Sara's Cooking Diary

Goodbye!

2012-02-19T18:57:00.000Z

After nearly a year of Sara's Cooking Diary it is time to move on, so I will no longer be publishing at this website. Instead I will be over at http://lilaskitchendiary.blogspot.com/

See you over there!

Review: The Vic, St Andrews

2012-02-14T13:42:00.000Z

The Victoria Cafe was a St Andrews establishment I tried my best to avoid. That's not to say I didn't have good memories of the place - but any good was always outweighed by the bad. The place was frequently rammed with the kind of people who use words such as 'vom' and 'banterlicious', and the whole place just felt a bit sticky, dark, and unappetising. The idea of eating food here was out of the question for me.

The Vic re-opened its doors on Thursday night, and what a transformation! They have just finished a major refurbishment that has taken all the dark and stickiness out of the building (or at least for now while it is relatively new!). We dropped in for some breakfast over the weekend and were pleasantly surprised to see big comfy chairs, a new bar, and a generally lighter and friendly atmosphere. The decor is best described as bric-a-brac meets Jack Wills, but don't let that put you off.

The full Scottish breakfast was generous to say the least. It may be a bit dearer than its competitors such as the Rule, but it's a lot cheaper than the hotels, and offers much higher quality ingredients than the other bars in town. Bacon, sausage, black pudding, tattie scone, hash brown, beans, mushrooms, tomato and an egg... what more could you ask for? A vegetarian option is also available.

I opted for a sausage and egg butty that filled me right up, and at £2.50 it wasn't bad value at all! Serving it on a little wooden board is possibly not ideal given the amount of crumbs left on the table, but hit the spot.

The coffees are a little dear, but taste good and are served with what seemed to be a mini Victoria Sponge fairy cake filled with jam and cream. It's the little touches like this that make the experience, and it's a much nicer option than a cantuccini in my opinion!

So all in all it was a pleasant morning spent in the Vic. I'll still be avoiding it on a night time, especially on a Wednesday when they openly invite sports clubs into their bar. But for those mornings when all I want is for someone to cook me a big full Scottish breakfast, I will no longer hide behind the sofa yelling at flatmates and house guests, and instead put some clothes on and stumble down to the Vic.

Review: Host, Liverpool

2012-02-08T16:52:00.000Z

Host is a pan-Asian restaurant in Liverpool based on Hope St. Before we finally got around to visiting it all the reviews I had seen along with the menu made it out to be an up-market Wagamama. I personally have no problem with Wagamama*, but I know it suffers from a poor public image. Once when I asked a friend if she wanted to meet at the new Wagamama in York she replied "isn't that a buffet?" So to be compared with Wagamama probably isn't the best start for a restaurant.

We needed a table for 8pm on a Friday night and were fortunate enough to secure one two hours prior. We were greeted by a friendly waitress, and I was relieved to see we weren't forced to sit on the end of some sort of picnic style table with benches as I had envisaged (…like Wagamama). We ordered a bottle of the chenin blanc, priced at about £20. It was a decent white, but I couldn't get over the way they served it. They place it on the table in a silver pot that is designed to keep it cold, but didn't fill it with any cold water or ice making the whole thing pointless. I assumed they had forgotten and asked the waitress who just said "oh that's just how we serve it". How superficial! Why bother? On top of that serving white wine, or any cold beverage, in tumblers is a faux pas as there was nothing to stop our hands warming up the drink - school boy errors.

We weren't hungry, but we had to get a plate of the chicken satay to share as it is a great dish to compare restaurants with. The chicken was gorgeous, but the sauce was incredibly disappointed. It was incredibly creamy and runny, to the point that it lost most of its spice and flavour, and wouldn't cling to the chicken when coated. It's annoying to eat out somewhere and think 'I know I can make something ten times better at home'.

I was suffering from a cold and couldn't handle anything too spicy, which meant the seabass with a Vietnamese hot and sour sauce was off limits. I ended up with the chicken katsu curry, which came with generous amounts of both katsu and rice, but not enough sauce. In terms of flavour it was a little bland and didn't hold a candle to Yo Sushi's (which in my opinion is the nicest curry sauce to accompany a katsu that I have ever had). At under £10 for a Friday night dinner you could be doing a lot worse.

My partner chose the Wok-fried three pepper beef fillet with spring onions & iceberg lettuce. The sauce was delicious, but it didn't measure up to Evil Eye's equivalent with regards to the depth of flavour. It wasn't anything to write home about.

So far so… average. When it came to paying the bill it all went down hill. The waiter, who judging by his attire was possibly also the manager, overcharged us when using the card machine. We'd had a bottle of wine, but we still had our heads on straight and weren't willing to be taken for a ride. We were left wondering if host is the kind of place to abuse customers' tipsiness, or if it was an honest mistake. We'll never know the answer as it's enough to stop us from going back. We probably wouldn't have returned anyway as we know we can make a dinner packed with more flavour at home.

*I know I should have a problem with Wagamama as the food really doesn't deserve a good reputation, but it was my introduction to Asian food when I was growing up, so I'd rather not rant about how average it is.

Review: Scousetro Club @ Lunya, Liverpool

2012-02-02T10:03:00.000Z

It's a bit of a tricky post today as I will simultaneously review the first night of Scousetro Club and one of our favourite Liverpool restaurants Lunya at the same time. Before I begin I should explain that Scousestro is a brand new supper club set up by a lovely chap named Sam. It gives you the opportunity to meet fellow food lovers in the area, while enjoying a special one-off tasting menu at a very reasonable price.

We were a little nervous on our way to Lunya as we weren't entirely sure what was awaiting us. Would we all sit on one long table? How many people would there be? Would we be out of our depth? The first half hour was probably a bit awkward as we were too shy to mingle while the slowly increasing crowd sampled different Spanish wines carefully selected by Peter, the owner of Lunya. Still, I was very grateful we were given this wine tasting as we were able to choose the bottle that would accompany our dinner, and it was a really nice way to start the evening.

When it came to choosing where to sit for dinner there were about four tables seating six to ten or twelve guests. In the end it didn't matter where you sat as everyone was here for one reason - food. I really enjoyed the company of my table, but I think I could have sat anywhere and had a really good chat about the flavour combinations to come. The crowd aren't intimidating, nor are they as clique-y as I had envisaged. It's just friendly foodies!

After a gorgeous glass of cava sangria (much nicer than any we had in Barcelona) the first course of tuna sashimi arrived, topped with smoked macademia nuts and drizzled with oil and balsamic vinegar. The tuna was of such high quality you could have just served it with no other ingredients, but the balsamic was able to give the tuna a fabulous sweet tang, and the macademia nuts added texture to the silky fish with a little crunch. All in all it was a simple but gorgeous dish, and I would order this again if it appeared on their normal menu.

The second course was named 'flavours of the sea' and consisted of a beetroot gazpacho interrupted by liquorice foam pools, and accompanied by beluga caviar, smoked anchovy, lobster and naranja jelly. It was a complicated dish which really got the conversation flowing, but possibly had too many elements. In my opinion the beetroot and liquorice were brilliant together, and the smoked anchovy was the best I've ever had, but I wasn't all that impressed with my first ever taste of lobster, and I already knew I was not a fan of caviar. Our verdict at the table was that the naranja jelly was a nice idea but didn't work flavour-wise, and that lemon or lime might be more suitable.

The next (poorly photographed) course was mar y muntana - cockerel crest and langoustine risotto. Each element was done well but it was questionable whether they came together as desired. The cockerel crest was utterly divine, and something I'd like to eat again in the future, but was overpowered by the dark and rich risotto.

The penultimate dish of the evening was presa Ibérica, arbequina olive oil purée and caramelised pear. The meat was surprisingly pork and not beef - not what you expect from the colour - and received a great response from the table. The olive oil purée was a brilliant accompaniment and I'll always be a huge fan of pear, especially when it has been caramelised.

