Beginners Guide to Cookery

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What is your all-time favourite thing to cook? Which flavours do you love and loath? Which dish have you always wanted to have a go at making but never quite got up the courage to attempt? So many things to consider when you decide to venture into the kitchen. One things for sure you won’t know until you try.

How many times a week do you cook dinner? Just to clarify, I’m not talking popping a couple of breaded chicken steaks and some curly fries into the oven on high nor am I talking about boiling up a bowl of pasta to have with a generic tomato and garlic sauce.

I’m talking from scratch! Making the sauces, chopping the vegetables and preparing the meat. Mixing a batter and even kneading a dough if you really woke up on the culinary side of the bed this morning. There is nothing better. So why aren’t more of us doing it?

The first defence people who don’t cook find is that they don’t have the time (blah blah) how long do you think it takes to cook these dishes? A simple omelette can be whipped up in under five minutes and a batch of cookies needn’t take longer than 20. There is a whole world of slow cooker recipes out there which involve simply popping things in to cook before you go to work and enjoying upon your return.

Many other people just don’t know how to create these dishes and instead they opt for buying them from the supermarket and nuking in the microwave for 6 minutes, stirring half way through. It’s a shame really, there is certain magic in a perfectly constructed burger and nothing in my culinary lifetime has ever beaten the first time I made Moussaka (thank you Jamie, you beauty).

intro steps

That’s not to say all my kitchen pursuits have been successful, oh no, it is a learning curve and I have had my share of mishaps! The great charcoaled sausage casserole incident of 2010 was particularity memorable and we’ll gloss right over the Christmas I warmed up a mince pie in the microwave before taking the foil off, not my best moment, I blame the Bucks Fizz! Anybody can overcome these obstacles and get there though.

Here at Voucher Codes Pro we believe that everyone should experience the joy of cooking and that everyone should have at least 10 great dishes in their arsenal with which they can turn to if ever they have to feed guests or whip up something in a hurry.

We got in touch with some of most drool inducing food bloggers out there in the hope of creating a list of important dishes and we got a great mix of responses. I then decided it would be a great idea to get in the kitchen myself and turn the heat up, cooking all ten dishes in one busy afternoon. Phew... I didn’t stop for 6 hours but had a blast and learnt some new skills. It’s amazing how easy some of the dishes are and how tasty.

But first...

A Few Cooking Mysteries

Getting your head around the terminology of cookery blogs and recipe books is often the first hurdle in learning how to rival Nigella. Here are a few of the things that have always baffled me.

The dice, cube, mince confusion

intro-dice,cube,mince

All these terms seemed to me, for a very long time, interchangeable! Surly they’re the same thing! Why does it have to be so complicated?

Well it appears that to cube something requires you to chop it into approximately half inch squares.

Dicing a food involves even more work (I’m liking cubes better already) and requires cubes of about ¼ and even ⅛ of an inch.

Mincing means cutting the food as small as you possibly can. Chop, chop, chop and then chop some more. Who knew cooking could double up as cardio?

Macerate vs marinate

We all know what it means to marinate but what’s all this macerate nonsense? Well my fellow food novices both mean to soak in liquid, however you marinate meats and vegetables whereas you macerate fruit.

The boil/broil conundrum

Two words that sound similar but have completely different meanings!

Boiling is the art of immersing food stuffs into bubbling water until it is cooked. Easy peasy! Broil on the other hand means to cook using direct radiant heat. This can be found when you use coals on a barbecue or the grill in the oven and enables the food to more easily char (burn in my case).


While we’re here and all paying attention it should be noted that baking involves the use of consistent hot air surrounding the food. This air must be still in order to achieve the coveted Mary Berry nice even bake and this is why you should always pre-heat your oven. Something that almost always slips my mind.

kitchen cheat sheet

Glossary of Cooking Terms

Al Dente - Pasta that is a little under done. Mama Mia that’s a good spaghetti!

Baste - A process which keeps food such a meat from becoming drier then the Sahara while cooking in the oven. It involves collecting the cooking juices and putting them back on the joint or bird in the hope they will be reabsorbed.

Batter - Made by combining flour and liquid, among other things, until you get a pourable mixture.

batter

Beat - To mix thoroughly in order to get a smooth consistency by adding as much air as possible, usually done with cake batter, and the leftover residue on the bowl is usually delicious and best gobbled up with fingers while your creation is in the oven.

Blanch - To submerge briefly in boiling water locking in colour and flavour.

Boil - To cook in bubbling water, careful though it’s hot!!

