated chicken on a baking tray and bake for 20-25 minutes until the chicken is cooked and the breadcrumbs are golden brown.

Thai Sticky Chicken – Rachel Allen

MUNCH RATING: 3/5

 

Rachel made this recipe on her ‘Home Cooking’ series and we thought it looked really good. I made it again the other day as it was Thai New Year between the 13th-15th April!

 

CHANGES TO THE RECIPE:

I’ve made this twice now and made it slightly different both times:

• The first time I used the nam pla (fish sauce) and it completely stunk out the fridge, but it did make the chicken taste good. I marinated the chicken for 2 days.
• The second time I substituted the nam pla for ketchup manis (sweet soy sauce) as I hoped it would make the chicken sweeter and more sticky. I marinated the chicken overnight. I used the remaining marinade in some stir-fried noodles.

 

Both times I used less chicken than the recipe stated (so it would serve 2 people), but I made the right quantity of marinade so we’d have more sauce.

I don’t like coriander leaf (but funnily enough I like the seeds) so I omitted it completely both times.

 

The recipe says to ‘Remove the chicken from the fridge about 30–40 minutes before cooking to bring to room temperature.’ but I didn’t have time the second time I made it, so I nuked the chicken on high for 2 minutes, then cooked in the oven as normal.

 

TASTE TEST:

The chicken tasted much better the first time I made it. I don’t know if it was the extra marinating time or the nam pla, but the flavours (sweet, sour, salty) were just more intense. So I would definitely marinate it for 2 days and store the chicken in an airtight container to stop the stink of the nam pla taking over the fridge!

 

The recipe below is how I made it, you can find the original here.

 

• Serves: 2
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 7/425°F/220°C

 

Ingredients:

• 500-700g chicken, drumsticks and thighs (2-3 per person, depending on size)
• 2 red chillies, seeds removed and chopped
• 2.5 cm piece of root ginger, roughly chopped
• 5 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
• 1 stick lemongrass, outer skin discarded, roughly chopped
• 2 tbsp soft light or dark brown sugar
• 2 limes, juice only
• 3 tbsp fish sauce (nam pla) or ketchup manis

 

Directions:

1. Using a sharp knife, cut slashes in the chicken drumsticks and thighs and place
   them in an airtight box.
2. Place the remaining ingredients in a mini chopper/food processor and blend to a rough paste, then pour over the chicken. Put the lid on the box and shake to evenly coat the chicken in the marinade.
3. Leave to marinate in the fridge, preferably for 2 days, shaking the box occasionally to redistribute the marinade.
4. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 7/425°F/220°C.
5. Remove the chicken from the fridge about 30–40 minutes before cooking to bring
   to room temperature (or heat on high in the microwave for 2 minutes). Remove the chicken pieces from the marinade (reserving the marinade) and arrange in a single layer on a baking tray. Roast in the oven for 35–40 minutes or until the meat is coming away from the bone.
6. Arrange the chicken pieces on a warm serving platter and place the reserved marinade and any juices from the baking tray into a small saucepan and bring to the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer for a few minutes, stirring with a wooden spoon and scrape any sticky bits from the bottom, until thickened and sticky.

Chicken Rice – Ching-He Huang

 

MUNCH RATING: 1/5

 

I still had loads of Chinese dried mushrooms so I thought this would be the perfect dish to use them in.

 

CHANGES TO THE RECIPE:

I used boneless chicken thigh instead of chicken on the bone as it’s easier to eat and it also cooks quicker. I chopped up the mushrooms into small dice instead of slicing them and I grated my ginger instead of slicing it as we don’t like big bits of ginger. I also added some crushed garlic. I also ran out of sesame oil so I only used 50ml instead of 100ml, but I think it’s such a strong flavour that too much can spoil a dish.

 

I only used one pan as it seemed pointless frying the chicken and mushrooms in one pan, putting the rice in another pan and then pouring the chicken and mushrooms on top of the rice. So I’ve written the recipe to skip this step.

 

TASTE TEST:

This was a very disappointing dish. The rice was overcooked and soggy. Since I’ve bought my Tefal 4-in-1 I’ve been able to cook perfect rice, so I really should stop experimenting with different cooking methods!

 

But the chicken itself was very bland. I don’t think using the correct amount of sesame oil would have helped because then it would have just tasted of sesame oil. It needed something like soy sauce to give it some saltiness and flavour. We ended up pouring lots of ketchup manis (sweet soy sauce) all over our meal to give it some taste! I won’t be making this again!

 

• Serves: 4

 

Ingredients:

• 6 dried Chinese mushrooms
• 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
• 5cm piece root ginger, peeled and grated
• 1 clove garlic, crushed (optional)
• 300g chicken thighs, skinned and cut into bitesize pieces
• 100ml Shaoshing rice wine
• 50ml pure sesame oil
• 300g jasmine rice, washed well

 

Directions:

1. Soak the dried mushrooms in hot water for about 20 mins. Drain them and cut into small dice, discarding the stalks.
2. Heat a large saucepan over a high heat and add the oil. Add the ginger and garlic and stir-fry for 1 min, then add the mushrooms and cook for 30 secs. Add the chicken and stir-fry until starting to turn opaque, then add the rice wine and sesame oil and cook for 2 mins. Season with about ½ tsp salt.
3. Add the rice to the pan, mix well and then add 500ml water and bring to the boil, then cover and simmer over a low heat for 20 mins. Allow to stand for a few mins, then fluff up the rice (a bit difficult when it’s soggy!) when ready to serve.

Devilled Mackerel with potatoes and spinach

 

MUNCH RATING: 4/5

 

We got two whole mackerels in the weekly shop so I searched for a recipe on the BBC Good Food website and found this one.

 

CHANGES TO THE RECIPE:

I halved the recipe as I was only cooking for myself and Steve. I stuck to the majority of the recipe, except I fried the potatoes on their own for about 10 minutes to get them nice and brown, then I added the chopped onion. I also used an ovenproof pan instead of using a roasting tray.

 

TASTE TEST:

We really liked the dish except Steve wasn’t too keen on the bones in the mackerel! He would have much preferred fillets of fish as it took him so long to pick out the bones that his fish went cold. I would definitely make the potatoes and spinach again as it made a quick and easy side dish.

 

I had to gut the fish myself and Steve’s Mum asked if they had any roe inside. I said one had soft roe and the other one had hard roe. She was a bit gutted (no pun intended!) that I’d thrown them away as she loves eating the hard roe! So I must remember to save them for her next time!

