Fennel, feta and pomegranate salad

I am delighted to report that I got the Ottolenghi cookbook for Christmas. I'd wanted it for ages actually - I really love the whole mediterranean/middle-eastern-y hybrid. And everything always looks so utterly gorgeous, just bursting with amazing colour as well as tonnes of flavour and vitamins!

So just what I needed post-xmas-binge and in possession of a draining head cold that just refuses to budge. Urgh.

This is slightly adapted from the original in terms of quantities to suit what I had in the fridge at the time - plus I didn't have any tarragon so used some coriander, but I'm certain tarragon would've been nicer.

Fennel, feta and pomegranate salad

1 fennel bulb very thinly sliced - use a mandolin if you have one but mind your fingers.

1 pomegranate - relieved of its seeds

A pack of good feta cheese crumbled

Handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley and another of coriander

Juice of half a lemon

Drizzle of olive oil

Teaspoon of Sumac (you know, that dark slightly sour tasting middle eastern powder made from a crushed berry) plus a little more to finish the dish.

Not much to say except mix everything together and sprinkle with a little extra Sumac when serving.

I think I'll finish by saying that my MASSIVELY patriotic Scottish mother also bought me some cookbooks for Christmas. She bought me 3 Scottish cookbooks and presented them to me proclaiming that she couldn't understand why I had so many foreign cookbooks and yet none from my homeland... Who knew there were 3 different recipes for something called "Mince N Tatties"? Not me.

Hmm.

Mini Christmas: Saltimbocca, balsamic red onions with white beans followed by Vacherin. And no smoking.

In our house we have an annual event called Mini-Christmas. Because The Boyfriend and I can't always spend Christmas Day together, we have our own advance mini celebration complete with presents, carols and festive food. Last night I excitedly raced home from my last day at work for a week (in a very non-frugal taxi...oh sod it, it's Christmas) for our evening of pre-Christmas festivities.

Of course, for me, part of the excitement of this event is the food. This year's feast was slightly hampered by a broken oven, so I had to pick something to cook which I could make on the stove-top or under the grill. Hmmm. No 3-Bird Roasts for us then.

I liked the idea of doing something poultry-ish and needed something quite light as I splurged on a baby Vacherin from work to have afterwards - more on that later.

So I thought I'd try Saltimbocca which literally translates as "jumps in the mouth" and is a traditionally Italian dish although variations are made all over Europe. It's very simple - basically an escalope of something (chicken, turkey, pork, veal even - I found some nice free range wiltshire chicken in Waitrose which wasn't hideously expensive) sprinkled with some sage leaves and then layered with a piece of cured ham to cover the sage leaves and affixed to the escalope with some cocktail sticks. You then simply pan-fry quickly on both sides until cooked through and serve it with some lemony pan-juices which I made by deglazing the pan with a little white wine, the juice of one lemon and a small knob of butter. We had the Saltimbocca with some balsamic red onions and a scoop of mashed white beans.

Simples.

And then afterwards we broke out a wooden box of good Vacherin Mont D'Or which is a really creamy, gooey, rich cheese made from the milk of cows who have spent the summer munching away in alpine meadows!  Sounds delightful frankly. Anyway, they're at their best just now so give one a try if you can. You can bake Vacherin in the oven to make a sort-of-fondue in its own little box - but we just had it at room temperature scooping it up with bits of baguette, little cornichons and pieces of pear.  It was a million calories a mouthful but a really special treat.

Post present opening and replete with mountain cheese.... for first time in ages I really felt like having a ciggie just to round things off. However, given my addictive and obsessive love of smoking (which, incredibly, I have managed to stave off for two and a half years!) I cannot be trusted to have just one so we finished with a couple of squares of dark chocolate instead.

Pretty good actually - and, even sans Marlborough Light, a merry Mini Christmas was had by all. Or both anyway.

Chicken livers with raisins and pinenuts in dessert wine

Just a very quick post to tell you about an accidentally yummy supper.

I'm a massive chicken liver fan - they are super-cheap and delicious - and, as I hadn't had a chance to go food-shopping recently, I defrosted a pack last night, thinking that I would decide what to do with them while I was at work. But Christmas has well and truly arrived at the shop and we were so busy that I had no time to think about dinner until I was on the tube on my way back home tonight. Hence the recipe below is actually barely a recipe! But despite the minimum of thought and preparation it was really delicious. We'll definitely be having it again.

Chicken livers with raisins and pinenuts in dessert wine 
Pack of chicken livers
Handful of raisins or sultanas
Handful pinenuts
Slosh of dessert wine (I used some leftover Tokaij but you could use anything - Vin Santo, even sherry)
Stock cube
Some good bread, rubbed with a garlic clove and a little olive oil
Green salad to serve

Get your griddle pan on the heat. Pour a little boiling water over your raisins. Crumble a stock cube over the soaking raisins, stir and set to one side.

Then trim the chicken livers of any weird-looking or green-ish bits. Melt a little butter in a frying pan with a glug of olive oil. Throw in the livers and brown them on a high heat for a couple of minutes. Then slosh in your wine - allow it to bubble up and deglaze the pan a little and then add in your raisins and stock and reduce for a couple of minutes.

Slice the bread thickly, rub with a garlic clove and drizzle with olive oil. Griddle the bread on both sides. When the chicken liver sauce is a little thicker, add in the pinenuts then pour the livers and a big spoonful of the raisin and pinenut sauce onto the toasted bread. Serve with a green salad.

Incidentally I made a salad dressing for our green leaves with a glug of olive oil, a splash of white wine vinegar, a teaspoon of creme fraiche and about the same of dijon mustard. It made a nice sharp contrast to the rich, sweet chicken livers. Just so you know!

Fish soup with all the accessories.

Today was my day off and I had to do that most draining domestic task - waiting at home for someone to turn up with a replacement debit card. It's something that's made doubly irritating by the vast window of opportunity for delivery - anytime between 9am and 5pm. Surely they could confirm whether it's morning or afternoon? Just the vaguest indication would help. Why is this not possible? Does the delivery driver navigate from address to address led by primal instinct and the forces of the lunar tide, never knowing where the pull of the Thames will take him? Here's a thought - why not try using an A-Z and a wristwatch?

And breathe.

Anyway, I was determined to be prepared for a day of incarceration and, despite getting in from work at gone midnight last night, I dragged myself out of bed super-early. I fell into Tesco for some waiting-at-home provisions, procured a vat of coffee and was back home long before my 9am vigil began.

You know where this is going...

