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Rosemary Potato Wedges

August 2013

Such an easy recipe and so much better than frozen oven chips. Serve as a side or with chorizo and crisp leaves for a hearty healthy salad.  Serves 4.

Ingredients

4 baking potatoes
2 tablespoons of sunflower oil
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary
Salt and pepper

Method

  1. Slice the potatoes into wedges and place in a bowl.
  2. Add the oil, rosemary, salt and pepper and toss to ensure each wedge is evenly coated.
  3. Lay on a foil lined baking sheet in a single layer and bake at 190 degrees for 20 minutes or until golden brown and soft inside turning half way through the cooking time. 

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Halloumi and roasted pepper bruschetta with tomato dressing

August 2013

A light supper or lunch ideal with a crisp salad and a nice glass of wine. Serves 2

Ingredients

3 peppers in a variety of colours
A sprig of rosemary, chopped finely
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
salt and pepper
150g halloumi cheese, sliced thickly
2 slices of good quality bread

For the tomato dressing

two large tomatoes, finely diced.
a small bunch of parsley, finely chopped
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper

Fresh leaves to garnish (I used radish tops but rocket or lettuce would be great too)

Method

  1. Cut the peppers into eighths and place on a baking tray, sprinkle over the rosemary and garlic and season with salt and pepper. Drizzle with oil and bake in a 180 degree oven for 1 hour.
  2. Meanwhile, mix together the ingredients for the tomato dressing and set aside.
  3. When the peppers are tender, turn off the oven and leave them there to stay warm.
  4. In a griddle pan, fry the halloumi until golden brown and toast the bread.
  5. To assemble, place the toasted bread in the centre of the plate and lay over your soft peppers. Place the halloumi on top and garnish with your leaves. Drizzle over the tomato dressing and enjoy.  

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The Best Dark Chocolate Brownies

August 2013

Ingredients

100g butter
175g dark brown sugar
125g dark chocolate
2 tablespoons golden syrup
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla essence
150g plain flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 tablespoons cocoa powder

Method

  1. Line and grease an 8 inch cake tin and preheat oven to 160 degrees celsius.
  2. Gently melt the chocolate, butter, dark chocolate and syrup in a pan stirring continuously until all the ingredients are melted and combined. Remove from the heat and leave to cool.
  3. Beat the eggs and add the vanilla essence. Whisk in the cooled chocolate and butter mixture.
  4. Sieve in the dry ingredients and fold them in gently with a large metal spoon.
  5. Pour the batter into your tin and bake for around 60 minutes. Remember, an overcooked brownie is a disappointing brownie so make sure to remove it from the oven when it is still slightly liquid in the centre (it will solidify slightly as it cools). Cut into squares when cool and attempt not to eat the whole lot in one sitting.

 

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Juicy home-made burgers

August 2013

Makes 4

Ingredients

500g lean minced beef
1 egg
1 slice of bread, blitzed to breadcrumbs in a food processor
Half an onion, finely sliced
1 clove of garlic, finely diced
1 tablespoon of tomato puree
1 tablespoon of finely chopped parsley

Method

  1. Fry the onion and garlic gently in a pan until tender and translucent. Remove from the heat and add the breadcrumbs, tomato puree and parsley.
  2. In a large bowl, combine the mince, egg and onion and breadcrumb mixture. If you are barbecuing your burgers then at this stage you may want to beat the mixture to create a tighter textured burger that is going to fall apart less easily. However, if you are frying your burgers in a pan I prefer a loser texture which can be created by just scrunching the ingredients together with your hands to combine them.
  3. Form the burger mix into 4 evenly sized patties with your hands dusting with a little flour to stop them sticking. Once shaped, burgers can be stored covered in the fridge for up to two days until ready to be cooked. These burgers when raw also freeze wonderfully.
  4. Lightly oil a very hot pan and fry the burgers on a moderate heat for 10 minutes, turning often to ensure even cooking.
  5. Serve in a bun with your favourite salad and maybe some chunky home-made chips or wedges. 

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Vanilla Shortbread

August 2013

Makes 16 small biscuits

Ingredients

130g Butter, softened
60g Caster sugar
190g plain flour
2 teaspoons vanilla essence

Method

  1. Grease and line a baking sheet and preheat your oven to 170 degrees celsius
  2. Cream together the butter and sugar and add the vanilla essence
  3. Add the flour and stir in until you have a uniform dough. Don’t overwork the mixture at this stage or you will exercise the gluten in the flour and make your shortbread tough.
  4. Roll out the dough (around 1cm thick) and use a cutter to cut out your biscuits. Lay them on your baking sheet and bake for 15 to twenty minutes or until pale golden in colour.
  5. Cool on a wire rack and dust with caster sugar before serving. 