Braise - To brown in a frying pan before slowly cooking in sauce or stock. This method gives you lip smacking tender meat that slides right off the bone.

Caramelise - To heat sugar until it becomes even more mouth-watering and sticky.

Cube - To cut into cubes about ½ inches

Dice - To cut into smaller cubes about ⅛ inches

Deglaze - Adding stock or wine to the bottom of an empty pan you have just cooked with. This can then be heated until you get a jus or gravy.

Emulsify - This is a tricky one and involves binding two ingredient together, such as vinegar and oil for mayonnaise, with a third ingredient such as mustard or eggs.

Filo Pastry - Pastry that is paper thin and made up of layers, usually glazed in butter before cooking. Popular in Middle Eastern and Greek cuisines (mmmm Baklava)

filo pastry

Fold - Folding a lighter mixture into a heavier one. This should be done gingerly so as not to let any air escape.

Flambé - To douse a food in alcohol and then set on fire. Proceed with caution and enjoy.

Garnish - Making the plate look pretty with a sprig of herbs or a tomato cut to look like a rose.

Glaze - To cover with a thin coating of sticky syrup.

Grease - Covering a pan or tray in oil or butter so whatever you're baking, hopefully brownies, doesn't stick to it and turn into a mass of mess.

Hull - To get berries ready for cooking, this involves removing the green leaves and stalks so only the fruit remains.

Julienne - To cut vegetables into thin strips.

Knead - The process of working the gluten in dough. Usually needed for breads and pasta. Involves pressing and stretching to warm the dough and leave an elastic consistency.

knead

Lukewarm - This refers to something that is about body temperature. It can’t be too cold or too hot.

Line - If you can’t grease then you can always line the tray or pan with greaseproof paper or parchment.

Mince - To cut up food in to really small pieces.

Meuniere - Comes from the word fishermen’s wife, and means cooking something in butter after you have drenched in in flour. Best used with fish.

Peeling - To remove the skins off fruit and vegetables.

Pinch - A tiny unit of measurement, the amount held in the tips of ones fingers.

Pre-heat - To heat the oven to the desired temperature before placing the food inside. This is common practice and if a cool oven is needed the recipe should state this.

Reduce - Reducing a liquid or sauce will have a massive impact on flavour, it will intensify it greatly. Boil the sauce stirring continuously until the heat reducing the amount of volume.

Render - This involves cooking meat on a low heat until all the fat melts away.

Sauté - This word comes from the French for to jump. This refers to the way in which the food is quickly moved around the pan until it is lightly browned.

saute

Season - You season food by adding salt and pepper, this should be done lightly as it is much easier to add more than it is to take some out.

Smoke point - The smoke point of fats and oils is the temperature at which they begin to smoke and burn. This often give of a bitter taste and smell. Oils with a high smoke point are best suited immersing the food in oil whereas lower smoke point oils are sometimes best kept for the dressings and drizzles.

Simmer - To heat a liquid almost to boiling point and keep it there.

Thickener - Any substance added to food in order to obtain a thicker consistency. Common ingredients include corn-starch and flour.

Toss - To gently mix ingredients such as salad and fruits together using two utensils. You must adopt a light lifting and dropping motion to get the desired effect.

Umami - Some argue this is the sixth sense the tongue can detect along with sweet sour and salty. It comes from the Japanese for pleasant savoury taste.

umami

Vinegar - A tasty liquid that happens to be a by-product of fermentation. You can find many types that work well with different things, these include Malt, white wine and cider.

Whip - To beat air into a mixture, this adds volume and give a light fluffy texture.

Worcestershire sauce - This sauce, developed in England many years ago is a stable in any chef’s cupboard. It is a pungent mixture of vinegar, anchovies, cloves and molasses and is absolutely delicious. In many country’s it is simple known as English sauce.

Xanthan Gum - A common item used as a thickening agent in items such a yogurt and salad dressings.

Yeast - I small single celled organism that feeds on sugar in dough, it is activated when mixed with warm water and helps the dough to rise.

Zest - The colourful outer section of citrus fruit. This is full of oils and flavoursome in both sweet and savoury dishes. Avoid using the white inner layer as this is bitter.

zest

Tips and Advice

As well as getting to explore tons of mouth-watering recipes I also got the chance to pick the brains of some exceptional foodie bloggers. Asking them which skills, instruments or techniques they consider most valuable in the kitchen.

They were incredibly helpful and came back with loads of ideas. One skill they all seemed to agree on is the importance of cooking eggs correctly (and well)! Funnily enough my lovely colleague noted a lot of people lack this skill and wrote a handy how to guide.

