Category: Main courses (Page 1 of 14)

Awesome Mushroom Lasagne

22/01/2026 / Neville

This is a lot of work but worth it for a special occasion. It can be vegetarian or vegan, depending on the cheese and cream used. It is based on an Ottolenghi recipe. As with all his recipes, they use lots of ingredients. If you can’t find the exact mix of mushrooms don’t worry, just use a variety of types. This recipe is meant to serve 6. Deep breath, here we go. Turn your fan oven on to 200C. Find an oven tray, line it with baking parchment.

750g chestnut mushrooms
500g oyster mushrooms
3 tbs olive oil
salt and pepper

Pulse the mushrooms in a food processer, you may need to do this in batches. Mix with the oil and season. Spread out on the baking tray, put in the oven and bake for 30 minutes. Check and swirl about every 10 minutes. They will shrink a lot in volume. Meanwhile…

60g dried porcini mushrooms
30g dried wild mushrooms
500ml hot vegetable stock
1 dried chilli, de-seeded

Put the mushrooms and chilli in the stock and soak for half an hour while the other mushrooms are roasting. When they are soaked, strain them out, keeping the stock, and chop roughly. Set aside. Top the stock up to 340ml if it is now less.

1 onion, peeled
1 carrot, peeled
5 garlic cloves, peeled
3 tbs olive oil

Pulse the vegetables in the food processor to chop finely. Fry in the oil until soft and golden. Add

1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tsp salt
1 tsp ground pepper

Cook for 7 minutes. Add the rehydrated dried mushrooms, chilli and roasted mushrooms and cook fo 9 minutes. Add back the reserved stock and add 800ml water. Simmer 25 minutes. Add

130ml actual or vegan double cream

Simmer 2 minutes more, then remove from the heat. Time to assemble the lasagne! Gather together

About 14 dried lasagne sheets
120g grated parmesan or vegan hard cheese
10g parsely leaves, finely chopped
5 g basil leaves, chopped

Mix the cheeses and herbs together in a bowl. In a lasagne dish, put a thin layer of mushroom mixture over the base. Put a single layer of lasagne sheets to cover it all, breaking them to fit if necessary. Sprinkle over some of the cheese. Repeat these, but finish with mushrooms and then cheese (not pasta). Aim for five layers of mushroom and cheese, four layers of pasta. You need this to be very wet and sloppy at this stage, because the pasta will absorb much of the liquid, and if it isn’t wet enough your lasagne will be chewy. The next step depends on your dinner time plan. You could leave it at this stage overnight and cook next day, or leave for an hour to help the pasta soften, or go right ahead and cook it. If you have kept it uncooked in the fridge, allow it to come up to room temperature for an hour before cooking. Add a drizzle more of olive oil and cream over the top and bake at 180C (fan) for 15 minutes, then increase the heat and bake for another 12 minutes at 200C. Turn it around halfway and watch it doesn’t burn, if it looks like it might, turn the heat back down. If after cooking it isn’t browned enough on the top you can flash it under the grill but it probably won’t neeed that. It takes a bit of practice to get the wetness level right, because the liquid absorption of the pasta is also affected by the surface area of your dish – a wide shallow dish will lose more liquid during cooking than a deep narrow one. I’m sure it will taste epic however it comes out! Sprinkle with more chopped parsley and serve.

Lamb Pilaf

09/12/2025 / Neville

Great for leftover cooked lamb! Serves 3:

1/2 onion, chopped
Dash of olive oil

Fry gently until soft. Add

2 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped

Fry a minute more, then add

2 cloves
4 cardamom pds, crushed
1 tsp turmeric
about 30cm cinnamon stck

Fry a minute then add

250g cooked lamb, chopped or shredded
225gm basmati rice

Stir about until the rice is well coated with hot oil. Add

600ml lamb stock (one cube and water is fine)

Cover and cook gently for 15 minutes. Throw in

handful of frozen peas
handful of raisins
25g flaked almonds or pistachio or pine nuts, toasted
6 cherry tomatoes, halved

Cook on a low heat for another 3-5 minutes. If the rice is still gloopy cover and leave five minutes or more off the heat, or until the liquid has absorbed and the rice is fluffy. Mix around, add a small bunch of chopped parsley and coriander, and serve with plain yoghurt.