I spent the day not having a shower in case I didn't hear the doorbell, not talking on the phone in case they were trying to call me. But, of course, it got later and later. Finally, with a heavy heart and a familiar, defeated feeling I phoned the delivery company to be told that they'd attempted delivery at 11.35am but there was no one at the address.

Yes. Of course. Or just maybe your delivery driver had endured such a tough morning riding around sunny London, eating crisps and texting his mates and just couldn't be bothered to walk up to the door and actually ring the bell in the traditional fashion. ARGHHHHHH!

The red mist descended and the murderous impulses swelled. I needed something to distract and calm me - I turned my attention to dinner. Something soothing and warming was required. Something that required the involved and sustained use of knives.

Fish soup then.

Basically this is my version of a fish soup with all the trimmings - chunky pieces of fish with, a sprinkling of chilli, lashings of pernod and those lovely French toppings - a really good spicy mayonnaise and gruyere-laced croutons. Although it's a classic Marseille dish, I actually first had proper fish soup in The Witchery in Edinburgh - a lovely restaurant/hotel almost in the grounds of the castle. It's a beautiful place for a special treat - the menu is really amazing with lovely bistro-type food all made with Scottish produce - and the wine list is a frankly intimidating leather bound Doomsday Book. With chapters and everything! Well worth a visit if you find yourself in Edinburgh on payday.

Anyway, their fish soup was a much fancier, smoother, veloute type of soup but my lower budget chunky stew version is pretty tasty.

And with lots of veg to viciously chop, it's perfect for eliminating homicidal tendencies.

Fish soup with all the trimmings 

Soup
Whatever sort of fish you have in the fridge/freezer - ideally a couple of types. I had some Sea Bream fillets, some chunky pieces of salmon and some prawns.
Slosh of Pernod (or Ouzo would be fine)
Fennel seeds
Couple of chillis
Carrot
Celery
Onion
2 cloves garlic
A tin of tomatoes
Some fish stock or white wine
Whatever fresh herbs you have - I had fresh rosemary and bay leaves and then finished the dish with some fresh parsley before serving.

The rouille (yes I know it's not an authentic rouille but I wouldn't mention that just now if I were you as I'm still quite angry) 
2 egg yolks
2 cloves garlic
Plenty of good olive oil - basically as much as the egg yolks will absorb
Pinch of saffron
Smidgeon of cayenne pepper


Croutons 
Half an old baguette sliced into thin rounds
Some gruyere-type cheese (I work in a cheese chop so got the most delicious 24 month aged Comte D'estive but, obviously, I'm showing off)

On a low heat, sweat the onions, chilli, celery, carrots and herbs in some butter until nice and soft, add the fennel seeds and continue to fry on a low heat for another couple of minutes. Slosh in some Pernod  and reduce for a few minutes. Add a tin of tomatoes, another tin of water or fish stock and a final tin of white wine (use the empty tin of tomatoes to measure the stock and water - also uses up all the tomato residue) and then leave to simmer for half an hour.

In the meantime, slice the baguette thinly and toast on one side only. Flip over and sprinkle generously with the cheese. Set to one side.

For the rouille, mash the garlic cloves, saffron and a little salt in a pestle and mortar. Separate two egg yolks and add to the garlic mixture. Whisk the egg yolk/garlic mixture with a small whisk to blend both. Then add the olive oil literally drop by drop to begin with, whisking all the time. It's a slow and wrist achey process but you'll see when it starts to actually look like a mayonnaise - like the piccie below.

When your rouille is done, add your pieces of fish to the soup - keeping the heat down very low. You know how it works - any larger pieces should go in first and smaller pieces later so they're all ready at the same time. After a few minutes your fish should be poached to perfection. At the very last minute grill the cheese side of the croutons.

To assemble, pile fish and soup into bowls and top with a generous spoonful of the rouille and a couple of croutons. Sprinkle with any remaining cheese and tuck in.

Mostarda - my new 'must-have'.

When I gave up my old job one of the things I knew I wouldn't be able to afford in in my new life was regular trips to nice restaurants. Although we mainly kept it local and didn't really go anywhere super-fancy, we did eat out pretty regularly and I do really miss that. But there's no need to break out the violins because we had a massive stroke of luck a few weeks ago when The Boyfriend was given a lovely "thank you" present from his office for some above-and-beyond work he'd done. He was told he could take me out for dinner wherever we wanted. Massive hoorah!


So we excitedly booked a table at L'Anima - the slick Italian near Liverpool Street where ex-St Alban chef Francesco Mazzei has received glowing reports since opening in Autumn 2008. It's more sleek and whispery than our usual sort of restaurant to be honest - but the food and wine was absolutely perfect. I had an amazing slow-roasted pork belly dish with something called N'cantarata Sauce - which was a delicious mixture of honey, paprika & spices. The Boyfriend had an amazing liquorice sabayon for pudding - not something I would have chosen but it was fantastic. And instead of a pudding I had Taleggio cheese with Fig Mostarda. I'd never heard of it before but Mostarda is a jammy, spicy, mustardy preserved fruit. It was amazing - sinus-clearing like mustard but still sweet and unmistakably fig-ish. It was a delicious accompaniment to the rich creamy Taleggio and I vowed to get my hands on some.


Which I have just done! I bought some Pear Mostarda today but you can get also pumpkin, pepper, green tomato, prune - all sorts. And, because I simply couldn't be bothered to cook tonight, I've just devoured some with some squidgey, rich taleggio and half a good, crusty baguette. I can't recommend it highly enough - it's like a mellow, sweet wasabi that goes really well with cheese. Traditionally italians eat mostardo with bollito misto - a boiled meat dish - but I can imagine it would also work really well with a rich chicken liver pate or some charcuterie.


So, no recipe today, just wanted to let you know about my new discovery and encourage you to try it if you can. I bought mine from La Fromagerie but I reckon you would be able to get hold of it at any good Italian deli.

Not just rib eye steak. This is a frugal £5 M&S rib eye steak...

This is just a very quick post to tell you about something I did with some marked-down rib-eye steak that I found in Marks and Spencer. Yes, I know I shouldn't really buy food in M&S if I am being truly frugal but I passed one on the way home, it was raining, we had nothing in the fridge...blah, blah, blah.

Anyhoo, the fact remains, Marks and Spencer were selling two rib eye steaks for £5 which I think is ridiculously good value.

