Author: james@lonchat.com

Fish Pie

A comforting fish pie with out a recipe but inspired by a bag of Waitrose fish pie mix. Other brands are available.

What you need

  • Pumpkin, about 500g
  • Onion, 1 diced
  • Turmeric, 1 This
  • Frozen spinach, 6 cubes defrosted
  • Cream, 1 cup
  • Fish, about 400g of mixed pieces
  • Cheese, about 100g, grated

What to do

Bake the pumpkin in the oven at 170℃ for about 20-30 minutes.

While the pumpkin is cooking fry the onion in some olive oil in an oven proof pan. Once soft add the turmeric and continue frying for a minute. Then add the defrosted spinach.

Once mixed add the cream and bring to the boil. Add the fish mix and continue to heat and bring to the boil.

While the mixture is heating up, chop up the cooked pumpkin and mix with the cheese.

When the fish mixture is bubbling away, top with the pumpkin & cheese and bake in the oven for about 30 minutes, until piping hot.

Creamy Sun-dried Tomato Chicken

Chicken dumplings poached in a comforting mixture of cream and Sun-dried tomatoes. One pan meal with whatever vegetables you have in your fridge or freezer. Inspired by a recipe on BBC Good Food.

What you need

  • Chicken mince, about 400g mixed with some oregano, 2 Tbsp
  • Cream, 1 or 2 cups
  • Stock, 1 cup
  • Vegetables, 1 cup per person
  • Onion, sliced or diced
  • Sun-dried tomatoes, 6
  • Sun-dried tomato pesto, 2 Tbsp

What you do

Fry the onion in some olive oil until soft. While the onion is cooking mix chicken mince with the oregano and some salt & pepper.

Slice the sun-dried tomatoes and add to the pan along with the pesto. Add the cream, stock and vegetables and being to the boil.

Using a teaspoon take small amounts of the chicken mixture, form into a ball and pop into to bubbling mixture. Repeat until all the mixture is used up.

Simmer for about 15 minutes until the chicken is cooked and the vegetables are tender.

Take it further

Change the herb or spice in the chicken. Use paprika or any of your favourite herbs.

Turkish Eggs

Inspired by Jules @thestonesoup.com although I used to make Turkish eggs years ago as a starter by adding crushed garlic to the yoghurt.

The heat from the cooked eggs will warm the garlic and infuse their goodness into the  yoghurt.

What you need

  • Yoghurt, 2 or 3 spoonful
  • Eggs, 2 + vinegar for poaching
  • Butter, a big knob
  • Paprika, a sprinkle

What you do

Poach your eggs in water with some added vinegar. While the eggs are poaching melt the butter is a small pan and spoon the yoghurt into a bowl; season with liberal amounts of salt and pepper.

When the eggs are cooked, remove from the pan and place on the yoghurt. Pour over the eggs and sprinkle with Paprika.

Take it further

Add some avocado, bacon or chorizo. Just cook the bacon or chorizo in the butter before pouring over the eggs. And for further inspiration check out Jule’s recipe.

Carrot and Ginger Soup

Soups don’t have to be complicated and time consuming.  In the real-world of family food stock cubes are acceptable and a soup can be cooked in about 30 minutes. And most of that time it can be left unattended, leaving you free to get on with other tasks.

With lunch looming the fridge was virtually empty except for some carrots, an onion and a tired piece of ginger, all you need for Carrot and Ginger soup.

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Ingredients

1 onion, roughly chopped
3 cloves of garlic, roughly chopped [optional]
5 carrots, peeled and cut into large chunks
6cm piece of ginger, finely chopped
1 vegetable stock-cube

Method

  1. Boil the kettle.
  2. Heat some oil in a saucepan and gently sauté the onion, garlic and ginger.
  3. While this is softening, peel and cut up the carrots and add to the pan, along with the stock-cube.
  4. Cover with boiling water and simmer until the carrots are very soft, probably about 20 minutes, depending on the size of your chunks.
  5. Blitz with a hand blender to a smooth soup and add salt and pepper to taste.

Take it further

  1. Start off with frying some bacon.
  2. No fresh ginger? Use a tablespoon of ground ginger instead.
  3. Take more care preparing the carrots and onion. Chop into small dice and serve the soup without blending.
  4. Make your own vegetable stock and use this.

Malaysian Chicken Curry

If you visit Asia for any length of time I am sure you will come across the ubiquitous Chicken Curry. Never too much chilli and always soothing; an Asian comfort food.

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This is my first attempt at replicating this dish so I started on-line and researched a recipe. Can’t remember where this was from, so I apologise if this is yours.

The result was OK, but not like the dishes you get in the restaurants in Asia. Repeating this recipe I would use stock instead of water, add more salt, but still I do not think this would replicate the dish.

The quest continues!

INGREDIENTS:
2 tablespoons oil
1/2 onion, diced
1 oz (25 g) curry powder for meat
1 1/2 lbs chicken, chopped into pieces
3 cups water
1 big tomato, cut into wedges, optional
2 small potatoes, peeled and cut into wedges
4 hard-boiled egs, optional
1/2 cup coconut milk (or 3/4 cup milk)
Salt to taste

METHOD:
Add the oil to a big pot and heat it up until hot. Add the onions and stir-fry until aromatic before adding the curry powder. Do a few quick stirs until you smell the aroma, then add the chicken, stir to combine well, for about 1 minute. Add the water into the pot and bring it to boil. Lower the heat and add the tomatoes, potatoes and eggs. Cover the pot and let simmer for about 30-45 minutes, or until chicken becomes tender. Add the coconut milk and salt to taste and simmer for another 5 minutes or so. Dish out and serve immediately with steamed rice.