Crab Orzo

19/04/2025 / Neville

Really simple and tasty summery dish that could be mistaken for risotto. Takes about 15-20 minutes end to end. Serves 2:

1/2 an onion, chopped
Dash of oil

Gently saute until soft but not scorched.

150g orzo pasta
300ml vegetable stock

Add to the pan and simmer 5 minutes

Cut a bunch of asparagus into 1cm lengths, except leave the tips whole

Add asparagus slices except for the tips to the pan.

Simmer 4 minutes.

Add the tips. Simmer 3 minutes. Check how liquidy it is, if it is too dry add a splash of water, you want a creamy consistency. Check how done the pasta and asparagus are, simmer a little longer until tender if necessary.

1 tin of crab meat drained, or 100g crab meat fresh or frozen, thawed
2 tbs creme fraiche
zest of one lemon
Juice of half a lemon
2 tbs fresh parsely, chopped (optional)

Add to the pan, stir and heat through.

Serve!

Vegan Mushroom Pithivier

10/11/2024 / Neville

From a Great British Chefs recipe, you can tweak the quantities to make it larger or smaller, just keep it in proportion.

4 shallots or one small onion, peeled and diced
Dash of olive oil
400g mixed seasonal mushrooms
2 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
12 cooked chestnuts, chopped
1 tbs fresh thyme leaves
2 tbs dry sherry of Chinese cooking wine
Salt and pepper

Cook all these in a pan until the onion is transparent and the mushrooms look cooked. Add

300g silken Tofu

Let it cook down to a sauce. If you have boobed and bought regular tofu, don’t despair. Chop the tofu into small cubes, add a tablespoon of flour, mix in then add about 75 ml water or vegetable stock. Cook until it looks smooth and saucy. Allow to cool.

640g vegan puff pastry

Cut two circles one larger than the other, the smaller one being enough to cover your pie filling if it has a depth of about 2cm. Place the larger circle on a baking sheet lined with baking paper (rolled sheet puff pastry will come with baking paper). Add the filling and spread evenly to within 2cm of the edge. Bring the edge of the pastry up and crimp it as you go the create the sides. Dampen the lower edge of the smaller circle and lay it over the pie to make a lid. Hopefully you made it big enough to cover the pie filling! Press the edges down to seal and cut fancy slits through the lid in a starburst or petal pattern. Bake at 180C – 200C (depending on your oven) for abut 20 minutes until the pastry is browned and puffed up. It should look like the picture above. Slice into wedges and serve immediately.

Sausage and Lentils with Tomatoes and Spinach

11/01/2024 / Neville

This is adapted from an Olive Magazine recipe, and is simar but even more yummy than our original Sausage and Lentil Stew. Easy one-pot and easily scaled. This recipe is for two people.

4 meaty pork sausages
Dash of olive oil

Brown your sausages in a heavy heat-proof casserole dish over a medium hob. When the sausages are brown all over, removed and put to one side. Add

2-3 rashers of smoky bacon, chopped

Brown until crispy. Add

1 small red onion, chopped

When soft, add

1 garlic clove, crushed and chopped.

After a minute, add a dash of red wine (optional) and reduce by half. Now, here you have a choice. For speed you can now add a tin of cooked lentils, or pre-cook 90g green/brown/Puy lentils in a pressure cooker for four minutes. Alternatively add dried lentils and proceed as follows. Not the timings differ from here on.

90g dried lentils (or cooked/tinned)
400g tin of cherry tomatoes
375ml chicken stock (only if you are using dried lentils)

Add back your browned sausages. Now simmer for 40 minutes if you used dried lentils, or 10 minutes if you used tinned or pre-cooked lentils. Keep an eye on it and if it looks like drying out, add a splash or water or stock. Add

A generous fistful of spinach leaves.

Carry on cooking until the spinach has wilted. Adjust the seasoning, depending on how salty/spicy your bacon and sausages are. Serve with mash, crusty bread or garlic bread and a simple gremolata sprinkled over.

