🥘  1 pot  🍽 Serves 6 – 8   🛒 10 ingredients ⏱ 80 minutes £6

Seasonal asparagus with a nutty brown butter pastry crust, punchy capers and gruyère – perfect for lunch or tea time snack.

Ingredients:

• 250g asparagus, trimmed
• 2 eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 250ml double cream
• 1 lemon, zested and segmented
• 50g gruyère, finely grated
• 2 tbsp capers, drained

Brown butter pastry:

• 225g plain flour
• 150g butter
• 1 egg

Step by step:

First – make your pastry

1. Heat the butter in a small frying pan, swirling frequently, until foaming. Cook for 1-2 minutes until it starts to turn brown and smell nutty. Transfer to a bowl to cool. When it is cool, transfer to the fridge to chill and turn solid. Once cold, cut into cubes.
2. Whizz the flour and brown butter in a food processor until it looks like damp sand, then add the yolk and 1-2 tbsp of ice-cold water to bring it together. Wrap and chill for 30 mins.

Now make the filling

1. Steam the asparagus for 3 minutes, then rinse under cold water and pat dry with kitchen paper. Keep 6-8 of the best spears whole, and chop the remainder into 1cm pieces.
2. Heat your oven to 200C / 180C fan / Gas 6. Roll out the pastry to 2-3 millimetre thick and use it to line a 23cm tart tin. Prick the base all over with a fork. Fill with a piece of baking paper and baking beans. Cook for 15 minutes, then remove the paper and cook for another 5 minutes until the base looks dry.
3. Meanwhile, whisk together the eggs, egg yolks, cream, lemon zest and cheese with some seasoning.
4. Trim the pastry case and place the chopped asparagus over the base. Scatter over the capers and pour over the egg mixture. Arrange the remaining asparagus spears on top and cook in the oven for 35-40 mins or until set but still with a slight wobble to the middle. Serve at room temperature or cold.

Tips

We roll the pastry to just 2-3 millimetre thickness which makes a nice texture and helps ensure you don’t get a soggy bottom

Steaming the asparagus retains more of the nutrients and flavour. M&S have an excellent quality steamer for £55.

Bart Ingredients and Chilli Kitchens are running a competition where one lucky person will win a brand new kitchen. Runners up prizes include Barts herbs and spices, Mr Organic products, Tilda rice and utensils from Denby.

The closing date for entries is 31st December 2024 so there is plenty of time to get your entry in!

ENTER

🥘  1 pot  🍽 Serves 6   🛒 10 ingredients ⏱ 80 minutes £8

Made with a soft crumbly pastry base, this delicious quiche Lorraine will feed 6-8 people and is ideal served with a jacket potato or a few crisps and salad leaves. If time is against you, use a shop bought ready rolled shortcrust pastry.

Crumbly Butter Pastry Recipe

• 50g porridge oats
• 175g plain flour, plus extra for dusting
• 125g butter, chilled and cubed
• Iced water

To make the pastry, place the oats in your food processor and blitz until powdery. Add the flour and butter, then pulse until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Add 2-3 tablespoons of water and pulse to combine.

When the mixture clumps together, knead briefly. Shape it into a flat disc, wrap it in cling film and chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. You can make the pastry ahead as it will keep for up to 2 days in the fridge.

Ingredients:

• 200g bacon, chopped in large pieces
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 4 eggs, 2 whole and 2 yolks
• 250ml double cream
• 200ml crème fraîche
• 100g gruyère, coarsely grated

Step by step:

1. Heat the oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Fry the bacon with a little olive oil until cooked then drain on kitchen paper. Beat the whole eggs, yolks, double cream and crème fraîche together and season.
2. Roll out your pastry or ready rolled shortcrust pastry and line the tart tin and prick the base all over with a fork.
3. Line the pastry case with parchment paper, fill with baking beans and bake blind for 15 minutes.
4. Take out the paper and beans and return to the oven for 5 minutes. Trim off any excess pastry with a sharp knife. Turn the oven down to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3.
5. Scatter the bacon and cheese (keeping back a small handful of cheese) into the pastry case, add the egg mix and scatter the rest of the cheese. Bake for 40 minutes or until just set in the middle and lightly golden. Serve at room temperature.

Tips:

Gruyère is the traditional cheese, Comté or good old Cheddar work just as well. Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference Gruyère has a superb flavour.

Sainsbury’s Taste The Difference dry cured smoked bacon is worth the extra money and makes a good quiche Lorraine even better.

No time to make your own pastry? Use a ready rolled shortcrust pastry for excellent results.

Best buys for baking beans:

• John Lewis £8.50
• Lakeland £6.99
• Dunelm £5.00

All sold in 700g quantities. John Lewis in Kilner jar, Lakeland and Dunelm come in plastic tubs

More information about tart tins and beans HERE

Asparagus Quiche Recipe HERE

🥘  1 pot  🍽 Serves 4   🛒 10 ingredients ⏱ 60 minutes £8

This is a favourite in our house. The children love it and any leftovers are great the next day.

