Zingy lemon chicken

The most notable thing about January used to be the January sales and the ads for holidays. Now it's the diets. This Christmas, the weather was so dire that we all had to hibernate and nibble our nuts whilst watching telly programmes about the morbidly obese. These shows revile, shock, inform and (perhaps) titillate, but they also normalise extreme fatness and make anyone under 20 stone feel slightly smug. If you are trying to lose a few pounds without resorting to bariatric surgery, this fresh and zingy ultra-low-fat chicken dish will brighten up the dullest of winter days and revive palates jaded by excessive consumption of Quality Street. Children love it too.

Zingy lemon chicken

4 skinless, boneless chicken breasts

3 garlic cloves, crushed

grated zest and juice of 3 lemons*

½ - 1 red chilli, finely sliced*

4 tablespoons clear honey

2 teaspoons ground coriander
2 packets of Ainsley Harriott's spicy couscous
A handful of fresh coriander

Mix together all the ingredients (except the chicken) to make a marinade. Pour it over the chicken in a non-metallic ovenproof dish, cover and leave for at least 2-3 hours or overnight in the fridge.

Pre-heat the oven to 200/gas 6 and bake the chicken in the marinade for 35-40 minutes, until the chicken is tender and cooked through.

Add the required amount of boiling water to the couscous, plus a handful of chopped coriander and some of the lemony-garlicky juices from the chicken when it has finished cooking.

Chop chop

Time-saving tips

*A Microplane grater will make easy work of the lemons.
*Don't de-seed the chilli; simply hold it by the stalk and slice from the other end.

Beef stew and dumplings

Pesky guests landing themselves on you this Christmas? The holy grail of entertaining at any time of year is a dish which tastes good, is reliable, and which can be made in advance. This rich and tasty beef stew ticks all those boxes, and just needs a green vegetable to go with it (and maybe some mashed potatoes to soak up the gravy). What's more, it's one of those elusive dishes which is equally well received by adults and children.

Whip it out with a "Here's one I prepared earlier" flourish: Make the stew and leave it to cool, or freeze it. The dumplings can be made several hours in advance and kept in the fridge (but for best results allow them to come to room temperature before cooking), or made as needed - they only take a few minutes. Heat the stew slowly on the stove, dropping in the dumplings when it starts to boil. Cover with a lid and cook for 20-30 minutes. Alternatively, prepare the stew on the hob, then tip it into a slow cooker and leave for about 5-6 hours on a low setting, throwing in the dumplings half an hour or so before you are ready to eat.

Beef stew and dumplings - serves 6

2 onions, chopped
1 kg casserole beef
2 tablespoons plain flour
1 x 500ml can Stella Artois
2 beef Oxo cubes
1 large leek, chopped
5 carrots, chopped

75g Atora vegetable suet
150g self raising flour

Pre-heat oven to 150/gas 2. Fry the onions in a splosh of olive oil in a cast iron casserole dish. Remove them when they are translucent and sweet. Add a bit more oil, turn the heat up and brown the steak in a couple of batches. Reduce the heat to medium and return the onions to the pan with the meat, sprinkle over the flour and stir well, slowly adding the beer. Crumble in the Oxo cubes, then add 250ml cold water and the leek and carrots. Season. Stir well and bring to the boil, then cover with a lid and transfer to the oven for a couple of hours.

To make the dumplings: Put the suet and flour in a bowl together, season generously and add 6 tablespoons cold water. Mix well to form a sticky dough and shape it into 12 balls. Place these on top of the casserole and return to the oven for another 20-30 minutes.

Eat your freezer

We're all hiding something - a few pounds under a baggy jumper, an indiscriminate purchase from a partner, or a freezer-full of frostbitten bogofs and leftovers. Now that freezers never seem to need defrosting, there is no reason to confront their contents - but there is a very simple law of science that says you cannot keep putting more in if you don't take some out. So with the C-word (Christmas, of course) in mind, I am putting myself into reverse-hoarder gear and eating the freezer. I urge you to do the same; if not to make some room for all the festive goodies you will be making in advance of the big day, then simply to save money.

Yesterday I took out some very frosty home-made tomato pasta sauce, half a rustic loaf, a bag of chicken stock, 2 M&S vegetarian Kievs, some poached apricots and some ham. So what did I make with this motley selection?

I used the pasta sauce and ham on a pizza with a drizzle of chilli oil, mozzarella and dolcelatte
(dough recipe here);
the rustic loaf became garlic bread, served with carrot soup made with the stock
(chicken stock);
the apricots were pureed with some icing sugar and folded into whipped cream to become a fool
(more on fools);
and the veggie Kievs are for dinner tonight with couscous

Baked apples

I'm sure you share my delight in knowing that the human race has progressed to the point where we have invented the self-cleaning cat litter tray (which automatically activates 7 minutes after kitty leaves the box) and a portable UV disinfecting scanner so you can "protect yourself and your loved ones from harmful micro-organisms found in your home, during travel or in public places".

