Lasagne from Jamie Oliver's Ministry of Food

(Serves 4-6)

Ingredients
For the Bolognese Sauce

2 rashers of streaky bacon
2 medium onions
2 cloves of garlic
2 carrots
2 sticks of celery
olive oil
2 heaped teaspoons dried oregano
500g good quality minced beef, pork, or (even better!) a mixture of the two [I used beef]
2 x 400g tins of chopped tomatoes
sea salt & freshly ground black pepper
a small bunch of fresh basil
50g Parmesan cheese [I don't like Parmesan, so I replaced this with Cheddar]

For the lasagne

250g dried egg lasagne sheets
1 x 500ml tub of creme fraiche
100g Parmesan cheese [again, I subbed this for Cheddar]
1 large ripe tomato


To make your Bolognese sauce

Finely slice your bacon [I find scissors good for this].
Peel & finely chop the onions, garlic, carrots and celery - don't worry about technique; just chop away.
Place a large casserole-type pan on a medium to high heat, add 2 lugs of olive oil, your sliced bacon and the oregano and cook and stir until the bacon is lightly golden.
Add the veg to the pan and stir every 30 seconds for around 7 minutes or until softened and lightly coloured.


Stir in the minced meat and the tinned tomatoes. Fill one of the empty tins with water and add to the pan [I only used half a tin of water, as I've made Jamie's Bolognese before and found it a little wet for my liking]. Stir in a good pinch of salt and pepper.
Pick the basil leaves and place in the fridge for later. Finely chop the basil stalks and stir into the pan [again, scissors are good for this].
Bring to the boil, then turn the heat down and simmer with a lid on for 45 minutes, stirring every now and again to stop it catching.

To finish the sauce

Preheat the oven to 190C / 375F / GM5. Remove the Bolognese sauce from the heat. Finely grate the Parmesan and stir a quarter of this into the sauce [I wasn't sure if he meant 1/4 of the 50g allocated for the sauce, or 1/4 of the whole amount of cheese - I went with the whole amount].
Tear and stir in any larger basil leaves, keeping the smaller ones aside for later. Have a taste of the sauce, and season with a little more salt and pepper if you think it needs it.
Boil some water in a kettle and pour it into a pan, then add all your lasagne sheets with a drizzle of olive oil and blanch (slightly soften) for 3 to 4 minutes.



Drain the sheets in a colander and carefully pat them dry with some kitchen paper to absorn any excess water.

To make your lasagne

Spoon a third of your Bolognese sauce into the bottom of an earthenware ovenproof dish. Follow with a layer of lasagne sheets. [Here, I encountered a problem. My sheets were stuck together! I don't know what I could have done to prevent this - rinse in cold water afterwards? Anyway, I managed to get round this by using a knife, very carefully, and splitting them apart. By the end it was too tricky. Luckily I had another packet of lasagne sheets so I used them for my last layer as there was no way this was working for me - see below!]



Dollop over a third of your creme fraiche and smooth it out to cover the lasagne sheets. Sprinkle with a good pinch of salt and pepper and another quarter of your grated Parmesan. Add another layer of lasagne, and repeat the layers twice more, finishing with a layer of creme fraiche and the remaining Parmesan.
Top with some slices of tomato, scatter over the small basil leaves and drizzle with olive oil.


Cover with foil, place in the preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes.
After that, remove the foil and cook for a further 35 minutes until the lasagne is bubbling and golden.
Serve on the table with a fresh green salad and let everyone help themselves.


When I was trying to work out how long to allow for making this, I somehow hadn't read the 45 minutes for the Bolognese sauce, and thought it would be ready in time for Louis to have some too. As it was, it took almost 3 hours including prep and cooking time. I am pleased to announce it was worth the wait! Definitely not one I can rustle up after a day at work, but if I have the time and in need of some lovely tasty comfort food then I will come back to it. The bonus is that Jack and I both have lunch for work tomorrow now, and Louis might be in luck too! If I'm feeling generous to myself I might even make a 'spare' one and freeze it for after I have the baby - oooh that would be a treat! Yet again, another successful recipe from 'Ministry of Food', seriously, nothing has turned out bad from it yet.

Harissa-Spiced Lamb Burgers with Sweet Potato Wedges

(Serves 4)

Ingredients

• 4 sweet potatoes , cut into long wedges
• olive oil
• 400g lean minced lamb
• 1 small red onion , grated
• 1 tbsp harissa
• ½ cucumber , cut into small dice
• 150ml pot natural yogurt
• 4 crusty rolls
• a small bag rocket , to serve

Heat the oven to 200C/fan 180C/gas 6. Toss the sweet potato wedges with 1 tbsp olive oil and some salt. Put on a baking tray in the oven and cook for 20-25 minutes until tender.

