Risotto Milanese with Butternut squash & Goat's cheese

Risotto is a bit of a winter wonder. Gloriously comforting and flavourful and can be the base for pretty much anything or the whole main show. The title isn't entirely accurate as Risotto Milanese usually has saffron in it, but I didnt have any..Doh! So if you have it, put in a pinch (after the wine time). 

Ingredients
1 onion, sliced
1 clove of garlic, crushed
100g butter
1 tablespoon of olive oil
ground black pepper
Arborio rice (about 75g per person)
A small glass of dry White Wine
400 ml (ish) Chicken or Veg Stock
25g Parmasan, finely grated
Butternut squash, peeled, deseeded & cut into inch-ish chunks
Method
Put the squash in the oven at 190oC and cook for about an hour or until bronzed and squashable (see what I did there?!). About half an hour in, start on the risotto.
Heat the stock in a saucepan over a medium heat.
Sweat the onion in a little butter and the oil over a medium heat, until translucent. Add in the garlic. Stir. Allow the garlic to colour a little before adding in the rice. Let this fry for a couple of minutes and absorb the oils in the pan.  
Add in the wine. Allow this to boil off completely, stirring regularly. Then start adding in the stock, about half a cup at a time. Allow the liquid to boil off almost completely before adding in the next half cupful, stirring regularly. 
When the rice is soft, but still with a bit of bite, remove from the heat and sprinkle over the cheese and remaining butter. Cover with a lid and allow it to sit undisturbed for 5 mins. 
Remove the squash from the oven. 
Chuck in some ground black pepper in with the rice, stir and plate up. Top with leaf, the squash, some crumbled soft goats cheese and the seeds of the squash (these will need washing and toasting under a hot grill - careful though, they will burn quick). 


Serves 2. Prep time 10 mins. Cooking time 1 hour. 

Broccoli, spinach & Stilton soup with walnuts & toasty Rye bread

Got a sad, down trodden, dry, discoloured bit of broccoli sitting in your fridge? Almost bin-worthy but not quite? Do not despair! This IS the way to see it off in style.

Ingredients (for 1 bowl)

Half a head of broccoli

1 brick of frozen spinach

10g Stilton plus a little extra to garnish

Ground Black pepper

A few tablespoons of stock or cooking water

A small knob of butter

4 or 5 walnuts, crumbled

Method

Cut the broccoli into florets and slice the stem. Chuck into a pan of salted boiling water, with the frozen spinach and cover with a lid. Boil for about 5 mins over a medium heat, until the broccoli is soft (the broccoli should be just a little bit overcooked, so it will break up easily and form a lovely smooth soup). 

Place the cooked broccoli and spinach in a blender with 3 or 4 tablespoons of stock or the veg water. Add the butter and Stilton and blend well. Add a little more liquid if it seems too thick. Pour into a bowl and serve immediately alongside slices of toast, garnished with the crumbled walnuts and a little more Stilton.

Prep time 5 mins. Cooking time 5 mins.

Speedy Roast Garlic and Lime chicken with sweet potatoes

This is sooo flipping tasty and much quicker than cooking a chicken in the normal way. If you cut the chicken down it's back bone with some sharp kitchen scissors and flatten the bird out on the roasting tray as much as possible, and slash it at its thickest parts (ie across the breast and thighs) it'll cook in a flash (wel, a bit quicker). Mine weighed just under one and a half kilos, which Delia recommends cooking for about an hour an a half and then rest for a half hour, whereas, using the slashing technique my chuck was done after an hour and I rested it for about 20 mins. Plus these incisions create pockets which your flavourings can be stuffed into (Garlic and butter here). 

Ingredients
A chicken
A large sweet potato, peeled and cut into hefty chunks
A red onion, top n tailed and halved
1 Lime, quartered
2 small cloves of garlic, bruised & sliced
A large knob of butter
Olive oil
Salt


Method
Preheat the oven to 190oC.
Prep the sweet spuds & onion and place on a large roasting tray.
Remove the butchers string from the chicken (if there is any) and cut the chicken at the thickest parts of it's breast and thighs, about an inch deep and on the opposite side, cut from top to tail following the line of the backbone. Place on a large roasting tray and using the heel of your palm, flatten the bird out as much as possible. Squeeze the Lime sections over the bird and place under the carcass. (I would've used a lemon, but I didn't have one). The steam emanating from these during cooking will give a subtle citrus accent to the meat. Stuff the cuts in the breast and thigh with a little butter and a slice or two of garlic. Drizzle the trays contents with olive oil and then season with salt.
Place in a preheated oven for 1 hour (a bigger bird may need a little longer). Once this time is up, remove the tray from the oven and allow the bird to rest for 20-30 mins (longer is fine) before serving. 

