Oven baked Hake with a chorizo & parmesan crumb

Sorry for the long delay between posts, been very busy but l promise this recipe is worth it.

You can see I like to use chorizo in alot of my cooking, it's a great thing to keep in the fridge and you get an awful lot of flavour for your money. It's also a great way to turn cheap ingredients to be some thing special!

At the supermarket the other night there was a great pile of bagged fresh fish sitting in the reduced section, I was there like a shot a found and big piece of hake fillet. Hake is a meaty white fish, so if there's other white fish you can spot at a bargain, try it with that instead. Just remember to work out the cooking times out for your size of fish.

You will need:

1 hake fillet
Tennis ball sized piece of stale bread
Good inch of chorizo sausage
Handful of Parmesan shavings
2 dessert spoons of cream cheese

- First turn you oven to 190C. Line a baking tray with baking/parchment paper and splash in a bit of olive oil so the fish doesn't stick.
- Chop the chorizo into chunks and cook it gently in the pan until it goes all crispy.
Now this next bit does require using a mini chopper, or you could chop it all up with a knife and bash the bread into crumbs inside a freezer bag. But I have just bought a mini chopper / food processor, and it's making me lazy!
- Chunk up the bread and whizz it in the chopper until it looks like big breadcrumbs, then add in the crispy cooked chorizo (including all the lovely orangey oil in the pan) and a handful of parmesan shavings. Whizz again untill the chorizo is in small pieces and the breadcrumbs have turned a golden colour.
- Cut the hake fillet into 2 even pieces and place on the baking tray, spread over a thin layer of cream cheese and season with salt and pepper. Top with the cheesy chorizo crumb mixture.
- Cook the hake on the top shelf in the oven for 25minutes.

It works brilliantly with oven roasted cherry tomatoes.

Try it and see :)
Enjoy

Butternut Squash & Sweet Potato Soup

Sunshine Soup - when it's grey outside, make it shine in your kitchen!

A similar one to the sweet potato soup but with a silkier texture.

You will need:

1 small butternut squash (peeled and cut into chunks)
1 large sweet potato (peeled and cut into chunks)
Half a red onion
1 can of coconut milk
1 clove of garlic
Half a teaspoon of turmeric
Pinch of saffron (optional)
Olive oil

● Dice the onion and garlic and cook gently in a splash of olive oil and the turmeric.
● Once the onion has softened add the squash and potato to the pan and add enough water to just cover and bring the boil.
● Turn back down to a medium heat, stir in the coconut milk and the saffron if using.
● Simmer for 10 minutes or until the squash is soft.
● Take the pan off the heat and blend until smooth. Stir in a tablespoon of olive oil.

Enjoy.

Carrot & carraway cous cous

Just a quick variation on cous cous. Great side dish with lamb.

You will need:

1 carrot (grated)
1/2 diced red onion
Tsp ground coriander
Tsp ground turmeric
Tsp Carraway seed
Tsp tomato puree
Tsp garlic granules
Handful of chopped mushrooms (optional)
Mugfull of cous cous

Gently cook the onion in olive oil with the coriander, turmeric, mushroom (if using) and tomato paste. Cook until soft and add the carrot carraway and garlic.
(Put your kettle on) and then stir the cous cous in the pan until coated in the mixture. Once the kettle has boiled pour enough boiling water to cover the mixture by about 1cm, put a lid on the pan and turn off the heat.
Leave for 5mins until the cous cous has absorbed all the water.
Viola!

Time for tea part 3 - Honey roast ham, crumbled goats cheese topped veg and a honey balsamic drizzle

Another meal idea using the cola boiled ham recipe. Served with roasted sweet potato red peppers and red onions, topped with crumbled creamy goats cheese. And a bag of baby leaf salad that is drizzled with a honey balsamic dressing (I used a 1:1 ratio of good honey and balsamic vinegar with a pinch of salt and a pinch of garlic powder). Whisk in a cup untill its properly combined.

For the roasted veg chop up 2 sweet potatoes and 1 red pepper into chunks. Quarter the red onion into wedges and spread in a roasting tray. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. It will take about 30mins in a 190°c oven, just untill the edges of the vegetables are starting to catch.

The sweet sour combination of the dressing is so good with the creamy goats cheese and all the flavours worked together really well so just wanted to share :

Enjoy.

