Fish Pie

It was my Mum's birthday a couple of days ago so i decided to cook fish pie. This recipe contains 4 main steps, which you can either do separately or multi-task. I had a whole day spare so i did it all separately. You can prepare it up to 2 days in advance, just keep it in the fridge without the cheese.

To serve 6

You'll need around 800g of fish. I used 2 packs of tesco's fish pie selection containing salmon, cod and smoked haddock pieces. I've seen these in reduced to clear a couple of times so look out for them and put them in the freezer.

1) Put 600ml of milk into a pan and heat it until it begins to bubble. Turn the heat down to simmer and add the fish. Cook for 8 minutes. Separate the fish from the milk and put the fish into the dish you will put in the oven, and put the milk into a measuring jug to use for later.

2) Boil 4 eggs for 8 minutes until they are hard boiled. Leave to cool then peal them, chop them into quarters and add to the mix. While they are boiling chop approx. 8 small tomatoes in half and add to the dish.

3) Boil 1kg (about 4-6 large potatoes chopped into small chunks) for 20 mins, or until they are soft when poked with a knife. Drain, add back to the pan, and mash. Add a bit of butter, and then gradually add some of the fish milk until it becomes a smooth but not runny consistency. 

4) Make the sauce. If you look at my smoked salmon pasta dish i posted a while back you will see that it is the same as making a white sauce, but the milk you use is the fish milk. To remind you, melt butter in a pan, whisk in flour to make a paste, then gradually add the milk until you have a smooth creamy fish sauce. You'l probably need most of the leftover milk but don't use all of it if you think you don't need to.

Add the sauce to the mix, then top with the mash. Put it in the fridge if preparing it in advance and add cheese just before cooking, or if cooking straight away grate enough cheese to generously cover it and cook for 30-40 minutes. If the cheese has fully melted but the pie isn't cooked cover with foil for the remaining cooking time so it doesn't burn.

Serve with vegetables.


Hope you enjoy this as much as i did!


Bon Appetit,


Melon xxx

Jamie's slow roast leg of lamb

This has to be the best lamb dish i have ever cooked... well of course it would be as it's one of Jamie Oliver's recipes! It is from his 2000 cookbook 'the return of the naked chef', i was so impressed by this that i'm going to try making most of the other recipes in the book. 

Although this is roast lamb, this isn't a roast dinner. Its more of a amazingly tender slow cooked piece of meat with steamed vegetables and a thin sauce. The beauty of this is that the flavours from the veg infuse the meat and vice versa. The potatoes may have the texture of a plain boiled potato but they taste amazing. It contains the vegetable celeriac, which i have never eaten before. It has a slight aniseed flavour (i don't usually like aniseed but it isn't too strong) and really makes a difference to the dish.

Also, this dish looks and tastes like a lot of time and effort has been spent on it, but all it is really is cutting and frying off the veg, sealing the meat and then leaving it to cook for 4-5 hours. Easy peasy.

These quantities serve 6 hungry people. Preheat the oven to 170'C


3 red onions peeled and quartered
4 large potatoes peeled and cut into chunks
1 celeriac peeled and cut into chunks 
6 carrots scrubbed and halved
3 parsnips scrubbed and halved
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and sliced
6 rashers of bacon
1 bottle of white wine
rosemary, thyme, salt and pepper (Fresh herbs are best for this)
1 large leg of lamb.


This is pretty much what Jamie says mixed with what i actually did:


In a large casserole pot or deep sided roasting tray with oil, seal off the lamb by frying all sides until it goes a bit brown. i used big bbq tongs to help hold the lamb as its much easier. Put to one side. 
In the same oil, fry off all of the veg, bacon and garlic. 


Add the wine, along with the same amount of water and bring to the boil. Add the lamb on top, along with herbs, season with salt and pepper then TIGHTLY cover COMPLETELY with foil. This is very important so take some time with it and do it properly.

Cook for 4 hours, have a little check of the lamb and if you think it needs longer put it back in the oven.
The meat should just fall off the bone when pulled with a fork. If in doubt put it in for longer because it wont overcook it will just get more tender.


''To serve, pull away a nice portion of meat, take a selection of veg and serve with some crusty bread to mop up the gravy.''


Lamb is expensive, this isn't something to make every week but if you and you're mates all chip in it's well worth making.


Bon Appetit,
Melon xxx

5 minute chocolate cake

Have a sudden craving for chocolate cake? This cake literally takes 5 minutes, to prepare and cook. It also has hardly any washing up, which is the annoying part of baking a cake where you have to wash the mixing bowl, the measuring bowl, the tins etc.