 

• Serves: 2
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 7/425°F/220°C

 

Ingredients:

• 2 mackerel, cleaned, gutted and heads chopped off
• 2 tbsp curry paste (I used Patak’s Rogan Josh)
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 400g potatoes, cubed
• 1 small onion, chopped
• 3 large handfuls of spinach

 

Directions:

1. Heat oven to Gas mark 7/425°F/220°C. Make a couple of slashes in both sides of the fish and rub with half the curry paste. Heat the oil in an ovenproof frying pan/roasting tray, then fry the potatoes for about 10 mins until starting to brown, then add the onion and cook for a further 5 minutes.
2. Stir the remaining curry paste into the potatoes, then sit the fish on top and roast for 20-25 mins (I cooked mine for 20 mins as they were quite small) until the fish and potatoes are cooked.
3. Lift the fish onto plates, then place the potatoes back over a high heat. Add the spinach to the pan and cook for 1-2 mins until completely wilted. Scoop out and serve with the fish.

 

COOK’S NOTES:

• If using fillets of fish, roast the potatoes for 15 mins before adding the fish, then roast for 10 mins more.

Tempura batter (for pork, chicken and squid)

MUNCH RATING: 3/5

 

For some reason the original pork/chicken ball batter that I’d previously used and really liked has not produced good results on all the subsequent occasions that I’ve made it. So I decided to try using John Torode’s batter, which is basically a Japanese tempura batter as it contains cold (sparkling) water.

 

CHANGES TO THE RECIPE:

I decided to batter a selection of things: 1 pork chop, 1 chicken breast and 3 pieces of squid. We didn’t cook the squid for as long, so they are the smaller, paler balls in the photo. The pork and chicken were cooked for about 5-6 minutes, turning occasionally.

 

The amount of batter was sufficient for this amount of meat and seafood. However, I ran out of cornflour for dusting the pork, so I just used plain flour instead and it was fine.

 

I got Steve to make the Sweet and Sour sauce from the original recipe we like, as we know it’s a winner! I’ve rewritten the sauce recipe below.

 

TASTE TEST:

Well the pork and chicken balls were lovely as the meat was moist and succulent. I never normally use chicken breast as I find it dry and lacking flavour. So Steve was very surprised when I told him it was breast and not thigh. Unfortunately the squid tasted very fishy, so I suspect that the frozen squid I used has spoiled, either before or after I bought it.

 

The batter was nice and crispy, but it was a little bit greasy. It might be because we didn’t drain them well enough. Or we perhaps didn’t have the oil hot enough when we dropped the battered meat/squid in, so the batter didn’t create a barrier against absorbing more oil. I still thought the batter was really nice, but Steve said it just wasn’t the same as the take-away ones! So as a batter it is very nice, but it doesn’t get as high a Munch Rating as it’s just not spongy enough in the middle for Steve’s liking.

 

So we’re still looking for the perfect recipe. I’m going to look into why the original recipe we liked hasn’t worked since the first time I made it. I think I might have converted the quantities incorrectly when I downsized the recipe.

 

I have also asked my Dad to ask his friends who own a Chinese take-away for their recipe. Hopefully I will learn some insider secrets!

 

I now have almost a whole bottle of soda water to use up. I could make up a nice drink with it, but I’ve found a recipe for pancakes which uses soda water as it apparently makes them really fluffy. So hopefully I’ll get around to experimenting with that recipe before the water goes flat!

 

• Makes: 6-8 pork balls, 6-8 chicken balls, 12-15 squid rings

 

Ingredients:

FOR THE BATTER

• 100ml soda water, chilled
• 100ml cold water
• 140g self-raising flour
• pinch of salt

 

• selection of skinless, boneless meat/seafood, cut into chunks
• 25g cornflour
• sunflower or vegetable oil, for frying

 

Directions:

1. Line a baking tray with kitchen paper and turn on the oven to low.
2. Fill a large pan 1cm deep with oil and heat until shimmering.
3. Mix the soda water and cold water into the self-raising flour with a little salt (but don’t overmix as it’s OK to have lumps in tempura batter to keep it light)
4. Tip the cornflour onto a plate and dust the chicken/pork/squid with cornflour shaking off the excess, then dip into the batter. One at a time, lower into the hot oil (about 5-6 every batch). Turn up the heat to keep the meat frying, if needed, and cook for 5-6 mins, turning once.
5. When cooked, drain on the tray, and keep warm in the oven. Repeat with the remaining meat. Stack onto a plate with the warm sauce on the side.

 

FOR THE sweet and sour SAUCE:

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup (4 Tablespoons) tomato ketchup
• 1 teaspoon soy sauce
• 1/4 cup (60ml) white vinegar (I used white wine vinegar)
• 1/4 cup (60ml) water
• 1/2 cup (100g) white sugar
• 1/4 cup (45g) brown sugar, packed
• 1 Tablespoon corn flour
• 1/8 cup (2 Tablespoons) cold water

 

Directions:

1. In a small saucepan combine the first 6 ingredients and bring to a boil whisking constantly.
2. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to simmer stirring for 2 minutes.
3. In a small cup dissolve the corn flour in the cold water until smooth, then add to the simmering sauce stirring constantly.
4. Cook for another 3 minutes stirring until bubbly and thickened.
5. I served this at room temperature. You can store it in an airtight container in the fridge for probably about a week or you could freeze it.

Creamy Chicken Hotpot

 

MUNCH RATING: 4/5

 

This recipe is from an old issue of Waitrose magazine and you can find the original recipe on the Waitrose website.

 

CHANGES TO THE RECIPE:

I’ve made it quite a few times now, but I’ve adapted it as I found the pearl barley took quite a long time to cook. So I give it a head start by cooking it in the stock whilst I prepare all the other ingredients (de-bone the chicken, cut up the squash and leeks). I prefer to use crème fraîche rather than cream cheese as I find it a bit too tangy. I’ve also decreased the quantities for some of the ingredients so it will comfortably feed 2 if served on its own, or 4 people if served with something like mash.

 

TASTE TEST:

I really like this dish as I love butternut squash and the chicken is really tender. The pearl barley releases starch which thickens the sauce and the crème fraîche/cream cheese gives a lovely creaminess.

