Pizza Pasta! Meaty, but also veggie friendly...

Yup, you read it right... Pizza Pasta. A delicious recipe all my own work, but feel free to jazz it up or switch for your own favourite pizza toppings. Just try it!

Ingredients:

500g Minced Beef
1 Onion
1 Tin Chopped Tomatoes (or 2 if you like it saucy... we know you do!)
2 Cloves of Garlic
200g Pasta (Fusilli works very well in this one)
3-4 good quality Sausages
Cumin
Oregano
Cayenne
1 ball of Mozzarella
1 cup grated Cheddar
around 25g Parmesan
Seasoning

Method:

1. Get your sausages baking in the oven, around 20 minutes at 200 should sort it. Put them on a wire rack over a baking tray to catch the fat - saves cleaning the oven for hours later!

2. Make yourself a basic pizza sauce. Get a couple of tbsp olive oil nice and hot, fry off the garlic (crushed or finely chopped) and onion (fine chopped) until starting to colour. Add your tinned tomatoes and bring to the boil, then add 2 tbsp oregano or your favourite herbs and simmer for around 20 minutes.

3. Knock up a delicious dry spicy beef. Simply fry the beef mince in a dry pan until brown all over, then add a tsp of cayenne, 2 tsp of cumin and a tsp of oregano. Feel free to use your imagination here and change the spices around, or add more cayenne if you want it hotter! I know we all like the hot stuff ;) Stir it all up, keep it frying and if you need to pour off any oil that comes out peridically to keep it dry. Leaner beef the better.

4. Cook the pasta - boiling salted water for 10 minutes should do the trick. Give it the odd stir to stop it sticking. Drain and toss well in your home made sauce, making sure its well coated.

4. Put the saucy pasta in the bottom of your casserole pan. Add a layer of your delicious dry spicy beef over the top, then top with your cheeses. Shred the mozzarella, spread over the cheddar and top with a generous helping of parmesan. Looks good? Now slice the sausages and arrange the slices on top, then bake at 180 for 25-30 minutes to let the flavours get aquainted.

Serve on warmed plates with garlic bread.

This will work well with any of your favourite pizza toppings. A delicious veggie option for my gorgeous veggie friends out there could have courgettes, sweetcorn and maybe some mushrooms tossed through? How about topping it off with some pepperoni or chorizo slices and let the oil melt right through your dish? The possibilities are endless just let us know how you get on with it.

Enjoy!

Tony

Pizza Bases

So after making a few soda bread loaves and a nice white loaf for my parents who both have flu, I decided it was pizza for tea.  I wanted to try the pizza base recipe in my River Cottage Handbook (an absolutely fantastic book if you are considering joining me on this journey), its a pretty simple recipe, but as with everything, you never quite know the first time around how it will turn out.

It worked a treat, what a difference in taste between that and the store bought bases!  It was a little thick (completely down to me not rolling it thin enough) but I can safely say its going to be a long time until I buy a pizza base again!

I made them again tonight, this time I divided the dough into 4 and it was much better, and I have half of the dough for tomorrow, I might make a garlic pizza or something to go with dinner.

The recipe is below, give it a try, I promise you will not be disappointed!

Pizza Bases
makes 4 large thin bases.

Ingredients:
500g white plain flour
5g dried yeast
10g salt
325ml warm water
1 tbsp olive oil.

Method:

1. Combine all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. Add water and mix with your hand to form a rough dough.
3. Add in olive oil.
4. Knead by hand until dough is smooth and elastic, should take between 10-15 minutes depending on your kneading style and speed.  Or about 10 minutes in a mixer with a dough hook on low.
5. Leave on a floured board for about 30 minutes or until doubled in size.
6. During this time preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius with your tray (or baking stone) inside.
7. Cut into quarters (halves for a thicker base) and roll flat.
8. Transfer to tray and add whatever toppings you like.
9. Bake for about 20 minutes or until the base is crispy.

