Ingredients (serves 4-6):

• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 small onion – chopped
• 1 carrot – chopped
• 1 stalk celery – chopped
• 2 x 200g tins of chickpeas – drained and rinsed
• 6-8 cloves of garlic
• 1 teaspoon of dried rosemary
• 1 litre of vegetable stock
• Juice and zest from 1 lemon
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tablespoon of dried parsley

Heat some oil in a large pan and add the onions, carrots and celery.  Cook for 5-10 minutes, stirring regularly, until the carrot and celery soften slightly.  Add the chickpeas, garlic, rosemary, half of the parsley and the vegetable stock and simmer for 20-30 minutes.  Stir every so often.  Season the soup to taste and then blend it until smooth.  Return the soup to the pan and heat through.  Add the lemon zest and juice and also the rest of the parsley.  Season again if required and then serve up straight away with some crusty bread.  Enjoy!

Ingredients (serves 2-3):

• 6-10 strips of belly pork
• 200g of sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon of dried coriander
• 2 cloves of garlic – finely sliced
• 1 teaspoon of chilli flakes
• 30g of fresh ginger – grated
• 200ml of soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil
• Plenty of pepper

Mix together the sugar, coriander, garlic, chilli flakes, ginger and soy sauce in a bowl.  Place the pieces of belly pork in the marinade and ensure that they’re nicely covered in the sauce.  Once all of the pork is in the bowl, cover it with cling film and leave to marinate for at least 2 hours; overnight is better!

When you’re ready to cook the pork, remove the strips of belly from the marinade.  Heat a frying pan up and add a little oil.  Gently fry the pork, fat side down, until the fat is rendered off a little.  Once the fat has been rendered off a little, tip the pork strips flat and pour over about half the marinade.  Simmer the meat in the marinade for a couple of minutes per side.  Remove the pan from the heat.  Turn the grill on to a medium to high heat and place the strips of pork onto a foil lined oven tray.  Place the tray under the grill and cook the pork for a further 5 minutes each side, basting with the leftover marinade regularly.  Grill until nice the pork is slightly blackened.

Remove the pork and drain off the majority of the marinade.  Serve up with fries, salad or both!  Enjoy!

Ingredients (serves 2-3):

For the roasted tomatoes:

• 700 g of cherry tomatoes (large ones if possible, to make skinning easier)
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 2 cloves of garlic – finely sliced
• A handful of basil leaves – chopped
• Salt and pepper

For the risotto:

• 1 tablespoon of tomato puree
• 110g of sun-dried tomatoes – roughly chopped
• A large knob of butter
• 1 red onion – finely chopped
• 225g of risotto rice
• 275 ml of dry white wine
• 50g of parmesan – grated
• 1 tablespoon of double cream
• Salt and pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees C, then start by skinning the tomatoes.  To do this, put them into a bowl and pour boiling water over them and leave for 1 minute.  Drain off the water and you should now be able to easily remove the skin from each tomato.  Slice each tomato in half and place it onto an oven tray.  Sprinkle the garlic and basil over the top along with a good grind of salt and pepper.  Place them into the oven for up to an hour until the edges of the tomatoes are blackened.  Once cooked, remove them from the oven, allow to cool for a few minutes and then blend the tomatoes and any juices using a blender.  Put to one side.  Reduce the temperature of the oven to about 180 degrees C.

Melt the butter in a large sauce pan and fry the onions off until nicely coloured.  Add the rice and stir around the pan to coat it in the juice of the onions for a few seconds.  Pour the wine in and allow to reduce down a little, again stirring the rice around.  Add the tomato puree and 330ml of boiling water and give it a good stir.  Add the blended tomato mixture, the sun-dried tomatoes and season well with salt and pepper.  Heat it all up to a gentle simmer, stirring constantly, and then pour the whole lot into an oven dish.  You should place the oven dish into the oven about five minutes before needing it.

