Category: Recipes

Soft boiled egg

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

Sheer indulgent simplicity. Peeled and halved it’s an essential component of ramen; decadent peeled and lightly squashed atop a corn fritter; and deeply comforting sat jauntily in an egg cup with toast soldiers for dipping.

  • An egg (or up to 4 eggs) – I use large, fridge-cold eggs. If yours are smaller or warmer, reduce the cooking time by a minute
  1. If you can, prick your eggshell with a pin on their rounded bottoms to allow the air inside to escape. Just don’t prick the pointy end by mistake or the egg itself will try to escape from the shell during cooking
  2. Bring a small pan of water to a rolling boil
  3. Gently lower your egg(s) in with a spoon
  4. Set the timer for 7 minutes and turn the heat down to a simmer
  5. When the timer goes off, fish the eggs out with a spoon and serve immediately (or plunge into cold water to stop them cooking)

For hard boiled eggs, do the same but start them in the cold water and start the timer for 7 mins when it comes to the boil. This will give you eggs with tender whites and a still-slightly-squidgy yolk. The cold water plunge is essential with hard boiled eggs, to stop them cooking and prevent a sulphuric grey ring forming around the yolk.

Apple and almond muffins

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

Most autumnal of muffins. Delicious and justifiable to eat at literally any time of day. Makes 12.

  • 1 egg
  • 60g soft light brown sugar
  • 80g plain flour
  • 50g ground almonds
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • Pinch of salt
  • 1 tsp ground cinnamon
  • Couple of gratings nutmeg
  • ¼ tsp ground cloves
  • ¼ tsp almond extract
  • 50ml sunflower oil
  • 2 apples, peeled and cored and diced
  • 3 tbsp milk
  • Handful of sultanas
  • Flaked almonds
  1. Pre-heat the oven to 170C fan (190C) and line muffin cases
  2. Whisk together the sugar and egg until well combined and thickened
  3. Add the milk and oil and beat in
  4. Then add the flour, ground almonds, baking powder, salt and spices
  5. Mix together thoroughly with a spoon or spatula, then add the apple and sultanas
  6. Stir them in and then spoon the batter into the muffin cases
  7. Sprinkle over a light scatter of flaked almonds
  8. Bake for 25-30 mins until golden and then cool on a wire rack
  9. Eat immediately or store in an airtight container at room temperature

These freeze really well if you can’t get through all of them before they go stale

Halloumi and tomato rice bowl

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

Simple supper, a lovely pile of fragrant deliciousness. Eat it with a spoon, sitting somewhere cosy. Feeds 2.

  • 1 block halloumi, cut into 8 slices
  • Fragrant pilaf
  • Turkish dip
  • 150g green beans, cut into 1 inch pieces
  • Handful flaked almonds, toasted in a dry pan
  • 2 tbsp Greek yoghurt
  • Pinch of cumin
  • Couple of lemon wedges
  • A couple of tbsp of finely chopped fresh herbs (a combination of parsley, mint, dill or coriander)
  1. Cook the pilaf and pile it into bowls
  2. Boil salted water and cook the beans for 6-7 mins or so until tender but not soggy
  3. Drain and mix with the yoghurt, cumin, a small squeeze of lemon and a pinch of salt
  4. Fry the slices of halloumi in a dry non-stick frying pan until golden on both sides
  5. Arrange the halloumi, green beans and Turkish dip on top of the rice in a semi-artistic fashion
  6. Scatter with toasted almonds and herbs, and a squeeze of lemon on top

One pot pork adobo and rice

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

Deeply savoury, incredibly soothing and mind-bogglingly easy to make. All you need is 10 mins at the beginning and then a couple of hours of doing nothing. Adapted from the Filipino-style pork recipe in Rukmini Iyer’s brilliant book The Roasting Tin. Feeds 2 hungry people.

  • 500g pork shoulder steaks
  • 3 tbsp veg oil
  • 6 cloves garlic, peeled and squashed firmly with the flat of a sharp knife
  • 10 black peppercorns
  • 2 bay leaves
  • 300ml chicken stock (or 300ml water + ½ a chicken stock cube)
  • 1 tbsp soy sauce
  • 2 tbsp black vinegar
  • 130g basmati rice
  1. Pre-heat oven to 130C fan (150C)
  2. Heat the oil in a heavy-bottomed lidded pan over a high heat
  3. Brown the pork on both sides and remove from the pan
  4. Add the squashed garlic cloves, bay leaves and peppercorns
  5. Sizzle until the garlic is golden and add the stock, soy sauce and vinegar
  6. Scrape the delicious brown off the bottom of the pan as you bring the mixture to the boil
  7. Add the pork back in, pop on the lid and put into the oven for 1½ hours
  8. Take the pot out of the oven, add the rice and stir in
  9. Put the lid back on and return to the oven for a further 45 mins
  10. Remove from the oven, fish out the peppercorns and leaves and break the pork into generous chunks. Check seasoning and add a pinch of salt if needed

Serve with something zingy for contrast, like smacked cucumber salad or spicy slaw. Yum!

