I forgot to take meat out of the freezer today so had to do something new for tea with chorizo out of the fridge and prawns. After scouting around online for inspiration, I came up with this..
Serves 2 and a small boy 
Ingredients
1 chorizo (the long ones in a sealed packet) – thinly sliced
4 tbsp olive oil
knob of butter
1 tsp paprika
3 garlic cloves – crushed
1 red onion – sliced thinly
250g bag of frozen prawns – defrosted
2 green (or red) chillies – deseeded and chopped OR half teaspoon of dried chilli flakes
Handful of baby spinach
300g spaghetti
Method
Put a large pan of water on to boil (for the spaghetti)
Put a second pan on a high heat and when hot turn down to a medium heat and add the chorizo, fry until the oils from the chorizo start to run.
Remove the chorizo from the pan with a slotted spoon and put to one side for now.
Turn down the heat and add the oil and butter. Once the butter has melted (keep on a low-med heat), add the red onion, garlic and chilli and cook for 2-3 minutes or until the onion is soft.
Add the chorizo back in to the pan and cook over a low heat for 5 minutes minutes.
Your water should be boiling now so add the spaghetti to the boiling water and cook for 10 mins (longer for softer spaghetti).
Add the prawns to the pan with the chorizo and stir so that the prawns are coated in the oil and leave for a minute or so before stirring in the spinach. Put a lid on the pan and turn off the heat. Leave until the spaghetti is cooked.
Once the spaghetti is cooked, rinse and pour in a little olive oil, stir then put spaghetti into the pan with the chorizo and prawns.
Shake the spaghetti into the chorizo and prawns and serve.
Ive entered this pasta dish too!
I remember having rabbit as a child and it was always yummy, I may have gone off it a little once I realised it was actually a rabbit (don’t all kids?) but in the past couple of years my love for rabbit as a food has been reignited.
Serves 3-4 people
Ingredients
1 tbsp oil
100g streaky bacon, smoked
1 rabbit (I used rabbit portions on the bone)
1 tbsp flour
1 large onion, chopped
2 celery sticks, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
2 sprigs of fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
400ml fresh chicken or vegetable stock
1 tsp honey
salt & pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to GM2
Heat the oil in a pan and cook the bacon over a moderate heat until it starts to brown then add the rabbit portions and brown, sprinkle over the flour and mix with the rabbit & bacon. Remove bacon and rabbit from the pan.
Soften the onions, carrots & celery in the pan (use the same pan that you used for the meat) but do not let them brown. Add the garlic and cook for a further minute.
Transfer everything to a casserole dish and then add the bay leaf, thyme & honey. Pour over the stock until the rabbit is just covered, season and stir.
Put the lid on the dish and cook in the oven for 2 hours.
We had ours with mashed potatoes, dumplings and broccoli from the garden.
What can I say, I love this dish. Its soooo easy to make, quick and delicious! Sorry but the ingredients list isn’t precise, I don’t measure anymore but go by my own tastes.
Serves 3-4 people
Ingredients
Leftover roast chicken or 1 chicken breast (oven cooked or pan fried)
300g pasta (any sort)
Couple of handfuls of baby spinach
200g packet of Pine Nuts
For the pesto
1 packet or large handful of fresh basil leaves
1 fat garlic clove
Approx 25g of the pine nuts (I like the large ones)
5 or 6 thick shavings of Grand Padano/Parmesan cheese
A few glugs of olive oil
Handful of spinach leaves – I prefer baby spinach
Method
Roast the chicken in the oven if using a fresh breast. I use on the bone breasts from the butchers and cook at GM6 for about 40 minutes.
Meanwhile, make the pesto -
Put the pine nuts in a frying pan and dry fry on a medium heat (no oil needed) until they are nice and golden and the oils have come out.
Place all of the pesto ingredients, except for the oil in a blender and blitz, now slowly drizzle in the olive oil until it reaches the desired texture. I blitz mine for a minute or so, this is usually enough time for it to be very smooth. Keep tasting and add more cheese/basil if desired. Set to one side.
About 15 minutes before the end of the chicken cooking time, put a pan of water on to boil and cook the pasta as per the packet instructions.
A few minutes before the pasta is cooked, put the remaining pine nuts in the frying pan and dry fry on a medium heat until golden brown.
