Author: Sophie

Playdough

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Not for eating. But very fun to play with. My mum’s recipe, a staple of my childhood.

  • 125g plain flour (1 cup)
  • 100g salt (½ cup)
  • 230ml water (1 cup)
  • 2 tsp cream of tartar (you can do without this if you don’t have any, but the playdough won’t keep for as long)
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • A few drops of food colouring
  1. Whisk all the ingredients together in a saucepan
  2. Cook over a low heat until the dough leaves the sides of the pan
  3. Tip out, knead briefly and leave to cool before you make floppy animals and flowers with it
  4. Store for later in an airtight container and refrigerate

Sticky spare ribs

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Sticky, saucy, seriously gorgeous. Beloved by everyone who tastes them. And cheap too!

  • 15-20 pork spare ribs
  • 125ml sweet chilli sauce
  • 2 tbsp redcurrant jelly
  • 60ml soy sauce
  • 1 orange, juice and zest
  • 3 star anise
  • 4 cm fresh ginger, sliced into chunky rounds (don’t bother peeling it)
  • 8 cloves garlic, squashed and left whole
  1. Mix together all the ingredients except the meat
  2. Put the ribs into a large ziplock bag, pour over the marinade, seal the bag (excluding as much air as poss) and squish it all about to coat the ribs. Pop in the fridge and leave to marinate for at least a couple of hours, if not a full 24
  3. Pre-heat the oven to 140C fan (160C)
  4. Line a deep roasting tin with foil (you’ll thank me at washing-up time!) and tip the whole contents of bag into the tin. Cover with foil and cook for 2 hours, turning the ribs a couple of times in the sauce and checking it’s not drying out
  5. Then turn the oven up to 180C fan (200C) and remove the foil cover
  6. Cook for further 30 mins to caramelise the ribs and reduce the sauce to a sticky glaze, turning them over in it to coat

Marmalade, almond and cinnamon cake

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An unusual and extremely delicious combination. A dream of a cake – moist, sweet, tart, nutty and fragrant.

  • 250g unsalted butter
  • 250g golden caster sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 175g plain flour
  • 2½ tsp baking powder
  • 50g ground almonds
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 200g fine-cut marmalade
  • 50g flaked almonds, toasted until golden
  • 140ml double cream (if wanted)
  • Icing sugar and crystallised orange slices to decorate
  1. Set oven at 160C fan (180C)
  2. Grease and line two 8″ sandwich tins
  3. Beat together butter and sugar until fluffy
  4. Beat in eggs one at a time, then stir in flour, ground almonds, cinnamon and baking powder. Plus a pinch of salt
  5. Fold in 150g of the marmalade and the toasted almonds
  6. Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins and bake for approx 35 mins until golden and well-risen
  7. When cool, whip the cream (if using) and sandwich with the remaining marmalade and cream
  8. Decorate with crystallised orange slices and dust with icing sugar

Pea and coriander falafels

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Fresh, green, tasty morsels. Perfect in a pitta with a spoonful of tzatziki. Makes 24. Up to you how many people that serves…

  • 250g frozen peas
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 small onion, finely chopped
  • 1 clove garlic, minced
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp sesame seeds
  • 1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
  • Handful of fresh coriander, finely chopped
  • 1 egg
  • 50g dried breadcrumbs
  • Salt and pepper
  • Veg oil, for frying
  1. Place the peas in a large bowl and cover with boiling water from the kettle. Leave to stand for a minute, then drain in a colander
  2. Heat the olive oil in a small frying pan and gently cook the onion for 5 mins until starting to soften
  3. Stir in the garlic, ground cumin, sesame seeds and chilli, and cook for a further 2-3 mins
  4. Tip the shallot mixture into a food processor with the drained peas and blitz for a few seconds until coarsely ground (or use a wand blender)
  5. Add the coriander and egg, and blitz again until well combined
  6. Scoop out of the food processor and into a bowl. Stir in the breadcrumbs and season.
  7. Take teaspoons of the mixture and make 24 balls, then flatten them gently
  8. Heat a couple of tbsp veg oil in a large frying pan and fry the falafels in batches for a minute on each side until golden on the outside

Delicious hot or cold

Barbecue sauce

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My dad’s fabulous bbq sauce, tangy, deep and brilliantly delicious. Use it to marinade and also to accompany anything barbecued, or just sneakily eat it straight from the pan with a spoon before you get caught.

