Bresola salad

• 1 packet Bresola (or can use thin roast been if you're not keen on air dried meats)
• Rocket, watercress and spinach salad (or other peppery leaves)
• Blue Cheese (use according to your taste, Docelatte works, but so will Danish Blue or Stilton)
• 1 packet Baby new potatoes
• 250ml reduced fat creme fraiche
• 125ml reduced fat double cream (elmlea)
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1-2 tablespoons horseradish sauce (according to your taste and how hot you want it)
• Bunch of chives, chopped into 1/2 cm pieces

In a bowl, mix together the creme fraiche, cream, lemon juice, horseradish and chives. Cover with clingfilm and put in fridge to allow flavours to develop.

Put the potatoes on to cook, strain, allow to cool and chop in halves.

Add the horseradish cream sauce a spoonful at a time into the potatoes until they are well coated.

To plate up put a layer of lettuce on the plate, top with the beef, a couple of slices per person. Then add a spoon on the potato salad and spinkle with blue cheese.

Twice baked potatoes

• 4 large potatoes or 4 sweet potatoes or a mix of both ;)
• 1 onion chotpped fine
• 8 mushrooms chopped fine
• 250g cheddar cheese or feta cheese (feta better with sweet potatoes)
• 2 slices bacon chopped fine
• Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 160 degrees.

Bake potatoes as normal, for around an hour until jacket is crisp.

Whilst baking, fry the onion off in a pan until soft. Add bacon and mushrooms and fry until cooked.

Once potatoes are cooked, slice in half lengthways and scrape out potato into a bowl leaving skins in tact. Repeat for all halves and put skins to one side.

Add the onion, bacon, mushroom and 3/4 of cheese to the bowl and mix until combined. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Divide the mixture up into 8 portions and spoon back into skins, pushing into skins to reform potato shape. Once skins filled, sprinkle the left over cheese on top. Place on a baking tray and cook in oven again for 10-15mins until top is golden brown and crispy.

Cauliflower Cheese

Inspired by an idea from my mum and my sister and expanded on ;)

• 1 head cauliflower
• 250ml tub reduced fat creme fraiche
• 125ml double cream (you can substitute with semi skimmed milk to make it healthier, but it tends to split when cooking and goes watery, alternatively use Elmlea low)
• 200g grated cheddar cheese
• 3tbsp grated parmesan cheese
• 1 tsp wholegrain mustard
• 1tsp english mustard
• 1/2 tsp mustard powder (leave out if not overly keen on mustard)
• 1/4 nutmeg grated
• 1 clove garlic
• 1tsp onion granules (not salt)
• breadcrumbs
• salt and pepper to taste

Cut the cauliflower into individual florets and boil for five minutes, then place stalk down in an ovenproof dish in a single layer closely packed together.

Preheat oven to 180-200 degrees.

In a bowl mix together the creme fraiche and the double cream. Add the wholegrain mustard, the english mustard, the mustard powder, the nutmeg, garlic and onion granules. Leave for at least 10 minutes for the mustard flavour to develop.

Next taste and then add salt and pepper to adjust to your own liking.

Then add the cheddar and parmesan cheese and mix together.

Pour the sauce over the cauliflower in the dish, covering the tops of the florets.

Sprinkle over breadcrumbs to form a thin layer and place in oven for 30-40 mins or until golden brown and crisp on top.

Great with roast dinners, especially lamb.

Garden week of 2nd May

Started planting the garden out in earnest this weekend and set the irrigation system up :)

Irrigation System

The amazing 10p system bought from B&Q clearance now snakes between all 5 beds and means I only have to switch a tap on and all the beds get watered. Today purchased a 280l water butt from the clearance shop to store the water coming off the conservatory and in addition to the 200l one I have off the pagoda. Also bought a water butt pump to sink into it so I can attach a hose and power the irrigation system from rain water. Cheap :)

Planting

All seeds for the season have now been sown and the beds are being planted up. This year I am growing the following:

Peas (early, greenshaft, mangetout, asparagus peas

Celeriac (brilliant)

Swede (marian)

Turnip (snowball)

Beetroot (bolthardy)

Carrots (Amsterdam, Autumn King, Harlequin)

Parsnip (white Gem)

Beans (Borlotti, runner, broad, dwarf french, ying yang)
Leeks (Mammoth, mussleburgh, Zenith)

Onions (white, red, spring)

Pak Choi & Choi Sum

Lettuce (many varieties)

Radish

Garlic

Kale (Scarlet, Dwarf, Starbor)

Fennel

Kohl Rabi

Spinach

Cauliflower

Cabbage (primo, golden acre, savoy)

Brussel Sprouts (Red Delicious, Dakmar)

Broccoli (sprouting, marathon)

Courgette (tristar, green bush, goldena)

Squash (pattypan, scallop, cornells)

Pumpkin (Jack)

