Marinated Sardines

Don’t waste your money on buying expensive marinated anchovies from the supermarket, Cornish sardines are big, fresh and juicy at this time of year, so get yourself down to your fishmongers and give these a go yourself. You really must make sure that the fish you use is fresh for this dish.

Ingredients: 

4 large sardines

half cup seasalt

250ml red wine vinegar

Freshly ground black pepper

A handful of finely chopped fresh parsley

Half a white onion, sliced

1 garlic clove, minced

100ml good extra virgin olive oil

A handful of cherry tomatoes to garnish

Instructions: 

1. Gut, clean and fillet the sardines so that you’re left with 8 fillets

2. Rub the sardines with the salt so that they’re all covered, then place on a dish and leave in the fridge for half an hour

3. Transfer the salted sardines in to a bowl and pour over the onions and vinegar. The sardines must be completely submerged in the vinegar. If they’re not. add in some more vinegar then leave in the fridge for 24 hours.

4. Remove the onions from the bowl and leave to one side.

5. Run the sardine fillets under a tap in order to remove the salt and vinegar, then dab dry with a paper towel.

6. Mix together the olive oil, parsley and garlic and pour on to a dish. Rub the sardines in the mixture and ensure that they’re completely coated.

7. Sprinkle over the onions and some of the chopped cherry tomatoes

Serve with some flat bread and a nice cold glass of white wine.

Enjoy

Halloumi and red pepper parcels

A nice quick starter to make for the BBQ.

Ingredients:

A jar of Paprikaschoten peppers (pickled red bell peppers)

Halloumi cheese

Sage leaves

Gound black pepper

Instructions: 

1. Take a whole pepper from the jar, slice a 1cm thick slice of halloumi and wrap it in the pepper

2. Add once leaf of fresh sage inbetween the halloumi and pepper

3. Season and then place onto the BBQ or under a grill to cook for approx 5 minutes each side, or until the cheese has softened

Enjoy!

Rick Stein inspired anchovy salad

I’ve been watching the Rick Stein’s Spain series and feeling all ‘Spanishy’ so thought I’d do my own take on his tasty looking Lettuce, anchovy and egg salad with vinaigrette that he made in last weeks episode. I’ve just used lemon juice instead of vinaigrette as I’m on a pre-wedding diet (yawn!). It really helps to keep the dish light and fresh and compliments the anchovies and egg surprisingly well.

Ingredients: 

1 large Romain Lettuce

10 baby plum tomatoes

1 x tin of anchovy fillets

Juice of 1 fresh lemon

2 medium eggs

Ground black pepper to taste

Instructions: 

1. Boil the eggs for 3 -4 minutes so that the yolks are nice and soft. Once cooked, transfer the eggs to a bowl of cold water to cool down

2. Chop the lettuce width ways into three and then scatter the leaves out on a plate

3. Chop the tomatoes and the eggs lengthways into quarters and evenly distribute over the lettuce leaves.

4. Chop the anchovies width ways into three’s and then break them up and scatter over the lettuce leaves

5. Squeeze over the lemon juice so that it covers all leaves and season with the pepper.

Enjoy!

Summer berry and lemon tart

The freshness of this tart makes it perfect as either a summer treat with a nice glass of Pimms, or as a great finish to any meal. 

Ingredients: 

2 Eggs

100g Caster Sugar

2 Lemons, zest and juice

100ml Double Cream

Strawberries and blackberries for decorating

Half a pack dessert pastry rolled out to half a centimeter thick

Grease proof paper

- makes two large individual tarts -

Instructions:

1. Beat the eggs and sugar together until combined. Beat in the lemon zest and juice and then whisk in the cream. Chill for 1 hour.

2.  Grease two small tart tins, and lay out the pastry so that it’s snuggly fitted into each of the tins. Cut some grease proof paper, and lay out over the pastry. Pour on top some dried butter beans and bake in a pre-heated oven for ten minutes on gasmark 5.

