Chef Mel's Kitchen

Recipe: Pheasant, Mushroom and Leek Casserole

2012-02-16T04:37:00.002-08:00

This is what I cooked Nick for Valentines day, although he decided he'd rather spend the night at the pub rather than coming home for dinner! Humph! If i wasnt used to it, i guess i'd be annoyed- but anyway, he bought me a very nice bouquet of flowers for Valentines (I suppose I would be annoyed if he didnt- we live next to a ruddy florist! Lol!!!). Very nice bouquet indeed- not the usual red roses, but a really colourful spring bouquet with red tulips, little daffodils and blue hyacinths- and i love the hyacinths because they make my little desk smell lush! This is the first time i have cooked or tried pheasant- i bought it because it was on offer at Sainsburys- but i must admit I am very pleasantly surprised. So was Nick too actually, who before dinner was determined to say he didn't like pheasant, even though he can't remember ever trying it! You could try this recipe with any other game bird, or even chicken or pork if you prefer.

Pheasant, mushroom and leek casserole (serves 3)

1 tbsp olive oil
40g butter
1 red onion, diced finely
2 thin streaky rashers smoky bacon
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 skinless pheasant breasts, diced
200ml white wine
125g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
1 large leek, diced
300ml chicken stock
1 bay leaf
1-2tbsp double cream
1 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp corn flour, mixed with water
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Fry the red onion, garlic and bacon in a casserole pot for 3 minutes. Add the pheasants and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the wine, and cook for 2-3 minutes in order to burn off most of the alcohol.
2. Add the mushrooms and leeks and cook for a further 2 minutes, stirring often. Add the chicken stock and bay leaf, cover, and put in the oven for 30 minutes. Remove, add cream, mustard and corn flour, and return to the oven for a further 30 minutes.
3. Give the casserole a good stir, and put back into the oven for a final 30 minutes. Remove, season to taste, remove the bay leaf, and serve!

Recipe: Perfect Pizza Margherita

2012-02-15T07:37:00.002-08:00

This is a very quick, economic dinner, and it's definitely the best pizzas i've ever been able to make at home. I think the secret is using this new Jus Rol pizza dough, because all the shop bought pizza bases you buy in the supermarkets, are- lets face it- crap. They aren't thin enough, and when they are topped and cooked go too spongy- this ready rolled stuff however works perfectly, you end up with a tasty, thin and crispy pizza base. Its' quite cheap too actually, you get two big sheets of ready rolled pizza dough, and a jar of (very tasty might i add) tomato sauce to top it. This is a basic Margherita pizza, with fresh tomatoes, mozzarella and basil, but you can of course use any toppings you like- but take care not to over-top it, otherwise you'll end up with a soggy pizza. This will serve 4 if you serve it with big side salads, but if your just grabbing slices, it'll feed 2 people nicely.

Quick Pizza Margherita (serves 2-4)

2 ripe plum tomatoes, diced
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Handful fresh basil, chopped (plus extra basil leaves for garnish)
½ tsp crushed garlic
Olive oil (for greasing)
1 sheet Jus Rol pizza dough
½ jar Jus Rol tomato sauce
100g mozzarella, finely diced
Handful black olives, sliced in half
Salt and pepper

1. In a bowl, mix together the tomatoes, extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, basil, garlic, and a little salt and pepper. Allow to marinate for 30 minutes.
2. Preheat the oven to 230C (fan oven- hot!). Place the sheet of ready rolled pizza dough onto a non stick tray that’s been brushed with a little olive oil (to prevent sticking). Spread the dough out a little bit thinner with your fingers, and then fold over the edges (to create the crust). Spread over the prepared tomato sauce.
3. Drain the marinated tomatoes of any excess liquid, and put evenly on top of the pizza along with the mozzarella and olives, season with a little salt and plenty of black pepper, and bake in the oven for 14-16 minutes (until the crust is a dark golden brown).
4. Remove from the oven, cut into slices with a pizza slicer, garnish with some fresh basil and serve!

Recipe: Quick Chicken Curry for One

2012-02-13T05:02:00.000-08:00

This is a really quick dish that you can make for lunch, that doesnt require too much preparation or too many ingredients, but you end up with a nice big tasy bowl of sumthin! As explained in the serving size, it is a good meal for one, but you often end up with a fair bit of sauce leftover, so you can save some of the sauce to have later on a baked chicken breast or grilled lamb chop, or you can chuck it into any casserole or stew to add flavour.

Quick Chicken Curry for One (serves 1, with a little extra sauce)

1 tbsp rapeseed oil
½ red onion, diced
1 garlic clove, crushed
Handful fresh coriander, chopped (plus extra for garnish)
1 chicken breast, diced into large chunks
1 tsp tomato paste
1 generous tbsp Balti curry paste
½ tin chopped tomatoes
200ml chicken stock
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp sugar
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Fry the red onion, garlic and coriander in the rapeseed oil for 5 minutes. Add the chicken, tomato paste and curry paste, and cook for a further few minutes, stirring often.
2. Add the rest of the ingredients, and cook on a high heat for 20 minutes, stirring often. Season to taste, and serve with some extra chopped coriander on top!

Recipe: Spicy Bean and Watercress Soup

2012-02-09T05:23:00.000-08:00

So I still had another pack of watercress in the fridge that had been in there for aaages and it had to be used up, so I thought I would make another soup again. I have got such a bad cold at the moment, just sniffling and sneezing all over the place, so I thought I would make something a little spicier than i normally would too, so that I could actually taste it properly! However, i felt like i didn't want to make the traditional milky/potato-ey watercress soup, so i decided to be a little experimental and just chuck in loads of bits and bobs from the fridges/ cupboards that needed using up. It turned out to be absolutely delicious, and Nick loved it too (and was surprized by how spicy it was as well!). It is important you try and pick pretty much all the stalks off the watercress- because you want it to wilt in the soup just like baby spinach would- takes about 15-20mins to trim but it's worth it, you can just do it during stage 2 whilst the soup is bubbling on the stove. You can also blend all of the soup if you want it smooth, but this time I wanted a bit of texture.

Spicy Mexican Bean and Watercress Soup (serves 3)

1 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 tbsp butter
1 medium white onion, diced
2 celery sticks, diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp sundried tomato pesto
100g tinned chopped tomatoes
1 medium potatoes, diced
1 tsp cumin
Small handful fresh coriander, chopped finely
1 litre vegetable stock
1 tsp sugar
1 x 215g tin Discovery Mexican Spicy refried beans
75g watercress, trimmed of all stalks
Salt and pepper to taste
Philadelphia or sour cream for garnish (optional)

1. Sautee the onion, celery and garlic with the butter and oil in a pan for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the pesto, tinned tomatoes, potatoes, cumin and coriander, and cook for a further 2 minutes.
2. Add the stock and sugar, bring to the boil, and cook on a medium/high heat for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the refried beans and cook for a further 10 minutes.
3. Add the trimmed watercress, and cook on a high heat for 5 minutes, stirring often. Season to taste, and blend 3 large landlefuls of the soup in a blender (about a third). Return the blended soup to the pan, stir, season to taste, and bring back to the heat. Serve, each bowl garnished with a tsp of Philadelphia or sour cream if you like.

Published: Take a Break My Favourite Recipes Magazine

2012-02-08T15:31:00.000-08:00

Hey guys. You know i mentioned a couple of months back about the fact that i might be published in this magazine?? Well, i have been, twice now infact, and have now become a regular contributor! Well, i have at least been published in the past two issues, and know for a fact that i will be published in at least the next two issues, so that all sounds very positive to me. This is a national magazine as well so this is very good news.

Take a Break's My Favourite Recipe magazine is a little recipe magazine, that uses only readers recipes- no professional chefs. Also, for every recipe you get published, you are paid £25, and every "cook's tip" you get published, you are paid £5. I have got my Black bean chilli, Red onion, goats cheese and red pepper tart (they named it "Cheesy Tart"- lol) and my Chickpea and Mushroom rissoles published so far, as well as one of my cook's tips. I also won a £50 prize from them early on when i joined their facebook page, and also have a cookbook on the way as well! It works out as £130 + a cookbook so far, not bad earnings ey??? Plus every issue, if you are published you get the chance to win £500 as well, but i'll never win that one though because it's one of those voting things- its not about how nice your recipe is, just how many of your mates can be bothered to vote for you.

I'll be giving you a shout once i've had a few more recipes published in this mag- this is brilliant publicity for me as a food writer!

Recipe: Sherry Braised Chicken

2012-02-06T09:37:00.000-08:00

My mum bought me a massive bottle of sherry for christmas, and i HATE sherry (she knew this, she intended me to use it in cooking too- but i really hope we dont end up running out of booze one night, getting desperate and having to drink it!!). When you cook it though it's fine, because the alchohol burns off and it just usually leaves a nice sweet taste at the end of it. Same with vermouth (which is also gross to drink as well, haha!). I also had loads of asparagus, and leftover roasted chicken drumsticks to use up, so sort of concocted this dish. It sounds a little odd but it's delicious. And good for you too- very rich in iron! You can of course, use less garlic than I have used here, but you guys know what i'm like!

Sweet Sherry Braised Chicken (serves 3)

1 red onion, sliced finely
6 garlic cloves, crushed or finely chopped
Large knob of butter
1 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 tsp Rogan Josh curry paste
250g cooked diced chicken (preferably dark meat)
200ml sherry
½ tsp dried thyme
300ml chicken stock
12 asparagus spears, diced
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Sautee the red onion, garlic and curry paste in the oil and butter for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the chicken and sherry and cook for a further 5 minutes on a high heat (to burn off the alcohol).
2. Add the thyme and chicken stock and cook on a high heat for a further 15 minutes. In the last 4 minutes of cooking, add the asparagus. Season to taste and serve, with some buttery mash or steamed rice to soak up the juices!

Published: Pukka magazine, February Issue

2012-02-02T05:59:00.000-08:00

Finally I have become a regular recipe columnist!! How wonderfully exciting, this is a great new start for me in the "food writing" world! The magazine is called "Pukka"- it is a free monthly advertising magazine in Bath, that's distributed to over 9000 homes/ businesses/ cafes/ restaurants/ waiting rooms in and around the Bath area. My Patatas Bravas recipe, along with a little intro about me and why I love tapas, was published this month, and I intend to get my Provencal Pasta dish published next month too. Wonderful!

Recipe: Mel's Savoury Rice

2012-02-01T09:29:00.000-08:00

Hey guys. Now I call this dish "savoury rice" because the colour, and the smell of it when it's cooking, really reminded me of that Batchelor's savoury rice- do you remember? The instant stuff that came in a packet that you added water to? I wonder if they still sell that any more, i used to quite like it! This dish however, is far superior to that packeted variety! It's sweet, tangy, and chock full of vegetables and chicken. It's perfect for me to eat either before or after a workout, because before the workout it works as a big portion of protein and carbs to fuel my time at the gymn, or after workout its great because usually i'm so hungry- a massive portion of anything is what I want! Maybe slightly defeats the purpose of excercizing to lost weight, if all it does is make me excessively hungry, but never mind!

Mel’s Golden Rice (1-2, depending on personal greed, lol)

80g basmati rice
2 tbsp rapeseed oil
½ onion, diced
1 clove garlic, crushed
Handful fresh coriander, chopped (plus extra for garnish)
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
½ tsp turmeric
6 spears asparagus, diced
½ red pepper, diced
Handful leftover roast chicken (preferably dark meat)
150ml chicken stock
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp honey
1 tsp sweet chilli sauce
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Cook the basmati rice for 9 minutes in a pan of boiling salted water. Drain and set aside.
2. In the same pan, fry the onions, garlic and coriander for 3 minutes in the oil, stirring often. Add the spices, asparagus, red pepper and chicken, and stir fry for a further 2 minutes. Add the chicken stock, soy sauce, honey and sweet chilli sauce, and bring to the boil. Boil for 3 minutes.
3. Add the reserved rice, and stir fry for a further 3 minutes, or until most of the liquid has been soaked up. Season to taste, garnish with a little extra coriander, and serve!

Recipe: Nick's Cullen Skink

2012-01-30T11:33:00.000-08:00

Might find a few Scottish people annoyed that I labelled this under "British recipes"- especially with all of this independance malarky being talked about at the moment, lol! Cullen Skink is a scottish soup, made with smoked haddock, potato, milk and parsley. I was very curious as to why it was called "cullen skink", so i checked it out on wikipedia. It said that first of all, traditionally you should use smoked "Finnan haddie" instead of haddock, secondly that it orginated in the north eastern scottish town "Cullen" (hence the first part of the name), and the word "skink" comes from gaelic and originally meant "shin" or "knuckle"- the cut of beef that they used to cook in soups and stews, so then "skink" eventually became the generic word to describe any type of soup. There you go- theres some education for ya! This is my boyfriend's recipe, and its absolutely delicious- I dont even like fish, but this soup is to die for! Mind you though, hated the smell of the kitchen after it was cooked- stank of fish!! This recipe was published in our local newspaper (The Bath Chronicle), along with Nick's Cranachen recipe, after he organised (and cooked!) a big burns night supper with entertainment, for 60 people a few years back.

Nick’s Cullen Skink (serves 4)

450g un-dyed smoked haddock
50g butter
1 white onion, finely chopped
450g potatoes, peeled and diced (about 1/2 inch size)
1.1 litres semi skimmed milk
A little vegetable stock (optional)
Large handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Fry the onion in the butter until soft, for about 10 mins. When the onion is nicely softened, add the milk to the pan, bring to the boil and add the diced potatoes. Simmer until potatoes cooked, approx 15 mins
2. Add the smoked haddock fillet and leave to simmer for 5 or 6 mins, until just cooked. Remove the fish with a slotted spoon and put to one side until cooled enough to touch. Flake it roughly into a bowl, removing any skin and bones.
3. Crush some of the potatoes against the side of the saucepan in order to thicken the soup slightly. The soup needs to be fairly thick, like a chowder. At this point you can add a little vegetable stock if you wish, particularly if the milky mixture has thickened a bit too much.
4. Return the fish to the soup, add the chopped parsley and warm through. Season to taste and serve!

Recipe: Chicken, Asparagus and Red Pesto Fusilli

2012-01-28T04:47:00.000-08:00

This is such a simple dish, only using a few ingredients, but so packed full of flavour. I am actually drowning in Asparagus now, because there was a deal at Sainsburys for two massive bundles of it for only £3! I know it's out of season and it's from peru, but i dont care- student needs cheap veggies!! The "red pesto" i got from Marks and Spencers, and it seems to be called "red pesto" because it's not just sundried tomato based, its also got red peppers and cashew nuts and things in it. It's absolutely delicious anyway, i could eat it with anything- as a dip, on toast,on a jacket potato, you name it! If you cant find this though, any other sundried tomato pesto will work just as well.

Chicken, Asparagus, and red pesto fusilli (serves 3)

1 chicken breast
2 tsp rapeseed oil
1 tsp dried oregano
Salt and pepper
250g dried fusilli
12 asparagus spears, diced
3 rounded tbsp sundried tomato (or “red”) pesto
Knob of butter
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Put the chicken breast, oil, oregano and seasoning into an ovenproof dish, and bake for 25 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, bring a large pan of water to the boil. Add the fusilli and cook for 10 minutes (or whatever it says on the packet instructions). 4 minutes before the end of cooking time, add the asparagus to the pan.
3. Drain, and return to the pan. Remove the chicken from the oven and roughly dice. Add the cooked chicken, butter and red pesto to the hot pasta and asparagus, stir well to combine, season to taste and serve!

Recipe: Watercress Soup

2012-01-25T09:27:00.001-08:00

I know i know, it's all about the soups at the moment- but when it comes to my post Christmas slimming routine, it's really working out! Have lost a little over half a stone since New Years, and have only got a couple more pounds to lose before i'm happy with slimming down again. Apparently there is a whole "watercress soup" diet, that Liz Hurley was rather fond of, which is very similar to "the cabbage soup diet" but obviously with watercress instead. Mind you, i dont think the recipe for her watercress soup would include butter and potatoes, and wouldnt taste half as nice as this! I love the fresh but peppery flavour you get from this soup, very warming.

Watercress Soup (makes 3 bowls)

1 tbsp rapeseed oil
1 tbsp butter
1 white onion, diced
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 celery stick, diced
400g potatoes, peeled and diced
1 bay leaf
500ml chicken stock
500ml semi skimmed milk
100g watercress (plus a few extra sprigs kept for garnish)
Salt and pepper to taste
*Optional extra virgin olive oil for garnish

1. Sautee the onions, celery and garlic in the butter and oil, for 10 minutes, covered, stirring occasionally. Add all other ingredients except the watercress, bring to the boil, and cook on a medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Add the watercress, and cook for a further 3 minutes. Remove from the heat, blend, season to taste and serve- with a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil and a sprig of watercress.

Recipe: Beef Goulash Soup

2012-01-24T12:47:00.000-08:00

This is a delicious traditional hungarian dish, that i've been making a lot at the moment because it's so cold in my new flat! BrrrrRRrrRR! In hungary, and in a lot of other cold countries (saw it in restaurants in Iceland and when i was in Prague) they serve goulash soup as a starter (rather than the traditional thicker goulash casserole served with potato dumplings, which is served as a main course). It is rather filling though! Traditionally you would use pork in this dish, but i used beef because that's just what I happened to have in the fridge. Only thing missing from this dish is parsley on top- forgot to get any from the shops- D'oh!

Beef Goulash Soup (serves 2)

1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
1 white onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
2 carrots, peeled and diced
250g casserole or stewing steak, finely diced
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp caraway seeds, crushed in a mortar and pestle or spice grinder
2 potatoes, peeled and diced
1.5 litres beef stock
1 bay leaf
1 yellow pepper, seeded and diced
Salt and pepper to taste
Chopped fresh parsley for garnish (optional)

1. In a large pan, fry the onions, garlic and carrots in the oil and butter for 5 minutes. Add the beef and paprika, and cook for a further 5 minutes.
2. Add all other ingredients except the diced pepper and parsley, and cook on a medium high heat for 1 hour, stirring occasionally.
3. 15 minutes before the end of cooking time, add the peppers. Remove the bay leaf, season to taste and serve topped with some chopped fresh parsley!

Competition: Love The Garden's Seasonal Recipe Competition

2012-01-23T07:59:00.000-08:00

As I mentioned just before Christmas, I entered the Love The Garden.co.uk's recipe competition with my delicious Carrot, Maple and Bacon soup. Love the Garden regularly run seasonal recipe competitions for food bloggers, choosing one main focus ingredient, and challenging us to all come up with innovative and delicious recipes using this ingredient. In the past they have chosen ingredients such as cabbage, potatoes, and tomatoes- but this winter it was carrots! I thought my carrot soup had a fair chance- and it turned out it did! Because i won runner up prize, winning a copy of the new cookbook "Comfort and Spice" by Niamh Shields. I love it actually- very pretty photography, and i will defo be trying her "American style pancakes" recipe in the lazy brunch section of the book- sounds lush!

I lost to a recipe for carrot halva, by the guys behind the "Wanton Flavours" foodie blog. The grand prize is always £200 at any restaurant of your choice in the U.K, and each time i become ever more determined to win first prize! I'll get it one of these days, watch this space!!!

Recipe: Heinz Pasta Bake

2012-01-22T14:22:00.000-08:00

Another recipe with a rather sneaky/ time saving ingredient in- a tin of heinz tomato soup! It's something we always have in our cupboards at home, and so i thought i would use it as a sauce and make a bake (in one of my rather lovely new Le Creuset bake dishes my mum bought me for Christmas). I have now moved out of my parent's house, to live with my boyfriendp- which has been a little bit daunting, but i love it really! But nowadays, now that i actually have a student loan, i'm looking for cheap easy and filling meals, and this really fits the bill. Nick ate this and couldnt even guess the "secret ingredient"- so trust me, it doesnt just end up tasting of soup- Lol!

Heinz Pasta Bake (serves 4)

280g dried penne
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large clove garlic, crushed
120g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
30g chopped/shredded smoked ham
1 tin Heinz cream of tomato soup
100g grated cheddar

1. Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Cook the penne for 9 minutes. Drain and set aside.
2. In the same pan, fry the mushrooms and garlic in the olive oil for 2 minutes. Add all the other ingredients to the pan (except the cheddar) and the cooked pasta, and stir until well combined.
3. Pour into baking dish, top with cheddar, and chuck under the grill for 5 minutes. Serve!

Recipe: Thai Roasted Aubergines

2012-01-21T07:16:00.000-08:00

So, first recipe of the new year! Marvellous! This is a recipe i have entered into a competition run by Knorr and Blue Dragon. They have worked together to create a new range of curry pastes, made for the catering environment (it is a competition only for chefs). Theres Thai green, Thai red, char siu and there was another one as well but I can't remember? So i asked for a sample of the red curry paste and made this rather delicious asian side dish! I would point out that i've labelled it as vegetarian, but their curry paste does contain fish sauce, so it's not strictly veggie. This is really tasty, a little bit spicy, and great with noodle dishes, a thai curry, or roasted meats.

Thai Roasted Aubergines (serves 4 as a side dish)

40ml olive oil
1 red onion, diced
2 aubergines, diced
½ tsp salt
70g Knorr Blue Dragon Thai Red Curry Paste
1 tsp sugar or honey
Fresh Coriander for garnish

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. In a large saucepan fry the onions, aubergines and salt in the olive oil for 10 minutes, covered, stirring occasionally.
2. Mix in the curry paste and sugar, season to taste, and spread out onto a non-stick roasting tray. Roast in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove, transfer to a serving dish, and garnish with plenty of fresh coriander. Serve!

Iceland Day Five

2012-01-19T06:49:00.000-08:00

So! The last day was finally upon me, but my flight wasn’t until around 5pm (if I remember right) so I thought I shouldn’t be overly nervous and get to the airport hours before my flight needlessly, I thought I would at least do a few things before leaving my hotel for good. Checked out of my hotel and left their bag in the storage room thing, and decided today I would check out something called “The Settlement Exhibition”. During my stay at Hotel Reykjavik Centrum, I was always rather confused by this see-through big glass box outside my hotel, looking into something that resembled like a pile of rocks. Eventually at one point when I was waiting outside my hotel for one of my excursions to be pick me up, some guy came along to clean the glass box, and I asked him what this was. I don’t think his English was very good but he said “settlements. Museum. Round corner” and pointed. I returned this with “Vikings??” and he nodded and said “yes”. I looked round the corner and the building right next to my hotel had a big sign saying “Settlement Exhibition”- don’t know how I didn’t notice it before! Now, the settlers weren’t the Vikings in a way, I learnt once going to the museum. “Viking” is an old Norse word meaning “raiding pirates”, but Iceland was pretty much almost completely uninhabited until the beginning of the 9th century- and the people that settled there eventually were Norse, but they weren’t proper raping/pillaging Vikings, they were families and communities that wished to settle and stay in Iceland. Anyway, so this recently built museum/ exhibition has been created, to mark the 300th anniversary of the birth of a man named “Skuli Magnusson”, who was the first treasurer of Iceland, and is known in Icelandic history as the “Father of Reykjavik”- because of the really important role he played in developing Iceland and it’s capital into what it is today. The exhibit was a very large room, with loads of interactive and fascinating pieces on settler history, and lot of archaeological pieces. All of the artefacts and information skirted round the original ruins of a 10th Century dining hall- which is what I could see through the glass box outside my hotel. The ruin was really well preserved and I like the way it had been lit- even with a fake hologram fire in the middle- really realistic looking. There was practically no one down there as well- so whenever I ended up walking past something/ underneath a spotlight and then suddenly noises would happen/ videos would start/ a recording giving historical information would begin, it scared the bejeezus out of me! I loved how interactive this place was though, if historical museums were a bit more like that in the U.K we would have more kids interested in our history. To be fair our science museums are usually quite interactive, but I think we’ve got a lesson or two to learn from this Icelandic museum. They had this cool bit at the end as well- where there would be a 3D projection of what the original hall would have looked like on a screen, and then theres this control panel in front of you, which you move with your finger. Eventually, as you slide the dot round the circle, it rotates the building, adds more layers to the building, and begins a recording telling you about the different layers of the building and how it would have been designed. Was awesome. Also, PS: I liked a sign I saw on the opposite side of the hall from when you come in- when they excavated the settlement, they found the bones of a cow or a horse, actually built into the walls. They believe this is an old Viking religious superstition, that building animal bones into the actual walls of the house would ward off any bad spirits, as they found examples of this practice being described in Viking folklore/poetry. After the settlement exhibition I decided to grab a bit of lunch at Café Paris, a little place I spotted near my hotel (recommended by tripadvisor). I must admit, I wasn’t starving yet because I had eaten a fair bit at breakfast, but I thought I may as well have one nice last meal in Iceland, considering that Indian meal last night was so diabolical. I ordered the Tagliatelli with chicken, olives, feta and a tomato sauce, thinking that would be a light option and it was quite reasonably priced, so I thought it may be a light/small portion. OMG though look what arrived!!! To be fair it was absolutely delicious, but I only managed to eat half of it, it was such a mahoosive amount! The staff in there were really friendly, and the atmosphere in the place was very relaxed, warm, and inviting, so I really recommend this place.

