Lemon & Lime Cupcakes

Over the last few weeks, I have become my parents personal baker and am frequently set the task of making them cakes to take into work so they can show off to their co-workers. I got a text this morning from Mum asking for 24 cupcakes to take to some kind of sports day event at work. So despite it being my day off and having loads of applications and essays to write I made these lemon and lime cupcakes - they are really easy to make and they are really fresh and summery. As usual I did manage to get icing sugar everywhere, including all over my iPad which is now so sticky I can't use the touch screen...whoops!

Ingredients for the Cakes:
250g Unsalted Butter (Softened)
250g Self Raising Flour
250g Caster Sugar
4 tbsp Lemon Juice
4 Large Eggs (Beaten)
Grated Zest of 2 Lemons

Set the oven to 180 Degrees, make sure it reaches the correct temperature before baking anything!

Mix together the butter and the sugar. Slowly add the flour, eggs and lemon juice and zest until everything is combined. Lay out 24 cupcake cases into a tin and fill with 2 tbsp of the mixture. Bake in the oven for approximately 10/15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Once done remove from the tin and leave to cool thoroughly before icing.

Ingredients for the Icing:
100g Unsalted Butter (Softened)
500g Icing Sugar
Zest of 1 Lime
4 Tbsp Lemon Juice

Beat the butter and icing sugar until smooth, then add the lime zest and lemon juice and mix together until the consistency is thick and creamy. If you prefer the icing to be more lemony, feel free to add another tablespoon of lemon juice. Pipe the icing onto the cool cupcakes and you're done!

This recipe can very easily be halved to make 12 cupcakes, they will last a few days in the fridge, but I doubt they will last long if your family is anything like mine - Dad has already pinched one!

Goats Cheese & Butternut Squash Ravioli

After getting a phone call from Masterchef last week, inviting me to an interview, I thought I had better start practising my cooking again. My pasta skills in particular, need work - I have had a few disasters in the past, ended up with some horrible rubbery pasta which went straight in the bin. But this one worked pretty well so I thought I would share!

Ingredients for Butternut Squash Purée:
1 Whole Butternut Squash (Peeled, Seeds Removed and Roughly Chopped)
1 Whole Clove of Garlic (Peeled and Crushed)
1 Handful Thyme (Remove woody stalks)
4 Tbsp Olive Oil
Salt and Pepper

Roast all the ingredients in the oven (180 Degrees) for 20/30 minutes, remove and blend together. After blending thoroughly, pass it through a sieve to make sure it is smooth.

I used the same pasta recipe as the one on me 'Welcome Back' post from May only halved (300g Pasta Flour & 3 Eggs, combined and kneaded for at least 10/15 minutes).
Roll the pasta out until it is as thin as possible; lay it out on top of some flour or polenta to stop it sticking.

Goats Cheese Ravioli:
250g Soft Goats Cheese
30ml  Double Cream
Salt & Pepper

Combine all the ingredients together in a bowl. Scoop a heaped teaspoon of the goats cheese on to the pasta sheet, smoothing it out so it is a rounded shape. Repeat this until half the pasta has filling on approximately 20cm apart. Lay the other half of the pasta over the top and push down gently around the goats cheese to remove any air. Use a ravioli or a cookie cutter approximately 10/15cm in diameter to cut around the pasta with the filling in the middle.


To keep the pasta from sticking to surfaces or each other, sprinkle polenta over the table and the ravioli (it will come off when cooking).

Boil a pan of salted water, and place the ravioli in for 2 minutes until cooked Al Dente. Serve with the Butternut Squash purée, garnish with a sprinkle of oil (I used truffle oil, but extra virgin olive oil would do the trick) and sprinkle on some thyme leaves.

Banana Bread

To celebrate the acquisition of the Kitchen Aid mixer I've been on a baking frenzy so to start off I thought I'd share the recipe for banana bread. This is a really easy recipe and it lasts really well, I made it the morning I got home from Ibiza and after a week of a vodka & coke based diet a bit of cake was welcomed.

Ingredients:
285g Plain Flour
1 Tsp Bicarbonate of Soda
1/2 Tsp Salt
110g Butter (Room Temp.)
2 Large Eggs (Beaten)
225g Caster Sugar
4 Ripe Bananas (Mashed)
85ml Milk
1 1/2 Lemon Juice
1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

Pre-heat the oven to 180 Degrees. Cream together the butter and sugar and add the lemon juice and vanilla extract. Sift in the flour, salt and the bicarbonate of soda. Mix together and add the milk a little at a time and then the eggs.

Add in the banana and mix together. Grease a loaf tin and fill it with the mixture. Bake in the oven for approximately 45 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.

Remove from the tin and leave to cool, although personally I think it tastes great slightly warm. I've been having it for breakfast - because banana is a breakfast food right...?