3. Remove the tins from the oven, pour away the beans (save for another time!) and remove the baking paper. Pop the pastry back into the oven for a further ten minutes, or until it’s looking lightly browned.

3. Reduce the oven to gasmark 1. Place the tart tins on a baking tray. Pour in the lemon filling, being careful not to spill over the edges. Bake for 45 minutes, or until just set. Remove from the oven and cool for 20 minutes then transfer to the fridge and chill for at least 2 hours before serving.

4. Top with the berries and Enjoy!

Rule Britannia red velvet cake

Inspired by a Kirsty Allsop topping, and the red velvet sponge of Lorraine Pascale, this cake is great to add colour to any afternoon tea-time get together. Not only does it taste amazing, but when you cut in to the rich red sponge, it looks very impressive indeed!

Ingredients: 

150g softened butter, plus extra for greasing

150g Caster Sugar

2 free-range eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla essence

pinch salt

125g plain flour

25g cocoa powder

1½ tsp baking powder

1 tbsp red food colouring

250ml whipped cream

5 tablespoons strawberry jam

Mixed strawberries, blueberries and raspberries

Instructions: 

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.

2. Take the cake tin and draw round it twice on greaseproof paper. Cut out both circles. Measure the circumference of the tin with string, then cut a long strip of paper the length of the string and fold in half lengthways. Grease the tin with butter and place one of the paper circles into the base. Grease again, add a second circle, then grease once more. Grease the inside edge of the tin and line with the long paper strip.

3. Beat the butter and sugar together in a large bowl until light and fluffy. Gradually beat in the eggs, vanilla and salt, and half of the flour. Add the remaining flour, cocoa powder and baking powder and give it a final beat to mix together. Add the food colouring and mix well. Spoon into the prepared tin and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle comes out clean.

4. Remove the cake from the oven, leave to cool for five minutes, then remove from the tin, peel off the greaseproof paper and leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

5. Once the cake has completely cooled, carefully cut the cake in half lengthways, so that you’re left with a round top and bottom. Smear whipped cream in the middle to make a sandwich, then add a good helping of strawberry jam. Put the halves back together, place on a cake stand and then add whipped cream to the top of the cake. Slice the strawberries in half, and then lay out the pattern on top as per the picture above

6. Serve with a nice hot pot of tea and Enjoy!

Pan fried Mackerel, Fennel and Green apple salad with lime oil

Turning Leaf have created the ultimate summer recipe, inspired by its Pinot Grigio wine. The crisp and fruity wine goes really well with the pan-fried mackerel and the fennel and green apple salad makes it really fresh and light – the perfect dish for a summers lunch. The recipe was created as a collaboration between Turning Leaf winemaker Stephanie Edge and culinary artist Esther Röling – we gave it a go ourselves (substituting the green apples with Braeburn) and thought it pure genius!

Ingredients & Instructions: 

Lime oil:

2 limes

50 ml lemon oil

Use a peeler to remove the zest of the limes. Only remove the green, avoid peeling the white pith. Cut the peel into small squares.

Bring water to a boil and add the zest and remove after 20 seconds. Repeat once more with fresh water. Add the zest to the oil.

Fennel and green apple salad:

2 bulbs of fennel with tops

Juice of ½ a lemon

2 tbs extra virgin olive oil

A pinch of salt

1 green apple, cut into thin sticks

Remove the green tops from the fennel and keep aside. Slice the fennel as thin as possible (if available use a mandolin). Toss the fennel with the lemon juice, fennel tops, olive oil, salt and half the apple. Leave in the fridge to soften for about half an hour. Keep the other half of the apple aside in the fridge.

Mackerel:

4 fillets of mackerel

1 tbs olive oil

Salt and pepper

Warm up a frying pan medium hot. Add the olive oil to the pan. Season the mackerel with salt and pepper. Place the mackerel, skin side down in the pan and carefully push it down to prevent the fish from curling up. Turn the fish after 3 minutes and cook it for another minute flesh side down.

