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!

Recent cooking

I'm back at last! Whilst there hasn't been a huge amount of cooking going on, I have made a couple of nice things lately - most recently was cappuchino bars, from BBC Good Food 'The Collection' book, which I received for my birthday. Picture came out a little fuzzy but will make again:

Next up is a new breakfast favourite of mine - Egg and Mushroom wraps. A little different but delicious, I work shifts and this tends to be my breakfast when I am on the 'late shift', keeps me going until my late lunch break! Basically fry 2-3 thinly sliced chestnut mushrooms in a small amount of butter in a hot pan, add 3 chopped cherry tomatoes, whisk in a bowl 2 eggs, a splash of milk and some of your favourite chilli sauce, stir into the browned mushroom mixture and scramble together until cooked through, tip into a tortilla wrap and fold as desired, enjoy!

Next up, I bought on special a couple of weeks ago some new 'Jamie Oliver' Lasagne sheets, I must admit I normally just pick up the value lasagne sheets but I am switching to these in future as we both noticed a big difference in the finished lasagne, silky, tasty pasta without any pre-soaking required. Delicious!

(I finally found a use for my silicon 'tin' - the sheets fit perfectly!!)

More pasta - this time some pretty 'Trecce dell' Orto' which my dad picked up for me recently, which had different flavoured twirls; beetroot, spinach, curcuma and sepia (cuttlefish ink - sounds vile but actually was very tasty!) I made up a simple carbonara sauce with some very tasty bacon bits from Aldi's and it coated the pasta beautifully:

Back in the kitchen soon!

Big apologies - I did one big blog post and then abandoned you all - but I have a good reason, as shared on my twitter recently...A very good reason too for once - my darling boyfriend and love of my life proposed just before my birthday and of course I accepted!!

Now my head is filled with wedding plans and I am mainly living on a mixture of milka daim chocolate and crunchie rocks! Will be back soon!!

xx

Previously on the menu..

No real recipes here just the best of what I've been making lately from the cupboards etc, its my birthday later this week so not much cooking going on here!

First up are these delicious Gluten and Wheat free onion bhajis, same batter as my recipe for the scrummy aubergine ones I recently made, thinly slice an onion, soak in a little soured milk, coat in the batter and fry for 5-6 minutes or until cooked through:

Next up, we recently had some leftover cooked roast chicken, which I mixed with a little cooked red onion, wilted spinach and red pesto, stuffed into puff pastry squares and glazed with beaten egg, unusual main course and delicious use of leftovers!:

This is one of my new favourite things to eat - Chorizo & little gem risotto, using raw chorizo sausage, gently baked, sliced up then added to a risotto base when halfway cooked, plus half a tin of leftover sweetcorn! (I got into the habit of adding crunchy lettuce to my risottos a while back, gives a nice crunch, romaine works well too!)

This is an awful picture so will just have to make again! It is the last piece of Chocolate fudge pudding from one of my many baking books, rice, moist and more coffee than fudgy sauce but still good!

On a healthier note, my fridge salad surprise lunch- ripe avocado, chopped tomatoes, mixed salad leaves, fresh coriander and basil shredded up, chestnut mushrooms, a few drops hot sauce and good balsamic vinegar, eaten alongside reading the latest Olive magazine:

Tomato, smoked bacon, red onion and cheese tart, a nice light supper with a salad:

Tuna, red onion and cheese flan (super puffed up when fresh out of the oven but sadly sinks after, still tasty though!):

Tomato, herb, spring onion and sausage omelette:

Last but not least, jaffa fairy marble cakes topped with orange syrup and a little dusting of icing sugar:

Last in the triology - Hot cross bun pudding - Gluten, Wheat and dairy free!

This is the last dish I made for my mini allergy friendly dinner party for our dessert, served with soya cream - a new product for me - texture wise very good but needed a little sweetening I thought!

Sainsburys had provided me with some recipe cards and special Freefrom ingredients, I decided to mix the two and used their B&B pudding recipe with some tweakings:

Makes 2 generous servings

Easy

2 Freefrom Hot cross buns

2 eggs

80ml soya cream

160ml unsweetened soya milk

1 tbsp golden syrup

Slice the buns thinly and line individual dishes. Whisk together the remaining ingredients, gently pour over the dishes and leave to soak for 30 mins to an hour.

Bake @ 150o fan / 170o for 30 minutes or until puffed up, golden and cooked through. Serve with the remaining cream

Sinhalese Prawn Pasta - Gluten, Wheat and Dairy free!

Following on from the night I spent with Sainsburys, and my recent posting of my delicious Aubergine Bhajis - this is the main dish I made for my mini Freefrom dinner party, the recipe was adapted from Ainsley Harriots Low fat Meals in Minutes. Its quick and easy to make, the Freefrom pasta does break up a little but is not detrimental to the taste.

The original recipe says 450g spaghetti, which seems a little excessive for 2 people…..

Ingredients

200g Sainsburys Freefrom pasta
225 peeled prawns (cooked)
2 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp curry paste. I struggled to find a labelled GF one and chose Pataks Rogan Josh in the end which fitted the bill well and didn’t list contain any dairy or wheat..
½ a white onion, finely chopped
1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander, plus extra for garnish
1 tbsp chopped fresh mint
1 tbsp chopped fresh parsley (I omitted as not keen unless its on garlic bread!)
1 clove garlic
Zest and juice of lemon
1 tbsp
S&P

Boil the pasta as per packet instructions, drain, reserving about 12 tbsp of the cooking water.

In a large pan or wok heat the oil, add the garlic and onion and fry, without colouring, stir in the curry paste and cook for 20 seconds, add the reserved liquor, prawns, herbs, toss together to heat through, add the lemon zest and juice, season lightly, add the pasta, mix well and garnish with fresh coriander