Burrito Bowl

There is no right way to eat a burrito bowl; you can mix and match from so many gorgeous bits and bobs but this is my perfect combination both in terms of flavours and textures. I always operate a ‘build your own’ policy in my house – just put it all out on the side and ask your guests to start a burrito conveyer belt.

My bowl starts with fluffy white rice and shredded lettuce. I accompany that with black beans, pico de gallo, guacamole, chopped chicken, pickled jalapenos and a good few dashes of hot sauce to finish.  I think chicken is the best meat for this dish, but steak, pork or even salmon might work for you. I chopped up one breast from a roasted chicken and it was plenty for two of us when served in this way. The beans provide lots of protein and it’s so tasty that you’ll definitely feel satisfied! I don’t think it needs tortillas, but of course you could wrap all of the above in a soft tortilla if you wanted to.

Black Beans:

• 400g tin of black beans
• 400g tin of chopped tomatoes
• 1 heaped teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 stick of celery
• 1 white onion
• Salt (smoked is nice if you have it)

Start by dicing the celery and onion then fry then gently in a frying pan. After 10 minutes add the beans, cumin and tomatoes plus about half a tin of water (use the tomato tin and swirl around to get as much as possible out of the tin). Leave to simmer for at least 30 minutes, adding more water if necessary as the mixture cooks down. Done!

Guacamole:

• 1 very ripe avocado
• Juice of half a lime
• Half a green chilli
• Big pinch of salt
• Black pepper

Pulse everything in a food processor, or chop the chilli finely and mash up with everything else in a bowl until you get the consistency you like.

Pico de Gallo (Tomato Salsa):

• 7-8 baby plum tomatoes
• Half a red onion
• Juice of half a lime
• 1 jalapeno or green chilli
• Handful coriander
• Big pinch of salt
• Touch of oil (optional)

Pulse everything in a food processor or chop all the ingredients as evenly as possible and combine. Add the oil (if using), salt and lime juice – keep tasting until it blows your mind.

What’s your perfect bowl?

Roasted Beetroot and Goat’s Cheese Salad with Chive and Cashew Pesto

Ah beetroot…my old friend. Having fallen out of love with beetroot after cooking it so much in preparation for MasterChef, I decided this weekend was the right time for us to reconnect. I’ve been subject to a lot of nagging from friends and family to recreate my quarter final dish so I created this jazzed down version which I thought would be perfect for feeding our friends at the weekend.

Serves 6 for a light lunch with a big baguette.

Ingredients:

12 Fresh beetroot with stems and leaves intact if possible

2 125g soft goat’s cheeses (I like soft mould but any soft will work well)

For the pesto:

30g chives

50g unsalted cashew nuts

120g manchego

Zest of half a lemon

Bag of pea shoots

Bag of baby watercress

Juice of an orange

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

Splash of white wine vinegar

Extra virgin olive oil

Light olive oil for roasting

Salt

Fresh black pepper

Method:

• Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 5, 190 degrees.
• Trim the stems from the beetroot leaving about 2cm left then wash and peel the beetroot with a speed peeler. (You might choose to do this in the sink under running water to avoid alarming purple hands which last a couple of days).
• Wash the stems and pat them dry with kitchen paper ready for sautéing later.
• Season the beets with salt and pepper then place in a roasting tin and drizzle with some light olive oil or similar oil. Give them a shake about to make sure they’re all coated then cover loosely with foil and roast for 45 minutes. When they’re cooked, leave them to one side to cool.
• In a food processor, combine the manchego, cashews and lemon zest then pulse until the ingredients start to look like fine breadcrumbs.
• Add the chives and about 5 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil along with a good pinch of salt. Keep pulsing until the pesto starts coming together – you can add more of anything if you think it needs it, just trust your own taste and keep stopping to dip your spoon in to check.
• For the dressing pour 3 tablespoons of extra virgin olive in to a container with a lid (a little Tupperware box is perfect), add the juice of an orange, the mustard, a tablespoon of white wine vinegar and a generous amount of fresh black pepper. Shake vigorously until the mixture emulsifies and there is no layer of oil on the top. Taste it and adjust to your tastes.
• Choose the best stems, discarding any that look a bit tired. Heat a tablespoon of oil in a frying pan and sauté the stems for about 5 minutes, seasoning with salt and pepper as you put them in the pan.
• To assemble, spread the pea shoots and watercress across your biggest plate then dot teaspoon amounts of the pesto evenly in between the leaves.
• Trim the tops off the beets and slice them top to toe to reveal the beautiful marbled pattern inside.
• Arrange the beet halves over the leaves and top with the sautéed stems.
• Spoon the dressing all over the salad then cut the goat’s cheese in to slices, placing them gently on top.
• Slice up a fresh baguette and place the gorgeous big plate in the middle of the table so you can chat, eat and enjoy.

