Tapas ideas/recipes

I have already posted individual recipes for Patatas Bravas with chorizo and sweet potato fries but just wanted to share some other 'tapas' ideas and quick recipes to make at home for the perfect Saturday night in!

1. Cheesy garlic pizza bread with brie & red onion

Shop-bought cheesy garlic pizza bread then simply slice a red onion, and whack on some brie and freshly chopped parsley! Heaven.

 2. Smoked cheese & tomatoes

 Visit your local fresh cheese counter and see what you can find - I bought some smoked cheddar with a paprika crust (to die for), and just bought some simple cherry tomatoes.

3. Lamb & mint meatballs with tzatziki

 You can't make everything... so you can pick these delicious meatballs up from Sainsbury's - they have amazing flavour and taste so good dunked in tzatziki (which was also not home-made...)

4. Chicken & mushroom wholegrain mustard wraps

Fry some chicken chunks in olive oil until cooked, then add in some fresh garlic and mushrooms. Once cooked, stir in a teaspoon of wholegrain mustard and some soft cheese (e.g. Philadelphia). Serve in a bowl then spoon into wholegrain wraps with some fresh spinach leaves. Delicious!

5. Don't forget the dips!

Of course you can make your dips from scratch but if you don't want to be slaving in the kitchen all night long then opt for some ready made salsa, tzatziki and garlic mayonnaise - perfect dips for all of the above dishes.

Enjoy :)

Rosemary, wholegrain mustard & garlic lamb steaks

A perfect, quick mid-week meal - very tender and full of flavour!

 The best part for me was having leftovers and making a lamb steak sandwich the next day...

Serves 2
- olive oil
- 4 lamb steaks
- 2 tsp wholegrain mustard
- 2 cloves of garlic, crushed
- sprig of fresh rosemary
- 1 red onion, quartered

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees and drizzle some olive oil in a small roasting tin. Place in the oven to heat up whilst you prepare the lamb.
2. Coat the lamb steaks in the wholegrain mustard. Feel free to cut the fat off the lamb if you prefer - I kept it on for extra flavour and some of it crisped up which tasted great, but you can just cut off the fatty parts when eating.

3. Remove the tin from the oven and place the lamb steaks in the hot oil. Spread the crushed garlic on top of the lamb and sprinkle with plenty of fresh rosemary, tearing with your fingers. Place the quartered onion around the lamb steaks and drizzle with some extra olive oil.

4. Cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes, or longer, depending on how you like your lamb.

Enjoy :)

Barbecue treats

I may have missed the mark since the rain is coming in, but as you all know, the weather has been gorgeous in England for the past month. I have had a few barbecues, and although I don't have many photos, I thought I would share a quick chicken kebab recipe and some gorgeous melt in the middle beef burgers (both pictured above) - as well as some ideas for fun BBQ food :)

Chicken kebabs

Simply chop up your desired amount of red onion and any coloured pepper, and thread on a kebab stick with some diced chicken. Just drizzle with olive oil and you're good to barbecue! So simple but very delicious. If you prefer more flavour than marinade the chicken before hand.

Melt-in-the-middle goats cheese burgers

So yummy - you can replace the goats cheese with any cheese like cheddar or stilton or brie.

Makes 2:
- 250g beef mince
- 1 small red onion, finely chopped
- handful of fresh parsley, finely chopped
- salt & pepper
- 1/2 beaten egg
- two thick slices of soft goats cheese

1. Mix together the mince, onion, parsley and seasoning in a mixing bowl.
2. Add in the beaten egg and mix until combined. If too wet, then add a bit of flour.
3. Shape into 4 small patties, and place the goats cheese on two of them.
4. Place the other two patties on top of the goats cheese, and shape around with your fingers to seal, until the perfect burger shape, and the cheese is covered.
5. Time to barbecue!

On my birthday this year, we had a lovely barbecue in the evening with so much food - standard burgers and sausages, along with corn on the cob (boil it first!), sweet chilli chicken, lamb marinated in mint, pineapple on the bbq, and lots of potato salad.

