Roasted beetroot and prosciutto risotto with parsley croutons

There’s something infinitely soothing about risotto. For starters, it’s a one pan dish (thumbs up) and then there’s its oozy, creamy quality that slips over the tongue so easily you barely need to chew it.
A pairing that works very well in risotto is that of salty Italian proscuitto ham and sweet, roasted beetroot. The beets taint the rice a pretty blush pink colour too, which can’t be bad.

Buy it:
2 large beetroots peeled, cubed and roasted at 200c for 30 minutes
100g prosciutto
300g risotto rice
100ml white wine
A big jug filled with hot chicken stock
1 onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
Handful of grated Tallegio cheese
½ loaf white bread torn into chunks
Olive oil
Handful of fresh flat leaf parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper


Do it:
1. Lightly cover the base of a large saucepan with olive oil and add the onion. Stir on a low to medium heat to soften  - do not allow to colour.
2. Add the garlic and cook out for one minute.
3. Add the rice and coat in the oil for one minute.
4.Pour in the wine and turn up the heat. When most of the liquid has evaporated add a ladle of stock, bring to the boil and then turn the heat down to a simmer.
5. Add the stock a ladle at a time, each time waiting until most of the liquid has gone before you add more and stirring constantly.
6. After about 30 minutes check the rice. It should be creamy, a little soupy and the rice should still have a bit of bite.
7. Add in the beetroot and shred and add the prosciutto. Check the seasoning.
8.Add the Tallegio cheese.
9. To make the croutons place the torn bread on a baking tray and drizzle over some olive oil and black pepper. Tear up the parsley and stir this into the bread cubes. Place under the grill and keep and eye on it, turning until the bread is golden.
10. Serve the risotto topped with the croutons.

A Cunning Way With Leftover Pork

It’s Monday night. You’re shattered, there’s nothing on TV and you just can’t be arsed to cook!
Know the feeling?
Don’t turn to that tin of baked beans or out of date Pot Noodle in the cupboard, with a bit of forward planning you can have a filling and very tasty Chinese-style meal on the table in less than 30 minutes.
To start off, you will need to have a roast dinner on Sunday night - preferably a slow-roasted belly or shoulder of pork. It’s the leftovers that do the magic. I’m always amazed at how similar this dish tastes to crispy duck!


Buy it:
2 big handfuls of leftover pork
1 tbsp fennel seeds
4 cloves garlic, crushed
5 shallots, thinly sliced
400g sticky thai rice
Handful of frozen peas
1tsp Chinese five spice
Salt and pepper
Sesame oil
Soy sauce
Enough vegetable oil to cover a frying pan by 1cm

Do it:
1. Get your rice on in a saucepan, following the instructions on the packet as to the amount of water needed.
2. While the rice is cooking do your pork. Cut it into small dice and season it with a little soy sauce, and the five spice. Place a tbsp of sesame oil and a little vegetable oil in a frying pan and whack it up to a high heat. When it’s smoking add the pork and fry until crispy on the outside. Drain onto kitchen paper and put to one side.
3. In the same pan, pour in enough vegetable oil to fill to 1cm deep and get it smoking hot. Add the shallots and fry quickly until crisp and brown. Carefully remove to kitchen paper with a slotted spoon and pour away most of the oil. Leaving in 1tsp.
4. When the rice is cooked and drained, add the garlic to the frying pan and sizzle. Then add the fennel seeds and cook out for a minute.
5. Add the peas and cook for 3 minutes.
6. Add the rice to the frying pan and lots of black pepper and some sea salt. Then add the crispy pork.
7. Season the rice with sesame oil and soy sauce to taste and add half of the crispy shallots.
8. Serve topped with the remaining shallots.

Gallic Inspired Hotpot

This is the kind of cooking I like. You chuck a load of ingredients in a saucepan, give it a stir once in a while and end-up with a plate of yumminess.
I was inspired to make this A: because of the ingredients I had in my cupboard and B: because I fancied something a bit French.
This is a rustic, country-style Gallic dish, traditionally made with confit duck legs (but who has those flying around in the fridge every day). It’s very nutritious and tastes divine. It’s also very quick and fuss-free making it ideal as a workday supper.

