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Friday, 12 August 2016

Avocado, chilli, tomato, garlic and lemon spaghetti. 
This is one for all you avocado lovers out there. This avocado, chilli, lemon and garlic pasta sauce takes two minutes to whizz up in the blender and creates a really creamy spaghetti sauce with a kick. 

I like to serve this dish with some freshly grated parmesan on top (and sometimes even some pine nuts) but if you want to keep it vegan/vegetarian friendly then it still tastes great without the cheese. 
Serves 2

Ingredients: 
  • 200g uncooked spaghetti
  • 1 avocado
  • 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice
  • 1/4 red chilli (or 1/4 tsp dried chilli flakes).
  • 1 teaspoon of garlic paste or 1 clove of garlic.
  • 1-2 tablespoons olive oil 
  • Handful of cherry tomatos
  • 1 tablespoon pinenuts (optional)
  • Grated cheese (optional)
  • Salt
  • Pepper 
Method:

1. Cook the spaghetti in salted water according to the instructions on the pack. 
2. Cut the avocado in half and spoon out the contents into a food processor.
3. Add the garlic, chilli, lemon juice, olive oil and a good seasoning of salt and pepper to the avocado and blend until smooth.
4. Halve the cherry tomatoes and add to a small frying pan with the pine nuts.
5. Dry fry the tomatoes and pine nuts for 1-2 minutes on a low heat until lightly toasted. 
6. Once the spaghetti is cooked, drain the spaghetti and return to the same pan leaving around 1 tablespoons worth of water in the pan with the cooked spaghetti.
7. Return the spaghetti pan to low heat, add the avocado mixture and stir throughly. 
8. Turn off the heat, add the tomatoes and mix. 
8. Serve in preheated bowls with a grating of cheese. 




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Monday, 8 August 2016

Vegetable samosas with mint yoghurt dipping sauce

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Wednesday, 22 June 2016

Chocolate brownies with raspberry jam filling

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Monday, 20 June 2016

Creamy curried courgette soup with ciabatta.
Ingredients: 

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 small/medium yellow onions chopped
1 teaspoon minced garlic
2 teaspoons curry powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Pinch cayenne
1kg courgette, trimmed and chopped (3 large courgettes, or 4 smaller ones)
840ml vegetable stock
120ml single cream












Method: 

1. In a large pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat. 
2. Add the chopped onions and garlic and cook, stirring, until soft, about 3 minutes. 
3. Add the curry powder, salt, and cayenne, stir, and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. 
4. Peel at least one of the courgettes (too much skin makes the soup go dark green, too little skin makes the soup turn grey) and chop all of the courgettes into chunks and add to the pan. 
5. Reduce to medium heat and cook, stirring occasionally until soft-  5 to 6 minutes. 
6. Add the stock and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the courgette is very tender, about 20 minutes.
7. Remove from the heat. With a blender, puree the soup. 
8. Return to medium heat and stir in the cream. Simmer for 3 minutes. Adjust the seasoning to taste. 
9. Allow to cool slightly and serve. 

10. Alternatively you can pour the soup into container(s) and refrigerate or freeze for later.
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Friday, 20 May 2016

Indian restaurant style curry base.
The secret to a great Indian restaurant quality curry? It really is all about that base.  To re-create that takeaway standard curry to impress family and friends, you need a good onion gravy base. When I finally realised this,  I scoured the internet, looked through old-school Indian recipe books and watched numerous Indian chefs in action on YouTube. Some bases required too many ingredients I just didn't have but after watching a few chefs in action, I settled on a simple onion, ginger and garlic gravy that won't cost you much to make. 

This recipe makes 3 x 225ml portions of base. Each portion on base will make a curry serving around 4 people. If you aren't cooking for 12 don't worry- you easily can pop it into three separate containers and freeze for another time. 

Ingredients: 
  • 600g onions (about 6 large onions)
  • 6 cloves of garlic
  • 6 pieces of ginger (dice sized)
  • 2 tablespoons of tomato puree/ pasata
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons paprika
  • 1 teaspoons turmeric
  • 1.5 teaspoons chili powder
  • 1.5 teaspoons ground coriander
  • 1.5 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoons curry powder
  • 3 teaspoons vegetable oil
Method: 
1. Roughly chop the onions and place in a large saucepan with the garlic and ginger.
2. Cover with water (approx 800ml), bring to the boil and cover.
3. Continue to simmer on a low-medium heat for 30-35 minutes until much of the water has reduced
4. Stir in the salt, spices, tomato puree and oil.
5. Simmer for a further 10 minutes.
6. Take the saucepan off the heat and use a hand blender or upright blender to blend into a smooth gravy.
7. Divide the curry base into 3 x 225ml portions and store in the fridge or freezer.



