Nigella's Chocolate Cookies

I've just returned from a hen weekend in Bath and I made these Chocolate Cookies to take with me for some late night post partying snacks, but in the event we ate them after the cheer leading session on Saturday morning, long before any alcohol was consumed (not me of course!). This is the first time I've made Nigella's 'Totally Choc late Chocolate Chip Cookies' from Nigella Express, and I will be making them again. They were the chocolatiest cookies I have ever tasted, and that was even with Lowen eating some of the chocolate chips that were meant to go into them. So so easy, and hard not to find he 10 minutes to prepare the mixture.

Ingredients:
125g Dark Chocolate
150g Flour
30g Cocoa, sieved
1 TSP Bicarbonate of Soda
1/2 TSP Salt
125g Soft Butter
75g Light Brown Sugar
50g White Sugar
1 TSP Vanilla Extract
1 Egg, cold
350g Dark Chocolate chips

Method: - makes 12
Step 1: Preheat oven to 150c. Melt the dark chocolate in microwave
Step 2: Put dry ingredients into a bowl
Step 3: Cream butter and sugars in another bowl - add melted chocolate and mix
Step 4: Beat in Vanilla and Cold Egg, then mix into dry ingredients. Finally stir in choc chips
Step 5: Scoop out 12 equal sized mounds (with an ice cream scoop) and placed on lined baking sheet about 6cm apart.
Step 6: Cook for 18minutes

Pesto Chicken, Smoked Ham and Pea Pasta Bake

I went into my new Waitrose store yesterday and picked up some fantastic bargains - I think I will be shopping there every Tuesday!!! Not only the cooked pesto chicken and gorgeous smoked ham for this recipe, but also 200g blueberries for 65p and 150g Blackcurrants for 80p - A Summer Berry Loaf to come I think!!

On to this recipe, well it's not really a recipe, I just made it up as I went along, and it was fantastic. Hubby's Brother strategically called around just as I was serving up, so he stayed for a nibble too -and loved it (he is even harder to please than hubby!!). We also used some fresh garden peas from the allotment.

Ingredients:
400g Pasta
350g Cooked Pesto Chicken fillets, chopped
150g Smoked Ham, chopped
150g Fresh Peas - from the allotment!!!
50g Butter
Small red onion, chopped
50g Flour
600ml Milk
150g Cheddar
Handful of Parmesan

Method:
Step 1: Cook pasta according to packet and add peas for last minute of cooking, drain and reserve
Step 2: Meanwhile, melt butter and fry onion until soft, add flour and stir for 1 minute, then gradually add milk. Bring to the boil to thicken then take off heat and add cheese, chicken, ham, peas and pasta
Step 3: Tip into oven proof dish , sprinkle with Parmesan and grill for 5 minutes

Nigella's Mellow Meatballs

It's been a little cooler this weekend in the UK so I thought it was about time I did some proper cooking.

Now that Waitrose has opened just down the road, I am finding Nigella's recipes even easier to reproduce (a lot of ingredients, especially in Express, use ingredients I can only get hold of in Waitrose). Hubby is not keen on Squash and Sweet Potato, so I told him the yellow and orange cubes were carrot and swede - and he believed me!! Next time I might make it a little spicier, but if you're catering for kids - stick with this version.

Ingredients:
3 x 15ml tablespoons red curry paste
2 x 15ml tablespoons vegetable oil
40 organic mini-meatballs, approx. 600g total
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 x 400ml can coconut milk
1 x 400g can chopped tomatoes
1 x 410g can chickpeas, drained
1 x 350g diced butternut squash and sweet potato (supermarket packet)
500ml chicken stock from concentrate or cube, or from a tub
2 x 15ml tablespoons honey
20g (approx.) fresh coriander, finely chopped

Method:

Step 1: Heat the red curry paste and vegetable oil in a large wide pan; when it starts sizzling, add the meatballs, turning them in the red oily mixture.
Step 2: Sprinkle the cinnamon and ginger over the meatballs and fry for a couple of minutes.
Step 3: Add the coconut milk, chopped tomatoes and drained chickpeas. Stir in the diced butternut squash and sweet potato, then the stock and honey.
Step 4: Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes. Serve with rice and decorate each plate with some chopped coriander.

Beef and Brocolli Stir Fry

It's been so hot here this past week and the last thing you want to do is make your kitchen even hotter, but, as hubby keeps reminding me, he can't (and wont) eat salad every day! This meal proved to satisfy my need for something quick and light and hubby's need for meat and heat! What more could you ask for.

