Recipe: my favourite roast chicken recipe

I didn't grow up in a household where we religiously had a roast dinner every Sunday so I've always been a bit nonplus about the traditional British dinner. I always thought that roast chicken was a bit boring and not really my jam. But as I continue on my quest to become a whizz in the kitchen (very much a work in progress),  I've been trying out a few recipes and decided that I actually do really like it. It's a really simple dish to do when you have guests over and is always a crowd pleaser. I've been trying out a few different recipes and come up with a mix-matched recipe from Ottolenghi and Rukmini Iyer that I think is a corker.

Ingredients
1 large free range chicken
1/2 bunch of thyme
1 preserved lemon
1 unwaxed lemon
70g of unsalted butter
1 garlic bulb plus two cloves
200g potatoes
200g sweet potatoes
Generous sprinkle of sea salt (Maldons is my favourite)
Generous grind of black pepper
Rapeseed oil

1. Get the chicken out of the fridge and leave to rest on the side so it gets to room temperature.

2. Put the butter, preserved lemon, pepper, salt, three teaspoons of thyme leaves and two peeled garlic cloves in a food processor and pulse until all mixed together.

3. Chop the potatoes into slightly bigger than bite size pieces and place in a large roasting. Pour over some rapeseed oil.

4. Cut a garlic bulb in half and nestle the bottom half within the potatoes. Peel six strips of lemon peel and scatter over. Mix it all together in the oil with your hands.

4. Place the chicken in the large baking tray on top of the potatoes with the legs facing towards you. Gently peel the skin back and start rubbing the butter mixture. Make sure to rub it on top of the legs too. Sprinkle liberally with salt and pepper.

5. Cut the unwaxed lemon in half and put in the chicken's bum along with a few springs of thyme and the rest of the garlic cloves from the bulb.

6. Put the chicken in the oven with the legs facing the back. Cook for around two hours. I usually start checking after 90 minutes as my oven cooks rather quick.

7. Once it's cooked take it out and leave it to rest for 10-15 before carving. Serve with all your favourite trimmings!

Let me know if you make it on Twitter, I'd love to see pictures!

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Recipe: tomato, spring onion and spinach quiche

Quiche is one of those dishes that always reminds me of balmy summer evenings spent outside with a glass of wine. It's the perfect summer dish and one that I think I'm going to be making a lot this year. I came up with this vegetable combination because it was what I received in my Abel & Cole box.

Ingredients 
I pack of ready-rolled shortcrust pastry
200g spinach, chopped
6 spring onions, chopped
Handful of cherry tomatoes, chopped in half
180g gouda cheese, grated
300ml double cream
Drizzle of olive oil
4 free-range eggs, lightly beaten
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper

Method
1. Scatter the roasted tomatoes and spring onions on a roasting tin, drizzle with olive oil and season lightly with salt and pepper. Cook in the oven for around 40 minutes.

2. Liberally grease a quiche dish with butter. Roll out the ready-made shortcrust pastry and and line the dish. Use a knife to cut off the access. Don't be afraid to patch up the pastry if you accidentally tear it. Cook the pastry according to packet instructions. Once cooked, take out the oven and leave it to one side.

3. Bring a saucepan of water to the boil and lightly season the water with salt. Once it is boiling, drop in the spinach, pop on the lid and turn off the heat. Leave it in there for five minutes. Drain well and squeeze out as much water as you can using a tea towel.

4. Sprinkle half the gouda in the pastry and then layer the tomatoes, spring onion and spinach on top.

5. Whisk together the rest of the cheese, eggs and cream in a large bowl.

6. Pour on top of the veg mixture already in the quiche.

7. Bake the quiche for around 25-30 minutes until a nice colour on top. Serve it warm or eat it at room temperature. It's lovely the next day too!

Let me know on Twitter if you end up making it, I'd love to see some pictures!

