Boned chicken stuffed with a coriander pesto

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This is a great dish for summer entertaining and stuffing the chicken with a coriander pesto gives the moist cold chicken a delicious summer fragrance. This dish is designed to be served cold and sliced, perfect with summer salads or in sandwiches for a picnic. This ‘pesto’ is thicker than a normal pesto as it has the addition of ricotta cheese which will make it easier to stuff the chicken with. This dish makes the most of buying a whole chicken but ask your local butcher to completely bone out the chicken. (Ask to keep the bones for making homemade chicken stock, which you can do easily in the ESSE).

Ingredients

  • 1 free-range chicken about 2 kg, boned
  • Olive oil
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Coriander pesto ingredients:

  • 1 large bunch of fresh coriander leaves
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 85g walnuts, roasted
  • 150g Parmesan style cheese
  • 1 pot of ricotta cheese
  • 2 tablespoon olive oil
  • Freshly ground black pepper

Method

  1. Preheat the oven to 200C (ESSE dial guide HOT).
  2. Make the ‘pesto’ by putting all the ingredients except the ricotta into a food processor and whizz until all the ingredients are evenly mixed, then add the ricotta cheese and plenty of fresh ground black pepper and mix to incorporate.  Taste for seasoning.  (Go easy on the salt as the cheese will provide salt)
  3. Lay out chicken, skin side down and spread over all the stuffing to fill the boned chicken, season the chicken and roll up neatly.  Tie up with string.
  4. Place the chicken in a roasting tin, drizzle with olive oil and season well.
  5. Roast for about 1 ½ hours or until cooked (use a temperature probe).
  6. Leave to cool and refrigerate overnight or slice and eat straight away!

Recipe prepared by Philippa Vine using the ESSE 1000 X Electric Range Cooker at Bluebell Farmhouse Kitchen & Cookery School, East Sussex.

A savoury summer cake

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This is a type of cornbread that can be made successfully gluten free and by adding some summer vegetables and store cupboard ingredients it makes a simple & delicious savoury cake.  Try adding sweet potato instead of broad beans or what you have available.  Perfect for taking on picnics and a nutritious snack too!  You will need a 20cm spring-form cake tin, lined with parchment paper, or you can make it in a lined loaf tin.

Ingredients

  • 110g self-raising flour or gluten free SR flour
  • 110g polenta
  • 50g ground almonds
  • 110g butter, chilled
  • 4 eggs, beaten
  • 50g Parmesan or strong cheddar, grated
  • A handful of podded broad beans or peas
  • 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • ½ a red pepper, diced
  • 3 – 5 sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
  • 10 black olives, chopped
  • 4 spring onions, chopped
  • 80g canned sweetcorn
  • A handful of fresh herbs, ie basil, parsley, thyme
  • Salt and freshly black pepper

Method

  1. If using broad beans, blanch them in boiling water for a minute. Drain and cool down quickly (to retain their emerald green colour) and skin them.  Reserve a few for decoration if you wish.
  2. Fry the red pepper, spring onions and garlic in the olive oil for a few minutes.  Allow to cool.
  3. Put the flour, ground almonds, polenta into a bowl.
  4. Cut the butter into small chunks and rub it into the dry ingredients with your fingertips (or you can use a food processor) until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs.
  5. Then add the beaten eggs and all the vegetables, olives & herbs and cheese.
  6. Season with a little salt (as the olives and cheese will provide salt) and plenty of freshly ground black pepper.
  7. Mix well and spoon into the prepared tin.
  8. Decorate with some extra podded broad beans if you wish.
  9. Bake in the oven 180C (ESSE dial guide low end of HOT) for about 1 hour or until it is cooked and just starting to colour.

 

Recipe prepared by Philippa Vine using the ESSE 1000 X Electric Range Cooker at Bluebell Farmhouse Kitchen & Cookery School, East Sussex.

Beetroot, goat’s cheese & dill tart

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Cooking the whole unpeeled beetroot in the ESSE slowly until just cooked, is nutritious and gives the beetroot a rich and sweet flavour too. No need to bake the pastry blind as you cook it direct on the base of the oven. I like to add a few of the beetroot leaves, chopped to the filling, making the most of this delicious earthy vegetable!