I saved the garlic bread to feed to the LOADS of ducks in the snowy square opposite the café. Infact when I walked through the square to the café, there was this crazy guy with one eye feeding all these ducks with bits of pan au chocolat, and when I walked past laughing (cause there were so many of them) he said “ You must feed zem or zey will eat you!!”. Funny! When you look at the pictures of them, they don’t really look like ducks do they? They look more like geese. But the guy I chatted to on the Northern Lights, who was in to bird watching, told me they were actually a breed of duck. Amazingly bold though, got a funny video of them eating out of my hand! Lol! I didn’t see any pigeons about when I was in Iceland, so I guess these birds may be what they have instead of pigeons.

After this I still had some time left, so I did a bit of shopping. I bought some reindeer pate from the Christmas market outside my hotel for my friend (who eats anything!), I bought some chilli bilberry syrup and a chocolate IPhone for my boyfriend (hilarious!) some rhubarb brittle/ toffee for my dad, and loads more chocolate for my mum/ other mates/ work friends. I noticed something out there about chocolate/desserts/anything sweet- these Icelandic people LOVE liquorice!!! I can’t stand the stuff, but my mum loves it too, so I brought her back loads of chocolate with bits of liquorice in it. Mum says its lovely but I couldn’t think of anything worse! Blegh! Used to like liquorice as a child, but I think Sambuca has ruined anything aniseed flavoured to me now, just makes me feel sick. Oh and I also bought myself a little miniature cuddly puffin toy, and a really nice hand painted mug.

So then after shopping, I waited in the lobby for the coach to pick me up for the airport. Also waiting in the lounge was this young guy, who I recognised from the northern lights tour. We got chatting and he turned out to be THE NICEST guy. His name was Shiraz (I know, literally my first question was “do you have a sister called Chardonnay?” and he sarcastically replied “yeah I’ve never been asked that before!”) and he was from London, he was meeting his girlfriend at the airport because she was spending the morning at The Blue Lagoon Spa (the people at the blue lagoon spa actually do transfers straight from there to the airport, so often The Blue Lagoon is a good thing to do on the last day of your holiday). He had been shopping as well- but he had bought a funny yellow antique dinner tray from a local antique shop near where I went to that tapas place (didn’t go in because it looked too expensive, but he actually said stuff was fairly reasonably priced in there). When he met up with his girlfriend later though she was like “ ruddy hell, what have you bought now??” haha! What I will say, if he ever ends up reading this blog (because I did tell him at the end what it was) I must say, I would apologise about the way I said goodbye. Because I pretty much spoke to him all my way to the airport/ a little in departure lounge, which was nice. But let me just say, my journey back was a little traumatic! Originally I had given plenty of time for when I arrived at Heathrow, to get my coach transfer (1 hour 45 minutes in fact! Landing at Heathrow at 7:30 and catching a 9:15 coach, which would get me into Bath at 11:55pm). However, originally my flight at the airport was delayed by 50 minutes, but I thought, O.K, 55 minutes to get my baggage and get on the coach, that’s still fine. It was then delayed another half an hour, waiting in departures, before we set off, so I though oh dear. Very panicked. What really pissed me off is the way IcelandAir sodded around at the beginning, giving us all the message about Icelandic folklore and telling us all about duty free and asking who wanted to pay extra for a special Icelandic hot meal on the flight, before they got the plane up and running. It’s like FKIN LISTEN- IF YOU ARE A FLIGHT THAT’S BEEN DELAYED ALMOST AN HOUR AND A HALF, YOU DO THAT CRAP WHILST YOU ARE IN THE AIR, NOT WASTING AN EXTRA 20 MINUTES OF OUR TIME WITH THAT BOLLOCKS!!! ……sorry about that, I don’t normally swear too much, but I was so angry, because guess what- I did end up missing that coach- by 4 minutes. So when I got my bag from the conveyer belt, I ran from there, and I was a bit upset/cry-y when I left and said goodbye to Shiraz and his girlfriend, so if either of you read this- I’m sorry I was just really stressed!

So I missed this thing by 4 minutes, meaning I had to spend an extra fiver and wait for the last bus, which means I had to wait in the coach station place for over two hours (had to wait until the 11:30pm bus, which got in at 1 in the morning!). I actually had a mini breakdown crying in Nero’s when I went to buy some water, because I was so upset about not being able to get home, and tired from travelling, that I tried to buy a bottle of water and I was crying a bit and this SUCH nice polish girl (I am actually welling up a bit writing about this, because I remember how upset I was about missing that coach) behind the counter at Nero’s was so nice to me about it. Again, thank you nice pretty polish girl who works at Nero’s Terminal 1 Coach station, you made me feel much better/ stopped me crying for a bit until I had to catch the next coach. When the coach arrived as well, it was 13 minutes late, which I thought was so FKING TYPICAL, that the bus previously I had missed by only 4 minutes. Was so tired on the bus, so figured I would actually be able to sleep on it, but first of all National express, despite having actually very comfy seating on night coaches light up the entire coach with this really bright blue light (maybe to stop people secretly jacking up? I don’t know) so it was impossible to sleep. Plus there were these three Arabic guys in front of me, chatting away to each other constantly, and really loudly. I understand some people need to talk a little bit on the coach, about travel arrangements and things, but they were talking SO loud, and everyone around them was obviously trying to sleep, so I stood up and was like “guys this is a night coach, people are trying to sleep, could you shut up please?”. They didn’t of course, they just spoke quieter, but what a pain in the ass. When I arrived, I felt so sick and tired, but at least my boyfriend was there to pick me up from the bus station, wearing a silly hat.

I missed him and home a bit. You know I think I would struggle going on holiday on my own for more than a week, I would just end up missing human interaction/ my friends/ my boyfriend/ my family too much. Going on holiday on my own was exciting and very empowering for me, because normally I am so disorganised, I have to rely on other people, but I managed to sort out everything myself, so I’m very proud of that. Also, travelling on your own, you can do whatever you want, whenever you want, without having to ask what your family/ partner wants to do, which is quite nice as well. However, you end up missing on sharing your experiences with other people, laughing about stuff together, seeing things together- and that’s always nice. Overall I absolutely loved Iceland; it was such a wild, different place for me to go to, compared to all my other holidays, and such an amazing country geographically and historically. Theres still so much I want to do there, that I definitely would want to go back there some day, this time perhaps in September when theres a bit more sunlight, and with my boyfriend. I would love to go whale watching, husky sledding, and go on a helicopter ride as well. Plus you can do day trips to Greenland from Iceland, which sounds fun. Maybe one day when I save up enough money again (I did tell you it was expensive, I will tell you that once I had added EVERYTHING up, I had spent £1400 on this holiday- 1 person, 5 days. Very pricey) I will be back to this wonderful country. But for now, my next trip will be to Rome at the end of June hopefully, will update you of course! From Mel, From Iceland!

Iceland Day Four

2012-01-12T05:46:00.000-08:00

So feeling a little tired from the late Northern Lights tour the night before, I woke up to get ready for my next excursion- something that they called “The Lava Tour”! Don’t worry guys, it wasn’t abseiling down into any volcanoes! It was actually going horse riding; they called it the lava tour because you go riding round the volcano, on top of the lava fields (cool sounding ey?). I did have a think about what I wanted to do on this day, but I remember trip advisor had a thing that was like “10 best things to do in Iceland” and the horse riding was the most best rated activity- so I thought I would try this out. On the coach to the stables, instead of a guide there was a CD they played that told us a little about the rules we should follow when at the stables, but mostly about the history of Icelandic horses. Basically they have been a pure breed for over 200 years, as they do not allow import of any horse into Iceland. They say Icelandic horses originate from a mix of the Norwegian and Shetland horses that the Vikings brought over when they settled there, which would definitely explain the thick fur/ short stature of them.

So we got to the stables and I got into my thick jumpsuity thing, and I was introduced to my horse- Vinterhusid (I think that’s what it was? She told me it meant winter in Icelandic). Horse riding was THE BEST thing I did on my holiday, it was truly magical. So your riding your horse through the snow, surrounded by snowy pine trees (it was honestly like Narnia I swear) and then you clear through the trees and ahead of you is a huge snowy mountain (which if you looked at the top of it, you could see a little bit of smoke coming out of it- because it actually wasn’t a mountain it was a volcano). Also, I thought about it suddenly, and figured that before then I had never actually ridden a horse. I mean when I was little, when we used to go to centre parcs, I went horse riding, but I was being led by someone- this was ACTUAL horse riding, with me controlling my horse, and galloping and all that! People were telling me the other day that it was quite brave to do this, since I’d never been horse riding before, but I was fine about it really, the instructors were great. This is a silly video I did, just to prove to people that I actually went horse riding all by myself, it was quite hard to film because I still had to keep cold of the reins, but you get the picture. (wheeee….horse riding….hahaha!!)

Halfway there we stopped, met back up with another riding group (the intermediate ones that wanted to ride faster, lol) and got off our horses. Was so funny- when I leaned down to sort out my laces on my shoes, my horse decided my head look tasty, and literally started eating my hair!! I mean I know theres no grass around here in Iceland but naught winterhusid! Naughty Horsie!!! On the way back it really suddenly started snowing heavily, so we had to gallop our way back to camp- I felt like I was in an old fashioned film set in the wilds of Russia or something, it all felt rather dramatic! Plus after I got off the horse, even though I’d kinda only been riding for 40mins/an hour, my god my thighs/ ass hurt!! I was thinking horse riding must probably be such a good excercize to tone up those muscles, I bet my cousin that trains horses for dressage must have buns of steel by now- haha!

When I got back the horse riding had really built up an appetite, so I hunted around for a nice place to eat. Found a nice place opposite the post office, called “Happ”, which my friend Sif had recommended me. I was freezing by the time I got in there, so I ordered a mocha whilst I had a gander of the menu (which by the way, was massive! And also scrumptious). The place is a very veggie friendly, health eating restaurant (even with a “raw dish of the day” on it!). It still has a couple of meaty options, but most of the menu is vegetarian. I decided to order the Bean burger with cucumber relish, pumpkin chips and salad. Now, what arrived was absolutely delicious, and I ate every last scrap of it, don’t get me wrong, but this was NOT a burger. I get annoyed with all these places that serve posh burgers, and often they are “deconstructed” or served in a bizarre way, but this was essentially a bean patty, on toast, topped with salad. In my opinion, a burger is not a burger unless it is between two slices of forms of bread (ciabatta is fine). The chips as well weren’t really chips, they were just strips of roasted pumpkin, but very yummy nonetheless. Difficult to eat, but very tasty, and actually in the hours after this meal, I felt so energised- so healthy. I think it was probably a good idea to have a healthy veggie meal at some point, considering I had been eating so much meat/ cakes and things so far.

After lunch I decided I would check out the Art museum in the centre of town. Not sure if this is Reykjavik’s main one, as it was rather small, but it was packed full of interesting art work and exhibitions. Also, for people checking the museum out, the café looked quite nice too, so that may be worth a visit as well. I admit I love modern art museums, for two reasons. First of all, because the art tends to be a little weird, with loads of underlying meanings within them, I always leave modern art museums feeling quite clever. Secondly, I love taking photos of crazy artwork/ artwork that you’re not actually sure whether it is artwork or just a smudge on the floor, lol.

First of all there was this really interesting new exhibit of artwork that a load of under 16 year olds had drawn in Reykjavik, they were allowed to send in artwork on any subject they wanted, the only rules is that they had to be drawn- not painted/ sculpted etc. Here are a few examples, can you believe people under 16 years old drew these? I think it’s incredible.

The next large exhibit was on the most famous modern artists “Erro” (except with an accent over the o). His work was very strange and different, he started off drawing colourful, animal based art, then moved onto an almost Mexican skull style type of art, then went rather abstract, and in the last few years he has suddenly started doing art that very much resembles the artwork from manga/ Japanese comic books. Interesting to see artwork from one artist, change and development into so many different genres. I think I preferred his early stuff though.

Then I’ve included a few photos of some of the general modern art lying about the place. 1- I’m pretty sure that’s not Elton John, 2- Art, or random pink block on wall? 3- Art, or missing painting? 4- A modern piece of art, including two things- a human hair and a line of staples: honestly, how do people get away with this crap? 5- some pretty cool body art to be fair. 6- I actually really liked this piece, thought it was rather pretty.

This was an installation by a young alternative Icelandic artist (called Bjork but it wasn’t the actual Bjork we know). They kinda look like hammocks, but they are all actually kites. In the background there was edgy music , and the projections on the wall were showing videos of people practicing martial artist. It was all about the amount of "control" we have in our life, like how as a kite we can fly freely in the breeze, but we have to be tied down/ controlled by something. And how martial arts is a form of strict control, not just art which is considered to be a creative thing. Looks at the barriers of controlled living, and life vs. art vs. control. Makes you feel clever, lol (:

After the museum I got back to the hotel, and then had a MINI FREAKOUT because I couldn’t find my hat anywhere. I went completely mental, like crying and everything. I don’t know why, I think it’s because it wasn’t just a hat, it was symbolic- I didn’t want to lose anything, or for anything to go wrong with my holiday, because that would be a personal failure. Plus also I love that hat- it takes me hours to find a nice warm hat because of being allergic to wool. Turns out the next morning I retraced my steps and I had left it in a locker at the Art Museum (which I was well proud of myself for retracing my steps properly, because of my poor memory), but I suppose that night I wasn’t in the best of spirits.

I decided, screw it, no use crying over spilt milk, can’t go looking for it until the morning anyway, so I decided to comfort myself by going out for a filling Indian meal. Curry always make me feel better. EXCEPT THIS ONE. This is definitely THE WORST Indian meal I have ever had IN MY LIFE. And you guys know I remember every meal I have eaten since I was two- I don’t forget food. Even worse than a south Indian restaurant I went to with my parents once, and they served me this fermented/mouldy mango curry thing which I couldn’t eat. This place was called Shalimar, and was recommended by Tripadvisor, and I haven’t done this yet, but I really need to log into my account and rate them on tripadvisor, to honestly try and warn people. For starter I ordered chicken pakora, which came on kebabs with pieces of pepper, and served with mango chutney and a yoghurt dip. The mango chutney tastes really weird- very sort of “earthy”, I think they had added far too much turmeric to it. And the chicken was absolutely flavourless- no form of seasoning had ever touched that meat or batter during any of the cooking process. The main, a lamb sagwala, with peshwari naan, was not very nice at all. Granted, the meat was tender, but the curry was in a brown generic sludgy sauce- not like normal sag or sagwala dishes, which are usually green/dark green, and it was SO volcanically hot that it was almost impossible to eat. Sagwala dishes are not supposed to be hot at all, and there was no warning on the menu that this dish was spicy, so this really pissed me off. Plus, the peshwari naan was quite thin, and had to texture of flatbread rather than naan, barely had any coconut filling, and to be honest tasted a little bit of garlic which was quite off-putting.

I was so fed up about this meal that I thought, my god, maybe this place might try and serve me a decent dessert. I was utterly ignored, and my plates of half uneaten food were left on the table for over an hour, despite me trying to glance up at them and grab their attention as often as possible. The horrifically rude waitress paid plenty of attention to the families and couples and people upstairs, but completely ignored me. I don’t care if I’m a lone diner- theres no bloody excuse! Especially since this place is a tiny restaurant, only about 9 tables I reckon? Eventually some guy came up, because the place was full now, and said to me “you can spend as longer time here as you want” and I, stupefied, said “erm, I know I can, will you please take my plates and dirty cutlery away, and may I have a look at a dessert menu please?” the man replied with “ah, we have two desserts, carrot halva and gulab jamun”. I asked whether they had made their own halva, and he replied with “no, we get it in pre-made, it would be far too time consuming to make it from fresh”. I didn’t reply, because to be honest this guy was talking crap- I have made halva before, it barely takes any time at all and it is very easy. I ordered gulab jamun, knowing that it would be pre-packaged in syrup, like you get it all Indian restaurants in the U.K, but I happen to quite like them so that was all right.

What was served to me was beyond disgusting. First of all the gulab jamun was served hot (which I have had served like that once in an Indian restaurant in Bristol, so perhaps that bit wasn’t bizarre) and served covered in whipped cream, and in what can only be described as a thick gloopy chocolate sauce, that tasted like they had just melted a terry’s chocolate orange! I ate two of the gulabs, scraping off the cream and sauce, and then TRIED to get the bill. Again, I waited over half an hour to get my bill, despite trying to grab people’s attention again. Infact at one point the rude waitress almost tripped over me and I said “er, exscuse me, could I have the bill NOW please” and she just gave me a sly bitchy look and went back into the kitchen (which was open so you could see into it). After I heard the chef whisper to her “c’mon, you really ought to give that lady that bill” which she ignored, I almost walked out without paying. I am NOT JOKING. I was so close, to walking out of a restaurant, in a foreign country, because I had had such an appalling meal/service here. But I started getting my coat and stuff on and turned to the door, and it was only then that she plonked a bill on my table (which I think was the most expensive meal I’d actually had in Iceland, which was like rubbing salt into a wound- but at least the woman was so gormless she didn’t realise I had even been served dessert, so I didn’t have to pay for it). I went up to the counter, gave them the notes they needed, and not an isk more- and left”

I must admit, I wasn’t in the best mood when I got to my hotel, I felt a bit rubbish really. A nice meal would have got me to stop thinking about losing my stuff, and then would have helped me sleep better, but this meal had just given me indigestion and got me in a sad mood. A place like that would not be open in England for more than two seconds, it’s only because they are in Iceland and theres less competition, that this dreadful abortion of a restaurant is still open. I went to bed upset to be honest, and so if any of you guys ever visit Iceland, don’t go here, unless you want to make yourself sick and disappointed. That being my last dinner in Iceland, I went to bed, nervous about travelling home the next day.

Travel: Iceland Day Three

2012-01-07T10:09:00.000-08:00

So! Today was to be the Spa day, so I was very excited but also a little nervous, as I was going to get my first massage (ever!) when I arrived there. I booked the “Deluxe Blue Lagoon Massage” which is an indoor massage- NOT an outdoor massage (the outside ones are done actually in the water. Just didn’t fancy that). So when I showed up at the place ( which by the way, even the walk to the place looked magical) the guy at reception was like “go outside and he’ll be ready for you” and I was like “errrr, no, I wanted an indoor massage” and he said “you have to specify that” and I showed him the email when I had specified “indoor” and he was like “…..Oh…..Ooops, sorry, allright we’ll get you a discount on the massage because it will have to be 50 minutes now, not an hour, because he has to set up the room.”

I was fine with that I guess, so I went to get changed. The changing rooms were really confusing actually- they were like a really weird maze. But I tried to get changed as quick as poss to have my massage. I got to the therapy room and the masseuse looked so… normal? I was expecting either A) a woman, or B) a fit Norwegian-y looking guy. I’m not sure why?? Lol! Anyway I lied down and went under a cover thing, with my face in the massage towel hole thing, undid my bikini top, and he got to work. I was really looking forward to this massage but OH MY GOD IT HURT SOOOOOOO MUCH!!!! I mean the guy did say “you are really tense- your calves are like rocks” which I guess might be down to me being a chef, because we spend so much time standing up and all that. But honestly, it was quite painful, and only half an hour of the way through he said “say if I am doing this too hard” and I thought “yeah, you couda told me that 30 minutes ago!” so from that point occasionally if it got too tough I was like “ow” or “ouch” to see if he got the picture. And the when it came to the neck/shoulder massage bit, he kept trying to make my head relax or something, and shaking my head/neck and saying “relax” and it was like- I don’t think I know how!?!? It wasn’t what I was expecting; I just wanted to be rubbed a bit with nice music in the background and oils and things like that. But to be fair, everyone asks me this “but did you feel better the day after your massage?” and the answer to that is a definite yes. Actually when I started going on my holiday, I did feel like my calves had been hurting a lot lately, and then after the massage they didn’t hurt anymore, so that was nice. He must have “unknotted” them or something. So after my massage I got my shower cap on (which loads of people on trip advisor recommended me to do- to stop the sulphur from damaging my hair) but once I got into the pools literally NOWONE was wearing one, so I felt like a bit of a numpty. I mean, c’mon guys, how cool does this look?

The place does smell a bit of sulphur, but you get used to it. And the water wasn’t as hot as I was expecting, but you kinda have to wade around a bit because you tended to get patches of very hot water in various areas, I felt like a cat looking for the warm spot in the house to sit on, haha! I expect the heat is patchy like that because it’s naturally geothermally heated, so the exact heat can’t be regulated. And there are these pots around of this volcanic silica face mask stuff, that is naturally produced there, and you put this on your face and keep it on for 20 minutes. I thought the whole thing was fairly cool, I mean, it looked more breath-taking on the website, but it was still pretty awesome lying in hot water, whilst it’s snowing, whilst looking out at snowy volcanoes/mountains.

They had a sauna and a steam room too- the steam room smelt far too much of sulphur for me, but the sauna was quite nice. However, soon after getting in there, this man with a little boy with armbands came into the sauna. He filled the wooden bucket of water and added some more water to the sauna rocks, which I thought, fair enough, it COULD be hotter in here. But then he just KEPT doing it. Kept throwing ladles and ladles onto the rocks until I had to walk out because it just became too much for me (and I’m quite good with the heat actually). I just kept thinking- that’s just a bit rude really, everyone was leaving because it had got too hot for them, and he hadn’t asked anyone round him whether it was all right to add more, he just kept doing it. I was just thinking- you add any more heat to this place and your son’s armbands will explode, haha! He must have been Swedish or something, used to higher temperatures.

After about an hour I reckon, I came out and went to have lunch at the Spa restaurant. They had a few little cafes dotted about, but this was the “Lava” restaurant, which was supposedly the “posh” one. I ordered a Blue Lagoon cocktail- which I was super psyched about, because Blue Lagoons have always been one of my favourite cocktails. The traditional recipe is blue curacao, vodka, and lemonade. I was pretty happy with what they brought me- A proper blue Lagoon cocktail at the Blue Lagoon- Marvellous!

