Eating Essentials

Ingredients
olive oil
2 onions , peeled and roughly chopped
4 sticks celery , trimmed and roughly chopped
5 cloves garlic , peeled and roughly chopped
3 beef tomatoes , roughly chopped
500 g potatoes , peeled and cut into 3-4cm chunks
3 bay leaves
1 litre organic vegetable stock
700 g fresh fish fillets , from sustainable sources, ask your fishmonger, scaled and pin-boned
1 lemon , juice of
½ a bunch fresh flat-leaf parsley , (15g) roughly chopped
½ a bunch fresh dill , (15g) roughly chopped
Greek extra virgin olive oil
1 loaf rustic bread , to serve

Method
Heat a good lug of olive oil in a large pan on a medium heat. Add the onions and celery and cook for 5 minutes, then add the garlic and cook for another 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, until soft but not coloured.
Add the tomatoes, potatoes and bay leaves and pour in the stock. Season lovingly with sea salt and black pepper and bring it all to the boil. Reduce to a low heat and simmer for 15 minutes. At this point, add your fish fillets and bring back to the boil, then reduce to a medium-low heat and simmer for a further 15 minutes, until the potatoes are tender and the fish is cooked through and flakes apart. Stir in the lemon juice and herbs, drizzle with extra virgin olive oil, then have a quick taste to make sure you've got a good balance of acidity, freshness and seasoning and serve with chunks of rustic bread.

Ingredients
200 g baby spinach
300 g Tipo '00' or plain flour , plus extra for dusting
600 g pumpkin or butternut squash , (save your seeds for toasting)
4 cloves of garlic
2 banana shallots
1 red chilli , optional
3 sprigs of fresh rosemary
2 sprigs of fresh sage
olive oil
40 g Parmesan cheese
extra virgin olive oil

Method
In a food processor, blitz the spinach and flour until a ball of dough forms, letting the machine do all the work. Touch the dough – it shouldn’t be sticky, you want a playdough consistency, so add a little more flour, if needed.
To make the pici, simply tear off 2cm balls, about 10g in weight, of dough and roll them out into long thin sausage shapes – think fine green beans – on a clean surface. The beauty is that they’re all different, so everyone can do it.
Place the pici onto a floured tray as you do it, making sure they don’t dry out. Set aside while you make the sauce.
Wipe out the food processor with a cloth (there’s no need to clean properly).
Cut the pumpkin or squash into rough chunks, reserving any seeds for toasting (ask an adult to help with this bit). Wash the stringy bits of squash off the seeds and leave them to dry.
Place the squash chunks in the food processor and pulse until roughly chopped.
Peel the garlic and shallots, and add to the food processor with the chilli, if using. Pick in the leaves of the herbs and pulse again until well combined.
Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil. Put a large frying pan on a medium heat with 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Add the squash mixture to the pan and cook for 5 minutes, or until softened.
Add 2 ladlefuls of boiling water, bring to a simmer and cook for 20 minutes.
When the sauce is nearly ready, add the pici to your pan of boiling salted water. If it’s freshly rolled it will only need about 5 minutes, but if you’ve let it dry give it 8 to 10 minutes, checking on it to make sure you get lovely al dente pasta.
Drain the pasta, reserving a mugful of cooking water. Grate most of the Parmesan into the sauce, stirring until the cheese has melted, loosening with a little pasta water, if needed. Toss the pasta in the sauce to coat.
Place a small dry frying pan over a medium heat and toast the reserved pumpkin seeds until golden.
Divide the pasta between your plates, finish with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, grate over the remaining Parmesan cheese and serve.

Ingredients
1 x 165 g tin of sweetcorn
6 spring onions
1 long red pepper
3 ripe tomatoes
1 fresh red chilli (optional)
1 bunch of fresh coriander , (30g) (optional)
2 limes
olive oil
4 wholewheat tortillas
1 x 400 g tin of black beans
1 ripe avocado
20 g feta cheese

