Cheesey basil hotpockets

Hot melty cheesey treats.




I had some filo pastry leftover from yesterday's chicken pie (recipe to follow) and didn't want it to go to waste. There was some feta lurking about in the fridge that wasn't going to last much longer, so I combined the two with a few other bits and pieces and came up with these goodies. Eat hot from the oven.


Ingredients (makes 8):

- 2 sheets filo pastry (you can buy this frozen in the supermarket quite cheaply)
- 1/2 block feta
- 1 packet mozzerella, cut into small pieces
- 1 small onion, finely chopped
- 1/2 a courgette, finely diced
- 1 clove garlic, finely chopped
- Handful fresh basil

Method:

- In a frying pan, sweat together the onion, courgette and garlic in some olive oil until all soft (about 10 mins). Season with salt and pepper and set aside.
- In a bowl, mash the feta and mix in the mozzerella. Chop the basil finely and mix it in.
- Add the contents of the frying pan and mix all ingredients together well.
- Cut each sheet of filo pastry into 4 pieces; first slice lengthwise along the sheet, then cut widthwise.
- Take one piece of the filo and place a spoonful of the cheese mixture on the left-hand side, leaving about 1/2 inch border. Brush the filo with a little olive oil and fold the pastry over the cheese, sealing the edges well. Fold the filo over twice more, sealing with olive oil, until you have a fully sealed triangle. See this brilliant recipe for better instructions with pictures.
- Repeat with the rest of the filo and cheese and bake them in the oven at 180 degrees for 10 minutes, until golden brown and making your kitchen smell like heaven.
- Eat hot!

Flourless chocolate cake

Chocolatey, rich, achingly good cake



My lovely friends Frank & Mary were kind enough to host a New Year's Eve party, so I thought it would be nice to bring along a big fat chocolate cake as my contribution. This is an incredibly decadent cake, which is somewhat truffle-like in the middle and incredibly moist. It takes a little longer to make than a traditional chocolate cake but it's absolutely worth it. Thanks Jimjim for snapping a picture before it got scoffed.


Ingredients:
- 10.5 oz good quality dark chocolate
- 5 oz margarine
- 6 eggs
- 2 oz caster sugar

Method:
- Preheat the oven to 160 degrees (fan oven). Grease a 20cm round cake tin really well and line the bottom of it with greaseproof paper.
- Break up the chocolate and melt it with the butter.
- Beat the egg yolks with 2 tablespoons of the sugar with an electric beater until pale in colour and bigger in volume. Mix this in to the cooled melted chocolate.
- Whisk the egg whites until they have soft peaks and add in the remaining sugar.
- Using a metal spoon or a spatula, gently fold one-third of the egg whites into the chocolate mixture until combined. Add the rest of the whites and mix gently so as not to deflate the mixture.
- Pour the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 20 minutes, until the top of the cake is slightly firm to the touch and is starting to crack slightly. Don't bother sticking a skewer in to check if it's done as you would with a regular cake, as the inside of this badboy will still be slightly gooey and fudgy.
- Leave to cool for a few minutes in the tin and then turn out onto a wire rack. The cake will sink slightly but don't worry, this is normal.
- When cooled, dust with a generous teaspoon of icing sugar and cut into big lovely fattening slices. It would be really really good served with a dollop of thick whipped cream and an Irish coffee.

Butter bean hummus

Smooth, dreamy hummus with my favourite member of the bean family




I love hummus. This is a long-standing fact. I now also love butter beans. I felt I needed to combine these two loves to create a Super Hummus, one capable of destroying nuclear-powered bad guys and keeping the world in balance. I soon found that this was not in the slighest bit possible. However, I did find that butter bean hummus is delicious. It won't keep your house safe from burglars or pillagers, but it will keep your belly full of niceness.

Ingredients:
- 1 tin of butter beans, drained and rinsed
- 1 tablespoon of tahini
- 2 or 3 cloves of garlic (to your taste)
- Juice of half a lemon
- A few tablespoons of good quality olive oil
- Fresh parsley, chopped
- Salt, pepper

Method:
- Chuck the butter beans in a food processor with the tahini, garlic and lemon juice and blitz.
- Add a good pinch of salt and pepper and about 2 tablespoons of olive oil. Blitz again until the mixture is thick and smooth.
- Taste it for seasoning; add more salt if it's needed. Stir in some fresh parsley.
- Sprinkle a little paprika on the top, garnish with a sprig of parsley and serve with some toasted pita breads and sliced raw vegetables.

Chicken liver pate

Rich, mouth-watering pate which only gets better with time



This was also made for our starter on Christmas day. We had quite an assortment of different breads and chutneys and this pate fitting in perfectly. I was inspired to make this by the rather brilliant Lola-Lu's Kitchen, which is run by my friends Lucy and Rayne, both of whom are a dab hand in the kitchen (to put it mildly). I'd never made a pate before and had always assumed it must be difficult, as it tastes so damn good. However it was really easy and fairly quick, the only unpleasant part is preparing the raw livers at the start. I drafted in some help for that bit!

Ingredients:
- 6.5 oz butter
- 1 onion or a couple of shallots, chopped
- 2 cloves garlic, crushed
- 1 lb chicken livers
- Zest of 1 orange
- 2 tbsp fresh orange juice
- 2 tbsp brandy

Method:
- Heat half of the butter in a frying pan over a medium heat, and cook the onion genty until soft; it takes about 8 minutes. Add the garlic for 1 minutes and then transfer the whole lot to a food processor.
- Now, to the livers. You need to check the livers for any sinewy bits or gristley bits and remove them with a knife. This isn't a nice job but it's worth it in the end so keep that in mind.
- Add the livers to the frying pan with the orange zest and cook for a couple of minutes until browned.
- Add the brandy and orange juice for 1 minute, then put all of this into the food processor with the onions and garlic. Add the rest of the butter and process really well until it is as smooth as possible.
- Scrape into a nice serving dish and place it in the fridge after it has cooled. It will be quite runny when just cooked, but it will set quite quickly in the fridge.
- This is good to eat for about 3 days, and in fact it tastes better as the days go on. Ridiculously delicious stuff, this.

Cranberry muffins

A sweet start to Christmas day




My father makes these every year at Christmas, and they get devoured with big steaming cups of tea and small glasses of sweet sherry. They are a great way to take the edge off the hunger while you're cooking the Christmas dinner.

Ingredients:
- 6 oz fresh cranberries
- 2 oz icing sugar
- 5 oz wholemeal flour
- 5 oz plain white flour
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1 tsp mixed spice
- Half tsp salt
- 2 oz soft brown sugar
- 1 egg
- 8 fluid oz milk
- 2 fluid oz vegetable oil

Method:
- The first thing you need to do is cut all the cranberries in half (this part is a bit laborious, stick on some music and you'll manage) and place them in a bowl with the icing sugar. If you have time to do this part the night before, that's preferable. Mix the icing sugar and cranberries together and leave to rest, if not overnight then for about an hour.
- Heat the oven to 180 degrees and grease some muffin tins well.
- Sift together the white flour, wholemeal flour, baking powder, mixed spice, salt and brown sugar and mix well.
- Make a well in the centre. Beat the egg with the milk and oil and add to the dry ingredients. Stir until just blended but try not to over-mix it.
- Gently stir in the cranberries.
- Fill the muffin trays with the mixture, getting each muffin about two-thirds to the top.
- Bake in the oven for approx 20 minutes until the muffins are risen and turning golden. Turn out onto a wire rack and leave to cool.

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