Thomasina Miers Roast Tomato and Chilli Salas

I am addicted to this...

I first made it to go with Torta (The Mexican Club Sandwich) but have used it as an accompaniment for everything from cheese on toast to stuffed pitta breads!

You can find the recipe here

Tartiflette

The first time we had this dish was in a French motorway service station... not the grot spots of the UK, these are place where you are asked how you'd like your steak and it is cooked in front of you...while you wait, no heat lamps, dried up food in their rest stops. The quality of Paul's steak was fabulous, the french fries hot, crisp and very tasty. Jo opted for the Tartiflette as dauphinoise potatoes and bacon are her two favourite foods... put them together and she's in heaven! When the girls were little they used to call it dolphin nosed potatoes and its stuck, this dish is aptly named dolphin nosed potatoes with bacon...aka tartiflette, how original!

The original recipe contains Reblochon cheese but I usually make it with regualr cheddar as I couldn't find Reblochon here in the UK, however a foodie friend just told me we can buy it in Waitrose so that's where I'm heading before making it again!

You will need:

50g unsalted butter, softened

175g bacon or pancetta, cut into 1cm lardons

250g cup mushrooms, sliced

1kg waxy potatoes, peeled and sliced to a 3mm thickness

Salt and freshly ground pepper

250g Reblochon cheese, cubed

568ml carton double cream

What you have to do...

1.Preheat the oven to 150°C/gas 2. With half the butter, grease a shallow baking dish, about 25 x 30cm.

2.Heat a frying pan over a medium-high heat. Add the bacon. Sauté for about 5 minutes until crisp and brown. Remove with a slotted spoon and drain on kitchen paper.

3.Pour off all but 1 tbsp of the bacon fat. Return the pan to the heat and add the mushrooms. Sauté for about 5 minutes. Season.

4.Toss the potato slices with salt and pepper. Arrange half in a layer in the dish. Sprinkle with the bacon and mushrooms. Top with half the cheese, Top with the remaining potatoes. Pour enough cream over the top to just cover the potatoes - you may not need it all. Dot with the remaining butter.

5.Bake for about 1¼ hours, or until the potatoes are tender. Dot with the remaining cheese, and return to the oven until brown and bubbling (about 15 minutes). Remove from the oven, cover with foil and leave for 10-15 minutes before serving

I made this today as her special treat, its not the most healthiest of dishes, what with the double cream, heese and bacon but hey a girl needs a treat now and again!

It was made especially easy having my Pampered Chef mandolin though... cutting the wafer thin potatoes was a breeze and because of the special design I still have 10 digits left at the end of the prep!!!!

Layered up and ready for the oven!

Golden brown, crispy on top and soft and creamy just like it should be!!!

Stick Blender Mayonnaise

Some simple rules before you start:

1. Eggs need to be at room temperature 
2. Let everything settle in the container before you attempt to blend
3. Make sure the stick blender is held at the bottom of the pot to start with and keep it going until there is a thick white emulsified mass at the bottom, (always a little longer than you think!) only then can you start moving it up the container.

Recipe

1 medium free range egg at room temperature
300ml of oil (I use ground nut oil)

1 Tablespoon of lemon juice or white wine vinegar

large teaspoon of mustard

salt and pepper

Watch me making it here

Homemade Beefburgers

Another one of my pampered chef gadgets is the ice cream sandwich maker, fabby little product that make professional looking beef burgers in minutes! (I've never got round to making ice cream sandwiches with it yet!!!) I use good quality minced beef steak add seasoning a clove of crushed garlic and sometimes a herb or spice of choice. I've tried Mexican & Italian seasoning, both with great results! I once had potatoes and veg left over from a Sunday dinner and spend a couple of minutes turning it into bubble and squeak burgers, they were really tasty served with leftover meet on Monday!

Anyhoo, back to my beef burgers, I cooked them in the Pampered Chef griddle pan for about 5 minutes each side and they were delicious!

Open freeze the ones you don't need for another time!

If you use good quality meat they don't shrink to nothing in the pan. Don't you just love the lines on them? They tasted so good!

No photos of the end dish I'm afraid as once I'd popped them into homemade burger rolls with salad, stilton or cheddar and large dollop of homemade mayonnaise they disappeared before I could get the camera out!

Click on the highlighted words for recipes and do let me know if you try them out yourself!

Garlic tear and share bread made with Kerrymaid garlic butter!

I love this recipe, its so simple and using my pampered chef pan I can cook the garlic butter and onions in the frying pan add the dough and pop the whole thing into the oven to cook!

I make this quiet often, its filling, tasty and makes the meal go a bit further if the girls bring friends home. My usual recipe sees me making my own garlic butter and pizza dough but the other day I had a pampered chef host tell me how she made it the easy way. She used kerrymaid garlic butter and a packet pillsbury dinner rolls. She melted the garlic butter in her frying pan, fried onions and coated the split dinner rolls in the butter. All that was left to do was top with grated cheese and pop them in the oven and cook the rolls as directed on the packet! Fantastic!!!

