Toad in the Hole

I don't know when or why this happened, but at some point my family cooking became an equal clone to comfort food. School work is not easy, neither are hormonal teenagers, neither are grumpy teachers. But do you know what is easy? Making a warm, cosy, flavourful pot of something completely anti-restaurant quality, but completely something your face is ready for. If you'll pardon the innuendo.

Something with such a weird unappetising name always promises to be delicious. Take pig's bum, for example: a stodgy, sticky pot of cake, served with custard and an anus of rhubarb compote. Toad in the Hole is just as delectable, a Yorkshire Pudding cradling various sausages. It has to be served with onion gravy, but for the vegetables I was for some reason in the mood for ratatouille.

My batter method turns out to be an actual debated thing, I just whisk the eggs and milk before adding the flour for all batter like pancakes because it's much easier than whisking eggs into flour and then gradually whisking the milk. I don't think it's that that makes a difference, I think the important thing is that you make the batter as early on in the cooking process as possible, let it stand, and have the oven and fat in the tin very, very hot.

1)Whisk 3 eggs in a bowl, with around half of a jug of 225ml of milk (I just eyeball this) and 200g plain flour with a good pinch of salt and crushed pepper and mix this base well until you have a lump free and thick batter. Gradually whisk in the remaining half of milk, which is around 110ml. Or just whizz everything together in a processor. Let it rest, covered, whilst you prepare the onion gravy.

2)Finely slice an onion, I like it in strips for gravy, and brown it in some oil. Unlike normal, you do want them to colour here. Add about 600ml water, a glug of the trusty marsala and some chicken stock powder or pot. Bring to the boil, then lower the heat, and simmer whilst whisking in some cornflour made to a paste with a little water. When it's nice and thick and the alcohol has calmed down, leave it to stand.

3)I used to brown the sausages beforehand on the stove, but it occurred to me how easy it is to just do that in the oven. Warm some vegetable fat or coconut oil in the tin at a 220 degree oven, and throw in however many sausages you want, but don't have too many in one tin or they'll obstruct the growth of the Yorkshire pudding. When they're about half cooked, throw in the batter, quickly shut the door, and bake for a good 20 minutes, until puffy and golden. Serve with your onion gravy!

Chicken Pot Pie

A pie is excellent for a different Sunday Roast to up the comfort factor, and I can't tell you how many chicken pot pies I have cooked. That crisp puffy top encasing a world of deliciousness within. Using puff pastry, and I feel no shame in buying it, you get all sorts of luscious layers- from the bit that just touches the sauce, and goes all soggy and the golden, crisp top. It seems very difficult when you read through this recipe to think where on earth you could go wrong.
You don't need any extra starch with this, I just serve my cabbage, pine nut and parsley salad, with kale instead of cabbage today. All that is some steamed kale, toasted pine nuts, parsley leaves and some good oil drizzled over top.
1)Prepare 2 chopped leeks, make sure to score down the skin of the vegetable lengthways and clean out any soil. Slice it finely, and add it to a pan of hot vegetable oil. Add about 4 crushed cloves of garlic, some chopped mushrooms (I love chestnut ones) and cook them down. You will be amazed how much their volume decreases. Also add some pancetta cubes and let them cook (if you want them really crisp cook them first and allow their rendered fat to cook the vegetables).
2)Chop up some chicken, and yes, I'm using the much too fashionable breast for this, but I do so much prefer it to all the brown gristle of thighs. Don't have them too small, because a big hefty chunk of chicken is rather lovely. Add it to the pan and cook until it colours, then add about 1 tbsp dried thyme.
3)I know very much how unfashionable it is to add flour to thicken a sauce- you're all about egg yolks and cream or cornflour, but making a lazy roux to thicken the sauce until it more than coats the back of a spoon is really all I can tolerate. Add about 50g butter, melt it, then mix in about 2 tsp of mustard powder, white pepper and 2 tbsp plain flour. Mix in about 500ml hot chicken stock, and about a glass full of white vermouth or white wine (white is always preferred by me with chicken, which is why I prefer coq au riesling to coq au vin) and mix it in well. Add some frozen peas and some dried apricots snipped in and let it bubble for a bit until it tastes to your liking. Salt and more pepper may be necessary.
4)It's so important to let this whole filling cool completely before you contemplate putting buttery pastry on top, or the pastry will melt in the oven and you'll have a vile mess on your hands. When it is cool, pour into a pie pan, and cut a thin strip of pastry to line the rim of the dish, and press it down, then place the rest of the pre-rolled sheet on top. Press it down all around the rim, then cut away at the excess, but don't throw it away. You'll see. You can also press a fork round the rim, but that's pure for aesthetic value. Using a knife, prick about three holes through the lid.
5)This is optional, but I think it looks so beautiful if you use the excess to cut out some leaves or stars or something to adorn the lid. It doesn't have to be perfect, but I'm mainly saying that because I'm so proud of my effort I don't want your better attempt blurring mine. Beat an egg, and use it to wash all over the lid, and to make your pastry cuttings stick and bake at 180 for about 25 minutes, until the lid is golden and puffy and piping hot.

