Warm Butternut Squash Salad

It's no secret that I'm a big fan of salads. They are so easy to make, and you can create all sorts of flavour and texture combinations. And to top it all, they are healthy and good for you too. So here is one that I made recently, as a comforting treat after a busy week. 

Serves 2

½ butternut squash

4 carrots

a small bunch of fresh lemon thyme

4 shallots

2 cloves of garlic

125g baby button mushrooms

¼ iceberg lettuce

¼ red pointed pepper

½ courgette

100g umbrian lentils

100ml dry white wine

rapeseed oil

freshly ground black pepper

freshly ground sea salt

Preheat the oven to 180^oC. 

While the oven gets warm, peel the butternut squash, slice and chop it into small squares. Wash the carrots and slice them into 2cm pieces. Place both butternut squash and carrots in a baking tray, drizzle with oil and use scissors to chop a bit of lemon thyme over them. Turn to make sure the oil is evenly covered, and place in the oven for 1 hour or so until the pieces are soft. 

Place the lentils in a saucepan with water and bring to the boil. Boil for 25 minutes or until soft. Drain.

Peel and finely chop the shallots and garlic, and sauté in a pan with oil. Add freshly ground pepper and salt to taste. Chop some lemon thyme over it to taste. When the onions are soft, add the white wine, and leave to reduce. Any wine is ok, but I find a dry or at least medium works better as they add more of an edge to the taste. Reduce the heat and leave to simmer, and add the lentils.  

Chop the lettuce and spread out on two plates. Finely slice the red pepper lengthways and spread over the lettuce. Use a julienne slicer and make the courgette into fine strips (if you don’t have a julienne slicer just finely slice it lengthways). Add the courgette to the plates.

Spoon the baked vegetables over the salad, and add the onion and mushroom mix to the top. Sprinkle a few drops of oil over the salad, and serve while it’s warm. 

Banana & Date Smoothie

This smoothie is rather thick and yummy, and can be enjoyed as a breakfast on its own, or maybe as an afternoon snack. It is both filling and full of energy, so should keep you going for a little while. And it is easy to make as well!

2 bananas
5 dates
3 tablespoons soya yoghurt
a pinch of ground cardamom
a pinch of ground cinnamon

Peel the bananas, take the pips out of the dates, and add all ingredients to a food processor or smoothie maker. Whizz until you have a smooth mixture. Pour into a glass, and enjoy!

Shaved Courgette Salad

As it has been very hot here recently, I fancied something quite light and refreshing for my lunch today. And it had to be something that was simple to assemble, as I was far too warm to have any energy for complicated cooking. A look in the fridge revealed that I had the ingredients for a salad, and a few minutes later I was ready to go back out into the sun with my plate of tempting greens.

Serves 1 as a main salad or 2 as a starter / side salad

a handful of spinach leaves

1 medium sized courgette
1/2 red pepper
a handful of tomberries or cherry tomatoes
1 tablespoon of pine nuts
the zest of ¼ lime
the juice of ¼ lime
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon maple syrup

Place the washed spinach leaves on a plate or in a bowl. Use a mandolin slicer or similar device to finely slice the courgette lengthways and place the strips on top of the spinach leaves. Finely chop the red pepper, and scatter the pieces on top of the courgette. Add the tomberries, or slice a few cherry tomatoes in half and add these. Finally scatter a few pine nuts on top.

Zest a quarter of a lime, and also juice this quarter. Add to a small jar along with the olive oil and maple syrup. Shake well, and pour over your salad.

Cherry Chocolate Brownie Cake

This is one of those cakes that doesn't look like much, but is deliciously moorish once you start eating it. It's fairly straightforward to make, and can be made in advance and stored in the freezer until you need it. The recipe is taken from the Swedish TV programme 'Go' Kvall'

For the cake

150g butter

150g caster sugar

150g dark chocolate

4 eggs

For the glaze

150g butter

90g icing sugar

150g dark chocolate

4 eggs

30g icing sugar

For decoration

a handful of cherries 

some chocolate sticks

100ml whipping cream

Pre heat your oven to 150 C.

Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the sugar. Remove from the heat. Finely chop the chocolate, and add this to the melted butter. Mix until it is smooth and all the chocolate has melted. Split the eggs, and add the egg yolks to the mixture. Leave the mixture to cool a little bit. 

Whisk the egg whites until they are stiff and carefully fold into the chocolate mix. It's a good idea to add a little egg white at a time, as that makes it easier not to beat out all the air you have worked to get into them. 

Grease a 24 cm cake tin and pour the mixture into it. Bake in the oven for about 50 minutes until baked. Take the cake out of the tin and leave it to cool down. It will sink a little bit in the middle. 

Make the chocolate glazing while the cake cools down. Melt the butter in a saucepan and add 90g icing sugar. Finely chop the chocolate and add to the melted sugar mix. Remove from the heat, and mix well until all the chocolate has melted. Split the eggs, and add the egg yolks to the chocolate mixture. Stir well. Leave the mixture to cool for a little while, then whisk the egg whites and add the remaining icing sugar into them when they are starting to get stiff. This should turn into a soft meringue, and it should hold soft peaks when you hold the whisk up. Carefully fold the meringue into the chocolate mixture.  

To decorate; whip the cream and place in the middle of the cake. Add a handful of putted cherries, and finally add the chocolate decorations. 

Pour the chocolate glazing over the cake, and place in the freezer until you need it. It will keep for 8 weeks in the freezer and 4 to 5 days in the fridge after you have defrosted it. Allow 4 hour to defrost after removing from the freezer. Decorate while it is defrosting. 

Green Quiche

Fast food anyone? This quiche only took me about 15 minutes to make, and then it stayed in the oven for 40 minutes while I sat outside reading my book. Not much more effort than calling for a take-away.

You can make two individual quiches like I've done here, or you can make one larger one, it depends on what oven-proof dishes you have handy.

I was lazy today and used ready made (shop-bought) gluten free pastry, but you can make your own instead if you prefer.

This quiche is lovely served with a small side salad.

Serves 2

100g petit pois peas (frozen)
100g broadbeans (frozen)
50g samphire
400g shortcrust pastry
1 tablespoon oil for greasing the dish
1 egg
100ml double cream
250g mozzarella cheese
a large pinch of dried mixed herbs
a pinch of freshly ground black pepper

Turn the oven on to 180^oC and let it pre-heat while you make the quiche.

Bring water to the boil and add the peas and broadbeans. Let them simmer for 5 minutes before adding the samphire, then simmer for another 4 minutes. Drain.

Grease your oven-proof dish(es) and place the pastry in it. I'm lazy and tend to just press it out into the dish, but you could do it properly and use a rolling pin to roll it flat then add it. Up to you. Make sure the corners don't get too thick and clumpy.

Tear the mozzarella cheese into small pieces and scatter on the base. Grate some black pepper over it, and then add the boiled greens.

Mix the egg and the double cream in a bowl, and add a large pinch of dried mixed herbs. Pour this mixture over the quiches.

Place in the oven and bake for about 40 minutes until the egg and cream mixture has set.

Purple Potato Salad

You don't necessarily need purple potatoes for this recipe, but I just couldn't resist them last time I went shopping. They are so beautiful and inviting, and so vibrant when you cut into them. Of course they lose a lot of their colour when boiled, but you still end up with thrillingly blue tatties.

I think a potato salad goes with most things; Sunday roast, boiled greens, juicy salad, barbecue, ... and the list goes on. I had mine with boiled asparagus and a salad, and it was delicious.

Serves 2

4 medium size potatoes
2 handfuls of broadbeans (frozen)
2 eggs
4 spring onions
2 tablespoons of sour cream
2 tablespoons of mayonnaise
a pinch of freshly ground pepper
a pinch of freshly ground sea salt

Wash your potatoes and cut them into bite size pieces (you're going to chop them up anyway, so you might as well save on cooking time by chopping them before boiling). Place in a saucepan, cover with water, and bring to the boil. Add the frozen broadbeans, and let the water get back to boiling. Boil until the potatoes are soft, about 10 minutes.

