Vegeree

Forgot to pop this on here last week, it's a vegetable kedgeree, so easy to make, feeds an army and tastes awesome

Chachouka

Made this vibey little dish last night from Hugh's veggie book.. It says it feeds four but don't be fooled, this is just enough for two people. I added some cayenne pepper to give it a kick, but otherwise I followed it to the letter and it came our perfectly, take a look.

Edit: forgot I did stray slightly but only to add some Worcestershire sauce on the eggs!

Saturday afternoon Potatas Bravas

Serves 2

8 Charlotte potatoes quartered
2 cloves of garlic peeled and squashed flat
1/2 sliced red onion
1 tsp cayenne pepper
3 tsp smoked paprika
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper

Add the potatoes, onion, garlic and oil to a dish and put into a 190c oven

After 20 mins add the passata, cayenne and paprika and stir.

Cook for another 20-25 mins until the potatoes are just soft, season to taste.

Serve!

Hugh & Jamie Mash Up

Having been vegetarian for a fortnight (purely for experimental/healthy eating reasons) I used my other half's birthday as an opportunity to buy Hugh's River Cottage Veg Book. The last River Cottage book along with the standard Jamie books and a very good Leon book have been mainstays of my cooking vibes for the last couple of years, and I find Hugh's recipes in particular to be more...realistic for the average cook to achieve with ease than other chef's recipes.

Having already tried the excellent Aubergine Parmigiana after finding it online before buying the book, I was asked to make it again for the resultant birthday tea, along with the Crispy Roasted Prawns from Jamie's latest book 'Jamies Great Britain', as a starter.

I used headless unshelled frozen prawns from my (very) local fishmonger. The sauce tasted superb, with the addition of nutmeg being inspired, but it wasn't really sticky as the recipe suggested as the prawns hold a lot of natural juice - I would perhaps ditch one half of the lemon in future and maybe hold back on the ketchup whilst adding a bit of honey to make it thicker and stickier. If you aren't fussed about the stickiness though, the sauce is delicious mopped up with warm buttered bread.

Hugh's Aubergine Parmigiana and Jamie's Veal Parmigiana (from Jamie's America) provide a good example of how two similar recipes from two chefs can be 'mashed up' to take the best of both. In this case, Jamie's use of anchovies, olives & capers in the tomato sauce creates a great, rich flavour which Hugh's seems to lack*. On the other hand Hugh's uses double the amount of Mozzarella, giving a silky texture throughout the dish as well as the golden topping which comes out in both. The substitution of  veal (or bread crumbed chicken, as I used to make it) for aubergine really depends on your taste, as both require substantial prep work and a good extractor fan. You could probably lose an aubergine and a tin of tomatoes for Hugh's recipe unless you had more than 6 guests, as even an ample-sized baking dish was overflowing.

*(Jamie also uses chopped red chili and basil stalks, which I didn't have to hand for the veggie version, but which could easily be incorporated. I regularly use capers and anchovies in all tomato bases after having used it in the Jamie's America recipe.)