For lunch I decided to go for the vegetarian option, which sounded quite nice- a chickpea, Icelandic potato, and cauliflower curry. It was ruuuubish! Ok so it wasn’t that bad, but everything in it was just too “crunchy”. The chickpeas were too firm, the potatoes were tasty but could have done with a few more minutes cooking, and also weirdly enough the cauliflower was served cold and pickled. Also when when I needed the bill they completely ignored me even though there weren’t many people in the restaurant. I noticed this soon became a theme in a lot of the restaurants I went to- they would ignore me, someone dining on their own, but they would pay loads of attention to the couples and families. I don’t get why, it was pretty irritating, but whatever- I left there and I didn’t tip (the waitress was an unfriendly thin blonde cold bitch anyway), quickly bought some chocolate from the gift shop, and left on the coach to get back into town.

I went back to café Stofan when I got back, and stayed there for a couple of hours again, had an absolutely scrumptious Butterscotch, apple and cinnamon muffin, with a double espresso- lovely!

A couple of hour later and once I’d showered and refreshed myself at my hotel; I decided I would have dinner at our hotel restaurant, called “Fjalakotturinn” (yeah your guess is as good as mine..). I did my research before I got there, and I knew that on something they called “The Advent Menu”, they were serving Reindeer! So I knew at some point I would have to have a meal there. Unfortunately though, the advent menu was a set 4 course menu, with the two starter courses being langoustine and smoked eel dishes, so I pretty much begged (literally, almost got down on my knees, haha) the waitress if I could JUST have the reindeer. She talked to the chefs and they let me do it, which was nice. She did ask me though “are you sure you do not want some sort of starter??” but the honest answer was “No”, because very disappointingly I couldn’t have had any of the starters, even from their normal menu. There were 6 choices of starters, but all them were fish or seafood dishes! I mean, occasionally in posh restaurants in the U.K there’s no veggie option, but to not have any non-fish starters on their menu seemed absurd to me. They don’t advertise themselves as a seafood restaurant, so I think they really ought to revise the menu.

Anyway, they brought me some bread, I ordered a v expensive glass of cabernet sauvignon (which was excellent) and then they brought me a little amuse bouche thing in a ramekin- lamb tartare. Was absolutely scrumptious, very finely diced raw lamb, mixed with diced celery, fennel and apple, garnished with dill and a little Skyrr- absolutely lovely and refreshing and tasty! I thought a very clever but clean dish. My reindeer main was STUNNING. The reindeer was cooked very rare though, I would say rare, almost bleu. Pretty much raw in the middle. I didn’t mind though, I know good meat shouldn’t be overcooked. The reindeer had a delicious sauce, was served with roasted blue new potatoes, baby carrots, cauliflower and broccoli, and celeriac puree. I don’t have any pictures of the dishes in there, because it was far too dark, but here’s a picture of the kind of quality food they serve there, marvelous.

I then waited in the hotel to be picked up for my evening excursion- to go see the Northern Lights (Aurora Borealis)! Sounds exciting, but honestly, it wasn’t all that amazing. The weather conditions weren’t the best (still a little cloudy) so our tour guide said we might struggle to see it, but basically we went hunting in our coach to find some clear sky and stand underneath it. The guide’s English was amazing, considering he was explaining to us the astro-physics behind how the northern lights work (something to do with the poles, and magnetic stuff, and sun spots- I think I understood the vague principles). He also explained that the lights tend to come in phases, like one month you will get amazing shows every night (which apparently it was like that this September) but other months it can be completely dead. So we found a bit of clear sky and all stood underneath it, whilst the guy pointed out constellations and planets and things like that. It was so very cold that night actually, that we all stood for 30 minutes, and nothing happened, so our tour guide said that we would go back in the coach, and try to drive down to the coast, where apparently it was clearer. Meanwhile I got chatting to this really nice guy, from Hastings. I think his name was Liam, but I can’t remember- you guys know bad I am with names. But he was a really interesting guy actually, he was travelling with his wife, and when he didn’t work as a teacher, he performed as a comedy actor! And I thought, wow, weird, so coincidental with all of Nick’s stuff, so I told him about The Bath Comedy Festival and all that.

We managed to get to the coast, where there were loads of other coaches with different tour groups I guess, and we were all looking into the sky, with waves crashing below us, with a lighthouse to the left of us. Quite scenic I guess. And then “they” happened. One of the guides shouted “Norfen lights! In de skhy! Norfen Lights! In de skhy!” and we all looked up and there they were. The only way I can explain it, is that it kinda looked like a spot light beam, green coloured, with a little wiggle at the end, in the middle of the sky. And it glowed brighter every so often and then went duller again. It wasn’t like how you see on TV or on postcards, it wasn’t the most magnificent show, the beam didn’t really move much or anything, but it did look really weird, and I’m glad to say that I have seen it, if you know what I mean. I don’t have any photos of the whole thing, because you can only take a photo of the northern lights if you have a really decent camera.

The coach got back SOO late (I think 1:30, 2 in the morning!) so I had a midnight snack of some crisps I bought at the coach station earlier (SO glad I bought them actually- because I was hungry, and they were the nicest tasting crisps ever, crinkle cut but not too thick, and sour cream and chive flavoured! Mmmm!). I then dropped off to sleep, because I knew I had a very active day coming up.

Travel: Iceland Day Two

2012-01-04T08:36:00.000-08:00

So on the second day I woke up way too early, being over cautious about being picked up “half an hour before the time of your excursion in the lobby of your hotel” (this turned into an hour in my head, lol) didn’t mind though, just gave me plenty of time for breakfast, which was all right I guess, but not the nicest hotel breakfasts I’ve ever had. The coffee wasn’t that good, and the hot food just WASN’T hot. It’s like they had put the hot food items into the warmer things, and just forgotten to turn it on or something! But there was a nice selection of cold cut meats and cheese, bread, this REALLY nice camberzola thing, served with a honey and chopped nut mixture to drizzle over it. Also fruit, yoghurt things, and pancakes, with various fruit sauces/ maple syrups to pour over it. Pleasant, but I suppose it could have been much nicer. However, amongst the normal breakfast selection there were pickled herrings and gherkins (and also on one of the days gravadlax too)!!! Bleghhh! To be fair I love gherkins, I had a dozen of them one morning, but imagine having pickled herring for breakfast?? Gross!

I then got picked up for my excursion, and my god the weather! It was soooo foggy! At the beginning of the tour, our guide Helga was saying “and NORMALLY you look on the right here and you’ll see the Blue Mountains, where Iceland’s Ski Resorts are located” and yeah literally there was nothing, just a bleak dark blue and white wasteland. Throughout the tour though she said so many interesting things about Icelandic culture, geography, history etc. It’s such a fascinating country, really. At one point when we were driving through the fog, and we suddenly saw like a golden glowing city to the right of us. She explained to us that this is what they call the “greenhouse city” (I can’t remember the Icelandic name sorry!). Because Iceland is such a cold place so it’s hard to grow things out there, so a lot of time they either have to import, or grow stuff in greenhouses. Basically they built a few greenhouses in this area, because they found they could harness a lot of the volcanic heat from below that area to heat up the green houses. That’s what amazing about Iceland- they are so good with harnessing their natural resources, and using it to their advantage. All the volcanoes and waterfalls and earthquakes and hot springs, they use the energy from these to power their cities, to heat the roads/ main streets to avoid problems with ice, to heat their houses/ green houses. It’s just so clever. Wish I could have got a good picture of this shining greenhouse city, was absolutely bizarre. Anyway, by the time we got to Skalholt, the fog had cleared up a bit and it had started to get a little lighter.

Skalholt basically used to be the capital of Iceland, before there was a big earthquake and then the bishop and everyone there decided to move to Reykjavik, and it was after that when Reykjavik kinda started to become the centre of culture in Iceland. It has been the site of a church for hundreds of years, but the one currently there was built in 1950 (because every hundred years or so there’s another earthquake, the church gets destroyed, and then they rebuild it again). A lot of the history they tell you about in Iceland, often ends in “Then there was an earthquake, and so they moved” or “then there was an earthquake, and they rebuilt it”- Lol! So it was a very little church, but underneath it was this really small cool exhibit on the history of Skalholt, plus a load of artefacts from the 12th century, including a big stone coffin, and cool inscriptions on doors and things. But, now this made my FRICKIN holiday, absolutely brilliant- basically when we got into the church, our coach driver went straight in and started playing the organ- sorta normal, organ music sort of things at first (was really loud as well!). Whilst I was downstairs (and I could still hear the organ music v clearly), he suddenly started playing “Bach’s Toccata and Fugue” (I had to google the name). Dunno how to explain it, it’s that really cool vampire sounding song they have in horror films! It was just so funny, and so well played, it just really put a smile on my face.

Second destination was the big waterfall “Gullfoss”. Gullfoss means golden in Icelandic, and there are a couple of theories of why they decided to name the waterfall this. First one was that in the summer when the sun shines on it, it does look really golden, or the other which is an old myth that a covetous man, who used to live in a house next to the top of the waterfall, became mad, put all his gold into a coffin, and threw it into the falls. It’s hard to show in photos the sheer size of these falls, but they were breath taking, honestly. Got some really nice photos of the falls, and also a super nice photo of me that an American teenager took for me. I love it, despite the silly hat.

Next stop was Geysir, which confusingly, is the name of THE MASSIVE geyser that isn’t erupting at the moment (usually a volcanic eruption or earthquake sets it off every 40 years or so apparently) and also the name of the area where all the hot springs and little geysers are located. As our guide pointed out, geyser is the only Icelandic word used in general worldwide terminology (I’m not surprised to be honest, the rest of the language is utterly unpronounceable, haha lol). She also said “remember, do not try to touch the water, it is incredibly hot”. It’s so weird being in the cold and snow but at the same time seeing all this steam about and seeing the water melting channels through the snow. I knew it was hot, because it looked hot, but this sign reminded me of how hot the water was- 80-100C- don’t touch it!! Lol. Some of these streams/ hot springs were bubbling furiously, it was just absolutely astonishing. I’m so glad that I went to see this, because it is just a geographical phenomenon that I have never encountered before. Didn’t get a photo of the little geyser erupting, but I got a video of it, it erupted a fair few times (guide says on average every 8 minutes). A big stream of hot water leapt about 20 feet into air- very cool looking.

After seeing it erupt a few times I ran to the little café thing they had there, because it was cold and I was absolutely covered in snow. I got exactly what I wanted for lunch- something to warm myself up. I got myself a bowl of “Kjotsupa”, which is a traditional Icelandic lamb broth (basically exactly like welsh or scotch broth) and for dessert a pot of blueberry “Skyr”. Skyr is kind of a cross between yoghurt and fromage fraise, it’s really thick and creamy, and it’s usually flavoured with cherries, blueberries or bilberries. Very tasty and I found out very low fat as well- I mean it was thicker than Greek yoghurt but really low fat! We really ought to ship some of this into this country; people on diets would love it over here! I couldn’t believe other people on the tour were choosing hamburgers and crap looking pizzas/ chicken nuggets when this lovely Icelandic food was on offer.

Next to the café was a big gift shop and a little exhibition on the geography of Iceland as well. I started having a little look round the exhibition, which was all about the hot springs, volcanoes, and the history of Geysir. However, suddenly all the lights turned off! And the person sat in front of where you went in sighed (making me think this happens quite regularly) told me and other people that were in there to get out whilst they tried fixing it. I swear I heard her kick something whilst swearing (but in Icelandic I guess) Lol! So instead I just messed about in the gift shop for a bit, which was quite fun to be fair. They had the weirdest stuff in there, I loved the Christmas tree full of seal soft toys?? There was the funniest collection of Iceland joke T shirts in there also, below is my favourite one (its the name of the volcano that erupted a couple of years back)- hilarious!!

Last stop was Thingvalla, which is the site of the original Icelandic parliament. A warning from the guide was like “don’t expect to see anything here, don’t expect to see any buildings” which was true, it is basically a sign, and a big blank field. Some cool rock formations behind it though. Basically years ago once the settlers decided they ought to form a parliament, so they chose a spot, and 12 elected members would all meet here, with a big fire, outside, and have a big discussion on what they would do regarding their countries’ policies. Of course, they no longer meet here anymore, but they still have the same system of 12 elected officials- infact I read on facebook the other day that over half of these members are woman at the moment- go girl power!! There was some good information there about Iceland’s political history here though on a couple of signs. And it was a picturesque place though; I think you can feel the vibes about the place, feel in the land and the rocks that it used to be a very important place, that big decisions were made here. I’m a bit of a hippie though you know, haha!

The coach started to head back, but we ended up delayed by like an hour and a half, because it had been snowing heavily. Eventually when I got back, I was starved and a little tired, so I decided to have a coffee and a bite to eat at a café somewhere. There was this café almost opposite my hotel, called Café Stofan, which was sooo nice! It just felt like a comfy living room, it was just perfect. I had a double espresso and something the nice blond girl on the bar described as a “Berlinarbolla”- she didn’t know what the English for it. I would have said it was pretty much a jam doughnut, but dusted with vanilla flavoured icing sugar, instead of cinnamon caster sugar like we get over here. Anyway, it was scrumptious.

Anyway, I started to get hungry again (haha! I am terrible!) and I decided to go out for dinner. I found this place called Tapas Barinn, which Tripadvisor had recommended, and my god I had one of the most unique meals I’ve ever had in my life! It was very busy- I wasn’t surprised by this, because I had actually been in the previous night, but they had been fully booked at that point. I got a Viking beer when I got seated, and they brought me a big basket of complimentary bread with homemade tapenade and sundried tomato hummus. This was such a delicious start to the meal, I had to stop myself from completely filling myself up bread and accompaniments- just simply delicious! I thought I would be adventurous, so I ordered 3 tapas dishes: puffin with a wild blueberry sauce, roasted foal with a red wine reduction, and marinated grilled aubergine and courgettes. The puffin arrived first (I have some pics of the food, but it was so dark in there, I had to use flash, and as we all know, flash makes food looks rubbish) and it arrived cold, which I wasn’t expecting. People keep asking me “what did puffin taste like??” and I thought it was going to taste like fishy chicken (because it’s an aquatic bird and all that) but it just tastes…..weird. I couldn’t really describe it- it just tastes of puffin. I don’t think it was really to my taste, but that wasn’t the restaurants’ fault, it’s just puffin is not for me I guess! Although theoretically, I thought the sweet blueberry sauce complimented the puffin very well. Next the courgette dish arrived, as did the foal. These were some of the nicest things I have EVER tasted in my life! The vegetables were stunning, I really wondered how they managed to get so much flavour into these vegetables, they were just so delicious. And the foal- MY GOD, I mean, I did feel guilty, because I knew I was going horse riding in a few days, but it was so tender and served to the perfect rarity that I like (medium rare). With gorgeous very creamy mashed potato and a very well executed gamey jus. I will say that we should get over ourselves in Britain, and start serving horse in restaurants. I have tried horse before in Britain and I love it- just like beef, but leaner, and often very tender.

After this meal, I was sooo stuffed, and the meal wasn’t even that expensive, so I was so happy with what I had tried. So after a big day out, I went to bed and looked forward to the activities the next day.

Travel: Iceland Day One

2011-12-31T04:43:00.000-08:00

Hey everyone! Sorry it’s been a while, but I have been super busy from before Iceland, over Christmas, and right up until now. And in fact I will now be really busy until mid-January, as I’m going full time next week at The Cosy Club, and I’m moving in with my Nicky next week too! Anyway, so finally had time to write a little bit about my travels, hope you like!

So I was very nervous about this trip, as I was going on my own, but I actually found myself quite relaxed getting the coach to Heathrow, and going through all the airport stuff. I suppose foodie-wise, my trip didn’t really get off on the right foot! I decided to try out this Café Est place in Heathrow Terminal One- and oh my god guys, seriously, don’t eat here!!! When I came in, I noticed there was something on the menu outside that said “early lunches” that had basically the same stuff on the main menu, but for cheaper, because they served it 11am-12pm. Like an early bird special I guess. So I went in, and I noticed this early thing wasn’t on the menu this woman gave me, so when I ordered my meal (lasagne) I mentioned this but the woman was like “oh we must not have put the new menu up there” but I thought screw it, I’ve already sat down, I’ll order it anyway. I was thinking £11-12 for a lasagne, I hope this is good. I also ordered a double espresso, which took forever to arrive, and then the lasagne took ages to arrive as well. When it arrived, it didn’t even come with salad, and it was FROZEN in the middle, meaning of course that they hadn’t make it fresh (or it was v doubtful to have been made fresh). When I told this to the woman she was like “oh I’ll go sort this out for you” but I was just thinking, NO, I want something else, I don’t want to be served a reheated reheated lasagne, I don’t want to end up ill- but she hurried off! And I noticed a guy two tables over from me that had the exact same frozen lasagne thing as well. So it was served back to me and mreh, it wasn’t really that nice. Paid, didn’t tip, and left- super disappointed. Literally, look at this lasagne, even this cool looking Asian businessman guy sat next to me asked literally “what is that??” when it arrived.

Flight was quite nice; IcelandAir had done it up all nice and Christmassy, and had all these cute messages about Icelandic folklore/ Christmas traditions/ languages. And the plane was called Heklar, which is one of the volcanoes on Iceland. Got into Reykjavik fairly easy, although the moment I got to Iceland I realised that it wasn’t just the hotel/ booze that was expensive in Iceland, it’s just EVERYTHING. I mean, I had to get a Flybus to the main BSU bus terminal, and then a shuttle thing from the terminal to my hotel. The shuttle was all right (I thought shuttle transfers were included in the hotel price but apparently not) but the Flybus was £11!?! Usually travel costs are always really good everywhere else I’ve been in Europe, like when Nick and I went to Prague we were shocked that we spent about £3.50 for a 24 hour travel pass, which worked on buses, trains and ferries- amazing. So got to the hotel and it felt late because it was so dark- but it was only 6pm! It is really hard to get used to, in fact, I don’t think five days was even enough to get used to the almost constant darkness- I expect it would take years to be fine with it. You just naturally feel tired because it’s dark, but you just have to keep reminding yourself “Doesn’t matter if its pitch black, its 9am, Doesn’t matter if it’s pitch black, its 6pm” Lol. Hotel was nice, SUUUCH a comfy bed. Mind you though, am I the only person that thinks this is weird- my bed was a double bed, but it had these weird little “personal” 1 person covers, instead of the normal 1 big one. Weird right??

Decided OK, I will be brave, and Instead of just having dinner at my hotel restaurant I would have a bit of a wander about outside my hotel, central Reykjavik, and try and get my bearings. Now, when it comes to food, I brought with me a load of names of recommended restaurants. The best ones were the ones that my boyfriend’s work colleague Sif recommended- she is Icelandic also, so she really gave a nice personal account of which places I should try/ what I should eat whilst I was in Iceland. I then looked at Trip advisor and wrote down a lot of their recommended restaurants, which were in a close radius to my hotel (A lot of these synced up with Sif’s recommended places). Whilst walking around and going down different streets, what was super useful was that there was this little Christmas market outside my hotel, with this big Christmas tree covered in bright red lights. So if I felt like I was getting a little lost, or too far away, I knew that I had to keep my eye out for the red Christmas tree, and then I would know how to get back to my hotel. Saw some funny things on my way too- love the MASSIVE puffin with all the little puffins. Awww, gawd I wondered how much that actually cost- Lol! Imagine trying to get that back through the airport, haha!

Anyway, managed to find this really nice Italian place called “Hornid”. Staff seemed fairly friendly, and they sat me next to where these two fit Nordic looking guys were making the pizzas (Mmmm! Haha!). Ordered a nice cold beer called “Skor” (except with a pointy thing over the o, I don’t know how to do that with my computer), which was the nicest beer I had whilst I was in Iceland, I recommend it. I then got the “Pizza con Rucola y Parma” (Pizza with rocket and Parma ham) with a side salad. The side salad was rubbish (iceberg lettuce, sundried tomatoes and olives and a thin salad creamy type dressing) but the pizza was delicious. I don’t normally order pizzas because usually I can’t eat all of it, but I was so hungry by then I really fancied one. Pizza was so delicious, with loads of parmesan and fresh rocket and tasty Parma ham. There was also garlic oil and chilli oil to dip the crusts in- mmmm!

After this a wandered back to my hotel and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow- travelling really does knacker you out doesn’t it???

Recipe: Chilli Garlic Chicken, with Smashed Carrot and Parsnip

2011-12-15T03:36:00.000-08:00

A recipe using the old and the new- from the last harvest of my summer chillies, to the lovely seasonal winter root veg! To be honest i probably shouldn't be blogging right now- i've got a lot of packing and organising to do!! Going to Iceland on saturday (and no- not the shop!! No chicken tikka bites for me!!). Will update you all on my shinanigans when i get back, promise! The root vegetable "smash" doesnt look amazing I guess, but the flavours in this dish are to die for!

Chilli Garlic Chicken with smashed carrots and parsnips (serves 3)

The chicken
3 large chicken breasts
50g butter
1 tbsp olive oil
3 little hot green chillies
25g fresh coriander, stalks and leaves
2 garlic cloves
1 tsp crushed ginger
Salt and pepper

The mash
350g parsnips, peeled and diced
700g carrots, peeled and diced
1 tsp cumin or dukka
2 tbsp single cream
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Mix all the chicken ingredients (except the chicken!) in a food processor. Put the chicken breasts in an ovenproof dish, and rub the butter all over the breasts. Cook in the oven for 40 minutes (Halfway through cooking process, baste with the juices).
2. Meanwhile, bring a large pan of water to the boil. Boil the parsnips and carrots in salted water for 20 minutes, or until soft. Remove the chicken from the oven, and remove the chicken from the juices it’s been cooking in.
3. Drain the vegetables, and mash with the cream, cumin, and all of the juices from the chicken. Season to taste, and serve alongside the chicken!

Recipe: Carrot, Maple and Bacon Soup

2011-12-09T05:53:00.000-08:00

Sounds like a reeeeeeally weird combination I guess, but when you think about it things like honey and maple syrup are used with root vegetables all the time. Honey roasted parsnips or carrots are of course, a very popular dish at Christmas. So I thought I would try and see whether maple syrup and carrots compliment eachother, and it worked out really really well! I then thought, this soup is quite sweet, so it needs something salty to set it off- and then I remembered Americans love putting maple syrup on their bacon and pancakes at breakfast, so I thought that would make a good garnish. In some supermarkets you can actually get "maple cured bacon" as well, which is delicious too. I am entering this recipe into Love The Garden's "Christmas Carrot" recipe competition. It is a recipe competition for bloggers that ends 21st December- all you have to do is post up a carrot recipe onto your blog, mention their site, and you are end up with a chance to win a £200 dinner at any restaurant of your choice! Here is the URL, if any of you fancy going in for it! http://www.lovethegarden.com/blog/christmas-carrot-competition

Carrot, Maple and Bacon Soup (makes 2 large bowls, or serves 4 as a starter)

50g butter
1 red onion, diced
1 white onion, diced
½ tsp mixed herbs
500g carrots, peeled and diced
30ml maple syrup (plus extra for drizzling)
700ml vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste
4 thin rashers smoked bacon (or generally 2 rashers per person)

1. Sautee the onions, mixed herbs and carrots in the butter and maple syrup, covered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove the lid, and continue to cook for about 10 minutes, or until the vegetables have started to caramelise.
2. Add vegetable stock and cook on a high heat for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the oven to as high as possible, and cook rashers of smoky bacon on s non-stick baking tray until they go nice and crispy (this generally takes 10-15 minutes).
3. Blend the soup, add any extra water/stock if necessary to get to your desired thickness, season to taste and serve hot- garnished with crispy smoked bacon and an extra drizzle of maple syrup!

Recipe: Leek and Potato Cakes, with Chickpea and Carrot Salad

2011-12-07T12:11:00.000-08:00

The last of the leeks- and pretty much everything else in the garden to be honest! Theres only about a dozen little red chillies left on my plants, and i expect the first frost will kill them off. This was a nice little relaxed brunch i made for me and my parents- i spose the leek and potato cakes are pretty much like bubble and squeak, except for the indian spices. Good way of using up leftover mashed potato if you have any as well.

