Beet THAT!

I'm intrigued by 'wrong' coloured foods! I love black spaghetti and I will always choose my ice cream by the colour, "I'll have the bright green one please!"...

The following is a great dinner party dish, the colour is very impressive and beetroot lovers will thank you for months!! Beetroot is the veg a la mode in this house, I've been using it ALOT, perhaps too much, Bill? It is delicious though so I'll throw a few more beetroot recipes your way before I abandon it!! 

Beetroot Risotto

You'll need

Olive oil

500gms risotto rice

1 large glass of red wine

1 pk of cooked beetroot in juice

1 clove of garlic, crushed

500mls chicken/vegetable stock

100gms grated parmesan

A knob of butter

100gms soft goats cheese

Handful of rocket

Chopped walnuts

Method

Fry the rice with the garlic in oil until becoming translucent around the edges.  Add the wine and the juice from the beetroot.  Cook off the liquids and then add the stock, in dribs and drabs until the rice is cooked.  If the stock runs out use hot water. 

When the rice is cooked, chop the beetroot and add, stirring through to get as much dye on the rice as you can and then add the butter and parmesan.  Stir through.  Serve sprinkled with the rocket, walnuts and goats cheese.

Delicious!

Summer Lovin...

We caught a glimpse of summer a few weekends ago... and it was wonderful, spirits picked up, traffic jams were full of smiling faces, brown arms dangling from windows - no matter where you were there was sun to enjoy!

We took ourselves to the beach and, on returning, wanted something quick, easy and summery to satisfy those hunger pangs.

Asparagus & Lemon Pasta

You'll need

1 lemon, squeezed and zested

500gms cooked pasta, Farfalle or Penne are best, I used Fusilli out of desperation!!

4 tbsp of virgin olive oil

1 garlic clove, crushed

100gms pancetta, optional

10 Asparagus tips

Method

Heat the oil and add the garlic.    Add the pancetta and cook through. Add the chopped asparagus and stir until bright green.  Remove from heat, add lemon zest and juice and stir the pasta through.

Serve!

Beer anyone?

I've been getting into the "beer is the new wine" craze, and I have to admit I'm loving it! Beer can be just as interesting to drink, and with less of a headache the next day, whats not to love about that!! 

My personal favorite at the moment are the Asian beers, Tiger and Cobra being the most obvious choices.  The subtle cider pop after a swig of Cobra beer is fantastic, and wonderfully refreshing after a mouthful of spicy curry!  Beer sooths the mouth more quickly after a chili burn, so it is the drink of choice for any spicy dish.

There are two main theories behind the origin of "Pad Khee Mao", or Drunkards noodles, the first is that it is the hangover cure of choice by most Thais, the second is that so much beer is needed, to sooth the burning mouth while eating, that the diner ends up paraletic! Either way it is a great dish, one we eat all the time in this house, always with plenty of Tiger beer on hand too by the way...

Drunkards Noodles

You'll need

2 tbsp Stir fry oil

2 tbsp Oyster sauce

2 tbsp Rice Vinegar (or white wine vinegar will do)

1 tbsp Nam Plah sauce

1 tsp sugar

a squeeze of fresh lime

10 bird chillies, or 3 red chillies, chopped finely

1 tin bean sprouts

10 baby tomatoes, halved

1 green pepper, chopped 

A handful of Pak Choi, torn into lengths

10 Button Mushrooms, halved

400gms thin rice noodles, cooked

Method

Heat up the oil and add the chillies and the rest of the veg.  Add the sauces and stir fry for a minute, add the noodles and serve.

Be Careful!!! 'S hot!!

Dear Old Barley!

I hated it in stews, those little squishy blobs that would stick to my teeth, I couldn't stomach Barley at all unless it was mixed with sugar, rolled to an inch of its life, wrapped in plastic and sold for tuppence in the local chemist...

Then I kept seeing it pop up in the modern recipes, everyone was raving about it, everyone loved it... Barley, Barley, Barley!

So I thought, Okay, it must be good, it must have something to offer.

Nope.

I came, I ate, I didnae likey!

I'm sure... I know...  Its definatley up some peoples alleys, just not mine.  There is a musty smell from it that I dislike, it lingers in my nose too long... and the texture?  Yack yack! Its rubbery, its smooth, like a mouth full of tiny balloons.

Before you mail me wailing about how I mustn't have cooked it correctly, how it is truely the most wonderful thing... Don't bother, really I did do it the justice it probably deserves! How do I know? Because everyone else in the house absolutley LOVED it! Bar me, the whole family are now barley addicts, going through cold turkey mind because I am never putting myself through that again!

