A few of my favourites
because you told me you love them!
Hi!
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This week we are cooking some of my all time favourite recipes. I have had people stop me to tell me about the Pork Ragu, it is that good! My favourite thing is hearing this kind of feedback because all I want to do is add little pockets of joy to your week by helping you cook something new and delicious. I hope you enjoy x
Here is what we are cooking this week:
Batch cook: Pork Ragu
Batch cook: Breton Lamb
Quick cook: Garlicky Chicken Fricassee
Lunch: Sweet Potato with Tahini Butter Chickpeas (a next-level baked potato from your new recipe destination - Bunch)
Weekend: Cookies
Here is your shopping list:
450g pork mince
3 white onions
Garlic
Sage (fresh or dried)
Fresh rosemary
Fennel seeds
Chilli flakes
2 tins cherry tomatoes
Tomato purée
Milk
Olive oil
Pappardelle pasta
Parmesan
2 tins haricot beans or butter beans
2 carrots
Celery
Bay leaves
Parsley
1kg braising lamb, cut into chunks
Lamb stock (chicken is fine if you can’t find it)
Baguette
Butter
8 boneless chicken thighs
Plain flour
White wine
Chicken stock
Double cream
French green beans
Something to serve with the chicken fricassee - rice or potatoes
Tahini
Soy sauce
Maple syrup
Lemon or lime
3-4 sweet potatoes
2 x 400g tin of chickpeas
Spinach (or kale)
Sesame seeds
Crispy chilli oil (optional)
2 spring onions (optional)
Baking soda
Caster sugar
Dark brown sugar
Large eggs
200g dark chocolate chips
Pork Ragu
Ingredients:
Serves 4
450g pork mince
1 white onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
8-10 sage leaves, chopped (or a tsp of dried sage)
1 sprig of rosemary, leaves removed and chopped (or a tsp of dried)
2 teaspoons of fennel seeds, crushed
1/2 teaspoon chilli flakes (optional)
2 teaspoons of cracked black pepper
1 tin cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato purée
1/2 tin water
1/2 tin milk
Salt and pepper
Olive oil
Method:
In a large stew pot, add about a tablespoon of olive oil and place over medium to high heat. Add the pork mince and brown it well.
Turn down the heat and add in the garlic and onions. Mix them in with the mince and let it cook for 3 minutes. At this point, you can decant everything into a slow cooker if you wish!
Add in the herbs, tomato purée, cracked black pepper, and fennel seeds. Follow this with your tin of cherry tomatoes, water, and milk. Pop the lid on leaving it slightly ajar and cook for 2 hours or longer if you have it. In the slow cooker, you can leave it on low for 4-6 hours but turn it up to high for 20-30 minutes in the end and cook with the lid off to reduce the sauce.
Serve with your favourite pasta (I like pappardelle) but please mix the sauce with your drained al dente pasta along with a little pasta water and lots of parmesan. With the heat on low and a few minute of mixing, the pasta will finish cooking in the sauce and it will coat each strand perfectly. Perfetta!
Breton Lamb
Ingredients
Serves 4
2 tins haricot beans or butter beans
1 large onions, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 stick of celery, diced
2 bay leaves
bunch of parsley, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
1kg braising lamb, cut into chunks
4 garlic cloves, finely chopped
400g can cherry tomatoes
1 tbsp tomato purée
400ml lamb stock or chicken stock
Method:
Heat the olive oil in a heavy-based casserole dish. Brown the lamb in batches over a high heat. Put each batch aside on a plate as you work your way through it. Reduce the heat, add the chopped onion, celery, and carrot to the pot, and cook until it starts to take on a little colour. Add the garlic and cook for another couple of mins.
Return the lamb to the pan and add all the remaining ingredients, except the beans. Bring it to a boil, reduce the heat to very low, and cover, then cook for 2 hrs. Add the beans 45 mins before the end of cooking time. Stir the lamb around every so often. If the lamb looks dry, add some more water or stock.
Remove the lid for the last 30 mins of cooking time, and season. This helps the cooking liquid to reduce so you are left with soft lamb and creamy beans in a rich tomato sauce. Check for seasoning and adjust with salt or pepper, scatter in the parsley, and serve.
Quick Garlicky Chicken Fricassee
Chicken casserole meets the iconic chicken with 40 cloves of garlic in this easy mid week meal.
Ingredients:
Serves 4
Butter
8 boneless chicken thighs
2 tablespoons of plain flour
1 white onion, finely chopped
6 cloves garlic, sliced
100ml white wine
100ml chicken stock
100ml double cream
1 tsp fresh thyme or rosemary
Salt and black pepper
French green beans to serve
Method:
Coat your chicken in the flour and season well with salt and pepper.
