Vichy Carrots

This dish get it's name from the brand name of sparkling water the original recipe uses for cooking these carrots. I personally just use a cheap bottle of sparkling water! This is my favourite way of cooking carrots.I love to sprinkle fresh parsley from my garden over them near the end of cooking for a fantastic flavour. These take longer to cook than just boiling our carrots, because we are simmering them slowly, but it is worth it for the end result.

Use your largest frying pan.

Serves 4

4 carrots, peeled & sliced about 1 cm thick
Sparkling water
Large knob of butter
Chopped fresh parsley
Salt & pepper

Lay the carrots in one layer in the largest frying pan that you have. Pour in enough sparkling water to just cover the carrots. Add the butter & season. Simmer gently for 15 minutes or until all the liquid has been absorbed. . Scatter over the parsley, stir & serve.

Swede (turnip) Bake

Up here in Scotland we call them neeps or turnips, but I know the English call them swede and Americans call it rutabaga! No matter what you call it, it's a tasty vegetable, and a great replacement for potatoes in a lot of dishes. This dish is lovely with a roast dinner or maybe some sausages. I think this has more flavour than potatoes, and make it quite often to go alongside roast chicken. I didn't add cheese to mine, but you can sprinkle some on top if you fancy it.

Serves 4

Butter to grease
1 swede, peeled and sliced in 0.5 cm thick slices
2 garlic cloves, crushed
200 ml double cream
Cheese to top (optional)

Grease an oven proof dish with butter. Preheat oven to 200c.
Place a layer of swede slices in the bottom of the dish. Add a little garlic on top. Layer more swede on top, with more garlic. repeat until you have filled the dish or have used all the swede. Pour the cream over the whole dish. Add cheese on top if you are using. Pop in the oven for around 30/35 minutes. A knife should go through all the layers of swede easily.

Celeriac Tartiflette

Celeriac  is one of my favourite vegetables. I quite often use it in place of potatoes, as it is much more flavoursome. I picked one up in Sainburies the other day, and was walking around the store wondering what to do with it when I spotted some Reblochon cheese. Of course, I decided to make tartiflette and use celeriac instead of the traditional potatoes. It was a huge success! I used a recipe that I found on Mumsnet and took it from there. I did take a photograph, but it was terrible so decided not to share it! Believe me though, it was great.

1 celeriac, peeled & chopped
250g bacon lardons or smoked bacon chopped
2 shallots, diced
1 garlic clove, crushed
100ml  white wine
200ml double cream
1 whole Reblochon cheese
Salt & pepper to season

Parboil the celeriac for 10 minutes in some boiling salted water. Drain & set aside. Meanwhile, fry the bacon lardons in some olive oil. Preheat the oven to 200c.Add the shallots & garlic to the frying pan and cook for 5 minutes. De glaze the pan with the white wine & allow to reduce down slightly. Place the celeriac in an oven proof dish. Pour over the wine/bacon mix over the top, and then the double cream. Season. Place slices of the Reblochon over the top & pop into the oven for 15 minutes. Serve with a green salad or crusty bread.

Aubergine Melts

Aubergines (or eggplants for my US readers!), I find, are the meatiest tasting vegetable out there. I can eat one of these and not feel like I am missing the meat part of my meal. I ate a whole one for my lunch, or you could have half with a couscous side dish. I couldn't entice any of my children to try it though! Not even the veg-loving one wanted to taste it. I loved it though, and will have it again soon.

Serves 1-2

1 whole aubergine
Olive oil
2 tablespoons pesto
1 ball of mozzarella, drained & sliced
6 cherry tomatoes, halved
Basil leaves to garnish

Preheat the oven to 200c. Cut the aubergine in half and drizzle with olive oil. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes. Spread a tablespoon of pesto on each half, then top with sliced mozzarella and then finish with the cherry tomato halves. Pop back into the oven for anther 5 minutes, until the cheese has melted & tomatoes softened. Sprinkle with basil.

