Spaghetti Bolognese

As a child, I never much liked spaghetti bolognese. My sister always loved it - I have a vivid memory of a trip to Disneyland Paris more than ten years ago, and her spilling bright sauce down her new white Disney princess dress. 

The issue for me was always the pasta - I swirled and swirled my fork but just ended up doing what Fraser dubbed the 'furtive spaghetti face', as I anxiously tried to ensure I wasn't getting pasta all over my chin. It took me much longer than I'd like to admit before I realised I could just cut the damn things (though Mum and Shannon mock!), and suddenly my resentment of the whole dish vanished.

Since being at university in particular, I've loved making this. Cook in bulk, pop the leftovers in the fridge for tomorrow's lunch or freeze for next week's tea. It's an all-round winner!

Ingredients (serves 4):
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 large carrot, grated
- 1 stick celery, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic
- 300g Quorn mince
- 1tsp each of dried oregano and rosemary
- 400g chopped tomatoes
- 400g kidney beans
- 1 Oxo cube
- glass of red wine
- 1 bay leaf
- 1tbsp red pesto
- handful fresh basil, torn
- salt and pepper, to taste

Some chopped mushrooms would go really well in here too, though I'm personally not a fan.

1. Grab yourself a large saucepan, and throw in the onion, carrot, celery and garlic along with a knob of butter. Cook these gently for about 10 minutes, until softened.

 

2. Tip in the Quorn mince (no need to de-frost) and cook 'til it starts to brown, then crumble over the Oxo cube and add the dried herbs, chopped tomatoes, red wine, kidney beans, pesto and bay leaf.
3. Bring the sauce to a boil, then allow to simmer for 20-30 minutes. This is a good time to sort out your spaghetti, too - 75g per person.
4. Season your bolognese to taste, and scatter in the fresh basil. Mix in the pasta, sprinkle with cheddar and enjoy your fork-swirling (/surreptitious cutting).

Vegetable Chilli (the best you've ever tasted)

This chilli is so easy to make that it's really impossible to get it wrong - it just takes a bit of time. It feeds a whole bunch of people (about 6) so is great if you're having friends round, plus it freezes brilliantly. It's also packed with the things your parents always ask if you're eating enough of, like BEANS (look, Mum!), and what’s more, you can adapt it to whatever you fancy or just happen to have in the fridge - use different kinds beans or vegetables, or play around with the spices to vary it.

 

Because of the awesomeness I ended up making it two days in a row last week - first to feed my friends before a night out, and the second time because Fraser requested it when he came to stay. I'd made double quantity the first night (there were 9 of us) but my hopes of leftovers were in vain!

Ingredients: 

- 1 onion

- 2 peppers (yellow and red)

- 2 sticks celery
- 1 large carrot

- 2 cloves garlic

- 2 chillies (red and green)

- 300g Quorn mince

- 1tsp chilli powder

- 1½tsp ground cumin

- 1tsp ground coriander

- 2tsp cinnamon 

- 1tsp paprika

- 1 glass red wine

- 2x 400g tin chopped tomatoes

- 2x 400g tin kidney beans (or any you like)

- 200ml vegetable stock

- 1 bay leaf

- 30g fresh coriander

Method:
1. Heat some olive oil in a large pan or wok. Roughly chop the onion, peppers, celery, carrot, garlic and chillies and add to said pan, then cook for about 10 minutes, until softened and beginning to colour.

2. Add the Quorn mince (straight from frozen, but bash it a bit to break it up first) and cook for a few minutes until it's browned, then add the spices and cook for a further 5 minutes. This is the only point where you really have to watch it, or the spices will stick to the bottom of the pan and burn.

3. Stir in the tomatoes, red wine, bay leaf, vegetable stock and beans (drained), then give it a good stir to mix it all together. Bring it to a boil, then let it simmer for about an hour, stirring every 10 minutes or so to make sure it isn't sticking.

4. Turn off the heat, then roughly chop the coriander and add it to the pan, along with salt and pepper to taste. You can serve it with basically anything - my favourite is in tortilla wraps with sour cream and a strong cheddar, but you could do it with rice and add chopped spring onions, or even just eat it by itself. The choice is yours! But do eat it - you're missing out until you do.

Nigel Slater

Nigel Slater is my idol, and has been for years. I love his entire approach to food - it sounds like a small thing, but he taught me that I didn't have to follow recipes by the letter and that I could adapt them to what I really wanted to eat. As well as my mum, he was also the person that got me really into using fresh herbs. He introduced me to pesto, and began my obsession with cooking programmes.

Which is why it meant so much to me when this happened today:

I got twitter in May after I was told it would help promote my cooking, but wow. People, go, live your dream!

This particular recipe is an adaptation of Nigel's Ricotta Beefburger. Mine is made with Quorn mince, the addition of soft goats' cheese (replace about half the ricotta) and two/three eggs (because Quorn doesn't bind in the way normal mince does). In addition to this I also added a splash of balsamic vinegar to the sundried tomatoes, which worked well.

I wholly recommend making these, whether it's the veggie version or the original, as they were pretty darn brilliant and incredibly easy. Leftovers? Mr Slater covered that too. Now go and cook.

Fajitas

These are very easy to make and immensely satisfying, and wonderful if you have friends over as Zosia and I did on Friday.

Fellow students, it's a win-win situation!

