Slow Cooker Garlic & Herb Guinea Fowl with Rustic Vegetables

There’s nothing better than coming home after a busy Sunday out with the family to a warm, comforting meal waiting for you. This Slow Cooker Garlic & Herb Guinea Fowl is the perfect fuss-free dish—simply prepare it in the morning, set the slow cooker, and let it work its magic while you enjoy your day.

Guinea fowl is becoming increasingly popular and is now widely available in supermarkets. With a flavour that’s richer and slightly gamier than chicken, it makes a fantastic alternative for a hearty, home-cooked meal.

Tender, flavourful guinea fowl is infused with a delicious mix of garlic, lemon, and herbs, sitting on a bed of rustic potatoes, carrots, and celery. As it slow cooks, the juices from the bird and vegetables create a rich, natural broth that can easily be thickened into a simple homemade gravy—perfect for drizzling over your meal.

With minimal effort and maximum flavour, this dish is ideal for a stress-free, home-cooked Sunday dinner. Just serve, carve, and enjoy—no last-minute rushing, just a hearty meal ready to warm you up when you walk through the door! 🍽️✨

Ingredients

1 whole guinea fowl

Herb Mix

3 tbsp olive oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 juice of 1 lemon
pinch maldon salt
freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried oregano

Vegetables

4 medium potatoes, cut into chunks
3 large carrots,  cut into chunks
1 celery stalk,  cut into chunks
1 small onion, roughly chopped

3 whole garlic cloves

1 tbsp cornflour

water

Optional

Fresh parsley, chopped

Lemon wedges

Method

Prepare the Herb Mix
In a small bowl, mix the olive oil, minced garlic, lemon juice, salt, pepper, thyme, parsley and oregano.

Prepare the Guinea Fowl

Pat the guinea fowl dry with kitchen paper.
Gently loosen the skin over the breast using your fingers or a spoon.
Spread the herb mixture under the skin, ensuring an even distribution.

Prepare the Vegetables

Place the potatoes, carrots, celery, garlic cloves and onion at the bottom of the slow cooker.

Assemble in the Slow Cooker

Place the prepared guinea fowl on top of the vegetables.
Spoon the rest of the Herb Mix over the guinea fowl.

Guinea Fowl in Slow Cooker at the start of cooking

Cook

Cover with the lid and cook on low for 6-7 hours or high for 3-4 hours, until the guinea fowl is cooked through (internal temperature should reach 75°C/165°F).

Carefully remove the guinea fowl and let it rest for 10 minutes before carving.

How to Make a Simple Gravy from the Cooking Juices

Strain the Juices

Once the guinea fowl is cooked, carefully remove it from the slow cooker and set it aside to rest.
Strain the juices into a small saucepan, removing any vegetable bits for a smoother gravy.

Thicken with Cornflour (Cornstarch) Slurry

In a small bowl, mix 1 tbsp cornflour (cornstarch) with 2 tbsp cold water until smooth.
Bring the strained juices to a gentle simmer over medium heat.
Gradually whisk in the cornflour slurry, stirring continuously until the gravy thickens (this usually takes 2–3 minutes).

Enhance the Flavour (Optional)

Add a knob of butter for a glossy finish.
Stir in a splash of lemon juice to brighten the flavours.
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

Serve

Pour the gravy over your guinea fowl and vegetables, or serve on the side in a jug.

Garnish with fresh parsley and extra lemon wedges if desired.

Enjoy your flavourful, fall-apart slow-cooked guinea fowl! 🍽️😊

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An easy turkey bolognese recipe

I use turkey mince to make a great bolognese sauce. You can use the finished sauce to make lasagne or serve it with spaghetti and parmesan cheese.

In the tips section, there are some flavour variations.

Ingredients (serves 4)
For the bolognese
1 onion, finely chopped
1 stick celery, finely chopped
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pack turkey thigh mince
1 carrot, finely chopped

1 clove garlic crushed
1/4 nutmeg, freshly grated
1/4 pint milk
2 tablespoons tomato puree
1 beef stock pot (trust me, it improves the flavour)
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1/2 tin water
Salt and pepper

Method 

1. In a large pan, sauté the onion and celery in the olive oil over a gentle heat until the onion is translucent. 
2. Increase the heat and add the turkey mince, fry until the turkey has started to brown, stir regularly. 
3. Add the carrots, nutmeg, garlic, tomato puree, milk and salt and pepper, stir well and cook until the liquid has evaporated, stir regularly.  
4. Add the stockpot, tomatoes and water, stir well, bring to a boil and then turn down to the lowest simmer (the bolognese should just blow the odd bubble) for 30-60 minutes stirring occasionally. The longer you cook it the more "mealy" the turkey will become, like a traditional ragu sauce.

