It’s that time of year again when the fine chaps at WordPress send out a little reminder of what my blog’s been doing all year.

Last year enough people had been kind enough to drop by to fill 14 Boeing 747s, apparently. This year about 16,000 turned up – the equivalent of a six-date sell-out run at the Sydney Opera House. Which is nice.

Last year’s top five recipes were mostly comfort food with sausage casserole topping the list. I guess a big snowy winter may have had something to do with that. This year was much the same, though, with traditional favourites coming out top.

So here’s what was top of the recipe tree this year:

1. Giant filled Yorkshire puddings

2. A traditional fish pie (including easy cheese sauce)

3. Sausage Casserole

4. Cheat’s chicken casserole

5. Slow Roast Moroccan Lamb

And the really strange thing – there was a proper giant yorkshire pudding frenzy on 26th October! More than 300 views in one day. Haven’t the faintest idea why!

Anyway, a big thank you to anyone who stopped by and I hope you enjoyed your tea.

So I’ve been making a lot of pesto (very simply parmesan, pine nuts, garlic, basil, olive oil whizzed together) and looking for different ways to use it. This one’s a lovely, light casserole.

The meatballs are optional, but I had some Toulouse sausages I wanted to use and they give excellent flavour to the sauce. I use the sausage ‘meatball’ technique a lot for pasta sausages – slit the skins lengthwise and remove then cut the sausage into four and round them off a bit.

Once they’re done, brown off some chicken thighs. Remove them and in the same pan, sweat an onion, carrot, celery, garlic and mushrooms.

Pour in a slug of white wine or vermouth to loosen any chickeny bits from the bottom of the pan and add a pile of chopped fresh tomatoes and a good couple of dollops of pesto.

Cover this with stock and stir well. This needs at least an hour in a medium/hot oven – about 170 degC. The sauce will thicken a little but stays quite light and fresh thanks to the tomatoes and pesto.

It was lovely with new potatoes and some garden beans.

I’m not sure why, but every so often, the conversation in the office comes round to chicken Kiev. Everyone loves it – there’s a distinct sense of general excitement if someone’s having Kiev for tea.

In recent years I may have progressed to the M&S variety, but there’s still a place in my heart for the ever-so-dirty Bernard Matthews mini Kiev.

And apparently there’s been a Kiev revival – it’s so naff, it’s cool again in London eateries by all accounts and I spotted an article in a recent Restaurant magazine that shared one of the ‘new’ recipes.

I’ve made this before many times but the new secret I’ve discovered is to boil the garlic before mixing into the butter.

My own personal secret is to use panko breadcrumbs – I’m a huge fan of these but they’re buggers to find and I wish the supermarkets would catch on. I found some in a Chinese grocers in Lancaster recently (random, I know) and stocked up. They’re slightly sweet and super crispy so perfect for fishcakes and I pressed them into Kiev duty.

I’m lucky to have a fantastic chicken supplier at the farmers’ market in Roath so was off to a good start with a couple of lovely chicken supremes (breasts with the wing joint left in).

First up, boil a clove of garlic per chicken breast in water for about 10 minutes until soft and mellowed. Mash this into a good tablespoon of butter per Kiev and add some chopped parsley if you have any. This now smells amazing.

Wrap in foil and pop into the fridge for half an hour to firm up.

Cut a pocket in the thickest part of the chicken breast. Divide the garlic butter evenly and press it into the pocket – seal this up with a cocktail stick or two.

Get three dishes ready – flour, beaten egg and breadcumbs. Each Kiev needs a good coating of flour, a soak in the egg so it’s fully covered then a turn around in the breadcrumbs until covered.

Fry in about an inch of hot oil in a deep pan until golden brown – about five minutes a each side – then finish off in a hot (200 degC) oven for about 15 mins to make sure the chicken’s cooked through.

OK, it’s a bit of a faff compared to buying readymade – but the difference in flavour, the guarantee that you’re getting good quality chicken and the bragging rights for making it yourself are all worth it.

Get stuck in!

Lamb and leek sausage casserole

I had a new year’s email from the nice chaps at WordPress this week with lots of useful facts and figures about my blog.

