Pepper stuffed with Tomato, Garlic and Basil

An incredibly easy starter and quick lunch. Simply slice a pepper in half and remove the seeds. Stuff with cherry tomatoes or chopped large tomatoes until half full. Add some finely chopped garlic and basil, salt and pepper, and place another layer of tomatoes on top. Sprinkle over more garlic and basil. Season well and drizzle over some good quality olive oil. Roast in a hot oven, about 180 degrees c, until the pepper starts to char slightly and is soft. Serve hot with an extra drizzle of oil and some crusty bread.

chicken soup - thanks to allens of mayfair

This was the second recipe we made from the meat butchery course the OH went to at Allen's of Mayfair a few weeks ago. One of the bags he returned home with was a bag of bones; chicken bones to be more precise. So, being the ever resourceful one who tries, but doesn't always succeed, not to let anything go to waste, I decided a chicken soup would be a perfect lunch, or starter for supper.

You'll need - a bag of bones, or the carcass of an already roast and eaten chicken! A small potato, onion, leek, double cream, herbs.

First, cover the carcass or bones with water and boil rapidly for about 20 mins. Then, pick all the bit of chicken off the bones and set aside. Return the bones to the pan.

Meanwhile, fry off the onions, leeks and chopped potato, ensuring you season them well, until browned but not cooked through.

After boiling the bones for about 2 hours, strain the liquid and return the stock to the pan with the vegetables. Gently simmer until cooked through, adding a chicken stock cube to add flavour if necessary!

When cooked through, blend the mixture until smooth, then add the chicken pieces and stir in the cream. Taste and season as desired and sprinkle with chopped parsley to serve.

Poach Pods

I first saw these little things in Lakeland, and couldn't wait to get my hands on a pair, so to speak! Cooking a poached egg has to be one of the hardest things to get right ever, and believe me, I've tried all the little 'tricks'. I've added vinegar to the water, stirred it to create a vortex and dropped the egg into the middle, tried using a cooking ring inside the pan to keep it together, but none of the above worked. So this was really a last resort.

These make it so easy. You simply grease the inside (although, I don't even do that any more,) pop them into a bubbling pan and add an egg to each. Yes, it takes a little longer than you'd expect, and yes, a spoonful of hot water over the top, actually inside the poachpod will help seal the yolk and 'jelly' white that is reluctant to cook, but you're left with perfectly round, perfectly cooked eggs. Just add salt and pepper and serve on hot buttered brown toast!

Day 5: Summer lamb and herb stew

Summer lamb and herb stew

recipe: Janine Ratcliffe

Olive Magazine, August 2009

According to the recipe, it should take 2 hours, serve 4, and is classed as 'easy'.

Ingredients

olive oil
4 lamb neck fillets or 600g diced lamb
1 large aubergine, cut into small pieces
1 large onions, sliced
2 garlic cloves, chopped
1-2tbsp harissa - add more if you like it spicy!
chopped tomatoes, 1x400g tin
300ml lamb stock
large bunch parsley, chopped
1/2 lemon juiced

Method

Heat the oven to 190c. Heat 1tbsp olive oil in a non-stick, lidded casserole. Brown the lamb all over then remove from the pan. Add the aubergine and another tablespoon of oil and cook until browned and softened bit. Scoop out the aubergine then add the onion and garlic and cook until softened.

Add the lamb and aubergine with the harissa, tomatoes and stock. Bring to a simmer then put on a lid and cook in the oven for 1 1/2 hours until the lamb and aubergine are tender. Stir in the parsley and lemon. Good with new potatoes or rice.

What it should look like...

Original photograph: Lis Parsons

What mine looked like...

The facts:

I used the lamb neck fillets and chopped them into chunky chunks before browning. It was, again, very easy, a case of chopping, frying, adding and cooking. the lamb was beautifully soft after the time given and it definitely served four, well, would have done had I used four fillets not three.

Taste:

This is by far the tastiest of the recipes so far! Absolutely delicious. Like I said, the meat was very tender and soft and had taken on the spicy harissa flavours. If I made it again, I'd add another spoon of this as the recipe suggests as it was 'nicely warming' with just the 2 tbsp. I served it with rice as suggested, but I also made flatbreads: They were a first attempt, and a bit heavy, but went well with the stew as I added coriander seeds which complemented the Moroccan feel to this dish. I lightened it up even more with a dollop of creme fraiche, but I'd have used natural yoghurt had I had any left from making the flatbreads! I served it with a fruity red, as below, but a crisp white would have been just as nice.

