Penne con Salsiccia (or Sausage Pasta)

Posted on 01/03/2015 by Anna

So I promised you easy, everyday family food and then give you shortbread. This is to make up for it. For those days when I have so much on my to do list I can’t think straight and whilst busy writing and testing a couple of recipes I don’t actually have anything for supper. For those days you need emergency food that can be conjured up from whatever you might keep in your fridge or larder.

Any day of the week my daughter would choose pasta for tea. Ideally a Bolognese type ragu or this sausage pasta. My son however doesn’t like pasta or sausages…. Quite a conundrum and this tends to remain for days when he is out. I must stress though that of all the people, child or adult, who have tried this, he is the only one who doesn’t like it!

I love this though and whenever I cook it for my daughter I hover greedily and wish I had thought of it for our supper. Speedy and simple, the sauce takes no more time to make than the pasta does to cook. Add as much or as little chilli as you like depending on your diners. I struggle to find spicy, Italian sausages around here so add heat with some dried chilli flakes whose smoky flavour is perfect here. Should you be able to find some genuine salsiccia (you lucky thing) the taste a bit once it is cooked before adding chilli in case it is not required.

This is supremely comforting, quick, cheap and easy – what more could you want?

Sausage Pasta

I might add the some leaf spinach along with the cream and water if this is for our dinner letting it wilt in the heat of the sausage sauce. My daughter would be horrified if I did this to her favourite supper so I tend to leave the spinach out for her but sometimes I add some peas…..

1 tablespoon oil

6 good sausages, skin removed

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

Pinch of chilli flakes (see above)

1 tablespoon cream

1/2 a small bunch of parsley, chopped

150g short pasta, I use penne but it is up to you

Parmesan to serve

Cook the pasta as per the packet instructions. Heat the oil in a frying pan and cook the sausage, breaking it up as much as you can. When it is starting to look a little brown and crisping around the edges add the garlic and chilli. Cook for a few more minutes to lose the rawness in the garlic and then add the cream and 3 tablespoons of water out of the pasta pan. When the pasta is cooked drain then add to the pan with the sausage, give it all a good mix, taste and see what seasoning it needs then sprinkle over the parsley and serve with lots of grated parmesan. Enough for 2 but easily doubled or tripled.

Cheddar is King

Posted on 18/11/2014 by Anna

When it comes to cheese, Cheddar is King. I feel some intakes of breath and raised eyebrows so let me explain. I love cheese, absolutely adore the stuff. Blue cheese, soft cheese, smelly cheese, holey cheese, hard cheese – you name it, it works for me. If however and God forbid, I had to choose just one cheese then it would have to be cheddar and this is why.

Parmesan is fabulous – strong, salty and perfect grated on pasta, shaved over salads or in chunks after dinner with a perfect pear – but I don’t want it in a cheese and pickle sandwich. Gorgonzola in a warm salad with mushrooms or melted over my onion tart tatin is splendid but I wouldn’t want it in my cauliflower cheese. Sharp white feta – just the ticket in a Greek salad or my Feta and Spinach parcels but honestly has no place in a wobbly, fluffy cheese souffle. Do you see where I am going with this? All cheeses have their perfect place, some can even adapt to a couple of occasions but there is only one contender for the main prize, one that can do everything, the supreme all rounder – the mighty cheddar.

Sweet, tangy, nutty, salty it is just divine and a regular in my fridge. In fact since I first set out into the big wide world and had to fend for myself I don’t think my shopping basket has ever been without it. First few weeks in London – cheese on toast with Worcester sauce to remind me of Yorkshire Saturdays in front of the wrestling. Studying for my city exams – cheese and pickle sandwiches for a week so as to have no cooking distraction. Oh and when I say cheese in both these cases I do of course mean cheddar.

It is a saviour when I need to rustle up a packed lunch from a skeleton fridge or for a snack and I’m sure barely a week goes by without it being the main feature – cheese souffle, cauliflower cheese, Welsh rarebit, cheesy leeks on toast, a grand Saturday ploughmans or my daughters favourite, plain pasta with butter and cheese.

