Raising two young boys can sometimes get quite complicated when it comes to what to cook for them. Most of the times there is always one that is not so impressed with what I have come up with. Especially when it comes to dessert! For some reason my kids get a bit picky here!! Which I don't think is normal. I mean when have you heard a kid say no to a piece of cake but if you ask my kids they will tell you that there are only 3 sorts of cakes that they are OK with. 

And one of the most popular treats after dinner is rice pudding. No complains here!

Lucky for me its also an easy thing to whizz up in the kitchen and since I have been making it so much lately, I kind of perfected the art of making a perfect fluffy,creamy rice pudding and thought I would share it with you!

All you need is: 

600 ml milk

400ml single cream

zest 1 unwaxed lemon

1 vanilla pod

25g caster sugar

100g short grain pudding rice

25g butter

Heres is how you make it!

1. Heat oven to 120C/140C fan/gas 2. Put the milk, cream, zest and vanilla pod all in one saucepan. Gently bring to a simmer, then stir in caster sugar and rice.

2. Transfer mixture to a shallow ovenproof dish and dot the butter on top (I like to use my stoneware casserole dish as its perfect for slow cooking). Bake for 30 mins, then stir well and cook for 1 hour more until the pudding is soft and creamy and a golden skin has formed on the top. The depth and type of dish you use will affect the cooking time, so if the pudding seems loose then return it to oven once more and check every 10 mins or so. Once cooked rest for 10 min and then serve.

The good thing about rice pudding is that you can make as much or as little as you like in one go. I always make a ton and then fill it up in little glass pods so that we can still enjoy our homemade rice pudding by the end of the week!

I hope you will like this recipe and tell me if you want to see more of my cooking. I love creating healthy, tasty homecooked meals for my family and would love to share some more with you!

AN AFTERNOON TEA

Who doesn't love a nice cup of tea in the afternoon when its getting cold outside and the best thing to go with an English cup of tea are scones. I love these little cakes, they are just so light and delicious, a lovely little treat in the afternoon to lift up your mood in those dark winter months.

Making scones for tea makes me also a little nostalgic! Some of you might not know that I studied to be a chef back home in Germany and qualified as comi chef after 3 years. When I finish my qualification I decides to start travelling and work as a chef in the UK for a while. And it was here in a little restaurant on a popular nature reserve where I first learnt to make scones. I loved making these as a lot of people always complimented me on how good they were and kept coming back for more!

So when I now make them at home I always look back at those days when I first came to the UK and everything was so new and exciting. My kids like them just as much as I do and they never seem to last for very long in our house.

Here is how you make them!

Ingredients

500g strong flour ( normal  plain flour will also do)

80g soft butter, plus a little for greasing the baking tray

80g caster sugar

2 eggs, plus one egg for glazing

5 tsp baking powder

250ml milk

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 220C, Gas mark 7 and lightly grease a baking tray with butter.
2. Put the flour and butter into a large bowl , using your fingers rube the butter into the flour so that you get little crumps.
3. Next add the sugar, 2 eggs and baking powder and use a wooden spoon to turn the mixture gently, making sure you mix in all the ingredients. 
4. Now add all the milk little by little to form a very soft and wet dough.
5. Sprinkle some more flour onto a clean surface and tip the soft dough out onto the work surface and sprinkle flour on top.
6. Use you hands to fold the dough. By folding and turning the mixture you incorporate the last of the flour and add air. Do this a few times until you have formed a smooth dough. If the mixture becomes too sticky use some extra flour, be careful not to overwork  your dough.
7. Next roll the dough out and with a pastry cutter ( if you don't have one use a glass) cut out round shapes and place the scones onto your baking tray. Any left over can be rolled out and used again.
8. Lastly brush the scones with some egg wash and bake the them for 15 min or until golden brown. 

          Serve with clotted cream,some strawberry jam and a nice hot cup of tea!!! 

ENJOY!!!

CHESTNUT SOUP

Last weekend I had some friends over for dinner and I made them this lovely velvety, earthy soup for a started. Everybody loved it and I was quite surprised that they never had this lovely soup before.

Back in Germany when I was growing up, we had a big chestnut tree in our village and everybody was collecting them to bring home for their mum to make some lovely chestnut soup.

For me its the perfect soup on a cold day when you come home and need something warm in your tummy!!

Ingredients:

500g fresh or vac packed chestnuts

1 large potato

2 medium onions

1 garlic clove

2 celery sticks

1.5 l vegetable stock

1 bay leaf 

knob of butter

150~200ml single cream

salt and pepper

Directions:

 I used fresh unpeeled chestnuts because I feel they taste the best but if you ever had to peel a few chestnuts you know how tricky it can be to get the skin off. There are lot of of methods on how to peel them and everybody has their own technique even I used to roast them in the oven and then peel them but not anymore. I found a much better method that works brilliant for me and doesn't take long. 

What I do is, I make a cross on each chestnut and then put them in two's or three's into boiling hot water for about 1 min at the time. Then take them out and while they are still boiling hot rub them with a towel and you will see the skin comes off ever so easy.

On to the soup!!!

