Sesame Prawn Toast

I resisted the urge to buy some half price raw prawns in Aldi last week, and then saw a recipe online for Sesame Prawn Toasts. So when Aldi had some more half price prawns yesterday (and three tuna steaks - straight in the freezer), I grabbed them for my protein obsessed 17 year old son.

Makes 12

3 slices of bread

175g raw prawns

1 medium free range egg

1cm root ginger, finely gated

1 small garlic clove, peeled and crushed

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 spring onion, chopped into 1cm rounds

Sesame seeds

Sesame oil

Light olive or vegetable oil for frying

Whizz the prawns, ginger, garlic, soy sauce, and spring onion together in a mini food processor.

Drizzle sesame oil on each side of the slices of bread.

Divide the prawn paste between the slices of bread and spread smoothly right to the edges.  The two recipes I looked at said to cut the crusts off, and to use white bread, but I left the crusts off and used light wholemeal bread.  Sprinkle the prawn paste with sesame seeds.

Heat 1 tsp oil in a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat.  If you have a larger non-stick frying pan that will fit more than one slice of bread, add 1 tsp oil per slice.

Fry topping side up for 1.5-2 minutes until the bottom is golden brown.  Lift the slice of bread up with a fish slice and pour in another 1 tsp of oil, then carefully flip it prawn paste side down into the hot oil.  Cover the pan with a lid or plate and fry for 1-5-2 minutes until prawn paste is golden brown.

Cut each slice of bread into quarters.  If the prawn paste looks slightly undercooked (grey rather than pale pink) when you cut up the toast, just fry again for another minute or microwave all four quarters for 1 minute.

Sesame Prawn Toasts can be cooked in an air fryer.  Drizzle the bread with sesame oil as above then toast  in the air-fryer for 3 minutes at 200°C until one side is golden. Spread the prawn paste on the untoasted side of the bread followed by the sesame seeds.  Cut into quarters and arrange as many as you can in the air fryer basket. Cook for 12 minutes at 180°C until golden brown.

Serve warm with sweet chilli sauce and/or soy sauce for dipping.

Can be reheated in the air fryer - 5 minutes at 180C. And can be frozen and reheated in the air fryer from frozen - 10 minutes at 180C.

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Rhubarb Cordial

My rhubarb at the allotment this year is plentiful.  And as I only made one batch of Elderflower Cordial this year, I thought I'd make Rhubarb Cordial to add to a Midsummer's Day Prosecco. Recipe is from BBC Good Food

Makes approx 600ml

450g rhubarb, rinsed and chopped

300g sugar

300ml water

Zest & juice of 1 lemon

Zest & juice of 1 orange

A slice of root ginger

Bring the water and sugar syrup to the boil.  Add the rest of the ingredients and bring back to the boil.  

Cover and turn down to a simmer.  Cook until the rhubarb has turned to mush.

Strain through a fine sieve, keeping the rhubarb pulp (Congratulations, you have made rhubarb compote too.  Save this for Rhubarb Ice Cream or Rhubarb Fool).

Store in sterilised bottles in the fridge for up to a month.  

Add around 25ml (just under 2 tbsp) to 100ml of sparkling water or Prosecco

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Sweet Potato & Lentil Mulligatawny Soup

Mulligatawny is a curried vegetable soup from the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu, taking it's name from the Tamil words for 'pepper' and 'water'.  The traditional Indian version is vegan, but the British of the Raj liked to add chicken or mutton - Mulligatawny with Lamb.

This vegan Mulligatawny is from diabetes.org.uk's recipes, with a few tweaks of mine.

Serves 4 (original recipe suggests 8 servings)

2 tsp olive oil
1 large onion, peeled and diced
1 carrot, diced
1 sweet potato, diced (250g)
400g tin tomatoes
75g red lentils
2 cloves garlic, peeled & crushed

1cm root ginger, roughly chopped (optional)
1 vegetable stock cube
1 tbsp medium curry paste (or powder)
1 litre boiling water
75g brown rice

Soften the onion in the olive oil in a soup pan for about 5 minutes until it starts to brown.

