Sarah Venning’s recipes

750ml water
375g frozen peas
2 spring onions, trimmed but whole
Salt
1/2 teasp lime juice
4×15ml tablespoons pesto from tub not jar

Boil the kettle. Measure the amount of water you need into a pan and put it onto the hob to come back to the boil.

 Add the frozen peas, spring onions, salt and lime juice and let everything bubble for 7 minutes. Discard the spring onions and blitz the peas and their liquid in the blender with with pesto.

2 large parsnips
4 small carrots
1 clove garlic
50g butter
Tablespoon fromage frais
2 tbsp grated creamed coconut
1tsp mild curry powder
Pinch cinnamon
2pts chicken stock
1tbsp chopped coriander

Chop parsnips and carrots into small pieces and sweat in butter for 10 minutes. Add garlic after 5. Add spices and cook for further minute. Add enough stock to cover, bring to high summer then turn down to low simmer and cook until soft (15-20 minutes). Whiz in food processor or with hand blender. Add coconut, coriander, fromage frais and remaining stock and heat through

1 large butternut squash, peeled (or parsnips or celeriac)
2 medium onions, peeled and finely sliced
4 cloves of garlic, crushed
55g unsalted butter
1ltr water
125ml whipping cream
10 large leaves of sage, finely sliced

Cut squash in half and remove seeds. Chop into 2.5cm chunks. Put squash, onions, garlic, butter and 1tsp salt into large pan and sweat for 7 minutes. Pour over water and bring to boil. Boil for 15 minutes until soft. Purée then return to pot and add three-quarters of the cream. Heat through and season. Stir in the sliced sage, spoon over rest of cream and serve.

4 rashers streaky bacon
1 large onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 sticks of celery, chopped
2 leeks, sliced and washed
A fist-sized chunk of green cabbage, finely sliced
1 tin of haricot or cannelloni beans, drained and rinsed
1 tin tomatoes, chopped
3pts stock or water
55g spaghetti, broken into short lengths
30g parmesan, grated
Basil leaves

Cut rind off bacon and discard. Cut the bacon into strips about the width of a pencil using scissors. Put the bacon and onion in a large pan and cook gently until the onion is softened. The bacon should provide enough fat to fry.
Stir in the garlic, cook for another minute and add the rest of the vegetables, tinned tomatoes and stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for an hour. Add pasta and cook until soft, then stir in parmesan. Season and serve with ripped basil leaves and more grated parmesan.

8 plum tomatoes, cored and coarsely chopped
4 v large red peppers
50ml groundnut oil
200ml water
100ml extra virgin olivec oil

Heat large pan, add tomato and red pepper and cook until they caramelise (1/2 hour), blend with water, add olive oil, serve with chopped basil

Jerusalem artichokes (anything from 1 huge to six small)
70g chopped pancetta
1 onion, chopped
Large clove garlic or two
1.5pts chicken or other poultry stock
2tbsp double cream
Parsley
25g butter

Sweat onions and garlic in butter for five minutes, then add the peeled, chopped into discs artichokes. Sweat them gently for 15-20 minutes. Add chopped pancetta and fry for 5 minutes. Add stock and parsley and cook for 10 minutes. Whizz in blender, then stir into double cream. Add black pepper.

12 rasher streaky bacon, finely chopped
2tbsp dripping
2 onions, diced
2 carrots diced
4 garlic cloves, sliced
140g puy lentils
1 tin chopped tomatoes
2pts chicken stock
Small bunch of thyme (some picked, some not)

Fry bacon for 2 minutes, then add vegetables. Sweat for 5 minutes then add the lentils, chopped tomatoes, chicken stock and thyme stalks. Bring to boil and simmer gently for 45 minutes. Take out thyme stalks, add thyme leaves. Season.

2 tins tomato
6-8 spring onions
1/2 cucumber
2 green peppers
1 small clove garlic
thick slice white bread
4 tbsp olive oil
11/2 pts chicken stock/water
1 tsp caster sugar
3 tbsp wine vinegar
2 tbsp parsley garnish
seasoning

Large bowl. Tomatoes, onion, cucumber, peppers, garlic, oil in. Soak bread in 2 tbsp water for two minutes; squeeze and in. Blend to a coarse purée. Then stock, sugar, vinegar etc. Chill very well.