Potato Salad

This dish is probably the most requested dishes amongst my group of friends, I remember making it for countless family barbecues and for a barbecue on the beach on my first holiday away with the girls when I was sixteen. Since then I haven't be able to attend or host a barbecue without making this - otherwise I'll be in big trouble.

I had my Graduation Ball on Friday night, after a week away in Ibiza so I have had a busy few days. Nevertheless,  at 9am on Saturday morning my Dad kindly informed me that he was arranging a last minute barbecue having forgotten it was his wedding anniversary and I had to hurry home to help with the cooking, which of course included making my potato salad.

Ingredients:
500g New Potatoes (Halved)
200g Mayonnaise
150g Natural Yoghurt
1 Bunch Spring Onions (Sliced)
1 Handfull Chives (Finely Chopped)
Salt & Pepper

Put a pan of salted water on the hob and boil the potatoes until soft all the way through, drain and leave to cool (you can run cold water over them to cool them faster). While cooling the potatoes, mix together the mayo, yoghurt, spring onions and chives and season well with salt and pepper. Add the potatoes and mix together - refrigerate for half an hour before serving.

In other news, I got home to a new Kitchen Aid mixer - its not technically mine, its Mum's - but I love it as if it was my own and I've been making so many cakes and puddings with it so I will have enough blog material to make up for my week away on holiday!

Home-made Gnocchi with Roasted Tomatoes & Basil

This is my first attempt at gnocchi so I know they are a bit big, next time I will cut them a bit smaller :) I don't usually like gnocchi when you buy it from the supermarket, but I thought I ought to try to make it - especially since Mum and I raided Lakeland at the weekend and I am now the proud owner of a potato ricer. She didn't give in to my demands for a kitchen aid mixer though - I'm still trying. Anyway, since I don't have to be at work until 4 today I decided to make myself a nice lunch so I attempted gnocchi. This recipe makes loads - probably enough to feed 6 people maybe even more.

Ingredients for Gnocchi:
1 kg floury Potatoes
1 Egg (Beaten)
100g Plain Flour (Sifted)
Salt & Pepper

Boil the potatoes with there skins on until they are totally soft all the way through (for those of you who don't know how to check if a potato is cooked - I'm talking about you Alex Bamford - poke it with a skewer and if it goes through easily, its done). Once they are done, drain and leave to cool for a bit. Remove the skins and mash the potatoes thoroughly - if you have one use a potato ricer (they are great, get one). Once the potatoes are mashed, add the egg and the flour and use your hands to mix together to form a dough.

Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and cut into 4 pieces. Roll out each piece of dough into a sausage shape about 3cm thick and 30cm long. Then cut the dough into smaller pieces about 2cms wide. To cook the gnocchi, place in boiling water until they start to float (approx 5 mins, maybe less).

Ingredients for Sauce:
300g Vine Tomatoes
50ml Olive Oil
4 Cloves Garlic (Crushed)
Salt & Pepper
50g Salted Butter
1 Handful Basil (Roughly Chopped)
Parmesan to grate

Roast the tomatoes on a tray with the garlic, salt and pepper and olive oil. You will need to roast them for abour 30/40 minutes on 200 degrees. Once the tomatoes are done take them out of the oven and leave to cool. Melt the butter in a frying pan, then add the tomatoes. Add the cooked gnocchi to the sauce and mix together. Serve with chopped basil and grated parmesan.




Still holding out hope for that mixer - if anyone is feeling particularly generous I'd like it in cream...

Goats Cheese & Roasted Vegetable Cannelloni

So I got home from work yesterday evening expecting dinner to be ready and waiting. How wrong I was, even a six hour stint running around the pub garden doesn't mean I'm excused from cooking dinner. Gone are the days that a roast dinner is essential on a Sunday night - fortunately I scoffed about 4 Yorkshire puddings and countless roast potatoes at work where the roasts never end. Still hungry when I got home and although  I definitely meant to make gnocchi, I really didn't want to wait around so I made this instead.

Serves 2/3
Ingredients:
1 Yellow Pepper (Diced)
1 Red Onion (Diced)
10 Cherry Tomatoes (Quartered)
4 Asparagus (Roughly Chopped)
4 Cloves Garlic (Roughly Chopped)
8 Cannelloni Tubes

150g Goats Cheese (Roughly Chopped)
1/2 Ball Mozzarella (Roughly Chopped)
100ml Double Cream
Olive Oil
1 Handful Basil (Roughly Chopped)
2 Slices Prosciutto (Fried and Dried, before roughly chopped)

Put a pan of salted water on to boil with a table spoon of olive oil so the pasta doesn't stick together. Roast the vegetables and garlic in the over for 20 minutes on 200 degrees with salt, pepper and olive oil.