Drain the pasta once cooked and stir in the spinach to wilt slightly, now stir in the pesto (adding as much or as little as you want), add the pine nuts and then finally the chicken.
Serve and enjoy.
I’ve entered this dish in the 5 Star Makeover at Fivestarfoodie.com, where this month’s contest is pasta.
This is truly the best ginger cake recipe I have found yet. It originally came from The Reggae Reggae Cook Book by Levi Roots – one of my favourite recipe books but I have adapted it slightly!
Jamaican Ginger Cake
I make mine in a ring tin but you can use a loaf tin aswell.
Ingredients
100g/31/2oz butter, cut into cubes
100g/31/2oz muscovado sugar
3 tbsp golden syrup
150ml/5fl oz milk
1 large egg
150g/5oz plain flour
1 tbsp ground ginger
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
2″ piece of ginger – peeled, grated and the juice squeezed from the gratings.
Method
Preheat the oven to 150°C/300°F/Gas Mark 2. Grease a 20cm/8in ring tin or a 900g/2lb loaf tin with butter
Put the butter, sugar and golden syrup into a pan and heat gently, stirring, until melted.
Add the ginger juice to the milk and then add to the pan, pour into a jug and leave to cool for a couple of minutes, then add the egg.
Sift the flour, ginger, cinnamon and bicarbonate of soda into a large bowl. Pour in the wet ingredients and gently mix together.
Pour the cake mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 45 minutes (or up to 1 hour for loaf tin) or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean.
Turn onto a wire rack and leave to cool.
We enjoy ours with or without custard, its great as a pudding or with a cup of tea! Enjoy.
This is one of our favourite recipes.
Serves 4.
Ingredients
500g Rigatoni pasta (I use ½ bag of the large pasta)
400g lean minced beef
100g smoked diced pancetta
2 tablespoons olive oil
30g salted butter
1 onion, finely chopped
1 carrot, finely chopped
1 celery stick, finely chopped
150ml white wine
200ml vegetable stock
150g Mascarpone
½ tsp freshly grated nutmeg
4 tbsn chopped flat leaf parsley
100g freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano
Salt and pepper to taste
To make the white Ragu use a large saucepan.
Heat the olive oil and the butter and fry the onion, celery, carrot and pancetta for approximately 10 minutes on a moderate heat until softened and golden.
Add the beef and mix well allowing the minced meat to crumble. Cook, stirring frequently, until the meat has browned. Approximately 10 minutes.
Pour in the wine and cook until evaporated. Season with salt and pepper and add the stock. Lower the heat and simmer, without the lid on, for 30 minutes. Stir occasionally.
Mix in the mascarpone, parsley and nutmeg and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
In the meantime, in a large saucepan, cook the pasta in boiling water, drain and add immediately to the sauce.
On a high heat, mix the white Ragu and the pasta together with a wooden spoon for approx 1 minute.
Serve immediately with plenty of grated Galbani Parmigiano Reggiano on top.
Last year, I bought myself a note book to log recipes that we enjoyed at home. So far, in that time I’ve jotted down three! So, my mission for this year is make a start on that recipe book with the many endless recipes that we love to cook at home so that every time I want to make one of them, I dont have to endlessly trawl through the Internet trying to remember where the hell it was. Or for when I stumble across something, forget to bookmark it, close the laptop down and then fail to find it completely.
I was watching something on the TV the other and woman pulled out a family recipe book, it was tatty and torn but so well used and it was that reminded me about my little note book waiting to be filled. Im hoping that over the years I can fill it with lovely things that we eat as a family and then I can pass it to Joe, if he wants it that is!
I’ve been watching (for the first time) The Hairy Bikers new TV series, Mums Know Best and I have to say I’m hooked, both to the programme and the lads themselves! They are so passionate about cooking and make me want to get up and try the recipes right away, added to the fact I think they are so incredibly funny too. Its nice to see chefs on the telly with a bit of interest to them and they show you normal food made with normal ingredients!
Anyway, one recipe in particular that grabbed me was the curry recipe and I’m really sorry but I cant remember who it was that cooked it but she was an amazing woman, cooking lovely looking food and in so much abundance that her family (who had left home) had to come round almost everyday to either sit and eat or take away!
We absolutely adore curry in our house and its something that I would really like to conquer so I gave it a go an the outcome was delicious – even better the next day. I did change a couple of things but in only in that I used passata instead of tinned tomatoes and I used chicken thighs (bones in) as I prefer the flavour in a curry/stew. Oh and I made it with more chillies.
