Beige Food Isn't Always Awful - Cauliflower & Parmesan Soup

Everyone loves a comedy tea cup right?

Yes, yes, it's November and it's getting chilly and oh how lovely is all that kale in the shops, and isn't slow cooking amazing blah blah blah. Anyone with the slightest interest in food and cooking knows this, yet every year it's rammed down our throats with almost as much enthusiasm as January diets. It's true though, we do need something to warm us up, a fresh zingy salad just isn't what we need or want, and though a big fat stew might be a bit much for lunch, soup provides us with endless opportunities to eat cheaply, use up bits from the fridge, saving room for 6 hour ox cheek for dinner. Don't get stuck in a soup rut though; so many times I dismiss soup as being mundane (although I when I was a child it was the only thing I'd order in a restaurant) but then I give it a go and don't regret it. Branch out and try something new, leek and potato is great and all that but 'meh'. 

Feeds 2 with a bit leftover for another day, so 3 really. In a large saucepan gently fry a chopped onion in a generous knob of butter until completely soft. Add a chopped clove of garlic and a head of cauliflower broken into little florets. Give it a good stir to slick it with the melted butter and add approximately one litre of chicken stock (just add some water if you don't have enough). Pop the lid on, bring to the boil and let it simmer for about 7 minutes, until the cauliflower is of school dinner worthy texture. Season very generously, it will take a lot of salt, and grate in some nutmeg*, maybe half a reaspoon, again, you can be quite generous. Once cooled a little, blitz with a stick blender until mostly smooth (I have no problem with a lump or two, but you might), stir in a good handful of grated Parmesan and check for seasoning. Pour into bowls or over-sized mugs and add some garlicky croutons, or go all out and make mini cheese on toasts to float on top. Do sprinkle with extra Parmesan though. 

It might not knock your socks off but it will make you feel good and sometimes that is more important. 

*Whatever you do make sure you grate the nutmeg fresh, don't buy powdered stuff. Nutmeg lasts for ages and the fresh stuff is sooo potent and lovely. And you need it for rum punch. Oh is it not normal for rum punch to be a staple requirement?

Fish Stew with Absinthe

Gently does it...

It sounds hardcore but it's not really. You only use a little slurp of green crazy juice, and to be perfectly honest I only used it because I was out of Pernod (isn't everyone, apart from my Dad?!). I was planning on making this lovely fish stew from my trusty Casa Moro book, but I then discovered my epic fail of an Ocado shop had left me lacking a few bits and bobs, so I changed it quite a bit to suit what I had and it was bloody lovely. This is a light supper (N.B. the Boyfriend wailed with hunger an hour after eating it and had to resort to a mug of Bovril and bread, but it suited me fine). Take your time cooking this, and the simple flavours will all hold hands and create something magical.

Feeds 2. Steep a pinch of saffron in an eggcup of boiling water. Finely chop a small onion and cook gently in olive oil, with a pinch of salt, in a medium saucepan for a good 10 minutes, until gently caramelised. Now add a finely shopped bulb of fennell (save any fronds) and two sliced cloves of garlic and cook for a further 10 minutes. Add a slurp of Absinthe or Pernod and let it bubble for a couple of minutes to get rid of the alcohol. There, see, not so scary now. In a pestle and mortar roughly grind a handful of blanched,

The green fairy

toasted almonds and add to the pan. Add a good litre of hot water and peeled, diced potatoes (I used one big Maris Piper), the saffron water, lots of seasoning, bring to the boil, and simmer gently, lid off, until the potatoes are just under-cooked. Now for the fish. You can use whatever you like, any little clams, mussels, white fish, squid, anything. I used 150g diced cod and a big handful of raw tiger prawns. Give a gentle stir and simmer for a further two minutes with the lid on. Taste for seasoning, add more if you need it (I found it needed lots of salt), squeeze in the juice of half a lemon and serve in bowls with the chopped fennel fronds on top (use parsley if you don't have enough). Add a final flourish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil. Some bread is useful to mop up the juices.

This stew really does have the most beautiful delicate fragrance and I'm glad I resisted the urge to go mental on the flavours. Hold back, and you will be rewarded with the most gentle taste sensation. Which, in my case was ruined by the Boyfriend's holler of 'What??? There's no more???' and a request that I make rice pudding  immediately to fill him up.

