Cod with Peppers and Potatoes

I don't actually know what this dish is called so I'm giving it a 'duhh' name. It's a recipe my sister gave me and it's dead easy and tastes awesome. I was too hungry to take a picture of it before eating so you'll just have to imagine it in your creative mind.

Feeds 2 people

You need:
250g jar of roasted mixed peppers (you can easily find this in the antipasti section at the supermarket)
250g new potatoes
1 red onion
140g green beans
2x175g cod fillets (these have a few tiny bones in it so you may want to inspect your fish before cooking it otherwise you'll end up pulling bones out of your mouth throughout the meal. max unglam)
1/2 lemon

And... go!
1. Cut the potatoes and onions into wedges (personal preference really) and halve the beans
2. Drain the oil from the jar of roasted peppers into a pan on high heat
3. Fry the potatoes and onions in the pepper oil for about 5min/until golden
4. Pour away most of the oil, leaving about 2 tbsp in the pan
5. Add the beans and peppers. Cook for another 5 min
6. Put the cod skin side down on top of your oily stirfry
7. Cover and let it cook for about 10min
8. Drizzle with lemon juice (I forgot this step and it still tasted fine)

The best part is you have your carbs, veg and fish all in one dish with no extra salt/seasoning!

easy reliable pizza (:

to my surprise, pizza proved to not be quite as scary as i'd thought. apart from being pretty straightforward, the recipe also seems relatively idiotproof! and there are many basic versions which seem quite reproducible (unlike my one-hit okayness experience with most other recipes) and more pimped up versions one can progress to (:

here is the one ben & i began with: makes 6-8 bases

jamie oliver no less,

1 kg '00' flour

1 level tbsp fine sea salt

2 x 7g sachets of dried yeast

1 tbsp golden caster sugar (pimped up version has some honey in it too)

4 tbsps extra virgin olive oil
650 ml lukewarm water (pimped up version swops part of the water for white wine)

(note: '00' flour can be found at waitrose and appears to give a better result but on 2 repeat occasions ben used bread flour and i used plain flour and both still gave us pizza so no worries!)

1. in a large bowl, mix flour and salt together and create a lovely expectant looking well in the middle.

2. mix the yeast, sugar, olive oil (+honey, wine if present) with the lukewarm water in another bowl. lukewarm just means about 50 + deg i think, so you can put your hand comfortably in and so yeast can have a happy play day. leave this mixture for about 5 min

3. pour the awakened yeast into the well you made in the large bowl and using a fork first, bring the flour in gradually, mixing well the whole time.

4. when the mixture starts to look vaguely like one entity, flour hands and get your hands in there kneading until the dough is smooth and springy.

(on the website, one of the comments from a reader said: if the dough is still sticky YOU HAVENT WORKED HARD ENOUGH!)

5. when satisfied with springiness, place in large flour-dusted bowl , and leave in a warm room for about 1/2 h until doubled in size

6. take this half hour to chop up toppings: some suggestions are below, also, preheat the oven at the highest temperature

7. tear out adequate sizes of baking paper and divide the dough into as many pizzas as you want

8. flour the baking paper (if not, nightmare getting it off later!) then roll out the balls of dough as thin as you can without being ridiculous

9. then put the base in to cook for about 3-5 min by itself (this prevents it getting soggy in the middle later so you can pile as much topping as you want on without having to worry, this is especially important when you are ben and as much topping is quite alot)

10. when it comes out, just spread your sauce on and get going! with all the toppings on + cheese on top, the pizza takes about another 12-15 min in the oven (:

topping suggestions:

fiorentina: tomato sauce, spinach, mozzarella, then crack an egg perhaps 2-3 min before the end of cooking

everything: peppers, mushrooms, chunks of pre-fried rump steak

simple: tomato sauce + bufala mozzarella torn up into pieces which beautifully melt into creamy white pools

anything you like!

for the tomato sauce: we used variously some specially made for pizza bases napoli brand sauce, a sainsbury's passata sauce, or you can make your own using mich's tomato sauce recipe!