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What I've been cooking #3: Rachel Allen's Home Baking

I seem to have rediscovered my love for baking since I moved out from my parents. One of my favourite things to on a Sunday is to spend all day in kitchen, trying my hand at new recipes. The last few weeks I have been working my way through Rachel Allen's Home Baking cookbook - I was sent her book through work as I look after the food page so featured some of the recipes online. I'd read a few reviews that her recipes are foolproof so I was looking forward to great things. It turns out her recipes - no matter how difficult they sound - really are simple. The book is full of detailed recipes that cover everything and exciting bakes. I tried my hand at some out of my comfort zone and they turned out perfectly. It's definitely a book I'll be coming back time to time again. I haven't had a bake requested so much from friends than when I made her chocolate orange brownies for a few house gatherings!

Banana and date loaf
A classic banana loaf is one of my favourite things to make. So I was keen to see if the addition of dates could improve a bake that I already think is tasty. Turns out they do! The dates helped to add a delicious richness to the loaf. It's so simple and the perfect cake to have on a weekend afternoon when you have guests round. Such a crowd pleaser!

Chocolate orange brownies
I don't have a very good track record with making brownies. But I was determined to finally make an edible batch.  I did cook these for a touch too long as they came out more cake-like rather than fudgey. But they were absolutely delicious! The orange zest really gave them something special. I took them to a baby shower and they went down a treat. The second time I cooked them I think they could have done with a couple more minutes. But the gooey inside was delicious! Third time lucky and I'm sure I'll get them right.

Lemon and poppy seed loaf
The original recipe called for muffins but I don't have a muffin tin in my house yet so I turned it into a loaf. I added a simple glaze of lemon juice and sugar as you can never have enough lemon right? It took around 50 minutes for it to cook as a loaf apposed to the 25 minutes predicted for muffins. It's quite a dense cake but utterly delicious. It's a good loaf to have in a tin for when people come round for a cuppa. I'll definitely be making it again.

Baked doughnuts
I'm a bit of a safe baker. I stick to classic cakes that I know I can do rather than try my hand at different things. So in an attempt to try and get out of my comfort zone I tried my hand at making some doughnuts. I promised myself this year would be the year I tried to use yeast - and be successful. Now these doughnuts are basically a whole day's job. They're not quick and certainly not simple so a lazy Sunday would be the time to try them. I think waiting for the dough to rise, cooking and decorating, it took around four hours. They came out tasting quite bready which I think is because they were baked rather than fried. Despite being a bit of a time suck, they were pretty simple to make. It's just a lot of waiting around. They were really tasty but I'm not sure I'll make them again.

Spiced ginger cakes
Instead of making 16 individual cakes, I made one large round one. This was absolutely delicious and so simple to make. Just a shame some of the top came off when I peeled off the tinfoil halfway through cooking. I usually make a Levi Roots recipe but the added ingredients of black treacle and golden syrup gave this one the edge for me. It has such a great punchy flavour thanks to the ground ginger and crystallised ginger. Definitely one I'll be making time and time again.

Chocolate and coconut flapjacks
This was my first time baking flapjacks so I was little nervous. It turns out I didn't pat them down hard enough so they came out a bit too soft for my liking. Luckily they hardened up a fair bit as they cooled down. So my tip is to be very sure they are really compact. I couldn't really taste the coconut so I'd add a bit extra next time I make them. As there will be a next time! The would be great if you dipped half in melted chocolate for a little something extra.

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How to create the perfect antipasti

As I mentioned in my Shakshuka post, Tracklements challenged me to put together two recipes. This one is my second one! It may be bit of a cheat to call it a recipe as it's so simple but who can go wrong with an Antipasti? The chilli jam tastes delicious alongside the gooey camembert and fresh crusty bread. It's always the condiments in my opinion that make a cracking spread. The chilli jam, olive oil and balsamic vinegar all play their part. Picky dinners are my favourite type of dinner, the best kind to enjoy sitting in front of the telly catching up on your current boxset. It reminds me of the festive season where you spend the whole month of December eaten buffet food.

Here I have a selection of cured meats (chorizo always goes so well with cheese I find!), juicy sundries tomatoes, pickled stuffed vine leaves, crusty bread and the star of the show - a gooey camembert. Stick it in the oven for around 20 minutes to ensure it's melted all the way through. Add some rosemary or some garlic if you fancy jazzing it up a bit more.

What's your favourite antipasti selection? As always please do show me a picture on Twitter if you end up making it!