Fancy fruit with yoghurt, speedy berry compote, pistachio nuts, black sesame seeds and coconut

Not really a recipe, just a lot of fruit thrown together and a super simple berry compote chucked over the top. But it looked pretty, so I thought I'd put it up (and my mum, can rest safe in the knowledge that I get some vitamins).

In here, you will find...
1 pear, 2 plums, half an orange, a generous blob of plain Greek yoghurt, berry compote (a hand full of frozen berries, cooked for about a minute, in 20 sec bursts in the microwave from frozen, then mashed with a fork and a squish of honey), chopped raw pistachio nuts, black sesame seeds and a little sprinkle of dessicated coconut. Not a bad breakfast really.

Black pudding (and possibly sausage) pasta

This one is not a looker, but for tastiness its a 5 star.


Ingredients
1 onion, diced
100g of black pudding, cut into chunks or 2 sausages per person or both
1 small courgette, cut into chunks
1 clove of garlic, crushed
1 tin of plum tomatoes
1 teaspoon of tomato paste
Dried herbs such as Thyme, Sage, half a teaspoon of each (or 1 teaspoon of mixed herbs)
Half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper and paprika
Salt & Pepper
Parmesan to serve


Method
Sweat the onions in a large pan over a medium heat for around 5 mins. Add in the black pudding and sausages. Allow the sausages to colour before adding in the courgette and garlic. Fry for a further 3 mins, to allow the garlic to release its fragrance. Then add in the tomatoes, tomato paste, herbs and spices. Stir, breaking up the plum tomatoes as you go. Allow to simmer for 10 mins. Serve hot over freshly cooked pasta.

Milk chocolate & Macadamia nut chunk soft-baked spelt cookies

These are the cookies of my dreams! Yes, my dreams are filled with sugar. If you like big, fat, soft, chewy, sticky, sweet cookies, (like you get in the supermarket or at Subway), get these in your oven, fast. The knack of producing the soft, chewy-ness is in the baking time, so make sure that you don't over bake, by checking them every minute or so after the 7 minute mark has passed.

Ingredients


125g Spelt flour
1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1/4 tsp salt
85g butter, melted
100g soft brown sugar
50g castor sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
100g cooking milk choc
50g macadamia nuts, roughly chopped


Method 


Preheat the oven to 170oC.
Mix together the butter and sugars & add the
vanilla and egg. Mix.
Stir in the flour, bicarb & salt. 
Finally, add in the choc & nuts and mix.
Drop the mixture in teaspoon sized, roughly round blobs, onto a baking sheet covered in baking paper. Leaving a good gap between each one, as they'll spread out a good couple of inches either way during cooking.
Bake for 10-15 mins.

These little beauties are especially good served warm, with a glass of milk and will keep well for about a week in an airtight container (if they last that long).


Makes about 14 cookies. 
Prep time 20 mins
Cooking time 10-15 mins 

Nigel Slater's Pumpkin pan fry

Anticlimax, I believe is the correct description. Looked good, but tasted so meh! I think I ruined it by grilling the bread crumbs so that they were crispy. Had they had some softness, it would have probably have been a lot more edible. I adapted the recipe from Nigel Slater, (Pumpkin Pan fry). I cant fault the man for his food passion and ingenuity for making the most of leftovers and I must admit I usually do love love love Mr Slater's recipes, but this one just didn't do it for me. I just cant really get my head around bread crumbs as a meal. I'm trying to be open minded and I really want to like it, but I cant, I'm sorry Nigel. But, hey, you cant win them all. It's like tripe, I really want to like it, but then there's the texture and that weird taste that congers images of cow-pats. Anyway, I digress, (and if you're not peckish now, see a doctor, I suspect there may be something wrong with you!), to conclude, not a winner, but here's the recipe, just in case you're curious.