 

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 500g chicken thigh meat (roughly 4 large thighs)
• 2 tbsp plain flour
• 500g butternut squash (about ½ of a large one), peeled, deseeded and cut into chunks
• 1 large leek, washed and thickly sliced
• 750ml hot chicken stock (I used 3 teaspoons of Knorr Chicken Stock granules)
• 75g pearl barley
• 2 heaped Tablespoons ½ fat crème fraîche

 

Directions:

1. Place the pearl barley in a small saucepan with the hot stock and simmer whilst you prepare the other ingredients.
2. Heat the oil in a large pan. Cut each chicken thigh fillet into 4, dust in the flour and brown in the hot oil for 4-5 minutes. Add the squash and leeks, and cook for a further 2-3 minutes.
3. Pour in the hot stock and the parboiled barley. Bring to the boil, then cover and simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove the lid and simmer for another 10 minutes until the sauce has reduced slightly, the chicken is cooked and the barley is tender.
4. Stir in the crème fraîche and mix until melted.

Keema Pie with rosti topping

MUNCH RATING: 3/5

 

I’ve had a keema pie recipe from a really old issue of Delicious magazine sitting in my recipe folder for quite a while, but never got around to making it. It’s basically an Indian version of shepherds/cottage pie. What prompted me to try it was seeing another recipe in the April issue of Delicious which had a rosti topping instead of mash. Steve isn’t a huge fan of potatoes, so I consulted him on what his preference was and he decided that the rosti topping would be the lesser of two evils!

 

CHANGES TO THE RECIPE:

The new recipe uses lamb mince, but the old recipe uses beef mince, so it seems that they’re interchangeable. I used beef mince as that’s what I had available, but I only had 500g instead of the 750g the recipe said to use. I also substituted the 5 large skinned vine tomatoes for a tin of plum tomatoes as it was more convenient.

 

I only used about 1½ green chilies as they were really hot when I tasted a sample, so I also omitted the ½ teaspoon of hot chili powder as I have a tendency to make food too hot! But the finished dish wasn’t all that hot and I think using all the chili and the powder would have been OK.

 

MY SKIN IS ON FIRE!

I suffered really badly from the chili burning the skin on my hands, so I did a search on Google and I found the solution of rubbing salt onto my hands. I used coarse sea salt and I rubbed it on dry, which worked quite well and removed the really stinging burning sensation. But I discovered there was still some chili on my skin when I went to take my contact lenses out and my eyeballs started burning! So I used the salt again using wet hands and it seemed to have worked as it didn’t hurt when I put my contacts in this morning. So next time I will chop the garlic, ginger and chilies in my mini chopper to avoid so much contact with my skin!

 

TASTE TEST:

We both really liked the flavour of the mince as the spices were really nice, but it was a bit too watery. Next time I will leave the lid off the pan when simmering. I would also leave out the spinach, as even though I squeezed out the water I’m sure it released more water when baking. The old keema pie recipe uses peas instead, which is a much better idea and actually more traditional.

 

We were both disappointed with the rosti topping as it didn’t go very crispy, even though I’d also shoved the pie under the grill. Steve thinks the sweet potato was to blame. Making this topping was sooooo much extra work and totally not worth the effort! So next time I would just use a mash potato topping, or even just serve the mince with some rice.

 

The recipe below is how I made it and not the actual recipe from the magazine.

• Serves: 4
• Takes: 1 hour 45 minutes to make
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 6/400°F/200°C

 

Ingredients:

• 3 Tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• Knob of fresh ginger, grated
• 2 long green chilies, deseeded and finely chopped
• 2 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 2 teaspoon coriander seeds
• ½ teaspoon ground turmeric
• ½ teaspoon hot chili powder
• 500g beef mince
• 300ml beef stock (I used Knorr Touch of Taste)
• 400g tin peeled plum tomatoes, discard the juice
• 200g spinach
• 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon garam masala
• 1 medium potato, coarsely grated
• 1 medium sweet potato, coarsely grated
• 1 medium onion, finely sliced

 

Directions:

1. Heat 2 Tablespoons of the oil in a large pan over a medium heat. Add the chopped onion, season well and fry until softened. Add the finely garlic, ginger and green chilies and fry for a couple of minutes.
2. In a separate pan, dry-fry the cumin and coriander seeds until fragrant, then crush in a pestle and mortar with the turmeric and chili powder until finely ground. Add to the onion mixture and fry for a couple of minutes.
3. Add the mince, increase the heat and fry for about 10 minutes until the meat is brown, Drain off the excess fat, then add the stock and tomatoes, breaking them up as you mix them in. Bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 30 minutes until the meat is cooked and the sauce has thickened slightly (remove the lid if it’s too watery).
4. Put the spinach in a colander over a large saucepan and pour over a kettle of boiling water, then refresh in cold water. Squeeze out the excess water. Stir through the curry with the lemon juice and garam masala and season to taste.
5. Put the pan of hot water that you used to wilt the spinach on the heat and bring back to the boil, then place the potato, sweet potato and onion into it and blanch for 30 seconds. Drain, then tip into a clean tea towel and squeeze out all the excess liquid. Place in a bowl and toss with the remaining oil and season.
6. Tip the keema into a large ovenproof dish and top with the blanched rosti topping.
7. Bake for 30 minutes at Gas mark 6/400°F/200°C until the rosti is golden on top – place under a hot grill for 5 minutes if it’s still not brown enough!

 

COOK’S NOTES:

• This dish can be frozen at stage 6. Bake for 40 minutes from frozen at Gas mark 6/400°F/200°C.

Minced soy pork with noodles

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

 

In the April issue of BBC Good Food magazine there was a recipe by Ching-He Huang for this noodle dish. It looked really tasty, but what tempted me most was that it was quite healthy at around 500 calories and 12g fat per serving. I thought this would be the perfect dish to start our healthy eating plan as it’s quick and easy to prepare and cook.

 

I do make quite a few stir-fries so I already had most of the ingredients, but there are some ingredients that I had to get from the Chinese supermarket, such as the dried mushrooms. Steve was a little dubious about the dried mushrooms as he didn’t have very fond memories of them from dishes he’d eaten in restaurants. But once he saw that I’d chopped them up into small pieces he cheered up and after tasting them in the dish he declared that they were actually quite nice as he couldn’t really taste them, but they added a depth of flavour to the dish. He’s even suggested we try putting them in Bolognese and Massaman curry!

 

CHANGES TO THE RECIPE: 

I also used some chow mein noodles (Lion Brand) that I’d bought instead of the rice noodles that Ching used, as we prefer this type of noodle. Ching added noodles that were already cooked, whereas I added mine when they were just rehydrated as I preferred to finish cooking them in the pan so that they could absorb more flavour.  I used 2½ blocks of the dried noodles and this made quite a lot when rehydrated, so I added a bit more soy sauce than the recipe suggested and I also added some oyster sauce for extra flavour. Ching added dried shrimps, spring onions and coriander to her dish, but we ran out of spring onions and I can’t stand dried shrimps and coriander so I left them out. Instead I added some mange tout for some colour and one of our 5-a-day!

