HALLOWEEN SCARY MUFFINS

Great fun making these scary chocolate muffins for friends this Halloween.

Making / Cooking time 1 hour

Ingredients 

(makes 8)

4oz butter room temperature 

4oz golden castor sugar 

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla paste

3.5oz self raising flour

1 tbsp cocoa powder 

Decoration

Coloured icing

Icing sugar

Pre heat your oven 180 C.  Cream the butter and sugar together until smooth, add the eggs one at a time and beat in until smooth, then stir in the vanilla paste..  Fold in the flour and cocoa powder.  Place your muffin cases in your baking tin and fill the muffin cases 2/3 with the cake batter.  

Place in the oven to cook for approx 18 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.  Place on a wire rack to cool.  To decorate roll out your coloured icing, cut and form in to Halloween shapes and decorate the cooled cup cakes.

WOOD FIRED SAN MANZANO PIZZA

Wood Fired Pizza's 

There is nothing more satisfying than making your own SAN Manzano Pizza and cooking it in your own wood fired pizza oven.  My mum built this pizza oven herself and is very proud of it.  Check out her blog Flower pot kitchen build your own wood fired oven.  

The secret to the most amazing pizza dough is in the ingredients and proving method, the professionals make their dough using the very best Italian 00 flour and leaving the dough to slowly prove in the fridge, YES the fridge over 24hrs, this is actually a easy method giving you more control over time.

Ingredients 

(Makes 6 pizza's)

The Dough

500g 00 flour

15g dried yeast

10g sea salt

50ml olive oil

320g water room temperature

Toppings 

San manzano tomatoes 

Di Campaina Buffalo mozzarella 

Fresh basil leaves 

First make your dough, you can once made leave to prove in a warm kitchen for around one hour tomprove, then your dough is ready to go the difference in proving your dough slowly in the fridge for 24 hrs is the improved texture in the dough when cooked as the slow proving gives you a crispier base.  Also the added bonus of being ahead on the day!

BONUS

Once your dough has proved you can now FREEZE the dough in portion balls so that all you have to do to be ready to go I whip out the dough, leave to defrost and come up to room temperature for about one hour and your a pizza a go go!

Place the flour and salt in a large mixing bowl, in the measuring jug of water add the yeast and leave for a couple of minutes, its woth noting that if salt comes in contact with dried yeast before mixing it can de activate the yeast which will result in a low proven heavy dough.

Add the oil to the mixing bowl along with the water and yeast, mix bringing together to form a dough ball, either by hand or with a dough hook on a mixer knead the dough for seven minutes until smooth and elastic.  

Prove how you want to, when ready to use roll out on a slightly 00 floured work top and top with your favourite toppings and cook, these take a couple of minutes in a wood fired oven or if using a pizza stone in your oven around 8-10 minutes.  Enjoy.

TURMERIC CHILLI SQUID

CLEAN AND GLUTEN FREE

Salt and pepper squid seasoned with turmeric and Kashmiri chilli and lightly tossed through corn flour.  Using corn flour instead of potato flour was a risk well worth it!  Potato flour guarantees a light crispy finish to the squid, but I wanted to remove the starchy element, so I decided on corn flour.  As soon as I tossed my squid in the corn flour it became moist rather than the dry fluffy coating from potato flour, however this sticky coating crisped up really well in the pan and added a gorgeous layer of flavour that made these some of the best salt and pepper squid I have ever cooked!  

Prep time 5 minutes / Cooking time 3 minutes / resting time 5 minutes 

Ingredients 

(Serves 2)

2 large squid tubes prepared and tentacles 

4 tbsp corn flour

1 tsp Kashmiri chilli powder

1 tsp turmeric powder

1 tsp Himalayan sea salt

1 tsp ground black peppercorns 
1/2 lemon 

4 tbsp ground nut or coconut oil for frying

I get my fish monger to prepare my squid for me, then all I have to do is slice the tubes in to rectangles, score the inside with a criss cross pattern, this is for presentation, and that's the squid ready to use.

Pre heat a small skillet with the oil to 180 C, don't heat above this level unless you are using a high temperature oil.  

Mix the dry ingredients, corn flour, turmeric, Kashmiri, salt and pepper together, toss in the squid and coat well.  Drop the squid in to the hot oil and leave to cook for around 45 seconds then turn and cook for another 45 seconds, at this point your squid should be cooked, an solid white colour all the way through, remove and place on paper towel to drain and rest then serve with a wedge of lemon.

Squid shopping at our local beach fish mongers.

TURMERIC MAYONNAISE

This is a super good for you recipe that is a brilliant way to get some turmeric in your diet every day, turmeric fights inflammation and also has anti fungal and anti viral protection, I have been eating turmeric forever!  I have some homemade chicken bone broth everyday loaded with lots of super ingredients, turmeric being one of them.

Quick and easy to make in under 3 minutes! 

