Spanish Tomatoes on Toast

This is first, something I threw together for lunch that was good enough to recommend!

So I vaguely remember Nigella cracking an egg into some tinned tomatoes and I thought "I fancy that"

So this is what I did today.

You will need:
1/2 tin of chopped tomatoes
2 garlic cloves
just under an inch of chorizo sausage
1 egg
2 rounds of toast (or thinly slice some leftover foccacia and lightly toast)
olive oil

- finely chop the garlic and chorizo and cook them in a small saucepan on a medium heat until the chorizo has coloured all the garlic with paprikary oil.
- then add the tomatoes with some salt and pepper to the pan and mix all together. Once the mixture is bubbling,  gently crack in the egg.
- put on the lid on the pan and keep the tomatoes bubbling, once the egg has turned opaque on top it's cooked.
- gently spoon out the egg onto the toast and the rest of the tomatoey mixture. Top with plenty of black pepper and some fresh basil.

-veggies try it excluding the chorizo but add a pinch of both chilli flakes and paprika :)

enjoy!

Roasted veg Quesadillas (hard to spell, easy to make!)

These are inspired by a meal at  a favourite restaurant chain of mine.

So, you can use leftovers to make these. But if not I'll work through it from scratch.

You will need:

1 pepper (I used a red one) half chopped in chunks, the other cut into thin strips
1/2 a red onion - chopped into big chunks
2 medium sweet potatoes - chopped into chunks
2 large tortillas
3 cloves of garlic
Cumin powder or seeds - 1tsp
Paprika - 1tsp
2 tblsp grated cheese (or if you don't eat dairy you can leave it out)

Put the chunky sweet potato, pepper, onion and garlic in a roasting dish.
Drizzle on about 1 tblspn of oil and turn it all over (its easiest with your hands) until it's all coated.
Sprinkle on the cumin and paprika and cook in a preheated oven for 30mins at 190°c, or untill the sweet potato is soft and the edges are starting to catch.

When it's cooked chop/mash it all together (I find using scissors works very well!)
take one of the tortillas and spread the mixture onto 1 half (try to imagine a straight line down the middle) then top the mixture with some slices of fresh pepper and half the cheese. Fold the empty side ontop of the filled side to make a half moon and push down gently.

Lightly oil a frying pan and cook on a medium heat until the tortilla is toasted, then flip it over to toast the other side.
Slice the quesedilla into wedges and serve with some salad leaves and things to dip them in. We had hummus, sour cream and a homemade salsa (recipe here!).

Feel free to try other fillings - if anything works very well I'll let you know!

Enjoy :)

Time for tea part 2

So last night was a mini blow-out of sirlon steak and prawns (cooked on a griddle pan) with garlic mushroom, sweet potato wedges and chilli-salted broccoli! Small portions tonight as we're on a health kick!

Roast Sweetpotato and Mushroom Risotto

Everytime we make chicken stock, I always want to make risotto.

It's one of my favourite dishes but the husband isn't so sure, so if I don't get it right, I get told!

For this risotto you will need:

2 medium sweet potatoes
4 cloves of garlic
500ml chicken stock, kept warm in a saucepan
1/2 red onion diced
enough arborio rice for 2 (check on your packet!)
5 chestnut mushrooms (sliced)

Roughly chop the sweet potatoes and half 3 of the garlic cloves, toss in some olive oil in a roasting dish and put in a preheated oven 180°c.
These need to cook for 15 mins, then give it a stir put it back in the oven and start cooking everything else.

First gently cook the mushrooms in a splash of oil, then take them out and keep them on a plate.
Gently cook off the onion in olive oil and add the final garlic clove (chopped fine), then add the rice and stir until all rice is coated in oil.
Then pour over either a glass of white wine (if you have any in the fridge) or a big spoonful of stock.
Keep gently stirring the rice until the stock seems to cling to the rice, then add a bit more stock. Again stir until the rice has soaked up most of the stock. Keep repeating the adding and stirring until all your stock is used up.
Add the mushrooms back into the pan and get your sweet potato out of the oven. It should be looking slightly crispy on the outside, but will be soft and lovely on the inside. Use a knife or even kitchen scissors to break up the potato a bit more. Turn off the heat on the pan and stir through the sweet potato.

Serve up with a grating of parmesan or mature cheddar on top.
We had ours with a big pile of steamed broccoli seasoned with some dried chilli flakes.

Enjoy!

Lamb mushroom and potato Pie

This is similar to the Chicken and leek Pie in that it is only a pie lid ( I'm even using the same pie dish!)