Buy it:
One chicken leg per person
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 onion, finely chopped or whizzed in a blender
500ml chicken or vegetable stock
1tsp dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1 carrot diced finely
100g button mushrooms, sliced
1 tin green lentils
1tbsp plain flour
2tbsp tomato purree
1tbsp oil
Salt and pepper.

Do it:
1. Season the chicken legs and place in the oven at 200c for 35 minutes.
2. Place the oil in a medium saucepan and add the onion. Cook for about five minutes until softened then add the garlic.
3. Pour in the rest of the ingredients and check the seasoning.
4. Simmer for about 30 minutes, checking the seasoning again.
5. Serve the lentils with the crispy chicken legs on top and some good fresh bread on the side.

Moist Courgette and Lemon Cake

The summer glut of courgettes is obviously over. But I recently came across this recipe, which I’d put together last year as a last resort to use up the daily deliveries of the vegetable from my dad’s allotment.
Now I know what you’re thinking - courgette, in a cake? But let’s not forget the popularity of chocolate beetroot cake in recent years.
You won’t taste the courgette, I promise. What you’ll get is a lovely moist sponge with a fresh, zesty lemon flavour. Make it now and taste the summer.

Buy it:
2 medium courgettes, grated
2 large eggs, beaten
125ml melted, unsalted butter
150g light muscovado sugar
225g self-raising flour
1tsp bicarbonate of soda
Zest and juice of one lemon

Icing: 100g unsalted  butter, 300g icing sugar, zest and juice of one lemon

Do it:
1. Line a 23cm cake tin, or square brownie tin with greaseproof paper and pre-heat the oven to 180c.
2. Mix together the butter and  sugar, ensuring that no lumps of sugar remain,
3. Add the eggs, flour, courgettes, lemon juice and zest and stir until well combined.
4. Add the bicarbonate of soda and stir well.
5. Pour the batter into the lined tin and place in the middle of the oven for 30 to 40 minutes. Check it after 30 - if the sponge springs back when you touch the centre its ready.
6. Allow the cake to cool.
7. Whisk the ingredients for the icing together and pour over the cake when it has completely cooled.
8. Serve with a nice cup of Lady Grey tea.

Spicy South African Stew

While I definitely enjoy the sweeter things in life - good chocolate, sticky toffee pudding with lashings of sauce and  a variety of icing laden baked goods- I’ve never been enamoured with the sweet potato.
The idea of cooking it States style topped with marshmallows for Thanksgiving makes me want to gag.
I just find the vegetable, no matter how much I tell myself it’s good for me, too sucrose..
But, not wanting to let the orange  root beat me I tried it again recently in a really delicious stew at The veggie Red Lion, a fab veggie restaurant in Great Bricett, Suffolk.
Enrobed in a spicy, coconut and peanut sauce and sprinkled with mounds of crispy potato, I could actually tolerate the vegetable, its sweetness offset by the clever blending of spices. In fact, I didn’t just tolerate it, I loved it.
Now, obviously the chef isn’t going to let me into her secret, so this is my version of what I tasted on that icy December night and friends have agreed the taste is pretty darn close to the real thing.
It’s wholesome, packed with vitamins and  filling fibres, and is cheap to make too - the ideal solution for January when money’s tight.


Buy it:
3 onions, finely chopped or whizzed in the blender
1tsp fennel seeds
1tsp ground ginger
1tsp turmeric
4tsps med curry powder
1/4tsp Colman’s mustard powder
1tsp salt
2 heaped tbsps crunchy peanut butter (I use Whole Earth)
½ block coconut cream
1 tin tomatoes , preferably whizzed in the blender
4 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into rough 2cm chunks
2 tins chickpeas
1 red pepper, sliced thinly
4 large potatoes, peeled and chopped into 1cm cubes
1/2tsp mixed herbs
3tbsps oil