I am going to provide some links below for some great kneading advice, I think its a lot better if you see what an expert says as I am still very much a novice.  Some exciting news is that I am attending a 'Bread at Home' course at a local artisan bakery on the 27th of August.  I really hope you are all enjoying my journey so far, and hopefully some of you have decided to join me!!

Pizza Dough Tips
Step-by-Step Kneading

Ant

The End of Store Bought Bread

I was watching my favourite cooking program, River Cottage, when an episode came on about making your own bread.  I will be totally honest, I have not really ever thought about it, I didn't see allot wrong with the store bought bread and thought it just a hassle to make it yourself.  Then Hugh asked the viewers to do something, go to your cupboard and count how many ingredients are in the last loaf you bought.  I did this and there was 13.  I was almost shocked at the number, 13 ingredients in a loaf of plain white bread?!  Hugh knocked up (making it allot easier than I was sure it was) a simple white loaf with just 5 ingredients; flour, yeast, sugar, salt and water and didn't it look fantastic when it came out of the oven!

I decided that I was going to head to the shops the next day and have a go at making my own loaf, I picked up the ingredients and headed home.  I followed his basic recipe (posted at the bottom) and away I went.  I decided to use the mixer with a dough hook as I didn't really know much about kneading.

I made up the dough, let it rest, knocked it back, let it rest and then put it in the oven.  Within 5 minutes the house smelled of fresh bread, there is no better smell in the world to me.  I patiently waited about 30 minutes then out she came, it looked lopsided, uneven and a bit dark, perfect!

It tasted amazing, i don't think I knew what 'real' bread tasted like until that moment, the whole loaf was gone in about 2 hours and I was definitely hooked!

I am hoping a few of you will share this journey with me, I have developed a passion for baking (I have baked 3 loaves today already) and share your success and inevitable failures with us.  I have made about 13 loaves in the past month, I have only had 1 that wasn't really edible, its an incredibly easy thing to do and there is no better feeling, or smell, then pulling out a loaf of bread from the oven.  I have started to experiment into different loaves, white, wholemeal, soda bread and about to try a pizza base for tea, the possibilities are endless and so is the joy.

The below is a basic white loaf recipe, the one I first used using the bread hook, as we go along we will move deeper into the kneading process, proving, different types of bread and flours and much more, best of luck to all and remember, if it doesn't come out looking anything like a uniform loaf from the shop, its probably perfect!

Ingredients
7g sachet dried yeast
300ml lukewarm water
1 tsp sugar
450g plain white flour
1.5 tsp Salt
Method
1 Place the flour, yeast, sugar and salt in the bowl.
2 Using the dough hook on minimum speed, gradually mix in the water to form a soft dough.
3 Knead for 1 minute on minimum and 4 minutes on speed 1, until smooth and elastic. Remove the
bowl, cover with lightly oiled clear film and leave to rise in a warm place for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.
4 Using the dough hook on minimum speed for 30-60 seconds gently knead the dough to knock
back. Transfer to a lightly floured surface and shape into a ball. Cover with oiled clear film and leave to rise for 30 minutes, or until doubled in size.
5 Preheat the oven to 220°C/425°F/gas 7. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown.

So there is a basic white loaf recipe, please give it a try and let us know how it turns out, if you are anything like me this will be the first in a very long line of loaves!

Ant

Classic Shepherds Pie

Just knocked this little beauty out for the girls. It's gone down a treat!

• 
  
  700g lamb mince
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 garlic clove, crushed
• 3 carrots, diced
• 1 tbsp Tomato puree
• 100ml good red wine
• 100ml lamb stock
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 1 tbsp fresh thyme leaves
• 2 bay leaves
• 750g mashed potato (make your own, its easy and delicious if you would like some tips on making the perfect mash then get in touch)
  
  
  
  
  Heat a frying pan until hot and fry the lamb mince for 4-5 minutes, or until browned all over. Remove the lamb from the pan and set aside to drain in a sieve.
  
