Red Onion Chutney. Mmmmmmmm……………

Christmas is fast approaching and this is the perfect gift for food lovers. I made everyone a jar last year and they loved it. In a nice Kilnear jar  tied up with christmassy ribbon and a nice tag it's perfect with pate and oatcakes for a nice snack or a lovely starter.

Before you start, wash more jars than you think you need in hot soapy water then place in a low oven (gas 1) for an hour to sterilise them, leave them there until you need them if the chutney takes you longer than an hour to make as they need to be filled whilst hot. alternatively, put them through the dishwasher, however they need to be filled whilst still warm.

I like to use Kilner jars as they look great when full of yummy chutney, however any jar will do – this is a great way to recycle your jars ( or even those of your friends and family).

So, here is my recipe. It makes approximately 3/4 litres.

Ingredients:

• 1 kg red onions
• bouquet garni
• aprox 25 ml olive oil
• 200g brown sugar
• 225ml red wine vinegar or 150ml red wine & 75ml of red wine vinegar.
• 75ml balsamic vinegar
• 1 cinnamon stick (optional and lovely if making near Christmas)
• aprox 1tbsp freshly grated nutmeg (again fab for Christmas chutney)

The method is relatively simple, however a good heavy bottomed pan ( eg. Le Cruset) makes this so easy to do.

Method:

• Peel the onions and slice thinly. Put them in the pan with the olive oil & bouquet garni and stir well so the onions have a good coating of oil.
• Cover and cook on a low heat until the onions are soft. Then add the vinegars and sugar and stir well. Cover and cook on a low heat for 15 mins then uncover and stir well.

The onions should now look like this:

• Leave to simmer on a low heat until the onions are dark and sticky and the liquid has reduced by 2/3.

This is what they should look like now:

• Switch off the heat, take the jars out of the oven and spoon the onions into them. Leave until completely cooled before closing the lid.

• Enjoy!

Red Thai curry

Ingredients:

• 1 heaped tbsp red Thai curry paste
• 1 large butternut squash
• 1 pack chestnut mushrooms
• 2 tins coconut cream
• 10 or so cherry tomatoes
• 3 spring onions
• 2 bags fresh egg noodles or jasmine rice (75g/person)

Method:

• Peel, clean and then chop the butternut squash into large chunks.
• Place in a pan of water and par boil. This should only take about 5 mins.
• Drain the squash and leave it aside in the colander.
• Using the same pan add the curry paste and the coconut cream and stir well to combine.
• Add the squash to the coconut milk. Simmer on a low heat whilst you slice the mushrooms and spring onions.
• Once chopped, add the mushrooms to the pan. Leave to simmer until the mushrooms have almost cooked.
• Whilst the mushrooms are cooking add the noodles to a lightly oiled frying pan or wok & cook through.
• Add the tomatoes and spring onions and simmer gently for just a couple of minutes until the tomato skins start to burst.
• Serve the noodles into bowls and then serve the curry on top.

Sticky Pasta

This pasta, I think, is amazing. It's so simple to make and really really tasty. It's pretty salty though and one of the very, very few times I use a sauce from a packet.

If I had time, I would make hoi sin sauce myself, but i love this as a quick and tasty dinner for a treat.


Ingredients:

• Hoi sin sauce - 2 packets of ready made sauce is perfect for 4 people.
• 300g Penne pasta
• 1 Red pepper, sliced
• 75g Chestnut mushrooms, sliced
• 2-4 spring onions, sliced
• Optional chicken or prawns, as much or as little as you like. I love left over roast chicken for this.

Method:

• Put the pasta on to boil and prepare the veg
• Stir fry the veg ( and meat or prawns if using) on a high heat then add the hoi sin sauce and simmer on a very low heat while you drain the pasta.
• Add the drained pasta to the veg & sauce and toss to coat well.
• Serve in bowls immediatley

Sweet Potato Tikka

We love curries here. This one is a fabulous change from a meat curry and it goes down really well with guests too. Perfect with a bottle of Red (or grape juice for the kids).

