Grilled Halloumi with Fresh Tomato and Mint, served on Pita

There are a few things in life that I really can’t stand, late buses, spitting in the street, exams, that sort of thing. The flavour of raw tomato is another... or so I thought. Ben will tell anyone who’ll listen that I’m one of the most pickiest girls in the world, but really I’m not that bad. I do, however, have very particular requirements on a number of things, coffee for example, and now, it would appear, raw tomatoes. Because, for the first time in forever I ate a raw tomato and didn’t screw my face up at it. Brilliant. Well not quite, the special requirement is that it’s a firm, bright red Greek tomato, preferably eaten next to a pool or by the beach. I had hoped that any old tomato would do, but like good coffee, the alternative really doesn’t come close. 

The tomato in this recipe, I’m sad to say, didn’t quite meet my exacting standards, but I’m pretty sure anyone normal would like it just fine, and placed alongside all the other ingredients this dish is a real treat, simple to make and gorgeously vibrant in colour. 

Serves One as a lunch, or Two as a starter

8 thick slices of Halloumi

half a firm tasty tomato, cut into 8 slices

2 tsp dried oregano

1-2 Pita breads

small handful of fresh mint leaves

a good drizzle of extra virgin olive oil

1. Place the halloumi slices onto a baking tray or griddle pan (depending on which you have) and sprinkle with oregano and a little olive oil. Grill, or griddle, until golden brown. 
2. To assemble, place a heated pita in the centre of the plate, and alternate the tomato and halloumi, creating a fan effect around the bread. 
3. Drizzle with olive oil and scatter with mint leaves. 

Courgette Balls with Feta Dip

A couple of weeks ago Mum and I visited the Greek island of Mykonos, for some long overdue rest and sun. I’ve been to plenty of the islands in the past, but I must say Mykonos is probably one of the most beautiful of the lot. It also boasts some excellent restaurants with innovative Greek style menus. Avli Tou Theodori on the beach of Platis Gialos is one such example, and is well worth a visit if you are lucky enough to find yourself in the area. We visited twice, Mum opting for the same starter and main course on both occasions, it was just that good.

Avli Tou Theodori

This recipe is my take on the Zucchini and Tomato Balls served with Fresh Oregano and Feta Cheese Dip, and although I may not have the heat, the beach and the Greek hospitality, the flavours of this dish go a small way to lightening up my little Brighton flat on this most dingy July day. 

Serves One as a light lunch, or two as a starter

-for the courgette balls-

half a courgette, grated, deseeded and strained of excess water

1 clove of garlic, peeled and finely chopped

1 spring onion, sliced

thumb sized chunk of feta, crumbled

1 egg, beaten

small handful of fresh mint, chopped

2 tbsp flour

salt and pepper to taste

oil, to fry

-for the dip-

a good wedge of feta, crumbled

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp lemon juice

1. Combine the courgette, garlic, spring onion, feta, mint, salt and pepper, and flour in a large bowl, then add the egg and mix.
2. Form into three or four flattish balls, and sprinkle with a little extra flour. Heat the oil in a frying pan and fry the balls for about 3 minutes in each side until golden brown.
3. Meanwhile, make the feta dip by mixing the dip ingredients in a bowl and mashing everything together using a fork to create a smooth consistency. 
4. Serve the balls alongside the dip.

Awards, Awards, Awards

Over the last month or so I have managed to accumulate a few blog awards. I love receiving feedback from my lovely fellow bloggers, so a big thank you to Miss Cakeaholic and The View From the Table for passing on the following awards.

All three (or is it two?!) awards have different rules, but I’m going to accumulate them here in one go... (I hope I’m not breaking any unspoken blogging laws doing this!!)

THE RULES

1. Thank the person who nominated you for this award and link back to them.
2. Include the award image to your post. 
3. Share five random facts about yourself.
4. Spread the joy by nominating other bloggers.

MY RANDOM FACTS

1. If you’ve been reading the blog from the beginning you’ll know that I only really started cooking when I was 21. I survived the first year of University on Old El Paso Fajita kits, pasta, and smoked salmon, cream cheese and avocado bagels. 
2. Winning 800 metres gold at Sports Day when I was 8 years old is my biggest sporting achievement. 
3. I’m a dog person. Up until recently we had two French Bulldogs at home called Flo and Spike. When I have my own house I would love to have another. 
4. There are too many countries I want to visit in the world, but the top three would have to be Vietnam, the USA, and Russia. 
5. I know every word of Lewis Carroll’s nonsense poem Jabberwocky.

MY NOMINATED BLOGS

Ruth at A Rake of Cakes

Sue at Cake Balls, Cookies, and More.

