Category: Dishes under 20 mins

Orzo with Pumpkin, feta and bacon.

March 13, 2019

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The wind is just starting to calm down. Earlier it was howling around the outside of the house and the wind has a bitter chill to it. The weather is a little confusing somewhat at the moment as Spring is trying its best to break through. There’s even blossom on the trees already. Unless we are just left with bare branches from this storm!

Days like today need a bowl of comfort food for dinner and back in October last year I created this recipe that is perfect for today. I actually came up with it for my regular slot on BBC Radio Leicester for using up leftover Pumpkins but you could easily substitute it for Butternut squash. You will be able to knock this recipe up within 15 minutes. So stay warm and cozy away from Storm Gareth and I can guarantee you will be back for seconds.

Ingredients:

  • 2-3 tbsp rapeseed oil or oil of your choice
  • 150g orzo pasta
  • 1/4 medium sized pumpkin chopped into 1inch sized pieces
  • 1 large red onion or 2 small red onions diced
  • 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
  • 2 slices of smoked bacon sliced
  • A good sprig of fresh sage finely chopped
  • 1/4 chicken gel stock pot
  • 100 ml water roughly
  • Handful of rocket chopped
  • 50 g feta cheese crumbled
  • handful of fresh flat leaf parsley chopped

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Method:-

  • Preheat oven to 200 c fan. Place the pumpkin into a baking tray and drizzle with rapeseed oil. Cook for roughly 15 minutes or until starting to soften and sorting to brown around then edges.
  • In a saucepan in water cook the Orzo to cooking instructions ( normally 10-15 mins)
  • Then in a frying pan fry off in rapeseed oil the onion for about 2-3 minutes, then add the garlic, stir and cook for a further minute or two.
  • Add in your bacon and fry off until cooked and browned around the edges.
  • By this time the pumpkin will be done so add to the frying pan the pumpkin and stir. Cook for a further minute. Add in your orzo pasta.
  • Then add in your sage,  chicken stock and water, stir and cook for a further 2-3  minutes.
  • Add in your feta, stir and then add in your rocket and parsley and you are ready to serve.

Linguine with sausage meatballs and chard

October 2, 2017

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This seasonal pasta dish will be on the table in under 20 mins. A great dish for this weekend if you have guests coming over. It has a velvety sauce that will wow your guests but it’s not too filling. It’s also great for a quick midweek meal when you have a couple of sausages left in the fridge.

It can be adapted if you can’t get the lovely seasonal chard either to spring greens or cavolo nero ( dark kale ). Maybe a friend who has an allotment or veggie patch will gladly give you some.

I think sometimes chard can be pushed aside slightly. Many people I speak to shy away from it as they aren’t sure how to use it. It sometimes can confuse people with its large leaves and stems. I personally love the veg and feel it should be showcased more. It’s beautiful colours are a delight to look at. Especially as we are in Autumn now. Mine are still growing well in the kitchen garden, some have bolted as I want them to go to seed but the others are fine.

I may even grow some more over the coming months.

Listen here where you can hear me cooking this super simple, quick and inexpensive recipe for Ben Jackson on BBC Radio Leicester.

 

Linguine with sausage meatballs and chard:

 

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Ingredients:

(Serves 2)

Sausage Meatballs:

  • 3-4 pork sausages ( Meat taken out of the skins )
  • A small handful of fennel fronds/tops chopped
  • A sprig of sage chopped ( 4 leaves )
  • Salt and cracked black pepper to season

Pasta:

  • 200g, linguine ( I used dry )
  • Good glug of Rapeseed oil ( I use cold pressed )
  • 1 medium sized red onion diced
  • 1 large clove of garlic chopped, use 2 if very small
  • 4-5 chestnut mushrooms sliced
  • A good pinch of chilli flakes or you can use fresh.
  • 2 large handfuls chard chopped roughly, stalks a little smaller. If you can’t get chard, use spring greens or cavolo nero.
  • 1/4 gel pot of chicken stock
  • 2 ladles hot water from the pasta
  • Slug double cream
  • fresh parmesan grated

 

 

Method: 

  • Cook linguine to packet instructions
  • Mix together the sausage meat, herbs and seasoning and create small meatballs. This will make roughly 16 small sized ones.
  • Whilst that is cooking, fry of the onion in rapeseed oil on a medium heat for a minute, then add in the mushrooms. You may need to add a little more rapeseed oil.
  • After a couple of minutes bring your mixture to the sides of the frying pan.
  • Add in your meatballs into the middle and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring as you go.
  • After a couple of minutes, add in the garlic and toss all together.

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  • When the meatballs are starting to brown slightly, pop in the chard.
  • As it cooks down, add in your chilli flakes and chicken stock.
  • Add in the water from the pasta and reduce down for a minute or two.

