Swedish-Style Pork Meatballs

I've only just gone and done it again. Given a probably highly unauthentic dish a nationality. OK, so the closest I've got to Sweden is Ikea. Needless to say these meatballs are much better than their Ikea cousins (but I must admit, I have a soft spot for Ikea meatballs....).

This is another dish I remember really fondly from when I was little. My Mum and I used to make a little production line. We'd get our hands nice and messy squishing the meatball mixture between our fingers and then one of us would roll the meatballs, while the other one would dust them in flour. Needless to say if I was in charge of dusting the meatballs it would be like an explosion in a flour factory.

This version of the recipe I use sausage meat for ease. I have been known to make these meatballs using a mixture of pork mince and bacon. They're even nice with turkey mince if pork isn't your cup of tea. If I can get my hands on fresh tarragon I like to substitute it for the thyme for a different but yummy flavour.

Ingredients (serves 3)

Packet of 8 good quality pork sausages

Onion

Garlic

Thyme

White wine

Chicken stock

Vegetable oil

Plain flour

Salt

Pepper

How to...

1. Finely dice the onions and garlic and soften in a pan with some vegetable oil.

2. Slice open the sausages and empty the meat into a bowl. Grind pepper and salt into the sausage meat. Add a generous sprinkling of thyme and the onions and garlic.

3. Make sure your hands are clean and stick them in the sausage meat and mix it all up.

4. Roll the pork mixture into small balls and coat them in a dusting of plain flour.
5. Brown the meatballs in a pan with some vegetable oil. Drain off the excess oil once they're brown.

6. Slosh about a glass of wine into the pan, pour the same into a glass for yourself and enjoy it.

7. Pour enough chicken stock in the pan to almost cover the meatballs, for me this was about 1 pint.

8. Leave to simmer for half an hour. The sauce should reduce and become as thick as gravy.

9. Serve with boiled rice and spinach, or just in a bowl with a hunk of fresh bread to mop up the sauce.
Whilst cooking I was listening to... The Buena Vista Social Club

Chorizo and Bean Soup

Strangely I only like homemade soup, even the premium ready made soups that are available just don't do it for me. Also a little strangely I'm a big fan of soups in summer, possibly because they tend to be quite light and easy to digest. I think there's little better than tucking into a bowl of delicious, fresh soup after a day in the sunshine.

Soup is also really easy to make, which is an important thing for me at the moment. I'm in the middle of sitting my final exams at university. This means I need to get in lots of nutritious food, but not spent forever making it. It also helps that it's so simple, that even when my head is somewhere else, it's impossible to get it wrong.

Ingredients (makes 3 hearty bowls)

Chorizo (about 150g)

Tin of chopped tomatoes

Tin of mixed beans in spicy tomato sauce

Half an onion

Clove of garlic

Vegetable/chicken stock

3 handfuls of baby spinach leaves

Olive oil

How to...

1. Chop onions and garlic, soften in a pan with olive oil.

2. Dice chorizo and cook with onions and garlic for 5 minutes.
3. Add tomatoes, beans and 1 litre of chicken stock. Leave to cook on a medium heat for 30 mins or so.
4. Pour steaming hot soup into bowls and top with a handful of fresh baby spinach leaves.

Whilst cooking I was listening to... Turning Tables by Adele.

Pad Thai

I remember the first time I went to a Thai restaurant. I must have been about 9 years old and it was in Bayswater. The first bite of pad thai I had was like love at first taste. Since then I've had a lifetime of disappointment when restaurants get it wrong and probably for that reason I haven't had a go at making it. Weirdly it's probably the recipe I've googled most.

I was having dinner at a friend's and they said they fancied pad thai. It seemed like the perfect opportunity to give it a bash. We encountered a few problems... lack of large flat rice noodles was the main problem, in fact it was thin egg noodles or udon noodles. We went for udon as they're my second favourite, but ideally it would be made with flat rice noodles.

