Potato and Leek Dauphinoise

This is a hodge podge, using up leftovers recipe that deserves more attention

1 leek

Some potatoes 

4 slices bacon

150ml double cream

150ml water

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Thinly slice the leek, potatoes and bacon

2. Add a few cloves of garlic, a pinch of salt, a pinch of pepper and a pinch of rosemary and thyme if you fancy to the cream and water

3. Start with a layer of potatoes, then leeks, then bacon, then cream, then potatoes and keep going until all the ingredients are used up. I did this in a Le Crueset casserole dish but any dish with a lid will do, or you can cover with tin foil if you don't have a lid

4. Chuck it in the oven with the lid on for an hour, then uncover, stab it with a skewer to make sure the potatoes are all soft, sprinkle some cheese on top and chuck it back in the oven for half an hour until the top is brown

I served it with sausages but it would go nicely with a roast or just any meat really 

Three Ingredient Meals

List of meals that are sweet and simple and can be made with three ingredients + herbs and spices . This list may grow as I remember more things. 

Potato

 • Jacket potato + Butter + cheese

 • Jacket potato + Tuna + Mayo

 • Spice bag (chicken and chips)

 • Sweet potato wedges and chicken

 • Bangers and mash

Pasta

 • Tuna sweetcorn

 • Butter and pepper

 • Cheese and bacon

 • Sausages and tinned tomatoes

 • Cheese and spinach

 • Basil pesto with pine nuts or cashews

 • Sun-dried tomato pesto with almonds

Rice

 • Bacon and onion

 • Bacon and egg

 • Chicken and egg

 • Coconut rice and chicken

 • Saag paneer

Bread

 • Avocado and chilli toast

 • Peanut butter toast

 • Stuff in sandwiches

 • Hedgehog bread

 • Bread and butter pudding

 • Picnic rolls

 • Pulled pork and apple sauce

 • Shredded chicken mayo

Eggs

 • Dippy soldiers

 • Omnomnomlette (cheese and mushroom)

 • Scrambled eggs on toast

 • Spanish Omnomnomlette (potato and onions)

 • Eggy bread

Soups

 • Carrot and orange

 • Potato and carrot

 • Carrot and coriander

 • Triple root veg

Spice Bag

Is it really a recipe if it's just seasoning chucked over frozen breaded chicken and chips? Well, it's getting an entry anyway because the true gem is the spice bag seasoning which I think I've almost perfected, give or take a few tweaks.

This recipe is based on the Irish takeaway staple of the same name. I've been craving it for about a month whilst in lockdown but of course, spice bag seasoning doesn't exist in Wales so I had to make my own. Every takeaway had their own version so I just played with spices until it smelt like my favourite version and then I had to write it down so I don't forget it when this tub runs out! 

Spice mix 

2 tsp ground sea salt

2 tsp paprika

2 tsp mild chilli powder 

1 tsp garlic granules

1 tsp onion salt

1.5 tsp Chinese five spice

Optional: replace half a teaspoon of mild chilli powder with half a teaspoon of cayenne

Method

1. Cook your breaded chicken and chips however you like. This works with any type of chips and any type of breaded chicken, including chicken nuggets. I haven't tried with any of the quorn versions but I reckon it would be almost identical. 

2. Pour two teaspoons of the spice mix in with about a tablespoon of oil into a wok or a pan large enough to toss everything in. Heat up the oil and spice mix until you can smell the spices (the fancy word word for this is tempering or blooming depending on which culture you ask) 

3. Chuck your chips and chicken into the wok with the spices and give it a good shake and toss so everything gets covered.

4. Top with sliced red chilli peppers and cheese if you want to take a bit of the heat out.

Chickpea Fruity Curry

This one is adapted from a Jack Monroe recipe. If you've been in a coma for the last three years and have somehow stumbled on my blog without ever seeing cooking on a bootstrap, you should definitely have a look through Jack's recipes, they are delicious and cheap and the newer ones are all vegetarian/ vegan friendly.

