Category Archives: Family Favourites

Katie’s Focaccia

Family Favourites, Holidays, Starters, Vegetarian

unnamedIndredients
500g strong white flour
7g sachet fast action dried yeast
1 tsp caster sugar
1 tsp fine sea salt
300mls warm water
2 tablespoonfuls olive oil
Another 2 tablespoonfuls of olive oil

Method
1. Put flour, sugar, yeast and salt in a big bowl. Mix up the olive oil and water and por onto flour mixture. Stir to mix and bring together with your hands into a rough ball.
2. Put the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes to a smooth fairly soft dough. Put the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, cover loosely with cling-film and leave to rise in a warm place for an hour until it has doubled in size.
3. Lightly oil a large baking tray 15″x10″.
4. Put the dough on to a floured surface and flatten out with your knuckles into a rectangle shape the same size as your baking tray and press out to the edges of the tray.
5. Again cover with loose cling-film and leave in a warm place for another half hour.
6. Preheat oven at 220C.
7. Now the focaccia should look puffed up and spongy. Poke the dough into dimples all over.
8. Drizzle the focaccia with 2 tablespoonfuls of olive oil and sprinkle with chopped up rosemary leaf and sea salt. A few sprigs of rosemary will make it look nice.
9. Bake in middle of oven for 15-20 minutes or until risen and a golden brown.

Serving suggestions
Serve up when still warm with even more intense olive oil and salt, or as per photo, let it cool a bit and serve up full of good Italian ingredients like mortadella, rugala (rocket), roasted peppers, sundried tomato, mozzaralla and more.

Practically Paella

Family Favourites, Fish, Hot & Spicy

imageIngredients for 6 people

4 chicken thighs, chopped into thumb size pieces
1 cup of double podded broad bean (i.e. skin them)
12 shelled large prawns
1 cup scallops, small or chopped large
Few slices of mild chorizo
1 sliced red bell pepper
1 sliced onion
2 sliced garlic cloves
1 lemon
1 cup of bomba, paella rice
2 cups of chicken stock
1 large pinch of saffron
2 tomatoes deseeded and chopped
2 tablespoonfuls of olive oil
1/2 glass of white wine

Method

Heat oil in a large flat nonstick pan. Fry off the chicken and chorizo until browned and remove to plate. Add onions, pepper and garlic to pan to soften. Add the rice and stir into oil in the pan. Add back the chicken and chorizo then add the diced tomatoes, chicken stock with the saffron soaked in. `leave on a medium heat to bubble for 20 minutes. DO NOT STIR at any time after adding the rice to the pan. Add the scallops, prawns and broad beans and cover. Leave for another 10 minutes. Serve with wedges of lemon.

Cheesy courgette & ham bake

Family Favourites

IMG_1255Ingredients
2 trimmed spring onions
4 tblspoons frozen peas
1 courgette, halved with ends cut off
4oz cooked ham
3oz feta cheese
4 eggs

Method
Oven on 180C/160C fan or gas 4. Snip up the spring onions, grate the courgette and put in bowl with peas. Scissor cut the ham into the bowl and crumb in the feta using your hands.
Whist the eggs in a separate bowl, then pour over the mixture and stir gently.
Brush a round ovenproof dish (about 16-20 cm) with some vegetable oil and tip in all the ingredients.
Oven bake for 30 minutes or until the egg is set. It’s better to be too soft than too hard.
Serve with salad and crusty bread.

Maggi’s Salad

Family Favourites, Salads, Side Dishes, Starters

IMG_1076This salad is a real family favourite. I have called it Maggi”s Salad. I had the idea from a salad served in an American restaurant called Maggianos which is an absolutely fabulous Italian restaurant chain.

Ingredients for 4
1 Romaine & 1 Iceberg lettuce cut into chunks
Half a cup of cooked lardons (or pancetta)
Half a cup of diced Danish Blue cheese
Half a finely sliced red onion left to steep in cold water
Honey Vinagrette Dressing, see under Sauces and Dressings

Method
Cook up the lardons until crisp and set aside. Drain the red onions. Mix all together and dress to taste.

Steak Tartare

Beef, Family Favourites, Main Courses

IMG_1022This is a distillation of several recipes, this is how we like it.

Ingredients for two people
10 oz fillet beef
1 tbsp finely chopped shallots
1 tbsp chopped capers
1 tbsp chopped gherkins
1 teasp dijon mustard
1 teasp tomato ketchup
1/2 teasp worcester sauce
1 tbsp olive oil
Ground pepper & quarter teasp salt
1 egg yolk (please excuse the picture)

Method
Chop fillet in a food processor, be careful, not too fine. Mix everything together and press into a food ring to give a nice shape although it’s not essential.

Serving recommendation.
Of course, serve it with chips, salad if you must!