I sort of keep an eye on the stats I see in terms of how many people are reading, but I don’t really have much of an idea whether what I write is being read. It’s nice to think it might be and I was surprised and chuffed that my recipes have been viewed nearly 6,000 times in 2010 (enough to fill 14 Boeing 747s apparently!). So thanks to all who dropped by to pick up and easy tea or two. Probably mostly my mum, though.

Still, spurred on by the thought that I’m not alone, I thought I’d share the list of most popular easy teas for 2010 – everybody else is doing new year countdowns…

1. Sausage Casserole

2. Cheat’s Chicken Casserole

3. Fish pie

4. Speedy beef Stroganoff

5. Slow Roast Moroccan lamb

I made the cheat chicken casserole last night so that’s at the top of my favourites list right now. Heartily recommended to keep out the recent arctic chill and only about 15 minutes’ work involved.

Interesting to see that comfort food makes up most of the list – I had the sort of 2010 where I needed lots of that too. I’ve got a few ideas up my sleeve for this month, starting with a few all-in-one ‘trayroasts’. I’m also trying to find more interesting things to do with fish as I want to eat more of it.

Happy New Year!

Just finished watching the Great British Waste Menu.

It was a BBC challenge in which four top chefs had to produce a banquet for 60 from food that had been (or would have been) thrown away. The scale of waste is shocking – from farmers ploughing crops which don’t meet supermarket standards back into the ground, to bin-loads of edible food wasted simply because its sell-by date is near. Apparently, though the majority of food waste happens at home.

Personally, I’ll always trust my nose over a packaging date and see a fridge full of leftovers as a cooking challenge. I hate throwing anything edible away and I’m glad the Council will now take any peelings away to compost. Even food that looks a bit unappetising to eat fresh can often be cooked to eat or store – we’ve always got a tub of stewed apples in the freezer because we don’t eat them quickly enough and older tomatoes and peppers usually end up as soup.

Before I go over all ‘Dig for Victory’, here’s a roundup of regular leftover recipes.

• Too many tomatoes or leftover rice in the fridge – try roasted stuffed tomatoes
• Lots of odds and ends in the fridge like cheese, ham, peppers, boiled potatoes, tomatoes, tuna…add a few eggs for a tortilla style omelette
• No eggs? Use the fridge leftovers to spruce up a quick salad. Bread that’s past its best can make great croutons
• Leftover fish bits or some spare mash potatoes in the fridge or freezer? Fishcakes are a regular favourite. I even freeze crusts to make breadcrumbs.
• Risotto is pretty forgiving and lots of different things can go into the basic recipe. Great for using up cooked meats, a few leftover beans, peas and a bit of onion. It’s a good storecupboard staple too – we’ll often do chorizo and a few frozen veg or half a jar of chargrilled peppers.
• And one final one – because it’s such good value and can stretch a chicken out for an extra meal every time – a pot of stock. Not only does it get the best out of a roast chicken, it’s a chance to use up a few carrots, leeks or onions that might need using. The stock makes a fantastic risotto or soup (as above) or freezes well.

The programme’s on the iPlayer until 1 September. If you’re looking for other ideas, there’s more here too at the Love Food Hate Waste website*.

*Disclosure – WRAP is a client but I’m not involved in the promotion of this campaign

Salad with bacon, chicken and croutons

My heart sinks at the thought of ‘just a salad’ for tea – I’m too much of a carnivore. But I don’t want to end up the size of a hippo so I’m always on the lookout for ideas to make a meal of more exciting salads.

The best lesson I learnt came from Jamie at Home – never eat an undressed salad and make sure every leaf is coated. Simple, really, but it makes a hell of a difference to dress the leaves in a big bowl rather than pouring dressing over a salad once it’s on the plate.

My regular dressing mix is an easy one – a teaspoon of vinegar (balsamic, cider, white wine or lemon juice), six teaspoons of olive oil, a quarter teaspoon of mustard (English mustard powder or Dijon) and salt and pepper. Whisk this or shake together in a jam jar until it’s thick and emulsified.

Then there’s what to add to a mix of lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, peppers, spring onions, red onion, baby spinach and radishes.