Ingredients 

1 tin chickpeas

1 tin peaches

1 tin chopped tomatoes 

1 handful frozen diced onions

2 teaspoons garlic paste (or 2 cloves of garlic) 

Medium Curry Powder or Garam Masala - just keep adding it until the spirit of an ancient and benevolent chef tells you it's enough. Not all spice blends are creates equal. 

Method

1. Heat the onions in a frying pan over a low heat. When they look just about defrosted, add the garlic paste and some of your chosen spice blend, keep it on a low heat, you don't want the onions to brown. 

2. Drain and rinse the chickpeas and pop them in boiling water to soften them a little. 

3. Drain the peaches, keeping the juice for the sauce later. Chop them into chunks, the size is up to you, I went for about 1 inch chunks. 

4. Add the peaches, peach juice, chickpeas and chopped tomatoes to the spiced onion mix. At this point I added about a teaspoon of curry powder because I tasted it and the flavours weren't quite where I wanted them to be, I recommend tasting at this point, but remember that the flavours are going to develop and intensify as you simmer it for at least half an hour and the liquid reduces. I added a cup of water half way through as the sauce was a little too thick, and then I let it thicken again.

I served this with turmeric rice with raisins I'd soaked in apple juice overnight, it made for a perfect sweet and savory, fruity and spicy meal that I'm sure I'm going to make again and again.. Maybe with spinach next time. 

Pork and Chestnut Stuffed Mushrooms

I forgot to take a photo of these before I boxed them up for the week so I'll try and remember to get one next time, and for now you'll just have to trust me that they look delicious!

Ingredients 

6 Breakfast or Portabello Mushrooms, the bigger the better

1 pack sausages - any type will do, I got some low fat pork ones, I tend to avoid heavily flavoured ones since we're going to add our own flavours

2 teaspoons dried thyme

2 teaspoons garlic paste or finely chopped garlic

1 vacuum pack of chestnuts

Olive oil or butter, fry light at a push but it's not the same! 

Optional - breadcrumbs and cheese to top

Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Remove the stems from the mushrooms and pop them in a roasting tin. 

2. Drizzle a little oil or butter over the mushrooms and sprinkle some dried thyme over each one. 

3. Pop the mushrooms in the oven for about 10 minutes while you prep the stuffing. 

4. Cut the cases off the sausages and put the meat in a bowl. 

5. Roughly chop the chestnuts, you can make them as chunky or as fine as you prefer, I normally make them about the size of my little fingernail so they have a little bite. 

6. Add chestnuts, garlic paste, salt and pepper to the sausage meat and mix it until it's roughly evenly distributed. You can add other herbs or spices at this point if you fancy them, or a teaspoon of sugar to add a little caramelisation when they cook. 

7. Scoop the stuffing into the mushrooms and if you're using them, sprinkle the breadcrumbs and/or cheese on top. 

8. Pop them in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until the tops are brown. 

Sweet Potatoes

I buy bags of sweet potatoes and they're one of my favourite comfort foods. Tonight's post is less of a recipe and more of a top 10 list of things I can make with any leftovers for a quick reference.

1. Jacket sweet potatoes with butter and pepper and any other toppings I have lying around. 

2. Sweet potato mash

3. Roasties with rosemary or mixed herbs

4. Wedges with paprika and salt

5. Sweet potato and spinach curry

6. Satay sweet potato

7. Sweet potato casserole (jury is still out on whether marshmallows should ever be on a main course but I'll include it here for reference anyway)

8. Fries

9. Cubed and fried with Mexican (or any) spices

10. Sliced longways and topped like bruschetta or pizza

Mince pie flapjacks

I wanted a reasonably healthy snack for my 3pm cravings at work and when I looked at the price of shop bought ones I realised that it would cheaper and super easy to make my own, and it's the right time of year to make my favourite twist on mince pies. All the stars aligned, this was basically fated to happen! 