Beef 'Supreme' Quesadillas

So, the other day I slow braised a joint of beef (click here for a recipe) but with Spring finally starting to make an appearance I didn't want to use it for a heavy meal. After a quick scout around the kitchen I decided to make quesadillas. This is how I made them:

You will need: (for three people)

3 big handfuls of shredded beef (leftover roast/braised beef is a great option)
3 mushrooms thinly sliced (you can always pre-cook these if you like)
1/2 a red pepper thinly sliced
1/2 a small red onion thinly sliced
3 handfuls of grated mature cheddar
barbeque sauce (if you have your own recipe, go ahead, this time however mine came out of a bottle)
3 big tortilla wraps

Simply take each tortilla in turn and on half of it (draw an imaginary line down the middle as it's going to be folded) spread on a layer of barbeque sauce then sprinkle over a third of the the beef, sliced mushrooms, strips of red pepper and onion slices. Try to create a nice even layer, then top it off with a generous sprinkle of cheese. Fold over your wrap so it makes a nice semi circle. Complete the same process with the other wraps.

Get a frying pan on a medium heat and add a touch of oil. With each quesadilla in turn, toast for a few minutes each side, untill the wrap is nicely toasted and the cheese inside has gone all gooey.
Cut into wedges (I find a pizza wheel the easiest way) and serve with a big pile of salad and some nice bread/new potatoes/homemade chips if you're especially hungry!
These are a great alternative to pizza, and I presume with less bread/smaller portions they're much healthier!

Will add a photo next time I cook them (too busy chowing down too remember!)

Enjoy.

Blue Cheese Stuffed Burgers

After the success with the lamb koftas. I decided to try something similar with beef.

You will need:
500g lean beef steak mince
3 tablespoons of breadcrumbs
1 small grated red onion
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp paprika
3 dessert spoons of crumbled blue cheese

Mix everything except the blue cheese together in a bowl. scoop a palmful and make a dip in the middle, fill it with blue cheese and spread a small amount of the mince mixture over the top to seal the cheese inside. Shape into burger shape patties, you should have enough to make 5 burgers.

Cook in either a big frying pan or a griddle pan for 5 mins each side.
Serve on a toasted bun with whatever garnishes you like. Juicy and full of flavour!

Enjoy.

Lamb Koftas

Finally a recipe! Sorry I've been a bit quiet, lots going on and an appaling oven at our new house haven't really been inspiring me. All this wintery weather persisting is making me hanker for both junk food and summer barbeques. This recipe hits those spots with a homemade version of a kebab shop classic. Full of greek seasonings and a juicy tasty treat- guaranteed not to contain horse ( british joke only! )

You will need:

400g minced lamb
1 red onion (grated)
1 teaspoon garlic granules
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp dried mint
1/2 tsp dried parsley
1/2 tsp dried coriander
1 tablespn olive oil
3 tablespns breadcrumbs
1 tsp sesame seeds
pinch of cayenne pepper
big pinch of salt and black pepper

Mix all the above ingredients in a bowl and shape into small sausage shapes - if you start off with a ball between a golf ball and a tennins ball each time you should be able to make 12  koftas. Mine were shaped with the help of a 6 year old so did vary slightly! Cover on a plate and chill for ten minutes (or until you're ready to cook).

I used a griddle pan but a big frying pan would work fine. Bring to a high heat and cook 6 koftas at a time (turn after they have developed a dark crust) until they are cooked all the way around.

I think a tasty yoghurt based raita-esque drizzle is great with these and much tastier to make than it is to buy!

You will need:
small pot of plain yoghurt
1 spring onion (chopped as fine as you can)
1 tsp of mint sauce
big pinch of salt and pepper
1/2 tsp granulated garlic


Serve wrapped with salad leaves in a soft tortilla or pitta with drizzle of minty yoghurt and a side of sweet potato wedges. No photo as I was too busy scoffing to remember! Apologies, I will post one next time!

Garlic and thyme potato chunks with crispy shallots

This is a quick and easy side but it does require a deep fat fryer  You could try putting a good inch of oil in a saucepan but I did use a pan with a basket inside and about 3 inches deep of vegetable oil.

