Cauliflower Cheese and Gammon Soup

Now if I recall correctly, I once saw a recipe at some point for Cauliflower cheese soup and it slipped to the dark recesses of my mind as one of those hmm one day recipes... but when faced recently with the usual dilemma of er what to make for dinner but even more so as I was far away from home and in my aunties kitchen, and a fridge full of leftovers the filed away thought magically resurfaced with a ooh could I try it out? Would it work? Would it be weird.... 

On the Sunday prior I had made a fairly majestic mustard spiked cauliflower cheese but despite our best efforts, there was a tub leftover... that was until Wednesday, arriving home post a long drive and day to the lovely River Cottage clutching my lovingly hand made Apple, blackberry and Goats cheese soda bread and wondering what I could serve with it, the Cauliflower cheese soup idea came back to fruition and a star was born! I think in future I will have to make extra Cauliflower cheese purely to make soup with its leftovers! It tasted so good and was a perfect accompaniment to my bread! Oh and my home made butter!

Lovely leftovers!

Now I think it was gammon, it was either that or a bacon joint, either way it was another leftover that got added!

Making the finishing touches:

Serves 2

Easy

Ingredients:

400g leftover cauliflower cheese

1 clove minced garlic

400ml vegetable stock

1/2 tsp spicy Polish spicy mustard (if not a little more wholegrain-this is presuming your cauli cheese was already containing mustard too)

50g shredded cooked gammon or bacon

S&P

1 tsp oil

mint leaves to garnish

Heat the oil in a saucepan, saute the garlic until softened, add the cauliflower cheese and stock, cover and bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 minutes.

Add the mustard, then blitz with a stick blender adding the gammon at the very end for a few seconds, season to taste

Serve, garnish with mint leaves if you have some or a similar herb.

As my recipe used up lots of lovely leftovers I am entering it into one of my favourite blog challenges - Fab Food 4 All's Credit Crunch Munch which was born from Fuss Free Flavours!

Meal Planning Monday W/c: 12/01/15

Last week flew by - the week started fairly well and I finished playing post Christmas catch up with the filing pile but then I picked up the delightful cold that was doing the rounds at work, which left me sneezing approximately every 30 seconds and feeling pretty eurgh and worn out by the weekend, with little desire to cook! Fortunately its nearly reaching its end and I am trying to be positive that its a brand new week and I no longer need to be within half a metre of a tissue box!

 

As a result last weeks meal plan went a little off key towards the end of the week - Mondays Smoked salmon pasta was really lovely even if the salmon alone was a small fortune for January it was worth it! Tuesdays casserole with the Bratwurst, root vegetables and kale was so tasty - I posted the recipe over the weekend and its been surprisingly popular! I used to really not 'get' kale but after a challenge last year I now love the stuff -its full of goodness and cooked right its quite the super-veg! I had ended up inviting my dad over for dinner at the last minute, so sadly no leftovers either for Wednesday night! Nothing was thawed and we had to pop out and get milk and we ended up buying a fiery but tasty fancy roquito pepper and pepperoni pizza, reduced to £1.49 from £5.00 - I do love a bargain! Thursdays meal got shifted to Friday with a different sauce using up scraps of cream and ham, and instead we had ribs reduced from the hot counter and some leftover new potatoes, fried up with some courgettes. I was so full of cold I didn't want to go near the kitchen and it was purely fuel to keep me going!

 

Naughty but nice Pizza

This week, after last weeks splurges owing to my ill head I making a more focused attack on the freezer - I was discussing the impending week ahead and needing to meal plan, in order to pretend to be organised with my boyfriend and he came up with some good suggestions but not using up any of fresh stuff! I have taken his ideas though on board and moved them around a little! Not entirely sure what I might bake this week - though thinking of using an old recipe of mine for Carrot and Parsnip tea loaf if I get the time! Last week I made a very naughty Sticky toffee and orange pudding - will blog the recipe soon!