You can add more water if you need it during step 4.

Serve with spaghetti and freshly grated parmesan. For a dinner party, you may wish to serve some garlic bread and a side salad.

Flavour variations

Oregano version - you can also change the flavour by adding either 1 tsp dried oregano with the onions in step 1.

Basil and tomato - add either 1 tsp dried basil at step 4 with the tinned tomatoes. If using fresh basil, add 1 tablespoon finely shredded basil instead of the dried basil.

Mushroom - you can also add 1/2 punnet of chestnut mushrooms that have been sliced when you add the tinned tomatoes in step 4.

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Mexican rice in an Instant Pot

After a busy day at work, cooking a dinner with minimal effort and not needing to watch a pan on the stove is a blessing  This is my first venture into cooking rice in my instant pot and it was a hit, really easy and great tasting rice.

Ingredients

Olive oil

Red onion, finely chopped

Garlic, finely chopped 

Red pepper, chopped

1 tsp paprika

1 cup long grain easy cook rice

1 cup chicken or vegetable stock

1 large tomato, chopped

Salt and pepper

Parsley, finely chopped

Method

Switch on sauté mode.

Wash rice in a sieve until water runs clear. Leave to drain.

Pop in 1 tbsp olive oil. Add onion and garlic, sauté until soft. Add pepper and sauté until garlic is beginning to go golden. Cancel programme.

Add paprika and stir well. Add rice, stock, salt and pepper and stir well. Sprinkle over tomato but don’t stir. Pop on lid with valve set to pressurise and set on Rice setting.

When instant pot finishes cooking, turn off and set timer for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes release steam, sprinkle over chopped parsley and fork rice to fluff up grains.

Serves 3

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Rake's pasta - a twist on Pasta puttanesca

My kitchen is full of food including fruit & vegetables, tins, packets, plus the contents of the fridge and freezer, but with all this food it's still difficult to decide what to cook for lunch.

Pasta is our "go to" for lunches, as it's so quick and easy, from the simplest tossed in pesto, or carbonara, to those that involved a little more preparation.

During lockdown, my husband likes to make his own lunch, so my daughter and I take it turns to cook and today it was my turn. I put on a boiling pot of spaghetti and grabbed some basics, but no fresh parsley, so my normal "Slut's pasta" wasn't possible. I tweaked it and as we have been watching Bridgerton, so I decided to call this "Rake's pasta".

Making the sauce takes as long as the pasta takes to cook.

Ingredients

1 large shallot, finely chopped

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tin anchovies, drained

1/2 to 1 tsp dried crushed chillies

1 clove garlic finely chopped

2 large tomatoes, chopped

10 pitted black olives, sliced into 4

1 large tablespoon capers

freshly ground black pepper

Method

Put the spaghetti on to cook.

Heat a saute pan and add the olive oil. On medium heat add the shallots and gently fry until soft. Add the drained anchovies and bash with the back of a wooden spoon so that they dissolve into the oil, add the garlic and dried chillies, fry for a couple of minutes. Add the tomatoes, olives and capers, fry until the tomatoes start to break down, stir regularly. Season with black pepper.

Drain spaghetti reserving some of the cooking liquid, toss the spaghetti with the sauce and add a little of the cooking liquid to loosen the sauce.

Serve

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Spaghetti alla puttanesca - including how to hide your courgette and tomato glut

What glut?

Admit it, you've been growing veg in your garden due to lockdown, hoping that if there was a longer lockdown that you could provide for the family with lots of fresh vegetables. Preserve and freeze any excess, to enjoy through the autumn and winter.

Perhaps you put a couple of courgettes in your garden or in large pots, you may also have planted a few tomatoes too.

These are now beginning to ripen and you may be getting to the point where you need to start hiding the veg in dishes or you get the comment, "not again" when you serve a meal.

We put in 6 courgette plants, each a different variety and have at least 12 tomato plants in a very tiny back garden and they have turned into triffids or even into "Audrey II" from Little Shop of Horrors. The tomatoes are now above the 8-foot poles we put in (7 foot once in the ground). They are heaving with fruit and just starting to ripen.

I'm still needing organic box deliveries, and try as I might to not pick a box with courgettes in it, inevitably the box contents change just after cut-off, so I'm having to get creative.

