Author: admin

2 large onions, peeled and sliced
Lamb to serve 4
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp cumin
Salt to taste

Mix all the spices together. Gently the fry the onions until soft and brown the meat. Sprinkle over the spice mix and continue to cook for a few minutes. Add water to cover and a little salt. Cover and simmer gently until the meat is tender.

Serve with rice or couscous, but bread is traditional. For authenticity, stir in pear slices and half a cup of slivered almonds five minutes before the end of the cooking time.

For convenience the rice can be added to the main pot to cook, especially handy if you have a surplus of liquid.

2 rounded tablespoons plain flour
Meat juices
Stock
Water to top up (use what you can from the veggies, but watch the salt level, esp with potato water)
Salt to taste
Mixed herbs and a splash of wine if you fancy it

So, stock vs water. If roasting a bird and you have the giblets, boil them up for an hour to an hour 30 in salted water and use this as the stock. Turkey will throw a lot of fluid which can also be used, but mind that you don’t add too much oil/fat.

You’ll need a frying pan, or if the meat hasn’t left baked on residue in the roasting tin you can use that, if you have room on the hob. Can be made with a holey spoon, but a whisk is sometimes safer for avoiding lumps. Watch metal utensils if you’re using a non-stick pan as there will be a lot of contact.

Add some meat juices (probably enough to cover the base of your frying pan if using) and the flour, and mix to a smooth consistency. If there’s any oil left floating, pour it off now. If you don’t have enough liquid to make a stirrable mix, add a lightly flavoured oil. Beef dripping also works. Lard, while great for roast spuds, can be a bit “porky” for a gravy. You will need some fats to cook off the flour, going straight for pure stock doesn’t work.

Heat gently to cook the flour through, stirring constantly. If you have mostly fats at this point it shouldn’t start to thicken, other liquids will. If it starts going lumpy, lift it off the heat and start adding dashes of the stock/water, sirring vigourously to break up any lumps. Don’t return it to the heat until smooth. This is where a whisk can be handy.

Add some stock. If you haven’t made any with giblets or retrieved it from the bird, make up a pint of hot veggie water with an Oxo cube. Stir to a lump free liquid and return to the heat and continue to stir. If lumps appear at any time, lift it off the heat again and stir until smooth.

Add the stock slowly – too much liquid at a time and you’ll be flicking it all over the kitchen as you stir!

Keep adding the stock until you have to switch over to veggie water (tap will do). Add herbs and wine if using, salt to taste and allow to bubble gently for 5 mins. Add more stock/water if it gets too thick.

To avoid lumps, don’t have the heat too high and remove heat altogether to beat out any which do appear.

This should make about 2 pints of gravy. Good luck!

500g minced lamb or beef
1 medium onion
1 clove garlic (or use garlic granules)
2 sticks celery
1 green pepper
2 tsp Thyme
2 tsp Oregano
2 tsp Paprika
1 tsp Cumin
1 tbsp tomato puree
1 small mug long grain easy cook rice
1 Knorr chicken stock cube
Pinch Cayenne
Salt, pepper and Tabasco (if you fancy it) to taste

Chop the onion, celery and green pepper. Crush the garlic if using fresh and fry all together in a little oil with the mince until browned. Add the herbs and spices and cook for two minutes.

Add all remaining ingredients, brng to the boil and simmer gently for 20 minutes. Add more liquid as required.

Half a Sainsburys spice jar of coriander seeds
1 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp Cumin
1/4 tsp Cajun
1 tsp Demerara sugar
2 tsp coarse salt
Beef Oxo cube

Grind the coriander seeds until they all open. Grind the salt to at least half coarseness – don’t go too fine. Crumble the Oxo cube.

Mix all the ingredients well and allow 50-60g of mix per 1kg of meat if making biltong. Add worcestershire sauce and malt vinegar to make enough liquid to marinate, or smaller amounts across the board if adding to mince for burgers or chicken for grilling.

500g mince beef (not too lean)
Half a medium onion, chopped
1 teaspoon mixed herbs
1/4 teaspoon garlic granules
1/2 tube tomato puree
250g pasta (dry weight)
Salt to taste
Small bowl of peas (could also use green beans)

Cook the pasta first – this can sit off to one side while you cook the meat mix in the same pan and save on washing up!

Fry the onion, herbs, garlic and mince in a little oil until the onion is soft and the mince is browned through. Add the puree and allow to cook gently for 5 mins. Stir in the peas and allow to continue on the heat until they are warmed through. Stir through the pasta and allow that to reheat too.