Go-to Guacamole

It seems ridiculous that I make and eat guacamole so often, but have never taken the time to tell you how I do it. Because after all, you can't Google how to make guacamole, you need the rich culinary skill of me to tell you how.
Yes, fair enough, I don't really change up a traditional guacamole enough to warrant such a detailed recipe, but I eat and make guacamole for parties, snacks and often dinner as a whole. It's (far too importantly) woven into the fabric of my life, so why shouldn't I share how I do it?: On the whole, I usually don't include a tomato as I don't often have them in the house, but if you want to you have to go through the stressful ordeal of peeling, deseeding and finely chopping it. Score a cross on two tomatoes' butts and blanch them (boiling water straight to cold water). Peel them, chop in half, scoop out the seeds and finely chop the remaining flesh. Incorporate it into the guacamole by throwing it over everything mashed at the end and don't mix it in as it looks quite unappetising when it's caked in the green mush. Use spring onions over white or red as the flavour is milder and you don't get onion breath (although I'm not promising anything). If you're lucky enough to get your hands on a molcajete (Mexican pestle and mortar) make and serve it in that; I'm unfortunately yet to have one. Note: I am lucky enough to now have one, speaking from 2017 moi, thank you Mum for the fabulous Christmas present! Other than that, use a wide bowl as a wide one is more likely to contain the dip with everything evenly dispersed. Anyway, this is not a strict Mexican dish, it's very open to your own interpretation...
1)Chop up 1 deseeded green jalapeño. I find the easiest way to do this is to slice off the head, slice it in half vertically, and scoop out the pith and seeds with a teaspoon. Wash your hands thoroughly and don't go near the eyes or downstairs region. Chop up the stalks of coriander, which are so often ignored, keeping the leaves for afterwards, and finely chop three spring onions. Also finely mince two garlic cloves. Have all the pieces very fine so you get a bit in each mouthful.
2)Halve two limes, squeeze the juice out, a fork is easiest to do this in my opinion, but please suit yourself.
3)I heard Chris Evans say his wife had come up with a new way to chop up an avocado, he believed it was a revolution. I feel like letting him know that it's the way everyone does avocados, including me. Chop around the avocado in half, twist the two halves apart, stab the stone, twist it to remove. In your hand, cut a cross-hatch to the skin of the avocado,  and use a spoon to scoop out the flesh. Immediately throw over the lime juice to stop it browning, and mash it through with everything else (including the coriander leaves from before) but not too smooth, you want some texture. Add the sea salt here, as I like it to keep some crunch. I also like a bit of sour cream or natural yoghurt here too, it makes it creamier and more amalgamated. Taste to see if it needs more salt or lime or heat, and serve with tortilla chips and the chopped leaves of coriander over the top.

Brandy and Lemon-Garlic Prawns

When I can't be bothered to cook any cuts of meat, I quite often run to the freezer, rebelliously ignoring the request to thaw them first, and cook some frozen, raw king prawns. They're delicious in a quick Chinese stir fry, or a pasta sauce, but my latest creation is in a tangy sweet sauce, spiked with a little brandy.

I served this with guacamole and plenty of tortilla chips to absorb all that piquant sauce. If you wanted to up the fire a little, which would be nice depending on the mood, add a shake of dried chilli flakes. Lovely starter or part of a dinner platter.
Somehow it occurs to me now, over a year after initially writing this, that this dish could be made magical by a flambé. I mean there's brandy, why not? Simply hive off 1 tbsp of liquor, heat it in a tiny saucepan with a large surface area (this is so you can recoil your hand from the ignited alcohol quickly), light it with a match and pour the blue-flamed brandy over the prawns. Do this as near to the table as possible, as the combustion doesn't last very long.