Sloppy Joe

I came across this recipe on the Food Wishes website today while looking for something to make with the beef mince I had in the freezer. A sloppy joe is basically a burger but minus the whole binding, shaping and chilling the patties part. As such, it was super easy to make and tasted good! I did make some alterations to the recipe due to necessity though and I've posted the slightly modified recipe here. For the original (which serves 4-6) and the video on how to make it, go here.

Serves 2

Ingredients:
250g lean beef mince
1/4 onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 red pepper, diced
5 tbsp ketchup
A dash of worchestershire sauce
Just under 1 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
1 cup water
About 1 tsp (or to taste) salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
cayenne pepper, to taste

2 sesame seeded burger buns
a knob of butter

Method:
1) Start with a cold pan. Put the mince (helps later if you break it into small pieces first) and onion in the pan.
2) Turn on the heat to med-high. Stir the beef and onion while breaking the mince up into crumbly pieces.
3) Once all crumbly, add the garlic and stir.
4) Add the red pepper and saute for 2 mins.
5) Add 1/2 cup water and stir. (this de-glazes the beef juices that have dried up at the bottom of the pan)
6) Add ketchup, brown sugar, dijon mustard, worchestershire sauce, pepper and salt. Stir them all in.
7) Add 1/2 cup water and bring to simmer. Turn the heat on low and leave to simmer for about 30mins or until most of the water has evaporated.
8) Taste and adjust seasoning. Add cayenne pepper in and stir.
9) For the burger buns, butter the side that will come in contact with the mixture later. Place the butter side down on a hot frying pan. Remove from heat once it turns golden brown.
10) The mixture is ready to be served in the burger buns once the water has evaporated and you can pile the mixture on top of a spatula (and tilt it side to side) without it tumbling down.

See, no getting your hands all icky with burger patties! It also has a nice, sweet-salty taste and if you add cayenne pepper, it becomes slightly hot :)

Sorry, by the time I thought of posting this recipe up, I had already wolfed down the whole burger :S It's that good!
So, the pic up there was taken from the Food Wishes website and photo credits go to them.

Peanut Cookies

I was looking through this cookbook a friend got me before I left for the UK. It's called Betty Saw's Kitchen Secrets and I was browsing through the recipes looking for something to make this Chinese New Year. The peanut cookie (Fah Sang Peng) recipe seemed pretty straightforward so I tried it! I'm proud to say that everyone who has tried the cookies liked it :)

So here it is for you guys to recreate it on your own.

Ingredients:
350g shelled roasted peanuts
270g (1 1/4 cups) caster sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
350g (3 1/4 cups) plain flour, sifted
250ml (1 cup) good quality groundnut oil
Glace cherries, cut into 1/4 cm pieces, for decoration
Egg wash: 2 egg yolks + 2 tsp milk, beaten together

Method:

1) Preheat oven to 325-350F/175C/ Gas 3-4.
2) Blend roasted peanuts in electric blender until fine and crumbly
3) In a large mixing bowl, combine peanuts, sugar, vanilla essence and flour.
4) Make a well in the centre and pour in the groundnut oil.
5) Mix well with a wooden spoon.
6) Lightly run through the mixture with fingers to bind into a crumbly dough.
7) Shape into balls about the size of a cherry and lay out on baking sheet.
8) Make a dent into each ball with the pointed end of a chopstick. Place a piece of cherry into each dent. If not using cherries, just use a straw to make a circle pattern instead of a dent.
9) Brush cookies with egg wash.
10) Bake in oven for 20-25 mins or until golden.

When I was making this, Sara was using pretty much the same recipe to make almond cookies. All you need to do is substitute the peanuts for roasted almonds. She also reduced the amount of sugar slightly since almonds don't have as strong a flavour as peanuts. You could always taste and tweak the measurements as you go about making them.

Enjoy!

*Sorry no picture. When I made this, I had not replaced my stolen camera yet :( *

Currant Scones

I found this recipe on Chef John's Food Wishes website. It looked so good yet easy to make that Mich and I had a 'bake date' to try it out. It was a success! :D Buttery, fluffy and yet substantial... and it doesn't crumble when you break into it!

However, we used the British version of measurements and I'm not sure if that changed anything but it still tastes good. So if you're using British measurements, then just follow the recipe provided. If not, you could use the one given at Chef John's website when you click on the link below.

