Chicken and chorizo risotto
A 20-minute tea this, and tastes amazing. Looks like it takes much more effort than it actually does. I think I got the basic method from watching Valentina Harris do it on the telly.
It’s simple and a great way to use a really wide range of ingredients as anything goes. Read the rest of this entry »
A little chicken roasts in an hour so it still fits the after-work brief – and once it’s in the oven you can go and do something else while it cooks away. I think it’s better value than a pack of portions as you’ll get at least two meals off it and can make stock.
Free range or not is up to you; I think you can taste the difference. They’re a lot more chickeny somehow. Read the rest of this entry »
Minestrone soup
I seem to have been in a soupy mood recently. Must be the onset of autumn.
The basic ’sweat veg, add stock’ method works as the base for most soups I make. For this version, I did a quick check with Delia. It’s very easy and a good way to use up veg. Read the rest of this entry »
Seems a bit silly doing a post about mash, but it’s one of my favourite things in the world.
So, chop the spuds up – smaller than for boiled so they cook quicker and are easier to mash. Boil in salted water until a knife goes into the middle easily. Drain well. Read the rest of this entry »
Chinese crab and sweetcorn soup
Bit of an experiment, this. Trying to create a Chinese style soup for a quick tea and an excuse to break out a bag of prawn crackers.
Very simple to make though. I had some chicken stock in the freezer from the last roast I did – boiled up the chicken carcass and wings with onion, carrot, leek tops, bay leaf and peppercorns in enough water to cover it for an hour then froze a few tupperwares of it. I’ve used Marigold or chicken stock cubes too. Read the rest of this entry »
Best bolognese ever in 12 minutes flat? Well, yes and no.
Linguine Bolognese
Bit of cheating going on here as this is one of my absolute favourite mid week teas, but it relies on a little bit of weekend work. It’s a case of making a huge pot of the sauce and then freezing it in about six batches (all of which serve two people).
It’s the most brilliant recipe and it makes the whole house smell amazing. Seriously, if you’re trying to sell your house, make this sauce. Read the rest of this entry »
Spark up the barbie
Mid September and we’re having our second BBQ of the year. It’s not been a good summer. Quite taken aback when I popped into M&S for some fish to BBQ and the first thing I saw was a rack of advent calendars. Something screwy with that.
You can knock up some pretty impressive stuff for a barbie in about 10 mins and cook it in about the same time – even quicker if you forget the BBQ and do them for a quick indoor tea. I cooked these three yesterday – did the prep then lit the BBQ while the stuff marinated in the fridge. Really easy and very tasty with a simple salad on the side. Read the rest of this entry »
If there’s a box of eggs in the fridge, you can always make a tasty tea.
Just by beating a couple of eggs, you can transform the odds and ends lurking in the back of the fridge into something really rather good in a matter of minutes.
Any combination of the following (or anything else you have lying around) is good – a bit of onion, peppers, a couple of mushrooms, a slide of ham, salami or chorizo, tuna, chopped up boiled potatoes, diced courgettes, cherry tomatoes, the end of a bit of cheese. Whatever’s leftover or in the storecupboard. Chargrilled peppers in a jar are very good to keep for this sort of thing. Read the rest of this entry »
Roast tomato soup
This is a favourite and a really good way to use up tomatoes or peppers that might be getting a bit too old for salads.
Cut tomatoes in half and roughly chop the peppers – I usually use red and/or yellow, but have used green in the pic below which worked just as well. Pile in an a peeled onion in chunks and a few cloves of garlic. Add salt, pepper, a bay leaf if you’ve got one and a good slug of olive oil. Read the rest of this entry »