This then, is a new best friend. A love child if you will from a grilled cheese sandwich and a steak sarnie. The melty cheddar forms an alliance between the savoury, meaty juices and the sweet onion relish that has to be tasted to be believed. That it is all incased in toasty, crisp bread is simply gilding the lily. It is superb, it is supreme. Just try it.

Barbers 1833 Cheddar and Steak Sandwich with Quick Onion Relish

You might want to add a handful of rocket or watercress to the sandwich for a little peppery bite, not that it needs it but you might like the greenery.

1 teaspoon butter

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 small onion (snooker ball size), chopped

1 heaped teaspoon dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

1 steak, approx 250g

2 thick slices of good, rustic bread – a sourdough or similar

50g good strong cheddar, I used Barbers 1833, thinly sliced

Melt the butter and oil in a small frying pan, add the onion and a pinch of salt and cook slowly until soft, about 15 minutes. Stir in the sugar, balsamic and a teaspoon of water and cook for another 15 minutes by which time you should have a sticky relish, taste it as you may need a drop or two more of balsamic. Cook your steak how you like but rare to medium rare works best for this, then sprinkle with salt and leave to rest for at least 5 minutes. Whilst it is resting preheat your grill to high, toast the bread and then divide the cheese between the two slices of toast and put under the grill until the cheese is melting. Place your rested steak onto one slice of cheesy toast, spread over the onion relish and top with the remaining slice. Cut in half and tuck in.

I recently attended the BBC Good Food Fair as a guest of Barbers1833 who kindly gave me some of their delicious cheddar which I used for this and several other recipes. I was already a fan of their cheddar and regularly buy it from my local farmshop. By the way, I have previously made my Cheese Sables with Rosemary Salt (December 2013) which rely on a belting cheddar, with Barbers1833 and they were amazing.

Chorizo and Potatoes

Posted on 18/05/2014 by Anna

Is there anything that doesn’t taste better with a bit of chorizo in it? I love that rich, spicy flavour and the way it imparts its sunny personality into other ingredients. Chorizo has great shelf life and is fantastic to have in the fridge for those inevitable moments when you have empty beaks to feed and the cupboard is bare.

This is one of my children’s favourites, unbelievably quick and only uses 5 ingredients. If you don’t have any potatoes, make Chorizo and Beans (365 things to eat, June 2013) or for a more summery feel, Chorizo, Tomatoes and Green Beans (September 2013).

Chorizo with Potatoes

I use the Goikoa Spanish chorizo which I buy in Waitrose, it comes in a 260g horseshoe but any other cooking chorizo would be fine too.

1 teaspoon olive oil

1/2 ‘horseshoe’ Chorizo

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

4 medium new/waxy potoates

Small tin chopped tomatoes, approx 227g

Small handful parsley, chopped

Heat the oil in a pan over a low heat, slice the chorizo and add it to the pan. Meanwhile slice the potatoes and cook until tender then drain. When the chorizo is beginning to colour on both sides, add the garlic and cook for a minute followed by the tomatoes. Let this simmer for 3-4 minutes then put the drained potatoes into the pan, turn them so they are coated with the tomato sauce, finally sprinkle over the parsley. This serves 2 but is easily doubled, just use the whole horseshoe of chorizo and a normal 400g tin of tomatoes.

Chicken with Peppers and Onions

Posted on 05/03/2014 by Anna

I look through cook books and magazines checking out the new recipes or twists on classics and whilst I love some of the ideas and promise myself I will try this or that, what I really want is a simple idea for supper. What to cook for supper. How many times do you ask yourself that in a week? Well presumably 7 but add to that some children’s teas or a supper party for friends and it become a highly repetitive question. What I would rather not have however, is highly repetitive suppers – you know, chicken on Mondays, sausages on Tuesdays etc.

