Food / 5 November, 2020 / Jane Clarke

7 Family-Friendly Recipes From Cordon Bleu Chef Jane Clarke

Jane Clarke is a dietitian and Cordon Bleu chef with more than 30 years’ experience in the nutrition industry. Jane is back to share some of her delicious and seasonal family-friendly recipes for you to try at home.

Thai green vegetable and coconut curry, brown and black rice

Fragrant, zesty and packed with delicious fresh vegetables, this coconut-based curry is a brilliant choice for everyone – and tastes so much better than a bought sauce.

Ingredients: for 2 people

• 30g coconut oil
• 50g onions
• 30g ginger
• 30g garlic
• 2 green chilli
• 1 can coconut milk
• 100g leeks
• 100g mange tout
• 50g green beans
• 50g baby spinach
• 50g green pepper
• 20g desiccated coconut
• Fresh coriander
• Juice of 1 lime
• Fresh coconut
• Brown rice 50g
• Wild rice 50g
• Salt and pepper to taste

Method

1. Blend onion, ginger, chilli, and garlic to a fine paste using a food processor
2. Heat up the coconut oil in a pan
3. Sweat down the paste in the oil for around 5 minutes on a medium heat
4. Now add the leeks and sliced green peppers and continue to sweat down for another 3 minutes
5. Now add the coconut milk and desiccated coconut and bring to boil
6. Now add the green beans, mange tout and baby spinach cook for another 5 minutes and season with salt and pepper
7. Serve with the boiled rice and garnish with fresh coriander, lime and coconut

Bon Appetit

Ginger cake with lemon curd

This is an incredibly versatile cake. Try it with lemon curd in winter, fresh berries in summer and poached pears or stewed apples in autumn. It’s wonderfully soft to eat, and the fresh ginger is great for calming the stomach.

Preparation time: 20 minutes
Cooking time: 60 minutes
Serves: 12-14

Ingredients

• 125g fresh ginger
• 200g golden caster sugar
• 225ml black treacle or molasses
• 225ml grapeseed oil or vegetable oil
• 250ml boiling water
• 2tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 300g plain flour
• ½tsp ground cinnamon
• ½tsp ground allspice
• 2 eggs at room temperature

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150°C. Grease and line the base of a 20cm cake tin.
2. Peel the ginger and cut into ‘coins’. Place in a food processor and chop until very fine. If you don’t have a food processor, use a large knife to chop the ginger; it should be very finely chopped, more like a paste.
3. In a separate bowl combine the caster sugar, black treacle or molasses and oil. Whisk well to combine.
4. Add the bicarbonate of soda to the boiling water, then add it to the sugar, oil and molasses and mix well.
5. Add the finely chopped ginger and stir to combine.
6. Sift together the plain flour, cinnamon and allspice and add to the mixture. Stir to combine.
7. Beat the eggs and add one at a time to the mixture.
8. Pour into the prepared cake tin and bake for approximately 60 minutes, until the top springs back and a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
9. Serve with softly whipped cream and lemon curd.

Lemon curd

This zesty spread tastes amazing with ginger cake, but you could also try it with scones instead of jam.

Ingredients

Preparation time: 15 minutes
Cooking time: 10 minutes
Chilling time: 24 hours
Makes: 1 jar

• 5 lemons
• 195g caster sugar
• 6 eggs
• 125g butter, cold and diced

Method

1. Zest three of the lemons and squeeze the juice from all five.
2. Put the lemon zest and juice, sugar and eggs in a bowl over a saucepan of boiling water. Cook slowly until the mixture becomes thick and shiny.
3. Slowly whisk in the butter.
4. Place in a bowl, cover and cool in the fridge for at least 24 hours.

Carrot, turmeric and ginger soup

This vegan recipe is full of nourishing protein, antioxidants and fibre. And it tastes delicious, with just a hint of warming spice!

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion finely chopped
• 3 clove garlic finely chopped
• 1 large piece of fresh ginger peeled and sliced
• 30g Fresh Turmeric Rot or 1 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1 teaspoon salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 2 sticks celery
• 450g carrots peeled and chopped
• 1l vegetable stock
• Garnish:
• Chives
• Double Cream

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and garlic and sautee for about 3 minutes, until translucent. Add ginger, turmeric, salt, pepper and sautee for 3 minutes or until the spices are fragrant. Add the celery and carrots then sautee for 3 minutes.
2. Pour in the vegetable stock, bring to a boil and lower to simmer. Cook for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the carrots are cooked through.
3. Use a stick blender or puree the soup in batches in a high speed blender. Taste and add more salt and pepper if necessary.
4. Return the soup to the pan and reheat, adding more liquid if you prefer a thinner consistency
5. Serve with some chopped chives and double cream

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Peanut flapjack

A delicious nutty biscuit, good for a mid-afternoon energy boost. They’ll last for a couple of weeks in an airtight tin.

