novel34

This recipe showcases Capellini pasta.    Capellini is not something which I have had a very easy time finding here in the UK actually. Capellini, or angel hair pasta traditionally cooks in a fraction of the time as regular pastas.  I decided to do an all in one pan dish, with the pasta actually cooking in the sauce.  I thought Capellini would be perfect for this because of it's shorter cooking time. I used fresh chorizo sausage, which was easily crumbled and gave the sauce a bit of a kick.  Feel free to use the dried version as well.  Both are good. Some tinned chopped tomatoes, a tin of drained borlotti beans, some frozen peas along with onion, garlic and stock and I had a very delicious entree indeed, and all in one pan. I like it when I can cut back on the washing up don't you???   All in all it made for a lovely and fairly quick supper.  A scattering of grated cheddar on top and we were good to go.  The pasta worked very well...

It's no secret.  I love, LOVE potatoes.  Low carb doesn't work for me.  I cannot live without potatoes.  It's as simple as that.  They are my favourite vegetable.   I love them any way I can get them . . . boiled, mashed, steamed, fried . . . but my favourite of all is BAKED!  I just adore baked, or jacket potatoes as they are sometimes called.  In fact my very first meal here in the UK back in 2000 was a jacket potato topped with cheese at a little cafe in Euston station whilst we were waiting to catch our train up here to Chester.   So as you can imagine I was thrilled when the Bannisters' Farm people asked me if I would like to try some of their frozen potato products.  I am no stranger to the 4 ready baked potatoes packet.  I've been buying them regularly since I first spied them in the shops a couple of years ago.  I just adore them.   You can have one baked and on the table in 6 minutes, which is pretty handy, but i...

I got a fabulous hamper  in the post the other day. I love it when that happens.  Nestled inside was .this!! Everything that anyone could possibly need to cook a delicious Roast Beef Dinner, with fresh carrots, potatoes, parsnips, broccoli, a joint of beef, a lovely porcelain gravy boat and these gravy pots from Knorr ! I have long been familiar with the Knorr stock pots and use them frequently, but I have not had a lot of experience with the gravy pots.  I was interested to learn that Knorr Gravy Pots have wond the Gravy/Stock category in the product of the year awards for 2014!  Exciting news for Knorr! Launched in 2012, and now available in three flavours . . .  Beef, Chicken and Onion . . . these gravy pots provide a quick and easy accompaniement to any roast dinner.   Igor Zago:  (Knorr Professional Chef and mastermind behind Gravy Pots) "Myself and the team that created this fantastic product are extremely proud of winning this award.  I ...

    I picked up a few chicken crowns at the grocery store last week that were on for a really nice price.   They were only £3.  We like chicken in this house.  I think it's probably the one protein we eat the most of. A chicken crown is like a turkey crown except it's chicken.   The legs are removed and in this case the wings as well.  What you end up with is a nice compact sized roast, with the bone and skin intact, which you can still stuff if you like. I created a simple bread stuffing for this one I cooked the other day.  It was not a huge amount, just enough to slip between the skin and the meat of the chicken breast, but it helped to keep the chicken really nice and moist.   With the excess amount, I simply grated a small sweet potato and mixed it in and then baked it in a casserole along side of the chicken.  It was really tasty! I made a tasty bread sauce to have as well.   Bread sauce is a lovely sauce...

  As you all know I occasionally get sent products to try.  I was recently contacted and asked if I would like to try some of  the Garofalo range of gluten free pastas.  New to the UK since last autumn it is made with a combination of corn, quinoa and rice.  I'm not normally a fan of quinoa, but I figured that it wouldn't really matter if it was in a pasta and not served as a grain on it's own. I was sent a package of Penne Rigate and a package of  Casarecce.  (Don't ask me to pronounce that last one!)  As you can see from the package they looked just like regular pasta. From their page: Can a producer of ‘normal pasta’, using a raw material containing the best gluten, produce an excellent gluten free pasta? The answer is in our philosophy and focus on the product: Good taste is a right.  We set our selves the objectives of creating a product with the knowledge that Garofalo pasta is synonymous with the experience of taste. We knew that the...

One thing I like to make each year for the Holidays is my Christmas Chutney.   It's sooooo good and makes a wonderful change from the regular Cranberry Sauce. It has a tiny bit of a bite, which you can adjust by the amount of chili's you add.  I usually err on the side of caution because we don't really like things that are tooooo hot, but by all means you can adjust it to your own tastes. I always make enough for us to have here at home (it goes so well with all sorts of meats and cheeses) and I make some to give as gifts to our friends.  I think they would be quite disappointed if I didn't have some for them each year! There is nothing really out of the ordinary in it.  It's basically just fresh cranberries, chopped onion, sultanas, citrus peel, vinegar, two sugars, and a mix of tasty spices.  It goes together lickety split, and tastes better with each day that passes. It's great with your Christmas Dinner, and then after Christmas with the leftovers...

  When I was a very young bride, many moons ago the old Italian mother of a friend of mine taught me about making slits into pork and beef roasts and inserting slivers of garlic to add fabulous flavours to the meat.  It made such a wonderful difference I have been doing it ever since.   And it doesn't take a lot to add a real flavour boost. Honey is another thing which goes really well with pork, and garlic for that matter.   Pork is naturally kind of a sweet meat, and very rich.  Honey helps to accentuate that richness very well.   Think honey garlic spareribs . . .but there is no soy in this recipe.  Not needed. I use orange juice instead, because you know pork is also a meat that goes very well with fruit . . . A lot of the flavour comes from the rub mixture of salt, pepper, paprika and thyme.  It's such a simple way to get extra flavour and colour.    The combination of the rub, the sauce . . . heavenly. A bit of ...