So here is the video.

Makes 8 medium scones.
Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups (190g) plain flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/4 cup (57g) granulated sugar
1/8 tsp (a pinch) salt
5 tbsp (75g) unsalted butter, ice-cold (freeze them before cutting into cubes)
1/3 cup (50g) dried currants
1/2 cup (120ml) milk (full fat ok YMW)
1/4 cup (60ml) soured cream
1 egg + 1 tbsp milk for egg wash

Method:
1) Preheat oven to 400F / 200C / Gas 6.
2) Put the flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in a large bowl and mix with whisk.
3) Add the ice-cold butter in. Break up the butter into small chunks using the whisk (or fork). 2 important things to remember: the butter must be very cold and you should stop mixing once you get a crumbly mixture.
4) Add the dried currants, milk and soured cream. Using a fork, roughly mix until just combined. Don't overmix!!
5) Using hands that have been coated in flour, roll the batter into ice-cream scoop size balls and place on baking sheet.
6) Put a coat of egg wash and spinkle with sugar for each ball. This makes the scones a shiny golden brown when cooked.
7) Bake in over for 15 mins or until golden brown. Chill for 10-15 mins before eating.

It's so easy! We probably took less than an hour from start to finish!

Enjoy!

blueberry cheesecake (and chocolate chip cookies)

blueberry cheesecake! actually you can probably find the recipe for this online anywhere (which is what i did, oops) but here's proof that it actually works! justin and i made this for jas's birthday and it was unanimously deemed a success. and then we used the remaining ingredients to make chocolate chip cookies which was also a success, but i'm not sure i can put the recipe up here because we added in random amounts of flour to our liking, but heck maybe i will anyway, so you get two (boring and easy to find) recipes in one! they're really easy recipes anyway


blueberry cheesecake

ingredients

• 100g digestive biscuits
• 30g butter (or more if you feel like it)
• 100g caster sugar
• 4teaspoon (20ml) cornflour
• 300g soft cheese (the original recipe said 'light' but i used full fat)
• 1 egg
• 150ml sour cream
• 250g blueberries (or maybe less since i had quite a lot)
• 40g caster sugar (yes again, for the topping)

recipe

1. preheat oven to 180degC/350degF/gas mark 4
2. grease cake tin with butter
3. crush biscuits
4. melt butter
5. stir butter into biscuit crumbs
6. press crumbs into base of cake tin, make sure you press hard and dam nicely
7. chill the cake tin with the crumb base in the fridge
8. mix cornflour and sugar
9. add cheese and mix
10. add egg and mix
11. add cream and mix
12. pour mixture into the cake tin above the base and spread evenly
13. pop in oven for 30ish minutes, after that take out and chill in fridge
    
14. mix the additional 40g of sugar with 50ml of water in a pot and bring to boil til the sugar dissolves
15. add blueberries in
16. cover and simmer until you like the way it looks: i stopped mine once all the blueberries were soft and dark and the water looked like blueberry juice
17. chill the topping in the fridge
18. pour/spread on top of the cake just before serving

YAY. kevin loved the crumb base so much that he made another base just to eat, with no cake on top. -.-

okay next


chocolate chip cookies

ingredients

1. 125g butter
2. 100g granulated sugar
3. 75g soft brown sugar
4. 1 egg
5. 2 teaspoon vanilla extract (i may have zhnged more than 2 teaspoons..)
6. 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
7. pinch of salt
   
8. >200-250g plain flour (i have NO idea)
9. 100g chocolate chips

recipe

1. preheat oven to 190degC/375degF/gas mark 5
2. grease base of cookie tray with butter
3. mix sugars together
4. melt butter
5. mix butter + sugars
6. + egg + vanilla extract + baking powder + salt
7. slowly add in sifted flour til the dough is shapable. the original recipe said 150g but it was clearly not enough so we just kept adding until it was more or less shapable into little balls, not too hard though
8. mix in chocolate chips, as much as you want la
   
9. plop them as little balls on the cookie tray, not too close together
10. pop the tray in the oven for 10mins-ish, or until the fork won't go through the surface that easily
11. take out and cool and eat (=

YAY. yichung(law) ate these with cognac in the other hand

Rich Tomato Sauce

Can be used as the base for bolognaise, pizza, lasagna... All of which I may give you my recipes for by and by. Worth it to make A LOT, and then freeze in portions. It's so good you will never buy Dolmio again. And cheap, wei! Best made on a sunny, happy weekend, with lots of time to chill out in the house while smells waft from the kitch.