1)Quickly cook 4 cloves crushed garlic in an oiled pan, being watchful as it can burn easily, then add about 80ml brandy, and let it bubble and reduce. It doesn't take long for that biting alcohol to turn to deep, sweet sauce. Add the juice and zest of 1 lemon, and throw in a pack of frozen raw king prawns. Cook just until they go pink and curled. Simple as that.

Fallen Chocolate Cake

Ew,  isn't flour becoming so last year? If that's your attitude, you might want to try this. Flourless chocolate cakes are much more convincing as puddings, due to their moistness and richness; a chocolate sponge is delicious, but much more suited to an afternoon tea or just in the tin for the week cake. Yes. I am the kind of saddo that has an 'in the tin for the week cake'. This cake isn't flourless because it relies on ground almonds or some other gluten free dry matter, it's lift and texture is purely based on separated eggs, the yolks mixed with best dark chocolate and a meringue folded in from the whites. I got this recipe passed down from Nigella Lawson who got it from Richard Sax, with different tweaks being made at each generation gap, and please, I encourage you to make your own tweaks, too. This has gone through may bane changes, like Cheryl Cole post marriages, but I've settled on this elegantly austere name- it connotes somehow a poet falling into beautiful decline and obviously to describe its crater begging for piles of whipped cream and berries.
I considered breaking off my relationship with cakes altogether before making this. After a few successes, we turned bitter again like the flavour of my abysmal clementine cake, a recipe I actually posted, but hastily took it down as I couldn't convince myself I liked it. But then after making this, this shallow disc of chocolate heaven, I think we might be able to try again.
There is a fabulous mocha variant to this cake that I conjured up: simply add 2 tbsp Camp coffee (the best way to incorporate coffee flavouring into baking) with the melted chocolate and tint some whipped cream a buff colour to dollop on the cake, then dust with a cappuccino-evoking sprinkle of cocoa powder.
1)Preheat the oven to 180 degrees, but as usual, be prepared to adjust this if the cake cooks too quickly. It is astonishing how much ovens vary. Grease a springform tin, but just grease up the sides, since there's no point greasing the bottom layer as I never bother to dig the cake off it.
2)Melt a large bar and a bit, about 150g of good (70% or more) dark chocolate over a bowl of simmering water or the microwave and when that's melted add 125g unsalted butter and melt that in the hot chocolate.
3)Separate 4 eggs, and to get a really stiff meringue it is best to separate it by tossing, very carefully because if the yolk breaks you have to start all over, between its shell. Add the yolks to one bowl and the whites to a spotless metal bowl. Add 100g caster sugar to the yolks, plus two whole eggs, the cooled butter and chocolate and a shot liqueur, dark rum, cointreau if you want your cake to taste like Terry's, but I used creme de cacao as it was still left over from my Christmas grasshopper pie. Mix it all thoroughly, but don't worry about getting any air into it.
4)There are many methods I've read about to make egg whites whisk up voluminously, but the best in my opinion is to add 1/2 tsp cream of tartar. Whisk them until they reach medium peak, which means when you lift out the whisk, an undefined peak should remain but it will slump. Then, while whisking, add 75g caster sugar gradually around the sides of the bowl, until it reaches stiff peak. This means when you lift the whisk out, a tall, proud and completely stationary peak should remain. It will also be incredibly glossy, not speckled and foamy like it was at medium peak.
5)Add a spoonful of the whites to the chocolate mixture, and mix it in bravely, not worrying about keeping air in, you're just loosening the mix so the whites can fold in easily. Now fold the rest of the whites in. People seem to think that folding entails being so gentle with the mix, no pressure is applied. That is not true, you must be firm and forceful with your movements around the bowl, just never stir the mix or smoosh it while you fold, and stop as soon as the whites are mixed in, no more. Scrape around the bowl with a large spoon or rubber spatula, fold the mixture over, cut through it, fold over the cut in the mixture, then repeat.
6)Fill the tin with the mixture, and bake for about 35 minutes, until a skewer inserted comes out clean, and the cake is cracked and springy to the touch. Leave to cool, and unfortunately it will sink as it does so, and decorate it with raspberries, frozen for me because I can't be bothered to let them thaw, or softly whipped cream.

