Creamy mustardy lentils with bacon and squash

This is another repeat favourite, based on a Waitrose recipe, Rosemary-roasted squash with ham hock and lentils. Aussies are more into cow than pig products, so it’s not so easy to get decent ham/bacon etc. However, this recipe does just fine with some fried bacon chunks rather than the (cooked) ham hock in the original. The original also used frozen squash.

You can pre-roast the squash for this recipe.

Ingredients

• ~1kg Butternut Squash
• 2 sprigs fresh rosemary, chopped
• 250g puy Lentils
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 small onion, finely chopped
• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 100ml Single Cream
• 180g pulled ham hock or cubed bacon
• 25g sunflower seeds
• 20g pack flat leaf parsley, chopped
• 100g frozen peas

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 200C, gas mark 6. Cut the butternut squash into large chunks (e.g. quarters) and spread in a single layer on an oiled baking sheet. Sprinkle with the chopped rosemary. Bake for around 45 minutes until tender and lightly browned, tossing in the oil about halfway through. Cut into something resembling even cubes. Bitesize chunks, if you will. (Don't obsess too much - there's a chance the squash will, well, squash to mush anyway.)

2. Cook the lentils in a pan of boiling water for 15–18 minutes until tender. Drain.

3. If using bacon, fry the bacon cubes in a bit of oil until cooked.

4. Heat the oil in a large non-stick frying pan and cook for 5–10 minutes until good and soft.

5. Stir in the mustard, cream and some seasoning and bring to simmering point.

6. Stir the cubed squash, drained lentils, bacon/ham hock, sunflower seeds, parsley and peas into into the cream sauce.

7. Heat through gently until everything is hot.

8. Check seasoning and serve.

Tastier than it looks (with my food photography skills, at least) and makes good leftovers too.

Quick and easy pasta with Italian sausage and kale

Coles magazine quite often delivers the goods in terms of convenient and tasty meals that I can actually be bothered to make - and are quite forgiving to deviations from the recipe. This is my variation on Curtis Stone’s “Penne with sausage and kale” from April 2015. I’ve made this a few times now, so it’s time to post it so that I don’t have to dig out the magazine. (Yes, I really am that forgetful!)

Ingredients

• Coles finest Italian sausages. (Any tasty quality sausage will do but these have fennel in, which adds an extra dimension.)
• Bunch of kale, stalks removed and sliced. (Recipe calls for half but I go for a whole bunch - it cooks down.)
• 2-3 cloves of garlic, crushed.
• Small/half glass of dry white wine.
• Jar of tomato pasta sauce. (The recipe calls for 1.5 cups of passata but then you are left with lots of passata.)
• 300g pasta. (Recipe says penne. I tend to use small spirals… for everything.)
• Parmesan, salt, pepper to serve.

Instructions

1. Get a large pan of salted boiling water going to cook the pasta. See below for the timing you’re aiming at. (Err on the side of too late, I think - the rest can simmer for a bit longer.)

2. Remove the sausages from their skins and fry them over a medium-high heat, breaking them up with a wooden spoon/spatula as you go.

3. Add the kale and garlic and cook until the kale is wilted. If you are using a whole bunch, like me, you may need to add it in a couple of batches - unless you have a very big pan. Don’t worry: it cooks down a lot.

4. Add the wine and the tomato sauce. This time, we used puttanseca sauce, which was quite olivey. If olives aren’t your thing, you might be happier with a simple tomato or tomato and basil sauce. (You can just use passata as in the original recipe, of course!) The sauce had a few cherry tomatoes in it, which was nice. This recipe would work well if you roasted some cherry tomatoes and chucked them in too.



5. Bring to a simmer and cook for a few minutes until at the desired consistency. Hopefully, your pasta should be done by now. Drain and toss with the sausagey tomato goodness.



6. Season to taste and serve. Sprinkle with grated parmesan and black pepper. This makes enough for four adults, or two good dinners and lunches.

And, of course, it passed the Arthur test. (No, he didn’t get any.)

Easy, tasty chicken & chorizo minestrone

I like cooking that essentially consists of chopping stuff and then adding it to the pan in the right order. This recipe hits that nail firmly on the head. It also fills the kitchen with delicious smells. It got the cats interested, anyway.

