Christmas pudding muffins

Bizarrely I don’t cook over xmas, I eat lots but it is always at other people’s houses, in restaurants or a quick snack of cheese and biscuits. So when my few quiet days before new year came around I took the opportunity to do some baking.

I’d ended up with some left over Christmas pudding, and, much as I love it, didn’t fancy the full on richness of it on its own. Just before Christmas I had half seen Rachel Allen (I think) making Christmas pudding muffins so I thought I would do the same by tweaking my usual muffin recipe.

As an aside I claim not to like muffins – but as there are two muffin recipes on here I think that might be a lie. Instead I think I don’t like shop bought blueberry (yuck) muffins – what a snob I am!

300g Christmas pudding, chopped/crumbled into small pieces
100g caster sugar
300g flour
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
200ml milk
100g butter, melted and then cooled

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Sift the flour into a bowl and mix in the sugar and baking powder then stir in the Christmas pudding. Beat the eggs, milk and butter together. Roughly combine all the ingredients.

Spoon the mixture into 12 muffin cases and bake for 30 minutes.

Eat with a big mug of tea or with warm with brandy butter.

Mushrooms with rice and dill

Been very bad at updating this – life has just been a bit crazy and I’ve not had time to cook let alone write about it!

This was one of those use-up-all-the-left-over-bits-in-the-fridge meals which either turn out to be amazing or awful. This, thankfully, was the former.

I do have an admission to make, the rice was a couple of the Uncle Ben’s heat-up-in-the-microwave jobs. Very lazy but on the plus meant this only took 10 minutes from start to plate. I realise that cooking rice wouldn’t have taken much longer but it would have doubled the washing up!

1 tbsp oil
1 large potato
250g Chestnut mushrooms
2 spring onions
1 clove garlic
Splash dry vermouth (or white wine if you refer)
150ml crème fraiche
Salt and black pepper
½ a pack of dill
Enough rice for two

Start by heating up the oil in a frying pan, and putting on your rice (if you are cooking it rather than just reheating it!)

Chop the potatoes into approx 1 cm chunks and put them in the frying pan. Stir them occasionally, while you prepare the other ingredients.

Slice the mushrooms and spring onions fairly thickly and finely chop the garlic. Once the potatoes are golden and just cooked through (check with a skewer), turn the heat down a bit and add the mushrooms, onions and garlic.

While everything is cooking, stir frequently and finely chop the dill (discard the thick stalks). When the mushrooms are soft, add the vermouth and let it bubble away to about half.

Stir in the crème fraiche, season to taste and warm everything through. Add most of the dill and give it a final stir before serving with the rice. Garnish with the remaining dill and enjoy.

Serves two.

Spinach, chickpea and tamarind stew

It’s November, so, quite rightly, it’s cold, dark and a bit wet. I have been counterbalancing this with hot, bright, delicious food. Stews are kind of ideal November food however, veggie stews can be a bit bland and dull. Yotam Ottolenghi’s swiss chard, chickpea and tamarind stew is anything but.


The tamarind adds a sharp, sunny-ness to everything, and the colours - the green spinach, golden chickpeas, red sauce and white yoghurt - are bright and cheerful. It’s wonderfully exotic while also being fantastically warm and comforting. It is also one of those things where you can have 90% of the ingredients in the cupboard and freezer (the only things I needed to buy were yoghurt and coriander).


This is something I make fairly regularly, this time I made it with spinach, rather than swiss chard, and baked potato ,rather than rice. I then followed it up with Felicity Cloake’s Perfect Rice pudding - which is well worth a try. All the kind of food to banish the cold, miserable month on the other side of the curtains.

This makes enough for four – (or two and two portions in the freezer)

Mushroom and onion pie

I was in M&S the other day (stocking up on Vanilla Fudge bars which t-o-h buys, and eats by the dozen) and the person behind me was buying a roast mushroom and onion pie. That sounds good I thought, I reckon I could do that …so I did.

250g mushrooms, cut into mouth-sized chunks (I’ll let you decide how big that is)
2 onions, sliced
2 tbsp oil
2 small knobs butter
1 tbsp flour
400ml stock
Splash red wine
1 star anise
1 tsp marmite (or tbsp soy sauce or Worcestershire sauce)
3 largish potatoes, mashed with a little butter (i.e. ‘baked’ in the microwave, scooped out and mashed with a fork)

Start with a tablespoon of oil and knob of butter in a hot-ish pan. Throw in the mushrooms, season and leave them to get a bit of colour. When they are soft and just golden (about 5 minutes) scoop them out and put them in an oven proof dish.

