Bacon, Halloumi and Baby Roast Potato Salad

Ah, at long last. My food mojo is back. The mojo where I dream up random combinations and they make it into reality. I kind of dreamt this one up very vaguely based on the idea of a delicious Halloumi and steak salad we had back at our South African themed Christmas meal (my other half is from SA) and several times since too. I've taken the basics from it and changed it up a little - and made a heavenly salad in the process! This got a big thumbs up from my man (even though it was salad haha! and its low in FODMAP's and gluten free without any compromise on flavour!

The potatoes make this an easily gluten free meal - though you could swap out for another carby item or leave out altogether. Lemon and maple syrup may seem a bit of an odd combo in a salad but the lemon cuts through the sweetness and the slight smoke of the bacon complements the sweetness of the maple so well together - I've used this in a few other salads and it works a treat. And I am fully signed up to the capers club now - only took 34 years!! Plus I am definitely liking Halloumi now, its a bit like aubergine - cook it well its heaven - cook it bad, ah well yeah that will be hell then!!

Serves 2

120g Halloumi, 1cm dice

3 tsp garlic infused oil

3 unsmoked bacon rashers, diced

1 large tomato, diced

1 tbsp. capers, rinsed and drained

1 tbsp. cornflour

1 tbsp. lemon juice

1 tbsp. maple syrup

50g baby spinach

8 new potatoes
Black pepper
4-5 Basil leaves to garnish

Start by pre-heating the oven to about 200o. Coat the potatoes in a little of the oil, place in a shallow baking dish and roast for 45 minutes, or until cooked through.

Meanwhile, coat the halloumi cubes in cornflour.

Heat the remaining oil in a large frying pan, cook the bacon until crispy and lift out onto paper. In the same pan, add the capers and tomatoes, fry for 3-4 minutes, stirring often over a moderate heat until the tomatoes are starting to soften.

Push the tomatoes and capers to the side of the pan and add the prepared halloumi, fry without turning for 3 minutes or until golden and turn over and fry until golden all over. Stir in the lemon juice and maple syrup, coat everything well. Season with black pepper.

Place the spinach in a large serving bowl or plate. Halve the potatoes and place on top of the spinach, spoon over the bacon & halloumi. Scatter over the basil.

This is definitely a summer keeper! I love the salty little fried cubes of tasty cheese and they are weirdly addictive! Your salad may lack some depending how ahead you are with timing!!

Cheesy Gammon and Potato Bake

I've got history. With graters that is...

This picture happened recently. Its like a crime scene, you can still see traces of the cheese I was attempting to grate. Oh the horror! Me and my Jamie grater had 6 magical years together. I already owned two rather shiny microplanes (and still do but their handles annoy me) but my beloved coarse grater survived 4 house moves and grated a hell of a lot of cheese. And carrots.Probably more. Then one fateful night OH THE HORROR IT SNAPPED!! I almost cried. What shall I do? Do I replace? I was scared in case the horror happened again....

So I went shopping... I tried to look for the JO one *just in case I changed my mind* but couldn't find on the high street...it was late..I was tired...weary...still saddened ...and in a moment of madness I purchased the below lime flecked one for a whole pound. I like a bargain but its not the one for me. The bottom cover thingy seems entirely useless other than to fall off and its unsurprisingly not sharp enough. It doesn't have a good prognosis.

But then a rainbow appeared on the horizon of my tears... and it was a welcome hello to my OXO Good Grips 'Complete Grate and Slice set' and we have fully bonded. Those who follow me on Instagram will testify to that! The set consists of four removable grating and slicing slides - and I used it almost daily ever since receiving it! It has pride of place at the front of the cupboard rather than being abandoned towards the back in the mandolin graveyard.....

As I've had 'issues' with my PC and the odd health one to throw a spanner in the works, I have not been very good writing down any recipes but this one is fairly close. My oven temperature is still wrong and I still share a kitchen so blogging is tricky! I have posted pictures of a similar dish a few years back here  with inspiration from Hampshire Cook but this is the updated one with an actual recipe! 

Sorry if the pictures fuzzy - my PC is still trying to break all my images!

The fine slicing blade in the Good Grips set is awesome - as well as graters, this is my 3rd mandolin set too and its perfectly thin and sharp, oh and easy to use! Which is the main thing! I have slightly wonky joints and ease of use is high up on my agenda!! I used both the fine mandolin and coarse grater for this recipe and it took moments to prepare for a big bowl of comfort food! The gripper tool is strong and hold the veggies well when slicing, to protect your fingers!

