Onion, Rosemary and Garlic BBQ Burgers

A while ago I got an old-fashioned hand mincer and have been wanting to use it:

Now it's the sunny season I finally can! Here is a simple and delicious BBQ burger recipe. Obviously it is fine to use bought mine but I used a combination of frying steak and rump. Unfortunately I was having such a nice time I forgot to take a photo of the burgers once cooked, but I still decided to include this recipe as they were delicious!

Ingredients (makes about 4 large burgers, or 8 small):

3 minced steaks or a large packet of mine

1 white onion, finely chopped

3-4 finely chopped garlic cloves

Very generous handful finely chopped Rosemary

Salt and freshly ground pepper

1 large egg, beaten

Method:

1. Basically, combine everything! I liked using my hands for this making sure everything is well incorporated/mixed in.
2. Shape into patties and lob on a sizzling hot BBQ. When cooked to your liking (I like mine well done), serve in a bun with whatever you like! We had options of cheese, tomato, salad, pineapple and a selection of spicy sauces. Yum!

Gooseberry and Strawberry Tart

Recently a colleague gave me a load of gooseberries from her garden and I was looking for something nice and summery to do with them for a dessert at a BBQ. I made some jam with the spare ones but I decided to make a tart, as I can't remember ever making one before. I chose to pair the gooseberries with strawberries to offset the bitterness. This was quite an easy recipe with a very tasty outcome!

Ingredients:

For the Pastry:
200g Plain Flour
1 heaped tbsp Icing Sugar
120g Butter (unsalted), cubed
1 egg yolk (save the white)
Milk
Pinch of salt

For the Filling:
200g Gooseberries
200g halved Strawberries
Zest and small squeeze of juice of 1 Lemon
3 tbsp ground Almonds
1 Egg white (saved from the pastry) lightly beaten

Method:

1. For the pastry; rub together the flour, sugar, butter and salt with your fingertips until you get a breadcrumb-like consistency. Add the egg yolk and enough milk to bring the mixture together into a clumply dough. Knead lightly on a floured surface until it will shape into a ball. Wrap in clingfilm and chill in the fridge for half an hour.
2. Combine the berries, sugar, lemon zest and juice and set aside to macerate for at least half an hour. (At this point I also added a little cheeky splash of Brandy!)
3. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees and grease/line your chosen vessel. I chose a pie dish but you can create this whichever way you like.
4. On a floured surface roll out just over half the pastry, quite thinly, and place in dish for the base. Leave a little too much as the edges will shrink a little when it bakes, you can cut any extra off later. Blind bake this for a few minutes in the oven. A good tip here, if you don't have baking balls like me, is to use rice or beans wrapped in tin foil to keep the base down. I used rice and the good thing is you can use the rice/beans again after use - just put them back in the packet!
5. Cut the remaining pastry for your tart top. I decided to go for a latticed design but it's completely up to you.
6. Spoon the fruit into the blind-baked pastry case with a small amount of the juices. Sprinkle over ground almonds and complete pastry topping to your liking. I did this by placing the strips of pastry over the top. Brush top with egg white and sprinkle over some granulated sugar.
7. Bake for half an hour or until the pastry turns a deep golden colour. Serve warm with cream (or ice cream if you prefer!).

Alice's Supper Spaghetti Soup

This is one of Paddy and my favourite quick and easy teas! It is another 'store-cupboard' supper because you can pretty much lob anything in and is a great way to get rid of left overs! This dish is extremely tasty and we always end up licking the bowl. I will be very loose with quantities in this as it changes each time, I literally cook it each time to what I have left in the fridge.

Ingredients:

Chicken Stock (see Alice's Basics section)

Spaghetti

Tomatoes (halved)

Parmesan (or other Italian hard cheese)

Black Pepper

Possible optional extras: finely chopped garlic, Onions (red or white), Spring Onions, Shredded Chicken, Asparagus, Leeks, Broccoli, Cabbage, Courgette, Peas etc. Basically any vegetable or meat that is not too heavy.

Method:

1. Bring the stock to the boil.
2. Add the spaghetti, tomatoes and add the optional extras as the spaghetti cooks as you see fit, for example if I'm using left over shredded chicken or spring onions I don't add them until the end as I don't want them to cook and with asparagus I'll add that at the start as I want it to soften.
3. When the spaghetti is al dente serve immediately with Parmesan and cracked black pepper liberally sprinkled over the top, easy!

This can also be easily changed to an Asian-style dish by using noodles instead of spaghetti, adding some Asian flavourings (such as Soy Sauce and Star Anise), omitting the Parmesan and using extras like beansprouts, edamame beans, bamboo shoots etc.

