My non-fancy lasagne

I wasn't going to write up this recipe because I don't think of it as particularly fancy and didn't think anyone would be that interested in it, but then I thought, everyone wants to know a good lasagne recipe (don't they?).  It is kind of a mash up of a few recipes I have read over the years and one of the few things I can make without reading instructions.  I basically wing it everytime.  

I am a sucker for comfort food, although I pretend to other people I enjoy salads more (I do love salads, but not as much as lasagne, or chicken pie, or sausage and mash), and is there anything more delightful as making your own bechemal sauce?  Especially when you can lick the spoon afterwards (and during, don't tell my family).

The good thing about the meat sauce is you can boil up some spaghetti and turn it into spag bol, or you could mash up some potatoes and turn it into cottage pie.  I use the same recipe for all of them!

Lasagne

Serves 4 large portions or 6 smaller

- 500g beef mince

- 2 rashers of bacon, sliced (today I actually used 2 good quality pork sausages because I didn't have any bacon and it tasted really good)

- Dried lasagne sheets (about 9)

- 1 clove of garlic, minced

- 2 small white onions, diced

- 1 tin chopped tomatoes

- 2 tbsp tomato puree

- 1 tbsp sugar

- 300ml chicken stock

- 1 red chilli, deseeded and diced

- 1 glass of red wine

- 100g butter

- 100g flour

- 1 litre milk

- grating of nutmeg

- 80g parmesan cheese, plus extra for grating over the top of the lasagne

- 2 tbsp oil

Method

- Turn your oven on to 180c/350f/gas mark 4 

- Put a high sided large frying pan on a medium heat and add the oil, garlic and chilli, saute for a minute then add the onion

- cook the onion until softened then add the bacon (or sausage meat) fry for a minute or so then add the mince

- Brown mince all over the add the tinned tomatoes, stir through then add the tomato paste

- Add the wine, the stock and the sugar, allow to simmer until the sauce has reduced to a thicker consistancy, about 15 mins

- Whilst the meat sauce is reducing you can start the white sauce, melt the butter over a medium heat in a medium saucepan then add the flour and stir with a whisk until the flour has incorporated into the butter, gradually add the milk, continuously stirring until you can no longer taste the flour in the sauce, add more milk if you need to.

- Once the milk has been stirred in and you had a lovely thick consistancy turn the heat off then add the cheese and stir through, then add a good grating of nutmeg, to your taste.  Set to one side.

- By now the meat sauce should have reduced, season to taste

- Get a roasting/baking dish, mine is 11 inches by 8 inches and it filled it to the top, put a bit of the white sauce on the bottom and then line the dish with lasagne sheets

- Put the meat sauce on then cover with another layer of lasagne sheets

- Cover the lasagne sheets with the white sauce then a final layer of meat sauce, then another layer of lasagne sheets

- On the final layer cover completely with the white sauce then a good grating of parmesam, really cover it well, I like to also slice a tomato thinly and place the slices on top (the only fancy thing about the dish)

- Put on the middle shelf of the oven and cook for 35 - 40 mins, until the top is golden and bubbling

Cauliflower Soup & #blueberrygate

There are few things that get me through an 8am start at work like granola with yoghurt and blueberries.  It has consistently been my favourite breakfast since I first discovered this JO recipe a couple of months ago.  So imagine my surprise, no, horror when I went to the fridge to find the empty packet staring me in the face, like a black void with no blueberries to be found.  I actually said 'no' out loud, convinced this wasn't my packet... but oh yes, dear readers, it was.  And shall I tell you how I knew they had been dropped and not eaten?  There were still blueberries on the floor.  At least have the decency to cover your tracks!

I am going to try my hardest to get over what I feel is a personal attack, but to be honest the only thing keeping me chipper is the thought of going home and making this cauliflower soup tonight.

I have been a long time reader of The Smitten Kitchen, I read her blog basically every day in awe of how someone could make me want to eat pretty much anything she cooks.  Even cabbage soup. Seriously.

On the subject of soups, I have been going on a sort of soup frenzy recently.  By frenzy I mean I have been obsessed with Pret's ham hock soup (consumed at least once a week) and have willingly opted for the soup option in restaurants over the new years period whilst in Edinburgh.

I don't know about you lot, but one of my absolute favourite things to do with soup is butter up a generous portion of French stick, tear it into little pieces and submerge it.  The French stick soaks up the extra juice so the soup turns really thick and soul satisfying.