Daube Provencal, snow food at its best

Check out the fancy pasta!

If there was ever a time to use food as a hot water bottle, it is NOW people! We need to be warmed from the inside out and this recipe for beef daube provencal really hits the spot. There are many different versions of this very classic French dish but this is mine and it works nicely. Perfect for entertaining as the hard work (not even mildly strenuous actually) is done the night before.

Feeds 4. Take a kilo of beef braising steak, and if not done already, cut into smallish chunks. Put in a big bowl. Add to the bowl the following ingredients in no particular order: a bouquet garni of parsley, bay and thyme, two onions, finely chopped,  three cloves chopped garlic, one hot crushed dried chili, two celery stalks finely chopped, a couple pared slices of orange zest, half a bottle of red wine, a decent glug of brandy, salt and pepper, one large finely chopped carrot and mix well. Stick in the fridge overnight. When you are ready to cook pre-heat the oven to 160c. Carefully remove the beef from its marinade and pat dry on kitchen roll. Take a big casserole and brown the meat well in some olive oil. Remove and put to the side. In the same pan fry a decent handful of diced smoked bacon or pancetta and when crispy and coloured, scoop out all the veg from the marinade bowl, add to the pan and cook for 10 minutes until softened. Add the meat back, along with the rest of the marinade and a tin of chopped tomatoes. Mix well, bring to the boil and place covered, in the oven. Cook for at least three hours but keep checking that it hasn't dried out, add more wine or some water if it does. When finished the beef should have really broken up, not in chunks anymore, more an appetising meaty mush, that tastes mush nicer than anything called mush. When you dish up, remove the herbs and orange zest. It's great with mash but I think it works best with some nice fat fettuccine, or even better, exciting fancy multi-coloured pasta I got for Christmas from my Auntie!

The French might be furious that I eat this with pasta but who cares, it tastes divine. The orange is subtle but sets it apart from a normal ragu. You can jazz it up with a gremolata of chopped parsley, raw garlic and a little lemon zest, but you might not notice the lovely soft flavours so much. Either way it will warm your bones.

Harira - Warming food for erm, July

Proper Summer food...(English summer)

Well last week was glorious and full of sunshine and barbies, but as I watch the men's beach volleyball in the rain (from the safety of my dry sofa) it's time for a reality check, and something hot and lovely for supper. Officially a soup from Morocco, harira is a divine slow cooked one pot wonder that is big on flavour, meat and pulsey goodness. It's cheap, using the thriftiest of cuts of lamb and bulked out with chickpeas and lentils, making it rather good for you (watch out for a bit of bum trumpet action later though). Make it in bulk so you have something gorgeous to call on from the freezer as you trudge home from work in the rain. In July. Again. This dish almost has me hoping for miserable weather as it's just that good. Thank you Moro cookbook, once again.

Soft and melty meat

You will need approx 350g lamb, use neck (fillet chopped up into large chunks or use neck chops) or shank. Put the meat into a large saucepan, cover with water, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Skim off the manky scum which appears. Throw in a finely chopped onion, 3 finely chopped celery sticks, a pinch of saffron, 1/2 a tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp turmeric and 1tsp ground ginger, a large bunch of coriander, chopped and 5 grates of fresh nutmeg. Give it a good season and simmer for 30 minutes. Now add 100g small green lentils and 120g cooked chickpeas (you can add more if you want to stretch the soup out a bit) and simmer for another 30 minutes. Remove the meat and shred it up, removing any nasty membrane/fat and taking everything of off the bones, if there are any. Return the meat to the pan with a decent squirt of tomato puree. Mix 3 tbsp flour with 50g water and add that along with the juice of a lemon (this gives the harira a wonderful tang). Taste for seasoning, it can take a fair bit of salt, and keep cooking until the lentils are really soft. Melt in a few knobs of butter, scatter over another bunch of chopped coriander and serve with a wedge of lemon. 

Dig in, eat way too much and laugh at The Boyfriend, who now can't move as he thought he needed cous cous with it. You don't.