Finally we had the lacklustre dessert of rum infused Andalucían sponge, bananas and white chocolate. The sponge was well made, but too boozy for my taste, and the bananas needed to be riper or cooked as they presented a challenge to cut through. The pool of white chocolate sauce was delicious though, and I especially liked the mystery blob of something brown (rum based ganache perhaps?). For most people it was their least favourite course of the night, but nowadays this seems to be the trend with desserts.

So, how was Lunya? All in all they were great. Although some of the dishes didn't quite go together, it was just exciting to try something new and have a close view into the inner workings of the restaurant. Everything they did was technically cooked well, and most plates would be left empty at the end of each course. The service was great as always and it was brilliant to have a proper chat with Peter in person rather than over Twitter. The restaurant were able to put this five course dinner with some free wine together for £29 a head, and they were also offered a wine-tasting menu and coffee for another £18 or so. Compare this to your typical tasting menu and you can't really get much better. To follow them on Twitter click here.

And what about Scousetro? I can't fault it. It was a great atmosphere with interesting conversation. We didn't just talk about the food being served but also where the best restaurants and bars in Liverpool are, or even where to get hold of your ingredients. I think it achieved exactly what it wanted to, and I will definitely go back again. Check out their upcoming events for March and April and make sure to follow them on Twitter to keep up with what's going on.

Review: Glass House, St Andrews

2012-01-30T17:13:00.000Z

The restaurant scene in St Andrews is dominated by the 'House' brand. The Grill House is the lower end of the chain serving frozen margaritas and Tex-Mex grub, the Doll's House is the upper end serving well thought out quality dishes, and the Glass House is the slightly confusing middle ground with an Italian-based menu.

This restaurant has always baffled me a little, because on the surface it is an Italian fusion restaurant mixing in Scottish ingredients such as haggis, haddock and salmon. Once you finally feel comfortable with that, you then realise it's actually jam-packed with pan-Asian flavours, and in the end you walk away not really certain of where the restaurant's foundations lie.

It lies in a prime location opposite St. Salvator's chapel in a building much like the Kitchen in Inverness, which interestingly is part of the same group as the Glass House. It's a pretty cramped set-up with people squeezing around each other, but with enough windows letting light in they get away with it.

For starters my partner chose mushrooms fried in breadcrumbs served with a roast garlic mayonnaise (think alioli). The portion size was rather disappointing given that the ingredients shouldn't have been too expensive, but the mushrooms were just right with a little rawness in the centre. The mayonnaise was the star of the show with its strong and powerful whack of garlic.

I ordered confit duck on a bed of salad with hoisin sauce. There was a supplement of £1.95 (two course lunch stands at £5.95 - bargain), but this was a far more generous starter which was balanced carefully, so worth the extra money.

For his main course my partner ordered one of the most bewildering options on the menu - penne pasta with cauliflower covered in a creamy cumin sauce. The photo makes it look like a small portion but there was plenty of pasta in that bowl. Too much to finish! I wasn't too fond of the cumin combination but my partner seemed to get on well with it. A bit of an odd one really!

I chose the beef noodles, which at first glance looked like a student's home-made stir fry, but were so much more than that. The egg noodles were flavoured so beautifully and were so soft they almost melted in my mouth. I actually had dreams about these noodles for the next few days! Simple but effective food.

It's hard to talk about the service because I actually knew some of the people serving us, and I also knew some of them were hungover from the end of exams. Generally speaking the service was good but overbearing. Our table was right in the front of the upstairs doorway so we found ourselves being asked the same questions two or three times by staff. That said, I think we had the pleasure of meeting the manager at one point who gave off an incredibly friendly vibe while trying to sign us on to the chain's new loyalty scheme.

Overall I had a really good experience at the Glass House, although my advice is to go at lunch when the prices give good value, and choose carefully. Don't choose the bland Italian choices like pizza but instead try their pan-Asian dishes as this is where their talent shows. I hope to go back here again!

Recipe: Haggis Spring Rolls

2012-01-14T15:34:00.000Z

Burns night is coming up on the 25th of January, but I have even less time to prepare this year as I'll be hosting it on the 21st instead. I have quite a formulaic approach to the evening, using a similar menu every year of red lentil soup, cock-a-leekie, haggis, neeps, tatties, shortbread and cranachan. This is the last year I will be hosting the event for a while as most of my friends will be graduating, so to make it special I've decided to spice things up a bit. The main course and dessert will remain traditional, but for the first course I will be serving Thai-inspired haggis spring rolls.

The inspiration clearly comes from the Nahm Jim and their amazing Thai haggis. I love the way they serve theirs with chopped up omelette, but I don't want to be playing around with eggs while hosting. Spring rolls are a great solution as I can make them in the afternoon, and pop them in the oven when I need them.

In terms of which haggis to buy I find in England the only place that seems to stock it on a regular basis is M&S. Unfortunately it also goes out of stock very fast, so if you see one it is good to buy one and they keep for quite a long time in the fridge (maybe a month or so?). In Scotland I get the 500g Halls haggis from Tesco which is consistently good, and cheap!

Haggis Spring Rolls

Makes: 12 long spring rolls, or 18 small

Total time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

500g haggis

6 spring onions

A thumb-sized piece of root ginger

Small bunch of fresh coriander (about 15g)

1 fresh red chili

1 large carrot

1 tbsp sesame oil

1 tbsp soy sauce

1/2 lime

Olive oil or similar

125g filo pastry

Pre-heat the oven to 170°C with fan. Unwrap the haggis, slice in half, and place in a baking dish or tray. Once the oven is the right temperature, place the haggis inside for ten minutes to warm up.

Meanwhile, trim the spring onions and slice finely on a diagonal. Peel the root ginger and finely grate it. Roughly chop the coriander - stalks and leaves. De-seed the red chili and finely chop. Peel and coarsely grate the carrot.

After ten minutes in the oven, mash the haggis up with a fork to break it up. Place in the oven for another five minutes.

The haggis should now be fully cooked. Stir the chopped ingredients through, fluffing it up as you go. Pour over the sesame oil, soy sauce, and juice of 1/2 a lime. Stir through once more and place in the oven for a final five minutes to help the flavours come together.

Unroll your filo pastry - you need about 6 sheets. For the long spring rolls as pictured, cut the sheets lengthways in half and stack them up on top of each other. Alternatively for shorter spring rolls, cut the pastry lengthways into thirds and stack.

Line a baking tray with aluminium and coat lightly with olive oil and take the haggis out of the oven.

Now to assemble your spring rolls, one at a time take a very heaped tablespoon of the Thai haggis (around 2.5tbsp total, or 1 heaped tbsp for shorter rolls) and place it on the edge nearest to you about a centimetre from the edge. Lightly form it into a loose sausage shape.

Fold in the sides of the pastry at either end of the sausage, then roll away from yourself. Seal with a little oil and place on the baking sheet.

Once all your spring rolls are formed, lightly brush the spring rolls with oil. Before I got a brush to do this with I just used to use my fingers - just make sure not to use too much oil.

Bake the spring rolls in the oven for 25 minutes until golden and crispy (may take less time for the shorter version!).

There is plenty of time to serve up as the spring rolls are molten inside, so carefully plate them up on mounds of salad and garnish with coriander. Done!

Review: Tribeca, Liverpool

2012-01-07T17:00:00.001Z

No, we didn't go to Manhattan. Tribeca is a New York style pizza place situated in the Ropewalks of Liverpool. One Saturday lunchtime my partner and I swung by here on our way into town for some pre-Christmas shopping.

The restaurant seems to have a clear vision of what they are and what they give to their customers. This is the first restaurant in a long time that I felt gave us good value for money. On top of that they stick to their theme through decor and their menu. Apart from nibbles, salads and desserts they only serve pizzas. They stick to what they know.

