Ingredients:

• 5 rashers of smoked streaky bacon
• Olive oil
• 3 large parsnips, peeled and chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 stock pot / cube
• Handful of chopped parsley
• 3 tbsp single cream
• Pepper for seasoning

Step by step:

1. Chop the bacon and fry in a pan with a splash of oil. Remove half the bacon and place it in a saucepan.
2. Continue frying the rest of the bacon until crispy. Set aside for use as garnish.
3. Add the chopped onion and 2 tbsp oil, the peeled and chopped parsnips to the saucepan and cook for about 5 mins. Add 1 litre of hot stock and continue cooking until the parsnips and onions are soft.
4. Blend with a stick blender, stir through the cream and chopped parsley. 
5. Serve in warm bowls topped with the crispy bacon and a swirl of cream.

Tips:

We used smoked bacon, but pancetta or chorizo make nice alternatives.

Carole’s Parsnip and Pear Soup

This traditional French way of cooking a roast chicken makes that most of the garlic’s rich, sweet flavour because the cloves are cooked in their skins. The chopped celery, bay leaves, rosemary, and thyme make this one of the most delicious ways to enjoy one of life’s ultimate comfort foods.

Ingredients:

• 2 celery stalks, chopped
• 1 large organic chicken (approx 1.6kg)
• 2 large sprigs of rosemary
• 2 large sprigs of thyme
• 2-3 large garlic bulbs
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• salt and freshly ground pepper
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 large carrot, chopped or diced
• 1 small onion, cut into wedges

Step by step:

1. Preheat your oven to 200C / gas mark 6
2. Place the chopped celery, 1 sprig of each herb and a small handful of unpeeled garlic cloves into the chicken cavity.
3. Place half the remaining cloves in a lidded casserole, sit the chicken on top, brush with the olive oil and season well. Arrange the bay leaves, carrot, onion and remaining herbs and garlic cloves around the chicken.
4. Drizzle with olive oil, cover and roast for 1 hour 20 minutes or until the bird is tender and the juices run clear when the flesh between the legs and body with a skewer or knife.
5. A great way to serve the chicken is with slices of crusty toasted bread spread with the soft flesh of the garlic cloves. Alternatively, whisk the garlic flesh with the juices from the bottom of the casserole to make a delicious creamy sauce.

Tips:

Add a glug of white wine or Marsala at step 4 if you like and if you want to shove half a lemon in the birds cavity, all well and good. Having said that, this dish is so flavoursome, these additions are really not necessary.

We had several pieces of green and red cabbage to use up, so quickly stir fried them as a nice vegetable accompaniment. Use a flavoured oil like Filippo Berio’s chilli or garlic oil, Waitrose £6.75 / 250ml.

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 350g leeks
• 1 pack lardons
• 380g mushrooms, sliced
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 1/2 tsp dried oregano
• 50g (2 slices) of crusty white bloomer, blitzed into breadcrumbs
• 300g spaghetti
• 1/2 lemon, zested and juiced
• 50g parmesan, grated
• A handful of fresh basil

Step by step:

1. Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat, add the leeks and bacon, fry for 5-6 minutes until softened and just starting to brown.
2. Add the mushrooms, increase the heat to medium-high and fry for another 8-10 minutes until golden and tender. Stir in the garlic and oregano, season and fry for another minute, until the garlic is fragrant.
3. Heat the remaining oil in a separate frying pan and fry the breadcrumbs over a medium heat for 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently until they are crunchy and golden. Season to taste and transfer to a plate and set aside. When cool, stir in the grated parmesan. 
4. Meanwhile, cook the spaghetti to the pack instructions and drain well. Stir it into the mushrooms and leeks and toss well. Stir in the lemon zest and juice and scatter the basil and crispy parmesan breadcrumbs over to serve.

Tips:

• Use panko breadcrumbs if you prefer.
• Leave out the lardons for vegetarian option.
• A sprinkle of chilli flakes is good if you like
• Instead of stirring in the lemon juice and zest, serve with lemon wedges if you prefer

Wonderful comfort food, a creamy rice pudding was always served in our house with a swirl of jam. Aarroz con leche is popular all over Spain and often sweetened with honey instead of sugar.

Ingredients:

• 80g dried cranberries or dried cherries, or a mixture
• 50ml rum
• 50g butter plus extra for greasing the dish
• 75g caster sugar
• 125g pudding rice
• 700ml milk
• 200ml double cream
• 1/4 tsp vanilla paste
• Nutmeg

Step by step:

1. Preheat your oven to 140C / Gas 1. Soak the raisins or other fruit in the rum and set to one side. Butter a 1 – 1.5 litre baking dish.
2. Melt the butter in a pan and add the sugar. Gently dissolve over a low heat. Stir in the rice until well coated and cook for another minute or two. Now add the milk, cream and vanilla paste and bring to the boil.
3. Pour the mixture into a baking dish and gently stir in the booze soaked raisins. Top with a grating of nutmeg. Bake for 75 minutes until its golden and cooked through.

Notes:

1. If you prefer to use a vanilla pod and seeds, simply split the vanilla pod and scrape out the seeds. Add the seeds in place of the vanilla paste. The split vanilla pod makes a nice decoration if you are serving the rice pudding in the baking dish to the table.

As temperatures plummet, cook this hearty soup. Stuffed with vitamins and flavoursome herbs, this is a winter warmer to keep colds at bay.