 I got this set of measuring spoons for christmas and they are amazing, i highly recommend you buying something like these as they are so useful, especially for this recipe.


So, pick out a large mug(s) that is microwavable and add:
2 tablespoons: self raising flour and sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tablespoons: cocoa powder, milk and oil
1 tablespoon: nutella
Then mix well so there are no lumps of flour


 Microwave for around 1:30 minutes. Depending on your microwave you may want to adjust the time. You want to aim for a spongy cake top which is gooey in the middle. It will rise up to double the size when cooking but sink a bit when you take it out, so make sure you use a large mug! 

It's really nice to top with squirty cream and sprinkles to make it look like a posh hot chocolate, but if not, serve with double cream.

I found this recipe online a few months ago, but i halved the quantities, so if you want a bigger cake, change the quantities accordingly (but stick to 1 egg). 

Bon Appetit,

Melon xxx

2 Quick BBQ Chicken Marinades

At the weekend it suddenly turned sunny for a few hours, so my family decided to do an impromptu bbq. Because we didn't have any bbq meat we had to be imaginative. Here's two quick and easy chicken marinades that do not have to marinade for hours.

These marinades are based on 4 chicken breast fillets for each one.

1) Sweet balsamic marinade:

Add 2 tablespoons of balsamic, the zest and juice of half a lemon and 1 lime, 2 teaspoons of sugar, around a tablespoon of oil and season with salt, pepper and herbs such as basil and oregano.

1) Lemon and ginger marinade:

Add the zest and juice of 1-2 lemons, a teaspoon of cumin, a teaspoon of ginger, around a tablespoon of oil and season with salt and pepper.

Give them a good mix, either with a spoon or your hands. Cover with cling film and marinade for as long as you have time for, even if it's only for 10 minutes. Because they contain strong flavours the flavour will still come through. 

Put on the bbq until the chicken is cooked though, serve with a creamy coleslaw or potato salad.

So next time the weathers nice give it a go!

Bon Appetit,

Melon xxx

Roast Pork shoulder cooked from frozen

So a few days ago i decided to finally cook my Pork shoulder, which has been sitting in my freezer for ages. I bought it a while ago for cheap. Students who live in houses or halls will know that fridge space is always limited and someone is always putting stuff on your shelf! Personally, i love freezing everything and a firm believer that almost everything can be frozen and heated from frozen despite what the packaging says. I stick to the rule to unless specified, adding 50 percent of the cooking time on if cooking from frozen. E.g. a meal normally taking 20 minutes i'l put in for 30. If it's meat though you should always check if it's cooked all of the way through, in particular chicken and pork. When juices run completely clear then it's cooked. Also you may want to put foil over whatever your cooking from frozen so it doesn't burn on the inside before the middle is cooked. I don't like defrosting stuff in the microwave as it can start to cook it, but i always forget to take things out of the freezer to naturally defrost in the day!


Luckily the cooking time for this pork was shown on the packaging, as a lot of the time for meat it isn't. It said at 200 'C, 35mins per 450g plus an extra 30 minutes. My shoulder was around 740 g (can't remember exactly as i've thrown the packaging away) but it worked out with the extra 50 percent cooking time 2 hours 15 minutes.


So, on to the cooking. Put the frozen joint in the oven loosely covered in foil for an hour. Then take it out and season the meat. I used sage and oregano and also rubbed salt and a tiny bit of oil into the already scored fat on the top to make it into really tasty crispy crackling. If any juice has come out of the meat spoon the juice back over it. Pour some red wine and balsamic vinegar if you have it.


In the last 45 minutes of cooking take off the foil. I then cut up a peeled apple and an onion into small (but not to small) pieces. The juices will take on the flavour of the onion and the apple will soften and dissolve into the juice. Yummy.


So after the 45 minutes you should end up with a sizzling amazing joint with crispy crackling on the top. If you want you crackling 'break your teeth' crispy then you might want to take the foil off a bit sooner. I like the very top layer to be crispy but underneath a bit softer.


Put the pork on a plate or board and leave to rest for 10 minutes. Carve it into nice slices if you want to make it look pretty or separate the crackling and cut into small pieces. I carved some for my dinner then cut the rest up to make into pork and stuffing baguettes to eat the next day. Went to V festival last year and lived on them all weekend as they were so good! The crackling i cut up into strips to snack on in front on the  tv. :)


The juices in the pan you can make into a sauce, or a gravy. Add a little boiling water and scrape up the bits that will have stuck to the bottom of the pan. For a gravy simply add a tablespoon of gravy granules and a bit of flour if you want it thicker. For a nice sauce add some red wine vinegar and balsamic and a teaspoon of sugar. Serve with some form of potatoes (e.g. roast, chips etc) and vegetables.