Steak with spicy noodles 

A couple of steaks

Some dried egg noodles

A big knob of ginger

2 cloves of garlic

Some fish sauce

A dessert spoon of peanut butter

A handful of fresh chopped coriander

Any leftover vegetables - spring onions, radishes, carrots, mange tout, green beans, peppers, shredded cabbage are all good

Heat your griddle pan until smoking. Griddle the steak for a few minutes on both sides - until it is as "done" as you like it - and then put it aside to rest while you make the noodles. I soaked dried noodles in boiling water for 5 minutes and then grated a big chunk of ginger, mashed a couple of cloves of garlic and fried both on a low heat for a few minutes in a frying pan along with a good glug of fish sauce, a desert spoon of peanut butter and the juice and zest of two limes. Then I added some leftover chopped vegetables to the frying pan - carrots, green beans and spring onions - and stir fried them quickly, adding finely chopped coriander and the cooked noodles when they're ready. Have a little taste and add more lime juice or fish sauce if it needs it. Slice the steak into strips and pile onto the noodles and finish with a little more fresh coriander.

Well, maybe Dervla Kirwen wouldn't come over all breathy about it, but I thought it was very tasty, pretty healthy and super-speedy supper.

Emperor Nero's new clothes. Or griddled lamb, mashed chickpeas and cavalo nero

When I was about seven years old, restaurants were for special occasions only. And on my annual outing to a restaurant, there appeared to be only three things you could have as a starter in a restaurant:

• A chilly slice of melon topped with a single glace cherry. 
• Tomato soup. Seemingly from a tin. With a cress garnish and a granary roll. 
• Or the absolute height of sophistication - half an avocado stuffed with prawns in a Barbie-pink sauce. 

You would follow this with a steak in a peppercorn sauce for the men or duck a l'orange for the ladies.

And, weirdly, pudding would always be a Rum Baba. I don't really know what Rum Baba is but there's probably no need to find out, given that this hasn't appeared on a menu since 1982.

But my seven year old view was that my family was pretty sophisticated in our eating habits. My rationale for this being (a). that we were very early adopters of the beansprout and (b.) that we weren't allowed to have Angel Delight (I now understand this to be because my mum thought it was "a bit common").

It's odd how food fashions come and go isn't it?

When I was at university two important food events happened - pesto and the sun-dried tomato. No one could imagine a world without them today but I remember them being mysterious and slightly intimidating - what was this bright green sauce which could be stirred into student pasta without further cooking?

And today? Well, we're all obsessing over garnishing our plates with micro greens, making mackerel ceviche and sourcing locally produced raw-milk butter. And then there's Cavolo Nero. All the kale, chard, greens-y sort of veg seem to be having a bit of a moment but Cavolo Nero seems to be the big one. And do you know, like pesto before it, it IS delicious. I like it boiled for a couple of minutes in salty water and splashed with a little peppery olive oil. Or finely chopped and sauteed with some chorizo. And, with a sprinkle of chili flakes, it makes a nice accompaniment to grilled meat.

So, no recipe needed here really - just a suggestion to try some cavolo nero finely shredded, lightly boiled in salty water and served with some unfashionable but frugal griddled neck of lamb and tin of chickpeas mashed with some good olive oil.

Followed by Angel Delight for pudding. As long as my mum isn't coming for dinner, of course.

Fear of Frying: Green tomato soup with guacamole and walnut bread

This recipe was born out of still having a lot of green tomatoes on our balcony which, at the back end of November, were never going to turn red but which, in the spirit of frugal-ness, I was loathe to get rid of.

I really liked the deep-south-y Fried Green Tomatoes idea so did a little internet research into how to cook them. But interest turned to panic as the first recipe I came across suggested you deep fry them as, you see, I never deep fry anything. Ever.

I believe this Fear Of Frying is probably a result of being born in the 1970s when every household lived in fear of 'the chip pan'... For the unenlightened, a chip pan was:

1. A huge blackened old saucepan that was too heavy to lift and looked like a relic from the iron age. 
2. Always full of manky old oil which was used several times for different meals - surely that must be illegal now? 
3. Apparently just a house-fire waiting to happen according to public service TV ads of the time.  

So anyway, feeling nervous of deep-fried green tomatoes, I thought maybe a spicy southern inspired soup might be nice. So I made a very quick, fresh-tasting broth of green pepper, celery, onion, chilli and green tomatoes and served it with a dollop of guacamole and some very moreish walnut bread (both bought not made - oh the shame...).  It was really tasty - like a warm, substantial and spicy gazpacho - and there was no risk of dousing myself in boiling old chip fat.

Green tomato soup with guacamole

About 10 small green tomatoes

Green pepper

Stick of celery

White onion

A red chilli

Guacamole

Walnut bread

Drizzle of walnut oil

Dice all the vegetables. Soften the onion, chill and celery on a low heat for 10 minutes. Add the pepper and green tomatoes and stir from time to time. After another 5 minutes cover with boiling water (chicken stock would probably be even better but I'd run out) and simmer on a low heat for another 15 minutes. Blend with a stick blender, check consistency and add more liquid if too think. Season well and serve with a drizzle of walnut oil, a blob of guacamole and some chunky wedges of bread.  

Turning Japanese: Miso blackened chicken, japanese aubergine and wild rice

I like Japanese food. Well, so far I like it, but I just don't feel like I've done anything other than scratch the surface of it.  I mean I've been to a couple of very nice Japanese restaurants (admittedly in London not Tokyo...) and, frankly, could have qualified for an Itsu loyalty card when I worked at Canary Wharf - but I'm not sure that really qualifies as any sort of knowledge about a nation's cuisine. 

So one of my gourmet goals has been to experiment a bit with Japanese ingredients - which is why I had a pack of white miso paste in my cupboard for about 3 months and no idea what to do with it. 


I know everyone had a Miso Moment a few years ago when the infamous Nobu black cod became the most talked about fish in London - but it largely passed me by. So, in a fit of Cupboard Clearance I decided to marinate some chicken thighs in the miso paste and serve them, blackened,  with asian-inspired aubergines and a mixture of wild, red and basmati rice. 

White miso paste is sweeter and milder than the salty red miso paste and, with hindsight, my griddling/blackening probably overpowered the mild miso flavour somewhat. So if I were going to do this again I think I might try roasting the chicken pieces instead.

Anyway, I'm certain this is desperately inauthentic but it was still really tasty and just a bit unusual. 