Prep time: depends how fast you chop onions
Cooking time: at least 45 mins but up to 2 hours for a big pot

Ingredients:

Olive Oil (good quality Mediterranean is better but expensive)
Onions
1 or 2 cloves of Garlic (optional)
Canned chopped or whole Tomatoes (good quality whole plum tomatoes are best)
Tomato Puree
Sugar to taste
Fresh Basil (optional)

Method:

1. Dice onions - they don't have to be too fine, they are going to melt anyway. Ratio of onions to tomatoes in the pot is roughly 1:3. The more onions, the sweeter your sauce. Peel and smash garlic.

2. Saute onions and garlic in a generous amount of olive oil until brown and caramelised. Don't skip this step, or burn anything on too high a heat.

3. Add canned tomatoes plus all its juices. If your tomatoes are whole you can break them up with your spatula a little. Add generous amount of tomato puree. Like one of those little cans or equivalent.

4. Bring to a boil and then cover and simmer on very low heat for 45 mins or (much) more. Stir every 15 mins or so, to make sure the bottom does not burn. If it has burnt you can still save it, just refrain from stirring the burnt bits into the sauce. You will know it's done when olive oil starts coming to the top and forming little puddles on top of the sauce.

5. It won't taste sweet until it's almost done. If still a little tart then, add sugar to taste. I always add a tablespoon-full. Season with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Oh ya, stir in whole sprigs of basil at some point during the simmering, which will wilt and die and sacrifice all its goodness up to the sauce. (Whole sprigs so that you can pick them out easily. Unless you want to eat them... for fibre...)

*THE END*

So simple. Even Meng can do it =P. Go for it guys, ready-made sucks!

the meng special

i've never been a fan of recipes. or long ingredient lists. or things that need to be defrosted then allowed to breathe.

what does that even mean?

why should this lump of dough need to breathe?!

and am i morally questionable for wanting to put it in the oven?!?!?!?!

basically, anything that takes you longer to cook than it takes to eat is a big thumbs down in my book - but my little escapade with breathing lumps of dough will be told some other time - involves a 2 inch thick pizza that turned out more obese american than italian as originally planned
i say book - but it's really more like a double-sided page of A4. i won't deny it - i'm a bit of a chef - i diligently studied culinary technique under the tutelage of my mother who was schooled in such kitchen matters by her foremothers and have been carefully honing my skills for the past three years.

mostly true.

i guess by "diligently studied" i mean occasionally noticed her cutting up bits of vegetables (fruits? apart from wikipedia who really knows anyway?) whilst i attempted to sneak a cheeky bite.
and maybe by "honing my skills" i meant drunken late-night attempts to make maggi goreng (still trying)

let's cut to the chase. this dish was named "the meng special" - as hard as it is for many of you to believe, it was not named by me - but i am very proud to say that there is a select group of caucasian men for whom this is the only asian dish they are able to cook (and enjoy): "if white man from liverpool can do it; anyone can!" is my general mantra (said in scouse)

now that i've made sure my pre-amble is longer than the recipe:

this will serve 3 people or 1 meng.

slice 1 onion and 500g of turkey breast (recent incarnations have used boneless chicken thighs but i believe it is somewhat related to lack of exercise)

pour a little olive oil down, turn the heat up and start frying! after 30 seconds or so of sizzle pour down a tablespoon of sesame oil and generous amounts of soya sauce (preferably kikkoman) and then put the kettle on.

keep stirring the meat on a medium-high heat till it's cooked through. by this time the water should have been boiled - pour it into a pot and submerge three Blue Dragon wholewheat noodle nests. they take 2 minutes to cook. after two minutes - sieve them, throw them in and go crazy with the white pepper.
lower the heat a little and add more soya sauce if it doesn't smell awesome enough. asians tend to have a pretty built-in "soya sauce gauge" so if you are racially aligned to the dish you shouldn't have a problem. if you aren't - you won't notice anyway but just add more to be on the safe side. open up a pack of spinach (about 150g and ready-washed OF COURSE) and throw it in. STIR MORE.

