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Feel free to add more sugar though if you feel it needs it for you.

Place a saucer in the freezer. 2) Stir occasionally to prevent the chutney from sticking. Taste test to check for sugar and spicing, and feel free to tweak to your taste! 3) Drop some of the hot chutney on the saucer from the freezer.

Having porridge most mornings of my life, sometimes it's nice to mix it up a little and change the flavours and textures. Here are a few autumn/winter flavours that we've been enjoying over here! Pumpkin Pie Oats: 1 c oats 1/2 - 3/4 c pumpkin (I roast mine then mash it up as the tins are unavailable here) 2c milk 1/4 tsp ground ginger 1 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp orange peel 1 tbsp chia seeds 3 cloves A generous grating of nutmeg Apple Cocoa Oatmeal 1 c oats 3/4 c apple sauce 1 1/2 c milk 1 tbsp cacao nibs 1 tsp cinnamon (We trialled this one with the quantities of milk and apple sauce roughly reversed, but the oats came out too stodgy and not creamy enough. With proportions this way around, they are creamy and taste almost like apple pie oats). Candied Sweet Potato Porridge 1 c oats 3/4 c sweet potato, roasted and mashed 1/2 tsp cardamom 1/4 tsp tumeric 1/4 tsp fenugreek powder 1 tbsp ground almonds 1 -2 tsp brown sugar Apple Cranberry Oats 1 c oats 2 c apple juice 1/4 c dried cranberries 1 tsp cinnamon sugar For any of these, they can either be assembled the night before and left to soak overnight, or tossed in a saucepan in the morning. Either way, place all ingredients in a saucepan and bring slowly to a simmer. Cook until they have reached the desired consistency (I like mine creamy, but others prefer their past a bit thicker). Add raisins or sugar to taste. Alternatively, place all ingredients in a baking dish and leave to soak overnight. Bake at 180°C for about 25-30 minutes until thickened and golden. If you bake it, a little almond sprinkled over the top is beauteous. We use either whole oats or finer cut ones. My favourites are the coarser ones, but they never cook as smooth and creamy as the finer ones. Either will work for these.

I'm not sure exactly where this one came from. Perhaps from my cookbook Eggs by Michel Roux which features poached egg on creamy mashed potatoes. Except we had sweet potatoes on hand. And Miso paste, and I figured, why not try that out to balance out the sweetness of the sweet potatoes? With crispy garlic and onion for texture, and spring onions for crunch? And maybe some rice, to round it all out? And, well, in case it isn't green enough, how about some roast fennel? Somehow, all these random bits came together into a tasty meal despite coming together piecemeal and not being born of one inspiration. Here it is. Ingredients: About 250g wild rice 3-4 sweet potatoes, chopped 1 1/2 - 2 tsp miso paste 3 tbsp soy sauce 1 1/2 tbsp butter 1/2 head garlic, crushed 8 cm ginger, minced 2 tbsp peanut oil 1/2 head fennel, sliced 1 tbsp peanut oil 1 tbsp soy sauce 1 tsp black sesame seeds Spring onions, sliced Eggs, 1 per person Sesame oil 1) Slice up the fennel, drizzle with oil and soy sauce, and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Place in an oven-proof dish and roast at 180°C for about 25-30 minutes until cooked. 2) Cook rice as per instructions. Boil sweet potatoes until soft enough to mash. Drain and stir in miso paste, mashing as you go. 3) In a small frying pan over medium heat, heat the oil and add garlic and ginger. Fry until crispy, stirring regularly. Set aside. 4) Poach eggs to desired doneness. Plate up, layering rice, mash, egg, sprinkled garlic and ginger crumbs, sliced spring onion and a drizzle of sesame oil. Add a couple of wedges of fennel on the side and serve. This came out surprisingly well. I made a silly and added the miso before draining the sweet potatoes, which made them take rather longer than planned as I had to cook off the water so as not to drain the miso (recipe amended accordingly. Learning from mistakes! Woo!). Other than this, it all came together nicely. There are a number of bits to have on the go at once, which was a bit of a challenge with Little Bit under foot, but that is par for the course these days unless it's just cornflakes for dinner. Let me know what you think if you try this!