Have a gander at these insightful pieces of wisdom and if you feel inspired let us know which skill you’re glad you learnt or which you’re still too scared to attempt. Until just the other day I was too nervous to attempt baking my own bread, turns out its pretty fun and rewarding.

Sarah: droolworthydaily.com

Learn how to use the right knife for the right foods. Are you wasting time trying to cut up carrots with a paring knife? Stop! If you need somewhere to start, a chef's knife covers the broadest ground. Keep the point touching the cutting board, keep your fingers out of the way and get chopping.
knife
Don't overcook scrambled eggs and omelettes. It's okay. Everyone does it. But once you learn to take them off when they're still a little "wet," you'll realize what you've been missing.

James: thehealthyhangover.com

One of the most essential cookery skills would be basic knife skills. Before cooking always make sure your knives are sharp, this will dramatically reduce the length of preparation time (No getting stuck in big root vegetables!)

Furthermore knife handling will increase the speed you can dice up vegetables and reduce the volume of accidents.

It amazes me how little people take care of their knives and how few know how to dice up an onion efficiently.

Laura: tiltnutrition.co.uk

Here a couple of skills I think everyone should have...

One is learning to cook eggs - they're super versatile and are a great source of protein, vitamin d and lots of other helpful nutrients. If you can learn to cook eggs you'll never go hungry - plus they make a very cost effective meal. You can stir-fry leftover veggies and add eggs to make a frittata (leftovers are great cold in lunchboxes) or poach eggs in tomato sauce (can of tomatoes + chilli + pinch of sugar) for a delicious quick supper - top with feta and parsley. Boil eggs at the beginning of the week and slice over wholegrain toast for a fast breakfast - they keep you feeling fuller longer than breakfast cereal does.

My other tip would be learning to use spices - they add so much flavour to foods, plus they have super benefits for the body. Ginger is a natural painkiller, and can soothe muscle soreness, mint is a natural digestive and turmeric has anti-inflammatory powers. Try a sprinkle of cinnamon on cereal or oatmeal - it helps regulate blood sugars after eating.

Emma: forkandgood.com

I’d say the best skill to master is making your own sauces, dips and marinades. They are so simple to make, taste 100x tastier and are actually much better for you. Most only take a few minutes and they can really make a meal awesome.

If not that, then I’d say learning to crack an egg without getting shell in it!

Cate: cateinthekitchen.co.uk

I think the thing everyone should know how to cook is the most basic thing of all: a fresh tomato sauce. The base for all kinds of delicious dishes but a gorgeous meal in and of itself with pasta. The magic of a bit of garlic, onion and tomato should be known by everyone!
tomato-sauce

Natalie: the-nutritionista.co.uk

Food prepping - food prepping is often the key to making healthy eating that bit simpler, creating delicious healthy meals in big quantities and then dividing these into individual portions to be frozen or enjoyed throughout the week. I often put aside Sunday afternoons and cook up a big batch of quinoa, roast vegetables, chilli, curries or whatever it is I fancy for that week. I then freeze these into individual portions and then no matter how busy my week is I have a healthy meal ready for me when I get in.

Spiralizing - Often people find it difficult to give up their favourite meals like spaghetti bolognese when trying to live a healthier lifestyle. However a spiralizer can create the most delicious pasta and noodle alternatives with courgettes, squash, sweet potatoes and carrots amongst many more. Not only are you getting more vegetables and therefore nutrients into your diet but they taste amazing and feel like you are indulging in your favourite pesto pasta or spaghetti bolognese.

Slow cooking - a slow cooker can be your best friend, especially when you are very busy and haven't got time for lots of food prepping. Bundle in a load of vegetables and meat, leave to simmer while you’re out and tada a delicious flavoursome dish awaits on your return. Slow cooking works really well with meat on the bone as the long cooking time on a low heat makes the meat melt off the bone making for a delicious meal.

Janet: tastespace.wordpress.com

I think everyone should learn how to properly cook their own dried beans. It is not that difficult, costs less and is much healthier than canned beans.

Jane: slice-of-slim.com

Because all my recipes are low fat and for people trying to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight, my favourite tool is the Julienne Peeler!

It gives a professional finish to salads, is simple to use and gives carrots and cucumber a lovely texture when eating large quantities of them.

You can even make courgetti spaghetti with it, saving on all the carbs!

courgetti

Molly: spoonme.weebly.com

When chopping up herbs such as coriander, sprinkle some salt onto the chopping board. This will help the herbs stick to the board and stop flying around. Plus, it helps with the clearing up!

