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Ugly vegetable lasagne

Ugly vegetarian lasagne

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Why is it that the best recipes always happen when you’re just wallying about in the kitchen? We basically made this up as we went along and it was a huge group effort with all of us doing bits and pieces. Hence, the general piles of crap all over my kitchen and lack of decent photos, sorry about this. Next time we make it, I’ll pay more attention and take nicer pics, I promise. Still, it was absolutely delicious and definitely our best vegetarian lasagne so far, so it’s well worth sharing, and who cares about posh photos anyway when the food is this good? I could have waited and cut a perfect slice and added a sprig of basil, but hey, this is real life and there was no way we were waiting that long. It might have been named ugly vegetarian lasagne a la ugly super easy vegetable curry, but on this occasion it’s more my fault than the food’s. Don’t blame the lasagne, blame the cook.

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A really autumnal creamy veggie pie

A really autumnal creamy veggie pie

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You know me, I flipping love a pie. I always feel a bit bad for the vegetarians in our household, though, as they miss out on gorgeous, creamy chicken pies and comforting beef pies, and I’ve been toying with different vegetable based pie recipes for a while. One that was quite successful recently was a kind of weird stuffing pie using the same recipe from my vegan Christmas stuffing as a pie filling. But then, I was making a creamy pasta thing the other day with leeks, mushrooms and other stuff, and we were saying how delicious and autumnal it was, and then we realised that it would make an amazing pie filling, and so, the autumnal creamy veggie pie was born (terrible name - I’ll have to work on that). Here’s what I did:

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Masala spiced roast chicken and gunpowder potatoes

Masala spiced roast chicken and gunpowder potatoes

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This masala spiced roast chicken and gunpowder potatoes is a mishmash of three or four different recipes that we’ve seen recently and wanted to try. Jamie Oliver does a chicken roasted over a pan of veg (he puts it on the oven shelf though and just the thought of cleaning it freaks me out), I do this yoghurt marinated chicken a lot but usually with chicken breasts, and the gunpowder potatoes are my favourite side to order whenever I go to Dishoom. They’re like spicy roast potatoes in a lovely dry, green dressing - zingy with lime and packed with coriander and green chilli. YUM. We served it with a bit of roasted broccoli but honestly you don’t really even need that - the veg cooks down into the most delicious accompaniment/sauce.

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Salted peanut cookies

Salted peanut cookies

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You know when you’re selling your house and you’re supposed to do lovely things like bake bread and have fresh flowers about? Well, I decided to bake cookies and now have become completely addicted to these salted peanut cookies. They’re super easy to make and make the house smell delicious too so it’s a total win/win. Charlie really helpfully pointed out that they look a bit like turds, but I’m hoping that the prospective buyers will see through the fact that they’re a bit challenged in the looks department and buy the house on the notion that they, too, can make delicious cookies in my lovely kitchen. Depending on how generous you are, you can make around 12 big fat squishy in the middle ones, or maybe 15-18 smaller ones.

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Coconut and chocolate chunk flapjacks

Coconut and chocolate chunk flapjacks

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I really fancied flapjacks yesterday. I’m not a huge breakfast person, but I do like a little something to nibble on with a cup of tea mid morning, and biscuits get a bit boring. You can easily make these vegan by substituting the butter, checking that the golden syrup you use is vegan (Lyle’s definitely is), and using vegan chocolate (did you know that Galaxy do vegan chocolate bars, including flavours like Caramel and Sea Salt and Smooth Orange? I’ve only ever seen it on Amazon though). Add coconut chips or dessiccated coconut, plus peanut butter, chopped nuts or dried fruit if you want. I love that as long as you keep the basic fat/sugar/oats ratio, you can personalise them as much as you want. If you want to go mad, substitute your favourite chocolate treat for the squares… Rolos or even slices of Mars Bar would be amazing!

