This is pretty much a Jamie Oliver recipe out of a little booklet that my future mother in law gave me a few weeks ago, I changed it slightly as I could’t get any plum jam so ended up buying some cherry jam instead.

How long you cook the meat for will depend on the size of your joint and how well done you like it.

As well as the chilli flakes you could also add some sliced fresh chillis or sliced pickled Jalepeno towards the end of glazing.

The broth from the initial cooking can be used for soup or stock if it’s not too salty and the juices from roasting make wicked gravy.

The meat is delicious hot or cold and will last a while in an air tight container in the fridge.

Ingredients

• 3Kg Gammon joint (smoked or unsmoked it’s up to you)
• 1/2 tbsp whole black peppercorns
• 1/2 tbsp whole white peppercorns (or you can just use a whole tbsp of black ones)
• 1 onion, peeled and cut into wedges
• 1  carrot, cut into chunks
• A few sprigs of fresh Thyme
• 1 Piece of celery, cut into chunts
• Water.
• 1/2 jar of cherry jam
• 1 tsp chilli flakes.
• 1 fresh chilli, halved (optional)
• 6 cloves (optional)

Method

1. Pre heat your ove to 160 degrees.
2. Place the meat in a roasting tray or a large pan that you can fit in your oven.
3. Fill with water so it comes about half way up meat.
4. Place the onion, celery, carrot, thyme, peppercorns, cloves and fresh chilli around the meat.
5. Cover the pan with a lid or foil and bake for 90 mins and cooked through (use a meat thermometer to check if you have one)
6. Remove from the oven, keep it covered and leave to cool for at least 30mins.
7. Once the meat is cool enough to handle, remove most of the skin, leaving a thin layer of fat on the top.
8. Carefully use a sharp knife to score the fat in a diamond pattern.
9. Turn the oven up to 200 degrees
10. Put the meat back into the oven and put the meat back in for 30-40 mins until the fat starts to crisp up.
11. Carefully spread some cherry jam over the meat, sprinkle with chilli flakes and then place back in the oven.
12. Now this bit is where you need to use your judgement, keep roasting the meat for 30-60 mins, basting and adding more jam if necessary, until the jam is crisp and sticky and the meat is cooked how you like it.
13. Remove from the oven, leave to cool lightly and then slice and serve.

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.

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.

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.

It’s incredibly easy to make and can be made well in advance, in fact its best if it is all made the day before, although it does make a fair bit of washing up.

The pic isn’t the best as I didn’t have time to take a pic with the ones with lots of sauce.

Serves 6-8
Prep/Cooking time:  20-30mins plus overnight chilling/freezing

Ingredients

For the Parfait

• 25g fresh ginger
• 290ml of fresh double cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or 1 vanilla pod
• 3  very fresh, large, free range eggs
• 250g caster sugar

For the Chilli Ginger Snaps

• 1 teaspoon chilli flakes, thinly chopped fresh chilli or crushed dried chilli
• 115g caster sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 65g unsalted butter at room temperature.
• 50ml Golden syrup or honey.
• 55g plain flour

For the Whisky Poached Rhubarb

• 4 or 5 sticks of nice fresh rhubarb (home grown is best..also looks cool if you use the really  pink stuff)
• 1 tablespoon caster sugar
• 50ml whisky
• 1 tablespoon water.

Method

For the Parfait

1. Separate the eggs, placing the whites in one bowl and the yolks in the other bowl.
2. Put the cream in a bowl and whisk until it becomes thick and just drips off your whisk, try not to over whip it as this will result in a lumpy parfait.
3. Add 100g of the sugar to the egg yolks and whisk until light and fluffy.
4. Whisk the egg whites until they are firm and soft peaks start to form, whilst still whisking add the 100g of sugar bit by bit and whisk until nice and firm.
5. Peel and finely chop the ginger then crush it in a pestle and motar along with the remaining 50g of sugar and vanilla, this should form a nice gingery paste.
6. Add the ginger paste to the egg yolks and gently mix.
7. Then gently fold the cream into that mixture followed by the egg whites.
8. Mix gently until all of the ingredients are combined and smooth.
9. Line your loaf tin/terrine with cling film, I found it best to use a silicon loaf tin that way it is really easy to get the parfait out when frozen
10. Tip the mixture into the mould and freeze for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight.

