3 Time Saving Recipes From Poppy O’Toole We’re Making On Repeat
The daily question of what everyone is having for dinner gets old fast. Which is why a freezer stocked with food you actually want to eat feels less like meal prep and more like winning at the week.
Enter Poppy O’Toole, aka TikTok’s ‘Potato Queen’. Her new The Actually Delicious Batch Cookbook takes a simple approach: cook once, eat twice, with 90 recipes designed to make family food, weekday lunches and even something sweet considerably easier.
We’ve picked three to make first: a slow-cooked Moroccan-style lamb stew, harissa cauliflower and chickpea salad jars, and chocolate orange shortbread you can slice and bake straight from the freezer.
Moroccan-Style Lamb Stew
Serves 8
Ingredients
Olive oil
1.5kg lamb leg, bone in
2 onions, diced
4 garlic cloves, minced or grated
2 tbsp harissa paste
2 tbsp tomato purée
1 tbsp ground cumin
2 tsp ras el hanout
2 tbsp just-boiled water
Pinch of saffron threads
750ml beef or chicken stock
2 x 570g jars of queen chickpeas, liquid drained and reserved
200g dried apricots, quartered
Salt and pepper
To finish (serves 8)
30g toasted flaked almonds (optional)
Serving suggestion (optional)
Herby cous cous
Method
Heat a large sauté pan with a glug of olive oil over a high heat. Dry the lamb with kitchen paper and season it with salt. Add the lamb to the pan and fry for 2–3 minutes on each side until golden brown all over, then remove and set aside on a plate.
Pour another splash of olive oil into the pan and add the onions. Turn the heat down to medium and fry for 2 minutes until slightly softened, then add the garlic. Fry for 1 minute until fragrant, then spoon in the harissa paste, tomato purée, ground cumin and ras el hanout. Fry for 2–3 minutes until darkened and smelling lovely.
Pour the just-boiled water into a small dish and add the saffron threads. Leave for 5 minutes, then pour the soaking water and threads into the pan.
Add the stock and chickpea liquid to the pan and bring it all to a bubble. Season generously with salt and pepper, then return the lamb to the pan, along with any resting juices. Turn the heat down to low and pop a lid on the pan. Leave the stew to simmer away for 4½–5 hours, turning the lamb over from time to time in the liquid, until the meat is falling off the bone.
Remove the lamb from the pan, discard the bone and shred the meat into large pieces — try to keep some texture. Tip the chickpeas and apricots into the pan and turn the heat up to medium.
Bring to a bubble and leave to reduce for 20 minutes, or until the sauce has thickened. Return the lamb meat to the sauce and stir through.
Eat now: Season to taste with salt and pepper, then serve piping hot, sprinkled with toasted almonds, if you like.
Eat later: Freeze in an airtight container for up to 3 months. To reheat from frozen, place over a low heat, stirring regularly to prevent catching, until piping hot. Or defrost fully in the fridge overnight, then reheat in a saucepan over a medium–low heat until piping hot. Sprinkle with toasted almonds, if you like.
Harissa Cauliflower, Chickpea & Cous Cous Salad Jars
Makes 5
Ingredients
For the cauliflower
1 x 700g head of cauliflower, cut into florets
1 x 400g tin of jumbo chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 tsp garlic granules
3 tbsp harissa paste
2 tsp ground coriander
3 tbsp olive oil
10g mint leaves, finely sliced
10g flat-leaf parsley leaves, finely chopped
Salt and pepper
For the cous cous
250g cous cous
2 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp garlic granules
1 tsp onion granules
2 tsp dried oregano
250ml hot vegetable or chicken stock
Olive oil
For the yoghurt dressing
175g Greek yoghurt
3 tbsp tahini
2 small garlic cloves, minced or grated
3–4 tbsp boiling water
To assemble
1 cucumber, diced
100g toasted flaked almonds
Method
Make the cauliflower. Preheat the oven to 220°C/200°C fan. Tip the cauliflower florets and chickpeas into a large baking dish and spoon over the garlic granules, harissa paste, ground coriander and olive oil. Give everything a good mix with a big pinch each of salt and pepper, then pop the baking dish into the oven for 45–50 minutes until the cauliflower is soft.
For the cous cous, tip the cous cous, smoked paprika, garlic and onion granules, dried oregano and a pinch each of salt and pepper into a large mixing bowl. Pour over the hot stock, give everything a stir, then cover tightly with cling film for 10 minutes to soften the cous cous.
Meanwhile, make the dressing. In a bowl, whisk together the Greek yoghurt, tahini, garlic and a pinch each of salt and pepper. Add enough boiling water to thin the yoghurt to a pouring consistency, then set aside.
Fluff up the cous cous with a fork and pour in a drizzle of olive oil. Stir the roasted cauliflower and chickpeas through the cous cous with the chopped herbs.
Assemble your jars (or other containers). Begin with a layer of diced cucumber, then spoon over the cous cous. Sprinkle over a layer of toasted almonds, then finish with a dollop of yoghurt dressing.
Eat now: Serve cold, straight from the jar.
Eat later: Refrigerate the jars for up to 5 days.
Vegan Chocolate Chunk & Orange Shortbreads
Makes 18
Ingredients
350g plain flour
100g caster sugar
250g vegan butter, cubed and chilled
175g vegan dark chocolate, roughly chopped
Zest of 2 oranges
Pinch of flaky sea salt
Method
Using your fingertips and thumbs in a large bowl, or pulsing in a food processor, combine the flour, sugar and butter until it looks like breadcrumbs.
Using your hands, press the dough together until it starts to clump, then add the chocolate, orange zest and salt.
Bring it all together into a crumbly dough, then roll the dough into a sausage shape about 4cm in diameter.
Cut the sausage in half and wrap both pieces tightly in cling film.
Eat now: Place one of the wrapped doughs in the fridge for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan. Using a sharp knife, slice the chilled dough into 1.5cm-thick rounds and place the rounds on a parchment-lined baking tray. Bake for 15–20 minutes until the edges are lightly golden. Cool on the tray briefly, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
Eat later: Freeze the remaining wrapped, unbaked dough for up to 3 months. To bake from frozen, preheat the oven to 180°C/160°C fan. Unwrap the frozen log, leave it to stand for 5–10 minutes or so, and then slice it into 1.5cm-thick rounds. Place the rounds on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and bake for 25–30 minutes until the edges are lightly golden. Leave to cool on the tray, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Extracted from Poppy Cooks: The Actually Delicious Batch Cookbook by Poppy O'Toole (Bloomsbury Publishing, Hardback, £22.00), out 10 September. Photography © Jessica Raphael Photography.
Poppy Cooks: The Actually Delicious Batch Cookbook by Poppy O'Toole
Across 90 family-friendly recipes, Poppy O’Toole shows you how to cook once and get ahead, from freezer-ready dinners and speedy midweek meals to work lunches, after-school snacks and something sweet for later.
Everything can be scaled up or down depending on your family and freezer space. Less dinner admin, fewer 5pm panics and food everyone will actually want to eat.