Turkey, apricot and hazelnut pilaff

This is adapted from an ancient Good Housekeeping recipe given to me by my friend Wendy. The orginal uses leftover turkey but I usually roast a small chicken and wrestle the meat from the carcass when it's cold. We have this every Easter, with a plate of cold cooked ham, my mum's macaroni cheese, Greek salad and our friend Jacqui's cheese pie.

When Wendy cooked this for us years ago, she did this mental salad as a starter: stilton, avocado, proscuttio, mango and coriander leaves dressed with passionfruit pulp. Works really well with the apricots in the pilaf. She also does a mean meatball sub.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil (or hazelnut)
• 8 baby onions, peeled and halved
• 3 cloves garlic crushed 
• 1 tablespoon medium curry powder
• 2 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 teaspoon mixed spice
• 2 sticks of celery, finely sliced
• 125g semi-dried apricots, cut into halves
• 225g brown rice
• 750ml chicken stock
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
•  350g cooked turkey meat, shredded, or the meat from a small whole chicken
• 125g trimmed small French green beans
• 50g toasted peeled hazelnuts (roast then roll in a towel and the skins will come off)
• flat leaf parsley to serve

---

Method

Heat the oil in a large pan and stir-fry the onions, celery, garlic, curry powder, ground coriander and mixed spice for 5-10 minutes, until onions are brown and softened. Add the apricots, rice and chicken stock. Bring to the boil and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper and simmer, covered for about 20 minutes - stirring often. Check whether the rice is tender and if all the stock has been absorbed. Add a little extra stock or water until the rice is cooked.  Stir in the remaining ingredients and cook for a further 10 mins. Check the seasoning, and garnish with flat leaf parsley.

Chicken and couscous

I like to give the impression that I've tweaked an Ottelenghi recipe to improve on it in some way, like I've found it lacking in acidity or something. Truth is I've usually veered off about three quarters into the process on discovering that I haven't got about six of the ingredients and end up substituting them with alternatives from the badly stocked petrol station round the corner.

This is roughly built around the lovely winter couscous recipe, from Plenty. Only I added a bulb of fennel to the vegetables and some cardamom to the couscous. And a chicken. And I left out two star anise, just being tight. My description of this dish to my youngest gave him the impression that it came with a bag of roast chicken crisps emptied over the top so he was gutted.

Needless to say they preferrred the 'trifles' they assembled themselves for pudding: a stale  fairy cake (£1.02 for 16 in Morrisons), pushed with a pencil into the bottom of a sundae glass, topped with tinned peaches, a layer of instant custard and topped with squirty cream (only the first one got the mould). I think they added a final flourish of Halloween Haribos. All ingredients available from the BP.

Ingredients

2 carrots, peeled and cut into 2cm chunks
2 parsnips, peeled and cut into 2cm chunks
4 shallots, peeled
2 cinnamon sticks
2 star anise
3 bay leaves
5 tbsp olive oil
1½ tsp salt
½ tsp ground ginger
½ tsp ground turmeric
½ tsp paprika
½ tsp chilli flakes
300g squash, peeled and cut into 2cm chunks (cleaned weight)
100g dried apricots, roughly chopped,
200g tinned chickpeas
350ml water
170g couscous
1 big pinch saffron strands
260ml chicken stock
20g butter, cut into small pieces
4 cardamom pods
25g harissa
25g preserved lemon, finely chopped
1 handful picked coriander leaves

Cook a chicken, stuff it with a lemon and drizzle with olive oil, fresh thyme salt and pepper. About an hour and a half on 180C (fan) probably.

After the chicken has been in the oven for about 20 mins, put the carrots, parsnips and shallots into a large, oven-proof dish, add the cinnamon, star anise, bay leaves, four tablespoons of oil, half a teaspoon of salt and all the spices, and mix. Roast for 15 minutes, then add the squash, stir and roast for 35 minutes more, by which time the vegetables should have softened but retained their bite. Add the apricots, chickpeas and liquid, then return to the oven for 10 minutes, until hot.

