I’ve been trying out different puddings
all week and now it’s all I seem to have in the fridge. First, there
was the jasmine tea panna cotta I’ve been working on for my friend
Henrietta at the Rare Tea Company. It’s a delicious twist on the
original, with milk and cream fusing with fragrant white tip teas to
create my personal favourite. As with all truly creative developments
there were a few which didn’t quite make the grade, so now the fridge
is littered with various experimental panna cotta.

Then there’s the Valentine’s pud that
I’ve been working on for you lucky lot – a spankingly good white
chocolate mousse with passion fruit and pistachio that just needs a
little refining. And finally, a burnt Cambridge cream, the British -
and dare I say it – original version of the crème brulée. It’s
currently spiked with a few sharp plums, but they may give way to
something tarter and more exciting.

While it has been a rather
enjoyable eating week, I am certainly feeling a certain twinge of
guilt. So almost every meal has had a healthy Asian slant. The week
commenced with a first attempt at sticky rice, which ended in
something relatively successful and a little triumphant smile from
me.

I’m just about to try my hand at yum
woon sen, a spicy salad based around the delicate glass noodles which
punctuate so many Asian salads. Sunday’s slow roast shoulder of lamb
has made an appearance in these salads along with the usual suspects
of fish sauce, lime juice, chilli and coriander.

Just to round off the week in
appropriately sweet style, I will be judging the second half of the
Academy of Chocolate’s annual awards. It might sound like fun, but
you try eating 45 chocolates in one afternoon!

Beetroot used to have a rather a bad reputation as a pickled dinosaur, but in recent years it’s become quite fashionable. It feels like a winter vegetable but suits summer’s light alfresco dishes just as well. Its earthy taste can take a little while to appreciate, but coupled with horseradish or salty cheeses like Pecorino, Parmesan, feta or Dolcelatte, it comes into its own.

I also find it a perfect accompaniment to Sunday lunch. It’s happy to sit in its foil parcel for a little longer than planned when the water for the carrots hasn’t boiled, the potatoes aren’t quite done, or you’ve forgotten to cook the vegetarian guest’s meal – as I did this weekend…

Roast beets with orange, bay, thyme and balsamic vinegar (Serves 3-4 as a side)

Ingredients

• 2-3 medium-sized beetroot

• Juice of half an orange

• 1 bay leaf

• A few sprigs of thyme

• 3 tbs balsamic vinegar

• 2 tbs olive oil

Method

Pre-heat oven to 180°C. Peel beetroot – preferably over the sink as they tend to turn things purple.

Make a foil parcel by taking a single large sheet of foil, approximately 30cm long and folding it in half, then folding the sides over on themselves to seal it. Fold the bottom piece up a couple of times until you’ve created a bag.

Dice the beetroot into 1-2cm cubes and pop in the foil along with the rest of the ingredients, plus some salt and pepper. Seal the top and bake for between 45 minutes and an hour until tender.

This
is a great store-cupboard standby and ticks all the right boxes with
me – easy, quick and delicious. And it has the added bonus of being
scalable – if friends pop round for dinner you can just throw in
more tomatoes and chickpeas. It works well as a way to use up
leftovers, too. Sausage can be cut into thick chunks and thrown in,
as can vegetables – kale or spinach would be great – potatoes or
whatever else you have to hand.

Using
up what you’ve got at home needn’t mean compromising on flavour.
There are few finer treats than cold mash turned into crispy,
buttery, fried potato cakes, juicy slivers of chicken from your roast
tossed with salad leaves, or a bowl of yesterday’s curry, all the
better for being left overnight.

Being
frugal with food is the new cool. Bubble and squeak is popping up all
over in cookery books and Nigel Slater’s are full of recipes for
using up left-over morsels of lamb, beef or pork. Word has it that
Gordon Ramsay challenges future employees to make him a dish using
odds and ends – the mark of a great cook.

Chickpea
and tomato stew with peppers and chorizo (Serves 4)

2
cooking chorizo (approx 6-8 inches of sausage)

2
tins of chopped tomatoes

2
tins chickpeas

2
red peppers

2
onions

2
cloves garlic

a
sprig of thyme

olive
oil

1
dried chilli (optional)

1
tsp smoked paprika

1
tsp ground cumin

Method

Slice
onion and pepper into thin strips. Splosh a bit of oil in pan and fry
onion and pepper with thyme for a few minutes until soft.

Crumble
chilli, finely chop garlic and add to the pan along with cumin and
paprika. Stir around for a few minutes, taking care not to burn
garlic.

Throw
in tomatoes and stir. Drain chickpeas and add to pan. Turn down to a
gentle simmer and leave to bubble for a while.

Dice
chorizo into cubes or slice into rounds and fry in a pan over a high
heat for five minutes or so until crisp. Drain on kitchen paper and
add to stew. Season generously with pepper and a pinch of salt. Let
stew bubble for a few minutes more and serve in bowls with crusty
bread. Alternatively toss the sauce through some pasta and scatter
over a little parmesan.

