PixieCooks

This is based on a toastie that a cafe near my parents used to make when I was small, the cafe is still there (it’s the Hunny Pot in Ayr) but alas they no longer make the toastie .

Serves 1
Ingredients

• 2 Tbsp crunchy Peanut Butter
• 3 Sticks of Celery, Diced
• 40g/1.5oz/0.5 Cup Grated/Shredded Cheese (I used a medium cheddar)
• 1 Baguette

Method
Spread the peanut butter equally on both sides of the baguette (crunchy really is better for texture, but use smooth if you absolutely must) and sprinkle over the celery.

Cover the baguettes with the grated cheese and pop under a hot grill (broiler) until the cheese is melted.

This is a recipe that I’ve taught D how to cook, and it seemed like a plan to include it here. It’s incredibly simple but very tasty and easy to scale up for larger numbers; it makes a great dish for casual entertaining if you serve it with a large leafy salad and some good crusty bread. It also reheats pretty well if you want to keep some back for lunch the next day – box it up with the cheese already on it and just nuke for a couple of minutes.

serves 2 hungry people
Ingredients

• 150g (or a generous 1/2 cup) Pancetta (or dry cure bacon) cubed
• 2 Medium onions, diced
• 2tsp dried basil*
• 2tsp dried oregano
• 400g/14oz tin of tomatoes (chopped is fine, if they’re whole either break them up with the spoon in the pan or blitz them first)
• 2tsp crushed garlic or garlic puree
• 2tsp tomato puree
• Enough pasta for 2
• Fresh parmesan to taste (if not, any hard cheese can be grated (shredded) on top)

Method
Gently brown off the pancetta in a little olive oil.

Add the onions and gently sauté.

Once the onions are translucent and just beginning to colour, add the herbs, garlic, tomatoes and tomato puree and simmer very gently, stirring regularly until the sauce thickens.

Whilst the sauce is thickening, cook the pasta according to the instructions, drain and then stir in the tomato sauce.

Serve in a shallow bowl with a grating of Parmesan cheese on top. Goes well with green beans (if it’s chilly outside) or a leafy salad.

*Or fresh, use twice the amount and add it later in the cooking process

I went to my parents’ house for Easter and managed to persuade my mum to let me take pictures of one of her meals. (Of course, this ended up being in exchange for a lot of stirring, but I don’t mind helping!)

Risotto is a lovely, comfortable meal – and not nearly as hard as people think it is. Yes, there’s a lot of stirring, but it’s only 20minutes over a nice warm pan – what better on a miserable dreich day!

For 3, easily adapted
Ingredients

• 225g/1 cup Arborio (or other risotto) Rice
• Slightly More Stock Than The Rice Packet Suggests (you keep it warm, so allow for evaporation)
• 2 Onions, Diced
• 2 Smoked Haddock Fillets
• 1 Salmon Fillet
• Butter for Frying and Seasoning

Finely dice the onion and saute in a little butter – the trick is to soften, not brown.

Whilst the onion is softening put the stock on to boil (you want to keep it at a rolling simmer in a separate pan throughout the whole process of cooking the rice) and prepare the fish in a foil parcel – dot the fillets with butter and form the foil around the fish in a loose parcel to keep in the steam. You can actually use any fish you like here, and it’s a great way to serve those frozen fillets you can pick up in supermarkets.

Once the onion is browned, add the rice and stir for a couple of minutes

Add a couple of ladle-fuls of stock to the rice and stir in, keep the rice pan and the stock pan at a gentle boil throughout.

Place the fish in the oven. Depending on the size of the fillets they will take 15-18 minutes at gas mark 4 (180C/160C fan/350 F). This is almost exactly the amount of time it’ll take to finish cooking off the rice

Keep stirring the rice, to stop it sticking and to help break down the carbohydrate into that lovely gooey creaminess that risotto should have.

