No-haste-big-taste curry: Malaysian beef rendang

I’ll hold my hands up right from the start, this doesn’t look like an authentic “rendang”. Firstly, it’s pretty darn wet and doesn’t a bit resemble the other rendangs I’ve seen out there (all of which look marv). And secondly, I fiddled with the recipe a bit. However, I’m going to dub this a “wet rendang” (which is a real thing, I swears it), and press on confidently.

A slothful chicken pie

I really questioned whether or not to post this. I first cooked it back in October as part of my review of Jamie’s 30-Minute Meals and then didn’t have time to write it up. I had all but resolved that the moment had passed. But then walking home from the office today, as my face started tingling from the cold and my fingers were freezing through my gloves, I knew exactly what the perfect antidote would be and I decided that you all need this recipe for the quickest and easiest chicken and mushroom pie in the world.

Jamie’s spinach and feta filo pie

You know sometimes you look at something in a cook book which looks delicious but you know that if you recreated it at home it would look nothing like the pretty picture in the book? Well when I saw the spinach and feta filo pie in Jamie Oliver’s new book I thought exactly that. But lo and behold, I cooked it and it looked exactly like the carefully styled picture in the book. And it tasted damned good too.

Lamb flatbreads on a Tuesday, Nige?

When stuck for meal ideas, one of my favourite ways to find inspiration is to look through Nigel Slater’s Kitchen Diaries. You probably know the book, but if not it does pretty much what it says on the tin: a year in Nigel Slater’s kitchen. The reason I love it is because it’s a month by month and day by day account of seasonal recipes. You can pretty much go to the very day of the month and see what’s good to eat right now.

Dispelling the myth: Gnocchi (served with tomato sauce)

When I mentioned last week on twitter that I was planning to make gnocchi from scratch for dinner I was met by a surprising reaction. Unbeknownst to me, gnocchi has gained the reputation of being a big fat ball-ache not worth attempting because it inevitably ends in total disaster. Just check out the response I received from the twitterverse when I happily tweeted that I was off to make gnocchi from scratch.

F&G does “Jamie Does…” lamb fricassee

I don’t know about you but most of the post that comes through my door is best ignored. Sven is constantly berating me for picking up the post and then leaving it unopened on the dining room table. I just can’t be bothered. A bunch of bills and junk? Not interested thanks (I’m a spoilt brat, aren’t I?). But every now and again, something thuds on to our door mat that does get my attention… like, for example, Jamie Oliver’s forthcoming book: Jamie Does… which dropped through my letterbox last week.

Lamb n vin: lamb shank braised in a whole bottle of wine

I’m not really a stew person. I wouldn’t even rest my eye on stew if it was on a menu; I’d skip right past it without it even entering my consciousness. I don’t really know why that is. There is absolutely no reason why I shouldn’t like a hearty and rustic stew. I mean, those two descriptors appear in my index of preferred food styles. They even figure in the remit of my blog, ergo ‘Stew’ and I ought to be the best of friends. So I thought it was time for Stew and me to spend a little time together.

King prawn and coconut curry

I love curry. I love it, love it, love it. I particularly love Malaysian and Thai curries probably because I have a special weakness for coconut milk. However, I’d never made a curry using fresh coconut. In fact, I had never even opened a coconut before. That was until Friday.

Mushroom risotto (using my homemade stock)

 

You may remember that I recently made my own chicken stock for the first time. Ever since then the resulting stock has been sitting in my freezer waiting to be utilized. I, the other hand, have been thinking carefully about what I could make; something that would really showcase my first homemade stock. Finally last night I made the absolute perfect dish with it: mushroom risotto.  

Make your own pizza party

Sometimes when you have friends round for dinner you want to do something a little bit different. You don’t want, for example, to be stuck in the kitchen whilst everyone else is having a good time together in the living room. Or you don’t want everyone to sit stiffly around the table as you grandly roll out course after course. Maybe you want to get everyone involved a bit more. So why not hold a pizza party?