Editor's Pick#2: Another Retro Thought – Stromboli

Editor's note: I love this one, and not just because it it's a fun word to say with a very bad Italian-American accent. Who doesn't love pizza, but even better than that pizza in a different way! A quick recipe that can be pulled together in the blink of an eye and guaranteed to have any guest marvelling at your preparedness, just don't tell them you were saving the ingredients for yourself for a treat evening! The toppings can be customised but don't skimp on the seasoning to take this to the next level.

Another retro thought …

and another candidate to dunk in the mayo – Stromboli – it would also be perfect to pop on a buffet table, especially if you've got younger guests – it's just rolled up pizza after all!

Stromboli

400g prepared pizza dough or ready-made base

4 tbsp tomato paste

100g thinly sliced salami

120g baby spinach

100g thinly sliced mozzarella cheese

1 tbsp olive oil

Generous sprinkle of oregano or garlic Italian seasoning

Pre-heat your oven 220fan/200c/Gas 8. Place a large baking tray in the oven.

Place a dampened J cloth on your work surface. Place a piece of baking parchment on top of the cloth – it will stop it sliding – make sure you leave enough to get hold of – you're going to lift it onto the hot baking tray that's in the oven at the moment. Unroll the pizza dough gently on the parchment.

Spread the tomato paste onto the base. Add the slices of salami, followed by the spinach and then the mozzarella and sprinkle with the oregano or garlic Italian seasoning. Roll up the base from the shortest side and brush with the olive oil - make sure it's seam-side down when placed on the tray.

WITH CARE remove the tray from the oven and then carefully lift the parchment and the rolled up pizza onto it. Place back in the oven for 20/25 minutes until golden brown – check at 20 minutes.

When removed from the oven slice into portions to suit and serve.

Choose any of your favourite pizza toppings to create your own Stromboli – the fastest pizza ever.

You'll need an oblong base for the Stromboli – it looks like the biggest sausage roll ever that you'll then slice! I'd suggest Asda's own brand - found in the chiller cabinet - for the prepared pizza dough - £1.00 per 400g pack.

Another perfect emergency item for your freezer stash.

The holidays are short this year – they fall in the middle of the week – however there's a weekend to follow after New Year so still time for a final festive treat or two before reining in the waistline!

Editor's Pick #1: When You Have Another 5 Minutes Spare - Slow Cooked Pork Loin Steaks With Calvados Cream Sauce

Editor's note: People can be picky when it comes to pork and it's not for everyone, but take one look at the photo on this recipe and you'll undoubtedly want to give it a try. The sauce for me is the real secret of this one, a creamy mustard based sauce makes this a sure-fire hit on a cold damp night. Editors tip: Make twice the amount of sauce because you will want to add it to your meal the next night! 

… try this and before we begin can I suggest that if you're cooking a roast this weekend, cook extra veggies – par boiled or part roasted parsnips, carrots and potatoes would be excellent choices.

Slow cooked pork loin steaks with

Calvados cream sauce

600g/1lb 5oz pork loin steaks – 6 steaks, trimmed

glug of rapeseed/Canola oil

salt and black pepper

generous sprinkle of dried herbs – sage or

thyme

2 tsps of garlic paste – optional

500ml/1 pint approx vegetable stock – use a stock pot if you're

not using your own stock

Heat the oil in a large frying pan until hot. Seal the loin steaks on both sides, add salt and black pepper, garlic and herbs. Set aside the steaks in the slow cooker then add your stock to the residual juices in the frying pan, bring to the boil and slow cook for 3 hours.

Before you begin to make your sauce, time for the leftover veggies – try and make sure they are of a similar size. Place in a foil tray and drizzle with rapeseed or similar oil and season with salt and black pepper. Pop into a pre-heated oven 200c/180fan/Gas 6 for 25 minutes to allow them to finish roasting and become crisp.

For the sauce, you'll need approximately 200ml of stock from the cooked pork steaks - strain, cover and fridge until cold and ready for use. Freeze the remainder of the stock.