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4.
To make the salsa, drain the sweetcorn and trim the spring onions. Place a large non-stick frying pan over a high heat and cook the whole pepper, tomatoes, spring onions and chilli (if using) for 10 minutes, turning occasionally, until soft and charred.
Place the peppers and chilli (if using) in a bowl, cover with a plate and set aside for 5 minutes. Remove the tomatoes and spring onions to a board to cool. Add the drained sweetcorn to the pan and cook for 1 minute to get a little charred, too.
Once cool enough to handle, roughly chop the tomatoes and spring onions and place them in a separate bowl with the charred sweetcorn. Peel, deseed and roughly chop the pepper and chilli (if using). Pick and roughly chop a few coriander leaves (if using) then add it all to the bowl. Mix in a good squeeze of lime juice, a small drizzle of oil and season with a small pinch of salt.
To make the tortilla chips, stack the tortillas on top of one another and cut them into eighths. Arrange the pieces over two large 40cm x 30cm baking trays in one layer, then bake in the oven for 15 minutes, turning halfway, until golden on both sides.
Meanwhile, drain and rinse the beans, then blot dry with kitchen paper. Tip them into the frying pan over a medium heat and leave for 5 minutes, shaking the pan occasionally – you want them to char and pop open, bursting their skins.
Peel, destone and slice the avocado into chunks, then drizzle with the remaining lime juice.
Remove the tortillas from the oven, leave to cool slightly, then arrange in a shallow bowl or platter. Top with the popped beans, tomato and pepper salsa and the dressed avocado. Crumble over the feta and pick over the remaining coriander leaves (if using), then tuck in!

Ingredients
4 lamb shanks , (roughly 400g each)
2 leeks
200 g pearl barley
1 heaped tablespoon umami paste
500 ml of your favourite ale

Method
Preheat the oven to 170ºC/325ºF/gas 3.
Place a large casserole pan on a high heat, and fry the lamb shanks in 1 tablespoon of olive oil, while you halve, wash and roughly chop the leeks.
Add them to the pan with the pearl barley, umami paste and a pinch of sea salt and black pepper, then stir well.
Pour in the ale and 1 tablespoon of red wine vinegar, then cover with 1.2 litres of water.
Cook in the oven for 2 hours 30 minutes, or until tender, then dish on up. Easy!

Ingredients
400 g baby new potatoes
200 g frozen peas
200 g piece of lamb rump
4 sprigs of fresh basil
1 heaped tablespoon yellow pepper pesto , or green pesto

Method
Halve any larger potatoes, then cook in a pan of boiling salted water for 15 minutes, or until tender, adding the peas to the party for the last 3 minutes.
Meanwhile, rub the lamb all over with 1 teaspoon of olive oil, and a pinch of sea salt and black pepper.
Starting fat side down, sear the lamb in a non-stick frying pan on a medium-high heat for 10 minutes, turning regularly until gnarly all over but blushing in the middle, or use your instincts to cook to your liking.
Remove to a plate to rest, then, with the frying pan on a low heat, make a liquor by stirring in a splash of water and a little red wine vinegar to pick up all those nice sticky bits, leaving it to tick away slowly until needed.
Drain the potatoes and peas, tip into the liquor pan, pick over most of the basil, add the pesto and toss it all well.
Serve with the lamb, sliced thinly, then pour over the resting juices. Pick over the remaining basil leaves, and tuck in

Ingredients
G / ML CUPS / OZ
1 small butternut squash , (900g)
250 g ricotta cheese
½ a bunch of fresh basil , (15g)
3 large free-range eggs
300 g Tipo 00 or plain flour , plus extra for dusting
600 ml 7-veg tomato sauce
70 g rocket
10 g Parmesan cheese
extra virgin olive oil

Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C/350°F/gas 4.
In a tray, roast the squash whole for 1 hour. Add the ricotta and roast for another 30 minutes, or until the squash is cooked through.
Halve it in the tray, discarding the skin and seeds. Pick, finely chop and add the basil leaves, then mash it all with the ricotta, scraping up any sticky bits from the tray. Taste, season to perfection, and cool.
To make the pasta dough, put the eggs and flour into a food processor and whiz into a ball of dough. Knead on a flour-dusted surface until smooth. Cut in half, wrap in clingfilm and rest for 30 minutes.
Flatten one piece of dough by hand. Run it through the thickest setting on a pasta machine, then take the rollers down two settings and run it through again to make it thinner.
Now, fold it in half and run it back through the thickest setting again, repeating this a few times for super-smooth dough. Start rolling the sheet down through each setting, lightly dusting with flour as you go. Turn the crank with one hand while the other maintains just a little tension to avoid any kinks or folds.
Take it right down to 1mm, then lay the sheet flat and stamp out circles with a 12cm cutter.
Working quickly, spoon 1 heaped teaspoon of filling into the middle of each, lightly brush the exposed pasta with water, fold into half-moon shapes over the filling, gently pressing to squeeze out any air, and seal. Repeat with the second ball of dough.
Warm the sauce in a pan over a medium heat, and in batches cook the pasta in a large pan of boiling salted water for just 2 minutes.
Toss the pasta with the sauce and rocket and serve with finely grated Parmesan, finished with a few drips of extra virgin olive oil.