Month: Nov 2022

Courgette herb muffins

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

Perfect savoury lunch/brunch/soup dunker/snack/on-the-go breakfast. Adapt as you like, it’s very forgiving! Makes 12

  • 1 large courgette or 2 small ones
  • 2 spring onions, finely chopped
  • 25g fresh herbs, finely chopped (parsley and dill are a lovely combination, but you could go with some oregano, marjoram, mint – whatever soft herbs you have in the fridge. Or just 1 tsp of dried herbs of your choice)
  • 225g plain flour
  • 3 tsp baking powder
  • 100g cheddar cheese
  • Salt and pepper
  • 2 eggs
  • 125ml milk
  • 50ml olive oil
  1. Pre-heat oven to 180C fan (200C) and fill a 12-hole muffin tin with muffin cases
  2. Grate the courgette and then dump the pile of gratings into the centre of a clean tea towel
  3. Gather the tea towel into a pouch surrounding the courgette, then (over the sink) twist and squeeze out as much liquid as you can
  4. Dump the now-much-drier courgette into a large bowl and add the spring onion, herbs, flour, baking powder, cheese, salt and pepper
  5. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk and olive oil
  6. Pour the wet into the dry and use a spoon to combine all the ingredients until just mixed
  7. Spoon into the muffin cases, splitting the thick batter evenly between the 12
  8. Bake for 20 mins until the tops are golden and they’re cooked through
  9. Cool in the tin and them tumble out into a basket to serve or into an airtight container to keep for later. They also freeze really well

Spinach and ricotta cannelloni

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Sometimes you just need tubes of pasta full of iron-rich spinach and creamy cheese, enveloped in a rich garlicky tomato sauce. And of course topped with melted toasty cheese

  • 400g spinach
  • 6 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 egg
  • 30g parmesan, grated
  • 250g ricotta
  • 30g basil, roughly chopped
  • 150g (around 15 tubes) dry cannelloni
  • 4 cloves garlic, finely sliced
  • 400g passata
  • ½ tsp sugar
  • Salt and pepper
  • 40g cheddar, grated
  1. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large deep pan
  2. Sauté the spinach until it wilts then tip into a sieve – you can do this in stages if the spinach doesn’t doesn’t fit at once
  3. Press and squeeze out all the liquid from the spinach
  4. Then leave to cool for a bit, and then chop the spinach
  5. Put the spinach in a bowl, add the egg, parmesan, ricotta and half the basil
  6. Stir together well and set to one side
  7. Heat the other 4 tbsp oil over a medium heat and add the garlic slices
  8. Sauté until garlic is golden and then add the passata, sugar plus half a tin of water
  9. Stir together, season with salt and plenty of black pepper
  10. Heat to a bubble, cook for 5 mins and then stir in the rest of the basil
  11. Turn off the heat and set to one side
  12. Pre-heat the oven to 170C fan/190C
  13. Use a teaspoon (or, if you’re fancy, a piping bag) to fill the cannelloni tubes one at a time. There should be enough mixture to the fill each one to overflowing
  14. As you fill them, place the filled tubes neatly in rows in an ovenproof ceramic dish
  15. Pour the tomato sauce over the top and sprinkle with grated cheddar
  16. Bake for 45 mins until the top is browned and the pasta is soft when you stick a sharp knife into one of the tubes
  17. Leave to stand for 5 mins before serving so as not to burn the inside of your mouth off with molten sauce

Thai green curry paste

~ Sophie ~ 1 Comment

Fresh, spicy, the basis of a delicious green curry. It’ll poke you in the tongue and leave you wanting more. Makes enough for 4 or 5 curries, keep it in the fridge

  • 1 tbsp coriander seeds
  • 2 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tsp black peppercorns
  • 6 cloves garlic, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 5 stalks lemongrass, trimmed and roughly chopped
  • 1 inch ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 2 inches galangal, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 1 shallot, roughly chopped
  • 20g fresh coriander
  • Zest of 2 limes
  • Juice of ½ lime
  • 7 green birdseye chillis
  • 3 green medium chillis
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce
  1. Toast the coriander and cumin seeds in a dry pan until fragrant
  2. Use a spice grinder to finely grind the coriander, cumin and black peppercorns
  3. Then use a mini food processor to finely grind and combine all the other ingredients, stirring in the powdered spices at the end

Japanese-style sesame salad dressing

~ Sophie ~ 1 Comment

Tangy, creamy, deeply delicious. Japanese flavours with no pretentions of authenticity – but it makes the perfect dressing for a salad to eat alongside a katsu curry.

  • 2 tbsp sesame seeds, toasted in a dry pan
  • 1 tbsp tahini
  • 2 tbsp mayo
  • 2 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • ½ tsp sugar
  • ½ tsp sesame oil
  • 1 tsp mirin
  1. Thoroughly mix all ingredients
  2. Use to dress a salad of crisp lettuce, pickled ginger, cucumber, radish and spring onion