LEMONGRASS AND COCONUT PORK LARB

Lemongrass and coconut pork larb with rice

Serves 4

240g basmati rice

1 tsp sesame oil

1 red onion, very finely chopped

2 sticks lemongrass, tough outer layers removed, grated

1 inch piece ginger, peeled and grated

1 thai red chilli, sliced, plus extra to serve

500g free-range pork mince

1 tbsp fish sauce

1/2 tsp palm sugar

1/2 tbsp Mirin rice wine

1 tsp rice wine vinegar

2 tbsp creamed coconut

small handful Thai basil, torn

small handful coriander, chopped

4 spring onions, sliced, to serve

2 limes, quartered, to serve

1. Soak the rice in cold water for 30 minutes then drain and rinse. Add it to a small saucepan with 300ml water, and cover. Bring to the boil, then leave on a very low heat, tightly covered, for 20 minutes, without checking.
2. Meanwhile, heat the sesame oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat and add the onion, lemongrass, ginger and chilli. Fry for 5 minutes, then add the pork mince. Cook for 10 minutes, breaking up with a wooden spoon until browned. Drizzle in the fish sauce, palm sugar, Mirin wine, vinegar and creamed coconut and stir. Fry for another 5 minutes.
3. Remove the lid from the rice pan and fluff the rice with a fork. Spoon onto a platter and top with the pork larb. Scatter with the Thai basil, coriander, extra red chillies, if you like, and spring onions. Serve with the lime wedges and crunchy, sesame dressed, gem lettuce leaves.

SUMMER SAUSAGES

I spent a very wet Saturday stomping around Broadway market, sheltering under green-striped tarpaulins, standing nose to nose with the marketeers. I scooped up two old cushions, a greedy burger form Lucky Chip, two corn on the cob and a couple of peculiarly shaped courgettes. Despite the sodden shoes and soggy mop, it was quite a perfect day. 

This sausage dish is a great cheerer on a wet day and needs very few ingredients to give a great supper. Get bonne saucisse, a bunch o' cherry tomatoes, strange courgettes and an onion. And that's pretty much it. I love it. 

SUMMER SAUSAGES

serves 4

1 tbsp olive oil

8 pork sausages

1 large echalion shallot, sliced

3 garlic cloves, crushed 

20 cherry tomatoes

2 courgettes (custard white are fun)

1 tbsp passata

50ml water

salt and pepper

handful sweet basil, torn

Heat up the olive oil in a large, deep frying pan over a medium heat. When hot, add the sausages and cook for 10 minutes with a lid on, turning occasionally to brown evenly.

Chop the sausages with a wooden spoon and add the onion and garlic. When the onion has softened, throw in the tomatoes. Cook for 5 minutes and add the courgettes. Season and stir.

Now add the passata and the water and simmer for 5 minutes. When the sauce has reduced, tear up the basil and stir through. Serve with a well-dressed salad and a hunk of bread for mopping. Dead cosy like.

ASPARAGUS, PEACH AND BASIL SALAD

A beautiful and uncomplicated

ASPARAGUS, PEACH AND BASIL SALAD

with cured ham

inspired by Clara

serves 4

ingredients

3 bunches fine asparagus (roughly 8 stems each), snapped at base

2 ripe yellow flesh peaches, sliced

generous handful basil leaves, torn

generous pinch salt

100ml olive oil

200g cured ham (Parma/Serrano)

Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Add the snapped asparagus stems to the water and simmer for 2-3 minutes until they are bright green and still have a bit of crunch. Drain and refresh under cold water. 

Place the asparagus in a large bowl and scatter the peach slices and torn basil leaves. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt. Toss and serve with the ham. 

MAC AND CHEESE

I love cooking mac and cheese in disposable tin trays. They look like something you'd pick up from the school canteen, (Mrs Wiggins don't do china), serving up no-frills nursery food in no-frills containers. It puts macaroni cheese in its rightful place as stodgy, cheesy, creamy comfort food. Nowt fancy, like. Just (unbelievably) tasty.