Stir in the carrot and sweet potato (I did not peel either, as the soup is liquidised), and cook for a further 5 minutes stirring regularly.

Add tomatoes, lentils, garlic, stock cube, curry paste/powder and 1 litre of boiling water. Bring to the boil, turn down the heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.  I added cooked rice at this stage, not realising the recipe said to add it after the soup had been liquidised, for texture.

Blend the soup with a stick blender or food processor until smooth.

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Staffordshire Oatcakes (Oat Pancakes)

Staffordshire Oatcakes are soft ground out pancakes traditionally eaten with the ingredients of a full English breakfast, but are great for an additive free wrap for lunch.

These are made with simple ingredients, including dried yeast, but have a better flavour if left to yeast further by leaving to stand overnight before cooking.

Makes 5 pancakes

125g oatmeal, or ground porridge oats

75g wholemeal bread flour

50g plain white flour

1 tsp dried yeast (that does not need to be activate first)

1/2 tsp salt

250ml water

250ml milk, or use water again

If making the oatcakes the same day as the batter, heat the water to 38C (you should be able to hold a finger in the water without it hurting).  If leaving the batter overnight don't worry about the temperature of the water.

Whisk all the ingredients together. Leave for about 15 minutes until the surface of the batter is bubbly.

When ready to cook, heat a pancake pan over a medium high heat.  Brush the pan with oil and pour in a large ladleful of batter.  Tilt the pan quickly to ensure the batter covers the pancake pan evenly.

Cook for 1.5-2 minutes until the top is dry with no wet batter.  Turn with a fish slice and cook the other side for the same amount of time as the first.

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Curried Bubble & Squeak (Potato Cakes) with Coriander Relish

Got leftover boiled or mashed potatoes, cooked carrots and greens? I thought I'd jazz up Bubble & Squeak with some curry spices and some coriander relish to use up some odd leftovers.

Serves 2

200g potato

Handful of cooked carrot, cabbage, Brussel sprouts etc

1 tsp garam masala or curry powder 

1 tbsp plain or chickpea flour

2 tbsp olive oil for frying

Relish

30g pack of coriander 

1 large garlic clove, peeled and roughly chopped

2 cm ginger, roughly chopped

1/2 tsp hot chilli flakes 

2 tbsp dried mint

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar 

1-2 tbsp water

Mash the potato well, before adding in the finely chopped vegetables and spice.  Do not add any oil or butter as you need a stiff mash that you can shape into four 'burgers' and keep their shape.  Add a little flour to the mash if needed to make it stiffer.

Fry the potato cakes in the olive oil in a non-stick pan over a medium high heat for about 5 minutes each side or until golden brown.

Whilst frying the potato cakes, whizz together all the relish ingredients until you have a pourable, double cream-like, consistency. Add more water and vinegar if needed to get a pourable relish.

Dip the potato cakes into the relish or pour over.

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Braised Red Cabbage

Quick braised red cabbage to accompany our Christmas Dinner of slow roast mutton. The other half of the red cabbage went in Red Cabbage Coleslaw.

Serves 4

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, peeled and diced
350g red cabbage (half a red cabbage), thinly sliced

1 large cooking apple, cored and diced

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

large pinch of nutmeg1 tbsp brown sugar or maple syrup

4 tbsp red wine vinegar

1 tbsp cranberry sauce optional

Soften the onion over a medium heat in the olive oil in a saute pan for about 5 minutes.

Stir in the cabbage and the spices and fry for a a few minutes until shiny.

Add the apple, sugar, and red wine vinegar. Stir in well then cover, turn down the heat to the lowest, and cook gently for half an hour.

Stir in the cranberry sauce if using, adding a little water if the cabbage is drying out a little.

Serve warm with mutton, pork, duck...

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Jamie Oliver's Creamy Mushroom Soup

I make Jamie Oliver's Creamy Mushroom Soup every few weeks, and although I know most recipes by heart that I cook regularly, this one I cannot.   So in fear that one day Jamie's recipe will vanish from his website I will copy it here.

