Author: Sophie

Smoky tomato bean casserole with double-corn polenta

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Sounds boring and worthy, tastes amazingly comforting and delicious. Best eaten sitting on the sofa after a long day

  • 1 tsp butter
  • 2 tsp veg oil
  • 1 onion, finely chopped
  • 2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 400g passata
  • 1 heaped tsp dijon mustard
  • 1 tbsp sherry vinegar
  • 1 tbsp tomato puree
  • 3 shakes worcestershire sauce
  • 1 heaped tsp paprika
  • ½ tsp smoked paprika
  • ½ tsp pul biber (or a pinch of dried chilli flakes)
  • 1 tsp dried oregano
  • 1 tsp dried sage
  • ½ tsp brown sugar
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 tin of beans, drained (I like borlotti because they’re chunky and they look nice)
  • 1 tin (or pouch) of cooked black lentils or beluga lentils
  1. Put a saucepan on a medium heat and warm the oil and butter together
  2. Add the onion and garlic and cook for 7-8 mins until soft and golden
  3. Add all the rest of the ingredients except the beans and lentils. Stir thoroughly, bring to a bubble and then simmer for 30 mins
  4. Add the beans and lentils, stir in and cook for a further 15 mins
  5. Serve with polenta (or rice, or pasta or bread or whatever – it’s tasty with anything)

While the beans cook, make your polenta

  • 400ml vegetable stock, or water
  • 100g fine quick-cook polenta
  • 1 heaped tbsp butter
  • 80g sweetcorn (tinned or frozen and defrosted)
  • 20g parmesan, finely grated
  • Salt and pepper
  • Grated nutmeg
  1. Bring the stock to the boil in a large saucepan
  2. Pour in the polenta and whisk in to ensure it’s smooth. Cook for about 10 mins, stirring all the time
  3. Once cooked, add the corn, butter, cheese and nutmeg, season with salt and plenty of black pepper
  4. Taste for seasoning and serve in a deep bowl with your bean casserole and some green veg on the side

Incredibly crunchy crackly pork belly

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Imagine the most deliciously tender meat, crowned with the crackliest, crunchiest crackling ever. That’s what this is.

  • 500g piece of pork belly (no bones)
  • 2 tsp shaoxing rice wine
  • ½ tsp five spice powder
  • ½ tsp pepper
  • ¼ tsp fine salt
  • 2 tsp rice vinegar
  • 150g fine salt
  1. Combine the five spice, pepper and salt
  2. Turn the pork belly skin-side down and rub the flesh with shaoxing, then sprinkle with the spice powder all over except the skin
  3. Flip the pork right-side up and place in an open container. Dry the skin off with paper towels and leave uncovered in the fridge overnight to properly dry out
  4. Pre-heat the oven to 150C fan (170C) and remove pork from fridge
  5. Put the pork onto a sheet of foil and fold the sides up around it to enclose the meat snugly, leaving a rim sticking up around ½ cm above the pork skin
  6. Place your pork package on a baking tray and brush skin with rice vinegar. Then carefully spread the salt over the skin in an even layer, trying not to let too much fall down the sides of the package
  7. Roast for 1½ hours, then remove the pork from oven and transfer the foiled pork onto a chopping board
  8. Turn oven up to 240C fan
  9. Remove the foil and scrape the salt off, thoroughly brushing the top to remove all of it
  10. Place the now-nude pork on a rack over the same baking tray and, once the oven is to temperature, roast for a further 30 mins until the crackling is golden and crispy
  11. In high excitement, turn the crackly pork onto its skin-side to cut into squares. Try not to eat it all before it gets to the table

Serve with rice, pak choi and a vinegary-spicy dip or sauce to counteract the salty fattiness

And by all means exchange the SE Asian flavours for Western ones for a different kind of dish

Mayak eggs

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Korean marinated eggs. Silky smooth, savoury, spicy. It’s like Eggs 2.0

  • 4 eggs
  • 4 tbsp soy sauce
  • 4 tbsp water
  • 1 tsp chilli flakes
  • 1 tbsp mirin
  • 2 tbsp honey
  • 1 tsp sesame oil
  • 4 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 birdseye chilli, sliced
  • 1 spring onion, finely chopped
  • 1 tsp sesame seeds
  1. Put the eggs in a small saucepan, cover with cold water, put the lid on and bring to the boil. Then turn the heat right down and simmer for 6 mins. Remove the eggs, run them under the cold tap for 1 min and then peel the shells off
  2. Add the rest of the ingredients together in a large jar, add the peeled eggs and leave in the fridge for 48 hours to marinate before eating with sticky rice and cucumber salad.

