Prawn ramen with miso, homemade dashi and carrot noodle dressing

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A noodle dish of epic proportions. Not mine specifically - I mean ramen generally. 

If you're a noodle addict (like me) you'll know what I mean, this is one of the best noodle dishes you can get. It contains delicious umami flavour, slurpy broth and long and slinky and wiggly noodles all spiked with prawns and crab sticks, a bit of Japanese seven spice pepper and some greens. Food for me doesn't get much more fulfilling. 

This time I've used giant prawns and crab sticks. Yeah, the 'crab' sticks are pretty low rent, but there isn't a Japanese restaurant (authentic or otherwise) that I've been to which does this dish without them, and who am I to say what goes. 

This dish is only complex in getting hold of some of its ingredients, it's not remotely difficult to put together once you've got them. If you don't live near / frequent an oriental supermarket very often then make life easy by ordering them all online and have them sent to you directly. You won't regret it. 

What is ramen?

'Ramen' isn't actually a type of noodle (as I originally thought), it's the name for a dish of broth containing noodles. You can use all kinds of noodles to create ramen apparently, and soba are quite common - these are what I've used here. 

What about dashi?

It's a liquor used as a stock base and base for dipping sauces and you can make it from several things. For ramen soup I create it using katsuobushi and kombu or wakame, the lattter two are dried seaweeds and you can use either. The former is known as the flavour of Japan, it's dried, boiled and repeatedly smoked skipjack tuna, which is then shaved so thin that it's almost transparent, carrying the most intense and fragrant smoked fish aroma. Also known as bonito flakes, and you buy them ready shaved.

The flavour these two ingredients create can't be substituted for anything else, and without it this dish won't taste authentic, but apparently dashi granules are readily available if you don't fancy making the real thing (though I promise it's easy once you have the two component parts). 

Is the liquor dashi alone?

Once the dashi is ready I strain it into a deep bottomed saucepan over both white and red miso paste to complete the soup base. 

White miso is reasonably sweet (and savoury at the same time) and brown miso is very savoury indeed, and together they make a great mix. I know for certain that brown miso is available in Sainsburys, but you may need that oriental supermarket for the white variety. 

And finally, those carrot noodles...

Making the carrot noodles is done using a strange piece of kitchen equipment that looks like it belongs to the 1970's. Mine is from Amazon, it's called a 'vegetable spiralizer' if you fancy having a look and perhaps getting one. If you don't but you still want carrot for this dish then simply use a fine grater, it doesn't give the same look but the taste is still there and thats what really counts. 

And there's only one final thing to say about this noodle dish now... Amie...this is for you x

For two and miso dashi stock leftover for another day: 

Two large handfuls dried bonito flakes
1 large handful dried wakame
2.5l cold water
2 tbs white miso paste
2 tbs red miso paste
A handful fresh coriander leaves
2 spring onions, cut lengthways
One carrot, peeled and grated or spiralized 
6 giant raw tiger prawns
6 crab sticks, cut in half
2 handfuls fresh, washed spinach leaves
Japanese seven spice pepper - known as 'shichimi'
3 packets fresh ramen noodles

Method:
- Place the bonito flakes and wakame into a deep bottomed saucepan and top with 2l cold water, bring to the boil and once rolling, reduce so it doesn't boil over and keep it going for 30 minutes
- While this is happening take another deep bottomed saucepan and put the miso pastes into it, set aside
- Grate / spiralise your carrot now, then by hand mix it all up with the coriander and spring onion, creating two 'balls' of carrot dressing
- Put a pan of boiling water on the hob to boil ready to do your noodles in
- When the dashi is ready strain it through a sieve directly over the miso pastes in the other saucepan, discard the contents of the sieve and stir the soup base to make sure all the miso pastes dissolve, leave on a medium heat to come to a simmer
- While this is happening, the pan of water should now be boiling, place the noodles in there at the same time as dropping the raw prawns and crab sticks into the soup liquor. Bring both the soup and noodle pan back to boiling and use some cooking chopsticks or a fork to gently break up the noodles. After a few minutes the noodles should be done so strain and set aside, once the prawns have turned pink in a simmering pan you can turn the pan off
- Get your ramen bowls, or just big bloody soup bowls - hell, use a serving dish if you're a greedy guts like me - and place your fresh spinach into the bottom
- Now top the greens with the strained noodles, followed by ladles of the soup broth and seafood, finished with the carrot bundles and a sprinkle of Japanese seven spice seasoning 

Italian wedding soup with mini lemon, basil and chicken meatballs

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Happy new year dear blog reader...I hope your festivities were as food and drink filled (and fueled) as mine.