Honey and Sicilian Lemon Cupcakes

I don't normally bake sweet things as I prefer savoury, but due to new purchases of piping bags and cake tins I thought I'd give the ever-popular twee favourite of cupcakes a go. If you can't beat them, join them! But of course, I couldn't just leave them as boring sponge so I found some Sicilian Lemon flavouring at the shop and decided to use that along with fresh lemons, unfortunately not Sicilian ones but these were very tasty none the less!

Ingredients (makes 12):

250g Butter (150g for cakes, 100g for icing)

100g caster sugar

2 medium eggs, beaten

150g Self-raising flour

225g golden icing sugar

50g soft cheese

Yellow food colouring

Sicilian Lemon flavouring

2 tbsps Honey

1 Lemon, zested and squeezed for juice

Candied mini slices of lemon and lemon sugar crystals (to decorate)

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 190 degrees, put paper cases into baking tin.
2. Beat the butter, sugar and honey together until pale and creamy and add half the lemon zest. Gradually add the eggs, beating between additions, making sure well incorporated.
3. Sift in the flour and mix in gently. Spoon mixture into baking cases.
4. Bake for around 20 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the middle of the cakes comes out clean.
5. Meanwhile, make the icing. I made two different shades of yellow and a double piping bag to try and create a swirl effect, to do this I just divided the quantities between 2 bowls. Beat the butter until light and fluffy then beat in the icing sugar gradually. Add extra lemon zest, more flavouring and clouring accordingly. Put into piping bag and leave in the fridge to set a little.
6. Let the cakes cool in the tin for a few minutes once taken out of the oven then cool on a wire rack. Once cooled, decorate however you like, enjoy!

I'm trying to branch out into sweet cooking/baking but it's difficult as both Paddy and I have a savoury, spicy tooth, not a sweet one! Let me know if you'd like to be my sampler!

Alice's French Onion Soup, served with a Wensleydale Crouton

This is my re-creation of a classic. I used Wensleydale as I recently visited the Creamery and bought lots of lovely cheese! I love onion soup, the dark brown colour, the smell and oniony flavour! This recipe is also a very simple one, it makes a nice quick, yet hearty, supper.

Ingredients (serves 2, with a little extra!):
About 6 medium onions (sliced), I used brown organic onions because they were on offer in the supermarket and honestly I don't think it makes a difference in this soup which you use!
Chicken Stock (see basics recipe) I measured by the eye, but I probably used about 1 and 1/2 litres (this reduces whilst cooking remember)
3 Cloves, finely chopped garlic
Handful chopped fresh Parsley (or Thyme)
2 Slices crusty bread, toasted
1 Bay Leaf
Good amount of grated Wensleydale (or other complimentary cheese)
Pinch of Salt and plenty of black pepper
Knob of butter
Good dash dry white wine

Method:

1. In a large soup pan melt the butter on a medium heat and add the onions and garlic. Slowly brown and soften, lowering the heat if necessary, for about 15-20 minutes.
2. Turn up the heat and add the wine. Once it has mostly evaporated add the stock and bay leaf and bring to the boil. Once boiling immediately lower the heat and simmer gently for 5-10 minutes. Add salt and pepper.
3. Meanwhile, preheat the grill and grate the cheese if not already done.
4. Once simmered stir in fresh herbs. Now, either add the slices of toast to the top of the pan, or transfer the soup to individual (oven proof) serving bowls and add the toast, one slice each, to the top of the soup in those. 
5. Liberally sprinkle cheese over the top and grill for a minute or two until slightly melted. Remove from oven, grind over more black pepper and serve!

Spaghetti Picnic Frittata

Last weekend we went camping and  only had a short amount of time to prepare any food. I had a load of fresh farm eggs to use too so I prepared this simple but delicious dish in ten minutes with whatever I had left to use up in my fridge. This would work well with any vegetables or cheese, or even on it's  own with a little seasoning - although I would say the tomatoes make it! You can literally make this with anything so I've just written down what I personally used.

