Tomatoes on Toast (a non-recipe really)

This is really assembly rather than cooking, and something I had seen/heard about but I never realised how blissfully simple and delicious it was. I have been known to eat this for breakfast 7 days straight while on holiday in sunnier places, where the tomatoes are always juicy, but it is almost as good on a slightly humid morning in Surbiton. For those clever sausages growing tomatoes right now, this would be a worthy use. What ever you do, don't use those crappy, pale, tasteless tomatoes you buy in the supermarket. Buy from the supermarket by all means but splash out on the more pricey ones, the ones that are actually properly red. And even more importantly, never use cold tomatoes!!!! If you keep them in the fridge, let them warm up before using.

All that is involved is the toasting of as much bread as you need, sour dough is brilliant for this, I would recommend something a bit interesting for this (the heavy dense but thinly sliced bread we buy on holiday in Portugal is perfect, but that doesn't really help). Rub each tasted slice with the cut side of a halved clove of garlic. Top with sliced tomato, drizzle with some extra virgin olive oil, and most importantly, sprinkle with salt. That's it.

Munch too many slices and marvel at how you ever managed to live without this in your life. And also possibly repel passers by with garlic breath. But don't worry about that too much.

Unofficial But Generic Thai-ish Curry

Trying very hard to be Thai and nearly making it

I won't win points on authenticity here, but when I wanted something delicious for dinner the other night, I reached towards lemon grass, chillie, lots of garlic and salty salty fish sauce for a taste sensation that did the job. This is a really easy curry but so fresh and delicious. A more authentic version would have you searching for galangal instead of ginger and pounding for hours in a pestle and mortar but it was a week night and I needed something tasty pronto. This is much much better than using ready made pastes (even though they can be pretty good).

Feeds 2 (with a tiny bit leftover but apparently not enough for proper seconds). Take two lemon grass stalks and discard the really woody outer layer. Chop into one inch pieces. Chop a couple of red chillies. Peel a biggish knob of ginger and chop roughly, also chop most of a small bunch of coriander, stalks and leaves (save the rest for later). Shove all these ingredients into a whizzer, topping with the zest of a lime. Whiz into a coarse paste (you might need to push it down with a spatula a couple of times and add a splash of groundnut oil if it's too dry). Add a decent splash of fish sauce, dark soy sauce and two small/one large tomatoes and whizz again until quite smooth. De-vein a couple of handfuls of raw prawns, any type, the bigger the better (this job is gross but better than eating prawn poo surely?). Fry the paste in a splash of groundnut oil, in a deep frying pan or wok, stirring constantly and dribble a little at the gorgeous aroma released. Add a tin of coconut milk, stir well and let it bubble away for about 10 minutes until reduced slightly. Prepare any veg you want to use, I used pak choy and broccoli and add them to the pan. When just about cooked, add the prawns, stir well, when they are pink they are done. no-one likes hard little curled up prawns so be careful not to over-do them. Make sure it tastes how you like it, is it salty and sour enough? Squeeze some lime juice over the curry, top with chopped coriander leaves and serve with rice. 

This is good for boys with man-flu and girls who somehow never get girl-flu but just want something delicious for supper.

Harira - Warming food for erm, July

Proper Summer food...(English summer)

Well last week was glorious and full of sunshine and barbies, but as I watch the men's beach volleyball in the rain (from the safety of my dry sofa) it's time for a reality check, and something hot and lovely for supper. Officially a soup from Morocco, harira is a divine slow cooked one pot wonder that is big on flavour, meat and pulsey goodness. It's cheap, using the thriftiest of cuts of lamb and bulked out with chickpeas and lentils, making it rather good for you (watch out for a bit of bum trumpet action later though). Make it in bulk so you have something gorgeous to call on from the freezer as you trudge home from work in the rain. In July. Again. This dish almost has me hoping for miserable weather as it's just that good. Thank you Moro cookbook, once again.

