Quick Christmas trifle

I really love trifle but I hate the ones with jelly in them. I'm probably being a bit snobby but I think jelly is a bit tacky and I also don't really like the texture. This recipe is really quick and easy, which is a must for around Christmas when you have run out of time or can't face any more slaving over hob.

Ingredients

• 1 box of Trifle sponges


• 500ml ready made custard (get the best stuff you can or make you own if you like)


• 250g Mascarpone cheese ( I found a reduced fat one which made me feel less gluttonous)


• Ground cinnamon


• 280ml Whipping cream


• Frozen berries 300g (anything you like)


• Brandy


• Juice and zest of 1 orange


• 4 tblsp Golden caster sugar

First cut the trifle sponges in half and use them to line the bottom of the trifle bowl. Put a splosh of brandy (it is really up to you how much you want to add) into a bowl and add half the juice of the orange and the zest. Pour this over the trifle sponge base and leave to soak in. Put the berries into a saucepan with the caster sugar and heat until the berries have melted and the sugar has dissolved. Leave to cool and then pour over the trifle sponge base. Take the custard and add the mascarpone cheese and a couple of tsp of cinnamon, whisking together until combined. Pour this over the top of the fruit and let the trifle set in the fridge for a while. Whip the cream until soft peaks and use to decorate the top of the trifle. Serves 6-8

Butter bean soup with smoked pancetta

I can never quite decide whether I like soup. If I'm ever in a restaurant and there is soup for starters on the menu, I never order it as I tend to think soup is rather boring. Don't get me wrong, I have had some really nice soups and I have actually decided to do soup next week for an evening meal so I don't know why I feel that way about it. It is generally a cheap quick and healthy meal, although I do tend to have a slab of bread with it, so it is ideal for a mid-week meal. Despite my indifference to soup I quite like this one.

I apologise for not giving quantities here as I never bothered to measure the ingredients and employed a slap-dash approach as usual.

Simply soak some butter beans overnight, then rinse and drain them and put into a saucepan with a couple of bay leaves, a sprig of thyme, an onion peeled and halved, pepper, a couple of garlic cloves and a potato and cover with water. Boil the beans until tender. Whilst the beans are cooking, cut pancetta into slices and fry until golden. Once the beans are cooked, remove the bay leaves and thyme and blend the rest of the ingredients (with the cooking water), seasoning with salt and a little more pepper if required. If the soup is too thick add a little water and if you want to be more indulgent add a drizzle of cream. Serve the soup in warm bowls topped with the bacon and drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and eat with crusty bread.

Butternut squash and pine nut risotto

I really like risotto but you have to keep trying different recipes to make it more interesting. This is one I made up myself although it is by no means ground breaking. I love Gruyere cheese and I thought it would go well with the nutty squash and pine nuts. The basic risotto recipe is from Jamie's Italy.

Serves 6

Ingredients

1.1 ltrs chicken stock

3 tblsp olive oil

knob of butter

1 large onion, peeled and finely chopped

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely chopped

2 sticks celery, trimmed and finely chopped

400g risotto rice

2 wineglasses dry white vermouth or white wine

salt and freshly ground black pepper

70g butter

1 small butternut squash

1 tsp ground cumin

100g pine nuts

115g Gruyere finely grated

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees centigrade. Peel and chop the butternut squash into 1 inch size pieces. Toss them in a tbslp of olive oil, the cumin and salt and freshly ground black pepper. Roast in the oven until soft.

Heat the stock. Add the onion, garlic and celery into a frying pan with the olive oil and butter and gently cook for 15 minutes. Add the rice and turn up the heat and fry for a minute or so. Add the vermouth and stir until absorbed, then start adding the stock a ladle at a time, letting the rice absorb it after each addition. The heat should be turned down to medium so the rice doesn't cook too quickly on the outside. Keep adding the stock until the rice is cooked, which should take about 15 minutes.

Just before the rice is cooked dry fry the pine nuts until golden. Keep an eye on them as they colour very quickly once up to temperature. Remove the rice from the heat and add the squash, Gruyere, pine nuts and a knob of butter. Stir together, put a lid on and let it sit for a few minutes before serving.

Steamed pudding, hmmmm!

I love winter, it's my favourite time of year. I really enjoy snuggling up when it's really cold outside and the wonderful colours in the garden, but it's also an excuse to get cracking with some warming winter puddings. I spotted this steamed orange and stem ginger pudding whilst rummaging through and cataloging my vast collection of food magazines.

Serves 6

100g butter, softened, plus extra for greasing

100g caster sugar

3 medium eggs, room temperature

60g stem ginger, finely chopped

1 heaped tblsp plain flour

1 tsp baking powder

3 tblsp freshly squeezed orange juice

125g fine cut marmalade

150g fresh breadcrumbs

1 heaped tsp freshly ground cinnamon (I just used powdered)

For the dark ginger sauce

210g caster sugar

4cm piece of fresh root ginger, finely grated

juice of 1/2 lemon

Grease the pudding basin, which should be about 1 to 1.3 ltr capacity. Mix together the butter and sugar until fluffy and then add them one at a time beating after each addition. Mix the stem ginger with the flour and in a separate bowl mix together the baking powder and the orange juice. Add these both to the butter sugar and egg mixture with a pinch of salt and the remaining ingredients. After mixing well, spoon into the pudding basin and level the surface. Grease a piece of foil and fold a pleat into the middle. Place greased side down over the top of the basin and tie tightly with a piece of string. Put the basin into a deep pan of boiling water that comes two thirds up the side of the bowl. Cover and simmer for 1 and 1/4 hours until the pudding is firm to the touch.

To make the sauce put the sugar and 135ml of water in a wide saucepan over a low heat until the sugar has dissolved. Increase the heat and simmer without stirring until it turns a dark caramel colour. Add 135ml of water slowly and stir to get rid of any lumps, simmer for five minutes, then add the lemon juice and a pinch of salt. Once the pudding is turned out onto a plate pour the sauce over to soak in before serving with some thick cream, with a dash of alcohol if you like.

Sausage and tomato bake

It was the other half's turn to cook last weekend and he picked a very blokey dish of sausage and tomato bake. It isn't a dish that I would've picked, probably because purely by looking at it I could hear the distant groan of my jeans as I try and force my sausagey bulk into them. The other thing is that it is a very simple dish and I sometimes struggle to do simple, thinking that complicated is more impressive. Having said all that the dish was lovely and just served with crusty bread and a glass (or four) of red wine it went down very nicely. The recipe is out of Jamie Oliver's latest book Jamie at home.

Serves 6

• 2kg ripe cherry tomatoes, all different colours if you can get them


• 2 sprigs each of fresh thyme, rosemary and bay leaves


• 1 tblsp dried oregano


• 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped


• 12 good quality Cumberland sausages or course Italian pork sausages


• extra virgin olive oilbalsamic vinegar


• sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Centigrade. Place all the tomatoes, herb sprigs, oregano, garlic and sausages in one layer in a roasting tin and drizzle well with the olive oil and balsamic vinegar and season with salt and pepper. Mix this all together, making sure the sausages are on top and roast for 30 minutes. Take it out of the oven, give the tin a shake, turn the sausages and then bake for another 15 to 30 minutes depending on how golden you want the sausages. Remove the sausages from the tin and if the sauce is a bit thin boil it up on the hob until it is the consistency you want. Serve with warm crust bread and lashings of red wine. Real man food, but something for the girls to enjoy too. Grrrrrr!!