Spaghetti carbonara

I think we make a pretty damn good carbonara - if I do say so myself! A traditional carbonara doesn't include cream but we find that a small amount helps to loosen the sauce a little.

Ingredients (serves 2 greedy people):

spaghetti

a handful of mushrooms, sliced (optional)

6 rashers of Italian smoked pancetta, diced

1 small white onion, diced

2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 egg yolks

grated parmesan (about 3 table spoons)

1-2 tbl sp of double cream (optional)

black pepper and salt

olive oil

• Cook the spaghetti according to pack instructions in plenty of boiling salted water
• Saute the onion, garlic and pancetta in a little oil until the onion is soft and the pancetta is starting to crisp
• Add the mushrooms if using and continue to cook for 5 minutes
• Meanwhile, in a bowl mix together the parmesan, egg yolks and cream, if using. Season with black pepper.
• When the spaghetti is cooked, drain it and set aside.
• Take the pan that the mushrooms/pancetta etc is in off the heat and stir in the sauce. Place the pan back on a low heat and add the drained spaghetti.
• Stir well for a couple of minutes so that the sauce coats the spaghetti completely, and then serve. Add more black pepper and grated parmesan to taste.

Stuffed Peppers

These are a favourite of ours in the spring/summer, particularly as a side dish for a bbq. We usually add red onion but chose celery instead this time, simply because we had lots of it. Either would be good.

The finished peppers look a little burned because we had a mini emergency which meant they got left in the oven for longer than they should have!

Ingredients for 2 stuffed peppers:

2 red peppers, cut in half and de-seeded

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and roughly chopped

2 sticks of celery (or 1 red onion) diced

2 rosemary sprigs, chopped

1/2 block of feta, broken into chunks

3 tomatoes, cut into chunks

black pepper

100ml extra virgin olive oil

• Pre-heat the oven to around 170 degrees
• In a bowl mix together the garlic, celery/onion, rosemary, feta and tomatoes. Pour over around two thirds of the olive oil and leave to marinade for 30 minutes.
• When the oven is hot and the stuffing has marinaded for a while, place the pepper halves in a roasting dish. Fill the halves with the stuffing mixture.
• Drizzle over the rest of the olive oil and season with black pepper.
• Roast in the pre-heated oven for 50 minutes or so. Turn the heat down a little if they start to look too browned.
• We like these with lamb chops, new potatoes, rocket salad or crusty bread
  

Beef in black bean sauce

Not a great photo i'm afraid - it smelled so good that we couldn't wait to start eating. I'm not that keen on coriander usually but it was quite nice in this. It's also very easy... 5 minutes of chopping and then 5 minutes of cooking and it's ready.

Ingredients (serves 2):

1 large steak (we used sirloin), cut into strips

1 chilli, diced

1 clove of garlic, minced

1cm ginger, minced

1 green pepper, sliced

5 spring onions, sliced

1 handful of chinese cabbage, shredded (optional)

3 tbl sp black bean sauce

2 tbl sp chinese cooking wine

2 tbl sp soy sauce

1 tbl sp sesame oil or veg oil

1/2 tea sp sugar

juice of 1/2 a lime

coriander, finely chopped

noodles (we used garlic & coriander ready cooked noodles)

• Prepare all of the veg in advance and then fry the pepper, spring onions, garlic, chilli and ginger in the oil for a couple of minutes.
• Add the strips of beef and fry for a minute or two.
• Add the shredded cabbage, lime juice, sugar, soy, chinese cooking wine and black bean sauce. Stir well and allow to simmer for a couple of minutes.
• Meanwhile cook your noodles (or buy the straight to wok version for ease), and then add them to the pan.
• Stir everything well again before adding the coriander and then serving in warm bowls.

Spring risotto

This was a really tasty risotto... plenty of green veg and loads of cheese :-)

Ingredients (serves 2):

a cup full of arborio rice

veg stock (around 300ml)

white wine (around 250ml)

2 garlic cloves, minced

4 mushrooms, sliced

4 spring onions, sliced

1 leek, finely diced

a handful of spring greens, sliced

1/4 cup of peas

8 spears of asparagus, thinly sliced lengthways

1 tbl sp cream cheese

50g grated parmesan

olive oil and butter

salt and pepper

• Fry the garlic, leek, mushrooms and spring onions for 5 minutes or so in a little butter and olive oil.
• Add the rice and stir through thoroughly.
• Add the wine and stock in alternate measures, waiting until the liquid has almost evaporated until you add more. Stir frequently.
• After about 15 minutes, or when most of the liquid has evaporated, taste the rice to check how long it has left until it is just tender.
• When you get to this stage add the spring greens, peas and asparagus and stir through. Continue to cook for another few minutes.
• Add the cream cheese, parmesan and black pepper to taste. You may not want to add salt due to the stock and parmesan being salty themselves.
• Serve immediately.

Lamb curry

We rarely follow a recipe for curries and instead prefer to bung in what we fancy or have to hand. Although not authentic in the slightest, they always taste good.

Ingredients (serves 2):

500g diced lamb (we prefer slow cook cuts of lamb in a curry)

4 large tomatoes, diced

8 mushrooms, sliced

1 onion, diced

1 chilli, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1cm piece ginger, minced

seeds from 4 cardomom pods

1/2 tea sp garam masala

1/2 tea sp masala curry powder

1/2 tea sp turmeric

1/4 tea sp ground cumin

olive oil

rice, to serve

small bunch of chopped coriander, to serve (optional)

• The easiest (and tastiest) method we find is to chop the meat into bite sized chunks and place in a bowl with the garlic, ginger, chilli, cardomom, garam masala, cumin, curry powder and tumeric. Add a large glug of olive oil, stir everything well and leave to marinade for an hour or so.
• When the meat has marinaded for a while, fry the onion in oil in a non stick pan.
• When the onion has softened remove them from the pan and set aside.
• Add the marinaded lamb and cook until browned.
• Add the sliced mushrooms and then the onion back into the pan
• Add the diced tomatoes and a little hot water. Start with 150ml but you may want to add a little more later.
• Season with salt and pepper and leave on a low heat to simmer for at least an hour, stirring often and adding a little hot water (or stock) if you think it needs it.
• Serve with rice and some chopped coriander if you like.

Clams and bacon with wine and parsley

Ingredients:

1 handful of clams per person

2 rashers of streaky bacon per person, chopped

1 clove of garlic, peeled

parsley, chopped

olive oil

white wine (a big glug)

juice of half a lemon

• Heat the olive oil in a frying pan
• Add the whole garlic clove and bacon and cook for 5 minutes
• Add the clams and wine and leave to simmer for 3 minutes or so
• Add the parsley and lemon juice and cook for another minute
• Discard the garlic before serving either on salad as we did, or with crusty bread or spaghetti