Spicy Tomato Prawn Spaghetti - serves 4

I've been making variations of this pasta for a pretty long time now, and its always enjoyed but I've been thinking there are some ways I can make it better. One of these is the tenderness of the prawns, cooking them in the sauce for the whole time makes them tough and they lose nice juicy flavour that prawns usually have, this way of doing it gives the meal that little je ne sais quoi! The sauce for this pasta can be made in advance and kept in the fridge or freezer for anytime you need a quick fix plate of pasta!

Ingredients:

500g linguini or spaghetti 
300g fresh prawns (shelled) 
1 red onion 
2 cloves garlic
1 red chilli (with the seeds!)
handful of mushrooms 
half a red pepper 
200g tinned tomatoes
4 tbsp greek yogurt 
50g grated cheddar cheese 
1 lemon
1 courgette 
chorizo (amount is up to you)

Method:

The sauce for the pasta can be made in advance, but if you're not making this in advance, get the water ready t boil now. Roughly chop the red onion, garlic, chilli, mushrooms, and pepper. Fry the onion, chilli and garlic for around 5 minutes until it begins to go soft then add the vegetables. Once these are all soft add the tomatoes to the sauce and boil, (tomatoes are very acidic so for each 400g add a teaspoon of sugar - for this 200g only 1/2 tsp) then add the yogurt and cheese and stir well. This can either be boiled for sometime or immediately blended and set aside. Taste the sauce once it is blended, it may need more salt or pepper, or even a squeeze of lemon juice. 
  Dice the courgettes, (if you're in a hurry they're also nice grated) and chop the chorizo and fry both of these until the courgettes are cooked and the chorizo is crispy, put these in a bowl ready to add the pasta once its cooked. Again, if this is being in advance these vegetables can sit next to the sauce ready to be added and warmed through. Put the pasta in the pan with plenty of salt and simmer for the given time. While the pasta is cooking butterfly the prawns. It makes them open really nicely and curl around making them seem bigger and the dish look a little more professional. To do this have the back of the curve of the prawn facing you and carefully cut down to the vein opening them up but not halving them. (they can be butterflied with the belly facing up, but I like the curliness this adds)
  Once the pasta is cooked and drained add your desired amount of sauce, plus the courgettes and chorizo and heat it all through gently while you fry the prawns. 
Heat a frying pan over a high heat and add a dash of olive oil, then add the prawns and quickly squeeze in the juice of half a lemon, toss these about until they're cooked. Serve the spaghetti and top with some lemony butterflied prawns.

IN SEASON- Wild Garlic Risotto. Serves 2

Wild garlic is everywhere at the moment, you'll be able to smell it when you're walking I'm sure. It likes to grow in woodland around the base of trees and its such a delicious and delicate flavour and theres so much you can do with it! Its really easy to identify, once it has flowered it can still be used too! If you're not sure if you've got the right plant just break a bit up in your hands and the smell will be a strong tell tale. I added some mushrooms for a bit of variation in the texture but it would be just as good without them.


Ingredients:
150g arborio risotto rice (rinsed)
1 onion
30g butter
60ml white wine
6 or 7 closed cup mushrooms (or chestnut mushrooms)
50 or so leaves of wild garlic
1.5 litres chicken stock
30g grated parmesan
Splash of double cream

Method:

Start making this like a normal risotto, sweat the diced onion with a small amount of the butter (reserving some for the end) and some oil, then add the sliced mushrooms. Once these are cooked add the rice and stir until its all coated in the fats and add the wine over a high heat and stir quickly. The alcohol will evaporate quickly but the acidic flavour will be absorbed by the rice giving a lovely flavour, then gradually add the chicken stock continuing the stirring over a lower heat. Once the rice is almost done (about 15 minutes quite al dente) add some chopped wild garlic to get the flavour in. I wanted the risotto to have a good green colour so I wilted half the garlic and blended it to make a pulp. I added this right at the end with the finishing touches.