Chocolate brownies

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A magical concoction gifted by Katherine, whose recipe writing style is quite different from mine! But the results speak for themselves – brilliantly rich, chocolatey brownies – and super-simple to make.

  • 150g dark chocolate
  • 170g butter
  • 3 eggs
  • 100g caster sugar
  • 150g soft light brown sugar
  • 100g ground almonds
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • Pinch of salt
  1. Pre-heat oven to 170C fan (190C) and line a baking tin
  2. Melt the chocolate and butter, stir together
  3. Whisk eggs for 2 mins until pale and fluffy
  4. Add the sugar and whisk for another 3 mins
  5. Fold in the ground almonds, vanilla, salt, melted butter and chocolate
  6. Scrape into the lined tin
  7. Bake for 40 mins until the top is cracked
  8. Cool in the tin, then turn out and cut into squares
  9. Store in the fridge if you’re not going to eat them straight away

Granola

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Crunchy clusters of oats, nuts and seeds. Not just for breakfast – for general scrunchy munching when you have a snacky moment

  • 200g jumbo rolled oats
  • 100g chopped hazelnuts
  • 50g flaked almond
  • 50g mixed seeds (pumpkin, sunflower)
  • 2 tbsp ground flax seed
  • 3 tbsp rapeseed oil
  • ½ tsp flaky salt
  • 120 ml maple syrup
  • ½ tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1 large egg white
  • 150g raisins
  • 50g rice crispies
  1. Pre-heat oven to 140C fan (160C)
  2. Combine all ingredients except the egg white, raisins and rice crispies in a large bowl, tossing to coat evenly
  3. Whisk the egg white until frothy then stir into the granola mixture
  4. Spread it in a single layer on a lined baking sheet (not too spread out though, it all needs to be touching so it can form clumps)
  5. Bake for 30 mins and then use a large spatula to turn over sections of the granola carefully
  6. Rotate the pan and bake for a further 20 mins until golden
  7. Once it’s evenly browned and turn the oven off and leave it in there with the door ajar until it’s cool
  8. Once completely cool, break the granola up into spoon-sized pieces. Stir in the raisins and rice crispies
  9. Store in an airtight container

Bubbles!

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The very thing for running around in the sunshine after.

  • 40ml cheap, runny washing up liquid (the thicker ones might be better for washing up, but they make smaller bubbles so…)
  • 200ml water
  • 10ml glycerine
  1. Mix these ingredients together well
  2. Test the mixture by creating a large bubble – bend a clean metal coat hanger into a roughly circular hoop and dip the hoop in the mixture and lift it out. A thin bubble film should be suspended in the hanger which, if you swing the hanger around in an exuberant circle, should make a big bubble.
  3. If no film forms on the hanger, add some more detergent and mix together again. If a good-sized bubble doesn appear when you swing around, add a little more glycerine.

Essentially you can make any amount with the proportions 4 parts detergent / 20 parts water / 1 part glycerine

Hot toddy

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The ultimate throat-soother for the covid- or other lurgy-ridden

  • 2 tbsp whisky
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 heaped tsp honey
  • 1 pinch cinnamon
  1. Put all the ingredients into a mug and top up with boiling water
  2. Stir well and drink while it’s still piping hot

Jollof rice

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I overheard a man and woman talking as they walked down Tottenham Court Road the other day, and the man said “my mum’s love language is jollof rice”. And I feel as though that is such an incredible endorsement of that woman and her cooking. This version is like a savoury expression of love. Complex, but worth it. Feeds 4

  • 250g basmati rice 

For the broth

  • 1 l water
  • 2 chicken stock cubes
  • 1 tsp white peppercorns
  • 2 heaped tsp medium curry powder
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • 2″ piece fresh ginger, thickly sliced
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 1 tbsp fish sauce

For the ata (base sauce)

