Potato and Chorizo Omelette - Jamie Oliver Recipe

Jamie's omelette is, as he says a cross between a Spanish tortilla and an Italian frittata. 
It's Spanish because of the chorizo and potato, but a little Italian too because he likes to finish it off in the oven instead of on the hob, so it puffs up like a soufflé.

This is my slightly titivated version, Jamie puts rosemary in his which he fries in the chorizo oil till crisp, other than that it's pretty much the same recipe.
If you make it be sure to make the kind of parsley salad which is sprinkled over the top before serving as it's really lovely.

Moroccan Style Butternut with Spiced Tomatoes and Feta

Soft sweet butternut with harissa spiced tomato sauce along with tangy feta and crunchy pumpkin seeds.  Oh yes, this is good food.

In my opinion Marks and Spencer are simply the best for their fantastic and top quality range of food.
After spying this dish from their recent 'Dine in for Two' menu, I had to have a go at making it.

I made the sauce from tinned cherry tomatoes and added rose harissa, oregano and a splash of sherry vinegar along with a couple of other bits and bobs.  Of course you can find the recipe if you continue reading.

HomeMade Pizza Recipe - Serrano Ham and Chorizo

Pizzas are so very easy to make at home and of course the best thing is, you can add whatever combo of toppings takes your fancy.

For this pizza I used a selection of Spanish meats from the Tapas range at Marks and Spencer.  Even the pizza sauce for the base is a doddle to make.

Spanish Serrano Ham, Spicy Chorizo and Lomo, finished off with Sweet Bell Peppers, Cheese and a little sliced Red Chilli. 

You can use a ready-made Pizza base as I did.

Spicy Mango and Chilli Topped Chicken

There's no need to marinate the chicken for hours on end.  Nice juicy chicken fillets topped with a sweet spicy mango and chilli sauce.  Of course you don't have to add any chilli at all if you prefer.

 Serve with a mixture of long grain and wild rice or as always, whatever else takes your fancy.

Easy Croque Monsieur Recipe - Sandwich Idea

Croque Monsieur is basically a grilled ham club style sandwich, with a lovely cheesy béchamel sauce poured over and popped under the grill to melt and brown. 

Delicious as a snack of with a few thick cut chips and salad.

Chicken with Parma Ham and Goats Cheese

Simple to make and good to eat.  Lovely moist chicken with a slight saltiness from the Parma ham but also a bit tangy from the goats cheese - what's not to like?

Arm yourself with a shallow baking tray or one of those amazing tin foil trays which are disposable but you can re-use them as I do.  Just pop into a dishwasher or soak over night.  Okay, they go a funny colour but it's all okay.

Patatas Bravas with Chicken and Chorizo

 Oh my word you must give this a go, it was truly delicious.  Armed with no recipe whatsoever but knowing Patatas Bravas was a potato dish with a spicy tomato sauce I went for it.  

Okay, I've since discovered the potatoes ought to have been roasted or fried in olive oil - but hey ho this works and tastes good, so who cares! 

 Fancying more than just potatoes I added chicken and chorizo - always a winning combination in this house.

Pan-fried Pork Steaks with Lemon and Chilli

Easy and quick to make - pan-fried pork loin steaks.  There's no need to fuss marinading the pork for any length of time first, just get on and cook it.
Now this can only be a good thing in my opinion, since it means you're nearer to eating!

 So simple there isn't even a real recipe, but if you really must have one then please continue reading!

Over-Stuffed Cheesy Bacony Jacket Potatoes

Stuffed Jacket Potatoes with Melty Cheese, Tomatoes and Bacon Pieces - totally delicious. 
Great as a side dish or as a meal served with a nice green salad.

  So what variety of Potatoes should you use?

First off you must start with the right kind and size of potato.  You need a floury variety. Maris Piper, King Edward or Marfona will do the trick.  

Waxy potatoes just don't work. 

What's the difference between Waxy and Floury Potatoes?
Waxy potatoes are translucent and feel moist and pasty. They are good at staying firm and keeping their shape so make great salad potatoes.
Waxy Potato Varieties include: Charlotte and Maris Peer.

Floury potatoes are brighter and more granular in appearance with a drier feel. They're better for dishes such as jacket potatoes, chips and for mash.
Floury Potato Varieties include: Estima, King Edward, Maris Piper or Marfona.

Super Quick and Tasty Meatballs for Pasta Sauce

Now, I love cooking and am never happier than when I'm in my kitchen.  But sometimes there are days when you just run out of time but want to produce something half decent although quickish.  So, I allowed myself to use jar of ready made pasta sauce!

