Over the summer I get through loads of courgettes, tomatoes and peppers in various dishes so there’s almost always a couple of each lurking in a corner of the fridge waiting to be used. Most of the time I’ve also got a lump of puff pastry in the freezer as I rarely need to use a whole block. The other week I was stuck for ideas for a Sunday lunch and decided to use up some of the leftovers.
Continue reading “Summer vegetable tart”
Tag: tomato
Rosemary meatballs in tomato sauce
I set aside a load of time yesterday for my first attempt at making my own beef stock. Unfortunately my plan was scuppered by Morrison’s not having any bones left (they had some in the morning apparently) and the butchers being closed due to illness. I had the time to spare so it would be a shame not to spend it cooking something. We have a flourishing rosemary bush in the garden and there was some good mince on the shelf in front of me which made think that meatballs would be a good idea. Continue reading “Rosemary meatballs in tomato sauce”
Homemade Pizza
Is there anything better on a Saturday night than beer and pizza? As long as we’re not talking a can of Tennents and a supermarket oven pizza anyway! There’s no excuse for not making your own pizza now and then and it’s guaran-damn-teed to be much better than the frozen ones.
Basically, if you can make bread you can make pizza. It’s really just dough stretched and rolled extra thin so it cooks quickly with a crispy crust. You can do it by hand using the recipe below or chuck it all in a machine to make the dough. The hardest bit is the sauce and if you’re not in the mood to make that you can just buy a jar of passata with herbs as a perfectly good alternative. Continue reading “Homemade Pizza”
Potato gnocchi in spicy tomato sauce.
I tried gnocchi for the first time recently in a local restaurant and thought it was brilliant. Little tattie dumplings covered in cheese and garlic, awesome. As far as culinary revelations go I’m sure you’re picking your jaw off the floor as you read this, but put trust me, they’re the future!
OK, so I’m a bit behind the curve. I guess there’s always a first time to taste something even if it’s as common as gnocchi. But after trying it a few months ago I decided I thought I should have a bash at making it myself. It seemed simple enough; mix some tatties, flour and an egg, knead into a dough and then chop into the little dumplings and boil for a few minutes. How hard could that be? Continue reading “Potato gnocchi in spicy tomato sauce.”
Brrr! It’s a bit chilly for chilli
A foot and a half of snow! In November!?
We’ve had a remarkable week of weather featuring the heaviest November snowfall for 17 years, record low temperatures for the month and thunderstorms during snow showers. It’s bitterly cold and I spend most of the day clearing the snow off our driveway only for snow to return as soon as I go back inside. Even more annoying the snow plough comes along to clear the road and piles the snow across my nice cleared driveway. Then the pavement plough comes along and puts even more snow on the pile.
Mince and Skirlie 