Next, put the remaining oil and butter in the same pan and reduce the heat to medium-low. Add the onions and cook until golden and sticky, stirring regularly, which will take about 15-20 minutes (a pinch of sugar and salt will help everything along).

When they are golden brown add the flour and stir for a couple of minutes to cook the flour (add a drop more oil if you think it needs it). Pour in the wine and allow it to evaporate before adding the stock, marmite and star anise. Cook for 5 minutes and check for seasoning.

Remove the star anise and pour the onion mix over the mushrooms. Top with the mash, roughing up the top with a fork. Cook in a preheated 210C oven for about 25 minutes until browned and bubbling.

Dole out onto two plates and serve - with pickled onions and beetroot if you like.

Autumn warmer

It has gone very cold and dark all of a sudden, so comfort food is on the menu. And by comfort food I mean stodge. I think this was designed for autumn, the colours reflect what is happening outside, in a ‘crisp autumn morning’ rather than a ‘bloody hell it’s miserable’ kind of way, and it is really warm and satisfying.

Half of this dish is basically Nigella’s double potato and halloumi bake, served, to up the stodg-osity, with polenta. Really it probably shouldn’t work but, like chip butties, I think it does. To make it even more seasonal you could use pumpkin instead of, or along with, the sweet potato.

For the bake
1 sweet potato, chopped into large-ish chunks
1 potato, or a similar amount of new potatoes, cut into slightly smaller chunks
1 onion, cut into six long ways
4 cloves garlic, in their skins
8 mushrooms, whole or halved
8 peppers from a jar
3 tbsp olive oil
½ block of halloumi
Salt and pepper

For the polenta
½ cup quick cook polenta
2 cups water
Salt
Few slices halloumi, diced up
Pinch cayenne
½ tsp smoked paprika
Salt and pepper
Knob butter

Pre-heat your oven to 200C.

Put the potatoes, onion, garlic, mushrooms, peppers and oil in a large baking tray, give it a good grind of pepper and mix everything up. Put it in the oven for 45 minutes.

After 45 minute, whack the heat up, and top the bake with the halloumi and put back in the oven for another 5 minutes.

Meanwhile bring out 2 cups of water to the boil, pour in the polenta in a slow steady stream, stirring continuously. Cook for 1 minute (you want it to be soft) then remove from the heat and stir in the other ingredients.

To serve, put a blob of polenta on two plates, and top with the bake. Eat and then relax, feeling very full and happy.

Serves two greedy people.

Pumpkin and Tarragon Soup

Very excitingly I recently got a pressure cooker. I was lured in by the idea of making dhal from scratch in 5 minutes - maybe it is my rebellion against the slow cooker thing. Anyway this was the first thing I cooked in it, and based on this alone, I think me and my pressure cooker are going to be very happy together. And it is very shiny - I do like new toys.

The recipe came out of the book that came with the pressure cooker, which I obviously then tweaked a bit. I must say I never thought to put pumpkin and tarragon together (I usually just go for sage) but it really really works. The tarragon (which I think is my current favourite herb) just makes it all very savoury, which can be a challenge with pumpkins; I didn’t even feel the need to add any parmesan.

1 onion finely, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
2 tbsp oil
750g pumpkin, peeled and chopped into chunks
250g potato, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp tarragon, chopped
850ml stock
Salt and pepper
3 tbsp yoghurt (or use cream and also add a squeeze of lemon)

Start by frying the onion and garlic in the oil until the onion if soft. Then add the pumpkin, potato, tarragon and 600ml stock and season. Bring to 12lb pressure, cook for 5-6 minutes and then reduce the pressure quickly. If you are making the soup in a pan cook for around 30 minutes or until the pumpkin and potato is soft

Liquidise the soup, then add the remaining stock and yoghurt and check the seasoning.

Eat in warmed bowls with lots of crusty bread.

Makes around 6 portions

Five in one hash with eggs

So called because I reckon (probably wrongly) it must cover all of your five a day and you cook it all in one pan – so minimum washing up.

I was feeling a little bit poorly when I cooked this, and it really met the comfort food, stodge requirements. I suppose it is really just a tarted up egg and chip – and really who could complain at that. However because of all the veggies you can pretend it is almost healthy! The curry powder gives it a gentle spice and I know the smoked cheese sounds odd with it but trust me it works.

Obviously all the ingredients and quantities are entirely reliant on what you like and/or have lying around – pumpkin or peppers would be really good as would blue or goats cheese – and instead of the curry powder you could use thyme or sage or make it good and spicy with some chilli, some smoked paprika would also be nice...

