Greek BBQ on a Summer's evening

This is more of a Meze with a little BBQ on the side (to keep Dad happy) on such a gorgeous evening like tonight, I thought I'd transport us back to Greece with our own Big Fat Greek Feast.  I had just veg kebabs, being a veggie and all, but stuck some chicken on the others for my parents.

Home made Tzatziki, Greek Salad, Fried courgettes, Veg and spicy chicken Kebabs and Pitta

For the Tzatziki:

5 Tbsp Greek Yoghurt

2 Cloves of grated  garlic

Juice of 1/2 a lemon

2 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp white wine vinegar

A small bunch of mint finely chopped

Half a cucumber, peeled and grated

The main reason most people get this dip wrong is because they put the cucumber straight in without salting them, doing this will make a watery, flavourless Tzatziki.  So once grated, put in a sieve and cover with salt, leave them for about 10 minutes, then push them down and see how much water comes out! Pat with some kitchen towel and literally mix everything above together and voila.

For the Greek Salad:

Half a cucumber

A handful of cherry tomatoes

Quarter of a red onion

A red pepper

Half a block of feta

2 tbsp Olive oil

1/2 tbsp White wine vinegar

1 tsp Oregano

As with the cucumber, once you have halved the tomatoes, put them in a sieve, cover in salt and leave them for 10 minutes, when you come back, give them a good shake and watch all that flavourless water leave, leaving you with gorgeous jam-packed-with-flavour cherry toms!

Chop everything else up fairly small (the onion finely diced) and chuck it all in a salad bowl.

In a jar, pour in your oil and vinegar, cover and shake vigorously to form an emulsion.  Pour over the salad.  Sprinkle with your oregano and there you have it.

For the fried courgettes:

One courgette

4 tbsp plain flour

1 Egg

75 ml sparkling water (maybe more if it needs loosening)

400ml vegetable oil

4 ice cubes

Flour for dusting

Using a peeler, peel the courgette lengthways to form lots of thin ribbons, keep doing until the courgette disappears!  In a bowl, coat them in flour (to ensure the batter sticks to them).

At this point, put a medium sized pan on a high heat and add your oil.

In a mixing bowl, whisk the egg and flour, then stir in the sparkling water until you get a pancake type batter.  Add some salt and pepper to taste.  Put your ice cubes in.  The sparking water and very cold batter (in contrast to very hot oil) will make you the lightest most perfect batter (I use this as a tempura batter too).

You can tell your oil is hot enough by dropping a small piece of courgette in the oil, if it floats and bubbles, it is hot enough.  (please see post below regarding hot-oil-etiquette). 

Coat your ribbons in batter, allowing most to drip off back into the bowl, then GENTLY drop into the pan.  I found I could have no more than 4 in the pan at the time.  Note they will cook almost instantly and float, so using a skimmer, turn them over to ensure both sides are brown and lift out (I had a warm oven at the ready to keep them warm as I did the others).

When serving, squeeze a little lemon juice and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

For the kebabs:

1/2 a yellow pepper

1/2 a red pepper

2 Handfuls of button mushrooms

1/2 a red onion

2 chicken breasts (I used pre-marinated garlic chilli ones from Waitrose)

2 grated garlic cloves

a few lugs of olive oil

Roughly chop the veg so they are fairly good sized chunks (the button mushrooms can generally remain as whole) and cover in olive oil and grated garlic, get your hands in there and make sure it is all evenly coated.

Cut the chicken into chunks about 2 inch X 2 inch. 

Get your skewers and get cracking (I'm going to resist temptation to state the obvious on what to do here!)

Whack them on a hot barbie.

Here's to alfresco dining! Cheers!

Hx



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Sweet Potato Fries in a crispy paprika and chilli coating

Having spent this morning swimming then wandering around London for the best part of the day, I fancied a really simple snack: enter these bad boys.  I had them on their own but I would imagine they would be a great side dish to most gastro-pub type mains.  Incredibly easy to make, although I wouldn't advise as a 'post-lash' drunk-eating snack as (and this will sound so patronising but having been in a&e twice due to burns I feel obliged to point out the blatantly obvious) hot fat is seriously dangerous and should be treated with a little respect!  Anyway, less of the crap, on to the food...

