Anna's Family Kitchen

Anna's Family Kitchen Recipe developer, home cook and blogger.

Steak with Aji Verde SauceThis is such an easy dinner solution. Steak doesn’t have to break the bank. Bavette steak (als...
08/10/2026

Steak with Aji Verde Sauce

This is such an easy dinner solution. Steak doesn’t have to break the bank. Bavette steak (also known as skirt steak), cooked quickly at a high temperature, is a great budget cut.

To take it to a whole new level, the Peruvian-style Aji Verde Sauce is whizzed up in seconds and is great drizzled over the top or used as a dip. (It works really well with griddled chicken too.)

Pair the steak and sauce with any potato side and a salad or veg, or cheat and go for oven chips.

Here I’ve gone for my Crispy Fries and Black Bean and Edamame Salad, which both feature in the Side Orders chapter of my book Spinning Plates.

The cooking instructions and recipe for the sauce are below. Enjoy!

📸 credit Chris Terry

INGREDIENTS for 4:

4 beef bavette (skirt) steaks, about 200g each and 2cm thick (or use sirloin steaks as an alternative)
olive oil, for drizzling
salt & pepper

For the aji verde sauce
30g fresh coriander
2 fresh jalapeños, topped (seeds removed unless you like your sauce super-hot!)
1 tbsp white w**e vinegar
1 garlic clove, peeled
1 tsp salt
juice of 1 lime
½ tsp ground cumin
4 tbsp mayonnaise

METHOD:
For the aji verde sauce, simply blitz all the sauce ingredients together in a blender or bullet blender and pour into a bowl.

Pat dry the steaks with kitchen paper and season generously with salt and pepper. Drizzle with a little olive oil.

Preheat a nonstick pan, griddle pan until it’s smoking hot. Assuming the steaks are 2cm thick, brown the steaks on a high heat on both sides and then sear the edges edges until cooked to your liking – approximately for 2 minutes per side for medium rare, 3 minutes each side for medium and 4-5 minutes each side for well done. Rest the steaks for at least 5 minutes before slicing.

Serve on individual plates or as a sharing platter with the aji verde sauce on the side. Serve with salad and crispy fries.

29/09/2026

Chicken Korma,

Dinner doesn’t get any easier than this. Everyone knows how much my family love a curry and how much I enjoy making them from scratch. But in a busy household, a shortcut or two is sometimes very welcome! I’d love for you to try these products by the famous two Michelin starred Indian restaurant - Gymkhana.

For a special 20% off your first order from the Gymkhana range, visit the Gymkhana website and use my code ANNA20 ,

The Gymkhana range brings that restaurant-style curry flavour to your own kitchen, without the faff of making a curry from scratch. Originating from the world-famous Michelin-starred Gymkhana restaurant, these sauces are made with natural ingredients, with no preservatives or artificial colours, and have a family-friendly level of heat.
I’ve used the Korma, also known as Royal Sauce. It was once served to Mughal royalty and dates back to the 16th century, so this is no ordinary jar of sauce! It has some serious credentials!

It’s a little bit like bringing restaurant food home. A brilliant shortcut for busy families.

Whilst the rice is cooking, I use the absorption method, I’ve simply cooked off some diced chicken and then added the Korma sauce with a little water. The Gymkhana Green Chutney is amazing. I could spoon it straight out of the jar, it’s lovely as a dip to poppadums, but I’ve used it together with fresh coriander to embellish this delicious curry. If you wanted to take the heat up a little, you can use the Gymkhana tandoori marinade on the chicken first.

Spiced Chicken, Lentil & Cauliflower Traybake with TarkaI absolutely love this dinner. It feels special enough to be wee...
26/09/2026

Spiced Chicken, Lentil & Cauliflower Traybake with Tarka

I absolutely love this dinner. It feels special enough to be weekend worthy and cook for friends but it’s hands off enough too for a week day dinner.

One of my favourite vegetarian dishes is tarka dhal and I would happily eat it by itself a however, my teenage boys require a bit more filling up and so I set to work on creating a dhal-inspired traybake that included chicken, and the cauliflower florets mean there’s no need to cook separate vegetable on the side. The traybake is finished with a buttery garlic & cumin drizzle (like a tarka). In place of the cauliflower you could use potatoes, squash or aubergine.

This is a recipe from the Weekends and Gatherings chapter of Spinning Plates. You can buy signed copies from my website for £12 at the moment.

Ingredients for 4
1 tbsp mild oil
8 skin-on, bone-in chicken portions or 4 chicken breasts
2 onions, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp ground turmeric
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp salt
250g dried red lentils
2 tbsp root ginger, finely chopped
5 plum tomatoes, quartered
700ml veg or chicken stock
1–2 red chillies, chopped
1 cauliflower, split into florets

FOR THE TARKA
30g butter
1 tbsp groundnut or veg oil
1 tsp cumin seeds
3 garlic cloves, sliced

Preheat the oven to 180°C Fan/200°C.

Heat a flameproof roasting tray or shallow casserole pan on the hob, then add the oil & chicken, skin-side down, to the tin & colour on a high heat for 5 minutes. Set aside.

Add the onions & garlic to the tray & colour for a couple of minutes before adding the spices then all the remaining ingredients, apart from the cauliflower. Bring to a simmer.

Return the chicken to the tin, making sure the chicken skin sits above the sauce, then transfer to the oven & cook for 30 minutes.

Add the cauliflower florets to the tin, turning them over in the sauce, then return the tin to the oven & cook for a further 15 minutes until tender.

Just before serving, make the tarka. Melt the butter & oil in a small pan on a medium heat. Add the cumin seeds & garlic slices and cook for 1 minute.

Drizzle the tarka over the cooked traybake & serve.

Happy 3rd birthday to my muck-loving, stick-hoarding, golden ball of fluff, Willow.Arguably, you were the dog I didn’t n...
20/09/2026

Happy 3rd birthday to my muck-loving, stick-hoarding, golden ball of fluff, Willow.

Arguably, you were the dog I didn’t need and needed in equal measures.

You have this wonderful ability to be completely happy with your lot. You wake up every day excited about absolutely nothing in particular. Humans could learn a thing or two from you.

Wherever we go, people are drawn to say hello. And you’re always accommodating, with an over-the-top greeting and a wagging tail that makes everyone feel like they’re your new best friend. Wherever we go, people always comment on how you seem to be smiling.

You are also, without question, the most rubbish of retrievers.

You have absolutely no intention of retrieving anything. Sticks and balls are yours and yours alone, and swimming is really not your thing. Dunking yourself in a muddy puddle, however, is something you excel at.

I hate how much you love rolling in anything that smells remotely ripe, and how you somehow manage to attract mud from a 20-metre radius. You can be clean for approximately three minutes before finding something disgusting to lie in.

But somehow, you are also the sweetest, gentlest soul. No questions, no judgement, just a wagging tail and your unwavering belief that life is brilliant.

Happy birthday, Willow.

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