There's also absolutely nothing wrong with freezing. We're all guilty of wasting too much food. If you're making a sauce for dinner, but you've made too much you can freeze the sauce in an ice cube tray. The cubes can easily be heated in pan ready for your next meal. Good tip for students!

Lucy:

Learning to cook is about being creative and experimenting with ingredients. Try things out, remember what works and you will naturally become a better cook with practice

The main event!

So after a few weeks of planning, writing and recipe gathering it was finally time to start thinking about the main event. The question was where to start?

I knew I wanted to bash all the dishes out in one go, partly to prove to myself I was a culinary wizard but mostly because I'm a great believer that 10 dishes are always better than one!

The first step taken before embarking on the undertaking of this mammoth feast was to gather all the ingredients. As I don't drive I headed straight to Tesco.com and began filling my basket with all the fresh produce I needed. Adding a cheeky £12 off your first order code to my bill at the checkout meant I bagged the entire ten dishes for less than £55 including delivery. Not too shabby right?

Once all the shopping had been delivered and the kitchen was sparkling we got to work starting with...

Slow Cooker Carnitas

White loaf made with yogurt

Nutella & Banana Crescents

crescents

A Bowl of Chicken wings

Courgette, Spinach & Feta Filo Tarts

filo-tarts

Roasted Mediterranean Vegetables

med-veg

Blueberry Crumble

Chicken & Squid Paella

paella

Spaghetti Carbonara Frittata

Ricotta pancakes

- Slow Cooker Carnitas -

apple tart

Serves: 4-6

Prep Time: 10-15 mins

Cook Time: 6-8 hours

Total Time: 6-8 hours 10-15 mins

Shopping list:

  • 5lb pork shoulder
  • 1 Bottle of robust beer
  • 2tbs of olive oil
  • Half a tsp of Salt, pepper, cumin, paprika, cayenne pepper, chilli
  • 1 jalapeno
  • 1 lime
  • 4 cloves of garlic crushed
  • 60ml of BBQ or Chilli sauce
bread-ingredients

This recipe was suggested by Jess of Bigcitylittleblog.com. This little blog is charming and choc a bloc with fun and tasty things to see and do.

Jess says...

Everyone should have one killer slow-cooker recipe in their repertoire. The amount of work that goes into a dish like this is exponentially less than the depth of flavor that you get out of it.

I love this pulled pork/carnita recipe because it’s very versatile. You can make tacos, serve it on a bed of spinach, stick it in a sandwich, or serve it on top of polenta. It’s really delicious.

Carnitas is a Mexican pulled pork dish meaning “little meat” and involves slow cooking until the meat is tender. We ran into our first snag due to the fact that we didn’t have a slow cooker but a little detective work online revealed you could get the same effect by simply placing the ingredients in a large pan and covering. That was a close one!

Everybody loves pulled pork! You can stuff it in burgers and buns, wrap it up with fajitas, bake it with pasta and cheese, pile it on a sandwich or even just serve it naked with a few crispy chips. This show stopper will really impress any guests and will knock the socks off your partner come date night.

Don’t let the cooking time put you off when it comes to slow cooking recipes. More often than not the recipes are easy to follow and the prep time is minimal. As this was the first dish me and my willing helper were raring to go and bursting with enthusiasm.

All you needed to do was to pre-heat the oven to medium/high heat and pop all the ingredients in the pot chopping up the peppers and garlic first of course. Easy as pie!

pulled-pork-before-oven

The hardest part was restraining myself from peeking in the pot to check its progress every time I opened the oven for the rest of the afternoon.

By the time all 10 dishes were cooked to perfection the pork had been slow cooking for 6 hours. It was wonderfully moist, succulent and flaked apart like a dream. The sauce did not quite thicken up and go sticky but I’m sure this was due to the time restraints we were under, I had 7 hungry people sat around the table at this point, rather than the recipe.

Click here for the full recipe: bigcitylittleblog.com/slow-cooker-carnitas

- White loaf made with yogurt -

apple tart

Serves: 8-10

Prep Time: 2 hours

Cook Time: 35 mins

Total Time: 2 hour 35 mins

Shopping list:

  • 7g of Yeast
  • 200ml warm water
  • 100g low fat natural Yogurt
  • 425g strong white bread flour
bread-ingredients

This take on the great British loaf was brought to the table by Helen from Fussfreeflovours.com, she focuses on good heathy meals and places great emphasis on shopping locally for better quality produce.

Helen says...

An easy to make beautifully soft white loaf, perfect for toasting or sandwiches. If you have not tried baking bread before start with this recipe.