For the Barley lovers out there... here is my recipe for Creamy Barley Risotto... Serve with white fish if you can, or topped with pickled quails eggs!... and Enjoy!

You'll need (serves 4 as a side dish)

250gms pearl barley 

A glass of white wine

1 large onion, chopped finely

1 clove of garlic, minced

1 stick of celery, chopped finely

Some olive oil

500mls chicken stock

100gms creme fraiche

100gms parmesan cheese, ground

Method

Fry the onions, celery and garlic lightly in the oil and add the barley.  Allow the barley to colour slightly before adding a glass of white wine and about a quarter of the stock.  The good thing about barley vs rice is that it doesn't need constant stirring because there is little starch.  

Keep adding the stock, as normal with risotto, until its gone, then test the barley between your teeth, you should be able to bite it in half with effort, it shouldn't smush.  If its not ready, top up with hot water.  

When you are happy with the barley, add the cheeses and serve!!!

32 years ago...

I was born! Yes this week I have celebrated my birthday and what a great week I've had! Bill brought me to my favorite Fernhouse Cafe for breakfast and my best friend treated me to a slap up late lunch in town...! It was a day of spoiling for me! 

I got some lovely presents, including some interesting new cookbooks! My brother gave me two, one entitled "Irish Recipes Yer Ma Used Ta Make" which is lovely and a fantastic huge almanac of desserts, some I've never even heard of (Chess Pie anyone?), which I'm sure I will make full use of! I also was lucky enough to get Gordon Ramsays latest, and last night I set about making something from it, to welcome in the last year of my early thirties! 

Gordon Ramsays Pork Stroganoff 

(He uses fillet, I used chops!)

You'll need

2 lge pork chops

200gms mixed mushrooms

1 onion, finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, finely sliced

50mls brandy

150mls sour cream

squeeze of fresh lemon juice

1 tsp paprika

Method

Trip and chop the pork into small pieces. Heat your pan, oil it and fry the onions, garlic and mushrooms until soft.  Tip the contents of the pan into a bowl and put aside.  Add the pork pieces to the pan with some oil and fry until golden brown.  Return the onions, garlic and mushrooms.  Add the brandy and bring to the boil, then add the cream and the tsp of paprika. Season.  Serve with plenty of Rice and sprinkled with more paprika and parsely!

La Vita Semplice...!

The simple life appeals to us all where dinner is concerned, we have enough complications during our busy days than to struggle with complicated dinner recipes and I'm sure you have seen on this blog, that I prefer a couple of great ingredients coming together rather than faffing around with a zillion spices when the end result is the same.

However there are times when we all want something a bit fancy, and thats fine too, special dinners deserve the finer touch, and occasions would be spoilt without finer food - Personally Christmas wouldn't be Christmas if we were eating rice and beans!

So sometimes we find it hard to judge, what is special enough yet simple enough to please my dinner guests, what food will have them rolling out the door complaining yet thankful that their bellies are full?... Something warm, tasty and with fresh ingredients is always top of my list, quick to prepare so I'm not exhausted when we all sit down, but with enough care and attention to feel special.

So next time you are having friends for dinner, maybe you've spent the morning making a killer dessert and you just want something gooooood, but handy, to eat before it, try this...

Pasta Alfredo

You'll need

150gms of parmesan cheese, freshly grated

100gms of fresh butter

150gms of double cream

2 breasts of cooked chicken

500gms fresh fettucine

A handful of fresh baby spinach

Method

Melt the butter and add the cheese, when it starts to melt add half the cream and stir until smooth, add the remainder of the cream and heat until just bubbling.  

In a seperate pan, have water boiling and pop your fresh fettucine in for two or three minutes.  Strain and then pour the pasta in onto the sauce, mixing through. 

Serve with slices of chicken on top and baby spinach on the side.

A little bit of home...

"My mothers menu consisted of two choices... Take it or Leave it"*

This was kinda like my house! And you know what? I never opted for the second choice, not one day in my life... 

My Moms Macaroni...

You'll need

500gms fresh pasta shells

Tbsp of Plain flour

Large knob of butter

100 gms Grated Cheddar

100gms Grated Gruyere

250mls Milk

1 Tin of Tuna

4 Eggs (Soft boiled)

1 pkt of Cheese and Onion crisps...

