Cod and spiced lentils

This is one of my favourite meals - I hadn't made in ages and had forgotten how simple it is to make. 30 minutes to a plate of heaven!

The recipe is from the BBC Food website. I've amended it slightly to account for not having time to always pick up fresh ingredients on the day I'm cooking!

Ingredients for two servings are:
2 frozen line caught cod fillets
1 onion, chopped finely
1 can green lentils
2 tbsp mango chutney
2 tsp curry powder
2 tbsp tomato purée
2 handfuls of spinach
Squeeze of squirty lime juice

1. Pop the fish fillets in an oven heated to around 180 degrees; pop some olive oil on before they go in.

2. Fry the onion in a pan until they're soft. Add in the curry powder and tomato and continue to fry for a minute or so.

3. Add the lentils, then refill the can half way with water and add that to the pan. Add the mango chutney. Simmer and stir occasionally.

4. After 25 minutes add the spinach to the lentils, but do not stir - make sure you add a lid to the pan so that the leaves steam and wilt in the remaining 5 minutes of cooking time.

5. Plate up by spooning the lentil and spinach mixture to a plate, then top with the fish. Spritz over the lime juice.

Done!

Pea Pie

I recently made a great and easy pie, which serves well on a work night as it takes little time to prepare and pays off grandly.

This makes enough for 4 if served with steamed mixed vegetables.

5 all purpose potatoes, peeled and diced
1 leek, chopped fairly finely
2 chicken breasts, chopped into bite sized pieces
1 cup of frozen peas
1 tbsp olive oil
50g butter
3 tbsp plain flour
Milk
Cheese to taste

1. Put the potatoes on to boil - you're going to make mash from them
2. Fry the chicken, and when cooked through add the leeks and continue to fry
3. Meanwhile in another pan, melt the butter, add the flour and stir to a paste
4. Add milk slowly, bit by bit until you've made a white sauce of a smooth consistency
5. Melt in the cheese
6. Add the peas to the chicken and leek mixture, stir and take off the heat
7. Add the mixture to a casserole or pie dish, pour over the cheese sauce
8. Drain and mash the potatoes, then sprinkle them over the top of the chicken mixture
9. Bake in a moderate oven for 20-30 minutes until golden and bubbling
10. Serve!

Sorry there's no photo; I'll add one next time I make it!

Victorious Sponge

Every Victoria sponge I've tried to make since I left home has failed. I followed the instructions to the letter and it always came out as a hard, crusty, un-risen disaster. Once I made 4 sponges just so they'd get to the right height for a normal sponge.

This weekend I made my first successful and GORGEOUS Victoria sponge! The secret? A recipe off YouTube, lob it all in a bowl together and don't really think about it!

200g self raising flour
200g castor sugar
200g butter (mine was slightly salted)
4 eggs
1 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp strawberry jam
1 tbsp icing sugar

1. Mix the ingredients except the icing sugar and jam in a large bowl
2. Divide between 2 lined cake tins, which are about as wide as my hand span
3. Bake at 160°C for 25-30 minutes or until risen and golden
4. Allow to cool for a few minutes before removing from the tins
5. Cool to room temperature on a wire rack
6. Sandwich together with strawberry jam then dust the icing sugar through a sieve over the top

Ta daaaah!

Ray's Allotment Cassoulet

Ok, I'll admit I'm not sure what a "cassoulet" is, but it sounded right for the "thing" that's happening in the slow cooker right now!

Here's what's in it:

3 medium beetroots from Ray's Allotment, peeled and cubed
About 8 runner beans from Ray's Allotment, cubed with the snaggy ends chopped off
A large tin of red kidney beans
A large onion, peeled and chopped into large pieces
A carrot, cubed, not peeled
A large tin of thick cut chopped tomatoes in their own juice
Water - I refilled the tin from the tomatoes
A chicken stock cube
A heaped teaspoon of fennel seeds

...and some Savoy cabbage is going in after about 2 hours

I fried off the onion and fennel seeds in olive oil in a pan to soften them up and release some flavour, before adding the whole lot to the slow cooker. I'm planning on adding some cabbage in a couple of hours - I think the whole thing will cook for about 4 hours so adding the cabbage after two seems reasonable.

I'm so excited - the beetroot was in the ground only an hour ago! Eek!

Ray is our lovely neighbour, who grows the most incredible veg on his allotment, which is in the next village from ours. He grows cucumbers, tomatoes, marrows, courgettes, lettuce, beetroot, runner beans, and I'm sure much more than that too! He's very generous in keeping me in veg for the small price of an occasional bottle of wine and parcel of lavender shortbread (although he always says not to give him anything).

Sort of restores your faith in people when you meet someone so willing to take care of you for nothing in return. Oh, and he also waters my pot plants when I'm too busy too!

Thank you, Ray!

It turned out really well! Tasty yum yum! Very pink though!