I needed to use up food from the freezer, and found a container of pumpkin from when they were in season

Put a saucer in the freezer. 2) Stir occasionally to prevent the jam from sticking. I go light on sugar, you might want to use more. 4) Drop some of the hot jam on the saucer from the freezer Put a saucer in the freezer. 2) Stir occasionally to prevent the jam from sticking. Put a saucer in the freezer. 2) Stir occasionally to prevent the jam from sticking. Taste test to check for sugar and spicing. 5) Drop some of the hot chutney on the saucer from the freezer

As mentioned in Day 21 of The Challenge Growing up, my dad made jambalaya a lot. I have never been to the South of the US, never been to New Orelans or had true creole food, but jambalaya is a comfort food for me, a childhood flavour. I have no idea how close mine approximates a true jambalaya, call it a faux jambalaya if you want, but it is tasty and filling, with few dishes and a warming flavour hitting all the right notes. It can be meaty or fishy or both, always with a bunch of vegetables. I cheated for this one and used the last of my homemade Thai red curry paste as it needed using. Ingredients: 1 spicy sausage, sliced (I used Turkish Suçuk) 2 pieces of chicken per person 2 tbsp olive oil 4 prawns per person, shelled and veined 6 medium onions, roughly chopped 2 heads of garlic, chopped 3 tbsp Thai red curry paste 2 red peppers, chopped 3 celery stalks, chopped 1 courgette, chopped a dozen okra, chopped Hot peppers - as many or as few as you like depending on taste and which ones you have. I used 5 or 6 little ones of medium heat 2 cups of rice (we used a wild rice mix for this) 1 cup red cooking wine 4 cups broth 2 stalks fresh thyme 2 stalks fresh oregano 2 tsp cayenne pepper (or sometimes I substitute tandoori powder as it has a different heat and a warmth to it) 1 tsp cumin salt and pepper to taste. 1) Brown the chicken pieces and sausage in the oil in a heavy bottomed pan. Grind pepper over it while it cooks, add salt if you are going to, and add cayenne and cumin. Set aside. 2) Cook onions and garlic in the oil and sausage fats. When they change colour, add the curry paste and stir for a few minutes. Add the rest of the vegetables and allow them to start to soften slightly. 3) Add the cooking wine and cook further before adding the rice. (This allows the acid in the wine to react with the okra so they don't turn slimy). Stir until the rice turns translucent and add the broth. Stir the chicken and sausage back in, allowing them to cook alongside the rice, absorbing all the flavours now bubbling away. 4) Cook approximately 20 minutes until the rice is cooked and the liquid almost entirely absorbed. Tuck the shrimp into the rice 5 minutes before you are ready to serve and cook until they are just opaque. 5) Serve it hot, on its own, with mustard or hot sauce. Jambalaya is one of those dishes which never comes out the same way twice for me. The general lines of the dish are there, but the exact flavouring and final product depend on what meat and/or seafood I am in the mood for, what veg I have at home and what the sniff test around my spice cupboard reveals which might be of interest.... Play around with it, use whatever veg or meat you want, and tweak the spicing to suit you. Have fun!

