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Salsa Verde Recipe Ingredients

  • 3 small cornichons chopped
  • 3 anchovy fillets rinsed
  • 1 big bunch of parsley chopped finely (None of those mini bags from the supermarket. Get a bunch from your local market)
  • Leaves from 2 sprigs of mint chopped finely
  • 1 garlic clove grated
  • 1/4 of a banana shallot chopped finely
  • 1/4 roasted red pepper from a jar chopped finely
  • zest and juice of half a lemon
  • 3 teaspoons sherry vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
  • A good glug of olive oil. You can add more later if needs be
  • Ground black pepper to taste

Instructions

You can either add everything to a food processor and blitz or I used a hand blender to make the mix slightly smooth. Don’t go too mental as you don’t want it too runny and still have a bit of texture.

This can be done a day ahead as it keeps well for a few days in the fridge. I used some leftovers with fried runny eggs on toast for breakfast the following day, which were lush!

Puy lentils with red wine ingredients

  • 1 tin of ready cooked green lentils
  • 1/2 carrot chopped finely
  • 3/4 banana shallot chopped finely
  • 1/2 celery stick chopped finely
  • 1 stock cube with 50ml hot water
  • 1 clove garlic grated
  • leaves from 2 cavolo nero stalks chopped into ribbons
  • glug of red wine or vermouth
  • Black pepper to taste

Instructions

  1. Gently fry the carrot for a few minutes in olive oil on it’s own. Add the shallot and celery and cook for another couple of minutes.
  2. Add the garlic and cavolo nero and cook for another couple of minutes.
  3. Add the lentils,stock, water and wine/vermouth and stir.
  4. Cook on medium heat so that the veg and lentils take in some of the flavour, soften and the liquid reduces for about 10 minutes.

Serve with a medium / rare steak sliced in slithers and / or a large king prawn and a few dollops of the salsa verde

Middle Eastern Lamb Lollipops Ingredients

 

  • Around 8 lamb cutlets. I used Welsh Lamb from my local market in Cardiff
  • 1 tsp Aleppo pepper
  • 1 tsp Urfa Biber / Urfa Pepper
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon sumac
  • 1 salted lemon diced finely
  • 1 large garlic clove grated finely
  • 3 tsp pomegranate molasses
  • 3 tsp olive or rapeseed oil
  • 3 tsp vinegar (I used sherry)
  • 2 tsp sesame seeds

middle eastern spiced welsh lamb ingredients

Instructions

  1. Add all the ingredients into a bowl, minus the lamb and stir.
  2. Add the mixture to the lamb and use your hands to make sure everything is coated.
  3. Leave to marinade for at least 30 minutes, preferably longer.
  4. You don’t want the delicate herbs and spiced to burn on the direct heat of a pan so I grilled them for around 10 minutes in my airfryer on a high heat.
  5. It depends on the thickness but make sure they are still a little pink inside and not dried out.

Fragrent Yogurt Dip Recipe

  • A couple of dollops of Greek Yogurt
  • 2 small cornichons diced finely
  • 1 teaspoon mint sauce or jelly
  • Pinch of salt and pepper
  • Squeeze of lemon juice
  • Sprinkle of Sumac

Instructions

Add everything to a bowl and leave to do it’s magic in the fridge for at least 30 minutes

I put the cooling minty yogurt in a bowl in the centre of a large plate, surrounded by the middle eastern spiced lamb lollipops for dunking. No cutlery needed.

Asian Slaw Ingredients

  • ¼ red cabbage sliced thinly
  • 2 red onions sliced thinly
  • ¼ daikon julienned
  • 1 carrot julienned
  • ¼ cucumber cut into thin ribbons
  • Juice of 2 limes

I didn’t measure these but played around with little bits at a time till I was happy:

  • Drizzle of rice wine vinegar
  • Drizzle of rice wine / mirin
  • Drizzle of light soy sauce
  • Drizzle of dark soy (go easy on this as it can be really salty)
  • Drizzle toasted sesame oil

Top with:

  • Sesame seeds
  • Gochugarw flakes
  • Thinly sliced spring onion
  • Drizzle of honey
  • Chopped fresh coriander

Instructions

Sliced all the veg and add to a bowl. Add the seasoning and mix. Leave for at least 30 minutes and give one final mix before serving. Top with the sesame, gochugarw, spring onion, honey and coriander to serve.

