250g smoked bacon 125ml yoghurt 125ml mayonnaise a squeeze of lemon juice 45ml olive oil 80ml milk 100g + 100g feta cheese 3 cos lettuce (or other crunchy lettuce) 125g sugar snaps 250ml frozen peas, thawed 1 avocado pear, sliced
Dice the bacon and cook until done and slightly crispy on the edges. Set aside to cool. Add the yoghurt, mayonnaise, lemon juice, olive oil, milk and 100g of feta cheese to a blender and blitz on high speed until smooth. Set aside. Arrange the lettuce on a serving plate. Scatter over the sugar snaps, peas, avocado pear and bacon. Spoon/drizzle the dressing over the salad. Crumb the remaining 100g feta on top, add a few grindings of black pepper and serve.
half an English cucumber, cut into chunks 1 large onion, peeled and quartered 3 cloves of garlic, minced 8 ripe tomatoes, quartered 1 red chilli, chopped 30ml olive oil 80ml apple cider vinegar a bunch of basil leaves, chopped
Add all the ingredients to a blender and blitz together. Season with salt and pepper. Taste and adjust seasoning – it is soooo important! Refrigerate the soup until you want to serve it. Spoon into soup bowls and serve with ice cubes and a fresh crusty bread.
100g pistacchio nuts, roughly chopped about 16 medium figs 50ml honey
For the pastry: Add the butter and sifted icing sugar to the bowl of a food processor. Run the machine until the mixture is well combined and pasty. Add the flour and pulse until the mixture resembles wet sand. Scrape down. Drizzle a few drops of the egg into the bowl with the engine running. Add a few more drops at a time until the mixture comes together. (You may have egg left and that is okay – the less you need the crispier the pastry!) Shape the pastry into a disc, wrap it with cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Preheat your oven to 190℃. You will use a 22cm loose-bottom flan tin but do not spray or butter the tin! Roll the pastry to a 3mm thickness and line the bottom and sides of the tin. Dock the pastry with a fork and bake blind for 15 minutes. Remove the baking paper and weights/beans and set aside to cool.
For the Crème Pâtissière: Add the corn flour to a mixing bowl. Pour a small amount of the milk into the owl and stir to make a slurry with the corn flour. Add the egg yolks and half the sugar. Whisk by hand until the sugar has dissolved. Set aside. Pour the rest of the milk and the rest of the sugar into a small saucepan. Set over medium heat and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Take the milk from the heat as soon as tiny bubbles start to appear around the edge of the saucepan. Drizzle the warm mixture onto the egg mixture in a very thin stream while whisking continuously. Now pour the mixture back into the saucepan and place on a medium-low heat. Stir until the mixture is thick and smooth. Allow to cook for about 30 seconds. Remove from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Pour the mixture into a shallow bowl, place a piece of plastic wrap directly onto the surface and allow to cool completely.
Whisk the mixture by hand once it is at room temperature, until it is smooth. Spoon it into a piping bag and pipe into the prepared pastry shell. Scatter the chopped pistachio evenly over the surface. Cut a cross into the top third of each fig and place the figs side-by-side on the pistachio. Drizzle the honey over the figs before serving.
This recipe makes 12 small desserts or 6 substantial portions, served in glasses or ramekins.
1 x 200g packet of coconut biscuits (Tennis biscuits) 80ml desiccated coconut 1 x 385g can of condensed milk 80ml lemon juice 250g smooth cream cheese, room temperature 250ml fresh cream 2 x large mango, cubed
Break the biscuits into large pieces and place in a plastic bag. Crush them lightly with a rolling pin but keep some texture/not too fine. Add the coconut, mix through and divide amongst 12 serving glasses. Set aside. Pour the condensed milk and lemon juice into a mixing bowl and beat together with an electric whisk until incorporated. Add the cream cheese and mix again on high speed until the mixture is completely smooth. Set aside. Pour the cream into a mixing bowl and beat until it forms medium-stiff peaks. Add the cream to the condensed milk mixture and fold through until it is thoroughly blended. Spoon the cheesecake mixture into the glasses and gently tap the glass so that the mixture settles into the crumb. Refrigerate for a minimum of one hour. Peel the mango and cut into cubes. Spoon the fruit on top of each cheesecake, sprinkle some coconut shavings on top and serve.
1 roll butter puff pastry egg wash: 1 egg and 15ml water beaten together 3 large tomatoes 3 ripe plums 15 thyme leaves 15ml honey 250g flavoured cream cheese (I used chive flavour)
Preheat your oven to 200℃ and line a baking sheet with baking paper. Lay the pastry on the baking paper and cut a 1,5cm strip off each side. Brush the pastry with some egg wash and lay the strips onto the pastry border. Prick the inside of the pastry with a fork and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Cut the tomatoes and plums into wedges and place in a mixing bowl. Drizzle with the honey, season with salt and pepper and scatter the thyme leaves over. Brush the entire pastry sheet with the rest of the egg wash. Now spread the cream cheese onto the inside block of the pastry, using the back of a spoon. Arrange half the tomato and plum mix onto the cream cheese. Bake the tart in the oven for 30 minutes. Top the warm tart with the remaining tomato and plums and season once more. Serve slightly warm.
