5 bean chilli & sweet potato melting burger

Ingredients 2 sweet potatoes, kidney beans, pinto beans, cannellini beans and haricot beans, maize, pistachios, sesame seeds, old bread, coriander, 5 jalepenos, Philadelphia

Serves: 4 preparation: 30 minutes


I love bean burgers and this is a fabulously spiced with a scrumptious melting Philadelphia centre to cut through the heat.


1) Peel and dice the sweet potato, then boil it in hot, salted water until soft. Drain, mash and set aside to cool.  


2) Stir the beans into the sweet potato (Tesco sell "taco beans", 1 can of which is perfect - but rinse away the sauce, otherwise it will make the mixture too wet) and add a teaspoon of cumin and some chopped jalepenos to taste.


3) Sift in a little maize flour and stir through, adding more bit by bit until the mixture has stiffened just enough to form a patty with.


4) Blitz your bread in a blender until fine breadcrumbs are formed. Crush a handful of pistachios in a blender and stir through the bread with some sesame seeds.


5) Slice the patty in half and fill with a good teaspoon of Philadelphia. Form the patty back around the cheese to ensure there is no place for it to bubble out. Roll it in the breadcrumb mixture, then bake in the oven for 10 minutes until the breadcrumbs are golden brown.

Leek knish with a melting centre

Ingredients      Jus-Rol™ puff pastry, 1 potato, 10g cheddar, 10g mozzarella, 1 leek, cream, butter

Serves: 1 preparation: 30 minutes


When I make any dish containing mashed potato I always make far more than I need. Mainly because mashed potato is my favourite food and I am a glutton who likes to indulge herself, but also because if I don't eat it out of the bowl before it can be used and actually have leftovers - it makes the most fabulously versatile ingredient. Potato cakes, croquettes, soup, gnocchi... I'll even form bean burgers with it as you'll see in my next recipes. This recipe is one of my ultimate favourite comfort foods. A knish is a Jewish recipe though this I hasten to add is my own twist on the traditional form. The thinnest crispiest flakiest outer shell, a soft warm savoury filling with an indulgent melting centre - this is pure heaven.


1) Peel and dice the potato and boil in hot salted water for 20 minutes.


2) Drain the potato and mash thoroughly, set aside until it's cool enough to handle but is still warm.


3) Finely dice the leek and sautee in a little butter. Stir through the potato with a splash of cream and season well with salt and pepper.


4) Roll out the chilled pastry until it is as thin as possible but still thick enough to handle without poking holes through it. Remember pastry is made of butter and the potato is warm so you don't want to melt it!


5) Using a tennis ball sized scoop of potato, add it to the centre of the pastry, then cut the pastry down until it is just big enough to envelop the potato. Either poke a hole in the centre or as I did, twist the pastry together to form a spiral at the top. Press grated cheddar and mozzarella into the centre of the potato - then bake for 15 - 20 minutes until the pastry is golden brown.


I served this with pesto stuffed chicken, wrapped in bacon and creamed spinach with roast tomatoes.

Guinness beef & cabbage hash

Ingredients Potato, cream, butter, stewing steak, Guinness, beef stock, leek, cabbage, plain flour.

Serves: 2 preparation: 1 hour


This came together as a sort of desperate cobbling together as leftovers but The Boy loved it so it's come on the list of recipes to post as an alternative to my Guinness pie. Yet another St Patrick's Day cliched idea!


1) Peel and dice the potato and boil in hot salted water for 20 minutes


2) Dice the leek and cabbage and sautee in a little butter. Sift in a little plain flour to form a sort of roux, then add the chunks of beef and allow to brown before pouring over just enough Guinness to cover the meat.


3) Allow the Guinness to bubble away for about 10 minutes, then add a little beef stock and cream before stirring through. By now the sauce should have thickened to a glossy, dark brown hue.


4) Spoon the beef, cabbage and leek mixture into a casserole dish and set aside.


