Category: Recipes

Mulled wine

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A spicy-sweet alcoholic treat to warm the cockles of your heart on a chilly day. And doing it this way stops you from boiling all the alcohol away!

  • 1 bottle fruity red wine
  • 1 large orange
  • 1 satsuma, cut into thick slices
  • 4 heaped tbsp sugar
  • 2 cinnamon sticks
  • 6 allspice berries
  • 3 cloves
  • 6 gratings of nutmeg
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 1 star anise
  • 1 inch piece fresh ginger, sliced into 3
  1. Pare long strips of zest off the orange, dropping the fragrant curls into a large saucepan
  2. Halve the orange and squeeze the juice into the pan
  3. Add the sugar, satsuma slices and spices to the pan
  4. Pour over roughly a glassful of wine and turn the heat on to medium-high
  5. Stir gently while the syrup bubbles, the sugar dissolves and it starts to smell of Christmas
  6. Boil and bubble for 4-5 min before pouring in the remainder of the bottle of wine
  7. Turn the heat down and warm the wine through without boiling it
  8. Sieve out the spices etc and serve piping hot
  9. Then get another bottle out, squeeze a new orange, grab the sugar jar and re-use the spices because everyone is going to want more!

Extra lovely served with cheese straws, smoked paprika and almond biscuits or caramelised chilli nuts.

Confit garlic

~ Sophie ~ 2 Comments

The perfect purpose for a surfeit of garlic, the result is sweet, savoury and mellow. A brilliant jar to have in the fridge for all occasions – use the cloves to make garlic bread, add to mashed potato, smear under the skin of a roast chicken, jazz up pasta sauce, use in hummous etc. And of course use the oil to cook with, dress salads, make bruscetta.

  • Loads of garlic cloves, peeled
  • Enough neutral oil to cover (3 bulbs of garlic will need around 300ml oil)
  • Pinch of chilli flakes or stalk of rosemary for additional flavour (optional)
  1. Place the garlic (and flavourings if using) into a small saucepan
  2. Pour in oil until the cloves are submerged
  3. Heat over the very lowest heat for 30-40 mins, until the cloves are just starting to turn golden
  4. Decant into a sterilised jar and keep in the fridge

Apple and spice cookies

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Like gingerbread and apple crumble had a baby. Exactly that delicious – but in cookie form.

  • 150g unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
  • 120g soft light brown sugar
  • 100g caster sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 1½ tsp ginger
  • ½ tsp allspice
  • Grate of nutmeg
  • Pinch of ground cloves
  • 1 egg, fridge cold
  • 1 egg yolk, fridge cold
  • 250g plain flour
  • ½ tsp bicarbonate of soda 
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 100g ground almonds
  • 200g dried apple, snipped into pieces
  1. Preheat oven to 170C fan/190F and line baking trays with paper
  2. Pour the melted butter and both sugars into a large bowl and beat together
  3. Beat in the whole egg, then the egg yolk and vanilla until the mixture is light and creamy
  4. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, bicarb, salt, ground almonds, spices and apple pieces until combined
  5. Then tip the dry ingredients into the egg/butter/sugar and stir in with a spoon until just combined
  6. Scoop up the mixture and, with damp hands, gently form into roughly walnut-sized balls 
  7. Place on the baking tray (spaced out to allow for spreading) and bake for 15-17 mins until golden
  8. Cool on a wire rack 

Courgette herb muffins

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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

Potato wedges (again)

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Big fat chunky wonky chips. Dip into ketchup and mayo (yes both). Feeds 2

  • 3 big potatoes (or 4 medium/2 massive)
  • 2 tbsp veg oil
  • 1½ tsp pul biber
  • 1 tsp garlic granules
  • Salt and pepper
  1. Pre-heat oven to 190C fan (210C)
  2. Cut the potatoes into chunky wedges and collect in a big bowl
  3. Add the oil, chilli, garlic, salt and pepper and mix through with your hands until the wedges are evenly coated
  4. Tip onto a baking tray and into the oven for 30 mins
  5. Turn them gently and bake for a further 15 mins until completely soft inside and gently crunchy on the edges

The other potato wedges are here, compare and contrast!

Child-friendly chicken

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Although this is of course delicious for everyone, it’s a dish that gets a lot of requests from kid visitors. It’s super-simple, savoury and scrumptious over rice, atop pasta or wrapped in wraps. All bases covered! And no-one will complain because it’s ‘too spicy’…

  • 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
  • 2 tsp butter
  • 1 tsp garlic oil
  • 1 small onion, diced as fine as possible (very very tiny pieces so fusspots can’t see them)
  • ½ chicken stock cube
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • Pinch of salt
  • 2 tsp tomato puree
  • 300ml boiling water
  1. Heat the butter and garlic oil in a lidded frying pan over a medium-high heat
  2. Brown the chicken thigh fillets and then remove them from the pan
  3. Turn the heat down and add the diced onion
  4. Cook the onion over a low heat until soft, then crumble in the chicken stock cube, adding paprika, salt and tomato puree
  5. Stir in and cook for a minute then pop the chicken back in and add enough boiling water so the meat is half submerged
  6. Bring the liquid to the boil, then simmer on low with the lid on for 30 mins
  7. Then stir, remove the lid and simmer for another 20-30 mins
  8. By this time, the sauce should be almost gone and the chicken should be soft enough that you can pull it apart with forks
  9. And then you pull it apart with forks. And that’s it

Bakewell cookies

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Cherry and almond, springtime flavours. Squidgy inside with a crisp, cracked shell outside. Makes 20

  • 150g unsalted butter, melted and cooled slightly
  • 150g soft light brown sugar
  • 100g golden caster sugar
  • 1 egg
  • 1 egg yolk
  • ½ tsp almond extract
  • 250g plain flour
  • ¼ tsp bicarb
  • Pinch of salt
  • 100g ground almonds
  • 100g glacé cherries, chopped – plus some just cut in half
  1. Pre-heat the oven to 170C fan (190C)
  2. Whisk together the melted butter with both sugars until fluffy
  3. Add the whole egg and beat in, then the egg yolk and the almond extract
  4. Whisk the mixture until thick and creamy
  5. Fold in the flour, bicarb, pinch of salt, ground almonds and glacee cherries into a stiff cookie dough
  6. Pinch pieces off, rolling gently into walnut-sized balls and flattening slightly
  7. Place spaced out onto a lined baking tray and pop a half-cherry on the top of each cookie
  8. Bake for 15-17 mins until golden and puffed up
  9. Cool on a rack