Ingredients (serves 3-4):

• 400g of small baby new potatoes
• 2 pieces of steak – ribeye or sirloin – about 300g each
• 1 tablespoon of dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon of capers
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of dried tarragon
• 50-100g of rocket

Bring a pan of lightly salted water to the boil and cook the potatoes until slightly soft.  Drain off the water and leave them to cool slightly.  While the potatoes are cooking, cook the steaks in a hot pan for a couple of minutes per side (you can cook them for longer if you don’t like your meat pink).  Remove the steaks from the pan and leave to rest for a few minutes before slicing into thin strips.

Cut the potatoes in half or leave them as they are if they’re really small potatoes and pour in the mustard, vinegar, capers, oil and tarragon.  Toss the potatoes in the pan to coat them with the other ingredients.  Transfer the potatoes to a large mixing bowl and add in the steak and rocket salad and mix lightly with your hands.  Drizzle a little extra olive oil into the salad if required.

Serve up straight away while still warm and enjoy this tasty meal!

Ingredients (makes 4 towers plus a few spare shortbreads):

Shortbread

• 125g of butter
• 55g of caster sugar
• 180g of plain flour

Tower elements

• 250g of strawberries
• 2 tablespoons of icing sugar
• 100ml of double cream – lightly whipped
• 50g of mascarpone

Shortbread

Heat the oven up to 190 degrees C.

In a large bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until smooth.  Slowly add the flour and stir to get a nice consistent mixture.  Form the mixture into a ball.  Lightly flour a work surface and transfer the ball of shortbread mixture to it and roll out to around 1cm thick.  Use an appropriately sized cutting tool to cut out circles of the shortbread.  Transfer the discs to baking paper lined trays and chill in the fridge for ten minutes or so.  Cook in the pre-heated oven for 15-20 minutes or until cooked and slightly golden.  Remove them from the oven and allow them to cool on the side.

Stack Construction

Cut the stalks from the strawberries and cut them in half.  Take about a third of the strawberries and slice them up into small pieces and them push them through a sieve into a bowl.  Once you’ve pushed through as much as you can mix in the sugar to form a coulis.  Mix the cream and mascarpone together in a separate bowl.

Construct the towers by first taking one of the shortbreads and place it onto a plate.  Put a spoonful of the cream in the middle and arrange 4 strawberry halves around it, pressing the strawberries gently into the cream.  Place another shortbread on top of this and repeat the process.  Finish off the stack with a third shortbread.  Repeat for the other shortbread towers.

Sieve some additional caster sugar over each stack and then pour some of the coulis around the base of each one.  Enjoy!

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 250g fusilli pasta
• 300g of asparagus spears
• 175g of frozen peas
• Zest and juice of ½ lemon
• 100g herbed soft cheese
• Pepper to season

Bring a pan of lightly salted water to the boil and start cooking the pasta as per the instructions of the packaging.  Cut the last 1″ off the root end of the asparagus and then cut the spears into 2″ lengths.  2 minutes before the pasta is cooked to your liking add the asparagus and peas.  Cook until the pasta is done and then drain most of the water from the pan.

Add the lemon zest and soft cheese to the pan and season well with pepper.  Give the pan a shake until everything is well coated a lovely cheesy sauce.  Squeeze some lemon juice in to your taste and serve up straight away!  Enjoy this classic and simple but tasty dish!

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 1 pack of cooked king prawns
• 50-100g of golden bread crumbs
• 50-100g of flour
• 1-2 eggs – lightly whisked
• 1/2 teaspoon of chilli flakes
• 2 cloves of garlic – sliced
• Pack of stir fry vegetables
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 4-6 tablespoons of soy sauce
• Vegetable oil for cooking the battered prawns
• 1 pack of egg noodles

Get 3 bowls and place the flour in one, the breadcrumbs another and whisked eggs in the last.  Mix the chilli flakes in with the breadcrumbs.  Take each prawn and first dip it into the flour and then into the egg mix, then into the breadcrumbs and then back into the egg mix and back into the breadcrumbs.  Do these five steps for each prawn until you’ve done them all.  Wash your hands once done.

Heat about 1cm of vegetable oil in a pan until hot and carefully place the prawns into the oil in batches so as to not overcrowd the oil.  Turn the prawns over in the oil once golden brown.  Remove the prawns from the oil and place on kitchen paper to drain off the oil.  Repeat this until all of the prawns are cooked.

While the prawns are cooking, put some olive oil into a large pan or wok and add the garlic for a few seconds before adding in the stir fry vegetables.  Stir fry the vegetables for 3-4 minutes until they just start to lose their crunch.  Pour over the soy sauce and add the egg noodles to the stir fried vegetables.  Continue to cook the stir fry until done, adding a little more soy sauce if you prefer.

Serve up the stir fried vegetables and noodles and place a serving of the fried prawns over the top.  You can top it with some sweet chilli sauce if you like.  Enjoy!

Ingredients (serves 2):

• 2 courgettes – sliced in half
• A handful of fresh basil – chopped
• 6-8 cherry tomatoes – halved
• 1 ball of mozzarella
• 1 clove of garlic – finely sliced
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• Salt and pepper
• Parmesan to shave on top

Heat the oven to 190 degrees C.

Scoop out the flesh from each of the 4 halves of courgette and place half of the flesh into a bowl after chopping it all up.  Be careful not to split the courgette skin when removing the flesh.  Place the emptied courgette halves skin side up on a baking tray, drizzle with a little olive oil and bake for 5-10 minutes.