Gremolata: Mix the following (enough for four or two and some spare)

Small bunch of parsley leaves, chopped finely
Grated zest of a lemon
Half a lemon juiced
Enough good olive oil to bind it together without swamping

Stir Fry – Easy Version

24/10/2023 / Neville

You can make many different versions of this based on different meats as available. For four people:

Mix together

4 tbsp black bean sauce (or Hoisin sauce)
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tbsp Chinese rice wine or dry sherry
½ tsp chilli flakes
Pinch of Chinese five-spice powder

Set aside. Meat can be raw or cooked leftover sliced beef, pork or chicken. Now heat your wok or large frying pan with

2–4 tbsp vegetable or groundnut oil
2 large garlic cloves, sliced
20g root ginger, peeled and thinly sliced

Cook in hot oil for 30 seconds. Add

400g meat, cut on the diagonal into slices about 5mm thick

Stir fry until golden, then scoop out onto a plate and keep warm. Now add a mixture of all or some of the following:

onion, sliced
red pepper, deseeded and sliced
tenderstem broccoli, cut into short pieces
Baby corn, halved lengthwise
Sugarsnap peas

Stir fry until still firm but not soggy

4 nests dried egg noodles, cooked according to the packet or 400g Straight to Wok noodles
2 tsp cornflour, mixed with 60ml water

Add to the wok with the reserved meat and sauce mixture and stir around to coat and thicken. Add a splash more water if needed. Serve into four bowls and garnish with

spring onions, sliced
fresh coriander, roughly chopped
sesame seeds

Vegan Meatballs (nutballs)

17/09/2023 / Neville

Well obviously you can’t have vegan meatballs but these nut-roast equivilents are incredible. That’s from a non-vegan too! We had a glut of hazlenuts this year, prompting a search for a suitable recipe. This one came to light and it is recorded here to use again (and again). We served them with a rich onion gravy which is more trouble but a lot better than vegan Bisto gravy. You could use that instead though. Here’s a generous recipe for two, easily scaled up.

For the gravy,

1 small onion
1 clove of garlic, crushed
2 tbs olive oil

Sweat the onion gently in the oil for at least 10 minutes. Add

1 tbs plain flour

Stir into the cooked onion and cook on for a minute or two. Add

300ml hot vegetable stock
1 tsp Marmite
1 tsp dark soy sauce
1 rosemary sprig

Stir gently and cook until thickened. Remove the rosemary and either strain and serve, or leave the onions in.

For the nutballs:

150g mixed nuts (we used hazlenuts, cashew nuts and almonds). No need to skin or blanch.

Add enough boiling water to cover. Let stand for two minutes then drain. Meanwhile in a frying pan, gently cook:

chopped small red onion
2 crushed cloves of garlic
1 celery stick, chopped
1 carrot, grated
75g mushrooms, sliced
1 tsp fresh thyme leaves or a small pinch dried
2 tbs olive oil.

Fry until slightly coloured. Add to a food processor with:

the soaked nuts
1 tbs peanut butter
50g ground almonds
50g breadcrumbs (or panko)
3 tbs gram flour
salt and pepper

Pulse until mixed, you want some texture but it needs to be sticky enough to bind. Now roll into balls 30-40cm diameter. Wipe out your pan and reheat some oil. Now fry your nutballs, jiggling around to get some colour on all sides for about 10 minutes. Then put in an oven at 180C fot 10-15 minutes to cook through and colour up. Serve with the gravy and new potatoes or mash and some wilted or steamed greens.

Mighty Fine Vegan Cobbler

17/09/2023 / Neville

If you want a rich, hearty Autumn meal full of vegetables and flavour, this is it. It just happens to be vegetarian or vegan, but it will appeal to carnivores too. This recipe serves three but is easily scaled up. Method is given for an Instant Pot or conventional pan.

