Leek and potato soup

In a large saucepan, fry a chopped onion and garlic in butter. Separately fry a few chopped rashers of streaky bacon - I do this separately because the bacon provides more than enough fat to cook itself.

Once the onion is golden and the bacon is crispy, add the bacon to the pan. Add chopped leek and diced potato and saute for a few minutes. Add stock and seasoning, bring to the boil and simmer until the veggies are tender. At this point, you can either blend for a smooth soup, or leave it chunky.

Stir in a good measure of cream and boil to thicken.

Add some more crispy bacon to finish, and serve with warm crusty bread.

Potato gratin

We like trying a new spin on potatoes every once in a while, and this random discovery was an all-round hit. In some ways it's similar to Duphinoise potatoes, but a lot richer. It does take a lot more preparation though, but if you have the time, the effort is worth it.

Cube and boil potatoes in salted water for a few minutes. They should be slightly tender but not too soft.

Saute a couple of diced shallots and minced garlic in butter until tender.

Stir in a spoonful of flour and cook for a minute, stirring to stop it catching on the pan. Stir in a couple of cups of chicken stock then cream to make a moderately thick sauce. Simmer for a few minutes stirring constantly.

Stir in a generous handful of cheese, a squirt of mustard, and season with salt and pepper. Finally stir in the drained potatoes.

Spread the mixture into a greased baking pan and bake for up to an hour. Sprinkle another handful of grated cheese and chopped chives or green onions on top and either return to bake or put under the grill to brown.

Braised lamb in red wine

A really tasty and heartwarming dish.

Sear a leg of lamb or lamb shanks until browned. Place in a casserole dish.

Saute a chopped onion in butter until golden. Add chopped carrots and garlic. Add tomato paste and stir until the vegetables are coated. Pour in 2 cups of stock, a can of tomatoes, and a cup of red wine. Bring to the boil, then add everything to the casserole dish.

Place in the oven and cook for at least 2 hours. Longer if it's a big piece of meat. This dish can go long and slow for ages until the lamb falls off the bone.

Good with mashed potatoes.

Cornish pasties

This is a tasty and filling meal for a winter's day.

For the filling, blanch some finely-diced carrots, potatoes and swede, and drain. The veggies should be cut into small pieces - about 1/2" or 1cm in size.

Fry a finely-chopped onion and garlic until golden, and add ground beef (or turkey, or lamb) and fry until browned. Overall, you want roughly the same amount of meat as you have veggies. Stir in the cooked veg, and a good dollop of brown sauce, and leave to cool.

Mix some shortcrust pastry dough, roll it out fairly thin and cut into circles (using a side plate as a template will give you a good size.)

Brush the edge of each circle with milk, spoon some of the filling into the centre, fold over to make a parcel and crimp the edge. Brush the outside with milk and pop into the oven on a baking tray for about 40 minutes, until the pastry has browned.

Gnocchi with Pomodoro Sauce

We've gone full-on international this week! This is another first for us, and a very quick and tasty dish.

In a large saucepan, saute a few stems of fresh flat leaf parsley, oregano, rosemary, and basil until they become crisp. Lift out and discard the herbs.

Add chopped onion and garlic and cook gently until soft. Add a can of crushed tomatoes. Season with salt and black pepper. Simmer for 30 to 40 minutes until the sauce reduces and thickens. Stir in some thick cream and remove from the heat.

Meanwhile, cook a packet or two of potato gnocchi in salted boiling water until they float to the top. Drain them off and add to the sauce. Add some mozzarella balls and top with a handful of grated Parmesan.

Vegetable soup

An impromptu recipe that turned out well, resulting in a tasty and hearty winter warmer.

In a large pan fry a chopped onion until soft and golden. Add garlic and diced celery and saute for a few minutes. Stir in a couple of chopped tomatoes.

