Creamy Leek and Chorizo Jacket potatoes

We recently returned from holiday and had only been very briefly been shopping, which involved mostly throwing random ingredients in a tired manner into the trolley and so when faced with cooking after a long day the other evening it was a case of staring into the fridge and hoping something would stick out! By luck the shopping involved ever ready and essential chorizo and we had a lonely leek we brought back from our self-catering jaunt! 

To make this meal even easier, we had by chance eaten jacket potatoes a few nights before, and being semi domesticated I have gotten into the habit of cooking extra jacket potatoes - after all you have the oven on for a good hour or more, so why not take advantage of the oven space? They freeze brilliantly or hang around in the fridge for a good few days, providing a quick, yet nourishing and home cooked treat! Unless desperate I really do not like microwaved jacket potatoes, they don't develop that fluffy, golden inside, yet alone taste vs oven baked loveliness!

The creamy sauce only takes about 20 minutes to prepare and cook so its a doddle for a week night! My boyfriend loved it so much we also ate it again two nights later! Its reddish hue from the smoky and spicy paprika scented sausage adds both colour and a depth of flavour that I don't think many ingredients compare too! The creamy part of the sauce also calms a little of the heat, so me with the silly sensitive stomach can also enjoy a portion of it too!

*I am sure you know how to cook jacket potatoes but just incase you need some guidance, I always stab them with a skewer, roll lightly in oil and a pinch of salt, thread onto the skewer length-ways, place on a heavy foil lined baking tray and bake in a medium-hot oven until cooked. Depends on size really but anywhere from an hour upwards.

Serves 2

Super easy

Ingredients:

2 cooked jacket potatoes*
1 medium leek, cleaned and sliced into 1/2 cm moons
125g spicy chorizo sausage, diced
150g creme fraiche
10 pimenton stuffed olives, roughly chopped
30g grated parmesan
1 tbsp tomato puree
S&P to taste
1/2 tbsp rapeseed oil

-Separately either warm through prepared potatoes or cook from scratch - the sauce takes about 12 minutes tops.-

Heat the oil in a medium saute pan, add the chorizo and leek and fry for about 4 minutes, or until the leek is softening and the chorizo is starting to ooze its glorious oil, make a well and add the tomato puree with a splash of water, stir around until bubbling, add the olives and gently stir everything together and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Stir through the creme fraiche and another splash of water if needed to loosen and simmer gently for a couple of minutes to warm through the creme fraiche.

Remove from the heat and season to taste, along with 1/2 the parmesan.

Spoon the sauce over the prepared potatoes and sprinkle over any remaining parmesan

Enjoy!

Pan Fried Basa with a creamy Courgette and Chorizo Sauce

Over the years after many trials and tribulations I have become far more confident with cooking fish successfully, and this time I won the jackpot! I loved everything about this dish, it was dreamt up and fortunately it was a very good dream! The creamy sauce, with smoky chorizo and fresh chunks of sweet courgette works so well with the Basa, a relatively plain, affordable white fish that's ideal for this dish. It was a dish I would be happy to order and eat in a good restaurant!

I tried to keep the dish relatively simple, we had no cream in and as we car share during the week, and B was not home from work yet, so a little improvisation was on the cards! I wondered to myself if I could substitute with a little milk and it worked a treat! By the time it had cooked, and a little flour to thicken it was a really good consistency, smooth and cream like without being heavy or claggy (not often manage to use that word!! I used both dill and thyme in the dish in different stages, partly down to indecision! I wanted the earthy thyme with the rich chorizo but had some lovely fresh dill leftover from a fish pie I made on saturday - in the end I cooked the thmye at the start with the chorizo and then the dill went in to finish the dish. If you can't get any fresh dill I would suggest just use extra thyme leaves instead.

Another bonus is that its also cooked all in one pan so less to wash up! Alongside the fish I made sweet potato mash - always a winner!! Even more so when it involves my beloved Masha toy! If you hate mashing (or have evil elbow joints!) then its a god-send and takes no effort and is surprisingly therapeutic! I've had mine a few years now and wouldn't be without it! 

Serves 2

Easy

Under 30 minutes

Ingredients:

2 Basa fillets (approx. 260g), halved across the middle

70g chorizo, finely sliced

1 clove garlic, minced

1 large beef tomato, chopped

1 courgette, halved and sliced

2 tbsp plain flour

Sea salt and black pepper

50g butter

1 heaped tbsp. fresh thyme leaves, chopped

1 heaped tbsp. fresh dill leaves, chopped

200ml milk

Sweet Potato Mash:

2 medium sweet potatoes

1 white potato

Salt and pepper

1) Place the flour on a shallow plate and season with salt and pepper, pat the fish dry on kitchen towel and then coat well in the flour mix (don’t discard the flour mix!)

2) Meanwhile boil the potatoes in salted water for 15 minutes, then drain well. 