Around 15 minutes before the vegetables will be ready, put the couscous in a heatproof bowl with a tablespoon of olive oil, the saffron, the cardamom and half a teaspoon of salt. Boil the stock, pour over the couscous and cover with clingfilm. Leave for 10 mins.

When the chicken is cooked and has rested for about 10 mins, tear the meat from the carcass (use rubber gloves it will still be hot) and put it on a warm plate. If the skin isn't crispy, fry pieces of it in a frying pan over a medium heat for two or three minutes.

Lift the bones from the roasting pan and empty the couscous into the juces and stir it around.

To serve, fill the base of a deep plate with couscous. Stir the harissa and lemon into the vegetables, taste, adjust the seasoning and spoon on to the centre of the couscous. Top with the shredded chicken, crispy skin and garnish with lots of coriander.

Snowed in pasta

Bizarrely, for a family that has a panic line drawn around the inside of the bathroom cupboard to indicate an emergency situation with toilet paper stocks, and a corner of the garage designated to cornichon storage, we find ourselves in a Ready Steady Cook situation when snowed in. Every time.

In the fridge there are six chicken thigh fillets that were defrosted three days ago and a large tub of black cherry Onken with a spoon in it. Chicken and pasta sounds depressing for grown ups so I cook the thighs (cut into three) with a chopped onion and add a drop of red wine, a carton of passata and some fresh thyme and put it in the oven for the children to have while we try to think of something more sophisticated for us to have later.

As it happens, it smells so good an hour later that we quickly fry up some pancetta and mushrooms to bulk it out and we all have it with linguine, and a really desperate looking salad of little gem and tomatoes. Not bad in the circs.

Lamb and spinach curry

 

Neck of lamb has a good flavour, and is cheap, but it's very fatty. If you make this the day before and put it outside overnight, the fat will solidify on the top and you can lift it off before reheating gently in a medium oven (160c) for about an hour.

Sometimes the fat comes off in one solid disk, which is very fun, but a bit scary when you think that if you had cooked that tomorrow you'd have eaten it. Also you then have to walk about for half an hour with a disk of slowly melting fat, wondering what to do with it. DON'T PUT IT DOWN THE SINK (see previous reference to blocked sewer in yellow curry recipe).

 

Ingredients

700g lamb neck fillet, cut into chunks of about 3cm
1 tbsp oil
2 large onions, roughly chopped
4 large garlic cloves, peeled and roughly chopped
25g chunk fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped
1 fresh red chilli, chopped (deseeded if you like)
3tbsp curry paste
500g carton passata
350 waxy potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks (Cyprus are good)
350ml chicken stock or water
2 bay leaves
1 tsp salt
1 tsp caster sugar
3 ripe, medium tomatoes, quartered (optional)
100g fresh spinach leaves (washed well, and destalked)
Handful of fresh coriander, chopped.
Ground black pepper

Directions

Preheat the oven to 165c / 140c Fan / Gas 5.

Parboil the potatoes to soften them very slightly. If you don't do this give the curry an extra half an hour in the oven, with 100ml more water or stock.

Blitz the onions, garlic, ginger and chilli in a mini processor to make a paste.

Season the lamb and fry it in half the oil, and in two batches until browned all over. Remove to a plate.

Heat the other half of the oil in the same pan fry the onion mixture for two minutes. Add the curry paste and cook, stirring, for another two minutes.

Add the browned lamb to the spiced onion puree in the dish and cook over a gentle heat for two minutes, stirring. Add the passata, potatoes, water, bay leaves, tsp of salt and the sugar. Bring everything to a gentle simmer, then cover with a lid and palce the casserole in the oven for two hours or until the lamb is tender and the sauce has thickened. Give it a good stir after one hour.

