One of my more undignified moments came after I was a little the worse for wear after a long lunch many years ago. Spotting KFC, I barrelled in, ordered my bucket, with gravy and fries (naturally) and sat staring at possibly the best meal an old soak could ask for. I then proceeded to take off all my jewellery, piece by piece, slowly handing it to my companion with the line, ‘Hold these, I’m going in and I may be some time’.
All class.
That’s an aside, back to the here-and-now and this recipe. I love popcorn, unapologetically so, always have done. Not the sweet, caramelly Butterkist-y sort, but the savoury, salty type. I also love KFC (see above) so have long been looking to combine the two.
The problem I have with most savoury popcorn types is that they are all a little meh – they lack an oomph and a prowess and always leave me slightly despondent at an utter waste of calories. So I decided to experiment. You’ll see one elsewhere on this site which is delicious but a little lacking in punch… but this one… this turns your palate into a punchbag with a bevy of beautiful savoury notes; deep chicken goodness, a hint of heat (it’s not blow-your-head-off spicy, it’s more elegant than that) and all rounded off with a tang of tarragon.
I make this in huge batches and share around the office… and it goes down a treat.
Music to listen to while preparing this dish ‘Summer wine’ by Nancy Sinatra and Lee Hazlewood
In a very large pan, generously cover the base with light oil. Add enough popcorn kernels to fill a large bowl.
Cover the pan and start popping the corn on high heat.
As the kernels start to pop, remember to shake the pan every ten seconds or so to prevent them from catching.
Once the popping sound subsides, turn off the heat and transfer the popped corn into a large bowl. Take a moment to separate the popped kernels from the unpopped ones.
In the still-warm large pan, add two generous teaspoons of Lao Gan Ma Crispy Chilli in Oil and place the Knorr chicken stockpot on top. Whisk them together until well-mixed.
Add a tablespoon of dried tarragon to the mixture, stir it in, and then gently fold in your popped corn.
Put the lid on the pan and toss the popcorn for a solid three to four minutes, making sure it’s evenly coated with the savoury mixture.
Transfer your seriously savoury popcorn into your serving bowl and don’t forget to scrape the leftover chilli in the pan to sprinkle on top for that extra punch of flavour.
I’ve just come back from visiting an old university friend in Stroud, Gloucestershire. While down there we did a tour of the charity shops and I discovered a 1936 edition of Cookery Illustrated & Household Management for the bargain price of £1.50.
My Nan, Dolly in her ’30s or 40s heyday – the kind of woman who’d have used the book
There are two things charming about this book. The first is that it has chapters with titles like ‘Entertaining without a Maid’ which, considering when it was published and the growing clouds of war looming, seems a uniquely British eccentricity. The other charming element is how short the recipes are – today we have detailed instructions and pictures for recipes but not in 1936. You’re lucky if you got a paragraph.
Spiced pickled pear recipe – short and to the point
I plucked this dish out as it’s a recipe that you can do easily and yet make a great impact. I’ve made these (pictures below) and they go well with some strong soapy cheese (think Cheddar, Gruyère of Apfenzeller) or with a thick salty gammon steak in place of pineapple.
2lb (900g) sugar (I used golden granulated for flavour)
2pts (1.1 litres) vinegar (Pears are an orchard fruit so I used cider vinegar)
16 cloves
10 allspice berries
2″ stick cinnamon
Juice and rind of 1/2 lemon (use juice from other half to stop the fruit from browning)
Large piece of whole ginger
Method
Peel, core and cut the pears into pieces of equal size (I cut in half & quartered length-ways and covered with the remaining lemon juice to stop browning. Alternatively, you can do this step while your syrup is simmering).
Tie the spices (and rind) loosely in muslin, then put the sugar, vinegar, lemon juice and spices into a saucepan and simmer for 15 mins.
Add the fruit and cook till tender (this will not take long, maximum ten minutes – you don’t want mush)
Remove and pack into glass jars, fill these with (cooled) vinegar syrup, and tie down (seal) when cold.
Notes: You can taste the spices but they are subtle, so I’d whack in an extra 50% of each to really make an impression.
It’s vin primeur season, so serve with a Beaujolais – you can go with a nouveau but the 2011 Morgon Henry Fessy won’t cause a sore head in the morning.
