Do you ever get a bit over zealous when shopping and have stuff hanging about the fridge that you forget about. I do this more often than I should. I recently found a tub of cherry tomatoes that I had forgotten about and were starting to go a bit soft. I decided to cook these long and slow and they tasted fantastic.
I used these as a side dish, but they would be fantastic stirred into some freshly cooked pasta, or served cold in salads or on some crusty bread with some soft cheese. These are every bit as tasty as sun-dried tomatoes. I made quite a small batch of these (because it was a small tub of tomatoes), but I’m definitely going to make bigger batches next time. These can live in your fridge for 3- 4 days in an air tight jar.
All the ingredients combined together and ready for the oven
Ingredients
250 Grams Cherry tomatoes (halved)
1 Tbsp Olive oil
1/2 Tsp salt
2 Cloves of garlic (roughly chopped)
3-4 Sprigs of thyme or 1/2 Tsp dried thyme
Method
Preheat your oven to 180 degrees
Place all the ingredients on a baking sheet and mix well to ensure the tomatoes are coated in the oil. Bake for 20 minutes
Reduce the heat to 140 degrees and cook for a further 30-40 minutes, until the tomatoes start to look wizened up and starting to char
I love super simple recipes, that don’t require dozens of ingredients or loads of time.
This is really simple and delicious and is perfect as a lunch to share or as a sharing starter. You can cut the feta into smaller pieces if you prefer to make these single serving.
The hazelnuts should be kept fairly chunky (I crushed these in a mug with the base of a rolling pin to stop them rolling all over a cutting board). I also like a light drizzle of honey at the end, as I think its a nice contrast against the saltiness of the feta, serve it with salad and some crusty bread.
Ingredients
200 Gram Feta/Greek salad cheese
40 Grams Hazlenuts
4-5 Sprigs Thyme/1/2 Tsp Dried thyme
1 Tbsp Oil
1 Tbsp Honey (Optional)
Method
Take the cheese out of the fridge about 30 minutes before your plan to bake it (if you forget to do this its no biggy), pat dry with kitchen paper and rub with the oil. Preheat your oven to 200 degrees (Celsius)
Coat both sides of the cheese with the crushed hazelnuts and thyme, move to an oven proof dish and bake for 20 minutes or until the hazelnuts and toasted and brown
Remove from the oven and drizzle with honey (if honey isn’t your thing don’t worry it will still be delicious)
It’s barbeque season and although I do love meat, the side dishes can take your barbeque to a whole other level.
I first had this years ago in a restaurant with barbecued pork and I fell in love. It’s one of those Summery side dishes that goes with pretty much every thing. I use it in wraps, in salad and rice bowls and could eat a bowl of it on its own.
I use fresh pineapple in this recipe, but if you can’t find it, canned pineapple will also work. This takes 5 minutes to make, but I like to leave it in the fridge for 30 minutes to allow the acid in the pineapple to help soften the raw onion flavour which works well. You can leave the out or increase the chilli depending on your taste.
Ingredients
500 Grams Pineapple (cut into 2cm chunks)
1/2 Red pepper (cut into 2 cm chunks)
1 Red chilli pepper (seeds removed and finely sliced)
1/4 Red onion, or 2-3 scallions/spring onions (finely sliced)
2 Tbsp Coriander (mint also works well)
Juice of 1/2 Lime
Method
In a bowl combine all the ingredients and stir well. Chill for 30 mins before serving.
This will keep in a sealed container in the fridge for 3-4 days
I tried these out these because I misjudged the amount of rice pudding I was making (in my never ending quest to use up things that have hanging around my cupboards).
The up shot is that I had a big load of rice pudding that I didn’t want to throw away so I came up with these as a way of using it up. Turns out pretty much any type of fried carb is delicious. These also make a lovely dessert for anyone who needs a gluten free option. Yes, they might be a bit of work but you can make the rice pudding ahead of time. I would class this as weekend cooking.
Getting ready to coat the rice balls, cornflour, then egg, then rice crispies.
