Red Pepper pasta sauce

This is a quick and easy sauce to knock up and then freeze for a really quick tasty supper through the week.  This recipe makes 2 good sized portions for 3 people.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
4 large red peppers
2 red onions
4 clover garlic
2 400g cans Italian chopped tomato
1/2 a teaspoon of smoked paprika
1/2 a teaspoon of dried chilli flakes
Salt and ground black pepper

Method

Peel and finely chop the onions, peel and crush the garlic.  De seed and slice the peppers into 5 mm slices, then chop into 3-4 cm lengths.  Heat the oil in a large sauté pan and add the onion and garlic and fry until slightly softened.

Add the chopped peppers and sauté over a high heat until they start to brown  Add the chilli and smoked paprika and cook for a further 30 seconds.

Finally add the two tins of chopped tomatoes, bring to the boil and reduce until you have the sauce consistency you prefer with pasta - we like ours quite thick.  At this point, leave it to cool fully, split it into however many portions you want and freeze them.

To serve, thaw out the sauce, heat it and add some freshly chopped basil.  Serve with the pasta of your choice and some grated parmesan.

Smoked Haddock Chowder

This is based on an Ainsley Harriott recipe, it's easy to prepare and tastes good too.  You can buy the smoked haddock in advance and freeze it but you can't freeze the prepared dish well as the potato doesn't freeze well, but if you know better, let me know!  These quantities server 4 if you're hungry.

Ingredients

25g unsalted butter
1 leek
1 onion
2 rashers smoked back bacon
600g undyed smoked haddock
450ml skimmed milk
2 bay leaves
300g peeled potatoes
500ml fish or chicken stock
150g frozen sweetcorn
3 teaspoons Dijon mustard
30g pack of flatleaf parsley

Method

Chop the onion, leek and bacon finely, melt the butter in a large sauté pan, add the onion, leek and bacon and sauté over a medium to low heat for 10-15 minutes to soften but not colour the mixture. Meanwhile prepare the fish by putting the bay leaves, fish and milk into a pan, bring the milk to the boil then turn down to simmer for 10 minutes then turn the heat off.

Peel the potato and cut into 5mm dice, then rinse and add to the onion, leek and bacon mix, add the stock, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 10-15 minutes until the potato is soft.  Drain the fish adding the cooking milk directly into the potato, onion, leek and bacon mixture.  Add the sweet corn and mustard, stirring to mix them well. You'll need to bring the mix to the boil a second time as the corn will cool things down, once it's boiled, continue cooking over a very low heat while you prepare the rest of the dish.  At this stage, the mixture should be a fairly thick soup consistency, if it's too thin reduce it down while you prepare the fish.

Wait for the fish to cool enough to flake into bite size chunks. Separate the leaves from the stalks of the parsley and chop roughly, now add the fish and the parsley to the mix and heat through until it's all piping hot.

Serve in soup bowls with nice crusty bread and enjoy!

Home made Minestrone - so different to shop bought version!

We had some Cavolo Nero left over, so I made a minestrone soup.  The River Café recipe is the closest to this but I can't find Swiss Chard in Ware for love or money :(  This is the winter version; they also do a summer version but it's not that time of year yet and it has too much cream in it for my liking!  This serves 4 as a supper dish served with extra virgin olive oil, fresh grated parmesan and a crusty baguette.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large red onion
2 carrots
1 head of celery
½ a bulb of garlic
1 30g pack of flat leaf parsley
1 400g tin chopped tomatoes
160g pack of Cavolo Nero
1 large head of spring greens
1 can cannellini beans
500ml chicken stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

To serve

Extra virgin olive oil
Freshly grated parmesan
1 baguette

Method

Peel the onions, carrots and celery and chop into large pieces.   Set aside the celery leaves for later.  Chop the onions, carrots and celery in the food processor finely to create the soffrito.  Heat the oil in a large pan and add the soffrito and fry over a medium heat until well cooked.  This takes quite a while.

While the soffrito cooks prepare the rest of the ingredients.  Peel and thinly slice the garlic, chop the parsley finely, prepare the chicken stock.  Prepare the cavolo nero and spring greens by cutting away the stalks, then slicing into thin strips and finally chopping to leave 5mm long slices of greens.   Wash the greens and leave them to drain.  Open the cannellini beans and drain, then take a quarter of the beans, add a little chicken stock and purée until smooth, setting this aside for later.

By now the soffrito should be cooked; add the garlic and half the parsley and cook for a further 5 mins.  Add the chopped tomatoes and reduce.

Once the tomatoes have thickened, add half of the greens, the remaining cannellini beans and the chicken stock, bring to the boil then reduce the heat and simmer for 20 mins.  Adjust the seasoning to taste and add the rest of the greens, cannellini bean purée and the herbs and warm through until the greens are just cooked.

Serve in bowls with a warm crusty baguette, olive olive oil and parmesan.