Cheese and Lentil Bake

(serves about 3-4 people)

1 cup lentils, rinsed
1 cup water
1 tsp salt
pinch of sage, marjoram, thyme
1 large onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup canned tomatoes, tomato juice or water
2 large carrots, sliced
1 tblsp dried parsley
1 cup grated cheese

Method:
Put all the ingredients except for the carrots, parsley and cheese in an ovenproof dish, cover, and bake at 175C for about half an hour. Stir gently, add the sliced carrots, cover again, and bake for a further 30 minutes. Sprinkle over the parsley and cheese, then bake uncovered for about five minutes until the cheese is melted.

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This is a simple vegetarian meal based on lentils. Added cheese makes this a good source of protein: use rennet-free cheese for strict vegetarians. Serve with vegetables, and perhaps some garlic bread or baked potatoes if you have hungry teenagers.

Mexican Chicken

(Serves about 4-6)

450g-900g (1lb - 2lb) boneless chicken or turkey pieces
1-2 tblsp vegetable oil (olive oil is best)
2 large onions, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed, or 1 tsp garlic
2-3 medium carrots, finely chopped
1 green or red bell pepper, chopped
1 medium can chopped tomatoes in juice or puree
1 medium can or packet (about 1-1½ cups) tomato sauce or paste
1 tsp basil
1 tsp cumin seeds
¼-½ tsp chili powder, depending on strength and preference

Method:
Fry the chicken pieces in the oil, turning constantly, until browned on all sides. Set aside. Fry the onion and garlic in the same pan, adding the chopped carrots and pepper after about a minute. Cook until softened, stirring all the time. Stir in the tomatoes and tomato paste, and bring to a gentle simmer, still stirring. Add the browned meat and the spices.

Either cover with a loosely fitting lid and simmer gently for about an hour, stirring occasionally, or place the contents of the pan in an ovenproof dish, and bake (covered) in the oven for about an hour.

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If you cook this in the pan on the stove, serve with rice or mashed potatoes; if you cook in the oven, serve with oven-baked potatoes in jackets. This also goes well with sweetcorn, or mixed green salad, and can be topped with natural thick yogurt or tsatsiki.

It's important to use chicken or turkey pieces without bones. Usually I buy individual filletted meat; alternatively you could buy a large turkey breast, and cut it up. The amount you need will vary depending on your family's appetite! This recipe can easily be doubled to serve guests. Adapt quantities of ingredients depending on sizes available, and personal tastes. For instance, if you don't like strong spices, omit the chili powder. We made it once without chili, onion or garlic and it was still a tasty chicken-tomato casserole.

If you have a vegetarian in the family, you can cook the basic sauce and serve it with some cooked beans to serve at the same time as the rest of the family eats this dish.

Nut Roast

(Serves 3-4 people).

1 onion, chopped
25g olive oil
225g mixed nuts, eg almonds, walnuts
100g bread
150ml vegetable stock or water
2 tsp marmite/yeast extract
1 tsp mixed herbs (thyme and parsley work well)
1 beaten egg
salt and pepper to taste

Method
Cook the onion gently in the oil until transparent. Grind the nuts and bread together in a liquidiser until they are quite fine (or do them separately).

Heat the stock and yeast extract until boiling, then combine all the ingredients and mix well. The consistency should be like porridge, not too stiff. Turn the mixture into a shallow greased baking dish, or loaf pan; level the surface, sprinkle with a few extra breadcrumbs, and bake at 180C for about half an hour until golden brown. Turn out and serve sliced.

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This is an excellent meal for vegetarians (and many meat-eaters enjoy it too!) It works well to serve as a veggie alternative to roast meat, as it goes well with roast potatoes, mint sauce, cranberry jelly, yorkshire puddings etc.

Use a mixture of nuts, according to preference. We generally use about equal quantities of almonds, walnuts and hazelnuts, but you could use just one variety for a more pronounced flavour. Note that peanuts (even in small quantity) tend to give a strong peanut-butter taste, which is fine if you like peanut butter. If not, don't put peanuts in this.

Vegemite would probably work instead of Marmite, or even Bovril if serving to people who are not vegetarians. But it's rather bland if you don't include this at all.