So we need more supper dishes. Something stress free that won’t demand too much attention or time at the end of the day, won’t break the bank and is properly lip smacking delicious.

This then, ticks all those boxes. A few ingredients bunged in a pan and roasted in the oven. What a testimony to the sum being so much greater than the parts. Crispy skin on the chicken, soft sweet peppers and onions with a winey sauce that is nothing short of divine. This cooks itself whilst you pour yourself a glass of wine and get on with something else, or better still, with nothing at all.

Chicken with Peppers and Onions

I serve this with something green, usually wilted spinach or green beans and new or waxy potatoes, roasted in the oven at the same time as the chicken. It’s a great, easy, weekday supper but also something I would happily serve to friends. You can up the amount of chilli flakes if you like, I usually leave them out if the children are eating this with us.

2 medium onions, peeled and cut into sixths

1 large pepper, red, orange or yellow, cut into slices

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

1 desertspoon olive oil

2 chicken legs (or 4 chicken thighs in which case reduce the cooking time a little)

Salt and pepper

1/4 teaspoon dried chilli flakes (optional)

100ml white wine

Fresh parsley or oregano, a small handful chopped

Preheat the oven to 200. Put the onion, pepper and garlic in a baking pan and turn in the olive oil. Put the chicken legs on top, give it a good sprinkle of salt and pepper and the chilli flakes if using. Cook in the oven for 30 minutes then pour in the wine and give it a further 15 minutes. If your chicken legs are large you may need a little more time. When the chicken is bronzed and cooked and the vegetables soft remove from the oven, sprinkle over the herbs. Serves 2 but easily double or tripled.

For some other fab supper ideas try Claypot Chicken (May 2013 and no, you don’t need a clay pot) which still reigns supreme in top spot. Nipping at its heels though is Chicken with Harissa (October 2012)…. one of my very early recipes and one still without a photograph I’m afraid but well worth a try.

Girls’ Night In

Posted on 28/02/2014 by Anna

Some years ago, before marriage and children, a girl’s nights in seemed to be a fairly frequent occurrence and enormous fun. Different in those days though when, to be frank, a couple of bottles of wine, a packet of cigarettes and a video (remember those) of Take That Live made for a belting evening with the girls. You know who you are!

These days however, finding a free evening is a different ball game. Children need ferrying from one after school activity to another and there is a husband to be fed. The girlfriends from those heady, single gal days are now dotted around the World rather than living just down the road and the Take That video looks like a sad relic next to all the dvds.

So I was particularly pleased when a couple of Dorset friends suggested coming over for wine, movies, popcorn and ice cream. We are going to kick off with frozen raspberry daiquiris, a grown up slush puppy. I persuade myself that the lime juice and berries go some way towards off setting the rum and the fabulous bright zingy pink seems a suitably girly start. Then chilli – perfect fork food to eat in front of a film, spicy and warming. Rich with tomatoes, earthy cumin and a good blast of heat from the chilli and cayenne. Alongside I will offer the essential sour cream, grated cheddar, extra chillies and home made tortilla chips. For pudding I have good vanilla ice cream in the freezer and the wherewithal for either hot chocolate sauce or salted caramel sauce depending on our mood.

All that remains is to decide whether it will be a “no one puts Baby in the corner”, “Goose, you big stud” or “Kevin, I think I broke your shower” evening…..

Chilli

There are probably hundred of recipes for Chilli but this is how I make it. You can go the cubed beef or mince route – I use mince just because that is what I have always done and a little nostalgia is not a bad thing on a Girls’ night. For the tortilla chips, I buy regular tortillas and cut them into 6 or 8, brush lightly with oil, sprinkle with a little salt and bake at 200 for about 5 minutes or until crisp. They are just right with the chilli but you could serve rice too. You can cook this ahead of time or the day before.

