Tomato Salsa

I love fresh tomato salsa in the summer, all the vibrant red and yellow tomatoes mixed with the onion and the chilli, such beautiful colours. Now the colder weather has arrived, I love eating things that remind me of summer. This salsa is so versatile; I had it with cajun chicken and rice and also as a side salad on a couple of occasions and it was delicious.



Tomato Salsa
(Serves 2)

6-8 cherry tomatoes
half small red onion, chopped
half green chilli, chopped
1-2 tbsp olive oil

Mix the tomatoes, red onion and chilli together in a bowl. Pour over the olive oil and stir together.

Thai Yellow Fish Curry

A couple of weeks ago I went to a lovely Thai restaurant 'The Mango Tree' on Grosvenor Place in London and had a fantastic meal. One of the dishes we had was Yellow Thai Fish Curry which had monkfish and butter fish in it. I had never tried butter fish before but it actually did taste really buttery. So I thought I would try and recreate it at home and I succeeded! I couldn't find butter fish and the monkfish was too expensive so I just used cod and haddock which broke up more when I stirred but still did the job. I also loved the potato in the curry and the aubergine was the first of my own mini aubergines from the garden. All in all delicious!



Yellow Thai Fish Curry (adapted from BBC Good Food Magazine March 2006)
(Serves 2)

1-2 tbsp Thai red curry paste
200ml light coconut milk
6 salad or new potatoes, halved if large
half an aubergine, chopped into pieces
handful cherry tomato
250g skinless white fish fillets, cubed or left in big pieces
handful coriander leaves
2 limes, 1 juiced, 1 cut into wedges

Heat the red curry paste with the coconut milk in a saucepan. Add the potatoes and cook for 3 mins, then add the aubergine and cook for 5 mins, or until just tender, then add the fish and cook for 3 minutes or until cooked through.

Stir in the coriander and lime juice and serve with wedges of lime to squeeze over

Green Tea, Chicken and Noodle Soup

Sarah from Simply Cooked was our November Daring Cooks’ hostess and she challenged us to create something truly unique in both taste and technique! We learned how to cook using tea with recipes from Tea Cookbook by Tonia George and The New Tea Book by Sara Perry.

I am not a huge fan of tea but I thought I'd give this a go and actually I was surprised with the result. Of course the soup base included miso, so the tea taste wasn't overpowering, it was just a little after taste with each sip of the soup. I used chicken instead of tofu as I don't like tofu, so I just cooked the chicken before I added it to the soup. I actually fried it cut up into little pieces but this added a bit of an oily taste to the soup so it might have been better to cook it in the water like you do with Pho.



Green Tea, Chicken and Noodle Soup

4 green tea teabags, or 1½ tablespoons (22½ ml) (3 gm) green tea leaves
1¼ inches (3 cm) fresh ginger, peeled and thinly sliced
5 oz (140 gm) thick or thin egg noodles
6 chicken thighs, pre-cooked
5 oz (140 gm) bok choy or spring greens, shredded
1-2 tablespoons (15-30 ml) light soy sauce
2 tablespoons (30 ml) (1 oz) (30 gm) red or white miso paste
½ teaspoon (2½ ml) sesame oil
6 scallions (also called spring onion or green onion), trimmed and sliced
sprinkling of sesame seeds

Place 6 cup (1½ litre) water in a pan with the green tea bags or leaves and the ginger slices. Heat until the water is just below boiling and bubbles start to form.

Remove the pan from the heat and let it steep for four minutes.

Remove the tea bags or strain the liquid to remove the tea leaves. Return the ginger slices to the liquid and reserve.

Meanwhile, cook the noodles according to package instructions in a separate pan.



Return the tea liquid to the heat and add the pre-cooked chicken, bok choy or greens, and the soy sauce. Heat gently for five minutes, until hot all through.



Scoop out some liquid to a small bowl and mix in the miso paste. Then return the liquid to the pan.

Add the sesame oil and scallions. Spoon into bowls and garnish with the sesame seeds.

Courgette and Lemon Cake

For pudding to go with the Sunday roast I made a Courgette and Lemon Cake, with lemon cream cheese frosting and it was fantastic. Very tasty and lovely and moist. The original recipe (posted below) has poppy seeds in it but I couldn't find them in any of the supermarkets I went to, so I just omitted them and it didn't make much difference flavour wise. It was probably also less irritating as they tend to get stuck in between my teeth!



Courgette and Lemon Cake (from Good Food Magazine September 2010)
(cuts into 12 slices)

250g pack unsalted butter, very soft, plus extra for the tin
3 unwaxed lemons
200g golden caster sugar
3 eggs
2 medium courgettes, coarsely grated (you'll need 300g/10oz flesh)
1 tsp poppy seeds , plus extra to decorate
1 tsp vanilla extract
100g self-raising flour
100g plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
85g icing sugar
200g pack full-fat soft cheese
4 tbsp lemon curd (optional)

Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Butter 2 x 20cm sandwich tins and line the bases with baking parchment. Zest 2 lemons, then squeeze their juice into a separate bowl. Put 200g butter, the caster sugar, eggs, courgettes, poppy seeds, vanilla and lemon zest into a mixing bowl. Beat to a creamy batter. Stir in 1 tbsp lemon juice, the flours, baking powder and ¼ tsp salt. Spoon the mix into the tins, then bake for 25 mins or until risen, golden and springy in the middle.