Having recently discovered Marks and Spencer's Tomato and Sweet Garlic Pasta Sauce,  trust me this sauce is good stuff and well worth buying. This along with a huge range other pasta sauces is available in their grocery section.

 Produced in Italy this sauce is made from 90% Tomatoes, Extra Virgin olive oil, Garlic, Tomato Paste, Sea Salt, Parsley, Basil, Sugar and Ground Black Pepper.

Oh and don't fear at the thought of making meatballs, seriously they can be rustled up in next to no time.  My top tip is to always buy good quality meat from places you can trust and rely on to never let you down.

Chicken Melt - Fridge Clean Out Recipe

A great way to use any bits and bobs when having a fridge clear out.  Every week I make up some sort of mad dish or other from things like an odd bell pepper, a piece of cheese or a chilli pepper that's escaped me all week!

 Yes it all gets used to make either a pizza or as a topping for chicken fillets, to make a sort of chicken pizza melt. 
Of course you can top your chicken with whatever takes your fancy.  Just use whatever you have that's leftover.  Since the odds and sods in my fridge consisted from making Prosciutto and Salami Pizza here's what I did.

Skrei with Salsa Verde and Roasted Vine Tomatoes

I have to say personally, I'd never heard of Skrei until now - it's a very special type of cod, line caught, and is a much loved Norweigian delicacy.

Having been sent some to try I made some mashed potato and served the Skrei with Roasted Vine Tomatoes and Salsa Verde.

Please excuse the poor photo, my camera really needs natural daylight - hurry up the nicer weather please!

Availability:

Only available between January and April each year, Skrei is migratory and journeys thousands of miles annually from the Barents Sea to the Lofoten Islands in northern Norway to reproduce. 

Thanks to this epic journey through icy, dark waters, Skrei has a lean, bright white firm flesh and is rich in protein, vitamins and minerals, which makes it a hugely versatile, healthy and wholesome food.

Loved by Top Chefs:

SKREI® has already received high-end acclaim from top chefs, including Mitch Tonks and Michel Roux Jnr, who have both tried and loved Skrei, with Michel Roux Jnr featuring this hero-fish on the menu for the last two years.

All in all:

I thought Skrei tasted really good, it keeps its shape, flakes well and is a lovely translucent white.  It looks just the same as cod but we thought it had a slightly richer flavour.  I would definitely buy it.

If you would like to make Salsa Verde my recipe can be found here.

 

 More about Skrei:

 To be classified as SKREI® the fish needs to be:
•    Caught fully grown - as a large mature cod before it has spawned (approx. five years old)
•    The skin needs to be immaculate, with no scratches, bruising or injuries
•    Packaged within 12 hours of being caught
•    Stored on ice at a temperature between 0° and 4° Celsius
•    Whole, fresh SKREI® is required to have the SKREI® brand fastened to the forward dorsal fin and put in a branded SKREI® box.

Thank you to Amelia, Kingfisher Brixham and the Norwegian Seafood Council.

Garofalo - Real Italian Pasta

With so very many different shapes of pasta around it's hard to know which pasta dishes they should be used for!
  I have to admit I'd never tried Garofalo Pasta until recently when I was very kindly sent a huge range to try.  Of course I haven't got round to trying them all as yet, but one thing's for sure, this pasta is GOOD!

It's hard to describe but Garofalo Pasta certainly tastes richer and fuller in flavour than most other brands.  Yes I'm converted - Garofalo is the way to go if you want Top Quality Great Tasting Pasta.

Spaghetti with Chicken, Chorizo and Sun-dried Tomatoes:

  Garofalo Pasta have a huge range of pasta, sauces soups and more.
Created from only the finest durum wheat in Gragnano, which is in the shadows of the ruins of Pompeii. 

Quick Easy and Healthy - Stir-fry is the Way to Go

 The Stellar 3000 Stir-fry/Wok:

Having been sent this (oh so very good-looking) wok from the Stellar cookware 3000 range to review, I got quite excited and had to make a stir-fry straight away.  I can't tell you how much I love this wok - available in lovely Ruby Red, Cream, or Black.
For me, shiny Ruby Red it had to be!

Everyone loves a stir-fry, they are so very easy to do and anyone can make one with just a few simple ingredients.
If you look in any good supermarket you'll find a huge range of ready chopped vegetables, with or without onion, with or without peppers, the list is endless.  They'll also have 'ready to wok' noodles and more stir-fry sauces to choose from than you can shake a stick at!

 Why is Stir-frying Healthy?

