Traditional Seafood Soup

This is a great meal, tasty and healthy and a little different to the usual run-of-the-mill meals. It's a very simple tomato-based soup, but the seafood gives it great flavour and the addition of fresh basil makes it extra-special.

The ingredients I use are as follows although, as always, you should vary the recipe to suit your taste and style.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon butter
1 clove garlic sliced
250g Marinara mix
1 glass rose wine
1 stock cube
1 tsp Dijon mustard
2 tins tomatoes
½ cup tomato paste
½ lemon
½ bunch fresh basil shredded

Heat olive oil in large frying pan or wok then briefly fry the sliced garlic. Add the butter and marinara mix and fry gently until cooked, about 5 minutes. Add wine and reduce for 5 minutes, then add the mustard and stock cube and stir in. Finally add the tomato paste and tinned tomatoes and simmer gently for about 40 min.

When cooked, remove from heat and add the freshly squeezed lemon juice and half of the basil, torn or chopped. Stir in then garnish with the remaining basil and serve with some lovely crusty bread or rolls. Enjoy!

Mexican Beef Stir Fry with Wilted Greens & Popped Beans

I was confronted with a pack of ready-seasoned Mexican beef strips in the freezer and was scratching my head as to how to make this into a meal using the contents of the cupboard and the garden

I decided to have wilted asian greens as a base and to use fried red kidney beans as a side. Frying these in hot oil makes them slight crunchy, which makes for nice textural variation with the soft moist beef and greens.

If you want to prepare the beef strips yourself here's a recipe you can use.

Fry a well drained can of red kidney beans in olive oil with a clove of garlic and half an onion finely chopped. Cook over high heat initially then reduce and stir occasionally. The beans will develop a crisp outer shell and pop slightly.

Slice asian greens into strips and steam with white wine and salt until slightly wilted.

Stir fry the beef strips with half a chopped onion over high heat until cooked through.

Serve the beef strips on top of the wilted greens with a side serve of the kidney beans. Place a spoonful of greek yoghurt onto the beef and top with a teaspoon of chilli jam. Delicious!

Garlic & Parmesan Dumpling

A wonderful addition to any casserole

These sensationally tasty dumplings have a crisp crust and a gorgeously soft, underside touched with the casserole sauce. Guaranteed to turn an ordinary meal into a special occasion!

These dumplings are much like a scone but packed with savoury flavour. The amount of garlic, parmesan and herb can be varied to suit your taste, but maintain the proportion of the other ingredients to ensure a nicely balanced dumpling.

Make sure you cook this in an oven-proof dish!


Ingredients
50g butter
2 cloves garlic
2 cups self-raising flour
½ cup grated parmesan cheese
¾ cup milk
½ tsp dried thyme


Method
Rub the butter and garlic into the raising flour. Then add the parmesan, thyme and milk and stir in. Roll the dough into balls and place on top of casserole.

Bake at 200°C for 20 minutes until tops are lovely & brown.

Enjoy!

Lemon & Garlic Spatchcock Chicken

A beautifully fresh & tangy way to cook a chicken on the grill.

All you need is a nice chicken, a lemon or two, some white wine and olive oil. My preference is to also include garlic for an infusion of flavour into the meat, but this depends on you.

Firstly you'll need to spatchcock the chicken, which is cutting it down the backbone and then removing the backbone. Check this reference if you need help - it's really quite easy so don't be put off if you haven't tried it before.

If you're wanting to add garlic there are two options. Firstly you can slice a clove into slivers, pierce small holes in the chicken and insert the pieces of garlic. Another option is to crush the garlic, mix with a little olive oil, and then baste this onto the chicken.

Lay out the chicken flat in a pan, pour over a cup or so of white wine and drizzle with olive oil, then leave a little while to marinade. That's it!

Salt the chicken before cooking, then lay flat over a barbeque on medium heat, basting regularly with the marinade and cook for about forty minutes, depending on the size of the chicken & the heat.

Great served with chips or baked potatoes and a green salad. Enjoy!

