Cheesy Cottage Pie

The humble cottage pie isn't the most glamourous of dishes, but it is the perfect antidote to a miserable Sunday evening. Mash potato is the ultimate comfort food, add melted cheese and juicy beef into the mix and you've got yourself a delicious dinner!

Serves 4-6

500g beef mince

1 onion, chopped

1 carrot, peeled and chopped

4 garlic cloves, crushed

2 tbsps tomato puree

250ml red wine

500ml beef stock

1 tbsp plain flour

A couple of bay leaves

Worcestershire sauce

For the topping:

900g floury potatoes

Butter

Milk

100g cheddar, grated

1. Fry the beef in a little oil for 10 minutes until it has begun to brown. Add the onions, garlic and carrot and cook for a further 10 minutes until softened. Add the flour and fry for a few minutes, next add the red wine. Bubble away until most of the liquid has evaporated. Add the beef stock, tomato puree and bay leaves. Turn the heat down, cover and simmer for 1 hour. Taste and add the Worcestershire sauce and seasoning
2. At this point you want the sauce to be nice and thick, so that mash can sit on top of it rather than just melting in. If you need to reduce it further, remove the meat & vegetables with a slotted spoon, you can discard the bay leaves at this point. Then put the gravy over a reasonably high heat and simmer until it has thickened
3. Meanwhile, boil the potatoes for 20 minutes or until soft. Mash with the butter and milk and season. Pour the meat and gravy into a large dish and top with the mash - make sure you rough the mash up with a fork so it goes nice and crispy. Grate the cheese over the top and bake for 45 minutes. Serve with your vegetable of choice, I went for stir fried cabbage with caraway seeds

Rosie & Jim's Sunday Lunch - Holloway

Yesterday I went to my first ever supper club, run by James Ramsden (you might have read his articles in the Guardian) and Rosie Hogg. One Sunday every month they are kind enough to invite a bunch of strangers into their home for a four course lunch.

Dining at a supper club is an utterly different experience from eating in a restaurant. The usual rules and etiquette no longer apply, but that is half of the charm. Being able to watch your food being prepared and speaking to the cook adds a personal aspect you wouldn't get in a restaurant. There's something quite intimate about going to someones house, sitting at their dining room table and eating a meal they have prepared for you; I worried that it would be awkward, but our hosts were utterly charming and at ease.

We were greeted with a bloody Mary, which was much appreciated after a few too many post-rugby drinks on Saturday night. To start we were served smoked salmon and fluffy blinis, with a healthy dollop of creme fraiche and caviar. This is one of my favourite starters and it didn't disappoint.

The main course was roast chicken served with smoked garlic mash, roasted carrots, peas, bread sauce and a light chicken gravy. This was the perfect roast for what felt like the first day of spring. No heavy gravy or roast potatoes, just simply prepared and delicious food. If I was a judge on Masterchef, I'd say something about how they let the ingredients 'sing' by not overpowering them with too many flavours. I've no idea how they managed to cooked half a dozen chickens and vegetables for twenty people without using a professional kitchen, very impressive.

For dessert we had rhubarb crumble with orange ice cream followed by an incredibly creamy Stilton, oatcakes and homemade red onion relish. At this point we were pretty much ready to burst, but just managed coffee and homemade mint tea before heading home to lounge on the sofa for the rest of the day.

Everything we ate was delicious and for £30 it was great value. The food was simple but beautifully cooked, the atmosphere was cheerful and relaxed and despite cooking for twenty hungry guests our host's were incredibly calm and friendly. Yesterday's fantastic lunch sparked a new found interest in supper clubs, I'd love to hear your recommendations...

 

To find out the dates for the next Rosie & Jim's follow James on Twitter or have a peek at his blog. 

Chorizo, Butternut Squash & Spinach Risotto

Ah Valentine's Day, possibly the least romantic day of the year. Flowers and a nice meal shouldn't be a once a year occurance; if you're lucky enough to be in a happy relationship, you should do something romantic for the person you love all the time. If you're single, you shouldn't be made to feel bad about it by the tedious status updates of the 'OMG, just received an embarrassingly large bunch of flowers' variety.

