Guest post: Daddies’ Sunday Morning Kitchen

Most Sundays I like to cook the family Sunday lunch – it’s part of my Sunday routine, get up, use our spinning bike for an hour, shower, then treat myself to a bacon and egg sandwich and cook crispy bacon for Curly Girl (she loves it) and anyone else who wants in. I then turn my attention to preparing the meat for Sunday lunch. As it’s normally some kind of roast or slow cooked dish once I’ve got everything prepared and in the oven, I have time on my hands. With an Alex Lester show from the previous week playing on the BBC iPlayer I’m ready to cook.

A couple of weeks ago I fancied more cooking so I set my mind to preparing a few dishes for the week ahead. That particular Sunday lunch was a sausage and chicken leg cassolet ( a classic French casserole). Cassolet is a family favourite and more traditionally made with duck legs, however our local farm butcher sells ten chicken legs for a fiver which is a bargain. He also makes his own high quality beef burgers which at ten for a fiver are another bargain and perfect for the BBQ while we enjoy this rare fine Summer.

So with the large cassolet cooking away I had two chicken legs left and four beef burgers which hadn’t been eaten the previous day on the barbie. A couple meals here I thought – what can I knock up? As Curly Girl loves meatballs first of all I cut each beef burger into four quarters then rolled each quarter into a ball. A quick fry in a hot pan added colour and flavour then the meatballs went into a pot with a tomato and garlic ragu sauce (thanks Loyd Grossman), a tin of tomatoes, a splash of Worcester sauce and a mix of Italian herbs. Then I found a couple of cherry tomatoes in the fridge so they went in as well. With the meatball ragu simmering away on the hob after bringing it to a near boil, I turned my attention to the chicken legs.

BBC R2′s Alex Lester aka The Dark Lord

Curry I thought. Another family favourite. So with the help of a Jalfrezi mix and some red onions and peppers from the fridge I set to work. All the ingredients except the onions went straight in the pan (our trusty Le Creuset in this case), while I sweat the onions in a frying pan before adding them to the main pot. Then I simply brought it to a near boil on the hob then turned it down to a slow simmer. Sometimes I just pop it in the oven at 180 degrees C for about 45 minutes then slow cook at 150 for another 90 minutes, but the cassolet was in there. Either way it’s ready when the chicken just falls off the bone. One small point before you ask, I don’t brown the meat in a pan first before cooking Indian food. While we do this in Europe to add flavour through caramelisation I’ve seen a couple of Indian chefs at work and they don’t do it.

By the time the cassolet was done so were the other dishes, so with Sunday lunch served (with veggies a la Michelle I’d like to mention – Ed) I let the others cool. Meatballs in the fridge for Monday evening and the chicken Jalfrezi frozen for later in the week. The cassolet recipe I use serves eight so it’s two family meals for us.

So an enjoyable Sunday morning cooking four family meals for four at a total cost of less than £20, while listening to classic songs and chat from Alex Lester. What could be better?

Coming soon -

• I buy a organic chicken for about £12 and create four tasty family dinners.
• We cook Ramond Blanc’s salt baked leg of lamb.