Tuesday, October 11, 2011

Francesco's "Linguini allo Scoglio"


"Black tail tiger king prawns with green lipped mussels and juicy pieces of cod. Finished in a mouth watering sauce of fresh cherry tomatoes, garlic, a hint of chili and parsley."

So I fancied a take away one night but wanted something a bit healthier than the norm. A two for one voucher for the Italian restaurant "Francescos" in Buckinghamshire came in the post that morning so it was a no brainer. The linguini allo scoglio really appealed to me as i love my prawns and mussels and a fresh Italian tomato sauce. I was really happy with this dish. The heat from the chili wasn't over powering, the sauce was lovely, the cherry tomatoes were amazing they were warm and juicy and full of flavour, the prawns were shelled but i love them like that and the mussels were huge. There was plenty of fish and they definitely didn't leave me short and was left full and satisfied. All in all I loved the linguini allo scoglio and would love to make my own attempt at it!

Tuesday, April 5, 2011

Garlic Bread

There's nothing worse than being extremely hungover and having no garlic bread in the house.  This is handy for those situations as g-bread is one of my hangover foods.  But I think this recipe tastes sooo much better than supermarket versions so if you want to impress someone or simply just indulge I'd recommend this;

Garlic Bread

Ingredients

  • Butter
  • Parsley
  • Garlic
  • Bread (baguette/ciabatta)
  • Parmesan/Cheddar (optional)
  • Olive Oil
Method
  1. Put about 25g of softened butter (or as much as you fancy) into a bowl with a big tsp of parsley and 1 crushed or chopped garlic.  Mix together.
  2. Drizzle some oil over the bread which has been chopped in half or into small slices.  This will make the bread so juicy, but don't go too mad.
  3. Now spread the garlic butter on to the bread.
  4. You can then add some grated parmesan or cheddar cheese on top.  Add some more herbs if you think it needs it, I added some more oregano.
  5. Now depending on what bread you got, some baguettes are oven baked ones and require you to bake for 10 minutes.  I used ciabatta bread today and grilled on both sides until the butter melted and the bread began to brown a little bit (I like it a little golden brown, not burnt!).
  6. Now eat!!

Lasagne

Serves: 4
Time: 1 hour

Equipment
  • Saucepan
  • Wooden Spoon
  • Casserole Dish
  • Cheese Grater
  • Chopping Board
  • Chopping Knife
Ingredients
  • Oil
  • 1 Large Onion
  • 2 Garlic Cloves
  • 25g Butter
  • 800g Minced Beef
  • 2 Tins of Chopped Tomatoes
  • Tomato Pureé
  • Red Wine Vinegar
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Oregano
  • Basil
  • Paprika
  • Parsley
  • 3 Diced Tomatoes
  • 3 Chopped Mushrooms
  • Lasagne Sheets
  • White Sauce
  • Grated Cheese (Cheddar and Parmesan)
Method

1. Heat 2 tbsp of oil in the pan then melt the butter in the pan. Meanwhile chop the garlic and onion and add to the pan once the butter has melted and the oil has been heated.  Stir and cook until the onion has softened (about 3 mins).




2. Now add the mince to the pan, separating it as you do so.  Continue to separate using the wooden spoon. 






3. Continue to cook and stir until the meat has browned, then and add a pinch of salt and a tbsp of pepper and stir.






4. Open two tins of chopped tomatoes and add to the pan.  Then add a tbsp of basil, oregano and paprika and a tsp of parsley and stir.  Add a tbsp of tomato pureé and a glug of red wine vinegar, stir again.





5. Allow to boil then lower the heat, cover with a lid then simmer for 20-30 minutes. The sauce should have thickened by then and not be as watery.





6.  Now begin with the white sauce.  You can buy packets of this in the supermarket, instead of making it from scratch.  It's a lot easier, you just add 300ml of milk and cheese.  The instructions will be on the packet, you should keep an eye on it and stir continuously.  The cheesier the sauce the better the taste.  You will know it's ready when it has thickened.



