Simple Antipasti...

Marinated anchovies, Meat selection, Caprese salad and beloveds...

Breasola with peaches and mozzerella, and toast with sheeps cheese and acacia honey...
and wonderful Supli di Riso, when in Italy I always buy mine but they are easily made - just take leftover risotto and form it into small balls, dip in flour then egg, then breadcrumbs and deep fry in Olive oil until golden brown! Serve with a garlic mayo, Delicious!

Stuff that!

I got this recipe ages ago in a Jamie Oliver Cookbook, Jamies Italy or some other crap.

Can you tell I'm not a fan - I find him patronising and irritating, a schoolboy winking at the screen telling me how easy it is to grow your own veg, while in the backround his qualified team of horticulturists spritz his raised beds with evian water...

I cannot stand the enthusuastic babble about trying new things and how easy it all is, with recipes that require stone ovens or huge outside rotesseries - get a grip Jamie... but my ultimate "i hate jamie" story is how, in his Italian cookbook, which incidently is full of hogwash and patronising stories about the darling 'ities'...He mentions in a recipe how you need Small Sicilian Lemons for the recipe, then he footnotes how he doesn't know where you might get them if you don't live in London, he gets his from some small deli, and to leave the recipe alone if you can't get them... Huh? What a dickhead!

Unlike my hero Gordon Ramsay, and my hero#2 Nigella who both make a point of giving you alternatives for any unusual ingredients they use.

However I must thank Jamie for the following recipe which I pull out of the bag for many a dinner party, its easy and looks great! For this recipe alone, I am grateful. Oh and as for your flavour shaker(which is essential for many of his recipes) - it doesn't work at all so there!

Stuffed Lemons

You'll need1 Lemon per person

For each lemon
Half a mozerella ball
3 anchovies (tinned are fine)
2 cherry tomatoes
3 large basil leaves

Slice the top off a lemon, and scoop out the inside (you'll develop a knack by your third lemon, the first two will be hell, plaster any papercuts!)

Stuff each lemon with alternative slices of mozzarella, tomatoes,anchovy, basil until its stuffed! Put the top back on and bake in a hot (220c) oven for about 15-20 minutes. Serve atop a slice of rustic bread.

We had these to start off a great meall, we followed with our pasta of a tomato and butter sauce (very reminiscent of spaghetti hoops, not for me! But if you think you'd like it email me!) and a big steak served with balsamic vinegar which really is the nicest combo! Dessert was tiramisu leftover from the day before!

Gazza - WHA?

I remember the first time I had Gazpacho, sitting beside a cliff on the coast of Mallorca, an island which is dear to my heart.  Sitting there with two of my dearest friends, after a day on the sand, we ordered Gazpacho at the firm but gentle recommendation of the waiter.  

I couldn't believe it, it was probably the most perfect soup I'd ever had.

Freezing cold soup - a winner all round... who'd a thunk it?

I've never used a recipe, just followed my heart, and so you must too.  Here is a basic list of what goes in my gazpacho, but do vary quantities, add what you like. Its so easy, nothing cooked so incredibly healthy and wows the diners! Everyone oooo's at a gazpacho!

Gazpacho

6 large plum tomatoes, skinned (a minute in boiled water will do the trick!)

1 lge cucumber

1 green pepper

1 clove garlic

half a mild green chili

glass of cold water

salt and pepper

ice chips

croutons to serve

Blend all the vegetables together until smooth, season to taste, add the ice chips and stir. Pour into bowls and top with croutons.

Best eaten while listening to Julio Igleasias... or is that just me?

The last slice of bread!

I like to do two things with leftover bread... 

Number 1

Panzanella Salad

A regular occurence on my lunch table, I'm known to hide the last few slices of bread from dinner to save for my lunch the next day.  I like it simple - plum tomatoes, stale bread, basil if I have some, and a dressing of White balsamic vinegar, Olive oil and crushed garlic cloves.  

Number 2

Fried Peanut butter bread...

Fry your left over bread in butter and then add sugar, when it gets all lovely and caramelly... add a dollop of crunchy peanut butter... some raisins and a scoop of icecream.. mmmm...!

Fondueque...

Oh I'm sorry about the title, but I can't help it! 

Okay this is a great little crowd pleaser to throw out at the last minute when barbequing for pals! Its super easy, super delicious and has a very sophisticated air about it.  You can also do this in a bonfire which would stun any party into a hum of eager chewing.

Its Bonfire Fondue, Barbeque Fondue... its FONDUE-QUE!