Other posts about it here!

The Pampered Chef Posh Pud

We can't get enough of these little beauties! Now the asparagus season is coming to an end I'm looking round for alternatives and have come up with the french bean...RESULT! I am playing around with different fillings all the time and the list is endless.

• Thinly sliced beef from the deli counter, spread with mustard of choice, diced then placed at the bottom of the pan with chopped spring onions, continue with the regular pudding mixture.

Lots of my hosts are requesting these now and lets face it there is nothing simpler.they make great amuse bouche before the main recipe.

Like Grandma never made!

1 cup of plain flour
1 cup of milk
2 eggs
Salt & pepper
I clove of garlic
6 asparagus tips
Two finely chopped sun dried tomatoes
Parmesan cheese
· Wash hands using the suds pump®
· Measure one cup of plain flour using the prep bowl place into Classic batter bowl add salt & pepper
· Press one bulb of garlic through the garlic press, mix with 1 cup of milk
· Crack two eggs into bowl
· Mix to a smooth batter using the pampered chef whisk
· Chop the sun dried tomatoes in the food chopper
· Place tomatoes & asparagus tips into the base of a 6 cup muffin pan
· Spray a with a fine mist of oil using the kitchen spritzer
· Pour batter evenly into muffin pan
· Put in hot oven [200c] for 35 minutes
· Use the microplane to grate parmesan cheese over the puddings and serve

Variations
Yorkshire Pudding with chopped parsley
Yorkshire Pudding with chopped chives
Yorkshire Pudding with chopped coriander
Yorkshire Pudding with whole-seed mustard
Yorkshire Pudding with turmeric
Yorkshire Pudding with smoked paprika

Hot Broccoli Dip

As requested by everyone I have done a party for this month. Its great for all those doing IPD, just use the alternative serving suggestion listed below.

Picture will follow...honest

1 cup fresh broccoli florets, chopped (about 6 oz.)
2 TBSP onion, chopped
2 TBSP red bell, chopped
1 oz (1/4 cup) Parmesan cheese, grated
1 garlic clove, pressed
1 cup (4 oz.) shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup sour cream
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1/8 tsp ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 170° C.

1. Chop broccoli, onion, and bell pepper; place in a bowl.
2. Grate Parmesan cheese; add 2 tablespoons to vegetable mixture. Press garlic and add to vegetables along with remaining ingredients, mixing well.
3. Spoon into a small baker pan.
4. Bake 20-25 minutes or until heated through.
5. Sprinkle remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan cheese over top and surround with Pita Chips for serving. Or if your're a IPD'r s celery sticks, cucumber sticks or Cleochatra's cauliflower 'breadsticks' are very good.
6. Yields 2 cups (16 servings)

Fennel Bake...its in the book!

Sliced Fennel

Sprinkled with freshly grated Parmesan cheese

All soft and golden with a little bit of bite!

I served this as a side dish with roast chicken which was a very comforting meal....as I'd had a bit of a bug at the beginning of this week. It settled the tummy no end!

A steaming pile of veg...

I'm using up all my bits and bobs out of the freezer...hence the sweetcorn..not IPD friendly but I am on phase 3...so what the heck!

Lamb steak with mint in balsamic vinegar on top of the veg...yummy!

Same, just on a white plate!

I'm now a dab hand at this...

Think of a flavour and you can add it to the mayo! My favourite has got to be garlic...making it into alioli. Its also good with wholegrain mustard, curry powder or dill...great with salmon. The only thing that makes it restricting is your imagination and remember the more oil you add the thicker the mayo...isn't that right HC?

You need a "stick blender".

In the bottom of a jug put 1 whole egg,

1tsp mustard,

juice of half a lemon

tablespoon of wine vinegar,

teaspoon of salt

(at this point if you want a flavoured mayo add it here)

250 ml of oil

LET THE EGG SETTLE

Press your blender into the bottom of the jug.

Blitz for a second and stop.

Repeat.

Do this a few more times and you will see mayo forming in the bottom of the jug.

Once it is thick at the bottom you can incorporate remaining oil by moving the blender up through the mixture.

After one minute you have a jug of mayo!!!!

Caron's mayo recipe

Watch it being made on you tube here!

Roasted Vegetable and Pinenut Salad

(Will take a better photo next time!)

Well this is a first...

This dish didn't go down too well at first! Paul never complains, he eats what is put in front of him and ruddy well likes it or else....but not this time! I was of the same mind.

Now don't get me wrong, there was nothing wrong with the dish, it was hearty, filling with a great taste, the pine nuts gave a good buttery crunch and the Cajun spice was just right! But for a lunch time salad on its own, it just didn't do it for us. Paul's first comment was, where's the meat...and that's what it needed for us! We used the leftovers (I made double) as a side dish to a roast chicken and it was fab... heating it up made it a little over cooked but the flavours had all gelled and it was very very good....I will serve this again as part of a main meal and use the leftovers in the lunch box with leftover turkey sizzlers. At room temperature, its great!

Leave me a comment and tell me if you have made this dish and what you thought....