Ingredients
300g Butternut squash, peeled, de-seeded and cut into inch-ish chunks
1 red onion, top and tailed and cut into quarters
Olive oil
4 rashers of streaky bacon
A handful of fresh thyme leaves
2 small garlic cloves, squashed
A knob of butter
Half a Rye loaf, blitzed in a food processor to course crumbs
A handful of pine nuts, toasted
A few cherry tomatoes, halved
Salt & pepper


Method
Place the squash, onion & garlic in a roasting tin, drizzle over olive oil, season and roast in a preheated oven at 180oC for about 30 mins, or until the squash is softened and brown around the edges. Set aside.
Fry the bacon with the butter in a large pan over a medium-high heat until crispy. 
Finely chop the roasted garlic and add this to the pan. Stir. 
Add in the bread crumbs, pine nuts, roasted veg and tomatoes and fry until the tomatoes have relaxed (and by that I mean, they are starting to release their skins) and the bread crumbs have absorbed all the cooking juices. 
Sprinkle in the fresh thyme and serve immediately.
Serves 2. Prep time 10 mins. Cooking time 45 mins. Tasty rating 2*.

Simple Speedy Spelt Bread

This recipe is from The Daily Telegraph's website. I must admit I was a bit sceptical of the lack of kneading and rising time, but I'm happy to report, it works. They say that if you leave it to rise overnight it'l be even better, so I'll defo be giving that a go next time. The original recipe is slightly different, for one it's jam packed with seeds, which I didn't have, I also didn't need quite as much water as they specified, and I added a bit of olive oil as I like the crispness it gives to the crust, so if you fancy perusing the original recipe, check out the link above. I also don't have a loaf tin, so the dough was flopped out onto a roasting pan, which wasn't ideal, as it's quite a wet dough, a hence became quite a flat loaf. Still tasted good though.

Ingredients
1lb 2oz/500g spelt flour
2 sachets/10g fast-acting dried yeast 
½ tsp sea salt
14floz/400ml warm water
1 tablespoon of olive oil

Method
Preheat the oven to 200oC (GM6).
Combine the dry bits in a large bowl. Add the water and mix well. Work in the olive oil. 
Turn out into a greased loaf tin.
Put straight into the oven and bake for 1 hour.
Remove from the tin and bake for a further 5-10 mins.
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for half an hour before spreading thickly with Unearthed Pork Rillettes, (currently on offer at Waitrose) or blackcurrant jam, or whatever else you fancy... yumyumyum :).

Bubble & Squeak

A quintessential British invention, first recorded by Maria Rundell in 1806, for using up the leftovers of Sunday lunch. You'd never of guessed it, but the name comes from the sounds it makes whilst cooking. Recipes vary but spuds and cabbage tend to remain common in all.  


I've never been a big fan of bubble and squeak, perhaps because the demon sprout always crept in in our house, but I think, no, actually I'm quite sure! That now I am a firm believer in it's virtues, thanks to this beaut of a recipe. (Forgive me for blowing my own trumpet, but it IS good). 


Served below with a fried egg & radish, tomato, mildly pickled beetroot and blue cheese. Please note, the tomatoes are off my very own bedraggled plant - Joy :).

Ingredients
Left-over potato(s), mashed - around 100g per person is ideal.
Shredded Cabbage - left-over or freshly cooked - use roughly the same volume (not weight) as potato.
A few leaves of each of Mint, coriander and basil. 
A large knob of butter.
4 rashers of streaky bacon, cut into chunks and fried until crispy.
1 spring onion, sliced.
1 clove of garlic, crushed.
Freshly ground black pepper.


Method
Put all ingredients except the butter and garlic in a bowl and mix together. Season with black pepper.
(If you are cooking the cabbage fresh, fry it over a high heat, in with the bacon, so it can absorb the juices and fat that renders from it). 
Fry off the garlic in the butter over a medium heat in a heavy bottom frying pan. 
When it's becoming golden, pour the pans contents in with the potato mixture and combine. Return the pan to the heat and turn up to high. Form the spud mix into large patties and fry for about 4 mins on each side to create a beautiful bronze crust.
You can serve these along side pretty much anything. Tasty, easy, cheap and flipping versatile, what more could you want!?