Ingredients 

(Makes 150ml)

1 organic egg yolk

200ml cold pressed olive oil

1 tsp white wine vinegar 

1 pinch Himalayan sea salt 

1 pinch white pepper 

1 tsp mustard Dijon 

1/2 tsp ground turmeric 

Place the egg yolk and white wine vinegar in a large jug or bowl, start whisking and very slowly drizzle in some of the olive oil, whisking all the time, if you add too much oil at the beginning the yolk can not absorb the oil and will split and become watery in texture and will not make mayonnaise.  Once you feel the egg yolk thicken you can add more oil at a much faster rate, whisk in the oil until you have a nice thick mayonnaise.

Season your mayonnaise with the sea salt, white pepper, turmeric and mustard, that's it, super quick and super say to make, brilliantly good for you home made free from any preservatives mayonnaise.

KETONE PALEO GLUTEN FREE CHIA AND FLAXSEED BLUEBERRY MUFFINS

WoW these are super AWESOME and so Ketogenic Diet friendly as low on the glycemic index chart.  These are great for my dad too who has Diabetes, he thought these felt like a really naughty cake treat, that was my aim and Chef Oscar succeeded!  What's more I cannot wait to play with lots of other flavours so look out for my next blog! 

Prep time 8 minutes / Cooking time 15 minutes

Ingredients 

(Makes 15)

Dry Ingredients 

30g chia seeds

220g flaxseed milled

3 tbsp xylitol 

150g blueberries 

1 tbsp cinnamon 

1 tsp baking powder

Wet Ingredients 

50ml XCT coconut oil

3 eggs 

60ml water

This is super easy, pre heat oven 180 C / 360 F whisk the wet ingredients preferably with a hand blender for around thirty seconds until fluffy.  Place all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and mix evenly, add the wet ingredients and using a spatula fold in until evenly mixed.  

Place your muffin cases in you tin and spoon in the muffin mixture, fill the cases almost to the top as these will not rise very much.  Pop in the oven and bake for 15 minutes, take out immediately and transfer to a cooling rack, if you leave the muffins to cool in the pan they will be dry.

That's it, enjoy on their own, with butter, with cream cheese or what ever you fancy.

OSCAR'S SIGNATURE CARROT KETCHUP

This is my AWESOME Signature sauce, my mum said I needed to put Oscar on a plate and focus on a signature brand that everyone will associate with me, so over summer I have been working on my carrot ketchup, I decided that I like a vinegar based sauce like the ones in USA Carolina, not a sweet or smokey sauce like the ones in Texas, so my sauce may seem harmless enough HA ...  I have a wicked sense of humour it runs in the Kirk family, for silly hot chillies, so my carrot ketchup is really a Blow Your Head Off sauce 😆🔥🌶

Wicked amount of Habaneros are going in this batch of carrot ketchup! This quantity is also for canning some jars to use later on in the year so if you don't want to do this just divide the recipe by 4 and store any leftover sauce in the fridge for up to a couple of weeks.

Ingredients 

2 kg carrots peeled and blitzed or grated

15 habaneros Blow head off hot! 

3 onions finely chopped or blitzed

10 cloves garlic chopped 

1 tbsp coconut oil 

2 tbsp fresh coriander stalks 

1 tsp fresh ground coriander seeds

1 tbsp Himalayan sea salt

2 tbsp fresh oregano or 1 tbsp dried

1/2 tsp turmeric

2 tbsp dark brown sugar

2.5 ltr water

700ml apple cider vinegar

This is a one pot cook, heat the oil and gently soften the onions and garlic add in the carrots and cook for about 20 minutes so that they have really started to soften then add the rest of the ingredients and simmer away until super soft.  Blitz with a hand stick blender until super smooth and check the sauces consistency, if happy your done but if still a little loose then simmer down until desired thickness.  

Now your super blow your head off sauce is done.  If you want to can this sauce, heat your oven 180 C and sterilise your ball mason or Kilner jars for 5 minutes, meanwhile heat a deep pan of water to a boil, this is for you to boil your jars once filled, fill the hot sauce into your hot jars, pop on the lids and place jars in boiling water, process for 15 minutes, take out and leave to cool, I love hearing the ping of jar lids sealing as they cool down, that's it.

OSCAR'S BEETROOT KETCHUP

This is crazy good! 

It's that time of year when my homegrown beets are ready and me and mum like to prep food for preserving over winter, mum wanted to make beetroot relish but I wanted to make beetroot ketchup.  I can't wait to eat this and share with family and friends.

Prep time 20 minutes / Cooking time 30 minutes / Canning time 25 minutes 

Ingredients 

(Makes 6 small jars)

1kg raw beets grated

2 large raw carrots, grated

2 large Bramley apple peeled, grated

4 cloves garlic grated

3 red chillies chopped

1 tsp ground ginger

1 tsp all spice

1/4 tsp mace

50ml balsamic vinegar

50ml apple cider vinegar

100-200g dark brown sugar

1.3 ltr water

Himalayan sea salt 

Fresh ground black pepper

In a large heavy bottomed pan place all the ingredients except half the sugar and the salt and pepper.  Bring up to a boil, turn the heat down to a medium simmer and cook for around 30 minutes, until every thing is soft and most of the liquid has evaporated.  Using a stick blender purée the beetroot ketchup until really smooth.  Taste, season with the salt and pepper then depending on your taste add the remaining soft brown sugar for a sweeter ketchup. 

