Tomato and Pesto Tart

Wow this is great - you could cut it up small and use it as party food or as a starter.. We had it as a main meal with a green salad mmmm.

serves 4

250g puff pastry (we used ready rolled jus rol puff pastry and it just fitted on to a baking tray.)

plain flour to dust

1 egg yolk beaten with 1 tbspn water to glaze

2-3 tablespoons pesto

100g cherry tomatoes halved

1 small rosemary sprig

few thyme sprigs

2 spring onions finely sliced

2 tablespoons grated parmesan

3-4 basil leaves roughly chopped

olive oil to drizzle

heat oven to 220 C roll out pastry or if ready rolled put on greased baking tray

spread pesto over pastry

arrange tomatoes over pesto

scatter rosemary thyme , onions and parmesan and bake for 20mins. until pastry is golden brown,

scatter with basil and drizzle with olive oil. serve.

Green Thai Curry

It's so easy!!!!!

serves 4

200ml coconut milk

3 tablespoons Thai curry paste

2 tablespoons runny honey

1 lime

450g chicken breast

fresh coriander

1 red chilli

1. Pour the coconut cream into a shallow non-metallic dish. Add the curry paste, runny honey and lime juice and mix well. Add the chicken, toss well and set aside for 15 minutes.

2. Transfer to a saucepan and gently simmer for 12-15 minutes, until the chicken is cooked through and the sauce has thickened slightly. Add the coriander.

3. Garnish with coriander and the chilli, if you like, and serve with cooked basmati rice.

check out my recipe for rice below to go with it.

Soba noodles with aubergine and mango and halloumi

OMG this is amazing... really fine combination of flavours, worth saying that I couldn't find a good picture, this is just noodles, imagine big blobs of yellow mango in it and purple aubergine and green herbs, it is eaten cold as a salad but fantastic with fried thick slices of halloumi cheese which is available at a supermarket in a packet.

You cook the aubergine and then the noodles and then leave them in the dressing for an hour , then serve.

serves 4 (you will need a sieve and or colander)

Make the dressing first:

120ml rice vinegar

40g caster sugar

1/2 tsp salt

2 garlic cloves crushed

1/2 red chilli finely chopped

1 tsp sesame oil

grated zest and juice of one lime

in a small saucepan heat the vinegar sugar and salt until dissolved. Take off heat and add garlic chilli sesame oil and leave to cool. Then add zest and juice of lime. Put to one side.

Then cook the aubergines and noodles:

220ml sunflower oil

2 aubergines diced into 1 cm cubes (i'd like them bigger)

250g soba noodles

1 large ripe mango (diced into small cubes)

40g basil leaves (chopped)

1/2 red onion finely chopped

40g coriander leaves chopped

heat the sunflower oil and fry the aubergine until golden, then drain and sprinkle with salt. Leave to drain.

Cook the noodles in boiling salted water for about 5mins until tender. Drain and rinse well in cold water. Shake off as much water as possible.

In a mixing bowl toss the noodles with the dressing , mango, aubergine. Leave for an hour. (i only left it for 1/2 hour)

When ready to serve mix in herbs and onion. Fry the thick slices of halloumi until golden.

serve together. Absolutely amazing. Worth buying the obscure (some would say) ingredients!

menu for the week

Tues: Butternut squash and Parmesan soup (taste)

Wed: Soba noodles with aubergine and mango and halloumi (Otto plenty)

Thu: Chilli cheese omellette (taste)

Fri: Quesadillas (Otto plenty)

Sat: Feta, mina and green leaf salad (taste)

Sun: White bean soup (tast)

Mon: Tomato and pesto tart (ramsays fast food)

Green pancakes and lime butter

serves 3 - 4

Lime butter (do this first and put it in the fridge)

100g butter (you can do less, I found this quite a lot)

grated zest of 1 lime

1 and half tablespoons lime juice

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp pepper

1 tablespoon chopped coriander

1/2 garlic clove chopped

1/4 tsp chilli flakes

Beat butter until soft and add in all ingredients, wrap up in foil or greaseproof paper and put in fridge.

Now the pancakes

250g spinach

110g self raising flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 egg

50g butter

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp ground cumin

150ml milk

6 spring onions finely sliced

1 egg white

olive oil for frying

Wilt the spinach in a pan with a splash of water. Drain in a sieve and when cool chop up (its a bit squidgy but chop it up roughly) put it to one side.

pancake batter:

put the flour, baking powder, whole egg, melted butter, salt, cumin and milk in a large mixing bowl and whisk until smooth. Add the spring onions, chillies and spinach and mix. Whisk the egg whites up to form peaks and then fold into the mixture gently.

To fry in a small amount of olive oil:

spoon some mixture into the frying pan, about the size of pancake you want (2 desertspoons?) and cook for 2mins on each side. Until golden.

Serve with the butter.

Butternut squash and parmesan soup

serves 3

1 onion

1 clove garlic

1/4 tsp chilli flakes (optional)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 butternut squash

1/2 litre stock

1 bay leaf

3 sprigs parsley

35g of parmesan cheese rind

2 fl oz of creme fraiche

salt and pepper

grated parmesan to serve

gently fry the onions garlic and chilli flakes in olive oil for about 10 mins.

Peel the butternut squash and chop in half and take out the seeds, then chop it up . Doesn't matter how big.

Stir pieces into onion.

Continue to cook until squash softens. Add stock herbs and parmesan rind , simmer for 45 mins. Discard the herbs and parmesan rind (only there to flavour). and liquidize the soup, add the creme fraiche and season to taste.

Steamed Jasmine Rice

Easy rice recipe, when cooked in correct quantities all water will be soaked up and no sieve required.

350g Jasmin rice

1 pint water

Put rice in a pan add the water and bring to the boil. Cover pan with lid and reduce to a low heat , leave for 15 - 20 mins. Fluff up the rice and serve.

Menu for the week

Tues: Lemon paprika and honey glazed chicken (Taste)

Wed: Fried butterbeans with feta and spinach and sumac (Ottolenghi)

Thu: Spiced trout salad (Trout book)

Fri: Spiced parsnip soup (Taste)

Sat: Pepperonata with bubbling goats cheese (Ainsley)

Sun: Chicken parmegiana (Ainsley)

Mon: Hot Trout with red vegetables (trout book)