Take the dish out of the oven and remove the lid. Stir in the quartered tomatoes and spinach. Cover and return to the oven for a further five minutes or until the tomatoes are soft and the spinach has wilted. Serve hot, sprinkled with coriander.

Serves six

Paella

We are sharing a big dish of paella and discussing where to go on holiday. "This is awful," says the youngest. "What are are these bouncy circles? Why do you have to put plants in everything?"

"What about Africa?" We all very much enjoyed David Attenborough's recent trip and if you don't take too much notice of the after bit when the crew go on about it taking nine months to get one shot of a turtle, it's fair to assume that a similarly rich experience could be captured in a couple of weeks.

"Yeah I've heard Oscar Pistorius' place is empty."

"But no lock on the bathroom lol."

"Actually he wanted to repair the bathroom door but his girlfriend was dead aginst it."

"Do I have to have the yellow stuff on my crouton or is there any Chocolate Philadelphia left?"

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 6 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, cut into three
• 75g cooking chorizo cut into thick slices
• Two medium onions, peeled and chopped
• 1 red pepper, quartered, deseeded and sliced
• 1 yellow pepper, quartered, deseeded and sliced
• 150g/5½oz green beans, trimmed and cut into 2cm lengths
• 3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
• 2 tsp smoked paprika (the smokiness really makes a difference. I got mine from next door)
• 2 good pinches saffron threads
• 1 bay leaf
• 175g/6oz paella rice (arborio would do)
• 1 litre hot chicken stock
• 1 bag Sainsbury's Taste the Difference frozen seafood. Better to use raw prawns. these are cooked but I picked them out to have in a sandwich the next day and used some raw ones)

 

Method

1. Heat the oil in a 38cm/15in paella pan or a very wide, shallow non-stick saucepan, flameproof casserole dish or sauté pan.
2. Place the pan over a medium heat. Season the chicken thighs with salt and black pepper and fry them for about five minutes, turning every now and then until lightly coloured. Add the chorizo and cook for 30 seconds more, turning once. Transfer the chicken and chorizo to a large heatproof bowl with a slotted spoon, leaving the fat in the pan.
3. Add the onions to the pan and fry gently for 4–5 minutes until softened and very lightly browned, stirring occasionally. Add the peppers and green beans to the onions and cook for two minutes until they are beginning to soften. Stir in the garlic, smoked paprika, saffron, bay leaf and rice and cook for 1–2 minutes until the rice is glistening all over.
4. Return the chicken and chorizo to the pan, along with any juices. Stir well, then pour in the chicken stock and season with black pepper. Stir once or twice and bring to a simmer over a medium heat. Cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Scatter the seafood over the top of the paella and stir well. Continue cooking for 4–5 minutes until almost all the liquid has been absorbed.
6. It’s important not to keep stirring – you want the rice to become lightly browned and a bit sticky at the sides of the pan as this adds flavour. Keep an eye on the heat though, as you don’t want the rice to burn. Add a splash more water if the paella begins to look very dry before the rice is ready. 
7. Serve hot with lemon wedges and parsley.

 

This is brilliant served with aioli croutons (bake thin slices of baguette brushed with olive oil until crisp and dollop with a mayonnaise made by slowly whisking a cup of sunflower oil to one egg yolk, 1tsp dijon mustard, a pinch of salt and 1 clove garlic.)

Contraindications

Having a child at home sick is usually a bit fun, in a way: no need to wash your hair; impossible to work ("So sorry, completely unable to focus, it's the worry of everything and all the appointments.."); walk dogs or go to the supermarket.

It's also pretty much ok to have the telly on all day, but this has become more of a feature rather than a benefit of the situation as the patient's standard interrogative conversational style has taken on a self-righteous bark that is blatantly a product of watching too much daytime advertising: "Are our pets properly insured?", "Are you concerned that our elderly relatives won't be able to contact us in the case of an emergency?", "Had an accident at work?".

