Sugared Ring Doughnuts

Who doesn't love fresh, hot, sugary doughnuts at the fair or seaside? This recipe makes crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside doughnuts that are to die for. This recipe makes roughly 12 doughnuts but you might want to multiply it because they will run out fast!

INGREDIENTS:

250g/9oz Strong white bread flour
25g/1oz caster sugar (plus extra for finishing) 
20g/¾oz unsalted butter
1 egg
7g instant yeast
1 teaspoon salt
75ml/2½fl oz warm milk
Sunflower oil for frying

- Place all ingredients (except sunflower oil) in a bowl with four tablespoons water and mix in bowl for 4 minutes. 
- Tip dough onto a floured surface and knead well for 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic. 
- Place dough into a bowl and cover with clingfilm or a damp towel and place in a warm place to rise/prove for 40 minutes.
- Tip out the dough again onto a lightly floured surface and divide into 2 pieces. 
- Roll out each piece with a rolling pin until about half an inch thick. 
- Cut into circles using a cookie cutter and cut smaller holes into the middle.
- Place doughnuts on an oiled baking tray and cover with clingfilm. Place in a warm place to rise for a further 30 minutes.
- Heat 2 inches deep of oil in a pan on a medium heat.
- Cook the doughnuts in the oil, a few at a time, for about a minute or so, or until they are golden brown, flipping once in the process.
- Leave to cool slightly on a plate then sprinkle or roll doughnuts in caster sugar.
- Serve whilst still warm.

Cheese and Potato Soup

This is a really simple and easy soup to make that you can knock out ready to serve in about half an hour. It's really homely and filling and you can use different strengths and types of cheese depending on your palate. I like to use half mild cheddar and half extra mature in my soup.

INGREDIENTS: (serves 2)

Half a white onion, diced
3 Cloves Garlic, minced
1 tablespoon butter
3 medium sized potatoes, diced.
240ml/1 cup vegetable stock
240ml/1 cup milk
Roughly 1 cup grated cheese 
1/4 teaspoon Thyme
Salt and Pepper to taste.

- In a pan, sautee diced onion and garlic in 1 tablespoon of butter.
- Add diced potatoes, salt, pepper, thyme and vegetable stock and cover. Simmer for 20 minutes until potatoes are soft.
- Transfer to blender/food processor with milk and blend until smooth.
- Transfer back to pan and simmer until it starts to thicken.
- Add grated cheese and stir into the soup and simmer for another couple of minutes until the cheese has melted and desired consistency has been achieved.

Flatbread with Pesto and Cherry Tomatoes

I got free vouchers last weekend for a meal at Prezzo, which if you hadn't heard of it is a chain of Italian restaurants. It was actually one of the best meals I've had in a long time and considering how often I eat out, that's pretty good going. I have a slight obsession with bruschetta so it's my obvious choice whenever I eat out anywhere vaguely Italian and there was no exception at Prezzo. This is my copycat recipe, not called bruschetta because i've done a bruschetta recipe already and this is nothing like that bar the raw tomatoes! 

INGREDIENTS:

For the bread:

330g strong bread flour
210ml lukewarm water
1 7g sachet of instant yeast
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
Extra Flour for Dusting

For the topping:

Chopped red onion
Pesto
Garlic Cloves, Halved.
Olive Oil
Cherry Tomatoes
Salt and Pepper to taste

- Place flour, yeast, sugar and salt in a bowl and make a small well in the middle. Pour the water into this well and stir with a fork bringing in all of the flour until it makes a sticky dough. 
- With floured hands begin to mix and knead for around 5-10 minutes until you have achieved a soft, elastic dough.
- Place your dough in a bowl and cover with cling film or a damp towel and place somewhere warm for half an hour to prove. It should double in size.
- After half an hour, when your dough has increased in size, separate into 4 individual balls. 
- Roll out these balls into rough oval shapes until they are around 1/2 an inch thick.
- Place on an oiled baking tray and grill on each side until golden brown.
- Cut a glove of garlic in half and rub on one side of the oiled flat bread. 
- Spread approx 2 teaspoons of pesto onto the flatbread and top with red onion, halved cherry tomatoes and salt and pepper. Add a small drizzle of olive oil and serve. 

Fish Tacos with home made Flour Tortillas, Guacamole and Pico de Gallo.