I was going to cook some dauphinoise potatoes (my mum's just informed me it's named after a French prince). I had a bit of cream left from making the oreo cheesecake, however the only potatoes in the house were mouldy. Bad times. Hopefully i'l make them soon and post the recipe on here. 


I'm back at home now so the next post will have a picture, i promise!


Bon Appetit,


Melon xxx

Oreo Vanilla Cheesecake

This has to be the best cheesecake i have ever made. It tastes AMAZING and it only takes half an hour of your time. There is no excuse for you not to make it. 


I found this recipe in a philadelphia cookbook (which i highly recommend you buying). I didn't have the recipe on me so i used my memory to work out the measurements. Again, this is a recipe where measurements don't have to be exact, you can tweek it to what you have available and how you want it to taste. I'm not a fan of things that have to be precise, it's more exciting when it's slightly different every time. You can always take a recipe and make it your own. 


I used:
750g cream cheese
450g double cream
75g sugar
1-2 teaspoons of vanilla essence. 
2 packs of oreos for the base. 
Half a pack of oreos for the filling.
100g butter
a cake tin, or ideally a loose base tin where the sides can be removed. 


I am blessed to have a food processor. If you're like me then add the 2 packs of oreos to it and blend until fine crumbs. Or put the oreos in a freezer bag, don't tie the bag up but hold it loosely, then bash with a rolling pin. If you're stressed with university assignments this is a perfect time to do this! You'l probably not want to put them all in at once or the bag will burst. Then crush the other oreos for the filling so they're still chunky pieces. Put these aside and put the crumbs into a bowl. One time i made this i didn't buy enough oreos so you can replace some with digestives.


Melt the butter and add it to the crumbs, mix well. Put the crumbs into the tray, which should be lightly greased with butter. Press down with a spoon so all of the base is covered and compressed. Put in the fridge.


For the filling whip up the double cream, add the cream cheese, sugar and vanilla. Mix well with a spoon. Have a taste to see whether it needs more vanilla or sugar. Ideally you want it to still have a sharp taste and for it to be not too sweet as you want it to contrast with the sweet biscuits. Then fold in the crushed oreos. Your mixture should be thick and not runny other wise it will not set. If this is the case keep whipping until it is thicker.


Add the mix on top of the base, and smooth it down so it's all equal. Put it in the fridge, and you're done!


Setting time varies, if it's really thick then give it 30 mins- an hour and it will be fine, if its slightly runny leave it in for a few hours just to make sure. You don't want to go through all the effort for it not to set!  

This isn't my picture this is one i found on the web, as i explained in my last post i have no camera. But it does look pretty similar.


This is VERY rich, so when you serve it you'l only want a bit.


Perfect for indulging when watching tele or a film in the evening. Also makes a great alternative for a birthday cake.




Bon Appetit,


Melon xxx

Creamy Smoked Salmon Pasta

I've gone back to my uni house now as i'm not back at work for a while, which gives me the perfect opportunity to cook and bake. However me being me i forgot my camera so you will have to imagine what it looks like and find out for yourself when you make it! 

For this recipe you can either use a salmon fillet or smoked salmon, i would highly recommend buying smoked value salmon trimmings. They taste just as nice as the more expensive slices, they're just the bits that have been cut off to make the slices look better. 

If you are cooking actual salmon, season it with salt and pepper. Add a tiny bit of Lemon or orange juice and parsley if you have it. Cover LOOSELY with foil, so it's not touching the salmon and cook in the oven at around 200 degrees for 20-25 minutes. When it's cooked cut it into small pieces. If using smoked salmon cut it up without cooking it.

To make the sauce, the base of it is a standard white sauce. You can use this in many other recipes, for example simply add cheese to make a yummy cheese sauce. It's simply butter, flour and milk.

Melt a bit of butter (around 50g if you want to be precise) in a saucepan, then add 3 heaped tablespoons of flour. Whisk quickly so it forms a paste. Turn the heat down to a low simmer.

Then GRADUALLY add the milk, constantly whisking otherwise it will go lumpy. By doing it gradually you'l be able to see the thickness so just stop adding milk when it's the thickness you want. If you accidently make it too runny whisk in more flour. Season generously with salt and pepper otherwise it will be a bit bland.

To make this sauce, add extra pepper, lemon juice and orange juice and parsley. Do this gradually too; keep tasting it to see what it needs. Is it too sweet? Does it need more salt? Etc Etc. 