My daughter and I take it in turns to cook lunch and are normally based around gluten-free pasta, Barilla pasta is great, so is Waitrose, M&S, Sainsbury's. It was my turn today, my daughter's currently working on a sewing project so she's working upstairs. I wait to see if I get a message on my phone whilst cooking with a guess as to what I'm cooking, she is an expert of predicting what I'm cooking from the aromas wafting up the stairs. Today, she was spot on.

Spaghetti alla puttanesca

This is also known as "slut's pasta" there are different variations, this is my "go-to" recipe for a quick lunch and I've always got the ingredients in the store cupboard or fridge.
To understand the history of the dish and why it's got the slang name, Wikipedia explains it's evolution and differences depending on the region.

I put the pan on, ready to cook the pasta, tipped out the rest of the packet of spaghetti into the pan, without properly checking the quantity of pasta. I then discovered that it was not enough for 2, so that's when I decided to add some finely cut courgettes at the end to bulk it out. I couldn't be bothered to get out my spiralizer, so I cut into fine julienne by hand, courgettes cut in this way are known as courgetti.

You can add the courgettes if you have them, but that is extra to either extend the pasta, add extra veg or hide some courgettes and tomatoes.

Ingredients (serves 2)

large pan boiling water
salt
spaghetti for 2

For sauce:

4 tablespoons olive oil
1 small tin anchovies, drained
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1 tsp dried chilli flakes
2 large tomatoes, diced
2 tbsps capers
3 tbsps black pitted olives, sliced across into 3
Freshly ground black pepper
2 tbsps chopped fresh parsley

1 courgette cut into narrow strips or spiralize it. (Courgetti)

Method

Bring the pan of water to a boil and add the salt, when at a rolling boil, add the spaghetti, stirring to make sure the spaghetti is properly dispersed in the pan.

Put a wide saute pan or frying pan over medium heat, add the olive oil and add the anchovies, crush them with the back of a wooden spoon as they heat and they will melt into the oil. Add the garlic and chilli flakes and fry for one minute. Add the chopped tomatoes and the olives and capers and gently fry until the tomato starts to collapse, season with black pepper. This is now ready, turn off heat until pasta is cooked.

Drain pasta keeping some of the water. Turn back on the heat under the sauce, add the pasta and courgetti (if you are using this) to the sauce and toss well, add a splash of the cooking water to the pan to loosen the sauce, sprinkle over the parsley. Toss together for another minute, the courgetti should have started to wilt slightly, it is now ready to serve.

Enjoy

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Scallops with wild garlic and pasta

Organic Boxes

We are now into the 4th week of lockdown due to COVID-19 and we are very fortunate that we have had an organic box delivery for over 20 years. Initially, we used to collect our box from a local distribution point, then moved to Riverford, last year I set up an Abel & Cole organic box delivery as an alternative.

One weakness of many food delivery companies is that you can't have more than one address attached to your account, therefore I set up one account for my elderly parents with Riverford and another to be delivered to my workplace.

When there started to be an issue getting produce, just before lockdown, I tried to move my Riverford delivery from my work address back to my home address, but it could not be changed due to capacity issues.  I was able to organise a weekly Riverford delivery of veg, meat and milk to my parents. Fortunately, I was quick enough using Abel and Cole to set up a regular weekly delivery and the bonus is that I can still add to the order if I need to and they have a wider variety of produce available. I don't know what will arrive in my veg and fruit box though, therefore every week is a mystery.

During lockdown, it's easy to get into a food rut, so it's important to experiment with new recipes to keep the palate fresh.

What to cook for lunch?

I still had some wild garlic in my fridge and some fresh scallops from my delivery this week. What to cook? After some research at other recipes, I created the following recipe.

Ingredients (serves 2)

Linguini pasta
1 shallot finely chopped
50 g butter
2 tbsps olive oil
1 handful of chopped wild garlic
1 garlic clove, finely grated
1 tsp dried chilli flakes
125ml white wine or vermouth
grated zest lemon
6 scallops
salt and pepper

Method

Put the pasta into cook, make sure you salt the water.

In a medium saucepan, add 1 tablespoon of olive oil and 25 g butter over a medium heat and add shallots, cook gently until soft. Add the chilli flakes, garlic and wild garlic and fry gently for 2 mins, add the white wine or vermouth and gently cook until reduced by half, season.

In a frying pan heat the 1 tbsp olive oil over a medium heat.. Wash and pat dry the scallops, season with salt and pepper. Fry scallops - don't move them around, wait 2 minutes until golden brown. Turn scallops onto other side and continue frying. Add the butter to the pan, and spoon the butter over the scallops.

