Fig, olive & goats cheese pizza

Ingredients 200g very strong white bread flour      (grade 00), 1/4 tbs salt, 1/2 a sachet    of yeast, 1/4 tsp honey, 1 tbs olive    oil, 130ml warm water, 100ml passata tomatoes, smoked garlic, 100g goats cheese, 2 figs, 100g kamalata olives, balsamic vinegar.

Serves: 2 Preparation: 30 minutes


It's no secret that I love figs and goats cheese - I have posted recipes for tarts, salads, toasted sandwiches, stuffed mushrooms, stuffed marrows, linguine and canapes (vegetarian and non) - all of which using the fig and goats cheese combination. There's a reason for this - it's quite frankly sex on a plate! This pizza is one of my favourites and because it just contains a little cheese and a thin crust it's relatively healthy as pizzas go. Try it topped with rocket and a little balsamic glaze.

1) For a quick pizza dough: sift the flour and salt together and pour onto a clean work surface. Make a well in the centre and after dissolving the yeast, oil and honey in warm water, pour into the centre and mix with a fork until it is gradually combined. Dust your hands with flour and kneed until a smooth, elastic dough has formed. Set aside somewhere warm in a covered bowl to rise a little.


2) To make the pizza sauce I minced the smoked garlic (my new favourite ingredient!) into the passata tomatoes and added a little honey and balsamic vinegar to contrast with the goats cheese. Simmer for 5-10 minutes on a low heat.


3) Roll out the pizza dough on a floured surface (as you'll see from the picture I rolled mine into a heart shape. A subtle indication of how much I love fig and goats cheese perhaps!?) until you have about a half centimetre thickness, then spoon the pizza sauce onto it and smooth it out.


4) Top with pitted kamalata olives, relatively thin wedges of fig (I cut in half, then cut each half into thirds) and rough chunks of goats cheese.


5) Bake in the oven for 8-10 minutes at 220 degrees and serve.

Mexican Mole soup

Ingredients   6 squares 70% dark chocolate, 1 pint vegetable/beef stock, 400g beans (I used kidney beans, pinto beans,    cannellini beans and haricot beans but you could use black eyed   peas/rice), 1 onion, tomato puree,   olive oil, cumin, 3 cloves smoked    garlic, tahini, smoked chipotle pepper.

Serves: 5 Preparation: 45 minutes

This soup is incredibly, incredibly rich. It's my perfect winter soup - full of beans and exotic spices and the silky texture of chocolate. Seduction in a bowl, this would be wonderful served with a spoon of Rachel's Organic Greek yoghurt to contrast.

1) Finely dice the onion and add into the stockpot with a tablespoon of olive oil. Once the onions have softened, add in 2 cloves of minced smoked garlic, the diced smoked chillis (I have left the quantity up to you - personally I like my food ultra hot but not everyone has an asbestos tongue!) and the chocolate and stir through until the chocolate has melted.


2) Add a generous squeeze of tomato puree, a tablespoon of cumin, a teaspoon of tahini and stir through.


3) Finally add in the stock, the beans and simmer for 30 - 45 minutes which should allow the stock to reduce down to a lovely rich soup. Tesco sell a tin of  "taco beans" in a mildly spicy sauce, 2 tins of which are perfect for this soup if you don't want to go to the fuss of soaking your own beans.

Pumpkin cannelloni

Ingredients Pumpkin, marscapone, egg, passata tomatoes, mozarella, cheddar, smoked garlic, smoked chipotle chillis, white onion, sage

Serves: 2 Preparation: 30 minutes (+1 hour to make the pumpkin puree)


I love pumpkin, this time of year finds me baking pumpkin bread and making pumpkin soup and I always save some of the pumpkin puree to make cannelloni or ravioli with. When it comes to cannelloni I love to get creative - seeing people in the supermarket buying microwaveable spinach and ricotta cannelloni that I know will taste bland and have the texture of leather makes me feel so sad. It's so quick and easy to make. If you haven't already - check out my spinach & goats cheese, pork & apple and stilton & cashew cannelloni recipes.


1) Cut the pumpkin in half and scoop out the seeds and pith with a spoon. Make sure all the stringiness has been removed. Peel away the skin with a chef's knife and cut the flesh into cubes.

2) Roast in the oven in an ovenproof dish with a lid for 50 minutes. Using a slotted spoon, remove the roast pumpkin and blend until smooth.

3) Sieve away the excess juice - this, along with the juice in the ovenproof dish should make about a pint of liquid. The liquid remaining from this recipe, along with the rest of the pumpkin puree is perfect for Pumpkin Soup.


4) Sage really brings out the warmth of pumpkin - finely chop about 5 large sage leaves and stir into the pumpkin puree. Beat together one egg and the marscapone, then whisk in 200 of the pumpkin puree. Put in the fridge to firm up.


5) Pumpkin loves spices so to make this sauce sautee half a very finely diced onion in about a teaspoon of chilli oil then pour in 250g of passata tomatoes. 


6) Add half a bulb of smoked garlic, minced and a tablespoon of chopped smoked chipotle chillis and allow to simmer for about 10 minutes. Thank you to The Chilli Jam Man for the yummy smoked ingredients! Season with salt to taste.


7) Stuff 6 cannelloni tubes with the pumpkin mix using a teaspoon and rest in an ovenproof dish. Pour over the sauce and top with 100g grated mozarella and cheddar. Bake in the oven for 20 minutes covered with foil and a further 5 minutes uncovered to allow the cheese to crisp.