 

We had a lush fresh Tuna dish a few weeks back at friends and I am hoping to make it on Friday night - I picked up the tuna steaks for 45p yellow stickered last week and I squirreled away to the freezer waiting them fate! I think its one of my best 'posh' reductions to date! Tuesdays curry is a bit of a cheat - I admit I am using a ready made sauce but its a really tasty one and means I have time to make a pudding instead! The quiche for Wednesday was also a reduction - a whole 22p!

 

  Southern fried chicken burger, wedges and salad
Butter Chicken thigh curry, pilau rice, naan bread, garlic fried kale and courgettes
Bacon and Leek quiche, salad
Mackerel and kale couscous or Mackerel meatballs with kale risotto
Sesame crusted Tuna steaks, fried udon noodles or coconut rice, petit pois 
 

I normally do our meal plan on the pc in excel but my boyfriend has asked if we can put it up on some kind of whiteboard- and I am curious as to how others display their plans?  

 

 

http://www.athomewithmrsm.com/2015/01/meal-planning-monday-12th-january-2015.html

 

Bacon and Cheese Tart

My boyfriend was away on holiday recently visiting his family in South Africa and I found myself alone with a packet of shortcrust pastry on its use by date... Obviously dangerous times cooking for one to be alone with so much pastry, however thanks to calling over to one of besties at work as to whether she would like some planned bacon and cheese tart for her lunch, to which was a yes (and an eventual can I have the recipe please as her hubby liked it too) another friend-colleague also overhead and agreed it sounded rather nice and so two pieces were instantly ‘sold’ and I only had to eat two portions myself…such hardship…!

Its quite a frugal tart meat wise, I used half a packet of ready chopped bacon trimmings so its relatively faff free too! Whilst I cook from scratch this damn cold weather plays havoc with my joints so a little less chopping is welcome! Also the cheese was the end part of a piece bought yellow stickered and the sour cream was leftover too from our beloved soured cream bundt cake, so it was great not to have the guilt of two cakes in one week, plus a good fridge raid too!

The pictures are not great as I didn't expect to like it so much but you get the idea of it!

*You will need a ready rolled shortcrust pastry sheet if you are lazy like me, or measure home made accordingly*

Ingredients:

1x ready rolled shortcrust pastry sheet

300g cooked chopped up bacon trim, fat removed

4 large eggs

1 tsp dried oregano

75g soured cream

30g double Gloucester cheese.

2 tbsp tomato puree

Bring the pastry to room temperature if you are organised (If not spend a few minutes massaging the cracks with cold water!), gently roll out the sheet, and measure to 26cm, trimming off the excess centimetres. (Makes excellent mini jam tarts for pudding)

Gently lower the pastry sheet into a square baking dish – roughly 8 inch pan, using your fingers to mould the pastry corners.

Brush the tomato puree over the pastry base and sprinkle over the bacon pieces

Beat the eggs, ½ the cheese, oregano and soured cream, season with Salt and pepper. Pour over the prepared base, sprinkle over the remaining cheese and bake for 35-45 minutes or until cooked through and golden. 

The tart was really tasty served hot, with sweet potato mash and some fried romano peppers (5 for a £1 in one of the grocers near my dad!) but also worked well cold too the next day for lunch and would be ideal for a buffet style dinner too!

As my tart is very frugal, using ready chopped bacon trim (88p a packet!) plus cheese scraps - you could use any old cheese really - it would be ideal for a quick Christmas time supper or part of your boxing day buffet, without breaking the piggy bank - I have sent my tart over to this months Credit Crunch munch, from Fuss Free Flavours and Fab Food 4 All:

Fruit Bowl Gratin

Now its starting to get a bit chillier and the nights are drawing in pudding starts becoming a warm or hot pudding and in typical style all the fruit in the bowl was super ripe and ready at the same time - and there is really only so much fruit we can eat in one sitting! I have in the past made jams or the odd upside down cake but apples are not something I bake often with, especially the weeny size gala's we had lately! Also really not enough fruit to justify a jamming sessions!