Every time the rice starts to almost catch (see picture, below), add a ladle-ful more of the boiling stock

Just before the fish is due out of the oven, taste the rice. It should be soft with only a little “bite” to the grains. Provided it is, keep stirring until it is nice and thick (if it is not keep stirring in more stock until it is!) and add a little bit of butter to finish it off.

Serve the risotto heaped on a plate with the fish stacked on top, for the eater to break it into the rice with their fork.

We finished out the meal with a simple pudding of plain yoghurt topped with honey and flaked almonds (very good for calcium!).

Thanks mum!

This sandwich is absolutely inspired by Subway’s Meatball Marinara © but contains a fair bit less salt, no meat and costs a fraction of the price. I also think it’s much tastier!

Serves 1, but easy to multiply
Ingredients

• 1 Baguette (I used one of those par-baked things, so it was warm. If yours isn’t, grill/broil it briefly to warm it through before assembly
• 1 Small Onion, Diced
• 6-12 Smallish Tomatoes, Past Their Best (if they’re new and very firm, half first)
• 2 Tsp Dried Basil (If you’re somewhere where herbs don’t come to die, use double the amount of fresh, shredded and add last minute)
• 1 Tsp Dried Oregano (See basil for instructions on fresh)
• 1 Clove Garlic, Minced
• 1 Tbsp Tomato Puree/Paste
• 50g/2oz Hard Goat’s Cheese
• Your Choice of Green Salad, Dressed as you like it (I used batavia lettuce, 3tsp extra v. olive oil, 1tsp lemon juice and 2tsp mediterranean herbed sea salt)

Method
Saute the onion in olive oil (be fairly generous). Once it is cooked but not coloured add the tomatoes, garlic and herbs. Using a wooden spoon, roughly break up the tomatoes.

Once the tomato juice (from the broken up tomatoes) has thickened a little, add the tomato puree and stir through. Continue to cook over a low heat until the sauce is thick and yummy.

Split the baguette lengthwise and cover one side with a layer of the tomato sauce. Lay the goats cheese in slices over the tomato sauce. Grill (broil for you american types) for a couple of minutes until the uncovered side is lightly toasted and the cheese is beginning to melt.

Add your salad. Eat. Delightful .

This is the perfect side dish for the thyme-stuffed chicken; the crusting is the same mixture as the stuffing and the soothing creaminess is the perfect foil for the salty bacon. If you’re not serving it with something fairly salty you might want to season it before cooking (there’s no need to go heavy on the salt, especially given the cream and butter health attributes, a good cracking of black pepper is wonderful)

Serves 1/2 but easy to scale up
Ingredients

• Enough Stuffing mixture to form a thin layer on the bottom of your casserole dish (see thyme-stuffed chicken for the recipe)
• 1 Large(ish) potato, washed and sliced thinly
• 100ml/Scant 1/2 Cup Double/Heavy Cream
• Small Amount of Butter
• 1 Large Clove of Garlic, finely sliced
• The leaves from 2 Stalks of Thyme

Method
Press the stuffing into the bottom of the dish to form a thin crust. Lay slices of potato over the crust, overlapping to form layers.

Sprinkle the garlic and thyme over the potatoes and pour over the cream (slowly, it will take its time finding the gaps to flow to the bottom). Dot with butter (you could leave that out, but it won’t go as golden)

Bake in a hot oven for around half an hour – until golden brown.

This one’s a result of me trying to empty my freezer and trying to find new and fun ways to use up chicken thighs (cheaper than chicken breast, and tastier). I’ve been on a bit of a thyme kick recently – it’s a lovely fragrant herb, but less prone to that slight soapiness that rosemary has – and stuffing seemed to be a good way to get it into the mix.

I buy my chicken thighs with the bone in and skin on, but I removed them for this recipe – it’s easy enough to do with a decent pair of scissors – but if that squicks you get the butcher to do it for you or buy from the supermarket without .