  • 1 onion, roughly chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, peeled
  • 1 red pepper, roughly chopped
  • 1 stick celery, roughly chopped
  • 3 tbsp veg oil
  • 3 tbsp soy sauce
  • 3 tbsp worcestershire sauce
  • 250ml water
  • 2 tbsp vinegar
  • 4 tbsp tomato and chilli relish
  • 4 tbsp brown sugar
  • 200g ketchup
  • 1 tsp dijon mustard
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 60ml lemon juice
  • 2 dashes tabasco or 1 tsp sriracha
  1. Mince the onion, pepper, celery and garlic together in a blender
  2. Heat oil in a saucepan and add the veg, cook over a low heat until completely soft and golden
  3. Add all the rest of the ingredients and cook over low heat for 30 mins until thick, deeply russet-red and intensely flavoured

Bang bang chicken

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A joyful salad! Will make your mouth giggle with happily contrasting flavours and textures. Spicy, peanutty, crunchy, fresh and lovely.

  • 2 chicken breasts, poached and then allowed to go cold. (To poach the chicken, use 2 tbsp soy sauce and water to cover. Add ginger slices, a garlic clove and lemongrass to flavour the liquid. Put chicken into the pan, bring to the boil and then simmer for 10 mins)
  • Large handful of cashew nuts, toasted
  • Cooked, fine rice noodles
  • Finely sliced salad veg including cucumber, carrot, radishes, spring onion, cabbage, mange tout and bean sprouts
  • Red chilli, finely sliced
  • 4 tbsp rice vinegar
  • 2 tbsp soy sauce
  • Fresh coriander leaves
  • 1 tbsp veg oil
  • 1 clove garlic, grated
  • 1 tsp grated ginger
  • ½ tsp dried chilli flakes
  • 1 heaped tbsp brown sugar
  • 3 heaped tbsp crunchy peanut butter
  • 1 tbsp tahini/sesame paste
  • 1 tbsp light soy sauce
  • Juice of ½ lime
  • 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
  • 100-150ml water
  1. Make the salad by shredding the chicken and prepping the veg. Cook and cool the noodles
  2. For the sauce, heat the oil gently in a small pan. Add garlic, ginger and chilli flakes and cook until just starting to colour
  3. Add brown sugar, tahini, peanut butter, soy sauce and lime juice and warm through until sugar is dissolved
  4. Loosen with the water and, once it’s got to pourable consistency, take off the heat and stir through the sesame oil
  5. Place salad and noodles on a plate, drizzle with the rice vinegar and soy sauce and toss through. Then top with the chicken shreds and cashew nuts. Dress with the peanut sauce and garnish with fresh coriander and red chilli

Fruit slump

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A New England tradition and a beautiful way to use up any slightly-past-its-best fruit. Except bananas, but you can make banana bread with those. My fave versions is with apricots or peaches, but almost any fruit works. Feeds 2 with leftovers. Or possibly just seconds.

  • Poached fruit
  • 45g caster sugar
  • 100g flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • 40g butter, cold
  • 80 ml milk
  • 1 tbsp flaked almonds
  • Flavour with orange zest, cinnamon, almond or vanilla extract – whatever works with the fruit you’ve chosen
  1. Pre-heat oven to 170C fan.
  2. Put fruit into an overproof dish
  3. Put the flour, baking powder, sugar and flavourings into a bowl
  4. Grate in the butter and rub in with your fingertips until it resembles breadcrumbs
  5. Stir in the milk to make a soft dough
  6. Blob large spoonfuls (slumps!) of the mixture over the fruit and scatter with almonds.
  7. Put the dish onto an oven tray and bake for 30 mins until the topping is crisp and golden. 