Cook whatever pasta you choose, i had spaghetti in my cupboard so i used that. To tell if spaghetti is cooked, throw it against the wall and if it sticks, it's ready!

Drain the pasta and add it to the sauce, along with the smoked salmon. I bulked mine up with sweetcorn and peas too. Best served with garlic bread. 

Hopefully my next recipe will have a photo to go with it!

Bon Appetit and Happy Jubilee!

Melon xxx

 

Apple Crumble

Here is a recipe for one of the easiest puddings you could ever make. 

It is very important to make the crumble topping first as otherwise the apples will go brown.

Mix together with a fork 150g each of porridge oats, sugar and butter.


Peel and chop around 4 apples, you may want more if you're making a bigger one. 


If you like your crumble to be gooey and soft then cut them up small, if you like a bit of bite to the apples then keep them quite big. 


Put the apples in some sort of pie/casserole dish, sprinkle with a tablespoon of sugar then add the crumble on top. 


Cook for approx. 30 mins at 200 degrees. Serve warm with custard or cream, or cold with ice cream. That's it. Easy Peasy.

You may find that the texture of the apples may not come out as you planned, but next time you'l know to either change the size of the chopped apples or cook it for more/less time.

As much as i love this simple apple crumble, i plan to experiment with different fruits so i shall let you know how it goes! I might even try and make my own custard if i'm feeling really adventurous!

Bon Appetit,

Melon xxx

Toad and co. in the hole

Last night i decided to make toad in the hole as i've never made it before, and i never realised how easy it was! I've called it the cheesy name of toad and co. not because i think i'm really cool, but it has a few other things in it compared to the usual sausage batter mix. This makes 4 large portions.

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees. Half 6-8 large sausages or around 10 thinner ones. You do this by twisting the sausages (a bit like you're giving someone a chinese burn!) and then cutting the twist at the middle. This stops the sausage meat from bursting out. Put them on a deep roasting tray with a little oil.

 To make it a bit more exciting roughly chop up some veg and add it to the tray, it means that rather than serving it with veg it's all inside! All i could find was a carrot, a bit of brocolli and 1 onion, but you can use what you want. If you are putting root veg such as carrots or potato in then cut them up into small pieces otherwise they will take longer to cook.


Cook for around 25 mins, if you remember turn the sausages at 10-15 mins. I didn't, hence why the tops of them look black when it was cooked! 

For the batter you need to wisk
 450ml milk
3 eggs
110g flour
A pinch of Salt
until there are no lumps. 
Take the sausage and veg out after the 25 mins, give it a stir as it will have probably stuck to the tray a bit. If you want to add peas or sweetcorn (which i shall do next time) put them in now. Pour the batter over all of it, so around 3/4 of it is covered >>>

Cook for at least another 20 mins, but it will probably need around half an hour, maybe more depending on how burnt you mind your sausages to be! You may want to turn the tray around half way through cooking so the batter rises on both sides.

As mentioned, the veg is already in it so all you need with it is gravy or baked beans. Simple, imaginative and delicious.


Bon Appetit,


Melon xxx

Chicken and Cider hotpot

As i've finished all of my uni assignments i've gone home for a bit. Tonight i helped Dad cook his chicken and cider hotpot for tea. It's pretty simple but it takes a while however it is oh so worth it. Here's how to make it...


This recipe is based on at least 6 people so you will probably want to reduce the measures, although you could always freeze the leftovers for when you really can't be bothered to cook.


Ingredients:
6-9 chopped chicken breasts
3 peeled and chopped apples
2 peeled and chopped small pears
3 chopped onions
3 chopped peppers
6 copped carrots (wash them, but no need to peel)
5 peeled whole cloves of garlic
half a cup of cider vinegar or red wine vinegar (it's not the end of the world if you don't have this but it does make a difference)
2 cans of cider
salt and pepper
dried herbs: we used basil, oregano and thyme
2 chicken stock cubes


Serve with a jacket potato or rice


Turn the oven on ready at 180-200 degrees
First, fry the chicken until its browned which will take around 3-5 minutes. Add to an oven proof casserole dish.
Fry the apples and pears for around 5 minutes until they start to soften. Again, add to the dish.
Do the same for the veg, for this many people it'l probably take 2 batches of frying. Don't overload your pan otherwise they wont cook!


Warm the cider and vinegar in the pan and sprinkle in the stock cubes. Add to the mix.


Add the herbs. For 6 people you'll probably need around a heaped teaspoon of each. Then the garlic
Season with salt and pepper.