Add a tablespoon of butter to a pan on medium heat and fry the chicken until nice and brown. Set aside on a plate.
Add a touch more butter to the pan and add the garlic, fry this for a few minutes until it is golden brown and set aside. We are aiming for a soft nutty garlic flavour here.
Turn the heat down slightly and add the onion and herbs to the pan. Cook until soft and translucent.
Pour in the wine and let it reduce by half. Now add the stock and cream and bring to a simmer.
Add back in the garlic and chicken. Place a lid or piece of foil over the top and let it simmer for 15 minutes.
Taste the sauce for seasoning and adjust. minutes
Serve with green beans and potatoes or rice.
Sweet Potato with Tahini Butter Chickpeas
I have been thinking about this recipe for weeks, so it is time to make it. My new foodie obsession is the Bunch UK website and MOB. Both sites have modern, fresh and easy recipes which is exactly what I crave this time of year. A sweet potato in the microwave topped with this gorgeous sauce and simple chickpea mix is everything I want to eat during that blessed lunch break.
Ingredients
Serves 4
40g Butter
3 Tbsp Tahini
½ Tbsp Soy Sauce
1 Tsp Maple Syrup
1 Tbsp Lemon or Lime Juice
3-4 Sweet Potatoes
2 x 400g Tin of Chickpeas
150g Spinach (Or Kale)
3 Tbsp Sesame Seeds
Crispy Chilli Oil (Optional)
2 Spring Onions (Optional)
Method
Melt the butter. Add the tahini, soy sauce, maple syrup, lime juice, and 1 tbsp of warm water to a bowl and mix well. It might curdle but keep mixing and add a little more water if you need to thin it down as each tahini brand is slightly different.
Price the potatoes all over with a fork and rub with a little olive oil, salt and pepper. Here are three options for cooking your sweet potatoes. The time will vary slightly depending on the size of your potato, but check them at the shorter time to make sure they don’t overcook and burn. Oven: 200°C for 40-50 mins Air Fryer: 190°C for 30-35 mins. Turn once or twice. Microwave: 9 mins in total, turning at 3 min intervals. Place the potato on a microwaveable plate with a kitchen towel in it to absorb moisture. If you add more than one at a time, they will take longer, so keep cooking and turning at 3 min intervals until cooked through.
Meanwhile, cook the chickpeas. Drain the chickpeas and add them to a large frying pan with a drizzle of olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. Fry for about 8 mins on medium heat until they start to brown and pop. Add the spinach and stir for another few minutes until the spinach has wilted.
When your potatoes have cooked and are very tender, place them on a plate and slice each one down the middle. Feel free to add a little vegan butter into the middle of each one at this point, if you want to. Use a fork to mash the potatoes flat and season them with salt and pepper.
Scatter chickpeas over the potatoes then drizzle plenty of tahini butter over the top. Finish with some crispy chilli oil, if using and some sesame seeds and finely sliced spring onion.
Cookies
This recipe makes a LOT of cookies. I keep them in the freezer so when a craving for something sweet comes my way, I know I am only a few minutes away from the perfect chewy in the middle, crispy on the outside cookie.
Ingredients:
320g plain flour
1 tsp baking soda
220g butter melted and still warm
140g caster sugar
140g dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon sea salt
2 large eggs
200g dark chocolate chips
Method:
Place your butter in a bowl and in the microwave but just keep an eye on it!
Place the butter and sugars into a big mixing bowl and stir to combine with a wooden spoon.
Now crack in your two eggs and stir them into the butter and sugar.
Next sift in all the dry ingredients; flour, baking soda, and salt, and stir until incorporated.
Add the chocolate chips and mix to combine.
Roll the dough into balls the size of golf balls. Lie a freezer bag flat on the counter and carefully place them in. Pop them into the freezer as flat as you can. Once frozen they can be moved to make more space!
When you are ready to bake, pop them onto a non-stick baking tray and leave plenty of room between each one. Bake for 8 minutes at 180C and allow to cool slightly. They should be slightly golden around the edge but still quite soft. Once they start to cool, they will be soft and chewy in the middle and crunchy on the outside.
If you want to cook right away you’ll need to put the dough into the fridge for a minimum of 6 hours if not overnight. This helps develop that lovely texture of chewy in the middle, crunchy on the outside.
That’s it for this week, I hope you have a lovely weekend!
Mx