This recipe is a colourful delight on the plate and a salty medley of gorgeousness in the mouth. A Nigel Slater recipe from the paper, thanks Nigel!

 Ingredients

1/2 cabbage (Savoy is the king of cabbages and best for this dish)
1 carrot
4 medium potatoes (or 2 handfuls new pots in season)
4/5 rashers of bacon
1 big clove garlic
1 medium onion
Olive oil, P (no S)

Serves 2 very well

1 Chop onion and peel and dice potatoes (new pots only need scrubbing and halving)
2 Heat some olive oil in frying pan over a medium heat, add potatoes, cover pan and cook for 10 mins, stiring occasionally
3 Uncover pan and add onions, mix well, cook for 5 mins (until potatoes are very nearly done)
4 Chop carrots into thin flat strips, add to pan, cook for a further 10 mins
5 Cut bacon up and add to pan, cook until bacon is browning nicely (7-10 mins)
6 Chop up cabbage, crush garlic, grind some pepper and add to pan, mix carefully (it wil be a full frying pan by now) and cover, cook for 3-5 mins stirring occasionally, it is done when cabbage has a few brown tinges on some of it’s edges
7 Serve hot with nothing more than a bit of mustard or caremelised onion chutney on the side

If you’ve ever daydreamed about living the Good Life , or you have a little balcony that would be perfect for herbs, then get yourself down to Covent garden to their Spring Renaissance festival - 23 April - 18th May.

They have a lovely living allotment with working shed (as opposed to an ornamental one, I suppose) and experts on hand to give out advice, and also talks to inspire and inform, from honey history with tasting to foraging for food in the garden and composting with David Bellamy…

If all that seems to much like hard work the flower market has also returned to a corner of the garden where you can pick up not only flowers but already grown fruit and veg too.

Find out more at http://www.springrenaissance.com

Home made Thai Green Curry is really a doddle and just tastes so GREEN, the list of ingredients is quite long but once you have assembled them it’s very simple to make. This recipe was passed on by a friend who cooked it for me just the wrong side of a bottle of pink fizz (throwing things in the blender and distracted by our chatting) we have been trying to make it quite as delicious ever since! I think this one is very nearly there.

Ingredients

For the sauce:
1 onion
1 handful each of fresh basil and fresh coriander
1 tablespoon lemon grass paste
Juice of 1/2 lime
2 cloves garlic
2 or 3 birds eye chillies (green for preference but red will also do)
1 tablespoon Nam Pla (fish sauce)
1 splash olive oil
1 small carton coconut cream

For the curry:
2 or 3 vegetables (I like: courgette, carrots/pepper, pak choi, mange tout)
1 packet mixed seafood/prawns/chicken breast

Also to cook and garnish:
Groundnut/flavourless oil
2 lime quarters

Serves 2/3

1 Peel onion and cut into 4, peel garlic and blend all sauce ingredients except coconut cream until you have a sort of thickly textured paste, add a tablespoon or 3 of water if necessary
2 Chop veg into bite sized pieces (or thinner if appropriate i.e. carrots/courgettes), chop chicken up too, if using
3 Heat some groundnut oil in a wok until really smoking (you may want to open a window)
4 Fry paste off for 3-5 minutes, add chicken (if using) and then a couple of minutes later veg in order of cooking time, stir fry until veg is cooked (approx 5 minutes in all)
5 Turn down heat and add coconut cream, once it is bubbling gently pop in the seafood (if using)
6 Serve in a deep bowl lined with rice, eat with chopsticks and I like it with a little something fizzy to bite back at the chilli

You may have noticed by now that I can’t be doing with over-complicated recipes, I try them sometimes but invariably they get made once (if they’re lucky) and the languish at the bottom of my recipe pile. Life really is too short, I truly beleive that you can eat well cooking everyday and still have a life - or as I call it time to study!

