Author: Sophie

Moroccan chicken and cous cous

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A fragrant, gently spiced, one-pot dish. Makes a straighforward, comforting, warming weeknight dinner when you’re feeling a bit tired and emotional. Feeds 4

  • 6-8 boned chicken thighs (with or without skin, up to you)
  • 2 tsp turmeric
  • 1 tbsp garam masala
  • 1 tbsp veg oil
  • Salt
  • 2 onions, finely sliced
  • 4 garlic cloves, sliced
  • 2 large carrots, cut into chunky slices
  • 1 red pepper, cut into pieces
  • Handful of dried apricots, chopped into quarters
  • 500ml chicken stock
  • 1 preserved lemon, flesh discarded, skin finely chopped (don’t worry if you haven’t got this, just leave it out)
  • Handful of green olives, left whole
  • ½ lemon, juiced and zested
  • 250g cous cous
  • Handful of pine nuts, toasted
  • Bunch of flat leaf parsley, chopped
  1. Mix the spices and a couple of big pinches of salt in a small bowl
  2. Coat the chicken in half of this spice mix
  3. Heat oil in a big saucepan with a lid and fry the chicken (skin side down first) until brown on both sides. You’ll need to do this in batches.
  4. Remove from the pan and set to one side
  5. Add the onions and garlic to the pan and cook for a couple of mins, stirring them together until coated with the spiced oil
  6. Add the red pepper and carrots and cook for another couple of mins
  7. Tip in the other half of the spice mix and the dried apricots. Stir together and cook for 1 min
  8. Pour over the chicken stock, add the preserved lemon and olives. Stir to combine everything, scraping any brown bits off the bottom of the pan
  9. Bring to the boil, then nestle the chicken on top, (skin-side up if your chicken has skin)
  10. Turn the heat down to a low simmer, stick the lid on and cook for 30 mins
  11. Turn the heat off, take the chicken out and stir in the lemon juice, zest and cous cous
  12. Cover the pan and leave to stand for 5 mins
  13. Fluff the lovely, yellow cous cous and stir through the parsley and pine nuts
  14. Serve with the chicken on top, crowned with a dollop of harissa yogurt (3 tbsp plain yogurt + 1 tsp harissa paste)

This recipe is very forgiving. Which is what you need when you’re feeling a bit tired. Go ahead and add more of what you like, less of what you don’t. Don’t use olives. Change the meat. Don’t use meat at all. Add other root veg – celeriac or baby turnips work well – or runner beans. Exchange the apricots for prunes. Whatever suits.

Garlic parsnips

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My mother-in-law’s recipe, extremely garlicky and the very best way to eat parsnips. Seriously, she converted me from roasting them and that’s saying something.

  • 4 parsnips, scrubbed but not peeled, cut into chunky batons
  • 4 cloves garlic, peeled and thinly sliced
  • 30g butter
  • Salt and plenty of black pepper
  1. Melt the butter over a medium heat in a saucepan with a lid
  2. Once sizzling, add the garlic and stir fry in the butter for a minute until it turns golden. Don’t take your eyes off it or it’ll burn
  3. Tip in the parsnips, turn the heat down and turn them through the garlic and butter. Season well
  4. Add a splash of water, stick the lid on and cook for about 15 mins, taking the lid off every now and again to stir, check on their progress and hungrily inhale the delicious smell coming out of the pan

Once cooked, they should be soft with crispy, golden edges. Some bits may be more crispy, some may not be golden at all, some may be starting to fall apart completely. This is all fine.

Any leftovers make the most brilliant soup. Just heat through, add a little stock and cream and whizz up.

Indian-spiced masala baked beans

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Baked beans are obviously brilliant as they are, but this takes them up a level! Incredibly quick to make, and spicily delicious on top of almost anything. Thick slices of sourdough toast with a dollop of yogurt perched on top, or a fried egg and a sprinkle of fresh coriander. Or just scoop it up with hot, flaky parathas. Feeds 2.