Pickled pears in 3 pics
Preparation of the spices
Clockwise from top: cloves, cinnamon stick, lemon rind, allspice berries, and fresh ginger
2) It’s a wrap
The spices all wrapped up in muslin ready for the syrup
3) The finished product
All cooled and bottled for a sweet and sour experience
So I’ve been away for a fair while to celebrate my birthday in the relative freedom of a relaxed lockdown. So we headed to Whitstable in Kent for three weekends and two weeks to celebrate with good food, fine wine, long runs and with friends popping down from London for a break. The second of those guests were Jeremy and Jarek.
I’ve known these two for a few years but through the misery of lockdown and the lifeline of Zoom I’ve gotten to know them really well during our weekly cocktail catch-up. You know you’re in the company of like-minded souls when you are among those who can drink their body weight in booze and not need medical attention.
This is a classic French dish that will get you all the requisite oohs and aahs from the table and should serve at least six…. Or if like us, four hungry, slightly tipsy adults.
The joy of this dish is that all the faff is in the preparation and not the actual cooking so you are free to be the gorgeous host(ess) that you know you are.
The finished leg of lamb
Music to listen to while preparing this dish: ‘Queen of Hearts’ by Dave Edmunds
Ingredients
2.5 – 3kg leg of lamb
5 cloves of garlic each cut into four slivers
Big bunch rosemary
6 large potatoes thinly sliced (I did mine in semi-circles for presentation)
4 onions thinly sliced
25g butter
500ml warm chicken stock
Dripping (beef or lamb)
Salt and pepper
Method
You’re going to put your lamb straight on to the rack in the oven so as it roasts the juices drip into the potatoes cooking underneath in a dish on the shelf below. Set up your oven so this is possible. See the image at the bottom of this page for how I set up the oven.
Set the oven to 200° fan.
Prick the lamb all over with a sharp knife and into the pockets you’ve made stuff in a sliver of garlic and some of the rosemary. At the end you should have a leg of lamb that is evenly studded with rosemary and garlic.
Rub the joint with a thin layer of dripping. Use your hands and make sure it is even and thin. This is really to help crisp up the lamb and for flavour in your potatoes.
Grease your roasting tin with half the butter – I used my trusty cast iron paella pan for this as I want the potatoes to go straight from oven to table.
Layer the potatoes and onions in your dish, seasoning each layer as you go. Start and end with a potato layer taking care in the presentation of the final layer.
Dot the remaining butter on the top layer of spuds and pour over the stock and press the potatoes lightly down ensuring the top layer gets a dunking in the liquid.
Place the potatoes on the lower shelf in the oven and your lamb directly above it on the top shelf. Make sure you get the placement just right so the lamb juices drip into the potatoes.
Roast for 90 mins – the only attention you have to pay is every half an hour to press the potatoes lightly into the liquid.
After 90 mins take both dishes out the oven and let them rest for 15 – 20 mins.
Serve with a local Barnsole Red Reserve 2014 – it’s a smashing British red that has aged really well. There’s only a few bottles made and even fewer left so snap them up while you can.
This is how I set the oven up, making sure the lamb was strategically placed so all its juices dripped into the potatoes
As I’ve mentioned elsewhere, growing up was a lot of fun, but it wasn’t easy. My parents worked themselves to deep tiredness to ensure we never had to struggle as much as they had. For that I am eternally grateful, and it is in that spirit of making the most out of everything we were lucky to have, I’m running an experiment to see how many meals I can make from one humble chicken.
I’m using store cupboard essentials that I already have to hand and am going to buy extras as and when I need them. I’ll decide what I’m going to cook on the day and really go from there. These recipes are for two people over three days. But first up, as every good week should, we’re starting with a roast chicken.
Day One: Roast Chicken
For this I’m using the principles of my Red Box Roast Chicken to get that umami like skin but without the herbs, olives or lemon. I served with greens and gravy.
Music to listen to while preparing this dish: ‘Groovejet‘ by Spiller
Ingredients
1 large chicken
Dijon mustard
Maldon salt and pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees fan
Slather the chicken with the dijon mustard and generously season with salt and pepper (see image below)
Roast for 1hr 40 mins (or more, depending on the weight of your chicken).
Once roasted, carve with scissors (legs first, then the breast). The breasts should be huge so cut these in half).
Use two breast pieces for tonight’s meal and store the remaining chicken in a Tupperware box.
To maximise the flavour, deglaze the roasting tin with a splash of water and pour over the chicken you are going to use tomorrow.
