Crispy sesame chicken

I found this recipe on Pinterest today and it appealed to me straight away so I wasted no time and got right to it - I'm so glad I did as this was spectacular.  I'll make this again and again.  

Beef with broccoli

I haven't been cooking recently, mainly due to a house move, but gave this a go last night.  I love a take away on a Friday night but prefer better quality meat than you generally get.  I reckon that this dish was also quicker to make than phoning and collecting a takeaway as I prepared it the night before in about 5 minutes and let the slow cooker work its magic as the day went on yesterday.  It was lovely and the steak I used was really good.  I imagine I'll make this again and again - so I definitely need to write the recipe down and convert it from American cup sizes!  Obviously I made egg fried to go with this. 

Guinness lamb shanks

Back to Jamie's Great Britain.  I am slowly but surely reappraising my feelings about Jamie in general, slowly becoming a fan due to the fact that his recipes just work and seem to be full of flavour - I may have said this before and promptly forgotten!  So, I made this for my sister, who for medical reasons needs slow cooked meat, with a minimum of veg.  I therefore slightly adapted this recipe to make a much smoother gravy but it was absolutely beautiful.  

12 hour rabbit bolognese

This recipe takes delayed gratification to a new level! I made mine in the slow cooker so it is actually a 15 hour bolognese plus the hour it takes to delve around in CSI manner taking out the fiddly bones - but I've got to say that this was well worth it.  I only made this because my butcher wouldn't let me leave the shop without the whole rabbit when all I wanted was a saddle and 2 legs and on the way home remembered this recipe from Jamie Oliver's Jamie's Great Britain, also remember thinking at the time 'yeah right who's going to cook a rabbit for 12 hours Jamie?' - the answer is clearly someone who slavishly follows Nigel Slater and has leftovers from a rabbit salad.  Each recipe I try of Jamie's is generally on the money so when I finish Nigel I may move on to Jamie.  

Lemon chicken

A bit of a late update this one as I made this with my nephew two days ago and forgot to write it up.  This is from Ken Hom's Chinese Cooking and was very delicately flavoured - the lemon was not overpowering.  However, when I next make this I will quadruple the ingredients to make more of a sauce.  

Risotto ai cavolfiori

.. Or cauliflower risotto if you prefer.  This is a Jamie Oliver recipe from Jamie's Italy.   I fancied a change tonight and wanting to cater for the vegetarian in my life went with this.  I had to leave out the anchovies from the topping due to said vegetarian,  but this was a very comforting meal.

Chicken crackling

I'm still working on Nigel but do occasionally cheat on him, mainly with Nigella.  Tonight I'm making his peri peri chicken pie where the skin is removed from chicken thighs prior to cooking.  I had already eyed up the chicken crackling in the new Simply Nigella. Perfect for me this, chicken skin being just about my favourite foodstuff - I ate it all in about 30 seconds.