For a successful and healthy stir-fry you will need a good non-stick stir-fry pan or wok and then you'll find that you hardly need to use any oil.  Just a dab of oil wiped round the pan with a piece of kitchen paper and you're good to go.
The food will cook fast and vegetables will stay crisp and full of vitamins.
Of course, the only thing you need to pay attention to is the sauce you add to them since some will have high sugar levels.

 So, why am I loving the Stellar 3000 Wok so much?

 Well, it's non-stick, 28cm so it's a good size and it has two handles.
As it's manufactured from aluminium it is quick to heat up, which keeps vegetables nice and crisp.
The comfy-grip handles stay cool in use and the best bit, this wok can go into the oven too.  Oven-safe up to 180c makes it so versatile.

Stellar 3000 pans have Teflon Platinum Plus, a triple layer non stick coating with a raised textured base which means healthier cooking as you hardly need any oil.  As I've already said, just a dab of oil and a quick wipe round with a piece of kitchen paper does the job nicely.

Suitable for all hob types including induction.

Our favorite stir-fry is Chinese Vegetables in Brown Sauce: 

   For more information on Stellar products pop over to Stellar Cookware

Thank you to Pam and Stellar for sending me this to review.

All opinions and thoughts are my own and I was not required to write a positive review.  I only ever post reviews on products I like the look of, and therefore would buy myself.

Prosciutto and Salami Pizza Topped with Sacla' Char-Grilled Peppers

 It is seriously easy to make this plate of melty, cheesy goodness in the way of a pizza!   

Slight saltiness from the Prosciutto and a little heat from the Salami, dotted with colourful Sacla' Char-Grilled Peppers.  Add a mixture of Mozzarella and Cheddar and I think you’ll agree you have the perfect pizza.

     Of course you don’t have to use the exact toppings that I chose, just use this recipe as a suggestion and add whatever takes your fancy.

Jollof Rice with Chicken - Easy One Pot Cooking

Jollof rice is a very popular dish in many parts of West Africa and especially in Ghana and Nigeria.  The rice is cooked in a spicy tomatoey sauce and so takes on a lovely orange colour.  Sweet peppers and onions cooked with cumin, nutmeg and heat from a Scotch bonnet chilli - oh yes now we're talking!

 Of course you use an ordinary chilli for less heat, but it just won't taste the same.  Cooked in one pot means it's not only nice and easy, but you have less to clear up too - which is a good thing.

Easy Leftover Turkey Curry - The Best Recipe

There are many different leftover turkey curry recipes but it has to be said my latest invention, in our opinion, is one of the best.  Make a simple spice paste of onions, ginger, garlic and chillies.  Fry gently along with cumin, ground coriander, garam masala and throw in a cinnamon stick.  Add coconut milk, tomatoes and soft brown sugar and a little chicken stock and cook till done - continue reading for the full recipe.

Slightly sweet tasting yet very nicely spiced.  Of course you can make this with leftover chicken too.

How to Make The Perfect Scotch Egg

Perfectly moist and totally delicious.  Scotch eggs may cause a little bit of mess in your kitchen in the making of them, but they are so worth the effort.  You'll never buy ready made ones again.

  Having never made Scotch eggs before I must have read at least 10 different recipes ranging from cooking the egg for 2 minutes to 10 minutes.

I opted for 5 minutes but when I make these again I'll go for 4 minutes.

The secret lies in buying good quality meat and sausages and of using course Free range eggs - as always.

Boeuf Bourguignon with Wild Mushrooms

I've made Boeuf Bourguignon in the past and it's been good, but this recipe by Marco Pierre White for Knorr is something truly delicious.  I particularly liked the way the baby onions, bacon and wild mushrooms were cooked at the very end and then poured over as a garnish.  The browned onions were then finished in a little more Port, which can only be a good thing.

My picture doesn't make this dish look anywhere near as tasty as it was.  Hot food and dark nights make everything seriously difficult to photograph! 

Having recently been sent the ingredients from Knorr which arrived all nicely packed and where supplied by Forman and Field my challenge was to make Marco's recipe or come up with something of my own.

Boeuf Bourguignon with Wild Mushrooms sounded and looked good so that's the way I went.

Giveaway - Ingredients for Boeuf Bourguignon in a Box

Boeuf Bourguignon, the perfect dish for cold and dreary nights.  I've kindly been sent the ingredients (supplied by Forman and Field) to make Marco Pierre White's recipe created for Knorr.  They also have a box for me to giveaway which will be won by one lucky reader.  

In the past 18 months or so I've been sent some fantastic seasonal boxes supplied by Forman and Field containing the ingredients to make recipes by Knorr.