Joe’s Family Food is available to buy now (Bluebird, £20) is out now • Photography by Andrew Burton
The man who became the nation’s P.E. teacher during lockdown and who’s unique take on fitness and nutrition has inspired a generation of people to get up off the sofa and push themselves to complete short sharp sessions of exercise known as Hiit workouts and to cook delicious and nutritious but quick and easy recipes is back with a cookery book to suit all the family.
Salmon & Spinach triangular hand pies
Ingredients (Makes 4)
Prep 20 mins
Cook 15 - 20 mins
150g spinach, washed
plain flour, for dusting
500g block of puff pastry,
remove it from the fridge
20 minutes before needed
grated zest of 1 lemon
150g cream cheese
1 tbsp finely chopped chives
salt and pepper
1 x 350g skinless salmon fillet,
cut into 4cm (1½in) cubes
1 egg, beaten
1 tbsp sesame seeds – optional
1 tbsp nigella seeds – optional
Method
Preheat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan/gas mark 6) and line a baking tray with baking parchment. Put the washed spinach in a microwaveable bowl, cover and zap on high for two minutes or until well wilted, or wilt it in a dry pan.
Place the spinach in a sieve and press it with a spoon to remove as much water as possible. Roughly chop and leave to cool a little. Dust a clean work surface with a little flour and roll out the pastry into a large square about the thickness of a pound coin. Cut the square of puff pastry into quarters to form four smaller squares.
Mix the cooled spinach in a bowl with the lemon zest, cream cheese and chives, and season with a little salt and pepper. Place the four squares of pastry on the lined tray and divide the cream cheese mixture and cubed salmon between the four squares of pastry, placing it towards the edge of one corner of each of the squares.
Use a pastry brush to brush the beaten egg around the edge of the pastry and then fold the opposite corner of pastry over the filling to form a triangular shape. Press the edges together with a fork and brush the tops with more egg wash.
Sprinkle the tops of the pies with the seeds (if using) then bake in the oven for 15–20 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.
Remove from the oven, let them cool a little (so the pies aren’t too hot for little hands) and serve.
Maple-glazed Chicken thighs with Asian slaw
Ingredients (Makes 4)
Prep 10 mins
Cook 25 - 30 mins
1 tbsp white or brown miso paste
1 tsp garlic paste
1 tsp ginger paste
2 tbsp maple syrup
1 tbsp low-sodium soy sauce
2 tsp sesame oil
salt and pepper
6 large skinless and boneless chicken thighs
For the Asian Slaw
250g white cabbage, finely shredded
100g carrot, grated
handful of radishes, thinly sliced
4 spring onions, thinly sliced
4 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp maple syrup
2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
80g pomegranate seeds
Method
Preheat the oven to 220°C (200°C fan/gas mark 7) and line a baking tray with foil.Combine the miso, garlic paste, ginger paste, maple syrup, soy sauce and sesame oil in a bowl.
Season the chicken with a little salt and massage the marinade into the chicken thighs. Put the chicken on the lined baking tray and cook in the oven for 25–30 minutes until cooked through and the chicken is golden brown and sticky on the outside.
While the chicken is cooking, prepare the slaw. Combine the finely shredded cabbage with the grated carrot, sliced radishes and spring onions in a bowl.
Mix together the lime juice and maple syrup, season with salt and pepper and toss through the slaw mix. Sprinkle with the sesame seeds and pomegranate seeds to serve.
Serve the chicken with the slaw on the side.
Broccoli Carbonara
Ingredients (Makes 4)
Prep 15 mins
Cook 15 mins
1 head of broccoli, stalk removed
250g linguine
200g cubed pancetta (you can use either smoked or unsmoked)
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 egg yolks
Freshly ground black pepper
Salt
50g parmesan, finely grated
Method
Bring a large saucepan of generously salted water to the boil over a medium to high heat. Place the trimmed broccoli crown in the pan and cook for three minutes, then remove from the pan with a slotted spoon. Leave to steam dry for a minute.
Cook the pasta according to the packet instructions in the same pan you cooked the broccoli in, to save time and washing up. While the pasta’s cooking, put the broccoli in a food processor and blitz on pulse mode until finely chopped (or chop by hand).
Place a large frying pan over a medium to high heat and cook the pancetta for a few minutes until golden and its fat has been released.
Lower the heat a little, add the minced garlic and cook for one minute until fragrant.
Drain the pasta, reserving a cup of the cooking water, and add the pasta to the frying pan. Continue heating and stirring for a minute to allowing the pasta to soak up the flavour of the pancetta and garlic.
Remove the pan from the heat and add some of the reserved pasta water (about three-quarters of a cup) and the egg yolks, and stir to create a creamy sauce.
Don’t be tempted to put it back on the heat or you will end up with scrambled eggs – the residual heat will gently cook the egg, creating a lovely glossy sauce.
Add a little extra pasta water if it seems too dry. Stir in the blitzed broccoli and season with plenty of black pepper (you shouldn’t need to add any salt as the pancetta and parmesan are both salty).
Sprinkle over the grated parmesan
and serve.