Leave the skins on and chunk up 4-5 potatoes (roughly 1 inch cubes) , cut out any bad bits (I used maris pipers) and put them in a big bowl. Sprinkle over garlic granules and dried thyme, turn the potatoes over with your hands to make sure they're all coated. Slice a couple of shallots into rings and add those to the bowl.

Heat up your oil to 180°c (I used my sugar thermometer) or until it fizzels when you drop in a bit of shallot. Put in the potatoes and shallots and cook until the potato is golden brown. Tip out onto a sheet of kitchen towel to drain.

Sprinkle with salt. Enjoy.

Breaded Haddock with Tangy Tomato Linguine

So the other night playing the 'no money - what's in the fridge' game. I came up with this, which is now going to be a making a regular appearance for tea!

The tangy sauce cuts through the rich fish brilliantly - such a tasty combination....Well by my opinion anyway :)

You will need:

2 haddock (or similar) fish fillets
1 tsp dried Italian mixed herbs (or similar)
1 tablespoon cream cheese
2 tablespoon of breadcrumbs (whizz up a couple of crusts with a blender stick or chop finely)
Linguine (or similar) enough for 2 (sorry I don't weigh pasta!)
2 cloves of garlic
200g cherry tomatoes
Diced red pepper (approx.) tablespoon
1/2 a capful of white wine (or cider) vinegar
juice of 1/2 lemon
1/2 tsp dried parsley
Big handful of fresh basil (or 1 tsp dried) I would recommend fresh though.
Pinch of chilli flakes
1 teaspoon of sugar

- Pre heat the oven to 180c
- Put your fish fillets on an oiled tray, smear over the cream cheese to make a thin layer, sprinkle with the Italian herb mix and top with the bread crumbs. (I spritz a bit of oil over too to help them crisp.)
- Put in the oven for 15 minutes.
- Boil the kettle for your pasta and if it's dried you need to get it on to cook straight away, if it's fresh wait until your fish has been cooking for 10 minutes. I always cook mine a la Nigella "salty as the sea and a splash of olive oil".
- Chop up your tomatoes (I quartered/ halved mine depending on size) garlic and pepper. Heat up some olive oil in a pan and add half the tomatoes, all the garlic and all the pepper. Cook on a medium heat until the tomatoes have gone all gooey.
- Now add everything else including the rest of the tomatoes except the basil and stir for a couple of minutes. Taste the sauce to make sure it's the right balance of sweet and sour and season with salt and lots of black pepper.
- Add in the cooked pasta and a tablespoon of pasta water into the sauce. Then tear up the basil and stir it in with a splash of extra virgin olive oil (if you have it)
Serve up with the crispy fish. This pasta would be lovely with prawns or chicken. Or even try adding some chopped olives into the mix and serve with some bread for a veggie option.

Enjoy.

Sweet Potato Soup

Sweet Potato Soup (four 4)

This is my favourite soup recipe, quick, easy and so tasty!

• 750g sweet potato - peeled and cubed (or a mix of sweet pots, butternut squash and carrots)
• 1 litre veg stock ( I use a stock cube)
• 1/2 onion (diced)
• coconut cream - tablespoon grated
• Spring onion - chopped, teaspoon grated ginger and teaspoon chopped garlic
• Pinch dried chilli flakes

 Cook onion gently in the pan and add stir fry paste until softened. Add vegetables and stock, bring to the boil and simmer for 15 mins. Take off the heat and add the coconut cream, stir in until melted. 

Use a stick blender to blitz or pour into a blender and blitz until smooth,sprinkle in the chilli flakes and season to taste.

This is a thick wholesome soup, great served with a dollop of soured cream or yoghurt. Or if you add more stock or even a can of coconut milk to thin it out it's a lovely light starter.

Sorry no pics at the moment - will add some next time I whizz up a batch!

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Ham peas and noodles!

Just a quick tasty lunch idea if you have some leftover cola boiled ham. Slightly less slobby than a pot noodle!

You will need:

leftover ham (cubed-ish) handful
1 portion of dried noodles
frozen peas
soy sauce
sweet chilli sauce (if you like it)

-Simply put the noodles on to boil in a saucepan with the frozen peas and add a few shakes of soy sauce. Once cooked, drain and add the ham and a couple more splashes of soy.
-Serve drizzled with sweet chilli sauce.

Nom.

Enjoy.

Roasted red pepper and almond pesto

Made this pesto as a base for a proscuitto, carmelized red onion and goats cheese tart and man, it was tasty!

