Barbeque Sauce

BBQ's are what makes summer's so special! With my bbq sauce you can make it and keep it in the fridge for up to 2 weeks to serve with your grilled hamburgers or even your homemade chips!

Worth a shot....

1 tbsp olive oil

1 white onion

400g tin chopped tomatoes

3 garlic cloves, crushed or chopped fine

85g brown sugar

3 tbsp malt vinegar

2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce

1 tbsp tomato puree

1. Heat the oil in a saucepan and odd the onion, soften.

2. Add the other ingredients and then bring to the boil.

3. Once boiling, reduce the heat and simmer for 25 minutes.

4. If you want a smooth sauce you can put it in a blender, however its tasty

chunky.

Sticky Rib Marinade

Fancy messy comfort food - saucy ribs served with steamed greens are my ideal comfort food!

Easy to prepare and easy to cook!

4 tbsp hoisin sauce

4 tbsp honey

2 tbsp Soy Sauce

1 tbsp tomato ketchup

1 tsp Ground Ginger

1 kg Pork Ribs

1. Mix the marinade together. Pour and rub over ribs and leave to marinate

over night.

2. Heat the oven to 180 (fan oven) and cook the ribs for one hour, turning every now and

again.

Meringues

After making over 70 meringues one week i finally perfected my recipe!

I make these around New year and serve them as a light alternative to that heavy christmas pudding, The crunching of the shell and the sweetness of the marshmallow filling is enough to make my mouth water as i type this blog.

4 egg white

240g Caster Sugar

1 tsp white wine vinegar

2 tsp Corn-flour

1. Using your kitchen-aid, whisk the egg whites and gradually add the sugar

until you have firm peaks forming.

2. Prepare 2 baking sheets with grease proof paper on top.

3. Fold in the white wine vinegar and the corn flour.

4. Prepare a piping bag and spoon the mixture into it, with a fancy icing

nozzle.

5. Pipe the mixture onto baking trays. Insert straight into oven and

IMMEDIATELY turn the oven down to 130'C, leave for 30 minutes.

6. For the final 30 minutes of oven cooking turn the oven off.

To decorate whip some double cream, and chop fresh strawberries dressed with a dash of lemon juice and a sprinkle of sugar. Place on top of a mashed meringue and you have heaven on a plate.

Vanilla Cupcakes

Cupcakes - Velvet Vanilla Cupcakes, never fails to satisfy my cake wanting needs.

This is just a basic recipe, you can decorate anyway you please.

125 g butter (no substitutes), softened

125g caster sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

2 Large eggs

125g Self-rising flour

1. Using your Kitchen-aid cream together your butter and sugar.

2. Add your eggs, vanilla extract and then mix in the flour.

3. Prepare a 12 tin cupcake tray with cupcake holders and spoon the mixture

evenly into each one. Each cupcake should weigh 40/41 grams approx. with

the weight of this mixture.

Lemon Cheesecake

Lemons, lemons, lemons! Nothing beats a summers day meal ending with a refreshing sweet cheesecake such as a lemon flavoured one. Originally a recipe given to be by my mother in law and i have made it a countless number of times. Easy and definitely a summer's day favourite.

175g digestive biscuits

60g butter, melted

25g Demerara sugar

350g full fat soft cheese

3 lemons - juice and zest

1 can condensed milk

150ml double cream

1. . Process the digestive biscuits and mix with the melted butter. Grease a 20cm Springform cake tin and press the biscuit base mixture firmly to the bottom. Cover and place in the fridge while you make the cheesecake filling.

2. Beat the cream cheese until its smooth. add the lemon zest and juice,

beat in the condensed milk and combine all the ingredients together.

3. In another bowl, beat the cream until you have soft peaks.

4. Fold the cream into the cheese mixture.

5. Pour the mixture ontop the the base and chill in fridge over night or at

least 5/6 hours.