While the potatoes and broadbeans boil, also boil your eggs until they are hard-boiled but not green, about 6 to 7 minutes.

Finely chop the spring onions, and place with the rest of the cold ingredients in a bowl. Drain the boiled veg. and the egg, and shell the egg. Chop the egg into pieces, and mix all the ingredients together.

Asparagus & Samphire Salad

A warming salad can be just the thing to round off a warm summers day. It's light and delicate, easy and quick to make, and gently warms you while the temperature drops and the evening draws in. There are unlimited possibilities for ideas, but here's one which contains samphire, a salty march vegetable that's both tasty and nutritious. And being quite salty, it's perfect for a warm day when you need to replenish some of the salt you lost during the day.

Serves 2

20 cherry tomatoes
2 eggs
200g broadbeans (frozen)
2 bunches asparagus
80g samphire
a few salad leaves
4 stalks of spring onion

Turn your oven on to 180^oC  and slice the tomatoes in half. Place them on a baking tray and roast for about 15 to 20 minutes then remove from the oven.

While the tomatoes are roasting, boil the egg to your preference. I like them hard-boiled but not green, so I boil them for 6 to 7 minutes. Shell your egg and leave it in hand-warm water until you need it.

At the same time as you start boiling the eggs, also bring a saucepan of water to the boil. Add the broadbeans and cook for 10 minutes. Then add the asparagus, leave to boil for 4 minutes, and finally add the samphire and cook for a further 4 minutes. (If you are using tinned broadbeans, drain them, and add them last when the sampire has only got one more minute to cook.)

Tear the salad leaves into pieces, and place on plates. Finely chop the spring onion and scatter then over the salad leaves. Drain the greens and add to your plates. Then divide the tomatoes evenly, and finally slice the eggs lengthways and place round the edge of the plates.

If you want you could add a little drizzle of olive oil, or even a vinaigrette. The Lemon and Maple syrup vinaigrette goes quite well.

Lemon & Maple Syrup Vinaigrette

The simplest things are often the nicest, so also with vinaigrettes. You can buy expensive bottles containing a long list of ingredients; or you can make your own, much simpler, versions. This particular vinaigrette is a sweet and sour one, perfect with salads containing something bitter, and also perfect with roast vegetables.

Serves 2

15 ml lemon juice (the juice of half a lemon)
5 ml olive oil
10 ml maple syrup

Measure the ingredients and add to a small jar, and mix thoroughly before serving. There is no need to be too worried about exact measurements, as long as you get the proportions more or less right.

Strawberry Jam Fairycakes

I made these fairycakes a little while ago when some friends requested cake to feed their helpers when moving house. The only specification was that it should be gluten and nut free, and also fruity. So I did some thinking, and came up with the idea for these. And from the comments I got they seemed to work.

Makes about 20 small fairycakes

For the cake
130g butter
150g granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 pear
1 apple
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon glycerine
200g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
100g strawberry jam

For the icing
125g butter
150g cream cheese
500g icing sugar
2 tablespoons strawberry jam

Chocolate pieces for decoration


Preheat the oven to 180^oC.

Whisk the butter and sugar until it's white and fluffy. Add the eggs and mix well. Grate the pear and apple and add to the mixture, and also add the vanilla extract and glycerine. Sift in the flour and baking powder and carefully mix until you've got an even mixture. Finally add the strawberry jam. Stir until you have a marbled effect.
Place muffin cases in a cupcake baking tray and scoop the mixture into the cases. Bake in the oven for about 20 minutes until done. Remove from oven and leave to cool on a cooling rack.

For the icing; mix the butter, cream cheese and icing sugar until you have an even mixture. Split the mixture in 2, and add strawberry jam to one half. Use piping bags to add to the top of the fairycakes. Add chocolate buttons for decoration.