Curry goat, definitely NOT goat curry

I'm not sure how many people squeal with delight when they see their on line meat people have started supplying goat, but I was definitely one of them. Because it meant I could cook curry goat. Exciting times. You can use lamb or mutton but it won't be the same, still nice though. You've got to love Caribbean flavours, scotch bonnet heat, but also immense fragrance from cinnamon, cardamon, cloves and tang from tomatoes and the all important HP sauce (authentic according to Hugh F-W who I know isn't exactly Mr Reggae Reggae sauce but I threw it in anyway (this is based on his recipe). You need time and love to make this, time to let it marinade for 24 hours (you are allowed to peek at the pretty bowl of explosive flavour every now and again but do let it marinade properly). You need love to grind the spices, time consuming but oh so worth it. This is worth doing in large batches, not really extra work and like all curries it's great re-heated. You end up making more spice mix than needed but keep and use another time, would be an awesome rub for the barbie.

Good things come to those who wait

Feeds 5-6. Before you get meaty, make the Jamaican curry blend by dry roasting 12 cardamon pods, 1tbsp coriander seeds, 1tbsp black peppercorns, 1tbsp fenugreek seeds and a cinnamon stick, then pulverise in a pestle and mortar or spice grinder (that's the hard bit). Mix with 1tbsp each of ground ginger and turmeric. 

Cut 2kg goat into big chunks, bone allowing, and remove any big fatty bits (goat is reaaaally fatty). Take a big bowl, put in 2 big tbsp of the spice mix, 3 large chopped tomatoes, 3 chopped garlic cloves, 2 chopped onions and 1 or 2 scotch bonnet chillies, a tablespoon of thyme leaves, a big squirt of HP sauce and the chopped stalks of a biggish bunch of coriander (save leaves for later). Mix well and combine with the goat. Really rub it in to the meat, using gloves, if like me, you wear contact lenses, as it ain't fun when you come to take them out...Leave to marinade in the fridge, ideally overnight but at least 6 hours.

Time to cook. Brown the meat in a big casserole, in batches, knocking off extra marinade bits.Set aside. Now throw in the remaining chopped onion and tomato left over in the bowl and cook for a bit until softened. The smell should be making you behave very oddly by now. Add the meat, juices, a pinch of salt and enough water to cover the meat. Bring to the boil and then put in the oven, at 130c (you can cook gently on the hob if you like). Give it 2.5 to 3 hours. Serve with plain rice (I love rice and peas but I would find it a bit rich with this) and sprinkle with lots of coriander.

Throw the bones in a bowl in the middle of the table as you go, with a carnivorous flourish and marvel at how melty and full of flavour  Billy Goat Gruff can be.

Beef Shin with Ginger & Soy

Every now and again I get one of those recipe chain email thingys asking me to cut and paste the instructions and then send a recipe to the person at the top and then forward to 20 friends. 20?! I definitely have 20 friends but not 20 who would oblige with the email, thus dooming me to a life of bad luck and bad food or something. Anyway, I got one the other day and probably forwarded to about 10 friends with no faith that I'd get anything back, but I did. It seems my sister's friends are all very good at this kind of thing, and I got this awesome recipe from my sister's friend Daisy. It was good for two reasons, one is it involved slow cooked beef shin, and the other was that it required lots of ginger (I still have some in the fridge from my Dad's Saturday market ginger binge, he gave me an actual bag full). I changed her recipe slightly, not to improve it but to suit me and the fridge contents and it was divine. Thanks weird email chain.

Feeds 4-6. Pre-heat the oven to 130c. Take approx 1.5kg beef shin chopped into large chunks (this is off the bone, if on the bone allow for extra weight), season, then in some hot groundnut oil, brown in a big casserole, do this in batches if needed. Set the meat aside and now gently fry 6 chopped cloves of garlic and 2 thumb sized bits of ginger, chopped, adding more oil if you need to. Stir about until softened but don't burn the garlic. Add 3tbsp of tart fruit jam or jelly such as redcurrant, plum or crab apple and 150ml soy sauce. Return the meat to the pan and add enough apple juice (I used dry cider) to just cover the meat. Add 2 tbsp cider vinegar and a couple of hot red chillies, chopped up, or whole. Stir well, cover and cook in the oven for 2 1/2 to 3 hours, until the meat is really soft. This is so delicious served up simple on some steamed rice, with a healthy serving of wilted greens on the side.