600g mushrooms

1 onion

2 sticks of celery 

3 cloves of garlic

a few sprigs of fresh flat-leaf parsley

a few sprigs of fresh thyme

1 tbsp olive oil

1.5 litres organic chicken or vegetable stock

75 ml single cream

Brush the mushrooms clean if required and tear into pieces.

Peel and finely slice the onion, celery and garlic, then pick the parsley, finely chopping the stalks. Pick the thyme leaves.

Heat a splash of olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat, add the onion, celery, garlic, parsley stalks, thyme leaves and mushrooms, pop the lid on and cook gently until softened.

Pour the stock into the pan and bring to the boil over a medium heat, turn the heat down to low and simmer for 15 minutes.

Season to taste with sea salt and black pepper, then whiz with a stick blender until smooth.

Pour in the cream, bring just back to the boil, then turn off the heat.

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Sausage & Potato Traybake

We make this every time we go to France, currently twice a year, with good quality Toulouse sausage, merquez, or cooking chorizo from local butchers. 

Vegetables like chunks of red peppers and cherry tomatoes could be added when you add the sausages, but my teens would rather a green salad. 

Serves 4

1kg small potatoes, halved 
1kg sausages 
1 tbsp olive oil or butter 

Preheat the oven to 220C.

Toss the potatoes and oil together in a large high side baking dish, or dot with butter if you have no oil (as we did, on arriving for our first night at our Airbnb). 

Bake the potatoes uncovered for 20 minutes. Remove the tray from the oven and stir around the potatoes, then lay on the sausages. Return to the oven for 15 minutes.

After 15 minutes take the dish out the oven again, remove the sausages to a plate and stir around the potatoes, pushing the browner ones to the middle, and the lighter ones to the sides of the dish. Return the sausages to the dish with their paler undersides facing up. Bake for another 15 minutes or until golden brown and the juices run clear (a bit hard to tell with merquez). 

Serve with a green salad or something green.

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Air Fryer Pain au Chocolat Bread & Butter Pudding

The idea for this came from a day old pain au chocolat discovered the day after we returned from a short break in France.

Serves 1, as I only had one pain au chocolate but could be doubled etc depending on the size of your air fryer

1 pain au chocolat

1 egg

150ml whole milk

2 tbsp double cream or Greek yoghurt (optional)

1/2 tsp vanilla essence (optional)

1 tsp sugar

Slice the pain au chocolat into 1cm thick slices.  

Lay in an air fryer liner.

Beat egg and cream/yoghurt/vanilla essence if using in a mug. Beat in enough milk to fill the mug.

Pour the egg mixture over the pain au chocolat and leave to soak in for 5 minutes or more if you can.

Sprinkle over the sugar and bake in the air fryer for 10-15 minutes at 180C until golden brown on top, the egg mixture is wobbly rather than runny.

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Savoury Filled Pancakes

My middle daughter thought she'd treat her older disabled sister to pancakes for breakfast today, on Shrove Tuesday, whilst I was out dropping her younger brother and friends off in the nearest town to catch a train to London, and food shopping.

I arrived back home at lunchtime, to find the kitchen looking like the Marie Celeste with partially cooked pancake in the pan. Turns out she had used gluten free flour and an old decreasingly non-stick pancake pan. 

Dad, our regular pancake chef, tried to cook the gluten free pancakes but they still stuck with him. So, the gluten free battter has been left for me to fashion into some kind of cake, and he mixed up a standard wheat flour batter and made us savoury pancakes for lunch. My daughters had chorizo & cheddar, Dad & I had garlic fried mushroom & goats cheese.

1 mug self raising flour
1 mug milk
1 large free range egg

Oil for frying

Fillings: cooked mushrooms, melty cheese (goats cheese, cheddar, brie, blue cheese), ham, chorizo

Whisk the flour, milk, and egg together in a large mixing bowl until smooth and lump free.