Ingredients:

Generous handful Spaghetti, cooked and drained (stir in butter to prevent sticking if cooking before preparing the rest of the recipe)

Handful cherry Tomatoes, halved

1 small Red Onion, thinly sliced

Small handful tinned Sweetcorn

Small handful diced Aubergine

Finely chopped Basil and Parsley

Generous handful of finely grated hard cheese (such as Gran Padano)

Olive Oil

Salt and Pepper

5-6 Eggs, lightly beaten and seasoned with salt and pepper (add a splash of  milk if you like)

Method:

1. Preheat the grill to a high heat and heat the oil in a frying pan suitable to go under the grill on a medium to high heat.
2. Chuck in all of the vegetables except the sweetcorn and fry for a couple of minutes until softened. Add the herbs and sweetcorn.
3. Stir the cheese into the egg mixture and pour into the pan.
4. Immediately add the cooked spaghetti and make sure it is evenly and completely covered by the egg mixture. Cook for about 5 minutes, check with a spatula to see if the bottom half is cooked.
5. Put under the grill for 5 minutes until the frittata is cooked through.
6. Leave to cool in the pan for a few minutes before turning out onto a plate and allowing to cool before wrapping for your picnic. When you serve chop it like you would a pizza and you can eat it with your hands! 

Alice's Vegetarian Tex-Mex Tortilla Tower

This turned out to be an absolute monster! I made it vegetarian because I had loads of spare veg to use, but it would be tasty with meat too. I didn't intend to make this to humongous American proportions, but it turned out that way and Paddy and I could only manage to eat half of each portion! This is very tasty though and fun to make. I came up with the recipe myself and I made my own tortillas and salsa, so I'll write this in a sort of series of mini-recipes in the order that I did everything. When it comes to assembling these big boys you need to have several pans on at once, but if you struggle with timings you could always mix the hot salsa with the veg and serve like that. This recipe serves two very hungry people with 2 left over tortillas to make lunch wraps with!

1. Tortillas

You can buy these if you like, but they're fun and easy to make! All you need is 10oz self-raising flour, about 300ml warm water, 3tbsp Extra Virgin Olive Oil and a pinch of salt and pepper. I also added an optional pinch of Turmeric to mine to give colour and a little flavour. You simply gradually add the water and oil to the flour and salt until you have a sticky dough, knead for 3-5 minutes until smooth and separate into about eight balls. On a floured surface roll out each ball into a rough circle shape. Heat a small amount of Olive Oil in a frying pan or chapati pan and lightly fry each tortilla individually on each side for 1 minute (Until raised parts of the tortilla are browned). Stack and wrap these in tin foil and set aside to re-heat in the oven later.

2. Salsa

Again, you can buy this but it's nice if you make it.

Ingredients: -

1 Red Onion, finely sliced

Small punnet of baby plum tomatoes, quartered

Generous handful of chopped Coriander

Small carton of passata

3 Jalapenos (mix of red and green) finely chopped, if you like it spicy use more green ones

Method: -

Fry the onion in oil in a sauce pan on a medium heat for 3 minutes (you still want them a little crunchy). Add the tomatoes, chilli and coriander and cook for a further minute before adding the passata. Reduce this for 5 minutes then set aside to re-heat later on. The flavours will enhance in the mean time.

3. Vegetable Mix

You could use whatever you want here, but I used what I had left in  the fridge, this is actually a good 'store cupboard supper'.

Ingredients: - 

Half an Aubergine, chopped into smallish chunks

1 and a half Courgettes, also chopped

Punnet of Mushrooms, sliced or quartered

Plenty Garlic, thinly sliced

1 Green Pepper, sliced

Tbsp Paprika

Pinch Turmeric

Tbsp Cayenne Pepper

Tsp Pimento Powder

Extra green chilli (optional)

Method: - 

Basically fry everything together in a large pan/wok until softened and ready to eat. You could also roast these if you like.

4. Assembly

To assemble you also need soured cream, grated cheddar cheese and two eggs. You can also add guacamole, homemade or shop bought. I don't like it but I bought some to put onto Paddy's tower.

1. Preheat the oven to 190 degrees. Put the tortillas (still wrapped in foil) in the oven to heat through.
2. Heat the salsa and vegetable mix in their respective pans. You can also serve the salsa cold if you like, but I heated mine back up.
3. Fry two eggs in some oil to a point when you have a lovely, golden dippy egg.
4. Heat two plates and bring the tortillas out of the oven. To stack place a tortilla on each plate and top with salsa, soured cream (and guacamole if using), sprinkle over some of the vegetable mix and cheese. You can do this in any order you like and I varied a little with each layer myself. Top with another tortilla and repeat another layer and top with a tortilla. Top off each stack with a fried egg, and another sprinkle of cheese if you think you can handle it! If you are using guacamole I would spread some over the top of the tortilla before placing the egg on top. Serve immediately - before this monster topples over!

 Paddy's tower with guacamole. Look at that lovely yolk!

Think you could manage this in one sitting?