Paella

We love paella. It’s so easy to make and virtually fool proof. Brown the meat, add veg followed by rice and stock, then cover and leave to cook. Add any shellfish and peas for the last five minutes and garnish with herbs and lemon.


We vary ours depending on what we fancy but this one is a favourite…

Ingredients (serves 2 but is easily doubled etc):
3 chicken thighs
4 mini cooking chorizo sausages
1 red pepper (chopped)
1 onion (chopped)
2 cloves of garlic (minced)
Pinch of saffron
¼ tea sp smoked paprika
Large handful of shell fish (we used mussels, langoustines and prawns)
½ cup frozen peas
200g paella rice
500ml chicken stock
1 lemon
1 small bunch of parsley

- Cut the chicken and chorizo into bite sized chunks and brown in a little olive oil. Set aside.
- Next fry the peppers, onions and garlic for 5 minutes or so until softened. Add the meat back into the pan.
- Add the saffron, paprika and rice and stir well.
- Add the stock and give everything a good stir. Cover the pan with a double layer of foil and make sure it is tucked tightly around the edges so steam doesn’t escape.
- Let the paella cook on a low-ish heat for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes lift the foil and add the peas and any shellfish. Re-cover with foil.
- After a further 5 minutes remove the foil and check to see that the shell fish is cooked.
- Garnish with fresh chopped parsley and lemon wedges (we took the photo above before we did this)
- The rice should be tender and a crust should have formed on the bottom of the pan - don’t worry about this, it’s the best bit!

Thai beef salad

This is based loosely on the Jamie Oliver Thai beef salad from his 15 minute meals series. By 'based loosely' I mean based on whatever notes I scribbled down whilst watching the programme, as well as being dependant upon what food we had in the fridge. I have purposely left quantities approximate as we tend not to use specific measurments in recipes like this.

 - marinade steak (we used two rib-eye steaks)  in a good pinch of salt, pepper, crushed szechuan peppercorns, chinese 5 spice/mixed spice and a slug of oil for at least 30 mins


- dry fry a mixture of nuts and seeds (we used sesame seeds, pine nuts, mixed nuts) and set aside

- make the dressing... lime juice and zest, fresh and/or pickled ginger, soy sauce, sweet chilli sauce, sesame oil, fresh chopped chilli, thai fish sauce - and set aside

- fry a sliced red pepper and a handful of sliced shallots until soft, add a splodge of oyster sauce if you have any

- cook/soak a portion of noodles and mix in with the fried peppers and shallots
- griddle the marinaded steaks on each side until medium rare, leave to rest for a few minutes and then slice thickly

- chop up a romaine lettuce, spring onions, coriander, parsley and scatter on a large platter. Add halved cherry tomatoes, rocket and sliced radishes if there are some to use up.

- pile the hot peppers, shallots, noodles and sliced steak on top of the leaves and finish off with the toasted nuts and seeds

- serve the bowl of dressing and a few extra lime wedges on the side

A seriously good sandwich

More of a construction job than a recipe...

Fry some sliced red onions in a knob of butter and a healthy drizzle of balsamic vinegar until meltingly soft. It should take at least 15-20 minutes on a low-ish heat.

Pre-heat a griddle pan until very hot. Season a lamb steak on both sides before placing on the hot griddle. Cook for 2-3 minutes each side if you like your meat cooked medium.

In the meantime, toast a thick slice of bread or ciabatta. When the lamb and onions are ready you can assemble the sandwich... first sliced tomatoes (which should be at room temperature), then mayonnaise which has been mixed with a smidge of dijon mustard, then the lamb, then the slow cooked onions. Finally finish with a handful of rocket dressed with more balsamic. Top with a final piece of toasted bread if you like.

Lime and paprika chicken

This is easy Spring/Summer food, peferct for bbq's or an after work dinner with whatever salad bits you've got in the fridge. Marinade the chicken the night before or before you go to work if you can, otherwise an hour before you're due to eat it is fine.

Place de-boned chicken thighs in a bowl with olive oil, crushed garlic, the juice of one lime and plenty of smoked paprika. Add some dried chilli flakes for extra kick if you like. When you're ready to grill/griddle/bbq the chicken, season it with plenty of salt and pepper first before cooking the chicken fast on a high heat. Sprinkle the chicken with a little extra paprika once cooked if you like.

We had ours with garlic and parsley corn on the cob and a warm herby new potato, green bean, spinach, onion and tomato smush. It tasted a lot nicer than it sounds!

Herby green risotto

This was lovely and fresh and Spring-like, even if there has been snow and hail here in Cheshire in the last week or so :-(

I've not included how to make a risotto again here, just the ingredients used. For the first time ever we made a risotto without wine in it. It didn't taste any worse for it. Although it was rather odd to stand stirring the rice with a cup of tea in hand rather than the usual glass of vino.

Ingredients:
- veg stock
- arborio rice
- 1 white onion, chopped
- 1 fat clove of garlic, minced
- 6 chestnut mushrooms, sliced
- 2 handfuls of spinach, roughly chopped
- handfuls of parsley, watercress and chives, blitzed
- handful of green beans and asparagus cut in half, cooked in boiling water for 2 mins and then set aside to add to the risotto for the last few minutes
- small tub of double cream, added towards the end
- salt and pepper
- plenty of parmesan grated on just before eating

Watercress sauce

We have this as a cold sauce to go with salmon wrapped in pancetta. You can warm it up gently too though which is equally nice.

Blitz a bag or two of watercress with a couple of handfuls of spinach (if you happen to have some), plus a small handfull of parsley and a handful of chives. Then add a small tub of double cream and season with salt and pepper.

Salmon and scallop teriyaki kebabs

Ingredients (serves 2):
2 thick salmon fillets, cut into large chunks
6 large scallops
100ml teriyaki marinade
25ml dark soy sauce
25ml mirin
tea spoon honey
tea spoon sesame oil

- Mix together all wet ingredients in a bowl and add the salmon and scallops. Leave them in the marinade for an hour. Soak wooden skewers in water in the meantime before you skewer the fish.
- Pre heat the oven to 180 degrees. Carefully add the salmon and scallops to the  kebab skewers, alternating as you go. Place in a roasting tray and pour over a little of the marinade.
- Cook in the pre-heated oven for approximately 10 minutes, but check after 6 minutes or so, especially if your scallops are small.
- Whilst the kebabs are cooking, stir fry some veg of your choice with some cooked noodles, adding the rest of the reserved marinade for the last few minutes. You could also add a little garlic, chilli, ginger and Chinese 5 spice to your stir fry for extra flavour.