What on earth am I going to do with the rest of this bloody ginger??!!

Friday Night Rabbit Rave

Run rabbit, run rabbit, run run run...

Having made arrangements to hook up with my friend Sophie in the nearest watering hole to both our offices on Friday night, I was forced to change plans and request that she came over for supper instead, as I had some rabbit I had to cook that night. Rock and roll is basically my middle name. Binning un-cooked slightly off rabbit on Saturday just didn't enter the equation, we would still drink to celebrate Friday, but we would also dine on Flopsy Rabbit. There were no complaints from her, perfect. This fairly rustic recipe for what is essentially a tomatoey rabbit casserole is a favourite of mine; many rabbit recipes involve tomatoes, but instead of going down the typical addition of black olives, here there are crushed coriander seeds, adding a teeny bit of exoticism while still keeping it simple and warming.

Feeds 3-ish (four if you include a hammered boyfriend coming home, having one bite before tipping it all over the table in an attempt to fill his belly). Take one quartered rabbit, sprinkle in seasoned flour and brown on all sides in hot olive oil in a casserole dish. Once browned, set the rabbit aside and in the same pot, gently fry a sliced onion, adding more oil if you need to, 4 fat cloves chopped garlic and a chopped chilli. Once softened a bit, add a small handful of chopped Serrano ham (all I had this time was pancetta which was fine), a few springs of thyme and oregano, a tbsp smoked paprika, a tin of chopped tomatoes and 1/2 a tbsp crushed coriander seeds. Stir well and let it bubble for five minutes or so. Put the rabbit back in the pan with enough water to nearly cover the meat, season, cover and simmer for about one hour, until the meat is very tender and comes away from the bone easily. If you need to, reduce the sauce just before serving by increasing the heat for 5 minutes or so, letting it bubble more ferociously and thicken. Serve with a sprinkling of chopped parsley or coriander with rice, potatoes or flat breads. 

Cue Sophie's boyfriend banging on the door, refusing food, and playing every CD in our collection at an enthusiastic volume, and after dinner round the coffee table dancing enjoyed by all. You don't want to know what happened when my boyfriend somehow made it home from the pub...

Chunky Chilli (if this doesn't warm you up, nothing will)

Mince-free zone

As tasty as a bog standard chilli con carne made out of mince is, this monster of a meal will pulverise what you previously thought of as chilli into oblivion. Just like a proper ragu made from great hunks of meat, slow cooked until self-shredding is better than the quick mincey bol, this version of an old favourite is so blimmin wonderful that you'll wonder why you ever bought mince in the first place. Well, I hope you like it anyway. It's pretty cold right now, and I am existing on what can only be described as 'man food'. The Boyfriend is ecstatic and my belly is full and warm every evening. Salad: be gone, you have no purpose here.

Feeds 3/4 depending on gluttonous tendencies. Take a casserole dish/high sided pan and gently brown about 500g diced braising steak/skirt/ox cheek or any part of cow that likes to be slow cooked in a splash of olive oil. Sprinkle in a tbsp of chilli powder, tsp cumin, tsp paprika and a generous dousing of oregano, dried or fresh and extra chopped chilli if you want it. Mix it all up and add two tins of chopped tomatoes, season and bring to the boil. It should be quite soupy at this point so add some water if needed. Cover and simmer for 1.5 hours (if pushed for time just cut the beef into smaller pieces), take the lid off for the last 20 minutes to let it reduce, if it hasn't already. At this point add a drained tin of kidney beans. The meat is ready when Grandma can eat it without her dentures. If you have any of that wonderful 100% cacao chocolate, grate a bit over the top and stir in. Serve with either toasted tortillas or rice, sliced avocado, a generous squeeze of lime and chopped coriander.

Accompany with some red wine and a hot water bottle.

Chorizo & Cod Stew - a kind of Surf & Turf if you like

And the food stylist award 2011 goes to...

