Recipe Maps
Your cooking guide
Beginner, Intermediate or Advanced cooking levels, whichever stage you are at we are help in different ways to get the best results. We will help jargon busting, using the right equipment and finding alternatives to what you have, so you don't need to rush out and buy the latest gadget to produce excellent plates of delicious foods.
Here's the first, Tasty Twist!
Roasted Veg Tagliatelle
About this dish:
Just something I thought I try one day instead of the stand pot cooked veg to see if it brings out different flavours and it sure does as it brings out the natural sweetness of the vegetables. This recipe doesn’t have precise measurements because I cook with my eyes, nose and making things umpteenth times I kind of grasp how much is required for each ingredient. Also my technical abilities allows me to adjust consistency, flavours and quantity accordingly. Over time with practice you will get good or develop that skill if not already done so. This is like a cooking challenge for you all to attempt hence being very vague with my quantities and instructions.
Pasta is one of those most simplest of dishes and can be done quickly with boiling pasta and stirring in sauce. This dish requires a little time in the process but it’s just as good stir in sauce with preparations done before hand.
This dish is great for people in a rush or have all day to cook and can be enjoyed at lunch (can be taken as leftovers from the previous night) or dinner.
Try the Recipe:
You will need:
Pack of Tagliatelle
A portion of different veg you will like to roast (my selection is aubergine, peppers, onions, tomatoes and courgette).
¾ can of tinned chopped tomatoes
Salt and pepper to taste
Chilli powder
Mixed herbs
A couple of garlic cloves
Olive oil
Instructions:
1. Chop all the veg you will be using in to similar sized pieces, however chunky you would like them so they will cook evenly in the same time.
2. Toss all the veg in a couple of tablespoons of oil, grated garlic, chilli powder, salt and pepper and the herbs. Place in the oven at 180⁰c for about 15 to 20 mins until the veg have cooked through.
3. In a pan in a tablespoon of oil cook down the chopped tomatoes with ½ teaspoon of salt and a cup of water. Bring to boil on a medium heat for about 5 to 7 minutes then on a slow simmer to reduce for another 5 to 7 minutes approximately.
4. By now the veggies should be cooked and leave to cool for a few moments while the sauce simmers. Once the sauce has thicken and reduced, (if still too thin then stir in a teaspoon or two of tomato puree or ketchup) add the roasted veg and stir through well so all the flavours and spices combine. Use boiled kettle water to scrap out the sticky bits from the roasting tray.
5. Boil the pasta and once boiled, warm the sauce and add in a little boiling stock water from the pasta to just bring it all together and it’s ready to enjoy with garlic bread or a lovely light salad.
Helpful tip: prepare and chop veg and get them roasted and cooled earlier in the day, which means just making the sauce and boil the pasta when you ready to prepare dinner. Genius!!
Serving suggestion: cook up a veggie sausage and chop up and stir in the sauce at the end or just top the dish, takes the dish to another level.
Go ahead and put whatever and how much you want of the veg, spices and herbs and make it your own.
Tortilla Sandwich!
Vegetarian Quesadillas
About this Dish:
Quesadillas are something I like to enjoy for a light lunch and I use you leftovers of any veg I have or the previous night from making another Mexican dish. This time I made it into a dinner but still used the veg I had laying around, any veg or beans will work in the recipe and the mushing of the beans was my way of making everything stick because it of its starch content. Quesadilla can be a messy eat so I tried the mushy bean method and it worked well so I am happy to stick with that, get it stick!!!
Cheese is also the glue that keeps it all together, there is two main methods to making quesadillas, one is to fill half and fold it like a calzone or use two tortilla one on top and one on the bottom and sandwich the filling in between but the flip is difficult and messy. One more version I thought of is make it double decker with three tortillas and two lots of filling however I would not attempt to flip this, so I think a good idea would be pan that goes in the oven so the top of the tortilla can be grilled.
Recipe:
For the filling:
2/3 red onions, thinly sliced
2 peppers (any colour), sliced
2 large carrots, finely sliced
A tin of mixed bean
A tin of sweet corn
A jar of jalapenos
A handful of spring onion, chopped
Spices to taste:
Salt
Pepper
Garlic paste
Chilli powder
Cumin powder
Paprika
For the quesadillas:
A pack of tortilla wraps of your choice
Red Leicester Cheese
Oil
Method:
1. Chop all the veg, and in a large pan begin to sauté the carrots with a little bit of salt for a few minutes then add in the onions a peppers with all the spices to taste and cook on a low/medium heat.