You will need:
1 small red pepper
2 handfuls of flaked almonds
2 cloves of garlic
1/2 tsp dried basil
dessert spoon of diced cheese (I used mature cheddar)

-Pre-heat your oven to around 190°c
- Core and slice the pepper, arrange on a baking tray and drizzle over olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Pop the tray in the oven and keep checking them and turn reguarly just so they are starting to blacken at the edges.
- Meanwhile heat up a frying pan and stir round the almonds untill they are lightly browned.
- Put the almonds, pepper, chopped garlic cloves, basil and cheese in a bowl and blitz with a stick blender until it's a rough paste.

There you are, as I said I had it on pastry, but should be proper tasty with pasta also!

Enjoy.

Chicken Ham and Leek Pie

So, using some of the cola boiled ham from the other night I just tweaked the recipe I used for the Chicken Leek and Mushroom Pie and simply added a handful of roast ham (cubed). Served with roast potatoes that I tossed in flour flavoured with dried tarragon and a big pile of broccoli.

Very nice

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Cola boiled ham with a honey mustard glaze

This is one of my favourite recipes I've inherited from my in-laws. A true northern classic that's really versatile. Great with egg and chips, new potatoes and minted pea puree, traditional veg and potatoes with parsley sauce, or chopped up in pasta, pies or egg fried rice! Also shredded on sandwiches with some cheese and chutney is lovely :
So, you will need:

1kg approx. smoked/ unsmoked ham joint - either's fine.
(small or bigger joint is fine but you'll need to adjust the cooking times/amount of glaze accordingly)
A 2ltr bottle of cheap full sugar coke(diet versions wont work as you need the sugar)

For the glaze:
2tsp English mustard
2tsp French (Dijon) mustard
1dspn Brown sugar (the darker the better as it adds a lovely treacly flavour without the faff)
1dspn Honey - the cheap squeezy kind is fine.

So, put your ham joint in a pan just a bit bigger than it and pour over the cola, it needs to just cover the joint. Bring to the boil and turn down to a simmer for 45 minutes. If like me
your pan is a bit small, just turn over the joint every 15 mins or so to make sure it cooks evenly.

Whilst the joint is simmering make up the glaze, simply mix together all the ingredients in a bowl. Taste a tiny bit and make sure the balance of heat to sweet is to your liking, add extra honey/mustard as required. Once that's done pre-heat your oven to 190C or 180C on a fan oven and then line a roasting tin with foil, (believe me you do not want to be scrubbing this off later!)

Once the ham has finished boiling put it onto a chopping board. You now need to take the rind off, using a nice sharp knife cut off the harder layer to expose the layer of fat underneath. Now cut shallowly through the fat diagonally to create diamond shapes.

Put the joint into the roasting tin. Ideally using a silicone brush, or by spooning over the glaze, cover the ham in the honey and mustard mixture.

Put in the oven for 20 minutes, or until the glaze has started to caramelize. Get it onto a chopping board and let it rest for at least 10 minutes before you start slicing. (I give in and start picking off the crispy bits almost immediately!)

Enjoy,

Fresh Mint and Lemon Tea

I've been trying to give up drinking tea after 7ish so I get to sleep better.

I ordered this in cafe in Amsterdam and it looked and tasted amazing in a big clunky glass mug packed full of minty stems.
I then promptly forgot about it until I was staring a my overgrown mint plant the other day. This is what I did.

Stuff a big handful of mint stems into a mug with a sliver of lemon rind and a generous pinch of sugar.
Pour over boiling water and leave to steep for a couple of minutes then viola,
tasty refreshing tea and caffine free!

Homemade Salsa - as featured in the Quesadillas Photo

With just a few ingredients (probably already in your fridge) you can make vibrant tasty salsa that is the fraction of the price of the pots from the supermarket and is a simple case of chop and stir....

You will need:

5/6 cherry toms - remove the seeds and finely dice
Half a small red onion -finely diced
Quarter of a red pepper -finely diced
Half a capful of cider vinegar
Pinch of dried parsley
Pinch of dried coriander

If you want a kick of heat add a pinch of dried chilli flakes.

Stir and leave to sit for at least 10 minutes.

Great with quesadillas, with tuna wraps/sandwiches or however you'd like!

Enjoy x

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!