It might look a bit of a mess from the photo, sorry, no food stylist of the year awards here! However, the combination of paprika spiked chorizo, with soft flakey cod, all wrapped up in a tomatoey stew is warming and comforting beyond belief, and a favourite of mine. There is nearly always a supply of chorizo in my fridge and a lonely fillet of cod was languishing in the freezer, so what to cook wasn't a hard decision.

Feeds two. Fry a finely chopped onion and clove of garlic in a splash of olive oil in a deep frying pan/normal saucepan. When softened add a handful of chopped chorizo and continue frying until you get the paprika oozing out and the chorizo crisps a little bit. Throw in a tin of chopped tomatoes, a couple of potatoes cut into small chunks, 150ml water, stir well and season, and simmer until the spuds are nearly cooked, about 10 minutes. Add two fillets of any white fish, chopped into bite size chunks, stir well and let it simmer for no longer than 10 minutes until the fish is cooked. Scatter with chopped parsley at the last minute and serve either on it's own or with some nice crusty bread. 

Get a napkin ready, because when you lick the plate the red sauce goes everywhere. What??!

A Rather Un-Scary Halloween Pheasant Casserole

Real actual blood clots...

After deciding we were going to go out, get dressed up and go for it this Halloween, my friend Hannah and I decided to go for a three course feast and X-Factor from the comfort of my sofa. I wanted it to be Halloween themed, for fun, but apart from involving pumpkins my imagination failed me. I could have just cooked frighteningly horrid food but that would benefit no-one. I giggled childishly as I bought two little pumpkins for us to carve, in my head plotting a salad involving roasted pumpkin, Serrano ham and rocket. And coriander seeds, and chilli. Mmmm. I'll post that later. I cooked this accompanied by amazing 'blood clot' cocktails courtesy of Hannah (Prosecco, pomegranate juice, and seeds, lush).

One of last year's pheasants was screaming to be pulled out of its icy grave, and Hannah was a pheasant virgin, so that was an easy decision. I cooked a tasty Italian casserole based on a Jamie Oliver recipe, I like this one because two people can eat the breasts, then the two legs can be shredded of meat later for a delicious pasta sauce*.

So this feeds two, with enough meat left over to make pasta sauce for 2 as well. Pull the old bird out of the freezer (don't do as I did and not leave enough time for it to defrost, cue frantic dipping in hot water filled sink). Remove the breasts and legs from the pheasant, (actually that was quite frightening, I really need some better skills there) you won't need the carcass. Preheat the oven to 180c, and dust the meat in seasoned flour. Brown the meat in a casserole dish, in a little olive oil. Remove the pheasant and set aside, and soften a chopped carrot, 2 sticks of chopped celery, a chopped red onion and three chopped garlic cloves. When nicely softened add a bay leaf and a sprig of parsley, a glass of red wine, 150g of chestnuts (you can get those brilliant vacuum pack ones), three crushed juniper berries, and mix well. Return the pheasant, cover with a double layer of foil and stick the lid on. Put it in the oven for at least an hour and a half, until the meat is really tender (no-one likes a tough old bird). I went proper Italian and served the breasts with polenta.

Enjoy with plenty of tasty red, and don't knock your plate off your knees as you squeal at the performances and judging on X-Factor.

*To make the pasta sauce just take all the meat off the legs and stir a big blob of creme fraiche through, bubbling up with more wine if there's not enough liquid.

Sunday Night Ragu

Spag bol: beloved by most as a fail proof and inexpensive student/weekday staple/can't think of anything else to cook with mince dish. Yet say the word ragu and I instantly think of  something special made with slow cooked hunks of meat, beef, lamb, venison, whatever you have, gently simmered for as many hours as it takes to allow it to be shredded into soft sweet strands, all melty and delicious. I actually looked it up on Wikepdia and I think we have just bastardised and cheapened Ragu alla Bolognese into a reliable and easy weekday fodder.  I think of good old reliable bol as being the Primark to a decent ragu's Prada. Now we all love and need a bit of good old Primarni every now and again, but a proper slow ragu cooked with time and love, is really where the quality and taste is, a necessary treat. This may not make sense to boys reading this but never mind.

