Lasagne

Lasagne is the perfect comfort food. Ragu, pasta and a béchamel sauce all layered together to create something totally delicious. The secret ingredient in this dish is chicken liver. Even if you think you don't like offal, give them a go anyway. Chopped finely enough they melt into the ragu to produce an undetectable but delectable taste. 

I use dried pasta sheets in this, which seems lazy, but having experimented with homemade fresh pasta  I've found that it is too soft in the finished dish - using dried ensures that the layers stay intact once cooked. Be sure to use egg pasta sheets though as they have a richer flavour than their flour and water counterparts.

Ingredients 

For the ragu

500g lean beef mice

100g chicken livers, finely chopped

2 carrots, chopped

1 onion, chopped

1 celery stick, finely chopped

100g mushrooms, quartered 

400ml passata 

100ml red wine 

1 tbsp tomato purée 

3 garlic cloves, chopped

2 tbsp oil, to cook

Salt and pepper, to taste

For the béchamel sauce

150g butter

150g flour

600ml whole milk ( you may not need it all)

80g Parmesan cheese, plus extra or top

9 dried lasagne sheets

Method 

Make the ragu first, as this takes the longest to do. Heat the oil in a large casserole dish and add the onion, cooking gently until it is softened (around 10 minutes). Then, add the garlic and cook for a further 2 minutes. 

Next, add the rest of vegetables (and a bit more oil, if needed) and cook for 5 minutes before adding the mince and chicken livers and frying until evenly browned.

Add the passata, red wine and tomato purée and mix everything together before bringing to the boil and then placing it on the lowest heat setting, leaving it to simmer for around 2 hours. Allow to cool before assembling your lasagne.

For the bèchamel sauce

Melt the butter in a sauce pan and then whisk in the flour until there are no lumps. Leave this on the hob for a few minutes to cook the floury taste out of it. Then, whisk in the milk a little at a time until you have a thick, smooth sauce. Stir in the Parmesan cheese and leave to cool.

Pasta sheets

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and blanch the sheets in batches of three for around 30 seconds to slightly soften, before placing them on a clean tea towel or kitchen paper.

Assembling the lasagne

I actually broke my lasagne dish a while ago and haven't got round to replacing it, so just used a pie dish which is a couple of inches deep. The good thing is that it's made of glass, so the layers are visible from the outside.

Grease your dish and start your layers. I do ragu, béchamel and pasta three times before covering the last layer of pasta with the remaining white sauce and scattering over some Parmesan and a few grinds of black pepper. The construction of lasagne is a contentious issue, so build it however you like, but I really do think this way is the tastiest.

Cook at 200 degrees for 30-40 minutes until the lasagne is bubbling and the top is golden and crispy. Leave to stand for 10 minutes and serve with a green salad and some olives. Like most food, lasagne is even better the next day and freezes well before cooking.

Meal Plan w/c 17th November 2014

Monday:  Tonight I'm making my favourite soup - Minestrone! I'm adding pinto beans, Vekale, fresh tomatoes, yellow peppers and courgettes. I'll also be using my homemade stock which I made out of the carcass of last weeks chicken.

Tuesday: Dinner will be jalfrezi made with chicken legs and thighs. I'll also be making some sag aloo (spinach and potatoes) and pilau rice to serve alongside it.

Wednesday: We're having a meatless day today, so I'm going to make falafel which we'll have with a colourful Turkish salad and some flat breads.

Thursday: I'm going to make a delicious lasagne (secret ingredient: chicken livers). There's a lot of components - white sauce, fresh pasta, bolognese etc, so I'm going to try and make the sauces the day before as it spreads the work out a bit, but also lets the flavours intensify as well.

Friday: Treat night, so we're going to have lamb koftes with a tahini sauce and a Meze plate with fresh pitta bread. Great start to the weekend!

Saturday: Oily fish night so either rainbow trout or mackerel, which we'll have with some purple potatoes (delicious and in season) and some salty samphire.

Sunday: To round off the week, I'm going to make some roast game birds with lots of vegetables and some cranberry sauce. For dessert I'm going to try and make a semifreddo and the flavours I'm thinking of are rose water and pistachio. 