Heat a non-stick frying pan over a medium heat.  After about 1 minute add 1/2 tbsp oil and tilt the pan around to coat the bottom with oil.

Pour one soup ladleful of batter into the middle of the pan. Cook the pancakes for 1-2 minutes until little bubbles appear on the top of the pancake. Give the pan a little shake to loosen the pancake.  

Arrange your chosen fillings on one half of the pancake, cheese on the bottom closest to the heat so it melts.  Fold the empty half of the pancake over the filling and cook for another minute.

Slide onto a plate and eat immediately.

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Air Fryer Toad in the Hole

Not a regular dish at home, but thought I'd try it out as the kids love sausages and most comfort foods.

On the plus side, it is quick and filling. But even though it was not as greasy as my memory of Toad in the Hole, two out of three of us agreed we'd rather have bangers & mash.

Serves 2

4 good quality sausages

1 tbsp olive oil

70g plain flour

1 egg

100 ml milk

Salt & pepper to season

Toss the sausages in the oil in an air fryer liner and cook at 200C for 5 minutes.  After 5 minutes turn the sausages over and cook/brown the other side for another 5 minutes.

Whilst the sausages are cooking, beat the flour, egg, milk, salt and pepper into a smooth batter.

When the second 5 minutes is up, pour the batter over the sausages and cook for a further 8-10 minutes until the batter has puffed up and is a dark golden brown.

In an attempt to make it healthy I served it with a homemade red cabbage coleslaw, but nobody had room for it.

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Pear & Date Chutney

Every year I hunt around for my tried and tested Pear & Date Chutney recipe, so I have finally typed it up and posted it so I can find quicker next time.

1kg firm pears, peeled and cubed

2 onions, finely chopped

250g dates

500ml pickling vinegar
500g sugar

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground ginger (optional)

1/2-1 tsp chilli flakes

Simmer pears, onions, dates, vinegar and spices for 20 minutes to soften the onions.  Add the sugar and salt and simmer for another 20-40 minutes until the chutney is dark and glossy.  Stir frequently to ensure it is not catching on the bottom of the pan.

Pot in sterilised jars and seal with clean lids scalded with boiling water.  Keeps for at least 12 months.

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Tinned Tuna or Salmon Kedgeree

Tuna Kedgeree is a great quick budget store cupboard meal.

I used to make kedgeree with smoked haddock, but the kids found one bone too many and took against it. 

Discovering a recipe for Smoked Salmon Kedgeree got me thinking whether tinned tuna Kedgeree might be a possible alternative.  Turns out there are several recipes on the web, and is very similar to a Frankfurter (or Tuna) & Sweet Corn Risotto taught to me by my first boyfriend's mother, fearing we young students were going to starve when left to housesit for a week.

Serves 4 

4 medium free-range eggs

2 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely sliced

1 tsp medium/hot curry powder 

1 tsp garam masala (optional)

300g basmati rice

1 mug frozen peas, or sweet corn of a combination of both (I used half sweetcorn, half homegrown sliced runner beans)

2 x 160g tinned tuna or salmon

600ml recently boiled water

In a large saucepan with a lid, gently fry the onion in the oil for 10 minutes until soft. Stir in the spices and fry for a couple of minutes, then stir in the rice and vegetables.

Pour in the hot water, season well, place the eggs in their shells on top of the rice, then cover the pan, bring to the boil, then turn down to a very low heat and  cook for 10 minutes until all the water has been absorbed and the rice is cooked.

When the rice is cooked, turn off the heat, remove the eggs. Fluff the rice with a fork and stir in the tuna.Replace the lid whilst you cool the eggs under cold running water, then peel and quarter.  Serve the kedgeree with a quartered hard-boiled egg per plate.

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Courgette & Feta Lasagne

Great vegetarian lasagne recipe for using up a courgette glut.

This recipe is based on BBC Good Food's Creamy Courgette Lasagne, but I decided I had the time a fuller flavoured tomato sauce, not pre cook the lasagne first, and used whipped feta rather than ricotta. 