Calvados cream sauce

15g/¾ oz unsalted butter

15g/¾ oz plain flour

1 tsp garlic paste or 1 clove, crushed

glug of Calvados

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

200ml/7 fl oz stock

300ml/½ pint/10 fl oz double cream

salt and black pepper

Melt the butter, take the pan off the heat, add the flour and whisk. Return to the heat and cook out the flour for 2/3 mins, stirring continuously – add the garlic paste and mustard and then, on a high heat, add the Calvados and cook for 1-2 mins. Add the cold stock straight into the sauce and whisk until smooth, then cook on a low heat for 10 minutes. Season with salt and black pepper.

Add the cream and simmer for 5 minutes.

Serve in large bowls, veggies first then the pork and drizzle with the sauce.

It looks just like this :

Feeling peckish?

Editor's Pick # 4: Hooked on cooking – the main event!

Editor's note: Now, this one is pulled from the archives, from 2016 no less! Supermarkets might offer you the convenience of picking up their pre-rolled meatballs, but they don't do it for free. Plus, if you take the extra time (not much!) to roll your own, you're guaranteed to come away with an idea for next time you make them. Change of seasoning? Different meat? Bigger? Smaller? The world is your lobster, so have a read, treat yourself and your loved ones and give it a go. Also not to be missed is the tomato sauce recipe which if you're making meatballs is essential - with a couple of extremely important pointers. Easy when you know how!

Ringing the changes, today's session will be cooking supper for tonight.

The recipe that follows is easy and makes really tasty meatballs, together with a tomato sauce. All you'll have to do later on is cook the spaghetti – can't be bad! As a rough guide 450g of minced meat will give you twelve meatballs, so if you've four students with 450g per two students, you'll have 24 meatballs in total – this is not an exact science since your students are new at this and the sizes may vary!

Meatballs

450g minced beef, pork or turkey

*salt and black pepper

*garlic – either 2 tsps of paste or 2 cloves, crushed

*mixed herbs or garlic Italian seasoning – a generous sprinkle

*half a tsp of chilli

*heaped tbsp of tomato paste

*1 egg

sprinkle of plain flour

Rapeseed or vegetable oil for shallow frying

Place the mince in a large mixing bowl then add the remaining ingredients marked *, mix well. At this point your mixture may be too wet. If it is, sprinkle a little plain flour over the mixture and fold in gently.

Use a teaspoon as a measure and heaped with mixture, roll it between your hands and set aside on a board. When the meatballs are ready, heat the oil in a large frying pan and fry on a low heat, gently and carefully shaking the pan to ensure they are evenly coloured – use tongs if you are accident prone! Seal the meatballs in batches - 8 at a time and then transfer to an oven-proof dish or foil tray ready for later – cool, cover and fridge.

When you are ready for supper later in the day place the dish or tray containing the meatballs in a pre-heated oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6 and complete the cooking for 20/30 minutes – this time will vary depending on the sizes of the meatball – ensure that they are properly cooked – cut a larger one in half to be sure. Whilst the meatballs are in the oven cook your spaghetti and warm up the tomato sauce.

It may be that your students won't be interested in the tomato sauce element – it depends on their attention span – but it's easy to do and takes no time at all – in fact the sauce will improve with “standing” so if it is the case that you are making the sauce you can make it the day before, cover and fridge - after all your students have supplied the main event!

Tomato Sauce

500g sieved tomatoes or the equivalent in cans of chopped tomatoes

1 medium/large onion, chopped finely

garlic clove or tsp of minced garlic

1tbsp olive oil

knob of butter

vegetable stock pot and 250ml of boiling water

oregano or garlic Italian seasoning

black pepper

1 tsp caster sugar

Melt the olive oil and butter in a saucepan, add the onion and fry gently until soft then add the garlic. Add the oregano or garlic Italian seasoning and black pepper. Then add your stock pot and boiling water so that it melts, add the tomatoes and sprinkle on the tsp of sugar. The sugar is meant to balance out the acidity that one sometimes gets with tomatoes. Simmer the sauce for about 20 minutes.

N.B. If you want to add extra depth you can add a tbsp of tomato paste. I would suggest that you taste your sauce before you simmer for 20 minutes. If you add paste then the simmering process will cook it out and its important that you do this - it tastes horrid if you don't. A lot depends on personal taste and how good your tomatoes are.

Here's hoping your students are hooked and the rest of the family too!

Editor's Pick #3: Winter Menu - Treat of the Week!