3) Heat a tsp of the butter in a large saute pan, fry the chorizo and courgettes gently for 3 minutes until starting to colour nicely, add the tomato and fry for a further 2 minutes, add the thyme leaves and stir through, remove everything using a slotted spoon and keep warm.

4) Add the butter to the pan, melt down over a moderate heat, add the fish pieces in a single layer and fry for 3 minutes, turn over and fry for a further 2 minutes until crispening, spooning over the buttery juices, push to one side of the pan and add the prepared chorizo veggie mix, pour in the milk and simmer for a minute, make a well and sparingly scatter 1 tbsp of the flour mix and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring the sauce constantly until thickened. Add the dill and stir through.

5) Drain the potatoes, and mash, season to taste.

6) Serve up the mash on one side of your plate, with the veggie bits on the other side and gently place the fish on top. Scatter over a little sprinkle of dill leaves to garnish.

My dish was quite frugal and so I am sending my dish into this months Credit Crunch Munch - my Basa was bought half price reduced and my thyme leaves can from my 13p reduced plant! The tomatoes and dill were also bought over by dad so were free to me! This month it was run by Food Glorious Food. It was set up by Fab Food 4 All and Fuss Free Flavours to promote frugal recipes and cooking.

Also I snuck in a lonely, slightly soft tomato and cooked the courgettes all together in the sauce to boost veggie content with minimal washing up! I have entered it in Jen's Food Extra Veg Challenge, created by Fuss Free Flavours and Utterly Scrummy Food for Families:

Last but not least my first entry to Cook Blog Share! This week its held by Sneaky Veg ( I love the name!)

Cheesy Chorizo Gnocchi Bake

Have you ever dreamed about what it would be like to immerse yourself within a gooey spicy vat of melty cheese? No, nor me either but after making this bake it honestly doesn't seem like a bad option in the middle of winter and all its snowy grey and drizzle ridden dreariness! I know I will melt come summer and its humid fly filled evenings but I hate being cold, my body hates being cold so it really cannot come around soon enough! Cold is bad unless it involves ice cream and lots of it!

 

As much as my stretchy work trousers are suddenly feeling much more snug than I would like, winter is simply not made for salad and when the evenings are lighter, evening walks will re-commence and hopefully those trousers will become slightly less snug! Sometimes you just need a comforting, warming dish that gives you a well needed hug, and my Cheesy Chorizo Gnocchi Bake gives you a lovely sleep inducing cuddling up on the sofa with your loved one kinda hug.

 

When planning our meals they are a mixture of tried and trusted, random things I snag online or in my overflowing collection of torn out recipes and the rest I imagine ingredients I would like to eat but this dish came to me in a dream. I have only ever baked gnocchi once in a rather nice prawn dish but some reason its not an ingredient I really think of and when I was recently carrying out the reverse dad taxi role, and taking my dad shopping following some surgery I spotted a packet of Gnocchi. Then the image in my dream formed and this dish was born a few nights later! I did once attempt to make my own but its better to just buy them unless you are gnocchi master perhaps.

 

Serves 3-4 with a side

 

Ingredients:

 

125g mozzarella, torn into chunks

500g prepared gnocchi, boiled and drained.

120g spicy chorizo, sliced into thin half moons

400g tin cherry tomatoes

2 heaped tbsp grated cheddar

1 onion, finely chopped

75ml milk

1 garlic clove, crushed

2 sprigs fresh rosemary, finely chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

 

 

Method:

 

In a large sauté pan, heat the oil and gently fry the onion for 3 minutes, or until starting to become translucent, add the garlic and chorizo and fry for a further 3 minutes, or until the chorizo has released its fragrant oils and has lightly browned. Stir through the tomatoes, rosemary and add the milk, gently simmer, covered for ten minutes.

 

Pre-heat oven to 200o

 

Stir the prepared gnocchi into the sauce, being careful not to break the tomatoes, and transfer into a small baking dish - I used my pie dish which is multi versatile! 

 

 

Sprinkle over the grated cheddar, transfer to the oven and bake for 40 minutes or until all lovely, golden and bubbling.

 

 

Serve hot with buttered greens:

 

As delicious as the bake was I would suggest its eaten all in one sitting - we kept some back for lunches...but the gnocchi kinda soak up the sauce and its edible but not quite as good the next day...

Leek and Potato Soup with Chorizo crumbs and Cheese croutons

With the nights drawing in and not only chilly starts but chilly nights too I do declare soup season officially open! I always enjoy making soup, there is something so nourishing and rewarding about it! I must admit I have no real memories of ever really eating leek and potato soup, its certainly the first time I have made it but I had some leeks going spare and I had bought a giant bag of potatoes going cheap and it sort of called out to me to make it!

Whilst the soup was lovely on its own…. do make the tiny extra bit of effort to make the topping too! The cheesy topped croutons are a doddle to make and the sweet smoky spicy chorizo pieces add a nice little extra bite! The soup reheats very well too the following day for lunch! I packed up a little container with the extra croutons and chorizo pieces and got some admiring looks in the works kitchen whilst assembling!

