Jamie's Griddled Kinda Nicoise

My infatuation with Jamie Oliver is escalating. What started as mild disinterest is now a full-on passion. I was very kindly given Comfort Food for Christmas and am gearing up to cook something from that soon (pregnancy makes everything very slow) but the other night I was cooking for my mother and husband both of whom are trying to be virtuous in January and I'm very aware that the bump isn't getting its 5 a day so I randomly picked this Salad Nicoise from 15 minute meals. No potatoes and no egg but supremely delicious and finished by three of us and pretty easy to cook (and no it didn't take me 15 minutes but I'm a pretty slack cooker). Will be cooking this again and again - nice tuna steaks aren't cheap but the rest of the ingredients are and you can use what veg you have in your fridge.

There were quite a few things I tinkered with on this recipe, for example I'm not a huge fan of green beans and couldn't get the mixed green and yellow from the recipe so I used half beans and half broccoli tips.Where I've made changes I hope I've made them clear - I think the thing with salads is they are endlessly adaptable depending on what you have and like. I also refuse to serve anything on a board so I did this on one big platter... as you can see from the picture.

Griddle Tuna Salad
Serves 4

350g mixed green and yellow beans (or half green and half broccoli tips)
½ a baguette (I used a small one from Sainsburys)
12 black olives (Jamie says stone in, I say stone out)
3 ripe mixed-colour tomatoes (or red ones)
1 romaine lettuce
20g feta cheese
1 lemon

Tuna and Dressing
1 big bunch of fresh basil
6 anchovy fillets
1 lemon
4 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
2 x 200g tuna steaks (about 2.4cm thick)
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 heaped tsp wholegrain mustard
1 tsp runny honey

You will need a medium sized saucepan with a lid, a griddle pan and a liquidiser/magimix.

1. Line the beans up and cut off the stalks, put them into a pan of salted boiling water and put on a lid (I did my broccoli and beans for the same length of time).

2. Slice the baguette into 2cm chunks and, if you are following Jamie put onto the hot griddle pan. I think basting them in a tiny big of garlic oil pre-griddle would be lovely. Turn when golden.

3. Pick and reserve 10 baby sprigs of basil then rip off the rest of the leaves and blitz in the liquidiser with the anchovies, juice of 1 lemon, the extra virgin olive oil and a splash of water.

4. Pour about 40% of the dressing on to a nice serving platter (Jamie uses a separate one for the dressing and tuna and then places the whole lot on a board with the salad. I used one big platter and it worked very well).

5. Rub 10% of the dressing into the tun and season with salt and pepper. Pour the rest of the dressing into a big bowl with the vinegar, mustard and honey then mix together. Drain the cooked beans, remove the stones from the olives. roughly chop the tomatoes and add to the dressing and mix together.

6. Put the tuna on the griddle pan and cook for 2 minutes on each side or until blushing in the middle. How you cook your tuna is a matter of personal preference.

7. Chop the lettuce into 2cm chunks, tear the toasts into croutons and arrange over a large board (or on the platter) with the lettuce. I think it's nice to toss half the croutons in the bowl of tomatoes and dressing so they get a bit soggy.

8. Scatter the dressed beans, olives and tomatoes over the top. Tear each tuna steak in half or more and add to the dressing platter (or put on top of the dressing in the centre of the platter if you are not using a board).

9. Scatter over the reserved basil leaves, crumble over the feta and serve with lemon wedges (if you remember).

Jamie Oliver's Incredibly Delicious Chicken Salad

As you may know my latest love is Jamie's 15-Minute Meals and anyone who's been coming to our house has been getting fed from it. I could do each recipe as I try them but as I've yet to try a dud this would be a bit of a one theme blog and I would be in trouble with the publishers. So I thought I would go for this one because so far it has been the one that Joe made the most excitable noises over and it's the one I thought he'd like least because it has 'salad' in the title and he's a boy.

It didn't take me 15 mins but not far off and it was really filling. We finished it between three of us but we're quite gluttonous - it would do four (as the recipe suggests) for lunch or if you had a pudding. I left out the lemons though because I hate them and THIS IS MY HOUSE JAMIE. And the cress. I just can't be doing with cress.

Incredibly Delicious Chicken Salad

Serves 4

for the salad:
1 head of broccoli
4 x 120g skinless chicken breasts
1 heaped tsp ground coriander
olive oil
1 mug (300g) Bulgar wheat
2 preserved lemons
1 bunch radishes
2 spring onions
½ a bunch fresh mint
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
3 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 tbsp sunflower seeds
1 punnet of cress

to serve:
4 tbsp fat-free natural yoghurt
2 tsp harissa
1 lemon

1. Fill up a medium pan with a lid, with boiling, salted water. Trim the end off the broccoli and cut the head to florets and add to the pan., cover and boil for 4 minutes.

