An Actually Quite Simple Lasagne

It had been quite a while since I’d last made lasagne. I’m pretty sure that when I did it was Jamie Oliver’s “Simple Baked Lasagne” which is, quite frankly anything but. I seem to recall it took me 4 hours, a million ingredients and a dozen different cooking pans. It was incredibly delicious though so maybe I will blog that some other time. Under a different name though of course: “Jamie’s Far From Simple & Pretty Damn Labour Intensive But Super Delicious Lasagne”. Snappy.

This one though really is quite simple even if it is does use three different types of cheeses and two different types of meat. You only need a lasagne dish, frying pan and bowl. Plus, there is no bechamel to knock up. Yay!

In lieu of a bechamel you make a sort of cheesy sauce mixture which is where the three cheeses come in: Parmesan, ricotta and mozzarella. I was also going to add cream cheese - hence it’s appearance in the photo below - but changed my mind. If you can’t get a decent ricotta though, try cream cheese instead. Next time I’ll add maybe a couple of tablespoons extra cream, or maybe a little whole milk, just to make the cheese mixture easier to work with when layering up the lasagne.

I also used a mix of meats in the sauce: beef and Italian sausage meat but if you’d prefer to keep things more simple, just use all beef or maybe beef & pork mince. And if you actually prefer the slight sloppiness you get from bechamel please feel free to make one.

An Actually Simple Lasagne
serves 4-6

6 sheets fresh lasagne
For the Meat Sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, finely chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
250g beef mince
250g spicy Italian sausage, meat removed from casings
400g tin chopped tomatoes, whizzed up with a stick blender (or use a finely pulped tin of tomatoes)
1 tbsp tomato purée
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
½ tsp dry oregano
1 ½ tbsp fresh basil, chopped
pinch red pepper flakes
100ml red wine
For the cheese mixture

250g ricotta
1 egg beaten
50g Parmesan, grated
1 ball mozzarella, grated
¼ tsp salt
⅛ tsp freshly ground black pepper
7.5g flat leaf parsley, chopped
50 ml cream
To finish

25g Parmesan, grated

In a large sauté pan, heat the olive oil and cook the onions, sprinkled with a little sea salt, for about five minutes over a medium heat. Add the garlic and cook one more minute.

Add the meats, allow to brown undisturbed for a few minutes and then stir and break up bigger lumps and cook until there is no pinkness. Turn up the heat if necessary to boil off any excess liquid.

Stir in the red wine, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, about ¼ tsp salt and a good grind of pepper, oregano, basil, and red pepper flakes.

Bring to the boil then reduce to a fierce simmer for 10-15 minutes.

Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, mix the ricotta, most of the mozzarella (keep back a small handful), beaten egg, Parmesan, ½ tsp salt, ¼ teaspoon pepper and the chopped parsley & cream. Mix to combine and set aside.

Preheat oven to 200C.

Grease a lasagne dish with olive oil and while the meat sauce is cooking spoon out a little to just cover the bottom of the dish. On top lay 2 lasagne sheets, overlapping slightly.

Spoon in a third of the meat sauce then a third of the cheese sauce.

Repeat with two more lasagne sheets, one third of meat mixture, one third of cheese mixture.

Finish with two more sheets, the remaining meat sauce, the remaining cheese sauce then top with the remaining mozzarella and grated Parmesan.

Place in the oven on the middle shelf and cook for 30-35 minutes until golden and bubbling.

Allow to rest for five minutes then serve alongside a crisp salad.

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Tagliatelle with Olive Oil Poached Tomatoes

The aroma and flavor you get from poaching the tomatoes with some olive oil and a bit of garlic until you have a silky, slightly sweet, rich sauce is truly amazing.

You wouldn’t want to eat this every day as it is quite a bit of oil.. well, that is if you eat it like we do which is to mix the pasta in with the oil, serve that up and then dollop the tomatoes on top. I suppose you could just drain off most of the oil (reserving it for later use of course) and serve with the tomatoes and just a smidge of oil for lubrication.

I can guarantee though that once you smell this, and taste that oil you’ll be wanting to slurp it all up.


Olive Oil Poached Cherry Tomatoes with Tagliatelle
serves 2

150g tagliatelle (250g if it is fresh)
olive oil
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 large garlic clove, thinly sliced
20-24 cherry tomatoes (mixed colours if possible), halved
6-8 basil leaves, torn
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
7.5g butter
Parmesan, freshly grated, to serve

Add a decent amount of olive oil (you want to cover the base of the pan by about ⅛") to a large heavy bottomed frying or sauté pan over a medium heat. When the oil starts to shimmer add the shallots and a big pinch of salt. Sauté for a minute or two and then add the garlic and sauté for another minute or so until very fragrant.

