Jamie Oliver's Chicken and Squash Cacciatore

Having a conversation on Twitter the other day I realised I had no shame in admitting I love Jamie Oliver, yes sometimes my hand twitches with the urge to give hi a little slap but I can say that about most people and they don't consistently make cookery books that I love.

I went to Bree's house and she had the new Jamie Oliver, Everyday Super Food. I had added it to my Amazon wishlist but one look at hers and I bought it (half price in Waterstones) on the way home. Not that it is full to bursting with things I want to cook (I look to Jamie's 15-Minute Meals for that) but because I am trying to lose weight, I need a healthier diet, I live with a man who needs man food, but of the slimming variety and Everyday Super Food seems to have that all covered.

The Chicken and Squash Cacciatore with mushrooms, tomatoes, olives and bread is a good example of this. It's just not really my sort of thing, in fact I hate squash so, as suggested by Jamie, I substituted it for the mildly more bearable sweet potato. But it was delicious, filled us up and Joe cooked it. Successfully but not taking hours. So here it is. I didn't take a photo, I left out the olives and resisted the urge to have it with pasta and had one slice of bread as per the recipe.

I sometimes think Jamie's portion sizes are a little on the small side. This did both of us and a huge leftovers lunch for Joe the next day so it would do 4 but make sure you have bread and pudding. In fact, if you are so inclined this is a great one to cook with a view to having the leftovers for lunch the next day, it is filling and reheats well.

Chicken and Squash Cacciatore

Serves 4

1 onion
1 leek
4 cloves of garlic
2 rashers of smoked pancetta
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
olive oil
2 fresh bay leaves
½ a butternut squash or 600g sweet potatoes
100g chestnut mushrooms
2 x 400g tins of plum tomatoes
250ml Chianti or other good red wine
4 chicken thighs, bone in
8 black olives (stone in)
200g seeded wholemeal bread

Pre-heat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas Mark 5. The recipe says it takes 1 hour 20 minutes and I'd agree with that, an hour of it is cooking time.

1.  Peel the onion and cut into eighths, trim, wash and slice the leek, peel and slice the garlic.

2. Place a large ovenproof casserole pan on a medium heat. Finely slice the pancetta, pick and finely chop the rosemary leaves, then place both in the pan with 1 tbsp of oil and the bay leaves.

3. Stir regularly for 2 minutes, then add the garlic, followed by the onion and leek. Cook for 10 mins, stirring regularly.

4. Meanwhile, chop the squash or the sweet potato (wash first) into bite sized chunks, leaving the skin on and discarding any squash seeds. Jamie chops the stalks off the mushrooms and adds all to the pan with the squash/sweet potato.

5. Remove and discard the chicken skin (we didn't) and add the chicken to the pan. Pour in the wine and let it reduce slightly, then add the tomatoes and break them up with a wooden spoon. Half fill each tin with water, swirl about and pour into the pan and mix it all together.

6. Destone the olives (we left them out completely), then poke them into the stew. Bring to a gentle simmer, the transfer to the oven to cook for an hour or until the sauce is thick and the chicken falls off the bone. Season as you wish and serve with bread to mop up the sauce.

Jamie Oliver's Gorgeous Gado Gado

Jamie's Comfort Food arrived in my life when my pregnant superhero level sense of smell was at it's peak and making a baked egg exhausted me. It has to be one of my most looked at cookery books, there are a ton of recipes I want to try out and every mood and taste is covered but they mostly require a level of time and mental involvement that I just didn't have. Until now. Now I am just about managing two children, I'm going to the gym three times a week and it's not acceptable to send my husband out for pizza 5 nights out of 7 because the large slab of fat on my tummy no longer houses a person and needs to disappear. In short I'm not pregnant anymore so I need to take control of what I eat. I'm back in the kitchen.

One of the recipes I've been threatening to try out for a while is the Gado Gado, an Indonesian salad with radishes, beansprouts and tofu, with a peanut and lime dressing. We eat salad quite a lot and I am very strict about what qualifies as a salad-that-is-a-main-course. If there is cheese or meat involved then it is a main course, without these it is just a side salad and not enough for my supper. Therefore feta and mozarella feature heavily in our diet - it's nice to explore other options. Gado Gado has neither cheese nor meat (though I'm sure you could add both) but the egg, potato and tofu sneak this one in to the main course category and it is incredibly filling. We made the amount from the book, recommended for 4 people and had two large helpings each and both had a large bowlful for lunch the next day.