2. On a large sheet of greaseproof paper, toss the chicken with the salt, pepper and ground coriander, then fold the paper over and bash with a rolling pin til it's about 1.5cm thick. Put into a large frying pan with 2 tablespoons of olive oil on a high heat turning after 3 or 4 minutes until golden and cooked through.

3. With tongs, remove and drain the broccoli (leaving the water in the pan on the heat) and put on a hot griddle until nicely charred.

4. Cook the Bulgar wheat according to the instructions on the packet in the broccoli water with the preserved lemons if you are using them.

5. Halve or crush the radishes, trim and finely slice the spring onions and the top leafy half of the mint then toss it all in a bowl with the extra virgin olive oil and vinegar and season to taste.

6. Drain the Bulgar wheat and tip into a large serving bowl, then mash and mix in the preserved lemons and arrange the broccoli on top.

7. Toss the sunflower seeds in the chicken pan, then slice the chicken and add to the salad scattering over the seeds and snipping over the cress.

8. Serve dolloped with the yoghurt and drizzles of harissa and with lemon wedges on the side.

Oeufs en Cocotte or Baked Eggs

Years ago we went to a Le Creuset sale. I dragged Joe along promising him that basically we'd be saving money in the long run and we would only buy sensible things. All this was true except at the end there were these really sweet tiny little Le Creuset round casserole dishes in four colours and well I just snuck them into the trolley and persuaded Joe at the check out that they would be incredibly useful for single portions of things. To be honest it was a massive lie - I like small things and the colours were so pretty that I just wanted them to take up valuable space in my kitchen. Which they do.

They are, however, the perfect thing for Oeufs en Cocotte which is one of my favourite things to make when I either have too many eggs or leftover double cream that needs eating. It isn't slimming but a little goes a long way as it's quite rich (I can't usually finish two of these) there is something incredibley soothing about being able to eat something in the evening that involves toasted soldiers... which this really should.

This makes enough for two fatties or four people though I really like this as a late night quick comfort supper which usually means there's just you... you can add all sorts of things but I never bother as this is great as it is. There are loads of recipes for this all over the place - this is how I do it.


Oeufs en Cocotte

Serves 2-4

200mls double cream
2 tbsp grated Parmesan
4 large eggs
salt and pepper

I make this in my Le Creuset mini casseroles but they would be fine in ramekins too. Whatever you are using you will need four of them and they need to be buttered. You will need a roasting tin or something in which to make a bain marie - the water will need to go about ¾ of the way up the sides of your ramekins. Once buttered put the dishes in the tin ready to pour the water in. Pre-heat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas Mark 5.

1. Warm the cream in a pan then add the salt, pepper and cheese.

2. Pour the cream into the prepared ramekin.

3. Crack an egg into each ramekin on top of the cream.

4. Place the roasting tin into the oven and then pour in enough hot water to come ¾ of the way up the ramekins.

5. Bake in the oven for about 10 mins or until the eggs are set.

6. Add a pit of salt and pepper and serve with toasted soldiers.

Quails Egg Pasta

I'm terrible at cooking for vegitarians. I have a couple of friends who are, or have been, veggie and I know from them that it's usually a choice of goats cheese, mushrooms or veggie sausages and this puts me into a cookery tail spin because then all I can think about is making a goats cheese tart... However, this is a yummy option that is actually really easy but exciting enough to cover up the fact that really it's pretty studenty!

Quails Egg Pasta

Serves 4

400-500g fettuccine
1 head of garlic
12 quails eggs
125ml single cream
25g grated Parmesan
salt and pepper

Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. You can of course you any kind of pasta you like, fettuccine is my favourite long pasta that's why I use it here. And you can use double cream if you prefer, I usually do but for this with all the roasted garlic I like the consistency of the single cream. You can be extra cheaty and buy pre-boiled and peeled quails eggs but ideally you want these to be slightly soft-boiled.

1. Wrap the garlic in tin foil and roast in the pre-heated oven for 30 minutes or until it's all soft. Remove from oven and leave to cool a little bit.

2. Put the pasta on.

3. Open the garlic and squeeze it from its skins into a small bowl and mix with the cream, Parmesan, salt and pepper.

4. Cook the quails eggs according to the instructions on the packet. You want slightly soft boiled but so that the yolk stays mostly where it is. 1 minute in a pan of boiling water should do it. Peel when they are cooled slightly.

5. When the pasta is cooked, drain it and return it the sauce pan mixing in the cream and garlic. Taste and adjust the seasoning.

6. Dish up and then add the halved quails eggs to each plate with an extra grind of pepper and grate of Parmesan.

You can see that I've cheated and used pre-boiled quails eggs, still yummy but not perfect

Store Cupboard Frittata

Now I think this is a store cupboard recipe because I always have spring onions and feta in my fridge. I love feta and use it in everything... but this would work just as well with most cheeses. Really easy and quick to make, we had ours with a tomato salad and ate it between the two of us because we are greedy but if you're not then this could do 3 or maybe even 4 if you had lots of salad and pudding to go after.

