Spinach and feta muffins

I adapted a Hugh Fearnley-Whernley recipe for these - and it turned out a treat.

Makes 12 enormous muffins, or lots and lots of fairy-cake sized ones. You'll need:

1 small onion, finely chopped
whatever spinach you have lurking at the bottom of the fridge, chopped
a little olive oil
half a pack or so of feta, cubed
250g self-raising flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon bicarb of soda
a little salt (not a lot, as the feta's pretty salty)
2 eggs
80g butter, melted and cooled down a bit
200ml buttermilk (either use milk with a squeeze of lemon juice, or add 75g yoghurt to 125ml milk...)

Stick your oven on at about 200 degrees C, and line your muffin tin/cupcake tin with paper/silicon cases of your choice.

Fry the onion in a little olive oil, until it turns translucent. Add the chopped spinach, and stir for a couple of minutes until it's wilted. Take off the heat, and leave to cool.

Sling the flour, bicarb, baking powder and salt into a large mixing bowl. Whisk the eggs/buttermilk/melted butter together in a jug - and then pour them into the flour mixture. Mix everything gently together. Carefully fold in the onion/spinach mixture, and then the feta cheese.

Spoon the muffin mixture into your cases, and then bake in the oven for about 10-12 minutes (small fairy-cake size), or a 15-20 minutes (large muffin size) until golden.

Eat lots while hot. They'll keep for a while, but are loveliest warm.

Feta and courgette frittata

Another one in the "ooh, look what I found in the fridge" series.

You'll need:

4-5 eggs, depending on how large they are
a little milk
a handful of sliced cooked potatoes
an onion, finely sliced
a couple of courgettes, chunkily sliced
half a packet of feta cheese, cut into chunks
some dried thyme
lots of black pepper
olive oil

You'll need a reasonably large, heavy-bottomed frying pan (it helps if you've got one without a plastic handle, so it can go under the grill at the end). Start off by frying the onion in a little olive oil until it's translucent. You'll then need to add a really good slurp of olive oil (probably a couple of tablespoons), and layer up the courgette/potato slices. Leave this to cook for 5 minutes or so.

Dot the pan with the chunks of feta cheese. Scatter some dried thyme over the top of everything, and give it a good dose of black pepper. Mix together the eggs with a little milk, and pour into your frying pan.

Turn the heat down low, and leave for 15-20 minutes, until most of the egg has set (I think I left mine for about half an hour - good if you like crispy potatoes on the bottom of the frittata). Turn on the grill, and sling the pan under it for another 5-10 minutes, until the top of your frittata is browned.

We ate this with just a green salad - it was surprisingly filling!

Butternut squash and feta pie

Perfect for vegetarians, or for eating after a long afternoon playing with Gran and Grandpa.

Makes enough for 4 greedy adults. You'll need:

1 butternut squash, peeled, seeds removed and chopped into chunks
olive oil
1 medium onion, sliced
about half a pack of feta cheese, cubed
dried thyme
whatever cream you have in the fridge (I used a drizzle of single cream)
shortcrust pastry

Stick the oven on at about 180 degrees C. Sling the chunks of butternut squash into an ovenproof dish or on a baking tray, drizzle lots of olive oil over the top and give them a good shake. Bung this in the oven for about 40 minutes, until the squash is soft.

In the meantime, make your shortcrust pastry, and leave to rest in the fridge. Fry the onion in a little olive oil until it turns translucent.

Once your squash is done, you're ready to assemble. Don't turn off the oven!

You'll need a pie dish (whatever you've used for the squash is usually a good bet) - tip the squash, onion and feta in, and give it a good mix. Sprinkle some dried thyme over the top, and grind over some black pepper. Add a drizzle of cream or a little water so that it doesn't dry out in the oven.

Roll out your pastry to the size of your pie dish, and lay over the top. You could get fancy with pastry decorations, or brush with a little beaten egg, but frankly, life's too short.

Sling your pie in the oven - it'll be done in about 20 minutes when the pastry is golden brown. Slice and eat with a green, spinachy salad.

Butternut squash and feta tart

Your Dad and I ate this in front of the telly after you'd gone to bed, indulging in a little West Wing season 3.

