Hugh's Stuffed Butternut Squash

By Helen

Main Ingredients:

• Squash
• Stilton
• Walnuts
• Thyme and honey

Veggie Lent flashback.

I am standing in Tesco the day before cooking for a vegetarian friend trying to understand how meals are structured without meat at the centre. We have squash, yes, and it's full of good things, but what goes on the side? Potatoes? Nice bread? A pork chop? Thankfully the recipe was simplicity itself.

The squash (squashes?) were cut in half, brushed with oil and garlic and then roasted for 45 minutes. The centre was then scraped out and mashed with a good chunk of Stilton, toasted walnuts and some thyme, the mixture spread back into the skins and the whole lot cooked for another 15 minutes with a drizzle of honey.

After much thought I added a side of peas with spring onions, cream and parmesan, although a salad would have been just as good (if less seasonal). I was pretty pleased with this one - the sweet squash fell apart at the first touch of a fork and made a delicious hash with the cheese and nuts. 

The combination would be equally good on long pasta (rich cheese sauce, bright cubes of squash and just a sprinkling of nuts) or even spooned into ravioli - maybe when I have more time!

At £2.05 a head this was pretty affordable and very easy - I'd definitely do it again, or something like it.

Best for... Wintery nights in setting the world to rights

Taken from... Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - River Cottage Every Day

Chris says... Who knew we could find so many uses for butternut squash? I still fancied a pork chop on the side though...

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's Overnight Home Cured Bacon Chops

By Chris

Main Ingredients:

• 4x Pork chops
• Carrots, butternut squash and potatoes
• Leeks and cabbage
• Salt, pepper, sugar, juniper berries and bay leaves

This is the first recipe in a while that I got properly excited about and it turned out to be one of the best yet. As an avid fan of bacon, the name of this recipe jumped out at me as a challenge that had to be accepted and, overnight curing aside, this was quite straightforward.

Four normal pork chops were cured in a mixture that was 2/3 salt and 1/3 sugar. Shredded bay leaves, crushed juniper berries and ground black pepper was added for a bit of variety, but little of that was noticeable at the end. After roughly 24 hours in the fridge, the salt had drawn much of moisture out of the chops and it was washed off.

The chops were then grilled for six minutes on each side and served with three-root mash and some lovely buttery greens, as suggested. I was initially worried that the chops would be too dry without gravy, and bought a jar of wholegrain mustard to accompany the chops. We didn't even open it, and I'm a massive fan of mustard.

This has to go down as one of the tastiest and most satisfying meals I've done so far, with the tangy, salty pork being perfectly complimented by the sweet mash, which was topped with nutmeg (a seemingly left-field suggestion, which really paid off). 

At £2.36 a head, this was very reasonable, and I'd say you can leave out the juniper berries if you don't already have them and you won't miss much. 

If you've got the time to do it, I definitely recommend giving this a try - Like bacon? You'll love this!

Best for... Bacon lovers who are willing to try something a little different.

Taken from... Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - River Cottage Every Day

Helen says... Really tasty, not too fussy and worth all the effort

Hugh's Lamb Chops, Pea Salad and Roasted Squash

By Helen

Main Ingredients:

• Lamb chops
• Butternut squash
• Rosemary and thyme
• Garlic
• Peas and spring onions
• Feta cheese

Another long lovely Bank Holiday weekend and I returned to Hugh F-W for inspiration - why not, when I had all day to prepare?

But almost by accident I stumbled on the one recipe of his so far that didn't take all day. I fried the chops for a couple of minutes with squashed garlic cloves, then roasted them with lots of thyme, some capers and a glass of white wine. In the same oven I was already roasting chunks of squash with more garlic, rosemary and chopped chilli.

The same book also provided the greens - chopped spring onions cooked with peas and thyme, then ricotta and feta cheese. All in all a very simple, quick meal which would almost be at home in Jamie's book - lots of colour and fresh herbs, plus the usual shortcuts (ie don't peel the squash, pre-heat the roasting tin while you're doing something else).

This wasn't a particularly spectacular recipe but was slightly more special treatment for the ingredients than they would usually have, and it paid off. We already had most of the ingredients so the cost per-head was a not at all bad £2.33.

Taken from... Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - River Cottage Every Day
Best for... Supper with friends when you'd rather be chatting than stuck in the kitchen
Chris says... Pretty damn tasty, although as always with lamb chops, more meat would have been welcome.

Hugh's Squash and Lentil Pasties

By Chris

Main Ingredients:

• Brown lentils
• Butternut squash
• Shortcrust pastry
• Onions, carrots and celery
• Mustard, white wine and balsamic vinegar

Having had a not-completely-disastrous run-in with baking and pastry a fortnight ago, I decided to stretch my new-found skills even further this week. Hugh's recipe sounded pretty interesting and we still had a kilo of squash left over from last week's veggie feast, so this seemed like the ideal recipe.

