Basil, Mozzarella and Garlic Loaf

Ooooh baby this is a good one.

You’ve got an easy peasy bread recipe, with unlimited filling options, AND it looks super pretty.

I went with nice Italian style flavourings, but this could be delicious with some onion, garlic and sage instead, or ramp up the cheese, and add some sundried tomatoes. Oh, OH or smear with pesto and cover in mozzarella and parmesan.

I will be whipping up variations on this for a long time. I love finding that perfect base recipe to riff off.

Winner!

Pork Chops and Sweet and Sour Peppers

Looking for something a little different for a Sunday dinner?

My usual weekend plans include grand dinner plans, with involve lots of time - from the prep to the actual cooking. And then sometimes it gets to 3pm on a Sunday and you're in the middle of a netflix binge and getting up to cook a mammoth meal doesn't seem very appealing.. Well step on up. porkchops.

I am always on the lookout for quick meals and this one had been getting a lot of buzz around the internet. I am wary of “omg best recipe ever!” reviews, but this one intrigued me. I don’t eat pork chops very often, because I didn’t think they were good. It turns out, I just didn't know how to cook them well.

Turns out, you don’t have to cook them for very long at all! 3 minutes on each side, and dinner is cooked. Buttery, herby, garlicky deliciousness.

Obviously you can serve the pork chops with anything, I think they could also be delicious with some mash and roasted veggies.

Slow Cooker Pulled Pork

Sorry about the hiatus, I was on my holidays eating obscene amounts of pizza, pasta and gelato.

BUT I'M BACK BABY. And with a corker of a meal.

I am excited about this post. It's nearly the weekend, and this is the perfect meal to pop in the slow cooker on Saturday morning, to give bountiful meals all weekend.

I love my slow cooker because it takes large hunks of meat that I would normally be super intimidated to cook with, and turns them into tender, flavourful meals with almost no effort.

And when you have that big plate of delicious meat, you can go ahead and cook up whatever you want with it! I got three meals out of this, it was basically the best week’s dinners of my life. None of the dinners took much time to do, and the meat was the star ingredient.

Day one, we had quesadillas:

Tortilla wrap, cheese, meat, veg, fold over and cook. Dream

Day two, we had nachos:

Tortilla chips, meat, veg, cheese. Sense a theme?

Day three, we had bbq mac and cheese:

For this, I mixed the pork with homemade BBQ sauce, topped with mac and cheese, and baked in the oven.

Tear and Share Cheesy Garlic Bread

Okay, I know that it's Easter, which basically means chocolate season. And I am all about the chocolate. I don't do much sweet Easter baking because I'm too focused on yumming chocolate eggs into my face.

But if you're anything like my family, Easter is a time for people to come together and eat. So I've found the perfect side for your Easter buffet. Everyone does an Easter buffet, right?

It is an acknowledged truth that everyone loves garlic bread.

It’s like the universal amazing starter/side – carbohydrate-loaded, highly flavoured, a wee bit greasy.. It ticks all the boxes.

I'm literally salivating right now

But, like all awesome things, it is also ridiculously decadent and should really be saved for special occasions. Oh, hello, Easter.

I could eat all of these right now/

This bread is really really simple to whip up. It takes a little time while you’re allowing the dough to rise, but that’s good if you’re also cooking lots of other things at the same time. This is why it is the perfect dish for a party, imagine throwing this down in the centre of a table – people would be so happy.

Serves.. well, it makes about 24 individual garlic bread balls. So that could serve 2-12, depending on how much the people at your table love garlic bread. I'm not judging.

Garlic Chicken Breasts

Sometimes you just need a hunk of delicately flavoured chicken in your life. And that’s ok. It’s a real comfort on these cold (and windy - seriously, why is it so windy?) winter nights.

I wanted to jazz up your regular chicken breast slightly, while still trying to maintain a semblance of “not crashingly unhealthy.” Because in my post Christmas, post tins of roses, post advent calendar state, I need to lay low(er) on the old calorie count before my arteries just about give up on me.

This is great because it is versatile, the recipe can easily be increased for more people, and it can be served with a multitude of sides.  I went with some rocket (my fave green thing) and new potatoes. You could easily cut out the carbs and add in more veggies or a larger salad. Baby steps..

Deep-fried Chilli Prawns

PILE OF YUM

I am going to preface this with what I said to my boyfriend just before I started cooking it: “If this goes terribly wrong, can we order takeout?”

