WEEKEND COOKING

Croque Monsieur Bake

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Stop throwing away stale bread and use it for this yummy unctuous comforting bake.  You can make most of it the night before and impress everyone with a super chic breakfast, but it’s great at any time of the day.  This is best if you can start it the night before but if not allow the bread to soak up the egg mixture for at least an hour or two

If you’re being totally authentic you should use Gruyere cheese, but I didn’t have this so I used cheddar and it was yummy too.

Serves 4

Ingredients

8 Slices of stale white bread

175 Grams Cheese (save about a third of the cheese to sprinkle on top before you put the bake in the oven)

4 Slices of ham

6 Eggs

350mil Milk

2 Tbsp Soft butter

2 Tbsp Dijon mustard

For the bechamel sauce

40 Grams Butter

20 Grams Plain Flour

4000 mil Milk

Salt and pepper

Method

  • Butter 4 slices of bread, and spread the other 4 slices with mustard
  • Thinly slice two thirds of the cheese, and with ham make 4 cheese and ham sandwiches
  • Cut each sandwich into 4 triangles.  Lightly grease an oven proof dish and arrange the sandwiches in the dish.
  • Whisk the eggs and milk together with a pinch of salt and pepper and pour over the sandwiches making sure they are all coated
  • Cover the dish with cling film and allow to sit overnight in the fridge (or for at least an hour or two)
  • Preheat the oven to 180 degrees (Celsius)
  • Make a bechamel sauce, melting butter in a sauce pan before stirring in flour to make a roux type paste and then gradually stir in the milk and heat until the sauce thickens and doesn’t taste floury anymore, season with salt and pepper
  • Grate the remaining cheese, and remove the oven proof dish from the fridge.  Top the sandwiches with the bechamel sauce and sprinkle with cheese
  • Bake for 30-40 minutes until deeply brown and bubbly.
  • Allow to sit for 10 minutes before serving

Mauritian Chicken Curry

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I was lucky enough to visit Mauritius last year and stayed at the amazing Outrigger resort. While there, their very sweet and super talented Chef Matthieu showed me how to make this fantastic curry.

Mauritius was populated largely by slaves and indentured servants brought from India and the Asian sub continent to work on the sugar plantations. So their food is highly flavoured and draws influence from many different cultures.

Ingredient for the curry paste.

Now that the cold wet weather is back I needed a little reminder of lush and beautiful place I visited and the warm friendly people who were kind enough to share this recipe with me.

This curry is usually eaten with roti flat breads, but nan bread or rice are also great with it.

Ingredients

500 Grams Chicken breast or thigh meat (cut into bite sized chunks)

1 Onion (finely chopped)

1 Tbsp Minced garlic

1 Tbsp Minced ginger

1/2 Tbsp Chilli powder

Juice of 1 lemon

1/2 Tbsp Salt

2 Tbsp Oil

1 Tbsp Garam masala powder

For the curry paste

1 Onion (finely chopped)

100 Grams Dessicated coconut

2 Tbsp Fennel seeds

5 Cloves of garlic

2 Cinnamon sticks (or 1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon)

Method

  • Marinade the chicken with the minced garlic and ginger, salt, chilli powder and lemon juice for 30 minutes
  • Heat a large frying pan before adding the coconut to toast until light brown, stirring regularly (don’t take your eyes of this, as it can burn in a second). Remove from the pan a set to one side (or else it will keep on cooking with the heat of the pan)
  • Add 1 Tbsp of oil and cook 1 chopped onion over a medium until it starts to caramelise.
  • Add the toasted coconut, caramelised onion, garlic cloves, fennel seeds and cinnamon to a blender and blitz until you have a crumbly paste
  • Heat a tablespoon of oil in a large pan, before adding the diced chicken and finely sliced onion and seal over a high heat for 1-2 minutes. Reduce the heat and add the paste, cook this for 5 minutes before adding 500ml (1 pint of water) and the garam masala powder and mix well.
  • Simmer gently for a further 20-30 minutes. Adding more water if you think it needs it. It should be quiet a loose curry, as the sauce is the best bit for mopping all the delicious flavours with flat breads.

French Onion Tart

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Fried onions are one my favourite savoury flavours. This tart is brilliant hot or cold and many of the component’s can be made in advance and then assembled and baked at the last minute if you’re cooking for friends so you have more time to chat. This tastes great and is a pretty cost effective dish if you want to make lunch for friends for example.

I used ready made pastry to save time (it was reduced in the supermarket, don’t judge sometimes its fine to take short cuts). The onions need to cook long and slow before going into the tart and this can be done a day or two in advance and stored in the fridge until you’re ready to bake it.