Ingredients

• 225g butter
• 50g soft brown sugar
• 50g runny honey
• 50g unsalted peanuts
• 50g crunchy peanut butter
• 350g porridge oats
• 25g flaked almonds

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 150ºC.
2. Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the sugar, honey, peanuts and peanut butter.
3. Cook for 1 minute, stirring, then remove from the heat and mix in the oats.
4. Turn into a greased and lined 25cm x 15cm tin and press the mixture down firmly.
5. Sprinkle with the almonds and bake in the oven for 20 minutes, or until the flapjacks are a pale golden colour.
6. Leave to cool for 5 minutes before cutting into rectangles.

Butternut squash and parmesan soup

This wonderfully simple, flavoursome soup is just the thing to keep the cold at bay. A small amount provides goodness if you have a tiny appetite.

Ingredients

• 1.25kg Butternut Squash or Pumpkin
• 200g Shallots
• 2 Cloves Garlic
• 50ml Olive oil
• 1.250ml Chicken or Vegetable Stock
• 100g Parmesan
• 100ml Double cream

Method

1. Sweat down shallots, garlic in olive oil
2. Add Butternut Squash
3. Add the vegetable stock
4. Cook till soft and add parmesan and cream
5. Blend to a fine puree and check the seasoning
6. Enjoy

Chicken soup and buttermilk dumplings

This is a wonderful and nourishing soup for winter

Ingredients

For dumplings:

• 125g Plain flour
• 1 Egg beaten
• 2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp chives chopped
• 125ml buttermilk

Chicken soup

• 1 tbsp Olive oil
• 1 large Onion chopped
• 2 cloves Garlic
• 1 large Carrot chopped
• 1 stalk Celery chopped
• 1/2 tsp. Thyme dried or fresh
• 1L Chicken broth
• 40g. Plain flour
• 1/2 tsp Salt or to taste
• 1/2 tsp Pepper or to taste
• 100g Peas frozen
• 250g Chicken shredded (any part of the chicken will do, but brown and white leg meat would be great for flavour)

Method

1. In a heavy casserole pan sweat down the onion and garlic in the olive oil till soft-cooked and translucent
2. Now add the Carrot, celery and thyme and keep roasting for a few minutes
3. Sprinkle the flour over the vegetables and stir for a few minutes
4. Slowly add the chicken stock and bring the soup to boil stirring regularly to avoid any lumps. When the soup has thickened and come to a boil turn down the heat and make the dumplings
5. In a bowl whisk the egg, now add the buttermilk and the rest of the ingredients, combine and knead to a dough. Do not overwork otherwise the dumplings become very heavy. Divide into equal sized small dumplings
6. Now add the peas and shredded chicken to the soup and bring to boil.
7. Place the dumplings on top of the soup then cover with a lid and simmer for roughly 15 minutes.
8. Enjoy this nourishing comforting soup.

Pistou soup

This fresh, flavoursome soup is based on a traditional Provencal recipe and is packed with sunny Mediterranean flavours. Soup is wonderful when you can’t face a heavy meal, and because this bowlful is brimming with green vegetables and herbs, it will provide essential vitamins and fibre to boost your gut health

Serves 4-6
Preparation Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients

For the soup

• 100g onions, finely chopped
• 20g garlic, finely chopped
• 200g carrots, diced
• 200g celery, diced
• 200g leeks, diced
• 1 sprig of thyme
• 2 litres vegetable stock
• salt and freshly ground
• black pepper, to taste
• poached eggs, to serve (optional)

For the garnish

• 100g pesto
• 100g peas
• 100g shelled broad beans
• 50g sundried tomatoes, chopped

Method

1. Sauté the onion and garlic for five minutes.
2. Add the carrots, celery, leeks and thyme, and cook for a further five minutes.
3. Pour in the vegetable stock and bring to the boil.
4. To finish the soup, add the pesto, sundried tomatoes, peas and shelled broad beans. Heat through for a minute or two.
5. Serve the soup into bowls.
6. Top each bowlful with a poached egg, if desired.

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