So, this is way out of my comfort zone. I don’t normally deep fry anything and I’ve never cooked a prawn before IN MY LIFE.  So this is one of those, if *I* can do it, then anyone can! Though as a caveat, please be careful when deep frying. You do NOT want to get spattered with hot oil. It will burn you a lot, it is not a toy.

I just used the easiest prawns I could think of for my first foray: peeled, de-veined, cooked, frozen prawns. Simple! Next time, now that I have the technique down, I might get the real deal prawns. But these were bite-size, spicy, crispy balls of deliciousness!

Garlic Pizza Bread with EVERYTHING

When you say "garlic pizza, with everything," this is what you end up with.

I normally make this at the same time as I make my Neapolitan pizza, because I always end up with tons of dough. Because "portion control" is just a fantasy phrase to me, like "getting up early to go to the gym." Who even knows what that means? Crazy.

I really really like pesto on my pizza. I like it on anything. Everything. But it works well on pizza and especially on garlic pizza bread.

Lime and Ginger Chicken Stir Fry

I have to admit, I’ve never really made a stir fry before. I am just not a big fan of noodles, in general. But of course, noodles are my boyfriend’s favourite thing ever. I have combined a regular stir fry with another recipe I love for lime and ginger chicken, and it turned out deliciously. The flavours are complimentary, and it is packed full of my favourite veggies! Note, I did not add beansprouts because they are totally pointless and gross, but feel free to mix and match with the vegetables of your choice. Mushrooms, sugar snap peas, baby corn.. all solid options.

If you have a wok, this is the time to break it out. I do not have one, so a non-stick pan has been drafted in instead. Improvisation is a big part of how I cook. Don’t have the exact utensil/ingredient? Improvise and you never know, it might turn out better than the original! If not, eh, lesson learned. There’s a fairly laissez-faire attitude which predominates in my kitchen.

Sweet Potato Mash

Artsy mash

God, I love sweet potatoes. And this is a short and sweet recipe (hi-yo!).

Probably my vegetable of 2013, and showing no signs of slowing down in 2014 either. This was the first time I attempted to mash it, and I am pleasantly surprised.

I first ate sweet potato in mash form last summer in New York, accompanied by some absolutely delicious chilli con carne. So this is really a versatile side, perfect for roast chicken, but just as delicious when sidling up to some meaty Mexican dish.

You may find me, eating this by itself in a bowl, with a ton of salt. Don’t even think about judging until you’ve tried it.

Delicious Vindaloo

First off, don’t be put off by the name. This is as spicy as you want to make it. And the underlying flavour has depth and spice enough to compensate for if you prefer it slightly milder. As a general rule, 2 chillis = gentle underlying spice, 4 chillis = pretty spicy, and 6 may make your mouth cry but is also very tasty. 

Yes, some of the ingredients sound a little alien, but the spice aisle of your local supermarket will have most, and your local Asian foodstore will have the rest. They are infinitely reuseable so definitely worth picking them all up.

Heads up, it requires slight preparation and marinating, but once you’ve prepared it, cooking the next day is easy as pie. You might be panicking that there is no discernible sauce-ifying element. And you’d be right to notice- there isn’t. But it works anyway. Go with it. The chicken should be juicy enough on its own.

Chorizo Carbonara

Sriracha hot sauce in the background, standard.

This is so quick to make! I am genuinely surprised that this Jamie 15 minute meal literally took 15 minutes. I win at Countdown-clock dinner!

This is a perfect dinner for when you really can’t be bothered making food. Normally, I would throw bacon in there, but I had chorizo in the fridge that needed used up and I thought I would mix things up a bit. Dat bright orange oil.

I know that "real" carbonara does not contain cream, but really, we're striving for delicious here, not authentic.

Sweet Potato Fries

First off, let me apologise for the radio silence over the last week. I had an interview yesterday so I have only just looked up from practicing questions while in my head yelling "like me, please!"

It took me so long to get these right. It’s not even an ingredient issue, it’s a technique thing. These will taste great no matter what you throw on them. The trick with these is to slice them fairly thinly and keep them dry. Think of these as awesome versions of frozen potato wedges. Not that much more effort, and so much more tasty. The flavouring can be adjusted too, garlic and rosemary would be great, and plain salt and pepper also works well. 

Due to their versatility, I basically use this as a side for anything. Burgers, fishcakes, fajitas, roast chicken, pie.. I’m Irish and we ALWAYS need a side of potatoes.

Always.

At least one kind.