Cheesy Muffins!

Okay, okay, I went on holiday alright?!  I just couldn't find the time to update the blog in time, sorry!
Here is the promised Cheesy Muffin recipe which is so ludicrously easy that I reckon you might not believe me!  Make sure you grease the tin well.

Cooked some pasta for lunch today.  I read somewhere that cabbage stalks sprout again if they are left in the ground, so I tried it this winter.  And sure enough, little shoots appeared in January and have grown bigger and bigger!  I did the same with my broccoli because I couldn't bear the thought that all that energy went into producing one little broccoli flower.  On my return from holiday, what do I find but a mass of small shoots (perhaps that is what purple sprouting broccoli really is?) so I picked them all today, cabbage and broccoli,  and cooked them in the pasta water for lunch, yum!

I am always looking for a really good cake recipe, moist sponge, fudgy chocolate topping.  So here is my latest version, which is really rather moreish, I must say!  I cooked mine in a rectangular tin and sliced it in half to make a square cake, but I have given the instructions to make a traditional round one.

Have fun in the sun!

Cheesy Muffins

2 cups grated strong Cheddar
2 cups self-raising flour
2 cups milk
mixed herbs, paprika, fried onions and bacon

Yup, that's it!!  Mix everything together until well combined, adding onions or bacon if you like, and spoon into a 12 hole well-greased muffin tin.  Top with a little more cheese and some herbs or paprika and bake at 200 degrees C for about 15 minutes.

Broccoli, Pine Nut and Sultana Pasta   Serves 4

400g pasta (whatever shape you have to hand)
4 tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, sliced thinly
3 tbsp sultanas
4 tbsp pine nuts
2 cloves garlic, crushed
3 anchovy fillets, snipped into small pieces
Seasoning
A large handful of sprouting broccoli (and cabbage), cut into bite-sized pieces

Put a frying pan on a medium heat.  Bring a large pan of salted water to the boil and cook the pasta as per the packet.  Set the timer for 4 minutes before the end of the cooking time.
Meanwhile, fry the onion in the oil until soft.  Add the sultanas, pine-nuts, garlic and anchovy pieces.  Cook, stirring occasionally, unitl everything is golden and the anchovies have melted away.  Season well with salt and pepper.
When the timer goes, drop the broccoli in with the pasta to cook for 4 minutes.

Drain the pasta and broccoli water into a large serving dish (to warm the dish).  Tip all but 3 tbsp of the water out of the serving dish and add the pasta, broccoli and the sauce ingredients.  Mix together thoroughly and taste for seasoning.  Enjoy!

Sticky Chocolate Sponge with Fudge Topping

250g soft butter or margarine
250g caster sugar
250g self-raising flour
1 tsp baking powder
3 tbsp cocoa, mixed with 5 tbs milk
4 eggs

Whizz all the ingredients in a processor or with an electric mixer until combined.  Pour into two greased and lined 7cm sponge tins and bake for 30 minutes at 180 degrees C.   Cool.

Topping
Whizz together 300g icing sugar, 100g soft butter, 40ml milk and 40g cocoa powder.  Spread a third of the mixture over one cake, place the other cake on top and spread the rest of the icing over the top and sides.  Decorate with little Easter eggs!

Aren't I lucky.... this is where I have been for the week!!

What's been going on?

Hi all,
Sorry I've been offline for soooo long!  And thanks to my friends for nagging me to start up again!
Well, you'll be pleased to know that I am in the final stages of editing my cookbook, and then I can send some chapters to some hand-picked and unsuspecting publishers!  I am also thinking about self-publishing so don't be surprised when you hear about a strange woman knocking on doors in Dorking trying to flog cookbooks..........
It's been a tough few months with the building of my beautiful extension (what a bedroom!) and Bob's dad passing over in October and then a very, very DULL winter.  Thank goodness for the sunshine, spring is here at last!

I have been increasingly drawn to raw food.  That is, food that hasn't had its nutrients stripped through heating, and I have found a wonderful author, Ani Phyo, who make the most delicious desserts (my passion after all!) which might sound a little weird if you're used to baking like me, but are amazing.  Just suspend your disbelief for a moment and make the Blueberry Cobbler!  Check out her book, 'Ani's raw food kitchen' on her website www.aniphyo.com
I also am increasingly aware of food allergies in people, and especially children.  I have just been reading a blog by a mum from the US, Kelly Rudnicki,  whose children have multiple allergies.  She speaks of the hypocrisy involved even though differences are supposed to be tolerated and we are meant to be increasingly enlightened.  These differences mean people's lives.  Anyway, her blog is a good read and she has lots of recipe ideas for dairy, egg, nut free cooking.  www.thefoodallergymama.com

I have also been cooking lots from Jamie's new book, 30 Minute Meals.  Now, a lot of people scoff because some of his meals have taken them longer than 30 minutes.  But I say his meals are delightful, delicious and as he already has Saintly Status, get over yourselves and try some of his ideas!!
Have fun this week!

