Cheesy French toast bread pudding

The inspiration for this dish came from an old cookbook I stole from my Mum, "Take Three Cooks" by Nanette Newman, Emma Forbes and Sarah Standing. The original recipe is for a marmalade bread pudding, but they suggest the use of cheese for a savoury variation. Since my boyfriend is a huge fan of French toast, I thought I'd give it a go.

It's pretty easy to make, and would definitely pose a good alternative to traditional eggy bread if you were serving brunch to a crowd. The glorious combination of bubbling golden cheese and rich custard-soaked bread is incredibly good - comfort food at its best.

After...

The recipe doesn't call for any fancy ingredients - simply sliced bread, eggs, milk, cheese and butter. If you want to snazz it up, you could add some slices of ham between the slices of bread or spread one side of the bread triangles with mustard to give it an extra kick.

Ingredients (serves 2 - or one hungry boy. Double the recipe to feed a larger group)

4 slices of white bread (the original recipes suggests removing the crusts - I didn't bother)
25g spreadable butter
300ml milk
2 eggs, beaten
75g cheddar cheese
Salt and pepper, to taste

Method

Butter each slice of bread (on both sides if you're feeling especially decadent - I was lazy and just did one) and cut into triangles (two or four, again depending on how lazy you want to be when it comes to stacking them!). Layer the bread into the base of a greased ovenproof dish, topping each slice with cheese.

Before (not so pretty!)

Heat the milk in a pan until hot but not quite boiling. Pour the milk over your eggs, whisking as you pour. Season with salt and pepper, then pour the custard mixture over your bread and leave to soak for 10-15 minutes (or - more laziness - miss this step!).

Bake in a pre-heated oven at 200C for around 25 minutes (increase this to 30-40 if you have doubled the recipe) until your cheese is golden and bubbly and the custard is set. Serve piping hot.

Summery fruit salad (with strawberries, blueberries, mango, and pomegranate seeds)

This tasty fruit salad is one of my go-to dinner party desserts - a light and summery end to a filling meal, it goes well with anything from Middle Eastern feasts to elegant Japanese cuisine.

I usually make it with nectarines in the place of mangoes, but "adverse weather conditions" (according to a sign in the supermarket) resulted in a lack of stone fruit this Spring. While I do prefer my original version, the mango was a nice change - a little more tangy and exotic than nectarine, while still providing the colour and texture contrast I was looking for.

Ingredients

500g strawberries, hulled and quartered
250g blueberries
2 nectarines or 1 large mango, cut into chunks
Seeds of 1 pomegranate (see de-seeding tips below!)
1 teaspoon of caster sugar

Method

The method is pretty straightforward (that's the best thing about fruit salads!). Prepare the fruit as described above, mix together in a large bowl, sprinkle with the caster sugar, and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes (this gives the sugar time to draw the juices out from the fruit*).

However I thought this would be a good place to share the fantastic tip a commenter gave me for de-seeding pomegranates. I used to really struggle with this - everything would end up splattered in red juice, and I'd usually have to do it in my underwear to avoid stains - fine, but not that convenient if your guests have already arrived!

What I didn't realise was that I could eliminate this problem by de-seeding the pomegranates under water: Fill a large bowl with cold water, slice the pomegranate in two, and - when submerged in the water - simply remove the seeds in the usual fashion. The white pith floats to the top, making it easier to separate from the seeds - and best of all, there's no mess! Sorted.

*By osmosis - Year 9 biology say whaaat!

An American feast: slow-cooked BBQ beans (with BBQ beef and sweet potato wedges)

I came across the recipe for the BBQ beans in Ina Garten's Barefoot Contessa at Home but was originally put off by the long cooking time. However, since I am now the proud owner of a slow-cooker, I decided to give it a go. It still requires a good bit of forward planning - you'll need to soak the dried kidney beans overnight, and cook them for 50 minutes on the stove before adding them to the dish - but it's a lot easier to throw everything into a slow-cooker and leave it to simmer than it is to spend 8 hours worrying about it drying out/spontaneously combusting in the oven.

Here's my version - I made a few minor adjustments to the ingredients (I skipped the tablespoon of Chinese chilli paste and added an extra tablespoon of grated ginger instead) and adapted it to be cooked in the slow-cooker.

Ingredients

1 pound dried red kidney beans
1 large onion
1 bay leaf
6 whole black peppercorns
175ml maple syrup (3/4 cup)
100g light brown sugar (1/2 cup, lightly packed)
125ml tomato ketchup (1/2 cup)
1(or 2) tablespoons freshly grated ginger
1 tablespoon of Chinese chilli paste
1 teapson salt
150g smoked bacon, diced

Soak the dried red kidney beans in a bowl of cold water overnight, making sure that the water covers the beans by at least an inch. Drain the beans and rinse well.

