Home and away – a lesson in cooking

If you've never ventured into the kitchen or can't tell a saucepan from a frying pan renowned television chef, Sophie Grigson's new book will help.

The Student Cookbook combines delicious tasting, simple recipes with Sophie's expert tips and easy-to-follow guides.

Courgette and Pancetta Risotto

This is a fresh salad and vivid summer risotto to be made with the finest small courgettes.

Serves 6 as a starter, 4 as a main.

500g (18oz) courgettes

6oz (2oz) butter

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

900ml-1.2 litres (1-2 pints) chicken or vegetable stock

1 onion, peeled and chopped

6 thin slices pancetta, cut into narrow, short strips

225g (8oz) arborio or other Italian risotto rice

150ml (5fl oz) dry white wine

2 tablespoons chopped parsley

salt and pepper

a small handful of basil leaves

30g (1oz) Parmesan, freshly grated or shaved

Wash, top and tail the courgettes. Take roughly a third of them and grate coarsely. Dice the remaining courgettes.

Heat 15g (oz) of the butter and the olive oil in a frying pan and saut the diced courgette over a high heat, until tender and patched with brown. Reserve.

Pour the stock into a pan and bring gently up to the boil, then turn the heat down as low as it will go, to keep the stock hot, but not boiling.

Heat a further 30g (1oz) of the butter in a wide pan over a low to moderate heat. Add the onion, grated courgette and pancetta, and fry gently until the onion is tender, without browning. Now add the rice, and stir for about a minute until it turns opaque. Pour in the white wine, add the parsley, season with salt and pepper, and stir until the wine has almost all evaporated.

Next add a ladleful of the hot stock, and keep stirring until that has been absorbed. Keep adding the stock in the same way, a ladleful at a time, until the rice is al dente. Should you run out of stock before that, just start adding hot water. At this point, the risotto should still be fairly wet but not swimming about in a lake of liquid.

Stir in the fried courgettes and cook for a further one-to-two minutes to heat through. Now draw the pan off the heat and stir in the basil, roughly torn up, the last of the butter and the Parmesan. Taste and adjust seasoning and serve.

Stir Fried Ginger Pork with Mangetouts and Cashew Nuts

Just ten minutes to prepare and at most eight minutes to cook – not bad for a supper dish as good as this. Get the rice going before you start to stir fry.

Serves 2

2 boneless pork steaks

2 tablespoons sunflower oil

2cm (in) piece fresh root ginger,

peeled and grated

1 garlic clove, peeled and

finely chopped

red chilli, deseeded and cut

into thin strips (optional)

110g (4oz) mangetout peas

6oz (2oz) unsalted cashew nuts

2 tablespoons dark soy sauce

1 tablespoon dry white wine,

rice wine or dry sherry

1 teaspoon caster sugar

freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon sesame oil

Cut the pork steaks into thin strips. Measure and prepare all the remaining ingredients.

Set the wok over a high heat, and heat up until smoking. Add half the sunflower oil and swirl around once or twice.

Add the ginger, garlic and chilli, and stir fry for 10-20 seconds until beginning to colour. Add the pork pieces and continue to stir fry for two to three minutes until just cooked through. Transfer to a plate.

Return the wok to the heat and add the remaining sunflower oil. Swirl again to heat through, then add the mangetouts. Stir fry for two to three minutes until crisp-tender. Next add the cashew nuts and stir fry for another 30 seconds. Now return the pork to the pan, and add all the remaining ingredients except the sesame oil. Stir fry for a final minute. Add the sesame oil and toss to mix. Serve immediately.

Grilled Mackerel Fillets with Lemon Chilli Relish

For this recipe, I've chosen to cook mackerel fillets (ask the fishmonger to fillet them for you) because they are so quick, but if you prefer to use whole fish, slash on both sides, brush with oil and

grill for around five minutes per side.

Serves 4

4 mackerel, filleted

a little olive or sunflower oil

salt and pepper

Relish

2 lemons

4 tablespoons caster sugar

1 teaspoon coriander seeds, coarsely crushed

tablespoon black mustard seeds

1 red chilli, deseeded and sliced

2 plum tomatoes, deseeded and finely diced

First make the relish. Slice the lemons very thinly with a sharp knife, discarding the ends. Save all the juice that is squeezed out as you cut.

Lay the lemon slices in a shallow dish in a single layer and pour over enough boiling water to just cover. Let it stand for three minutes, then drain. Repeat with a new lot of boiling water, leave to stand for another three minutes, then drain again. Cut into quarters.

Put the sugar into a saucepan with six tablespoons water. Stir over a medium heat until the sugar has dissolved. Add the lemon quarters, the saved lemon juice, the spices and the chilli. Simmer for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the liquid is very syrupy and the lemon rind is translucent and tender.

Take off the heat and stir in the tomato. Leave to cool.

Preheat the grill thoroughly. Cover the grill rack with a sheet of silver foil. Brush the foil with a little oil. Season the cut sides of the fillets with salt and pepper. Lay them, cut sides down, skin upwards on the foil, and brush the skins lightly with oil. Grill close until the skin has browned nicely. Turn over. If they look a touch raw, grill for another minute or two, cut sides up.

As soon as the fillets are cooked, serve with the relish.

The Student Cookbook by Sophie Grigson (published by Collins 12.99) is available from the Yorkshire Post Bookshop. To order a copy call free on 0800 0153232 or go online at www.yorkshirepostbookshop.co.uk. Postage and packing is 2.75.