Weekly Food Challenge

The cookbook I hadn't used yet was one I got for Christmas: Jack Monroe's A Year in 120 Recipes. I like Jack Monroe's recipes because they use easy to source ingredients and are often quite simple to make but tasty. For whatever reason, I just hadn't got round to cooking any recipes from it yet.

I ended up making quite a few changes, partly to do with availability of ingredients (e.g., the fresh tomatoes I bought annoyingly had started to go mouldy even though I only got them at the weekend) and partly because it was after work and I was tired (e.g., the recipe says to roast the aubergine in the oven then add the flesh to the sauce at the end, but I just chopped it up and did it all in the same pot).

So, this is based on Smoky aubergine, tomato and red lentil pasta sauce from the above book, but with my changes included. It was filling and pretty tasty.

Serves 2

Ingredients
1 tsp olive oil
1 onion, peeled and diced
1 small green pepper, deseed and diced
1 small aubergine, diced into 2cm cubes
2 large garlic cloves, chopped or crushed
a couple of pinches of dried chilli flakes
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
75g dried red lentils
400g tin chopped tomatoes
zest and juice of half a lemon
salt and pepper

Method
1. Heat the oil in a saucepan and add the onion. Cook gently for 5 - 10 minutes until starting to soften. Add the green pepper and aubergine and cook for a few minutes. Then add the garlic, chilli flakes and mixed herbs and cook for another minute or two.
2. Wash the lentils and then add to the pan. Stir, then add the chopped tomatoes, the lemon and about 200ml water.
3. Bring to the boil, then simmer for 25-30 minutes until the lentils are soft and the liquid has reduced into a thick sauce (add more water if it starts to dry out).
4. Season with salt and pepper and serve with the pasta of your choice.

Some grated cheese would be lovely on this too, but I didn't have any cheese in the fridge. Booooo.

I cooked this last night and it ended up not being what I'd planned. We just got back from holiday yesterday and I didn't fancy venturing too far from home, so I popped out to the small local Asda for some ingredients in the afternoon. I'd been planning to do something with spring onions, but the spring onions in Asda did not look very appetising, so I bought some red onions instead. And this was the result.

I've suggested using more spice than I actually put in, because mine ended up being a little on the bland side, but you can adjust according to your taste. You could also make this with thighs on the bone which may help to make it more flavourful - you'll just need to increase the cooking time a little.

Serves 3-4

Ingredients
A small amount of olive oil (I usually use around 1 tsp)
4 large skinless, boneless chicken thighs
2 red onions, sliced
4 garlic cloves, crushed
250g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
1 red pepper and 1 green pepper, cut into strips
2 heaped tsp smoked paprika
1 400g tin chopped tomatoes
salt and pepper to taste
handful of fresh coriander, chopped

Method
Pre-heat the oven to 180C (fan-assisted). Heat the oil in a cast iron casserole dish or a saucepan which can be used in the oven. Add the chicken thighs and cook until brown all over. Add the onions, garlic, mushrooms and peppers and cook for a few minutes until it's all just starting to soften. Add the paprika, give it a good stir and cook gently for about a minute. Add the chopped tomatoes and season with salt and pepper. Give it a good stir, then place the lid on the casserole and then put it in the oven. Cook for 30-40 minutes until the chicken is all cooked through and everything is soft and melty and yummy. Garnish with the fresh coriander. Serve with rice.