I went home for the weekend to stay with the rentals and had to leave on Sunday, before Mum's legendary roast beef (with the best Yorkshires known to man). Being the kind and generous soul she is, Mum actually cut off a chunk of the roasting joint and gave it to me to take home! How nice is that?! So I eventually got back to Surbiton, having left Salisbury, the train being diverted via Southampton Central (ggrrr), and proceeded to make beef ragu, and this is how you make it:

Feeds 3 (random I know but it was a random bit of beef, just add more tomatoes and wine if using more meat). Take a 400g piece of beef topside and slice in half lengthways so you have two thinner bits of meat. Brown in olive oil in a casserole and season. Remove and set aside and fry a chopped onion until starting to soften, then add 4 chopped cloves of garlic and a decent pinch of dried chilli. (I also threw in a spoonful of Colombian aji, a fiery hot pepper sauce that my friend Simon had just brought over with some amazing empanadas as a tasty and very welcome present). Add a tin of chopped tomatoes and a glass of red wine, return the meat to the pan with all the juices, and add water if the liquid doesn't quite cover the meat. Put the lid on and simmer for a couple of hours, poking it about every once in a while to make sure its not sticking and adding more water if it looks like it's drying out. It's done when you can shred the meat with two forks, do this on a chopping board and then return all the meat back into the sauce (if it doesn't seem like it wants to shred, try from a different angle as the 'grain' of the meat is directional). I made a little gremolata which I thoroughly recommend (a mixture of finely chopped lemon zest, garlic and parsley sprinkled over the top), which really sings on top of the deep savoury meaty richness. Plop a few big spoon fulls of ragu over some pasta and the world is suddenly a better place.

MY Spicy Meatballs (not Mama's)

You know you want it...

I once read in a 'foodie' magazine that one should never use wine when cooking, that one wouldn't be happy to drink. Balls to that. I have, on average, 4-5 half drunk, verging on vinagary bottles of red in the kitchen, plus a cheeky, definitely undrinkable white in the fridge (why it's still in the fridge 3 weeks after opening, I don't know). I would never throw wine out; it vexes me to pour the delicious freshly opened Rioja I'm glugging into the casserole, when a bottle past it's best will do fine. Like I said, I usually have a nice collection of said 'mature' wine, so this rarely happens.

So yes, there is red wine in this recipe. This one pot wonder of a dish is brilliant because, um, it's in one pot. It also involves minimal faffing, is great to cook in a massive batch for the freezer, and tastes lush.

Feeds four: Pre-heat the oven to 200c. In a large bowl combine 500g beef mince, 2tbsp chopped stoned black olives, 2tbsp grated Parmesan, 1tbsp chopped parsley, as much chopped fresh or dried chili as you desire/can handle, 1 egg and a smallish finely chopped onion and seasoning. Roll into same sized meatballs, big ones, little ones, you choose ( I like little ones because you get more, yessss), and place in a very lightly oiled deep baking tray or casserole dish. Bake for 20 minutes. Now add a very big glass of red wine, rolling the meatballs round a bit and bake for another 10 minutes. Stir in a tin of chopped tomatoes, mix well, combining the meat juices and wine with the tomatoes and bake for a further 10 minutes, or until the tops of the meatballs have browned and the sauce has thickened. Serve with whatever type of pasta you fancy and get stuck in.*

*Do remember this recipe is for 4, so don't feel you have to eat the lot, it can be very tricky resisting this urge, and The Little Dinner Lady takes no responsibility for weight gain caused by this recipe, or any other recipe for that matter. She has her own to worry about.

The Best Lamb Tagine. In the world. Ever. Amen.

What a fate this lamb neck had in store...

It's very easy to get carried away whilst cooking, to swerve from the recipe, add your own touches, either because you know better or you think you know better. Nearly all recipes 'need' more garlic, more chilli, more this, more that, but I've recently learned that sometimes the softly softly approach to flavour can also be fantastic.  Having recently purchased the new Moro cookbook (called Casa Moro), I am obsessively making and munching my way through the simple but beautiful recipes from Spain, very much including the Moorish influences there, and many dishes from Morrocco. It ain't all about Chorizo you know. I made this lamb tagine with peas and tomatoes and was blown away by it's simplicity and incredible flavour. I stuck to the recipe, not straying once in terms of quantities. It's always better to use lamb on the bone, but I had some lamb neck fillets which were fine.