Soft and melty meat

You will need approx 350g lamb, use neck (fillet chopped up into large chunks or use neck chops) or shank. Put the meat into a large saucepan, cover with water, bring to the boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Skim off the manky scum which appears. Throw in a finely chopped onion, 3 finely chopped celery sticks, a pinch of saffron, 1/2 a tsp ground cinnamon, 1/2 tsp turmeric and 1tsp ground ginger, a large bunch of coriander, chopped and 5 grates of fresh nutmeg. Give it a good season and simmer for 30 minutes. Now add 100g small green lentils and 120g cooked chickpeas (you can add more if you want to stretch the soup out a bit) and simmer for another 30 minutes. Remove the meat and shred it up, removing any nasty membrane/fat and taking everything of off the bones, if there are any. Return the meat to the pan with a decent squirt of tomato puree. Mix 3 tbsp flour with 50g water and add that along with the juice of a lemon (this gives the harira a wonderful tang). Taste for seasoning, it can take a fair bit of salt, and keep cooking until the lentils are really soft. Melt in a few knobs of butter, scatter over another bunch of chopped coriander and serve with a wedge of lemon. 

Dig in, eat way too much and laugh at The Boyfriend, who now can't move as he thought he needed cous cous with it. You don't.

Home-made Harissa (this changed my life a bit)

Fiery jar of North African genius

This stuff is amazing, make it now. One zillion times tastier than the stuff you buy in the shops, and if you have a trusty whizzer, it's easy as pie to make. This North African paste/condiment is amazing slathered onto almost anything. Works really well with eggs (The Boyfriend texted me to say it was ace with scrambled eggs) and was great when I rubbed half a jar over a chicken before roasting. Recipes seem to differ quite a lot but I used Moro's and see no need to change it. If it ain't broke...

Makes enough to fill one jam jar (to the brim). Roast one halved and de-seeded red bell pepper in the oven for about half an hour, turning every now and again. While doing this get the rest of the ingredients ready. Roughly grind 3 tsp each of caraway seeds and cumin seeds. Halve and de-seed 250g long red chillies (yeah I know that's LOADS, I used a couple of little hot red birds eye ones and about 8 of those fat, quite hot 5 inch ones that Waitrose sells). Chop them roughly and add to a whizzer along with half the ground spices. Skin your now roasted bell pepper and chop roughly, add to the whizzer with a pinch of salt and 4 garlic cloves. Get it nice and smooth. Now mix in 1 tbsp tomato puree, the rest of the ground spices, 1 tbsp red wine vinegar, 2 tsp sweet smoked paprika and a very very generous glug of extra virgin olive oil. 

Keep it in the fridge for up to a month. It may not last that long. You may need to make a double batch. 

Fishcakes: not rocket science

Stodge-free zone

How many times have you ordered delicious sounding fish cakes whilst eating out somewhere, only to be faced with tasteless, potato-laden lumps of stodge, that have a nice habit of sticking to the roof of your mouth? Well I get that a lot. Mostly because even though I have never eaten a decent fish cake whilst dining out somewhere; it appears I am  on some sort of pilgrimage to find a good one. Oh the disappointment is terrible and soul destroying, as are the comments of disbelief from The Boyfriend: 'WHY did you order fish cakes again? You NEVER like them!' The thing is, it's not hard to make a delicious fish cake or ten, I would say that a rule of thumb is not to make them too wet, and as long as the mixture tastes good before it's made into little cakes, then you can't really go wrong (obviously you can't eat raw mixture, if using raw fish, then fry a little bit up to taste it).Anyway, this is how I make basic fish cakes, and I really like them.