If in Australia, make sure you get a continental chorizo for this recipe, not the inferior “chorizo primo” that seems to be common.

Serves: 4; Cooking: 30 mins

Ingredients

• 1 chorizo sausage, finely chopped.
• 1 brown onion, finely chopped.
• 1 carrot, peeled & finely chopped.
• 1 courgette (zucchini), ends trimmed, finely chopped.
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed/grated.
• 400g can diced tomatoes.
• 500ml chicken stock.
• 1 large chicken breast. Cut into chunks if very large.
• 110g risoni pasta.
• 40g spinach, finely shredded. (I put in a bit more, roughly torn, which seemed fine.)
• Lemon zest, to serve.
• Crusty bread, to serve.

Instructions

1. Heat a large saucepan over a high heat and cook the chorizo for about 5 mins to brown and release the tasty oil. Transfer to a plate with a slotted spoon.



2. Add all the veg (onion, carrot, courgette & garlic) and cook, stirring, for 5 mins until the onion softens.

3. Add back the chorizo, plus tomatoes, stock and chicken. Bring to boil and then simmer for 10 mins or until chicken cooked.

4. Remove the chicken and coarsely shred. Return to the pan with the pasta. Cook for 6-7 mins until pasta is tender.

5. Remove from heat. Stir in spinach and season with salt and pepper.

6. Ladle into bowls and sprinkle with lemon zest. Serve with crusty bread. Yum!

Easy (and delicious) slow cooker beef chilli

Autumn has arrived in Sydney and with the dropping temperatures - we sometimes need two layers now! - there is an increased desire for warm, comforting food. We’ve therefore been seeking out recipes that are either made or can be adapted for the slow cooker. Today’s was an adaptation from a taste.com.au recipe for shredded chilli beef. (It was too yummy to remember to take a nice photo once dished up, so a photo of the pot will have to do!)

Ingredients

• About 1kg beef chuck steak, cut into pieces and large bits of fats removed
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 brown onions, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, grated
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1.5 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp ground allspice
• 690g jar passata (plus/minus) + water (see below)
• 1 tbsp finely chopped pickled jalapenos
• 3 dried bay leaves
• 2 tins of red kidney beans

Instructions

1. Season the beef with salt and pepper and brown in the oil. Our slow cooker has a “sear” function, so I used that. If feeling lazy, I’m sure you can skip this step.

2. Lightly fry the onions to soften. Again, I used the slow cooker “sear” function.

3. Bung everything except the kidney beans in the slow cooker. Use a bit of water (50-100 ml, maybe) to get as much of the passata out of the jar as possible.

4. Cook on low for 6-7 hours.

5. Drain and rinse the kidney beans before adding around half an hour from the end. (My slow cooker had already flicked to "keep warm" so I added them and put it back on low whilst the cornbread was baking.)

6. Serve with Firecracker cornbread and sour cream. (My wife made the cornbread, so I can’t brag about that.) It was also be good with rice, tortilla chips, or just about anything of that ilk.

Easy and delicious!

Edit: as I almost did in life, I forgot the kidney beans!

Tiramisu - the ultimate dessert for entertaining?

My parents-in-law are over to visit for a few days and they always feed us well so we wanted to make something a bit special for dinner. My wife made a lovely Jamie Oliver recipe, roasted butterflied leg of lamb with chickpeas, yoghurt and tray-roasted veg (courtesy of my sister-in-law), and I was on dessert duty. This is unusual for me, as my wife is the baker in the household, but I fancied having another bash at the tiramisu recipe I had (successfully) made a few years previously from The Food of Italy: A Journey for Food Lovers.

Tiramisu is pretty easy to make and, useful when entertaining, can be made almost entirely ahead of time - indeed, it actually benefits from a bit of time in the fridge for the flavours to soak and develop. It also doesn't involve any cooking and, being entirely made of yummy ingredients, it's probably quite hard to actually make it taste bad. The Tiramisu I made was slightly modified from the book:

5 eggs (separated)
170g caster sugar
300g mascarpone
250ml cold strong coffee
3 tbsp Amaretto
Enough sponge fingers for two layers (approx. 36)
40-80g dark chocolate

The recipe says "serves 4" but I would say this serves 6-8! It's quite simple. Separate the eggs and beat the yolks with the sugar until it's smooth and then beat in the mascarpone, again until smooth. In another (very clean) bowl, beat the egg whites until they make soft peaks. (The transformation of egg whites during beating has to be one of cooking's wonders - made no less wonderful because we understand the science behind it.) Then fold the egg whites into the yolk/sugar mix.

