Oatcakes

150g porridge oats

50g mixed seeds (poppy, linseed and sunflower seed here)

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

50ml olive oil

A few tbsp boiling water

– Take half of the oats and blitz them to a fine meal in a food processor.

– Mix all of the dry ingredients in a bowl.

– Add the olive oil and stir through evenly.

– Add a small amount of boiling water and mix well to bring it together into a dough. Be careful to add gradually as you do not want the mixture to become too wet.

– Roll out the dough to 3-5mm thick and cut out rounds. Place on a lined baking tray.

– Bake at 200°C for 15 minutes until just turning golden. Leave to cool on the tray. Store in an airtight box.

– Excellent topped with homemade herby cheese!

Fresh Herby Cottage Cheese

4 pints milk

6 tbsp lemon juice

Good quality sea salt

Fresh herbs

– Heat the milk to just boiling in a very large pan.

– Add the lemon juice and stir, the milk will start to separate into white curds and pale yellow whey. If it doesn’t separate or not much then add another tablespoon of lemon juice.

– Pour the curds into a cheesecloth in a sieve over a large pan or bowl.

– Leave to drain and then give a little squeeze to get out the last of the whey.

– Transfer the curds into a bowl and mix in your fresh herbs and salt. I like to use oak smoked sea salt for a nice extra flavour.

Broad Bean, Pea, Feta and Mint Filo Pie

6 sheets filo pastry

5 eggs

400g feta cheese

A cup of broad beans (podded)

A cup of peas

Zest of one lemon

10 leaves of mint, chopped

1 tbsp fresh Parsley, chopped

1/2 tsp salt

Pepper to taste

– Heat the oven to 200°C

– Place a sheet of baking paper large enough to line a cast iron skillet on your work surface. Lightly Oil the sheet then scrunch it into a ball, then flatten it out again.

– Place 5 sheets of filo pastry on the sheet, rotating each one slightly so you get a sort of disc.

– Brush lightly with oil.

– Carefully lift the sheet into your cast iron skillet and gently press it into shape to fit the pan.

– In a large bowl place the eggs and feta. Roughly beat with a fork to combine.

– Add the beans, peas, lemon zest, herbs and salt and pepper. Mix.

– Transfer the mixture into the filo pie. Smooth out.

– Gently fold the filo over the top of the filling, pressing down gently. Scrunch up the last sheet of filo and use to cover the centre area where the sheets don’t reach.

– Brush the top lightly with oil.

– Place in the oven and cook for 20 minutes.

– Remove and leave to stand for 10 minutes before serving (or in my case an hour, it was still nice and warm!)

Chocolate Syrup

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/2 cup water

Pinch of salt

Bring to a boil in a large pan, careful, this will easily quadruple in size! Then pour into a bottle, cool and refrigerate.

Add to milk or pour over desserts.

Cheat’s Lobster Macaroni Cheese

500 g macaroni

25 g butter, plus extra to grease

25 g cornflour

125 ml semi-skimmed milk

100 ml white wine

400 g tin lobster bisque

1/2tsp salt

200g grated mozzarella and cheddar mix

125 g cooked king prawns, roughly chopped

⁃ Cook your pasta according to instructions.

⁃ In a saucepan melt your butter, add the cornflour and whisk to remove lumps.

⁃ Add the milk and whisk to combine.

⁃ Add the wine and lobster bisque, stir and then heat until the sauce starts to thicken.

⁃ Add the salt and half of the cheese. Stir until the cheese is melted through and the sauce smooth.

⁃ Heat the oven to ~ 180°C (or use your grill if you prefer)

⁃ Combine the cooked pasta with the sauce.

⁃ Pour into a greased oven dish.

⁃ Scatter the remaining cheese and the chopped prawns on top.

⁃ Heat in the oven until the cheese is melted and bubbling on top.

⁃ Serve.

Beef Brisket Slow Cooker Stew

This is one of those vague “feel it in your heart” type recipes. Just dump it all in, go to work and come back to magic!

• Beef brisket (whatever size will fit in your slow cooker/be appropriate portions)

• Baby new potatoes, quartered

• Carrots, cut into chunks

• 1/2 tsp coarse sea salt

• 2-3 cloves garlic, minced

• 1 tsp smoked paprika

• 1 tsp coarse ground black pepper

• 1 tsp dried thyme

• 1 tsp dried oregano

• 1 beef stock cube

• 500ml hot water

• 1/4 cup ketchup

• 1/4 cup dark brown sugar

• 1 tablespoon tomato paste

• 1/2 cup red wine

– Put everything in your slow cooker. Cook for 6-8 hours on low.