Serves 2. Prep time 10 mins (depending on whether you're using leftovers). Cooking time 15 mins.

Spiced Apple Jelly

Is there a more pleasing and nostalgic desert than Jelly? Especially if accompanied by icecream! And with its recent revival thanks to the likes of Bompas & Parr and a plethora of celebrity chefs, I am jumping on the band wagon. But no fancy champagne and strawberry jelly for me, it's the humble apple that gets the makeover today. 

Ingredients
3lb of apples, peeled and sliced
A splash (say, 2 tbsp) of water (or good cider)
1 clove
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
2 tablespoons of brown sugar
4 leafs of gelatin
Softly whipped cream to serve
Method
Heat the apples in a large heavy bottomed pan, with 2 tablespoons of water and the clove for 5 mins, until they are soft. Remove the clove. Add in the sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, stir and set aside to cool a little. Prep the gelatin according to the packet instructions and add to the hot apples. Stir well. Decant into a serving bowl and refrigerate for at least 4 hours. 

Chestnut mushroom, Dolce late and Potato pie AKA the Best Pie EVER!!

If you're looking for perfect Autumnal food, this is it. Pure comfort in a pie dish. This will wrap your insides in a warm blanket ready for the winter. A melting cheesy hug, for dark chilly nights.

Ingredients
Top
800g Potatoes
30g Butter
50ml Milk
30g Parmesan
Salt and pepper.
Filling
250g Chestnut Mushrooms, wiped with kitchen roll and thickly sliced
25g Butter
2 Cloves of Garlic, crushed
2 or 3 bricks of frozen Spinach, defrosted and chopped
100g Dolce Late Cheese
Salt and pepper
Method
Preheat the oven to 190oC.
Boil the spuds in a large pan and when cooked, mash with the milk and butter. Season to taste.
While the potatoes are cooking, gently fry the garlic in the butter in a large frying pan for a few minutes and then add the mushrooms. Season with salt and pepper.
Lightly butter a baking dish. Distribute the mushrooms evenly in the bottom of the dish and haphazardly strew the spinach on top. Cube the cheese and add this on top of the spinach. 
Cover with the mash and dust the top with parmasan.
Bake in a preheated oven for around 20 minutes, until golden. 


Serves 2, Prep time 10 mins, Cooking time 30 mins. Tasty Rating 5*.  

A Bit of Better Butter

Butter has a bad rep, but a bit of better butter isn't bad(der!).
It's widely accepted that butter will make you fat. Wrong. Sure, consuming mammoth amounts of it, as with anything, isn't going to stave off the jelly belly, but its nutritional profile is pretty surprising and its propensity to fatten all depends on what you smother it on. It is its vengeful accompliss, hot toast, that does the damage (and other carb-rich butter receptacles). Our bodies need carbs in order to store fat. So, if you can bear to, skip the toast, but chuck some on your veg, because it aids the bodies ability to absorb nutrients. Vitamins A, D, E & K, found in green leafies, require some form of fat to be utilised. But beware of the butter topped potato or root vegetable if you're watching your waistline as these are carbalicious.


Butter is a natural whole food, and rich in vitamins, (A & D particularly) and doesnt go through the exhaustive processing of it's substitutes. Low fat spreads are made with vegetable oils that are heat- treated, bleached, deoderised (yes, really), emulsified, coloured and then vitamins are added. Butter is made  by churning cream, which crudely speaking, is shaking it about a bit until the fat sticks together in a big lump. You can make it yourself at home by half filling a jar with cream, putting on a tightly fitting lid and giving it the maracas treatment. Traditionally done by hand, water wheel or Dog churn (picture oversized Hamster wheel with a Dog instead of the Hamster), it is now mostly churned automatically by machine (not nearly as exciting as the Dog churn). Pasteurised cream is churned at a controlled temperature, in large steel vats, until lumps of butterfat form. This is then washed, to remove the buttermilk, which is fed to livestock; used to make cultured buttermilk or to make milk powder. The butter is then 
kneaded to improve texture, salted and packed for distribution.


The flavour and colour will vary depending on the manufacturing process, the amount of salt added, the type of cattle and the time of year.
Store in a cool dry place: obviously the fridge is a pretty good choice. Keep it well wrapped as it'l pick up strong flavours easily. Closely wrapped, butter can be frozen for 2-3 months.


