Ingredients:
1 small fillet of smoked haddock
1 pt boiling water
1 vegetable stock cube
1 tsp mild madras curry powder
4 oz basmati rice
2 eggs
1 handful of frozen petit pois
Coriander leaves to garnish
Method:
Place the haddock fillet in a pan with the boiling water and poach for 3-5 minutes until the fish is just cooked
Remove the fish from the pan and leave to the side to cool
Sprinkle the stock cube and curry powder into the poaching liquid
Add in the rice and cook for about 12 minutes until the rice is almost cooked through
Meanwhile - hard boil the eggs (I did mine for about 8 minutes)
Stir the petit pois into the rice
Remove the skin from the haddock, flake up the flesh and add into the rice
Cook for a further minute to allow the fish to warm through
Serve the kedgeree in a bowl with quarters of hard boiled egg and chopped coriander leaves as a garnish
Serves two for breakfast
Ingredients:
I pack ready rolled puff pastry
6 slices Prosciutto
4 mushrooms - sliced
8 small cherry or plum tomatoes - halved
4cm chorizo sausage - sliced
2 tsp red pesto
2 eggs
1 tbsp milk
Method:
Cut the pastry in half and score an inner rectangle about 1cm from the edge of each piece
Spread 1 tsp of red pesto onto the inner rectangle of each piece of pastry
Place 3 slices of prosciutto over the top
Place half of the mushrooms, chorizo and tomatoes onto each tartlet - leaving a space in the centre
Brush the outer edges of the pastry with the milk
Place on greaseproof paper on a baking tray and cook in the oven at 180 degrees for 8-10 minutes until the pastry is light gold
Crack an egg into the middle of each tartlet and continue to cook for about another 5 minutes until the egg white has cooked through
Serves two
Ingredients:
For the Meatballs:
500g pack of minced turkey
2 slices granary bread - grated into breadcrumbs
1 medium onion - very finely chopped
2 cloves of garlic - crushed
2 tsp dried Italian herbs
For the Sauce:
1 medium onion - chopped
1 clove of garlic - crushed
1 red chilli - chopped
2 tins chopped tomatoes
2 tsp dried Italian herbs
1/4 pt water
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 small tin of sliced black olives
splash of oil
Method:
For the Sauce:
Soften the onion, garlic and chilli in a splash of oil
Add in the tomatoes, puree, water and herbs and bring up to the boil
Turn down to a simmer and add in the meatballs
For the Meatballs:
Place all ingredients into a large bowl and mix together
Pinch off a small piece of the mixture and form into a ball
Drop into the gently simmering sauce
Simmer gently for about 30 minutes
Stir in the sliced olives and continue to cook for a further 10 minutes
Serves five
Served with wholewheat spaghetti
My turkey mixture made 44 meatballs
The meatballs in the sauce can be frozen
For the Gnocchi:
Ingredients:
2lb baking potatoes (1 used 6 x medium sized potatoes)
1 medium egg
4 oz plain flour
+ extra flour for rolling out and sprinkling over
Method:
Wash the potatoes, pierce the skins and bake in the oven for about 1 - 1 1/2 hours until the insides are soft
Leave the potatoes to go cold and then cut in half and scoop out the cooked potato flesh
Put the potato through a potato ricer (or mash very well) and then place into a large bowl
Add in the egg and mix
Sprinkle the flour over the top of the potato and mix together
The mixture should now come together as a soft dough
Sprinkle a small amount of flour over the top and cut into quarters
Roll out each of the quarters into a long thin sausage - a lot of flour will be needed on the surface so that the dough does not stick
Cut the lengths of dough into small equal length dumplings - about 1 - 1 1/2 cm and again sprinkle them with a bit more flour so that they do not stick together
To cook the gnocchi, bring a large pan of lightly salted water to the boil
Gently lower in the gnocchi (knock off any excess flour before placing in the water)
Bring the water back to a light boil
The gnocchi will take about 2 - 4 minutes to cook (the dumplings will rise to the top of the water when they are done)
Quick Puttanesca Sauce:
Ingredients:
I tin chopped tomatoes
1 red chilli - chopped
1 clove of garlic - crushed
2 tbsp sliced black olives
1 tbsp capers
Method:
Put all ingredients into a small pan and bring up to the boil
Simmer for a couple of minutes
Serves 2 - 3 people as a main course, would serve 4 as a starter
I left the gnocchi in the fridge for a few hours before cooking.
After I had scooped the potato from the skins I cut the skins in half again (so now they are in quarters) and returned them to a hot oven for about 10 minutes to warm and crisp up and served them as a snack with pesto mayonnaise.