Rose Harissa

I love huge, bold flavours that grab you by every sense and leave a lasting memory on your palate. Just the thought of this harissa is enough to make my mouth water. I promise you it will make pretty much any meal a whole lot more interesting; these flavours are best friends with grilled meat and are perfect for a BBQ.

I made this harissa as part of a middle eastern style BBQ with Tzatziki and some beautiful prawns which were marinaded in sumac, lemon, garlic and coriander. The prawn recipe is courtesy of Sabrina Ghayour. Her book, Persiana is the most beautiful recipe book I own and is my go to place for inspiration.

Ingredients:

• 4 fresh red chillis
• 1 teaspoon caraway seeds
• 1 teaspoon fennel seeds
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds
• 1 tablespoon dried rose petals
• 3 cloves garlic, peeled
• 2 tablespoons of extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tablespoon tomato puree
• Salt

Method:

• Place the rose petals in a small bowl and add a couple of tablespoons of warm water to soak.
• Put a dry frying pan on a medium heat and add all the seeds.
• Toast them for a minute or two – give them a couple of shakes and don’t walk away while they’re toasting! You’ll know they are done when your kitchen starts to smell gorgeous.
• Tip the seeds in to a pestle and mortar and bash to a fine powder.
• Chop the stalks off the top of chillis but leave the seeds in.
• Put the everything (including the soaking water) in a food processor and blend to a paste. If you prefer, you can bash everything up in your pestle and mortar until you have the consistency you want. You can add a bit more tomato puree to make it thicker, or a few drops of water to loosen.
• Taste and add some salt if you think it needs it but go easy as the flavours will mature further over a few days or even hours.

The harissa is perfect to eat straight away but it’s even better the day after. Just store in an airtight container in the fridge and it will keep for a couple of weeks.

Easter Croquembouche

My Easter centrepiece is a croquembouche, a stack or tower of profiteroles bound together with caramel. It does involve a little bit work, but I felt extremely proud of myself when it was finished and my friends were diving in for seconds, thirds and fourths. I have wanted to make one for ages, mainly for the challenge as there are lots of techniques involved, but also because a profiterole filled with smooth custard then coated in a thin crispy caramel just sounds delicious.

I’ve gone with an Easter theme and decorated mine with some little wafer flowers from The Cooperative Food home baking range and some Easter pralines in the shape of eggs, hens and rabbits (also from The Cooperative Food). I went a bit crazy and decided to make a nest out of spun sugar but I’m not going to detail how to do that here. My average sized kitchen was a little bit sugary and sticky by the time I’d finished and working with hot sugar can be really dangerous! If you’re an experienced baker then go for it, but if you’re more of a novice I’d recommend that you go for more is more on the other decorations.

For the pastry (makes about 40)

• 150g unsalted butter
• 200g plain flour
• 450ml water
• 4 large eggs
• 75g golden caster sugar
• Pinch of salt

For the filling

• 6 large egg yolks
• 600ml whole milk
• 3 tablespoons plain flour
• 150g The Cooperative Fairtrade Ghanaian dark chocolate (85% Cocoa)
• Pinch of salt

To assemble

• Lots of caster sugar (at least 400g just to be safe and as insurance in case you burn a batch by mistake)
• The Cooperative Wafer Flowers
• The Cooperative Spring Pralines

You can find lots of lovely things in The Cooperative home baking range, have a look here: http://www.co-operativefood.co.uk/groceries/home-baking/

Start with the pastry crème which will fill the profiteroles – it must be completely cold before piping. You can do this step a day in advance if it helps!

• Put the milk in a large pan and start to heat gently.
• Separate 6 eggs (keep the whites for something else, they freeze really well!) and beat in the sugar.
• Tip in the flour and salt then mix thoroughly until there are no lumps and the mixture looks like a paste.
• Once the milk has started to bubble slightly at the edges, pour half over the egg/sugar/flour paste and mix together.
• Pour the mixture back in to the pan with the other half of the milk, stir well and turn the heat to medium.
• At this point, the MOST important thing to do is to stir constantly, even if your arms start aching!
• The mixture will take about 10 minutes to thicken; you’ll know it’s ready when it’s the consistency of traditional thick custard. Remove it from the heat at this point.
• Melt the chocolate over a pan of simmering water (bain-marie) or for 60 seconds in the microwave then stir through the pastry crème.
• Cover the pastry crème immediately either with a dusting of icing sugar or with tightly fitting cling film. This will stop a skin forming. Leave in a cool place while you prepare the choux, or if you’re making in advance, wait until it’s totally cold then refrigerate.

