Layered houmous, tabbouleh & feta salad

This is a fabulous summer dish and can be taken on picnics too really well.  Serve with some flat breads or crusty bread if you prefer.

Ingredients
2 x 200g tubs hummus
400g can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
200g pack feta cheese, broken into chunks
handful pitted black olives
1 crisp Romaine heart
flat breads, to serve

For the tabbouleh
85g bulgur wheat
80g bunch mint, leaves finely chopped
80g bunch flat-leaf parsley, leaves finely chopped
2 large ripe tomatoes, de-seeded and chopped
1 red onion, finely chopped
zest and juice 1 lemon
4 tbsp olive oil, plus extra for drizzling

Method
First, make the tabbouleh. Tip the bulgur wheat into a saucepan, cover with water, season with salt, then bring to the boil and simmer for 15 mins until tender. Drain in a sieve, rinse under cold running water, then leave to drain over the pan. Mix the mint and parsley with the tomatoes, onion and drained bulgur. Whisk the lemon zest and juice and oil together with seasoning, then toss with the bulgur.

Spoon the hummus into the bottom of a portable picnic bowl or large Tupperware (or use a large plastic mixing bowl, as you can cover it tightly with cling film later). Scatter with the chickpeas, then sprinkle with seasoning and drizzle with a little oil. Spoon the tabbouleh on top. Now top with the feta and olives, then tear over the lettuce leaves.

Cover the bowl tightly with its lid or some cling film. Put a little more olive oil in a sealed container to take with you, then chill the salad for up to 24 hrs.

To eat, drizzle the olive oil over the leaves, then scoop the salad onto serving plates, making sure everyone gets a bit of each layer. Serve with the flat breads for everyone to tear and share.

Thai style fish patties with lightly pickled salad, sweet chilli sauce and boiled rice

Had this today as it's a really hot day and Thai food works so well in the heat.  Naomi chose the original but she had chosen food all week and we wer going to have chicken 6 days in a row, so I decided to change things around!  So, this is Haddock instead of chicken and it worked really well.  I got the salad from a Thai cookbook I have and it works brilliantly on a hot day as it's fresh and crunchy.

Ingredients
400g haddock, from a sustainable source if possible
175g raw king prawns
3 tablespoons Thai red curry paste - less if you don't like it hot
3 cloves crushed garlic
1 whole egg
75g breadcrumbs
180g frozen sweetcorn
2 tablespoons chopped fresh coriander
4 spring onions, finely sliced
2 tablspoons cooking oil

Chilli sauce
4 tablespoons sweet chilli sauce
1 red chilli, finely chopped
1 teaspoon light soy sauce
1 dessert spoon Thai fish sauce
1/2 teaspoon caster sugar
juice of 1 lime

Lightly pickled salad
125ml rice wine vinegar
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 red chilli
1 carrot
3 shallots, peeled and finely sliced
5cm piece cucumber

Method
Put the fish, prawns, red curry paste, egg and garlic in the food processor and whizz it until it's a smooth paste.  Put this into a large bowl with half a teaspoon of salt then add the rest of the ingredients except the cooking oil and mix well together.  Wet your hands and then shape the mixture into 12-16 patties, putting them on a large piece of cling film so you can cover them and leave them while you prepare the rest of the meal.

Now make the chilli sauce by putting all the ingredients in a small bowl and mixing them together.  If it's too bitter with the lime juice, adjust it by adding more caster sugar.

Finally make the pickles.  Put the vinegar and sugar in a small saucepan and heat gently to dissolve the sugar,  then boil rapidly for 7 minutes to form the dressing.  Put this in a bowl to cool and prepare the vegetables.  Finely slice the chilli including the seeds.  Cut the cucumber into 4 pieces lengthways then slice finely.  Cut the carrot in half lengthways then slice finely.  When the dressing is cool, add the vegetables and mix to coat them all.

Finally, start the rice and while that's cooking, heat the oil in the pan and fry the fish patties for about two minutes each side until they're nicely golden on each side.

Serve the fish patties and rice with the pickle and chilli sauce on the side.

Caramelized banana bread and butter pudding

This is another recipe that I've slightly modified from the Gilbert Scott cookbook.  So far, everything has been divine and this is no exception.  As the cookbook says, a combination of brioche, custard and banana is irresistable.  It must be, because I don't like bananas, but this is really good!  When you choose the bananas, the riper they are the better they taste, but I found left over black ones taste good but were nigh on impossible to slice.  Also, don't bother making the brioche, it isn't worth it.  I use Tesco finest, it's too big at 400g so if you can get smaller 2-300g that will do but 400g seems to be the "standard" size.  Slice it and freeze the rest for breakfast, or make two at a time :)

Ingredients
120g golden syrup plus extra for drizzling
60ml brandy
3 ripe bananas
unsalted butter for greasing
400g brioche loafcut into 1cm slices
clotted cream to serve

Custard
4 free-range eggs
300ml double cream
300ml whole fat milk
60ml brandy

Method
Make the custard first by beating the eggs until they are smooth, then add the cream, milk and brandy.  Pass the whole lot through a fine sieve and set aside for later.

Preheat the oven to 150°C, then using one of the silicone liners that are widely available, grease the inside generously with butter and then line a 900g loaf tin with it.  Place two of the slices of brioche in the bottom of the tin so that they are tight with no gaps, then pour in enough custard to cover them slightly.  You may need to add more if the bread soaks all the custard up, that's fine.

Next, heat the golden syrup in a large frying pan until it boils well, then add the brandy and stir well and reduce the heat slightly to medium/hot.  Peel and slice the bananas lengthways then place them in the hot caramel.  Check after a few minutes to see if they are well browned - this does take some time so be patient.  Once one side is well browned, turn them over and do the other side in the same way.  Turn the heat off and put the pan on a cold part of the hob while you prepare the rest of the pudding.

Place a single layer of the bananas on top of the brioche you've already prepared covering as much of the layer as possible.  Now add another layer of brioche and follow that with more custard, again covering the bread.  Once that's been absorbed, place the rest of the bananas on the brioche and repeat the process until you've reached the top of the pan.  I find this takes 3 layers of bread and two of bananas, but make sure you finish with a layer of brioche.

Once the last lot of custard has soaked in (you may have a little left over), place it in the oven nad bake for 30-35 minutes until the pudding is just set.

To serve, slice it across and plate it, drizzle with golden syrup and put it in the microwave on high for 2 minutes to heat through and serve with a dollop of clotted cream.  Yum :)