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Sunday, 8 May 2016


Peanut, ham and tomato pasta salad.

This recipe marks the official start of summer! My mum used to make this as a side dish when I was growing up to accompany BBQs on a warm summer's day and to me, it was the best bit!

It's a simple mix of pasta, tomatoes, peanuts, spring onions, ham and salad cream but the combination is surprisingly satisfying and is always received extremely well by guests.

Serves 4-6 (as a side) 

Ingredients:
  • 250g pasta (of your choice)
  • 100g smoked ham 
  • 100g good quality tomatoes
  • 2-3 spring onions 
  • 2 tablespoons peanuts 
  • 3 tablespoons salad cream 
  • Black pepper


Method: 

1. Cook the pasta according to the instructions on the packet.
2. Drain the pasta and set aside to cool.
3. Chop the tomatoes, ham, spring onions and add to the cooled pasta.
4. Add the peanuts and salad cream and stir thoroughly. 
5. Serve in a large dish and help yourself! 




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Thursday, 5 May 2016

Roasted tomato and goat's cheese tart.
This is tart is perfect as light summer dinner or if you are asked to contribute a dish for an event. The beauty of this dish is in its simplicity- this recipe relies on a few good ingredients, goat's cheese, sweet vine-ripened tomatoes, thyme and puff pastry. What's even better is that it's impressive enough to bring to an event to make it look like you've made a real effort, yet simple and cheap enough to whip up when you are under time or budget pressure.

I actually discovered this Delia classic when I spontaneously invited a vegetarian friend round for dinner one summer's evening, I quickly scanned my Mum's recipe books for easy vegetarian dishes and found this bad boy. I have made this tart for several occasions since, including for a work pot-luck lunch and as a vegetarian option at a BBQ.

 Ingredients:
  • 750g vine-ripened tomatoes
  • 150g soft goat's cheese
  • 3 tsp fresh thyme
  • Pre-rolled puff pastry
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • Olive oil

Pre-baked tart
Method: 

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees celsius.
2. Line a large baking tray with grease-proof paper.
3. Unroll the pastry and place on the baking tray. 
4. With a knife score a line around the outside of the pastry, 1cm in from the edge and not deep enough to go all the way through.
5. In a bowl, cream the goat's cheese, chopped thyme and garlic together and season well with salt and pepper.
6. Spread the cheese mixture evenly over the pastry base up to the scored line.
7. Next, thinly slice the tomatoes and arrange over the tart (see image).
8. Arrange a few remaining sprigs of thyme over the tart and season with black pepper.
9. Place in the oven and roast for 50- 55 minutes.
10. Once the edges are golden brown and the tomatoes have shrunk a little in size, take out of the oven and serve hot or cold!

TOP TIP! Keep an eye on your tart to make sure the pastry edges don't burn. If they are getting a little too well done, cover the tart with tin foil for the remaining time in the oven. 
Summer buffet



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Wednesday, 4 May 2016

Everyone needs to know a basic stir-fry recipe they can whip up in minutes using store cupboard ingredients and left-over veg and this recipe by... is the one.

This mix of garlic, ginger, soy-sauce, honey and sweet chilli and can be used as any a stir-fry base for most things- chicken, prawns, pork, beef or just chunky vegetables all work well with this, making it the ultimate go-to recipe to use up left-overs.





Serves 2

Ingredients:
  • Soy-sauce
  • Sweet chilli
  • Garlic 
  • Ginger
  • honey
  • noodles
  • stir-fry veg
  • meat or prawns
Method:

 1. Mix all liquid the ingredients in one bowl
2. Dice the meat and vegetables and add to a pan on medium heat
3. Cook the meat in some oil until cooked.
4. add the vegetables.
5. Add the sauce
6. Add the noodles








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Roasted pumpkin, goats cheese and tomato pasta.
Although not authentically Chinese, this recipe was inspired by my time in Shanghai. Don't get me wrong, the food in China is super tasty, wonderfully affordable and incredibly convenient but sometimes you just need a taste of home from time to time, and this was ours.

This roasted pumpkin, spinach, pine nut and goat's cheese pasta dish was simple and comforting, but of course China being China, we didn't make it ourselves, the German-owned cafe down the road did. The young timid Chinese waiter's face used to light up when we walked in, not only because he was in love with my housemate with long wavy blonde locks, but because our order was simple- "liang-ge (two) pumpkin pastas". 