To make the profiteroles (this can also be done in advance, either freeze or keep in an airtight container until you’re ready to fill.)

• Pre-heat the oven to gas mark 6, 200 degrees.
• Melt the butter in a large pan and add the water. Bring to the boil.
• Tip in the flour and salt then turn off the heat, beat the mixture together quickly (wooden spoon is your best friend for this job) until it comes together. It should come away from the sides of the pan and look smooth.
• Lightly beat the eggs in a separate bowl. You’ll need some energy for this next part, or you might choose to rope in a mate to take over when your arm hurts.
• Beat the egg in to the dough until combined, and then gradually keep adding until the dough is smooth and silky.
• Grease a couple of baking sheets and spoon on teaspoon sized amounts of the dough leaving a few centimetres between each. Dab each mound with a bit of cold water then bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes. The buns should rise and be golden brown.
• Take the buns out of the oven then pierce a hole in the bottom of each bun before leaving to cool on a wire rack.
• At this point you might need to make another batch depending on the size of your oven and baking sheet(s).
• Once the buns have cooled, put them back in to the oven for a further 5 minutes to crisp up.

To assemble!

You do need a piping bag to get the filling in to the buns, but if you really can’t get hold of one you can slice open the choux buns and spoon in the custard however it could make assembly a little tricky. You’ll need a 5mm plain nozzle for the piping bag. You’ll also need a mould of some description; I made mine out of a piece of cardboard, held together with a few strips of tape. The one I made was 25cm tall and measured 60cm round at the base. I covered the whole thing in greaseproof paper.

• Fill each bun with the chocolate filling, be generous, and don’t scrimp here.
• When all the buns have been filled, you can start on the caramel.

I found this easiest to do in 3 or 4 batches as caramel is tricky to get right if you’re not well practised.

• Tip some caster sugar in to a shallow frying pan and turn up the heat.
• You’ll see little beads of sugar start to melt at the edges and the sugar will start to turn golden, don’t be afraid to give it a bit of swirl if some parts aren’t melting but avoid stirring with a spoon.
• Once the sugar has all melted and the colour is golden brown, bring the pan over to the buns and mould.
• CAREFULLY dip each bun in to the caramel then work quickly to stick the buns round the mould.
• If you need to, make more caramel and carry on until all the buns are coated and your croquembouche starts becoming recognisable!
• Use a bit of leftover pastry crème to decorate with the wafer flowers and pralines.
• Stand back and admire your work!

Cheese and Griddled Pineapple sticks

These cheese and pineapple sticks are a perfect choice for a party buffet. They look brilliant all laid out on a board like we’ve done here; they are just a bit more interesting than the usual cheese and pineapple sticks you tend to get and you can add more or less chilli depending on who you’re feeding.

Makes: 32 sticks

You will need: canape picks or cocktail sticks

• 1 pineapple
• 40g fresh coriander (about half a bunch)
• 2 red chillis, deseeded
• 400g extra mature cheddar cheese
• Pinch of salt

 

1. Prepare the pineapple! The best way to do this is to cut off the top of bottom of the fruit so the fruit sits upright on your board. Use a sharp knife to slice off the skin, following the curve of the pineapple downwards. Cut out any remaining ‘eyes’ (the little black bits) using the tip of your knife, until you can only see yellow fruit. Slice the fruit length ways to give two halves then cut each half in to 4 to give 8 slices. Once you have prepared the slices, cut off the tough inner core to leave only soft and juicy fruit.
2. Heat up the griddle pan (or use a grill if you don’t have a pan) until smoking hot, then place the slices in the pan.
3. After 4 or 5 minutes, check that the slices are taking on the lovely charred grill lines (don’t be put off by the black marks, they increase flavour and look great). Keep turning the slices to create more grill marks on all sides.
4. While the pineapple is griddling, finely chop the coriander and chilli (as fine as you can get it) and ensure the herbs and chilli are well mixed to give a beautiful mix of red and green. Season with a pinch of salt.
5. Cut the cheese in to squares, keeping them as even as possible.
6. Once the pineapple has been griddled on all sides, place the slices on top of the herbs and chilli.
7. Cut each slice in to four equal pieces then gently move about to ensure the fruit is coated with the lovely mixture.
8. Assemble the cheese and pineapple on sticks or picks.
9. Arrange on the chopping board, with the leftover herbs and chilli underneath so people can take a bit more if they wish!

