All That I'm Eating

Recipe ideas for budget meals, everyday cooking and a little indulgence. Travel inspiration and restaurant reviews too.

My Favourite Recipes To Use Up Leftovers

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At the end of the year and the beginning of the next I like to have a big clear out of my fridge, freezer and cupboards. For two reasons. First, and I think this is true for many people in December, there’s plenty of leftovers. Second, I like to take stock of what I have ready for the next year. These are the dishes I cook which I come back to again and again: my favourite recipes for using up leftovers.

Dried Fruit and Nuts

There always seems to be a packet or two of nuts, fruits and seeds in the cupboard. Half used in a cake or something. A great way to use up lots of dried fruit and nuts is to make some granola. Whatever combination of leftovers you have, just stick to the proportions in my recipe and voila! read more

Mince Pie Crumble Bars

By 20 Comments

Mince Pie Crumble Bars, out of the oven

In my perfect world, a mince pie would be 70% pastry, 30% mincemeat. It’s not that I don’t like mincemeat I just don’t like too much of it. That’s where my mince pie crumble bars come in. A thick layer of buttery shortbread, a spiced mincemeat middle and further crumbly shortbread on the top. Let’s be honest, it’s mostly biscuit with a hint of Christmas. Perfect.

Ingredients

You will need (for 12 mince pie crumble bars):

  • 300g softened butter
  • 100g sugar
  • 400g plain flour
  • 1 small jar mincemeat

Method

Grease and line a baking tray or dish. The one I used was approximately 20cm x 30cm. Preheat an oven to 170C. read more

Christmas Meal Plan

By 12 Comments

At Christmas there are four things that I like to do: eat, go for walks, play games and watch festive television shows. I do like to plan ahead and this year is no different with my Christmas meal plan. With a plan in place there’s no last minute rush to the shops for those forgotten ingredients and no blank looks when someone says “What’s for dinner?”. With a little bit of careful planning, some batch cooking and a few shortcuts I am looking forward to a relaxed festive break. read more

My Favourite Winter Recipes

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blood orange posset with dark chocolate

One of my favourite things to do in winter is to get outside early, ideally before sunrise, and drink in that crisp cold air. If I’m lucky there’ll be a few birds jumping around on the frosty floor here and there and I’ll wander up the hill to see the sun spread over the pale morning sky. There’s nothing like it. Usually I’ll only get to do this at the weekend and during the walk I have time to think about which of my favourite winter recipes to cook up.

Winter in my kitchen sees a change in the cupboards and fridge. There are oranges, tangerines and satsumas falling out of the fruit bowl, nuts in the cupboards and green leafy veg aplenty. We’re eating thickly sliced toast slathered in butter and topped with locally made jam to remember the summer fruits, cheap cuts of meat are simmering in the oven in a rich gravy and from time to time we’ll have a thick hot chocolate in front of the wood burner while we warm up our toes.

There’s so much to look forward to in the winter months; from knobbly celeriac to flavourful cauliflower and plenty of room and time for chocolate treats as we get further into December. Here are some of my favourite winter recipes that I’ll definitely be cooking up over the next few months.

It won’t be long before the blood oranges start to appear and apart from looking amazing I love the flavour of them too. A really simple dessert to try is Blood Orange Posset which has a perfect balance of citrus and cream. Another pudding which I loved baking is my 

Blood Orange Tart  read more

Greek Chicken Tray Bake

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Greek chicken tray bake

I love a straightforward dinner. However being straightforward doesn’t mean there’s any skimping on flavour. Grabbing a few ingredients out of the fridge and cupboards, chucking them in a roasting tray and miraculously taking the finished dish out of the oven at the end is the weeknight dream. My Greek chicken tray bake is a two tray affair (I know, slightly more involved than one tray) and really delivers on flavour. The flavours of Greece; oregano, tomatoes, olives make this a wonderful dish for this time of year.

Ingredients

You will need (for two):

  • 350g potatoes, scrubbed and diced
  • 3 large garlic cloves, crushed
  • 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
  • Olive oil
  • Salt and pepper

For the chicken:

  • 2 chicken breasts
  • 2 tsp dried oregano
  • 1-2 tsp sweet paprika
  • 1 lemon, quartered
  • Tomatoes, still on the vine if possible
  • Handful stoned olives
  • Olive oil
  • Salt and pepper

Method

Start by adding the potatoes to a pan of cold, salted water. Bring the pan up to the boil and boil the potatoes for 5-10 minutes or until just softened when tested with a knife. Drain the potatoes and put to one side.