For the Chilli Ginger Snaps

1. Put the ginger, chilli, butter and sugar into a bowl and mix until combined.
2. Sift in the flour
3. Add the golden syrup or honey and mix until you have a nice smooth dough.
4. Roll into a sausage shape, wrap tightly in cling film and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, preferably over night.
5. When you are ready to make the snaps and the dough is chilled pre heat your oven to 170 degrees C
6. Line a baking tray with grease proof paper.
7. Slice into 5mm thick discs and place on to the baking tray with plenty of space in between, you might want to do this in batches so they don’t all stick together.
8. Bake for 5-10mins until golden brown, Remove from the oven and allow to cool.
9. If you wish to shape the snaps, it is best to do them while they are slightly warm but have firmed up.
10. Once cool, place in an air tight container until needed. You might want to place greasproof between each snap to stop them sticking together.

For the Whisky Poached Rhubarb

1. Wash and slice the rhubarb into 2 inch pieces
2. Add all of the ingredients into a pan, cook until the rhubarb is soft, gently stirring occasionally.
3. Set aside and leave to cool

To serve

1. Remove the parfait from the mould, slice using a hot knife
2. Place on a plate along with a few pieces of rhubarb, drizzle with the rhubarb juice.
3. Top with the a chilli ginger snap and serve.

I decided to put the chilli in the snap biscuits instead of the parfait, having said that after making it I think the chilli would work really well in the parfait, for this I would probably use a thinly sliced fresh chilli and also some of that ginger you get in syrup to add a bit of extra texture to it, or maybe line the loaf tin with a mix of crushed ginger biscuits and chilli. It might also work as a layered parfait with a layer of chilli jam in the middle…I will certainly be experimenting to find out.

Spicy and refreshing minted pea and chilli soup

I made this as a bit of an experiment, I love peas with mint and chilli so thought I would try and combine them into a lovely spring/summer soup ready for my fresh pea harvest.

Serves: 2
Cooking Time:  10mins

Ingredients:

• 250g frozen peas (or fresh if you have them)
• 300ml chicken or vegetable stock
• 1 Onion finely diced
• Either a handful of fresh mint or a tablespoon of dried mint
• 1 dry red chilli (crumbled) or 1 1/2 teaspoons of chilli flakes
• 1 clove of garlic, crushed.
• Big knob of butter
• Salt and pepper
• 1/4 block of feta cheese, crumbled

Method:

1. Fry the onions and garlic in a the butter until soft and translucent, try not to colour them.
2. Add the mint and the chilli and fry for 30 seconds
3. Add the Peas and fry for a couple of minutes before adding the stock.
4. Bring to the boil and simmer for 5minutes
5. Add the mixture to a blender, whizz until smooth, season with salt and pepper.
6. Serve with the feta crumbled over the top.
7. Enjoy

You can also use the recipe, minus the stock and feta to make a great side dish for with meat, fish or chicken. Just fry the peas until cooked then crush lightly with a fork.

It takes about 10-15mins to prepare then I put it in the slow cooker while I was at work, although if you don’t have a slow cooker you can always leave it on the hob until the sauce thickens.

Ingredients

lamb curry

• 500g diced lamb
• 1 tsp ground black peppercorns
• 1 tsp coriander seeds
• 1 tsp garam masala
• 1tsp paprika
• 1 tsp turmeric
• 1 tsp red chilli flakes
• 2 fresh tomatoes, sliced
• Handful of fresh coriander, chopped
• 3 bay leaves
• 450ml water
• 1 red pepper
• 1 packet green beans

For the tarka masala sauce:

• 3tbsp olive oil
• 2tsp cumin seeds
• 2 onions, peeled and chopped
• 4 cloves of garlic peeled and chopped
• Small tin of chopped tomatoes
• 5cm piece of root ginger, peeled and chopped
• 4 whole chillies

Method

1. For the tarka masala sauce: Heat the oil in a large pan until fairly hot, add the cumin seeds and fry for 10 secs. Add the onions and pepper and fry until golden brown, then add the garlic and fry until slightly golden. Add the tinned tomatoes to the pan. Next add the ginger, chillies and cook for a few minutes, remove from the pan.
2. Heat a little more oil in the pan add the lamb, salt, spices and chilli flakes into the pan and cook over a fairly high heat. Keep turning the lamb until browned
3. Add the sauce you made in step 1 and 450ml of water and the green beans, bring to the boil and simmer over a medium heat for about 10 mins
4. Tip into your slow cooker and cook for 6 hours on a medium heat. (if not using slow cooker simmer until the sauce thickens and the lamb is tender)
5. Just before serving add the chopped fresh tomato, corriander and bay leaves and leave for an hour or so to infuse then server with naan and rice.