If like me, you're one of the millions of people now feeling a little wobblier than usual and craving healthier nosh, you may be kicking off your new years eatings in the same way. 

Eating delicious and interesting food is important to me all year round, and I certainly don't believe that being 'good' has to mean being boring. At the moment our house is seeing the return of winter salads, broths, slinky vegetable crammed soups, and oriental aromatics. And these and a little extra gym time are already helping feelings of normality to return. 

If you haven't tried this soup before I urge (actually, I plead) you to give it a go - once you discover how easy and tasty it is I'm confident it will make its way into your regular dish repertoire. 

This Italian soup is usually laced with more indulgent ingredients - the delightfully salty percorino cheese, Parmesan, chicken sausage, eggs and breadcrumbs, I miss them out in my version of this classic but not to the detriment of the dish - the broth packs a punch, the fluffy little meatballs are aromatic and juicy, and the overall dish feels both healthy and delicious. 

For two and some leftover for the next day (unless you scoff it all, which is a distinct possibility)
3 large / 4 regular carrots, peeled and top and tailed, top and tailed and grated. I use my food processor for this, on the fine setting
2 celery stalks, top and tailed and grated the same as the carrots
4/5 handfuls small pasta shapes - I used cavatelli but orzo or your favourite small shape will work too
350g skinless and boneless chicken thighs (or breast if you prefer, but thighs are cheaper, tastier and more succulent)
A large handful fresh basil 
1 large red or golden onion, half finely diced, the remaining half left whole
A fat clove of garlic, smoked if you have it but if not don't worry
The rind of one unwaxed lemon 
Sea salt and black pepper
1.5l chicken stock - if you aren't using fresh stock I'd suggest using pork stock cubes, they have a far better and more authentic taste than chicken cubes
A large glass of dry white wine
Unsalted butter
Olive oil for frying
Extra virgin olive oil for drizzling
A couple of handfuls fresh spinach

Method:
Start by making the dumplings
- Into a food processor place the lemon rind, chicken, basil, half onion, garlic, and lots and lots of salt and pepper. Blitz for a minute or two so the mixture is finely and thoroughly chopped and mixed
- Form into small balls, you should be able to get 12 or more out of the mix, depending on the size you make them, and set aside on a plate
- Once you've used all the mix to make the balls, place a knob of unsalted butter and glug of cooking olive oil into a frying pan and turn it onto a high heat. When the butter starts to foam place the meatballs into the pan. Cook them on all sides, you're looking to get them nice and brown, this should take around 10-15 minutes depending on your hob (am having to work on electric at the minute which seems to take a bit longer to do things) once nice and golden remove and set aside

Now onto the soup
- In a deep bottomed saucepan place another knob of butter and glug of cooking olive oil. Bring to temperature on a medium-high heat and once the butter begins to lightly foam, add the chopped onion
- Cook for around 6-7 minutes, stirring continuously, and once the onion begins to turn translucent (not brown) you want to add the carrot and celery. Stir and cook for a few minutes, then add the wine, stock, generous scrunch of pepper
- Bring to the boil and then add the pasta - make a note of the timings as 5 minutes before the pasta is done you'll need to add the meatballs to the pan to poach through
- Into the bowls you're eating from place a handful of fresh spinach (the hot liquor of the soup will cook the spinach through and keep its colour)
- When the dumplings are ready - a clue is that they'll float to the top of the pan, it should take just 5 minutes on a high heat - take the pan off the heat and ladle the soup and meatballs over the bowls with spinach
- Give a glug of your favourite extra virgin olive oil and eat

Syrup for Fizz

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I've been very ready and prepared this Christmas. Gifts, get-togethers, decorations, tunes, I even sent out cards (first time since leaving school, which was, ahem, some years ago). But despite all my festive planning smugness, there was one thing I'd forgotten. Lucky I had my lovely friend Holly to remind me of its existence: Syrup for Fizz. 

You'll recognise Holly (blogger aka Recipes From a Normal Mum) from this years BBC2 show, The Great British Bake Off. She got to the competition final and was an all round superstar - her gingerbread house was a particular thing of envy. 

