Linguine with Mediterranean vegetables and ricotta

The vegetables I cooked for this dish were originally meant to go with milestone lentils - a sort of green puy lentil. My plan for the evening was slightly altered when I got home and discovered Mr. Fox asleep in my garden.

I had meant to do some gardening but didn't want to disturb sleeping beauty. The opinion of many is that foxes are vermin, and although I understand that it isn't pleasant to find your rubbish strewn across the street because the hungry animals have broken into them, I also feel incredibly sad when I see the thin animals roaming the streets in the evenings. This fox has been visiting the garden for the last few months, but I've never seen him so comfortable.

So, I ended up cutting back the ivy on the street and became so engrossed that I completely forgot about the lentils simmering away on the stove top. Needless to say, they burnt and I had to re-think my dinner.

Serves 2-3

One red onion

One aubergine

One courgette

A handful of ripe tomatoes

A handful of mint

Juice of one lemon

Cold pressed rapeseed oil/olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

One tub of ricotta cheese

Enough linguine to feed you

1, Begin by slicing your onion finely and add to a frying pan with a tablespoon of oil. 

2, Cube your aubergine and add it to the cooking onion, and sprinkle with a pinch or two of salt. Fry these together until the aubergine is browned - don't be afraid to add more oil if necessary. 

3, Slice your courgette and add it to the pan, fry until soft.

4, Add the pasta to a large pan of salted boiling water and drizzle a small amount of oil into the pan to stop it sticking together. After a minute or so stir the pasta.

5, Chop the tomatoes into chunks and add the frying pan. Keep this on the heat for a few minutes, stirring, then take it off and squeeze over the lemon juice. 

6, When the pasta is close the ready, chop the mint finely and add it to the vegetables. Season to taste with salt and freshly ground pepper.
7, Drain the pasta when ready and return to the pan. Mix the ricotta through and then add the vegetables.

You may want to season this further on the plate, or add a grating of parmesan cheese. Personally, a drizzle of olive oil was enough.

Tabbouleh salad with or without beef

Rather than the authentic bulgar wheat, I used cous cous to make this tabbouleh as I'd run out of bulgar wheat. It is still the delicious salad we expect from the name, and you could use quinoa, too.

1 bunch spring onion
6 ripe medium tomatoes
Juice of 1 lemon
100g bulgar wheat/cous cous/quinoa
1 tsp vegetable bouillon
4 large sprigs mint
a handful parsley
a large glug of olive oil
season to taste

optional - 1 beef rump steak
pine nuts

Serves 2

1, Begin by slicing the spring onion and tomatoes into medium dice. Place these in a large bowl and stir in the lemon juice.
2, Cook the bulgar/cous cous/quinoa to packet instructions, adding a teaspoon of bouillon to the water you cook it in for flavour.
3, If using the beef: Heat a heavy bottomed pan with a small amount of rapeseed oil and fry the steak on both sides for 1 minute for blue/rare or 2 minutes for rare/medium. Sprinkle the beef with a pinch of salt when it first goes into the pan. Remove the beef from the heat and cover it with foil to rest - this will tenderise the meat as the proteins rebuild as it cools.
4, When the grain has cooked, add it to the spring onions and tomatoes and give it a good stir so it can absorb the flavours.
5, Wash your herbs until cool, running water and then chop finely. Add these to the bowl.
6, Season the salad well and add a good glug olive oil.
7, If you're poshing it up a bit and using pine nuts, toast these off in a dry pan until golden. These delicious nuts are currently super expensive (due to a crop failure in China) and if you're not feeling so flash this week, use sunflower seeds or cashew nuts in the same way, or omit.
8, By now, the beef will be beautifully tender and cooled enough to not ruin the delicacy of the salad. Slice it finely and either mix through or place on top of the salad when serving.

This was a lovely mid week meal - very easy and fast to prepare. I took my second serving for lunch, and it had stayed fresh well. Bulk the tabbouleh up and serve as a side salad at a barbeque or dinner.

Buffalo bolognese

This recipe is based upon my recipe for bolognese sauce, which originally uses beef mince. I've used chunks of beef instead of mince before, which gives a more textured, meatier sauce. It makes a beautiful, tasty bolognese sauce for pasta...


This Saturday I made a trip to the farmer's market and purchased some Puddledub farm buffalo braising steak. The meat is very lean but also extremely tender – not chewy at all. It also has an amazing flavour, with more personality than beef but not as flavoursome as game. I've had buffalo at restaurants before, but this was my first experience of cooking it myself. 


1 onion, diced
1 carrot, diced
1 celery stick, diced
1 tblsp rapeseed or olive oil
A packet of lardons or diced pancetta (70g)
2 cloves of garlic
1lb of buffalo steak/beef steak

A glass of dry white wine

500ml beef stock

1 tin chopped tomatoes
a handful sage leaves and a bay leaf
salt and pepper to taste


Preheat the oven to gas mark 2/150°C/300°F


1, In a oven proof pan (cast iron, such as le creuset is perfect) heat your oil and add the onion, carrot and celery. Cook, stirring regularly, until softened. If the onion starts to burn, add a pinch of salt - magic trick!
2, Add the lardons or pancetta and cook until the fat turns translucent.
3, Mince the garlic and add it to the pan, stirring continuously to make sure it doesn't burn. Remove from the heat after two minutes.
4, If using steak, dice it into the desired size - I go for about 1 inch cubes, but you can go bigger or smaller depending on taste. 
5, In a hot, heavy bottomed pan, heat a small amount of oil and add the meat to it. Sprinkle with salt and stir. The buffalo seems to let off a lot of water, I drained this off. Cook the meat until browned.
6, When you are happy that the meat is browned, add it to the vegetable pan. Mix well and leave on the heat to absorb the flavours for a few minutes.
7, Add the glass of wine and stir until it has evaporated. Tear the herbs and add them to the pan.
8, Add the stock and the tomatoes, then cover and place in the oven. It must cook for at least 2 hours, and up to 4. The longer you leave it, the more the flavour will develop and the better the dish.


You can serve this with pasta, potatoes, rice or bread. It's so, so good, and easily converted to being vegetarian - simply replace the mince and stock with veggie alternatives.