Aside from an extremely ill-advised stint on Atkins I have always eaten bread every day, often more than once. Along with eggs and milk it is one of the things people have in their kitchens without fail. Yet so few of us make our own, present company included. This is a crying shame.

The really great thing about making your own bread is that you know exactly what is going in the dough. Many supermarket brands are riddled with secret nasties and things you can’t pronounce (What is calcium propionate anyway?)

Making your own bread is therapeutic, trust me! I was really nervous about this dish more than any other as it was completely new territory and after a shaky start where my hands turned, briefly, into dough flippers it all came together and proofed (get it) to be quite fun.

All you have to do is wake up the yeast with a little warm water and then add the remaining ingredients. Mix this into a dough and begin to knead. Once the dough is well kneaded, this took longer than I suspected and I very nearly started over thinking I had ruined it beyond repair, simply pop some cling film over and leave in a warm place for an hour.

After an hour you will feel great pride if your dough has doubled in size as it should, you then pop it in a loaf tin and leave for a further 45 minutes. The last step is to bake until golden brown.

For the full recipe visit Helen here: fussfreeflavours.com/recipe-white-loaf-made-yogurt

- Nutella & Banana Crescents -

apple tart

Serves: 8

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 12-15 mins

Total Time: 22-25 mins

Shopping list:

  • 1 pack of ready rolled puff pastry
  • 1 banana
  • 1 jar of Nutella
  • 1 egg
crescent-ingredients

While the pork is slow cooking and the bread is proofing we decided to move on to the Nutella Crescents. This recipe is by far the simplest and was suggested by Missie, it even comes with a diagram to run you through the process.

Missie says...

This is one of my favourite sweet recipes because, who doesn't LOVE Nutella!? These are easy peasy to make and so majorly yummy! And MUCH cheaper than buying something like that out!

All you have to do is cut the pastry into triangles and pop in as much Nutella as you fancy. We went for a heaped teaspoonful. Add on a healthy layer of sliced banana, roll up in to crescents and pop in the oven. We found it rather hard to roll into crescents as we started with a rectangle of pastry rather than a square. This left us with obtuse triangles rather than right angles, but you win some, you lose some and they still tasted great.

crescent-construction

You could even mix it up a bit with the filling, I’m thinking peanut butter, salted caramel and any fruit you can think of. Trust me guys, make these little parcels of joy and soon the whole household will turn into Pavlov’s dogs as soon as they catch a whiff of them in the oven.

I will admit that we had some of these hot out of the oven. By this point lunch was 6 hours behind us and there was still a great deal of cooking to go before we could rest. They were scrummy! WARNING: Real danger of scalding mouth/tongue on boiling Nutella, take the first bite with caution!

To get Missies full recipe click here: www.missiecindz.com/recipes-2

- A Bowl of Chicken wings -

apple tart

Serves: 4

Prep Time: 5 mins

+ 8 hours marinading

Cook Time: 40 mins

Total Time: 45 mins

Shopping list:

  • 800g free-range, organic chicken wings
  • 3 tbsp runny honey
  • 1 tbsp wholegrain mustard
  • 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
  • Juice of 1 lemon
  • Olive oil
  • Seasoning
chicken-wings-ingredients

Rosie from alittlelusciousness.com gave us this wonderful bowl of chicken. Her blog has a little bit of everything including tons of month watering food and travel ideas and advice.

Rosie says...

I adore this recipe as it's quick, easy and pretty much fool proof, and who doesn't love a chicken wing, or 5?! I make these after a long day at work, when the housemates are home, and knock up a load of them for everyone to tuck in to with a glass of cold beer. You can add spice if you want, by sprinkling a few chilli flakes on before or after cooking. Just make sure you go free range - they're cheap as chips and you won't get any of the nasties. And if you speak to your butcher nicely you might even get them for free - a lot of butchers chop the wings off whole birds so don't have use for them anyway!

A good chicken dish will see you through many culinary adventures. Sticky sweet yet savoury foods are always popular. They satisfy all the senses. As far as chicken goes wings are the best for sharing. It doesn’t matter if you are a nibbler or a stripper this recipe is just the ticket.

The wings are never my first choice when it comes to chicken, I’m a leg girl through and through, however my partner loves them so this dish excited me as I’m always looking for new ways to cook him up dinners he’ll relish.

