Courgette Carbonara

We were away at the weekend and so returned to a huge pile of vegetables, not only from the vegbox but also kindly donated from an allotment. In search of courgette inspiration, I got this recipe from Rachel Eats. A wonderful blog brimming with simple, colourful and delicious Italian food. Every time I read it, it makes me yearn to have long leisurely lunches of pasta. In a departure from the norm, I actually followed this recipe as is, it's super easy and you end up with smooth and creamy pasta, made a little lighter and fresher by the use of courgette and basil rather than bacon.

The only tricky bit with carbonara is you need to allow the egg mixture to cook in the residual heat of the pasta and courgettes rather than directly on the hob, so you end up with a silky sauce rather than scrambled eggs. Jamie Oliver also does something similar.
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Courgette, Tomato and Basil Fritatta

A colourful, summery fritatta making the most of the abundant supply of courgettes and sweet and juicy cherry tomatoes at the moment; finished off with a little cheese and a sprinkling of basil (from our overflowing window box). Low in carbs, packed full of veggies and nutrient rich eggs; this is superhealthy summer eating.

Perfect for brunch with bacon or sausages and toast (I would also have it with baked beans but that's probably just me...) or lunch with a green salad eaten in the sunshine.

As with most of my recipes, this is very relaxed. Use what you have; broad beans or spinach would work equally well here. Or maybe, continuing the italian theme, add a torn ball of mozzarella for oozy, stringy, cheesy goodness. Our vegetable boxes have been low on onions recently, but I imagine if I make this again, I'd add a little finely red onion for extra bite. You could also make this even easier by laying the cooked courgettes in the bottom of a small greased baking dish, topping with the tomatoes, basil, cheese and eggs and baking at 180C for about 20mins until puffed up and golden brown.



Ingredients

Serves 2

2 medium courgettes
handful basil, shredded
handful cherry tomatoes, quartered
3 eggs and a splash of milk
knob butter
approx 50g cheese, grated

• Slice the courgettes thinly on the diagonal.
• Heat a medium non-stick frying pan with a little oil. Fry the courgette slices in batches until blistered and brown. Try to refrain from adding too much oil to the pan otherwise you'll end up with a greasy frittata. Season once cooked.
• Meanwhile, whisk the eggs and milk with plenty of salt and pepper.
• Once cooked, return all the courgettes to the pan with the butter and spread out evenly, sprinkle the basil and tomatoes over the top.
• Preheat the grill.
• Carefully pour the egg mixture into the pan, making sure all the vegetables get covered and add the grated cheese. Turn the heat down and using a spatula, carefully scrape the cooked edges inwards, allowing the uncooked eggs to run into the rivulets.
• Once the frittata is mostly cooked around the edges, but the middle is still fairly runny, pop under the grill until the top is completely set.
• To serve, run a spatula around the edge of the pan to loosen the frittata and cut into 4 wedges.
  

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Brown Rice and Spinach Pilaf

Eggs are my new favourite thing. Especially poached eggs, nestled atop a bowl of rice. I like to break open the yolk and let the insides trickle down. Recently it's been a stir fry, full of garlic, ginger and chilli and topped with plenty of toasted cashews. I came across this simple comforting bowl in Waitrose Food Illustrated and couldn't resist. Delicately spiced with cumin, cinnamon and cardamon, with plenty of spinach stirred through at the last minute and topped with toasted pine nuts.

Originally intended to be bulghar wheat pilaf, I reached into the grain drawer only to find I'd used all my bulghar wheat already. So brown rice it was, a little disappointing, only in the sense that brown rice takes about 3 times as long to cook and we were impatient for our dinner. Either grain would work well as they each lend a certian nuttiness to the end result.

