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Posted on September 14, 2026 by conorjjones

Lamb Tagine

I read this Guardian article and liked the variations.

  • 2 Onion, thinly sliced
  • Garlic, five cloves thinly sliced
  • 1kg Sholder lamb. 4cm cube, season with salt and pepper
  • Coriander sprigs, unchopped and remove after cooking
  • 300 ml Water
  • 1 Tbsp Cumin powder
  • 2 Tbsp Coriander powder
  • ½ Tbsp Turmeric power
  • 1 Tbsp Paprika or Kashmiri chilli
  • 1 tsp Cayenne pepper or 2 tsp Harissa paste
  • 1 Cinnamon Stick
  • 1 Star Anise
  • Grated ginger or Ground ginger
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Dates, destoned and cut in half
  • Apricots, chopped
  • Almonds, toasted
  • Coriander, chopped
  • Honey

Cooked the onion in butter and olive oil over medium heat until they start to brown. Remove to a plate.

Add the lamb to the pot and brown over a medium heat. Add the garlic and cook for a minute. Then add back half the onions, and all the spices. Cook for 2 minutes. Then add the water and bring to a boil, then reduce heat to the minimum that keeps it at a simmer. Add the unchopped sprigs of coriander. Place lid on and cook for two hours. Stir occasionally.

To finish, remove lid, remove the whole spices (Star Anise and Cinnamon) and remove the coriander sprigs. Add the dates and apricots, keep at a simmer and reduce a bit. Add some honey if you like extra sweetness. Season with salt and pepper as needed. After a 30 minutes add chopped coriander and toasted almonds.

Serve with couscous or tabouleh

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Posted on September 13, 2026 by conorjjones

Tabouleh

Makes 2 portions. Often made with couscous, but I prefer buigar

  • 200g Bulgar
  • 500ml chicken stock
  • Mint, fine chopped
  • Parsley, fine chopped
  • 8 Cherry Tomato or any tomato, chopped
  • 1/3 Cucumber, deseed and chopped
  • 4 Green Onion, chopped
  • 1 x Juice of a Lemon
  • Olive Oil, equal volume to the lemon
  • Salt
  • Pepper

Soak the bulgar in stock for 30mins until all the stock is absorbed. Fluff up the bulgar with a fork.

Mix all the ingredients into the bulgar and serve

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Posted on May 24, 2025 by conorjjones

LASAGNE

Lasagne recipes vary. I’ve made this a few times and like it. Credit to Maria, aged 92 (sadly passed) who shows us how to make it in this video on the Pasta Grannies channel!

4 -6 people:

For the ragù:

  • 2 garlic cloves
  • 3 sage leaves (wrapped in muslin)
  • 200g unsmoked pancetta, diced
  • 1.5 kg minced pork (loin or shoulder)
  • 1 litre beef stock
  • 1 heaping tbsp of tomato paste
  • 400 g passata
  • Salt, pepper

For the béchamel:

  • 30 g butter
  • 30 g flour
  • 1/2 litre whole milk
  • 1/2 a nutmeg, grated
  • For sprinkling: 50g Parmesan

Use a deep dish. 

Layer in this sequence, ragu, bechamel, sprinkle of parmesan, lasagna. Repeat 4 times and finish with a layer of ragu, bechamel and parmesan. The ragu has a lot of seasoning so don’t over do the parmesan.

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Posted on September 21, 2024 by conorjjones

Asian Fish with Ginger and Soy

Delicious way to eat fish with Asian flavours. Quick to prepare. Credit to Weekday Pescatarian

750g Cod or any mild white fish cut into small 3 cm slices
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp white pepper
2 tbsp flour
2 tbsp vegetable oil

For the sauce:
1/2 cup light soy sauce
4 tbsp fresh ginger, julienned
4 tbsp water
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp rice wine vinegar
4 tsp sugar
2 tsp chili flakes

Garnish:
4 green onions, julienned
3 tbsp fresh coriander leaves, no need to chop
2 red chili, sliced
Fresh lime wedges

Make the sauce by combining julienned ginger, soy sauce, water, sesame oil, sugar, rice wine vinegar and chili flakes. Mix to combine and set aside.

