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Generally I’m much happier with a recipe when I cook. 
 
I’d love to be able to take a bag of wildly random ingredients and turn it into something amazing but I think that’s pretty unlikely. Guess I’d never cut it on Masterchef. It’s fair to say though that most things I cook start with a recipe, then over time go through several incarnations until I’m happy with it.

This however, is an invention. I think the inspiration came when we were watching someone cook prawns in foil. Dave doesn’t like prawns, so I suggested we could use chicken instead, then we built in the things we like most – fennel for me and chorizo for Dave. 

Use it as your own starting point. Don’t like fennel? Use sliced red onions. Don’t like green beans? Try asparagus. Don’t like chorizo? There’s clearly something wrong with you.

The part of this recipe I’m most pleased with is the mash. I’d tried it before by simply roasting the sweet potatoes and adding butter, which resulted in a horrible sloppy mess. The nigella in this version gives it a lovely earthiness to balance the sweetness of the cinnamon and the fragrance of the thyme. And it’s not sloppy.

Ingredients

2 chicken breasts
2 bulbs of fennel, sliced thinly
A handful of trimmed green beans, cut in half
150g chorizo
¼ tsp hot smoked paprika
2 tsp rapeseed oil
1 tsp lemon juice
1kg sweet potato
1tsp nigella seeds
1 tsp thyme
2 pinches of cinnamon
1 pinch of salt
A few grinds of pepper 


How to make it
 
1.  Preheat the oven to 200C/gas 6

2.  Prick the skins of the sweet potatoes and bake for 1hr

3.  In a mixing bowl put the fennel and the beans 

4.  Use scissors to cut the chorizo into fingernail sized pieces and add to the bowl

5.  Drizzle the oil and lemon juice, then sprinkle over the paprika
 
6.  Mix thoroughly so that everything is coated in the paprika and oil

7.  Take two large pieces of foil. Add a chicken breast to each one and top with the  chorizo/fennel mixture

8.  Wrap up the sides of the foil, making sure that nothing can leak out and place the parcels on a baking tray

9.  Turn the oven down to 180C/gas 4, move the potatoes to the bottom shelf and put the  chicken on the middle shelf.

10.  After 20mins remove the potatoes from the oven and cut open, leaving the steam to  escape for a few minutes so they’re not too wet

11.  Scoop the flesh into a bowl and break up with a fork

12.  Add the nigella, cinnamon, thyme, salt and pepper, and mix thoroughly until the mash is smooth

13. Open the foil parcels carefully and serve with the mash, making sure you pour all the lovely juices over the chicken.

 
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I only recently tried fennel. I don't know why it took me so long - I love fennel seeds so much that I try to sneak them into almost every recipe I make. 

Having finally got round to it, I now love it - quite a subtle taste compared to the seeds but fresh with a slight crunch to it.

Dave's not a huge fan of pasta, but I thought I could get away with this as he finds it hard to say no to any sausage recipe. To make me happy, it's a full on fennel feast - the fresh fennel, fennel seeds and fennel sausages.


Ingredients:


A packet of 6 Sicilian sausages (Sainsburys)
3 bulbs of fennel, thinly sliced
2 tbsp oil
1 small onion, thinly sliced
2 tsp fennel seeds
A squeeze of garlic puree
Small glass of white wine
400g chopped tomato
1 tbsp tomato puree
Pappadelle pasta
4 tbsp parmesan (plus extra to serve)

How to make it:

1.  Put the pasta water on to boil.

2.  Fry the onion and chopped fennel until it starts to soften.

3.  Remove the sausages from their skins and break into chunks.

4.  Stir in the fennel seeds and garlic.

5.  Add the sausage and brown, using your big metal spoon to break it up.

6.  Add the wine and allow to simmer for a couple of minutes.

7.  Put the pasta into the boiling water and cook until al dente.

8.  Add the chopped tomato and tomato puree to the meat and fennel mixture.

9.  Simmer for 8-10mins until the tomato has broken down.

10.  Stir in the parmesan.

11. Drain the cooked pasta and add to the sauce, making sure it's combined and all the pasta is totally covered with sauce.

12.  Sprinkle some more parmesan on when served.
 
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My husband sends me a text on the 16th of every month at 3pm saying 'happy anniversary'. He's much better than me - in fact this month he was double sneaky and got in well before me by sending it in the morning because he was in a meeting in the afternoon.

Even better, he celebrated in the evening by cooking me a risotto. I've heard a lot of people say that risotto is hard to get right but he gets it bang on - unctuous without being gloopy and packed full of flavours. This was a new variation and so delicious I successfully got to eat the rest of his (after I'd finished mine) by shooting his dish longing looks.


Ingredients:


750ml vegetable stock
70g butter
Half an onion finely chopped
4 rashers of pancetta
Thyme to taste
200g risotto rice
A small glass of marsala
200g frozen broad beans
100g feta, cubed
100g coooked ham hock [Sainsburys]
Generous sprinkle of shaved parmesan

How to make it:

1.  Heat the stock in a saucepan.

2.  In a seperate saucepan heat a knob of the butter, then add the onion and thyme and fry for about 8 minutes until the onion is soft but not coloured.

3.  Add the rice and turn up the heat so that it almost fries. After a minute the rice will look almost translucent. Add the marsala and keep stirring.