Serves 4 (ish) Easy

Ingredients:

480g thinly sliced white potato

150g cooked gammon, shredded

80g lancashire cheese, grated

500g milk

25g butter

25g plain floir

1 tsp English mustard powder

1 tsp vegetable stock powder

S&P to taste

Pre-heat oven to approx 190o

Cover the potatoes in cold water, add the stock powder and bring to the boil for 5 minutes, then drain well

In the saucepan melt the butter, add the flour and mustard powder, stir in the milk gently until thickened and simmer for 5 minutes

Add half the cheese to the sauce and season with salt and pepper to taste

Layer up the potatoes with the gammon and a sprinkle of cheese in between. Cover with the sauce and sprinkle over the last of the cheese

Bake for about 45 minutes, or until golden and all lovingly brown on top.

Many thanks to both OXO Good Grips and to Holly at the Lenny Agency for her patience!

Disclaimer: I received the Complete Grate and Slice set for review only and all opinions and pictures remain the property of Anne's Kitchen

Creamy Leek and Chorizo Jacket potatoes

We recently returned from holiday and had only been very briefly been shopping, which involved mostly throwing random ingredients in a tired manner into the trolley and so when faced with cooking after a long day the other evening it was a case of staring into the fridge and hoping something would stick out! By luck the shopping involved ever ready and essential chorizo and we had a lonely leek we brought back from our self-catering jaunt! 

To make this meal even easier, we had by chance eaten jacket potatoes a few nights before, and being semi domesticated I have gotten into the habit of cooking extra jacket potatoes - after all you have the oven on for a good hour or more, so why not take advantage of the oven space? They freeze brilliantly or hang around in the fridge for a good few days, providing a quick, yet nourishing and home cooked treat! Unless desperate I really do not like microwaved jacket potatoes, they don't develop that fluffy, golden inside, yet alone taste vs oven baked loveliness!

The creamy sauce only takes about 20 minutes to prepare and cook so its a doddle for a week night! My boyfriend loved it so much we also ate it again two nights later! Its reddish hue from the smoky and spicy paprika scented sausage adds both colour and a depth of flavour that I don't think many ingredients compare too! The creamy part of the sauce also calms a little of the heat, so me with the silly sensitive stomach can also enjoy a portion of it too!

*I am sure you know how to cook jacket potatoes but just incase you need some guidance, I always stab them with a skewer, roll lightly in oil and a pinch of salt, thread onto the skewer length-ways, place on a heavy foil lined baking tray and bake in a medium-hot oven until cooked. Depends on size really but anywhere from an hour upwards.

Serves 2

Super easy

Ingredients:

2 cooked jacket potatoes*
1 medium leek, cleaned and sliced into 1/2 cm moons
125g spicy chorizo sausage, diced
150g creme fraiche
10 pimenton stuffed olives, roughly chopped
30g grated parmesan
1 tbsp tomato puree
S&P to taste
1/2 tbsp rapeseed oil

-Separately either warm through prepared potatoes or cook from scratch - the sauce takes about 12 minutes tops.-

Heat the oil in a medium saute pan, add the chorizo and leek and fry for about 4 minutes, or until the leek is softening and the chorizo is starting to ooze its glorious oil, make a well and add the tomato puree with a splash of water, stir around until bubbling, add the olives and gently stir everything together and cook for a further 2 minutes.

Stir through the creme fraiche and another splash of water if needed to loosen and simmer gently for a couple of minutes to warm through the creme fraiche.

Remove from the heat and season to taste, along with 1/2 the parmesan.

Spoon the sauce over the prepared potatoes and sprinkle over any remaining parmesan

Enjoy!

Twice baked Tuna Jackets with Green Bean Saute

Sorry I have been a bit sparse in posting these past few months.. since Christmas I have been really struggling to live normally, yet alone focus on my blog. Its became a chore to be honest at times, battling daily fatigue and brain fog, changing medications and eventually a long period off work due to hideous hip pain, that saw me questioning my sanity most days… however following intense physio, pilates, a new heat pad (I love it!) lots of relaxation, soul searching, spending quality time with loved ones and attempting to eat normally I am hopefully back on the road to recovery.. I am trialling out a few different health foods and will be reporting back at a late date with the results.. 

..Fortunately its already paid off a little – this past week saw me back at work, albeit in a new role which is a little less physical and I no longer come home in tears of pain, which has to be a bonus. It’s still a little up in the air as to whether its long term but at least its something, and whilst its rather busy I quite enjoy it! Best of all its Monday to Friday and no more shifts! Yay! I am Taurean and creature of habit, we like routine!!

These delicious and easy Twice baked Tuna jackets were made during one of the brighter days and are delicious. Jacket potatoes are such an easy low faff meal, and for bad days a comfort to the soul too! We always tend to have tins of tuna in the cupboards, very handy for when you have forgotten to thaw or buy anything else in! Though doing the potatoes in the oven is necessary, micro-zapped jackets just are not the same and as there is only about 5 minutes max of preparation involved its well worth the wait, and you can rest in between! I love the look of the twice baked ones, are almost cottage like..