Caramelised Sprouts

I love my green veg, but was bored with just steamed or boiled brussel sprouts. This recipe brings out their amazing flavours and jazzes up a simple roast chicken dinner. I could eat these every day! The secret is the slow cooking of the sprouts.Fresh thyme is best, but you could use dried instead. Use the best quality stock and let it simmer right down into a sticky sauce.

Olive oil
Knob of butter
Sprig of fresh thyme, leaves chopped
2 shallots, finely diced
400g sprouts
150 ml chicken or veg stock

Heat up a frying pan to a medium heat and add the sprouts. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil & stir the sprouts until all coated. Let them cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. When they are soft and starting to turn brown, add the shallots, thyme & butter. Stir through. When the shallots have softened, add the stock and allow to simmer gently. When the stock has reduced down to a sticky gravy, serve immediately.

Red Cabbage with Balsamic and Cranberries

This is one of the side dishes I am planning on having with our Christmas dinner this year. We don't really eat turkey, so we are having a gammon instead and probably a roast chicken. I think this dish will go lovely with those meats. I have a few other dishes too, but this is one I can prepare beforehand, and the flavours will develop in the fridge. I will prepare some more side dishes tomorrow (Christmas Eve) so that leaves the bare minimum for the actual day.This recipe is perfect for freezing too.

3 tbsp olive oil
2 large onions , halved and thinly sliced
2 whole cloves
1 medium red cabbage , quartered, cored and thinly sliced
200ml vegetable stock
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
100g brown sugar
200g fresh or frozen cranberries

 Heat the oil in a large pan. Add the onions and fry, stirring every now and then, for about 10 mins, until they start to caramelise. Stir in the cloves, then add the cabbage and continue cooking, stirring more frequently this time, until the cabbage starts to soften. 
Pour in the stock, add the vinegar and sugar, then cover and cook for 10 mins. 
Stir in the cranberries and cook for 10 mins more. Cool and keep in the fridge for up to 4 days, or freeze for 1 month. Thaw in the fridge overnight. Reheat until very hot before serving.

Easy Cranberry Sauce

This is the first year that I have tried to make my cranberry sauce. I looked a few recipes, and came up with this easy recipe to try out. It can keep in the fridge for 4 days, and it is also fine to freeze. I like to make as much as I can ahead of time, for the Christmas meal, so this was cooked this afternoon & is now all ready for Christmas. I will have more recipes popping up in the next couple of days, so be sure to check back for more!

250g fresh or frozen cranberries
100g light brown sugar
100ml fresh orange juice
1 star anise

Heat the orange juice, sugar & star anise in a pan until bubbling. Stir in the cranberries & cook until they are soft but still mostly holding their shape. This will be about 5 minutes if using frozen, a bit longer for fresh. Decant to a jar or large ramekin, and allow to cool. Fish out the star anise, and keep in the fridge until it is needed. It can be frozen at this point too.

Braised Cabbage

I saw this recipe recommended on a recipe thread, and just had to try it. Who knew cabbage could be so tasty? My kids all LOVED it. I even ate the leftovers for lunch the next day. I served mine as a side dish to roast guinea fowl and celeriac fondant. Can't wait to have it again!

1 whole white cabbage
250ml (or thereabouts) cream
Salt & pepper
25g butter

Remove the outer layer of leaves.  Cut the cabbage in half, through the stalk. Cut those in half, and then in half again. You should have 8 wedges with a piece of stalk at the bottom. Heat a frying pan and melt the butter. Add the cabbage wedges and cook until brown on one side. Flip and brown the other side. Pour over the cream and then place a lid on & lower the heat. Allow to cook gently for about 20/30 minutes, it will be nice & soft.

Celeriac Fondant

I am a huge Masterchef fan, and sometimes I am just itching to try some of the recipes. Quite often, contestants make potato fondants, which didn't really excite me. One day though, one made a celeriac fondant that DID excite me! I had a guinea fowl that I wanted to roast, and felt like it needed something a little different to go with it, celeriacs are in season just now, and are so tasty. This method of cooking it brought out an amazing flavour, it is now one of my favourite dishes. I reduced the stock right down after the fondant was cooked, and used it as a gravy - delicious! We had guinea fowl, braised cabbage along with the celeriac fondant.