Stir in a spoonful of flour to soak up the juices, then slowly add a jug of stock, mixing well to remove any lumps. Add seasoning - oregano, pepper, salt, and garlic salt - then a load of finely-chopped vegetables - carrots, potatoes, beans, sweetcorn etc. I used a bag of frozen mixed veg for variety.

Add enough liquid to cover. Bring to the boil and simmer for an hour or so, stirring occasionally to stop the mixture catching on the pan. Some of the vegetables may start to mash and disintegrate, but that's not a problem as they add body to the broth.

Goulash soup

A tasty and hearty dish that we tried for the first time last night. When we were camping this summer we stopped for lunch at a tiny cafe while taking shelter from a sudden downpour. We had goulash soup, and decided to hunt down a recipe. I'm happy to say it worked out well, something to do again.

In a large saucepan fry a few rashers of finely-chopped bacon until crispy. We usually get lean bacon, but for purposes like this Canadian (or "streaky" as we knew it in Britain) is perfect.

Set aside the bacon and fry some finely-cubed steak until browned. Scoop that out and set it aside with the bacon. I find this also produces a fair amount of liquid, which I drained off for later use too.

Now fry a couple of finely-chopped onions and cloves of garlic until golden. Stir in a generous spoonful of paprika, and a couple of heaped tablespoons of flour. Stir for a couple of minutes, then stir in a generous spoonful of tomato paste and a good slosh of red wine vinegar. The result should be a sticky paste.

After a minute or so, stir in a good jug of beef stock (including the liquid set aside from cooking the steak), salt, a chopped red pepper, and the bacon and steak. There should be enough liquid to cover everything. Bring to the boil and simmer for about 45 minutes.

Add a few finely-cubed potatoes - there should be at least as much by volume as meat - and continue to simmer until the potatoes are tender.

If necessary, add a bit of liquid to cover the ingredients, but the result should be a rich and thick soup. Stir occasionally to stop it catching on the bottom of the pan. Season with salt and pepper, and serve.

Jambalaya

A spicy and hearty dish.

Fry a sliced spicy sausage in a generous knob of butter.

When it's browned a bit, add spices: large spoonful of paprika and cumin, dash of cayenne, black pepper, and salt. Stir and cook for a minute.

Add a chopped tomato and cook until the juice starts to come out.

Add the veggies: a chopped pepper, a few sticks of celery, and spring onions. Stir and cook for a few minutes.

Stir in rice, then stock. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook gently for about 1/2 hour.

Near the end, stir in shrimp.

Clam chowder

I can't believe I haven't posted this recipe yet. Maybe we went a little while without making it, but it's a tasty warming bowl for a chilly evening.

Start by making up a roux sauce, adding some chicken stock along the way - either paste, or in liquid form instead of some of the milk. You can also add a splash of white wine for extra flavor. Either way, you want to end up with a sauce that is thin enough to pour but not too thin.

Add a tin of drained clams, some finely-diced and pre-cooked potatoes and carrots, and optionally a handful of peeled shrimp. You can also throw in other veggies such as sweetcorn if you wish. Season with salt and pepper, serve with toast (or garlic toast).

Spinach and ricotta lasagna

A delicious variant on lasagna, using a white sauce rather than tomato sauce. Follows the basic procedure for lasagna, with a few differences:

For the meat sauce, use a white meat like ground turkey or chicken instead of beef. Instead of the tomato pasta sauce add a jar of Alfredo sauce.

Make up the cheese sauce as normal, but use equal parts mozzarella and ricotta cheese instead of regular cheddar.

When layering the lasagna, put a layer of the meat sauce, then pasta, then a thin layer of chopped spinach before adding the cheese sauce.

Pork in creamy mushroom sauce

This was an off-the-cuff concoction that worked pretty well. Not our normal light summer fare, but then this is hardly a normal summer :)

In a large frying pan, fry pork loin chops until browned both sides. Add a generous handful of sliced mushrooms - we usually go for the chestnut button mushrooms rather than their white cousins, for extra flavor. Once the mushrooms have browned a bit on a high heat, add a healthy slosh of brandy and let it bubble until most of the liquid has evaporated. Stir and turn things over from time to time to make sure they don't stick. Reduce the heat and add a cup or two of thick cream, then bring back to the boil until the sauce is thick and creamy.

