Gammon and black bean wild rice

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Rinse 5tbsp wild rice then with cold water and leave either overnight in the fridge to allow the grains to increase in size

 

Prepare:

Dice 100g gammon

Dice 1” round of rinsed aubergine

Dice1” disc of courgette

Dice a rinse stalk from a large flat mushroom

Heat 2tsp oil in a deep fry pan and add all of the above stirring for 2 minutes.

 

Drain a small can of black beans and stir into the fry pan along with the wild rice which will have soaked up the water and stir for 1 minute.

 

Add just enough stock to cover the mixture. There is no need for seasoning as the gammon will provide this. Bring to the boil and reduce the heat to medium. Add a transparent lid and cook for 15 minutes without removing the lid. Turn the heat off and leave for 5 minutes before serving with a sprinkling of toasted seeds and a dash of soy sauce. I used toasted squash seeds which I baked in my recipe Spatchedcocked chicken but any bought seeds can be toasted in a dry pan over medium heat for around 10 seconds moving the seeds in the pan throughout that time.

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Spatchedcocked chicken with mustard and honey glaze

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Serves 3-4

The term spatchedcocked means to remove the backbone from a chicken which allows it to be flattened and cooked more quickly.

Prepare the night before and fridge or at least one hour before cooking.

For the spatchcocked chicken

I used 125g (12oz) fresh chicken. Place the chicken breast side down on a chopping board and use a decent sharp pair of scissors to cut either side close to the chicken’s backbone including the ribs starting at the neck end. Once removed turn the chicken over and flatten the breast down using the heel of your hand until you hear a crack when the bird will then be nicely flattened. Put the chicken breast side up into a deep roasting tin and drizzle with extra virgin rapeseed oil.

If you are using the boiled garlic bulb from my previous recipe Rich aubergine sauce with wholemeal pasta continue as follows.

Squeeze each clove at it thickest part so the cooked garlic oozes out discarding the peel. Gather it into a heap then smear all over the chicken. As an alternative finely slice 3 fresh peeled garlic cloves. Make cuts into the chicken the amount as many as slices of garlic you have made and push a slice into each cut.

In a small bowl mix 2tsp Dijon mustard. 1 tsp runny blossom honey, half tsp chilli powder and 1tsp dried thyme then smear the mix all over the chicken evenly. Leave the chicken in the fridge overnight or at least one before cooking.

Prepare veg:

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Wash a small squash, cut in half, remove the seeds (set the seeds aside for now). Slice the squash into even sized large cubes.

Scrub 3 new potatoes and cut into wedge shapes. Arrange the veg around the chicken.

When ready to cook preheat the oven to 220C / 200 fan and bake for 25 minutes in the middle of the oven until cooked. For the last 15 minutes of cooking time, slip the squash seeds into the roasting tin. To test if the chicken is cooked enough, using a knife, pierce a leg at the thickest part and if the juices run clear it will be ready. Leave to rest for 10 minutes before using a sharp knife to segment the pieces.

For an easy giant couscous salad as a side:

Put 200g giant couscous into a saucepan with 2tbsp frozen broad beans, 2tbsp frozen garden peas and just cover with water. Bring to the boil, turn the hob heat off and leave for at least 10 minutes to allow the couscous to absorb the liquid.

Whilst the chicken is resting after cooking stir into the couscous 4 chopped green olives, 1 tbsp extra virgin rapeseed oil, a finely sliced preserved lemon and some black pepper. Heat a dry pan on med / high heat on the hob and add 1tbsp each pumpkin and sunflower seeds and move the pan around to toast for 10 seconds before adding to the couscous.

If you want a gravy to serve:

Hold the roasting tin so that the fat juices run into one corner. Spoon off and discard as much fat as you can leaving around 3tbs juices. Warm the juices on a hob on low heat, stirring in 3 tbsp plain flour a bit at a time until blended. Add 500ml chicken stock and 100ml white wine slowly and stirring until blended. Bring to the boil for 2 minutes stirring continuously until thickened.  Sieve and season with salt and pepper to serve with the chicken and veg.