Summer Berry Cobbler (serves 16)
This is like an upside down crumble and very lovely.  Stuffed full of antioxidants to help protect from cancer and heart disease.

Crust
1 cup pumpkin seeds, dry
1 cup almonds, dry
3/4 tsp sea salt
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/2 cup pitted dates

Whizz all but the dates in a processor.  Add the dates until the mixture becomes doughy enough to press gently into a small pie dish.

Syrup
1 cup blueberries
1/2 cup pitted dates
1/4 cup water, as needed

Blend the these with a little water until it becomes a thick, syrupy texture. 
To serve, pour the berry syrup over the crust and top with 1 1/2 cups of blueberries.  Will keep for two days in the fridge.

Cauliflower Cheese Macaroni
My book already falls open at this page - enjoy!

Hmm, don't have a picture, so take a look at some cheesy muffins instead!  Recipe next week!

1 large head of cauliflower
500g dried macaroni
250g mature Cheddar cheese, grated
4 thick slices of country bread
a few sprigs of fresh rosemary
2 cloves garlic, crushed
250g tub of creme fraiche
Parmesan cheese to serve

Boil the kettle.  Trim the cauliflower of the tatty leaves and the tough inner stalk, then quarter the head.  Put in a large saucepan, core down, with the pasta on a high heat.  Cover with boiling water, season with salt and cook according to the macaroni instructions.
Meanwhile, Process the bread, rosemary, ground pepper and a good drizzle of olive oil until you have a coarse breadcrumb consistency.
Drain the pasta , keeping 400ml of the water.  Tip the pasta and cauliflower into a roasting tray.  Add the crushed garlic to the reserved water and mix in the Cheddar, creme fraiche and season.  Mix well, breaking up the cauliflower as you go.   Sprinkle over the breadcrumbs and bake in a hot oven for about 12 minutes, or until bubbling.
Serve with some salad, with this dressing:

a small bunch of basil
1/2 a 30g tin anchovies (you can't taste them!)
1 clove garlic, crushed
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tbsp natural yoghurt
3 tbsp red wine vinegar

Have fun this weekend!

Cabbage Soup, Tomato Ketchup, Cep Omelette and Huge Scones!

Well, I had visions of halcyon days, spent in meadows with picnics and joyful children, but somehow that didn't quite occur!  Ah well, we had a good time anyway.  Unfortunately, my beach hut was broken into and we haven't had access for all of August - boo hoo! But we managed to make it to the French Alps, and to Devon and a week in Poole, so we did pretty well.

Hope your holls were sunny and relaxing - I am spending the first day for 9 weeks alone - blissful!

My veggie patch is overflowing, especially with cabbage which I have never grown before and didn't really know when I should pick.  So now it stands about 3 feet tall!  I dug out a lovely book called, The Enchanted Broccoli Forest by Mollie Katzen and found what turned out to be a delicious Cabbage Soup recipe - perfect for gluts of cabbage from the allotment.  Cabbage is a superfood - helps to combat cancer and all sorts of ailments from engorged breasts to prostate problems and contains the vitamins A, C, D and E in large quantities AND it is an amazing immune system booster.  We all need to eat more of this very underrated veg!

And I managed to make my annual batch of Tomato Ketchup - which I LOVE!   It is a labour of love and rather time consuming, but only because you have to boil it for about 4 hours.  If you fancy an afternoon of slow cooking, this is your baby!

It is the North Holmwood Village Day on Saturday, and my usual contribution is to make a large batch of scones for the cream teas.  I use a recipe by Paul Hollywood, master baker and all round good egg!  Check out his book, '100 Great Breads' - another delightful way to spend a couple of hours in the kitchen.  If you've never made bread, now is the time to start!  It is very theraputic and I guarantee you'll be successful and SO proud of yourself!  I run bread-making courses so get in contact if you're interested.

And finally, I am obsessed with foraging in the forest for food, so you can imagine my delight when I found out that my friend, Mel, has a fungus fetish!  I have always wanted to find out what fungi is good or bad to eat, and he gave me a Penny Bun or Cep.  I made the most lovely omlette with my mushroom and I am now hooked on looking for more!