  
  Heat a little olive oil in the same frying pan and fry the onion and garlic for 4-5 minutes, or until softened. Add the carrots and the remaining olive oil and cook for a further 5-6 minutes. Return the lamb mince to the pan, add the tomato purée and stir well. Cook for a further 5-6 minutes
  
  
  Add the wine, bay leaves and stock, bring the mixture to the boil, then reduce the heat and simmer for 5-8 minutes. Stir in the chopped tomatoes and thyme. Spoon the mixture into a large baking dish and top with the mashed potato.
  
  
  Bake the shepherd’s pie in the oven for 20-30 minutes, or until the the topping is golden-brown and the lamb mixture is bubbling around the edge. Serve with seasonal green vegetables that you have steamed - straight from the oven to the table. Delicious!
  
  
  
  
  

Yesterdays Masterchef Live adventure

Morning all

I was a little tired yesterday to blog, so here is the story of how it went.

The BBC Good Food Live show contacted me out of the blue, and offered me the chance to cook at the Masterchef Live Challenge in the Birmingham NEC Arena. I had applied about 3 months earlier and forgotten all about it. I didn't even have a signiture dish to put on the application, so I made one up at the time! Yesterday rolled around all too quickly, I had a chance to practise a few times and that was the lot - it was too late.

Myself and My 4 year old Daughter Rhianwen packed up, and headed to Birmingham with my good friends Adam and Jo. I was excited all the way there - right up until I walked in and saw the stage. Then the nerves hit me. There was a green room where I met Dhruv Baker and the other contestants, all of whom were REALLY nice and helped my nerves die down. Then it was time.

We walked out onto the stage in front of an audience of about 200 people, plus the big screens were showing it to the whole exhibition at the Good Food Show. Andy Peters , the legend of Live TV, was the host, and the judges were of course John Torode and Gregg Wallace with guest Sara Denesin Medio. The timer started and we all started cooking our hearts out with the audience cheering us on. We had 45 minutes to produce our signiture dish - for me it was A modernised classic - Chicken Kiev, Peas and Chips. I had a lot to do in 45 minutes, with cameras swirling around us and judges wandering around for a chat. I had a really nice and helpful Kitchen Assistant from the local food college who helped me so much, fetching equipment and showing me how to work things. It actually consisted of a twice cooked Chicken Breast (poached in garlic infused stock and then fried to crisp the skin), a Parmesan and Thyme Ciabatta Crumb, Fondant Potato 'Chips', a Garlic and Tarragon Wine Cream Sauce, and a Pea Puree.

I had a lot going on. Pans all over the place - chicken poaching, potatoes peeled and frying in butter, peas boiling to puree, herbs chopping, the lot was going on. Andy Peters talked to me for a while, John, Gregg and Sara all chatted a bit too about my food as well as tasting. John was impressed with my sauce, while Gregg was MAD for my potato fondant chips! Sara was very impressed with my skills too, she complimented me on my organisation and on the fact that I was the only one without a ream of notes! Sara was really nice, as were all of the people on the stage. Before I knew it the time had ticked away - I had 2 minutes to go and nothing on the plate. So I hit the accelerator:

A nice white wide oval plate. Spoonful of pea puree on the right, with a chef swirl using the back of the spoon (that Andy complimented me on!). In the centre - a small pile of the crumb. I placed the chicken on top. 30 seconds to go! A small pile of fondant potato chips on the left, neat and tidy. 10 seconds. Spoon the sauce over the breast, fingers burning from the pan and from holding the chips which came straight out of the boiling stock. Done, time up.

I look at the plate - its stunning. Exactly how I imagined it, bang on time, and all perfect (despite not getting the puree right in practise once!) I could not have been prouder of myself.

The judges only chose 3 dishes to taste from the 9 (a la Masterchef) and unfortunately mine was not one of them. I feel it would have been but I was on stage with the only dessert of the entire day, and we know how much Gregg likes his desserts! All of the dishes looked just stunning, I would have paid good money for any one of them. The dessert goes through - a delicious looking strawberry and rhubarb ice cream with some kind of crumble cake - it looked good enough to grab off the stage and run away with! I was not disappointed in the least - I had cooked my heart out and enjoyed every second of it - I was so happy with my dish that I handed it around the audience afterwards to eat and got some more great compliments. Its made me realise exactly what I want to do with my life - I WILL be a chef. The journey starts here.