 

TASTE TEST:

I haven’t really used pork mince much before, which is funny because the Chinese love to use pork! But we both really liked the texture of the meat and it wasn’t greasy like lamb or beef mince. I will definitely be using more pork mince in future, especially as it was so nice in the Potsticker Dumplings we made!

 

• Serves: 2 generously

 

Ingredients:

• 2½ blocks dried chow mein noodles rehydrated (see notes below)
• 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 Tablespoon grated ginger
• 3 dried Chinese mushrooms, rehydrated and finely chopped (see notes below)
• 250g lean pork mince
• 1 Tablespoon Shaoshing rice wine
• 1 Tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon light soy sauce
• 1 Tablespoon oyster sauce
• 1 teaspoon chicken stock powder (I used Knorr granules)
• 100ml water
• 1 Tablespoon toasted sesame oil
• 2 big handfuls of mange tout

 

Directions:

1. Heat a wok over a high heat and add the oil. When it’s really hot add the garlic, ginger and finely chopped mushrooms. Stir well for a few seconds, then add the mince and stir-fry. When the meat starts to turn brown, add the rice wine, both soy sauces, oyster sauce, stock powder and the water and bring to the boil.
2. Add the rehydrated noodles and mix thoroughly, allow to cook for 2 minutes, then add the mange tout and cook for another 2 minutes until they’re cooked but still a bit crunchy.
3. Add the sesame oil, mix well and serve immediately.

 

COOK’S NOTES:

• To rehydrate the noodles: place them in a deep bowl or saucepan and pour over enough boiling water to cover them. Allow them to soften for a couple of minutes and then loosen with a pair of chopsticks until they’re all separated. Drain and rinse with cold water.
• To rehydrate the mushrooms: place them in a bowl and pour over enough boiling water to cover them. Leave them to soak for 45 minutes, then drain.

Vegged Out Macaroni Cheese

 

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

 

Macaroni Cheese is one of those comfort foods that I really love, but I don’t make it very often as it can take a long time to make from scratch – this took me about 1½ hours!  But it was a labour of love that was really worth it, as all the veggies made it really tasty and slightly healthy to offset all that cheese!

 

CHANGES TO THE RECIPE:

I actually halved the amount of cheese that the original recipe suggested, as 400g seemed really excessive! The addition of all the veggies adds a lot of flavour, so you really don’t need loads of cheese. I also changed/omitted some of the veggies to suit what I had in the fridge. I also used Panko breadcrumbs instead of fresh, as that is what I had to hand.

 

TASTE TEST:

Steve wasn’t sure if he liked the breadcrumbs, as it reminded him too much of fish pie, which he isn’t keen on. But he said he wouldn’t have known they were breadcrumbs if I hadn’t told him – he thought it was just crispy golden cheese. But I liked the breadcrumbs on top, as they gave the topping a nice contrasting texture. Steve said this was the best macaroni cheese I’ve ever made and he literally licked his plate clean!

 

• Serves: 4
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 6/400°F/200°C
• You will need: a large ovenproof dish, lightly oiled

 

Ingredients:

• 400g macaroni
• 150g streaky bacon, thinly sliced (I used a small packet of pancetta cubes)
• 1 leek, white part only, finely sliced (I used 1 medium onion, finely chopped)
• 1 clove garlic, crushed
• 1 red pepper, deseeded and diced (I used small orange peppers)
• 150g broccoli florets (I omitted this because I couldn’t be bothered to chop it up!)
• 110g frozen peas
• 100g tinned sweetcorn, drained (I used a whole small tin)
• 60g butter
• 60g plain flour
• 600ml cold semi-skimmed milk
• 2 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 400g mixture of mature cheddar, red Gloucester and Cheshire cheeses, grated (I used 200g mixture mature and mild cheddar cheeses)
• 3 Tablespoons fresh breadcrumbs (I used Panko instead)

 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to Gas mark 6/400°F/200°C.
2. Bring a large pan of salted water to a rolling boil. Add the macaroni and cook according to the pack instructions until al dente (my pack said 13 minutes, so I cooked for 8 minutes). Drain well and run under cold water. Place in a large bowl and set aside.
3. Meanwhile, in a frying pan cook the bacon/pancetta in ½ Tablespoon olive oil until crisp and golden, then remove from the pan and set aside. Add the sliced leek/onion to the pan without adding any extra fat and cook over a medium heat, until very soft. Add the garlic and red pepper and cook for 3-4 minutes until softened, then throw in the broccoli (if using) and peas. Add a splash of water and cook for 1-2 minutes until the broccoli is still a little crunchy and the peas are just tender. Transfer to the bowl with the macaroni in, mix in the sweetcorn and set aside.
4. Make the cheese sauce: place the butter, flour and cold milk in a saucepan and bring to the boil whisking. Reduce the heat and simmer until thickened, whisking all the time. Once thickened, cook for 2 minutes. Reduce the heat and stir in the mustard and ¾ of the cheese. Stir until the cheese has melted and the sauce is smooth.
5. Pour the cheese sauce over the macaroni and vegetable mixture and give everything a good stir, then spoon into a large ovenproof dish. Mix the remaining cheese with the breadcrumbs, sprinkle over the top of the pasta and bake for 30-35 minutes until golden and bubbling.

 

COOK’S NOTES:

• The recipe said you can freeze this dish, so I froze half of it without any cheese or breadcrumbs on top. Apparently you can freeze for up to 1 month – we shall see if it tastes just as good once defrosted and reheated! To reheat: bake at Gas mark 6/400°F/200°C for 40-50 minutes.
• This can obviously be made vegetarian by omitting the bacon/pancetta.

 

Tuna in Tamarind Sauce (Pla Rad Prik)

 

MUNCH RATING: 2/5

 

A few months ago Steve and I went to a brilliant Thai restaurant near Richmond Park called Ayudhya. We had Monkfish in a tamarind sauce and it was called Pla Rad Prik. It was really tasty and the fish was beautifully cooked, but it was really spicy! I think traditionally the Thai fry a whole fish, but in the restaurant they fried pieces of monkfish.

