A Pinch Of Passion

Chocolate Chunk Hot Cross Buns

2014-04-20T16:57:00.003+01:00

It’s Easter and there’s plenty of traditional food that could be made from all over the world. The hot cross bun is pretty much always a must at this time of year, especially for us British. They’re sweet and sticky… usually containing a variety of spices and dried fruit, but can vary with a lot of different flavours and ingredients. Who doesn’t love chocolate? We do! It’s everywhere at the moment… so why not make them with chocolate instead?

They are the sort of food… a bit like a crumpet, fantastic toasted, slathering on the butter so it oozes out when you bite into it. Not exactly for the health conscious! But what’s wrong with a little treat now and then? Or you can just have them cold (the fruit ones)… but in my opinion that is so wrong.

With a lot of foods, we love to make things from scratch. Although it can be easier to buy tortillas, pasta, breads, salsas, condiments and so on… where’s the fun in that?! OK, we do agree even we are often pushed for time so getting them already made is sometimes faster but we usually do it from scratch when we can. The main reason behind this is that the flavour is usually unmatched. It’s pretty much ALWAYS gonna taste better if you make it yourself and also you know EXACTLY what has gone into it.

A while ago we discovered a Belgian chocolate version which Sasha naturally preferred because of the lack of dried fruit… although she has come around to them a bit more over time. Since then we’ve vowed to recreate them. The chocolate version is perfectly acceptable cold… in fact we didn’t try it toasted so can’t really comment on it. We attempted to create our own... the first attempt being utterly disastrous... a bit like rocks… they didn’t rise properly and weren’t fluffy enough inside. The second attempt worked ok-ish... but we tweaked it a bit further to make it perfect... third time is the charm.

These are based on a recipe by Nigella Lawson, adjusted and played with to refine it to what we think is just divine… and we will definitely be repeating this in future.

Chocolate Chunk Hot Cross Buns

Makes 16

Ingredients

For the dough

400 g bread flour

150 ml milk

1 tbsp sugar

½ tsp salt

50 g butter

1 egg

1 clove

2 cardamom pods

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp ground nutmeg

¼ tsp ground ginger

Zest of 1 orange

7 g fast action dried yeast

100 g dark chocolate chunked up into chips (70% cocoa)

For the crosses

3 tbsp plain flour

½ tbsp. caster sugar

2 tbsp orange juice

For the sugar glaze

1 tbsp caster sugar

1 tbsp orange juice

a beaten egg for egg wash

Method

1. Heat a saucepan with the cloves, cardamom pods, milk, and butter and leave to cool and infuse.

2. Add all the dry ingredients to a bowl and when the milk is just lukewarm remove the whole spices and beat in an egg. Mix with the dry ingredients. Combine and knead until soft and elastic - this is easiest in a food mixer.

3. Leave to prove for 1-2 hours until doubled in size.

4. Preheat oven to 190^oC (fan, hotter for conventional) with a pan of water in the bottom, similar to the technique used for baking brioche buns for burgers. The pan of water is imperative to ensure a soft textured bun.

5. Knock back the dough. Divide into 16 equal pieces and roll into balls. Place on a non-stick tray - close to each other but not touching. Score a cross in the top of each one and leave to prove until doubled in size (~1hr).

6. Brush with egg wash and then decorate with the cross mixture; it is easiest to pipe this on. Bake for 15-20 minutes until golden.

7. Heat together the sugar and juice for the glaze and brush the buns with it as soon as they come out of the oven. Allow to cool on a wire rack.

Adapted from Nigella Lawson - Feast

Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Eggs, Garam Masala

2014-03-19T22:21:00.000+00:00

This post we unfortunately cannot claim to be our own. We have adjusted the quantities to suit our own tastes but it is essentially the same. It is a tremendously simple, quick, light dish which comes from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall’s “Three Good Things” and we fell for it completely because of its simplicity and how much flavour is packed into it. We just felt like sharing the love.

The philosophy of three good things is all about celebrating the ingredients and allowing them to show their true colours with just the help of a few staple ingredients. We love eggs, so we felt you’ve got to have two each to make this a nice meal and a chunk of good bread to accompany the dish will help mop up the yolk and any of the leftover dressing. Not much else to say really. A great dish to make at this time of year whilst purple sprouting broccoli is at its best and in season.

So here it is. Delicious!

Purple Sprouting Broccoli, Eggs, Garam Masala

Serves 2

Ingredients

4 free range or organic eggs

200 g purple sprouting broccoli, trimmed

1 tsp garam masala

1 small clove garlic, finely grated

30 g butter

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Method

1. Boil some water in a saucepan, slowly slip the eggs in, bring back to the boil and cook for 5 minutes. Once cooked, run under cold water or plunge into an ice bath to cease cooking.

2. Meanwhile, steam the broccoli for 3 minutes or until tender.

3. Melt the butter with a dash of oil, add the garlic and garam masala and heat through for one minute.

4. Serve as you see fit, drizzle with the dressing and sprinkle with salt and pepper if you fancy.

Two Bean Chilli

2014-03-18T21:22:00.001+00:00

The chilli journey...

I’ve never been a fan of chilli and beans due to what I remember from scout camps with so much chilli powder that you could fuel a rocket with it and you would remember the heat for days on end… the beans were also dry and mealy and it just really put me off.

Sasha absolutely loves beans - dried, canned or fresh - of any sort. So naturally she wants to cook with them often. I am grateful for her taste in pulses as it has allowed me to re-experience and learn more about them and how to cook with them over the years. Now we have a cupboard half-full with most of the varieties of beans you can think of.

Therefore beans have made a recurrence in my life since being with Sasha. A lot of my new found confidence with beans has come from understanding, for example, the reason I didn’t like broad beans was because of their papery outer skins. We have now been peeling them for a long time which allows us to experience fully the divine sweetness within. Eating them regularly has transformed my palate and has diversified the types of dishes I like to eat regularly.

Back to the chilli. The horrifying memory of a pan bubbling away like a cauldron on a campfire with the pungent chilli powder scent and very little flavour to invigorate the imagination still haunts me. The first chilli I ever ate since that fateful day years ago was when Sasha made me one nearer the beginning of our relationship for me to test and try it again. I was very dubious initially. The dish started out as a combination of ideas from various recipes that Sasha adjusted for our tastes. Now over the years, the recipe she guards closely and that I absolutely LOVE (total chilli convert!) has been refined to the most divine, smoky, spicy Mexican bowl of food I have ever tasted. I personally believe this is the best but everyone has their own take on it. There may be an even better one out there somewhere.

Now the question is vegetarian or meaty? It all depends on what mood we are in or what ingredients we have to which one we make.

A chilli to us… must be spicy, smoky, flavoursome and whole, where you savour every mouthful as if it’s your last and when you finish you can’t wait for leftovers for lunch the next day or to make it the next time. It’s definitely not so obnoxiously hot you’ll cry and sweat blood, but whatever is right for you, you get to figure that out as we did.

Our palate for heat in foods has changed over time, each time increasing our tolerance… Adjust the recipe to what suits your palate. I remember years ago making a curry which blew our heads off that neither of us could actually eat… another fateful experience... so when the day came around when Sasha said to me… “There isn’t enough heat in this” when I was thinking to myself that it had a nice heat, I was very surprised! Our palates and tastes change over time and are individual, though luckily we do share a lot of the same tastes and our tolerances have increased together.