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Recipe: Shakshuka

Brunch is one of my favourite meals of the day. In fact I'd eat it for breakfast, lunch and dinner! Tracklements got in touch with me to see if I wanted to collaborate on a couple of recipes with one of them being a brunch recipe. I immediately thought of creating a variation of a simple Shaksuka dish. There are so many different recipes out there but this is my favourite way of doing it. Ideally you would want running eggs but runny eggs are not my speciality but it tastes just as good like this. I promise!

Serves 2

Ingredients
2 tsp olive oil
2 cans of chopped tomatoes
4 eggs
1 green pepper, diced
1 yellow pepper, diced
1 onion, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 pack of feta
1 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp of Tracklements fresh chilli jam*
Slices of crusty bread

Method
1. Heat the oil in a skillet pan before frying the onions on a medium heat until they are a golden brown colour. Then add the peppers. Fry until soft.

2.  Throw in the garlic, cumin and the fresh chill jam and cook for another couple of minutes.

3. Pour in both tins of chopped tomatoes, turn down the heat and let it cook for around 20 minutes. Try the sauce and add a teaspoon of sugar if you think it needs sweetening up.

4.  Make four wells in the picture before cracking an egg in each hole and seasoning lightly. Pop them under the grill for around 10 minutes until the eggs are cooked with a runny yolk.

5. Sprinkle the feta over the top and serves with lots of crusty bread.

As always, please do let me know if you make then and tweet me to show me the pictures!

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Recipe: Thai-inspired red curry meatballs

Wing Yip kindly sent me over a hamper to help celebrate Healthy Eating Week which starts today. Thai-inspired food is always my first choice when I'm looking to lighten up my meals. They're so easy to pack with veggies, low-fat coconut milk makes it still feel naughty and I find the dishes always so filling. The basis of this dish was taken from an old favourite BBC Good Food.

Serves 4

Ingredients
500g of organic lean beef mince
1 small knob of ginger, grated
1 egg
1 tbsp of sunflower oil
1 tbsp Mai Siam Thai red curry paste*
1 can low-fat coconut milk
1 bag of sugar snap peas
1 bag of baby corn
1 red pepper
20g fresh basil plus a little to garnish
Juice of one lime plus one to cut into wedges to serve
1/2 pack of Chinese noodles*

Method
1. Put the mince in a large bowl with the grated ginger, egg and season generously. Mix together well and shape into meatballs. Put to one side.

2. Heat the sunflower oil in a large wok and brown the meatballs for five minutes. Transfer to a plate.

3. In the same pot, add the curry paste, fry for one minute before pouring in the can of coconut milk. Bring to the boil to help create a smooth sauce.

4. Pop all the vegetables in the pan for ten minutes then return the meatballs to the pan. Simmer for around five minutes until the vegetables are cooked and the meatballs are warmed through.

5. Bring a bowl of salted water to bowl before popping in the noodles for two minutes. Drain once cooked.

6.  To serve, squeeze in the lime juice and season with salt and pepper. Tear up the basil leaves before stiring through. Serve over the noodles.

As always I would love to know if you attempt the dish so please do send me a tweet.

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Recipe: Orange layer cake

I'm a massive fan of citrus flavoured cakes so this orange layer cake was always going to be a winner.  I slightly adapted the Mary Berry recipe to cut out the glaze she suggested. Instead I just used plain buttercream in the middle. It's a really simple cake to make and it went down a treat at the BBQ I made it for.

Ingredients
225g baking spread
225g self-raising flour
1 tsp of baking powder
100g caster sugar
100g soft brown sugar
4 large eggs
Zest of two oranges

For the buttercream
150g unsalted butter
300g icing sugar

Method
1. Heat the oven to 180 / 160 fan / gas mark 4. Grease two cake tins liberally with butter and line with parchment paper.

2. Keep a quarter of the orange zest back then put all the cake ingredients into a stand mixer and mix until combined and smooth.

3. Divide the mixture evenly between the two tins. Bake for around 20 minutes but keep an eye on it as it cooks very quickly! As you can tell because it looks a little brown around the edges...