This was the first time I had cooked tofu rather than using the pre-cooked stuff and it was ok - it sort of disintegrated in the pan so I'll probably use the pre-cooked next time, or just try again until I'm better at it (unlikely). I followed his instructions on cooking the cabbage and agree it's the best way to do it (see below). I do think I'd probably add at least one more tomato to this though. But I'm a tomato fan. This is basically, like all salads, one of those recipes where you use the dressing and add what you like. It's a guideline. A good one.

I've changed the order in which he does things as this, to me, makes more sense. If you want soft-boiled eggs, well I do them almost last, he does them first...

Gorgeous Gado Gado
Serves 4

for the salad:
400g new potatoes
4 large eggs
400g firm silken tofu
sesame oil
½ Chinese cabbage
2 ripe tomatoes
1 handful radishes
½ a cucumber
2 handfuls ready to eat beansprouts
½ bunch fresh coriander
optional: prawn crackers
optional: 1 fresh birds eye chilli

sauce:
1 clove garlic
50g palm sugar  (I used this)
120g crunchy peanut butter
1-2 fresh red chillies
juice of 2 limes
2 tsps fish sauce
1 tbsp low-salt soy (we just have normal soy)
1 tbsp tamarind paste

You will need a magimix or blender for the sauce though of course you can mix it by hand, and a frying pan for the tofu if you are cooking it yourself.

1. Scrub the potatoes and cook in salted boiling water for 15-20 minutes or until tender; then halve or slice them up.

2. Finely slice the cabbage if you want it raw of if you want it cooked, which is more traditional, cut into 2cm slices, place in a colander and slowly pour a kettle of boiling water over the top.

3. Cut the tomatoes into wedges, quarter the radishes and slice the cucumber.

4. Put all the veg into a bowl and season with salt.

5. Cut the tofu into 2½ cm chunks and fry in a splash of sesame oil for about 15 minutes, or until golden, then sprinkle lightly with salt.

6. While the tofu is cooking put the eggs on to soft boil for 6 minutes or longer if you prefer. Place all the sauce ingredients in a blender, peeling the garlic and grating the palm sugar if needed, and blitz until smooth. Taste and adjust the seasoning - you want this to be quite limey so I added some more.

7. Traditionally you serve this in individual bowls adding the salad first and then mixing in the dressing. Jamie adds the sauce to the bowls first with the dressing on top so the individual can see all the ingredients while they mix the dressing in. I am lazy. I put it all in a big bowl, added the dressing and mixed. Tastes the same, doesn't look as beautiful as you can see from my picture. If I was making this for other people I would probably do the individual bowl thing.

Jamie's Griddled Kinda Nicoise

My infatuation with Jamie Oliver is escalating. What started as mild disinterest is now a full-on passion. I was very kindly given Comfort Food for Christmas and am gearing up to cook something from that soon (pregnancy makes everything very slow) but the other night I was cooking for my mother and husband both of whom are trying to be virtuous in January and I'm very aware that the bump isn't getting its 5 a day so I randomly picked this Salad Nicoise from 15 minute meals. No potatoes and no egg but supremely delicious and finished by three of us and pretty easy to cook (and no it didn't take me 15 minutes but I'm a pretty slack cooker). Will be cooking this again and again - nice tuna steaks aren't cheap but the rest of the ingredients are and you can use what veg you have in your fridge.

There were quite a few things I tinkered with on this recipe, for example I'm not a huge fan of green beans and couldn't get the mixed green and yellow from the recipe so I used half beans and half broccoli tips.Where I've made changes I hope I've made them clear - I think the thing with salads is they are endlessly adaptable depending on what you have and like. I also refuse to serve anything on a board so I did this on one big platter... as you can see from the picture.

Griddle Tuna Salad
Serves 4

350g mixed green and yellow beans (or half green and half broccoli tips)
½ a baguette (I used a small one from Sainsburys)
12 black olives (Jamie says stone in, I say stone out)
3 ripe mixed-colour tomatoes (or red ones)
1 romaine lettuce
20g feta cheese
1 lemon

Tuna and Dressing
1 big bunch of fresh basil
6 anchovy fillets
1 lemon
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 x 200g tuna steaks (about 2.4cm thick)
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 heaped tsp wholegrain mustard
1 tsp runny honey

You will need a medium sized saucepan with a lid, a griddle pan and a liquidiser/magimix.

1. Line the beans up and cut off the stalks, put them into a pan of salted boiling water and put on a lid (I did my broccoli and beans for the same length of time).

2. Slice the baguette into 2cm chunks and, if you are following Jamie put onto the hot griddle pan. I think basting them in a tiny big of garlic oil pre-griddle would be lovely. Turn when golden.