For an alternate marinade another time blend the following before smearing on the chicken overnight or at least one hour before cooking:

150g whole preserved lemon, 4 garlic gloves, 1 sprig fresh rosemary leaves, 90g clear honey, 50ml olive oil, 3 deseeded and rough chopped green chillies and a pinch red chilli flakes.

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Rich aubergine sauce with wholemeal pasta

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Using half the sauce from my last recipe Classic Ratatouille I made this next day. Pasta is not just cut into pretty shapes for our amusement. The pasta shapes suit different type of sauces. Because my aubergine sauce is rich and thick it is perfect for clinging and coating into the grooves of spiral pasta.

I cooked my pasta using a two tiered steam cooker. That way the pasta boils in the liquid in the base of the steamer and the sauce is heated in the tier along with 4 rinsed kalettes and a halved mushroom.

 

Bring 200ml water to the boil on high heat and add 75g spiral wholemeal pasta in the base of a steamer. (I also added a full peeled bulb of garlic at the same time which I shall use in my next recipe Spatchcocked Mustard and Honey Chicken). In the next tier use a heatproof open bowl with the retained sauce from my recipe Classic Ratatouille.

Ensure that the bowl is small enough to sit in the tier with the steamer’s lid on.

(Otherwise make a new sauce batch following my recipe and boil the pasta for 15 minutes).

In the same tier place 4 rinsed, destemmed kalettes and 1 halved large mushroom. Reduce the heat to medium / hot and steam for 15 minutes.

Carefully transfer the sauce into a mixing bowl and tip in the drained pasta, stirring well with two large spoons to coat the pasta in the sauce, (always pasta into the sauce, not sauce into the pasta). Add a sprinkling of parmesan and some black pepper to taste.

Serve alongside a bed of washed fresh spinach with the kalettes and mushroom on top.
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Classic Ratatouille

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In a bowl combine 1tbsp olive oil, quarter tsp apple cider vinegar and 400g can chopped tomatoes. Stir in 3 grated garlic cloves,1tbsp chopped basil, quarter tsp chilli powder, 1tsp herbes de provence and some fresh black pepper. Pour into a large oval baking dish in an even layer.


 


Scrub 3 new potatoes and cut them into 1cm discs then put them around the edges of the baking dish pressing into the sauce to half cover them.


Rinse 1 aubergine and use the middle section to cut 1cm discs, then half each disc into a half moon shape and place along the centre of the baking dish resting against each other at an angle.


 


Rinse a medium courgette and use the middle section to cut 1cm thick discs. Peel and cut a white onion through the middle section and cut discs from there. Arrange 3 rows each side of the aubergine each with 2 courgette discs then 1 onion disc resting against each other at an angle.


 


Brush the whole thing with oil and sprinkle with dried basil before baking in the top of a 200C / 180fan oven for 40 minutes until the sauce is bubbling hot and the veg is tender. Serve garnished with extra basil and boiled rice or cold with a fresh salad.


 


Serves 2


 


If you serve 1 with the ratatouille, cool and fridge the remainder overnight to make an easy meal with accompanying wholemeal pasta next day.


Rich aubergine sauce with wholemeal pasta

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Pulled lamb pie with kalettes, carrot and mushroom

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Steamed sweet potato and dill crab cakes

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One of my favourite poems:

Heavenly Autumn wheel by Rosemary Ditchburn

Latest post in my ‘Spaniel quotes for life’ blog - If the only prayer you say in your entire life is 'thank you' , it will be enough

Pulled lamb pie with kalettes, carrot and mushroom

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Retain 3 heaped tbsps of pulled lamb and 4tbsp veg mix from my recipe Greek style pulled lamb.


Blend the veg for 10 seconds until smooth and add 3tbsp frozen garden peas.