Here are the recipes.

Cream of Cabbage Soup (serves 3-4)

1 leek, chopped and washed

1 clove garlic, peeled and chopped

1 knob of butter

8 largish cabbage leaves, thoroughly washed and shredded

2 medium potatoes, cubed

750ml of vegetable stock

large pinch of sea salt

A good grinding of fresh pepper

1 tsp caraway seeds

4 tbs creme fraiche

Heat a large saucepan, and fry the leek and garlic in the butter until soft (about 5 minutes).   Add the shredded cabbage, potatoes, stock, seasoning and caraway seeds and bring to the boil.  Cover and simmer for about 15 minutes.  Puree in a blender and return to the saucepan.  Stir in the creme fraiche, check the seasoning and serve.

Tomato Ketchup

5kg ripe tomatoes

450g sugar

600ml white vinegar

1 tbs salt

1tsp each ground ginger, cloves, nutmeg, paprika and cayenne

Cut the tomatoes into quarters and cook gently in a very large pan until softened (about 20-30 minutes)

Sieve the pulp and pour the puree into the pan.  Simmer this with all the other ingredients until thickened, about 4 hours (it will thicken in the jars) and pour into hot jars that you have sterilized before hand (see below).  Put the lids on loosely and place in the oven for about 30 minutes at 170 C to sterilize the ketchup.  Remove from the oven and do the lids up tightly.

To sterilize the bottles without using nasty chemicals, place them all on a baking tray in the oven set at about 120 C for about 30 minutes.  They will be hot and ready for you to pour in the ketchup.

Huge Scones (a la Paul Hollywood)

500g strong white flour

75g caster sugar

30g baking powder

75g softened butter

2 eggs

230ml milk

100g sultanas

Place the flour, baking powder and butter into a food processor and pulse until 'breadcrumbed' (or rub in by hand).  Be very gentle and don't over mix.  Stir in the sugar, then add the eggs and milk and stir to combine.  Work the dough as little as possible.  Press out gently to about 4 cm deep and use a 5cm cutter to cut rounds.  Place these on a floured baking tray, leaving a little space between them.  Sprinkle with a little flour.  Bake in an oven set at 200 C for about 10-12 minutes, until risen and golden.

Serve with jam and cream (or is that cream and jam?)

My Mushroom Omlette  (serves one)

1 penny bun (or a handful of mushrooms)

1 tsp butter

2 eggs, beaten

Seasoning

Heat a small frying-pan and add the butter and mushrooms.  Cook until golden.  Turn the heat down and pour the eggs all around the pan.  Move the egg around so the mushrooms lift off the bottom and more egg is exposed to the hot pan below.  Cook as long as you like it.  I don't like runny egg, but the egg cooks a little more when you fold it over.  Slide on to a plate and devour with relish!

Have fun!

Carrot Cake, Pea and Leek Tart, Quinoa Salad, Green Soup and Gooseberry Fool

I have been a busy bee!  Hence my lack of posts.  But I'm making up for it with these delectable delights!

I had a catering job at the weekend; lunch for 12 on Saturday and Sunday (with the help of my beautiful assistant, Paula!).  It is amazing how much work is involved when you are catering for others on a professional basis, but I love doing it!  I love that people love my food - it makes me feel great to nourish others!

One of my dishes included Quinoa (pron: keenwah).  Quinoa is an amazing super food.  It is a complete protein, containing all 9 essential amino acids, it has high levels of magnesium which relaxes muscles and blood vessels and therefore blood pressure; it contains fibre and lots of manganese and copper which act as antioxidants!  (Thanks bodyecology.com for the info!).  It tastes delicious too and is a great substitute for wheat.

Then I rolled out my Leek and Pea Tart, to sighs of delight, and a fail-safe Carrot Cake recipe.  Finally, I bought a load of gooseberries in the market and conjured up one of my child-hood favourites: Gooseberry Fool, mmmmm!

Here are the recipes:

Pea and Leek Tart                               Serves 6

Pastry

300g plain flour

150g butter

pinch salt

Heat the oven to 200 degrees/Gas Mark 6.  Rub the butter into the flour with the salt.  Add 2-3 tbs cold water and bring together to form a dough.  Roll out and fit into a 23cm loose-bottomed tart tin.  Bake blind for 10 minutes and remove from the oven.

Meanwhile, make the filling:

3 leeks, chopped

3 tbsp olive oil

1 tsp chopped rosemary

Saute the leeks in the oil until softened, stir in the rosemary.

