All That I'm Eating

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

Nduja and Broccoli Pizza

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There were two things I discovered I loved when I was in Italy. The first was nduja (if it was on a menu, I was having it) and the second was broccoli on pizza. It seemed, to me, a very good idea to combine the two in a nduja and broccoli pizza. With cooler evenings starting now a seriously spicy, warming pizza made from my favourite ingredients is my idea of the perfect dinner.

Nduja is a Sicilian spreadable salami with an unbelievable amount of chilli in. It almost glows red when you see it. As the nduja is used in the sauce here, rather than as a topping, it gives a warmth and depth of flavour to the whole pizza. The creamy mozzarella does quieten the powerful nduja down a little and the freshness of the broccoli finishes everything off so well. Served with a fresh salad I think this is one of the finest pizzas I have ever made. This is enough pizza for four but we eat it between two. Because we’re greedy. read more

Blackcurrant Frangipane Tart

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I can’t say no to blackcurrants; whatever they are in I will like it. They have such a distinctive flavour and when I found some at the market I had to set about making a blackcurrant frangipane tart. This tart is a marriage of two of my favourite things: blackcurrants and sweet almond frangipane.

The best thing about this tart comes from using raw blackcurrants. As they cook in the frangipane filling they burst and become sweet and sticky. The blackcurrants retain their sharp berry flavour but taint the tart with splashes of deep purple impromptu jam. With autumn just around the corner I can’t think of anything else I would rather spoon into my face. read more

Rainbow Carrot Tart with Summer Herbs and Goat’s Cheese

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I often get left with carrots at the bottom of the fridge. They play an overlooked, but important, base in so many meals: part of a mirepoix, in casseroles and in pies to name a few. Rarely, in my kitchen anyway, do the carrots get to be the star of the dish. So when some beautiful rainbow carrots arrived in the veg box it would have been rude to simply chuck them into various dinners. This time, I wanted to celebrate this lovely root in a rainbow carrot tart with summer herbs and goat’s cheese. A seasonal halfway tart if you will; one that is both full of summer flavours and the anticipation of autumn. read more

My Favourite Autumn Recipes

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stirring the vegetable minestrone

There are several things which tell me autumn has arrived. I suddenly find that I am wearing my wellies more than previously, apples and pears have appeared in the fruit bowl again, I’m having porridge for breakfast and the wood burner comes alive. Then I notice that the leaves have turned orange and are falling from the trees, there’s a bit more rain than before and I really fancy a roast dinner. I wanted to share some of my favourite autumn recipes with you. I love cooking during autumn; there are so many colours around to enjoy, woody herbs get popped into pots and pans and there’s always the inevitable squash or pumpkin.

During the autumn season in my kitchen you’ll find fruit crumbles hot from the oven and smothered in thick cream, hearty pasta bakes which bubble over the edge of the dish, a batch of sloe gin on the go in the back of the cupboard and all manner of combinations of vegetables roasting in the oven.

You can’t go wrong with an Autumn Vegetable Minestrone. Whichever vegetables you happen to have in your fridge can be added to this hearty soup which is so full of flavour. Adding both pasta and beans means this minestrone is really filling too.

If you’ve not tried making Sloe Gin before then maybe this year is the year! You can wait until the first frost, or you can pick early and freeze the sloes at home before you start infusing those beautiful purple berries with gin and sugar. A glass of sloe gin by a roaring fire when your warming your feet up after a soggy walk; there’s nothing better.

Staying in on a rainy day and getting something on the hob to blip away in the background is what my Proper Ragu is all about. The longer you cook it, the more intense the flavours become and it’s fantastic served with pasta, used for lasagne or other pasta bakes. It takes some time but it’s so worth it.

Similar to the sloe gin above you can also try making some Quince Gin. It is a really beautiful colour once it’s done and doesn’t take as long to infused as sloe gin. A really delicate and fanitly tropical flavour there’s nothing quite like it and it means you can mix up my Lime, Thyme & Quince Gin Cocktail too!

 

Autumn is such a great time for baking and I find myself craving some rather chocolatey things. My Chocolate Fudge Cheesecake Brownies are a real indulgence and perfect with a big cup of tea on a drizzly weekend. If you’re a fan of a Millionaire’s slice (I have to say, my biscuit/bake of choice whenever I’m out) then this Millionaire’s Tart is worth a try, complete with salted chocolate ganache.

Venison comes into season in the autumn months and knobbly celeriac starts appearing at the markets. They are delicious as seasonal ingredients served together in Celeriac Remoulade, Venison and Sourdough Open Sandwiches.

This year the blackberries have been out for a little while and there are still plenty more to pick. I absolutely love using wild blackberries, they have such a delicious sweet flavour which is far nicer than those you can buy in the supermarket. Whether you fancy trying a Blackberry and Pear Pavlova, my Baked Blackberry Cheesecake or some Blackberry and Perry Jelly get your hands on the berries fresh from the hedges.

