Croquettes - the best way to give up on summer

I have given up on summer - I am tired of the constant disappointment that expecting good weather brings, so have decided instead to just enjoy autumn foods and the occasional bit of sunshine that comes my way. This was actually a very good idea, as the day after I decided this I ended up cycling in the sunshine and paddling in the sea. Croquettes are a great autumn food, because you can fill them with all your favourite (and cheap) root vegetables. This recipe makes enough for 2 greedy people. 

300g root vegetables- parsnips, kumara, carrots, potatoes

half an onion

1 cup of frozen peas

1 cup milk

1/4 cup butter or margarine

1/4 plain flour

1 teaspoon paprika

1 teaspoon thyme

1 cup polenta

1 cup breadcrumbs

salt and pepper

olive oil

Chop the root vegetables into small, similar sized pieces. Toss with a tablespoon of cold water and microwave on medium power for about 8 minutes until nice and soft. While this is happening, finely dice the onion and fry in a little olive oil over a high heat until the onion starts to soften and brown.

Mash the root vegetables with a fork, then tip into the frying pan with the onion, then add the paprika and thyme. Cook for another couple of minutes, stirring and mashing with a wooden spoon. Transfer to a large mixing bowl and put it to one side for now. 

The next step is a simple béchamel sauce that will bind your croquettes together. In a small saucepan, melt the butter. Sprinkle the flour over the top, and stir briskly. Pour in the milk, give everything a whisk, and cook gently for about 5 minutes until the sauce has thickened, whisking occasionally.

Pour the sauce over onion and vegetables, and stir in the cup of frozen peas - this helps your mixture cool down quicker. Pop in the fridge for half an hour or so. 

That's the hard bit done now! Once the mixture has cooled down enough for you to mould with your hands, you're ready to do the shaping and baking. Heat up the grill in your oven. In a shallow bowl, mix together the polenta and breadcrumbs with a little salt and pepper. Use a tablespoon to scoop out the mixture, and drop into the breadcrumbs. This first layer of breadcrumbs makes it much easier to shape the croquettes without covering your hands/apron/entire kitchen in sticky mixture! To shape, roll the balls of mixture gently against a chopping board to create long tubes, then roll in the breadcrumbs again. 

Fry the croquettes in a frying pan with a little oil over a high heat until the breadcrumbs begin to brown, then pop onto a lined baking tray. Grill for about 10 minutes, turning every so often so the outsides become crisp. The centre should be gooey, and stodgy, and everything you've ever dreamt of. 

Green curry

Green curries are amazing, because they get their flavour entirely from fresh ingredients, rather than hours and hours of simmering and hundreds of carefully balanced spices. Which means you can just throw them together, pound the heck out of them in a mortar and pestle, and have a curry ready in less than an hour, including 30 minutes of marinating time. 

Curry paste

2 spring onions

1 green chilli (use 2, if you want your curry to be hot)

2 cloves of garlic

2cm chunk of ginger

2 teaspoons chopped lemon grass

2 teaspoons coriander seeds

2 handfuls of fresh coriander

1 handful fresh basil

1/2 teaspoon salt

 1/2 teaspoon black pepper

2 teaspoons fish sauce

1 tablespoon lime juice

1 tablespoon canola oil

Peel the ginger (I use a teaspoon to scrap off the outsides, much easier) and garlic, and chop roughly. Split the spring onions lengthways, then chop them roughly too. Throw into a mortar and pestle, and have a good smash at them. I leave the curry paste quite chunky, so that you get big bursts of flavour in every mouthful. 

Scrap into a large mixing bowl, and give the lemon grass and coriander seeds the same treatment and add to your ginger, garlic and spring onion mix. Deseed the chilli, and along with the fresh coriander and basil, chop up. Give these a quick bash in the mortar and pestle too, to bruise everything - it should smell amazing. Add to the mixing bowl, and stir through the lime juice, salt, pepper, fish sauce and canola oil.

Curry ingredients

1 chicken breast or 1 slab of tofu

1 small tin of coconut milk (165ml or so)

1 big handful of fresh coriander, loosely chopped

canola oil

1/2 capsicum

1 handful green beans

1 courgette

1/2 onion

...or really just anything you find in the fridge.

Chop the chicken or tofu up into small pieces, and stir through your marinade. Leave to soak up all those tasty, tasty flavours for at least half an hour. 

Chop up the vegetables, and fry in  a teaspoon of canola oil over a medium heat for 5 minutes, until they are softened and start to colour. Set to one side, and turn the heat up to high. Fry the chicken/tofu and curry paste for another 5 minutes, until the protein begins to brown. Stir through the coconut milk, turn down the heat and leave to simmer for another 10 minutes or so. Add the vegetables at the last moment so they heat up, but don't get soggy. Stir through the last of the fresh coriander, and eat. 

Pumpkin, sage and walnut salad

"Salad" is a great way of making "piling ingredients on a plate" sound fancy. 

1 large chunk of pumpkin or squash

1 handful sage leaves

1 handful walnuts

1/2 onion

olive oil for frying

a couple of handfuls of baby spinach

1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

1 teaspoon dijon mustard

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt and pepper

Peel your pumpkin, and slice as thinly as you can, and finely slice the onion. Heat a little olive oil in a frying pan. Fry the pumpkin in batches, cooking for 2 minutes on each side, until they soften and start to caramelise a little along the edges. You might as well season the pumpkin while it's cooking. 