Par boil the cannelloni for 5/6 minutes, then drain. Fill each tube with roasted vegetables and put into a baking tray, cover the canelloni with the double cream and the cheese (I never said this was a healthy meal)
. Sprinkle over the dried prosciutto and drizzle a little more olive oil over the top. Bake in the oven for another 20 minutes. Once done, sprinkle over the chopped basil and serve.

Nothing goes with this meal better than rocket and parmesan salad with a drizzle of olive oil and balsamic glaze.

I am currently making gnocchi as I write this, so I will have a recipe for you tomorrow!

Ciao!

Blueberry, Cranberry & Sultana Scones

I spent a large amount of my childhood on camping holidays, whether it was the Lake District, Devon or Cornwall, there was always a hill to climb, lake to walk around and obviously, a coffee shop selling fresh cakes. The only thing better than a home-made scone, is a home-made scone after you've been dragged on what seems like a never ending walk. I'm not one for camping these days, I prefer the comforts of a hotel (far too precious to sleep outdoors), but my love for scones has certainly continued. I made these this morning, they are so easy to make and they keep quite well. You can pretty much add any fruit you like to them, I raided the cupboards and added whatever I could find and came up with these.

Ingredients:
250g Self Raising Flour
Pinch Salt
60g Caster Sugar
50g Chilled, Unsalted Butter (Diced)
1 Egg (Beaten)
90ml Milk (Little extra for bushing on top)
50g Fresh Blueberries
25g Dried Cranberries
25g Sultanas
Zest of Half a Lemon
2/3tsp Demerera Sugar

Set the over to 180 Degrees/C. Put the flour, sugar and salt in a mixing bowl and add the chilled butter. Mix together with your fingertips until the butter is completely incorporated and the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs. Add the milk and the egg and mix together to form a dough - you can sprinkle a little more flour in if the mixture is too sticky. Add the fruit and lemon zest and mix in until it is fairly distributed through the dough.

Turn out the dough onto a floured surface and pat out until it is approximately 3cms thick. Using a 8cm Cutter, dip the edges in flour and cut out each scone, placing them on a baking tray. Keep patting out the dough and cutting more until you have used up the mix, you should get 8 or 9.

Once on the baking tray, brush each scone with a little milk and sprinkle over the demerera sugar to add some crunch. Then bake for 15/20 minutes until golden brown on the top and bottom.


The best thing about having scones at home, is that you can take as much jam and cream as you like - those little coffee shops never give you enough! I think these scones would go nicely with lashings of clotted cream and a blueberry or raspberry jam.

I have a few evenings off work this week, so I am already planning some new recipes to write about on here. I'm even going to attempt home-made gnocchi tomorrow, so fingers crossed!

Teagan thinks if she sits nicely, I might give her a scone - not likely. 

Welcome Back!

It's certainly been a while since I have posted up on here, but I'm officially back.  I've missed cooking over the past few months, my kitchen at university was so small I found it difficult to move my gigantic, clumsy limbs around the place in an orderly fashion - I'm messy enough when given a large space to work in let alone a tiny one, so I pretty much gave up on cooking anything too extravagant. However, now I have finished my degree I'm back in the comfort of my own kitchen with a lot more space and a lot more time to play with.

In other news, I applied to Masterchef a few weeks ago - I have wanted to apply for ages, but didn't ever get round to it. So another reason for coming back to my blog is that I need to teach myself to make loads of new things, just in case I get an audition!

Today I tried making my own pasta,  to make sheets so I could put together a lasagne for the family dinner. The pasta dough worked well, but I stupidly left my baby brother, Alex, in charge of making the cheese sauce for the lasagne. This resulted in a runny white liquid and a Le Cruset pan burnt to the point of no return. So we had tagliatelle and bolognaise instead...

This is how I made the pasta -it is easier than you think, especially with a pasta roller, takes ages but you can use a rolling pin.

Ingredients:
600g Pasta Flour (00')
6 eggs



This recipe makes a lot of pasta, so if you only need a bit for tortellini or anything similar you can halve the recipe. You can put all the ingredients in the food processor and mix until the egg and flour is combines, or you can do it the traditional way and make an egg-volcano and mix together by hand. Either way, you will need to knead the mixture until the dough feels smooth and not rubbery. It took me about 15 minutes and yes, my arms ache. Once you have finished kneading the dough, cling film it and leave it in the fridge for 30 minutes. I then used a pasta roller to roll out the pasta as thin as possible before cutting it into tagliatelli sized strips (about 10mm wide).