Unwrap a 375g pack of ready rolled short crust pastry and use half to line the base and the sides of an oblong 15 x 10cm (6 x 4”) deep lightly oiled baking dish leaving the remainder of the pastry flat for now until you fill the cavity. Lightly use a fork 4 times in a line along the pastry base.


Fill the cavity with the blended veg smoothing out. Add some freshly ground black pepper and a pinch salt. Top with the pulled lamb and shavings of a semi hard cheese of your choice. Fold the remainder of the pastry over to enclose the filling and seal around the edges with the back of a fork. Use the fork to press fork indents in a line down the middle of the pastry.


Brush with a little milk and bake in the middle shelf of a 180fan / 200C oven for 25 minutes.





For my veg I rinsed 4 kalletes (stems removed), 1 lightly brushed and halved a large mushroom, 1 portion of frozen grated carrots all brushed with oil in an 20cm (8”) narrow baking dish and baked for the last 10 minutes of cooking time in the bottom shelf of the oven.


NB: I find that carrots never seem to remain fresh for long once I bring them home from the supermarket. They wilt, become soft and lose their taste quite dramatically. This is because most veg is kept in a darkened enclosure so the ripening process is deferred until they are delivered to the shops so what happens is they ripen quickly in a shop environment. I always grate carrots, put them into small 10 x 8cm (4 x 3”) containers then freeze them on the day of purchase and I find cooking from frozen is usually the best method. This size is a decent portion size for one person.
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Chicken and mushroom puff pastry pie

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One pan Ostrich and mushroom orzo

,

,

Stuffed squash with homemade red pesto / Provolone Dolce topping
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.

Steamed sweet potato and dill crab cakes

.

.

One of my favourite poems:

Heavenly Autumn wheel by Rosemary Ditchburn

Latest post in my ‘Spaniel quotes for life’ blog - If the only prayer you say in your entire life is 'thank you' , it will be enough

Greek style pulled lamb

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NB: Does anyone else notice the cheeky smiling face in the potato slice on the left side of the pic? Remind you of any one?

Serves 2

Put 1tbsp each of dried butter beans, split peas and pinto beans in a cup and just cover with water. Leave in the fridge overnight.

Make a marinade using 2 grated garlic cloves, the juice and zest of 1 lemon, 1 tbsp oregano, 2tbsp olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Place 350g lamb rump in the marinade and leave overnight in the fridge or at least 30 minutes.

I used a slow cooker for this meal on high heat for 4 hours but it can be cooked in the oven on a low heat.

When ready to cook prepare and layer as follows in at least a 2.5pt preheated slow cooker:

Scrubbed 2 medium new potatoes and thinly sliced

1 peeled round of turnip cubed

Drain and rinse the dried butter beans, split peas and pinto beans

1 white onion sliced

Quarter of a rinsed and roughly chopped leek

Pour over 100ml good stock and place the marinated lamb on top with the lid and cook for 4 hours on high. Use two forks to shred the tender lamb into luscious bite sized chunks. Skim the fat from the juices and serve with the vegetables.

To serve Greek style

Fill 4 pitas with some of the lamb and dressings of the following mixture:

1 cup Tzatkiki (with mint)

1 cup diced plum tomatoes

One quarter cup of diced red onion

One quarter cup crumbled feta cheese

If you serve only one person with this meal retain some lamb and veg to make my
Pulled lamb pie with kalettes, carrot and mushroom

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Favourites:
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Turkey Shepherd’s pie with a kick

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(Chicken) Meatloaf

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Scallops, chorizo with white kidney beans

.

Chicken and mushroom puff pastry pie

.

One pan Ostrich and mushroom orzo

,

,

Stuffed squash with homemade red pesto / Provolone Dolce topping
.

.

Steamed sweet potato and dill crab cakes

.

.

One of my favourite poems:

Heavenly Autumn wheel by Rosemary Ditchburn

Latest post in my ‘Spaniel quotes for life’ blog - If the only prayer you say in your entire life is 'thank you' , it will be enough