I suggest calling this a Coupe Raisa, because we have been watching more Star Trek, and that is the ultimate vacation spot in the Federation, it seems, and this is the ultimate unctuous, creamy, fresh dessert with just a hint of acidity. (And thus marking me out as a nerd henceforth). This is a bit of a twist on normal berries and cream. Around here that tends to involve Double Crème from Gruyèree which is so thick it stands up on the spoon. There was some on sale last week, so I picked some up. As it is the middle of winter, berries are only available for substantial amounts of ready money (or credit, but lots of it either way). What we had on hand happened to be blood oranges though, so that is what I did. The White Balsamic Syrup is one I got as a Christmas gift. I hadn't opened it yet, but when I assembled the Coupe Raisa bowls, they looked like they needed it, so I brought it out and it was a hit. So here goes. Ingredients (per person): A generous dollop of Double crème de Gruyère ( in a pinch, mascarpone might do instead) One blood orange Optional: half a banana, sliced 3 dates, pitted and quartered (prunes work, but they are not as good) A handful of roughly crushed pistachios 1/2 tsp cacao nibs A drizzle of white balsamic syrup 1) Layer ingredients in a bowl, starting at the top of the list and working your way down. Serve with a small spoon. Mix up as desired. This was super tasty and I cannot recommend it enough. I loved the bite from the balsamic syrup paired with the cream and the fruit. The cacao nibs and the pistachios added some welcome textural contrast, too. A meringue crumble dup in there could work, but the extra sugar would be simply unnecessary.

As mentioned in Day 18 of The Challenge As previously mentioned, it is plum season. We spent a couple of days making two types of plum jam and a plum and apple chutney, so we decided to use the immature chutney to marinate a couple of pork chops, which we then slow roasted over veg. Served with its veg and juices, with a cider on the side it was beautiful. Ingredients: 2 pork chops 4 carrots, sliced 3 potatoes, in chunks 2 red onions, chopped 1 apple, chopped 8 plums, chopped 1 tbsp rice wine vinegar 2 tsp cooking sake 1 red chilli, chopped 4 big cabbage leaves 2 tsp black sesame seeds 1) Line a deep oven proof dish with the cabbage leaves. Add potatoes, onions and carrot to the dish, reserving 1/2 onion. Place pork chops over the top. 2) Stew plums and apples in a small amount of water. Add sake and rice wine vinegar, chilli and the remaining half onion. 3) Spoon the plum and apple over the pork. Sprinkle the sesame seeds over the top. 4) Roast covered at 150°C for 2 hours, then uncover for the last 20 minutes. Serve with crusty bread for the juices. We were very happy with this. No tweaks! The pork was tender, the veg absorbed the flavours and juices. Extra juices are great mopped up, or save them for a risotto!

So I have this habit of taking traditional things and doing my own take, usually the same but just with more veg, and all from scratch , no tins or boxes allowed except tomatoes or tuna. This was similar. A creamy pasta sauce, but replacing some of the cream or milk with pumpkin purée, and a dash of vinegar. Super tasty, lighter than the regular version, but smooth and velvety, bursting with flavour. We spiced it differently to normal, of course, and added veg. It would have been beautiful with bacon and parmesan too, or other veg like asparagus, courgette, aubergine etc., but was still excellent without. Ingredients: 250 g pasta 2 TBSP butter 2 TBSP flour 3/4 c milk, warm 1/2 c pumpkin purée 1 TBSP balsamic vinegar 1/4 c white cooking wine 1 tsp cinnamon 1 tsp nutmeg 1/2 tsp cloves 1 tsp cayenne 3 red onions diced half a head of garlic, minced 2 peppers, 1 red 1 yellow, diced Black pepper to taste 1 TBSP olive oil 1) Cook pasta according to instructions. 2)Make a roux with the butter, flour and milk: melt butter in a saucepan. Add flour and stir it in until it forms a uniform mass. Add the milk a little at a time, stirring after each addition to avoid lumps. Add the pumpkin purée, spices, wine and balsamic adjusting quantities to taste and consistency. Stir, pepper, set aside. 3) Heat oil in a pan. Sauté veg in the olive oil. 4) Toss pasta and veg together, pour sauce over it, and serve. Optional cheese to grate over the top. Filling and tasty, velvety but with a bit of a tang to bring all the flavours out. It is an incredibly chameleon-like meal, able to shift to fit the mood, your fridge, tastes or dietary requirements. I hope you enjoy! Note: When in doubt as to how to make flat flavours pop more, add acid not salt. Vinegar, lime or lemon juice or wine depending on what it is.