For a really smooth ketchup you can pass the sauce through a fine mesh seize pushing as much of the sauce as possible through.  To store your ketchup pour into bottles and keep in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

Long Term Shelf Storing Ball Mason Canning

Sterilise your jars buy placing clean dry pre washed jars on a baking tray in your oven at 180 degrees C / 375 F for 5 minutes, fill the hot jars with your hot ketchup, pop the lids on and loosely place the bands on the top, pop the jars on the tray back in the oven for 10 minutes, not a second longer!  This is where they will heat to a safe temperature, remove from the oven and leave to cool.  You should hear the rewarding sound of "ping" as the jars seal from the canning process.  Check the lids are sealed, tighten the bands and store on the shelf to use over the next few months.  Once opened store in the fridge and use within a week or so, if it lasts that long! 

OSCAR'S AWESOME ALL BUTTER SHORTBREAD

Personalised Hand Made By Chef Oscar

These are my favourite biscuits to make for family and friends I am very happy to have my own rolling pin that is engraved to print the words Hand made by Chef Oscar on the cookie dough! 

Ingredients 

(Makes 22)

227g plain flour

130g butter grated

110g light brown sugar

1 egg beaten

100-150ml water

Pre heat oven 170 C

Place the flour in your bowl and rub in the butter with your finger tips until you have a breadcrumb consistency, add in the sugar and mix evenly, then add the beaten egg and a little water and bring the dough together, you don't want the dough too wet.  Wrap in baking paper and leave to relax and chill in the fridge for up to one hour.

Next flour your worktop and roll out your biscuit dough to the thickness of a pound coin, cut with cookie cutters and place on your baking tray, cook in the oven for around 13-15 minutes.  Leave to cool on a rack, then enjoy.

This is how I like to drop of my biscuits to everyone.

MEETING JOHN TORODE MASTERCHEF

How AWESOME is this I meet John Torode at Hampton Court Palace BBC Feast Festival and he signed my book Chef Oscar Enjoy ! 

I first watched his cooking demo which was brilliantly funny as wells as very informative, John broke the cooker and had to improvise which was great, a brilliantly funny guy.  I will be cooking his Beef Wellington for my family next weekend so watch out for the recipe, I will be following John's cooking tips it's all about 2's when cooking a welly, 20 minutes at 220 C then 20 minutes at 200 C then a long rest.

Awesome day... 

FRAGRANT ASIAN PRAWN CURRY

Winning Dinner for my dad...

This is a quick cook super that is loaded with so much fresh fragrant flavours, full of zing that makes every mouthful dance on your tastebuds leaving you wanting another spoon full and again until your tastebuds can't take anymore! 

Prep time marinade 10 minuets / Cooking time 10 minutes

Ingredients 

(serves 2)

Marinade

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 stick lemongrass 1/2 bashed 1/2 finely chopped

2 tbsp grated ginger

1 red chilli diced

1 lime juiced

1 tsp fresh turmeric 1/4 tsp if dried

1 pinch sea salt

1 pinch black pepper

1 red pepper rough diced

1 bunch fresh coriander chopped

1 cauliflower grated for rice

If you have time to marinade, place the prawns, oil, ginger, chopped lemongrass, chillies and turmeric in a container and leave from 10 minutes up to 24hrs in the fridge.  First bring a pan of water to a simmer, while your waiting for the pan to boil, chop all the ingredients and juice the lime.  Add the grated cauliflower to thesimmeringwater along with a pinch of salt, cook for two minutes, drain in to a serve and leave to rest while you cook the prawns.

Heat the oil medium hot add the lemon grass, ginger and turmeric stif for one minute, add the prawns and cook, as soon as the prawns are almost done add the lime juice, chillies and season with the salt and pepper serve on top of the cauliflower rice and sprinkle on the fresh coriander and maybe a last squeeze of lime juice.

SPANISH GARLIC PRAWNS

These giant prawns are awesome, when I saw them at the fish market I knew I had to have them and to cook them simply, these gorgeous prawns are the star of the dish and what better than the Spanish gambas pil pil recipe, seared prawns in a nutty garlic butter with a hint of white wine vinegar and a piri piri chilli.

Prep time 5 minutes / Cooking time 6 minutes 

Ingredients 

(Serves 2-4)

4 giant tiger prawns 

1 tbsp ghee

4 cloves garlic chopped 

1 tsp white wine vinegar 

1 while dried Piri Piri chilli

Peel and devien the giant prawns, heat a cast iron skillet medium hot, add the ghee, Piri Piri chilli and garlic and cook for a couple of minutes, the garlic will catch a little and start to have a gorgeous nutty flavour, add the prawns and leave un touched for one and a half minutes, they should be cooked half way and this is easy to see, turn over and repeat, once cooked take off the heat and add the white wine vinegar toss then spoon over the nutty garlic and ghee pan juices and enjoy.