Method

Cook your pasta (I cook the eggs in this same pot) and put aside, then in the same pot melt the butter and add the flour to make a thick paste.  Add the milk and stir, adding the cheese in bits and pieces until you have a thick creamy cheese sauce.  Throw in the pasta, the tuna and season to taste.  

Serve with the eggs on the side and covered with crushed Cheese and onion crisps... Oh and a large glass of milk... there, really, is nothing like this combination...

*Quote - Buddy Herbert

Mellow Yellow...

Ah comfort food, everyone has their favorite don't they? I have a million and one favorites - all stodgy, calorific and extrememly bad for me!!! My moms macaroni, steak and kidney pie, buttered bread with jam, chocolate pudding with extra chocolate, millionaires squares, chili con carne with plenty of sour cream, eggy bread with butter, sugar and cinnamon... oh dear! How on earth do I resist?

 Sometimes I wish I didn't enjoy cooking so much, its hard not to whip up a batch of scones when there is cream in the fridge and eat them all one after the other! I'm a "whole pack of biscuits with my tea" kinda gal, and that is why you will rarely find a biscuit in this house, they last all but five minutes!

Comfort food is rarely a salad (although a full fat chicken caesar is definatley a runner up!) never a piece of fruit  (unless encased in meringue) and absolutely rarely a raw vegetable! 

I have been watching what I'm eating for the last while, with my brothers wedding upcoming, and it has been difficult... the reason being that I find it impossible to make diet versions of anything, cheese on toast MUST be with doorstep bread, mature english cheddar, lashings of butter and a couple drops of worcestershire sauce! Whats the point in a burrito without sour cream, cheese, beans AND guacamole? Cream sauces MUST include CREAM!!! 

My friends often ask me how I am not fat as a fool, and although I'm no skinny malink, I have managed to maintain a figure of some description by running around after two children, always taking the stairs and eating regular portions, be they laden with the worst properties! I hope that including lots and lots of goodness in between the badness I will counteract it!  I have my cadburys fingers crossed!

Here is an all time favorite in our house, a comfort food that will have you tucked up in heaven as soon as its served, alongside buttered bread and lots of parmesan!

Easy Milanese!

You'll need

2 pints chicken stock

1 onion, finely chopped 

1 sachet of saffron powder (or generous pinch of the real thing)

6 tbsp butter (Just do it!)

275g risotto rice

75g parmesan cheese (plus lots more for serving)

Salt and freshly ground pepper...

Bring the stock to the boil, remove from the heat and add the saffron, leave to infuse. Melt half the butter in a saucepan until foaming, add the onion and stir for about 5 minutes, until translucent.  Add the rice and stir in the butter until the grains start to swell a bit then add some stock.  Stir over a medium heat, allowing the rice to absorb the stock before adding more.  Stir constantly, for about 20 minutes until the rice is done, with just a little bite.  Stir in the parmesan and  the rest of the butter.  Season and serve!!

Basta Pasta!

Yes I admit, I make (and eat) way too much pasta! Its a 4-times-a-week situation, and I have noticed, through this blog, that I really need to branch out more... I know the starches are limited, what have we got... Potatoes (all the peeling...), rice, and then the once offers - cous cous, bulgar, quinoa which are pretty much interchangeable and I'm afraid I really only use them as a rice substitute!

Potatoes are fantastic, but also limited as they encourage a "meat and veg" plate for most of their ambition to get involved in other gastronomic delights just doesn't work that well... 

Rice is wonderful but I just can't get enough of pasta! It is limitless, can be simple one day and extraordinary the next, unlike the humble rice grain, it comes in tremendous variety.  It really is the business.  

Yet, I still feel guilty for, perhaps, taking the easy route time after time, and looking through this blog, I can see that I definately need to start branching out more!

So I am starting a little project with myself.  I have a number of vintage cookbooks in this house, with recipes from as far back as the 1300s, and so I am going to attempt a recipe from the past twice a week for the next few weeks and blog about it.

But for now, as a small farewell, here is my recipe for the classic Spaghetti Carbonara, a firm favorite in this house, and so easy to make...! 

Spaghetti Carbonara

You'll need

500gms Spaghetti

125mls fresh cream

3 large eggs

100gms ground parmesan cheese

1 tbsp Coarse ground black pepper

Salt

Chopped cooked bacon.

Method

Cook the spaghetti as per the packet instructions.  In a bowl whisk the eggs, cream, parmesan and pepper together.  When the spaghetti is cooked, strain it and pop it back in the hot pan.  Placing the pan back on the heat, pour in the cream mixture.  Move the spaghetti around in the mix as it thickens and becomes a sauce.  Serve with sprinkle of salt and bacon on top.