Ingredients

For the shortcrust pastry:

  • 225g plain flour, I use half wholemeal spelt and half plain flour
  • 140g butter, chilled
  • 1 large egg

For the filling:

  • 4 beetroots, plus a few leaves, chopped
  • 2 red onions, thinly sliced
  • Olive oil
  • 100g soft goat’s cheese
  • 3 eggs, beaten
  • 200ml single cream
  • A small handful of fresh dill, chopped
  • Balsamic vinegar
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

  1. Wash the beetroot and cut off the tops (save a few leaves for the filling) and roast them in the ESSE for about 1 ½ hours (depending on the size and freshness of the beetroot).
  2. When the beetroot is almost tender, allow to cool a little and then slip the skins off with your fingers.
  3. While the beetroot is cooking make the pastry as you would for shortcrust and line a 24cm loose-based flan tin.
  4. Fry the onions in a little olive oil until they begin to colour then add a splash of balsamic vinegar and seasoning.  Reduce the heat and continue to cook until the onions soften a little more.
  5. Set aside to cool and then place in the pastry case.
  6. Dice up a couple of the cooked and peeled beetroots and scatter over the onions and add some of the green beetroot leaves if you wish.
  7. Put the cream and eggs into a bowl and mix together, add the chopped dill and season with salt and pepper.
  8. Pour the mixture into the pastry case.
  9. Scatter over the goat’s cheese and quarter the rest of the beetroot and carefully place on top of the tart.
  10. Place on the base of the oven at 170C (ESSE dial guide MODERATE) and cook for about 40 minutes or until the filling has set and just starting to colour.  Allow to cool slightly in the tin before serving.

Recipe prepared by Philippa Vine using the ESSE 1000 X Electric Range Cooker at Bluebell Farmhouse Kitchen & Cookery School, East Sussex.

Potato and chorizo hash

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This recipe is great for using up left-over jacket potatoes or just a delicious one pot potato dish. It is adaptable to whatever ingredients you have in your fridge, and it goes so well with roast chicken at this time of year when you have cooked enough roast potatoes over the winter months!

Ingredients

  • 3 – 5 cooked large potatoes with skins, diced up
  • 3 red onions, thinly sliced
  • 260g chorizo sausage, skin removed and thinly sliced
  • 100g pancetta, optional
  • A handful of wild garlic or parsley
  • Olive oil
  • Freshly ground black pepper

Method

  1. Fry the onions, chorizo and pancetta (if you are using) in a little oil in a large oven proof pan over a medium heat until everything starts to colour, and the onions are softened.
  2. Add the chopped potatoes and wild garlic, a little ground black pepper and cook for 5 minutes more. Taste for seasoning.
  3. Give it a good stir and if you like a crispier topping pop it under the grill for a few minutes until its golden brown.

Tenderstem, Peach and Goat’s Cheese Salad

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This simple but stylish salad starter is bursting with freshness and flavour and just the thing to start a Valentine’s Day meal. I think it is delicious with a little crusty ciabatta bread to soak up the juices.

Serves 2

Ingredients

  • 100g Tenderstem broccoli
  • 2 medium peaches, stoned and quartered
  • 1 ½ tsp olive oil
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 50g baby spinach leaves
  • 75g goat’s cheese log (I used Kidderton Ash), cut into thin slices
  • Few fresh basil leaves, torn into pieces

Dressing:

  • 2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
  • 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

Method

  1. Preheat a griddle pan until smoking hot…this may take up to10 minutes.
  2. In a medium bowl, toss the Tenderstem broccoli and peach quarters in the olive oil with salt and pepper to taste.
  3. Add the peach and broccoli mixture to the griddle and cook for about 5 minutes, turning a few times, until they are just tender and marked with griddle-lines.
  4. Arrange the spinach leaves on a serving plate and top with the cooked peach and broccoli mixture. Add the goat’s cheese and sprinkle with the basil leaves.
  5. Beat the extra virgin olive oil with the balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper to taste to make a dressing. Drizzle over the salad and serve at once.