3. Pick and reserve 10 baby sprigs of basil then rip off the rest of the leaves and blitz in the liquidiser with the anchovies, juice of 1 lemon, the extra virgin olive oil and a splash of water.

4. Pour about 40% of the dressing on to a nice serving platter (Jamie uses a separate one for the dressing and tuna and then places the whole lot on a board with the salad. I used one big platter and it worked very well).

5. Rub 10% of the dressing into the tun and season with salt and pepper. Pour the rest of the dressing into a big bowl with the vinegar, mustard and honey then mix together. Drain the cooked beans, remove the stones from the olives. roughly chop the tomatoes and add to the dressing and mix together.

6. Put the tuna on the griddle pan and cook for 2 minutes on each side or until blushing in the middle. How you cook your tuna is a matter of personal preference.

7. Chop the lettuce into 2cm chunks, tear the toasts into croutons and arrange over a large board (or on the platter) with the lettuce. I think it's nice to toss half the croutons in the bowl of tomatoes and dressing so they get a bit soggy.

8. Scatter the dressed beans, olives and tomatoes over the top. Tear each tuna steak in half or more and add to the dressing platter (or put on top of the dressing in the centre of the platter if you are not using a board).

9. Scatter over the reserved basil leaves, crumble over the feta and serve with lemon wedges (if you remember).

Jamie Oliver's Incredibly Delicious Chicken Salad

As you may know my latest love is Jamie's 15-Minute Meals and anyone who's been coming to our house has been getting fed from it. I could do each recipe as I try them but as I've yet to try a dud this would be a bit of a one theme blog and I would be in trouble with the publishers. So I thought I would go for this one because so far it has been the one that Joe made the most excitable noises over and it's the one I thought he'd like least because it has 'salad' in the title and he's a boy.

It didn't take me 15 mins but not far off and it was really filling. We finished it between three of us but we're quite gluttonous - it would do four (as the recipe suggests) for lunch or if you had a pudding. I left out the lemons though because I hate them and THIS IS MY HOUSE JAMIE. And the cress. I just can't be doing with cress.

Incredibly Delicious Chicken Salad

Serves 4

for the salad:
1 head of broccoli
4 x 120g skinless chicken breasts
1 heaped tsp ground coriander
olive oil
1 mug (300g) Bulgar wheat
2 preserved lemons
1 bunch radishes
2 spring onions
½ a bunch fresh mint
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp sunflower seeds
1 punnet of cress

to serve:
4 tbsp fat-free natural yoghurt
2 tsp harissa
1 lemon

1. Fill up a medium pan with a lid, with boiling, salted water. Trim the end off the broccoli and cut the head to florets and add to the pan., cover and boil for 4 minutes.

2. On a large sheet of greaseproof paper, toss the chicken with the salt, pepper and ground coriander, then fold the paper over and bash with a rolling pin til it's about 1.5cm thick. Put into a large frying pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil on a high heat turning after 3 or 4 minutes until golden and cooked through.

3. With tongs, remove and drain the broccoli (leaving the water in the pan on the heat) and put on a hot griddle until nicely charred.

4. Cook the Bulgar wheat according to the instructions on the packet in the broccoli water with the preserved lemons if you are using them.

5. Halve or crush the radishes, trim and finely slice the spring onions and the top leafy half of the mint then toss it all in a bowl with the extra virgin olive oil and vinegar and season to taste.

6. Drain the Bulgar wheat and tip into a large serving bowl, then mash and mix in the preserved lemons and arrange the broccoli on top.

7. Toss the sunflower seeds in the chicken pan, then slice the chicken and add to the salad scattering over the seeds and snipping over the cress.

8. Serve dolloped with the yoghurt and drizzles of harissa and with lemon wedges on the side.

Jamie's 15 Minute Meals

I don't usually do full book reviews on here. I think it's more useful to review individual recipes that I have tried that worked, however I love this book so much it's getting it's very own post. SO THERE.

I wasn't that keen on the Jamie's 30-Minute Meals: A Revolutionary Approach to Cooking Good Food Fast . Because there was often three parts to each meal there would usually only be one part that I liked the sound of and that seemed to defeat the point of the book for me. I bought it for Joe because he wanted it and it really is his sort of food and he really likes the whole timed aspect of it (never taken him less than 45mins but our kitchen is tiny and Jamie doesn't factor in having to actually wash up half way through) and it's really the only recipe book he cooks from. But while I was at a friends house waiting for her to change my godson's nappy I picked up Jamie's 15-Minute Meals and flicked through it and was incredibly surprised to find I wanted to cook 85% of the things in there. That's huge - I'm an incredibly picky eater.