Puttanesca Pasta

As an italian i constantly eat pasta. Carbohydrates do not scare me and never will, i was born to eat them 24/7.

Again this has ingredients i always keep at hand, so making it can be a last minute party piece when those unexpected guests turn up at your door.

6 Anchovies

Handful of Capers

400g Chopped Tomatoes (1 tin is usually sufficient)

1 Garlic clove, chopped

A hand full of chopped Olives, Black or Kalamata olives

1 Red Chilli

1. Fry Anchovies, Garlic and Chilli in Olive Oil.

2. Add Capers and Black Olives, fry for another couple of minutes

3. Finally add the chopped Tomatoes and then fill the tin with 1/2 of water

4. Cook down Sauce for approx 40 minutes stirring in between.

Self-Saucing Pear and chocolate Pudding

I initially saw this dessert on Come Dine with me in Australia. Since then i have made it when i have had last minute people invited to dinner! Always turns out great and its full of ingredients i always have in my store cupboard.

Tinned Pears in Juice 

125 g plain flour 

125 g caster sugar 

25g cocoa 

1 tsp baking powder 

1/4 tsp bi-carb of Soda

150 soft unsalted butter 

2tsp vanilla extract 

2 eggs

1.   Blend together everything but the pears Place the pears in the bottom of a greased pie dish and pour the combined ingredients on top 

2.   Put into the oven for 20 minutes at 180°C 

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream

White Chocolate Cheesecake

One of my all time favourite desserts with all my friends! Great to serve with a raspberry compote.

100g plain choc digestives

50g melted butter

400g white chocolate

284ml double cream

250g full fat soft cheese

250g mascarpone

1.  Crush biscuits in food processor. Pour in melted butter and whiz briefly again.
Line a 20cm springform tin and add biscuit mix as base pressing down with a spoon.       Refrigerate while you prepare the topping.

2.   Break the chocolate in a heatproof bowl, melt over simmering water gently. Put to the side while it cools a little.

3.   Beat the cream, soft cheese and mascarpone until combined (don't overbeat otherwise too stiff). Add melted white chocolate.

4.   Leave in fridge overnight or for 3 hours.

Empire Biscuits

When i am bored in the house nothing pasts the time like making Empire Biscuits!

This was originally my grannies recipe...but you know what they say...old recipe's are the best!

1/2 lbs of plain flour

4oz butter

2oz caster sugar

1 egg

1 tsp baking powder

Strawberry Jam

Glace cherries for decorating

icing sugar

1. Cream butter and sugar.
2. Add egg, beat slowly with flour then slowly add everything else.
3. Roll out into a dough and use a glass or a cookie cutter to make round discs. Dont roll the dough too thick, remember they are doubled up.
4. Bake at 180 for about 10 minutes.
5. Add strawberry jam and icing finishing off with half a glace cherry on top.

Tiramisu

My own personal Tiramisu recipe. For a change sometimes i use Frangelico and sprinkle crushed hazelnuts on top as well as the chocolate. Easy to make if you like to prepare things the night before :) This recipe beat Gordon Ramsey's in 2008 Olive magazine cook off challenge http://info.olivemagazine.co.uk/celebrity_chefs/celebrity_challenge/ 250g mascarpone 3tbsp Granulated Sugar 3 large eggs 1 bar Good quality Dark chocolate 4tbsp COld fresh black coffee dash of amaretto dash of Vanilla Extract

1. Soak the sponge fingers in the coffee and the dash of amaretto liquor; don't let them get soggy, watch while you do them and turn them over so other side is also coated. 2. Place the soaked fingers in whatever dessert dish you will be using, I like to use individual glass dishes. 3. Beat the egg yolks in the kitchinaid with the sugar until it turns a light colour. 4. Add the Mascarpone, add a tiny dash of vanilla extract. 5. In another bowl whisk the egg whites until they have stiff peaks, fold gently into the yolk mixture. 6. Pour the mixture over the sponge fingers. 7. Grate your bar of dark quality on top for decoration,cover and place in the fridge overnight.

