Stewed Apples and Oats

I've been running out of interesting breakfast ideas for ages. Each morning I come downstairs mildly delusional still, grab the bowl, pour in the porridge and bang it in the microwave. 1 minutes 30 seconds later and I'm piling the same old slop into my mouth whilst watching bbc news. But then this morning everything came to a head. After staring at the bag of porridge for a good two minutes wondering if I really could spoon this into my mouth for the 100th time in a row I hit upon an idea. I've always loved stewed apples and had a few granny smiths in the back of my cupboard so why not combine the two? Best part is it tastes like crumble, and I'm never going to grumble about crumble in the morning! It was so tasty I boxed up the rest and had it in a container for lunch- may have got a few odd looks in the library but they'd be on my side if they tasted it. It may not look like much but then again neither does the stewed apple at the bottom of a crumble!

Stewed Apples and Oats

Ingredients: (Serves 1)

• 1 large green apple or 2 small granny smiths
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• 4-5 tbsp oats
• 1 tbsp honey
• 1/2 cup of water

Method:

• Peel the apple (I actually forgot to do this but I think it would be slightly nicer peeled) then chop into small chunks, removing any seeds. Place the apple chunks into a small saucepan with the water and sugar.
• Cook on a low heat with a lid over the pan for about 10 minutes, stirring every few minutes. The apple should be soft and squidgy by this point. Use a potato masher to mash up into smaller pieces then add the honey and oats and stir. You may need to add a little more water at this point to prevent the mix from becoming too dry.
• Cook for a further 3-4 minutes allowing the oats to soak up some of the moisture. Taste and if necessary add a little bit more sugar. Serve up and enjoy! This can be enjoyed hot or cold, and should keep for about a day.

Burgers of Marlow

I've been meaning to upload this post for ages but every time I try to I just can't bring myself to wax lyrical about chocolate ganache cake. It's difficult to do food posts without getting hungry, but add some pictures worthy of giving you diabetes just by looking at them and you can see my struggle. My cereal bar and cup of tea seems so inadequate in comparison- it takes serious strength not to dash straight to the co-op and buy the nearest celebration cake.
Anyway, onto the actual relevant content. For anyone that doesn't know Burgers of Marlow is an adorable little artisan bakery sitting just at the edge of town. Go inside and it's like a little chocolate dolls house. There's all sorts of pastries and delectables to have with your coffee, plus an entire other counter for handmade individual chocolates. After taking an age to choose and eventually engaging the Mother to go in and choose something random for me when I'd still failed to make a decision after 10 minutes and 2 individual trips to scrutinise the counter, I ended up with the the chocolate ganache cake. And wow, was it worth breaking my post-holiday diet for! There was a part of me that had thought I'll be good and just get a little coffee, but with the Mother offering to pay and pointing out that technically I'd ruined my diet a few days ago anyway, that was all the justification I needed. It had The 4 Gs which make the perfect chocolate cake: gooeyiness, glossiness and goddam goodness!
I did also take home a slice of the apple and walnut cake for my Dad, and obviously had to sample a little mouthful too. I can confirm that also makes an excellent choice!

Pork Wellington in Butternut Squash Puree

Normally I'm not a massive fan of pork. It's fairly tasteless, I always end up overcooking it and inevitably end up wishing I had just splashed the cash on steak instead. But I'm a total convert when it comes to this show-stopping dish. It is a lot of effort but for a celebration dinner with an autumnal feel this is the perfect meal!

Pork Wellington in Butternut Squash Purée 

Ingredients: (makes 1 large Wellington)

• 1 pork fillet (about 1 lb in weight)
• 1 carrot
• 1/2 a leek
• 1/2 a butternut squash
• 1 courgette
• Salt and pepper, to season
• 4 leaves fresh coriander 
• Pinch of sage 
• 1 tsp sugar
• Dash of milk, to brush the pastry 
• Handful of flour

For the pastry - this is the BBC Good Food Basic Shortcrust Pastry recipe:

• 225g plain flour
• 100g butter (diced)
• Pinch of salt

Method:

For the Pastry:

• Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the butter and rub in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
• Stir in the salt, then add 2-3 tbsp water and mix to a firm dough. Knead the dough briefly and gently on a floured surface. Wrap in cling film and chill while preparing the filling.