This recipe (as with the last one I wrote), probably isn't totally authentic, but it tastes pretty nice and I'll certainly be making it again.

Ingredients (serves 2)

Flat rice noodles (2 portions)

100g pork loin

200g raw king prawns

Beansprouts

1 egg

Thai fish sauce

Brown sugar

Tamarind paste

2 cloves garlic

2 red chillies

2 spring onions

Crushed peanuts

Coriander

Lime

Vegetable oil

How to...

1. Finely chop garlic and chillies and soften in frying pan with a generous splosh of vegetable oil.

2. Finely slice pork loin and add to pan. Cook for 5 minutes.

3. Cook noodles according to packet instructions.

4. Add raw prawns to pan. Cook for 1-2 minutes.

5. Add noodles, finely sliced spring onion, a generous splash of fish sauce, a tablespoon of brown sugar, a teaspoon of tamarind paste and the juice of a lime.

6. Tilt the pan to one side and push noodles away from the flame. Add a beaten egg to the side of the pan nearest the flame and scramble it.

7. Mix the egg in with the rest.

8. Throw 2-3 big handfuls of beansprouts in the pan.

9. Cook for another 2 minutes.

10. Serve topped with crushed peanuts, coriander leaves and a wedge of lime.
Whilst cooking I was listening to... Coyotes by Jason Mraz.

Vietnamese Beef Pho

I get a bit worried when claiming to cook something from a country that I've never even visited, so before I offend anyone with any authenticities I thought I'd come clean. So this may (or may not) be authentic, but regardless it's pretty scrummy. As well as being delicious it's really quick to cook and is one of those soup that even goes down well on a hot summers day.

If I don't have rice noodles I either have it without noodles, with egg noodles or sometimes even put some leftover cooked rice in it.

Ingredients (Serves 4-6 in little bowls as a starter or 2 as a main meal)

2 sirloin steaks

3 shallots

5 cloves of garlic

2" of ginger

2 chillies

2 pints beef stock

1 portion of rice noodles

1 lime

Fish sauce

2 spring onions

Basil

Coriander

Vegetable oil

How to...

1. Finely chop garlic, shallots, ginger and chillies.

2. Finely slice steak and lie over the bottom of a bowl in a single layer. When the hot broth is poured over this later it will cook the beef through perfectly.

3. Fry shallots, garlic, ginger and chillies in a splash of vegetable oil until they are soft and fragrant. Be careful not to burn it!

4. Pour in 2 pints of beef stock. Ideally use fresh but in all honesty I use stock cubes most of the time.
5. Squeeze in the juice of a lime and add a splash of fish sauce (not too much as you don't want it too salty).

6. Cook noodles according to instructions on packet. Split between bowls.

7. Pour hot broth into bowls over beef and noodles.

8. Garnish with finely sliced spring onion, coriander and basil.

Whilst cooking I was listening to... Come Away With Me by Norah Jones.

Braised Peas

Another one from my Dad. In fact I don't even know why I say that as it's a given that 95% of the stuff I cook I learnt to cook from him.

I was lucky enough to be at home again this weekend. My Dad enticed me with the offer of roast chicken and let me choose what I'd want with it. The obvious answer for me is peas. They're my favourite vegetable to have with a roast chicken, in fact I think I look forward to the peas more than the actual roast.

Whenever I invite people over for food I always like to ask them if there's anything they don't eat. A surprising number of people say peas. Unfortunately this is like a red rag to a bull for me... as soon as they say it I see it as a challenge. I automatically decide I'm cooking them these braised peas... or "magic peas" as I named them while at uni.

So far they've converted 6/6 pea haters. I'm spreading the pea love...

Ingredients (serves 4... or more or less... depends how much you like peas)

Bag of frozen petits pois (I only use birds eye)

Smoked bacon

Half an onion

Clove of garlic

Thyme

Chicken stock

Little gem lettuce

Knob of butter

How to...