7. Now grease the casserole dish with some butter and add the first layer of mince and even it out.






8. The next layer will consist of lasagne sheets. Unfortunately I only had 6 sheets left so I had to make the most of them, normally if the sheets are crinkled you should have them going in the same direction and cover all of the meat, you can break the sheets up to ensure this.




9.  Now the third layer is the white cheesy sauce.  You should cover all of the sheets, this helps it cook.  Continue with the 3 layers until you have run out.






10.  On the final layer after you have topped the lasagne sheets with the sauce add a layer of grated cheese (and Parmesan) you can also sprinkle small pinches of oregano and basil and some chopped tomato.






11. Cover the lasagna and place it in a preheated oven at 180 Degrees Celsius for 20 minutes.  Then remove the tin foil and bake for a further 10 minutes to ensure the cheese has melted.





12. Remove and serve! 








Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Cajun Chicken Pasta Bake

This dish ends wars....well kind of, it ended a fight I was having at the time.  The first time I cooked it for T he said it was his new favourite so here it is:

Cajun Chicken Pasta Bake

Serves: 2
Time: 40 mins

Equipment
  • Saucepan
  • Frying Pan
  • Spatula
  • Spoon
  • Oven Proof Dish
  • Wooden Spoon
  • Chopping Board
  • Chopping Knife
Ingredients
  • Fusilli Pasta
  • Chicken Breasts (chopped into small strips)
  • Oil
  • White Sauce
  • Milk
  • Cheese
  • Breadcrumbs
  • Salt and Pepper
  • Cajun Seasoning
  • Season All
  • Paprika
  • Mixed Herbs
  • A Clove of Garlic
  • Red Pepper
  • Tomatoes
  • Mushrooms
  • Scallions (spring onions)
Method

1. Boil the water in a saucepan for the pasta, add some olive oil and salt to the water.  Then heat some oil in the frying pan.  Next chop/crush 1 clove of garlic add to the pan, chop the chicken breasts into small stips, season with salt and pepper and add to the hot pan and cook for about 3-5 minutes.
2. Meanwhile chop the peppers, tomatoes, scallions and mushrooms. 
3. Once the water has boiled add the pasta, use 100g per person for 10-12 minutes.
4. Once the chicken has been cooked through, add 2 tbsp of cajun seasoning, add a little bit of water so that the seasoning can spread around the chicken.  Add 1 tbsp of paprika, 1 tbsp mixed herbs, 1 tbsp of season all.
4. Then add the chopped veg to the pan and cook on a low heat.
 5. Drain the pasta when its ready and keep to the side in the pan.  For the white sauce I used a sachet of Colmans white sauce, you can also make some from scratch.  Add about 200g of cheese to the sauce, or as much/little as you prefer. Once ready comine the chicken, the pasta and white sauce and stir.



6. Grease the oven proof dish with butter and add the pasta.  Make sure the chicken and veg are evenly distributed, and then flatten down the pasta.





7.  Now top with cheese, breadcrumbs and mixed herbs.  Place in a pre-heated oven for 15-20 minutes and serve.






P.S. There is no picture of when it came out of the oven, because I served it up so quickly and forgot, oopsie!!

xx

Monday, March 21, 2011

Fairy Cakes


I <3 fairy cakes!  My mam made them for us when we were little (and still does), then we started helping, and look at me now, I'm making them all on my own, proud of me mam?  Haha!  Here's the recipe:

Fairy Cakes

Equipment
  • Weighing scales
  • Whisk
  • Paper cases
  • Bowl
  • Sive 
  • Baking tray
Ingredients
  • 100g (4oz) butter
  • 100g (4oz) caster sugar
  • 2 eggs, beaten
  • 100g (4oz) self raising flour

Method

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy in other words, mush them together with your hands.  This is easier when the butter is cut up into small pieces and at room temperature.





2. Gradually beat  in the egg, a little at a time, beating well after each addition






3.  Fold in the flour gradually. 







4.  You should end up with something like this, with a smooth but thick consistency






5. Place the paper cases onto a tray.  Fill them half way with a spoon







6.  Bake at 190C/ gas mark 5/ 375F for 15-20 minutes until golden brown and cooked through.  Leave to cool on a wire rack.