Since finishing the Bake Off Holly's been getting involved with several exciting projects, one of which is presenting a show this week on BBC Radio Leicester. And earlier this week she asked if I'd like to come on the show to share a special Christmas recipe of mine. If you fancy a listen to my five minutes on air just click here: http://bbc.in/sxNfud

I made this recipe for the first time a couple of years ago, ahead of a house party held by Holly and her husband, Stu, and I wanted to create a festive drink that was chilled. Don't get me wrong, I love gluvine, vin chaud and mulled wine, but I also do like a glass of fizz (or two...) and I wanted to combine the feeling of Christmas with the chilled bubbles I adore.

The syrups flavours are wonderfully festive in their combination; cranberries, ground ginger, cloves, star anise, cinnamon, sugar and black peppercorns, for me they epitomise the flavours of Christmas and really do enhance affordable fizz. I like to use the syrup in Cava and Prosecco, Champagne of course works beautifully too, but it somehow seems wrong to adulterate those expensive, fizzy bubbles with this delicious, shiny pink syrup.  

For one jar of syrup:
300g fresh cranberries
350g golden caster sugar
1 fat vanilla pod
3 heaped tablespoons ground ginger
10 cloves
2 teaspoons black peppercorns
7 star anise
2 cinnamon sticks
1l water

Method:
- Place all the ingredients into a pan and bring to the boil when covered, once boiling reduce to a medium heat so the pan is simmering and remove the lid, cook down for between 45 minutes and an hour
- When the mixture has reached a runny honey like thickness remove it from the heat, pass through a sieve and leave to cool
- Once cold decant into a jar for storage
- For use, place a teaspoon of the mix into the base of a Champagne flute or saucer, then top with fizz and glug. The syrup collects a little at the bottom of the glass so you may want to swizzle it a little to get the flavours running through it 

Star anise rosé veal stuffed baby squid in romesco sauce

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It may not be very festive, but this little dish brought a welcome dash of Spanish sun to a dark wintery lunchtime. I ate this and imagined being in San Sebastian's pintxos filled old town, or Barcelona scoffing them along side little tumblers of red wine, rather than chilly Didsbury still wearing my pyjamas (big night last night). 

The squid are poached gently in the volcanic coloured romanesco sauce until they're tender and soft, the star anise scented veal warm, fragrant and hearty. And as well as tasting great, they look good on the plate - I'd happily dish this delicious and different dish up at a dinner party as a starter. 

Romanesco is a rich sauce that's easy to make - using smoked paprika, roasted peppers, hazlenuts, red wine vinegar and bread. The texture is thick and there's a slightly sweet taste to it on account of the peppers and nuts, but the vinegar and paprika cut through it giving it balance. If you get bored of making a regular tomato sauce for pasta or fish then give this a crack - it'd be fab run through spaghetti or over salmon before baking. 

Now, I'm not going to lie to you, this dish is a little tricky to make and you will need a food processor to do it. It's not that it's complex, just a little fiddly. Firstly, try and get baby squid that are all cleaned and ready for you, if you end up with squid like mine you'll need to spend some time cleaning them, and then the filling of the them is tricky - use a piping bag if you can, otherwise use the end of a teaspoon. 

For two:

The squid and their stuffing - 

10 baby squid tubes - completely cleaned and rinsed

300g rosé veal mince, mine is from Heaves Farm Veal. They deliver the veal to your door, but if you want to make it before you have chance to buy any, pork or a pork and beef mix would work very well

200mls pasatta

4 star anise

200mls white wine

One red onion, finely diced

One clove of garlic, finely diced

Sea salt and black pepper

Unsalted butter and olive oil for frying

Cocktail sticks

The romanesco sauce - 

1 slice stale bread (crustless) blitzed into breadcrumbs

2 red peppers, diced roughly

100mls olive oil 

50g hazelnuts

Half a teaspoon smoked paprika

One clove of garlic 

Six medium tomatoes

One teaspoon red wine vinegar 

Sea salt and black pepper 

Method:

- Preheat your oven to 200 degrees, lightly oil the red peppers and roast for 30 minutes until they've softened a little

- Whilst they're cooking, gently sauté the onion on a medium heat until translucent, add the garlic at the end and when you can smell the aroma come out of the pan, add the veal. Brown the veal on all sides before adding a generous scrunch of salt and pepper, the wine, pasatta and star anise. Stir and cover, cook on a low to medium heat for 30 minutes.