Once cooled store in the fridge.
Chicken… before and after
Day Two: Lemon Chicken Risotto
This part of my recipe relay makes use of all the left over chicken and produces a mammoth amount of risotto. Expect to have at least half of this left over because you’ll need it for leg three of the relay.
And I’m going to throw this out there, it also makes use of the oregano I’ve been growing in my window box. This is no mean feat for me; plants usually wilt when within three feet of me so have anything usable is an achievement.
Some of the fresh ingredients you’ll need, including my homegrown oregano
Enough bragging, let’s get cracking.
Music to listen to while preparing this dish: ‘All of the Lights‘ by Kanye
Strip the flesh from the chicken and chop finely, then put to one side. Put the skin and bones into a large saucepan, add the stockpots and water. Bring the pan to the boil and simmer for 20 mins then strain off the juice and discard the skin and bones. You now have the stock for your risotto.
In a wide, heavy-bottomed pan melt the butter over a medium heat. Once melted add the onions and garlic, season well with salt and pepper and sweat them down slowly. About 10 minutes should do it.
Once your onions are translucent, add the chicken and mix well. Then stir in your rice, making sure it’s well coated with sticky onions and melted butter.
Add a large ladle of your homemade hot chicken stock to the rice and stir until it’s been fully absorbed. When the rice appears almost dry, add more stock and repeat until the rice is soft but also firm to the bite (al dente). This will take between 20 and 30 mins.
At this stage, remove from the heat and add your zest, lemon juice and oregano leaves and a big knob of butter if you’re feeling extravagant, and stir through.
Sprinkle over the parmesan and stir though and let sit, covered, for a few minutes before serving.
The finished dish… tangy, salty and satisfying
Day Three: Arancini
I’ve never made arancini before… those deep fried rice balls you find all over Italy but particularly in Sicily. What’s the worst that could happen… Fortune favours the brave.
I don’t pretend that these are in anyway authentic – I made mine in the shape of a golf ball not a tear drop, I used polish breadcrumbs (lockdown limits apply – as it turned out these are delicious) and I didn’t tinker with the basic risotto mix. I could have added more cheese but I feared I’d lose the lemony tang
The final product… chicken & lemon arancini
There are no real measurements here, you’ll have to gauge the amount of flour, eggs and breadcrumbs you’ll need for the amount of leftover risotto you have. I used 2 eggs, 75g flour and 75g breadcrumbs for 12 golf ball sized arancini.
I also don’t have a deep fat fryer, so these were medium-fried (between shallow and deep) and the frying instructions are for this.
Music to listen to while preparing this dish: ‘Happy Hour‘ by The Housemartins
Ingredients
Left over lemon and chicken risotto, chilled
Plain flour
Eggs, beaten
Breadcrumbs
1 litre Sunflower or vegetable oil
Method
Put your flour, egg and breadcrumbs into separate bowls – use a big bowl for the breadcrumbs.
Shape enough risotto to make a golf-ball sized arancini. Roll the risotto ball in the flour, then the egg, then the breadcrumbs. Make sure each ball has an even coating of breadcrumbs. Repeat until you have used all your left over risotto.
Heat your oil over a medium heat in a heavy bottomed pan (I used my stock pot). Throw some breadcrumbs in to test if it is ready… if the breadcrumbs sizzle, you are good to go.
Fry in batches and don’t stuff the pan with arancini – they should have enough space to sizzle and fry (see video below). Fry for a total of 8 minutes but be sure to turn the arancini every 2 minutes.
After 8 minutes, remove from the pan and put on kitchen paper to absorb the excess grease.
After a few minutes, tuck in. You deserve it after completing your three-day chicken recipe relay.
I’m fiercely proud of my niece – she’s bright, sharp, moody, clever, vibrant, charming and engaging. I would say that because I’m her uncle, and being a thoughtful uncle I’ve not posted a picture of her on here – at that age privacy and image should be in her control, not mine. She comes from a longline of strong, often notorious, women and that is played out in her approach to the world around her – she’s fearless.
I associate this dish with her as it’s the staple I make when I trek down to the moor to visit my sister – it’s easy to knock up in around an hour and is an instant crowd pleaser which makes it ideal after a long journey from the capital.
Adobo is a Philippine dish and the various recipes I’ve seen often don’t have coconut cream so the below isn’t traditional – more so with the inclusion of the pink peppercorns. I’ve added those to add crunch and a whiff of colour. The end result is salty, tangy and creamy and also keeps for days and is as tasty on day three as it is on day one.