Last year Chris managed to dislocate his shoulder on Valentine's Day, so this year I was just glad he wasn't high on morphine with his arm hanging off. As Valentine's Day is renound for being the absolute worst day to go out for dinner, we stayed at home and I cooked us chorizo, butternut squash and spinach risotto. Packed full of flavour from my favourite ingredients, it's simple enough for a midweek meal but special enough for a treat.

Serves 2 hungry people!
150g risotto rice
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
500ml vegetable or chicken stock
100ml white wine
50g chorizo, skinned and chopped into small chunks
Half a butternut squash, peeled, deseeded
1 tbsp half fat creme fraiche
1 tbsp milk
2 handfuls of spinach

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees. Peel, deseed and cut the butternut squash into small chunks. Roast with a little oil and pepper for 45 minutes, until the flesh is soft
2. Meanwhile, gently fry the onion in a little butter until soft. Add the garlic and chorizo and cook until the chorizo has started to go crispy. Add the rice and cook for a further minute
3. Stir the wine into the rice, let it bubble away until it has cooked off completely. Gradually add the stock by the ladelful, stirring regularily, making sure all the liquid has bubbled away before you you add more
4. Once the butternut squash is done, add half to a blender with the creme fraiche and plenty of black pepper, wizz until you have a smooth paste. You don't want the paste to be too thick, so add a little milk to loosen it if necessary. Keep the rest of the squash warm in the oven whilst you finish the risotto
5. Once the rice has plumped up and only has a little bite left, stir in the butternut squash puree and spinach. Cook for a few more minutes, until the spinach has wilted. Divide between two warm bowls, topped with the roasted butternut squash and Parmesan

Clissold House - Stoke Newington

On Sunday we headed down to the newly refurbished Clissold House. Hackney council finished a £9m renovation of the house and gardens in January. The house has been sympathetically updated to include a cafe and several function rooms, which you can book here.

 
The cafe serves a range of delicious looking cakes, sandwiches, salads and hot and cold drinks. I had a blueberry and white chocolate muffin and Chris went for a crazy looking hazelnut and chocolate pavlova, both of which were really good. We also shared a cafetiere of coffee while Chris read the paper and I finished my book.

As the cafe was so busy, we sat outside with a lovely view of the park. It's a great place to people watch, there are so many children and dogs running around there's always something to entertain and  getting away from the traffic and concrete makes it feel peaceful even though the park is always busy.

While we were sitting outside a sweet lady asked us to look after this little guy, how cute is he?! Having Googled 'borrowing a dog to walk in London' a few days previously, it was great having a dog for the morning and I think he enjoyed eating the crumbs from our cakes.

There were a lot of children and it was ludicrously busy, but that goes for every cafe in Stokey. I imagine the prices are prohibitively expensive for many local families (around £5 for a coffee and a cake), but that won't prevent anyone from going into the house for a snoop or enjoying the gardens. The food and service were both good and having somewhere to pick up a tasty sandwich and a drink during the summer will be really handy, so all in all I think it's a great addition to the park.

Toffee Apple Pastries

Last Wednesday was Dydd Santes Dwynwen, the Welsh equivalent of Valentines Day. As Chris is a Welshman I decided to cook us a special meal (any excuse for a celebration in dreary January). I made roast duck legs with a red wine sauce, followed by toffee apple pastries topped with toasted almonds and boy were they good. They take 5 minutes to put together if you use ready rolled puff pastry, so are perfect for a mid-week treat. If you're feeling particularily romantic you could always cut the pastry into hearts...

Serves 2
1 cox or granny smith apple, peeled, cored and sliced
Small tin of carnation caramel - trust me on this!
Ready rolled puff pastry (I used Jus-Rol)
A small handful of flaked almonds
1 egg or a little milk to glaze the pastry
Creme fraiche or custard to serve

1. Pre-heat the oven to 170 degrees and pop a baking tray in to heat up. Cut your pastry into 4 inch squares and add a tablespoon of the caramel to the middle of each, spread outwards in a circular motion
2. Peel, core and slice the apple, then fan over the caramel. Cut around the apple, leaving at least 1cm of pastry at the edge and top with the flaked almonds
3. Brush the edges of the pastry with a little milk or egg and bake for 25 minutes until the pastry is golden and the apples are soft. Serve with a dollop of creme fraiche or custard