Oreo Brownies

These are always a huge success and I can't even be modest, they taste pretty damn amazing!

They're so chocolatey, goey and moorish....each mouthful is pure heaven and a must for all chocoholics out there!!

This recipe is from Lorraine Pascal and is my favourite recipe from her first cook book.

They're so easy to make and I must note it's important to buy good quality dark chocolate (I like Green & Black's and will only use their chocolate when baking).

Ingredients:

• 165g butter, plus extra for greasing 
• 200g dark chocolate, finely chopped
• 3 eggs
• 2 egg yolks 
• Seeds of one vanilla pod or 2 tsp vanilla extract 
• 165g soft light brown sugar 
• 2 tbsp plan flour 
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder 
• Pinch of salt 
• 164g pack of Oreo biscuits, broken into quarters 
• Icing sugar, for dusting 

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 6, with the middle shelf ready. Grease a baking tin, then line with baking paper overlapping the sides a little. 

Melt the butter in a pan over a medium heat. Whe the has melted, remove the pan from the best and add the grated chocolate. Leave to stand for a few minutes until the chocolate goes soft then stir together. 

Whisk the eggs, egg yolks and vanilla together in a large bowl until they begin to get light and fluffy. Add the sugar in two additions whisking between each. Pour it around the side of the egg mix so as not to knock out the air that has been whisked into it. Keep whisking until the mixture becomes thicker. Once the egg mixture is ready pour the chocolate into it, again around the side so as not to knock the air out.

Add the flour, cocoa powder, salt and a 1/3 of the Oreos and stir until fully combined, then pour the mixture into the prepared tin. Scatter the remaining Oreos over the top, pressing them in slightly. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes. The middle should be ever so slightly goey. 

Leave the brownies to cool in the tin. The top will sink and crack a little. Pull the brownies out using the overlapping paper and cut the brownies into squares. Dust with icing sugar. 

You could substitute the Oreos for toasted walnuts, pecans or sprinkle the brownies with honeycomb.

Boeuf Bourguignon

Being half French I wanted to post a real classic dish and what better dish than bœuf bourguignon? It's tastey, comforting and the beef just melts in your mouth!

Be sure not to scrimp on the wine though! A good bottle of red will truly bring this dish alive and really makes the sauce nice and rich.

This recipe is my very own family recipe so I hope you all enjoy it as much as we do!

Today I made good ol' mash to go with this but I usually make gratin dauphinois, both go really well with the dish so it's up to you which you choose.

Ingredients:

• 800g cubed braising steak 
• 3 carrots, sliced into 1cm thickness
• 1 shallot, thinly sliced 
• 3 cloves of garlic, crushed
• 6 rashers of streaky bacon, cut into chunks
• 3 bay leaves 
• 1 bottle of red wine 
• Salt & pepper 
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 3 tablespoons of plain flour

Preheat the oven to 150C/300F/gas mark 2.

Heat the olive oil in a pan then add the shallots and crushed garlic. Once slightly browned, add the bacon and cook until the bacon starts to brown.

Add the carrots and continue to cook until the carrots soften.

Put the carrot & bacon mixture onto a plate and set aside. If you need to add more oil to the pan then do so, but just a little. Now add the beef and season.

Once the beef has browned, add a tablespoon at a time of flour, stirring each time to ensure it coats the beef.

Add the carrot mixture back to the pan with the beef and mix well. 

Start to add the wine whilst mixing. Add 3/4 of the bottle and add the bay leaves. Bring to the boil.

Pour the mixture into a casserole dish and top up with the rest of the wine and mix then put in the oven. Cook for 3 hours whilst taking out of the oven occasionally to stir.

The bœuf bourguignon is ready once the meat is tender and falls apart easily.

I like to serve this with either mash or gratin dauphinois along with some broccoli.

Bon appétit mes amis...

Banana Loaf

 

So I still had quite a few over ripe bananas left over after making my banana & white chocolate muffins, that I decided to make a banana loaf.

I thought this would be good to have for breakfast with some Nutella or whenever I was feeling peckish and with the weather being so miserable this weekend, what better way to cheer oneself up by eating cake?!!

Ingredients:

• 250g plain flour
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• pinch of salt
• 115g butter
• 115g dark brown soft sugar
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 500g mashed bananas (about 4 and a half depending on size)

Preheat the oven to 180C/gas mark 4. Lightly grease and lin a 23x13cm loaf tin .

In a large bowl, combine the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt.

