Chocolate Velvet in a Mug (aka homemade hot chocolate)

For years I’ve been on a quest – to find the best ever hot chocolate I can make at home. I tried every bought powder available and yet nothing quite lived up to my (slightly erotic) dreams of smooth molten chocolate, chocolate flowing from the taps, liquid chocolate filling bowls and cups and touching every room with the heady aromas of hot cocoa and cream…

So I thought, why not just create molten chocolate and be done with it? As fantasies go, it’s a pretty easy one to fulfil. It’s so easy in fact, you’ll be wondering why, other than the calories, you haven’t been doing this for years.

So go on, this is a fantasy after all.

Serves One – several times over

To make the chocolate base:
2 bars of good quality dark chocolate (100g -ish, size doesn’t matter in this instance)

To make one indulgent mug:
1 mug of milk
quarter tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp home-made chocolate powder

Break the chocolate into a blender and blitz into small pieces, like cous cous. This can be saved in an airtight container in the fridge. Don’t expect it to last long though, if you’re anything like me that is.

When you have the craving, fill your cup with milk and pour into a small pan. Add the vanilla essence and two heaped tablespoons of the ‘powdered’ chocolate. On a low heat stir the milk until the chocolate has completely melted. The best way to check this is to tip the pan on its side and look at the bottom for grainy flecks. Continue to heat until they disappear and your drink is hot, dark and glossy. Chocolate velvet.

Extras

Add a warming touch of chilli powder on a particularly cold night.

For Christmas festivities add a pinch of cinammon and a small amount of finely grated orange peel

If you are feeling totally over the top, chuck out the milk and make with double cream, prepare for artery meltdown.

Honey Roast Butternut Squash with Thyme and Feta

Ahh, autumn. Too many squashes, not enough time. This makes for a wonderfully warming veggie supper.

Serves 2 for supper

1 butternut squash
3 tbsp runny honey
4 sprigs fresh thyme
2 cloves of garlic, sliced
200g feta

Peel the squash and cut in half lengthways. Scoop out all the seeds. Slice into 2cm thick pieces.

Put the squash in a roasting tin with the garlic. Pour over the honey and drizzle with olive oil. Season well and mix so that everything is evenly covered with honey and oil. Tuck the sprigs of thyme in amongst the squash.

Put in the oven at 180C for 45 mins or until soft and starting to blacken slightly at the edges. Chop the feta into 1cm cubes. After 35 minutes scatter it over the squash and leave to soften and lightly brown on top.

Serve immediately from the oven

Barbecued Figs with Crispy Pancetta

It’s a classic indulgence, soft sweet figs, salty blue cheese and aromatic honey. Why should you scrimp on luxury, just because you are cooking al fresco.

You could use any blue cheese – stilton, roquefort, Saint Agur, but I like something a little gentler, creamier such as gorgonzola dolce.

Serves 4

8 Figs – cut in half lengthways
2 tbsp honey
8 Slices pancetta
Blue cheese – broken into small pieces (1cm cubes) about 6 cubes per person
half tbsp olive oil

Pour the olive oil and 2 tablespoons of the honey over the figs, season and leave to marinade for half an hour. Place the figs cut side down on the barbecue and grill for 5 minutes. Turn and cook on the other side till the skin is starting to blacken slightly in patches.

In the meantime place the pancetta on the barbecue and cook till crispy, it shouldn’t take more than a couple of minutes on each side.

Remove the figs and place 4 pieces on each plate, crumble over the blue cheese and place the pancetta on top. Drizzle the remaining honey over the figs et al and serve immediately

Hidden Vegetable Wrap

I’m sure that there are plenty of people who would waggle a disapproving finger at me for admitting to ‘hiding’ veg from my daughter – but means must and I’m sure there’s an equal number of people cheering ‘Go Girlfriend’. So when my wonderfully resourceful friend Vicky fed this sandwich to me and the mini hanger-on for lunch, to great success I should add, I merrily jumped on the bandwagon.

Serves 4

2 carrots
2 tomatoes
200g tub hummus
Grated cheddar
4 tortilla wraps
Mixed lettuce leaves
4 sausages – cooked and sliced (see veggie options below)

Grate the carrots and finely dice the tomatoes. Mix them with the hummus.

Spread a generous line down the centre of the wrap and sprinkle over the cheese. If you are using sausages, add the slices to the pile, cover in lettuce and wrap up. If you’re serving to fussy little people, you could leave out the lettuce and slice into 4-5 hand sized pieces.

Extras
If you want to keep it vegetarian, exchange the sausage for a warm, salty slice of grilled halloumi, sweet, roasted peppers or marinated artichokes.
You could also exchange the carrot for grated beetroot, cucumber or courgette.

Roasted Tomato and Pepper Pasta Sauce

Honestly, this really is easy to make. It may at first glance look complicated but basically you throw the ingredients together, then leave them to roast.

I know it says it’s a pasta sauce in the title, but try it with grilled mackerel, grilled chicken drumsticks or as a salad with a courgette and feta frittata.

Serves 2

6 tomatoes
4 cloves garlic, sliced
5 sprigs fresh thyme
3 tbsp good balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 red peppers

Pre-heat the oven to 200c.

