Ham, leek and ricotta lasagne

 Bored of the same old tomatoey lasagne I gave this a go, and it came out as a mishmash of various recipes.

9 lasagne sheets (I soak them to cut down the oven cooking time)

2 x 250g tubs ricotta, mixed with a generous dollop of Greek yogurt and some milk to thin it out and make it go further; plus fresh parsley left over from another recipe, parmesan, nutmeg, salt and pepper

~200g ham on the bone, roughly chopped (I always grab one of these when I see them reduced on the deli counter, usually about £4 for 400g+ of good quality ham and a bone for stock if that's your thing) plus a 90g pack of "cook's ingredients" diced smoked ham (also yellow-stickered) [see note for veggie options]

4 small-medium leeks, chopped small, softened in a pan with oil, garlic powder, mixed herbs; chuck in a couple of handfuls of frozen peas too

about half a jar of red pesto

grated cheddar and more parmesan for the top

I layered it up as leeks/peas (drained first), cheese, ham, pasta, pesto, repeated three times over, then finishing with the grated cheese. I thought making a white/cheese sauce would be too overwhelming so went with the pesto instead.

Thumbs up from the family, and without needing a sauce it was ridiculously quick and easy to make. You could possibly sub in something veggie for the ham, like marinated and baked tofu or quorn pieces, or garlicky mushrooms.

Black bean soup

Not a precise recipe, but a good flavour combination.

Saute celery, carrot and onion with oil and plenty of cumin, smoked paprika, black pepper, plus chilli flakes to taste. Add 2 veg (or any) stock cubes made up with a litre of water, a generous dollop of tomato puree, and a splash of wine/cider vinegar. Add 2 tins of black beans, drained and rinsed. Simmer until carrots and beans are soft, then puree half of the soup.

Meat-free shepherd's pie

Shepherdess pie? No idea. Yummy, though.

Made it up myself but it turned out to be kind of similar to BBC Good Food's version. A good user-upper recipe. Properly vegetarian if you use the right cheese, stock, and an alternative to worcester sauce (marmite?).

1 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, smashed
1-2 large handfuls mushrooms, chopped to a mix of sizes
a few going-soft cherry tomatoes (optional)
stick of slightly limp celery* (optional)
2-3 carrots,* diced large
1 tin green lentils, drained
handful frozen peas
2 med-large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
grated cheese, amount to taste (I used mature cheddar)
1-2 tsp dried cumin
salt to taste
1 tsp dried thyme
stock cube of choice
worcester sauce

* rescue soft celery and carrots in cold water overnight (I stand mine in a pint glass in the fridge door, and try not to pour them on my cereal in the morning...)

Soften onion, celery, garlic with thyme and tomatoes, covered to retain moisture. After ~5 mins add the carrot and lentils, and leave covered to cook until the carrot is just starting to soften.
In a separate pan, cook the sweet potato for ~15 mins until soft and mashable.
In another separate pan, cook the mushrooms with the stock cube (crumbled/chopped) and a splash of worcester sauce. Cover them and cook until they shrink and yield their liquid. Add the mushrooms and liquid along with the peas to the onion mixture and leave to simmer while you mash the sweet potatoes with salt and cumin. Layer the lentil mix and the mash in an oven dish, top with grated cheese, and cook for 20 mins at 180°C.

Avocado and quinoa salad

From Prima, of all places, this is a filling and interesting recipe, perfect for lunch.

Avocado, quinoa, bean and goat's cheese salad

It takes a pack of Merchant Gourmet red and white pre-cooked quinoa, and adds two avocados, fresh beans, and cheese, dressed with oil and lemon juice plus fresh parsley.

I swapped in edamame beans for the listed broad beans, because life's too short to pod broad beans and I can get shelled edamames in the freezer section...  I also used a log-style goat's cheese but next time might use the crumbly feta-style one (I'm not sure what "semi-soft" means here). I omitted the red onion as I hate raw onion in salads, but next time I might try them pickled.

The pre-packed quinoa was OK but a bit bouncy - I prefer the softer texture when it's freshly cooked, but I literally just took the grains out of the packet so perhaps they are better when heated. But essentially this was a very easy and satisfying recipe.

More Christmassy goodies

I'm not a big one for "stuff" (ornaments, keepsakes and that sort of thing) and consequently have no eye whatsoever for what "stuff" (if any) might appeal to other people. This, along with the fact I enjoy cooking and baking, means I tend to gravitate towards food gifts for Christmas. I've blogged Christmas Spice Cookies and white chocolate and cranberry cookies before, so here are some other recipes I've used  more recently.

Pretzel bites (pictured, right) are ridiculously easy and almost as ridiculously moreish, if you are into the sweet-salty thing. The verdict from my brother and his clan was that the bag barely made it home! The basics are:

150g salted pretzels, broken but not crushed to smithereens.
250g chocolate - white, dark, plain, any flavour you like
50-75g 'extras' - dried fruit or other goodies.