Tip

When available replace the peaches in this salad with 2 fresh, ripe nectarines or 4-6 fresh, ripe apricots… they are equally as delicious.

Beef Mince and Vegetable Pie

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You will need a 22cm pie plate/tin.

This traditional minced beef and onion pie has the base of my staple selection of colourful vegetables to give it a real depth of flavour.  The addition of dried porcini mushrooms (a wonderful winter store cupboard ingredient) gives it an extra savoury seasoning and means you don’t need to make any stock for this pie.

Ingredients

  • 500g beef mince
  • 1 large red onion, finely chopped
  • 2 sticks of celery, finely chopped
  • 2 carrots, finely chopped
  • 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
  • 2 teaspoons of tomato puree
  • 1 heaped tablespoon dried porcini mushrooms, optional or 200ml beef stock
  • Freshly ground black pepper or 2 teaspoons of savoury spice mix (see below)
  • Salt
  • 2 tablespoon olive oil or rapeseed oil

For the pastry

  • 350g spelt or plain flour
  • 200g butter
  • 2 eggs, beaten plus 1 egg yolk plus a teaspoon of water for the egg wash

For the savoury spice mix

This will make more than you need for this pie but store what you don’t use in a clean jam jar for another winter casserole or pie.  It adds a delicious and interesting savoury note!

  • 1 tablespoon juniper berries
  • 1 tablespoon whole coriander seeds
  • 1 tablespoon whole black pepper
  • Grind the spices together

Method

  1. Set your electric ESSE on the economical setting, using the top right oven for the filling.  If you are using the Ironheart heat the oven for the gauge to read moderate/hot.
  2. If using the dried mushrooms soak them in 200ml boiling water.
  3. To make the pastry, rub the butter into the flour until it resembles crumble.
  4. Add the eggs and work the mixture to a firm dough with a little gentle kneading.   Add a splash of water if too dry.  (You can use a food processor to speed up the process)
  5. Wrap and chill in the fridge while you make the filling for the pie.
  6. Heat the oil in a large frying pan on a high heat, add the mince and brown or until it loses its raw look, breaking it up with a table fork.  Season with a good sprinkle of salt.  Then add the celery, carrots, onions, garlic and cook, stirring for few minutes.  Drain the mushrooms, keeping the liquid.  Chop them and add to the mince mixture.  Then stir in the flour and cook for 2 -3 minutes more.  Add the mushroom liquid/stock, tomato puree, savoury spice mix or a good sprinkle of ground black pepper.  Bring to the boil and cook in the ESSE for about 30 minutes until thickened.  Add a splash more stock/water if too dry.  Leave to cool while you roll out the pastry.
  7. Increase the oven temperature to 200C or hot/very hot on the Ironheart.
  8. Roll out two thirds of the pastry on a lightly floured surface to form a circle, then use it to line the base and sides of the dish.  Roll out the remaining pastry to form the lid.  Spoon in the cooled filling.  Brush round the edge of the pastry with a little egg wash then lay the pastry lid over the filling, pressing to seal. Trim off any excess pastry and you can cut out shapes to use for decoration if you wish.  Brush the pie with egg wash and cook on the base of the ESSE and bake for about 35 – 40 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.

Recipe baked in the ESSE Electric Range Cooker by Philippa Vine of Bluebell Farmhouse Kitchen, Arlington.

Philippa is a professional cook and cookery writer and delights visitors with her creative and wholesome food. She shares her passion for locally grown and sourced quality ingredients. Philippa runs several themed ESSE cookery courses and demonstrations every year in her delightful country kitchen.

Porotos Granados

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This lovely Chilean bean, corn and squash stew proved one of the most popular recipes in River Cottage Veg Everyday. I’ve enjoyed playing with the dish since then, adding creamy beans, fresh tomatoes and basil (included in some Chilean versions), along with not-so traditional celery, which adds a savoury note. I also ring the changes with courgettes in place of the squash. You can use whichever you prefer, or go half and half. It’s an easy dish… and very more-ish.

