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.

This is a rediscovered family favourite.

Not sure why I’d forgotten about it, or why it came up in conversation with my mum recently, but  once remembered it’s reestablished itself on our midweek menu very quickly indeed. Probably because it’s so simple to make and tastes amazing – I’m sure there’s a degree of nostalgia involved too.

Firstly get some spuds on for mash. While they’re cooking, slowly sweat a diced onion in a little butter and oil – it doesn’t matter if they pick up a little bit of colour.

Mash the potatoes with a splash of milk and a knob of butter then add a handful of grated strong cheese. I used Lancashire most recently as I’d just come back from there and always bring some home, but I’d normally use a good extra mature Welsh cheddar.

Stir the cheese into the mash and add the fried onions. Put this mix into an ovenproof dish and use a fork to ridge the surface. Sprinkle another handful of grated cheese over the top.

Put this under the grill until the top is golden and crispy.

Perfect with sausages, baked ham or gammon. Thanks mum x.

In a short series of pie posts (two, to be honest), I thought I’d share my very easy approach to Shepherds/Cottage pie. And a real quick cheat’s version.

Again, start with a pan of spuds.

Gently fry a finely diced onion and carrot for about five minutes, then add mince (lamb or beef depending on your pie of choice) and fry until golden. This is all about building up layers of flavour at this stage. Drain off a little of the fat and stir through a dessertspoon of plain flour to thicken the gravy.

Add hot stock – beef, lamb or Swiss bouillon powder, plenty of black pepper and a small pinch of mixed herbs. A teaspoon of mustard is great with beef or the same of tomato puree with lamb. A squirt of Worcester sauce (or if you’re lucky enough to live far enough north to get Henderson’s Relish) is always a winner.

Simmer this for about 20 mins while the potatoes cook. With a slotted spoon, remove the meat and veg to an ovenproof dish, reserving the gravy for later. Top with mash and smoosh up the surface a bit so it crisps up. Crispy bits rule.

Cook in a hot oven, as above, for about 20 – 30 mins until golden and erupting like a little meaty volcano. Serve with the warmed gravy, peas and beans.

The picture’s of a recent experiment with a sliced potato topping – uses fewer spuds so is probably a bit healthier. I just topped with a couple of layers of finely sliced potatoes instead of mash and sprinkled a little cheese over the top. I’m not that good at doing healthy, really.

And here’s the cheat’s version – I’m going to call it Rustler’s Pie as we’re using someone else’s beef…

I’m with Delia on rating M&S tins quite highly – I was brought up eating stewed steak, mash and veg and still love it. The M&S chunky steak is lovely and warmed in a pan with half cup of stock, a handful of peas and a finely diced carrot makes a great instant base for a cottage pie. Top with mash, as above and whack it in a hot oven.

Purists may not like it – but what the hell’s wrong with knocking up a cottage pie  in half an hour when you’re hungry and in need of comfort food.

I can’t eat any of these without lots of bread and butter to mop up the gravy. And some ale.

I know a lot of people think it’s minging, but I’m a big fan of corned beef. In a sandwich with brown sauce on crusty white bread – heavenly.

So I also love a bit of corned beef hash. Which made me think about what else could be hashed.

There’s usually a pack of smoked mackerel in our freezer on standby for fishcake duties (and Hugh says we’re allowed) so I thought I’d try hashing it up.

Works a treat – I highly recommend this for simple, tasty and guaranteed-you’ve-never-had-it-before tea. And it’s cheap as chips. Cheaper, probably.

First up, parboil a pan of cubed spuds. Take them out and dry them off a bit.

In a big frying pan, fry up a sliced onion until translucent. Toss in the potatoes and fry for about 10 minutes until they start to crisp up and colour. Break up a couple of mackerel fillets into generous chunks, removing skin and bones and pop them into the pan – from now on, the less you move it all about the better as you won’t want things to break up too much.

Finally add some shredded spring cabbage – it’ll wilt in the heat of the pan and crisp up a bit round the edges too. Taste and season with salt and pepper. I wished I’d cooked a fried egg to go with it as that, I suspect, would top it all off perfectly.

All done – call it brunch and you could make a mint down your local gastropub.

I’ve been enjoying BBC’s The Good Cook over the last couple of weeks.

I first came across Simon Hopkinson a couple of years ago when I’d noticed his book ‘Roast Chicken and other Stories’ kept appearing at the top of  lists of  chefs’ favourite books or best cookbooks.

At the time I’d never heard of it, but there’s now a well-thumbed copy of it on my shelf too – I like his focus on ingredients and simplicity – something that comes through strongly on TV. Despite the director’s attempts to cram in every camera trick and lens effect available, which is a bit of a distraction.

The point of which is that his very simple risotto alla parmigiana was a reminder that risotto’s a dish that doesn’t need to be over complicated. Inspired, I made this light fresh vegetable version.

I just followed the usual method- there’s no better way as far as I’m concerned to banish the stresses and strains of the day than with the methodical, constant stirring of a risotto pan.

So I made a plain risotto – onion, rice, stock – and about five minutes before it was done added peas, chopped french beans and fresh broad beans from the garden. I had some prawns in the fridge so they went in too, but it was lovely with just the veg.

Finish with parmesan and butter.

I’ve been experimenting with different rices of late – currently using Carluccio’s carnaroli rice which is lovely and creamy.

This is my version of a rich, silky Carbonara.

A bit of low fat creme fraiche supplies the creaminess so that clearly cancels out any calories from the cheese and bacon. I’m sure that’s how it works, isn’t it?

I always keep a few little packs of diced pancetta in the freezer as a midweek standby as they’re a great starting point for a store cupboard tea if I’ve not shopped. This is one of those dishes.

Put a pan of pasta on to cook. Fry half a diced onion and a clove of garlic in some olive oil. Add diced pancetta or a few rashers of streaky bacon once the onion’s cooked and fry until crispy. In a bowl, mix two egg yolks with two heaped tablespoons of creme fraiche and some grated Parmesan. Add black pepper but not salt as the bacon will have supplied this.

Drain the pasta and toss it about in the pan with the onions. Take off the heat and stir through the egg mix until the cheese has melted. Taste for seasoning and stir through some chopped parsley if you’re feeling a bit fruity.

Get stuck in.

All over Prague, restaurants served delicious richly spiced grilled meats and kebabs. My inner carnivore was in heaven but I couldn’t work out the spicing. There was come citrus, a little chilli, garlic and herbs.

Not to be beaten by the mystery I headed for the market near to our hotel and many of the food stalls were selling spice mixes (labelled Steak Koreni) for meat. Case solved – I brought some back to try and ran the ingredients label through an online translation site.

There’s now always a jar of this mix in my cupboard to turn a midweek pork chop into something a bit special. It’s amazing for barbecues too – now that the summer seems to have arrived early.

To make enough to keep in a jar for a few meals, mix together two teaspoons each of:

• Sea salt
• Mustard seeds
• Dried thyme
• Coriander seeds
• Cumin seeds
• Dried onion or onion powder
• Black peppercorns (one teaspoon)
• Chilli flakes (up to you – two makes it quite pokey)

Grind together a couple of teaspoons of the mix as a dry rub for griddled or BBQed meat or mix with a little oil and lemon juice as a marinade. The smell as it’s cooking will bring tears of joy to the eye of any enthusiastic meat-eater.

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.