Recipe index needed

After a suggestion from a friend I'm trying to work out how I can stick up a recipe index on the blog as well as the 'Blog Archive'...the label thing is about as close as I have managed but I don't think it's ideal - any thoughts, people? x

Cold nights, so long...

Blimey it's cold. I returned from a scintillating Italian oral class yesterday and practically fell upon the washing up, principally as a means of warming my ruddy hands. It's the sort of weather that calls for hot, spicy soup. Soup that warms the heart and puts a spring in your step. And there is proper stock in the fridge from last week's roast chicken, a more successful stock than that of some friends...

On Sunday night I went to their house for roast chicken, a real treat after an academically unproductive but quite 'heavy' weekend. I discovered the next morning that they had forgotten about the stock they put on and left it overnight, waking the next morning to a flat that was practically vibrating with the stench of charred chicken carcass. The place now has a police line around it.

Anyway, the soup....you might want to add a tin of tomatoes to this just to add another layer - I almost reckon you should, I just didn't have one at the time.

Spiced pepper and lentil soup

Serves 2-3

1 small onion, peeled and roughly chopped
1/2 teaspoon hot chilli powder
2 peppers (red, yellow, orange all fine - avoid green)
100g red lentils
1 tin of tomatoes
750ml hot chicken or vegetable stock (cubed is grand)
Salt, pepper and sugar
Yoghurt to finish

Heat a little oil in a saucepan and add the onion. Season and cook, covered, over a gentle heat for 5 minutes or so. Remove the lid and increase the flame. Stir in the chilli powder for 30 seconds, then add the peppers, lentils and tomatoes. Stir for a minute or two to get them going, then add the stock. Season with a little sugar, bring to the boil and simmer for 30-40 minutes, until the lentils are fully cooked (no al dente here, please) and liquidize. Taste for seasoning and serve with a blob of yoghurt. Will keep a human body warm for 1-2 hours. Top up as needed.

Braised oxtail with polenta and gremolata

You could certainly argue that oxtail is up there with belly pork as one of the big guns in the sensation that is the slow food movement. I'd actually never cooked it before, but this seemed the right way to cook something like this, and with the polenta it becomes an unbelievably hearty supper. The gremolata really gives it a zip, cutting through the richness of the meat. Savoy cabbage with fennel would make a good accompaniment.

Serves 4

For the oxtail
8 hearty chunks of oxtail
Plain flour
1 onion, finely chopped
2 carrots, finely diced
2 sticks celery, finely diced
1 clove garlic, sliced
200ml red wine
600ml hot beef or chicken stock
A bay leaf
A handful of rosemary
For the gremolata
50 g flat leaf parsley
The zest of a lemon
1 clove garlic, peeled and finely chopped
For the polenta
200g quick cook polenta
800ml water
40g grated Parmesan

Preheat the oven to 170C.

Pat the oxtail with flour and season generously. Heat a little oil in a casserole or large saucepan. Brown the meat for a minute or two on each side, this will aid the intense richness of the sauce that is so vital. Remove the meat and set aside, then add the vegetables and stir for 5 minutes until lightly caramelised. Add the wine and stir, scraping up all the meat juices from the pan. Simmer for a minute then add the herbs and return the meat to the pan. Pour over the hot stock, cover and bring to the boil. Cook in the oven for 2-3 hours, until the meat is falling off the bone.

Remove the meat and the herbs. Liquidize the cooking liquor thoroughly and return to the pan. Reduce over a medium heat until thickened. Once again return the meat to the proceedings and keep warm.

Finely chop the parsley and add the lemon zest and garlic. To make the polenta, bring the water to the boil and pour in the polenta slowly, whisking as you go. Whisk over a low heat for 1 minute, stir in the parmesan, and serve immediately with the braised oxtail and the gremolata sprinkled on top.

Return of the larder lout

I can't believe it has been over a month since my last post. I'm embarrassed. How has this happened, you might ask, though it is more likely that you actually haven't noticed my lack of posts as you have had far better things to do - because a lot has happened in the last month. Hallowe'en, bonfire night, Remembrance Sunday, England beating Germany, and apparently there has been some sort of election in the States. Indeed, with the economic hysteria increasing evermore in intensity, it really feels like world has changed a lot since that chicken curry.

The world of a Bristol final year student has not changed a great deal. A mountain of work and the fact that I still don't have any internet at the flat is responsible for the dearth of postings. Please don't think that I ain't been cooking, though. We have been eating famously, and perhaps one day all the new discoveries will make their meandering way onto this blog. We've had cauliflower cheese with crumbled doritos on top (unbelievably good); pigeon with roast jerusalem artichokes; pumpkin risotto....the list goes on, and we are utterly beholden to Riverford Organic Veg for giving us such inspiration.

This recipe is a really surprising delight. Super simple and comforting, yet surprisingly light. A cracking Saturday lunch.

Potato cakes with brussel sprouts and bacon

Serves 2

2 medium floury potatoes
40 ml whole milk
20g butter
1 teaspoon English mustard
A good handful of Brussels sprouts, cut in half
4 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, diced
Soy sauce

Peel the potatoes and chop into chunks. Bring to the boil in salted water and boil until cooked. About 20 minutes. Drain and set aside. In the same pan heat the milk over a gentle flame. Add the spuds and mash them thoroughly. Add the butter and mustard, salt and pepper and whip furiously. Leave to cool for half an hour.

Pat the mash into two cakes. Heat a tablespoon of olive oil in a frying pan and add the bacon and sprouts. Cook over a medium high heat, stirring regularly, till the bacon is crispy and sprouts cooked through. Transfer to a warm bowl and drizzle with a little soy sauce. In the same pan fry the potato cakes for 3-4 minutes on each side, till brown and crisp. Serve with the sprouts and bacon.