In 10 years time, when you come to book a table at my sold out restaurant - mention that you once read this blog and I will make sure my staff look after you well!

Happy Fathers day everyone - I'm off to the driving range. I've just knocked out a lovely Eggs Benedict with my own recipe Golden Potato Hash (I'll post it later - a great accompaniment to breakfast or brunch!). A special mention to my Dad Alan - not the best chef in the world outside of egg and chips, but still a great inspiration to me. I still had a great day afterwards at the Good Food show too - treated myself to a fantastic whisky, tried a buffalo burger, bought some stunning cheeses and chutneys and just generally had a great time.

Be well and good eating

Tony

Masterchef

Hi everyone!

No recipe tonight I'm afraid, a little busy. Tomorrow I will be cooking at the Good Food Live show in Birmingham in front of thousands of people - doing the Masterchef Challenge. Quite a big deal!

My dish is Chicken Kiev, Peas and Chips. Well that's what its loosely based on, its a modern and deconstructed version of it - A twice cooked Chicken Breast, Parmesan and Thyme Ciabatta Crumb (not on the chicken!), Garlic and Tarragon Sauce, Sweet Pea Puree and Fondant Potato 'Chips'. I've tested it before, last run is tonight and then tomorrow its showtime.

My good friends Adam and Jo are coming to support me, as is my eldest daughter Rhianwen who was my inspiration to start cooking in the first place.

I'll let you all know how it goes, but right now I am off to practise my skills ready for John Torode and Gregg Wallace!

Be well friends, and good eating
Tony

Anthony's Seafood Paella

My apologies as well for the lack of recent posts but we are both back on board now, and this is a great recipe to get us back under way.  There are 2 key points to this recipe, the first is the rice, you really should try your best to get hold of Calasparra rice, you can use other short grain rice (not arborio) but none are as good as this.  The 2nd is to really concerntrate on making a good sofrito, the one I have listed is easy and really nice in many types of paella, not just seafood.

Ingredients
Serves 4-6

To make sofrito paste:
200 ml extra virgin olive oil
15 ml Spanish sherry vinegar (red wine vinegar is ok if you dont have any)
3 large tomatoes, ripe is best
6 garlic cloves, peeled
1 shallot
6 roasted peppers
1½ tsp saffron threads
½ bunch thyme leaves
½ bunch mint
½ bunch coriander
1 bunch chives
½ bunch parsley
½ tsp spicy paprika
1 tsp smoked paprika
1 tsp sweet paprika

Paella:
2 tbsp sofrito paste per person
65g Calasparra rice per person
150 ml fish stock per person
2 blue swimmer crabs, quartered and cleaned
6 king prawns
12 squid rings
10 large  mussels
4 baby octopus, cleaned

Method

1. In a food processor puree all the sofrito ingredients until you have a smooth consistency.
2. Pour fish stock into a pot and begin to heat it.
3. In a very hot large paella pan or non stick frying pan, pour enough olive oil to coat the bottom of the pan.
4. Add rice and cook until it changes colour from white to transparent. This is a very important step to making a good paella because we need to cook the starch off the rice.
5. After a couple of minutes, add the sofrito paste. Cook with the rice for a minute.
6. Add seafood and spread evenly around the pan. Sauté for a couple of minutes.
7. Add hot fish stock and let it cook until stock is evaporated. Don't stir the rice.
8. Once all of the stock has evaporated, turn the heat to low for 5 minutes to ensure you get a nice crust on the bottom of the pan.