I may be getting old (veering towards 31) but I recently decided that if I could have ten minutes to sit down with a celebrity-that's-not-Slash, Jamie Oliver would be in the running for that prestigious honour. Why? Because I think he is generally interested in people (and it's all about me obvs) and is actually a nice guy I DON'T CARE WHAT YOU SAY.

Anyway I bought Jamie's 15-Minute Meals and tonight I'm planning on cooking my second thing from it and I've only had it a couple of weeks This is unheard of. It just lives on the kitchen table tempting me to cook from it. If tonight's recipe goes well and I remember to take pictures then I will post it up here but for now here are some reasons why this book is awesome...

1. It has great compromise food. Quite often Joe will get home at 9pm and want to eat. I don't want to eat at 9pm but I'm too gluttonous to cook and watch him eat and not eat anything myself. It has a lot of lighter, salady things but with meat in that suit both of us and actually are great for this time of year when you want to cook something filling but not meat-and-two-veg.

2. It's completely different to his other books. New recipes, new types of ingredients, slightly new way of writing. It must be really hard to keep churning them out even if you do have new recipe ideas but it's a completely different book to Jamie's 30-Minute Meals: A Revolutionary Approach to Cooking Good Food Fast (and I mean that in a publishing way not in a literal stupid way...).

3. There are great ideas but it's not too wacky. I don't like lemon (but you know that), I don't like courgette or aubergine but I also don't want to be driving to a business park in Park Royal (no park, no evidence of royalty) to buy some suspicious smelling paste or a gadget to make edible cellophane (sorry Heston). If there's something I don't like (preserved lemons in tonight's recipe) I leave it out or substitute it and it doesn't really matter. You are not going to get halfway through a recipe (supposedly 7.5 minutes in) and discover you need something that is hard to find during daylight hours let alone 8.30pm. Don't get me wrong sometimes I want wacky. I do. But with an 18 month old, two dogs and a husband who thinks that playing football on a Tuesday until 9.30pm is fun I mostly want yummy and simple.

4. I LOVE JAMIE (sorry that slipped out).

5. I prefer his outfit on Jamie's 15-Minute Meals to Jamie's 30-Minute Meals: A Revolutionary Approach to Cooking Good Food Fast (this is a well rounded review isn't it). 

Lemon and Lime Cream Tart

Another recipe that I copied from my mother's copy of The Naked Chef. There wasn't a picture (I don't think) and I was expecting something more like the cold, set lemon tarts I usually make. But it's not, it's cooked and browned on top and completely different. Like the Simple Chocolate Tart I bought the sweet shortcrust pastry base to see if it worked better for this - it went really well with the chocolate tart base - and it was fine but I think if I had more time I probably would hand-make the pastry for this. I'll put a recipe up for this asap. I served this with raspberries but it would work just as well with strawberries.

It was incredibly easy to make and, because I was using the shop-bought base, I had leftover filling which I froze and is apparently spectacular as a sort of ice cream. I didn't get to try any, my husband ate it all. I did use the lime zest as decoration so I zested them, squeezed them into a measuring jug and topped it up with lime juice from a bottle. The 4 limes makes about 100ml.

Lemon and Lime Cream Tart

1 sweet shortcrust pastry tart shell, baked blind.
340g caster sugar
8 large free range eggs
350ml double cream
200ml lime juice
100ml lemon juice
zest of 4 limes (optional)

Egg wash the tart base and pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4

1. In a bowl, whisk together the sugar and eggs. When they are well mixed slowly stir in the cream and juices.

2. Put the tart shell onto a baking tray and pour in the filling.

3. Bake for around 40-45 minutes until the filling is set but still semi-wobbly in the middle.

4. Put on a cooling rack and after about an hour the filling will have firmed up.

5. Dust with a little icing sugar (I forgot), sprinkle with the lime zest and serve with raspberries or strawberries.

Simple Chocolate Tart

I occasionally bite off more than I can chew but I'm becoming so grown-up now that I can now usually resist the urge to try to make three courses, look after the baby, tidy the house and do some writing all in the same day. For lunch yesterday this new regime manifested itself in the form of a shop-bought sweet shortcrust pastry tart base.

I never buy pastry unless it's puff, because I think it's a waste of money. It's not hard to make it and it's incredibly smug-making when you do and it goes really well but lunch with five adults, two toddlers, two babies and three dogs it seemed that maybe lovingly making a tart base was a bit too much. I didn't want to buy a pre-made pudding so I thought just the base was a good compromise. The filling was from The Naked Chef by Jamie Oliver which I've never cooked from before but I'd written a couple of recipes down ages ago and anything with the word simple in the title was going to ideal for yesterdays lunch.