I've gone a little off track with this recipe - leeks, ham and tarragon (ooh er), and tortiglioni in place of macaroni - but a good 'old fashioned' you can't beat.

LEEK, HAM AND TARRAGON MAC AND CHEESE

serves a very greedy 2 - a polite 4 

ingredients

200g tortiglioni or penne (or any old tube)

100g unsalted butter

1 large leek

250g smoked ham

150g flour

500ml milk (whole or semi)

200g mature cheddar, grated, and extra for the crust

salt, pepper 

handful tarragon leaves, roughly chopped

two tin trays (roughly 20x10cm)

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and add the pasta. Cook til al dente and drain. Refresh under cold water and set aside.

Melt 25g of the butter in a small sauce and throw in the leeks. Cook over a low heat with a lid for 10 minutes so the leeks become soft and buttery. Add the ham and a pinch of salt and pour the mixture into a bowl. Set aside.

Melt the rest of the butter in the leek pan. Add the flour and set over a low heat. Fry the flour and butter for a minute or two so the gluten can develop. Add the milk a little at a time or each time the sauce thickens, and stir constantly. This should take around 5-7 minutes

When the sauce is glossy, and creamy, add the cheese, salt and pepper.

When the cheese has melted, stir in the leek mixture and the tarragon. Taste the sauce and add a little more salt if necessary.

Combine the pasta with the sauce and divide between the two tins. Ideally, you want a generous amount of sauce to pasta.

Grate the extra cheese over each dish and place in the oven for 15 minutes to crisp up.

Best served with a mustardy salad and a dollop of ketchup.

Peas are a good veggie replacement for the ham. Throw them in as you add the tarrgon.

Ding-a-ling. Back to class.

ROASTED SWEDE SALAD

My mother, born and brought up in Scotland, land of all things neep, said she won't touch swede for love nor money. Had too much, she said. Can't stand the stuff. Can't bear the smell. And even when I pulled out a perfect turnip she sniffed at it, told me to throw it to the hens. I know many more who would say the same.

This recipe is great for those who don't like, or think they don't like swede. Roasting it with honey, garlic and thyme kindly masks its sheepy, back-of-the-throat twang (a grower for sure) and softens the solid root to chewy flesh. Combine it with smoked bacon and crumbled feta and you have the mix of salt and sweet. It's an easy way in. Mum ate it, and went back for more.

WARM ROASTED SWEDE, BACON AND FETA SALAD


1 large swede serves 2

ingredients

1 large swede, scrubbed, removed of its top, cut into chunks or wedges
2 tbsps olive oil
3 cloves garlic, unpeeled
4 roasted cherry tomatoes
2 sprigs thyme
generous season of salt and pepper
4 rashers smoked streaky bacon
tsp balsamic vinegar
100g feta
toasted pumpkin seeds, optional
few leaves mint, to garnish

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Put the swede in a roasting tin with the olive oil, garlic, roasted herry tomatoes and thyme. Season well. Place in the oven for 45 minutes. Add the bacon and put back in until crispy. The swede should be chewy with crisp skin. Remove from the oven.

Pour the balsamic into the bottom of a large bowl and pour in the warm olive oil from the roasting tin. Whisk to emulsify and add the roasted swede and bacon. Crumble over the feta and pumpkin seeds, if using, and toss through. Garnish with mint and serve, warm, spreading the roasted garlic onto thick slices of bread. Swede, swede heaven.

PORK BELLY WITH RHUBARB

This is so bloomin' scrumptious it doesn't even need a write-up. Apart from to say that, though the pork weeps with fatty joy and the skin is crisper than a morning in March, it's the rhubarb that really makes it.