Serves 4

800g courgette, grated

3 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, crushed

8 dried lasagne sheets

200g feta

4 tbsp greek yoghurt

50g cheddar

500g passata

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a sauté pan over a medium heat, adding each courgette to the pan as you grate it. The more courgette you add, they will begin to sweat and release water rather than fry. Don't worry.  Stir from time to time as you get on with the tomato sauce and whipped feta, and the liquid will evaporate.

In a separate sauce pan, fry the onion and 1 clove of garlic over a medium heat 1 tbsp of olive oil until they start to brown. Add the passata, and about 100ml of water to rinse the carton out. Simmer gently whilst you make the whipped feta.

Blend the feta, yoghurt, 1 garlic clove, and 1 tbsp of olive oil in a food processor. If you haven't got a food processor you could mash the feta and whisk in the rest of the ingredients.

Add 2/3rds of the whipped feta to the softened courgette and turn off the heat under the courgettes and tomato sauce.

Turn the oven on to the temperature specified on the lasagne packet. Mine was 200C (Fan 180C).

In a lasagne/baking dish large enough to fit 4 lasagne sheets side by side, start to layer up the lasagne, starting with half the cheesy courgette, then a layer of pasta, then half the tomato sauce. Repeat, adding the remaining whipped feta in blobs in the top layer of tomato sauce, and finish with an even layer of grated cheddar cheese.

Bake according to the instructions on the lasagne packet.  My packet said 30 minutes, but I found it took 40 minutes.  45 minutes is pretty standard.

Serve with a chilli oil, and a green salad.

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River Cottage's Stewed Venison with Juniper & Bay

OH fancied a venison stew for his birthday last weekend. I googled a few recipes but ended up (mostly) following River Cottage's Stewed Venison with Juniper & Bay 

Serves 6

Cooking time 2-3 hours, plus overnight marinading 

2 tbsp rapeseed or sunflower oil
200g bacon lardons
800g casserole venison
2 onions, finely sliced
2 large carrots, cut into big chunks
2 celery stalks, sliced
6–10 juniper berries, bashed slightly
2 bay leaves
A large sprig of thyme
At least 500ml beef, venison, chicken or game stock
150ml red wine
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Ideally, marinade the venison overnight in the red wine with the juniper, bay, and thyme in the fridge in a sealed container.

When ready to cook, fry the lardons in 1 tbsp oil in a frying pan. When browned, scoop out with a slotted soon and remove to a casserole dish.

Add the rest of the oil and gently fry the onions until soft but not brown. Add the carrot and celery and gently fry for about 5 minutes. Scoop out with a slotted spoon again, and add to the lardons in the casserole dish. 

Pick the venison out of the red wine marinade, shaking off (but keeping) as much liquid as possible, and brown in the frying pan in batches. Once browned, transfer to the casserole dish. 

When all the venison has been browned and in the casserole dish, pour the red wine marinade into the frying pan and stir around to heat up and deglaze the the pan.  Pour into the casserole dish, then rinse the pan again with a little of the stock and pour this into the casserole dish too. Pour the remaining stock into the casserole dish. The liquid should just cover the meat, so add a little hot water too if there is not enough stock. 

Bring to a simmer, cover with a well fitting lid, and cook over a very low heat for 2–3 hours, until the meat is completely tender.  This can be cooked in the oven at 120°C for the same amount of time, or in a slow cooker for 6-8 hours.

When the meat is cooked, taste the stew and season. The sauce will be thin but well flavoured; if you prefer a thicker sauce, you can either strain the liquid off the meat and boil to reduce and thicken it, then return it to the pan, or add 2 tbsp cornflower mixed to a cream like consistency and stirred into the simmering stew. 

Serve with greens, and a buttery mash or just plain boiled potatoes to be mashed into the sauce.

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Vegan, Vegetarian, or Meat Jalfrezi Curry

I generally cook vegetarian curries, having enjoyed these in Rajasthan many years ago, and having a part time vegetarian son. But the vegetables could be easily switched for meat, or half meat half vegetables...

