One of the Christmas presents I got this year was a cookery book called GQ Eats which is full of beautiful pictures of delicious looking recipes.
The food is selected by some of food’s biggest names and has a foreword from Heston.
Whenever I get a new cook book I always try to cook at least one recipe from it as soon as I can or before you know it I’ve slipped it into the book shelf and forgotten about it.
I’m steering clear of baked goods at the moment and loved the idea of cooking this korma for lunch as it’s quite healthy with no cream or ghee.
It went down very well, lots of clean fresh flavours from the spices and ginger with a citrus undertone.
Give it a whirl and simply adjust the quantities to serve more people, it’s Atul Kochhar’s recipe.

Ingredients (for one)
One chicken breast, fat removed and diced
1 tbsp sunflower oil
Five onions, sliced
Tw garlic cloves, peeled and sliced
10cm piece fresh root ginger, peeled and cut to julienne
Five green cardamom pods
Half tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground fennel seeds
1 tsp ground cumin seeds
1 bay leaf
2 whole cloves
Two cinnamon sticks
One star anise
Seasoning
100ml low fat yoghurt
400ml coconut milk
Four Jersey potatoes washed and cut in half
One tsp lemon juice

Method

1) Heat oil and sauté garlic but do not colour.
2) Add whole spices and when they start to crackle add onions.
3) Cook onions for five minutes and then add other spices and cook for a minute or two mixing well.
4) Add potatoes, stir, then half the coconut milk and 200ml of water, simmer until potatoes are cooked.
5) Add chicken pieces and cook for 20 mins or until just done.
6) Whisk remaining coconut milk with yoghurt and add to pan, stir, add ginger and lemon juice and cook for two minutes.
7) Serve with steamed brown rice.

Like most people at Christmas I ended up over ordering on cheese and was left with a block of lovely Stilton.
This is a great winter salad which works well as a starter or light supper and helps use up left over blue cheese.

Ingredients (main for one)

Two handfuls of mixed leaves, ideally rocket, watercress and spinach
One ripe pear, peeled and sliced
Handful of walnut pieces
Piece of Stilton, about 75grams

For dressing
Tsp of Dijon mustard
Tsp of honey
2 tbsp of olive oil
2 tbsp of balsamic or red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper

Method
1)Heat oven to 200c and place pear slices and walnuts on baking tray and cook for five minutes before removing.
2)Mix dressing ingredients by shaking together in an empty jam jar.
3)Toss leaves in half dressing
4)Place dressed leaves in serving bowl and scatter over pear and walnut pieces.
5)Crumble over Stilton and finish with drizzle of the remaining dressing

Nb: this recipe also works well with chicory