Ingredients

serves 4
25g butter
2 garlic cloves , crushed
1 large onion , finely chopped
4 cardamom pods , bruised
1tsp cumin
1tsp cinnamon
250g brown basmati rice
500ml hot, vegetable stock
200g spinach, finely chopped
50g pine nuts
4 eggs, poached

• Heat a frying pan (that has a lid), as you do so, toast the pine nuts and remove.
• Add the butter and a little oil. Once bubbling add the onions and garlic and fry for 5-10mins until brown.
• Add the spices and cook for a few more minutes until they begin to smell delicious.
• Tip in the rice and stir well. Pour in the hot stock and bring to the boil.
• Turn the heat down, cover and simmer for 20-30mins until the rice is cooked, adding more water if necessary.
• Stir through the spinach, cover and leave to sit for a few minutes until the spinach is wilted. Season well and stirin the pine nuts.
• Serve topped with a poached egg.

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Roasted Tomato and Spinach bulghar salad

This is one of the great salads that I'm loving at the moment. They take a bit longer than your average chop and go salad to prepare but are bursting with flavour and if you make a huge batch, you can eat it for dinner and keep leftovers in the fridge for lunch or for other meals. Simply add the protein of your choice. Try blistered slices of haloumi, fried mackerel fillets, chicken, lamb kebabs or a poached egg.

This salad was inspired by this recipe from 101cookbooks, in all honesty, I took a cursory glance at the ingredients and went by the picture more than anything, so my version is below. Bursting with colour, sweet roasted cherry tomatoes and slow cooked red onions go beautifully with the nutty bulghar wheat spiked with loads of fresh herbs, a little garlic and a handful of spinach (I have a sneaky suspicion that toasted pine nuts or almonds would be a fabulously crunchy addition). A perfect accompaniment to a mezze type affair, try a simple carrot salad, some hummus and flatbreads.

Ingredients

250g cherry tomatoes
250g bulghar
olive oil
juice 1/2 lemon
1 clove garlic
3 handfuls spinach
1 bunch mint
1 bunch parsley

Onions
3 red onions, finley sliced
2tsp brown sugar
1tbsp balsamic vinegar

• First up the tomatoes. Preheat the oven to 180C. Slice the tomatoes in half and throw onto a large baking tray. Drizzle with olive, season with crunchy flakes of sea salt, a twist of black pepper and a pinch of brown sugar. Stir well, making sure all the tomatoes are cut side up and roast for 40mins until shrivelled and golden.
• Meanwhile pour the bulghar wheat into a saucepan that has a lid with 1/2tsp of bouillon if you have it or a pinch of salt. Cover with boiling water, bring to the boil, cover and simmer until all the water is absorbed and the bulghar is tender but still with some bite. (you may need to add a little extra water or drain any excess off.
• Heat a large frying pan with 2tbsp olive oil, add the onions and cook on low until completely soft. Add the balsamic vinegar, sugar and plenty of seasoning and cook for another 5mins or so until dark, sweet and sticky.
• To assemble the salad, squeeze the lemon juice over the bulghar and add 2-3tbsp olive oil, the garlic and most of the mint and parsley. Stir well and season to taste.
  
• Fold in the spinach and tumble onto a large serving platter. Top with roasted tomatoes, onions and the rest of the herbs.
  

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Red Rice Stir Fry with Poached Eggs

We get our vegetable box on a Friday and if we get cabbage and potatoes, I've taken to making bubble and squeak for brunch at the weekends. A spoon (or more) of baked beans on the side and a poached egg, what could be better? Now, this isn't bubble and squeak in the strictest sense, I literally peel and boil and rice potatoes, then stir fry shredded cabbage in butter and garlic and mix together. A bit of a hassle, but so good.

As I'm still trying (somewhat in vain) to eat a bit lighter, I started looking for inspiration for alternatives. 101cookbooks is always a good place to start for healthy recipes and I soon decided to try some of the more intresting grains out there. Off I went to Waitrose after work and came home clutching a bag of red and wild rice.

