Best Lasagne!

I've been making lasagne for so many years and I never use a recipe. I like to be able to mix it up with the vege you have on hand or no vege at all depending on who you are cooking for. Sometimes it's nice to use fresh herbs, ricotta or cream cheese in the cheese sauce but this one seems to have hit a high note at my house so give it a go and let me know what you think! I reckon the secret is in the meat sauce...

Serves 6

Ingredients
1/2 cup red wine
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried tarragon
250-300g of lasagne sheets
2 cloves garlic, crushed
800g prime beef mince
1 large onion, chopped
1 large fresh tomato thinly sliced
2 green peppers, pith & seeds removed then thinly sliced
8-10 mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 can tomatoes
200mls fresh cream
1-2 cups grated cheese for sauce (I used a mix of Tasty & Edam)
1 cup grated cheese for topping (parmesan works well as it goes nice and crispy)

Preheat oven to 180 degrees
Sauté onions and garlic in a pan for 2 minutes before adding the mince and red wine. Use a wooden spoon to break down the mince as it browns and simmers in the wine for 5 minutes. Add dried herbs, tomato paste, can of tomatoes, Worcestershire sauce, sugar & season to taste. I like to simmer it for 15-20 mins then resting before layering into lasagne
To make cheese sauce, heat cream in a pot and add cheese. Stir until smooth
Before the cheese sauce cools, you need to start building your lasagne. Always begin with a layer of the meat sauce so there's moisture in the bottom of the dish and its easier to get out. Then a layer of lasagne sheets, a layer of vege then cheese sauce. Then repeat till you have used up all your ingredients. I topped mine off with a layer of fresh tomato and grated cheese (parmesan and edam)
Bake for 40 mins

Best Lasagne tastes even better the following day!

Moroccan Feast

I have used this recipe for a few years and have found it's great for entertaining. You serve up dishes that are a little bit different and the sweet and spicy cooking aromas are more than pleasant when guests arrive!

Serves 4
Chicken prune tagine

4 large chicken thighs, skinned and halved
1 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2 tsp cumin seeds
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp ground tumeric
200g pitted prunes
2 large onions
1 tbsp freshly grated ginger
3 cloves garlic, crushed
360mls chicken stock & salt

Heat the oil in a large flaeproof casserole or saucepan until hot. Add the chicken pieces and brown on all sides. Add the allspice, remaining spices, prunes, onions, ginger and garlic to the chicken. Cook, stirring, over a medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the onions are soft and the mixture is aromatic.
Add the stock, season with salt and mix well. Bring to the boil. Reduce the heat to very low, cover and cook gently for 1 1/2 hours, stirring from time to time. Just before serving, uncover, and boil rapidly to slightly thicken the sauce

Serve with hot fruity couscous!

Couscous
1 cup dry couscous
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cumin seeds
Generous dose of curry powder
Freshly ground pepper
Sea or rock salt to taste
1/4 cup almonds, pinenuts or walnuts
1/4 cup raisins
Handful turkish apricots, chopped
1 tbsp butter or olive oil
2 cups boiling water

In a shallow dish, combine the couscous spices, fruit and nuts. Dab on the butter or olive oil, then add the boiling water. Cover with foil and leave for 5 minutes. Fluff the grains with a fork, add a little olive oil if the couscous is dry, and serve hot with the chicken tagine.

Caramelised onions

These are the best with cheese and crackers! I prefer with a mature cheddar but the sweet onions also go well with feta, soft cheese and blue. Caramelised onions are also great in burgers, on pizzas, in a steak sauce and in a gravy for sausages and mash.

Both brown and red onions can work, I used a mixture of both this time. This is a recipe from Annabel Langbein's "The Free Range Cook", they will keep for about a week in the fridge.

6 onions
1.5 cups water
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp oil
1 tsp salt
ground black pepper



Peel onions and cut into thin wedges. Place all ingredients into a large pot and bring to the boil. Reduce heat and simmer gently stirring now an then, for about 40-45 minutes until the liquid has all but evaporated and the onions are really soft.

Sweet & sour Carrot salad

I sourced this recipe easily 5 years ago from a Dish magazine and it's become a regular salad for bbqs and accompanying many other different dishes at my place. It's dressing is both sweet and sour, delicious! I used this to compliment steak and spuds a few nights ago.