Savoury butters (ie butter mixed with allsorts) have been popular since the 17th century, they are easy peasy to make and can catapult a meal to a level of greatness far beyond the expected. How much difference can a bit of butter make? A lot, I tell you! So here are a few combinations to try. The method is the same for all. Use them on grilled and fried fish, steak, chops, stirred through pasta, cooked veg, spread on hot toast or crumpets and melting through jacket potatoes (sweet or normal) etc etc. The possibilities are endless really. Oh and the moral of the story is...Buy British butter. It tastes good and is good for you.

Method

Remove your butter from the fridge an hour or so before use to allow it to soften (but not melt) and become workable. If you forget however, put the butter in a freezer bag and beat it up a little with a rolling pin, until you've thoroughly shown it who's boss. Whatever you're flavouring the butter with should be chopped very finely. When mixed the butter should be formed into a sausage in greaseproof paper (or cling film) and then chilled. To serve, cut off a half inch round and place on hot food just before serving.


Recipes
Maitre D'Hotel Butter - 4 oz British butter, 2 tbsp parsley, 1 tsp lemon juice, salt & pepper.
Garlic Butter - 4 oz British Butter, 2 garlic cloves (boil them for 7 mins to mellow the flavour if you prefer a milder result), salt & pepper.
Prawn Butter - 4 oz British Butter, 2 oz peeled & cooked prawns, 1tsp lemon juice.
Herb Butter - 4 oz British Butter, 1 tsp tarragon, 1 tsp parsely, 1 teaspoon of chopped shallot.
Orange & Parsley Butter - 4oz British Butter, zest of half an orange, 2 tsp orange juice, 2 tsp parsley, black pepper.
Anchovy Butter - 4oz British Butter, 6 Anchovies (drained & mashed).
Green Butter - 4oz British Butter, 2oz watercress.
Onion Butter - 4oz British Butter, 2 level tsp finely grated shallot.
Curry Butter - 4oz British Butter, 2 level tsp curry powder.
Tomato Butter - 4oz British Butter, 2 tsp tomato puree.
Paprika Butter - 4oz British Butter, 1 level tsp marmite, 1/2 level tsp paprika.
Horseradish Butter - 4oz British Butter, 2 level tsp creamed horseradish.
Almond Butter - 4oz British Butter, 2oz blanched & blitzed almonds (or very fresh ground almonds).
Hotelier Butter - 4oz British Butter, 1 tbsp each of parsley, lemon juice & mushroom Duxelles.
Lemon Butter - 4oz British Butter, zest of 1 lemon & 1 tbsp of it's juice, salt & pepper.
Mustard Butter - 4 oz British Butter, 2 tbsp grainy mustard.

Fry up!

The perfect antidote to the Sunday morning slump. Not especially exciting but very VERY satisfying. Grilled bacon & tomatoes, mushrooms fried in butter & dried herbs & a fried egg. 
Handy hinty no 1..Chuck a lid on your pan when your frying the egg, it'l cook way quicker and more evenly.

Handy hinty no 2... How to check if your eggs are still good (mine was a week past its sell by date - but still good). Put the suspect egg in a glass of water, if it sinks and stays there, it's a goody. If its a floater, don't put it anywhere near your mouth. Rule for life really.
This is because an egg has a pocket of air in its big end and as the egg ages, the gas increases, meaning it becomes more buoyant. So, if you submerge a fresh egg, it'l sink quickly and sit at the bottom. A week-old egg will sink to the bottom but bob around a little there. A 3 week old egg will balance on its small end at the bottom and a bad egg floats.

Crispy fish with garlic & chilli on herby lime courgette noodles

This recipe is reminiscent of the green papaya salads you get in Thailand, but brought back to the British Isles by the use of a colossal curvaceous courgette. It's proper hit you in the face fresh flavourful food.