So this came about as my lovely mother-in-law had given us a half leg of lamb to roast. After 1 meal we still had some sizeable chunks left (about 2 handfuls) and a ramekin of fatty lamb juices. It being January and saving money I promised to turn it into another tea.

I used:

125g of ready made puff pastry.
Roast lamb
1/2 red onion chopped
1 clove garlic
2 big chesnut mushrooms
2 medium sized potatoes (diced small and boiled for 10 mins)

Cook off the onion in a dessert spoon of the fatty lamb juices until just beginning to colour then add the drained potatoes, lamb, garlic and diced mushrooms. Keep stirring for 5 minutes then add a pinch of dried mint and dried rosemary, then splash in 1/2 a glass of wine ( white or red is good).

Then add either enough leftover gravy to coat everything (or shake in gravy granules and a splash of water).
Tip everything into the pie dish and brush the edge of the dish with milk so the pastry will stick down. Drape over the puff pastry and push around the edges with a fork, trim off the edges. Cut a couple of slits in the top and brush with milk, then put in a pre-heated oven (180°c) and cook for 15/20 mins until the pastry is browned.

Sorry for the half munched pic. Too hungry to remember to take a photo!

We had ours with carrots and broccoli. Enjoy!

Beef brisket - slow cooked on the hob

Some meat just needs to be slow cooked.

I also can't resist a bargain, brisket is a good value cut of meat but it needs to be given some time or you'll just end up with a tough, chewy mess.

So this is what I did to bring out that brilliant flavour.

First seal off the meat in a frying pan, I seasoned the brisket with a little bit of salt and lots of black pepper and used a knob of butter and a splash of oil in the pan. Keep the heat high and turn quickly in the pan. It only needs to be in there long enough for all the sides to be sealed.

Once the brisket is sealed, put it in a big pan and add the following:

1/2 bottle of red wine
2 beef stock cubes
1 red onion roughly chopped
3tsp mustard
1dessert spoon of tomato paste/puree
1tsp of paprika
4 cloves of garlic
pinch of celery salt
1/2 tsp each of oregano, rosemary and thyme (all mine were dried herbs)

Top up the pan with water until the brisket is covered and pop the lid on bring to the boil and then reduce down until it is very lightly simmering.
Leave it like this,topping up with water and checking occasionally. I actually forgot about mine and left it ticking over for 4 hours!


The meat should shred apart pretty easy with just a normal knife and fork. We had ours in gravy with a big pile of mash (click here for a recipe that includes smooth tasty mash) and green beans.
Simply comforting food. 

Also great to use as a pie filling or as a great value roast dinner. :)

Chicken Leek and Mushroom Pie

So, my first thing I want to champion is not wasting a drop after roasting a chicken. If you don't use the pan juices after for gravy or you have some left over, pour it into a little dish or ramekin. It splits into two delicious layers, both of which I use in this recipe. If you haven't got this, you can use any fat and a chicken stockcube instead.

This is a cheats pie, only using a pastry lid, but hey it saves on the calories.
You will need a big flat dish for your pie I used a 8 1/2 inch pyrex dish. (Don't forget it's going in the oven!)


So, as well as the jar of loveliness you will need:

2 chicken breasts ( or equivalent of thighs) cut into bite size pieces
5 mushrooms ( chestnut mushrooms if you have them, not the fiddly baby ones)
1/2 a leek sliced into little half discs
2 cloves of garlic chopped up tiny
1 spring onion sliced finely
pinch of dried parsely
pinch of dried tarragon
1/2 glass of white wine
dsrt spn of plain flour
2 dsrt spn of plain cream cheese
pack of rolled puff pastry (cut a square that is a bit bigger than your pie dish)
1 beaten egg - to glaze.


To make the filling:

Melt the top layer of the chickeny loveliness (or some butter and oil) in a big frying pan.
Add the leeks and spring onion and cook on a medium heat until softened. Add the garlic mushrooms and chicken and stir until the chicken is sealed.
Now add the white wine and the bottom part of the chicken juices, stir until incorporated then sprinkle over the flour.
Keep stiring as it turns into a sauce and add the cream cheese and herbs.
Once the cheese has melted turn off the heat and tip the mixture into the pie dish.

I left mine to cool a bit whilst I waited for my oven to get up to temperature about 180°c.
Then brush the edges of the pie dish with beaten egg and laid the pastry over the top. push the fork prongs around the edges to make sure it stays stuck on. Brush the egg all over the lid and I also topped mine with some mature grated cheddar ( not essential but very tasty) I also used some bits of pastry to decorate the top (but then I like to do faffy cheffy things occasionally!)



Cook the pie for 15 minutes, or until the pastry is puffy and golden brown. We served ours with green beans and carrots. And well, there's no leftovers!