Here is a straightforward but really tasty old favourite that I turn to again and again, adapted a long time ago from somewhere…

Ingredients

200g green lentils
200g red lentils
1 tin chickpeas
500ml stock (I like the concentrated liquid in a bottle kind)
1 med onion
1 clove garlic
1 red chilli
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
2 tablespoons tarragon
70-100g sliced chorizo
olive oil, S&P

Serves 3 - time: approx 50 mins

1 Wash the green lentils and add them to a small pan of boiling water
2 Chop the onions and add them to some warmed olive oil in a large lidded pan
3 Chop chilli, crush garlic and also coriander seeds
4 Once onions have fried gently for 10 minutes add chilli, coriander seeds and garlic. Stir for a minute
5 Drain green lentils and add to onion pan, with red lentils (also rinsed)
6 Stir for a few seconds then add stock.
7 Cover and simmer gently for 30 minutes, checking every 5 mins or so and toping up with a bit of water (so that it just covers the lentils) as it is.
8 10 mins before end put in chickpeas
9 5 mins before end add tarragon and put a frying pan on to warm, chop chorizo slices in half and fry gently (no oil needed). Once they are sizzling tip chorizo and pan juices into big pot, mix well and serve in bowls with chunks of bread to mop up juices and a green salad.

Enjoy!

Home made soup, there really is nothing to making it but it tastes so much more delicious than anything shop bought. Honestly it is the cheapest most cheerful food - pop it on on a rainy Sunday afternoon whilst you lounge on the sofa with the papers and you’ll have enough for 4/5 servings which in our house does for Sunday supper (if we’ve had a big lunch) and a couple of weekday lunchtimes too - I am determined to take my own lunch to work, although it will mean not eating at lovely Leon*,  - I am, I am!

This recipe is adapted from a Delia one (Delia Smith’s Complete Cookery Course), I have just simplified her method a little and added some herbs. All quantities are approx with soup so don’t worry if you add a bit more/bit less if that’s what’s in the fridge.

Ingredients

4 medium leeks
2 medium potatoes
1 medium onion
150 ml milk
2 L veg stock
50g butter
2 bay leaves
1 tablespoon thyme
S&P

Serves 4/5 (can be kept in the fridge for 3 days and reheated as needed)

1 Dice potatoes (I like to keep the skins on for extra roughage and flavour, plus it means no peeling!), chop leeks and onion quite finely
2 Melt butter in large deep pan on low heat
3 Add above veg, mix well with butter, cover and sweat for 15 mins
4 Add milk, stock, herbs and S&P to pan, cover and simmer for 25 mins
5 Let it cool for a few minutes and then blend veg to smoothish texture (tip: there is no need to put the liquid in the blender, just fish out veg with slotted spoon - or pass through a sieve if you don’t have a blender)
6 Put puree back into pan with liquid, mix well and reheat, serve with a hunk of bread for dipping

*If you haven’t had the chance to eat at a Leon yet I would strongly recommend them, they use seasonal produce and free range meat to produce the most delicious fast food ever, with lots for vegetarians too - aioli chicken wraps to moroccan vegetable tagines, plus hot chocolate to die for - simply hot organic milk with shaved Valrhona chocolate flakes - oof!

No recipe today, instead I thought I’d share with you an interesting food story that I was reminded of the other day and always tickles:

We owe the French revolution for the greatness of French restaurant food - when all the aristocratic houses closed their doors as their owners heads rolled all the best chefs in the country were suddenly left without jobs and so many opened restaurants, forging ahead with excellent food fit for a king. It has taken us this long to catch up on their head start (pardon the pun).

A few other intersting food related musings:

• Almonds are a member of the peach family
• Apples are made of 25% air, that is why they float
• Cherries are a member of the rose family
• Corn always has an even number of ears
• Ten gallon hats only hold about 0.7 of a gallon (6 pints or 2.8 Litres)
• Pears ripen from the inside out - Which is probably why the little buggers go from rock hard to mushy in about 20 minutes (so long as your back is turned)

(thanks to www.arrowscientific.com.au/amazing-food-facts/interesting-facts-about-food.html for all the intersting food facts, except the restaurant one, that was passed to me many moons ago in a French history lesson).

Today’s beautiful sunshine put me in mind of summer, the bitter cold that accompanied the sun made it a wistful thought - I daydreamed about wearing light cotton, sipping a cooling rose spritzer and picnicing in the park.