Makes 4 servings

Ingredients:

2 large leeks, trimmed and finely sliced

2 medium white potatoes, diced. I.e. maris piper variety

20g butter

800ml vegetable stock (1 heaped tsp marigold bouillon powder)

300ml milk

70g picante chorizo

2 slices wholemeal bread

2 tbsp finely grated Parmesan

Flavoured olive oil

Halve the chorizo lengthways and then slice each half lengthways again, finely slice so you have nice little thin quarters.

Heat a large deep saucepan and fry the chorizo for a couple of minutes to release the lovely oil but not burning the chorizo, scoop out into a bowl. Add the butter to the saucepan (and remaining chorizo oil), then fry the leeks for 4-5 minutes until softened, stir in the potato chunks and cover, reduce the temperature and gently cook them without browning for 10-15 minutes or until just softening. Add the stock, milk and stir well and re-cover, gently bubble away for 25-30 minutes or until the potatoes are soft.

Meanwhile, remove the crusts from the bread and brush with the oil on both sides, use a sharp knife to slice into little triangles. Keeping the triangles close together grate a thin layer of parmesan over the top, place on a baking tray and cook in a medium hot oven until crispy and lightly golden.

Blend the soup until smooth and serve in bowls, top with a couple of cheesy triangles and sprinkle over a few of the chorizo pieces.

A comfort hug in a bowl.

Spicy Chorizo and Egg Fried Wholegrain Rice

Fried rice in some sort of variation is a staple meal in our household. Fitting easily into a busy lifestyle, its also a great way to use up odds and ends from the fridge too! I really hate wasting anything so it’s a perfect mid-week meal and whilst having spare cooked rice is very handy, it also if not properly chilled and stored can harbour bad things that we really don’t need to eat and whilst it’s a bit of a cheat the Veetee rice trays are a great store cupboard standby! Its quick and easy to make a meal using them and most importantly delicious!

Veetee sent me a box full of goodies (along with some stunning rice bowls that have left me coveting the rest of the range, shown in the last image below!) with the challenge to create a meal using either their Wholegrain or Egg Fried rice trays. Brown rice can be somewhat, earthy and rather too wholesome I find but theirs was surprisingly light and very tasty, stir frying in two minutes meant dinner was on the table in under ten minutes! Very welcome after a late afternoon spent baking all sorts ahead of the weekend to be able to produce something tasty and fuss free!

Now its not often I confess that I have bought ready cooked rice, I find rice so simple to cook anyway its really no bother, plus previous ready versions I have found can be a bit unpleasant texture wise and even worse when they have gone cold. However I was very pleased to discover that the Veetee rice tasted just as good as home cooked rice, exactly as it should be. Its also produced safely and so you can trust that the rice is safe to be re-heated. Cooking for yourself is one thing but when serving to friends and family of all ages you have to be certain of these things! I had heard through friends about Veetee's rice products before how good they were, so it was great to get play with them myself!


Spicy Chorizo and Egg Fried Wholegrain Rice

Serves 2

Quick and Easy

Ingredients:

1 x Veetee Wholegrain rice tray

60g Chorizo, halved lengthways and sliced ¼ cm pieces

2 Spring onions, finely sliced – separate the greener bits into one pile and whitey bits in another pile

½ orange pepper, chopped finely

1 egg

½ green chilli, finely chopped

1 tsp coconut oil

S&P

Beat the egg lightly with a pinch of salt and pepper, stir through half the green sliced onion.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan until melted, add the beaten egg quickly swirling around the pan to form a flat thin omelette. Remove onto a chopping board and roll up tightly.

Meanwhile heat the pan with a little more oil if required and stir fry the chorizo slices, spring onion white parts and pepper for 4-5 minutes or until the chorizo has released its lovely oil and the vegetables are lightly browned and stir through the rice and chilli. Heat through, season to taste and toss together for 2-3 minutes and serve in your pretty bowls or one big pasta plate for your man!

Slice the reserved omelette finely and sprinkle over with any remaining spring onion to garnish.

Mr B's serving bowl!

My pretty serving bowl!

As mentioned at the beginning of my post, fried rice is great for using up leftovers and odd's n ends and this took care of two neglected spring onions, half a pack of abandoned chorizo and the last lonely egg from the fridge and so I am sending it over to Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary No Waste Food challenge, held by Laura over at 'I'd much rather bake Than' this month. (You can see my July round-up here).

As my rice dinner was also super quick to prepare and cook, plus it stretches out a small amount of Chorizo, I am also sending it over to this months Credit Crunch Munch, created by Camilla and Helen, and held by Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary for August.

Many thanks to Gemma and Harriet at Phipps, and to Veetee for my samples.

Disclaimer: The recipe and images remain the property of Anne’s Kitchen and must not be reproduced without written consent. I received no payment and all opinions are my own.