200g potatoes, cut into about 1cm pieces
1 carrot, cut into about 1cm pieces
4-6 small onions, peeled and halved
2 cloves garlic, still in its skin
2 tbsp oil
8 mushrooms, quarters
4 baby courgettes, cut into 1cm chunks
8 tomatoes, halved or quartered
2 tsp curry powder
Salt
Pepper
2 eggs,
Smoked cheese, grated

Heat the oil in a frying pan and throw in the potatoes, carrot, garlic or onions. Cook over a medium heat for about 10 minutes stirring regularly. When they are nearly cooked and just turning golden add the mushrooms and courgettes and cook for another 5 minutes or until everything is just cooked.

Next add the tomatoes and curry powder and stir everything together. Fish out the garlic and squeeze the soft cloves into the mixture (you might need to leave them on one side for a mo so you don’t burn your fingers). Season and then give everything one last good mix.

Finally clear two spaces and crack the eggs into the pan, cover and fry until the eggs have set.

Dole everything out onto two plates, sprinkle the cheese over the top and serve with crusty bread.

Serves 2

Tomato risotto

I finally have a decent number of tomatoes on the plants which, I think, might be trying to take over…first my conservatory, then the world.

When I have grown something from seed I want to make something that centres around it and really lets it shine and, most importantly, lets me taste it and reap the rewards of my hard work.

With tomatoes the obvious thing always seems to be a sauce (to me anyway). But that seemed a bit boring so I decided to buck the trend and make a risotto. Definitely do-again-able. It turned out really light, fresh and tomato-y, which was just what I wanted.

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion finely chopped
1 cup arborio rice
750 ml vegetable stock
200g tomatoes, cut into halves or quarters depending on how big your tomatoes are
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
Few leaves oregano
Salt and pepper to taste
Small handful grated parmesan
Squeeze of lemon juice
Small knob butter

Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large pan and fry the onions until translucent. Add the rice and stir for until the rice is coated in the oil.

Add the stock a ladleful at a time stirring regularly, allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next, until the rice is cooked and just a little firm to the bite. It will take about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile put the remaining oil in a pan with the tomatoes and garlic, season and heat very gently. Cook for about 15-20 minutes adding the oregano 5 minutes before the end.

When the rice is cooked add the parmesan, lemon juice, the knob of butter and tomatoes and stir well.

Serve in warm bowls with chunks of crusty bread.

Serves 2

Pumpkin, chickpea and spinach curry

Being a little over keen, I roasted a pumpkin the other day that was slightly under-ripe. The first half was very disappointing so I decided to spice the other half up a bit and use it as a base for a curry. Well worth trying even if your pumpkin isn’t disappointing!

If your pumpkin isn’t already roasted, I’d added it to the spices with a bit of water, cook it until it is soft and then mash it lightly.

1 tbsp oil
Pinch asafoetida
1 bay leaf
1 small onion finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 tsp ginger, finely chopped
2 dried chillies, finely chopped
2 tsp ground coriander
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp turmeric
400g roasted pumpkin, mashed with a fork
1 tin chickpea, drained and rinsed well
1 tsp garam masala
1 handful spinach, roughly chopped
Squeeze of lemon juice
Salt to taste

Heat the oil and gently fry the asafoetida and bay leaf (it will smell vile at first) for about 30 seconds.

Add the onion and garlic, cook for a couple of minutes before adding the ginger, chilli, coriander, cumin and turmeric. Fry for another minute then add the pumpkin and about half a cup of water. Combine everything well and cook until the water has more or less evaporated, then taste for seasoning.

Add the chickpeas and warm through, adding a splash more water if it gets a bit dry.

Finally add the spinach and garam masala. Let the spinach wilt, check once more for seasoning and add the lemon juice before serving with chapattis.

Serves 2

Homity pie

This is one of the first veggie recipes that became part of my regular repertoire. It’s basically a potato pie, which sounds a bit dull and austere. In reality there are so many other ingredients that make it completely delicious. I use some basic ingredients every time I make this - potato, cheese, onion and garlic - and vary others – mustard or parsley; egg, milk, cream or butter – depending on how I feel and what I have in.

I hate recipes that stipulate ‘mashed potato’ as though you just buy it like that and not that you have to cook the potatoes for 20 minutes and then mash them, practically doubling any washing up you may create. I have developed a strategy to deal with this – it’s called a microwave.
Jacket potatoes done just in the microwave are generally rubbish but they are ideal for making mashed potatoes – a 10 minute zap, then scoop out the soft middle and mash with a fork. You can also bake the shells - drizzled with a little oil, salt and pepper - for 10-15 minutes to make scrummy potato skins.