1 celeriac
Enough stock to almost cover the fondants in the pan (i use chicken stock)
1 crushed garlic clove
salt
pepper
25g butter plus a drizzle of olive oil

Cut the celeriac into 2 cm deep rectangles (or circles if you prefer, use a cookie cutter). Heat the oil & butter in a large pan, then brown the celeriac wedges on both sides until golden. Pour in the stock, add the garlic & seasonings and then allow to simmer, covered, for about 25 minutes. the celeriac should be cooked through. Remove the celeriac to a warm plate and reduce the stock down until you are left with less than half the amount. Pour over the celeriac.

Slow Cooker Boston Baked beans

I love to cook a gammon joint in my slow cooker with nothing but 2 tablespoons of brown sugar in with it. The meat that comes out is amazing! As soon as I remove the gammon though, I am left with a crock pot full of gammon & brown sugar stock, which seems a shame to waste. This time I added some beans & other ingredients, plus some left over shredded gammon, and created these tasty boston baked beans. They were fab on jacket potatoes topped with cheese.

Leftover gammon & brown sugar liquid from slow cooker
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tsp tomato purée
1 tbsp maple syrup
 2 tsp English mustard powder
½ tsp ground cinnamon
2 x 400g cans cannellini or haricot beans, drained and rinsed - I used a tin of both
Leftover shredded gammon

Just add all the ingredients to the slow cooker, and cook on low for as long as you can. Mine were on for about 8 hours.

Roasted Honeyed Celeriac

Celeriac is back in the supermarkets! It must be back in season - I just love it and have been waiting months for it. I used it as a side dish for our roast dinner this week. I love it cooked all different ways, but this has to be one of my favourites. We had it with herby roast chicken, sweetcorn, sweet & sour carrots and gravy. The others also had potatoes, but not me, the other veg was enough!

1 celeriac
a thick slice of butter
a little olive oil
2 tbsp honey
8 sprigs thyme
4 tsp honey

Set the oven at 200C/gas mark 6. Put a pan of lightly salted water on to boil. Peel the celeriac and remove the tops. Slice the flesh into thick chips. Drop them into the water and leave for 10 minutes till almost tender.
Drain them, then put them into a roasting tin or baking dish with a thick slice of butter and a spoonful of olive oil or beef dripping. Season with salt and black pepper, the thyme leaves pulled from their stalks, and the honey. Toss gently then roast for 35-40 minutes until the celeriac is crisp and pale gold.

Sweetcorn Fritters

Today I made my slow cooker ribs again for dinner. I wanted to make some tasty sides to go with them, so decided on a potato salad and these maxing corn fritters. They were quite messy to make, but absolutely worth it! The kids loved them, and ate every last scrap. They are not something I would make on a regular basis, but lovely as a treat. I would use a pan of oil that you can discard afterwards rather than a deep fat fryer, the mess was unreal! 

90g plain flour 
1 tablespoon sugar 
1 teaspoon baking powder 
2 eggs 
120ml  milk,
1 teaspoon salt 
4 large tins of sweetcorn, drained 
3 teaspoons Chopped Fresh Chives 
 Oil, For Frying

Heat about 2 inches of oil to a medium high heat in a large pan.
Sift together the flour, sugar and baking powder. Season with salt & pepper.  Stir in the milk & eggs and mix until it is all combined. 
Add the sweetcorn and chives and mix so that the corn is coated. The mixture will be still quite wet, and wont hold together well, that is how it is supposed to be. Drop a large spoonful of the batter into the oil. repeat this, doing no more than 4 at a time. Once they have turned golden in the oil, remove & drain on kitchen paper. Serve when all the mixture has been fried and drained.

Sticky Sauusages & BBQ Beans

It was just 3 of us for dinner last night, the girls have gone to stay with family for a week. Big Bee doesnt liek sausages, so this was a good time for us sausage lovers to enjoy them! I used good quality butchers sausages, as I prefer the taste. You could use any chutney you like, I used a cherry tomato & shallot one from our local factory - they sell some amazing chutneys! I sent some beetroot & orange chutney to my foodie penpal last month & she loves it. These BBQ beans are a bit of a hassle to make, but taste lovely.

