Ingredients (serves 2):

• 2 cloves of garlic – sliced
• 2 small leeks – sliced
• 250g frozen peas
• 300ml veg stock
• 1 teaspoon of dried parsley
• Salt n pepper
• 1 slice of bread for making the croutons

Put the garlic, leeks, peas and parsley in a pan and pour over the vegetable stock.  Bring to the boil and then simmer for 10-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Season well with salt and pepper to your preference.  Either transfer the soup mixture to a food processor or use a hand blender to blend the soup into a thickish mixture.  Once you’re happy that it’s consistent return it to the pan over a medium heat.  Heat the soup through and add some water if you want it a little bit thinner.  Toast the slice of bread and cut into croutons.  Pour the soup out into 2 bowls, make a swirl of cream/yoghurt if you like and top with the croutons.  Simply but lovely!

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 1 tin of chopped tomatoes
• 2 heaped tablespoons of light brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons of soy sauce
• 2 garlic cloves – finely sliced
• Mixed chicken wings and drumsticks

Mix together the tomatoes, sugar, soy sauce and garlic in an oven dish.  Put the chicken in one piece at a time making sure that it’s nice and coated with the sauce.  Once all of the chicken is in the dish and the chicken is submerged in the sauce, cover it with tin foil and stick it in the oven on a low temperature for 90 minutes and then remove the foil and increase the temperature to 200 degrees.  Cook to your preference and serve with rice.  The chicken should just fall off the bone!

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 1 lemon
• 1 clove of garlic – finely sliced
• 6 chicken wings
• 1 teaspoon of dried mixed herbs
• Salt and pepper
• New potatoes
• Veg

Heat the oven up to around 200 degrees C.  Get a small oven dish and firstly grate the zest of one lemon into it followed by squeezing the juice of the lemon in as well.  Mix in the garlic, herbs and a glug of olive oil too.  Put the chicken wings in one at a time and make sure they’re well covered in the sauce.  Grind some salt and pepper over the top to finish it off.  Once the oven is up to temperature, put the chicken in for 25-40 minutes or until the skin is just going crispy.  Serve with boiled new potatoes and veg.  Both of which you can toss some butter in to after they’ve been drained off.

Ingredients:

• 120g plain flour
• 1/4 teaspoon of bicarbonate of soda
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 85g unsalted butter – melted
• 100g light brown soft sugar
• 50g caster sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon of vanilla extract
• 1 egg
• 50-100g raisins
• 1 heaped teaspoon of cinnamon powder

Heat the oven up to 160 degrees C and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

Mix the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt together in a bowl.  In another bowl, pour in the two types of sugar and slowly pour in the melted butter a little at a time.  Stir the mixture around with a knife or spoon and continue pouring the butter in until it’s all gone and the mixture is consistent.  Crack the egg into the mixture and stir in until it becomes creamy.  Finally, add in the vanilla extract and stir once more.  You’ll then need to sift in the flour a little at a time while stirring constantly.  Make sure all of the flour is mixed in before adding a little more.  Repeat until all the flour is mixed in.  Sprinkle in the cinnamon powder and pour the raisins in and stir in using a wooden spoon.  By now the mixture should be nice and sticky.

Pour the whole mixture out onto the baking tray.  Don’t squash the mixture down as this will naturally happen during the cooking process.  Put the tray into the oven for around 15-20 minutes but keep checking every minute after the 12 minute mark.

Once it has gone golden around the edges remove the tray from the oven and allow to cool.  You can starting breaking bits off and eating it after it’s been cooling for 3-5 minutes and then once fully cooled you can put it in an airtight container.  It should keep for a few days but it probably won’t last that long!

I used the leftover prawn and vegetable broth from the sea bream, heated it through well and spiced it up with a bit more chilli.  I just served it with some sliced baguette topped with cheese and parma ham.  Yum!

Ingredients (serves 1-2):

• 2 small cooking chorizo sausages – sliced
• 2 tomatoes – finely chopped
• 4 slices of parma ham
• 1/2 baguette
• Glug of vodka
• 100-200g of prawns
• 3 cloves of garlic – finely sliced
• 1 teaspoon of dried parsley
• 1 teaspoon of chilli flakes
• Olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of cider vinegar

You’ll need to prepare these 3 dishes at roughly the same time; here’s how!

Spanish Baked Prawns

Heat up the oven to 220 degrees C.  In a small oven dish mix together the prawns, a glug of olive oil, the cider vinegar, parsley and chilli flakes along with 2 of the 3 garlic cloves.  Bake in the oven for around 8 minutes or until it’s sizzling hot!

Tomato Bread with Parma Ham

Cut the baguette into 1 inch slices.  In a bowl, mix together the chopped tomato, 2 tablespoons of olive oil and the remaining garlic clove.  Season well with salt and pepper and mix together.  Put the bread into the oven just before the prawns are ready to crispen it up slightly.  Arrange the slices of bread and top with the tomato salsa and then rip up the parma ham and place it on top of the salsa.

