katrina kollegaeva's borsch

Looks afterbirth, actually is borsch...

sources
borsch - katrina kollegaeva, Delicious, January 2014, p34

nigella's keralan fish curry

sources
keralan fish curry - nigella lawson, Delicious, February 2009, p83

angela boggiano's rich beef ragu

sources
rich beef ragu - Angela Boggiano, Delicious, March 2007, p51

bill granger's goats curd and lentil salad with roasted beetroot

sources
goats curd and lentil salad with roasted beetroot - Bill Granger, Bill's Sydney Food, p83

minced turkey with thai basil

sources
minced turkey with thai basil - Delicious, October 2009, p126

bill granger's green papaya salad with char-grilled beef

sources
green papaya salad with char-grilled beef - Bill Granger, Sydney Food, p102

delia's lime chicken curry

sources
lime chicken curry - Delia, How to Cook Book Two, p107

nigella lawson's curly-edged pasta with lamb

sources
curly-edged pasta with lamb ragu - Nigella, Nigelissima, serialised in Delicious, November 2012, p22

minced turkey with thai basil

sources
minced turkey with thai basil - Delicious, October 2009, p126

jamie oliver's chicken and sweet leek pie

sources
chicken & leek pie - Jamie Oliver Christmas Special 2006

roast chicken

butternut squash and caramelised onion risotto

sources
butternut squash and caramelised onion risotto - Waitrose October recipe card 2013

hugh fearnley-whittingstall's warm salad of mushrooms and roasted squash

sources
warm salad of mushrooms of roasted squash - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, River Cottage Veg! Everday, p94

kuru fasulye (turkish sausage with tomatoey beans)

The Yorkshire puddings were my idea...

sources
turkish sausage with tomatoey beans - Delicious, August 2007, now the Skull Book

ching-he huang's stir-fried garlic chilli beef and ong choi

sources
stir-fried garlic chilli beef and ong choi (we used spinach) - ching-he huang, Delicious February 2007, now the Skull Book

kay's sausage and guinness casserole

sources
sausage and Guinness casserole - the mother-in-law, now in the Black Book

minced turkey with thai basil

sources
minced turkey with thai basil - Delicious, October 2009, p126

jamie oliver's venison stroganoff

sources
venison stroganoff - Jamie Oliver, right here on his website

amma's pork curry with green chillis and tamarind care of rick stein

sources
amma's pork curry with green chillies and tamarind - Rick Stein's India, p274

poached egg and new potato salad with crispy bacon and mustard dressing

sources
poached egg and new potato salad with crispy bacon and mustard dressing - Delicious One Month Healthy Eating Plan, February 2007, p10

bill granger's puy lentil soup

sources
puy lentil soup - Bill Granger, Sydney Food, p76

rosie ramsden's kale, chestnut and mushroom pie

Truly the cold, Autumnal nights are the domain of the pie! What with their comforting smell and crisp scrunch of pastry, revealing the warming filling and unctuous gravy within, they’re the edible equivalent of fluffy slippers: Perfect to keep the chills at bay, and to make you feel toasty and at peace with the world.

They are however an absolute bugger to make, if you’re in any way in a hurry. Particularly if you’ve just run home (in record breaking time, mind) and then discover all the utensils you need are malingering near the sink. Personal bests are literally cold comfort when you’ve got to spend 15 shivering minutes washing up and putting away stuff before you’ve even begun. Once done though, everything proceeds quite happily along, although what with the run/washing up/shower, we’re well-behind schedule.

I do have one shortcut up my sleeve though, having learned my lesson from last week’s finger-shredding incident shelling chestnuts: pre-prepared chestnuts. In a box. It’s the future.

Once you’ve sweated off the onions, this turns into a pretty simple assembly job: Chuck in the mushrooms, chestnuts and sage, add flour, add milk, blanch kale before adding it to the mixture, bung it in a pie dish, cover with pastry, cook. 25 minutes later eat 2 to 3 portions of deliciously earthy, toe-warming pie.

Despite its ease of construction and the fact I forgot the dried porcini mushrooms, there a couple of things worth bearing in mind if you fancy giving this a whirl:

1.  You need to use more milk than the recipe calls for, if you don’t want it to dry out
2.  Pancetta would make a nice, salty addition to the filling
3.  You’ll end up with loads of kale leftover, which you don’t really know what to do with

I suppose 3  is more of a general point whenever kale is involved.

sources
kale, chestnut and mushroom pie - rosie ramsden, Delicious, October 2013, p65

seared steak on mediterranean vegetables

Having made the mistake of trying to assuage our fasting hunger with an experimental quick vegetable curry last Monday, and going to bed with our stomachs loudly gurgling, this week we’re back with the tried and trusted seared steak and griddled vegetables.