Teagan helping to make pasta

With the left over pasta dough, I made some little tortellini filled with chorizo and red pepper. To make the filling I finely chopped 50g of chorizo with a red pepper, 1 small red chilli (I'm sure you don't need to be told, but wash your hands after touching the chilli - I just learnt the hard way that chilli in the eye is not pleasant) and half a red onion and fried the mixture for 10 minutes on a low heat.
Click here for a good website which shows you how to fold the tortellini.

To cook the tortellini, I simply boiled them in salted water for 3-4 minutes. For the pasta sauce I used the same pan that I fried the chorizo in, added 2 finely chopped cloves of garlic to some olive oil and gently fried for two minutes before adding 1 carton of passata and a teaspoon of paprika. After seasoning with salt and pepper and leaving the sauce to simmer for 10 minutes, I added the cooked tortellini to cover them with the sauce before serving with a garnish of chopped basil.

Ciao Venezia

I left Venice on Saturday, so I'm no longer based in my Venetian kitchen but I'm back home with my family for a month for Christmas before I move to Leamington for my final two terms. Venice has been fantastic, I've loved every minute of it. I already miss my girls from flat Garibaldi, no more watching Masters of Sex with a group of giggly girls (me especially) or drinking on boats on the way to the bars, or being forced to watch scary zombie films in the dark!! It is nice to be back in my own bed though - I've been spending most of my time here, promising my duvet I will never leave her again.

Thank you so much to everyone that made my time in Venice so special, you know who you are. Our last night out last thursday was definitely one to remember and a really amazing way to say goodbye to everyone (until January at least)! Finally, thanks to my mother for providing the funding for important visits to Piccolo Mondo and more vodka than I would like to admit (sorry mum).

Flat Garibaldi in Florence

I thought I'd include some final pictures from Venice that really sums up my time here. Holly, you better be thankful that Lucy didn't send me that photo ;)

Enjoying the cheap Prosecco - Alone...

Our Yacht - Pammy V

Ashleigh's Visit 

My Amazing Boyfriend

Jade, Ash, Charlotte, Megan & Me at Halloween

Tim & Stephen reading 50 Shades

Spider & Scary Doll/ Sexy Child

Lottie, Tim, Stephen & Me 

My Lovely Flat & Our Washing

Stuffed Tomato & Tomato Risotto

Last Thursday there was a public holiday in Venice to celebrate the festival of the Salute. It is a religious occasion where many people travel to Venice to take part in mass in the Salute Church, although the religious side is important to many people, we went purely because we were promised doughnuts and candy floss. And we weren't disappointed. We all skipped breakfast so we would have enough room to eat when we were there, started off with a deep fried doughy thing covered in sugar and filled with Nutella. It. Was. AMAZING. Once we had finished making a mess and covering ourselves in Nutella, we tried Arancini which are balls of risotto stuffed with cheese and ham or spinach etc. then covered in breadcrumbs and deep fried. To top it off I had a massive blob of candyfloss and remained on a sugar high for pretty much the rest of the day and did none of my essay. Whoops. So worth it though.

I'm trying to use up all of the ingredients I have left in the cupboards before we leave next week, so I made a stuffed tomato risotto thing for dinner.

Serves 4
Ingredients:

Six Large Tomatoes (2 Diced, 4 with tops sliced off and the insides scooped out and saved in a bowl)
250g Risotto Rice
1 Onion (Diced)
1 Large Handful Grated Parmesan
1 tsp Oregano
2 Cloves Garlic (Finely chopped)
1 Veg Stock Cube
1 Litre Boiling Water

First heat the oven to 180 Degrees and add the stock cube to the boiling water.

Fry the onions and garlic in a little olive oil until softened. Add the risotto rice and a little of the stock to the pan. Keep adding the stock a little at a time until the rice has soaked it up. Add the chopped and the insides of the tomatoes and add a pinch of salt, pepper, oregano and the parmesan. Once the rice is nearly cooked spoon some of the risotto into each empty tomato before placing them in a baking tray and roasting in the oven for 10 minutes. Take the rest of the risotto off the heat otherwise it will become soft and mushy (no one wants that!).

Serve any remaining risotto in a bowl and place a stuffed tomato on top, garnish with parmesan!

Never too old for a balloon eh?

Thought I would share a few more pictures from the festival including a lovely montage of me devouring my candy floss thanks to Emily, and Holly with her new friend - the minion balloon, which is not deflating in our kitchen!

Sorry Mum 

Tomato & Mozzarella Tart With Pesto Dressing

The vegetable tart that I made before is a big hit in my flat, so I thought I'd come up with a different version to mix things up a little. The picture of this is not great, I apologise, but we were so hungry I couldn't mess around with the camera to try and get a good shot! We have been pretty busy over the last week or so, with our final essay deadline on Monday as well as organising ourselves before our big departure from Venice on the 7th, I'v had less time to come up with new meal ideas and we are all running out of money to buy exciting ingredients. This tart is not as boring as it seems however, it has roasted pepper and prosciutto underneath the tomatoes, plus anything covered in extreme amounts of mozzarella is a winner in our flat. I served this with a pesto dressing as well.