The Beef Wellington

Christmas 2010 (Sebastiano's first christmas) would not have been complete if i never made the feast special!

I went to the butcher and i purchased my 5lbs fillet steak that was so big and for ten minutes i was staring at my oven hoping the fairy godmother would make my oven magically expand for me.

After preparing the elegant monstrosity of meat, it was ready for the "toasting"!

The composing of the Beef Wellington was about to begin......

Ingredients:

(serves 8-10)

• A good fillet of Beef (5lbs)
• olive oil
• 500g mushrooms
• 1tbsp Mustard and 1tsp Honey (mixed together)
• 2 clove Garlic
• Dry Thyme
• 8 slices prosciutto
• Puff pastry, jus' roll x 2
• 2 egg yolks beaten with 1 tsp milk

1/ First prepare your beef by trimming off any straggling bits of fat.

Season with salt and pepper.

2/ in a large frying pan heat up your oil and start by searing all sides and ends of your fillet.

I like my meat to be cooked rare so i only seared it for a few minutes each side.

3/ As soon as your fillet is out of the pan, brush it with the honey mustard mixture as while your meat cools down it will absorb the flavours.

4/ While the flavours are absorbing with your cooling meat prepare your mushroom mixture. In a food processor add your mushrooms with 2 garlic cloves and some salt.

Once this has processed together in a DRY HOT pan add your mushroom mixture with a sprinkling of thyme and the heat will take out the water. This process took me around 10 minutes.

5/ Overlap two pieces of cling film over a large chopping board. Lay the prosciutto on the cling film, slightly overlapping, in a double row. Spread the mushroom mixture over the prosciutto, then sit the fillet on top. Use the cling film's edges to draw the prosciutto around the fillet, then roll it into a sausage shape, twisting the ends of cling film to tighten it as you go. Pop the cling-filmed fillet in the fridge to chill, this help keeps the shape for when you are rolling with the pastry.

6/ Roll out the pastry and place onto another strip of cling film. Make sure it is big enough to fit your fillet. Unravel the fillet from the cling film and sit in the pastry. Using the Cling-film, let it guide you into rolling the pastry round the fillet, similar to like you did in stage 5. Seal the ends and again place in the Fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes. I prepared my wellington the night before which meant on the day of my christmas lunch i had less to prepare on the actual day.

7/ When it is time to cook bring your wellington out the fridge around 30 minutes before and turn your oven to 200 degrees (fan oven). Unwrap from the clingfilm and place on a very lightly oiled baking tray.

This is the time to make a small design with the knife. Brush all over with the egg yolks and milk mixture.

7/ Because i made a large Wellington i placed it in the oven for 50 minutes!

I hadnt over seared the meat which meant once the pastry was brown and crispy and i cut into it the beef wellington was perfectly pink in the middle!

Perfect for my Fennel Mash potato.

Fennel Mash Potato

Fennel.....where would we be without that aniseed taste to accompany our fish, meat and Italian Sausages!

I use it from my salads to flavouring my roasted pork, but when it comes to Potatoes i use it to make a creamy mash :)

Mainly served with my grilled steak, this also works well with a oven roasted seabass.

1 Fennel Bulb

100ml Cream

20ml milk

50g Butter

salt and pepper

1tsp Fennel Seeds

5 Potatoes

1/ Peel and chop your potatoes so they are ready to boil.

2/ While your potatoes are boiling add puree your fennel in a food processor.

Place into a pan with your fennel seeds and toast for a couple of minutes, add your cream and milk and let it bubble down.

3/ Once your potatoes are boiled, mash together with the fennel mix, seasoning and adding your butter.

I personally like to make my mash with my kitchen-aid. I use the Mixer attachment, add my drained boiled potatoes and my warmed fennel mixture and let it mash away. I get perfect smooth mash all the time!