Ricotta

This recipe makes a delicious homemade ricotta and yet is really quite easy to do and takes very little time. The cheesecakes that I make with this ricotta are themselves so tender and melt in your mouth.

recipe...

Chilli con carne

The Mexican dish of chili con carne - very popular and loved in the US and throughout Europe and beyond. This simple dish is made with ground or minced beef, kidney beans, vegetables, spices and, of course, chili. It is a very tasty dish, and is often served with boiled rice, but you should also try it on a tasty baked potato, sliced lengthwise along with a spoon of soured cream.

It is also a dish that is ideally suited to freezing – cook up a large batch and freeze into suitably-sized portions. After a long day you only need to defrost your chili con carne, cook a portion of rice, et voila, you have a delicious and healthy (TV) dinner!

As you all know, I have a great interest in herbs and spices – as well as the punchiness that you get with spices such as chili, they can also be used to give a subtle and delicate flavor accent to a dish. Star anise is often used in sweet baked goods, fruit salads, compotes, etc, to deliver that subtle accent, but in this recipe, as odd as it may seem, it gives an incredible taste to the beef. Take my advice and be sure to use it - you might just like it!

A detailed recipe...

Garlic mayonnaise

Garlic mayonnaise – an aioli originally from France which is very easy to make (literally within a few minutes) and absolutely delicious!

This is a very versatile sauce that can be used as a dressing for salads, can add a great flavour to your roasted potatoes, and is a wonderful sauce for fried salmon. In its simplest form, use it as a dip with your favourite dippers (mine is spicy potato wedges!). My personal favourite (a guilty pleasure) is garlic mayonnaise with pizza – you have to try it!

Crunchy oat flakes

Breakfast that all the family will enjoy – energy-boosting oat flakes with nuts and seeds, dried fruits and berries... a big variety of ingredients that you can adjust to your taste.

Your breakfast will be super healthy and incredibly tasty!

 

Chicken liver pate

Our family loves this chicken liver pate, made with an old family recipe.

It works well as a starter and looks great on the table. Try spreading it on a thin slice of toast – really tasty!

recipe...

Happy New Year Everybody!!!

 I have a big passion for cupcakes and love making them whenever I get the chance. These cute little cakes took no time to make for New Year’s Eve, but very few of them made it into 2012 – they were a huge hit with the family!

 

Clafoutis

The traditional French dessert Clafoutis is tenderness itself! This beautiful dish is created by baking various fruits and berries in a light batter. It is so simple to make and very quick - there is little reason not to give it a go!

Originally Clafoutis was made with cherries and I’m sure there are a few purists and traditionalists out there who refuse to call a dish Clafoutis if it contains other fruits, but really you can use any kind of fruit and berries (in fact I recommend it!).

Here is my Clafoutis, which was made with a variety of berries (raspberries, strawberries, blackberries and blueberries). A little bit too much, perhaps, but I had small amounts of each left over and decided to make use of them all at once. This Clafoutis was delicious – but I have to tell you that one I made with soft, ripe figs was out of this world – simply divine! Unfortunately, it didn’t last long enough for me to photograph it, but if you want to make it with figs, just replace the berries with fresh, ripe figs in the recipe below (quarter the figs) - you can also skip the first step and simply place the quartered figs into the buttered dishes.

I have made this dish in individually-sized portions using ramekins or small baking dishes or in a family-sized portion using a single baking dish to serve from the table – both work really well.

 

Baked butternut squash

Unusual, but so tasty!  Baked butternut squash with rice, pine nuts and sage.

I had never used fresh sage before, using only dried in cooking previously, but using fresh works really well with butternut squash – not too overpowering. This can be a tasty side dish or you can make it into a wholesome meal by adding cooked chicken into the rice.

So simple, so delicious and so colourful...

  

Banana Oatmeal Muffins

These tasty muffins are perfect for breakfast, guaranteed to give you a great start to the day and to put you in good spirits for the rest of day! Oatmeal, bananas, walnuts - everything you need for a healthy breakfast! The muffins very easy to make, with just 10 minutes preparation time and baking time of 20 minutes – in just half an hour your family will enjoy warm, tasty muffins for breakfast.