In a roasting dish add 2 tbsp olive oil, the garlic cloves and rosemary ad mix everything together to ensure the garlic and rosemary are well coated in oil. Tip the potatoes into this dish with some salt and pepper and give everything another good mix.

Bake the potatoes in a preheated oven at 180C for 30 minutes.

Once the potatoes are in the oven, start on the chicken.

Place each chicken breast between two sheets of cling film or baking paper and flatten slightly with a rolling pin, you want each one to be around 1cm thick.

Sprinkle the oregano and paprika over each piece of chicken with a little salt and pepper.

Put a large frying pan on a medium/high heat with a little olive oil. Fry the chicken until golden on both sides then turn off the heat and put to one side.

In another roasting tray put the lemon wedges, tomatoes and olives. Arrange the chicken on top of the tomatoes then add a little more salt and pepper and a drizzle of olive oil.

Add this to the oven with the potatoes for around 15 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through.

Serve with salad if you like.

I think a small red onion, cut into wedges and nestled in amongst the potatoes would be a fantastic addition to this tray bake. It would also be worth adding a little sprinkle of feta over the chicken for a deliciously salty kick. When the chicken has finished baking, don’t discard all the tomato and lemon juices that have gathered in the roasting tray. They are absolutely delicious and need to be savoured and poured over the chicken. My Greek chicken tray bake even manages to make its own sauce; what more could you need?

Roasted Baby Onions with Cheese on Toast

By 7 Comments

baby onions

There’s always something leftover at this time of year; some sort of ingredient hanging around in the fridge that needs using up. I’d bought some baby onions for making a boeuf bourguignon and had half the pack left. I thought about slicing them and lightly pickling them but I then realised I also had some leftover cheese. You can never go wrong with cheese and onion so half an hour later we were tucking into roasted baby onions with cheese on toast.

Ingredients

You will need (for two):

  • 12 (ish) baby onions, peeled
  • 2 sprigs fresh rosemary
  • Olive oil
  • Salt and pepper
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 4 slices white bread, the crustier the better
  • Leftover cheese, grated

Method

Put the onions and rosemary into a baking dish and drizzle over a little oil and salt and pepper. Roll the onions round in the dish so they get well coated in the oil and seasoning.

Roast in the oven at 180C for 25 minutes.

Remove the onions from the oven and sprinkle over the sugar then return to the oven for another five minutes.

While the onions are roasting top each slice of bread with some of the grated cheese. You can grill the cheese on toast if you like, I put mine in the bottom of the oven with the onions so the bread got lovely and toasted as the cheese melted.

Taking a piece of savoury, salty cheese on toast and squishing a soft, sweet, roasted onion onto the top before eating it was not only a very enjoyable thing to do but tastes delicious. The rosemary really lifts the onions and cuts through the cheese. You could use any leftover cheese for this, I used cheddar, and a little sprinkling of Worcestershire sauce would be a great addition too!

If you end up with any of the roasted onions leftover you could add them to all sorts of things. I had three leftover which I added to some sausage meat and made some sausage rolls.

Mince Pie Fruit Loaf

By 18 Comments

Mince Pie Fruit Loaf Baked

I love a mince pie, but they have to be just right. I want the pastry to mince filling ratio to be almost 50:50; too much filling and you can forget it. Preferably my mince pies will be warm and covered in (clotted, ideally) cream. However, I can’t possibly eat that every single day and I still need my mince pie fix. This is how my Mince Pie Fruit Loaf came about; designed to have all the fruity spiciness from a mince pie but without the pastry and cream. Don’t worry, there’s still plenty of butter for spreading!

Ingredients

You will need for one loaf:

  • 30g dried cranberries
  • 125g raisins or sultanas
  • 60g dried figs, chopped
  • 300ml strong Lady Grey tea
  • 425g strong white bread flour
  • 7g fast action yeast
  • 1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 tsp nutmeg, grated
  • 1/2 tsp mixed spice
  • 30g caster sugar
  • Zest 1 orange
  • 60g butter, melted
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 150ml milk, plus extra for brushing

Method

Stir the cranberries, raisins and figs together with the tea then leave to stand for an hour or so. Drain well and put to one side.