The rice may need a bit more stock after this, make sure you taste the rice and check its properly done. Once it is done, add the blended garlic then add the butter (it may look like a lot of butter but it adds such a good velvety texture and flavour.) Then the parmesan and the cream. Season and then taste again as I see risotto as a personal thing and you may need to add more cheese or butter. If the blended garlic is in the risotto for too long it will lose its bright green colour.
   
   As this dish is green it doesn't look so nice with green cresses so I picked some colourful pansies to make it look prettier, but thats a matter of opinion.

How To....lazy sundays (home made pizzas)

Sometimes after a big meal on a Saturday night or maybe someones too hungover to make a roast and the house is full, the perfect thing to do on a Sunday is DIY pizza. It's one of those things that no matter what your age putting whatever you want on a pizza is endlessly enjoyable. And will always taste good. Pretty much no matter what... This recipe made enough for 4 adults and one little person, each pizza was strangely sized and we mix and matched but were all full by the end! Little tip before you pile up the pizza, make sure the base is on the tray before you start as its really difficult to move it once its topped. 

Dough:
250g strong white flour

1 tsp salt

1/2 tsp dried yeast 

125ml warm water

30ml olive oil 

Mix the flour, salt and yeast together in a large bowl. Combine the oil and the water and make a well in the flour then add the liquid and stir slightly to make a wet dough. I used my kenwood chef and used the dough hook attachment and mixed it for about 10 minutes on a slow speed. Then covered with cling film and left next to the Aga or in a warm place. This isn't essential but it gives time to prepare all the lovely toppings! 

First I made a tomato sauce to go on the base, use a handful of fresh tomatoes, 1 400g tin of chopped tomatoes, 2 gloves garlic, handful of fresh basil and a sprinkle of dried oregano. Chop the garlic roughly and fry in a generous amount of olive oil until you can really smell it, then add the fresh tomatoes and fry for about 1 minute then add the tinned toms. Using your hands rip up the basil and add to the pan and add the oregano. Cook this until it's boiling and add some salt and sugar (tomatoes have a very bitter taste when cooked without sugar. You should add a teaspoon per tin, even in Bolognese) Once the sauce has boiled use a bamix to blend it up so you can spread it easily. 

Now for the toppings!!! Me and my family really went to town on this. We had:

Figs

Goats cheese

Mozzarella 

Cheddar Cheese

Spinach 

Caramelised red onion (see goats cheese tart recipe for caramelised onion recipe)

Mushrooms 

Ham 

Chorizo 

We all went for something different of course, my favourite however was a little bit of sauce, then spinach, red onion sliced fig and goats cheese. This was so delicious. However my little brother just went for cheese and ham. One was made with chorizo, mushroom and mozzarella which was also a success.

As these pizza's are fresh they only take 5-10 minutes to cook, depending on how much you pile on. In the aga you can cook these on a tray or on the base of the top right oven. In a normal oven preheat to 200.c and cook on a tray until the cheese is bubbling and the crusts are crispy.

BEST chocolate tart serves 10-12

I haven't written any posts on sweet food yet, so I thought my first one should be the best one! I got this recipe from one of Gordon Ramsay's restaurants while I was doing my work experience and fell in love entirely. Every day when they were cutting the tart into portions they would cut a little extra bit off and save it for me. This chocolate tart really does taste like velvet, its so silky and smooth and just everything a person could want if they're feeling happy, sad, angry, jealous, hungover or any other mood. Its chocolate perfection. 

For this not to be too over whelming I serve it with salted caramel ice cream, the cheats way but shh.

