CHICORY BAKED EGGS

CHICORY BAKED EGGS

SERVES 2 

as a starter, Sunday supper, or brunch

knob butter for greasing

1tbsp olive oil

1 head red chicory, sliced

1/2 garlic clove, crushed

1 tsp thyme leaves

60g soft crumbly cheese -I used Munster

2 medium free-range eggs

Preheat the oven to 200C/fan180C/gas 6. Butter 2 x 10cm ramekins.

Heat the olive oil in a small saucepan over a medium heat. Fry the chicory for 3 minutes until wilted, then add the garlic. Stir through and keep on the heat for another minute. Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Distribute the chicory between the 2 ramekins and top with the crumbled cheese. Crack an egg on each and place in the oven for 5-7 minutes until the white of the egg has hardened and the cheese is bubbling. Remove from the oven and serve.

A VEGGIE SUPPER

RAINBOW CHARD AND MUSHROOMS 

SERVES 2

1 head of chard

1 tbsp olive oil

1 red onion, finely sliced

1 garlic clove, crushed

1 medium red chilli, finely chopped, plus extra to garnish

4 field mushrooms

100g good quality mozzarella

handful mint leaves

Separate the chard leaves from the stalks. Bring a pan of lightly salted water to the boil and drop in the chard leaves for 2 minutes until wilted. Drain, refresh under cold water and, after squeezing out excess water, set aside. 

Heat the olive oil in a frying pan or wok and add the onion. Fry on a low-medium heat for 5 minutes until just soft. Add the chard stalks and continue to fry for another 5 minutes. Then, add the garlic and chilli. Cook for 1 minute more, then season well with salt and pepper. 

Preheat the grill to high. Lay the mushrooms on a baking sheet, top with torn mozzarella, drizzle over a little olive oil and season generously. Place the sheet under the grill and cook for 5 minutes until the mozzarella is bubbling and golden and the mushrooms have softened. 

Meanwhile, reheat the chard stalks and onions and stir through the chard leaves. Tear the mint leaves and, reserving a few for a garnish, mix through the chard.

Remove the mushrooms from the grill and serve on top of the chard mixture with the remaining mint leaves and a little more chopped chilli, if you like.

ELDERFLOWER POSSETS

Possets are my go-to pudding - always delicious and easy on the pennies. Just make sure you don't burn the cream. 

ELDERFLOWER POSSETS

serves 6

ingredients

750ml cream

225g caster sugar

juice and zest of 1 lemon

75ml elderflower cordial

Pour the cream and the sugar into a pan and bring to the boil, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Let the mixture simmer for 2 minutes and remove from heat. Add the zest, juice and cordial and stir. 

Pour the mixture into ramekins (I used 8cm diameter) and leave to cool. When they have had time to cool down, cover with cling film and chill and set for 1 hour.

Serve with a dusting of icing sugar and a few raspberries. 

BEETROOT GRATIN

For the holiest shade of crimson.

BEETROOT AND ONION GRATIN

serves 2

ingredients

250ml double cream
1 garlic clove, crushed
bunch of dill
salt and pepper
knob of butter
2-3 large raw beetroot, finely sliced

1 large red onion, finely sliced
100g Parmesan, grated

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Mix the cream with the garlic and dill, and season. Butter a small oval dish and lay the beetroot in the bottom. Alternate with onion and beetroot, pouring cream over each layer, until you reach the top of the dish. Scatter with Parmesan and season again.

Place in the oven for 1 hour.

Remove, cool slightly and serve with cold meats and salad or on its own.

MARMALADE HOT CROSS BUNS

Hot cross buns are a joy to make. They dress you in a pinny, cover you in flour, and make you instantly loved by everybody. Bring out a towering plate of warm sticky buns on Easter morning and you're anyone's.

Cut in half, spread through a little (or a lot of) salted butter and melt into marmalade goodness.

MARMALADE HOT CROSS BUNS

makes about 16

ingredients

700g strong white bread flour

1 tsp salt

1 tsp mixed spice or a combination of ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon.