I used a mixer for this recipe but you could easily make it by hand with a bowl and a wooden spoon.

Add the flour, yeast, spices, sugar and orange zest to a mixing bowl and stir lightly to mix it all together.

Whisk the melted butter, milk and egg together in a small bowl. While the mixer is on a low speed slowly pour in the milk mixture. Once it’s all been added increase the speed slightly and tip in the drained fruit.

Knead the bread in the mixer for five minutes or so. Cover the bowl and leave the bread in a warm place for 50 minutes or until doubled in size.

Lightly flour a standard sized loaf tin. Knock back the dough lightly then shape it to fit the loaf tin and pop it into the tin. Cover again and leave in a warm place for another 30 minutes.

Preheat an oven to 190C. Brush the top of the bread with a little milk then bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes and the top is golden brown.

Remove from the oven and leave to cool a little before removing from the tin and cooling on a wire rack.

This fruit loaf is wonderful in two ways. Firstly, take a slice when it’s cooling down after baking and just watch the butter melt into the bread. The photo above shows my very lumpy butter, that’s how I like it so it forms pools across the slice as it melts. Secondly, serve it toasted for breakfast, again with a good scraping of butter. The fruit, spices and orange are so festive and it keeps so well you can enjoy it for days.

Chipotle and Bean Soup

By 11 Comments

mixed bean, sweetcorn and chipotle chilli soup

I really struggle to know what to have for lunch sometimes. Usually I am scrambling round in the cupboards trying to find some sort of suitable sandwich filling but I do get terribly bored of sandwiches. If I’m lucky I’ll have some keptovers to warm up and I do pay a visit to a local independent café from time to time too. Well enough is enough. I have decided to batch cook and freeze a range of healthy, filling, vegan soups; one of which is this Chipotle and Bean Soup. So that I can grab whichever soup I fancy and not have to think about what’s on the meal plan for dinner I am making them vegan, stuffed full of veg and flavour packed. I hate to have the same thing for lunch and dinner you see!

Ingredients

You will need (for six portions):

  • 1 large onion, sliced
  • 1 red pepper, chopped
  • 2 garlic cloves, crushed
  • ½ chipotle chilli, chopped
  • 1 tsp paprika
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 700ml passata
  • 1 tsp vegetable stock powder
  • 1 tin kidney beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 tin black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 mug frozen sweetcorn
  • Juice 1 lime
  • Oil for cooking
  • Salt and pepper

Method

Start by heating a little oil in a large saucepan and adding the onion and pepper. Fry on a medium heat for 10-15 minutes until softened. Add the spices and chipotle chilli and cook for two minutes more.

Pour in the passata then refill the jar to half full with water, rinse the jar then add the water to the pan with the vegetable stock and beans.

Simmer for 15 minutes then add the sweetcorn, bring back to a simmer and cook for five more minutes.

Squeeze in the lime juice then add a little seasoning.

Leave to cool and divide between freezable containers then leave to cool completely before freezing.

Currently I have two soups on the go in the freezer, this one and my Autumn Vegetable Minestrone. The problem is that I don’t have enough Tupperware left to make any more soup at the moment; I shall need to rectify that and get some more ASAP! Another soup that I will be making a big batch of to add to the soup drawer is my Split Pea Dahl. I’m also planning some sort of chickpea harissa soup and maybe a nice pea, potato and mint too. Five in total, one for each day of the week. And yes, before you ask, I do label each of my soups up and stack them neatly in the freezer; the satisfaction and uniformity brings me much joy.

Smoked Cheddar and Pickled Onion Turnovers

By 15 Comments

Smoked Cheddar and Pickled Onion Turnovers

There’s something you need to know about these turnovers. Although they are most excellent for using up leftovers they are more than worth baking up in their own right. Am I the only one who couldn’t say no if offered Smoked Cheddar and Pickled Onion Turnovers? Didn’t think so. Perfect for using up roast or mashed potatoes, pickled onions or chutneys and whatever hunk of cheese you have lying around. Completely versatile and a little bit too tasty to believe you can knock them up out of some odds and ends.