Crush or blend 250g thawed peas, 1/2 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp salt and 1  tbsp lemon juice.

Mix together 2 eggs, 2 egg yolks, 300ml double cream and season well.  Pour in the leeks and the pea puree and stir.  Spread  into the pastry case and bake at 180 degrees/Gas Mark 4 for 30-35 minutes until lightly set.

Carrot Cake

This recipe is adapted from 'brownies and bars' by Liz Franklin and is ideal for fetes and fairs and school events because it is baked in a 20 x 30cm tin.

250g butter

250g golden caster sugar

4 eggs, beaten

300g self-raising flour

3 large carrots, peeled and grated

2 tsp ground cinnamon

juice and zest of an orange

50g sultanas (optional)

Heat the oven to 180 degrees/Gas Mark 4.  Cream the butter and sugar then beat in the eggs a little at a time until smooth, alternating with a tablespoon of flour.  Stir in the remaining flour, the grated carrot, the cinnamon and the orange juice and zest.  I process this mixture so the carrots are really mixed in.  The stir in the sultanas.

Tip into a parchment paper lined tin, smooth and bake for 50 minutes or until risen and golden.  Cool in the tin.

To make the topping, beat 250g mascarpone with 100g caster sugar and the remaining orange zest, then spread carefully over the cake.  You can also cut the cake and serve with little dollops of the topping, finished off with a piece of orange zest.

Green Soup

It's just dawned on me how useful a recipe this is with allotments about to start producing copious amounts of green veggies!  Delicious too and so good for you in a Popeye kind of way......

a large knob of butter

1 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

3 courgettes, sliced

1 small potato, diced

a large handful of spinach, washed and roughly chopped

500ml or so of vegetable stock

Seasoning

some double cream

Fry the onion and garlic until golden.  Add the rest of the ingredients plus some broccoli if you have it, and simmer for 15 minutes.  Process in a food-processor until smooth, season to taste and serve with a swirl of double cream.

Gooseberry Fool

Take some gooseberries (about 250g) and place in a saucepan with a dash of water.  Bring to the boil and simmer gently for about 10 minutes until they are all bursting.  Add sugar to taste.  Whip about half a pint (142ml or more) of double cream until softly stiff, then fold in the gooseberries.  Tip into glasses and chill until you want to serve.  You can also freeze this now for a delicious ice-cream, and you could use Elderflower Cordial instead of the dash of water.

Frittata, Pizza, Quick Pizza, Apple Cake, Meze

Well, the strangest thing happened this week.  I was invited for lunch at my friend Jen's house, and she cooked one of my recipes for me!  She cooked my Fritatta (May 2010) and it was delicious.  You know how it is; food that someone else has cooked usually tastes better than your own!  Thanks Jen!  The pic is a little steamy......

So, after a lack of inspiration, suddenly I seem to have cooked lots this week.  We love Pizza and I have developed a dough recipe that is easy and lovely.  It is very freezable, especially if you roll it out, spread with some tomato sauce and then bake for 5 minutes to 'set' it.

I have also included my 'instant' pizza recipe, using tortillas for the base.  Just Fill, Grill and Go!

I baked an apple cake this week too from Healthy Baby and Toddler Foods by Amanda Grant, a very useful book for alternatives to meat.  The cake used to be Barney's favourite..... yes, you've guessed it, he has now decided that he doesn't like it any more!  Ahhhhh!  It is a great way to use up those apples left in the fruit bowl, and is very portable for picnics.

Another good supper came about by accident.  I actually managed to have the ingredients for a Meze in the fridge!  Cold potatoes with mayonnaise, houmous, taramasalata, olives, roasted vegetables and some toasted pittas - hurrah!  (anyone know what hurrah is in Turkish or Greek?!).  I had lunch at the Jolly Farmers pub in Buckland, Surrey on Monday and they had a platter with delicious sauces like houmous and red pepper sauce, and a lovely little dish of marinaded feta cheese with chives, so I tried to make that myself.  See what you think.

And last but not least, tomato soup.  I had some tomatoes which were past their best in the bottom of the fridge and decided to make them into tomato soup.  Mm mm.

Pizza  (makes about 5)

500g strong white bread flour

12g fast-acting dried yeast

12g salt

300ml hand-hot water

Toppings:

Jar of tomato pasta sauce

Mozzarella x 2

Pepperoni

Tuna, capers, olives, mushrooms, etc.

