Recipe: warm salad of pork with black pudding

Ingredients
One teaspoon of grain mustard
Three tablespoons olive oil
One tablespoon white wine vinegar
Pinch of salt
A little butter and olive oil for frying
One pork fillet around 200g sliced in to medallions about 1/2cm thick
Half a red onion finely diced
One apple finely diced
60g black pudding diced
One handful red chard
One handful of rocket
Small handful torn basil

Method
Start with the dressing by mixing together the mustard, olive oil, white wine vinegar and salt.

Heat a large frying pan. When hot, add the butter and olive oil for frying and flash fry the pork, red onion, apple and black pudding until the pork is cooked. Turn the ingredients to ensure even cooking is acheived, do this gently so that the apple and black pudding dont disintegrate, remove from the pan into a large bowl.

Add the red chard, rocket and basil, season with the dressing and mix all of the ingredients together, check the seasoning, serve the salad in a bowl, this also works well with a poached egg on top.

Recipe: Baked Seabass

Ingredients

60g softened butter
Two whole prepared seabass
One large sprig of Thyme
30g Black olives
40g sun-dried tomatoes
15g wild mushrooms
Four slices of lemon
Two sprigs of parsley
Olive oil
Seasoning

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 200c
Place two pieces of double foil on the kitchen bench, rub the foil with half the butter and place the fish on top.
Stuff the cavity of the fish with the Thyme, olives,tomatoes and mushrooms. smear the fish with the rest of the butter, season and place the lemon and parsley on top, drizzle with a little olive oil.
Fold the foil and crimp it tightly all around to make a well sealed parcel, when doing this ensure there is space for the steam to circulate.
Place the parcels on a baking tray and bake in the oven for twenty minutes.
Once cooked open the parcels and serve the seabass.

Recipe: Lillies Pumpkin soup

On the last night of my holiday myself and my daughter Lillie decided we had to have a night in the garden.

By 4pm the log burner was up to temperature and we were ready to go.

Lillie and i spent the evening carving Pumpkins and catching up about what she had been upto over the week she has been off school, She does make me Smile as her stories and opinions are great.

Once Lillie had finished she decided that Pumpkin soup was going to be made from the trimmings for her Mam, this recipe was what she came up with and the results turned out well.

Ingredients

1 small pumpkin

550ml Chicken or vegetable stock

1 large onion

4 cloves garlic

Sea Salt and pepper

Olive oil

Method

Preheat the oven to 200C.

Peel the pumpkin and dice

Peal the onions and roughly chop

Peal the garlic and leave whole

In a bowl coat the pumpkin, onion and garlic in enough olive oil to glaze and season

Place the mix onto a baking tray and put it in the oven, bake it until the pumpkin becomes soft

Once soft add the mix to the stock and boil for 5 minutes

Blend the mix, if it’s too thick add more stock until you achieve the consistency you require

Check for seasoning and serve

Recipe: Pickled mushrooms

Ingredients
400 ml white wine
200ml white wine vinegar
2 shallots diced
2 Garlic cloves crushed
400ml Olive oil
1 Bay leaf
500g Wild mushrooms

Method
Wash and dry the mushrooms
Add the wine to the vinegar and bring to the boil
Add the mushrooms and simmer until tender
Drain and leave the liquid to one side, once cooled slightly add the olive oil
Sweat the shallots and garlic, remove from heat
Place the mushrooms in a jar, add the bay leaf, shallot and garlic.
pour over enough cooking liquid to cover
Store in the fridge
Remember to season as you go!

Recipe: Citrus Vinaigrette

Ingredients
1 large orange
1 lemon
80ml olive oil
4 basil leaves
3 coriander leaves
Seasoning

Method
Zest and juice the citrus fruit
Place in a pan and boil
Remove from the heat and add the olive oil
Tear in the herbs and blend with a stick blender
Pass the dressing through a fine seive
Season and serve warm

Recipe: Basil oil

Take 100g Basil and plunge it into boiling water for ten seconds
Quickly remove it and plunge it into iced water
Drain and put it into a food processor with 150ml of light olive oil
Season to taste and process for a few minutes until the oil is green
Pass through a fine sieve and pour into a clean bottle and store in a fridge until required.

Recipe: Roast Cod on creamed spinach

Ingredients
Two thick pieces of Cod
A glass of white wine
One onion diced
One medium leek diced
Four sprimg onions chopped
1/2 pint of cream
Heritage potatoes diced
Two chopped sprigs of Thyme
200g Washed spinach
Handful chopped parsley
Butter
Olive oil
Seasoning

Method
Heat oven to 200g
Pre-heat the pan and add oil then butter, fry the fish until the skin is crispy, add the wine and then put in the oven to finish cooking
Whilst the fish is cooking , saute the onion, leek and spring onion
Once the vegetables are tender add the cream and potatoes, reduce the cream for a minute or two
Add the Thyme, spinach and Parsley, season
Remove the fish from the oven
To serve spoon the cream mixture onto the service dish and top with the Cod

Recipe:- Lillies home made pizza

For the pizza dough
1kg strong bread flour
1teaspoon fine salt
2x7g dried yeast sachets
1tablespoon of golden castor sugar
4tablespoon of olive oil
650ml warm water

Method
Mix the yeast with the warm water and sugar
Add the oil and salt to the flour
Add the water and yeast mix to the flour and form a dough
Allow the dough to rise in a warm place, Lillie uses the radiator during the winter and the sun in the garden during the summer.

 For the tomato base sauce
2 tins of good quality tinned tomatoes
2tablespoons olive oil
Sea salt and cracked black pepper

Method
Place all of the ingredients into a sauce pan and bring to the boil
Simmer for twenty minutes

Once the dough is ready roll out and top with the tomato sauce, finish the pizza with the toppings you like and bake at 190c until ready.