Favourite recipes #1 - Youvetsi

I have to confess that my major vice is cookbooks.

I can't get enough of them and I have tons of them (ask my husband, he doesn't understand why you need so many!), but I just love to read them and cook from them of course - but most of all just to read them. For me, they're the ultimate in dip-in-and-out-of easy reading and the best bedtime genre too. For a list of my top reads, see the list to the right.

This greek recipe has become a favourite of mine for a mid week supper and comes from the beautiful "Falling Cloudberries" by Tessa Kiros.

I tweak it to suit our tastes as my other half dislikes lamb so I usually use good quality beef braising steak instead, and sometimes I've used larger pasta shapes if I've not had the risoni or orzo specified to hand...but somehow it does taste so much better with risoni or orzo, so do try and source it if you can! Barillo is a particularly good Italian brand that makes risoni.

Youvetsi (Lamb & tomato with rice-shaped noodles)
Serves 4-6

3 tablespoons olive oil
800g lamb shoulder or leg meat, cut into 3cm chunks
2 red onions, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, chopped
600g tinned tomatoes with juice, chopped
1 piece of cassia bark - or cinnamon stick
30g butter
400g risoni or orzo (small rice-shaped pasta)
grated Parmesan, pecorino or kefalotiri cheese, to serve

Preheat the oven to 180.C(350.F/Gas4). Heat the olive oil in a casserole and fry off the meat in batches until golden on all sides. Transfer to a plate and add the chopped onions to the casserole and saute until golden and softened, stirring all the time so they don't stick (adding another drop of oil if you think it needs it). Then add the garlic and cook for a minute before adding the meat back to the pan. Tip in the tomatoes, crushing them with a wooden spoon, season with salt and pepper, and add the cassia or cinnamon and butter. Let it all bubble for 5 minutes or so before adding 1 litre (4cups) of hot water. Cover and bake for 1 hour, or until the meat is tender - it should be very soft.

Rinse the pasta and add to the casserole. Mix through, cover and return to the oven for another 15 minutes, or until the pasta is cooked and has absorbed most of the sauce. The cooking time will depend on the pasta - it will usually take twice as long to cook in the oven as it would on the hob according to the packet instructions. Watch if it gets too dry and add a little hot water if you feel it needs it. Serve hot and sprinkled with grated cheese.

If you're not serving right away, remove the casserole from the oven before the pasta is totally cooked as the residual heat will continue to finish off the cooking while it stands.

Green tomato chutney recipe

This week my husband tidied up the garden and took out the tomato plants from our pots on the patio, leaving us with a mini glut of amazingly coloured tomatoes from bright orange to yellow-green and everything in between which I'm putting to good use this year - Green Tomato Chutney to enjoy this Christmas with leftover ham or turkey. Yum!

1kg Green tomatoes
2 medium sized cooking apples
500g soft brown sugar
500ml malt vinegar
2cm root ginger
3 red chillis (optional)
125g raisins
300g shallots
1tsp salt

1. Wash the tomatoes well. Prepare the chillies and pop them aside for now. Peel the ginger with a sharp knife and bruise (you want to keep it whole though, so don't be too brutal - or pop into a muslin bag or tea cage with the chilli, see below). Chop the tomatoes, apples and shallots in a food processor or by hand till they're all nicely sized pieces but avoiding mush.
2. Pop the chopped ingredients into a big pan with the sugar, vinegar, raisins, salt and mix well. then add the ginger and chillies (you might want to put the chilli is a tea-cage or a muslin bag if you don't want it to be part of the finished chutney). Bring to a boil.
3. Once at a good boil, turn the pan down to a simmer for at least an hour - keeping a close eye and stirring every now and then (like every 10 mins) to make sure it doesn't catch on the bottom.
4. While the chutney is cooking, prepare your jars by washing them scrupulously in hot soapy water, rinse well and while still wet either microwave them for 2 mins on 'High' - OR - pop on a baking tray in a hot-ish oven (that's the jars and lids if they're metal) and leave them there until you need them.
5. Once the chutney starts to become 'jammy', then it's ready to spoon into the waiting sterilized jars. Making sure the jars are still warm from sterilizing will ensure they don't crack from the hot chutney! Spoon into the jars and make sure there are no air bubbles, then seal. You can do this with either a piece of cling film or waxed discs and screw the lid on tightly and allow to cool completely - OR - simply screw on the lid and turn the jar upside down and leaving them like that with a tea towel over the top of the upturned jar until cool, as this will create a vacuum (you'll see the button in the centre of the lid, if it has one, pull 'in' just as you find with a new jar of jam).
6. For best results, leave the chutney for a couple of weeks to mellow and the flavours to develop, but it won't hurt to enjoy straight away with any cheese, cold or hot meats. Once opened though, you will have to keep it in the fridge.

If you're a Cath Kidston fan like I am, then you'll love these fabulous jam covers to make your produce look gorgeous for giving as gifts or simply looking pretty on your kitchen shelves.

Enjoy!

The leaves may not have turned quite yet, but it certainly feels more Autumn than Summer this week. So with the change of season comes, in my opinion, all the best bits - lighting the fire for the 1st time, thinking about hunkering down for the Winter (don't panic, I'm not about to mention the big 'C' word quite yet even though the shops may be gearing up already), crunchy leaves underfoot and wrapping up in comfy layers even though it's not properly cold yet...

This Autumn though, I have an exciting purchase to make...my little boy's first ever pair of wellington boots. Never mind the first pair of jeans or the first pair of shoes, his first wellies seems to be so much more grown-up a prospect as they promise totally independent kicking about in piles of leaves or muddy puddles (is that him or me?) and gives me the chance to act like a kid with no questions asked!