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  • Drain off your pasta, keep some water if you feel you need to add a little more.
  • Add a slug of double cream and a little grated parmesan

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  • Add your pasta to the sauce using tongs or a spaghetti spoon so you don’t add too much at once. Fold the velvety sauce through the pasta.
  • Serve into large pasta bowls and add a sprinkle of grated fresh parmesan.

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Warm pearl barley salad with courgettes, leeks, herbs and chicken.

September 26, 2017

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Even though Autumn has now arrived and we saw the equinox appear on Friday, we are still in that “in-between stage” as I call it certainly food wise.

I cooked this recipe on my regular BBC Radio Leicester slot with Ben Jackson a couple of weeks ago. I came up with the recipe because we are still having lovely bouts of sunshine and like in my garden, I am still harvesting the last of the summer vegetables. I still have Courgettes, baby leeks, carrots, beans, lots of herbs and many more to list. Great for me to create even more recipes with in the next few weeks.

I feel at this time of year we are in the middle of wanting comfort food but maybe somedays you still want food that is quick to prepare, healthy and feels light when eating.

This is a great recipe also for using up leftover Roast chicken. So if you usually have chicken for a Sunday Roast, or in midweek then this is a perfect meal to come up with after. I also wanted to showcase how to use pearl barley in a different way rather that just in stews/casseroles and highlight the lovely herbs in this dish. Pearl barley is inexpensive and you don’t need to use a lot of it.

 

Click here to hear me with Ben Jackson on BBC Radio Leicester showing you just how quick and simple this meal is to prepare.

 

 

Warm pearl barley salad with courgettes, leeks and chicken. 

 

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Ingredients:

  • 75g of cooked pearl barley , I cooked mine in a little chicken stock and seasoned with cracked black pepper and sea salt once cooked.
  • 2 tbsps of rapeseed Oil.
  • 2 knobs of unsalted butter.
  • 1 1/2 – 2 Courgettes sliced to the thickness of a one pound coin.
  • 2 baby leeks or 1 small leek finely sliced.
  • 1 large spring onions or 2 small sized ones finely sliced.
  • 2 cloves of garlic roughly chopped .
  • Approximately 100g of leftover roast chicken, shredded. ( I used chicken thighs and cooked mine in rapeseed oil with garlic, lemon thyme, oregano, sage, dill and fennel. Plus seasoned. I also added a few slices of lemon.)
  • A good handful of fresh herbs such as dill, fennel fronds, fennel pollen and mint finely chopped.
  •   A few Squeezes of fresh lemon.
  • Sea salt and cracked black pepper to season.
  • If you want to keep this recipe vegetarian then simply leave out the chicken and chicken stock.

 

Method:

  • Fry off your courgettes for a couple of minutes in rapeseed oil.
  •  Add in your garlic and stir. Then pop in your leeks and cook for a further minute. Again stirring or tossing around the pan allowing your garlic not to stick or burn.
  • Add the white parts of your spring onion, stir and then add in your butter. Cook for a further minute.
  • By now the courgettes will be cooked and glossy with the butter. Season with cracked black pepper and a pinch of sea salt .
  • Add to this mixture your green part of the spring onions and take off the heat.
  • Sprinkle in your fresh herbs but save some dill and fennel fronds for serving.
  • Pour your mixture into a bowl, add to this then your shredded chicken and pearl barley, Squeeze a little fresh lemon into the mix and give it a good stir.
  • Serve into large bowls, add the remaining dill and fennel on top and a little extra squeeze of lemon ( if you like it extra zingy ).
  • You can serve this on its own or with some toasted bread ( a batard type ).  Use the same frying pan to lightly toast your bread if you do and it will give it wonderful flavour.

 

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“Fridge raid pasta” for BBC Radio Leicester

June 19, 2015

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I came up with this recipe about 4 weeks ago for BBC Leicester on my regular slot with Ben Jackson  but it had completely slipped my mind to post it, it sometimes happens with myself as I do so many recipes in a week.  So I must post this now as sadly, our lovely British asparagus are now coming to an end for their season this year, but if  you did want to recreate this as it is, you should just manage to find some still around this week and maybe next. As for the peas though, they are now coming into season so you could even use fresh British ones. They would be brilliant for this recipe.

This was done literally how it says in the title. I let Ben look into my fridge, we picked out a few ingredients ( Seasonal too) and then I came up with a dish on the spot. It was to show people really how easy and quick it is to come up with a dish as great tasting and looking as this, just by using up things that are in your fridge! I suppose one would call this a “Ready steady cook” thing maybe? I love doing that and  I love to show people what they can acheive just from a few ingredients or leftovers they have. Say no to waste!
I cook meals like this quite regularly in the week, maybe not with the exact ingredients but I always ensure I have a bag of pasta in so I can create something like this. It’s also great having a jar of homemade Pesto in your fridge as that alone with pasta and a sprinkling of parmesan is a dish in itself.  It doesn’t have to be a wild garlic one, you could use a basil or another green vegetable/herb pesto. Creating dishes like this in under 15-20 minutes, you’ll never turn back.