Add the tomatoes and another bit of salt, reducing the heat to low. Stir around gently to coat the tomatoes with the oil.

Cover, and cook for 20-30 minutes. The tomatoes will have released some of their juices to mix with the oil creating a flavourful sauce.

Meanwhile bring a large pot of salted water to a boil and cook the tagliatelle according to package directions. Drain.

Remove the sauté pan from the heat and gently stir in the torn basil and butter.

Season carefully with more salt and some black pepper as necessary.

Add the tagliatelle to the pan and gently move around so that the pasta strands get coated in the sauce then divide the pasta between two plates and spoon the rest of the sauce and tomatoes over.

Serve immediately with a bowl of freshly grated Parmesan to help yourselves to.

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Slow Cooked Lamb, Artichoke & Olive Stew

This is a hearty, yet not at all heavy, amalgam of seasons - chunks of lamb shoulder are braised until meltingly tender in white wine and tomatoes while artichokes, vibrant green olives and the mint scattered over keep it fresh and lively.

This is perfect really for that between season time of later winter and early spring when warmer days start to feel a reality. But honestly, as I post this in the middle of summer it would be pretty good now too.


Lamb, Artichoke & Olive Stew
serves 2

400g lamb shoulder, trimmed of fat and cut into 1-2 in. chunks
1-2 tbsp olive oil, divided
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
tin / carton chopped plum tomatoes
75ml dry white wine
125ml lamb stock
pinch of cinnamon
50g green olives (I used Nocellara del Belice), pitted halved
tin artichokes rinsed and halved
zest and juice of ½ lemon
2.5g fresh mint leaves, julienned

Season the lamb with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Heat about ½ tbsp of olive oil in a heavy bottomed frying or sauté pan over a medium heat and brown the meat on all sides in batches, adding a little more oil to the pan between batches if necessary. Transfer to the slow cooker.

Add another tbsp of oil to the pan and over a low-medium heat, sauté the onion with a little pinch of salt for about 5 minutes until the onion is slightly browned. Add the garlic and continue to sauté for a minute or two until fragrant.

Turn up the heat and add the wine, allowing it to bubble up. Scrape up any stuck on bits to the pan and after a minutes or so add the contents of the pan to the slow cooker.

Add the tomatoes, cinnamon and stock to the slow cooker and put on low for 6 hours.

After 5 hours stir in the olives.

Finally, add the artichokes, lemon zest and juice in the last half hour.

Adjust the seasoning as needed and serve, dividing the stew between warmed bowls and garnish with the fresh mint. The stew can be served on its own with a good piece of bread to mop up the juices or over polenta, couscous, potatoes...

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Chorizo & Asparagus 'Carbonara'

At the time of cooking, and indeed writing the first draft of this, I was trying to clear the freezer of random odds and ends in the hope that I would then have some space for a dump of freezer meals such as chilli, ragu etc for when the baby arrived and I suspected I wouldn’t have the time (or inclination as it turned out) to cook..

We had two lonely little cooking chorizo wallowing at the back of a drawer somewhere so I figured I’d chuck them into a pasta dish.

The basis of this then was HFW “3 good things” recipe where he uses, surprise surprise, pasta chorizo and asparagus. I wanted to make it a little more carbonara-esque though as, if I’m honest, I wasn’t convinced by the simplicity, so came up with this.


Chorizo & Asparagus “Carbonara”
serves 2

150g spaghetti
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cooking chorizo, diced
100g asparagus tips, woody ends snapped off and sliced into 3 cm lengths
2 large egg yolks
100ml double cream
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper

Cook pasta in a large pot of salted boiling water and cook according to package instructions, adding the asparagus for the last 3-5 minutes (depending on how thick your asparagus is).

Meanwhile heat oil in a frying pan and add chorizo: cook for about 10 minutes until cooked through and crisp.

In a small bowl beat the egg yolks and cream together and lightly season.

When the pasta is done, drain (reserving a little of the cooking water) and return the pasta and asparagus to the pan then tip in the cooked chorizo and the egg mixture.

Stir everything together quickly so that the eggy sauce cooks in the heat of the pasta, adding a little pasta cooking water if needed to loosen the sauce a little (you probably won’t need to but it is always worth saving a little pasta water, just in case).

Serve immediately with some extra freshly ground black pepper and grated parmesan.

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Baked Gnocchi with Bacon & Bocconcini

Depending on what our plans are I tend to like to cook more complicated, drawn out recipes on a Sunday but on this occasion hubby (although he was only bf at the time!) was in Cambridge and I was in North London for the day so I wanted something quick yet lovely and comforting (comfort food for me is a 12 month a year thing - but was particularly so in my rather pregnant, at the time, condition).

