Sorry for the lack of posts, things have been kind of crazy lately, my chillis all got wiped out by a bad batch of compost so my greenhouse is looking a little bit bare at the moment.

I decided against buying any replacement plants or planting any more as we are going away for 2 weeks to do the coast to coast walk so rather than worry about them not being watered It was easier just to go without this season.

I’ve got a huge backlog of reviews, recipes and website work to do and I’ve set a few to auto post while I’m away so watch this space.

It’s not quite as quick and easy as the Peppadew version but I promise it’s worth the effort. You can also multiply the recipe to make more pizzas.

I used my pizza stone, if you don’t have one then go and buy one – they really are a must have bit of kit for the kitchen, great for pizzas (obviously) and all sorts of other bread and baking. If you don’t want to get one then use a nice thick baking tray Just make sure its really well greased and floured

Here’s how it goes:

Ingredients for 1 pizza

For the pizza

• 175g strong plain white flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp pepper
• 1 tsp fast action yeast
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• 120ml warm water.

For the tomato sauce

• 1 clove of garlic
• 1 tin of tomatoes with herbs
• 1/3rd bunch of basil really finely chopped.
• Pinch of chilli flakes
• Pinch of oregano
• tomato Puree
• Salt
• Pepper
• Olive oil

You can leave out the chilli if you would like or add some smoked paprika for a little extra twist.

For the topping

• Mozerella
• Olive oil
• Oregano
• Peppadew peppers
• Hot Peperoni, thinly sliced
• Picante chorizo, thinly sliced
• 3 mushrooms, thinly sliced
• Rosemary
• Black Pepper
• Parmesan

You can change the toppings for your preffed ones

Method

For the Pizzza

1. Mix the yeast, water and sugar in a jug and set aside.
2. Place the flour in a bowl with the salt and pepper
3. Add the water and the olive oil and mix with a wooden spoon
4. Once it forms a dough, kneed for 5 minutes or until the dough is stretchy, elastic and has a nice sheen to it.
5. Cover the bowl and put somewhere warm for an hour or so until the dough has doubled in size.
6. Remove the dough and knock out the air from it. At this point you can wrap in cling film and put in the fridge until required.

For the Tomato Sauce

1. Heat a heavy based frying pan and add a glug of olive oil, Add the garlic and a squeeze of tomato puree
2. As soon as the garlic starts to colour add the tomatoes, followed by the basic, chilli and dried herbs.
3. Bring to the boil, stirring continuously. Cook for about 5mins
4. Tip the tomatoes through a sieve, squishing all of the big lumps out.
5. Discard the basil and any lumps of garlic that are in the sieve.
6. Put the sauce back into the pan and simmer for 5-10mins until its nice and thick, if it’s still a bit lumpy you can always blitz it in the blender.
7. Set aside until needed, if you put it in a sterilised jar it will keep in the fridge for a week or two.

To make your pizza

When you are ready to cook your pizza:

1. Lightly flour your worktop  (you can use semolina if you would like a little bit more crunch on your base) Roll the dough into a ball then roll out into a nice big circle. You can make it as thick or as thin as you like but I love mine nice and thin.
2. Place your tray or pizza stone in the oven and turn your oven up to 230 Degrees C.
3. When the oven has been at temperature for 10mins carefully remove your stone/tray and sprinkle with a little flour or semolina and then place your base on top, it will start to bubble and rise which adds a great texture to your pizza
4. Spread with a few spoonfulls of your sauce then cover with mozerella, add your mushrooms, meats and then as many of the peppadews as you would like
5. Sprinkle with oregano and herbs along with a little salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil
6. Place back in the oven for 10-15mins until your pizza is crispy, golden and bubbling.
7. Remove, sprinkle with parmesan and then tuck in.

The fudge was excellent, it was really crumbly, sweet but not too sweet and had a really subtle chilli flavour that built up the more you ate – after half the packet (alright most of the packet..) it built up to a really great level.

The chilli really did work with the fudge, I wasn’t quite sure if it would or not but it was absolutely gorgeous.

At £1.55 for 100g it’s very well priced and a bit of a steal!

Please go and buy some from the website here as it really is worth trying if you are a chilli fan.

It serves 2, so just buy a piece of fish that’s the size you want depending on your appetite, the addition of some lemon grass might also be quite nice but I didn’t have any.

It can be cooked on the bbq, under the grill or on a griddle pan, I think BBQ would work best but it was raining so I used the grill.

Ingredients

• Monkfish tail
• 1 clove of  garlic crushed
• juice and zest of 1 lemon
• juice and zest of 1 lime,
• 4 kaffir lime leaves crushed
• 2cm piece of fresh root ginger,
• 1 red chilli or 1/2 tsp chilli flakes,
• pinch of salt
• pinch of pepper
• 1/2 tin of coconut milk
• BBQ Skewers
• Rice and veg to serve with.

