Category: Weekend Wildcard

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Roasted Tomato Soup With a Kick!

tomato soup with garlic and chillis

Recipe: Roasted Tomato Soup With a Kick!

I spotted a certain influencer in the UK post her recipe for tomato soup last week that would have fed a pigeon. So when I harvested the last of the tomatoes from our polytunnel I figured I’d show you how soup is really, really simple to make.

Serves 4 people

Ingredients
1.5kg mixed tomatoes (size does not matter)
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 – 3 small chillis, chopped
Generous glug of olive oil
Salt & Pepper
Basil to serve

Method
Chop the tomatoes into chunks. If you are using cherry tomatoes just leave them as they are. Turf the lot into a deep dish baking tray and drizzle with olive oil and season well with salt and pepper.

Roast in the oven at 170 degrees for 45 minutes to an hour. Until you have the level of char you’re happy with.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool slightly before blitzing. Add the basil leaves at the very end.

I see a lot of people recommending you cook or roast fresh basil. It’s a very soft herb. Yes it looks lovely on camera and on baking trays but you will ruin the flavour. Add soft herbs at the end of the cooking process for the best flavour

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Burger Wheels Recipe

Burger wheels with puff pastry, beef and pepper

Burger Wheels Recipe
Serves: 6-8 people

Ingredients
• 1 roll puff pastry
• 450g mince beef
• 2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried garlic
• 1 large onion, chopped
• 200g grated cheese

Method

1. Preheat a fan oven to 170 degrees Celsius. Line a baking tray.

2. Spread out the puff pastry and press the mince beef to an even layer on top. Sprinkle liberally with the cayenne pepper, salt, black pepper, and dried garlic.

3. Add the chopped onions as the next layer, then half the grated cheese.

4. Carefully roll the pastry and then slice into circles. Place the circles onto the baking tray.

5. Sprinkle the top with the remaining grated cheese.

6. Bake in the oven for 30-35 minutes, until golden on top & the pastry has puffed up.

7. Serve with pickles, mayonnaise, fresh tomatoes and lettuce if you like. Or eat in the hand as you go. This is messy food but it’s very very satisfying!


Recipe Notes:
Don’t use lean meat in this recipe as it needs the cheaper beef with the higher fat content.
I’d probably chop up the gherkins to add to the mixture if I thought my family would eat them.

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Batty Bourbons Recipe

This is a fudgy, chewy biscuit recipe perfect for filling with chocolate buttercream.

Batty Bourbons Recipe
This is a fudgy chewy biscuit recipe which is perfect for filling with chocolate buttercream.
Ingredients
• 300g plain flour
• 100g cocoa powder
• 90g of caster sugar
• 85g of butter at room temperature
• 2 medium eggs
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract (or the seeds from 1 vanilla pod)
Method
Beat the butter and sugar together until soft and fluffy.
Add the eggs one by one and beat until they are well mixed into the batter.
Add the vanilla extract or seeds from a pod.
Pour the flour and baking powder slowly into the bowl and beat until mixed with the eggs, sugar and butter. Then the cocoa powder
Beat until everything becomes a tight dough.
Cut a large piece of cling film and turn out the dough onto the cling film.
Wrap well and place into the fridge for at least 1 hour before rolling and baking.
At this point you can put the dough into the freezer to keep for up to a month. Just remember to take it out to defrost in the fridge until you are ready to cut it to size and bake.
After at least an hour heat your (fan) oven to 180 degrees Celcius.
Dust your worksurface and rolling pin with flour.
Cut as you please with whatever shape cutters you like. I used a variety of different cutters this time.
The amount of time the cookies will take to cook depends on their size. A medium (palm of your hand) sized cookie takes approximately 10 mins. Adjust your cooking time up if they are bigger or thicker, down if they are thinner or smaller.
For the chocolate buttercream – beat together 225g of unsalted butter with 350g of icing sugar and 150g of melted chocolate.


Recipe notes: I made any leftover cookie dough into small balls which I put into a box and froze. I can make instant cookies at short notice now with these offcuts.
Yes, I made far too much buttercream, just as well it freezes perfectly for another day.