Sausage and Courgette Carbonara

One of my favourite Christmas presents was a pair of perfect porcelain pasta dishes, and my word they have had a lot of use already! Like a supermodel perhaps, these dishes would look good in everything! They are just the right size for two relatively greedy adults and whilst its winter and they are seeing lots of pasta, come summer I can see them being rather perfect for some nice salads too! I have decided I have had enough now of this winter and my body is craving some sunshine! 

This Carbonara was not only rather delicious but it was a also quite frugal and super easy dish to make to! Most of the time I do meal planning but with going away for Christmas and New Year’s half of December was a case of anything goes, and I cooked extra bits to up cycle into newer dishes – in this case the sausages were leftover from a sausage dish the night before, and also used leftover garlicky fried courgettes which are a regular make in my kitchen! Its a great way of stretching out a small quantity of good sausages too!

Its close to it but not a traditional carbonara, we had no cream but its fairly close and I am not one for tradition, I like to break the rules when it comes to cooking!

Ready in 10 minutes
Serves 2

Ingredients:

150g egg Pasta Fettuccine

2 good quality pork sausages, cooked and sliced thinly

2 eggs

4 heaped tbsp Parmesan finely grated

1 courgette, halved length ways and sliced into 1/2cm moons

1 tsp minced garlic

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp olive oil

S&p

Start by making the courgettes. Heat a frying pan with the olive oil, fry the courgette slices for about 8 minutes, add the garlic and fry for a further minute, stirring regularly. Either cool for use or cook with sausages.

1) In a bowl beat the eggs, parmesan, salt and pepper to taste and the cooled courgettes.

2) Heat a large saute pan, gently fry the sausage to warm through - add the cooked courgettes. Meanwhile boil the pasta as per packet instructions. 

3) When the pasta is cooked through, drain quickly, add the sausage and courgettes, then the egg mixture and mix well, allow to stand for a minute with the lid on.

4) Serve on your favourite plate and garnish with a little extra parmesan and drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

I am sending my dish over to Pasta Please, created by Tinned Tomatoes and  held by The Spicy Pear for January who's theme is garlic:

Also as its a perfect warming winter cheesy bowl of goodness its going to Cheese, Please! Over at Fromage Homage

As my dish used up both leftover cooked sausages and courgettes, I have also entered it over at Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary No Waste Food Challenge

Fennel Salami and Kale Lasagne

Possibly the finest Lasagne I have ever made or eaten. Even if you think hmm Fennel, ain't that liquorice? Then please don't leave me so soon - it has a slight aniseed taste and I promise its not a new variety of allsorts!! 

Okay so I admit its not beef, pork or veal based as such but I did use lasagne sheets and a sort of bechamel so I am stealing the name Lasagne for this beautiful creation! I used the translated name of fennel salami for those not fluent with Italian but its natural form is better known as Finnocchiona Negroni Salami, which no I can't pronounce it too good either. Even less after a glass of wine!

This delightful dish came about as sometimes I agree to being sent items to try, some turn are good, some turn out bad and some indifferent, and some that make you look at things in a whole new light! And with open arms I welcomed two rather large bags of Kale to experiment with! 

Initially I wondered what the hell to do with it, and more importantly would it taste nice. Well it does, I was so wrong. I had tried it I think boiled a few years back and was very unimpressed and never bothered again.... and I missed out on all the good times we could have shared! It turns out that boiled, yep ain't my thang but given some kitchen magic and voila! A star is born. Maybe I should make the Christmas tree from Kale this year?

The salami idea came about as I had popped into the local deli to get some awesome pasta for a friend that morning, which I had previously discovered (will blog soon!) and whilst waiting to pay I was admiring all the meats and cheeses and the idea of having something meaty with the iron rich Kale seemed like a great idea, and with my bad pronunciation I acquired 6 slices, though only needed 4 in the end , which was fortunate as I was er, testing it out...the mozzarella seemed like a good idea too so quickly grabbed that too! 

Anyway back to my new creation - I was forcing persuading B to help in the kitchen more, as he isn't very confident and whilst we didn't really weigh anything, I was trying to explain that the whole weighing things isn't essential - what's more important is to picture your finished dish and then work out by eye how much filling you will need. Obviously there are pesky things like spinach, and er Kale that like to reduce down rather well but they are just a nice little red herring to break the rules!

I'm not sure how much I succeeded in persuading him cooking can be fun but as I always tell newbies - don't be scared - nothing will bite unless you happen to have a lobster on the prowl behind the kitchen door! Have some fun, you never know - you could make something beautiful!

 Serves 2-4 depending on greed. If we had some nice leaves I.e. rocket could do 4 at the most.

Ingredients

85g kale, tough bits removed and roughly shredded by hand

1 ball mozzarella thinly sliced

2 garlic cloves finely chopped

150g finnocchiona Negroni Salami, sliced into 2 cm pieces

4 good quality lasagne sheets 

2tbsp cherry tomato puree

2 tbsp grated mature Cheddar

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp grated parmesan

½ red chilli finely chopped

½ red pepper, sliced

10 baby plum tomatoes

1 large red onion. Halved and sliced thinly

1 tbsp pine nuts

S&p

White sauce

½ pint milk

appx 2 heaped tbsp butter

2 heaped tbsp flour

¼ pint spinach water

2 tbsp grated parmesan

s&p

Cover the lasagne sheets in boiling water. 

