Meringue Topped Summer Pots (Individual Queen of Puddings)

With the pea soup currently enveloping Greenwich, this is a little ode to summer before we hurtle headlong into winter and all its joys!

With meringue piled high and summery strawberry jam, sprinkled with coconut in the middle, this is all about the best of summer - but in individual portions!

Adapted from a recipe by Delia Smith called Individual Queen of Puddings

Serves 2
270 ml of skimmed milk
5g of low fat baking margarine
55g of breadcrumbs
30g caster sugar
1 lemon
2 eggs
2 tbsps strawberry jam or other
Shredded cocnut to sprinkle

Heat oven to 200c
Bring the milk to the boil on stove, remove from heat, add in butter, breadcrumbs, half the sugar and lemon zest, leave for 15mins to swell
Separate eggs
Beat yolks and add to breadcrumb mixture, divide mixture between two buttered ramekins
Place on baking tray in oven at 200c until set - approx 20 mins
Meanwhile in small saucepan, melt jam over low heat until runny
When puddings are set, spread jam mixture over them and spinkle over coconut
Now beat egg whites until stiff peaks, whisk in rest of sugar, pile high on puddings
Bake for further 15mins until tops are golder brown

Quick and Easy Pizza Dough Recipe

I love this pizza dough recipe - it never fails and you can find it here on the Allrecipes website by Gudny Bjorg Kjaerbo.

I normally use this to make a large rectangular pizza to share, the dough easily covers a 14 by 15 inch baking tray and makes about 15 squares, I then:

Spread on a full tube of tomato puree
Sprinkle on some low fat grated cheese.....and then whatever takes your fancy.
I used mushrooms, onions, radishes, peppers, tomatoes, ham and a sprinkle of pine nuts.

Bake at 190 C / Gas mark 5 for 20 to 25 minutes or until crispy.

Cut up and serve!

Bruschetta with Broad Beans and Asparagus

Even though Bruschetta can be the simplest recipe in the world it feels rather decadent having it for dinner rather than just as a starter but I couldnt resist making Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstalls Bruschetta with Broad Beans and Asparagus for our main meal.  It comes from his new book River Cottage Veg Every Day! (River Cottage Every Day).  Have a go, its quick and oh so yummy and definitely make double and eat it as your main!

Check out the recipe after the break

Mashed Up Healthy Chicken Pie

Shepards pie has mash on it, fish pie too, so why not bring mash to the humble chicken pie too.  I am a lover of pastry in its many different forms - but sometimes its nicer to have something a little lighter on your pie.  I took a recipe by Angela Nilsen, original recipe is here on the BBC Good Food website and used her pie filling - and not having filo pastry at the time added some mash.  You will need about 3 good sized potatoes (any kind) and some creme fraiche - not too much just enough to make it a little creamy.

Layer the mash on top of the filling when ready and cook for about 20-25 minutes at 200C/180C fan/gas 6.  I then popped on a little cheese (low fat mature cheddar) on the top and popped it under the grill for a couple of minutes until crispy.


We popped this into individual pie dishes and it was for two so I reduced down by a quarter Angelas original recipe measurements - well its always nice to go back for seconds!!

Poached Eggs on Crumpets with Leeks and Goats Cheese

The humble leek for breakfast I hear you cry!, Well why not? when you can have them lightly fried in butter, piled on top of poached eggs on crumpets and with goats cheese crumpled on top!

Try it - you will not be disappointed!

BTW if you are wondering how to get perfectly shaped poached eggs try these Poached Egg Pods - super handy.

Next time the crumpets will be homemade I promise! As I know of a fantastic recipe in the Bread: River Cottage Handbook No. 3.

Baked Giant Fish Cakes with a Chilli Shot

Some people dream of Brad Pitt (or George Clooney \ Justin Bieber) insert whichever takes your fancy!, some dream of Jeanie and I dream of Fish Cakes!

At least thats what happened on Wednesday night!  Now I'm one to take this as a omen, which meant that fish cakes had to be on the menu for Thursday night....and here they are (well one of them at least!).

Inspired by a recipe called Fish Cakes with Chilli Cream in Good Food: 101 Fish & Seafood Dishes: Tried-and-tested Recipes (Good Food 101).  I ditched the cream, added some leeks, changed the fish and baked rather than fryed!  The original recipe online is here.

My amended recipe is after the jump - the result was lovely and crispy on the outside, moist and tasty in the middle - bliss!

Butternut Squash Casserole

With Halloween and Bonfire Night having just passed, this time of year calls very much for the orange and yellows of butternut squash and sweet potatoes, this casserole from the BBC Good Food website (you can reach the recipe from the link) perfectly fits the bill.  The sweetness of the squash and potatoes runs though it, and the hearty cous cous makes it perfect comfort food for a winter evening (are we in winter yet? or the last dregs of autumn?).  This is obviously vegetarian but it would go perfectly with some spicy sausages chopped up into it.  It does go very nicely with a sprinkle of grated cheese on top and a splodge of natural yogurt.

Changes I made to the recipe:  I didnt have Bulgar Wheat and so I used giant Cous Cous instead, you could just as easily use its smaller cousin too though!

The Pudding Clubs 'Jam and Coconut Sponge'

Steamed puddings are the order of the day as the nights draw in, I found this great recipe on the fabulous The Pudding Club website (you can grab the recipe through the link).  I had never attempted a steamed pudding before and took guidance from the good old BBC Food Techniques website and it worked a treat!!  The pudding was moist with just the right amount of coconut running through the sponge and topped off with a good dollop of jam.  The one and half hours waiting for the pudding to steam was well worth the wait!  Although not shown in the photo we did of course add lash.ng of custard to it.

Changes to recipe:  I used strawberry rather than raspberry jam but to be honest the variations that you could use with the pudding are endless!