Serves 6

Ingredients

  • About 500g small–medium courgettes or peeled, deseeded squash, such as butternut, Crown Prince or onion squash
  • 2 tbsp vegetable or olive oil
  • 1 medium onion, sliced
  • 2 celery sticks, sliced
  • 2 garlic cloves, chopped
  • 2 tsp sweet smoked paprika
  • A handful of oregano leaves, roughly chopped (or you can use thyme)
  • 1 litre vegetable stock
  • 1 bay leaf
  • 200g green beans, trimmed and cut into 2cm pieces
  • 400g tin beans, such as kidney, borlotti or butter beans, drained and rinsed
  • About 200g sweetcorn kernels (you should get this from 2 medium cobs, but frozen is also fine)
  • 300g tomatoes, roughly chopped
  • 6–8 basil leaves, torn
  • Sea salt and black pepper
  • Dried chilli flakes, to finish (optional)

Method

  1. If using courgettes, cut them into 1cm slices (first quartering them lengthways if they are very large). If you’re using squash, cut it into 2cm chunks.
  2. Heat the oil in a large saucepan or flameproof casserole over a medium heat. Add the onion, celery and garlic and sauté gently for 10–12 minutes. Add the paprika and chopped oregano (or thyme). Cook, stirring, for another minute.
  3. Add the squash and/or courgettes, vegetable stock and bay leaf and bring to a simmer. Cook for 10–15 minutes until all the veg are almost tender.
  4. Add the green beans, tinned beans, sweetcorn and tomatoes and simmer for 5 minutes or until all the veg are tender. Stir in the basil and season to taste with salt and pepper.
  5. Serve the stew in warmed bowls, adding a pinch of chilli flakes for those who like a bit of heat.

A best-loved favourite recipe made better by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall from the River Cottage good comfort cook book. Recipe prepared using his ESSE Range Cooker.

Onion tart with greens

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I learned to make (and to love) a French onion tart from the recipe in Elizabeth David’s classic French Provincial Cooking. This tart remains faithful to the spirit of that recipe, based as it is on lots of sweet, soft onion, but I’ve added greens, used my half-wholemeal shortcrust pastry and gone for a lighter custard based on half milk, half cream (and whole eggs, so there are no spare whites leftover for you to deal with). It’s still gorgeous. And this is an endlessly adaptable tart template.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

  • 1 quantity half-wholemeal shortcrust pastry, chilled
  • Flour, to dust

Filling

  • 1 tbsp olive or vegetable oil
  • A large knob of butter
  • About 600g onions (red, brown or a combination), finely sliced
  • Nutmeg, for grating
  • 200–250g cavolo nero, tough stalks removed, or about 300g spinach, very well rinsed
  • 150ml double cream
  • 150ml whole milk
  • 3 medium eggs
  • 50g mature Cheddar or Parmesan, grated
  • Sea salt and black pepper

Method

  1. Use the chilled shortcrust pastry to line a 24cm tart tin and bake blind as per the instructions on page 143. Trim the edges. Preheat the oven to 180°C/ESSE Dial Guide MODERATE (Aim for the dial reading to be at the top end of MODERATE or very low end of HOT).
  2. To make the filling, heat the oil and butter together in a large frying pan over a medium-low heat. Add the sliced onions with some salt and pepper. Cook gently, stirring regularly, for about 30 minutes until soft, golden and tender. Grate over some fresh nutmeg, stir in and leave to cool a little.
  3. While the onions are cooking, blanch the greens: bring a pan of water to the boil and add the cavolo nero or spinach. Return to a simmer then immediately tip the greens into a colander to drain and run under the cold tap to cool them quickly.
  4. Now squeeze out as much moisture from the greens as you can, then chop coarsely and combine with the cooked onion. Beat the cream, milk and eggs together in a bowl and season well with salt and pepper.
  5. Arrange the onion and greens mix in the prepared tart case and carefully pour the beaten egg mixture over them. Scatter the grated cheese over the surface.
  6. Bake in the oven for about 30–35 minutes until the filling is just set and golden. Leave the tart to cool, at least a little, before serving warm or at room temperature.