You'll need

1 Camembert round, in a wooden box (or Brie)

Some sprigs of rosemary or thyme

a glass of white wine

Chunks of bread

Method

Unwrap the cheese and pop it back into its wooden box, then pierce through the curd about ten times, and pinch a sprig of herb through the hole.  

Then wrap the whole thing in about 4 layers of tin foil and just before twisting the top shut, pour in your glass of wine.

Leave on a medium barbeque for about 30 minutes or so, until the cheese is bubbling through the holes in the curd.  Break through the curd to expose a bubbling fondue! 

Dip bread chunks repeatedly and eat!

We play a game called fondue forfeit when eating fondue, inspired by the one in "Asterix in Switzerland", if you lose your bread off your fork while dipping you must do a forfeit... Our favorite forfeits usually involves making a wally of yourself somehow!

Feeling hot hot hot!

When I spotted baby squid in the fishmongers yesterday - I had to buy them! I'm intimidated by squid but I'm determined to conquer it, as it is one of my favorite things to eat!

So I came home and fried up the baby squid. After eating one of them, it was so scrumptious, I wanted to use them to create something... but what? I had a look at my housewifes choice shelf in the fridge - some parmesan, some old chillies, an onion and a few bits and bobs!

So I chopped the squid with the cheese and onion and stuffed it into the chillis, drizzled with olive oil and roasted for ten minutes...

They were really good - but boy were they hot! My mouth was sizzling! I felt guilty because I hadn't known to warn my nearly sister in law who got a bit of a surprise!

Luckily I had prepared Lemon slices, which is a brilliant home remedy for chili burn! I sucked a quarter and was glad of the relief!!

I'll definatley serve some sour cream with them next time!!

Happy Easter!

Easter Sunday! I love an excuse to prepare a feast! So for today I ordered a leg of lamb and stocked up on luxury ingredients - the channel island double cream, the madagascan vanilla, the french butter, the best wine... Christmas and Easter, thats when we go all out and it really makes the special days special!

So with my nearest and dearest sitting happily around a decorated table, I served up our first course...

Velvet Squash Soup

(this is beyond easy and a great starter when you've guests as you can make it in advance and reheat)

You'll need

1 Butternut Squash

4 cloves garlic

500mls chicken stock

Method

Split the squash in two, and scoop out the seeds. Drizzle with olive oil and place in a roasting dish. Split the garlic cloves and place them in the hollow of each piece of squash. Pop into a hot oven (200c) and roast the bejesus out of them, until they are so soft the flesh will come away from the skin without much pressure.

Scoop the roasted flesh out and into your food processor or into a jug if you're using a hand blender. Pour on the stock. Blend until smooth and velvety.

Add salt and pepper to taste, cream if you like and a pinch of parmesan if you have it.

So everyone tucked in, this soup really appeals to all!

Main course time, so we opened a bottle of our favorite special occasion wine...

Easy Peasy Leg of Lamb

Order from a butcher, he will give you the right size for the amount of bellies!

You'll need

Leg of Lamb

Olive oil

Sea salt

Rosemary sprigs

Clove of garlic

Method

Rub your lamb with the olive oil. Halve the clove of garlic and rub the oiled meat with it. Spear the leg all over with a sharp knife and stick the rosemary sprigs into the holes.

Roast at 190c/210c until the juices run clear-ish! (My oven took 2 and a half hours)

Serve with roasted potatoes (add them to the roasting tin about a half an hour after the lamb, but par boil them first and shake them around a bit to be sure of crispy edges!) and cabbage! I always add cream and a bit of onion puree to cabbage on special occasions, ! Don't forget the mint sauce and of course the gravy - I made todays with the juices from the lamb, a cup of boiling water, two tsps redcurrant jelly and a tbsp of bisto which may not appeal to the food snobs out there but I really think bisto makes the best gravy!

So the tums were almost full, the lamb had turned out perfectly, just pink in the middle and crispy on the outside.

All we needed now was dessert!

Lets call these,

Raspberry Mmmms....

You'll need

200gms white chocolate (use green and blacks organic if you can)

200mls double cream

200mls creme fraiche

handful fresh raspberries

chocolate flake.

Sit the white chocolate in a bain marie until melted. Take it off the heat then and stir in the creme fraiche, the chocolate may seize but keep stirring - it'll be fine. Add the cream.

Plop into serving glasses (looks gorgeous in any wine glass) and refridgerate.

Just before serving pop in a few raspberries and sprinkle with crumbled flake.

Mmmmmmm....