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 large onions, sliced lengthways into wedges
• 2 red peppers deseeded and diced
• 2 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 tbsp chopped fresh thyme leaves
• 500g baby new potatoes, halved
• 8 mushrooms
• 12 sausages, pricked with a fork
• 200ml white wine, or stock
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

Step by step:

1. Preheat the oven to 220C / 200C Fan / Gas 7.
2. Put everything in a large bowl and turn the ingredients until they are fully coated in the oil. Alternatively, pop all the ingredients in a large plastic freezer bag and squish it around until everything is coated in the oil.
3. Tip everything into a large roasting tin, spreading the ingredients out into one even layer and ensuring that the sausages aren’t covered by any of the vegetables. Season well with salt and pepper. Roast for about 30–35 minutes until golden-brown.
4. Remove from the oven, turn the sausages over and toss the vegetables in the cooking juices. Pour in the wine and return to the oven for a further 20 minutes or until browned and the sausages are cooked and the potatoes tender.
5. Serve hot with a dollop of mustard on the side.

🥘  1 pot  🍽 Serves 2   🛒 12 ingredients £8

This quick, low fat stir-fry is easy to make and ideal for a quick lunch or speedy supper. The sauce adds a wonderful flavour.

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp sesame oil
• 1 large chicken breast, chopped
• 1/2 an onion, finely sliced
• 1/2 a yellow pepper, finely sliced
• 1/2 a red pepper, finely sliced
• 4 mushrooms, finely sliced
• 1/2 head of broccoli, cut into small pieces
• 60g peanuts

For the sauce:

• 1 tbsp runny honey
• 2 tbsp soy sauce
• 1 tbsp teriyaki sauce
• 1 tbsp rice vinegar
• 2 tbsp water (if required)

To make the sauce:

Mix together all the ingredients, simply shaking them in a clean lidded jam jar.

Step by step:

1. Add 2 tbsp of oil to your pan or wok, and fry off the chicken breast (approximately 5-8 minutes). When it’s cooked, lift the chicken out of the pan with a slotted spoon (this will leave much of the oil in the pan), and set it aside covered in foil.
2. In the same pan, fry off the onions adding a little more oil if needed. Then add the peppers, broccoli and mushrooms and cook for another 5 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, put your noodles on to cook as per the pack instructions and make the sauce.
4. Stir the sauce into the stir-fry vegetables, add the chicken and noodles. Serve with the peanuts sprinkled over.

Notes:

Did you know Broccoli is high in vitamin C? 100g gives you 148% of your daily requirement and counts only 34 calories.

* Prices were all checked July 2024

🥘  2 pots  🍽 Serves 4-6   🛒 10 ingredients ⏱ 60 minutes £8

This is a flavoursome side dish to serve with meat or fish. You will need an oven proof baking dish, or 30cm oven proof pan.

Ingredients:

• 6 large red onions
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• sea salt
• 1 head garlic
• 500ml low salt chicken stock
• 1 tbsp flour
• 150ml single cream
• white wine
• 1/2 kilo sausage meat
• fresh thyme

Step by step:

1. Preheat your oven to 200C / 180C Fan.
2. Prepare your onions by peeling off the papery outer layer(s). Cut a thin sliver from the base (root end) to make the onions flat but not through the root so they stay intact. Trim the top of the onion by about 1/4 as per the photo (1) above.
3. Drizzle some olive oil (approx 2 tbsp) into your hands and rub it into the onions and sprinkle each with sea salt. Place the onions in the roasting dish.
4. Peel your garlic, make a small incision into each onion and insert some trimmed garlic cloves into the centre of each onion. Lay a good few sprigs of thyme over the onions and a good drizzle of olive oil. Pop them in the oven for 15-30 minutes (depending on the size of your onions).
5. Bring your stock to a boil and remove from the heat to cool slightly. Stir in the wine, cream and the flour.
6. Brown your sausage meat in a pan for a few minutes.
7. Take your onions out of the oven and remove the garlic and a few inner layers of the onion. Chop these finely and set aside. Add onions and garlic to the sausage meat and spoon these back into your onions. Pop them back in the baking dish. Pour over the stock and cream mixture and bake for another 30 minutes. Baste the onions regularly.
8. Serve, one per person with a good spoonful of the sauce and extra sprig of thyme

Tips:

• We have used small red onions because we like the slightly sweeter flavour. Experiment with large white / Spanish onions if you prefer. Try grated cheese or use chopped pancetta instead of sausagemeat.
• Step 8. We use a teaspoon to excavate smaller onions, if you are using large onions, a tablespoon will work well. If you have the right size pan or baking dish the liquid will come about 1/2 way up the onions.
• Your sauce should be thick and creamy but not gloopy, add a little hot water if necessary. Check the seasoning and add more salt and pepper if required.
• Use double cream if you prefer and vary the amount of garlic you use to suit your own taste.