Ingredients

You will need (for four turnovers):

For the pastry

  • 100g butter, frozen
  • 200g plain flour
  • Few tbsp cold water
  • Salt
  • 1 egg, beaten (for brushing)

For the filling

  • 1 medium potato, peeled and chopped into small cubes
  • 4 small/medium pickled onions, sliced
  • 125g smoked cheddar, grated
  • Salt and pepper
  • 50ml double cream

Method

The recipe below is as if you were making them completely from scratch. You can of course skip the potato cooking part if you have leftover potatoes.

This method for pastry is such a quick and easy way of making some delicate flaky pastry. Well worth a try.

Grate the butter into the flour then work the butter through the flour until you have breadcrumbs. This will be quite quick to do thanks to grating the butter in.

Add a few spoons of cold water to the flour mix to bring the pastry together. Knead the dough quickly then refrigerate for around half an hour.

While the pastry is chilling cook the potato in salted boiling water for 5-7 minutes until cooked. Drain the potatoes then leave to cool.

Mix the potatoes, sliced onions, cheese and cream with a little salt and plenty of pepper.

Remove the pastry from the fridge and divide into four. Roll each piece out on a floured surface until roughly the size of a side plate.

Divide the cheese mix between the pastry and pile it up across the middle. Brush a little egg onto one side of the pastry then fold the pastry over to encase the filling and press the two sides together.

Place the turnovers onto greaseproof paper and brush with extra egg. Make a little hole in the top of each one.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 40-45 minutes.

I would go so far as to say I achieved some layers in that pastry and there wasn’t a soggy bottom in sight. This is all of my favourite things wrapped up in pastry: sweet and sharp pickled onions, smoky and salty Cheddar and the potato and cream marry everything together like a little parcel of perfection. I love how rustic they look after baking with bits of cheese bubbling out all over the top. I made just four of these; you’d be wise to make at least double that.

Marshmallow Rice Krispie Yule Log

By 17 Comments

Marshmallow Rice Krispie Yule Log - finished

I tried making a traditional Yule Log a few years ago. It was somewhat stressful. Apart from the fact that my butter is never warm enough and I always lose patience and mix it up anyway and deal with the consequential sponge that turns up the whole process is fraught with danger. The rolling up, unrolling, spreading of cream, re-rolling and hoping for no cracking then furiously patching it up with ganache, chocolate flying all over the place. It’s all a bit much for me; I’d rather be sipping a G&T and relaxing rather than cleaning ganache off of the kitchen tiles. That’s how my Marshmallow Rice Krispie Yule Log came about. It’s easy to make and you can fashion it into any shape that you like; the more dexterous amongst you may wish to attempt an actual reindeer.

Ingredients

You will need (to serve 6-8 people with a nice thick slice):

For the icing

  • 250g dark chocolate, broken into small pieces
  • 250ml double cream

For the filling

  • 50g butter
  • 300g marshmallows
  • 125g rice krispies (you can get some gluten free ones to use if liked)
  • 40g honeycomb pieces

Method

Start by making the ganache for the icing. Heat the cream until just hot then stir in the chocolate. Keep stirring until the chocolate has completely melted and you have a smooth mixture. Leave to cool and then refrigerate the ganache.

In a large pan melt the butter and marshmallows together over a low heat, stirring all the time. Keep stirring until there are no lumps of marshmallow then remove from the heat and stir through the rice krispies and honeycomb.

Leave to cool a little before turning out the mixture onto some greaseproof paper.

Once on the greaseproof paper oil your hands lightly and form the mix into a log shape. Or other festive shape of your choice.

Remove the ganache from the fridge. You have two choices here; either you can pipe the ganache onto the log or you can spread it on with a palette knife. I opted for the former but my star nozzle wasn’t big enough so I ended up smoothing it all over with a palette knife anyway!

Decorate as you see fit with swirls and patterns and all sorts then refrigerate until you serve it.

I think it definitely needs a dark chocolate ganache rather than milk chocolate; it would be a bit too sweet otherwise. The honeycomb adds a lovely bit of crunch and caramel flavour; as there aren’t many pieces I think it harks back to hiding the pennies in Christmas puddings. Who knows who the lucky recipient will be! The rice krispie mix is so malleable that if you’re not happy with your shape you can poke and prod it around until you’re completely satisfied. If you wanted to adult-ify it a bit then adding a little booze to the ganache or some of those kirsch soaked cherries (well drained) to the marshmallow mix would certainly be worth a try. This marshmallow yule log is my hassle-free festive centrepiece; I challenge you to stop at just one slice.

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