Method

1. Chop the monkfish into nice big chunks, place in a bowl and then add the garlic, chilli, ginger, lemon and lime juice and zest, lime leaves, salt, pepper and coconut milk.
2. Leave to marinate for as long as you have got.
3. Thread the fish onto the skewers, I used 2 skewers per kebab as it stops the fish spinning round when you turn it.
4. Baste with some of the left over marinade and cook for 8-10mins depending on heat and size of fish, turn regularly and baste as often as you like.

They come in 200g bags and cost £1.75, which is great value as you seem to get loads of little jelly chillies for your money, not to mention they are way cheaper than the ones you can get from firebox.com

They smell delicious, sweet, sticky and spicy, similar to the cherry jellies you can get but more spicy! The look like little chillies and were all a pretty uniform shape so you can definitely tell they are chillis.

Above all they taste great, they have a lovely sweet chilli flavour followed by a good bit of spicey chilli fire which builds up the more you scoff and believe me you will scoff lots as they are so tasty.

If you like things on the spicy side then you won’t be disappointed, if you don’t then you might find them a little too spicy.

If you want to try them for your self and can’t get to Keswick then you can order some via the Ye Old Friars website you can also visit their facebook page here or follow them on twitter here

Chilli Up North Verdict, Sweet, Spicy and really moreish – 9/10 (heat 7/10)

The packet reads “The hottest edition of Fridge Raiders ever! Chicken pieces, seasoned in a traditional Indian spice mixture of chilli, lime and garlic to satisfy even the wildest tastebuds”

That’s some statement, especially given that they don’t look that appetising, they kinda look like a cross between chicken nuggets and some sort of squishy nut. Despite their appearance they contain 91% chicken breast along with some palm oil, seasoning and some wheat, which doesn’t read as bad as I thought it would.

Nutritional wise there are 134kcals, 7g of fat,  3.1g of saturates and 0.8g of salt per 65g bag, which although not “healthy” is way blow most bags of crisps and other snacks around.

Now the bit that surprised me – the taste – they were pretty damn tasty, I could taste the lime, some cumin and other heady Indian spices along with a rather decent amount of chilli that builds up the more of them you eat, it doesn’t burn but you know its there, before I knew it the pack was all gone.

Chilli Up North Verdict: Great meaty alternative to crisps, best eaten straight from the fridge or warmed up on top of a naan with some salad and raita, 6/10 (heat 2/10)

It serves two  or three and takes no time at all, you can add chicken or some other meat if you like but I quite like it with just bacon.

Ingredients

• 6 slices thick cut bacon, chopped up into cubes/slices
• 1 bunch of spring onions, sliced on the diagonal
• 1 carrot, chopped into match sticks
• 1 red pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 green pepper, thinly sliced
• 1 nice big hot chilli. finely chopped
• 2 big handfuls of your favourite mushrooms, roughly chopped
• 1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
• 1 cloves of garlic, grated
• 1/2 tea spoon of Chinese 5 spice powder
• 100ml sherry
• olive oil
• 1 bunch of egg noodles per person
• 2 table spoons soy sauce
• black pepper

Method

1. Heat a wok or heavy based frying pan up so it’s really hot, add a splash of olive oil and fry the bacon until nice and crispy, remove from the pan and place on some kitchen towel to drain.
2. Cook the noodles as per the instructions and drain.
3. Get the pan really hot again and fry the onions, mushrooms, peppers and carrots, after about 60 seconds add the 5 spice powder, chilli, garlic and ginger and mix into the vegetables, fry until the veg are cooked.
4. Add the bacon to the pan followed sherry, careful in case it flames up, cook the alcohol off for a minute or so then add the soy sauce.
5. Add the noodles and stir well.
6. Taste and then add the black pepper along with any extra soy sauce or sherry your feel necessary.
7. Serve.

Obviously the cooking time will depend on the size of the bird you have.

We had ours with new potatoes and a lovely green salad and then had the left overs in sarnies with salsa and salad.

Ingredients

• 1 Whole chicken (preferably free range)
• 1 tsp Chlli powder
• 1/2 tsp Cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1/2 tsp onion powder
• 1/2 tsp paprika
• 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
• black pepper
• salt
• 1/2 tsp chilli flakes
• pinch of mustard powder
• pinch celery powder
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp oregano
• olive oil
• zest of 1 lime
• zest of 1 lemon

Method

1. Pre heat oven to 200 degrees C.
2. Mix all of the herbs and spices together with the zest’s (or open the packet if you went down the pre mixed route)
3. Rub the chicken with a little olive oil then sprinkle over the spices and rub into the skin of the chicken.
4. If you want to add some extra flavour you can put some of the spices under the chicken skin and in the cavity.
5. Place chicken into a lightly oiled roasting tin, cover with a double layer of foil.
6. Cook for suggested time for your bird, but half an hour before the end remove the foil, baste the chicken with the juices and cook until the skin has crisped up.