Pot Roasted Chicken with Rosemary

This is one my favourite ways to cook a chicken. Tender succulent meat and beautifully flavoured sauce delicately infused with rosemary - a real treat.

Start off by seasoning the chicken cavity with salt, pepper and a sprig of rosemary.

Smear a tablespoon of the butter over the chicken breast, then place the chicken breast-side down in a large casserole dish and brown over gentle heat for a few minutes. While you're waiting, mix a tablespoon of chopped rosemary with a tablespoon or two of butter

Turn the browned chicken over and smear the rosemary butter over the breast and legs and season generously with salt and pepper. Then put on the lid and cook on the stovetop for one and a half hours. Its that simple.

When cooked, take the chicken out and place on a carving dish, cover and allow to rest for before carving.

The casserole will contain quite a lot of juice - chicken stock! Remove any excess fat, then put the dish over a medium heat. Add another tablespoon of chopped rosemary to the juices, add a tablespoon of flour and whisk until smooth. Then add about half a cup of cream. Bring the sauce to the boil and whisk until thick. Check the seasoning and serve the chicken with the sauce spooned over. Exquisite...

Essential Chicken Soup

Synonymous with making one feel better, chicken soup is an age old classic. It's also a great way to use left-over chicken roast that would otherwise end up in the bin.

I find that less is definitely more in this case; adding too many different ingredients diffuses the lovely simple flavour that is the essence of this soup.

Very simple. Fry onion with a bit of garlic if you like. Add the chicken carcass and fry as well. Douse with white wine and allow to simmer a little, then add salt and a little stock, perhaps a cup depending on what volume of soup you are making. Again, don't go overboard with additions that will hide the chicken flavour.

Put a lid on and allow to simmer gently for about half an hour. Remove the carcass to a plate or board and strip off all the meat, then return this to the pot. Liquidize the mixture then let simmer again for about fifteen minutes, stirring occasionally.

A few minutes before serving, add a little cream and freshly ground black pepper, simmer for a few more minutes then switch off. Adjust the seasoning and its ready to serve. Heavenly with crusty bread.

Bean & Rooibos Soup

This soup hails from Southern Africa, having rooibos tea as one of its main ingredients. Rooibos is harvested from the fynbos plant endemic to the Western Cape region, and is known for its antioxidant content and cardiovascular benefits.

The other hero ingredient of the soup is of course the beans, I use either red kidney beans or sugar beans. The easiest way is to use canned beans, otherwise soak the dry beans in water overnight to soften them. These two key ingredients give the soup a very characteristic taste - like rooibos tea it's not to everyone’s liking but it is one of my favourite soups.

As with any dish there will be many variations, but the other constituents are onions, garlic, and a bit of veg. Typically I add a couple of carrots and a few crisp stalks of celery if at hand. If you want, you can add some meat to round out the flavour; leftover lamb or beef roasts work well, or even a few rashers of bacon. Whatever you prefer.

Before you start cooking, the first thing to do it make a large batch of rooibos tea. I use eight to ten teabags and, because of the large volume, I make this on the stovetop in a large stainless bowl. I have this on a burner at low heat to keep it hot while it's brewing.

The cooking process is simple enough - fry the chopped onion until soft and a little brown. Then add the diced carrots and celery and fry until soft, adding salt. If you’re using raw meat, remove the veg to a bowl and then brown the meat. Otherwise lob in the leftover roast meat and fry with the veg until heated.

Then add the beans, I find about three tins a good measure, and cook for a few minutes before adding a generous volume of white wine to deglaze the ingredients and add flavour. After the alcohol has had a chance to flash off, add a tablespoon or two of tomato paste, a couple of your favourite stock cubes and a little oregano and thyme. Reduce the heat, put on the lid and allow to simmer for about half an hour.

When the meat is tender, remove any bones and liquidize with a stick-mixer (the easiest way, otherwise use to a food processor). Let soup simmer for a little, stirring occasionally to prevent the solids from toasting on the bottom.

Finally, check the flavour and add some pepper and more herbs if you want.The soup has a distinct tang, a combination of the bean and rooibos. The flavours also develop overnight, so having it the next day is great as well. Enjoy!