Okay, so tacos are my absolute, number one favourite thing in the world. Ever. If you put something in a taco, whatever the hell it was, I'd probably eat it just because it was in a taco. A few years ago I watched a film called 'I love you, man' starring Paul Rudd and Jason Segel, I think it's a pretty cool film and you should definitely watch it, but that's irrelevant. Anyway in this film, Jason Segel's character takes Paul Rudd's character to a restaurant on Venice beach that does 'the best fish tacos' and ever since I've been wanting to try them. About a month ago, I lost my fish taco virginity at a restaurant called Las Iguanas (that you may or may not have heard of) and was majorly underwhelmed by them. They were boring and tasteless and everything you just don't want from food you've paid good money for. Anyway, today I decided I was making my OWN fish tacos and in my opinion, they turned out much better. These aren't the 'baja california' kind of fish tacos where the fish is beer battered and deep fried, these are un-battered, seasoned, grilled and super healthy; served on fresh, home made flour tortillas with, you guessed it, fresh and home made pico de gallo and guacamole! Enjoy!

GRILLED FISH
INGREDIENTS: (enough for 6 tacos, in my opinion serves 2)

4 white fish fillets (I use Pollock)

4 cloves minced garlic or 2 teaspoons garlic purée

1 teaspoon Achiote paste* 

Tablespoon oil

Tablespoon water

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 teaspoon ground cumin

Salt and Pepper to taste.

- In a small container mix garlic, achiote paste, oil, water, cayenne pepper, cumin and salt and pepper into a runny paste. 

- Brush fish fillets with mixture and marinade in fridge for at least 20 minutes. 

- Grill fish until cooked (around 15 minutes) 

*Achiote paste can be found in Latin/Spanish/African supermarkets, but don't worry if you don't live near one of those or can't find it, you can get it from loads of places online. My favourite vendor is mexgrocer.co.uk , I also bought my tortilla press from here which makes the next step 1000 times easier.

FLOUR TORTILLAS

INGREDIENTS (makes 6 small taco sized tortillas)

125g/1 cup self raising flour

80ml/ 1/3 cup water

25ml oil 

Pinch of salt

- Combine ingredients in a bowl and knead until a play-dough like consistency is achieved. 

- Roll out 6 evenly sized balls (roughly the size of a ping pong ball)

- Roll out into circles or use a tortilla press

- Cook on a dry pan (no oil) for a couple minutes on each side. 

GUACAMOLE

INGREDIENTS:

2 medium sized avocados (preferably California Hass variety)

2 small red chillies

4 cherry or baby plum tomatoes

Squeeze of lemon or lime juice

Coriander to taste

- Finely chop chillies and tomatoes and place in a bowl.

- With a pestle and mortar, mash avocado into a paste

- Combine avocado, chillies and tomatoes and stir in a squeeze of lemon or lime juice and coriander. 

- Alternatively, place all ingredients into a food processor and blend for a few seconds.

PICO DE GALLO

INGREDIENTS:

4 large plum tomatoes

1 small onion

a small amount of coriander to taste

2 jalapenos 

Half a lime

- Finely chop the tomatoes, onion and jalapenos. (This is done easiest in a food processor)

- Add coriander and lime juice and mix all ingredients together.

Bruschetta on Garlic Ciabatta

On my eighteenth birthday, my mum took me to Frankie and Benny's for a birthday lunch and for some reason I got bruschetta as my starter, I didn't even like tomatoes, let alone raw ones so god knows why I picked it but I'm glad I did. This is my absolute favourite thing on their menu and sometimes I convince myself I like the rest of their menu just so I can go and get a bruschetta starter. It's nearly four years later now and they've made their portions tiny, plus I came up with this easy copycat recipe so I can have a big portion without even having to leave my house! If you wanted and if you have the skill you could go the whole hog and make your own ciabatta for this, but shop bought is easiest, plus you can get four for £1 in Tesco! This recipe hardly takes any time at all and it's made even easier if you have a food processor or a vegetable chopper but it's just as simple without.

INGREDIENTS: (Serves 2)

Half red onion
Half punnet baby plum tomatoes 
2 Ciabatta's
Garlic Butter
A few basil leaves, or a pinch of dried mixed herbs

- De-seed baby plum tomatoes and finely chop/place in food processor along with red onion. 
- Cut ciabatta's in half and grill lightly on both sides. 
- Spread inside with garlic butter and cut the ciabatta halves into diagonal wedges.
- Arrange on a plate in a square formation with the wide end of one ciabatta overlapping the thin end of the other ciabatta. 
- Spoon half mixture into the centre of the ciabatta and drizzle with balsamic glaze.
- Sprinkle with salt, cracked black pepper and parmesan cheese if desired. 
  

