Bagna Cauda

This is the easiest party or starter food you could ever make, and the taste is fantastic.

all you need is: 75g butter, 5 cloves garlic, 12 anchovies (in olive oil, drained), 150ml extra virgin olive oil.

and lots of raw vegetables of your choice for dipping, fresh crusty bread is good too.


I bunged the garlic and anchovies into the mini bowl of my magimix, add the mixture to a pan with the olive oil and whisk, when blended add the butter and whisk further until the butter has melted. Pour into a serving dish which is heat proof and place over a food warmer.


This fragrant mixture doesn't last long, even with children around.

Granny Lawsons Lunch Dish!

21st march.

I love this dish, its so versatile, either as the title suggests for lunch or for dinner for potatoes and salad. The pastry for this is wonderful, if you can get cookeen as Nigella suggests then please use it, because it really does make a difference. I whipped up the pastry in my ka which took no time at all, then rested it in the fridge, while I made the filling. It also helps if you have boiled the eggs a couple of hours before too.

for the filling you need minced beef, chopped olives and onions, and also a can of drained chopped tomatoes. All that you need to do is fry the onions until soft then add the tomatoes and mince and cook until the meat has browned, then add the chopped olives and eggs, then season with pepper salt and some all spice.

Roll out the pastry in two parts one bigger for the bottom and a smaller one for the top. Fill the bottom one with the mixture the add the top and fold the bottom around it, to form a crust. then paint with beaten egg and cook until golden and smelling great.

This is definately moreish food, one big slice may be enough, but if there is any left you will always go back for more.

Chocolate fudge Cake

20th March.

Today, I really needed a big chocolate hit and this is it. This is a lovely cake and I cannot remember the amount of times I have baked this for us and for other people.

First of all you need plenty of bowls to make this cake (this is when a couple of spare ka bowls would come in handy), all you do is melt the oil and butter together in one bowl, then add the water, and all the dry ingredients in another, you then mix the eggs cream and vanilla extract in another bowl. Add all the dry ingredients to the watery butter and mix well, then finally add the egg mix, stir well and pour into the greased tins.

The best bit is making the fudge icing, this is done by melting chocolate, and adding butter and icing sugar to it with a little vanilla extract, the only problem with this, is that I wanted to get a spoon and just eat it all, it tastes so good.

once the cake has cooled, its then thickly spead with the icing, make sure you leave a bit in the bowl for a cooks treat, yummy.

As you cut your first generous piece, you can hear the tones of: ' why do you have to a heart breaker'.............. playing in the back ground.

Italian sausages with lentils

In order to make this recipe as authentic as possible, my shopping trip involved a long but enjoyable journey. On Saturday we went to London for the day, so I took full advantage and visited the deli that Nigella uses, Luigi's is the most amazing place and the staff really couldn't do enough to help me, if you are ever in London then pay them a visit, you won't be disapointed. I am now happy that I could get these lovely italian sausages and puy lentils to make this dish. This is a simple recipe which only involves one tiny bit of chopping and that is for one onion, which you sweat in some olive oil then drop in the lentils and coat with the oil, top up with some water bring to the boil then cover and cook for 30 mins on a low heat. The sausages are easy too one garlic clove squished from its skin, thrown in with some olive oil and then the sausages, which get browned on both sides. Red wine and water are put in the pan to cover the sausages, which you let come up to a bubbling boil, turn down, cover and leave to cook for 15 mins, by which time the lentils are cooked, so you can turn them onto a plate plonk the sausages on the top and pour over the winey sauce, then sprinkle with some flat leave parsley. The whole dish is absolutely wonderful and I could eat it, again and again, its not something that looks very eye pleasing because of the muted colours but the taste is.............. well, just great!

Morello cherry and almond steamed pudding

I know this isn't part of NB, but I thought it would be good to add one of my own recipes.

plastic pudding bowl with lid (1 pint)

110g/4oz SR Flour
110g/4oz soft brown sugar
110g/4oz soft butter
2 eggs
25g/1oz ground almonds
almond extract
milk (optional)

3 dessert spoons morello cherry conserve

a saucepan of boiling water with a lid.