  • 2 red peppers, roughly chopped
  • 3 tbsp veg oil
  • 1 onion, peeled and finely diced
  • 6 garlic cloves, minced
  • 3 tbsp tomato puree
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1-2 tbsp hot sauce
  1. Put the broth ingredients in a heavy-based saucepan and bring to a boil
  2. Then turn down the heat and cook for 30 mins with the lid off
  3. Meanwhile, puree the diced peppers with a hand blender or a mini processor until smooth, then scrape into a frying pan 
  4. Dry fry over medium heat, stirring regularly, for around 15-20 mins until reduced to a thick, deep red paste
  5. Scoop the paste out into a bowl and rinse the pan, then return it to a medium heat with the oil, and add the onion
  6. Sauté for 8-10 mins until the onions start to caramelise
  7. Add the garlic, tomato puree and smoked paprika, stir and fry for a couple of mins then add the red pepper paste and the hot sauce
  8. Combine gently and cook for a further 5-10 mins, stirring occasionally, then take off the heat.
  9. Fish the peppercorns, ginger and bay leaves out of the stock and bring it back to the boil
  10. Stir in the ata and simmer for 5 mins
  11. Then tip the rice into the saucepan, stir well, bring to the boil, then cover and leave to cook for 10 mins
  12. Turn off the heat and leave the pan covered without touching it for a further 5 mins

Serve with grilled chicken and cabbage slaw. The rice is the star of the show here!

Gluten free chocolate fudge pudding

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A gluten free, slightly-adapted version of a dessert from the brilliant and incredibly talented Ravneet Gill. This has all the rich fudginess of a decadent pudding with none of the dry crumbliness that you often get with GF food. Feeds 2 generously

  • 30g soft light brown sugar
  • 50g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
  • 2 eggs
  • 60g caster sugar
  • 50g greek yoghurt
  • 35ml veg oil
  • 80g gluten free plain flour (and of course with regular flour if you don’t need it to be gf)
  • 15g cocoa powder
  • ½ tsp bicarb
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • A pinch of salt
  1. Pre-heat the oven to 160C fan (180C) and stick the kettle on
  2. Mix the brown sugar and chocolate in a small bowl with 50ml boiling water
  3. Warm in the microwave for 30 seconds to ensure the chocolate is melted and sugar is dissolved, stirring to combine
  4. Scrape this oozy mixture into the base of an enamel or ceramic baking dish
  5. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs and caster sugar until pale and voluminous
  6. Add the yoghurt, oil and 3 tbsp water and continue to whisk until thick and smooth
  7. In a separate bowl, combine the gf flour, cocoa powder, bicarb, baking powder and salt
  8. Then just add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir together into a smooth batter
  9. Pour this gently and evenly over the sauce in your baking dish
  10. Seal the dish with foil and then place it into a larger roasting tin
  11. Pour boiling water into the large roasting tin around your pudding, until it’s about halfway up the side (possibly easier to do this while the double-tin situation is already sitting on the oven shelf)
  12. Transfer into the oven (very carefully!) and bake for 40 mins
  13. Remove from the water bath and leave to cool for 5 mins
  14. Serve with custard or vanilla ice cream. You’re going to be so happy you made this

Peanut, chocolate and date balls

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Once you’ve stopped sniggering about balls, I can confirm that these are lovely, snacky delights for when you want something sweet but wholesome – they are naturally sweet, gluten free and packed with slow release energy ingredients. Makes about 15, depending how chunky you make them

  • 100g dark chocolate
  • 4 tbsp rolled oats
  • 4 tbsp roasted unsalted peanuts
  • 200g medjool dates, pitted
  • 3 tbsp natural peanut butter (no added salt or sugar
  • 1 heaped tbsp flax seed powder
  • ¼ tsp salt
  1. Melt the chocolate in a bowl in the microwave – on high for 30 seconds at a time
  2. In a mini food processor, whizz up the oats and peanuts until the peanuts are nubbly and chopped, but not completely disintegrated. Tip into the melted chocolate
  3. Add the dates to the mini food processor and whizz them up too. Then laboriously scrape the resulting goo into the bowl to join the chocolate, oats and peanuts
  4. Add the peanut butter, flax seed powder and salt. Mix well
  5. Roll the thick mixture into 10p-sized balls using your fingers
  6. Put onto a plate and chill in the fridge for at least an hour
  7. Prise them off the plate (or maybe think ahead and line the plate with baking paper to avoid this) and pop them in a jar. Probably best to keep in the fridge to stop them going soft if it’s warm outside