When we started playing with more chillies - dried, smoked, much spicier ones… we only used a little but now we just throw the lot in. Play with it and experiment - for us this recipe is perfectly balanced for flavour and heat - it’s been refined over years and now it’s just how we do it. No more refinement from us. If you think anything can be improved let us know what you think would work even better! Maybe one day we may have a eureka moment ourselves!

To finish we love to serve with brown basmati rice, but white will do just fine, whatever you prefer, we love the nuttiness of the brown though. Choose whatever toppings you like - cheddar cheese, sour cream and chopped spring onions are obligatory in our house, sometimes guacamole. With leftovers you can do a variety of things. Baked potato fillings, chilli dog toppings, sloppy joes and nachos. The meat if used can vary from mince to a beef cheek slowly braised in a low oven. We are always sure to use diced chorizo if using meat, it really adds to the depth of flavour. Happy experimenting.

Two Bean Chilli

Enough for 6 or plenty of leftovers

Ingredients

1 onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1 stalk of celery, finely diced
1 red bell pepper, finely diced
1 carrot, finely diced
2 large tomatoes, roughly chopped
1 chilli of your choice, finely chopped
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp Mexican oregano
1 tbsp chipotles en adobo
1 tbsp tomato puree
400 g can red kidney beans, drained & rinsed
400 g can borlotti beans, drained & rinsed
400 g can chopped tomatoes
250 ml stock, we used beef
bay leaf
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp worcestershire sauce
1 1/2 tsp light brown sugar
1/2 tsp cocoa powder
handful fresh coriander
salt and pepper to taste

Notes - We make our own chipotles en adobo, it is easy enough to make if you have the ingredients (to be posted soon). If you don't want to, its available at specialist shops or online. Chipotle paste and chipotles en adobo aren't the same but you could probably substitute it well enough.

Method

1. Heat a large frying pan with 2 tbsp olive oil and saute onions with a pinch of salt until slightly softened. Add the celery, carrot and pepper and cook for a further 5-10 minutes.

2. Add the garlic and chilli and fry for a minute. Add all the cumin, paprika, cinnamon and oregano and fry for a further 2 minutes.

3. Add the fresh tomatoes, chipotles en adobo, tomato puree and stir. Add the beans.

4. Add chopped tomatoes, stock and the bay leaf and 1 tsp of salt. Add the balsamic vinegar, worcestershire sauce, sugar and cocoa powder and give a good stir. Simmer until the veg is cooked and the sauce has reduced and thickened, approx 30 minutes. Finish with a good handful of chopped fresh coriander. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.

Smoky Chorizo and Butter Bean Soup

2013-12-04T19:55:00.000+00:00

As the year is closing in, days are shorter, and evenings cooler, what better to eat in an evening than a hearty core-warming soup, which has a kick of chilli which should clear any sniffly noses out there.
The basis of this recipe is Mexican cuisine and we love the food that comes from Central America. Fiery, smoky, heart warming food that satisfies the taste buds completely. This recipe is a first invention attempt at something which should fill those criteria. With a little time and creativity, last night's meal was delicious and we wanted to share with anyone willing to read this.

It really does amaze me how things change over time. When Sasha and I first met she hated hot food. I remember a while ago failing miserably when I made a dried beef curry which turned out to be unbearably hot my friend and I were sweating profusely and Sasha ended up crying she couldn't even touch it. I soon learnt to test chillies before use! I've not been that experienced with spice in foods, but I guess mistakes is how we learn!

Time changes everything and introducing a little bit of chilli or spice over time has changed her palate; she now loves it. I was surprised to hear not long ago from her that I didn't add enough chilli to a dish.. She loves the stuff, especially if she's got a sniffle. Anyway here goes: simple, quick and nicely balanced.

Smoky Chorizo and Butter Bean Soup

Serves 2 hungry adults

Ingredients

2 red onions, quarters and skin on
2 garlic cloves, skin on
1 birdseye chilli, whole
1/2 red pepper
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 1/2 tsp chipotles en adobo
a squidge of tomato puree
100 g chorizo
1/4 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 pint chicken stock
1 can butter beans (use whatever you like, we had these)
coriander, small bunch

Method

1. Heat a dry frying pan to searing hot, place the onions, garlic, chilli and red pepper into the pan and char on all sides until smoky and pretty black. Remove from the pan, and turn off the heat. Remove the skins from the onion, garlic and pepper (seeds from the pepper, your choice if you want to leave the chilli seeds in or not). Meanwhile, dice 75g of the chorizo and place into the pan, lightly fry.

2. Place the onion, chilli, garlic, pepper and chorizo into the blender along with some of the tin of tomatoes, chipotles en abodo, smoked paprika and tomato puree, blitz to a fine paste. Pour the paste into the pan and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the stock - to achieve a lighter soup consistency, more or less may be required.

3. Drain the beans and add to the soup and warm through. Meanwhile slice the remaining chorizo and char on a griddle pan. Quickly pick a small handful of coriander leaves, place in a pestle and mortar with a pinch of coarse salt, grind to a paste and loosen with extra virgin olive oil.

Serve the soup with the chorizo slices on top, a drizzle of coriander oil and squeeze of lime juice. Enjoy with some rustic crusty bread.

Pan Fried Hake and Vine Tomato Salad

2013-06-13T20:44:00.001+01:00

We fancied having something fresh and vibrant for a change and decided upon some fish as we haven't eaten fish in a while. This dish is summery, light and highly fragrant. This summer so far, the weather has been variable, but it has usually been fairly warm and here's a dish that will satisfy those summer food desires. Tonight's supper really hit the spot, the perfect combination of a drizzle of basil pesto and finely sliced basil leaves with a perfectly cooked fillet of hake perched on top.

We've never had hake before this dish but with this dish any firm white fish will do. The hake has the perfect flake and flavour to combine with the tomato salad. We have made the pesto before in previous recipes such as fettuccine with pesto or on our condiment page. The tomatoes must be sun vine ripened tomatoes, they really must pack a punch of flavour, which is enhanced even more by the pesto and a tiny sprinkle of flaky sea salt.

Pan Fried Hake and Vine Tomato Salad

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 thick fillets of hake

3 large vine ripened tomatoes (the best you can afford)

a small bunch of basil leaves

basil pesto

a pinch of sea salt flakes

a spoon of flour

Method

1. Prepare your tomatoes by slicing medium thickness with a mandolin if you have one, it makes it so much easier, otherwise just do your best with a knife - make sure it is very sharp. Decorate your plate with the tomatoes as you see fit.

2. Season your spoon of flour on a plate and lightly dust your hake fillets, meanwhile heating a frying pan with a little olive oil. Place your fillets in when the oil is hot and cook for approx 3-4 minutes each side, depending on thickness.

3. Meanwhile, prepare a chiffonade of basil by layering your leaves on top of each other, rolling into a cigar shape and slicing thinly, cutting with one swift motion (a sharp knife and this motion is important, as the more you cut the basil, the more it will oxidise and go brown).

4. Drizzle your tomatoes with a little pesto and sprinkle with a few flakes of sea salt and your basil chiffonade before you place your fillet of hake on top. Drizzle with a little olive oil and garnish with some whole basil leaves.

We hope you enjoy as much as we did!

Jacob and Sasha

Pea Pesto, Chicken and Asparagus Pizza

2013-05-17T21:23:00.000+01:00

After a long day at work, we started home only to realise we had nothing planned for tea. We felt like being creative and after a quick turn around the food hall we were armed with fresh, extra fine British asparagus (it's asparagus time again!) and a bunch of fragrant basil leaves, remembering that we had some fresh garden peas in the fridge at home. After a brief bouncing around of ideas, this pizza was created in our minds. The result was fresh and delicious.