I also made a cauliflower salad to go along side with this, which was basically blanched cauliflower dressed with olive oil, white wine vinegar, tarragon and parsley.

100g flour
50g butter
2 tbsp water
1 large potato (microwaved and mashed as detailed above)
1 onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp oil
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 cup grated cheese
1 tbsp cream (or butter, or milk or 1 egg)
5 sprigs parsley, chopped (or a tsp mustard)

Pre-heat your oven to 210C

This is a really simple way of making pastry, but in all honesty generally I just use ready made! Combine the flour and butter with a fork until they resemble breadcrumbs. Then bring it all together with the water (you may not need it all). Cover in clingfilm and put in the fridge until you need it.

Fry the onion, with a little salt, in the oil until soft. Then combine the potato, garlic, onion, half the cheese, cream and parsley with a little salt and pepper.

Roll out the pastry and line a buttered tart tin. Pile in the potato mixture and the top with the remaining cheese.

Put in the oven and cook for 25-30 minutes until the pastry is cooked and the top is golden.

Serve warm with salad or hot with creamed spinach and crisp potato skins.

Serves two, with left overs

Spinach, mushroom and tarragon orzotto

I was chatting with my mum and gran the other day and we got on to what an odd child (I asked for that), I was a fussy eater but in a really strange way. Some of the things I disliked I stick by – potatoes in stews are still a big yuck. Some I’m getting over but only in small doses - like peas and mince. Others, I now just don’t understand – how can anyone not love mashed potato? On the other hand some things I loved against the odds – like tomatoes, mushrooms, cheese. I would pick pearl barley and sweetcorn out of stews, not to discard but because it was my favourite bit. I still love pearl barley, so imagine my delight when I discovered a recipe based solely on it.

Orzotto is like a risotto but made with barley. It takes a bit longer to make but needs less avid attention and comes out a bit soupier – which isn’t a hardship, you just need a bit of bread to mop up the juice.

You could replace the spinach, mushroom and tarragon which what ever you want (I based this on a pea orzotto recipe in Nigella’s How to Eat) – that said it is an fabulous combination. Mushrooms and tarragon together is classic, they give a really deep savoury flavour, and I’m happy to have spinach with pretty much anything.

1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
150g pearl barley
1 litre stock
100ml white wine/vermouth
100g mushrooms, ½ diced and ½ sliced
Few leaves tarragon, finely chopped
handful fresh spinach, roughly chopped
1 tbsp cream/crème fraiche
small handful grated parmesan

Start, as you would with a risotto, by frying your onion in a little oil and/or butter. Once it is soft add the barley, garlic and diced mushrooms and stir until the barley is coated in the oil. Add the wine, stir it well, getting all the barley from the sides of the pan. Once the wine has evaporated add two or three ladles of stock, stir and leave it until the stock has been absorbed, checking and stirring occasionally.

Next add the remaining mushrooms, half the tarragon and another ladleful of stock. Continue adding stock a ladleful at a time until the barley is soft and delicious – the whole process will take about 40-45 minutes.

With the last bit of stock add the spinach and let it wilt. Once all the stock has been absorbed add the tarragon, cream and parmesan giving it one final good stir, and leave to stand for a minute or two.

Serve in warmed bowls, topped with more parmesan and bread to mop up the juice.

Serves two

Red onion, broccoli and blue cheese polenta tart

So much of what I cook at the moment seems to be trying to rescue something growing in my garden before it goes to seed/rots/gets eaten (by something other than me)/is generally ruined.

This week I made and froze an enormous batch of broccoli and stilton soup and still had more broccoli than I could use. In the far reaches of my mind I remembered making a polenta tart before and thought it could be a good, slightly different, way of using some of the broccoli up.

It was light and summery and sweet and salty and generally scrummy.

100g polenta
400ml water
3 red onions, sliced
1 tomato, deseeded and diced
½ a head of broccoli, cut into small florets
75g blue cheese
knob butter
3 tbsp olive oil
salt
pepper
pinch cayenne pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 200C

Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil in a pan and gently fry the onion, with a little salt, until it is very soft and slightly sticky – about 20-30 minutes - adding the tomato for the final 5 minutes or so.

Blanche the broccoli in a pan of boiling water for 2-3 minutes drain and set aside.

Bring the water to a boil and then pour in the polenta in a steady stream, stirring constantly. Cook for about 4 minutes, stirring all the while, season with the salt, pepper and cayenne, and then spoon it into a tart tin and smooth over.

Top the polenta with the onion mixture, then the broccoli, then crumble the blue cheese over the top.

Bake in the oven for 10 minutes until the cheese is melted and golden.

Eat and enjoy!

Serves two (with leftovers that are great for lunch)

Rhubarb and cinnamon muffins

I really thought we’d lost our rhubarb plant. We put it in last year it looked a bit sad and then died off. It’s tucked away in a corner and I realised last week that not only had it come back to life but was taking over a bit. Basically some of it needed eating.

The problem is I don’t have much of a sweet tooth, so I didn’t really know what to do with it; especially as it’s not the time of year for a crumble. I came across this recipe on the BBC Good Food, and it came out just right – light and moist on the inside and crisp on top, the rhubarb is surprising but really good (far better than blueberries – yuck) and the cinnamon makes them a bit carrot cake-y.

300g rhubarb, chopped into small pieces
3 tbsp caster sugar
100g caster sugar
300g flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
200ml milk
100g butter, melted and then cooled

Preheat the oven to 200C. Mix the rhubarb with 3 tablespoons of sugar, and bake for about 10 minutes.

Sift the flour into a bowl and mix in the sugar, cinnamon and baking powder. Beat the eggs, milk and butter together.

Once the rhubarb it cooked, drain it well and roughly combine all the ingredients.

Spoon the mixture into 12 muffin cases and bake for 30 minutes.

Eat with a big mug of tea or with custard as a pudding.

Aloo Gobi and Bhurji

I first had bhurji after a night out, when my best friend and her husband whipped up it up along with some homemade chapattis, quite a feat after a shandy or three. I can confirm it is the perfect late night snack.

It’s basically curried scrambled eggs which sounds odd at best but tastes amazing - proper comfort food. I was taught to cook it at a party. I was obviously very keen to learn to make proper Indian food and my friend was pleased to gain a sous chef.

Really it is a breakfast dish (like scrambled eggs). But, being a little traditional first thing in the morning, I prefer it for tea with aloo gobi or saag panner.

Aloo Gobi

1 large potato, cut into ½ cm pieces
1 small cauliflower, cut into small florets
2 tbsp oil
½ tsp mustard seeds
½ tsp cumin seeds
½ onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
½ chilli, chopped
1 tsp garam masala
½ tsp turmeric

Heat the oil over a medium heat and then fry the potato until golden and cooked through, then set them aside.

Fry the mustard and cumin until they start to pop, then add the onion fry for a minute before adding the garlic, chilli and spices. Cook for another minute before adding the potatoes and cauliflower. Season well and cook for about 5 minutes until the cauliflower is done (longer if you like it a bit softer) adding a splash of water if you need it.

Bhurji

2 onions, chopped
2 tomatoes, deseeded and chopped
½ chilli, chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp garam masala
½ tsp turmeric
½ tsp salt
4 eggs, beaten

Fry the onions until very soft. Add the tomato, garlic and chilli and fry until the tomatoes have collapsed completely and the whole mixture is quite saucy.

Add the spices and salt, stir and cook for 1 minute. Add the eggs and scramble to your taste.
Serve with naan breads or chapattis and yogurt.

 Serves two

Impromptu post-work snack

I have a habit of getting home from work absolutely starving, I blame the 30 minute walk but it is probably just greediness.

When I got in today there was a big yellow tomato looking at me which had amazingly ripened despite the gloom of England in July. On close inspection I also discovered a perfectly ripe red one too. With a bit of goat's cheese languishing in the fridge inspiration hit.

A bit of oregano, a grind of salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil and I was a very very happy girl.

Broad bean, pea and herb frittata

With an abundance of peas and broad beans, tons of herbs and an egg craving I decided to whip up a yummy frittata with a cheery courgette flower salad. Gorgeous, quick and easy.

About 1 cup of peas and broad beans (podded or frozen)
Small handful of grated cheddar
50g ‘nice’ cheese – whatever you have in the fridge or fancy. I used a soft, slightly stinky French cheese
6 eggs, beaten
½ onion, finely chopped
Small bunch of herbs, chopped (I used thyme, sage and parsley)
Mixed salad leaves
4 courgette flowers

Blanche the broad beans in a pan of boiling water for 4 minutes, add the peas and cook for another minute. Then drain and refresh under the cold tap. If you have the time and inclination pinch the beans out of their tough grey pouches.

