All posts by Heather

Elizabeth’s Italian chicken

Chicken, Main Courses

  • For four
  • 125g Mozzarella Ball cut into 8 thin slices
  • 4 Chicken Breasts flattened with rolling pin between cling film
  • Handful Shredded fresh Basil leaves
  • 500g Fresh Pasta Sauce
  • 4 Slices Parma Ham

Pour Pasta Sauce in 8 x 12″ ovenware dish and add Basil leaves on top of sauce.
Season (salt and pepper) each Chicken Breast and fry in Virgin Oil until golden brown on both sides 3-4 mins. Add the chicken on top of Basil leaves and cover each escalope with a slice of Parma Ham then 2 slices of Cheese and 2 Basil leaves .
Assemble and cook in oven 180C for 30 mins.
Serve with Olive Oil Mashed Potatoes and green vegetables.
Tip. Brush the Basil leaves with a little oil, helps them not to dry while cooking.

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Very Berry Lemon Tart

Desserts

  • 1 8inch sweet pastry case(I buy mine from waitrose due to a total failure to handle sweet pastry)
  • 2 whole eggs
  • 85gm caster sugar
  • 65ml single cream
  • 40ml lemon juice
  • 40ml lime juice
  • 1 punnet of blackberries or any other fruit you fancy to decorate.
  • For Raspberry sauce to serve
  • 1 punnet rasps
  • sugar to taste
  • I sometimes grate the lime rind and add to filling

Preheat the oven to 160c. Place the eggs and sugar in a bowl and beat to mix. Add the cream and juices and beat to combine. Pour into pastry shell and bake for 30 minutes.
Allow to cool and decorate with the blackberries

To make the raspberry sauce just liquidise the rasps with some sugar and rub the puree through a seive to remove seeds. Now would be a good time to add a little liqueur if you fancy, perhaps framboise or cointreau.

Fusion Starter Salad

Holidays, Salads, Starters

  • For two people
  • 1 ripe avocado
  • 2-4 tasty tomatoes depending on size
  • half a small red onion finely sliced
  • 4 slices of parma or serrano ham
  • 1 lime
  • parmesan shaved from a piece
  • salt pepper
  • olive oil to drizzle
  • 1 tbsp chopped fresh coriander

Peel the avocado and remove the stone.
Cut the avocado and the tomato into chunks and arrange on two plates. Scatter over the red onion and ham torn into smaller pieces. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle over a little olive oil and juice from the lime.Scatter with the parmesan shavings and chopped coriander.

A strange combination I know but it really works!!

Taleggio Tart

Vegetarian

  • Serves four
  • 25 gm butter
  • a little olive oil
  • 240gm muchrooms thinly sliced
  • 1 large onion thinly sliced
  • fresh thyme leaves
  • 375 gm chilled puff pastry
  • 300gm sliced taleggio cheese
  • 1 egg beaten

Heat half the butter and a little oil and add the sliced mushrooms. cook until softened.Set aside
Heat the rest of the butter and oil and fry the onion gently until meltingly soft then add the fresh thyme to taste.Season with freshly ground pepper. Cool.
Unroll pastry onto an oven tray lined with baking paper. Cover one half with the onion ,mushrooms then sliced cheese.Brush the pastry edge with beaten egg and fold pastry over and seal.
Chill for 30 minutes in fridge.
Preheat oven to fan 200c.
Brush the pastry with the rest of the egg and lightly score the surface in a lattice pattern-take care not to cut right through. Bake for 15-20 mins until golden
I serve with a green salad

Corn Chowder

Soups

  • Serves four
  • 2 cups sweetcorn-frozen is fine
  • 1 medium potato diced
  • 1 onion diced
  • 1 sweet potato diced
  • 1 grated carrot
  • 1/2 oz butter
  • 1 litre chicken stock

Heat butter in pan and add onion. Cook gently until soft but not coloured.
Add the two kinds of potato and 1 cup of corn with the chicken stock.
Simmer for about 20 minutes then liquidise.
Put the liquidised soup back into the pan and add the rest of the corn and the grated carrot. Simmer for a further 10 minutes.