Somehow however, this faithful standby totally fails to fill our famished tummies, and once again we retire not only starving, but betrayed. Stabbed in the back by a less-than satisfactory beefy friend.

sources
seared steak on Mediterranean vegetables - Delicious One Month Healthy Eating Plan, February 2007, p12

simon hopkinson's tomato curry

Despite the success of last week’s forage-tastic chestnut and sage soup (and that’s in spite of the fact we effectively stole the chestnuts from Richmond Park, *and* the consequent shagging up of the quicks of my nails peeling the bastards), Ana seems mightily unimpressed with the idea of an experimental chestnut, mushroom and kale pie tonight.

This is a shame as I’ve got 400g of kale in the fridge, and I’ve circumvented a repeat of man-crying-with-shards-of -shell-embedded beneath-his-nails, but buying a box of prepared chestnuts. Incredibly this still doesn’t sway the crowd, and we settle for comforting bowls of Simon Hopkinson’s tomato curry.

 Well, comforting in the sense it revives Ana after a day’s worth of marking, but seems to have the opposite effect on Milo, who has spent most of the afternoon collapsing in tears at the slightest thing.

sources
tomato curry - Simon Hopkinson, Delicious, November 2007, p86

rick stein's chicken chettinad

I lied.

sources
chicken chettinad - Rick Stein's India, in Delicious August 2013, p47

butternut squash and caramelised onion risotto

sources
butternut squash and caramelised onion risotto - Waitrose October recipe card 2013

hugh fearnley-whittingstall's chestnut and sage soup

Being unable to use my fingers due to the bleeding and discomfort caused by the chestnut shell splinters aside, this is one of the tastiest soups I've ever made. Nothing tastes better than the flavour of scrumped produce:

sources
chestnut and sage soup - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, River Cottage Veg Everyday, p158

hugh fearnley-whittingstall's roasted parsnip, lentil and watercress salad

And whilst that's cooking, I've got time to roast the pocketful of illegal chestnuts we liberated from Richmond Park during the weekend:

And by 'roast', I mean roast and then properly slash my fingers up, with shards of shell stuck under my nails, trying to get the fuckers out before resorting to the internet for advice and then boiling the shit out of them. I could easily be a country cook.

sources
roasted parsnip, lentil and watercress salad - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, River Cottage Veg Everyday, p90

some sort of curried cauliflower

I have no idea where I got this recipe, but I do remember it involved boiling half a head of cauliflower in turmeric. It's not helpful I know.

angela boggiano's rich beef ragu

sources
rich beef ragu - Angela Boggiano, Delicious, March 2007, p51

tom norrington-davies' chicken noodle soup with mint and lemon

sources
chicken noodle soup with mint and lemon - Tom Norrington-Davies, was Delicious now The Owl Book

butternut squash (pumpkin) and caramelised onion risotto

sources
butternut squash and caramelised onion risotto - Waitrose October recipe card 2013

hugh fearnley-whittingstall's roast pumpkin soup

sources
pumpkin soup - Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, River Cottage Year, p 199

rosie ramsden's pumpkin, feta and pine nut filo layer

One of the many fall outs from Milo’s party, other than the huge bag of recycling, the cupboard full of crisps and sweets and outbreaks of overtired tears, is the unexpected glut of pumpkins in the house.

Normally these would just end up as soup as everybody likes it and it’s easily freezable, however an Ana-fuelled trip to IKEA means we need to off-set rugs with as frugal a week as possible, so hold on to your hats for a full week of squash-based fun!

Tonight’s dinner was actually pre-planned as I was allowing for using up the carved pumpkins from Hallowe’en: An experimental pumpkin and feta pie. However despite this being on the weekly recipe list, we still don’t seem to have any eggs, garlic or enough lemon.