Give it all a mix, bung it in the oven for around an hour. All of the juices from the chicken will mix with the herbs and the fruits soften down into the sauce. The chicken becomes really tender in the sauce.


From past experience, sometimes the sauce needs thickening. When it's cooked if you think it is a little watery add a couple of tablespoons of flour and mix well.

If you're cooking it with jackets then they take around the same time to cook as well. Dampen the skin beforehand and rub with salt for an extra crispy skin!


This also goes really well with pork or sausages, but personally i think chicken is best with it as i love the 'fall apart in your mouth' texture the chicken has.


Although it is 'summer' and this is more of a wintery dish i know how freezing student houses can be as we hate to spend money putting the heating on! So warm yourselves up with this little treat with BIG flavour!


Bon Appetit,


Melon xxx

Pork Belly with Sticky Caramelised Onions

As i'm all excited for starting my blog i thought i'd post tonight's dinner, pork belly with caramelised onions. Pork belly is my favourite meat, it's one of the cheapest cuts of meat as it's fatty but that means it's full of flavour! I shopped at Morrisons for the first time the other day and saw that they had a fantastic meat selection for so cheap! The pork belly i bought in a 2 pack with stuffing for £1.70, what a bargain! 

As you can see in the picture i've cooked a couple of sausages to go with it, as i have a huge appetite (and also they were due to go off today so i thought why not). Personally i think that cooking sausages in the oven makes them taste loads better than frying and you can just put them straight in and not have to worry about them.The stuffing came with the pork but if it hadn't of done i would have just used a bit of a dried sage and onion stuffing mix, mixed it with boiling water and put a ball of it in the oven with it.


I cooked this pork belly for around 20 mins, at 200 degrees and turned it over half way through cooking. But depending on your oven it may take longer/quicker. You can see when it's ready when the fat starts to go a golden colour, a bit like bacon.


I thought: How could i jazz up this amazing cut of meat further? So decided to make caramelised onions, which are so easy to make. You'l need around a quarter to half an onion (I used half as i love onions). From past experience i think red onions are best but i only had a normal one which worked fine. Chop them up as finely as you can. In a hot pan, put a dash of oil in a frying pan with a large dollop of butter. The oil stops the butter from burning so you should always use it when frying anything. When the butter has melted, add 3 teaspoons of sugar. The sugar will melt into the butter to form a gooey caramel mix, when it does add the onions and fry for around 5 minutes. When you see the onions starting to brown, turn down the heat to low. 


The key ingredient to make caramelised onions special is balsamic vinegar. You can get it anywhere for around a quid. Add a dash to the onions and they'l turn a really nice brown colour. The balsamic cuts through the sugar and just makes them taste amazing! Take off the heat and sprinkle a tiny bit more sugar on top depending how sweet you want them. Leaving them to stand will make them go all sticky and gorgeous. 


When the pork is ready, plate it up and add the onions on top. I have SO many frozen chips in my freezer i cooked them to go with it, but making roasties or home made chips would vamp this up even more. I also had peas as i love them and i have them with everything! 

A little tip... if you want to make the onions into more of a sauce, add the juices from the meat into the pan, with a dash of red wine and a tiny bit of hot water. If its too runny add a little flour to thicken it. The onions are also really nice in gravy.


This is cheap, quick and fairly easy to cook. So have a try!


Bon Appetit,


Melon xxx

Hello All

This is the first blog i have done, so i'm still getting the hang of things! 


I'm your average student. I've just finished second year so i thought over this summer (although the weather is far from summery) i'd start blogging about my passion, which is cooking. 
Although i am doing a sociology degree, i have realised over the last few months that i don't want to pursue it as a career. I want to be a professional chef, in a top restaurant and hopefully one day have my own. I'm going to carry on my degree as i'm two thirds of the way through, but focus my studies on the sociology of food. Afterwards i plan on working my way through professional cookery diplomas or hopefully do an apprenticeship, but i know how hard they are to get. I'll be keeping my fingers crossed.


Anyway, enough about me. I know there are so many student cookbooks out there, which are brilliant for novice cooks but personally i want to know more than how to cook an omelette. I as a fellow student know that we want cheap and quick meals, but if you share my passion for good food then occasionally you might want to cook something just that bit special. Each week i plan to post 2 recipes that i've found and tweeked from various cookbooks and on the web, one quick, easy and cheap, that anyone can do and another a bit more challenging, but will be worth the time and effort spent. 


I love takeaways and fast food. I will admit i love a kebab after a night on the town but from now on i am going to test my culinary skills each week and produce something fabulous. 




Bon Appetit,


Melon xxx