You will need a square dish that fits 2 sheets of the lasagne.

1) Boil the kale in a inch of salted boiling water for 3 minutes, reserve all the liquid in a jug.

2) Fry the onion until lightly browned, stir in the peppers and half of the tomatoes and fry for a further 3 minutes or so till they have a little colour and starting to soften. Stir in the garlic and chilli for a further minute.

3) Stir in the tomato puree and add a splash of the kale water to loosen if needed. Add the salami and cook for a further minute until it starts to brown

4) Stir in the kale and a couple of tablespoons of water to make a slightly sloppy sauce, cover and keep warm.

5) Heat the butter in a saucepan, and stir in the flour and whisk like mad to form a paste (roux), after a minute or so slowly stir in the spinach water, a little at a time whisking continuously as we don't want lumps! Then add the milk until you have a nice smooth sauce, simmer for a couple of minutes to cook the flour through, stirring all the time. Remove from the heat, season and stir in the parmesan. 

Pre-heat oven to 190o

6) Now its time to layer up! For the bottom layer, spoon over half of the kale/ salami mix, top with 2 lasagne sheets, spoon over half the bechamel sauce, and scatter over half the mozzarella slices and a little of the grated cheddar, repeat again to form the next and final layer. Place the tomatoes on top, then the pine nuts, parmesan and remaining cheddar.

7) Bake for around 45 minutes or until golden and bubbling, and piping hot. Poke with a knife to check the pasta is cooked through. (see my giant doughballs in the background!)

8) Serve and eat! We had the doughballs but as I mentionned earlier a nice crisp green salad would be good too.

The flavours were simply amazing, I dreamt about this! Meaty..a little spicy..silky comforting pasta..cheese..you can't go wrong! It ticked all of our boxes! 

Frugal Sausage and Bean Casserole

On Sunday night, after an early start for work and then a few hours on the sofa relaxing when I got back I wanted to make something nice and warming for dinner but fairly easy at the same time.. B was helping fiddle about with the neighbour's car and definitely needed something to thaw him out it was so cold I honestly don't know how he didn't ice up but he was happy getting greasy with oil so that's the main thing! 

I like to pride myself regularly on making delicious meals but without an equally delicious price tag! Yes I love the odd treat like smoked salmon or fine champagne but its only doable on a lower income if you make cutbacks else where. I don’t like cutting back ever on taste though and it has to be enjoyable, if not why bother eating? 

I roughly costed the whole dish, considering I made three healthy portions at about 63p in total. Yes that is in pence! My secret? Always check the frozen and fresh reduced sections at your supermarket! The sausages were Butchers Selection Pork and Herb, I picked up 12 for £1 reduced to clear. The 3 Bean casserole pack was 10p, and got stashed in the freezer without ill effects! The stock pots I have a seemingly lifetime supply of from doing some bits with Knorr over the past few years. The vegetable puree is 'Taste the Difference' branded but I got two tubes for a pound, so works out pennies per squirt, and the handful of pasta shapes despite being utterly cute Alphabet shaped from an Italian deli for the small amount I used also doesn't amount to much. and that was it apart from good old friends Mr Salt and Mr Pepper!

Ingredients:

4 frozen pork and herb sausages

One bag 3 bean casserole mix

1 knorr herb stock pot

1 large squirt roasted vegetable and tomato puree

Handful small pasta shapes

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1) In a large lidded saute pan heat the oil and fry the sausages until nicely browned all over, add the veg pack and fry for a further five minutes. Meanwhile boil the kettle.

2) Add the stock pot to the pan along with the tomato puree, mix well and cover with boiling water Simmer for 20 minutes, covered.

3) The sausages should by now be cooked through and soft enough to cut, either use your spatula to cut into small pieces or remove and slice seperately, then return to the pan along with a nice sprinkle of pasta over. Top up with boiling water and simmer until the pasta has cooked through and there is your desired amount of liquid - great for mopping with bread after!

Sausages are great for dicing up into dishes like mine, stretching out cheaper ingredients at the same time as well as providing a tasty bit of protein too!

------------------------

I am sending my bargain Sausage Casserole over to Credit Crunch Munch for November, over at Dinner With Crayons, which was created by Fuss Free Flavours and Fab Food 4 All

Peashoot, Bacon and Ricotta Penne

As much as I have learned to now love cooking just for myself, I really do prefer to share my food. And even more so if I have little helpers to assist! There is something about sharing that ignites my inner 'feeder' setting, no one ever leaves hungry!

My eldest niece A is also a little culinary gem of the future and eats far more ‘weird stuff’ than I did at her age and makes a great sous chef in the kitchen! I hope to bring you lots more of recipes me make together, however we are both rather greedy and have often forgotten to take pictures!