- Once ready, discard the star anise then remove the mix from the pan and blitz in a food processor briefly to make the mix a little finer, if you don't do this you'll find getting the mince inside the squid is near impossible. Set aside to cool

- Place all the sauce ingredients into the food processor and blitz continuously until smooth and thick, transfer to a pan with a lid

- Now for the stuffing of the squid, carefully either spoon the veal mix into the pockets or pop it all into a piping bag and fill them that way - much quicker. Ensure you squeeze the mix right down to the end of the squid so you fill them up so they're nice and plump - then using a sewing action, secure them closed with a cocktail stick

- Once you've done them all they'll be likely to have bits of the mix all over them, give them a rinse so they're clean, then place them into the sauce and put the lid on. Turn the sauce onto a low heat and cook them for 20 minutes - you must cook them very very gently as otherwise they'll burst. Turn them over a few times during cooking to make sure they're evenly cooked through

- Serve with a glug of your favourite extra virgin olive oil and remember sunny days in Spain 

Homemade black fettuccine with lemon buttered clams and tiger prawns, and roasted fennel

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Slinky, inky, glamorous...the shiny black fettuccine elevates what is a relatively simple fish dish to something altogether more special. Ideal for feeding guests you want to delight, like my parents who were visiting this weekend. 

Making your own pasta is easy enough to do, finding the ink to transform it isn't so simple. I generally now get all my fish from the excellent Evans in Didsbury (where I purchased the delicious and juicy carpet shell clams and giant black tiger prawns - the best I've ever tasted) but sometimes they don't have everything I'm after.

Luckily the ace Fish Society sell cuttlefish ink at a great price, so I took advantage and ordered a few sachets when I placed an order for some other more unusual bits last week.

I cooked the shellfish in a simple and heady mix of white wine, butter, parsley, garlic and lemon rind, and then speckled it with flecks of roasted red pepper before serving it poured over the pasta, accompanied by some golden roasted fennel bulbs. 

It's well worth remembering that if you're making your own pasta that you'll need somewhere for it to hang with the strands kept nice and separate so it doesn't form unpleasant clumps. I don't have a proper pasta airer, instead I use one of those white clothes airers. It may look amusing to see the pasta draped all over it but it does the trick perfectly!

The various flavours and textures of the finished dish married brilliantly - let me know what you think of this little fishy dishy and if you get inspired to recreate it or something like it. 

For four:
For the pasta - 
600g 00 flour
6 free range eggs
A little glug of extra virgin olive oil
A scrunch of sea salt
2 teaspoons (2 sachets of what I purchased) cuttlefish ink (or squid ink)
For the fish - 
1kg carpet shell clams - soaked for an hour in salted water before draining and rinsing - any that are damaged or open must be thrown away 
12 giant black tiger prawns (ie raw), deveined and shell off - so three big prawns each which is just enough 
3 fennel bulbs, quartered
300mls dry white wine
a handful of fresh parsley 
Rind of two unwaxed lemons
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed 
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
Black pepper
Olive oil for frying
Extra virgin olive oil
One red pepper, cut into strips
Sea salt and black pepper

Method:
- Preheat your oven to 180 degrees, place your pepper into a roasting tin and bake until soft and just beginning to char at the edges - you'll need to move them around during the cooking so they dont stick as you're baking them unoiled, this means they'll dry out and become more intensely flavoured. Cook for around an hour then remove and finely dice once cool enough to handle. Set aside
- Into the small compartment of a food processor with a blade, add 3 tablespoons of butter, the lemon rind (I use a grater for this rather than big strips), parsley, a scrunch of salt and blitz until together, remove and set aside
- Into the large compartment of a food processor place your pasta ingredients and blitz until its come together as much as it will, which will be a slightly sandy texture. If you don't have a food processor, pour your flour onto a clean work surface, make a well in the centre and add the whisked eggs with the ink to the centre and bring together with a fork.  Whichever method you use, once you have that sandy texture, it's time to bring the dough together and give it a good kneading. This will take around 5 minutes and once it's feeling silky and smooth to the touch rather than rough, you know it's done. Wrap it in clingfilm and place it into the fridge for half an hour
- Take your fennel bulbs, take the tops of them off so you have nice clean ends, then quarter them and brush with olive oil and place into the oven for an hour. You'll need to take them out a few times as you're cooking them to turn them over, ensuring all the edges get nice and golden
- Attach your pasta machine to your work top and once it's ready to use, take it out of the fridge and cut it into 4 segments, this makes it easier to work with. You'll need some help with this so the pasta doesn't get overly stretched as it goes through the machine, but it doesn't take long to do. As you're rolling it through the settings getting finer and finer, if the dough gets slightly wet or tacky feeling you'll need to lightly dust it with some more 00 flour - this will stop it dragging and tearing as it goes through the machine. I don't go to the finest setting that rolls out the dough into sheets as it's too fragile, I leave it one before that and then put it through the fettuccine blades, before draping (elegantly, if I do say so myself) on a clean clothes airer
Time to cook the dish...
- When you think your fennel have around 20 minutes to go, bring a large saucepan of water with some salt in it to a rolling boil
- Whilst it's coming to temperature take a large sauté pan (needs a lid) add a tablespoon of butter, glug of olive oil and heat on a high heat, once the butter starts foaming add the clams and prawns to the pan - stir for a minute then add the garlic, stir for another few seconds as you mix the garlic through the fish, when you can smell the aroma rising out of the pan add the wine and give the pan a shake, put the lid on it now (the fish will take around 6 minutes to cook)
- Take the fennel from the oven and set aside
- Place the pasta into the rolling boiling water and stir gently with a fork. If your water stops boiling place the lid on the pan
- Shake the seafood pan and lift the lid, now add the diced pepper and lemon parsley butter mix, lid back on you need to shake the pan gently so the butter melts into the fish
- As soon as your clam shells have opened up (this will happen after the prawns turn pink) and all the butter and herbs have mixed through the wine and fish juices, take it off the heat and leave the lid on to keep it hot
- Test your pasta and once al dente drain it
Time to plate the dish...
- Move it straight from the colander into four bowls