Whilst trying to decide what to make with it all I spotted this Apple and Pear Gratin recipe on the Baking Mad website, who had also got in touch with me recently about recreating one of their recipes and this fruity gratin dish popped up. It sounded intriguing, we had everything in or near enough and decided to make it together for pudding! 

It was really good to add something easy to the pudding repertoire and it will be a keeper recipe for next time everything ripens at once! I think it could easily be scaled up or down to feed how many need pudding! It might just well feature next time my dad's over for dinner as those nights have to involve pudding and it can be a bit of a challenge getting everything ready after work but this gratin was so easy to make and can fairly easily fit around whatever you are making, adapted to what needs using up in the fruit bowl!

When it comes to buying eggs I will only ever buy free range at a minimum - I usually pick up the mixed weight trays in Sainsbury's which are a bit cheaper compared to pre-sized trays and guess by eye their size! When baking sponge cakes I always start by weighing the eggs anyway, so it doesn't make any difference to the recipe anyway! Buying cage free is important to me, I can't bear the thought of chickens kept in cages, with nowhere to move and certainly no life for the poor birds kept in those conditions. I am sure you have seen the videos and as I mentioned before, buying eggs in larger and mixed quantities helps keep the price down - I paid £2.40 for 15 free ranger's in Sainsbury's which is more than affordable. We go through a lot of eggs here and can go through a tray a week easily!

As my fruit was odd shapes and sizes, I made up the difference by adding plums to the apple and pear mixture, which went deliciously well together! I do love discovering a recipe that I can play around with and it also stops any waste! All of the above fruit was so ripe it was about to leave home by itself so its great to have a good use to it!

Recipe adapted from Baking Mad

Serves 4

You will need a large baking dish or 4 individual ones

Ingredients:

250ml milk
1 dsp butter
1 cinnamon stick
4 free range eggs
3-4 apples
2-3 pears, conference
2 plums
16 tsp golden caster sugar

Topping:
4 tsp Light muscovado sugar

Method:

Melt the butter in a large saute pan, pre-heat the oven apx 200o/ Gas mark 6

Peel the fruit, remove cores and cut into large chunks, add to the pan along with the cinnamon stick and 8 tsp of the caster sugar, gently cook for about ten minutes or until the fruit is starting to soften

Beat the eggs, add the milk and remaining sugar.

Remove the cinnamon stick and place the fruit along with any juices into a suitable baking dish (note it will need grilling, best to read this bit first!) and make into a even layer

Pour over the eggy mixture, bake for 18-20 minutes or until lightly golden and set.

Remove the dish from the oven and sprinkle over the muscovado sugar. Place under the grill on high heat, and caramelise the sugar - about 2-3 minutes.

Allow to cool slightly and serve. A nice scoop of ice cream would be welcome but we sadly have none in but a splash of Devon dream was lovely, though in all honestly its rather delicious by itself!

Despite some reservations over what the finished result would be like, afterall we don't often combine egg and fruit together in the same dish, we actually loved this pudding so much! Its sweet, fruity and really very tasty! The egg sets to form a souffle type texture and the caramelised sugar on top makes it that bit more special! I had to wait for my portion as I had dashed out to my pilates class but I came to back to 3/4 empty dish so my boyfriend clearly approves of this recipe! 

As I saved the fruit from being wasted, I am sending this over to Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary's 'No Waste Food challenge' which is being hosted by Vohn's Vittles for October. 

Disclaimer - I received a  package of sugar and flour from Baking Mad and personally chose this recipe to make and received no payment, images remain the property of Annes Kitchen. 

With thanks to Sainsbury's who provided vouchers to cover my ingredients and time making a Free range Egg recipe.

Ox Heart Ragu with tagliatelle

Okay lets dive in here, offal is a dirty word. Most people’s reaction to that I was cooking heart for our consumption that evening, looked at me like I was a little bit crazy (okay well I am a little..) and if I was actually serious... Or at least judging by my instagram feed it was! I hadn’t told B what I was making for dinner and when he came home from work, and lifted the pan lid he said it smelt very tasty… I almost served it under the guise of some sort of fancy game ragu but I chickened out upon serving and sweetly asked if he had eaten offal before…. Sadly B’s opinion wasn’t very high of offal and once I admitted the ragu was actually made of ox heart it was plainly obvious I was swiftly realising I was not onto a winning dish!