Plating:

1 tbs poppy seeds

12 dill tops

Place a bit of the fennel in the middle of a plate. Put some apple sticks and dill around the fennel salad and drizzle with a bit of the lime oil. Scatter the poppy seeds over the apple. Place the mackerel on top of the fennel salad.

Pan fried Razor Clams

The ultimate fast food! You can’t beat fresh razor clams on a sunny day with a good squeeze of lemon and nice chilled glass of dry white wine. Always best when there’s an ‘R’ in the month, and make sure that when you buy them from your fish monger that they shells are closed and the clams retract when you run your finger over the end of them.

Ingredients: 

8 Fresh razor clams

1 small red chilli (de-seeded and finely chopped)

1 clove of garlic

A dash of white wine

1 tablespoon Olive oil

1 fresh lemon

Instructions: 

1. Put a large frying pan on to the hob to warm up, then add the olive oil.

2. Place the razor clams in to the pan. so that each one is touching the base of the pan, along with the garlic and chilli. Leave to cook for approximately 1 minute

3. By now, the clams should have started to open. Give everything a good shake to ensure the clams are nicely coated in all of the oil, chilli and garlic.

4. Position all of the clams so that they are meat side down, with the outside of the shells facing up. Leave to cook on a high heat for a further 3 minutes

5. Serve with all of the delicious juices poured over, and a good wedge of lemon to squeeze over.

Some crusty bread to mop up the juice at the end of definitely advisable!

Enjoy!

Chicken & Lemon Tagine with warm humous

This is so tasty, healthy.  easy to make, and you can use up any veg that you might have in the cupboard. Don’t be afraid to experiment!

Ingredients for Tagine: 

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 large onion cut into chunky wedges

1 large red pepper cut into thick strips

10 chestnut mushrooms

2 large courgettes, cut in half and into chunks

1 preserved lemon finely sliced

10 dried apricots

1 teaspoon tamarin powder

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1 tablespoon of Barts Spice Baharat

2 large chicken breasts, sliced into chunky strips

4 large fresh tomatoes, diced

150ml chicken stock

Seasalt & freshly ground black pepper to season

Ingredients for warm humous:

800g tinned chick peas

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

Juice of 2 fresh lemons

8 tablespoons of juice from the tagine

1 teaspoon garlic powder

Seasalt & freshly ground black pepper to season

- serves 3/4 people -

Instructions: 

1. Add the olive oil and onion into the pan of the tagine and heat through on the hob.

2. Once the onions have started to soften, add in the mushrooms, peppers, courgettes, apricots and preserved lemons to the pan and cook until softened.

3. Add in the chicken and all spices, give a good stir and increase the heat in order for the chicken to seal

4. Add in the chopped tomatoes (must be fresh, not tinned!) and chicken stock, give a good stir and then pop on the tagine lid and move to a pre-heated oven on Gasmark 6 for 1 hour, stirring occastionally.

5. 10 minutes before the tagine is ready, add the chickpeas, olive oil and lemon juice to a small saucepan, and using a hand blender, blitz until turned into a smooth paste. It will look very dry at this point.

6. Take some stock from the tagine pan and add to the chickpea mix. Season with the garlic powder, salt and pepper and if needed, a little more lemon juice or stock from the tagine to ensure a nice silky texture.

7. Place the humous onto a low heat on the hob and leave to warm through, stirring occasionally to ensure that it doesn’t dry too much or stick to the base of the pan.

8. Plate up the humous, leaving a little well in the middle, then pour in the tagine juices and lovely chicken and veg for serving.

Enjoy!

The Domino’s Pizza Challenge!

So, we thought it would be fun to see whether a home made pizza could be tastier, quicker and cheaper to make than ordering a take-away from Domino’s Pizza, and here’s the result – along with a recipe for the homemade ‘Spanish Sizzler’!

Scoring: 
Taste

Domino’s – 9 out of 10 / Homemade – 8 out of 10

There’s just something about the take away that’s so moorish and bad. That being said, the homemade was just as delicious, but when it comes to the base of the pizza, takeaway wins hands down every time. There’s also a great selection from Domino’s pizza menu, so everyone can get what they like!