To make enough for four, you need:

- 1 large onion (or 2 small)
- 2 red chillies and seeds (depending on the type/your preference)
- 3 or 4 peppers
- 1 bag Quorn fillets or 'chicken style pieces'
- 1 sachet 'Old El Paso' fajita seasoning
- 1 tbsp cumin
- sprinkle of Tabasco
- squirt of lemon juice
- handful of fresh coriander

Chop your onion into long-ish strips and throw into a large frying pan or wok with a generous amount of olive oil. Then chop your chillies (the best way to do this is to make one cut from the stem to the bottom, and then slice into small pieces, cutting in the direction of the stem. This means you can hold onto the stem at all times, and so avoids getting chilli all over your hands and having to deal with the consequences of rubbing your eyes later in the evening). Add to pan.

Chop the peppers into strips - by the time this is done you can add them to the pan. Stir and take the opportunity to talk to your friends/esteemed dinner guests and food critics (depending on your chefy fantasies), as these need a good five minutes before you can move on.

The next step depends on what type of Quorn you're using - if it's the fillets, you'll need to defrost them in the microwave enough to chop them into small pieces. If it's the 'chicken style pieces' you can just throw them straight in the pan - they'll defrost in there as well as cook, and it makes life so much easier. Once they start to colour you can add the seasoning, cumin, Tabasco and lemon juice. You're now pretty much done - cook for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally to make sure nothing catches at the bottom of the pan, and add your fresh coriander before serving.

Best served with corn tortilla wraps, grated cheddar cheese, sour cream, salsa, guacamole and Tabasco.

The delicate art of how to fill your fajita in order to successfully make it close

YUM. Tesco also just so happens to sell all the dips together in a 'Tex Mex' dips set, which is a brilliant money saver.

Word to the wise - do not expect to be able to eat them without making a mess. It's half the fun.

Enjoy!

A Sort-Of Roast Dinner

Is a great way to feel indulgent and healthy at the same time.

I've never made a 'proper' roast dinner, but last weekend I had a craving for roast potatoes, so it had to be done. Though I warn you, this is not a roast dinner as you know it.

Firstly, I didn't bother with making gravy. I've never really been a fan - it often makes everything soggy and all taste the same, which completely defeats the point of having different elements to the dinner. If you want that just make soup. (ELEANOR I DO LIKE GRAVY. I just have to be in the mood for it :D )

Second, there's no meat. Zosia and I are both vegetarian, so instead I made something up with Quorn fillets. Quorn can be the most boring and un-appetising thing in the world - which is why I always try and cover it with as much flavour as possible. In this case, I made a sauce by melting some strong cheddar in a pan with some milk, fresh parsley, salt and pepper and a dash of lemon juice. I then coated three quorn fillets (defrosted) in said sauce before covering them in breadcrumbs and pan frying them in a bit of olive oil.

They weren't as pretty as I'd hoped - mainly because we don't have a food processor so instead of using proper breadcrumbs I had slices of bread cut up as small as I had the patience to make them... and they were reluctant to stick. But despite the fact that this caused the breadcrumbs to have more resemblance to croutons they were dead yummy, so I consider that a success!

Element number two was cheesy leeks, which my Mum makes at home adapted from a Jamie Oliver recipe (Jamie Oliver's Cheesy Leeks). YUM. This also provides a sauce, so in my opinion makes up for having no gravy.

- 400g leeks, washed and chopped
- 1 clove of garlic, peeled and chopped
- 1tsp French mustard (I like the wholegrain stuff - it gives a gorgeous texture)
- 50-75g cheddar cheese
- 100ml single cream
- salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 200°C. Put a large saucepan on a medium heat and add a glug of olive oil followed by a knob of butter. To this add the garlic, and when the garlic begins to colour add the leeks. Turn up the heat and cook for approx. 10 minutes, until the leeks have softened.

Remove from the heat. Season and add the cream and mustard, and half of the cheese. Mix together and transfer to a baking dish (leek layer approx 2.5cm). Sprinkle over the remaining cheese and bake for 15-20 minutes, until golden and bubbling. 

I think the necessary greens should be made as good as possible. As I'm sure was the case for many, over-cooked, watery vegetables were heaped on to my plate so often as a child during school dinners that it's an achievement in itself that I haven't been put off them for life.

And so, following the rule of good-ness, there was tender-stem broccoli, french beans and curly kale, which were all stuck in a saucepan with a bit of butter (and olive oil), seasoning and a squeeze of lemon juice. The broccoli and beans were cooked for about 8 minutes, the kale for 4-5. And boy was it good. I can't decide if my favourite thing was the taste or being able to tell Mum about it so she'd stop worrying that I'm not getting enough iron (I'M FINE MUM).

And finally, the roast potatoes. The entire reason for making this dinner. And I'm sad to say - they did not work. 

This is partly my own fault, as having never made them before I had a moment of stupidity and didn't think to peel the potatoes first, though in my defence, the recipe I was following (from The Vegetarian Student Cookbook: Great Grub for the Hungry and the Broke) said nothing of this, and talked with great enthusiasm about 'crispy little skins'! However, we did get some very nice jacket potatoes which Zosia was kind enough to be enthusiastic about, so that was something. I will be trying this recipe again at a later date, and I am determined to make it work! 

So watch this space.

Croutons anyone?