Fry up coriander, onion and garlic:

Add the fried coriander, onion & garlic to sunflower oil, tomato puree and some chilli sauce:

Coat the meat with your marinade, add tomatoes, peppers and anything else you fancy (add some stock or water to get a sauce):

Served with a lentil, garlic & spinach daal, mint raita and basmati rice:

The tomatoes over in Gran Canaria taste amazing … once you’ve had a tomato that actually tastes like a tomato then nothing else compares!

Unfortunately next door’s cat kept digging up our green beans and pooping in the soil, grrr! So no beans this year. The cat has also attempted to destroy the fennel but I managed to save three seedlings from it’s grubby horrible paws.

The potatoes have LOVED the weather and grew like mad. Question is… how many potatoes will we get and will they be any good?

I suppose that’s a great reason for making your own pizza: you have complete control over everything – how crispy the base is and what kind of toppings to use.

If the thought of making your own dough puts you off there are easy ways to cheat. You can buy pre-made pizza bases in the supermarket, although in my experience they don’t taste great, or buy a packet of pizza dough. This stuff is great because you just need to add water and kneed it into shape.

My favourite pizza toppings are all the classics: finely chopped onions, peppers, tomatoes, olives and chillis, of course. A nice bit of cheddar, parmesan and fresh mozzarella add the cheese-factor.

Ingredients

For the sauce
passata (sieved tomatoes)
a handful of chopped basil leaves
a handful of chopped oregano leaves
a sprinkle of salt & pepper

For the dough
a packet of pizza dough
warm water

For the toppings
anything you fancy! I used:
1 red onion
1 green pepper
2 red chillis
a few black olives
a few cherry tomatoes
sliced mozzarella
grated cheddar
grated parmesan

Method

Follow the instructions on your packet of pizza dough. Remember to leave it to rise for about 20 minutes. If you feel brave then have a go at tossing your pizza. If not, get your other half to do it for you (so if he drops if you can blame him!)

Pour the passata into a saucepan and warm it up (don’t boil it). Add the basil, oregano and salt & pepper. Stir the sauce while gently warming it. If you think it needs thickening up add a small amount of tomato paste.

You may want to pre-cook your pizza base a small amount before adding any sauce or toppings. I put mine in the oven for about 5 minutes on 220 degrees. This helps it to crisp up a bit so that the sauce doesn’t make it too soggy.

Spread the sauce over the pizza base. Sprinkle your chosen toppings on to the pizza. Place in the oven for around 20 minutes at 220 degrees.

I’ve also recently planted some coriander and basil but nothing has sprouted yet.

Anyway, I found a recipe for an Ultimate Chocolate Cake by Angela Nilsen but reduced the amount of sugar and butter because after weighing up the ingredients, I decided that I didn’t want this cake to be the single reason for giving myself and my housemates heart attacks and diabetes. Here’s what I did:

Ingredients

The Cake
200g dark chocolate (I used Lindt’s 85% cocoa bar)
150g unsalted butter
85g self raising flour
85g plain flour
1/4 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
100g muscovado sugar
150g caster sugar
3 medium eggs
75ml buttermilk

The Icing
200g dark chocolate (I used Lindt’s dark cherry chocolate but any will do)
260ml double cream
1 tablespoon of caster sugar

I used two round cake tins, 7 inches diameter.

Method

Butter the cake tins and pre-heat the oven to gas mark 3 or 160 degrees.

Melt 200g of the chocolate. You could do this by boiling a saucepan of water, then placing a heatproof bowl over the saucepan and put the broken up chocolate squares into the bowl. When the chocolate is melting, add the butter and stir until it’s all melted together.

Put the self raising and plain flour into a mixing bowl, along with the bicarb of soda and the sugars. Mix these ingredients together with your hands, removing any lumps that you feel.

Beat the eggs in a bowl and add the buttermilk to them. Add the egg mixture and the melted chocolate to the flour and sugar. Stir the mixture until smooth. It won’t be very runny, but nor should it be too tough so add a drop more of buttermilk if you think it needs it.

Pour into your tin or tins, whack it in the oven and bake for about 1 hour 25 minutes. When cooked, you should be able to stab a skewer through the cake without it leaving any cake mixture on it. If it does, just cook it for a few more minutes and check again.

Let the cake cool down completely before you add any icing to it, otherwise the chocolate in the icing will melt while you try to get it to stay on the cake.

