Spiced Prawns

Fry one sliced onion, in olive oil until golden. Stir in 2tsp grated fresh ginger and 1/2tsp ground cumin, and 1/2tsp of crushed coriander seeds. After a minute stir in 1/2tsp of turmeric, pinch of dried chilli flakes and 250g raw prawns. Stir for a few minutes until the prawns turn pink. Add 250ml (approx) of roast tomato sauce (see post below), and heat. Serve on a bed of steamed rice, sprinkled with coriander.

Roast Tomato Sauce

Whilst its lovely, to pour over cook books, or foodie magazines, and create something delicious and new for dinner, sometime you just can't beat some pasta and a good sauce!

Having spent the last six weeks mainly eating carb free, today was a day for a treat -pasta, with roast tomato sauce.

Roast Tomato Sauce

1kg tomatoes halved

4 garlic gloves roughly chopped

2tsp caster sugar

2tbsp tomato puree

2tbsp olive oil
handful of fresh basil leaves

Preheat the oven to Gas 5, spread the tomatoes in a large roasting tin. Sprinkle with sugar, olive oil, garlic and puree. Roast for one hour until soft and slightly charred in places.

Scatter with basil leaves, crushing the tomatoes down with a fork to form a sauce. I prefer mine to be a littler more refined, so give it a quick whizz in the blender.

Simple and delicious.

This sauce will keep in the fridge for up to four days and freezes well.

Apricot and Almond Traybake

250g butter
225g golden caster sugar
275g self raising flour
2tsp baking powder
finely grated zest of 1 orange and 2tbsp orange juice
75g ground almonds
5 medium eggs lightly beaten
225g chopped ready to eat apricots

Preheat the oven to gas mark 4. Grease a 20.5x33com tin and baseline.

Put all of the ingredients except the apricots into the bowl of a free standing mixer and mix until thouroughly combined.

Fold in the apricots. Spoon the mixture into the prepared tin, smooth the surface with a pallet knife. You might want to sprinkle the surface with some flaked almonds.

Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, until risen and golden.

Cool in the tin and cut into squares.

Enjoy!

This is increadibly easy to make, and tastes out of this world. I liketo think its healthy because it contains fruit!!

Hot Cross Buns

Ingredients
For the ferment starter:
1 large egg, beaten
215ml warm water
15g fresh yeast
1 tsp sugar
55gstrong white flour
For the dough:
450g strong white flour
1 tsp salt
2 tsp ground mixed spice
85g butter cut into cubes
85gsugar
1 lemon, grated, zest only
170g mixed dried fruit
2 tbsp plain flour
oil, for greasing
1 tbsp golden syrup, gently heated, for glazing


1. Prepare the ferment starter for the dough by combining the beaten egg with enough warm water to give approximately 290ml/½ pint of liquid. Whisk in the yeast, sugar and flour, cover and put in a warm place for 30 minutes.
2. make the buns: sieve the flour, salt and spice into a large mixing bowl and rub in the butter. Make a well in the centre and put the sugar and lemon zest in the well. Pour on the ferment starter.
3. Gradually draw in the flour and mix vigorously, then knead to a smooth, elastic dough.
4. Carefully work in the mixed dried fruit. Shape the dough into a ball, put it in a warm, greased bowl, cover with a clean tea towel and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour.
5. Turn out the dough and knead to knock out any air bubbles and give an even texture. Shape it into a ball again, put back into the bowl, cover and put back to rise for another 30 minutes.
6. Turn out the dough again and divide into 12 even pieces. Shape them into buns and leave to rest for a few minutes on the work surface covered with the tea towel.
7. Place the buns on a lightly greased baking sheet. Slightly flatten each bun and then cut into quarters, cutting almost all the way through the dough, so that as each bun rises, it has a well-marked cross on it.
8. Grease a large polythene bag and place the tray with the buns in it and tie the end. Put in a warm place and leave to rise for 40 minutes.
9. Meanwhile, heat the oven to 240C/475F/Gas 8. Make a paste for the crosses on the buns with the plain flour and 2 tbsp cold water. Mix until it is soft enough to pipe through a nozzle.
10. Remove the polythene bag and pipe a cross on each bun. Bake the buns for 8 -12 minutes or until risen and golden. Brush the buns with hot golden syrup as soon as they are ready. Cool on a wire rack.

Prawn and Chorizo Jamalaya

150g dice chorizo
1 each, small red pepper and yellow pepper, diced
1 onion finely chopped
2 celery sticks finely sliced
2 garlic gloves chopped
1 red chilli chopped finely
200g long grain rice
227g chopped tomato, tinned
700ml vegetable stock
1/2tsp tabasco sauce
200g raw tiger prawns, peeled
Cook the chorizo in a wide deep frying pan. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.

To the pan add peppers, onion, celery, garlic and chilli, stirring occasionally, cook for 5 minutes. Stri in the rice, cook for 1 minute, add the tomatos, stock and tabasco sauce and bring to the boil. Cover, reduce the heat, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 12 minutes until most of the liquid has evaporated.
Stir in the chorizo and prawns and cook for a further few minutes.
You might like to garnish with spring onions and lime wedges.

Cheesy Macaroni

Ingredients For the cheese sauce

1pint milk

50g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing the dish

50g plain flour

1 bay leaf

175gcheddar cheese

50g Parmesan

300g macaroni
.Heat oven

Gas 6. Fill a large saucepan three-quarters full with water and put it on a high heat to boil. Meanwhile, make the sauce. Using hot milk to make a béchamel greatly reduces the risk of a lumpy sauce, so start by pouring the milk into a medium saucepan and place it over a medium heat, until the milk is hot, but not quite boiling. Pour the hot milk into a jug and keep it standing by

Putthe butter in the medium saucepan and melt it over a low heat. As soon as it has melted, tip in the flour. Turn up the heat a little. Stir the flour and butter with a wooden spoon to make a thick paste called a roux. It is very important to cook this roux a little or you will end up with a floury-tasting sauce, so keep stirring it for a minute or two while it sizzles gently. Pour in about a quarter of the hot milk and stir it carefully into the roux. Gradually add the rest of the milk and keep whisking gently until it is all thoroughly mixed in. Add the bay leaf. Bring the sauce to the boil and then turn the heat down to low. Let the sauce gently simmer for about five minutes. Meanwhile, grate the two cheeses, keeping them separate. Grease a large ovenproof dish (about 22cm square) with plenty of butter.

Season the sauce very well with a good grinding of black pepper, a generous grinding of salt and pepper. Add the grated cheddar cheese to the sauce . When the water in the large pot starts to boil, add a good pudding spoonful of salt and the macaroni and cook the pasta for two minutes less than the time it says on the packet. Add the pasta to the cheese sauce and stir together well until thoroughly combined. Pour the cheesy macaroni into the ovenproof dish. Spread evenly and sprinkle it with the grated Parmesan. Place the dish in the oven and bake for about 20 minutes, until the cheese on top has turned golden brown and the sauce is bubbling.

Sometime we just need a bit of comfort from our food, and what could be better than this?

Pea and Watercress Soup

2tbsp olive oil
15g butter

1 large onion chopped

1 garlic glove chopped

1 large potato cubed

1.5 litres of chicken stock

900g frozen peas

100g watercress

Heat the oil and butter in a large pan, add the onions and garlic, cook gently until softened. Add the potato and toss with the onion and garlic before adding the stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 15 mins until the potato is tender.

Add the frozen peas and simmer for a few minutes. Add the watercress and stir until wilted. Remove from the heat, cool, and then blend until smooth. Season to taste, and reheat to serve.