Melt the chocolate and stir in the pretzels and any other goodies. Dollop into bite-size mounds on foil, clingfilm or a silicon cookie mat, and refrigerate until set.

The original recipe uses white chocolate and sultanas, which I then varied to white chocolate and dried cranberries for extra Christmassy pep. Candied peel would also work, I think. This year's variation is dark mint chocolate (I used Green & Black's), and crushed candy canes sprinkled on top of the bites before they set. I will say that candy canes, if they are of the chewy variety, are harder to smash than you think! I conceded defeat with the rolling pin and had to blitz the last few big bits.


Peppermint creams are an old favourite - this recipe was good but a bit wetter than ideal. Given that just a little more or less liquid can really make a difference to icing sugar I'm surprised at the use of the naturally variable amounts of egg white and lemon in the recipe. Next time I'll measure, and not add all the lemon at once. I'd also hold back just a bit on the mint, as it was more extra-strong than candy cane!

1 free-range egg white

½ lemon, juice only

1 tsp peppermint flavouring

425g icing sugar, plus extra for dusting

(optional - tiny drop of food colouring if you want)

175 dark chocolate, for dipping/piping

Whisk egg white to stiff peaks and fold in everything else except the chocolate. Work until smooth on a surface dusted with sugar - if you want to use colour for only part of the mixture, divide it here and work in the colour to one half. Roll out to pound coin thickness and use cutters of your choice to cut out shapes, then chill until set. Melt the chocolate and dip, pipe, drizzle, or use some other inventive method to get it on the creams.


The Rocky Road to Christmas Excess (pictured above, left) - adapted from this Nigella recipe. Like a normal Rocky Road, but with festive goodies. Indulgent, and serves several people as a present since it's so rich it's able to be cut into very small pieces!

400g dark chocolate - I used 200g plain and 200g of Green & Black's Maya Gold
175g butter
4tbsp golden syrup
Moderate handfuls of Christmassy inclusions - I used:
Gingerbread pieces (mix of lumps/crumbs)
Shortbread pieces (ditto)
Mini marshmallows
Glace cherries (halved or whole)
Candied peel
Sultanas soaked overnight in Cointreau (sherry, brandy, whatever... or tea for a non-alcoholic option)

Nigella says you can melt the chocolate directly over a gentle heat with the butter and syrup, but I don't trust my electric hob to be gentle so I used the double boiler method for the chocolate and stirred in the separately-melted-then-cooled-a-bit butter and syrup. Then add that mix to the goodies in a mixing bowl, and stir gently until well combined (the marshmallows will melt and mix in if you are too rough). Pour into a clingfilm-lined deep tray and refrigerate overnight. Turn out, chop into bite-size cubes and dust with icing sugar and maybe edible glitter or lustre if you're feeling sparkly.

Something different

A friend lent me a Patrick Holford cook book - not to follow the diet, but just for a few different recipes. We tried:

Chicken with creamy tomato sauce: bake chicken breasts on cherry tomatoes, at the end remove the chicken and stir some creme fraiche into the tomatoes to make a sauce. Delicious, and would be better (OK, and more calorific) with more flavoursome chicken thighs. We broke the Holford principles by having it with mashed potatoes and braised cabbage. But a good easy recipe.

Smoked mackerel and lentil kedgeree: basically make a dhal with red lentils (225g) and an onion, turmeric and curry powder plus stock (690ml), then add flaked smoked mackerel and quartered boiled eggs. The dhal was a bit runny but only because I let it get a bit burnt on the bottom and then added more water to rescue it. With the stock and the mackerel it was a bit salty. Next time I would pay closer attention and stir it more to end up with a thicker dhal, and add some fresh coriander. And again, contrary to the low carb idea, it would be yummy with naan bread...

Chicken and vegetable one pot

Dinner the other night was kind of based on this recipe for one-pot chicken pilaf from BBC Good Food - but with so many tweaks it's only a distant cousin really.

I did at least use chicken thighs! Veg-wise I used green beans, broccoli, onion and mushrooms. All fine, but I also chucked in brown rice rather than white... which needs more cooking... which pulps the veg a bit, sadly. Next time, part cook the rice first. Rather than a bog standard curry powder I used garam masala, turmeric, and crushed coriander and cumin seeds.

Otherwise, a great one-pot dinner, easy to double up.

Butternut squash with lentils and feta

This was surprisingly tasty given the utter lack of seasoning, spices etc. It was thrown together while I was doing other things.

Wash and halve a butternut squash (no need to peel) and scrape out the seeds and some of the flesh (save for another recipe).
Place it on a baking tray at ~150C for ~1h-1h30 depending on size.

Finely chop a couple of cloves of garlic and an onion.
Fry slowly until well softened but not browned (use water once the oil is gone), about 20 minutes.
Add a can (drained) of green lentils and heat through (about 5 minutes)
Add half a pack of Feta, cubed, and mix in.

Take the squash out of the oven and add half the lentil mix on top of each.

Eat.