Do it:
1. Preheat the oven to 200c.
2. Place 1tbsp of the oil in a large saucepan and place on a medium heat. Add the chopped onions, stirring until they turn golden and soft - not burnt and crunchy.
3, Add all the spices and stir on a high heat for one minute.
4. Turn the heat down and add the chickpeas, pepper, peanut butter, coconut cream and tomatoes. Pour in half a mug of water and allow to simmer for 20minutes.
5. Add the sweet potato  and salt to the mixture and another half a mug of water. Cook for 30 minutes on a medium heat until the sauce is thick and the sweet potato is cooked through but not falling apart. At the same time, pace the oil, potatoes and mixed herbs in the oven on a roasting tray, shaking them to coat in the herby oil.
6. Keep an eye on the potatoes which should be ready after about 30 minutes, at about the same time as the stew.
7. Serve the stew straight away with the crunchy potatoes or place the stew and potatoes in the fridge in separate bowls to place in individual serving dishes and reheat later.

Going mad for mezze

My absolute favourite and best (God I’ve been watching too much Charlie and Lola with the kids) food has to be sharing plates of finger food.

Whether it be tapas, Asian snacks or slabs of pizza oozing with molten mozzarella, food tastes better when its shared – plus it doesn’t count on the diet if you share does it?

This week I was asked to go on a shopping expedition of our local town centre, which would culminate in me writing a DPS (double page spread) about a rewards scheme on offer.

Never one to turn down a freebie I, of course, snapped up the opportunity and spent the morning trying cheese, snacking on cake, having my hair and nails perfected and visiting one of the most fabulous grocer’s I’ve ever seen (Global Fruits at Buttermarket, Ipswich).

The day ended at The Galley in Woodbridge, where I, along with the photographer, restaurant owner Ugur and BID marketing man enjoyed fabulous authentic mezze inspired by Ugur’s Turkish heritage.

I couldn’t believe the price - £10.95 for two! What fantastic value.

Apparently the menu changes regularly, but on the day we visited all dishes were vegetarian.

We had:

Sundried tomatoes mixed with fresh tomatoes, walnuts and pomegranate molasses

Fresh chillies and tomatoes chopped with herbs

Potatoes, aubergines and courgettes cooked slowly with olive oil and seasonings until unctuous and silky

Giant beans cooked with fresh tomatoes and smoked paprika

Homemade hummus

Local beetroot crushed with yoghurt and a little garlic

Served with locally made pitta bread (nothing like the supermarket version) and a glass of rose, this was the perfect light lunch and we felt quite virtuous at having eaten most of our five a day at one sitting.

A glance at the rest of the menu (two courses for £5 for children!) homemade pasta and homemade Turkish delight ice cream has cemented a family visit in the near future.

If you’re in the area pop in for a visit – it’s fab!

Breakfast bars for lazy people

I hate breakfast. In fact I am so utterly bored with it that I seldom bother any more – favouring a quick fix at my desk rather than facing the saga of preparing fruit, porridge or cereal in the morning at home.


The problem is I’m lazy through and through. I’d much rather lay-in for an extra five minutes than spend that time chopping, pouring, stirring…eating.

I like brunch. I have no problem with sliding out of bed at 10am, reading a paper, listening to Massive Attack and wolfing down a pancake or two over hot chocolate.

But breakfast is a no no.

We all have to eat though. So I’ve come-up with some easy peasy, low-fat, low-sugar fruit bars that can be prepared in no time at all in the evening while your making dinner, and taken in to work (or eaten in the car, bus or train) so that five minutes extra is never a problem.

If you’re a busy person who hasn’t got time to make a full English and wolf it down by 8am – this recipe is for you.

Power-packed breakfast bars
Ingredients

400g dates soaked in hot tea
600g rolled oats
1 tin condensed milk

Do it:

1 Set the oven to 150C and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

2 Drain the dates then blitz in a food processor (or chop finely by hand) into a pulp.

3 Place the dates and condensed milk in a medium saucepan and simmer gently for 10 minutes until it thickens.

4 Pour the oats into the sticky date mixture and stir.

5 Pour the mixture onto the baking tray and pat down evenly. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

6 Cut into slices and allow to cool before storing in an airtight tin. They will last for up to three days.

7 Play about with the recipe – try blending in dried apricots or cranberries and sprinkling sesame seeds or crushed nuts over the top.