At £5.95 a pizza we worried that they might be on the small side (wrong!), so we started off with the antipasto platter. All of the elements felt like they could have come straight from a supermarket packet, but it was a nice way to start the meal and everything but the blue cheese was eaten up.

When it came to pizza I couldn't resist the idea of the Tribeca classico. It's a deluxe pizza meaning it's £2 more than the rest of the pizzas, but it was easily the most interesting pizza I've ever had. The topping is 'a little bit of everything and a whole lot of love' which made every bite unique and different. We had a lot of fun trying to pick out all the different ingredients and identify them, and I can definitely see myself getting this again.

My partner ordered the Italian meat feast - another deluxe pizza. In terms of value, my pizza definitely offered more, but there was no doubt that the meat feast was filling. Both pizzas were made of thin bases and there were no soggy bottoms in sight.

Generally speaking I couldn't fault this place, apart from two facts. The first is that condiments are priced at 50p for about two tablespoons. The second is that the staircase is on the exterior of the building - it's not exactly outside on the street but it almost is. It's just a bit awkward as it looks like you're trying to leave.

We noticed that they serve cocktails too (£3 for some on most days and £5-6 the rest of the time) so we decided to swing by here at the end of the day. To our surprise the place was incredibly busy and people seemed to be queueing for a seat. I get why, as the pizzas are the same price at lunch or dinner, so you're not going to get much cheaper on a Saturday night.

I have no recollection anymore of what we were drinking exactly. I know my martini was kahlua based and my guess is the other one contained rum. It doesn't matter though as they tasted good and we were satisfied.

So that's it really. Tribeca is refreshing and shows good value for money. The staff are friendly (especially on the phone) and we will definitely return in the future whenever we want a pizza in Liverpool.

Recipe: Lamb Burgers with Herb Yoghurt

2012-01-05T16:54:00.000Z

I've tried to stop doing composite posts and stick to having every recipe separate, but this herb yoghurt is nothing without the lamb burgers and vice versa. The original recipe comes from Anjum Anand's Indian Food Made Easy, but we had to change a few bits around and work some parts out ourselves. The original burgers would not bind as there were too many ingredients, but we have doubled the meat content (or halved the rest, depending on how you want to look at it) so these burgers bind perfectly.

These burgers are really enjoyable without a bun, but a smothering of the herb yoghurt is essential, and a little salad never hurts. We always cook burgers in the oven but the recipe also calls for grilling if you prefer. Luckily there is no grinding of spices so this is a one bowl and one tray recipe.

Lamb Burgers with Herb Yoghurt

Serves: 4

Time taken: 10 minutes to make, 30 minutes of chilling etc, and 20 minutes in the oven.

Ingredients:

For the burgers

1/2 red onion

2 cloves garlic

2cm piece of root ginger

A small bunch of fresh coriander

2 green chillies

3 cream crackers (or play around with crusty bread, etc)

400g lamb mince

1/2 tsp ground cumin

3/4 tsp garam masala

Salt and pepper

1 free range egg

For the yoghurt

A small bunch of fresh coriander

About 4 sprigs of mint

200ml Greek yoghurt

1 green chili (so that's 3 total)

To serve (all optional)

Salad leaves

Burger buns

Tomato

1/2 red onion

(Before you start it is worth noting that if you cut the onion widthways rather than the normal lengthways, you can create onion rings with the second half for serving)

Peel and finely chop the 1/2 red onion and garlic, peel and finely grate the ginger, and finely chop the coriander (stalks and leaves). Remove the stalks and seeds from the chillies then finely chop. Add all the above into a large mixing bowl.
Alternatively you can do all this chopping in a food processor.

Bash up the crackers with a rolling pin, or whiz them in the food processor until you get an even crumb. Add the crumbs to the bowl along with the lamb mince, cumin, garam masala, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Add the egg a little at a time and squidge everything with your hands until the mixture is binding well. Make sure not to add too much egg as this will make the burgers fall apart. Some people would even say the egg is optional!

Shape the mixture into four evenly-sized patties. Make them quite wide and short as they will rise and shrink in the oven. Place the patties on an oiled baking tray and stick them in the oven for 20 minutes.

After 20 minutes take the patties out of the fridge and leave them on the side. Turn the oven onto about 170°C with fan.

Once the oven is hot place the burgers inside. Now it's time to make the yoghurt. Roughly chop the leaves of the coriander and the mint. Remove the stalk and the seeds from the chili then finely chop. Add these to a bowl with the Greek yoghurt and a little salt and pepper then mix everything together and taste. Feel free to add more of any of the ingredients as you see fit.

After about fifteen minutes in the oven give the burgers a check and if they're cooked through then they're done. If not put them back in for longer.

Slice up the tomato, red onion and buns if using. Done!

Picture Story: Tapas Night

2012-01-03T17:00:00.000Z

A few weeks ago, inspired by the bounty of tapas restaurants in Liverpool, my partner and I threw a dinner party for my friends at university. I love tapas-inspired dinner parties as it means there is something for everyone, but it does mean you may have to spend all day in the kitchen.

This was the perfect excuse to finally use Rick Stein's Spain which I've been holding on to for months. From the book we made stuffed aubergines, red gazpacho, white gazpacho, ensalata mixta, and patatas bravas. The gazpachos were great in my opinion, but the recipe for stuffed aubergines is a bit tasteless and we could do better ourselves.

We also picked up some beautiful cheeses from the Guid Cheese Shop including mahon, garrotxa, aged manchego, and most notably monte enebro which I found incredibly unique and special. If you want to try some and you're in St Andrews then it's worth noting they offer a student discount too!

Finally, we made the Catalan Scouse recipe from Lunya, which turned out exceedingly well without the morcilla.

Apologies for picture quality - I had no camera this week so I was only using my phone.

Recipe: Tiramisu Cupcakes

2011-12-30T17:00:00.000Z

I love fresh cherries, but can't stand cherry-flavoured products. The same goes for coffee, and especially alcohol. I love to drink both, even together at times, but I've never enjoyed coffee or alcohol-flavoured food. So you'd think I wouldn't like tiramisu, right? You are correct. I hate tiramisu. My eyes would light up when I saw hotels serve cake at breakfast in Italy, but it was always tiramisu.

So why tiramisu cupcakes? I don't know. I opened up my copy of Cake Days and this was the first recipe inside. The photographs were just so beautiful I simply had to make them. In the end they were delicious and I loved them. I couldn't eat the whole batch though, out of fear of being drunk afterwards! I used a stand mixer a lot for this recipe, but you can always use a normal whisk. The recipe is in three parts: cake, syrup and icing. The icing is gorgeous, and the three components together are unstoppable.

Tiramisu Cupcakes

Makes: 12-16

Total Time: 1.5 hours with time for cooling

Ingredients:

For the cake

80g unsalted butter, softened

280g caster sugar

240g plain flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp baking powder

2 large eggs

240ml whole milk

For the syrup

250ml strong coffee

5 tbsp coffee liqueur such as Kahlua

3 tbsp caster sugar

For the icing

400g mascarpone

50ml coffee liqueur

300ml double cream

30g icing sugar

Cocoa powder, for dusting

To begin, preheat the oven to 170°C fan, and line a muffin tin with your muffin cases. (I used cute flower ones I bought from my local cake shop.)

Beat together the butter, sugar, flour, salt, and baking powder on a low speed until you get a fine breadcrumb consistency.

In a jug, break in the eggs and add the milk and vanilla essence. Beat the liquid ingredients together with a fork to mix.

Slowly add the liquid to the crumb mixture with the stand mixer on a low speed. Once it looks mixed, scrape the sides down to make sure you get everything incorporated, then mix once more until smooth and even.