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New recipe: easy cheaty focaccia

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When I published a picture of my easy no knead no rise irish soda bread recipe on Instagram recently, I mentioned that I thought it could be easily adapted to make a kind of cheaty focaccia, the Italian flatbread that’s often infused with rosemary and garlic. I gave it a go this week and oh my goodness. It’s SO easy and SO delicious - especially warm straight out of the oven. We had it with sweetcorn fritters, veggie burgers and salad and it was just the nicest accompaniment, but I can imagine it would be fab with antipasti, or just on the table with a lasagne and fresh salad. As with all soda breads, it doesn’t keep that long, but that honestly won’t be an issue.

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Spiced coconut veggie stew and onion fritters

Spiced coconut veggie stew and onion fritters

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Last night, we decided to have a bit of an Indian lockdown feast. For the non-veggies, I did some very easy chicken tikka - chicken breasts marinated for a few hours in yoghurt, lemon, salt, garlic, 1/2 tsp chilli and 1/2 tsp ground coriander, then baked in the oven for 20 - 3o minutes until cooked through and a bit charred on the edges. I also cooked my spiced coconut veggie stew, which I’ve got written in my notebook but don’t ever seem to have published on here (I’m warning you now about these photos - I wasn’t expecting to write about this). We didn’t bother with rice (Charlie bought naan breads from the supermarket) and I made these yummy little onion fritters adapted from a recipe that a lovely (man! I’ll tell you more soon) friend told me about and wow - it was delicious. I wasn’t going to write about it but it was SUCH A FEAST, it needs to be shared. Read more

White and green pizza from Sal's Market Deli at Loews Portofino Bay Hotel, Universal Orlando Resort

White and green pizza from Loews Portofino Bay Hotel, Universal Orlando

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How are you all? What is it, today? Lockdown day 44 or something? It’s not too bad here. We’ve settled into an uneasy truce where we’re mostly civil to each other, which is a lot easier for everyone. Anyhoo, I hope your lockdown home life is going okay. I’m missing travel and my favourite theme parks and hotels and restaurants and delicious food in general, so when the lovely chaps at Universal Orlando Resort mentioned that a few of their recipes have been put online for people to recreate at home, I jumped at the chance. Last night, I made the white and green pizza from Sal’s Market Deli at the beautiful Loews Portofino Bay Hotel, and woah, it’s delicious. I know a lot of people are talking comfort in taking time to create new dishes, so I’ve adapted it a bit from the US measurements so you can give it a go too.

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rich chocolate tart with raspberries and blueberries

A rich chocolate tart with berries for Sam’s birthday

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Wow, these lockdown birthdays are a joy and a heartache all at once aren’t they? All our birthdays are around this time of year, so poor old Sam had his 25th under the lockdown too. As is the family tradition, I asked him what dessert or cake he’d like for his birthday, and he came up with a right corker - a rich chocolate tart with berries - this made us chuckle as my Dad would always order these in restaurants and make some terrible off-key gag about it. This is actually the easiest dessert to whip up - a quick shortcrust pastry case, which you can buy if you want to, and some ganache that takes about two minutes to make. As the name suggests, it’s super rich and a teeny slice is all you need, so use a relatively small tart tin.

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Easy no knead white bread

Back to basics: easy, no knead white bread

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I love making bread. I love the smell of the loaves baking that fills the house house with that feeling of warmth and comfort (and hell, don’t we all need a bit of that right now?) and I love the fact that it’s a hell of a lot cheaper than buying artisan loaves from bakers (although I love doing that too). What I don’t like is kneading, so you won’t see any of that in my bread recipes. I know some people love it (and I’ve gone through stages of making bread like that), but I prefer the ‘bung it all into the machine’ method. All the flavour, none of the arm ache. This easy, no knead white bread recipe makes two loaves. They don’t last long enough in our house, but if you want, you can eat one fresh, then slice and freeze the other one. It’s perfect for toasting.

