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I got this little recipe from a friends’ young son who treats his family to this. Again the smell is divine and it tastes so good. I always eat way too much. It’s a great way to use our award winning sausages. Always use high pork content sausages.

Ingredients

• A dash of olive oil
• 12 butchers sausages.
• 1 onion
• 3 or 4 peeled and cubed potatoes
• 4 or 5 diced carrots
• 2 cloves of garlic crushed
• 1 teaspoon of paprika
• a cinnamon stick
• 1 400g can of chopped or cherry tomatoes
• 1-2 bay leaves
• 400mls of vegetable stock.

Method

Heat the oven to 180º or 160º fan. Brown the sausages in a casserole dish with the oil. Remove the sausages and soften the onions and add garlic and paprika and cook for another minute. Add the potatoes and mix through. Add a tin of tomatoes and then fill the tin with vegetable stock and add with the cinnamon stick and bay leaves. Bring the casserole to a simmer. Return the sausages and pop into the preheated oven for 45 minutes or until the potatoes are cooked!

These are just fab. It has been said that pork chops are boring – I’ve had this conversation twice recently but with these and the maple pork chops I beg to differ. Anyone can pull these out of the bag and they’re quick. Another major bonus in our time poor lives. This is supposed to serve two but the butcher eats this much himself. So judge your appetite and double up if necessary!

Ingredients

• 15g of butter
• 1 tbsp. of olive oil
• 2 pork chops
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 eating apples sliced (try the new South East Produce apples in Ardkeen – local and delicious)
• 100mls of cider
• 2 tbsp. of crème fraiche
• 2 tsp. of chopped sage or 1 tsp. of dried.

Method

Put the butter and oil on a high heat until the butter starts to bubble. Place the pork chops in the pan and season.

Cook for about 2-3 minutes on just one side until golden – turn over and season again.

Turn the pork chops and add the apple slices and cook for about five minutes tossing and turning the apples until golden and soft and the chops are cooked through. Pour in the cider and the crème fraiche and bring to a gentle simmer. Sprinkle in the sage.

Let it bubble gently for a minute or two. Check the seasoning and serve.

This amount is for four but this is an excellent dish to do for a crowd if you replace the lamb shanks with diced lamb shoulder. But do try use the lamb shanks sometime in this recipe – an underestimated cut of meat but done slowly as it is here is divine. Double, triple the recipe – I’ve done enough for 30 before and it was a great success.

Ingredients for serving 4

• 4 tbsp. vegetable oil
• 4 lamb shanks, trimmed
• 2 black cardamom pods, lightly crushed
• 3 cinnamon sticks
• 1 tsp black peppercorns
•  2 large onions, peeled and finely chopped
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp. of grated ginger
• 1 tbsp. grated garlic
• 1 ½ tbsp. Kashmiri chilli powder (or mild chilli powder)
• 2 tbsp. ground cumin
• 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
• 4 tbsp. tomato puree
• 1-2 tsp light brown sugar
• 200ml natural yoghurt, whisked
• 500mls chicken stock
• ½ tsp of garam masala

Method

Add the oil to a hot casserole dish and sear the shanks in two batches over a high heat for 6-8 minutes, turning frequently until lightly browned all over. Remove the shanks with a slotted spoon or tongs and drain on kitchen paper.

Reduce the heat to low medium and add the cardamom, cinnamon sticks and peppercorns to the fat in the pan. Stir fry for 30 seconds or so until the spices begin to release their aromas. Stir in the onions and salt, and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until browned.

Add the ginger and garlic, chilli powder and ground coriander and cumin and stir fry for 2 minutes more. Add tomatoes, tomato puree and sugar, stir and cook for 4-5 minutes.

Stir in the yoghurt a little at a time to prevent it from splitting and add the lamb shanks and stir.

Pour in the stock and mix well. Cover with an airtight lid and put in the preheated oven at 140° or 120° fan for 3-3 ½ hours. Remove the shanks from the sauce and place on a serving platter (you do not need to remove the meat if you are using diced lamb)

Stir in the garam masala and cream with a tablespoon of chopped coriander and bring to a simmer. Check the seasoning – pour it over the shanks and garnish with coriander and pomegranates seeds and serve.

If you are prepping this ahead of time – it will be fab in the fridge the day before you need it or freeze it but I would prep down to step five, defrost then reheat slowly on a low heat then complete number six. I works really really well for a crowd and they will be very impressed.

This recipe will serve 8 hungry people but if you’re cooking a larger joint work out the timings as below – I find this is trial and error – the error not being too great because you simply can’t ruin a ham.