Makes enough for 2. You'll need:

puff pastry, about 200g (I bought this - life's too short to make it)
1 onion, finely sliced
1 small butternut squash, peeled and chopped into small cubes
a good slug of olive oil
50-100g feta cheese, cubed
dried thyme, lots of black pepper

Stick the oven on at about 200 degrees C, and fish out a baking tray.

Sling the cubed squash into a pan with a good splosh of olive oil, and gently fry until it softens. Add the onion, and fry for another 5 minutes or so, until it turns translucent.

Roll out the pastry into whatever fancy shape you like (I'm rather boring, and usually go for a rectangle). About 1cm in from the edge, draw a border round the whole piece of pastry using the point of a knife. Carefully place the pastry on a greased baking tray.

Tip the squash/onion onto the pastry, and even it out. Scatter over the feta cheese (if I was Nigella I would say tumble, but that's wrong wrong wrong) thyme and black pepper.

Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until the pastry has turned crisp and golden.

Courgette and feta tart

Courgette, allotment, glut, yada, yada...

We've spent the day recovering from the delights of birthday parties, beaches and too much cake. So pastry for tea was the ideal solution. This makes enough for 3-4 people, or 2 very greedy ones.

You'll need:

a couple of large courgettes, sliced
3 medium onion, finely sliced
1 clove of garlic, finely chopped
a good slosh of olive oil
half a pack of feta cheese, cubed
the scone base from Grandma's pizza or shortcrust pastry - they're both nice with a teaspoon or so of dried thyme added to the flour.

Stick the oven on at about 180 degrees and fish out a baking tray (you'll need to grease it or line it with greaseproof paper).

Fry the onions and garlic in the olive oil until they've softened. Roll out your dough/pastry, and line the baking tray. Scatter the onion across the base, and then lay out the slices of courgettes in whatever pretty pattern takes your fancy - I like the geometric niceties of rows, but you could go all out for arty-farty if you've got time. Scatter the feta cheese across the courgettes, drizzle a little extra olive oil all over, and season well with lots of black pepper.

Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the base is crispy and the feta cheese browned. Goes well with a green salad, and Patak's aubergine pickle.

Bacon, feta and pea salad

Our veg box arrived today in the pouring rain, containing a box of freshly picked pea pods and the most amazing bag of salad leaves.

Makes enough for one. You'll need:

some peas, freshly shelled (this is one occasion where the frozen variety probably aren't worth using)
a handful of salad leaves (mizuna or rocket, spinach and butterhead lettuce is a good combination)
25g feta cheese, cubed
2 rashers of streaky bacon
some salad dressing of your choice - something balsamic-y is good

Fry the bacon (you don't need to add any extra oil) for 5 minutes in a pan until it goes crispy. Slice into small pieces.

Sling the salad leaves into a large bowl, and chuck in the peas (uncooked). Add the feta cheese and the bacon pieces, and toss together. Drizzle over a little salad dressing and season with lots of black pepper.

Eat with some nice bread, or failing that some pitta bread that you've dragged out of the freezer and toasted...

Butternut squash stuffed with fragrant rice and feta

You're not a fan of butternut squash at the moment, so you had bolognese and rice for tea. It was the first time you really got the hang of the whole knife and fork thing (mainly because your Dad explained it to you in terms of Thunderbirds rockets).

This makes enough for 2. You'll need:

1 large butternut squash
cooked rice (I used about a mugful of dried rice)
half a pack of feta cheese, cubed
a large handful of fresh flatleaf parsley, chopped
a large handful of fresh coriander, chopped
lots of black pepper

Stick the oven on at about 180 degrees C. First of all, you need to sort out your butternut squash - halve it, and scoop out (and discard) all the seeds and stringy stuff. An ice-cream scoop is quite handy for doing this bit.

Then you'll need to hack out a bit of the flesh (again, the scoop is quite useful for this), to give you room to stuff in the rice. Don't discard this - roast it in the oven, and shove it in some soup.

Drizzle a little olive oil into your butternut squash halves, and stick in the oven to roast for about 30 minutes.

In the meantime, tip the cooked rice into a large bowl, add the parsley, coriander, feta and lots of black pepper and mix well. This is the stuffing that's going to go in your squash.