Eat & Drink for £1 a day - 28 Day Challenge - Day 25

Only three more days to go after today, and I'm already fantasising about what I'm going to indulge in once this challenge is over. I think it will probably be pasta. And olives. And probably more too. But that's not yet. Today was another day on the challenge, and it started with a mug of hot bouillon, followed by an apple. Then there was lunch, which consisted of two baked potatoes.

Dinner was a warming stew made from 2 onions, 2 carrots (last ones), the remaining cabbage, half the remaining swede, a small handful of red split lentils, a tin of chopped tomatoes, half the remaining sweetcorn, and a generous helping of green peas. I added enough water to almost cover it all, a teaspoon of bouillon powder and some dried mixed herbs, and let it simmer for about half an hour. Then I added half a tin of pinto beans, and a tin of sliced mushrooms, left it all to simmer for another 15 minutes, and served it up with a squish of fresh lemon juice. It may not have been very exciting, but it was very nice and filling. And there should be enough for another couple of meals.

If you would like to help by sponsoring the clean water project in Meru, Kenya, please go to  http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=stopcocks

Eat & Drink for £1 a day - 28 Day Challenge - Day 13

What a lovely relaxing day this has been. I've done absolutely nothing useful at all, just read my book all day long, while grazing on leftovers from yesterday.

Dinner was eaten quite late, there having been quite a bit of leftovers to get through. Also I wasn't really paying attention to the clock. But eventually I made my way into the kitchen where inspiration struck and I made quite a colourful dish.

I used half an onion - sweated in a little water, 1 teaspoon bouillon, 3 tablespoons tomato purée, and a handful of tomatoes. This was simmered in a frying pan until it was all cooked through and soft, and while I cooked a few slices of swede in some water, and reheated a ball of the lentil&pea mixture I still had left from yesterday. It was quite tasty, and may be replicated on another day.

I also had a bit of a treat today; a tin of mandarin segments. It was absolutely delicious, and just what I needed at the end of the week.

If you would like to help by sponsoring the clean water project in Meru, Kenya, please go to  http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=stopcocks

Eat & Drink for £1 a day - 28 Day Challenge - Day 12

Day 12! I'm amazed I've made it this far! Only two more days and I've made it to two weeks, and half-way in my challenge.

So far today I've been stuck by my computer, and feel like I haven't really achieved anything. All I've done is munch my way through a handful of carrots and a mug of bouillon, plus a whole thermos-flask full of hot water. But now I'm finally about to make my dinner....

...and what a lovely dinner it was. I boiled 200g rice, enough for there to be leftovers for lunch tomorrow. In another saucepan I  boiled a handful each of yellow split peas and red split lentils. And finally I also cooked a pan full of carrots (two of them), half an onion, and a tin of green peas. I simmered these in some water until they were all soft. I assembled it all by laying out some spinach leaves, placing some rice in a small bowl and turning it out onto the leaves. Then I placed a tomato on top for decoration. The carrot-mix was then scooped up and placed along the other side of the plate, and three quenelles of the pea-mixture added. I don't think it looks too bad? And it certainly tasted good.

If you would like to help by sponsoring the clean water project in Meru, Kenya, please go to  http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/fundraiser-web/fundraiser/showFundraiserProfilePage.action?userUrl=stopcocks

Filled breadbuns

I was inspired to make this by watching the Great British Bakeoff Masterclass on TV, and so I dug out my ‘How to bake’ cookbook by Paul Hollywood and gave it a go. Of course I didn’t follow the recipe to the letter – I never do. But they are a pretty good approximation, I think. It was certainly popular when served as a birthday breakfast, with tzatziki and a mixed leaf salad.

I have written it here to be made in one go, but I actually made the vegetable filling and the dough the night before, and then made the buns in the morning, because I wanted a quickly made breakfast.