Miso blackened chicken, japanese aubergine and rice

A pack of chicken thighs (usually about 6 in a pack - enough for two) 

A pack of white miso paste (most supermarkets have this - its in a sort of plastic sachet thing) 

One aubergine 

Good glug of soy sauce 

Tablespoon of caster sugar 

One red chilli finely chopped

Handful of coriander chopped 

Enough rice for two (I used a mixture of brown basmati, red and wild rice - it's sold in big packs at Waitrose) 

A little oil in which to fry the aubergine

Marinate the chicken thighs for as long as you can manage in the entire sachet of miso paste - I left mine overnight. Chop the aubergines into chunky pieces and brown in a little oil along with the chilli. When the aubergine is lightly browned slosh in some soy sauce, sprinkle over the sugar and the pour in enough boiling water to come about halfway up the aubergines. Turn the heat down low and cover with a disc of tinfoil and leave to cook down for about 20 minutes so the liquid is significantly reduced. 

Get your rice on - mine included wild rice which needs about 20 minutes so I put this on as soon as the aubergines were on the go. 

Put your griddle pan on the heat and allow to warm up for a good 15 minutes - so it is smoking hot. Open the doors and windows, point the fan at the smoke alarm - you know the drill...

When the griddle pan is hot enough place the miso covered chicken into the pan - remembering to do a couple of pieces at a time so that the temperature of the pan remains high. Don't be afraid to leave the chicken to form a blackened miso-y crust on each side before turning the pieces. I cooked my chicken pieces through on the griddle (about 10/15 mins) but I think you'd be better to blacken them a little and then finish them in the oven to ensure they stay juicy. 

When the aubergines are soft and the liquid very reduced, stir in a little fresh coriander. 

Pile the rice into the bottom of a bowl with a big spoonful of the aubergine stew and juices on top of the rice and then the blackened chicken pieces in top of that. 

Cauliflower and parmesan soup with truffle oil

This was always going to be a hard sell.

My boyfriend hates cauliflower and I have tried over the years to give it to him in various appealing disguises but with no success.

So cauliflower and parmesan soup wasn't ever going to fill him with joy. Even if I really tried to pimp it up with a load of cheese and a glug of truffle oil.

To give him credit he got through about a third of a bowl before retiring to the fridge for some cheese and pickle. Ah well. I, on the other hand, thought it was pretty good and also pretty frugal - admittedly the truffle oil was a bit of an investment but it'll last forever - and cauliflowers are less than £1 so it wasn't bad at all.

Now I know this is a bit smug...but I actually save all my parmesan rinds and put them all in a plastic bag in the freezer for making stocks and soups. I know it's a bit hateful and Martha Stewart-ish but it's super-frugal because you'd just bin the rinds otherwise and they do add a really nice savoury-ness to home-made stock. And here, they add a deep, delicious cauliflower cheese-ness to the soup which, with the earthy truffle oil, makes a quite luxurious tasting, wintery broth.

Cauliflower and parmesan soup with truffle oil 

2 pints of vegetable stock ( I made a quick stock with some water, a few peppercorns, a couple of bayleaves, 1 stick of celery, 1 carrot, 1 onion, 2 cloves of garlic and a parmesan rind simmered for half an hour and then removing the vegetables & rind before use)

1 cauliflower broken into small pieces

A few heaped tablespoons of parmesan plus extra for sprinkling

Truffle oil

Throw the cauliflower pieces into the stock and simmer gently for about 15 minutes until the pieces are soft. Add a couple of tablespoons of parmesan and stir until melted. Use a stick blender to whizz up until smooth. Season well with lots of black pepper and serve with a drizzle of truffle oil and a sprinkle of parmesan.  I thought it went very well with some seedy brown bread sliced thickly. My boyfriend didn't.

Artichoke carbonara (sorry, rubbish pic)

As you know, I'm trying to be frugal about my gastronomic adventures so, with this in mind, I've been avoiding some of my usual indulgences. Deli bits and pieces are my absolute favourite sort of nibble but olives, charcuterie and antipasti are just a bit "spendier" than I can justify at the moment. So when I saw artichokes in a tin in Sainsburys for less than £2 I thought it would be worth a try.

I assumed they would be a bit rubbish so thought the best thing to do would be to give them a supporting role in a recipe rather than the main event. So I made a classic carbonara and added them to the frying pan with the pancetta to cook them through before adding in the pasta. The end result was actually pretty good. The artichokes were a little watery-er than is ideal but I think I should probably just have let them drain for a little longer. And the flavour was good - not as meaty as usual perhaps - but really not bad at all for a quick, cheap fix. I wouldn't use them as a substitute for their pricier cousins on an antipasti plate but I'd definitely use them again as part of a warm salad or something like that. Anyway, they worked pretty well in this pasta dish - a good one for quick-mid-week dinners as it takes literally only as long as the pasta takes to cook.

Artichoke Carbonara
Enough spaghetti for 2
Handful of pancetta cubes/lardons
2 cloves garlic
2 eggs beaten
Big old handful of pecorino
A tin of artichokes
Get the pasta water on while you grate a big pile of pecorino and beat together 2 eggs in a little bowl. Put the pasta onto cook. Fry the garlic in a little olive oil until soft, throw in the pancetta cubes and brown gently. Drain the artichokes thoroughly and cut into bite sized pieces. When it looks like the pasta is nearly ready (remembering it'll continue to cook in the frying pan) put the artichokes into the frying pan with the garlic and pancetta and fry gently. Using a big spoon, scoop up the pasta and a little pasta water and add it to the frying pan. Turn the heat off now and add the beaten eggs and a big handful of cheese. Mix thoroughly, moving the eggs around to cook very gently in the residual heat of the pan creating a creamy sauce. Serve immediately with lots of black pepper and extra cheese for sprinkling.

Guilty pleasures and quaesadillas

In our house things have been a bit weird recently, food-wise. I am the Designated Cook at home and, because I've been working late at my new job, our usual dinner routine has gone a bit awry - leaving my boyfriend very well acquainted with the local turkish restaurant (www.maedahgrill.net - very good incidentally).  And when I do get home I am usually so knackered that it's all I can do to make myself a quick snack and fall into bed.

It's made me think about how people have a "signature snack" - something you always make when you get home late from work or you fall in from the pub and just have to climb onto the sofa as quickly as possible with a some food and a cup of tea. It needs to super-quick, really comforting and, I think, just a little bit embarrassingly retro. I'm thinking of a fish finger sandwich, white-bread-toast with Dairylea or that strangely soothing Knorr chicken noodle soup made from a packet (or is that just me?).

My best-ever-quick-snack is a sort-of quaesadilla. It's basically two wraps sandwiched together with grated cheddar cheese, jalapeno peppers and whatever is left lying around in the fridge. Lay one wrap into the saucepan, sprinkle on the cheese and any other fillings, place the second wrap on top, squish down a little and turn the heat on to dry-fry it for a minute or two on both sides until the cheese melts sticking the two wraps together. The sandwich should be golden brown and crisp on both sides. I serve mine piping hot and cut into wedges.

