Cheese Please: Margarita-ish

Time for a little patronising history lesson, the year was 1850ish, Italy had just been reunified but there was a big divide between the rich and poor, with the poor getting ever more dissatisfied. So the Queen Margarita went to a restuarant in Naples and ordered a pizza with mozarella, tomato and basil, the colours of the new Italian flag. Et voila, a new classic was born.

I love making pizza, and it's a great way to get kids interested in their food. They can roll out the dough and pile it high with stuff, just be careful of mozzarella because it spreads and will drip-drip-drip into a gooey mess at the bottom of your oven (I say this with experience). This is a slightly spruced up margarita as it involves a bit more cheese - first a thin dusting of hard cheddar (I used Morisson's Welsh Cheddar), the added morzarella before topping with crumbly feta (or Morrison's 'salad cheese'). Then topped with basil when it was cooked.

You will need to make 3 large ones:
200g plain flour
120ml milk
Pinch of sugar
Pinch of salt.

1) Sift the flour into a bowl and then add sugar and salt, incorporate the milk bit by bit into a well in the centre and bring together the form a dough. You can warm the milk up, but I always forget and it doesn't do me any harm.
2) When it's a ball of dough, turn onto a floured surface and knead, knead, knead. It will take a good 10-15minutes, but it will be worth it. It's ready when the dough feels smooth and is stretchy.
3) Roll out the dough to the thickness of a 2pence piece, or around 5mm, thin enough to cook quickly, but also take the weight of your toppings.
4)place on a tray and begin by adding tomato puree, leaving a crust around the outside, then lay on the rest of your toppings.
5) place in an oven around gas mark 6 for 10-12 minutes, until your cheese is gooey and your dough looks crispy. Serve and enjoy.

Pickle chillis in under 5mins

Th oother day I stumbled across a recipe for pickled chillis that took all of 5 minutes to complete. I can't find the link to the recipe so if it was your recipe I've stolen, I'm really sorry - if you message me, I'll add a link.
It's also much cheaper than I thought it'd be. I generally have white wine vinegar in the cupboard and to make a small jar used around half of 59p 250ml bottle. Add to this the 45p for a bag of mixed chillis, plus 13p for two loose jalepenos and you fall way below the old el Paso price.







You will need:
White wine vinegar (cider vinegar is also apparently very good, according to my dad - don't hold me to that)
Some chillis
A jar
A pinch of sugar
A pinch of salt

1) Begin by sterilizing your jar, you can do this in warm soapy water, or the oven. It's worth looking up different techniques for this as I'm no expert.
2) Chop your chillis however you choose and place them in the jar. Then cover in vinegar to see how much you need, pour the vinegar into a saucepan.
3) Add the sugar and salt to the vinegar, then bring gently to the boil. When the vinegar has been boiling for a minute or two, pour it over the chillis. Leave for a few mins before placing the lid on the jar. Be careful adding hot vinegar to the jar if you haven't got a funnel kicking around. To be honest, I can't really remember why I have a funnel kicking around.

I've only had mine in the fridge for a day or so, but I hear they get better as they age andwill keep for a few weeks.

The astute of you will have noticed a huge burger in that picture at the top. I had 500g of pork mince that needed to be used up so I added 2 handfuls of bread crumbs, a tsp of paprika and 2tsp of mustard and kneaded it all together. I then made 4 patties and put in a medium oven for about 30minutes. They are the best burgers I've ever made, the breadcrumbs keep the juice in and they're just the right level of spice. You could of course fry or bbq them, but if you want them out of the way the oven is your friend.

To make the coleslaw I simply slice and onion, peeled a carrot and added 4tsp of yogurt.

Then I stacked everything onto some delicious buns and added some chillis. Perfect summer food.

Woodland Orzotto (25p)

Served in stuffed peppers 

Orzotto is essentially risotto but with pearl barley instead of rice. It’s filling; nutritious and contains a lot of fibre, so you don’t want to eat too much. I call this Woodland Orzotto because the mushrooms add to the natural nuttiness of the pearl barley – making everything taste oh-so-slightly earthy and smell like woodland in the spring.

You Will Need (to serve 5):

200g pearl barley

100g spinach

About 10 mushrooms (I used button because that’s what I had)

1 onion

1 green pepper

A tiny spot of mozzarella or feta (optional)

2 pints of stock (I used chicken)

Finely dice the onion and sweat down in a little oil over a low heat for a few minutes until translucent.

Meanwhile finely slice the mushrooms, discarding the storks. You don’t have to waste these, you could use them in stock, soup or just on toast, but they taste a bit too woody for me. Adding the mushrooms at this stage means that the stock is enhanced with a subtle mushroom flavour.

Once the mushrooms have softened, add the green pepper. I like to roughly dice it, but you can  chop it however you like. Cook this down for a minute or two then add your pearl barley. Add just enough stock to cover it, turn up the heat and bring to the boil. Don’t worry at this point if it looks a little sad – it’s meant to look a little rubbish at this point, because the pearl barley will puff up into little pearls of deliciousness.