When pasta is cooked, drain and add to the medium saucepan, toss with the garlic & shallot mixture. Add some freshly grated lemon rind and toss. Serve in a pasta bowl with more grated lemon rind and serve the scallops on the top.

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Turkey meatballs in tomato and basil sauce

As we eat mainly turkey, chicken and fish, I'm always trying to think of different ways to use a pack of turkey mince.
It's easy to become stuck in a rut and keep making turkey chilli, so tonight I was determined to make a different evening meal. This is quick, simple and easy to make.

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

For the tomato sauce:-

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 white onion, finely chopped

Pinch salt

1 clove garlic, finely chopped 

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 tin chopped tomatoes 

1 pot (70g) tomato purée (cirio do perfect sized portions)

1/2 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon balsamic vinegar

1 tablespoon fresh basil

For the meatballs:-
2 tablespoons olive oil

1 white onion, finely chopped

Pinch salt and pepper

1/2 teaspoon dried oregano

1 tablespoon tomato ketchup

500g turkey thigh mince

Pack of linguini or spaghetti (check measures on side of the packet and cook amount for the appropriate number of people.)

Method

Start by making the meatballs

Using a medium bowl, add all of the ingredients for the meatballs. Mix all the ingredients together well, using a wooden spoon or your hand whichever you prefer.

Prepare a tray for your meatballs to sit on ready to fry, place a sheet of parchment paper on the tray to make them easier to transfer.

Shape the meatballs in your hands, golf ball-sized is ideal, they can be popped in the fridge if you want to make them in advance.

Make the tomato sauce

Heat a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add 1 tablespoon of olive oil to the pan and fry the onions and pinch of salt gently until softened, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and oregano and fry gently for another 2 minutes. Add the tinned tomatoes, tomato puree, pepper, sugar and balsamic vinegar and simmer gently for about 5 minutes, add the fresh basil. 

You can also use this tomato sauce as a base for a pizza or with pasta. 

Combining the meatballs with sauce

Heat a saute pan over medium heat, add 2 tablespoons of olive oil and fry the meatballs until browned on all sides. Be careful when you turn them, or they could break up, the trick is to leave them for about 1 minute before trying to turn them.
When they have browned all over, add the tomato sauce and enough water to cover the meatballs, stir carefully. Bring to a boil and then turn down to a simmer. Turning occasionally.

Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet.

Serve with fresh basil and parmesan to taste.

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Roast chicken

Roast Free-Range Chicken

There's nothing better than a roast chicken, but there are some tricks to bringing out the flavour.
I always buy a free-range chicken, as the flavour cannot be beaten and there are no nasty antibiotics or steroids fed to them.

Ingredients

1 free-range chicken
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon mixed herbs
1/2 bulb of garlic
1 lemon
Maldon salt
freshly ground black pepper

Method

Preheat the oven Gas 5. Put the chicken in a roasting tray and pop a couple of the garlic cloves into the cavity of the chicken. Drizzle over the olive oil and sprinkle over the mixed herbs, some salt and ground black pepper, massage into the chicken. Cut the lemon in half, squeeze the juice of half of the lemon over the chicken and pop the other half into the cavity of the chicken.
Pop the remaining garlic cloves under the chicken.
Roast the chicken for 1 1/2 hours (20 mins per lb plus 20 mins) is my normal timings. Baste every 20 minutes.

Serve with roast potatoes and veg.

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Courgette, Caper and Chilli Pasta

When we need a quick lunch, pasta is always our "go to". It was time to raid the fridge for veggie, then time for me to get creative.

Ingredients (serves 2)

1/2 pack of gluten free macaroni

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 onion, sliced

1 courgette, cut lengthwise in half, then each piece again lengthwise. Chop across into 1 cm chunks

1 clove garlic finely chopped

2 large tomatoes roughly chopped

2 tsp capers

2 pinches ancho chilli flakes

Zest 1/2 lemon

Water

4 stems fresh basil

Salt and pepper

Method

Put a large pot of water onto boil and add salt. Add pasta when boiling and cook according to the packet. Make the sauce whilst the pasta is cooking.

In a sauté pan over a medium heat, fry the onion until soft, add the courgette and garlic, fry for a couple of minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chopped tomatoes, capers, lemon zest and chilli flakes, stir and lower heat to a simmer, stir occasionally. Remove the leaves from the basil, chop the stems and add the stems to the sauté pan and stir. Season with salt and pepper. You can add a splash of water if needed, if the pan seems dry.

Carefully cut the basil leaves into a rough large chop, add to the sauce, stir and turn off heat.