First one onion, one carrot and one celery stick were fried in olive oil, then simmered in white wine. Then the (rather unappetising-looking) brown tinned lentils were added along with bay, thyme and half a pint of vegetable stock and simmered for 10 mins. I then hacked away at the squash until we had some nice cube-shaped chunks, which were chucked in and cooked for a further 20 minutes.

The resulting mixture was rather watery, so I set about it with a potato masher to help the vegetables soak up some of the juices. Finally, two teaspoons of English mustard and the same of Balsamic vinegar were added to give it a kick.

Hugh says to make your own puff pastry (pah!), but I went with store-bought shortcrust, thinking it would be sturdier and less likely to leak. The giant, slightly soggy contraptions were then baked at 190 degrees for 25 minutes and by some miracle, they came out brown and firm.

Served with roasted squash (as there was still 750g left!) and buttery leeks and cabbage, this was probably one of the healthiest meals we've had yet, and dead cheap at just 98p per head.

Best for... Hearty winter fare or, if you're feeling lazy, a killer veggie shepherd's pie.

Taken from... Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - River Cottage Every Day

Helen says... So that's what lentils are! Pretty substantial and appetizing, would be great with cheesy mash too.

Jamie's Cauliflower and Squash Rogan Josh

By Helen

Main Ingredients:

• Butternut squash
• Chickpeas
• Cauliflower
• Curry paste
• Spinach
• Chapattis, rice, yogurt

Week two of Veggie Lent and one of the less exciting-looking recipes. No crazy ingredients - in fact nothing I hadn't already added to a meat curry before. I wasn't convinced that this would be particularly memorable.

I started by chopping an alarmingly large pile of vegetables - two onions, garlic, most of a squash and a whole cauliflower. They clearly weren't going to fit into the saucepan I had optimistically pre-heated so once I'd juggled the whole lot into two pans I could add the Patak's paste, chickpeas and coriander.

With that bubbling away vigorously I could turn my attention to the rice (microwaved since there weren't any pans left), sprinkling the chapattis with turmeric and keeping warm in the oven, and dressing the grated carrot with ginger, lemon juice, flaked almonds and more coriander. 

Thankfully by this point the veggies were looking less raw and taking up a little less space so I could chuck in some spinach and make the ten-second lemon pickle with mustard seeds, chilli and turmeric. This was a real hit with Chris - much more fragrant and less astringent than the jars of Lime Pickle we've had before.

So, lots to do - even though the yogurt and chapattis were pretty much ready-made and one of the sides is 'BEER'. Overall it was definitely worth it - the cauliflower quickly broke down to make a surprisingly creamy sauce and the chickpeas had lost all their chalkiness, even in the relatively short cooking time. 

And the vital stats? 38 minutes and a bargainous £1.40 a head.

Best for... Feeding (and impressing) a crowd that has descended on the flat to watch a sporting event 

Taken from... Jamie Oliver - 30 Minute Meals

Chris says... The carrot salad was the perfect example of something I wouldn't have even tried before we started this project, but I loved it!

Hugh's Slow-Roast Shoulder of Lamb with Merguez Spices

By Helen
Main ingredients:

• Shoulder of lamb
• Spice mix: cumin, coriander, paprika, cayenne pepper, cinnamon, black pepper, fennel, garlic, rosemary and oil
• Butternut squash
• Savoy cabbage

After last week's 30-minute marvel, I decided to take advantage of the Bank Holiday and cook something from the other end of the timescale.

Although the sight of a dinner-plate sized chunk of lamb was a little intimidating, I wrestled the thing home and made a start. After slashing the skin and rubbing in the mixed spice goop, the lamb was roasted for half an hour and then slow-cooked under foil at a much lower temperature.

As always with H F-W's recipes, the timings and weights are pretty flexible - he recommended a staggering six hours of slowcooking but our shoulder was falling off the bone after four and a half. In fact I didn't need to carve it at all, just pull out the three clean bones and slice up the remainder.

The mix of spices was warming and aromatic but surprisingly subtle after the long roast - I wimped out of spooning any of the juices back over it as they seemed to be mostly fat but I'm sure they were delicious too. We served this with buttery Savoy cabbage and butternut squash roasted with chilli, more rosemary and garlic (from the same book). To be honest this could have been more exciting - maybe by chucking in more chilli - but I'm a fan of squash anyway and it made a lovely colourful accompaniment.

As we already owned pretty much all the spices, the raw ingredients came out relatively cheap. The lamb fed four of us with plenty left over for sandwiches, meaning a per-head cost of only £2.35, although this doesn't include the cost of running the oven for most of the day.

Best for... A winter's evening after a long day out in the cold - giving you plenty of opportunity to walk back in and and appreciate the glorious smell.
Taken from... Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - River Cottage Every Day
Chris says... I am ill. So ill. The lamb smelt amazing when it was cooking, but I lost my appetite and only ate half of it. Fortunately, I'll get to eat it all week, so here's hoping I recover before we run out of lamb...