Cook the beans in a large pot with four pints (2.25l) of water, the onion (cut into eighths), bay leaf, and peppercorns.  Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer for 50 minutes, or until the beans are tender. Once the beans are cooked (a good trick is to take a scoopful of beans and blow on them - if the skins start to peel, they are ready), drain them, retaining the cooking liquid.

In a saucepan, whisk together the maple syrup, brown sugar, ketchup, chilli paste (if using), grated ginger, salt, and 375ml (1 1/2 cups) of the cooking liquid, reserving the remaining liquid. Simmer over a medium heat for around 6 minutes.

Transfer your beans to the slow cooker. Mix half the diced bacon into the beans, and place the rest on top. Pour the sweet sauce and 125ml (1/2 cup) of cooking liquid over the beans, and set the slow-cooker for 8 hours.

After 8 hours, transfer your beans to a heavy-based pot (I used my Le Creuset) and refrigerate until needed. When you're ready to use your beans, simmer on the stove top for a while to heat them through (and to thicken the sauce).

Sweet potato wedges - colourful and delicious

 

I served these beans alongside slow-cooked BBQ beef, sweet potato wedges and Cajun-spiced roast chicken as part of my American-themed dinner party.

 

Tasty, tasty BBQ beef

Super salad: Chicken, halloumi, spinach and roasted peppers

This might just be the best salad I've ever made (and I've made my fair share).

Inspired by a starter at my Granddad's local Italian joint, this jumbo salad is packed with delicious ingredients: juicy chunks of pan-fried chicken, roasted strips of red and yellow pepper, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, and - to top everything off - delicious slices of seared halloumi cheese...

The original version is accompanied by a yoghurt and herb dressing - a delicious and healthy alternative to creamier mayonnaise-based sauces - but I served my salad with two dressings, providing a home-made honey-mustard vinaigrette in addition to the yoghurt one.

Ingredients
To serve 4 (as a main course)

For the salad:
400g packet of uncooked chicken breast fillets
250g halloumi cheese
2 sweet peppers (red, orange or yellow)
Large bag fresh spinach leaves
Half a large cucumber, cut into small chunks
Handful of cherry tomatoes, halved
Oil and butter (for cooking)

For the yoghurt dressing:
4 tbsp Greek yoghurt
Juice of half a lemon
1 clove of garlic, crushed
Salt and plenty of freshly ground black pepper

For the honey-mustard dressing:
1 tbsp good quality grain mustard
1 tsbp runny honey
3 tbsp white wine vinegar
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste


Method

Pre-heat your oven to 200C. Deseed your peppers and slice into two halves. Place on a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil, before cooking on a high shelf of the oven for around 25 minutes. When the peppers are done, take them out of the oven and remove the skins (if the peppers are ready, they should come off easily). Set aside to cool slightly, before slicing into small pieces.

Prepare the dressings: both are incredibly easy to make. For the yoghurt dressing, combine the Greek yoghurt with the lemon juice and the crushed garlic, stirring well, before seasoning with salt and freshly ground pepper. For the honey-mustard vinaigrette, whisk together mustard, honey, white wine vinegar and olive oil, and season to taste. Serve "on the side" to give your guests the choice of which they would prefer to use on their meal.

Heat a glug of oil and a pat of butter in a large pan over a high heat*. Slice the chicken fillets into strips (roughly 1-inch wide and 3 long) and cook until golden, frying in two batches if necessary. Remove from the heat and set aside.

Cut the halloumi into slices, around 1/2 an inch thick. Heat a dash of oil in a griddle pan over a high heat, and fry for a couple of minutes on each side (the aim is for an attractive griddled pattern), before slicing into strips.

The final step is to build your salad: start with a layer of fresh spinach leaves, before adding the halved cherry tomatoes, diced cucumber, and cooked pepper pieces. Complete the colourful salad with the chicken and halloumi cheese and serve alongside the two dressings.
*The butter adds flavour, while the oil heats to a higher temperature and prevents the butter from burning

St Patrick's Day cupcakes

With Saint Patrick's Day falling on a Sunday this year, my friends and I decided to celebrate in a relatively restrained fashion, with an afternoon spent baking green-tinged cupcakes (while quaffing green prosecco).

The basic sponge cupcake recipe below made 12 delicious cupcakes - we added green food colouring to keep with the theme and finished them off with some glitzy decorations.

Ingredients:

115g caster sugar
115g butter
Dash vanilla essence
2 eggs
115g self-raising flour
Optional: few drops food colouting (green in this case!)