when the leaves look like you just want to wring them out and hang them up to dry - we're done! :) sprinkle a bit more white pepper - mix and VOILA we have food.

i think the best time was clocked in at 12 minutes 13 seconds so if you manage to beat that and don't get hospitalised with salmonella (sneaky-sneaky cheating ain't allowed) then let me know!

lots of love xoxo

next up: how to choose the right songs for cooking. aka how to make an itunes egg-timer. aka how to make that awesome bit in bohemian rhapsody coincide with when you open the oven

Caramel Croissant Pudding

This is a recipe by the Goddess herself (video).
I've fed this to the housemates twice now and they have assured me it's good enough to grace this blog.

Serves 2-3

You need:

2 croissants
100g caster sugar
2 tbsp water
125ml double cream
125ml full fat milk (yes teh FULLFAT)
2 tbsp bourbon/whisky (first time, I did it without the alcohol and I don't think it made that much difference, sadly enough)
2 eggs, beaten


And then....
1. Preheat the oven 180C
2. Tear the croissants into pieces and put in a dish (Nigella used a gratin dish. I used a Corningware dish about 15cmx15cm)
3. Put the caster sugar and water in a saucepan and swirl to help dissolve the sugar. Then turn on the hob to high heat
4. Caramelize the sugar - let it bubble til it's deep amber (DON'T STIR!). It should take about 3-5min.
5. Turn the heat down to low and add the cream, milk and bourbon, whisking all the while. It seems to work well enough for Nigella but I ended up with a huge lump of toffee. Don't panic. Keep whisking over low heat and it should dissolve eventually.
6. Take it off the heat and whisk in the beaten eggs.
7. Pour the caramel custard over the croissants and let it sit for about 10min to soak up the goodness.
8. Put in the oven for 20min and it's done!

Tastes awesome with more double cream/ice cream.

Fiery Pork Curry (I didn't name this ok!)

As the name suggests, it's really spicy! So you might need to reduce the amount of chillies that go into it. Unless, you're one of those types that can eat a whole cili padi and not cry.

Anyway, I got this recipe from D's mum who has spent some time trying it out and tweaking it to perfection (except for heat level). The method is pretty straightforward although there is quite a bit of waiting around (30mins here, another 30 mins there...).

The ingredients might seem a bit tricky to acquire at first BUT I managed to find them ALL at Waitrose (sigh... my fave place!) so no worries there! Furthermore, most of the ingredients needed are of the store cupboard kind so you could always make this pork curry again whenever you feel like it! :)

Okay, enough bla-bla! Here's the recipe.

Ingredients:

For the Paste:

20 dried chillies

1 tbsp coriander seeds

½ tbsp black pepper

½ tbsp cumin

125 ml (1/2 cup) water

For the curry:

500 g pork with some fat (lean belly), diced

2 peeled onions, cut into chunks

3 green chillies, sliced

2.5 cm knob ginger, peeled & sliced

5 cloves garlic, peeled & sliced

1 stick cinnamon

5 pods cardamom

5 cloves

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp vinegar (I left this out since I don't have it. Still tastes good!)

3 bay leaves

250 ml (1 cup) water

2 stalks curry leaves (Waitrose, not an Asian supermarket, was the ONLY place that sold them. Even then, it was the freeze dried version which can still be used.)

Method:

1. First, prepare the paste. In a dry wok, roast dried red chillies until smoky but not burnt. Remove. Roast coriander seeds, pepper and cumin briefly until seeds are hot. While still hot, grind spices with roasted chillies and water until very fine. Grind preferably with mortar & pestle. I used a blender so it wasn't as finely ground.
2. Use pork that has some fat content so that the final dish will not be too hard and dry. Cut it up into small bite-sized pieces. Mix pork with ground paste, onions, chillies, ginger, garlic, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves, salt, vinegar, oil & bay leaves. Set aside for 30 minutes.
3. Add water and mix well. Cook over medium heat until water begins to boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Test meat using a fork. The fork should pierce through the pork easily. Once pork is tender, adjust seasoning to taste. Plunge curry leaves in and set aside for another 30 minutes before serving with rice. (I didn't bother setting it aside for 30 mins after plunging the curry leaves in; probably 5-10mins.)