PORK BELLY WITH RHUBARB

NOTE: You need 5 minutes the night before to prepare this.

serves 2

ingredients

500g pork belly, boned, scored (you can ask your butcher to do this)

2 cloves garlic, crushed

4 leaves sage

seasoning

olive oil

1 1/2 tsp sea salt flakes

1 glass cider

1 carrot, roughly chopped

1 stick celery, roughly chopped

1 shallot, peeled and quartered

1 bay leaf

2 sticks rhubarb, chopped into 1inch batons

1 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp water

Overnight or at least 8 hours before:

Rub the sides and bottom of the belly with the crushed garlic, chopped sage, oil, salt and pepper, avoiding the skin completely.

Cover with cling film and leave to rest in the fridge.

4 and a bit hours before serving:

Preheat the oven to the highest it can go or to about 230C.

Rub the pork skin with a little olive oil and the sea salt flakes. Place skin side up on a grate over a roasting tray and place in the oven for 45 minutes until the skin is crisp and brown and starting to bubble and burst.

Meanwhile, pour the cider, veg and bay into another roasting tray.

When it's time to remove the pork, turn the oven down to 180C. Place the meat on top of the veg and cider. Cover the edges of the baking tray with foil, leaving the skin exposed, so that the cider can steam up through the bottom to make the juiciest of meat. The skin will continue to crisp and be pretty solid when you serve it. Cook for a further 3 hours until, when poked with a skewer, there is no resistance from the pork.

Remove from the oven and leave to rest, loosely covered with tin foil.

Throw the rhubarb, sugar and water into a saucepan and place over a medium heat until soft and stringy. You want it still to be sharp so it cuts through the salty pork.

Slice the pork into large squares and serve alongside the lovely, rosey rhubarb.

FRANKFURTERS AND RADICCHIO

Precooked, reconstituted, over-processed pork. What's not to love? There's something about the oh-so-slippery frankfurter - the pop as you bite, the flop as you pick up, the salt as you chew, and the eight more after that - that rocks my boat. Once in a while (and, frankly, not often enough) they hit it. Bop.

Hell, why not wrap one up in a pancake for breakfast tomorrow?

FRANKFURTERS with CREAMY RADICCHIO and NEW POTATO HASH

eaten in utter joy with co-frank-lover Clara

serves 2

4 small new potatoes

knob butter

1 clove garlic, chopped and crushed

1 head of radicchio, shredded

100ml double cream

salt and pepper

6 frankfurters

Bring a small pan of water to the boil. When boiling, drop in the potatoes and turn to a simmer. Cook for 15 minutes until softer than you'd usually cook them. Take off the heat and leave in the water.

Meanwhile, fry the butter over a medium heat in a saucepan and, simultaneously, add the garlic and shredded radicchio. Stir through and cook until the radicchio is slightly wilted. Now push the radicchio aside and add the frankfurters. Cook until the skin is browned and they are hot through.

Remove the sausages to a piece of kitchen towel. Drain the potatoes and add to the radicchio. Crush them slightly with the back of the wooden spoon.

Add the cream to the radicchio mix and bring to a simmer for 1 minute. Season and serve alongside the frankfurters. Fabulous with Annie Bell's mustardy Savoy coleslaw (as seen in photo).

Pure unadulterated - apart from the meat - heaven.

TURKEY PIE

For when we run out of ideas but are still staring at the meat...

TURKEY, HAM AND LEEK PIE
for Boxing Day

ingredients

serves 2-3

25g butter (extra for greasing)
1 large leek, finely sliced into rounds
1 medium sized carrot, roughly chopped
glug white wine
150ml fresh stock (turkey, ham or chicken)
50ml single cream
1tbsp wholegrain mustard
1tbsp Dijon mustard
100g leftover turkey, shredded
100g leftover ham, shredded
small bunch tarragon, finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste
flour
100g block puff pastry, rolled thin and cut to fit the oven dish
1tbsp milk to brush pastry

Preheat the oven to 200C/ 400F.

Butter a medium-sized oven dish.

Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the leeks. Fry until soft and add the carrot. Now add the white wine and stock and turn up the heat so the alcohol in the wine burns off. Stir in the cream and the mustards. Allow to simmer for approx. 10 minutes until the liquid has reduced by 1/2.