Serve with choice of carbs and healthy stuff. We had this with mash and corn on the cob this evening.

Minestrone

Fry a finely-chopped onion in a large saucepan. Chop some Pastrami into fine slices and add to the pan. We use about 7 to 8oz. Stir and fry a while to let the flavor of the Pastrami come out.

Add a couple of chopped tomatoes and cook until the juice starts to come out.

Add a jug of stock, salt to taste, a healthy squirt of tomato ketchup and a dash of HP sauce for extra flavor. Stir in a can of drained red kidney beans, a similar quantity of finely-diced carrots, and a few handfuls of macaroni.

Bring to the boil, cover and simmer until the pasta, carrots and beans are cooked.

Perogies

Not something we had ever come across until we moved to Canada, but very much a favorite over here.

We keep bags of frozen perogies ready to be used. Easy to take out the required quantity. These are surprisingly filling little blighters. I reckon on serving only 6 to 8 per person, so you do need to count them out or you can easily over-cater.

Cook the perogies according to instructions - basically boiling for about 10 minutes.

Serve topped with sour cream, grated cheese, fried bacon, and chopped chives and spring onions.

Beef stew & dumplings

This is the time of year when the hearty, warming recipes start coming to the fore. This is a regular favorite for the cooler evenings.

Fry a large chopped onion, steak cut into cubes, and a handful of button mushrooms quartered. When the steak is nicely browned, decant into a covered roasting dish along with some chopped carrots and a drained can of Romano or white kidney beans. Pour over some beef stock with a spoonful of gravy browning mixed in. You don't want it swimming, but the liquid should more-or-less come to the top of the other ingredients.

Pop in the oven for at least an hour. How long overall depends on the cut of meat, cheaper cuts need longer cooking.

For the dumplings, mix together flour and suet in 2 to 1 proportions (my rule of thumb is 2 tablespoons of flour and 1 of suet per person) with a generous spoonful of baking powder and a pinch of salt. Mix in cold water until you have a sticky dough. Spoon over the top of the stew and return to the oven until the dumplings have fluffed up and gone crispy golden on top - about 1/2 hour.

Pork & clams

This is an easy dish but needs a generous amount of time to prepare. It's something we enjoyed on a visit to a Portuguese restaurant many years ago, and did our best to reverse-engineer and recreate at home. Not sure how successful we were in recreating that restaurant dish, but nevertheless it's a tasy favorite for special occasions.

The recipe is over here ...

The simple version is as follows:

Fry a chopped onion until golden. Add some cubed pork and fry until browned. Add a couple of chopped tomatoes and saute until they start to mash down. Turn the heat down low, cover and simmer for at least an hour to make sure the pork is tender.

Meanwhile, boil and simmer some cubed potatoes for a few minutes - be careful not to let them go too soft. Drain and saute in oil and butter until golden.

About half an hour before serving, add a generous squirt of tomato ketchup to the pork to thicken the sauce, and stir in a can or two of drained clams. 

Ten minutes before serving, stir in a dash of cream and the fried potatoes.

Beef stroganoff

Although many of the recipes here mention beef, many of them involve ground beef and in practice we often substitute turkey. In a typical week we eat far more poultry and fish and very little red meat. However, this is one tasty meal we do enjoy that is unashamedly red and carnivorous!

Fry a chopped onion in a large saucepan. Add sliced steak - a reasonably good cut to make it tender, or just simmer for longer if using a cheaper cut. Once the meat is browned, add a spoonful of beef stock, a generous sprinkle of paprika, a squirt of tomato ketchup, and a good dash of brandy. Mix well and simmer for about 1/2 hour, stirring occasionally to make sure the mix doesn't catch on the bottom of the pan. Near the end of the cooking time, stir in a dash of cream and continue cooking to thicken.