Pollock with tomato and basil sauce with crushed garlic and rosemary potatoes.

This is what my mum decided she wanted to eat tonight after finally convincing her to eat some fish, not sure what she has against it seeing as she'll always eat fish and chips, but she asked me to make something flavoursome to mask the fish taste (I know right, what's the point?). So I decided on a tomato and basil sauce made entirely from scratch (no canned tomatoes or dried herbs here!) I used Pollock again because it's cheap and tasty and I like to think I'm helping the poor little cod from being overfished. You can use any fish you like for this though really, but just to be on the safe side, I'd probably stick with white fish. I served this dish with a spinach side salad and a balsamic glaze dressing.

INGREDIENTS:
FOR THE SAUCE

1 punnet cherry tomatoes
1 medium white onion
4 cloves garlic
2 tablespoons tomato purée
1 handful fresh basil leaves
1 dessert spoon of fresh thyme
1 teaspoon sugar 
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt and Pepper to taste

- In a roasting tin, place the punnet of cherry tomatoes, half the basil leaves and drizzle with olive oil. Place under a grill or roast in the oven until soft and juicy.
- In a food processor or by hand, finely chop the onion and garlic. If using a food processor, add the tomatoes and basil to the food processor and pulse until smooth. If not, mash the tomatoes with the back of a fork until smooth and add to the onion and garlic mixture.
- Transfer the ingredients to a pan and add a small amount of water, the rest of the basil leaves, tomato purée, thyme, sugar, cayenne pepper and salt and pepper and simmer for 10 minutes until done. Pour over cooked Pollock to serve.

CRUSHED GARLIC AND ROSEMARY POTATOES:

New potatoes
Garlic butter 
Fresh Rosemary

- Boil the new potatoes until cooked.
- Transfer to a roasting tin and crush with the back of a fork. You do not want to mash the potatoes, just break them up a little and maybe leave some whole. 
- Dab garlic butter over the potatoes. You can use shop bought garlic butter or make your own by mincing some garlic and cooking it into some butter by melting in the microwave.
- Sprinkle some fresh rosemary on top of the potatoes and place under a grill until lightly crispy. 

Texas Jailhouse Chili, Quesadillas and Pico De Gallo

Sometimes I feel like all my favourite foods either come from the "deep south" of America, or ACTUAL south America. Basically i'm a sucker for anything mex/tex mex/tex and you don't get more deep south than Texas Jailhouse Chili. Apparently back in the 1860's, inmates used to rate prisons on the quality of their chilli and they'd get inundated with letters asking for their recipes, and I prefer the name Texas Jailhouse Chili way more than plain old Chili-con-carne.

The best thing about chili though, is the amount of things you can serve it with. Most people just go for plain rice but I like it best with plain cheese quesadillas and pico de gallo because why the hell not? 

TEXAS JAILHOUSE CHILI

INGREDIENTS:

1 large onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tablespoon chilli powder

1 teaspoon cayenne pepper

1 large red chilli or jalapeño, chopped

500g minced beef

1 tablespoon cumin

1 tablespoon mixed herbs

1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce 

500ml beef stock

1 can chopped tomatoes

- Saute garlic and onion in a large frying pan, add half tablespoon chilli powder and your chilli/jalapeño.

- Add minced beef to the pan with half the cumin and herbs and 1 teaspoon of cayenne pepper and brown.

- Add the can of tomatoes, beef stock, worcestershire sauce and the rest of the cumin and herbs and bring to a low simmer, cover and simmer for 30 minutes.

- Add the rest of the chilli powder and a little salt to taste and simmer for another 15-30 minutes. (you may need to add a little water)

PICO DE GALLO

INGREDIENTS:

4 large plum tomatoes

1 small onion

a small amount of coriander to taste

2 jalapenos 

Half a lime

- Finely chop the tomatoes, onion and jalapenos. (This is done easiest in a food processor)

- Add coriander and lime juice and mix all ingredients together.

CHEESE QUESADILLAS

INGREDIENTS:

Large Flour Tortillas

Grated Cheese
(you can add loads of things to quesadillas but for accompanying chili, i like to keep them plain)

- Heat a large frying pan and place your tortilla in the pan. There is no need for oil.

- Cover half of the tortilla in grated cheese and fold. 

- Cook for a minute on each side, remove from pan and cut into wedges for serving.

Chana Masala (Chickpea Curry)

This is a really easy dish to make considering how tasty it is and it's also full of protein AND vegetarian. How does it get better than that? You can add loads of things to this dish if you want to pad it out a bit, try potatoes or spinach if you want to keep it vegetarian or chicken or lamb if you're a carnivore. 