100g sugar

zest of 1 large orange

7g easy bake/fast-action yeast

1 duck egg (or 1 large hen egg), beaten

300ml milk, warm

1 tbsp flour

1 tbsp water

2 tbsps thin cut marmalade for glazing

Sieve the flour, salt, and spices into a large bowl. Make a well for the sugar, and add the zest and yeast. Pour in the egg and the tepid milk and mix, leaving to sit for a few minutes to activate the yeast.

Now, using your hands or a wooden spoon, fold the flour into the wet well, mixing to make a soft dough. If too wet and sticky add a little flour; if too dry add tepid milk a little at a time. Knead for roughly 5 minutes, pulling the dough away from you and pushing it with your palms and knuckles.

Oil and lightly flour the bowl. Sit the dough in the bowl, cover with a tea towel and place in a warm spot for an hour to prove.

Set the oven to the hottest it will go (roughly 240C).

Knock the air out of the dough on a floured surface, knead briefly, and set aside again to prove for 30 minutes or so.

Then, divide the dough into equal amounts (a small handful) and shape into balls. Lay into lines in a large roasting tin, leaving a three-finger sized gap between each bit of dough. Rest for 20 minutes, covered.

Mix 1 tbsp flour with 1 tbsp water. It should stretch nicely over the buns to form a cross. Do this after the dough has rested and place in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes until brown.

Remove onto a wire rack and glaze with the marmalade whilst still warm. Cut in half, toast again and smother with good butter. You may weep.

Get BAKING.

KOHLRABI

What do you know, kohlrabi is a cabbage. So just like that, I love it.

It is a sweet vegetable, fresh and cooling. It sides perfectly to spices and sour souses. It can be shaved, grated and eaten raw. It can be steamed or stir fried or souped. Sweet sweet kohlrabi, be mine.

COOL KOHLRABI SALAD
for soused mackerel and hot curries

SERVES 3-4 as a side

1 kohlrabi, peeled and de-stemmed
1 tbsp natural yoghurt
juice half a lemon
1 tsp coriander seeds
1 tbsp fennel leaves, roughly chopped
salt and pepper

Shave the kohlrabi with a vegetable peeler into a large bowl and stir the yoghurt and lemon juice.

Meanwhile, toast the coriander seeds over a medium heat until they are warm enough to let off an aroma. Roughly crush the seeds in a pestle and mortar and throw over the kohlrabi. Toss through with the fennel leaves and season.

Simple simple.

Try these kohlrabi combinations too:

Caraway and cucumber
Apple, ginger and fennel
Carrot and cumin
Beetroot and fresh coriander leaves

EXHIBITIONS AND BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING

The boys at the 10 cases are very generously letting me put up a few paintings next Monday (6th Feb).

It'll be a casual affair so please pop your head in, buy a glass of their very good wine and take a glance at some of my scribbles downstairs.

All work will be for sale - it'll be a silent auction, so if you like a particular painting, put your name, number and price in the box and the highest bidder will have something to put on their wall.

Hope you can make it.

Meanwhile, here's my recipe for Bread and Butter Pudding. Two puds in a month, I know, but you can't cut out everything in January.

BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING

Serves a greedy 4

1 loaf sliced brioche, with approx. 12 slices

150g butter

100g sultanas

2 eggs

2 egg yolks

200ml whole milk

150ml double cream

50g caster sugar

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

dash of golden rum (optional)

extra sugar for sprinkling on top

Set the oven to 180 degrees C.

Lightly grease up a deep dish, large enough to tower the brioche slices. Butter the bread on both sides and lay, side by side, in the bottom of the dish. Sprinkle with sultanas. Repeat this until you reach the top of the dish.

In a large measuring jug, whisk the eggs and egg yolks. Mix in the milk and cream. Then add the sugar, spices and rum, if using. When mixed through, gently pour over the bread.

Set the dish aside for at least 45 minutes so that the bread soaks up the cream mix. Sprinkle with any remaining raisins and sugar. Place in the oven and bake for 30 minutes until the top bread layer is golden and crisp.

Best served with a wobble and a generous drizzle of single cream. Pretty good cold too.