Makes 9 breadbuns

For the dough

500g gluten free flour mix

2 teaspoons xanthan gum

14g dried yeast

30g butter (at room temperature)

1 egg

350ml water

For the filling

1 tablespoon butter

1 escallion shallot (or any other type shallot)

1 clove of garlic

10 cherry tomatoes

1 yellow pepper

½ small courgette

a few sprigs of fresh thyme

a few leaves of fresh basil

50g cheese (I used a mixture of Boursin & Applewood smoked cheese)

Sift the dry ingredients into a bowl and use your hands to crumble in the butter. Add the egg, and carefully mix it in with your hands. Finally add the water a little at a time, using your hand to stir it in. You may need to adjust the amount of water, but you should end up with a sticky dough. Use your hands to press it together into a ball, and place it back in the bowl. Cover it with clingfilm and place somewhere nice and warm, like next to a radiator or in an airing cupboard. Leave it to rise for about 2 hours, or overnight if you are making the buns for breakfast. If you are leaving the dough overnight; take it away from the heat source after the 2 hours and leave it to rest at room temperature.  

To make the filling; finely chop the shallot and sweat it in a little butter.  Crush and finely chop the garlic, and add to the onion. Leave it to sweat for a few minutes until the shallot is soft. Meanwhile, chop the remaining vegetables, and add them to the pan. Remove the thyme leaves from the stalk, and chop the basil leaves. Add these to the mixture. Leave to cook gently until all ingredients are soft. Take away from the heat and let the mixture cool for a little while.

Chop or grate the cheese into small pieces.

Divide the dough into 9 pieces. Roll them each into a ball, and press flat into the shape of a disc. Place some of the filling in the middle of the disc, add some cheese, and gently fold the sides of the dough-disc over the filling so that you have a ball-shaped bun. Press it slightly flat, so that it will be easier to bake.

Once you have made all the buns, get a frying pan out, butter it, and bake them on gentle heat - about 4 minutes on each side (just like making pancakes). 

Serve with a dip or a light salad. 

Raspberry Cake with Buttercream

When I needed to make a cake for my friend's birthday this weekend, I wasn't quite sure what to make. I knew I wanted to make something a bit special, but that was as far as I'd got in my planning a few days before the party. The it suddenly struck me that since it is autumn, and fruit and berries are in season, I could make something seasonal. And it would work well because not everyone who would be at the party have a sweet tooth. So off I went searching through my recipe books for inspiration. I found several tasty-sounding recipes, and what I ended up with was a great success, very tasty and not too sweet. 

Serves up to 12 people

Pre-heat the oven to 180oC and grease a 20cm diameter round baking tin.

For the cake
350g caster sugar
125g butter
3 eggs
300ml crème fraiche
500g flour (I used Dove's Farm gluten free white bread flour)
1 teaspoon xanthan gum - but only if your flour does not already contain this
1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1 tablespoon glycerine
1 tablespoon red food colouring
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
250g raspberries

For the buttercream and decoration
450g cream cheese (full fat)
180g butter
1.1kg icing sugar
125g raspberries

Whisk the sugar and butter until they are light and fluffy, and then add the eggs one at a time, stirring well between adding each egg. Add the crème fraiche, and again stir well.

Measure out the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, and sift these into the mixture. Stir well and add the glycerine, colour and vanilla extract. Finally add the raspberries and stir well. 

Pour the mixture into the cake tin, and bake for about 1 hour and 30 minutes, or until a skewer comes out clean when you do the skewer test. 

Take the cake out of the oven, and place on a cooling rack. After a few minutes; remove it from the baking tin. Leave the cake to cool.

Slice the cake into four layers, using a sharp bread-knife.

To make the buttercream, mix the ingredients and mix well until you have a smooth mixture without any lumps. Using a palette knife, spread some of the buttercream on the bottom layer. Place another layer on top, and repeat until all four layers are stacked. Use the remainder of the mixture to cover the cake in cream. Decorate with the raspberries.