Chicken Challenge Day 2: Chicken goujons with Mediterranean vegetables

So after using the legs and thighs of my chicken for last night's curry, I was left with the wonderful, juicy breast fillets which I decided to turn into chicken goujons. I haven't had these for years- they're the staple food in many a children's menu and are far more sophisticated than their chicken nugget cousins. Chicken breasts can turn tough very easily, especially when cut into strips, but the breadcrumbs seem to provide some insulation for the chicken and keep it deliciously moist. All in all, these goujons are a very forgiving dish to cook.

A way to make them more "gourmet" is to season the breadcrumbs. I used cayenne pepper as a spicy kick complements Mediterranean vegetables well, but you could basically add any herbs or spices you fancy. Next time I'm going make mine with a thyme and lemon zest crust- mmmmm.

Ingredients 

For the chicken goujons 

2 large skinless chicken breasts, cut into strips around 2cm wide 

Plain flour, to dust (around 3 tbsp) 

1 egg, beaten

80g fresh breadcrumbs 

1 tbsp cayenne pepper

Salt and pepper, to taste 

3 tbsp sunflower oil 

For the Mediterranean vegetables

1 courgette, sliced

1 aubergine, halved lengthways and sliced 

1 red onion, thickly sliced 

1 red pepper, sliced

2 large tomatoes, quartered 

3 garlic cloves, crushed

Glug of olive oil

Salt and pepper, to taste

Method 

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees. Place the chopped vegetables into a large, oven proof dish, drizzle over some olive oil and season to taste. Toss together so the oil is evenly distributed and place in oven. Add the cayenne pepper and some salt and pepper to your breadcrumbs.

2. Next, take the chicken strips and coat in the flour, shaking off any excess. Then dip and cover in the beaten egg and finally, roll around in the seasoned breadcrumbs until they are fully coated. It's best to use one hand for egg and one hand for breadcrumbs so you don't end up with a sticky mess!

3. Heat the sunflower oil in a frying pan and fry the goujons for around 1 minute - just until the breadcrumbs have gone crispy. Then transfer them in an ovenproof dish and place in the oven with the vegetables.

4. The goujons will need around 15-20 minutes to cook and the vegetables will have had a 10 minute start, so both should be ready at the same time. To check if the goujons are cooked through, prod with a fork to see if the juices run clear. This means that they are ready to go.

Remember, often we cook chicken for a lot longer than is necessary and this has a detrimental effect on the texture - the braver you are when taking the chicken out of the oven, the tenderer and tastier it is likely to be!

Chicken Challenge Day 1: Chicken Jalfrezi

So my challenge this week is to see how many meals I can make out of one chicken. I bought a medium sized free range chicken today and have jointed it so that I can use it to form the base of our mid-week dinners.

The first thing I'm going to make with it is a chicken jalfrezi. For this I'm going to use the legs, thighs and wings. I'm using these cuts because they are quite forgiving. Unlike the breasts, they can be cooked for a couple of hours without turning tough, which is ideal for a curry as it's important to simmer it for some time to allow the flavours to develop.

Ingredients 

For the curry base

2 tbsp ground cumin

1 tbsp turmeric 

1 tbsp fenugreek seeds

1 tbsp coriander seeds

2 tsp garam masala

1 tbsp galangal

2 tsp red chilli 

2 medium onions, grated

1 medium onion, chopped

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

2 tbsp ghee, or olive oil

For the meat and veg

400g skinless and boneless chicken (preferably thighs or legs)

1 green and 1 red pepper, thinly sliced

400g chopped tomatoes 

300ml water 

1 tbsp olive oil

Method 

1. Toast the coriander and fenugreek seeds in a dry frying pan for few seconds until they start to release their aromas - be careful not to burn them. Grind these up in a pestle and mortar and combine in a bowl with the rest of the powdered spices.

2. Soften the galangal by covering it in hot water and leaving it to soak until needed.

3. In a heavy bottomed casserole dish, heat the ghee or olive oil over a medium heat and add the grated and chopped onions and garlic, cooking for around 5 minutes until softened. Add the ground spices and mix into the onions thoroughly, cooking for a further 3 minutes.