This recipe is an adaption Mums Know Best: The Hairy Bikers’ Family Cookbook, . You can buy it on Amazon.co.uk.

As with all my recipes you can change the amount of chilli you use depending on how firey you like it.

Chilli and lemon cod loin

It takes about 5 mins to prepare and 20-30 mins to cook depending on how well done you like your cod.

Ingredients

• 1 piece of cod loin
• 1 lemon
• 1 small glass of white wine
• 1 teaspoon chilli flakes
• 1 pinch smoked paprika
• 1 pinch cayenne pepper
• salt
• pepper
• 1 fresh chilli

Method

1. Pre heat oven to 200 degrees.
2. Slice the lemon and lay on a large sheet of foil
3. Season the cod with salt and pepper, sprinkle the cayenne pepper, chilli flakes and paprika on making sure you get some on all sides of the cod. Slice the chilli in half length ways and place on the top of the cod.
4. Place the cod on top of the lemon, make a parcel around the cod but leave one end open.
5. Tip the wine into the parcel and seal up.
6. Bake in the centre of your oven for 20-30 mins depending on how thick your cod is and how well done you like it.
7. Remove the cod from the foil, making sure you are careful as the steam inside is very hot.
8. Serve with veg and potatoes.

Ingredients

• 1 fresh mango (peeled and diced)
• Hand full of fresh pineapple (skinned and diced)
• Fresh mint
• Fresh coriander
• 3 spring onions (finely sliced)
• Juice and zest of 1 lime
• Squirt of honey
• 1 chilli or some chilli flakes
• 2 chicken breasts
• 2 sweet potatoes
• fresh ginger (grated)
• salt + pepper
• 1 tablespoon of creme fraiche
• knob of butter.
• olive oil.
• white rum or tequila (optional)

Method

1. Pre heat oven to 200 degrees
2. Mix the mango, pineapple, chilli, spring onions, lime. mint, coriander and honey together in a bowl and add a splash of white rum.  Set aside
3. Microwave the sweet spuds for a few mins so they are part cooked then place in the oven until really soft on the inside.
4. Flatten the chicken breasts, season with salt and pepper and rub with a little olive oil, cook on a hot griddle pan. place on a baking tray and place in oven to keep warm.
5. Warm the salsa in a hot pan until the alcohol has cooked off and the salsa is nice and soft.
6. Place the ginger in a bowl with the creme fraiche, butter and some salt and pepper, add the insides of the sweet spuds and mix well ,either eat or discard the skins.
7. Remove the chicken from the oven and plate up, top with the salsa and serve with the sweet potato mash and veg.

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 x 400g cod loin fillet (skinned and boned)
• 1 pack of parma ham

for the pesto if you want to make your own:

• half a jar of sun dried tomatoes (drained but keep the oil)
• 2 tablespoons of parmesan
• Small bunch of basil
• 1 fresh or dried chilli
• 1 tsp tabasco
• pinch of oregano
• salt and pepper

Method

1. If making your own pesto put all of the ingredients in a blender and whizz up, slowly adding the oil you reserved from the tomatoes until you get a nice spreadable consistency.
2. Pre heat oven to 200 degrees
3. Form a “sheet” of ham by slightly overlapping each slice of ham.
4. Spread the pesto down the middle of the ham
5. Place the cod on to the pesto and wrap the ham around the cod.
6. Place on a baking tray and bake in the oven until the ham is crispy.
7. Plate up the cod, drizzle with the juices from the baking tray, you can also mix the juices with a little extra pesto if needed.
8. Serve with Veg and potatoes of your choice.

Sorry about the poor pic, I have a better one which I will upload later