For the casserole base:

half an onion, chopped
1 parsnip, chopped
1 leek, sliced
1 carrot, chopped
1 celery stick, chopped
half a small butternut squash, cubed
Dash of vegetable oil

Sweat your vegetables in a pan until soft and maybe just a bit coloured. For the Instant Pot or conventional pot the next bit is the same except timings. Add to your pot of choice:

Your part cooked vegetables
Handful of brown or green lentils
450ml vegetable stock
1tsp Marmite
1 tsp dark soy sauce
pinch of dried thyme
1 bay leaf
a good grind of black pepper

For an Instant Pot, cook 4 minutes. For a conventional stove top pan, cover with a lid and cook 40 minutes, adding water if it is drying out. At the end of cooking, all will be nice and soft. Now for the key sneaky move: take a stick blender and zap a small section of the mix. Stir it all about to make the liquid a bit gloopy instead of watery. Meanwhile, make your cobbler topping.

150g plain flour
10g baking powder
0.5 tsp mustard powder
pinch ground white pepper
35g grated cheese (for vegan, Pilgrims Choice cheddar is excellent)
50g butter, cubed (or vegan baking block)

Whizz the lot in a food processor to make fine crumbs. Add

about 100ml milk (or soya milk) plus a bit (see below)

Mix gently to make a stiff dough. Add more milk if needed. Press out on a floured surface to about 2cm thick. Stamp into 40cm or 50cm rounds, re-rolling trimmings until you have made about 6 or 7 disks. Put the veg mixture into an oven proof dish of the right size, and lay your cobblers on the top of the veg. Brush them with a bit of milk. Now bake in a 180C fan oven for 30 minutes. Serve with mash and a green veg if you like. The cobbler will absorb liquid so it may need a bit of gravy if it looks dry. This is very filling and extremely tasty. No bland vegan dishes allowed in this house!

Instant Pot Lamb Tagine

27/08/2023 / Neville

Quick and easy, serves 2-3 people

1 small onion, chopped
3 small new potatoes, cubed
1 large carrot, cubed
a dash of rapeseed oil

Use the Saute setting in your Instant pot, and soften the vegetables. Add

600g cubed lamb

Stir about until coloured. Add

1 tsp ground coriander
1 tbs Ras-al-Hanout (or Moroccan curry powder mix)
2 garlic cloves, chopped

Stir about until fragrant, about one minute. Then add

1 tin chopped tomatoes
250ml stock
100g dried apricot
0.5 preserved lemon, skin only, chopped

Put on the Meat setting fo 40 minutes, and seal the lid. After 40 miutes, allow to depressurise for 10 minutes. If the tagine is too watery, put on Saute for 5-10 minutes but keep an eye on it and keep stirring from time o time so it doesn’t burn. Excellent with couscous and a Moroccan vegetable side.

Fish with orzo

30/01/2023 / Neville

This is a delicious way to serve any fillet or steak of firm white fish: bass, bream, cod, hake etc. To serve 4 people:

1 carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stick, finely chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
25g butter or 2 tbs oil

Saute very gently for 15 minutes to soften the vegetables, don’t let them go brown. It helps to keep the lid on your pan. Add

1 garlic clove, crushed and finely chopped

Carry on cooking for another minute. Add

1 sprig of thyme (or a tiny pinch of dried thyme)
300g orzo pasta
450ml vegetable stock

Cover and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Add more stock or water if it dries out or catches on the bottom of the pan. Meanwhile, work on the topping and fish. In another pan, add

25g butter
50g blanched, chopped hazlenuts

Fry gently until coloured, then tip into a bowl with the melted butter to cool. Wipe out the pan and heat again.

4 fish portions
dash of oil

Pat the fish dry, season and fry in the oil. Start with the skin side down and heat until the skin crisps and browns. Turn over and continue cooking until done, the timing will depend on the thickness of the fillet. Probably around 5 minutes. Now back to the orzo:

Large handful of washed spinach

Remove the thyme sprig. Add the spinach to the orzo pan and carry on cooking with the lid on until wilted. Stir it in. Now you are ready to plate up, and what follows is a master-stroke of deliciousness. Divide the orzo/spinach mixture between four warmed bowls.

80g mascapone
0.5 lemon, zested

In the centre of each pile of orzo put a dash of mascapone. Place the fillet of fish on top, sprinkle over lemon zest and the put the buttery hazlenuts on top.