2. Drain the beans and mush them up a little, add to the pan and let all the flavours and veggies cook and combine, if it sticking at the bottom of the pan a then a few drops of water will help it bring it together. Once the veggies are tender remove of the gas and allow to cook for a while.
3. To prepare making the quesadillas, have the filing, cold ingredients and cheese laid out and a frying pan on a really slow heat. A small drizzle of oil and place one tortilla on the pan, add the filling on half of the tortilla and sprinkle on the jalapenos, sweetcorn, spring onion and cheese or whichever ingredients you would like to add.
4. Wait until one side has lightly browned, fold in half and flip over to brown a little more and help it stick down by pressing it down slightly. Remove within a minute, allow to cool slightly and cut in half to serve with homemade guacamole and maybe a corn on a cob and lovely light salad.
Pizza Saviour!
Bread Pizza
About this dish:
This is my lunch time, brunch time and tea time speciality that makes a quick, simple and effective dish for any of these meal times. Recently taken on picnic it was just as good cold as it is hot. A great way to use up leftovers or even just anything around the house. All the topping variations I use are chopped into small pieces for two reasons:
1. It doesn’t take too long to cook through, some ingredients can be eaten raw.
2. Every bite gives a taste of each ingredient
The taste is the best and sometimes these can be eaten as snacks or made simply with ketchup and cheese and grill for a cheeky midnight snack or back from a night out! The quantity if how many you make and the variations of toppings are endless.
Recipe:
You will need:
Sliced bread of choice
Ketchup/pasta sauce
Toppings: any veggies
Melting cheese of choice
Mixed herbs
To make:
1. Slightly toast the bread
2. Spread sauce
3. Top with veggies
4. Sprinkle cheese
5. Scatter herbs
6. Bake 170°c for 15-20mins
The toppings I used this time is:
Red Onion
Pickled Jalapenos
Red Leicester Cheese
Previously made toppings:
Onions
Capsicums
Sweetcorn
Mild White Cheddar
Other alternative toppings:
Mushrooms
Sun Dried Tomatoes
Roasted Red Peppers
Artichokes
Chickpeas
Baby Spinach
Mozzarella
Gruyere cheese
Cherry Tomatoes
Anything else that takes your fancy, go wild!
Brunching!
Anything on Toast
About this dish:
Well like always many of my recipes comes from using up ingredients and ‘no food waste’ method. I love experimental cooking as well to see what combos would work but when I see something in the cupboard and know what’s in the fridge, my mind explodes with ideas but at the moment I try to keep it a little more safer as it feeds the whole family well. This made a great brunch and but would work well as starters or minimised as canapes. For this recipe, I know what flavours worked and to make a tasty brunch to suit everyone’s tastebuds I keep it quick simple and easy, easy as 1, 2, 3!
Recipe:
You will need:
Freshly baked loaf (store bought will do)
Parsley butter (previously made)
Flavoured Oil (brine of jarred sundried tomatoes was used)
Red onions, sliced
Red Peppers, sliced
Sundried Tomatoes
Mushrooms, sliced
Mild white cheddar, grated
Dried thyme
Dried mixed herb
Cumin powder
Chilli flakes
Salt and pepper to taste
Oil
To make:
Mushrooms on Toast:
In a frying pan add a little oil, toss in the mushroom and red peppers. To season at salt and pepper and 1 tsp of cumin powder and allow for the veggies to just cook through.
Meanwhile lightly toast the bread in the grill with a knob of butter and allow the melt so it becomes spreadable. Remove from grill top with the mushrooms and grated cheese and grill until cheese melts
Onion and Pepper Toast:
Sautee the onions and pepper in the a little oil and allow to soften, add salt and pepper to taste. Once veggies have soften add dried mixed herbs and chilli flakes and switch off the heat.
Repeat step 2 as stated above except this time you can slightly toast bread and add the flavoured oil as a base, followed by sundried tomatoes, onion and peppers and cheese of course!