Most of the cooking is being done by my mother or husband at the moment and boy am I being spoilt! So used to doing all the cooking myself, it's nice to try other's food and both Mum and Ray are fantastic cooks. It really is hard to get your hands free in the first few weeks as a new mum, I'm struggling to get the wee one to sleep in her bed during the day whereas she seems to go down fine at night so at least I'm getting some sleep. However... I'm not achieving anything but nursing and snuggles with my daughter in the day time so it's been amazing having support. Mum goes back to Dunedin on Sunday so next week will be interesting!?

Serves 6

1 kg carrots
3 tbsp olive oil
4 tbsp red wine vinegar
3 tbsp caster sugar
1/4 tsp cinnamon
3 cloves garlic
3 tbsp currants
3 tbsp pinenuts, toasted
2 tbsp flat leaf parsley or mint

Preheat oven to 180. Slice carrots into long strips using a sharp knife. Place on a large baking tray, tossed with olive oil and seasoned with salt and freshly ground pepper. Roast until tender and lightly coloured, turning once during cooking. Transfer to a shallow dish

In a saucepan over a medium heat, add the vinegar, sugar, cinnamon, garlic, currants and pinenuts. Bring to the boil and simmer for 1-2 minutes. Tip the dressing over the carrots and add the herbs. Toss to combine and taste for seasoning. Allow carrots to sit for a few hours before serving, tossing in the dressing a couple of times

Puttanesca

This is such a good go-to pasta dish. It uses ingredients that I tend to have on hand so it usually gets thrown together as a last minute meal and saves us getting takeaways! I just love the saltiness of it with loads of anchovies, capers and olives

Serves 4

olive oil

400g spaghetti

grated parmesan

150g pitted kalamata olives

80g capers

12 anchovies

2 tbsp tomato paste

1 can tomatoes

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/2 cup red wine

1 tsp oregano (or use a tbsp chopped fresh)

1 tsp thyme (or use a tbsp chopped fresh)

1 onion

vege - use 400g of whatever you have on hand including courgette, eggplant, leeks, mushrooms (I used leeks and mushrooms this time)

salt & freshly ground black pepper

Boil water and cook pasta according to packet instructions. In a frying pan, saute onion in 2 tbsp olive oil for 2 mins, then add anchovies, leeks and mushrooms frying for another 2 mins then cover with red wine and simmer for a few minutes before adding olives, capers, oregano, thyme, tomato paste, balsamic vinegar, canned tomatoes & seasoning 

Drain pasta and add to sauce. Toss and then serve in bowls topped with grated parmesan cheese

Ray's banoffie pie

This has been going down very well after dinner, and maybe for breakfast...once!? Cheers Ray x

Biscuit base..
Break up malt biscuits and ginger nuts to a fine crumb, mix together or use one or the other. Traditional method uses digestive biscuits.
Melt 200grams butter with one packet biscuits.
Mix well with hands and press a cm layer into to a pie dish

Melt 100grams butter with can of condensed milk and 4 tablespoons of golden syrup or brown sugar. Stir over low heat until caramel looking. I also added a couple of rows of caramello chocolate which happened to be in the fridge... (optional)
Pour hot caramel mix over biscuit base, should be just under a cm thick depending on how sweet you like
Chop 2-3 banana length ways to form long 5mm thick slices and place on top of caramel once cooled a little
Place in fridge to cool and set.
Whip cream till stiff peaks form add vanilla and icing sugar to desired sweetness. Cover bananas with cream 2-3 cm thick then grate chocolate on top. Set for a 3-4 hours in fridge

Instant bean hummus

I like to keep dips like this on hand. Its really useful to have your own homemade hummus for a sandwich or toast spread, an accompaniment to turkish & middle eastern dishes, a dip for pita crisps or fresh vege sticks or anything you want really!

Place a 400g can of drained and rinsed white beans (I'm using cannellini) into a bowl and add 1/4 cup of tahini paste, a crushed garlic clove, 1 tbsp lemon juice, sea salt and 1/4 cup of water. Blend until smooth with a wand.

You can also use the obvious chickpeas for an original hummus! Served drizzled with olive oil and a sprinkle of paprika with toasted pita crisps