Spicy Cajun Chicken, Smashed Sweet Potato and Fresh Corn Salsa

Meal 113 - December 22nd - Spicy Cajun Chicken, Smashed Sweet Potato and Fresh Corn Salsa

There are some meals in 15 minute meals which you just know are going to be good - tasty, straightforward to make and something you would do again. They're normally meals where, just by looking at the picture, you have a good idea of how you are going to go about cooking them. It helps if the ingredients are all things you like too. This meal, my penultimate chicken meal which I'd been saving for a day where I needed something that would be easy and good comfort food, certainly ticked the first box - it's a bit of fried chicken cooked in the standard 15 minute fashion (bash in some flavourings, fry) with some mashed potato and veg. Mango chutney is a secret ingredient which Jamie added to mashed sweet potato in a 30 minute meal which worked really well, while the salsa looks like a nice combination of sweet and tangy flavours.

Golden Scallops, Sun-Blush Mash and Greens

Meal 72 - August 28th - Golden Scallops, Sun-Blush Mash and Greens

There are some recipes in the 15 minute meals book which, for whatever reason, have been deemed unfit for the TV show. This includes all the breakfast recipes, eight fish recipes and an assortment of others. Some of them are a bit weird. There's that Mexican Salad for instance which stretches the definition of "meal" a bit. The Mustard Lamb which was wrong on various levels. Most of them have a hint of afterthought about them and I wonder whether they really are the creative fruits of JO himself or whether some office bod just dreamed them up after deciding the book needed padding out a bit more. This particular recipe looked like it had been thrown together by a work experience kid.

Grilled Cajun Prawns, Sweet Potato Mash and Holy Trinity Veg

Meal 46 - May 25th - Grilled Cajun Prawns, Sweet Potato Mash and Holy Trinity Veg

This week, Lolz bumped into Masterchef presenter Gregg Wallace on the tube. I say "bumped in to" - apparently he got into her carriage, she smiled at him awkwardly and proceeded to Tweet about it. It's not unusual to celeb spot in London - I once bumped into The Hoff in Brent Cross shopping centre* but what is was surprising is that Gregg retweeted her. Rather than be concerned about the fact that he ends up dating most women who tweet him I decided that this was a sure sign that BBC bigwigs and experts in the culinary industry have spotted my cooking/blogging talent and I would shortly be securing some celebrity endorsements and, possibly, my own TV show.

Mustard Lamb, Irish Mash and Watercress Apple Salad

Meal 43 - May 12th - Mustard Lamb, Irish Mash and Watercress Apple Salad

After a very lazy Saturday, Lolz and I decided we would add another string to our middle-class bow by visiting the Parsons Green Farmer's Market on Sunday morning. Surely that would deliver a hit of inspiration to save me from this 15 minute meal slump that I am going through? Well, I did make one important and rather momentous discovery (details to follow in my next post...) but, unless you are looking for home made cakes or artisan breads, it was rather lacking in the inspiration department.

Steak, Liver and Bacon, Bubble & Squeak Mash, Red Onion Gravy

Meal 7 - 19th Jan - Steak, Liver and Bacon, Bubble & Squeak Mash, Red Onion Gravy

Liver. Conjures up memories of overcooked school dinners and mother's cooking, which is not a good thing. To be honest I have pretty much avoided offal in general for most of my life so it was with a certain amount of trepidation that I began meal 7. And with the snow pelting down I wasn't exactly enthusiastic about hitting the shops. But, with the promise of a post-shopping pint, and remembering the enriching experience of last weeks trip to the market, we set out nonetheless.

Our first destination was Dickenson's Butchers, highly recommended by other middle-class types. We bought a good hunk of fillet steak, a large pack of streaky bacon, a slab of calves liver and some lamb mince (for tomorrow's meal - it's all about the pre-planning) all for less than £12. Most of the remaining ingredients came from the Lebanese supermarket we discovered last week.

The cooking of the dish is relatively straightforward. After a few minutes, I had the steak frying, the potatoes and sprouts boiling away and the gravy on the go, and had nothing to do. I even considered tidying up the work surface but dismissed the idea (Lolz loves tidying up after me). Once the steak was cooked to what I thought was approximately medium rare, I began on the liver. Having never cooked it before it was mostly guesswork and it did arguably come out overcooked. All in all though, the final dish was comfort food at it's finest and I will certainly be looking to refine my liver cooking skills at some point in the future. The gravy was deeeelish.

Lolz gave the dish 8/10. Thought the steak was somewhat superfluous and wanted more veg! Difficulty rating 5/10.