Serves 4-6
Ingredients

• 100g Breadcrumbs
• 1 Onion, Diced
• Small knob of Butter and a splash of vegetable oil
• The Leaves from 6 stalks of Thyme (save the stalks)
• 6 Chicken Thighs, Skinned and Boned
• Sufficient Bacon to wrap

Method
Heat the butter and oil in a heavy bottomed pan (the oil helps stop the butter from burning) and saute the onions gently, so they soften but don’t colour.

Add the cooked onions to the thyme leaves and breadcrumbs, stir through and allow to cool.

The removal of the bone should leave a fairly obvious place to put the stuffing – you’re effectively just making a sausage shape and rolling the chicken around it – and once the chicken is stuffed, wrap the bacon around it to hold the stuffing in and secure using the stripped thyme stalks.

Roast at 200C (108c fan/400F/Gas Mark 6) for 35 minutes. Remove thyme stalks and serve.

Serve with potato dauphinoise (recipe to follow), mash or rice.

I’ve given up chips (fries) and crisps (chips) for Lent (again), but I’ve decided that these are distinctly more potatoey than anything else and therefore don’t count.

They take spice very well, but too much powdered spice will burn, so go a bit canny if you use it instead of the lemon pepper suggested here. I’ve had great success with smoked paprika and cumin seed, garlic salt and chilli flakes, and rosemary and thyme.

Ingredients

• Appropriate quantities of potato for the numbers you wish to feed (I’ve used all kinds of potato from King Edward to Jersey Royals with great success)
• Vegetable/Groundnut/Sunflower oil
• Freshly Ground Black Peppercorns to taste (a rough grinding – if your mill turns them to powder, grind in a mortar and pestle instead)
• Lemon rind to taste

Method
Scrub the potatoes clean and cut out any eyes or nasty bits (life is too short to peel a potato and all the good bits are in the skin, anyway) then chop lengthways into chunky wedges.

Put the wedges in a pot of cold, salted water (as a rough guide, if it comes out of the ground, put it in cold water, if it comes from above the ground, put it in boiling water) and bring to the boil. Boil for about five minutes – the wedges should yield easily to a knife point but remain intact (or intact ish. Any roughened edges will crisp up and be yummy…).

Use a vegetable peeler or sharp knife to remove the lemon rind in fingernail sized pieces (use an unwaxed lemon for preference) and be careful not to get the bitter white pith with the rind.

Drain the potatoes well and put into a bag with sufficient oil to lightly coat all the wedges, and the seasonings. They can be left in this bag, in the fridge, up to overnight if you want.

Pre-heat the oven to 200C (180c Fan assisted/F/Gas Mark), put the wedges on a baking tray and cook in the oven for twenty minutes, turning after 10minutes.

The wedges should be crispy and beginning to caramelise a little bit. Serve with fish, chicken or anywhere you would chips.

Real, proper* bolognese sauce would generally have pancetta, veal or some kind of pork in with the beef mince (hamburger/ground beef), but I get lovely beef from our local farmers’ market, sourced from local aberdeen angus cows, and I like to keep the flavour quite clean. If you’re not so lucky, chuck a handful of pancetta in the pan and brown off before you add the onions.

*In as much as there is any proper recipe for something so traditional. There’s also milk involved and various other complications.

Feeds 4-5
Ingredients

• Beef Mince (low fat, steak mince)
• 2 Medium Onions, Diced
• 1-2 Garlic Cloves, Minced
• 2tsp Dried Oregano (it’s more flavourful dried, so if you have fresh, use more)
• 2tsp Dried Basil (or about half that of fresh)
• 2 Stalks of Celery, finely sliced
• 2 Medium Carrots, finely diced
• 400g/14oz Can Chopped/Crushed Tomatoes (or equivalent)
• 2tbsp Tomato Puree

Method
Gently saute the onion in a little olive oil, cooking over a low heat and stirring regularly so it doesn’t burn or stick. Add the carrot, celery and garlic and cook slowly, stirring often, until they are softened.