Ingredients:

• 1tsp ground cumin
• 1/2tsp cayenne powder
• 1tsp round turmeric
• 1/2 tsp ground ginger
• small sprinkle dried chilli flakes
• 1 1/2tsp garam masala
• 2-3 cloves fresh garlic, crushed or finley chopped
• 4 tins tomatoes
• 300ml creme fraiche
• 1kg sweet potatos
• 100g chestnut mushrooms
• 2-3 big handfuls baby spinach leaves
• Olive oil
• Basmati or pilau rice  - aprox 75g per person.

Method:

• In a large pan, put all the spices and set aside for later.
• Peel sweet potato and cut into bite size chunks. Boil until tender, but not soft.
• Slice mushrooms and set to the side.
• Add a good glug of oil to the spices and stir well to make a runny paste.  Heat on a low to med heat until just starts to sizzle and no more.
• Add drained sweet potato to the warmed paste and then add the mushrooms too. Stir really well and add the tinned tomatoes.
• Leave to simmer for 5 mins while you put the rice on to cook.
• One the rice is on, chop the baby spinach into shreds and add to the curry, but don't stir in yet.
• Once the rice is half done, stir in the spinach and leave to simmer.
• Just as the rice is finishing, add the creme fraiche to the curry and stir well until melted through. Turn to lowest heat and leave while you serve the rice.
• Add your curry to the plate and serve with nanns and papadoms.

Summer Pasta

Everyone likes pasta don't they?  Ok, maybe not everyone, but I think most people do and certainly I have never met a child that won't eat pasta.
The thing is it can get a bit repetitive, so this a a nice light summer alternative to the basic tomato pasta that most children seem to eat by the truck load!

Ingredients:

• Spaghetti for 4 people
• 1 courgette
• 1 lemon (juice and zest)
• 1-2 cloves garlic crushed or chopped
• 300ml Single cream

Method:

• Put spaghetti on to boil in a large pan
• Grate the courgette and add to a frying pan with the crushed garlic and the zest of half a lemon.
• Heat the courgette, garlic & lemon gently being careful not to let the garlic burn.
• Once the pasta is almost cooked, add the cream to the courgette and stir in well. add the juice of half a lemon stir well again and leave on a low heat.
• Drain the pasta and add to the cream & courgette and toss gently until the pasta is well coated in sauce.
• Serve into bowls and garnish with zest from the other half of the lemon.

This is perfect on a warm summer day with fresh bread and extra virgin olive oil in a dipping bowl and a chilled glass of crisp white wine.

Pizza

Everyone likes pizza right?  Ok, well in our house they do - but there is something about shop bought pizza that I just don't like, so I started to make my own and I'll tell you, it doesn't last long that's for sure!

You can have so many different topping combinations that you wouldn't find in the shops too - which is always fun!
Here are a few pics of the more popular ones in our house:

Mozarella, fried red onion, pineapple and sweetcorn

Mozarella, scottish cheddar, tomato & black pepper

Mozarella & white cheddar

One of my personal favourites:

Mozerrella, tomato & fresh basil

Pepperoni, pepperoni and ham, tuna and sweetcorn, haggis, hot dog, chargrilled veggies, sweet chilli chicken and several others are also popular here, however they tend to get demolished before pictures can be taken!!

It really is a free reign - you can put anything on a pizza - in any combination. I generally use tomato pasatta or strained tinned tomatoes as a base mixed with some dried oregano, but BBQ sauce is fantastic - I love bbq sauce with sweetcorn, pineapple and fried red onion.

Regge Regge sauce is also a fantastic base sauce as an alternative to tomato or BBQ.

The possibilities are endless and you can make a pizza in any shape - I usually make a round and a rectangle for one meal, it just so happens I tentd to take pictures of the rectangle ones!

It's also fabulously easy for the kids to join in and make their own pizzas - all you have to do is make the dough and then put several different toppings on bowls on the table and let them do the rest!

Ingredients: For the dough

•  500g strong white  '00' flour
• 1 packet dried yeast
• 4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• Aprox 300ml warm water
• 1/2 tsp salt

Ingredients: For the topping

• 1 carton tomato pasatta or 2-3 tins of tomatoes strained OR BBQ sauce OR Regge Regge sauce
• Dried oregano to taste (I only use this in the tomato/pasatta sauce)
• Your choice of toppings - as much or as little as you like

Method:

• Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl
• Add the water and oil
• Mix together well, but don't over work the dough
• Tip onto a well floured surface
• Knead for 10 mins or until the dough is nice and smooth
• Lightly cover the dough with oil and place back into the bowl.
• Cover with clingfilm and leave in a warm place for an hour to rise
• After an hour tip the dough onto a well floured surface and spread by hand or carefully using a rolling pin to desired shape and size
• Add your chosen sauce base and top the dough
• Place in a very hot oven (Gas 9) for 5-10 minutes until the dough is almost cooked*
• Remove from oven and add toppings**
• Return to oven and leave until the cheese has melted
• Serve with salad, chips wedges or pasta

*/** combine these two stages if letting kids make this. Just top the raw dough with sauce and add the toppings then put in the oven until the dough looks cooked and the cheese has melted.

Garlic and Chilli Prawn Pasta

This is one of those dinners I kind of stumbled upon one night while chucking together stuff that was in the fridge. It was devoured so quickly last night that I forgot to take a photo, but I will add one asap! The quantities here are for 4.

Ingredients

• Long pasta - spaghetti, linguine or similar (aprox 75g per person)
• King prawns
• 2 Red chillies - I leave the seeds in, but you can de-seed one or both to suit your taste.
• 4 cloves of garlic crushed or chopped very finely
• Juice of half a lemon
• Hand full of basil
• Olive oil

Method

• Chop  the garlic and chillies (and de-seed if required). Put in a wok with a good glug of olive oil.
• Put the pasta on to boil.
• Heat the wok over a medium heat and then add the prawns.
• Lower the heat if required and cook the prawns through.
• Juice half a lemon and tear or chop a good hand full of basil.Add the lemon juice to the wok and stir in well.
• Drain the pasta and add the basil to the wok
• Put the pasta into the wok and toss well to make sure the pasta is well coated in the oil and the prawns and basil are distributed evenly (ish).
• Serve in bowls while piping hot and add a big chunk of warm, crusty white bread on the side.

This dish would also work well with bow or shell shaped pasta, minus the prawns and served cold on a summer buffet.

Lasagne

 This is my 6 yr old sons all time favourite dinner - EVER!!! He refers to himself as 'The Lasagne Monster'. I have had so many requests for this recipe that it seemed utterly silly not to have it here. 

 Ingredients, Mince :

• 800g Lean Beef Steak Mince
• 1 Small red onion diced
• 1 Small white onion diced
• 3 Carrots grated
• 4-6 Cloves of garlic chopped or crushed ( reduce or increase garlic to your own taste)
• 2 Tins chopped tomatoes
• ½ – 1 Tube tomato puree
• Worcestershire sauce
• Dried oregano
• Dried basil

Method:

• Sweat the onions, carrot & garlic in the pan for a few minutes until softened.
• Add the mince, and combine well with the garlic, onion & carrot and cook over a medium heat until cooked through.
• Add aprox. 1-2 tsp of Worcestershire sauce and crumble in the oxo cube. Stir well.
• Add the tinned tomatoes, about half of the tomato puree and leave to simmer gently.
• Sprinkle in the dried herbs and stir well.
• Leave on a really low heat while you make the white sauce, stirring occasionally.

Ingredients, Bechamel Sauce:

• 3oz Butter ( unsalted)
• 3oz Plain Flour
• 1 & ½ Pints of milk


Method:

• Put the butter and flour in the pan and melt over a very low heat, stirring until you form a rue.
• Remove from the heat and gradually stir in half of the milk.
• Return to a med heat and add the rest of the milk, stirring continuously.
• Add salt & pepper to taste.
• Keep stirring until the sauce has reached your desired consistency ( I like it like good custard – not too runny, not too thick).
• Switch off heat and assemble lasagne as quickly as possible.

I use aprox 8 sheets of fresh lasagne for the following construction:

• Cover the bottom of the lasagne dish with a good layer of mince.
• Cover with lasagne sheets ( you may need to trim them to fit, which is easy done with scissors or by folding)
• Pour over one third of the bechamel sauce and spread to cover all the pasta.
• Repeat the mince, pasta, sauce and then repeat again.
• Top with grated cheese and black pepper.
• Pop in the oven for about 20 mins on gas 7.

Chicken Fried Rice

I love chicken fried rice from the Chinese takeaway, but I was reluctant to let the children eat it due the high salt content, so a while ago decided to make my own. The first attempt was ok, but the egg went funny following a few recipes that had said to add the egg at the end. So I do the egg first, decant to a warm plate and cover, cook the rest and then add the egg back in at the end.

Ingredients:

• 350g chicken, cut into strips
• 375g long grain rice
• 4 eggs
• small cereal dish of frozen peas ( sorry, but I don't weigh them out - just bung them in the dish!)
• Reduced salt soy sauce to taste ( use full salt if you prefer, but this is because I am making for kids)
• Aprox 1tbsp olive oil
• Sesame seed oil - a dribble
• 2-3 spring onions - thinly sliced.

Method:

• Boil the rice, drain and leave to cool. If you add the rice warm it will go sticky & starchy.
• Heat a large frying pan or wok and add add a very small amount of olive oil.
• Beat the eggs and add to the pan. leave for a couple of seconds until they start to cook through and  then scramble gently repeat until cooked and then transfer to a warmed plate or dish and cover.
• Put the rest of the olive oil to the pan or wok with as much or little soy sauce as you like 
• Add the chicken and white of the spring onions.Cook the chicken through.
• Defrost/cook peas in the microwave and set aside ready.
• Add the rice, peas, spring onion and egg and heat until piping hot, adding soy sauce to taste.
• Drizzle the sesame oil over, toss gently and serve immediately.

* Chopsticks optional - we tend to go with a fork - toddlers, small children and chopsticks tend not to get on to well!!

Nachos and Chilli

Chilli con Carne is one of our family favourites. I usually make it with beef mince and serve with rice, but Hubby and I were at a comedy club recently and this is how it was served, just one large plate in the middle of the table for a 'sharing' dinner.  I have also decided to use chunks of casserole steak for this - it just seemed 'right' somehow!

Nachos and Cheese

Ingredients:

• 1kg diced casserole steak
• 2 tins chopped tomatoes
• 2 cartons tomato passata
• 1-2 tsp cayenne pepper (to taste)
• 2 red chillis, de-seeded and chopped
• Tabasco sauce, to taste
• 1 shot bourbon - aprox 25 ml - Optional
• 2 small red onions, diced
• 2 cloves garlic
• Dried chilli flakes, to taste
• 1 Large packet of tortilla chips
• Sour cream
• Salsa
• Grated cheddar cheese - as much or little as you like.

Method:

• Soften the onions, garlic and chilli in the pan.
• Add the steak and bourbon and brown fairly quickly.
• Turn down the heat and add the tomatos, passata, cayenne, tabasco
• Leave to simmer on a low heat for at least 2 hours, or transfer to an oven proof casserole dish and pop in the oven at gas 3 for 2 hrs or so.
• Just before you are ready to serve, put all the tortilla chips on a really large plate and cover with grated cheese.
• Pop under the grill until the cheese just starts to melt.
• remove the plate from the grill, ladel the chilli over and then serve in the middle of the table for everyone to help themselves.
• Serve sour cream and salsa in dishes to accompany the Nachos and Chilli.



P.s  I served this on a large plate, aprox 1and a half foot long and 1 ft wide. It served 4 of us with little left over. However there was enough chilli left in the oven dish for hubby to take to work for lunch the next day. 

Hello!

Most Mums and Dads will know the phrase  "Is dinner nearly ready yet?" (usually said with much hope and expectation!). I know it is in our house.
I wouldn't describe myself as a foodie, but I do firmly believe that good, honest, home cooked foods are the best thing for our children to eat.
I have 2 children - a 6 yr old who will eat pretty much anything, and a 2 yr old - who until recently was the exact same - but is currently going through a fussy phase. Or at least I hope it's a phase. I'm reliably informed that lots of nearly 3 yr olds do this. Refuse food that you know full well they like. This is new territory for me - the 6 yr old never - ever- did this.
I guess I'm lucky though. My husband wasn't terribly adventurous with regards to food when I met him 11 and a half years ago, but will try most things now, as will the oldest.
So this is my growing collection of recipes, food and drinks. Maybe even the odd cocktail!!