 

Steve’s Mum bought us some tuna whilst in Tesco’s this week and I had to think of a good way to use it up. I’m not a big fan of tuna, so I thought this spicy tamarind sauce would be a good way to mask the tuna taste!

 

Well the sauce was good, but the tuna wasn’t. It just tasted so fishy and it put me off from eating it, so I left most of it. I will definitely make the sauce again, but I will use less chilli as it was a little bit too hot for us, even though I used only 1 chilli instead of the 3 that the recipe suggested!

 

Ingredients:

• Any meaty fish, cut into chunks
• Cornflour to coat the fish
• 1 shallot, coarsely chopped (I used ½ red onion sliced as that’s what I had in the fridge!)
• 2 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
• 1 Tablespoon tamarind
• 3 Tablespoon sugar
• 1 Tablespoon fish sauce
• 1 Tablespoon dark soy sauce
• 1 red or yellow chilli, sliced

 

Directions for the sauce:

1. Heat a teaspoon of oil in a small saucepan over a medium heat.
2. Add the garlic, onion and chilli and fry until the onion is soft.
3. Then add tamarind, sugar, fish sauce and soy sauce and about 100ml of water.
4. Mix well and let boil to reduce down to a thick syrup.

 

Directions for the fish:

1. In a dish, coat the chunks of fish in the cornflour.
2. Heat 2 Tablespoons of oil in a wok or large frying pan, then fry the fish for about 5 minutes until golden brown.
3. When cooked, pour the sauce on top of the fish and garnish with spring onion brushes.
4. Serve immediately with steamed rice.

 

COOK’S NOTES:

• To make the spring onion brushes: take a spring onion and cut off most of the green part and discard, leaving about a finger length of the white part. Carefully trim off the root. From the greenest end of the spring onion, cut about halfway along the length a few times to make strips. Place the spring onions into a bowl of cold water and place in the fridge for about 10 minutes to make the strips curl. Lift from water and drain before using as a garnish.

Chicken Tikka Shashlik

MUNCH RATING: 3/5

I first came across Shashlik when Steve had a Chicken Tikka Shashlik Masala Curry in a curry house a few years ago. It’s not a dish that I’ve seen on any other Indian restaurant menu. This is basically the same thing without the masala sauce.

Shashlik is essentially meat on a stick. Apparently it originally comes from central Asia, but there are versions from Russia, Turkey and Pakistan.
Pieces of lamb or chicken are marinated in spices and either oil and lemon juice or in this case yoghurt. The meat is then threaded onto skewers with pieces of onion, green pepper and tomato and traditionally cooked in a tandoor or over a charcoal grill. I had to settle for under the grill.

The chicken was really nicely cooked and the marinade gave it loads of flavour and kept it moist. The vegetables became quite nice and charred, but Steve said it wasn’t quite the same as in the restaurant. I think the grill struggled to get hot enough.

Overall, Shashlik is a healthier way to have curry as it’s not laden with lots of cream or ghee, plus it’s grilled. I served it with rice, but I think it would actually be much better stuffed into a soft naan bread and slathered with loads of mayonnaise. Hey, I never said I was on a diet!

• Serves: 2
• You will need: 8 bamboo skewers, soaked in water

Ingredients:

• 4 chicken thighs, deboned and cut into large chunks
• 2 Tablespoons curry paste (I used Korma)
• 2 Tablespoons natural yoghurt
• ½ onion, cut into wedges and layers separated
• ½ green pepper, cut into chunks
• 2 tomatoes, cut into wedges

Directions:

1. In a large bowl mix the chicken, curry paste and yoghurt. Cover tightly (unless you want to stink out your whole fridge) and leave in the fridge for a couple of hours to marinate.
2. Preheat your grill to high.
3. Thread pieces of chicken, onion, pepper and tomato onto your skewers, leaving a gap at the end so you can turn them.
4. Cover a baking tray with foil (this will save on washing up) and place your kebabs on the tray and season with a little salt and pepper.
5. Cook under the grill for 15-20 minutes, turning occasionally until the chicken is cooked and the vegetables are nicely charred.

COOK’S NOTES:

• If using lamb or chicken breast instead of thighs, then they should only take about 10-12 minutes to cook.

Trout Kiev and Pilaf Rice

MUNCH RATING: 4/5

I saw Simon Rimmer make a Salmon Kiev on Something for the Weekend last Saturday and I thought it looked quite good. We had a huge trout fillet in the freezer, so I thought that would be a good substitute. It did work quite well, however the trout was quite soft and flaky, so it was a bit difficult to cut pockets to stuff with the garlic butter. But it tasted really good, even though I didn’t follow Simon’s recipe at all and just did my own thing! Steve ate his with Salad Cream (which he puts on everything!) and I tried it and it was actually really nice. It gave the fried fish that acidity to cut through the grease, a bit like tartare sauce.

I served it with Pilaf Rice, using Alton Brown’s fool-proof method (I have tried Paul Merrett’s recipe for Emergency Biryani which uses a similar method and it was a disaster!) but I added some mushrooms, red pepper and roasted squash before adding the rice to the pan. The vegetables did release some moisture, so next time I would add a bit less stock, probably 25ml less.

I made the rice first, then whilst it was in the oven I prepared the trout. Then when the rice came out of the oven to rest, I cranked up the oven to Gas mark 6/400°F/200°C and put the trout in for about 5 minutes.

• Serves: 2

Rice Pilaf Ingredients:

• 1 Tbsp oil
• 1/2 medium onion, finely diced
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 red pepper, chopped into 1cm pieces
• handful of mushrooms, sliced
• handful of roasted butternut squash chunks
• 1 cup rice (I used long grain jasmine rice)
• 1 1/2 cups (350-375ml) stock (use the lower amount if using watery vegetables like mushrooms)

Rice Pilaf Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 4/350°F/180°C.
2. Heat the oil and sweat the onion and garlic until softened over a low heat, don't allow to brown.
3. Add the mushrooms, peppers and squash and fry until softened.
4. Add the rice and gently fry until it smells 'nutty', about 2-3 minutes.
5. Add the stock, stir once and bring to a boil.
6. Cover the saucepan with the damp tea-towel (it must be damp otherwise you might set it on fire!) and clamp on the lid. Fold up the corners of the tea-towel over the lid so that it's not hanging loose. You can also use greaseproof paper.
7. Put the saucepan in the preheated oven and cook for 15 minutes.
8. Remove from the oven and leave for 10-15 minutes with the lid still on, as during this time the rice is still cooking and absorbing the liquid.