Then it's time to assemble. Get a square dish (approx. 25cm x 25cm) to make the Tiramisu in and another shallow dish for dunking the sponge fingers, into which mix the coffee and Amaretto. The original recipe uses brandy or sweet Marsala wine and I've had a delicious alcohol-free version (made by an Italian), so there is some flexibility here.

To assemble, take sponge fingers, dunk them in the coffee to soak some up and cover the bottom of the dish in a single layer. You want to plan to soak up about half of the liquid. I was a bit stingy with the first layer. It worked out fine in the end but you can always make more coffe, so it might be worth being bold with your soakage if in doubt. (Just don't soak up enough to risk the integrity of your sponge fingers.) If your dish an awkward size/shape, I would encourage a (literal) dry run, as once you have placed a coffee-soaked sponge finger, you won't be able to move it. Cover the layer of sponge fingers with half of the egg/mascarpone mix. Repeat with another layer of coffee-soaked sponge fingers. If you have too much coffee/booze mix left, you can gently spoon some more over the fingers to let them soak up some more. (I did this as I had quite a bit left. It's impressive how much they can soak up!) Spread the rest of the egg/mascarpone mix on top and smooth.

At this point, you can cover with clingfilm and put in the fridge for a few hours, or overnight (or eat it straight away). When it's time to serve, grate the dark chocolate over the top for a generous covering. The recipe said 80g but this seemed rather excessive for the size of dish that I had. I only used about 40g in the end, which gave a good covering and so I stopped grating due to a combination of laziness and impatience! When dished up, it did look a bit stingy, so I would probably recommend about 60g for next time.

Yummy!

A bit more than Three Good Things on a Plate - Mushrooms, scone and soured cream recipe

I'm a bit of a fan of Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's cookbooks and we have a few of the River Cottage series. I've blogged before
about Veg Every Day. I also got The River Cottage Meat Book for Christmas and one of my New Year's Aspirations was to cook more/better meat. I've not yet been able to do that but the veg
front has been more successful and this weekend saw another Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall veg recipe triumph.

This one was not from Veg Every Day, though. Another Christmas present this year was Hugh's Three Good Things, which features recipes predominantly consisting of "three good things on a
plate". I think there is a bit of artistic license here, to be honest, as the recipe I made yesterday - Mushrooms, scone and soured cream - had considerably more then three things in it, although I guess that the "mushrooms" is really short for "mushroom stew". The stew was then topped with a cheese scone mix and baked in the oven, like a cobbler.

I'd never made a cobbler-style dish before and I haven't made scones for years - I'm not the baker in our house - so I was a bit nervous but it turned out pretty well, despite a couple of mistakes on my part. A "rustic" finish but exceptionally tasty and well recommended. The third "good thing" - soured cream - was just for serving.

I'm a big fan of mushrooms and they really are the star of this dish (although the scone topping was pretty fine too). The key, as ever with mushrooms, is to cook them for quite a long time to really concentrate their shroomy goodness. A healthy glug of red wine added to the richness of the dish further. We went for a very palatable Aussie McGuigan Bin No. 736 Shiraz Viognier blend, and a fine accompaniment it was too.

A dish this hearty and tasty does not need much on the side dishes and some simple stir fried savoy cabbage with a touch of soy sauce was great. Thanks to signing up with Abel & Cole, I think that more tasty River Cottage veg dishes are in our future.

Salmon and mascarpone cocoa pasta

Last year, I was given some Hotel Chocolat cocoa penne pasta for my birthday. I like chocolate and I like pasta but I've never before had chocolate pasta! Today I made the recommended recipe off the packet - Salmon and mascarpone cocoa pasta - and it was delicious!

I'd certainly never cooked with cocoa pasta before, so it was great that it came with a recipe. A tasty recipe too! And simple.