Pre-prepare the tomatoes by cutting each into 6 segments. Put in a small roasting dish with the garlic. Pour over the oil and vinegar, season well and mix thoroughly. Chuck on the thyme, there’s really no need to pull the leaves off – they will fall off in the cooking process, just remember to fish out the stalks before serving.

Put the whole peppers in a small roasting tin with a little olive oil. Leave to roast until the skins are starting to blacken in patches, about 20-30 minutes. Remove the tin from the oven and cover in foil. The peppers will continue steaming, which makes the skins much easier to remove.

Whilst the peppers are cooling put the tomatoes in the oven and turn it down to 160C.  Leave them to roast for about an hour. Stir them often to ensure the balsamic vinegar soaks deeply into the tomato and garlic.

The tomatoes are done when they’ve darkened and the juices have thickened into a sticky glaze over the bottom of the pan. Remove from the oven and leave to cool.

Finally, peel the skin from the peppers, remove the seeds then cut into strips, about 3-5mm thick and stir into the tomatoes. Cover and store in the fridge until you are ready to use. One little tip, these taste so much better, sweeter even, if left overnight to stew.

Roast Lemon Chicken and Hot Chunky Hummus

Roast chicken, with crisp, salty skin and steaming flesh is the ultimate in comfort food. Plonked down on the table next to a cold glass of white wine, (oh go on, have the bottle) attacked with a knife then pulled apart by hungry fingers. Add to this a big pan of hot, spiced chickpeas and you have the perfect warming dish to ward away chills brought on by the ‘summer’ of 2012. Chop the chicken into chunks and put the pan of hummus on the table so that everyone can just help themselves.

Serves Four

For the chicken
1 medium chicken (about 1.6kg/3.5lb)
2 lemons
5 cloves garlic, halved
3 tbsp water

For the hummus
400g tin chickpeas
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 onions, finely chopped
2 tbsp tahini
3 tsp ground coriander
Juice of half a lemon
Handful of chopped coriander or parsley
(half pint of vegetable stock to hand – as required – Marigold Vegetable Bouillon is a good brand)

Cut one of the lemons into chunks and stuff into the cavity of the chicken with the five garlic cloves. Rub the skin with olive oil (top and bottom), season well with salt and put into a roasting tin. Cut the remaining lemon in half and tuck one half in next to the chicken. Roast for about one and a half hours, basting every 20 minutes or so. Whack up the heat for the last 20 minutes (220C) to help crisp up the skin. If you’re feeding a bigger hoard and your chicken is a plus-sized bird you can work out how long to cook it for by using the rule of thumb, about 20 minutes per pound and 20 minutes extra.

To make the hummus, fry the onions, coriander and garlic until the onions are soft and just starting to brown. Add the whole tin of chickpeas, including the liquid and bring to the boil. Turn down the heat and simmer for 10 minutes. You want the mixture to maintain a shiny sloppiness and not dry out completely, so if it looks like doing so add a couple of tablespoons of the vegetable stock (a good bought one is Marigold Vegetable Bouillon). Add the tahini and the lemon juice and gently mash so that the chickpeas break but some of them retain their shape and texture. Take off the heat and leave this to one side until you are ready to serve, at which time sprinkle over the fresh coriander or parsley.

Once cooked, remove the chicken from the oven and allow it to rest for 10-15 minutes.

Whilst the chicken is resting, squeeze the juice from the remaining lemon into the roasting dish with the water and stir, scrapping up the sticky remnants from the bottom of the pan. This will make a small amount of intense lemony gravy. Chop the chicken into finger sized pieces, a thigh, a drumstick, a highly prized wing. Pull out the breasts whole and then cut them in half. Put everything on the table for people to help themselves. Once everyone has filled  their plates, hand round the gravy, spooning a little over the hummus and a little over the chicken, it won’t require more.

Courgette and Feta Frittata

I have often been heard to complain (somewhat dramatically), as I stare into an uninspiring fridge, that “we’ve-nothing-to-eat”. But if the truth be known, as long as you have eggs, you have a meal. I was reminded of this yesterday by a very good and very tired friend (new baby), whose husband had rustled up an amazing Spanish omelette using their weekend leftovers. That got me to thinking that the wonderful certainty of a frittatta is that they are only improved by the addition of those things that are often found lurking, forgotten, in the depths of your fridge. Mushrooms and a lone slice of bacon, grated carrot and a pinch of coriander, onions, courgette, peppers, a hard knob of cheese…I could go on.

Serves 2 for lunch

1 courgette – grated
1 onion – finely chopped
4 eggs – beaten and seasoned
100g Feta cheese – cut into small cubes

Pre-heat a medium grill.

In a small, non-stick, omelette pan fry together the onion and courgette, season with salt and pepper. Cook them long enough for both to soften and for the liquid given off in the process to start to evaporate.

Turn the heat down as low as it will go and add the cubes of cheese. Mix the beaten eggs into the pan and leave it to cook on the low heat for about 6 minutes or until the edges are firm and small bubbles are breaking to the surface. Put the whole pan under the grill for another five minutes . The frittata should just be starting to brown and firm up. Remove from the grill and either serve immediately with a salad and some thick slices of bread and butter or leave to cool and store in the fridge to serve within the next couple of days.