You can use standard wholegrain mustard in this, however if you have a flavoured one even better – I used Bulldog mustard, which has a an extra chilli kick and it helps liven it up! If you have a taste for chilli try adding a little chilli sauce or freshly sliced chilli!

Serves two

Ingredients

2 large baking potatoes

1 tin tuna flakes in spring water

2 tsp wholegrain mustard

30g grated mature cheddar

1 finely sliced spring onion

100g plain yoghurt (I used Greek) – you may need less it depends on your potato size

S&p to taste

1 tsp oil

Heat your oven to about 210o – mine is ancient and slow so be cautious!

Roll the potatoes in oil, pierce and place on a small baking tin, roast for around an hour – will depend on your oven and potato size or until cooked through – a skewer will come away easily.

Carefully transfer the potatoes to a chopping board, slice the top off lengthways - about 1/2 an inch and scoop out the insides into a bowl, being careful not to pierce the shell.

Mix in the remaining ingredients in a bowl, add the mash, mix and season to taste: 

Use the mixture to re-fill the potatoes, put their lids back on and bake for a further 15-20 minutes or until hot inside and cooked through.

You can serve with your choice of green veg. I made a quick green bean saute to serve with mine. Frozen green beans are a great veg to keep in the freezer, and cook quickly with little fuss!

150g frozen fine green beans

½ red pepper, finely sliced

2 tsp lemon juice

1 knob unsalted butter

1 sliced spring onion

Heat a non stick frying pan, add the green beans and cook on a medium heat – they will thaw out quickly, stir through the red pepper and spring onion, add the butter and lemon juice and fry for about 3-4 minutes or until softened and cooked through. If they are sticking, add a splash of water to loosen.

Serve the Tuna jackets with the green bean saute:

We both loved these stuffed potatoes and its something which will made again, and again! 

Honey and Mustard Sausage Casserole

Winter still has us in its chilly grip but the daffodils are starting to bloom and Spring is in the air!  I love seeing their bright sunny little heads burst into flower and think of warmer times ahead! Me and cold weather do not mix! However salads are not really going to cut it for a while yet and a warming dish, like my sausage and mustard casserole is just the thing to keep you warm inside! Packed full with sausages, soft tender barley and beans it will keep you full for hours and your tummy snugly and content.

I also feel I need to apologise I've been struggling lately to get my blog posts written up, sometimes its because I get downstairs and realise the note pad / camera/ pen are still upstairs, and as stairs are simply a menace to my knees to go back up, I abandon any blogging idea. Or at a later date and I can't find where I have written a recipe down. That on top of I simply the lack the energy to string more than a few sentences together to form a blog post someday's! As per this weeks meal planning post my health has been not too brilliant but I am trying to just pace myself, it just gets all a bit frustrating at times though but I will keeping trying! A lot of the food lately B has been eating as my appetite has been all over the place but hopefully when the new meds kick in I might feel a bit more level! I still love to look at food though so have been spending a lot of time tidying up my Pinterest boards - do head over and have a little drool whilst you are there!

So enough of my woes, this dish was originally developed using some Basics ingredients from Sainsbury's - I cook fairly budget friendly anyway but managed to switch several ingredients to basics ingredients very successfully and with no loss of flavour, definitely something I have carried forward into other dishes I make. I also used up some leftover potatoes and kidney beans from other meals so it was a tasty fridge raid casserole! 

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

2 Basics Vegetable stock cubes in 1200ml boiling water

6 cumberland sausages

1 large carrot, sliced

2 sticks celery, sliced

120g cooked new potatoes, cubed

115g cooked kidney beans

1 large white onion, diced

6 tsp Basics honey (if like mine its gone a little too set simply zap in the microwave without the lid to melt!)

1.5 tbsp wholegrain mustard

2 tbsp vegetable oil

150g pearl barley, soaked in water for at least two hours

Method:

In a large saute pan or casserole dish heat the oil and brown the sausages for about 10 minutes or until they have a nice golden colour. Transfer the sausages onto some kitchen paper, cut into 6 pieces each. 

Fry the onion for about 3 minutes in the remaining oil, then add the carrots and celery, stirring regularly until all the veg is just softening - about 5 minutes. Add all the remaining ingredients, bring to a gentle boil then cover and simmer gently for 2 hours.

Ladle into deep bowls or pasta plates and tuck in! It also reheats beautifully the next day too!