In fact, this recipe is so simple that I'm not really sure it can be called cooking! The ingredients list is short - pasta, mascarpone, smoked salmon, parmesan and basil - and there is virtually no preparation. (The pasta itself only needs 9-10min to cook, so whoever wrote "30 mins preparation" must have the world's slowest kettle!) Basically, you just cook the pasta, stir in some mascarpone to coat, then stir in the flaked smoked salmon (buying trimmings is great for this), grated parmesan and torn basil leaves.

I could really smell the chocolate when the pasta was cooking but the taste itself was quite subtle. Really nice, though. That said, this recipe should work great with regular pasta, and next time we will probably make it with the normal stuff. (The cocoa pasta is not cheap - definitely present material rather than everyday food!)

Leek risotto with chestnuts - it may not be healthier than a ready meal but it sure is tastier!

Yesterday, we had "Leek risotto with chestnuts" from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's River Cottage Veg Every Day! The picture (below) does not do it justice, more to do with my bad/rushed food photography skills than the dish itself. I've never used chestnuts in a recipe before and they were tasty! Easy too.

Leek risotto is a bit of a deviation from the normal risotto I make, which has shallots or onions as the first ingredient and then something for the flavour later. The leeks take the place of both elements but they require some additional cooking up front.

Once they've been sauteed in butter for 20 mins or so to make them really silky, though, it's pretty much business as usual: chuck in the risotto rice and fry for a bit with the leeks, cook off a glass of dry white wine, then simmer in stock, adding a bit at a time. The chestnuts were simply crumbled, cooked in a bit more butter for a couple of minutes, and then added at the end. Delicious!

It paired very well with the dry white I used for the risotto too, a Clearsprings Sauvignon Blanc from South Africa. (Half price in Sainsbury's at the moment!)

Celebrity chefs have got some bad press recently following a report on some research on the BBC News website - Ready meals 'healthier' than TV chefs' fare:

"In the study, published in the British Medical Journal, they compared 100 main meals from four TV chefs, who had books at the top of the bestseller charts, to 100 supermarket ready meals. These were then compared to nutritional guidelines set by the World Health Organization.

Red light
On average, meals in the chef's books were less healthy and "more likely to achieve red traffic light labels", the researchers said."

And then the damning traffic lights themselves:


There was a fair amount of butter in this recipe, it is true, but I think this account might be a little harsh on the old celeb chef cook books, even ignoring the very valid comment by the chefs themselves that they feature of mix of "normal" and "special occasion" dishes. There is also a lot more to healthy eating than the "traffic light" system. What about the nutritional value of the food?

It is true that the risotto only had three leeks in four portions but the ratatouille we made at the weekend from the same book was packed full of vegetables. Similarly, Jamie Oliver's English Onion soup recipe from Jamie at Home may have been topped with cheese on toast but was crammed full of onions and leeks.

Not only are these recipes packed full of veg, they're packed through of flavour too! Which brings me to my last point: cooking fresh food and making something tastier than any ready meal has to be better even if it gets the odd red light. Cooking tasty recipes increases confidence and leads to cooking with more fresh fruit and veg. Finally, if there is unhealthy stuff in there, you know because you put it in!

Bang-on birthday brownies

We generally split the cooking in our house but my wife is definitely the baker. She made me a delicious carrot cake for my birthday a couple of years ago, so I thought I should try to return the favour for her birthday, last weekend.

Not being an experienced baker, I went for something simple. Simple but yummy! The answer was in Sainsburys Magazine, with a great Oreo brownie recipe by Lorraine Pascale.

Great for a starter like me, the recipe is really easy. Basically, you melt 175g butter (Kerrygold recommended) over the stove and then stir in 200g of chopped up dark chocolate (I used Tesco Finest Swiss 72% dark). Whilst the chocolate is melting in to the butter, whip up the eggs (3 full plus 2 yolks and some vanilla essence) until fluffy. Mix in the sugar (175g soft light brown) and buttery chocolate, adding it round the edge and folding in to keep the fluffiness.
Next, mix in 2tbsp plain flour, 2tbsp cocoa powder and 1/3 packet broken Oreo cookies before pouring into a greased and lined tin. Finally, press in the remaining Oreo cookies. (If in doubt, err towards a 50:50 split of the cookies for this bit, as I found myself running out of room on top.)

