Lemon Drizzle Loaf Cake

This lemon drizzle is super easy to make. It requires no effort on your part but produces a delicious cake with a moist sponge and super lemon taste.

Ingredients:

• 200g unsalted butter, softened 
• 200g caster sugar
• 4 large free range eggs 
• 200g self raising flour 
• 4 lemons 
• 3tbsp milk
• 135g caster sugar for the drizzle 

Line a loaf tin with baking paper and preheat your oven to 170C.

Best the butter and 200g caster sugar in a mixer for 5 minutes, until pale and creamy. 

Add the eggs one at a time (don’t worry if it looks curdled), beating well inbetween adding each egg. Add the flour and mix until well incorporated, now add the lemon zest of 3 lemons and the milk and mix.

Spoon the mixture into your prepared loaf tin and bake for 50-55 minutes until golden and a skewer pushed in the centre comes out clean.

Meanwhile, mix the juice of 3 lemons with 75g caster sugar in a jug and mix until the sugar has dissolved. As soon as the cake has come out of the oven, poke lots of holes all over the cake then pour the lemon mixture all over. Leave to cool in the cake tin.

After 20 minutes, grate the zest of 1 lemon and and add the juice to a bowl. Add 60g of caster sugar and mix. Brush the mixture onto the cake. Leave the cake to cool completely before taking out of the tin.

Enjoy your lemon drizzle loaf cake! Bon appétit!!

Creamy Tomato Chicken Gnocchi

Want a zero effort tomato sauce that you can rustle up in under 20 minutes and that’s full of flavour? Then keep on reading!!

This dish is pact full of flavour and requires zero cooking skills! It’s so simple to make, I’m sure it’ll be a dish you cook again and again.

You can make this vegan by omitting the chicken and Parmesan.

Ingredients:

• 500g fresh gnocchi
• 225g chicken breast, cut into chunks
• 450g vine tomatoes, cut into quarters 
• Red wine vinegar
• Chilli flakes
• 8 garlic cloves 
• Salt & pepper
• 150g spinach 
• 30g basil
• Walnuts
• Olive oil
• Parmesan 

Heat a pan on a medium heat, add some olive oil and once hot, add your chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Once cooked, put in a bowl and set aside.

In the same pan, add some more olive oil and add the tomatoes. Cover and leave to cook on a low heat until softened. Once soft, get masher and mash them until they are smooth (they’ll still be the odd chunk of tomato and that’s ok, we’re going for a rustic tomato sauce). Add a splash of red wine vinegar, crush 6 garlic cloves in, add chilli flakes to taste sad season with salt & pepper. Stir then add the spinach and chicken. Mix well.

Add the gnocchi to a pan of boiling water and cook. They’re done once they float to the top. Add a ladle of the gnocchi water to the sauce and stir. This will thicken it up.

To make the pesto, add the basil to a food processor or mini mixer, add 2 garlic cloves, a splash of red wine vinegar, olive oil, Parmesan, salt & pepper and a handful of walnuts. Blitz it all up and add more olive oil if needed. 

Serve the gnocchi dish, sprinkle with Parmesan and add a spoonful (or more!) of the pesto on top.

Voilà!! Your meal is ready to serve, bon appétit! 

Creamy Garlicky Salmon Pasta

This dish is super easy to make and it doesn’t take too long either. Within half an hour you’ll have a tasty meal on your table!

Now that I have a newborn baby, I don’t have time to slave away in the kitchen every day. Meals like this are just perfect when you’re restricted for time but don’t want to compromise on taste.

Serves 2

Ingredients:

• Spaghetti 
• 2 salmon fillets
• Olive oil
• Salt & pepper
• tenderstem brocoli  
• Boursin
• Crème fraîche 

Preheat your oven to 170C. Brush some olive oil on each of the salmon fillets and season with salt & pepper. Wrap in foil and cook for 25 minutes.

Cook your spaghetti in a large pan of salted boiling water.

Cut up your brocoli into bite sized portions and cook in a pan of boiling water.