Pea Pesto, Chicken and Asparagus Pizza

Makes 2 pizzas

Ingredients

For the pesto
200 g fresh (or frozen and defrosted) peas
1 garlic clove, peeled
25 g basil leaves
50 g cashew nuts, lightly toasted
50 g cheddar cheese, grated
125 ml olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste

For the pizza dough
125 g strong white bread flour
125 g plain flour
3 g fast action yeast
5 g salt
1 tbsp olive oil
approx 150 ml water

Toppings
asparagus spears, blanched
cooked chicken
a mixture of mozzarella and cheddar, grated
freshly ground pepper

Method

1. Begin by making the pizza dough. Mix all of the dry ingredients together and then add the oil and water. Combine to form a ball of dough and knead for 5-10 minutes to work the gluten until you have a nice smooth consistency. Leave to prove in an oiled bowl for around an hour or until doubled in size.

2. Whilst the dough is proving, prepare the pesto. Place all of the ingredients into a food processor and blitz into a fine paste. Add more olive oil if the mixture is too thick. Season to taste. This pesto will store for a few days in the fridge - cover with olive oil to prevent it from browning.

3. When you are ready to cook, preheat your oven to 220 degrees Celsius (fan oven). To assemble the pizza first knock the dough back to expel any air. Cut the dough into two and roll each one out into a thin rectangle/round/whatever you fancy. Spread liberally with a dollop of pesto and sprinkle with grated cheese and your toppings as you see fit. Season with pepper and olive oil and place in the oven for 5-10 minutes or until golden brown and crispy. Serve with salad and savour the vibrant flavours of the season.

Pan Fried Duck Breast with a Green Bean and New Potato Salad

2013-05-08T16:47:00.000+01:00

It's started to get a bit warmer now (finally!) and with that comes the salad season where a delightful salad will suffice without needing to delve into heavier foods to keep warm throughout the winter. We came by some succulent duck breasts and we wanted to keep it simple without over complicating the dish. What better way to serve a duck breast than to pan fry it, ensuring a perfectly crisp skin and blushing pink centre? We were very loosely inspired by salad niçoise, which eventually turned into something nothing like the inspirational dish at all... anyhow this is what we ended up with and it was delicious.

Pan Fried Duck Breast with a Green Bean and New Potato Salad

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 small duck breasts, skin on
10 small new potatoes
a handful of green beans
2 eggs
a good bunch of mixed salad leaves
butter
salt and pepper

Method

1. Boil or steam the potatoes until tender and hard boil your eggs (approx 7 minutes). Drain and cool the eggs under cold water and peel the shell off. Set aside.

2. Meanwhile score the skin of the duck breasts and season with salt and pepper. Place them skin side down into a cold frying pan (see Note). Turn the heat on. Cook the breast most of the time on the skin side and flip to seal the other side and cook to your preference. We cooked ours to medium-rare, blushing pink in the centre (roughly 7-8 minutes - this obviously depends on the size of your duck breasts. It is a bit like cooking a steak and feeling for when they are ready - have some confidence and get in touch with your food - never rely on timings from anyone! Prod, touch, poke - just get to know how to gauge your cooking times). Remove from the pan and set aside to rest.

3. Whilst the breasts are resting, boil some beans for about 4-5 minutes to ensure they don't squeak when you eat them! In the same pan you used for the duck breasts melt a knob of butter and pour in the drained beans and potatoes, season with a little salt and pepper to taste and toss to dress them.

4. Dress your plates with a nice bed of your favourite salad leaves and decorate with your beans and potatoes. Slice your breasts into diagonal slices and cut your eggs into wedges. Place on top of your salad as you desire and drizzle with the juices from the frying pan or a little olive oil if that takes your fancy.

Enjoy!

Note: Bringing the pan up from cold is important to ensure the fat is rendered from underneath the skin, making it perfectly crispy. If you place your duck into a searingly hot pan, it crisps the skin without rendering any of the fat which can be unpleasant when you have a thick white layer of fat under the skin when served.

Chorizo Stew

2013-03-23T15:33:00.002+00:00

Pulses are one of the most satisfying and comforting ingredients to cook and eat. What could be better on a cold evening than a lovely hot bowl of stew flecked with chickpeas or cannellini beans? Couple this with the wonderful aroma of fresh rosemary and the intensity of chorizo and you really have something. There is little else to say about this dish: it really is just an amalgamation of some delicious ingredients to create a heartwarming supper. The recipe as you see it below comes directly from my kitchen scrapbook notes that I scribbled out whilst happily creating the final dish, a little snapshot into our kitchen antics.

Chorizo Stew

Serves 2 with leftovers

Ingredients

2 shallots, 1 finely chopped and 1 sliced
2 garlic cloves, grated
1 pepper, sliced into long strips
200 g raw chorizo sausage, diced
a generous splash of red wine
1 tsp finely chopped parsley stalks

1 can chopped tomatoes
1 can chickpeas, drained
1/2 tsp hot smoked paprika

pinch of cinnamon

1 tsp tomato purée
1 bay leaf
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
chopped parsley
salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar
oil

Notes: Use any colour pepper you like, I used an orange one as that's what I had in the fridge at the time. The chopped parsley stalks are optional but I used them because I had them and didn't want them to go to waste. Feel free to substitute any of your favourite beans for the chickpeas - cannellini or butter beans would be excellent.

Method

1. Heat a large frying pan and dry-fry the chorizo until it has lightly coloured and given up some of its oils. Remove and set aside.

2. Add a splash of olive or rapeseed oil along with the diced shallot and a pinch of salt. Soften the shallots for a couple of minutes before adding the garlic, remaining shallots, peppers and parsley stalks if using. Keep cooking over a medium heat for around 5 minutes until soft.

3. Add back the chorizo with the hot smoked paprika and a pinch of cinnamon and fry for 1 minute.

4. Splash in some red wine (say about 60 ml or 1/4 cup) along with the bay leaf and rosemary sprigs and cook until the wine has reduced down.

5. Add the chickpeas, chopped tomatoes and tomato purée. Fill the empty tomato can with water, capturing any remaining tomato juice and add to the pan. Season to taste with salt, pepper and a good pinch of sugar to balance the acidity of the tomatoes. Bring to the boil then simmer over a low heat until the vegetables soften and the flavours develop and mingle.

6. Once cooked, finish with fresh parsley and serve with cous cous, bulgur wheat or crusty bread.

Sasha

Making Pasta...

2013-03-13T21:05:00.001+00:00

Making pasta... is possibly one of life's most satisfying skills that any foodie must acquire in the kitchen... The simple combination of two ingredients, flour and eggs is transformed into the most versatile ingredient that can be used for a simple dish such as this... to filled ravioli...

The flour used to make pasta is special, it's a Type or Tipo '00' grade flour which is extremely fine, high gluten flour. Fresh pasta is made with eggs which makes it more tender than dried and it takes less than half the time to cook.

This post is designed to give a step by step guide to the simple process to produce a fine product which can be used in your cooking. You can choose to use a variety of flours to alter the texture and utilise other ingredients such as spinach, beetroot or squid ink to make things a bit more interesting.