Sweet and sour cheese

(serves about 2-3 people)

2 medium carrots, peeled and sliced
150ml vegetable stock or water
260-280g can pineapple pieces in juice
1-2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp tomato ketchup
2 tbsp vinegar
1 level tbsp cornflour
120-150g hard cheese, cut in 1cm cubes (vegan if required).

Method:
Put the carrot pieces in a pan with the stock or water, and cover. Simmer for about five minutes. Add the pineapple, including the juice, with the garlic, tomato ketchup. Blend the vinegar with the cornflour in a small bowl, then stir into the pan slowly. Bring to the boil, stirring well, until thickened - this takes about 2-3 minutes. 

Banoffee Pie (with dairy-free option)

Banoffee Pie

(to serve 4-6)

Ingredients

Base:
175g digestive biscuits 
85g melted butter or spread

Centre: (use one of these options)
Easy dairy method:
420g can dulce de leche 

    OR sweetened condensed milk, previously boiled (see below)

Second dairy method:
420g (large) can sweetened condensed milk
175g  butter
175g  sugar

Dairy-free method:

400g can thick coconut milk or cream

50g dairy-free spread

50g soft brown sugar

40g golden syrup

Topping:
2-3 bananas
lemon juice
200-400ml whipped cream (dairy or otherwise)

Method:

Crush the digestive biscuits and mix with melted fat; press onto the base and sides of a 20-23cm round pie plate or flan tin.

For the easy dairy method, simply open the can of dulce de leche and scrape out the contents into the base, using a spatula to get the last of it out.

For the second dairy method, pour the (unboiled) condensed milk into a non-stick saucepan with the butter and sugar. Stir over a low heat until the sugar dissolves, then boil for about five minutes, stirring constantly, to make a light golden caramel. Wait until the colour changes, but do not over-boil. Pour into the crumb crust and leave to cool. (If you didn't boil for long enough, the mixture will stay rather runny, and will be messy to eat but still delicious.)

For the dairy-free method, combine the four ingredients listed in a heavy-based largish pan, and bring to the boil, stirring gently. Then simmer in the pan over a low heat without stirring for about five or six minutes until it begins to darken. Cool slightly, then pour into the crust as above. 

For the topping, slice the bananas and sprinkle the slices with a little lemon juice, so they won't go brown in the air. Arrange then over the toffee centre. Decorate with whipped cream (dairy or otherwise). Refrigerate for a few hours before serving.

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Banoffee pie is a fairly easy dessert to make, relying on store-cupboard ingredients and bananas. The easy method for the centre relies on dulce de leche (bought from some supermarkets, or created from boiling unopened cans of condensed milk).

To boil a can of condensed milk, place on its side in a large saucepan, with water to cover. Bring to the boil, then put on a lid and simmer gently for about three hours, adding extra water as necessary to ensure that the pan does not boil dry (this is important!). The result will be the thick, toffee-like substance known as dulce de leche. 

When finished, cool to room temperature before opening, as the contents will be extremely hot. The condensed milk will have turned to soft toffee. If you have a large pan you can do about three cans at a time, and then label them, since they will keep for several months in a cupboard.

The second method is not quite so straightforward, but is useful if you don't have dulce de leche available. 

The dairy-free method works well with thick coconut milk or cream; make sure you have a full-fat version if you buy coconut milk. Unfortunately, condensed coconut milk does not seem to thicken like ordinary condensed milk does, so it can't be used as a straightforward substitution.

This isn't the cheapest of desserts to make, but it looks impressive and, in my opinion, it's delicious. So it's well worth making for a special occasion... unless you or one of your guests hates bananas. Without bananas it would be too sweet, and no other fruit has the same kind of consistency or balance.

The name 'banoffee' is a contraction of 'banana' and 'toffee', and was apparently invented in the UK in the early 1970s. 