Make a drizzle by mixing another tbsp lemon juice with 25g icing sugar. Put the remaining icing sugar and butter into a bowl, add the soft cheese, remaining lemon juice (about 2 tbsp) and grate in the final lemon's zest. Beat to make a creamy, smooth frosting.

When the cakes are ready, cool for 15 mins in their tins, then turn onto a cooling rack. Prick several times with a cocktail stick, spoon over the drizzle and cool completely. Can be frozen at this stage for up to 1 month. Put one cake onto a serving plate and spread with just under half the frosting. Spread over the lemon curd, if using. Top with the second cake, spread the remaining frosting over the top and sprinkle with poppy seeds.

A Sunday Roast

To christen the new kitchen I invited some friends over last weekend and we had a roast! I had lots of help which made the cooking a lot less stressful than it could have been.



It was a fairly simple lunch: roast chicken, roast potatoes and carrots, sausages wrapped in bacon, stuffing, broccoli, gravy and bread sauce but delicious.



Now this bread sauce is nothing like normal bread sauce, or even very sauce like, but this is how my mum has always made it and how we normally have it when having a family roast. It's the first time I've ever tried to make it too, but I think it came out ok!

My Mum's Bread Sauce

Milk
7-8 black peppercorns
7-8 Cardamom pods
7-8 cloves
1 onion, sliced
4 slices white bread, made

Heat about an inch and a half of milk in a medium sized pan with the peppercorns, cardamon, cloves and onion until it comes to the boil and then turn off the heat and leave to one side. You can do this just after the chicken goes in.

Make the slices of bread into bread crumbs using a food processor.

Strain the milk through a sieve into a bowl and mix in the breadcrumbs. Put the mixture into an oven proof pot and when the chicken comes out of the oven put the bread sauce in to warm through. When everything else is ready, take the bread sauce out the oven and serve.

Cha Han

I love Wagamama's, it's one of my favourite restaurants to eat at and I often have the Cha Han. It looks so easy to make, and so I thought I'd give it a try and it is really easy to make! There's lots of prep to start off with but the actual cooking is really quick and easy as with most Japanese food. The food is delicious, light and healthy and it doesn't make you feel overly full! I'd definitely recommend having it with pickles and miso soup. they go so well together.



Cha Han (from The Wagamama Cookbook)
(Serves 2)

200g boneless, skinless chicken thigh meat
2 tbsp yakitori sauce
2 tbsp vegetable oil
8 cooked, peeled prawns (shrimp)
2 tbsp canned sweetcorn, well drained
2 tbsp mangetout, finely sliced
4 button mushrooms, finely sliced
2 spring onions, trimmed and cut into 1 inch lengths
2 eggs, beaten
75g cooked Thai fragrant rice
salt as desired
2 tbsp light soy sauce

Yakitori Sauce
6 tbsp sake
6 oz light soy sauce
6 tbsp Mirin
1 tbsp sugar

Make the Yakitori Sauce. Combine all the ingredients in a small pan and gently heat to dissolve the sugar. Set aside to cool. It will keep indefinitely in the fridge.

Combine the chicken and the Yakitori sauce in a bowl. Work gently with your fingers for a few minutes, turning the meat in the sauce. Marinate for at least 30 mins (1 hour is even better). Remove the chicken, reserving the marinade, and cut the meat on the diagonal into thin slices.

Heat a wok over a medium heat for 1-2 mins or until completely hot and almost smoking and add the vegetable oil. Add the prawns, sweetcorn, mangetout, mushrooms and spring onions along with the chicken and stir-fry over a medium heat for about 5 mins until the vegetables just start to wilt and the chicken is cooked. Add the egg and continue to stir-fry until it is just scrambled.

Add the rice. Season with salt and soy sauce and continue stir frying until everything is mixed evenly and the rice heated through. Divide between 2 bowls and serve with miso soup and pickles.

Sausage and Lentil One Pot

Sausages are so difficult to photograph, I can never get them to look pretty! However, this is a lovely warming winter dish.



Sausage and Lentil One Pot (from Good Food Magazine April 2006)
(Serves 4)

1 tbsp olive oil
400g pack sausages
1 onion, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 red pepper, sliced
250g puy lentils
150ml vegetable stock
125ml red wine or extra stock

Heat oil in a pan, cook the sausages until browned, then remove. Tip in remaining oil, onion, garlic and pepper, then cook, about 5 mins more until softened. Add lentils and sausages to the pan with the stock and wine, if using.