PEAR AND GINGER MUFFINS

I like to call these ragamuffins: mini mountains of sponge, scantily constructed with the remnants of near-empty packets (well - I used the last of the butter which just happened to weigh a perfect 50g), rough on the outside but wonderfully soft and moist in the centre.

They are muffins in a ra - ga - mekin.

PEAR AND GINGER RAGAMUFFINS

serves 2

2 halves of tinned pear, sliced

1 ball stem ginger, thinly sliced

2 tsp dark brown sugar/molasses

50g butter

50g golden caster sugar

1 medium egg

50g self-raising flour

1 tbsp ground ginger

1 tbsp icing sugar

2 tbsps pear juice from tin

2 tbsps juice from stem ginger jar

Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Butter two standard-sized ramekins and lay the sliced pear and stem ginger in the bottoms of each. Sprinkle over the dark brown sugar.

Beat the sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add the egg and stir through - the mixture will look scarily wet so don't freak. Sift in the flour with the ginger and fold.

Divide the batter between each ramekin and place in the oven for 20 minutes. By this time they should be risen and golden.

Leave the muffins to cool slightly whilst you make the drizzle: simply dissolve the icing sugar, stirring it into the pear and ginger juices.

With a skewer, poke about 8 holes into each muffin. Pour over the sweet, syrupy juices and serve with the last spoonful from the yoghurt

There you have it, you ragamuffins, you.

ENOKI MUSHROOM, JERUSALEM ARTICHOKE AND SHALLOT TART

There is very little I don't like about food. I eat most of it, grotty or not. But one thing that gets me goat is colourlessness; food which arrives monochrome on the plate. All that comes to cloud the mind is, well, beiiiige, and apart from last season's trench coat, it's not a colour which really lights me up.

Think of the joy when purple beetroot is layered with sweet potato in a gratin - it perks up the chicken rather a lot, don't you think? A bowl of porridge is just gruel to the beholder unless drizzled with a berry compote or a raisin or two. Brie is brie, but not with a dollop of quince jelly. I'm not saying chuck any old rainbow together - if the flavours work, it can make for instant brightness. Call it fussy...

So after all that, I seem to have called the kettle black with a recipe entirely made from beige. And even when - for my aesthetic OCD - I spooned a bit of red tomato jam next to it, I really wish I hadn't.

This is what I like to call the 'winter light box'. (Beige) Enoki mushrooms, (beige) jerusalem artichokes, (beige) fried shallots and(beige) puff pastry. There is no colour. But I love it.

TART OF THE MOST BEAUTIFULLY BEIGE THINGS



serves 2

ingredients

3 large new season jerusalem artichokes, finely sliced
1tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic, crushed
3 sprigs thyme (plus more for last min seasoning)
salt and pepper (plus more for last min seasoning)
small block puff pastry
small knob salted butter
6 shallots, finely sliced
small bunch of enoki mushrooms (beautiful specimens)

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Scatter the artichoke slices in a roasting tin and drizzle with the olive oil, the garlic, thyme and season with salt and pepper. Roast in the oven for 10 minutes until the artichoke is soft and browning. When cooked, keep the oven on.

In a small saucepan, over a medium heat, melt the butter and add the shallots. Fry until soft and almost melting. Do not colour.

Scatter flour onto a surface and a rolling pin. Roll out the pastry to 3mm thick, in the shape of a rectangle. Score the pastry, an inch from the edge, so that you have an inner rectangle shape. Shift the pastry onto a lightly floured baking tray.

Layer the inner rectangle with the buttery shallots, the jerusalem artichokes and top with the enoki mushrooms. Season with salt and a final sprinkling of thyme. Place in the oven for approx. 10 minutes, or until the edges of the pastry are puffed and golden.

Serve with its very beige self.