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Charlies chocolate fudge cake with dark chocolate ganache

Charlie’s birthday chocolate fudge cake with dark chocolate ganache

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We seem to have had all our birthdays in lockdown - first mine, then Charlie’s girlfriend Amy’s 21st, then Charlie’s 22nd (yes, I sang ‘twenny twooo oooh oooh’ to him all day) and Sam next week. As is the family tradition, the birthday person gets to choose whatever cake they want and I’ll always try my best to make it. This time, Charlie wanted me to recreate the fabulous rich chocolate fudge cake with dark chocolate ganache that he always orders in Pizza Express. Thing is right now, there’s not a lot of point of making a huge cake as we can’t really share it around, so I altered my recipe a bit and just made one slightly smaller cake.The Pizza Express one is filled (generously), so I made a ton of ganache and split the cake in half to fill it, but you could just leave it whole and smother it in ganache.

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Peanut, coconut and chocolate chip flapjacks

Peanut, coconut and chocolate chip flapjacks

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If you’re looking for a sweet treat to bake at home right now (and if you’re lockdown parenting, something to keep the kids occupied for a while too), then look no further than these peanut, coconut and chocolate chip flapjacks. They weren’t supposed to have chocolate chips in, but Charlie requested them at the last minute, and they’re so good, I’ll definitely be adding them from now on. As long as you keep the basic fat/sugar/oat proportions in this recipe the same you can add or substitute ingredients for what you have handy at home. For the fat element, you can use butter, or coconut oil or plant based spread if you want to keep it vegan. Oh and if you don’t want to use peanut butter, just up the fat content to 175g.

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Turkey tips and timings for Christmas dinner

Turkey tips and timings for Christmas dinner

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I always love writing this Christmas Eve round-up post every year– I’m sure I say pretty much the same thing every year, which is don’t panic! It’s just a big roast dinner, but it’s worth reminding you that it’s your Christmas too, so enlist everyone to help, and do as much as you can before the big day. Here, then, without further waffle, are all my top turkey tips and timings for Christmas dinner. If you’re catering for a couple of vegetarians or vegans, I suggest doubling up on the stuffing (it’s delicious on its own, but you could even squish up some veggie sausages and add them into the mix).

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Spiced Christmas clementine cake

Spiced Christmas clementine cake

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I’ve been desperate to make one of these Scandi style Christmas cakes for ages. Quite a large portion of my Pinterest feed is given over to ‘naked’ cakes decorated with cute gingerbread shapes. Unfortunately, illness and other family stuff has got in the way. But now, finally, I’ve had a few days to myself and I’m pretty pleased with this spiced Christmas clementine cake. It’s skimmed with a smooth swiss meringue buttercream icing, which is a lovely, light alternative to normal buttercream, but that would be fine too, or you could use ganache (equal parts cream and chocolate - just warm the cream and stir in the chocolate, then whip to a light consistency). I tend to weigh the eggs and use the same amount of the other ingredients, which makes it even easier, too. Read more

Christmas gingerbread stars

Christmas gingerbread stars

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Happy Saturday! We made it to the weekend. I’ve been waking up stupidly early recently, but find it so peaceful lighting the fire and sitting by our lovely twinkly Christmas tree with a cup of tea and a book (Nigel Slater’s The Christmas Chronicles, obviously). If you’re still busy rushing around buying pressies, wrapping and organising, I sincerely entreat you to pause and take a little time for yourself amongst the madness. You know I love everything Scandi, and hygge is all about being cosy, warm, happy and contented. An afternoon of Christmas music and kitchen pottering is just what you need, and these Christmas gingerbread stars are the perfect Christmassy baking project/interlude of baking therapy.

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The best side dishes to accompany your Christmas dinner

Get ahead sides for Christmas dinner

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I feel like there’s so much anxiety around Christmas dinner. I can’t be the only one who has stress dreams about levering a half-frozen turkey into a too-small oven, can I? I’m basically extremely lazy, so for me, anything that I can prep in advance is one more thing that won’t keep me away from a big glass of fizz and some pressie opening on Christmas morning. The good news is that practically everything can be at least partly prepared on Christmas Eve. Here are my top get ahead sides for Christmas dinner.

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