5) Strain the potatoes and mash with a little butter and cream. Season well with salt and black pepper, then pipe over the meat. Bake in the oven for 10-20 minutes until the top is golden brown and crispy

Creamed cabbage & potato cakes

Ingredients Pistachio, chilli & lime potato cakes, irish cheddar, cabbage, leeks, double cream, butter, black pepper

Serves: 2 preparation: 10 minutes


When I make potato cakes, I tend to like thick almost scone-like cakes that are crispy on the outside and meltingly perfect mash in the middle. On the rare occasion that I have "proper" flat potato cakes, I like to treat them as toast. In honour of St Patrick's Day (because what's more Irish than potatoes and cabbage?) I have created this creamed cabbage, cheddar and leek concoction to serve them with.


1) For instructions on making potato cakes see my previous recipe.


2) Dice the cabbage and leeks, then sautee in a little butter for 5 minutes, adding a tiny splash of cream once the leeks are soft.


3) Stir through some grated Irish cheddar and season well with black pepper.

Serve on the toasty hot potato cake

Leek & bacon bread

Ingredients     1 leek, 3 slices bacon, 350g wholemeal flour, 150g plain flour (plus more for dusting), 2 tsp bicarbonate of soda, 400ml Rachel's Organic Greek yoghurt

Serves: 8 Preparation: 1 hour

This is one of the most intensely savoury smelling breads I've ever created - the leek and bacon are a perfect combination and the yoghurt helps it to form a beautiful rustic crust. Perfect with soup or for Welsh rarebit.


1) Sift the flours together and add the bicarbonate of soda.


2) Finely dice the leek and cut the bacon into lardons, trimming off all of the fat.


3) Stir through the yoghurt, leek and bacon little by little until a soft, sticky dough is formed. You can use a food processor but I find it makes the bread quite dense.

4) Form a rough ball with the dough dust with flour and slash the top, or press into a loaf tin. (personally I think it looks awful - picture above - in a loaf tin and makes a much better looking round) Bake on a baking sheet for 30-45 minutes until a good crust has formed and the bottom sounds hollow when you tap it. Allow the bread to cool completely before diving in as it will remain quite moist when hot and you'll cause a soggy layer if you slice too soon.

Welsh rarebit

Ingredients   Bread, Newcastle Brown Ale, lancashire cheese, double cream, english mustard.

Serves: 4 Preparation: 10 minutes


This is a dish of division. The division between people who call it Welsh Rarebit or Welsh Rabbit. The division between people who use Cheddar and those who use Lancashire cheese. The division between people who use stout versus ale, sourdough bread versus seeded wholemeal... the list is endless! I have spent the majority of this week perfecting this recipe - I used different cheeses, different ales and stouts and I can confirm with absolute confidence that you will not find a better Welsh Rarebit sauce than that made with Newcastle Brown Ale and Lancashire cheese. Cheddar is too oily, too sharp tasting - the piquancy here comes from the mustard. I also prefer to serve this on seeded wholemeal bread, but watch out for my bacon bread recipe coming later today!


1) Reduce half a cup of ale in a milk pan, stir in a teaspoon of English mustard, a tablespoon of double cream and remove from the heat.


2) Grate the lancashire cheese into the pan and stir through until a completely smooth, elastic sort of fondue has formed.


3) Toast the bread on one side before spooning about 4 tablespoons of sauce, bit by bit onto the bread, allowing it to soak up the sauce as you spread it out.  When a layer of sauce about 1/3 of a centimetre high has settled on the bread, it's ready to grill.


4) I like to grill this until the cheese has begun to form a crisp brown layer, and run down the sides of the crust - this leaves a melting, soft centre of cheese but has a wonderful flavour on the top.

Boursin mushrooms

Ingredients 3 slices of bread, 200g chestnut mushrooms, 50g garlic and herb Boursin, pumpkin oil, butter

Serves: 1 preparation: 5 minutes


This recipe is The Boy's favourite breakfast - crispy melba toast topped with gooey, rich mushrooms - tangy with garlic and herb cheese and a nutty pumpkin oil finish. Being deathly allergic to mushrooms I can only promise that the sauce is magnificent, but magnificent it is.