A best-loved favourite recipe made better by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall from the River Cottage good comfort cook book. Recipes prepared using his ESSE Range Cooker

Walnut Loaf

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I love baking this bread at this time of year as it’s lovely & nutty, wholesome & there is always a drop of wine knocking about the kitchen to use up! It gives the bread an extra special taste, almost like sourdough, with the acidity of adding some wine & gives a moist texture & colour. The ESSE gives it a crusty crust & cooks it’s to perfection!

For the Ironheart you will need to get it in the ‘very hot’ thermodial setting (250-280°C). It would take approximately 1 & 1/2 hours for the Ironheart to reach ‘very hot’ temperature from cold but while you wait for it to go hot then that is the time to prove the bread so you are not hanging around, you are making the bread. It would take at least 3 refuelling, depends on the wood of course.

You can use all wholemeal or white bread flour but just make sure it measures 250g in total.

Ingredients

  • 150g strong wholemeal flour
  • 100g very strong white bread flour
  • 15g fresh yeast or 1 teaspoon fast-action dried yeast
  • 1 teaspoon runny honey
  • 75ml red wine, warmed
  • 75ml water, warmed
  • 1 tablespoon walnut oil
  • 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
  • 100g roasted finely chopped walnuts

Method

  1. Dissolve the yeast and honey in the warm water and red wine.  Add the oil and mix well.
  2. Stir in the liquid into the flour and mix with a table knife until it forms a supple dough.  You may need to add a little extra splash of red wine or water, as different flours absorb different amounts of water.
  3. Knead a little until smooth and elastic.  Put the dough back into the bowl.
  4. Cover with a clean tea towel and put next to the Ironheart until roughly doubled in size.
  5. Lightly oil a baking sheet.  Knead briefly and then shape into a large sausage shape and place on the tin.
  6. Prove until doubled in bulk, lightly dust flour over the dough and make rapid criss-cross cuts with a very sharp knife.   Bake on the base of the hot oven for about 35 – 40 minutes.  Then leave to cool on a rack, if you can wait until then!

Recipe designed by Philippa Vine of Bluebell Farmhouse Kitchen, Arlington.

Philippa is a professional cook and cookery writer and delights visitors with her creative and wholesome food. She shares her passion for locally grown and sourced quality ingredients. Philippa runs several themed ESSE cookery courses and demonstrations every year in her delightful country kitchen.

Turkey and Gravy

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For the turkey

  1. Place the turkey in the large roasting tin.
  2. Stuff the neck cavity only – I tend to cook any stuffing separately, we have more than once forgotten that the stuffing was in the bird until too late! If not putting stuffing into the bird, peel and cut up an onion and push that into the cavities, with a little butter. Weigh the turkey after it has been stuffed to calculate the cooking time.
  3. Smear the bird with some butter, then cover it tightly with foil.

Slow roasting the turkey:

  • If your turkey weighs more than 16 lb (7 kg), put it into a hot oven for an hour, then transfer to a simmering temperature oven overnight.
  • For turkeys under 16 lb (7 kg), just put into the ESSE’s main oven at 120 (thermo dial at about 20 to the hour) and let the cooker do the rest!

As a rough guide:

  • 8 – 10 lb (3 – 4½ kg) Turkeys will take about 8 – 10 hours
  • 10 – 16 lb (4½ – 7 kg) Turkeys will take about 9 – 12 hours
  • 16 – 22 lb (7 – 10 kg) Turkeys will take about 10 – 14 hours

Next day, check the turkey mid-morning, it should be almost cooked. Pierce the thigh with a skewer and if the juices run clear from the hole, it is cooked.

If it is completely cooked at 11am and you plan to eat at 3pm, DON’T PANIC! Re-cover with the foil then lay a large bath towel, folded into quarters, or a cot duvet or your fleece jacket, or all three, over it and place it beside the ESSE and just leave it. It has taken about 12 hours to get really hot and cooked through; it won’t cool down in any sort of hurry!

If it is not cooked through, re-cover and return it to the simmering oven. Check it again in an hour.

Fast roasting the turkey:

Put the foil-covered turkey into the ESSE at 210 (thermo dial at about 25 past the hour) and cook it.