Just like making the savoury version, the rice needs to be cold. I tried a couple of different versions with different centres. If you’re a chocolate lover, I tried one’s with a chocolate button in the middle which were really good. However, for my favourite ones I added a teaspoon of jam for the centre, but feel free to experiment with other fillings.
Ingredients
For the rice pudding
200 Grams Pudding Rice
500ml Milk
300ml Condensed milk
For the coating
2-3 Tbsps Corn flour
1-2 Eggs (beaten)
150 Grams Rice crispies or puffed rice (put in a plastic bag and scrunch up to crush the cereal into finer pieces, but not dust)
Oil for frying.
Method
Add the rice, milk and condensed milk to a pot with a lid. Bring up to just before boiling point, then reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. Stir regularly to prevent sticking, cook until soft (the rice I used took just over an hour, but other brands of rice may not take that long. Depending on the rice you use you may need to add more milk/water, but the pudding should be pretty thick
When your rice is cooked, you can enjoy some rice pudding right away. The rest of it should be allowed to cool before transferring to an air tight container and refrigerate (ideally overnight, but at least for a couple of hours)
Take a large tablespoon of chilled rice pudding and flatten in the palm of your hand. Add whatever filling you are using to the centre of the mix and form the rice around it until you make a ball (wetting your hands stops the rice sticking to them)
When you have finished making all the balls, place on a plate and refrigerate for an hour to allow them to set
To prepare the balls, first of all heat your oil (I don’t know the exact temperature to tell you, but my go way to check the temperature is to drop in a cube of bread if it start frying right away you’re probably good to go. Be careful the oil doesn’t get too hot or else the centre of the rice ball will be cold)
In separate dishes, lay out the cornflour, egg and crushed rice crispies
Roll each ball in first the cornflour, then the egg and finally in the rice crispies.
Add to the oil in batches and fry until golden brown (don’t be tempted to cook too many at one time). These are gorgeous served with vanilla ice cream.
Yep, we’re in bloody lockdown again and we’re all trying to limit how much we go out.
With this in mind, like last time I decided to have a look and use up food I already had at home. I first made this type of chilli years ago when I was a flat broke student. My Mum would sometimes send me home with a bag of tinned food. I came up with this version of chilli and it’s surprisingly flavoursome.
I know most people wouldn’t use corned beef in a chilli, but it works well. If you don’t want to use baked beans you can use whichever beans you like, just maybe add some vegetable stock to loosen up the mix. This is also a good dish to use up any vegetables that have been hanging around your fridge or freezer for a while.
It’s cold and miserable outside and while I’ll admit it’s not fine dining it’s quick, cheap and proper comfort food. This goes well with rice, or pasta, in a baked potato or with garlic bread.
Ingredients
340 Gram Tin of corned beef (cut into cubes)
500 Gram Carton of passata (or a tin of chopped tomatoes)
410 Gram Tin of baked beans
1 Tbsp Oil
1 Tbsp Tomato purée
1 Onion (chopped fairly finely)
1 Carrot (grated)
1 Red pepper (cut into 1 cm chunks)
1 Tsp salt
1 Tsp Ground cumin
1 Tsp Chilli powder
1 Tsp Ground coriander
3 cloves of garlic
Method
Heat your oil in a large flat bottom pan. Fry the carrot, pepper, and onion over a medium heat until the the onion becomes translucent
Add the garlic, spices, tomato puree and corned beef, and stir through the vegetables and cook for 5 minutes until the corned beef starts to break down.
Stir in the passata, and baked beans, mixing well. Cook over a medium heat for a further 15 minutes. Stir occasionally to prevent sticking
Serve with your favourite carbs. This keeps in the fridge for 3-4 days
Chewy meringue, luscious cream, and juicy raspberries
Most of my baking is throw it in a bowl give a quick stir and throw it in the oven. Every now and again I like to go a little bit fancier, not as fancy as those creations you see in French patisseries that are total works of art, but a bit more involved than a tray bake.