Now add the shredded meats and warm through for a minute or two. Add the tarragon and season with salt and pepper. Be wary that the stock and meat will add their own saltiness. Pour the pie filling into the dish.

Roll out the pastry on a floured surface to about 3mm thick. Cut a little larger than the top of the oven dish and lightly place it on top of the filling. Lightly and evenly brush the pastry with milk and place in the oven to bake for 20 minutes. The pastry should be golden brown and puffy when you take it out.

Serve with blanched and buttered spring greens or leftover sprouts.

Boxing Day done.

CREAMY PANCETTA AND RED CHICORY SPAGHETTI

If you're ever looking for a recipe that takes no time to cook and fills you up in an instant, this is it.

I have to say that this is one of the most rudely delicious pasta dishes there is; a bitter, sweet, creamy bowl of Yes Please. It follows some of the rules of carbonara, but switches the egg yolk for red chicory (quite some switch), though egg yolk wouldn't go amiss.

One essential rule: Use the best dry-cure pancetta you can find. You'll be crying with joy with every forky twizzle.

CREAMY PANCETTA AND RED CHICORY SPAGHETTI

Serves 2-4


ingredients

200-300g thin spaghetti
large knob of butter
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
2 heads red chicory (radicchio works well too), thinly shredded
200g best dry-cure pancetta, roughly chopped, fat on
good splash white wine
250ml double cream

50g grated Parmesan to serve

Bring a deep pan of salted water to the boil.

Meanwhile, melt the knob of butter in a frying pan and add the onions. Soften a little before adding the chicory. fry down until both the onion and chicory have lightly caramelised and are extremely soft. Taste for seasoning.

In another pan heat up the pancetta. The pork should be fatty enough to create it's own lubrication so no need to add butter or oil here. Fry until crispy, then add the wine. The wine should boil as it hits the pan. Let the alcohol burn off and set aside.

Add the spaghetti to the pan and simmer, following packet instructions. There should still be a little bite to the pasta when it is cooked. Drain.

Add the pancetta to the chicory and stir in the cream. Add the spaghetti, tossing through the sauce and serve with a little Parmesan and parsley (optional).

It's a rich one, this, so a crisp salad of gem lettuce would be a perfect cleanser post woof.

Recipe created, cooked and greedily eaten with Clara Grace Paul.

SCOTCH EGGS @ The Princess Vic

There is something addictive about the Princess Victoria.

Round, oblong, oval wooden tables lit by nightlights in glass jars; tall ceilings; a fireplace big enough to sit in. On sunny days you can sit on white iron tables and chairs in a small walled herb garden at the back.

The staff are lovely. They don't hang over your table like newspaper-peekers on the tube, but appear just as you need them. Ice-cold water. Very good bread.

The menu picks out the best of good pub grub - scratchings, rillettes, whitebait with aioli, pickled onions - and the chef, James, makes damn sure it's done well. The meat is sourced from Turnham Green's Machen Brothers and Huntsham Court Farm, and each time I go back there is a different cut - any old bit - of their favourite Gloucestershire Old Spot.

The wine list is long; there are more than 350 different bottles held in the cellars beneath. As much as I'd like to try them all of an afternoon, the Pinot Rose is for me; a light fragrant pink that arrives in a wee 50cl glass caraffe...

All this is definitely worth the wander down the Uxbridge Road. But there's more.

The real thing that makes me go back is the Middle White Pork Scotch Egg.


It's the crisp, buttery, breadcrumb crust and the sweet aniseed taste of tarragon in the pork that makes this Scotch Egg so unbearably good. You can smell it coming.

The pork is soft - not too bready - and holds tight around a soft and perfectly cooked free-range egg. It is salty, but sweet too with wholegrain mustard mixed in with the meat. Sizing up nicely to a large apple, it makes the perfect starter or light lunchtime nibble. Have two and you'll be pleasantly pork-heavy. You eat with your hands, so it's absolutely OK to lick your fingers afterwards. And you'll want to. The knife that comes with it is pretty lovely too.