Timing:

  • 8 – 10 lb (3 – 4½kg) Turkeys will take about 2 hours
  • 10 – 16 lb (4½ – 7kg) Turkeys will take about 2 ½ to 3 hours
  • 16 – 22 lb (7 – 10kg) Turkeys will take about 3 to 3 ½ hours

Finishing the turkey, both methods:

When you and the turkey are ready, pour off the juices – this is easiest if you have a second, clean roasting tin and just transfer the bird from one tin to the other, leaving the juices in the first. Put the turkey into the ESSE main oven at 210 (thermo dial at about 25 past the hour), uncovered, for half an hour to brown the breast, while you make the gravy. Once the breast is browned, transfer to a serving plate and allow to rest for 15 minutes before carving.

For the gravy

Serves 6 – 8

  • 1 pint (550ml) Turkey stock or giblet stock or stock mixed with wine or water and a stock cube
  • 2 tbsp Plain flour
  • 1 tbsp Turkey fat or the juices from the roasted bird
  • Salt and pepper

Oven: ESSE 210 (thermo dial at about 25 past the hour)
Prepare ahead: Yes
Freeze: Yes

  1. When the turkey has cooked, pour off the juices from the roasting tin. This is easiest if you have a second, clean roasting tin and just transfer the bird from one tin to the other, leaving the juices in the first. Cover the bird with foil and allow it to rest while you make the gravy and dish up all the vegetables.
  2. Pour the juices into a jug, leaving a tablespoonful or two in the bottom of the pan. Stir in the flour, then gradually blend in the stock and seasoning.
  3. Put the tin onto the floor of the roasting oven to boil. Stir after about 5 minutes, then return to the oven for a further 5 minutes until boiling and thickened. Strain and serve.

Bonfire Pumpkin Pilaf With Almonds

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The wonderfully fragant smell of onions and spices cooking at the beginning of this recipe will entice Bonfire Night revellers into the kitchen. It’s a good basic recipe using quick or easy-cook basmati rice. For meat eaters I often add cooked chicken and chorizo and for vegetarians crumbled feta, grilled halloumi cheese or extra roasted vegetables.

Serves 6

Ingredients

  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 2 tbsp butter
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 3 cloves garlic, peeled and sliced
  • 1 tbsp cumin seeds
  • 1 tbsp fennel seeds
  • 1 tsp black onion seeds
  • 400g quick or easy-cook basmati rice
  • 400g diced pumpkin
  • 800ml hot vegetable stock
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 125g thick Greek yogurt
  • 100g radishes, sliced
  • 100g roasted almonds, crushed
  • small bunch fresh mint and coriander, coarsely chopped
  • 1 chilli, seeded and finely sliced

Method

  1. Heat the oil and butter in a large, heavy-based pan (with tight-fitting lid). Add the onion, garlic, cumin, fennel and black onion seeds and cook for 3 minutes.
  2. Add the rice and cook for 2 minutes. Add the pumpkin and stock. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat to a simmer, add salt and pepper to taste, cover and cook, without stirring, for 10 minutes, or until all the stock has been absorbed. (if you’re using regular rice then this may take up to 20-25 minutes cooking time). At this point add any meat or vegetarian extras, remove from the heat, re-cover and leave to stand for 5 minutes to finish cooking.
  3. Remove the lid and give the pilaf a gentle stir. Top with the yogurt, scatter with the radishes and almonds then sprinkle with the mint, coriander and chilli to serve.

Tip

Younger members of the family may not appreciate the fiery taste or heat of the chillies added at the end of this recipe. Serve them first, then add the chillies for more mature tastes to keep everyone happy.

Mini Sausage Wraps With Crispy Onions

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Wraps, filled with sticky sausages and onions, make great party fare. Children will love these as they are sweet and easy to eat. For a more adult party try other speciality and spicy sausages and perhaps add some tongue[1]tingling mustard or chilli relish to the wraps.

