Prawn and Chilli Linguine

This recipe is super quick, tasty and delicious. 

Butterflied king prawns are quickly cooked in a hot pan with garlic & red chilli before being tossed in cooked linguine & rocket (rucula).

French Onion Soup

This old favourite is very simple to make. You will naturally caramelize your onions & then cook in beef stock before adding a toasted baguette and gooey cheese. I like to use up to 3 different types of onions to give the soup extra taste & flavour.

Korean Bulgogi

I made this recipe during the World Cup Kitchen in the summer but wanted to repost it as the photos back then I was never happy with.
 
Bulgogi is a marinated beef recipe, although other meats such as chicken and pork can also be used.

It is made from very thin slices of prime cut beef. The meat is marinated with a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, sesame oil & seeds, garlic & chilli. This is then combined with a selection of vegetables. I used onions, carrots, peppers, mushrooms & broccoli. (you can use of course other vegetables to your own taste)

Creamy Onion Soup

You know only one thing with this post….Winter is coming. From a food perspective I really like European Winters, it means you can start to enjoy your soups again & also more hearty meals like Irish Stew, Goulash Soup, Chicken Stroganoff and of course Lamb or Steak Pies.

Madame Jeanette Chutney

After the success of my Tomato Chutney I decided to spice things up with this very tasty Madame Jeanette chutney. The Madame Jeanette chili comes from Suriname with the Scotch Bonnet chili originating from Jamaica.

The Madame Jeanette chilli is from the same family as the more commonly known Scotch Bonnet and is a variety of chili pepper that belongs to the same species as the habanero. It is one of the hottest peppers in the world and found mainly in the Caribbean islands. Most Madame Jeanettes have a heat rating of 100,000 – 300,000 Scoville units. For comparison, most jalapeno peppers have a heat rating of 2,500 – 8,00 on the scoville scale.

The chutney below is a fusion of roasted tomato, peppers, chilli & shallots. Unlike the tomato chutney the start of the cooking process occurs in your oven. The flavours are really delicious together and it works great on sandwiches or as an accompaniment to a warm meal.

Cucumber & Chilli Dressing

This dressing is pure genius & incredibly simple to get together. All the tastes & flavours compliment each other perfectly. You have the sharpness of the vinegar with the sweetness of the sugar in the dressing liquid which has a hint of ginger & garlic thru it. The dressing is then poured over grated cucumber, chopped spring onion & chilli. So you have the refreshing taste of the cucumber with the spiciness of the chilli….its really a delicious combination.

The dressing keeps in your fridge for a week so can be used again & again until it is finished 

Quesadillas

This recipe is an old favourite of mine. Its just so easy & as well perfect for when you are having lots of people over for an evening in your house. You make up your cheese mixture keep it in the fridge, then cook when the people arrive or when they get hungry. Just keep going until the cheese mixture is finished. Add cooked shredded chicken or prawns to make different types.

I remember stumbling onto this recipe that was written to be cooked on a BBQ – you roll the tortillas up & wrap in 2 layers of tin foil and place on a warm BBQ. It works well but tends to be very messy when eating.  

What I have attached below is the original quesadilla recipe – Quesadilla in Spanish means cheesy tortilla and in practise it is a glorified cheese sandwich. You can really add whatever it is you like to the below basic ingredients – if you do not like one of them remove and add what you do like.

Sausage Pie

Nothing quite beats a potato crust pie. That super creamy mashed potato with a crust will always compliment whatever is beneath it. When I have the time I would always try to prepare my Shepherds Pie recipe but the Sausage Pie is a very tasty quick & cheap alternative.

Spaghetti Bolognese

There are many ways to make a Spaghetti Bolognese & the debates on what is the best one are far ranging. For myself I like to keep it simple with 3 steps.

Step 1: When I make one I like to always make my Tomato Sauce
Step 2: Then separately I like to brown my mince & let half a glass of red wine absorb completely into the mince. After this has done I will now blend the meat in a food processor, the main reason I do this is twofold:
1.    The mince can be quite tough & blending it will really break it up & make it very tender
2.    The blended mince when added to your tomato sauce will now race up & down each individual piece of spaghetti when you serve it.
Step 3: I will fry some finely chopped onions, carrots & green pepper with garlic & chilli. Then I will add the tomato sauce & also blended mince.