Speed 

Domino’s – 10 out of 10 (under 30 mins from ordering to delivery) / Homemade – 9 out of 10 (45 mins – including shopping for ingredients, making the dough base and waiting for it to cook)

Price

Domino’s – 8 out of 10 (A medium Spanish Sizzler costs £12.99 inc delivery and feeds 2, leaving you wanting maybe one more slice) / Homemade – 10 out of 10 (Cost around £10 for ingredients, but would have made 4 times as much as the medium Domino’s Pizza).

Total
Domino’s – 27 out of 30

Homemade –  27 out of 30

SO, an Even-Steven! Whilst homemade is more economical – especially if feeding a family of 4! The flavour, experience and speed of a takeaway just can’t be beaten with home cooking… I suppose if it could, then takeaways would never be as successful as they are!

Homemade Pizza – The Spanish Sizzler 

Ingredients (pizza dough) 

500g Strong white bread flour

1 tablespoon golden caster sugar

1 tablespoon finely ground seasalt

1 pack of dried yeast

1/2 pint tepid warm water

Ingredients (topping) 

1 tin chopped tomatoes

2 cloves garlic

Handful fresh basil

Buffalo mozerella

Green pepper

Chorizo

Cooked chicken

freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:
1. Put the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl

2. Add the yeast, sugar and water to a jug – stir, then leave to one side for 5 minutes

3. Add the yeast mixture to the flour, and mix together.

4. Empty the mixture on to a well floured work surface and knead well with your hands until it’s nice and bouncy.

5. Put to one side, covered in cling film for 5 minutes

6. Add the tomatoes, garlic and basil to a bowl and blitz with a hand blender until smooth

7. Once the base is ready, tear off a piece, roll out and then place on a wire rack.

8. Smear plenty of the tomato base sauce over the dough, and then top with the mozzarella, chicken, peppers and chorizo

9. Place in a pre-heated oven (gas mark 9) for 10 minutes, or until the crust has gone nice and crispy

Enjoy! (sprinkle with a few chilli flakes for a ‘sizzling’ taste!)

Summer chicken stew

This is such a healthy, fresh one-pot dinner that’s packed full of veg – and if you don’t want to use chicken, you could use any other type of meat, or even fish. And feel free to use whichever veg you like too – It’s entirely up to you.

Ingredients: 

1 large stick of lemon grass (bang with the back of a knife to bruise and release the flavours)

2 teaspoons finely grated fresh ginger

3 cloves garlic (peeled and bashed, then added whole)

2 pints of vegetable or chicken stock

2 carrots, chopped in to chunks (no need to peel)

2 large leeks, chopped in to chunky pieces

3 courgetttes, chopped in to large chunks

A good handful of green beans, cut in half

1 whole medium chicken

2 cups of frozen peas

Lots of freshly ground black pepper

Salt to taste

- serves 4 very large portions, or 6 average -

Instructions: 

1. Take a very large, deep casserole pot and throw in the ginger, garlic, lemongrass and all of your chopped veg (minus the peas)

2. Skin the chicken and then carve it so that you’re left with 2 breasts, 2 thighs and 2 drum sticks (you could use the carcass and wings to boil with some water and make up your chicken stock – then pick the bits of meat off for adding to a risotto the next day!)

3. Chop the chicken breasts into big chunky pieces and then add all of the chicken pieces to the pot.

4. Pour over the stock (it will speed things up a little if this goes in hot) and add the black pepper

5. Give everything a good stir, then add the lid to the casserole pot and pop it in the oven, gas mark 6 for 2 hours – giving a little stir every so often.

6. Five minutes before serving, remove the pot from the oven. add the peas and return for the final 5 minutes

7. Remove from the oven, ensure all chicken is cooked through and serve in nice soup bowls

Enjoy!

Top tip! Serve with some warm crusty bread to soak up all of the lovely broth at the end