I'm not that fussed about puddings but this was really delicious and actually the shop-bought base was perfect because it was drier than home made which went really well with the rich chocolate filling. I have quite a lot of chocolate left-over but I'm going to whip up some cream, stir it in and make some sort of chocolate mousse... I'll let you know how that goes.

Simple Chocolate Tart

1 sweet shortcrust pastry tart shell baked blind
315ml double cream
2 level tbsp caster sugar
the smallest pinch of salt
115g butter, softened
455g best-quality cooking chocolate (half milk half dark works well), broken up
100ml milk
cocoa powder for dusting

1. Place the double cream, sugar and salt into a pan and bring to the boil. As soon as the mixture has boiled remove from the heat add the butter and chocolate and stir until completely melted.

2. Allow the mixture to cool slightly, stirring in the milk until smooth and shiny.

3. Scrape into the pastry shell, shake gently to even it out and allow to cool for 1-2 hours until it is at room tempterature.

4. Dust with cocoa powder.

Jamie's Stuffed Cypriot Chicken with Pan Fried Asparagus and Cabbage Salad

by guest blogger Joe Harrod

Say what you like about Jamie Oliver. I know people find him smug, laddish, jammy and generally irritating. But he's also really watchable - a genuinely nice bloke and who cooks appealing food and happily laughs at himself. For me, the biggest problem with his shows and books is ingredients. He's always bunging in a bit of arrowroot, or something equally unavailable at Tesco.

30-Minute Meals is the epitome of Jamie, and probably outsold the Bible last Christmas. (That's another irritating thing about him - successful bastard!) It's also, for a mainstream cookbook, pretty scary. Each double page spread presents you with a 3 course feast which you must prepare in a race against time, incorporating a barrage of flavours and cooking techniques. I've never, ever brought in one of these badboys at under 40 minutes and I've burned myself trying.

I have to say though, I love the book. It's packed with great recipes and makes after work cooking more of an assault course and less of a chore. And it builds up your repertoire of gourmet, fast-cook meals. I would add a couple of suggestions of my own: Firstly, don't be afraid to dawdle or mix up the order of the cooking. Jamie has you firing up the hobs before you start chopping and juggling four pans at all times, which is too much like hard work. Secondly, if you don't want to make the starter, side dish or the pudding - don't bother.

It was in this spirit that I approached Jamie's "Stuffed Cypriot Chicken, Pan-Fried Asparagus and Vine Tomatoes, Cabbage Salad, Flatbreads, St. Clement's Drink, and Vanilla Ice Cream Float." In other words, sod the St Clements and the Ice Cream Float. I served booze and frozen yoghurt instead. And, instead of stuffing the chicken and chopping the cabbage and prepping the asparagus and flatbreads against the clock,  I did all that before my guests arrived then just did the heating once they arrived. This made me look suave and collected like Michael Caine doing the omelette in The Ipcress File.

The results were impressive. Light but striking flavours, amazing textures... bloody delicious basically. The chicken comes out really zingy and asparagus steamed in tomato juice is a crunchy, flavour-packed revelation. This is a great summer set piece.

So here it is in two stages. I've upped the ingredients because I was doing for six. Preparation takes about 25 minutes and cooking only 20, whereas if you try and do it all together you'll end up sweating and cursing an hour later, and muttering all kinds of things about poor Jamie.

Ingredients:

Garlic, lots of
Olive oil, plenty
Salt and pepper
Lemons (Jamie loves his lemons mmmate)
Thyme
Rosemary
Loads of parsley
Loads of basil
Bay leaves

+

Pitta Bread x 6

Chicken breasts, skin on x 6
Feta 200g
Sundried tomatoes

400g asparagus
2 packs vine tomatoes
Black olives

1/2 a white cabbage
1 onion
Red chilli

Preparation:

Flatbreads. (I used pittas.) Rub with garlic. Put a tablespoon of olive oil, loads of salt and pepper and a bunch of thyme on a chopping board and flop the garlicky pittas into them, rub them together and generally get them all sexy, then stack them up on a plate.

Cypriot Chicken. Put a good bunch of parsley, another of basil and a couple of rosemary sprigs, 8 sundried tomatoes and a block of feta on a board. (I didn't have sundried and used normal. Worked fine.) Chop it up nice and fine. Grate over zest of a lemon and crush on three cloves of garlic, drizzle with oil, salt and pepper and chop through again. Slit the chicken, stuff it and then rub salt and pepper into the skin liberally. Stand to one side - they'll be going in a super hot pan later.

