Based on  a Jamie Oliver recipe.

Ingredients

• 1.5kgpork belly
• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 2 red onions, halved
• 2 carrots, peeled and halved length-ways
• 2 sticks of celery, chopped in half
• 1 bulb of garlic, skin on, broken into cloves
• a small bunch of fresh thyme, leaves picked
• 600ml chicken stock

Method

1. Preheat your oven to full whack, it needs to be at least 220°C/425°F/gas 7.
2. Place your pork on a clean work surface, skin-side upwards. Get yourself a small sharp knife and make scores about a centimetre apart through the skin into the fat, but not so deep that you cut into the meat.
3.  Rub salt right into all the scores you’ve just made, pulling the skin apart a little if you have to.
4. Brush any excess salt off the surface of the skin and turn it over. Season the underside of the meat with a little more salt and a little black pepper.
5. Place your pork, skin side-up, in a roasting tray big enough to hold the pork and the vegetables, and place in the hot oven.
6. Roast for about half an hour until the skin of the pork has started to puff up and you can see it turning into crackling.
7. Turn the heat down to 180°C/350°F/gas 4 and roast for another hour.
8. Take out of the oven and baste with the fat in the bottom of the tray.
9. Carefully lift the pork up and transfer to a chopping board.
10. Add all the veg, garlic and thyme to the tray and stir them into the fat.
11. Place the pork on top of everything and pop the tray back in the oven.
12. Roast for another hour. By this time the meat should be meltingly soft and tender.
13. Carefully move the meat to a serving dish, cover with tin foil and leave to rest while you make your gravy.
14. Spoon away any fat in the tray, then add the water or stock and place the tray on the hob.
15. Bring to the boil and simmer for a few minutes, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon toscrape up all those lovely sticky tasty bits on the bottom of the tray.
16. When you’ve got a nice, dark gravy, pour it through a sieve into a bowl or gravy boat, using your spoon to really push all the goodness of the veg through the sieve.
17. Add a little more salt and pepper if it needs it.
18. Serve the pork with the crackling, gravy, some creamy mashed potato, nice fresh greens and a dollop of English mustard.

Ingredients

Method

1. Sprinkle the fish with the turmeric and set aside.
2. Spray a large pan with oil and cook the shallots, and garlic with the spice seeds for 5 minutes or so until golden.
3. Add the coconut milk, tamarind paste, beans and red pepper, and shredded ginger and bring to a simmer. Cook for 3 minutes.
4. Add the fish, and finely chopped chilli to the pan, cover and simmer gently for 3–4 minutes until the fish is cooked.
5. Scatter with sliced salad onions  and serve with brown basmati rice.

WW Points: 10 Total - Serves: 4

Ingredients

• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 200g carrots, finely diced
• 1 stick celery, finely diced
• 2 garlic cloves, finely diced
• 250g chestnut mushrooms, chopped
• 400g can Chopped Tomatoes
• 1 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tsp dried thyme
• 400g can  Green Lentils, drained and rinsed
• 300g sweet potato (peeled weight), cut into even-size pieces
• 300g potato (peeled weight), cut into even-size pieces
• 1 tbsp reduced-fat creme fraiche
• 100ml water if the mixture is a bit dry
• dash of Henderson’s Relish
• 1/2 tsp of balsamic vinegar
• 2 tsp Marigold vegetable stock powder
• salt and black pepper, to taste

 Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C
2. Heat the oil in a pan and cook the onion and garlic over a medium heat until soft.
3. Add the carrots and celery, and stir well. Cover and cook over a low heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes.
4. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring occasionally, until the juices run.
5. Increase the heat and cook, stirring often, until the juices evaporate.
6. Add the tomatoes, tomato puree, thyme and lentils, Henderson’s, balsamic vinegar, stock powder, and the water if needed. Simmer, stirring occasionally with a spoon, for 15 minutes.
7. Transfer the mixture to a baking dish.
8. Cook the sweet potatoes and potatoes until tender.
9. Drain and mash with the creme fraiche.
10. Put on top of the mushroom and lentil mixture.
11.  Bake for 20-30 minutes.

WW Points: 8

Ingredients

• Boned flesh of a wild rabbit
• 2 onion shallots, sliced
• 10 soft Agen prunes, sliced in half
• 1 large stick celery chopped
• 1 large carrot, peeled and chopped in largish chunks
• 10 chestnut mushrooms thickly sliced
• 2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
• 500ml chicken stock
• 50ml dry white Vermouth
• 2 sprigs of thyme
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 tsp flour
• salt and pepper
• 10 sprays 1cal olive oil

Method

1. Heat a non-stick saute pan and add 5 sprays of oil. Gently saute the shallots and garlic until soft a slightly browned. Add them to a casserole dish.
2. Dust the rabbit in  the flour and a little seasoning and brown them in 5 more sprays of oil. Add them to the casserole.
3. Pour the Vermouth into the saute pan and reduce, picking up all the residue from the pan.
4. Add to the liquid from the saute pan to the casserole, with the carrots, celery, prunes, bay leaf and thyme.
5. Mix well and add the chicken  stock. It should just cover the contents. If not add a little hot water.
6. Cook at 170c for 1.5 hours untill the rabbit is tender.

WW Points: 1 per cup.