Roasted chicken thighs cook quickly and if you blast the oven up there’s the benefit of salty, crispy skin on top. Cooked prawns are good, maybe warmed through in a frying pan with a bit of spice or some crispy streaky bacon or pancetta lardons.

I’ll often add thin slices of parmesan for a savoury kick in place of meat or goats cheese, particularly with a lemon dressing.

But my favourite has to be slices of chorizo fried until they release their oil and start to go crispy on the edges. Then, very naughtily, fry torn up chunks of bread in the chorizo oil to make the most amazing croutons.

Just realised I’ve spent a lot of time coming up with ideas to add calories and additional fat to a selection of otherwise harmless leaves and things. Bugger it – life’s too short to count calories.

Coq au vin

Time to share my favourite ever recipe. I’ve made this for family, a dozen friends at a time or just for tea midweek and it was the first meal I ever cooked for my better half.

It takes a little while in the cooking, but it’s so easy to prepare and the end result – rich, wine-infused chicken casserole – is the sort of dish that reminds you that the humble chicken really can be amazing. I’m also lucky that I get easy access to such good free range chicken at my local market in Roath which makes a big difference to the end result.

If you’re doing it midweek, you need to get home on time as it’s a two hour cooking time – it’s do-able but much easier for a weekend treat.

Either joint a chicken or buy a mix of thighs and legs – this is usually the best option as everyone gets the same then and you also get much better flavour from meat on the bone.

Put the chicken pieces into a bowl and cover with about half a bottle of red wine to marinate with a bay leaf, peppercorns and few cloves of garlic in the fridge. I try and remember to do this in the morning if I’m cooking it in the evening but the recipe works if you forget this stage and start with the cooking.

In a casserole over a medium heat, brown the chicken in batches of three or four pieces at a time and set aside. In the fat that’s left, fry some lardons (cubed pancetta, streaky bacon or I even used a slice of leftover gammon last week) until the fat has turned nice and crispy. Remove to a dish.

Now fry some peeled whole shallots in the bacon/chicken fat until brown. All of this is building up lovely layers of flavour for the finished dish. Once starting to brown, add some button mushrooms and a chopped clove of garlic and fry for a few more minutes.

The kitchen should now smell pretty awesome.

Add the chicken and bacon back to the pot and pour in the strained wine marinade. Once this has got up to the boil add about a pint of chicken stock.

If you have some herbs to hand, tie up some thyme, parsley and bay and add them to the liquid before popping the pot in the oven at about 170degC for at least an hour – probably and hour and a half.

Out of the oven and ready to serve

The sauce will reduce to a rich, winey gravy that takes on all the flavours of the sweet shallots, bacon and chicken.

Great with roast potatoes or mash, some green veg and the other half of the bottle of red. Any leftover chicken is amazing between two bits of crusty bread or good to add to a risotto.

Sausage pasta simmering

This is pretty much my all-purpose pasta sauce recipe (the tomato version, anyway – see below for the cheese version). Tonight I’m making it with sausages cos they were on offer in Marksies – got up too late for the market this Saturday. We eat it with turkey quite often too for a good low fat version.

Start by browning the sausages in a wide pan. Once they’ve got some good colour and you’re starting to get some colour in the pan, remove to a plate.

Now fry a diced onion, clove of garlic, chopped courgette and a couple of sliced mushrooms. I’ve used a couple of diced carrots too as they looked a bit sad on their own – I don’t really hold with adding carrots to pasta sauce as a rule though! Peppers would have been good – fresh or charred from a jar.

Once the veg has fried until the onion is translucent, pop a lid on for about five minutes or so to let them sweat – it releases flavour into the pan that should already be mingling with all the juices from the sausages. Pour in a glug of booze to help things along. I’m using a little port as there’s no red open. Any wine works OK.

Stir this about a bit to get all the bits off the bottom of the pan and add a tin of plum tomatoes and about a mugful of stock. Give it a few squirts of tomato puree, bring to a boil then turn down to a simmer. Add a good grind of black pepper and some mixed herbs/herbes de Province. Dried herbs are great in anything that’s going to simmer for a while but I think they’re better if you really grind them up in the palm of your hand before you add them. They sort of dissolve into the sauce for great background flavour then.