 

Asparagus. Lug some olive oil into a deep pan, add thyme sprigs, rosemary sprigs, three bay leaves and vine tomatoes to a pan, and chuck salt over. Lop the bottom off the asparagus and leave to one side along with a good handful of black olives.

Cabbage salad. Use a Magimix salad blade to slice up cabbage and put that in a bowl. Now use the regular blade to dice the hell out of an onion, a red chilli (seeds out) and a good fistful of basil. add these to the cabbage, plus the juice of two lemons. Toss this salad and take to the table.

Cooking

When you're ready to eat turn on a high flame under a pan with nothing but oil in it, and under the tomatoes, with the lid on. Whack the oven onto full blast with the pittas in it.

After 2 minutes, put the chicken in skin down with the very hot oil. Put some crinkled greaseproof over the top, and a lid. Turn down the tomatoes to medium.

After another 5 minutes, add the asparagus to the tomatoes and replace the lid. Flip the chicken (remove the paper) and turn down to medium. You'll let these guys and the pittas cook for another 12 minutes.

Ta-dah!

Pea and Herb Risotto

No sooner do I say that I'm going to cook more things from Jamie Does...then... well I make the pea and herb risotto from it. I am not friends with risotto. I don't really like rice as it is and whenever I've tried to make risotto before it's always been a bit crunchy and bland. But this was really nice and I made enough for 4 people and Joe ate 3 peoples worth so it must of been quite good.

The main recipe is for Risotto Bianco and then he has a few variations so I'm going to do this all as one recipe but the others look amazing too so really... you should just suck it up and get the book.

Pea and Herb Risotto

Serves 4

For the risotto bianco:
1 litre vegetable stock
olive oil
1/2 an onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 stick of celery trimmed and finely chopped
300g risotto rice
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
125ml white wine
a knob of butter
a large handful of freshly grated Parmesan

For the pea and herb bit:
a knob of butter
300g fresh or frozen peas
a small bunch of fresh mint, leaves picked and chopped
a small bunch of fresh flat leaf parsley, leaves picked and chopped
100g soft goats cheese
Parmesan Cheese
extra virgin olive oil

I cook this in a large saucepan, you need one that is reasonably high sided as you are going to add a lot of stock. I think one of the reasons this worked was keeping the stock in a pan on a low heat rather than just making it up in a jug and leaving it. I also didn't have any celery and it tasted yummy without but if you are making plain risotto it would probably need the celery.

1. Pour your stock into a pan and leave on a low heat.

2. Put a good lug of olive oil into your high-sided pan over a low heat and put in the chopped onion and celery. Cook gently for ten minutes, stirring occasionally until soft but not coloured.

3. Turn the heat up to medium, add the rice and a pinch of salt and stir for 2 minutes. Pour in the wine and stir until absorbed.

4. Add a ladleful of hot stock, stir and wait until it's been fully absorbed before adding more. Cook for 16 to 17 minutes adding a ladleful more stock every minute or so and stirring regularly, until the rice is al dente. When it's done it should be slightly looser than you want it as it'll thicken as it sits.

5. Meanwhile for the pea and herb extras melt the butter over a medium heat in a smaller pan and add the peas, fresh herbs and a splash of hot water.

7. Put the lid on a cook for 4 minutes.

8. When you have finished ladling the stock into the risotto bianco take the pan of the heat, stir in the butter and Parmesan, then season to taste.

9. Stir in the herby peas, put the lid back on the pan for 2 minutes.

10. Divide between the plates and put a slice or small scoop of goats cheese on the top. Sprinkle with grated Parmesan and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil.

Jamie Oliver's Chicken Kebabs with Avocado Dip

Every time I do a big shop, which I do online because it actually saves us money, I get Joe to look at my list of recipe's (I say list... it's a spreadsheet, I'm a geek) I want to cook and choose a couple that he wants to try out and I get the ingredients... or not depending on how Sainsburys are feeling. He chose this recipe from the Jamie Does... book and not only did I love it at the time, but I made the full amount for four people and we had the leftovers for lunch today and they were even more amazing. This is one of the first recipes I've cooked from this book even though I've had it for a while and it's definitely inspired me to use it more. I can see this recipe being a regular feature in the Harrod household.

One thing... these are billed as kebabs and Jamie raves in the recipe blurb about how great skewers are but I followed this recipe slavishly (because I have horrible lurgy) and you don't get told when to put the chicken on skewers. No big deal because I didn't really want to faff with those but I've added in when to do it... if you want to.