Remove from the oven, allow to rest for 10-15mins then carve and serve with salad and new potatoes.

Before we begin, i feel the need to make a couple of excuses. firstly, the correct proportions and preparation of martinis are hotly contested topics (well, in some people’s worlds anyway) and i make no claim to authenticity or correctness. the addition of ice to the glass is particularly likely to upset some people but i find that the hint of water as the ice melts really brings out the flavours of gin in general. if you’re part of the martini mafia and are offended by the following method…well, the beauty of the internet is that you don’t know where i live

secondly, the following is made with a standard london dry gin (waitrose own-brand is a good one) so the tasting notes and aromas will vary if you use a premium gin, flavoured gin or (god forbid!) vodka. don’t get me wrong, i like vodka, but for me it belongs in bloody marys not martinis. but if that’s your poison, then go for it. you could use hendricks gin for an extra savoury taste (and maybe add some gherkin to the recipe to complement the cucumber flavours); bombay sapphire may be a little too complex for this drink but, heck, it’d be worth trying!

method

to begin, then, you’ll need the following: gin; vermouth (any variety will do – personally i like the extra dry version); olives in brine; sliced
jalapenos in brine; ice. this is one of those rare occasions where i find pre-pickled jalapenos work better than fresh chillies – i’ve tried making it
with fresh and while i wouldn’t refuse one in future, the brine does seem to add to the overall flavour.

the ratio of gin:vermouth varies with taste. for a dry version try roughly 6 parts gin to 1 part vermouth. if you like it sweeter, increase the amount of vermouth accordingly; if you like it drier then either: invest in a small atomiser and spritz the inside of the glass with vermouth; or add a little vermouth to the glass, swirl it around to coat the inner surface, then pour the excess liquid away.

anyway, put your preferred amount of gin and vermouth into a martini glass with a couple of cubes of ice before dropping in two olives and two or three slices of jalapeno. stir gently and…well, enjoy! the brine from the olive and jalapenos will float on top and slightly discolour the drink, making it ‘dirty’.

tasting notes

(one final excuse: i’ve never been able to write tasting notes that don’t seem laden with double entendres. i’m sorry.)

depending on how dirty your martini is (ie, adding a few drops of the olive/jalapeno brine will make it dirty whereas darining the

olives/jalapenos before adding them will make it cleaner) the gin aroma (normally juniper) will be in the background, and what you’ll actually get is a slightly briney, savoury smell to begin with.the first taste hit is slightly sweet. even if you’ve only put in the merest hint of a smidgen of a sniff of vermouth, this tends to be what hits you first – although hits is too harsh a word. lets say it caresses the inside of your mouth. don’t be fooled though – it’s just trying to sweeten you up before the gin and jalapeno kicks you somewhere sensitive and steals your dinner money. keep the martini in your mouth for a few seconds and as it warms up the sharpness will start to develop – you’ll start to get a tingling feeling on the sides of your tongue toward the back of your mouth.

As you swallow, you’ll predominantly get the alcohol burn of the gin before – all of a sudden – the slightly salty jalapeno heat will take over. if
those are the sort of flavours you like, you’ll find it an incredibly moreish drink!

Serves 2-4
Prep time: 10 mins
Cooking time 10 mins

Ingredients

• 5 fresh chillies, finely chopped
• 3 tsp ground coriander,
• 2 tsp cumin seeds, crushed
• 2 cloves, crushed
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp peppercorns, crushed
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 tsp sugar
• 2 shallots. finely chopped
• 2 tsp oyster/fish sauce
• zest and juice of a lemon
• zest and juice of a lime
• 1 thumb sized piece of ginger
• 1 packed (200-300g of fresh raw prawns)
• handful button mushrooms or oriental mushrooms
• handful cashew nuts
• 1 red pepper,
• handful green beans
• handful of broccoli florets
• 1/2 tin coconut milk
• handful baby corn, sliced
• small bunch fresh coriander
• olive oil

Method

1. Put the prawns in a bowl and cover with the lemon and lime juice, leave for 5 minutes.
2. Heat the olive oil in a pan, remove the prawns from the juice and then add the prawns, fry for 2 mins until pink and cooked. Remove from the pan
3. Add the vegetables into the pan and fry until cooked and soft, add the juice from the lemon along with the herbs,spices, ginger, oyster sauce and garlic, and fry until the garlic is cooked, add the cashew nuts.
4. Add the coconut milk and bring to the boil, cook until the sauce starts to thicken, check your seasoning and adjust with salt and pepper if necessary.
5. Add the prawns back into the pan to warm through.
6. Serve with rice and garnish with some coriander.