Beef casserole & roast potatoes

A hearty beef casserole to warm you up through the cold weather

Perfect with some crispy-bottomed roasties

Serves 2-3

For the casserole

- olive oil

- 1 large onion, thickly chopped

- 1 clove of garlic, chopped

- 450g casserole steak, chopped

- plain flour

- salt & pepper

- 2 carrots, chopped

- 2 tbsp worcestershire sauce

- 400ml beef stock

- 100g mushrooms, chopped

- sprigs of fresh thyme

For the roast potatoes

- maris piper or king edward potatoes, halved or quartered

- olive oil

- seasoning (spice & herb blend or whatever you like)

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees.

2. In a large pan, fry the onion and garlic in a generous amount of olive oil for a few minutes. Then add the beef, a sprinkling of flour and seasoning and stiry to combine, cooking for a few more minutes.

3. Next add the carrots, then the best ingredient

4. And the beef stock. Bring to the boil, then simmer.

5. Add the mushrooms and fresh sprigs of thyme, then transfer to a casserole dish with a lid, and cook in the oven for about two hours (stirring halfway through). 

6. Meanwhile, while the casserole is cooking, for the roast potatoes, prepare as many as you wish (depending on your appetite) and par-boil in salted water for around 10-15 minutes.

7. Drain and place on kitchen paper, leaving to cool and dry out for 20-30 minutes.

8. Pour a generous amount of oil into a roasting tin and place in the oven, turning it up to 200 degrees, until the oil has heated up.

9. Remove the tray from the oven and transfer the potatoes into the dish, coating in the hot oil. Season well and then roast in the oven for around 40 minutes, or until crisped to your likening.

10. By the end of the two hours, your casserole should be thicker (add cornflour if not) and ready to serve, accompanied by roasties that are fluffy in the middle, and crisp on the outside.

Enjoy :)

Chicken, chorizo & potato bake

This is a new mid-week favourite of mine - super delicious, quick and easy but different to anything else I usually have. Definitely one for you all to try as it has tons of strong flavours and the crisp texture from the roasted potatoes compliments the soft chicken and chewy chorizo perfectly. The best part is, everything cooks together in one roasting tin!

Serves 2 

- 250g new potatoes
- olive oil
- 4 chicken thigh fillets (skinless & boneless)
- 1 tsp paprika 
- sprinkle of ground cinnamon
- sprinkle of dried thyme or mixed herbs
- dried chorizo sausage, sliced
- 75g cherry tomatoes, halved
- 1 garlic clove, crushed

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees.
2. Halve or quarter the new potatoes and toss with plenty of olive oil in a baking tin/tray and season. Place in the oven for about 15 minutes while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
3. Cut the chicken thigh fillets in half and place them in a bowl. Add the paprika, cinnamon and herbs and stir until the chicken is coated.
4. Take the potatoes out of the oven and place the chicken in the tray around them. Scatter the chorizo,  tomatoes and fresh garlic around the chicken and potatoes as well and place in the oven after seasoning and sprinkling with some more herbs.

5. Cook in the oven for a further 20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked and the potatoes crisp.

Enjoy :)

Baked Camembert

I am a huge cheese lover so for me there is no better lunch than an oozy baked Camembert with caramelised onion chutney and crusty bread. This is really simple and easy but is packed full of flavour and is perfect for a special treat. I made the ham, cheese and chive bread to go with the Camembert - recipe in my next post!

Serves 2-4 people

- 1 whole Camembert

- 2 garlic cloves

- few sprigs of fresh thyme

- dash of olive oil

- caramelised onion chutney (Sainsbury's taste the difference one is perfect!)

- fresh bread or breadsticks

1. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees.

2. Remove all of the plastic packaging from the Camembert and place back in its wooden box.

3. With a sharp knife cut about 6 slits into the cheese. Crush or chop the garlic and push into the slits.

4. Pull the thyme leaves off the sprig and roughly tear. Push these into the slits as well and sprinkle some on top.

5. Drizzle the Camembert with olive oil then place in the oven to cook for around 15 minutes, or until the cheese is melted all the way through. 

6. Remove from the oven and open the harder top of the cheese and top generously with caramelised onion chutney. Dip in warm, crusty bread!

Enjoy :)

Roast chicken

This was my first time roasting a chicken and I was so pleased with the results! The chicken was really moist and had lovely flavour. I made roast potatoes and we had it with shop-bought sage and onion stuffing, yorkshire puddings, carrots and mange-tous, and instant gravy. The roast wasn't as good as one of my mum's (she will love reading this..) but I can't master everything at once so for now I'm just pleased I managed to roast such a huge thing! It was just a whole chicken from Sainsbury's - quite a big one that served 6 people, so that my boyfriend could use the chicken in sandwiches and other meals, so it works out as really good value for money. Don't let cooking a roast chicken seem daunting - I was in a massive flap about doing it by myself but realised it was super easy!

Ingredients

- 1 large whole chicken (mine served 6)

- olive oil

- 3-4 fresh garlic cloves, crushed

- Fresh or dried thyme

- Dried oregano

- 2 red onions, cut into thick chunks

1. Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees / gas mark 5.

