Get your children cooking!

Everyone has a favourite recipe or two for their own special treats. My children have a few recipes up their sleeves and quite enjoy getting every kitchen utensil out of the drawers and cupboards, flouring all of the kitchen surfaces including the floor, and baking some goodies to eat. Personally, I think that it is a good thing to get your children cooking at home. I choose to let my children get on with it and close my eyes when I am in the kitchen, or better still just stay out of the kitchen and only help when they need to use the oven!

This weekend my eldest (age 10) and youngest (age 7), along with some friends, decided to make some cheese biscuits and some chocolate crispies. 

The end products were equally brilliant. I particularly liked the cheese biscuits, which could be gobbled up just plain. They were very tasty and could easily be served with a blob of tomato relish and a small sprig of basil on top accompanied with a glass of wine.

So go on, let your children experiment in the kitchen. They really can cook some wonderful treats. Just ignore the trail of flour, butter, egg and sugar. It really is worth it.

Cheesy biscuits

These biscuits are a great recipe for children to follow and cook. They also make great biscuits to have with drinks before dinner. You can serve them plain, or to make them more like a canape add some chopped tomato and garlic drizzled with a light dressing and top them with some sprigs of basil. Delicious!

Cheesy nibbles

INGREDIENTS

Makes 30 biscuits

200g/4oz plain flour

100g/4oz unsalted butter

2 yolks of a medium sized eggs

10 teaspoons of cold water

150g/6oz grated cheddar

METHOD

1.Pre-heat your oven to 190 C/375 F/Gas mark 5. Grease two baking trays.

2. Sift the flour into a large bowl. Cut the butter into chunks and add to the bowl, then rub the butter into the flour with your fingers until the mixture looks like breadcrumbs.

3. Mix the egg yolks and water in a separate bowl. Put four teaspoons of this mixture in a separate cup to brush over the biscuits later.

4. Stir half of the grated cheese into the big bowl and then stir in the egg mixture to make a dough.

5. Squeeze the dough into a ball and cover with clingfilm. Put the dough in the fridge to rest for 30 minutes.

6. Sprinkle flour onto a work surface and roll out the dough until it is about 1cm thick.

7. Using pastry cutters, cut out lots of shapes and put them on to the baking tray. gather together the pastry scraps, roll them out and cut out more biscuits.

8. Brush the shapes with the remaining egg mixture reserved in the cup. Sprinkle the biscuits with the remaining grated cheese.

9. Bake the shapes for 12 minutes until they are golden brown. Leave them on a wire rack to cool.

Chocolate crispies

INGREDIENTS

Makes 10

225g/8oz plain chocolate

50g/2oz unsalted butter

2 tablespoons of golden syrup

100g/40oz cornflakes

METHOD

1.Put 10 paper cases into the holes of a baking tray.

2. Break the chocolate into pieces and put them into a large pan. Add the butter and the golden syrup to the pan.

3. Heat and stir the mixture very gently until the chocolate is melted.  

4. Turn off the heat and add the cornflakes to the mixture. Stir the cornflakes until they are coated in the chocolate mixture.

5. Spoon the mixture into the paper cases. Then leave them to set in a fridge for half an hour.

6. Eat them all up!

Dinner Party Club Menu

Every 6 weeks or so I get together with a group of friends and we take it in turns to make and take one of the three courses for our gathering. We have a glass or two of wine, chat and eat. It is a great way to catch up with your friends. It is also relatively stress free as you only cook one of the courses every twelve weeks and we also get to try out new dishes.

For our recent gathering the menu consisted of watermelon and green bean salad with grilled Halloumi for the starter. This is a simple yet deliciously refreshing dish.  Our main was a wonderfully aromatic ensemble of Lamb Koftas served with a spicy tomato sauce, greek yoghurt, cous cous with roasted vegetables and flat breads. I was assigned the pudding dish and opted to make a Vanilla Pannacotta served with a fruit compote. 

Pannacotta is rich and unctuous. It’s like eating a bowl of delicious ice-cream that is at fridge temperature, not frozen. I like to serve pannacotta with a fruit compote. The acidity of the fruit works well with the cream. Serving a few biscuits alongside the pudding adds a crunchy dimension to the dish which I quite like. The three dishes worked very well together and so did the diners!

Watermelon & green bean salad with grilled Halloumi

This dish is very refreshing, in fact it is perfect for a hot sunny day. You can serve this dish as a starter or a main course by just increasing the portion sizes. I do not have the exact recipe for this dish, however it is a pretty straight forward dish that is quick to make, fun to throw together and totally delicious. It goes something like this.....


INGREDIENTS & METHOD
Green beans, blanched for 1 minute in boiling water and then run under a cold tap. Drain and set to one side
Watermelon, cut into chunks
Slices of Halloumi, grilled
Olive oil and lemon juice dressing, salt and pepper to season

Lamb Koftas

INGREDIENTS

Serves 4

500g minced lamb

1 tsp ground cumin

2 tsp ground coriander

2 fat garlic cloves, crushed

1 tbsp chopped mint

oil for brushing

SERVE WITH

Make a tomato sauce (see sauces recipes) and make it spicy with a dash of harissa

Greek Yoghurt 

Cous Cous with roasted vegetables of your choice and herbs

Cous Cous with roasted aubergine, feta and basil

METHOD FOR LAMB KOFTAS 

1. Mix together all the ingredients until well blended. Divide into 8 balls, then roll each ball on a board with a cupped hand to turn them into ovals.

2. Thread onto 4 metal skewers and brush with oil. To cook on a griddle: heat the pan until you can feel a good heat rising and cook for 3-4 mins each side. Don't turn until they are well sealed or the meat will stick to the grill or pan. Season if you want, and set aside. Serve the koftas with Greek Yoghurt, spiced flat breads and cous cous with 

Vanilla pannacotta with fruit compote

Pannacotta is rich and unctuous. It’s like eating a bowl of delicious ice-cream that is at fridge temperature, not frozen. I like to serve pannacotta with a fruit compote. The acidity of the fruit works well with the cream. Serving a few biscuits alongside the pudding add a crunchy dimension to the dish.

INGREDIENTS

Serves 6

1 vanilla pod

900ml/1 ½ pints double cream

50g/2oz caster sugar

3 gelatine leaves

METHOD

1. Split the vanilla pod in half lengthways, scrape out the seeds and add them to a saucepan with 600ml/1 pint of cream and sugar. Heat the cream on a low heat, stirring until the sigar has completely dissolved. Turn t he heat up slightly and allow the cream to boil. Remove from the heat immedialtely.

2. Place the gelatine in a bowl and cover with cold water. Allow the gelatine to soften. Once the gel;atine is soft, remove it form the water and squeeze out the excess water.

3. Add the gelatine to the heated cream and whisk until it has all dissolved. Leave to cool but do not refrigerate.

4. Whisk the remaining 300ml/10 floz cream until it forms soft peaks. Fold the whipped cream, into the cooled vanilla cream.

5. Pour the cream into greased moulds that hold 150ml/5floz of liquid (dariole moulds work the best). Leave to set in the fridge for at least 4 hours. You can make the pannacotta a day in advance.

TO SERVE

Pour some boiling water into a bowl and dip the moulds into the water for a few seconds, taking care not to allow the water to flow into the pannacotta. Turn the pannacotta out onto a plate (ease them out with a knife to break the suction).

Surround the pannacotta with the fruit compote and add a few fresh berries to the top of the pudding. Serve with biscuits.