Rebecca at Chow and Chatter

Stephen at Good Food in a Crap Kitchen

Alida at My Little Italian Kitchen

Gabi at Teeny Tasty Triumphs

Oven Cooked Pork and Fennel Risotto

This week I bought a coat... in June... JUNE. So excuse me while I share with you a recipe that isn’t particularly seasonal. I’ve been resorting back to my more wintery repertoire of warm and comforting suppers, as when the rain is driving against the window and wind is fluttering the roof tiles, I can think of nothing better then standing over a simmering pan for an hour or so. Of course, I’d love to be marinating copious amounts of meat in preparation for an upcoming barbecue, but this evening an oven cooked risotto seemed more appropriate. 

The first risotto I ever made was cooked in the oven rather then through the traditional method of adding stock slowly to the pan and stirring. I will admit that the traditional method does allow for little more control over the level of bite that you’re after, but when you want something that you can throw in the oven and forget about, then this is the risotto for you. 

Fennel and pork is a classic combination, and here I have coupled thin slices of fennel with both crumbled sausage meat, which adds texture and meatiness, and chunks of chorizo, which brings a punch of spice along with the Tabasco. Overall, the risotto is sweet and satisfying, with hints of aniseed, spice and porky-ness. If it’s not too naughty, or if you’re splitting the recipe to serve four rather then two, a wedge of crusty bread to mop up the sauce would be lovely. 

Serves 2 greedy people 

a splash of olive oil

4 sausages

1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced

1 red onion, peeled and finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, peeled and thinly sliced

3 sprigs of rosemary, chopped

a few drops of Tabasco

an inch or so of spicy chorizo sausage, chopped

150g arborio rice

large glass of white wine

roughly 200g of passata

250ml chicken stock 

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Heat the oil in a large pan that can go in the oven, and that has a lid. Remove the sausages from their skins and crumble the meat into the pan. Be sure not to allow the meat to burn. 
2. Add the fennel, onion, garlic, two thirds of the rosemary, Tabasco and chorizo, stir and fry for about 5 minutes.
3. Stir in the rice, then add the wine, passata and stock. Stir and bring the mixture to a boil.
4. Put the lid on the pan, put it in the oven and cook for 20 minutes, until the liquid is absorbed and the rice is cooked through.
5. Serve with a sprinkling of the remaining rosemary. 

Garlic Prawn Salad with Feta and Parsley

No blog silence apologies from me, suffice to say I finished my degree. Enough said. 

As Summer supposedly draws closer (I missed the mini heatwave due to aforementioned finished degree) thoughts inevitably turn to lighter dishes, fish, salads and picnics, that sort of thing. This dish ticks all the boxes, being light (but bready too to keep Ben full) and reminiscent of the smells and flavours you might expect to encounter outside a Spanish cafe. It’s really simple to make too, so would be a good option for feeding a crowd. 

My best cooking buddy Rose and I originally made a variation of this after trawling through my ever growing collection of cook books for something ‘light and prawny’. We were very pleased with the results, but felt it could do with some tweaking, namely the addition of  the wine, which I think adds a depth of flavour, and slightly less feta, which was a little overpowering to the delicate flavours of the rest of the dish first time round, although the more you add, the more deliciously creamy the sauce will be..

Serves 2

Pack of cooked and peeled King Prawns

Good wedge of butter

half a red chili, deseeded and finely chopped

2/3 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

large handful fresh parsley, chopped

75g Feta, crumbled

juice of a lemon

a small glass of white wine

Salad leaves

some crusty bread

1. Melt the butter in a saucepan and add the prawns, chili, garlic and parsley, before sprinkling over a little salt. Stir to coat the prawns.
2. Add the lemon juice, wine and about half the feta, and leave to simmer for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Just before serving crumble in the remaining feta. 
4. Serve on the salad leaves, pouring over all the delicious sauce, which can then be mopped up by the crusty bread.

Gnocchi Bake, with Loads of Veg

I may have been off the blogging radar for a while, but I do have a pretty good excuse; I handed in my two dissertations on Monday. The culmination of a good two months of work, I can’t say I wasn’t happy to see them go, but now I have no excuse not to do revision for the exams I have in the coming weeks, which to me is a far less appealing prospect. Not to worry, it’ll all be over on the 1st of June, when regular blogging will resume. In the meantime, I’m not cooking that much, let alone blogging about new recipes, so you’ll have to make do with this delicious Gnocchi Bake, which has been my go to supper following a long day in the library. 

The origin of this recipe comes in the form of the Good Food website, but from these beginnings it has slowly evolved to include whatever I might have in the fridge, extra mozzarella, and as many different vegetables as is humanly possible to cram in a pyrex dish. 

