Christmas Dinner 2008

Christmas dinner in the Inkster household this year consisted of: Roast boneless rib of beef Pigs in blankets with thyme Roast potatoes with horseradish Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s roasted red onions Sophie Grigson’s roast celeriac with marsala Mrs Beeton’s Yorkshire puddings Baby carrots Mange tout Gravy Followed by Chocolate Yule Log.

Wild Mushroom, Pancetta & Truffle Risotto

Wild Mushroom, Pancetta & Truffle Risotto Ingredients 200 g arborio rice (or other short grained, high starch rice) 850 mL ham stock (or chicken/vegetable stock) 150 mL white wine 250 g mixed mushrooms (such as button mushrooms, oyster mushrooms, porcini, etc) 50 g chopped pancetta (or unsmoked streaky bacon) 1 small onion, finely chopped 2 … Continued

Tagliatelle with Fennel and Asparagus

It is nearly asparagus season in the UK (although you can buy imported asparagus all year round). Here’s a recipe I made up tonight… Ingredients 250 g saffron tagliatelle, or plain tagliatelle 10 asparagus spears ¼ fennel bulb, finely sliced 2 tbsp fennel pesto lemon-infused olive oil, or plain olive oil zest of 1 lemon, … Continued

Monkfish with Pancetta, Fennel & Saffron

Here's a recipe I've reverse engineered after having eaten it at the Jolly Sportsman last month. Ingredients 2 monkfish fillets 8 slices pancetta 2 medium potatoes ¼ savoy cabbage ½ bulb fennel ½ tsp ground saffron 30g butter 2 tbsp olive oil 100 mL milk 100 mL chicken or vegetable stock (optional) If monkfish is … Continued

Mince & Dumplings

Ingredients Mince 450g minced beef 250g beef stock or water 1 large onion, finely chopped 1 large carrot, finely chopped 1 tbsp tomato puree 4 strands thyme small bunch parsley 1 tbsp Worcester sauce 1 tbsp sunflower oil Dumplings 150g plain flour 75g suet salt pepper Method Heat the sunflower oil in a pan and … Continued

Chicken & Chorizo Pasta

Ingredients 2 skinless chicken breast fillets 100g Spanish chorizo sausage, chopped 150g dried penne or similar dried pasta 1 red pepper 1 yellow pepper 3 cloves garlic, finely chopped small handful parsley, chopped 2 tsp paprika 1 tbsp olive oil Method Chop each pepper into 4—6 sections, discarding the stalks and seeds. Grill the chopped … Continued

Fennel, Sausage and Bean Casserole

This recipe is ideally made with plain pork sausages, or pork & leek. Try to avoid overly seasoned sausages. If peeling the tomatoes is too much bother, using half a tin of tomatoes would probably work fine. Ingredients 4 Sausages 2 × 440g tins of cannellini beans, drained ¼—¾ bulb of fennel 4 medium tomatoes … Continued

Ham vs Bacon vs Pork

Many people are unsure of the difference between pork, bacon and ham. Pork is, quite obviously, the meat taken from a pig. But where do bacon and ham come in? Mrs Beeton’s Everyday Cooking supplies the answer: Bacon is obtained from a side of pork from which the head and feet have been removed. The … Continued

Gnocchi all’Amatriciana al Forno

This is a very easy Italian-style meal of my own creation, combining gnocchi with a simplified sugo all'amatriciana. If you prefer, macaroni or another small, cut pasta could be used in place of gnocchi. Ingredients 500g pack of gnocchi 400g tin of tomatoes 6 rashers of pancetta, or 4 rashers of unsmoked streaky bacon 1 … Continued

Mushroom and Tarragon Stuffed Chicken

Ingredients 2 skinless chicken breast fillets 4 large mushrooms 1 baby leek, finely sliced 75g ricotta or Philadelphia cream cheese 40g butter or margerine 20g dried porcini mushrooms small handful of tarragon, roughly chopped 4 cloves of smoked garlic, or 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped or crushed 2 tbsp mushroom ketchup (optional) salt & … Continued

Recipes

I spent a while the other day re-arranging the old recipes on this site and moving them into the “blog” bit rather than the “articles” bit. Hopefully they’ll now be a bit easier to find. Sorry for breaking their URLs.

Hummous

Ingredients 250g boiled (and cooled) chick peas 75g olive oil 50g lemon juice 50g brine (this can be obtained from a tin of “cooked chickpeas in brine”! Alternatively, just mix some salt and water) 50g Tahini (pulped roasted seseme seeds) 1 small clove of garlic Method Blend all ingredients in an electric blender. Done. Variations … Continued

Tabouli

This recipe is one I improvised, drawing on a bunch of different sources, notably Closer magazine. Ingredients 200g bulgar wheat, or cous-cous if this is unavailable 150g fresh parsley, finely chopped 75g fresh mint, finely chopped 2 tomatoes 1.5 lemons 1 red onion 3—4 spring onions 2 tablespoons of olive oil 1 vegetable stock cube … Continued

Pork a’l’Orange

This can be served with the same accompanying vegetables mentioned in my recipe for Pork Dijonaise or with some crusty French bread. h1. Ingredients 2 pork steaks 1 orange 250mL orange juice 2 sprigs of parsley thyme salt and pepper butter h1. Method Heat a little butter in a frying pan. Fry the pork in … Continued

Pork Dijonaise

Ingredients Pork 2 pork steaks 2—3 tablespoons of dijon mustard 150g single cream 1/2 glass dry white wine butter Accompanying vegetables about 10 new potatos green beans 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped salt and pepper butter h1. Method Put 2 saucepans of water on to boil for the vegetables. Heat a little butter in a … Continued

Quiche Lorraine

Leave out the bacon for a vegitarian option! This recipe is based on one by Andreas Wohr. h1. Ingredients Pastry 200g flour 150g butter/margerine (not low fat!) 1 teaspoon baking powder salt 6 tablespoons water Filling 250g—300g medium chedder 4—6 rashers smoked bacon, grilled and chopped 4—6 eggs 30g butter, melted 1 small onion, finely … Continued

Chocolate Cheesecake

I found this recipe somewhere on the Internet, but I can’t remember where. All I can remember is that it’s by a guy called Glenn. I’ve changed it slightly (metricised the units, added a little more in-depth explanation). Ingredients Crust 1 1/4 cups chocolate cookie crumbs 1/4 cup melted butter Filling 700g cream cheese 1 … Continued

Roast Leg of Lamb with all the Trimmings

This should serve 4 or even 5! You may want to also serve it with some autumnal vegetables (such as swede, parsnip, carrot, cauliflower, brocolli or spinach) although I haven't included details of how to cook them here. Ingredients Lamb half a leg of lamb 1 large glass red wine loads of rosemary, preferably fresh … Continued

Shepherd’s Pie

For some reason, there seem to be a bunch of recipes out there for Shepherd's pie that use beef. Obviously, a real shepherd's pie must use lamb or, at a push, mutton! Recipes involving beef, while delicious, are properly called “Cottage Pie”. Serves 4. h1. Ingredients * 650g minced lamb (fresh or forzen — doesn't … Continued