Fruit Plait

Here's a delicious dessert, that's quick and easy to put together.

All you need is a ready-rolled puff pastry sheet, and some fruit of your choice.
I used a can of peaches ( make sure they are well drained ) with some fresh raspberries and blueberries.

Place your fruit down the middle of the pastry, then cut the pastry at either side, on a slight diagonal (see the pic below). Tuck the top and bottom edges of the pastry over the filling, and then cross over the other pieces, forming the plait.
Brush with beaten egg and sprinkle with caster sugar, then cook in a pre-heated oven 200C / 180 Fan, for about 30 mins.
Until the pastry is cooked and golden.
Before serving sprinkle with icing sugar.

This was deliciously tart, so if you want something sweeter, sprinkle sugar over your fruit.
Serve fresh from the oven with some good quality vanilla ice-cream, or creme fraiche.
I put the left overs in the fridge, and it set firmly, which made it perfect for cutting into slices and taking on a picnic.

Honey Mustard Salmon

Here's a quick, tasty glaze to perk up a salmon fillet.

2 salmon fillets


2 teaspoons wholegrain mustard
2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
2 teaspoons clear honey

Season 2 salmon fillets and place them on a baking tray, lined with greaseproof paper.
Mix together the glaze ingredients and spread thickly over the salmon.
Bake in a preheated oven 200C / 180 Fan, for 12 - 15 mins, until the salmon is cooked through.

Any glaze that dribbles down your salmon can really bake onto the pan, so make sure you do line it.

Mushroom Pasta Bake

Here's a quick and tasty dish, that's just perfect for our 'meat free Mondays'.

Serves 2

100g dry weight past shapes
1 vegetable stock cube
250g chestnut mushrooms, sliced
1 red onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
1/2 red chilli, deseeded and sliced
250g passata
30g low fat cheese, grated
white sauce packet mix
basil.

Pre-heat oven to 200C / 180C Fan
Put the pasta in boiling water, with the crumbled, vegetable stock cube. When cooked, drain thoroughly.
Fry the mushrooms, onion and garlic in a little oil. Add the chilli and passata and simmer gently for 5 mins.
Stir in the drained pasta and season to taste.
Transfer to an ovenproof dish.
Make up the white sauce as per the packet instructions and pour over the mushroom mix.
Top with the grated cheese qand bake for 10 minutes.
Garnish with some fresh chopped basil.

Gingered Rice Salad

I found a packet of brown rice lurking at the back of the cupboard and, after checking that it was still edible, I thought I would give this recipe a go. We had it a couple of days in a row, once with chicken and once with salmon, and whilst it was good, with a little tweaking it could be even better.
It's best made the day before, and served at room temperature, to really allow the flavours to come though.

Serves 6 ish

175g brown rice
2 tbsp rapeseed oil (or sunflower oil)
1 tbsp soy sauce
Juice of 1/2 orange
6 cherry tomatoes, chopped
2 spring onions, finely sliced
1 red pepper, finely sliced
1/2 cucumber, deseeded and chopped
2cm piece fresh ginger, peeled and chopped
1 tbsp sesame seeds
Chopped coriander and mint

Cook the rice as per the packet instructions. Rinse under cold water. Drain well and turn into a large bowl.
Add the oil, soy sauce and orange juice and toss well.
Add the ginger, tomatoes and other vegetables to the rice. Mix well.
Dry fry the sesame seeds until lightly browned and add to the salad along with the chopped coriander and mint.
Season.

When I make this again I will add a finely sliced chilli for some extra heat and some chopped apple, for crunch!

Orange, chilli and mixed leaf salad

At long last I have been sucked into the corporate machine that is Apple,
and I have got myself an iphone.
Once I work out how to use it there will be no stopping me!!
For now, I am happy to play with the camera - which takes much better snaps than my last phone.

Here's a quick Friday night salad that goes well with an oily fish like mackerel.

Serves 2
2 large oranges, segmented (keep the shells for the dressing)
1 red chilli, deseeded and finely sliced
1/2 a bag of baby leaf salad.


Dressing.
1 tsp wholegrain mustard
1 tbsp clear honey
4tbsp orange juice (squeezed from  the shells)

Toss all the salad ingredients together. Drizzle with honey, mustard dressing.

As with most salads, this is better if you serve it at room temperature.
I used hot plates for my fish, which meant the orange warmed up on the plate, and was delicious.

Slow Cooked Red Cabbage

With spring now upon us, and the weather starting to brighten up a little,
this will probably be the last time I make slow cooked red cabbage for a while.
It's a family favourite though and was just perfect to go with our beef wellingtons last weekend.

1 onion, thinly sliced
1kg red cabbage, finely shredded
1 cooking apple, peeled and cored, and cut into chunks
4 tbsp light brown soft sugar
2tbsp white wine vinegar
2tbsp redcurrants jelly

Preheat oven to 180C / 160 Fan
Fry the onion in a little oil for a few minutes, to soften.
Add all the other ingredients and bring to the boil.
Sometimes I add a splash of red wine  or port at this stage.
Stir and season.
Cover and transfer to the preheated oven for about 1 1/2 - 2 hours, until the cabbage is tender.

Serves 6.   You can make this a day ahead and just gently reheat on the stove.
It also freezes well.

Shredded Pork with Pomegranate Salad

Who knew pork and pomegranate was such a lovely combination?
Instead of spending hours cooking my own pork, I bought a little pulled pork joint from the supermarket.
It came with a little sachet of bbq sauce and was just enough for the two of us.

Salad (serves 2 with some left over)
2 heads of pack choi, cut into long strips
seeds from 1 pomegranate
6 spring onions, sliced on the diagonal
6 radish, cut into matchsticks
about 1/3 cucumber, deseeded and sliced
1 green chilli, finely sliced

Dressing.
2tbsp fish sauce
1 tbsp vinegar
2 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tbsp soy sauce

When the pork was just about ready I wilted the pak choi, in a pan, with a tbsp of the dressing.
Then I added in the rest of the salad ingredients and tossed it all together.
Serve the salad with the pork and a little of the dressing drizzled over.