Tomatoes (moneymaker, gardeners delight, garden pearl, marmande, san marzano, costulo, roma)

Tomatillo

Cucumber (Crystal apple, gherkin, cucino)
Aubergine (mixed, bonica)

Cape Gooseberry

Sweetcorn

Its a fair bit, but looking forward to it all starting :)

Piccalilli

This is one of Mr Olivers and was published in Delicious magazine

Makes 5 x 450g jars

• 1/2 large cauliflower, cut into small florets
• 1 head broccoli cut into small florets
• 2 fennel bulbs cut into small chunks
• 4 red and 2 green chillies with seeds still in finely sliced
• 200g fine green beans, chopped into small lengths
• 150g runner beans cut into small lengths
• 300g shallots, cut into eighths
• 1 red onion, roughly chopped
• 2 handfuls fine sea salt
• 2 tbsp mustard oil
• 2 heaped tbsp mustard seeds
• 2 tbsp ground cumin
• 2 tbsp tumeric
• 1 nutmeg, grated
• 2 tbsp English mustard powder
• 4 tbsp flour
• 500ml white wine vinegar
• 2 apples, grated
• 2 mangos, peeled, stoned and roughly chopped
• 6 tbsp sugar
• 3 garlic cloves crushed
• 2 tbsp dried oregano
• 4 bay leaves

Put all the vegetables in a bowl, add the saly and enough water to cover and leave in cool place for about 1hr.

Heat a saucepan big enough to hold all the vegetables (it needs to be big). Add the mustard oil to the pan, then fry the mustard seeds, cumin, tumeric and nutmeg for a moment. Lower the heat, add a splash of vinegar, stir well and make a thick paste. Gradually add the remaining vinegar and 100ml water, stirring all the time to make a smooth paste. Add the apples, magos, suagr, garlic, oregano and bay leaves. Cook for 2-3 minutes.

Sterilise the jars by putting them open in an oven at 140 degrees for 10 minutes.

Drain the salt vegetables and add them to the pan, stirring well to coat with the spicy paste. Cook for 10-15 minutes until the vegetables have just softened and started to release some juice.

Spoon into the warm jars and put the lids on. Store in a cool dark place for 1 month before eating to mature the flavours.

Stuffed Chicken Breasts

• 4 chicken breasts
• 8 pieces parma ham or proscuttio
• knob of butter
• clove of garlic
• 4 shallots, finely chopped
• 250g mushrooms, finely chopped
• 1tbsp thyme, finely chopped
• splash of white wine
• white wine
• stilton/boursin cheese if wanted

Melt the butter in a frying pan over a moderate heat, add the shallots and allow to sweat for a couple of minutes. Add the garlic, thyme and mushrooms and cook for 8-10 minutes, adding a splash of wine.

Next job is to butterfly the chicken breasts. First rinse the breasts and pat dry with a paper towel to remove any slippery coating. Take a sharp knife and carefully cut horizontally through the breast but not all the way through, leave the end piece attached so you can open out into one large chicken breast.

Place the breast opened out in a tough plastic or ziplock bag. Bash gently with a rolling pin to thin the breast more and make it larger.

Cover the kitchen surface with a sqaure of clingfilm bigger than the chicken breast and lay it on it spread out. spread the mushroom out across the middle of the chicken breast from one edge to the other forming a stripe across the middle around 1.5 inches thick (don't spread the mushroom too thick, you need to roll). If you want cheese with it, put boursin or slices of stilton across the top of the mushroom (again not too thick as you need to roll). Then starting at the bottom edge roll the chicken breast up as tightly as possible into a sausage shape and wrap very tightly in cling film.

Repeat with all chicken breasts. Then put a pan of boiling water on the hob and bring to a rolling simmer and place all the chicken breasts in the pan and poach for 30 mins. Remove from pan and leave to cool.

Once cooled, get the pieces of parma ham and lay 2 pieces longways, side by side so you get a piece of ham wide enough to wrap round the chicken. Remove the chicken from the clingfilm. The poaching and tight wrapping should have sealed it together in a sausage shape. Wrap the chicken tightly with the parma ham and place in a roasting dish. Repeat for all other chicken breasts.

You can do all these steps way in advance and just leave the chicken like this ready for dinner. Put the chicken in the oven at 180 degrees 20 minutes before serving to crisp off the ham.

Serve with potatoes and vegetables and a white wine sauce if required.

Mango Margaritas

• 1 part tequila
• 1 part triple sec
• 2 parts mango juice
• 2 parts sour mix (1 cup lemon juice, 1 cup lime juice, 1 cup sugar, 1 cup water)
• approx 5 chunks frozen mango
• 1 small handful ice

Put ice and mango in blender and switch on to start crushing. Start to add the other ingredients on the list, blending all the time.

Dip the top of a margarita glass in lime juice and then in salt. Pour the margarita into the glass and enjoy.