On the kitchen front, it seems there's an implement for everything. I have tried, tested and thrown away a great deal of them, but one I've hung onto is a melon baller. Originally bought to make Gordon Ramsay's tequila-marinated melon balls, it also makes an excellent apple corer - perfect for this recipe.

Fill 'em up

Oaty Baked Apples

4 large-ish apples

60g brown sugar
20g oats
20g plain flour
30g cold butter
¼ teaspoon cinnamon

Pre-heat oven to 180/gas 4. Cut the apples in half and gouge out the cores using a melon baller. Sit the apples (cut side up) in a bun tin. Whizz up the other ingredients in a food processor until they resemble large breadcrumbs then spoon them into the holes and bake for 20-25 minutes.

Serves 4

Eat 'em up

Tricks for easy Halloween treats

Will you be turning off the lights and hiding behind the sofa when the neighbours' kids come knocking, or will you be dressing up and joining in? Tasteless is the new scary, apparently, and while Miley Cyrus' twerking outfits are taking this Halloween by storm, I prefer the 'pregnant schoolgirl' costume which I read about in a list of what not to wear this year. Here are a few tricks for some easy, last-minute Halloween treats which are certainly not tasteless...

Easiest of all, arm yourself with a packet or two of plastic flies and use them to adorn some cakes. The more delicious the cake, the greater the yuk factor.

If savoury's your thing, chow down on Dead Man's Fingers

Or whip up a batch of Rice Krispie Halloween cookies

Terrifically terrifying treats

Halloween will be here in a couple of weeks, but far more scary than that is those magazines which have started appearing... The ones that tell you how to have a stress-free Christmas (!) whilst showing you how to over-decorate your house, create themed buffets and make gift boxes decorated with semi-precious stones you've mined yourself.

But what if you're domestically challenged or just plain lazy? Here's an idea for Rice Krispie Halloween cakes which you can make in a few minutes or which kids can probably make on their own. (Unsupervised children in the kitchen always guarantees gruesome results of one sort or another.) Plus these might be the most delicious Rice Krispie cakes you have ever tasted. Let me know.

Decorated by Bea, 9 years old

Rice Krispie Halloween cakes

110g butter
110g marshmallows
110g toffees (weighed without wrappers)
140g Rice Krispies
Icing pens

Put the butter, marshmallows and toffees into a saucepan and stir over a medium-low heat until melted. Tip in the Rice Crispies and mix well, then transfer to a lined tin measuring about 22 x 32cm. Press them down firmly until the top is smooth and place in the fridge to cool. Peel off the greaseproof paper and cut into shapes with cookie cutters. Decorate with icing pens or - for a more discerning palate - melted chocolate (spiders, cobwebs and witches' hats).

This made 15 - with plenty of tasty offcuts

Decorated by Alice, 9 years old

Chocolate and Ginger cake with a surprise

"I am literally going to be sick" said my daughter as she watched me make a cake with a grated courgette in it. To be fair, the finished article looked and tasted like something you'd eat in a vegan cafe, so I gave it away in pieces - but no-one could identify the mystery ingredient.

A couple of weeks later I served up a sumptuous chocolate and ginger cake which met with great approval and requests for seconds. I kept quiet until they'd finished, then crowed "You've just eaten courgette cake!" (in a childish playground kind of voice). But there were no retching noises, no shrieks of horror, for they had actually enjoyed it.

A divine combination of moist, light chocolatey-gingery sponge topped with gooey chocolate studded with pieces of sweet ginger - and ludicrously easy to make.

Chocolate, courgette and ginger cake

Chocolate, Courgette and Ginger cake

90ml mild and light olive oil
200g caster sugar
2 small eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
150g grated courgette (peel the skin off and discard any seeds)
175g self raising flour
25g cocoa powder
1½ teaspoons ground ginger
¼ teaspoon salt

Icing: 60ml double cream
100g dark chocolate, chopped
A tablespoon of chopped stem ginger in syrup

Heat the oven to 180/gas 4. Put the olive oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla extract and courgette in a bowl and mix well. Add the flour, cocoa, ginger and salt and mix again. Transfer to a lined 20cm cake tin (or an 18cm square in my case) and bake for 30-35 minutes. Turn out to cool after 10 minutes.

To make the icing: Bring the cream to the boil in a pan. Take it off the heat and stir in the chocolate. When it's melted, add a heaped tablespoon of ginger (not too much syrup), mix again and spoon it over the cake while still warm.

This cake has been entered in the We Should Cocoa recipe challenge hosted by JibberJabberUK (lip-smacking family food) and (the heavenly) Chocolate Log Blog!