Makes 4 decent fish cakes, enough for 2 people. Roast 2 seasoned salmon fillets in the oven at 170c for about 15 minutes. While this is happening take a fork and roughly mash some cooked potatoes in a bowl, you want approx one medium potato to your two pieces of salmon. Once the fish is cooked, let it cool a little and flake it into the bowl with the spuds (don't completely mush it, you want some texture). Make sure no bones or skin get in. Now add a small handful of chopped parsley, a teaspoon of chopped capers (optional, The Boyfriend hates them and he noticed when I snuck them in), juice of half a lemon, a tsp Tabasco (not essential but it is really) and a decent amount of salt and pepper. Combine gently and taste for seasoning. I made these at half ten the other night, knackered from a long day at work, so I simply shaped them into cakes and fried them in a non-stick pan in a splash of olive oil. If you are eating at a slightly more normal time, I would thoroughly recommend dipping in egg and then breadcrumbs for the ultimate crust. Fry until golden brown and heated all the way through.

These are delish, but if you can't be bothered you could always eat out, order the fish cakes and whinge about how crap they are.

Controversial Baking - Rosemary & Polenta Biscuits

Not for everyone, but I liked it!

It's very rare that I bake but these biscuits sounded interesting, a sort of Italian shortbread. Another recipe I found in the Metro. I made them yesterday morning, kind of by accident, it was so simple that before I knew it I'd made them before breakfast. Much to the Boyfriend's disapproval, prompting pathetic cries of 'I know a lovely bacon and egg sandwich recipe if you want one...'

Makes 6 pudding sized biscuits. In a bowl, mix 150g plain flour, 30g fine polenta and 60g caster sugar with a pinch of salt. Add 3 sprigs finely chopped rosemary and 90ml olive oil (not extra virgin) and mix well. You will have a crumbly dry-ish mixture. Scoop the mixture out onto a baking paper lined baking tray and pat down into a round flat shape approx 1/2cm thick. Or use a loose-bottomed cake tin. Put in the fridge for an hour then bake for 40 mins (until very lightly coloured) at 150c. Remove and leave on the tray for 5 minutes then cool properly on a cooling rack. I cut it into wedges and served with berries and vanilla ice cream to a mixed response. Sister really wasn't sure. The Boyfriend didn't even try it, I liked it in a curious way, and my friend Hannah and sister's boyfriend wolfed it down. Out of politeness or genuine enthusiasm I will never know...

Putting 'Possibly the Best Chicken Recipe' to the test: Tarragon Chicken

Oooh lala!

Having woken from my second snooze on the 15 minute train journey home, I opened my Metro to the foody bit (the only bit I like after 'Guilty Pleasures') and was faced with a recipe claiming to be 'possibly the best chicken recipe in the world'. Wow, what a claim. Call me fickle but I was sold. I also liked the fancy French name: Poulet A L'Estragon. The fact that I cook tarragon chicken all the time didn't matter. This was different. French. Posher. And more importantly it was simple, looked delicious and I had chicken legs, tarragon, creme fraiche and white wine at home. No post-work trip to the supermarket for me. Smug. I changed the method a bit just for ease.

Feeds 4. Pre-heat the oven to 180c. In a big oven proof proof casserole dish, brown 4 chicken legs really well in some olive oil, get them nice and golden. Throw in a very large glass of white wine, and treat yourself to a slurp, Floyd stylee. Add 5 sprigs of tarragon. Stir well to mix the wine with the juices and move to the oven for half an hour, uncovered. Now remove the chicken to a plate and keep warm (I find that if you cover with foil the skin can lose it's crispness, so just put it in the oven which is now turned off). Get the pan on the hob and bubble up the juices, stir in 3tbsp creme fraiche and stir to melt it all in, along with another 5 sprigs of tarragon. Serve the chicken with the sauce on top. If entertaining, you can make it pretty by getting a big shallow platter, throw in some boiled new potatoes, arrange the chicken legs on top and pour the sauce over everything. It drips down over the potatoes, covering them in delicious creamy winey goodness.

Enjoy with friends, plenty of wine, and make the most of the final few weeks of not having neighbours. A little Edith Piath might have suited the dinner, but instead we had Cyprus Hill and Aphex Twin. Tres bien.