The smaller Oxtail Scotch Quails Egg is sweet and scrum, but I'd go for the bigger Middle any day of the week...

I could rave on about this place and even more so about their pig'n'egg - I may have already been too sickly - but it's my favourite local and I can't just keep it to myself.

The Princess Victoria pub is situated at the Chiswick end of the Uxbridge Road (No.217), Shepherds Bush.
T: 0208 7495886
Monday to Saturday Lunch: 12 noon - 3pm. Dinner: 6.30pm - 10.30pm.
Sunday Lunch: 12 noon - 4.30pm. Dinner: 6.30pm - 9.30pm.

The Middle White asks a very reasonable £5.90; the Oxtail £3.50

POZ'S PEANUTS

A recipe (mildly adapted) from my dear friend and super cook, Clare.

PORK AND PEANUT CURRY


serves 2
ingredients
1 1/2 tbsp groundnut oil
1 large butcher-bought pork loin steak, thinly sliced into strips
6 spring onions, thinly sliced (leave one onion, sliced length ways, for a garnish)
1 tbsp red curry paste
1/2 tin coconut milk
1 tbsp organic, smooth peanut butter
1 tsp molasses
1 tsp fish sauce
juice of 1/2 lime

200g 3mm rice noodles (Gueytow)

Heat 1 tbsp groundnut oil in a large wok and add the slices of pork. The oil should be hot enough to make the pork sizzle as it touches the pan. Let them fry for 2 minutes on each side so that the meat is light brown all over. Remove the pork and leave it to rest.

Add the rest of the oil and add the spring onions, and the curry paste. Let the spices fry and the onions soften. Then pour in the coconut milk, the peanut butter, the molasses, fish sauce and lime. The sauce should be relatively thick. Let it simmer on a medium-low heat for 8 minutes to thicken the sauce further.

Add the pork and stir. Taste. Add more lime juice if the peanut butter is overwhelming - a little goes a long way.

Bring a saucepan of water to the boil. Add the rice noodles and simmer for 5 minutes. Drain and serve in a shallow bowl. Pour over the curry and garnish with raw spring onions and a sprig of coriander.

A right porker.

JERUSALEM ARTICHOKES

Brown, knobbly skin, hard white flesh, and dug from the earth just like a potato, the Jerusalem artichoke looks more like a stem of ginger than an out-of-ground thistle - which, with a surname like artichoke, is what we generally expect. Bearing no relation to the globe arty - no leaves to dip in butter; no hearts to preserve in oil - they often get overlooked. While snapped up at markets by keen cooks on the look out for seasonal Winter veg, the rest of us leave them sitting. But we shouldn't dismiss these hairy outcasts.

When peeled and roasted they can be souped, gratined, and mashed - an interesting change to the usual tatties. They have a sweet, earthy taste, brought out even more when the skin in left on. Which is why I do just that with this warm salad. Pair it with smokey and honey flavours and you'd never know you were eating the bulb of a sunflower.

So, next time you're at the local market, pick up a Jerusalem. And roast it good.

WARM ROASTED JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE, BEETROOT, GARLIC AND PANCETTA SALAD.

serves 4

ingredients
5 medium sized knobs of Jerusalem artichoke (approx. 500g)
2 large raw beetroot, peeled
6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
6 rashers dry cured pancetta
3 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
generous pinch salt and pepper
2 sprigs fresh thyme

seasonal baby salad leaves (spinach, beetroot, rocket) optional

Preheat the oven to 220°C/ 425°F/ Gas mark 7.

Quarter the artichoke bulbs, and the peeled raw beetroot in the same way. Throw into a small, but deep roasting tin. Add the garlic cloves and place the strips of pancetta on top. Drizzle with the olive oil and season well with salt and pepper. After adding the thyme - no need to take the leaves from the stem - give the tin a shake so that the oil coats the veg.

Leave to roast for 40 minutes, shaking a few times to avoid sticking. Check one bit of artichoke with a knife to check it is soft and tender.