Serves 4
Ingredients:

1 Ready Rolled Puff Pastry
1 Packet Sliced Prosciutto
3 Large Tomatoes (Thinly Sliced)
2 Red Peppers (Sliced into 1 inch strips)
2 Balls Mozzarella (Sliced)

For the Dressing:
1 Tbsp Basil Pesto
1 Tbsp Olive Oil
1 Tsp White Wine Vinegar
1 Handful of Parmesan Shavings

Roast the sliced peppers and onions in the oven for 20 minutes with a little olive oil - this reduces the water content in them to stop the pastry getting too soggy. Leave the oven on 200 degrees - it is important to have the oven fully heated before cooking the pastry, don't want any soggy bottoms!!

Roll the pastry out onto a baking tray, use a fork to prick the pastry before layering the sliced prosciutto and the roasted peppers on top. Add the tomatoes in circles and top with the mozzarella. Bake in the oven on 200 Degrees for about 20 minutes until the pastry is crisp and the mozzarella is golden brown.

While the tart is cooking, combine the oil, vinegar and pesto in a bowl with the parmesan shavings. Mix together with a pinch of salt and pepper to make the dressing.

When I made this tart I didn't roast the tomatoes first, so the pastry was not as cooked through as I would have liked, but if you do roast them I think it would be easier.

Aubergine & Mozzarella Pasta

I had a similar dish when I was on holiday in Rome a few years ago and never attempted to make it until now. I'm really running out of ways to make pasta exciting, so I gave it a go. The picture doesn't really do it justice, there are two balls of mozzarella running through the tomato sauce which melt and make the sauce creamy and it does that stringy thing too. I also roasted the onions and the aubergines to give them a slightly more smoky taste before adding them to the sauce, I think it is better this way as the aubergine doesn't get too soft either and it does need a bit of texture.

Serves 4-6
Ingredients
1 Large Aubergine (Diced)
1 Onion (Diced)
3 Tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
Olive Oil
1 Packet Penne Pasta
2 Balls Mozzarella (Chopped)
1 Jar Passata
2 Cloves Garlic (Finely Chopped)
1 Handful Basil Leaves (Chopped)
1 Tsp Oregano
Salt & Pepper

Roast the aubergine and onions in a glug of olive oil and the balsamic vinegar with a pinch of salt and pepper. Roast them in the over on 200 degrees for 15-20 minutes.

Place a pan of salted water on to boil, when boiling add the pasta and leave for 10-15 minutes until cooked al dente.

Add the passata and garlic to a pan with the chopped mozzarella and oregano. Leave to cook until all the mozzarella has melted. Add the roasted vegetables and leave for a few minutes to soak up the sauce. While doing so, drain the pasta and add it to the sauce. Serve with some chopped basil on top and lots of parmesan.

Not sure it quite lived up to the little restaurant near the Trevi Fountain where I had it first, but it makes a change from standard tomato pasta!

Sweet & Sour Chicken with Egg Fried Rice

My little Italian blog has had an Asian take over this evening - although maybe sweet and sour chicken is something the brits invented like tikka masala? Sorry, I haven't done my research...We have been really craving chinese food for ages, pretty much the whole flat with the exception of Emily (who is a good, hard working girl unlike the rest of us) has been hungover for the whole of the weekend and we needed something take away-esque. It was the last weekend we could really justify going out as we have essay deadlines again soon, so we took full advantage. I'm not going to tell you any stories because I will get in trouble for gossiping, all I'm going to say is that some of us will not be going near alcohol any time soon (cough, Holly, cough).

Serves 4
Ingredients:

3 Chicken Breasts (Diced)
2 Carrots (In Batons)
2 Red Peppers (Cut into Chunks)
1 Can Pineapple Chunks (Drained)
100g Cashew Nuts
1 Onion (Diced)
6 tbsp Tomato Ketchup
4 tbsp White Wine Vinegar
3 tbsp Sugar
1 Clove Garlic (Finely Chopped)
Olive Oil, Salt & Pepper
200-250g Rice
2 Eggs (Beaten)
150g Peas

Place a pan of water and leave to boil. Boil the rice until cooked, drain and leave to cool (or rise under a cold tap).

Fry the onions and garlic in a pan, add the chicken and leave to cook through for 5 minutes stirring constantly. Add the carrots and peppers. Mix the ketchup, vinegar and sugar in a bowl and add to the chicken and veg. Season with a pinch of salt and pepper and add the cashew nuts and leave to simmer for 10 minutes. Add a few splashes of water if the sauce gets too thick.