If you made the cake in one tin, you might want to cut it into two pieces, or not – it’s your choice! I made two sections so that I could add some of the icing in the middle.

To make the icing – warm up the cream in a saucepan but don’t boil or burn it! When it’s very warm add the sugar then break up the chocolate and stir it in until melted and smooth.

Let the icing cool a little then spread a bit on the top of the bottom layer. Sandwich the layers together. Pour the rest of the icing over the top of the cake and spread it around the sides.

As you can see from the photos, I’m terrible at icing cakes but the mess doesn’t bother me – it’s the taste that matters! I added some Mini Eggs, as it’s Easter, and some chocolate sprinkles.

Yay!

Ingredients

1 butternut squash
1 large brown onion
2 large potatoes
3 cloves of garlic
around 1 pint of chicken stock
1 teaspoon ground cumin (optional)
a generous pinch of salt and pepper
olive oil

Makes around 4 portions

Method

Chop the squash in half, lengthways. Remove the seeds then chop the squash into chunks, leaving the skin on. Peel the potatoes and the onion, then chop these into chunks as well.

Put the squash, potatoes, onion and garlic (with skin on) into a large roasting tin. Drizzle oil over the vegetables and sprinkle the cumin, salt and pepper all over. Roast for around 25 minutes at about 200 degrees.

The vegetables should have softened up in the oven. Take out the garlic cloves and remove their skins.

Place the roasted veg (and skinless garlic) into a food processor and whizz them up while gradually adding the chicken stock, until you get a tasty mush of vegetables.

Transfer the puree to a saucepan and warm it through. You can add more stock/water if you like a runny soup, or you can boil off some of the stock already added if you like it thicker.

You could serve this with a small amount of creme fraiche, some chopped spring onions and a sprinkle of salt and pepper.

Tasty, warming Winter food. Delicious!

They’re a really versatile vegetable and carry other flavours well, such as chilli. I usually steam leeks and have them as part of a roast dinner but in this recipe I stir fry them to add colour and flavour to a pasta dish.

Ingredients

4 Lincolnshire sausages
1 large leek
1 red pepper
1/2 an onion
2 cloves of garlic
2 red chillis
a pinch of dried thyme
a knob of butter
a small bit of grated cheese
pasta shapes

Serves 2-3 people

Method

Begin by cooking the sausages under the grill. They’ll take around 20 minutes so you can stir fry the other ingredients while they’re cooking. You could also begin to boil your pasta too.

Chop the vegetables then melt the butter in a warmed frying pan or wok. Add the onion and red pepper. Cook until the onions begin to brown then add the dried thyme, garlic, chillis and leek.

When the vegetables have softened take the cooked sausages and chop them into small chunks. Stir them into the veggie mixture and cook for a further two-ish minutes.

Just before serving, stir a small amount of cheese into the sausages and vegetables.

Enjoy your tasty and colourful pasta meal!

This spicy rice dish makes a great lunchtime snack (make it the night before then heat it up in a microwave when you’re hungry) or can be an accompaniment to something meaty – I had this with leftover chicken drumsticks.

Ingredients

basmati rice
boiling water
2 teaspoons turmeric
1/2 teaspoon garam masala (optional)
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (chilli powder)
1/2 red onion
1/2 green pepper
1 or 2 red chillis
a handful of peas

Method

Chop the onion, green pepper and chilli. In a large, deep frying pan or wok, fry these ingredients for a few minutes until they soften.

Add the rice into the pan, followed by the water. I used 1/2 a mug of rice (enough for two people, feel free to use more if you want more) and roughly 1 1/4 mugs of boiling water. Stir the rice, making sure it doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.
Tip: You may want to add the water in bit by bit as it gets absorbed. This will make sure you don’t use too much water and get soggy rice.

Stir in the turmeric, chilli powder and garam masala (if using). Bring the rice to the boil and add the peas.

Simmer until the rice has absorbed the water and serve (then wash up!).

Basically it’s a bit like a pestle and mortar but instead of beating the living daylights out of whatever you’re making, you shake the ingredients inside the shaker and a ceramic ball smashes it all up for you.

It seems to mix herbs, peppercorns, chillis, etc. together really well and is fabulous for making dressings. Unfortunately it doesn’t bash up cloves of garlic or other largish bits and bobs very well, so I won’t be getting rid of the old pestle and mortar for a while.