Kedgeree

Kedgeree

Serves 1

Haven’t made this lightly spiced rice dish in such a long time, but had some haddock in the freezer which needed eating up. If I had flaked almonds or pumpkin seeds I would have sprinkled in a few for added crunch.

50g basmati rice

Salt

2 cloves

2 cardamom pods

1 smoked haddock fillet, about 100g

¼ pint milk

Bay leaf

Few peppercorns

1 egg

½ onion, finely chopped

1 tsp oil

1 tsp curry powder

Pinch cayenne pepper

1 tbsp sultanas

1 tbsp petit pois

1 tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped

1 cherry tomato, cut into wedges

½ lemon

Boil the rice in boiling salted water with cloves and cardamom for 10 mins until just tender. Refresh under cold water and leave to drain well in a colander.

Place the fish in a frying pan with the milk, bay and peppercorns. Bring to a simmer and gently cook fish for about 6-8 mins until cooked. Transfer to a bowl and flake, tip the milk over the top, but discard the bay and peppercorns.

Boil the egg for about 7 mins and then cool under cold running water. Peel and roughly chop half, then slice the remaining half into wedges.

Fry the onion in the oil under softened. Add the curry powder and cayenne and fry for 30 secs more to cook out the rawness of the spices. Add the cold rice, flake fish and moisten with some of the milk. Add the sultanas, peas and chopped egg and cook until the peas are warmed through. Turn off heat and stir in parsley.

Garnish with tomato, remaining egg and lemon wedges for squeezing over

Turkey, Asparagus and Baby Vegetable Risotto

Turkey, asparagus and baby vegetable risotto

Serves 1

So, having some of Sunday night’s leftover cooked turkey breast and lovely fresh asparagus to hand, I thought a risotto would be nice. Be careful with the seasoning – I found it didn’t need any salt.

5 stalks young asparagus, thick end trimmed off and set aside

1 tbsp frozen baby broad beans

1 tbsp frozen petit pois

3 spring onions, finely sliced

1 tsp olive oil

Half a garlic clove

50g carnaroli risotto rice

Splash of white wine

1 pint boiling chicken stock – I used fresh from a tub

Two thick slices cooked turkey breast, diced

Half a lemon

1 tsp fresh chopped mint, finely chopped

Parmesan cheese for grating over

Slice the thick ends of asparagus into 0.5 cm rounds. Bring a small pan of water to the boil with a little salt and blanch the sliced asparagus and broad beans for 3 minutes. Then add the peas and asparagus tip and cook for 1 minute more. Drain and refresh under cold tap. Leave to drain. I decided to peel the broad beans as their vibrant green colour inside are more visually appealing, but must admit I didn’t bother doing every single one. It’s up to you.

Gently fry the spring onions in the oil in a wok and add the garlic clove to help flavour the oil with a mere hint of garlic. Once the onions are soft, pick out and discard the garlic and add the risotto rice. Stir to coat in the oil and then add a splash of wine. Bubble away until it is all absorbed.

Then add a little of the stock at a time, stirring continually until it is all absorbed and the rice is almost tender. I think it depends on what brand you use, but mine took about 20-25 mins and it still had a bit of bite. Use some hot water from the kettle if you run out of stock.

Add the turkey and a squeeze of lemon and stir in the mint. Stir to heat through, and add the vegetables. You may need a little bit of water to stock it being too dry at this stage. Taste for seasoning, a bit of pepper is probably all it will need, and then pile into a bowl and scatter over as much parmesan as you like. 

Paella

Paella

Serves 2

This is a real leftovers kind of a dish! You can practically use whatever you have in the fridge – in the past I have used chopped sundried tomatoes, leftover pork, quartered artichokes, broad beans, butter beans – most things work well, but maybe don’t add too many things in one dish!

There are no rules to the recipe given either e.g it will taste fine without the green beans and onion, but the absolute must is the chorizo and saffron. It is the key flavouring and won’t be paella-ey without it. Needs no accompaniment except a glass of Rioja.

1 tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic, finely chopped

½ onion, chopped (optional)

1/2 tsp fresh rosemary needles, chopped or a pinch of dried

½ red pepper, diced

1 chicken breast, diced (or use leftovers from a roast)

10cm long piece of chorizo, thinly sliced

1 tomato, diced

100g bomba paella rice or arborio rice

½ tsp paprika – sweet or picante

Pinch turmeric

Pinch chilli flakes or cayenne pepper (optional)

Few green beans, halved

Pinch of saffron threads, softened in a tablespoon of hot water

1 litre chicken stock, hot

3 tbsp frozen peas

Small handful of peeled prawns, defrosted in frozen

Heat the oil in a large saute pan and gently fry the garlic, onion and rosemary until pale golden. Tip in the peppers and chicken and fry for about 2-3 minutes until the chicken is opaque and firm. Add the chorizo and fry, stirring, until it starts releasing its paprika-red oil and slightly crisp. Next goes in the tomato, rice, spices and season with salt and pepper.  Stir for about 30 seconds until the rice is coated in the spicy oils. Throw in the green beans, saffron and its soaking water and pour in enough hot stock to cover the rice mixture by about 1 cm. Bring to boil then turn heat to a slow simmer and cook uncovered for about 10-15 mins, stirring once or twice to stop the mixture sticking to the pan.

Add the peas and prawns and top up with a couple more splashes of stock to cover. Continue to simmer for another 5-10 minutes until the rice is cooked and the most of the liquid has absorbed.

I like my paella to have a slight glossy sheen of sauce on it, but you may prefer yours a bit drier.