Ingredients
2 tablespoons of sunflower oil
1 table spoon of sesame oil
2 tablespoons of brown rice flour
1 tablespoon of sesame seeds
2 white fish fillets, (I used frozen Hake, which was a bit too soft)
2 cloves of garlic, crushed
1/2 a chilli bomb pepper (or more if you like - I cant handle very much spice), de-seeded & finely chopped
1/4 of a cup of something fizzy (I used pear cider)
3 spring onions, sliced
1 tablespoon of light soy sauce
1 small packet of fresh coriander, roughly chopped
1/4 of a small packet of fresh mint, the same of fresh basil, roughly chopped
1 extremely large courgette, cut into long fine strips using a mandolin
1 green pepper, finely shredded
juice & zest of 1 lime
salt & black pepper
Method
Chuck the courgette, green pepper, herbs, onions, soy sauce & lime into a bowl and toss. Divide between plates.
In a bowl mix together the rice flour, sesame seeds, a little salt and your fizzy liquid to make a smooth batter. 
Heat the oils in a pan over a medium heat, add in the garlic and chilli and fry for 3 minutes. This will take the edge off of the chilli heat and allow the garlic to become beautifully fragrant. In the meantime cut the fish fillets into (inch-ish) chunks and coat well in the batter. 
Turn the heat up to high and add the fish to the pan (be careful it might spit - got me in the face!) Fry for around 6 minutes, turning frequently, until deeply golden and crispy. Pour all of the pans contents over the courgette mixture and eat immediately. Serve with a wedge of lime and more chilli on the side for those that can handle it.


Serves 2 or 3. Prep time 10 mins (longer if you dont have a mandolin). Cooking time 10 mins.

Boston Baked Beans & Bacon on Toast

This recipe is comforting, hearty, deep flavoured and purse friendly, not to mention versatile... good for brekkie or(/and) dinner. Boston baked beans are traditionally slow cooked, but if you use tinned beans, as I do here, cooking time can be significantly slashed.
What makes Boston baked beans specifically Bostonian? The molasses of course! Boston has long been linked to sugar refining (Molasses is a by product). The city was the trade centre for rum (made from molasses) from the Caribbean in Colonial times and it's said that the sweet scent of this dark gloop still hangs in the air there.  

Ingredients

1 tablespoon of Olive oil
1 red Onion, sliced
1 clove of Garlic, crushed
1 heaped teaspoon of Paprika
2 teaspoons of Mustard seeds
1 teaspoon of Molasses sugar (brown sugar is fine if you don't have molasses)
1 red bell Pepper, chopped into chunks
1 (300g) tin of chopped Tomatoes
1 teaspoon of Tomato paste
1 (300g) tin of Haricot beans
1 tablespoon of Balsamic vinegar
Salt and black pepper


Method
Heat the olive oil in a large pan over a medium high heat. Add the red onion and a little salt and fry for 4-5 minutes until the is becoming onion soft and translucent. 
Add in the garlic, paprika, mustard, sugar, tomato paste and red pepper. Fry for a further 2-3 minutes. 
Add in the tomatoes, beans & vinegar. Bring to a simmer, turn the heat right down, and allow to cook for 10 minutes, stirring regularly, until the liquid has reduced, shiny and thick. 
Season to taste and heap over thick toast. Serve, topped with crispy grilled streaky bacon. 

Serves 2 -3. Prep time 5 mins. Cooking time 20 mins.

The most ragedy tomato plant in the land.

It's a good day when the only plant I have been able to keep alive in our sun-starved outside area bears fruit :) What? You need proof...

Roasted Butternut Squash, Asparagus and soft goats cheese salad

In London its autumn already! And in this kind of weather, there cant be any namby pamby, airy fairy food. Yes, this is a "salad", but it is not of the family that consists mostly of leaf (there are a few mind). 

Ingredients
1 Butternut squash, peeled & cut into inch-ish chunks
6 asparagus stems per person, trimmed
1 red onion, peeled & cut into quarters
Soft goats cheese, 40g (ish) per person
Rocket leaves
Parmesan, (only a smidge) finely grated
Olive oil, about 2 tablespoons
Salt & pepper
Method
Roast the Butternut squash & onion on a large baking sheet in a preheated oven (at 200oC) for around 30 mins (timing will depend on the age of the squash and the size of your chunks), sprinkled with olive oil and a little salt. 
When the 30 mins is up, add the asparagus and return to the oven for a further 10 minutes.
Remove the tray from the oven. 
Top rocket leaves with the squash, onion and asparagus. Sprinkle with Parmesan, crumble over the goats cheese and generously grind over the black pepper. Munch. 