Divide the mixture between the paper cases, filling them about two-thirds full. I probably put in way too much, meaning I had very tall cupcakes, but they were very light inside and the height was useful later one. It is up to you though - if you want a shorter cupcake then only fill them two-thirds full and use the leftover batter to fill a few more cases in a new tin.

Place the tin in the oven for 18-20 minutes until golden and springy to the touch. Leave to cool for 5-10 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.

Meanwhile make up the syrup (you can do this while the cakes are in the oven if you like). Pour the coffee and coffee liqueur into a small saucepan and stir in the sugar. Bring the pan to a boil then let it simmer for 10 minutes until the liquid has reduced by half. Leave the syrup to cool before using.

To make the frosting, beat the mascarpone with the coffee liqueur until smooth.

In a separate bowl pour in the double cream and icing sugar. Whip these together with clean blades until you get soft peaks.

Fold the whipped cream into the mascarpone mixture until evenly mixed.

Once the cupcakes are cool, carefully cut out a 3cm-deep piece from the top of each.

Pour about 1 tsp of the syrup over each cut-out piece of sponge.

Pour another tsp of the syrup into the hollow of each cupcake where you cut the piece out.

Fill each hollow halfway full with the mascarpone cream before replacing the soaked sponge top. I used a piping bag so I could really get the cream in deep, but this isn't necessary if you don't have one.

Either pipe the rest of the mascarpone cream on top of each cupcake, or use a blunt knife for a flatter surface. Dust with cocoa powder. Done!

You may notice I had a bit of an accident with the cocoa powder at the back right. They were still pretty individually though, and more importantly they still tasted good! Also these photos are from back in late September - the weather is not that good in Scotland right now!!

Recipe: Bacon And Cabbage Soup

2011-12-28T17:00:00.000Z

So the produce of autumn has disappeared and we are left with cabbage and potatoes. Personally my plan is to get through the winter and spring time the same way I went through autumn: soup. I hate having to attempt a recipe three times before it's edible; you end up wasting time, ingredients and money, but so many of my soups have been turning out not only edible but almost perfect on first go. And I think this is just soup in general. It's hard to screw up. With a pan on the hob and a blender in hand, how can you go wrong?

So the book that has encouraged and inspired me through winter so far has been Soup for all Seasons. It's not perfect, and the instructions could be better, but without it I never would have dreamt of creaming cabbage and bacon together. This recipe is based off one of their recipes and is a delicious way to use up that extra savoy cabbage you've got knocking about.

There are a couple of options to this recipe - texture being the main one. To make the soup more interesting I've kept a portion of cabbage to the side, boiled it separately, and added it to the soup post-blending. This stops it from being a normal 'cream of' soup. Along the same lines, you can also fry up some lardons separately and add them at the end to give it a bit of extra bacon flavour. I don't feel these are completely necessary, but they make a lovely garnish!

Bacon And Cabbage Soup

Serves: 3-4

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

1 small white onion

1 clove garlic

6 rashers smoked streaky bacon (~100g)

25g butter

1 medium potato

600ml vegetable stock

1 savoy cabbage (~300g once shredded and core removed)

Optiona: 180g bacon lardons

2 tbsp double cream

Black pepper

First of all, peel and finely chop the onion and garlic.

Roughly chop your bacon rashers, then add these to a large saucepan over low-medium heat along with the onion, garlic and butter. Gently fry for 5 minutes until softened.

Meanwhile peel and dice your potato.

Add the potato along with the stock. Bring to the boil and then down to a simmer for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile shred your cabbage, removing the tough core and any rough leaves. If you want more than one texture in the soup, put a quarter (75g) of the cabbage to one side.

After ten minutes of simmering, add the 3/4 cabbage to the pan (or all). It's a tight squeeze, so stir it around and try to keep rotating everything so the cabbage cooks. Simmer for a further 3-5 minutes until the cabbage is softened, then turn off the heat and put to one side.

While the soup cools down, if you chose to reserve some cabbage then drop it into boiling salted water for 3 minutes or so until just tender, then drain under cold water.

Also, if you are using lardons then fry them up now until golden and crispy.

By now the soup should be ready to blend, but if not then leave it for a bit longer and come back. Cream the soup in a blender or with a hand blender, then add the cream along with the lardons and extra cabbage if using. You may want to reserve a few of the lardons and cabbage pieces for garnish.

Turn the heat back on to medium and stir the soup while it re-heats for 3-5 minutes. Season with black pepper and garnish with lardons, cabbage, cream, or nothing at all. Done!

Recipe: Cullen Skink

2011-12-26T17:00:00.021Z

The Scottish know how to make a good soup. That's not to say I don't enjoy a good haggis or some shortbread, but I've just found that whenever I make a Scottish soup it comes out so well, and first time too. This recipe doesn't exactly have the most appealing name, in fact it doesn't even look that appealing in the photos, but it smells and tastes delicious.

The recipe is from Soup for all Seasons and this soup is a great winter warmer. There aren't many ingredients in this soup but it still has a powerful flavour thanks to the smoked haddock. It does require a hand blender, or at least some kind of blender, and things get a bit fiddly when de-boning the haddock, but the fish actually contains very small bones so you're welcome to just put them in anyway (I know my father would!).

Cullen Skink

Serves: 3-4

Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

100ml whole milk

425ml (3/4pint) vegetable stock

2 fillets of smoked haddock, or about 350g

1 small white onion

25g butter

1 medium potato

2 tbsp double cream

black pepper

To begin, heat the milk and the stock in a saucepan big enough to fit your fillets. Once simmering, add the haddock and leave to gently poach for ten minutes until lightly cooked.

Meanwhile, peel and finely chop the onion. Melt the butter in a large saucepan and fry the onion gently for 3-5 minutes until softened but not coloured.

While the onion is frying and the haddock is poaching, peel and dice the potato.

Once the onion is softened, add the potatoes and 100-200ml boiling water to cover the contents of the pan. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 minutes until the potatoes are cooked.

By now your haddock should be done. Switch off the heat and let the fish and liquid cool down together.

Once the haddock is cool, remove from the liquid (but retain the liquid in the pan) and place on a chopping board.

Carefully pull the haddock fillets apart, taking care to remove all skin and bones.

Once the potatoes are cooked through, add half the milk/stock mixture from the other pan. Using a hand blender, cream together the ingredients.

Turn the heat back on under the large saucepan and add the haddock pieces plus a generous dash of black pepper.

Stir in the double cream, and thin the soup out with a little extra of the milk/stock mixture until you reach your desired consistency (I used all of it!). Once hot, serve with crusty bread. Done!

Recipe: Chicken Tikka Masala

2011-12-24T17:00:00.154Z

Although this curry doesn't actually contain any marinating, it is still classed as a tikka masala and is still delicious. It's a British classic and is my third curry from Jamie's Ministry of Food. Although spicier than the chicken korma I still think it's suitable for children, but perhaps leave out the fresh chili.

With only two breasts of chicken we made enough to serve dinner for two, plus another round for lunch tomorrow mixed in with cooked rice in tortilla wraps, so it goes a long way! The second time we cooked this it was for my family, and as my kitchen back home in York can get pretty stressful (6 adults in a house and 2 very fat cats) we made the paste in the early afternoon to use in the evening. I'd advise against that in the future as it lost some of its fresh flavour, but if you make it when you need it the curry is full of flavour.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Serves: 4

Total Time: 10 mins for the paste, an hour or so for the curry

Ingredients:

For the paste:

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

2 cloves garlic

2cm piece fresh ginger

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tbsp smoked paprika

2 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp groundnut oil

2 tbsp tomato puree

2 fresh red chillies, stalks removed

A small bunch of fresh coriander

1 tbsp desiccated coconut

3 tbsp ground almonds

For the curry:

4 skinless chicken breasts

2 medium onions

1 fresh red chili

2cm piece fresh ginger

A small bunch of fresh coriander

Groundnut oil, or vegetable oil

A knob of butter

Salt and pepper

400g tin chopped tomatoes

400ml tin coconut milk

Cooked rice and/or naan bread, to serve

Optional: plain yoghurt and lemon wedges

And if you're not making the paste then use 1/2 a 290g jar of tikka masala curry paste, such as Patak's

To make the paste: put a frying pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the cumin and coriander seeds. Toast them in the dry pan for a few minutes until red and fragrant. In the mortar and pestle, grind the cooked seeds to a fine powder, or alternatively do this in the food processor.