Feeds four. In a big pan glugged with warming olive oil, combine 2 tsp freshly ground cumin seeds (don't be lazy and use ground cumin), 1 cinnamon stick, 1 tsp sweet paprika, 1/4 teaspoon hot paprika, 2 chopped red onions, 2 peeled tomatoes, roughly chopped, and season. cook for about 10 minutes and throw in the lamb. 3 shanks would be great, or chunks of neck on the bone, approx 750g (if you have a nice butcher nearby, which sadly I don't). Stir well and add 1 litre cold water and a pinch of saffron threads infused in 2 tbsp boiling water. Cover and simmer for 1.5 to 2 hours, add 600g fresh peas (enlist the use of a slave to help pod the buggers) and simmer uncovered, for a further 20-30 mins until the lamb is super soft and melty.

This tagine tastes so fresh and surprisingly delicate, the perfume of the cinnamon combines so perfectly with the sweet lamb and peas, my normal bucket of garlic would have completely drowned out these well balanced flavours. Just delicious. Am supposed to be avoiding carbs at the moment due to an ever expanding waistline, but to have abstained from a big spoonful of cous-cous would surely have been a massive insult to the food Gods, and I just couldn't risk that...

Chicken Paprika - Check you actually have paprika first...

Don't forget the paprika. Or the chicken. 

You know when you have your mind set on a certain dish to cook for supper, and nothing else will do? Well all the way home on the train yesterday I was thinking about this dish, all content as I had all the ingredients and wouldn't have to rely on trusty M&S (the only shop open on a Sunday night when all the other shops have shut). There was a small problem, the chicken thighs were still in the freezer, so I did have to swing by M&S which was very stressful with my big weekend bag and narrow aisles but somehow I coped. Finally got home, and discovered  I had run out of paprika. I used a bit of smoked paprika, its sweet and smokey cousin, instead for a nice extra smokey flavour and it all worked out.

This feeds two. Pre-heat oven to 180. Brown seasoned chicken thighs (two small ones per person or one big one) in olive oil and set aside. Fry a chopped onion and a few chopped garlic cloves in the same oil and add a couple of chopped raw chorizo sausages (normal cooked could be used) and fry until all the lovely red oil comes out of the chorizo and the onions are softened. Add a chopped chilli, a few bay leaves, a teaspoon of smoked paprika (or normal), a tin of chopped tomatoes, a big splash of red wine, season and stir well. Pop the chicken back in the pan, add a chopped green pepper and put the whole lot in the oven, uncovered, for 20 minutes. By now the skin on the chicken will be all extra cripsy and golden. Serve with a blob of sour cream/creme fraiche and rice. 

The Rioja was open, Lady Gaga was on the telly and all was ok. Until the Boyfriend came home after a day on the lash at the Rubgy 7s and sprayed me with the hose through the kitchen window. Twice.

A Risotto Mama wouldn't be proud of

I don't like people who moan about the weather, this is England, this is winter. It is going to be cold and dark, and sporadically wet, usually all at the same time. However, it is even starting to get to me, I consider myself very pro-England, I like the change of seasons and our beautiful countryside, and I genuinely believe if we had amazing weather all the time then we wouldn't appreciate Mr Sun putting his hat on, however briefly over the summer months. Not wanting to get out of bed in the morning for fear of freezing to death when I run down the death stairs (v. steep and shallow even with my size 4.5 feet) into the shower is getting tedious. I will ignore the fact that I am equally reluctant in the warmer months...

One advantage of all this cold weather is that I can take food out of the freezer and leave on the side to defrost, without the niggling worry of the possibility of it getting a bit warm and harbouring some nasty bugs, which I do think about in summer months. I can never remember to swap freezer for fridge before bed, so always take the gamble. But in winter, I don't know why we bother with a fridge its so cold. I returned from work to find the little bit of smoked haddock on the side, and on discovering a slightly manky leek at the back of the fridge (leeks are cool, you can keep peeling until no longer manky) it had to be smoked haddock and leek risotto. I even had chicken stock from Sunday's roast ready. Euurgh how prepared? The following recipe serves 2.