Music to listen to while preparing this dish: ‘The Circle Game’ the Buffy Sainte-Marie version
INGREDIENTS
12 chicken thighs, skinless, boneless
15 cloves garlic roughly chopped or 1 heaped tablespoon of smoked garlic purée
1tsp pink peppercorns (optional
4 bay leaves
250ml coconut cream
125ml light soy sauce
125ml white wine vinegar
Oil for frying
2 tbsps dried herbs – I went for Italian
METHOD
This is a one-pan meal, so cover your chicken in the dry herbs in fry-off and brown your fillets in a pan with the oil. You may need to do this in batches.
Once browned, remove from the pan and in the hot pan fry off the garlic for about 3 mins
Add the chicken fillets back in the pan, seam-side down, and add the coconut cream, soy sauce, peppercorns, bay leaves and vinegar and mix together by moving around the fillets.
Cover and simmer for 30mins, after which time, flip the fillets over so the tops get some time in the sauce.
After 20 mins more, flip again. If your sauce is thick and velvety, it’s ready. If not, another 10 minutes should do it. Basically you want it to reduce to a thick, glossy sauce but not too dry
Serve with rice
You’ll need a silky yet spiky white for this and the wines from Georgia do just the trick, try Sapatio Mtsvane 2021, that should do the trick.
Cooking for large numbers can be a real pain, especially when you’ve got an oven for four people with a changeable attitude to temperature and you’ve had a skinful while preparing the food. This dish is simple to prepare, simple to cook (you do need to check that the fish is cooked all the way through when cooking in bulk) and simple to present.
I made this for a birthday lunch and wanted the dish to have the wow factor. The bang here comes from the presentation. I’m lucky enough to have had an extra long board – if you don’t, then buy a 3ft piece of wood/scaffolding plank to serve from. Serving this individually lacks the punch of serving it as a centre piece (you’ll get the oohs and aaahs you’re hoping for).
I’ve chosen tarragon for this but basil works well too. Another combo is swap the tarragon and lemon for thyme and bitter orange.
8 whole and filleted sea bream – all the same size
1 pack of salted butter (room temperature)
1 big bunch (or 3 supermarket packets) fresh tarragon, pluck the leaves, discard the stems
Juice and zest 1 lemon
1/2 – 1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
Black pepper to taste
3 packs lambs lettuce
Method
Preheat oven to 200C.
Mix butter, herbs, juice, zest and pepper till well combined.
Score each fish on one side (three times should do it).
Rub the butter into each of the scores on the fish and add a knob into each cavity.
Arrange head to tail in your dish and cook for 20 – 30 mins (this really does depend on your oven – I’ve had to vary cooking times in different locations).
While cooking, cover your board witht he lambs lettuce
Once cooked, arrange your fish on your board diagonally head to tail.
Decant the melted butter (there will be a lot of it) into a jug to serve alongside the fish
Serve with Pol Roger… and plenty of it, it’s a birthday after all.
And if you don’t believe me
My colleague Jo, in Dubai, made this and sent the picture through. I love how she’s presented the fish and has given me ideas for when I don’t have that big board to hand… Thanks for sharing Jo!
Jo’s bream, beautifully presented, nose to tail.
And an alternative is sea bass stuffed and topped with chopped black olives, fresh oregano and sliced lemon.
Thursday night fresh fish feast. The bass is Greek so the stuffing of olive, lemon and oregano is too
I’m lucky enough to live on a road that hosts a farmers market every Saturday morning and it has everything – butcher, baker, beer maker… all you want for the perfect Sunday roast.
One of the stallholders is Southdowns Venison who provide wild venison straight from the park to the market. The guy who shoots then sells it is charm personified and I usually end up with burgers, a pie or occasionally a good roasting joint.
This week I picked up a boned and rolled (stop your sniggering at the back) haunch of venison – perfect for roasting. I’m often confused as to how to cook venison, so I asked Mr Charm Personified himself and he recommended 20 mins per kilo at 180… so that’s what I did. This recipe is for a kilo joint.
I chose to do this with cubetti potatoes as I wanted a faff-free Sunday and this means I can do this all in one dish and have minimal washing up
Music to listen to while preparing this dish: ‘You Came’ by Kim Wilde
Ingredients
1kg Venison haunch, boned and rolled
3 medium potatoes cubed (skin on or off is your choice)
1 Large onion, chopped to same size as potato cubes
Leaves from 4-5 rosemary sprigs
8-10 Cloves garlic, peeled
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
Method
Heat oven to 180 degrees.
