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My daughter Arabella loves a jacket potato and often has them for lunch at school - she has been asking for them at home now but I am not really a potato fan. However as it is now barbecue season I thought it would make a nice alternative to salad (plus I make her eat lots of things I like and she doesnt).
The problem with jacket potatoes is you need to be organised as they take an hour to cook in the oven so make sure you leave yourself plenty of time.
Ingredients for 3 people:
3 large jacket potatoes, scrubbed150ml sour cream100g feta cheese, crumbledPickled jalapeños, 6 slices from a jar (I left this out as we dont like spice)2 tbsp coriander, chopped120g chorizo, chopped or bite sized pieces
Preheat the oven to 200C / 180 C fan / gas mark 6.
Prick the potatoes with a fork and then put them in the oven for 60 minutes or until tender.
About 15 minutes before the potatoes are ready, you need to make the sauce. You can either whizz together the feta and sour cream in a food processor or you can mash them together really well in a bowl - I chose this option as it meant less washing up!
Stir in the jalapeños (if you are using) and the chopped coriander.
Fry the chorizo in a dry frying pan until crisp - this took about 5 minutes.
Once the potatoes are ready, take them out the oven and then cut in half.
Divide the feta cream between the potatoes and then top with the chorizo and serve.
I was very pleasantly surprised by this recipe - I absolutely loved the potatoes with the feta cream and chorizo. Arabella liked it but prefers a more simple butter and grated cheddar topping. I will definitely be making this again - it is a simple recipe and something you can easily do for just one person or for many (such as at a dinner party). To make this slightly healthier you could use sweet potatoes and serve it with a green salad rather than a burger!
The moral of the story is I should definitely listen to my daughters supper suggestions more often!!
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I bought a little herb garden today as I am constantly buying herbs for recipes and then having to throw half of them away. I hate the waste so hopefully by growing my own I can avoid this….but we will see…I dont have much success in keeping herbs (or flowers) alive!
This recipe requires lots of herbs so it is perfect for summer - I used the entire pack so there was no leftovers to bin! It was very easy to make and took about 40 minutes in total.
Ingredients for 4 people:
2 tbsp olive oil500g courgettes, halved length ways and thinly sliced2 cloves of garlic, crushed350g arborio risotto rice1.2 litres of vegetable stock25g pack of fresh basil, chopped20g pack fresh mint, chopped150g feta cheese, chopped
Heat the oil in a large pan and add the sliced courgettes. Fry over a medium heat for 5 minutes until golden on both sides.
Add the garlic and season, then cook for a further minute.
Stir in the rice and cook for 1 minute until coated in oil.
Add the stock to the rice a ladleful at a time, stirring until each amount is absorbed.
Continue until all the stock is added and the rice is creamy and just tender - it should have a little bite to it. This will take about 20 minutes.
Take it off the heat and then stir in the feta and the herbs. I had chopped them using scissors in a mug.
Leave to rest for a couple of minutes.
Season further if necessary and then serve.
This risotto is perfect for this time of year - it tastes so fresh and summery with all the herbs and the feta reminds me of being on holiday in Greece. My husband Pascal always complains about not liking feta but he thought this risotto was so delicious and light - unfortunately my daughter Arabella wasnt such a fan as she doesnt like mint (I will remind her of this next time she wants one of my polo mints)! Still she ate it (with some extra Parmesan) and didnt moan too much. Hopefully next time I cook this it will be with my home grown herbs!!
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We had the most wonderful time at Penshurst Place today - it had something for all of us - a historical house, a toy museum, beautiful gardens, an adventure playground, a maze and a cream tea - best day ever!!
By the time we arrived home, I wasnt in the mood to cook anything complicated and so decided to try and "knock up" these quesadillas. I love quesadillas and will regularly order them in restaurants although I have never cooked them before.
They took about 35-40 minutes in total.
