gnhlanarkshire

What are you doing this Valentines Day? Are you heading to your favourite restaurant for a meal? Are you preparing something special at home? If you're cooking at home on Valentines Day, you are not going to want to be spending a great deal of time in the kitchen at the last minute preparing your meal. This chicken fajitas recipe is perfect in that it is prepared with precooked chicken and takes minimal time to throw together, meaning you will have more time to spend with your spouse or... Read Full Story

Shepherd's pie and cottage pie are hugely popular comfort foods but neither is particularly vegetarian friendly. Made principally with lamb and beef respectively, they are in their conventional forms out of bounds for even the most flexible of vegetarians. When I decided that another vegetarian dinner option was definitely due on this blog, I determined to use some commonly available garden vegetables to make a version of shepherd's or cottage pie. I wondered what to call this pie and quickly... Read Full Story

Smoked gammon is a delicious piece of meat, gammon being similar to ham but butchered in a slightly different way from the pig's hind leg. Although it is quicker to cook a piece of smoked gammon like this by boiling it, the roasting process imparts a far greater level of flavour. In order to spice it up just a little bit, I included a couple of whole garlic cloves in with the gammon as it cooked. I also resisted the temptation to add some apple sauce or similar to the served gammon as... Read Full Story

Shin of beef Slicing the onion Chopped green bell pepper and red chilli peper Toasting cumin seeds Mexicana cheese Read Full Story

If you are reading this in China - or simply happen to be Chinese - Happy New Year! Today is the first day of the Chinese New Year so what else could I feature but a Chinese dish? As 2012 is the Chinese Year of the Dragon, I decided also to add a little bit more fire to the dish than you may normally expect from a Chinese stir fry by adding some hot green chilli pepper. Ingredients for One Serving 1 chicken breast fillet 3oz portion of dried Chinese noodles (fresh noodles work equally... Read Full Story

Chives and garlic Chopped herbs in ramekin, ready for melted butter Gently melt the butter Melted butter poured in to herbs Herb butter left to cool and set Read Full Story

Haggis, tatties and neeps is usually the main meal served at a Burns Supper, on or around January 25th each year. This recipe is just a slight variation on the traditional to hopefully spruce up what can - in all honesty - be a pretty bland creation at times. The idea for including a partridge breast with the haggis came about entirely by coincidence a few days ago. I had some partridge breasts and was scouring the Web looking for inspiration for partridge recipes when I found one for haggis... Read Full Story

Browning the partridge in butter Ayrshire middle bacon Partridge ready for the oven Sauteeing asparagus in butter Dijon mustard is added to mash Dijon mash forms a bed for the partridge Read Full Story

Shallot and fresh parsley compliment mussels Chopped shallot and parsley Shallot, parsley, white wine and water Mussels are added to the boiling liquid Read Full Story

The traditional version of homemade steak and kidney pie has been one of my favourite meals for many years. I have always resisted the temptation to tamper too much with the recipe for what is a classic dish, believing that improvement on near perfection would be nigh on impossible. When, however, I happened to come by some pristine, fresh oysters yesterday from Loch Fyne, I decided to do an adaptation of an old steak and kidney pudding recipe and incorporate them in a version of my favourite... Read Full Story