SWEET AND SPICY TOMATO JAM

SWEET AND SPICY TOMATO JAM
for bacon sandwiches and other midday munchies.


ingredients

makes 1 small jar to serve 6

1 tsp olive oil
1 brown onion, finely chopped
20 cherry tomatoes (on the vine if possible), chopped in half
1 1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 1/2 tsp cumin
5g fresh ginger, finely chopped
1 small red chilli, finely chopped
1/2 tsp molasses
2 tsp golden caster sugar
2 tbsp sherry vinegar

Heat the oil in a small saucepan and add the onion. Fry until soft. Then add the tomatoes. Add all the remaining ingredients together and slowly fry for 45 minutes.

Blitz with a hand blender - you want it smooth but slightly chunky.

This jam can be stored in the fridge for up to two weeks in a sterilised, air tight jar.

Serve with Halloween pumpkin wedges, hard cheese or Sunday roast. Or, best, smothered in a bacon sandwich.

BLACK FIG SALAD

Over the past week my flat has been turned upside down. Once resembling a relatively tidy place of calm, it has now car-crashed into a cave of creative chaos.
Sitting room has transformed into slap-dash studio - canvases half or unpainted on the floor, paintbrushes in jam jars and a faint sniff of white spirit. Kitchen surfaces are a-clutter with fruit and vegetables aside tubes of heavy autumnal oils. The sewing machine has taken up most of my dining room table as napkins sit in a pile waiting to be hemmed.

An eager start to the stitching season.

With very little room for wooden spoons and chopping boards, cooking has become a four-flavour affair. Simple salads, quick porridge and warmed up soups. And the leftovers of my patient paintees.

This recipe was made for me by Clara - our wonderfully talented cook at Books For Cooks. With just a few, perfectly formed ingredients she threw together a plateful of pure goodness - ideal for clutterists like me.

BLACK FIG AND CAVOLO NERO SALAD

SERVES 2 as a main

ingredients

3 large cavolo nero leaves, shredded

1 small radicchio, shredded

2 tbsps olive oil

1 tbsp white wine vinegar

1 large ball of good buffalo mozzarella

3 black figs, quartered

handful basil leaves

salt

Bring a pan of salted water with the cavolo nero and radicchio to the boil. Blanche for 4 minutes. Drain. Heat olive oil in a large saucepan and add the white wine vinegar. Follow with the veg. Season well with salt and pepper and fry for a further 3 minutes.

Arrange the cavolo nero and radicchio on a large serving dish, tear over the mozarella and throw on the figs. Drizzle with a little more olive oil, scatter with the basil leaves and a sprinkling of salt.

SPICED APPLE CAKE

Mum left a bucket of home-fallen apples with me after her last London scamper. I abandoned them in bowl too long, where they met a near soft and sorry end. The only rescue was a long stew.

Stewed for porridge, stewed for my parsnip soup, and stewed for this cake. Perked up and pretty.

for the stewed apple

Peel, core and chop all the apples in your bucket (10 is a good number). Small crunchy apples are best. Place the apples in a large saucepan and set on a medium heat. Add a tsp light brown sugar, a tbsp water and stir. Leave to bubble with the lid on. When soft and sweetened, mash the apples and strain through a sieve (optional). I like to leave them slightly sharp.

for the cake

ingredients

140g soft, unsalted butter
50g stewed apple
250g light brown soft sugar
10ml elderflower cordial/apple juice
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp quatres epices
2 large eggs
220g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
50g natural yoghurt

Preheat the oven to 170°C/ 325°F/ Gas mark 3. Grease two 8in/20cm cake tins and line with bottom with baking parchment.

Melt 10g of the butter in a saucepan and add the stewed apple. Add 50g of the sugar, the juice/cordial and the spices. Fry until the apple begins to caramelise.

Beat the rest of the sugar and butter together until soft, light and fluffy. Add the first egg and mix through. Then do the same with the second.

Sift the flour, baking powder and salt into the creamed batter. Fold them through until evenly mixed.

Stir in the yoghurt and the spiced stewed apple.

Divide the batter equally between the tins and place in the oven to bake for 20 minutes.

When the time is up, the cakes should be golden brown. Check if cooked through with a skewer. If the skewer comes away clean, the cake is done. Leave to cool on a baking tray.