There is no recipe for this or list of ingredients, the simple rule of pasta is that you use 1 egg per 100 g of flour, if the mixture is a little dry add a little bit of water. The key behind pasta making is to play with it and learn it, by doing. You feel when the dough has been worked enough to make it smooth therefore it's ready, allow to rest, then go and be inventive at what you choose to put with it! We hope this is easier to follow than the recipe we posted previously, so you can see the process from start to finish.

1. Pour flour onto a sturdy surface, make a well, crack an egg into it.
2. Beat your egg with your fingers and bring the flour in from the edges to combine
3 & 4. The pasta will slowly come together as you work it

5-8. Work until fully combined and smooth, chill for at least 15 minutes.

9. Flatten with your palm until about 1 cm thick.
10. Feed through your pasta machine on the thickest setting (1) or use a rolling pin if you don't have a machine.

11. Lay your oblong of pasta out ensuring it is floured nicely. This next step is laminating.
12. Fold in the right side a third of the way in.
13. Fold the left side in a third over the top of the other fold. (3 layers)
14. Twist 90 degrees and press flat.

15. Feed into your machine still on thickest setting, open edge first.

16. Repeat 12 and 13 to get 3 layers again.

17. Flour to ensure the pasta doesn't stick in your machine

18. Repeat steps 14 and 15. Roll twice through this setting.

19-20. Work your pasta sheet through each of the settings ensuring you flour your pasta between each rolling until you reach the thickness you desire.

Vietnamese Pho Inspired Chicken Noodle Soup

2013-03-07T19:06:00.000+00:00

Having been to Vietnam, I've tasted the crème de la crème of phos (Vietnamese: phở pronounced [fəː˧˩˧] listen). It is a classic street dish which I ate regularly whilst on my travels there, even for breakfast. It was a complete delight, consisting of rice noodles, broth, vegetables and meat. There were plenty of variants; it depended on the chef, but the purists would claim it has to consist of white rice noodles (the dishes I ate were made with a thinner version of shahe fen), a clear beef broth, finely sliced beef and a few herbs. I've seen the Vietnamese create this dish by placing all the raw ingredients into the bowl and pouring the scorching hot broth over, which essentially cooks the finely sliced raw meat and blanches any vegetables ensuring pure fresh components to the dish without overcooking, an incredible experience which will stay with me forever. If you ever get out to Vietnam, it would be a crime to leave the country without eating a bowl of pho.

This dish is inspired by what I ate, but I will say now I do not believe it is Vietnamese, it is just a take on the variations I ate on my travels with what ingredients I had on the day I made it - it varies each time I make it. This recipe can be adjusted to whatever you have in the fridge, or prefer, it is possibly for want of a better way to describe it the best chicken noodle soup you could ever have if you were also nursing a cold.

Vietnamese Pho Inspired Chicken Noodle Soup

Serves 2 (easily increased)

Ingredients

1 litre of homemade chicken stock
2 nests of noodles - egg is used above, rice if you have it
1 large chicken breast - sliced into thin strips
1 red chilli - finely grated and a few slices for garnish
2 large garlic cloves - finely grated
1 tbsp fresh ginger - finely grated
zest and juice of 1/2 a lime
2 spring onions - julienned
6 pak choi leaves - split into sizable pieces (can substitute with little gem or cos lettuce leaves)
2 eggs
1 tbsp groundnut oil

Note - Experimentation! Give everything a go! You can use a variety of vegetables to bulk this out if you wish; finely sliced carrots, mange tout, sugar snap peas etc, the eggs can be optional, adapt the main ingredients to what you enjoy/have, though you must have the noodles, chilli, garlic and ginger. You can also omit the meat altogether and use vegetable stock to make it vegetarian. Read through the recipe first and it is best to prepare everything before cooking because it comes together very quickly, not really time to prep and cook at same time.

Method

1. Heat your stock until hot but don't boil it. Marinate your chicken strips in the chilli, garlic, ginger, lime zest and juice. Meanwhile prepare your vegetables and whisk your eggs in a mug and season well.

2. Heat a wok very hot, add your groundnut oil and fry your chicken strips quickly, they will be cooked through in less than a minute (you will be pouring scorching hot stock over them later which will definitely cook them through more if you are worried - what you don't want is tough dry chicken). Once fried set aside.

3. Cook your noodles following package instructions. Meanwhile, fry your vegetables for 30-60 seconds and set aside.

4. Add your whisked egg to the wok and tilt around to make an "omelette" shape, cook through and then chop up with your spatula to make large chunky scrambled eggs. Basically you don't want tiny bits of egg, you're aiming for big chunks/strips. Set aside.

5. Place all your ingredients back into the wok and toss together to evenly distribute them within the noodles. Serve evenly into bowls and pour your scorching hot stock over it all, garnish with julienned spring onion and fresh chilli slices.

Enjoy experimenting!

Jacob

Homemade Fettuccine with a Basil and Pistachio Pesto

2013-03-05T12:33:00.001+00:00

Since we recently came by a pasta machine we have been practicing our pasta-making skills and we're really getting a great hang of it now. Such a simple combination as flour and eggs and the use of your own hands makes you never want to have shop-bought dried pasta again! Why would you when it's so simple to make and it transforms a dish from standard to incredible? We've personally never really been fussed with pasta dishes, finding them a bit boring. However, having dabbled at making our own pasta in the past it opened our eyes to the difference in taste and flavour available and what we had been missing out on.

Here is a simple delicate but impressive dish which will leave you satisfied but dying for more. A slight twist on the usual pesto we chose to use toasted pistachio nuts which adds such a definitive texture and taste you will be impressed. We must also add, that as pesto is so simple to make, it is pretty much sacrilege to get shop-bought which has no texture and lacks the intense freshness of making your own. You will not ever regret making your own pesto and this dish is testament to that - in fact to making as much as you can from scratch. So here we present a recipe which is completely from scratch and will make your taste buds dance with delight.

In retrospect it would have been logical to take photos of the pasta making process, it is not as complicated as it seems below. Watch this space - there will be a step by step pasta making post soon.

Homemade Fettuccine with a Basil and Pistachio Pesto

Serves 2

Ingredients

For the pasta
200 g Tipo '00' pasta grade flour
2 large eggs

For the pesto
60 g fresh basil
30 g shelled pistachio nuts (toasted in a frying pan)
30 g mature cheddar cheese (such as Davidstow)
1 garlic clove
125 ml extra virgin oil

Method

1. Pour the flour onto a solid work top surface and make a well in the centre. Crack your eggs into the centre and then using two fingers mix the eggs together with the flour working from the centre to the outside, working together until you have a soft dough. If it is a little dry add a few drops of water to help you along. Flatten your dough ball into a rectangular shape with your palm, wrap in cling film and rest in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.

2. Meanwhile make your pesto by blitzing the garlic clove and cheddar together in a food processor with the toasted pistachio nuts. Add your basil and blitz, then pour in your oil and combine with a few pulses. If you need a little more oil to loosen it, do so. Season to taste, if required.

3. If you don't have a pasta machine, you can still do this, it will just take a little longer and you might not get it to the desired thickness before giving up. Same thing applies for both ways, first you need to laminate your pasta by rolling it out to a oblong shape using the thickest setting on the machine (1). Fold a third of your oblong in onto itself from the right side then the other end over the folded section so you get a 3 layered square, press gently together and twist 90 degrees and roll through the machine, open edge first. Another oblong will be formed, repeat the above to laminate a second time.

4. Once laminated, ensuring pasta is floured between each rolling setting, work down the settings until you reach the desired thickness. We felt that the thinnest setting for fettuccine was too thin (best for filled pasta we reckon) and that setting 8 was sufficient for this recipe. You may want to cut your pasta into manageable pieces to feed through your machine unless you want monster long pasta.