This is a great way to use leftovers - you can throw in spring onions, red onions, tomatoes or a sad old avocado with a squeeze of lime juice - just sprinkle it into the filling mixture. And you can even posh-it-up a bit by serving the wedges with a dollop of creme fraiche and a sprinkling of fresh coriander.

Next time you find yourself starving and staring into the fridge hoping for inspiration, give these a go and you'll be on the sofa, snack-in-hand, in under in 5 minutes.

Urban pepper (and sausage) kind-of-risotto

Have a look at this pepper. I am rather proud to announce that it was plucked from our balcony in Whitechapel about an hour ago and it was, naturally, all the more delicious for being grown inches from our kitchen. I know it's a bit late in the year for peppers but we seem to be harbouring some late-growing fruit and vegetables with our peppers, tomatoes and lemons still ripening nicely. We're very novice veg-growers and we chanced our luck planting them a little later than we should have done. But thankfully our little balcony is very sheltered so we're still benefitting from our amateur horticultural endeavours!

Anyway, as I was at work all day today I wasn't really up for any massive culinary adventures tonight. So, we had a spicy chorizo lurking in the fridge and I dug out some arborio rice so I made a slightly peculiar (and slightly Spanish I suppose...) risotto with my Urban Pepper in the starring role!

Pepper and chorizo almost-risotto 

Enough arborio rice for two
A spicy sausage/chorizo
A red onion
2 cloves of garlic
Green pepper (ideally locally sourced...)
A tin of tomatoes
A little shaved pecorino
A little olive oil
Finely chop the onion, garlic and green pepper and fry gently in a saucepan with a little olive oil. When soft but not coloured, chop or crumble in the sausage and fry for a couple of minutes until the oil starts to seep out of the sausage. Then add the rice to the saucepan and stir to coat the grains with the spicy oil. Add a tin of tomatoes and then fill the empty tin with boiling water and add this to the saucepan little by little. This isn't a proper creamy risotto so I was quite relaxed about just sloshing the liquid in two halves and stirring well  - although I didn't bother to stir continuously like I would with a "proper" risotto. When the liquid has been absorbed and the rice is soft, serve the spicy rice in bowls with a generous handful of pecorino shavings.

Blogging Crisis of Confidence (oh and Beef Rendang)

Well, I've been having a bit of a Blogging Crisis of Confidence. I've started a new job where everyone is Super Foodie. I mean, really, these chaps know their stuff. These are people who actually age their own cheese. Who can taste the difference between French Charente butter and supermarket Lurpak. Who know what to do with a crystalised rose petal...

And to be honest, in the face of such massive expertise, I've been feeling like a bit of a fraud. I mean why would anyone want to read the ramblings of an entirely unqualified home cook? I know as much (little?) about food as anyone else who makes the dinner every day. Yes, I love to read about food and cooking and ingredients but I don't currently possess any special knowledge about the best rice-growing conditions in northern Italy or how to store a Trevisano lettuce.

But after a week of dithering, I have come to the conclusion that perhaps it's ok not to know everything there is to know about food and yet still enjoy writing about it. I may not have any expertise in the subject yet but I do know what I enjoy eating and what my friends have enjoyed when I cook for them. And I guess that's all this blog is about - just inexpensive ways to eat well.

So here I am again, just letting you know what we ate tonight.

We had some stewing steak in the freezer and a whole load of chillis so I decided on the spicy Malaysian stew, Beef Rendang. The meat is cooked gently in the spices and you let the liquid reduce down to a very thick, quite dry sauce. Really spicy and warming.

(By the way, for anyone who is interested (I was!) this is what you can do with a crystalised rose petal: pop one in the bottom of a glass of Prosecco with a splash of rose syrup. Sounds a bit fabulous - I definitely plan to have a go!).

Beef Rendang

Enough chuck/stewing steak for two

Big knob of ginger

Tablespoon of galangal if you can find it

3 cloves garlic

2 lemongrass stalks

3 cherry bomb chillis

1 red chilli

2 white onions

2 limes zested and juiced

Heaped teaspoon turmeric

Tin coconut milk

Bunch of coriander

Couple of tablespoons of dessicated coconut

White rice to serve

Dust the beef with flour and fry in small batches to brown on all sides. To make the Rendang paste put one of the onions, the cherry chillis, stalks of lemongrass, ginger, galangal, lime juice and zest and garlic into the blender and blitz to a rough paste. Fry the paste in a saucepan for a couple of minutes in a flavourless oil. Add the turmeric into the saucepan and stir into the paste. Add the browned beef and stir for a couple of minutes. Pour in the coconut milk and turn the heat down to very low. Simmer gently keeping an eye on it to ensure the sauce doesn't completely dry out or catch.

After a good two hours the beef should be soft and melty. Stir in some chopped coriander. Then you can get the rice on and also make your sort-of-sambal. Fry a finely chopped onion and a red chilli in a little butter until brown. Add the dessicated coconut to the onion and chilli mixture and brown gently - taking care not to burn the coconut.

When the rice is ready, serve topped with the beef rendang and sprinkled with a little of the coconut sambal.

It's getting chillier

Just a quickie to say I bought a massive stash of chilli from the farmers market in Marylebone last Sunday for just a fiver. As you can see there were loads of different varieties - from those fruity little cherry ones to the super-hot long thin green ones. I always get through loads of chilli but apparently you can freeze them so they're actually a pretty frugal purchase.

I wish I'd photographed them in their packaging because they came in a big cone shaped bag which looked brilliant - I reckon they'd be a good token pressie to take to a dinner party instead of chocs.

Extreme comfort food: 1. butternut squash, gorgonzola and sage risotto 2. meatballs

I haven't posted anything for a week or so because I've been doing a week's trial for a completely new and different sort of job in a lovely foodie shop. I'll tell you all about it if it all goes well....

But it has left me a bit shattered really. You know what it's like - you're on hyper-alert all the time when you start a new job, your face hurts from smiling and at the end of each day you simply want to climb onto the sofa with something comforting, soothing and a bit childish to eat while you have a good dose of rubbish telly (I highly recommend Fearne Cotton's excruciating interview with Peaches Geldof - genuinely hideous).

So this week we enjoyed a warming bowl of butternut squash, gorgonzola and sage risotto which was just the thing to induce a catatonic sofa-state. And tonight we had a hearty pile of meatballs in a tomato and red pepper sauce on a pillowy mound of white rice topped with melted cheese. Not sophisticated dishes in any way - but just the things to wrap you up nice and cosily when you're feeling a bit fragile.

