Month: Jul 2022

Chicken taquitos

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

Crunchy tortilla outsides, gooey spicy insides. So good. Pile salsa and guac on top and get your munch on. Makes 6.

  • About 1 chicken breast-worth of cooked, shredded chicken
  • 100g grated cheddar
  • 2 tbsp cream cheese
  • 1 tsp ground cumin
  • 1 tsp chilli flakes
  • ½ tsp onion powder
  • ½ tsp smoked paprika
  • Pinch of salt
  • 6 corn/wheat tortillas
  • 1 tsp bacon fat (or veg oil)
  1. Mix together all the ingredients except for the tortillas and the bacon fat or oil
  2. Spoon a sixth of the mixture in a line along the middle of a tortilla
  3. Fold the tortilla around the filling like a spring roll, folding in the ends as you roll the tortilla
  4. Stop them from springing open by securing with a toothpick, or just pressing them gently with the fold-side down
  5. Repeat until all the tortillas and all the filling is used up
  6. Heat the bacon fat in a non-stick pan over a medium heat
  7. Place the taquitos into the pan and fry for a couple of mins on each side until the tortillas are brown and the filling is melted

Apple and honey cake

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A Passover classic but delicious any time of year. Pretty, moist, golden and beautiful, inside and out.

  • 4 small apples, peeled, halved and cored
  • 1 tbsp lemon juice
  • 1 tbsp sugar
  • 125g unsalted butter, at room temperature
  • 75g sugar
  • 4 tbsp honey
  • 1 tsp cinnamon
  • 3 large eggs, separated
  • 140g flour
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  1. Pre-heat oven to 160C fan (180C)
  2. Grease a springform tin and line the bottom with baking paper
  3. Place the peeled, halved and cored apples cut-side-down on a cutting board
  4. Use a sharp knife to cut a series of parallel lines 3-5mm apart to halfway through the apple pieces (so that the halves stay intact)
  5. Toss apple with lemon juice and 1 tbsp sugar
  6. In a scrupulously clean bowl, whisk the egg whites into stiff peaks
  7. In a separate bowl, beat together the butter and remaining 75g sugar until fluffy
  8. Add the honey, cinnamon and egg yolks and beat until combined
  9. Add the flour, baking powder and salt half at a time, mixing until just combined
  10. Stir ¼ of the egg whites into the batter, then gently fold in the rest
  11. Scrape cake batter into the tin, smoothing the top
  12. Arrange apple halves facedown on the cake batter – you don’t need to press them down, the cake will rise up to encase them 
  13. Bake for 35 mins until golden brown. Rest the tin on a rack for 5 mins before turning out to cool completely

Coconut curry pot-roast chicken

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The perfect dish for when you have someone to impress and you want delectable, fragrant curry, but you’ve got no time to spend prepping. All the work here is done by the oven, the only ‘cooking’ is frying onions. But the result is seriously impressive and incredibly delicious.

  • 1 tbsp veg oil
  • 2 onions, finely chopped
  • 300g packet curry kit (like those from Spice Tailor). Choose a highly-flavoured, spicy one for maximum effect
  • 1 tin coconut milk
  • 200ml chicken stock
  • 1.3kg whole chicken
  • Salt
  • Fresh coriander
  1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C fan (220C)
  2. Heat the veg oil in a saucepan over a medium heat and cook the onions until soft
  3. Add the spices from the curry kit and stir in, then add the base spice paste
  4. Cook for another minute before adding the curry sauce, coconut milk and stock. Stir together, heat to a bubble and then remove from the heat
  5. Place the chicken into a deep oven dish, pour all the sauce into the dish around the chicken (rather than over the top)
  6. Sprinkle salt over the chicken skin
  7. Cook in the hot oven for 15 mins then turn it down to 170C fan (190C) and cook for a further 1 hour. Baste every 15 mins with the sauce from the pan
  8. Remove from the oven and leave to rest for 10 mins
  9. Scatter with fresh coriander leaves
  10. Carve the chicken, serving over rice with the curry sauce on top. Maybe some garlic greens on the side

Peach and marzipan tart

~ Sophie ~ Leave a comment

A simple summertime dream dessert, flavours of peach, raspberry and almond. Peach melba delight.

  • 320g ready rolled puff pastry
  • 200g marzipan
  • 2 large peaches, not too ripe and squishy
  • 2 tbsp apricot jam
  • 150g raspberries
  1. Pre-heat the oven to 200C fan (220C) and take the pastry out of the fridge
  2. Unroll the pastry onto a lined baking tray (maybe just use the paper that came rolled around the pastry)
  3. Score a rectangle around the pastry 1½ cm in from the edge
  4. Slice the marzipan finely, 1-2 mm thick – or grate it if it’s hard
  5. Lay or scatter the marzipan on the puff pastry in a single layer within the scored rectangle
  6. Halve and slice the peaches into 2 mm slices
  7. Place the peach slices over the marzipan in overlapping rows like fish scales
  8. Bake for 20 mins then turn the tray and give it another 7 mins
  9. Take the tart out of the oven, leave to cool for 5 mins
  10. Melt the jam in a small pan the brush it over the peaches until glossy and sticky then scatter the raspberries evenly over the top
  11. Serve warm with raspberry ripple ice cream on the side

2 sorts of sausage rolls

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Different, but both delicious. Lovely nibbles. Makes 16.

  • 400g pork sausage meat (or sausages squeezed out of its skins)
  • 320g puff pastry sheet
  • 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
  • 3 tbsp onion marmalade
  • Handful dried breadcrumbs
  • Large handful of fresh herbs, finely chopped (sage, parsley, chives, savoury)
  • 1 clove garlic, grated
  • Black pepper
  • 1 egg, beaten
  • 1 tbsp mustard seeds, cracked a little with a pestle and mortar (or 1 tbsp kalonji/black onion seeds)
  • 1 tbsp pul biber (or ½ tbsp paprika)
  1. Pre-heat the oven to 190C fan (210C)
  2. Take the pastry out of the fridge 15 mins before you’re ready to make the sausage rolls
  3. Divide the sausage meat in half into 2 bowls
  4. Into one half, mix the wholegrain mustard, onion marmalade and dried breadcrumbs
  5. And into the other, mix the chopped herbs, garlic and a good grind of black pepper
  6. Mix well until the ingredients are completely combined
  7. Unroll the pastry and cut it lengthways down the middle into 2 strips
  8. Form each sausage mixture into a long thin cylinder the length of the pastry strip and place one down the middle of each strip
  9. Along the long edge, tightly roll the pastry over the sausage meat and then keep rolling until the sausage is enclosed and the edge is underneath
  10. Repeat with the other roll
  11. Brush the top with egg. Onto the onion and mustard rolls sprinkle the mustard seeds or kalonji, and on the herb and garlic rolls sprinkle the pul biber or paprika
  12. Wet a sharp knife with a little water and cut the sausage rolls into 8 equal-sized pieces. If the knife starts to stick, just wet it again
  13. Lift the little rolls onto a lined baking tray and pop into the oven
  14. Bake for 20 mins until golden brown and cooked through
  15. Lift the sausage rolls off the tray onto a rack to cool before scoffing enthusiastically