I am also a big fan of cauliflower.  I like it boiled, cheesed, roasted, anyway you can think of probably.  I like it so much I nearly didn't mention the Korean fried cauliflower I had at Bar Social with my man-friend for our one year anniversary for fear you will all run out to try it and there will be a national shortage of cauliflower.

So basically cauliflower + soup = :)    

Cauliflower Soup 

Serves 4 

- One head of cauliflower

- Two tbsp of extra Virgin olive oil 

- One small onion, chopped

- 2 cloves of garlic, minced

- 1 litre of chicken stock

- Half a cup of grated Parmesan 

- Salt and freshly ground black pepper 

Optional: I added half a teaspoon of lazy chilli because I like to put chilli in everything

Method

- Remove the leaves and cut off the thick core, roughly chop and set aside

- Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan and add the onions and garlic and chilli if using, cook on a medium heat until softened but not browned, about 5 mins

- Add the cauliflower and stock and bring to the boil, simmer for about 15 mins or until the cauliflower is soft and falling apart

- Remove from heat and blend until smooth (my hand held blender actually broke today of all days, I had to use a potato masher, let's just say things got a bit messy) 

- Return the blended soup to the pan and stir through the Parmesan 

- Season to taste

Chilli Jam

I cannot believe it is only 2 days until Christmas!!  I do not feel very Christmassy at the moment, that may be because we haven't put the tree up yet *gasp*.  I promise this is not because my family are miserable, my dad is redecorating the living room and has only just laid the floor so I expect there will be one popping up within the next day.

So to get ready for the festive season I thought I would attempt to make Nigella's chilli jam.  I am a big fan of the DIY gift, preferably one that may result in me getting the best girlfriend award by giving a jar of it to my man-friends mum.  Okay maybe this was the only reason I made it.  

My godmother introduced me to this jam a few years ago at Christmas and I absolutely loved it, it goes so well with cheese and crackers.  I found some Kilner's jars in TKMaxx this week, there were three 0.5litre jars for £5.  I'm sure this might be a rip off and if you bought in bulk they would be cheaper but I, as usual, left it to the last minute to get them.  

I'm not going to lie, I had to read the sterilisation instructions about 5 times before I understood them, I'm sure it's really easy if you have done this sort of thing before but I haven't sterilised anything in my life (god help me when I have a child).  Once I figured out what the hell they were talking about it was relatively pain free, apart from taking the hot jars out of the saucepan... ouchies.  

To sterilise:

- Wash the jars and vacuum seals in hot soapy water, rinse well

- Place in large saucepan and fill with enough water to completely cover the jars (I turned mine on their sides).  Bring to the boil and leave to boil for 10 mins, cover and remove from heat until ready to use

- Place the vacuum seals in a smaller saucepan and fill with 4inches of water, bring to a simmer and simmer for 10 mins, cover with lid and remove from heat until ready to use.

The jam was also pretty simple to make, and most people know that you shouldn't cut up chillis and then touch your nose repeatedly... 

Chilli Jam

Makes about 1.5litres

- 1kg of jam sugar

- 150g long red chillis, chopped up and deseeded

- 150g red bell peppers, roughly chopped

- 600ml cider vinegar

Method

- Sterilise Jars and leave to cool

- Put the cut up chillis in a food processor and pulse, then add the peppers and pulse again until finely chopped

- Dissolve the sugar in the vinegar in a medium saucepan over a low heat, without stirring

- Once dissolved, add the chilli and pepper mixture to the bowl and bring to the boil for 10 minutes, do not stir*

- After 10 ( or twenty) minutes remove from the heat and allow to cool for about 40 minutes, the mixture will turn jelly-like as it cools

- After about 40 minutes, or until the red flecks have evenly dispersed throughout the mixture ladle into your jars, if you want to stir now it will be okay

- Enjoy with stilton and ritz crackers, or as Nigella suggest (and I am DEFINITELY going to try) smeared inside a bacon sandwich.**

** Nigella reccomended 10 minutes, I did this and my jam was like syrup, I reboiled it for another ten minutes and then it set properly, I think it is best to have a jam themometer (which I didn't have) so you can keep an eye on the heat.  Or you can put a small plate in the freezer and then drop a bit of the jam onto it, if it wrinkles when pushed with your finger, it is done.