This isn't a brunch dish as sorts, but I did eat it about 1, which is brunch time in my book. Red rice is similar to brown rice in nuttiness, it's ability to fil you up and the length of time it takes to cook. I stirfried some cabbage with garlic and chilli, added the cooked rice, a splash of soy sauce and sesame oil. Top with a poached egg, some finely diced red onion and toasted cashew nuts. Simple, tasty and healthy.

Below is the version I made for Pete, I made an egg omelette first, shredded it and added it the rice instead of a poached egg.


Ingredients.

4 eggs
200g Red rice (or brown rice), cooked
75g cashew nuts
3tbsp sunflower oil
2 red chillis, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1/2 green cabbage, shredded
2tsp soy sauce
2tsp sesame oil
1 red onion, finely diced

• Poach the eggs using Delia's method.
  
• Meanwhile, heat the cashew nuts in a dry frying pan until golden. Remove and roughly chop.
• Now add the oil to the pan. Add the chilli and garlic and fry for a minute.
• Add the cabbage and fry for a few minutes until softened.
• Now add the rice, soy sauce and sesame oil. Stir in the onions and chopped cashews and serve.

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Baked Eggs

I love, love, love eggs and the weekends are quickly becoming all about my eggy treat in the morning. Paired with buttery potato bread toast and a special coffee (made in the stove top espresso maker with Monmouth Coffee), isn't this what weekends are made for?

Generally, I always defer to scrambled eggs, but recently we've been experimenting with a new and delicious variation - baked eggs. In its simplest form, an egg cracked into a ramekin (or heat proof cup in our case) topped with a generous spoonful of cream, some seasoning and final sprinkling of grated cheese and then baked until the white is firm and the yolk golden and liquid.

Haha, yes it does seem so simple, but I am yet to crack the perfect timing, first you take it out and the white is still liquid so you pop it back in and things look promising... but before you know it, the yolk is hard, given the propensity of eggs to firm up a lot once removed from the heat especially in its snug little ramekin.

Hugh inspired me a few weeks ago with this tarted up recipe using garlic and thyme, so we gave it a go and not too much of a disaster, we managed to retain the runny centre , now I see that as with boiled eggs, you have to be very careful with timing, waiting patiently by the oven until they look set, but with a wobble in the centre.

See Hugh's recipe here.
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Simple Egg Fried Rice

A simple recipe, perfect for using up leftovers and shoehorning in extra vegetables.This recipe works best with cold rice, so next time you cook rice, cook a bit more for the next day! (Although we use freshly cooked rice as often as not). Top with whatever interesting bits and bobs you have, toasted cashew nuts, coriander, sliced spring onions, extra chilli...

Oh, and a little tip. I normally buy a massive chunk of ginger, grate it all up and freeze in ice cubes to use for stirfrys and curries.


Serves 4

Ingredients

3tbsp sunflower oil
1 red chilli, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 thumb sized piece of ginger, grated

Optional: approx 300g cooked and shredded chicken or ham

Approx 500g vegetables, cut into similar sized pieces, e.g.
*carrots, sliced or cut into batons
*peppers or courgettes, sliced into strips
*mushrooms, sliced
*peas
*sweetcorn
*beansprouts

350g cooked rice
4-6 eggs, whisked and seasoned
2tbsp soy sauce

To serve:
100g cashew nuts or peanuts, toasted and chopped
1 small bunch coriander or spring onions, chopped
sweet chilli sauce

• You need a really large wok to cook this all at once, if you don't have one, try making it in 2 batches.
• Make sure all your vegetables are prepared before you start cooking.
• Heat a wok until its as smoking and as hot as possible. If you're using nuts, you can toast them in the pan whilst it warms up, but make sure they don't burn!
• Add the sunflower oil, allow to heat up for a few minutes then throw in the garlic, chilli and ginger, stirring furiously, you don't want them to burn.
• Now add the vegetables and cook for 3-5mins until beginning to brown.
• Throw in the meat in using a stir for a few more minutes.
• Now tip in your rice and continue to fry for another minute or so.
• Make a well in the centre and tip in the eggs, keep stirring and frying until the eggs are completely cooked.
• Finish with a splash of soy sauce.
  