Ant

Chorizo and Feta Frittata

• 250g potatoes, peeled and sliced into 1cm cubes
• 5 tbsp olive oil
• 1 onion, peeled and sliced
• 6 free-range eggs
• 75ml single cream
• 1 tsp sea salt
• 1 tbsp fresh marjoram, chopped (dried is fine if you can't get it)
• 125g chorizo, sliced
• 125g feta cheese, crumbled

1. Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4.
2. Place the potatoes into a saucepan of boiling water. Boil for five minutes, or until just cooked. Do not overcook the potatoes or they will go mushy. Drain the potatoes of the excess water and set aside.
3. Heat a 25cm/10in ovenproof frying pan. Add three tablespoons of olive oil and the sliced onion to the pan. Cover the frying pan with a saucepan lid and sweat the ingredients over a gentle heat until the onion becomes soft and slightly golden. Then remove from the heat and set aside.
4. Whisk the eggs in a clean bowl until they are slightly frothy. Then add the cream, the salt and the fresh marjoram.
5. Add the sliced chorizo, the cooked onions and the potatoes to the bowl and mix well.
6. Heat the remaining olive oil in the frying pan. When the oil is hot, pour in the egg mixture and stir briefly to distribute the ingredients evenly.
7. Sprinkle the crumbled feta cheese on to the top of the mixture. Place the pan in the preheated oven and bake for 25-35 minutes or until the centre of the mixture has set. Then remove from the frittata from the oven and allow it to cool for a couple of minutes.
8. To serve, place the frittata onto a large serving plate or a large cake tin lined with baking parchment (if you want to transport it on a picnic). Serve warm or at room temperature.

Raspberry and White Chocolate Waffle Pudding

• 300g/10½oz packet waffles, cut into 2.5cm/1in squares
• 300g/10½oz raspberries
• 150g/½oz white chocolate, cut into 0.5cm/¼in cubes
• 500ml/18fl oz creme fraiche or soured cream
• 55g/2oz caster sugar
• 1 tbsp plain flour
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• 3 free-range eggs, beaten
• 2 tbsp icing sugar

1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Grease a baking dish with butter.
2. Place half the waffle pieces into the baking dish and sprinkle over half the raspberries and half the chocolate. Lay over the remaining waffles and scatter over the rest of the raspberries and chocolate.
3. Mix the caster sugar, flour, crème fraîche and vanilla extract together in a bowl then whisk in the beaten eggs. Pour the mixture into the baking dish and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes.
4. Leave to cool then sprinkle with icing sugar and serve with vanilla ice cream or cream.
   
   
   You may find you don't need the icing sugar, just scoop the gooey mess into a bowl and munch the lot. Easily one of the nicest desserts I have ever made, and really easy!
   
   

   

   
   

Yasmin’s Spaghetti Carbonara

Carbonara is one of the most impressive pastas you can make, fortunately it’s also one of the easiest!  Below is the most basic recipe I can come up with which will get you on the right track, once you have made it a few times start to play with it, you can add all sorts of things to it, bacon, spinach, mussels, it’s a really good dish to learn and can be made in minutes so there is no reason to ring the local take away if you have had a long day!

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon butter

200g/7 oz button mushrooms, sliced

1 cup cream

2 eggs

125g/4 oz parmesan cheese, grated

1/3 cup finely chopped chives

400g/14 oz dried spaghetti

200g/7 oz ham, chopped

Method:

1.       Get some water boiling an cook the pasta according to the instructions on the pack.  Its best to use home made, but that isn’t applicable for a quick meal, try and by fresh egg pasta from the shops but dries will work fine, remember to put a few pinches of salt into the water once it has boiled.

2.       Once the pasta is almost done, melt butter in a non-stick frying pan over medium-high heat and add mushrooms. Cook them for 5 minutes, or until tender, remember to keep stirring them.  Remove from the pan and put under some foil to keep warm.

3.       Combine cream, eggs, three quarters of the parmesan, chives, and a pinch of salt and few turns of pepper in a bowl.

4.       Drain cooked pasta into a saucepan. Add egg mixture, mushrooms and ham. Toss over low heat until sauce thickens. Season. Serve with remaining parmesan.

Ant

Mushroom Sauce

There is no better way to finish the week than with a nice steak, this sauce makes it even better, and it’s so simple, which is perfect for a Friday night!