As this used up some stray leftover potatoes and kidney beans and some rather tired celery I am sending this over to the No Waste Food Challenge, held by Cooking Around the World this month:

Many thanks to Sainsbury's for supplying some of the ingredients. Disclaimer: I received vouchers to cover my time and ingredients to develop this recipe

Potato, Mushroom and Blue Cheese Melt

Its a little over due this post but just before Christmas I was sent a bag of some lovely red skinned Rudolph Potatoes, which in turn got turned into a few different potato based dishes!

Whilst these snow white centred beauties made excellent mini roast potatoes - one of my favourite ways to cook potatoes - simply tossed in oil - in this case Mr Hugh's Extra Virgin Rapeseed oil, sea salt and some freshly chopped rosemary sprigs:

However, a new personal favourite was this proper fridge raid supper, and in about 20 minutes I had this gorgeous mini roasting pan full of my favourite foods, grilled until meltingly delicious! 

Just before Christmas I treated myself to a small hardy non-stick roasting pan - ideal for one or two portions, if not use a small gratin style or small shallow casserole dish

2 medium sized rudolph potatoes, cut into 2cm chunks

4 chestnut mushrooms, sliced

A few sliced green olives - mine were leftover from Boxing day

Small wedge of gorganzola cheese

S&P

1) Start by boiling the potatoes until just tender – about 12 minutes. 

2) Meanwhile fry the mushrooms in a little oil until nicely browned. 

3) Drain the potatoes well, place in a greased non-stick roasting pan in an even layer, dot over the olives, scattering of the cheese, mushrooms and season with salt and pepper. Place until a hot grill until everything is starting to brown and the cheese has melted nicely. 

Serve garnished with fresh parsley and your choice of vegetable – mine was my Christmas favourite of spiced red cabbage, which I made a job lot of before Christmas - it freezes a treat!

Thanks to both Rudolph Potatoes and Mr Hugh's oil for the Samples

Bacon and cheese stuffed Butternut Squash with Wild mushroom potatoes

Some days everything just falls into place..and some days, well it just doesn't ... though the latter I find are usually entirely your own fault. A recent Thursday is an excellent example; In the morning I received my lovely little hamper from Knorr, packed full of goodies to make Marco Pierre Whites Boeuf Bourginnon. So what do I do? Think, hmm beef stew…yeah about three hours or so…texted mum, promised her dinner and meanwhile go to see dear friend and my gorgeous godson…lose track of time…chatting as us girlies do so well…check on my phone just how long recipe takes..oops…change of plan!

So its now about 4pm, rummage through fridge..look in freezer…hmm what to make that mum will eat. Mr butternut is squash poking out its smooth egg shaped head from the fruit bowl..really fancy squash now…what the hell to make with it. Especially when mum bless her is a meat and potatoes kinda girl.

Re-check fridge..hmm oh and half a block of red Leicester, albeit from Iceland and one I wont hurry to buy again but made sense at time of purchase. Also note some lovely quality bacon thats for the Bourginnon recipe, and a punnet of wild mushrooms also intended for the it. Realise I am about to not be at home for the next three nights due to work schedule and prior dinner plans and the lovely mushroomies wont hang around that long.. so how to combine mr squash and wild mushrooms. Bearing in mind I am surprisingly unfamiliar with cooking both ingredients. Google shows some rather interesting recipes, including a curious sounding wild mushroom and squash bread and butter pudding but mother sounds less than enthused at this suggestion when I quickly phoned her, and even I am a bit hmm… thoughts go down lasagne route, but have to bear in mind will be cooking dinner at mums house, complete with tiny kitchen and work space of a postage stamp. But it does have a gas oven! Another thought was some kind of lasagne but it just seems too much effort, not to mention washing up and its now nearly 4.30pm, mum likes to eat about 5.30 with Neighbours.

Consulted several cook books too, still nothing quite fits. Rifle through brains, remember having a lush chilli stuffed squash many moons back, albeit not about to make chilli but then thought hmm bacon and cheese…hmm indeed.. and so this dish was born. I am also super pleased to say mum ate everything without complaint, and I rather liked this one too!

Whilst the squash is the star of the plate, a real credit must go to the potatoes. For such a simple dish, it was quite beautiful and was born out of trying to find something to do with the wild mushrooms. I urge you to try it. Since have repeated with smaller baby potatoes and equally good. Just cover your eyes when you add the butter. It is borrowed from Simon Hopkinson's Week In, Week out book. Trust me you can't taste the lemon, it just adds a wonderful note to the potatoes.

 
Serves Two: 

Ingredients:
One medium sized butternut squash – nicely shaped enough to lay flat when baked
Handful grated red Leicester or similar cheese
3 rashers good bacon, roughly chopped
2 tbsp grated grana padano
3 tbsp double cream
2 sprigs fresh thyme leaves
S&P
1 tbsp sunflower oil (mum had no olive oil..)