To break the tedium we go to the doctors and pick up a prescription for antibiotics, which can't be issued without difficulty because the till in the pharmacy has broken. "Sorry I can't help you we're unable to open the till," whinges the assistant with Nik Kershaw hair and lipstick to match her glasses. "Only if you've got the right money." I don't need to pay for the antibiotics so this doesn't present too much of a problem. I am however, in need of some Nytol and if the wretched till was working could get away with buying some because I'm pretty sure Kershaw wasn't working when I last bought some three weeks ago and wouldn't usher me into the consultation room for a scripted bleat about habit forming behaviours and the three nights in a row rule.

It takes three customers paying with the right money for £3.24 to accumulate on the counter, which is the change I'll need from a tenner for the Nytol. So far so good, only the atmosphere has taken a turn for the worse and you feel it is only the low-level infection among the gathering crowd that is stopping it from looting. "I only need £3.24 change, well call it £3.20 if it's easier and..." "I'M UNABLE TO HELP YOU I'M VERY SORRY UNLESS YOU HAVE THE RIGHT MONEY," Well I only need £3.20, £3 even would be fine..."

Desperation to secure your drugs, even at an inflated price, is a clear signifier of addiction and a wave of "Well that's how it is with them" eye contact ripples around the store.

Meanwhile the child, bored now with the plastic spoon that accompanies his medication, has moved on to the leaflet of contraindications. "I'm allergic to these antibiotics," he announces two minutes after his first dose, which we administer on the doorstep as I have forgotten to pick up a key and we are locked out. "Itchy palms and feet. I also have a sore throat." Pointing out that a sore throat is the reason for taking the antibiotics in the first place falls on deaf ears. "It's a different sore throat. Look at my hands. They've gone all lumpy. Quick let's climb through the window before my fingers are so swollen I can't bend them."

He slips through the window like an eel. I'm surprised that he knows to do this, but it turns out that this is the only route into the kitchen from the front room since the front room door handle fell off. "JEEEZ. You need to keep an eye on this. I could go into anaphalactic shock in the night," he calls from the office a bit later on. "And that Nytol One a Night is indicated for twice-only use so it's probably a good thing that the lady started shouting when you tried to grab that money."

A soup for poorly nanas

‘For fuck’s sake I thought you were dying!’ is perhaps not the cheeriest opening gambit with which to greet your ailing grandmother, but after billing this visit as ‘difficult, you’ll be shocked at how altered she is...so frail,’ it was frankly irritating to find her fully dressed in the kitchen, gaily chopping up vegetables and shouting at the squirrels on the bird table. A far cry from the ghoul-made-out-of-tinned turkey breast-look she was working the day before; one eye slowly blinking from the dark and cavernous mouth of a highly flammable dressing gown.

Anyway we took her some soup and a sticky wodge of BP’s lemon drizzle cake. There’s a fine line between making this sort of soup and clearing out the fridge; hence the baked beans. Would not however advocate the inclusion of half a Malteser Bunny or Clinique All About Eyes serum.

Ingredients

1tbsp olive oil
1 onion
2 sticks celery
2 carrots
1 clove garlic
1 tbsp tomatoe puree
1 tin tomatoes
1 vegetable or chicken stock cube and 250ml hot water or 250ml stock
2 handfuls spinach (stalks removed)
1 tin chickpeas, barlotti beans, kidney beans ro whatever dubious looking beans you can find in the fridge
1 tsp oregano

Method

Finely chop the onion and soften it in the olive oil for a couple of minutes. Roughly chop the carrot and celery and thrown them in with the squashed clove of garlic.

When the vegetables are soft, stir in the tomato puree, tin of tomatoes and the stock or hot water. After about 10 minutes, the tomato pulp will have separated from the oil on the surface. Now add the beans or pulses, oregano and spinach.

Warm everything through for another five minutes. Serve with grated parmesan and good bread.

 

Ingredients