Recipes: Big Weekend Chill

I feel so strongly about the importance of food and how it helps to build a strong foundation for families in today’s modern, fast-paced world. Get the whole family around the kitchen table when they are young and years later, even when they have spread their wings, they’ll keep returning

If you’re anything like my wife, who, perhaps due to her Irish heritage, cannot seem to make a roast dinner without enough roast potatoes to feed an army, this is a great and tasty way of using them up. It’s also perfect served with any leftovers. I’ve used new potatoes in this, but really, leftover roasties are just as tasty. serves 4 • 500g new potatoes • 50g white breadcrumbs • 4 tablespoons olive oil • 50g butter • 2 onions, finely chopped • 1 leek, sliced into 1cm rounds • 1/2 savoy cabbage, shredded • 100g baby spinach • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil • 1/2 bunch of flat-leaf • parsley, roughly chopped • 4 free-range eggs • salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 Preheat the oven to 180ºC/Gas mark 4.

2 Place the new potatoes in a saucepan of salted water and bring to a rolling boil. Boil until three-quarters cooked (around 15 minutes), remove and drain in a colander. 3 Place the potatoes and breadcrumbs on a roasting tray and lightly crush with the back of a fork. Splash with 2 tablespoons of olive oil, season and place in the oven to crisp and colour for around 10 minutes. 4 Heat up a frying pan to a high heat with the remaining olive oil. 5 Add the butter and shake until melted. Add the onions and leek and cook for 5 minutes until soft. 6 Add the cabbage and cook for a further 5 minutes until tender. 7 Drop in the spinach and parsley and fold gently together. 8 Remove from the heat and add the crispy potatoes and breadcrumbs, mix and season. 9 Cover with a lid to keep warm. 10 Place a frying pan over the heat and add the vegetable oil. Gently crack the eggs into the pan and fry sunny side up. 11 Take 4 bowls, spoon in the crushed bubble mix, then top with a fried egg!

Eat your heart out – this mac n’ cheese rules! It’s a melting pot of pure cheese bliss. You know those recipes in your cookbooks that are most used by all the stains and the pages sticking together? This, I guarantee, will become one of them! The topping makes this a very luxe version. serves 4-6 • 1 large cauliflower, cut into florets • 250g short-cut macaroni

For the cheese sauce • 50g butter • 50g plain flour • 500ml milk • 200ml double cream • 200g mature farmhouse Cheddar, grated • 1 teaspoon English mustard • 2 free-range egg yolks • salt and freshly ground black pepper For the velvet topping • 50g butter • 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped • 50g fresh white breadcrumbs • 50g Parmesan, grated • 1/4 bunch of flat-leaf parsley, roughly chopped

1 Preheat the oven to 180ºC/ Gas mark 4. 2 Blanch the cauliflower in a pan of boiling salted water until tender. 3 Drain in a colander and refresh under cold running water. Leave to drain, then pat dry on kitchen paper to remove all water. 4 Cook the macaroni in plenty of boiling salted water until al dente, drain in a colander and refresh under cold running water. Leave to drain. 5 To make the cheese sauce, melt the butter in a pan over a medium heat. Add the flour and stir until it forms a paste, then cook gently for 3 minutes. Slowly beat in the milk until the sauce is smooth. 6 Cook the sauce for a further 10 minutes, stirring gently, then stir in the cream and season.

Take the sauce off the heat and fold in the grated cheese and mustard. Quickly beat in the egg yolks and allow the sauce to cool to room temperature. 7 To make the topping, melt the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat until it starts to froth, then add the garlic and allow to soften for 2–3 minutes, but ensure that it does not burn. 8 Finally, add the breadcrumbs and shake the pan to cover them in the butter mixture. Take the pan off the heat and add Parmesan and parsley. 9Tip the macaroni and cauliflower into an ovenproof dish. Pour over the warm cheese sauce and finish with the breadcrumb topping. 10 Bake in the oven for 15 minutes until bubbling and golden brown on top.

In fear of sounding like a family always rushing at breakfast time (that’s because we always are), we have these in the fridge ready to go. They are sometimes enjoyed at the bus stop or on the school bus, but preferably in the kitchen so you get your jars back!

serves 4 • 500ml thick Greek yoghurt • 50ml clear squeezy honey • 50ml each of mango purée, blackberry purée and strawberry purée • 50g granola topping

1 Take 4 very clean jam jars with tight-fitting lids. 2 Pour the yoghurt into a piping bag and snip off a small corner of the bag to give a hole just large enough to pipe the yoghurt through. 3 Pipe the yoghurt in the bottom of the jar to a depth of 2cm, trying to keep it as level as possible, then squeeze over just enough of the honey to cover the yoghurt. 4 Cover the honey with another 2cm layer of yoghurt, follow with a layer of honey, repeating this process until you get close to the top of the jar. The last layer should be yoghurt, leaving a 2cm gap at the top. 5 Repeat this process in the remaining jars using the mango purée, then blackberry, then strawberry, separating each fruit layer with another layer of yoghurt. 6 Top with granola, screw the lid on top and you’re ready to go.

So easy to make, these are very beautiful little shortbread kisses. If you don’t have a heart-shaped cutter, feel free to use any shape. Amber makes these for gifts to our friends – they mean so much as they are made with love from the heart!

makes 6 • 100g butter, cubed and softened • 150g plain flour, sifted • 50g caster sugar • 2 drops vanilla extract • icing sugar, for dusting For the salted caramel • 120g unsalted butter • 120g light muscovado sugar • 100ml double cream • 1 teaspoon rock salt

1 Rub the butter into the flour until it resembles fine breadcrumbs, then fold in the sugar and vanilla extract. Work the mixture until it forms a smooth ball and leaves the sides of the bowl clean. Cover the dough with clingfilm and refrigerate for 1 hour.

2 Preheat the oven to 140ºC/ Gas mark 1. Line a baking tray with a sheet of silicone. 3 Lightly flour a work surface and roll the chilled dough out until it is 1cm thick. Using a heart-shaped cutter, cut out 12 hearts and place on the lined baking tray. 4 Bake for 30 minutes or until they are very pale gold in colour. Using a spatula or fish slice, carefully transfer to a wire cooling rack. 5 To make the salted caramel, melt the butter and sugar in a pan over a low heat, shaking the pan gently from time to time. Once the mixture is golden brown and frothing, remove from the heat and whisk in the double cream. 6 Stir in the salt, leave to cool and then pop it in the fridge for 1–2 hours to thicken. 7 Once the biscuits and caramel have cooled, assemble by covering one biscuit with a layer of the salted caramel and placing another biscuit on top. 8 Serve by dusting each biscuit with icing sugar for a fairytale look.

READ The Family Kitchen: A cookbook for all occasions by Rob Kirby

VISIT The Great Ormond Street Hospital blog for more of Rob’s recipes blog.gosh.org/tag/rob-kirby