While the chicken is simmering, heat a frying pan with some olive oil and leave to get really hot. Then add the cool rice to the frying pan. Push the rice to one side of the pan and add the eggs to the other side of the pan. Leave to cook through and then use a fork or a chopstick to break up the egg and mix it into the rice. Next add the peas and leave to cook for a few minutes. Serve the rice with the sweet and sour chicken for an easy and healthier version of a classic.

It was a welcome break from pasta and now we can have chips too because we invested in some ketchup!
We are expecting really high waters tomorrow, higher than my wellies apparently, according to our resident weather girl, Emily. Looks like I will get a chance to wear my bikini after all!

Oh I also forgot to mention that we had an apple strudel for pudding. I didn't make it but it was soooo good and now I feel really greedy - just like every other day I suppose.

Italian Cottage Pie

There is currently a strike happening across Venice meaning that this weekend there is a shortage of food here. The supermarkets are looking pretty bare at the moment and there is practically no meat left to buy. Nightmare for cooking blogs...We had a friend of ours over for dinner the other day and I had promised Sarah a cottage pie, although when I went to buy some mince there was none left so I took a leaf out of my Head Chef's book (Darren from work) and decided to use beef steak instead and I actually think I prefer it this way.

The cottage pie in the picture is different shades because Sarah doesn't eat cheese, so I left one section of it free for her. The cheese is optional but I reckon it makes the mashed potato taste soooo much better.

Serves 6
Ingredients:
6-8 Large Potatoes (Peeled and chopped into small chunks)
1 Large Onion (Diced)
1 Clove Garlic (Finely Chopped)
350g Beef Steak (Chopped into small chunks) or 500g Lean Mince
1 Pack Bacon Lardons
500ml Red Wine
1 Veg/Beef Stock Cube
500ml Boiling Water
Salt, Pepper, Oregano
1 tbsp Tomato Purée
5 Large Carrots (Diced)
Handful of Cheddar Cheese & Handful of Parmesan

Preheat the oven to 200 Degrees.

Place a pan of water on to boil and add the potatoes and leave until soft. Take the boiling water and add the stock cube, a pinch of salt, pepper and oregano. Stir in the tomato purée and leave to the side to make a stock.

Fry the onions and the garlic in a little olive oil in a large frying pan until soft. Add the beef and the lardons and fry until browned. Add the red wine and leave to simmer on a medium heat for 15 minutes. Add in the stock and the chopped carrots and leave to simmer for a further 20-25 minutes on a low heat. While that is cooking, mash the potatoes with a dash of milk until smooth (not that I can ever make mash without lumps in, I don't have the patience)

Then layer the meat sauce into the bottom of a baking dish and then top with the mash potato. Spread the potato evenly across the meat and then gently press a fork across the potato to create ridges (this will make it more crispy) then top with both the cheddar and the parmesan. Bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes until golden brown. Serve with some green veg or salad, we had courgettes!

The bacon really adds to the flavour of the dish - as does the red wine, making it taste a lot better than a standard cottage pie. Also the beef steak gets really tender when cooked for a long time which makes quite the difference if you'd like to have a break from plain mince.

Cheese Fondue

Cheese fondue is my favourite thing about skiing, apart from the après ski of course (cannot go wrong with a glass of vin chaud). A big vat of wine and cheese, what is not to like?! We had a long week and a stressful weekend we really needed some comfort food. This meal is not the epitome of healthy eating - don't let the salad fool you, it was only there for show.

I searched for a few recipes but decided to make mine up with more Italian ingredients, as this dish is originally from Switzerland I think.

Serves 4-6

Ingredients:
1 Baguette (Can be a bit stale and roughly chopped up)
1 Bag New Potatoes

300g Emmental Cheese (Grated)
300g Gruyere Cheese (Grated)
1 Ball Mozzarella (Ripped up)
1 Large Handful of Parmesan (Grated)
400ml Dry White Wine
1 Tbsp Cornflour (Mixed with water into a paste)
I Clove Garlic

Slice the garlic in half and rub the bottom and the sides of a large pan. Pour the wine into the pan with the cornflour and leave to simmer for 5 minutes. Add all the cheese and a pinch of salt and pepper and leave to melt. Let the mixture thicken for 15-20 minutes. I don't have a fondue pot here, but if you do at home melt the cheese and the wine in there and then set it over the flame on the table to thicken.

Fondue is usually served with bread and potatoes, but sometimes it comes with pickles and salami so try that if you don't think masses of cheese is enough for you!!

Alternatively, you can buy a packet mix of fondue cheese (I know, cheating again) but it is easier and probably cheaper than buying the cheese separately.