...All covered with cheese....

To welcome ourselves back, we invited some of our dear friends over on Saturday for a casual supper, I'd a hankering for meatballs with spaghetti, but going to all the trouble for just us never appeals to me, plus I like the "mmmm mmmm"s to be in chorus...

These meatballs are super delicious, easy to make but you do need to start them way before you need them, the morning or day before is ideal.  I always make enough to have leftovers for Subs the next day - you'd be mad not to too!

So they came, we ate, we drank good wine!

There was one or two incidences of i-pod sabotage which WILL BE REVENGED... and despite which a great night was had, we tried not to start every sentence with"Oh in Munich...." or "Yes in Frankfurt" etc and they happily listened to our stories without saying "I know, I read it on the blog!" - it was good fun, I drank too much wine and sloped off to bed at about 1 am,  and listened to the sound of laughter and conversation continue as I drifted off into sleep... 

Spaghetti and Meatballs

You'll need

1 kilo of beef, minced

500g Sausage meat

1 Green pepper

1 chili pepper (your choice!)

1 onion

Clove of garlic

handful of fresh parsley

1 large egg, beaten

Some flour

Salt and pepper

2 tins chopped tomatoes

1 green pepper, chopped

1 Tbs tomato puree

1 kilo of spaghetti

Method

Get everything prepared before you start mashing the beef and sausage together, because you will only be washing your hands every five seconds otherwise.  So finely chop, or blitz, one pepper, the onion, parsley, Garlic, chili and egg with some salt and pepper and then pour into the mince and pork which you have waiting in a mixing bowl. 

Get your hands in, and mash it all together until evenly blended.  Form into small balls, pop into the flour and cover and then brown in a hot frying pan for colour.  Place into a large casserole dish. Mix the chopped tomatoes with the puree and chopped pepper and pour over the meatballs.  Cover and cook in a preheated oven, 180/200c, for about an hour.  Leave to cool completely.  

About 40 mins - 1 hour before you want to serve them, pop them back into a hot oven, without the lid this time, until bubbling.  Serve on freshly cooked spaghetti!

The next day serve the remaining meatballs, cold, in a baguette with plenty of parmesan and cheddar cheese grated on top! There is nothing better!

 

Cuscino al Forno

Everyone loved these "Oven Cushions" that I made for them, I have to say they are very tasty, hearty but not heavy and just perfect for a casual supper!


Cuscino al Forno

You'll need

400gms Fettucine
8 large thin slices of Salty Ham
75gms ricotta cheese
75gms parmesan
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 tin passat
1 mozzerella ball
fresh basil
salt and pepper
3 drops tabasco.

Method

Cook your pasta and set aside, in a seperate pot fry the onion and garlic until soft and add the tomatoes. Add the ricotta and parmesan, basil and seasonings... add the tabasco to taste. You want a tiny kick not a boot in the face!

Mix through the pasta. Place two slices of the ham overlapping lengthways in an oven tin. Twist some pasta around a fork and lay it into the middle of the ham, repeat until you have about 100gms/quarter of the pot and then wrap the ham around, edging it in until the bottom side of the ham is on the top and the ends neatly underneath. Top with thin slices of the mozzerella and pop under a grill until cheese is bubbling!

Serve with a nice green salad!

Gnocchi...

I'm not the biggest gnocchi fan, but done like this its always a winner in our house. Children love this, especially if you cook each portion in its own little oven dish!

Gnocchi al forno

You'll need

500gms of fresh gnocchi
1 tin of chopped tomatoes
1 chili
1 onion
2 cloves of garlic
3 tbs philidelphia cheese
1 medium fresh mozzarella ball
Salt and pepper

Method

Cook the gnocchi according to the pack, strain and add to an oven dish. Chop the onion, and chili as small as you're bothered to... and crush the garlic. Add to a bit of olive oil in a pan and cook until translucent. Add the tinned tomatoes and heat through, melting the cheese in bit by bit. Season. Pour over the waiting gnocchi, and place slices of the mozzarella on top. Bake in a hot oven until cheese is bubbling and starting to brown.

Lunch for two...

With Mary off with her pals, it was just myself and Bill for lunch (Joe sleeps through lunchtime after his elevenses)...

So I made something I've been dying to try after sniffing it over the shoulder of another diner last year in the local restaurant.

As you know simple good food is my passion, this is as simple as you get!