Mix all together to form a dough.  Knead (pull, push, fold) for about 3 minutes on a lightly floured surface, until smooth and mixed.

Now you can leave this to rise for about 20 minutes, or use it straight away.

Either way, flour your surface again and tip the dough out.  Divide into the desired pieces (4-5).  We always try to leave some to make dough-balls too.

Roll the dough into the shape you want, either thin and crispy or thicker and more deep-pan.  Place on an oiled baking tray and add the toppings you like.  I use a jar of pasta sauce for speed spread very thinly, mozzarella sliced thinly, tuna, capers, olives, pepperoni, whatever you like. 

Bake in a hot oven (210 degrees/Gas Mark 7-8) for about 10 minutes or until the mozzarella is bubbling.

For the Dough Balls, cut the piece of dough into rough shapes and place on an oiled baking tray.  Bake alongside the pizzas.  Drizzle some garlic butter or butter over them and eat!

Instant Pizzas

Tortilla wraps (as many as you need)

Tomato sauce

Mozzarella cheese, sliced thinly

Other topping that don't need much cooking

Simply heat your grill.  Spread the tomato on to the tortilla, add the toppings and grill until the mozzarella is melted.  Watch them all the time because the tortillas burn easily!

Apple Cake

310g self-raising flour

180g golden caster sugar

1/2 tsp all-spice

pinch of nutmeg

1/2 tsp cinnamon

115g butter

1 tsp bicarbonate of soda

250ml milk

1 egg

2-3 eating apples (no need to peel)

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees/Gas Mark 4.

In a bowl or a food processor, sift the flour, sugar and spices together.  Rub in the butter.  Spread half of this mixture into a greased 20cm square cake tin.  Pat down evenly.

Dissolve the bicarb. in the milk.  Add the beaten egg and some chopped apple and add all of it to the remaining flour mixture.  Combine well and pour into the tin.  Slice the apples, then arrange on top and bake for 45 minutes until golden.  Carefully, cut into slices.

Meze

Houmous (mine was shop-bought!)

Taramasalata (ditto!)

Cold, cooked potatoes, sliced and mixed with mayonnaise and capers

Olives

Cold roasted Mediterranean vegetables (courgette, aubergine, peppers, mushrooms, sweet potato cut into cubes and roasted in olive oil and garlic for about 30 mins)

Feta cheese, cut into cubes, dowsed in olive oil and mixed with chopped chives and pepper.

Pitta bread, toasted and cut into fingers

Enjoy!

Tomato Soup

A knob of butter

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, chopped

1/2 tsp celery salt or a stick of celery, chopped

8 tomatoes or a 400g tin

2 tbsp tomato ketchup

150ml vegetable stock

Pepper

In a medium saucepan, cook the onion and garlic in the butter until soft.  Add the celery salt or celery, tomatoes, ketchup and stock and simmer for 15 minutes.  Whizz in a blender until smooth, then season to taste.

Better than a can!

Spaghetti with Prawns, Lasagne and Chocolate Brownies

Well, another very hectic week here in Dorking!  I always forget how busy the summer term is, what with cricket seemingly every night of the week and swimming and May Queen festivals and Prize Days, the list goes on!  My ability to cook every night is somewhat diminished, but here are a couple of quick and easy recipes to keep you going.  I made some brownies last weekend and my friend, Beth, requested the recipe - Happy Cooking!

Spaghetti with Prawns

2 red chillies, remove the seeds

2 cloves garlic

400g spaghetti

olive oil

12 large prawns preferably raw

a knob of butter

a large handful of rocket

1 lemon, juiced

Using a pestle and mortar, crush the chilli and garlic with a pinch of salt.

Cook the pasta until al dente, 8 minutes for spaghetti.

Meanwhile, heat 4 tbsp of oil over a high heat.  Fry the chilli paste for 30 seconds then add the prawns and cook for 2 minutes.  Reduce the heat to medium and add the butter, a handful of rocket, lemon juice and the pasta.  Toss to mix and serve with extra rocket on top.

Easy Lasagne

1 box lasagne sheets

Olive oil

1 onion

1 clove garlic, crushed

Splash of red wine

400g tin tomatoes

Some fresh herbs

500g creme fraiche (I use half-fat)

3 handfuls of finely grated Parmesan cheese, plus some for the top

Seasoning

1-2 balls of mozzarella, diced

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees/Gas Mark 7.  Fry the onion in 2 tbsp olive oil in a saucepan until soft.  Add the garlic, stir, then add the red wine.  Cook for 2 minutes until the liquid is reduced.  Add the tomatoes and herbs and season well.  Simmer for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, tip the creme fraiche into a bowl and add the Parmesan and lots of seasoning.