Trout Kiev Ingredients:

• 2 Tablespoons butter
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 Tbsp fresh thyme, leaves picked (I used lemon thyme)
• 2 large thick trout fillets
• 2 Tbsps plain flour
• 1 free-range egg, beaten
• 4 big handfuls of panko breadcrumbs
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 3-4 Tbsp vegetable oil

Trout Kiev Directions:

1. Put the butter, garlic, thyme leaves and some black pepper in a small bowl and mash together with a fork until well combined.
2. Turn out the mixture onto a sheet of cling film and roll it into a cylinder. Chill in the freezer for five minutes.
3. Using a sharp knife, make a deep slit into the side of each trout fillet to form a pocket (or lots of little pockets if one large pocket is not possible).
4. When the butter mixture has chilled, slice it into 3mm discs and insert them into each of the pockets in the trout.
5. Sprinkle the flour onto a plate and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Beat the egg in a shallow dish. Mix together the breadcrumbs on a separate plate. Dredge each stuffed fish fillet first in the flour, then dip it in the beaten egg, then roll it in the breadcrumbs mixture until completely coated.
6. Heat the oil in an ovenproof frying pan over a medium to high heat. Add the coated trout fillets and fry for 2-3 minutes on each side, or until the breadcrumb coating is crisp and golden-brown.
7. Transfer the trout to the oven now turned up to Gas mark 6/400°F/200°C and cook for a further 5 minutes, or until cooked through. (NB: The fish is cooked through when the flesh is opaque.)

Lancashire Hotpot

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

This is such a simple dish with few ingredients, but it tastes absolutely amazing. The lamb is meltingly tender and the carrots and onions give a lovely sweetness to the gravy. I can’t take the credit for the original recipe as it’s James Martins’, but I have made it a bit healthier by not using dripping and I left out the kidneys as I don’t like them! The recipe I’ve written is basically half the original, as I only wanted to cook for 2 people.

I’ve made this a couple of times and I really recommend using a mandolin slicer to cut the potatoes so that they are really thin and cook evenly.

I started off the cooking in a large saucepan and then transferred everything to an ovenproof dish, but ideally you want to use a flameproof casserole dish to retain all the flavours.

• Serves: 2
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 3/325°F/170°C
• You will need: a shallow flame & ovenproof dish

Ingredients:

• 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
• 450g stewing lamb, cut into large chunks (I used shoulder)
• 1 medium onions, chopped
• 2 carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 Tablespoon plain flour
• 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 250ml lamb or chicken stock
• 1 bay leaf
• 400g potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
• 25g melted butter

Directions:

1. Heat oven to Gas mark 3/325°F/170°C. Heat the tablespoon of oil in a flameproof casserole dish or in a large saucepan. Add the lamb and brown (if cooking a large amount then do this in batches), then put onto a plate and set aside.
2. Fry the onions and carrots in the pan with until golden. Add some salt and pepper at this point. Sprinkle over the flour, allow to cook for a couple of mins, shake over the Worcestershire sauce, pour in the stock, then bring to the boil. Stir in the lamb and bay leaf, then turn off the heat. If you’ve used a saucepan then put the stew mixture into an ovenproof dish, then arrange the sliced potatoes on top of the meat, then drizzle with the melted butter. Cover, then place in the oven for about 1½ hrs until the potatoes are cooked.
3. Remove the lid, brush the potatoes with a little more melted butter, then turn the oven up to maximum heat to brown the potatoes (could take up to 30 mins), or finish under the grill for 5-8 mins until brown.

Toad in the hole

FIRST ATTEMPT - MUNCH RATING: 3/5

I’ve never been a fan of toad in the hole, as I don’t really like that kind of batter, hence why I don’t like Yorkshire Puddings either. But Steve likes it so I thought I’d treat him to a British classic!

I used the recipe on the BBC Good Food website. I only used 4 sausages as I was only cooking for 2 people, but I made up the whole amount of batter as per the recipe as Steve loves the batter. But he likes it stodgy, so I used a smaller dish than the recipe called for so it would be thicker. This was a big mistake as it was all soggy and undercooked at the bottom and it was pretty inedible. The top part was lovely and crispy though and even I enjoyed eating it, so I would make this recipe again as it was really easy, but next time I will use the correct size dish (see below).

For the onion gravy that goes with it, I used 3 leeks instead as I had them in the fridge and it was still pretty tasty.

• Serves: 4
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 7/425°F/220°C
• You will need: a 20cm x 30cm shallow roasting tin

Ingredients:

• 100g plain flour
• ½ tsp English mustard powder (I used Dijon mustard instead)
• 1 egg
• 300ml milk
• 3 thyme sprigs, leaves only (I left this out as I used Cumberland sausages)
• 8 plain pork sausages (use 2 per person)
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• 2 onions, peeled and sliced
• 1 tsp soft brown sugar
• 1 Tablespoon plain flour
• 500ml beef stock

Directions:

1. Make the batter: Heat oven to Gas mark 7/425°F/220°C. Tip flour into the large mixing bowl and stir in the mustard powder with a good pinch of salt. Make a well in the centre, crack in the egg, then pour in a dribble of milk. Stir with a wooden spoon, gradually incorporating some of the flour, until you have a smooth batter in the well. Now add a bit more milk and continue stirring until all the milk and flour has been mixed together.
2. The batter is ready: You should now have a smooth, lump-free batter that is the consistency of double cream. Tip it back into the jug you measured your milk in, for easier pouring later on, then stir in the thyme. Use scissors to snip the links between your sausages, then drop them into a 20 x 30cm roasting tin. Add 1 tbsp of the oil, tossing the sausages in it to thoroughly coat the base of the tin, then roast in the oven for 15 mins (mine took more like 25 mins to cook!).
3. Cook the batter: Take the hot tray from the oven, then quickly pour in the batter - it should sizzle and bubble a little when it first hits the hot fat. Put it back into the oven, then bake for 40 mins until the batter is cooked through, well risen and crisp. If you poke the tip of a knife into the batter in the middle of the tray it should be set, not sticky or runny.
4. Make the gravy: Soften the onions with the remaining oil in a large nonstick frying pan for about 20 mins, stirring often, until they are golden brown. Sprinkle in the sugar for the final 5 mins. Add the spoonful of flour, then cook, constantly stirring, for 2 mins, so it coats the onions and there is no dry flour left. Gradually pour in the stock, stirring well to make a smooth sauce. Bubble for 4-5 mins to thicken, then season. Cut the toad in the hole into large wedges and serve with the gravy spooned over. 