Add potatoes, onions, garlic and rosemary into a large and wide roasting dish, add a liberal glug of oil. Mix well, season with salt and pepper and pop in the oven.
Remove the joint from the fridge and let it get to room temperature.
At the point the potatoes have been roasting for 40 mins, you need to sear/render the fat on your haunch in a frying pan. Do this over a medium high heat to render any fat and sear the joint to get a good colour on it. This should take you about 20 mins.
Once seared, take the potatoes out the oven, and turn them over. Create a space in the middle of your pan and plonk the joint there. Return to the oven for 20 mins for a very rare joint…. How I like it.
After 20 mins, remove the meat from the pan, cover and let rest for 10 mins.
Return the potatoes (without meat) to the oven to crisp up the potatoes if needed. If all ready crispy, reduce temp to keep them warm while the meat rests.
Once rested, carve the meat and serve with your crispy potatoes.
Firstly, apologies for the long delay… it’s all for the best reasons. I started a new job in February and I’ve been at it all guns blazing. It’s a fab job, with great people in a cutting-edge agency.
Apologies over, I’m also recovering from a brutal winter lockdown and issues with my health. Nothing serious but it all culminated with a nasty leg injury which left me with two gaping wounds on my shin.
Couple my gammy leg with terrible Bank Holiday weather and I was feeling truly sorry for myself. So I knocked up this stew from my favourite meat, lamb. It has great umami flavours, comes with a Mediterranean twist alongside some real cold comfort British food favourites.
It’s a long, slow cook this one which gives you time to make some dumplings I found on Nigella’s community site to round the meal off. It’s worth the wait. I hit a huge bowl of this and felt two things after… sated and ready for bed.
Music to listen to while preparing this dish: ‘Mr Haze’ by Texas
Ingredients
8 Lamb leg steaks, cut into chunks
3 Large onions roughly chopped
3 Cloves garlic roughly chopped
8 sun-dried tomato halves, roughly chopped
180g Kalamata olives, pitted preferably
Leaves from three sprigs rosemary
3 bushy sprigs thyme
1ltr Chicken stock
1tbsp Bovril
Salt & pepper
Olive oil
For the dumplings
Follow this recipe from Nigella’s community site. It really does the job with minimal fuss (just remove the horseradish and add some of the fresh thyme leaves you’ll have spare).
Method
Heat the oven to 160.
In a large casserole pan (you know the sort… the one that goes from hob, to oven then to table) add a generous glug of olive oil and fry off the lamb chunks. You may need to do this in batches as you’ll want a bit of colour on them.
Once they are seared, remove from the casserole and fry off the onions, garlic and herbs in the lamby oil mix left behind. You want to sweat them down until they are golden and translucent. Leave the thyme on the twig – you’ll maximise the flavour and you can remove the twigs when the dumplings go in. Season carefully as the olives and tomatoes pack a lot of salty goodness so you’ll need to balance carefully.
Once sweated down, add the tomatoes and the olives and fry for another few minutes.
Add the lamb and all the juices back in to the casserole and mix well.
Add your stock and the Bovril and mix well over a medium heat. The stock should just cover the meat mix.
Once you’ve reached a rolling simmer, pop the lid on and move the dish to the oven.
I like to cook this long and slow – so cook for three hours in your oven, stirring every 30 minutes to check it isn’t drying out. If it is, add a splash of stock or water.
After your 3-hour check you can start to make Nigella’s dumplings. As mentioned above, remove the horseradish and add some dried herbs.
At the 3.5 hour mark, pop the dumplings on top of the stew , remembering to remove the thyme twigs and adding stock if the casserole mix needs it.
Pop the lid back on and return to the oven for 30 minutes.
Shakshuka is a delight to eat but a bugger to pronounce. I first had it courtesy of my friend Bryan who whipped this up one very lazy Sunday in South London. Bryan is a modern day Renaissance Man – artist, poet, singer, songwriter, author and all-round nice guy.
He makes a superb cup of coffee, too.