2. Place the chicken in a roasting tin and brush with a generous amount of olive oil all over.

3. Brush on the crushed garlic and sprinkle with the herbs as well as salt and pepper if needed.
4. Cover with foil and roast in the oven for about an hour. Then add the onions to the tin and cook for another 45 mins to an hour - the chicken should be cooked through, really moist, and slightly crisp!

Enjoy :)

Cheese, tomato and herb quiche

I absolutely love quiche but have never attempted to make one before because whenever I look at recipes they always seem to use so many eggs and so much cream! I also love making (and eating..) shortcrust pastry but was always afraid that turning it into a quiche would leave it with a soggy bottom. Well, today I proved my assumptions to be very wrong! I looked over a few recipes and decided to use all milk instead of cream, with a bit of light soft cheese, and only one egg. I used fresh tomatoes, lots of herbs and some cheddar and parmesan, and the flavours were amazing. The texture was absolutely perfect as well - no soggy bottom, but crisp pastry instead, hoorah! I made this for Father's day as we decided to have a buffet. This quiche is perfect party food for buffets, makes a great lunch, or even dinner - serve with a side salad and some new potatoes in parsley butter for a delicious, summer meal (suitable for vegetarians!) I can't wait to create more quiche recipes, maybe bacon and leek, and next time I make this tomato one, I want to try putting broccoli in it too (I've had one like this from Sainsbury's and it is scrummy). If you are to try out one recipe this summer, I think it should be this one! Pastry isn't as tricky as you might think to get right, just follow the steps below.

Makes 1 large quiche (4-8 people)

For the pastry:

- 175g plain flour

- pinch of salt

- 40g lard

- 40g margarine

- 1 tsp thyme, chopped (I used dried)

- 2-3 tbsp water

For the filling:

- small knob of butter

- 1 small onion, chopped

- 350g tomatoes, sliced

- pinch of salt and pepper

- handful of parsley, chopped (I used fresh)

- 1 tsp thyme (dried)

- 1 tsp basil (dried)

- 2 tbsp boiling water

- 250ml milk

- 1 egg

- 1 tbsp light soft cheese

- handful of parmesan, grated

- handful of cheddar, grated

1. Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 4 / 180 degrees. For the filling, gently fry the onion in the butter for a few minutes until softened. Add the tomatoes, herbs and salt and pepper and stir.

2. Add the boiling water and simmer for 5-10 minutes, or until the tomatoes are softened. Leave to cool.

3. Whilst this is cooling, start on the pastry. Sieve the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl and add the margarine and lard.

4. Rub the fat into the flour with your fingertips 'from a height' (oo jamie oliver style...) until it resembles breadcrumbs. You can add in the thyme at this stage or the previous stage.

5. Add the water and knead gently into a soft dough. On a floured work-surface, roll out the dough until large enough to fit into a flan dish or metal case. Push down into the case, pressing into the sides.

6. To finish the filling, whisk together the milk, egg, soft cheese, parmesan and chessar until combined. Stir into the tomato and onion mixture and gently pour into the pastry case until filled to the top. Grate some more cheddar on top. I found that I had too much filling for the case, maybe because my case was too small. I put the remaining filling into little ramekin dishes and baked in the oven with the quiche so that it could be eaten anyway and not wasted.

7. Bake in the oven for 30-45 minutes, or until the filling has set and is golden brown. 

Enjoy :)

Simple potato salad

Hope everyone is enjoying the hot, sunshine weather - this potato salad is a perfect side dish for a barbecue, or any other summery meal. I made this last night to go with sausages in buns, salad, kettle chips and scotch eggs - last minute thrown together BBQ style food! We had a few leftover potatoes from the night before, which is why I decided to make this. Usually I would make a potato salad with new potatoes (with the skins still on) and fresh chives, but we didn't have any fresh herbs in the house, and the potatoes we had cooked the night before were Sainsbury's taste the difference Vivaldi potatoes and were peeled. But this was still really yummy and the best part is that all the ingredients are ones which almost every household will already have!

Serves 2
- about 6 potatoes (depending on size), cut into chunks
- 1 heaped tbsp of mayonnaise (I used Hellman's light mayo)
- 1 tsp wholegrain mustard (or any other mustard you prefer)
- few pinches of paprika (probably about 1/4 - 1/2 a tsp)
- fresh herbs, chopped such as chives OR dried herbs (I used thyme)

Simply mix the potatoes with all the other ingredients until combined. Season to taste.
You could also add bits of cooked bacon, or chunks of hard-boiled egg to make this more substantial and interesting!
Enjoy :)

Goats cheese and caramelised onion tart (Valentine's Day starter)

Goats cheese and caramelised onion tart

(As seen on Masterchef Celebrity 2010 - Lisa Faulkner won with this as part of her 3 course meal)

Recipe I used is from here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/food/recipes/goats_cheese_and_onion_51943

I previously used ready made puff pastry to make this starter, but making shortcrust pastry makes this more rewarding and rich in taste and texture :) I would definitely recommend this for any special occasion!

Pastry preparation and cooking - make sure you have some baking beans or something similar as this pastry is cooked blind before the filling goes in!

I love making the caramelised onion filling (onion, sugar, butter, balsamic), it smells divine when it's cooking, and tastes even better! I made the goats cheese filling (goats cheese, egg yolk, cream) with spreadable goats cheese instead of crumbly, although I think crumbly would have worked better for texture...

I garnished with spinach leaves, a dash of balsamic, and dried thyme!