***Tried and loved

Homemade Granola

Just a quick one today,  I wanted to share my homemade granola with you all because... well it is awesome.  I am not a fan of cereal, I think because too much milk always makes me feel a bit sickly, also I don't believe it is possible for a bowl of cereal to fill you up.  I have always considered it to be a breakfast starter.  

Now because my other preferred breakfast choices involve eggs/toast/sausages I do not have the time in the mornings to satisfy these urges.  Mainly because I give myself about 15 mins to get ready and get out of the house (totally doable).  This meant I had to find another solution, cue Jamie Oliver.

The recipe is really simple and has the added bonus of making your house smell like warm cake, so much so that my dad came into the kitchen super excited for a slice.  Sorry boss.  The best thing is you can add or take away ingredients to suit your taste, I added coconut because I love anything with coconut in it, but you can definitely leave it out and just add something like raisins instead.  

A couple of granola recipes I found online call for you to mix oil in with the oats so they become crispy, but I have never had a problem with the texture, as long as you make sure they are spread thinly enough. 

Granola
Adapted from Jamie Oliver's recipe

- 200g nuts of your choice (I use Cashew)
- 400g rolled jumbo oats
- 100g Sunflower seeds or Pumpkin seeds
- 340g runny honey 
- 100g dessicated coconut

Method

- Set the oven to gas mark 4/180C/350F
- Bash the nuts in their bag with a rolling pin until they are lightly crushed
- Mix all the dry ingredients together and then mix in the honey, stir well to combine
- Line two baking trays with parchment paper and spread the mixture evenly across both, make sure it isn't too thick otherwise the underneath won't crisp up
- Put the trays on the top and middle shelves of the oven and set the timer for 30 mins, after about 15 mins check the granola, the top tray may have turned a dark golden brown already so you can remove it, otherwise just swap them around so that they cook evenly
- Once cooked, leave to cool down and then break up into chunks and put into an airtight container
- Serve with yoghurt and fruit of your choice (I used blueberries and soy yoghurt)

Makes enough for about 10 days worth of granola and will last as long as you keep in an airtight container

Best Chocolate Brownies

I know I'm not the best cook in the world, part of the reason for starting this blog was to improve my cooking skills, but the one thing I do know how to make is a good chocolate brownie. I have been obsessed with those gooey rich chocolate blocks for years and if there was ever an occasion in my teenage calendar to bring them to an event I would. Not that I had many events to go to, my dad ruled with an iron fist and had the sense to mistrust my every move.

This recipe comes from my mum's friend, she runs a cafe in Chelsea Physic Garden called Tangerine Dream which I have been meaning to go to as I have heard it is beautiful there.  

I have used it many times and never been disappointed.  They are extremely rich, so I cut them quite small and they definitely work better with some double cream dolloped on top and a cup of tea (preferably an owl shaped one).

I am not going to say these brownies are healthy.  But I will say this, when you have spent a long day at work talking to morons, squashed yourself onto the roasting hot tube with someones elbow pressed into your back, rushed from the station trying not to lose your fingertips to frostbite to finally walk through the door, nothing makes you happier than a warmed up brownie.

Chocolate Brownies

Makes 32 pieces 

- 500g Lindt chocolate, 65/70% cocoa solids, or similar quantity broken up into small pieces 

- 700g caster sugar (yikes)

- 80g of plain flour (optional)

- 125g good quality cocoa powder

- 200g mixed nuts (optional, but worth it)

- 1 tbsp Madagascan vanilla essence

- 8 large free range or organic eggs, lightly beaten

- 500g melted unsalted butter

Method

- Line a 38cm roasting tray with baking parchment to overlap on all sides

- In a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients

- Add the vanilla essence, followed by the beaten eggs, and finally the cooled melted butter, mix well

- Pour the mixture into the roasting tin and bake for 45 mins at 150c 

- The surface should crack slightly when ready

- Remove and cool for 30 mins then turn out onto a wire rack and remove baking parchment, cool for a further 20 mins

- Transfer to a chopping board and cut into 32 pieces (or more if you want them smaller)

- Serve with cream, ice cream or creme fraiche, keeps in an airtight container for 3 days (I think longer as they are so moist)

Chana Masala

I have been feeling under the weather this week.  Completely my fault as I went out last Saturday with no tights, no winter jacket and open toe shoes.  I then preceeded to walk around Shoreditch without those shoes on (my mother once told me a lady never takes her shoes off, but my boyfriend did give me his socks to wear so maybe I haven't lost all my dignity).  