After it's had 30 minutes in the oven (and the flesh is nicely softened), bring it out and stuff it with the rice mixture. Put it back in the oven again for another 20-30 minutes, until the rice has heated through, and any bits of feta peeking out the top have browned.

Decant onto a plate, and eat. You could have it as it is, but I ended up making a tomato sauce to go with it:

You could eat this as it is, but I made a tomato sauce to go with it. You'll need:

half a tin of tomatoes
a slosh or two of olive oil
a tablespoon balsamic vingegar
black pepper
a few flakes of dried chilli

Chuck half a tin of chopped tomatoes into a frying pan with a splash of olive oil and a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar. Add a little black pepper and a few chilli flakes, and bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes or so, until it's reduced.

Spanish omelette with leek and feta

Anyone Spanish would probably die of shock at being served this, but we have a glut of leeks at the moment (especially as the ones in the back yard are finally large enough to eat). You rather like the potato and leek combo too.

You'll need:

half a pack of feta cheese (about 100g), cubed
4 eggs
5 or 6 medium potatoes, peeled
3 or 4 large leeks, washed and sliced into rings
olive oil
fresh parsley, finely chopped

Chop the potatoes into quarters, and throw them into a pan. Cover with boiling water, and cook until tender. Drain, and then slice (thickly).

Pour a good slug of olive oil into a heavy-bottomed frying pan, and add the leeks. Cook them on a low heat until they have softened. At that point, add the potatoes in a layer on top of the leeks, and scatter (a) the cubes of feta cheese and (b) the parsley over everything.

Break the eggs into a bowl, and beat lightly. Pour over the leek/potato mixture, and leave on a low heat until set round the edges. At that point, it's usually easiest to turn the grill on, and plonk the pan underneath - that will set the top layer of egg, and melt the feta cheese slightly.

Liberally apply black pepper, and eat with a tomato salad or winter coleslaw.

Spring greens soup with feta

I adapted this one from a lovely recipe in Olive. It's very green, and goes well with some freshly baked dough balls. It's also a good way of using up the parsley mountain, which is threatening to take over the front garden.

Makes enough for 3. You'll need:

an onion, finely chopped
a clove of garlic, finely chopped
a small spring cabbage (or spring greens), shredded
a couple of spring onions, chopped into large chunks
a large bunch of parsley, scissored into small strips
half a pack of feta cheese, chopped into smallish pieces
chicken or vegetable stock - enough to cover the cabbage
lots of black pepper

Fry the onion and garlic in a little olive oil (or whatever there is to hand - I ended up using some bacon fat that was left over after cooking your tea - it gave it a lovely flavour). Once they've softened, tip them into your soup pot.

Add the cabbage, parsley, spring onions and stock, and bring to the boil. Simmer for 5 minutes until the cabbage is tender. Decant into bowls, sprinkle the feta over the top, and douse with lots of black pepper.

Cannelloni with squash, feta and tomato

You've spent most of the afternoon racing cars down the loop the loop track. We've discovered (a) the lighter they are the better and (b) when you hang the track off the door, they fairly zip down.

It was a bit of an experiment for tea. You hated it, and had a banana, followed by bread and marmite. At least you tried a couple of mouthfuls...

Makes enough for 4.

You'll need:

a squash, peeled, cored and chopped into small pieces
half a small(ish) pack of feta cheese (you could also try ricotta)
a tomato sauce or passata (I made my own from half an onion and a tin of tomatoes)
an onion, finely chopped
dried thyme, black pepper
grated cheese
cannelloni (or lasagne sheets)

First of all you'll need the oven on, at about 200 degrees C. Chuck your squash into a roasting tin, and splosh some olive oil over it. Bung in the oven for 30-40 minutes, until the squash is tender. (Keep the oven on when the squash are done - you'll need it later on.)

In the meantime, make a tomato sauce (saute some onion in a frying pan until it softens, then add a tin of chopped tomatoes, some black pepper and a splash of balsamic vinegar, and leave to simmer for half an hour).

