Friday, June 15, 2007

Malteser Tray Bake

This is definitely not healthy but a lovely treat. I made it to take away on our holiday, with a big group of friends! I found it on the Nigella website.

100g butter
200g milk chocolate
3 tablesp golden syrup
225g finely crushed digestive biscuits
225g maltesers


Melt together the butter, chocolate and syrup then add the crushed biscuits and the maltesers. Mix together quickly then pour into a lined swiss roll tin and chill til set. For a special occasion drizzle with some melted white chocolate.

Friday, June 08, 2007

Spicy Barley Salad with Aubergine and Pepper

I found this recipe at http://lucullian.blogspot.com/2007/06/spicy-barley-salad-with-eggplant-bell.html and though it sounded really interesting as I'd never come accross a salad with barley before, and its really nice to have a different carb! It was really tasty with the chewy texture of the barley and the warm tastes of the veg. I cooked the onion this time. I served it with pork steaks that had been marinated in lemon and rosemary. Served 4

Cooked pearl barley about 150g ( will take about 40 minutes to cook, follow packet instructions)
1 Aubergine
1 Red pepper
1 Onion
Handful Fresh basil
tea spoon Cumin seeds
Salt
Extra virgin olive oil

Dice the aubergine with skin on and sauté it until golden together with the cumin seeds, not too much, it doesn't have to be too dominant a flavour. Add the chopped onion

Cut the pepper into quite small pieces mix with the barley.

Add the aubergine and onion, take care to add the cumin seeds as well, the basil torn into small pieces, salt and olive oil.

Mix well and serve!

Friday, June 01, 2007

Rainbow Chard Pesto

I got this recipe from http://vegbox-recipes.co.uk. Its a great way to use up lots of chard - which was starting to be bit familar in my kitchen after 3 veg box weeks of it!

2 tbsp of olive oil
2 cloves of garlic
Bunch of chard (about 500g) - any variety
Handful (about 50g) pine nuts
100g fresh parmesan or pecorino cheese, grated
Handful of fresh fresh leaf parsley or basil leaves

Method
1.Wash the chard thoroughly and shake to dry.
2. Put the olive oil in a saucepan
3.Chop the chard stems and add them to the pan. Stir and then cook, covered, for 5 minutes.
4.Press the garlic and add to pan,Roughly chop the chard leaves and add them to the pan. Cook for another 3 minutes until wilted,

5.Toast the pine nuts for a couple of minutes (either under a pre-heated grill or in a dry pan)
6.Turn off the heat under the chard. Add the parsley leaves, pine nuts and parmesan. Taste and season.
7.Puree the mixture until it looks like pesto.