Click this link and you can hear me making it on BBC Radio Leicester

 

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Fridge raid pasta

Ingredients:
(Serves 2 -3)

*One thing I must add for this recipe is that I can’t mark it as Vegetarian as it has Parmesan in my pesto recipe*
– Approximately 200g Fusilli Pasta or any pasta of your Choice
– 1/4 Leek sliced
– 2 Spring Onions chopped finely
– 2 cloves of Garlic
– 8 British Asparagus Spears, wood end cut off
– 5-6 British Purple Sprouting Broccoli Stems
– A handful of Petit Pois defrosted and drained or British Fresh podding Peas
– 1 Tbsp Of Wild Garlic Pesto or can use Basil Pesto
– Small Handful of Pea Shoots
– Cracked black Pepper
– Sea salt to season

 

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Method:

*  Take of wood ends off the Asparagus and peel the outer layer at the bottom couple of inches and pop into Ice cold Water to keep them vivid green.

*  Chop Purple Sprouting broccoli into 3 and pop into the Ice cold water too.

*  In boiling water Cook the Asparagus and the Purple sprouting Broccoli for 2 minutes then plunge into Ice cold Water

*  Cook Pasta to packet instructions in the same Pan with boiling water used for the Veg.

*  Fry off your Onion, Leek and Garlic for a couple of Minutes adding a little Cracked Black pepper.

*  Chop your Asparagus into 3 and add them and the Purple Sprouting Broccoli, stir for a minute or two.

*  Drain your Pasta and keep a little water  to pop into the frying pan to add a little moisture. Add your Pasta to the Vegetable mix now.

*  Stir in your Pesto and cook for a minute making sure whilst stirring your pasta it is all coated with it.

*  Pop in your Peas, stir for 30 seconds and then add your pea shoots. Add a little Salt to season and you are ready to serve!

 

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Squid Ink Linguini with Crayfish for BBC Radio leicester’s Food Friday

September 18, 2014



After having a quick chat with Ben Jackson, whom I do Food friday with on BBC Radio Leicester, we decided that our listeners wanted dishes that they could pretty much cook along “Real time” with whilst listening to the programme.  It goes out at 4.40pm every friday which is a great time if you want a fairly early dinner.  Thus, then allowing you more time at your local for a quick vino or Pint! 

  A dish that sprung to my mind was a dish that I cook quite often for myself but I wanted a little twist on it.  I would normally cook this dish with “Normal” Spaghetti or linguini and use Prawns instead of crayfish.  Now of course, you could use any other seafood, I just felt that this added real colour and extra flavour as the Squid ink Linguini does have a subtle flavour that I LOVE and I feel we sometimes forget about Crayfish tails also but they have so much flavour in them. I came up with a great Ravioli dish once which I used Crayfish tails so I will share this with you soon. 

  By the way, I have had some comments on that the linguini does look a little strange, but trust me…If you love pasta and combining Seafood…you are going to LOVE IT!

Hear me and Ben Right Here!

Squid Ink Linguini with Crayfish Tails,Tomato,Chilli and Garlic:

Ingredients:
(Serves 2)

–  Approximately 200 g of Squid ink ( Cuttlefish )Linguini or Spaghetti 
–  A 120 g Pack of Cooked and peeled Crayfish Tails ( About 3/4 of the pack is enough for 2 people)
–  A good “Glug” of Olive Oil
–  2 cloves of Garlic Finely Chopped
–  1/4  Red Chilli Finely Chopped
–  2 Sliced Spring Onions
–  Almost half of a little pot of Fish stock (I used a Knorr pot)
–  A good Splash of Dry White Wine ( I used Sauvignon Blanc) 
–  1 Tbsp of Tomato Puree
–  Approximately 10 Baby Plum Tomatoes chopped into 4
–  A pinch of  Caster Sugar 
–  Cracked Black Pepper
–  A Handful of chopped Fresh Basil and Fresh Flat leaf Parsley

Method:

*  Pop your Pasta into a boiling pan of Salted Water and cook for approximately 10-12 minutes or to packet instructions.

*  In a Frying/Saute Pan, Start to fry off the White ends of the Spring Onions and Chilli in Olive oil.

* Add the Garlic and fry for another minute. 

* Pop in then the White Wine and start to simmer, reducing only slightly.

*  Add the tomato Puree, Tomatoes, Pinch of sugar and cracked Black Pepper. Cook for another minute or 2.

* Add a little splash of water to the sauce. Taste…it may need a little more sugar to sweeten.

*  Put the rest of the Spring onions (Green parts) into the sauce.

*  Drain your Pasta keeping a little of the water and  place the pasta into the sauce. Add the Crayfish and coat all the ingredients around the pasta. 

*  Finally add your chopped herbs when the Crayfish are hot and Serve!