In a separate bowl, cream the butter and sugar together. Stir in the eggs and mashed  bananas until well blended. Add the flour mixture, stir until combined but don't over mix.

Pour the mixture into the prepared loaf tin and bake for 60-65 minutes, until a knife inserted into the centre of the loaf comes out clean. You may need to cover in foil before the loaf if cooked to prevent the loaf from browning too much.

Leave to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire cooling rack.

Banana & White Chocolate Muffins

I had quite a few ripe bananas at home and instead of throwing them away, decided to do some baking this morning. Especially since I've been craving cake...which is pretty much everyday but nothing beats home baked goodies over the shop bought ones!

I dug out one of my Nigella Lawson recipe books and found the recipe for these muffins. They taste utterly amazing, the sponge is moist and it contains 3 bananas so counts towards your 5 a day, right?!

What I love about these is they're quick and easy to make so are ready in no time.

The recipe actually uses butterscotch morsels but Tesco didn't sell them so I chose white chocolate instead, which works really well but I will hunt down butterscotch from somewhere and re-make these bad boys!

Ingredients:

• 3 very ripe bananas 
• 125ml vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 250g plain flour
• 100g caster sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 150g white chocolate morsels 

Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas mark 6 and line a 12 bun muffin tin with muffin cases.

Mash the bananas and set aside for a moment.

Pour the oil in a jug and beat in the eggs.

Put the flour, sugar, bicarbonate of soda and baking powder into a large bowl and mix in the beaten-egg-and-oil mixture, followed by the mashed bananas.

Fold in the white chocolate morsels, then place equal quantities in the prepared muffin tine and bake for 20 minutes.

Take out of the oven and allow to cool slightly before lacing the muffins onto a cool rack.

Prawn Linguine

This is a dish I have had a few times whilst in an Italian restaurant and wanted to recreate myself.

I have tweaked it slightly by adding the avocado (I have a slight obsession for them!) and have cooked this a few times for friends/family and they always ask me for the recipe.

If you can handle your spice then feel free to substitute the dried chilli flakes for fresh chilli. Alternately, if you don’t like heat at all then omit the chilli altogether, it tastes just as nice without it!

You could use courgetti instead of the pasta and use reduced fat crème fraîche for a more healthy alternative.

The below is based on a serving for 2 people:

Ingredients:

• Linguine or spaghetti (enough for 2)
• Olive oil
• 1 shallot, finely sliced
• 2/3 crushed garlic cloves
• Dried chilli flakes (to taste)
• 1 pack of king prawns
• Lemon juice
• Fresh or frozen basil (coriander works well also, I alternate between the two to change it up slightly)
• Crème fraîche
• 14 cherry/plum tomatoes (left whole or cut in half depending on the size)
• 1 avocado (half per person)
• Ground black pepper
• Fresh Parmesan (optional)

Start off by putting the linguine in a saucepan filled with water, put on to boil.

Once the pasta is almost cooked, put a pan on the stove and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Once heated, add the chopped shallots and crushed garlic. Cook for a few minutes on a low heat then add the prawns and toss to cover them in the olive oil with garlic & shallots.

Add some lemon juice to taste, chilli, basil, tomatoes and ground black pepper.

Add 3 to 4 tablespoons of crème fraîche and ensure it has melted and all mixed well.

Once the pasta is cooked, drain then add to the prawns and stir to incorporate everything together.

Serve up then add the sliced avocado on top, add more black pepper and the Parmesan (if using).

Enjoy & bon appétit! 

Midweek Dinner - Chicken Pesto Pasta

This is a real quick but super tastey recipe to add to my midweek dinner series.

I find pasta dishes really comforting and with the added melted mozzarella, it just oozes scrumptious yumminess!

This dish is ready in under 15 minutes so is my perfect 'go to' meal when I come home late from work.


What you'll need:

• Conchigile pasta (enough for two) 
• 1 tub fresh green pesto 
• 8-10 Cherry/plum tomatoes 
• Fresh mozzarella (half the pack, cubed)
• 1 packet of roast chicken pieces 
• Fresh ground black pepper
• Fresh Parmesan

Put the pasta on to boil. Once cooked, drain and put back in the saucepan.

Add the green pesto and stir. Add the chicken pieces and stir through, ensuring the chicken gets coated with the pesto.

Depending on the size, add the tomatoes whole or slice in half. Then add the mozzarella and stir until the mozzarella has melted.