Separately, fry a sliced red pepper and some sliced mushrooms. You can add these in to the pan early on instead, but we like to do these separately and mix in at the last minute. They hold their individual crunch and flavor better that way.

Serve with rice and a nice Chianti  :)

Roast

Nothing quite beats a traditional Sunday roast. You need time for cooking, but it is a very easy meal to prepare.

Meat of choice - beef, lamb, pork, chicken, or on special occasions - turkey. The basic approach is the same. Place the meat in a roasting dish in about 1/2 inch of water. We use water rather than fat because it's healthier, preserves the flavor of the meat, and keeps it moist. Cover and cook in the oven for roughly 2 hours.

Timing depends on size. If cooking a turkey we use the "1/4 hour per pound plus 1/4 hour" rule of thumb as a rough guide, but nothing beats experience and occasional checks on the roast.

Potatoes: Boil and simmer for about 15 minutes. The outsides should be going soft but nowhere near ready to mash. Drain and place in a baking dish and drizzle a small amount of oil over the top. They should need no more than a spoonful per piece. Cook in the oven for about 1 1/2 hours, until the outsides are crisp and golden.

When the meat is ready to carve, lift from the roasting dish. Keep the liquid for gravy. If your dish can go on the hob you can make gravy right there, otherwise decant into a saucepan. Mix a spoonful each of cornstarch and gravy browning (we use Bisto) with cold water to make a thin paste. Pour slowly into the stock whisking to ensure it doesn't go lumpy. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. If you need more liquid, drain some off from whatever veggies you're cooking alongside.

Vegetables: Whatever you want. For simple meals we boil carrots, beans, peas, corn. They should only cook for a few minutes - nothing ruins a roast more easily than soggy veg!

Cottage pie

One of our regular favorites:

Boil some potatoes until soft enough to mash. Mash them with a knob of butter, an egg, and add enough cream to produce a soft consistency.

Meanwhile, fry a chopped onion and ground meat - either beef, turkey, or lamb. Once the meat is cooked, add a can of baked beans, a couple of finely-diced carrots, and optionally a spoonful of beef stock, Worcestershire sauce, and either brown sauce or tomato ketchup for flavor and body.

Decant the meat sauce into a casserole dish, spread the mashed potatoes over the top, sprinkle with grated cheese and pop under the grill until the cheese is melted and browned.

Lamb hotpot

A good heartwarming dish for a chilly evening.

Fry a chopped onion. When it starts to soften, add some lamb pieces and fry until browned. Place the lamb and onions into a casserole dish, add some chopped carrots and optionally a drained can of white kidney beans or Romano beans. Add enough gravy to cover the mixture - I use a packet of mushroom gravy mix for flavor. Top with sliced potatoes, cover and bake for an hour or so, until the potatoes are cooked through. Sprinkle with grated cheese and continue cooking with the lid off until the cheese has browned.

With only about 20 minutes preparation time, this dish can also be done in a slow cooker, so you come home to a complete ready-made meal.

Fish pie

No list of ingredients today, just directions. This is supposed to be a quick & easy reference, after all.

Make a roux sauce (melt butter, add flour to make a thick paste, cook for a few minutes over a low heat then slowly add milk whisking out any lumps to make a thick sauce). Optionally add a spoonful of chicken stock paste and a pinch of garlic powder to add flavor. Add in diced pieces of white fish, shrimp, and any other seafood you fancy (scallops, squid...) and stir them in to cook.

Boil and mash potatoes with an egg, a knob of butter, and cream or milk.

Pour the fish sauce into a baking dish and spoon the mashed potatoes over the top. The sauce needs to be thick enough to allow you to spread the mash over the top - too thin and dollops of potato will sink and float around like icebergs :)

If you want to get fancy, you can use a fork to make pretty patterns on the top.

Sprinkle grated cheese over the top and pop into the oven until the topping is nicely browned.

Serve with veg or salad, and lashings of chilled white wine.