Chicken Kebabs with Avocado Dip

Serves 4

4 boneless chicken breasts, (approx. 125g each), cut into bite size chunks
4 Arab style breads or flatbreads
1 lemon cut into wedges to serve

For the marinade:
a thumb-sized piece of fresh ginger, peeled and finely grated
1 tbsp hot paprika
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp ground coriander
3 tbsp olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the avocado dip:
2 ripe avocados
1 tsp ground cumin
2 cloves of garlic, peeled and very finely chopped
1 fresh green or red chili, de-seeded or finely chopped
a small bunch of fresh coriander, finely chopped
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
juice of 1 lemon

You need a griddle pan ideally but a frying pan would work just as well. You can use metal skewers if you want too and have them but they aren't essential. I used pitta breads because they are easy and you can freeze them and that's what I love about this recipe, the majority of things you can have in the freezer sot it's really pretty easy to make in some form or another.You can also make the dip the day before and marinade the chicken overnight so good for a yummy lunch with minimum preparation.

1. Mix all the marinade ingredients in a bowl with a good pinch of salt and pepper. Toss the chicken chunks in the marinade until evenly coated, then cover the bowl with clingfilm and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Marinading chicken

2. Meanwhile, make the dip. Halve the avocados, remove the stone and spoon the flesh into a bowl. Add the other dip ingredients and mash together with a fork making it as smooth or chunky as you like. Taste and adjust the seasoning - I find avocado's often need quite a lot of salt.

Avocado dip

3. When you are ready to cook get a griddle pan on a medium heat and put the chicken on skewers if you are using them. Once it's really hot add the chicken and cook for 5 to 7 minutes turning occasionally - if you are not using skewers then it may take a bit longer, you need to make sure the chicken is cooked all the way through.

4. While this is happening warm the bread through - I wrap my pittas in foil and put them in a warm oven for ten minutes.

5. Tear your bread in half or make a pocket, dollop on the avocado dip and top with the chicken. Serve with lemon wedges on the side for squeezing over.

The proportion is weird... it wasn't a huge as this picture implies

Steak and Stout Pie

Every year I make a pie for my friend Libby and her husband Ian. For the last two years it has been chicken pot pies, this year I decided to branch out and try Jamie Oliver's Kate and Will's Wedding Pie from his new cook book, Jamie's Great Britain.

It is not a quick recipe, it's easy enough to do but it does cook for two hours even before you put it in the oven for 45 minutes so make sure you have time for that. It was well worth the wait though. Absolutely delicious and one I will be making again.

Jamie Oliver's Kate and Wills's Wedding Pie

Serves 8-10


For the filling:
2 tbsp olive oil
1 knob butter
3 sprigs fresh rosemary, leaves picked and chopped
3 sprigs fresh thyme, leaves picked
3 fresh bay leaves
3 medium red oinons, peeled
1 kg shin of beef, cut into 2.5cm dice and keep the bone
Sea salt and ground pepper
2 tablespoons tomato puree
400ml good local smooth stout
2 heaped tablespoons plain flour
1.5 litres (2 3/4 pints) organic beef or chicken stock
140g pearl barley
3 tsps English mustard
2-3 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
100g good quality Cheddar cheese

For the pastry:
300g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
100g Atora shredded suet
100g butter
Sea salt
1 large free-range egg, beaten

You will need a large casserole-type pan - I used my large oval le creuset and the liquid was about 1cm from the top so you really need something big for this. You will also need a large pie dish or accept that you are going to have two pies! Get your beef shin from the butcher and ask to keep the bone - they'll dice it for you and you can just put it straight in... perfect. Also put 125ml water in a jug in the fridge to get cold for the pastry before you start.

1. Put the olive oil, butter and herbs into a large casserole on a high heat. Roughly chop and add the onions with the diced meat, the shin bone and a couple of pinches of salt and pepper. Mix well and cook for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2. Add the tomato puree, stout, flour and stock and stir until everything comes together to a simmer. Turn the heat down low and put the lid on and let it cook for an hour stirring occasionally.

3. When the hour is up, stir in the pearl barley, put the lid back on and simmer for another hour. Then remove the lid and simmer for a further 30 minutes, or until the meat shreds easily and the gravy is thick.

4. Spoon away any oil from the top, then stir in the mustard and Worcestershire sauce and finely grate in the cheese. Season to taste.