I used Gruyere cheese because I felt like being fancy, but a well flavoured cheese like cheddar or even parmesan would also work well.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients

300 Grams Ready made short crust pastry

1 Kg Onions (finely sliced). This will look like a lot, but it will cook down.

2 Tbsp Oil (Or you can use half butter half oil if you prefer)

2 Eggs

50 Grams Gruyere (finely grated)

300 ml Double Cream

Flour for rolling out the pastry

Salt and pepper

Method

  1. Add the oil to a large frying pan to heat before adding the onions. Cook over a medium heat for 45 mins stirring occasionally to make sure they don’t burn. Remove from the heat and allow to cool
  2. Preheat your oven to 180 degree (Celsius).
  3. I used a 12in loose bottom flan tin, make sure that this is well greased so that the flan will come out if the tin easily
  4. Dust a counter with lightly with flour and roll out the pastry in a circle fit big enough to fit the flan tin. Make sure the pastry is pressed well into the edges of the tin. Lay baking parchment on top of the pastry and pour on baking baking beans (I use old rice/dried beans that I keep in a jar, its cheaper than buying the fancy clay versions). Bake for blind 15 minutes, before removing from the oven. Carefully remove the baking parchment so you don’t drop the baking beans (or what ever you’re using) into the pastry
  5. In a large bowl beat the eggs, cream, and cheese together in a bowl (add salt and member if you think it needs it). I have French friend who worked as a pastry chef, and her top tip is to put the eggs through a seive to ensure that the mix will be smooth and you have any spots of egg white, but this isn’t essential. Stir in the fried onions and mix well before spooning into the pastry case
  6. Bake for 25-30 minutes until the tart is golden brown and lightly set

Rose and Raspberry Meringues

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Barbie fever has taken over the world. I was more of a tomboy and never really got into Barbie, but it did give the chance to make something cute and pretty.

These may look “rustic”, but if you can be bothered with the faff of a piping bag, you can make the meringue nests a little more uniform, and the cream in top look fancier. They can be kept undecorated in an airtight container for 3-4 days. If you’re entertaining this is useful so that you can make these on advance and assemble at the last minute.

I used the tiniest amount of rose water in the cream (less is definitely more with this stuff), but if it’s not your thing it’s fine to leave it out. Just to be whimsical I used some pink food colouring in the meringue and some dried rose petals just be fancy, but these will still taste great with out the girly touches.

Makes 6-8 meringue nests

150 Grams Sugar

3 Egg whites

Pink food colouring (optional, ideally use a gel food colouring, I added a tiny bit but can add according to how strong you want the colour to be)

For topping

300 ml Double or whipping cream

50 Grams Icing sugar

1/4 Tsp Rose water (optional)

200 Grams Raspberries

1 Tbsp Dried rose petals (optional)

Method

  • Preheat your oven to 110 degree (Celsius)
  • Line a baking sheet with baking parchment, and draw 6cm circles as a guide for your meringue nests . I have a silicon baking sheet with circles already drawn on which is really handy
  • Using a stand mixer or electric whisk, whip your egg whites into soft peaks
  • Continue whisking (if you’re using food colouring add it now) and gradually add the sugar to the egg whites until the meringue is stiff and glossy
  • Using the circles on your baking sheet as a guide, spoon or pipe the meringue into the circles
  • Bake for 1 hour 45 minutes and then switch the oven off and leave the meringues on the oven while it cools down
  • When the meringues are completely cold, whip the cream, icing sugar and rose water together until it forms stiff peaks
  • Spoon or pipe on top of the meringues and then top with fresh raspberries and sprinkle with rose petals for a little bit of fanciness

Carnitas (Mexican Pulled Pork)

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Everyone loves Mexican food, and while I make no claims that someone from Mexico would say this is just like their Mum would make, I think it tastes amazing. If you like pulled pork but never thought of trying it at home, you should give this a go. It really is simplicity itself, all you need is time, so perfect for the weekend when you kick back or get on with other things while the oven does all the work for you.

When you go a little crazy on taco Tuesday

I love this in tacos but you can add it to burritos or sandwiches. While this does take some time, it’s a simple recipe and is ideal to feed a group of people cheaply. I used pork shoulder which is inexpensive and really benefits from being marinated and cooked long and slow.

Delicious in wraps too.

Ingredients

1 Kg Pork shoulder

100 ml Orange juice (I used the juice of 2 oranges)

1 Tbsp Tomato puree

1 Tsp Oregano

1 Tsp Chilli powder

2 Tsp Smoked paprika

1 Tsp Ground Cumin

1 Tsp Ground Coriander

1 Tsp Minced Garlic

Method

  1. Cut your pork into 4 chunks
  2. In a sealable freezer bag add all the other ingredients and squish together to make sure they are well mixed
  3. Add the pork to the bag and seal, rub the bag to make sure the marinade covers the pork and then put in the fridge. If you can marinade this for 24 hours this is ideal. If you don’t have that sort of time try to marinade for least an hour
  4. Pre-heat your oven to 160 degrees (Celsius). Put your pork and the marinade in an oven proof dish with a lid and place in the oven for 3.5 hours.
  5. Remove from the oven and shred the meat with two forks and mix in with the cooking juices for super tasty pulled pork