- Divide the fennel bulb quarters between the bowls, placing them in the centre of the dish. Now ladle over the prawns and clams, and once that's done spoon the liquor over the dishes, using it all up. Give a little glug of your finest extra virgin olive oil and serve. Don't forget you mustn't eat any that don't open, and you'll need a bowl at the table to put the empty shells 

Italian style rosé veal pie

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A special parcel arrived for me this week...Now, it's not unusual for special parcels to arrive at my house (the postman must hate me given the frequency of his visits), it seems like every week I have lovely purchases delivered - shoes, books, music, dresses, etc etc, but this weeks star parcel wasn't of any of those things, it was meat. Rosé veal to be precise. 10kgs of it. 

It came from the fabulous Heaves Farm Veal company, a lovely family run business that rear rosé veal in Cumbria. It's because of them that an ardent foodie like me gets to enjoy a meat previously avoided for ethical reasons because their meat is welfare reared - having a fantastic taste and being guilt free. 

There will be many veal recipes over these coming weeks and months as I work my way through the box of treats, but the chill that arrived in the air this weekend meant that first up had to be a pie.

Italian style is this creation; slow cooked rosé veal in white wine with pancetta, anchovy, garlic, carrot and celery - a light but substantial combination of ingredients that are made even more delicious when encased in puff pastry. 

Pie for four (or two VERY greedy people):
1kg braising rosé veal 
2 large carrots, peeled and diced
1 golden onion, peeled and diced
2 celery sticks, washed and finely diced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
5 rashers smoked pancetta or streaky bacon, snipped up
Half a bottle of Italian dry white wine (I used pinot grigio)
8 anchovy fillets (not the fresh deli counter variety)
Half a pint of cold water
1.5 packets of puff pastry (I prefer the block rather than the roll)
A couple of tablespoons corn flour, mixed up with enough water to form a paste
A tablespoon sugar
A pinch of sea salt and several generous scrunches of black pepper
Unsalted butter
Buttered peas to serve 
Plain flour for rolling out 
1 egg for glazing the pastry