Method:

Cream the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl, and add - a little bit at a time - to your butter and sugar mixture, stirring all the while. Sift the flour into the mixing bowl and fold to combine with the wet mixture.

Spoon your cupcake mix into paper cases in a 12-cake baking tin and cook on the middle shelf of a pre-heated oven at 180C for 10-15 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into a cupcake emerges clean.

Remove from the baking tin and cool for 20 minutes or so before icing. Easy!

These tasted better than they looked, I promise!

Haddock with a Philadelhia and king prawn topping

I adapted this dish from a recipe I found on the Philadelphia website, and it's my boyfriend's new favourite. Juicy haddock fillets are topped with a creamy mixture of diced king prawns, Philadelphia cheese, English mustard, white wine and lemon juice and baked in the oven for 15 minutes, before being finished off with a sprinkling of Parmesan and breadcrumbs and a final few minutes under the grill (for that lovely crisp crust).

This dish is healthy but satisfyingly rich, and goes perfectly with steamed vegetables and a big dollop of creamy mashed potato.

Ingredients

4 haddock fillets (or any other white fish) - around 500g
150g king prawns
2 tbsp Philadephia cream cheese
1 teaspoon English mustard
Dash of white wine
Squeeze of lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste
Parmesan cheese
Dried breadcrumbs
Grated mozzarella (optional - I had some in my fridge I wanted to use up, but it's just as good without)

Pre-heat the oven to 200C. Drizzle a non-stick baking tray with cooking oil, and place your four haddock fillets onto the tray. In a small bowl, combine the Philadelphia, English mustard, white wine, and lemon juice, and season to taste. Chop your king prawns into rough pices (around six per prawn) and stir into the cream cheese mixture.

Spread the cream cheese and prawn mixture onto your haddock fillets, and cook near the top of the pre-heated oven for 15 minutes. After this time, remove the fish from the oven and sprinkle with Parmesan and dried breadcrumbs (and grated mozzarella, if you fancy!), before cooking under the grill on high heat for a further 3 minutes or so, or until the cheese and breadcrumbs are golden and crispy.

Served with steamed vegetable and mashed potatoes.

Chicken breasts with creamy morel mushroom sauce and asparagus

One of my favourite dishes when I lived in Geneva as a teen was steak aux morilles: a thick slab of tasty meat in a creamy morel mushroom sauce, served with a tangle of spaghetti or tasty shoestring fries. Until recently I have never seen these tasty mushrooms sold in supermarkets, so I was delighted to find a packet of dried morels in the cooks section at Sainsbury's.

They aren't cheap - a 20g packet comes to around £7 - but they taste incredibly good, transforming an everyday meal into something really special. I served this sumptuous morel, cream, white wine and parmesan sauce with a bundle of asparagus, some gnocchi, and a couple of golden-seared chicken breasts, but it's just as tasty with steak, broccoli, spinach, potatoes, pasta.....so get creative!

Ingredients

Sauce

One packet of dried morel mushrooms (around 20g)
(if you can't find morels, you can use dried porcini mushrooms instead)
100ml single cream
Splash white wine
Parmesan
Freshly ground black pepper

Accompaniments

450g pack of chicken breasts (or steak)
Splash of cooking oil
Knob of butter
Bundle of asparagus (tenderstem broccoli, green beans, wilted spinach, or any other green vegetable are also good!)
Fresh gnocchi (or pasta, mashed or roasted potatoes, or chips)


Method

Soak your dried morel mushrooms in a bowl with warm water for around twenty minutes to allow them to re-hydrate. Reserve the soaking fluid (which takes a lovely musky flavour from the morels) as it may be useful for thinning the sauce later on.

Heat a mixture of cooking oil and butter over a high heat and add your chicken breasts - the oil provides the high temperature needed to brown the meat (butter alone would burn) while the butter adds flavour.
After searing the chicken breasts until golden on both sides, reduce to a medium heat and continue to cook for another 8 minutes or so until the chicken is cooked through (you may want to make an exploratory cut in one of the breasts to check it's not pink).

Steam the asparagus for 4 or 5 minutes and cook the gnocchi according to the instructions on the packet.

Chop the morel mushrooms and add to the pan with the chicken. Add a dash of white wine and 100ml (give or take) of single cream and simmer for a minute or so until everything is heated through. If the sauce is too thick, add a splash of the liquid which was used to soak the dried morels.

Sprinkle in some grated Parmesan and lots of freshly ground black pepper, then plate everything up. Drizzle the sauce over the chicken breasts and gnocchi, and - if you want - sprinkle some more Parmesan over your asparagus (and maybe a knob of butter too!).