Ingredients:

30g butter

1 medium brown onion, finely chopped

1 garlic clove, crushed

200g mushrooms, thinly sliced

1/2 cup dry white wine

300ml pure cream

Metho:

1.       Melt butter in a frying pan over medium heat. Add onion. Cook, stirring, for 5 minutes or until softened. Add garlic and mushrooms. Cook, stirring, for 3 to 4 minutes or until softened.

2.       Add wine. Bring to the boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in cream. Bring to the boil. Simmer for 10 minutes or until reduced by half. Season with salt and pepper.

Ant

Veggie Week Part 4 - Souffle Omlette with Mushrooms

Veggie Week took a brief holiday while my wife was working late - I didn't see much point in cooking that way for myself so I have mostly been surviving on a diet of chips and cider for about a week. Normal service resumes now with this delicious, moreish fluffy omlette. Be prepared to make extra though, anyone who smells it will want one too!

Ingredients (serves 1)

For the Omlette:

2 Eggs, seperated

1 tbsp Butter

Flat Leaf Parsley or Coriander (to garnish)

For the sauce:

1 tbsp Butter

1 clove of Garlic, finely chopped

75g Mushrooms, sliced

1 tbsp Plain Flour

85-90ml Milk

1 tbsp Chopped Fresh Parsley

Salt and Pepper

Method

Make the mushroom sauce. Melt the butter in a good sized pan and add the garlic and sliced mushrooms. Fry gently for 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionaly. Any liquid released will mostly be reabsorbed so don't worry too much. Stir in the flour, then gradually add the milk stirring all the time. Cook until the sauce boils and thickens. Add the parsley (if using) or experiment with some of your favourite other herbs. Season and keep warm.

Make the omlette next. Beat the egg yolks with 1 tbsp of water and season. Whisk the egg whites until stiff, then fold into the egg yolks. Meanwhile, pre-heat your grill. Melt the butter in an omlette pan and pour in the egg mixture. Cook over a low-medium heat for 3-4 minutes, then place under the grill for a further 3-4 minutes until the top is golden brown.

Slide the omlette onto a warm serving plate, spoon over the sauce, then fold the omlette over the top. Season again and sprinkle with chopped fresh herbs. Devour the lot before someone steals it!

Hope you enjoy, feel free to post any variations you try!

All the best, more updates soon

Tony

Tomato and Basil

A simple tomato and basil sauce can be the best thing to have in your fridge.  This can be used in a pasta, lasagne, pizza, the list is endless.  I promise once you make this you will never buy a jar of sauce again!

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 5 garlic cloves, sliced very thin
•  2 cups of canned, whole tomatoes, with their juice, coarsely chopped
• salt
• 1/4 cup fresh basil leaves, torn into small pieces

Directions:

1. Pour all but 1 tbsp. of olive oil and the garlic in a large pan over a medium-high heat and cook until the garlic begins to sizzle, but doesn't brown.
2. Add the tomatoes and cook over a medium-high heat until the tomatoes have reduced and separated from the oil. This will be about 15 minutes.  Season with salt.
3. Add the basil at the end and cook for another 2-3 minutes.
4. Pour direct onto pasta or into a sterilised jar.  Once cool put it in the fridge.

Ant

Honey BBQ Sauce

A nice simple sauce tonight, but I don’t think anyone can have a BBQ without this one, this is a typical 'simple is best' recipe!

3/4 cup of honey
1/2 cup of ketchup
1/4 cup of butter
1 tbsp. vinegar
2 tsp. Dijon mustard
2 tbsp. brown sugar                                                  
1 tbsp. soy sauce
1 clove garlic, minced
Chilli powder optional

Combine all the ingredients in a sauce pan and simmer the mixture for 5 minutes.  This should make about one and a half cups of sauce.

Tip:  Try adding some finely chopped onion to this, sweat it down first and mix it in to the mix.