– Add dumplings (see parmesan dumplings previous recipe) 2 hours before serving.

– Shred the beef before serving. It may be easiest for you to lift it out, shred it and put it back in for serving.

Parmesan Dumplings

Parmesan dumplings are my new favourite comfort carb. They go well with anything, tomato based or traditional stock based stew. They work great in the slow cooker or in the oven. They’re fantastic!

Makes 8 dumplings

80g unsalted butter

150g self raising flour

1/2tsp salt

50g parmesan + extra for sprinkling

2 tsp parsley

50ml milk

– Rub together the butter, flour and salt.

– Add the parmesan and parsley and mix.

– Add the milk and bring together to form a soft dough.

– Divide into 8 and add to the top of your stew.

– Cook for 2 hours if in the slow cooker, 30 minutes if in the oven.

Wild Garlic Salt

I love wild garlic! It’s such a lovely, seasonal, easy to forage ingredient. But it has a relatively short season so I’m all about ways to preserve this fabulous flavour. This year I’ve made wild garlic salt and oh my goodness it is a game changer! Making this couldn’t be simpler, it just takes time to dehydrate the salt once the garlic is combined.

500g rock salt

Large bunch wild garlic

– First off, clean your garlic of any bugs or non garlicky bits.

– Put half of your salt and all of your garlic in a food processor and blitz until the garlic is finely ground into a paste with the salt.

– Add the rest of the salt and pulse until all evenly combined and browns down to your favoured consistency for salt.

– Spread evenly over dehydrator sheets.

– Leave to dehydrate overnight.

– Crumble up and store in airtight jars until needed.

Wild Garlic Spring Soup

This quick and simple spring soup makes use of the wild garlic found in plentiful supply around the uk. You can easily identify a patch from the smell! I keep a small patch in my own garden for ease of harvesting.

The vibrant green is perfect for early spring and Easter themed meals. The creaminess comes from the courgette and as ever a good slip is built on a good stock! A stock cube is just fine but make sure it’s a good one!

1 large bunch wild garlic leaves, roughly torn

1 courgette, roughly chopped

1 small leek, sliced

1 cup frozen petit pois

1 vegetable stock cube

1 clove garlic, crushed

Salt and pepper to taste

– Heat a table spoon of olive oil in a large pan.

– Add the courgette, leek, garlic leaves and peas and cook over a medium heat for 3-5 minutes until the courgette is soft.

– Add half a litre of boiling water.

– Add your stock cube and garlic.

– Remove from the heat and blend with a stick blender until all the chunks are gone.

– Return to the heat and bring to a simmer. Season to taste.

– If you want to adjust the thickness you can add more water if necessary or simmer on a low heat to reduce further.

– Serve with a garnish of thinly sliced wild garlic leaves and a dollop of sour cream.

Halloween Eyeball Chocolate Chip Cookies Recipe

These spooky eyeball chocolate chip cookies are great easy Halloween cookies! I bought a packet of these sugar eyeballs ages ago but never really found a need to use them until now! These cookies are a great Halloween treat and you can use the technique with your own favourite cookie recipe if you prefer, no need to follow this one (though it is great!) You simply press the eyes into the cookie when it comes straight out of the oven and then leave to cool.

Makes 18 cookies

200g melted unsalted butter
220g light muscovado sugar
100g caster sugar (If you like the grainyness of the M&S cookies feel free to use granulated, I don’t like it so I use caster)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
350g plain flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
200g chocolate chips (I use one bag of dark and one bag of milk for variety)

One pack sugar eyeballs

– Heat the oven to Gas mark 3/170C and prepare two baking trays.
– Melt the butter, I put it in the microwave for 1 minute but microwaves vary so be careful!
– In a large mixing bowl mix the melted butter with both sugars until smooth.
– Beat in the vanilla and egg until smooth.
– Sift in the flour, baking powder and salt and mix until it forms a dough.
– Mix through the chocolate chips.
– Divide the dough in to generous balls, slightly larger than a ping pong ball is best. Roll briefly in your hands to make a round ball and place 6 on a baking tray. Make sure they cookies are well spaced apart as they spread.
– Bake one sheet at a time in the top of the oven for about 15-17 minutes. The cookies will still be soft but the edges should be a little brown.
– As soon as they come out of the oven press the sugar eyeballs randomly into the cookies. Leave to cool on the tray for 5 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely/eat.
– Repeat with the remaining trays of cookies.