Sausage & smoked cheese lasagne

Ingredients Layer 1) 10 cherry tomatoes, 1 tsp butter. Layer 2) 4 Quorn sausages, 50g smoked cheese, 50ml buttermilk. Layer 3) 1 tbsp butter, 1 tbsp flour, 50ml milk, 1 egg.

Lasagne sheets/8 oz pasta flour, 4 eggs, 1 tsp olive oil, 10g cheddar.

Serves: 2 Preparation: 1 hour (plus 2-5 for chilling the pasta dough)

Smoked cheese is something that I rarely cook with. The heady flavour can easily overpower the other ingredients, but if you get it right it's a fabulous addition to meat dishes or in my case, being a vegetarian - Quorn!
This twist on lasagne (for my classic lasagne recipe, click here) uses the sharp freshness of cherry tomatoes to cut through the smoked cheese.

1) To make the lasagne sheets: Pour the flour, olive oil, a good pinch of salt, 3 eggs and 1 egg yolk into a bowl and kneed with your hands until you have a firm dough. Wrap this in cling film and chill in the fridge for 2-5 hours. 

2) Slice the Quorn sausages in half lengthways and roast in the top of the oven for 10 minutes at 200 degrees. Set aside.

3) Slice the cherry tomatoes in half and then into quarters and shuck the seeds with your thumb. Discard the seeds and add the tomato flesh to a pan along with a teaspoon of butter and simmer gently for 5 minutes. Spoon into your lasagne dish.

4) Dust a worktop with pasta flour and roll out the dough into a sheet 1/3 of a centimetre thick. Cut out rectangles of pasta and roll these through a pasta machine (or continue using a rolling pin if you don't have one). Add your first layer to the top of the tomatoes and press down to ensure that each part of the pasta is in contact with the tomatoes. Add the Quorn sausages, cut side down on top of the pasta.

5) Grate the smoked cheese and add to a pan with the buttermilk. Stir through until a smooth sauce has formed and pour over the Quorn sausages. Top with a layer of pasta, pressing down to ensure that each part is on contact with the sauce.

6) Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a pan and stir a tablespoon of plain flour into it to form a roux. Take off the heat and whisk the egg into the roux along with the milk. Whisk through for about 5 minutes and pour over the lasagne. Top with grated cheddar and bake the lasagne in the oven for 10 -15 minutes until the cheese is golden and bubbly.

Pasta with spinach & ale sauce

Ingredients 1/4 cup Hobgoblin ale, 300g spinach, 1/2 tsp grainy mustard, 1 tbsp buttermilk, 150g gruyere, pasta.

Serves: 2 Preparation: 20 minutes

I am a spinach junkie. I cannot get enough of it and it's such a great ingredient - so quick and satisfying and gloriously healthy. This dish is a little more indulgent given the cheese and beer content but it's magnificent nonetheless.

1) Bring the pasta to the boil in a pan of salted water and simmer for 8-10 minutes.

2) Reduce the ale in a milk pan and stir in the spinach, mustard and the buttermilk, then remove from the heat once the spinach has wilted.

3) Grate the gruyere into the pan and stir through until a completely smooth, elastic sort of fondue has formed. Strain the pasta and stir into the spinach sauce.

Chilli chocolate scones

Ingredients 225g self raising flour, 50g butter, 50g sugar, 1 tbsp cocoa powder, 75ml buttermilk, dark chocolate chips, chilli flakes

Serves: 10 Preparation: 30 minutes

The combination of dark chocolate and chilli is a particular favourite of mine - the scent, the taste - it's positively sinful and these scones are a wonderfully soft, crumbly vehicle for the unexpected flavour. I served them with marscapone whipped with a little orange juice and sugar.

1) Sift the flour, chilli flakes, cocoa powder and sugar together, then rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

3) Mix the buttermilk and dark chocolate chips in with the dry ingredients until a dough has formed. It's best to work scones with cool hands so if yours are warm, run them under the cold tap first (and dry them) before working it.

4) Roll out the pastry on a floured surface and then fold it in half and roll again. Cut out rounds of pastry with a scalloped cutter and brush with a little milk to help the surface colour.

5) Bake at 200 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Olive Scones

Ingredients 250g self raising flour, 50g butter, 75ml buttermilk, 1/2 tsp baking powder, 10 olives

Makes: 8 Preparation: 30

Savoury scones are something that I have experimented with quite often for this blog. From stilton and walnut to pesto, the humble scone is pretty easy to sex up. The result of my latest experimentation are these buttery, crumbly scones, stuffed with juicy, tangy olives. Oh my!

1) Sift the flour and baking powder into a bowl then rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

2) Pit and halve the olives, then halve again and add to the bowl.
3) Mix the buttermilk in with the dry ingredients until a dough has formed.