Korean Air Fried Chicken Ingredients

The following are rough estimates as I didn’t measure

  • 3 teaspoons gochujang paste
  • 2 tablespoons light soy sauce
  • 2 cloves garlic grated finely
  • 1 thumb sized piece of ginger grated finely
  • 2 teaspoons mushroom ketchup
  • 1 tablespoon toasted sesame oil
  • 1 teaspoon gochugarw red pepper flakes
  • Juice of half a lime
  • 2 teaspoons rice wine vinegar
  • 2 teaspoons mirin / rice vinegar

Instructions

Add everything to a bowl and mix to combine. Cook the chicken wings or legs in the oven until nearly done and coat them with the marinade for the last 5 minutes and put under the grill till cooked through and sticky.

I had this served with a pitta but would also work nicely in a freshly steamed bao or some griddled tacos.

Mac n cheese ingredients

  • 400g elbow or macaroni pasta
  • 250g of mixed cheese (I used up leftovers from 5 different cheeses from xmas including smoked, brie, mature cheddar and parmesan)
  • 1 leek thinly sliced
  • 100g good quality bacon
  • 1 teaspoon mustard powder or 2 teaspoons of ready mixed English or wholegrain depending on taste
  • 750ml whole milk
  • 2 cloves garlic smashed
  • Plain Flour
  • Real butter
  • Salt and black pepper to taste

Optional

Panko Breadcrumbs to give extra crunch in the oven.

Instructions

  1. Add the pasta to boiling salted water and cook for a minute or two less than the packet says. Drain and add a few nobs of butter to the pan of drained pasta to coat it and stop it absorbing too much of the cheese sauce and becoming bloated later on.
  2. Chop the bacon into chunks and cook in the oven for around 10 minutes to brown slightly along with the sliced leeks then remove to cool.
  3. Make a roux by adding a couple of nobs of butter to a warm pan with a about 2 tablespoons of flour and stir to mix. Cook for around a minute and start adding the milk gradually a bit at a time for it to thicken. Keep on a medium heat to warm the milk and for the roux to thicken for a few minutes.
  4. The mixture will go from light to really start thickening very fast so take it off the heat when it starts to thicken and keep stirring. Add the mustard and cheese to the mixture and keep stirring to combine. I added a teaspoon of mild chilli powder at this point too along with some salt and pepper.
  5. Taste the mixture and play around adding a bit more milk if it’s too thick, more cheese if not cheesy enough, or whatever else you want to give it a kick.
  6. Add the cooled pasta to the cheese sauce mix and stir to make sure it’s evenly coated. Empty into a casserole dish, level out and sprinkle with more cheese. Scatter bacon and spring onion and the breadcrumbs if using these.
  7. Either bake straight away in the oven on around 180C for around 20 mins or refrigerate and use later or the day after.

Ingredients

  • 2 packets ready cooker udon noodles (I used M & S)
  • 2 dessert spoons kimchi chopped
  • 1 clove garlic grated
  • 4 spring onions chopped diagonally
  • 1 teaspoon sesame seeds
  • toasted sesame oil to season
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1/2 stock cube
  • 150ml boiling water
  • 2 teaspoons gochujang paste

Instructions

Warm the ready cooked noodles in the microwave for a minute just bring them up to temperature. It doesn’t matter if they aren’t boiling as they are going to be added to the pan anyway.

Add the chopped kimchi with a little bit of juice in the jar if there is any and the gochujang paste to a wok with a bit of oil to cook for 2-3 minutes on medium heat. Make sure it doesnt burn by stiring every 30 seconds or so.

Stir in the grated garlic, add the noodles to the wok, mix to combine then cook for a minute or two.

Add the 1/2 stock cube to the boiling water then add to the pan and mix again to make sure the noodles are coated.

Cook for another minute or two until done.

Divide the noodles between two bowls, scatter the spring onions and sesame seeds equally between the two bowls, drizzle with a bit of toasted sesame oil.

Place an uncooked egg yolk in the middle of the bowl and mix everything in with a fork or chopsticks. Now dig in!