4. Once cooked, leave in tins for five minutes before taking out the cake and placing it on a wire rack to cool down.

5.  Put the butter and icing sugar into a bowl and beat until it is light and fluffy. Spread half the butter on one half of the cooled cake. Then sandwich both the cakes together.

6. Mix in the remaining orange zest with the rest of the icing sugar. Smooth on the top of the layer cake.

7. Cut yourself a big slice and tuck in!

As always I would love to know what you think of this and if you try it yourself. Just drop me a tweet to let me know!

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Recipe: summer fruit drizzle cake

It feels like it's been an age since I've had time to do some baking so I took advantage of some free time on Bank Holiday Monday. It's made me realise how much I've missed locking myself away in the kitchen and just concentrating on the task at hand. I wanted something simple with ingredients I didn't need to do a big shop for. The end result was this delicious summer fruits drizzle cake from Good Food. It came together wonderfully and couldn't be easier to make.

Ingredients
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
175g of strawberries, halved and blueberries
140g granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of lemon juice
175g of Stork baking margarine
175g caster sugar
250g self-raising flour

Method
1. Heat the oven to 180 degrees / 160 degrees fan oven / gas mark 4. Line a loaf tin with parchment paper and grease liberally with butter.

2. Put the butter, caster sugar, flour, vanilla extract and eggs into a large bowl or stand mixer. Beat until pale and creamy. Keep in mind the mixture will be quite thick so don't worry!

3. Scatter 1/3 of the cake mix into the tin then scatter a small handful of fruit evenly. Then pour over another 1/3 of the mixture and repeat the fruit process. Finally pour over the remaining mixture before popping in the oven.

4. Cook for around an hour - pop some tin foil over the top if it starts to go too brown too early.

5. Once cooked, leave it in the tin on the side while you make the drizzle mixture.

6. Put the remaining fruit in a bowl with the lemon juice and sugar. Give it a good stir, slightly mashing up the fruit as you go. It should turn into a pink paste.

7. Pour over the top of the cake and leave it to set in the tin and fully cool down.

8. Once it's all cooled down, cut yourself a slice and tuck in!

I'd really love to know if you attempt this at home so please do drop me a tweet. Happy baking!

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Recipe: Thai green meatballs

During this cold snap - although hopefully set to change! - there's nothing quite like a spicy curry to help blow the winter cobwebs away and put some hairs on your chest. A Thai curry is one of the ultimate comfort food dishes for me so when Heck got in touch to offer me the chance to try their new Thai bites veggie balls, it was a dish I immediately created. The delicious balls (lolz) are made from a tasty combination of Thai pesto, sweet potato and sticky rice making them vegan, dairy free and gluten free.

Feeds 2

Ingredients
1pack of Thai bites veggie balls*
1 can of half-fat coconut milk
1 lime, zest and juice
2 crushed cloves of garlic
A pinch of chilli flakes
2-3 teaspoons of Thai green curry pas (depending on how hot you like it)
1 pack of sugar snap peas
1 pack of mini corn
1 bunch of spring onions
1 tablespoon of olive oil

To serve
A bowl of brown rice - I used Uncle Ben's microwavable rice because I'm a lazy one

Method
1. Put the oil in a big casserole dish and cook the sugar snap peas and mini corn for about 5 minutes.

2. Add the crushed garlic and spring onions before cooking for a further 5 minutes.

3. Put in the coconut milk, veggie balls and chilli flakes. Give it a good stir for a couple of minutes.

4. Add the paste, give the mixture stir and bring to the boil. Once boiling, cook for about 10-12 minutes on a high heat. Keep stirring to ensure nothing sticks to the base of the pan.

5.  Spilt the rice between two bowls and serve the curry.

As always let me know if you make it and tweet me a picture. Happy cooking!

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Recipe: sweet potato and chickpea vegetarian stew

I'm trying to make a conscious decision to eat less meat and adapted some of my cookbooks to be vegetarian. I find it encourages me to be a lot more adventurous with my meals as it's so easy to just go for meat, potatoes and veggies. I omitted the chicken from the original recipe and bulked it up with more beans and vegetables. It was delicious and even better the next day when I had the leftovers for lunch. Definitely something I'd rustle up again.

