Sticky Chilli Beef Steak

This dish was inspired by my love for Asian style food and the top quality produce I've been discovering recently from the Stirlingshire region of Scotland. It's soooo exciting to try food that's been lovingly nurtured or hand made right on my doorstep and two such producers which have come together in this recipe are Falleninch Farm Butchers and The Wee Kitchen Company. 

To quickly, and easily make Asian style Sticky Chilli Beef simply follow these steps:

• Select your cut of steak  - ideally you want something that will fry quickly although there is nothing stopping you slow cooking your beef, shredding it apart and adding the jam reduction at the end! 
• If opting for the quick fry option, rub a little oil onto your steak before it hits a hot pan (rather than pouring it into the pan- you use less oil this way) and season.
• You are in the process of cooking this steak to your liking (rare/medium/well done) and as you do so you will smear Caramelised Onion and Chilli Jam on the side which looks up to you.

• Once each side has had at least one smear of jam, been flipped over and faced the heat on that side you will want to remove your steak (once cooked to your liking) and rest for a few minutes - double coating the jam will add extra flavour.  I also like to keep my steak in tin foil during its rest time just to make sure it doesn't go cold.
• Whilst resting, add a few tablespoons of jam to a few teaspoons of marsala wine in a pot and at the very last minute of heating add the steak juices which will be lying in your foil jacket. Cook and reduce down into a bubbling, sticky sauce.
• Cut you steaks into either thin or chunky strips of meat and smother in this sticky drizzle. 

These strips are fabulous in a salad and corriander loaded wrap, with coconut rice or even noddles! 

 Enjoy! x

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Campsite Style Salmon- at home!

I guess this could easily fall into the category of Solo Suppers as recently launched by What Claire Baked (go check her out!) But this was an impromptu dinner 'pour une' tonight and so I had to be creative. The name of the game on weekday evenings for me is quick, tastey and filling so this adaptation of a campsite classic worked a treat!

I buy fish fillets frozen by the bagful. They are cheap, good quality and easy to prepared (simply defrost, so no need to skin or debone). Typically, I drizzle a bit of lemon on my salmon or tuna fillets, oven bake and then serve with potatoes or salad but tonight I didn't want to faff about with pots, boiling water, salad items and a peeler so I came up with this...

To make your campsite fish dish (at home) first, place your fillet on a tin foil sheet, create a good old trusty tin foil pocket, squeeze fresh lemon juice all over and grind some black pepper- it was salmon tonight. I also added some left over spring onions to the pocket tonight. Cook at around 160 for 9 minutes.

For the side, Morrisons are doing these really neat wee tins of pre-mixed beans which could be added to salads, stews or casseroles. I chose to add half a can of white bean mix to my tin foil parcel after the 9 minutes were up and squeezed remaining juice from the lemon wedge on to them with a dash of salt. I returned this to the oven for 4 minutes and hey presto- job done!

Easy!

I can confirm it was quick, tastey and filling but even if u added a whole tin of beans to this dish they are super healthy!

Whatever you are making, enjoy your weekday supper! I'd love to hear what's cooking in your kitchen tonight....x

Easy Lunchtime Tartlets

Getting bored of soup and sandwiches for lunch? Yeah me too, so I'm experimenting with easy to assemble finger food, or more substantial bites which can be made the night before. These quick and easy tartlets can be made with any filling of your choice and take minutes to prepare!

Start with a packet of shortcrust pastry (why not make your own if you have the time?) and decide what filling you fancy on the inside. I opted for red onion and goats cheese and jazzed these tasty bites up by caramelising the red onion in a raspberry balsamic and sugar reduction, this took about 8 - 10 minutes and I would advice the same if stir frying vegetables before adding them to the pastry too.

Whilst your 'base' is frying off, roll out the pastry and use cookie cutters to trim out your lunchtime biscuits. A 500g pack will give you around 15-20 snack sized tarts. Once the pastry was cut, I laid them onto a lined baking tray and 'prodded' them (it's a technical term!) with my finger to create a sort of well for my remaining ingredients.

All that's left to do now is place your fillings of choice onto the pastry base and cook at 180 for around 10 minutes. If you wanted to, you could cut the pastry into larger pieces and seal the fillings in 'bridie-stylie'.

I packed 3 of these small tartlets in for lunch at work today, added to a side salad dressed with lemon juice. It was fresh, filling but smoothly comforting also. A winner for me.

Happy experimenting x