Half and slice one leek (washing to remove any soil etc) and cook gently in butter and olive oil until softened. At the same time place a piece of smoked haddock (approx 200g, you don't need much) in a dish, cover with boiling water and cover with cling film for 10 minutes. When fish is cooked, removed from the water, remove skin, flake, and put aside. When leeks are really soft add risotto rice (approx 75g per person, I don't normally measure things but with this I have to as its not great cold) and stir to cover in the oil and butter. Add a glass of white wine and stir until absorbed. Then add hot chicken stock, a ladle at a time, until each measure is absorbed. After doing this for about 20 mins it should be done, with a bit of bite, i.e. not mushy but definately not crunchy. I like it a bit juicy too. Season and stir in the haddock with the juice of half a lemon. I added half a sliced cabbage, already blanched, and it worked really well, and had it quite soupy for extra lush factor but it's supposed to have just chopped chives on top which is also delicious. I don't think Mama would approve of this not particularly Italian dish but its not half a good way to deal with a manky leek.

Due to it still being January when I cooked this, I was having a booze free night. Eurgh. The cooking of any risotto is hugely improved by an accompaniment of lashings of wine for the person chained to the hob, resigned to stirring for half an hour, one ladle of stock for the risotto, one glass of wine for chef. The risotto is cooked when chef can't stand up any more.

What a pleasant pheasant.

As I was out shooting (and missing everything except air) on Saturday, it was only right that I cooked pheasant on my return home. As luck would have it, the game keeper handed out each brace of pheasant oven ready, so there was no need to re-enact the carnage that was the boyfriend and I sorting out the birds I was given last time, within the warmth of the living room, in front of the fire (don't ever try it, we were dealing with a brace of duck, messy times). Like most ideas that seem good at the time, it wasn't.

I made space for Mr Pheasant in the freezer, and cooked Mrs Pheasant according to the Gospel that is boyfriend's Mum. I don't think she's ever shot or plucked a pheasant but she definately knows how to cook one. And so began pheasant in cider with apples and cream. Use one pheasant for two people.

Middle sister said last dish looked like sick so you get pheasant in flight.

In a suitably sized casserole dish, brown your pheasant all over in a good splash of olive oil, seasoning as you go. Add half a finely chopped onion and soften. Add a peeled, cored and sliced apple, mix in and then pour in 200ml of cider (I very nearly used the left-over-from-a-party can of Magners and realised that would not do Mrs Pheasant justice, so sacrificed a glass of the Aspalls I was slurping, only right with this dish). Lay the pheasant on its side, reduce the heat to a gentle simmer and cover. After half an hour turn your bird over and cook for another half hour at least, with the lid still on. Sometimes the bird gets nice and tender, if its an ol' bird, perhaps not, but always tasty. Pull the bird out, keep warm and stir in 150ml single cream. Carve up the pheasant in four pieces, a breast and leg per person, serve with mash and veg, and pour the delicious sauce everywhere. Be sure to gnaw the legs and lick your plate.

Steak Soup

Well not exactly, more like spicy beef ramen. But I like the idea of steak soup. Meaty.

Wanted to make this for a while after seeking solace in Wagamama's when only a massive bucket of beautiful, medicinal ramen soup will do, and it wasn't far off surprisingly, they don't use magic ingredients like I thought...

For two: marinate a piece of steak, I used rump (quite good because you use half the amount of meat you would use if just having steak on it's own) in a splash of sesame oil, grated Ginger and chopped garlic.

Meanwhile simmer 1lt beef stock (I only had chicken stock cubes, eurgh, but actually ok) with a chopped red chillli, bit more garlic and Ginger, big splash of soy sauce. Add two portions of egg noodles and a load of finely sliced cabbage. Fry steak on griddle to your liking, slice up. Fill bowls with soup and noodlely cabbagy goodness, top with sliced steak, garnish with sliced spring onions and slurp. You may need a bib.

This takes about 20 mins from start to finish and use any veg you have, mushrooms, sliced carrots etc, add lime juice and fish sauce to pep it up a bit, a great way to use things up.