Once boiling turn down to a simmer and stir occasionally to keep everything from sticking, but not too much as stirring incorporates air and lowers the temperature. Once the stock has nearly been absorbed add a little bit more, and repeat until all the stock has been absorbed. The pearl barley should be slightly chewy but not hard, and about 3 or 4 times its original size. If it needs a little more time, add hot water.

When the pearl barley is done, add your spinach and let it wilt in the heat. You can also add tiny chunks of mozzarella and stir in to make it creamier, or feta for a salty kick.

Apple and Peanut Salad (26p)

Today I made salad dressing for the first time and it was delicious. I may never go back to shop bought dressings, in fact I may buy a book on salad dressings and learn all there is to know on this magical art form. This salad dressing (a delicious citrus number) came about because of an apple. I wanted something light for tea, like salad but more tart… like an apple salad. Once I had my base ingredient I knew I had to include lemon juice (the citric acid prevents enzymic browning), then I needed to balance my flavours – peanuts for saltiness and crunch.

The 26p includes the ingredients for the dressing, but if you’re making your own you can vary the ingredients. I’m not going to give you a full recipe for the salad dressing because it’s new to me, but if you’re looking for a good one, Jamie Oliver's jam jar dressings are quite good.. I used lemon juice, white wine vinegar and corn oil (I would use olive but it was all I had). I began by mixing equal parts of vinegar and lemon juice and adding a pinch of sugar to cut through it. Once I had my balance (more lemon juice, bit more sugar) I added the oil and whisked like crazy. Salad dressings work because the oil creates an emulsion – I used to know how this worked, but I can’t remember anymore. I was worried it was going to be too oily,but the emulsion actually worked a treat, and a little more vinegar and lemon and we were good to go!

You Will Need:

25g salted peanuts

2 apples

¼ lettuce

½ cucumber

1)      Chop your apple into cubes, there’s no need to peel it. You can use a sweet or tart apple, as long as they are crisp. Cover with a spritz of lemon juice and leave to one side

2)      Chop your lettuce and slice your cucumber, dd this to the bowl with your apple.

3)      When ready to serve add the salad dressing add top with peanuts. 

2 Bean Chilli: The Master of Versatility (17p)

as a side dish with jerk chicken schnitzel  and new potatoes

This recipe creates so much that it was used as a side dish when Jesus fed the 5000.* You can serve it with rice, have it as a side dish to a main meal or lunch, or put it on toast with a bit of cheese. Proper chilli takes a lot of time, and though this isn’t the time friendliest of dishes, once it’s there you can dip into it whenever you need to.

You Will Need

1 Sweet Potato

1 tin of kidney beans

1 tin of baked beans

1 pepper

1 carrot

1 chilli

1 onion

1 clove of garlic

2 handfuls of frozen peas

Squeeze of tomato puree

Peel the sweet potato and chop it into smallish chunks, add a little oil and roast at gas mark 6 for about 20minutes.

Meanwhile, prep the veg. Dice peppers, peel and cut carrots, open tins, roughly chop the onion, garlic and chilli.

When the sweet potato is cooked (you should be able to add a fork in easily), sweat the onion in a splash of oil until translucent, then add the garlic and chilli – fry for 2minutes.

Stir in your tomato puree and add a splash of water to get any gunk up off the bottom of your pan. (I added a pinch or two of enchilada seasoning, but that was only because I had some spare, you can also add paprika or cayenne pepper)

Next, begin to add your veg – fry the carrot and pepper for a minute or so, then add the sweet potato and kidney beans. Finally add your beans and tomatoes – the liquid should just come above all the veg, if it doesn’t add a splash of water or stock.

Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer for half an hour, stirring occasionally. When it’s done it will be a deliciously sticky looking chilli, serve with rice.

*that’s not all that historically accurate, it actually serves about 8

The leftovers after feeding four.

Memory Lane Pasties

A little while back, I read this post on Lavender and Lovage about picnics, childhood and pasties. Like Karen, I too have fond memories countryside picnics, though in the idylls of Worcestershire rather than around the world. A significant part of the preparation would be making pasties with my dad. So, I decided to have a go at making Karen’s pies, but twisting it a little (read adding all the spare veg I could find in the cupboard). You can make your own pastry (I’ll do a separate post on this sometime) but a shop bought block will make about 6-8 really large ones.

You will need:

500g pastry

Around 600g of leftover veg –I used leftover potatoes and carrots

An onion

About 100g hard cheese (I had Morrison’s Welsh cheddar)

1tsp. English mustard

An egg

1.  Cut your veg into equal chunks so that it’ll cook evenly, and cut your onions into half-moons, and boil for 20minutes or until the veg is soft.
2. Add a splash of milk and mash well, grate the cheese and add this with the mustard and stir well. I also had some leftover roast chicken in the fridge, so I threw that in as well.
3. Roll out your pastry to the thickness of a £1 coin and using a cutter (a small plate or large bowl is ideal), cut a circle.
4. Spoon the filling on one half of the circle, leaving a rim around the outside. Using a splash of water wet rim and fold, securing using a fork or your fingers.
   
5. Repeat, until you run out of pastry or filling, then decorate. I used a few sesame seeds and cut to allow the steam to escape. Then brush with beaten egg (or milk) to create a beautiful shine and bake for 25mins or until golden at gas mark 6.