Green tomato and jalapeño jam

The growing season is about done now so we decided to clear out the greenhouse. There were still loads of tomatoes in there so we picked everything and ended up with just over 2kg of green tomatoes. This jam is sweet, sour and spicy all at once and is great in a sandwich or with meat.

Ingredients

450g green tomatoes, chopped

450g sugar

4 garlic cloves, crushed

4 jalapeños, seeded and chopped

1 tsp lazy ginger

110ml cider vinegar

2 tbsp soy sauce

* put all the ingredients in a large pan, bring to the boil and then simmer for around 15 minutes or until the jam is thickened

* pour the jam into sterilised jars

Frying Pan Pizza

When my daughter makes pizza she does it properly with yeast, and kneading, and proving. Sometimes thoug you just need pizza in a hurry and this is a great way to get it. In theory it should serve 2 but I was really hungry so I ate the whole thing!

Ingredients (serves 2)

210g self raising flour

2 tbsp olive oil

Water

* put the flour in a bowl, add the olive oil and enough cold water to mix to a stiff but not sticky dough. I needed about 6 tbsp

* tip the dough onto a floured surface and roll to a circle the size of your frying pan

* heat a little oil in the frying pan and cook the pizza dough for around 5 minutes or until it is golden brown underneath.

* flip the base over and cook the other side whilst assembling the toppings. I spread the base with red pesto the added anchovies, onions, mushrooms and grated cheese.

* once the underside of the base is cooked, put the pizza under the grill to melt the cheese and cook the toppings

Chocolate Mug Cake

Sometimes you just need cake - fast!

This single serving cake is ready to eat in less than 5 minutes and is really simple.

Ingredients

4 tbsp self raising flour

2 tbsp cocoa powder

3 tbsp caster sugar

3 tbsp milk

3 tbsp sunflower oil

* in a regular sized coffee mug, mix all the ingredients together thoroughly. Take special care to incorporate all the flour that might be sitting at the bottom

* microwave on full power for1 minute 45 (700W)

* eat! A spoon might be useful

If you want to be fancy you could also add chocolate chips or top with cream. I like mini marshmallows in mine

Cheesy runner bean cakes

I got the idea for this from Pinterest. The original used broccoli and was a suggestion to get kids to eat their veggies. I'm quite happy to eat my veg and I don't have any broccoli right now but I do have plenty of runner beans in the garden so I thought this might make a nice simple lunch.

Ingredients (serves 1)

6 runner beans, chopped and lightly steamed

1 slice brown bread, blitzed or grated into crumbs

1 egg, beaten

15g grated cheese

Salt and pepper

* heat the oven to 190C

* mix all the ingredients together in a bowl

* shape into 4 cakes and place on a greased baking tray

* bake for around 20 minutes, turning over half way through

I just ate them on their own with some Caesar salad dressing.

Piccalilli

All the veggies I used in this recipe came from our garden and I'm really pleased with the result.

Ingredients (makes 3 or 4 jars)

500g vegetables, washed and peeled - I used onion, cauliflower, French beans, cucumber and carrot
25g salt
15g cornflour
5g ground turmeric
5g English mustard powder
7g mustard seeds
1/2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
300ml cider vinegar
75g sugar
25g honey

* cut the veggies into equal bite-sized pieces. Put into a bowl, sprinkle over the salt and mix well. Cover with a cloth and leave for 24 hours then rinse and drain well

* put the cornflour and spices into a small bowl and mix to a paste with a bit of the vinegar
* put the rest of the vinegar in a pan with the honey and sugar and bring to the boil.
* pour some of the hot vinegar onto the spice mixture and mix well then add back to the pan and bring to the boil.
* cook the sauce for 3 or 4 minutes or until thick
* take the pan off the heat and mix in the vegetables, then put into sterilised jars and seal. Tastes best if left for a few weeks, but we had some the next day and it was really good.

Pickled Jalapeños

Our first year of growing our own food is going very well and the jalapeños are looking great, so I decided to try my hand at preserving some. Good on nachos or burgers, or chopped up in chillies etc.

Ingredients (1 jar)
4 large jalapeños, sliced into rings
70ml white wine vinegar
70ml water
1/4 tsp salt
2 garlic cloves, peeled
6 black peppercorns
1 washed jam jar

* warm the jam jar in the oven
* put the vinegar and water in a pan and heat, but don't allow to boil
* pack the sliced peppers into the jar with the garlic and peppercorns and pour over the hot vinegar then add the salt and seal the jar.

Tofu Red Curry

I turn 40 at the end of this week and about a year ago I drew up a list of 40 things that I wanted to do before I wave goodbye to my 30s. Some were new experiences and others were things I wanted to achieve. I love food, so there were a few eating and cooking tasks on the list, of which one was 'make tofu taste like food'. I've only cooked with tofu once or twice and it's been not great but I gave it another go and was actually very pleased with the results.

I think the key is to have patience when it comes to pressing the tofu before cooking. It makes the tofu former and less likely to disintegrate in the pan.

Ingredients (serves 4)

1 pack cauldron tofu

1 onion, sliced

1 tin coconut milk

4 tbsp Thai red curry paste

2 tbsp oil

Salt/pepper

Any other veg you fancy

* take the tofu out of the packet and drain off the liquid. Wrap the tofu loosely in several layers of kitchen towel, sandwich between 2 chopping boards or similar and weigh down with a couple of heavy cookbooks. Leave of at least 15 minutes

* unwrap the tofu and cut into strips or cubes. Season

* heat the oil in a large pan and fry the tofu in batches making sure it is fairly crispy on all sides

* add the onion and any other veg (I used some sliced green beans) and curry paste and fry for a few more minutes before adding the coconut milk

* simmer for 15-20 minutes and serve with rice

Pearl barley with sardines

This was a bit of an experiment loosely based on a recipe I saw somewhere which called for mackerel. Didn't have any mackerel, but I did have a tin of sardines.

Ingredients (serves 1)

80g pearl barley
1/2 onion, diced
Tin of sardines (mine were in tomato sauce, but I rinsed them)
1 egg
1/2 veg stock cube

* make up the stock cube with 400ml water
* fry the onion for a couple of minutes, then add the barley and stock
* simmer gently for around 35 minutes or until the barley is soft and the stock has mostly been absorbed
* meanwhile, hard boil the egg and if necessary rinse and halve the sardines

Eat!

I 

Tuna with spicy chilli noodles

I fancied something totally different after all the heavy Christmas food and this really hit the spot!

Ingredients (serves 1)
1 tuna steak
1 nest fine egg noodles
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/4 tsp lazy ginger, finely chopped
2 tbsp sweet chilli sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tsp mirin
1/8 tsp lazy red chilli

* mix together all the ingredients except the noodles and tuna to form a dressing
* cook the noodles and drain
* cook the tuna in a griddle pan for a couple of minutes per side
* mix the noodles with the dressing and serve with the tuna on top