There
is something comforting about a soft, pillowy pile of rice. It begins
with the aroma – even uncooked rice smells soothing, clean and
fresh. My wheat-free approach to January means I’ve been eating even
more of it than normal. We usually have it twice or three times a
week, particularly when I cook too much and end up recycling it in
fried rice.

So
far as cooking it is concerned, my advice is simple – buy a rice
cooker. They are cheap as chips – you’ll get change from a £20 note
- and take the fuss out of preparing something that can be
frustratingly difficult to get right.

Using
a rice cooker doesn’t restrict you to plain rice either. Use half
coconut milk and half water for a fragrant, delicious change, or add
a crushed cardamom pod for a hint of warming spice. You can even make
a pilaf, adding a little butter and some caramelised onions to the
mix.

A
rice salad can almost always be found in our fridge. It provides a
perfect foil for many meals and is a great lunchbox filler. They look
fabulous, too. Dark, nutty brown rice, some quinoa for a healthy
protein boost, flecks of green parsley, golden sultanas and a few
nuts thrown in along with some brightly coloured citrus zest create a
picture perfect dish for your table.

It’s
also healthy, packed with the sort of slow-release energy that’s
exactly what you need on these misty, frosty days.

Brown
rice salad with pecans and sultanas

This
may seem like rather a lot of ingredients – but feel free to chop
and change depending on what you’ve got in the kitchen

Ingredients
(Serves 4-6 as a side-dish)

• 200g
  brown rice

• 100g
  quinoa

• 3
  shallots, peeled and finely sliced

• 50g
  pecans, chopped to small-ish chunks

• 25g
  raisins

• 25g
  pumpkin seeds or pine nuts

• 2
  tbs black sesame seeds

• 100ml
  olive oil

• 30ml
  cider vinegar

• 1
  tbs honey

• Zest
  of 1 orange

• Juice
  of half an orange

• Juice
  of half a lemon

• A
  big bunch of flat leaf parsley, finely chopped

Method

Cook
the brown rice and quinoa in separate pans according the packet
instructions (roughly half an hour for the rice and 15 minutes for
the quinoa). Once cooked, drain and spread them out on trays to cool.

While
the rice is cooking, fry the shallots in olive oil until golden
brown. Set aside to cool.

Once
the onion, rice and quinoa have cooled, mix them together along with
the rest of the ingredients except the oil, vinegar, honey and fruit
juice. Whisk these together with some seasoning and add to the rice.
Stir to combine.

Under post-Christmas grey skies the
colour and flavour of warmer days can seem a long way off, so now
seems the perfect time to inject a sunny element into the kitchen to
brighten things up – like bananas! The mainstay of fruit-bowls
across the land, they’re a little bit of tropicana which remains
popular all year round. Wonderfully versatile, they can be enjoyed a
little green or showing more brown than yellow.

Then there’s their slightly savoury
cousin, the plantain, loved by some when deep-fried and seasoned with
salt, a little too alternative for others. And the banana flower, the
male part of the plant. Although rarely seen in England, it’s a
popular addition to salads in South Asian cuisine.

Back to the more familiar tropical gem…
We often take bananas for granted and yet it has so many culinary
uses. Sliced on cereal in the morning, mashed with a little honey on
toast, with a spoonful of chocolate sauce and some ice cream, or in a
banana and walnut cake, it’s a brilliantly versatile fruit and
delicious to boot.

I’m a just-ripe banana man – not so
that it turns your teeth funny, but so it has a little bite left.
Once in a while though one ends up overlooked in the bowl, turning a
darker shade of brown each day. A general rule when it comes to
cooking is the browner the better – the banana flavour seems to get
more intense.

Here is a lovely recipe for using up
just those slightly over-ripe ones – the sea salt may seem unusual
but adds a delicate savoury note.

Sea salt caramel
bananas with vanilla ice cream

Ingredients (Serves 2)

• 2 ripe bananas, peeled and cut
  into 1-2 centimetre slices

• 50g sugar

• 50g butter

• 35ml rum or brandy

• Vanilla or chocolate ice cream, to
  serve

• A large pinch sea salt flakes

Method

In a frying pan melt sugar over medium
heat without stirring. As always when cooking with caramel, take
extra care. Once the sugar has melted, let it turn as dark as you
dare for a stronger flavour without letting it burn. Watch it like a
hawk – you are looking for deep, dark mahogany. It’s
easiest to use a metal pan so you can see the colour, but non-stick
is fine. This should take a few minutes.

Once this is reached, add the butter
and let it melt until a sauce starts to form. Add bananas and cook
for a minute or two, turning occasionally, until softened but not
collapsing.

Now comes the flambé – take care
doing this as you don’t want to burn the house down!

Remove pan from heat and add brandy or
rum. Using a long match, set alight liquor and allow to burn off for
a couple of minutes. If you aren’t comfortable with flambéing, don’t
worry, you can leave out this stage.

Once the booze has cooked off, add sea
salt, stirring it through sauce. Serve in bowls with a large scoop of
ice cream.