Salad bag pesto and butternut squash lasagne

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

It’s got stripes of orange and green! And it’s flipping delicious! There’s literally no down side. Feeds 4.

This recipe is multi-stage, but every step is very simple and the end result is fully worth it, promise.

It’s also endlessly adaptable, so the perfect way to use up leftover odds and ends of nuts, fresh-but-floppy herbs and a slightly-past-its-best bag of salad. Especially as bagged salads are one of the most wasted foods in Britain, with over half of them ending up in landfill. This recipe is inspired by and dedicated to the bloody extraordinary Jack Monroe.

  • 1 butternut squash, deseeded and peeled
  • 1 head of garlic, cloves separated but unpeeled
  • Nutmeg
  • 3 tbsp veg oil
  • 100g bag of salad (I like a rocket, spinach and watercress combo, but anything will work as long as it’s not iceberg)
  • 100g nuts, toasted gently in a dry pan until golden (I prefer a combination of almonds and pine nuts but, again, it can be anything you like/have leftover)
  • Handful of fresh herbs (parsley is good, or basil, a bit of dill or mint. Not so much the hard herbs like rosemary)
  • 2 tsp garlic oil
  • 50ml olive oil
  • 30g parmesan, grated
  • 200g mascapone
  • 100g cream cheese
  • 60ml milk
  • 7 pucks frozen spinach, defrosted and liquid squeezed out through a sieve
  • 50g cheddar, grated
  • 250g fresh pasta sheets
  • Salt and pepper
  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180C fan (200C)
  2. Quarter the butternut squash from top to bottom, and slice into thin pieces around ½ cm wide
  3. Chuck the slices into a baking tray with the unpeeled garlic cloves, then drizzle over the veg oil and season with salt, pepper and a few scrapes of nutmeg
  4. Mix well and then stick in the oven for 30-40 mins until the squash is tender and soft
  5. Take out and pop on the side to cool a bit. Then squeeze the garlic out of its skin and back into the pan. Use a potato masher to roughly crush the squash and garlic together. You’re after a chunky mash, not a smooth puree
  6. Meanwhile, tip the salad into a bowl, add the herbs, toasted nuts, garlic oil, olive oil and a large pinch of salt
  7. Use a hand blender to whizz it into a bright green, fragrant pesto – don’t blitz it into oblivion, you still want a bit of texture
  8. In another bowl, mix the mascapone, cream cheese, spinach and milk. Season with salt and pepper (and a bit more nutmeg wouldn’t go amiss here too)
  9. Now you’re ready for construction! Get yourself a deep oven dish roughly the size of your lasagne sheets – I like glass so I can see the layers through the side, but ceramic would work just as well. (My lasagne sheets need soaking in cold water for 2 mins before using, so do that too if you need to)
  10. Spoon half the crushed squash and garlic into the bottom of the dish, smoothing out to an even layer. Top with a lasagne sheet. Then half the pesto, spreading it out to a fairly even layer. Then a lasagne sheet. Then half the mascapone spinach mixture, smoothing that out fairly flat and sprinkling with half the grated cheese. Then a lasagne sheet, press down gently and start all over again. Squash – pasta – pesto – pasta – mascapone + cheese – until you’ve finished everything up and ended with a layer of grated cheese on top.
  11. Stick in the oven for 40 mins until the pasta is silkily soft, the sides are bubbling enticingly, and the top is crusty and bronzed
  12. Leave to stand for 5 mins before eating if you can bear to, just to avoid burning your mouth.

If you want to make it in advance, you can make it earlier in the day all the way up to the final stint in the oven. Cover and keep in the fridge til you’re ready for it.

Griddle bread

~ Sophie ~ 2 Comments

All praise and thanks to my lovely friend Danny for this corker of a recipe. A quick, straightforward flat bread for wrapping and scooping. Recommended with spiced lamb and hummous. You may never buy a packet of pittas again.