Ingredients
sweet pastry: 
250g plain flour
125g butter
125g icing sugar
1 egg
filling:
200g 55% chocolate 
125ml double cream 
75ml whole milk
40 whole egg (approx two large, weigh them as they can vary)
Salted caramel ice cream:
tub of vanilla ice cream from the supermarket 
50g butter 
75g soft brown sugar 
40ml double cream 
salt to taste 

Method
Make the pastry by combining all the ingredients and rolling out, it can be quite fiddly, and you might need to put it into the tart tin in a few bits and push it together. Bake this in in the over with grease proof paper and baking beans at 180.C for 12 minutes, take the beans off and allow to cool. 
For the filling bring the milk and cream to the boil and then pour over the broken chocolate. Stir this gently to make a ganache, then fold in the whole egg. emulsify this mix with a bamix (little handheld blender whoosher blender thing as I call it) until smooth and glossy and there are no air bubbles. Pour into the pre baked tart case and blow torch the top to remove any air bubbles. cook this in the oven at 100.C for 54 minutes. I know this seems very precise but its so worth it. 
Meanwhile take the ice cream out of the freezer so it defrosts a little bit and make the salted caramel. Melt the butter in a pan and once it is all melted add the sugar and stir until melted, then add the double cream. This is more of a matter of a opinion so you can add more or less cream or more butter etc depending on how you want your caramel. then stir in the salt and taste, add more salt if needed or more cream! Then poke the ice cream a bit and stir the caramel into it, making sure its distributed in a sort of ripple throughout the ice cream. Put this back in the freezer to solidify again. When the tart is done allow it cool and then serve with a scoop of the ice cream, give the tart a blast with the blow torch again to make it nice and shiny. 

Enjoy! 

Don't blame me if you can't stop eating this, I did warn you. 

Figs with goats cheese and parma ham

This is a great starter for dinner party; really easy to do, it can be made in advance and impressive for the amount of work done! serves 4

Ingredients
4 figs
sliced goats cheese from supermarket, only one slice per fig.
8 slices parma ham
25g bag of rocket
olive oil and balsamic to dress

Method 
cut the end off the fig and do a criss cross on the top of it. Just about half way through the fig. Cut the slice of goats cheese in half, and then cut one of those halves into half again, so basically a quarter. Push the halved piece into one of the cuts you did into the fig, and then for the other cut use the little quartered pieces and push them into the other cut. It should be a criss cross of goat cheese, then wrap this up in two slices of parma ham and cook in the oven at 180.c for 8-10 minutes or until the cheese is oozing out a bit and the ham looks crispy. Serve hot on a bed of rocket with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar drizzled over.

Best pasta bake; serves 4

I was having a minor dilemma with a full fridge but somehow not knowing what I wanted to eat. We've all been in the this situation one time or another, so this has dish has a plethora of somewhat obscure ingredients thrown together.

Ingredients: 

500g macaroni or small tube pasta (I like to use tubes because they get sauce in them and make the most of the flavour, but any pasta will do) 
5 rashers of bacon
1 courgette 
Large handful of basil
1 x 400g tin chopped tomatoes 
60ml double cream 
50g grated cheddar cheese
mozzarella, however much you want! 


Method: 

Slice the bacon into small chunks, and slice the courgettes, I cut them in half first and then slice them. Put a large pan of water on to boil and salt generously, while this is coming to the boil fry the bacon it in a non stick pan with some olive oil. Fry the bacon until crispy, but not too crispy. Once this has cooked add the courgettes and sliced basil to the bacon. Put the pasta in the water once is has boiled. Once the courgettes have cooked add the tin of tomatoes (and half a tea spoon of sugar to take some of the acidity away) to the bacon and courgettes until it boils, then the cream and let that boil to ensure the cheese all melts through. Add the cheddar cheese to the sauce and stir through, taste and add salt if needed. The bacon should have given the sauce a nice meaty flavour and be nice and thick. The sauce may look like quite a lot, but as its going to be baked in the over some of the liquid will evaporate and you'll be left with an amazingly thick and flavoursome sauce that. Add the sauce to the pasta once it has cooked and put in a dish, top generously with creamy mozzarella and salt and pepper and bake at 200.c for 8-10 minutes or until the mozzarella has melted nicely and enjoy! 

Le Manoir Oxford Review

A short review; Le Manoir, Oxford. 

