Pea & pesto soup with fish finger croutons

Quite possibly the easiest & quickest soup I have ever made! I tried to make a Minced Beef Wellington this evening, but it was a disaster! So this was what I made instead as I had no time and little else in!

The only change I made to this recipe (taken from the goodfood wesite) was an onion, sweated before adding the other ingredients. My children loved having fish fingers in their soup!

• 500g frozen peas
• 4 medium potatoes , peeled and cut into cubes
• 1l hot vegetable stock
• 300g pack fish fingers (about 10)
• 3 tbsp green pesto 

1. Tip the peas and potatoes into a large saucepan, then pour in the stock. Bring to the boil and simmer for 10 mins, until the potato chunks are tender. Meanwhile, grill the fish fingers as per pack instructions until cooked through and golden. Cut into bitesize cubes and keep warm.
2. Take a third of the peas and potatoes out of the pan with a slotted spoon and set aside. Blend the rest of the soup until smooth, then stir in the pesto with the reserved vegetables. Heat through and serve in warm bowls with the fish finger croûtons on top.

Beef Paprikash

I wanted to try something new instead of the usual beef stew that I usually make. This turned out better than I expected, and not at all spicy. All the children enjoyed it, served with some lightly steamed carrots & broccolli.  I have saved some for my lunch tomorrow!

Ingredients

• 500g braising beef
• 1 tbsp flour , seasoned really well
• olive oil
• 1 large onion , halved and sliced
• 2 garlic cloves , crushed
• 250g chestnut mushrooms , halved if large
• 1 red pepper , sliced
• 1 tbsp paprika
• 2 tsp caraway seeds
• 1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes
• 300ml beef stock
• a small bunch parsley , chopped
• basmati rice , to serve
• soured cream , to serve 

1. Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Toss the beef with the seasoned flour then brown all over in 1 tbsp oil in a large pan. Scoop out, then add the onions and cook really well until soft and browned at the edges. Add the garlic, mushrooms and pepper and cook for 5 minutes until softened. Return the beef to the pan and add the spices, tomatoes and beef stock. Put on a lid and transfer to the oven and cook for 2-2.5 hours until beef is really tender and sauce thickened.
2. Stir in the parsley. Serve with rice and soured cream.

Veg packed lasagne with chorizo

This is just a made up recipe, I wanted to use up leftovers from the fridge! I like to get as many vegetables as I can into my dishes, and this has onion, celery, mushrooms, peppers & tomatoes in it. I had a 2 inch chuck of chorizo left too, so sliced that up thin & bunged it in the sauce along with the beef mince.

Minced Beef 450g
Tin of Tomatoes 400g
Mushrooms 100g
Chopped onion 1
Garlic 1 clove
Celery - 2sticks
Red pepper 1
Beef Stock 1/2 pint (300ml)
Butter 25g
Leftover chorizo, chopped small
Lasagne  1 Packet (dry or fresh)
FOR THE WHITE SAUCE
Milk 300ml
Butter 25g
Plain Flour 25g
Grated Cheddar 50g

One Pan Sage & Onion chicken & sausages

This is a lovely tasty Nigella recipe that I tried out on Sunday. I served it with vichy carrots and bread-sauce-flavoured potato dauphinoise - delicious! The marinade has to be made the nigth before, so that the chicken can take on teh flavours overnight. I was worried about the mustard in it, as I am not a fan of mustard, but it was lovely.

Ingredients

• 1 large onion or 2 small onions
• 125ml olive oil (not extra virgin)
• 2 teaspoons English mustard
• 1 tablespoon dried sage
• Ground pepper
• 1 lemon
• 1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
• 2kg chicken, jointed into 10 pieces (I just used a pack of bone-in chicken thighs)
• 12 sausages
• 2 tablespoons chopped sage leaves

Method

1. Peel and cut the onion into eighths, and put into a freezer bag with the oil, mustard, dried sage, a good grinding of pepper, the lemon juice, the squeezed-out husks cut into eighths, and the Worcestershire sauce. Squidge everything around to mix (the mustard needs help to combine) and then add the chicken pieces. Leave to marinate in the fridge overnight, or for up to two days.
2. Preheat the oven to gas mark 7/220°C. Allow the chicken to come to room temperature in its marinade.
3. Arrange the chicken pieces in a roasting tin, skin-side up, with the marinade, including all the bits and pieces, and tuck the sausages around them. Sprinkle the fresh sage leaves over the chicken and sausages and then put the tin into the oven to cook for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Turn the sausages over halfway through to colour them evenly.
4. Arrange the chicken and sausages on a large platter.