Butternut squash, gorgonzola and sage risotto

Half a butternut squash, peeled and chopped

Enough risotto rice for 2 people

About 12 sage leaves (half chopped finely, half left whole)

2 cloves of garlic - crushed

1 white onion - finely chopped

A couple of pints of chicken stock

Big chunk of gorgonzola broken into chunks (a good handful)

A chunk of parmesan

A big knob of butter

A slosh of good olive oil

Put the squash in a roasting tin and drizzle with olive oil. Roast in a medium oven (about 200 degrees) for 45 minutes. When the squash is done, get the chicken stock on the heat. Fry off the onion, chopped sage and garlic in a little olive oil and half the butter - taking care not to brown them. Add the squash and the risotto rice to the onion and garlic mixture mixing thoroughly to cover the rice in the buttery juices. Begin to add the hot stock one ladle at a time, stirring all the time and only adding more when the previous ladle-ful has been absorbed by the rice. Keep adding stock until the risotto is nearly ready, then add your handful of gorgonzola stirring until the cheese has melted into the rice. The consistency should be slightly soupy but the rice should still have a little bite to it. When you get there, add the rest of the butter and stir through. In a small saucepan heat the remaining olive oil and add the sage leaves - frying for a couple of seconds on each side and then placing on a piece of kitchen towel to absorb the excess oil. Serve the risotto in bowls topped with a little grated parmesan and a couple of the crispy fried sage leaves.

Meatballs in tomato and red pepper sauce

A pack of pork mince

Handful of breadcrumbs

One egg

Small handful of herbs - I used some leftover sage and oregano

Small chunk of parmesan grated

One white onion - grated - yes grated!

One red onion chopped finely

A tin of tomatoes

A glug of red wine

Enough white rice for 2

Whatever cheese you have in the fridge

Put the pork mince in a mixing bowl. Grate in one onion. Add the egg, the grated parmesan and the chopped herbs. Form little meatballs and place on a plate. Using wet hands helps avoid the mixture sticking to your hands. I try to refrigerate the meatballs for half an hour before cooking them because it firms them up a little before browning them.

To make the sauce fry the red onion and red pepper in a little oil until soft. Slosh in some red wine and a tin of tomatoes and simmer until thickened. I blitzed mine with a stick blender to make a smoother sauce.

Fry off the meatballs (a couple at a time so you don't reduce the temperature of the frying pan) making sure you get a good crust on all sides of the meatball. When all the meatballs are browned on the outside add them into the tomato sauce and simmer on a low heat for 15/20 minutes to ensure the meatballs are cooked all the way through.

Get some white rice onto cook. Crumble some cheese over the top of the meatballs and flash under the grill for a couple of minutes until melting and bubbly.

Serve a big spoonful of meatballs and melted cheese on top of the white rice - ideally with a big glass of something red and fruity....Valpolicella not Vimto.

Fridge clear-out: Salmon with puy lentils and a piquant tartar-ish sauce

We don't have one of those amazing double-doored, ice-making, cheerleading American-style fridges. Ours is a resoundingly British style of appliance - shyly hiding in a cupboard, functional yet full of eccentricities: an unopened jar of stem ginger, some thai shrimp paste, a half eaten pot of overpriced organic nectarine compote and a jar of pink peppercorns. It's not a good "Ready Steady Cook" bag, is it?

In an attempt to tidy up some of the fridge detritus I made the salmon dish below. It was a good way to use some capers, gerkins, a manky old lemon and a couple of pieces of salmon I had in the freezer. My boyfriend was freakishly enthusiastic about the tartar-esque sauce and I think that, although it was a complete exercise in leftovers-usage, it was actually really tasty.

Salmon with puy lentils and piquant sauce 

For the salmon:

2 salmon fillets

1 lemon

For the lentils:

- Enough puy lentils for two

- 1 red onion

- 1 tomato

- Slosh of olive oil

- A little chicken stock

For the piquant tartar-ish sauce:

- Tablespoon capers

- 4 gerkins chopped

- Teaspoon mustard

- 3 tablespoons creme fraiche

- Tablespoon of chives (including a couple of chive flowers if you're growing your own)

Put salmon fillets into a bowl and squeeze the lemon juice over the pieces.

Chop the onion and fry gently in oil until soft, add the tomato and then the lentils to the pan and swizzle about to coat the lentils in oil. Add enough chicken stock to cover the lentils and simmer gently checking from time to time to ensure the mixture doesn't dry out or catch.

To make the picante tartar-ish sauce, put all the ingredients into a bowl and mix to combine. That's it!

When the lentils are cooked - about 20 minutes usually, but just keep checking - heat some oil in a frying pay and lightly fry the salmon for about 5 minutes on each side. It will keep cooking after you take it out of the pan so be careful not to overcook.

Pile the lentils into a bowl, top with a piece of salmon and a dollop of the sauce. We have some chives on our balcony so had some lovely chive flowers to add a rather showy-offy flourish to the plate.

Not bad for some unloved fridge leftovers.

Can cabbage be cool? Part two: Hake with spiced cabbage

(Sorry, the shadow of my head got in the way in this picture. Don't think I'll ever be David Bailey).

In my continuing investigations into the possibility of cabbage actually being palatable I came across a recipe for Fish Haryali in Ravinder Bhogal's lovely Cook in Boots recipe book (nicely written, gorgeous photography and some really interesting and unusual recipes - SO keen to try her roasted paprika quails with romesco sauce - sounds amazing!).

I didn't precisely follow the recipe so the recipe below is rather more "inspired by"than "faithful interpretation". Ravinder serves monkfish skewers with her cabbage - but this is currently off the menu for me (financial reasons) so I substituted it for some chunky pieces of hake I had languishing in the freezer.

The end result was one of the nicest things I've cooked for ages. And the spiced cabbage was absolutely delicious - really crunchy, not too spicy but warming and tasty. Have a go - even if you are a cabbage sceptic - it's really very good.

Hake and spiced cabbage
2 pieces of hake (from Waitrose - probably about £4 worth I think)
Hake marinade:
- Big knob of ginger
- 2 green chillis
- 4 cloves garlic
- Pinch of tumeric
- Juice and grated peel of one lime
- Tablespoon of yoghurt
Half a white cabbage sliced into shreds
Small handful of fresh curry leaves finely shredded (I can get these in Asda now - hoorah!)
1 finely diced chilli
Teaspoon of black mustard seeds
A pinch of each: asafoetida, turmeric, coriander
Juice of another lime
A little oil or ideally ghee

Whizz up the marinade ingredients in the blender. Marinate the pieces of fish for about an hour - any more than that and I think the fish actually cooks in the lime juice - weird. Remove the fish from the marinade and place in a hot frying pan with a couple of spoonfuls of the marinade and fry on a medium heat for about 5 minutes on each side.