Oh well, maybe in a couple of months…

If, like me you are yearning for a warmer season here is a recipe that is both summery but also substantial enough to satisfy on another chilly night.

Ingredients

1 red onion
1 bag spinach
1 packet feta
4 eggs
1 clove garlic
1 handful black olives (the plainer the better)
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar, S&P, basil

1 Chop the onion into half rings, heat some oil in a frying pan and add the onions
2 When sizzling lightly add balsamic vinegar and turn heat right down, let it crackle gently for 30mins
3 Tear up spinach, chop feta (3/4 is probably enough), chop olives, beat eggs, crush/chop garlic
4 Preheat grill 
5 Add spinach, olives and garlic
6 Once the spinach has wilted add eggs and cheese on top, fry for a bit then pop under grill for 5 mins (or until golden on top). Serve with a bit of bread and a nice salad.

All there is left over in the fridge is some broccoli and salad ingredients that will soon be past their best. The answer, this lovely quick pasta dish adapted from one on the BBCs Good Eating website with a big salad to up the veg quotient (already high) and aid digestion (it’s the vinegar in the dressing you see).

Oh and the garlic is good for you too, although you want to watch who you talk to afterwards!

Ingredients

Big handful parmesan
Big handful basil
2 medium garlic cloves
Small packet pine nuts
Big splash olive oil
Head of broccoli
Penne pasta
Couple of big squeezes lemon juice
S&P
Big pinch chilli flakes

Serves 2

1 Make pesto by toasting pine nuts and then grinding them with the basil, half the parmesan, the garlic cloves, the chilli flakes, a squeeze of lemon, S&P,  big splash olive oil
2 Put pasta in boiling salted water, cook until done
3 In the mean time, steam broccoli (7 mins)
4 Chop broccoli (I have been known to just use scissors in the steamer/pan to save burnt fingers and washing up)
5 Mix broccoli, pesto, pasta, the last of the parmesan and a squeeze of lemon. Enjoy with a nice big salad to finish.

Sometimes it snows in April…

Looks like Prince was right - I opened the curtains this morning to find a snowy winter scene, snow on the rooftops and branches covered in the cold fluffy stuff instead of blossom - it didn’t help my already slightly fuzy Sunday head I can tell you (sister’s birthday and cherished friend over from Aus for one night only, long story…).

Of course it was gone in a couple of hours, back to chilly spring, and the transport system managed to shut down because of it, but it put me in mind of winter and in need of a slow cooked, warming stew.

This one is simple as can be but melt in the mouth delicious.

Ingredients

400g stewing beef in pieces
500ml Guinness
2 tablespoons wholegrain mustard
1 red onion
Bay leaf, S&P, olive oil
200g cooked peeled chestnuts (buy a packet, unless you have a lot of time, they taste perfect)

Serves 3

1 Preheat oven to 140 degrees.
2 Chop onion into eight and heat up oil in heavy bottomed casserole dish.
3 Put in onions and beef, cook until beef is browned (2-3 minutes).
4 Add all other ingredients (except 1 tablespoon of mustard). Mix well.
5 Pop it in the oven for 2.5 hours
6 Swirl in the last tablespoon of mustard and serve with some greens and buttery mash.

If you live in North East London and are thinking about getting a veg I must recommend Growing Communities Fruit and Veg boxes, in fact I recommend a veg box even if you aren’t yet considering it.

Fresher and cheaper than the supermarket (about £18 p/w on fruit and veg for two big eaters), these delicious and generous boxes are as locally sourced as possible - Hackey Salad anyone? - supporting small London and SE producers but also contain some non-airfreighted tropical luxuries, fairtrade bananas, blood oranges from sicily, to keep things interesting.

They don’t deliver to the door, you collect from one of 5 points around Hackney, which at first I thought of as a disadvantage but now it is most convenient, I pick up on my way home from work so the food does not sit unattended on my doorstep and if I am going to be out I can pick up the next day. There is often overspill produce that you can help yourself to for free and carrying heavy weights on a regular basis helps keep bones strong.

Good food, ethically sourced that allows you to get in rhythm with the seasons (and keep osteoperosis at bay ;). Plus the little thrill of what’s in the box this week…