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Parsnip and Potato Hash

I'm really getting into winter cooking and my current love affair is with parsnips, so sweet and tasty, roasted up with some paprika and chilli to balance the sweetness, there's not much better.

I made this hash for breakfast the other day, the parsnips were my effort to sneak in a few more vegetables but actually add something more interesting to your classic potatoes, I also think some sliced red pepper could work well here too. Top with baked beans and a fried egg on top and you're set up for the day...

Ingredients

Serves 4

6-8 rashers streaky bacon (optional)
1 onion, sliced
1 red pepper, deseeded and finely sliced
350g potatoes, peeled and cut into matchsticks
350g parsnips, peeled and cut into matchsticks
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 red chilli, finely chopped
2 cans baked beans
4 eggs

• Heat a large frying pan and cook the bacon until golden and crispy then remove.
• In the same pan, fry the onions in a little oil for a few mins, then throw in the potato, pepper and parsnip along with the chilli and garlic
• Cover, turn to low and cook for 15mins, stirring every so often to make sure nothing burns on the bottom.
• Meanwhile, heat the baked beans and fry the eggs.
• Once the potatoes and parsnips are cooked through, season well.
• Serve a mound of the hash with a spoonful of baked beans before topping with an egg.

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Pea and Leek Tart

So, I've been a bit lax with the blogging, christmas seems to have come even earlier this year and time is just slipping away from me!

I have of course, still been cooking, dutifully storing up pictures to share... I've also really gotten into cooking lots at the weekend so there's always something tasty and filling at the end of the day. I made this tart in the same vein and it worked perfectly - leeks sweated down slowly and sweetly with peas thrown in, all encased in a cheesy, eggy custard and baked in flaky pastry ( although I did cheat and buy it from a shop!). Perfect for lunchboxes, or a little slither as a snack, not that is lasts that long...

Most vegetables work well in this quiche-like set up, try this Swiss Chard and Onion Tart, or Potato, onion and Goat's cheese. Combinations on my list to try are:

Bacon, cheddar and tomatoes

Smoked mackerel and dill

Roast tomato, pesto and mozzarella

Broad bean and goats cheese

Asparagus, Lemon and Ricotta

Broccoli and blue cheese

Ingredients

300g shortcrust pastry
2-3 large leeks, finely sliced
50g butter
200g frozen peas (or fresh peas when in season)
3 eggs
400ml cream
175g cheddar, grated
1tsp dijon musard

• Line a 24cm tart or flan tin with the pastry and bake blind
• Boil a kettle and cover the peas in boiling water. Leave to sit for 5mins, then drain.
• Meanwhile fry the leeks gently in the butter for 5mins until completely soft and pour in the defrosted peas, seasoning well.
• Whisk the eggs, cream and mustard together with plenty of seasoning.
• Once the pastry is cooked, tip the pea and leek mixture in and spread out across the whole pastry base, sprinkle over the cheese and pour over the eggy custard.
• Bake at 190C 25 mins until the top is golden and firm to the touch.

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Breakfast Potato Cakes

This is the perfect way to use up leftover mash, although I would actually make extra so I could fry these up for breakfast the next day, mashed potato and baked beans is possibly one of my favourite combinations, so any excuse really... all you need to do is shape the mash into little cakes, dust in some flour and fry until golden and warmed through. you end up with little cakes of creamy mash inside a crispy fried shell, heat up some beans whilst you're frying and maybe poach an egg to sit atop the cakes, a perfect breakfast!


I actually made these from scratch, admittedly a bit of hassle for a Sunday morning, but I was already boiling up potatoes to make potato bread (and here's the perfect excuse to urge you to make this divine bread!) so it was no biggy, plus I always like to get ahead on Sunday and cook up big batches of food for the week...

Ingredients
Makes enough mash for dinner and breakfast the next day!