And the results? Really tasty comfort food, with plenty of vegetables to make it healthy, and the same again of delicious pools of mozzarella to cancel all that out. 

Serves 2/4 (depending on greediness)

1 tbsp olive oil

500g pack of Gnocchi, cooked according to packet instructions

1 leek, sliced

a good handful of mushrooms, chopped small

1 onion, chopped small

2 garlic cloves, peeled and finely chopped

1 courgette, chopped small

1 carrot, chopped small

1 red pepper, deseeded and chopped small

400g tin chopped tomatoes

1 tsp dried oregano

handful of basil leaves, torn, plus more to garnish

1 ball of mozzarella, sliced

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Heat the oil in a large deep frying pan, then soften the onion, mushrooms, leeks and courgette. After around 5 minutes, add the carrot and pepper, and then the chopped tomatoes. Add the gnocchi and stir.
2. Season, add the oregano, stir through the basil, and pour into an ovenproof dish. Push half the goats cheese into the mixture, and then scatter the rest on top. Bake in the oven for around 20 minutes, until the mozzarella is bubbling and golden.
3. Serve with a scattering of basil leaves. 

Raspberry Layer Cake with Raspberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

It was one of my best friend Maddy’s 22nd Birthday on Saturday, and I knew I just had to make her a cake to celebrate. I opted for a Raspberry Layer Cake with Raspberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream. I had made Swiss Meringue buttercream before, for Ben’s Rainbow Cake, and knew I had to try it again; it's honestly like eating a cloud. 

I weighed out the cake batter, splitting it three ways to make a slightly taller cake, and then sandwiched each layer with a little raspberry jam, the buttercream and a sprinkle of fresh raspberries. On top I plonked a good layer of buttercream, and then covered it entirely with fresh raspberries - mostly because it looked pretty, but also because my buttercream didn’t go exactly to plan. Last time I made swiss meringue buttercream with Rose it went perfectly, but this time it just didn’t really do its thing. First, it went a little soupy, so I popped it in the fridge, but then it went a little lumpy, so I whacked the KitchenAid up to high speed and hoped for the best. Unfortunately, it just didn’t come together, so I gave up, added a little seedless raspberry jam, and went with it. It tasted perfect, and that’s the most important thing, and once I’d added the fresh raspberries it looked pretty good. And so the Rustic Raspberry Layer Cake with Raspberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream was born. 

So much cake.

Fast forward to the party, and Maddy got to blow out the candles on not one but two Birthday cakes, her lovely boyfriend Tony bought a deliciously decadent brownie cheesecake from the Hummingbird Bakery. It was a fabulous night, filled with far too much cake and wine, so Thank You Maddy, and Happy Birthday once again!!

Adapted from Good Food

-For the Cake-

4 eggs

225g caster sugar

225g self raising flour

2 tsp baking powder

225g butter, at room temperature

Loads of fresh raspberries

1 tbsp raspberry jam 

1. Preheat the oven to 180C. Grease and line the bottom of 3 20cm cake tine (if you only have two like me, you might have to do this in stages).
2. Mix all the ingredients together until combined, but not over-mixed. It should drop off the spoon easily. 
3. Divide the mixture between the tins. I did this by weighing the mixing bowl empty and then with the mixture. I minus-ed the bowl weight from the other weight and then divided by three. 
4. Place the tins on the middle shelf of the oven and bake for about 25 minutes until the cakes are golden brown and coming away from the edge of the tin. Press gently to check they spring back.
5. Leave in the tins for 5 minutes, then ease the cakes out with a palette knife. Cool on a wire rack, and make the buttercream (see below).
6. Place one of the cooled cake on to a plate, spread over some jam, then buttercream, and sprinkle over some fresh raspberries. Repeat this process once more, and then on the top layer, just smooth over the buttercream, and cover with more fresh raspberries. 

Adapted from Whisk Kid 

-For the Buttercream-

300g caster sugar

7 egg whites

381g unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into small cubes

1 tbsp seedless raspberry jam

1. In a small saucepan, heat the egg whites and sugar, whisking constantly until the sugar is completely dissolved. To check this, rub some of the mixture between your fingers, it should be completely smooth.
2. Pour into a bowl, a stand mixer works best, and whip on high speed. Then, on a low speed, add the butter, waiting until each piece is combined with the mixture before adding the next one. 
3. Beat until the mixture is light and fluffy, then add the jam and beat to combine. 

If you have issues with your buttercream like I did on this occasion, check out Whisk Kids excellent guide to Swiss Meringue Buttercream HERE.