Step One:
Stab your squash all over with a sharp knife. Microwave for a good 8 minutes or until a knife goes through very easily. Allow to cool slightly before handling carefully.

Step Two:
Heat the oil  and fry your onions and bacon until golden, softened and cooked through but not too brown. Transfer to a mixing bowl.

Step three:
Once the squash is cool enough to handle, pre-heat oven to gas 5. Halve it lengthways and using a knife and spoon, carefully remove and discard the seeds, then scrape out all the lovely flesh into the bowl with the bacon in. Add ¾ of the cheeses, thyme leaves and cream, mash up well using a fork, season well to taste. Loosely pack back into the shells, top with remaining cheese, and bake for a good 25 minutes or until lightly browned.

Wild Mushroom Potatoes 

Mum told me on the phone they were salad type potatoes. On arrival, well more new potato but still workable...

Ingredients:
4 large new potatoes
200g wild mushrooms
2 tbsp sunflower oil
2 tbsp butter
S&P
lemon juice - about 1/2 tbsp
1 tbsp freshly chopped parsley

Step one:
Place the potatoes in a suitable dish, stab them a few times, cover and microwave for about 10 minutes or until cooked through. Cool slightly, and try to slice into 1/3 cm slices. Alternatively steam them. 

Step two:
Using the bacon frying pan, heat a little more oil, fry the potatoes until lightly golden, stir in the mushrooms, wilt in for 2-3 minutes, turning gently

Step three:
Add a good knob of butter to the pan, squirt over a little lemon juice and season, Season to taste, sprinkle over the parsley and serve immediately.

Moral of the story: Great quality ingredients and an inquisitive mind will always make 

something delicious!

Many thanks to Jen at Golin Harris and Knorr for the ingredients

Prawn and Spinach Baked Gnocchi

Time and motivation have not always been on my side this past few months, and I've swayed from writing out a detailed meal planner for a month, then completely changing my mind and making it up as I go along on the day! On this particular day I really couldn't decide what to make, despite having invited my dad over for dinner. I think I may have originally put something glamorous like tinned soup or cheese and crackers on the planner, and really couldn't offer that up to my guest!

I knew I had spinach in the freezer (so handy) and a bag of some rather lovely jumbo king prawns also in there bought recently on offer, and was trying to decide how to combine them best. One of my favourite dishes is my haddock bake with prawns and spinach, but just wasn't in the mood for it. My mum needed to do some shopping anyway, so after a wander around Sainsbury's I spotted the bags of ready made gnocchi and my mind started doing its usual scheming! Gnocchi are funny little beasts I think, not pasta and not potato either. I do find them rather filling but I was hungry as a horse that day, and decided to experiment! My dad is a good eater and we did eat this between us but you probably could stretch to 3 servings from it. It made a nice change from the more usual pasta bakes I make and everything worked well together.

The only thing I would say is make sure everything is ready to go, and still hot under grill as you are merely finishing the dish off by browning, and not actually baking it. It would probably happily go in the oven for around 20-25 minutes to get the same effect.

Ingredients:

2 heaped tbsp. Yoghurt style cream cheese (I like Lidl’s one!) 

225g cooked, peeled king prawns, thawed 

4 blocks of frozen leaf spinach, thawed 

Handful grated cheddar Cheese 

500g ready made gnocchi 

S&p 

Pre-heat grill to medium hot 

Boil gnocchi for 2 minutes, add the spinach to warm through (or boil separately) and drain, reserving about half a cup of the liquid 

Place the drained gnocchi and spinach in a suitable baking dish (I love my little pyrex one), poke in the prawns. Gently warm through the reserved liquid, season and stir in the cream cheese, pour over the gnocchi, sprinkle with cheese and grill for around ten minutes or until piping hot and all lovely and golden brown 

Gammon and Potato bake aka Leftovers go to Heaven

I adore potatoes, they are my favourite carb and are just so versatile, from new potatoes simply boiled, and finished with a little butter and a few mint leaves; to being jazzed up into Gnocchi. Infact I don’t think I have ever come across a potato dish I have not enjoyed!

A few weeks back I had a quantity of cold, cooked gammon leftover from Sunday lunch; we’d already had gammon sandwiches and being a chilly evening I didn’t really fancy having a cold dinner again so I put out my dilemma to Twitter and the lovely Hampshire cook answered my prayers with her fabulous potato bake!

After a quick scan of the recipe I didn’t have any leeks, or indeed the correct potatoes and improvised with the last of some rather large new potatoes, sliced thinly, along with some sautéed onions, that were abandoned from a plan to make a frittata with the previous night.