Next, peel the garlic and ginger and add to the food processor along with all the other paste ingredients. Blend until everything is well mixed.

If your paste isn't blending together properly try adding a splash of the coconut milk to ease it up.

For the curry, slice the chicken breast lengthways into 2cm thick strips or chunks.

Peel and halve the onions then finely slice. Finely slice the chili (seeds and all, except for the stalk). Peel and finely chop the ginger. Pick the coriander leaves and reserve to the side, then finely chop up the stalks.

Put a large pan on a high heat and add a couple of lugs of groundnut oil, plus the knob of butter. Add the onions, chili, ginger, and coriander stalks. Cook for ten minutes until softed and golden, stirring regularly.

Add the tikka masala curry paste from earlier (or from a jar) along with the chicken. Stir well to coat the chicken in the cooked veg and paste, then season carefully with salt and pepper.

Add the chopped tomatoes and the coconut milk. Bring everything to the boil and then down to a simmer with the lid on. After 15 minutes remove the pan and cook for another 5 minutes, giving it a stir.

Once the meat is cooked thorugh and tender the curry is ready to eat. Serve with rice, naan bread, dollops of natural yoghurt, a sprinkle of reserved coriander leaves, and lemon wedges on the side for drizzling over. Done!

Recipe: Vegetable Jalfrezi

2011-12-22T17:00:00.144Z

To carry on this week's curry theme, today I present not only a vegetarian curry, but a vegan one! Unfortunately this is no use to me as my sister doesn't like Indian food, but I'll definitely be making this again if I have a curry night with vegetarian guests.

Like the korma, this curry is also from Jamie's Ministry of Food. I have changed the ingredients slightly so it serves less people. I know that sounds pretty mental, but it's simply because our pans are just not big enough to make an 8-person curry. If you're interested in the full recipe, then check out the book on the above link. It's full of lots of simple dishes like this one, and a good mix of vegetarian and meaty recipes. In the book he also mentions that in this jalfrezi you can substitute the vegetables with others such as courgettes, aubergines and potatoes. I love a good potato curry so I'll definitely be playing around with that in the future!

Finally, sorry about the photos. It was games night and wine was was consumed.

Vegetable Jalfrezi

Serves: 4-6

Total Time: 10 mins for the paste, an hour or so for the curry

Ingredients:

For the paste:

2 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

1 tsp brown mustard seeds

1 tsp fenugreek seeds

2 cloves garlic

2cm piece fresh ginger

1 tsp turmeric

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp groundnut oil

2 tbsp tomato puree

1 fresh green chili, stalk removed

A small bunch of fresh coriander

For the curry:

1 medium white onion

1 fresh red chili

2cm piece fresh ginger

2 cloves garlic

A small bunch of fresh coriander

1 red pepper

1 small cauliflower

2 ripe tomatoes

1 small butternut squash

400g tin chickpeas

Groundnut oil, or vegetable oil will suffice

400g tin chopped tomatoes

4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/2 lemon

Salt and pepper

Cooked rice and/or naan bread, to serve

Optional: plain yoghurt and lemon wedges

And if you're not making the paste then use 1/2 a 290g jar of jalfrezi curry paste, such as Patak's

To make the paste: put a frying pan over medium-high heat. Once hot, add the cumin, coriander, brown mustard and fenugreek seeds. Toast them in the dry pan for a few minutes until red and fragrant. In the mortar and pestle, grind the cooked seeds to a fine powder, or alternatively do this in the food processor.

Next, peel the garlic and ginger and add to the food processor along with all the other paste ingredients. Blend until everything is well mixed.

If your food processor is rubbish like ours and it isn't very paste-like, add a splash of the water to loosen it up.

For the curry, peel and roughly chop the onion. Remove the stalk from the chili and finely slice. Peel and finely slice the ginger and garlic. Remove the coriander leaves and reserve these to the side, then finely chop up the stalks.

Deseed and roughly chop the red pepper.

Break off the green leaves of the cauliflower, remove the tough stem, then break the rest into small florets.

Cut the tomatoes into quarters or eighths.

Carefully cut the butternut squash in half and remove the seeds. Leave the skin on, but chop off the top and bottom where it is hard.

Slice the squash into wedges and then across into 2cm pieces.

Put a large pan on a medium-high heat and add a couple of lugs of groundnut oil. Once hot, add the onions, chili, ginger, garlic and coriander stalks. Stir for ten minutes until softened and golden.

Drain the chickpeas and then add to the pan along with the red pepper, butternut squash and jalfrezi paste. Stir everything to coat it in the paste.

Add the cauliflower, both the fresh and tinned tomatoes, and the balsamic vinegar. Fill the chickpea tin halfway with water and add to the pan. Stir everything again to mix, then bring it to the boil and down to a simmer for 45 minutes with the lid on.

Check the curry regularly and add more water if it looks too dry. Contrary, if it looks too watery then remove the lid for the last 15 minutes of cooking. When all the vegetables are tender, taste the curry and carefully season with salt and pepper. Squeeze in a little lemon juice, then serve with rice, naan, yoghurt, lemon wedges and the reserved coriander leaves. Done!

Recipe: Chicken Korma

2011-12-20T17:00:00.189Z

Let's face it, everybody is sick of Christmas already and it hasn't even happened yet. If you're not, good for you, but for most people the season has lost its charm. We've eaten too many mince pies, drunk a bit too much mulled wine and don't want any more candy canes. Now is the time for a curry. It'll warm you up on a winter night, it's a social dinner where everyone can share and dive in, plus it's a lot easier than doing another roast.

Today, Thursday and Saturday I will share with you three recipes we've made from Jamie's Ministry of Food. These recipes are really flexible and can serve a whole family. You can make them with pots of curry sauce from the super market, or make them from scratch like we did. For the latter you will require a food processor and preferably a mortar and pestle too, but it is so satisfying to do it this way.

Today's curry is the korma; the gateway curry. It's cooler than most curries, but that doesn't mean it doesn't have flavour. We used raw chicken breast, but you could adapt this to use up your roast chicken leftovers, or even no chicken at all!

Chicken Korma

Serves: 4-6

Total Time: 10 mins for the paste, 50 mins for the curry

Ready in an hour!

Ingredients:

For the paste:

2 tsp cumin seeds

1 tsp coriander seeds

2 cloves garlic

2cm piece fresh ginger

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp garam masala

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp groundnut oil

1 tbsp tomato puree

2 fresh green chillies, stalks removed

3 tbsp dessicated coconut

2 tbsp ground almonds

A small bunch of fresh coriander

For the curry:

4 skinless chicken breasts

2 medium onions

Optional: 1 fresh green chili

2cm piece ginger

A small bunch of coriander

Groundnut oil (or vegetable oil will suffice)

25g butter

400g tin chickpeas

400ml coconut milk

2 heaped tbsp desiccated coconut

Salt and pepper

Optional: plain yoghurt and lemon wedges to serve

Cooked rice and naan bread, to serve

And if you don't want to make your own paste then use 1/2 a 290g jar of korma curry paste, such as Patak's

Next, peel the garlic and ginger and add to the food processor along with all the other paste ingredients. Blend until everything is well mixed.