Fry the onion in a little olive oil, until it goes translucent. Put it into a blender with the feta cheese, some thyme and lots of black pepper. Once the squash is tender, take it out of the oven and stick it into the blender too. Smash the lot together, until it forms a thick paste.

You then have the delightful task of filling the cannelloni, which is a right pain. There's probably a technique to it - Jamie Oliver does it by cutting off the corner of a bag, and squashing the stuff in, or an icing bag would also be a good plan. I shoved it in with a small teaspoon, which was a bit messy. If you hate the idea of all this, you could just sandwich the squash mixture between some layers of lasagne.

Once your cannelloni are filled, place them in a roasting dish (the one you did the squash in would be a good move), and pour the tomato sauce over the top. Liberally sprinkle your grated cheese over the top, and bake in the oven for 40 minutes or so, until everything is bubbling furiously and the cheese on the top is golden.

Chorizo with peas and feta

We wrote a letter to Santa today, and you cycled to the postbox at the end of the street to send it on its way. Here's hoping you get a reply...

A robust sort of a tea for a cold, windy and migrainy day was required. Makes enough for two (your Dad was out at a work event, hence the peas).

You'll need:

a large chunk of chorizo, sliced
lots and lots of frozen peas
an onion, finely chopped
any odds and ends of peppers hanging about in the fridge
lots of freshly ground black pepper

Gently fry the chorizo over a low heat until it gives off its spicy oil. Add the onion/peppers and fry until they have softened. Meanwhile, heat the peas in boiling water for 3 minutes, until they have defrosted and cooked. Drain.

Chuck the peas into the chorizo/onion/pepper mixture, and swish about for a couple of minutes until they take on the chorizo oil and flavours.

Serve immediately, with some plain basmati rice. Sprinkle some cubes of feta cheese over the top.

Lemon and rosemary chicken with feta and tomato salad

We made Captain Jack a dress this afternoon, at the Shipley Art Gallery (they were having a Top Shop Toy Shop day...).

To celebrate his cross-dressing exploits (picture to follow on View from Nappy Mountain sometime soon), I stuck some chicken in the oven for tea.

You'll need:

a couple of chicken pieces
half a lemon, sliced into large chunks
a drizzle of olive oil
some rosemary from the garden

Chuck the chicken in a roasting dish. Drizzle the olive oil over the pieces, thrown in the lemon and rosemary, and stick a bit of black pepper on top. Roast in the oven at around 200 degrees for an hour (or until the juices run clear when you stick a knife in the chicken).

We ate this with a green salad (natch), a rice, onion and pepper salad (does what it says on the tin, and was really to use up yesterday's rice that we'd had with the sticky pork ribs), and a feta and tomato salad.

2 large tomatoes, preferably fairly ripe, and sliced
whatever feta you've got left in the fridge (assuming you may have cooked roast vegetables, feta and couscous earlier in the week)
some nice balsamic vinegar (although maybe not as nice as the stuff I accidentally bought in Morrisons on Monday that I thought was £1.99 and turned out to be £5.99...)
salt and pepper

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, and leave to marinade for half an hour.

Roast vegetables, feta and couscous

It's another 'chop lots of things up then bung in the oven and wait for a bit' recipe. Your dad's favourite, actually, though he prefers his with pasta rather than couscous.

First of all, you'll need some vegetables to roast - today's included:

half a butternut squash
a pepper
a couple of onions
a couple of large tomatoes that were in the reduced to clear section cos they were slightly squishy

Courgettes are always good, as are baby tomatoes, pieces of carrot, red onions, parsnips...depends on the time of year, really.

Anyway, stick the oven on hot - 200 degrees C or so, chop everything up to roughly the same size, drizzle with lots of olive oil and season with lots of black pepper. You could make this herby by adding some dried Mediterranean herbs, or spicy if you add some chilli flakes or chopped up fresh chillies. If you add a stick or two of cinnamon and some star anise, it starts to turn a little more Middle Eastern.

Roast until the squash is squishy (I've always wanted to say that). Chop some feta cheese into large chunks, and make some couscous. If your roast vegetables are on the plainer side, you could add some ras al hanout to the couscous to make it more interesting. Assemble on a plate, and then serve.

We ate ours in front of the telly, while watching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. You were long since fast asleep...