Check pasta is cooked, drain, reserving some of the cooking liquor. Add the pasta to the sauce and stir the pasta into the sauce, turn back on heat to allow the pasta to absorb the flavours, add a little of the cooking liquor to help the sauce get absorbed into the pasta.

Serve with a sprig of basil.

You can also sprinkle over some fresh Parmesan to serve. I also added a couple of drops of chilli oil over mine as I like the heat.

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Tapas style Crevettes (Jumbo prawns) with Tomato and Lemon

We love a bargain, especially when you find amazing produce in the reduced section of the supermarket. Today was one of those days, hubby came back with a massive bag of cooked crevettes that should have been over £7 reduced to £2, a perfect ingredient for lunch. After shelling them, I was left with at least 20 jumbo prawns to cook, I also had 1/3 of a gluten-free tiger loaf left.

I wanted to cook something that had some sauce to mop up with the crusty bread.

Tip - A quick way to freshen the bread is to pop it in an oven Gas 6 for about 10 minutes, this will warm it through and give it a lovely crust, so I did this once I started cooking the prawns.

Ingredients

4 tbsp olive oil
2 shallots, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1/2 red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
large prawns
juice 1/2 lemon
1 large tomato, finely chopped
1 tbsp fresh chopped parsley
salt and black pepper

Method

In a large frying pan, heat the oil over a medium heat, add the shallots, garlic and chilli and gently fry until soft (about 3 minutes). Add the smoked paprika and prawns, fry stirring often for about 2 minutes, add the lemon juice and tomato, season with freshly ground salt and pepper and continue cooking, frequently stirring (3 mins). Taste and adjust seasoning. Sprinkle over the parsley, stir well and serve with chunks of crusty bread.

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A veg fest

The disappearing veg act.

On Sunday, I popped into our local Waitrose to pick up something for dinner. It had been a very wet and cooler day, poor hubby had been out at an event all day and was going to be very soggy when he got home, so we thought it would be great to do a "warming pot of goodness" for dinner.
As usual, we start with the meat when we go shopping, then return to the veg section. Imagine my amazement, when there was no green veg available, no broccoli, cabbages, flat or runner beans, the section was completely empty. For a balanced diet, it's essential to have your "greens", all of the iron, vitamin C and other nutrients. You can't eat a rainbow without green in there somewhere. Apparently, on checking with friends, they have also been experiencing this in other supermarkets too. As the temperatures are back to normal, we aren't barbecuing every night, I decided that the only way to get my veggie fix resolved, was to get my Riverford box order in asap.

If you haven't ever ordered an organic box, I know it can seem a bit daunting, with lots of questions that you need to find the answers to:-

• Do you want a regular order?
• Can you choose what is in your box?
• How expensive is it going to be?
• Do you have to have a box every week?
• Where is it delivered and do you need to be home?

 I have tried a few different schemes, our first box was a weekly box, all the boxes for the area were delivered to one location about 5 miles away, we had to go and pick it up every Friday evening. It was very cost effective and a complete surprise every time you collected it, you didn't know what would be in it, but a great option, until that option stopped and I had to hunt for an alternative.
I did try an Abel and Coe box, but that needs a regular order and was more expensive.

I then tried Riverford and have been shopping with them for about 10 years. We don't have a regular delivery setup, instead, I check on their website when ordering and it gives you a full list of all the options, therefore I can select the box depending on the contents I need. Sometimes I get a bumper veg box, other times, a small box or combination veg and fruit box, but you are in control.
The first thing you notice is how fresh everything is, covered in the natural protection it grew in (yes I mean soil), but that means the veg keeps longer. You get a printed sheet with Guys latest newsletter, details of the contents of the box, tips on how to look after unusual veg and also some recipes. If you need more guidance, there's always the Riverford website, and their recipe database is phenonmenal.
Guy is reducing the amount of plastic used and looking at using greener packaging that is returnable or recyclable. 

The box contents will depend on your farm catchment, if you enter your postcode, you will then see what your contents will be and when your delivery day is. My delivery day is now a Tuesday, and therefore I need to order by 11pm on Sunday evening. That means I can plan the meals for the week.
My delivery today is as follows (remember the contents may be different in your area).

100% UK organic veg box

• Salad potatoes UK
• Carrots UK
• Golden bunched beetroot UK
• French beans UK
• Courgettes UK
• Calabrese broccoli UK
• Mixed salad leaves UK
• Cherry tomatoes UK

All for £13.95 which is much cheaper than buying the same Organic produce through any supermarket.

