Honey Mustard Turkey

Ingredients
2tsp French Mustard (I used Dijon)
2tbsp Honey
Approx 200g (just under half a pound) Turkey cubes
Half a large onion
2 large mushrooms
Half a Red Pepper
1 clove garlic (optional)
1tsp oil
100g rice
1 chicken stock cube
300ml boiling water

Method
Rice (15mins approx)
Crumble the stock cube into the water.
Add the rice and the stock-cube-in-water to a pan and bring to the boil.
Simmer until there is no liquid, stirring occasionally.
The rice should be quite sticky.
If your rice is ready before the sauce, keep it in the pan but off the heat. Put a lid on the pan to keep the heat in. NEVER re-heat rice.

Sauce (10 mins approx)
Finely chop the garlic (if used) and onion.
Add a very small amount of the onion and all of the garlic to the oil in a frying pan.
Turn up the heat to about 2/3 power.
Add the turkey and brown on all sides.
Roughly chop the pepper and mushrooms.
Add the pepper, the rest of the onion and the mushrooms to the pan and soften.
Mix the honey and mustard together in a small mug.
Season lightly.
Add the honey-mustard mixture to the turkey and vegetables.
When the mixture bubbles, reduce the temperature and simmer for about 5 minutes.
The honey mixture will coat the turkey and vegetables and become syrupy.

Serve the rice and sauce side by side, or in other decorative patterns! You should be able to eat this with chopsticks, but we didn’t try!

We have also used the honey-mustard mixture on chicken and pork, although used under the grill it goes a bit runny. If you fancy using it as a marinade, let me know how it goes!

Deadly Chocolate Fudge

Ingredients
1/4 pint double cream
1/4 pint milk
4oz butter
1 lb granulated sugar
3 1/2 oz dark chocolate
NB: The higher the cocoa content and lower the sugar content of the chocolate, the nicer this will be.

Method
Put everything except for the chocolate into a very large pan (trust me) and heat gently, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Once the sugar has dissolved, bring the mixture to a rolling boil. (A rolling boil is when the mixture doesn't stop bubbling when you stir it)
The mixture is "cooked" enough when:
You get a bowl of cold water, and when a teaspoon of the mixture is dripped into the water it goes into a "soft ball" - Although unless your bowl is deep, it's more like a soft gooey blob.
Pour the mixture into a 20x20cm tin which has been well greased and put it into the fridge.
Once it has set cut it into squares.

Note: This fudge is not actually deadly, that's just a funny name.

Chocolate Fudge Brownies

Ingredients
100g soft margerine
100g caster sugar
100g self-raising flour
2 eggs
100g dark chocolate
50g soft brown sugar
50g chopped nuts (it seems any sort will do)

Method
Get a large bowl and throw in the margerine, caster sugar, flour and the two eggs.
Beat this together to form a smooth, thick mixture.
Melt the dark chocolate.
Add the dark chocolate, nuts and brown sugar to the mixture and stir in with a spoon.
Pour the mixture into a greased, lined, 20cm square baking tin.
Bake in the oven at 180 degrees for about 30-35 minutes.
Allow to cool, then cut into at least 16 pieces (I went for 32!)

Salsa

Ingredients
1 tin chopped tomatoes
1 onion
3 cloves garlic (optional)
1 red chilli (or more if you like)
half a courgette
oil
balsamic vinegar
1tsp brown sugar

Method
Finely chop the courgette, onion, chilli(s) (de-seeded for less hot salsa) and garlic.
Heat the oil in a small frying pan and add the chopped vegetables (not the tomatoes)
When the vegetables have begun to soften open the tin of tomatoes and drain off the excess liquid. Add the pulp to the pan. Add the brown sugar and balsamic vinegar to taste.
Simmer for at least 20 mins.

Crispy Salmon Fillets

Ingredients
Salmon Fillet (one per person)
½oz freshly grated Parmesan cheese
½oz plain flour
4/5 leaves of fresh basil (dried basil will do, ½tsp in this case)
75g pasta (per person)
Frozen vegetables of your choice (I used peas, sugar snap peas and baby sweet corn)
1tsp oil

Method
Add the pasta and the frozen vegetables to a pan of boiling water. (Pasta twists take about 10 minutes, but refer to the packet for other shapes.)
Put the flour and grated parmesan on a plate and mix them together. Spread out the mixture to cover the plate evenly.
Roughly chop the basil and sprinkle over the plate.
Place the salmon fillet(s) onto the flour-cheese-herb mixture on the plate and press down lightly. Turn the salmon fillet over and press down once more. The fillet should now be coated on two sides with the mixture. (You can coat all sides if you wish)
Heat up the oil in a frying pan large enough to hold your salmon fillet(s)
Lower the temperature in the pan to make sure that you don’t blacken the cheese.
Place the fish in the pan. Wait for about 2 minutes.
Turn the fish over. If the side which has been heated is not golden brown, after two minutes, turn the fish back over. If not, after two minutes turn off the heat to the pan.
Turn the fish onto each bare side once for a few seconds.
Serve by the side of the pasta.
If you’re feeling extravagant, mix a teaspoon or two of the pesto (mentioned below) through the pasta before serving.

Note 1: If you prefer your fish well done, rather than just cooked, leave the heat on while you colour the bare sides.

Note 2: This also works well under the grill, you should only cover the side of the fish pointing up, and you can cover the other side half-way through the cooking time.

Basic Pesto

Ingredients:
1 handful Fresh basil
1.5 oz pine nuts
1.5 oz grated fresh parmesan
3-4 tablespoons olive oil

Method:
Put all of the dry ingredients into a hand blender and whiz them up. Add the oil as necessary to form a paste, continue to whiz the mixture.

Sandwich Cake

You will need:
- 8" sandwich tin (or two, if you prefer)
- 2 large mixing bowls
- 1 smaller bowl suitable for melting chocolate
- whisk
- spoon and fork
- sieve
- kitchen scales

Ingredients
For the cake
- 4 eggs
- 6oz caster sugar
- 4oz self-raising flour
for the filling
- 1oz jam
- 3oz butter
- 6oz icing sugar
for the topping
- 3oz butter
- 6oz icing sugar
- 4oz chocolate

Method
Before you begin:
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees celsius
Get the butter out so that it is softening

for the cake
Grease the cake tin - using grease-proof paper is also a good idea, but not essential.
Break two of the eggs into a large mixing bowl and add half of the caster sugar; whisk. Fold in half of the flour, add this mixture to the greased tin, Bake for 20-25 minutes
[NB the top of the cake will spring back if pressed lightly, once it is cooked]
Cool on a wire rack
Repeat for the second half of the cake

for the filling
Once the cake is cooled you can add the filling. Decide which of the two halfs is the flattest on top. This half will be the base. Take the other half and turn it upside down. Smear the jam all over this half right to the edges. Place the jammed-half in the fridge. Place the softened butter in a bowl and mash with a fork to soften. Sieve the icing sugar into the butter and cream these together thoroughly. Smother the remaining half of the cake with the cream. Get the jammy-half out of the fridge and place it jam-side down on top of the cream. Put the whole cake in thr fridge.

for the topping
As before, soften the butter and mix in the icing sugar. Melt the chocolate and pour it into the butter-sugar mixture. Thoroughly blend the chocolate. If the mixture is too stiff, add a tablespoon of milk or water to loosen it. Get the cake back out of the fridge and cover it on the top and sides with the chocolate-butter-icing.

Viola!