Use some of the leftover stewed apple to fill the middle of the cake, and some to pour over the top. Alternatively, make a butter and yoghurt icing with a touch of elderflower cordial and spread over the bottom layer of the cake: 150g unsalted butter, 30g natural yoghurt, drizzle cordial and 300g icing sugar.

The cake should turn out light and moist. Best served warm for tea.

PEA FRITTATA

This week, after an over-carnivorous jolly at Abergavenny Food Festival, I opted to go meat free. Why? To boost veg intake, to be friendly to the environment, to save a bit of money and to try new things...Yep, all those things. Halo.

So far, the most notable change has been my weak, weak willpower.

There was a minor blip just 24 hours into my new found vegetarianism when I tucked into a juicy leg of chicken without even thinking. The slip-up was purely accidental and I didn't clock until the chook was done and digested. Since, aside from dreaming of more chicken legs, I have been trying to think before I eat.

So far, though shaky, so good. I've denied myself beautiful black pudding-stuffed grouse, and mac and cheese with minuscule shards of pancetta (bacon's just seasoning, right?). I refused leftover lamb and date tagine at work today - something I have never be known to do before. I even used vegetable stock in the recipe below.

The truth is, I often cook vegetarian food - my last blog was beetroot ravioli with sage butter and it was to die for. I certainly don't think you need to eat meat with every meal - vegetables are so very delicious on their own - but I do think that meat is damn hard to turn down when it's offered. This week has been fickle but strengthening, so maybe a week once a month will produce a less-meat-eating-me and - we'll see - a less greedy one...

Here is tonight's vegetarian supper which arrived crispy and light and sweet. No craving the big stuff as of yet.

CRISPY PEA FRITTATA

serves 2

ingredients

2 small floury potatoes, such as Maris Piper, peeled and halved
1 large shallot, thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, crushed
handful of fresh mint leaves
200g petit pois
100g Parmesan, grated
1 tbsp vegetable stock
3 free-range eggs, yolks separated from whites
knob of butter
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4

Bring a pan of salted water to the boil and cook the potatoes until soft. Drain and slice.

Meanwhile, in another saucepan, melt a small knob of butter. Add the onions and soften. Follow with the garlic, peas and stock. Season well and add the Parmesan. Roughly blend with a hand whizzer.

Layer a small, shallow, buttered oven dish with the slice potatoes. Cover with the pea mixture and set aside. Lightly whisk the yolks and season. Now whisk the egg whites in a dry, non-oily bowl until stiff. Gently fold the yolks into the whites - you don't want to bash the air out - and pour over the peas and potatoes.

Place the dish carefully into the oven. Cook for approximately 20 minutes or until the top of the frittata is golden. Drizzle with olive oil, a pinch of sea salt flakes and serve.

Serve as it is with a watercress and spinach salad (or as a perfect accompaniment to a roast chicken lunch. Ouch).

BEETROOT GNOCCHI

This dish reminds me of sluggish pomeriggi in the trattoria of Bologna. Fresh pasta, floury and soft, with a painless, no-frills sauce. And probably a fierce glass of red to wash it down.

Here, the fresh garlic, crisp sage and toasted hazelnuts bring strength and bite to the earthy, soft gnocchini. Gnocchi are simple enough to knock up (there's a bit to do a the beginning but this can all be done in advance) and they go a long way for lunch - you'll be full after a small plate so there will be plenty left over for surprise diners.

BEETROOT GNOCCHI

with, TOASTED HAZELNUTS, FRESH GARLIC & SAGE BUTTER

SERVES 2

ingredients

100g beetroot, peeled and chopped

250g King Edward potatoes, peeled chopped

75g plain flour

1 small/medium free range egg, beaten

salt

100g lightly salted butter

fresh garlic, sliced in rounds

handful sage leaves

approx. 10 hazelnuts, crushed

Parmesan

Bring two pans of salted water to the boil. Put the potatoes in one and the beetroot in the other. Cook the beetroot and the potatoes until soft enough to slip a knife through.

Put the beetroot into a food processor and whizz until pureed. Push the puree through a sieve once or twice to make it really smooth.