Hope this gives you some BBQ inspiration!

Enjoy :)

Pasta and meatballs

A twist on the normal spaghetti bolognese! Although this takes a little longer than just browning mince, the dish is automatically transformed into something more special and exciting, so it is definitely worth it. I made half the meatballs with lamb mince and half the meatballs with beef mince (just what we had in the freezer) which made it even more interesting because there were two different flavours of meat - it was fun guessing which was which (clearly spend too much time with food...) It can be quite tricky cooking meatballs from scratch because they tend to crumble and fall apart when turning them in the frying pan. I found that the lamb meatballs didn't fall apart at all, and cooked perfectly, whereas the beef meatballs crumbled a bit (something to do with the type of meat? not sure what exactly though.) I love this meal, since I love cooking with fresh garlic and fresh herbs - the flavours in the meatballs and sauce were delicious. This meal will never fail to impress - people always think meatballs are more difficult to make than they really are (shh)!

Serves 2 (makes 12 meatballs)

- 250g mince (beef or lamb, or both)

- 3 garlic cloves, crushed

- 2 small red onions, chopped

- few handfuls of fresh parsley, chopped

- salt and pepper

- olive oil or egg yolk, for binding

- olive oil, for frying

- 1 red pepper, chopped

- tin of chopped tomatoes, or passata

- fresh basil, torn

- fresh parmesan, grated

- 200g pasta

(Above is the passata we used. It's a huge jar so I used just over half - it's basically the same as tinned tomatoes but just crushed rather than larger pieces of tomato. I think this brand was from Costco)

1. In a bowl, combine the mince, 1 crushed garlic clove, 1 chopped onion, chopped parsley, salt and pepper, and oil or egg. Shape into medium sized balls - it should make around 12.

2. Heat some olive oil in a large frying pan (I used 2 smaller frying pans) and fry the meatballs over a low-medium heat, turning occasionally to ensure they are cooked in the middle. They should be browned.

3. Set aside. Cook the pasta according to packet instructions (around 10 mins) in salted water. Meanwhile, fry the remaining onion and garlic in some olive oil. Once softened, add the peppers, cook for a few minutes, then add the passata or chopped tomatoes. Season to taste with fresh basil, salt and pepper, and some parmesan.

4. Return the meatballs to the sauce and heat through for a few minutes. Drain the pasta and serve topped with the meatballs and sauce. Garnish with some more basil leaves and some freshly grated parmesan!

Enjoy :)

Shepherd's pie

This is a really good shepherd's pie recipe - it has the usual comfort food textures and richness, as well as being packed with tons of flavour from the fresh rosemary. A potato pie like this is a brilliant way to get some veggies in as well without it being daunting (I know that it's always not great to have a pile of veg on the side of your plate, it can be the last thing you want to eat). As a student, when I'm at uni and have less time and space, I tend to buy the Collman's or Schwartz (or Tesco or Sainsbury's equivalents) dried packet mixes where you just add water (as well as the mince, veg, potato etc) - these are also great too for flavour; I will be doing a post soon on a sausage casserole I made using one of these, as well as a post more focussed on meals to cook as a student - a sort of week dinner plan. A typical recipe will make about 3 or 4 good-sized portions so it's great to freeze portions and have them in a few days or weeks, or even months! Having said that about the packet mixes, you cannot beat a hearty home-made shepherd's pie so if you've got the time, I would highly recommend this for a family treat.

Serves 4-6 (I halved this)

- oil, for frying

- 2 medium red onions, chopped

- 3-4 tbsp balsamic vinegar

- 2 carrots, peeled and cut into small cubes

- 2 sprigs of fresh rosemary, finely chopped

- 700-750g lamb mince (you can use beef if you prefer - technically this would make it a cottage pie)

- 2 large squidges of tomato puree

- 3-4 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

- 200ml of lamb or beef stock

- splash of red wine (optional)

- salt & pepper

- 1 bay leaf

- 250g frozen peas

- 1kg mashing potatoes, cut into chunks

- knob of butter

- splash of milk

- large handful of grated cheddar and breadcrumbs, for sprinkling

1. Heat the oil and add the onions, cooking until soft. Add the balsamic and cook until evaporated. Add the carrots and rosemary and stir together. Add the mince, breaking up with a wooden spoon and cook until browned.

2. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees/gas mark 4.

3. Add the tomato puree, Worcestershire sauce, stock, salt & pepper, and the bay leaf, and simmer. Add the peas.

4. Meanwhile, cook the potatoes in a large an of salted water for around 20 minutes, or until soft.

5. Drain them, and return to the an, adding the butter and milk, mashing until smooth.Season according to taste.

6. Tip the meat mixture into a large casserole dish and dollop on the mash, spreading it and forking to make a pattern. Sprinkle on the cheese and the breadcrumbs for a crunchy texture - perfect with the smooth mash.

7. Cook the pie for 20-30 minutes , or until golden on top and hot all the way through.

Enjoy :)

Marinated lamb with tomatoes and mozzarella

I had no idea what to do with these lamb steaks for dinner - after lots of thought I decided to just improvise and make a simple marinade and then roast in the oven with mozzarella on top. It was lovely; I served it with the bacon and rosemary potato rosti (check this post!) and savoy cabbage - it was a deliciously satisfying meal! The lamb was full of flavour and it was very simple to do.

Ingredients:
- Lamb steaks
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp very lazy garlic in white wine vinegar (or just garlic granules)
- handful of fresh or dried rosemary (I used dried)
- salt & pepper
- cherry tomatoes
- mozzarella, sliced

1. Pour the olive oil and balsamic into a dish, and spoon in the garlic.
2. Rub the lamb steaks in until they are covered with the oil and vinegar.
3. Sprinkle lots of rosemary and turn the steaks over until they are covered with the herbs.
4. Seasoned and cut up cherry tomatoes, placing them around the steaks. Cover with cling film and chill in the fridge until cooking.
5. Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees/gas mark 5 and bake in the oven covered with foil (not cling film!) for about 15-30 minutes depending on how rare you like your meat. Halfway through this cooking time, place the mozzarella slices on the lamb so it has time to melt.

Enjoy :)

Oven-baked rosemary & bacon potato rosti

As I was grating all the potatoes I thought to myself, is this really worth it!? For some reason, I had the expectation that this would be watery and bland (even though I seasoned etc.) Boy was I mistaken! This was one of the best potato dishes I've ever had, and definitely the best one I've ever made. I don't think I've ever even had a rosti before - if I have it wasn't memorable. So I was just going to make a traditional rosti and fry them individually, but then I decided to oven-bake one big one so the potato is cooked for about an hour, meaning the result is a soft, creamy inside, and a crisp outside, mmm. I served this with balsamic, rosemary and tomato marinated lamb which complimented it perfectly. I will post the recipe for the lamb over the next couple of days. Who would have thought grated potato would taste so satisfying...

Serves 2-3

Ingredients:

- 3 rashers streaky bacon

- 750g potatoes, peeled (waxy potatoes - I used Sainsburys taste the difference Vivaldi)

- 2 tbsp olive oil

- 1/2 onion

- butter, for greasing and topping

- dried or fresh rosemary, for sprinkling

- handful of parmesan, grated

1. Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees/gas mark 5. Dry-fry the bacon in a pan until golden and crispy. Cut into pieces once cooled.
2. Boil the potatoes whole for about 5 minutes. Drain and place in cold water.
3. When cool enough to handle, grate the potatoes into a large bowl, occasionally adding olive oil.
4. Finely chop the onion and add to the grated potato along with the bacon.
5. Place a baking tray in the oven to heat. Grease a loose-bottomed cake tin with butter and scatter the potato mix into it. Do not pack it down with your hands. Sprinkle with rosemary and parmesan, and scatter butter over the top. (Picture below is at this stage)

6. Place on top of the baking tray in the oven and bake for 1 to 1 and a half hours - until the potatoes are cooked through and crisp on top.

Enjoy :)