Butternut Squash and Wensleydale Cheese Soup

For such a simple soup this is remarkably tasteful. I was going to add some exciting spices, but at the last minute I decided not to, as my friend was a bit poorly and a ‘safe’ soup was needed.

If you don't have access to wensleydale cheese, then you can use any other mild and crumbly cheese. 

Serves 2

1 tablespoon butter

1 large leek

1 large butternut squash

600ml water

1 teaspoon salt

100g wensleydale cheese

Finely chop the leek. Melt the butter in a large thick-bottomed saucepan. Add the leek, and sweat for a few minutes while you peel and finely chop the butternut squash. Add this to the leek and stir well. Add the water and salt, and bring to the boil.

Simmer for about 30 minutes until the vegetables are soft. Mash them with a potato masher (or an electric mixer if you’re lucky enough to have one).

Grate the cheese and sprinkle it into the soup. Stir, and serve. 

Warm green and feta salad

The wonderful thing about a warm salad is that it is so quick and easy to make, and after a long day at work, when you really just want to get a takeaway and dive into bed, it is just the thing. There’s no need for accurate measuring, just measure out an amount that you think is suitable for how hungry you are. The amounts below are a suggestion only; really you can use whatever lurks in your fridge.

Serves 1

5 or 6 small potatoes (new baby potatoes are brilliant for this)

3 or 4 asparagus spears

6 or 7 sugar snap peas

6 or 7 mange touts

4 large cherry tomatoes

50g feta cheese

4 olives

2 half artichoke hearts (ready cooked, jarred and stored in oil, you can get them from most supermarkets)

1 egg

olive oil

balsamic vinegar

herbal salt

Wash the potatoes, and boil them in a little water. When they are nearly done, throw in the asparagus, mange touts and sugar snap peas, and simmer until these are tender.

Use a slotted spoon to fish out the vegetables. Keep the water boiling, and crack open the egg into it; to poach it. The poaching time depends on how well cooked you like your egg. You can use the flat side of a spoon to gently press the yolk to check the softness and thus the readiness.

While the egg poaches, arrange the vegetables on a plate. Slice the artichokes, feta cheese, tomatoes and olives, and sprinkle them over the vegetables.

Drizzle a bit of olive oil and balsamic vinegar over the food.

Use the slotted spoon to fish out the egg, and place it on top of the food.

Sprinkle a little bit of herbal salt over the top, serve and enjoy. 

Golden Root Stew

Fancying something sweet yet savoury for my dinner, I rummaged round my fridge to see what I could find. On offer were, amongst other things, several different types of roots. So it was an easy decision to make a warming stew. Not only is a stew easy to make, but with the right ingredients it can be a very cheap and nutritious meal. Roots generally contain a surprising amount of delicious vitamins, so they’re an easy way to fill up on good stuff after a long winter. Adding some lentils adds protein, which not only is good for you, but also fills you up and makes you feel fuller for longer (really useful for those of us trying to shed some pounds).

Serves 2

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 large onion

3 small parsnips

¼ sweede

½ bitternut squash

500ml water

1 teaspoon herbal salt

1 teaspoon herbes de Provence

1 handful of red split lentils

1 tablespoon tomato puree

Finely chop the onion while the oil warms up in a saucepan. Sweat the onions, and leave them to get soft for about 5 minutes. I the meantime; peel and chop the parsnips, sweede and butternut squash. Add these to the onions, and stir for a few minutes until all the vegetables are warm.

Boil the water in a kettle (or separate pan) and add to the vegetables. Boiling the water before adding it prevents the vegetables from cooling down, and so reduces the cooking time.

Add the herbs (use any type of dried mixed herbs if you haven’t got any Herbes de Provence), the salt and the lentils, and slowly boil for about 30 minutes. Add the tomato puree, and leave to simmer for another 5 minutes. Test to see if the vegetables are soft. If they’re not, then leave to simmer until they are.

Serve in a bowl, tastes great with a toasted slice of bread. 