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Pumpkin Pasta Recipe

Pasta with pumpkin, spinach, and cheese


Serves: 4
Cooking Time: 1 hour
Preparation Time: 40 mins
Ingredients
• 1 large bag of fresh spinach
• 3 cloves of garlic minced
• Decent glug of olive oil.
• 1 small pumpkin, sliced (seeds scooped out)
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon dried garlic
• Salt & Pepper
• 650ml passata
• 250g fresh lasagne sheets
• 200g grated mozzarella
• 75g grated parmesan

Method
In a large pan saute fresh spinach leaves with olive oil and garlic, plenty of salt and pepper utnil the spinach is wilted. Set to one side to drain and cool.

Coat the pumpkin slices well in olive oil and salt and pepper. Bake in the oven for 40 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius. Once cooked, set to one side to cool a little.
Blitz the spinach mixture to a paste. Mash the cooled pumpkin with dried garlic and oregano.

Grease a deep baking dish well with butter or olive oil then pour half the passata into the bottom of the baking dish and season well.

Take the fresh lasagne sheets and slice them in half lengthways so that you have long rectangular pieces. Take the first piece and spoon a small amount of the spinach mixture onto the length of the fresh pasta, sprinkle some grated mozzarella on top of the spinach. Roll the the pasta into a tube then sit the tube upright in the baking dish. Take the second piece and fill with the pumpkin mixture, sprinkle grated mozzarella on top, roll and sit upright.

Continue filling and rolling the pasta pieces until the baking dish is full. Pour the remaining passata on top of the tubes and gently rock the baking dish back and forth until the passata sinks into the dish. Season well then sprinkle the top of the pasta with the remaining mozzarella and the grated parmesan.

Bake in the oven at 170 degrees for 30 minutes before serving.

You’ll have wonderfully crispy cheese and pasta bits on top but soft and yielding pasta underneath. This dish is all about the texture. I like to eat mine with a fresh salad. The kids love theirs with the other main food groups for lasagne eating; that is potato wedges and garlic bread. No coleslaw here!

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Leek & Potato Soup Recipe

potato leek and onion soup


Ingredients
· 1 large knob of butter
· 2 leeks, washed and chopped
· 1 large onion, peeled and chopped
· 4 medium potatoes, peeled and chopped
· 1.5 pints vegetable stock
· Fresh thyme & parsley

Method
Melt the butter in a large saucepan on a medium heat. Add the onions first and cook for about 5 minutes so that they begin to soften. Add the leeks and cook for another 5 minutes.
Stir in the potato chunks and coat well in the leek and onion mixture.

Pour the vegetable stock into the saucepan, stir. Add some fresh thyme leaves. Cover the saucepan and bring the contents to a slow simmer. Simmer for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes turn off the heat and allow to cool slightly before blending with a stick blender.

Serve with fresh parsley & oodles of white pepper – which is my preference. Apparently this carb-full soup is best enjoyed with a doorstep of fresh buttered batch but honestly I find it filling enough.

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Last Minute Limoncello Recipe

lemon vodka and sugar

You only need 4 days to make this incredible zingy limoncello which makes the perfect handmade Christmas gift. Makes just over 1 litre of limoncello in total. I decant it into 100ml bottles for gifts.

Ingredients
6 organic lemons (washed)
70cl bottle of vodka
1 cup sugar
1 cup water

Method
Peel the lemons, taking care to cut as little of the white pith as possible. Place the lemon peel into a large jar. Pour the vodka on top. Put the jar into a cool dry place for 4 days.

After 4 days, combine 1 cup of sugar with 1 cup of water in a saucepan. Bring to a gentle simmer until all the sugar has dissolved and allow to cool.

Decant the cooled sugar syrup into a large jug, strain the lemon vodka into the jug. Mix until well combined. Fill up bottles of your choice.

Serve neat over ice or diluted with soda water. Always drink responsibly.

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Leftover Roasties Recipe

Roast potato with red onion, white onion and cayenne pepper

Save this for your Christmas leftovers!

