September 12, 2019

From its famous pumpkin-inspired flavours to its slow-cooked stews, autumn has plenty to offer when it comes to whipping up a hearty dish. Plus, with plenty of vegetables reaching their prime, there’s no better time to start thinking about the season ahead. Tummies rumbling yet? Good! We’ve rounded up our favourite recipes that guarantee to add warmth to your autumnal menu.

Italian Meatball Bake

Combining all the classic tastes of Italy, this oven-cooked indulgence is perfect for Saturday nights in and days avoiding calorie counting.

Things you’ll need:

·         500g of beef mince

·         4 diced onions

·         1 tin of chopped tomatoes

·         4 cloves of chopped garlic

·         500ml of passata

·         3 tbsp of tomato purée

·         3 bay leaves

·         2 tbsp of brown sugar

·         1 egg

·         250g of grated mozzarella

·         100g of mascarpone

·         1tbsp red wine vinegar

·         2 tbsp of olive oil

·         100g of breadcrumbs

·         1 loaf of crusty bread to serve

What you’ll need to do:

1.       Fry the onions in a pan until soft. Throw in the garlic and turn to a high heat. After a few minutes, transfer the onions into a mixing bowl.

2.       Add the chopped tomatoes, passata, purée, brown sugar, red wine vinegar and bay leaves to the pan and simmer for 15-20 minutes. Check if the sauce is thick, then take off the heat and season with pepper and salt.

3.       Mix together the beef, breadcrumbs, egg and cooked onions by hand. Shape into meatballs of even sizes and heat on a non-stick frying pan. Add in more oil when required and heat until almost cooked through, then leave to cool. After, mix the mozzarella and mascarpone.

4.       Place the now cool meatballs and sauce into a baking dish. Pour the cheese on top and sprinkle the remaining mozzarella.

5.       Cover the dish with foil and bake in the oven (180C) for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and cook for another 30 minutes. Serve with the crusty bread.

Pork Belly and Kimchi Stir-Fry With Tofu

Bring a taste of the Far East to your kitchen with this delectable dish! A great addition to your culinary skillset: it’s something wonderfully unusual to try for dinner parties…

Things you’ll need:

·         350g of pork belly cut into small slices

·         300g of Cabbage Kimchi (washed and drained)

·         300g of sliced tofu

·         2 chopped onions

·         4 cloves of garlic

·         2 tbsp of soy sauce

·         1 tbsp of sugar

·         1 tbsp of black pepper

·         1 tbsp of sesame oil

·         3 tbsp of vegetable oil

·         3 spring onions cut to cook and decorate serve.

·         Basmati rice

What you’ll need to do:

1.       Mix together the pork, onions, garlic, spring onions – leave some for decoration – soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil in a large bowl. Season and then leave to marinate for 10-15 minutes.

2.       Put the tofu in a saucepan, cover with water and boil on high heat. After a few minutes reduce the heat, then drain and cut the tofu into neat triangles. Keep the tofu warm by returning it to the now empty pot.

3.       Pour the oil into a pan and fry the vegetables. Add in the pork mixture and cook for 5 minutes, whilst stirring to avoid burning. Throw in the kimchi and continue the process for a further 5 minutes.

4.       Transfer the stir-fry to a serving dish and decorated the tofu triangles on top. Finish the dish by sprinkling the leftover spring onions on top and serve with rice.

Ginger Biscuit Cheesecake

We couldn’t start the season without a sweet treat! Dusted with rich biscuity goodness, make sure this is on your must-cook and must-eat list.

Things you’ll need:

·         300ml of double cream

·         500g full fat cream cheese

·         500g of ginger nuts

·         100g of unsalted butter

·         10g of icing sugar

·         1tsp of vanilla extract

·         1tsp of ground ginger

·         1tsp of round cinnamon

What you’ll need to do:

1.       Carefully crush the ginger biscuits by beating with a rolling bin. Then melt the 100g of butter and mix the broken biscuits in. Press into the bottom of your cake tin.

2.       Gently sift the icing sugar into a mixing bowl and whisk in the cream cheese. Put the mixture into the fridge.

3.       Take the double cream and beat it into a soft peak consistency with the vanilla and cinnamon.

4.       Crush the remaining ginger nut biscuits and mix with the cream cheese and whipped cream until thick – be sure to save a handful of biscuit crumbs for decoration.

5.       Spoon onto the biscuit base and smooth with a spatula.

6.       Set the cheesecake overnight.

7.       Decorate with the with the leftover crumbs and squirty cream.