Quick Snack Fixes

Dinner tonight was marinated chicken wings, stuffed tomatoes, salad and garlic bread. They're quick to make, taste delicious and look pretty impressive. Plus, it's another way to use up some eggs from our Bantam chickens!

Stuffed Tomatoes:
Ingredients

• 4 vine-ripened tomatoes
• 4 Bantam eggs
• Malden sea salt
• freshly cracked black pepper
• sharp Cheddar cheese (tasty is good)

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C. Line a baking tray with baking paper.

Cut the tops off the tomatoes (so you have little lids). You can discard these (our chickens are getting them).

Cut through the segments inside the tomato very carefully, trying not to break through the tomato. Scoop out the flesh, leaving behind a tomato case. Reserve the scoopings for another recipe or blend and make into tomato paste.

Sprinkle salt and cracked pepper on the inside.

Add a paper-thin slice of cheese (or grate cheese).

Crack one Bantam egg into each tomato. These little eggs are just perfect for the tomato cases. Sprinkle with salt and pepper again.

Arrange your tomatoes on the lined baking tray and bake for 15 - 20 minutes till eggs are set. Serve immediately.

Garlic Bread:

You can make this with pretty much any kind of loaf you like. I usually use a ciabatta or other crusty Italian loaf, or a baguette. It also makes a great after school snack.

Ingredients

• 125g butter (salted butter is good)
• 1 tsp Malden sea salt
• 1 sprig basil leaves
• 4 cloves garlic
• bread of choice

Method:

Preheat oven to 180C.

Use chop sticks as a guide when slicing

Now this is a handy trick that will ensure you never cut all the way through your bread again when making garlic bread. Take two wooden chop sticks (use the normal sized ones, not the take-away variety that you have to separate). Place one on either side of your loaf of bread. Cut slices into the bread until your knife hits the chop sticks (this ensures that you don't cut all the way through, but cut enough to allow you to spread the butter onto each slice).

In a food processor, blend the butter, garlic, salt and basil leaves. If the butter is too hard and won't cream, add olive oil to loosen it.

When your garlic butter is ready, spread it liberally in each slice you've cut in your bread.

Finally, spread a good amount on the top of your loaf too. This helps to keep the crust crunchy.

Cover your bread in baking paper and then in baking foil (Alfoil/tinfoil) and bake for 20 - 25 minutes.

Serve hot.

Cheese Soufflé

Soufflé is one of those dishes that seems to strike terror into the heart of home cooks, but I'm not really sure why. It's an extremely easy dish that tastes sublime and looks spectacular. The last time I made soufflé, I was newly married, entertaining like mad and desperate to impress all and sundry. I was thrilled that my first soufflé worked and then proceeded to make them so regularly that my husband and I both grew to dread the sight of them. But after 15 years, it was definitely time to have another go at it. This recipe makes a delightfully light and fluffy soufflé.

This single soufflé alone would have been more than enough for dinner, but I'm not known for doing things by halves, so dinner included soufflé, scotch eggs and salad followed by creme brûlée for dessert.

Cheese souffle

Ingredients:

• 14 slices white bread
• 450g sharp/tasty Cheddar cheese
• 3 cups full fat milk
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 10 eggs
• salt and pepper to taste (I use freshly ground pepper corns and Malden sea salt)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180C/350F.

Trim edges of 14 slices of whet bread (I gave the crusts to my chickens as a "thank you" for their lovely eggs, but you could save yours to make breadcrumbs for another time), then cube/quarter each slice.

Grate the cheese using the large side of the grater or a microplane for soft cheese.

Beat the eggs and milk with salt and pepper until just smooth (don't over beat).

Butter a casserole dish and alternately layer the bread and cheese (two layers of each) evenly along the bottom.

Pour the milk and egg mixture over. Melt the butter and drizzle over the top.

The longer you can allow the bread to soak up the milk mixture, the better the soufflé will be.

Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. The soufflé will rise and brown nicely. Serve as soon as possible or it will deflate and that is such a sad sight.

It didn't take long for the family to get stuck in!

Creme Brulee

Creme Brûlée

We've recently acquired chickens all of whom seem to have decided to lay eggs at once. So we're inundated with eggs and I've been steadily increasing the levels of cholesterol we're consuming. In an attempt to use up the eggs in a timely fashion (seriously, between 2 and 6 eggs a day is more than we can be expected to cope with) I've been trawling recipes for egg-rich foods.

Trusty creme brûlée is one of the easiest desserts you can make but it always looks stunning at the table. This recipe is a really simple one and pretty much fool proof. I've added a few tips along the way which make all the difference. You can make this in individual ramekins (if you have them) or in a single casserole dish. I doubled the quantities for my casserole dish and it worked well.

Creme Brulee
Ingredients:

• 6 egg yolks, chilled
• 6 tablespoons caster sugar
• 1 1/2 cups thickened (or whipping) cream, chilled
• 4 tablespoons caster sugar for topping

Method:

Butter and sugar the casserole dish

Preheat oven to 170C/275F and adjust oven rack to centre position.

Butter and sugar ramekins or casserole dish (tip out excess sugar).

Place ramekins/casserole dish in a baking pan (you will need the baking pan to be deeper than the dish containing your creme brûlée - remember you're cooking the custard in a bain-marie).

Boil water in a kettle for the bain-marie/water bath. Take it off the boil and allow it to cool a little until required.

In a large bowl, beat egg yolks until they are slightly thickened.

Add sugar and mix until dissolved.

Mix in cream, then pour the mixture into the prepared ramekins/casserole dish.

Baking pan bain marie

Carefully pour the hot water from the kettle into the baking pan so that it comes (at least) halfway up the sides of the ramekins/casserole dish. One of the biggest mistakes in baking creme brûlée is not using enough water in the water bath. The water should be at the same level as the custard inside the ramekins/casserole dish. It is meant to protect the custard from getting too hot and over-cooking.

Bake for 30 - 40 minutes (up to 50 minutes in casserole dish) or until set around the edges but still loose in the centre. The cooking time will vary according to the size of the dish you are using. Check after 30 minutes and then in 10 minute increments until the desired consistency is reached. It should jiggle a little when shaken gently.

Allow to cool in the water bath, then remove the ramekins/casserole dish, cover with plastic wrap (glad wrap, cling film etc) and refrigerate until required.

When ready to serve, uncover and sprinkle with sugar. Use a blow-torch to caramelise the sugar - stop just before the desired result because the sugar will keep cooking in its own heat.

This dish can be served cold from the fridge or slightly warm (especially if you're pressed for time).