I don’t mind a butternut squash, but I’m not the biggest fan of them. Mixed with delicious spices and turned into a soup it results in something bright and vibrant which I do actually quite enjoy eating! You can try my Curried Squash Soup with Toasted Spice Pumpkin Seeds and see for yourself!

 

There are so many varieties of apples and pears I love finding new ones to try. I love baked apples, they are so simple to make and my recipe for Baked Apples with Salted Toffee Sauce is really straightforward and tastes so good! Poached Pears are also a favourite of mine and even better if you can find some elderberry wine to poach them in!

 

This is the time of year to get out and forage for some wild ingredients, including blackberries! If you can find some cobnuts, also called wild hazelnuts, then you could have a go at making my Wild Hazelnut Brittle. Keep an eye out for elderberries too as they make fantastic 

Elderberry and Apple Turnovers read more

Sausage, Broccoli and Spinach Pasta

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sausage and broccoli pasta with spinach

Using sausages when making a pasta sauce is a great way to add depth and flavour to the sauce and cut down on cooking time too. My most recent recipe creation came about because I had one too many broccoli heads in the fridge; so my sausage, broccoli and spinach pasta was born. I used some delicious Italian sausages for this which were flavoured with plenty of herbs and a little fennel. The spinach was added as an afterthought but actually I really liked the earthiness it brought to the dish.

Ingredients

You will need (for 6 portions, it freezes well):

  • 1 onion, finely sliced
  • 6 Italian sausages
  • 2 cloves garlic, crushed
  • Pinch dried chilli flakes
  • 1 head broccoli, cut into small florets
  • 150ml chicken or vegetable stock
  • Handful fresh spinach, roughly chopped
  • Salt and pepper
  • Olive oil for cooking

Method

Start by adding a little oil to a large frying pan on a medium heat. Add the onion and fry for 10 minutes or so until softened.

Squeeze the sausage meat from the skins into the frying pan. Fry the sausage and onion together until the sausage is cooked through and starting to turn golden brown. Break the sausage meat down with a wooden spoon while it cooks.

Add the garlic and chilli to the pan and fry for another minute or two.

Tip in the broccoli and stir everything together well then add the stock and pop a lid on the pan.

Bring the pan to a boil then remove the lid and let it reduce to a thick sauce. Add the spinach for the last minute or so of cooking.

Cook the pasta according to pack instructions while you’re waiting for the pasta sauce.

Drain the pasta and season the pasta sauce then mix everything together and serve up.

I like how some of the broccoli breaks down and some stays in larger pieces and it gets really mixed through the sauce. The spinach ends up all silky and the chilli adds the tiniest bit of warmth to the sauce but it’s by no means spicy. Depending on which sausages you use the sauce will taste different so it’s a great excuse to play around with all sorts of flavours. If you mixed this with a little tomato or béchamel sauce I reckon it would make a spectacular pasta bake.

Black Bean Quesadillas

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black bean and cheese quesadillas

I have made these black bean quesadillas a few times and I am always surprised how filling they are! They are deliciously full of black beans, spices and cheese and are really simple to make. You could add different beans, leftover chilli (or maybe leftover vegan chilli) and serve with your favourite dips. I love scooping up a big load of guacamole; but then I am a guacaholic. Sour cream, chilli sauce, salsa or whatever you like would be amazing on the side of these. One quesadilla each might not sound like a lot, but they are seriously filling.

Ingredients

You will need (for two):

For the quesadillas

  • 1 small red onion, chopped
  • Oil for frying
  • 1 tin black beans, drained and rinsed
  • 1 tsp smoked paprika
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • Salt and pepper
  • 4 tortilla wraps
  • 75g medium cheddar cheese, grated

For the guacamole

  • 2 ripe avocados
  • 1 ripe medium tomato, deseeded and finely chopped
  • A little bit of the chopped red onion from the quesadilla mix
  • 1 small garlic clove, crushed
  • Juice 2 limes
  • Salt and pepper
  • Fresh coriander, roughly chopped, optional

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    Proper Ragu

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    Proper Ragu served with spaghetti

    There’s ragu, and then there’s proper ragu. You know the two kinds I mean; the quick one that we Brits chuck on top of a pile of spaghetti and the one that takes time, effort, care and attention to make. Don’t get me wrong, the former has its place but this recipe is for the latter; which incidentally freezes very well meaning it is perfect for cooking up a big batch and then reaping the rewards in the weeks to come. It has taken a long time to get this recipe to be my version of a perfect ragu so I hope you enjoy it.

