Dinner recipes

Lamb meatballs and couscous Nigella comes up trumps again, although I have to say this is from her book rather than the TV show. It seems everyone is quick to criticise anything she does on TV, and while she does verge on the ridiculous much of the time, I think her genuine greed and love of food is really […]

Seared Scallops with bean mash and bacon Sweet tender scallops, with crispy salty bacon, roasted cherry tomatoes and a bean mash. Perfect indulgence in every mouthful.

Rice and Peas Mmmmmm rice and peas, actually one of my favourite things ever. I am salivating at the thought, my mum is the expert here, family and friends often demand a big pot of this to go with her legendary curries. As with most family recipes, this is impossible to transcribe, I’ve given below a basic recipe, […]

Venison Sausages with Mash and Mushroom Sauce Mmm… this was a seriously decadent, rich and comforting dinner. We got some venison sausages with our veg box this week (they were on offer). Naturally we immediately thought of sausage and mash and I had a little braised red cabbage in the freezer. It was the wine and mushroom sauce (inspired by our Abel […]

Braised Red Cabbage Another inspiration from The Big Bang, I’d never really had it before I had it there, so now I always associate it with sausage and mash and that is really where it comes into its own, kind of like a warm chutney, but better… Other strong flavours pair well, such as a Sunday roast or […]

Mashed Potatoes I always defer to stodgy ‘comfort’ food and mashed potato is the ultimate, I could eat bowls and bowls.

Kale and Mushroom Stir fry I was pretty excited when I saw the dark green leaves bursting out of the top of my vegetable box this week, but then quickly I was lost. I felt like kale would be delicious but what to do with it? I’ve already made this, delicious by the way, but I wanted something else… Internet […]

Simple Chickpea Stew This is simplicity itself. I wanted something vaguely healthy (chickpeas count as a portion of your 5-a-day) that was comforting, ideally eaten from a bowl with enough sauce to soak into some carbohydrate, my choice being couscous. A dollop of yoghurt on top (I love yoghurt) and you’re away. This is basically, onions, garlic chilli, […]

Jansen’s Temptation I saw this recipe in this month’s Olive for a Swedish dish of potatoes and onions layered, covered with cream and anchovies and baked with a crunchy breadcrumb topping. How can you go wrong? I ended up using this recipe from Hollow Legs and it was pretty good, although I’m not sure I was completely […]

Mushroom Risotto I got one of the little boxes of Japanese mushrooms from the farmers’ market and seen as though I still had some dried ones from when I was testing mushroom recipes for a book (someone else’s!), I decided to make mushroom risotto. Also, as you use some wine in a risotto, its always the perfect […]