WAHOOOO MY BLOW YOUR HEAD OFF SALSA

What's not to love not only is my Wahooo hot sauce super volcanic hot it's also my super hero colour Orange! 

Prep time 5 mins / Cooking time 40 minutes 

Blow Your Head Off Habanero Salsa

(Makes 250ml)

1tbsp coconut or olive oil

1 onion finely chopped

3 cloves garlic chopped

4 carrots peeled, chopped

6 habaneros whole, stems removed, pierced 

1tsp fresh oregano

1 tbsp light brown sugar or honey

1 tsp sea salt

500ml water

200ml apple cider vinegar (with mother) .

Blow Your Head Off Salsa

Heat the oil and gently soften the onion and carrots for around 10 minutes then add the garlic and cook for a further 5 minutes, add the whole habaneros and water and gently simmer for a further 30 minutes until the carrots are super soft, blitz to a smooth purée reduce down to the consistency of thick double cream, add the vinegar, salt, oregano and sugar, taste and if the salsa is sweet, hot and sharp it's done, pour into a jar.

Will keep in the fridge for a week or so in air tight container.

GREAT BALLS OF FIRE

The inspiration for theses Blow Your Socks OFF great balls of Fire came from Man v's Food Salvador Molly's food challenge.  Having 30 or so habaneros in the fridge I sat with mum and we created a recipe.  I decided on a onion pakora spiced habanero batter with crab and cheese filling loaded with fresh habaneros and I made a carrot and habanero vinegar based salsa that will add to the flavour and volcanic heat!

Mum is a pepper head and I am super pleased that I blew her head OFF!  Mum said her respiratory rate was compromised with the stress reaction from the volcanic heat from the habanero balls and salsa dip, I did good! 

Ingredients 

(Makes 20)

1 whole crab meat only

1 habanero per ball (10-20) blitzed 

1 cup shredded Monterey Jack cheese

250g gram flour (chic pea)

50g self raising

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp turmeric 

1 tsp nigella seeds

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander

250-300ml water

Oil for frying

Blow Your Head Off Habanero Salsa

(Makes 250ml)

1tbsp coconut or olive oil

1 onion finely chopped

3 cloves garlic chopped

4 carrots peeled, chopped

6 habaneros whole, stems removed, pierced 

1tsp fresh oregano

1 tbsp light brown sugar or honey

1 tsp sea salt

500ml water

200ml apple cider vinegar (with mother) 

Great Balls of Fire

Place all the dry ingredients in a large bowl and combine, add the water and stir in, you want a consistency of double cream, that's your batter ready to fry.  Heat your oil to 180 degrees and spoon in dollops of your batter, do this in batches.  Cook the balls for around 3 minutes and flip over half way through.  When cooked remove from the oil and place on paper to drain, serve immediately while hot.

Blow Your Head Off Salsa

Heat the oil and gently soften the onion and carrots for around 10 minutes then add the garlic and cook for a further 5 minutes, add the whole habaneros and water and gently simmer for a further 30 minutes until the carrots are super soft, blitz to a smooth purée reduce down to the consistency of thick double cream, add the vinegar, salt, oregano and sugar, taste and if the salsa is sweet, hot and sharp it's done, pour into a jar.

Will keep in the fridge for a week or so in air tight container.

Serve your Blow Your Head Off Salsa with you Great Balls of Fire!  Enjoy! 

GAUCHO CHIMICHURRI

This is amazing the Gaucho Cowboys do know how to cook meat and serve with a fabulous vinegar and olive oil dressing that sets of the flavour of the meat this is now my mums favourite sauce with roast lamb, no more mint sauce, its Chimichurri all the way, well until I find make up or another new recipe!

Making time 5 minutes 

Ingredients 

(Serves 4)

1 bunch flat leaf parsley chopped

4 tbsp fresh chopped oregano

2 cloves garlic grated

150ml olive oil cold pressed

50ml white, red, apple or balsamic wine vinegar 

Pinch sea salt

Pinch black pepper

You can blitz this in a food processor which is easier for me to push a button but I much prefer to get my mum to hand chop really finely as I feel there is a better flavour and texture than a blitzed texture, this is so good on meats and fresh salads too.

