Take 3 Good Things - Potatoes, Asparagus & Halloumi (Recipe by Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall)

Last week my mum bought Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's cookbook 'Hugh's Three Good Things on a Plate', and whilst flicking through it his recipe using potatoes, asparagus and halloumi caught my eye. So yesterday I decided to make myself this dish for my lunch, using a fresh bunch of homegrown asparagus before the British Asparagus Season ends in mid-June. Here's how it turned out...

It tasted so good, after I'd finished my big plateful I wish I'd made enough to have seconds! Unfortunately I was only cooking for myself, so had adjusted the recipe quantities to make only 1 portion :( This dish makes a great lunch, or Hugh suggests serving it with sourdough bread to make a more filling meal of it.

Recipe - Hugh's Take Three Good Things - Potatoes, Asparagus & Halloumi
Serves 4

Ingredients:

600 - 700g new potatoes
4-5 cloves garlic (unpeeled), bashed
2 tbsp olive oil
400g asparagus
225g halloumi
Squeeze of lemon juice
Salt and pepper to season
A tbsp chopped parsley (optional)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 190C. Cut the potatoes into small chunks. Pour the olive oil into a roasting tray and then add the garlic and potatoes with some salt & pepper to season.

2. Whilst the potatoes are roasting, trim the ends of the asparagus and chop the spears into 3-4cm lengths. Cut the halloumi into small cubes (approx. 2cm)

3. Add the asparagus and halloumi to the potatoes once the 30 minutes have passed. Toss the ingredients to combine. Return the roasting tray to the oven and cook for 15 minutes.

4. Remove from the oven and discard the garlic cloves. Add a generous squeeze of lemon juice and toss all the ingredients together. Before serving you can scatter over some parsley if desired. 

After this success I'm keen to try out more of the recipes from Hugh's cookbook, although there are so many tasty looking things I can't quite decide which to try next! The cookbook is currently available on Amazon for a very reasonable £9.99 (see here).

Lisa x

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Jamie Oliver's Mince and Onions

Of all the Jamie Oliver recipe books I own (and I have many of them!), I think I love his Ministry of Food book the most. My friend (who refers to him as 'Saint Jamie'!) first introduced me to the book in 2010 and some of my all-time favourite dishes I make are from it. One of the recipes is for a 'Classic Mince and Onion Pie', which forms the basis of the meal I made for my family yesterday evening.

I actually had a whole load of new potatoes that needed finishing so instead of doing the pie, I decided to make the mince and onions and serve it with vegetables and the new potatoes that I roasted with garlic and rosemary. It worked out really well, and I suppose it was healthier than using a load of pastry to make it into a pie! So here is the Ministry of Food recipe I followed to make mince and onions...

Recipe: Jamie Oliver's Mince and Onions
Serves 4

Ingredients:

olive oil
3 onions
2 carrots
2 sticks of celery
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
2 bay leaves
500g beef mince
1 teaspoon English mustard
1 teaspoon Marmite
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
2 teaspoon flour, plus extra for dusting
beef stock cubes

Method:

1. Peel and roughly chop the onions, carrots and celery until fine (I whizzed mine in my Kenwoods mini-chopper, available here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Kenwood-CH180-Mini-Chopper-Watt/dp/B0000C6WPC)
2. Remove rosemary leaves from their stalks and finely chop.
3. Add 2 glugs of olive oil to a large casserole-style pan and place on a high heat on the stove top. Add the chopped veggies, rosemary and the 2 bay leaves and cook until the vegetables are softened (remember to keep stirring whilst they cook to avoid burning/sticking to the pan)
4. Add the beef mince and cook until browned, before adding the mustard, Marmite, Worcestershire sauce and flour.
5. Make up 1 litre of beef stock using boiling water and the appropriate number of stock cubes (dependent on brand used) - I used 2 Knorr stock cubes. Add this to the pan and bring to the boil.
6. Turn down the heat and bring to a simmer for about an hour until the stock has reduced to form a lovely thick gravy that coats the mince. Jamie recommends keeping it covered whilst cooking, but I find that if I cover the mixture the gravy doesn't reduce and the mixture stays very liquidy. Therefore I like to leave it simmering uncovered, allowing for some of the liquid to evaporate to achieve a thicker consistency. Remember to give it a stir every so often.
7. Before serving remove the bay leaves and season with salt and pepper.

Whilst my mince was cooking I made my roasted new potatoes which was so simple. I halved each potato and popped them into a roasting pan with some olive oil, salt, pepper, rosemary and 1 garlic clove (minced with a garlic press). This went into the pre-heated oven at 200°C for about 45 minutes until the potatoes were golden. I completed the meal with some broccoli and peas.

Lisa x

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