Category: Recipes
Greek Salad

Greek Salad

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Next up as part of this banquet is this delish Greek salad. Traditionally a Greek salad is made up of the classically Greek ingredients Romaine lettuce, feta and olives to make a beautiful salty, sweet and refreshing salad all in one! This salad, like most, is very quick and easy to put together, and makes a delish light lunch on it’s own! In this selection of mezes though it acts as a great refreshing dish to pair with the warm, aromatic ones.

Recipe

Makes 1 Meze dish

Time: 5 minutes

Ingredients

  • 3 Vine tomatoes
  • 5cm Length of Cucumber
  • 1/4 Red pepper
  • 2 Leaves of Romaine lettuce
  • 5g Feta cheese
  • A few Olives, halved
  • A Drizzle of Balsamic vinegar
  • A Drizzle of Olive oil

Method

  1. Take a sharp knife and quarter the tomatoes. Then slice the cucumber into quarters length ways, and then chop along the batons to make small pieces. Then dice the pepper into similarly sized pieces.
  2. Rip the lettuce into pieces and scatter the over over serving dish. Then scatter over the tomatoes, pepper and cucumber. Crumble the feta over the salad and then scatter the olives.
  3. Finish with a drizzle of the balsamic and olive oil and serve!

Thanks for reading!
Emma x
Pita Bread

Pita Bread

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Pita bread is one of those incredible foods that is so versatile and will just work with everything. Whilst now I prefer my pita dipped in hummus, back in primary school I used to stuff them with Mini Cheddars to make an improvised crisp/cheese sandwich. My culinary experiments have moved on a lot since then, but I still have a fondness for these bread pockets and they pair super well with the other meze dishes in this banquet!

Recipe

Makes 4 Pitas

Time: 20 minutes, plus proving and baking time

Ingredients

  • 250g Strong white bread flour
  • 7g Instant yeast
  • 1 tsp Salt
  • 160ml Water
  • 2 tsp Olive oil

Method

  1. Put the flour, yeast and salt into a bowl and stir to combine. Be careful not to put the salt directly on top of the yeast as this will kill it and prevent your dough from rising. Add the oil and then slowly add the water, mixing as you do, to get a smooth dough.
  2. Turn the dough out onto a worktop and knead for about 10 minutes, until smooth and stretchy. Place this dough into a clean bowl, cover with clingfilm and leave to rise until doubled in size (about an hour).
  3. Pre-heat the oven to 200˚C and pop a baking tray in the oven to warm up.
  4. When the dough is ready turn it out onto your surface and knead for 20 seconds to knock out the air bubbles.
  5. Split the dough into 6 and roll each portion into a ball. Then lightly flour a surface and roll each ball out into a 5cm long oval.
  6. Take the tray out of the oven and lightly dust with flour. Put each pitta onto it and then bake for 5-10 minutes until they start to brown slightly.
  7. Serve with lots of hummus!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x
Aromatic Aubergine Bake

Aromatic Aubergine Bake

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First meze dish up is this delicious aubergine bake! This one, like most of the others, will taste amazing as a dish on it’s own, but also works fantastically in this meze banquet. The aubergine is gently spiced with something called rasel hanout, a middle eastern spice blend that works incredibly with earthy vegetables like aubergine, and will also work really well with courgette, squash and tomatoes. This dish will be a warming, nourishing taste to the banquet, which will balance well with the other lighter, sharper dishes.

Recipe

Makes 1 Mezze dish

Time: 10 minutes, plus cooking time

Ingredients

  • 1 Aubergine
  • 1 tbsp Olive oil
  • 1 Red pepper
  • 1 tsp Rasel Hanout
  • 4 Vine tomatoes
  • Salt and Pepper to season
  • 50g Feta
  • 25g Pomegranate seeds
  • A handful of Parsley to garnish (optional)

Method

  1. Pre-heat the oven to 180˚C.
  2. Chop the aubergine into small chunks. Heat the oil in a pan and then add the aubergine. Brown it on all sides and then add the peppers and the rasel hanout. Stir to coat everything in the spice and then leave to soften for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally, and then take off the heat. Season with a little salt and pepper and then tip the mix into an oven-proof serving dish.
  3. Arrange the tomatoes around the dish and then put the whole thing in the oven to bake for 10 minutes.
  4. Once out of the oven sprinkle over the feta, pomegranate, and parsley and serve warm!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x
Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies  

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies  

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Something that I really love about making biscuits, and in particular cookies, is how quick and simple it is to make them. The three basic ingredients in any biscuit is flour, butter and sugar, and anyone who bakes regularly will probably have these in their home at all times, so these are something that can be rustled up at a moments notice without the need for a shop first. I also love how easy it is to make them. Whop everything in a bowl, mix it together, portion it out and bake them. Then, no decoration, filling, or embellishment required, they can be devoured in minutes, warm pools of chocolate oozing out of them!

