Recipes from episode one

West meets East with Alasdair Garbutt’s pheasant curry. If pheasant proves a tricky sell - as Alasdair and Lucy find with daughter Daphne - the meat can always be substituted with chicken…

Alasdair's pheasant curry

30mins prep time

40mins to cook

Ingredients

• Pheasant
• Onions
• Tomatoes
• Lots of tumeric
• Garlic
• Curry leaves
• Garam masala
• Fenugreek leaves
• A tin of coconut milk
• Cinnamon stick

Method

1. Fry some garlic in butter. Add in the finely chopped onions (or even better use a blender). Then add in lots of turmeric, as well as a few curry leaves, fenugreek leaves and garam masala.
2. While that’s cooking chop (or blend) the tomatoes and add them into the pan.
3. Leave it all to simmer for a while with the lid on.
4. With that cooking, butcher the pheasant, cutting the meat into medium sized cubes. Alasdair uses a bird that has been hung for only a few days so it doesn’t have too gamey a flavour.
5. Finally add in a tin of coconut milk, a cinnamon stick and the pheasant. When the meat is cooked through it is ready to serve.

Health conscious Ginny Evans is on a quest to introduce 10 year old brother Gabriel to healthier meal options. Here, the Evans share their recipe for a colourful and fun ‘carrot and spinach salad.’

Ginny and Gabriel's spinach and carrot salad

Ingredients

• Garlic Bread
• Spinach
• Lemon
• Carrots

Method

1. Grill the garlic bread.
2. Meanwhile chop up the fresh spinach and cut up a carrot.
3. If desired, add cheese to the garlic bread when brown and fully cooked. The Evans family like to use a low fat cheese.
4. Transfer the garlic bread to a plate and add the chopped spinach and carrots to it. Then squeeze on the juice of an entire lemon. Hint: if you roll the lemon on the counter first, pressing down into it, it’ll be easier to get all the juice out.
5. Season with pepper.
   
   

The Gales enjoy experimenting with their meals and nothing is off limits! Here, dad Simon explains his method for creating a lasting impression with his ‘volcanic beef noodles.’

Simon's volcanic beef noodles

Ingredients

• Good quality beef
• 1x carrot,
• 1x red onion,
• A mix of peppers
• Fine vermicelli rice noodles
• Chilli
• Rice wine
• Honey
• Soy sauce
• Ginger

Method

1. Cut the beef into strips then soak in soy sauce, rice wine, honey, chilli and ginger. Mix it together and then leave the mixture in the fridge to marinate.
2. Meanwhile heat some vegetable oil in a wok ready to deep fry the noodles and marinated beef.
3. Dip the beef in corn flour and give it an even coating so that the strips will go crispy when fried. Don’t worry if it goes a bit 'claggy'. Drain off the excess marinade from the bottom of the bowl. Then drop the strips of beef individually into the hot oil. It should only take about 30 secs to cook before you’ll need to pull them out again.
4. Likewise, drop the rice noodles into the hot oil and they’ll almost immediately expand and cook. Be ready to pull them out – put them on the side to drain the oil off.
5. While that’s draining, heat up a new clean wok with a bit of oil to stir fry the veg. You can add a bit of extra soy sauce and red wine vinegar to taste. When the veg is done, mix it all together and serve.
6. Garnish with coriander and whole chillis...if you dare!

Head chef of the Harrar household, Amar believes that Chinese food in India is “much tastier than it is in China.” He adds Indian spices to create his unique Indo-Chinese ribs.

Amar's spicy Indo-Chinese ribs

Ingredients

• Pork ribs
• Leg of pork
• Flour
• Garlic powder
• White pepper
• Chinese five spice
• Cumin
• Chilli powder
• Light soy sauce
• Mushroom soy

Method

1. Separate the ribs and dice the leg of pork. Then put the pieces into a large mixing bowl.
2. Cover the meat with plenty of garlic powder, Chinese five spice, cumin and white pepper, plus and a pinch of chilli.
3. Then add in a bit of flour to help the flavours stick to the ribs.
4. Next add a generous 'glug' of light soy sauce, mushroom soy to give an extra depth of flavour and little bit of vegetable oil. Mix it thoroughly ensuring them meat is coated in the mixture. It's best to use your hands.
5. If any of the mixture 'pools' at the bottom of the bowl, use a little more flour to soak it up so that it sticks to the meat.
6. Leave the spiced meat to marinate for about 45 minutes, then transfer onto an oven tray and put in the oven on a high heat. Amar uses 220 degrees.
7. Leave it in the over for around 40 minutes until fully the meat is fully cooked.
8. Season with salt, and then put the ribs back in the oven for a further 15 minutes on maximum heat so that they get crispy.

Clapham boy Xanthi follows a high protein diet, consuming 25 kilograms of organic meat every month. Here, he shares with us his ‘lean turkey chilli’ recipe, featured in episode one.