1) Slice the crusts from the bread and press flat with a rolling pin. Toast lightly  and set aside.


2) Finely slice the mushrooms, then sautee in a frying pan for 3-4 minutes with a little butter and a drizzle of pumpkin oil. Finish by stirring through the boursin and serve, spooned onto the melba toast.

Cauliflower cheese

Ingredients   1 cauliflower, 1/2 cup Guinness, 2 cups grated cheddar, 1/2 cup grated gruyere, 1/2 cup double cream, 1 tsp grainy mustard.

Serves: 4 Preparation: 30 minutes


I love cauliflower cheese, scratch that - I love anything with cheese, but this dish is melting perfection with an unbelievably rich, tangy, sauce. The earthiness of the Guinness really works here and this is a perfect side dish for a roast dinner.


1) Prepare the cauliflower by removing the leaves and slicing the stem to the base. Slice around the stem to release the florets.


2) Steam or parboil the cauliflower for about 8 minutes, strain and set aside to rest in an ovenproof dish.


3) Reduce the Guinness by half in a milk pan and stir in the mustard and cream. Take off the heat and stir in the cheddar until it has melted into a thick, creamy sauce.


4) Pour the sauce over the cauliflower and sprinkle with the gruyere. Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, until the cheese bubbles and just begins to colour.

Banana pancakes

Ingredients    2 very ripe bananas, 1 cup plain flour, 1 tbsp baking powder, 1tbsp vegetable oil, 1 tbsp honey, 2 eggs, 1/2 cup crushed pecan nuts, 1/2 cup milk

Serves: 6 (Scotch pancake style) 12 (crepe style) Preparation: 40 minutes


I'm going to deviate away from culinary references here and turn to the world of music. Jack Johnson's Banana Pancakes is one of my favourite of his songs and every time I hear it it gets stuck in my head and I have an overwhelming compulsion to make banana pancakes. These work best in my opinion as a thick stack of scotch pancakes, drizzled with honey but The Boy demolished them before I could take a picture! So here's a crepe style made with the dregs of batter... 


1) Whisk the eggs with the milk, honey and vegetable oil and pour over the dry ingredients, whisking until they are combined.


2) Blend or mash the banana and add to the batter until incorporated. Leave the batter to rest for at least 30 minutes and then stir through.


3) Heat a non-stick frying pan until very hot, then add a small knob of butter. Pour in one ladle of batter (if you want crepes, quickly turn the pan off the heat to coat the base evenly with the batter, then return to the job) and cook for about one minute, until the base is lightly browned. I like to use a spatula or palette knife to just loosen the edges of the pancake - once the air gets under it you will find it does not stick to the pan but slide about which helps it to flip!

4) Flip over the pancake (if you have a clumsy wrist, slide the pancake onto a plate, then tip the pan over the plate and turn it upside down. No one will ever know!

5) Once the pancake has cooked on both sides, serve with a drizzle of honey

Cheddar & apple soup

Ingredients 1 potato, 4 apples, 1 pint vegetable stock, 100g cheddar, 1/4 leek, butter

Serves: 2 preparation: 30 minutes


Whilst The Boy was away recently, I spent a week eating cheddar and apple sandwiches. I could not get enough of this flavour combination which evolved into this thick, comforting, DELICIOUS soup. I promise you won't be disappointed. It's almost as good as Rick Stein's delicious looking dick...


1) Finely chop about a quarter of a leek and sautee with just a little knob of butter.


2) Peel and dice the potato and apples, discarding the cores and add to the pan along with a pint of vegetable stock.


3) Simmer for 20 minutes, until the potato is soft enough to mash in the pan, then pass the mash and liquid through a sieve (discarding the leek) and back into the pan.


4) Grate the cheddar into it and season well with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Serve hot, with crusty bread.