Ingredients

  • 1 cup of rice
  • 2 medium carrots
  • 1/2 savoy or hispi cabbage
  • 5 spring onions
  • 1 shallot
  • 4 cloves garlic
  • 1 teaspoon chinese 5 spice
  • 1 chilli
  • 3 teaspoons xo sauce paste with 1 tablespoon warm water (I got this from Tesco in the world food section Tesco own brand)
  • 2 eggs

Optional

  • Cooked prawns
  • Cooked chicken
  • Crispy pork chunks

Instructions

I used a teacup of uncooked rice to a pan of salted water and cooked to packets instructions. Mine took 25 minutes but aim to have it cooked just before the veg is done so you can add to the pan.

I cooked a duck in the pan first and fried everything in the rendered duck fat but if you are just having this add some oil to a warm pan then fry the spring onions and shallot for a minute or two to soften.

Add the garlic and chilli then cook for a minute to release the flavour.

Add the mushrooms and fry for a minute stiring so the garlic doesn’t burn.

Then add the carrot and shredded cabbage to the pan and mix. You might have to add a little more oil at this point. Cook for a few minutes to soften and cook the veg then add the teaspoon of chinese 5 spice and stir.

When the veg is done, add the cooked rice to the pan containing the veg and stir to combine.

Crack two eggs into the rice mixture and mix into the other ingredients so they scramble in the heat of the pan and veg.

Add the XO sauce and mix to combine. Cook for another 30 seconds then remove from the heat and distribute between two plates.

I didn’t add any meat to my rice as I had a szechuan spiced duck breast on top but if you want that authentic takeaway taste you could add any leftover meat you might have lying around such as chicken, prawns and some pork nuggets you could crisp up in a pan before adding.

Bhan Mi Pork Seasoning

Ingredients

500g pork fillet cut into 4 pieces
1 shallot chopped finely
3 cloves of grated garlic
1/2 chilli chopped finely
1 1/2 tablespoons fish sauce
3 tablespoons maggi seasoning sauce
1 tablespoon chinese 5 spice

pork bahn mi marinading in seasoning

Instructions

Mix all of the above in a bowl and and pour onto the pork fillet pieces then leave to marinade for a few hours or overnight in the fridge, turning occasionally and spooning the seasoning on top to make sure the meat absorbes all of the flavour on both sides. The longer the better.

Warm the oven up and place on around 180C, once warm place the pork fillet pieces topped with the majority of the chopped chopped pieces of garlick, chilli and shallot that’s been used to marinade it in the oven for around 25 minutes depending on your oven but make sure it’s cooked through. Leave it to rest for 15 minutes then carve into thin slithers.

Carrot and daikon pickles

Ingredients

Pre salting
2 carrots julienned
1/2 daikon julienned (Also known as Mooli as I found out trying to hunt it down in Cardiff and found it named Mooli in Cardiff market opposite the spice stall)
2 teaspoons sea salt
2 teaspons of granulated sugar

carrot and daikon pickle recipe
post salting
3 teaspoons sea salt
6 teaspoons granulated sugar
125ml warm water
125ml distilled white vinegar or rice wine vinegar

Instructions

Julienne the carrots and daikon and place into a deep bowl. I use a potato peeler style juilienne handle I picked up from TK Maxx but i’ve seen them in a lot of kitchen shops for around £5 and it’s my favourite gadgets in the kitchen for making salads and slaws.

Add the salt and sugar from the pre salting ingredients above and mix in with your hands for around 30 seconds then leave for another 3 minutes for the water to leach out. Squeeze the carrot and daikon mixture to release any excess liquid then run cold water into the bowl giving a squeeze and emptying a few times to get rid of the salt mixture.

Dissolve the salt and sugar from the post salting ingredients list in the warm water and when fully dissolved add the vinegar to the mix.

I had two sterilised medium sized mason jars with a clasp and filled each one with an equal mix of the carrot and daikon but use one larger one if you have it. Top with the vinegar solution so that the vegetables are fully submerged. I topped it up with a tiny bit of water as there was just a few straws of veg poking above the mixture then put in the fridge to pickle. Some recipes i’ve seen said you can use them after a quick pickle of 30 minutes but I opted to do them and leave overnight in the fridge.