Serves 3

2 or 3 sausages per person
3 tablespoons tomato chutney

1 tin of baked beans in tomato sauce
1 onion finely diced
1 tablespoon oil
2 teaspoons tomato puree
2 teaspoons American yellow mustard
1 tablespoon black treacle
1 teaspoon Worcester sauce
Pinch garlic powder
Pinch paprika
5 tablespoons tomato ketchup
230 mils vegetable stock
2 teaspoons brown sugar

Preheat the oven to 200c. Add the sausages to a roasting tray & put into the oven for 25 minutes, shaking the tray now  again to get an even colour. Add the tomato chutney, spreading all over the sausages, then return to the oven for a final 5 minutes.

Heat the oil in a sauce pan & add the onions & tomato puree. Stir fry for 5 minutes until softened. Add the mustard, treacle, Worcester sauce, tomato ketchup, garlic powder, paprika, stock & sugar. Simmer for 6 minutes, until the sauce has thickened.

Tip in the tin of beans, and mix. Simmer for another 5 minutes, then serve.

Crushed Rosemary Potatoes

It was a cold, wet Autumn Sunday afternoon, and we all needed some comfort food. Who doesn't love Toad in the Hole? I had some lovely butchers sausages to use and made lashings of roast onion gravy to pour on top. I was going to make some traditional roast potatoes to go with it, but spotted the huge rosemary plant growing outside my kitchen window. I remembered how nice crushed potatoes with rosemary are, so that sealed the deal. I was also going to make caramelised carrots to go with it, but found my carrots were all a bit bendy and sad looking :( so a tin of sweetcorn had to be opened.

Allow 3-4 small potatoes per person
Salt & pepper
Chopped fresh rosemary
Olive oil

Preheat the oven to 220c.
Parboil the potatoes for7-10 minutes in a pan of salted, boiling water.  Drain and allow to air dry. Toss into a large roasting tin, and squash each one a bit with a potato masher. Mash down only until it burst open then stop. Drizzle with olive oil and season. Scatter the chopped rosemary over them, and pop into the oven for 25 minutes.

Net Bread (Roti Jala)

I made this to accompany the Sri Lankan curry we had for dinner. You could have it with any curry though, or even just as a snack. It makes a lovely change from naan breads. This takes minutes to mix up and just minutes to cook, so you can make them while your curry is simmering away just before serving. I used a squeezy bottle to pour into the frying pan, you could also use a piping bag with a fine nozzle.


125g plain flour
2 teaspoon curry powder
Pinch of salt
200ml coconut milk
1 medium egg
vegetable oil.

Add he flour, salt & curry powder to a measuring jug, and make a well in the middle. Add the milk & flour & whisk until smooth. Pour into a squeezy bottle or a piping bag with a fine nozzle/tip.

Heat the vegetable oil in a large frying pan. Swirl the mixture into the pan, in a loop the loop pattern. make sure each loop overlaps another so that it stays together. Cook for 3 minutes then flip. After another 2 minutes, tip onto a warm plate. Repeat until you have 6 or 7 net breads. Serve immediately.

Sticky Asian BBQ Chicken wings & sweetcorn rice

Another recipe from Lorraine Pascale! This is such a great TV show & recipe book, I have loved everything I have tried from it. It is also exactly my way of cooking, Fast, Easy & Fresh! Tasty hearty meals for my family that are budget friendly and easy to whip up. This glaze is made entirely from store-cupboard ingredients. I used a mixture of chicken wings & drumsticks - no leftovers though! The kids went back for seconds.

Sauce

800g chicken wings & drumsticks
6 squidges of tomato ketchup
3 tblsp balsamic vinegar
3 tblsp soy sauce
2 tblsp chinese 5-spice
2 squidges of honey
1 garlic clove (finely chopped)
Few sprigs of thyme (leaves only)
Sunflower oil (drizzle)
Salt & pepper to season

Preheat the oven to 200c. Mix all the ingredients together to form a thick sauce. Lay out your chicken pieces on a baking tray. Pour over the sauce and make sure each piece is coated. Pop into the oven for 30 minutes, until cooked through. Baste occasionally while cooking.