  • 2 tbsp veg oil
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 1 large garlic clove, minced
  • 2 cm fresh ginger, minced or finely chopped
  • 1 large red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
  • 2 tsp tomato puree
  • Pinch dried chilli flakes
  • 1 tsp ground coriander
  • ½ tsp ground cumin
  • ½ tsp ground turmeric
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp sugar
  • 1 tin Heinz baked beans (I know it shouldn’t matter what brand they are but it does!)
  • 100g baby spinach (if you fancy it)
  1. Heat the oil in a saucepan on low and add the onion, ginger and fresh chilli
  2. Cook for 5 mins, stirring, until golden and soft
  3. Add the garlic and stir in. Cook for a couple of mins then add the tomato puree, spices and salt
  4. Stir until well combined, cooking for another minute
  5. Then add the beans and a couple of tbsp water, and heat through
  6. If using the spinach, stir through at the end until just wilted

Quick pickled chillis

~ Sophie ~ 1 Comment

Spiky, spicy, piquant. The perfect topping for a cheese sandwich, pizza, jacket potato. Anything.

  • 120ml white vinegar (or cider vinegar)
  • 120ml water
  • 1 clove garlic, left whole but squashed
  • 2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp salt
  • 5-6 large (120g) chillis, thinly sliced
  1. Put the vinegar, water, garlic, brown sugar and salt in a small saucepan and bring to the boil
  2. Add the chillis, stir in and remove from the heat. Allow to sit for 10 mins
  3. Pour the chillis and pickling liquid into a clean, sterilised jar, leave to cool and then store in the fridge

This will keep in the fridge for a couple of months, getting more pickled as time goes on

Strawberry mousse

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A retro classic. Cloud-like wafts of pale pink, strawberry-flavoured fluff. Light, summery, the perfect end to a feast. Makes 6

  • 350g strawberries
  • 2 tsp icing sugar
  • 4 egg whites
  • 60g caster sugar
  • 150ml double cream
  1. Puree the strawberries and mix with the icing sugar, then sieve to remove the pips
  2. In a clean bowl, whisk the egg whites to soft peaks and then add the caster sugar a tsp at a time
  3. Continue whisking until you have stiff, glossy peaks
  4. In another bowl, whisk the double cream to soft peaks
  5. Fold the cream gently into the egg whites, then fold in the strawberry puree
  6. Spoon the mousse into individual glasses and chill for at least 2 hours before serving

You can make it with any other soft fruit if you prefer. Recommend raspberries or apricots

Baked onions

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So much more than the sum of its 3 ingredients. A simple concoction that gives rise to a rich, creamy, savoury delight

  • 4 medium/large onions
  • 300ml double cream
  • Large handful of grated parmesan
  1. Pre-heat the oven to 150C fan (170C)
  2. Peel the onions, keeping as much of the root area intact as possible
  3. Pop into a saucepan. Cover with water and bring to the boil
  4. Turn down to a simmer, cover and cook for 15 mins until tender. Lift them out gently and put onto kitchen towel to dry
  5. Cut each one in half lengthways from root to tip and place cut-side down in an ovenproof dish
  6. Pour the cream over the onions, season well with salt and pepper and sprinke over the parmesan
  7. Bake for 25-30 mins until golden and bubbling

Serve over pasta, with a big pile of broccoli or alongside a simple grilled chicken breast

Meal planning

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I don’t know about you, but I like starting the week with a full fridge and ending it with an empty one, without having to throw anything away in between. But the only way I can manage to do this is to make a plan, shop for it and then eat it as planned. It sounds mildly obsessive, and perhaps it is, but it works. And it certainly doesn’t limit what we eat.

Before heading to the supermarket, we decide what we feel like eating each evening of the week, write it down like a menu, and then create a shopping list for those specific meals. Obviously some stuff gets bought every week – cucumber, cherry tomatoes, seedy bread, milk and cheddar cheese are always on the list, amongst many other things. But everything else on the list is destined for specific meals, so there’s no waste. Nothing is bought on a whim, so nothing lurks forgotten in the back of the fridge getting hairy and slimy before being thrown out while you breathe desperately through your mouth to avoid the smell.

We have a whiteboard in the hall which serves as our shopping list and record of reminders of the week’s appointments and chores. And the bottom of it is always reserved for the list of our evening meals.

It gives me a sense of comfort to know what delicous dinners are coming up – and of course that we have the ingredients in stock to make them. I contentedly observe the quantity of food in the fridge reducing as we eat our way through the week.

No question, this way of planning leaves little space for improvisation, but at the end of a long day at work (and they are all so long at the moment), it makes my life much simpler to not have to decide what to cook on the spot.

I usually make something slow cooked on Sunday for eating later in the week, but almost everything else will be something either easy (jacket potatoes) or quick (egg fried rice) or both.

