Recipes

That's my kitchen being demolished.

Normal service will resume, if they can put it back together again!

Alright, alright, I know what you're thinking. But honestly this works much better than it really has any right to.

Tonight's dinner was driven by a combination of those three most important factors: a need to eat at least some vegetables, a head of lettuce in the fridge that is in dire need of using up before it goes off, and having forgotten to buy any other ingredients for dinner.

Lettuce actually works surprisingly well when cooked. It loses most of that "lettucy" flavour, but retains a good crunch through much more cooking than you'd expect.

Ingredients:

• 1 head romaine lettuce
• 150g frozen spinach
• 1 large onion
• 285g tin of sliced mushrooms
• 2 tsp garlic puree / 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1 tsp tomato puree
• 2 tsp curry powder
• Dried chilli flakes (to preference)
• 1 tsp Maggi liquid seasoning
• 1 tbsp full fat milk
• Butter for frying
• Salt

1. Slice the onion into half rings and stir fry with the sliced mushrooms in the butter over a medium heat until the onions are soft.

2. Add the curry powder, garlic and tomato and fry another couple of minutes.

3. Shred and add lettuce and the chilli flakes and fry for 5 minutes.

4. Thaw and chop the spinach leaves and then add that to the pan, frying for another 5 minutes.

5. Mix in the milk, the liquid seasoning, and salt to taste.

I made kedgeree for dinner yesterday. Hadn't made it for a long while, and forgot how much I enjoyed it. Such an easy cook, too. Thought I'd share my recipe here.

For anyone who doesn't know, kedgeree is an old Anglo-Indian rice dish featuring smoked fish. Traditionally smoked haddock (although not in this one). You see variations which are either pilaf-style (rice cooked in spiced broth) or fried rice style; this one's the latter.

Ingredients:

• 350g basmati rice
• 1 onion
• 4 garlic cloves
• 2-3 tsp curry powder
• 150ml full fat milk (or oat milk)
• Bunch of flat leaf parsley
• 300g smoked kipper fillets (cooked)
• 4 eggs

Method:

1. Cook the basmati rice before you start the rest. The rest of the recipe works best if the rice is cold out of the fridge, so do it in advance (or use leftovers).

2. Dice and fry the onion in ample oil until soft, followed by the garlic. Then add the curry powder and the milk, and simmer until you have a fairly thick curry paste.

3. Meanwhile, boil the eggs for 7 minutes (for a nice runny yolk), and if necessary cook the kippers however you like (grilled is fine); I tend to use pre-cooked tinned fish because I'm very lazy.

4. Add the cold rice to the pan with the curry paste, mix so that it's all well coated, and then stir fry until the rice is hot through and the rice takes on a nice fried rice texture.

5. Flake the fish and stir through the rice, stir frying a little to heat it through.

6. Roughly chop the parsley and stir it through and take it off the heat.

7. Serve with the boiled eggs sliced in half or quarters artistically balanced on top.

Sweet Potato Tortilla Soup

(sorry for the imperial weights - I don't know metric)

• 2 tablespoons cooking oil
• 1 yellow onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1 tablespoon chili powder
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 1/2 cup masa harina or corn meal
• 6 cups vegetable broth
• 2 tablespoons tomato paste
• 1 can (15oz) diced tomatoes
• 1 can (15oz) black beans
• 1 large (1lb) sweet potato
• 1 cup frozen corn kernels

*Optional toppings: cilantro, avocado, shredded cheddar, sour cream, tortilla chips, fresh lime

1. Dice the onion and mince the garlic. Saute both in large pot with the cooking oil over medium heat for 3-5 minutes or until transparent.

2. Add the chili powder, cumin and cayenne pepper to the pot. Continue to saute for 1 minute to toast the spices. Add the masa harina or corn meal and continue to saute for 2-3 minutes, reducing heat slightly to avoid burning.

3. Whisk the vegetable broth into the corn mixutre and allow it to come up to a simmer. The liquid will begin to thicken slightly. Add the tomato paste and stir until it dissolves.

4. Add the can of diced tomatoes, black beans and frozen corn kernels. Peel and cube the sweet potato and add to the pot.

5. Cover the pot and allow the soup to come up to a simmer over medium heat. Once it begins to simmer, turn the heat down to low and let simmer for 30 minutes or until the sweet potatoes are soft, stirring occasionally. Salt to taste.---

I made yellow pea and aubergine stew. Last time I made it the yellow peas were really tough, so this time I soaked them for around 12 hours. They're less tough than last time but still tough.

Is that just how yellow peas are? Or is it that I need to cook them differently?

Hi all! I'm stuck in a lentil rut with curry, lentil bake and chilli on repeat. Anyone got other ideas?