Bring up to the boil, then simmer for 20 mins until lentils have softened and sausages are cooked through. Serve with plenty of crusty bread.

Claypot Chicken and Rice

I love rice and I love being able to use my rice cooker, which I don't get to do often enough! This is a recipe that has been hanging about for ages with the Chinese sausage sitting in my freezer, so I finally thought I should try it out. Now, I decided that I don't really like the flavour of the Chinese sausage but the dish as a whole was really tasty. I'm not really sure what to do with the rest of my Chinese sausage that will disguise its flavour, so if anyone has any ideas please let me know!



Claypot Chicken and Rice (from Soy and Pepper)
(Serves 4)

4 portions cooked rice, cooled
4 chicken thighs, skinless and boneless, cut into bite-sized pieces
2 stalks spring onion, chopped and separate the white and green parts
6 dried shitake mushrooms, soaked in warm water for 15 mins and thinly sliced
1 Chinese sausage, sliced

Seasoning for chicken

1 tbsp light soy sauce
1 tbsp Chinese rice wine
1/2 tsp cornflour
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 teaspoon sesame oil
Dash of white pepper

Seasoning for rice

2 tsp oil
3 tbsp light soy sauce
2 tbsp oyster sauce
1 tbsp dark soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
1 tsp chilli oil (optional)

Marinate the chicken pieces and set aside for 30 minutes.

Heat some oil in a large pan or wok and stir fry the white parts of the spring onions, chicken, Chinese sausage and mushrooms for a few minutes until the chicken turns white and is almost cooked. Set aside.

Add the cooked rice, chicken, mushrooms and Chinese sausage back to the wok and pour in the rice seasoning and green parts of the spring onions. Mix well over medium heat and then transfer to a rice cooker. Let the rice mixture sit on 'Keep Warm' or 'Low' setting for 15-20 minutes for the flavours to mix thoroughly. Garnish with chopped spring onions, coriander and serve.

Smoked Haddock Fish Cakes

I am on half term this week and next week and I'm enjoying the break from work! The kitchen is finally all in, I'm just waiting for the floor, which comes next week, the door and the painting. It looks really good, the tiling is beautiful and I have under cupboard lighting! I promise to post before and after pictures when it's all completely finished. I am so happy with the kitchen so far and my new oven is brilliant! I've used it everyday since the main building work was finished, its so nice to have the oven back after almost 7 months!

This is another of my summer dishes, beautiful fishcakes. They were lovely with a nice fresh salad from the garden. The original recipe does not include sweetcorn but I had a craving for them so added some in and it added a really nice element to the dish.



Smoked Haddock Fish Cakes (adapted from Good Food Magazine January 2003)
(Serves 4)

100g white breadcrumbs
2 eggs
450g potatoes, peeled
450g smoked haddock
1 small tin sweetcorn
1 lemon, grated zest
2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
flour, for dusting
3 tbsp vegetable oil, for frying

Preheat the oven to 150C. Spread the crumbs over a baking sheet and dry in the oven for 10-15 minutes until pale golden, stirring halfway.

At the same time, hard-boil one of the eggs. Cut the potatoes into chunks. Cook in boiling salted water for 10-15 minutes until tender. Drain well and mash with a fork.

While the egg and potatoes are cooking, put the fish in a frying pan with just enough water to cover. Bring to the boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes until just cooked. Remove the fish with a palette knife and put on a plate. When it is cool enough to handle, carefully remove the skin and any bones. Flake the fish.

Shell the egg and chop it. Carefully mix with the potato, fish, sweetcorn, lemon zest, parsley, ½ tsp salt and a some black pepper. With floured hands, shape into 4 round cakes.

Coat each cake in the egg, then the dried breadcrumbs. Reshape if necessary.

Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the cakes over a medium heat for 5 minutes on each side, turning once, until golden on both sides. Serve

Smoked Salmon, Orzo, Cucumber and Dill Salad

Another of my summer dishes. This was a delicious salmon, cucumber and dill pasta salad, lovely and cooling on a hot summer day.



Smoked Salmon, Orzo, Cucumber and Dill Salad (adapted from Good Food Magazine April 2011)
(Serves 2)

4 pieces smoked salmon
5 spring onions, 3 whole, 2 finely sliced
1 small bunch dill , ½ chopped
1 lemon, ½ juiced, ½ sliced
125g orzo pasta
extra-virgin olive oil
1 heaped tsp mayonnaise
½ cucumber, peeled and diced

Cook the orzo following packet instructions, before rinsing in cold water and thoroughly draining.

Slice the smoked salmon into smallish pieces.

Whisk 2 tsp lemon juice with 1 tbsp olive oil, the mayonnaise and seasoning.

Put the smoked salmon, cooked orzo, sliced spring onions, cucumber, chopped dill and dressing in a bowl. Give everything a stir and serve.