Dust the fish in mixture of flour salt and pepper and set aside
Heat oil in a pan on medium heat
Fry the fish turning after 2/3 minutes, then turn fish and add the sauce. Bring to a simmer for c 3 mins.
Remove fish to a heated platter and garnish with green onions, chilli, coriander.

Serve with jasmine rice and lime segments.

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Posted on January 3, 2024 by conorjjones

Hong Kong Noodles

• Garlic, 4 cloves fin chopped
• 200g Bean Sprout
• 250g Dried Egg Noodles
• 100g Chives (optional)
• 5 x Green Onions, separate the green part, cut in half. And white part, cut in half along length.
• 1 x Onion, cut in 1/8th
• Sesame Seeds
• Sesame Oil
• Vegetable oil
• White pepper

Sauce
• 80ml Water
• ½ tsp Sugar
• 2 Tbsp light soya sauce
• 1 Tbsp dark soya sauce l 1 later
• 1 Tbsp oyster sauce

Prepare the sauce. Mix all ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

Prepare noodles by cooking in simmering water for a few minutes as per pack instructions. Remove from water, drain off water and place all noodles on kitchen towel to ensure they dry out properly. Drying the noodles properly will ensure they take on the sauce properly later in the process.

Bring water to boil in the wok and blanche the bean sprout for a minute or two. Strain and rinse in some cold water and set aside.

Wipe wok clean, add vegetable oil to wok and bring to high heat. Add Onion on white part of green onion and fry for 2 mins, then add the garlic and fry until it starts to brown. Add the noodles, and stir in onion and garlic. Add chives, green onion and bean sprouts. Stir in sauce. Add extra dark soya if you want a darker colour. Add some sesame oil and stir. Sprinkle on some sesame seeds. Add some white pepper.

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Posted on April 9, 2023 by conorjjones

Chicken Teriyaki

This is a crowd pleaser, and not that difficult once you get your head around working with delicious chicken thighs

  •  12 Chicken Thighs, with skin on
  • 400 ml Sake (or Sherry or Chinese Rice Wine)
  • 400 ml Mirin
  • 400 ml Soy Sauce
  • Ginger – Fine chopped
  • 4 Cloves Garlic – Fine chopped
  • Sesame Seeds
  • Sugar
  • Cornflour
  • Vegetable Oil
  • Salt
  • Pepper
  • Broccoli, cutting floret in half to leave a nice flat surface for frying.
  • Basmati Rice

Make Sauce

Heat a pan with a little vegetable oil, add the ginger and garlic and cook a while to infuse the oil. Add Sake, Mirin and Soy and reduce by a 1/3rd. Make a slurry of cornflour and water and add to sauce to thicken it. Stir in the sesame seeds to the finished sauce. Adding sugar is optional, the sauce should be sweet from the Mirin, but taste and add sugar if it is needed.

Fry Chicken

Debone the chicken thighs and then flatten the thigh with a cleaver or a pot. Season well with salt and pepper on both sides. Leave the thighs in the fridge overnight and the skin will dry out a bit adding to the crispiness when fried, this is optional, and you can also move to cooking straight away.

Heat a pan and place the chicken thighs skin side down and cook until golden brown usually taking about 5 minutes. Turn and cook for another 3 or 4 minutes. Remove from pan and place on a baking tray skin side up. Save the chicken fat and wipe pan clean and cook another batch of thighs.

Place tray in oven for about 10 minutes before you want to serve.

Fry Broccoli

In the same pan as used to the chicken, reintroduce some of the fat, add some ginger and garlic and fry the broccoli, turning when it starts to brown.

Dip each chicken thigh in the sauce, place on a board, slice it and place on top of some rice. Put broccoli to the side and serve. Put bowl of sauce on table and drizzle extra over chicken thigh if you wish.

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Posted on October 7, 2022 by conorjjones

Thai Red Curry

Serves 4

  • 1 kg of chicken
  • 100g red curry paste (I like mae ploy)
  • 30g brown sugar
  • 2 tins of coconut milk
  • 1 tbsp Thai fish sauce
  • 2cm ginger
  • 2 lemon grass stalks
  • 1 red chilli
  • Limes
  • Jasmine rice

Slice chicken thinly and pan fry in vegetable oil till brown on both sides. Set aside.