1. In a saucepan, melt the butter and fry the onions, garlic and celery till soft but not coloured.
2. Add the potato and all of the chestnuts, vegetable stock and bay leaf 
3. Boil, the simmer for 30 minutes and season with salt and pepper
4. Once the potato is soft, remove the bay leaf and blitz with a hand blender till smooth   
5. Stir in the cream and check the seasoning
6. Serve with a dollop of cream or croutons, use parsley for some decoration                       

 VOILA

Have you ever tied chestnut soup. If you have please let me know if you liked it and if you haven't then what are you waiting for, grab yourself some lovely chestnuts and get cooking!!!

ITALIAN SPINACH TART

This Italian tart is one of my most loved recipes and always goes down a treat in our house. This recipe is a vegetarian version and very healthy but feel free to add any parma ham or even salami for you meat lovers out there. You could also add some anchovies and sun dried tomatoes or different cheese like goats cheese if you like your tart more adventurous. The tart makes also an exellent starter for a dinner party which will leave your guests wishing for more. I hope you will give this recipe a go and let me know how you liked it. 

Here is how you make it:

 serves 4-5

1 ready rolled puff pasty

3 medium red onions, peel and finely sliced

1 clove of garlic, peel and slice

400g fresh spinach, wash

1 egg

200ml cream

150g freshly grated Parmesan cheese

a knob of butter 

olive oil

fresh or dried oregano

salt & pepper

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 190 C/gas 5. Next, put a knob of butter in a medium pan and gently fry the onions on a low heat for 10 minutes until they are soft and sweet but not golden, turn up the heat and add the garlic for another few seconds.

Put the cooked onions and garlic in a medium sized bowl and add the cream, egg, Parmesan cheese, a little oregano, salt and pepper mix together and put to the side.

Cook the spinach with a little glug of olive oil on a medium heat and take the pan off when the spinach has wilted - this will only take a couple of minutes. Here you have two choices, you could either put the spinach in with the rest of the mixture or leave it on the side and put the spinach separately onto the pastry. I always just put it in with the mixture as it is easy and quick.

Next, roll out the pastry with the greased paper it comes with and line it with the tray, now spread the mixture evenly over your pastry case .Grate over a generous helping of Parmesan cheese and drizzle with a little olive oil.

Bake in the preheated oven for about 20-30 minutes, or until the top is golden and bubbling and the filling has set.

Done!

Serve it with a little salad of watercress or rocket dressed with olive oil, a squeeze of lemon juice and some salt and pepper.

ENJOY

INDIAN CHAI TEA

Now that Autumn is just around the corner and the nights are drawing in, I like to get cozy at home with a nice warm and spicy tea from India. I am talking about chai tea and the first time I tasted this lovely tea I fell in love with it.It is really easy to make and there are lots of different recipes how to make this lovely tea ( in India every family has their own secret recipe) but this is one of my favourite recipe and I would love for you to try it. Here is how you make it (makes about 4-5 cups of tea).

Ingredients:

1.5 l water

6 anise star

 1 tbsp  fennel seeds

6 cloves

8 cardamon 

1 cinnamon stick

2-3 tbsp brown sugar

5  black tea bags (I used English breakfast tea)

Directions:

To make the tea, put all the spices and sugar with the water in a large pot and bring to the boil.

Let it boil for 10 min on a small heat so that all the spices can release there aroma.
Next put the tea bags in and take the pot from the heat and let them infuse for another 5-7 minutes. Don't boil the tea as it will get bitter and won't taste nice.
When the tea is ready take a sieve and strain the spices and tea bags so that you are left with just the tea.
Serve the tea in your favourite mug or cup with milk. I use soya milk in mine because I prefer the taste. Spritz a little whipped cream on top and sprinkle with some ground cinnamon or chocolate (or both) and enjoy!

Perfect for those days when you need a little pick me up!!
Let me know if you liked this recipe and if you tried it at home. I would love to hear your thoughts!!

Wish you all a good weekend!!

CHICKEN,SPINACH AND GOAT CHEESE LASAGNA

This is one of my all time favorite Lasagna dishes I have made. It's so easy to make and tastes absolutely delicious. This dish is perfect for a little get together with friends and is easily adjusted for vegetarians.

Chicken,Spinach and Goat Cheese Lasagna

                                                                                                          serves up to 4 people

  Ingredients:  

2 chicken breasts

1 can of chopped tomatoes

3 cloves of garlic

bag of spinach

100g of goats cheese

150g of mozzarella

100g of parmesan cheese

10-12 lasagna sheets

fresh basil

olive oil

salt & pepper

Directions:

To make the sauce, cook the garlic in a little oil until slightly brown

Finally add the tomatoes, basil, salt and pepper

Bring everything to boil and simmer until thickened

Cook the spinach slowly, allow to cool and drain in sieve then chop coarsely

Chop and fry chicken breast in pan

To assemble the lasagna, put about 1/4 of the tomato sauce on the bottom of your dish 

Add chicken on top

Make an overlapping layer of lasagna sheets 

Spread some more of the tomato sauce on top making sure the pasta is well covered

Take about half of the spinach and layer on top

Sprinkle some of the mozzarella on top and repeat the next layer of pasta, sauce, chicken, spinach then break up some of the goats cheese and put on top

You can continue layering in this fashion for more layers

I only did two of these layers and finished with sprinkling some of the parmesan with the goats cheese.

Cover the dish with some foil and bake in preheated oven for 30 min, remove foil and bake for a further 15-20 min until nice and brown

I love serving Lasagna with some lovely fresh ciabatta bread and some rocket salad.

BUON APPETITO