Peanut and chocolate is one of the ultimate flavour marriages out there, and in these it works sublimely. The little saltiness from the nuts compliments and brings out the richness of the chocolate, and the nutty flavour makes the basic cookie dough a little more interesting than your classic plain stuff. Recently there’s been a food craze of different nut butters  (like peanut butter but made out of cashews or almonds etc) so you could also try experimenting with other nut-choco combos. Especially if you’re not a fan of peanuts, there might be another nutty substitute that you’d prefer. These will also freeze really well, so if you want you can make the dough, pop it into a freezer-proof container and leave it in the freezer for months until you need it (and that way a fresh, warm cookie is always only minutes away!)

Recipe

Makes 10

Time: 15 minutes, plus cooking time

Ingredients

  • 110g Unsalted butter
  • 75g Caster sugar
  • 100g Light brown sugar
  • 1 Large egg
  • 1 tsp Vanilla extract
  • 130g Peanut butter
  • 200g Plain flour
  • 1/2 tsp Bicarbonate of soda
  • 1/2 tsp Baking powder
  • 75g Milk chocolate

Method

  1. Begin by putting the butter and sugars into a bowl and beating them with a wooden spoon until pale and fluffy.
  2. Add the eggs to the mixture and stir until combined. Then add the vanilla and the peanut butter and beat again until incorporated.
  3. Add the flour, bicarb and baking powder to the mixture and mix until a smooth dough forms.
  4. Chop the chocolate into rough chunks and then stir it into the dough.
  5. Split the dough into 16 pieces and then roll each portion into a ball. Place the balls on two trays lined with baking paper. Take a fork and press down on each of the balls in a criss-cross pattern to slightly flatten and decorate them. Chill the biscuits in the freezer for 15 minutes.
  6. Preheat to 180˚C. When ready bake the biscuits for 10-15 minutes until golden and starting to crisp around the edges. Leave to cool slightly and then enjoy!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x
Chilli Con Carne  

Chilli Con Carne  

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I’m a big believer in eating when and what you’re body tells you to eat. By that I don’t mean stuffing your face every time you feel peckish or get a craving, which admittedly I do a lot anyway, but I also don’t believe in not eating when you’re body’s telling you you need to. A few months ago I was craving peanuts. Now, I had never had much of an interest in peanuts before this time and so I basically took this as a sign that my body was in need of whatever nutrients peanuts are particularly rich in. I’m not a nutritionist so I’m not saying this is something anyone else should necessarily live by, but it works for me. So, bringing this back to topic, this week I’ve turned into a carnivore and have been really craving meat.

Unlike the rest of my family, I’m not normally a very meaty person. I used to be a vegetarian and as a result I often find myself slipping back into a veg-based diet. But this week I was in need of hard meat and so chilli con carne – the mothership of meat dishes – flew onto the menu pretty fast. Whilst I’m a food blogger and I a love trying new foods, I have to admit that I have the palette of a young child. I love gently spiced, relatively mild comfort food and anything with any oomph of chilli will blow my head off. Therefore I’ve spiced this ironically named chilli pretty gently, so if you’re cooking for kids or others with a palette like mine this will be perfect. If, however, you like your food hot you can add as much cayenne pepper as you like. I’d recommend adding another 1/2 tsp at a time once everything’s cooked, mixing it in and then tasting it. Don’t just triple the amount straight away as it might blow your head off and then you’re dinner will become a painful torture experience.

Recipe

Serves 6

Time: 20 minutes prep, 20 minutes cooking

Ingredients

  • 1 White onion
  • 1 Clove of garlic
  • 1 tbsp Sunflower oil
  • 2 Medium sized carrots
  • 1 Red pepper
  • ½ tsp Smoked paprika
  • ½ tsp Cayenne pepper
  • ½ tsp Medium curry powder
  • 500g Minced beef
  • 400g Chopped tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp Tomato puree
  • 1 Beef stock cube
  • 400g Kidney beans
  • Rice and salad to serve (optional)

Method

  1. Begin by peeling and then finely chopping the onion and garlic. Put the oil into a large pan and put over a medium heat. Add the chopped onion and garlic and fry gently until caramelised.
  2. Peel and dice the carrot and then de-seed and dice the red pepper. Add the vegetables to the pan and fry for another 2-3 minutes to soften.
  3. Add the mince to the pan and fry for 5-10 minutes until the meat is browned all over. Break up the meat with a wooden spoon as you stir the mixture.
  4. Add the paprika, cayenne pepper and curry powder and fry for another 2-3 minutes to cook off the spices.
  5. Then add the chopped tomatoes, tomato puree, stock cube and 150ml boiling water to the pan. Stir to combine and then leave to simmer for 10 minutes, until the sauce has reduced and the carrots are no longer crunchy.
  6. Drain the kidney beans through a sieve and rinse under cold water. Then add them to the chilli and stir them through. Season with lots of salt and pepper and leave to simmer for another 10 minutes.
  7. Serve the chilli with rice and fresh salad!

 

Why not try…

Adding a little dark chocolate to the top of the chilli. It sounds weird, but is actually becoming a pretty common addition to chilli. It’ll add a delicious bitter, roasted flavour to the dish!

Thanks for reading!

Emma x