If the mince is low fat then add it straight into the onions, if it isn’t then remove the onions to a bowl, brown the mince and pour off the fat before re-adding the onions, celery, carrot and garlic.

Add the herbs, tomatoes and tomato puree, and cook down over a medium heat stirring regularly until thickened and smelling gorgeous.

Serve with spagetti, over a baked potato or with any pasta you can scrounge up with a light blizzard of freshly grated/shredded parmesan over the top. If you don’t have fresh parmesan it’s better to use cheddar or some other sharp cheese than it is to use one of those tubs of dessicated, foot-smelling dust. Will keep in the fridge for a week or freeze like a dream; just nuke for 2-3 minutes to reheat.

I had a jar of pear halves in juice in the fridge, a guest over and a serious craving for something sweet (I don’t generally keep biscuits or cakes in the house). After a little disconsolate poking around in the fridge and cupboards I remembered the lovely Apple Enchilada Dessert that Liz guest blogged over at $5 Dinners and this lush pudding was born. Nom.

Serves 4
Ingredients

• 250g/1 Cup (Granulated) Sugar
• 100ml/ 1/4 Cup Water
• 1tsp Ground Ginger
• 1tsp Ground Cinnamon
• 1pinch Ground AllSpice
• 100ml/ 1/4 Double/Heavy Cream
• 16 Pear Halves in Juice, drained
• 4 Soft Flour Tortillas

Method
Place the sugar and water in a strong based saucepan and bring up to the boil. Keep stirring (carefully! Hot sugar is a little like lava) and heating until the mixture turns a light caramel colour.

Add the spices (the mixture will foam up) and cream – stirring throroughly to ensure the sugar doesn’t seize on contact with the cold cream. If it does heat it gently to re-melt it.

Remove caramel from heat and add the pears.

Divide the pear caramel mixture between the tortillas and roll up. Serve with vanilla ice cream or pouring cream. Also delicious cold.

Like a lot of people, come the apocalypse I’ll be surviving on tinned tuna – which is to say I tend to buy more any time I’m doing a “big shop” whether or not I actually NEED any and I have currently got enough to see me through several months.

Tuna pasta, tuna pasta bake, tuna mayo sandwiches and baked potatoes with tuna are all very well, but they’re a little bit studenty (in as much as they’re easily made in a communal kitchen where someone keeps using the good knife), but these fishcakes take a teeny bit more work and taste infinitely more sophisticated.

Makes ~ 5 Fishcakes
Ingredients

• 1 Tin Tuna in Oil, Drained. Roughly 130g/4.5oz (you can use brine packed, but wash it a little first or the end result will be salty. Water packed is great)
• 3-4 Medium Potatoes, Boiled and Mashed (this is one of the very few circumstances under which you will find me peeling a potato, the skins just don’t work here)
• 1/2 Red Onion, Finely Diced (or a white onion, or spring onions)
• a Dusting of Plain/AP Flour
• 1 Egg, Beaten
• 2 Generous Handfuls Breadcrumbs
• Vegetable Oil, For Frying

Method
Combine the tuna, potato (just mash them with a tiny bit of the cooking water) and onion in a bowl. Make sure the tuna is well flaked and the whole is mixed thoroughly.

Put the flour on one plate, the egg on another and the breadcrumbs on a 3rd (I keep my breadcrumbs in the freezer and use them from frozen). Take a handful of the mixture (about a 1/5th) and shape into a fishcake. Coat in flour, then egg, then breadcrumbs (it’s easiest to place on the plate then pat around the flour or breadcrumbs).

Fry each cake until golden brown on each side (do not even move the cake until it’s been frying for a minute on each side, you want it to form a crust).

You can eat at this stage, but I like to let them cool and reheat in the oven (200C/180C fan/400F/Gas Mark6) for 10 minutes as this takes all the rawness from the onion.

Serve with a green salad.