Mix together the lamb, onion and harissa and season really well. Form into 4 burgers. Griddle or grill for 4-5 minutes on each side until cooked through. Mix the cucumber into the yogurt and season.

Put the burgers into the buns on top of some rocket leaves. Put a dollop of the yogurt on each burger and serve the rest on the side with the sweet potato wedges.


Gosh, you wouldn't believe I make money from photography would you!? In my defense, as soon as I've cooked I just want to eat, so take a quick snap and gobble before it gets cold!

So, tonight's dinner was as above. I just happened to stumble upon the recipe as I was browsing the BBC Good Food Site and thought it looked like my cup of tea. I am a big harissa fan, so to find another use for it is fab.

I was surprised to find how easy the burgers were to make - it was literally a case of bunging in the lamb, the onion and harissa, mixing them all up, et voila. The smell of them cooking took me right back to my school days - lamb kofte on a Thursday. I do love lamb, it's my favourite meat for roasting, and chops... but I don't think I would choose to cook minced lamb in lump-form again like this, as it just reminds me too much of school dinners.

Don't get me wrong - the dinner was lovely, I don't think I'd do it again for myself. I'm 99% sure when Jack has his when he's in from work, he will l-o-v-e love it, Im just not a minced-lamb-in-lump-form fan, which I evidently forgot until the reminiscent aromas hit me.

I did, however, discover an absolutely delicious accompaniment to meals in the sweet potato wedges - I've never tried them like that before, and they went just perfectly with the cucumber and yoghurt dip. I will 100% be making them again, with the dip, and might even try a little harissa in with the youghurt.

Summer Couscous Salad

A while ago I was scouting for halloumi recipes - I always do the same thing with it, and a friend that lives in Cyprus gave me this recipe. I have made it a couple of times before, each time with great success. Jack is a bit of a meaty-man, but it's good enough for him for dinner without any meat accompaniments!

(Serves 4)

Ingredients

• 250g couscous
• 250ml vegetable stock , boiling
• 400g can chickpeas , drained and rinsed
• 1-2 tbsp vegetable or olive oil
• 300g courgettes , sliced on the slant
• 300g small vine-ripened tomatoes , halved
• 250g pack halloumi cheese , thickly sliced and then halved lengthways

For the Dressing

• 125ml olive oil
• 3 tbsp lime juice
• 2 large garlic cloves , finely chopped
• 2 tbsp chopped fresh mint
• ½ tsp sugar

1. Tip the couscous into a bowl, pour the boiling stock over and mix well with a fork. Cover with a plate and leave for 4 minutes. Meanwhile, tip all the dressing ingredients into a bowl and mix well. Fluff up the couscous with a fork, stir in the chickpeas and follow with half the dressing. Mix well and pile on to a large serving dish.

2. Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large frying pan and fry the courgette slices over a high heat for 2-3 minutes until dark golden brown. Lift out on to kitchen paper. Now put the tomatoes cut-side down into the pan, and cook for another couple of minutes until tinged brown on the underside. Top the couscous with the courgettes and then the tomatoes.

3. If the pan is dry, pour in a little more oil and heat it up, then add the halloumi strips and fry for 2-3 minutes, turning them over from time to time, until crisp and sizzled brown. Pile on top of the tomatoes, and drizzle with the remaining dressing. Serve as soon as possible.



I make it without chickpeas as I really don't like them. Humous is fine, chickpeas just ming! I think it stems back to when I was on a diet that chickpeas were 'unlimited' on, so I made a cake out of them. Errrrrrgh. It's still gorgeous without them, I don't feel I'm missing anything from the dish.

I have seen on the BBC site that people have left comments saying they have added harissa to the dressing, and have added green beans to the salad - I think both sound lovely and I will try them over the summer.

This dish is great as a salad for BBQs, or as a main course in it's own right. It even makes me wish I was working tomorrow so I could take the leftovers as a packed lunch... twisted right?! Be warned - it's VERY garlicy. VERY delicious too.

Chocolate Croissants from Nigella Express

I saw Nigella Lawson making her Chocolate Croissants on her Nigella Express programme a while ago and thought they looked really easy, really yummy, and like a really lazy kind of recipe (my kind of recipe!) I don't have the Nigella Express book, but managed to find the recipe by the power of Google.

(Makes 12)

Ingredients

• 1 (13-ounce) packet ready rolled butter puff pastry
• 1 (100-gram) chocolate bar (milk or dark depending on taste)
• 1 egg beaten

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425F/220C. Unfurl the sheet of pastry and then cut it into 6 squares.

Cut each square diagonally to give 2 triangles (they will appear quite small). Put the triangle with the wider part facing you and the point away from you.