Gererously grease the pudding basin and lid.

in a bowl put the flour, sugar butter, eggs, almonds and extract, and mix together until everything is combined. If the mixture is a bit thick add some milk until the batter looks pourable.

add the morello cherry conserve to the bottom of the basin, then pour the batter all over it, then seal with the lid.

Lower the basin into the hot water and cover.

Cook for 1 hour on a low flame or Elec mark 1.5.

The satisfying part is turning it out and watching the conserve drip down the sides of the pud. I made custard with mine but I'm sure cream with be great too.

Sunday 12th March 2006

Today for lunch I am making the Lemon risotto, this is not the next page in the book, but I wanted to make this for lunch anyway. I have really got into risotto lately, its such an easy and tasty comfort food, and the children adore it. You need to blitz the shallots and celery in a food processor (I used my magimix) I added a little olive oil to it to to blend it easier, it comes and a lovely pale green goo, and smells fragrant while softening. Then just throw the rice in and give it a good stir, I made the stock up in a jug and poured boiling water on it. Fern was my chief stirrer, while I made the lemon and egg mix up, it all looked and smelt great, the only thing I noticed when it was ready, it looked a bit runny, yes I'd forgot to to add the egg yolk, it tasted fab and there was none left.

Masala Omelette

Friday 3rd March

Paul loves spicy food, I have lost count of the amount of times I have made this, it tastes good cold too, I also think it would be good in a smaller portion as a starter. I was making the chapatti, but when I looked I'd ran out of chapatti flour so I used 00 and added bran to it, which is much the same really (I love the feel of 00 flour it reminds me of face powder). Chapattis are so easy to make just flour and water until you have formed a ball, then roll out a thin as possible, I have an indian tava, which is like a flat edged frying pan, but this one was so big I cooked it on a baking sheet in the oven. It only takes about 5-7 mins to cook, when it comes out the oven immediately rub with butter to soften it again.

I chopped the chillies red and green and removed the seeds, I cheated with the spring onions and bought the kind that are ready washed, topped and tailed, so all I had to do was finely slice them, the garlic didn't get microplaned either as I still have to buy a genuine one
(the one I use is a cheap version and isn't very good), so I chopped the garlic finely too. I love the fact that Nigella doesn't suggest flipping the omelette but putting the pan under the grill for the top to set. This is such an easy and very tasty recipe, if you like spice then don't be put off this for breakfast it's wonderful. Oh and by the way, I had it with a big slodge of brown sauce too.

Sunday 26th Febuary

I'm really exited, I can't wait to try today's recipe, because I love all of what's involved, which is: American pancakes with wafer bacon and maple syrup. You melt the butter in a jug in the microwave, then add all the dry ingredients to the to your mixing bowl (I used my ka) the eggs and milk get beaten together in a seperate jug, once the butter has cooled slightly it then goes in with the egg and milk, to be mixed in the main bowl with the dry ingredients to make the batter.

I cooked the pancakes on my old fashioned scottish griddle, which you have to leave to heat up for quite a while, once its up to temperature they cook very quickly, it only took about 10 mins to do all of them. The bacon I cooked with them was dry cured, smoked streaky from my butcher, I cooked it in a pan, as Nigella suggests, while the pancakes were cooking. I piled them onto the serving plates, with bacon and lots of maple syrup, they were absolutely DELICIOUS, if you haven't tried them yet then, then please do, one plate is just not enough, hence to add there are none left.

Friday 24 Feb

This morning we have woken up to snow, its not deep but as usual the gritters haven't done there job, so the roads are awful. I am making the welsh rarebit muffins for breakfast with lots of sausages from my lovely butcher. I am really getting into making muffins now, before starting this project I hadn't made any for ages, and they are so simple too. I mixed all the dry ingredients together the night before, to save on time this morning. The sausages are already in the oven and smelling good. The mixture looks quite a big amount for 12 muffins, it fills each case about 3/4 full, and the worcester sauce gives them a lovely darker than normal colour. My first bite confused me, because even though I know they are savoury my mouth is telling me they should taste sweet, everyone else really likes them. especially with the sausages and a bit blob of tomato sauce, and because the weather is cold I don't feel a bit guilty for eating sausage for breakfast on a friday morning, 'yay'.