If your food processor is rubbish like ours and it isn't very paste-like, add a splash of the coconut milk that will be used for the curry just to loosen it up.

To make the curry, start by cutting the chicken into chunks about 3cm wide.

Peel and finely chop the onions. De-seed the green chili and finely chop. Remove the leaves from the coriander, put to one side, then finely chop the stalks. Peel and finely chop the ginger.

Place a large, deep saucepan on a medium-high heat and add a couple of lugs of the groundnut oil. Add the onions, chili, coriander stalks and ginger along with the knob of butter. Fry for 10 minutes, stirring regularly so nothing burns to the bottom, until the onions are soft and golden.

Drain the chickpeas and add to the pan along with the korma paste, coconut milk, dessicated coconut and chicken breast. Half fill the chick pea tin with water and add this to the pan too. Stir, bring to the boil, then simmer for 30 minutes with the lid on. Durying this time, check the curry regularly to make sure it is not drying out. If it is at any point, just add some extra water.

After half an hour check the chicken to make sure it is cooked and tender. Carefully season the curry with salt and pepper, then serve alongside rice, naan, yoghurt and lemon wedges. Garnish with the reserved coriander leaves. Done!

Recipe: Garlic Chicken

2011-12-18T15:51:00.000Z

This is another Ministry of Food recipe that I love. I didn't think I would learn anything from this book, but this recipe contains the best way to easily flatten out meat by hammering it with a pan. I assume it doesn't work for everything, but I look forward to making turkey and hopefully veal escalopes with this technique.

In terms of the ingredients, this is a fun way to give your chicken a punch of flavour at dinner. We enjoyed ours with an assortment of veggie sides to make it into a ginormous feast, and we used the leftovers cut into slithers in our salad the next day. We baked our chicken out of ease but I will also include instructions for frying as this gives a crispier result. The recipe requires a food processor or blender unfortunately, and I don't think there is much I can do about that! In the photos we actual made 150% of the recipe to use up a spare breast of chicken, so please ignore when you see three portions in the photos instead of two!

Garlic Chicken

Serves: 2

Total time: 20-30 minutes

Ingredients:

6 cream crackers

25g butter

1 clove garlic

4 sprigs fresh flat-leaf parsley

1 lemon

Salt and pepper

Plain flour

1 large free range egg

2 skinless chicken breasts

Olive oil, if frying

If you want to bake your chicken, preheat the oven to 200°C fan.

Put the crackers in the food processor with the butter, peeled garlic, parsley, the zest of the lemon, and a pinch of salt and pepper. Blend the ingredients together until the mixture is resembles a fine crumb and is well-mixed. Pour the contents out onto a plate.

(The leftover body of the lemon is great cut into wedges and squeezed over the final result.)

On another plate, sprinkle over 3-4 tbsp plain flour, and in a small bowl, beat the egg with a fork.

Here is the awesome bit: lightly score the underside of the chicken breasts. Cover them with a square of cling film, then use the bottom of a pan to bash them until they are flat.

One at a time, take a chicken breast and cover it with the flour on both sides. Dip it into the egg and then smother it in the garlic crumb mixture.

If you are frying the chicken, put a large frying pan over a medium heat with a lug of olive oil. Cook the chicken breasts for 4-5 minutes on each side until cooked through and golden.

If you are baking the chicken, place the chicken breasts on a baking tray and cook for 15 minutes. Done!

Recipe: Chicken Chow Mein

2011-12-16T16:28:00.000Z

This was one of the first recipes I tried from Jamie's Ministry of Food. I was worried before making this that everything would be too fast-paced because it's a stir-fry dish. I was equally worried that as a stir-fry it would be really tasteless and boring. Finally I decided these two worries cancelled each other out so I would make it anyway.

It turns out it's not too stressful. As long as you do all the preparation before hand, including getting all the ingredients out, there isn't much to it. Also if there are two of you then life is a lot easier as it is a two pan job. We thought this dish was really yummy in the end, and the portions are very satisfactory, so I look forward to making this again. At the very bottom I've placed 'go-to' instructions for when I actually do cook this next, as I won't have time to scroll up and down the page!

Chicken Chow Mein

Serves: 2

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients:

1 bok choi/pak choi

a 2cm piece of fresh ginger

2 cloves garlic

1 fresh red chili

2 spring onions

A small bunch of coriander

1 large skinless chicken breast

Salt and pepper

100g medium egg noodles

Groundnut oil

1 heaped tsp cornflour

220g tin water chestnuts

Soy sauce

1/2 lime

To begin, put a large pan of water on to boil and a wok on high heat. Halve the pak choi lengthways.

Peel and finely slice the ginger and garlic. Finely slice the chili and remove the seeds if you don't want it too spicy. Trim the spring onions and finely slice. Place half the sliced spring onions to the side. Remove the coriander leaves and put them aside. Finely chop the stalks.

Slice the chicken across into 1cm strips and season with salt and pepper.

Once the wok is very hot and all the chopping is done, add a generous lug of groundnut oil to the wok and swirl around. Throw in the chicken and cook for a couple of minutes until the chicken browns slightly.

Add the ginger, garlic, chili, coriander stalks and half the spring onions. Stir-fry for 30 seconds keeping everything moving quickly around the wok so nothing burns. Remove from the heat.

Add the noodles and pak choi to the boiling water and simmer for 2-3 minutes but no more.

Add the cornflour and water chestnuts to the wok along with their water and stir around.

Add 2-3 tbsp of soy sauce, or to your liking. Squeeze in the juice of half the lime and mix everything together again.

Drain the noodles and pak choi over a jug to reserve some of their water. Add them to the wok along with a splash of their cooking water. Stir well.

Divide the mixture between two bowls and scatter with the reserved spring onions and coriander leaves. Done!

Quick instructions:

1. Pan of water on to boil. Wok on high heat

2. Halve pak choi

3. Peel/finely chop ginger, garlic, chili, spring onions (reserve half), coriander stalks (reserve leaves)

4. Slice chicken - 1cm strips. Season

5. Lug of groundnut oil in wok. Add chicken, stir-fry for a couple of minutes to brown

6. Add ginger, garlic, chili, coriander, onion. Stir-fry for 30 seconds then remove from heat

7. Add noodles and pak choi to water for 2-3 minutes

8. Add cornflour and water chestnuts with water to wok

9. Add soy sauce and lime juice. Stir

10. Drain noodles and pak choi, reserving water. Add to wok with a splash of their water. Stir

11. Serve up and garnish with coriander leaves and onion

Recipe: Chicken Puff Pie

2011-12-14T08:47:00.000Z

Chicken and mushroom pie was the first savoury pie I ever made, and it really encouraged me to pursue cooking. There's something about pie that seems special to me. It's probably because we never had them at home as my mother isn't keen on pastry, but to me it feels like someone has actually gone out of their way to make it, even if they've used store-bought pastry.

This recipe comes from Jamie's 30 Minute Meals, and although I personally prefer my chicken and mushroom pie, that one doesn't work so well with puff pastry, and my partner loves puff pastry. Although Jamie Oliver makes it in under 30 minutes, I like to take my time about things and do my chopping before I start cooking if it looks like it's going to get stressful in the kitchen, so that is why my recipe for this pie takes a bit longer.

Chicken Puff Pie

Serves: 4-6

Total Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

6 spring onions

150g button mushrooms

4 small chicken breasts, skin off

A knob of butter (25g)

Olive oil

2 tbsp plain flour, plus extra for dusting

2 tbsp creme fraiche

300ml chicken stock

A few sprigs of fresh thyme

Nutmeg

Salt and pepper

A sheet of pre-rolled puff pastry

1 small egg

To begin, preheat the oven to 180°C fan and put a large wide pan over a medium heat.

