Chipolata sausages and lentils

December 29, 2014January 28, 2015 ~ annie ~ Leave a comment

The inspiration for this dish came to me yesterday, while staring blankly at the meat section in Sainsbury’s, wondering – as usual – what the f*ck to cook for dinner. Having just finished my “long run” outside Sainsbury’s doors (good timing or what?!) I could barely think straight, let alone face into hours of laborious food prep.

This is my take on what has become a well-known dish in recent years. It’s great winter food and quite impressive, particularly given its simplicity. If you have a good stock of herbs and spices you can get quite creative but for my version I’ve stuck closely to the seasoning used in the sausages, amplifying or complementing flavours already present in the dish. It’s super tasty, nutritious and quick – you should be able to get it on the table in 30 minutes. For real.

Ingredients

375g chipolata sausages (12)

250g spinach

200g split red lentils

150g cherry tomatoes

1 onion, minced

4 cloves garlic, minced

1 chili pepper, minced (optional)

1 tsp black pepper

1 tsp white pepper

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp nutmeg

3 bay leaves

salt to taste

juice 1/2 lemon

1/2 glass wine

Serves 4

Method

Step 1: in a large pan, warm the dry spices in a little olive oil on a medium-low heat for about 1 minute. Add the minced garlic, onion and (optional) chilli. Fry for a further 3 minutes.

(As an aside, I cook with chilli a lot – but sometimes I’ll use peppers, or even chili flakes, that go straight for the back of my throat, and have me coughing up a lung for 20 minutes. I tend to just struggle through (good for the sinuses and all that), but I’m told that a damp bandana tied over your mouth and nose should help. Just don’t suffocate yourself, please.)

Step 2: add split red lentils, cherry tomatoes, bay leaves, lemon juice, a pinch of salt and about 400-500mls of water. Cover and leave to simmer on a low heat for 12-15 minutes.

Step 3: meanwhile, place chipolatas under a hot grill, turning occasionally to make sure they are good and browned all the way round. This should take about 10 minutes. Once cooked, turn on oven at about 160c to keep them warm while waiting for the rest of the dish to be ready.

Step 4: add wine to lentils and stir through.

Step 5: turn up heat to medium-high and add spinach. Toss the spinach to make sure that some of the lentils are on top as this will help it wilt faster. You want to remove from heat as soon as the spinach has wilted as it’s much nicer with a bit of bite left in it. This should take about 2-3 minutes. Check seasoning to make sure it’s to your taste – but otherwise, you’re done. Serve with red wine, obviously.

Roast chicken salad

December 13, 2014January 14, 2015 ~ annie ~ Leave a comment

Last night was our office Christmas party. True to form, I drank far more than I intended to – and then left without telling anyone. They don’t call it an Irish exit for nothing. Anyway, as you might imagine, today I had a bad dose of The Fear. And as I ran out the door (late) to meet someone in Brixton this morning, fighting back waves of nausea, smudged makeup still under my eyes, one slice of toast and a cup of ill-advised coffee swilling around in my poor, poisoned stomach, I thought to myself, what the f*ck am I going to do with that roast chicken sitting in my fridge?

Aha. Chicken salad. Which, aside from being truly delicious, also happens to be a solid hangover cure. So, here we go:

Ingredients

Salad

200g roast chicken, torn into strips

50g split red lentils

200ml vegetable stock

1 clove garlic, grated

3 roast peppers, peeled

1 red onion, peeled and sliced

250g cherry tomatoes

200g boiled chickpeas

1 ripe avocado

50g sheep’s cheese

3-4 sprigs of mint leaves, torn

zest of 1/2 orange

Dressing

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp sesame seed oil

1/2 tsp English mustard

1/2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp black pepper

pinch salt

juice 1 lemon

Method

Step 1: place chicken in a pre-heated oven at 180c for about an hour and a half, depending on weight. Remove, cover with foil and set to one side to rest. When it’s cool enough to handle, tear into strips and add to your salad bowl.

A note on chicken: I buy free range and/or organic chicken – primarily for ethical reasons but they do actually taste a whole lot better too. You can get a chicken for less than £6 in Sainsbury’s and, given that you can get 4 meals out of it (6 if you use the bones and any scraps for chicken soup), I think that’s pretty good value for money. And I assure you, I am on a budget.

Step 2: cook the lentils in the vegetable stock and garlic on a medium heat for about 15 mins, until the water has boiled off but the lentils still have a teensy bit of a bite to them. Once cooled, add to salad bowl.

Step 3: place peppers on a roasting tray in a pre-heated oven at 200c for about 40 mins or so, turning once in the middle. About 20 mins in, add a sliced red onion to the tray. Set tray aside to cool or, if time is of the essence, run peppers under cold water for a minute or two. Peel, cut into strips and add to the salad bowl, along with the red onion.