Editor's note: It might not have escaped many but in the UK at the moment it's flipping cold! In-keeping with the recent brilliant weather, the next Editors pick is rather cheating as it's two recipes in one, but they go together so brilliantly they cannot be separated. Cream cheese and cashew nut paté and soda bread. Whack these out on a Sunday afternoon and you will be invited back again! Bit odd if you lived there in the first place but it's always nice to know you're still welcome.

My treat of the week is a simple, veggie recipe and one of my favourites – cream cheese and cashew nut paté – it has to be the easiest paté ever – here it is :

Cream cheese and cashew nut paté

1 carrot, finely grated

225g cream cheese

100g roasted cashew nuts, crushed to a rubble – not

to a dust!

1 tbsp of chopped chives

salt and black pepper

black olives – pitted and sliced (optional)

Mix all the ingredients together, box and fridge.

Serve on whatever takes your fancy – rice cakes, gluten free cheese oatcakes, toast or even as a sandwich filling – a toasted bagel would be good too.

Freshly baked bread is the perfect partner to the paté so here's an extra treat for a “comfort” lunch – soda bread!

The following Soda bread is the easiest and fastest, faff free recipe and the most reliable I've ever used.

Soda bread

170g self raising wholemeal flour

170g plain flour

½ tsp salt

½ tsp bicarbonate of soda

290ml buttermilk

Pre heat your oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6.

Tip the flours, salt and bicarb into a large bowl and mix.

Make a well in the centre, pour in 290ml of buttermilk and mix quickly with a large fork until you have a soft dough formed. You may need an extra drop if your dough is too stiff but take care it should not be too wet or sticky.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead briefly.

Form the dough into a round a flatten slightly. Place on a lightly floured baking sheet.

Slice an “x” on the top of the loaf and bake for 30 minutes – the base should sound hollow when tapped.

I use St. Ivel low fat buttermilk which comes in 284ml pots. If the dough is a little dry, add a drop of milk – just a drop! You can always add a drop more if required – you can't take it back.

A tip – Instead of flour I sprinkle semolina on the baking sheet and sprinkle a little over the loaf before baking, for a crusty top.

If you're thinking of making soup, serve it with thick slices of toasted soda bread, buttered of course.

Editor's Pick #2: Mie To Follow

Editor's note: Noodles, spices and veggies, along with whatever you have cluttering up the fridge and needs a zhush and an evening date with flavour. One stop shop for "I fancy a takeaway but surely I can do that myself?". Well, you can - read on for the Mie Goreng, treat yourself to a couple of extra ingredients on your next shop and you won't be disappointed.

Here's the Mie Goreng - the noodle version of the Nasi Goreng. The Mie includes two ingredients you may not have come across previously – kecap manis – aka sweet soy sauce and sambal paste – a paste made from chillies and spices and both ingredients are easily available in larger supermarkets.

Mie Goreng

Serves 4-6

3 eggs

1 tbsp water

1 tbsp oil

1 onion, finely sliced

Drop of rapeseed or vegetable oil

3 cloves of garlic, crushed or tsps of paste

2 carrots, finely sliced (you could use cooked leftovers)

2 spring onions, finely sliced

Pinch of ground ginger

1 tsp ground coriander

1 tsp ground cumin

1 red chilli, seeded removed and finely diced

1 tsp sambal paste

250g medium egg noodles, cooked

30ml dark soy sauce

60ml kecap manis

100g beansprouts

350g cooked prawns, defrosted

100g chopped roasted peanuts to garnish (optional)

Beat the egg lightly with the 1 tbsp water. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a wok or frying pan. Pour in the egg and cook until set underneath, flip it and repeat. Slide the omelette out of the pan on to a board, roll up into a cigar shape and slice into strips – set aside.

Heat a large wok or frying pan and add a drop of oil. Add the onion and stir fry for 2 minutes, then add the garlic, ginger and carrots and fry for a further 2 minutes. Add a drop of water to prevent drying out.

Add the sambal paste, coriander and cumin and fry for 20/30 seconds – again you can add a drop of water if required. Add the cooked noodles, spring onions, beansprouts and prawns – turning until warmed through. Add the dark soy sauce and the kecap manis and repeat.

N.B. For a vegetarian version, substitute the prawns with 300g of shredded Chinese cabbage – aka bok choy or pak choi and 1 yellow pepper (cored, deseeded and diced). Sweet baby peppers – red, yellow and orange – would work well too.