Serve up, sprinkle with the parmesan then season with fresh black pepper!

C'est prêt...bon appétit! 

The Best Lasagne EVER!!

Ok, so I've tried many a lasagne in restaurants and am pretty hard to please when it comes to taste and the amount of béchamel you get with it so was slightly dubious of making one myself in case the recipe I tried wasn't up to scratch.

I've had 'Buonissimo!' by Gino D'Acampo for years but never used it, until last week that is....I just had to try his recipe for lasagne. After all, he claims it's the number 1 lasagne and I can vouch for him and say it most certainly is!!

It is time consuming (around 3 hours) but oh so very worth it!

I was a bit doubtful regarding the celery but only because I hate the stuff....it smells like cat pee and tastes vile but I decided to put all my trust into Gino and I'm glad I did, the end result is pure bliss.

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
• 9 sheets fresh lasagne 
• 50g cold salted butter, cut into 1cm cubes
• Salt & pepper

For the bèchamel sauce:

• 100g salted butter
• 100g plain flour 
• 1 litre milk 
• 100g grated fresh Parmesan
• 1/4 freshly grated nutmeg

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over a medium heat and cook the onion, carrot 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 5 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 for seasoning. 

Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 180C/350F/gas mark 4, and make the béchamel sauce. Melt the butter in a large saucepan over a medium heat. Stir in the flour and cook for 1 minute. Gradually whisk in the cold milk, reduce the heat and cook for 10 minutes whisking constantly. Once thickened, stir in half of the Parmesan cheese with the nutmeg, season and set aside to cool slightly. 

Spread a quarter of the béchamel sauce in the base of a deep 2.2-litre ovenproof dish. Cover with 3 lasagne sheets, cutting them if necessary to fit the dish. Spread with half the meat sauce then top with a third of the remaining béchamel sauce. Cover with 3 more sheets of lasagne and then with the remaining meat sauce. Spread over half of the remaining béchamel sauce. Add a final layer of lasagne sheets and gently spread the rest of the béchamel on top ensuring that the lasagne sheets are completely covered. 

Sprinkle with the remaining Parmesan and scatter over the cubed butter. Grind doe black pepper over the whole lasagne. 

Cook on the lowest shelf of the oven for 30 minutes then place the dish on the middle shelf, raise the oven temperature to 200C/400F/gas mark 6 and continue to cook for a further 15 minutes until golden brown and crispy all over. 

Midweek Dinner - Steak, Sautéed Potatoes & Creamed Spinach

This week traffic has been an absolute nightmare getting to and from work due to roadworks. The last thing I need when my journey home has taken over two hours is to slave away in my kitchen, but I still want to eat well and fancied something a little special so steak came to my rescue!

I feel it's really important to get a good quality of meat as for me, there is nothing worse than a tough/chewy steak! Waitrose and my local butcher never let me down when it comes to their meat and my favourite cut is fillet.

I love my steak blue so the potatoes and spinach were the most time consuming dishes on tonight's menu but still pretty quick, this meal was ready in under half an hour! 

Ingredients: 

• Steak of your choice 
• New/baby potatoes 
• Olive oil
• Lemon juice 
• Salt & pepper 
• Italian mixed herbs (from the frozen section in Waitrose or any herbs of your choice, fresh, dried or frozen)
• 260g spinach 
• 30g unsalted butter
• 1 shallot, very thinly sliced
• 1 garlic clove, crushed 
• 1 tbsp plain flour 
• 6 tbsp milk
• 2 tbsp Philadelphia soft cheese 
• Pinch freshly ground nutmeg 
• 2 tbsp grated Parmesan 

Start off by boiling the potatoes. Once these are boiling, season your steaks and set aside.

Once the potatoes are boiled, drain then slice into a thickened of around 2cm.

Add to a hot pain with olive oil then season. Toss the potatoes and season again (I do this quite a few times but mostly with the pepper as you don't want too much salt!).

Add some lemon juice and add more pepper if you like (we love pepper in my household!) and leave on a medium and allow to cook and crisp up. 

You'll need to keep tossing/stirring occasionally as you want both sides of the potatoes to get nice and golden. 

Once the potatoes are golden add your herbs of choice and turn the heat down to low.

Put the spinach in a colander, pour over just boiled water to wilt, and refresh under cold water. Wing out, pat dry on kitchen paper, roughly chop then set aside. 