Heat the oil/ghee in a large frying (or a wok would be good actually). Throw the mustard seeds, curry leaves, asafoetida, turmeric, coriander into the oil and sizzle until the seeds pop a little. Then add the chilli and after a minute add the cabbage and stir fry for a couple of minutes. When the fish is ready squeeze the lime into the cabbage and serve topped with a piece of fish.

Pomegranate lamb and couscous

When I left my job 8 weeks ago a lot of people said I was mad.

I will admit to feeling a certain amount of trepidation about it. Would I miss the thrill of the weekly status meeting? The quick-fire wit of a high octane conference call? The unparalleled joy of approving a logo on a Monday morning? Well, you'll be pleased to hear that the answer is a resounding "nope", "not a bit" and "aha aha ha ha ha ha ha!".

But, one thing I was a bit worried about was how I was going to cope with having to curb my spending. While I've never really bought designer clothes or wanted a collection of It Bags, I did have a pretty bad Ocado habit coupled with a low-level deli addiction and a restaurant-obsession that necessitated significant and sustained investment. I found it appallingly easy to blow £150 on one Ocado delivery and still not be able to find anything for dinner 2 days later. I'd often find myself deliriously handing over mountains of cash for fennel-y sausages, nettle-flavoured-spaghetti and aged pecorino from Italian delis.   And of course, it couldn't continue...

So I now have a tiny weekly food budget and have to stick to it. And I have to say, it has actually been alright. Verging on the enjoyable actually! Fruit and veg from Whitechapel market is my best bargain - you can get massive bunches of coriander and mint for £1, big bags of red onions/peppers/carrots/whatever for less than £1 - it's brilliant. And I've been pleasantly surprised by affordable meat. There are loads of cheap cuts of meat in the supermarket that are delicious and easy to cook.  Chicken livers are amazingly cheap (a pack is only about £1 - even from Waitrose!) and super-tasty, a lot of the slow-cooking cuts of meat are really flavoursome like stewing steak or ham hocks and even chicken thighs which are so much tastier than more-expensive chicken breasts.

But sometimes you want something quick and easy that doesn't need cooking for hours. So I'd recommend trying lamb neck fillets - they are cheap, but very tender and tasty - I bought enough for 4 people for about £5 from the butchers counter at Sainsburys, so I reckon you could get them for less from a proper butchers. I marinated mine in pomegranate syrup and then griddled them until blackened on the outside but nice and pink inside. I served it with red pepper, red onion and pomegranate couscous, a spoonful of creme fraiche and a sprinkle of dill and a pinch of sumac. A really yummy and quick dinner that looks quite pretty too!

Pomegranate lamb with red pepper couscous 
2 lamb neck fillets (probably enough for 4 if thinly sliced after cooking)
Pomegranate syrup (you can get this in the supermarket now)
1 fresh pomegranate
2 red peppers
2 garlic cloves
1 red onion
Teaspoon of Ras Al Hanout (Moroccan spice blend)
Enough chicken stock to cover the couscous
Couscous
Dill
Pinch of sumac (tangy, lemony spice)

An hour before dinner put the lamb fillets in a bowl and squirt some pomegranate syrup over the meat, move the pieces around covering the fillets in syrup, cover the bowl and leave to marinate at room temperature for an hour.  After an hour, get the griddle pan on the heat. Heat the chicken stock in a saucepan. Blister the 2 red peppers (I do this on the gas hob, it sends the smoke alarm loopy), wait until cool and rub off the blackened skin. Pop in the blender with 2 garlic cloves, teaspoon of Ras Al Hanout and the hot chicken stock. Blend making sure you hold a tea towel over the top of the blender as the heat will force a lid off. Pour enough dried couscous into a large bowl and cover with the red pepper/chicken stock liquid and then cover the bowl with a plate for a few minutes. Meanwhile slice a red onion, brush with oil and place on the griddle. (More smoke alarm mayhem will ensue). When they're charred on both sides thrown them into the couscous along with the seeds from one fresh pomegranate - fluff up the couscous with a fork and season. Put the lamb on the griddle pan and leave to blacken for about 4 minutes on each side - because of the sugar in the syrup the lamb will go very black but don't panic, the charred bits are delicious. (Smoke alarm may pack bags and leave in despair at this point). Slice the lamb into thin slices and arrange on top of a scoop of the couscous with a spoonful of creme fraiche, a sprinkle of dill and a pinch of sumac.

Can cabbage be cool? Part one: spiced chicken wraps with blue cheese coleslaw

I've always mistrusted cabbage. When I was little my parents told me that I should to eat it because it would help me grow big and strong. Or tall. Or give me curly hair. Or straight - whichever was preferred that week. They used all those incentives that parents create to make you eat hateful things. Like mince and potatoes for example. I mean, really, who eats mince and potatoes now? The answer is no-one, because it has been made illegal to serve something so revoltingly brown to anyone, even a minor. Which is progress in my view. And although my parents did everything they could to persuade me to eat it, they were reluctant to eat it themselves. Lets face it, it smells a bit funny and, when boiled to within an inch of its life "a la seventies", it is frankly horrifying.

But all is not lost for cabbage. All the "new" fashionable cabbages and greens like chard, cavalo nero and kale (which of course are not new at all - they'd just been forgotten) seem to have been adopted by the gastro hoards with great gusto.  And actually they ARE pretty good. With some trepidation, I had a go at lightly sweating some cavalo nero with a lot of garlic and a little olive oil and then roughly blitzing it in the blender with some dried chill flakes and serving it over pasta with some good parmesan. It was really yummy. Feeling bolder, I bought some kale. I shredded it and sauteed it with some garlic and chorizo. Actually it was delicious.

In true Carrie Bradshaw fashion "I got to thinking" perhaps I should re-visit the basic white cabbage of my youth. I thought I'd start with raw cabbage and work up to something cooked...so, a little inspired by Jamie Oliver's American TV show, I made a blue cheese coleslaw and served it, in a tortilla wrap, with spiced, bread-crumbed chicken pieces. And it was really tasty. I'd say it was good Friday night food - the sort of thing that doesn't take long to prepare and feels a bit takeaway-ish but is totally fresh and probably a little bit healthier.

