Sausage Meatballs With Broccoli Cheese

Who doesn’t love an easy tray bake dinner! Less meat and more veggies but my boys don’t seem to notice!

I like to use spicy Italian sausages for this but use whatever you enjoy. If you are doing gluten free, just double check your sausage ingredients.

Serves 3-4.

Ingredients

450g spicy Italian pork sausages

1 broccoli head, florets cut off and stem peeled and sliced

250mls cream

50g grated cheese

Salt and pepper

Method

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade.

Peel the skin off the sausages and form into balls.

Place the meatballs in the roasting tin and slide into the oven.

Bake for 10minutes until beginning to colour.

Add the broccoli florets and stems to the roasting tin, return to the oven for 8-10 minutes.

Now pour the cream into the roasting tin and sprinkle over the cheese and seasoning.

Bake for 15-20minutes until cream has thickened and cheese is golden.

Beef Jhal Faraizi

One of the best ways to use up leftover roast beef and potatoes.

This has a bit of heat to it but if you like your food spicier then, throw a sliced red chilli in when you are cooking the onion.

Serves 4-6 depending on sides. When it comes to frying the eggs, I take a straw poll of those eating and just cook enough for them with no spares!

Ingredients

900g potatoes, cooked and peeled

1-2 tablespoons oil

500g cooked roast beef, cut into 0.5cm dice

1 1/2 teaspoons caraway seeds

1 teaspoon cumin seeds
1 teaspoon chilli flakes

2 medium or 1 large red onion, diced

1 teaspoon turmeric powder

1 teaspoon salt

Freshly ground pepper

1 handful fresh coriander

6-12 fried eggs depending on appetites

Method

Boil the potatoes with their skins on, drain and set aside to cool.

Once cool enough to touch, peel the skins from the potatoes and dice roughly to 1cm.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan, I use a 32 cm pan for this.

Add the seeds and chilli flakes, once fragrant, add the beef and onion.

Cook over a medium heat until the onion has softened.

Now add the potatoes, turmeric, salt and pepper. Turn the heat up high and let the potoatoes catch a little on the pan to get some colour.

If they aren’t  browning up enough for you, turn the grill on and slide the pan under, being careful not to melt the handle!

Once the potatoes have some colour, stir through the coriander, fry the eggs and serve with the eggs on top.

Cajun Chicken Schnitzel

These are so popular, I could only take this fleeting photo before they were all eaten!

I use fresh gluten free breadcrumbs that I make myself with GF bread rolls, I never cut off crusts as the dark crumbs help to  give you a darker colour and the bread is so expensive I can’t handle any waste!

This recipe makes 12 schnitzel, you can freeze them uncooked, layered between baking parchment to save them sticking. Cooked leftovers are a treat the next day in a gluten free wrap with salad.

Ingredients

3 large chicken breasts, cut into four chunks

180g gluten free fresh breadcrumbs

2 eggs, beaten

1 tablespoon smoked paprika

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

4 teaspoons dried mixed herbs

2 teaspoons onion powder

1 teaspoon garlic powder

Zest of one lime

salt and pepper

oil to fry

Method

Line your chopping board with baking parchment, place a piece of chicken on top, cover with another piece of baking parchment and whack it with the flat side of a meat tenderiser until thinner than 0.5mm. Repeat with the remaining chicken.

In a large bowl, combine the breadcrumbs, paprika, cayenne, herbs,  onion powder, garlic powder, lime zest, salt and pepper, mix well.

Dip the chicken into the beaten eggs and then into the breadcrumbs. Set aside and repeat until all of the chicken is done.

Heat a frying pan with the oil and shallow fry the chicken in batches.

Serve hot with a wedge of lime.

Beef And Coconut Curry

I love a good curry!

With meat falling apart and a really flavourful sauce this curry doesn’t last long in our house. I make this quantity to ensure I have some leftovers to freeze in individual meal boxes with some rice or to use as a home made pie filling, it’s an Australian thing, we love our pies!

Although you might be put off by the quantity of ghee, don’t worry! Towards the end of cooking the fat all rises to the surface of the curry and I just spoon it off.

Serves 10-12 and freezes very well.

Ingredients

100g ghee

4 large tomatoes

1 large onion, peeled and roughly chopped

6 garlic cloves, peeled

70g fresh ginger, peeled and roughly chopped

3 onions, peeled and sliced

3 tablespoons ground cumin

3 tablespoons ground coriander

1 teaspoon ground fennel

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 pinch ground cloves

1 teaspoon Kashmiri chilli powder

1.5kg beef, fat and sinew removed, diced

670mls coconut milk

400mls passatta, sieved tomatoes

2 tablespoons tomato paste

a pinch of saffron

salt and pepper

100g raw cashew nuts

fresh coriander to serve

Method

Heat half the ghee in a large oven proof pan, with a tight fitting lid,over a medium to high heat.

While the ghee heats, process the tomatoes, one onion, garlic, ginger and 200mls of water to make a paste.

Add this paste to the pan and bring it up to a gentle simmer, let the paste slowly reduce down until you have a thick, dark red paste left in the pan, this usually takes around 40 minutes.

Scrape the paste out of the pan and set aside.

Preheat the oven to 150 degrees Centigrade.

Add the remaining ghee to the pan and add the three sliced onions, cook the onions until soft and then add the cumin, coriander, fennel, ground cloves and chilli powder.

Stir well and cook for 1 minute.

Return the paste to the pan, heat through, stirring well.

Now add the beef and stir through regularly for a couple of minutes to allow it to seal a little.

Pour in the coconut milk, passatta and tomato paste and sprinkle over the saffron. Stir well and season with salt and pepper.

Cover with the lid and pop the pan in to the oven.

Bake for 3 hours, stirring occasionally.

Towards the end of cooking, spoon off the fat that will have risen to the surface.

Heat a frying pan over a high heat, add the cashews and dry fry until they are colouring up.

Pour the nuts not a chopping board to cool, once cool, very roughly chop them . Roughly chop a handful of fresh coriander, leaves and stalks.

To serve, sprinkle over the nuts and coriander.