4. Now add a ladle of hot stock and a pinch of salt. Turn down the heat to a fairly high simmer.

5.  Keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring constantly and allowing each to be completely absorbed before adding the next.

6.  Add the broad beans to the stock when there are still about 4 ladles left. Add with the stock to the rice.

7. Add the ham hock and stir through until the rice is soft but still has a slight bite. Season if needed.

8.  At the last minute, lightly stir through the cubed feta and the rest of the butter.

9.  When served, top with some rashers of crispy pancetta (see Bruschetta recipe) and the shaved parmesan.


Recipe adapted from Jamie Oliver
 
There are lots of things I think it's worth making from scratch - I'd never dream of using a pre-made curry paste for example. But the whole reason to make something from scratch is that it tastes better than you can buy ready made.

By that rule, there are definitely some things it's not worth faffing about with because the end result doesn't warrant the effort. On that list I include croissants, samosas, doughnuts - and pastry.

I can make pastry but it really doesn't seem worth it when ready made is so damn good.

Ingredients:
Pack of 6 fat sausages
1 large red onion, cut into thin wedges
1 red eating apple, thinly sliced
A small handful of sage leaves
4 tsp rapeseed oil
Pack ready-rolled puff pastry
2 tbsp wholegrain mustard


How to make it:

1. Heat the oven to 200C/gas 6.

2. Cut the sausages into large chunks with a sharp pair of scissors.

3. Put the onion, apple and sage into a bowl, drizzle over the oil and toss well.

4. Unroll the pastry directly onto a large, flat baking sheet. With a sharp knife, score a border inside the pastry, about a thumbwidth from the edge.

5. Spread the mustard over the pastry, keeping within the border, then scatter over the sausage chunks and onion mix.

6. Season to taste, then bake for 20 mins, until the sausage is cooked through, the onion and apple are starting to turn golden and the pastry edges are well puffed.

Recipe thanks to Good Food.
 
For Christmas I bought my husband the chance to drive fast cars round a track, and in August he finally got to do it. So it seemed a good excuse for an overnight stay in Wales.
 
The track was in Swansea (which meant an afternoon on the beach for me and the small brown dog) but looking online for somewhere good to eat nearby proved tricky until I realised that The Hardwick was quite close in Abergavenny. Ok, I appreciate that 50 miles isn’t that close when your poor husband has driven 4 hours to get to Swansea [thanks Olympics] and then round a track all afternoon.
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The owner and chef, Stephen Terry, has worked in places such as La Gavroche and  The Canteen amongst others. Plus, the pub is listed in Sawdays Pubs and Inns,  which has never let us down yet.

Walking into the restaurant, it had  just the kind of pub feel that we love – comfy sofa for pre-dinner drink, lots of separate seating areas and a friendly relaxed atmosphere. Plus, always high  on my list, warm subdued lighting, as there’s nothing I hate more than sitting  in a brightly lit restaurant. You may as well be in a hospital waiting room. 

Though the darkness did make photographs a bit dodgy.

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After quickly scoffing down gorgeous homemade bread [well, I had only had a 99  ice cream for lunch] I started with Chicken and Sweetcorn – a firm chicken
mousse with herby sweetcorn fritters.

I was sceptical about the fritters as they’re a real favourite in our house – could they possibly be as good?

Dammit, they were even better than mine!! And delicious with the savoury chicken mousse
and some crispy bacon.

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Dave chose the Duck Leg and Duck Liver Hash with a fried egg and having tried it, I would have been equally happy with that.

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For a long time I’ve said I wanted to try rabbit but not been sure if I wanted  to take the risk. I like the look of it but also feel it’s a bit like eating  kittens.

So if I was going to do it, I might as well be in for a penny, in for a  pound.

The Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit was a poached loin with creamed Swiss chard, rabbit faggot with peas and a mini rabbit burger with fried polenta. That’s a
whole lot of rabbit so definitely chancy but I really enjoyed it, especially the  faggot.

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Just as well Dave didn’t choose it, as he tried the loin and the faggot and  hated both – clearly rabbit isn’t for him and he was very happy with Hake with
Pea and Polenta Chips and a smoky ketchup [though he did find the ketchup very  overpowering].

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Surely we couldn’t squeeze in desserts after all that food? Never a problem for  the Hutchfields. My Warm Peaches in Honey with vanilla ice cream and crushed
amaretto biscuits were super-sweet but not a problem for my sweet tooth.

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Husband went more adventurous and ordered the Basil Panacotta with olive oil, strawberries and balsamic. He made me try the basil panacotta against my better judgement, I think to get me back for the rabbit. Truly truly horrible.

Husband enjoyed it though, crazy fool, though he did say it didn’t need the olive oil.

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Service throughout the evening was friendly and attentive without being rushed. Though one waitress clearly wasn’t expecting a unanimous ‘No’ to her question ‘So are you following the Olympics?’ and still went on to tell  us who had won medals that evening. We had no idea who or what events she was talking about but did our best polite faces, as she was clearly excited by it.

Washing down the whole thing with plenty of alcohol and lovely smooth coffees, we went back to out hotel tired, full and happy.

The Hardwick:
Old Raglan Road
Abergavenny
Monmouthshire NP7 9AA
01873 854220