This is a super simple dish and is quite, quite delicious.  It also makes use of things which most people have around most of the time. 


Things like pasta . . .  and pesto. I always have a jar of pesto in the cupboard, but in the summer I like to make my own. It's really VERY easy to make.  I have a recipe to make your own here.


That is when the basil in my garden is going mad and I have tons of it.  You can freeze it in Ice Cube trays and then pop the cubes out into zip lock baggies for use all year round if you wanted to. Easy Peasy.


Cherry tomatoes.  I always have them in the house as well. We eat a lot of them and in the summer, I grow my own also.  Ours are not ready yet, of course, but this is the perfect recipe for when they are, and in the meantime a good vine grown cherry tomato from the shops will work very well.


I use whole wheat pasta because I am a diabetic and it is better for diabetics to use whole wheat pasta.  But you can use ordinary pasta if you wish.  Just make sure it has lots of crevices and curves to hug all that lovely sauce.


Double cream. Something else I always have in the refrigerator, but here is a little secret I am going to let you in on . . .  low fat evaporated milk.  You can use that instead of double cream and cut down on the calories and fat no problem.  Works fine and with the pesto in the sauce you wouldn't be able to tell that you have used it by taste.  Seriously.

White wine. We don't drink alcohol in our home, but I always keep small bottles of white and red wine in my larder.  I think they contain what would be construed as a single serving for someone who drinks wine.  They are perfect for me because I know they will get used up quickly and won't go off.  They are not all that expensive either, a couple of pounds is all.


Mushrooms, and here is another true confession here.  I have discovered bags of frozen mushrooms.  They work perfectly in dishes where you are going to cook your mushrooms. You can pick up a bag of them at the grocery store in the frozen department.  In ASDA you can get a 600g bag for £1. They are a great store cupboard ingredient for something like this. They are loose frozen so you can just dump out as much as you need, and they come in very handy.


 
Heat the olive oil in a large skillet over meidum high heat.  Add the tomatoes and mushrooms.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the tomatoes have softened nicely and the mushrooms are soft and tender.   Stir in the white wine, cream and pesto sauce.  Bring to a low simmer. Cook until the sauce thickens slightly.  Don't let it boil.  Stir in the cooked pasta and heat through.  Season to taste and serve hot, topped with Parmesan Cheese.



Another true confession.  I have even used tinned cherry tomatoes when I don't have fresh ones in the house (very rare, but it does happen from time to time) and this pasta dish still rocks!  A bit of cheese to garnish each serving and Bob's Your Uncle!  Dinner is served!  Bon Appetit!

We are almost into the too hot for soup days, but this past weekend was kind of chilly I thought . . .  rainy, windy and with a bit of a cold wind.  It was soup weather and I thought I would take advantage of that by making a lovely pot of one of my favourite soups.  Mother's Creamy Tomato Soup.


Note, this is not my mother's homemade tomato soup recipe but rather a tomato soup recipe which I made on occasion when I worked as a chef at the Manor for the family.  Its a bit more involved than normal tomato soups, and you do use a few utensils to make it, but it is well worth the effort as the end result is a thick and creamy soup with beautiful rich tomato flavour!




Back to the soup, this is rich and creamy . . .  thick but not overly so . . . not thin either.   I can't believe that I had never made it for us at home before.  I had only ever made it at the manor and I knew that it tasted good because of course as the chef you do have to taste, but this weekend was the first time I had ever enjoyed a bowl of it here at home.



salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste


Puree the soup until smooth using an immersion blender, foor processor or a regular blender.  Strain through a mesh strainer into a clean pot.  Discard any solids.  Bring the soup to a simmer.  If it seems too thick you can add a bit more milk until you get it to the consistency you want it to be.  Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.


This soup is really, really good.  I didn't mind that it was worth all the extra faffing about.  The end result is exceptional!  In fact, I would serve this at a rustic dinner party as a first course, in which case it would serve more people. Bon Appetit!

Oh boy, I can't believe how lazy I get sometimes.  Yes, even I have days when I can't be asked to cook or I am too busy to cook and those are the days when a recipe like this one comes in really handy!



Its also quite economical and quick, oh and did I mention that its delicious?  Well it is all of those things and more, much more!


I have never had a real cheese steak sandwich, I hasten to add.  Never even been close to Philadelphia, but I know what I like to eat and these I like to eat.


Its as easy as softening some onions, mushrooms and green bell peppers in a pan, adding some stock and cooked steak slices . . .



 It could not be easier.  I have given quantities for two people, but you can easily multiply the amounts to serve more than two people. 


I use a combination of Edam and Gouda cheeses because they melt really easily, but you could use whatever cheese you fancy.  Fontina would be good actually. 


For the beef stock I use the little gel stock packs you can get over here from the people at Knorr.  I like the rich beef ones.  They have lots of flavour, and a rich dark colour!


Heat the oil in a medium skillet.  Add the peppers, onions and mushrooms.  Cook and stir, until softened.  Add beef stock just to cover along with the steak slices.  Heat through.  Split the hoagie buns and toast lightly under the grill.Spread the bottoms of each toasted bun with the creamy horseradish sauce.  Top with the steak and vegetable mixture and the cheese.  Fold the top halves of the buns over the meat and cheese.  Warm for a few minutes to melt the cheese.  Serve immediately.



If you can't get refrigerated cooked Steak slices you could also use sliced deli roast beef, cut into strips.  Either way it is delicious.  I really hope you will add these to your summer/weekday/lazyday meal repertoire!  Bon Appetit!

I was craving cookies today.  I know  . . . not supposed to have them.  I usually have plain tea biscuit cookies and digestives in the house for those craving moments as they are the lesser of all evils, but today I wanted more than that and so I decided to bake some kitchen sink cookies because I also had some stuff that I wanted to use up, like smarties and such.  I know what you are thinking . . .  I don't see any smarties there.  You are right. No smarties there.

use crumbled potato chips, broken pretzels, cornflakes, muesli, dried cranberries, etc.)

I do have anothe orange muffin recipe which we also like which uses a whole orange ground up, but this recipe here today is a bit simpler, but still very orangy.


With plenty of fresh orange juice and finely grated orange zest in the batter  . . .


 You can add dried fruit, or nuts, or even poppy seeds if you wish.