Ingredients:
400g Cooked Rice
2 Eggs, beaten
1 TBSP Soy Sauce
Garlic Oil
350g Rump Steak, sliced
I head of Broccoli cut into florets
Handful of mushrooms, sliced
4 Spring Onions, sliced
2 TBSP Hoi Sin Sauce
1 TBSP Soy Sauce
1 TBSP Chilli Sauce

Method:
Step 1: Blanch Broccoli for 2 minutes in boiling water, drain and set aside
Step 2: Heat Garlic Oil in two separate frying pans
Step 3: Fry the beef, mushroom and spring onions in one pan for 3 minutes until just cooked, at the same time as cooking the egg in the other pan. When you have something that resembles scrambled egg, toss in the rice and heat through - splash in the soy.
Step 4: Add the Hoi Sin, Soy and Chili sauces into the beef stir fry, then add the cooked broccoli and simmer for 1 minute
Step 5: Serve steaming hot

Banana and Walnut Bread

I don't like throwing away black banana's so I'm always on the lookout for new banana bread/cake/muffin recipes. I found this one on The Times Online website by Jill Dupleix. This is a good one for the kids as they can feel 'helpful' by mashing up the banana's, and by the time they have finished, everything else has already been done (subsequently creating less mess!!).

Ingredients:
125g Butter
175g Brown Sugar
2 Eggs
280g Plain Flour
1 TSP Bicarb of Soda
Pinch Salt
125ml Milk
3 black Banana's - mashed
1 TSP Vanilla Extract
75g Walnuts

Method:
Step 1: Preheat oven to 180c and oil a loaf tin
Step 2: Cream butter and sugar then add eggs and beat. Sift in flour and bicarb and add pinch salt
Step 3: Gently mix in the milk then add mashed banana's and walnuts
Step 4: Pour into prepared tin and bake for 1 hour

Cheddar and Bacon Quiche

I make a lot of Quiche in the Summer. I think it makes a lovely supper, with some fresh salad leaves and new potatoes (for hubby of course). This one was no exception and somewhat surprisingly hubby commented on how much he liked the pastry - he doesn't usually like wholemeal flour!

I will be making a couple of these at the weekend to see us through next week. You see, our extension has started (we have 1 metre trenches running around the back and side of our house as I write this - not v child friendly) and there are usually plenty of 'jobs' to be done when the builders have gone home for the night! So next week we will be surviving on Quiche - but I don't mind one little bit.

Ingredients:
Pastry:
280g Wholemeal Flour
140g Butter, cold and cubes
8 TBSP Cold Water

Filling:
3 rashers bacon, sliced
2 small onions, chopped
100g Cheddar, grated
2 eggs
100ml Double Cream
150ml Milk
Sprig fresh thyme, chopped

Method:
Step 1: Preheat oven to 200c. Rub together butter and flour then add water and bring together to form dough. Roll out on lightly floured surface to cover a 25cm fluted tin. Chill for 20 minutes
Step 2: Prick base of pastry and line with foil and baking beans. Bake for 20 minutes. Take baking beans out and bake for further 5-10 minutes uncovered.
Step 3: Fry bacon and onion until soft and tip into bottom of pastry case.
Step 4: Beat eggs with cream, milk and thyme then pour into pastry case. Sprinkle with the cheese then bake for 20 minutes.
Step 5: Cool before cutting into slices.

Triple Chocolate Brownies

These were totally gorgeous. As you can see they were crispy on top and gooey in the middle - my perfect brownie.

I made these for a family BBQ - for the kids of course - and they were well and truly gobbled. My husband announced yesterday that he's going on a diet - he worked out he's put on 3 stone since we've been together (mind you he was way too skinny when I first started going out with him) and feels it's now time to lose some. So no more brownies for the time being - well at least until he gets bored of his diet.

Ingredients:

185g unsalted butter
185g best dark chocolate
85g plain flour
40g cocoa powder
50g white chocolate
50g milk chocolate
3 large eggs
275g golden caster sugar

Method:

Step 1: Cut the butter into smallish cubes and tip into a medium bowl. Break the dark chocolate into small pieces and drop into the bowl. Cover the bowl loosely with cling film and put in the microwave for 2 minutes on High. Leave the melted mixture to cool to room temperature.
While you wait for the chocolate to cool, preheat oven on to 180c. Using a shallow 20cm square tin, cut out a square of non-stick baking parchment to line the base. Now tip the flour and cocoa powder into a sieve held over a medium bowl, and tap and shake the sieve so they run through together and you get rid of any lumps.

Step 2: Chop the white and milk chocolate into chunks on a board.

Step 3: Break the eggs into a large bowl and tip in the sugar. With an electric mixer on maximum speed, whisk the eggs and sugar until they look thick and creamy, like a milk shake. This can take 3-8 minutes, depending on how powerful your mixer is.

Step 4: Pour the cooled chocolate mixture over the eggy mousse, then gently fold together with a rubber spatula. Hold the sieve over the bowl of eggy chocolate mixture and resift the cocoa and flour mixture, shaking the sieve from side to side, to cover the top evenly. Gently fold in this powder. Finally, stir in the white and milk chocolate chunks until they're dotted throughout.

Step 5: Pour the mixture into the prepared tin, and put in the oven for 25 minutes. When the buzzer goes, open the oven, pull the shelf out a bit and gently shake the tin. If the brownie wobbles in the middle, it's not quite done, so slide it back in and bake for another 5 minutes until the top has a shiny, papery crust and the sides are just beginning to come away from the tin. Take out of the oven.

Step 6: Leave the whole thing in the tin until completely cold, then cut into squares.

Recipe source: BBCgoodfood.com