Chocolate Truffles

Homemade truffles are such a fantastic way to make guests feel special this party season. They take very little effort and can be made well ahead of time.
Here are our favourite flavours for making your own truffles using The Cooperative Food’s range of Fairtrade chocolate and flavourings. It’s always best to use the best quality chocolate you can find and we recommend that you use one containing at least 70% cocoa. We’ve gone for a chocolate with 85% cocoa for a richer flavour and a lasting chocolaty hit.

 Basic Truffle Recipe (Makes 18-20)

• 150g The Cooperative Fairtrade Ghanaian dark chocolate (85% Cocoa)
• 150ml double cream
• 25g unsalted butter

Start by slowly warming the cream and butter together in a pan. While the cream is heating, break the chocolate up in to small chunks and place in a bowl ready to be mixed with the hot cream. Once you can see little bubbles appearing on the surface of the cream, turn off the heat and pour the hot mixture on top of the chocolate. Wait a minute or so, then stir everything together well until the mixture is totally smooth.
Chill in the fridge for at least a couple of hours, then shape in to balls and put them back in the fridge until about an hour or so before you plan on serving/eating. For extra flavour and texture, you can dip them in melted chocolate or roll in your choice of flavours!

Here are our favourites…

 Christmas Pudding

• Basic truffle recipe (optionally, swap the butter for brandy butter if you’re serving these to adults)
• 400g The Cooperative Truly Irresistible Richly Fruited Christmas Pudding
• 50g The Cooperative Brandy Butter (optional)
• 120g The Cooperative White Chocolate Buttons
• Nuts, dried fruit, silver balls or edible decorations

Crumble up the pudding and add to the warm truffle mix before chilling, mix well then chill before shaping and decorating with drizzles of white chocolate and your choice of festive decorations.

Orange and cinnamon

• Basic truffle recipe
• 1 cinnamon stick
• Zest of 1 large orange

Add the cinnamon stick and orange zest to the cream before heating, then strain before adding the infused cream to the chocolate. It’s lovely to decorate your display with slices of orange and extra cinnamon so your guests know what flavour to expect!

Almond rolled in mixed nuts

• Basic truffle recipe
• 1 teaspoon The Cooperative French Almond Extract
• 50g The Cooperative Truly Irresistible nut mix
• Pinch of salt

Add the extract and salt to the warm truffle mix before chilling, and then roll in to balls and sprinkle or roll in the crushed nuts.

Coffee and raisin dipped in white chocolate

• Basic truffle recipe
• 200g seedless raisins
• 2 teaspoons of instant coffee
• 120g The Cooperative White Chocolate Buttons
Dissolve the coffee granules in the cream as it heats, then pour over the chocolate. Add the raisins before chilling for a couple of hours. Once rolled in to balls, cover the truffles in melted white chocolate and put straight back in to the fridge to set.
Thank you to The Cooperative Food who kindly supplied the ingredients for us to make these delicious treats.

Smoked Mackerel Pate

Stuffed Jalapenos!

Sure you can buy a version of these from the supermarket and stick them in the oven, but seriously, these are SO much better, cheaper and you’ll know exactly what’s in them. This recipe makes 18, which would be just enough for me on my own – they’re really that good.

Ingredients:

• 9 fresh jalapeno peppers
• 2 big tablespoons cream cheese
• 1 tablespoon grated parmesan (about 25g)
• 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 slice of dry bread (I always save the crusts of a loaf for stuff like this) or 4 heaped tablespoons of shop bought breadcrumbs
• Salt and fresh black pepper

Method:

• Pre-heat your oven to 200 degrees or gas mark 6.
• Half the peppers lengthways and scrape out the seeds and white pith. Leave the stems on (for decoration and eating apparatus).
• In a small bowl, beat the cream cheese with the paprika, salt and pepper. It should loosen up quickly to make it easier to spoon.
• Blitz the bread and parmesan in the food processor, or just mix the shop bought breadcrumbs together with grated parmesan if you’re cheating.
• Using a teaspoon, push the cream cheese mixture in to the hollow of the peppers until you’ve filled them all generously.
• Tip the breadcrumbs out on to a plate then one by one, push the peppers (cheese side down) in to the breadcrumbs.
• Place the peppers on a baking tray and cook in the oven for 10-12 minutes.
• Leave to cool for about 5 minutes before serving unless you want third degree burns of the mouth.

Serve as part of a platter or just for a snack. beware that the heat of the peppers can be unpredictable so grab some water or beer to put the fire out if necessary.