Trim the spring onions and slice thinly.

Wash the mushrooms and slice up or quarter.

Cut the chicken across into 1cm strips.

Once the pan is hot, add the butter and a lug of olive oil. Fry the chicken for roughly 3 minutes until it is white all over.

Add the mushrooms, spring onions and flour to the pan. Stir well.

Pour in the creme fraiche and the chicken stock, then stir until everything is mixed together.

Pick off the leaves from the fresh thyme and add to the pan along with a few gratings from the nutmeg. Season with salt and pepper then simmer for 5-10 minutes to thicken.

Meanwhile lightly dust a clean surface with flour and unroll your puff pastry. Use a small knife to score it in a criss-cross pattern. I also went round cutting some of the pastry off because we were using an oval-shaped ovenproof dish for the pie. This meant I had extra bits of pastry to make leaves to go on top though!

Pour the chicken mixture into a large ovenproof dish that is slightly smaller than your pastry. Place the pastry on top and tuck in any extra on the inside of the dish. Beat the egg in a cup and then brush on to the top of the pastry.

Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Serve with your favourite veggies. Done!

Recipe: Leek, Bacon And Cheddar Macaroni Bake

2011-12-12T17:00:00.112Z

Whenever I stay at the in-laws house one of the first things I will do is flip through the numerous Sainsbury's magazines knocking about. Apart from the awful beauty section at the back, the magazine is a pretty good read, and well worth the £1.60 if you're lacking in inspiration on what to cook. My favourite thing about them is that the recipes tend to be seasonal and current. If it's national curry week then you'll find curry recipes, or if asparagus is in season then that is what they'll be cooking with.

I found this recipe back in the September or October issue I think, and I knew it was up our street. We love a good macaroni bake. I totally understand why people don't like them: they're not healthy, they take way longer than you'd think, and you end up using a lot of pans. However how can you deny the gorgeous creaminess of a cheddar sauce? And who doesn't love a good bacon/leek combo? This is a three pan job ideally, but it's worth it!

Leek, Bacon And Cheddar Macaroni Bake

Serves: 4

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

6 rashers streaky bacon

2 leeks

350g macaroni

100g butter

2 tbsp plain flour

1 litre milk

200g cheddar

Black pepper

1 stale bread roll or some crusty bread

First of all, preheat the oven to 180°C fan. Put the kettle on to boil and place a small pan, a large pan and a frying pan over medium heats.

Meanwhile, slice up the bacon into strips.

Trim the ends off the leeks and then slice in half down the length of each. Wash them under the tap to remove all the grit and then slice across into 2cm pieces.

Fill the large pan with the boiled water and a pinch of salt. Add the macaroni and leave to simmer for 10 minutes until the pasta is tender.

Meanwhile fry the leeks with 25g butter in the frying pan until soft.

Place the remaining butter in the small saucepan. Once melted, add the flour and stir to create a thick paste

Once the leeks are done, remove them from the pan onto a plate, then add the bacon to the pan. Fry the bacon until crisp and golden.

Once the butter and flour are thick and bubbly, slowly start adding the milk little by little, stirring the whole time.

Once the milk is fully incorporated, leave to simmer and thicken, stirring occasionally.

Grate the cheddar, then add to the sauce with the black pepper once it is thick. Stir until the cheese is completely melted and mixed in.

Drain the pasta in a colander, then mix together with the bacon, leeks and cheese sauce in a large ovenproof dish. Quickly whiz the bread in a food processor or a blender to get breadcrumbs and sprinkle over the top. We also added the leftover 50g of cheese from our block as well for added cheesiness!

Place the dish in the oven for 40 minutes until it is bubbling up the sides and crispy on top like a fruit crumble. Done!

Recipe: Tomato, Cucumber And Onion Raita

2011-12-10T17:00:00.058Z

We love Indian food in the United Kingdom, but I think it's fair to say a lot of us can't handle the heat. I frequently find myself tissue in hand with a runny nose when anything even close to spicy is being served. My partner loves his spice as well, so this is when raita comes in handy. To me, this is the Indian equivalent of guacamole. I can eat it alongside my dinner to balance out the spice, or even just by itself with some broken up poppadoms.

The recipes comes from Indian Food Made Easy. We used a mortar and pestle to grind up our cumin seeds, but if you don't have one then just replace that whole process with ground cumin from the supermarket instead.

Tomato, Cucumber And Onion Raita

Serves: 4-6

Total Time: 10 minutes

Ingredients:

1 tsp cumin seeds

1 tomato, or 6 cherry tomatoes

1 small red onion

1/2 cucumber

A small bunch of coriander

400ml plain yoghurt

Salt and pepper

Chilli powder

To bein, put a frying pan over a high heat. Sprinkle in the cumin seeds and toast until red and fragrant.

Pour the seeds into a mortar and pestle then grind to a powder.

Meanwhile halve the tomato and remove the seeds from the inside. Dice the flesh.

Peel and dice the onion.

Remove the skin from the cucumber, then dice up the inside.

Remove the leaves from the coriander and reserve some to the side for a garnish. Finely chop up the rest of the leaves along with the stalks.

In a bowl, mix together the tomato, onion, cucumber, coriander and yoghurt. Stir in the ground cumin and season with salt and pepper. Garnish with a pinch of chilli powder and the leftover coriander leaves. Done!

Recipe: Gingerbread Men

2011-12-08T17:00:00.000Z

Subtly spicy and certainly festive, these little men are great for kids. Unlike most gingerbread men they are relatively low on ginger, and so I think those who don't like ginger can still enjoy these. They come from British Baking and the timings are for my teeny tiny gingerbread men and women cutters I bought for about 50p each from Fenwick (bargain!).

Gingerbread Men

Makes: possibly around 30, I lost track

Total time: 30 mins or more depending on the size of your cutters, oven, etc.

Ingredients:

350g plain flour, plus extra for dusting

1 tbsp ground ginger

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

100g cold unsalted butter, cubed

150g light soft brown sugar

1 large egg

4 tbsp golden syrup

First of all, preheat the oven to 160°C with fan. Line 2 baking trays with baking paper.

Sift the flour with the ginger and bicarbonate of soda in a large bowl.

Add the butter to the dry ingredients and rub in like a crumble until you get a sandy, evenly size crumb.

Stir in the sugar.

Beat the egg in a measuring jug.

Add the golden syrup to the beaten egg and whisk until well-mixed.

Add the egg mixture to the bowl of butter/flour. Mix it in with your hands until you form a dough.

Roll the dough out onto a floured surface to about half a centimetre thick.

Using your cutter, carefully cut out your men and women and place them on your lined trays. Use knives, forks and skewers to make little faces.

Place the trays in the preheated oven for 10 minutes until golden brown.

Leave to cool for 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack, or eat when slightly warm for extra festive feeling! They will last for up to a week in an air-tight container, although I found they went a bit soft after a day or two, so the sooner you eat them the better. Done!

Recipe: Banger Bean Broth

2011-12-06T17:00:00.002Z

Well winter is officially here once again; cold salads for dinner are out and warm soups are in. I absolutely love sausages, but as a girl trying to lose weight then these aren't really the best thing to fill up on, especially not with sides of mash potato. The great thing about this soup is you only end up eating 1 and a half sausages each, and also everything else is relatively healthy for you (except for the bread and butter, but that's optional!).

The original recipe comes from Soup For All Seasons, and although it is categorised under autumn I don't see any reason not to keep eating it through winter as the only fresh produce is onion, potato and carrots. It's packed full of flavour from the beef stock and smoked paprika, and you don't need a hand blender!

Banger Bean Broth

Serves: 4

Total Time: 1 hour

Ingredients:

2 carrots

1 medium potato

1 small red onion

6 sausages

1 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp smoked paprika

2 tbsp red wine

1 litre beef stock

500ml tomato passata

1 tsp oregano

400g tin haricot beans

Salt and pepper

I like to get all my chopping done before I start cooking. To start, peel and dice the carrots, potato and onion. Make sure not to mix the onion with the carrots and potato.