Pile the baby spinach up on a large plate. Once the pumpkin is cooked, pile it on top. 

Turn down the heat a little, and add a little more oil to the pan. Cook the finely sliced onion for a couple of minutes until softened - a splash of water in the pan should hurry this along. Add the onions to your plate. 

Fry the sage leaves for a minute or so, until they begin to crisp up. Add the walnuts and heat up for another minute before adding them to your salad. 

That's the salad bit done - now the dressing. Quickly whisk together the Dijon mustard, apple cider vinegar and olive, then pour over the top. See - fancy. 

Tastiest skirt steak with Dukkah and yoghurt

Skirt steak is not the most glamorous of cuts of meat, but it is pretty darn tasty. Plus, for the neat freaks amongst you, it has a beautiful grain, with lots of long, straight lines of tissue running down the length of it. Nom. Skirt steak needs a little care and attention, but has great flavour. This recipe serves 2.

200g skirt steak

1 cup yoghurt

1 teaspoon coriander seeds

1 teaspoon Dukkah

salt and pepper

1 clove garlic

1 handful fresh coriander

Lay your skirt steak flat on a chopping board, then use a very sharp knife to slice it horizontally. I usually cut it into three very thin, flat pieces.

In a mortar and pestle, smash up the coriander seeds and garlic. Mix with the yoghurt, Dukkah and salt and pepper. Finely chop the fresh coriander, and throw that in as well. Give everything a good stir. 

Put your yoghurt mixture into a container, and add the skirt steak. Stir everything, so the steak is completely covered in the marinade, and leave for at least an hour - longer, if you have the time. 

Cook the steak for 2-3 minutes on each side in a very hot frying pan until it starts to colour, then take it out the pan and wrap in tinfoil. Leave to rest for 5 minutes or so. Slice the steak across the grain, and eat. 

Crispy chicken and barbecue sauce

Sometimes, life just demands junk food. But you know, fancy junk food. With Actually Identifiable Ingredients and delicious sauces. 

Crispy chicken

1 cup polenta

1 cup bread crumbs

1 tablespoon linseed, poppy seeds or ground almonds

1/2 teaspoon garlic salt or lemon pepper

1 cup flour

1 egg

1 chicken breast

Heat the oven up to 200C while you get cooking. In a mixing bowl, stir together the polenta, bread crumbs, garlic salt or lemon pepper, and seeds/ground almonds. Set up your dipping station with three bowls - put your flour in the first bowl, the egg into your second bowl and give it a quick scramble with a fork, and finally your bread crumb mixture.

Cut the chicken breast into strips of roughly the same size, so they all cook evenly. Dip each strip in each of the bowls so they're nicely covered in mixture - first the flour, then the egg, then the bread crumbs. Lay out the strips on a tray covered with baking paper. 

Cook in the oven for about 15 minutes - cut one of the strips in half to check it's cooked through. Feel free to eat this one as a treat. You did cook dinner, after all!

Cheat's barbecue sauce

1 tablespoon tomato sauce

1 tablespoon HP sauce

1 tablespoon pineapple or orange juice

1/2 teaspoon Worcester sauce

1/2 teaspoon soy sauce

Mix together in a bowl, smear on everything. 

Prawn and fish cakes

Another version of fish cakes, but very different to the first recipe. These are my version of Thai-style fish cakes, and make very tasty little nibbles. Keep them small, so the whole fish cake cooks quickly without being too dry. 

1 cup cooked white fish

1 cup raw prawns, shelled

1cm piece of ginger, peeled 

1/2 spring onion, finely chopped

1/2 teaspoon chopped red chilli

1 tablespoon cornflour

1 tablespoon oyster sauce

1 tablespoon canola oil

half a lemon

Flake the fish into a mixing bowl. Finely chop the prawns and add to the bowl, and stir together. Grate the ginger and add to the mixture, along with the spring onion and chilli. 

Sprinkle over the cornflour and stir vigorously, making sure there are no lumps of cornflour. Pour over the oyster sauce and stir through. That's the hard work done!

Heat a frying pan, and add a little of the canola oil. The pan needs to be quite hot, so add more oil as needed to avoid anything sticking. Use a couple of teaspoons to scoop out small balls of the fish mixture, place into the pan, and flatten slightly. Cook for a couple of minutes on each side, flipping with a spatula, until slightly browned. Don't overcook them, though, no one likes a dry fish cake. 

Sprinkle with some chopped spring onion if you want to make it look all fancy, and squeeze half a lemon over the top. 

Blue Cheese Dip

Blue cheese dip - so incredibly fashionable in the 80s, yet, like most things fashionable in the 80s ( power suits, Top Gun, synth pop) it is still irresistible. 

2 tablespoons blue cheese

1 cup plain yoghurt

1 clove garlic

1 teaspoon lemon juice

pinch of garlic salt, or regular ol' salt and pepper

Smash up the clove of garlic in a mortar and pestle. Add the blue cheese and give it a bash for another minute or so, until there are no large lumps left. Stir in the yoghurt and lemon juice with a fork, season. Dip in anything you can find.