Proper Italian Pasta Sauce and Fresh Pasta.

When my Great Auntie Jean was alive, she used to make the most incredible pasta sauce. And then one day, while looking through Jamie Oliver's website I saw a basic tomato and basil sauce that I decided to make, when I went to eat it with lots of parmesan and black pepper it reminded me of my Aunt's incredible sauce!! So now for a quick and easy but delicious dinner I knock up some of this sauce and serve it with some fresh tagliatelle and grate lots of parmesan and add soo much blackpepper!

This picture isn't the best but seriously make this pasta and you won't regret it!!

The sauce goes like this (for 2 people) -
1 Red onion
A couple of cloves of garlic, finely chopped
Fresh basil 
A tin of tomato purée
A tin of chopped tomatoes


Fry a red onion in some olive oil and add some finely chopped garlic,
While the heat is still high add the basil into the oil so that it blackens and spits a bit
Then add the puree and let it sweeten for a couple of minutes, you may need to turn the heat down
Then add the chopped tomatoes and reduce the heat, adding more basil.
Cook for as long, or as little as you like. It tastes great in about 10minutes but you could reduce it more.


Then serve with the fresh pasta (I like green or multigrain tagliatelle) but add some of the pasta's cooking water to the sauce to loosen it a little. ADD PARMESAN AND BLACK PEPPER! Sometimes I serve with some asparagus spears on the side. 




If you want to make fresh pasta (I've tried it a couple of times, and yeah it tastes great, you get a great sense of achievement that you've actually made the pasta, but to be honest Sainsbury's fresh stuff is just as good so don't feel you have to) - then use Jamie's recipe.
http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/pasta-recipes/a-basic-recipe-for-fresh-egg-pasta

Some other thrifty Christmas gift ideas...

Continuing the thrifty gift ideas from the macaroons, here's some other things I'm making:

Jars of sweets - 

I got some Kilner jars from Dunelm for something like £1.79 each and brought a variety of sweets to fill them with! I've seen jars like this in Selfridges for £15!! They look really lovely.

Since this photo was taken, my boyfriend has made some mini polaroid photos to tie around them as labels. 

Sweets used - Liquorice all-sorts, Marshmallows, Chocolate Buttons, Flying Saucers and Moams! 

Lavender Bath Salts -

Using the Kilner Jars I also made some bath salts for ladies in the family.

I got a salt mix from ebay which includes epsom salts, sea salt and bicarbonate of soda. 

Use 2 cups epsom to 1 cup sea salt and 1/2 cup bicarb and then add some dried lavender (my boyfriend had an abundance cut back from his garden) and essence of lavender.

I then tied the jars with a purple ribbon and made a tag out of brown luggage-style labels attaching a sprig of lavender! A perfect, thrifty gift! And it makes your muscles feel amazing after a hot bath.

Macaroons!

I've decided to make lots of home-made gifts this Christmas and thought that macaroons would look pretty stacked in cellophane bags and tied with ribbon. So I did a trial batch a couple of weeks ago in case the recipe was rubbish - so hopefully they'll turn out well when I make them the week before Christmas!

I looked for days trying to find the perfect macaroon recipe, some seem harder than others, some you have to leave for a day in the fridge etc etc so in the end I found one in a new cookbook - Home Bake by Eric Lanlard (which is so totally brilliant as well as pretty) and they turned out really well! The recipe was also incredibly easy, don't be scared! I coloured them pink using food colouring (see note in recipe) and filled half with chocolate buttercream and the others with jam to see what would be best. I've now decided for the Christmas ones, I will do 2 types - some chocolate with chocolate buttercream and some pink with jam for colour variation in the bags. Although I'm not sure how long they'll keep, I might have to make them on Christmas Eve! - Also stay tuned for the Chocolate and Pistachio Fudge I'm making for pressies too!