Chocolate fondue with strawberries and cherries: a romantic treat

This simple dessert is the perfect ending to a romantic meal. You can use whichever fruits you fancy - while strawberries are the traditional choice, cherries and sliced pear also go very well with chocolate. Slices of frozen banana would be another great alternative, or if you're not so big on fruit, try marshmallows.

Mmmmm.....

Ingredients

200g good quality dark chocolate, broken into pieces
1 tbsp golden syrup
Pinch of salt
150ml single cream

Fruit for dipping - I went for strawberries and cherries

Method

This is almost embarassingly easy to make:

Melt your chocolate in a bowl suspended over a pan of simmering water. Add the tablespoon of golden syrup and pinch of salt, then remove from the heat and stir in the single cream.

Serve to someone you love along with a platter of fruit and wooden skewers for dipping.



Ultimate fish pie

Fish pie is my boyfriend's favourite meal, but for some reason my previous attempts have never been as successful as I could have hoped: too dry, too saucy...the issues have varied, but most recently I have had a losing streak of soggy mashed potatoes.

This time, I decided to up my game and - in an attempt to make the ultimate fish pie - combined two popular recipes (J Sheeky's version and the "Luxury Fish Pie" recipe from the BBC website) with a few extra additions of my own.

The result? A delicious blend of smoked haddock, salmon, white fish and king prawns - not forgetting the all-important hard-boiled eggs - in a creamy, flavourful white sauce, topped with smooth mashed potato and a bubbling layer of melted cheese. Success at last!

Ingredients

For the white sauce
50g butter
50g plain flour
250ml milk
250ml fish stock
50ml white wine
100ml double cream
1 teaspoon English mustard
Squeeze lemon juice
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

For the filling
250g skinless, boneless cod fillet, cut into chunks
250g skinless, boneless salmon fillet, cut into chunks
250g skinless, boneless smoked haddock fillet, cut into chunks
150g raw king prawns (de-shelled)
4 eggs, boiled and chopped into eighths

For the topping
1kg floury potatoes
A knob of butter
A dash of milk
Salt (to taste)
150g of cheddar cheese, grated

Method

Potatoes

First, prepare your potatoes. I like to do this stage in advance, and leave the mash to cool before I use it, as it makes it easier to work with when I'm layering everything into the pie dish.

Prick your baking potatoes all over with a fork and bake in a 200C oven for around 1 hour and 15 minutes. Remove from the oven, slice in two, and scoop the fluffy insides into a large mixing bowl. Retain the 'jackets' and use to make filled potato skins (with bacon and cheese - delicious).

Mash the potato with a knob of butter and a dash of milk, and season with salt. Warning: don't add too much milk or your mash will get too runny when you cook your pie!

Filling

Prepare your fish by cutting the fillets into fairly large (around 1-inch square) chunks. Heat the fish stock and white wine to a simmer in a large saucepan and poach the fish for two minutes. Drain the fish over a bowl, reserving the poaching liquid for the white sauce.

Meanwhile, boil the eggs for around 10 minutes. When they're done, run them under cold water, peel, and cut into eighths. Layer everything into a large dish and top with the prawns.

Sauce

To make your white sauce, melt 50g of butter in a heavy based saucepan over a medium heat, and stir in the flour to make a roux. Add the milk and poaching liquid (i.e. fish stock and white wine) a bit at a time, stirring continuously until the sauce thickens.

Remove the pan from the heat, and add the mustard, double cream, and squeeze of lemon juice. Season generously with salt and freshly ground black pepper, and pour into the pie dish over your fish and hard-boiled egg layer.

Topping

You're now ready to add the mashed potato layer. I find it easiest to mould handfuls of cold mashed potato into flat 'tiles' and place on top of the pie filling. This helps ensure a smooth and even coverage.

Sprinkle generously with cheese and place in a pre-heated oven at 200C for around 40 minutes or until the filling is piping hot and the cheese is golden and bubbly.

Serve with steamed sugar snap peas or tenderstem broccoli.

An American feast: slow-cooked BBQ beef 'brisket'

I'd been nursing an unsatisfied craving for BBQ ever since our failed attempt to get into Pitt Cue, so when I was hosting a dinner party the other week I decided to give it an American theme. The piece de resistance was a huge roasting tin of slow-cooked BBQ beef...

It was surprisingly easy to make, and a great excuse to play with my slow-cooker - I set it up to cook for 8 hours while I was at work, then finished the meat off in the oven before the guests arrived that night. I had planned to use brisket, but was forced to settle for topside, a much leaner cut: while I had worried it might turn out a bit dry, it was actually perfectly delicious (and probably a bit healthier too, as an added bonus!).