Pork chops with apples

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Comforting, appley, mustardy yumminess. Quick and straightforward as a weeknight supper. Feeds 2.

  • 2-4 pork steaks
  • 1 onion, sliced finely into half moons
  • 1 eating apple, peeled, cored, quartered and sliced
  • 1 tbsp garlic oil
  • 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
  • 200ml single cream
  • Salt and pepper
  1. Heat the oil in a deep pan over a high heat
  2. Brown the pork steaks quickly and remove from the pan
  3. Turn the heat down, add the onion and apple to the pan and cook gently until softened
  4. Add mustard and cream and stir together. Season well
  5. Nestle the pork in the appley oniony creamy sauce and pop the lid on
  6. Simmer for 15-20 mins until the pork is cooked through

Serve with rice and green beans

Chicken and chorizo paella

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Will fill your kitchen with the most mouthwatering aromas while it cooks, and your mouth with dancing, contrasting flavours when you eat it. Feeds a hungry 2

  • 2 chicken thigh fillets, cut into small pieces
  • 1 chorizo sausage, cut into small pieces
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 1 red pepper, chopped
  • 1 tbsp garlic oil
  • Pinch of chilli flakes
  • Pinch of saffron
  • 2 tsp paprika
  • Handful of frozen peas
  • Handful of chopped fresh parsley
  • 150g paella rice
  • 500ml chicken stock
  • Lemon
  1. Heat the garlic oil in a deep frying pan and fry the chorizo until it starts to release its oil
  2. Add the chicken and brown in the russet-red oil
  3. Remove the meat from the pan and add the onion and red pepper
  4. Cook until softened then add the rice to the pan and stir it into the oil and veg
  5. Turn the heat up, add stock and spices
  6. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 mins
  7. Stir the meat through the rice and cook for a further 10 mins
  8. Turn the heat off, add the peas, parsley and a squeeze of lemon
  9. Cover the pan and leave to rest for a final 5 mins. Serve immediately

Spiced carrot chutney

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This chutney makes cheese sing with joy. And who doesn’t want that? Plus it glows a most beautiful, vibrant orange colour. People constantly ask when I’m making more so they can come to my house and steal it.

  • 1.8kg carrots, grated
  • 110g ginger, peeled and finely chopped
  • 1 litre cider vinegar
  • 8 dried chillis (or 1 tsp dried chilli flakes)
  • 2 tbsp coriander seeds, coarsely crushed
  • 4 cinnamon sticks
  • 2 star anise
  • 60g sea salt flakes
  • 3 heads garlic, cloves separated and peeled
  • 500 ml water
  • 1.5 kg granulated sugar 
  1. In a large bowl, mix together the grated carrot, ginger, cider vinegar, chillis, coriander seeds, cinnamon sticks, star anise and salt. But not the garlic
  2. Cover the bowl with a plate or a clean tea towel and set aside to marinate for 24 hours
  3. Next day (probably giggling with excited anticipation), pour the carrot mixture into a large preserving pan
  4. Add the water, stir and bring to the boil. Then reduce the heat and simmer for 10 mins
  5. Stir in the sugar and garlic cloves, bring back to the boil and boil hard for around 45 mins, stirring occasionally, until the mixture becomes thick and jammy. Don’t be scared to properly whack the heat up. If you are gentle, it will take a lot longer
  6. Take off the heat and ladle at once into hot sterilised jars with tightly fitting lids. I don’t bother removing the star anise, chilli, cinnamon and garlic but by all means do if you prefer!

I like to sterilise my jars in the microwave – 3 mins on high with an inch of water in the bottom of each one – but you can also do it in the oven at 140C for 10 mins. Don’t forget to wash the lids in hot soapy water too and then pour some boiling water over them too for good measure.