Once the spaghetti is cooked, drain and put back into the pan. Add 3/4 of the Boursin and mix, adding 4-5 tablespoons of crème fraîche. Season with plenty of black pepper.

Drain your brocoli and add to the pan and mix.

Flake your salmon into chunks and add to the pan and mix.

Serve up, add some more black pepper and Parmesan.

Bon appétit!    

Chicken & Leek Pot Pie

I asked Darren on the weekend what he fancied eating and he said "chicken pie", so chicken pie is what he got, with mash potato of course!


This pie is so creamy and flavoursome, and I use shop bought pastry so it's not time consuming to make! Of course, you can make your own if you wish, I was just feeling lazy.


This recipe serves 4.


Ingredients:

• 2 chicken breasts
• 2 medium leeks
• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped into 1cm slices
• 275ml dry cider
• 2 fresh bay leaves
• 5 sprigs of fresh thyme
• salt & pepper
• 225g fresh/frozen puff pastry
• 3-4 tablespoons of fresh parmesan for sprinkling
• Flour for dusting
• 1 egg, lightly beaten

For the sauce:

• 275ml milk
• 20g plain flour
• 20g butter
• Generous pinch of cayenne pepper
• 30g mature cheddar
• 20g fresh parmesan
• Freshly grated nutmeg
• salt & pepper

First, pour the cider into a large saucepan, along with the carrots, bay leaves, thyme and some freshly milled salt & pepper.


Cover with a lid and bring to simmering point and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Now, chop the tough green ends off the leeks and discard. Make a vertical split halfway down the centre of each leek, and run them under cold water to get rid of any hidden grit. Now slice in half, lengthways and chop into 1cm slices. Add the chicken and leeks to the pan and simmer for a further 10 minutes.


Meanwhile, make the sauce. Place the milk, butter, flour and cayenne pepper into a large saucepan and place it over a gentle heat. Then, using a balloon whisk, start to whisk whilst bringing it to a gentle simmer. Carry on whisking until you have a smooth, glossy sauce then simmer gently for a further 5 minutes. Add the cheeses and whisk again until melted. Season with salt and pepper and some grated nutmeg.

Drain the chicken and vegetables, reserving the liquid. Discard of the bay leaves and thyme sprigs. Pour the liquid back into the pan and simmer until you have around 4 tablespoons left. Now cut the chicken into bite sized portions.

Preheat the oven to 170C. Add 3-4 tablespoons of the liquid into the cheese sauce, one tablespoon at a time and stir well each time. Bring to a gentle simmer and then add the chicken and vegetables and stir well to mix through.

Add the mixture to your pie dish. Roll the pastry out and cut a 1cm thick strip. Wet the edge of your dish and add the strip, pressing down to secure to the dish. Now cut a piece of pastry large enough to cover the top of the dish. Wet the pastry strip around the dish and place the cover on top, pressing down to secure in place. Trim the edges with a sharp knife. Brush the egg on top. Now gather up the pastry trimmings and cut them into leaf shapes (if you're not very artistic, use one of the bay leaves as a template) and decorate the pie. Brush the pastry leaves with more of the egg wash.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes. Serve with mash.

Spaghetti Bolognese

  

I haven't posted in a very long time, I'm sorry! Life has gotten in the way and I really wasn't in the frame of mind to blog or do any major cooking/baking.


I'm back now and wanted to post this as I made this on Sunday and it was amazing!


This is essentially the meat part from my lasagne recipe but to save you from trawling through my recipes to find it and then adapting the recipe to just what you need, I thought I'd make it really simple for you guys, cos I'm nice like that!


I went to Rome for my Birthday in June and we purchased a few packets of homemade pasta, I used the giant pasta shells for this as I thought the meat sauce would get all up inside the shells and that it would be aesthetically pleasing...which it was!


So without any further ado, here is the recipe!!

