This recipe is based on a Jamie Oliver classic that I first read about in the ABC’s DELICIOUS magazine in 2010.

That wonderful magazine has fuelled my appetite for recipes, food trends and all things to do with the culinary world for about 13 years now and I continue to go back to old issues of the magazine (yes, I still have them all!) and still find things I remember cooking years ago or find new inspiration that I might have missed the first time I read it.

I recently made this for the family for a lazy Sunday lunch after church. I did declare as I served it “eat up, as I am not making dinner as well today!”

A dish featuring prawns, wine and chorizo would not normally be on our mid week menu. This is more like a special occasion meal for a weekend or for sharing with friends.

Serves a family of 5

Ingredients

400gm spaghetti

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1-2 chorizo, sliced into thin rounds

2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

1/2 bunch of basil, stalks chopped and leaves reserved

1 punnet of cherry tomatoes, halved

1 teaspoon of dried chilli flakes, or 1/2 a fresh red chilli, seeds removed and finely chopped

1 cup (250ml) white wine (use chicken stock if you don’t want to use wine)

300gm green prawns, peeled and deveined (I used frozen prawns that were defrosted)

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

Fresh parsley or basil leaves to garnish

Method

Cook spaghetti till al dente and set aside, reserving a little of the cooking water.

Heat olive oil in a medium frying pan and cook chorizo till brown and crispy.

Add the garlic, basil stalks, tomatoes and chilli to the frying pan.

Pour in the wine and lemon juice and simmer away until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Add the prawns and cook for a few minutes until they are pink.

Season with salt and pepper and add cooked spaghetti (and a little reserved pasta cooking water) into the frying pan.

Give everything a big toss and serve in bowls, garnished with fresh herbs.

This soup came about on one of those lovely mornings, where a gathering of friends for morning tea turned into an impromptu lunch in the autumn sunshine.

I was a little worried about how it would turn out as I was chatting away the whole time I was throwing this and that into my big soup pot.

This hearty and spicy soup will warm you through on the coldest of days. Enjoy it on its own or with some warm crusty bread, which is what my boys had when I remade it for the family for dinner.  I should add at this point, my 3 year old wasn’t overly impressed with this soup, but the rest of the family gobbled it up!

I know I have said before I don’t really love sausages…but I make an exception for the spanish sausage known as Chorizo. The smell of it cooking alone drives me crazy. It adds a beautiful flavour and ‘spicyness’ to whatever it is in.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

2 chorizo, cut into thin rounds

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 leek, white part only, finely chopped (or 1 spanish onion, finely chopped)

2 sticks celery, finely chopped

2 carrots, peeled and finely chopped

800gm tin diced tomatoes

1.5 litres chicken stock

2 tablespoons tomato paste

a handful of chopped fresh herbs like oregano, thyme, (dried is fine)

1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes

1/2 cup of superblend fibre (freekah, lentils and beans)
OR
1/2 cup quinoa or risoni (rice shaped) pasta

Serve with parmesan cheese and fresh herbs, like parsley or coriander.

Method

Heat the olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat and add the chorizo. Cook till brown and crispy, then add leek, celery and carrot. Fry off till softened and slightly golden.

Add tomatoes, tomato paste, chicken stock, herbs and chilli.

Bring to the boil, lower the heat and simmer for 15 – 20 minutes, until the vegies are soft and it’s thickened a little.

Add the bean mix (quinoa or pasta), put the lid on and cook for another 20 minutes or until the beans or pasta is cooked.

If it still isn’t thick and rich enough, simmer for a little longer with the lid off.

Taste and add salt and pepper if needed and serve with parmesan cheese and fresh parsley or coriander.

It’s a bit of give and take in most homes when it comes to deciding what’s for dinner.

A common complaint in our house is “but you know this isn’t my favourite!” to which the reply is something like “That’s right. We had your favourite two nights ago. This is X’s favourite tonight. We don’t all get to eat exactly what we want every single night. There are 5 people to consider and it will be rare if we are all 100% happy with the dinner choice every single night. So be thankful and just EAT it!” Said with a loving and patient tone of course 🙂

My husband and I love curries and have struggled over the years to get the kids to eat them with us. I have gone through the stage of making one for us and something else for them, and I’ve come to the point where I don’t want to make multiple meals anymore.

There are those times where we will order our favourite take away curries and have those as a special ‘home date night’ after feeding the kids something simple and putting them to bed.

I recently tried another less complicated approach to a curry from one of my all time favourite cooks, Bill Granger. I love his simple approach to good home cooking, his small list of ingredients and easy steps that produce beautiful food. If there is a cook book I couldn’t live without, it would be his ‘Bills Basics’.

This Chicken Curry is from that book and instead of fussing with a whole lot of ingredients, a mortar and pestle to make your own paste or powder, he simple suggests to use a few tablespoons of a good curry powder.  This was such a hit and EVERYONE ate it in our house, even the 3 year old! I have made few small changes to the original recipe.

The quantity below served 2 adults and 3 kids with enough for leftovers for 1 the next day.

Ingredients

8 chicken thigh fillets, cut into quarters

2 tablespoons of curry powder (I used AYAM brand). If you are wanting to introduce curry to your kids and are nervous, you could cut this back a bit and see how it goes. We didn’t find it too spicy though.

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 kaffir lime leaves (Kaffir Lime leaves can be found in the fresh food section of a supermarket with the herbs. They add such a beautiful flavour to Asian cooking. I buy them in a container and keep them in the freezer for months. You can just take a leaf or 2 straight out of the freezer and pop it straight into the dish.)

1 tablespoon of ginger paste or grated fresh ginger

2 tablespoons fish sauce

1/2 tablespoon of brown sugar

1/2 a small sweet potato (Kumera), peeled and cut into small cubes

3-4 small potatoes, peeled and cut into small cubes

a handful of green beans, cut into small pieces

400ml chicken stock

1 cup coconut milk

Fresh coriander leaves and stalks, roughly chopped to garnish for serving

Method

Toss the chicken pieces in the curry powder to coat. You can do this in a plastic bag or just in a bowl.

Heat the oil in a large pan over medium heat.

Add the chicken and cook until browned all over.

Add the kaffir lime leaves, ginger, fish sauce, brown sugar, sweet potato, potato and chicken stock and bring to the boil. Cover, reduce heat to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes or until the chicken and vegies are cooked.

Stir in the coconut milk and green beans and simmer with the lid off for another 5 minutes or so to thicken the sauce.

Serve on it’s own garnished with coriander or with rice.