You're gonna need: (based on two portions)

One large sweet potato peeled and cut lengthways into, well, chip shapes!

2 tbsp plain flour

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp chilli powder

Salt and pepper to taste

400ml vegetable oil (I used olive oil this evening but purely because I had no other oil but olive oil - mum, if you're reading this...Sorry....I will replace it I promise ;-) )

Get a medium sized pan and put on a high heat.


In a bowl, mix the dry ingredients together and coat the sweet potato in it.


When the oil is hot enough (test using a small wedge of potato, if it bubbles and floats, its hot enough) GENTLY place the potato in the fat using a Skimmer (picture below) and leave until they are golden brown and remove using the Skimmer.


Phwoar!


Hx Pin It Now!

The Easiest Pudding: Warm Croissant with Ice Cream and Warm Chocolate Sauce

Even the most novel of cooks can make this delicious and oh so cheeky pud, so there are no excuses.  It is a glorified croissant really, but oh so de-lish.

 

 

 

 

Based on two puds:

 

2 all butter croissants

2 Scoops of vanilla ice cream

Whatever chocolate you have to hand (for this I used an aero bubble egg that my grandma insisted I went home with after a visit...hey, at least they've gone to use! Thanks nan!)

About 100ml single cream, but even milk will do as a substitute.

I also used a few vanilla pod seeds to the chocolate sauce, but I don't expect you to have one, mine only came from mum's cupboard.

Cut the croissant in half and warm in the oven on about 80 degrees

 

In a small pan, on a very gentle heat, warm the cream and chocolate together and keep stirring until a  sauce is formed.

 

Once the croissant is warmed through, scoop your ice cream into the croissant, and oodle the sauce over.

Gorgeous.

 

Hx Pin It Now!

Hot mushroom sandwich

This is perfect for times at uni as it so easy to make for just one person and be polished off in one sitting, as opposed to the usual dilemma of having to eat the same thing for what seems like weeks, where when you finally reach the final portion, it is looking more than a little ropey. This recipe is so achingly simple but has a real meaty, fleshy quality about it

You'll need:

1 large portobello flat mushroom

A knob of butter

A garlic clove

A handful of basil leaves (I used greek basil but it doesn't matter too much)

A crusty roll e.g. baguette or ciabatta.

Whack your oven onto 190.


In a small bowl, mix the butter in with a crushed garliv clove and the torn basil leaves, seasoned with salt and pepper to taste. 

Pull the stalk from your mushroom, stick it under the tap and wipe it to make sure there's no mud left on it.  Smother your butter in the black part of the mushroom, place face up on a tray and bake for 10-15 minutes.


When ready, slice the mushroom lengthways and place in your bread (Use the top part of the bread to mop any run-away juices)


Mmmmmmm.....


H x Pin It Now!

Gorgeous veggies from a tiny Cretan market

Kalispera from Crete! Just a very quick post before i go out for my evening meal (sosmug hehehe) to implore people to buy fruit and veg from local markets when abroad! Me mum and dad trapsed down to Elounda town this morning to the tiny little veg market with some of the sweetest old folk running the stalls. A tiny 7 euros later

For such a small amount of money we have some of the freshest most gorgeous veggies and herbs I've had in a very long time, so sweet, colourful and quirky - look at the funky round courgettes and stripey aubergines! I feel like a kid in a sweetshop thinking of all the things I could do with them (yes I realised how incredibly sad that just made me look. I'll take the hit) Im definitely gonna whip up a Greek salad with the cucumber, tomatoes, peppers and red onion. Could make a tempura, or roast them all to put into pasta, or I could make tzatziki with the cucumber and fresh mint and cut the rest of the veg into crudités to dip into it. Anyway. I'm sure whatever I make I'll post. All this talk of food is making me hungry Just wanted an excuse to post a pretty picture hehe H x P.s. I'm writing on an iPad and apparently I'm too special to work out how to format words. Pin It Now!

