Prawn Pomodoro Linguini with Creme Fraiche

I love vegetables but I also love prawns, especially in pasta with tonnes of garlic. This dish is light and perfect for summer dining on the deck!

Make sure you buy good, happy prawns, your tummy will benefit and so will the sea!

You will need:

• 450g tomatoes
• 1 red chilli
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 glug worcestershire
• 1 clove garlic
• linguini
• bag of fresh or frozen prawns
• 1 tsp creme fraiche
• Fresh basil to garnish

1) Slice up the tomatoes and place them in a large pan with a glug of oil to start stewing. Add the sugar, the red chilli, the worcestershire sauce and the clove of garlic and simmer intill the skins start to come away from the tomatoes.

2) Boil a large pan of water and add your linguini. Boil for 12 mins.

3) Meanwhile, add your prawns to the tomatoes in the pan and cook until pink if they are frozen, if not cook for about 3-5 mins.

4) Drain your pasta and serve with a generous helping of prawns and tomatoes, stir though a teaspoon of creme fraiche and garnish with fresh basil.

Bon apetit mon petit pois!

Make your own Mojito

Mojito’s are my all time favourite cocktails. I keep trying different ones but none of them compare to a classic or even-not-so classic mojito. I work in a cocktail bar, so I’m cheating a bit with this recipe as I make it over and over again for customers.

If you want to know a bit of history, the mojito made it big during the prohibition period in America. This is when all alcohol was banned for consumption. To get round this, Americans would escape to cuba to indulge in both sun and rum!

I suggest using a cuban rum like Havana Club or Bacardi to stay authentic! To tell if a rum is originally from Cuba, look for the ‘Sello de Garantía’, the seal of authenticity which is fixed to each and every bottle that is exported, by the Cuban government.

Mojito’s are cold, refreshing and light; making them perfect for drinking on a hot summers day or evening.

To make your own cuban style mojito you will need:

• Caster sugar
• Limes
• Lime juice
• Rum- white or gold depending on preference
• Fresh mint sprigs
• Crushed ice
• Soda water OR lemonade, ginger beer or apple juice.

If you are lucky enough to have a proper cocktail kit with bar spoon etc, I’m guessing you know a thing or two about making them, therefore I will write this suggesting equipment everyone has at home so that everyone can make one!

• tea spoon
• long sundae spoon or regular fork
• high ball glass

1) Pour 4-5 tea spoons of caster sugar into your glass, I like mine extra sweet so I usually use 5. Then squeeze in half a lime, and 1 tea spoon of shop bought lime juice. Then add 50 mls of rum and stir it all together with the fork or sundae spoon to start dissolving the sugar.

2) Fill your glass up half way with crushed ice. Take about 12 mint leaves, and one chopped up mint stem in the palm of your hand; clap it, wipe it around the top of the glass and then throw it on top of the ice. We phrase this slightly more crudely at work… Then use your spoon or fork in a churning motion to mix in the mint with the ice and bruise it to release the flavour.

3) Pull up a few of the mint leaves with the spoon so they are spread through your drink, then fill the glass completely with crushed ice, before topping with soda water.

4) Serve with a sprig of mint by the straws and a wedge of lime.

If you have a really sweet tooth, you can top it with lemonade or apple juice. I also love mojito’s with ginger beer, especially if you are using a spice or gold rum.

Perfect sweet potato wedges

These are easy, delicious, cheap and a massive crowd pleaser! Plus the only ingredients you need are sweet potatoes, oil and whichever seasoning takes your fancy.

Try me!

They team perfectly with garlic mayo, burgers, fish, and are a lower carb option to normal potato wedges. I enjoyed mine with a BBQ, a few friends and more than a few cocktails, which I will also blog the recipe for.

• Heat your ovan to 200 degrees
• Cut up the sweet potato(s) in half, then into wedge shapes. My wedge shaping is never great, so feel free to go for the rustic look

Wedge your tatty, careful with the knife as they can be tricky to slice

• Par boil the wedges for 8 minutes
• While they boil, make your marinade by mixing a good helping of olive oil with your seasoning. I used garlic salt and chilli flakes. Other ideas are thyme, chilli powder, paprika, or just plain salt and pepper. Genrally go for whatever flavours you enjoy the most

My wedge marinade, oil garlic salt and chilli. Dont skimp on the oil!

• Tip them onto a baking tray, and pour over the marinade
• Pop them in the hot ovan for about 35 mins or untill crispy, you can finish them off in the grill but they burn easily.
• ENJOY

As a student I make these all the time, sweet potatoes are filling and cost about 45p depending on how big it is!

I spent the evening with friends and family in what we could finally call a real British summer! Even my cat got a taste of the BBQ. Let me know how you get on with these, and what different seasoning you like to use!

I call these my fruitella cocktails, made with gin, raspberry syrup, frozen raspberries and cherry juice.

We enjoyed them quite a lot…

Chilli chickpea burgers

While it may not feel like summer for us Brits right now, we can still act like it is! These burgers dont need a real BBQ, but still taste like summer, especially with a crisp green salad and fresh crusty roll.

Unfortunately, in all my excitement and hunger, I didn’t take a picture of the finished product once it was cooked. You will have to find out for yourselves! But I will make sure I put my blog before my belly in future…!

Press some Halloumi or Mozzarella into the middle of the burger and cover with some more burger mixture for a squishy middle!

You will need:

• Can of Chickpeas
• 2 reds onion chopped
• 1 clove of garlic
• 4 Button Mushrooms
• 200g Bread crumbs
• Squeeze of sweet chilli sauce
• Pinch of chilli flakes
• Mozzerella/Haloumi

  

  Blend and go!

   

  In terms of making these babys, the process is simple.

  First, blend up your chickpeas with seasoning to taste. Then add all the other ingredients once they have been chopped, and blend them too!

  This should leave you with a thick brown paste.

  Prepare a surface with some cling film on. With your hands make plumb shaped balls of paste and pop them onto the cling film.

  Next take your small chunks of cheese and push them into the blobs as shown in the top photo, then hide the cheese with more paste and squish down into a flatter burger shape. Simples!

  Once you have made as many as you can from the mixture (I got about 6) pop them in the fridge for 30 mins.

  Heat up some olive oil on a frying pan and carefully put in the patties you made earlier. They should take about 15 mins to fry off, but remember to flip them!

  As always, feel free to alter these veggie friendly burgers! Instead of chilli sauce, try reggae! Pop in some Lemon juice and mint, or even some tangy ketchup! I winged this recipe from what we had in the cupboards and the fridge, so it’s a great last minute panic option. Let me know how you get on!