VINDALOO VINDALOO VINDALOO

Sunday is often curry day in my family home and this Sunday I wanted to cook Vindaloo, a family favourite, this is a traditional Goa recipe and is nothing like restaurant vindaloo, this is AWESOME!  Because of my Exec Chef status I get to shop for and inspect the ingredients we need, give the cooking instruction orders to my mum and keep my eye on the whole cook and if it's not up to standard it won't make the pass!  😜

Prep time 30 minutes / Overnight marinating / Cooking time 3 hrs un-attended

Ingredients 

(Serves 4-6)

THE MARINADE 

1kg pork loin diced

1 onion rough chopped

8 cloves garlic

1 tbsp fresh ginger

1 tsp black peppercorns 

2 cloves

15 cardamom pods seeds only 

1 tsp cumin seeds

1tsp turmeric powder

1tbsp Kashmiri chilli powder

1 tsp hot chilli powder

1 1/2 tsp sea salt 

1 tsp sugar

3 tbsp tamarind pulp and water

(Make your own)

5tbsp white wine vinegar

TO COOK THE VINDALOO

3 tbsp ghee

1/2 stick cinnamon

1 small onion chopped

4 tomatoes quartered

3 green chillies sliced

500ml water or stock

 

First make the marinade, in a old coffee grinder or pestle and mortar, I can never remember which is the pestle and which is the mortar!  Grind the black peppercorns, cardamom seeds, cloves, cumin seeds and place in a food food processor along with the onion, garlic, ginger, sales, sugar, chilli, turmeric and vinegar and blitz in to a paste, pour over the pork and mix in well, leave to marinate in the fridge for up to 24 hrs.

Heat a skillet or large pan medium hot, add the ghee and onions fry until golden around 8 minutes, add the pork and marinade and sear the pork until you have added some colour and extra depth of flavour, then add the water or stock, tomatoes and chillis, pop on a lid and leave to gently simmer for around 2 hrs until the pork is tender.  If your sauce needs thickening remove the pork with a slotted spoon and reserve to one side, crank up the heat and reduce the sauce until consistency required, add back the pork.

That's it!  Serve family style with a large bowl of fluffy rice, a stack of tear and share flatbreads and some cooling mint yogurt drizzle.

BUFFALO HOT FRIED CHICKEN STUFFED DOUGHNUT

This so had to be done!  My American Italian family always come up to see me when I'm in the states and they bring the best ever fresh hand made donuts, too many!!!  So this was created for my mum...who when in America says what she eats in American stays in America, well not this one mum!  This hits all the notes, sweet, salty, savoury and hot sauce, every bite is awesome!

Try this with different doughnuts, how about chocolate glazed or a jammy dodger! 

Prep time 5 minutes / Cooking time 10 minutes

 

Ingredients 

(Serves 2)

2 doughnuts your choice

2 chicken breasts bashed flat

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp Himalayan salt

1/2 tsp white pepper 

1/2 tsp dried thyme

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp garlic powder

4 tbsp pickled jalapeños

2 lrg tbsp homemade mayo (recipe below)

1/2 iceberg lettuce

1 bottle hot sauce 

1ltr ground nut oil

Pre heat your oil to 180 D / 350 C, place the flour, salt, pepper, thyme, onion and garlic powder in a large bowl and mix well.  Take your bashed chicken breasts and give them a dust bath, tap of any excess flour and gently drop into your hot oil they will take around five minutes to cook.  

While the chicken is cooking take your doughnuts and slice in half, once your chicken is cooked place in a bowl and pour over as much hot sauce as you can handle and then some more!  Leave to rest and soak up that hot sauce for a couple of minutes then this is how I like to set the doughnut up for mum, place the bottom slice on your plate lay on some iceberg then a generous dollop of mayo then the chicken then more mayo topped with jalapeños and more iceberg finished off with more hot sauce, doughnut lid and that's it you good to go...enjoy

Homemade Mayo

1 egg yolk

1 tsp mustard

1 tsp white wine vinegar 

300ml olive oil

1 pinch sea salt 

Place the egg yolk and white wine vinegar in a deep bowl or jug and start to add the oil a tiny drizzle at a time whisking in, once you can see the yolk thickening you can add the oil much faster, season with the salt and mustard, that's it. Easy peasy mayonnaise.

GRANDPAS BREAD AND BUTTER PUDDING

 

PLANET HOLLYWOOD OBSERVATORY FLORIDA SUPER CHOCOLATE NOVA SHAKE

AWESOME OVERLOAD 

 

Planet Hollywood Observatory is a Awesome restaurant with awesome shakes! 

CREAMED CORN MAC n CHEESE

OMG 

Loved this leftovers inspired Mac n Cheese! WoW what's better than marrying up mums favourite Mac n cheese with mum's other favourite cream corn! Well I did it and it is Awesome! Mum woofed it down with a spoon so she could get more in her mouth each time, what happens in American stays in American 😆...

I sort of followed The Pioneer Woman's recipe for Mac n cheese and my mums recipe for jalapeno creamed corn and then put the Mac n cheese in the oven to bake while I made the creamed corn and when ready to serve I got mum to top the baked Mac n cheese with the creamed corn, divine!  The crispy Mac n cheese baked top is a hidden delight!  

