A true American classic is chowder and it really doesn’t get much better and healthier for the cold winter months. This dish is also very simple to prepare and cook.

Sweetcorn and Crab Chowder

Ingredients

• 1x tinned crab
• 1x sweetcorn
• two carrots, peeled and chopped
• one leek, chopped into small pieces
• one onion, chopped
• one potato, chopped
• 1-2L chicken stock
• creme fraiche / cream
• chives / dill

1. chop all ingredients, fry onion, garlic carrots for a few minutes and add a splash of chicken stock
2. add potato and leek and add most of the chicken stock, cook for 5-10 minutes
3. Turn down the heat; add crab and sweetcorn and cook for 2 minutes more
4. add cream and season well

Ingredients

1. 200g Quinoa
2. 150g Oats
3. Salt + Pepper
4. Sesame Seeds

Instructions

Leave quinoa and oats to soak in approximately 800ml-1000ml of water overnight

1. When done,  put the quinoa and oats on to boil and add salt and pepper
2. When quinoa and oats reach a porridge like consistency, remove from the heat to a slight simmer. This should take about 30-40 minutes.
3. In a baking tray, lay out the mixture and put in the fridge for 25 minutes.

   

4. Take from the fridge when set, and begin to cut into wedges.
5. Fry wedges in pan on both sides with a little oil.  Each wedge will take approximately 15 minutes if you like it nice and crispy.
6. Top with your favourite ingredients.

Meatballs recipe

500g of quality beef mince 

1 large white onion

30g Quaker oats

Lots of basil

parmesan cheese

Red wine

quality passata

1 whole egg

1) in a large bowl combine the beef mince, chopped basil, Quaker oats and egg. Mix with your hands until all ingredients are combined

2) in a large pan, add about 30ml of water in preparation for your tomato sauce and simmer, five minutes later add passata and red wine with handful of chopped basil, and crushed garlic plus lots of salt and pepper, then put lid on top

3) make mixture into small balls and then shallow fry until nicely browned. Meanwhile, preheat oven and a dish to 190 degrees.

4) once your meatballs have seared and browned; add to the oven dish and allow them to heat through for about 15-20 minutes

5) after 10 minutes; your sauce is going to be ready so take off medium heat to a low heat

6) add your meatballs to the tomato mixture for 5 minutes adding more salt, pepper and basil. Put the lid on top.

7) serve with Parmesan and glass of red.

Green lentils are an extremely underrated pulse. Despite what people say, lentils are very easy to cook. Here is one of the quickest and easiest ways I have found.

Green Lentils, Onion and Mushrooms

About 100g of green lentils
Half a large onion, chopped
4 button mushrooms, chopped
1 tbsp of curry powder
Water
Green vegetables, e.g. spinach, optional

1) with a bit of oil, gently fry (in a largeish pan) the onions until browned
2) add your mushrooms, cook for a couple more minutes
3) add the lentils and spread across the pan, cook for a few minutes
4) add curry powder for taste, mix
5) add enough water to just about cover all the lentils and ingredients
6) add your green vegetables if you want then, or leave till later
7) cover on low-medium heat for approx 30-40 minutes

Shogayaki is best cooked with some vegetables and rice; I chose to have shredded cabbage and a mix of brown and white rice with this dish. The cabbage takes on all of the lovely juices from the shogayaki pork if you lay the meat on top of the veg; and the mix of white and brown rice goes down a treat with this dish.

Pork Shogayaki

500g of good quality, thin shogayaki pork
5 tablespoons mirin
4 tablespoons good quality soy sauce
4 tablespoons sake
1 piece of ginger, grated
salt and pepper
1 tbsp olive oil
shredded cabbage
rice

1) In a bowl, add the grated ginger, mirin, soy sauce and sake
2) add the pork, mix with ingredients with your hands and then leave in fridge for about an hour

3) add olive oil to frying pain, add all ingredients from bowl
4) slowly turn ingredients throughout cooking process, the meat should take about 10-15 minutes to cook nicely.

shogayaki

5) shred your cabbage, add to plate

6) put the pork on top
7) enjoy!

When I’m in a rush and short of ideas in the kitchen, pasta is normally one of my typical go to recipes. I’ve cooked a variety of pasta dishes many times over the years, and I think I’ve found my perfect way of cooking bolognese.

Minced beef pasta bolognese with red wine, onion, red peppers, garlic and basil

300g of good quality beef/steak mince
Passata/canned tomatoes
half a finely chopped onion
half a finely chopped red pepper
one leek, cut into thin pieces
10 basil leaves, cut into small pieces
1 garlic clove, crushed
handful of black olives
Grated parmesan cheese
Salt and pepper for taste
Good quality pasta
Dashing of olive oil
1.5 glass of red wine

1) In a pan add about 3 litres of water when the liquid is boiling
2) In a second pan, add olive oil, leave for about 1 minute
3) Add crushed garlic and red pepper, onions
4) Cook until lightly golden, add half glass of red wine
5) Cook through, add steak/beef mince
6) When the mince starts to brown, add a handful of chopped basil and olives
7) Then add your passata or your tinned tomatoes
8) Cook through and add your salt and pepper for taste, as well as the remainder of the red wine
9) Put the lid on the pan and put on a low heat, to simmer, for about 20 minutes
10) Enjoy! Serve with basil leaves and parmesan on top.

It’s a very simple dish but something you can rustle up whenever you’re short of ideas.

Japanese style beef, red pepper and kishimen stir fry

One bag of kishimen noodles
1 tbsp olive oil
Thinly sliced beef, approximately 300-400g
1 red pepper
1 crushed garlic
30g shredded ginger
Half an onion
100g shiitake mushrooms
Leafy green vegetable of choice
Soy sauce for flavour
Mentsuyu for flavour
Sake for flavour
Salt and pepper as desired

1. In one pan, begin to boil off your kishimen noodles
2. Cut all of your vegetables into small pieces

   

3. In a frying pan, add olive oil, crushed garlic, onion, mushrooms, leafy green vegetables and red pepper
4. Fry off for approximately 5 minutes until ingredients start to soften
5. Add soy sauce, sake and mentsuyu gradually throughout cooking process
6. Towards the end, add your thinly sliced beef, cook through

   

7. Add your salt and pepper for taste

   

8. Enjoy

I initially didn’t have a clue how to cook this vegetable, but a sweet potato turns out to make a fantastic soup. Here is my recipe:

Chicken and Sweet Potato Soup

1 tsbp of olive oil
Fresh Ginger
1 Onion
2 Cloves of Garlic
Chili powder (suit to your flavour)
2 Chicken Stock cubes
4 Sweet Potatoes
300g Chicken
200g Cauliflower
100ml milk
Salt and pepper

1. boil your chicken stock in approximately 1.5 litres of water
2. in another large pan, fry shredded ginger, onion, crushed garlic and chili powder until the onion starts to slightly brown; approximately 3-4 minutes
3. Add around 50ml of the chicken stock to create the base of your soup.
4. Add sweet potato (cut into cubes), chicken (cut into pieces) and cauliflower (cut into small pieces); then add the chicken stock to the pan.
5. Heat through for around 30-40 minutes.
6. Add 100ml milk
7. Season for flavour
8. Once finished, blend and then add back to pan… enjoy!