Ant

Hot and Sweet Tomato Sauce

Tonight’s addition is a hot and sweet tomato sauce, combining 2 of my favourite foods, tomato and chili!

Ingredients

5 kg firm and ripe tomatoes, washed and halved

2 onions, roughly chopped

4 tart apples, roughly chopped

1kg brown sugar

1 bird's eye chilli, minced

1 tsp ground cayenne pepper

1 tsp ground paprika

1 tsp freshly cracked black peppercorns

1 ½ cups malt vinegar

salt to taste

1 Tbs corn flour dissolved in ½ Tbs water

Method

1. Place the tomatoes, onion and apple in a food processor.  Blend until smooth.  Pour into a large saucepan on a medium heat, add the rest of the ingredients.
2. Stir to dissolve the sugar. Let the mixture bubble and keep stirring to avoid the fruit mixture sticking on the bottom of the pan. When the mixture is reduced and the colour is darker, have a taste. You can add more spices, salt or sugar, to give the correct balance.
3. Prepare a jug lined with muslin cloth or use a colander placed over a bowl.  Remove the saucepan from the heat, then, pour the hot sauce through the muslin or the colander.  Press to get more moisture from the sauce.
4. Put the saucepan back on the stove and simmer on a low heat until the remains left from the mixture is bubbling again.  Add the cornflour and cook another 10 minutes to thicken. Pour immediately into the prepared sterilised jars or bottles.

Tip: Keep the tomato mix that you strained and use it in a bolognaise etc as it will add a great depth of flavour!

Ant

Harissa Paste

While not really a sauce, Harissa is a fantastic paste that can be added to the most common dishes and make into something completely new and exciting!  Adding a spoonful of harissa to a bolognaise is a fantastic example of elevating a tired old favourite to a new level!

Ingredients:

·         10-12 dried red chilies.  For hot use something like birds eye chili, of for a milder flavour maybe try a anaheim chili.  If you really like it hot, like I do, maybe throw a scotch bonnet in the mix!

·         3 cloves garlic, minced

While not really a sauce, Harissa is a fantastic paste that can be added to the most common dishes and make into something completely new and exciting!  Adding a spoonful of harissa to a bolognaise is a fantastic example of elevating a tired old favourite to a new level!

Ingredients:

·         10-12 dried red chilies.  For hot use something like birds eye chili, of for a milder flavour maybe try an Anaheim chili.  If you really like it hot, like I do, maybe throw a scotch bonnet in the mix!

·         3 cloves garlic, minced

·         1/2 teaspoon salt

·         2 tablespoons olive oil

·         1 teaspoon ground coriander

·         1 teaspoon ground caraway seeds

·         1/2 teaspoon cumin

Preparation:

1. Soak the dried chilies in hot water for 30 minutes. Drain. Remove stems and seeds.

2. In a food processor combine chili peppers, garlic, salt, and olive oil.

3. Add remaining spices and blend to form a smooth paste.

This will keep well in the fridge, a quick tip is to cover the surface with a layer of olive oil as this will last a lot longer.  I would suggest buying already dried chilies but if you are like me and want to do everything yourself, the easiest and most convenient way I found was, the next time you cook a roast etc once its finished turn the oven off and put some chilies in on a tray, then just leave the door ajar a little, after an hour or so (depending on the size etc) they will be dried and ready to go.  If it looks like they are not yet dry and the oven is losing heat, take them out and heat the oven back up, then turn off and repeat the process until they are dry enough for you!

This paste i find works best in tomato based recipes.  But experiment with it, im sure this one will be one you always go back too!

Ant

Getting Saucy

Good Evening all!  My apologies for the lack of blogging recently, I have not had much time in the evenings and not really been cooking anything of note, mainly just throwing together a quick salad or something along those lines.  To make up for it, this week I'm going to be adding a new sauce recipe every day of the week.  I'm going to try and make them sauces that you can add to dishes rather than a finishing sauce etc.  I hope you enjoy, and if anyone has a request on a sauce they have had or would like to make let me know and ill try a few out and make a recipe for you!!

Ant