The idea to actually cook heart came about when me and my friend C went to a particular supermarket a bit further away and we both spotted it, then the price - £1.04 for 354g – a bit of a bargain and curiosity got the better of the cat, so to speak and it promptly took a ride in the trolley! I do try and keep our food budget down, what with everything else going up apart from our salaries and thought it was certainly worth a try at the price..

Now I must admit, whilst it was definitely edible and the sauce was actually gorgeously deep and delicious, the heart texture is an acquired taste. Very slightly chewy but I didn’t think it was anything worse than a slightly well done steak (which should be a criminal offence anyway!) and I managed to eat all of mine. B however picked all the bits of heart meat out and pushed them onto my plate. However there was a portion leftover going spare and I tubbed it for my dad, who apart from commenting it was a tiny bit salty for him was otherwise very tasty. You win some..you lose some..

Unfortunately I seem to have mislaid the most likely used envelope I had scribbled the recipe on – but it was approximately this - 

Ingredients:

354g Diced ox heart

400g tin Chopped Tomatoes

2 tbsp red wine vinegar

2 medium carrots, diced

2 sticks celery, finely chopped

1 large red Onion, finely chopped

2 tbsp plain flour 

S&P

1 tbsp cooking oil

1 rich beef stock pot, made up with a pint of hot water

Season the flour with salt and pepper, toss the ox heart pieces until lightly coated. Meanwhile heat a large deep sauté pan with the oil.

When hot, fry the ox heart until lightly browned, remove from the pan and add the onion, carrot and celery adding a little more oil if needed. Fry until lightly coloured, stir in the vinegar and allow it to evaporate a little, stir back through the ox heart pieces, the prepared stock and tomatoes, bring to the boil and then cover, allow to simmer away on a low heat for 2 hours with the occasional stir.

The sauce should thicken during cooking - season with salt and pepper if desired. 

Serve with freshly cooked Tagliatelle - allow about 75g per adult. Grate a little parmesan over to garnish if you have some in too!

As our somewhat unusual but delicious dinner is also very frugal I am sending it over to this months Credit Crunch Munch held by A New Addition this month. It was orginally created by Helen at Fuss Free Flavours and Camilla of Fab Food 4 All to encourage dishes made with frugal ingredients:

Spicy Chorizo and Egg Fried Wholegrain Rice

Fried rice in some sort of variation is a staple meal in our household. Fitting easily into a busy lifestyle, its also a great way to use up odds and ends from the fridge too! I really hate wasting anything so it’s a perfect mid-week meal and whilst having spare cooked rice is very handy, it also if not properly chilled and stored can harbour bad things that we really don’t need to eat and whilst it’s a bit of a cheat the Veetee rice trays are a great store cupboard standby! Its quick and easy to make a meal using them and most importantly delicious!

Veetee sent me a box full of goodies (along with some stunning rice bowls that have left me coveting the rest of the range, shown in the last image below!) with the challenge to create a meal using either their Wholegrain or Egg Fried rice trays. Brown rice can be somewhat, earthy and rather too wholesome I find but theirs was surprisingly light and very tasty, stir frying in two minutes meant dinner was on the table in under ten minutes! Very welcome after a late afternoon spent baking all sorts ahead of the weekend to be able to produce something tasty and fuss free!

Now its not often I confess that I have bought ready cooked rice, I find rice so simple to cook anyway its really no bother, plus previous ready versions I have found can be a bit unpleasant texture wise and even worse when they have gone cold. However I was very pleased to discover that the Veetee rice tasted just as good as home cooked rice, exactly as it should be. Its also produced safely and so you can trust that the rice is safe to be re-heated. Cooking for yourself is one thing but when serving to friends and family of all ages you have to be certain of these things! I had heard through friends about Veetee's rice products before how good they were, so it was great to get play with them myself!


