Category: Main courses (Page 1 of 13)

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.

Ooni Oven Tandoori/Chicken Tikka

18/12/2022 / Neville

Placeholder recipe:

Create a marinade by mixing the following

250ml yogurt
1 1/2 tsp fresh ginger
1 tbs fresh garlic
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp red food colouring
1 lemon or lime, juiced
1/2 Tsp turmeric powder
1/2 Tsp extra hot chilli powder
1/2 Tbs tandoori masala powder
1/2 Tbs cumin powder
1/2 Tbs coriander powder
1/2 Tsp ground pepper
1/2 Tsp citrus powder

Cut 600g chicken breast into skewerable chunks. Add to the marinade and stir about until coated. Marinate at least 6 hours. Cook in a pan in the Ooni at high temperature. Make naans too.

Farmer’s Pie

12/09/2022 / Neville

Aedy’s very descriptive terms for a vegan cottage pie! This is easily as good as a meat-based cottage pie and very simple to prepare. This quantity serves 8.

400g lentils
Vegan vegetable stock cube

Rinse the lentils and add to an Instant pot with enough water to cover by 2cms. Add the crumbled stock cube and cook for 6 minutes. Allow to depressurise naturally. Alternatively, simmer for 40 mintues in a pan but keep an eye on the water level and add more if necessary. You want the lentils to be cooked but not swimming in water – a bit is OK.

Add to one side of the pan:

1 tin black or red kidney beans, drained

With a stick blender, zap the beans and any lentils below. Now mix in and you should get a nice textured gloopy sauce.

1 onion, choped
2 carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
Dash of oil

Heat the oil in a frying pan and gently fry the vegetables until soft. Add the lentils. Also add

2 tbs chopped fresh parsley
salt and pepper to taste
2 tbs tomato puree

Now simmer for 20 minutes or so while you boil your potatoes

1 kg potatoes, peeled and quartered. Quantity approximate, it depends if you want to fill up or be polite.

Boil until tender. Drain and mash with a dash of vegan milk and vegan spread. Now find a suitable oven-proof bowl or casserole, put the lentil mixture in the bottom and adjust the liquid, add a splash or water or stock if it needs loosening up. Spread the mash over the top and rough up the top – this helps it get crispy! Bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 180C. Serve with Bisto gravy (which is vegan) and vegetables of choice.

Chinese Sesame Chicken

08/09/2022 / Neville

Like many Westernised Chinese dishes, this probably bears little resemblance to an authentic dish. It is popular in American restaurants but not so prevalent in the UK although it bears a passing resemblance to variations of sticky chicken and sweet-and-sour. This recipe is for four people.

Mix the following then set aside:

1 tbs sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tbs Chinese rice vinegar
2 tbs honey
2 tbs sweet chilli sauce
3 tbs tomato ketchup
2 tbs brown sugar
4 tbs soy sauce

Mix and put in a bowl:

1 cup plain flour
0.5 tsp salt
0.5 tsp white pepper
0.5 tsp garlic powder
2 tsp paprika

Now take:

3 chicken breasts or thigh meat cut into bite sized chunks
3 tbs cornflour
2 eggs beaten
A good slug of rape seed oil

Assemble a production line of your chicken, then cornflour, then beaten egg then the flour mix. Put the oil in a wok and heat to sizzling. Dip each chicken piece in the cornflour, egg and then flour mix before dropping into the wok. Fry and stir until the pieces are golden and cooked. Remove the cooked pieces, put in a bowl lined with kitchen paper and transfer to an oven to keep warm. Tip #1: this can be a fiddly operation and you could end up with the first lump burning by the time the last lump goes in. Assemble the floured lumps on a plate so they all go in the pan together. Tip #2: you will probably need to do this in two batches anyway.

While the chicken is keeping warm tip your sauce mix into the wok and bubble away until thick and sticky. Return the chicken to the pan and roll them around until they are coated.

Sprinkle with sesame seeds and chopped spring onions, and serve over plain boiled rice. A side vegetable dish would complement this perfectly, such as mushrooms and pepper fry.

Simple Foolproof Biryani

24/08/2022 / Neville

From Nadiya Hussein (BBC Good Food), who knows. To serve 4.

First make the chicken part:

450g diced chicken (thigh or breast)
100ml olive oil
3 onions, chopped
5 garlic cloves, crushed and chopped
2 tbs tomato puree
3 tbs garam masala (I used a low-cinnamon version)
1 tbs paprika

Toss the whole lot together in an oven-proof, lidded casserole dish. Add and mix in

2 tbs cornflour

Cook in the oven 170C (fan) for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile make the rice.

250g basmati rice
750ml water
healthy pinch saffron
Cinnamon stick (optional)
0.5tsp salt

Boil for five minutes. Drain and rinse in cold water. When the chicken is cooked, take the casserole out of the oven. Put the rice over the chicken and cover again. Turn the oven off and put the casserole dish back in the oven. Leave for 20 minutes. Serve with lemon wedges and sprinkle with chopped spring onion.