I found this recipe on-line and made a few tweaks to suit the size of my beef joint, the contents of my store cupboard, and my own personal preferences! See my version below:

Ingredients

2kg topside of beef
2 onions, cut into eighths
6 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbsp tomato puree
200ml white wine vinegar
150ml orange juice
A few cloves
2 tbsp demerara sugar
2 tbsp runny honey
600ml passata
300ml good quality beef stock
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
(If you like your BBQ spicy, add two finely chopped, deseeded red chilli peppers)

Method

Cut the beef into three or four big chunks (so that it will fit into the slow-cooker) and brown on all sides in a frying pan on a high heat. Add the browned meat to the slow-cooker with all the other ingredients listed above, and set to cook for 8 hours (or whatever the maximum setting is on your slow-cooker - the longer it cooks, the better).

8 hours later, remove the meat from the liquid with tongs and transfer to a large roasting tin. Strain the sauce to remove the onion pieces, and reserve. Shred the chunks of beef roughly with a fork, douse with a few ladlefuls of strained sauce, and place on the bottom shelf of a 200C oven.
Cook for an hour or so, removing every 15-20 minutes to cover with ladlefuls of sauce (to keep everything moist). With cooking, the sauce - fairly liquid initially - will thicken into a delicious glossy glaze. Towards the end of the cooking process, tear your meat into finer shreds to achieve the traditional 'pulled' texture (you will want to keep the meat in larger pieces to start with so that it doesn't dry out too much).

Serve in soft rolls, with a mound of sweet potato wedges on the side and perhaps a spoonful or two of BBQ beans. Delicious!

This recipe was a big success, and is something I will definitely be making again: while I massively over-provided food-wise (we were left with a huge bowl of BBQ beans, an untouched roast chicken, and half a tray of brownies) there was only a tiny spec of beef left...and this was quickly gobbled up by my boyfriend the next morning as part of a "cowboy" breakfast (fried eggs, toast, beans and BBQ beef).

Best-ever brownies (from the Peyton and Byrne "British Baking" cookbook)

A quick disclaimer before I start this post: while these were the best-ever brownies when my friend made them, my attempt was somewhat less successful: even a minute or two of over-cooking will eliminate the incredible gooey-fudginess this recipe is capable of producing, so MAKE SURE YOU DON'T OVERCOOK THEM! However, as long as you check on them regularly (and err on the side of taking them out of the oven too early rather than too late), then they should turn out every bit as delicious as hers were!

Ingredients

300g good quality dark chocolate, broken into pieces
100g butter (plus extra for greasing)
1/2 teaspoon salt
150g caster sugar
50g light brown sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100g plain white flour
100g chopped walnuts (I missed these out because I hate walnuts - pecans or chunks of chocolate would be a great alternative)

Pre-heat your oven to 180C.

Melt the butter and chocolate pieces in a heatproof bowl balanced over a saucepan of simmering water. Add the salt and stir until smooth, glossy, and fully combined. (Have a little taste if you must!). Remove from the heat and allow to cool for a minute or so.

Meanwhile, in a seperate bowl,beat your eggs together with the sugar (both types). When the chocolate has cooled slightly, stir the egg and sugar mixture into the melted chocolate, bit by bit.

Finally, fold in your flour.

Grease a 20cm square baking tin and line with greaseproof paper (the trick to lining a baking dish is to snip darts into the corners to allow the paper to fold around with the contour of the tin more easily). Pour the brownie batter into the tin, and cook on the middle shelf for about 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the brownies emerges almost clean (you still want some gooeyness!)

To avoid over-cooking, it's probably best to check your brownies around the 20 minute mark - and if you don't mind them being a bit under-cooked, you could even remove them early for an extra-fudgy texture.

Leave the brownies to cool completely in the tin, then cut into squares and serve! They should keep (ha!) for a couple of days in an airtight container.

I forgot to take a picture of the finished product...but here's some Oliver Peyton made earlier

Lasagne soup

I love lasagne, but it's not something I usually have time to make after a full day at work...

...so when I saw this lasagne soup on Sweet Basil, I knew I had to give it a try. Meaty, tomato-ey, and packed with chunks of melting mozzarella, this quick, no-fuss recipe is a great way of satisfying your craving without spending hours in the kitchen.

The concept is pretty simple - make a basic Bolognese sauce (beef mince, tomato passata, maybe some red wine), throw in some pasta (most recipes call for broken up sheets of lasagne - I didn't have any left, so I used fresh tortellini instead), and finish everything off with chunks of fresh mozzarella and a heavy dusting of Parmesan. Delicious.

My version is quite different from the original, and if you have your own tried-and-tested recipe for Bolognese, feel free to substitute it in to the recipe below.

