Jamie's Tapas Feast

By Helen
Main dishes:

• Chorizo and lentils
• Smashy chickpeas
• Pork and parsley meatballs
• Rosemary and tomato bread
• Cheese and ham croquetas
• Tinto de verano sorbet

Why learn one new recipe when you can attempt five or more at once?

Now it's finally the right time of year for nibbly, share-y food that doesn't have to keep out the chill, I decided to revisit the tapas-style meal. The chorizo fried with a tin of lentils was my personal favourite - the spicy oils making otherwise dull pulses more substantial. The chickpeas - a sort of hot hummous - weren't that spectacular but were very simple to make and added some useful carbs along with the bread.

The meatballs were a little more complicated than I'd expected (peel my own tomatoes? Me?) but very tasty and only the croquetas (deep-fried cheese balls) were disappointing. I think I needed to make the thick cheesy mixture a bit thicker and leave it to chill for longer (then coat with some slightly less... 'rustic' breadcrumbs) and they might have been more successful. But that's the point of tapas I suppose - there's a certain amount of trial and error from a cook's point of view as well as a guest's.

The real surprise was the sorbet - a mixture of lemonade, sugar syrup, water, lemon juice and not especially expensive red wine which came out a beautiful raspberry colour and velvety smooth after 24 hours in the freezer. Really refreshing and not nearly as sharp as lemon but it still looked pretty classy in small glasses.

At £2.69 a head this really wasn't too pricey and I'd definitely use a couple of these dishes again, alongside some more adventurous ones - baby clams or deep-fried squid anyone?

Best for... A long evening gradually eating to a standstill (if you can stop being punctual!)

Taken from... Jamie Does...Spain

Chris says... There's something for everyone on a lovely tapas platter, just pity the poor soul who has to do the washing up!

Hugh's Pot Roast Poultry

By Helen
Main Ingredients:

• Guinea fowl
• Chorizo
• Butter beans
• Butternut squash

First things first: this recipe was actually for pheasant but I still live in East London and am largely reliant on Tesco.

While staring at the supermarket shelves the guinea fowl seemed about the right size - and I have to admit that cutting each one in half and plonking on a plate was a lot easier than carving a chicken for four (surely the worst bit of the usual roast?)

The birds were browned on each side in a frying pan and pot-roasted with onions, thyme, garlic, wine, chicken stock, a tin of butter beans and half a chorizo. Today was Hugh-inspired from start to finish as I accompanied the birds with mashy squash (with sage and garlic) and buttery greens. Plus the carrier bag of greengages I was given by my parents at the weekend was turned into a clafoutis - basically a sweet toad-in-the-hole where the halved fruits were baked in a batter of flour, eggs, milk and sugar til it was set.

I hate to say it but to me the meat didn't taste that different to chicken, although I very much approve of the way it was cooked. The chorizo was rich and sweet and the beans absorbed lovely cooking juices and mashed into the gravy nicely. Plus the pudding was a surprise hit too - even plum-phobic Chris enjoyed the custardy, sweet, tart-without-pastry effect.

At £3.16 a head it wasn't the cheapest meal but definitely worth trying - all in all a different take on a roast chicken which felt like a real treat.

Taken from... Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - River Cottage Every Day
Best for... Treating some good friends who have moved out of the city
Chris says... Very nice and rich, but I wouldn't have noticed if it was chicken instead...

Hugh and Jamie's Pan-Mediterranean Feast

By Helen

As the food gets better, the photography is still lacking..

Dishes:

• Chorizo in wine and honey
• Fried halloumi with sesame seeds
• Tortilla (Spanish potato omelette)
• Rosemary and tomato focaccia
• Parma ham and olives
• Hummous

As a weak wintery sun shone hopefully down, our thoughts naturally turned to warmer times and climes. 

Cheered by the thought that it might not actually be winter FOR EVER I decided to celebrate the coming of spring with a mezze/tapas style meal, combining all the best dishes from Hugh and Jamie.

This was a really fun one to make and to eat - none of the dishes was especially complicated or needed to be served hot, so it didn't matter that each one made it to the table at slightly different times. For the second week in a row we made bread, which swelled up to an alarming size and could have done with some more tomatoes, but was excellent for mopping up leftovers.

Hugh almost threw a spanner in the works by suggesting (unnoticed by me) that I should boil the tinned chickpeas for three hours (!) before blending - again proving that although Jamie's meals may take over 30 minutes, Hugh's certainly aren't feasible for most people to make everyday. Thankfully an Internet recipe suggested that this was unnecessary and sure enough the chickpeas blended happily enough with oil, garlic, lemon, water, tahini and cumin to make around 1ab (one abundance) of moreish hummous.

Everything else was pretty self-explanatory - fried potatoes and red onion were set and grilled with six eggs and lots of rosemary for the tortilla, and the chorizo was fried with honey, a splash of red wine and balsamic vinegar which made a lovely sticky glaze. Sesame seeds (from last week) were pressed into chopped halloumi and fried until the cheese was golden.

Even between three hungry people there was a huge amount left for some rather impressive weekday lunchboxes - assuming that four hungry diners could have made more of a dent, the per-head cost comes out at a remarkably reasonable £2.93. Roll on spring!


Best for... Lazy summer picnics without a cloud in the sky (or as close as you can manage in the UK).
Taken from...Hugh, Jamie and BBC Good Food
Chris says... One of the best yet - the halloumi and chorizo were fan-bloody-tastic!