Serves 4

4 tbsp coconut or vegetable oil 

1 tbsp mustard seeds

1 tbsp cumin seeds

1 tbsp ground coriander

1 tsp turmeric


1/2-1 tsp chilli flakes


4 cloves garlic – smashed and finely chopped


1 inch piece of ginger – grated


1 large onion, finely sliced


1 carrot cut into 2mm thick pieces


1 green pepper cut into strips


700g vegetables and/or meat (chickpeas, sweet potato, cauliflower, beans, diced chicken, diced lamb)

1 can chopped tomatoes

1 bunch coriander leaves finely chopped


1 tbsp garam masala


Juice of 1 limes
s

1 tsp salt

Heat the oiI in a large pan. When hot add the mustard and cumin seeds. When they begin to pop, add the ground coriander, turmeric and chilli powder and sizzle for about 20 seconds. Add the onion and fry for about 2 minutes until slightly browned. Add the garlic, ginger, carrots,  green pepper and stir fry for about 2 more minutes.

Add your vegetable and/or meat.  Stir around in the spiced onions then add the chopped tomatoes and a can of recently boiled water to just cover the vegetables/meat. Jalfrezi is typically a 'dry' curry without much sauce, but I personally like a curry with a bit of sauce, and also think you enough to cook the meat or vegetables.

Add the rest of the ingredients, bring to the boil then simmer gently with a lid on for 30 minutes whilst you cook some basmati rice.

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Fish Pie Pasta Bake

I was surprised to find there is no Fish Pie recipe on my blog, but then again it is not my kids favourite by any stretch of the imagination. Many, many, years ago it was, but then they found a few bones and went off anything with the word 'pie' in it.  I did try bribing them with a chocolate button for every bone they found, but after a particularly bony pie, and not enough chocolate buttons in the house I lost the will to make fish pie.

The kids are now teens, so I thought I'd I try again, quite simply because I love it.  But the protests were even louder than when they were smaller. So I have attempted to placate them by making it into a pasta bake.  I did offer to add some prawns, but it turns out we haven't got any...

Serves 6

500g pasta 2 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, peeled and finely diced

600ml whole milk

2 heaped tbsp plain flour

1 bay leaf

1 bag baby spinach leaves or 300g frozen peas 

2 packs of frozen fish pie mix, or 1 pack of fish + 1 of prawns

2 tbsp capers (optional)
1 large clove of garlic, peeled and diced

100ml white wine

75g breadcrumbs

75g mature cheddar

Put the pasta on to boil (in a pan big enough to mix the pasta and the sauce) according the packet's instructions.

Gently fry the onions in the olive oil in a large saucepan until golden brown.  

Pour in the milk and quickly whisk in the flour so it doesn't go lumpy. Heat gently stirring all the time so the sauce doesn't catch on the bottom. Once thickened, stir and wilt in the spinach, then the frozen fish, capers, garlic and bay leaf. Heat gently, adding some white wine if too thick.

Drain the pasta then return to the pan. Toss in a little olive oil then stir in the fish mix.

Tip into a large baking dish, sprinkle with the breadcrumbs and cheese.  Bake at 200C for 30 minutes until golden brown and bubbling.

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Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie

I started off thinking I was going to make a vegetarian Shepherd's Pie with soya mince, but a harvest of homegrown squash changed my mind/ingredients to squash and lentil.

This can be made vegan by using plant based spread, milk, and cheese in the mashed potato topping. And swapping Marmite for Worcestershire Sauce.

1 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, peeled and diced

1 large carrot, peeled and diced
1 large stick of celery, diced
1 large garlic clove, peeled and crushed
500g squash, swede, or parsnips, peeled and grated
1 can green lentils, or 150g green lentils cooked as per instructions
500g passata
500ml just boiled water
1 vegetable stock cube 

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
1kg white potatoes
Large knob of butter
Whole milk

50g grated mature cheddar

Sweat the onion, carrot and celery in the olive oil for about 10 minutes with the lid. Add the garlic and grated vegetables and gently fry for another 10 minutes, making sure they don't catch on the bottom of the pan.