Cut the susages into six pieces each, or thereabouts.

In a large saucepan, heat the oil over a medium heat. Once hot, add the sausage pieces. Stir and cook them for about 5 minutes until they are browned. They don't need to be cooking all the way through, just coloured.

Remove the sausage pieces from the pan onto some kitchen roll to absorb any spare fat, but try to leave as much oil in the saucepan as possible.

Over a medium heat again, add the onion to the saucepan, and a drizzle more oil if needed. Fry the onion for 3-5 minutes until softened.

Add the paprika and stir it in.

Add the wine and let it sizzle away for a minute.

Add the potato, carrots, stock, passata, oregano and drained haricot beans. Stir and bring to the boil.

Once boiling, take it back down to a simmer and add the sausage pieces. Leave to simmer for 20-30 minutes until the vegetables are soft and the sausages are cooked through.

Serve by itself or with a serving of crusty bread and butter, plus a little fresh parsley if you have some to hand. Done!

Recipe: Why Santa Has A Naughty List

2011-12-04T17:00:00.002Z

So it is that time of the year again! I don't know why, but I adore Christmas. I guess it is the mixture of glitter, parties, and stuffing yourself so full of roast potatoes that you can't even walk back to your bedroom.

So one Christmas I discovered this yummy festive cocktail on Drink Nation, and I haven't looked back. You wouldn't think the ingredients would go so well together, but they balance perfectly.

Why Santa Has A Naughty List

Serves: 2

Prep time: 5 mins

Overall time: 5 mins

Ingredients:

50ml amaretto

50ml banana liqueur

50ml gin

25ml grenadine

A tray of ice cubes

500ml sprite, or altenatively normal lemonade might also work

In a cocktail shaker, pour in the amaretto, banana liquer, gin, grenadine and a couple ice cubes. Shake them together and then pour the contents into 2 tumblers along with a couple more ice cubes into each.

Fill each with sprite, and garnish with whatever festive decorations you feel like, such as a stick of cinnamon, a peel of orange, etc. Done!

Review: Las Iguanas, Liverpool

2011-12-02T17:00:00.002Z

A few weeks ago when I spent a week in Liverpool we were desperately looking for places to enjoy cocktails. We were searching for a bar to become a regular hang-out when in need of a good, strong concoction. On the first day we wandered into the ropewalks and ended up trying the rather weak and simple cocktails from Allure and Modo. Served in plastic cups, clearly these were the kind of cocktails you pay through the nose for when you are already smashed. This wasn't what we were after.

So one morning I devoted a good hour of my time to researching Liverpool and what it had to offer for our liquid cravings. I used blogs, Google searches, twitter, and even Trip Advisor. Ideally the best way to find out where to go is through word of mouth, but instead I had to depend on these rather inefficient methods that I frankly don't recommend. However, in the end, I came across a chain restaurant called Las Iguanas in Liverpool One serving a decent range of beverages.

We were reluctant at first because not only is Las Iguanas a chain restaurant, it is also based right next to other morbid chains such as Nando's. Is this really the location to find the best cocktail in town? Well, no, but it's worth a visit anyway. We were persuaded by their happy hour whereby you get a duplicate cocktail free for every one you order. This did mean a restricted cocktail list, but my partner was happy because it contained his go-to cocktail Dark 'N Stormy:

As far as Dark 'N Stormys go this is my favourite I've had. He complained it was a bit light on the rum, but still enjoyed them. I fell in love with the little half jar half mug glasses too!

I also tried the cana royale, which I didn't enjoy that much. I couldn't put my finger on what the weird flavour overwhelming the drink was, but my guess is that they used chambord instead of creme de framboise. If this is the case then that is pretty unforgivable and they should change the menu.

We also tried the caipirinhas, which were not only too sweet for my partner, but also too sweet for me! I had enjoyed caipirinhas in the past from Evil Eye, so I was surprised I found this one unfinishable.

So to remove the taste of the cairpirinhas we had one more round of the Dark 'N Stormys!

So to say we only enjoyed 1 out of the 3 cocktails we tried, perhaps it isn't the best place in the world, however it had a really good atmosphere. Not only were the bar staff friendly and helpful, they also had outdoor seating with heaters so we could get away from the clatter of the main restaurant. We like to pretend we are on holiday somewhere exotic when sipping on cocktails.

Will we go here again? Possibly. Dark 'N Stormys will definitely be enjoyed during happy hour, and we might try their food some time, but this isn't the staple bar we were looking for.

Review: Savina, Liverpool

2011-11-30T17:00:00.105Z

Our second encounter with the Gourmet Society diner card took us to Savina in the ropewalks area of Liverpool. In terms of location it couldn't have been easier to find, located on one of the main streets in a building filled with lots of restaurants, although it has to be said that the exterior leaves something to be desired aesthetically as it does look a bit like an office block (perhaps it is upstairs?).

Since the discount this time was 25% off the total bill, we decided to take full advantage of this and order lots of cocktails. The list was surprisingly extensive for a restaurant, and it was good to see cocktails that weren't just the standard classics.

So to begin with my partner ordered the margarita clasica. He said it was too sweet for his liking, I felt it was too salty for me.

I chose the banana colada for myself, which must be a favourite in the restaurant as you can get it in a pitcher. I thoroughly enjoyed this, and if I was to come back I would seriously consider the jug full!

So from the menu I wasn't expecting much food-wise. The starters were varied and the kind of food I enjoy eating, but the main courses didn't attract me. For me, the choice was between burritos, fajitas and enchiladas. If there had been a chimichanga on the menu I wouldn't have needed to choose at all as I love them, but instead I chose the fajitas. The chicken was well-seasoned, the food came sizzling-hot, and I was elated that it came with all the sauces I could wish for. I should also note that the food service was so fast we had only had one cocktail each! The portion size was quite generous as well, so I couldn't even finish mine.

My partner ordered the chicken enchilada, which came with chunky fries. He looked a little dismayed when it arrived as the portion seemed a little small, but he was very satisfied by the end of the meal. \ideally I think you should get two enchiladas and no fries or rice on the side. He let me try a little and I thought it was just gorgeous. I would choose the enchiladas for myself if I came here again. The chips were nice and crispy too, and they were great when eaten with the dip combo (a bargain at £1.95).

We also ordered jalapeno rellenos to eat alongside our main courses (not pictured) which received mix reviews. My partner enjoyed them, but felt that they weren't good value for money. As a warning though, these are fresh jalapenos and hence you should have a banana colada or some sour cream on stand by.

So on to the next round of drinks… this time it was the peach daiquiri for me. I usually drink a frozen daiquiri, so I was a little underwhelmed by the liquid version. It basically just tasted of peach schnapps.

My partner ordered the tequila sunrise which was really good. I'd never had one before, but I will definitely have them for myself in the future.

My final drink for the night was the strawberry colada, which was basically a rum-laced strawberry milkshake.

And my partner's final drink of the night was the pina colada. It wasn't life-changing, but it was good nonetheless.

So let's talk about my favourite part of the night: the service. The staff were friendly, and actually managed to pull off looking like they enjoyed working there (a trick most waiters don't manage). One waiter in particular named Matty was incredibly nice and friendly, but really they were all good. They even let us play with the sombrero!

In conclusion, we had a lot of fun at the Savina, although nothing about it was mind-blowing. I didn't think that the cocktails were very strong, but this is a restaurant and not a bar, so they do the job they are supposed to which is keep you refreshed. I think that without the discount, the prices are a too steep for what you get, however with the 25% off I can see us coming back here... especially for a pitcher of banana colada!