Cook in the oven for 25-35 minutes until the rice is nearly ready (it should still have a slight bite to it).  Remove the dish from the oven and generously sprinkle some parmesan cheese over the top then return the dish to the oven for a further 5 minutes.

Just before serving, stir in the cream and then top each serving with some basil leaves and another grating of parmesan if you like.  Enjoy this lovely meal!

Ingredients (serves 1):

• 2-3 chicken wings
• 1 tablespoon of honey
• 1/2 tablespoon of cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon of chilli flakes

Mix together the honey, vinegar, oil and chilli flakes in a bowl.  Place the chicken wings into an oven dish and spoon of the marinade.  Heat the oven up to 160 degrees C.  Place the dish into the oven for about 20 minutes before turning up the temperature to around 20 degrees C.  Baste the chicken every five minutes, making up some more marinade if required.  Cook until the skin is nice and crispy (40 minutes to 1 hour).  Enjoy!  Be careful of how much spice you put in. 🙂

Ingredients (serves 1):

• 1 tablespoon of lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 teaspoon of dried rosemary
• 1/4 teaspoon of dried chili flakes
• 3 chicken wings
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Fresh parsley

In a bowl, mix together the lemon juice, oil, garlic, rosemary, chilli flakes and a good grind of salt and pepper.  Adjust it to suit your taste if necessary.  Place the chicken into a small oven dish and coat it evenly with the marinade.  Rub it into the chicken to get the best effect.  Cover the dish with cling film and allow to marinate for about an hour.

Heat up the oven to around 200 degrees C.  Remove the cling film and place the dish into the oven.  Cook the chicken for up to 40 minutes or until the skin is nice and crispy.  Baste the chicken every five minutes or so with the marinade.

Serve with some fries and salad and sprinkle over the fresh parsley.  Enjoy!

Ingredients (serves 4):

• 2 tablespoons of olive oil
• 1 onion – finely chopped
• 1 carrot – chopped
• 1 celery stalk – chopped
• 2 garlic cloves – crushed and sliced
• 2 tablespoons of tomato puree
• 250ml of red wine
• 1 teaspoon of dried rosemary
• 2 tins of chopped tomatoes
• 250ml of vegetable stock
• 2 x 400g cans of beans (your choice) – drained and rinsed
• 1 tablespoon of chopped fresh parsley
• 500g spaghetti
• Grated parmesan

Heat the oil in a pan over a medium to high heat.  Add the carrots, onion and celery and fry for around 8-10 minutes until the celery just looses its crunch.  Add the garlic and tomato puree and stir for a minute before adding the wine.  Allow to simmer for a further couple of minutes before adding the rosemary, tinned tomatoes and the stock.  Bring to the boil and then gently simmer for ten minutes.  Add the beans and cook for a further five minutes.  Add a little more stock if it dries out or becomes too thick.  Stir in the fresh parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper.

When you put the beans in you should also put on the spaghetti to cook.  Once the spaghetti is cooked, drain it off and stir it into the bean mixture.  Grate a little (or a lot) of parmesan over and serve straight away.  Enjoy!

Ingredients (serves 4):

• 1 pack of cherry tomatoes – cut in half
• 12 garlic cloves – squashed and cut in half
• 3-4 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon of dried basil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
• Enough pasta for 4 people
• A handful of chopped fresh parsley
• Grated parmesan cheese to serve
• Salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heat the oven to around 200 degrees C.  Get a large bowl and mix together the tomatoes, garlic, oil, basil, chilli flakes and season with salt and pepper.  Pour the mixture onto an oven tray and place into the oven for around 30 minutes, or until the cherry tomatoes are nicely shrivelled, but not burnt!

While the tomatoes are baking, cook the pasta to al dente.  Once cooked, drain off the water and return the pasta to the pan.  Once cooked, pour the tomato mixture (removing any charred bits of garlic) into the pasta along with the parsley and toss until distributed evenly.  Serve into dishes and grate some parmesan over the top.  Enjoy!

You can also add some lightly fried chorizo to finish off the dish.