The week before I was in Borough Market with my friend BGJ to pick up some bits and pieces and we tried some fresh gnocchi from one of the Italian stands there. Oh my god, they were so good so my plan had been to come up with a recipe (this) and go back to pick up some of the gnocchi to go in it.

Unfortunately life intervened and I couldn’t make it down there to pick up some of that incredible gnocchi but I still really wanted this so popped into a Tescburys to pick up some ready-made stuff.

I might be wrong but I wonder if that was the way to go - non-refrigerated shop bought gnocchi tends to be quite firm which I think would prove to be a good thing. I used ready-made gnocchi that was refrigerated with the fresh pastas and that was on the edge if I’m honest. I suspect that the more delicate homemade type would have collapsed into mush with the baking. But anyway - give this a go, it is pretty good.


Baked Gnocchi with Bacon, Mushrooms & Mozzarella
serves 2-4 (you may have leftovers)

1 pack shop-bought gnocchi (400-500g)
1 tsp olive oil
1 small banana shallot, finely chopped
150g bacon, chopped
100g mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
¼ tsp red pepper flakes
1 400g tin chopped tomatoes
1 tsp tomato purée
125ml (small wine glass) white wine
handful cherry tomatoes, halved
½ tsp sugar
2 tbsp double cream
salt & pepper to taste
100g bocconcini, halved (or mozzarella, torn into chunks)
handful basil leaves, torn

Preheat oven to 200°C.

Bring a large pot of salted water to the boil and cook the gnocchi following packet directions. Drain.

Meanwhile heat the oil in a large heavy-based sauté pan over medium heat. Cook the onion, stirring, for 5 minutes until softened but not coloured.

Add bacon and cook, stirring, for a further 5 minutes or until the bacon is starting to crisp with most of the fat rendered. Add mushroom and garlic and cook for 3-4 minutes or until mushroom is soft.

Add the wine. Cook, scraping any bits from the base of the pan, for 3-4 minutes or until wine reduces by half. Stir in the tomatoes and tomato purée, sugar and red pepper flakes and simmer for 5 minutes.

Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the cream, basil and seasoning.

Add the drained gnocchi to the sauce and transfer to an oven-proof dish and top with the torn bocconcini.

Place in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes until the mozzarella is melted and golden. Remove from the oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

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'Dirty' Risotto

Dirty rice is a traditional Cajun dish where the white rice gets a "dirty" colour from being cooked with small pieces of chicken liver or giblets, (bell) pepper, celery, onion (the so-called Cajun Holy Trinity of ingredients and spices. Most common in the Cajun regions of southern Louisiana and Mississippi it can apparently also be found in other areas of the American South.

I’ve never had Dirty Rice so I don’t know if this recipe, adapted from one by Giada De Laurentiis (an Italian American TV chef whose culinary work is as oft criticised as lauded - as is often the case with ‘celebrity’ chefs it would seem) tastes like it. It appealed to me though: risotto (natch) with lots of meaty and savoury elements. Heart, oozy, and basically very tasty.


‘Dirty’ Risotto
serves 3

750ml chicken stock
15g butter
190g Italian sausage, removed from skin & crumbled
85g pancetta cubes
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
½ orange bell pepper, diced
1-2 tbsps jalapenos (from a tin), de-seeded & finely chopped
75g mushrooms, roughly chopped
salt and pepper, to taste
150g Arborio rice
90ml dry vermouth
25g Parmesan cheese + extra to serve
1-2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley

In a small pan, heat chicken stock to a simmer and turn right down to keep warm.

Meanwhile melt the butter in a large saucepan and when it starts to foam brown the sausage meat and pancetta over a medium-high heat, breaking the sausage down so it resembles coarse mince.

When nicely browned and starting to caramelise add the vegetables, turn the heat down and cook over a low heat until the veg has softened.

Turn the heat back up to medium high, stir in the rice and keep stirring for a minute to allow the rice to lightly toast.

Turn the heat up to high and pour in the vermouth: it will bubble up angrily - keep stirring until it has almost absorbed. Turn the heat back down again to medium-low.

Add a ladleful of stock to the rice and stir occasionally until it has absorbed. Repeat, a ladleful at a time, ensuring each is almost absorbed before adding the next.

Once the rice is tender and the texture of the risotto is quite gloopy, turn off heat and stir in the cheese. Cover and leave off the heat for 5 minutes then stir in the parsley.

Serve with a rocket & cherry tomato salad on the side and a little parmesan and parsley scattered over.

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Roasted Artichoke Risotto

I’d eaten a ridiculous amount of red meat in the weeks preceding this, in fact the week before, when the bf was away I think every evening meal I’d had was mince of one description or another. By this point then I was craving vegetables. We started the new week off with the mushroom ragout as previously posted but that wasn’t enough.