Recipe adapted from Nigella Lawson's Chicken Cosimo

Feeds 6

Ingredients
2 sweet potatoes
1 tablespoon of olive oil
1 tablespoon of plain flour
1 bag of chopped butternut squash
1 can of butterbeans
1 can of chickpeas
1 large onion
500ml of vegetable stock
1 pinch of sea salt
1 1/2 teaspoon of cumin
1 teaspoon of ground turmeric
1 teaspoon of sweet paprika

Method
1. Pour the olive oil into a large casserole dish and cook the chopped onion until soft but not quite browned.

2. Stir in all the spices and flour before popping in the sweet potato and butternut squash. Cook for ten minutes.

3. Pour in the chicken stock and give it a good stir. Bring it to the boil.

4. Once boiled, add the drained chickpeas and butterbeans. Give it another stir.

5. Pop the lid on and put it in the oven for around 25 minutes until the sweet potato is tender.

6. Take out the oven and leave it for ten minutes with the lid still on. Then serve. I enjoyed it with some crusty bread.

As always I would love to know what you all think and do send me a tweet with a picture if you make it!

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Recipe: Chocolate and caramel no bake cheesecake

One of my new year goals - a post of them later! - is to cook four new recipes a month. I have so many cookbooks that I really need to get stuck in to. When Wing Yip sent me over some caramel sauce, a cheesecake immediately came to mind. because obviously I haven't eaten enough sweet things during the festive period...

Their absolutely delicious caramel sauce is extremely addictive. Made from coconut milk, the sauce is vegan, gluten and dairy free. So this recipe can easily be adapted into what suits you best.

Recipe adapted from Good Food

Serves 8 people

Ingredients
1 pack of lotus biscuits
45g melted unsalted butter
110g caster sugar
120g whipping cream
200g full fat cream cheese
100g 80% dark melted chocolate
2 tablespoons of cocoa powder
1 jar of Wing Yip caramel sauce*
1 pack family pack of Rolos to decorate

Method
1. Put all the biscuits in a sandwich bag and bash with a rolling pin until they are crumbs.

2. Mix the crumbs with one tablespoon of the sugar then pour in the melted butter. Give it a good mix before packing it down into a 18cm springform cake tin. Pop it in the fridge.

3. Melt the chocolate.

4. Using an electric whisk, whip the cream until soft peaks appear. Pour in the melted chocolate and cocoa power before mixing in.

5. In a separate bowl, beat together the remaining sugar and cream cheese. Then fold into the chocolate mix and ensure all ingredients are fully mixed together.

6. Get the biscuit base from the fridge and pour on the caramel sauce, ensuring that it covers the whole base.

7. The pour the chocolate mix on the top. Once again ensuring it covers the whole base.

8. Stick it in the fridge for at least two hours. But overnight would be best.

9. Once the cheesecake has set, decorate with the roles. Then tuck in and enjoy!

Please do send me a tweet if you make it, I'd love to see a picture!

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Recipe: milk chocolate and pistachio fudge

Sometimes you fancy a sweet treat but you don't always want to slave over a hot oven. This is where Nigella's chocolate and pistachio fudge comes into play. It's probably not what you would call a traditional fudge but it hits the spot and is so simple to make. Wing Yip got in touch and sent me over some of their condensed coconut milk to sample so what better way to give it a whirl!

Ingredients
300g of good quality milk chocolate, chopped
30g unsalted butter
1 can of Wing Yip condensed coconut milk*
200g pistachio nuts, shelled

Method
1.  Put the chopped chocolate, butter and condensed milk in a large saucepan and milk into a smooth mixture.

2. I prefer to put my nuts in whole. But you can put the pistachio nuts in a plastic sandwich bag and smash into little pieces using a rolling pin.

3. Put the nuts in the chocolate mixture and stir well.

4. Pour into a dish of your choosing, leave to cool and then pop in a fridge to set.

5. Once it has set, cut into little pieces and tuck in! Keep in mind, it's very addictive! You might be a little bit better at making them more uniformed than me...

As always do tweet me to let me know if you make it - and send me some in the post please! Happy baking!