The great news is the bunched beetroot comes with the leaves, so I've followed the instructions and cut them off the beetroot, washed the leaves thoroughly and split into 2 bags, 1 to go with dinner tonight, the other to keep for another meal.

Tonight, I decided to make life easy, roasting the root veg while the chicken in mustard was also roasting, merely leaving the beetroot leaves needing cooking in a pan 5 minutes before serving. 

Roasted root veg

Potatoes
Carrots
Golden beetroot
Red onion (not from box)
Garlic cloves (not from box)
Fresh sprigs of rosemary (from garden)
couple of bay leaves (from garden)
Olive oil

Cut into similar sized pieces, pop on a baking tray, drizzle with olive oil and toss well. Put the sprigs of herbs amongst the veg and roast in a hot oven for 60 minutes.

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Turkey Pitta kebabs with Tashi sauce (Cypriot style)

When it's so hot, you don't fancy cooking over a hot stove, perhaps the BBQ is calling you. This is a quick and very easy dinner to make. Perhaps you are having a BBQ and would like something different to serve that's simple to prepare ahead and guests can serve themselves.

Basically, you need pitta bread or flatbread, meat or sausages to chuck on the BBQ (or halloumi for vegetarians), the salad and some Tashi sauce.

As we now focus on turkey and chicken in our family, I've adapted the original recipe to use turkey steaks. You can use any meat suitable to be barbecued, even sausages work well and are great for the kids.

Whilst my husband was in Cyprus, they used white cabbage in their salads instead of lettuce and we love the difference. He has created his own sesame sauce (fondly known as Tashi sauce in our family), it is slightly different to the normal Tahini Salata as it contains Greek yoghurt, but is really scrummy).

Depending on your appetite, you will need for each person:-

• large appetite = 2 pittas, 
• small appetite = 1 pitta each.

Start by making the Tashi sauce, this will then have time for the flavours to develop. It can be made ahead and kept in the fridge.

Start to marinate the meat.

Then create the salad and pop it in a sealable tub in the fridge.

Pitta bread (gluten-free is great) or Flatbread

Turkey kebab (makes 4 pittas)

Turkey steaks (1 for each pitta)

2 tbsp olive oil

Juice half a lemon

1 tsp dried oregano

Pop all ingredients into a resealable bag and mix around, pop in the fridge until ready to cook.

Tashi sauce

1 garlic clove - crushed

2 tbsp tahini (sesame paste)

Juice of 1 lemon

4 tbsp greek yoghurt

a pinch Maldon salt

Place the garlic and sesame paste in a bowl and mix, add the lemon juice and continue mixing. There is a strange chemical reaction and the sesame paste gets very thick, keep stirring until thoroughly mixed, add the greek yoghurt and salt, stir until combined. Check seasoning. Cover and pop in the fridge.

Greek Kebab Salad

1/4 small white cabbage, finely sliced

2 large tomatoes, cut into small chunks.

1/2 cucumber, remove the seeds (see tip) and then chopped into small chunks

2 tablespoons chopped flat leaf parsley

1/2 red onion, finely sliced

A drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.

Mix all the ingredients together, cover and pop in the fridge.

Assembling the kebabs

When you are ready to start cooking, just pop the meat on the BBQ or in a non-stick frying pan. Warm up the pittas (check instructions on the packet).

I normally slice the meat into strips once cooked, pile this onto a serving plate, then everyone can help themselves.

Hold the hot pitta in a clean tea towel and using a small sharp knife, slit down one long edge. Open out the pitta to make sure it can be filled.

Take one pitta, open the pocket and add the turkey steak (one steak's worth of slices). Spoon over a couple of tablespoons of the Tashi sauce, then fill the rest of the pitta with a large handful of the salad.

Serve and enjoy.

Tip - if you need to deseed a cucumber (it's the seeds that can cause indigestion), simply slice the cucumber in half, then using a teaspoon, scrape out the seeds. I loosen the edge of the trench first, then scoop out the middle. This also gets rid of a lot of the water too.

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Chicken Stew with dumplings

It was a little cold this morning, waking to 2 degrees C, with a slight touch of frost. After a busy staff development day today, we all needed something comforting to eat. The temperature was already dropping when we left college, I wanted to cook something really simple for dinner that was full of nutrients, but would give us a foodie hug.
I still had carrots and leeks left from the organic box, so wanted to use those up, there were 6 chicken thigh fillets in the fridge, so decided to make a very easy chicken stew.