1 tablespoon oil

1 onion, chopped

1 yellow, red or orange pepper, sliced

4 cloves garlic, finely chopped

400g beef mince

2 heaped teaspoons cumin

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 – 1/2 cayenne pepper (I do a 1/4 if serving to children, 1/2+ for adults)

250ml red wine

1 tablespoon tomato puree

1 tablespoon tomato ketchup

1 tin chopped tomatoes

2 tins of kidney beans, drained and rinsed

Chopped parsley or coriander, whichever you prefer

Preheat the oven to 150. Heat the oil in a large pan and soften the onions and pepper for about 10 minutes until soft. Add the garlic followed by the mince and cook, stirring, until brown. Add the cumin, salt, cayenne and a generous amount of black pepper, then the tomatoes, puree, ketchup and wine. Give it a good stir, bring to a simmer, put on the lid and cook in the oven for an hour, add the kidney beans and cook for a further hour. Check for seasoning, sprinkle over the parsley or coriander and serve with whichever accompaniments you choose. Enough for 4 with rice.

Firecracker Red Cabbage and Sausages

Posted on 07/11/2013 by Anna

It took me a while to come around to Guy Fawkes night as a child. I found the whole Guy business both slightly mad and macabre. Firstly because they always looked like a giant pair of tights stuffed with old clothes tied with baler twine and sporting a huge hat over the grinning face. Rarely worth a penny I thought. Macabre because I didn’t really like the idea of burning anyone although I did realise it was purely symbolic. Childish anxieties I guess.

What would cheer me up however was the promise of something good to eat whilst standing around an enormous bonfire. I can see it now on our village green, almost two storeys high, a huge beast of a fire shooting sparks into the night sky and belting out heat. There was usually the promise of a toffee apple, good for nibbling the toffee off only to be left with a rather sticky green apple on a wobbly stick. Or cinder toffee, crunchy, splintering and sticking your teeth together. Always on offer were hot dogs, proper sausages rather than frankfurters with a good squirt of ketchup which inevitably found its way onto your woolly gloves.

Sadly our fireworks were rained off this week but if they hadn’t been this is what we would have been eating as a relish with our hot dogs. Sweet, tangy and with a good kick of chilli it is delicious in a bun with a good banger on top. It would be just as at home served on the side with some sausages or perhaps with roast pork or maybe a ham. Ideas, ideas….

Firecracker Red Cabbage

As I was making this I cast an eye over a jar of chilli jelly which you could very easily use in place of the redcurrant jelly and chilli flakes – the reason I didn’t was because they vary so much in their heat so difficult to suggest how much to use. You could give it a try and taste as you go. This amount of chilli means my children are happy with it, add more if you want.

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 small onion, chopped

1/2 red cabbage, quite finely chopped

Good pinch of salt

1/4 teaspoon chilli flakes

2 tablespoons redcurrant jelly

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Heat the oil in a large pan, add the onion and stir. Add the red cabbage and give it a good stir and then add the remaining ingredients. Cook gently for half an hour with a lid on and half an hour with the lid off to allow the liquid to bubble down to a syrup which will coat the cabbage. Taste, it might need a little more salt or a spritz of balsamic. Serve with sausages in buns or on plates, enough for 4.

Cosy Beef Stew and Parsley Dumplings

Posted on 18/09/2013 by Anna

This summer has been fantastic, I have loved the sun, the heat and eating a lot of salads. Whilst basking in all this however, there was a tiny bit of my happy in the knowledge that come September it might cool down a little and I would be able to light the fire and make some cosy autumn food.

Now, I realise I seem to have dived right into ‘freezing outside, possibly even snowing winter food’ but you know what I couldn’t resist. It has been months since my last stew (I feel that should have been confession) and it was time for a fix. Added to that my little boy asked earlier in the week when we would be having stew and dumplings. Sooner than you think my little treasure I thought to myself.

Here it is and it is a beauty. Very simple, 30 minutes work tops and then a few hours in the oven. What you are rewarded with however, far exceeds that brief effort you put in. Tender falling apart beef, soft carrots, crispy and fluffy dumplings with masses of glistening savoury gravy. You can then sit around the table, enjoy this with some greens and perhaps raise a glass of good red wine to the fabulous summer of 2013.