Tuna and Feta Frittata
Serves 2-4

5 eggs
80g feta cheese, cubed or crumbled
4 small spring onions, chopped
2 small cans or 1 large can of tuna, drained
salt and pepper
Olive oil

You need a medium/large frying pan and pre-heat the grill.

1. Beat the eggs together in a large bowl.

2. Add the spring onion and feta and stir together.

3. Flake in the tuna and add a bit of salt and quite a lot of pepper. Feta is really salty so no need to add too much salt. Stir well.

4. Heat the olive oil in the frying pan over a medium heat and pour in the frittata mixture. Cook over a low/medium heat for 4-5 minutes until the bottom is cooked.

5. Put the frittata (in it's pan) under the grill for a further 3-4 minutes until the top is set and golden.

Hipstamatic Pasta

Sadly we're all at home at my parents house as my daddy died last week. No one has felt much like cooking or eating (slight exaggeration... the husbands have felt like eating) but I decided that my Parma ham, pea and marjoram pasta would be something easy to eat and soothing (a word my mother has told me off for over using!). I was too blah to be bothered getting my camera so my brother-in-law took a photo using the hipstamatic setting on my sisters i-phone. It came out incredibly badly but it does mean that this is now known as Hipstamatic Pasta.

HIPSTAMATIC PASTA
Serves 5

600g fettuccine pasta
8 slices parma ham
5 sprigs marjoram
4 cloves garlic
olive oil
butter
salt and pepper

I use a normal saucepan for the pasta and then an oval le creuset for warming up the other ingredients and then tossing it all about.

1. Put the pasta water on to boil, salt the water well and add the pasta.

2. Put the olive oil on to warm up on a medium heat, I use enough oil to cover the bottom on the oval le creuset. Crush the garlic and add to the warming oil.

3. Roll up each slice of ham length ways so it's cigar shaped and then cut with a sharp knife into about 5 pieces.

4. When the garlic is cooking in the oil but not fizzling away too much add the parma ham to the oil. Keep an eye on the parma ham you don't want it crispy or depressingly over cooked, just a bit warmed through really. When it looks done, take the whole thing off the heat.

5. Strip the leaves from the marjoram and chop finely. Grate some Parmesan - how much you use really depends on how much you want. I have some on the table also for people to sprinkle on when they want it.

6. When the pasta is cooked drain it and add it to the oil, garlic and parma ham with a knob of butter and a good lot of salt and pepper. Toss and add the marjoram and Parmesan keeping back a bit of the herbs to sprinkle on top.

7. Sprinkle the rest of the herbs on top and serve.

Mozarella and Parma Ham Tart with Basil

This is incredibly easy and so yummy that whoever you're making it for will be really impressed and you really won't have done anything much. If you were really organised you could make these ahead but you'd need a bigger fridge than I've got and they only take ten mins as it is anyway.

MOZARELLA AND PARMA HAM TART
Serves 4

500g packet puff pastry (I like to roll it myself but you can get pre-rolled if you prefer)
6 vine-ripened tomatoes
6 slices parma ham
125ml olive oil
3 cloves garlic, peeled
1 ball mozzarella (unless you are completely decadent and naughty in which case have 2), drained and torn.
Basil leaves (about 6 or 7)
1 egg, beaten to use as egg wash

Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas Mark 4. Now you really can chop the tomatoes and make the garlic oil before... these are basically like pizza's but without all the faffing with the dough.

1. Slice the tops and bottoms off the tomatoes and then cut into reasonably thin slices and lay out on a plate covered in kitchen roll. Then cover the tomatoes with kitchen roll so any excess liquid is absorbed. You don't want soggy tarts.

2. Put the garlic and olive oil in a bowl and bring to the boil, then turn the heat to low and let it cook for 5 minutes or until the garlic is brown. Turn the heat off and set aside.

3. Remove the garlic from the oil and slice. Keep the oil ready for basting the pastry.

4. Roll out the pastry or not if you've got pre-rolled. I use a side plate to measure out 4 circles from the dough (it should be about 3mm thick). Place the circles on greased baking trays (I use reusable baking sheets so I don't have to faff about with butter).

5. Using the tip of a knife and being sure you don't cut through  the pastry, make a circle about 1cm from the edge of the pastry disc.

Pastry base with very wonky guideline - just because I don't want you to feel pressured obviously

6. Brush the outside of this circle with the egg wash and the inside with garlic oil.

7. Staying inside the border line make a layer of tomato's first and then if you want to be really garlicky add some of the chopped up garlic.

8. Sprinkle over the torn up mozzarella and then do the same with torn parma ham.

Tarts pre-oven

9. Cook in the oven for 12-15 minutes (slightly longer maybe, my oven is a bit hot) until the pastry is puffed and golden and everything looks yummy.

10. Sprinkle with torn basil and serve 1 per person with onion jam or something similar.

Finished tart