Make the soup in a saucepan and use a stick blender, or use a Thermomix©

Ingredients:

• 1 pack smokey lardons
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 bell red pepper, chopped and deseeded
• herbes de Provence
• 1 tin / jar cannellini beans
• 1 stock cube (vegetable or chicken)
• 1 tbsp tomato puree + 1 tbsp flour
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• chopped parsley (lots of it)

Step by step:

1. Fry off the lardons and chopped onion, until softened and starting to brown
2. Add the chopped bell pepper and a good sprinkle herbes de Provence, the flour and chopped parsley. Add the tinned tomatoes, tomato puree and 500ml hot stock
3. Cook until the peppers are soft. Add the cannellini beans and cook for another five minutes.
4. Season to taste, and serve with a swirl of olive oil and crusty bread

Tips:

• Be sure to rinse your beans unless you want a thicker soup
• We used Kallo organic vegetable stock cubes with excellent results.
• Use a good helping of chopped parsley to garnish

When you want a delicious dessert that is easy to make, a key lime pie is ideal. Limes are always refreshing and this recipe is fun to make with children.

🥘  1 baking tin  🍽 Serves 8 ⏱ 40 mins + chilling time  🛒 8 ingredients   €4 (V)

Utensils and ingredients:

You will need a 23cm diameter loose bottomed baking tin, a mixing bowl and an electric mixer. We used a round tin, but you can use a rectangular tin if you prefer smaller square portions. If you are going to decorate the pie as we have done, you will need a piping bag too.

A rectangular tin will likely be less deep and make a thinner pie, so you will need smaller quantities of ingredients – see the note at the bottom of the page.

Ingredients:

• 150g digestive biscuits
• 65g butter
• 25g demerara sugar
• 115g full-fat cream cheese
• 1 x 397g tin full fat condensed milk
• Finely grated zest and juice of 4 limes
• 450ml pouring double cream
• Mint sprigs (small leaves only)

Step by step

First make the biscuit base:

Place the biscuits in a plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin. Melt the butter in a medium sized pan. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the biscuit crumbs and sugar. When they are nicely mixed together spoon the biscuit mixture into the baking tin. Press over the base and half way up the side of the tin. Leave it set in the refrigerator for an hour or so.

Now make the cream filling:

Put the lime juice, condensed milk and 300ml of the double cream into a mixing bowl and beat until well blended. 

Pour the cream into the baking tin with the prepared crumb crust and gently level the surface. Chill in the fridge for several hours, until set, then remove from the tin.

To decorate the top, whip the remaining cream until it forms soft peaks and spread it gently over the pie. Decorate with the grated lime zest. We had some whipped cream left over so we decorated the pie using a piping bag. The small mint leaves are a nice extra decoration and flavour.

Notes: If you are using a shallow rectangular tin, use this quantity of ingredients.

• 115g digestive biscuits
• 55g butter
• 1 tsp demerara sugar
• 115g full-fat cream cheese
• 1 x 397g tin full fat condensed milk
• Finely grated zest and juice of 4 limes
• 200ml pouring double cream

• The easiest way to remove the pie from the tin is to sit it on a can or ramekin and slide the side down leaving the base easy to pick up and place on a serving plate.
• If you have any cream left over, it makes a lovely limey topping for a mince pie or a scone.

This is easy to make using a thermomix

Deseeded by hand and the ideal quick fix for salad and pasta dishes. Available from most supermarkets and delicatessens. Tesco have 400g jars for £3 (£2 with clubcard) at time of writing (23/12/23).

Check out the website for great recipe ideas and discover the interesting history of this brand.

Peppadew

Llapingachos (pronounced yah-peen-gah-chos) are fried potato and cheese cakes from Ecuador. Usually served with a peanut sauce, coriander and chopped salsa and for those who like it hotter, quick pickled red onions and extra chilli are ideal.

🥘  2 pans  🍽 Serves 4 ⏱ 50 mins

 🛒 14 ingredients   €6 (V)

• 1 kg floury potatoes, peeled and cut into bite-size pieces
• vegetable oil
• 2 small red onions, 1 finely chopped, 1 thinly sliced
• 2 tsp ground paprika
• 100g cheddar, grated
• 1 tbsp plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 75g unsweetened peanut butter
• 50ml whole milk
• ½ tsp ground cumin
• 1 lime juiced
• 2 ripe tomatoes, finely chopped
• coriander a small bunch, leaves picked and finely chopped
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the quick pickled onions
1 red onion, peeled and very finely sliced, Juice of ½ a lime and salt.

Step by step:

1. For the pickled onions, place the sliced onion in a bowl and cover with boiling water. Set aside for 5 minutes, then drain. Return the drained onion to the bowl and pour over the lime juice. Add salt to taste before serving.
2. Boil the potatoes in plenty of salted water for 15-20 minutes, until just tender, then drain well and leave to steam dry in the pan for about 5 minutes.
3. Put a good measure of oil in a frying pan to generously coat the base. Place over a moderate heat and add the chopped onion and the paprika and fry for about 8-10 minutes, until the onion is soft. Put to one side.
4. In a food processor, blend the peanut butter with the fried onion mixture, the milk and the cumin to form a sauce-like consistency. Cook in a small pan over a very gentle heat for about 5 minutes to warm and thicken slightly. Remove from the heat and keep warm.
5. Mix the sliced onion with the lime juice and a good pinch of salt. Leave to macerate for at least 2 minutes. Mix in the tomatoes and coriander and season to taste with salt and pepper. Transfer to a serving bowl and put to one side.
6. Make small golf-ball-size balls with the potato mixture and flatten each into a patty shape. Dust the potatoes in flour and shallow-fry in a little oil over a moderate heat for about 2 minutes on each side, until nicely browned. Be careful as you turn the patties over – they will be very delicate. Serve topped with the peanut sauce, tomato and onion salad and quick pickled onions. Add chilli sauce or sliced green chilli, if you like.

Notes:

Add chopped chicken or flaked fish if you like. Make sure you have a good slotted metal spatula handy for lifting the delicate potato cakes.

Adapted from New Kitchen Basics by Claire Thomson (Quadrille, £25)