Smoked salmon, courgette and vodka pasta

Ingredients:

1 courgette

3 shallots

1 clove of garlic

farfalle pasta

3 slices of smoked salmon, cut into strips

100g creme fraiche

25g grated parmesan

25g grated gruyere (optional)

tbl spoon cream cheese

handful of fresh parsley, chopped

50ml vodka

salt and pepper

olive oil

• Cook pasta according to pack instructions.
• In a bowl, mix the creme fraiche, cream cheese, parmesan, gruyere and parsley. Season with salt and pepper.
• Whilst the pasta is cooking dice the shallots, garlic and courgette and fry in a little olive oil until soft.
• Add the vodka to the courgette and shallots and allow to bubble away for 5 minutes or so. Then add the soft cheese mixture and stir everything thoroughly. Then add the smoked salmon strips and stir again.
• Drain the cooked pasta and add to the sauce. You may want to add a spoonful of the pasta cooking water to the sauce to loosen it a little.

Tapas

Tapas - herby lamb meatballs, patatas bravas, courgette and feta fritters and tomato salad

Ingredients and method (serves 2, add bread and a green salad and it would probably serve 4):

Tomato sauce:

glass of red wine

3 fresh tomatoes, chopped

tub of chopped tomatoes

dessert spoon of tomato puree

1/2 red onion, diced

1 clove of garlic, diced

4 mushrooms, sliced

olive oil

• Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees
• Fry the onion, garlic and mushrooms in olive oil until soft
• Add the tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes
• Add the red wine and turn up the heat to allow the alcohol to cook off for 5 minutes or so
• Turn the heat back down, add the chopped tomtaoes and puree and let the sauce simmer for 45 minutes

Lamb meatballs:

approx 200g lamb mince

approx 200g lamb mince

1/2 red onion, diced

1 clove of garlic, diced

a handful of fresh herbs (basil, pasrley, thyme, rosemary) roughly chopped

salt and pepper

• Combine the lamb mince, onion, garlic and herbs and season
• Form into meatball shapes and refridgerate until needed
• Brown meatballs in a frying pan before placing them on top of the prepared tomato sauce. Be careful not to stir them in to the sauce too vigorously as they can break up
• Cook meatballs and sauce in a hot oven for 20-30 minutes

Patatas bravas:

2 medium sized potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks

2 fresh tomatoes, chopped

1/2 red pepper, diced

pinch of red chilli flakes

1 small clove of garlic, diced

olive oil

• Par boil the potatoes before putting them in an oven proof dish with a splash of olive oil and placing them in the oven
• After 15 minutes or so fry the garlic and red pepper in olive oil until soft
• Add the tomatoes and chilli flakes to the garlic and red pepper and continue to cook for 5 minutes
• Add the garlic/pepper/tomato mixture to the potatoes and stir through
• Return potatoes to the oven for approx 20 minutes

Courgette and Feta fritters:

1 egg

1 table spoon of plain flour

1 courgette, grated

approx 25g of feta, cut into small chunks

3 spring onions, chopped

salt and pepper

olive oil

• Salt the grated courgette and place in a sieve over another bowl. Leave for 15 minutes and then press the courgette mixture to remove the exess water
• Mix together the egg, flour, feta, spring onions and grated courgette and refridgerate for an hour or so until needed
• Heat some oil in a non-stick pan
• Placed 4 heaped spoonfuls of the batter mixture in the pan and press each one down lightly. Turn each one over after 3-4 minutes to cook the other side

Tomato salad:

2 tomatoes, cut into chunks

1/4 cucumber, diced

handful of olives

approx 25g of feta, cut into chunks

olive oil

pepper

• Mix together the tomatoes, olives, cucumber and feta
• Dress with olive oil an black pepper
• Refridgerate or cover until needed