The best thing about this recipe, beside the ease with which you can make it, is that apart from the wings themselves all the ingredients are already hiding in most cupboards. The dish recommends mixing up the marinade and leaving the meat in the fridge to soak up flavours for 8 hours while you’re out and about dealing with the daily grind. However as we only had the wings delivered at four we had to settle for a two hour speed marinate.

chicken-sauce

The wings were hot and tasty when they came out of the oven. As you can see from the picture I turned my back for 2 seconds to grab my camera and half the pile had gone. Cheeky blighters!

To get Rosie’s full recipe visit her at alittlelusciousness.com/2014/08/a-bowl-of-chicken-wings.html

- Courgette, spinach & feta filo tarts -

filo-tarts

Serves: 8

Prep Time: 20 mins

Cook Time: 15-20 mins

Total Time: 35-40 mins

Shopping list:

  • 1 courgette
  • 1 white onion, chopped
  • 100g spinach
  • 15g pine nuts
  • 75g feta, crumbled
  • 8 sheets of filo pastry
  • 1 egg
  • Seasoning
  • Olive oil
filo-tarts-ingredients

This is our second pastry dish and no wonder! Pastry is pure indulgent comfort food and the whole team here at Voucher Codes Pro made a unanimous decision that a good tart is a must on any list like this.

These super nutritious tarts were recommended by Emily at recipesandreviews.co.uk. A fun blog with handy guides and many delicious macaroon recipes.

Emily says...

I love this recipe because it's so simple to rustle up and can be adapted to different veggies or cheese! It's so easy just to make a batch of them for a party, bake sale or to take in for a week's lunches. Even Mary Berry said she doesn't always make her own filo pastry - the perfect excuse to buy a pack of ready-made and fill away with your favourite combinations! Perhaps try with red peppers, goat's cheese, spinach, broccoli, red onions or mushrooms.

I, like many women, get very conflicted when faced with this buttery treat. My heart screams for me to eat it while my head cowers in the corner crying over the caloric content. That’s where the filo comes in!

This lighter wafer thin pastry won’t undo all your hard work if you’re watching your weight plus all those yummy veggies incorporated will help your skin and hair to shine. If this still hasn't persuaded you to give this dish a go well you know…. there’s cheese in it!

To make these cute hand held tarts all you need to do is line the muffin tin with pastry. We had a little trouble getting this to look as tidy as it does in Emily’s photos, filo can be tricky at times but we got there in the end.

Next fry off your filling ingredients. Once these are nice and soft spoon in to the filo and top generously with feta. Viola! They are ready for the oven.

filo-tarts before oven

These kept rather well in the fridge overnight and went down a treat at work the next day.

If this recipe has sparked your appetite visit Emily here and get the full instructions.

- Roasted Mediterranean Vegetables -

filo-tarts

Serves: 2-4

Prep Time: 20 mins

Cook Time: 40 mins

Total Time: 1 hour

Shopping list:

  • 1 aubergine
  • 2 courgettes
  • 2 red onions
  • 2 peppers
  • 1 fennel bulb
  • 5 chestnut mushrooms
  • 1 tsp rosemary
  • ½ bunch fresh basil
  • Glug of olive oil
  • Seasoning
  • Drizzle of balsamic vinegar
med-veg-ingredients

This dish was suggested by Laura as it is the most popular post featured on her blog howtocookgoodfood.co.uk. Laura is an ex chef and it is clear from her writing that she truly loves food and certainly knows how to put flavours together.

Laura says...

I love this dish as it is not only packed full of sunny Mediterranean flavours but it is healthy and so simple to prepare. The roasted vegetables are such a versatile recipe. I like to make up a big batch and use them in different ways such as in salads, with plenty of basil, served with cous cous or quinoa, added to summer tarts/quiches or served as a side dish for a BBQ. They are a regular feature in my kitchen, I hope you like them too.

What is your favourite thing about a tray of perfectly cooked med veg? For me it is the colours, a dish so simply put together that when it is done right, it hits all the right buttons and is a great side option.

Recipes like this are so important purely because they often get forgotten at the bottom of the oven. People have a tendency to focus so much on the main course that they forget it's all the little touches that make things what they are in the end. You know you’ve done well when your guests complement the humble side veggies even more so then they do the huge hunk of meat.