4. Add the chopped tomatoes along with the water. Mix everything through, being sure to scrape the bottom of the pan so the spices are combined with the sauce. Drain the galangal and add this as well.

5. In a saucepan, heat the olive oil to a high temperature and fry the chicken until it is browned evenly on all sides. Remove from the pan with a slotted spoon and add the the curry sauce along with the sliced peppers.

6. Turn the temperature on the hob down to low, and simmer the curry for a couple of hours. If it becomes too dry, just add a little more water. It is important to let the flavours mingle and develop, so taste it as it's cooking and you'll get an idea of whether it's ready or not. You may also wish to add some salt.

Serve hot, with pilau rice and naan bread. This curry tastes even better the next day so you may even want to make two batches!

Meal Plan w/c Monday 10th November

Monday: Tonight's dinner will be minestrone soup with carrots, bell peppers, courgettes, cavolo nero and ripe Italian tomatoes. We won't need any bread because there will be pinto beans and pasta in the soup. I'll serve some green olives on the side and top the soup with Parmesan shavings.

Tuesday: I'm going to buy a chicken and see how many meals we can get out of it during the week. For the first day, I'm going to joint it and use the legs/thighs in a jalfrezi. This will be served with basmati rice and naan bread when we get home from the quiz.

Wednesday: Continuing with the chicken theme, I'm going to roast the breasts in a lemon and coriander marinade and serve them with a mixture of roasted Mediterranean vegetable. The side dish with either be giant cous cous or creamy mashed potatoe with truffle oil.

Thursday: I'm going to boil up whatever is left of the chicken carcass with whatever vegetable peelings I've accumulated during the week and make a stock. I might make a chicken consommé and serve it with some fresh homemade bread.

Friday: As a treat, I'm going to make homemade beer battered fish and chips, which we'll have with minted pea purée, gherkins and a tangy tartare sauce. I may even whip up a batch of curry sauce if I'm feeling particularly indulgent!

Saturday: We usually have oily fish tonight, but may feel like something different after the Friday night fish and chips. If that's the case, I'll make a beef Bibambap, with courgettes, carrots, red onion, beansprouts and sticky rice, with a hot sauce on the side and topped with a soft fried egg.

Sunday: I recently read somewhere that pheasant which has been covered in bacon before roasting is delicious,map so I'm going to test that theory this weekend. We'll have that with some goose fat roast potatoes and a variety of vegetables - cabbage is great this time of year. For dessert, I'm thinking of baking a plum, orange and almond cobbler with a big dollop of vanilla ice cream on the side. The contrast of hot and cold is wonderful.

Meal Plan w/c Monday 3rd November

Monday: Tonight's dinner will be minestrone soup with pinto beans, kale, courgettes, bell peppers and lots of other delicious veg. Perfect meal after a weekend of excess. We're cutting down on carbs so I'm not making any bread, but the soup is so filling that it doesn't need anything else anyway.

Tuesday: It's my birthday, so we will have a special meal tonight. Shellfish linguine with scallops, king prawns and clams, washed down with champagne and followed a delicious dessert. Happy birthday to me!

Wednesday: It's Guy Fawkes Night and we will most likely be going to a fireworks display. I'm going to make a lamb and date tagine that can be put in the slow cooker so it is ready to serve as soon as we arrive home. This will be served with a pomegranate and mint cous cous.

Thursday: We should go meat free today, so I'm going to make a ratatouille with courgettes, aubergines and peppers and I'll add in some lentils for a protein boost.

Friday: Depending on how we feel, I'm going to make either fish and chips or bulgogi beef Bibambap. Both are a great choice for a cosy Friday night dinner.

Saturday: Oily fish night! We'll have our weekly dose of omega 3 with some mackerel and I'll serve it with steamed samphire and garlic and herb baby potatoes. 

Sunday: I'm going to try and order some fresh suet from the butchers early on in the week so that I can make a steak and kidney pudding. This will be followed by a chocolate and fig tart with an orange blossom cream.