Pizza from scratch, made SO easy

I go on holiday tomorrow, so all we had left in the fridge was some veg and a lump of cheese, so I used this and some essentials we always have in the cupboard.  I timed myself this evening making this pizza, it took me 42 minutes from beginning to out-of-the-oven ready to eat.  I made it from scratch. It really is so very easy (and a great way to avoid packing...)

Here's How:



for the base:

4 heaped tablespoons of plain flour

1 teaspoon of dried yeast

A lug of Olive oil

6 tablespoons of hot water from the tap (add more if needed)

A pinch of salt

for the sauce:

A tin of tomatoes

A bunch of fresh basil

A squeeze of tomato puree

A pinch of sugar

Salt and Pepper

A sprinkling of orgeano

for the topping

Grated cheese (however much or little you like!)

Half a yellow pepper

Half a red pepper

Quarter of a red onion

A large portobello mushroom

Half a courgette

Olive oil

A knob of soft butter (sorry but I can't see it never not being funny to say this)

A good few garlic cloves

A few fresh basil leaves

Preheat your oven to 180



Firstly, cut all your veg except the mushroom lengthways and making sure it's quite chunky, lob it all in a roasting dish with some whole garlic cloves (don't bother peeling them), cover in olive oil, season, give it all a shake an put in the oven.


Crush a garlic clove, tear the basil and mix both in with the butter.  Spoon this into your mushroom and put it in the oven.


Literally put all of the sauce ingredients in a pan at once, blend until smooth and put on a very low heat to simmer and reduce down.


For the base, just mix together all of the ingredients, if it feels stiff, add some more water to loosen it.  On a floured surface, knead for about a minute and roll out into a thin big circle (if you don't have a rolling pin in your student house, a wine bottle always works a treat).  Put the rolled out dough onto a circular tray, greased with a little olive oil.  Put it in the oven for a few minutes until a tiny tiny bit brown.


Once brown, take out your pizza base, roasted veg and mushrooms.  Cut the mushroom lengthways.  Spoon as much or little sauce as you like onto the base and spread evenly.  Sprinkle some oregano on.  Now for the cheese.  Then place your veg on top.


Put back in the oven until the cheese is bubbling away.


MMmm

H x

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Lemon French teatime loaf

It's sticky, its sweet and it's tangy. The freshness of this is enough to wake anybody up, no matter how many trebles they managed to keep down the night before.  Enjoy a slice with a cup of tea and you'll be feeling fresh and ready to face the day. (well...Maybe...).  This is my Nanny Audrey's favourite thing in the world, something I am now forced to bake every time I visit her.  It's so easy to rustle up and is a perfect replacement to a boring digestive biscuit.  Most recipes online will instruct you to use 1 or 2 lemons. I use 5 or 6.

Ingredients

 200g soft butter

200g self-raising flour

200g caster sugar for the cake

100g caster sugar for the syrup

3 eggs

5 or 6 lemons

100g icing sugar

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees.  In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar together.  Beat in the eggs, then sift in the flour.  Grate the zest of the lemons, adding most to the cake mix, leaving about a fifth for the topping.  Pour into a greased loaf tin and which in the oven. Easy.


Whilst your loaf is cooking juice ALL BUT ONE of the lemons into a small jug and mix in the caster sugar until it forms a sweet sticky syrup.  Taste it - if it tastes too harsh and acidic, add more sugar until it has a really intense sweet tangy flavour.


With the remaining lemon, make a quick, runny icing, mixing the juice with the icing sugar.


Remove the loaf when it is risen and golden (usually after 15-20 minutes), insert a skewer and if it comes out clean, it is done, if not, put it in for a little longer.  Set aside to cool.


When luke warm, upturn the tin and place the loaf on a plate.  Get a skewer and cover it in deep holes, all over (top and bottom), as many as you can get away with without completely massacring it. Upturn the cake (remember you've put holes on this side too), and pour half of the syrup very slowly and watch it all soak up with a sponge.  It will seem a lot but it should all be absorbed pretty easily.  Turn it back up and do the same to the top. 


With a spoon, drizzle the icing over the top and use the left over lemon zest and sprinkle on top.


Voila.


H x


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Here's another one I made at Easter (hence obligatory Easter chick..)

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