One of the best christmas presents I’ve ever received, it was a taste phenomenon for 4 hours straight. Presented with a glass of champagne on arrival my mother and I sat in a homey yet outstanding room with a roaring fire. Our amuse bouche, four delightful canapés were bought to us. They looked like they had been carefully placed together with the most delicate preparation. Each texture complementing the other beautifully, a quenelle of goats cheese, with truffle honey on a crispy melba toast allowed your teeth to melt through the cheese followed by a satisfying crunch.

We were shown to an eye opening, bright room with closely lined tables, but not so you felt you like you were sharing your meal with the people next door to you. Waiters appeared as if by nowhere just when you needed them, before you even had a chance to summon one. A dropped bread roll was immediately replaced, complete with a new knife, napkin and plate. This all happened before I even leant down to get it. 

To begin a shot glass of foamed warm pumpkin soup with Kirsch giving it a good kick and slight heat as it travels down the esophagus. Towards the glass was a small, almost magical, trail of ground hazelnuts, as though Hansel and Gretel themselves left it. Next came a melt in the mouth sensation of duck liver parfait with prunes and cinnamon. To my surprise this wasn’t served with a type of bread of brioche, but some indian poaches apple cubes. The refreshing apple cut through the rich and smooth parfait, also adding a beautiful crunch. The apple truly was a taste explosion, as it tasted apple like and crunchy at first, but once bitten into with the duck livers it gave off a mind blowing indian scent, marrying with the duck perfectly. Liver parfait can sometimes be overwhelmingly rich but I could have polished off that course a good few more times! 

A somewhat bitter and unique tasting watercress puree sat at the bottom of my bowl, topped with a poached hen egg. Around the edge of the plate some Jabugo ham adding saltiness and texture that the dish was craving. Almost nothing can compete with the astounding joy of cutting into a poached egg and seeing the golden middle set free and spilling onto the plate. This was a glorious poached egg with a mindbogglingly crispy top as it had been put under the grill. The yolk oozed into the watercress puree subtracting from the bitterness and becoming smooth and salty. Once again, to my pleasant surprise there was nothing overwhelmingly rich about the dish thanks to the sharp puree. 

Next three small cubes of the most breathtakingly tender duck that it practically fell apart when I put my fork into it. The sauce made from morello cherries and cinnamon was very sweet, but married with the duck perfectly. As well as this sweet sauce with whole cherries there was a creamy smooth almond puree that added a whole different taste dimension to the dish. This was the largest dish of the meal, although everyone of them was faultlessly portioned, the courses began to get smaller again. The next dish was a truly astounding bowl of smooth goats cheese with truffle honey, topped with fresh grated black truffle and two slices of dense walnut bread. As every other blameless dish in this fantastic meal, there was of course an accompaniment to cut through the richness of the cheese. Served with this was a some stewed celery, however the celery was fresh and crunchy, but not veiny like raw celery. This was everything you would want from celery without the undesirable part.

 At this point during the most amazing meal of my life I was just beginning to feel full. The wondrous kind of full when you’ve filled your body with only the best foods. However we were only just over half way through the meal and I was worried about how much more I could fit in. Luckily for me a palette cleanser was on its way and I suddenly felt light as air again. An exotic fruit ravioli was placed in front of me, coated in mango filled with pineapple and passionfruit. The gorgeous bright orange colour of the ravioli contrasted with the clean white coconut sorbet like a shining sun in the middle. This is the sort of dish that transports you to another country entirely. The exotic fruits making you think of gorgeous white beaches and the smooth slightly Malibu tasting coconut sorbet lightened my stomach and refreshed me entirely, like a cool breeze. I was then ready for the final course of poached pear in caramel. This was served with vanilla creme chiboust ice cream, topped with gold leaf. The pear had underlying tones of licorice which was pleasantly surprising, this did not taste like the sort of licorice you dread eating as a child, but subtle and sweet. 

This meal was indescribably delicious but I have tried to share with you an experience more than a meal. Faultless.