This recipe is designed to be a sharer – one pan between two people with a shed load of bread to dunk in the eggs and to mop up the sauce. If you’re social-distance conscious, maybe this isn’t for you…
It’s a one-pan dish that you build up to its tangy and spicy climax. So use a pan that looks as good on the table as it does on the stove. You alter the cayenne to suit your heat levels – I like mine relatively mild.
Music to listen to while preparing this dish: ‘Right Beside You’ by Sophie B Hawkins
Ingredients
A glue of olive oil
1tbsp Cumin seeds
1tbsp Fennel seeds
2 Cloves garlic, crushed
1 Large onion, chopped
1 Red pepper, sliced thinly
1tbsp Paprika (plain or smoked, your choice)
1/2tsp Cayenne pepper
1 Can chopped tomatoes
Splash of vegetable stock
1 large bunch coriander chopped
4 large eggs
Salt and pepper
Crusty bread to serve
Method
Over a medium heat, warm your oil and fry off the cumin and fennel seeds for a minute.
Add the onions and garlic, season well with salt and pepper and fry down for around 10mins, stirring often. You want them golden and translucent not browned/charred.
Once they’ve been sweated down, add the peppers and fry off for another five minutes.
Add your paprika and cayenne pepper, stir through the onion-pepper mix and fry for a minute. Add your tomatoes and a generous splash of your stock and mix well.
Cover and simmer gently for around 10 minutes, then remove the cover and reduce a little. You should have a firm but loose mix.
Saving some for garnish, add all your coriander and mix through.
Now you need to add the eggs – make a well in your mixture and crack the egg in. Repeat for the other eggs.
Cover the dish and reduce the heat a little. Check your eggs after 5 minutes – you want the white to be cooked and the yolk to be runny.
Garnish with the last of the coriander and serve with crusty buttered bread.
Happy 2021! Apologies for my radio silence – Covid19 got me and I was laid up for a few weeks with a hacking cough, sweats and absolutely no sense of taste or smell. My senses are back, but I wanted to stimulate my taste buds more… And this is where Venus came, not for the first time, to my rescue.
I first met Venus nearly 20 years ago when I was working for BBC New Media out of Bush House. In short she is a powerhouse – she leads by example, nurtures her team, cares deeply and is the ultimate media professional having led some big BBC digital projects to great success. Like many women at the BBC she had to suffer the misogyny and bullying which came with the territory back then and she dealt with it with magnificent elegance and no nonsense. She shines as an example for us all.
Venus & I at my BBC Leaving do in 2011
And this soup is her creation – I saw a picture of it on her Facebook timeline and started salivating, so I reached out and she shared the recipe. What I love about this recipe is that it has a short story behind it which is full of love, support and warmth. It’s very Venus, so here’s the story in her words.
“My partner has type 2 diabetes and wanted to sort out his nutrition, lose some weight and get into shape. We decided to go on the NHS Diabetes Diet – Mainly 800 calories a day consisting of 2 shakes and a soup. We tried their soup recipes, but after a couple of weeks we got bored, so I started creating new ones. This one has been crafted over a couple of months.”
This soup is an absolute BANGER! It’s rich, velvety with the weight of garlic (you should be thinking that’s a lot of garlic… this is a good thing) and packs as much punch as you’d like with the addition of chilli flakes. It also looks so beautiful at every stage of preparation/cooking, a real symphony in red.
‘A Study in Red’
From top left – raw, prepped, roasted, ready to eat
Oh, and word to the wise, don’t monkey around with this recipe. It’s perfect the way it is. Just serve it with a heavily-buttered crusty roll and a garnish of your choice (I used crispy onions)
Music to listen to while preparing this dish: ‘Ex’s & Oh’s’ by Elle King
Ingredients
8 medium tomatoes, quartered
2 red onions roughly chopped
2 large red peppers, chopped
1 bulb of garlic, cloves peeled
300ml Vegetable stock
Thyme
Oregano
Salt & Pepper
Sugar
Chilli flakes
Rapeseed oil
Method
Heat your oven to 200 fan.
Line your grill tray or large roasting dish with greaseproof paper and add the tomatoes, onions and peppers. Mix with your hands.
Scatter over the garlic, some black pepper, a sprinkling of salt, a pinch of sugar, and a liberal sprinkling of your thyme and oregano. Sprinkle chilli flakes to taste (I went punchy).
Drizzle over rapeseed oil and roast for 40-mins.
Once roasted add to a deep pan then add your veg stock.
Cool, then blend to required thickness with a hand blender.
Pug's Kitchen 