Roasted Haddock with a Mushroom Cream Sauce and Courgette Linguine

Linguine? Isn't that ... pasta? Yes, it is, but we're going to make our paleo linguine from courgette.

Read on ...

First, get the oven on and set to 220C.

Using a julienne slicer, take as many slices as you can from a courgette and drop into a dry non-stick frying pan.

Place some purple sprouting or tenderstem broccoli stalks into a pan and cover with hot water.

Take an ovenproof tray and lay the pieces of haddock out with a few quartered small tomatoes. Place a small knob of butter on each piece of fish. Butter works well, but if you are a purist, lard or bacon grease will work equally well.

Slice up some flavoursome mushrooms such as chestnut variety and soften gently with a little butter in a frying pan. Pour over double cream, tap a little white pepper into the mix and set to reduce slowly - the aim is to have a thick sauce imbued with mushroom flavour, perhaps pepped up with a wee drop of whisky.

If you do not eat dairy, make up a sauce with coconut cream and water - the flavour will be noticeable, but coconut and fish is a combination that works well.

Once the sauce looks to be almost there put the haddock and tomatoes into the oven, fire up the pan of broccoli to a high heat and the frying pan with linguine onto a medium heat.

The haddock will take only a short time to cook through in the pre-heated oven, so 6-8 minutes will be fine.

In that time, the broccoli will boil to tender and the linguine will soften just nicely.

Remove the haddock from the oven, combining the tomatoes with the linguine while you plate up. Adding a wee slosh of single malt whisky to the cream sauce will give it a special edge - I like the smoke hinted whiskys from Islay and Skye: Laphroaig and Talisker. Again, if you're off alcohol, it's optional. Anyway ...

Plate up with the broccoli down first in the middle of the plate. Lay the haddock on top and spoon over the cream sauce. Mound up the linguine and tomatoes at the side and add any other little accompaniments - I used an artichoke palm cut into inch long pieces.

The heaviness of the cream sauce is well countered by the sharpness of the tomatoes, with soft fish, mushrooms and palate cleansing linguine to make a well balanced dish.

Crab and Bacon Wraps

... a quick and easy starter, verging on paleo junk food.

Lay out some long, strong lettuce leaves - I use cos lettuce which has a strong stem and soft leaves; perfect for wraps of any variety.

Take an avocado and blend it with a little avocado oil until soft to make a guacamole butter. Spread over the lettuce leaves.

Slice up some streaky bacon and fry off in a pan, tossing to colour and prevent from sticking.

Take some crab meat: canned, fresh, dressed, however you can get it and warm it through in the pan of bacon to remove excess liquid.

Add in any spices at this stage to the crab and bacon - chopped fresh chillies, a dusting of cayenne pepper or a good splash of Tabasco. Green Tabasco splashed into the guacamole is also a great way of pepping up these wraps.

Spoon out onto the lettuce leaves, pick up, wrap up and eat.

Golubtsi with Garlic Baked Turnip

Голубцы - Golubtsi, or meat stuffed cabbage rolls, is a dish whose variations can be found across Turkish, Balkan, Eastern European and Russian cuisine.

Golubtsi combines minced meat, rice or buckwheat, herbs, onion, shredded root vegetables, an egg to bind and wrapped in a cabbage leaf. The dish is often served over a thick tomato sauce, sometimes with mashed potatoes and always with a good glob of soured cream, or smetana.

Time to get stuffed ...

Place a whole cabbage in a large pan and cover with hot water, setting to heat to a rolling boil - this will assist the removal of whole leaves easily, without tearing. Keep an eye on this - we're looking for slightly softened leaves, not cooked cabbage!

In a mixing bowl place a couple of pounds of minced meat - I used pork. Crack in an egg, a finely chopped onion, some herbs and some shredded root vegetables - I used sage and thyme for herbs, and some shredded daikon which delivers a tingling bite like horseradish. I also added an amount of crumbled Caerphilly cheese ... just because. Leave out the rice.

Mix well to ensure that the meat starts to break down a little and that all the ingredients are well distributed. You're looking for the consistency you'd make for burgers.