For the filling:

• Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees celsius. Roughly chop the leek, carrot, courgette and butternut squash. You will need to peel the carrot and butternut squash prior to chopping it up. Roast the vegetables in the oven for 25 minutes on a baking tray sprayed with a little olive oil spray or covered in a splash of cooking oil. 
• Once roasted, place the cooked veg into a blender and blend. You may need to add a small amount of cold water to enable the veg to be blended into a thick purée. This should make an amount that is enough for the dish plus some leftovers- it makes a great dip to be accompanied by some tortilla chips for lunch the next day! 
• Add the seasoning to the purée along with the sugar and salt and pepper, and mix in. Set aside the purée and allow to cool.  
• Moving on to the pork fillet: season the fillet with salt and pepper and dust with a small sprinkling of flour. 
• On a sheet of baking parchment, roll out the pastry into a rectangle large enough to wrap the pork fillet in. Leaving a gap of around 2cm around the edges, spread a layer of the purée onto the pastry. Brush the edges of the pastry with milk then place the pork fillet on top of the pastry and roll up like a giant sausage. Seal the overlap and seal the ends. 
• Use the baking parchment to lift the Wellington onto a greased baking tray. (Using the parchment to lift it should stop it from breaking.) Glaze the Wellington with milk before baking in the oven at 180 degrees celsius for 45 minutes. 
• Once cooked, remove from the oven and allow to stand for 5 minutes before cutting into slices and serving. 

Butternut Squash Lasagne

Lasagne is one of my absolute favourite foods, and when served with a bit of rocket and garlic bread, man that hits the spot! It's one of those dishes that would be my ideal date food although as of yet no boy has ever passed the realms of spag bol and bacon sarnies when attempting to cook for me. (Take that as a challenge, boys!) Sometimes however it gets difficult to think of ways to spice a lasagne up. Every lasagne starts to taste exactly the same regardless of whether you've just whipped it out of the oven or been served a giant dish of it in a cute gastro-pub. So, for an fresh take on lasagne try this butternut squash lasagne. It gives a twist to the traditional taste whilst being better for you than a standard lasagne dish. Win win!

Butternut Squash Lasagne

Ingredients (Serves 5)

• 500g pack of lean mince
• 2 medium carrots
• 1 medium courgette 
• 1 leek 
• 1/2 a butternut squash
• 2 tins of chopped tomatoes (or for low histamine, red pepper sauce made with 5 peppers- click here for link to the recipe)  
• 3 tsp italian mixed herbs (contains oregano, basil, thyme, parsley, sage and marjoram) 
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 1/2 balls of mozzarella 
• 55ml double cream 
• 125g mascarpone
• Salt and pepper, to season 

Method:

• Dice the leek, carrot and courgette and place into a frying pan. Add in the mince then cook on a medium heat until the meat browns and the vegetables start to get brighter in colour. Constantly stir as the meat and vegetables cook to ensure even cooking and that nothing burns. 
• Put the fried ingredients into a large saucepan and add the chopped tomatoes/ red pepper sauce along with all the herbs and the sugar. Add some salt and pepper to your taste in order to season the sauce. Cook for 15 minutes on a low heat. 
• Meanwhile slice the end of the butternut squash and peel the skin off. Slice into 1/2cm wide strips and steam for 10-15 minutes. The aim is for the butternut squash to soften but not too much. In order to steam, place an inch of boiling water into a pan on a medium heat with a steamer containing the butternut squash on top. Make sure to put a lid over the steamer. 
• Remove the mozzarella cheese from its packaging and slice into thin, wide chunks. 
• To make the lasagne layers: Add 1/3 of the mince sauce into the bottom of a deep oven dish until the bottom is fully covered and you have a fairly thick layer. Place a layer of the butternut squash chunks on top until the mince is fully covered then spread half the mascarpone over the butternut squash. To make the mascarpone easier to spread, heat in the microwave for 20-30 seconds. Drizzle half of the cream into the gaps and over the butternut squash. 
• Repeat these steps to make one more layer. After this layer add the remaining mince sauce then on top of this place the slices of mozzarella on top. This layer should contain slightly less mince sauce than the other two. 
• Bake in the oven on 180 degrees celsius for 20 minutes. 