Prep time 20 mins / Cooking time 40 minutes

 

Ingredients 

Mac n Cheese

(Serves 4)

1 kg macaroni noodles cooked 

100g - 200g medium cheddar cheese grated

100g sharp goats cheese grated

75g pecorino grated

50g Parmesan grated plus same again for dusting 

1-2 ltr full fat milk

300ml double cream

50g butter

50g all purpose flour

Sea salt

White pepper

Ingredients 

Creamed Corn

1 onion finely chopped

1 tbsp butter 

1 drizzle olive oil

1 clove garlic finely chopped

1/4 red pepper finely chopped

4 fresh jalapeños finely chopped

2 Corn in the cobs cut the corn off

600ml heavy cream

Sea salt

White pepper

1 bunch fresh coriander chopped 

Mac n Cheese

Pre heat oven to 180 C / 350 F 

First melt the butter in a deep saucepan, add the flour and stir in until smooth on a low heat cook for a couple of minutes to cook out the flour, turn the heat up to medium and start to add your milk a large ladle at a time, whisking in until smooth you want a medium tight sauce, you can always loosen the sauce later if its to thick, add the cream and stir in then add the cheese until smooth and melted, tast and season if needed, it may not need salt as the pecorino and Parmesan are a salty cheese in themselves.  Adjust the consistency as required. 

Mix the sauce all over the cooked pasta and place in a baking dish, top with the extra Parmesan cheese and bake in the oven for 35-40 minutes at 180 C / 350 F, until golden and bubbly.  

MEANWHILE

Make The Creamed Corn

Heat the butter and oil in a pan and gently soften the onions, garlic, pepper and half the jalapeños, add the corn and cook for a further 10 minutes until tender, add the cream and remaing jalapeños and bring to a boil for a few minutes to thicken, turn down low, add the coriander and taste for seasoning.  This is now ready to top the Mac n Cheese when it comes out of the oven.

That's it just enjoy 😊 

AWSOME MAC n GARLIC BUTTER GRILLED CHEESE SANDWICH WITH TOMATO AND MARSCAPONE DIP

What To Do With Left Over Mac n Cheese

This is sooo good make sure no one else is around to pinch it!  If so make extras as they just will not be able to help themselves!  The rich nutty buttery crispy grilled Mac n cheese crust is brilliant with the creamy tomato soup dip, a perfect after school snack.

 

Ingredients 

Left over Mac n cheese

2 slices bread

2 tbsp butter (garlic optional)

1 tin tomatoes

1 tbsp butter and olive oil

1 small onion fined chopped

1 clove garlic finely chopped

1-2 tbsp marscapone 

Sea salt

White pepper

First get the tomato soup going, place the butter and olive oil in a pan and on a medium heat soften the onions and garlic for about ten minutes, add the tomatoes and leave to gently simmer for another ten minutes, then blitz to a smooth soup, place back on the heat and add the marscapone and stir until melted and fully combined, leave ticking over on a low heat why you made the grilled Mac n cheese.

Place 1 tbsp of the butter in your skillet on a medium heat, butter all sides of the bread generously fill you sandwich with you Mac n cheese and then place the sandwich in the skillet and toast each side until golden crispy brown.  The butter adds a nutty richness to the grilled cheese crust.

Serve in secret with you rich creamy tomato soup dip and enjoy.

AWESOME MAC n CHEESE

I am stateside again in Florida USA😃 and I am cooking Ree Drummond The Pioneer Woman's 4 cheese Mac n Cheese, this is an AWESOME recipe and converted my Nan who likes her Mac n Cheese as it is.  What's even better is I also turned the left overs into a grilled Mac n Cheese, this too Nan devoured, which makes me very pleased, that's the whole reason to cook.

 

Ingredients 

(Serves 4-6)

1 stick (4T) butter

4T all purpose flour

700ml approx milk

1-2 cups heavy cream

Sea salt and white pepper

100g crumbled goats cheese

200g fontina

200g pecorino 

100g Parmesan 

1 box macaroni elbows

First put a large pan of lightly salted water on and bring to a rolling boil, add the pasta and cook according to the instructions, usually around 8-10 minutes, drain keeping back a cup of the cooking water.

Meanwhile make the roux, melt the butter and stir in the flour, on a low heat cook the roux for five minutes, stirring occasionally, then start to add in the milk a good glug at a time stirring in each time until you have a smooth roux before adding the next glut of milk, once all the milk is added pour in the cream and leave on a low heat to cook out the flour flavour for five minutes, you want a medium thick sauce you can adjust your sauce if too thick just by adding more milk or cream to your likin! 

Next add all your grated cheeses and stir in well, once melted taste and season with sea salt and white pepper to your taste, add the macaroni to the cheese sauce and stir in well, add some of the cooking water if needed, pour in to a large casserole dish and top with some xtra grated Parmesan, I now pop that under the grill to brown off and for that gorgeous gooey cheese crust, you can also bake the Mac n Cheese but I find it dries out the sauce a little more than I like!  

I like to serve this with crusty garlic bread or crackers and a spoon! 

MY CRAZY PEANUT BUTTER HONEYCOMB AND M&M's COOKIES

These are soooo awesome they will become a family favourite, I will have to bake another batch for a better photo as dad has eaten all the pretty ones!  I make enough cookie dough for several batches as it is only dad that cane at them and this cookie dough freezes really well, so I can knock up a batch real easy without to much effort.