INGREDIENTS:

1 Onion 
4 Cloves Garlic
1 inch piece ginger
1 can chopped tomatoes
1 can chickpeas in water
1 large red chilli
1 small green chilli
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon salt

- Chop onion and garlic finely and add to a pan with a small amount of oil, fry until lightly brown.
- Add both chillies and a teaspoon of cumin, turmeric and salt. (If you're adding meat, do it at this point)
- Add 1 can of chopped tomatoes and bring to simmer. 
- Add a small amount of water to the pan along with the can of chickpeas and cook for around 5 minutes until water has evaporated. (if you want to add spinach or cooked potatoes, do it now)
- Add 1 teaspoon of garam masala, grated ginger and stir in some coriander if desired and simmer for another couple of minutes.
- Serve over rice or with naan bread and a coriander garnish.

Spicy fish, green beans and brown rice.

I've been trying to eat healthier and lose a bit of weight, so this is something that's really easy to make and really really tasty as well. I use pollock for this because it's cheap and I try to avoid cod so they don't die out, but you can use any white fish or even try with salmon if you wanted. 

INGREDIENTS: (SERVES 1)

3 small fillets of white fish
1 clove garlic, finely chopped, or 1 teaspoon garlic paste
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon dark soy sauce
1 portion cooked green beans
1 portion cooked brown rice
A little oil or butter for frying
Salt and cracked black pepper
Coriander and thinly sliced red chilli to garnish
Sriracha Sauce 

- In a frying pan, add garlic to a small amount of oil or butter until hot. Add your fish.
- Sprinkle half a teaspoon of cayenne pepper and cumin on each side of the fish and add 1 tablespoon of dark soy sauce. Fry fish for five minutes on each side, until cooked.
- Place cooked brown rice into a bowl and top with green beans and fish. Add a small amount of coriander and red chilli as a garnish and drizzle with Sriracha sauce if desired.

Teriyaki Beef Ramen

I'd never had ramen before in my life (apart from the kind that students live off) until I went to Tampopo with my mum last year (for people who don't know, Tampopo is very similar to Wagamama, but in my opinion much better). I wanted something easy to eat because I was suffering with my wisdom teeth so I picked Beef Ramen so I could slurp the soup and suffer through the beef steak, and I never looked back. 

A few days later at home, I did what I always do and got a real craving for beef ramen so I came up with this little recipe of my own. I top my ramen with sliced spring onion and red chilli and serve with a boiled egg, but you can use mushrooms, pak choi, peppers or really anything else you fancy. 

INGREDIENTS: (SERVES 2-4)
350g Beef (I use ready cut stir fry strips from tesco/asda because they save me cutting meat)
Noodles (you can use fresh noodles, but I usually use the dried kind)
1 Onion
4 Cloves Garlic
1 inch piece of Ginger
1 beef or chicken stock cube
1 litre of water
1 teaspoon chilli powder/cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon chinese five spice
2 tablespoons Soy Sauce (I prefer dark but you can use light)
2 tablespoons Teriyaki Sauce
2 Spring Onions
1 big red chilli 
4 hard boiled eggs

- Start off by boiling your water in a big pan. Peel one onion, 4 cloves of garlic and a 1 inch piece of garlic and place them whole in the boiling water with a stock cube to create a broth.
- Into the broth add 1 teaspoon of chilli powder (or more or less to taste), 1 teaspoon of chinese five spice and 2 tablespoons of soy sauce. Leave this to simmer for 20 minutes to half an hour. It will reduce ever so slightly but should remain watery.
- Place your beef, cut into thin strips if not already done so, into a frying pan with a little oil and 2 tablespoons of teriyaki sauce. Fry for around 8 minutes or until cooked. 
- After your broth has simmered for the allotted time, remove the onion, garlic and ginger with a slotted spoon. At this point, if you are using dried noodles, use this broth to cook your noodles in according as if it were water, to the instructions on the packet. If you are using fresh noodles, simmer them in the broth for a couple of minutes to warm them up.
- Whilst you are cooking your noodles, place 4 eggs into a pan of water and boil until hard in the middle. Peel and cut them in half.
- Thinly slice the white/pale green part of the spring onions and discard the dark green tops. Also thinly slice the red chilli and set both of these aside.
- Once your noodles have cooked, separate into bowls and top the bowls up with the broth.
- Arrange the beef, spring onions and eggs on top of the noodles and sprinkle the red chilli on top to garnish.