Low Histamine Stuffed Peppers

The problem with cooking for one is that I always end up throwing away fresh veg. It sits in the back of my fridge, hidden behind a tub of yoghurt, and festers for a good week before I remember that I actually need to use it up. This problem is compounded by the inability of Lidl to stock anything other than bulk-buy goods. You want one red pepper? Better buy a bag of 3 that gives you a bonus yellow and green pepper that you neither need or want. Everyone knows red peppers are the tastiest ones! So this recipe has been born from my efforts to use up all my peppers in order to make space in my fridge for the kilogram bag of carrots and pack of 5 sweet potatoes I just bought.

Low Histamine Stuffed Peppers 

Ingredients: (Serves 1)

• 5 heaped tbsp pre-cooked red pepper sauce (click here for recipe)  
• 4 heaped tbsp of any pre-cooked roasted vegetables (courgette, red onion, carrot, pepper, leek, butternut squash- the more the better!) 
• 2 heaped tbsp frozen sweetcorn 
• 1 red pepper
• 1/3 ball of mozzarella 
• 3/4 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp mixed italian herbs (contains basil, thyme, marjoram and oregano)
• Pinch of salt

Method:

• Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees celsius. 
• Put the pre-cooked roasted vegetables, frozen sweetcorn and pre-cooked red pepper sauce into a pan. If you are using red pepper sauce that has been frozen be sure to defrost it fully first. Add in all the herbs and spices then stir together and cook for at least 10 minutes on a low heat on the hob. 
• Meanwhile prepare the pepper by chopping the top of the pepper off and scooping out the insides with a knife. Make sure that all the seeds have been got rid of and all the white bits have been sliced off. 
• Once the sauce has been cooked, spoon the sauce into the pepper. You may have some sauce left over however this is better than overfilling the pepper. Place on a flat baking tray, or if the pepper is unable to stand freely, in an oven dish with the sides supporting the pepper. Bake for 10 minutes.
• Whilst the pepper is cooking remove the mozzarella from its packaging and slice the mozzarella cheese into thin chunks. Once the pepper has been removed from the oven, place the mozzarella over the top of the pepper as shown in the picture above and cook for a further 10 minutes, or until the cheese is sufficiently melted. 

Chicken Puff Pie

One of my general moans when I've flown back to the nest is how difficult it is to do 'proper cooking' at uni. By difficult I of course refer to a number of problems. Firstly, the lack of food funds: food is probably at number 3 on the priority list, below alcohol and event tickets. Secondly, the lack of fridge and freezer space. With only one little shelf I play a game of tetris after every single shopping trip. Number 3: the lack of kitchen implements. You've got 5 frying pans but no kitchen knives thanks to the lack of communication between house mates come packing time. When you do eventually find said frying pan it almost inevitably has pasta stuck to the bottom of it or the handle's fallen off. With all these problems chances are you're not going to bother spending a couple of hours making the perfect pie. However for a cheat's student pie that requires just a few ingredients, a baking tray and a mixing bowl, look no further. It also tastes absolutely fabulous- the vultures (aka my male housemates) swooped before I'd even finished my first slice.

Chicken Puff Pie

Ingredients (Serves 2-3)

• 1 roll of shop-bought pre- rolled puff pastry
• 1/2 pack of passata 
• 2 tbsp tomato puree
• 1 red onion
• 1-2 chicken breasts depending on how big they are 
• 1 courgette 
• 1 red pepper 
• 2 tsp mixed italian herbs 
• 1 tsp garlic 
• 1 tsp chilli (or 1/2 a teaspoon if you're not into too much spice)
• Black pepper, to season 

Method:

• Preheat the oven to 180 degrees celsius. Chop up the onion, courgette and pepper and place into a mixing bowl. Make the chunks about 2cm in size. Chop the chicken into small chunks. 
• Pour the passata into the mixing oil and stir in. Add the tomato puree. The tomato puree is there to thicken the passata, so if the sauce is still fairly runny add some more tomato paste. You are looking for a consistency that is just a little bit thicker than a pasta sauce. 
• Add the spices and herbs and mix in.
• Roll out the puff pastry onto a baking tray lined with baking paper (I used foil because it was too much effort to walk to the Co-op and buy some baking paper).Fold over the edges by a couple of cm and pinch upwards, to make little pastry crusts. The edges should be high enough so that the mixture does not escape over them. 
• Spoon out the mixture evenly across the pastry. You may have a little left over but that's better than having too much on the pastry so that it seeps out everywhere. 
• Sprinkle a load of black pepper over the top and bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes until everything is fully cooked. 