Mash the potatoes. They should be light and fluffy with little moisture. Keep them on the heat for a bit if the is any excess water.

Measure out the flour into a deep bowl, or on a floured surface. Make a well in the flour and add the egg, beetroot and potato. Season with salt. Mix through with your fingers, so that the colour of the beetroot spreads evenly. The mixture should turn into a soft dough. If too wet, add more flour.

Cut the dough into equal sized squares and roll into long sausages. This is where you can experiment with size and shape, but to go for the traditional diamond, cut the dough diagonally, every 2-3 cm. Lightly dust with flour.

Bring a pan of salted water to the boil.

Gently toast the hazelnuts in a small pan and set aside.

Meanwhile, melt the butter and add the sliced garlic. You want this to cook very gently before adding the sage. Once the garlic has softened slightly, add the sage to infuse into the butter and crisp up.

Add the gnocchi to the pan. As soon as they float to the top, they'll be ready!

Serve up in a pasta bowl and drizzle with the sage garlic butter. Grate with a generous helping of Parmesan and sprinkle over the hazelnuts.

Talk to no one, look at no one, just eat.

ELDERBERRY ICE CREAM

This vivid magenta ice cream is wonderfully easy to make and, for the most part, is free. Go and pick the elderberries now - they look like deep purple versions of mistletoe; small berries in a bunch, hanging from an eight-stemmed stalk. You'll find them in trees amongst early sloes and damsons and they'll be around for the next month. Their taste is musky and sharp and much less versatile than the blackberry - we don't use them in cooking very much - but get them swimming in sugar and they become berrily potent and sweet.

ELDERBERRY ICE CREAM


ingredients

600ml double cream
100g caster sugar
4 egg yolks, room temperature, whisked
...
200g elderberries, de-stalked and washed
150g caster sugar

Heat the cream and sugar in a large saucepan and whisk until the sugar has dissolved. Bring to the boil and gently and slowly whisk in the egg yolks until thickened to a custard and evenly mixed. Set aside.

In another pan, gently heat the elderberries with the sugar, until the sugar has dissolved and the elderberries are just bursting. You do not want to overcook the berries but make them plump and juicy. Sieve the berries into another bowl, leaving pips and bits of rogue foliage behind. When both the custard and compote are cooled mix them together in a shallow metal bowl. Cover with cling film or tin foil and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to chill and set.

After 30 minutes give the custard a whisk and, unless you have a trendy ice cream machine, transfer to the freezer. Every two hours, whisk up the ice cream so that any ice crystals are mixed in. Do this two or three times before leaving the ice cream to set and freeze before serving. Mine took just over a night and a day to freeze but it depends on the temperature and the fullness of your freezer. It is best eaten within the week but can stay frozen, well covered, for longer.

Scrumptious with crushed Amaretti biscuits and a few fresh mint leaves.

DHAL CURRY AND CARDAMOM SPINACH

This is such a delicious dish to eat in the heat. Two simple core ingredients that don't necessarily scream sunshine and picnics but, unusually, I find them beautifully refreshing.

Put earthy lentils with fresh ginger, curry leaves, cumin, mustard seeds, turmeric and tomatoes, together with delicate spinach and cardamom, and you're diverted to instant summer comfort; as the spices give off warmth, they relax and cool you down. The punch of the sweet and smokey spices grabs tongue and nostrils with one powerful spoonful: fragrant, light, and freakishly moreish.

Serve with natural yoghurt and freshly chopped chilli, a sprinkle of fresh coriander and - for a real dip in the pool - a slice of lime.

DAL CURRY WITH CARDAMOM SPINACH

SERVES 4

200-300g red lentils, previously soaked (though just a good rinse is OK if time is short)
500g water
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 large tomato, deseeded and peeled and chopped
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 tsp cayenne pepper
4 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp black mustard seeds
3/4 tsp cumin seeds
1 shallot, finely chopped
20 fresh curry leaves
thumb-size knob fresh ginger, finely grated
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1kg spinach leaves, rinsed, dried and roughly torn
2 cardamom pods, crushed and ground

to serve:
handful fresh coriander, chopped
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
4 tbsps natural yoghurt
1 lime, cut into four

Heat a large pan with the water and add the lentils. Cook for 15-20 minutes until the water has been absorbed. Be sure to stir the lentils as they cook, to avoid sticking to the pan. Stir in the turmeric, cayenne pepper, chopped tomato, puree and set aside.