Ingredients for 3 people:
12 cherry tomatoes, chopped into quarters2 spring onions, chopped including the green bits (I only had a continental onion which also worked)10g coriander, chopped4 slices of jalapeños from a jar, finely choppedJuice from half a lime4 tortillas120g feta cheese, crumbled or diced150g chorizo, diced
Optional to serveGuacamole
There is a bit of prep to do for this recipe. Firstly cook the chorizo in a dry frying pan over a medium heat for 5 minutes and then set aside.
Chop the tomatoes, spring onions and coriander, season well and mix in a bowl.
Take out 4 tablespoons and set to one side (this will be used in the quesadilla).
With the remainder, mix in the jalapeños and lime juice to make the salsa.
To make things easier, I then created two even separate piles of the tomato, coriander and spring onion mix, feta and chorizo.
To make the actual quesadilla, heat a large frying pan and put one tortilla in the bottom.
Sprinkle over half the feta, half the chorizo and half the tomato, spring onion and coriander mix.
Top with another tortilla.
Cook until the bottom is coloured and the cheese is starting to melt. I kept on checking the bottom by lifting it up with a fish slice. Now for the complicated part of flipping it over! Pascal actually did this and he used a plate to flip it on first and then slide back into the pan.
Cook for another few minutes until it is brown on the bottom.
Once ready, we put it in the oven under a very low heat to keep warm while we cooked the second quesadilla - this cooked quicker than the first as the pan was hotter so keep an eye on the bottom of the tortilla to make sure it doesnt burn.
Then cut (we used scissors) and serve with a dollop of salsa and guacamole (if you fancy).
These were so much better than I was expecting and I absolutely loved them. The combination of the feta, chorizo and tomato was incredible and the salsa gave it a real kick…..too much of a kick for Pascal though. His reaction to the jalapeños kept Arabella and I in fits of giggles. I much preferred these to normal quesadillas and I will definitely be doing these again as they werent complicated and nor did they need too many ingredients - just the way I like to cook!!
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After the success of my Squash & Goats Cheese Pasta last week, I was keen to recreate a similar recipe that I had picked up in Waitrose in September 2004 and never cooked!! Well there is no time like the present especially as it is the season for squash. It took about 40 minutes to cook.
Ingredients for 4 people:
1 butternut squash (I cheated ad bought ready prepared)1 tbsp olive oil2 clove of garlic, crushed1 tsp dried oregano350g lardons350g pasta - we used fusilli300g feta cheese, drained and cubed75g pine nuts, toasted
Preheat the oven to 200 C / gas mark 6.
Prepare the squash by cutting it in half, then scoop out and discard the seeds. Using a sharp knife, peel the squash and then cut the flesh into bite sized chunks and place in a roasting tin.
I cheated and just bought ready prepared squash and then I forgot to cut it into chucks anyway!
Drizzle with oil, stir in the garlic and oregano and season with freshly ground black pepper.
Roast for about 25 minutes, stirring occasionally, until the squash is golden and tender.
While this is cooking, dry fry the pine nuts for around 4 minutes - keep your eye on them as they burn quickly!
About 7 minutes before the squash is ready, fry the lardons in a frying pan over a medium heat.
A few minutes before the squash is ready, put the pasta on in a large pan of salted boiling water and cook according to the packet instructions - mine took 8 minutes.
Add the lardons and feta to the squash and return to the oven for around 4 minutes until the cheese starts to soften and melt.
Stir into the drained pasta.
Serve with a drizzle of olive oil (very important), a scattering of pine nuts and some freshly ground black pepper (dont add salt as it is already salty from the feta and lardons).
This was really good - amazing flavours together and the drizzle of olive oil at the end just finishes it off. I love feta and so very much enjoyed this pasta. Arabella wasnt so much of a fan, however I am sure if I substituted the feta for goats cheese, she would have wolfed it down. I cant believe I wasted 11 years waiting to cook this….I am so pleased to have leftovers as I cant wait to have it again. You could use proper bacon rather than lardons in this recipe or leave it out full stop if you are veggie and as I mentioned you could have goats cheese rather than feta - Arabellas idea for next time!
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