Break off small pieces of chocolate (approx.1cm/half inch) to place about 2cm/3/4-inch up from the wide end nearest you.

Then carefully roll from that chocolate loaded end towards the point of the triangle.

You should now have something resembling a straight croissant, seal it slightly with your fingertips and curl it around into a crescent.

Place the chocolate croissants on a lined baking tray and paint with the beaten egg. Bake for 15 minutes until golden and puffy and exuberantly, if miniaturely, croissant-like.

I used (Green & Blacks) dark chocolate, which was a little bitter for the less developed taste-buds in my house. Yes they were very very easy - but not very very yummy. There seemed to be a lot of spare pastry at the ends where the chocolate hadn't got that far. I much prefer shop-bought chocolate croissants, and they're far cheaper too. I won't bother making these again. This is one instance where home baked is not best. 1/5.


****EDIT****

Ok, it's 2 days later - the croissants have all gone. I might have lied when I said Louis didn't like them - he polished them off sharpish! For me they don't compare to shop-bought croissants. For Louis they were fine, he loved them, and they are probably better for him. Still not sure if that would sway me into making them again though!

Bacon & Pea Risotto

I do love a good risotto. I have never made one before - for some reason I had always though they were really complicated to make, but this recipe by Mary Cadogan proved me wrong.

Ingredients
1 onion
6 rashers streaky bacon , chopped
300g risotto rice
1l hot vegetable stock
100g frozen peas

Finely chop the onion. Heat 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a knob of butter in a pan, add the onions and fry until lightly browned (about 7 minutes). Add the bacon and fry for a further 5 minutes, until it starts to crisp.

Add the rice and stock, and bring to the boil. Stir well, then reduce the heat and cook, covered, for 15-20 minutes until the rice is almost tender.

Stir in the peas, add a little salt and pepper and cook for a further 3 minutes, until the peas are cooked. Serve sprinkled with freshly grated parmesan and freshly ground black pepper.


It was really easy to make - the fact it uses only 5 ingredients added to the simplicity, and there wasn't really much to do - just chop a couple of things up then leave it to do it's stuff.

The result is a mixed bag. I thought it was really nice. I didn't love it, but it was nice. Jack thought it didn't taste of much and was a bit samey - but then I guess risotto is a bit samey. Louis had one mouthful and refused to have any more. This could have been due to the tonne of grated cheddar he'd dumped on the top. So, not such a huge success, but I'm happy because it means I have some lunch to take to work with me tomorrow! I would make it again for myself, but I think I'll try out a couple of other recipes in the meantime.

Sweet & Simple : Vanilla Cupcakes

Another monthly challenge I found was Sweet & Simple, who's challenge for the month was Vanilla Cupcakes. I am quite a cake lover, and the fact they promised to be simple was a bonus!

Vanilla Cupcakes

(Makes 12)

Ingredients
175g (6 oz) self-raising flour
1½ level tsp baking powder
175g (6 oz) butter, softened
175g (6 oz) caster (superfine) sugar
3 large eggs
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Buttercream Icing
150g (5oz) butter, softened
300g (11 oz) icing (confectioners) sugar, sifted
1 tbsp milk
¼ tsp vanilla extract
Edible food colouring(s) of choice,
optional Sprinkle(s) for decoration of choice

You will also require 12 holed muffin tin lined with 12 paper muffin cases

Method Preheat the oven to 180°C/Fan oven 160°C/350°F/Gas mark 4. Sift the self-raising flour and baking powder into a large bowl, and then add the butter, caster sugar, eggs, milk and vanilla extract. Beat together until well mixes, trying not to over mix the mixture. Spoon the mixture equally into the prepared paper cases and bake in the preheated oven for about 20 minutes or until the tops spring back when lightly pressed. Leave to cool in the tin for 5 minutes then turn out to completely cool on a wire rack.

To make the buttercream, beat the butter until soft. Add the icing sugar and stir until it’s just mixed in, then add the milk and vanilla and beat until light and fluffy. Divide into as many bowls as you want different colour(s) and add edible food colouring (you only require a few drops). This is purely optional should you wish to leave out the edible food colouring(s) and keep the buttercream natural. Spread the icing on thickly with a palette knife on top of each cupcake or put the icing into a piping back and make a large swirl on top of each cupcake. Decorate each cupcake with your chosen sprinkle(s).


Well, they lived up to their reputation - the 'chuck it all in a bowl then mix' method was very simple, and they were in the oven within 5 minutes. I was very aware of the smell of baking powder as they were cooking, but this could just be my current state of super-senses kicking in again (I'm pregnant)!

They didn't take very long to cool, and pretty soon Louis and I were icing them. The recipe said the icing could be piped or spread on, and seeing as the rest had been pretty simple I thought I would try piping for the first time. I'm not sure if I did something wrong, but I think the icing was too thin to pipe it - as you can see from the photo, they're not perfect! Louis was helping by sticking his fingers in the icing once I'd piped it on, and "catching the drips"!