5. Attach your cutter and use the fettuccine roller to slice your well-floured pasta into strips and flour your pasta again after cutting to keep the strips separate.

6. Bring a large pan with plenty of hot water to the boil, salted extremely well. As Anna del Conte would say, it should be as salty as the Mediterranean. So we chucked a tablespoon of salt in there. It really does make a difference to the end product. (Do not be alarmed, you will not be eating this salt!)

7. Boil your pasta for 2-3 minutes or until cooked al dente. Drain, reserving some of the pasta water. Add your pesto (the pesto recipe will make enough to have leftovers unless you choose to add it all) to the pasta in your pan and toss throughout, loosening with a little of the reserved water. Serve with a light grating of cheese and freshly torn basil.

Apologies for the long method, it is so easy to do, we will be posting a pasta-making post soon to make it clearer than written word.

Chicken, Spinach and Cheddar Gratin

2013-01-31T16:15:00.001+00:00

We had a selection of cheeses, one of which was a strong Cornish Cruncher cheddar and thought of the many dishes which could be made with such a cheese. In the end we chose this rich succulent dish which for those savoury fiends out there ticks all the boxes. This dish is rich, creamy and intensely savoury for a warming meal on those cold evenings when we all need some comfort.

Chicken, Spinach and Cheddar Gratin

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 large chicken thighs, boned and skinned

1 rasher of thick cut smoked back bacon, chopped into pieces

a large handful of spinach

1 thick spring onion, sliced

50 g Cornish Cruncher cheddar, grated

1 tbsp cornflour

1/2 tsp English mustard powder

1 tbsp butter

150 ml milk

fresh breadcrumbs

olive oil

salt & pepper

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C conventional.

1. Heat a frying pan and wilt the spinach. Set aside to cool and then squeeze to remove the excess water. Lay the spinach in the bottom of an oven proof dish.

2. Add oil to the pan and heat. Season chicken thighs with a little salt & pepper and then sear in a pan to colour them. At the same time, add bacon pieces and fry. Remove the chicken and place on top of the spinach and sprinkle with the bacon and raw spring onion slices.

3. Melt the butter in a saucepan add the mustard powder and cornflour to make a roux. Cook out for one minute then pour in the milk. Heat gently, stirring all the time until thickened, then stir in most of the cheese. Season to taste.

4. Pour the sauce all over the ingredients in the dish. Scatter with breadcrumbs, the remaining cheese and a little coarsely ground black pepper.

5. Bake for around half an hour or until the chicken is cooked through and the top is golden and bubbling. Leave to rest for a couple of minutes before serving with fine green beans and sautéed new potatoes.

Chocolate, Almond and Raisin Cookies

2013-01-31T14:16:00.000+00:00

We fancied doing a little baking the other day, and what better than a batch of freshly baked, slightly gooey cookies? As we are on a budget these days, we decided to flavour them with whatever odds and ends we could find in the kitchen cupboard and that happened to be: a few milk chocolate chips and a bar of milk chocolate, a bag of almonds and some raisins. Yummy! So, very simple recipe (adapted from a Nigella recipe) and here it is for you to try!

Chocolate, Almond and Raisin Cookies

Makes about 12

Ingredients

150 g margarine

150 g caster sugar

75 g dark brown soft sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 whole egg and 1 egg yolk

300 g flour

1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda

150 g milk chocolate - chips or chunks

100 g almonds, soaked, skins removed and chopped

50 g raisins, chopped

Method

1. First of all preheat your oven. We baked at 160C fan, or for conventional bake at 170C/gas mark 3. Line a baking tray with greaseproof paper. Meanwhile, melt your margarine in a small saucepan.

2. Beat together your melted margarine and both sugars until smooth. Beat in the eggs and vanilla so that you have a creamy mixture before folding in the flour and bicarb.

3. Fold in the chocolate chunks, almonds and raisins. Dollop 12 cookie dough blobs onto the prepared tray and bake for 15 minutes until golden and still soft. Cool on a wire rack but don't expect them to last long!

Pan Fried Vietnamese River Cobbler with a Poached Egg

2012-11-29T21:04:00.002+00:00

Here is a simple supper for when you fancy something fresh and delicious but you don't have much time on your hands. Vietnamese River cobbler is an inexpensive yet tasty fish with firm white flesh. The poached egg lends richness, resulting in a healthy dish with a touch of luxury.

Pan Fried Vietnamese River Cobbler with a Poached Egg

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 skinless river cobbler fillets
2 large eggs
2 tbsp flour
salt and pepper
olive oil
a salad of your choice - we used lamb's lettuce, spinach, peppers, spring onions, cucumber and tomatoes - a simple green salad would work well too

Method

1. First boil a kettle. Next, on a plate, mix together the flour with some salt and pepper. Lay the fish fillets on the plate and thoroughly coat them in this mixture, shake off the excess and set aside.

2. Put a large non-stick frying pan on to heat with a little olive oil. Pour water from the kettle into a medium-sized saucepan and put it on to heat, ready to poach the eggs.

3. Poach the eggs for 3 minutes for a soft and melting yolk. Meanwhile pan fry the fish for a few minutes each side depending on thickness of the fillet, finishing with a small knob of butter.

4. Serve the fish on the salad with a poached egg on top. The richness of the egg yolk works really well with the fish.

Enjoy!

Spanish inspired stuffed mushrooms

2012-09-28T20:31:00.000+01:00

We're back! Wow it's been a little while since we last posted! We've been all over the place to be honest and now we're finally feeling settled and less stressed in our new place in Nottingham we wanted to pick up what we love doing; cooking and celebrating the tasty food that we cook for ourselves. This recipe came to us as we both love risotto but the key behind it is the enjoying the flavours of Spain and integrating them into a lovely dish that we devoured with pleasure. Imagine the most perfect oozing bed of saffron risotto you have ever tasted with a couple of succulent stuffed mushrooms perched on top. With this recipe you can really taste every individual ingredient and in our opinion it is a perfect representation of Spanish flavours. We think it's best to read through the recipe fully before starting to make sure you have everything ready then it flows so easily. Enjoy!

Spanish Inspired Stuffed Mushrooms

Serves 2

Ingredients

For the Mushrooms
4 Portabello mushrooms - stalks removed (below)
50 g chorizo
4 mushroom stalks, chopped finely
30 g red chilli infused fresh breadcrumbs (1/2 a fresh birdseye chilli chopped finely and blitzed with your bread in a processor - infuse for at least 20 minutes up to 1 hour - best to prepare this early)
1/3 onion, chopped finely
30 g red bell pepper, chopped finely
1 clove garlic
Manchego cheese or other cheese of your choice, grated

For the Risotto
2 tbsp olive oil
100g arborio rice
a good pinch of saffron
2/3 onion, chopped finely
1 chicken stock cube or homemade chicken stock
3/4 - 1 pint boiling water (or homemade stock)
1/2 celery stick, chopped finely
splash of Spanish sherry
squeeze lemon juice
knob of butter

Method

For the Mushrooms/Stuffing:

1. Place mushrooms in a preheated oven (180 C, Gas Mark 4) for 5-8 minutes whilst preparing stuffing.

2. Heat the oil in a frying pan, add the chopped mushroom stalks with a small knob of butter, cook for 1-2 minutes on a high heat until they begin to colour. Once golden, add your onions with a pinch of salt, lower the heat and cook for 1-2 minutes until softened.