Serves: 6

Baked Spanish Risotto

This amazing recipe is from the Good Food website members section. It was utterly delicious! I also happen to love bung-it-in-the-oven type meals :) I left out the prawns, but kept the rest of the recipe the same.

 

• 250g cherry tomatoes
• 1 red onion, finely chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 300g risotto rice
• 4 chicken thigh fillets, halved
• 200g chorizo, thickly sliced
• 2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
• 1 litre hot chicken stock
• pinch of saffron strands
• 8 large, raw prawns
• salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Preheat the oven to 220C/Gas 7. Place the cherry tomatoes in a roasting tin and sprinkle over the red onion, garlic and olive oil. Roast for 20 minutes until the tomatoes are softened.
2. Stir in the rice, chicken, chorizo, rosemary, chicken stock, saffron and some salt and pepper, mixing well together. Return to the over for a further 20 minutes.
3. Stir in the prawns and return to the oven for a further 10 minutes until the rice is tender and the chicken is cooked through.

Gnocchi & Bacon Bake

This is just a quick & easy recipe I put together myself. It's a winner with kids, and very filling. I served it alongside some bread rolls, but no-one could manage those!

1 pack fresh gnocchi
1 tin 400g chopped tomatoes
Half red onion diced
4 slices of bacon chopped
Splash balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon Italian herbs (oregano, basil or whatever you have)
Cheese for topping
(I also added crispy onions & Panko breadcrumbs to the topping, but these are optional)

Fry the bacon until coloured in a little oil. Add the onion & soften. Tip in the tomatoes, balsamic & herbs, and simmer until sauce thickens. Meanwhile, cook the gnocchi as per packet instructions. Drain the gnocchi, and add to a casserole/lasagne dish. Add teh sauce & stir through. Sprinkle on your toppings & cook in the oven at 200 c for about 25 minutes.

Chicken Cacciatore

I stumbled across this fabulous cookery blog, thepoineerwoman.com, which is full of great sounding recipes. First on my list to try was this chicken cacciatore - her pictures of the dish are stunning and make it look so tasty! You can see the photos and recipe here ... pioneer woman blog . Scroll right down past the photos to findthe recipe. I'm afariad mine is nowhere near as good! The dish though, was very very tasty. My husband thought it tasted a little bit like chicken bolognaise, I just enjoyed it. I served mine with spaghetti.

Bagels

I always thought bagels would be "difficult" to make. How wrong I was! I had a quick google for a recipe, just to see how tricky it was going to be. The very first recipe that came up looked far too simple, I didnt think it coudl work. Of course, I managed to mess up even this simple recipe teh first time hee hee. I forgot to add sugar, so there was absolutely no rise in the yeast/dough. I quickly started a 2nd batch though, as soon as I realised. When they came out of the oven, I couldnt believe they looked like real bagels! I  ate one for lunch, topped with scrambled egg and it was delicious! I am going to try & adapt the recipe to make cinnamon & raisin bagels - my favourite!

4 cups bread flour
1 Tbls sugar
1 1/2 tsps salt
1 Tbls vegetable oil
2 tsps instant yeast
1-1/4- 1-1/2 cups of warm water.