5. While the stew is cooking, put the flour, suet and butter into a bowl with a good pinch of salt. Use your thumbs and forefingers to rub the butter into the flour until it resembles cornflake shapes. Lightly stir in 125ml of cold water and then use your hands to gently pat and push it together in a rough dough. Don't overwork it. Wrap the dough in clingfilm and put in the fridge until it's needed.

6. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Discard the shin bone and ladle the hot stew into a pie dish.

7. Use some of the beaten egg to eggwash the edges of the dish then dust a clean surface and rolling pin with flour and roll out the pastry until about 1cm thick and a little bit bigger than your dish.

8. Carefully place on top of your pie and trim the overhanging edges - roll these into a ball for later. Pinch and squash the edges of the pastry to the dish. eggwash the top and then using the excess from the edges cut out a shape for the top if you wish - I used a cutter to cut two cows. Stick these on top of the pie and then eggwash them.



9. Cook the pie in the bottom of the hot oven for about 40-50 minutes until the pastry is golden. Serves with steamed, buttered vegetables.

Fish Pie No 1 - Jamie Oliver

The only time I have ever bought the Daily Mail was a couple of weeks ago and that was just to get the Jamie Oliver recipe pull out. It had 15 recipes from his new Jamie's Great Britain book and I wanted them - the adverts made my tummy rumble. One of the recipes was his Happy Fish Pie. I don't really need a fish pie recipe - my mum and my husband make such good and such different ones that I never have to look at another fish pie recipe again. I thought I'd give Jamie's a try though... just out of interest.


It was very nice, but for me nowhere near as good as Joe's creamy, mash-topped wonder or my mums amazingly decadent cheese-topped soother. This made me decide to put all three recipes on here so you can make your own choice. Jamie's is great because it recommends the more underused varieties of fish which I am all for. However, you can  use these fish in any fish pie (and I will be) but there isn't as much sauce in this as I like, no boiled eggs and the mash is just not smooth enough. Does this appeal to you? I know that there are so many different little preferences for fish pies (and pies in general) and there is no denying that this one is yummy. So here it is...

Jamie Oliver's Happy Fish Pie

Serves 6-8

2 large leeks
2 large carrots
2 sticks of celery
2 knobs of butter
2 rashers of good quality smoked bacon, roughly chopped
sea salt and white pepper
2 sprigs of rosemary leaves finely chopped
2 fresh bay leaves
1kg (2lb 4oz) Maris Piper potatoes
Olive oil
1 whole nutmeg, for grating
1 x 300ml (1/2 pt) of single cream
2 tsp English mustard
2 handfuls of grated Cheddar cheese
1 lemon
1 kg (2lb 4oz) fish fillets, skinned and pin-boned (Jamie recommends gurnard, coley, pouting and trout - I used pouting, trout, sea bass and responsibly sourced smoked haddock).

Pre-heat the oven to 220C/425F/Gas mark 7. You will need a casserole-type pan that's not too high sided (roughly 20 x 30cm / 8 x 12 in). I like to have my fish ready to go - so cut it into 2cm chunks.

1. Strip the tough outer leaves of the leeks back, then halve, wash well and slice the rest. Roughly chop the carrots and celery.

2. Get your casserole-type pan and add a knob of butter and the chopped bacon and put on a medium heat. When the bacon starts looking crisp and golden, add all the herbs and prepared vegetables to the pan. Season, then put the lid on, turn the heat down a bit and cook for around 15 minutes, stirring every now and again until sweet and tender.

3. While the vegetables cook, peel the potatoes, cut into 2cm (3/4 in) chunks and boil in salted water for around 12-15 minutes or until just cooked. Drain, then leave them to steam dry a few minutes before returning them to the empty pan. Mash with a drizzle of olive oil and a generous knob of butter. Jamie doesn't like to mash to much because it can make the potato gluey rather than light and crisp. Season with care and add a nice grating of nutmeg.

4. When the leeks are ready, add the cream and mustard, simmer for a few seconds, then turn the heat off and sprinkle in half the grated cheese.

5. Stir and season to taste, then grate in a good few swipes of lemon zest, squeeze in the juice and stir again.

6. Cut the fish into 2cm chunks and dot them evenly around the sauce so the fish gets slightly submerged in the beautiful thick sauce. Sprinkle the rest of the cheddar on top.

7. Put forkfuls of mash all over until the surface of the pie is evenly covered. Use a fork to pat, poof and rough it up, leaving a few little gaps for the sauce to bubble through. 

8. Put the dish on the top of the oven for 30 minutes, or until golden, crisp and bubbling. Serve with peas, beans or spinach.

If you want to make this ahead allow everything to cool before assembling then keep in the fridge until you are ready to cook it - then bake for 45 minutes at 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4.