Pasta Arrabiata

I’m still loving my new cook book ‘Pinch of Nom’ and slowly trying out all the recipes. The most recent being Arrabiata. Mr Hyde isn’t too fond of chilli so I was nervous as to how hot it would be!

Perfect pasta

I like to take part in meat free Monday so this dish was ideal and so easy to make. When I worked out what produce I used it’s a really cheap dish too, even better when I use home grown chilli and garlic.

• 1 red chilli pepper, deseeded
• 4 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon dried chilli flakes
• 1 tin chopped tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tdp dried basil
• Salt and pepper
• 320g pasta
• Fresh basil to serve

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• Dice the pepper and put in pan with low calories spray add garlic and chilli flakes and cook for a couple of minutes.
• Add the tomatoes, tomato puree and dried herbs, season with salt and pepper. Stir frequently for around 10 mins.
• Cook pasta according to instructions, once cooked drain and add to the sauce.
• Serve with fresh basil

Tomato and red pepper soup

With the allotment flourishing this year we wanted to make the most of the produce and follow the ethos of Michelin starred Chef Tommy Banks. Preserving food for the hunger gap throughout winter using the goodies you have in spring and summer. We also make a hamper for family Christmas gifts using a selection of our preserves, it seems to be a hit too!

Indian Garlic Chilli Chicken

This recipe is something I have been searching for since I had a takeaway when on holiday in The Eden Valley. It was the tastiest curry I have ever had, this is close to my takeaway but needs a little tweaking in my opinion. I used red onion as I had just picked it from the allotment and didn’t have a white onion at home. Here is where I found the recipe Indian chilli chicken

Home grown sprouts

We are now nearing the last of our home grown sprouts and I’d like to share our favourite sprout dish.

It’s perfect to go with a roast dinner or even Christmas dinner!

Fry off some smoked bacon Larson until they are really crispy then set them to one side (try not to nibble on them like I do!)

Clean up your sprouts and chop them in half then throw them in a wok. Add a couple of chopped garlic cloves, some chestnuts chopped in half and a couple of slugs of soy sauce.

Fry these for a couple of minutes and pop the bacon back in for a minute then serve with your favourite roast, it’s delicious! 😋

Stir fried sprouts!

Hasselback Potatoes

These potatoes make any dish better they are so crispy and flavoursome, not to mention easy to make.

Top tip is to place the potato on a wooden spoon to slice it, the potato sits in the dip and stops you slicing all the way through! Add some garlic butter to the top and a good measure of salt then put in the oven for 45 minutes. Lovely!

Salami spaghetti 🍝

I like a nice easy but tasty meal after a shift at work. Following a trip to a food festival armed with spicy salami, salami spaghetti was a great choice. 🍝

Ingredients:

Extra virgin olive oil

140g good spicy ltalian salami, sliced

2 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced

1 tsp fennel seeds

1 bulb fennel, halved and finely sliced, feathery tops reserved and chopped

2 x 400g tins of plum tomatoes or large jar of Passata

Optional: 1 dried chili, crumbled

Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

455g dried spaghetti or linguine

2 handfuls of stale breadcrumbs

Optional: a sprig of fresh rosemary

Method:

Add salami and garlic to the oil. Lightly crack the fennel seeds either in a pestle and mortar or with a knife and add to the pan. Cook for 1 minute on a low heat – the fat should cook out of the salami and it should begin to get crisp. Add sliced fennel and stir, then put the lid on the pan and increase the heat to medium. Cook for 5 minutes, then add your tinned tomatoes or passata and a little dried chili. Cook slowly for 25 minutes until the mixture has thickened. Season to taste.

Cook your pasta in a large pot of fast boiling salted water until al dente. While it’s cooking, make some crunchy breadcrumbs, to give this dish a great texture and crunch. Just get a couple of good handfuls of coarse breadcrumbs and fry them with 4 or 5 tbsp of extra virgin olive oil until they go crispy. Throw in some rosemary sprigs as well to give extra flavor. When the pasta is cooked, drain it in a colander and immediately toss it with your lovely tomato sauce. Serve in a big bowl and sprinkle with the green fennel tops and your crispy breadcrumbs.

Cheddar Cheese with Wild garlic scones 🧀

I love wild garlic, it doesn’t have a very long season so I try all sorts of ways of using it. I substituted the mixed herbs for wild garlic in my scone recipe and they were delicious 😋

Ingredients:

175 g Self Raising Flour

teaspoon finely chopped wild garlic

25 g margarine

75 g cheese, grated

1 egg

2 tablespoons milk

Method:

Heat oven to 220ºC and grease a baking tray.

Rub together flour and margarine. Stir in cheese and garlic.

Mix to a soft dough with the egg and milk, save a little for glazing.

Roll out and cut out the scones. Place on the baking tray and brush with egg and milk and sprinkle with cheese.

cook for 12 minutes

Chilli and garlic scallops

The hubby loves seafood, however, I’m not too keen. I thought I’d give scallops another try as they’re not too ‘fishy’ tasting! I cooked them simply in butter with garlic, chilli and home grown parsley, they were actually quite nice. Mr H enhanced the dish by mopping up the frying pan with a slice of bread, genius!

Chilli and garlic prawns with sesame noodles

Meat free Monday seems to be a thing, I prefer to have meat on my plate so a compromise for me was to have seafood instead!

Check out this recipe: https://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/2195662/garlic-chilli-prawns-with-sesame-noodles

Fricasse of Wild Mushrooms

I saw this recipe on Saturday Kitchen made alongside steak, the flavour is amazing and ever since I first made it I’ve been thinking of other ways to use the recipe. Arancini is one idea and also in pasta as ravioli, I will find more ways to use it too!

This time I didn’t have fresh mushrooms but I used dried ones I recently picked up at Stokesley Farmer’s market, they are just as good one soaked in hot water.

Ingredients:

100g Butter

1 garlic clove, chopped

1 shallot , finely chopped

200g assorted wild mushrooms

2 tablespoons madeira

100ml beef stock

1tsp whole grain mustard

Method:

Melt 20g of the butter in a pan, add the garlic and shallot until transparent.

Add the mushrooms and cook for 3 minutes then pour in the Madeira and cook until reduced by a third.

Pour in the stock and bring to the boil then whisk in the remaining butter and mustard.

Serve and enjoy!