Pork & Udon Noodle Soup

I’m not going to lie – this recipe was the result of a rainy, cold day and me needing and craving a satisfying but light soup to warm me up. Since I had some leftover Chinese BBQ Pork in the fridge and am currently addicted to Udon noodles, this soup was a natural choice. I hadn’t made this version before but being a lover of Pho I used that as inspiration and simply used what I had in the house. Even better I had homemade chicken stock in the freezer just waiting to be used in a dish just like this. I have to admit there is something really satisfying about using what you have and creating exactly what you were craving. This soup took no time to make at all and was absolutely perfect….The perfect pick-me-up for a rainy, cold September day.

Serves 2 generously (easily doubled)

750ml chicken stock (homemade or the best quality you can get)

1 clove of garlic, thinly sliced

3 slices of ginger

1 star anise

1 red chilli, sliced (remove the seeds for less heat)

2 or 3 lime leaves (fresh if possible but dried is fine)

1tsp fish sauce (or to taste)

½ lime

200g packet of udon noodles

Leftover pork, shredded (or other meat of your choice) – as much as you have or want in your soup

Handful of sugar snap peas (approx. 100g), cut in half diagonally

Sprinkling of fresh coriander (optional)

Put the stock into a medium sized pan then add the garlic, ginger, star anise, red chilli, lime leaves, fish stock and a good squeeze of lime juice. Bring it to a boil then leave to gently simmer for about 5-10 minutes to let the flavours infuse the stock (you can leave it for longer if you like, it’s more about how much time you have, just don’t let it reduce too much).

Add the udon noodles and cook for a couple of minutes (or according to the time on the packet). For the last minute add the pork and the sugar snap peas and cook just long enough to warm the pork and slightly soften the peas. Taste to check the balance of flavours and adjust if necessary adding more lime or fish sauce as needed, then ladle into deep bowls and serve at once. Chop sticks are optional but they are perfect for slurping up the noodles!

Grilled Halloumi with Quinoa & Beetroot Salad (& my struggle with blogging)

Before I jump to the recipe for this delicious salad there is something I need to address with regards to my blogging...

It's hard to believe it but I started blogging 5 years ago. My reason for starting this blog was simple....I loved to cook and this was the easiest way for me to share my often-requested recipes with family and friends. To this day I still love cooking, I am a total food-oholic! I get excited about shopping for food, finding new ingredients, getting reacquainted with recipes and ingredients from my past and exploring new cuisines throughout the world from the comfort of my own kitchen.You are far more likely to find me reading a cookbook or food magazine than any other book and with a library of 1000 cookbooks (and growing) I'm never short of something to read! Of course the books and magazines just feed my enthusiasm for cooking by offering endless new ideas and inspiration and so it was only a matter of time before I started reviewing cookbooks and really putting them to the test to see if they were worth a place on my overloaded, sagging shelves! I love reviewing cookbooks and so I do plan to do a lot more of that on this blog but without doubt my favourite thing to do still is come up with my own ideas and recipes and share them with you. 

Spaghetti with Broccolini, Garlic & Chilli

Tenderstem Broccoli, Broccolini and Broccolette - all names referring (as far as I can tell) to the same wonderful thin, long-stemmed variety of broccoli. It is one of my all time favourite vegetables and when it comes into season I am always so happy!

This is by far one of my favourite ways to enjoy it, as a quick and simple delicious pasta dish ideal for knocking up for a midweek meal that is filling but light at the same time. The amount of time needed to cook the broccoli will depend on how thin the stalks are but as a guide the latest bunch I had were almost pencil thin and therefore needed no more than 1 minute for the stalks and 30 seconds for the florets, but if they are a bit thicker the stalks might need up to 2 minutes.

Butternut Squash 'Mac' & Cheese

I love Butternut Squash and combined with a cheese sauce it makes for a fabulous variation of the classic pasta dish, Mac and Cheese. It adds a lovely richness to the dish and a real sweetness which kids especially love. I am very fortunate that Ben is a great eater and thankfully loves vegetables but if you have a child (or other family member!) that isn't so keen on veg then this is a great way to sneak it in to their meals.

I wouldn't normally add cream cheese to my Macaroni & Cheese and to be honest the first time I tried it was purely because I had a lot of cream cheese needing used up so I thought why not? It turned out that the tang of the cream cheese balanced the sweetness of the squash so well that I kept it as part of the permanent recipe. If you would rather not use cream cheese however, then simply replace with 85g or 3oz of your favourite cheese such as mozzarella or gruyere.

