GRILLED GAMMON STEAKS WITH LEEK AND MUSHROOM SAUCE

Often I ask Arabella what she had for lunch for school and she answers "meat" and when I enquire what kind of meat, I am met with a blank face. However the other day, she announced she had gammon and she absolutely loved it - so I was obviously straight to the supermarket to buy some and hunting online for a recipe. I actually had one in my recipe file that I had cut out from a Sainsbury's magazine - it took about 30 minutes in total.

Ingredients for 4 people:

15g unsalted butter
1 tbsp olive oil
250g pack of closed cup chestnut mushrooms, cleaned and quartered
1 large leek, washed, trimmed and sliced
50g of spring onions, trimmed and sliced
2 x 320g packs of sweet cure unsmoked gammon steaks
2 tsp French Dijon mustard
150ml chicken stock, made with 1/2 a stock cube
125ml soured cream (I actually used mascarpone as that is what I had in the fridge)
14g fresh flat leaf parsley, chopped

To serve (optional):
500g mini potatoes
350g frozen garden peas

Heat the butter and half the oil in the frying pan.

Add the mushrooms and fry over the heat for 2-3 minutes and then remove with a slotted spoon and set aside.

Add the leek and spring onions to the pan with the rest of the oil and the recipe says to cook for a further 8-10 minutes over a medium heat. I actually just did about 5 minutes as it started to burn.

At the same time, preheat the grill to high and cook for 5 minutes on each side until cooked through.

If you are cooking potatoes, you need to boil them for around 12 minutes as well.

Anyway add the mustard and stock to the pan with the cooked onions and leeks. Next mix in the sour cream or in my case the mascarpone and simmer for 1 minutes.

Finally add the mushrooms, parsley and season with black pepper and give it a good stir. Also if you are cooking peas, boil them for 3-4 minutes now.

Serve the gammon steaks topped with the mushroom and leek sauce and enjoy.

I didn't have the potatoes and peas and I have to admit I didn't need them, this tasted brilliant just as it was - it was very similar to a stroganoff and all the flavours were great together. Arabella had it with the peas and potatoes and no sauce as she hates mushrooms. This was easy and quick to cook and the sauce would work well with any meat, or even on its own. Another success!

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SWEET PESTO BAKED SQUASH

I haven't really been into cooking recently - I don't know why, I am still certainly into eating. Anyway I have been meaning to cook this recipe for a while - it is Fay Ripley's third book and could be cooked as a main or a side. I did it as a side with some salmon. I have to admit that as I was cutting up the butternut squash I said to myself, it is such a hassle I will never cook squash again. However when I ate it, I thought it was so delicious, I can't wait to cook this again!! It took 15 minutes to prepare and 50 minutes to cook.

Ingredients for 4 people:

2 butternut squashes, halved lengthways
1 tablespoon of olive oil
2 heaped tablespoons of fresh pesto
2 heaped tablespoons of mascarpone
2 tablespoons of grated Parmesan

Firstly the "tricky" part - cut the butternut squashes in half, deseed and cut the long narrow end off each half. Put the bowl like ends into a baking tray. Peel the long ends, chop into small cubes (mine weren't small enough) and add to the tray. This is a messy process! Drizzle with olive oil and bake for 45-50 minutes until cooked and tender. I was trying to do all this before taking Arabella to ballet and it was a real rush!

In a bowl, mix the pesto and mascarpone together, season, and then stir through the small cooked cubes of squash.

Divide the mixture between the squash bowls and load some Parmesan on top. Then put them back in the oven for ten minutes.

Serve and enjoy! As I said we had ours with salmon however they would be delicious with chicken or lamb or just on their own. They tasted fantastic, the cheese, pesto and squash really go well together and after the initial cutting up, they weren't difficult to make. Despite promising myself I would not cook with butternut squash again, I now can't wait to have these again soon.

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HONEY AND GOAT'S CHEESE CHICKEN

I haven't cooked a new recipe for nearly a month - poor show from a food blogger! In my defence I have been away for a couple of weeks and I have to admit our staple meal in France is bread and cheese - when in Rome and all that.

Now I am home it is time to get back into the old routine. As I have mentioned many times, Arabella LOVES goat's cheese and so I decided to cook this recipe - one of my best friends had recommended it a couple of years ago so it was really time to give it a go. It is from the American chef Paula Deen and it took about 45 minutes to prepare and cook.

Ingredients for 2 people:

2 boneless chicken breasts
50g of butter crackers (I used ritz crackers)
Salt and pepper
60g goat's cheese 
2 tbsp of melted butter
2 tbsp of honey
Fry light or a drizzle of olive oil

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Cut a slit in each chicken breast horizontally, being careful not to cut all the way through, and stuff with equal amounts of goat's cheese.

In a bowl, crush the crackers with a wooden spoon and season generously. Next time I might break up the biscuits in a blender as it would be quicker and easier.

Spray the bottom of a baking dish with fry light or grease with some olive oil or butter and then add the chicken breasts and cover with the cracker mixture. Cook in the oven for 10 minutes.

While this is cooking, mix together the butter and the honey in a small bowl. Ideally you should melt the butter beforehand but I forgot to do this so I heated the bowl gently over a saucepan of boiling water - this did the trick.

Take the chicken out of the oven and spoon over the honey butter. Then put it back in the oven for 25 minutes.

Finally serve with some salad or vegetables and enjoy.

I don't normally like sweet and savoury together but I actually loved this - honey and goat's cheese are a great combination and the chicken was really tender. Arabella adored the goat's cheese and chicken but wasn't so keen on the honey.

A quick easy midweek supper and a great way to spruce up a simple chicken breast. 

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BRAISED PESTO CHICKEN

Another day, another orzo pasta recipe! This is one I found on the Waitrose website. I love supermarket websites for cooking ideas and find the Waitrose one the best, the recipes are generally pretty easy and simple. This took about 40 minutes in total. 

Ingredients for 4 people:

800g chicken thighs, skin removed

1 onion, chopped

1 red pepper, diced

300ml hot chicken stock

3 tbsp of pesto

100g orzo pasta

15g basil pasta, shredded

Preheat the oven to 200 C / gas mark 6.

Chop the peppers and onion and put in the roasting dish with the chicken thighs. I cut any "gross" bits off the chicken thighs before adding them.

Mix the hot stock with the pesto and pour over the chicken. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes.

Stir in the orzo pasta and bake for another 20 minutes, stirring a couple of times. When it is ready, the pasta should be tender and the chicken fully cooked through with no pink bits. Serve with scattered basil.

I don't cook chicken very often and nor do I even order it in restaurants as I can sometimes find it a little dry. I do however love chicken thighs and this recipe really proved that point - it was really good. The chicken was so tender and went brilliantly with the pesto, pasta and vegetables and then basil added even more flavour. Arabella liked it other than the onions - I need to cut them smaller next time so she doesn't notice them! A great midweek comforting meal for all the family.

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