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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