Anyway, the recipe is as follows -

(Makes 28 double macaroons)

100g ground almonds

100g icing sugar

90g egg whites (from 3 large eggs)

100g caster sugar

(For Chocolate macaroons add 15g pure cocoa powder, sifted)

Sift the ground almonds and icing sugar together in a bowl to produce a fine powder (I had to put them in a processor)

In a large bowl, using an electric hand whisk, whisk the wgg whites at full speed until they start to thicken then very slowly add the sugar until they form stiff peaks.

Fold the almond mixture into the egg white, along with your chosen flavouring and/or colouring (note - to make them pink, add more colouring than you think as it pales when cooking. I've heard the food colouring paste is best but I couldn't find it in Waitrose or Sainsburys so just added pink food colouring liquid), using a large metal spoon. You will get a stiff, shiny and smooth mixture.

Using a piping bag fitted with a 1.5cm plain tube, pipe 3cm discs onto a baking paper lined baking sheet. Leave for 5-10mins so they can dry out a little, while preheating the oven to 150c (fan 130).

Bake in the preheated oven for 12-15mins.

As soon as they come out the oven, lift the baking paper and pour a bit of cold water in between the sheet and paper. The steam will help to remove them easily. Cool on a wire rack.

Once cooled, sandwich the mcaroons together with jam/buttercream/ganache/lemon curd etc!

Et voila!

Mary Berry Gingerbread Traybake - Perfect for Christmas or Bonfire Night!

So I made this gingerbread tray bake a couple of weeks ago for bonfire night and it was a huge success! It will be great for Christmas too, it smells incredible when baking and fills the house with a warming Christmas aroma!
It's also so easy to make and serves big crowds. It can be kept in a tin for up to 2 weeks and tastes better with age! I just added some crystallised chopped ginger on top but if it's for Christmas you could add some silver balls for example.


The recipe is from Mary Berry's Ultimate Cake Book - 
Ingredients -
275g golden syrup
275g black treacle
225g light muscovado sugar
225g soft margarine
450g self-raising flour
2tsp mixed spice
2tsp ground ginger
4 eggs, beaten
4 tbsp milk
For the icing - 
225g icing sugar
about 2 tablespoons water


Pre-heat the oven to 160c. Grease and base line a 12 x 9 in (30 x 23 cm) roasting tin with greased greaseproof paper.
Measure the syrup, treacle, sugar and margarine into a large pan and heat gently until the fat has melted. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the flour and spices. Add the lightly beaten eggs and milk and beat well until smooth. Pour into the prepared tin.
Bake in the pre-heated oven for about 45-50mins or until well risen and beginning to shrink away from the sides of the tin. Allow to cool for a few minutes before turning out and cooling on a wire rack.
For the icing, sift the icing sugar into a bowl, add the water a little at a time and mix until smooth. Spoon over the cake and add decorations, leave to set. Cut into pieces and serve!


- Mary's secrets of success - Heat the syrup and other ingredients through very gently. If they are too hot when the flour is stirred in, it could go lumpy. If it does, you'll have to rub it through a sieve.

Chocolate Self-Saucing Pudding a.k.a heaven in a bowl.

I'm gutted that this picture looks so rubbish, I was in such a hyped excitement and couldn't wait to eat it!! It tastes absolutely delicious and takes about 5minutes to prepare and 8 minutes to cook in the microwave. It's a chocolate self-saucing pudding and honestly, you HAVE to make this if you're a gooey chocolate lover! Surprisingly it's pretty low in fat, for it to taste this good I can't believe it doesn't have any cream or more butter in it!
It's from the Delicious Magazine and is so perfect for guests - one of those dishes that seems like you've been in the kitchen slaving over it but really it's ready within 15minutes!
This recipe serves 6 but be careful with the dish you use, mine wasn't big enough and as a result the microwave was covered in gooey chocolatey sauce! So next time I'll definitely use a bigger, deeper dish to keep all the sauce in.
Ingredients -
60g butter
225g self-raising flour
200g caster sugar
60g cocoa powder
180ml milk
2tsp vanilla extract
175g soft brown sugar


Melt the butter in the microwave in a deep dish for a few seconds.
Then sift in the flour, sugar and 25g of the cocoa powder, add the milk and vanilla extract and mix well. Sprinkle soft brown sugar and the remaining 35g cocoa powder over the top and pour in 300ml boiling water - do not stir at this point!!
Cook in the microwave on high (800w) for 8 minutes. 
Allow to stand for 5minutes before serving with cream/ice cream - try to resist eating it all while serving!