Dress the salad with a balsamic dressing and throw over the roast. Eh voila. The perfect Winter lunchtime treat. It couldn't be easier.

I ♥ La Fromagerie.

Walk through shelves piled high with jars of preserves, freshly baked cakes and large and bountiful vegetables. Tucked away around the corner, past the table of chocolate, the fridge of homemade yogurt, and through the sliding glass door, towers cheese from Totnes to Toulouse . Taste, smell and sale. The cold can be stood for a small while, but the men in white coats bear it well. Out of the sliding doors, one last peek, and back past the chocolates to the long wooden tables amongst pigeon holes with wine.

Rumble. Time for breakfast. True delight.

Jumbo Porridge with Wild Winter Berry Compote

and

"Bacon" Sandwich with Pancetta and Homemade Ketchup.




Not forgetting the freshly churned farm butter.

Nothing better.

FORECAST TO SNOW. PREPARE TO INSULATE.

It's icy cold, my nose is lobster and I'm wearing tights under my trousers.

An extra layer, at this time of year, is what I like to call a necessaccessory. I'm not just talking about hats, scarves and gloves but a full winter coating of my very own whale blubber. This means following a strict routine of hearty stews, gristly stodge, plenty a mug of tongue-burning cocoa and no holding back. Last night kicked off with a two course bloaty supper; an unforgettable start to fighting off the cold and putting a little fire into an otherwise frozen belly.

1ST COURSE
Portobello Mushroom stuffed with Parmesan Creamed Spinach.

1 large Portobello mushroom
1 large handful baby spinach
2 tbsps creme fraiche
2 tbsp grated parmesan
pinch ground black pepper
small pinch nutmeg

In a sieve over a pan of boiling water, lightly wilt the spinach. Transfer into a bowl and mix with the creme fraiche, parmesan, nutmeg and pepper. Spoon the spinach onto the underside of the mushroom and place under a hot grill for 5 minutes, or until the creme fraiche has started to brown and the mushroom has wrinkled slightly.

Cut in half and serve for two, or have whole for one. No fuss.

2ND COURSE
Nigel Slater's Sausage with Lentils
(Taken and lovingly adapted from my most loyal cookbook: Penguin 60s Nigel Slater 30-Minute Suppers)

SERVES 2:
125g small brown or green lentils
85g smoked bacon, roughly chopped
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 large clove garlic, sliced
handful fresh parsley, chopped
pinch black pepper
200g chopped tomatoes
4 good pork sausages (spicy sausages very good)

Rinse the lentils in a sieve under cold running water. Fry the bacon in a pan until the fat runs. Add a little oil if necessary. Fry the onion in the fat or oil for 4-5 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic, cover and cook for a further 5 minutes.

Add the lentils and enough boiling water to cover them by an inch or so. Cook over a moderate heat and simmer for approx. 20 minutes. Add the chopped tomatoes, almost all of the parsley and black pepper. Cook for another 5 minutes, and let the liquid evaporate off. As Nigel so geniusly says 'test for doneness'. If they still have a bite, simmer them for another couple of minutes.

Meanwhile, fry the sausages in a pan with a little oil. When they are entirely cooked through, slice and serve on top of a few ladles of the wamed lentil mix in hot bowls - how I like it - or on plates, with a garnish of the remaining parsley...

No need to move but for the cocoa.

PEA FOR PERFECTION

This blog is dedicated to my dish de la semaine. I've cooked it three times this week and it continues to excite me...who knew that wee green petit peas could be so wonderfully versatile?

PERFECT PEAS

SERVES 2

INGREDIENTS

large knob of salted butter
6 sleeves of prosciutto
1 white onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped and pasted
200g petit pois
40ml chicken stock
2 tbsp double cream (optional)

Fry the proscuitto in the butter until almost crispy. Remove the pork form the pan, saving the fat. Saute the onions in the fat until soft and salty. Add the garlic with the peas into the onions. Do not burnt the garlic. Add the stock and simmer until the liquid is all absorbed. Stir in the pork and add the cream. Pour hot from the pan into a warm bowl.

I had mine with a poached egg, and I recall groaning a little once the last mouthful went in. If cooked well, you will taste every ingredient that has gone in with the peas. Sweet, salty, crunchy, creamy...The fresh, sweet little garden pea is given a wild and creamy varooom, and you just can't get enough. Think hoppy grasshopper meets roaring hippo.

Try with sweet cure bacon, broad beans and mint for extra bite.

REAL RAGU

Last week, I had the best ragu I've ever eaten out of Bologna. In fact, it may have even been better than Da Mario's - a lazy Sunday afternoon risto just outside the old Bologna walls where we'd talk and drink, and eat steaming bowls of spaghetti ragu.

A couple of months ago, I ranted on how there is no Bolognese anymore...or at least, no one really knows the true recipe. This could-be Italian version was built up and simmered down to a soft and livery texture which melted as soon as it touched the tongue. So I think I take what I said back on this account. We shared a small amount between nine but the flavour was so spot on that it was all we needed. You know you've hit a good one when you're happy with savouring just a little (unless you've hit a bad one and you'd rather have none).

Trying to recreate this beast of a recipe in my own way, I switched beef for pork and apple sausages which slightly sweetened the rich sauce, but still held the fantastically earthy flavour of the original. I uuurrrrge you to try this. It takes a while to get it really good, but you can - though it would be a crime to - skip the slow-cooking. A perfect way to spend a day-off, and by the time you eat it, your house will be dripping with good smells, enough to make you want to lick the wallpaper.

REAL RAGU: Sausage style.


SERVES 6-8
INGREDIENTS
1 tbsp olive oil
2 large onions, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
12 large pork and apple sausages, meat removed from skins
400g tin of chopped tomatoes
200ml chicken stock
1/2 750ml bottle white wine
100ml milk
pinch of grated nutmeg
pinch of oregano

1300 HOURS: In a large heavy based pan or casserole dish, gently fry the onions in the olive oil until soft. Add the garlic. Having removed the meat from the sausage skins, add to the onions and break up with a wooden spoon. Fry until the meat has become crumbly and light in colour.

1330 HOURS: Pour in the wine and turn up the heat so that all the alcohol burns off. Be careful not to let the meat stick, by stirring gently. Add the chopped tomatoes, stock, milk, herbs and spices. Place a lid on the pan and leave to simmer on a low heat for as long as possible, or place in a low heat oven or Aga.


1900 HOURS: Leave it to rest an hour before you eat, and spoon off some of the excess fat which will have risen to the top of the pan.

2000 HOURS: Serve with spaghetti or large penne cooked to al dente, a sprinkle of fresh Parmesan and a large glass of something good.

If seven hours seems daunting, you can take it off and carry on the next day. Or leave it, have lunch, read a book, make pudding, have a snooze, go for a...and it'll be ready for supper. Good from frozen too, but I doubt you'll need to.

FIG OF THE DUMP.

The figs are just coming into bloom on the Island now; the flesh soft, sweet and earthy.
Breaking into them raw seems risky, clenchingly persuading oneself that the pink giblets in the centre are not worms, just the fruit. 'Whatever's in there will have only been eating fig anyway': words that are thrown confidently across the table. Oh what a relief we are eating by candlelight.


Few and far between the figs fall: some already eaten, and still being eaten by god-knows-what, some picked unripe from the tree by little hands trying to help harvest the sparing yield. Every year they are savoured. They'd be wasted on jam; 'FRESH AND FRESHLY BAKED ONLY'.

Apart from eating them as they come - unwashed, unpesticided, unchecked - there is another way to eat the figs that, in a whisper, taste better than the original. Eaten for breakfast with fried bread and bacon, or for pudding with marscapone, I welcome whole-heartedly the season for...

MUM'S BAKED BALSAMIC FIGS

Serves 4.
INGREDIENTS:

2 large GREEN figs
1 tsp granulated sugar
1 1/2 tbs balsamic vinegar

Preheat the oven to a low-medium heat - about 100 degrees C.