Prep time 10 minutes / Cooking time 10-12 minutes

 

Ingredients

(Makes Approx 30)

 11/2 cups light brown sugar

1 cup soften butter

2 1/2 cups self raising flour

1 tsp sea salt

2 eggs beaten

2 tbsp smooth peanut butter

1 tbsp vanilla bean paste 

2 large packs M&M's

2 honeycomb bars bashed

1 handful marshmallows 

This is a really nice and easy recipe to do, place the sugar and butter in a large bowl and cream together, add the eggs and a handful of the flour and beat in to the butter, next beat in the vanilla and peanut butter, now fold in the flour and salt and finally fold through the candy.  Pre-heat your oven to 180 F / 356 C.

Scoop out small golf ball size pieces of cookie dough and place 6-8 at a time on your baking sheet, they will spread out while cooking, press down a little to slightly flatten cookies balls.  Pop in the oven to cook for 10-12 minutes until they are golden.  That's it, place on a cooling rack and try to keep sticky fingers from pinching them before you get a photo! 

 

Found a lonely cookie in the biscuit tin that dad had missed !!!

  

CUSTARD TARTS

Old fashioned sweet pastry set vanilla custard tarts, these are one of my dad's favourite cakes, they are really simple to make and deliver a sumptuous rich creamy custard pudding in it's own sweet case.

I love that I can just wheel out in to the garden and down to the chicken house and collect fresh eggs when I need them and at the moment my hens are laying too many eggs which dad likes as I have to keep making more of these custard tarts! 

Prep time 10 mins / Pastry chill time 30 mins / Cooking time 30 minutes

It is one of my jobs to collect the hens eggs with my dad, I am sure it's so dad can hint he wants more cakes ! 

  

I have different breeds of chickens that lay all different colour eggs, Amelia and Earhart are my home breed cream legbars that lay blue eggs, then black bob a black sussex lays dark brown speckled eggs, my two home breed large white sussex lay perfect peach coloured eggs and finally my skylines lay almost white eggs and one of them does lay a blue egg, they are a cross of cream leg bars.

How do I know this...I got dad to collect the eggs every time one was layed, this was easy as my chickens like to shout about the fact the just layed an egg, so we were able to collect the eggs with the proud chicken shouting about it.

 

Ingredients

(Makes 4)

Sweet Pastry

350g flour

100g icing sugar

150g soft butter

2 eggs beaten

1 pinch sea salt

Custard Filling

5 egg yolks

70g caster sugar

333ml double cream 

1 tsp vanilla bean paste

1/4 tsp grated nutmeg

First make the sweet pastry, place the butter and icing sugar in a large bowl and suing your fingers mash together, next add the egg yolk and mix in, add the salt to the flour and then add to the mix and using your fingers in a pecking action, (tap your fingers to your thumb, and see how that looks like a pecking motion now do that incorporating the butter mix in to the flour).  Once you have a pastry ball, flatten a bit, wrap in parchment paper and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes.

Take your pastry out, divide into four balls, roll out in to circles and line your tart tins with the pastry, line the pastry with a piece of baking paper and fill with baking beans, pop in the pre-heated oven for 10 minutes, then remove the baking beans and paper and cook for a further 5 minutes, remove from the oven and turn the oven down to 120 C / 240 F.

Place the egg yolks in a large jug, add the sugar and whisk until light and fluffy and pale in colour, stir in the vanilla and cream, pour in to your pastry cases, grate a little nutmeg over the top and pop bake in the oven to bake for Approx 20-25 minutes until there is a set wobble in the center.  Remove leave to cool if you can before eating! 

AWESOME JUICY LUCY CHEESE STUFFED BURGER

One of the best burgers ever...The Juicy Lucy is awesome, I did lots of research and that I spend a lot of time in the states helped with this most awesome recipe.  There is a real science to creating the best burger, something over here in the UK that is rather neglected...

I had all my mates over for a Oscar's Speak Easy Build Your Own Burger Party which was fabulous, so I started with the meat for the burger...

20% fat to 80% meat ratio is the key to the most flavoursome burger.  Don't use high grade meat this will achieve a melting texture but not flavour, the best cuts for your burger are, chuck, flank, sirloin and skirt.  For me I used chuck, the shoulder of beef and I asked my butcher to grind it for me medium fine and seasoned the mince with lots of sea salt and black pepper.

Prep Time 10 minutes / Cooking Time 10 minutes

 

Ingredients

(makes 4)

The Burger

1 kg minced chuck steak

1 tsp coconut oil

1 onion finely chopped

1 tsp sea salt

1/2 tsp ground black pepper

4 burger buns

The Juicy Lucy Stuffing's

12 slices Monterrey jack cheese

1 iceberg lettuce torn

2 tomatoes sliced

Optional 

4 tbsp pickled jalapenos

First heat a frying pan or skillet to a medium heat add the coconut oil and then the onion and soften for around five minutes, take off the heat and add to a large bowl.  Add the chuck mince, sea salt and pepper and mix well.

