Daisy Chains and Picnics

  A delicious delicately rich flavoured pate which is perfect for a dinner party appetizer.  Smooth and creamy, serve with thinly sliced toasted bread or crackers. Ingredients 500g chicken livers 125g butter 1 large onion, finely chopped 1/2 tsp thyme 1 bay leaf 6 rashers of bacon, finely chopped 3 tbsp port 3 tbsp dry sherry 1 tbsp brandy salt & pepper 1/2 cup cream 125g mushrooms, finely chopped 60g extra butter extra bay leaves for garnish Method 1.  Trim chicken livers of any stringy sinews, rinse them and gently pat dry with kitchen towels. Roughly chop. 2.  Heat butter in a pan over a medium heat, let butter brown slightly, approx 1-2 minutes, do not let it burn. Reduce heat to low-medium. Add onion, thyme, bay leaf and bacon. Saute slowly until very tender but not brown. Add cleaned livers, simmer for approx 7 minutes or until cooked. 3.  Remove cooked mixture and butter from pan and put into a blender.  4.  To the pan, add brandy, port, she...

  I made this for Christmas eve dinner, I served it with some homemade cranberry chutney see  here Ingredients 380g fresh duck breasts 2 brioche buns 2 tbsp olive oil Method 1.  Pre-heat oven to 180°C. Remove crusts from brioche buns, slice in half, then cut into four squares. Use a rolling pin to flatten the brioche out, then drizzle with olive oil and toast in the oven for 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven. 2.  Turn oven up to 190°C. Pat skin of duck dry with kitchen towels, score skin and season lightly with salt.  Place duck skin side down in an oven proof pan on the stove on a medium heat without oil for 5 minutes or until skin is golden. Turn and cook for a further 2 minutes. Transfer duck to oven for a further 8-10 minutes. Remove and rest for 5 minutes before slicing. 3.  Top brioche croutons with sliced duck, season and serve. Serve and enjoy immediately.

An easy and tasty dish that can be served as an appetiser, party snacks or a main meal. Ingredients 1 tbsp olive oil 1/2 small onion, diced 1 cup plum jam 1 cup BBQ sauce 2 tsp Dijon mustard 1/4 tsp garlic salt 600 g quick cook meatballs Method 1.  Preheat oven to 150°C.  Heat oil in a cast iron casserole dish (dutch oven) over a medium-high heat. Saute onions until softened. 2.  Add plum jam, BBQ sauce, mustard and garlic salt, stir to combine. 3.  Add meatballs, stir to thoroughly coat with sauce. Cook for 2-3 hours. Enjoy

I am always looking for packed lunch ideas for the girls, they love eggs and pastry so these are a perfect bite sized lunch that can be enjoyed cold or hot, on their own or with a side salad. I used ready made tart cases for ease and quickness but you can make your own pastry or used ready rolled pastry for the cases. Ingredients 1 packet 12 ready made tart cases 3 eggs 1 egg yolk 1 tbsp milk or cream salt and pepper to season Method 1.  Preheat oven to 190°C. Arrange tart cases on a baking sheet. 2.  In a jug, whisk together eggs, egg yolk, milk or cream. Season with salt and pepper. Carefully pour egg mixture into each tart case. Cook for 15-20 minutes or until golden and set. Serve warm from oven or allow to cool.

Tasty and light yet and incredibly simple quick and easy dish for a light lunch, side dish or as an appetiser at parties and get-togethers.  They can also be placed on top of thinly sliced french bread stick . Lightly drizzled with a good olive oil or some balsamic vinegar add extra flavour and tang. Ingredients 2-3 medium sized firm tomatoes 200 g tub cherry bocconcini sea salt olive oil chopped basil Method 1.  Wash, dry and slice tomatoes. Arrange on to a flat serving dish. 2.  Top each tomato slice with 2 balls of bocconcini. Drizzle with olive oil or balsamic vinegar. Sprinkle lightly with sea salt. Top with chopped basil. I made these for a quick pool side lunch. Enjoy

We love Brie and Camembert in any shape or form but particularly baked, the soft gooey texture is simply heaven. I have made baked Brie and Camembert with a few different additions such as honey and walnuts, garlic and rosemary, the variations of ingredients you can add while baking are endless and it is so simple and quick to prepare and bake. I picked up some French wine the other day and as I had a packet of French brie in the fridge I thought I would try this combo, I usually bake them in the oven but it was a really hot day yesterday so we did it on the barbecue and it turned out just as well as oven baked. The addition of the wine was delicious, making it extra gooey, I will try this with French Camembert, I also think I will add some roasted garlic cloves because lets face it, garlic tastes great in anything. Once you have removed the paper, make 3 small holes in the top of the brie and pour the wine into the holes, then wrap in foil. Ingredie...

These tasty Bhaji went down a storm, Scott and Darren took them to their work for lunch next day! I added some leftover BBQ sweetcorn which I cut the corn off the husks. Ingredients 2 carrots 2 red onions 1/2 cup BBQ sweetcorn (optional) 1/2 fresh red Cayenne chilli, deseeded 1-2 tbsp fresh continental parsley 30 g sweet potato flour 70 g Quinoa flour         50 g self-raising flour          1/2 tsp chilli powder 1 tsp ground turmeric 1/2 tsp baking powder 1/2 tsp ground cumin 1 1/2 tsp salt 150 g cold water Method 1.  Peel and finely grate carrots, thinly and evenly slice onions, finely chop cayenne chilli and roughly chop parsley, place in a large bowl and mix along with sweetcorn if using. 2.  In a large mixing bowl, combine flours, chilli powder, turmeric, baking powder, cumin and salt. Add the carrot and onion mixture, gradually add water to make a thick batter, mixing and scrunching together with your hands until evenly c...

Doesn't sound exciting or even appetising, but trust me, this soup is tasty. I made this using leftovers in the fridge. I had bought a whole lettuce for our burgers a couple of days ago, it was quite a big lettuce so not much was used and everyone was getting fed up of having a couple of lettuce leaves with every meal. Soup always goes down well, especially on colder days so I thought I would try a lettuce soup. Ingredients 1 onion, chopped 2 cloves garlic, minced 1 tbsp butter 1 tbsp olive oil 3/4 tsp ground coriander 1/4 tsp black pepper 1 medium potato, peeled, chopped 1 whole lettuce, washed & coarsely chopped 4 cups vegetable stock Method 1.  Heat butter and oil in a heavy based pan over a low/medium heat. Add onion and garlic, stirring until translucent and softened, approx 5 minutes. Add coriander and pepper, cook, stirring for a further 1 minute. 2.  Add potato, lettuce and stock. Bring to the boil, then reduce heat to a simme...

We were watching an episode of Come dine with me recently and one of the starters was Turmeric scallops and minted pea soup, I was definitely intrigued. I am not usually one for adding strong flavours to delicate tasting seafood, especially expensive seafood like scallops as I am always worried it overwhelms the seafood and it turns out to be a waste but this one just got me and I had to give it a try.  I made a minted pea puree instead of soup as I didn't want the soup to take centre stage so to speak. There are a few recipes on the internet some with a lot of ingredients and some with few so for my first attempt I wanted to go with less is more. I think garlic is great with scallops and hoped that it would complement the Turmeric and oh my word, they were absolutely delicious, you could taste the turmeric but it was subtle enough not to disguise the scallops, it has given me the 'courage' to try stronger flavours with seafood. You can adjust the ingredients for the number...