Ingredients

• 10 spray(s) Cooking Spray, Calorie Controlled
• 2 medium Courgette, sliced crosswise into ½ cm slices
• 2 medium Parsnip, peeled and sliced crosswise into ½ cm slices
• 2 medium Sweet Potato, peeled and sliced crosswise into ½ cm slices
• 4 medium Carrots, Old, Raw, peeled and sliced diagonally into ½ cm slices
• 1 teaspoons Salt, or to taste
• 1 teaspoons (as purchased) Oregano, dried

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to Gas Mark ½/130°C/250°F. Coat 2 large baking trays with cooking spray.
2. Arrange vegetables on prepared baking trays. Coat vegetables with cooking spray and season with salt and oregano.
3. Roast for 1 hour and then rotate trays. Roast for 1½ to 2 hours total, or until crisps are crunchy and dry.
4. Notes
5. To keep crispy, store in an airtight container or storage bag for 3 days. To re-crisp already cooked crisps that have gone soft, cook on a baking tray for 10 minutes at Gas Mark ½/130°C/250°F.

For the forcemeat

To line the dish

Preparation method

Ingredients

Method

First boil & then weigh the water (weighing is a lot more accurate than using a measuring jug!

Carefully add the chopped dates & bi-carbonate of soda (use a large container as the bi-carbonate of soda will make the water fizz up) & leave to soften for around 10 mins.

Using the paddle/beater attachment of your mixer, cream the butter & golden caster sugar until they lighten slightly in colour (approx 5 mins).

Add the vanilla seeds (or extract if using) & turn the mixer down to its slowest speed.

Sift & add the self raising flour followed immediately by the eggs, gradually add the date water mix. Beat for 2 mins then using a spatula scrape down & gradually increase the mixer speed to around medium until the mixture is evenly mixed (the mixture will be a loose thick pourable batter-like texture-do not be tempted to add any more flour!)

Pour the mixture into a buttered & floured 8x8x2.5 inch deep square baking dish & bake at 180C or 375F, gas mark 5 (170C for fan ovens) for 30-40 mins – a knife inserted should come out clean!

Meanwhile place the double cream, black treacle, de-seeded vanilla pod & dark soft brown sugar in a pan, stirring occasionally, bring to the boil & switch off heat.

As soon as your pudding comes out of the oven pour over around half of the toffee sauce onto the pudding (having removed the vanilla pod) & place under a pre-heated grill on highest heat to toffeefy the top (cheffy types use a blow torch if desired)

Serve with the accompanying sauce & a simple vanilla ice cream, lightly whipped or clotted (optional damson gin!)

• 1 bay leaf
• 2.5cm cinnamon stick
• 1 medium sliced onion
• 1 tbs ginger paste
• 1 tsp garlic paste
• 1 tbs roasted cumin seeds
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp ground coriander
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 4 green cardamom pods, seeded
• 2 tbs ground almonds
• 250 mls coconut milk
• 250 mls chicken stock
• 4 free range chicken thighs, skinned, boned and cut to a large dice
• Salt to taste
• ½ cup cooked chickpea
• 1 tbs oil
• Coriander leaves for garnish

Method

1. Heat oven to 175C.
2. Boil onions in 2oomls of water, drain, cool and puree, and them mix with the ginger and garlic paste
3. Heat the oil in a sautè pan and gently brown the chicken
4. Add the spices and then the onion. ginger and garlic puree  and sautè for one minute.
5. Add the coconut milk, chicken stock, ground almonds, and bay leaf and mix well.
6. Cook in the oven for 1 hour 30 minutes.
7. Garnish with fresh chopped coriander leaves and serve with nan bread.

Note: A flat oven proof dish with a lid is best to cook this dish. I use a small steel paella pan with a lid.

• Basmati  rice – up to the 500ml mark in a measuring jug
• 100 gm  chana dhal

• Coriander leaves – small bunch chopped
• 600 ml warm vegetable stock
• Pinch of saffron strands
• 50 gm coconut milk powder

• Vegetables: whatever you fancy.

• 1 medium onion, halved and sliced
• Chopped green beans 100 gm
• Chopped carrot – 100 gm
• 2 chopped celery sticks
• Sweet  potato – 100gms
• Green peas – 50 gm

• Ginger-Garlic paste - made with 5 cloves of garlic and 5cm of peeled ginger whizzed in a food processor with a little oil to make a paste

• Spices:

• ½ tsp  Fennel seeds
• 5 green cardamom pods, crushed
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 4 cloves
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 5cm Cinnamon stick

• Light oil for frying
• Salt and pepper for seasoning

Method

1. Soak the chana dhal for a hour, then simmer in a small pan of water for about 30 minutes or until tender.
2. Soak the rice in water for 30 minutes and then rinse until the water is clear. Drain.
3. Chop all the big vegetables in a small dice and put them aside.
4. Add the saffron strands and the coconut milk powder to the warm stock and mix well. Stand for 10 minutes.
5. Sauté the onion with the spices for 5 minutes.
6. Add the ginger-garlic paste and sauté for 2 minutes,
7. Add the vegetables and sauté for another 5 minutes.
8. Add the rice and mix well with the vegetables.
9. Add the stock/coconut milk mix and ¼ tsp salt.
10. Mix well and slowly bring to the boil.
11. Turn down to a very low heat, cover and simmer for 15 minutes.
12. Gently turn the rice  into serving dish.
13. Optionally garnish with crispy fried onions, crushed pistachio nuts, chopped  coriander leaves.