Red Lentil & Vegetable Stew

This tasty stew is the perfect winter meal.

1. Fry some onions and garlic in olive oil for 3-4 mins. to soften.
2. Then add 1 can of chopped tomatoes, and leave it for another 5mins.
3. Add 3 cups of water, sliced courgettes, mushrooms & carrots and 1 cup of red lentils.
4. Season with a generous amount of cumins, crushed dry chillies, salt and a bit of sugar. Leave it cooking until the lentils are soft, stirring occasionally.
5. Spoon the stew into bowls and top it up with greek yogurt and fresh coriander.

Serve with bread or rice.

Mexican Fajitas

Vegetable tortilla filling:
juice of 1 lemon
2 table spoon cajuin seasoning
1 onion
1 green, 1 red, 1 yellow pepper, thinly sliced
50g mushrooms, sliced
1 courgette, sliced
200g baby sweet corn
3 tablespoon veg oil
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
1 packet soft flour tortillas

heat oil in pan, add the cumin, chilli flakes, and veg. stir fry for about 5 min. Squeeze on some lemon juice. Can also add chicken and chorizo if you like.
Heat the flour tortillas.

Tomato Salsa:
1 red, 1 green, 1 yellow pepper roughly chopped
2 large onion roughly chopped
1-2 red chillies roughly chopped
1 clove garlic
100ml olive oil
2 x 400g whole plumb tomatoes
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon cumin powder
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
a hand full of fresh coriander
juice of 1 lemon, 1 lime, plus a little grated zest.

Put peppers, onion, chillies, garlic in a baking tin. pour over the olive oil and roast for 30mins in oven, 220c, gas mark 7.
Cook tomatoes in a pan each side untill cooked then add them to the veg in the oven. Sprinkle over salt and cumin and roast for 15 mins more.
Remove from oven transfer to a bowl. leave to cool then add the corriander and the lemon, lime and zest. Use a hand blender.

Serve tortillas also with sour cream, guacamole and grated cheese.

Spicy Prawn noodle dish‏

Dressing:
2 cloves of garlic
2 red chillies
2 tablespoon ginger
4 table spoon fish sauce
1 lime juice
4 table spoon water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 tablespoon ground nut oil
1 teaspoon sesame seeds

Mix this all together

Salad:
Shrimp
noodles
200 g sugar snap peas
200g bean sprouts
3 spring onions
Coriander

Marinade the shrimp in the dressing. Cook the noodles. Put the peas and bean sprouts in a colander and pour over some boiled water. chop the spring onion. Mix everything togeather. Dress with fresh coriander.

Avocado and Potato Salad

Potato salad:
Potatoes, Greek Yogurt, salt, pepper, olive oil, Mint, garlic, Parmesan cheese, Onion, lemon juice.

Peel and boil potatoes.
Chop the onion, fry with the garlic.
Wait for potatoes to cool.
Mix the yogurt, lemon juice olive oil, salt, pepper, chopped mint. Then add the onion and garlic and mix.
Add the mixture to the potatoes.
Sprinkle Parmesan cheese on top.

Avocado salad:
Avocado, Tomatoes, prawns, pine nuts, Red onion, Basil, Parmesan cheese, olive oil, lemon juice, honey.

Mix the olive oil, lemon juice and honey - with salt and pepper. This is the dressing
Chop up the rest of the ingredience and mix togeather with the dressing.

open sesame potatos & feta quark

open sesame potatos:

cook potatos. cut in half. drizzle some olive oil on top. Fry sesame seeds in a pan and sprinkle them over the potatos. Season with salt & pepper. Roast in the pre-heated oven for 30 mins.

feta quark:

mix yogurt, creme fraiche, soft feta cheese, crushed garlic and a dash of lemon juice. season with pepper. (feta is usually salty enough) drizzle some olive oil on top.

rich rice & grilled aubergines

Rich Rice - ingredients:

red peppers and carrots (finely chopped), onions (finely chopped), garlic, raisins, walnuts (chopped), pine seeds, pickled artichokes, paprika, tomato puree, fish stock, vegetable stock (1 cup each), soft feta cheese, rice

Fry onions and garlic. Add the other ingredients except the feta cheese and simmer for 30 mins until you’ll get a paste-like mixture. Cook the rice and add it. Let the the whole thing cool down a bit until you add the feta cubes. Stir gently.

The aubergines: Cut aubergines into thick slices. Prepare a mixture of olive oil crushed garlic, salt and pepper. Dip the slices in and put them on an oven grill. Roast for 30 mins.

Serve with fresh mint and figs. (if you really want to impress: add yogurt!)

new york cheese cake

FOR THE CRUST
85ml butter melted, plus extra for tin
140g digestive biscuits , made into fine crumbs
1 tbsp sugar , granulated or golden caster

FOR THE CHEESECAKE FILLING
3 x 300g pack full fat soft cheese
250g golden caster sugar
3 tbsp plain flour
1½ tsp vanilla extract
finely grated zest of 1 lemon (about 2 tsp)
1½ tsp lemon juice
3 large eggs , plus 1 yolk
200ml soured cream

FOR THE SOURED CREAM TOPPING
226ml soured cream
1 tbsp golden caster sugar
2 tsp lemon juice

Position an oven shelf in the middle of the oven. Preheat the oven to fan 160C/conventional 180C/gas 4. Line the base of a 23cm springform cake tin with parchment paper.