Makes: 6

Ingredients

  • 12 pork chipolata sausages
  • 2 red onions, cut into wedges
  • 1 tbsp sunflower or vegetable oil
  • 2 tbsp tomato ketchup
  • 1 tbsp clear honey
  • 1 tbsp dark brown muscovado sugar
  • 1 tbsp ordinary dark or Indonesian sweet soy sauce
  • 6 plain or seeded tortilla wraps

Method

  1. Preheat the oven if necessary to 220°C/ ESSE Dial Guide HOT. (Aim for the dial reading to be at the top end of HOT).
  2. Line a roasting tin or baking tray with baking parchment or easy glide. Place the sausages and onion wedges on top.
  3. In a small bowl, mix the oil with the tomato ketchup, honey, sugar and soy sauce. Drizzle over the sausages and onion wedges and toss to coat well. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the sausages are thoroughly cooked and have browned without burning, and the onion wedges are starting to crisp.
  4. To serve, place 2 of the sausages and some onion wedges on each wrap and fold up to enclose. Allow to cool a little then serve with napkins.

Tip

Vegetarians can still be catered for with this recipe, simply replace the traditional meat sausages with Quorn sausages or Quorn fajita style strips (cooked according to the pack instructions).

Roasted Tomato Soup With Crispy Bacon

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This wonderfully warming soup is made with English vine-ripened tomatoes that are oven-roasted to bring out their natural sweetness. It’s perfect to serve on Bonfire Night with crusty bread. For outdoor eating serve in warmed mugs.

Serves: 4

Ingredients

  • 950g English vine-ripened tomatoes, quartered
  • 2 red onions, finely sliced
  • 4 cloves garlic, crushed
  • 1 tbsp olive oil
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 6 rashers dry cure smoked streaky bacon
  • 1 litre hot vegetable stock
  • 4 tsp balsamic vinegar

Method

  1. Preheat the oven if necessary to 220°C/ESSE Dial Guide HOT. (Aim for the dial reading to be at the top end of HOT).
  2. Place the tomatoes, red onion and garlic in a roasting tin. Drizzle with the olive oil and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste. Roast for 20 minutes until softened and slightly charred.
  3. Meanwhile, put the bacon on a rack et over a baking tray and place in the oven for the last 15 minutes of the tomatoes cooking time. Remove when crisp, leave until cool then break into pieces.
  4. Bring the stock to the boil in a large pan, add the roasted tomato mixture and mix well. Puree until smooth.
  5. Reheat if necessary then ladle into warmed bowls or mugs. Drizzle with the balsamic vinegar and scatter with the crispy bacon to serve.

Variation

This soup is also delicious served cold in the warm Summer months. Prepare as above, chill and serve drizzled with balsamic vinegar and torn Parma ham rather than crisply bacon.

Penne With Roast Shallots and Pumpkin Seeds

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This is a delicious vegetarian pasta dish with contrasting flavours and textures from the soft shallots and pumpkin, to the al dente pasta (with a bite) to the crunchy pumpkin seeds.

Serves 4

Ingredients

  • 1 small pumpkin
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • Salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 20 small shallots, peeled
  • 300g dried or fresh penne pasta
  • 1 chilli, seeded and finely sliced
  • 15g butter
  • 6 tbsp water
  • 1 sprig rosemary, chopped
  • Grated Parmesan cheese, to serve

Method

  1. Preheat the oven if necessary to 180°C/ESSE Dial Guide MODERATE. (Aim for the dial reading to be at the top end of MODERATE or the very low end of HOT).
  2. Peel and cut the pumpkin into bite-sized pieces, reserving the pumpkin seeds. Place the pumpkin in a pan with the olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. Sauté for about 5 minutes until coloured on the outside. Add the shallots and cook for a further 5-10 minutes. Remove from the pan and set aside.
  3. Meanwhile, cook the pasta in boiling, salted water according to the packet instructions. Drain, rinse and keep warm. Toast the pumpkin seeds in the oven for 5 minutes.
  4. Return a quarter of the pumpkin and shallot mixture to the pan with the chilli, butter, water and rosemary. Heat through to make a bubbly sauce. Add the remaining pumpkin mixture then finally fold in the cooked pasta.
  5. Serve on warmed plates dusted with a little Parmesan cheese and scattered with the pumpkin seeds.