Serve straight from wok or spoon into individual bowls and garnish with the omelette strips and peanuts.

You could add sliced water chestnuts and/or bamboo shoots. If you've other leftover vegetables or cooked chicken or meat – dice and add too.

Editor's Pick #1: 3 Cheese Dainties (and photos).

Editor's note: Christmas is coming up fast, and it doesn't seem a year since the last one! For those of us that are foregoing fisticuffs in Woolworths over the last black and white portable TV, a suggestion long championed by MiamMiam is the homemade gift. Moreover, the homemade edible gift. Why guess what someone wants (and pray they haven't bought it themselves already) when you can spend a couple of hours making something they're guaranteed to enjoy. What follows is a recipe that not only tastes amazing, but looks the business into the bargain.

This is the latest of my cheese and onion variations on a theme and perfect for a snack or part of a “picky bits” supper during the festive season and the last recipe in this Brown paper packages … Christmas Box series.

3 Cheese dainties

100g mature Cheddar, 75g Red Leicester

and 75g Gruyere, grated

1 large onion, finely chopped

drop of rapeseed oil

2 tbsp chopped flat leaf parsley

celery salt and black pepper

1tbsp of Dijon mustard

1 x 320g puff pastry sheet

1 egg, beaten

1 tbsp Nigella seeds

Pre-heat oven 180fan/200c/Gas 6

Use a medium sized saucepan, heat the oil and then add the onion and sweat on a low heat for 5 minutes until softened. This element can be prepped ahead, cooled, boxed and fridged until required.

Unroll your pastry sheet on a board or work surface – don't remove the pastry from the paper liner – it's perfect for your baking sheet for cutting out, filling and then lifting on to your tray and baking. No mess! The sheet will give you 15 circles using an 8cms/3” cutter. You may need to re-roll the pastry for the final 3.

Add the cheeses, seasoning, mustard and parsley to the onion. Place a teaspoon of filling in the centre of each circle, edge half the circle with the beaten egg, then fold to create your dainty, use a dessert fork to edge the dainty then egg wash. Use two teaspoons to form the filling, it helps to keep it firm and easy to place. Make a mental note where you begin to egg wash, leave for a couple of minutes, then repeat. Place the tray of dainties in the fridge until required.

Sprinkle with Nigella seeds and then bake for 20 minutes – check after 15, until golden brown.

A word of warning … it's very difficult not to consume these when taken out of the oven – you might want to plan another batch!

If you want to make ahead, having double egg washed and fridged, you can then freeze them on the tray until frozen and then bag, ready for when required. At least that way you won't be able to eat them all!

Here's a photo or two …

here they are, double egg washed, edged

and sprinkled, ready to bake or chill if you prefer

Note to self a small cake fork is the best kit to edge

the dainties

fresh from the oven!

bagged and tagged – ready for the Christmas

Box

From “The Ivy The Restaurant and its Recipes by AA Gill”.

It's rare if I don't alter a recipe in some way – the greatest compliment I can give is not to interfere.

Quite simply the best fishcakes in the whole world!

The Ivy Fishcakes

(makes 8 – freeze what you don't use)

800g dry mashed potato, no cream or butter added

650g salmon fillet poached in fish stock and flaked

2 tbsp tomato ketchup

2 tsp anchovy essence

3 tsp English mustard

salt and black pepper

Plain flour for coating

Mix together the potato, half the salmon, the ketchup, anchovy essence, mustard and seasoning until smooth. Fold in the rest of the salmon. Mould the mixture into 8 round cakes and refrigerate.

When you're ready to serve preheat the oven 180fan/200c/gas 6. Lightly flour the fishcakes and fry them until they are coloured on both sides. Bake for 10/15 minutes.

Quick tartare sauce

Hellmann's mayonnaise – approximately two

heaped tablespoons

Caper paste – 1 teaspoon

Cornichons – two, finely diced

Capers to taste

Mix the caper paste with the mayo and fold in the

diced cornichons and capers

Better still what about serving with a mornay sauce – excellent scaled down as a starter with the mornay drizzled over the top of the fishcake with crispy potatoes.

Then again how about a spoonful of pea pureé – mushy peas to me – set a small fishcake in the middle and then a liberal drizzle of curry sauce – yum!