Chicken Stew

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 onion, sliced
1 1/2 leeks, sliced
4 carrots, sliced
2 cloves garlic, smashed
1 sweet potato, cut into chunks
2 1/2 pints water
1 chicken stock pot
6 chicken thighs
1 handful of paella rice
couple sprigs of fresh thyme
freshly ground black pepper
salt
1 cup frozen peas
cornflour and water

Method

Add the oil, onion, leeks and carrots to the pan, gently sweat the vegetables until the onion and leeks begin to soften, add the garlic and sweet potato and continue to sweat for another minute.
Add the water and stock pot to the pan, pop in the chicken and rice, throw in the thyme with some pepper and a touch of salt (add more later after cooking if needed).
Cover and cook gently for 1 hour.
Add the frozen peas bring the stew back up to the boil and add the dumplings, cover and gently simmer for 10 minutes.
Season to taste.

Depending on how you like your stew, if you like it thin, then serve as it is.

If you prefer a thicker stew, serve the dumplings, then thicken the remaining stew. Mix a couple of teaspoonfuls of cornflour with a little water, add gradually to stew and cook until thick. Add as much cornflour as necessary to get the thickness you prefer. Serve.

I wanted to find a gluten free recipe for dumplings, didn't have any suet, so went for a hunt online and discovered the following recipe. I added some mixed herbs to the flour and they were scrummy. I wet my hands before taking spoonfuls and use the damp hands to make the dumplings into soft balls.

Dumplings

150g Rice flour or any gf flour
2 tea spoons of baking powder
2 large eggs
a little water
optional a few dried herbs.

Mix to a dough and put spoonfulls into boiling stew and simmer for around 10 mins.

These are suitable for vegetarians and are lactose free and easy peasy

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Yoghurt Chicken

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts, cut into strips

1 (4 oz.) container plain yoghurt

1/2 lime juice

1 clove garlic crushed

1 tsp. oregano

Dash of salt & pepper

Parmesan cheese

Marinate chicken in mixture of yogurt, lemon juice and seasonings. Marinating even a few minutes is fine. Place chicken in shallow greased 13 x 9 inch pan so chicken is touching, but not overlapping. Sprinkle the chicken with Parmesan cheese. Bake at Gas 6 for 25-30 minutes. After about 20 minutes of baking, drain any excess drippings and check the thickest piece, cut through the middle and see if any pink juices run, return to oven for addition 5 minutes.

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Turkey mince with squash & porcini

What's for dinner?

As we only eat chicken, turkey and fish plus lots of vegetables, it's easy to keep cooking the same dishes. Tonight was time for me to create a new recipe, something different that would satisfy our hungry tums. Hubby had bought turkey mince earlier, we'd eaten chilli Thursday night, had turkey meatballs and bolognese sauce earlier in the week, so time to see what I could find that would go with the mince. Jacket potatoes are perfect for an October evening, there was a butternut squash on the side, I've always got tinned tomatoes, dried porcini and fresh herbs, so invention time, here we come.

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion chopped
1 clove garlic, chopped
500g turkey mince
1/2 butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1cm dice
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tbsp fresh thyme, chopped
1 beef stock pot
1 handful dried porcini, soaked in 1/2 cup hot water for 20 minutes
pepper

Method

In a large saucepan, heat the oil and gently fry the onion until soft, increase heat to medium, add the garlic and mince and fry until the mince is browned. Add the squash and continue to fry for another minute. Add the tinned tomatoes and fresh thyme. Pop in the stock pot and cook gently, stirring occasionally.
Remove the porcini from the soaking water, chop into small pieces and add to the mince. Carefully add the soaking water (don't add the final bit as there may be grit in the bottom).
Simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, season with a couple of twists of freshly ground black pepper.
You shouldn't need to add any further salt.

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Baked mustard & lemon chicken

This is a quick dish to cook, if you have chicken pieces available. I used 4 chicken legs, but it will work with any chicken pieces. If you use pieces with their skin on, this will hold the marinade and crisp up when baked in the oven.

Ingredients

4 x Chicken legs
Marinade:
1 lemon, zest and juice
1 heaped teaspoon of dijon mustard
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon finely chopped parsley

Method

Put all the ingredients for the marinade into a sealable food bag that is large enough to take the chicken pieces too. Seal the bag and mix the marinade together. Add the chicken pieces, reseal and massage the marinade into the chicken. Leave for a minimum of 10 minutes, but can also be made ahead and left to marinade in the fridge.
When you are ready to cook, preheat the oven Gas 6. Take a small roasting tray, grease the tray with olive oil, then place the chicken into the tray, skin side up, pour any remaining marinade over the chicken pieces.
Roast in the oven for 40 minutes (check after 30 minutes if small pieces).