Chicken Liverpool Pasta

I started off by writing 'Chicken Liver Pasta' which my autocorrect saw as a great mistake, and corrected it to Liverpool pasta. I didn't change it, I thought it sounded charming. But to iron out any confusion, this is an Italian dish, from Alba in Piedmont, with chicken livers as the protein.
I don't understand how people can go a week without pasta- this meal took little excess of 10 minutes. However, I won't say that it will always take this long, because that's rather writing my own grave like Jamie Oliver and his 15 minute meals; he's a professional chef, we're not. Anyway, after my unintended after-school nap, I wasn't in the mood to cook for much longer.
I don't think this is a very universal dish, as in my experience, few people like liver. I don't always, but everything here has a lovely, dark, scent of the woods flavour, which liver really works with. My supermarket stocked chicken livers for Christmas, but now seem to still sell them. If you can't find them, lamb livers may work. This was tasty and nourishing, not perfect, I feel it would need a bit of punch somewhere, maybe some crispy bacon or chilli, but good nonetheless. An easy go-to supper with a bit of difference.
1)Boil some pasta in well salted water for about 10 minutes, until tender, but with a bit of bite left. I like penne here, but ribbons are traditional.
2)Fry some chopped onion and garlic. I used spring ones here, as I don't want onion to be the main component here. 3 cloves are nice.
3)Add a pack of chicken livers- if you have time it helps to soak these in milk for a couple of hours to draw out any potential bitterness and of course this can be left overnight. Soak some dried porcini or cep mushrooms until soft, keeping the juice for later. Add about 1 tbsp of tomato puree to the sauce.
4)When the livers are fully cooked, but still soft in the middle, add your ceps and a glug of marsala,sherry or white wine, and simmer that for a few minutes.
5)Reserve some pasta water and drain the pasta, and add your porcini liquid to the sauce.
6)Toss the pasta and sauce, and a bit of the pasta liquid, and some butter altogether and leave it to stand for a few minutes. Before you serve, give a light drizzle of truffle oil, or thinly sliced ones if you're disgustingly overpaid.

Tarragon Chicken

Tarragon chicken has a reputation for being a bit of a 'Delia Dish'- you know, those complicated, boiled for hours, overtly traditional French classics. Delicious, but you feel so battered with the various steps and formality of it, you feel completely averse to serve it for a relaxed dinner.
As a result, in just such a third-world emergency, I come to save the day. This is a frank, fast, and fresh version, that is one of my regulars.
Tarragon is a highly underused herb, and as much as I would love to be the contrarian and call it highly underrated, it is quite exclusive. It has a specific, strong, dill/tea flavour that doesn't go with many things. Fortunately, the French utilise it perfectly here, with that heady herbal flavour working perfectly in the rich vermouth sauce. Simon Hopkinson names it 'chicken's favourite herb', as a matter of fact.
There's a time and a place for chicken thighs, but it's definitely not here; best-quality white meat, please.
1)This is how to make some sides which go really nicely here, but feel free to have whatever veg and starch you want here. Something fresh and green works best. Steam a bag of iron rich leaves, spinach, baby chard, rocket all great, and steam them over some boiling new potatoes, for just a minute or so, until they wilt a bit, then squeeze them dry and spread on a plate to cool. It may be odd to do them a good 20 minutes before you serve, but a lesser-known secret is that spinach at room temperature, is fabulous.
2)Finely chop one white onion, and crush 3 cloves of garlic, and saute them in some butter, and let them really sweat, then add about 1 tbsp of dried tarragon and cook them until really soft, then add your chicken breasts to the pan, and cook them on both sides for about 2 minutes.
3)Add about 1 glass of vermouth (or dry white wine, I always keep vermouth in the house to do white wine's job) and the same amount of water, and poach the chicken until it's done.
4)Remove the chicken from the sauce, and wrap it tightly in foil to keep it juicy and hot, whilst you add a little chicken stock concentrate to that sauce, plus some more butter, freshly chopped tarragon and let it reduce well. Sometimes I add a little cream or cornflour and make a creamy sauce, but not today. Add a spritz of lemon juice, too. Keep tasting the sauce to see when the alcohol cooks off, and if it needs any salt, and white pepper.
5)Smash your new potatoes, I don't mean mashing, just break them and add a little butter and some chopped tarragon, and dress the leaves with some extra virgin olive oil.
6)Return the chicken to the sauce, and sprinkle over some more fresh tarragon.