Spiced chicken 

- A pack of chicken thighs - usually about 6 in a pack

- 2 tablespoons of plain flour mixed with a generous amount of salt, pepper, cayenne and dried thyme

- Breadcrumbs (not those nasty orange ones in a pack - just make your own by blitzing up some old stale bread in the blender)

- 2 eggs beaten

Take the chicken thighs one by one and sandwich between 2 pieces of cling-film. Beat the chicken thighs with one of those meat-mallet-things (or the bottom of a jam jar - carefully) until substantially thinner. Then cut the thighs into bite sized pieces and cover in the seasoned flour. Heat some oil in a frying pay. Then dip each piece of chicken into the beaten egg, then into the breadcrumbs and then into the frying pan where they will need to fry them on a medium heat for a good 5 minutes turning from time to time and making sure the pieces are cooked through. Do this in batches, keeping them warm on kitchen paper in the oven.

Blue cheese coleslaw
A selection of crunchy seasonal vegetables sliced into similar sized shreds. Use whatever you have to hand but I used:
- Half white cabbage
- Handful of radishes
- 2 carrots
- White onion and a couple of spring onions
- A green pepper I found in the salad drawer which was on the verge of leaving itself
- 3 tablespoons of creme fraiche (low fat is just as good as the full monty)
- 2 teaspoons of mustard
- A supermarket-pack-sized amount of gorgonzola or stilton - roughly chopped
- A few pinches of chopped chives

Assembly 
Mix the cheese, creme fraiche, chives, mustard and a glug of olive oil together to form a thick sauce. Mix with all of the coleslaw ingredients a big bowl - taste and add seasoning if required. Serve a generous scoop of coleslaw in a wrap or tortilla scattered with a few pieces of hot chicken and then rolled into a manageable cigar shape. I think this would be nice with a very cold beer after a long old week.

Cliffhanger
Flushed with cabbage-eating-success I've moved quickly into cooking with it. Stay tuned.

Gok Wan vs Don Corleone (or how to make Osso Buco)

When I had a proper job I used to have "Slow-Cook-Sundays". When you work full time it's really not practical to cook anything after work requiring a lot of preparation or cooking. Maybe I was just a wimp but when I got home at 7 I really wanted to be eating by 8 latest so I could at least squeeze a bit of an evening in between 8.30 and going to bed at 10.30. Those 2 hours a night were extremely precious to me. Well, precious in the sense that they were mainly spent calling my mum, fake-tanning, putting a wash on and some gentle weeping over Gok Wan's latest self-esteem project.

So, with that in mind, my Sundays were reserved for making anything requiring a long, slow cooking. After a leisurely breakfast and sunday-paper-reading we might have a potter up Brick Lane to buy any missing ingredients (and to gawp at the fashionable people) and then home to prepare whatever I was slow-cooking that day. It might be a greek leg of lamb with lemon and oregano cooked for 4 hours very slowly until you can ease the bone out from the meat with a gentle tug. Or maybe a rabbit ragu with cinnamon and bay leaves. Or a spicy beef rendang made with stewing steak that would melt into a meaty sauce over a few hours. I love slow cooking, it's my favourite thing to do. I love the fact that you start by browning-off an unpromising looking piece of meat with a few bits of veg and some spices and you end up with something full of deep flavours which is soft and meltingly delicious.

Well, now I am officially "between jobs" I can slow-cook whenever I want to. So, in attempt to make Saturday-night-in-with-a-DVD a bit more of an event, last night we had a bit of an Italian extravaganza.  Pre-dinner Campari and Sodas, a pretty decent Osso Buco and a nice bottle of red started proceedings and then we settled down to watch Godfather 2 (continuing the Italian theme, you see).

Osso Buco is traditionally made with a slice of veal shank but last night I made it with a similar pork cut. I'm not squeamish about veal - quite the opposite actually - but I found these pork shanks in Waitrose for £1.79 a few months ago and they seemed too much of a bargain to pass up. They've been waiting patiently in the freezer for me to give them a good send-off and last night I think I did.

I served the meat in the traditional style with a very simple but luxurious-feeling risotto containing saffron, butter and parmesan - Milanese Risotto - and a final piquant garnish of gremolata which is a sort-of-pesto made of garlic, parsley, lemon and olive oil.

And if you are like my mother and horrified by anything that needs to be cooked for 4 hours, do please give it a try because actually things like this require almost no attention so you can be getting on with other important tasks (more Gok Wan maybe?) while the meat slowly melts to perfection.

Don Corleone might call that an offer you can't refuse.

Osso Buco 
- 2 pieces of Veal shank (or Pork if Waitrose are still doing these frugal fellows)
- One onion - chopped
- One carrot - chopped
- One stick celery - chopped
- One tomato - chopped
- Couple of cloves of garlic crushed
- A couple of pints of chicken stock (will depend on the size of your pan) - you'll also need some of this for the risotto
- Knob butter/glug olive oil

Risotto
- Enough risotto rice (arborio/carnaroli - you know the drill) for two
- One finely chopped onion
- 2 generous pinches of saffron
- Big knob (maybe a matchbox size) butter
- Glug olive oil
- Handful of good parmesan finely grated
- Chicken stock

Gremolata 
- 2 lemons - rind finely chopped and juice
- Big handful finely chopped parsley
- 4 fat cloves garlic
- Glug of olive oil

Dredge the meat in seasoned flour and brown lightly in a frying pan on both sides. In another saucepan get the onion, carrot, celery and garlic softening in some butter. When the meat is browned on both sides, pour a little chicken stock into the frying pan to de-glaze. Pour this liquid and the meat into the saucepan containing the veg and turn the heat down low. Add the chopped tomato and a little more chicken stock to come about half way up the meat and leave on a very low heat for a good 2 and half hours, checking the liquid isn't drying up from time to time.

While the meat is cooking get your gremolata done - simply put all the ingredients into a pestle & mortar and bash into a chunky paste - think pesto consistency.

When the meat is falling away from the central bones, start the risotto.

Boil the kettle and pour over the saffron strands. Melt half the butter in the pan and soften the onions verrrrry slowly in it - so they don't take on any colour at all. Add the rice and stir to ensure all the grains are covered in the melted butter. Add the saffron water bit by bit, stirring all the time and allowing the rice to absorb the liquid before adding any more. If you run out of saffron water, use the leftover chicken stock. Continue to add liquid until the rice is tender and the mixture thick and soupy. Add in the parmesan and stir to incorporate. Add the final knob of butter which should give the risotto a nice shine.

Serve the risotto in big bowls topped with the meat, a little of the cooking vegetables and a big spoonful of gremolata.