  • 350g plain flour
  • 4 tsp baking powder
  • 270g plain yoghurt
  • 1 tsp salt
  1. Mix together all the ingredients, initially with a spoon and then with your hands into a ball of dough
  2. Knead for a couple of mins until stretchy (Danny says it’s nothing too strenuous!)
  3. Cut the dough into 8, then roll each piece out into a rough round about the size of a small side plate.
  4. Heat a dry non-stick frying pan over a medium-high heat
  5. Throw in a bread and cook for a couple of mins on each side, using tongs to turn them. They should puff up as they cook

Squash(ed) scones

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

Courtesy of the ever-delightful, always delicious recipes of Nigel Slater. These scones are savoury, cloud-like mouthfuls flecked with orange. An autumnal breakfast/brunch/snack/lunch. Just put it in your mouth. Makes 18 or so.

  • 250g squash (pumpkin, butternut, anything you like) flesh, cut into 2cm chunks
  • 400g plain flour 
  • 4 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp salt
  • 85g butter, cold from the fridge
  • Black pepper
  • 80g parmesan, grated
  • 100ml milk
  • 100ml water
  • 2 tsp wholegrain mustard
  1. Pre-heat oven to 200C fan (220C)
  2. Steam the squash for 8-10 mins until tender, then tip into a bowl and crush roughly with a fork
  3. In a separate big bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt
  4. Grate the cold butter into the bowl and rub in with your fingertips until it’s the consistency of breadcrumbs
  5. Add the parmesan, crushed pumpkin, mustard, milk and water. Grind in some black pepper
  6. Mix it all together quickly, gently and carefully, taking care not to overmix or your golden pillows will go stiff and dry
  7. I’ve always found the dough too loose to use a rolling pin and cutter, so my version makes more splodges than neat cylinders. I use a tablespoon dunked in cold water to spoon untidy, tall blobs onto a baking sheet with a bit of space between each one.
  8. (Nigel also egg washes his scones, which will undoubtedly be glossy and lovely, but always feels like a bit of a waste of egg to me)
  9. Bake for 14-16 mins until they are golden and just catching around the edges
  10. Cool on a rack before scoffing whilst still warm, slathered with salted butter

They don’t keep well, so eat them up the day you make them. This won’t be a problem. Or stick them in the freezer for later

Blackberry vodka

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

Forget jam, THIS is what you want to make with your blackberry glut. Fruity, sweet and deeply purple, it’s almost too easy to drink.

  • 750g blackberries
  • 200g granulated sugar
  • 700ml vodka
  1. Wash the blackberries and tumble them into a sterilised giant kilner jar (or 2 smaller jars)
  2. Then tip in the sugar and lightly mash the blackberries with the sugar
  3. Pour over the vodka, seal the jar and shake to dissolve the sugar
  4. .Leave in a dark, cool cupboard for 3 weeks, taking out to shake it up every couple of days
  5. Strain the beautifully purple vodka through a sieve lined with muslin into a jug, then through a funnel into a clean bottle
  6. Seal and keep in the fridge to serve cold (if you put it in the freezer, it will form a delicous boozy slush, which I definitely not a terrible outcome)
  7. (And eat the vodka-infused blackberries over vanilla ice cream)

Vanilla extract

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

What a wonderful, beautiful way to use scraped-out vanilla pods, resulting in a deep, dark, sweet vanilla extract to add to cakes, cookies and pancakes.

  • 500ml vodka
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 5 or 6 used, split vanilla pods, more if poss (add more as you use them)
  1. Put everything into a bottle (use the vodka bottle if you like) and seal firmly
  2. Shake every day for a week then store in a cool, dark place. It’ll be ready to use after a month, but the longer you leave it (and the more vanilla you add), the stronger it will get

Romesco

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

Sauce or dip? Sauce or dip?… Either way, it’s nutty, sweet, savoury and more-ish. This is the postbox red Spanish cousin of muhammara. Highly recommended with paprika crisps or roast cauliflower or a grilled pork chop.

  • 100g blanched almonds
  • Handful breadcrumbs
  • 2 red peppers
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 1 tbsp sherry vinegar
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 50ml olive oil
  • Pinch of salt
  1. Pre-heat the grill to high
  2. Halve the peppers, remove the seeds and lay skin-side up on a baking tray. Pop the whole garlic cloves beside them
  3. Grill the peppers and garlic for 15-20 mins until the skin is blackened
  4. While the peppers blacken, toast the almonds in dry pan for 4-5 mins until golden
  5. Transfer the peppers to a bowl and cover with a plate. Leave to steam for 10 mins and then peel the skin off
  6. Peel the papery skin off the garlic cloves
  7. Put the roasted peppers, almonds, garlic, vinegar, smoked paprika, oil and salt into a bowl and blitz to a chunky paste. Add more oil if you’d like it looser