We made this great, speedy and surprisingly frugal pasta dish a few months back but I just hadn't gotten around to posting it …. Its full of bold flavours and was thoroughly tasty!

Serves two:

Ingredients

125g ricotta
Cooking Bacon trim - a rough handful
100g bag peashoots
2 heaped tbsp Purple basil
Black pepper
200g penne pasta

1) Boil pasta as per packet instructions

2) Meanwhile, when the pasta is almost cooked through, fry the bacon in its own fat until browned, turn off the heat. Drain the pasta, reserving about half a cupful.

3) Gently stir in ricotta to the bacon pan along with a little of the reserved cooking water to loosen slightly, add to the pasta, wilt in the peashoots and basil, season with black pepper and garnish with a few more leaves.

                            

Whilst it has sadly died off now, the purple basil was a delight to grow and made an interesting sight on the kitchen windowsill! When warmth beckons again upon the windowsill I hopefully will be able to seed some more!

Budgets are definitely tightening for a lot, I know mine has been both ends of the spectrum over the past few years, what with redundancies, moving and illness and as a result I have managed to become very thrifty in the kitchen - and this dish whilst including the luxury item of peashoots, everything else was  already to hand. 

The Bacon was a real economical purchase – I picked up Sainsbury’s cooking bacon for the first time  - heck it was getting chopped up anyway who cares if its pretty rashers - it was a huge packet for 99p and I froze four separate portions, which contained about 6 chunky rashers and various, meaty, not too fatty/rindy offcuts that I had expected! I costed this dish as being approximately £2.10 to serve two, a winner I think for something so fresh and tasty! The ricotta was also leftover from cheesecake so was a great use up of it too!

This is also being sent over to Helen's Credit Crunch Munch event:

Sausage and Sweet Potato Stew

One thing I frequently do is go shopping with a list, then change my mind or spot something on offer that I just can’t resist – on this occasion it was a bag of sweet potatoes for something silly like 65p – how could I say no! Over the following days amongst other recipes I had it cut into wedges and roasted, mashed up with mango chutney (from a Jamie recipe) and also this rather delicious, warming Sausage and sweet potato stew. Like most of my recipes I made it up as I cooked, and it was delicious. It tastes like a barbecue style of sauce and great for a chilly night!

A great little cheat item I discovered last year was Knorr’s herb infusion pots – if like me you have limited space for growing herbs, they make a great little shortcut, adding lots of flavour and minimal effort! I even accidentally added one to a curry I made the other week after getting the coloured lids confused, fortunately it was still as delicious!

This an easy to prepare and make dinner for one, two or more – I froze a spare portion as like to have my own ‘ready meals’ for days when time or energy are in short supply!

Ingredients:

2 smallish sweet potatoes, peeled and diced into 1cm cubes
500ml passatta/ sieved tomatoes
1 tsp English mustard
1 tsp smoked paprika
8 sausages
Knorr Herb infusion pot
S&P
1 courgette, diced into 1cm chunks
½ red pepper, sliced
1 onion
Spray oil

1) Fry the onion and sausages for 10 minutes, until browned and the onions are soft and golden, adding more oil as necessary.

2) Stir in the sweet potato cubes, courgette and peppers, fry over a moderate heat for five minutes until just softening.

3) Stir through the stock pot and passatta, mustard and smoked paprika, cover and simmer over a gentle bubbling heat for about 15 minutes, add a splash of water if it looks a little dry. Test the potato using a sharp knife - if it pierces easily then its time to eat!

Serve with some nice carbs, I used groats and my home made chilli cheese bread but rice or mash would be equally good here. When I reheated one of the portions I grated over a cloud of grana padano, which was a delicious addition!

Best of British Sausage and Apple Tart and Stuffing Meatballs

Following on to some of my earlier posts, I am now excited to bring you a couple of Christmas inspired recipes made using some lovely festive ingredients sent to me by Forman and Field’s, on behalf of knorr.   

Sometime back in November I was very lucky to receive a whole hamper full of goodies including everything to make a big Christmas dinner, including a giant Kelly Bronze Turkey, carrots, parsnips, chestnuts and more! With the various goodies I made a variety of dishes including this winter warming Turkey and Barley stew (which was so good I am making it again tomorrow for dinner!) 

One of the ingredients in my hamper was a container of 'Cranberry, walnut & smoked bacon stuffing'. Therein came my first challenge!

Hmm what to do with stuffing, other than well basically putting it up mr turkeys bottom? Whilst the  stuffing was good, it was also very different to others I've had. In fact it was a more like a very coarsely minced meat mixture, compared to the rather smooth sausagemeat I normally buy from the butchers. It was also nothing like the paxo type. Before playing with it, I decided to quickly cook a weeny bit of it to test the flavouring. However I then also burnt my tongue in the process which once again taught me the hard way to have some patience and let things cool first! It needed a little more seasoning but provided a good base, with lots of texture.