Method:
- Into a slow cooker or casserole dish place all the ingredients apart from the pastry, then turn on to cook slowly until the meat is tender and casserole like - this will depend on how you cook it and at what temperature, but somewhere between 3 and 5 hours ish
- Once done, remove the meat and leave it to cool (very important when you assemble the pie that you do so using a cold filling) and reduce the liquor on the hob on a moderate heat until it has gone down to leaving you with approximately a pint
- When you're at that point, mix in the corn flour very gradually (difficult to say how much is needed here as it will depend on how your pie has cooked) but add it a little at a time, stirring it in and waiting for it to thicken before adding more, you're looking for a gravy like texture
- When the thickness is as you like, continue to cook it for around 10-15 minutes to 'cook out' the flavour of the flour, then turn the pan off and add the veal and carrot mix to the pan, coating the meat in the sauce, then leave the lot to cool
Once the filling has cooled its time to make the pie
- Preheat your oven to 175 degrees
- Butter your pie dish and make sure your pastry has been out of the fridge for 30 minutes before you start using it
- Lightly flour a work surface and place the first full block of puff pastry in the centre, begin rolling it out remembering a couple of rules - keep running your hands over the pastry to see if its 'damp' feeling and if it is give it a little bit of flour to stop it sticking to the worktop or the rolling pin, and after rolling it one way, turn the pastry round to roll the other angle, rather than roll the pin the other way on the pastry whilst keeping it in the same place
- Roll the sheet out enough so that you can lay it inside the pie case (you might need to keep picking it up and draping it in the case to see if it's big enough) and once its done lay it in there and gently press into the corners and edges of the case
- Pick the pie dish up in one hand, and using the other hand with a sharp knife trim off the excess hanging over the edge, you do this by bringing the knife up from underneath and running the blade along the edge of the dish, slicing the pastry off
- Once done fill the pie with the mixture and then brush the edge that will join to the top layer of pastry with egg, before rolling out the remaining half block of puff and laying it over the top
- Make a cross hole in the centre of the pie so the steam can escape, then use the back of a fork to press the edges of the pie to the side of the dish, sealing it shut
(decorate as you feel appropriate or otherwise)
- Pop into the oven for 1 hour 10 minutes until golden brown and bubbling (over the edge probably)

- Serve with buttered peas 

Bloody Mary chicken with Jerusalem artichoke and chorizo

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Starting a new job is an exciting and nerve wracking time, but this week I was greeted with bags of enthusiasm, interesting projects, and Jerusalem artichokes. 

No, not to work on (how to advertise the curious, knobbly tuber would be an interesting brief alright), these were given to me by our new business director, Jim. A chap who has what sounds like a big enough small holding to allow him to give some produce away, and an obsession with good food and eating it that's akin to my own. 

I arrived back at my desk after a meeting and found a pile of the vegetable in front of my laptop, I squirreled them away inside my handbag and it was then the recipe cogs began to whir. Their taste is mild but distinctive - I could see them working very well blended in a soup, made into a gratin, or for something a little different - a remoulade, using them instead of celeriac.

If you've not tried them before they've a very interesting texture - the centre of them when cooked is soft and yielding like a boiled potato (they're part of the same family) but the outer is slightly tougher and more fiberous. 

But what to make with them on this occasion? After a fun and boozy weekend I wanted to do something with very little involvement. Something that I could throw into a pot and leave in the oven whilst I took a walk to appreciate the sun shining in Didsbury (and a wander around the clothing and jewelry boutiques, you might be sure).

This dish does just that, and it greeted me with a scent so tantilising when I got home that I struggled to concentrate until it was ready. The combination of flavours marry beautifully, creating an intensly flavoured and exsquisitely coloured liquor, given an extra poke and edge through the Bloody Mary ingredients and wine - the Jerusalem artichokes really suit a boozy sauce.

I used cooking chorizo from Morrisons deli counter and have found it to be incredibly good - decent fat content and heavy on the paprika, it lends a lovely, light smokiness to the dish overall and is worth making a trip to Morrisons to buy if you don't usually shop there.

For two:

200-300 grams Jerusalem artichokes, peeled (bit of a pain but worth doing) and rinsed

6 chicken thighs, bone in or out (I used bone out) and skinless, trimmed of excess fat

3 carrots, grated on a fine setting

2 chorizo sausages (I used ones that were around 3" each in length) peeled and cut into rounds

1 red onion, diced

2-3 large ladles of chicken stock (I used homemade but a cube will be fine too) 

2 celery stalks, finely diced

1 large glass of white wine

250mls pasatta or tomato juice 

A teaspoon of Tabasco

A large shot of vodka 

A generous scrunch of black pepper

4 rashers of smoked streaky bacon, snipped into little pieces

Around 10 cherry tomatoes, left whole

Olive oil for frying

A few pinches of flat leaf parsley, cut up 

Bread to serve

Method:

- Preheat your oven to 175 degrees

- Place a casserole pot (one that has a lid) onto a medium-highish heat and add your bacon, a slug of olive oil, celery, onion and chorizo, fry until they're colouring nicely, then add the carrot and tomatoes and continue cooking for around five minutes
- Now add to the pan the wine, pasatta and vodka, along with lots of black pepper. Place the lid on the pan and pop it into the oven for 1 hour
- After an hour remove the pot and add the Jerusalem artichokes, cover again and put the pot back into the oven for 20-30 minutes until the artichokes are soft (use a knife to see). Add the parsley to the pot and serve at the table, using some nice baguette to mop up the juices. Best eaten with some vino on the go