800g organic floury potatoes
1 small green cabbage (savoy cabbage or kale also work well)
50g butter
1 clove garlic, finely chopped.
125ml milk, preferably warmed through
flour for dusting

• Peel, the potatoes, cut into chunks and boil in salted water for about 20mins until very soft.
• Drain well and either push through a ricer or mash throughly.
• Add the milk and half the butter along with lots of salt and pepper.
• Now you need to beat furiously with a wooden spoon to get a really smooth mash. Cover and set aside.
• Meanwhile, half and quarter your cabbage, cut out the heart and slice as finely as possible.
• Boil or steam for about 5mins (this will depend on the type of cabbage used) until soft and drain.
• Heat the rest of the butter in a frying pan with a little oil until sizzling, add the garlic and the cabbage and fry for a few mins, season generously and stir the cabbage through the mash, making sure you get all the buttery juices in too.
• This is where you would eat it with anything that has a sauce to soak into the mash or some fish or maybe just on its own from a bowl.
• To make the cakes, coat your hands in flour and sprinkle some onto a plate.
• Take a small handful of mash, roll into a ball and flatten, dip both sides in the flour and place into a hot frying pan with a little oil, fry for a few mins on both sides until golden and warmed through.

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Sausage carbonara

I have a lot of Jamie Oliver books, they make good reading, but haven't actually cooked that many of his recipes, he's all about using amazing (expensive) ingredients simply, when I'm often not. That said, you can't really fault him, he does make beautiful food and on his Ministry of Food website, he's some delicious looking basic recipes too. I'm also mildly obsessed with his website, In this case, I found this rather decadent pasta dish that looked pretty simple, being a glutton in general, I always defualt to creamy pasta dishes as opposed to tomate-ey ones...

Jamie's Italian credentials are pretty good too, having worked at the River Cafe, with Gennaro Contaldo and travelling around Italy to write his book - Jamie's Italy, I'm always keen to try his pasta recipes.

This is a classic carbonara in that it uses eggs as the base, they are tossed with the hot cooked pasta, golden crispy sausage and bacon, and cooked gently to form a smooth and silky sauce. The emphasis being on gentle otherwise you'll end up with scrambled egg. Some lemon zest and parsley add freshness and cut through the richness of the sauce. Delicious and simple.

Recipe Read more...

Mexican Breakfast

As with most things I make, this isn't exactly authentic, but who cares when it tastes this good. And it did, believe me. This is a kind melding together of all things vaguely Mexican that I know of, initially inspired by this recipe from BBC Good Food, I made the spicy bean mixture, topped with cheese and grilled until bubbling and golden, on top came a fried egg, a spoon of tomato salsa, a handful of diced avocado and a splodge of greek yoghurt (in the absence of sour cream).

I would go so far as to say that this is almost healthy, plenty of beany protein and a hefty dose from the egg too, a couple of portions of veg and good fats from the avocado, all that colour is definitely good for you. This is a weekend breakfast though, you need a few hours reading the paper with a cup of tea to let it all digest. Then maybe another for lunch?

Breakfast Tostada

Serves 2

1 400g can refried beans
1 200g can kidney beans, drained
2 large flour tortillas
50g cheddar grated
1 green chilli , thinly sliced
2-4 free range eggs
3 ripe tomatoes, diced
½ red onion, diced
½ lime
½ avocado, diced
4tbsp sour cream or greek yoghurt

• Mix the tomatoes, red onion and lime juice together and season well.
  
• Mix the re-fried beans with the kidney beans and ½ the chilli, check if it needs extra seasoning.
• This makes a lot of bean mixture, leftovers will keep in the fridge for a few days or freeze well.
• Spread a thin layer over the torillas, sprinkle with the cheese and remaining chilli and grill until the cheese is bubling and the tortilla crisp.
• Meanwhile heat about 1tbsp oil in a and fry the eggs to your preference. 1 or 2 each depending on how greedy you're feeling.
  
• Once the tostadas are cooked, top with the fried egg, a spoonful of salsa, some avocado and a dollop of sour cream.