I decided some kind of tart was in order and decided to play around with the pastry and came with this rather cute looking gb flag:

As I had best of british ingredients, so I thought a Union Jack flag was quite fitting! However I am so used to cooking previously for two, the results were rather large but it did result in me having a lunch that had admirers the next day at work! I am very lucky working with people from all over the world; we have some very interesting food chats and smells in our staffroom! 

Best of British Sausage and Apple Tart

Makes two large tarts - serves 4

Easy

300g good quality sausagemeat stuffing

300g fresh puff pastry (roughly 2/3 of a block)

1 cox apple, thinly sliced

1 tsp English mustard powder, made up with 1 tsp water

Beaten egg to glaze (or egg spray)

Pre-heat oven to 180 fan/ 200 regular

Roll out the puff pastry until its the thickness of a pound coin, cut into half lengthways. Then cut a 4cm strip off each rectangle. Cut this bit into four thin strips lenghthways

Score a line about 1cm from the edge of each big rectangle, then fill this gap with the stuffing, to form a thin layer. Covered with the apple slices, and glaze with mustard mixture. 

Now take two of the reserved strips and carefully stretch them and place over the two longest areas of your flag, lightly egg glaze the overlapping parts to stick. Use the two shorter strips to complete the flag. Glaze all over with the beaten and, place on a lined baking tray. Repeat for the other block of pastry to give you two tarts, then bake for 40 minutes or until its cooked through. 

When cooked through, cut into half and serve with seasonal vegetables - I went with my favourite Brussels sprouts:

Whilst the recipe was very successful, I think next time will make four smaller flags as you lose some of the flag effect by cutting in half.

Enjoy!

Stuffing Meatballs:

Whilst with the remaining stuffing, I made a tray of little meatballs. These would be ideal as a canapé as part of a festive buffet, however I must point out that they also do very well as an emergency breakfast when you’ve slept through your alarm and grabbed the first thing that looks edible from the fridge!

I made them by mixing 200g of the stuffing, with a couple of tbsp of apple sauce (shh from a jar!), rolled it into small walnut sized balls, rolled them in fairly coarse dried breadcrumbs and then baked them for around 25 minutes.

 They had both a good meaty flavour and texture, a dish I will definitely make again.

Winter Barbecue Sauce with Sausage Bites - Video Recipe!

Dearest friends, family and visitors to my blog – please be kind to me – for I am finally...cooking on film! Its possibly the most scariest thing I've done since agreeing to go para-sailing in Mexico a few years back but it was a lot of fun to do!

You can watch me here on Youtube or directly through Facebook

Over the next four weeks, I will be road testing four fabulous Russell Hobbs kitchen gadgets from their new Allure range and I have created some tasty recipes for you!

First up is my very special Winter Barbecue Sauce:

Which was made using this little beast - the Mini Ball Chopper:

The sausage bites are optional – the sauce tastes great so pair it with whatever meats or vegetables you fancy! The sauce has a perfect balance of spice, sweet and sour and is perfect for warming up a cold winters night!

The sauce takes 30 minutes to make, I oven baked some delicious ‘Jimmy’s Farm’ free range pork sausages, then cut them into bitesize chunks and speared with cocktail sticks. Great for serving up at parties!

Makes one large bowl of dipping sauce

1 medium red pepper, roughly diced
1 medium yellow pepper, roughly diced
1 red onion, diced
1 dsp of flora cuisine or olive oil
4 dates
1 bramley apple
Approx 2 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped, plus extra to garnish
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
160ml water

Sugar and Spice mix:
3 tbsp Natural dark Muscovado unrefined cane sugar
2 tsp smoked paprika
Scant tsp colmans English mustard powder
½ tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp garlic puree

Method:

Step one:

Firstly, place the dates in freshly boiled water and leave to soak.

Heat the pan over a moderate flame, add the oil, heat through and add the onions, stir then cover with a lid. After 5 minutes add the chopped up peppers, stirring occasionally and keep covered. You want them to gently cook, not burn or brown too much, add a little more oil if needed.

Step two

Peel, core and dice the apple. Remove the dates from their bath, stone and roughly chop then add them along with the apples to the pan, stir and re-cover, gently simmer.

Step three

After a further five or so minutes, the apple should be softening, stir in the vinegar, stir well and allow to evaporate, stir in the sugar and spice mixture, cover and simmer for a further minute

Step four

Add the water slowly to the mixture, stir gently, re-cover the pan and bring gently to the boil and simmer for a further 2-3 minutes,stirring occasionally then remove from the heat

Step Five

Transfer the mixture into the mini ball chopper, blitz in a couple of bursts to lightly blend the sauce - you don't want to puree it. Then simply serve in a pretty bowl garnished with a few extra thyme leaves!

The sauce can be frozen without any loss in quality, and thawed quickly in the microwave for emergency dipping!