So I decided on a risotto. Killing two birds with one stone really: my continued point-proving that actually yes, we eat a reasonable amount of risotto plus it is something that is dead simple to have as part of a meatless meal. You choose your vegetable(s) and how to prepare them then add to a basic risotto bianco.

Couldn’t be easier really.


Roasted Artichoke Risotto
serves 2

500ml chicken (or vegetable) stock (you may not need all of it)
2 tsp olive oil
1 small knob of butter
1 small onion, peeled and finely chopped
1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1 stick of celery, trimmed and finely chopped
150g risotto rice
85ml of vermouth (or dry white wine)
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
20 g butter
35g Parmesan cheese, grated + extra to serve
1 tin artichoke hearts in brine, rinsed, drained and roughly chopped
zest and juice of ½ lemon
small handful mint, finely chopped
extra virgin olive oil

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Lay the artichoke heart pieces on a baking tray and drizzle with a little olive oil. Toss around to coat the artichokes and then pop in the oven to roast for around 30 minutes until slightly criosp and charred on the outside and creamy in the middle.

Meanwhile put the hot stock in a saucepan on a low heat to keep warm on the hob.

Put 2 teaspoons of olive oil and the butter into a separate pan and add the onion, garlic, celery and a little pinch of salt. Cook over a very low heat, very gently for 15-20 minutes until the vegetables have softened but not coloured.

Turn up the heat and add the rice, stirring around for a couple of minutes until the rice is toasted . Pour in the vermouth which will bubble up madly so keep stirring until it has cooked into the rice.

Add your first ladle of hot stock. Turn the heat down to a simmer and stir occasionally until the stock is absorbed: keep repeating with additional ladlefuls of stock, only adding another when the previous has been absorbed into the rice. You don’t need to stir constantly, but reasonably often as this massages the starch out of the rice and will result in a creamy risotto.

You are done when the rice is soft but with a slight bite: this can take anything from 15 to 30 minutes in my experience. If you run out of stock (which is unlikely) add some boiling water.

Remove from the heat and add half of the artichokes, the butter, lemon juice and Parmesan. Stir well. Place a lid on the pan and allow to sit for 2 minute so that the risotto becomes creamy and oozy.

Toss the remaining artichokes with most of the lemon zest, the chopped mint and a drizzle of olive oil.

Carefully check the risotto seasoning and then divide it between two plates or wide bowls and sprinkle the dressed artichokes on top. Serve sprinkled with a little extra Parmesan and the rest of the lemon zest.

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Mixed Mushroom Ragoût with Creamy Polenta

Another very autumnal dish here cooked, as it was, at the height of summer. Oh well. This is extremely delicious and if you were to serve it with rice or pasta then pretty quick too.

I served this with a creamy cheddar polenta that I made with 150g polenta, x4 the volume of chicken stock, 20g butter and about 60g grated mature cheddar. If you start this at the same time as leisurely prepping and then cooking the ragout it should all come together quite well about 45- 50 mins later.


Mixed Mushroom Ragoût
serves 2 generously (with perhaps a little leftover for lunch for 1 the next day)

225g mixed shiitake & brown chestnut mushrooms, wiped clean & sliced
225g mixed wild & oyster mushrooms, wiped clean & torn

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp chopped thyme leaves
small pinch cayenne pepper
splash of marsala
1½ tsp tomato paste
2 small ripe tomatoes, chopped
1½ tsp plain flour
500ml porcini or chicken stock
5g butter

2 garlic cloves, minced
1½ tbsp chopped parsley

In a wide sauté or frying pan I actually used a paella pan for some reason), warm 1 tablespoon olive oil over medium high heat. Add onion and celery, season with a little salt and pepper and cook, stirring, until the vegetables are softened and starting to brown, about 15-20 minutes. Remove from pan and set aside.

Add another ½ tablespoon of the oil and turn heat to high. Add brown mushrooms, season lightly and stir-fry until nicely colored, about 3 minutes. Lower heat to medium. Add thyme, cayenne and tomato paste. Add tomatoes, stir well, and cook for 1 minute.

Season again with salt and pepper. Splash in a glug of Marsala and when it has reduced sprinkle with the flour, stir to incorporate and cook for 1 minute more. Stir in reserved onions. Add around 200ml of stock and stir until thickened, about 1 minute. Gradually another 200ml stock and let gently simmer for 5-10 minutes. Carefully adjust the seasoning.

Just before serving, put the butter and the remaining ½ tablespoon olive in a wide sauté pan over medium high heat and when the butter begins to brown, add the wild and oyster mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper, and sauté for about 2 minutes, until cooked through and beginning to brown.

Add the garlic and chopped parsley and stir for another minute before adding to the brown mushroom mixture.

Stir the mushrooms together well and then serve over polenta.

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