I love my job, I got to cook this to include in the monthly newsletter I’ve been making for Hampstead Tea. The idea was to marinade prawns in Chai tea, and its actually really good, the chai tea really adds a deep and spicy flavour. Obviously you should only use Hampstead Biochai tea, it really is superior to anything else I’ve tried, but then again, I’m probably a bit biased…. Either way I ended up eating A LOT of this once I’d taken this picture!
Click here for the recipe
Faced with the mountain of beetroot building up I made this salad. I love beetroot, it goes really well with sharp salty cheeses like feta or goats cheese, but the sweet, earthy beetroot goes surprisingly well with the oily mackerel. I was lucky in that I had all the lovely organic vegetables from my veg box, having said that this would still be pretty tasty with the pre-cooked beetroot you can get.
When handling beetroot, the thing to remember is to wash your hands and any utensils straight away otherwise they will stain.
Mackerel and Beetroot Salad
4 fillets mackerel
1tsp dried or fresh thyme
½ lemon
125g cherry tomatoes, quartered
2 handfuls spinach, sliced
2 medium sized beetroot
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
Boil the whole beetroot for 40-45mins until soft. Drain, allow to cool and cut into thin wedges. Season and drizzle with some olive oil and lemon juice. Drizzle the mackerel fillets with olive oil, season well and sprinkle over the dried thyme. Get a frying pan really hot, fry the mackerel for a couple of mins on each side, when cooked, remove and squeeze over some lemon juice. To assemble the salad, mix the vegetables and place the fish on top.
A somewhat unorthodox flavour combination of chickpeas spiced with cumin, cinnamon and turmeric, combined with tomato, flaked almonds, parsley and er… pasta, but it works all the same. Don’t skip any of the ingredients in this, they’re all pretty essential. This is based on a recipe from Accidental Vegetarian
Ingredients
Serves 2
3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
½ red chilli, finely chopped
4 tomatoes chopped
1tsp ground cinnamon
1tsp ground cumin
½tsp ground coriander
pinch turmeric
3tbsp flaked almonds
½ can chickpeas
bunch fresh parsley chopped
200g spaghetti
Cook the pasta in plenty of salted boiling water. Meanwhile toast the almonds in a large frying pan until golden (be careful they don’t burn!). Remove the almonds and add the oil, fry the onions, garlic and chilli until softened, add the chickpeas and spices, stir thorughly and fry for a minute or so more, add the tomatoes, turn the heat down and cook for 15-20mins until the tomatoes have broken down, you may need to add a little water as they cook. This is all down to personal preference, cook the sauce for less time if you’d like a fresher tomato taste.
Add the pasta, flaked almonds and parsley (possibly reserving some almonds and parsley for garnish), stir throuoghly and eat!
Mmm.. the perfect snack and a great way to use up any veg lurking in the bottom of the fridge. Feel free to experiment with this recipe, its all about using up what you have. I didn’t have tortillas so used pitta instead and it worked perfectly well.
Ingredients
Serves 4
Black Bean Paste
1 can black beans (borlotti beans will do), drained
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp ground cumin
1 bunch coriander, chopped, stalks and all
Juice of 1 lime
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
½ tsp Maldon sea salt
8 tortillas
some spring onions, sliced
4 tomatoes, chopped
2 avocados, diced
125g cheddar, grated
2 handfuls spinach, finely sliced
1 small tub soured cream
Some jalapeño chillies in vinegar or sliced red chilli as garnish
To make the black bean paste, either blend or mash all the ingredients together. Preheat a griddle pan. To assemble the quesadilla, spread 2tbsp of the bean mixture on the tortilla, makingsure you leave a border, add a tbsp of the soured cream and spread also. Next sprinkle over some cheese, tomato, spring onion, avocado and spinach. Finally topping with the chilli. Fold the tortilla in half and carefully place onto the griddle pan, cook for a few mins on each time, until the cheese is bubbling and the filling is warmed through, cut into slices and eat with plenty of napkins!
This is a slightly posher version of your standard egg mayonnaise sandwich. Use good quality bread, add some herbs and capers and you’re onto a winner. Its also about boiling the eggs so they’re just set and the yolk is still creamy.
Ingredients
makes 2 sandwiches
3 eggs
1tsp capers, chopped
1tsp chopped chives
4 slices sourdough
1tbsp mayonnaise
handful salad leaves
cucumber and tomato, finely sliced
Cover the eggs with water and bring to the boil. Turn off the heat, cover and leave for exactly 7mins. Meanwhile toast the bread and butter lightly. Peel the eggs and mash, season generously and add the capers, chives and mayonnaise. Stir thoroughly and sandwich with the lettuce, tomato and cucumber. Enjoy!
