Syllabub.net

Very easy, very flexible - either a meal on its own or a hearty accompaniment.

Ingredients

• Assorted vegetables - eg onion, peppers, courgette, aubergine, sweet potato (anything really)
• Garlic
• Olive oil
• Feta cheese
• Couscous
• Water/vegetable stock

Pre-heat oven to 200C. Chop up the vegetables into bite size pieces (you may wish to parboil potatoes) and arrange in a large oven dish. Pour over a generous splash of olive oil and some crushed garlic. Cook for about 45 minutes checking and shaking/mixing occasionally. It’s done when it’s all nicely cooked and crispy. Sprinkle some feta cheese over the top.

Make couscous by boiling some water (add veg stock if you fancy). Pour couscous (handful per person) into a bowl and add water/stock until just covered - leave for about 30 seconds and stir gently with a fork - repeat until cooked (less than 2 mins).

Mix couscous with vegetables and serve.

This is the easiest meal you will ever make (after toast) and is surprisingly delicious considering how simple it is and how few ingredients there are…

For 2

• 250g Frozen peas
• handful of fresh mint leaves
• Olive oil

Boil some salted water, add the mint leaves and after a minute add the peas. Cook for 2-3 minutes until peas are cooked. Sieve the pea/mint combo into a blender saving the cooking water. Leave to rest for a couple of minutes. Cover the peas with the saved water in the blender and whizz until you have a smooth soup. Add a few drops of olive oil and whizz for another couple of seconds. Serve immediately & season with salt & pepper. Ridiculously nice.

Again, a very dull area - like most people I have bought good and cheap pans over the years, but I think I may have bought my last one. Le Creuset 3-ply saucepan range (16/18/20cm) is beautifully constructed, will probably outlive me, and is probably perfect in every way. Feels good and solid, cooks very evenly and most of all looks fantastic - prices are around £40-£50 in my local department store (Bentalls in Kingston)

Now I’ll be honest - I never expected to be writing about this - I mean why would you. I go out and buy something which sharpens knives and hey, guess what, it sharpens knives.. but the thing is, this is amazing, I mean it. I like to cook (as some of you may know) and any good cook will tell you that sharp knives are important - but this thing is incredible. And I know that no matter what I say you won’t believe me or be impressed - buy one - if you don’t agree I won’t guarantee you 100% refund - but I would be slightly surprised. I have been a kitchen gadget fanboy for a while, and love those which do one thing really well - my #1 favourite is still my scrambled egg stirrer if I’m honest. But this makes knives really sharp. Even crappy cheap ones. Buy it. Now.

Accusharp - £8.95 from Tactical-Ops - get one.

Another one from Mr Oliver - simple, delicious, looks and tastes great. Sea bass is a wonderful fish, soft and delicate (and not too fishy!) you can buy fillets or get whole fish and fillet them yourself (haven’t tried this but probably not that difficult - if you have a fishmonger they will do this for you).

Ingredients (for 2)

• 2-4 fillets of sea bass (you want about 200g each so depends on size)
• 2 lemons (zest & juice)
• green beans (top & tailed)
• handful of asparagus (english preferred if in season)
• handful of mint (quite unbelievably easy to grow, but keep in pots or will take over your garden)
• 4-8 rashers streaky bacon (must be thin or won’t crisp up)
• glass of chardonnay (or similar)
• salt & pepper
• butter (optional)
• couple of swigs of olive oil

Pre-heat oven to 250C, score fillets and put into sealable plastic bag (sandwich bag or similar) with lemon juice and zest from 1 lemon and some olive oil. Leave for 10 mins.

Meanwhile par-boil asparagus and beans for about 3 mins (until a little soft). Then drain in a colander.

Mash up mint with a little olive oil and lemon juice (about 1/2 lemon’s worth - rest for serving) in a pestle and mortar.

Empty the asparagus and beans into a large roasting tray, add most of the mint sauce and swish around so everything is nicely coated.  Wrap the asparagus and beans with the bacon (nice & snug) and arrange around the tray leaving some gaps for the fillets. Take the fillets out of the bag and fill in the gaps (you don’t want the fish sitting on top of the bacon wraps or they won’t get crisp). Pour the wine over this and season with salt & pepper.

Cook for 10 mins until everything is crisp and golden. Give the tray a good shake, add a few small knobs of butter (optional) and take to table to serve with remaining mint sauce and lemon juice. Make sure you use the wine and mint sauce from the tray.

and arrange in a large roasting tray (this is the fun bit). Drizzle over most of the mint sauce

This is brilliant - and much easier than it sounds. Serves 6.

• 6 ramekins for serving
• 400g rhubarb
• 100g caster sugar
• 25g butter
• 6 ginger nut biscuits
• 150g custard (pref vanilla)
• 1 egg yolk
• 4 egg whites
• 1 teaspoon plain flour
• salt

Preheat oven to 180C.