7.  I used icing to top my cakes, or you can use chocolate either!







8. Et voila!




Mojito

Bacardi Orange Mojito
The Mojito, my one true love!!  If you're new to the mojito, you're in for a treat, if you have only had the Bacardi pre-mix or in bars, you will never look back!

My first Mojito was in Frankie and Benny's restaurant, I love anything strawberry and they had a strawberry version so I had to try it, I L-O-V-E-D it!  I then had the taste for them and bought the Bacardi Mojito cocktail mix from the supermarket, it was nice, not the best and so expensive!! I started to buy the Sainsbury's own brand of Mojito, which I have to say tastes an awful lot better than the Bacardi version, funnily enough.  If you are buying the pre-mixes, I would advise adding a drop or two of soda water, they are about 14% vol and I'd be conked out after a bottle of the stuff!

After moving back home to Ireland for the summer, and running out of my Sainsbury's Mojito stash, I started to think I would probably be able to make my own Mojito, somehow. I looked into a few recipes online, I noticed a lot of them used sugar cane syrup, whatever that was?  My mam told me we could make our own sugar syrup by heating up sugar and water in a pan, it didn't exactly work out for us, so that was the end of that.  A few weeks later my Mam came home with a surprise...sugar cane syrup!!  So we started muddling and mixing, and OMG, the sexiest Mojito ever!!  Here's the recipe:

Mojito
serves: 1/4 (I have included the recipe for 1 drink and a pitcher containing 4 drinks)
prep time: 5 minutes

 Equipment
  • Muddler (improvise with the top of a bottle/pestle/rolling pin)
  • Jug
  • Straws 
  • Glasses
Ingredients
  • Half a lime per drink (2 limes for a pitcher of 4)
  • 8 mint leaves per drink (32 for a pitcher of 4)
  • Sugar cane syrup / caster sugar
  • Soda water
  • Ice (the more, the better)
  • Bacardi (you can use supermarket own brand if you want, but Bacardi tastes the best)
Method
  1. Chop the halved lime/2 limes into quaters and place in glass/jug
  2. Add 8/32 mint leaves
  3. Muddle them together so that you extract the lime juice.  You should not be too forceful and 'mash' the ingredients, use a twisting motion as you gently press down on the mint and limes.  If you do not have sugar cane syrup muddle the sugar in with the lime and mint, use about a tablespoon of sugar.
  4. Add 40ml/160ml of Bacardi. (The UK single spirit measure is 25ml and 35.5ml in Ireland, so keep this in mind and alter the measurements if you wish to, this is the measurement I prefer to use.)
  5. Then add 20ml/80ml of sugar cane syrup or 1 tbsp/4 tbsp of sugar.
  6. Now add 60ml/240ml of soda water.
  7. Stir and serve with ice and a straw.

    P.S.  I get my sugar cane syrup in Sainsburys (can't find it anywhere else) it's kept with the spirits and you will get asked for ID, ridiculous, I know. its £2 for a 250ml bottle, but its worth it if you have the cash.  Or if you are in Ireland I get a big bottle of it in Superquinn for about €4/€5.

    I will add more pics when I make some at the weekend :)

    Enjoy

    xx

    Thursday, August 26, 2010

    Pitza

    This is what I had for lunch today, yum!

    PITZA
    serves: 1
    prep time: 5 mins
    cooking time: 5 mins

    Ingredients
    - 1 pitta bread
    - Tomato Pureé
    - Grated cheese (to taste)
    - Slice of Ham / Pepperoni (or both)
    - 2 chopped cherry tomatoes (to taste)
    - Half a palmfull of Oregano / mixed herbs / preffered herb
    - Crushed Chillis (to taste)

    Method
    1) Grill pitta bread on one side (browned side facing up) until warm and slightly toasted
    2) Spread tomato pureé over pitta bread on the freckled / non-browned side
    3) Sprinkle the grated cheese over and some of the oregano
    4) Place ham and tomato and/or pepperoni
    5) Sprinke the rest of the oregano and crushed chillis
    6) Grill until cheese is melted and serve with salad

    Enjoy

    xx