Spicy Tomato & Mozzarella Gnocchi

One of my favourite things about going on holiday is the food you get to enjoy. In my opinion one of the absolutely best ways to experience and understand a country is by trying the food and eating what locals eat. This dish is one I make over and over and is inspired not by a dish I had (unfortunately!), but one my Dad had 4 years ago. We were all in Rome on the last day of our holiday after flying to Italy for my Brother's wedding. I was 27 weeks pregnant and we were spending the day experiencing as much of Rome as we could in the short time we had left. We managed to see most of the magnificent historical sites (beautifully breathtaking) but of course as important as that was so was sampling some delicious Italian food(!), so we stopped off at a lovely little restaurant and sat out on the terrace with awnings protecting us from the bright sun. I chose this simple Gnocchi dish which arrived at the table still bubbling and simmering in the terracotta dish it was baked in. A light, fresh tomato sauce coated each little pillow of potato gnocchi and in amongst it all were small pieces of mozzarella that had formed molten pools of creamy, silken mozzarella goodness!

The dish was light, simple and so flavourful that it really stuck with me, and as I said I have been making my own version ever since. Since I am such a lover of spicy food I couldn't help to add a little touch of fresh chilli to the dish, but you could easily miss that out if you prefer. This to me is classic Italian cooking – simple to make, using good ingredients and absolutely delicious to eat. Buon Appetito!

Spicy Thai Peanut Noodles

I love Thai food and I love noodles so it's no surprise that I absolutely l-o-v-e this dish! This is my version of a recipe I tested from Rachel Allen's book Home Cooking. I've spiced it up but if you prefer it milder just miss out the Sriracha and chilli (if you like you could serve them on the side at the end for any chilli lovers you are feeding!). I've also changed some of the vegetables used which of course you could also change to what you like or happen to have in the house, and if you wanted you could also add some chicken or prawns, however I love this vegetable version for the perfect Meat Free Monday meal. It is full of so many fantastic fragrant flavours (try saying that 3 times!) but isn't too heavy. Try it once and there will be no going back or ordering from you local Noodle restaurant! Thanks Rachel!

Cookbook Review ~ Bill Granger Easy {And Marinated Steak Rolls with BBQ Sauce}

When I bought this book (over the internet so with only a brief preview) I was a little worried that the recipes might be a little too easy and simplified since Bill Granger's books are generally always filled with fairly straightforward, relaxed recipes, however, I shouldn't have worried. What fills the pages are beautiful recipes that aren't too complicated but still have a bit of oomph to them so that I wasn't bored or had seen the recipes hundreds of times already. It became obvious very quickly that this was a book that I really wanted to cook from and with 100 recipes I had plenty to choose from.

One of the first things that I loved about this book was the fact that the chapters are divided up by specific ingredient such as 'Piece of Chicken', 'Slab of steak', 'Mince & Sausages' and 'Carton of Eggs', (to name a few). I found this approach really helpful cause it means you can go raid your fridge or freezer, decide what you want to cook with and then just jump straight to the chapter for instant inspiration. There were so many recipes that I wanted to try that I literally gave up bookmarking them since it seemed I was putting a sticky note on almost every page! In the end I managed to try 6 recipes but I still have quite a few that I want to try!

The Tested Recipes:

Orange and Oregano Marinated Pork

Marinated Steak Rolls & Barbecue Sauce

Light Butter Chicken

Spanish Fish Stew

Individual Baked Beans with Eggs

Chilli, Sausage and Broccoli Pizza

Witches Hair with Bugs {Spaghetti with Prawns}

Try not to be too grossed out by the name (or look!) of this dish as it is the perfect Halloween dish to get you in the mood for trick or treating or to quickly gobble down after! There is something about black spaghetti that just screams Halloween and so I just can't resist making it to mark the occasion. I love this dish as it takes no time to make – literally just as long as it takes for the pasta to cook – it tastes fantastic and has the perfect Halloween look to keep the children happy! Of course when Halloween has past this is still a fantastic meal which can be enjoyed minus the black spaghetti and with whole wheat or regular white spaghetti instead. We eat this dish a lot as it is the perfect quick and easy mid-week meal!

{Serves 4 easily doubled for a crowd}

400g black (squid ink) spaghetti

3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

2-3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped

1 long red chilli, finely chopped (de-seed for a milder child friendly dish)

1lb prawns, cleaned*

Juice of ½ lemon

Sprinkling of fresh parsley, finely chopped (optional)

Cook the pasta in a large pan of salted, boiling water for the time instructed on the packet. While the spaghetti is cooking heat 2 tbsp of the oil in a frying pan and gently cook the garlic and chilli until softened but not coloured. Add the prawns and toss well and cook until warmed through (or if using raw prawns until they have cooked properly). Squeeze over the lemon juice then take off the heat.