Of course, it really helps that I like cooking. It’s a bit like meditation for me. The state of absorbed concentration, the creative nature of changing ingredients into food, the happy passing of time at the stove. And of course, at the end, there’s something delicous to bring to the table (or, slightly shamefacedly to the sofa) and share with my people.

Ham jambalaya

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Quite a long list of ingredients, but quick and simple to make. Warming, highly-flavoured, tasty.

  • 2 tbsp veg oil
  • 125g chicken mini fillets
  • 125g smoked sausage/kabanos, sliced
  • 125g smoked ham, cubed
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 red pepper, chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 2 pieces celery, chopped
  • 1 large green chilli
  • 2 tbsp tomato puree
  • 1 tin tomatoes
  • 300ml chicken stock
  • ½ tsp hot smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • ½ tsp black pepper
  • 1 tsp oregano
  • ½ tsp thyme
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 200g long-grain white rice
  • Fresh parsley, chopped
  1. Heat veg oil in deep lidded frying pan
  2. Add onion, garlic, peppers, chilli and celery and cook until translucent and soft
  3. Add tomato puree, stir in and cook for a minute
  4. Pour in the stock and stir until all combined thoroughly, scraping all the brown bits off the bottom of the pan
  5. Add the seasoning, tinned tomatoes, sugar and salt. Put lid on and cook over low-medium heat for 10 mins.
  6. Add the rice, ham and sausage, combining thoroughly
  7. Place chicken fillets on top and push them just under the surface of the liquid
  8. Put the lid on and cook for 20 mins
  9. Once it’s all cooked, slice up chicken, spinkle in chopped parsley and stir together

Serve with garlic sauteed spinach

Chocolate topsy turvy pudding

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A delectable pudding where a combination of cocoa powder, hot water and sugar poured over the top of a chocolate sponge batter magically sinks below the surface while it bakes to make a rich sauce underneath. Serve the hot pudding with vanilla ice cream and everyone will be your friend!

  • 175g unsalted butter at room temperature, plus extra for greasing the dish
  • 300g soft light brown sugar
  • 3 large free-range eggs, beaten
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 175g plain flour
  • 40g cocoa powder, plus 2 tbsp
  • 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • Pinch salt
  • 3 tbsp milk
  1. Pre-heat the oven to 150C fan (170C)
  2. Grease the inside of an ovenproof dish with a butter
  3. Cream the butter with 225g of the soft light brown sugar until pale and light, scraping down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula from time to time to make sure you catch it all
  4. Gradually add the beaten eggs, mixing well between each addition and then add the vanilla extract and mix again to combine
  5. Sift the flour, 40g cocoa, bicarb and a pinch of salt into the mixture and mix again until just combined
  6. Add the milk and mix again until smooth
  7. Spoon the mixture into the prepared dish and level with the back of a spoon
  8. Now for the sauce! In a small bowl mix together the remaining 75g soft light brown sugar, 2 tbsp cocoa powder and 6 tbsp hot water
  9. Spoon this chocolatey syrup over the chocolate sponge mixture and place the dish in a large, deep roasting tin.
  10. Boil the kettle and pour boiling water into the tin, around the dish so that the water comes halfway up the sides of the dish.
  11. Carefully slide the roasting tin into the oven on the middle shelf.
  12. Bake for about 40 mins, or until the pudding is well-risen, the top is nicely cracked and a skewer inserted into the middle of the pudding comes out with a moist crumb.

Hummous

~ Sophie ~ 4 Comments

A scoopy classic. So much more delicious than buying it, and much cheaper too!

  • 1 tin of chickpeas
  • 3 tbsp tahini
  • Juice of ½ lemon
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 small clove garlic, finely minced/grated

I always use a stick blender for this. You can use that, a food processor or an old-fashioned fork (if you don’t mind it chunky).

  1. Drain the chickpeas, retaining around 60ml (¼ cup) of the liquid from the tin
  2. Tip the chickpeas into a bowl, add all the other ingredients plus the chickpea liquid that you kept
  3. Whizz/mash/puree the mixture until it’s the consistency you like. Taste, adjust the seasoning

All you need then is a stack of toasted pitta strips or carrot sticks and some time to yourself.

Or you can put it in a nice bowl, drizzle with decent olive oil and sprinkle with paprika. And then go to town on it.

For flavoured hummous, just whizz in some roasted peppers, or roasted carrots, coriander and parsley, or Moroccan spices.