As with some of my favourite recipes this came together as the result of an accident. I was in a supermarket and meant to lift ground almonds but lifted ground hazelnuts instead. If you can’t find ground hazelnuts, just give whole hazelnuts a whiz in the food processor, just don’t go too fine with them or else the hazelnuts will start to release their natural oils which is death for a meringue. I used raspberries in this, but oranges or strawberries also go really well.
I’ll be honest, I was trying to make pretty frou frou little meringue nests. It went horribly wrong (I have a checkered past with meringue and it beat me once again. I think I need one those beautiful very expensive mixers, just saying in case anyone would like to send one to the Sunnyside Kitchen and break my meringue curse). If you are better with meringues than I am please give the little nests a try I think they would look adorable.
My meringue nests didn’t really work out.
So I had a pile of ugly meringues, and rather than waste these I just adapted what I had and layered broken meringue, cream, chocolate and fruit to make a version of Eton mess, it tasted fabulous! This is also a fantastic gluten free dessert.
I like to think of cooking as a metaphor for life, sometimes you end up with something you didn’t want or didn’t ask for. Sometimes things don’t work out as you hoped or planned. But with a little imagination and the right attitude you can still create something great.
Served in little jars or glasses these make a delicious dessert.
Ingredients
Meringue
150 Grams Hazelnuts (ground)
7 Eggs whites
385 Grams Caster sugar (if you don’t have caster sugar, whiz ordinary granulated sugar in a food processor of a couple of seconds)
1/2 Tsp White wine vinegar
Filling
100 Grams Chocolate (use the the type you prefer and grate or scrap into curls
1 Punnet of raspberries
250 Ml Whipped Cream
Method
Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees, line two baking sheets with baking parchment, drawing on circles (if making meringue nests)
Separate your eggs and whisk the egg whites until they resemble stiff peaks, whisk in the sugar a tablespoon at time and then add the vinegar.
Gradually fold in the ground hazelnuts with a metal spoon, and then pipe or spoon onto the prepared baking trays
Bake for 25-30 mins and remove and allow cool before carefully removing from the baking parchment
When the meringue are completely cold, start to layer them up with the whipped cream, prepared fruit and grated chocolate. I use little jam jars, but these also look really good served in tall glasses. If you have any whole hazelnuts left you could also toast these in a pan and allow them to cool before topping the desserts to give some crunch
I’ve mentioned before that when I was a kid, my Mum wasn’t a great cook (I love you Mo, but we both know the truth). Dessert in my house was usually shop bought, and when I was really young one of favourites was tinned creamed rice with a big spoonful of jam.
Fast forward God knows how many years, and I taught myself how to cook. I was also lucky enough to go out into the world and try some amazing flavours. So I decided to try and experiment with some of my favourites. Coconut, ginger and lemon grass gives a new twist on this traditional dessert.
I like this chilled and served with mango or pineapple, but it’s also really good warm, and you can enjoy it with whatever fruit you prefer.
I used milk in this recipe, but you can substitute some of this with cream if want to make a really indulgent dessert. If you want to make a vegan version, swap cow’s milk for almond milk. I’ve tried both versions and they’re both delicious.
Coconut and spices bring a new twist to an old classic
Ingredients
400 ml Can Coconut milk
250 Grams Pudding rice
40 Grams Sugar
500 ml Milk
1 Large stalk of lemon grass (kept whole but bruised)
1 Thumb sized piece of ginger
Method
Cut your piece of ginger in half length ways, then smack your lemon grass with the back of a knife (or pot if you want get some frustration out). Bruising the lemongrass helps release the flavour. The ginger and lemon grass are kept big to make it easier to fish out when the rice pudding is cooked
Put all the ingredients in a pot with a lid and heat until just before the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer over a low heat stirring regularly. Each type of rice is different, so cook until the rice is soft. (mine took about 30 minutes). Different rices will absorb different amounts of liquid so if you think the mix is looking too dry add a little milk/water
When the rice is cooked you can scoop out the ginger and lemon grass. The rice pudding can be served hot or cold. I like it served with fruit
This might look like a lot of ingredients, but getting yourself a good spice cupboard opens up a world of food possibilities. Find a good Asian supermarket and you can do this much more cheaply than buying them from a big supermarkets.