Potato and Leek Cakes, with a Chickpea and Carrot salad (serves 3)

For the Cakes
1 kg potatoes, peeled and chopped
50g butter
1 tbsp medium curry powder

30g butter
1 large/2 medium leeks
Pinch of sugar
Salt and pepper to taste

2 tbsp olive oil (plus maybe extra if needed)

For the Salad
1 tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 carrot, peeled and grated
Handful fresh coriander, chopped
15ml lemon juice
10ml extra virgin olive oil
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
Natural yoghurt (optional garnish)

1. (Either use leftover mash, or…) Boil the potatoes for about 25 minutes, or until soft. Drain, and mash with the butter and curry powder. Set aside.
2. In a large deep frying pan, fry the leeks in the butter and sugar covered for 10 minutes. Cook for a further 10 minutes uncovered. Add the leek mixture to the potato mixture and mix until well combined. Season to taste and set aside (with the lid off to allow to cool).
3. Mix together the lemon juice, olive oil, cumin, sugar and some salt and pepper. Add all the other salad ingredients, season to taste, and set aside.
4. Heat a large frying pan up with 2 tbsp oil until quite hot. Shape the potato/leek mixture into 6 patties. In batches (adding more olive oil if needed) fry the patties about 3 minutes on each side, or until the patties have become browned.
5. Serve the patties with the chickpea salad, and a dollop of natural yoghurt on top if desired.

Competition: Bel Cheese Academy's Recipe Competition

2011-12-03T06:44:00.000-08:00

Biggest one yet! Or at least one of the most exciting, certainly. Bel held a recipe competition a couple of months ago. You had to be a professional in the catering industry, and you had to come up with a recipe using one of their products.

Bel is a large company- they make Boursin, Laughing Cow, Baby Bel, Leerdamer and many other types of cheese. I sent in my recipe for lasagne- the one with the pack of garlic and herb boursin mixed into the white sauce- and I won! I won a brand shiny new Ipad 2, and wait....theres more..

Bel has asked me to be a "Brand Ambassador" for them, which basically means that three or four times a year, Bel is going to send me products, and with those products they want me to make delicious recipes which they will publish on their website! How cool is that!!! This is the kind of thing that i would love to get involved with after my degree, working with food based companies and even perhaps working with them on product development. It's definitely a big step in the right direction when it comes to my career. Very exciting though!

Recipe: Yoghurt and Mustard Baked Chicken

2011-12-02T10:35:00.000-08:00

This is a really good way of getting flavour into chicken, and at the same time keeps the meat so moist and tender. Marinade it for a least a couple of hours, or even for a much longer time- up to 24 hours even. What's also good is that you mix the marinade, marinade the meat, and then cook the dinner all in the same dish- so that avoids any extra washing up! I have served this with some spicy kidney beans and green salad- lovely!

Yoghurt and Mustard Baked Chicken (serves 3-4)

4 normal or 3 large chicken breasts
50g natural yoghurt
30ml honey
20g wholegrain mustard
5g grated parmesan
5ml lemon juice
Salt and pepper

1. Mix together all the ingredients in an oven proof dish except the chicken. Add the chicken, prick a few times with a knife (to allow the marinade to seep in) and mix into the yoghurt mix. Allow to marinate for at least 2 hours.
2. Preheat the oven to 200C. Cook in the oven for 30-35 minutes (depending on the size of the breasts), and serve, with any extra juices from the dish poured over your side vegetables/ salad.

Recipe: Pasta with Leeks and Mushrooms

2011-12-01T05:10:00.000-08:00

This is a strange little dish- weird mix of herbs and spices and using worchester sauce! But it works, celery salt, worchester sauce and lemon works very well together (c'mon, just look at the bloody mary- possibly the most perfect coctail in the world, minus the tabasco, lol) and all of those ingredients happen to go very well with mushrooms and leeks. In the picture I have here I used tagliatelli, but I think this recipe works better with spaghetti or linguini actually.

Pasta with leeks and mushrooms (serves 2)

150g dried spaghetti, linguini, tagliatelli, or any pasta of your choice.
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 large leek, or 2 medium leeks, diced
200g sliced mushrooms
¼ tsp smoked paprika
¼ tsp mixed herbs
¼ tsp celery salt
2 tbsp Worchester sauce
Squeeze of lemon
10g freshly grated parmesan
Wedges of lemon for garnish
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Fry the leeks and mushrooms for 10 minutes covered, stirring occasionally.
2. Put the pasta onto the boil and cook according to the packet instructions. Meanwhile, remove the lid from the vegetables, add the spices and Worchester sauce and cook for a further 10 minutes.
3. Add the pasta into the vegetable mix, add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, and stir until everything is well coated. Serve, with freshly grated parmesan on top, and lemon wedges on the side.

Competition: Black Garlic Recipe Competition

2011-11-25T04:21:00.000-08:00

Yes, i've won another won! This time it's with a company called Black Garlic. They sell a product, conveniently, called black garlic, that you may not have heard of. Black garlic is an aged version of normal garlic. This aging or "fermentation" process turns it black, changes its flavour slightly (its less strong than normal garlic, and has a nice rich kinda molasses-y flavour to it), increases its level of vitamins and antioxidants, and also does not give you garlic breath!! Cool right??

Well they held a recipe competition, and i entered a version of my Ginger and coriander salmon with sesame noodle salad, using plenty of black garlic instead of normal garlic. So i won £100 and a load of black garlic goodies! Brilliant!

Recipe: "Secret Ingredient" Roast Vegetables

2011-11-23T12:32:00.000-08:00

I guess it kinda becomes a "well known" ingredient once i blab about it all over my blog, but never mind. I just call it that because theres an ingredient in this recipe that people wouldnt expect you to use for roast vegetables, but it ends up completely perfecting the dish. The couple tbsp i use of cherry cordial in the recipe just makes the vegetables go beautifully caramelised in the oven, as well as providing a slightly sweet fruity flavour too. You can use any type of undiluted cordial or squash that you want, i just use cherry because theres this type I get from Sainsburys that's so delicious, so I always have some in the cupboard and that's how i ended up trying this out. I served this alongside some roast chicken and gravy- but reckon it would be fantastic on the side of a big roasted leg of lamb.

“Secret Ingredient” Roast Vegetables (serves 4 as a side dish)

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tbsp cherry cordial (undiluted)
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 celeriac, peeled and diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 red onion, diced
1 large or 2 medium leeks, diced
Salt and pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Put all these ingredients into a roasting tin, mix until all the vegetables are well coated and combined, and cook in the oven for 30 minutes.
2. Stir the roast vegetables and return to the oven for a further 15 minutes. Remove, and serve!

Competition: Take a Break My Favourite Recipes Magazine

2011-11-16T13:53:00.000-08:00

Hey guys. Well i've won another competition- just a little one, winning £25 in Tesco Vouchers, but i've found myself much more interested in the organisation that ran this competition since i won it. I joined their facebook page about a month ago, and in started learning about them. They are a new small magazine, published every 2 months, made up entirely of reader recipes, rather than professional chefs/ regular food writers. Not only do they run regular competitions on their facebook page to win vouchers/cookbooks, but every recipe you enter onto their facebook page gets a chance to be published (where you receive £25 if your published). Furthermore, if your recipe is published, every entry there is a facebook vote for everyones' favourite recipe, and the one that gets the most votes wins £500!

So my recipe for Black Bean Chilli won me £25, but I am hoping that one of my recipes will be published in January's issue, and that i'll have a chance of winning the £500 on top of that! Will keep you all updated on this one xx

Recipe: Autumn Vegetable Soup with Pesto

2011-11-15T04:15:00.000-08:00

My mum loved this soup so much- she said this should be the next recipe competition winner! Lol! Maybe i'll enter it into one of New Covent Garden soup recipe competitions, i dunno. I always want more soups in winter, and this soup is packed full of all of the delicious root veg that reminds me of autumn. I think autumn is my favourite season- maybe because of Firework night on the 5th November, and my birthday on the 17th November. Not sure what i'm doing this year for my birthday- it's 21 so maybe i should do something big? Anyway, the pesto in this is optional of course, but i think it really adds the finishing touch to the dish.

Autumn Vegetable Soup with Pesto (makes 3 bowls)

30g butter
1 white onion, diced
1 large or 2 medium leeks, diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 parsnip, peeled and diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
1 swede, peeled and diced
100ml red wine
1 litre vegetable stock
1 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
Salt and pepper to taste
4 tbsp readymade pesto
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1. Sautee the onion, leeks and garlic in the butter for 10 minutes, covered, stirring occasionally.
2. Add the red wine and cook for a further 5 minutes, uncovered. Add all the other ingredients (except the pesto and olive oil) and cook on a high heat for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Blend half of the soup, and return to the pan. You may need to add more water/ vegetable stock at this stage if the soup has become too thick.
4. Season to taste and heat the soup up again until nice and hot. Mix together the extra virgin olive and pesto, and serve the soups with this “pesto oil” drizzled on top.

Recipe: Braised Leeks and Peas

2011-11-14T14:15:00.000-08:00

This is a nice little side dish- tasty, sweet, moist, and full of vitamins and minerals. We had this on the side of chicken and mushroom pies and it worked really well. A really nice dish to show off the flavour of home grown leeks.

Braised Leeks and Peas (serves 4 as a side dish)

40g butter
30ml extra virgin olive oil
4 large leeks or 6 medium leeks
450g frozen peas
2 tbsp freshly chopped parsley
250ml vegetable stock
Salt and pepper to taste
2 spring onions, finely sliced

1. Sautee the leeks in the olive oil and butter on a medium heat, for 10 minutes covered, stirring occasionally. Cook a further 5 minutes, uncovered.
2. Add the peas, parsley and stock, and cook on a high heat for 5 minutes. Season to taste, garnish with the sliced spring onions, serve!

Recipe: Chilli Jam

2011-11-12T05:55:00.000-08:00

Yay. Finally, I can give up preserving for a while. My room is full of jars and i have spent so much time and a fair amount of money this year making all these things. I've just got to make chilli jam until the frosts kill my chilli plants, and i'm all done. In this recipe, it's hard to judge how hot the recipe is going to be, because there are so many different sizes and varieties of chilli, all with different heat (or "scoville") ratings. The ones i've been picking from outside "Apache" chillies, are fairly hot, and very little. I would guess using 8 "normal" large red chillies that you get in the supermarket would do the trick though. This Jam is not that hot really, its just delicious and peppery and sweet- would be a good accompaniment to asian dishes (like spring rolls/tempura etc), and dad actually loves it in cheese sandwiches! He'll put chilli in anything, lol!

Chilli Jam (makes about 4-5 normal jam jars)

8 red peppers, deseeded and chopped
15 little red chillies
10g crushed ginger
8 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tin chopped tomatoes
½ tsp chilli flakes
750g sugar
200ml red wine vinegar
50ml cider vinegar

1. Blend the peppers and chillies in batches in a food processor until finely chopped. Add all the ingredients to a large pan, bring to the boil, skim any scum that forms, and cook on a high temperature for 1 hour and 10 minutes, stirring often.
2. Pour into jars, allow to cool, and then seal!

Recipe: Apple and Brazil Nut Chutney

2011-11-05T12:40:00.000-07:00

Phew, at last- my final batch of apple based chutney of the year! At the moment i am just drowning in jars of preserves and i really honestly need to stop making things! The only thing i've got left to make is a couple of batches of chilli jam, and then I'm done. I've definitely stored up enough stuff this year to not even have to bother making anything next year actually, which is a good thing because i'm sure by February-time i'll be up to my ears in my degree work/revision. This chutney is a festive tasting, very sweet chutney. I would say interestingly that this chutney would go best with meats such as duck and pheasant, due to it's orange flavour and it's sweetness.

Apple and Brazil Nut Chutney

6 small white onions, thinly sliced
950g peeled diced apples
200g Brazil nuts, diced
1 tsp mixed spice
½ tsp allspice
Zest and Juice of 1 Orange
400ml cider vinegar
450g sugar

1. Place all the ingredients into a large saucepan, put on a high heat, and cook covered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Remove the lid and cook for a further 30 minutes, stirring occasionally. Take off the heat and allow to settle for 10 minutes, then transfer to jars. Allow to cool, and then seal with the lids.

Recipe: Root Vegetable Savoury Crumble

2011-11-04T07:43:00.000-07:00

I know, a "savoury" crumble does sound a little weird I guess, probably because when we think of crumble it conjures up images of custard, blackberries and ice cream! However strange this may seem, it's really worth a try- you end up with a delicious creamy root vegetable casserole, with a golden crunchy topping, which is just perfect served with some steamed greens and a nice veggie gravy!

Root Vegetable Savoury Crumble (serves 4)

500ml vegetable stock
1 celeriac, peeled and diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
2 sweet potatoes, peeled and diced
2 large or 3 medium sized leeks, sliced
100g Philadelphia
20g wholegrain mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
120g butter
120g flour
60g parmesan
30g flaked almonds

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Put the celeriac, carrots, sweet potatoes and leeks in a large pan with hot vegetable stock, and cook on a high heat, with the lid on, for 15 minutes.
2. Put the butter, flour, parmesan and flaked almonds in a mixing bowl, and rub together with your fingers until you have made a fine crumble mixture.
3. Mix the Philadelphia and mustard into the cooked vegetables, season to taste, and pour into an ovenproof dish. Top with the crumble mix, and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Put under a hot grill for a further two minutes until browned on top, and serve!

Recipe: Leek, Pea and Red Pepper Risotto

2011-10-28T07:57:00.000-07:00

Another lush leek recipe! Still got loads in the garden, but I spose i've got to dig them up soon because some of them are bolting, and I reckon it wont be long before we get frosts! I love those roasted peppers you get in jars, they are so convenient and yummy. I guess a bit of a "cheats" ingredients, but I really love the flavour of them. The sweet leeks and red peppers in this risotto really compliments the creamy rice and parmesan. Heaven in a bowl!

Leek, Red Pepper and Pea Risotto (serves 2)

1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
2 large or 3 medium leeks, finely sliced
160g Arborio rice
100ml sherry
1 tsp herbs du Provence
700ml vegetable stock (made with 2 stock cubes)
120g sliced roasted red pepper (the ones you get in jars)
100g frozen peas
25g finely grated parmesan
Salt and pepper
Finely chopped parsley (optional garnish)

1. Fry the leeks in the butter and olive oil for 5 minutes. Add the rice and stir to coat. Add the sherry and herbs du Provence and cook for a further 2 minutes.
2. Begin to gradually add the stock, as the rice absorbs it (this should take about 15 minutes). 5 minutes before serving, add the red pepper, peas and parmesan. Season to taste, garnish with some finely chopped parsley (optional) and serve!

Recipe: Sweet Chilli Chicken Curry

2011-10-26T15:42:00.001-07:00

This is a really nice, quick, simple supper dish for two. It's not really like a chilli chicken dish you get in chinese restaurants (my boyfriend luuuuuuurves them), i've used some indian spices here to make it taste a little different. I've got a bit of a cold at the moment as well, and the slight spiciness in this dish was really good for making me feel a bit warmer and better!

Sweet Chilli Chicken Curry (serves 2)

2 tbsp oil
1 small white onion, diced finely
2 cloves garlic, crushed
½ tsp crushed ginger
Large handful fresh coriander, chopped (plus extra for garnish)
2 chicken breasts, diced
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp chilli powder
¼ tsp cinnamon
1 tin tomatoes (or 400ml passata)
200ml chicken stock
50g sweet chilli sauce
1.5 tsp sugar
1 bay leaf

1. Fry the onion, garlic, ginger and coriander in olive oil for 5 minutes, covered, stirring occasionally.
2. Add the chicken breasts and fry for a further 3 minutes on a high heat. Add ground coriander, chilli powder and cinnamon and cook for a further 2 minutes.
3. Add all the other ingredients, and cook for 10 minutes covered for 10 minutes. Continue to cook for a further 15 minutes, uncovered, stirring often, until the sauce has become lovely and sticky and thickened.
4. Season to taste, garnish with fresh coriander and serve!

Recipe: Chicken in a creamy mushroom sauce, with caramelised greens

2011-10-24T08:38:00.000-07:00

This is one of the simplest "posh" recipes that i've made in ages- I was really impressed with the end result. I wanted to perfect a creamy white wine and mushroom sauce recipe, and I wanted to make the most of my homegrown leeks, and so this dish sorta 'came together'. Some people just like their cabbage/leeks steamed slightly with a bit of butter, or stir fried, but I really like to cook them for ages until they begin to go golden- cause it brings the natural sweetness out and turns what we consider as simple green vegetables into something so scrumptious! Important to note: with this recipe, you will usually end up with a fair amount of the creamy sauce left- but don't worry, it is a fairly versatile sauce, and goes particularly well mixed into pasta, or served with other types of meats (pork, turkey etc.)

Chicken in a creamy mushroom and white wine sauce, served with caramelised leeks and cabbage (serves 2)

The Chicken
Olive oil
2 chicken breasts
Salt and pepper
1 tsp dried rosemary

The leeks/cabbage
1 tbsp olive oil
30g butter
¼ small white cabbage, sliced
2 large or 3 medium leeks, sliced
1 tsp sugar
Salt and pepper

The mushroom sauce
1 tbsp oil
30g butter
1 small onion or banana shallot, finely diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
75g diced white mushrooms
25g diced shitake mushrooms
100ml white wine
100ml chicken stock
200ml double cream
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Put the two chicken breasts in a roasting tray with the oil, rosemary, seasoning, and a little bit of water (to prevent the chicken from drying out). Put in the oven for 30 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, in a saucepan on a medium heat, cook all of the leek/cabbage ingredients, covered, for 10 minutes. Remove the lid then cook for a further 10 minutes, stirring often.
3. Meanwhile, start making the sauce. In a large deep frying pan, sautee the onion and garlic in the oil and butter for 5 minutes, until softened.
4. Add the white wine and cook for a further 3 minutes. Add the cream and stock, and cook for a further 7 minutes, stirring often, until the sauce has become nice and thick. Season to taste.
5. Remove the chicken from the oven, slice up and arrange on the plate, spoon over some of the mushroom sauce, and serve with the leeks and cabbage on the side.

Recipe: Apple and Cranberry Chutney

2011-10-20T07:38:00.000-07:00

I'm so pleased with how this chutney turned out- not sure whether it really shows up in the photo i took, but the jars look really beautiful. The deep red colour looks really attractive, and i think these will make perfect Christmas gifts. This chutney would work very well at Christmas dinner actually, now that i think of it- the apples are good if you're eating roast pork, and the cranberries of course are the classic accompaniment to roast turkey! On the cheeseboard too, I think this chutney would go really well with wensleydale- cranberries and wensleydale go really well together, infact you can buy the cheese with cranberries already in it from the supermarkets. Almost finished with the preserving this year though, I am drowning in various jars of things now- I need to give it a rest soon!!

Apple and Cranberry Chutney

900g peeled diced apples
300ml red wine vinegar
2 large white onions, finely diced
300g dried cranberries
400g sugar
20g crushed ginger

1. Put all ingredients in a large pan, on a high heat, covered, for 15 minutes.
2. Lower the heats, remove the lid, and cook for 25 minutes, stirring occasionally (but not too much- you don’t want to break down the chunks of apple completely).
3. Allow to cool for 10 minutes, then pot and seal. Wait for two weeks and serve!

Recipe: Tomato, Leek and Bean Hotpot

2011-10-17T07:15:00.000-07:00

This is a family favourite and in my opinion one of my mum's best recipes. All the time that I was making this, dad kept coming back in from the garden, and walking past me in the kitchen saying "ooh, one of my favourites this is!". Can't say I blame him- this dish is incredibly comforting and delicious, as well as being pretty good for you too. I used the first leeks i've picked this season to make this, and i think despite having a fair amount of other ingredients in it, the flavour of the leeks really shine through. Its amazing though, when i harvest my homegrown leeks, there is such an aroma- such a strong onion-y garlicky smell. I sware that homegrown vegetables just smell much more "vegetabley" then their supermarket counterparts (the lush smell of homegrown tomatoes holds no comparison atall in my opinion, to shop bought toms). If you don't have a food processor, just try and slice the potatoes as thinly as possible.

Tomato, Leek and Bean Hotpot (serves 4)

2 tbsp olive oil
2 red onions, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 large or 2 medium leeks, sliced
2 large or 3 medium carrots, peeled and diced
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tin kidney beans, drained and rinsed
300ml vegetable stock
1 tbsp marmite
700g potatoes, peeled and sliced very thinly (using a food processor slicing attachment if possible)
50g butter
Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a saucepan, fry the onions and garlic in the olive oil for 3 minutes. Add the leeks and carrots and cook covered for a further 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Preheat the oven to 180C. Add the tinned tomatoes, kidney beans, stock and marmite to the vegetables, season to taste, and set aside. Pour this mixture into a large casserole.
3. Top the bean and vegetable mixture with all of the sliced potatoes. Every full layer, add a little bit of salt and pepper. Once you have layered up all the potatoes, dot with the butter, put the lid on, and bake in the oven for 1 hour 30 minutes.
4. Remove the lid, and if the potatoes need any crisping up, put under the grill for a few minutes. Serve!

Recipe: Chicken and Green Vegetable Fricassee

2011-10-16T06:23:00.000-07:00

This is a little dish i whipped up last night with my last harvest of courgettes. It's a shame theyve ended again, but i got almost more out of these two plants this year than the three plants last year (8kg vs 10kg). *Sigh* the raised beds are looking a bit bare, now that we've cut down the courgettes and the french beans- but at least we still have some leeks to harvest- watch this space!!! This slightly french dish is delicious served with a big chunk of buttered french baguette.

Chicken and Green Vegetable Fricassee (serves 2)

2 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, finely diced
350g diced chicken
100ml white wine
350ml chicken stock
1 bay leaf
250g quartered new potatoes
200g diced courgettes
100g Philadelphia
200g frozen peas
Salt and pepper

1. In a saucepan on a medium heat, fry the red onions in the olive oil for 5 minutes. Add the chicken with a little seasoning (salt + pepper) and fry for a further 5 minutes.
2. Add the white wine, stock, bay leaf, and new potatoes, and cook covered for 10 minutes.
3. Add the Philadelphia and courgettes, and cook uncovered for a further 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Add the peas, and cook for a further 5 minutes. Season to taste and serve!

Recipe: Spiced Beef Casserole

2011-10-15T07:12:00.000-07:00

I kinda lost the recipe for this, but then found my print-out behind the sofa and thought GAWWWD I havent made this for ages and it's soooo lush!! I guess with the cinnamon and the cocoa powder it has a slightly north african flavour to it, but i guess it isn't a specific sort of "named dish", it just happens to be tender and delicious! Perfect served with mash and buttered purple sprouting broccoli.

Spiced Beef Casserole (serves 2)

2 tbsp olive oil
500g stewing steak
1 tbsp olive oil
2 red onions, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp mild chilli powder
1 tsp ground cumin
½ tsp white pepper
½ tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cocoa powder
½ tsp smoked paprika
250g passata
600ml beef stock
1 fresh or 2 dried bay leaves

1. On a high heat brown the beef off in a couple of batches, seasoned well. This should take about 5 minutes. With a slotted spoon remove the browned beef from the saucepan and set aside in a casserole dish.
2. Add another tbsp of olive oil to the pan, and add the onion and garlic. Fry covered for 5 minutes, until the onions are soft and translucent. Heat the oven to 180C.
3. Add all the spices to the pan, and stir in well. Add passata and stir until well combined. Add the beef stock and reduce down for 10 minutes.
4. Add the reserved beef, add bay leaves, and cover. Put in the oven for 1 hour 30 minutes, removing and stirring every 30 minutes.