Heat up a saucepan and add the crushed cardamom. The light aroma of the seeds will release with heat. Add the spinach and cover. Spinach contains enough water within its leaves, so no needs to add water. Add a touch of olive oil, season, and stir. Keep in the pan, off the heat, until ready to serve.

Meanwhile, heat up a frying pan with the mustard and cumin seeds. When the mustard seeds begin to pop, add a little oil and the chopped shallot, and fresh curry leaves. When the onions have softened, add the garlic and ginger. Fry for another minute, making sure the garlic does not burn.

Stir the shallot mix into the lentils and gently heat through.

Serve the lentils on a bed of the wilted cardamom spinach. Garnish with the coriander, fresh chilli and yoghurt and wedge of lime.

Best eaten in the garden at sunset after a hot day with a cool beer. (Well, any excuse, really).

9 hours til 6

For most, the weekend has already started; for me it starts at 6.

So, for everyone, whatever time you crack on, here's a crunchy cocktail to get your Saturday swinging. Hair o' dog or dare o' Hogg?

GIN, ELDERFLOWER AND POMEGRANATE COOLER

ice
1 shot Gin (I go Gordon's)
dash of Prosecco
50ml elderflower and pomegranate sparkling water
30ml orange juice (no bits)
10 pomegranate seeds and a splash of its juice

In that order. Stir and sip.

RASPBERRY AND ALMOND FLAPJACKS

Quick to whip up, blooming gorgeous to look at, and irresistibly scrumptious to eat.

RASPBERRY AND ALMOND FLAPJACKS


makes about 20

ingredients

150g salted butter
5 large tbsps set honey
80g golden caster sugar
250g jumbo porridge oats
100g raspberries
50g toasted flaked almonds

dried rose petals to decorate

Preheat the oven to 200˚C/400˚F/Gas mark 6.

Line a small, shallow baking tray with baking parchment and set aside.

Melt the butter, honey and sugar in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Reduce the heat to very low and gently stir in the oats. Remove from the heat and add the raspberries. Stir them through. You want them to break up slightly so the flavour melts through the oats. Mix in the almonds.

Spread the oat mix onto the to baking parchment and pat it down so that the oats are compact. Place in the hot oven for 15 minutes, or until the flapjacks are golden brown. If the edges start to burn, don't panic! Trim them off and sprinkle over natural yogurt, or use in a crumble topping.

Slice the jacks with a sharp knife as soon as they come out of the oven so they are soft to cut, then leave them to cool on a wire rack.

Very good with a pot of tea, or if you are picnicking in the park, they taste even better alongside a cheeky bottle of elderflower cider!

BASHFUL RADISH

There's something about radishes that makes me laugh...

Sweet, petite, with a peppery kick, they have an all-too similar nature to teenage girls. Moving in stubborn, intimidating bunches, never daring to be seen alone, it's almost as though if one split the pack the others would follow behind, teetering along on their little pointy roots. The thin outer shade of a little Cherry Belle - a solid layer of bright pink - matches that of post-first-kiss cheeks and sheer embarrassment; on the inside all colour drains, hiding a pale and translucent white, freaking out inside. Ha. Girls, we all remember the feeling...

Mild globe-shaped radishes (the easiest to grow in the UK) are slowly creeping into the markets, ready to bowl into April with full whack. The ones I bought were sitting pretty on Cheryl's Portobello fruit and veg stall, amongst spring greens, purple sprouting broccoli, fresh garlic and early rhubarb, and I couldn't resist an early bite into Spring.

The flavour of our modest radish is so fresh it's best eaten raw. So for a sweet, spicy, crispy crunch I thought I'd make a Goats Cheese and Radish Raita to spread over my freshly baked wholemeal sourdough. Great seasoned with a bit of salt and a few mint leaves. And delicious with new season lamb for a heartier bite.