Spicy Chorizo and Egg Fried Wholegrain Rice

Serves 2

Quick and Easy

Ingredients:

1 x Veetee Wholegrain rice tray

60g Chorizo, halved lengthways and sliced ¼ cm pieces

2 Spring onions, finely sliced – separate the greener bits into one pile and whitey bits in another pile

½ orange pepper, chopped finely

1 egg

½ green chilli, finely chopped

1 tsp coconut oil

S&P

Beat the egg lightly with a pinch of salt and pepper, stir through half the green sliced onion.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan until melted, add the beaten egg quickly swirling around the pan to form a flat thin omelette. Remove onto a chopping board and roll up tightly.

Meanwhile heat the pan with a little more oil if required and stir fry the chorizo slices, spring onion white parts and pepper for 4-5 minutes or until the chorizo has released its lovely oil and the vegetables are lightly browned and stir through the rice and chilli. Heat through, season to taste and toss together for 2-3 minutes and serve in your pretty bowls or one big pasta plate for your man!

Slice the reserved omelette finely and sprinkle over with any remaining spring onion to garnish.

Mr B's serving bowl!

My pretty serving bowl!

As mentioned at the beginning of my post, fried rice is great for using up leftovers and odd's n ends and this took care of two neglected spring onions, half a pack of abandoned chorizo and the last lonely egg from the fridge and so I am sending it over to Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary No Waste Food challenge, held by Laura over at 'I'd much rather bake Than' this month. (You can see my July round-up here).

As my rice dinner was also super quick to prepare and cook, plus it stretches out a small amount of Chorizo, I am also sending it over to this months Credit Crunch Munch, created by Camilla and Helen, and held by Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary for August.

Many thanks to Gemma and Harriet at Phipps, and to Veetee for my samples.

Disclaimer: The recipe and images remain the property of Anne’s Kitchen and must not be reproduced without written consent. I received no payment and all opinions are my own.

No Waste Food Challenge - The July Round Up!!

The lovely Elizabeth from Elizabeth’s Kitchen Diary handed over her No Waste Food Challenge reins last month and I have been spoiled by a heavenly looking host of delicious recipes to tempt you all with and most importantly give inspiration so that no food goes to waste! Something I care passionately about and avoid at all costs!

July's challenge opened with my Rocky Road using up lots of neglected ingredients and now I get to share with you all the treats that have been dropping into my inbox!

I have had a whopping 22 fabulous entries into the challenge and discovered along the way a wealth of new food blogs to drool over and some dishes that I had never heard of either! 

So here we go with the round -up!

  

Kate at Gluten free Alchemist - Date, Apricot & Coconut Flapjack

These wholesome gluten free flapjacks look so gorgeously golden, enriched with an assortment of dried fruits and nuts – they are great for using up any stray ingredients and turning into and making a delicious treat!

Allotment 2 Kitchen - Spiced Coriander and Carrot Hummus

I love hummus at the best of times but Shaheen’s Spiced Coriander and Carrot Hummus really tickles my taste-buds! Its tempting orange hue and whole chickpeas decorate the hummus beautifully!

Michelle at Utterly Scrummy Food for Families - Banana Chocolate Chip Swirls

Michelle’s blog features lots of family friendly recipes and she has entered these heavenly looking banana and dark chocolate swirls, we often have leftover bananas and I have a small repitoire of banana recipes so its great to add something a little different to the regular banana bread!

Lancashire Food – SurpriseTurnip Soup

I always think of turnips being a rather unfashionable vegetable but Linzi has given the one she found randomly growing in her garden a lease of life in this creamy looking soup

Fab Food 4 All – Camilla - Wholemeal Cheddar and AppleChutney Soda Bread with Cider

Camilla has given us her lovely looking rustic Wholemeal Cheddar and Apple Chutney Soda Bread with Cider, which came about from not having any bread in for lunch! Perfect when time is short and it saves you having to venture out!