The cakes are really lovely - nice and light, and the vanilla in the icing takes over any baking powder flavours I was worried would be present. The icing had a very foamy texture to it. I think if I make them again I will try adding half the quantity to milk to the icing before adding the rest little by little until it has a firmer consistency.

Think Spice... Think Nigella Seeds (Kalonji)

As I mentioned earlier in my blog, while browsing some other food blogs, I came across Sunita's World, and her monthly spice challenge, Think Spice, which I thought sounded like a wonderful idea - a great way to delve into recipes you may not otherwise have thought to. This month's spice of choice was Nigella Seeds, aka Kalonji.


I have many Greek friends, and this spice brings back memories of my childhood, eating bread containing it which I thought was delicious. I have often thought back to that bread, wondering what on earth this fabulous spice was, and it wasn't until seeing it featured on the last series of The Apprentice that I realised that this was what it was called. As well as being called Nigella Seeds (no connection to Lawson), in Hindi it is known as Kalonji, and is also sometimes known as onion seeds or cumin seeds. I have looked for it in the past with no great results - and had decided I would need to visit a specialist shop, but just never got round to it. When I saw this challenge I decided that I was going to find it, had a Google, and there, on trusty eBay, I found my goods. It cost me £1.25 for 50g which I don't think is too bad considering it's supposedly one of the more expensive spices, my Mum was telling me, as she heard it was good for attracting a certain bird (Chaffinch maybe) to the garden if you left it out for them. Good taste!

When I began researching recipes to use for this challenge, I thought I had made my mind up with Spiced Potato Cake with Mint Raita - looks scrummy huh? But, on thinking about it more - I decided against it. The recipe serves 6, which would mean far too much food for Jack, Louis and I. I obviously know how to halve the quantities in the ingredients, but when it comes to adjusting cooking times accordingly I am useless... so I carried on searching. Thinking back to this childhood bread I'd enjoyed, I decided to go down that route and ended up with a recipe from Recipe Zaar to make bread rolls which were topped with Nigella Seeds, and were filled with feta, potato or beef. I went with the feta...

Feta Rolls topped with Nigella Seeds
(Makes 8 rolls)

Ingredients

• 2 1/2-3 cups all-purpose flour [I used 2 1/2 but dont think it was quite enough so added some more at the kneading stage].
  
• 3 tablespoons sugar
• 1 tablespoon instant yeast
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 3/4 cup water
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 1 egg

Filling

• 1 cup feta cheese
• 1/2 cup dill, chopped [I'm not a big dill lover and so used about 1/4 cup instead. It was still aparent in the roll, but not overpowering]
  

Topping

• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoon water
• 2 tablespoons nigella seeds (Black seed)

Directions

1. Combine 1 cup of the flour with the sugar, yeast and salt.

2. Heat water and butter in a small pan until butter melts. [The recipe actually says "heat water and milk until butter melts", but seeing as there's no milk in the ingredients list, I am taking this to be a mistake].

3. Stir into the flour mixture.

4. Stir in egg and remaining flour to make a soft dough.

5. Knead on a lightly floured surface until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.

6. Cover, leave to rest for 10 minutes.

7. Roll dough to a 14 x 10 inch rectangle and cut into 8 pieces.

8. Spoon enough filling into each piece.


9. Bring up sides to enclose filling, pinching seam and ends to seal.

10. Cover, let rise for 30-45 minutes. [I left mine for45]

11. In a small bowl, beat together egg and water; brush onto top of dough. Sprinkle with nigella.

12. Bake at 375F / 190C for 20 to 25 minutes or until done. [I have a fan oven and 20 minutes was perfect].

My verdict.... delicious! The smell of my house as these baked were just divine. I am definitely inspired to try out some more of my own bread rolls, knowing how easy these were. I am seeing Sunday mornings with freshly baked poppyseed rolls. Anyway, I digress... As I tore the roll open, I was expecting the feta to have melted, but the cubes were still in their whole form at the base of the roll. The first mouthful was heavenly - the cheese tasted buttery, the bread was warm, the nigella seeds complimented it beautifuly. As I got further in, I think that the nigella seeds became too overpowering where I had sprinkled them on more thickly. The recipe called for 2 tablespoons, and I had only used approximately 1 tablespoon when I thought I was done, but being a fan of the seed, I thought I would go with the recipe. Next time, I will stick with the one.

Thank you very much to Sunita's World for awakening my senses to the world of nigella seeds. I look forward to seeing what everyone else has made, so I can try some of those recipes out. Now I know where I can get these badboys, I don't want to stop!