Serves 2

 Ingredients: 

  • 200g pasta of your choice
  • 250g pumpkin 
  • 50g goat's cheese (feta also works well) 
  • 100g spinach
  • 2 tablespoons tomato and mascarpone pasta sauce
  • 2 tablespoons pine nuts
  • 1 garlic clove 
  • Olive oil 
  • Salt and pepper to taste
Method: 

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees celsius. 
2. Dice the pumpkin into 2cm cubes 
3. Place the pumpkin cubes on an aluminium foil lined baking tray.
4. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
5. Roast for 30 minutes 
6. Towards the last 10 minutes, start cooking your pasta according to the instructions on the packet.
7. When the pasta has around 5 minutes to go, start on your sauce!
7. Chop your garlic and fry in a large pan with some 2 tsp olive oil over medium heat.
8. After 1 minute, add two tablespoons of the tomato mascarpone pasta sauce and stir.
9. Add two thirds of the pine nuts (leaving the other third for garnish at the end) 
10. 







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Chicken korma served with pilau rice and chipati.
This recipe is for a British Indian Restaurant standard Chicken Korma. It's rich, sweet, creamy and full of flavour!

There are two parts to this recipe: first, the curry gravy base and second, the sauce that gives it that magic chicken korma taste. The curry base is very versatile and can be used as a base for many different takeaway quality curries. The curry base part of the recipe actually makes 3 x 225ml of curry base and can be stored in three separate containers and put in the fridge or freezer for another time or another curry!







Serves 4

Ingredients: 

Curry Base
  • 600g onions (about 6 large onions)
  • 6 cloves of garlic
  • 6 pieces of ginger (dice sized)
  • 2 tablespoons of tomato puree/ pasata
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 teaspoons paprika
  • 1 teaspoons turmeric
  • 1.5 teaspoons chilli powder
  • 1.5 teaspoons ground coriander
  • 1.5 teaspoons ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoons curry powder
  • 3 teaspoons vegetable oil
Chicken Korma
  • 4 tablespoons vegetable oil
  • 450g chicken breast
  • 2 tablespoons of coconut powder (desiccated coconut ground in the food processor)
  • 2 tablespoons white sugar
  • 2 teaspoons almond powder (flaked almonds ground in the food processor)
  • 200ml single cream

Method:

Steps 1-7 are for the curry base
Steps 8-12 are for the korma part

1. Roughly chop the onions and place in a large saucepan with the garlic and ginger.
2. Cover with water (approx 800ml), bring to the boil and cover.
3. Continue to simmer on a low-medium heat for 30-35 minutes until much of the water has reduced
4. Stir in the salt, spices, tomato puree and oil.
5. Simmer for a further 10 minutes.
6. Take the saucepan off the heat and use a hand blender or upright blender to blend into a smooth gravy.
7. Divide the curry base into 3 x 225ml portions and store in the fridge or freezer.

8. Now for the chicken korma part! Heat the oil in a pan on a medium heat and cook the diced chicken breast until sealed.
9. Add one portion of curry base (225ml) and stir on a medium heat for 2 minutes.
10. Next, add the coconut powder, almond powder, sugar and stir for a further minute.
11. Stir in the single cream and continue to simmer on a medium- low heat for 15 minutes, stirring often.
12. Once the curry has thickened, turn off the heat, serve and enjoy!
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Chinese egg and tomato served with sticky rice
Simple, quick and delicious, this is my go-to dish if I don't know what to have for dinner. The dish has two main ingredients- egg and tomato. The cooked tomatoes and soft scrambled eggs makes a really saucy and satisfying dish which tastes amazing served with sticky rice. 

I first discovered this dish when myself and three girl-friends were travelling to Hainan, an island off the south coast of China, from Shanghai for Autumn festival. We had not long been in China and we thought it would be nice to get some sun before the Shanghai winter set in. We (somehow) managed to book a last minute train and decided a 40 hour train journey (one way!) on a HARD SEAT was a small price to pay for a tropical beach holiday in the 'Hawaii of Asia'. Around 28 hours in we were sleep deprived, achey, dirty and a little bit delusional, so we decided to take a walk to find the 'restaurant carriage'. We found it, but the staff would not let us in, we weren't sure what they were saying so we plonked ourselves down at a table regardless. In the end they stopped arguing with us and gave us a plate of egg and tomato to share and a bowl of sticky rice each. 

I later found out this dish is called 'xihongshi chao jidan' and is a staple in China, usually served as a breakfast dish (although you can order it anytime). Oh and I also found out the train's 'restaurant carriage' was only for staff. Oops. 