Recipe: Feta Filled Cherry Tomatoes

2011-10-13T10:29:00.000-07:00

This is such a cute little canape recipe- I love it! I invented it when i was 8, I think when i started inventing dishes, it was all about party food for me- i wanted to make food that groups of my friends and family would really enjoy at social gatherings. I used to make delicious big jugs of non-alchoholic coctails as well. They were always so nice, and have never been able to make drinks (whether boozy or not!) as good as those ones back then. I think it was the large amounts of fresh mint i used to put in them from the garden, theres just something about fresh garden mint. Its different to shopbought.

Anyway, rabbiting on like usual- This is a recipe I am submitting to Love The Garden's new recipe competition "A Taste for Tomatoes". It's all about celebrating this wonderful fruit, and sending in our recipes that bring out the full flavour of our lovely toms! I think my favourite variety of the tomato is the cherry- they're lovely and sweet and crunchy, LOVELY. The salty feta here works very well with the sweetness of the tomato. The competition is judged by food blogger James Ramsden, and the prize is £200 at a meal of your choice. If any of you want to have a go at this recipe competition, or check out their website for growing tips, here's a link:

http://www.lovethegarden.com/blog/a-taste-for-tomatoes-a-recipe-blog-competition

Feta Filled Cherry Tomatoes

200g feta
A few slices red onion
50g peeled diced cucumber
2 tbsp chopped fresh coriander
2 tbsp chopped fresh mint
1 tsp lemon juice
Salt, sugar and pepper to taste
About 20 large cherry tomatoes
Optional: herbs for garnish

1. Slice a little hole in the top of each cherry tomato, and hollow out the centres of them.
2. Blend all the other ingredients in a food processor, and season to taste. If it is a little too thick, add some water.
3. Fill the hollowed out cherry tomatoes with the feta mixture, and arrange on a place in a circle. Garnish with herbs if you fancy it, and serve!

PS: The feta filling also makes a very nice dip!

Travel: Snowdonia Day Three

2011-10-12T15:03:00.000-07:00

So today after a cooked breakfast, made by my lovely boyfriend whilst I was in the shower (it’s so lovely not to cook sometimes!) we wrote our postcards and headed into Harlech. We had such a lush visit round Harlech Castle- it is such a beautiful fascinating building/ruin. It was constructed in the 14th century by King Edward I, and played an important part in the conquest of Wales. The historical section they have in the middle of the castle had loads of interesting info on it, but I must admit I can’t remember much of it!

Health and safety-wise however, this place is absolutely crazy! I mean, personally I am usually against all these ridiculous guidelines and safety measurements you have these days, risk assessments for nothing, all of that jazz, BUT literally, the stairs you have to use to get to the battlements is thin as hell, there are no safety rails once you get up there, and also loads of the spiral staircases to get down are v v dark. I mean, I guess it’s refreshing to see the castle AS IT SHOULD BE, without loads of modern signs and things, but I felt so scared on the battlements it was mental. Don’t tend to get vertigo, but the feeling that I could fall down really easily was totally freaking me out.

Cute little gift shop as well, I bought a nice classic Welsh cookbook, which I’ll be having a skim through and cooking recipes from some point soon I think. Especially since my home-grown leeks are ready for harvest, and most of these traditional welsh meals are leek orientated. So after Harlech, we decided to have a look round Barmouth, which is this kinda sad traditional sea-side town near to where we were staying.

Theres something kinda sad about Barmouth. I mean, you could tell the town had been hit by hard times, because there were loads of empty shops/ restaurants (Including this café- Arousal Café!!! Ahaha! The C fell off a looong time ago by the look of the place) and lots of knackered pound shop places. It looks almost slightly abandoned I guess, but it was fun having a walk round there, at one point we found one of those old tuppence/10p arcades! OMG I used to spend so much money as a kid in those sorts of places, especially when I went to Ramsgate with my grandmother.

We eventually found, right at the bottom of the town, the NICEST pub!!! It looks so cool in there, it’s called “The Last Inn”, and it served one of the nicest plate of fish and chips that I’ve ever had! The pictures I took are rather dark I guess, so I hope you can see. The first picture is of me sitting on the ledge of what the Inn used to use to keep their beers cool- an open spring that was used as a kind of cellar I think?- and the second is of my lunch!
Hasn’t it been plated funkily? I love the chips in the mini-fryer basket-classic! I wish we’d gone there the night before actually, cause it said they did live music performances (of various genres) on Tuesday nights.

After that meal we decided to walk over Barmouth Bridge, which I wasn’t really aware of, but Nick said apparently it’s kinda famous. I googled it, and basically it is an old railway line as well as a pedestrian walkway, and it was built originally in 1867 (although parts had to be replaced at some point due to wood worms or something). It is a pretty bridge, and a nice little walk, so I would recommend it as an attraction I spose!

We figured after coming back off the bridge and having a quick cup of coffee that we had just enough time for a last attraction, so we thought we would check out a little sign we saw earlier, pointing to “Nantcol Waterfalls”. Must admit we did get a little bit lost looking for them, and by the time we found out where the toll booth was to pay to go and see the waterfalls, it was all dark, so we just walked and took a few nice photos of the fast stream that flowed from the waterfalls, and ended in the town of Llanbedr. Here we found a lush pub called “Tyr Mawr” (yeah….we never figured out how to pronounce it either…lol). If you stay in Wales anywhere near Llanbedr, you HAVE to check out this pub. It lays on a real ale festival the same time every year (unfortunately it started on the weekend 24th-25th September, the day after we left! Doh!), they serve some very nice ales in the pub, and they do some bloody fantastic rustic pub food!

I don’t want to slag the other pub off, but we had heard about this Tyr Mawr pub in the guestbook, but couldn’t find it, so we went to the other pub in town called “The Victoria Inn”, and yeah….it wasn’t very good. I mean the staff were quite friendly, but the atmosphere wasn’t nearly as nice, and the food couldn’t even be compared to the Tyr Mawr pub. I guess direction-wise, the only thing I can say is get into the main village, and if the Victoria Inn is on the right of you, turn left along what looks like just a load of houses, but eventually you will see the sign for Tyr Mawr. It’s a bed and breakfast as well as a pub and restaurant y’see.

Anyway, we had a couple of nice ales, I had an amazing lamb shank (which by the way, I noticed on a fair few menus in Wales, shanks are often called “henrys” instead. Dunno why) with a minted gravy, mixed vegetables and new potatoes, and Nick had a chicken and smoked bacon pie, with gravy, mixed veg and mash. Both of the dishes were stunning, the atmosphere was incredibly comforting and warm, and the local drinkers all seemed really nice. In fact, it was so funny, when we left, I made a point of saying to the man at the bar that this had been a lovely end to our holiday in Wales, and that the meal we just had was FANTASTIC. Just then one of the guys round the bar piped and said in a heavy welsh accent “Glad you liked it, my mum’s the cook”. Haha! Loved it. So traditional and no-frills, Nick and I loved the place.

Well, we then went home, had a bottle of wine, and played another game of Scrabble! I LOVE scrabble, haha! I hate losing though; I am definitely a bad loser. I won the first game by a MILE (mostly helped by “squad” on a triple word- OoooOoh!) but the second game he beat me on the last word! Jammy git! Lol. I like this picture- i managed to get my dog Misty onto the scoreboard....awwwww!Well, we had a lush time in Wales, and someday I will definitely go there again for a little break. I think if we did another cottage holiday though, I reckon we should try The Lake District, a lot of my friends really recommend visiting there. I hope you found this little Northern Welsh guide helpful!

Travel: Snowdonia Day Two

2011-10-07T05:11:00.000-07:00

So I woke up the next morning and after having an amazing shower (it was this funky modern shower with, like, a steam room function and all these funny jets and a radio- it was so cool) I heated up me and nick some croissants and we had some with my lovely damson jam for brekkie. I loved the farmer's dogs there- as soon as we left the cottage to go out for the day, (and then every time we got in at the end of the evening) these three dogs would come running up to the door/patio windows. So sweet.

We decided since the weather was looking all right that we would drive to visit Portmeirion for the day. It is an iconic Italian style village this guy called Sir Clough Williams Ellis designed and built between 1925 and 1975. Some of you might know Portmeirion/ find these pictures vaguely familiar, because it was the set for a cult classic TV series from the 60s called “The Prisoner”. Mum, Dad and Nick really loved this show, and I’ve seen a couple of episodes so I found the place quite fun/ kinda recognisable.

After looking around a bit, going to “The Prisoner” shop, checking out the little areas, we stopped off for lunch at a café we found. If I’m honest, it wasn’t AMAZING. It was a place that did Italian food, but also cakes and coffees and things like that. The menu sounded like a proper Italian place as well, so we both had pizzas and they were a little disappointing. Wood oven baked, and nice and thin, but the cheese and toppings were of poor quality. I definitely have a recommendation for you if you visit Portmeirion- DON’T go to this café, go to the posher official Portmeirion restaurant. It’s down at the bottom of the town, right next to the coast; near the weird fake boat that they built that’s set in concrete, but at full-tide looks like a proper boat. Insane. The whole place is like that, just a weird dream of someone that had enough money to make it a reality- a strange closed off Italianate village in the middle of north wales. Just utterly bizarre. Anyway, back to the point- we saw the menu for the posh restaurant and it looked really nice, and the meals were only a few quid more expensive than the average café place (I say the meals- food was well priced, but they were selling really REALLY expensive wines to go with your food, I mean we’re talking £60 bottles+ . Mental.)

So after checking the place out, walking for a bit on one of the scenic walks they have round there (they have a forest walk and a coastal walk, both take about an hour, so we didn’t really have time for the whole thing) and set off in the car to a village where we could catch the Ffestiniog Railway.

The Ffestiniog railway is an old fashioned steam train driven railway, which travels from Porthmadog (which is where we caught it) to the small slate mining town of Blaenau Ffestiniog . The trips about an hour each way, and there is a mix of beautiful Welsh countryside/ mountains/ seaside views that you get on it. I do highly recommend it, it was a really nice and beautiful trip, BUT I will mention that it certainly aint cheap. For a standard 2nd class return ticket (theres only 1st and 2nd) it costs £19, and the first class one costs £29. We got two second class tickets- but literally, if you’re going to spend money on this railway trip, you may as well shell out the extra tenna to get first class, because 2nd class was very cramped, which is not what you want if you’ve just spent £20 on a ticket to have a comfortable traditional steam train ride.

So yeah, we did 2nd class on the way there, then we thought, screw it, let’s go 1st class on the way back- and it was luuush! We got the carriage right at the front of the train all to ourselves, which was cool because we could see how the old train works and everything. When we drove back, we decided to have dinner at this place that a lot of people had recommended in the visitors book back at the cottage: “The Castle Restaurant Armoury and Bar”. It is a gourmet Caribbean restaurant situated in Harlech- we couldn’t believe it, here we are practically in the middle of nowhere, and we find a gourmet Caribbean place, what are the odds? Oh, and check out this sunset I took a picture of before we went into the restaurant- isn’t it stunning? It was weird cause it was really really cloudy and rainy, but there was still this magnificent sunset.

I was excited as well, because I’d never been to a Caribbean restaurant before, but I guess I knew what to expect from it- especially since we watched Levi Roots “Caribbean Food Made Easy” recipe program the night before (soooo coincidental!). I was so impressed by this place, quite a cosy little restaurant. Which had a fairly cool looking bar area on the 2nd floor that you could book for parties and events. Nick had a chilli and lime marinated chicken, and I had the beef and coconut curry. Both of these came with rice and peas, a vegetable curry, a pumpkin and spinach curry, salad and either a roti (with my curry!) and macaroni pie with nick’s dish. I took a picture of it- doesn’t it look luuush?? Gert portions too.

I liked the look of the dessert menu when I came in, so I didn’t have a starter. For my pud, I chose the mango bavarois, and nick had the “Chocolate Box”- which was kinda like layers of chocolate mousse and chocolate sponge, encased in a hard chocolate shell. Both desserts were quite nice but nick’s was better- jealous! We then decided to go home, watch a bit of TV and plan the next day. As a final note, I have to say that if you do any travelling in North Wales, make sure you check out Harlech, because there seem to be a few really nice looking decent restaurants in that little town, plus some charming traditional cafes for lunch too, I highly recommend you visit the place.

Travel: Snowdonia Day One

2011-09-27T11:30:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone! So I wasn't sure whether I was going to write some travel entries on my little holiday to Snowdonia, because I figured our cottage that we rented was kinda in the middle of nowhere, and that we would do some self-catering, and if lucky have a few bog standard meals out. Well I was completely wrong, had rather a nice little foodie experience out in Wales, so I thought I would fill you all in on it.

First of all, I had decided to go on this trip because I really REALLY needed a break, to be honest. I know I went to New York in February and all that, but I had all the stress of the end of my A levels, and then I’ve been working full time over all the summer, and so I thought just before I started University I should at least have one week off to recuperate. Also, it was Nick’s birthday and our three year anniversary so I thought it would be a nice way to celebrate. I didn't want to fly anywhere, but I still wanted to get away from it all, so I thought getting a nice comfy cottage in rural Wales was a perfect idea. I found this nice one bedroom cottage near Harlech called "Becws”, which means “Bakery” in Welsh, because it used to be an old Bakery (they still have the old oven and everything, it was cool). It was a very nice place actually- not as secluded as the pictures/ descriptions on their website indicated, but nice enough. I've just put a load of photos of our cottage on here because I didn't really take any photos the first day.

As it was self-catering, I thought, right “what shall I bring with me??”- and I remembered I had those £50 Waitrose/ John Lewis vouchers, so I thought I would use one of them up (you have to spend at least 50, cause they can’t give you change back on a voucher. I know, it’s weird) getting me and nick some lovely food for our holiday. To be fair, most of that £50+ was spent on booze, as I bought 1.4 litres of gin to make Sloe Gin with later in October (for people’s Xmas presents- watch this space!) and a really nice bottle of Pinot Noir- but basically the rest of these items are what I recommend that you take with you on a self-catering trip:

Instant Coffee, Tea, sugar, milk, orange juice, loaf of bread, ready cooked All Butter croissants, butter, jam, bacon, sausages, eggs, tomatoes, baked beans, cheddar, brie, grapes, apples, little gem lettuces, nice ham, and some form of chutney.

These essentially are the perfect items to bring to ensure lush self-catered breakfasts, and sandwiches to make on the trip there and the trip back (it took 4/5ish hours to drive from where we are in Bath). Usually at self catering places they provide fairy liquid/ washing up gloves and kitchen roll (not at ours though- stingy or what?) The drive there was lovely actually- we took the AA route instead of what our Satnav recommended and it involved driving through lots of beautiful Welsh countryside (although the rounds were really good quality and not windy at all). Much nicer than the motorway route we took back, lol. So on day one we had a lovely drive up there, had a little look round our local villages (the ones either side of us were “Llanbedr” and “Dyffryn Ardudwy” ) and settled into the cottage for a bottle of wine and a film, and planned the next day ahead.

Competition: "Haute Cuisine Love Marmite" Recipe Competition- Runner Up!

2011-09-25T05:38:00.000-07:00

Heya everyone. So a few months ago I mentioned that i had entered Marmite's "Haute Cuisine, Love Marmite" Facebook recipe competition, and after entering two of my recipes (i think the one that won it was my "Marmitey Venison Casserole"- like my venison casserole on the website, just using marmite stock instead of beef stock) , and having a fair few votes for them, i have won one of the runner's up prizes!

I won a pair of Marmite Oven Gloves, and a month's supply of Marmite! (I did wonder how much "a months supply" of Marmite actually was, but i won 3 x 500g jars, which I reckon is a fair amount). This is a picture from another runner's up prizes, just like mine I guess, but i got 3 larger jars rather than 6 smaller ones.

So yeah, thank you Marmite! I think your campaign to prove that you can do many other things with marmite, other than having it on toast, was a success- well done!

Recipe: Apple and Sage Chutney

2011-09-19T05:20:00.000-07:00

I realised that this food blog has started to become a bit of a preserving/jamming blog these days! It's always the way though, I would say that August through to November is the time when people get all their jam jars out and have a go at turning their homegrown/home gathered produce into things that will keep for the rest of the year. The good news is that certainly for the next month, I will be getting a nice steady stream of scrumptious apples, courtesy of my friend Ralph who has a shared garden full of fruit trees. It's a regular oasis, ralph's garden, with damsons, plums, pears, apples and blackberries- I must admit i'm a little bit jealous! Anyway, the more apples he gives me, the more jars of apple chutneys/preserves he'll be getting back- I think thats a fair deal! With most, if not all, apple based chutneys, you should avoid heavy stirring, because it's nice to try and keep chunks of apple in the chutney, rather than it all mushing down.

Apple and Sage Chutney (makes 2kg)

1.8kg cooking apples (unpeeled/uncored weight), peeled and diced
2 large white onions, finely diced
20g fresh sage, finely chopped
120g sultanas
550g sugar
170ml red wine vinegar
230ml cider vinegar
50ml Worchester sauce

1. Put all the ingredients into a large pan, covered, and cook on a high heat for 5 minutes.
2. Uncover (by this time the mixture should be boiling), and cook on a medium heat for 35 minutes, stirring occasionally, but gently (to try and stop the apple pieces from “mushing up” too much).
3. Allow to settle for 10 minutes, pot, and seal!

Recipe: Blackberry Jam

2011-09-13T05:54:00.001-07:00

Simple, but oh so good. The smell and taste of blackberries (that you've gone out and picked yourself- not from the shop) symbolise both autumn, and home to me. It's one of my favourite flavours because going out and picking blackberries was always one of the great things to do when I grew up in the countryside. Mum would always make a pie or a crumble with them, or later my first few experiments with jams- that got me interested in preserving- were always with mixtures of blackberries, elderberries and plums. Basically because that's what we had growing in the garden! It was funny, when i went blackberrying the other day, after i'd picked a few, Misty (my dog) started copying me and started picking the blackberries off the brambles and scoffing them! I sware my dog is so weird, she likes fruit and veg! She nicks potatoes, and gobbled up almost a pound of green beans that I picked the other day. Gawd i have to keep my eye on her these days. Anyway, this is a scrummy jam, really nice on toast with loads of peanut butter (although not Elvis style, with bacon too, lol!!)

Blackberry Jam (makes 1.2kg ish)
1.5kg fresh blackberries
225ml apple juice (from concentrate)
1200g sugar
45ml lemon juice.

1. Bring all the ingredients in a large pan to a rolling boil, and boil for 50 minutes, stirring often.
2. Pot, allow to cool for a couple of hours, and seal!

Recipe: Chicken and Kidney Bean Enchiladas

2011-09-11T05:33:00.001-07:00

Now this recipe does make A LOT- I reckon if you used all the filling mixture in one go then you could probably make about 20 wraps (serving 6-10 depending on personal greed and whether you are serving them with a side dish or not). I love enchiladas because they are very quick to make, and because of their texture- i enjoy the contrast between the soft tortilla and filling, and the slightly chewy cheese topping. This isn't an incredibly authentic mexican recipe for enchiladas, but it's a good weekday supper, that can be adapted to feed an army, or to feed a couple of people with the rest frozen for another time.

Chicken and Kidney Bean Enchiladas(serves 2- 10,depending on how many wraps you make)

2 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
½ tsp Schwartz Cajun seasoning (main ingredients: chilli powder, cumin, and oregano)
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp garam masala
½ tsp dried oregano
½ tsp smoked paprika
1 vegetable Oxo cube
2 tins kidney beans, drained
1 x 340g tin sweetcorn
400g cooked shredded chicken
Large handful fresh coriander
Salt and pepper
5 Discovery soft plain tortilla wraps
1 Jar Doritos Mild Salsa
150g grated cheddar

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Fry the red onion, garlic and Cajun seasoning in the olive oil for 4 minutes. Add the tinned tomatoes, sugar, garam masala, oregano, paprika and the Oxo cube and cook for a further 4 minutes, stirring often.
2. Mix in the kidney beans, sweetcorn, chicken and coriander, and cook for a further 5 minutes. Season to taste and set aside to cool down a little bit. Get a tortilla wrap, put a few tablespoons of the chicken mix into the wrap, and then wrap it up. Put these wraps into a baking dish side by side (I can fit 5 into mine).
3. Spoon a jar full of salsa evenly over the top of these wraps, and then top with 150g of cheese. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes, and then grill for 5 minutes to allow the cheese to gratinate. Serve!
4. You will have a lot of the filling mixture left, and you can now either repeat the cooking process with more wraps/more salsa/more cheese- or you can freeze the filling and use at another time. It will last a month in the freezer, make sure to properly defrost before using again.

Recipe: Green Bean Piccalilli

2011-09-08T12:01:00.000-07:00

Had to google how to spell piccalilli, haha, i'm such a dunce. I'm not actually a huge fan of piccalilli, i think maybe it's the gloopy texture and the cauliflower in it- don't like the taste of picked cauliflowwer, just doesn't seem right. However, this green bean piccalilli i've made here with my glut of green beans is very addictive- could polish off a jar of this with a big chunk of cheddar and crusty wholemeal bread in no time. It has a slightly runnier texture compared to most piccalillis, but that's just how i prefer it. If you want it thicker, cooking it for a further 5 minutes at the last stage will probably do the trick.

Green Bean Piccalilli (makes about 1.6kg)

450g finely diced white onions
360ml cider vinegar
80ml white wine vinegar

750g diced green/French beans

10g celery salt
10g turmeric
10g mustard seeds
30g flour
40g English mustard powder
200ml red wine vinegar

500g sugar

1. In a large saucepan, bring the white onions and vinegars to the boil, and then simmer on a low heat, covered, for 20 minutes.
2. In another pan, fill with water and boil the green beans for 10 minutes, drain, then set aside.
3. In a mixing bowl, mix together all the spices/ flours, and stir in the red wine vinegar, stirring until this mixture has no lumps.
4. Add this spice mixture to the onions, increase the heat to high, and stir continuously for 5 minutes. Add the blanched green beans and sugar, and cook for a further 20 minutes on a medium/high heat, stirring often.
5. Allow to settle for 10 minutes, then pot.

Recipe: Spicy Courgette and Tomato Chutney

2011-09-07T04:43:00.000-07:00

Bit of a glut of courgettes again this year- not as many as last year, due to the fact that slugs got one of the three courgette plants very early on, but the other two are producing fairly well. I thought i'd have a go at preserving courgettes this year, since i didn't have a go last year. Courgette chutneys/pickles arent the most common of preserves, you don't really see them much in the shops, but this is rather delicious actually. Courgettes, tomatoes and chilli work very well as a flavour combination, and i think these will make good christmas presents, because it looks rather a nice colour in the jars. Oh yeah, you don't have to add the apple in 15 minutes later if you don't want to, you can add it at the beginning with the rest of the ingredients- it's just I had to because my pan wasn't big enough!

Spicy Courgette and Tomato Chutney (makes about 2.5kg)

1kg finely diced courgettes
1kg finely diced cherry tomatoes
3 large white onions, finely diced
4 apples, peeled and finely diced
340ml red wine vinegar
260ml cider vinegar
500g sugar
25g mustard seeds
3 tsp mixed spice
1 tsp crushed chilli flakes
1 tsp crushed ginger
8 garlic cloves, crushed

1. Put all the ingredients into a very large saucepan, except the apples, and boil for 15 minutes. Add the apples and simmer for a further 2 hours and 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Allow to settle for 10 minutes, and pot.

Recipe: Beetroot and Orange Chutney

2011-09-04T09:19:00.000-07:00

This is a wonderful preserve- that goes SO well with goats cheese and walnuts. I think with the citrus and mixed spice it tastes a little "christmas-y" so this might be a nice recipe to make ahead for your homemade Xmas pressies! This year i'll be giving people various jams/jellies/chutneys, but also having a go at making my own Sloe Gin. I've never made it before but it should be allright, my last few flavoured alchohols (raspberry vodka, blackberry brandy, elderberry vodka) have worked and gone down quite well, so Sloe gin can't be much more difficult to produce. Try this chutney on a cheeseboard, or alternatively try using it on crostinis or tarts for beautiful colour and a little zing!

