Real Food Recipes
Makes 4.
500 g mince
1 onion
Salt and Pepper
2 OXO cubes, chicken or beef
Flour
Finely chop the onion and add it to the mince. Season with the OXO cubes, salt and pepper, and mash with a wooden spoon/in a food processor (if you have one). Shape the resulting mixture into patties and coat in flour. Grill or fry for about 20 minutes on a low heat to avoid burning the flour. Serve with fresh buns, chips, coleslaw and lots of ketchup!
1 pack of white sauce (I use Colman’s)
White sauce! This is actually where I got the recipe from.
300 ml milk (or soya milk)
3/4 chicken breasts
Garlic/herby soft cheese (I use Boursin)
Bacon
Spread the soft cheese over the chicken, then wrap bacon around it and secure with a toothpick. Brown in a frying pan. Mix up the white sauce as per the instructions on the packet. When the chicken is browned, put all into an oven-proof dish and cook for 35/40 mins on Gas Mark 4/180 degrees Celcius.
Serve with rice and veg.
This isn’t the recipe I always use, cos it changes everytime I make it, experimenting with flavours etc. The longer you can leave it on a low heat, the more tender the steak.
Pack of braising steak
Onion
1 clove garlic
Half a pack of bacon
Chicken stock
Beef OXO cube
Carrot
Bay leaf
My stew in a slow-cooker.
Chop the onion and garlic, fry until transparent and soft. Remove from pan, add braising steak chopped into bite-size pieces. Season with salt, pepper and a Beef OXO cube, as well as any herbs you may fancy (I normally add a bit of chilli and mixed herbs). Fry until brown on all sides (don’t burn it!). Remove from pan, fry bacon, chop into bits. Add everything into a big pan and add chicken stock to cover everything in the pan, chopped carrot and bay leaf. I normally also put a dash of wine, Worcestershire Sauce and/or Marmite in. Bring to the boil, then lower heat and leave for as long as you can to let all the flavours infuse into the meat.
Serve with mashed potato or rice, and whichever vegetables you want – I normally want peas, broccoli and cauliflower.
This recipe is extremely versatile – you can pick and choose ingredients as you wish (I sometimes use sausages too), and I have done all the preperation three days before I needed it, then left it on a stove all afternoon the day I wanted it, which allowed it to stew without having to do all the prep that day!
Unbaked cottage pie, ready for cheese topping and the oven.
Serves 4
500g minced beef
1 tbs vegetable oil
400 g tin tomatoes (chopped)
200 ml chicken stock
1 large onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves
1 tbs Worcestershire sauce
A good squirt of ketchup
1 tbs flour
1 kg potatoes
~half a cup of milk
~1 tsp butter
Cheddar Cheese
Pre-heat the oven to 200 deg Celcius/gas mark 6. Pour oil into large saucepan, place over medium heat. Add chopped onion and fry on medium heat till it is see-through. Add mince and an Oxo cube if you are using these for the stock, brown it and season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle flour over the meat and mix in well, then add the rest of the ingredients (I normally add a dash of wine first and let it cook off. I don’t know if it makes it taste better, but I feel really professional doing it!). Cover and simmer for 20 to 30 minutes (the longer the better).
Make the mashed potatoes in the meantime, by boiling them until they are quite soft. Drain and place back in the pan, then use a fork or masher to mash it up, adding the butter and some salt to season. The longer you mash the smoother the end result. When you are satisfied, add milk in bits until it is creamy and the consistency you prefer.
Put meat into an oven-proof dish and spread the mashed potatoes over the top (the more milk you put in the easier it is to spread. Also try make sure the meat isn’t too liquid as the mash will just sink. Flour will help here). Grate cheese on top.
Put in the oven for about thirty minutes, and grill the top till it is brown for a couple of minutes at the end. Enjoy! It keeps in the fridge either in the unbaked form, or properly done, and is delicious hot or cold. I serve with carrots and broccoli.
This is John Sandall’s recipe – he is a legend, and you should try it cos it tastes amazing and is suitable for our group of friends, in which one is Jewish, one Hindu, and the others all determined to eat meat (we ignore the dairy intolerance for now…)
Ingredients – serves 2 (4)
Ingredients ready for making.
1 (2) medium bunch asparagus
2 heaped tsp (2tbsp) of good quality pesto
1 small (large) red onion
1 (2) stick celery
2 knobs butter
150 g (300 g) risotto rice
400 ml (800 ml) vegetable stock
25 g (50 g) parmesan
100 ml (200 ml) white wine
1 lemon
olive oil
salt
pepper
1. Place large saucepan (we use a wok) on low to medium heat. Peel onion and trim celery, then finely chop or coarsely grate them.
2. Add one knob of butter to the pan with the onion, celery, dash of oil and splash of water. Cook over a low heat for five minutes, stir occasionally until soft. In the mean-time:
3. Bring the stock to the boil in a medium saucepan, then turn the heat down to low.
4. Snap the woody bases off the asparagus spears, and add these to the stock. Slice the tender tips seperately, but leave the actual tip whole. Set aside.
5. Finely grate the parmesan.
6. Once the veggies are very soft, but not brown, add the rice to the pan.
7. Stir and fry the rice for a minute until translucent, add the wine and keep stirring until it’s all absorbed.
8. Turn the heat on rice to medium, add a ladleful of hot stock (but leave the asparagus in it, this isn’t eaten with the risotto, though it’s quite tasty as a stand-alone snack after it’s been cooked for ages!)
9. Stir constantly, adding stock a ladle at a time until 2/3rds has gone in. Add the asparagus tips.
10. Keep adding until rice is cooked and ‘oozes’. Use boiling water added to the stock pan if you run out of the stock.
11. Take it off the heat and add the last knob of butter, half the pesto and half the cheese.
12. Add some lemon juice, season to taste and serve on hot plates with a dollop of pesto on top and the rest of the cheese.
This takes about an hour from start to finish. It’s really labour intensive but so amazing, it’s worth it. If you want meat, add some cooked pancetta/sliced bacon when you add the cheese and pesto.