This story wouldn't be complete without also telling you that after 32 hours of our train journey, the train stopped and passengers were told to get off due to a typhoon hitting the south coast of China. With no trains continuing to Hainan we instead spent the next week exploring Nanning province in wet and windy weather (with little more than a few summer maxi dresses to wear). 

Serves 2 

Ingredients:

  • 4 eggs (2 per person) 
  • 3 large tomatoes 
  • 1 spring onion (optional)
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 2 teaspoons tomato ketchup (optional)
  • 2 tablespoons cooking oil

Method:

1. Crack the eggs into a bowl and beat.
2. Chop the tomatoes into 0.5- 1cm thick wedges.
3. Finely chop up the spring onion.
2. Heat 1 tablespoon of oil in a large pan and pour in the eggs.
3. Scramble the eggs over medium heat just until all the runny egg is cooked.
4. Remove the eggs from the pan, place in a bowl and set aside.
5. Add another 1 tablespoon of oil to the pan.
5. Next place the half of the chopped spring onion and all of the tomatoes in the pan.
6. Add the salt, sugar and ketchup and stir. 
7. Place a lid over the pan and cook for around 2 minutes. 
8. Remove the lid and add the eggs.
9. Mix the scrambled eggs evenly into the tomato sauce.
10. Turn off the heat, serve on a plate, garnish with the rest of the spring onion and enjoy :)


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Sunday, 20 March 2016

These colourful crostinis are a great alternative to the usual tomato bruschetta. So simple to put together, serving these as appetizer alongside a crisp glass of white wine or spritz cocktail, you'll be transported back to that pavement cafe on a warm Italian summer evening in no time.

The pan toasted ciabatta is rubbed with garlic and drizzled with olive oil, then topped with creamy mozarella seasoned with black pepper, sea salt, lemon zest, chili and basil to make this good looking Italian appetizer.

Serves 4-6 (2 crostini each)

Ingredients:

  • Loaf of ciabatta
  • 2 buffalo mozarella balls
  • 2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 red chilli 
  • Zest of one lemon 
  • Olive oil
  • Fresh basil  
Method:

1. Slice the ciabatta into 8-12 pieces (depending on size of the loaf/ how many people you are serving)
2. 




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Wednesday, 16 March 2016

Knead-less Irish soda bread and liptauer cheese.
It's St Patrick's day today so to celebrate, today's recipe is for some homemade Irish soda bread. 

With only 5 ingredients and no kneading necessary you can have fresh homemade bread in under 40 minutes!  Apart from only taking 5 minutes to prepare, what is also great about this Paul Hollywood recipe is you can keep all the ingredients in the store cupboard for a rainy day. 

My family love to eat this bread fresh out of the oven for lunch served with cheese, meats, pate or liptauer (see image, more about this on another post).


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Oriental style salmon with pak choi and cashews

This dish packs a punch and can be whipped up in just l5 minutes. It's extremely simple to make and you won't need many additional ingredients that aren't already in your store cupboard.

The salmon is cooked with a creamy sweet chilli crust, topped with few cashews for that extra crunch and sweetness.

The pak-choi is cooked Chinese style- in a bit of garlic and soy...just the way I like it! This provides a lightly salted base for that sweet chilli salmon and makes the whole dish come alive.

Sprinkle a few extra cashews around the outside and voila, a masterchef dish to impress!

Ingredients:

Salmon
Cream cheese with chives
sweet chilli sauce
Cashew nut (unsalted)
pak choi
soy sauce
garlic
oil
spring onion.



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Thursday, 10 March 2016


Roasted courgette, couscous, tzatziki 
Don't be fooled, this is no ordinary stuffed-vegetable-dish. The flavours in this recipe are fresh, exciting and will even impress the non-vegetarian dinner guests. The subtle flavours of the roasted courgette, sun-dried tomato couscous and peppers provide a delicate setting for that salty goats cheese. The additional sweetness of the dates offsets the salty cheese beautifully and adds an element of surprise to the dish. 

My boyfriend actually created this recipe and I was so impressed I stole it off him and have now made it more times than him. 

This is great served as a starter (serving half a stuffed courgette per person served with some fresh tzatziki), as a side dish, or main dish (serving a whole courgette per person with some homemade coleslaw).

For this dish, I cheat a little bit. I buy a packet of Alfez sun-dried tomato flavoured couscous which is available in most supermarkets (UK & Dutch, see image). However, you can of course make your own using 150g plain couscous, 1 tablespoon lemon juice, 3 chopped spring onions, 1 tablespoon concentrated tomato puree, 80g finely chopped sun-dried tomatoes, 1 tsp garlic puree, fresh herbs (chopped parsley would work well) and salt and pepper to taste.