This website, by the way has quite a few of the recipes on - http://www.goodtoknow.co.uk/recipes/Hairy-Bikers
Ingredients
8 chicken thighs
1½ tsp ground black peppercorns and coriander seeds
¾tsp garam masala
1tsp paprika
1½ tsp turmeric
1 tsp red chilli flakes
Handful of fresh coriander, chopped
450ml chicken stock
For the masala sauce:
3tbsp ghee (you can use sunflower or olive oil)l
3tsp cumin seeds
2 medium onions, peeled and chopped
4 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped
1/2 small box of passata
5cm piece of root ginger, peeled and chopped
4 whole green thin chillies (obviously, this part is to taste)
Method:
Wash the chicken and drain it well.
For the masala sauce
Heat the oil in a large pan until fairly hot, add the cumin seeds and fry for 10 secs. Add the onions and fry until golden brown, then add the garlic and fry until slightly golden. Add the passata. Next add the ginger, chillies and cook until the oil begins to separate (about 15 minutes).
Put the chicken, salt, spices and chilli flakes into the pan and cook over a fairly high heat. Keep turning the chicken and continue to cook until the meat is sealed and browned and the liquid has evaporated. Add the stock, bring to the boil and simmer over a medium heat for about 15 mins or until the chicken is tender.
Finally, sprinkle in the fresh coriander and serve with chapattis, boiled rice.
So thank you lads, for helping make a curry I would be happy to pay for in a restaurant!!
I made two very nice cakes today….
If you like to cook and enjoy Caribbean food then Levi Roots Reggae Reggae Cook Book is a must to buy. Its like a little food bible in our house. The Jerk sauce is amazing and the ginger cake puts those oblong McVities cakes to shame! Today I tried the coconut cake and Levi has not failed me yet again, its delicious.
Coconut Cake ala Levi Roots
Ingredients
175g self-raising flour
1tsp baking powder
175 g butter, cut into cubes
175 g golden cater sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
50 g sweetened tenderised coconut or desiccated coconut
Finely grated zest and juice of 2 limes
Method
Preheat the oven to 180oC and line a loaf tin with the non-stick baking parchment.
Put the flour, baking powder, butter, sugar, eggs, coconut and lime zest and juice into a large bowl and mix together with an electric whisk. Start off slowly, and then gradually increase the speed. If you haven’t got a mixer, put all the ingredients into a large bowl and mix with a wooden spoon until light and fluffy.
Pour the mixture into a prepared tin and bake for 45-55 minutes or until skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Leave to cool in the tin for 1o minutes, then turn onto a wire rack to cool completely.
The second cake I made was a Carrot Cake because I love them. 
Carrot Cake with cream frosting
Ingredients
1 cup castor sugar
1 cup plain flour
1 and ½ cups grated carrots
2 eggs
½ cup oil – rapeseed/veg/sunflower/olive
½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon powder
Method
Preheat oven to 180°C/GM4.
Grease and line a loaf tin.
Place all ingredients into a bowl and mix well – I used my Kenwood.
Pour mixture into cake tin.
Bake for approximately 45/1hr minutes until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out clean.
Remove the cake from oven and allow to cool.
Turn cake onto a wire rack and allow to cool completely before icing.
Carrot Cake Frosting
Mix 30g of spread/soft butter with the same quantity if cream cheese, you may add some lemon or orange juice with about a tbsp of icing sugar.
Spread over cake.
Having tasted the most delicious macaroon ever the other day (thanks Ben!), I wanted to have a go at making my own. I’ve never made macaroons before and as I never managed to get the recipe from a colleague, I hunted high and low on the web. I went with this one, they weren’t quite as soft as Ben’s were in the middle but came a close second.
2 2/3 cups desicated coconut
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup plain flour
¼ tsp salt
4 egg whites
½ tsp almond extract
- Preheat the oven to GM3 and lightly grease and flour a large baking tray and set aside.
- In a medium bowl combine coconut, sugar, flour, and salt.
Stir in egg whites and almond extract.
Using 2 teaspoons, mould small circles of the mix onto the baking tray, leaving an inch or two apart.
Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until edges are golden brown.
Put straight on a baking tray and leave to cool.
Decorate with chocolate or leave as they are and enjoy!