It couldn't be easier to prepare either. Do a bit of chunky chopping, add a glug of good quality olive oil and you're good to go! I enjoyed both preparing and eating this accompaniment. I find dicing calming. Everybody dining with us seemed to agree as well, I believe one lowly slice of aubergine was all that remained in the porcelain come washing up time.

med-veg-before-oven

Find the full instructions by Laura here: howtocookgoodfood.co.uk/2011/04/roasted-mediterranean-vegetables-with-fresh-basil

- Blueberry Crumble -

crumble

Serves: 6-8

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 40 mins

Total Time: 50 mins

Shopping list:

  • 750g blueberries
  • 130g spelt Flour
  • 65g brown stevia bugar
  • Juice of 1 lemon + zest
  • 8tbsp of butter
  • 130g almonds
crumble-ingredients

Rhubarb and strawberry crumble was one of the first things my mother ever taught me to cook. There is a special kind of pleasure to be had when rolling the butter and flour between your fingers and the possibilities that open up to you when picking both topping and filling are endless.

This blueberry crumble sparked my interest right away. It was offered up by Carly from carlyrowena.com . She is a personal trainer and her blog deals with both fitness and nutrition. This recipe is yummy and feels super indulgent yet is easy on the old love handles thanks to a few clever tweaks.

Carly says...

Because everyone loves a crumble and what's even better is this one won't leave you feeling like you need to loosen your jeans or head to the gym, it's simple, tasty and your mum would be proud!

I was bought back to my childhood whilst preparing this treat. All you have to do is cover the blueberries in in sugar and lemon, get your hands dirty rubbing the other ingredients into a buttery crumble and pop in the oven.

crumble-before-oven

Oh boy did this dish have an impact! The blueberries, once cooked, released a tidal wave of sticky and deeply staining juice. The smell was divine and the crumble was among some of the best this small dinner party had ever had the pleasure to sample. In fact two guests had the recipe tucked safely away in their inbox by the time they left that night. Success!

Check out the full recipe right here, you won't look back!

- Chicken & Squid Paella -

paella

Serves: 6-8

Prep Time: 10 mins

Cook Time: 40 mins

Total Time: 50 mins

Shopping list:

  • 4 chicken thigh fillets
  • 150g white rice
  • 700ml good chicken stock
  • 150g squid rings
  • 1 bulb of garlic
  • 1/2 tsp of paprika
  • 10 strands of saffron
  • Seasoning
paella-ingrediants

Alex from hungrylittleblog.com bought forward the idea of Paella and the whole office agreed it is a real crowd pleaser. Alex’s blog is still fairly new however she is certainly one to watch with her Spanish and French roots. All her food is beautifully presented and thoroughly explained.

Alex says...

When you hear "paella" you instantly think of sunny Spain. For us, paella is like the roast dinner you have with family or friends on a weekend. It brings people together.

This is the kind of dish that will impress family and friends and you will be surprised how easy it is to make!

This recipe is simple and can be easily adapted to your liking. If you are a vegetarian, just skip the chicken and add green beans and peppers or add prawns and other seafood for a seafood paella. After all, paella was a dish created to use the leftovers, especially the fish and seafood that were going to go off if not used. Just make sure you cook it all together and in the same pan so the rice absorbs all the flavours. Use a pan and not a pot as this will help the rice cook evenly and use a good flavoursome stock whether it is chicken, vegetable or fish stock, this is what will give it its taste. And don’t forget to use paella rice!

For me, this recipe takes me back home, to summery days with the family and a glass of sangria! I hope you enjoy it and love it as much as we do at home!

A paella is the perfect one pot wonder, these are important as they can be thrown together at the last minute with little fuss or dashing out to grab ingredients. This one features succulent chicken thighs and juicy squid rings, perfect for summer. Saffron gives this a lovely deep yellow colour while the stock infuses the rice with a deep meaty flavour. Who could resist!

This was dish 8 out of 10, and things were moving along by this time. I and my Sous chef were finding it increasingly difficult to keep everybody out of the kitchen. This was made harder still by the fact that a few bottles of chilled white had been popped open when we had vowed to get all the cooking out of the way before having a well-earned (*cough* Bottle) glass.

Nevertheless we persevered and the constant stirring of the rice was calming in the face of chaos! There were multiple tasked to attend to by then. The perfectly cooked rice and chunky chicken thighs were a success. People were going up for seconds and the pan was scraped clean minimising the washing up. Result!

Check out the full recipe here and don't be surprised when you find another couple to cook!

- Spaghetti Carbonara Frittata -

Spaghetti Carbonara Frittata

Serves: 4-6

Prep Time: 20 mins

Cook Time: 10 mins

Total Time: 30 mins

Shopping list:

  • 200g spaghetti
  • 125g sliced thick cut ham
  • 6 free range eggs
  • Large handful of wild garlic - (or chives/parsley)
  • Seasoning
  • 100g strong cheese
  • Olive oil
spag-carb-ingredients

This quirky filling dish was suggested by Claire. Her blog is foodiequine.co.uk and it is a treat. Filled with sophisticated flavours and reviews on must have gadgets.