Remove the courgette from the oven and turn each piece over carefully.  Mix the garlic, cherry tomatoes, olive oil and basil together and then season with a good grind of salt and pepper.  Add more flesh to the bowl if you think you can fit more into the courgettes.  Use the mixture to fill the courgettes, making sure that you press the mixture in well to use as much of it as possible.  Grate some parmesan over the top of each now filled piece of courgette and then rip the mozzarella into small chunks and place evenly over each courgette slice.  Bake in the oven for 10-20 minutes until golden brown.

Eat straight away and enjoy!

Ingredients (serves 2):

Wedges

• 2-3 sweet potatoes – sliced into wedges
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of paprika

Salad

• 2 pears – cored, peeled and sliced into wedges
• 1 cucumber – sliced into thin wedges
• 2 tablespoons of balsamic vinegar
• 1 tablespoon of freshly chopped parsley
• 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil
• Parmesan cheese
• Salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees C.

Wedges

In a bowl, mix the olive oil with the paprika and then toss the potato wedges in the mixture.  Place onto a lightly greased baking tray and bake in the oven for up to 40 minutes, or until cooked and golden.  Serve up straight away with the salad.

Salad

Combine the pears, cucumber, vinegar, parsley and olive oil in a bowl until the pears and cucumber are well coated with the dressing.  Season with salt and pepper and shave over some of the parmesan.

Serve the wedges and salad up together and enjoy this healthy and light meal!

Ingredients (makes roughly 12 tarts):

• 1 pack of shortcrust pastry
• 2 tablespoons of maple syrup
• 150ml of double cream
• 115g of caster sugar
• Pinch of cream of tartar
• 6 tablespoons of water
• 115g of shelled pecan nuts – chopped
• 12 whole pecan halves

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees C.

Roll out the pastry thinly on a lightly floured work surface.  Cut out 12 circles and line a tart baking tray or individual tartlet trays.  Prick the base of each tart case with a fork and then line each one with some baking paper and fill them with baking beans.  Blind bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until golden brown.  Remove the tray from the oven and then remove the beans and baking paper.  Return the tray of tart cases to the oven for a further 2-3 minutes.  Remove from the oven again and allow to cool on a wire rack while you prepare the filling.

Mix half of the cream and half of the syrup in a bowl.  In a saucepan, pour the sugar and water in along with the cream of tartar and heat gently until the sugar dissolves.  Stir while the sugar is dissolving.  Once the sugar has dissolved, bring the mixture to the boil and simmer until light golden.  Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the bowl of cream and syrup.

Return the pan to the heat again and gently simmer for a few minutes and then stir in the other half of the cream.  Remove from the heat once you’ve stirred it well and allow to cool.

Brush the other half of the syrup over the tart cases.  Place a portion of the chopped pecan nuts into each of the pastry cases and then spoon in enough toffee to come level with the top of each tart case.  Gently place one of the whole halves of pecan onto each tart and press lightly into the toffee.

Leave them to cool once again and then tuck in!  Enjoy!

Ingredients (serves 2-3):

• 500g of frying steak – cut into thin strips
• 100ml of soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of sesame oil
• 2 cloves of garlic – crushed and finely sliced
• 1/2 onion – sliced into strips
• 2 spring onions – finely sliced
• 1 tablespoon of toasted sesame seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon of chilli flakes
• Salt and pepper to taste

Mix the soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil, garlic, spring onion, sesame seeds and chilli flakes together until the sugar has dissolved completely.  Next, add the steak and sliced onion and ensure that it’s well coated by the marinade.  Seal or cover with cling film and leave in the fridge for about an hour to marinate.

When you’re ready to cook the beef, heat a pan up over a medium to high heat and remove the strips of beef from the marinade and fry them in the pan for a few minutes per side.  Just before the beef is cooked, pour in the marinade and bring to a gentle simmer until the sauce is reduced and thickened slightly.

Serve up with some freshly cooked rice and a salad.  Enjoy!

Ingredients (serves 4-6):

• 250g of macaroni pasta
• 40g of butter
• 40g of plain flour
• 600ml of milk
• 250g of grated cheddar
• 50g of grated parmesan

Cook the pasta in lightly salted boiling water, drain and leave to one side while you prepare the cheese sauce.

Melt the butter in a large pan over a medium heat and pour in the flour, stirring to form a roux.  Pour in the milk a little bit at a time, whisking gently and constantly.  Cook for 10-15 minutes until slightly thickened.  Pre-heat the grill to high.

Once the sauce has thickened slightly remove it from the heat and stir in 3/4 of the cheddar cheese until fully melted into the sauce.  Pour the drained pasta into the cheese sauce and mix well.  Transfer the whole mixture to a deep oven dish and top with the remaining cheddar and parmesan cheese.

Cook under the grill until the cheese is golden brown and bubbling.  Serve up straight away and enjoy this indulgent meal!

PS: I accidentally picked up some smoked cheddar, but it turned out very nice indeed!  Worth a try!

Ingredients (serves 1-2):

• 300g good quality fresh steak – ribeye or sirloin
• Juice of 1/2 lemon
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 tablespoon of balsamic vinegar
• Salt and pepper
• Watercress and rocket salad

Trim any excess fat from the steak and place it in the freezer for about 30 minutes.  This will help when it comes to slicing the steak.  After 30 minutes, remove the steak from the freezer and slice very thinly.  Arrange the slices in a circle on a plate.  Drizzle over the lemon juice, olive oil and season with salt and pepper.  Leave for 5-10 minutes to cure a little.

Arrange the salad on the plate and dress with a simple balsamic and olive oil dressing.  If you have some parmesan, grate some over the top of the salad with a potato peeler.

Enjoy this delicious treat!