Auntie Rachel’s Savoury Rice

As my father-in-law is originally from Sierra Leone, special occasions in our family are often filled with amazing African food. This weekend saw a big reunion as my sister-in-law celebrated her marriage; this called for massive celebrations and equally massive amounts of the tastiest food. Auntie Rachel was kind enough to walk me through her mixed vegetable savoury rice which she makes every Sunday to eat with pretty much anything throughout the week. The hard bit was trying to keep track of quantities, as her style of cooking is traditionally African and she can confidently throw all the ingredients in together after years and years of practice.

I woke up the next morning and straight away thought about the tasty rice and now there is a big pan in my fridge as well!

8 Generous portions

Ingredients

• 3 medium white onions
• 3 table spoons of oil (we used olive oil)
• 4 cups of basmati rice
• 3 cups of boiled water
• 3 knorr stock cubes
• 1 table spoon all purpose seasoning
• 1 tablespoon of white pepper
• Pinch of saffron
• 500g mixed veg chopped into small pieces (we used a frozen bag of carrots, peas and sweetcorn)

Method

• Heat 2 tablespoons of oil in a large saucepan on a medium-low heat, and add the onions, keep stirring until the onions have softened. Try not to let them colour.
• Crumble in 3 stock cubes, all purpose seasoning and white pepper. Stir the onions so they are coated in the flavours and continue to fry on a low heat for a couple more minutes.
• Whilst the onions are frying, put the rice in a colander and rinse in cold water to remove the starch. It’s best to rinse the rice twice to give extra fluffy rice.
• Add the rice to the pan stirring through all the onions making sure the rice is coated in the flavours, add the boiled and water and sprinkle in the saffron.
• Give everything a good stir (contrary to popular advice, Auntie Rachel had no concerns about stirring the rice as much a she felt it needed).
• Make a lid out of tin foil and cover the rice tightly. Put the lid on the pan and turn the heat down to low.
• After 10 minutes stir through the vegetable and recover with the foil on the pan lid.

Profiteroles with Star Anise Caramel

The profiterole recipe is taken from James Martin, but I chose to branch out from chocolate sauce and go for a caramel flavoured with star anise instead. I’ve filled mine with crème patisserie, which isn’t as hard as you think and is a good recipe to have in your repertoire. If you don’t have time or inclination to make the filling, then whipped cream would be lovely too. I like mixing through fresh fruit, orange zest or if you’re cooking for adults you could flavour the cream with something alcoholic like amaretto, dark rum or your favourite fruity liqueur.

Ingredients:

Profiteroles:

• 200ml water
• 115g plain flour
• 4 teaspoons caster sugar
• 3 eggs
• 85g unsalted butter
• Pinch of salt

Star Anise Caramel:

• 100g caster sugar
• 2 star anise
• 100g butter
• 200ml double cream

Method:

Profiteroles:

• Heat the oven to 200 degrees or gas mark 6. You will need two racks in the oven.
• Weigh out the flour (be exact here) and add a pinch of salt.
• In a saucepan over a low heat, melt the butter, water and sugar until everything has melted down.
• Tip in the dry ingredients and beat well until the mixture comes together and the dough comes away from the sides of the pan. You will need a bit of vigour here!
• Leave the mixture to cool for at least 15 minutes.
• Crack the eggs in to a big bowl and beat them well.
• Add a little bit of egg at a time, beating (wooden spoons are good for this) to combine everything in to a smooth dough. Keep adding the eggs until you’re left with a smooth, soft dough. It might look like a big sloppy mess but keep beating and it will come together.
• Fill a roasting tin with a cup of water and place on the bottom rack.
• Pipe or spoon the dough on to a greased baking sheet – the size it up to you but I went for just smaller than a gold ball. Run your hands under the tap and tab a little bit of water on to the top of each one, then place the sheet on the top rack of the oven. They will take about half an hour to become golden and expanded.
• Once the profiteroles are cooked, remove from the oven and allow steam to escape by using a skewer or knife to make a small whole in the bottom of each profiterole. You must leave them to cool before filling or you might find the filling melts and runs out everywhere.

Caramel:

• Now make the caramel by adding the sugar and star anise to a shallow frying pan, melting on a medium heat. Do not stir! If you need to, you can shake the pan to make sure the sugar is melting evenly.
• Once the sugar is a deep golden brown, add the butter and use a hand whisk to combine quickly. You might need to stand back as it will hiss and splatter in the pan.
• When the butter is melted, take off the heat and add the cream, whisking again.
• Pour the caramel in to a bowl and cover with cling film while it cools.

Assembling!

I don’t have a piping bag at home so I simply sliced the profiteroles open and spooned in the filling. Simple! Once filled, caramel can also be spooned over the top or left on the side for DIY dessert fun. Best eaten straight away but if you have lots of dough leftover, it’s best to cook it all then freeze the cooked pastry for last minute party food or for whenever you fancy.