Note, if you're short for time make the filling up earlier and leave in the fridge. 

Low Histamine Meatballs

Are you one of those people that serves up spaghetti bolognese whenever you need to fix up a quick meal for some friends? Hold you hands up- we all do it. Just last tuesday I had an impromptu dinner party and started cooking at 7.55 when the guests were due to arrive at 8- it was a very hectic 5 minutes. Chopped tomatoes and mince was spread over half the kitchen worktops, topped off with a bit of slightly burnt shop-bought garlic bread. However, if you have a few more minutes than that handmade meatballs are a great way to look like you've made that bit more effort whilst still making something very easy that costs the same sort of amount and uses ingredients you've probably got at the back of your fridge and cupboard. We served ours with low histamine red pepper sauce (click here for the link) but you can go traditional and serve with a tomato and garlic sauce.

Low Histamine Meatballs 

Ingredients: (makes about 13 meatballs)

• 250g lean minced beef
• 1 tsp basil
• 1 tsp oregano
• 1/2 tsp marjoram 
• 1/2 tsp ginger
• 1/2 tsp thyme 
• 1 tsp crushed black pepper 
• Pinch of salt 

Method:

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees celsius. Mix everything up in one big bowl. Then squeeze the mince into small balls- you should be able to make about 13. You need to get messy and use your hands for this! 
• Bake in the oven for 10 minutes. This may vary depending on how large/small your meatballs are.

For a variation, add in some mozzarella to the mix. 

Creamy Chorizo Dish

A friend of mine came out with a great student quote over the summer: "whatever you cook for dinner, add chorizo to it and it's instantly nice." I wholeheartedly agree. Buy a packet of Lidl tomato risotto, boil it up, have a mouthful and experience the inevitable sense of dissapointment that it neither looks or tastes like it says on the packet. But then, add in some chorizo and boom! You have an edible and, dare I say it, even tasty meal.
On another note, when it gets to this kind of wintry weather I always find myself wanting food that can give you a metaphorical food hug to ease the pain of a freezing uni house. Dishes that top the list are always creamy carb-fests, so I decided to come up with a recipe that has the same creamy characteristics but less of the calories. All I have to say is that low fat crème fraîche is a god send.

Creamy Chorizo Dish

Ingredients (Serves 2)

• 1 leek
• Knob of butter
• 1/2 chorizo ring 
• 4 tbsp low fat crème fraîche
• 1 large handful of grated parmesan 
• 2 servings of basmati rice (follow packet instructions) 
• Salt and Pepper

Method:

• Wash the leek then chop off both ends. Slice in half and then again into quarters so you have four long strips. Then finely chop. Chop up the chorizo into slices about 1/2 cm thick.
• Put a frying pan on a low heat and melt the butter. Sautee the leek for 10 minutes, stirring every couple of minutes to prevent it sticking to the bottom.
• Add the chorizo and cook for another 5 minutes. Add the crème fraîche and parmesan then lots of salt and pepper for flavour. I find you have to add more pepper than you think you need, but do it to your taste. Keep the sauce on a simmering heat, stirring every few minutes to prevent the bottom of the sauce from burning. 
• Cook the rice to packet instructions. Usually this will require boiling the rice in a pan of boiling water for about 10 minutes. Drain the rice and pour over some boiling water to get rid of all the starch.
• Serve up. 

Mini Veggie Pies

 Miniature food automatically tastes better. It's almost a scientific fact. Mince pies for instance- would you get as excited about them if you were presented with a massive slice of mince pie? No. The attraction is in its dinky little size (which seems to justify eating 3 or 4 in one sitting), the ability to eat it all in a few mushy mouthfuls, and the disproportionate pastry/filling ratio- you get way more flaky pastry topping instead of half a cracked slab of dried out pastry from when the host's poor pastry cutting skills. The same goes for almost any food. Mini toad-in-the-holes? Totally cool! Mini pizzas? Tastes even better all in one and you don't get the miserable half of a pizza slice that lacks any of the topping you ordered. You want pepperoni? You actually get pepperoni on the entire pizza with a mini one.
Following this theory, we present you the Mini Veggie Pie. Instantly even tastier purely because of its size. And, even better, we've given you 3 different combinations to try out!