Ingredients (makes a 2 layered 8 inch cake):

Cake

• 150g caster sugar
• 150g butter
• 3 eggs
• 150g self raising flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 tablespoon of hot water
• 1 tablespoon of instant coffee (add more if you like it strong)

Icing

• 225g icing sugar
• 100g butter
• 1 1/2 tablespoons of instant coffee
• 1 tablespoon of hot water

Start by pre-heating the oven to 160 degrees C.

Grease two 8 inch cake tins with a little butter.  Whisk the butter and sugar in a bowl until light and fluffy.

Whisk the eggs in a mug and gradually add them to the butter and sugar mix with a tablespoon of the flour at a time.  Once you’ve used all of the egg up you should add the rest of the flour along with the baking powder to the mix and fold it in gently.

Dissolve the coffee in the water and fold it into the mixture.  Once the mixture is smooth and consistent, divide it between the two cake tins and bake them in the oven for 30 minutes or so until golden brown.

While the two halves of the cake are baking you should cream together the butter and icing sugar until light and fluffy.  Dissolve the coffee in the hot water and beat it into the creamed mixture.  Don’t add to much water or the icing will be too runny.  Whisk and leave until the cakes are baked.

Remove the cakes from the oven once cooked and allow them to cool for a few minutes before removing them from the tins.  Place one half of the cake on the plate that you wish to serve the cake from and smother it with half of the icing mixture.  Place the other cake on top and press it down gently, being careful not to break it.  Cover the top of the cake with the rest of the icing; if you have enough left over you can cover the sides of the cake also.

Top with strawberries if you like!  Enjoy! 🙂

Ingredients (makes a 8-10″ quiche):

• 160g of shortcrust pastry
• 225g of medium-fat curd cheese
• 1 tablespoon grated Parmesan cheese
• 150 ml of single cream
• 2 eggs
• 1 large red pepper – chopped into cubes
• 1 courgette – sliced
• 1 red onion – thinly sliced
• 3 tablespoons of olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves – crushed and sliced
• 2 teaspoons of dried thyme
• 2 teaspoons of dried oregano
• Salt and pepper to taste

Roll out the pastry to around 3-5mm thick and line a flan dish.  Prick the base and put it into the fridge for around 10-15 minutes.  While the pastry is in the fridge heat up a little olive oil in a pan and add the onion, red pepper, courgette and garlic and fry until soft.  Remove from the heat once ready.

Pre-heat the oven to 190 degrees C.

In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, curd cheese and cream along with the herbs and some salt and pepper.  Pour the fried vegetables into the bowl and stir around.

Take the pastry lined dish from the fridge and pour the whole mixture into it.  Sprinkle the parmesan cheese over the top to create a nice even coating.

Bake in the oven for 40-50 minutes or until golden brown on top.  Leave to cool for a few minutes and then cut into slices and serve with some salad and fresh crusty bread.  Yum!

Ingredients (serves 3):

• 3 pork chops
• 3 tablespoons of freshly squeezed orange juice
• 3 tablespoons of red wine vinegar
• 3 garlic cloves – finely chopped
• 3 teaspoons of dried parsley
• Grated zest of 1 lemon

Mix the orange juice, vinegar and 2 cloves of the garlic together in a shallow glass bowl.  Season with a little salt and pepper.  Add the pork and turn to coat well.  Cover with clingfilm and put the bowl into the fridge for up to 3 hours.

To make the gremolata, mix together the parsley, lemon zest and the other garlic clove.  Again, cover with clingfilm and place into the fridge until you’re ready to cook.

Heat a frying pan up over a medium heat with a little olive oil in.  Remove the pork steaks from the marinade and place them into the pan.  Cook on both sides for five minutes or so.  While the pork is cooking pour the marinade into a saucepan and simmer for around five minutes to thicken slightly.

Serve up by placing the pork steak onto a plate, pour a little of the orange sauce over it and then sprinkle some of the gremolata over it.  You could do this with new potatoes, salad or veg, but I went for chips!  Enjoy!