Bahn Mi Topping

Ingredients

1 packet of pate, I opted for brussels or you could use a chunky Ardennes
hoi sin sauce
mayonnaise
Sriracha sauce (I already had a bottle of Sriracha May in the fridge so just used that instead of mixing both myself)
Jalapenos
Cucumber cut into battons
Small handfull of chopped corriander
1 crispy baguette type bread (Arguably this is seen as the most important item of the dish and to make it authentic the Vietnamese use a crusty french style bread but they don’t have any vietnamese bakeries in Cardiff so i’ve had to opt for a salt and pepper baguette from tesco as i love the pepperiness)

bahn mi recipe toppings

Instructions

Cut chunk of bread to your liking depending how hungry you are and whether you’re sharing or not. Slather a wedge of pate on the bottom of the sliced baguette, topp with the cucumber battons then expertly layer the sliced pork to sit on top.

Spread a good dollop of your mayo on the top half of the bread wheather you want to go spicy and add some Sriracha is up to you. I did but Mwsh didn’t want any as she was being a wimp this morning. Sprinkle some chopped corriander so it sticks to the mayo combo then add a little squirt of hoi sin over the pork.

Top the pork with a few slices of jalapenos and a generous helping of the carrot and daikon pickle. You may have to stand on the baguette to shut it and if you’re going to use a knife and fork get the hell off my blog right now! Enjoy at your leisure, just make sure you have a few napkins to wipe your brow and contents off your face and beard. Enjoy with a beer unless you’re sat in front of your PC in work 🙁

Toffee Apple Ingredients

100g golden caster sugar
100g granulated sugar
4 tsp golden syrup (i only had the chocolate one)
2 tsp white wine vinegar ( could use cider vinegar too)
100ml water
25g butter
Black food colouring (or any other favourite colour)

toffee apple ingredients

Instructions

Fill the sink or a larger bowl with cold water which will be used later on to cool the pan if it gets too hot or to stop it burning when it reaches the optimum temperature.

Using the you’re planning to cook the toffee place the apples in and pour boiling water over them for a few seconds but no longer as they will discolour too much. The reason for this is to remove the waxy coating so that the toffee sticks and doesn’t just run off.

Put the hob on medium / high pour all ingredients into a pan and try to mix in when the butter starts to melt but then just leave it bubble. The odd swirl to make sure the syrup is cooking through evenly and doesn’t burn in clumps.

Use a sugar thermometer or i used a meat digital one as the glass sugar one i had steams up and I couldn’t see the temperature. You want to get the toffee up over 145C called the hard crack stage, which is when the toffee gives that all important crack when you bite into it otherwise it will stay a soft toffee.

This will take a good 10 minutes bubbling away just keep with it and the thermometer as it can jump up when you’re not expecting it but be sure to keep an eye on the colour and for any signs or burning, which you can usually smell too.

Drop the pan into the waiting bucket of cold water for 2 or 3 seconds at which point you will hear some sizzling but don’t keep it too long as it will cool too quickly for you to use.

Use whatever apple stabbing device you have to hand whether that’s a skewer, lolly stick, fork if you’re out or serial killer 12″ knife if you’re getting into the real halloween spirit (jokes!). Press firmly into the apples then depending on how big a pan you use you might have to tilt it, stick the apple in and swirl around giving a nice even coat one by one.

Drop the apples covered in the molten sugar heaven onto a tray lined in parchment paper so it doesn’t stick.

If the toffee starts to harden put it on the hob again to soften before continuing.

Depending on what you want to decorate the apples with and if you’re going classic then just let it cool. I melted down half a bar of lindt milk chocolate, let it cool to thicken then drizzled over the top.

Tuck in!!

toffee apple cooling

Possible Toffee apple toppings to spice things up a bit

Smashed Biscoff biscuits
Mine Marshmallows
Smashed maltesers
Broken pretzels
Crushed cookies
Broken brownie pieces
Crushed peanuts or any nuts for that matter
Melted chocolate ( remember to leave the toffee cool before adding this and you can go drizzles or dunk the whole thing in)
Sprinkles
Sugar glitter
Popping Candy
M & M’s
Reeses Candy Pieces

It’s bank holiday weekend so no doubt most of the UK will be seeking out the ultimate hangover cure at some point over the next few days so what could be better than crisped smoked bacon, poached runny egg yolks with lashings of lemony hollandaise sauce mounted on top of crunchy crumpets fried in bacon grease!