Cook rhubarb and sugar with a little water for 10-15 mins until soft. Cool in fridge.

Smash up biscuits using a pestle and mortar (or any other method). Line ramekins with butter and then biscuit mix and a small handful (save some for later). Add a small blob of rhubarb to each ramekin.

Mix the rest of the rhubarb with the custard, egg yolk and flour. Whisk the egg whites and salt in a large clean bowl until you have soft peaks. Add 2 tablespoons of sugar and whisk again on high speed until stiff. Fold the egg whites into the rhubarb/custard gently - start with a couple of spoonfuls and then add the rest.

Fill up the ramekins with the mixture and bake it in the oven for 15-20 minutes (don’t open the oven door!!!) until risen and golden brown. Add remaining biscuit mix on top of souffles and poke a hole in each and add a drop of custard.

Simple, quick, delicious - a perfect starter or snack

• Extra virgin olive oil
• Fresh ginger (thumb size)
• 2 Cloves of garlic
• Fresh red chilli
• 4-6 Raw tiger prawns per person
• 1-2 lemons
• handful of fresh parsley
• Loaf of Ciabatta - 1 slice per person

Finely chop ginger, garlic and chilli (discard seeds). In a large frying pan heat the oil and add spices and prawns for a couple of minutes (until prawns are pink). Take off the heat and squeeze over a little lemon juice (you will add more at the table), the parsley and some extra virgin olive oil. Toast the ciabatta slices. Assemble prawn mixture on toast and lemon quarters on the side.

This is a delicious and simple dish - 15 mins and you’re done!

For 2 people you need the following:

• 200g linguine (or spaghetti)
• Olive oil
• 1 clove of garlic, finely sliced
• Dried chilli flakes
• 200g of mixed seafood (fresh is best, but most supermarkets sell frozen Fruits de Mer, or Seafood Cocktail)
• Zest and juice of a lemon (make sure it is washed)
• Handful 0f flat leaf parsley

Boil some water and start cooking your linguine (if you twist it before you put it in the pan it’s easier to get it under water). Heat oil in large frying pan/wok and add garlic and a pinch of chilli - until the garlic is softened but not browned. Add seafood (careful - will sizzle!) and cook over medium heat for 8 minutes (until everything is cooked and piping hot). Add zest and juice from the lemon. Take pan off the heat. By this time pasta should be done - drain and add to seafood. Add the chopped parsley and mix everything well together. Done!

This is bloody delicious and takes literally 10 minutes

Ingredients (for 1)

• packet of pancetta
• 1 leek (chop into slices - about £1 coin thickness)
• 1/2 packet of (organic chestnut) mushrooms
• small pot of creme fraiche

Method

• Add pasta to boiling salted water (add a little oil to prevent sticking)
• cook pancetta in olive oil (I use a flat bottomed wok)
• add chopped leek and mushrooms
• season with salt & pepper (if you don’t use Maldon Sea Salt, maybe you should)
• cook for another 5 minutes or so (until leek is cooked)
• add drained pasta to everything else, mix
• remove from heat
• add a couple of dollops of creme fraiche, mix

I don’t make puddings (or desserts or whatever you’re supposed to call them) - it’s not because I don’t like them but because they feel quite fiddly. Problem solved. There’s one bit of pre-preparation required - ramekins. I managed to get 4 for a fiver from my local cheap shop (be warned department stores can charge £5 each - robbers!)

Blueberry Crumble

Ingredients

• Blueberries - 300g is enough for 3-4 people
• Demerara Sugar
• Self-raising flour - 40g per ramekin
• Butter - 30g per ramekin. Must be cold/hard. Spreadable is okay but will need more flour and need to be careful to avoid making pastry…
• Small pot of double cream

Method

• Preheat oven to 180/200C
• Make the crumble mixture - get a mixing bowl, add flour and (cubes of) butter, and a couple of tablespoons of sugar
• Mix gently using finger tips (if you do it too hard you end up with pastry, if so, don’t panic just add more flour at the end)
• Once it’s like porridge you’re done, should only take a minute
• Refridgerate for 15 mins (doesn’t matter if it’s a bit more or less)
• Grease your ramekins (I just use a finger which I’ve just smeared in the spreadable butter and wipe it round)
• Add blueberries to half way
• Add a large sprinkle of brown sugar to each one
• Add crumble mixture (add more flour here if mixture has gone a bit pastry)
• Shake ramekin side to side to get everything nicely mixed in
• Put in oven (200C) for 15 mins
• Serve with double cream

You can use other soft fruit which don’t require pre-cooking - plums, gooseberries, any-berries but blueberries are a million times nicer than you’d expect and are still quite unusual so they’re my new favourite.