Welcome Multitaskers!

Here is your menu for the week :

Sunday

“Roast lamb”, roasted vegetables,

mashed potatoes, onion sauce

Monday

Warm smoked mackerel salad

Tuesday

Stromboli with leftover lamb shank

Wednesday

Smoked chicken with potato cakes

Thursday

Veggie night - Orzotto with leftover roasted

vegetables topped with balsamic mushrooms

Friday

Nasi – but not as we know it

Saturday

Retro night for the sofa

watching Strictly.

Saturday does require some work, but

most of it can be completed whilst you're

waiting for your Soda bread to bake!

Whilst your multitasking morning (MTM) begins on Sunday, there's one task that needs to be completed on Saturday and it's not huge – to prepare your veggies for roasting for Sunday lunch.

Roasted vegetables

Peel, top and tail carrots and parsnips and dice to a similar size – and any other root vegetables - just make sure it's the same size as the carrots and parsnips. Add whatever else you fancy, a couple of red onions, peeled and cut into quarters. Prep more veggies than you need to serve with your roast.

Add 6 garlic cloves, peeled but left whole. Tip all the veggies into a strong food bag, add a large glug of rapeseed oil and tie it securely. Make sure all the veggies are coated in the oil. Fridge it and leave until an hour before you want to serve your roast.

Whilst you're prepping the veggies peel and chop an additional 3 medium onions – white would be best - set aside.

All will become clear …

The humble spud - with the curry?

If you're fond of a mid week speedy curry have a look at the Hurried Curry recipe – another that is fast and it is designed to be made from pantry ingredients – it can also be made ahead too. If you like a “side” with your curry – using the humble spud – try this one - again the potatoes here can be cooked ahead as you'll see in the multi tasking morning concept that will follow – all will become clear.

Bombay Spuds - the quick version

Serves 4

600g cooked waxy potatoes – I use

Charlottes – any variety will do so long

as it holds its shape

1 medium onion, finely chopped

2 tbsp vegetable or rapeseed oil

250g of sieved or creamed tomatoes

(or half a carton/jar of passata)

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 tsp caster sugar

1 tsp of minced ginger

2 cloves of garlic or 2 tsps of garlic paste

1 tsp ground cumin

Salt to taste – 1 tsp

Your potatoes should be cut into cubes of approximately 1.5 cms – don't stress any shape will do – just so long as they are a similar size!

Using a large frying pan fry the onions in the oil until soft, add the ginger, garlic, cumin and salt and cook for 2 minutes, allowing them to release their flavour - then the tomato paste and allow to cook for 2/3 minutes. Add the potatoes and then the sieved tomatoes and sugar. Cook on a medium heat for 10 minutes.

Taste the potatoes – you should get a spicy hit but not too hot. Adjust salt and sugar to personal taste. Pop a lid on – allow to cool and then refrigerate.

As with many dishes that include spice the longer you leave it the better since the flavours will deepen. This dish is perfect to be made as a multi tasking option for mid week and it freezes well too.

You should now have quick and easy alternatives for both chicken and potatoes – hopefully not so boring.

Here comes the multi tasking week!

The humble spud – the spiced alternative

There are those of use who like spice so, again using the leftovers principle, but with extra flavour, here's a goodie. You don't have to go to the bother of making your own Panch phoran – it's available at the larger supermarkets as is mango powder too.

Spiced Sautéed Spuds

Serves 4

600g waxy potatoes, parboiled, peeled and

sliced into approximate 1cm rounds

2-3 tbsp vegetable oil

Panch phoran – 2 tsp

*see below

¾ tsp turmeric

¼ - ½ tsp red chilli powder

Sprinkle of mango powder

Heat the oil in a large frying pan, add the panch phoran, it should sizzle immediately. Cook for 20/30 seconds, stirring. Add the potatoes, toss well, ensuring they are all covered with the spices. Turn the heat down, cover with a lid and cook for 5 minutes, turn the potatoes and repeat.

Increase the heat, turn the potatoes again so that they are lightly golden brown – 3 minutes each side. For a tangy finish sprinkle with a pinch of mango powder, toss again and serve.

Panch phoran is a blend of spices and seeds. It's used in Bangladesh, Eastern India and Southern Nepal. Literally it means “five spices”. You can make up your own blend easily.

½ tsp each of the following seeds

cumin

mustard

fennel

nigella

¼ tsp fenugreek

If you are a spice lover then it will probably be worthwhile. I'd remind you that if you are going to mix your own blend buy small amounts of each spice – they will deteriorate and therefore it's not economical to buy in bulk – unless of course you're going to make up the blend and distribute it to all your spice loving family and friends! If you have difficulty in sourcing any of the seeds they are available at Daily Bread Co-operative – www.dailybread.co.uk.

Not so boring!

The humble spud

The same principle applies to the potato as to the chicken - we run out of ideas and boredom sets in.

So, continuing with the detour and as a precursor to our multi tasking refresher course, here are some suggestions for potatoes that will hopefully hit the spot. The best thing about the recipes that follow are that if you cook extra potatoes and veggies whenever you cook, they'll take no time at all to create.

We have so many different “leftover” potato dishes from all over the UK – I suppose the most common in England is bubble and squeak – here are a couple more.