Beetroot and Orange Chutney (makes about 800g)

500g peeled and diced beetroot
2 oranges, zest and juice
2 apples, peeled and diced
2 small white onions, peeled and diced
2 tsp mustard seeds
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tsp mixed spice
180ml white wine vinegar
100ml cider vinegar
20ml red wine vinegar
300g sugar

1. Bring all ingredients to the boil and cook on a fairly high heat for 50 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Allow to settle for 10 minutes, and pot.

Recipe: Lebanese Green Beans

2011-09-03T08:13:00.000-07:00

This is a recipe that my parents got from one of their Lebanese friends in the 80s called Sam. I must say that, cause we have always followed his recipes to the letter and time after time they turn out great. My parents got to know Sam because he was the owner/head chef/ manager of this little lebanese restaurant that they soon became regulars of. Apparently i met him as well but it was when i was very very little, i can't really remember. This recipe is very similar to green beans cooked in a Greek style as well, but you often find that some Lebanese, Turkish and Greek dishes can be very similar to eachother. I suppose the only difference is that this dish is traditionally served cold- but it is of course lovely hot too.

Lebanese Green Beans (serves 4 as a side dish)

1 small white onion, finely diced
3 garlic cloves, crushed
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (plus extra for garnish)
1 tbsp tomato puree
250g fresh ripe tomatoes, diced
120ml water
500g green beans, trimmed and halved
½ tsp salt
½ tsp sugar
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley (plus extra for garnish)

1. Fry the onion and garlic in the olive oil for 5 minutes, stirring often. Add the tomato puree, stir in a little, then add the tomatoes and water and cook covered for a further 10 minutes.
2. Add the green beans, salt, sugar and fresh parsley, and cook covered on a medium heat, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes.
3. Season to taste, garnish with some extra finely chopped parsley, and a drizzle of olive oil. Now either serve straight away, or allow to cool and refridgerate for an hour.

Recipe: Tomato, Walnut and Chard Spaghetti

2011-09-02T04:57:00.000-07:00

This is a dish i have been meaning to put on here for probably over a year now, but Chard is so darn difficult to get hold of. I've stopped getting the riverford boxes now (because of full-time chef-ing and going to University soon, i'm a little too busy for it) but in the last delivery we got a nice big bunch of mixed chard! The red leaves ("ruby" chard) are the nicest i think. Chard is seasonal to August/September, and it's kinda like spinach but it's got an earthier richer flavour. If you cant find chard for this recipe (i reccomend scouting for it at farmers markets) then spinach would work just fine- just steam it for 5 minutes less than the chard I reckon.

Chard, Tomato and Walnut Spaghetti (light lunch for two)

100g wholemeal spaghetti
120g chard, chopped
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (plus a little extra for drizzling)
1 small white onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
½ tsp dried oregano
1 tsp tomato puree
250g diced ripe tomatoes
30g green olives (chilli marinated if possible!) diced
30g capers, diced
50g walnuts, toasted and chopped roughly in food processor
½ tsp sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
Grated parmesan for garnish

1. Boil the spaghetti, whilst steaming the chard in a steamer above the pasta, for 10 minutes. Meanwhile in another pan, fry the onion, garlic and oregano in the olive oil for a few minutes to soften.
2. Add the tomatoes, capers, olives, and sugar and cook for a further 3 minutes.
3. Drain the spaghetti, and add it along with the chard and walnuts into the tomato mixture, add a dash of olive oil, and stir for a couple of minutes until everything is well combined.
4. Season to taste, and garnish with some finely grated parmesan. Serve!

Recipe: Creamy Tarragon Chicken

2011-08-31T06:28:00.000-07:00

This is a nice dish, that both me and my brother enjoy very much. My brother (17 years old now) has always been fairly anti-alchohol, most likely due to me drinking from a young age and from occasionally seeing his big sister drunk/ hungover. He never liked the taste of booze, buuuut he has now disovered cider. Oh dear. He likes cider now. Well at least he's a proper west country lad! And you can use the 200ml of cider in the recipe, and then drink the rest of the bottle whilst your'e cooking!! Y'know it's funny seeing my little broher turn into an adult- he's learning how to drive now as well. I think it is impressive how quickly he is learning how to drive, but seriously I am not getting in a car with him again until he's fully qualified, i think my life flashed before me a couple of times last time he drove me to work, Lol!

Creamy Tarragon Chicken (serves 2)

2 tbsp butter
1 white onion, finely diced
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 carrot, peeled and diced
2 chicken breasts, diced
200ml dry cider
60g diced sugar snap peas
200ml chicken stock
60g Philadelphia
Handful chopped fresh tarragon
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Fry the onions, garlic and carrot in the butter, covered, for 5 minutes. Add the chicken, and fry for a further 5 minutes, uncovered.
2. Add the cider, and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add all the other ingredients, and cook for a further 20 minutes. Season to taste and serve!

Recipe: Damson Jam

2011-08-30T10:02:00.000-07:00

Not sure whether you can even call this a recipe, but after making a few recipes using different amounts of damsons/sugar/water, with different times of cooking, i think i've got this pretty darn nailed. Takes a very very long time to get two kilograms of stoned damsons (about 1hr and a half/ two hours) but it's worth it- they make a very tasty pretty looking jam. The only weird thing i found with damsons is that unlike other fruit, when I jam them, they produce a copious amount of pink foam/scum, that you have to skim off before you pot it. I'm not really sure why- maybe plums do this as well? Anyway, wish i had some more of them really, only made a couple of presentable batches (after a few practices) and i've only got 5 jars left!

Damson Jam (makes 10 jars)

2kg stoned damsons
1800g sugar
800ml water

1. Boil everything in a large pan for around 1 hour 15 minutes. Be sure to watch it constantly, to avoid boiling over.
2. 15 minutes before potting, start spooning as much of the pink scum off the surface of the jam, removing as little of the liquid along with it as possible.
3. Remove from the boil and pot.

Competition: Good To Know's Strawberry Recipe Competition

2011-08-27T08:29:00.000-07:00

Hey guys. So I entered this recipe competition about a month ago, which was held by recipe Magazine/ website "Good To Know" to raise money for Breast Cancer Care, and I was one of the runners up! The only rules were that it had to be a sweet dish, and that it had to contain strawberries. There was 1 winner and 4 runners up, and my goodness, the standard of the entries that were sent in were phenomeonal!!! That's why i'm kinda proud that I even got a runner up prize actually, because although i've only won a recipe book, most of the other entries in this competition look absolutely stunning- literally as if they were created by professional food photgraphers.

The winner (winning a rather scrumptious looking set of Le Creuset bakeware- jealous muchly!) was Lucy Clark's "Strawberry Cupshakes". Funky looking isn't it?

The runners up are here, and my one is the one on the bottom right and displayed in a larger picture below- my "Strawberry, pistachio and custard tart" (recipe on site). In my opinion, my dish doesnt look nearly as nice or professional as some of the entries that werent chosen- but I reckon my recipe and a few of the others were chosen because they were a little bit unique. We used some quite interesting flavour combinations, like my combination of strawberries and pistachios, or one of the other's ideas of combining strawberries and basil. Slightly unusual I guess, so they stood out a bit more.

Anyway, so I won a copy of the new book "Bake and Decorate" by Fiona Cairns (who is the same woman who made the cake for "The Royal Wedding") and it looks very nice! Ok Ok, so most of the decoration section is completely beyond me, but there are some very nice, tasty looking, simple baked dishes for me to have a go at some point.

Recipe: Massaman Quorn + Vegetable Curry

2011-08-26T05:45:00.000-07:00

Hello guys, sorry I havent updated in a while, but i've had a few things on my mind. I won't go into it, but i've had a rather traumatic week, and my life's suddenly been flipped upside down again. Ah well, i'm a tough girl, i've just got to soldier on with it all, like i've done with all my problems in the past.

Anyway, this is a nice thai style curry I made about a week ago, with my first harvest of french beans! Very proud of what i have grown this year, the courgettes are doing very well (like normal!) and the french beans, despite being my first attempt at growing them, have blossomed! Mum really liked this recipe- it's a bit of a mish mash of ingredients but together the flavours and textures work really well. I have used Sainsburys massaman paste, but you are welcome to try any other brand.

Massaman Quorn and Vegetable curry (serves 3-4)

2 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed or finely chopped
Large Handful fresh coriander, roughly chopped (plus extra for garnish)
140g pack of Quorn Roast Style sliced chicken fillets
100g Sainsbury’s Taste the Difference Massaman Curry Paste
75g split peas
1 tin coconut milk
400ml vegetable stock
2 peppers, diced
150g French beans, chopped
100g chopped true spinach, or baby spinach
1 tsp sugar
100ml semi skim milk
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Fry the red onions, garlic, and coriander in the olive oil for 5 minutes, covered, until softened. Add the Quorn pieces and curry paste, and cook for a couple more minutes.
2. Add the split peas, coconut milk, vegetable stock and cook on a medium/high heat, covered, for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add the peppers and French beans and cook covered for a further 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the spinach, milk and sugar and cook for 5 minutes, stirring often. Season to taste, garnish with fresh coriander and serve!

Competition: Mission's "Best of British Wrap" Caterer's Competition

2011-08-18T03:42:00.000-07:00

Hello everyone, this has been the biggest win out of the competitions so far! I entered this competition, held by Mission Food Services (who make tortilla wraps, naan bread, nachos, those sort of things) to find a great "british wrap recipe". This wasnt open to the general public I suppose, because you had to be in the catering industry to enter (I enetered as Chef De Partie at my new job- The Cosy Club), and i entered my "Chicken, Cheddar and Sweet Chilli Tortillas" (recipe on this site) using good quality british chicken and cheddar, sweet chilli sauce made locally by "The Wiltshire Chilli Farm" and homegrown coriander.

Well, it all came up roses for me, because i won £250 worth of Waitrose Vouchers!!! Amazing!!!! And anyone that knows me knows how much i love Waitrose, it is my favourite supermarket no question.

Well, i'm off to buy loads of posh food, lol! Oh yeah, not only did the vouchers arrive today in the post, but i also found out my A level results too: 2 Bs and a C Baby! I'm going to Uni!!!!

Recipe: Garlicky Chicken and Spinach Risotto

2011-08-12T06:02:00.000-07:00

This is a delicious, sophisticaed risotto dish, that works perfectly as a light lunch or as a sophisticated dinner party dish. I went over to nick's and cooked him a nice meal while he was working upstairs, aren't i lovely girlfriend?? Yes darling you can go and have a drink with your friends at the pub, and i'll call you when dinner's on'table! I feel like a northern housewife without the ring! Hahaha! When cooking risotto, you want the end result to not be too dry (you should never be able to put risotto into a ring and present it- i hate it when restaurants do that- risottos should always have a bit of sauce!) and you want the rice to still retain a little bit of bite to it- we dont want savoury rice puddings now do we? Risottos are easy, but they do involve a little bit of judgement from the cook.

Garlicky Chicken and Spinach risotto (serves 3)

4 tbsp olive oil
9 chicken mini fillets, seasoned with salt and pepper
Knob of butter
1 white onion, finely diced
6 garlic cloves, crushed or finely chopped
½ tsp dried oregano
180g risotto rice
700ml vegetable stock
Zest of 1 lemon and ½ the juice
100g diced true spinach
5g finely grated parmesan
Salt and pepper to taste

1. In a deep frying pan, heat 2 tbsp of the oil and fry the chicken mini fillets for a couple of minutes on each side, until both sides are golden and they are fully cooked all the way through. Transfer the chicken to a plate and cover tightly with tin foil to keep warm
2. Lower the heat of the frying pan to low, and sauté the onion and garlic in the other 2tbsp of oil and the knob of butter until very soft, for about 15 minutes.
3. Add the oregano and rice, and stir around to coat. Begin to gradually add the stock- this process will take about 15 minutes.
4. 10 minutes into this process add the lemon zest, lemon juice, spinach and parmesan. Continue to stir and add the stock.
5. After fifteen minutes the rice should have absorbed all the liquid, the spinach will have been cooked, and the rice will be cooked to perfection (the rice needs to be soft, but it still needs to be “al dente” or “have a little bit of a bite to it”). Season to taste, and serve with the reserved chicken fillets on top.

Recipe: Beetroot Hummus

2011-08-11T06:55:00.001-07:00

Wow! Rather purple isnt it?? Haha i loves it! I love the beautiful vibrant colour you get off beetroot dishes, and you cant really get it off any other natural food. This is an interesting take on that common middle eastern dip- using some of my Riverford organic beetroot and blending it together with the traditional hummus ingredients. Cooking the beetroot before you peel it ensures that you retain most of the colour, and also it is much easier to take the skin off beetroot once its cooked- it simply slips off. Makes the whole thing much less messy- a few less purple stained fingers! This dip is delicious served with pitta breads, as part of a greek or middle eastern mezze.

Beetroot Hummus (makes 2 generous bowlfuls)
550g beetroot, ends trimmed off, but unpeeled
1 tin chickpeas, drained and rinsed
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp salt
Cracked black pepper to taste
Yoghurt and cumin seeds for garnish (optional)

1. Cook the whole beetroot in a pan of boiling water, covered, for 40 minutes. Drain, refresh under cold water, peel, dice and set aside.
2. In a food processor, blend together the beetroot and all the other ingredients (except garnishes) until smooth. Season to taste, spoon into a serving dish, garnish with a swirl of yoghurt and cumin seeds, and serve!

Recipe: Heinz Beef and Lentil Ragu

2011-08-08T06:24:00.000-07:00

This is a recipe I wrote for an Allrecipes.co.uk competition, (fingers crossed for winning it, lol). If any of you guys want to have a go at this competition yourself, follow this link: http://allrecipes.co.uk/heinz-midweek-meals.aspx?ft=2 , sign up to allrecipes (if your'e not a member allready, don't worry, its not fussy atall and it's completely free) and send in your recipe!

I think it's rather an American thing I suppose to use tins of ready made soups in dishes- I have seen a lot of recipes on Allrecipes.com that have three ingredients basically, recipes like: "Cook pork chops, tinned mushroom soup, tinned chicken soup in a slowcooker for 1 hour. serve" Nothing wrong with it I suppose but I tend to cook with a few more fresh ingredients. However, this quick and simple ragu is delicious, doesn't take too long to make, and it's quite versatile- serve it with mash, pasta, bread, rice, or simply by itself! You can of course, use less garlic if you want- I just love to use a lot of garlic, particularly in beef dishes.

Heinz Beef and Lentil Ragu (serves 2)

2 tbsp olive oil
1 white onion, finely diced
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
500g lean beef mince
2 tsp Italian herbs (a mix of oregano, marjoram and basil)
1 tin Heinz lentil soup
300ml beef stock
2 bay leaves
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Fry the onion and garlic in the olive oil in a large saucepan, for about 5 minutes, or until softened. Add the minced beef, increase the heat, and fry the beef for about 10 minutes.
2. Once the beef has been broken up and is beginning to brown, add all the other ingredients. Cook for 20 minutes on a medium heat, stirring occasionally. Season to taste and serve!

Recipe: Chicken and Chickpea Tagine

2011-08-06T14:49:00.000-07:00

Ah, the tagine- that beautiful moroccan spiced dish. It's actually the name of the pot you cook it in, rather than the name of the actual recipe- a tagine is basically like a pointy casserole. I think tagines really appeal to me, because they dont tend to be spicy- they are usually either sweet, cause of the cinnamon and dried fruit, or in some cases tangy (in the ones that use olives and preserved lemons). Whenever someone asks me what a tagine is, i basically say that its a moroccan curry- i figure thats a good explanation. You can get harrissa paste at most big supermarkets these days- its basically a paste made of vegetable, chilli and spices. If you cant find it, don't worry, it's not essential, but i have found that it does give the dish a bit of an oomph.

Chicken and Chickpea Tagine (serves 2)

2 tbsp olive oil
½ white onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
Large Handful of fresh coriander, chopped
2 carrots, peeled and diced
350g diced chicken breast
1 rounde d tsp Harissa paste
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1 tin chickpeas, drained
10 dried apricots, quartered
450ml vegetable stock
150ml semi skimmed milk
Natural yoghurt and extra coriander as garnishes (optional)

1. Fry the onion, garlic, carrots and a couple of tbsps of the fresh coriander in the olive oil for 4 minutes on a medium heat. Add the chicken and Harissa paste and cook for a further 5 minutes.
2. Add the other spices and chickpeas, and cook for a couple of minutes. Add all the other ingredients (except garnishes) and cook, stirring occasionally for 20-25 minutes.
3. Season to taste and serve, over rice or couscous, with some extra coriander and natural yoghurt on top.

Recipe: Spinach and Courgette Lasagne

2011-08-03T09:31:00.000-07:00

A wonderful creation made from my veg box offerings! A healthier twist on lasagne- full of vegetables, and (despite having a fair amount of cheese on the top!) it doesn't use a bechamel sauce, so the calorie count is lowered just that little bit! Serve this with a mixed salad, and enjoy on one of these lovely hot summer days! (Even i'm getting a bit of a tan, and I usually look like Dracula's long lost sister!)

Courgette and Spinach Lasagne (serves 6)

Lasagne + filling
Around 12 sheets of dried lasagne
2 tbsp olive oil
½ white onion, diced
3 garlic cloves
450g finely diced courgettes
200g chopped true spinach (or baby spinach)
260g cottage cheese
Salt and pepper
125g grated cheddar

Tomato Sauce
400ml tomato passata
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp sugar
1 vegetable stock cube
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper

1. Put the lasagne sheets in boiling water and boil for 6 minutes. Drain, pour a little oil on top (to stop them sticking) and set aside.
2. In a large frying pan, sauté the onion and garlic in the olive oil for 5 minutes. Add the diced courgettes and cook for a further five minutes. Add the spinach and cook for 2-3 minutes, until wilted and well mixed with the other ingredients.
3. Take the vegetables off the heat, mix with cottage cheese, season to taste and set aside. Preheat the fan oven to 180C (or normal oven to 200C).
4. Meanwhile, make the tomato sauce. Heat up all the sauce ingredients in a pan for 5 minutes, season to taste and set aside.
5. Layer the courgette mixture first, then a few pasta sheets, then tomato sauce. Repeat the process (ending with the tomato sauce), top with grated cheddar, and bake in the oven for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven, allow to cool, and slice into portions. Serve!

Published: Tweet Pie Recipe Book

2011-08-02T05:15:00.000-07:00

Yes my lovelies- i am finally a proper published writer!!! O.K so it's only a little (very little- entitled "the shortest recipe book in the world!") charity recipe book, but it's a start. Tweet Pie is a collection of "twecipes" (twitter recipes- recipes written in less than 140 characters) created by the british cookware company Belling, and proceeds of which going to the charity FoodAid, which uses leftover food from massive supermarkets to feed the poor and needy in London. I won a Baby Belling oven from this competition too earlier in the year too.

Two of my twecipes were published, one is a shortened version of my coriander pesto with tagliatelli recipe (which is on this site): "Coriander Pesto-Blend 50g fresh coriander+50g toasted pine nuts+100ml xtra virgin olive oil+1tsp lemon juice+50g feta+ s+p.Stir into pasta"

And the other is a Pimms recipe "Mix 200ml Pimms No1+800ml lemonade.Add 100g sliced strawberries, nectarine,orange,lemon,cucumber+handful fresh mint. Serve."

Recipe: Strawberry, Pistachio and Custard Tart/Tartletts

2011-07-28T11:57:00.000-07:00

Hey guys. I made this recipe to enter it in an online magazine strawberry recipe competition, and figured i would bring it to the neighbourhood barbeque too. Turns out that when you make it as one large tart (rather than lots of little tarts), it's a little messy to eat, so not really suitable for a fork + paper plate kind of event. As my mum said, it's more of a "spoon dessert" (as in you need a proper bowl and spoon in order to eat i- due to the texture of the creme patisserie). So yeah, i reccomend using little sweet pastry tart cases if you can find them. Anyway, i think that this dish is pretty enough to impress at a dinner party, and the flavour combination of pistachios and strawberres is divine!

Strawberry and Pistachio Custard Tart/ Tartlets (serves 8-12)

Crème Patisserie
300ml whole milk
1tsp vanilla bean extract
4 egg yolks
50g caster sugar
25g flour
25g cornstarch

Tart
1 large pre-made sweet pastry case, or 12 smaller ones.
About 12 Strawberries, sliced thinly
Handful of chopped pistachios

1. For the custard, In a bowl mix the egg yolks, sugar and vanilla extract together. Sieve the flour and cornstarch together into the egg mixture, and mix well.
2. In a saucepan heat the milk until just before the boiling point. Pour the hot milk mixture into the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly, until everything is well mixed. Transfer this mixture into a bowl placed upon a pan of boiling water. Stir until the mixture has thickened as much as to “coat the back of the spoon” (takes about 5 minutes).
3. If needed, pass custard through a sieve to get red of lumps. Allow to cool.
4. Spoon the thick custard into the tart case/ cases, arrange the sliced strawberries on top, sprinkle with chopped pistachios, and serve!

Competition: "Haute Cuisine Love Marmite" Recipe Competition

2011-07-27T06:12:00.000-07:00

Yes, another one of these competitions! I do think that these competitions where you have to vote for your favourite dishes are slightly flawed. Because when the competition is based purely on numbers, it isn't about how good the dish or the picture or the recipe is, it's just about how many people you know that can be bothered to vote for you. Anyway, so this is a new competition Marmite have started (i think you might have seen the adverts of TV perhaps, with the cartoon Frog and Snail chatting about food?) in order to display interesting ways of using marmite in recipes- not just spreading it on toast!

I think i agree with them really, Marmite is actually quite a versatile food stuff. It's very good to make something "more savoury"- like with onions and sausages and things (The sites "featured recipe" is sausage, onion and marmite butties. People can make this, take a nice picture, and enter into the competition. You like, have a choice between making your own recipe or their featured one). It's also good at making vegetarian dishes somehow taste a bit "meaty", or to enrich stews and casseroles.

I have entered a Venison, Red Wine, and Marmite casserole recipe, and at the moment it has only got a few votes, and it would be fabulous if a few of you could up the stakes a bit! If you could go onto this link, (you have to "Like" marmite on facebook in order to vote) and vote for my recipe, that would be brilliant, thanks very much.

Wish me luck!!

Recipe: Pea and Broad Bean Dip

2011-07-26T12:27:00.000-07:00

I brought this dip to the annual neighbourhood barbeque and it got snapped right up- it had all gone in the first half an hour! Got lots of compliments too- and i'm not surprised really, it uses such simple fresh ingredients and classic flavour combinations, it was bound to be a hit. I also like how vibrant this is- the bright green colour really makes it stand out against other dishes. You can of course use fresh peas instead of frozen- you just have to add a couple more minutes to the cooking time.

Pea and Broad Bean Dip

200g Frozen peas
180g Fresh Broad Beans
1 tbsp olive oil
½ white onion, diced finely
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (plus extra for drizzling)
1 tsp lemon juice
Handful fresh mint, finely chopped (plus a few extra leaves for garnish)
Pinch of sugar
Salt and pepper to taste
40g feta, crumbled

1. Cook the broad beans in boiling water for 5 minutes, drain, refresh under cold water, remove the outer skins (“pod” them), and set aside.
2. Cook the peas in boiling water for 3 minutes, drain, refresh under cold water, and set aside. Sautee the onion in the olive oil for 5 minutes on a medium heat until softened.
3. In a food processor, blend the peas, broad beans and cooked onions with all the other ingredients (except the feta cheese) until smooth. Season to taste.
4. Spoon into a bowl, top with feta cheese, a few extra mint leaves, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, and serve!