4)  Roll out the dough on a floured surface and then fold it in half and roll again. Cut out rounds of pastry with a scalloped cutter and brush with the last drizzles of the milk to help the surface colour.

5) Bake at 200 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Pistachio pesto scones

Ingredients 225g self raising flour, 50g butter, 75ml buttermilk, Basil, basil oil, garlic, pistachio, parmigiano, lemon.

Serves: 8 preparation: 30


I confess, I have never before enjoyed a cheese scone. It is something I would never order in a cafe by choice - often greasy and pungent with crispy bits of cheese on the top. *shudders* then I started to think that it was impacting my reputation for being a cheese whore in a thoroughly negative manner. The second result of my experimentations are these beautiful scones - a subtle flavour tang of basil with a great crumbly texture from the  pistachio and parmeggian.


1) To make pesto:  add a good handful of fresh basil leaves to a mortar bowl and grind to a fine pulp. Sautee 1 crushed clove of garlic in basil oil and add to the mortar bowl along with a pinch of salt and a handful of pistachio nuts. Grind thoroughly, adding lemon juice, basil oil and parmeggian to taste. 

2) Sift the flour and rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

3) Mix a tablespoon of pesto and the buttermilk in with the flour and butter until a dough has formed.

4)  Roll out the dough on a floured surface and then fold it in half and roll again. Cut out rounds of pastry with a scalloped cutter and brush with the last drizzles of the milk to help the surface colour.

5) Bake at 200 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Banana scones

Ingredients 225g self raising flour, 50g butter, 50g muscovado sugar, 75ml buttermilk, 2 bananas, pinch cinnamon.

Serves: 8 preparation: 30 minutes

I adore the flavour and scent of banana - so sweet and musky and mildly tropical. These scones have a wonderful texture and it's a good way to introduce flavour for those who don't like dried fruit.

1) First peel and pulverise the bananas in a blender, or by mashing with a fork.

2) Sift the flour, cinnamon and sugar together, then rub in the butter until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.

3) Mix the buttermilk and banana in with the dry ingredients until a dough has formed.

4)  Roll out the dough on a floured surface and then fold it in half and roll again. Cut out rounds of pastry with a scalloped cutter and brush with the last drizzles of the milk to help the surface colour.

5) Bake at 200 degrees for 10-12 minutes.

Wholemeal Pikelets

Ingredients   350g strong bread flour,  1/2 tsp sugar, 400ml lukewarm water, 200ml lukewarm milk/buttermilk

Serves: 24 preparation: 1 1/2 hours


A pikelet is but half the size of a crumpet and is a deliciously flat, crispy treat that I remember making a lot as a child, but unlike crumpets, you very rarely see available to buy these days. These pikelets are PERFECT toasted with my lavender jam but I'm not going to lie to you - they don't look as pretty as those made with white flour which I'm trying to eat less of at the moment which is why I'm using wholemeal in this instance.


1) Sift the flour and sugar into a bowl and whisk in the warm water.


2) Gently warm the milk and whisk in. The mixture should have formed a fairly robust batter quite quickly but ensure it is whisked perfectly smooth.


3) Cover the dish with a warm, damp tea towel and leave it to prove somewhere warm for an hour.


4) Grease your ring *ahem* well and set in a frying pan or on a griddle to warm to a medium heat. Give the batter a stir as they're heating for about a minute.


5) Fill the rings with no more than 2 tablespoons of batter and cook for about 2 minutes. Touch the surface of the pikelet (carefully...) and if it feels relatively dry it's time to flip it over for 1 more minute.


You can eat the pikelets immediately from the griddle, but personally I prefer to allow them to cool on a rack and then to toast them. I make these in this batch size and then freeze the ones I don't want to eat right away.

Wholemeal Crumpets

Ingredients   350g strong bread flour,  1/2 tsp sugar, 400ml lukewarm water, 200ml lukewarm milk/buttermilk

Serves: 12 preparation: 1 1/2 hours


If you had asked me as a child what my favourite breakfast was, I would have said crumpets without a doubt. Some of my fondest memories are toasting them over a fire with my Nana and eating them piping hot, slathered with butter. As a teenager my brother and I liked to melt cheese on them, or even chocolate and if you've never spread them with chilli and baked them with an egg on top, well you just haven't lived! Last Saturday I was pretty horrified to see James Martin make some "quick" crumpets on Saturday Kitchen. Now crumpets are supposed to be holey and you only achieve this texture by allowing the batter to rise for an hour and form yeasty bubbles - these bubbles bust when cooking and leave you with the holes. These crumpets are PERFECT toasted with my lavender jam but I'm not going to lie to you - they don't look as pretty as those made with white flour which I'm trying to eat less of at the moment which is why I'm using wholemeal in this instance.