Linguine con Granchio

You'll need

1 large crabs worth of white meat (tinned if you can't get fresh)

6 plum tomatoes

125mls of double cream

1 clove of garlic, crushed

Salt and plenty of pepper

250gms fresh linguine

Method

Cook the pasta according to the instructions, you want it al dente. Chop the tomatoes into small pieces, discarding the green stalk. Mix everything together and serve...

Risotto Rosa...

I have had a small tin of salmon in my press for ages... I bought it by accident in a big weekly shop and never realised that it was a tin of wild canadian red salmon, retailing at... wait for it...€14!!! For a little tin, when I twigged that I nearly died! I could have had a full fresh Irish salmon for that! Anyway I had been buying salmon in tins for Joe but this one was not going to suffer the fate of 50 percent being flung around the room! So I held onto it, waiting for an opportunity to use it, with its value in mind!

But last night, with our cupboards spacious and minimalist, I decided to use it in

 the dinner, and just as I was reaching for the trusty bag of penne I spied a half pack of arborio lurking in the shadows.  Risotto!

So I made a pink risotto, with salmon, and red onion.  Just follow my basic risotto recipe here, and add a tin of salmon (or fresh of course) and use red onion instead of white.

It was really good but next time I'll just pick up a couple of fresh wild darnes, at half the price!!

Something new...

I have always veered away from white fish and pasta dishes, I'm down with the salmons and the tunas in there, and of course the shellfishes are fine, but to be honest the mere mention of cod and penne, or mackeral and spaghetti and I would make sickey noises, maybe even demonstrate the finger in the throat action familiar to many celebrities.  "I love fish" said I,"but please serve it on a plate with nice veg, some potato and a nice sauce... Kedgeree I can just about handle but pasta and white fish - please show me the door..."

It just made me go Eeeeeuuuuuuuuuuuwwwwww.

However, I've been seeing it on a lot of menus lately and then O.M.G. doesn't dear old Gordon Ramsay put a recipe in his latest cookbook for haddock risotto... Since I like to be in with the times I had to at least give it a whirl and try it out.  Just once.  Then I could confidently say No No No its NOT for me!

Oh but oh oh... it is for me... Last night, with all the blinds drawn, and wearing a mask I cooked up a smoked haddock pasta and my my my it was Gooooo-oood.  It was goooooood, so good I ate far too much and  had to lie down.  I could not believe it.  

I sure all of you know how good this is already, and are rolling your eyes to heaven but everyone is entitled to an Eeeeuuuuuwwwww, my foodie friend Sarah can't eat anything with a shell, a mouth and one foot, and I think fair enough, my brother Ferg will leave the room if anyone has a fried egg and baked beans on the same plate let alone 'touching'... Everyone is entitled to a "I jist can't do it captain" and this was mine.

But I've broken through my barrier and now I'm a big fan.  Guys it was gorgeous.  Just delish!

Now all I am avoiding is the rancid or maggot infested cheese... and maybe someday I will jump on those bandwagons too! 

Smoked Haddock Spaghetti

250gms brown spaghetti

4 fillets smoked haddock

2 medium leeks, finely chopped

half an onion, finely chopped

125mls cream

handful of frozen peas

salt and pepper

a few sprigs of thyme

Put the haddock in a bowl with the thyme sprigs and cover with just boiled water.  In your pan 

sweat off your onions leeks and peas until translucent.  Add the cream and turn down the heat.  Take your fish from the bowl when it has gone slightly opaque and flake it into the pan with the onions etc.  On a low heat stir the mix until the peas are cooked and the fish is opaque. Season. Mix through cooked spaghetti and serve. 

Go on, make it and you'll thank me!

Give it some mussel!!

Pasta with Mussels

20 small or 10 large mussels (Any that do not close tight when tapped should be discarded)
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 tbsp olive oil
5 Plum tomatoes, chopped
A handful of fresh parsley, chopped

A glass of white wine

s + p500gms fresh spaghetti

Soften the onions and garlic in the oil and add the parsley.  When everything starts to look translucent pop in the mussels and the wine, tomatoes and season.  Cover and leave simmering for about 5/10 minutes or until the mussels have opened.  Discard any that have remained closed. 

Spoon the pasta into a dish, season it and then pour a spoon of the broth over it.  Add mussels around the side.

Pizza Tips!

Making your own pizza can be daunting, but the results are really worth it.  You'll be surprised at how easy it actually is, and can feel good eating it because home made pizza is GOOD FOR YOU!!

I wanted to pass on a few tips that I have found have really worked for me.  Make the dough as I do here for white bread, or if you'd like a rustic wholemeal pizza use half brown flour and half strong white. 