3. Add the peppers and garlic and fry for a few minutes until soft. Add the chorizo and fry for 1 minute. Pour all the ingredients into a bowl with your pre-made bread crumbs (above). Combine with 1 tbsp of olive oil.

4. Remove mushrooms from oven, dab excess water away with kitchen paper - spoon stuffing into centres and place back into oven. These will cook until your risotto is ready. The last few minutes place a cheese of your choice on top and grill until melted. To continue with the Spanish theme, use Manchego, or if not cheddar is fine.

For the Risotto:

5. Make your saffron stock by placing the boiling water in a small pan with your saffron and your crushed stock cube or homemade stock. Heat gently for a up to 5 minutes until you have a beautiful orange stock.

6. Heat some oil in a pan and fry your onion and celery for 2-3 minutes until softened. Add the rice and cook for 1-2 minutes.

7. Add a splash of sherry, leave to absorb, shuffling the pan occasionally. Then gradually add a ladleful of the stock, allowing the rice to absorb it between each addition (stirring all the time really helps make a perfect risotto). Repeat this until all stock is used and rice is just cooked and not chalky. Season to taste, squeeze in some lemon juice and add a knob of butter to finish. Rest for a few minutes before serving.

Serve with a lovely green salad and don't forget a wedge of lemon!

Pan fried sea bass perched on a bed of leek risotto

2012-08-19T15:41:00.000+01:00

After a long day viewing properties ready for the next chapter of our lives commencing in Nottingham, we wanted something simple but tasty and filling to devour. This is what we chose, and by all means is not unique to us, it has been done many times before in a huge variety of ways but this is how we whipped our version together. Anyone can do it! It's so fresh and easy to make!

Pan Fried Sea Bass Perched On A Bed Of Leek Risotto

Serves 2

Ingredients

2 sea bass fillets, scaled and boned

1 small leek, finely chopped

150 g arborio rice

2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 pint chicken stock

75 ml white wine

a knob of butter

2 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

Method

1. Heat the olive oil in a suitable pan, add the leeks and cook for 2 minutes, then add the garlic and cook together until softened. Pour in the rice and cook until transparent, usually a minute or two.

2. Add your wine to the pan and cook until all absorbed by the rice, then start adding your hot stock, one ladle-full at a time, each time ensuring that the stock is absorbed before adding the next ladle-full. Do this until the stock is finished and/or the rice is just cooked, roughly about 15-20 minutes. Add a knob of butter and season to taste, stir thoroughly and leave to rest whilst you cook the fish.

3. Heat a frying pan until searingly hot with a little butter and some olive oil. Score the skin of the fillets in a criss cross pattern and season with salt and pepper, place skin side down in the pan and season the top. Now this is the important bit, DO NOT shuffle the pan, just press down the fillets and leave. Cook until almost cooked through, doing 95% of the cooking on the skin to get it lovely and crispy, then turn over and finish off the flesh side for a few seconds. Serve immediately on top of a bed of creamy leek risotto.

Note - Do NOT add cheese to this risotto as this will mask the delicate flavour of the fish. Serve with some lovely fresh green leaves or just as it is.

Chocolate orange melting puddings

2012-08-17T17:04:00.000+01:00

When you have a niggling feeling for something sweet after an evening meal, instead of chomping away on a bar of chocolate or such, try this. A luxuriously naughty little treat which can be whipped up in no time at all and caters for those sweet cravings after a lovely savoury meal. This little pud was put together from a variety of sources and we believe this recipe is perfect for ease and full of flavour. We love chocolate orange which is a marriage made in flavour combination heaven, but you can also use coffee for a mocha flavour or try other combinations that you may fancy - have a play and see what you can create!

Chocolate Orange Melting Pudding

Serves 4-6

Ingredients

150 g good quality dark chocolate (minimum 70% - we used 85%)

125 g unsalted butter, plus some for greasing

150 g golden caster sugar

40 g plain flour

2.5 tbsp freshly squeezed orange juice

zest of one orange

3 eggs

cocoa powder for dusting

Method

1. Preheat your oven to Gas Mark 6. Grease 4 large or 6 medium ramekins and dust lightly with cocoa, set aside.

2. Melt the chocolate and butter in a make shift bain marie with a little simmering water in a saucepan and a glass bowl over the top, stirring occasionally. Cool slightly.

3. Beat together the sugar, eggs, juice, zest and flour then set aside. Combine the melted chocolate and butter with the above mixture, stirring until smooth.

4. Pour the mixture into the greased and dusted ramekins and bake for 10-12 minutes for the medium ramekins or up to 20 minutes for the large. Bake until slightly cracked on the surface. This will ensure the puddings have a lovely melted centre.

Serve with cream or ice cream.

Note - You can keep the mixture in the fridge overnight in ramekins to cook the next day should you have too many.

English summer frittata

2012-08-08T21:23:00.002+01:00

Today we harvested some beautiful green and yellow courgettes from the veg patch in Sasha's parents' garden. The weather this year has meant that the patch hasn't been as successful as in past years, but these little courgettes have flourished! A neighbour kindly gave us some lovely Vivaldi potatoes, freshly plucked from the ground, and we had a box of fresh free range eggs in the pantry, so what better than to make a tasty frittata for supper. A few delicious ingredients, simply put together, so that you can taste each and every one. A simple recipe, which proves that you need not eat meat at every meal to be fully satisfied.

English Summer Frittata

Serves 4

Ingredients

2 medium green courgettes, diced

3 small yellow courgettes, diced

150 g fresh broad beans, podded

2 medium onions, sliced into half moons

3 large Vivaldi potatoes, peeled and cut into dice

3 garlic cloves, finely chopped

5 large free range eggs

a dash of milk

50 g mature cheddar cheese, grated

a few chives, snipped

5 tbsp sunflower oil

1 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

Notes - The term dice is approximate, say about 1-2 cm in size.

Method

1. Start by cooking your potatoes and onions. Heat the sunflower oil in a large frying pan and add the prepared potatoes and onions. Season lightly with salt. Gently shallow fry, without colouring, for about 20 minutes, or until the potatoes are cooked through.

2. In the meantime, fry off your courgettes in the olive oil with a little salt and pepper, until lightly browned, approx 10 minutes.

3. Boil the broad beans for a couple of minutes. Run them under cold water to cool them down and then pop them out of their papery outer skins. This is well worth the effort!

4. Crack your eggs into a jug and add a dash of milk. Season well with salt and pepper and whisk together.

5. Once the potatoes have cooked, drain away the majority of the oil. Once all of the component parts of your frittata have been cooked/prepared, place them all into the large frying pan along with the potatoes and onions and the finely chopped garlic. Fry for a minute before pouring over your egg mixture. Turn the vegetables over in the egg to ensure everything is well combined, level the top and leave to cook gently over a low heat. Preheat your grill.

6. When the bottom of the frittata has cooked, pop under the grill to cook the top. This should only take a few minutes if your grill is hot. Once cooked through, scatter the grated cheese over the top and place under the grill again to melt and colour the cheese. When you are happy that it is cooked, remove the frittata from the grill, sprinkle some chives over the top and serve.

Serve with a mixed salad.

Pork steak with artichoke and cannellini bean salad

2012-07-30T21:22:00.001+01:00

Tonight's meal was a conglomeration of ideas from multiple sources, from which we have created this unique flavoursome dish which is just perfect for the summer. A succulent marinated pork steak is perched atop a fresh and vibrant summery salad which will get anybody's taste buds going. It is best to marinate the pork in the morning ready for the evening, or even the night before.