My love for cheese that you can fry has been well documented on this blog. Add it to a fragrant and well spiced masala sauce and it’s a little slice of vegetarian heaven.
Ingredients
1 Onion (finely chopped)
1 Tsp Cinnamon
2 Cardamon pods
2 Cloves garlic (finely chopped)
1 Tsp Fennel seeds
3-4 cm Piece of ginger (grated)
4 Cloves
1 Tsp Tumeric
1 Tsp Chilli Powder
1 Tsp Ground coriander
1 Tbsp Tomato puree
2 Tbsp Chopped coriander
Knob of butter
250 Grams Paneer ( cut into 2cm cubes)
2 Tbsp oil
Taking time to set out your spices saves time while you’re cooking, and you can tidy as you go.
Method
In a large frying pan add the butter and fry the onion, then add the cinnamon, cardamon pods, cloves and fennel seeds
Cook for 5 minutes before adding the ginger and garlic, and cook for a further 5 minutes, stirring occasionally
Add the turmeric, tomato puree and chilli and fry for another minute, and 250ml hot water
Bring the sauce to just before the boil. Reduce the heat and simmer on a low heat for 20 minutes
In a non stick frying pan, heat the oil and fry the paneer until browned on all sides
Add the paneer to the sauce and cook for another 10 minutes, allowing it to absorb the flavour.
Top with chopped coriander. Serve with rice or flat breads. This keeps well in the fridge for 3-4 days
I never thought I would say it, but after weeks stuck at home. I was finally fed up with carbs.
The antidote was a quick and easy salad. I used tinned crab meat because it was what I had, but fresh or frozen would also work.
Like most salads, use what you have or what you like, I added nectarine because it’s what I had, but mango but would be great too. Lemon and tahini are great in dressings. I usually add garlic to this dressing mix, but left it out this time so that it wouldn’t overwhelm the delicate crab flavour. Fresh herbs like parsley or corriander would be great in this salad too.
Mix colours and textures
Ingredients
Serves 2
1 Carrot (grated)
50 Grams Endame beans (frozen)
6 Radishes (sliced)
1/2 Avocado (cubed)
1 Nectarine (cubed)
145 Gran Tin of crab meat
2 Handfuls of rocket or other salad leaves.
For the dressing
1Tbsp Tahini
Juice of 1 lemon
1 Tbsp Rapeseed oil
Salt and pepper
Method
Add the tahini, oil, and lemon juice to a bowl. Mix well and season with sat and pepper, loosen with a little water if it’s too thick
Combine all the salad ingredients in large bowl, add the dressing and serve with crusty bread
I’m challenging myself to try and make better versions of stuff I haven’t been 100% happy with before, and use what’s in the house, (yes, I’m going stir crazy already).
I tried to make spicy carrot soups before and always thought the consistency was a bit weird. I think I have now cracked it. Adding a potato to the soup helps make it a much nicer creamier consistency. It’s still really healthy, and delicious served with big slabs of buttered soda bread (not as healthy given how much I enjoy butter).
Ingredients
1 Potato (cut into cubes)
4 Carrots (sliced)
1 Stalk of celery (chopped)
1 Onion (chopped)
1Tbsp Oil
1 Stock cube
1 Clove of garlic
1 Tsp Ground cumin
4-5 cm Piece of fresh ginger (grated), or 1 Tsp of ground ginger
1/2 Tsp Chilli powder (optional)
750 ml water
Salt & pepper
Method
Heat the oil in a pot, and add the vegetables and dried spices, cook over a medium heat until the onion begin to turn clear
Crumble in the stock cube and add the water. Bring the soup to a simmer and cook for 15-20 minutes, add the garlic and fresh ginger if you are using it
Simmer for another 5 minutes, and check the seasoning
Remove from the heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes before transferring to a blender, or do what I did and use a hand blender to blitz the soup until you have a smooth soup