Ingredients: 

  • 4 medium (equal) sized courgettes
  • olive oil
  • 1 red or yellow pepper
  • 1 (200g) packet flavoured couscous
  • 50g dates
  • 75g goats cheese
  • lemon juice (optional)
  • salt and pepper


Method:


  1. 1. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius.
  2. 2. Chop the ends off and carefully slice the courgettes length ways.
  3. 3. With a spoon (or an apple corer) remove the flesh of the courgette (see image).
  4. 4. Repeat with all 7 remaining courgette halves.
  5. 5. Place in a large oven dish, season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil.
  6. 6. Cook in the oven for 20- 25 minutes.
  7. 7. While the courgettes are cooking, prepare the couscous filling.
  8. 8. Add water to the couscous and set aside (according to the instructions on the packet).
  9. 9. Finely chop the pepper, goats cheese and dates.
  10. 10. Stir the chopped pepper, goats cheese, dates into the couscous.
  11. 11. Add a squirt of lemon (optional) and stir throughly. 
  12. 12. Fill each of the roasted courgettes halves with generous portion of the couscous, and lightly drizzle with olive oil. 
  13. 13. Return to the oven to bake for a further 10 minutes.
  14. 14. Remove from the oven, serve and enjoy! 
Serving suggestion: Serve half a courgette as a starter with some fresh tzatziki dipping sauce or serve a whole courgette as a main dish with some homemade coleslaw and crusty bread on the table. 

Alfez sundried tomato couscous
3 medium courgettes ready to roast








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Tuesday, 8 March 2016


This is one for all the chocolate lovers out there. I love chocolate and come from a family of chocolate enthusiasts, but crazily enough I've ended up with a boyfriend who despises it. On the plus side, it's meant I've had to expand my baking repertoire beyond the realms of chocolate, coffee and caramel (yes he hates coffee and caramel too), but on the downside, it means I sometimes forget to go back to basics and bake with my favourite ingredient and that's CHOCOLATE.


These brownies are everything a brownie should be: rich, moist, fudgy and the addition of salted caramel gives it that je ne sais quoi.



Ingredients: 
Method: 




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How do you like your eggs in the morning?

Fried eggs sunny-side up

Ingredients:


  • Eggs
  • Small knob of butter or teaspoon of oil 


Method: 

  1. Melt a the butter/oil in a shallow frying pan on a low heat.
  2. Spread the butter/oil round the pan using some kitchen paper. 
  3. Crack the eggs into the pan and cover with a lid.
  4. Cook on a low heat until the top of the yolk starts to turn a light pink colour. 
  5. Turn off the heat, use a spatula to get remove the egg and season with salt and pepper. 




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Got some old bananas hanging round? Don't let them go to waste! If you need an excuse to bake a cake this week, let this be it.

I always start the day with great intentions, taking a banana to work with me, but even after a short journey in my bag, I take out my banana, see the brown bruises and suddenly my appetite for that healthy snack has vanished.
I came across this recipe by 'iggytakahashi' on allrecipes.com after I once again found myself almost throwing out some perfectly-good-but-brown-bananas festering in my bag.

Chocolate and banana is a winning combination so give those brown bananas at second chance and turn them into a moist cakey treat. Perfect as breakfast on the go, an afternoon tea treat, or as a dessert served warm with ice cream.


Ingredients:




Method:






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Scrambled eggs, smoked salmon, avocado and brown bread
Scrambled eggs in 2 minutes! Why waste time and effort when you can make scrambled eggs in the microwave without the hassle of scrubbing the pan clean afterwards?

Here I've cracked, beaten, cooked and served my scrambled eggs in the same bowl, sliced an avocado in half, and layered some fresh salty smoked on a whole grain crusty roll...et voila, an impressive brunch dish in just 2 minutes!





Ingredients: 
  • 2 eggs
  • Splash of milk
  • Salt and Pepper
Method: 
  1. 1. Crack 2 eggs into a bowl and beat. 
  2. 2. Add the milk, a crack of black pepper and stir.
  3. 3. Cook in the microwave for 40 seconds on HIGH.
  4. 4. Check the eggs and give them a stir
  5. 5. Microwave for an additional 30 seconds until the eggs are cooked. 
  6. 6. Season with salt and serve!
Serving suggestion: 

Serve with some brown bread topped with smoked salmon and sliced avocado. 
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Foodie Heaven: SHANGHAI. 

In my early 20s I was lucky enough to spend a year living, working and studying in this crazy city. 

Where to stay:

What to see:

What to eat: 
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