Ingredients (makes two huge bowls, or four smaller ones)

1 lb of extra lean beef mince
700g tomato passata
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Handful of basil leaves, roughly shredded
1tbsp tomato puree
A few glugs of red wine
Hot water, to thin out the sauce
Salt and pepper to taste
Half a packet of fresh tortellini (OR a few sheets of dried lasagne, broken into pieces)
1 ball mozzarella cheese, cut into chunks
Parmesan and more basil leaves, to serve

Fry your mince in a large frying pan. Depending on the size of the pan, it may be best to do this in batches to allow the meat to brown properly. Meanwhile, add tomato passata, crushed garlic, basil leaves, tomato puree and red wine to a large saucepan, and bring to a simmer. Once browned, add your mince to the tomato sauce, and cook everything together on a medium-low heat for about 15 minutes.

Season your sauce with salt and pepper to taste, and add the tortellini. The sauce should be liquid enough to cover the pasta - if not, add some hot water to make it more 'soupy'. Leave everything to simmer for another 4 minutes or so (depending on the cooking instructions for the tortellini), before stirring in three quarters of your mozzarella cubes.

Divide the lasagne soup into bowls, and scatter with the remaining mozzarella, more shredded basil, and a good sprinkling of Parmesan cheese. Serve and enjoy!

Smoked salmon, prawn and courgette frittata

A frittata is a great way of transforming your leftovers into a filling and delicious meal, and last week - with smoked salmon trimmings and king prawns left over from my seafood crepes and half a courgette languishing in my vegetable drawer - it seemed like the obvious choice for an easy weeknight supper.

The best thing about a frittata is that you really can use anything you want: switch the courgette for asparagus or broccoli; swap the salmon and prawns for bacon or ham...or if you fancy something more traditional, combine chorizo, leftover new potatoes, onions, and red and green peppers to create a delicious Spanish omelette.

Ingredients

4 eggs, beaten
Smoked salmon trimmings
King prawns
Half a courgette, sliced into rounds
Black pepper
Butter (for frying)

Beat the eggs in a bowl and stir in the smoked salmon trimmings. Slice the courgette into rounds of roughly the same thickness as a one pound coin. Add the prawns and courgette to the egg and salmon mixture, and season generously with black pepper.

Melt butter in a large frying pan, add your frittata mixture, and cook on a medium heat until it begins to set. If you're brave, you can try to flip it...otherwise finish it off under the grill.

Et voila! Your leftovers have been reincarnated as dinner...

Lazy seafood crepes (with smoked salmon and king prawns)

If you love fish pie, but can't face the effort involved (white sauce, mashed potatoes, 30 minutes in the oven - I'm exhausted just thinking about it...) these lazy seafood crepes could be just the thing for you. They couldn't be easier to make but still come off as an impressive and inventive dish, and they are equally suitable for a relaxed dinner party as for a weeknight supper.

Ingredients

8 ready-made crepes (make sure they are plain!)

200g king prawns

200g smoked salmon trimmings

150ml or so of single cream

Parmesan cheese, grated

Freshly ground black pepper

Optional: Finely chopped dill, juice of half a lemon

Pre-heat your oven to 180C.

In a small mixing bowl combine the smoked salmon trimmings with most of the single cream (reserving 30ml or so), and stir well.

Place a crepe on the bottom of a circular oven-proof dish and top with a thin layer of the salmon and cream mixture. Dot a few king prawns over the surface, and season with a decent helping of black pepper.

Repeat these layers (crepe-salmon-prawn) until you have used up all your salmon/cream mixture. Top with a final crepe, drizzle over the remaining single cream and sprinkle with grated parmesan.

About to go in the oven...



Place your dish on the top shelf of your pre-heated oven and cook until everything is heated through (this should take around 15-20 minutes - the top should be golden and the cream should be bubbling up at the edge of the dish).

Serve sliced into wedges, alongside steamed asparagus or a side salad.

Ottolenghi's turkey and courgette burgers - fusion-style

One of my friends bought me Jerusalem (the new cookbook by Yotam Ottolenghi and Sami Tamimi) for my birthday, and I've been very excited to try out some of the incredible recipes. Post-Christmas, I finally have a bit more time for experimental cookery, and this weekend I decided to make a start with the turkey and courgette burgers.

The recipe calls for fresh coriander, mint, spring onions, cumin and cayenne pepper, but as I already had a big bunch of wilting parsley in my vegetable drawer (left-over from my chicken soup), I didn't really want to buy any more fresh herbs. Instead I decided to expand on the spring onion flavour and attempt an Asian twist on the original recipe, skipping the mint, coriander, cumin and cayenne, and substituting grated ginger, lime juice, a dash of soy sauce and a hint of chilli in their place.