All that's left now is to bake on the middle shelf at 180°C for 20-25 min. It was here that things went a little bit wrong for me. The numbers have rubbed off our oven temperature dial, so it was probably nearer 200°C and after 20 min it was beginning to catch a bit around the edges and particularly the corners. Fortunately, once it had cooled, cutting it open revealed that it was not over-cooked on the inside. In fact, it was really light and fluffy... and delicious!

Of course, it's hard to imagine mixing butter, sugar and chocolate and it not being delicious but I think that this is a particularly good outcome for this combination. The Oreos add a slightly salty, crunchy finish to the sweet, chocolately brownie and look pretty too, particularly where the white cream filling shows.

The only sad thing is that we just ate the last two pieces.

Another River Cottage veg success

Tonight, my lovely wife made another recipe from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's Veg Every Day cookbook. Two recipes, in fact: Coconut Leeks and Carrot, Cashew and Orange Salad. Happily, the recipes for both are available on the Channel 4 website (just click the links) as the series accompanying the book (or is it vice vesra) is currently showing.

Both recipes are delicious and feel very wholesome as well as being very tasty. The coconut leek dish is hearty and, with rice, makes a perfect main dish for dinner. Carrot and cumin is an excellent combination and with the orange too, this is a very fresh and light salad that I am looking forward to having again. (Leftovers for lunch, yay!) With the weather brightening up, the start of BBQ season will be upon us before we know it and this would make an excellent side salad. Bring on the sun!

Oar House (inspired) cod, chorizo and potato one-pot

In December, I made the fantastic discovery that The Oar House website has a delicious-looking selection of recipes. Tonight, I tried one out - or a variant thereof, at least - and, whilst not up to the standard of the restaurant itself (a chef issue, I fancy), it was indeed delicious. Errors on my part not withstanding, it was also pretty easy.

The recipe selected was Haddock, chorizo and new potatoes, which appealed to me both because I love fish, chorizo and potatoes but also because it is done all in one pot! Due to availability when shopping, I made it with line-caught cod rather than haddock and, for matters of taste, switched the dry sherry for dry Martini. (Next time, I might use wine.)

Cooking this was easy but, at the same time, highlighted some of my failings (or "room for improvement") as a chef; one feature of the Oar House recipe is a certain absence of key instructions that an experienced chef would know, such as pan selection (it's called a sauté pan for a reason, duh!) and temperature.

First, fry the chorizo for a couple of minutes in the oil - use a sauté pan (or frying pan with a lid) rather than a saucepan (as I did). Add the spuds and 3 tbsp sherry/martini/wine, put the lid on and cook for 10-15 mins. Stir occasionally to prevent burning. (I was a bit late realising and had to replace a few bits of burnt chorizo. My pan selection also added a few extra minutes before the potatoes were tender.



Once the potatoes are tender, add the tomatoes and parsley and lay the fish on top, add another tbsp sherry/martini/wine then cover and cook for 5 mins. Because of my pan selection, this was not long enough, so I ended up flaking in the fish and giving it a couple of extra minutes to heat properly. (That was ultimate the plan for serving, anyway.)

Despite the hiccups along the way, it was delicious. Perhaps best of all, I am pretty sure that I could do it better next time!

Veg Every Day: Kale & Mushroom Lasagne

Due to various trips and things over the past few weeks - not to mention Christmas - we have not been eating the best of late. When I say "best", what I mean is "healthiest" - the food has been largely delicious, just a little to high in meat, fat, sugar and other yummy things. As a result, one of our newish Year's resolutions is to eat more veg.

To kick-start this endeavour, one of my Christmas presents for my wife was the River Cottage veg every day cookbook. This week, we tried one of the dishes: kale and mushroom lasagne.

The recipe itself is really easy: boil some kale for a few minutes; fry some shrooms with butter, garlic & thyme; make some bechemel sauce (milk, flour, butter, bay leaf, peppercorns, onion); layer up with lasagne sheets (bechemel - lasagne - kale+bechemel - lasagne - shrooms - lasagne - bechemel - Parmesan); cook for 30 minutes. Delicious!


The original recipe was for six but we scaled it down a bit for four and increased the shroom:kale ratio a bit too. I'd also be tempted to try it with spinach some time instead of kale, although the crunch of the kale provided great texture. The leftovers were good too!