Sweetcorn Rice

350g rice
198g tin of sweetcorn
Handful chopped coriander or parsley
Drizzle of oil

Cook the rice as per the instructions on the packet. Drain and toss with the oil, herbs & sweetcorn. Serve alongside the chicken.

Schnitzel & coleslaw

I had intended to make chicken parmos like these I have made before. When it came to it though, I didn't fancy the cheese/sauce thing so decided to just make them as schnitzel instead. I made some homemade coleslaw to go alongside it, plus some salad and it was perfect.

Coleslaw -

Half small white cabbage, shredded
1 large carrot (or 2 medium) grated
4 spring onions, diced
4 tablespoons mayo (or to taste)
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Salt & pepper

Mix all the ingredients & allow to chill in the fridge for an hour or so. Will keep for 2/3 days in an airtight container in the fridge.

Chicken Schnitzel (serves 2)

2 chicken breasts
1 egg, beaten
Plain flour for dusting
Breadcrumbs to coat
Oil for frying

Butterfly the chicken breasts to make them all one thickness. To do this, cut them in half almost all way, leaving one edge still attached, then fold out & flatten.

Dip into flour, then egg then breadcrumbs, making sure to get a good coating. Gently place into a frying pan with a couple of cms of hot oil. Fry for 4 minutes each side, until cooked through & golden on the outside.

Dr Pepper Ribs

Dr Pepper ribs - delicious! These would be fab done on a BBQ too, which I might try if we ever get any nice weather! It seems a little bit of a faff with the long cooking, but its worth it for soft, melting ribs. I don't like Dr Pepper as a drink, but makes a great marinade. I served it with a sweetcorn salad.

3 racks of small pork ribs, approx 500g each
1½ l Dr Pepper
2 star anise

Glaze 

200ml Dr Pepper

6 tbsp soft brown sugar

6 tbsp tomato ketchup

1½ tbsp Dijon mustard

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp ground allspice 

  

Heat the oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3. Put the ribs, fleshy side down, in a single layer in a large roasting tin. Pour over the Dr Pepper and add the spices. Tightly cover with foil and cook for 2 hours. 

Put all the glaze ingredients in a pan and simmer until thick and syrupy. 

After the initial cooking take the ribs from the oven and turn it up to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6, or light your barbecue. Drain all the liquid from the tin. Turn the ribs flesh side up and baste with the glaze. Roast for 30 minutes or barbecue, adding more glaze halfway through until sticky and shiny. Cut into sections to serve. 

Corn salad

Small tin of sweetcorn, drained

Half a cucumber, finely diced

Half a red onion, finely diced

Tablespoon chopped parsley

Teaspoon lime juice

Mix all the ingredients together.

Red Onion & Rosemary Foccacia

I have made foccacia before, in this post here. I used a very similar recipe, but added some lightly fried red onions to the top before baking in the oven. Delicious!

Cheesy Vegetable Bake

I was looking for a tasty side dish to go alongside gammon steaks. I didn't fancy potatoes or pasta with it. I knew I had a bag of vegetables lurking in the fridge, so decided to use that up. The crunchy topping was something my mum used to always add to macaroni cheese - crushed crisps!


Serves 4 as a side dish

About 400g of fresh veg (I used broccoli, cauliflower and carrots)
300 ml single cream
Pinch mustard powder
150g grated cheese
1 tablespoon cornflour
Half a packet of crushed crisps
Tablespoon Parmesan cheese
Salt & pepper to season

Gently steam the vegetables until cooked but not soft. Drain and tip into a casserole dish. Preheat the oven to 200c.
Warm the single cream in a saucepan, and season. Add the pinch of mustard powder.
Mix 125g of the cheese with the cornflour, and toss to coat. Add the cheese to the warm milk a spoonful at a time, and let each batch melt before adding the next. Once all the cheese has melted into the cream, remove from the heat and pour over the vegetables. Top with the remaining 25g grated cheese, the crushed crisps & the Parmesan. Pop into the oven for 20/25 minutes, until golden on top.