Fried in sesame oil and served with pak choi and noodles this was a light, subtly oriental supper, and - if there had been any leftovers - I think the turkey burgers would have also been lovely cold (perhaps in a sandwich for lunch...). Here is my take on the recipe:

Ingredients

500g minced turkey, extra lean
2 small courgettes, coarsely grated (around 200g)
3 spring onions, finely sliced
Grated root ginger (one or two inches, depending on how much you like ginger!)
1 medium free-range egg
2 garlic cloves, crushed
Dash of soy sauce (in the place of salt)
Juice of half a lime
Pinch of dried chilli flakes
Coarsely ground black pepper, to taste
Sesame oil, for frying


Preheat the oven to 220C (or 200C for a fan oven). In a large bowl, mix together all the ingredients bar the sesame oil, then shape into small burgers (the recipe should yield around 18 patties).

Heat the sesame oil in a large frying pan, and sear your burgers in batches until golden brown on all sides (about 2 minutes on each side, on a medium heat). Transfer the seared meatballs to a foil-lined oven-dish and place in the oven for 5-7 minutes, or until just cooked through.

While your meatballs are cooking, prepare your egg noodles according to the instructions on the packet. Separate the individual leaves of your pak choi and steam (or stir fry, if you prefer) for around two minutes.

Serve with sweet Thai chilli sauce for dipping.

Tasty chicken in satay sauce

I had planned on making chicken satay yesterday evening, but arriving home late after a cold and dark walk back from the office, I couldn't face fussing around with skewers and marinades (nor the 20 minute wait for the chicken to cook in the oven...). I already had all the ingredients I needed for my satay, so I decided to have a go at re-creating an Indonesian dish I tried years ago; a simple but delicious meal of chicken cooked in a spiced peanut sauce.

I didn't really follow a recipe for the satay sauce - I've made it enough times in the past (usually using Jamie Oliver's recipe) to know roughly what it should contain, so this time I decided to take the leap and make it according to taste. It turned out even better (in my opinion anyway!) than Jamie's version, and while I didn't really measure things out properly, I've attempted to record the recipe below:

Ingredients

Satay sauce:
4 heaped tablespoons of smooth peanut butter
2 teaspoons of runny honey
2 inch square cube of fresh ginger, grated
3 tablespoons of dark soy sauce
Juice of half a lime
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
(Optional: If you like it spicy, add some finely chopped red chillies)
Water, to thin the sauce

Chicken:
Sesame oil
500g chicken breasts, cut into rough chunks

To serve:
Iceberg lettuce
Rice or noodles
(Tip: if using noodles, add them to the pan with any excess sauce for extra tastiness!)


Method

In a large frying pan, heat your sesame oil and add your chunks of chopped chicken.

Meanwhile, add all the ingredients for the satay sauce to a bowl, and mix together well. Taste and tweak the proportions as you see fit (for example, if you like it sweet, add extra honey; for spice fiends, add chilli...).

Fry the chicken until golden brown, then turn the heat to low and pour the satay sauce into the pan. Add water to thin the sauce to the desired consistency, and stir for a minute or two until the satay sauce is heated through and runny.

Plate up your chicken with iceberg lettuce and rice or noodles. We had noodles, which I added briefly to the pan to mop up the excess satay sauce - yum!

The whole meal took about 15 minutes to make and was actually tastier* than traditional chicken satay, despite the less refined presentation; a warming, comfort-food version of one of my favourite summer-time recipes.


*I was starving, so my judgement may have been skewed!

Healthy January - slow-cooker chicken soup

If you're looking for something comforting to help fight off the January blues, this easy-peasy slow-cooker chicken soup may be just the thing. While it won't bring Christmas back (sorry, you still have to go to work tomorrow!), this healthy but satisfying meal is light on the pocket, light in calories, and may even help fight off that nasty cold...

Ingredients

One whole chicken, around 1.5kg
500g of carrots, chopped into big chunks
One large onion, halved
Boiling water, to cover
Chicken stock, stock-pot, or stock-cubes (depending on what you have in the house!)
Salt and pepper
Flat leaf parsley, roughly chopped
Dried macaroni pasta, or any other small pasta (broken spaghetti strands also work)

This really couldn't be easier to make. All you need is a whole chicken, a bag of carrots (chopped into hearty chunks), and one large onion, halved. Place everything into the slow-cooker, season with salt and pepper, and add boiling water to cover your chicken (note: the top of my chicken was jutting out slightly, but this didn't seem to do any harm!). I added a Knorr's stockpot for extra flavour - if you prefer, you could use stock-cubes, or replace some of the water with chicken stock.