Heat a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan and fry the onion gently until translucent. Beat the eggs, season with salt and pepper and then stir into the frying pan with the peas, beans and half the cheese. Once the omelette has set slightly scatter the remaining cheddar and other cheese over the top. After about 5 minutes put under a hot grill to finish off.

Serve with a salad of courgette flowers and mixed leaves, seasoned and dressed with a little olive oil if you fancy.


 Serves two, with leftovers for lunch the next day

Szechuan tofu, broccoli and spinach

I over indulged slightly this weekend (big shock) which always makes me crave something virtuous feeling. This recipe is perfect – it’s hot, lemony and fresh but a bit stodgy and comforting at the same time. It’s based on a James Martin recipe, but I just can’t leave things alone so I’ve tweaked it a bit. I’m not sure how ‘authentic’ it is but it tastes great which is really what matters.

It’s really important to fry the tofu first – otherwise it lives up to its bland reputation. I started bashing the cashews and garlic with the pepper and chilli because it seems to help to break everything up more and stop it from being gritty. It also has the benefit of thickening the sauce and giving it a satay tang.

125g firm tofu cut into approx 1.5 cm cubes

1 head broccoli cut into florets

Handful spinach

Handful cashews

½ onion finely chopped

1 tsp szechuan pepper

1 tsp dried chilli flakes

1 clove garlic

2 tbsp soy sauce

2 tbsp rice wine vinegar

2 tbsp sake

Large pinch sugar

4 tbsp water

1 tsp cornflour mixed with a little water

1 cup rice

2 cups water

Bash up 5-6 cashews, the szechuan pepper, chilli and garlic in a pestle and mortar until you get a thick, biscuit-y paste.

Heat a wok and gently toast the remaining cashews then set aside. Add a tablespoon of oil and fry the tofu until golden and set that aside too.

Mix the soy sauce, vinegar, sake, sugar and water together.

Rinse the rice well and put it in a pan with 2 cups of cold water and cover. Bring to the boil, stir once and then turn the heat right down and leave until the rice has absorbed all the water (about 10 minutes)

Heat another tablespoon of oil in the wok. Add the onion and fry for a minute before adding the cashew and pepper mix. Fry briefly before adding the broccoli and tofu. Stir again at then add the sauce. Cook for a couple of minutes, until the broccoli is almost cooked and then stir in the spinach.

Once the spinach has wilted add the cornflour and cook until thickened. Finally add the cashews before serving with the rice.

Serves two

Courgette pasta with spinach balls

First post - very exciting!

After two weeks away the veg plot had just gone whoosh. We had one massive courgette and masses of spinach.
One of my faithful courgette glut recipes is attractively known in our house as ‘Courgette Mush’ and is based on a Hugh Fernley Whittingstall recipe. A couple of years ago we had a major glut and this is a great way to use some up and can be frozen too.

To use up some of the spinach I used an Antonio Carluccio recipe for spinach balls. This is the first time I’ve tried this recipe and they were divine – when is spinach and cheese ever a bad combo, especially with a grate of nutmeg – possibly a new staple.

For the sauce

2 regular courgettes or 1 large one

2 large cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 tbsp olive oil

A handful of grated cheese (preferably parmesan)

For the spinach balls

200g spinach

A handful of grated cheese

1 egg

1 cup breadcrumbs

Salt and pepper

Pinch of nutmeg

1 tsp garlic (reserved from the above pureed with a side of a knife with a little salt)

Enough cooked pasta for two people

Finely slice the courgette (if you are using one large courgette slice it into quarters long ways first).  Heat the oil in a pan and gently fry the garlic.  Add the courgette and a little salt and stir well.  Cook for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  When it’s done the courgette should be just disintegrating and, for want of a better word, going a bit mushy.

To make the balls: Blanch the spinach (I do this by putting it into a colander and pouring a kettle of boiling water over it and then cool it down under the cold tap), squeeze out any excess water and finely chop it.

Mix all the ingredients together except the eggs. Once it is well mixed add the egg.  If it is too wet add a tablespoon more breadcrumbs (it should still be a little wet).

Roll into walnut sized balls and then fry gently for 4-5 minutes on each side (if you start doing this at the same time as you start cooking your pasta on everything should be done at the same time.)

Drain the pasta reserving a cup of the water.  Stir the cheese into the courgette mixture and then stir thorough the pasta adding the reserved pasta water to loosen as needed.

Split the pasta between two warmed bowls and top with the spinach balls.


Serves two