You can either mix the radish and mint in with the yoghurt and cheese or just layer it on top. Last-minute layering keeps the Raita fresher and thicker for longer, otherwise the water from the radish tends to seep into the yoghurt. It's also a great excuse to get everyone making their own starter at dinner!

GOATS CHEESE, RADISH AND MINT RAITA

with homemade wholemeal sourdough


serves 4-6

ingredients

75g soft welsh goats cheese
75g natural yoghurt
200g mild (or strong if you like a kick in the teeth) small radishes
bunch of fresh mint leaves
8 slices of fresh wholemeal sourdough
sea salt to taste

Mix the goats cheese in with the yoghurt and serve in a large bowl and season with a little salt. Thinly slice eight radishes, removing and keeping hold of the leafy stalks for a wilted salad later on. Serve with mint and thinly sliced sourdough on a large board. Leave some radishes whole so that when the bread has run out diners can dip the whole thing into the Raita. Place in the middle of the table and dive in. Beautiful.

Don't be alarmed if a bunch of radishes start screaming and disappear together to the loo...

MARI LOU'S BUNS

Mari Lou and I made a pact. If I turn up early an hour early for work, keen to cook, she'd teach me how to make steamed buns for our lunch. Without hesitation, I greedily agreed and hauled myself out of bed the next morning, elbows greased, ready for a knead.

And Boy! was it worth it and Oh! what a lunch we had. Gorgeous little steamy parcels stuffed with sweetly spiced onions, soft roasted squash and salty feta, with Clara's beautiful green lentil salad on the side. Slicing into a dumpling with its gentle puff of air and sinking teeth slowly into the dough with its soft texture and springy bite was nothing other than Faint.

BUTTERNUT SQUASH, CARAMELISED ONION AND FETA STEAMED BUNS


makes 10-12 medium sized dumplings
ingredients

The dough:
750g self raising flour
300ml warm water
1 tsp sugar
1/2 cup milk
1 sachet Easy dry yeast
Pinch salt

The filling:
1 large butternut squash, peeled and chopped into 2cm x 2cm cubes

10 white onions
2 tbsp sweet chilli
2 tbsp oyster sauce
2 tbsp Kikkomam soy sauce

200g feta, crumbled

Mix the dry ingredients with the flour in a large bowl and make a well in the centre. Fold in the wet ingredients and delicately mix the ingredients with your fingers. When the dough is fully combined, turn it out onto a floured surface and knead until smooth, adding flour to prevent it sticking to the table and your hands.

Cover, and leave to rise for almost 2 hours in a warm, draught-free spot (on top of a cooling oven or in the airing cupboard) so the dough has doubled in size. Then, knock the air out, pulling the dough gently so the gluten becomes active. The dough should be soft and spring back when you press it. If not, knead a little more, and leave to rise, covered, for another hour.

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas mark 6. Place the butternut squash in a roasting tin, drizzle with olive oil and roast for 25 minutes until soft. Set aside

Soften the onions in a pan with a large knob of butter. Add the sweet chilli, oyster sauce and soy and reduce down for about 10 minutes so the onions have caramelised. Set aside.

When the dough is ready, cut off equal sized pieces with a sharp knife. Roll out into circles on a floured surface with a rolling pin. Place approx. 2 tbsp of the squash, onions and feta into the centre, and fold the edges round it like a little handkerchief bundle. To seal the corners dab a little bit of water and twist together so there are no gaps. Leave the buns to rise for 30-45 minutes in a bamboo steamer, off the heat.

Heat a pan of enough water so that, when placing the steamer on top, the water does not touch it. Bring the water to the boil and steam the buns for 15 minutes. Remove from the heat and serve. They will be very hot inside so, after slicing, leave a few seconds to cool before sinking your teeth in. The dough should be white, soft and moist and the filling hot, salty and sweet.


Truly dumpling-scrumptious and always room for another. Thank you Mari Lou, you genius you.