I used a burger press to make my burgers, if you don' have one just use a plate.  Divide the mince in to 8 equal pattie balls, place a burger ball on some baking paper, cover with another piece of baking paper and using a plate or burger press, press down and flatten the mince to around the thickness of a pound coin.  Repeat with the rest of the patties.

Line up four burgers and place your juicy Lucy stuffing's in the centre of the burger, then place the other burgers on top and then pinch the edges together to form a flying saucer shape sealed burger.  It is important that you create a good seal.

Heat your griddle and toast your buns, then place the burgers on a medium hot heat and cook for around 4 minutes on each side, if you want a well done burger just cook a little longer.

Place a slice of Monterrey jack cheese on top of your burger and allow to melt then place the burger on the bottom bun, top with iceberg lettuce, fresh sliced seasoned tomatoes, that's it enjoy.

Warning...The Cheese in the Centre Can Be Extremely Hot...

 

ALL BUTTER SHORTBREAD

HOW COOL IS THIS...

How awesome is this!  I've got a cookie rolling pin that prints "Made by Chef Oscar" all over the biscuit / cookie dough, I just love this and can't stop baking cookies for all my friends and family, this is so AWESOME...

                                   

Ingredients

(makes approx 30)

250g plain flour

150g cold butter grated

1 tiny pinch of salt

125g sugar

I have a little extra butter in my recipe than others and this is a family tradition, when my mum was my age and taking cooking classes at school, when she told her dad my grandad that she would be making shortbread that day he told her to add extra butter to the recipe, so that is exactly what I am doing so that grandad will love them too.

This is super easy to make and best done by hand. Place the flour and butter in a large bowl and rub the butter in to the flour until you have breadcrumbs, keep going and bring the ingredients together until you have a ball of dough.

FUN FACT

This is called shortbread because it is short !  Short meaning tight in USA and translating to lack of fluid in a recipe, this does make the dough a little harder to work with but is well worth the extra effort because a short shortbread will give you the lightest most crumblest melt in your mouth buttery biscuit ever!  If your are struggling you can add a egg yolk to help you bind, but this will make the end biscuit a little more bouncy rather than a snap.

                                  

Roll out your biscuit (cookie) dough to around the thickness of a pound coin and then using what ever cookie cutter you like cut out your cookies.

Pre heat your oven to 160 degrees C / 320 F.  Place the shortbreads on a baking tray lined with baking paper and pop in the oven to cook for around 8 minutes, the trick with shortbread is that it should not brown, there should be no colour, otherwise they are over baked.

That is it, place on a cooling rack to cool and then enjoy. 

AWESOME THAI LEMONGRASS AND CHILLI SWEET POTATO CRAB CAKES

These are brilliant, I changed the recipe half way through and what a Winner Dinner, I was making a lemon and dill sweet potato crab cake, but mum was in the kitchen making dad some red Thai curry paste, Mum needs dads muscles for the 15 minutes of pounding the spices together!!!

So I took some lemongrass, chilli,  lime zest and fresh coriander and added it to my crab cake mix and this mum says is the Best Ever Crab Cake...

I served the crab cakes with a home made cornichon and dill lemon mayonnaise, on a bed of rocket and coriander salad with cornichons and a belly of lime.

Prep time 10 minutes /  Cooking time 20 minutes including making the mash

Ingredients

(made 4 large crab cakes)

Crab Cakes

1 whole crab or 300g fresh white crab meat

1 egg beaten

1 lrg handful fresh breadcrumbs

2 sweet potatoes, boiled and mashed

1/2 stick lemongrass bashed and finely minced

1 red chilli finely minced

2 glugs olive oil

1 clove garlic finely minced

1 shallot finely minced

1/2 lemon juiced

1/2 lime zested

good pinch sea salt and white pepper

The Mayo

1 egg yolk

300ml olive oil

1 tsp white wine vinegar

1/2 tsp Dijon mustard

1 cornichon finely finely minced

2 sprigs of dill chopped

1/2 juice of a lemon

good pinch sea salt and white pepper

First I got mum to heat a glug of olive oil in a pan and soften the onions and garlic, meanwhile I placed all the other crab cake ingredients in a large bowl and mixed together, seasoned with some sea salt and white pepper then added in the softened onions and garlic and mixed some more.

The mixture should be quite moist and just sticking together, form four large patties.  Heat the other glug of oil in a frying pan or skillet and when medium hot add your crab cakes, fry for approx 3 minutes on each side until golden, the mixture is already cooked so you just want to heat them so that the cakes are piping hot in the middle,

To make the mayonnaise this is something I do every week for my family and I am rather good with the whisk, place the egg yolk in a large bowl with the white wine vinegar, start to whisk and slowly drizzle in the oil, very slowly at first, one the egg yolk has started to combine with the oil you can add the oil a little faster until you have a lovely thick mayonnaise, this takes me around 1-2 minutes, then add the mustard, sea salt, white pepper, lemon juice, cornichon and dill and taste, season some more if needed.  Serve drizzled over your crab cakes on a bed of herby salad.