For the crust, melt the butter in a medium pan. Stir in the biscuit crumbs and sugar so the mixture is evenly moistened. Press the mixture into the bottom of the pan and bake for 10 minutes. Cool while preparing the filling.

For the filling, increase the oven temperature to fan 200C/conventional 240C/gas 9.  Blend the soft cheese until creamy.  Gradually add the sugar, then the flour and a pinch of salt. Now add the vanilla, lemon zest and juice. Mix in the eggs and yolk, one at a time. Stir the soured cream until smooth then add the soured cream. Whisk to blend, but don’t over-beat. The batter should be smooth, light and somewhat airy.

Brush the sides of the springform tin with melted butter and put on a baking sheet. Pour in the filling - if there are any lumps, sink them using a knife - the top should be as smooth as possible. Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to fan 90C/conventional 110C/gas 1⁄4 and bake for 25 minutes more. If you gently shake the tin, the filling should have a slight wobble. Turn off the oven and open the oven door for a cheesecake that’s creamy in the centre, or leave it closed if you prefer a drier texture. Let cool in the oven for 2 hours.

Combine the sourd cream with the sugar and lemon juice for the topping. Spread over the cheesecake right to the edges. Cover loosely with foil and refrigerate for at least 8 hours or overnight.

Fish cakes with sweet potato salad and red cabbage salad

Sweet potato Salad:

4 sweet potatoes peeled and cut into slices 1cm thick
5 ml olive oil
1 tablespoon Cajun seasoning

soured cream dressing:
250ml soured cream
50ml lemon juice
50g spring onions, sliced
half teaspoon salt
50g fresh coriander

Boil the sweet potato slices until soft, remove from the pan and drain away the water. In a frying pan pour in the oil, then add the Cajun seasoning to it, let it cook gently. Now add the sweet potato slices to the frying pan and cook until browned on both sides.
To make the  dressing just mix all ingredients together

Red Cabbage Salad:

1 red cabbage
1 red onion finely sliced
juice from 2 lemons
150ml olive oil
salt and pepper

combine all the ingredients in a bowl. Leave for at least 4 hours before serving.

Spicy fishcakes:

4 medium potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
300g smoked haddock
1 onion finely chopped
handful of fresh coriander
1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
half tea spoon dried chilli flakes
2 tablespoons American mustard
1 teaspoon salt
half teaspoon black pepper

for coating
100g cornflour
50g plain flour
salt and pepper

cook the potatoes until soft. Then mash them all up. Cut the Haddock in to small bits and cook that as well. Then add the fish and the potato together with the onion, coriander, Cajun, chilli, mustard, salt and pepper. Gently stir together. Mix the cornflour, and flour together on a plate and  with floured hands shape the fish mixture into medium sized patties and gently coat them in the cornflour mixture. Put them on a floured plate and put into the fridge for at least 1 hour. After that you can cook them in two ways, grilling them both sides until golden brown, or if you have a really good non stick frying pan you can fry them both sides instead. If you grill them remember to brush on some olive oil to both sides of the cake before hand.

Spicy Tomato Spaghetti with Tuna Balls

serves 6

Tuna Balls
(makes approx. 18 balls)

4 cans of tuna in olive oil
1 big onion
3 garlic cloves
2 tbsp. lemon zest
8 tbsp. parsley
1 chillie
2 beaten eggs
some pine-nuts
grated parmesan

Chop the onion and the garlic very finely.
Combine all the ingredients using your hands.
Shape the mixture into balls and gently pan fry in olive oil.

Spaghetti Sauce

Gently fry two chopped onion and 4 garlic gloves.
Add two cans of chopped tomatos and season with salt and chili powder.
Simmer for 20 minutes.
Add some black olives and basil leaves.

Boil 1 pck thin spaghetti in salted water.

Before serving add the sauce and the meat balls on top of the spaghetti.
Top with grated parmesan (I forgot the parmesan at home, oops)

Thai fishcakes with noodle salad

Fishcakes:

2 fillets of haddock

1 pack of prawns

Handful of chopped coriander leaves

3 cloves of garlic

2 cm root ginger

zest of 2 limes

2 chillis

1 red pepper

150g coconut powder

Put the garlic, ginger, coriander leaves, lime zest, chilli and red pepper into a food processor and blend everything fairly finely. Add the haddock and prawns and process again, pour in the coconut powder. Switch on the processor again and make sure its all mixed in.

Tip the mixture into a bowl, add some seasoning and shape the fishcakes into fairly small, thin, round shapes and fry in sesame oil on a high heat. Fry the fishcakes on both sides until they are golden brown.

Noodle salad

1 pack of fresh fine noodles

Juice of 2 limes

Handful of chopped coriander leaves

Pack of beansprouts

2 cloves garlic finely chopped

2cm root ginger finely chopped

1 chilli finely sliced (optional)

1 bunch spring onions finely sliced

1 tablespoon fish sauce

2 handfuls of roasted peanuts

Fry the ginger and garlic in a little sesame oil until golden add the noodles and briefly fry. Remove from the heat and add to a mixing bowl and leave to cool. When cool add the rest of the ingredients. Easy!