Don’t be put off by the title, think carrot cake…
I’ve started getting an Abel and Cole veg box, which I really love. They also do lots of other products, so I’ve been getting eggs delivered every week and I’ve just ordered some mackerel caught off the coast of Cornwall, that’s some sustainable fish. As lovely as it is having all these vegetables at my disposal, I am only one person and there was a lot of veg, I got through most of it, but was left with some sad looking beetroots at the bottom of the fridge. Now, I love beetroot and it can be used in all manner of ways, (I’m thinking beetroot and mackerel salad next week) but this cake recipe caught my eye and I do always like to have cake around. I added some oats to this too, so it is positively healthy eating.
Ingredients
200g raw beetroot, peeled and grated (about 2-3 medium beetroot)
100g sultanas, soaked in boiling water and drained
150g sugar
3 eggs
150ml sunflower oil
1tbsp baking powder
150g plain flour
100g porridge oats
2tsp cinnamon
Whisk the eggs, oil and sugar together. Then fold in the flour, oats, baking powder and cinnamon. Finally, fold in the beetroot and sultanas, Mix thoroughly and pour into a greased and lined cake tin. Bake for about an hour at 180°C. This worked well in a 20cm round cake tin, but I think would also make a nice loaf cake. Next time I think I will also try icing it with some sort of cream cheese icing.
This is a classic from university when 5 of us used to take it in turns to cook for each other on a weekly rota. This is a rich, intense stew, lovely little puy lentils cooked in a red wine and tomato sauce with sausages. The lentils can easily be substituted for other beans, cannelini, butter, flagelot etc.The beauty is, you use cheap as chips ingredients to bulk out the more expensive sausages. (Make sure you buy good quality sausages)
Make up lots of this as it will improve the next day as well as freezing well should there be any left over. Have it with mashed potato, crusty bread, pasta, rice, couscous. My friend Jen came up with this and used to cut up potatoes into little cubes and roast them with rosemary. Possibly the best bit…
Ingredients
Seves 4
8 sausages, about 450g, sliced
2 onions, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
A couple of sprigs of rosemary
a strip orange zest
½ glass red wine
450g puy lentils
2 cans chopped tomatoes
Obviously I don’t eat meat. I just bought this as a present for someone… (I knew they would prefer it to flowers) That said, I’m not entirely against meat eating, however, I am all for reducing our dependency on bad quality meat and starting to eat less but better quality meat. (This article in Observer Food Monthly makes for interesting reading) Hence the Bristish, organic steak.
When you’ve good quality meat, there’s little you need to do to it other than season it well and cook it properly, more on this later, however, there are some flavours that always go well with steak. Garlic, olive oil and tenderising lemon juice, worcestershire sauce, chilli, paprika, cumin. A splash of balsamic vinegar as the steak is cooking gives a deliciously sweet glaze. Marinade for as long as you have, 30mins-1 hour ought to do it.
When cooking steaks, you need a decent non-stick frying pan or griddle pan. Make sure you heat the pan until it is really smoking hot, I always oil the steak rather than the pan. Place the steak in carefully and leave it for the desired time until it is caramelised on one side, then turn it and cook until done (the timing depends on the thickness of the steak and how you like it cooked, see The Hand Test Technique) . Don’t be tempted to keep turning the steak as this is how it sticks to the pan and you will lose juices. Once cooked, remove and cover with foil, allow to rest for 10mins. Resting meat allows the heat and juices to distribute evenly and is a real must.
I love eggs and I love scrambled eggs at the weekend. A trip home this weekend meant I got my mum’s scrambled eggs, surpassed by non. Now I’m obviously not going to give a recipe for scrambled eggs, just a few tips…
Start with the basics, free range, preferably organic eggs are a must and don’t be shy with seasoning. Scrambled eggs need to be cooked in a non-stick frying pan in butter and eaten on well buttered toast. Butter is a perfect partner to eggs (well, its a perfect partner to most things…)
I like my eggs quite soft, remeber that eggs carry on cooking once you take them off the heat, so take them off a little before they look done.
For a decadent twist, whisk your eggs, add them to a hot pan, give them a quick stir and add a tablespoon or two of double cream. Maybe some smoked salmon or cheese, pepper sauce, baked beans…
All the tastiest things (olives, anchovies, capers, garlic, parsley) blended into a paste and eaten with pasta. What could be tastier?
This will keep for a few weeks in the fridge, if you cover it with a layer of oil.
Ingredients
200g spaghetti
grated rind and of 1 lemon and juice of ½
small bunch fresh flat leaf parsley
1 tbsp capers
large handful black olives
pinch crushed chilli flakes
4tbsp olive oil
1 large garlic clove
3 anchovy fillets
salt and freshly ground black pepper
parmesan cheese, to serve
Blend everything apart from the parmesan and stir through pasta.
The first night I made this, I had it on its own with spaghetti. The next night, I had lots of things to use up in the fridge. I chopped some tomatoes, added a couple of tablespoons of the pistou, some creme fraiche (my new favourite ingredient), basil and pine nuts. Delicious with pasta.