Adults and kids alike aren't keen on the green stuff like sprouts and cabbage and these days I'd bet that there are many out there who've never eaten swede or turnip! The beauty of swede, in particular, is that it's texture lends itself to mashing.

To kick off, if you'll pardon the rugby analogy, here is a fine Irish example - the recipe is given from scratch, just in case that's your preference :

Colcannon

Savoy cabbage, finely shredded – half a cabbage

approximately 350g in weight

30g butter

Bunch of spring onions finely chopped

1.5kg Maris piper potatoes,

Salt and black pepper

Cook the potatoes in salted water until tender, drain, peel and mash. You could use a ricer for guaranteed lump free.

Put the cabbage in a pan with the butter and cook over a low heat for 2-3 minutes until tender, stirring frequently.

Add the spring onions and cook for another minute or two.

Mix with the mashed potato and season well.

If you've cooked your potatoes ahead or are using leftovers, pop the completed dish into a pre-heated oven (200c/180 fan/Gas 6) for 20 minutes. You could use oven-proof ramekins and serve straight to the table.

It's a great way to eat green veg!

Two of my favourite things …

in my staples stash - one for the freezer and one for the pantry.

Baked garlic

Is there anyone out there who hates faffing with peeling and chopping 1 or 2 cloves of garlic for one recipe? I bake whole bulbs of garlic at the same time – see recipe attached – it's not rocket science and I think originally this recipe was also used by Nigel Slater. If you use garlic regularly this paste makes life so easy when you've no time.

Baked Garlic

2 bulbs of garlic

olive oil/rapeseed oil for drizzling

2-3 sprigs of fresh thyme - optional

salt and black pepper

Pre-heat your oven to 200c/180f/Gas 6.

Slice the tops off the bulbs and place the in a small oven dish, garlic roaster or foil dish so that they fit snugly. Drizzle with oil and season with thyme, salt and black pepper.

Roast in the oven for about an hour – until the garlic has softened.

Squeeze the garlic out of its skin. Add a little more oil , keep in a tightly fitting container and place in the fridge.

You can use the paste in the same way as you'd use fresh garlic – the difference is that the baked garlic is sweeter and ready to use!

The paste will keep in your fridge for one to two weeks or you can freeze in small containers.

Speaking of small containers - check out the baby aisle in the supermarket/cheap shops for tiny pots – inexpensive and don't take up space in your freezer.

Star Anise

Lots of Asian/Indian/fusion recipes include star anise. These pretty star shapes are readily available in most supermarkets but, if you are fortunate enough to have access to a Chinese supermarket you can buy ground star anise which is much more practical when you want a quick marinade – you'll get a more powerful result from using powdered star anise when you're in a hurry. Note to self – remember that it's more practical to buy herbs and spices in small quantities. They will deteriorate and so is a false economy - unless you've friends you can share with – in which case it's cheaper still.

I promise you won't regret either!

Just in case …

… you were wondering

PICCATA is a method of preparing food where the meat is sliced, coated, sautéed and served in a sauce. It originated in Italy using veal. It's very popular in the USA, using chicken.

The sauce is made by de-glazing the pan after having flattened and sealed the chicken on both sides and set aside. To finish the sauce add lemon juice, white wine or stock to the de-glazed pan and reduce. Shallots or garlic can be added with capers and slices of lemon. After reducing butter is added to finish the sauce.

An escalope is a piece of boneless meat that has been thinned out using a mallet, rolling pin or butterflied. The tenderising i.e. bashing with a mallet, breaks down the fibres in the meat making it tender and the thinner the meat the faster it cooks with loss of moisture.

Thought you might like a smidge of information!

Your Autumn Arsenal – take 2!

Next comes a chicken idea that ticks all the boxes - with a couple of different serving suggestions too, to suit your mood.

Miso Maple Glazed Chicken

4 chicken breasts

1 tbsp baking powder*

4 fl oz/½ cup maple syrup*

2 fl oz/¼ cup white miso paste*

Mix * together, add the chicken breasts and

marinate for 24 hrs

Sprinkle with chopped spring onions

Bake in a pre-heated oven 180 fan/200c/Gas 6

for 35 minutes

By the way, if you marinate the chicken in one of my famous, washing-up free foil dishes, it can go straight from the fridge, into the oven.

Serve with :

Maple Glazed Veggies

100ml dark soy sauce

50ml Maple syrup

1 tsp garlic paste

2 tbsp light olive oil

black pepper

You can choose any veggies you like, here's my choice :

Mange tout – cut in half diagonally

Baby sweetcorn – cut in half lengthways

Carrots – peeled, topped and tailed and cut into batons -

5 cms long x 1cm, as a guide – you'll get approximately

28 batons from 1 large carrot

Red Romano pepper – topped, tailed, de-seeded and

cut into a similar size to the batons

Salad onions – topped and tailed and cut diagonally.

If you can't be bothered or don't have time to prep the veggies, as an alternative you could, at the same time as the chicken goes into the oven, add another foil tray of new potatoes to roast and another tray of beetroot to honey roast, using vac packs (recipe is on the blog) – if saving time is your thing then this option would be perfect.

Note to self - add white miso and maple syrup to pantry shopping list!