Relieve the cabbage of several large outer leaves - I found that ten was just right for the amount of stuffing that I had made, making good sized Golubtsi.

Allow the leaves to cook - they will soften more as they cool and will be much easier to handle. Cut the firmest section of stem out in a vee shape retaining as much of the leaf as you can.

Divide the stuffing into the number of leaves you have and place an amount onto the leaf. Fold the two sides of the vee down over the stuffing and tuck back, good and tight by rolling it over and bringing the top part of the leaf underneath.

You should have a number of neat triangular parcels to place into an oven-proof dish and just cover with water or bouillon or stock.

Rather than serve with mashed potato, a baked turnip is a great paleo alternative.

Core the turnip and set onto a piece of baking foil. Stuff a little butter down the core, place a clove of garlic and stuff a little more butter on the top. Wrap the foil around the whole turnip.

Place the Golubtsi and the turnip into a pre-heated oven set to 200C for 45 minutes.

Meanwhile, make up a thick tomato sauce to accompany.

Soften some onion in some fat - bacon grease or lard is perfect. Pour on some peeled plum tomatoes and pulp down. Raise the heat to reduce the liquid, lowering to keep just warm while the Golubtsi cook. Prior to serving, toss in a good handful of chopped parsley.

Serve out onto a plate - tomato sauce as a base, placing three or four Golubtsi on top. Drop a generous glob of soured cream on top, maybe some dill or more parsley and the turnip on the side.

Eat, enjoy and be fulfilled.

Kale & Chorizo Broth

Searching for kale recipes, I was reminded of a dish I used to make that was simply kale, onion, potato and a chicken stock. I also had some chorizo to use up ...

Chorizo is a spicy Iberian sausage consisting of pork meat and fat, and paprika - dried, smoked red pepper. The Spanish, Portugese, Catalan and Galician people all have their own regional variations, but to a foreigner chorizo is chorizo is chorizo.

Let's get the magic started ...

Soften some bacon grease or lard in a wide based sauté pan over a medium heat. Place some cubes of chorizo in the fat - removing the skin is optional; I like to.

Meanwhile dice an onion and toss that into the pan, sautéing in the fat with the chorizo. Shred a few leaves of kale and add them to the sauté pan and fry off for a short while.

Pour in a can of peeled plum tomatoes and pulp them down. Add in some tomato purée if more tomato flavour is required.

Add in some more heat if you like - I used a Scotch Bonnet pepper.

Meanwhile, boil some cubes of butternut squash in around 500ml of chicken stock, topping back up after a few minutes and add to the saute pan.

Simmer for 15-20 minutes on a medium heat before adding in a heaped teaspoon of arrowroot to thicken, softened in water. Serve out into wide bowls.

Shepherd's Pie

Synonymous with Cottage Pie, a dish named in reference to poorer folks, cottage workers and the like who combined the more expensive meats with the less expensive potato, Shepherd's Pie is branched off as a dish which uses lamb mince rather than beef mince.

By all means feel free to use well peeled white potato - the point of peeling is to remove all traces of the toxic alkaloid solanine. Potatoes provide a good pack of carbohydrate; the point is to consider whether you need those carbohydrates.

The dish can easily be made more paleo-friendly using mashed cauliflower florets to top.

When using any kind of meat, put ingredients which work well for a particular region which eats a lot of that type of meat - my variation here is lightly Greek inspired with aubergine and Feta, although a nod to the Welsh with leek, and Caerphilly cheese could easily be used in place of Feta.

So, to the cooking ...

I like to use a wide-based sauté pan with a lid, but any pan will do - get some fat softening in it. I like to use a little lard or bacon grease.

Toss in a some shredded leek and soften in the fat with the lid on to recirculate the steam.

Break in a couple of pounds of minced lamb and ensure that it is well coloured.

Pour in a can of peeled plum tomatoes and break up a little. You can add some tomato purée here if you want more of a tomato flavour and even some Worcestershire Sauce.

Cube up some aubergine and courgette, and toss into the pan.

Finally, salt to taste and add in a sprinkle of dried oregano and a clove of minced garlic.

