Lamb steaks, with roasted veg and cous cous

 Birthday treat!

So, it was my birthday yesterday, yeay!
With it being a 'school' night we didnt go out but I got free reign on choice of tea.
This is an old classic in our house that just got forgotten about!

so first things first, get the roasted veg on (click here for recipe)
then you get to chill out for 15 minutes before starting on the cous cous.

Cous cous -
Finely dice a red onion and cook it in saucepan on a medium heat with a glug of olive oil.
Also add 1shake each of paprika, cumin, garlic and two shakes of turmeric. After a minute or so of stirring put the kettle on and tip enough cous cous for two (it doubles in size) stir until all the cous cous is covered in the oil and spices add a handful of raisins or other dried fruit, a handful of sundried tomatoes and  a pinch if cinnamon. Turn the heat off and pour over the boiling water until everything in the pan is covered with 1cm / 1/2 inch extra. Leave for 5 mins for all the water to be absorbed.

Lamb steaks-
Season and oil the lamb steaks and simply fry over a high heat ( if you have any in the fridge add a splash of wine to the pan as you turn them over, helps them keep really soft)

Simply serve with some minty yoghurt drizzle (mix some plain yoghurt with mint sauce)
We also had some cheesy garlic mushrooms!
enjoy xx

Time for tea part 1

So, not a recipe but what I'm going to do is when I have something good for tea I'll take a pick and share with you!

Tonights tea using yesterdays roast chicken and new potatoes roasted with garlic and rosemary. With a egg, green olive and sundried tomato salad. A sprinkle of smoked paprika and a tasty homemade balsamic dressing.

I've got a brilliant salad dressing messure/shaker with recipes and the quantities marked on the side, easy to use and cheaper than buying pricey bottles of dressing that sit in the fridge door for weeks on end whilst you deliberate if it's still edible.

Dave's Baked Sea Bass

Today we have a guest recipe from my lovely husband Dave! A much more grown up version of fish fingers and much more tasty. Here's our version, feel free to change it up with different fish, flavours of cream cheese and the herb flavouring in the breadcrunbs.


You will need:

2 Sea bass fillets
Bread (leave 2 slices out so they go dry, or for more flavour, use that hard end of posh/homemade loaf that no-one wants to finish!)
Cream cheese (as light or as 'un-light' as you want we use philly light)
half a handful of fresh parsley.
1/2 a lemons worth of lemon zest.

★ use a stick blender/food processor/ sharp knife to chop the bread and parsley together untill you have green flecked breadcrumbs, then add the lemon zest.
★ put the sea bass fillets skin side down on a tray covered in lightly oiled baking/greaseproof paper. Smooth over a thin layer of cream cheese and then cover the fillet with a layer of breadcrumbs.
★ how long your fish will take to cook will vary, as a guideline I'd recommend 15mins in a pre heated 170°c oven.

Quickly boil, then roast new potatoes with rosemary and garlic on another baking tray. serve alongside the fish with peas, or even try minty smushed peas.

Enjoy!

morrocan inspired sauce

This is a sauce concocted to put a different spin on roast chicken. Served with rice and roasted butternut squash and sweet potato.

In a saucepan heat up:

1 chopped onion, heat until softened then add
1 tin of plum tomatoes.
turn off the heat and allow to cool, then blend (with a stick blender) until smooth.
Put back on the heat and add:

Splash of red wine
splash of balsamic vinegar.
1/2 tsp each of cumin, paprika, ground coriander and mustard seed.
heaped tsp of brown sugar
big pinch of ground cinnamon
big pinch of ground ginger
Then add 65g of dried fruit ( I bought a mixed bag that had raisins, sultanas and dried apricots.)

 This could be used as a tagine sauce for lamb or mixed veg.

Enjoy!

Bacon, Blue Cheese and Spring Onion Stuffed Jackets

Baked Potatoes are great. Filling, cheap and you can put almost anything on them (great for clearing out the fridge).

A recent thrifty thing of mine has been buying the big pack of bacon off cuts/ bits from the butchers (supermarket ones aren't so great) it's only £2 a pack and it lasts forever!
But if you're veggie or don't eat bacon, this recipe is also very tasty without!

So you will need:

3 spring onions
2 handfuls of bacon, (snip it with scissors into bite size pieces)
1/2 a pack of blue cheese (approx g)
2 big baking potatoes, or 3 medium ones ( I used 3 medium ones)
heaped teaspoon of cream cheese

prick the skins on the potatoes and cook them in the microwave for about 10 mins or until they're soft all the way through. Slice through lengthways and scoop out the insides into a bowl. Arrange the skins onto a baking tray (pre-heat the oven to 180°c)

Cook the bacon strips in the frying pan until crispy and add to the spooned out potato.
Mix the crumbled blue cheese in with potato and snip in the spring onions. Add the cream cheese and mix thoroughly. Spoon it back into the potato skins and cook for ten minutes or until they're starting to brown on top.

Serve with a big handful of peppery salad leaves or dark green leafy veg

Enjoy!

Ginger and spring onion sauce

I love chinese inspired food, here's another takeaway favourite!

You will need:

Thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and sliced into matchsticks.
3 spring onions, cut into similar sized strips
one clove of garlic, in thin slices.

Put all this into a heat proof bowl.

Add to this:
3tblsp chicken stock.
2tblsp soy sauce.
2 tsp brown sugar.
1/2  tsp smooth peanut butter.

Heat up 4 tblspn vegetable oil in a pan until it is very hot but not quite smoking, then tip it into the bowl with the other ingredients. It will fizzle for a few seconds, then once it stops you can use it with stir fried meat or veg and fried rice/ noodles.

Tonight we had it with beef, sugar snap peas carrots and fried rice.

Enjoy :-)

Its a roast poatato, its a chip, it's a Crispy Gnocchi!

This is possibly a Nigella idea or another TV cook/chef (I watch so many!!) I adopted a while ago. Very true to the blog, fast tasty and great value!

Gnocchi!?

Gnocchi are little italian potato dumplings, which are very nice cooked quickly in a pan (the way you would fresh pasta) and tossed in some tasty pesto. 
But for when you're not feeling quiet so virtuous and craving something crispy on the outside and soft in the middle, there is another way...

Heat a good slosh of olive oil in a frying pan and add a big handful of gnocchi per person. Keep stirring around with the pan hot and add what ever seasoning/flavouring you like. I personally like garlic powder and dried rosemary. Stir until they have all turned a nice golden colour and then eat them whilst they're still hot!

We had some last night with steak and salad. Lovely!

A great store cupboard standby, I used half a vacuum pack I got from the supermarket for less than 70p.
Enjoy!