    Ingredients

    For 8-10 portions:

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 onions, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 3 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 2 sticks celery, peeled and roughly chopped
  • 3 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 3 sundried tomatoes (dried, not in oil), you can use 2 tbsp sundried tomato paste instead and add it when the tomato paste goes in
  • 500g beef mince
  • 500g pork mince (pork shoulder if you can can it)
  • 2 rashers smoked streaky bacon, finely sliced
  • 150ml red wine (optional)
  • 2 tbsp tomato paste
  • 700ml passata
  • 4 bay leaves
  • 1 tsp dried rosemary
  • 1 tsp dried thyme
  • Salt and pepper

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    Peanut Butter and Raspberry Brownies

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    peanut butter brownies out of the oven

    I’m not sure these Peanut Butter and Raspberry Brownies need an introduction; just the name gets my mouth watering and a hankering for a piece with a coffee shortly follows. I’ll be honest from the outset, these are not exactly what you’d call healthy. They are full fat, properly indulgent, to-hell-with-it brownies. And frankly, when you’ve been working hard all day coming home to one of these and a cuppa is like a hug for the soul. A gooey, chocolatey, nutty…stop it…slice of comfort.

    Ingredients

    You will need:

    • 100g salted butter
    • 170g golden caster sugar
    • 50g light muscovado sugar
    • 100g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
    • 1 1/2 tbsp golden syrup
    • 2 eggs
    • 100g self raising flour
    • 2 tbsp cocoa powder
    • 150g crunchy peanut butter
    • 100g fresh raspberries

    Method

    Grease and line a 9 inch square cake tin. Preheat an oven to 180C.

    Add the butter, sugars, chocolate and golden syrup to a saucepan and melt over a low heat. Stir occasionally until everything is melted and well combined. Remove from the heat and leave to cool a little.

    Beat the eggs in a bowl then add the melted chocolate mixture.

    Sift the flour and cocoa powder into the bowl and then fold through the mixture. Stir through half the raspberries.

    Tip the brownie mix into the tin. Dollop the peanut butter over the top then swirl this through the brownie with a skewer. Top with the remaining raspberries.

    Bake for 30 minutes.

    Remove from the oven and leave to cool slightly before removing and cooling on a wire rack. Mark into portions when cold.

    The raspberries on the top have a completely different texture to the brownies inside the mix; a lovely acidic, fresh contrast to everything that’s going on around it. Chocolate brownie wise you’re looking at a cakey on the outside, gooey in the middle kind of situation; full of the richness from the dark chocolate and cocoa and just sweet enough. Using crunchy peanut butter means they have a wonderful additional crunch and texture. As autumn creeps up on us these will give you as much warmth as any blanket. If you’re loving the look of these brownies, perhaps you might be interested to try my Chocolate Fudge Cheesecake Brownies (yes, you read that correctly) or my White Chocolate and Blackcurrant Blondies.

    If you find yourself in the awkward situation that I did where there was one peanut butter and raspberry brownie left and two people wanting to eat it I have an excellent plan for such an occurrence. Take two bowls and scoop some vanilla ice cream into each one, warm the brownie up slightly, then divide warm brownie between bowls. Thank me later.

    Chorizo Hash with Purple Spring Onions

    By 11 Comments

    purple spring onions

    Sometimes the vegetables that arrive in my veg box are so stunning that it (almost) seems a shame to eat them. We all know that a romanesco cauliflower is mathematically wonderful and who can say no to a green lemon when it’s yellow inside and full of juice. A bunch of purple spring onions turned up on my doorstep and I knew simplicity would be the way to make the most of them; bold flavours from few ingredients. Chorizo Hash with Purple Spring Onions was certainly the way to go.

    Ingredients

    You will need (for two):

    • One bunch purple spring onions
    • 1 chorizo, sliced (peeled if needed)
    • 500g new potatoes, roughly chopped and sliced as you wish
    • Salt and pepper

    Method

    Start by putting the sliced potatoes into a pan of cold, salted water. Bring to the boil and boil for 10-12 minutes or until the potatoes are just cooked.

    While the potatoes cook put the sliced chorizo into a large frying pan and cook on a low/medium heat so that the fat from the chorizo melts out and fills the frying pan.

    Drain the potatoes when cooked and put to one side.

    Halve the spring onions lengthways, removing the dried green ends and any roots, then add to the frying pan with the chorizo. Leave to soften with the chorizo for a few minutes.

    Add the potatoes to the pan with some salt and pepper and turn the heat up. Fry for another five minutes or so to allow the potatoes and chorizo to crisp up slightly.

    A handful of ingredients prepared and cooked in less than half an hour; what a plate of pure loveliness. Making the most of an ingredient when it’s available is really important to me and results in meals like this. The potatoes absorb the beautiful colour and flavour from the chorizo oil, the chorizo shrinks slightly and turns crisp on the edges. The purple spring onions are silky and drape over everything else quite elegantly, retaining a little bite and some of their raw onion piquancy. Super simple, minimal fuss and absolutely delicious.

    Yellow Split Pea Dahl

    By 15 Comments

    yellow split pea dahl

    First impressions are terribly important, but then so is not judging a book by its cover. This may look, on first glance, like a bowl of indistinct yellow mush but trust me, don’t judge this bowl of incredible-ness by its ‘rustic’ appearance. When I have a bowl of dahl it has to be three things: comforting, frugal and full of garlic. My Yellow Split Pea Dahl, which I have been trying and testing for some time now, fulfils all of my dahl needs and wants. Absolutely dahl-icious.

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