Beef and Carrot Stew with Parsley Dumplings

1 kg braising beef, cubed

1 tablespoon oil

1 onion, chopped

7/8 medium carrots, peeled and halved lenthways

1 heaped tablespoon plain flour

500ml beef stock

200ml red wine

1 teaspoon redcurrant jelly

Sprig of thyme

A bayleaf

For the dumplings –

100g self raising flour

50g suet

A handful of parsley, finely chopped

5 tablespoons cold water

Pinch of salt

Preheat the oven to 150c. Heat the oil in a large casserole (that has a lid) and brown the meat in batches and set aside. Then fry the onion (you may need a little more oil) until softened. Return the meat to the pan, sprinkle over the flour and stir it in well. Pour over the stock and wine and redcurrant jelly, give it a mix then add the carrots, thyme and bay leaf. Put into the oven for 3 hours.

Just before the time is up, mix the ingredients for the dumplings and form into little balls about the size of a walnut and turn the oven up to 180. Remove the pan from the oven, quickly (and carefully) check the seasoning and then place the dumplings onto the surface of the stew. Put the lid back on and return to the oven for 20 minutes, then remove the lid and cook for a further 20 minutes to crisp up the outside of the dumplings. Enough for 4.

We followed this with a fabulous custard tart (I know, I know, bikini appropriate food clearly now forgotten) and it made me proud of British Food!

Summer Lunch, home or away (Part 1)

Posted on 04/07/2013 by Anna

So, here we go, the season for eating outside, barbecues and picnics is upon us. If the weather would oblige that is. We need things to eat that work inside, cooked in the garden or taken on a picnic without having to completely revise the menu or shopping list if the weather turns against us. Here’s what we have.

First, lovely juicy chicken kebabs which can be grilled or griddled at home or barbequed outside. A bulghar wheat and roasted veg salad with a punchy dressing is easily transported in a tub and put into pitas, wraps or rolls along with chicken, some herby green sauce and garlicky yogurt. Then, a sticky ginger cake is easy to take out and about or can be transformed at home into a glorious rich pudding with the addition of a quick butterscotch sauce and vanilla ice cream.

I would marinade the chicken on Friday when the nippers are at school (it is the work of minutes), make the cake and roast the vegetables for the salad then too. On Saturday make the flatbreads if you are homebound and have time on your hands and children to entertain or buy wraps and get on out there.

The above is not a lot to transport but along with some chilled grapes and drinks for the children and icy cold wine for you makes an absolute feast.

Chicken Kebabs

4 Chicken breasts, skin off and cubed

2 tablespoons olive oil

2 lemons juiced

3 cloves garlic crushed

Sprig of rosemary and/or thyme

Pinch of chilli flakes (optional)

Give everything a good mix and put in a bag, I use those ziplock ones, or a bowl and cover with cling film. Put it in the fridge for a couple of hours or overnight. Thread onto skewers (remember to soak them if they are wood so they don’t catch fire) and then cook on your barbecue or under the grill until cooked through. Season with salt then wrap in a flat bread or put in a pitta, add the sauces suggested below and tuck in.

To serve, flatbreads or pitta, garlicky yogurt (see Lamb Meatballs October 2012), rocket, fresh herbs (we like marjoram/oregano and mint), fresh herb sauce (recipe to follow) and chilli sauce, phew.

Here is the Ginger Cake out and about, I will post the recipe later in the week.

Claypot Chicken

Posted on 21/05/2013 by Anna

You know that feeling at the end of the day – the one when all you are fit for is the sofa. Ideally with a glass of wine in one hand and the other held out expectantly for a plate of food which someone else has cooked to be placed in it. I regularly feel like that and I am sure I am not the only one. Much as I love cooking and I do, I really do, there are times when I feel like I can’t be bothered. Invariably at the tired end of the day, possibly after a difference of opinion with one of my children, the house refusing to clean itself or the dog taking himself on a long unscheduled walk and having to be found.