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Swiss chard and Onion Tart

I know I've not been posting regularly recently. Its mostly because I've been eating fairly mediocre food that certainly isn't getting me excited, so I figured not many people would be either. Its amazing how quickly it is to fall into the habit of not cooking and eating rubbish food, and I'm obsessed with food! Anyway, the veg box arrived yesterday and I decided to make this tart, one to stop the chard ending up in a stirfry as most of the leftover veggies do and two because I've not made one for ages.

I cheated and used ready bought pastry, which made this really quick to make. In essence you can pretty much cook any veggies in this eggy mixture, another good combination is brocolli, walnuts and blue cheese, or leek and peas with perhaps feta, or roasted tomatoes, pesto and mozzarella.

This is perfect for packed lunches, just wrap in foil and take with some salad.

500g shortcrust pastry
butter
3 onions, finely sliced
250g swiss chard, finely sliced
pinch nutmeg
4 eggs
1 142ml pot double cream
100g strong cheddar, grated

Preheat the oven to 180C. Roll out the pastry and line a tart tin, line with baking paper and fill with with baking beans. Cook for 10mins, then remove the beans and paper and cook for 10mins more. Meanwhile, cook the onions in a little butter until softened, add the sliced stalks and cook for a min or two more. Now add the leaves and cook until wilted, season well and add the nutmeg. Whisk the eggs and cream, season and mix in the cheese. Lay the chard and onion in the bottom of the tart and pour the eggy mixture over. Bake for 20-30mins until just set. Allow to cool for 10mins before serving. Read more...

Smoked Mackerel Kedgeree

I always entertained ideas of making kedgeree, it fits with my penchant for decadent brunches. In the end we ended up making this for dinner, but there was enough left for a suitably indulgent breakfast the next day. Using smoked mackerel slightly more sustainable take on the classic smoked haddock variety. I also thought it might be fun/nicer to have a fried egg on top instead of chopped boiled egg in the rice. I also added some broad beans from my veg box to up the vegetable content.

Ingredients

Serves 2

1 onion
50g butter
1 red chilli, finely chopped
2tsp curry powder
1tsp cumin seeds
1 mugful rice
2 mugfuls vegetable stock
2-3 fillets smoked mackerel
2 eggs
½ bunch parsley, chopped

Fry the onion in the butter and a little oil until soft, add the spices and chilli and fry for a few minutes more. Add the rice and stir to coat in all the aromatic juices. add the juices, bring to the boil, cover and simmer for 10mins until all the liquid is absorbed. Then turn off the heat and allow to stand for 5mins, fork through, add the smoked mackerel and parsley and season to taste. You could soft boil the eggs, poach them or fry to add to each plate. Read more...

Egg mayo sandwich

This is a slightly posher version of your standard egg mayonnaise sandwich. Use good quality bread, add some herbs and capers and you're onto a winner. Its also about boiling the eggs so they're just set and the yolk is still creamy.

Ingredients

makes 2 sandwiches

3 eggs
1tsp capers, chopped
1tsp chopped chives
4 slices sourdough
1tbsp mayonnaise
handful salad leaves
cucumber and tomato, finely sliced

Cover the eggs with water and bring to the boil. Turn off the heat, cover and leave for exactly 7mins. Meanwhile toast the bread and butter lightly. Peel the eggs and mash, season generously and add the capers, chives and mayonnaise. Stir thoroughly and sandwich with the lettuce, tomato and cucumber. Enjoy! Read more...

Fatty Sandwich

This sandwich literally dripped with fat (well, oil) and therein lies the beauty. Thankfully, I wasn't eating this, I had the lighter cheese sandwich option, this was for my friend who incidentally is a boy and therefore has an insatiable urge to ingest calories. Anyway this came about by me frying everything that looked tasty in the fridge. Namely, onions, cooked slowly in thin slices, then bacon and finally a fried egg, sandwiched in a thick ciabatta roll, one side with melted cheese on. Like I said, a fatty sandwich, but amazing all the same, you could remove the bacon to make this veggie and lose none of the fatty goodness. It could probably have done with some salad, but we didn't have any, oh well...

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Perfect Scrambled Eggs

I love eggs and I love scrambled eggs at the weekend. A trip home this weekend meant I got my mum's scrambled eggs, surpassed by non. Now I'm obviously not going to give a recipe for scrambled eggs, just a few tips...

Start with the basics, free range, preferably organic eggs are a must and don't be shy with seasoning. Scrambled eggs need to be cooked in a non-stick frying pan in butter and eaten on well buttered toast. Butter is a perfect partner to eggs (well, its a perfect partner to most things...)

I like my eggs quite soft, remeber that eggs carry on cooking once you take them off the heat, so take them off a little before they look done.

For a decadent twist, whisk your eggs, add them to a hot pan, give them a quick stir and add a tablespoon or two of double cream. Maybe some smoked salmon or cheese, pepper sauce, baked beans... Read more...

Huevos Rancheros

Huevos rancheros is the perfect brunch, something a bit more special than your average fry up. Its basically eggs fried/poached in a spicy tomato salsa. I've seen recipes where you fry the eggs separately and add the salsa on top, but I prefer cooking the eggs in the sauce.

If you were being authentic, you would eat this with tortillas, and you certainly wouldn't put baked beans in it. But, one, I love baked beans and two, I couldn't be bothered to go out and buy tortillas, I think it is nicer with them though.

Huevos Rancheros

Serves 2 hungry people

1 onion
1 red pepper
2 cloves garlic
1 red chilli
4 ripe tomatoes (or 1 can chopped tomatoes)
all finely chopped
½ can baked beans (optional! )
½ tsp ground cumin
½ tsp paprika
4 free range eggs
toast/tortillas to serve

Fry the onions and peppers in a little oil until softened, add the garlic, chilli and spices and fry for a fruther few mins, now add the tomatoes, season and stir well. Simmer for 10-15mins until you have a rich tomato salsa, add a little water if necessary), now stir in the beans. Make a little hole in a corner of your pan and gently crack an egg in, repeat with the rest of the eggs. Turn the heat up and cover, cook for 5-10mins until the eggs are cooked as you like them. A little extra chilli sauce is also very good here, as is grated cheese. Read more...

Special Rice

This is the best recipe for generic 'egg fried rice' that I've come across. It came courtesy of my good friend, and has thai overtones, but I make no claims of authenticity. Basically, its just tasty, comforting rice in a bowl. Apparently ridiculous amounts of fish sauce and chilli are compulsory.
The idea is use up any left over vegetables you have. Mushrooms and peas work particularly well here as do any type of greens. To be honest, most things go.

Ingredients

Serves 2

1 cup brown rice, cooked
1 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 3cm piece of ginger, grated
2 chillis, finely chopped
3-4 cups assorted vegetables, cut into similar sized pieces
2 eggs, whisked
sunflower oil
fish sauce

Heat the sunflower oil in a wok until smoking hot, add the onions, garlic, ginger and chilli. fry for a few mins. Add the vegetables and cook for few mins more, stirring constantly. Now add the rice and fry for a few mins. Make a well in the centre, pour in the eggs and fry, stirring all the time until the egg is absorbed. Finish with a liberal slug of fish sauce. Feel free to add more chilli and fish sauce. Read more...

Potato, Onion and Goat's Cheese Tart

Mmmm this tart was delicious. In a bid to use my new heart shaped tin,we found this recipe on the BBC Good Food website, which I think is a lot better than the BBC food website, there's still the mine of recipes but you get great pictures, new and innovative recipes without the rubbish Ready Steady Cook recipes.


Seen as though we cheated and used ready made pastry, this recipe was super easy. Make sure you cook the potato and onion until they're really soft and caramelised. This tart is also really rich, so you only really need a salad to go with it or some simply cooked vegetables.

Recipe



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