I’m always seeking new ways of cooking and accompanying my weekly dose of bacon from Cure and Simple , the bacon subscription service where you get sent a choice of 6 bacon flavours through the post each week.

Seeing that i’ve had a fry up the past 3 days I thought i’d give my old favourite eggs Benedict a bash. I’d only ever tried making hollandaise once before and I think I put a bit too much vinegar in this time so it was time to make some amendments to my recipe this time.

Really simple hollandaise sauce for Eggs Benedict

  • 3 egg yolks
  • 100g butter
  • 1/4 lemon for the juice
  • 1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon English mustard
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • salt to taste
  • cracked black pepper to taste

How to make the really simple hollandaise sauce

  1. Put a pan of water on to boil. Kill two bird with one stone and use the bowl you’re going to cook your poached eggs in to cook the hollandaise sauce.
  2. Fill cold water in the sink or in a larger bowl just so you can place the hollandaise bowl into if it starts to heat to quickly.
  3. Melt the butter and allow to cool in a glass bowl
  4. Separate the eggs discarding the whites to leave you with egg yolks and add to the glass bowl with the butter.
  5. Squeeze the lemon 1/4 to get the juice into the egg and butter mixture
  6. Add a teaspoon of the white wine vinegar
  7. Add 1/2 teaspoon of cayenne to the mix
  8. Add salt and pepper to taste
  9. Place the bowl over the boiling pan of water and keep whisking. Take the bowl off the water from time to time as not to overcook or heat too much as the yolks will start to scramble.
  10. You can drop your eggs into the pan whilst your thickening the hollandaise sauce it just depends how well done you like the yolks but I have to have them runny so don’t put the eggs in until the sauce starts to thicken slightly. It should take about 4-5 minutes to thicken depending on how high you have the heat.
  11. If the sauce thickens up too much and becomes a bit gloopy then just add a dash of water and cool the bowl down by dropping into the cold water in the sink or bowl.
  12. Place your poached egg on top of your preferred carb base and crispy bacon. If you haven’t got muffins then I like to use crispy crumpets that have been toasted first then crisped up in a pan full of bacon grease from the bacon I have to accompany the eggs benedict.
  13. Spoon a good dollop of the hollandaise sauce on top of the eggs and break the egg yolks so it oozes out over the toasted muffin/crumpets and bacon.
  14. Top with a bit of cracked pepper and start to devour! Licking the bowl is optional.

 

 

So it’s Sunday morning/afternoon and you crawl out of bed, slide down the stairs on your ass and manage to make it to the fridge on all fours to try and and empty the contents inside in an attempt to make this pain go away…is it hunger…is it tiredness…is it a hangover…? Who cares, it wasn’t self inflicted it must of been the pint of water that took you over the edge before you collapsed onto the bed fully clothed last night but you need food inside you and you need it now!

A fry up is usually the only cure known to man for a hangover normally but there’s so much cooking, juggling sauce pans, frying pans, checking you don’t burn the toast and if you didn’t have a headache before you will by then! That is until now…i give to you THE ULTIMATE CHEESE TOASTIE!

This is a one pan wonder, which mean’s you can rest your head on the worktop as the frying pan does it’s magic and turns your dairy and cured meats into a perfect hangover busting combination without a shed load of washing up after it too!

Ingredients

So you can change this according to taste if you don’t like something then leave it out or replace it with something else but don’t go mental as the contents will spill out and the cheese will not marry the juicy goodness together and ruin this now staple Sunday morning plate of fried magic on a plate!

best-cheese-toastie-5

  • 2 pieces of your favourite bread
  • 1 rasher of bacon
  • 1 piece of salami about 1 inch thick from a whole sausage (I used picante the spicy one but whatever you prefer)
  • 1 half a red onion. Mine were tiny so 1/4 of a standard size should be enough
  • slices of your favourite cheese. I used a strong mature cheddar and didn’t need much as it was so strong.
  • 1 egg

Instructions