GREEK STYLE SHEPHERDS PIE

Arabella has been asking to have cottage pie for a while and so I decided this was a great dish to make for Pascals welcome home supper. However me being me, wanted to make it with a twist and I found the perfect recipe in Fay Ripleys latest book. It was right up my street as I love Greek food and anything with feta. I was a little worried Arabella wouldnt like me messing with a classic, but I couldnt have been more wrong.

Ingredients for 4 people:

1 red onion
Olive oil
500g lean minced lamb
2 tsp dried oregano
3 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed
1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped
200ml of red wine (change to stock if not using - I used stock)
300ml beef stock
2 tbsp tomato puree
70g black pitted Greek olives (Kalamata)

Mash
800g potatoes, peeled and diced
2 tbsp olive oil
juice of half a lemon
30g bunch of fresh mint leaves, chopped
120g feta, crumbled

Preheat the oven to 180 C fan / 200 C / gas mark 6.

First of all start preparing the mash by peeling and dicing the potatoes. Next bring them to the boil in a large saucepan of salted water and finally simmer for 20 minutes (it doesnt matter if you go slightly over this time - I did as I was busying cooking the mince).

Meanwhile in a large non stick frying pan, fry the onion in some olive oil for 5 minutes.

Then add the lamb and cook this until it turns brown - it should take another 5 minutes.

Next mix in the oregano, garlic and chopped red pepper and once again cook for 5 minutes.

Now add the wine or 200ml of stock and let it bubble away over a high heat for 5 minutes.

Pour in the remainder of the stock and add the tomato puree. Cook for around 10 minutes so the stock reduces (you dont want too much liquid).

Finally add the olives!

Transfer the lamb mixture into a medium sized oven dish around 3 litres - I have no idea what size mine was!

At the same time this was cooking, I also made the mash topping. Once the potatoes were cooked, drain and then transfer to a big bowl.

Mash (I added a chunk of butter to help the process although this is entirely optional) and then stir through the olive oil, lemon juice and chopped mint. (To easily chop the mint into small pieces I put the leaves in a mug and then used scissors - a great tip/trick).

Crumble in chunks of feta, season well and mix again.

Finally fork the mash roughly on top of the mince and bake for 30-40 minutes (I did 40 minutes).

This was totally unbelievably good! Wow! We ate the whole lot between the 3 of us as we all had seconds - even Arabella. It was excellent. I am just gutted there were no leftovers as I cannot wait to have this again. Definitely a great dinner party dish - you can easily cook it the day before and then pop it in the fridge (just cook for an extra 15 minutes on the day).

A perfect meal as it was then followed by my millionaires shortbread. I am proud to say that both Arabella and Pascal were very impressed and in fact so was I.

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ORIENTAL STYLE SALMON

I am really bad when it comes to cooking for just me - it is so much easier to just bung a pizza in the oven than actually cook something from scratch as most recipes are for two or more people. However I am determined to try and eat a little healthier in 2016 and so I ended up cooking this salmon dish on Saturday night. In all honesty, I couldnt have been less excited about it and the thought of it made me pretty moody. I really wanted a take away yet I was determined to be good and actually I was very pleasantly surprised.

The recipe was super easy but a little time consuming as you need to marinate the salmon for an hour if possible. However it only took five minutes to prepare and under ten to cook.

Ingredients for 4 people:

4 skinless salmon fillets
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp clear honey
25g stem ginger, drained and finely sliced
2 spring onions, cut into long strips (I didnt read this part and sliced them)!
Rind and juice of 1 lime

To serve:
Sugar snap peas

In a bowl, mix together the oil, soy sauce, honey, ginger, lime rind, lime juice, spring onions and season to taste.

Coat the salmon fillets with the sauce and then cover and marinate in the fridge for around an hour.

When it is ready, preheat the grill to high. The recipe said to place the salmon on baking paper - I would actually recommend foil as my baking paper seriously burnt! Brush the salmon with the marinade and cook for 5 minutes.

Turn and then brush with more marinade and grill for a further 4-5 minutes. (Check out my burnt paper)! If you are serving with sugar snap peas, start cooking them now too.

Finally serve and enjoy.

As I mentioned earlier the thought of salmon on a Saturday night filled me with dread - but this was so much better than I was expecting - it kind of tasted like a very very healthy Chinese take away (I am not sure my brother would believe me though)! Next time I will add some noodles or egg fried rice if I want to bulk the meal up a little bit. Although I have to say it was very good as it was and I felt most healthy….until I are an enormous slab of my rocky all!!

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DINER STYLE CHILLI

The weather these past couple of days has been miserable, not cold but just hideously wet. Definitely the type of weather that makes me want to stay indoors and hibernate with some delicious warming food. As my blog shows, I love American food like burgers and mac and cheese, and this recipe is based on the simple US chilli served in bars and diners. They like it over there on its own as well as a topping on burgers, hot dogs and chips. This was easy to make and took about an hour.

Ingredients for 4 people:

500g beef mince
2 onions, chopped
2 tbsp mild chilli powder
2 tsp garlic powder or granules or 3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tsp ground cumin
4 tbsp tomato puree
500ml passata
2 tbsp pickled jalapeños, chopped (plus extra to serve if you like it spicy)
300ml chicken stock
1 tin kidney beans, drained

To serve:
Grated cheddar
Tortilla chips
Sour cream or guacamole 

Brown the mince all over in a hot non stick pan - there should be enough fat released to fry the mince, however I stupidly used a "sticking" pan so had to add some extra oil.

Add the onions and cook until softened - this took about 5 minutes.

Add the chilli powder, oregano, garlic and cumin and fry for a few minutes.

Next tip in the tomato puree, passata and jalapeños. 

Pour in the chicken stock and then cover and simmer for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Add the kidney beans and cook for further 15 minutes uncovered.

Finally serve in bowls with cheese, tortilla chips, sour cream or guacamole and extra jalapeños if you like it very hot!

I have only ever had the odd English version of chilli con carne with a bowl of rice….I reckon the Americans do it a lot better. This was delicious! It tasted fabulous with all the little extras and next time I might buy some sour cream too as it did have a little bit too much of a kick for me….I am not very good with spice. Anyway this was an easy, great dish, full of flavour - perfect for these cold winter nights - I look forward to trying out some chilli dogs next!

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