Seafood waterzooi

This Belgian style fish stew is a great winter warmer. A bit like potato and leek soup with fish in it, I put smoked eel in this one (which I get from Paul Utting, of Cambridge's Wednesday Fish Van, near Stir Café). Serves three.

300g baby potatoes, cut into thick oval chunks
1 large leek, sliced into coins
1 medium carrot, sliced
1 onion, roughly chopped
big handful fresh flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
3 garlic cloves, roughly chopped
400g mixed seafood
600ml vegetable stock
100ml cream or milk
butter
rapeseed oil
Salt and white pepper to taste

Heat butter with a bit of oil (to prevent burning) in a big heavy pan. Add the garlic, then sauté the leeks until just done, then remove them and set them aside.
In the same pan, sauté the onion, then add the carrot. When coated with the infused butter/oil, add the potatoes, then the stock.
Bring to a simmer, and add the potatoes. Part-cover and cook until the potatoes are tender. Add a big pinch of white pepper, the cream, and the seafood (and in order of required cooking time) and cover. When just done, add the reserved leeks and the parsley, stir in another knob of butter (optional, for added richness/gloss - if using cream you probably don't need to), and ladle into warmed bowls. Serve with crusty bread and maybe chilled Belgian blonde beer.

Leek and potato cheese bake

This is a winter warmer with that classic combo of potato and leek. Serves two (hungry) or three (polite) people

2 medium sized leeks

400g new potatoes

150g hard goat’s cheese, grated

250ml single cream

1tbs English mustard

white pepper

sea salt to taste

10g butter

1 clove garlic peeled and bruised

Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Wash and trim the leeks, not taking off too much of the green. Carefully remove the outer leaves by slicing down just one side, so they’ll open out flat. You want them to be a bit like lasagne sheets for this. With the inner parts of the leek, just slice these finely.

Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and par boil the potatoes. When they’re done, lift them out with a draining spoon and set aside. Blanche the opened-out leek leaves for a couple of minutes and set aside.

Cut the potatoes into 4mm thick slices.

Melt the butter in a clean pan with the garlic clove. Add the chopped leeks and cook, stirring until translucent but not starting to colour. Remove the garlic, and add the single cream and mustard. Cover and bring to a simmer, then take off the heat and add most of the grated goat’s cheese. Stir well.

Layer the ingredients in a greased oven dish, alternating potatoes, creamy leek mixture and leek sheets. Finish off with the remainder of the cream and the reserved grated cheese. Bake in the oven for half an hour and serve with seasonal veg or salad!