1) Sift the flour and sugar into a bowl and whisk in the warm water.


2) Gently warm the milk and whisk in. The mixture should have formed a fairly robust batter quite quickly but ensure it is whisked perfectly smooth.


3) Cover the dish with a warm, damp tea towel and leave it to prove somewhere warm for an hour. You want it to look like this...

4) Grease your ring *ahem* well and set in a frying pan or on a griddle to warm to a medium heat. Give the batter a stir as they're heating for about a minute.


5) Fill the rings with no more than 3-4 tablespoons of batter and cook for about 5 minutes. Touch the surface of the crumpet (carefully...) and if it feels relatively dry it's time to flip it over for 1 more minute.


You can eat the crumpets immediately from the griddle, but personally I prefer to allow them to cool on a rack and then to toast them. I make these in this batch size and then freeze the ones I don't want to eat right away.

Banana & walnut cake

Ingredients    3/4 cup butter (127g), 2 ripe   bananas, 3 cups plain flour (681g), 1  1/12 tsp baking soda, 2 cups sugar     (454g), 3 eggs, 2 tsp vanilla    essence, 1 1/2 cups buttermilk (339g), walnuts.

1) Sift the flour and baking powder with a pinch of salt and set aside


2) Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla essence together and beat in the eggs one at a time


3) Whisk in the flour a cup at a time, alternating with the buttermilk


4) Mash the ripe bananas and whisk into the rest, stirring a handful of finely chopped walnuts at the last minute


5) Pour into a cake tin (this quantity fills one large cake tin or 2 loaf tins) and bake for 1 hour, or until a skewer comes out clean. Put immediately into the freezer for 10 minutes - this will stop the steam from rising and make the cake incredibly moist.


6) Once cool, cream equal parts of icing sugar, butter and cream cheese together and slather onto the top. I had some leftover caramel from making my caramel apple pie so I swirled that over too!

Dirty rice balls

Ingredients Wild rice, cherry tomatoes, red onion, tomato puree, jalepenos, lime juice, tequila, green chilli pepper, cream cheese, cheddar, buttermilk, bread, 1 egg, sesame seeds, groundnut oil.

This recipe was created using leftovers from the dirty rice balls with tequila and chilli con queso.

1) To make breadcrumbs, pulse the crust slice of slightly stale bread in a blender and mix with a handful of sesame seeds.

2) Form small balls with the cold, leftover rice and roll them first in a whisked egg and then in the breadcrumbs mixture.

3) Drop the ball carefully into hot oil (a deep fat fryer will enable them to keep their spherical shape) and sizzle until the breadcrumbs turn golden brown.

4) Using a slotted spoon, remove the rice ball from the oil and drop back into the breadcrumbs and roll around until they are covered with a second layer of crumbs.

5) Repeat until you have a number of rice balls and bake them in the oven for 10 -15 minutes until the outer layer is also crisp. Ideal served with leftover Chilli Con Queso.

Chilli Con Queso

Ingredients Green chilli pepper, cream cheese, cheddar, buttermilk.

1) Deseed and finely dice the chilli pepper and drop into a milk pan on a low heat with 2 tablespoons of cream cheese. Stir until the cheese begins to soften and grate 15g of cheddar into the pan.

2) Continue to stir, adding buttermilk (or double cream if you want to be really indulgent!) until the cheese is melted.

3) Traditionally served warm with tortilla chips - I tried these with Fudge's cheese and black pepper flatbreads, and also with the cheddar biscuits which were fabulous.

Leek & pistachio risotto

Ingredients Risotto rice (arborio, carnaroli or vialone nano - I would recommend carnaroli), vegetable stock, leek, parmigiano, pistachios, basil oil, buttermilk.

All risottos (no matter what the ingredients) can be made in 3 simple stages. The first is called tostatura - coating the rice in fat, the second involves cooking off some alcohol (white wine, brandy or vermouth produce the best flavours) and the third involves releasing the starch from the rice one ladle of stock at a time.

1) Slice the leek and add into a hot pan along with a generous glug of basil oil. Stir through and after 30 seconds add in 1 cup of risotto rice (this will serve one - add a half cup for each additional person).

2) Stir through until the basil oil has coated the rice evenly. When you see the grain of rice becoming clear, revealing a white dot in the centre add a glass of white wine and stir through.

3) Add a ladle of vegetable stock and continue to stir the rice.

4) Add additional stock, ladle by ladle as the stock cooks off. With the last ladle add a few tablespoons of parmeggian.

5) When the rice is soft (takes about 20 minutes) serve topped with pistachio nuts. A good risotto will be a little soupy rather than dry. It should be possible to form a mound of rice but when the dish is tapped it should sink down. I added a little buttermilk to the rice to cut the richness of parmeggian.