Sorrryyyy

So sorry I have been away for so long, after a busy weekend last week with Ashleigh, I then had a travel week to Florence - so I really haven't been doing very much cooking! I will endeavour to start again on Monday and after plenty of eating out last week there is a ban on pasta in the flat. I thought I would blog a little about the Halloween party last weekend, the food seemed to go down well but as per usual I made far too much and we were snacking on Halloween treats for a few days.

This is what I made:
Mini Pizza Mummies
Twice Baked Potato Skins
Pesto & Parmesan Pasta
Chocolate & Cherry Pancakes
Chocolate Orange Pumpkin Cake (which I hacked with the meat cleaver and ruined...)
Blood Orange Punch (LOTS of Vodka involved here)
Limoncello & Prosecco Fizz

The Pumpkin Cake did not get eaten, my fault entirely as I really wanted to use our scary meat cleaver so I hacked it up a bit and made it look very unappetising - safe to say, I had drunk a few glasses of punch and probably should not have been allowed near the meat cleaver in the first place. Here is a picture of the cake before I destroyed it though.



The potato skins were not Halloween themed but they were the favourite by far. Bake the potatoes until cooked through, cut them in half and scoop out all the filling into a bowl. Add handfuls of cheese and cooked bacon with a knob of butter and mix together, then scoop the filling back into the empty skins, top with a slice of mozzarella and bake for another 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

The party was fun and we ended up at the one and only night club in Venice, which was tiny but I have missed clubbing sooo much!! Thanks to Ash for being on top form the whole weekend and to everyone that made the effort to come to the party and dress up!



And finally, thanks to my favourite flatmates who helped decorate and cook even with essay deadlines looming and let me loose with my make up on their faces. xxx

Gnocchi With Sage & Sun-dried Tomato Butter

Two blogs in one day today! Its my night off cooking tonight and from tomorrow night my friend Ashleigh is here so I don't think I will be able to get any more blogs done before Sunday evening. But don't worry, I am catering for a Halloween party on Friday so there will be lots of party food recipes going up soon! I spent a large proportion of my day searching the supermarkets in Venice for jelly and red food colouring - haven't managed to find any yet, but I have found cherry syrup which is the ideal blood colour for my Halloween cocktails!

I am dressing up, I didn't bring any costumes with me but I thought I would work some magic with make up and create an Ice Queen costume. I have been informed, that I sometimes I come across as having an icy personality (basically a more polite way of saying I have an attitude problem - so thanks Jamie) but I'm using it to my advantage. I have forced my flat to dress up as well and between the four of us and Ashleigh (who is not one to shy away from a theme either) we are going to look spooktacular...

Serves 4
Ingredients:
2 Packs Gnocchi
1 Handful Sun-dried Tomatoes (Finely Chopped)
6 Large Sage Leaves (Finely Chopped)
2 Cloves Garlic (Finely Chopped)
100g Butter
1 Large Handful Grated Parmesan

Boil some salted water and add the gnocchi. Whilst the gnocchi is cooking, melt the butter with the sage, sundried tomatoes and garlic. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Once the gnocchi is done (when it starts to float) drain and add to the butter. Allow the gnocchi to soak in the sauce before covering with the parmesan cheese.

Gnocchi is very filling, much like risotto it never looks like it will fill you up, but it does believe me!

Lasagne

My apologies for the lack of blogging recently, I would love to blame it on my essay but actually we have been eating later and when I sat down to eat I was so hungry I forgot to take a picture! Lasagne is my favourite dinner, it is probably one of the meals that I could not live without. My lasagne is not a traditional Italian one, according to my mum, as it features a lot of cheese sauce. Incidentally, when I made this there was more cheese sauce over the hob and sink than there was in the lasagne, it is a messy dish to make, especially if you're the most clumsy cook alive - like me - but it is so worth it.


Serves 4 very hungry girls or 6 normal appetites. Set oven to 200 Degrees C.
Ingredients

For the Cheese Sauce:
25g Butter
25g Flour
300ml Milk
2 Large Handfuls Parmesan Cheese (Or Cheddar)
2 Tbsp Ricotta (Optional)
Salt & Pepper

Melt the butter and stir in the flour to make a roux, then add the milk little by little until it makes a smooth white sauce, add the cheese and leave to melt. Add a pinch of salt and pepper. Once done leave to the side.

For the Meat Sauce:
1 Pack Lean Beef Mine
1 Pack Lardons
4 Carrots (Diced)
1 Stick Celery (Diced)
1 Onion (Diced)
2 Cloves Garlic (Finely Chopped)
2 Jars Passata
Salt, Pepper & Oregano

Fry the onions, garlic and celery until soft, add the mince and the lardons and fry until browned. Add a pinch of salt, pepper and oregano. Add in the passata and the carrots and leave to simmer for 10 minutes.