Ingredients:

• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 1 large carrot, chopped into 1cm cubes
• 1 celery stalk, finely chopped
• 500g minced beef
• 1 glass dry red wine 
• 400g tinned chopped tomatoes 
• 1 tablespoon tomato purée
• 1 courgette, chopped into 1cm cubes 
• 10 basil leaves
• 6 cloves of garlic, crushed
• Salt & pepper
• Spaghetti/pasta of your choice
• Parmesan

 

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat and cook the onion, carrot, garlic and celery for 5 minutes. Add the minced beef and continue to cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring continuously, until coloured all over. Season with salt and pepper and continue to cook for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  

Pour in the wine, stir well and continue to cook for about 10 minutes until the wine has evaporated.  

Add the chopped tomatoes, the tomato purée, the courgettes and the basil, lower the heat and continue to cook for 1 hour, uncovered, until you get a beautiful rich sauce. Stir occasionally. After about 30 minutes, taste and season some more if required. 

Cook your pasta as per the instructions. Once cooked, drain and serve onto plates and then spoon the meat sauce on top. Add parmesan et voila....bon appétit! 

Gotta have Parmesan!

Coffee Cake

I'll let you into a little secret....I absolutely HATE tea and coffee buuuut I adore coffee desserts (as long as there is no alcohol!! I hate alcohol in my desserts....only in a glass please!) and this cake will take you to cake heaven. I mean, who doesn't love cake?? I most certainly do....chocolate, coffee, lemon, Victoria sponge, marmalade, marble.......I just love cake and this coffee cake will not disappoint...it's my own recipe so do let me know what you think.


Ingredients:

• 250g softened butter
• 250g caster sugar
• 4 eggs
• 250g self raising flour
• Instant coffee
• Dark chocolate (to decorate)
• 250g icing sugar
• 80g unsalted butter at room temperature 
• 25ml milk

Heat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4.


Line two cake tins with baking parchment.


Cream the butter and the sugar together until pale in a food processor/Kitchin Aid, then beat in the eggs.


Slowly add the sifted flour and mix well.


Put the kettle on to boil and in a small bowl, add 4 teaspoons of coffee and add a little of the boiled water to make a thick consistency coffee. Add to the cake mixture to taste.


Once you have the right amount of coffee flavour, spoon the mixture between the two cake tins. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes.


Once cooked, cool on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, time to make the icing! Beat the icing sugar and butter together in a mixer. Once well combined, add the milk and vanilla extract.

If you have more coffee left over then add to the frosting, bit by bit to taste. If you used it all up then boil more water and make more coffee paste.

Once the cakes have cooked, sandwich together with half the frosting then cover the outside of the cake with the remaining frosting. Grate some dark chocolate and sprinkle over the cake.

Lemon Pesto Cod with a Parmesan Crust

One thing I love about summer is eating fresh fish and keeping it simple but packed full of flavour.

This dish is so effortless to rustle up, only requires one dish to cook everything thus leaving less to wash up....result! 

I made this dish whilst on holiday at my parents and wanted something quick to make as I wanted to spend more time in the sun than in the kitchen!

Serves 4.

Ingredients:

• 4 pieces of cod (or any other meaty white fish)
• 16 new potatoes 
• Grated zest of half one lemon
• Parmesan
• Fresh basil
• Olive oil 
• Fresh salt & pepper
• Breadcrumbs 

Thinly slice the potatoes (raw with the skins still on) and place into a large roasting tin. Drizzle a tablespoon of olive oil then season with salt and pepper. Mix well then place in a preheated oven (180C fan) for 20 Minutes, turning half way through.

Whilst the potatoes are cooking, prepare your lemon pesto. I used all the leaves of a medium basil plant. Put the basil into a small mixer, add some olive oil, Parmesan, lemon grind and salt & pepper to taste. Mix well until you have the consistency you want. Keep adding more oil, Parmesan and seasoning if needed.

Once the potatoes have been cooking for 20 minutes, take out the oven and and make some space for the fish. Place the fish in the dish, season then spoon the pesto onto each fish and top with breadcrumbs and sprinkle Parmesan on top. Bake in the oven for a further 30 minutes.

Once ready, plate up and enjoy!

Bon appétit!!