Slice the figs long-ways and lay them on a baking tray. Sprinkle evenly with the sugar, then drizzle over about 1 1/2 tbs worth of good balsamic vinegar. You don't want to drown the flavour of the figs - there should be just enough tang to complement the natural flavour without ridding it altogether.

Place in the oven and cook for 5-7 minutes until the balsamic turns sticky. Turn the figs over, and cook for another minute. The figs will be soft in the middle, slightly sticky and truly scrumptious.

We ate ours with smoked streaky bacon on fried white bread - toasted in the bacon juices - and a dollop of creme fraiche for a second breakfast at midday... Ever so naughty.

PINK SKY AT NIGHT

It's Turkish Delight, it's strawberry sherbet and it's diving into a pool of Daiquiri...

That's what happens after you eat James Ramsden's Pork Madras Curry, turn beetroot into muffins, and crane your unswan-like neck through your window to hum at the sunset. All powerful, all highly recommended, all rather narcotic. Time for bed.

BEETROOT MUFFINS:

A bizarre combo, an experiment, I know, but beautiful little cheese-boards, surprisingly scone-like and damn fine with a chutney and red wine.

Makes 6

75g softened butter
150g self raising flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cocoa powder
1 egg, whisked
1/2 orange, zested and squeezed
1/2 tsp sugar
1/2 medium raw beetroot, grated
1/2 carrot, grated

75 ml milk

Preheat the oven to 165 degrees C. Wipe a little butter around the muffin moulds if not non-stick.

Rub the butter, flour and baking powder between the fingers until you reach a crumbly /pre-pastry like consistency. Beat the egg, orange juice and zest into the mixture, and stir with a blunt knife. Then fold in the sugar, beetroot, and carrot. Finally pour in the milk and quickly mix until all combined. The muffin dough should not be too wet, nor too dry.

Equally divide the mix into the moulds. You want them to fill just over half way.

Place them in the oven for 25-30 minutes. Check with a thin skewer to see if cooked. If it is sticky, the muffins need a little more love, if dry, they are ready to gobble.

Leave to cool slightly and serve with a good cheddar, and some in-season fig chutney.

QUICK FISH

Unable to go to Weymouth Seafood festival last weekend, I have been on a mission for fish. Instead of standing in the rain under cover of fish markets and devouring the fresh flavours of the Dorset coast, I have been rummaging in the freezer at home - just as wet and cold, but without the wellies.


A recipe I managed to whip up by scavenging from larders, fridges and freezers - all ingredients dangerously near the sell-by-date (nothing like building up the immune system)- SEARED SCALLOPS, ROASTED BABY PLUM TOMATOES AND SMOKED HAM, WITH GARLIC AND CHILLI MASH. Quite a catch for a Sunday night supper for one...

Serves 2 (more polite and less greedy this way)
Cooking time: 24 mins

8 frozen scallops, de-frosted.
10 baby plum tomatoes, halved
3 leftover slices of smoked ham, cut into strips.
3 large potatoes.
Spoonful of English Provendor Co. Very Lazy Red Chillies
1 large garlic clove finely chopped.
Large pinch of Oregano.
2 glugs of Olive Oil.

First, defrost the scallops if frozen.
Put the tomatoes and ham into a baking tray. Drizzle olive oil over the top and sprinkle with Oregano. Place in the oven at 190 degrees C for about 20 minutes, until the tomatoes are soft and juicy and the ham is crisp.
Meanwhile, boil the potatoes, until soft.
When the potatoes are done, the tomatoes should be too. Leave them to rest a bit in their baking tray.
Place the rest of the olive oil in a frying pan, and carefully drop in the scallops, giving them two minutes on each side, so they have a golden glaze. While you are watching the scallops -no need to touch them while they are cooking, unless to turn them - mash the potatoes until smooth, and add the garlic and chilli.

Serve the scallops on top of the tomatoes and ham - their juices should be the perfect marinade/sauce for the scallops and potatoes.

Need I say more?

Yes. YUM