Heat the butter in a frying pan set over a medium-low heat. Sauté the shallot and garlic very gently for around 8 minutes, until soft. Stir in the flour, cook for 2 minutes. Pour in the milk 1 tbsp at a time, until loose. Store in the soft cheese, until the sauce becomes thick. 

Preheat the grill to high. Stir in the spinach, 1 tbsp of lemon juice, nutmeg and 1 tbsp Parmesan into the sauce; season. Transfer to a small ovenproof dish, sprinkle wth the remaining Parmesan and grill for 2 minutes.

Cook the steak to your preferred "cuisinage" and serve up, bon appétit! 

Mediterranean Vegetable Risotto with Chicken Escalope  

If you have never made risotto before then fear not! This dish is so flavoursome and simple to make, just a little time consuming as the risotto requires constant attention but the end result is so worth it!

I have cooked this a few times now; as part of a 3 course meal for my Maman’s birthday and for a romantic dinner…each time it has been a huge success!

I would note that if someone doesn’t have a huge appetite then give them half a chicken breast as by the time you have bashed it, it will be quite big.

•        tray of Mediterranean vegetables (to include courgette, red onion, cherry tomatoes, red pepper and orange/yellow pepper)

•        1 aubergine

•        olive oil

•        garlic

•        risotto rice

•        shallots

•        white wine

•        red pesto (red pepper pesto is ideal)

•        veg/chicken stock

•        butter

•        salt & pepper

•        Parmesan

•        chicken breasts

•        2/3 slices of bread (keep the crusts on)

•        lemon juice

•        Fresh/frozen basil

•        1 egg

1. Cut the aubergine and add to the rest of the veg. You will need to ensure these are not big pieces so will probably have to cut the veg from the tray of vegetables into smaller pieces. Roast the veg with olive oil/garlic oil for 40 minutes.

2. Wash your risotto rice to get rid of the starch. You will need half the packet.

3. Put the olive oil in a deep pan and fry your shallots.

4. Add the rice and once it's coated in the oil add the wine. About half a bottle, it needs to be fully submerged in liquid.

5. Keep stirring.

6. Put the kettle on boil. Once the water is boiled prepare your veg/chicken stock. You'll need a bit more than a pint. If your jug only goes up to a pint then top up with a bit more water once you've added stock to the risotto.

7. Once the wine is absorbed, add the stock a little at a time. You must keep stirring, never stop.

8. Keep mixing and pouring stock into the rice.

9. Once ready, stop adding the stock - about 25 minutes. The rice will be full and it should be nice and gloopy.

10. Add a few knobs of butter, crushed garlic clove and a couple of tablespoons of red pesto. Mix it all together.

11. Season.

12. Add the veg and mix.

13. Add grated Parmesan to taste and to bind together.

14. Keep mixing.

15. For the chicken escalope. Put the chicken breast in a freezer bag and bash until thin. Do the same for each chicken breast.

16. Put the bread in a food processor along with salt and pepper, crushed garlic glove, chopped basil and a tiny amount of lemon juice. Blitz to form the breadcrumbs.

17. Break the egg into a dish and whisk.

18. Place the chicken breast into the dish and coat in the egg. Then take out and sprinkle with the breadcrumbs. Really tap the breadcrumbs into the chicken making sure it's well coated. Repeat for the other breasts.

19. Heat a frying pan with olive/garlic oil. Once hot (not too hot or you'll burn the breadcrumbs) cook the chicken. Should only take around 6 minutes as its thin.

20. Once cooked plate up the risotto and place a chicken escalope on top. Drizzle with garlic or chilli oil if you like.

You could serve this with a rocket and Parmesan salad..

1. Place rocket in a bowl with dressing of your choice.

2. Add some shaved Parmesan

Et voila!! Dinner is served.

Introduction

My love of food started from a young age, I would often cook and bake with my Dad and I took my Sous Chef responsibilities very seriously! Standing on a chair to reach the stove whilst stirring my Dad's homemade marmalade was a very crucial job indeed, especially being a cake taster...one had to ensure it tasted just right!

Fast forward a couple of years and I've taken my love of food up a few notches; from 3/4 course dinners with pre-meal canapes, triple layer cakes, soufflés and pâtisserie...I love cooking up a storm and seeing my family/friends appreciative faces light up when devouring what I have cooked for them.

It's not just my time in the kitchen I enjoy, but food in general.

Join me on my journey of cooking, baking, eating out and food markets where I'll be sharing my culinary delights with you all...bon appétit!