In a pot or wok, heat a little oil, add the curry paste and some of the coconut milk. Fry until it bubbles and becomes fragrant. Add the sugar and fish sauce and stir well and cook for a few mins. Add the rest of the coconut milk and cook for 15 mins on low heat letting it reduce and thicken.

Rough chop the ginger, red chilli and lemon grass. Add to a blitzer with some water and reduce to a paste.

Add the cooked chicken to the sauce and stir. Then add the ginger, lemongrass and chilli paste and stir in.

Chop the coriander and stir in.

Serve with jasmine rice and segments of lime.

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Posted on October 7, 2022 by conorjjones

Tuscan Chicken

  • 5x Chicken Breast,
  • 5x Sun dried tomato, fine chop
  • 6x cloves Garlic
  • 1x Large Onion
  • 1x Tbsp Tomato puree
  • 2x Tsp Dried oregano
  • Olive Oil
  • Butter
  • Spinach
  • 1 tsp Onion Powder
  • 1 tsp Garlic Powder
  • 1 tsp Paprika
  • 1 tsp black pepper
  • 500 ml Chicken Stock
  • 500 ml Cream
  • Basil
  • Parmesan Cheese

Cut chicken breast open like a book. Place in bowl, add garlic powder, onion powder, paprika and olive oil and mix.  In hot pan (not a non-stick), add some olive oil and fry chicken for 3 mins each side, or until brown. Remove to plate.

Add the onion and garlic to pan and fry for a few minutes till it starts to brown. Add tomato paste, sundried tomato, and oregano. Fry till tomato puree starts to leave a fond on base of pan.

Add stock and cream and reduce by half. Add the parmesan and stir in. Add the chicken and heat through. Add the basil and spinach.

Serve with roasted new potatoes and a green vegetable.

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Posted on October 7, 2022 by conorjjones

Pad Thai

  • 600g or 4 breast Chicken, slice into thin strips.
  • 200g Prawns
  • 3 Shallots, fine dice
  • 1 large Leek, find dice
  • Coriander
  • Basil
  • Chives
  • Bean sprouts
  • Dry Roast Peanuts, pound in pestle and mortar
  • 3 x Eggs
  • Flat Rice Noodles

Sauce

  • 3 tbsp Fish Sauce
  • 3 tsp of Palm Sugar or brown sugar or any sugar you have
  • 3 tsp Tamarind paste
  • A little water or chicken stock to loosen the sauce

Cut chicken into thin strips, cook in pan, browning on both sides and set aside.

Dissolve sugar is warm water or chicken stock. Add fish sauce and tamarind, stir well and set aside.

Put noodles into boiled water and let soften. Rinse in cold water, strain and set aside.

Place small amount of oil in a wok and fry the shallot and leek on high heat.

Reduce heat to medium and add the noodle, stir and heat.

Add chicken and beansprout, sauce and mix well.

Push noodle mix to side and add egg and scramble it and stir into noodles.

Add dry roast peanuts, coriander, basil and chives and serve.

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Posted on December 20, 2021 by conorjjones

Thai Red Curry

Loosely based on a recipe of John and Lisa’s Saturday Kitchen, see full recipe here.

Serves 4

  • 1 kg of chicken
  • 100g red curry paste (Mae Ploy brand is good)
  • 30g brown sugar
  • 2 tins of coconut milk
  • 1 tbsp Thai fish sauce
  • 2cm ginger
  • 2 lemon grass stalks
  • 1 red chilli
  • 2 garlic cloves
  • Potatoe and peppers (optional)
  • Limes
  • Jasmine rice

Slice chicken thinly and pan fry in vegetable oil till brown on both sides. Set aside.

Rough chop the ginger, red chilli, garlic cloves and lemon grass. Add to a blitzer with some water and reduce to a paste.

In a pot or wok, heat a little oil, add 2 tbsp of coconut milk fry until bubbles. Then add the curry paste and fry until it bubbles and becomes fragrant. Then add the sugar and fish sauce and stir well and cook for a few mins. Then add the ginger, lemongrass, garlic and chilli paste and stir in. Add the rest of the coconut milk and cook for 15 mins on low heat letting it reduce and thicken. At this stage you could add some sliced peppers and cubed potato, the potato alone with help thicken the sauce. Add the cooked chicken to the sauce and stir.

Chop the coriander and stir in.

Serve with jasmine rice and segments of lime.

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