Even so, I’m mildly surprised how well it turns out, particularly as I went rogue and used up some crème fraiche in place of the eggs (I was thinking bulk), and I don’t think I used enough oil on the filo pastry:

Despite the claggy nature of the Feta, the lemon zest such as there was worked hard to cut through the stodge, and the pumpkin was sweeter and lighter. I can see where the garlic might’ve helped lift it, mind. All-in-all a great success although we’ll see how Milo fares with it after school tomorrow, and I think next time a green salad would be an excellent accompaniment rather than the beans.

sources
pumpkin, feta and pine nut filo layer - Rosie Ramsden, Delicious, October 2013, p66

rick stein's chicken chettinad

It’s a Saturday night so obviously once again we’re on Rick Stein’s Chicken Chettinad. However for the first time I think chettinad ennui is beginning to kick in.

Partly this is because we’ve had it four (or five) weeks on the bounce now, and whilst I love cooking it – particularly now I’ve finally got my hands on some beautiful curry leaves – I think I’m running the risk of getting bored with it.

The other more pertinent reason could be because I (Ana claims not to be) am full of teeny tiny ham and cheese sandwiches, mini cocktail sausages, ghost-shaped crisps and jazzie biscuits from Milo’s Hallowe’en-themed party. And premium strength Belgium beer from Mr Manwaring’s birthday boxes, but mainly party food. It’s amazing how filling small plates of small food can be even, if they’re disappointingly not made up of a variety of delicious tapas, but white bread, hula hoops and baby bels – party pintxos if you will.

Anyway,  a couple of hours of tidying later and I’ve created a small space for the chettinad, which despite my carping is still lovely, with a lovely pungent warmth from the ginger and black pepper spice rub, and underlying oiliness from the aforementioned curry leaves:

Do try it, although I promise to cook something different next week though, so we won’t be seeing this for a while.

sources
chicken chettinad - Rick Stein's India, in Delicious August 2013, p47

heston's pea and pancetta spaghetti

sources
heston's pea & pancetta spaghetti - Waitrose Weekend, 16th September, p10

hannah thompson's kaukswe noodles

There’s nothing like making things hard for yourself when time is short to really get the blood pumping. Usually this ends up in complete disaster but for some reason definitely not related to the fact Ana is out with Kendra, not only does all of the following get done, it gets done well:

• One out two pumpkins is carved for Halloween tomorrow. Iron Man turns out to be surprisingly easy, even allowing for the tiny canvas I’ve got to work with;
• Rather than discarding them, I make Gizzi Erskine’s cumin, paprika and salt-roasted pumpkin seeds as a delicious snack:

• Wash up and tidy the kitchen
• Glue new go-faster red handles onto my beloved Brompton
• Watch the new Poirot. Well ‘new’, but you know what I mean
• Do some research on Comedy Central ahead of my interview tomorrow morning
• Make possibly the pfaffiest, messiest soup I’ve ever made, featuring rubbing chicken legs with turmeric, cooling chicken legs, removing the meat and chopping it, making a curry-paste, making a thickening paste with gram flour (which didn’t thicken and just stayed a gloopy splodge later discovered on my spoon), and then and only then, mixing it all up with coconut milk to make the soup proper, before adding noodles. Oh, and boiling an egg for garnish.

Unsurprisingly there’s more carnage in the kitchen than in the country house Poirot is lurking around but it is well worth the effort, and just in time to be brainwashed into going on a Viking River Cruise.

Even better, I can see some shortcuts I can make with the recipe which hopefully mean there will be less mess and fewer steps.

sources
kaukswe noodles - hannah thompson, Delicious, October 2013, p34

hot chilli and my very first loaf of bread

Apologies, the chilli is slightly out of focus...

...and although the bread is in focus, it turns out it wasn't quite cooked enough, and is still a little bit doughy inside:

Can I be cracked to try this experiment again, or shall I accidentally 'kill' the starter and fill the Kilner jar with stuff?

poached egg and new potato salad with crispy bacon and mustard dressing

ONLY 255kcals? I can't believe it so much I eat two portions, just in case.

sources
poached egg and new potato salad with crispy bacon and mustard dressing - Delicious One Month Healthy Eating Plan, February 2007, p10

jamie oliver's venison stroganoff

sources
venison stroganoff - Jamie Oliver, right here on his website

rick stein's chicken chettinad

sources
chicken chettinad - Rick Stein's India, in Delicious August 2013, p47

delia's lime chicken curry

sources

lime chicken curry - Delia, How to Cook Book Two, p107

hugh fearnley-whittingstall's porotos granados

sources
Porotos granados - HFW, River Cottage Veg Everyday, p146

spinach, tomato and chickpea curry

sources
spinach, tomato and chickpea curry - Waitrose Recipe Cards, Early September 2010