Oh my it was lush! Beautiful layers of creamy potatoes, smokey salty ham and the onion disbursed through. Next time I cook gammon I will be ensuring we have leftovers, specifically to make this dish!

Potato, Parsnip and Smoked Bacon Rosti

I had a battle of wills with this blog post - I have four recipes to bring you and really couldn't decide which to post first!

These Rosti were more fridge surprise, than a planned meal, as I had one lonely baking potato, a bag of parsnips I had bought reduced and some bacon leftover from breakfast, in my head it made sense and I'm glad I made them! The flavours all worked well together and also I got to play with my new coarse grater from Jamie Oliver's range, it did a fantastic job and made light work of the grating, normally a job I try to avoid! I currently have several well used and loved microplane graters, including a coarse one but I prefer the size of the grated item using this, as it made nice big curls and was perfect for Rosti's.

I made four Rosti out of the mixture, though think was a bit over generous with filling the shaping rings, as were very fiddly to turn over! I think the mix would make 8 thinner ones happily and be a bit more crispier.

Ingredients:

3 rashers smoked bacon
1 baking potato, about 200g, coarsely grated
1 large parsnip, coarsely grated
½ white onion, coarsely grated

Few pinches fresh Thyme leaves

Tbsp grana padano, grated

1/4 tsp sea salt
Freshly ground black pepper, about 8 twists/ 1/4 tsp

Firstly, using a large frying pan to cook the bacon rashers until crispy, remove the pan from the heat and drain the bacon on kitchen paper, once cool enough to handle roughly chop and reserve to one side

Next up, grate the potato, unpeeled into a clean tea towel, wring out well and place in a mixing bowl:

Then grate the parsnip and add to the potato mix:

Add the bacon, thyme, grated onion and cheese to the bowl, season and mix well:

Pre-heat the oven to 170 fan/ 190 and line a baking tray

Return the frying pan to the hob and heat to medium temperature, add a drop of olive oil and either using metal cooking rings or by free-form, spoon a couple of tbsp of the rosti mix into rounds, cook for about 4 minutes, gently turn over using a fish-slice or similar tool, and fry for a couple more minutes until golden, transfer to the baking tray and bake for a further 10 minutes or until crispy and golden brown. They will stick a little so do be careful turning! Crispy bits are good though so do not fear!

The pictures are not flattering, the dark nights and kitchen lighting do not make much shine, however they do taste great so thats all that matters surely?!

I served the rosti alongside sausages, though even on their own would be good! Following working two  night shifts, my brain had gone a bit crazy and I did make alongside them a spiced apple compote, unfortunately I couldn't get the flavours quite right so it was abandoned, though will attempt again at some point as thinking it may make a nice sauce for them..

Nigella's Spanish Chicken with Chorizo and Potatoes

After seeing this recipe cooked on the recent TV series by Nigella Lawson, I just knew I had to make it soon! I prefer chicken on the bone in general, love both chorizo and potatoes, what more could I ask for?

The best part about this dish is how easy it is to make, as in theory its just chicken pieces, the potatoes, sliced chorizo, bit of onion and a twist of orange and whacked in the oven, however that would be far to easy for me and I decided instead to buy and joint two whole chickens instead, as they were on offer...needless to say I'm never going to win any prizes for butchery but it worked out at very good value, as I now have a sort-of-crown of chicken in the freezer for next time and we had enough meat leftover for our lunchboxes, and this was after feeding five of us with this dish! I also managed to pretend I was a sort of Nigella by using my old favourite Joseph & Joseph chopping board! Though she does luckily seem to have them in every colour going, mine is plain old white!

Unfortunately I still have not managed to work out a way to get the pictures from my Iphone to here, without distorting so they do not show the dish in its best light, however it really was delicious so I urge you to try it! If anyone has any suggestions please let me know! Edited: Have cracked it now thanks :)

This bad picture is the two assembled trays, ready to go into the oven. The recipe calls for red onions but I managed to forget and buy white ones, this was also down though to me deciding to cook this for dinner, halfway around Tesco's and trying to remember the ingredients!

  

What really lifts the whole dish is the orange zest, it gives the dish a subtle hint and helps to cut through the lovely reddish orange paprika-hued oil and juices, without tasting too orangey!

The smell when this is cooking in the oven really gets your tastebuds going and had us all eagerly waiting it to be cooked through, so much so this is the final picture, inside my oven! Just couldn't wait to take pictures sorry!

This is the recipe, which I roughly followed, mainly from memory. It says about basting halfway through, though I did it every 5-10 minutes as it looked a little dry on top.