 

My first tip is for when the dough is rising, I sit it into a bowl that has been rubbed liberally in olive oil and then I pour oil into my hands and rub the dough all over too.  You should also do your best to leave pizza dough rise somewhere warm for a good three hours at least, then deflate it and leave it for at least another 30 minutes.

My second tip is that when you have stretched the pizza, or rolled it into the shape of the tray lift it up by the corners a few times, and turn it mid air before putting it down again.  This

 frisbee action gives it a last stretch and is worth doing for nice crusts.

Thirdly leave your base to sit with no toppings for at least an hour.  This hardens the dough on the outside, meaning its even crispier when baked.  

Finally use a really really hot oven, and if you like lots of sauce par bake the base for a bit first. I sometimes put half the sauce on, bake it for ten minutes, then put the rest of the toppings on.

Really try making your own pizza from scratch, the satisfaction as you bite into your first slice is reward in itself!

Lemony Snickett...

I'm sharing this with you because I love you, I must do in order to divulge simply the easiest but most scumptious of all sauces... It goes on pasta of course (what doesn't?) but is amazing poured over skewered prawns, or as a dip for raw vegetables... You can smother cauliflower in it, broccoli, anything and its immediately transformed into a dinner party dish...

I know I'm terribly boring, yet another pasta sauce, yet another lemon dish... but if something is this good you just gotta eat! We always eat this in Italy, during our summers there, and this is the first time we'd made it at home... It was delicious but is even more so eaten outside on a terrazza, with a small breeze playing with your toes, the strong sunshine on your neck and an afternoon by the river to look forward to...

We call it Lemony Snickett, thought up by our darling Mary who loves anything lemony.

Here is her top five lemon favorites, this sauce is at number three so let that be your guide...

1)Lemon fondants

2) Fanta Lemon

3) Lemony Snickett sauce

4)Iced tea with Lemon

5) Bandi Brooks Lemon Sorbet

Lemony Snickett

or

Creamy Lemon Sauce

 

You'll need

Half an Onion

3 cloves garlic

125mls double cream

3 tbs parmesan cheese

2 tbs goats/cream cheese

Zest of 1 lemon

Juice of 1 lemon

Olive oil

S+P

Method

Put a good handsome glug of oil into a saucepan and add the onions and garlic, stir until soft and translucent.  Add the parmesan and the goats cheese, then the lemon zest and juice.  Stir in the hot oil until the zest breaks easily with the back of a fork.  Take off the heat.  Stir in the cream and add salt and pepper. Perfect... 

Mint anyone?

One of my favorite pasta sauces has to be eaten on a day where I've nowhere to be, or nobody to see... because it is the equivalent of eating the stinkiest crisps they sell!

Here it is - you must try it and be sure to let me know what you think!

Raw Onion Sauce for Pasta

Chop 1 onion, a half a mild chili and a clove of garlic together.

Pop into the food processor with a good slug of virgin olive oil and blitz until its smooth.  

Add a couple of tablespoons of parmesan cheese, a tub of creme fraiche and some salt and pepper.

Done!

Stir through hot pasta and eat! I often put french beans into boil with my pasta, no matter what sauce I'm making, its a great way of making a little go a long way!

A bit o' the Divil!

I love anything with "Devil" in the title... makes it more tempting somehow... Which would you choose Angel Cake or Devils Food Cake?

So it is fitting that my favorite Tomato Sauce is the Devils! Diavola! Amazing with and on absolutley everything!

Tonight I made it for Pizza... It was really good. Here is the recipe.

Pizza Diavola

For the base

made from 450gms bread flour, 1 sachet yeast, tbsp olive oil, tsp salt, tsp sugar.

Knead and rise etc as here but when ready to bake pour a good bit of olive oil into your hands and pull the dough into a pizza shape.

For the Sauce.

Tin of tomatoes

1 Onion, chopped

10 cherry tomatoes

Olive oil

2 cloves garlic, crushed

1 red chilli, chopped

Soften the onions and garlic in the oil over a medium heat and then add the rest of the ingredients bar the cherry tomatoes. simmer for about five/ten minutes until onions are well cooked and then blitz in a food processor until smooth. Add more oil to the original pan and fry the cherry tomatoes until soft and then add to the sauce.

Keeps in the fridge for a week!

Top the pizza base with the Diavola sauce and any other bits and pieces you like, I used chicken, salami, olives, goats cheese, rocket and mozzerella.