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Meg’s Spiced Raspberry and Apple crumble

August 2013

This is a delicious recipe from one of my friends from university.  Crumbles are a great way to use up fruits that are a little too squishy or bruised to be eaten whole. Try experimenting with different fruit combinations but make sure you adjust the sugar content accordingly and beware an excess of juicy berries that will make your topping soggy.

Ingredients

For the fruit layer:

1kg apples, peeled, cored, and sliced into small chunks
175g raspberries
75g caster sugar

Half a teaspoon of nutmeg
Half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon

For the topping:

150g flour
75g caster
sugar 75g
butter
1 teaspoon of mixed spice

Method

  1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees celsius
  2. Layer the fruit in a well-greased ovenproof dish sprinkling a little of the sugar between each layer. When all the fruit is arranged, sprinkle over the spices.
  3. For the topping, sift the flour and sugar into a bowl, and rub in the butter until the mix looks like fine breadcrumbs. Add your spices and mix thoroughly.
  4. Spoon the topping evenly over the fruit, then bake for 40 minutes
  5. Serve with ice cream, cream or just by itself. 

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Homemade Lemonade

August 2013

Makes 1.5 litres (2 and a half pints)

Ingredients

6 lemons (try and get unwaxed or organic, trust me it’s worth it)

4ozs of granulated sugar

Method

  1. Zest the lemons with a grater into a large bowl, doing your best to avoid the white pith because that will make the finished product bitter. Zesting the lemons straight into the bowl you intend to make the lemonade in will make sure you don’t lose too many of the delicious natural oils in the lemons.
  2. Pour 1.5 litres (2 and a half pints) of boiling water over the lemon zest and add the sugar.
  3. After the zest mixture has cooled slightly, add the juice of all the lemons.
  4. Cover the mixture and leave to steep in the fridge overnight.
  5. Give it a taste and add more sugar if you deem it necessary. Strain and store in clean bottles. It will keep in the fridge for at least a week.
  6. This lemonade can either be served neat or diluted with still or sparkling water, have a taste and see what you prefer. I like mine in a 50:50 dilution with sparkling water with ice and a sprig of zingy lime basil. Lovely. 

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The Pudding Bar

The easiest way of catering pudding for a large group that brings out the creative side in everybody.

The secret to the success of the pudding bar is keeping in mind texture and the balance of sweetness in the potential desserts your guests could make. Below are some examples of what people came up with:

We all remember the unbridled joy of unlimited ice cream sundaes at chain restaurants: a tiny china bowl and your choice of sprinkles and sauces. Well, I thought, why not scale up the concept? Instead of the stress of cooking 3 or 4 different desserts (with guests’ dietary requirements and foibles in mind of course) why not just make the components? And thus the idea for the pudding bar was formed.

So I thought, what makes up my favourite puddings? In my opinion, the best puddings contain 3 elements: something sweet, something creamy and something fresh. For my sweet selection I made brownies, meringues and shortbread biscuits.  My creamy constituents included cream (pouring and whipped), yoghurt and ice cream (chocolate and vanilla). For freshness I provided summer berries from the garden, blackcurrant coulis with cassis, chopped nuts and a bitter chocolate sauce.

Me and my selection from the Pudding Bar :brownie, berries, vanilla ice cream and nuts in case you were interested. 

This was the easiest pudding-making for 18 people has ever been and I got some of the most glowing compliments I have ever received. So for your next party, why not get people to assemble their own favourite pudding and take some of the pressure off so you can enjoy yours more too?

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Simple Italian tomato salad

August 2013

Ingredients

250g of tomatoes
10 leaves of basil, finely chopped
Half a clove of garlic, finely minced
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon of cider vinegar
Salt and pepper

Method

  1. Slice your tomatoes, and place them in a shallow bowl.
  2. Scatter over the basil and garlic and drizzle over the oil and vinegar.
  3. Season just before serving. A brilliant edition to a mezze or BBQ salad selection.

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Classic Spinach, bacon and potato salad with basil and garlic tomatoes

August 2013

Serves 4 as a light main. A speedy simple supper.

Ingredients

400g of new potatoes 
200g spinach
8 rashers of bacon
25g butter
150g of cherry tomatoes
10 leaves of basil, finely chopped
Half a clove of garlic, finely minced
2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon of cider vinegar
Salt and pepper

Method

  1. Scrub your potatoes and place in a large pan of water. Bring to the boil and simmer until tender, should be around 25 minutes.
  2. While the potatoes are cooking, slice the tomatoes and combine them with the oil, vinegar, garlic, basil and season to taste.
  3. When the potatoes are 15 minutes into their cooking time grill or fry your bacon until crisp.
  4. When the potatoes are tender, drain them and toss them in the butter.

To serve, lay the spinach on your serving plates to form a bed for the potatoes. Sprinkle over the tomatoes and their dressing and top with your slices of crispy bacon.