Variation

Those who miss meat might welcome the addition of come cooked and sliced spicy sausage at the end of cooking.

Five Spiced Pork with Roots

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Bring a touch of the Orient to a Sunday lunchtime in Autumn with this wonderfully spicy and slightly sweet flavoured roast. Pork offers great value for money and when served with root vegetables in season has a great taste. Vary the roots if liked to include parsnips, beetroot, salsify, celeriac and swede.

Serves: 6

Ingredients

  • 2tsp Chinese 5 spice powder
  • 3tbsp olive oil
  • 15g fine sea salt
  • 1.3kg pork loin roast, rind scored
  • 2tsp grated root ginger
  • 1 tbsp toasted sesame oil
  • ½ tsp chilli flakes (optional)
  • 3 large floury potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
  • 6 carrots, scrubbed and trimmed
  • 6 small turnips, scrubbed and trimmed
  • 2 sticks celery, each cut into 3 pieces
  • fresh herbs, to garnish (optional)

Method

  1. Preheat the oven if necessary to 200°C/.ESSE Dial Guide HOT. (Aim for the dial reading to be in the middle of HOT).
  2. Rub the Chinese 5 spice powder, 1 tbsp of the oil and the salt over the pork, making sure it gets into the cuts in the rind. Place on a rack over a roasting tin and cook for 1 hour.
  3. Mix together the remaining oil with the ginger, sesame oil and chilli if used in a second roasting tin. Add the potatoes, carrots, turnips and celery, tossing well.
  4. Pour the fat and juices from the pork over the vegetables and return both to the oven (place the vegetables above the pork). Roast for a further 1 hour, turning the vegetables once, until both are tender and cooked.
  5. Allow the pork to rest in warm place, wrapped in foil, before slicing to serve with the roasted vegetables. Garnish with a few fresh herbs if liked.

Variation

Summer 5 Spiced Pork:

Prepare as above but use a selection of Summer vegetables like sliced courgettes, quartered peppers, wedges of red onion, cubes of aubergine and whole cloves of garlic instead of the roots. Roast for the final 40 minutes of the cooking time.

Wild Alaska Salmon Korma Bake

by

This is a wonderful, lightly-spiced, curried, family main meal dish. It is equally good made with either cooked fresh salmon or canned salmon (so makes a good store cupboard standby). Make it in a large roasting tin for a one-pot meal or, to make this meal easier to serve, cook in individual baking dishes.

Serves: 4

Ingredients

  • 400g cooked fresh wild Alaska salmon or 2 x 213g cans red or pink wild Alaska salmon
  • 500g butternut squash, peeled and cut into chunks
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • ½ tsp cumin seeds
  • salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 small cauliflower, broken into florets
  • 150g fine green beans, trimmed and halved
  • 300g low-fat natural yogurt
  • 2 tbsp Korma curry paste
  • 2 tbsp mango chutney
  • 2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
  • 4 poppadoms, lightly crushed

Method

  1. Preheat the oven if necessary to 170˚C/ ESSE Dial Guide MODERATE. (Aim for the dial reading to be in the middle of MODERATE).
  2. Skin the cooked fresh salmon and break into chunks or drain the canned salmon (discarding the liquid, skin and bones) and flake into large pieces.
  3. Put the butternut squash in a large roasting tin, add the oil, cumin seeds and salt and pepper to taste, tossing to coat. Roast for 25-30 minutes until tender, turning once.
  4. Meanwhile, cook the cauliflower in lightly salted boiling water for 3-4 minutes. Add the green beans and cook for a further 3-4 minutes. Drain well and add to the cooked squash with the chunks of salmon.
  5. Mix the yogurt with the curry paste, mango chutney and coriander. Spoon over the vegetables and salmon, then sprinkle with the poppadoms. Bake for 10-15 minutes until piping hot. Serve at once

Tip

Vary the hotness of this curried dish according to your preferred taste. This recipe uses mild strength Korma paste but experiment with medium Madras, Tikka Masala or Passanda strengths or spicy and hot Jalfrezi and Vindaloo.

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