I perked up midweek but then two days of consecutive drinking and more wandering in the cold without an appropriate jacket on caught up on me and I woke up today not feeling too clever.  I decided I needed a chilli fix to clear my sinuses so I turned to Meera Sodha.

I am a massive fan of what my dad likes to call 'village food'.  Coming from a Cypriot background some of my favourite dishes only contain lentils or pulses, dishes my yaiya cooked because they were too poor to buy meat.  I love a tomato-ey based sauce, especially with a kick and loads of black pepper and with a nice bit of crusty bread smothered with salty butter... I'm digressing.  Anyway this appealed to me because of those reasons and I wanted a meat free, cheap meal.

It definitely had a kick!  My mum had to put a spoonful of yoghurt in her mouth halfway though eating, so beware!  Although this may have been because I didn't scrape the seeds out of the chilli (laziness).  Other than that it was comforting and filling and my airwaves were clear for a good while after eating.  

I used tinned chickpeas and I actually would advise to go for the dried ones you have to soak overnight, the tinned ones were quite hard and I don't think as tasty.  I only used tinned because I really wanted to eat this dish today.

Chana Masala (workers curry)

Serves 4

- 200g dried chickpeas or 2 x 400g tins of chickpeas

- 1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

- 3cm ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

- 2 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped

- 1 fresh green chilli

- Salt

- 3 tbsp rapeseed oil

- 2 onions, sliced

- 1 x 400g tin of plum tomatoes

- 1 tbsp tomato puree

- 1 tsp garam masala

- 3/4 tsp ground cumin

- 1/2 tsp chilli powder

- 1/4 tsp ground turmeric

Method

- Put the dried chickpeas into a pan, cover with cold water, add the bicarbonate of soda and soak them for at least 6 hours.  Rinse, drain, then cover with more cold water and boil for 35-40 mins until soft, discarding any scum.  if you are using tinned chickpeas then drain them and rinse.

- Pound the ginger, garlic and chilli together in a pestle and mortar with a pinch of salt until it forms a paste.

- Put oil into a large frying pan on a medium heat.  When it is hot add the onions and cook for 10-12mins, or until golden brown.  Don't skimp on time and stir frequently.

- When the onions have coloured add the garlic, ginger and chilli paste and stir through.  Add the tomatos and break up in the pan with your wooden spoon.

- Add the tomato puree, stir well and cook for 8-10 mins, or until it has become a rich thick sauce.

- Add the salt and remaining spices and cook for a couple of mins before adding the chickpeas.  Check the consistancy and add about 5 tbsp water to thin the sauce.  Stir well and cook for another 5 mins.

- Taste and adjust any seasoning.

- Serve with chappatis or naan bread (or crusty bread covered in salted butter... just me?)

The difficult second recipe

You know something has gone wrong in life when you get more excited about going to Sainsbury's on a Saturday night rather than going out.  This is the situation I found myself in last weekend. In my defence they had free tasters of Christmas pudding with clotted cream which managed to make me do a complete U-turn on how I have felt about them for all of my life: boring, where is the chocolate cake?

The reason for my trip was to get ingredients for a curry I was going to cook for my family. I had recently purchased 'Made in India' by Meera Sodha with the intention of finally becoming the curry queen I know is hiding inside me.  

This is the first Indian cookbook I have ever owned, I was always hesitant to buy any due to my lack of knowledge on Indian cuisine and of Indian chefs for that matter.  I couldn't tell you where I found it, it has been in my amazon wishlist for bloody ages (I am a wishlist obsessive) I have a sneaky suspicion I found a review of it in the Metro on a Tuesday, which is the only day I pick one up as it has the cookery section in it (is that cool or uncool?  Undecided).

So back to this uh-mazing book, Meera basically makes Indian food seem really easy and not scary or intimidating at all, there are beautiful pictures which made me literally salivate whilst reading and the instructions are clear.  The best part of the book for me was the chapter on how to cook rice.  I don't know about you lot, but I am rubbish at cooking rice, I think I have read too many conflicting recipes and techniques so I just decided rice wasn't for me! 

So after much deliberation (an hour or two I would say) I went for the Pistachio and Yoghurt Chicken with Ferrari potatoes as a side.  The pistachio was the main reason for my choice, I am currently obsessed with pistachio flavoured ice cream, well pistachio flavoured anything really.