Dauphinoise Potatoes with Wild Garlic

Potatoes can be made into so much more than just chips or boiled spuds. This variation is one of my favourites, and is far from dull. It can make an ordinary meal into something that little bit more special, and can look quite good on a plate of food for a dinner party.

I’ve used wild garlic here, but if you can’t get your hands on that, you can use 1 clove of garlic (finely chopped) and 2 spring onions (also finely chopped) instead.

If you can, leave the skin on your potatoes; just give them a good scrub instead of peeling them. Most of the vitamin goodness in the potatoes is located just under the skin, and by peeling them you lose this. The skin also contains a lot of flavour, which it would be a shame to miss out on. Personally, I also think that the skin is rather pretty on thinly sliced tatties. Of course, if your potatoes are last year’s, and the skin is really though, then by all means do peel them.

For an extra special treat, replace some of, or even all, the milk with double cream.  

Serves 2 as a side dish 

400g potatoes

5 leaves of wild garlic (OR 1 clove of garlic & 2 spring onions)

1 ½ tablespoon butter

200ml whole milk

60g cheddar cheese

Pre-heat your oven to 180^oC.

Finely slice your potatoes, and chop your wild garlic. Butter the sides of a small heat-proof dish.

Layer the potatoes and garlic in the heat-proof dish. Make sure the top layer is potatoes, as the wild garlic will get burn if left exposed to the heat of the oven. Cut the butter into little blobs, and place on top of the final layer of potatoes. Pour over the milk, and place the dish in the oven. It can be a good idea to place a baking tray under the dish; as otherwise the milk can easily get splattered at the bottom of your oven if it boils over.

Bake the dish for about 1 hour and 30 minutes, until the potatoes are soft when you pierce them with a knife.

Grate the cheese and sprinkle it over the potatoes. Place the dish back in the oven for about 10 minutes until the cheese is melted.

You can either serve the potatoes in the heat-proof dish, or you can use a food ring to cut out portions and serve straight onto your plates.

Baked beans with balsamic vinegar

Being a big fan of baked beans, I often make my own. They are just as nice as bought ones, but because I make them myself, they are more varied, as I make a different variant each time. I use different types of beans, and I add different things to the tomato sauce. Some times I use tinned beans, and some times I boil dried beans. Dried beans are usually cheaper, but there are times when I’m too lazy to sort them out with soaking and boiling. And then I use tinned beans.

Makes 5 servings

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dried mixed herbs

1 teaspoon dried basil

2 teaspoons dried thyme

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

800g tinned tomatoes

250g borlotti beans

If using tinned beans, drain them.

If using dried beans, soak and boil them according to instructions on the packet.

Very very finely chop your onion. Warm the oil in a large thick bottomed saucepan, and add the onion. Sweat the onion until it is soft. Add the salt and dried herbs, and stir well until the herbs are evenly distributed. Add the balsamic vinegar, and stir well again.

Chop the tinned tomatoes, and add to the onions. Simmer for about 30 minutes. Add the beans, and simmer for a further 5 minutes. 

Okra in a rich tomato sauce

Juicy vegetables can be a brilliant side dish for things such as burgers, baked potatoes, or a quiche. This dish is simple yet tasty, and is quick to make. You can make it with green beans if you can’t get your hands on okra.

Serves 4 as a side dish

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium size shallot

2 small cloves of garlic

10 sun-dried tomatoes

2 tablespoons tomato purée

400g tinned tomatoes

1 teaspoon dried basil

175g okra

Warm the oil in a saucepan while finely chopping the shallot. Add the shallot to the oil and turn down the heat. Stir well, and make sure you don’t burn the shallot, as this is easily done. Sweat the shallot while finely chopping the garlic and sun-dried tomatoes. Add these to the shallot, and stir well. Now add the tomato purée, stir, and add the chopped tinned tomatoes. Stir, and then add the dried basil.

Leave to simmer under cover for about 10 minutes. Top and tail the okra, and add to the tomato sauce. Then leave to simmer for another 20 minutes until the okra are soft.