SECOND ATTEMPT  – MUNCH RATING: 4/5

This is my second attempt and it worked much better. I used the correct sized dish so the batter was a lot more crispy and less stodgy, however there were still some soggy bits which Steve happily ate! I actually really enjoyed eating this, so it will become one of my staple recipes.

However, I used a ceramic dish as we didn’t have a roasting tin that was the right size. Quite a lot got stuck to the bottom of the dish. A roasting tin would give a much better result as it would conduct the heat much better, so I might have to buy one just for Toad in the hole! Actually, I think my Swiss roll tin might be the right size, if a little shallow, but it’s worth a try!

Oh and I made the gravy with onions and it was SO much nicer! The onions caramelized and were so much sweeter than the leeks.

Butternut Squash Risotto

MUNCH RATING: 5/5

Although I discovered the wonders of oven-baking risotto, nothing can really compare to a properly made risotto and all that stirring is really worth it for this risotto!

Half of the butternut squash is cooked in the stock and then mashed into a puree. This makes the rice beautifully creamy. The other half of the squash is roasted and this gives it a wonderful charred flavour and a different texture. I love the smell of roasted squash; it just screams of Autumn.

Unfortunately I didn’t use a home-grown squash as they’re not quite ready yet!

• Serves: 2
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 6/400°F/200°C
• You will need: a roasting tray, a small saucepan, a medium saucepan

Ingredients:

• 1 large butternut squash
• 4 Tablespoons olive oil
• 600ml/1 pint vegetable stock (I used 1 Knorr Stock Pot)
• 25g/1oz unsalted butter
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 teaspoon fresh thyme leaves, picked
• 140g/5oz risotto rice (I used Arborio)
• 100ml/3½ fl.oz white wine (I used Sauvignon Blanc)
• 50g/2oz Parmesan (I used Twineham Grange)

Directions:

1. Heat oven to Gas mark 6/400°F/200°C.
2. Peel the squash and separate the bulbous seeded section from the long end. Chop the long end into 2cm cubes, toss in half the oil, season with salt and pepper and roast in the oven, turning occasionally until they are golden brown and tender (should take the same amount of time as to cook the risotto rice, about 30 minutes).
3. Cut the bulbous section in half and remove the seeds with a spoon, then cut into 2cm cubes. Warm the stock in the small saucepan over a low heat and add the squash and allow it to gently poach.
4. Meanwhile, heat the remaining oil and the butter in the medium saucepan, then add the onion, cover and cook for 3 minutes until the onion turns translucent.
5. Add the garlic, herbs and some black pepper. Increase the heat slightly, then add the rice and stir uncovered for about 5 minutes until the rice has turned almost completely translucent.
6. Turn up the heat and add the wine and allow it to bubble away until it has evaporated. Reduce the heat then start adding the stock a ladle at a time, stirring constantly whilst you allow each ladle of stock to be absorbed. It will take between 15-20 minutes for all the stock to be absorbed. Check the rice is cooked (it should be tender but not mushy) and then mash the squash that has been cooking in the stock before adding it to the cooked rice.
7. Turn off the heat, add most of the Parmesan, cover and leave to rest for 2 minutes, then stir and check for seasoning.
8. Spoon the risotto into shallow bowls, sprinkle over the roasted squash and more Parmesan if you like.

Haddock and Chorizo Gnocchi

MUNCH RATING: 4/5

This is my interpretation of a Gregg Wallace recipe from BBC Good Food Magazine. He used potatoes in his dish instead of the gnocchi, but I like the way the gnocchi absorbs some of the sauce, plus it’s quicker to cook!

I added some Parmesan to the dish as I’d just bought some from the Farmer’s Market in Epsom (read more about it here) and it worked well.
This is a really quick and easy recipe and the chorizo gives so much flavour. It’s quick garlicky, so there was no need to add any extra garlic!

• Serves: 2
• You will need: a frying pan with a tight fitting lid

Ingredients:

• 250g potato gnocchi (I used ½ 500g pack of Trattoria Verdi from Tescos)
• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small chorizo sausage, thinly sliced (I used Cooking Chorizo from the Tesco Ingredients range)
• good handful cherry tomatoes, halved (home-grown of course!)
• 1 teaspoon Knorr Chicken Stock Granules
• 2 skinless thick haddock fillets (or other white fish)*
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Cook the gnocchi as per pack instructions, drain but reserve a couple of Tablespoons of the cooking water and then set aside.
2. Heat a large lidded frying, then add the oil. Add the chorizo and fry for 2 minutes until it starts to release its oil, then add the tomatoes, the reserved cooking water and the chicken stock. Cook until the tomatoes burst, then add the gnocchi and mix in well.
3. Season the fish with salt and pepper. Lay the fish on top of the gnocchi, put the lid on and leave to cook for 5 minutes, or until the fish has turned white and is flaky when prodded in the middle.
4. Sprinkle with a small handle of parmesan cheese.

*Take the fish out of the fridge and allow to come up to room temperature before cooking.

Gordon Ramsay's Shepherds Pie

MUNCH RATING: 3/5

This is Gordon Ramsay’s recipe and even though I can’t stand him, I decided to try his recipe as I’d only heard good things about it. The meaty filling was very tasty due to the red wine, but we thought there wasn’t enough of it compared to the amount of potato, although I didn’t really mind because I love potatoes!

I thought it was strange that the mash didn’t have milk added to it, but egg yolks instead. Also, the ingredients stated 50g butter and olive oil, but they weren’t included in the method, so I just added the butter to the mash anyway because good mash NEEDS butter! I didn’t have any parmesan so I just used mature cheddar cheese instead and it was still pretty tasty.

I would use this recipe again for the filling, but next time I’ll make the mash my usual way by adding milk and leave out the egg yolks.