Claire says...

A Frittata is such a great basic meal to master and can be adapted to pretty much whatever you have lurking in the fridge. This one uses spaghetti but you can use any pasta or stick to the traditional potato version.

Putting a twist on a classic dish is one of the ways you can keep things exciting in the kitchen, it’s also one of the ways some classics were born. Take chicken Tikka Masala for instance, the story goes that during the 70s in Glasgow a man complained that his chicken tikka was dry. The chef was eager to please and immediately set about concocting a sauce to remedy this. Just like that the most popular dish to ever grace the menus of a thousand curry houses up and down the country was born.

This was another dish that was super easy to make, which was a blessing as it was getting on 10pm by this point and my guests were in danger of ordering take away! All I had to do was boil up the pasta and add it in with all the other goodies in the frying pan. Once it is nicely cooked on underside give it few minutes under the grill to bubble at the top and melt the cheese.

I only wish my house was shorter person friendly, my grill is ridiculously high up and that was one heavy cast iron pan to be lifting above my shoulders. This dish looks extremely appetizing and there was even a sliver left for breakfast the next day, much to the Mr’s delight. He went carb on carb and had it in a sandwich with Ketchup. That’s my boy!

Find the original step by step post here.

- Ricotta pancakes -

Ricotta Pancakes

Serves: 4-6

Prep Time: 30 mins

Cook Time: 10 mins

Total Time: 40 mins

Shopping list:

  • 150g ricotta
  • 75g plain flour
  • 75ml organic, full-fat milk
  • 25g caster sugar
  • 25g butter
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • ¼ tsp bicarbonate of soda
  • Greek yogurt
  • Stewed fruits
pancakes-ingredients

A few bloggers got in touch with their pancake dishes however from the get go it was clear we were going to use Patrick and Russell’s from gastrogays.com. Their blog just popped more than the others with stunning images and great regional dishes.

Patrick and Russell says...

Everyone loves pancakes and everyone has a personal preference about how they like their fluffy flippers. Thin crêpes; silver dollar-style stacks drizzled in syrup; toasted pancakes from supermarket packets – what's amazing about pancakes is how diverse they are. Whether you take them sweet or savoury (or think that anything more than sugar and lemon is blasphemy) we always advise on bulking out your batter with our top secret tip, ricotta! Sounds weird, but this soft cheese really works. Ricotta turns these often dense, over-indulgent fried cakes into a light and balanced, heavenly treat. Packed full of protein, these are great for lazy weekend brunches, healthy mid-week breakfasts and after-dinner treats, plus they're made in seconds on a hot pan!

Pancakes are forever, not just for Shrove Tuesday! These circular hotcakes are hands down one of the most enjoyable things to eat. It doesn’t matter if they are fat fluffy ones oozing with maple syrup or thin crepes zesty with lemon and sugar, they all taste great!

Some people like them for breakfast and others think they make a great dessert. However and whenever you serve them, one thing is for sure, you should know how to make them!

It was decided that we would cook up these baby’s once all the other food had been gobbled up. This is purely due to the fact that a cold pancake is a sad thing and we all agreed scalding hot from the pan was better.

This was probably the most complicated recipe we were given but perhaps also the most rewarding. When I saw the finished stack I was damn proud!

Your first step is to stew your fruit. Next you mix the wet (saving the egg whites) ingredients together including melted butter and give everything a whisk. Then mix the dry components and add to the wet. Whisk the whites until firm then fold into the batter. Once the batter has rested you’re ready to cook.

Not gonna lie to you now guys, we have come so far together so I’ll come clean! Making the perfect pancake is a skill you need to learn and it took my unskilled hand a fair few attempted to get the pillowy soft perfection depicted in the pictures.

Fear not however, every single less then symmetrical pancake I tried tasted like haven. I even whipped up a batch of them for my niece’s birthday the following week and she gave me a hearty thumbs up with syrup dripping down her chin and everything. Delicious.

If you want to give these a go find the full list instructions here.

Well wasn’t that a whirlwind of scents, techniques, ingredients and flavours? I hope you had as much fun reading as I did in the kitchen.

The really great thing about all these recipes is how versatile they are, swapping out ingredients you don’t like and adding ones you love is easy and the perfect way to make these dishes your own.

I just want to say a big thank you to each and every one of the great foodie bloggers who kindly helped me write this piece, not only did they help me to create one hell of a meal they also gave me some strong recipes that will stay with me awhile...

Bon appétit guys and gals!