In my house soups happen more by accident than by design – usually because I need to use up some vegetables before they go off. Having said that, on Friday I made gazpacho as the weather had been sweltering and a friend was coming for lunch so I planned to make that traditional cold Spanish…
Category: First courses
Laksa
I made this soup as a first course for a family lunch way back in November but only now just writing it up just because I’ve been so busy. The day job has been frantic and I’ve also recently set up a handcrafted jewellery business (check out http://www.etsy.com/shop/ArrowskyDesigns). This laksa soup was the first…
Sun-dried tomato houmous
Here’s another Miguel Barclay recipe from his ‘Vegan One Pound Meals’ cookery book. I love the fact that he keeps his list of ingredients short and the method easy – his book is full of recipes that have just a handful of steps to create a tasty dish. These are simple and affordable vegan recipes…
Gazpacho
This week the weather started to turn autumnal but only three weeks ago we were sweltering in record breaking temperatures over the Bank Holiday weekend. I was rushing around a lot of the time, helping my daughter move into her new flat, so I didn’t have time to do much cooking – and it was…
Slow roasted tomato and pepper soup
Here’s a very easy, spicy (and vegan) soup that’s perfect for these cold days of early spring. The slow roasting really helps build up the flavour which means you can use the cheaper tomatoes rather than the tastier vine ripened ones. I served the soup with crunchy rosemary croutons, made with my own sourdough bread…
Spicy chickpea croquettes
I made these last weekend and intended to freeze them in batches. But they were so tasty I found I was eating a few every day either as a starter or when I came home hungry from work and needed a quick snack. They are particularly nice with a range of dips and would be…
Smoked fish salad
With the World Cup in full swing my current priority is to get straight down to watching TV as soon as I get home from work, so cooking has taken a bit of a back seat. I have a few home frozen meals for easy prep – some turkey and sweetcorn meatballs eaten cold with…
Spicy pea dip with smoked paprika vegetables
This is a quick supper dish which is great for using up veg from the fridge before it goes off. I cooked it yesterday because I was getting low on food and too lazy to go shopping (and I’m trying to save money so resisted the temptation to order a takeaway). I love the flavour…
Smoked mackerel paté
You can whip up this paté in the time it takes to make the toast to go with it. It’s one of the quickest, easiest and tastiest recipes I know. I’ve calculated it costs about £2 per portion (and a generous portion at that) and is perfect for either a first course or as a sandwich…
Pea and mint soup with Parmesan crisp
As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases. This soup ticks all the ‘cheap, fresh and easy’ boxes. It’s also incredibly quick and can be made in less than 10 minutes. I always have a bag of frozen peas in the freezer and a mass of mint growing in a pot in the garden –…
Griddled chicory with Gorgonzola dressing
This was a recipe I planned to use as a first course but with sourdough bread it was really substantial and I was too full to eat anything else. It’s based on a Jamie Oliver recipe which uses radicchio (which I couldn’t find so I used chicory instead) and raisins (which I didn’t have in…
Twice baked cheese soufflés on mushroom steaks
There is so much mystique around soufflés and how hard they are to make that it is only last year that I made my first soufflé. It was so easy I couldn’t believe I hadn’t made them before. The key thing is to be very careful about folding the whisked egg whites into the mixture…
Roasted beetroot, orange and feta salad
Beetroot is one of those vegetables people either love or hate. Roasting beetroot in olive oil and sea salt is completely different to eating tiny balls of vacuum packed beetroot soaked in vinegar. So if you have negative experiences of beetroot please give this roasted recipe a go. Beetroot provides a big flash of colour…
Minestrone
I’ve been working away for a few weeks recently, just coming home for long weekends. Before I started working away I tried to use up as much food as possible from the fridge, to avoid waste and save money on shopping. Like most people I know I often find myself throwing fresh food away and,…
Broccoli and Stilton soup
I was sitting up in bed on Saturday morning planning my week’s food shopping – reading through recipes online, as well as my cook books, while drinking cups of tea in the warm. I came across this article (How to make the perfect broccoli and Stilton soup by Felicity Cloake) so decided to add this soup…
Figs with Roquefort and walnuts
These are perfect as canapés or a first course. The salty cheese is delicious with the sweetness of the honey and the crunch of the walnut contrasts with the soft flesh of the fig. They are dead easy to prepare and only take 10 minutes in the oven – make sure to get them out…
Chicken liver paté
I love paté but hate the look of all those unidentifiable ingredients listed on packs of the shop bought stuff. I’d much rather make fresh paté myself without preservatives (it tastes so good it doesn’t last very long anyway). Different recipes will suggest you use different spirits or fortified alcohol to give it an extra…
Spicy pumpkin soup
This tasty seasonal soup uses small eating pumpkins/butternut squash, not the giant Jack o’Lanterns people use for Halloween. I used a pumpkin the size of a large grapefruit and half a butternut squash I had left over from another meal. I also bought a couple of adorable munchkin pumpkins but I struggled to chop them…
Cheap, fresh and easy 