Overall, very easy and easily the tastiest yet.

7 meals, 7 days, 2 people, £35

First and foremost, I'm loving my new kitchen and thought I'd begin as I mean to go on with some cooking. I got out of the habit while the kitchen was being 'created', then we went away on honeymoon and so, now I'm back, let's see what can be done!

At the airport, I picked up a copy of the BBC's Olive magazine, which I enjoy as it's a range of chat, recipes, recommendations and home stuff. One of their articles in the August issue was entitled '7 meals for £35'. All the recipes looked summery and tasty and I thought since I'd still got a week or so of holidays left, I could try it out.

First though, I needed to go shopping!

The list gave all the ingredients needed for the week, including any store cupboard ingredients, and cost the Olive team £34.67. Having looked through the list, I already had a red pepper, home-grown parsley and mint and chicken pieces. So I popped down to the shops and bought the requisite items. I couldn't find 'orzo' pasta and had to settle for mini farfalle instead! The cost? £29.06, but that was with the above exceptions.

I did not, however, have several items from the store cupboard list: lamb stock (do people really have a supply of this, or even lamb stock cubes, in their cupboards?); dijon mustard ( usual fridge-favourite of mine); harissa paste and pine nuts. Having been away, I also needed to stock up on eggs, milk, and Parmesan.

If you did have all the items in the stock cupboard, I think the price given would have been nearly spot-on.

When I returned I looked through the recipes in more detail and noticed that if a dish was served with something, for example, a salad, new potatoes, naan bread or rice, those weren't included in the price, but again, most people would have those in the cupboard anyway. I may have to have a go at my own flat-breads later in the week - any recommended recipes greatly appreciated!

So, for the rest of the week, I'll publish a post a day, letting you know how I got on with each recipe, how it looked in comparison with the magazine's lovely-looking pictures, and, most importantly, how it tasted!

Original photograph: Lis Parsons, Recipe: Janine Ratcliffe. Both from Olive, August 2009

First up: Lemon butter fish with pepperonata.

Smoked Garlic

How to use smoked garlic? Well, I bought some from the Chester Food Festival a few weeks ago and have been playing with adding it to recipes as I've been trying out new things.

1st idea:
Add raw, thinly sliced to home-made (or shop-bought!) pizza - bake the pizza as usual.

2nd idea:
Add to pasta dishes instead of the usual garlic. It's delicious with a smoked chorizo, red pepper and tomato sauce. Simply fry off gently after pan-frying the chorizo and onions so it doesn't burn but goes soft, sweet and smoky.

Ok, I know they're fairly basic, and I have used it in other things, but I can't remember at his present moment in time! as I add it to more things, I'll update this post!

Chester Food Festival

Easter Weekend saw the annual Chester Food Festival. We were lucky enough to be up in Chester, visiting parents for the Easter break, and, since we all love food, enjoyed a tasty few hours wandering around the many stalls. We began inside the tents, which was mainly producers, growers and artisans selling their wares, but with all those free tasters, you couldn't go wrong. And its always good to try before you buy.

I couldn't wait to get around this inside part though as the stalls outside are always my favourite: cooking, food to buy and eat now, farmers' market...

As usual, as soon as the boyf. saw the Menai Oyster stall, he couldn't resist. Did I want one? Not today, but I do enjoy the odd one now and then, if I can get my brain past the texture and look of them.

Next was onto a stall I see regularly at these food fayres, the Pudding Company. I tasted their sticky toffee pudding, which was delicious, but we went with our usual choice of the ginger sponge with a ginger and lemon sauce. It didn't last long once we arrived back home and by the end of our first meal back in Essex, it had disappeared!

As we continued to wander through the amazing cooking smells - free-range chicken curry with brown rice, seafood and chicken paella, barbecued meat - I stumbled across a basket of smoked garlic. I'd been wanting to try this for ages and at only £1 I couldn't resist. Have a look at my post to see what I used it for.

The final stop of the day was to sit in the sun and have lunch. I was going to go for the curry but couldn't resist the delicious marinated meat smell coming from the barbecue! At £3.50 for a quarter of chicken or 2 lamb chops you couldn't go wrong. I actually got 3 chops as there happened to be three left at the time and the boyf. got the largest quarter of chicken you have ever seen in your life - we asked no questions about the sourcing of these chickens this time though!