Add passata, lentils, water and crumbled stock cube.  Bring to the boil then simmer with a lid on for 30 minutes or until the vegetables are tender.  Stir from time to time to make sure the pan is not drying out, adding more boiled water if it is.

Roughly chop the potatoes.  I leave the skins on, but my kids aren't keen on this timesaving approach.  Pour over boiling water, cover,  and boil for 10 minutes with a little salt until the potatoes are soft.  When soft, drain and mash with the butter and milk until you have a spreadable mash.

Pour the lentil & vegetable base into a lasagna dish.  Plop spoonfuls of mash over the mix to cover the surface.  Rough the potato up with a fork or a spoon to help it brown in the oven.  Sprinkle over cheese and bake for 40 minutes at 200C or until the liquid from the vegetable mix is bubbling up round the sides of the potato.  If not browned to your taste, place the pie under the grill watching it very carefully if you do.

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Root Vegetable Crumble

I am new to Melissa Hemsley's vegetable recipes, having seen a repost of her Cavolo Nero & Celeriac Cheddar Crumble recipe a week or so ago.

As a celeriac lover this recipe caught my eye, but I didn't read the recipe properly when shopping and went a bit off message with the ingredients.

I loved it, but as my version contained 3 of my kids vegetable pet hates, it was a bit of a long shot and I gave them the choice of making themselves something else for dinner if preferred. They made themselves a wrap.

Serves 4

1 small celeriac, peeled and cubed
1 small swede, peeled and cubed

200g potatoes, cleaned and cubed

1 onion, peeled and diced

Large handful of shredded greens eg kale, spinach. I used allotment grown sprouts

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and crushed

1-2 tsp olive oil

50g plain flour

100g cheddar cheese

2 tbsp dijon or English mustard

500ml whole milk

120g whole oats

40g chopped nuts or seeds

50g cold butter, cubed

Place the chopped swede into a covered pan of boiling salted water. After 10 minutes add the potatoes. Add the celeriac 10 minutes after the water comes back the boil, and boil for another 5 minutes. Drain and leave to steam in your baking dish.

Add 1 tbsp olive oil to a saucepan and soften the onion and garlic over a medium low heat, when translucent (or starting to brown) and add your greens to wilt. Splash over a little water to help them steam if not wet from washing. When wilted, tip over your root veg.

Using the same saucepan, add the cold milk, flour, and another tablespoon of olive oil. Whisk quickly over a medium heat to combine the flour into the milk (flour goes lumpy in hot milk so whisk as soon as you add the flour to the cold milk in the pan). Change to a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula with a flat edge and stir the white sauce constantly to stop it sticking to the bottom of the pan. Once it starts to thick turn the heat down to low and stir in the mustard, seasoning, and cheese (keeping a handful back to sprinkle on top).

If your saucepan is big enough, tip the vegetables from the baking tray back in to the saucepan to mix in the sauce. If not, pour the sauce over the vegetables in the baking tray and mix in carefully.

Rub the oats, nuts, and butter together with your fingers until the mixture looks like large breadcrumbs and the butter lumps are no bigger than the oak flakes. Sprinkle evenly over the vegetables in the cheese sauce in your baking tray and then sprinkle the remaining cheese over.

Bake at 200C for 20 minutes in a preheated oven until bubbling. You may wish to grill it for the last few minutes to brown the crumble, but watch it like a hawk if you do.

I try it with a pangrattato topping next time, as the oat topping was a little chewy. But it may have to wait till the kids leave home. 

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Pea & Ham Soup

A simple but tasty soup, made with ham stock from boiling a ham.

Serves 4

1l ham stock

1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped

1 stick of celery, roughly chopped

1 clove of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped (optional)

1 white potato (about 200g), roughly chopped (optional)

100g ham (optional)

400g frozen peas

Simmer the onion, celery, garlic, potato, and ham in the stock in a covered pan for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes add the frozen peas, increase the heat, and heat uncovered until it comes back to the boil. Liquidise and serve.

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