Method

Pre-heat the oven to 200°C.

Slice the squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle over a little olive oil and rub it over the squash. Place onto a baking tray cut side down and roast for 30-40 minutes until the flesh is soft.

Meanwhile, you can prepare your pangrattato. Add 1 tbsp of olive oil to a frying pan on a medium heat, when the oil is hot add the chopped garlic, sage and rosemary and fry for 1-2 minutes. Add the panko breadcrumbs and parmesan and fry until golden brown and crispy. Season with salt and pepper. Keep stirring the breadcrumbs so they don’t burn.

When the squash is roasted and soft. Scoop out the insides and add to a blender. Add the mascarpone and season with salt and pepper. Blitz until smooth and set aside for later.

Boil a kettle of water. Pour into a medium-large saucepan and add the table salt. Once boiling, add the pasta and cook to packet instructions.

In a large frying pan (enough to hold the pasta too), add 1 tsp of olive oil and fry the sausages until brown and caramelised. Break the sausages up with spoon as you cook them. Once brown add the garlic and chilli flakes and cook for 1-2 minutes.

Add the squash purée into the pan with the sausages and add 1-2 ladles of pasta water. Stir and taste for seasoning. Let it simmer for a couple of minutes whilst you finish the last step.

Drain the pasta and add into the sauce. Give it a good stir and serve straight away. Scatter over the pangrattato.

Enjoy!

Method

Prepare a bowl of lemon water for the artichokes by combining water and lemon juice in a medium sized bowl. Start preparing the artichokes by removing the outer leaves until you get to the tighter pale centre ones. Peel around the base of the artichoke to remove any hard outer parts then peel down the stem and cut the stem to about 5cm in length. Cut across the top of the artichoke then slice in half lengthways and with a small spoon remove the furry insides. Place each artichoke into the lemon water mixture to stop them going brown.

Boil a kettle of water for the artichokes and pasta.

Add 1 tbsp olive oil to a wide lidded frying pan on a medium heat and add the garlic, fry for 1-2 minutes then add the fennel seeds and chilli flakes and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Add the quartered artichokes, cook for 2-3 minutes then add 100ml of the boiled water and a good pinch of saffron threads. Stir well – you’ll see the water turn a yellowy orange colour. Put the lid partially on and cook for 10 minutes or until the artichokes are soft. Stir during cooking.

Meanwhile, boil the pasta in salted water. Cook to packet instructions.

When the artichokes are almost soft, add the white wine and cook for a further 3 minutes or until the alcohol has evaporated.

When the pasta is al dente and the artichokes are soft, add the butter to the frying pan, wait until it’s melted and add 2 ladles full of pasta water to the pan.

Drain the rest of the pasta, then add to the frying pan straight away. Turn off the heat. Add the roasted red pepper and egg yolk then stir well. You want to make sure the pan is not too hot as to not scramble the egg. Season a little with salt but plenty of pepper then add the finely chopped parsley. Stir well, then serve.

Serve with a sprinkle of celery salt on top and a little parmesan (optional).

Method

Dice the onion as small as you can and slice the red pepper into 2cm squares, then add to a pan on a medium heat with a glug of oil. Cover with a lid and lightly fry until the onion and pepper are soft. Cook for about 10 mins.

Meanwhile, chop the mushrooms into quarters or bitesize pieces and put to one side.

When the onion and pepper are soft, add the crushed garlic and continue to cook for a couple of minutes on a low heat. Sprinkle over the ground ginger and stir, then add the mushrooms and stir again.

Turn up the heat slightly so it’s on a medium heat and add the red wine vinegar, Henderson’s Relish, brown sugar, sweet chilli sauce, chopped tomatoes, bayleaf and veg stock pot. Stir well and season generously. Bring to a simmer and cook for 15 minutes or until the sauce is a bit thicker.

Whilst the sauce is cooking, combine all the ingredients for the herby dressing in a blender. These quantities will make slightly more than you need for this recipe and this is to help keep the dressing as smooth as possible. Blend everything well for a couple of minutes until you have a smooth dressing. Taste and adjust seasoning. Unlike my other recipes for zhoug, I’ve tried to reduce the zingy nature of this dressing to compliment this dish better.

To finish the sauce, add the kidney beans to the pan and keep on a low heat.

Boil a pan of salted water, and cook the gnocchi according to pack instructions. Drain, then add the gnocchi into the Pepperpot sauce. Stir gently and taste for seasoning, adjust accordingly.

Serve onto plates and drizzle over the herby dressing and sour cream.

Enjoy!

Method

Fry the onion in a large saucepan. Add the stock and add the asparagus and mushrooms for a few moments then remove from the heat. When the mixture has cooled slightly add in the cooked broad beans, crème fraîche, lemon juice and lemon rind. Stir well, season then taste. Adjust seasoning as appropriate.

Meanwhile, remove the skin from trout. If you hate food waste as much as us then you can turn this into fish crackling by drying it out and putting under the grill until crispy. Dice the trout up into 3cm chunks and add into the cooled mixture. Stir and set aside.

Next, make the white sauce by melting the butter in pan. When melted, add the flour in and combine to make a paste, then cook for a further 2 minutes. Gradually add the milk, stirring constantly, until it thickens. Season with nutmeg, salt and pepper and a little extra lemon rind if you fancy. Remove from heat.

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C.

When you’re ready to start assembling your lasagne, spoon in half of the trout mixture into an oven proof roasting dish. Cover with a single layer of your lasagne sheets (snapping to fit if needed). Then spoon over the remaining mixture. Add another layer of lasagne sheets then drizzle the béchamel sauce on top. Grate the parmesan to your hearts content.

Place into the oven on a baking tray to catch any overspill. Bake for 40 minutes then remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Method

Boil the kettle for the pasta.

Slice the red onion in very thin half moons and put into a large bowl along with the already drained artichokes.

Spoon out the capers from the jar draining any excess liquid (if in vinegar it doesn’t matter if some gets in as it adds to the dish) and add to the same bowl.

Then boil the pasta in salted water according to pack instructions. Mine only took 5 mins.

Whilst the pasta is cooking, spoon a couple of teaspoons of the artichoke oil and the lemon juice into bowl with the onion, capers and artichokes. Season well.

When the pasta is done, drain it and blast it with a little cold water to cool it down quickly. It doesn’t have to be stone cold just cool enough that it doesn’t wilt the rocket leaves when put together

Finally add the rocket into the big bowl and give it a good mix so the dressing and ingredients are evenly dispersed. Then add the tortellini to the bowl and give another very quick mix. Serve.

Also tastes great with a crumble of feta on top!