Meatballs in pancetta and onion sauce

You can make your own meatballs but if not you can always buy ready made ones for a midweek meal. Any meat for the meat balls works but pork and beef gives a really nice balance of fattyness and flavour; chicken and turkey can be quite dry but are lower calorie. Makes enough for: 2…

Burrata with tomato and basil salad

Makes enough for: 4 people Hands on time: 10 mins Total time: 40 mins Ingredients 350g mixed tomatoes, choose around 3 different colours and sizes ¼ tsp salt Large pinch freshly ground black pepper Pinch caster sugar 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil zest of 1 unwaxed lemon 1 tbsp of lemon juice about 10g…

Buttermilk scones

These scones work perfectly for a wonderful afternoon tea. Pair with clotted cream, your favourite jam and a pot of tea. Bliss. Makes enough for: 5-6 scones Hands on time: 20 mins Total time: 35 mins Ingredients 225g plain flour 3 tsp baking powder a pinch of salt (less than 1/4 tsp) 50g cold butter…

Sourdough cinnamon buns

These cinnamon buns are really sweet and make a great breakfast, brunch or afternoon tea. As usual, the main ingredient in this sourdough recipe is time. Makes enough for: 6 – 8 rolls Hands on time: 30 minutes Total time: 18 hours Ingredients For the dough 100g active white sourdough starter 200g strong white bread flour,…

Chicken Schnitzel

Call it what you will; schnitzel, escalope, milanese – it’s breaded chicken. Yum. Makes enough for: 3 schnitzels Hands on time: 40 mins Total time: 40 mins Ingredients 3 chicken breasts 50g panko breadcrumbs 20g grated parmesan teaspoon mixed herbs 3 tablespoons flour salt and pepper 2 medium eggs, beaten (you might get away with…

Nigella’s ham in cola

If you’ve never cooked this before you are missing out. It is the only way to make a ham. The sugars from the coke penetrate the gammon and make it the tastiest ham ever. Once you’ve made ham like this, there is no going back. If you’re into the English language, the meat is called…

Scallops, chorizo and pea puree

Pea puree is a real winner. It is so simple but feels fancy. Get British king scallops from the fishmonger, roe on. Pea shoots you can get from the salad aisle in the supermarket. The timings here are quite tricky as the scallops and chorizo want to be hot at the same time: Makes enough…

Homemade pasta

Makes enough for: 4 people Hands on time: 20 mins Total time: 1 hour For this receipe, you do need to use tipo 00 flour. You can get this from large supermarkets or specialist stores. Whilst technically you don’t need a pasta maker (you can use a rolling pin), it makes it a lot easier…

Farfalle al salmone e spinaci gratinate

Makes enough for: 2 people Hands on time: 25 mins Total time: 40 mins The title is a bit pretentious. It’s a salmon and spinach pasta bake. But a really good one, hence I stuck with the Italian title. Ingredients For the bake 240g salmon fillet 175g farfalle (penne also works) 40g salted butter 40g…

Sesame-crusted tuna salad

Makes enough for: 2 people Hands-on time: 25 mins Total time: 25 mins I have to give credit to Joe Wicks for this one as the majority of the recipe is his. The sesame-crusted tuna is my own addition. Ingredients 4 eggs 150g green beans or asparagus Mixed sesame seeds (enough to coat the tuna)…