Pork steak with artichoke and cannellini bean salad

Serves 5

Ingredients

For the pork marinade

5 thick cut pork steaks

3-4 sprigs of fresh rosemary, leaves chopped finely

3 garlic cloves, crushed

3 tbsp olive/rapeseed oil

a few healthy gratings of lemon zest

juice of half a lemon

salt and pepper

For the salad

100 g rocket leaves

100 g romaine lettuce leaves, torn

400 g tin of cannellini beans

1 jar of grilled artichoke hearts in oil

juice of half a lemon

2 garlic cloves, finely sliced

1 large spring onion, sliced

salt and pepper

Method

1. Prepare the pork by trimming any excess fat but ensure you leave a bit on the pork. Place in a dish with the rest of the ingredients, massage the marinade into the steaks and leave to marinate for at least 2 hours, but preferably 8-24 hours.

2. Once marinated and when you wish to prepare the meal, drain the beans and rinse them under water. Drain 1-2 tbsp of the oil from the artichoke hearts into a frying pan, discarding the rest of it whilst removing the hearts.

3. Heat a griddle pan over a medium-high heat and fry the steaks for 3-4 minutes each side depending on the thickness, leaving them to rest for 1-2 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the frying pan and add the garlic, spring onion and artichoke hearts and fry for 1-2 minutes, then add the beans and fry for a further 2-3 minutes. At the end of the cooking time, season with salt, pepper and lemon juice.

4. To serve, mix together your leaves in a large bowl and add your artichoke and bean mix, toss throughout and serve immediately, then place your steak on top and dress with a little lemon juice.

Chicken, bacon and leek quiche

2012-07-25T20:57:00.002+01:00

With the weather being so good lately, no-one has fancied eating anything too heavy and this creation is somewhere in between - it fills just enough. It is also very moreish! This evening, instead of cooking the standard quiche Lorraine we altered the ingredients to create this delightfully cheesy, meaty and sumptuous savoury meal.

For ease we have used ready made shortcrust pastry (which is a perfectly acceptable cheat, compared to other things) as playing with homemade pastry in this heat isn't so simple to deal with, but if you do fancy making your own from scratch, we have posted recipes previously that involve this type of pastry.

Chicken, bacon and leek quiche

Serves 8

Ingredients

1 pack of ready made shortcrust pastry

1 leek

150 g smoked bacon lardons

1 large chicken breast

5 large free range eggs

100 ml double cream

1 tsp Dijon mustard

150 g cheddar cheese or a good quality hard cheese

salt and pepper

a knob of butter

olive oil

Method

1. Firstly, season both sides of the chicken and place in a suitable oven proof dish, dab with butter and roast in the oven at Gas Mark 4 for 15 minutes, or until cooked. Remove from oven and slice into small cubes then set aside.

2. Meanwhile, place the lardons in a frying pan over a low heat and slowly render the fat from them, gradually increasing the heat until they turn a lovely and crispy brown.

3. Whilst cooking the bacon, rinse the leek and slice in half length ways and then into 1/2 cm slices. Once the bacon is cooked, set aside. Add a dash of oil to the pan with a knob of butter and sauté the leeks, with a pinch of salt and pepper, until lovely and caramelised. Set aside.

4. Roll out your pastry to fit the dish, ensuring the pastry sits into all edges of the dish and leaving an overhang. We used a 10 inch flan dish. Blind bake for 15 minutes with baking beans and 10 minutes without the beans at Gas Mark 4 until lightly golden and fully cooked through.

5. To prepare the egg mixture, crack all the eggs into a bowl with the cream, Dijon mustard, 100 g of the cheese and whisk together, seasoning with a pinch of salt and pepper (remember not too much as the bacon is quite salty).

6. To make the quiche, layer the leeks, bacon and chicken in the pastry base and pour the egg mixture over the top. To finish, sprinkle the last of the cheese on top along with a sprinkle of freshly ground black pepper. Bake in the oven at Gas Mark 4 for 30-40 minutes or until cooked through to the centre.

You can serve the quiche immediately if you're starving or if you can wait, it is best served cold with a lovely side salad.

Focaccia steak sandwich

2012-07-21T21:39:00.000+01:00

The weather has taken a turn for the better and after a lovely day getting some bargains for the kitchen herb garden we decided to have a succulent savoury summery treat for our evening meal. I've fancied a steak sandwich for a while and I must admit this is probably the epitome of all steak sandwiches for savoury goodness. There are plenty of varieties but this contains some of our favourite ingredients and this certainly went down well with Sasha's parents.

Focaccia Steak Sandwich

Serves 4

Ingredients

For the focaccia

250 g strong white bread flour

1 sachet of fast action yeast

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

200 ml cold water

a few sprigs of rosemary, leaves chopped

coarse sea salt, for topping

For the filling

400 g thin cut sirloin steak

2 onions

1 star anise

100 g cheddar cheese, grated

2 bell peppers (whichever colours you prefer)

salt and pepper

extra virgin olive oil

Method

1. To make the focaccia, combine in a bowl the flour, yeast, salt and oil (place salt on opposite side of bowl to prevent it from killing the yeast), mix together thoroughly and add 150 ml of the water, combining fully and adding the last 50 ml gradually. DO NOT WORRY, it is meant to be very sticky and wet! Do NOT add extra flour and make sure you add all the water!

2. Knead the dough with oiled hands for 5-10 minutes then transfer to a clean oiled bowl for the first proving for 1 hour or until it has doubled in size.

3. Prepare a tin by lining with greaseproof paper and transfer the dough into it. Using oiled fingers prod the dough to leave the distinctive focaccia dips, cover with a towel and leave to prove for a further hour. Towards the end of the second proving, preheat the oven to Gas Mark 7, top the dough with a sprinkling of coarse salt and the rosemary. Bake for 20 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, prepare your bell peppers by blackening them - either under a salamander grill or on top of a gas hob, place them in a bowl and cover with clingfilm to steam for 10 minutes. Peel the skins off, deseed and chop into chunks. Dress with olive oil and salt.

5. While the peppers are steaming, chop your onions into half moon rings. Place your frying pan on a medium to high heat with some olive oil, add your onions, star anise, salt and pepper and caramelise until they turn a lovely brown colour - add a knob of butter to help this process along.

6. Heat a griddle pan until it is searingly hot, lightly brush your steaks with oil and season with salt and pepper on both sides. Griddle until cooked to your liking, set aside to rest for a few minutes, then slice diagonally into strips.

7. Cut your focaccia into quarters and in half to open like a sandwich. Layer with the steak strips, grated cheese, onions and peppers, drizzle with olive oil and then finish with the top half of the rosemary focaccia.

8. Serve with some salad. If you fancy really making a meal of this instead of a lighter supper double the ingredients above to make larger portions and an extra suggestion may be to add sautéed mushrooms, to add to this blast of intense savouriness!

Apple Streusel Cake

2012-07-16T15:32:00.000+01:00

We are both at Sasha's parents' lovely cottage for the next month or so and today we decided to make a treat for everyone. The weather was glorious yesterday and we're both nursing a little lobster-esque sunburn inadvertently acquired whilst enjoying being outside in the countryside. Today, in true British style, the weather has changed to torrential rain and clouds, so we fancied doing a little baking for some inside comfort.