Chris – Cooking Around The World – Vatapa from Brazil

Vatapa is a completely new dish on me – it heralds from Brazil, very of the moment following the World Cup! This eye catching bowl of spicy, creamy fish with my favourite cashew nuts in looks delicious and salvaged some abandoned red peppers! Chris reminisces about being 20 – golly what a lot of time has passed since I was 20, not sure I would want to be 20 again but would too like the energy of myself back then!

Johanna in Melbourne hosts Green Gourmet Giraffe – Mashed Potato Chocolate Cake

Johanna gave us her intriguing sounding chocolate ring shaped cake using leftover mashed potato, which heralds from her fond childhood memories causing her siblings to shudder in horror! I think it actually looks quite tasty, I use leftover mash in welsh cakes so chocolate cake isn’t really too horrifying!

Onions and paper – Canellini bean hummus

Jane at Onions and Paper gives us our second NWFC Hummus in the form of her creamy looking cannellini bean hummus, topped with fragrant herbs and spices. I often have half a tin of beans going spare so hummus is a great idea to save them from the waste bin!

English Girl Canadian Man - Slow cooked vegetarian lamb and Chinese braised tofu

I must admit ‘Vegetarian Lamb’ is a new one on me but Holly's Slow cooked Vegetarian Lamb and Chinese braised tofu using up leftover veggies does look rustic and tasty!

I’d much rather bake than..Banana, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Ice Cream

We have another fabulous leftover banana recipe in the form of Laura’s 3 ingredient Banana, Peanut Butter and Chocolate Ice Cream. I am not a fan of peanut butter on its own but this ice cream sounds delicious!

Onions and Paper – Bottom of fridge Minestrone

Jane has been busy using her leftovers this month and gave us another recipe – this is her bottom of the fridge minestrone using an assortment of odd’s and ends – soup is a great way to give neglected veggies a hearty send off!

Family Friends Food - Courgette and Potato Tortilla

Helen used up some delightful sounding smoky barbecue potatoes in this delicious looking Courgette and Potato Tortilla – I love using up leftovers in these fab Tortilla aka Spanish Omelettes, yum!

I’d much rather bake than..  Double chocolate cake pop truffles

Laura has also been busy in the kitchen and gives us her second NWFC entry in the form of these heavenly Double chocolate cake pop truffles, made from leftover Chocolate Chilli Loaf cake that she had stashed in the freezer. Both the original cake and resulting cake pops look so wonderful and anything bite sized is always a winner!

Johanna in Melbourne hosts Green Gourmet Giraffe - Smoky Cheese and Barley Nut Roast

Johanna celebrated Christmas in July, and made us also her second NWFC entry in the form of a delicious looking Smoky Cheese and Barley Nut Roast, using up leftover seasoned crumbs and cornflakes. I feel I really must give nut roast another try as I’ve only tried it twice and didn’t really like it but Johanna’s looks so tasty it is tempting me!

Helen @ Family Friends Food - Lemon, lavender and almond cake

Wow another repeat offender, hehe only joking – Helen is also working overtime in the kitchen to reduce their waste and baked us a gluten free cake – using some of a neglected bag of potato flour up from Passover, she made an elegant looking Lemon, lavender and almond cake.

The Lass in the Apron – Hydrox Cookie Sundaes with Raspberry-Espresso Hot Fudge

Alexandra is a girl after my own heart and thoroughly agrees that ice cream is not just for summer! She baked us Hydrox Cookies and made these glorious Sundaes with Raspberry and Espresso Hot Fudge, admittedly I had no idea what Hydrox meant but Alexandra assures us she didn’t know before either, they are the original Oreo cookie!

Eat Your Veg – Instant chocolate and Banana ice-cream

We have another banana recipe in ice cream form, yay! Its made by Lou, from Eat Your Veg and its ready in a flash using frozen bananas and a blender! I do like the sneaky malteasers on top too! Banana’s are great to keep stashed in the freezer for quick and tasty desserts! I often keep ripe ones stashed away for banana bread too!

  

The Lass In The Apron - Molasses Flapjacks

Another repeat offender! Alexandra is clearing out her cupboards in advance of moving house – and continents – and gives us her gorgeously wholesome looking sticky Molasses Flapjacks.