2 x 15ml olive oil
12 chicken thighs, bone in and skin on - mine was a mix of thighs, legs and wings
750g chorizo sausages, baby ones or cut up - not sure if this a typo, I used a 250g packet and seemed about right..
1kg new potatoes, halved
2 red onions, peeled and roughly chopped
2 tsp dried oregano
grated zest of 1 orange - I used two though as mine were quite petite

Pre-heat oven, 220o/ fan 190o

Oil the chicken, place in two baking trays, divide the remaining ingredients between and bake for an hour or so, turn the trays around in the oven, swapping shelves if needed and baste. Though I did it every 5-10 minutes as it looked a little dry on top. And thats it! How easy and simple, for a really delicious dinner too!

I also seasoned the dish with sea salt and freshly cracked black pepper, though realised after it was not stated in the original recipe, not sure if I imagined her doing it perhaps?

A salad would be nice with this, however it was a cold night and I did buttered savoy cabbage instead, plus a tray of roasted red and yellow peppers,with garlic and a pinch of smoked paprika over, which was a great side dish.

And of course I just had to snap this little fella!

Chorizo side dishes (aka fridge surprise!)

Last week meals were mainly fridge surprise, overspent the previous week so was determined to use up what was in the cupboards, along with a *lot* of food leftover from our Fathers Day meal. I had some chorizo, plus some beautiful long red peppers to use and made the following two simple dishes:

Grilled Red peppers with Chorizo and Smoked Cheddar (from Aldi reduced to clear 50p!):

In a pan I fried off about 2 inches thinly sliced chorizo salami, with a small diced onion, piled into halved and deseeded peppers, grated over a good layer of smoked cheddar, seasoned then grilled for about 12 minutes, until the cheese had melted nicely and browned, was delicious and most surprisingly was even loved by the mr anneskitchen! Apparently reminded him of old fashioned pepperoni pizzas..!

Next up was stir fried Broccoli, with chorizo and new potatoes:

With the remaining chorizo and odd ends, I quickly blanched a few broccoli florets, then fried the remaining sliced chorizo, a small diced onion and 2 sliced cooked new potatoes, until golden, added the broccoli and heated through, made a delicious and colourful side dish!

Chilli wedges

Chilli wedges
Originally uploaded by anneskitchen

This was Monday nights dinner and mmm it was so simple but so gorgeous. On Sunday night I took out some beef mince to thaw, with no particular plan for cooking it but then I dreamt of this and just had to make!

Simply cook a couple of baking potatoes in the microwave until nearly cooked through (you can fully oven them of course but I like half and half option), cut into wedges and place on a baking tray, spray with a little oil and bake in a hot oven for a further 20 minutes or until fully cooked through and nicely browned. Seperately cook up a small batch of chilli con carne; I always use Jo Pratt's recipe  (I made a quarter of this quantity for 2 people) then spoon over the wedges, grate over some mature cheese, I also had leftover some spicy cheese mix lurking in the freezer, so added a few tbsp worth, return to the oven and bake until the cheese has melted.

Grab a fork and dive in :)

Bacon and pea Fridge-tata

In hindsight I should have measured the ingredients for this, rather than throw together bits from the fridge and hope that it worked...for some odd reason I didn't think this dish would be that great and the fact I was primarily making this to feed the boyfriend....I was very wrong and found myself trying to sneak forkfuls of the beloved's plate, much to his horror!! (think that Friends episode where Joey's date tries to eat his chips...)

I also decided to name it fridge-tata instead of frittata as its not very authentic but certainly very tasty :)



Make sure you have a pan that is suitable for going under the grill - I couldn't find the instructions for mine but somewhere in the back of my mind I thought it was okay, and luckily my lovely Meyer pan survived!

Makes 4-6 wedges

Loose instructions due to lack of measuring were:

6 medium eggs
2 handfuls grated mature cheddar
1 tbsp approx grated parmesan
1 heaped tbsp low-fat soft cheese (or whatever is in fridge!)
aprox 1/2 cup of milk
handful frozen peas
8 cooked or raw new potatoes
1/2 chopped white onion
small pack bacon/ pancetta bits
1/2 tsp dried italian herbs
S&P

I started off with raw potatoes, which I then quartered, microwaved with a splash of water for 8 minutes, added the peas and cooked for 2 more minutes

Mix together the eggs, 2/3 the cheddar, other cheeses, milk, and seasoning

Pre-heat the grill to medium-high. Heat a large pan (as above check its grill friendly!), gently fry the onion and bacon bits together - you want them opaque but not too browned, stir in the cooked potatoes and peas and fry for a couple of minutes, pour over the eggy mixture and mix well, stir occasionally until the bottom is setting, now place under the grill and cook until golden brown all over and cooked through, allow to stand for a couple of minutes before serving.