Meanwhile, for those of you who might find the paste a bit too labour-intensive to make, D's mum has even provided a 'lazy' substitute!

Substitute for paste:

Marinate the pork with:

2 tbsp meat curry powder

1-2 tsp chilli powder, to taste.

(Taste as you marinate. Just don't swallow the stuff!)

And there it is, fiery pork curry! Try it out and let me know :)

x Dedicated to YMW who has asked for it to be put up x

Pasta From Scratch

My mum showed me how to make this last December. It's pretty simple, but the trick lies in kneading the dough enough - the more peple helping to do it, the less headache so it's fun to do with friends. If in doubt, try boiling a few strands first to see if you like the texture. It should definitely not disintegrate!

Serves 5 ppl
Preparation time: Very long
Boiling time: ideally 3-5 mins but obviously until edible

Ingredients:

4 eggs
4 cups 00" flour

*The number is the way flour is classified in Italy, referring to how finely it is ground and how much bran and germ have been removed. I think it's durum wheat flour, and it's supposed to also be good for making ravioli, gnocchi, even pizza dough. It's definitely available in big Tescos and Whole Foods.*

Method:

1. Put the flour in a heap on a clean work surface.

2. Make a hole in the middle of the heap, and break the eggs into the hole.

3. Knead the egg into the flour in circular, outward movements until completely incorporated.

4. Knead the dough, using a strong hand, for quite a long time. I can't say exactly... Sorry :S

5. Roll the dough out flat and cut into thin long strips. Do in batches if it's easier. It makes life easier if you do the strands in a uniform size, so they get cooked at the same time. Hang the strips individually on the edge of the counter or over a basket - whatever's the easiest. The idea is just that the strands don't stick to each other, and hanging it sort of stretches it in a nice way. One method for cutting it is to roll the flat dough eggroll-style, cut it, and then roll it out. My dad disagrees with this though!

6. Drop into well-salted boiling water (not simmering). Do not overcrowd, laziness = fail. The boiling time will vary slightly according to how thinly you have cut the strands.

7. Ta-da! You are done. Toss it on the fire (in a pan lah, not like ON the fire) with your sauce. In the picture above, we used lots of garlic, good olive oil, and giant prawns. The juice from the prawns get absorbed by noodles really well, so if you use seafood, go RAW! Tomato sauces are good too, but I don't really recommend anything too rich and creamy, because it is super filling already as it is. My dad also claims it can be used for bǎn miàn so you can try!

Beef Shepherd's Pie

I got this recipe off Sophie Dahl's cooking programme on BBC iplayer and made a few changes to it (due to necessity more than anything!). Nevertheless, it tasted amazing! So good that I made it a week later (I usually don't repeat recipes til at least 3 weeks or so)!

Anyway, here's the video of the whole episode if you wanna watch her make it (and a few other things) step-by-step. She only makes the shepherd's pie towards the end though. She also does a vege option for the recipe by replacing the beef with puy lentils. However, since most of us are avid meat eaters, I'll only be posting the beef one.

Serves 2-3

Prep time : 30 mins

Cooking time: less than 1 hour

Ingredients:
For the champ topping:
3 potatoes (her recipe calls for floury potatoes, such as King Edward or Maris Piper but you can use any type tbh), peeled, chopped
small handful frozen peas
knob of butter
2 spring onions, roughly chopped
25ml/1fl oz milk
75g/3oz cheddar, broken into chunks
pinch smoked paprika

For the beef mixture
1 tbsp olive oil
1 red/white onion, peeled, roughly chopped
1 garlic clove, peeled, crushed
2 small carrots, peeled, chopped into small pieces
1 celery stalk, trimmed, chopped into small pieces
400g/14oz canned plum tomatoes
1½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
½ tsp Tabasco
pinch smoked paprika
1 fresh bay leaf (I used those freeze dried ones instead)
85-90ml/3-3½fl oz red wine
100ml/3½fl oz chicken/vegetable stock
1 sprig fresh rosemary (Again, I sprinkled freezed dried ones from a bottle)
splash balsamic vinegar (Left this out since I didn't have it)
small handful fresh (or dried but use less) flatleaf parsley, roughly chopped
250g/9oz lean beef mince
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper


Method:
1. Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. For the champ topping, heat a pan of salted water, add the potatoes and bring gently to the boil, then simmer until the potatoes are nearly cooked through, about 15-20 minutes.
2. Meanwhile, for the beef mixture, heat half the olive oil in a large frying pan over a medium heat and gently fry the chopped onion, garlic, carrots and celery for 5-10 minutes, or until softened.
3. Add the remaining beef mixture ingredients except for the mince and season to taste with salt and freshly ground black pepper. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat slightly and simmer for 4-5 minutes until the vegetables are tender. Keep warm.
4. Heat the remaining olive oil in a separate frying pan over a medium heat, add the mince in batches, if necessary, and fry until golden-brown. Stir the tomato sauce into the beef.
5. When the potatoes for the champ topping are almost done, add the frozen peas and cook for a few more minutes until the peas are tender.
6. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over a low heat, then gently fry the spring onions until softened. Add the milk and heat through.
7. Drain the potatoes and peas and mash roughly. Add the warm milk mixture to the potatoes and continue to mash until combined but still chunky.
8. Spoon the beef mixture into a medium pie dish and top with the champ. Scatter over the cheese and smoked paprika.
9. Place the dish onto a baking sheet and bake the pie for 25-30 minutes, or until the potato is golden-brown.

Like most stews, it still tastes amazing, if not better, if eaten the next day :)
Unfortunately, I didn't take a photo of it after I made it (twice!) :( Sorry, will make sure I do the next time! Watch video if you need enticing!

Introducing...

Okay, I couldn't take that the blog looked so sad and empty so I thought I'd do an intro post! :)

Basically, this blog was set up because we all have our share of good, tried-and-tested recipes and needed an efficient way of sharing them with each other. So I guess you could say we care about what's (everyone else) cooking! (hawhaw)

Anyway, the concept is simple: you stumble upon a recipe, try it out and if it's a success, blog about it here! That way, the rest of us can try it too :D

It can be anything from snacks to main courses to desserts! So hopefully we all come across exciting stuff, (put in the effort to) blog about it and keep this blog running for a long time to come! :)

Banoffee Pie

Got this off the back of the Carnation Condensed Milk tin. I prefer to use more biscuit than instructed to get a thicker base and so I can cover the sides properly. I also like to subsitute the cocoa powder for cinammon, but use less probably because it's quite a kick in the face otherwise. Make sure you caramelise the condensed milk properly, because the first time I did it I took it off the heat too quickly and it wouldn't firm up!

Serves 8-10
Preparation time: 20 minutes
Chilling time: 1½ hours

Use an 8" loose-bottomed cake tin

Ingredients:

Base
100g (3½oz) butter, melted
250g (9oz) digestive biscuits

Filling
100g (3½oz) butter
100g (3½oz) dark brown soft sugar
397g can Carnation Condensed Milk

Topping
4 small bananas
284ml carton double cream, lightly whipped
cocoa powder, for dusting

Method:

1. To make the base, seal biscuits in a zip-lock bag and beat with heavy object until you get fine crumbs, then tip into a bowl. Alternatively, use food processer. Stir in the melted butter. Press the mixture into the base and up the sides of the tin. Chill the base while you make the filling.

2. To make the filling, place the butter and sugar into a non-stick saucepan over a low heat, stirring until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves. Burnt sugar tastes yuck so don't do that. Add the condensed milk and bring gently to the boil, stirring continuously to make the caramel. As soon as it thickens and becomes a nice brown, remove from the heat. Spread the filling over the biscuit base, cool, and then leave to chill for about 1 hour, until firm.

3. To serve, slice the bananas; fold half of them into the softly whipped cream and spoon over the toffee base. Decorate with the remaining bananas and dust liberally with the cocoa.

*Picture on the way! Still in camera*