Simple Grilled Chicken, Jamie's Sweet Potato Mash and Asparagus

Some of my favourite dinners are the healthiest and simplest, perfect for mid-week like grilled chicken or fish with some vegetables. I adore sweet potatoes and saw Jamie's mash (on his 30minute meals again) which seemed like a good way to zap it up a little. This is more like an idea than a recipe to be honest -

So for the chicken I just grilled it on the 'Baby George', or if you're lucky enough to have nice summery weather, bbq it! Then just steam some veggies, I love asparagus and spinach.

But the sweet potatoes are the really special bit -

It depends on how many you're serving or how hungry you are as to how many you use. But I just quartered and peeled (although you don't have to peel it for added fibre) and put in a microwavable bowl. Add a quarter of a lemon to the bowl to steam in with it if you like. Cover with clingfilm and cook on full power for about 9 minutes - obviously more depending on the quantities. Push a fork in when cooked to see if they are soft enough to mash, if not cook for a bit longer. Then mash it up and drizzle in some garlic oil while the potatoes are still hot, then you can add whatever you like depending on your meal! Sometimes coriander or chilli (like Jamie does). I just simply added some peas and served with lots of black pepper!

Hummingbird Bakery Vanilla Cupcakes

Well these cupcakes were a bit of a failure... I mean they tasted delicious but didn't turn out as I'd hoped. I was trying to make them all halloweeny look like pumpkins with bright orange icing and then decorate them, but I used soo much food colouring and it just wouldn't go orange enough! So I gave up and left them in this peachy colour. 
But here's the recipe - It's from the Hummingbird Bakery cookbook that I got last Christmas but I adore anything made from there! These cupcakes are so good for birthdays or any occasion in fact - I tend to look for any excuse to make these! I'll probably post the chocolate version at some point.
You have to be careful with the quantities though, below is their standard recipe but I always have to make 1 1/2 batches for 12 cupcakes because there is no way enough! I don't know if I'm doing something wrong or if they have but I struggle to even half fill each case with the quantities provided.
So try it with the standard recipe but then if you can't fill each case 2/3 full then quickly whip up another 1/2 batch, it doesn't take long.  This makes 12 in standard size cupcake cases (not the small fairy cake cases) and taste just as good a few days later stored in a tin!
Ingredients - 
For the cakes:
120g plain flour
140g caster sugar
1 1/2tsp baking powder
A pinch of salt
40g unsalted butter, at room temp
120ml milk (it says whole but I use skimmed to lower the fat)
1 egg
1/4tsp vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 170c or Gas 3.
Sieve the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt, butter into a free-standing electric mixer with a paddle attachment and beat on a slow speed until you get a sandy consistency and everything is combined. Then gradually pour half the milk and beat until the milk is just incorporated.
Then whisk the egg, vanilla extract and remaining milk in a separate bowl and then pour into the flour mix and continue beating until smooth. - Do not overmix.
Spoon the mixture into the paper cases until 2/3 full and bake for 20-25mins until the light golden and the sponge bounces back when touched.
The cakes are cooked when a skewer is inserted into the centre and comes out clean. Leave the cupcakes to cool slightly in the tray before cooling completely on a wire rack.
When cold, ice with vanilla frosting -
Ingredients -
250g icing sugar, sifted
80g unsalted butter at room temperature
25ml whole milk
A couple of drops of vanilla extract


Beat the icing sugar and butter together on a medium-slow speed until the mixture comes together and is well mixed.
Turn the mixer down to slow speed. Combine the milk and vanilla extract in a separate bowl, then add to the butter mix a couple of tablespoons at a time. Once all the milk has been added turn the mixer to a high speed. Add any food colouring.
Keep beating until light and fluffy (at least 5mins). The longer the frosting is beaten, the lighter and fluffier it becomes.
Same recipe, different decorations: