Hugh's Rabbit and Partridge Stew

By Helen

Main Ingredients:

• One rabbit (skinned)
• Two partridges (plucked)
• Tinned tomatoes
• Onions and carrots
• Thyme and bay

A trip to Borough Market on a December morning - especially without breakfast inside you - is always going to end in a shopping spree. 

But what to choose? Squid? Drunk cheese? Still-twitching lobster? In the end I decided on rabbit and, for any sentimental dinner guests, partridge. I didn't think I'd eaten, never mind cooked either of these before until my mum sheepishly admitted: 'We fed you rabbit. We just didn't tell you what it was.'

The first job was jointing the rabbit - removing the last few organs and chopping into manageable pieces, which wasn't too bad - thankfully the head had already been taken care of and I had some step by step instructions. I browned the pieces (as well as the halved partridges) and added to a casserole dish with stock, wine, peppercorns, garlic, tomatoes, thyme, bacon and bay leaves, then chucked in the oven for 90 minutes.

The smell was immediately distinctive - definitely not chicken! The final product divided opinion - I preferred the larger, milder chunks of rabbit but others preferred the gamier partridge. Having picked at the bird carcasses I'm not convinced it was the best use of them. Neither was especially tender and might have benefitted from longer cooking. But in terms of trying something new, a success on several fronts, and not as expensive as I'd thought at around £3.30 a head.

Best for... Facing up to where your dinner comes from
Taken from... Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall - River Cottage Every Day
Chris says... The partridge was my favourite; very rich meat, but quite fiddly to get off the bones.

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!

Jamie's Spinach and Feta Filo Pie

By Helen
Main Ingredients:

• Ready-made pastry
• Spinach
• Feta cheese
• Cherry tomatoes and cucumber
• Mint and basil

This week's New Food Monday starts (as is becoming traditional) with me blaming our local supermarket for not having a key ingredient. 

This week it was filo pastry, and I have to admit I had but low expectations for the puff pastry we substituted, after rejecting Plan A (throw tomatoes at staff).

Three eggs were mixed with crumbled feta and grated cheddar, toasted pine nuts, oregano, lemon zest, nutmeg and a big bag of spinach which had been wilted in a little butter and oil. While the frying pan was still hot it was lined with half the thinly-rolled pastry and the eggy mixture poured back in, before the other half of the pastry was artfully arranged on the top.

I considered tackling this recipe during Veggie Lent and I'm very glad I came back to it now. The pie was much prettier than I expected, the spinach was soft and sweet and the cheese not too overpowering. Admittedly this meal was made special by the salads - tomatoes with basil and garlic, and cucumber with olives, chili and mint.

The mix of herby flavours and fresh veggies made the whole thing feel just a little bit luxurious (or at least like one of my favourite Whitecross Street lunchboxes) - and for once it didn't require every pan and worksurface in the kitchen.

For a veggie recipe, it wasn't cheap - coming in at £3.12 a head - but it was surprisingly filling, relatively uncomplicated and gave the illusion of being fantastically healthy!

Best for... Dining on the terrazzo, or with a mix of veggie and carnivorous friends
Taken from... Jamie Oliver - 30 Minute Meals
Chris says... Tasty, summery and surprisingly filling, even sworn meat lovers will be happy!

Hugh's Bloody Mary Beef Burgers

It's barbecue season! (...and we forgot to take a photo)

By Chris
Main Ingredients

• 800g Premium beef mince
• Tabasco
• Worcestershire Sauce
• Horseradish
• Tomato Paste
  

With the current heat-wave drawing us Brits outside like the devoted sun-worshippers we all are, I though it was high time to dust off the trusty barbecue for another year of seriously grilling some meat. I turned to Hugh's range of homemade burgers in the hope of repeating the success I had with his delicious spiced lamb patties. The double-barrelled one commanded that high-quality meat was to be used, suggesting asking your butcher to mince some topside. Now I have two problems with this: firstly I don't have a butcher and secondly, what a waste of topside beef!

For these twofold reasons, I opted for 800g of Tesco's premium Scotch beef, which was spiced up with a generous teaspoon of horseradish sauce, a few glugs of Tabasco, half a teaspoon of Worcestershire sauce, a tablespoon of tomato puree, a pinch of salt, and a grind of pepper. 

This mixture was much less work than the lamb burgers, which require toasting your spices and grinding them up first, but as a result the flavour wasn't exactly inspiring. The burgers held together well on the barbecue and the suggested horseradish/creme fraiche dressing was lovely, but overall it wasn't a very memorable quarter-pounder.

We served these in tiger rolls with Delia's cheese and herb fritters on the side for the veggies, as well as some lamb burgers for good measure, all for just £2.34 a head, based on seven sharing.

Best for... An easy barbecue twist for those with a mild palette

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

Helen says... Remarkably restrained - perhaps barbecues could be about quality of food after all!

Jamie's Summer Veggie Lasagne

By Helen

Main Ingredients:

• Asparagus
• Frozen peas and broad beans
• Fresh lasagne sheet
• Cottage cheese
• Tomatoes

After last week's 'challenging' effort, the theme of living dangerously continued as I attempted a summery veggie lasagne for none other than Chris' parents.

Once again the sheer quantity of food (a kilo and a half of green veg alone) threatened to overwhelm me and the kitchen, but thankfully nothing was too fiddly. Spring onions and asparagus were chopped and fried, quickly joined by a large volume of frozen beans and peas. With lemon, mint, cream, cottage cheese and a little stock this made the basis of the lasagne - refreshingly different from the more standard tomato/courgette/aubergine version.

This was then layered up in a large dish (or two) with lasagne sheets and parmesan, and topped with cottage cheese and thyme. Under the grill it went for long enough to melt the cheese - and that was pretty much it. The Tuscan salad of tomatoes, jarred sweet peppers, basil and capers added some welcome sharpness and colour, even though I managed to create my very own mushroom cloud by incinerating the first batch of croutons under the grill.

Overall I was pleasantly surprised by this one - broad beans are one of my least-favourite ingredients but they were perfectly palatable (and could easily have been left out in favour of more peas and asparagus). Plus if I hadn't felt under pressure to make the 30-minute mark I might have planned ahead a little better and avoided some of the mess in the kitchen which Chris is valiantly battling now. Per head cost: £2.61 - but easily could be made a lot more cheaply by reducing the amount of asparagus.

Best for... A tasty supper when you've been sent an allotment food parcel
Taken from... Jamie Oliver - 30 Minute Meals
Chris says... Not really my cup of tea, if I'm honest, but much preferable to the aubergine/courgette version