• Serves: 4
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C
• You will need: a large frying pan, a large ovenproof dish

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 500g minced lean lamb
• 1 large onion, finely grated
• 1 large carrot, finely grated
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1-2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• Handful of thyme sprigs, leaves picked
• 1 sprig of rosemary, needles chopped
• 250ml red wine (I used Cabernet Sauvignon)
• 300ml chicken stock
• 1kg Desiree potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
• 50g butter
• 2 egg yolks
• Parmesan, for grating (I used mature cheddar cheese)
• Olive oil (er, optional?)
• Sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 4/350°F/180°C.
2. Heat the oil in a large pan until hot. Season the mince and fry in the oil over moderate to high heat for 2-3 minutes. Stir the onions and carrot into the mince then grate the garlic in as well. Add the Worcestershire sauce, tomato puree and herbs and cook for 1-2 minutes, stirring constantly. Pour in the red wine and reduce until almost completely evaporated. Add the chicken stock, bring to the boil and simmer until the sauce has thickened.
3. Meanwhile, cook the potatoes in boiling salted water until tender. Drain then return to the hot pan over low heat to dry out briefly. Pass them through a potato ricer then beat in the egg yolks and butter, followed by about 2 tbsp grated Parmesan. Check for seasoning.
4. Spoon the mince into the bottom of a large ovenproof dish. Using a large spoon, layer the mashed potato generously on top of the mince, starting from the outside and working your way into the middle. Grate some extra Parmesan over and season. Fluff up the mash potato with a fork to make rough peaks. Bake in the oven for approximately 20 minutes, until bubbling and golden brown.

* The dish I used was one of my new Pyrex Pyroflam casserole dishes. I used the 1 litre one, which measures 6.8cm deep x 16cm diameter, as I wanted to make a pie that served 2 people so I filled it with half the mince and half the mash. With the other half I refilled the dish after we’d eaten and put it in the freezer for another time.

I defrosted the frozen shepherd’s pie and then reheated it in the oven at Gas 6 for about 40 minutes. I had some leftover hollandaise sauce that I’d made and I thought it would be a good idea to mix it in with the mashed potato topping, because the sauce is just butter and egg yolks. Steve wasn’t keen on the idea, so I scraped off only half the potato topping and mixed it with a generous Tablespoon of the sauce. It looked pretty disgusting after I’d mixed it with the potato and then spread it back onto the mince mixture, but I covered all the potato with some mature cheddar and after 40 minutes in the oven it looked amazing! The half that had the hollandaise sauce in had turned a lovely golden brown and it was a lot tastier than the half that didn’t have the sauce added. I love it when a plan comes together! I have to say, that Steve and I both thought the shepherds pie tasted better reheated, as if the flavours had developed more over time.

Check out my hollandaise sauce recipe here.

Leek, Pea and Bacon Pasta Bake

MUNCH RATING: 4/5

This is one of those speedy suppers that doesn’t require any effort! The result is a really comforting dish of sweet leeks and peas, meaty bacon, pasta and a creamy cheese sauce – yum!

You will need: a large frying pan, a large saucepan

Ingredients:

• 3-6 rashers of bacon, chopped
• 1 leek, finely sliced into rings
• 1 Tablespoon oil
• 140g frozen peas
• 300g pasta shapes
• 200g tub of soft cream cheese (I used Tesco Value, only 45p!)
• 85g mature cheddar cheese, grated
• 1 teaspoon mustard (I used Dijon)
• black pepper

Directions:

1. Boil the pasta in plenty of salted, boiling water.
2. Meanwhile, fry the bacon in the oil until it is crispy and then add the leeks and gently fry for 10 minutes until they are soft.
3. Add the peas and gently fry until they’re heated through, about 3 minutes.
4. Reserve 150ml of the cooking water when you drain the pasta. Add this water, the cream cheese, half of the grated cheese and the mustard to the leeks and bacon. Stir until the cheese melts into a creamy sauce. Then stir in the pasta. Scatter the other half of the cheese over the top.
5. Heat the grill to high, then grill your pasta bake for 2-3 minutes until the cheese has melted and turned golden brown.

New and improved pizza!

MUNCH RATING: 4/5
 
I used a different recipe for the dough and I think it tasted much better than the recipe I tried from BBC Good Food. It’s just as easy to make and I made it quicker by cheating and using a ready made tomato sauce. I also used a different brand of yeast, so the pizza didn’t have the funny aftertaste that I got when I used Tesco’s Fast Action Dried Yeast. I used Doves Farm Quick Yeast, which comes in a packet so you can easily measure out the amount you want, rather than have half used little sachets everywhere.

Although it was much better than my other attempt at pizza, there is still room for improvement! It was crispy around the outside but still a bit stodgy underneath and in the middle, but Steve likes it like that!

I used my new Prestige Baking Sheet, which was the perfect size and it was so easy to clean – even the tomato sauce that got burned onto it. I didn’t bother putting it onto another tray that had heated in the oven (as the BBC Good Food recipe suggests) and I got exactly the same results.

• Makes: 1 large pizza
• Oven temperature: Gas mark 6/400°F/200°C
• You will need: a large bowl, 1 large baking sheets
• Prep Time: 15 mins plus 30 mins to let the dough rise
• Cook Time: 15-20 minutes

Ingredients:
FOR THE DOUGH

• 175g (6oz) strong white flour
• 1 teaspoon dried yeast
• pinch of salt
• ½ teaspoon sugar
• 120ml (4 fl.oz) lukewarm water
• 2 Tablespoon oil

FOR THE TOPPINGS

• Tomato Sauce (I used half a 350g jar of Lloyd Grossman’s Sweet Red Pepper Sauce)
• 125g mozzarella, roughly torn into pieces
• 2 mushrooms, finely sliced
• 1 sweet orange pepper, finely sliced
• 2 slices of bacon, roughly chopped
• 1 clove garlic, crushed or grated
• small handful of mature cheddar cheese or parmesan, grated
• fresh basil leaves

Directions:

1. Sift the flour, dried yeast, salt and sugar into a large bowl.
2. Make a well in the centre and add the water and the oil.
3. Use a round-bladed knife to mix into a ball of dough and then tip out onto a lightly floured board.
4. Knead well for 10 minutes or until the dough is smooth and will spring back when lightly pressed.
5. Place into a lightly oiled bowl, cover with cling film and put in a warm place to prove for about 30 minutes or until the dough has doubled in size (I put mine in the cupboard next to the tumble dryer whilst it was on!)
6. Preheat the oven to Gas mark 6/400°F/200°C.
7. Take the proved dough out of the bowl and carefully place on a lightly greased baking tray. Spread your fingers and gently press the dough down to flatten it (this is knocking back the dough) and create either a circle or square shaped pizza. I made mine into a 10x10 inch square pizza and it was quite thin.
8. Spread the tomato sauce over the pizza, leaving a space around the edge.
9. Carefully arrange your toppings over the tomato sauce – I like to overlap the mushrooms and peppers with the mozzarella cheese and then have the bacon and garlic on top to get crispy. I then finish with the grated cheese and some black pepper.
10. Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. I added some fresh basil leaves in the last 5 minutes of cooking.

You might also be interested in:

• Homemade Pizza
• Calzone and Dough Balls