Other Ingredients:
1 Pack Lasagne Sheets (Fresh or Dried)
1 Ball Mozzarella (Finely Sliced)

Once both the sauces are done, layer the bottom of a rectangular baking dish with 2/3 spoonfuls of meat sauce and cover with the pasta sheets (you may have to cut the sheets down to the right size). On top of the pasta, spoon over a quarter of the cheese sauce and spread it so it covers all the pasta. Repeat these steps four times at least. Cover the top of the final layer of cheese sauce with the mozzarella slices and bake in the oven for 20 minutes until golden brown on top.

Even if you just make this for two people, it freezes really well. I used to bake about 6 portions and freeze them individually so when you can't be bothered to cook you have a home-made ready meal just waiting to be microwaved!

Exciting Chicken Caesar Salad

Had a really busy weekend because we have essay deadlines this week and everyone is getting a little stressed so haven't really had much time to relax or blog. My wisdom teeth are also causing me some trouble, they are really painful this morning and according to Lucy I keep making noises in my sleep that sounds like I'm chewing which I guess is probably because of my toothache but also highly likely that I'm dreaming about eating.

Speaking of dreams, I had one about mackerels last night, I don't remember much of the dream but my sub-concious made it very clear it was a mackerel which is weird seeing as I don't like them at all. I think I'm going a bit mad. Perhaps the essay stress is getting to me?

This meal doesn't really count as cooking because its a salad, but it was yummy so I thought I'd put it up anyway.

Serves 4
Ingredients:
400g Salad Leaves
200g Cherry Tomatoes (Sliced)
100g Sun Dried Tomatoes (Sliced)
6 Rashers Prosciutto
2 Breasts of Chicken (Thinly Sliced)
1 Packet Croutons (Or homemade ones - see previous salad blog)
1 Bottle Caesar Dressing (Not homemade unfortunately)
1 Handful Parmesan Shavings

Pretty much all you have to do is fry the prosciutto and chicken, leave to cool on some kitchen roll, crumble the prosciutto into the salad and add the chicken. Mix in all the other ingredients and serve the dressing either over the top or on the side. Really easy, but everything compliments each other and its not too unhealthy!

On top of essay writing this week I am also organising a Halloween party on Friday, because my friend Ashleigh is coming over to visit this weekend and we are having a little get-together. I have been known to go slightly overboard when it comes to themed events and I am in the process of working out how to make ghost shaped food. I'm also insisting on everyone wearing costumes so if you're coming, be warned I'm expecting complete dedication to the theme.

Chicken Gratin & Dauphinoise Potatoes

 

Apologies for the bad photo, best I could manage with my rubbishy digital camera! This dinner was kind of a random meal that I threw together with the left over ingredients I had in the fridge, the dauphinoise potatoes were yummy, you really can't go wrong with carbs smothered in cream and garlic can you? On a massively unappetising note, I have an unfortunate pigeon story this week. Over these five weeks we have been in Venice, I have become increasingly annoyed by pigeons and have resorted to attempting to kick them at every opportunity. I have a huge dislike of most birds (don't even get me started on the Warwick geese...) but pigeons are now at the top of my list for birds I hate. Basically a pigeon slapped me in the face, I'm sure it was karma from trying to kick its mate or something, but I got a full sweep of pigeon wing across my face yesterday. It was probably the worst experience of my life and I had to calm myself down by having a few scoops of ice cream.

 

Anyway, on to the recipe before my blog descends into pigeon-related hysteria.

 

Serves 4

Ingredients:

For the Chicken Gratin:

4 Chicken Breasts

Handful of Sliced Cherry Tomatoes

4 Rashers of Prosciutto

1 Large Handful of Parmesan

1 Large Handful of Breadcrumbs

 

For the Dauphenoise Potatoes:

4 Large Baking Potatoes (Sliced)

3 Cloves Garlic (Finely Sliced)

300ml Cream

1 Onion (Finely Sliced)

1 Handful Parmesan

 

Layer the sliced potatoes with the sliced garlic and onions in a baking dish. Add a pinch of salt and pepper to the cream and pour over the top of the potatoes. Top with the parmesan and bake in the over on 180C for 40 minutes. (this is not a traditional dauphenoise, I added parmesan and onions for a bit of variety).

 

Whilst the potatoes are cooking, fry the prosciutto rashers in a pan until crispy, leave to the side on some kitchen roll to remove the excess fat.

Cover the chicken breasts with a sheet of cling film and hit with a rolling pin until flattened (this is the fun bit). Then lay the flat breasts (haha) on a baking tray and top with the sliced cherry tomatoes. Crumble the prosciutto on top of the tomatoes and then sprinkle the parmesan and breadcrumbs over the top. Drizzle a little olive oil over the top and bake in the oven on 180C for 25 minutes.

 

Once the chicken is done and the potatoes are cooked through, serve with a side salad!