You may have to adjust the following instructions according to the model of slow-cooker you are using: I have a Tefal 8-in-1 multi-cooker*. This has only one slow-cooker setting (rather than giving you a choice between high or low) and a maximum duration of 9 hours, after which it switches automatically to 'keep warm' mode. I started the slow-cooking process when I left the house in the morning, and got back about two hours after it had ended: the soup was still steaming hot, due to the 'keep warm' function, and we didn't get food poisoning, so I guess there's no harm in leaving it in this mode for a while!

When I opened the slow-cooker I was met with a waft of mouth-watering steam (and - as it was the first time I've used a slow-cooker - was relieved to find that everything was cooked!). The chicken was ridiculously tender, literally falling from the bone when I took it out of the pot. I removed the chicken, onion halves and carrot pieces from the broth and set them aside, then poured the broth into a saucepan with some dried macaroni pasta, which I cooked according to the instructions on the packet (10 minutes in this case).

Meanwhile I shared the (de-boned and de-skinned) chicken and vegetables between two large bowls, and sprinkled everything with plenty of freshly chopped flat-leaf parsley. When the macaroni was done, I scooped ladlefuls of broth and pasta straight from the saucepan over the other ingredients, and served the steaming bowls of soup straight away.

This recipe would easily serve 3 or 4 - although we managed to finish it between the two of us! It was delicious, healthy, easy to prepare, and - for those whose wallets are a bit lighter post-Christmas - incredibly good value (my free-range-but-not-organic/corn fed chicken was less than £6. Add another couple of quid for carrots, onion, stockpot, and a 1/4 pack of macaroni...and it still comes in at under £10!).

*I got this for Christmas, and this was my first attempt at using it, so apologies if I have any of the setting details wrong - I'm still figuring it out!

Mary Berry's Mega Choc Chip Cookies

Yesterday I decided to make some cookies to take with me to a Christmas party. My boyfriend's mum Jane is a fantastic baker - her signature chocolate cake, a devils food cake with chocolate fudge icing, is the best I've ever tasted (the recipe is from the fantastic Green & Black's Chocolate Recipes - I'll have to do a post about it some time soon!) - so I called her up to get a recommendation.

 
She suggested the mega choc chip cookies from Mary Berry's Ultimate Cake Book:


Ingredients

175g (6oz) margarine
225g (8oz) caster sugar
2 eggs
350g (12oz) self-raising flour
100g (4oz) chocolate chips (I double this, and used 100g each of milk and white chocolate chunks)

I love my Joseph Joseph nesting bowls set :)

These really couldn't be any simpler to make: after measuring out your ingredients you just throw everything together in a bowl and mix it all up into a smooth cookie dough.

 Chocolate chunk time!

Grease a couple of baking trays (I only have one, so I made the cookies in two batches) and scoop blobs of the dough onto the trays, flattening slightly with the back of a spoon. Make sure they are quite widely spaced as the cookies will expand a lot when you bake them.

 Not spaced quite wide enough....

 Cook in a pre-heated oven at 180C for about 10-15 minutes, until golden-brown but still slightly soft, then place on a wire rack to cool (or dig in - it's up to you!).

 All done! Now you can lick out your bowl...

Jane's top tips for a perfect cookie:

• Don't skimp on the sugar: it may seem like a lot, but it doesn't make the cookies overly sweet; it just gives them a lovely caramel chewiness at the edges
• Make sure you flatten the blobs of dough: if you make the cookies too thick they will turn into short-bread 
• Use chocolate chunks rather than chips, the bigger the better (Waitrose sell them in their baking section)
• Use a dessert spoon to measure out your dough for perfect-sized cookies
• For something a bit different, add chunks of fudge along with the chocolate chips
• Even if you do have enough trays, it's a good idea to bake in a couple of batches: all ovens differ and it may take a bit of experimenting to find the right cooking time for the perfect chewy consistency

 And one from me:

• Place the cookie dough in the fridge for a while before you spoon it onto the baking trays - this will make the dough a bit less sticky and easier to work with (my first batch kept sticking to the spoon when I tried to flatten them!)
• Go crazy with the chocolate chips. The original recipe recommends only 100g - I used 200g, and to be honest, I think they could possibly even have done with a few more than this!

These are English-style cookies - soft with a slight toffee crispiness at the edges - rather than the chunkier American variety. As far as I can tell, the main difference lies in the type of sugar you use: most US versions seem to use a combination of brown and granulated sugar, whereas the caster sugar in Mary Berry's version produces cookies with a finer texture.

For extra brownie points, make your own gift box

Stored in an air tight container, they should keep* for a couple of days, and would make a lovely home-made Christmas gift - simply pop them into a glass jar and tie on a festive ribbon for an easy but thoughtful present. I took mine to the party in a decorated shoebox, and they disappeared pretty quickly!

*I didn't get the opportunity to test this with my batch!