When the tomato sauce is done, put two spoonfuls into the base of a shallow oven dish and place three sheets of lasagne on top.  Spread a quarter of the tomato over and then some dollops of the creme fraiche.  Sprinkle some mozzarella over.  Repeat these layers, making sure you keep a little of the creme fraiche sauce for the top.  Spread the remaining sauce over the lasagne sheets, right to the edges.  Sprinkle over some Parmesan and any mozzarella left and bake for 35 minutes until oozing and crispy on the top.

Everyday Chocolate Brownies (from Brownies and Bars by Liz Franklin)

250g butter

500g caster sugar

100g cocoa powder

4 eggs, beaten

100g self-raising flour (use wholewheat to even out your energy levels)

Melt the butter, caster sugar and cocoa in a large saucepan.  Add the eggs and beat to mix well.  Add the flour and mix.  Tip into a baking tin 20x25cm or so, lined with parchment paper, and bake for 35 minutes at 180 degrees/Gas Mark 4.  Allow to cool, if you can, and cut into squares.  Dust with icing sugar for a professional effect!
These keep in a tin for at least 3 days, and even then are just a little dry around the edges and perfectly acceptable.

Vegetable Curry, Stuffed Tomatoes and Sticky Chicken

I succumbed to Football Mania this weekend..... or at least, had some people round for the lads to watch it and the ladies to sit and chat!  I made some curries and bought some from Waitrose because it was the Crowning of the May Queen at Jolie's school that morning, so the whole day was rather hectic.  In fact, I don't think I have recovered yet, because Sunday was Jake's birthday party!  Phew!

Anyway, here is my Veggie Curry recipe, which went down very well, and I had a request to include it here (thanks Jane!).  Tonight, I couldn't decide what to do, so I threw some chicken thighs in the oven covered with BBQ sauce and, Voila!, Sticky Chicken.  The children wolfed it down, which makes a change.  I was so fed up the other day that I was going to post the fact that Jolie only really eats chocolate, pesto pasta and roast potatoes.... no wonder she is a skinny-biffer!

And then we have Stuffed Tomatoes.  My friend (another Jane) is cutting down on the amount of wheat she eats because she feels so much better.  It made me realise just how much I consume, and think that I 'need', so I tried some quinoa (pron: keenwah) in some lovely, beefy tomatoes that were perfectly ripe for a change.  Lovely.

Have fun!

Vegetable Curry (forgot to take a pic!)

4 cooked potatoes, diced

2 carrots, sliced

1/2 a cauliflower, broken into florets

2 tbs oil

1 onion, chopped

2 tbs curry paste (I love Bart's Veeraswamy Gujarat Masala paste, from any supermarket)

1 courgette, sliced

1 tin tomatoes

4 tbs double cream

Boil the carrots and cauliflower for 5 minutes, until tender but still with some bite, and drain.

Fry the onion in the oil until soft.  Add the curry paste and stir. 

Add the cooked vegetables, the courgette and the tomatoes and simmer for about 20 minutes.

Add some seasoning.  Stir in the cream right at the last minute and serve with rice.

Sticky Chicken

Chicken thighs

HP Original BBQ Sauce (Classic Woodsmoke Flavour)

Preheat the oven to 220 degrees/Gas Mark 8.  Slash the thighs a couple of times and smother in a dollop of sauce each.  Then bake in the oven for 35 mins until sticky and caramelised. 

Stuffed Tomatoes

1/2 a red onion, chopped

1 tbs olive oil

1 courgette, finely diced 

6 mushrooms, finely chopped

Handful of fresh herbs: chives, sage, oregano

3 slices of halloumi cheese, diced

1 cup of quinoia (or basmati rice)

4 large beef tomatoes

4 slices of Emmental cheese

Tip the quinoia into a saucepan and add 2 cups of boiling water.  Bring to the boil, then simmer for 10 minutes and drain.  

Meanwhile, fry the onion in the oil until soft, then add the courgette and mushrooms.  Stir until starting to soften, then add the herbs, halloumi and a good pinch of salt and pepper.

Add the quinoia and mix well.

Cut a 'lid' off each tomato, scrape out the seeds and pulp.  Fill each one with a good helping of the quinoia mixture, place a slice of cheese on top and bake in a hot oven (220 degrees/Gas Mark 8) for 20 minutes or until the tomatoes are soft.  Lovely!