Apple Streusel Cake

Cuts into approx 12 slices

Ingredients

For the cake

200 g margarine

150 g light muscovado sugar

50 g dark brown soft sugar

4 medium eggs

200 g self-raising flour

1 tsp baking powder

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 braeburn apple, peeled, cored and cubed

For the streusel

1 tbsp light muscovado sugar

1 tbsp vanilla sugar

2 tbsp plain flour

1 tbsp margarine

Method

1. Grease a 23 cm springform tin and line the base. Preheat the oven (Gas Mark 4, or 3 for fan ovens).

2. Cream the margarine and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time followed by a tablespoon of the flour between each egg. Sift in the remaining flour, baking powder and cinnamon. Gently fold in until fully combined.

3. Spoon the mixture into the cake tin and level the top with a spatula. Gently tap the tin on the work surface to ensure there are no large air pockets in the cake. Push the apple cubes into the top of the cake and bake for 30 minutes.

4. Whilst the cake is in the oven, prepare the streusel by rubbing together the ingredients to make a crumble mixture. Add some chopped nuts or oats here if you wish.

5. After 30 minutes cooking time has elapsed, sprinkle the crumbs over the top of the cake and bake for a further 20 minutes.

6. Remove from the tin and cool on a wire rack. Serve by itself or with ice-cream or custard.

Breaded gammon with a creamy wild garlic sauce

2012-07-06T19:59:00.000+01:00

Tonight I fancied something quick, simple and tasty for dinner. There was a juicy gammon steak in the fridge so I came up with a schnitzel-esque meal which involved putting a lovely crust on the gammon and serving it with a skin-on potato mash and a zingy smooth garlic cream.

Breaded Gammon With A Creamy Wild Garlic Sauce

Serves 3

Ingredients

3 gammon steaks

Dijon mustard

100 g breadcrumbs

30 g cheddar cheese, grated

500 ml vegetable stock
a dash of dry sherry

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 shallot, chopped

100 ml double cream

1emon juice

a bunch of wild garlic leaves, chopped

300 g potatoes

50 g butter

salt and pepper

Method

1. Make the breadcrumbs in a processor and mix on a plate with the grated cheese. Trim the fat from the steaks and spread lightly with the mustard on both sides. Fully coat each of the steaks in the crumb mixture and press firmly to bind. Set aside.

2. Chop the potatoes into cubes leaving the skin on and boil for 10-15 minutes in salted water, drain and steam dry.

3. To make the sauce, finely chop the garlic and shallot and combine with the stock and sherry and bring to the boil. Reduce by a third. Add the cream and wild garlic, bring back to the boil and heat through. Add lemon juice and seasoning to taste.

4. Pan fry the steaks in olive oil for approximately 3 minutes on each side until golden and cooked through. Meanwhile mash the potatoes with the butter and season. Serve drizzled with the sauce.

You can also serve with green beans - dig in and enjoy!

Chicken with leaf celery and green vegetables

2012-07-02T20:29:00.002+01:00

The following is an adaptation of a Nigella Lawson recipe, although after much tweaking and exchanging of ingredients, it doesn't really bear much resemblance to the original. In my parents' garden there is a celery plant, though not a conventional plant as you might expect; it is a leaf celery plant, sometimes referred to as French celery, Chinese celery or smallage. You use only the leaves of this plant, as the long, hollow stems are extremely stringy. The leaves are bitter and heavily scented - a small quantity imparts a pungent, aromatic celery flavour to your dish, far less subtle than stem celery and is balanced out by the sweetness of the vegetables. Also picked from the garden was some lovely fresh thyme, to add further seasoning to the dish. What resulted was a heady broth with tender pieces of chicken and sweet green veg.

Chicken with leaf celery and green vegetables

Serves 3-4

Ingredients

150 g smoked bacon lardons (or chopped bacon)

9-12 chicken thighs, bone in, skin on

1 leek, finely sliced

1/4 cup leaf celery, chopped

4 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

a few sprigs of fresh thyme, plus a pinch of dried thyme

pinch of salt and pepper

200 ml dry white wine

300 ml boiling water

2 chicken stock cubes

250 g frozen peas

250 g frozen broad beans, boiled briefly and popped out of their papery skins

1 tbsp Dijon mustard

5 leaves iceberg lettuce, roughly chopped

100 ml double cream

Notes - We have never seen leaf celery on general sale in the UK and thus you probably won't be able to acquire any, although if you can - use it! Ordinary celery is a perfectly good substitute, just use one stick, chopped finely like the leek. If you can't get hold of fresh thyme, just use 1 tsp of the dried stuff. You may even want to supplement the flavour of your fresh thyme, as I did, with a pinch of dried thyme. Of course use fresh peas and broad beans if you are lucky enough to have them and feel free to omit the cream.

Method

1. Heat a large pan and fry the lardons until brown. Meanwhile, trim any excess skin, fat or bone fragments from the chicken thighs. Once the lardons are brown, place the thighs skin side down into the pan. Cook over a high heat for a few minutes until their skins are lovely and golden brown.

2. Chuck in the leeks, celery and garlic, followed by the thyme and some salt and pepper. Crumble in the stock cubes and pour in the wine and boiling water. Stir to give everything a good mix.

3. Add the peas and broad beans, bring to the boil, then cover with a lid. Turn the heat down and simmer gently for 30-40 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through.

4. Stir in the mustard and sprinkle the chopped iceberg over the top. Check your seasonings and cook for a few more minutes until the lettuce has wilted. Drizzle with the cream, if using, and stir gently.

5. Serve with potatoes, mashed or steamed, or a pile of brown rice. A chunk of crusty bread wouldn't go amiss either, to mop up the sauce.

Elderflower and lemon jelly

2012-06-28T21:37:00.002+01:00

After the move down from Leeds, I thought that we wouldn't be posting much for a while, which is probably true, but here is a simple sweet that epitomises summer. I've been fancying jelly or Jello for a little while now and decided to do a bit more of an unconventional jelly which encompasses some very traditional English summer flavours. Elderflower is a highly scented plant which can be used to make cordial, champagne, jams and so on. In my box of goodies I brought back from Leeds, we had some gelatin leaves to use. The weather has been very variable lately, ranging from lovely and sunny to torrential rain, thunder storms and 2 inch hail stones... I managed to collect some elderflower from a local park between these periods of extreme weather to use in this recipe. This is a very simple recipe, and is full aromatic sweetness.

Elderflower and Lemon Jelly

Makes 4 wine glasses

Ingredients

15-20 heads of elderflower

1.5 pints of water

250 g sugar

7 leaves of gelatin

3 tbsp of lemon juice

zest of 1 lemon

zest of 1/2 a lemon for finishing

Method

1. Pour the sugar, lemon juice and zest of 1 lemon in a sauce pan and cover with the water. Remove most of the stalks from the heads and place the flowers into the pan also (only use heads which have pollen on them and are fully in flower - don't worry about any tiny bugs as that will be dealt with later)

2. Bring the mix to the boil and simmer for 5-10 minutes. Take the pan off the heat and cover, leave to infuse and cool to just above lukewarm (about an hour or two). Prepare your gelatin by pre-soaking in water for at least 5 minutes. (A useful website with extra information about gelatin - we use the small leaves)

3. Strain the mixture through a sieve lined with muslin, this will remove the tiny little bugs the flower heads and lemon zest - discard these. Remove the gelatin from soaking and squeeze the excess water out, place in the warm mixture and stir until dissolved. Stir through the lemon zest for finishing and pour into 4 wine glasses. Place in the fridge and leave to set for about 4-5 hours.