Chocolate Chip Applesauce Cake

Chocolate chip applesauce cake

Makes about 24 squares, serves 6-8 as dessert

Ingredients:
125ml (½ cup) oil
2 eggs
250g (1 1/4 cups) sugar
250g (2 cups) flour (plain, or half wholewheat)
500ml (2 cups) applesauce
½ tsp salt
1½ tsp baking soda
3 tblsp unsweetened cocoa

Topping:
150g (1 cup) chocolate chips
2 tblsp sugar

Method:
Mix the oil, sugar and eggs with a wooden spoon in a large bowl. Add all the other ingredients except those for the topping, and mix until blended. Pour into a greased ovenproof dish, approx 22x32 cm (9x13 inch). Sprinkle on the topping, then bake at about 180C (350F) for 35-40 mins. When ready, the cake will be firm but not burned and the topping will make a light sugary crust. When cool, cut into squares.

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This is a simple dessert or cake which can be mixed in a few minutes. Although the quantities are given in grams, this is very easy to make using American cups. If you don't have a set of measuring cups, you can approximate with any mug or glass that holds 250ml liquid. We use olive oil and dairy-free chocolate chips, which makes this suitable for those on a dairy-free diet.

I was given the US version of this recipe by a friend in Chicago, many years ago, and have used it frequently in the USA, UK and now Cyprus. It's fairly low in fat, other than the chocolate chips. The original had one and a half cups of sugar in the main cake, but we found that a bit too sweet so I reduced it little. You might find just 200g (one cup) is sufficient - but don't reduce it too much as the sugar is needed to make the consistency right. The sweetness partly depends on the sweetness of the apple sauce. I make my own from raw apples, which can vary in sweetness. If you use cooked apple purée, and don't sweeten it, you may find that you need more sugar in the cake.

Chocolate chip applesauce cake can be eaten alone as cake, or with thick yogurt or ice cream as a dessert. It freezes well.

Lemon Curd

(To make about 1kg (2lb) lemon curd)

4-6 medium lemons: squeeze the juice and finely grate the yellow part of the rind
100g (about 4 ounces) unsalted butter 
450g (about 2 cups) sugar
4 largish eggs (or 6 small), beaten

Method:

Mix together the lemon rind and juice, then put with the butter and sugar in a tall pyrex or other suitable container, uncovered. There should be about 300ml lemon juice altogether, although it doesn't matter if there's a little less. If the lemons are very juicy and there is more than this, the result will be quite runny.

Microwave on full (high) for about four minutes, stirring after two minutes. Stir well to dissolve the sugar fully, and make sure the butter is completely melted. Microwave a little longer if necessary.

Add the beaten eggs, stirring in thoroughly. Microwave for a further five to six minutes, stirring well after every minute, until the mixture is thick and creamy. Do not over-cook - stop when it thickens and give a final stir.

Cool slightly, then put in clean, warm jars with lids. Refrigerate when cold.

Note: ensure the mixture comes less than half-way up the sides of your microwave container, or it will boil over! If you don't have a large enough jug, you can make it in two halves.

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Lemon curd is a sweet preserve, used like jam on bread and butter, toast, or muffins (the English variety!) It's also good spooned into little pastry cases and baked in the oven. In some places it's known as 'lemon butter' - but this can cause confusion as lemon butter may also be a savoury, salty spread.

Lemon curd used to be time-consuming to make, needing a large pan of simmering water over a low heat, stirring constantly in a heatproof bowl. But with a microwave oven, it becomes quick and easy. It's best kept refrigerated and used within a couple of months.

I have experimented with dairy-free versions of lemon curd.  Simply substituting dairy-free spread does not work, as it makes the mixture too runny. However I have had some success with using half dairy-free spread and half refined (odour-free) coconut oil, since that solidifies even more than butter when refrigerated. Regular coconut oil gives it a strange flavour. 

A fully vegan version can be made with the zest from 4-6 lemons, 6 tbsp cornflour, 140ml water, 400g sugar, 240ml lemon juice120ml dairy-free milk, 60g dairy-free spread and 60g odour-free coconut oil. This is easier in a pan than in the microwave, as it requires making a paste with the cornflour, sugar and water which is gradually whisked in to make a paste.  Then the lemon juice is added and it needs to be brought to the boil, stirring constantly as it thickens. After that the fats and milk must be gradually stirred in until well-combined, and then the mixture poured into sterilised warm jars. If it looks too pale, about a quarter teaspoon of turmeric can be stirred in without affecting the flavour.