1 x 250 g bottle of cheese spread 150g butter, cubed 6 cloves of garlic, minced 2 red chillies, very finely chopped 250ml grated mozzarella cheese 2 sourdough loafs or baguettes
Preheat your oven to 200℃. Add the cheese spread, butter, garlic and chillies to a small saucepan and place over a low heat. Stir the mixture around while the butter melts. Keep going until amalgamated. Add the grated mozzarella and stir until the cheese has melted and has incorporated into the sauce. Take from the heat. Slice the bread on the diagonal into slices 2cm apart, taking care not to go all the way through to the bottom. Spread the cheese mixture generously between the slices. Wrap the bread in foil. (You may freeze one loaf at this stage). Place the loaf on a baking sheet and put into the oven for 30 minutes. Serve immediately.
500g pasta of your choice 1 x 245g sachet pickled peppers, diced and liquid reserved 500g prawns, deveined 250ml salad cream/creamy mayonnaise 250ml yoghurt 2 big handfuls of basil leaves half an English cucumber, diced
Cook the pasta according to packet instructions and drain. Take the pickled peppers from the sachet and chop. Set the peppers aside. Drizzle the pickling liquid over the warm pasta and stir through. Set aside to cool. Bring a pot of salted water to the boil, add the prawns and cook for 4 minutes. Drain and set aside to cool. Add the salad cream, yoghurt and basil leaves to a blender and process until you have a light green dressing. Season the dressing with salt and pepper. Add the pasta, prawns, cucumber, peppers and basil dressing to a large bowl and mix through. Scatter some basil leaves on top and serve.
125ml sugar 125ml flour 3 eggs 5ml vanilla 30ml butter, melted 250ml milk enough pitted cherries to cover the bottom of a pie/flan dish
Preheat your oven to 180℃ and grease a ceramic pie/flan dish. Add the sugar and flour to a mixing bowl. Whisk the eggs, vanilla, melted butter and milk together in a wide-mouth jug. Slowly pour the milk mixture into the dry ingredients while whisking. Fill the bottom of the pie dish with an even layer of cherries and pour the batter over the cherries. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes. The clafoutis will puff up in the oven and fall back on itself as it cools. Dust with icing sugar once cooled.
3 potatoes, cooked (about 250 – 350ml cooked potato) 60ml butter 250ml cheese, grated (I use parmesan and cheddar) 5ml salt 5ml garlic salt 15ml chives, chopped 250ml yoghurt 375ml self-raising flour butter
Mash the cooked potato while it is still warm and mix in the butter, cheese, salt, garlic salt and chives. Set aside to cool. Add the yoghurt and flour to a bowl and combine. Knead until you have a smooth ball of dough – add a small amount of flour if the dough is too sticky. Divide the dough in two balls. Roll out into a circle of 1cm thickness. Add half the potato mixture, flatten into a smaller circle and gather the edges of the dough around the filling. Pinch together the dough to seal the potato filling. Flip the filled dough and gently roll it out to a disk shape that will fit your pan. Pan-fry on both sides on medium heat, until golden, brushing with melted butter. Serve the bread warm.
This recipe makes about 300 biscuits and keeps brilliantly when stored in an airtight container.
1,5kg self-raising flour 30ml cream of tartar 30ml bicarbonate of soda 30ml ground ginger 5ml salt 500g butter, cubed 500g golden syrup 1kg brown sugar 6 eggs, whisked together
Preheat your oven to 180℃ and spray 2 large baking sheets with cooking spray. Sift together the flour, cream of tartar, bicarb, ginger and salt. Add the cubed butter and rub it in with your fingertips. Pour the golden syrup into a saucepan and set over medium heat until the syrup is very runny. Add the brown sugar and stir until almost dissolved. Take the saucepan from the heat and allow the mixture to cool for 5 minutes. Whisk the eggs together and slowly add it to the syrup mixture while whisking continuously. Now add the butter and flour mixture and stir through until there is no trace of flour left. Refrigerate the mixture for 1 hour. Roll the dough into balls the size of walnuts and place them on a baking sheet, evenly spaced and about 3cm apart. Flatten each ball slightly with the tines of a fork (you don’t want them too flat!) and bake for 12 minutes. Cool the biscuits on the baking tray for 10 minutes or until set enough to handle. Keep going with making balls, flattening and baking until you have an abundance (about 300) of ginger biscuits. Store the biscuits in an airtight container.
My Whisk and I 