For the ham

• 2 kilograms mild-cure gammon joint
• 1 onion (peeled and cut in half)
• 2 litres Coca-Cola
• 2 aniseed (optional)
• Teaspoon of juniper berries (optional)
• A few bay leaves (optional)

For the glaze

• handful of clove
• 1 heaped tablespoon black treacle
• 2 teaspoons English mustard powder
• 2 tablespoons demerara sugar

Method

Put the ham in a pan, skin-side down if it fits like that, add the onion, and then pour over the Coke and throw in all the optional extras if you have them – for the smell alone it is worth it.

Bring to the boil, reduce to a good simmer, put the lid on, though not tightly, and cook for 2 hours. If your joint is larger or smaller, work out timing by reckoning on an hour per kilo, remembering that it’s going to get a quick blast in the oven later. But do take into account that if the ham’s been in the fridge right up to the moment you cook it, you will have to give it a good 15 minutes or so extra so that the interior is properly cooked.

Preheat the oven to 240°C/gas mark 9/450ºF. When the ham’s had its time, take it out of the pan and let cool a little for ease of handling. (You can let it cool completely then finish off the cooking at some later stage if you want.) Then remove the skin, leaving a thin layer of fat. Score the fat with a sharp knife to make fairly large diamond shapes, and stud each diamond with a clove. Then carefully spread the treacle over the bark-budded skin, taking care not to dislodge the cloves. Gently pat the mustard and sugar onto the sticky fat. Cook in a foil-lined roasting tin for approximately 10 minutes or until the glaze is burnished and bubbly.

Should you want to do the braising stage in advance and then let the ham cool, clove and glaze it and give it 30-40 minutes, from room temperature, at 180°C/gas mark 4/350ºF, turning up the heat towards the end if you think it needs it.

Ingredients

• 2lbs of steak mince
• 2 onions
• 5/6 garlic cloves
• 3 peppers chopped in chunks
• 3 red or green chillies finely chopped!
• 3 tins of tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon of tomato puree
• 400g can of kidney beans drained
• 2 teaspoons of ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons of ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon of brown sugar.

Method

Fry the onions off over a medium heat until soft. Then add your meat about a ½ a lb at a time and brown each batch. I do this all in a big casserole pot!! Then add the tomatoes, chillies, peppers, tomato puree and season. Bring it to a gentle simmer. Cover and either pop it into a preheated oven at 150oC or simmer on the hob for an hour until the sauce is thick. To this add the coriander and cumin, the kidney beans and sugar. Simmer for a further 10 minutes!! Season again if needed.

Yesterday I served this with boiled basmati rice and sour cream and cheese sprinkled on to!!

But the joy of this is there’s enough for two days! So tonight I’m going to serve it with nacho chips as a treat and some guacamole, sour cream and salsa.

Quick and easy dinner 

Ingredients 

• 4 chicken fillets thinly sliced
• 2 tbsp. of groundnut or olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves thinly sliced
• A thumb sized piece of ginger peeled and cut into thin matchsticks
• A red chilli thinly sliced
• Red onion sliced and vegetables – I used (tenderstem broccoli, carrot batons, small sweetcorn, beansprouts, French beans, peppers thinly sliced) (I sometimes use frozen stir fry vegetables if I’m time poor. It works but does add a lot of liquid to the mix)
• Coriander leaves and stalks
• Toasted cashew nuts 100g approx.
• Noodles – I use wholemeal noodles.

Method

Heat the oil in a wok or a frying pan and stir fry the vegetables – don’t over cook – leave them crisp – a couple of minutes. Then remove from the pan.

Then add the chicken a stir-fry until cooked through about 5-10 minutes depending on how thick your strips are.  Meanwhile cook the noodles according to the packet and refresh in cold water.

Add in the chilli, ginger, garlic and coriander stalks to chicken and stir fry for a minute. Return the vegetables to the pan and cook stir in with the chicken and spices. Add in the noodles and stir through until heated.

Garnish with the coriander leaves and toasted nuts and serve.

Two dinners in one!

As you know I’m all about cutting down on the work with food and food preparation but without compromising on taste and flavour. These two dinners are easy peasy and tasty for midweek meal!

Ingredients

• 10 Chicken fillets cut into strips
• 2 punnets of button mushrooms
• Seasoned flour
• 2 chopped onions
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 tbsp. of chopped thyme
• 2 glasses of white wine (average glasses not the glasses you might tell yourself you only had one of!!)
• 250mls of chicken stock

Method

Cover the strips of chicken with the seasoned flour and fry them off in batches in oil in a pan. As your frying put the fried chicken into a casserole pot.