Parsley Butter:
Soften butter, fresh finely chopped parsley and crushed garlic. Combine all together and make log or small balls of individual patties of butter. I made this and froze it for another day so I was able to whip it out the night before and placing it in the fridge as I knew what I was making in the morning. Also knowing that I wasn’t going to use up the parsley when I bought it, I decided to find a way to stop it from wilting in the fridge and binning it, always wanted to try and make flavoured butter so that it what I made. I judged the quantity of butter looking at the amount of chopped parsley I had, I am not major on measuring out things when not necessary.
Crunchy and Crispy!
Samosa Filo Mini Pies
About this dish:
Oooh I do like a pie! I thought instead of frying samosas I decided to bake them instead, to add a little twist I moved away from the traditional triangle shape and put them in a pie. I came up with this dish inspired by cooking shows and adapting ideas and fillings that suits my taste as well as using ingredients I like. This recipe can be made in a variety of ways, there are many choices and combinations that go well together whether it is a savoury or sweet filling. The filling can be traditional combinations or ‘fun’ fillings that you make up your own experimental combinations, that become fun to put together and try. Also maybe fill them with ingredients you or others may not have tried or keep it a surprise and let others guess your filling. Fun and games with food is great and makes the cooking and eating process all the more joyous. I like the idea that this dish makes a great starter, snack and portable for the lunch box or picnic. Whenever you eat it or however you fill it this dish is a joy to eat, especially with a light crunchy pastry filled with brilliant combinations to make you happy. ‘Happy filling’ I am calling it, food that makes you happy and pie is definitely one of those for me! 'Happy filling gives you a happy feeling!'
Here is a list is to get you started on stuffing your mini filo pies!
Ricotta cheese, spinach and sundried tomatoes, light cooked with a few herbs and spices like rosemary and nutmeg.
Cherry compote, almond flakes and a drizzle of white chocolate.
Ground black peppered and garlic roasted asparagus shards and tender stem broccoli in a thick buttery parsley sauce.
Pears poached with star anise, cloves and cinnamon, mashed up and combined with blue cheese or soft sweet cheese of your choice. Sprinkle in toasted walnuts for extra crunch.
Recipe:
You will need:
A couple of medium potatoes
A couple of carrots
A couple of handfuls of peas
A medium onion
A teaspoon of these spices:
Cumin seeds
Chillies
Ginger paste
Garlic paste
Turmeric
Chilli powder
Cumin powder
Salt to taste
A pinch of garam masala
Lemon juice
A handful of coriander
Filo pastry
Oil
To Make:
1. Begin by chopping the vegetables up in small bite sized pieces, all at similar sizes so they cook evenly. In a pan heat up the oil and once hot add in the cumin seeds. Allow the seeds to pop in the oil gently, be careful and place a lid on top quickly as it can splatter.
2. Once the seeds have popped and become a reddish colour remove off heat before adding in the rest of the vegetables beginning with the carrots and potatoes a dash of water and salt to help them cook the place the lid on to allow them to cook in their own steam as the vegetables release their own fluids. Keep a slow heat and allow to steam cook for about 5 minutes.
3. Check the veggies, they will have partially cooked and now add in the onions and all the spices (including more salt if required) besides the garam masala. In the meantime finely chop the coriander while you give the veggies 2 minutes with the lid on again.
4. After 2 minutes, add in the peas and allow a further 5 to 7 minutes for the peas to cook and get coated with all the spices. When the peas are cooked all the vegetables with be well cooked and coated, now add in the garam masala and the coriander, give it a quick stir and it is done. Take off the heat and set aside to cool.
5. While that cools prepare the filo. In a muffin tray place four sheets of pastry on top of each other turning the sheet to make four corners and leaving the edges hanging over the sides, do this whilst brushing each layer with oil. Once each pie has a base it s ready to fill with the cooled filling. Before filling squeeze in the juice of half the lemon and a stir in then begin to fill each pastry base. Fill each pie to the brim and then fold in all the four corners overlapping the pastry to form the top. Brush the tops with a little more oil and place in the oven to back for 20 mins or as instructed on the packet at 180°c or until crispy and golden brown.
Using the other half of the lemon juice try making this tangy delicious chutney, with a little bit more coriander.
Blitz together a handful of coriander with a little olive oil, salt a few chillies and a clove of garlic and once combined add that juice of the half remaining lemon and stir in. This chutney will be a thick paste so to loosen it slightly add it in yoghurt and stir through, the pour over the crispy pies, just divine!