Tales from the Kitchen Shed - Swiss Chard, Mushroom and Potato Frittata

Sarah was spoiled with a basket full of eggs from a kind neighbour and made this delicious Frittata! Eggs are great for making a handful of ingredients into a meal!

Chocolate Log Blog Fasulye with Dukkah Roasted Tofu

Cornish girl Choclette made us a Turkish influenced tofu dish with her home made cocoa laced Dukkah, which she has kept stashed in the freezer since last year!

Madhouse Family Reviews   Corned Beef Rissoles

Mashed potato is a fab leftover ingredient and these corned beef rissoles are a great idea for something different! I can't remember the last time we had corned beef but its always a handy ingredient!

Madhouse Family Reviews - Fruity Summer Rolls

We have another second entry – Fruity summer rolls which use a combination of leftover dried and fresh fruits and rice paper to wrap them in, such a novel idea for a sweet ‘spring roll’!

Wow! I am hungry now after typing all of that up and drooling over your photos! Many thanks to all my wonderful entries!

Anne

xxx

Chinese Leftover Roast Pork Noodles

Firstly sorry I've not been around much this past week, I've been struggling the past few weeks with a dodgy hip among other things so I've not been cooking very much and making very good friends with the sofa! We also went away for Easter for a few days by the sea to relax, which was well needed! I hobbled around as best as I could for brief spells and we had a nice lunch out over looking the sea plus the odd ice-cream! The journey back was awful, the motorway was solid so we did a magical mystery tour of A roads and what seemed like farm tracks, including through the spectacular Cheddar Gorge! I am back home now but will off a few more weeks so I apologise now if I get a little ranty on my twitter feed from being stuck indoors!

Going back to the most important thing - food! We love noodles it is no lie. Whenever I ask B what he wants to eat it’s nearly always Noodles! I play around with my recipe as to what needs using, slowly perfecting it and this was pretty darn good! When I served it up it looked a bit small but I think it was my new dishes being quite big as I was full up afterwards! Plus we did have a plateful of freshly cooked prawn crackers alongside! I am so pleased we bought them on our last jaunt into China Town!

I made this back in February I think, (I've started dating things in my notebook now as memory fails me some days!) using up some leftover roast pork. There wasn't very much pork leftover after making some other dishes but when mixed up with everything else it was most adequate! I think noodle dishes are great for making something out of not very much! I also garnished it with ribbons of egg to help bulk out the protein and make it look attractive too!

Serves 2

Ingredients:

2 nests Fine egg noodles
½ courgette, sliced into half moons
½ red onion, sliced thinly
1 basics vegetable stock cube
75g leftover cooked pork, finely shredded
2 tsp garlic and ginger paste
1tsp Chinese 5 spice
2 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp sherry/ Shaoxing wine
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
1/2 tsp Black pepper
1 tbsp sunflower oil
3 spring onions, finely sliced
½ tsp sesame seeds
1 egg, beaten


Place the shredded pork, 5 spice, pepper, sherry, soy sauce and sesame oil in a bowl to marinade for a little while before ready to cook. 

Heat a large frying pan, spray a little oil and add the beaten egg, tilt the pan to make a thin layer, cook until browned underneath, flip for 20 seconds and remove to a chopping board. Roll up and slice finely into ribbons and keep warm.

Meanwhile cover the noodles in boiling water, crumble in the stock cube and cook as per packet instructions - normally 3-4 minutes. When cooked, drain and reserve 50ml of the cooking stock.

Add the oil to the pan and cook the onion until softened, add the courgette and fry until golden, add more oil if its burning. Reduce the heat and add the ginger and garlic paste. then add the white part of the spring onion, and fry for a minute or so. Then add the pork and its marinade, then stir through the noodles and the reserved stock and heat through. Season with salt and pepper - I find soya sauce quite salty but B likes more so adjust to your tastes!

Spoon the noodles into your serving bowls, sprinkle over the sesame seeds, egg ribbons and green parts of the spring onion