How to check if chicken is cooked: Insert a knife at the thickest part of the chicken, next to a bone. Check if there are any pink juices, or pink meat (this means chicken is still not cooked). Juices should run clear when cooked. Return to oven for another 5 minutes and check again. Always check more than one piece of chicken as some ovens don't cook evenly.

Serve the chicken, drizzle over the juices from the pan. I served with parmentier potatoes, steamed kale and carrots. You could also serve with rice and a salad.

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Chicken - Riverford style

Typical evening. Come home after busy day at college, it's chicken but not sure what to do with it.

Step 1

Low effort is the key, so one pot meal is a bonus.

Step 2

2 legs and 2 wings are left on the carcass, so start by jointing these into drumsticks and thighs.

Step 3

What veg are left to use up in our box from last week?

Yellow pepper, vine tomatoes, onion, sweet potato.

Step 4

Raid fridge - chopped chorizo

Step 5

Additions from supplies

Olive oil

Garlic

Passata

Chopped fresh basil

Begin recipe creation.

Lucious olive oil, frazzle onions, garlic and chicken, sauté pepper, add rest of ingredients, cook gently for 30 mins

Garnish with chopped fresh basil

Serve and wait for seconds to be demolished.

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Savoury rice with hake - and another update on hubby

I wanted to use basmati rice as it has low glycemic index and better than white long grain and hubby isn't keen on brown rice, so I did some research and developed the following recipe.

Waitrose Frozen hake fillets are amazing, they are perfect for this dish.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, finely chopped

1 banana red pepper, finely sliced

3 medium tomatoes, chopped

1 cup basmati rice

1 chicken stock cube

Water to cover by 1/2 inch

1 cup frozen peas

4 hake frozen fillets

Salt and pepper

Method

Heat oil in a large sauté pan (make sure you have a lid for it).

Add onion, garlic and peppers, gently sauté for 1 minute add tomato and cook until soft.

Add the rice and fry gently mixing for about 1 minute. Add the stock cube and water and bring to the boil. Season. Add the frozen peas, stir, then lay the hake over the top pushing the fillets just under the liquid. Cover and simmer very gently until all the liquid has evaporated. Don't stir, just leave the pan to steam. Carefully serve onto plates, fluffing the rice slightly with a fork.

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Pasta with tomato, courgettes and tuna sauce.

Lunchtime Dilemma

Using leftovers!
What did I have left, 1/3rd tin tuna (well I did leave for daughter yesterday, but she didn't get back until tea time), also had a box of cooked pasta left from yesterday?
I didn't want to waste this and came up with the following dish and whilst it was cooking, I could nip outside into the garden to grab the fresh flat leaved parsley.

Pasta with tomato, courgettes and tuna sauce

Ingredients (serves 3)

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
1 clove garlic finely chopped
1 courgette, cut lengthways into quarters, then chopped along the length
1 tin tomatoes
1 tablespoon capers
1 tablespoon fresh parsley finely chopped
1/3 tin tuna

Method

You need to cook the pasta if you haven't got any ready to reheat.
In a small pan, heat the oil gently and fry the onion until soft, add the garlic and courgette, fry for 2-3 minutes. Add the tinned tomatoes and break them up with a spoon as you cook (I prefer tinned tomatoes as they don't have as much water). Add the capers and parsley. Cook for 5 minutes. Just before serving carefully add the tuna, but try not to mask it, a couple of stirs will do. If using precooked pasta, add it to the sauce and heat through. If fresh cooked pasta drain and toss through sauce.
Serve

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Spiced chilli pork

It's New Year's Eve, what can you make with cold roast pork, well I let my imagination go and produced this lovely dish. It was really easy and extremely yummy.

Ingredients:
3 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, sliced
Cold roast pork cut into .5 inch chunks
1 tbsp paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
6 mushrooms sliced
5 tomatoes cut into chunks
1 tbsp dried oregano
Salt and pepper
Water
1/2 Savoy cabbage finely sliced

Method:
Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the onions and garlic and fry gently until soft.
Add the pork and fry for 1 minute, add the paprika and chilli and fry coating all the pork and onions in the spices. This will release the flavours.
Add the mushrooms and fry for another minute. Add some water to help release the juices crusted on the bottom the pan.
Add the tomatoes and the oregano. Season well. Simmer for 10 mins, add more water if necessary.
Add the cabbage and continue to simmer for another 5 minutes.

Serve with boiled rice.

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