Pork Loins with a Red onion and Date sauce

Dates always remind me of Christmas (Is it too early to mention the C word?) as I remember my mum buying packets of Eat-me' ones in the market and they seemed to hang around for ages! Though as I got older I developed a real taste for them, and to me they are now like eating sweets.

I’d never really thought about using dates in savoury cooking before but when planning what to cook for dinner for when my brother came over the other night; post visiting the market and coming away with 3 packets of dates for a bargain price of one pound, this idea came to me, and I kind of winged it from there!

I didn’t really measure anything (no surprise there!) but have tried to remember what quantities I added. Will update if I think of anything else! 

Makes enough for two portions

Ready in 15 minutes

3 pork loin steaks  - I’m a girl and had one, two for my brother!

½ red onion, sliced thinly

6 dates, soaked in hot water for 15 minutes

Fresh mint to garnish

100ml or so of light vegetable stock (I always use marigold bouillon)

1 heaped tsp cornflour, made up with a tbsp of water

Spray oil

Fry the onion until softened over a moderate heat, push to the side of the pan and add the pork steaks and use a small plate or similar to weigh down, fry for about 4-5 minutes on each side, until cooked through and nicely coloured, re-distribute the onions, stir in the dates, and stock, bring to the boil and simmer for a couple of minutes, stir in the cornflour mixture, allow to bubble up stirring continuously until the sauce has thickened, and serve.

The pork would be lovely served with rice, but I was experimenting with some spare ingredients so ended up with minted aubergine slices, and a packet of new potatoes in garlic butter!

Overall it was a very tasty, quick and simple dish and I will be definitely using dates again in cooking, rather than sitting and eating them all straight from the packet! 

Pork Korma with Potatoes and Spinach

There is something I need to say first about this recipe. Its not Korma as you know it. I generally avoid any of the heavy, cream laden Indian recipes, and so Korma’s as a result have never really appealed to me. In fact my stomach recoils in horror to be honest at the thought of actually eating one! However, this recipe is a real exception as I completely love it! Out goes the cream, in comes yoghurt, ground almonds and pork mince!

A few months back I was given for my birthday a voucher for WH Smith’s and spent a good hour happily perusing their cookery section, and finally settled on a copy of Readers Digest Healthy One Dish Cooking much to the relief of my poor family members waiting patiently... 

Now the one thing I must mention about the book is that the title for me was a little misleading, I used at least four dishes whilst making this recipe, however it does all end up in one dish so technically is correct…!

Quite often after getting a new cookery book, and lots of reading through, despite the original appeal it ends up being neglected but I made this curry within days of buying the book, and I've cooked it again several times since! Infact I am getting impatient to make it again, will have to squeeze it into my meal planner somewhere! 

I love the mildness of the dish, the gentle aromatic flavour from the mild spicing, and more importantly how you can have seconds without feeling too guilty! It also reheats very well the next day, as it allows the flavours to mingle nicely together. The third time around I added a little ground turmeric for colour and I think its definitely worth adding some!

The yoghurt/ cornflour/ almond stage of the recipe felt a bit wrong when making and I was rather worried the first time around but please bear with it, as it will honestly be so good!

The book actually contains lots of very tasty looking recipes, all low in fat etc but still remaining highly appealing! Definitely worth a flick through and I am planning to cook a lot more from it.

Serves 4, generously

2 large onions. sliced

450g lean Pork mince

300ml low fat natural yoghurt

75g Ground almonds

600ml hot Chicken stock

25g toasted flaked almonds

750g small new potatoes, havled

250g young leaf Spinach (I thawed frozen spinach, more economical!)

2 crushed garlic cloves

2 tsp cornflour

1 tbsp Cumin seeds

8 green Cardamoms, crushed and pods discarded (I.e. keep the seeds!) 

1 tbsp vegetable oil

1 tsp ground turmeric - optional

1) Heat the oil in a large saute pan or casserole and cook the onions over a medium heat for around 10 minutes or until softened and lightly browned, transfer to a bowl for later

2) Using the same pan, add the pork, garlic, cardamom and cumin seeds, cook for 5 minutes, stirring often to break up the mince. 

3) Return half of the reserved onions to the pan, the turmeric if using, the stock and cover, bring to the boil and then reduce to a gentle simmer for 15 minutes

4) Add the potatoes and bring back to a simmering point, then re-cover and cook until the potatoes are tender, around 20 minutes.

5) Blend the cornflour to a paste with 6 tbsp of the yoghurt and the ground almonds. Stir into the curry and bring gently to the boil, stirring, simmer for a further minute to thicken slightly. Season to taste

6) Add the spinach leaves, reserving a few smaller ones for garnishing. *if using frozen, add at the end of stage five and cook for around 3 minutes to heat through*

7) Mix the remaining onions with the toasted almonds, serve the curry garnished with this and the reserved spinach leaves.

Serve immediately, you probably won't want to eat much more with it as its pretty filling but I have served up naan's and also I've made chickpea flatbreads, which were good for dunking!

*According to the book its 552 cals and includes 2 of your 5 a day :)