10 mins prep time. 40 - 60 mins cooking time. Feeds 2 or 3 (you'll probably need more than 1 squash if your feeding more) 

Courgette Fritters

So, the word fritter usually alludes to deep fried, fat saturated, artery clogging, all too often greasy, sugary, heavy (but oh so very satisfying) beige comfort food. This recipe, however, is not any of the above. These are the light, fresh, flavour packed and super healthy kind of fritters. And a brilliant way of putting to use a glut of courgettes.

Prep time 10 mins. Cooking time 10 mins. Serves 2.

• 
  Ingredients
  1 courgette, grated
  Salt and black pepper
  1 spring onion, finely chopped
  1 tablespoon of roughly chopped parsley
  1 tablespoon of roughly chopped mint
  1 tablespoon of roughly chopped coriander
  1-2oz cheddar cheese, cut into centimetre cubes
  2oz gram (chickpea) flour
  Veg oil, for frying
  Lovely, ripe & red, on the vine cherry toms to serve & ketchup.
  Method
• Sprinkle the courgette with a little salt and squeeze out as much of the liquid as you can, using either a sieve or a clean tea towel. 
• Place the grated courgette in a large bowl and mix with the onion, herbs, pepper, cheese and enough gram flour to make a sticky batter. Add a little water (or a squeeze of lime if you have one) if it seems dry.
• Heat the oil in a large frying pan over a medium-high heat.  Fry tablespoons of the mixture until golden (around 4 or 5 mins). Then flip with a spatula and cook for the same time on the other side. Serve immediately.

Some pics of the GIANT veg and other bits n pieces from a Day out: (of the city) at The National Gardening Show at the Bath & West showground.

Whoa what a spud! That's a world record smasher (ahem) for your information! The onions were easiliy as big as my head (I have a pretty BIG head) and the pumpkin... Oh my! The Pumkin! I probably could've lived in there happily with at least seven dwarves. Click here to visit the official site.

Guacamole

I recently ventured out of my kitchen and to Wahaca. How cool is that place?! The decor and ambience is vibrant, fresh & fun, but unfortunately the food didn't quite match up for me. It was good Mexican, don't get me wrong, but for me its a bit heavy. There were, however a couple of items that really made my taste buds tingle. Firstly the guacamole. OMG! I have never had guac that good. And secondly, the bright pink-purple hibiscus cooler..yum yum yum. I haven't quite managed to emulate the cooler yet, but this guac recipe below is pretty damn close to perfection. It's really quick, oh so very good for you and tastes like summer hasn't quite left us! Serve with corn chips. 

Ingredients
2 ripe avocados, peeled & de-stoned
Juice of half a lime
Salt & pepper
1 Red chilli, finely chopped
1 spring onion, finely sliced
Fresh coriander, roughly chopped
A handful of cherry tomatoes, quartered
Method
Mash the avocados with the lime juice. Season with salt and pepper. Add in the chilli, spring onion, coriander and toms. Mix roughly. Eat at once!
If you are making this a little ahead of time, keep it in the fridge with a piece of baking paper pushed onto the top (think tucking your kids into bed). This will stop the oxidation process and ensure your guac doesn't go brown really quickly.

Pasta with creamy spinach sauce, goats cheese, beetroot & toasted pine nuts

Ingredients
Pasta, enough to feed one 
A  knob of butter and a drizzle of olive oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 bricks of frozen spinach
4 tablespoons of cream
A handful of pine nuts
30g crumbly soft goats cheese
grated Parmesan
Salt and black pepper
1 or 2 cooked beetroot's, cut into chunks
Method
Put a big pan of water on the heat to come to the boil. Chuck in the pasta and a dribble of olive oil and cook according the instructions on the pack.
Toast the pine nuts in a dry frying pan over a medium heat until golden brown. Remove from the pan and set aside.
Defrost the spinach blocks in the microwave.
Melt the butter in the pan with a little olive oil and gently fry the garlic until golden and fragrant. Add in the defrosted spinach and stir. Add the cream and season with salt and pepper.
When the pasta is cooked, add it to the spinach pan and toss.
Serve sprinkled with the pine nuts, crumbled goats cheese, a little Parmesan and the chunked beetroot.