1. Finely chop onions and soften in a pan with a generous knob of butter.

2. Add chopped bacon and a smushed clove of garlic and gently fry until the bacon is cooked.

3. Throw in frozen peas. I use about half of one of the small bags at a time. Use a bit more or a bit less depending how many people you're cooking for.

4. Add enough chicken stock to not quite cover the peas. Also bung in a generous amount of thyme. (Stock from a good cube is fine, contrary to popular belief not always making your own stock is not a crime. If you have homemade stock, well done, you're doing better than me.)

5. Simmer for 10 mins.

6. Add chopped baby gem lettuce and simmer for another 5 minutes.

Serve... preferably with roast chicken and home-made gravy.

Whilst cooking I was listening to... The sound of my own voice talking to my Dad.

Cheat's Lamb and Olive Tagine

My Dad grew up in North Africa, and because of that tagine, cous cous and other North African delights make him think of warm summers spent as a child. Not surprisingly when its wet, windy and raining, he's always keen to whip something delicious up for dinner.

I visited home on the weekend and my Dad and I decided it was one of those days when only a tagine would do. Unfortunately as we were stuck at his hotel we didn't have a tagine to cook it in, nor did we have any preserved lemons. This wasn't going to stop my Dad and his awesome cookery skills. Needless to say the final dish was fabulous...

Ingredients (serves 6)

A shoulder of lamb diced (big enough to serve the number of people you're cooking for)

2 sweet peppers

Half a large onion

12 - 18 new potatoes

Half a jar of green pitted olives

1 unwaxed lemon

Garlic

Saffron

Whole coriander seeds

Dried chilli

Olive oil

Lamb stock (or chicken or veg stock)

Coriander leaves

How to

1. Finely chop onion, garlic and chop sweet peppers into large chunks. Soften over a medium heat with olive oil.

2. Add diced lamb to pan.

3. Splosh in about half a pint of stock.

4. Throw in olives, a pinch of saffron, a generous tablespoon or two of whole coriander seeds and a healthy pinch of chilli flakes.

5. Juice the lemon and save the juice for something else. Chop up the juiced lemon into big chunks and throw in the pot.

6. Cover the pot and simmer on a low heat for an hour and a half or so.

7. Add in the new potatoes peeled and cook for another 15-20 mins.

8. Serve with a handful of fresh coriander leaves.

Whilst cooking I was listening to: I'm Yours - Jason Mraz

Crab and Leek Risotto

Risotto is one of those things that I could eat every day and never get bored of. It can be vegetarian or meaty and its gluten free. This means it's always an option when I'm cooking dinner for friends. It's definitely a crowd pleaser. Unfortunately I've had a few over cooked mushy risottos which risked putting me off for life, but the memory of a good home cooked risotto has always rescued me.

This is a pretty simple risotto to make. I tend to make it when I'm missing home. I come from by the seaside where we can get big crabs pretty cheaply. My cupboard version with a tinned crab is perhaps not quite as amazing as using fresh crab, but I still adore it.

Ingredients (for 4)

400g risotto rice

1 x good quality tinned crab (or if you're lucky enough about 300g fresh white crabmeat)

1 leek

1 lemon

1.5l of fish stock

Glass of white wine

Pepper

Knob of butter

Fresh parsley

How to...

1. Finely slice the leek, having washed all the mud off beforehand.

2. Soften the leek over a medium heat with a knob of butter.

3. Zest the lemon.

4. Add risotto rice, half the lemon zest, a generous grinding of fresh black pepper and a slosh of fish stock to pan.

5. Stir the risotto adding stock and wine as it is absorbed. Keep cooking for around 15-20 minutes over a medium heat. The rice should still have some bite to it.

6. Add in 3/4 of the crab and stir.

7. Dish up the risotto topping each dish with a spoon of leftover crabmeat, some lemon zest and a big pinch of fresh roughly chopped parsley.

Today whilst cooking I was listening to... Everything by Micheal Buble.