When the chicken is all fried add some oil to the frying pan again and fry the onion and the mushrooms and add the garlic and the thyme to this.

Then add this to the casserole. Turn on the heat under the casserole pot and put in the white wine and the chicken stock and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.  This is a big batch so serve half with potatoes and vegetables and keep the second half for tomorrow.

Cook about 300g of pasta (fusilli or penne) When cooked rinse with cold water to rinse away the starch. Slowly reheat your chicken leftovers and add about 200mls of cream to it. Once heated through mix in the pasta and sprinkle with some cheese on top and pop into a preheated oven at 180° c for about 15 minutes and voila. Two easy dinners.

Another quick dinner – certainly not for those on a diet but every now and again can’t hurt – serve with French beans sugar snap peas or asparagus or a simple salad

Ingredients

• 1 packet of smokey bacon, rind removed or a packet of rashers with rind removed and cubed.
• Three egg yolks
• Three eggs
• 150g of parmesan cheese
• 150mls of double cream
• 500g of spaghetti

Method

Put the pasta in a pot of boiling salted water and cook according to the instructions. Beat the eggs and the egg yolks together in a large bowl. Season with salt and pepper and set aside. Meanwhile heat some olive oil in a pan and add the bacon lardons. Fry until crisp.

When the pasta is ready, drain but keep some of the cooking water. Add the cooked spaghetti to the egg mixture and mix quickly, then add the cream and cheese and add the bacon lardons and mix thoroughly. The hot pasta cooks the egg mixture.

Serve with a sprinkle of cheese and you side salad or vegetables!

Enjoy

Ingredients
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 500 g beef stewing steak
• 2 onions
• 4 carrots, peeled and chopped roughly, (I usually do this the night before)
• 2 garlic cloves, sliced
• 3 tbsp plain flour
• 350 ml ale/wine
• 200 ml beef stock
• 6 sprigs thyme, leaves picked

Method

If, like me, you hate smelling of cooked food off you, do this before you shower. It only takes five minutes. Coat the beef in flour seasoned with salt and pepper. Fry this of quickly in batches add the garlic and onions and soften. Fire it all into the slow cooker with the carrots, stock and wine. Put it on low and off you go about your business (6-8 hours) knowing that when you come home you’ll have a lovely comforting beef stew ready. It really is as simple as that. I sometimes add a tablespoon of redcurrant jelly at the end

Spaghetti Bolognese (the base recipe)

Lasagne

Chili con carne

Ingredients

• 3lbs of mince beef
• 1 packet of streaky smoked rashers diced (optional but a very tasty addition)
• 3 large onions
• 6 grated carrots
(optional but you can also blitz down in a food processor courgettes, aubergines peppers, mushrooms, just about anything and add it in also. Because you’ve blitz the veg they are hidden in the sauce)
• 6 cloves of garlic
• 5 tins of chopped or cherry tomatoes
• 3 tablespoons of tomato puree.
• A tablespoon or two of oregano or basil or marjoram.

Method

In a large deep heavy based pot fry off your onions on a medium heat until they are soft. Add the crushed garlic and fry for another minute. Turn up the heat and add your streaky smoked rashers if using. With the heat still high add the mince bit by bit to brown it off. As long as you keep breaking the mince down as it browns I don’t see the need of dirtying another pan to brown off in batches. You also leave a lot of flavour if you brown in another pan.

Season this with freshly ground black pepper and sea salt.
When the meat is brown add the rest of the vegetables and give it a few minutes to cook through. Add your tomatoes and puree and reduce the temperature and let it simmer until the sauce has thickened ½ / 1 hour. Add your herb of choice and simmer for another 5 minutes.

At this point you can serve up the spaghetti Bolognese and freeze two batches for another day.

I usually make a white sauce (melt 2 tablespoons of butter and add 2 tablespoons of flour and slowly add about 400mls of milk whisking all the time to make a creamy white sauce. Add some white pepper and salt and a pinch of nutmeg) and make up a lasagne using half of what is left by layering lasagne sheets, minced beef sauce and lasagne sheet, white sauce minced beef sauce, lasagne sheets and white sauce topped with some cheese.

With the remainder I add two tea spoons of ground coriander and two teaspoons of cumin, a teaspoon or two of crushed dried chillies, a teaspoon of sugar and a drained tin of kidney beans – mix it all in and pop in the fridge when cold or freeze it for another day. Defrost and heat slowly on a low heat while you cook some rice to serve.