Mini Spicy Burgers, Halloumi Cheese & Griddled Veg

The clocks have gone forward and it finally looks like Summer's on it's way (I hope!). Saturday was spent browsing Broadway Market, a cheeky pear Bulmer's at the pub & being cooked for by @lauramccluskey, YUMM.

We bought the mini spicy burgers from the shop over the road from @lauramccluskey house in Hackney, and grilled the lot - burgers, halloumi, red onion, vine tomatoes and portobello mushroom - together in her griddle pan (I need to get me one of those!) and voila, dinner was served with some rose wine to wash it down with.

Hackney sunset 

Friday Night

 

I went back to my parents for the weekend last week and got to catch up with my home girlies. We made fish & chips with crushed peas and strawberry daiquiris on the Friday night, and it was soooo yum, best Friday night in a long time!

Posh Sausage & Mash

This is a really good take on the old fashioned sausage and mash and gets a few of your 5 a day in as well, always a bonus.

I made this just for one (pathetic, I know) but just double the ingredients for two, and so on.

1/2 apple

2 sausages

1/2 large red onion

1 veg stock cube

Fry light spray

1 sweet potato

1 leek

Cornflour

First peel and chop the sweet potato and add to boiling water. Boil until soft and ready to mash.

Meanwhile, chop and gently fry the red onion in a pan with a spritz of fry light until the onions are soft, then put to the side.

Add the sausages to the pan and fry until cooked then put to the side.

Core, peel and chop the apple into small cubes and fry until soft.

Chop the leek and add to a seperate pan of boiling water and cook until soft.

Mash the potato and stir in the cooked leek and apple.

Add the sausages and red onion back to the pan with a dissolved stock cube in boiling water. Keep adding cornflour and boiling water whilst on the heat until you have the right amount of gravy, add more cornflour flour for thick gravy and keep the pan on the heat until all the cornflour is cooked out.

Serve up your mash, sausages and gravy and wash down with a glass of red!

Chocolate Cornflake Cakes

 

Seriously easy cakes to make, it's as easy as 1, 2, 3!

Ingredients are as follows;

Cornflakes

Chocolate 

Melt the chocolate either in a bowl over a pan of boiling hot water or in the microwave.

Mix the chocolate and cornflakes together and spoon into paper cases (although we just spooned lumps onto a plate as we had no cases!) and leave in the fridge to cool.

Yummy variations on the theme include using different brands of chocolate; Dairy Milk, Galaxy, Milky bar...using rice crispies instead of cornflakes, or adding mini eggs on top in keeping with the Easter holidays coming up.

Enjoy!

PANCAKE DAY!

So excited! I've been thinking it was today all week until I was told last night that it's actually next Tuesday. Only another week to wait, YUM!

Homemade Apple Crumble

This may look a little burnt, and to be quite honest it was. I think we put the oven on too high and ended up setting the fire alarm off, oops! It was still very good though, albeit a bit harder than orginally planned so my advice is when following this recipe, don't put the oven on 250 degrees, or leave it in too long...

The recipe is as follows to serve around 4 people;

A bag of apples (I think cooking apples are often recommended but we just used any old normal ones)

Caster Sugar

Flour

Butter (although we used a low fat margarine and it was just as tasty)

1/2 lemon

First core, peel and chop the apples into your preferred size/shape and boil in a pan of water, about 2 teaspoons of lemon juice and a sprinkle of caster sugar until slightly soft (not too much, you don't want mushy apples!).

Crumble together the margarine and butter in a bowl and then add sugar (as much as you like depending on how sweet you like your apple crumble.

Add the apples to the pan and crumble over the flour, margarine and sugar mix.

Add a little more sugar over the top to brown in the oven.

Put in the oven at around 200 degrees until the top is golden brown (not black or smoking, like we did...).

Serve with ice cream or custard and you've just made yourself probably one of the most simple hot deserts I know.

Enjoy!

Caramelised Red Onion, Tomato & Mozzarella Tart

This tart was so quick, easy and cheap I have no idea why I haven't tried it before. It doesn't just have to stop at those three toppings though,  I imagine the tart to be just as tasty with goats cheese, ham, spinach or peppers, anything you can bung on and stick in the oven really!

The recipe is as follows for a whole tart;

1 Jus-Rol puff ready rolled pasty

2 red onions

Brown sugar

Balsamic vinegar

4 Tomatoes

1 mozzarella ball

Salt 

Pepper

Start with caramelising the red onions as this is the part that will take the longest - if you can call 10 minutes long. Cut the 2 red onions into long thin strips and add to a pan with a good glug of balsamic vinegar and brown sugar (measurements depend on your taste really, add according to how sweet you would like the onions). Cook the balsamic vinegar and sugar out with the red onions for around ten minutes, by this point the onions should be soft and caramelised.

Next roll out the pastry, spread the onions out over it, cut the tomato and mozarella and add to the top. 

Stick the tart in the oven for around 20 minutes at 200 degrees until golden brown.

Scatter rocket over the top, and season with salt and pepper to taste. Serve with a spinach and rocket salad with a drizzle of balsamic vinegar and it's as easy as that.

Enjoy!