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. You don't have to worry about soaking the yeast when you use instant yeast (most yeast sold these days is instant yeast). The dough should feel stiff, but add the extra water if it's really stiff, or you can't get all the dry flour incorporated.
Plop the dough down onto the counter, and knead for about ten minutes, or until the dough is uniform and smooth.
Cut the dough into 8 equal sized balls, and let rest for 10-20 minutes.
Pre heat your oven to 425.
Now, take each of the dough balls and using two hands, roll it into a little snake on the counter. When the snake is longer than the width of your two hands, wrap it around your dominant roiling hand. The dough rope should be wrapped so the overlapping ends are together at your palm, near the start of your fingers. Now take the two overlapping ends, and use your palm to squish/roll these two ends together. Once the dough is fused, you should have a perfectly circular bagel-to-be! This is the only part of the process that can take a little practice before your bagels will look really professional. Don't get discouraged if they don't look perfect, it just takes practice!
Let your bagels rest on the counter for about 20 minutes, and meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil, and grease a large baking tray lightly. You can just rub a splash of vegetable oil and rub it around.
After the 20 minute wait, your bagels will start to look puffy, and it's time to get them boiling! Add them as many at a time as you can to your boiling water without crowding them. Boil for about a minute, turn them over, and boil for another minute. Take them out a let dry for a minute and then place them on your oiled baking tray. Repeat until all the bagels are boiled.

Add the tray to the oven, and after 10 minutes, flip the bagels over, bake for another ten minutes; and they're done!
Let them cool for at least 20 minutes.

Meatloaf with tomato butter sauce

Tonight, I combined 2 recipes that I have found in the last few days. I'm a secret watcher of the show Teen Mom, and a girl on there was raving about meatloaf from the US restuarant chain Cracker Barrel. Curious, I googled the recipe and found it very easily. I didnt fancy just plain ketchup as a sauce for it though, so I decided to try the tomato & butter sauce recipe I found via the Smitten Kitchen blog. Together, they made a pretty tasty meal! The tomato sauce is also great on cooked pasta.

Meatloaf recipe

1 pound mince
½ medium onion, diced
½ green pepper, diced
1 egg
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pepper
4 tablespoons breadcrumbs
¼ cup ketchup (I left this out & replaced with another sauce)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Place all ingredients, except ketchup, in a large bowl. Mix well with hands. Place in loaf pan and press down gently. Bake at 350 f  for 1 hour. Remove from oven and let rest 5 minutes. Spread ¼ cup ketchup over top of loaf and serve.
Serves 4.

Tomato & butter sauce recipe (this makes quite a lot, you will probably only need half for the meatloaf)

2 400g tins chopped tomatoes
70g butter
1 onion, sliced in half & peeled.

Put all the ingredients in a pan, and slowly bring to the boil. Simmer gently for 45 mins. Remove the onion, and spoon over the sliced meatloaf.

Chicken Pakoras

This week, I bought myself a few bags of herbs that I needed to try out some new recipes. One of the herbs I bought was fenugreek leaves. I love the smell of them! I stuck my nose in the bag and took a deep breath - mmmm! It's such a deep wonderful smell, the aroma that hits you as you walk into an Indian supermarket.

I bought the fenugreek leaves  to add to my pakora batter. I've made pakora's before, but used fenugreek seeds instead (by accident) and they did not taste right. This time, they were perfect! I have eaten loads, and I am suitably stuffed now :)

Serves 2

2 chicken breasts
1 tsp veg oil
1 teaspoon garlic & ginger paste
2 tsps tomato puree
2 tsps lemon juice
pinch of salt


125g gram flour
1 tsp dried fenugreek leaves
1 large hadfull fresh chopped coriander
2 tsps cumin powder
1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp salt
120 ml water

Oil for deep frying

Chop the chicken into bitesize pieces. Add the veg oil, garlic/ginger paste, tomato puree, lemon juice & pinch of salt, and mix thoroughly. Put aside.

Combine the gram flour, fenugreek, spices, salt & caoriander in a large bowl. Slowly add the water until the mixture is thick like double cream. Add the chicken, and allow to rest for 30 minutes.

Cook the pakoras in batches, for 5-6 minutes each. Try not to over crowd the pan. Remove from the oil & drain on kitchen towel.