Butternut Squash Soup with Crispy Bacon Pieces

This soup is my all time favourite pick-me-up soup: its comforting, delicious, and  healthy (maybe just a little bit naughty with the crispy bacon and crême fraiche). This is a very basic recipe which is delicious but can be given a kick with a little bit of chilli if you wish.

Ingredients (makes 3-4 portions)
1 finely chopped onion | 1 finely chopped clove garlic | 1 butternut squash peeled, deseeded and diced | 1 medium sized potato peeled and diced | 4 rashers smoked streaky bacon chopped | 2 tablespoons crême fraiche | 500ml chicken stock | Salt and pepper | Handful of coriander leaves.

In a large saucepan, sweat the chopped onion and garlic until softened.

Add the diced butternut squash and potato stirring to mix in well with the onion and garlic.

Add stock to the vegetables, topping up with water if needed to completely cover them. Bring to the boil then reduce the heat to a simmer.

In a separate pan, fry the bacon pieces until really cripsy. Place in a kitchen-roll lined bowl to soak up any excess fat.

After 25-30 minutes, your soup should be ready to blend; just check your veg falls apart easily with a knife. Before blending add the coriander leaves and season well with pepper and salt. I use a handheld blender, as its so lightweight and easy to use, and much less messy too... But be very careful I had a bad experience once upon a time that I won't go into...

Finally stir in your crême fraiche and serve into bowls before adding a sprinkle of bacon pieces on to each. Serve with fresh chunky bread for a more filling meal.

Rump Steak with Spicy Sweet Potato Chips and Yoghurt Dip

Buying steak can be notoriously expensive... It's always the most expensive thing on the menu, and when not knowing what cut to choose in the butchers, it can seem safest to go for fillet, the most expensive. Of course fillet is gorgeous, but the other steak cuts, sirloin, rump, and ribeye are all delicious and full of flavour when treated properly by a good butcher. Rump is always my number one choice because it is full of flavour but costs the less money per kilo. Buying from a butchers also lets you choose what size you want... I bought the piece that I cooked for this recipe for around £3.50 which compared to £16+ in a restaurant seems ridiculously good value for a weekend treat!

 I found the idea for these chips in Hugh Fearnley Whittingstall's book Vegetables. He uses normal potatoes but I think they're even more special with sweet potato, and healthier too. I didn't stick to the letter on the spices he used, so feel free to adapt the recipe to what spices you have in the cupboard and experiment.

Ingredients Serves 1 

1 sweet potato | 1/2 tsp sweet ground paprika | 1/2 tsp coriander seeds | 1/2 tsp ground cumin | 1/2 tsp fennel seeds | 1/2 teaspoon chilli powder | 2 heaped teaspoons natural yoghurt | 1 garlic clove crushed | 200g rump steak | salad to serve | Sunflower Oil

Preheat your oven to 200C. Peel your potato and slice into chip or wedge shapes. Bring to the boil in cold water. Make your spice mix: combine all the paprika, coriander, cumin, fennel and chilli in a pestle and mortar (or bowl and rolling pin) and crush the seeds. 

Place a baking tray with oil covering the bottom in the oven. Once the potatoes come to the boil, drain immediately. Cover in spice mix (retaining one teaspoon for later) turning the potatoes so that they are all well covered. 

Add the potatoes to the hot oil. Let cook for 25-30 minutes, turning about half way through. 

While the potatoes are cooking you can make your salad and the yoghurt dip. For the dip simply mix the yoghurt with the crushed garlic and the retained teaspoon of spice mix. 5 minutes before the potatoes are done, cook your steak in a frying pan, about 2.5 minutes each side depending on thickness. 

Nigel Slater's Chicken Thighs with Fennel and Leek

Nigel Slater's recipes always seem really simple and earthy; this is the first one I have tried and I was really impressed. The fresh flavours of the fennel and leek really lift the chicken and create an amazing flavoured sauce cooked down in some stock. I added a spoonful of crême fraiche at the very end, just to thicken the sauce ever so slightly but it's completely up to you if you want to keep things simple. Some people aren't too keen on using chicken thighs but cooked in the right way, they really can be delicious. They are also a lot cheaper than the breast meat and don't dry out so quickly!  One more tip, don't go too mad on the lemon juice, you want the dish to be on the right side of tangy and fresh.

Ingredients Serves 1 

2 chicken thighs  | 1 small leek and fennel bulb  | 1/2 lemon | 250-300ml chicken stock | handful finely chopped parsley | salt and pepper to season | spoonful cr ême fraiche (optional) 

Season your chicken thighs and brown off in a large shallow pan. Meanwhile slice your leeks into rings (make sure they are washed properly) and add to the pan. 

Slice your fennel bulb and again add to the pan stirring for about 5 minutes to soften, making sure the heat isn't too high that the vegetables burn. 

Add your chicken stock  and a good squeeze of lemon juice to the pan and cook for a further 25 minutes letting the stock simmer down. If you don't think there is enough liquid you can always add a splash of water accordingly. After 25 minutes, check your chicken is cooked through by slicing into the thickest part of the meat. 

If so, place the chicken to one side, add the parsley and cr ême fraiche and stir. Serve immediately placing the chicken thighs on top. Serve with bread, floury potatoes or rice to soak up that lovely sauce!