This recipe is by James Martin and originally comes from the BBC website.

Ingredients

200g/7oz orzo pasta
225g/8oz cod fillet, skinless and boneless
salt and freshly ground black pepper
5 tbsp olive oil
200g/7oz cooking chorizo, roughly chopped
½ tsp smoked hot paprika
90g/3½oz roasted red peppers (from a jar), cut into strips
3 tbsp chopped fresh flatleaf parsley
½ lemon, juice only

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/390F/Gas 6.

2. Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil, add the orzo and cook for 10-12 minutes, or until just tender. Drain the orzo and set aside.

3. Season the cod with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Heat an ovenproof frying pan until smoking, add one tablespoon of the olive oil and fry the cod for 1-2 minutes on both sides, or until golden-brown all over.

4. Transfer to the oven to cook for 3-4 minutes, or until the fish is cooked through. The original recipe says to put the pan in the oven, but we used a pre-warmed oven proof dish instead.

5. While the cod is in the oven, heat a pan until hot, add the remaining olive oil and the chorizo and fry for 2-3 minutes, or until the chorizo is cooked and the oils are released into the pan.

6. Remove the fish from the oven and flake the flesh onto a plate. Using a slotted spoon, remove the chorizo from the pan and set aside.

7. Add the cooked orzo and smoked sweet paprika to the pan, stir well to coat in the oil and cook for 1-2 minutes. Return the chorizo to the pan and add the roasted red peppers and flaked cod. Mix well to combine and season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Stir in the parsley and lemon juice.

8. To serve, spoon onto serving plates. Enjoy!

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If you’re planning meals for the weekend, then this recipe is definitely a winner for Sunday! It’s perfect on a cold Autumn day – proper comfort food. The recipe originally comes from James Martin’s ‘Slow Cooking‘, which is a great book packed with recipes that you can take your time over (you don’t need a slow cooker either). This recipe takes about 3 hours altogether and serves 4, so we had half on Sunday and had leftovers on Monday night which was brilliant! I have to admit that I did leave out the celery and parsley as they’re two of my least favourite ingredients, but I have included them in the recipe below. I’ve used my own recipe for herby dumplings here, but you could make plain ones if you prefer.

Ingredients

500g stewing beef
50g plain flour
4 tbsp olive oil (you can use beef dripping if you prefer)
100g celery
100g carrot
1 large leek
3 garlic cloves
150g whole baby onions (I used shallots)
150ml red wine
500ml beef stock
3 tbsp fresh flat-leaf parsley leaves
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the dumplings

100g self-raising flour
50g suet (beef or vegetable is fine)
2 heaped tsp mixed herbs
Pinch of salt
Enough cold water to make a pliable dough

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/Gas mark 2. Toss the beef and flour together in a bowl with salt and pepper. Cut the celery, carrot and leek into 2.5cm pieces. Roughly chop the garlic and peel the onions.

2. Heat a large flameproof casserole dish until hot, add a little oil and enough of the beef to just cover the bottom. Fry until brown on each side, then remove and set aside. Repeat with more oil and beef in batches.

3. When all of the beef has been cooked, add the vegetables to the pan and cook gently for 5-10 minutes until softened and lightly coloured.

4. Return the beef to the pan and add the red wine. Simmer until reduced by half, then add the beef stock and bring back to a simmer. Cover with a lid and place in the oven for 2 hours.

5. To make the dumplings (about 15 minutes before the 2 hours is up), mix the dry ingredients together and then slowly add a little cold water at a time, mixing thoroughly until a slightly sticky dough has formed. Flour your hands and then roll the mixture into 6-8 balls.

6. After the 2 hours is up, remove the stew from the oven and carefully place the dumplings on top. Return to the oven for 20 minutes (mine actually took 35!) uncovered, until the dumplings are cooked through and have turned light brown. Roughly chop the parsley and sprinkle over the stew to serve.

Enjoy!

The post Beef Stew with Dumplings appeared first on Hello! Hooray!.

Ingredients
170g/6oz clear honey
140g/5oz butter
85g/3oz light muscovado sugar
2 eggs, beaten
200g/7oz self raising flour, sieved
Water

For the icing
55g/2oz icing sugar
1 tbsp clear honey
Hot water

Method

1. Preheat oven to 180C/350F/Gas 3 and butter and line the bottom of a 7in/18cm cake tin.

2. Measure the honey, butter and sugar into a large pan. Add a tablespoon of water and heat gently until melted.

3. Remove from the heat and mix in the eggs and flour.

4. Spoon into the cake tin and bake for 40-45 minutes until the cake is springy to the touch and shrinking slightly from the sides of the tin.

5. Cool slightly in the tin before turning out onto a wire rack.

6. While the cake is still warm, make the icing by mixing the sugar and honey together with 2-3 teaspoons of hot water. Trickle over the cake in whatever design takes your fancy. Enjoy with a cuppa!

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