Summer Salads

I'm happy to announce that summer has finally arrived. In true British fashion, the end of last week was raining heavily, but quite suddenly the sun decided to show it's face, and yesterday it became very, very warm. For the first time this year I actually wore shorts and went on a long bike ride. It's been great and I really hope the weather stays like this for a while.

It is also the time of year for salads. I love salads. They're very good for just chucking ingredients together that you may have left in your fridge. Today I'm going to show you my favourite savoury and my favourite fruit salad. These are perfect for a summer Sunday tea.

Savoury salad - This is a simple chicken salad. I cook the chicken simply by boiling it in a pan. Whilst it's cooking I cut up all the vegetables and place them on a plate. For this I used a few pieces of lettuce as a base, 1 avocado, 1 radish, chopped cucumber, plum tomatoes and beetroot. When the chicken is done I place it on top of the vegetables and then drizzle a french dressing over the top. It's incredibly delicious and colourful.

Fruit Salad - This salad doesn't use many ingredients but what it does include is very delicious. I began with mango for the first layer and added lychees on top of that. I then scooped over some passion fruit and finally sprinkled over blueberries. This ended up being so yummy.

To finish off I made a glass of pomegranate and elderflower cordial. I love delicious cordials and this is one of my favourites. 

So that's it for the first of, hopefully, many salads this summer.

Meal For One - Creamy Salmon Tagliatelle

The majority of the time I cook for myself. I find I don't feel like putting a lot of effort or time into the meals I make, because, you know, they are just for me. I think a lot of people these days also have to cook just for themselves so I wanted to put some recipes together which are suitable to make when you're on your own.

This recipe doesn't involve very much, the majority of it can be made in one pan and it doesn't have very many ingredients, and what it does have can be used for any other recipe you may want to make that week. It's a very delicious dish with very little effort. A perfect meal for one.

You will need:

1 ball of Tagliatelle // 200ml Milk // 1 salmon fillet // 3tbls cream cheese with chives* // pepper // half a lemon // 2 broccoli // 3 asparagus

* I bought Philadelphia with chives. Any cream cheese will do, and you can add in your own chives. I think fresh chives would give the best taste

What do do:

1 - Wrap the salmon in tin foil and put it in the oven at 190C fan for about 30 minutes.

2 - At about 15 minutes in, add the tagliatelle to a medium pan of boiling water over a medium to high heat. Cook as directed on the packaging (it's usually about 10 minutes). 5 minutes before the tagliatelle is due to finish, add in the chopped broccoli and asparagus.

4 - when finished take of the heat and drain. Leave in the colander for the time being.

5 - In the same pan, prepare the sauce. Add in the milk, cream cheese and a bit of lemon juice until it all melted in, add in the tagliatelle and veg and take off the heat once it is all covered in the sauce.

6 - Finally remove the salmon from the oven, flake it up and fold it into the pan. 

7 - Plate up, and then they're done! Eat and enjoy!

Easter Nest Cupcakes

Happy Easter Everyone!!

Today it is Easter Sunday, which is notoriously the time of year for indulging in chocolate. This year I have five chocolate eggs all to myself to scoff, as well as a whole batch of cupcakes that I made. They are very, very easy to make, but look really effective for Easter, whether it's for afternoon tea or a buffet. And best of all, they taste delicious.

You will need: 5oz/140g self raising flour // 100g plain chocolate // 4oz/110g caster sugar // 1 or 2 packets of mini eggs // 5oz/140g icing sugar // 3oz/85g cocoa powder  //4oz/110g butter for the cake and 4oz/110g for the buttercream // 2 medium eggs

What to do:

1- Firstly melt the chocolate in a bain marie. The best way to do this is to boil water in a pan. Placing a glass bowl over the top, melt the chocolate in bowl using the heat from the steam. You can always melt chocolate using the microwave, but you have to be very, very careful not to burn the it. Once it's all melted, take it off the heat and put it aside to cool.

2- In a mixing bowl, beat the sugar and butter together until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, adding a little bit at a time into the mixture stirring well as you go. Next, fold in the flour a bit at a time until it is all incorporated into the mixture. Finally, pour the cooled chocolate into the mixture and mix in very, very well so that it is all one consistent colour

3- Line a muffin tin with cupcake cases (or double up on a baking tray if you don't own one). I used yellow as I thought there is no other colour as apt for Easter. Fill up the cases by about 2/3, then place on the middle shelf of a pre-heated oven at gas mark 4/ 180C for about 20 minutes. When they are springy to touch, take them out of the oven and leave them on a wire rack to cool.

4- Time to make the buttercream! Firstly, beat the butter in a large mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Mix the icing sugar and cocoa powder together, and then sift this in a little at a time into the bowl, mixing well. Keep mixing until all has been incorporated, and you should get a good piping consistency.

5- To make the nests, using a large star nozzle, pipe a ring around the edge of each cupcake. Fill in the centre of each cake with 3 mini eggs. I tried to use different colours for each until I ran out!

Finally, eat and enjoy!

Autumn - simple apple crumble

As soon as it hit September the temperature dropped and it suddenly got very chilly. Autumn has definitely arrived. The last couple of days seem to be clinging on to the last remnants of summer but the autumn fruit are already out.

We have an apple tree growing in our garden. Usually, we don't take advantage of it enough, but this year I am determined to find more recipes that will use the apples that we have on hand.

I went picking apples from some of the lower branches with my nieces and we ended up with the tin of apples above. I decided to use them to make the most delicious, but simple dish; apple crumble!

It is ridiculously easy to make and only has 4 ingredients. And did I mention how delicious it is?

You will need: 150g Plain flour, 100g granulated sugar, 75g butter and about 3/4 cooking apples. That's all!

-1- Peel and core the apples and  then chop them up into cubes. Add them to a pan on medium heat with 2tbsp of water and 50g of the sugar. It will be done when the apples are all mushy. Add them to an ovenproof dish.
-2- Add the flour, butter and remaining sugar to a mixing bowl. rub in the ingredients to make a breadcrumb-like texture. It should look like -3-
-4- Add the topping over the layer of apples. Place in an oven preheated at 180°C/gas mark 4 for 30 minutes.

And then you're done.

It's a recipe that's also easily customisable. Next time I plan to use brown sugar and add bit of cinnamon to the apples. I hope you enjoy!