I’m not going to bang on about the quality of sausages cos I’ve already done that elsewhere, but tonight’s are M&S organic chipolatas – two packs for £4. Top quality and an absolute bargain.

Anyway, simmer the sauce for about 20-30 minutes until it’s thickened and the veggies are cooked through. Now put the meat back into the pan for a last 10-15  minutes until cooked through – check it’s piping hot throughout. A few fresh herbs like thyme and basil are a good last minute addition if you have them.

While the meat’s cooking you’ve got time to cook a pan of pasta – tagliatelle’s good with this.

If you’ve got a bit more time on your hands, stir through some cooked fusilli or penne, pour into an oven proof dish and spread a torn up ball of mozzarella over the top – bake in a medium oven until the cheese melts and starts to brown. Awesome.

Easy creamy cheese sauce for pasta

This is good with fish or chicken & chorizo. To the fried meat, add a slug of white wine and lemon juice and reduce for a few minutes. Stir in a few tablespoons of creme fraiche and a small handful of strong cheddar or parmesan and warm until the cheese melts. Very easy and tasty.

Cheat's chicken casserole

Delia copped a lot of unfair flack for suggesting that it’s better to cook from scratch using a few shortcuts than not to cook at all.

I agree and here’s my favourite cheat recipe – a creamy chicken in white wine casserole. I’ve been making it since student days so can’t remember where the idea came from but it’s a good after work idea as it’s another one that take a few minutes to pull together then sits in the oven while you go and do something more exciting for an hour.

The cheat is a tin of Campbell‘s condensed soup – either cream of chicken or mushroom. As long as there’s one of those in the cupboard, you can knock this together very quickly. It’s a one-pan wonder as long as you have a dish that can go from stove to oven.

First brown off some chicken portions. I always buy thighs as there’s more flavour than breast or fillet meat. They’re also cheaper so you can go for free range.

Remove the chicken to a plate and most of the fat from the dish then fry an onion, garlic and mushrooms (or leeks). Once softened, put the chicken back in the pan and pour in a good glass of white wine (or about half a glass of dry vermouth). Wine freezes well if you want to keep leftovers for such an occassion.

Let the alcohol burn off the wine for a few minutes before adding the tin of soup and about half a pint of chicken stock. At this point it looks like a disaster – the soup needs to warm into the wine and stock and will seem particularly gloopy and unappetizing until it does but don’t panic.

Add a bay leaf and some chopped tarragon if you have it (neither are essential – I can’t remember ever owning tarragon as a student), cover and give it 45 minutes in the oven at 150C. Check to see that the chicken is cooked through (juices will be clear) and that the sauce has thickened. If not, give it another 15 mins.

It’s good with mash and veg or with a big pile of tagliatelle.

I’m using cooked leftover chicken for this but lamb and prawns (cooked) both work well too. If you want to use raw meat/prawns, cook them in a separate pan while the sauce is cooking.

First make the spice mix. Either use pre-ground or toast whole seeds and grind yourself. You need a good teaspoon of: cumin, coriander, black pepper, chilli flakes, garum masala, mustard seeds, turmeric and cardamom seeds (the black seeds, taken out of the green husk). Obviously, vary the heat by adding more/less of the chilli to suit you.

Creamed coconut needs to be reconstituted with boiling water. For this, though, use stock instead for better flavour. Make up a pint of stock and stir in chopped up creamed coconut until it’s thick and creamy. Add a squirt of tomato puree – the mix will go an alarming pink colour, but that’s normal.

In a wide frying pan, fry and onion until soft then add garlic and ginger (if you don’t have fresh, use some ground ginger in the spice mix) and fry for another minute or so. Now add the spice mix and give it another minute. Your whole house should now smell fantastic.

Pour in the coconut stock and give it a good stir to mix with the spices. The turmeric will bring the colour back to normal. Add the cooked meat and simmer for about 20 minutes to reduce and thicken.

Serve with basmati rice and a few home-cooked poppadoms.