Xanthi's lean turkey chilli

Ingredients

• Lean minced turkey
• 2x red peppers
• 1x courgette
• 1x red onion
• 5-6 mushrooms
• 1 tin of kidney beans in chilli sauce
• 1 tin of chopped tomato
• 1x chilli con carne spice mix packet
• Microwave rice packet

Method

1. Finely dice the red onion, and chop the peppers, mushrooms and courgette into small pieces.
2. Heat up some olive oil in a frying pan and then add the chopped vegetables. Fry for a few minutes before adding in the minced turkey. Mix thoroughly and leave the ingredients to to cook on a high heat, stirring frequently.
3. After aproximately eight minutes, add in a carton or tin of chopped tomato and a sachet of chilli con carne recipe mix.
4. With that cooking, throw in a tin of kidney beans in chilli sauce. You can use a normal tin of kidney beans and add in your own spices, but this is much quicker.
5. Then add a large pinch of course ground black pepper to give it an extra kick and some texture.
6. If the chilli looks a bit runny, add in another sachet of a chilli con carne recipe mix.
7. Leave to cook for around 30 minutes. When ready, microwave the rice.

Serve with chilled Prosecco.

The Mitchell-Cotts are whizzes when it comes to sourcing fresh ingredients on a budget. Here, they share their recipe (and quirky method) for making a nutritious and budget-balancing tuna nicoise salad.

The Mitchell Cotts' tuna nicoise salad

Ingredients

For the salad

• Lettuce
• Two tins of tuna
• 3-4 farmhouse eggs
• Cheap mozzarella
• 1x radish
• Cherry tomatoes (though an type of tomato will do)
• Anchovies
• 1x small onion
• Black olives
• Capers
• Crutons

For the dressing

• One lemon
• Dijon mustard

Method

1. Hard boil the eggs then leave them to cool. Then find a small child to peel the hard boiled eggs for you.
2. Rinse the lettuce and cut it roughly. Slice the tomatoes, radish, olives, onion and mozzarella and mix it in a bowl with a few capers, and anchovies according to taste. Top tip: by slicing the anchovies very small, children may not notice they’ve been included in the salad.
3. Then cut the eggs into quarters and add them into the salad bowl too. Finally add in the tuna.
4. For the dressing, use lemon juice and Dijon mustard.

A firm family favourite, spaghetti bolognese never disappoints the Barry/Power brood… except for Ryan who eats pasties and chips instead.

The Barry/Power family's spag bol

Ingredients

• 2 jars of Bolognese sauce
• 500g beef mince
• Beef stock cubes
• Spaghetti
• Garlic bread

Method

1. Remove the garlic bread and the minced beef from the freezer (if frozen).
2. Put the mince in a large saucepan and pour in a few inches of cold water. Put the saucepan on the hob and heat the water and mince till it boils. Stir occasionally to break up the mince and make sure it cooks through.
3. While that reduces down, put the garlic bread in the preheated oven.
4. After 15 minutes, drain off the excess water from the mince and then put the saucepan back onto the hob. Now crumble some beef stock cubes into the mince to give it some extra flavour.
5. Pour both jars of Bolognese sauce into the saucepax and mix it through with the mince, keeping it on the heat.
6. Boil a saucepan of water and add in the spaghetti.
7. When the spaghetti is cooked, drain it, divide onto plates and pour the sauce on top.

The Bradshaws love a good meat pie, and here experienced pie maker Marylyn shares her recipe with us. She says "The more pies you can make, the better, as an oven will cook 24 pies just at it would two pies."

Marylyn's meat pie with mash, mushy peas and gravy

Ingredients

For the pastry…

• Flour
• Margarine
• Breadcrumbs
• Water

For the filling…

• Lean beef

The sides

• Mashed potato
• Mushy peas
• Gravy

Method

1. In a mixing bowl, rub together the flour, breadcrumbs and margarine to form a pastry mix. Then add in a bit of water and knead the mixture until it forms a doughy consistency.
2. Take the lean beef out of the fridge and mince it using a mincer. If you don’t have a mincer, buy minced beef, although it won’t be as lean as mincing your own beef.
3. Roll out the pastry with a rolling pin being careful that the pastry doesn’t stick to the counter. Then lay the pastry into metal pie tins. Don’t trim round the pastry edges straight away as the pastry shrinks. Instead, leave the excess pastry on the pie tin for a few minutes until the pastry has had time to shrink, and then trim it. This ensures the pie will have a nice neat rim.
4. Place a small handful of minced meat into the pie bases, and add a tiny bit of water to keep it moist. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper.
5. Wet the edges of the pastry so that you can stick the lid on. For the lids, roll out a circle of pastry, then fold it back in half to create a semi-circle. Diagonally cut two small notches into the straight side of the semi-circle so that when you fold it back down into a circle the pie will have two small vents.
6. Brush the top of the pies with a bit of milk to make them go brown in the oven.
7. Cook in a preheated oven for at least an hour, maybe even an hour and a half at about 180 degrees.
8. Serve with mashed potato, mushy peas and gravy if desired.