PS - I didn't use the aubergine as I don't like them

Maggie - This is the dressing I use, the full fat one not the ikky low cal one. There is a blue cheese dressing in the IPD cookbook which is nice but this is handy to have in the fridge. They also do a ranch dressing which is great too. I use it in the cauliflower pizza base.

I love my new Pampered Chef Stoneware!!!

SORRY - NOT IPD FRIENDLY - BUT I JUST HAD TO SHARE.

(I will move it to January after a day or two!)

Potatoes, parboiled for 5 minutes then spritzed with oil and placed on stoneware, roasted without turning for 20 minutes....crispy, crunchy and fluffy in the middle.

My first attempt at stoneware yorkshire puddings.

One cup of flour, one cup of milk , 2 large eggs and salt and pepper. Mix until there are no lumps, honestly, I didn't need to whisk them with within an inch of thier lives, like I usually do. I also spritzed the pan with a fine spray of oil and poured the mixture into the cold pan (unheard of for yorshire's I know!) No need to preheat the oven either, just turn the oven to 220c pop them in cold and cook for 35 mintues. A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!

Sunday Lunch

From the book!

Slow roast lamb, courgettes fried in oil, butter with garlic and rosemary, mange tout peas stir-fried with chopped spring onions, fresh mint and butter! Served it with oven roasted swede for a potato substitute.

Butternut Squash & Coconut Bake

This was delicious, great on its own for a quick lunch, as a side dish with some Thai chicken bites, or do what I did with the leftovers and turned it into a soup with some homemade light chicken stock. Either way you have it, you will love it.

Cauliflower Rice

I have been asked loads of time about preparing and cooking cauliflower rice. I will post cleochatras link, but let me tell you the different ways I have prepared it.

1. Fresh and raw on a hand held large cheese grater....nightmare...very very messy, grazed knuckles etc...won't do that again!


2. Fresh raw cauli, grated on a fine blade (its the only one I have). This way was quick and gave very good results. Bieng on the fine blade it was quite a small cut but still had great texture....but it was quite messy...small cauli bits EVERYWHERE!!! This is the one I used for the paella and kedgeree.


3. Frozen or fresh, gently steamed then allowed to cool then grated on a large hand held cheese grater. This was quite easy to do, not quite as messy as other ways. It gave a bigger cut so I used this in the cauliflower pizza base and breadstick recipes. But the next way I am going to try is a ricer...that's what Cleochatra does!

Hope this answers some of your questions, Marie, Dilettante and others?

Cleochatra's fried rice

My Choice of Caesar Dressing

Caronlookalike's Mayonaise

After all the trouble I went to to make my first lot of mayonnaise, I can't believe how simple Caron's version is!!! 2 seconds flat and this is what I ended up with...

Only problem was, I only had sherry vinegar and maybe it was a little too strong, it tastes almost like a salad cream, it has a the consistency of salad cream too. Maybe I was a little heavy handed with the vinegar?! I will play around with the vinegar / mustard combo next time, but I will be making it again. Thanks Caron.

NB - I used a pinch of salt rather than the tsp in the recipe, it was enough for our taste.

Caron's mayo recipe

Watch it being made here!

Bubby's Salsa

I've made this breakfast before but never with a proper salsa dressing. Bubby (from the forum) gave me this recipe. I tried it....delicious! Will be making this and keeping a jar of it in the fridge for future use! Edited to say: I have email Bubby to ask permission to post her recipe....watch this space!

Bubby's recipe
1 tin chopped tomatoes, drained in a sieve OR 10oz chopped, deseeded fresh (skin can be removed, but I don't bother)
1/2 chopped small red onion
1/2 green pepper, chopped (coloured if p2)
1 fresh chili, chopped (deseed if you want it mild)
1 tbsp fresh coriander, chopped
1/4 tsp ground cumin
1tsp lime or lemon juice (or more to taste)
generous amount salt and pepper

-Drain tinned tomatoes or deseed and chop fresh
-Finely chop onion, pepper, chili, and coriander by hand or in a food processor
-Add cumin, lemon/lime juice to tomatoes and stir in chopped veg
-Season generously
This is lovely as a dip, or in lettuce wraps with cheese and chili.
- Thanks Bubby

12 eggs later and I finally have it....

Homemade Mayonaise!!!

Firstly let me thank those three girls on the IPD forum (you know who you are!) for coming to my rescue and giving me invaluable advice on how to turn photo 1 into photo 3.

I was 9 eggs down when I went screaming for help!!!

Photo 1

Photo 2 - not quite thick enough

1. It wasn’t easy, but knowing a few basic rules helped no end.
2. Eggs at room temperature
3. Whisk eggs until emulsified (really thick) BEFORE adding anything else (my biggest mistake – do it longer than you think you need)
4. Add spoiled egg mixture (see photo 1) slowly until it’s all used up.
5. By Gosh I’ve done it (see photo3 & 4)

Photo 3 - neally all mixed in

Photo 4 - My very own jar of mayo!

Must thank BC for my back up plan 'B'!!