Ingredients
1 tablespoon oil
1 red onion, peeled & sliced
1 white onion, peeled & sliced
3-4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon each of white pepper, cayenne pepper, curry powder, ground cumin, and turmeric (or go straight for a large tablespoon of spice bag mix!)
Generous pinch of salt
500g leftover roast potatoes (this also works with chips sshhhhh)
Fresh coriander to serve

Method
Get a large frying pan smoking hot before adding some oil.
Lash the onions into the frying pan and cook until softened and blackened on the edges (this adds to the flavour). Add a little salt here to speed up the process.
Add the garlic and then the spices, stir well so that the spices are activated by the heat.
Tumble in the leftover spuds. Toss well in the onion/spice mixture. Turn the heat on the pan down a little and stir the potatoes around.
Serve with plenty of fresh coriander once all the ingredients are piping hot. I like mine with chutney on the side.

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Legendary St Stephen’s Day Pie


Do you have one recipe that a family member adores and repeatedly requests? That’s the legendary pie that our 23-year-old begs me to make every year. In truth, it’s all about the leftovers from the main event but you could use fresh ingredients if you really wanted to.
You will need a very large baking dish or several medium sized dishes to make this in large quantities but it freezes very well.


Ingredients
• 400ml warm cooking stock (I use the ham water from the day before)
• 1 onion, peeled and chopped
• 2 sticks of celery chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic chopped
• 80g flour
• Ham, cooked and chopped
• Turkey, cooked and chopped
• 200g frozen peas
• 200g frozen sweetcorn
• 2 packets defrosted pastry
• 1 egg for egg wash over the top
Method
Heat 3 tablespoons of pan juices in a saucepan on a medium heat. Add in the onions, celery and garlic. Cook gentley until tender.
Sprinkle the flour on top and with the vegetables. You are essentially making a type of roux sauce. Ladle in spoons of the hot cooking stock or hot water to the saucepan and stir constantly until you get a runny sauce-like texture. Stir in 1 tablespoon of wholegrain mustard (or more if you like mustard). There is no need to season this sauce because the seasoning comes from the salty stock made when the ham was boiled the day before.

Stir the meat and frozen vegetables into the sauce. Lay any leftover cooked vegetables into the bottom of the baking dish.

Spoon the sauce on top of the cooked vegetables. Cover the dish with a layer of pastry. Use a fork to poke holes on top and wash with a beaten egg for a glossy coating.

Cook in a fan oven heated to 180 degrees for 35-40 minutes. Serve with plenty of buttered mash.

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Smokey Fried Rice



Originally this recipe was meant to have chorizo but the kids snaffled it all out of the fridge for their lunchboxes.

Ingredients

• 200-300g of ham, chopped (but I’d rather chorizo!)
• 2 red onions, sliced
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 level teaspoon chipotle chilli flakes
• Lots of chopped garlic (who am I to tell you know much)
• Salt & Pepper
• 1 red pepper sliced
• 150g broccoli sliced
• 150ml water
• Leftover steamed rice

Method
Saute off the meat in the pan to release the oils, then add onions and allow to soften. While softening add the smoked paprika, chilli flakes and garlic. Season well with salt and pepper.

Add in the red pepper and broccoli, stir so that they are coated in all the ingredients. A glass of water starts the steaming process, then the leftover rice should be stirred around until coated in all the ingredients and completely heated through.

Serve immediately. I know certain people would like mayonnaise or chipotle sauce on top but I’m a bit of vegetable fan so like to keep things simple

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Whipped Jelly

A retro jelly treat that my Nana used to make for special occasions.

Ingredients

• 2 sachets sugar free jelly
• 200ml hot water
• 150ml cold water
• 1 tin sweetened condensed milk

Method

Combine the sugar free jelly with hot water until the crystals are dissolved. Add in the cold water and stir. Put the jelly mixture into a cold spot for about 20-30 minutes so that it starts to thicken slightly.

Using an electric whisk, rapidly whisk the condensed milk and jelly mixture together until light and foamy. Decant into fancy glasses or dishes and chill until serving. Alternatively mix some fresh or tinned fruit with the whipped jelly and chill in a large bowl.

Serve with whipped cream on top