As far as recipes go, I found the directions really easy to follow, I was nervous about cooking with all those spices as I wasn't sure the end result would taste like but I was blown away by how delicious it was.  My mum even conceded defeat and admitted it was better than her chicken curry.  I did get a bit flustered towards the end, I didn't put the potatoes on early enough and there was a peanut mishap which we won't even get into, but overall I feel much more capable at tackling any curry recipe now!

I would like to add one thing, the recipe calls for using a spice grinder or a food processor to grind up the nuts, I used my new Breville Blend-Active which I got from Amazon for about £20, I can't praise this device enough, it makes perfect fruit smoothies, pancakes and, more importantly, cocktails!!  Although I told myself when drunkenly purchasing it was for post-excercise drinks...

Pistachio and Yoghurt Chicken Curry

Serves 4

- 100g unsalted pistachios (plus extra to serve)

- 5cm ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

- 4 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped or crushed in garlic crusher (any recipe that calls for chopped garlic I automatically use a crusher, the main reason is my dad despises finding a slice of garlic in his dinner so I trick him into believing I don't use garlic)

- 3 tbsp rapeseed oil

- 2 large onions, sliced into rings

- 2 large ripe tomatoes, roughly chopped

- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper

- 1 tsp garam masala

- 1/2 tsp chilli powder

- 1 tbsp coriander seeds, crushed

- 1/2 tsp ground cardamon

- 4cm cinnamon stick or 1 tsp ground cinnamon

- 1 tsp salt (or to taste)

- 800g skinless, boneless chicken thighs, chopped into 2cm cubes 

- 250ml hot chicken stock

- 4 tbsp greek yoghurt (plus extra to serve)

- juice of 1/2 lemon

Method

- In a food processor grind the pistachios to a fine powder and set aside, bash up the ginger and garlic in a pestle and mortar to a coarse paste and set aside

- put the oil in a wide bottomed, lidded frying pan on a medium heat and once hot add the onions, fry until caramelized, which should take around 20 mins

- Add the garlic and ginger paste and stir fry for about 3-4 mins before adding the tomatoes

- put the lid on the pan and leave the tomatoes to cook for about 5 mins, until they start to break down, then add the black pepper, garam masala, chilli powder, coriander, cardamon, cinnamon and salt, stir then add the chicken to the pan

- Turn the chicken so that it seals on all sides, then add the ground pistachios, stir fry for a minute then pour in the chicken stock

- Lightly whisk the yoghurt with a fork then stir into the pan

- Put the lid on the pan and leave to cook for around 15 mins, I took the lid off after a while as it wasn't reducing enough for my likening

- Taste the dish and adjust as you wish, you can also add a little water to get the right consistancy if you need to (I didn't)

- Serve with a spoonful of yoghurt and scatter some chopped pistachios on top and add a squeeze of lemon.  I added some chopped coriander leaves aswell because... well I love coriander

- Serve with Rice

Ferrari (pan fried potatoes with peanuts, black pepper and lemon juice)

Serves 4

- 50g peanuts, unsalted and unroasted

- 20 peppercorns (about half a tsp)

- 3 tbsp rapeseed oil

- 1/2 tsp cumin seeds

- 400g new potatoes, chopped into 3cm cubes

- 1 fresh green chilli, finely chopped

- 4cm ginger, peeled and grated (I used the pestle and mortar again instead I can't see how that would make a difference)

- 3/4 tsp salt

- 25g fresh coriander, chopped

- 1/2 a lemon

Method

- coarsly grind the peanuts using a food processor or pestle and mortar, set to one side, then grind the peppercorns the same way

- put the oil into a wide bottomed, lidded frying pan on a medium heat, when it is hot add the peppercorns and cumin seeds, a minute later add the potatoes

- Stir fry the potatoes for about 12 mins, until they start to brown, stick them with a knife to see if they are done (they will slide off easily if they are) if so then add the ginger, green chilli and salt

- Continue to cook for another 5 - 6 mins to cook the ginger and brown the potatoes

- When the potatoes are nicely brown, check the seasoning and then transfer to a serving bowl, scatter over the peanuts and coriander and squeeze over the lemon juice

Note: Be careful with the size of your potatoes, I don't think I cut mine thin enough so they took a lot longer than 20 mins to cook!