Step 4: wash tomatoes and add to salad bowl. I had mine whole and raw today because I wanted to give the salad some bit, but I’ve been known to slice or roast them with the peppers. Whatever takes your fancy.

Step 5: next, add the chickpeas. I use pre-boiled, canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained. If you feel like cooking them up yourself, even better.

Step 6: cut open the avocado and scoop out the flesh into the salad bowl.

Step 7: crumble white cheese on top of the salad mix.

Step 8: add zest and torn mint leaves. I don’t own a zester right now so I’m using the parmesan side of the cheese grater which, as far as I’m concerned, works just fine.

Step 9: mix salad dressing ingredients together in a cup, giving it a good stir to make sure none of the dry ingredients clump, and drizzle over the salad ingredients.

Step 10: mix salad by hand and voila, you are done.

Serves 4 (unless hungover, in which case 2)

Home made pita with yellow lentil, pink bean, red pepper and green parsley dip

November 9, 2014January 14, 2015 ~ annie ~ 1 Comment

I was at work on a Friday afternoon daydreaming about…not being at work. And I got to thinking about how brightly coloured I could make food without resorting to food coloring. I present to you: yellow orange lentils, pink butter beans, sweet and spicy red peppers, and green parsley dip. Served with straight-from-the-oven-homemade pitas, these were an excellent weekend treat.

Yellow lentil dip

Ingredients

60g split orange lentils

40g sheeps cheese

1 tbsp peanut butter

2 tbsp olive oil

1/2 clove garlic

1/2 orange zest

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp ground turmeric

salt to taste

Method

Step 1: boil the lentils with about equal amounts of water. Simmer for 10 mins. Turn off and allow to cool.

Step 2: add all the other ingredients and mix through with a metal spoon.

Step 3: using a handheld liquidiser, blend the mixture together, adding a tbsp of water as necessary to loosen it up. Add salt to taste.

The orange zest and peanut butter make this a very more-ish tasting dip. Is it dhal? Is it hummus? Who can tell, all you know is you want morrrrre.

Pink bean dip

Ingredients

1 can butter beans, drained

1/2 beetroot

1/2 clove garlic

1 tbsp peanut butter

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp cumin

juice 1 lemon

salt to taste

Method

Step 1: boil 1/2 a beetroot for about 20 mins. Run under cold water, peel and chop.

Step 2: add beetroot to all other all other ingredients, except salt and lemon juice, and stir.

Step 3: blend with a handheld liquidiser. Lemon juice and salt to taste.

You will be shocked at how bright even half a beetroot will make this dip. Beetroot is also a lot sweeter than you might imagine, which is why I used quite a lot of lemon juice to balance out the flavour. Think of it as pink hummus, except without the chickpeas. Or the tahini. What the hell, just think of it as pink bean dip. Perfect for a party.

Red Pepper Dip

Ingredients

4 sweet long red peppers

1 tbsp chilli flakes

juice 1/2 lemon

salt to taste

Method

Step 1: roast peppers at about 180c for 45 mins. Set aside and allow to cool.

Step 2: once cooled, peel the peppers and dump the flesh into a bowl, along with seeds. Add chilli flakes.

Step 3: blend with handheld liquidiser. Lemon juice and salt to taste.

This is a sort of Turkish/Mediterranean-inspired dip. Great as a starter with just some bread and olive oil.

Green parsley dip

Ingredients

80g sheep’s cheese

2 big handfuls of parsley

2 tbsp olive oil

1 clove garlic

juice 1/2 lemon

Method

Step 1: wash parsley and chop it roughly.

Step 2: crumble cheese onto parsley and add olive oil and garlic. Stir with metal spoon.

Step 3: blend with handheld liquidiser. Lemon juice to taste.

So goood. This one is my favourite – it’s a take on a dip served in my favourite restaurant in Kosovo, Restaurant Tiffany. I could make myself sick on this stuff.

Pita Bread

Ingredients

250g strong white flour

150ml water

1 sachet yeast

pinch of salt

dash of olive oil

Method

Step 1: preheat your oven to 220c.

Step 2: throw all your ingredients into a bowl together. Mix it up by hand. It should be a dry-ish mix that doesn’t stick to your hands or the bowl. Throw in a dash more flour if it’s too wet.

Step 3: knead the dough for 5 minutes on a floured surface. Stick it back in the bowl and place it somewhere warm and a bit humid for about an hour, until it’s doubled in size.

Step 3: knock it back and knead again. Leave it for a further 15 minutes.

Step 4: separate out into 6 balls and roll out pitas on a floured surface. Arrange on a floured baking tray and place into pre-heated oven for 10-15 minutes, turning once toward the end. 2 trays should do the whole lot.

And there you have it: no frills, no fuss – just pitas. Serve warm with a variety of dips. Though not quite naans, these are great for mopping up a curry.