Drain the spaghetti reserving a tablespoon of the cooking water then add the spaghetti to the garlicky prawns. Add the reserved pasta water then mix well. Finish with the final tablespoon of olive oil to give a real 'glossy' look to the pasta then if using scatter over the parsley. Serve at once.

*For this particular dish I used small prawns since I thought they better resembled bugs(!) however ordinarily when I make this I use normal sized prawns. You can use either cooked or raw prawns for this dish, just make sure they have their shells off and have been cleaned. If you do use raw prawns they will require about 4 minutes to cook whereas the cooked prawns literally just need to be heated through.

**If you like you can miss out the prawns and have a super simple pasta supper of Garlic & Chilli Spaghetti – one of my favourites! 

Goats Cheese & Pesto Cannelloni

A perfect Summer dish for using up some fresh basil pesto that you might have in your fridge desperate to be used! Light tasting and full of Summer flavours, this dish is sure to become a family favourite. Serve with some steamed seasonal greens or a nice crisp salad and once you have tried the original recipe why not mix things up a bit by using some Spicy Red Pesto or your favourite version of pesto. If you aren't a fan of Goats cheese you could try using Boursin, Ricotta or even cream cheese.

There are a few things to note about this recipe…. First of all regarding the tomato sauce, due to my husband's dislike to tomato chunks I always blend my tomatoes or use passata (sieved tomatoes). If you prefer a smooth sauce blend away otherwise keep the sauce chunky! Secondly, the lasagna sheets that I buy are quite large so I cut them in half – if yours are smaller don’t bother cutting them. Finally, I use a rectangular glass Pyrex dish to cook my cannelloni in – approximately 9” x 13 ½” – and it fits perfectly. If you don’t have a similar dish use what you do have – you can always cut the cannelloni to make them fit! This is real, fresh home cooking at its best.

Classic Barbecued Beef Burgers

When it comes to Summer and barbecue season you can't let it pass without making plenty of burgers as you can't beat a perfectly grilled, slightly charred burger enjoyed outside on a sunny day. We eat burgers quite a lot – they are just so versatile and make the perfect Saturday night feast (even in the winter!). You can change things up by varying what you put on your Burger but we always have to have cheese, lettuce, red onion and pickles! Special occasions call for sauteed mushrooms, bacon and occasionally spicy jalapenos and of course I can never resist some slices of fresh tomato. Finished off with some mayonnaise, mustard and tomato ketchup and you have the perfect finger-licking burger!

Prawn, Avocado & Mango Salad with Thai Dressing

I absolutely love this salad and have been eating it so much lately that I just had to include it here, especially because if you make my Thai Red Curry with Chicken & Bamboo Shoots then you will have all of the ingredients you need for the salad dressing. It takes no time at all to make and is so light and refreshing – the perfect salad for a hot summer day. The dressing will make more than you need but it keeps in the fridge. Having said that, if you are like me it won’t last long as you will find yourself making this salad lots!

I first published this recipe in August 2010 combined with the Thai Red Curry with Chicken & Bamboo Shoots mentioned above, but I decided it needed a photograph to show how amazing it is and therefore a page to itself! This is Summer food at it's best! Enjoy x

Pulled Pork

One of my sister's (and her husbands) absolutely favourite things that she tried during her year in Canada was a Pulled Pork Sandwich! I have to say I can't blame her as you can't go wrong with the combination of succulent slowly cooked pork shredded into pieces then mixed with a delicious tangy barbecue sauce. Add it to a roll then top with some crunchy coleslaw and you have the most amazing meal!

Since she loves it so much I had to include it in our Harry Potter Grand Feast for her Hen Party which was a feast made up of some of her favourite dishes along with some slightly more whimsical HP inspired dishes (which will follow over the next few weeks!). For the party I made individual small rolls rather than the full ones pictured here as there was so much other food, it seemed right to keep things bite-sized!

The inspiration for this recipe came from Verses from my Kitchen which in turn came from Trish Magwood's book “My Mother's Kitchen”. I changed a few things to better suit our tastes and toned down the spice a little for Wee One (feel free to up it if you prefer more of a kick) and I love how it tastes. I also cook mine in the oven since I don't have a slow cooker but you could easily cook it in a slow cooker if you have one. Either way you will end up with the juiciest most succulent pork that is impossible not to pick away at as you are getting everything together!! The recipe for the sauce makes more than you will need but since I like a lot of sauce I tend to just serve some extra on the side for those that want it. Final note: for a crowd double the recipe for the pork but keep the sauce the same – you just won't have any extra!

Lauren this one is for you and Billy – now you can start using some of your beautiful new wedding gifts and enjoy some Pulled Pork back in Scotland!