Meanwhile make the cauliflower floret mash.

Steam a whole amount of cauliflower, florets removed carefully and excess stalk trimmed. You can keep the outside leaves and stalk for a rough and ready soup or a refined amuse bouche. Steam until just softened.

Place the cauliflower florets into a tall cylindrical vessel and blend down with a hand blended. Take care not to over-blend - we still want some structure, not a fine purée. Add in a generous knob of butter and allow that to melt, folding in with a spatula.

Once the meat has cooked and the almost entirely reduced, spoon the meat into an oven-proof dish.

Using the spatula, carefully place amounts of the cauliflower mash over the top and then spread around to make a smooth topping. In the oven, this topping will go crisp but you can add to that crunchiess with a little gently cracked sea salt.

Cheese is another ingredient which goes well here - if you do not eat cheese, just leave it out. Using a crumbly cheese like Caerphilly or Feta is perfect!

Place the dish into a pre-heated oven at 200C for 20-30 minutes.

Serve out into a wide bowl with some vegetables of your choice.

Holy Guacamole!

Guacamole is a Mexican dish of avocado, pulped in a molcajete (pestle and mortar). Simple!

It's your guacamole, so feel free to put whatever you like in - tomatoes, onion, chilli, whatever. Salt ruins the flavour - DON'T!

Mine is "pure", hence Holy Guacamole. Well, almost ...

Take a couple of ripe avocados and put them into a bowl. Squeeze a little lime juice over and mash with a fork, the butt end of a rolling pin ... or just use a hand blender.

For a real paleo treat, emulsify in a drizzle of avocado oil while blending.

Spatula out into a fresh bowl and enjoy!

Cottage Pie

Named in reference to poorer folks, cottage workers who combined the more expensive meats with the less expensive potato Cottage Pie is a simple, fulfilling and cost-effective means of using leftover meat or minced meat.

Similarly named, Shepherds' Pie is more usually made nowadays with lamb mince rather than beef mince although historically, the two were synonymous.

By all means feel free to use well peeled white potato - the point of peeling is to remove all traces of the toxic alkaloid solanine. Potatoes provide a good pack of carbohydrate; the point is to consider whether you need those carbohydrates.

The dish can easily be made more paleo-friendly using mashed cauliflower florets to top.

Let's make our pie ...

I like to use a wide-based sauté pan with a lid, but any pan will do - get some fat softening in it. I like to use a little lard or bacon grease.

Toss in a chopped onion and soften in the fat with the lid on to recirculate the steam.

Break in a couple of pounds of minced beef and ensure that it is well coloured.

Pour in a can of peeled plum tomatoes and break up a little. You can add some tomato purée here if you want more of a tomato flavour and even some Worcestershire Sauce, although that is absolutely optional - we're going to use some mushrooms for a real umami flavour.

Quarter a good amount of mushrooms and add to the dish - I like chestnut mushrooms for their extra nutty flavour.

Add some cubes of carrot, a chopped stick of celery, a clove of minced garlic, some parsley and some thyme.

Add a couple of cups of water and bring to the boil. Lower the heat to a good simmer, place the lid on and cook on that heat for at least a couple of hours, topping up water if necessary.

Meanwhile make the cauliflower floret mash.

Steam a whole amount of cauliflower, florets removed carefully and excess stalk trimmed. You can keep the outside leaves and stalk for a rough and ready soup or a refined amuse bouche. Steam until just softened.

Place the cauliflower florets into a tall cylindrical vessel and blend down with a hand blended. Take care not to over-blend - we still want some structure, not a fine purée. Add in a generous knob of butter and allow that to melt, folding in with a spatula.

Once the meat has cooked and the almost entirely reduced, spoon the meat into an oven-proof dish.

Using the spatula, carefully place amounts of the cauliflower mash over the top and then spread around to make a smooth topping. In the oven, this topping will go crisp but you can add to that crunchiess with a little gently cracked sea salt. Cheese is another ingredient which goes well here - if you do not eat cheese, just leave it out.

Place the dish into a pre-heated oven at 200C for 20-30 minutes.

Serve out into a wide bowl with some vegetables of your choice.