Ingredients 

411g jar mincemeat (yes that is an oddly specific number, I'm sure there's some sort of historic reason for it, it's just the size Tesco sells it in) £1

200g Glacé cherries (I used morello ones but the normal ones work just as well) £1

150g Butter £0.75

6 tablespoons golden syrup £2 for a whole pot

400g rolled oats (the chunky ones if you can find them, just normal rolled porridge oats if you can't) £2 for a whole bag

Method 

1. Preheat the oven to 175C. Roughly chop the cherries and them with the mincemeat, butter and syrup to a fairly large pan and heat over a medium heat on the hob.

2. When the butter has melted, add the oats a little at a time and stir with a wooden spoon. It gets quite stiff but trust me, all the oats will get covered in the delicious goop if you keep stirring.

3. I did mine in this adorable loaf tin but a medium sized rectangular tray works just as well. If your tray is bigger you'll get thin and crispy flapjacks, if your tin is smaller you'll get fatter, gooier flapjacks, there's no right or wrong way. Whichever you choose, grease your tin, transfer your flapjack batter and press it down with the back of a spoon until it's fairly level.

4. Pop it in the oven for 12-15 minutes - you want the top to just be going brown and a little bit crispy. 

5. Attempt to let them cool before you fangoriously devour them. They'll keep really well in the fridge for about 5 days if they live that long! 

Coconut Rice

All of my rice recipes feel like cheating, they all have the exact same idea and it's just a case of finding the most delicious liquid that rice will absorb.

The basic premise is that I use 1 measure of any white rice and 2 measures of liquid. That measure could be a cup, it could be the tin that the liquid came in, it could be weighed (approx 90g per person). It could be any white rice - basmati, long grain and jasmine are the easiest and cheapest to find in UK supermarkets so I tend to start with those.

The other premise is that I'm bored of boring rice and I wanted to find different ways to make it more exciting. Why use water when you can use stock? Why use stock when you have coconut milk, etc. 

Coconut Rice is one of my staples, the flavour matches beautifully with mango, lime, chilli, lemon, Thai flavours, satay, sweet potato, squash, peppers, greens and of course other coconut based meals like mild curries. 

Coconut Rice

Ingredients 

1 tin Full fat coconut milk

1 tin White rice

1 pinch salt 

Method

1. Pour a tin of coconut milk into a saucepan. 

2. If you want fluffy rice, measure out the rice in the tin from the coconut milk pour it into a sieve and wash it until the water runs clear. If you like sticky rice you can skip this step. 

3. Add the rice to the saucepan with a tin of cold water and a pinch of salt. 

4. Simmer the rice over a medium heat for approximately 10 minutes, stirring occasionally as the rice absorbs the liquid. The cooking time will vary slightly depending on the type of rice you use so check the packet and taste it as you go along, if it's still a little too firm you can add a bit more water towards the end. 

5. Remove the rice from the heat and cover it with a lid or plate or foil for about 5-10 minutes, this lets the rice steam in any leftover liquid and gives you time to prep whatever you're serving with the rice. 

Recipe Ideas

When you make a serious blog, you're supposed to know who your audience is, who you're writing for, what you're going to post and how often. To be honest, I don't know any of those things. I know that I have a whole bunch of recipes floating around in my head and a whole bunch of meals that I just throw together with whatever I have lying around and I wanted a way to remember them when I need them.

 I want to be able to search through my memories of various lunches or fancy dinners or what to cook when I have leftovers from a Sunday roast (nearly always the answer should be Left-in-a-hole, my most genius invention that's a cross between toad in the hole and whatever leftovers I have). If I have half a bag of spinach and some rice, I want a way to remember that recipe for saag paneer that I used to make all the time. Mostly, I want to be able to make meal plans and lunches that I'm not going to get bored of. 

I started with pen and paper and a spider diagram that quickly got put of control when I started write down all the names of the recipes I wanted to remember. This probably doesn't cover even nearly everything, but it's a good start, so I'll start here and maybe add more as time goes on or as my beloved requests them.