These are the evenings when you need this recipe – easy, quick and totally restoring, Never mind my top 10 or top 5, this one is firmly on the podium in the top 3.

I must point out one thing, which you may have spotted already, it is not a looker. As they say though, never judge a book by its cover and in culinary terms, this is that book. I’ve tried prettying it up, sprinkling it with this or that but it doesn’t work. Moreover it would be missing the point. This recipe is beyond simple, uses very few ingredients and is cheap. To zhuzz it up just for the sake of the photograph would be wrong.

I gave the recipe to one of my brothers ages ago and kept asking him if he had made it. I guessed not because I hadn’t heard the rapturous applause. Eventually (after some badgering from me I must admit) he cooked it for this wife – he says they now have it once a week. So do we, it really is that good.

So please take my word (and my brothers, and my husbands) for it and try this.

Claypot Chicken

1 tablespoon oil

1 onion, chopped

1 thumb of ginger, peeled and finely chopped

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

4 chicken thigh fillets, each cut into 6 pieces

1 tablespoon fish sauce

1 tablespoon soft brown sugar

4 tablespoons basmati rice

250ml chicken stock

Heat the oil in a medium saucepan and gently soften the onion. Add the garlic and ginger and stir for a couple of minutes. Put the rice, brown sugar and fish sauce into the pan, give it all a good stir followed by the chicken and the stock. Simmer gently for about 12-15 minutes until the rice and chicken are cooked. This is enough for two adults (although I think I could probably eat it all myself). Serve with a drop or two of chilli sauce if you like.

Ham hock, parsley and lentil salad

Posted on 15/05/2013 by Anna

I have to admit to a little scepticism about lentils in my youth and am ashamed to say thought they were only for those who might also knit their own sheep’s milk yogurt. How wrong I was and I can remember the lentils that won my heart all those years ago. Following a birthday treat to the theatre (Miss Saigon) we went to a French restaurant in the West End. One of the starters was lentils with little bits of bacon and a creamy vinaigrette. I don’t know why I was led to this choice but I was and it was heavenly. Now my larder wouldn’t be without these useful pulses and while the Sausages and Lentils (April 2013) may be a little cold weather number, this salad is perfect whatever the season.

I confess I haven’t been simmering any hocks for my shredded ham. If I had it would have been perfect for a pea and ham soup or risotto and you should keep the stock if you find yourself cooking said cut. No, so determined am I that spring is imminent that I have put away such warming and comforting types of soup. I bought this ham hock at Waitrose and it is very good.

This is a little more substantial than the summery lettuce salads which await us but has a suitable zip from the lemon and mustard in the dressing and verdant pep from the parsley which is more an ingredient than simply a garnish.

Ham hock, parsley and lentil salad

100g puy lentils

180-200g ham hock, shredded

20g flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped or torn

2 spring onions, chopped

Handful of rocket

Juice of half a lemon

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

Pinch of sugar

Cook the lentils in boiling water, they will take about 10-15 minutes but check as they do vary. Once cooked drain and leave to cool. In a medium size bowl mix the mustard, sugar and lemon juice and then add the olive oil slowly, taste and season. Put the lentils, ham hock, spring onions, parsley and rocket into the bowl with the dressing and give it a good mix. Turn onto a serving plate. This would do 2 adults for lunch with some nice bread alongside.

Anna May, everyday…

Category Archives: Meat

Penne con Salsiccia (or Sausage Pasta)

Cheddar is King

Chorizo and Potatoes

Chicken with Peppers and Onions

Girls’ Night In

Firecracker Red Cabbage and Sausages

Cosy Beef Stew and Parsley Dumplings

Summer Lunch, home or away (Part 1)

Claypot Chicken

Ham hock, parsley and lentil salad