Recipes

So warm and comforting. Every mouthful a hug. It was cobbled together a bit from other recipes but approximately this:

1. Make a roux. I took it to a dark hazelnut level of colour.
2. Add finely chopped onion, celery, and green pepper to the roux and fry, stirring often for a few minutes..
3. Add chopped garlic and fry, stirring often. I was going to add some anchovies at this point, but couldn't find them, so I didn't.
4. After a couple more minutes, push the veggies to one side then add a decent squeeze of tomato puree to the clear half of the pot, stirring it to release the aroma, then mix it in with the rest of the veggies.
5. Add spices and aromatics. I went with a Cajun spice mix (called 'Slap Ya Mama'), salt, pepper, thyme, oregano, and a couple of bay leaves. But really you could do pretty much anything at this point depending on the spice profile you fancy - saffron or smoked paprika would both work really well here to give a more Spanish feel for example.
6. Add some dry white wine, or beer, slowly, stirring. The roux will glob up, but just keep gently stirring and adding liquid until it's started to loosen. I'd guess I used about 250-300ml. Keep on the heat, stirring, for about 5 minutes to let the alcohol cook off a bit.
7. Add chopped tomatoes - fresh or canned.
8. Add more liquid. I went with a bottle of beer and 500 ml of fish stock, but just fish stock would work fine.
9. Gently simmer for an hour, or so, stirring every 15-20 minutes, letting it approach the consistency you want because it'll thicken over time.
10. Adjust the seasoning.
11. Add chopped fish / prawns / other shellfish. Stir gently because you don't want the fish to break up. I gave it about five minutes and the fish was perfect, but adjust depending on what you're adding.
12. Garnish with finely chopped parsley and spring onion, and plenty of lemon for people to squeeze over.
13. Serve with fresh baked, crusty bread to mop up the juices.

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This is fantastically fresh and lively and goes great with slow-cooked barbecue, or smoked meats. The feta provides a contrasting texture and saltiness to the sweet fruit.

The recipe is the name of it really.

1. Cube some ripe watermelon and some cantaloupe or orange honey-dew
2. Likewise some mango
3. Peel, deseed, and chop a cucumber
4. Half some cherry tomatoes
5. Dice or crumble some feta (I know, I used one of those tubs of cubes... it's really not the best, but it was in the fridge. I'd like to blame my wife but I do all the grocery shopping so I must have been feeling exceptionally lazy)
6. Finely slice a small red onion
7. Finely chop a fistful of mint and an equal amount of basil
8. Drizzle over some olive oil, a restrained splash of fresh lemon juice, salt (not too much because of the feta) and freshly ground black pepper

You can prepare this up to a couple of hours in advance. Much longer than that and the mango, in particular, starts to lose its texture and is a lot less pleasant.

I'm not a massive fan of complex, sweet, fruity coleslaws. This is very simple and very good.

• 1 small red cabbage
• 1 large red onion
• Olive oil
• Lemon juice
• Mayonnaise
• Salt
• Pepper

1. Slice the cabbage and the onion as finely as you can. A sharp knife will really, really help here.
2. Mix the cabbage and onion in a bowl.
3. Add a good drizzle of olive oil, a fair splash of lemon juice, and a restrained squirt / dollop of mayonnaise (I use the Hellmann's squeeze bottle - homemade mayonnaise would obviously be better but this is the super quick and easy recipe).
4. Salt and pepper to taste.

You can serve it immediately for maximum crunchy texture, or up to 24 hours later for a creamier, softer, more luxurious texture (though you will want to drain some of the liquid that will naturally accumulate in the bottom of the bowl).

If you're serving it with something very rich and fatty, add a little more lemon juice to give it some extra zip to cut through.

This is what I will be cooking soon. It's always a winner.

The official recipe for ragù alla bolognese, known throughout the anglosphere as the bolognese in spaghetti bolognese - which was been held on record at the Bologna Chamber of Commerce since the 1980s - has just been updated to reflect changing tastes.