I'm guessing it would be nice cold too for a picnic etc but it didn't survive that long...

Loaded potato skins

These came about as me and a girlfriend wandered around Tesco last night, trying to decide what to have for dinner, bellies rumbling and we very nearly gave in to a pack of their loaded potato skins, which according to the pack took 16 minutes to cook....comparing how they looked to ours I am glad we made ours instead, their fillings looked a bit on the mean side!


Awful picture but greed was of the essence!



I am not one for convenience food and reckoned they would not take us much time to make from scratch, afterall I had some potatoes in the fridge left from weekend and with the aid of the trusty microwave we could make something far tastier in about the same time. My friend looked dubious at the time but they were well worth the effort and very delicious!


As we were rushing, ingredients are not exact as nothing got measured..but approximately:


Take 3 white potatoes, of similar size (ours were Maris Piper, via Waitrose locally grown scheme), place on a plate, prick and microwave for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, take a small frying pan, add a splash of olive oil, fry a small pack of button mushrooms, add a finely chopped clove of garlic until golden.
Now grate 100g mature cheddar, we had picked up a trial pack of mature cheddar, think was called Parkham Farm.
Then take a small pack of extra creamy danish blue cheese, cut in half and cut that half into little cubes, reserve the other half for snacking! Place grill on medium hot to pre-heat.


The potatoes should beep about now, remove and wearing suitable handwear (I have coolskin gloves from Lakeland) cut the potato in half lenghtways, carefully scoop out the insides into a bowl. Place the skins on a grill pan/ baking tray (foil or similar advisable) and put under grill. Return to the potato mush, add a good knob of butter and a good splash of milk, beat together, season with black pepper, add 3/4 of both cheeses and mix well. Take the tray carefully back out of oven, your skins should look a little crispier now, use a fork and spoon to stuff the mash back into the potatoes (don't worry if they tear a little), press on the remaining cheese and pop back under the grill for about 4-5 minutes or until golden and bubbling.


Seriously heavenly potatoes: done :)


You could eat these on their own but I had previously picked up some good sausagemeat from the butchers, which we rolled into little burgers and had on the side! It was supposed to be for sausage rolls but time was of the essence, we wanted to eat and sit down to watch The Notebook, complete with tissue box!

Sweet Potato bites

I am posting this as Merlotti asked so very nicely on the back of my post on Beetroot Salad, however these may well taste fantastic and make wonderful little tasty nibbles - but are very messy, I am not accountable for hands sticking together and your clothes resembling half the mixture :-) Apron advisable!

At a later date, this recipe hopefully will have more finesse but if you fancy getting messy this weekend, this is one for you!

Ingredients

450g apx sweet potato (This mix made far more than needed, I made 12 bites from approx 1/3 mix, however the leftovers makes fantastic mash!)
2 spring onions, finely chopped
¼ tsp chilli powder
1 tbsp Fresh coriander chopped
¼ tsp smoked paprika
1 lemon
S&p

Fine dry breadcrumbs – I used Paxo natural
1 egg – note: only does about 12 bites
Flour for dusting
2 tbsp plain flour
2 tbsp cornflour

Vegetable oil for cooking

Peel the sweet potato, cube and place into cold water with a squeeze of fresh lemon, bring to boil, cook for 10-12 minutes until just softening, drain immediately and re-fresh in cold water, drain well and mash in the pan, add to a bowl with seasoning and spring onion, a squeeze of lemon and allow to cool, refrigerate until needed

Place egg in 1 bowl, mix flours in another and breadcrumbs in final bowl, dust hands with flour, roll the sweet potato into small balls and flatten slightly, dust in flour, dip in egg and breadcrumb and place on a tray / board, when all ready to go heat 1 cm vegetable oil in a suitable pan, test heat by dropping a cube of bread, when it takes 30 seconds to brown, add the bites in batches and cook for 1-2 minutes or until crispy, be careful as the oil gets very hot. Drain on kitchen paper and serve immediately

You say potato....I say its a Monster!!

We don't often have jacket potatoes, I love them but I always seem to forget to actually buy them!

However this week I was picking up some onions, which are in the same aisle as the potatoes and I saw loose bakers so I decided we would have them for dinner one night this week - and so I bagged up my onions, pushed the trolley along and was amazed by the sight - they were huge!

One in particular was a giant so I decided that would be for the other half! I chose a much more modest one! Mine if you hadnt guessed is the smaller one!

One of my friends commented they had picked up some 'larger' then normal potatoes but were nowhere as big as this beast when they saw this one!

I don't think you can beat a jacket potato with cheese,so we went for the whole deal and had crispy bacon, baked beans and a mountain of grated mature cheddar! This is the beast (and these bowls are pretty large!)

And yes he did finish it all!