Recipe: Pork Goulash

2011-07-25T07:41:00.000-07:00

Many attempts have been made over this dish but i think i've finally perfected it! Goulash is a wonderfully warming European treat- originally Hungarian but very popular in the colder countries of Eastern Europe. Me and Nick had some fantastic goulashes when we went to Prague last year and i've been trying to pinpoint a good recipe of it ever since. It's warming, it's meaty, but its also got a strong tomato flavour, as well as the most important element- the sweet fragrant taste you get from carraway seeds. I would say that without carraway seeds you can't make a traditional goulash, it's what sets it apart from different stews and casseroles. This dish is also very nice made with beef, but pork is the more traditionally used meat.

Pork Goulash (serves 3-4)

2 tbsp olive oil
450g diced pork leg, seasoned with salt and pepper
1 red onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, crushed
400g diced fresh tomatoes
1 red pepper, diced
2 large carrots, diced
500ml beef stock
1 tsp marmite
10g caraway seeds
3g cumin seeds
¼ tsp hot smoked paprika
½ tsp paprika
½ tsp sugar
1 rounded tsp cornflour, mixed with a little water.
Salt and pepper
Chopped fresh parsley and soured cream for garnish

1. Toast the cumin and caraway seeds in a hot pan until smoking and browned (not burnt!), and blend in a spice or coffee grinder until fairly fine. Set aside.
2. Fry the diced pork in the olive oil in a large saucepan until beginning to brown, about 6 minutes. Add the red onion and garlic and fry for a further five minutes.
3. Preheat the (fan) oven to 180C. Add all the other ingredients (including the reserved ground spices) to the pork and cook on a medium-high heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Pour mixture into a large casserole dish, cover, and cook in the oven for 1 hour. Remove, add cornflour, stir in, and cook for a further hour.
4. Garnish with some chopped fresh parsley, and serve with some soured cream and some chunks of crusty bread or a big pile of creamy mashed potato!

Recipe: Broad Bean and Courgette Bulghur Salad

2011-07-21T09:48:00.001-07:00

Keep getting loads of broad beans from Riverford! You'll be expecting another broad bean creation as my next entry actually. Its a veg that I do really like, but I dont tend to actually go out and buy. This is a nice, tasty, healthy and fresh tasting dish- not made with my own courgettes yet, they arent doing so well this year. Only got two plants (3rd one got devoured by slugs!) this time and it's being a bit slower producing nice big juicy fruits! You can boil the broad beans seperately if you want to peel their skins off- but i don't mind the skins. If you get nice fresh broad beans and you dont overcook them their skins never get tough really.

Broad Bean and Courgette Bulghur Salad (serves 4)

110g bulghur wheat
200ml hot vegetable stock (or chicken, depending on whether you want it vegetarian)
250g fresh broad beans
2 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, diced
1 courgette, halved lengthwise and sliced
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Big handful mint, finely chopped (plus extra leaves for garnish)
100g Feta Cheese
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Cook the bulghur wheat in the vegetable stock for 15 minutes, or until the wheat has soaked up all the liquid and is cooked. 10 minutes before the end of the cooking add the broad beans. Pour broad bean and bulghur mixture into a bowl and set aside.
2. In another pan, fry the red onions for about 5 minutes in the olive oil, until softened, then add to the bulghur mixture. To the same pan add the courgettes and fry for a further 5 minutes, until beginning to brown, then add to the bulghur mixture.
3. Mix in the extra virgin olive oil and fresh mint into the bulghur salad. Season to taste, crumble feta over the top, garnish with a few extra torn mint leaves, and serve!

Recipe: Aloo Sag Pie

2011-07-18T07:55:00.000-07:00

This makes rather a lot but it is darn tasty! Our family started getting those Riverford seasonal vegetable boxes again, and I had a load of spinach, spring onions, and some tomatoes left- so I came up with this! Thats one of the things I like about these weekly veg boxes- they make me be a bit more creative with the vegetables that I have. The pie filling is rather nice by itself just as a curry really- but you know me, I like sticking things into pastry! I have served this with a cucumber raita- just some natural yoghurt mixed with grated cucumber, fresh coriander, and a little cumin. It works as a sauce essentially, and stops the dish from being too dry.

Aloo Saag Pies (makes two large pies, serves 8)

1250g potatoes, peeled and diced (about 3cm cubes)
2 tbsp olive oil
8 spring onions, chopped
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp mustard seeds
¼ tsp chilli flakes
1 tsp crushed ginger
3 tbsp Pataks Korma Curry Paste
100g diced ripe tomato
300g roughly chopped true spinach (or baby spinach)
2 large sheets ready rolled puff pastry
Salt and pepper to taste
Egg (for egg wash)- optional

1. Bring a large pan of water to the boil. Add a bit of salt and boil the potatoes for 15 minutes. Drain and set aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 200C. In a large frying pan sauté the spring onions in the olive oil for 5 minutes. Add the cumin seeds, mustard seeds and chilli flakes, and cook for a further two minutes.
3. Add the crushed ginger, curry paste, and diced tomato, and cook for two minutes. Begin to gradually add the spinach, adding more as it continues to wilt. Cooking all the spinach until it wilts and is well combined with the rest of the ingredients usually takes about 10 minutes.
4. Take the spinach mixture off the heat and mix in the potatoes. You want to mash the potatoes a little, but you still want a few chunks of potato here and there. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
5. Lay out the two sheets of puff pastry onto separate baking trays that have been lined with greaseproof paper. Pour half of the mixture onto each pastry sheet, fold the pastry over the topping, and crimp at the edges to seal.
6. Brush with beaten egg and bake in the oven for 25 minutes. Serve with a cooling cucumber raita!

Recipe: Mel's Chicken Caeser Salad

2011-07-14T07:18:00.001-07:00

This is Caeser salad done the way i like it! I use full fat greek yoghurt instead of mayonnaise- not for any health reasons really, just because I don't like mayo atall and i think you get a better flavour from yoghurt. Sometimes I use chicken breasts with the skin on too- if so, I sear the skin side of the breast in a frying pan before chucking in the oven. Oh, and I know traditionally Caeser salad has anchovies in it, but I can't stand the horrible little things! Used up some home-grown lettuce in this too, a variety called "Buttercrisp". It's kinda like kos or romaine though. Got loads of salad/ lambs lettuce to use- theyve all bolted suddenly all at the same time!

Mel’s Chicken Caeser Salad (serves 2)

The Chicken
2 chicken breasts
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp dried thyme
Salt and pepper

The Croutons
1 thick slice white bread, diced
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
½ tsp dried oregano
Cracked black pepper.

Salad
100g full fat Greek yoghurt
20g finely grated parmesan
15g wholegrain mustard
5 ml Worchester sauce
15ml white wine vinegar
1 crushed garlic clove
15ml extra virgin olive oil
Pinch of sugar, and cracked black pepper
250g torn Kos/Romaine style lettuce
Optional extras: sliced tomato, crispy bacon, anchovies, olives etc.

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. In a baking dish roast the chicken in the oven with the olive oil, thyme, salt and pepper for 30 minutes.
2. On a baking tray toss together the diced bread, olive oil, oregano and black pepper (you don’t need any salt in the croutons or the dressing, because the parmesan is salty enough for the entire dish). Bake in the same oven for about 5 minutes, until golden and crispy.
3. Mix together all of the salad ingredients well (except the lettuce), and season to taste. Mix the lettuce into the dressing ingredients. Evenly put the salad mixture onto two plates, top with croutons and the cooked chicken breasts, sliced. Add any extras you wish, and serve!

Recipe: Lamb and Courgette kebabs, with Red onion and Walnut Couscous

2011-07-09T10:31:00.001-07:00

Well I told you i'd be writing up less recipes up on here- and I was dead right! I told the guys at Cosy Club that I was happy to do anything from 15-40 hours (see- nice and flexible!), and this week i've done over 45, and i'm pretty sure i might be doing the same next week. I mean, i am very much thinking about all the money at this point, which is why i am battling with myself whether i should moan about it really. On one hand the more money= the better, and even on 30 hours a week i'll have more than enough, but on the other hand....its LOTS OF MONEYYYYY. But yeah this is killing me man, full-time chef-ing again. I don't know when my next full day off is- last one was last friday and there aint a free in sight yet.....

Anyway only a few months more Mel, stick with it! Last time I had an evening free to myself, I cooked this dish for me and my boyfriend and we both loved it- very tasty and barely takes any time to prepare. The marinade for the lamb can also be used with bigger cuts of lamb to be slowcooked too- the flavours work particularly well with this type of meat. It isnt in the recipe, but I served this with a herby yoghurt- nom!

Lamb, courgette and red onion kebabs, with zesty cous cous

For the Kebabs
250g lamb leg steaks, cut into bitesize chunks
1 lemon (zest set aside for the couscous, ½ juiced for the marinade)
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1.5 tsp dried mint
1.5 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp paprika
Seasoning
1 medium sized courgette, sliced

For the Cous cous

2 tbsp olive oil
½ red onion, sliced
2 clove garlic
1 tsp sugar
40g walnuts, chopped
130g couscous
200ml hot vegetable stock
Handful coriander stems and leaves chopped
Salt and pepper to taste
Extra coriander for garnish

1. Place the lamb in a bowl with the lemon juice, olive oil, mint, rosemary, paprika and seasoning. Mix together, and leave in the fridge to marinade for at least 2 hours. Soak 4 wooden skewers in water for at least 15 minutes.
2. Heat up a fan oven to 220C. Thread the marinated lamb and courgette onto the four skewers. Put onto Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, turning once.
3. Meanwhile, put the couscous, lemon zest, walnuts, and coriander into a bowl. Add the vegetable stock and cover for about 5 minutes.
4. Meanwhile in a saucepan fry the onion, garlic and sugar in olive oil for about 5 minutes. Mix into the couscous, fluff up with a fork and season to taste.
5. Remove the skewers from the oven, pour over any juices leftover in the tray and serve with the cous cous and some more fresh chopped coriander.

Recipe: Chicken and Red Wine Casserole

2011-07-02T10:39:00.000-07:00

Ugh. Feel a bit down in the dumps since Glastonbury. Yeah, it was fun and everything, i had a lovely time- but I didn't have as much fun as other years i've done. I think it's because it was all so rushed- I didn't get down there to the Babylon Bandstand by 6pm on the friday! Cause I had my last exam on the friday morning. It was literally 3 hour exam, train, bus, GLASTO! I just felt like I hadn't been down there long enough- in 2013 i'm literally not bothering to go unless i can get down there earlier. So, like usual, i drink, smoke and eat far too much on my "festival holiday", and I am always in need of a bit of a detox afterwards. This is a really really healthy dish, really nutritious- full of lean protein and vitamin rich vegetables. I just eat it by itself to be honest, it's tasty and filling enough to not need much else!

Chicken and Red Wine Casserole (serves 4)

500g chicken breasts (3-4 depending on size), diced and seasoned
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 white onion, chopped
2 celery sticks, sliced
2 carrots, peeled and roughly diced
4 cloves garlic, crushed
200ml red wine
200ml vegetable stock
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 red pepper, roasted and diced
80g nice green olives, halved
1 tsp dried rosemary
Salt, pepper and a pinch of sugar
Handful of chopped parsley (for garnish)

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. In a saucepan cook the seasoned diced chicken on a high heat for about 10 minutes, or until browned. Set aside.
2. Into the same saucepan, add the extra virgin olive oil, onion, celery and carrots, and cook covered on a low heat for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add the crushed garlic and cook for a further 5 minutes. Add the red wine and cook uncovered for 10 minutes (to allow the alcohol to evaporate). Add all the other ingredients (except the fresh parsley) and the reserved chicken, and stir to combine.
4. Pour the mixture into a casserole dish, cover, and cook in the oven for 1 hour. Remove from the oven, garnish with the freshly chopped parsley, and serve!

Recipe: Quorn Bolognese Vermicelli Bake

2011-06-23T07:13:00.000-07:00

This is a nice filling and comforting pasta bake- a vegetarian main that's packed with flavour, that will feed the whole family very happily. Using vermicelli gives it a really interesting texture, different to most pasta bakes, and ensures that the dish doesn't dry out. Quorn is a vegetarian mince, made through combining a type of mushroom with microproteins from eggs. You can of course use TVP or any other similar veggie mince in this dish.

Quorn Bolognese Vermicelli Bake (serves 4)

2 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 x 350g pack of Quorn mince
650ml Passata
1 vegetable Oxo stock cube
2 tsp Italian seasoning (a dried herb mix of oregano, marjoram and basil)
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp worchester sauce
250g vermicelli pasta
125g grated mozzarella
75g grated cheddar
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Fry the red onion and garlic in the olive oil in a large saucepan, covered, for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the Quorn, passata, stock cube, herbs and sugar, and cook on a low-medium heat uncovered for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally
2. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C. Cook the vermicelli in salted boiling water for 3 minutes. Drain and mix into the Quorn mixture (once it has had its 15 minutes), mix well, season to taste, and then pour into a baking dish.
3. Smooth over to make it even, top with the mozzarella and cheddar, and bake in the oven for 25 minutes. Heat the bake under a hot grill for a couple of minutes to gratinate, and serve!

Recipe: Red Onion Chutney

2011-06-21T02:20:00.000-07:00

Hey guys. Well, gotta admit, you may see a little less of me over the next couple of months. Well these past couple of weeks, not only have I had my exams to worry about, and arranging the usual Glastonbury Festival "holiday", but i've got a new job too! Don't worry, I havent quit the garden centre job that I love, but basically i've got a job for the summer at new restaurant chain "The Cosy Club". Nice menu (sorta ciabattas, paninis, all day breakfast, tapas, and specials), Nice people, and rather a lot of hours! So until I (hopefully) get to Uni in October, there might be a few less posts than usual! This red onion chutney is stunnin', fab with a big slab of brie, in a cheese sandwich, or with a juicy homemade burger!

Red Onion Chutney (makes 750g)

110ml olive oil
1kg peeled and thinly sliced red onions (about 10/11 onions)
1 tsp dried thyme
400g caster sugar
150ml red wine vinegar
250ml cider vinegar
Salt and pepper
50g finely chopped cocktail gherkins

1. In a large saucepan, fry the onions and thyme in the olive oil, on a medium heat for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Add sugar, stir in, and cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring often.
3. Add the vinegars, and cook on a medium heat for 50 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Take the chutney off the heat, and skim off any excess oil with a ladle. Mix in the chopped gherkins, add a little salt and pepper, and spoon into jars.

Recipe: Pork, Butterbean and Spring Green Casserole

2011-06-16T08:23:00.001-07:00

I've been meaning to write this up for ages- this is such a moreish recipe- maybe the reason its taken me ages to put this up is because we've started eating it before i can take a picture of it! Lol! Nick says this is his favourite recipe of mine. This, my keema matar, and my chicken and black bean stew are his favourites. I think in general he just loves casseroles- as do I. Use a very lean cut of meat, and make sure you sear it, and your result will be literally melt-in-the-mouth pork! Takes a while in the oven, but it's still a fairly simple recipe to make though. Apologies for dirty oven though- filthy! Shall have to get nick into some marigolds to get scrubbing that hob (haha!)

Pork, butterbean and spring green casserole (serves 2)

2 tbsp olive oil
250g diced lean pork, seasoned with salt and pepper
2 rashers smoky bacon, diced
1 banana shallot (or 4 little shallots) sliced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
½ tsp smoked paprika
1 tin butterbeans, drained and rinsed
500ml chicken stock
1 bay leaf
150g diced spring greens
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
½ tsp Worchester sauce
1 rounded tsp cornflour, mixed with a little water
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. In a casserole, fry the seasoned pork in the olive oil on a high heat for about 5 minutes. Add the shallot, bacon and garlic and cook for 5 more minutes.
2. Add all the other ingredients (except the cornflour), mix well, put the lid on, and put in the oven for an hour.
3. Remove from the oven, add the cornflour mixture, mix in, then put back in the oven for a further 45 minutes. Remove, season to taste, and serve!

Recipe: Sausages with Roasted Tomatoes and Mushrooms

2011-06-09T13:42:00.000-07:00

This is a very simple dish, only a few ingredients- but a lot of flavour! It's good if you don't want to make too much washing up as well- cause you only need to use one dish to cook it all in! I like to serve this with hunks of french baguette to mop up the juices, and steamed green veg. I also generally like to use nice plump "taste the difference" pork sausages. Cause theres nothing worse really than bad quality sausages- cheap sausages are just not worth it! Although to be fair although I would never eat them, I love the latest Wall's sausages advert- with the singing dog. "But he can't really tell you cos he's just a bloke really"- hahaha (:

Sausages with roasted tomatoes and mushrooms (serves 1-2)

4 pork sausages
100g mushrooms, diced
80g Cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
½ tsp dried rosemary
¼ tsp dried garlic
Salt and pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Place four sausages into a heatproof dish, prick them, and cook them in the oven for 15 minutes.
2. Remove the dish from the oven, remove the sausages and set aside. Into the heatproof bowl, add all the other ingredients, and mix up a little. Place the reserved sausages on top of the vegetables, and bake in the oven for 30 minutes.
3. Remove from the oven and serve!

Recipe: Elderflower and Lemon Cordial

2011-06-07T03:33:00.000-07:00

This is the first cordial I have ever tried to make, and it's turned out really well! Really tasty, and I reckon it will make a really nice gift. It is a recipe from Good Food magazine- the only change i made was to use 1 lemon instead of 2. It's good for me too, cause at the moment i'm not drinking- and elderflower cordial or sparkling elderflower works as a nice non-alchoholic drink. I havent been drinking for a month actually- cause my exams are coming up and I think I drank too much too close to my exams last year. My first exam is tommorow- quite nervous I suppose, but then again it's film studies, and i've found out that i've done so well in my coursework/As levels, that even before I step into the exam i've already got a C. Cool ey?

Elderflower and Lemon Cordial (makes 2 litres)

1.8kg white caster sugar
1.2 litre water
20 heads of elderflower
1 lemon, chopped (skin and all!)
75g citric acid

1. Heat up the sugar and water gently in a large pan, stirring continually, until the sugar has fully dissolved (this takes about 10 minutes).
2. Add all the other ingredients, stir, and pour into a large kilner jar. Seal, and keep in a cool place for 24 hours to allow the flavours to increase.
3. Strain the mixture through a jelly bag/muslin cloth. Pour into bottles and seal.

PS: This cordial only lasts a maximum of two weeks, so use it or give it out to people as soon as possible!

Competition: We Grow Our Own's "Cultivate, Cook and Click" Competition

2011-06-05T09:10:00.000-07:00

Yes people- i've won another one- haha! There is this website, (http://www.wegrowourown.co.uk/) which follows the trials and tribulations of growing fruit and veg on an allotment, and also has features on seasonal recipes and how to make the best out of your home-grown grub! Over the last couple of months they have ran a competition, that they call the "Cultivate, Cook and Click" Competition. Basically they select a few seasonal fruit and veg, and then ask for people's recipes including these ingredients. They judge the recipes (giving extra marks if you have home-grown your ingredients) and then the best recipes go to a public vote for a week- and the one with the most votes win!

Well, the fruit and veg for May's competition were Cauliflowers, Radishes, Spinach, Turnips and Spring Cabbages. I went for spinach, and sent in my Sweet Potato and Spinach Dahl recipe (the recipe is on the site) and it won! I won a collection of chilli sauces and jams from The Wiltshire Chilli Farm, and a couple of bottles of rapeseed oil from Oleifera.

Recipe: Tenderstem Broccoli and Broad Beans, with Mint and Bacon

2011-06-04T09:39:00.000-07:00

This is a tasty little side dish, made with tender green vegetables, smoky bacon, and fresh mint. I get the "Tenderstem" Broccoli from Waitrose- I have heard it called other things before, such as Broccolini and longstemmed broccoli, so you might find it in another supermarket under a different name. Oh and also, you don't have to pod the broad beans if you don't want to- I do it because a) it makes the colour of the dish look more green and b) I find podding broad beans very relaxing. It's because i used to have to pod kilograms and kilograms of the things at my first commis chef job at Strada, and I really really loved that job. My first job, even after working at all these different places, is still my favourite.

Tenderstem Broccoli and Broad beans with mint and bacon (serves 2 as a side dish)

125g tenderstem broccoli, spears halved
125g frozen broad beans, defrosted then “podded”
1 thick slice smoked back bacon, diced
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Squeeze of lemon
Handful fresh mint, finely chopped
Pinch of sugar, and salt and pepper to taste

1. Steam the tenderstem broccoli for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, in a non-stick frying pan, fry the bacon until beginning to brown.
2. Add the steamed tenderstem and all the other ingredients to the bacon, stir fry around until everything is well coated for a couple of minutes, season to taste, and serve!

Recipe: Beef In Oyster Sauce with Mushrooms and Peppers

2011-06-03T04:48:00.000-07:00

I've been meaning to write up this recipe for ages- its gawwwjus. I love chinese food so much, and a delivery from my local takeaway (The "Yummy House" in Bath- luuuush) is enough to cure anything really- from hangovers to anxiety over those ever-looming exams! I would easily say this dish is nicer than any of the beef dishes i've got from asian restaurants or takeaways- it's really tasty, tender, quick- and makes quite a healthy dinner. I use "Blue Dragon" oyster sauce- but of course you can use whichever brand you prefer the flavour of.

Beef in oyster sauce with mushrooms and green pepper (serves 2)

300g beef escalopes, sliced into strips
3 tbsp black rice vinegar
2 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 rounded tsp honey
1 tsp crushed ginger (From “Gourmet Garden Herb Blends”)
Salt and Plenty of cracked black pepper
3 tbsp rapeseed or vegetable oil
125g whole oyster mushrooms, bigger ones halved
1 green pepper, diced
1 clove garlic, crushed or finely chopped
1 x 120g pouch Blue Dragon Oyster and Spring Onion sauce
2 spring onions, sliced
Basmati or sticky rice, or noodles, to serve.

1. In a bowl mix together the vinegar, soy sauce, honey, salt pepper, and ginger. Add the strips of beef, mix well, cover the bowl with Clingfilm, and marinade in the fridge for at least 15 minutes.
2. Remove the beef from the fridge and pour away as much of the marinade as possible. Heat the oil in a wok on a high. Stir fry the beef for about 4 minutes, or until the beef strips are beginning to brown.
3. Reduce the temperature a little, add the mushrooms, green pepper, garlic and spring onion and stir fry for 4 minutes.
4. Add oyster sauce and cook for about 2 minutes, until the sauce is thick, the peppers are fully cooked, and everything is piping hot. Serve, on top of steamed rice or noodles.

Recipe: Savoury Peanut Pie

2011-06-02T09:56:00.000-07:00

This is one of my mum's classic recipes. It's almost like a nut roast, but it's lovely and moist and surrounded in pastry! Very "vegetarian" I suppose, but this is very much a comfort food for me- served with roasted carrots, peas, mash, and plenty of vegetarian gravy! You can of course make your own shortcrust pastry, and my mum usually does, but if you're stuck for time just use the ready-made rolled stuff.

Savoury Peanut Pie (serves 4)

2 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, diced
220g dry roasted peanuts, finely chopped (in a food processor if you have one!)
½ tin chopped tomatoes
1 tsp dried mixed herbs
Salt and black pepper
Ready rolled Shortcrust pastry
Beaten egg (for egg wash)

1. Fry the onions in the olive oil, covered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the nuts, tinned tomatoes, Worchester sauce, herbs and a little salt and pepper, and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 180C. Line an 8 inch pie dish with Shortcrust pastry. Fill the pastry with the peanut mixture, then top with more of the Shortcrust pastry, trimming to form a lid. Cut a couple of little holes in the top, brush with egg, and bake for 35 minutes.
3. Serve, with a nice veggie gravy, potatoes and veg!