Ingredients: (makes 3 medium pies and 3 small pies)

Note: You will need mini pie tins- 3 medium sized and 3 small. Our medium tins were 10cm in diameter, 3cm in depth. Our small tins were 8cm in diameter and 1cm in depth. 

For the pastry: (This is the BBC Good Food Basic Shortcrust Pastry recipe)

• 225g plain flour
• 100g butter (diced)
• 2-3 tbsp water
• Pinch of salt
• 1 egg/ dash of milk for low histamine

For the white sauce: (This is Mary Berry's white sauce recipe)

• 2 oz butter
• 2 oz flour
• 1/2 pint of milk 
• 2 oz Mozzarella Cheese for low histamine, or 1 oz Mozzarella and 1oz of Cheddar for those not on a low histamine diet. 

For the fillings: (Makes 2 of each)

• Carrot and beetroot filling: 1 carrot and 1 normal sized beetroot
• Leek and carrot filling: 1/3 of a leek and 1 carrot 
• Carrot and butternut squash: 1 carrot and 1/6 of a butternut squash 

Method:

For the pastry:

• Sift the flour into a large bowl, add the butter and rub in with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs.
• Stir in the salt, then add 2-3 tbsp water and mix to a firm dough. Knead the dough briefly and gently on a floured surface. 
• Roll out the pastry cut to the size of the tins. Lightly grease the tins with some butter then fill the tins with the cuttings of pastry. Cut any excess pastry off using a knife. 
• Crack an egg into a bowl and beat. Use a pastry brush to brush the egg over the pastry. The egg wash gives the pastry a golden colour in the oven. Alternatively for low histamine dieters, use milk instead. 

For the sauce:

• Slowly melt the butter in a pan on a medium heat. Add the flour in slowly and stir constantly, then once the flour has been added pour in the milk. Keep stirring at all times to prevent the sauce from going lumpy and keep the pan on a low heat. 
• Once the milk and flour have completely combined and you have a lump-free sauce add the cheese and stir. Note, even those who are not low histamine should use some mozzarella as this will help hold the sauce together within the pastries and prevent the sauce from being too runny.
• Spoon the sauce into each of the pastry cups. For our pie tins we used 2.5 tbsp of sauce in the medium sized ones and 1.5 tbsp of sauce in the little ones.

For the filling:

• Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius. Depending on which filling you choose, dice the vegetables into small chunks. You will need to peel the carrots, beetroot and butternut squash. 
• Spray some olive oil spray over the vegetables and roast for 15 minutes. 
• Once the vegetables are out of the oven and have cooled a bit, spoon the vegetables into each pastry case until nearly full. 
• Bake in the oven for 25 minutes on 180 degrees. 
• We served with roasted butternut squash chips. 

Pink Juice

It's October which means it's perfectly legitimate to make garish coloured juices under the guise of Hallowe'en themed foodstuffs. In student land, Hallowe'en means one thing: endless fancy dress all-nighters. I can guarantee that after that you're going to be spending a good couple of days in bed surrounded by tissues, netflix and potentially even a bucket (or if you're anything like my housemates the only large cooking pot in the house- chilli con carne is out for a few weeks at least!) You get the idea. Anyway, this year why not combat the onslaught with something more than paracetamol. Our Pink Juice is full of illness-busting nutrients and gets most of your 5-a-day down all in one go. Even better it won't break the bank when you've spent all your money on vodka: it's only a few ingredients that are worth pennies in Lidl!

Ingredients: (Serves 1)

• 2 apples
• 2 carrots
• 1 beetroot
• 1 inch length of cucumber (optional but makes taste even more refreshing) 

NB: you will need a juicer

Method:

• Wash all the vegetables and fruit under the tap. Chop the ends off the carrots and place everything into the juicer. There is no need to cut the top off the beetroot. 
• JUICE! Juice until there are no bits.
• Pour into a glass with ice.