Say Cheese!

Mmm mm mm – spinach and ricotta is a classic combo which makes my mouth water every time 😋 And I finally found cannelloni tubes in our local supermarket so I’ve been desperate to make this!

I took inspiration from a several different online recipes so this one is a bit of a mish-mash, but truly yum!

Have a go and let me know what you think! The recipe below serves two people and takes just under an hour from start to finish.

Ingredients

Cannelloni filling:

• 250g ricotta
• 120g spinach, wilted and water squeezed out, chopped
• 1 egg
• 1/6 cup parmesan
• 1/2 cup of grated cheddar (or any other cheese you like!)
• 1 garlic clove finely chopped
• Salt and pepper
• Freshly grated nutmeg, just a sprinkle

Tomato sauce:

• 1 can chopped tomatoes
• Handful of basil, chopped
• 1 red onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 1/2 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 2 tsp sugar
• Salt and pepper to taste

Other ingredients:

• Cannelloni tubes (we used 10)
• 1 ball mozzarella, sliced
• A few slices of Brie, probably around half a small block (you could leave this out but we just had some lying around and needed to use it!)
• Basil leave to garnish

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 180 degrees centigrade.
2. Fry the onion and garlic together in pan until soft, around 3-5min
3. Then add the chopped tomatoes and basil, along with red wine vinegar and sugar and simmer for a further 5min
4. Once simmered, season with salt and pepper, and blend all until until smooth. Set aside until later.

1. Now for that delightful filling! Combine all of the filling ingredients in a mixing bowl and mix them well – easy!

1. Now it’s time to fill the cannelloni tubes. Before you fill the tubes, retrieve a baking dish big enough to fit the 10 tubes. Spread a little of the tomato sauce on the bottom of the dish. If you have a piping bag then that’s the easiest way to fill the tubes, but we just used a butter knife to push the filling inside and it didn’t take long.
2. Once all your tubes are in the baking dish, pour over the rest of the tomato sauce, cover with foil and put in the oven for 25min
3. After 25minutes is up, remove from the oven and place the mozzarella and Brie (if using) on top. Cook uncovered for a further 10minutes until cheese is melted.
4. Remove from over and garnish with a basil leaf or two before serving

Hope you enjoy! 😋 🧀 🍝 🍅

We’ve been growing oyster mushrooms (using a kit from the Espresso Mushroom Company) since Christmas and they were finally ready to harvest, so we wanted to use them in something delicious! 😋

We decided to do a simple risotto with mushrooms and bacon. Seriously yummy comfort food, particularly with it being so cold at the moment. And there’s no cream in this recipe so it’s pretty healthy too!

Here’s the recipe! It took around 30-45minutes in total, the main time is waiting for the risotto rice to cook. This recipes serves about two people, with a little left over.

Ingredients

• Good handful of oyster mushrooms (or any mushrooms really!) roughly chopped
• 3 portobello mushrooms roughly chopped
• Small pack of smoked bacon lardons
• 1 white onion finely chopped
• 2 clove garlic finely chopped
• 150g arborio risotto rice
• 1L of stock, we used 1 veggie stock cube and 1 chicken
• Good sprinkling of grated Parmesan
• Handful of chopped parsley

Method

1. First fry onions and garlic in oil until they start to soften
2. Then add all the mushrooms and a small knob of butter
3. Add the bacon, cook until bacon is cooked through
4. Add the rice, stir well and allow the grains to become slightly translucent at the edges
5. Then add some of the stock, 50-100ml at a time, and keep stirring whilst the rice absorbs the stock
6. Once the stock has been absorbed, add some more and allow this to absorb whilst stirring. Repeat this step until the rice is cooked (you may not need all the stock!)
7. Turn down the heat. Stir in the chopped parsley and Parmesan along with a good crack of pepper.
8. Serve with a sprinkling of Parmesan on the top and sprig of parsley

Hope you enjoy trying this recipe! 😁

So tonight we cooked the halloumi curry in ‘Nadiya’s family favourites’ and it really was a winner (obviously anything that contains halloumi is a winner for me!).

It’s served with a ‘spicy coconut sambal’ which you sprinkle generously on the top and it is divine. It might look weird, but don’t leave it out, as it really brings another level to the meal!

A seriously delicious curry, which is very different to what we usually cook!

Here’s how to make this refreshing curry, we added a few extra spices too, like garam masala, so have fun with the sauce 😋

Ingredients (serves 2)

Curry

• 250g halloumi chopped into 1cm chunks
• 3 cloves of garlic chopped
• 1 red onion
• 1 red pepper
• 1/3 tsp tumeric
• 1/2 tsp cumin seeds (crushed)
• 1/2 tsp Garam masala
• small pinch mild chilli powder
• 1/2 lemon, juice and zest
• 150ml water
• Small bunch fresh coriander, chopped

Sambal

• 75g desiccated coconut
• 1/2 clove of garlic
• 1/2 lime, zest and juice
• Small handful of freak corriander

Serve all with basmati rice

Method

1. Fry the halloumi in a hot pan with some oil, cook until good brown all over. Then set aside on plate
2. Add garlic, onion, pepper to pan, season with salt and pepper, cook for 10 minutes until softened
3. Add spices and lemon to the pan, cook for a few mins and then add the water. Cook for another 10minutes
4. Take off the heat and blend vegetables until smooth, return to a low heat and adjust seasoning (we added a sprinkling of sugar st this point, as it was a little tart)
5. Add the fried halloumi to the sauce and heat the cheese through. Add chopped corriander
6. Make the sambal by adding all ingredients to a blender and blend until smooth/even texture
7. Serve the curry with basmati rice and a generous helping of the sambal

Exciting, fun and stress-relieving are just some of the things I associate with cooking. So, I’ve decided to share the recipes and treats that make me smile here and I hope you all enjoy reading and trying them!

Thanks for joining me 😀