Recipe: Spiced Chicken and Pepper Kebabs, with Mango Coriander cous cous

2011-06-01T07:30:00.000-07:00

Just rustled this up for my lunch- wonderful! Mum was asking whether I could do a vegetarian version, and yeah I reckon if I replaced the chicken with paneer then that would work as a fairly good substitute. The chicken has a pleasant carribean/ jamaican flavour to it, without being too spicy, and the fruity couscous compliments the kebabs very well.

Spiced Chicken and Pepper Kebabs, with mango and coriander couscous (serves 2)

1 tsp allspice
1 tsp chilli powder
½ tsp garlic powder
½ tsp dried thyme
A little grating of fresh nutmeg
Juice of 1 lime
1 tsp olive oil
2 spring onions, finely diced
2 chicken breasts, diced into small-ish chunks
1 red pepper, diced into chunks

150g couscous
½ tsp dukka
200ml hot vegetable stock
140g diced fresh mango
Large handful fresh coriander, chopped
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt and pepper

1. In a bowl mix together the allspice, chilli powder, garlic powder, thyme, nutmeg, lime, olive oil, spring onions and a little salt and pepper. Mix in the chunks of chicken, coat well in the marinade, and marinate for at least 15 minutes in the fridge.
2. Meanwhile, soak 4 wooden skewers in water (to prevent burning in the oven). Preheat the oven to 220C. Get the wooden skewers and evenly thread the pieces of chicken and pieces of red pepper along them. Place skewers on a baking tray, pour any excess marinade over them, and cook for 15 minutes.
3. Whilst the skewers are in the oven, prepare the couscous. In a bowl, place the couscous, dukka, and boiling hot vegetable stock, and cover for 10 minutes. Fluff up with a fork, and mix in the mango, coriander, and olive oil. Season to taste, and serve on the side of the kebabs.

Recipe: Chocolate Shortbreads

2011-05-27T08:18:00.000-07:00

Got duped into baking again! The lesson before my last english language lesson, right at the end of it, when Mei (our teacher- it's a welsh name) said "oh, tommorow is our last lesson, so we'll probably have a quiz and some cake or something" then there was a bit of a pause, and then someone in my class was like "....Mel, will you bake something??" and Mei said "well Mel i wasnt going to ask but yeah, bake something for us....please??". So haha, yeah, rushed home and baked with whatever i had around in the cupboards. This is a recipe i got from Good Food magazine- the only changes I have made to this recipe is to double it, and also to cook the shortbread for a couple more minutes- otherwise i found they werent fully cooked/ too crumbly. They are utterly delicious, especially with a freshly brewed cup of Illy coffee to dip in!

Chocolate Shortbread (makes around 75)

350g softened butter
170g golden caster sugar
400g plain flour
4 tbsp cocoa powder
200g milk chocolate chips (or milk chocolate bars chopped up finely)

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Add the flour and cocoa, and begin to mix with your hands until it is well combined.
2. Mix in the chocolate chips in with your hands, until they are well mixed into the shortbread “dough”. Roll handfuls of the dough into a sausage shape, slice into around 1cm rounds.
3. Place about 25 of these slices onto a greaseproof paper lined baking tray, and bake for 14 minutes. You should make about 75 mini-shortbreads, so will bake 3 batches. Allow the biscuits to cool for at least 20 minutes, and serve!

Recipe: Smoky Baked Beans

2011-05-26T11:45:00.000-07:00

Oh well, I suppose as a student you had to expect me to bring out the heinz baked beans eventually!!! These delicious smoky beans with bacon are fab on top of a jacket potato, or on the side of a couple of grilled pork chops. Of course, this dish is also fabulous on toast- dare I say it! Well, if numbers of Michelin starred chefs relax at home with beans on toast (and they do!) then it's good enough for me.

Smoky Baked Beans with Bacon (side dish for two)

1 tsp olive oil
1 rasher smoked back bacon, diced
½ white onion, diced
1 x (410g) tin Heinz Baked Beans
¼ tsp smoked paprika
¼ tsp cumin
½ tsp chilli powder
½ tsp sugar
1 tsp Worchester sauce
Salt and pepper
Yoghurt and chopped chives to garnish.

1. Fry the bacon and onion in the olive oil, covered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
2. Add the baked beans, paprika, cumin, chilli powder, sugar and Worchester sauce, and cook for 3 minutes, uncovered.
3. Season to taste with salt and pepper, and garnish with natural yoghurt and fresh chives- serve!

Recipe: Greek Lamb Broth

2011-05-24T08:11:00.001-07:00

When looking at the ingredients, I'm sure a lot of you will think 'white wine? with lamb??" but seriously, it works really well. Infact my boyfriend says this is his favourite lamb recipe that I make him- and I think it's darn delicious as well! It uses Greek flavours (lemon, oregano, sundried tomatoes) and fresh mint, which of course compliments lamb beautifully. I reckon this mixture of ingredients (minus the stock) would also work as a really good marinade for meats such as beef, lamb or fish, to roast or to barbeque. I serve this with nice warm crusty bread to mop up the juices, around the beautifully lean and tender lamb.

Greek Lamb Broth (serves 2)

2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 white onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, crushed
350g lean diced lamb
1 tsp oregano
1 tbsp sundried tomato paste (or pesto)
Pinch saffron
200ml white wine
250ml chicken or lamb stock
1 tbsp finely chopped fresh mint (plus extra for garnish)
Small Squeeze of lemon with a little zest
Sugar, salt and pepper to taste.

1. On a medium heat, sweat the onion and garlic in the olive oil until soft. Add the lamb, oregano and some salt and black pepper and cook for a few minutes. Add sundried tomato paste and cook for 2 more minutes.
2. Add the white wine and saffron and cook for 5 minutes. Add the stock and mint and cook for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Add the lemon and cook for a further 10 minutes.
4. Season to taste, garnish with fresh mint, and serve.

Competition: Belling and "Tweet Pie" Twecipe Competition

2011-05-23T09:01:00.000-07:00

I think the best way to explain this is to just repeat what the Belling website said on the opening of this competition:

"To mark the launch of Baby Belling Black 121R (small, compact and perfectly formed) we are creating the world’s shortest recipe book (small, compact and perfectly formed) and asking you to help us fill it.

All you need to do is share your favourite recipes but in just 140 characters (also known as twecipes). We’ll pick the best ones to be included in a recipe book which will be sold on behalf of charity, FoodCycle. We’ll also be giving away a Baby Belling Black 121R to ten lucky entrants."

So basically, about a month ago, i created and sent in a few (o.k.....13) "twecipes" (recipes that are written in less than 140 characters) into this Belling competition. Most of the twecipes I wrote have been adapted from my recipes here infact- for example, this is basically my Venison stew, but in mini-format!-

"Venison Stew-Fry 1 onion,250g diced venison,s+p in oil for 10min.Add 150ml red wine,200g tind tomatoes,½ tsp thyme,200ml stock+cook 1hr.Srv"

So anyway, a couple of weeks ago Belling did a lucky dip prize draw from all the people that sent in their twecipes, and i was one of the very very lucky people to win! As mentioned before, I have won a black "Baby Belling 121R"! It is utterly adorable- dont you think? I may have need of this when I eventually leave home and move into some miniscule studio apartment!

And soon, I will find out whether any of my twecipes will be published in their book, which will be great, because it's for charity and all that- and to be fair i'd love to see my name in print!

So yeah, cheers Belling, and watch this space for more news about the book!!!

Recipe: Honey Paprika Chicken, with Avocado + Tomato Salad

2011-05-20T13:39:00.000-07:00

This is just simply a lovely dish- an easy way to get big flavour into lean meat. The smoky flavour of the paprika compliments the sweet honey very well, and the cooling avocado and tomato salad cuts through the sweet spiciness of the chicken perfectly. A quick mid-week meal, that's really good for your health- the natural oils from the avocado really help to maintain beautiful skin, hair and nails.

Honey Paprika Chicken, with an avocado and tomato salad (serves 2)

2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp honey
1 tsp smoked paprika
Salt and pepper
2 large chicken breasts

1 avocado, stoned, skin removed, and diced
2 ripe tomatoes, seeded and diced
20g finely chopped red onion
Handful chopped coriander
1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper
Salad leaves (optional)

1. Mix the olive oil, honey, smoked paprika and a little salt and pepper. Coat the chicken in the paprika mixture, and marinade for 30 minutes in the fridge.
2. Preheat the oven to 220C oven (or 200C fan oven). Put the marinated chicken (and all the marinade!) into a baking dish, and bake for 30 minutes, basting half way through.
3. Meanwhile, add the avocado, tomato, coriander, and balsamic vinegar to a mixing bowl. Mix, season to taste, and serve alongside the chicken, with a handful of leafy greens.

Recipe: Massaman Chicken Fried Rice

2011-05-18T08:34:00.000-07:00

This is quite a healthy, nutritious and spicy meal for two, that barely take 15 minutes to prepare and less than 10 minutes to cook! The rice get's coated in the slightly spicy curry scented massaman mixture, which makes the chicken and mixed green vegetables in the dish taste divine.

Massaman chicken fried rice (serves 2)

150g basmati rice
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 egg, beaten
100g cooked diced chicken
¼ tsp dried thyme
25g sliced Sugarsnap peas
25g sliced French beans
50g frozen peas
30g Massaman curry paste (I use Sainsburys)
20ml soy sauce
20ml water
1 tsp vegetable oil
1.5 tsp sugar
Chopped Fresh coriander for garnish
Salt and pepper

1. Cook the rice 2 minutes less than the packet instructions recommend (as it will be fried later- we don’t want overcooked rice!). Drain and set aside.
2. Mix together the Massaman paste, soy sauce, water, tsp oil and sugar. Set aside.
3. Put the oil in a wok and bring to a high heat. Pour in the beaten egg and stir frequently, breaking it up as the egg cooks. Cook for about 2 minutes or until the pieces of egg are beginning to go golden.
4. Add the chicken, thyme, Sugarsnap peas, French beans and peas, and stir fry for a further 2 minutes. Add the cooked rice and the Massaman mix and stir fry for a further two minutes.
5. Season the rice to taste with salt and pepper, garnish with fresh coriander and serve!

Recipe: Lasagne

2011-05-16T10:37:00.000-07:00

I think every household has a different lasagne recipe- and this is my way of doing it! Everyone also prefers their lasagne in a certain way i think. I mean, my lasagne has got a far bit of sauce to it, whilst other lasagnes can be made almost entirely of pasta layers and almost no filling (it's popular to do it this way in America). This is just the way i like it- lots of sauce, quite garlicky, and plenty of cheese on top! I use Sainsbury's fresh lasagne sheets for the pasta layers.

Lasagne (serves 6, or 4 greedy people!)

Mince
1 tbsp olive oil
1 white onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, crushed
500g lean minced beef
10g fresh basil leaves, torn
1 ½ tins chopped tomatoes
½ tsp dried basil
1 tsp sugar
Salt and pepper

White Sauce
50g butter
50g plain flour
550ml skim milk
1 pack (150g) Garlic and Herb Boursin
Salt and pepper

4 fresh lasagne sheets
20g finely grated parmesan
75g grated cheddar

1. Fry the onion, garlic, minced beef, and some seasoning, in the oil, on a high heat, for 10 minutes, stirring often. Add chopped tomatoes, dried and fresh basil and sugar, and cook for 10 more minutes. Season to taste and set aside.
2. In another saucepan, melt the butter. Stir in the flour, and then gradually add the milk. Crumble the boursin into the sauce, and keep stirring on the heat until you have a smooth sauce. This sauce should take around 15 minutes to make from the start. Season to taste
3. Preheat the oven to 200C. In a baking dish, layer the mince, pasta, and white sauce. I do it in this order: Mince, pasta sheet ( around 1.5 or 2 sheets per layer), white sauce, mince, pasta, then finishing off with the white sauce.
4. Sprinkle with the grated parmesan and cheddar, and bake in the oven for 30 minutes. Put under a hot grill for a couple of minutes until the top is nice and golden. Remove from the oven, allow to cool a little, and serve!

Recipe: Chocolate and Peanut Butter Brownies

2011-05-12T06:15:00.000-07:00

These are very very nice. My friends at college was just saying like, i've told them all I'm a chef and everything, but i STILL havent baked anything for my classes at St Brendans yet! Considering we only have 2 and a bit weeks left of college left before study leave, and then our exams (i think the appropriate words are: AHHHHHHH!!!PANIC!!!) I thought I would make a big batch of brownies. I LOVE the combination of peanut butter and chocolate- particularly those really nice "Reeses Cup" chocolates from America. When i went to Calafornia i must've eaten my weight in them, which is worrying when you think they are 120 calories per chocolate! Lol! So i thought i'd essentially make some "Reeses Brownies"- these are very simple to make, don't use too many complicated ingredients, and makes a lot- so are good for a party.

Chocolate and Peanut Butter Brownies (makes 36)

250g good dark chocolate (70 %+)
50g milk chocolate
300g crunchy peanut butter
500g golden caster sugar
½ vanilla pods, seeds scraped out (or ½ tsp vanilla extract)
5 eggs
200g self raising flour

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. In a saucepan, mix together and heat up the chocolate, peanut butter and sugar. You want all the chocolate to have melted and all the ingredients should be well combined. Remove from the heat and allow for cool for a few minutes.
2. Mix in the eggs and vanilla thoroughly (a bit of elbow grease is needed here!). Now mix in the flour. Line a 7 by 7 inch baking tray with greaseproof paper. Bake a third of the brownie mix in the lined tin for 35 minutes, and repeat for another two more batches. (Try to get the amount in each batch the same- weighing the brownie mix ensures this).
3. Cool, slice each batch into 12 brownies, and place in a baking tin to keep fresh. Serve!

Recipe: Baked Bean, Sausage and Cheddar Pasties

2011-05-09T10:05:00.000-07:00

Ok, this recipe sounds slightly "chavvy" perhaps, but it's good old comfort food favourite, and tastes absolutely marvellous! They are large pies for people like me and my brother who have a big appetite, and infact I normally serve these with piles of creamy mash, steamed broccoli and gravy! I dread to imagine how many calories all that comes to! I use "350g" baked beans, and i am aware theres about 410g in a normal tin of baked beans- but lately i have been using those neat 1kg Heinz beans plastic tubs that you keep in the fridge. They are really useful actually. These are nice cold too, a nice handheld lunch for when you are in a hurry!

Baked Bean, Sausage and Cheese Pasties (makes 2 large pasties)

4 sausages, skin removed and meat squeezed out into little balls
100g grated cheddar
350g baked beans
1 sheet ready rolled Shortcrust pastry
1 egg, for egg wash

1. Preheat the fan oven to 180 (200 if not using a fan oven). In a large frying pan, fry the sausage pieces until well browned (about 6 minutes). Remove the sausages with a slotted spoon into a mixing bowl.
2. Mix in the baked beans and grated cheddar. Halve the sheet of Shortcrust pastry, and spoon the baked bean mixture equally onto each one. Fold over the rest of the pastry and seal.
3. Line a baking tray with greaseproof, and place the pasties on it. Brush with egg wash and cut a couple of little holes in the top, and bake for 25 minutes. Remove and serve!

Recipe: Spinach and Walnut Stuffed Mushrooms

2011-05-07T12:52:00.000-07:00

These are the lushest stuffed mushrooms I have EVER tried. I mean, my mum makes some mean garlic and herb butter stuffed mushrooms- but this is a killer recipe man! Very quick to make, delicious and healthy. Nice with a fresh side salad, or actually I reckon one of them would be a nice side for a steak. It would also make a fantastic vegetarian starter for a dinner party. If you can't get wild garlic, add 10g more frozen spinach, and 2 cloves crushed garlic.

Spinach and Walnut Stuffed Mushrooms (serves 2 with salad)

4 large field mushrooms
150g frozen spinach, defrosted, and then most of the moisture squeezed out of it
1 tbsp olive oil (plus extra for drizzling)
10 wild garlic leaves, roughly chopped
40g walnuts, roughly chopped
Some grated fresh nutmeg
30g Philadelphia
10g wholemeal breadcrumbs
40g finely grated cheddar
Salt and pepper
Some sort of herb garnish (mostly for appearance really)

1. Preheat the oven to 200C. Remove the central stalks from the field mushrooms, and finely dice these stalks. Place the mushrooms, face up, on a baking tray, with a drizzle of olive oil, salt and pepper, and bake in the oven for 10 minutes. Remove and set aside.
2. Heat up the 1 tbsp olive oil in a saucepan on a medium heat. Fry the finely chopped mushroom stalks and wild garlic for about 5 minutes. Add the defrosted spinach and fry for 3 more minutes, and remove from the heat.
3. Mix in the Philadelphia, chopped walnuts, some finely grated nutmeg into the spinach mixture, and season to taste. Stuff this mixture equally into the 4 cooked flat mushrooms. Top with the cheddar and then the breadcrumbs.
4. Bake the stuffed mushrooms in the oven (at 200C) for 12 minutes. Remove from the oven and serve!

Recipe: Banana and Strawberry Smoothie

2011-05-05T05:28:00.000-07:00

The guys at Corsham Football club gave me like a dozen bananas after the race! Loadddds of em! I had a couple after the race though, cause apparently eating a banana straight after you go on a run is really good for muscle repair and energy. Something to do with the potassium I believe. So every day since the race i've been making myself this smoothie, cause it makes me feel so healthy and energetic- and it's very tasty too. I have frozen most of the bananas,chopped, into individual plastic bags- and you can put the frozen banana straight from the freezer into the blender with the rest of the ingredients- making you a super cold fruity drink! Oh, the reason why theres a slice of toast in the picture is because I came up with this recipe as part of a peice I wrote upon the importance of eating a healthy breakfast.

Banana and Strawberry Smoothie (makes 2 glasses)

1 banana, sliced
75g strawberries, quartered
25g blueberries
150ml orange juice
100g natural yoghurt
1 tsp honey

1. Put all ingredients into a blender or food processer and blend until you have a nice smooth mixture. Pour into glasses and it's ready for drinking!

Competition: Epicure/ Creative Cooks Monthly Recipe Competition

2011-05-04T07:41:00.000-07:00

Hey everyone. Good news- i won another recipe competition!! I didn't win that Delia Online/New Zealand Lamb recipe thing. Well at least i think i haven't, to be honest their PR company couldn't run a piss up in a brewery, so i really have no idea what's going on. Aaaanyway, with my "Sweet potato and feta salad" and my "Spaghetti with Courgettes and Almonds" recipe (both of which are on this site), I won "Creative Cook's" (an organisation that is ran by the well known/renowned food company Epicure) monthly recipe competition!

I won £150 worth of "Joseph Joseph" Cookware- some really nice looking modern colourful cooking equipment. The digital kitchen scales are really cool too- i really needed some new ones to have at Nick's place. Well chuffed i am!

Thought I would just pat myself on the back a bit, and then say "thanks very much Epicure!"

Recipe: Creamy Garlicky Gnocchi, with mushrooms and bacon

2011-05-02T07:12:00.000-07:00

This was just what I needed- I made this for myself on saturday night as a nice carbohydrate rich, starchy meal, to have before my race on the sunday morning. Because i heard that's what experienced runners do- they tend to have starchy foods such as rice, pasta or potatoes the night before a race, to keep their energy levels going. Yesterday I completed a 10k run in Corsham, which was in aid of "RUH prostate Cancer", and I also raised extra money for my charity of choice WSPCA (World Soceity for the Protection of Animals). I completed it in 1 hour, 9 minutes, and 30 seconds. I am very proud of myself, as that is a very good time for my first 10k race, and i'm also very proud of myself because i've wanted to do a 10k for so long, it's always been a "New Year's Resolution"- and this year I actually did it!

This dish is a simple and quick dinner for one, very comforting and creamy! You'll find my wild garlic pesto recipe is on my asparagus soup recipe, if you fancy making it. If not, I think that any other type of pesto would work well in this dish.

Creamy garlicky gnocchi with mushrooms and bacon (serves 1)

130g pre-packaged gnocchi
1 tsp olive oil
75g button mushrooms, quartered
1 rasher smoked bacon, diced
35g wild garlic pesto (or use any flavour you fancy!)
50g Philadelphia
Salt and lots of black pepper
Basil leaves for garnish.

1. Fry the bacon and button mushrooms in the olive oil for 5 minutes. Meanwhile, boil the gnocchi according to packet instructions.
2. Drain the gnocchi, reserving 60ml of the starchy water you have boiled it in. Add the cooked gnocchi, pesto and Philadelphia to the mushrooms and bacon. Stir until well combined and the sauce is nice and thick. Season to taste, garnish with basil and serve!

Recipe: Creamy Asparagus Soup, with Wild Garlic Pesto

2011-04-29T12:22:00.001-07:00

This soup is soooo lush! Really tasty and creamy, and made with some fantastic tasting local Wye Valley asparagus. Beautiful and thick, and the nutty wild garlic pesto drizzled on top compliments it perfectly. If you have any pesto left, it's delicious to have as a simple dip, with loads of crunchy vegetable crudite.

Asparagus soup with wild garlic pesto (serves 2)

For the soup:
50g butter
4 wild garlic leaves, roughly chopped
1 white onion, chopped
1 tbsp fresh thyme
200g asparagus (woody ends and all!), finely chopped
300g potatoes, peeled and finely diced
700ml chicken stock
250ml skimmed milk
Salt and pepper to taste

For the pesto:
8 wild garlic leaves
20g toasted pine nuts
10g finely grated parmesan
6 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

1. Cook the white onion, thyme and wild garlic in the butter on a medium heat for 5 minutes. Add all the other ingredients, increase to a high heat, and cook for 20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, blend all the pesto ingredients in a food processor until smooth, season to taste, and set aside.
3. Remove the soup from the heat, allow to cool a little, and blend until smooth. Return to the pan and heat up until nice and hot again. Season to taste, swirl in some of the wild garlic pesto, and serve!

Recipe: Green Vegetable Minestrone

2011-04-28T07:26:00.001-07:00

This is a lovely tasty summer soup, wonderfully fresh tasting with the seasonal green vegetables and fragrant fresh herbs! The hint of savoury smokiness from the bacon makes it taste wonderful as well. This year I am trying to grow my own french beans from seed, so im hoping perhaps in a couple of months I might be able to make this dish with my own homegrown beans! Stellini (sometimes called Astrini) is the MOST adorable pasta i've ever seen- it's all diddy! They are tincy, star shaped pasta (hence the "Stell" or "Astr"- latin routes for the word star) that i got from my local farm shop. If you can't find it, add some little macaroni instead, and give the macaroni at least an extra 5 minutes of cooking time. You can also, of course, make this soup vegetarian by using veg stock and getting rid of the bacon.

Green Vegetable Minestrone (serves 6)

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil (plus extra for garnish)
1 red onion, finely diced
2 stalks celery, diced
1 carrot, peeled and diced
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 rashers smoky bacon, diced
1.5 litres vegetable or chicken stock (or a mixture)
2 bay leaves
2tbsp fresh parsley, finely chopped
½ tsp dried thyme
120g spring greens
50g tenderstem broccoli, sliced
50g french beans, sliced
50g Sugarsnap peas, sliced
90g very small pasta
50g frozen peas
Finely grated parmesan and torn basil for garnish

1. Sautee the red onion, celery, carrot, bacon and garlic in the olive oil, covered, for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add stock, bay leaves, parsley and thyme, and bring to the boil. Boil for 5 minutes.
2. Add the spring greens, broccoli, green beans and sugar snaps, and cook for five minutes. Add pasta and cook for 3 minutes. Add frozen peas and cook for a further 2 minutes.
3. Season to taste, garnish with parmesan, a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil, and a few torn basil leaves.