At the request of my sister I have added a picture of our Christmas Day lunch. There were five people present, three meat eaters and two pescatarians. Our lunch consisted of:
1 small roast pork loin
1/2 a poached salmon
1 cashew nut and apricot roast wellington - made into a Christmas Cracker
Roast potatoes
Boiled new potatoes
Broccoli florets
Carrot batons
Sugarsnap peas
French beans
Brussel sprouts and cauliflower florets sauteed with chestnuts and cumin
Mushroom and sherry sauce
Homemade cranberry sauce with port
All washed down with Prosecco with blackberry vinegar (and non-alcoholic sparkling Chenin Blanc for the drivers - also with blackberry vinegar which worked well)
Followed by Christmas pudding and custard with sweet pudding wine.
Then followed by freshly ground coffee and Christmas cake.
I always like to cook extra vegetables so there is plenty left to have bubble and squeak for Boxing Day breakfast. My secret ingredients to bubble and squeak are the chestnuts and cumin.
On Boxing Day we had bubble and squeak with crispy grilled pancetta and a poached egg.
There was enough left to have some again the next day, so on the 27th we had bubble and squeak with smoked salmon and a poached egg. We always have free range blue eggs (Cotswold Ledbar or Bluebell Araucana) and we had an added unexpected bonus of two double yolked eggs with our smoked salmon!
Ingredients:
1 large tub of double cream - 600 ml
1 handful of mini marshmallows
2 meringue nests - crushed
Fruit steeped in vodka from making Christmas Pudding Vodka (see previous recipe)
(After straining out the Christmas Pudding Vodka which I had previously made, I removed all the orange and lemon peel, cloves, cinnamon and cardamon to keep just the vodka infused sultanas and candid peel)
Method:
Lightly whip the double cream until it is almost coming to very soft peaks - don't over whip as there are other ingredients to stir into the cream and the stirring will thicken the cream more
Stir in 2 crushed meringue nests and a handful of mini marshmallows
Stir in the vodka infused sultanas and candid peel
Line a loaf tin with cling film - have plenty of cling film hanging over the edges to pull in and cover the gelato - I put two layers of cling film in the tin crossing over each other
Spoon the gelato into the prepared loaf tin, gently cover with the overhanging cling film and place into the freezer
This will take a few hours to set and is best made the day before required
For a very classic, completely white gelato I use just white marshmallows rather than a mix of colours
In the past I have used a mix of pink and white marshmallows and also some finely chopped pink and white nougat
I always use 2 or 3 meringue nests as these add both a bit of sweetness and also a lightness to the dense mixture
Gelato is very nice served with fresh raspberries and raspberry coulis
Ingredients:
1 small onion - finely chopped
1 clove of garlic - crushed
2 slices of seeded bread - grated into breadcrumbs
6 oz cashew nuts - chopped
1 beaten egg
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried sage
1 tsp yeast extract
up to 1/4 pt hot water
2 oz dried apricots - chopped
1 large carrot - cooked and mashed
2 medium/large mushrooms - chopped
Splash of olive oil
1 pack ready rolled puff pastry
1 beaten egg for egg wash
Method:
Gently fry the onion and garlic in the oil until soft, add in the mushrooms and continue to cook for a few minutes until the mushrooms have also softened - remove from the heat
In a large bowl mix together the breadcrumbs, cashew nuts, dried herbs and apricots
Mix in one beaten egg
Stir in the mashed carrot and the onion and mushroom mixture from the frying pan
Dissolve the yeast extract in a small amount of hot water - no more than 1/4 pt at the most - and then add to the mixture
Mix everything together really well and then spoon onto a large length of cling film
Shape the mixture into a large fat sausage shape and roll tightly in the cling film - keeping away from the edges and twist the ends to keep the mixture tight
Refrigerate for a least a couple of hours to firm up
Open out the sheet of ready rolled puff pastry
Gentle unroll the nut roast mixture from the cling film and place in the centre of the pastry
Brush some of the beaten egg on the edges of the pastry as this will help it to stick together
Carefully pull up each side of the pastry over the nut roast, overlapping by a small amount
If making just a parcel, fold in the ends - add some more egg wash, trim off any excess if needed and turn over so that the parcel has all the joins underneath
As I wanted to make my parcel into a Christmas Cracker, I kept the ends of the pastry open, but still turned it upside down so that the join was underneath, then pinched together the pastry at each end of the nut mixture and snipped out triangles at the end of the excess pastry to give a fluted edge
Brush the whole parcel with more egg wash and add on any decoration using excess pastry if required
Cook at 160-170 degrees for about 30 minutes until golden brown all over
The nut mixture needs to be moist enough to stick together, but not too wet. I squeezed out as much water as I could from the cooked carrots (using a potato ricer) before mashing
I made my roast mixture the day before needed and refrigerated it over night before wrapping in the pastry
Ingredients: 