Vodka Flamed Chorizo

Put the chorizo and vodka into a pan or oven dish and flambe until all the vodka is done.  If the chorizo looks like it needs a little more cooking then fry in the remaining juices for a minute.

Serve everything up and have some extra baguette ready if needed!  Lovely!

Ingredients (makes around 10 scones):

• 350g self raising flour
• 1/4 teaspoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 85g of butter – cut into cubes (at room temperature)
• 3 tablespoons of caster sugar
• 175ml of milk
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• Squeeze of lemon juice
• 1 egg – beaten
• Jam and clotted cream

Heat the oven up to 220 degrees C.  In a large bowl mix together the flour, salt and baking powder.  Next, take the cubed butter and rub it into the flour through your fingers.  Continue to do this until all the butter is gone and the mix should now resemble bread crumbs.  Put the milk into a jug and heat it up in a microwave for 30 seconds or so.  Add the vanilla and lemon juice to the milk and set to one side.  Cover a baking sheet with greaseproof paper and place it into the oven.

Make a well in the middle of the breadcrumb mix and then pour in the milk, stirring quickly with a butter knife.  Mix until well combined.  Scatter some flour onto a work surface and pour out the dough.  Knead the dough a little with your hands and then pat down into a 4cm deep shape.  Take a 5cm cutting tool and press it into the dough mix.  You should get 4 or 5 scones on the first attempt.  Pat the remaining dough back together and then again form a 4cm deep shape.  Continue cutting out and re-organising the dough until it’s all gone.  Remove the baking tray from the oven and place the scones onto it.  Brush the top of each scone with some beaten egg.  Bake for about ten minutes until risen and golden on top.

Eat straight away with jam and cream or save in an airtight container for later.  They should keep for a couple of days easily.  Perfect with a cup of tea!

Ingredients (serves 1-2):

• 1 sea bream
• 1 leek – sliced
• a dozen prawns
• 3 or 4 stems of tenderstem broccoli – cut into 2″ lengths
• 8-10 small new potatoes – halved
• 1-2 tomatoes – cut into wedges
• 1 carrot – sliced
• Olive oil
• Oregano
• Dried chilli flakes
• Garlic powder
• Mixed herbs
• ~200ml Vegetable stock

Start by pre-heating the oven to around 180 degrees C.  Mix together the leek, prawns, broccoli, potatoes, tomatoes and carrot in an oven dish.  Place the sea bream on top of the veg.  Sprinkle over a teaspoon of oregano, chilli flakes and mixed herbs and 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder.  Pour over the vegetable stock and then rub a little olive oil into the fish.  Season well with salt and pepper and cook in the oven for around 20 minutes or until the skin of the fish goes crispy.  Serve up straight away with some buttered crusty bread.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

• 2 small cooking chorizo’s – sliced
• 1 carrot – sliced
• 2-3 small chicken thighs – cut up into chunks
• 1 tin of mexican beans – drained
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 onion – sliced
• 2 tomatoes – sliced
• About 1 mug of rice
• 1 heaped teaspoon of paprika
• 500ml of chicken or vegetable stock plus a little more to top up the dish
• 1/2 glass of white wine

Heat the oven up to around 170 degrees C.  In a large pan add a little olive oil and then add in the cooking chorizo.  Fry for a minute or so until it browns off and the oil turns red from the juices.  Add in the onions, garlic and chicken and fry for a further 3-5 minutes until the chicken is cooked through.  Add in the carrots, beans, tomatoes, wine and the stock and stir well.  Season well with salt and pepper and add the paprika in.  Simmer for ten minutes before remove from the heat and adding in the uncooked rice.  Pour the whole mixture into an oven dish and place into the oven to cook until the rice is done.  You will need to check it every five minutes after the first 10-15 minutes to make sure it isn’t going dry.  Top the oven dish up with more stock or water if required.  Once the rice is done, give it a quick final season if required and serve it up straight away!

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 2 chicken breasts
• 4-6 rashers of bacon
• Some grated cheese
• 1-2 tablespoons of double cream
• 1 garlic clove – finely sliced
• New potatoes and veg

Start by pre-heating the oven to around 180 degrees C.  Mix together the cheese, garlic and double cream for 30 seconds or so until well combined.  Take each chicken breast and make a slice 3/4 of the way into and along them.  Spoon the cheese mixture into each breast.  Wrap each breast tightly with bacon.  Bring 2 pans of lightly salted water to the boil.  Put the chicken breasts onto an oven tray and place them into the oven.  After five minutes put the potatoes on and after a further 5-10 minutes put the peas on.  Keep an eye on all three elements of the meal and cook to your preference.  Remove the chicken from the oven when the bacon has just started to go crispy.  Serve up straight after with the veg, after draining, and enjoy!  Quick, simple, healthy and tasty!