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Recipe: The ultimate chocolate cake

Hobbycraft got in touch and told me they had a challenge for me to undertake. I'd seen these gravity defying cakes all over Instagram so was very excited to try and attempt one for myself. I used a Nigella recipe for the chocolate cake and decided to go for a mixture of white and milk chocolate for the decoration. It didn't come out as neat as I had wanted but I like to think it has a bit of rustic charm! The kit was quite fiddly and it takes a lot of patience to make it work - definitely set aside a few hours for the decorating. In hindsight, maybe white chocolate was not the best shout because I used milk chocolate to stick them to the pole and it showed up. But the end result looks so cool and it's such a showstopper so it's well worth the time and effort.

Ingredients
200g plain flour
200g caster sugar
1 tsp of baking power
1/2 tsp of bicarbonate of soda
40g cocoa powder
175g baking margarine
2 large eggs
150ml sour cream

Icing
75g unsalted butter
175g at least 60% dark chocolate
300g icing sugar
1 tbsp golden syrup
125ml sour cream
1 tsp vanilla extract

Topping
2 bags of white chocolate buttons
1 bag of chocolate buttons
1-2 pack of white chocolate fingers
1-2 pack of chocolate fingers

Method
1. Line and grease two round cake tins with butter and baking parchment. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees.

2. Put all the cake ingredients into a food processor and pulse into a thick batter.

3. Divide the batter evenly into the two cake dishes. Pop in the oven and cook for around 10 minutes before covering with tin foil and cook for a further 15 minutes,

4. Once you have checked it is cooked, take it out and let it cool down.

5. Meanwhile, make the icing. Melt the chocolate and butter in a pan on a low heat. Once melted, leave to one side to slightly cool down.

6. Sieve the icing sugar into a large bowl.

7.  Add the golden syrup, vanilla extract and sour cream to the chocolate mixture. Pour the mixture into the icing sugar and whisk until smooth.

8. Once the cake has cooled down, follow the instructions on the gravity defying packet. Once it has been put together, cover the entire cake with icing.

9. Using alternative fingers, cover the edging with chocolate fingers before topping it with the white chocolate buttons. Using both the different colours. Keep one of the empty packets.

10. Using the leftover icing, carefully dot some on the back of the button before sticking to the tube, making it look like they're falling down.

11. Using the icing, smear a line around the top of the empty sweet packet and secure to the top of the tube so it's slightly covering the line of chocolate buttons. Hold tight for a while so it sticks.

12. Stick in the fridge for a bit if you want to help harden the icing. Then tuck in!

I would love to know if you attempt this so please do tweet me. Happy baking!

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Recipe: Chicken and courgetti with kale pesto

I'm a massive fan of spiralizing vegetables so when Lakeland sent me the handy hand held spiralizer I set about making one of my favourite dinners with a twist. Courgetti, chicken, tomatoes and kale pesto. After a bit of a indulgent week, this is my dinner I always turn to so I can get back on track with the old healthy eating. The hand held sprializer is such a great gadget. It's so easy to use, quick and easy to store - it's in the sale now too!

Ingredients
85g curly kale
85g pine nuts, plus some to sprinkle
85g parmesan cheese
150g virgin olive oil
A pinch of sea salt
A handful of cherry tomatoes on the vine
1 courgette
1 chicken breast
Spray oil

Method
1. Using the hand held sprizaliser, turn the courgette into noodles and set aside.

2. Pop the chicken breast under the grill to cook. Keep an eye out on it.

3. To make the pesto, put the kale, pine nuts, olive oil, sea salt and parmesan cheese into a food processor and give it a quick whirl until it resembles pesto. Keep in mind this makes enough for 12 servings so keep in the fridge in a air tight jar.

4. Spray a frying pan with the oil before popping in the courgetti and the cherry tomatoes. Cook for a few minutes before stirring in a tablespoon of pesto.

5. Transfer onto a plate before topping with the chicken and sprinkling over a few pine nuts.

It really is as simple as that! A really quick, healthy dinner when you feel like you've been eating too many burgers. As always, let me know on Twitter if you ever make it. I'd also love to hear about any other spiralized recipes you recommend.

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