Vegetable Spring Rolls (makes 8)

Ever wondered how to make spring rolls? Well, now you know. They are so easy. In fact the best part is they can be frozen and reheated in the oven as and when you want them. Cheaper and more satisfying than take-a-way, don't you think?

Small bunch spring onions, trimmed and finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small red chilli
1" piece ginger, grated
100g beansprouts
2 carrots, peeled and grated
1/2 chinese cabbage, finely sliced (or 1/4 white cabbage)
1 tbs dark soy sauce
1/2 tsp brown sugar
8 squares of spring roll pastry

Heat 1 tbs of vegetable (or groundnut) oil in a wok and add spring onions, garlic, ginger & chilli and fry gently for 5 minutes. Add the beansprouts, carrot and cabbage and stir fry for a further 2 minutes.

Tip into a bowl, add the soy sauce, sugar and seasoning to taste, stir mixture well and leave to cool.

Put spoonfuls of mixture onto wrapper and roll up tightly, seal ends with a little water.

Deep fry or brush with oil and oven bake.

Fancy mini spring rolls instead? Cut the wrapper in half and follow above instructions.

Recipe for the spare ribs and satay shown in this picture can be found here

French Onion Soup

It's beginning to feel like summer is over and this weekend it didn't stop raining (grrrrr) so I felt in the need for some comforting soup to warm me up. Not that it was cold, but with the rain comes the dreaded feeling of winter on it's way. Anyway, now I've depressed you all, here's the recipe that'll cheer you up as well as warm you up.



Yeah, yeah, I know I should have wiped the bowl before putting under the grill, to remove the little bit of soup I spilt, and it would not have got baked on. Hey ho, a rustic dish should look rustic I say.

Recipe adapted from Go Dine

350g onions, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
25g butter
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp sugar
1 pint beef stock
125ml sherry
1 tbsp brandy
salt & pepper
dash of Maggi hot seasoning (or marmite or worcestershire sauce)

2-3 thick slices of toasted baguette
olive oil
110g gruyere or mozarella cheese (grated)
1 clove of garlic, peeled and cut in half

Put butter & oil in a large saucepan and heat until butter melted. Add onions, garlic and sugar. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally for about 30 minutes or until onions are nutty brown colour.

Once nicely caramalized, add stock, sherry & brandy, maggi & salt & pepper to taste. Simmer over a low heat for an hour.

Meanwhile toast the baguette slices under a hot grill. Remove the toast and rub all over (both sides) with the cut garlic. Rub on a little olive oil and cover with the grated cheese.

Ladle the soup into bowls and put the toasted slices on top. Place under hot grill until the cheese has melted and is bubbling.

Participating in souper sundays with Kahakaikitchen

Peach Cinnamon Tartlets (serves 4)

Peaches & Cream Dream.



Our neighbour recently asked if he could pick the almonds from our trees bordering his land. Of course we said yes. He's welcome to risk breaking his neck, pretending to be a mountain goat, in order to actually get to the trees on the mountain side. Anyway, luckily he didn't break his neck and he kindly gave some to us and we now have so many that I'm on a mission to find various ways of using them.

I began by asking my friends on the BBC Food Forum for recipes and got some great replies, especially from Denadar, who posted links to a couple of very useful sites, you can see it all here

We don't often have desserts, but I've been wanting to try this recipe for some time and decided to give it a go and make it the first in the almond challenge!

This recipe comes from one of my all time favourite books, Good housekeeping step-by-step vegetarian cookbook

225g ready made puff pastry
40g unsalted butter
15g ground almonds
1 tbsp caster sugar
1tsp ground cinnamon
2 large ripe peaches
egg glaze
icing sugar for dusting

Preheat a baking sheet on the middle shelf of the oven.

Divide the pastry into 4 equal pieces. Roll each one out thinly on a lightly floured surface and cut out a 13cm round. Prick the base leaving a 1cm border.

Cream the butter, ground almonds, sugar and cinnamon together in a bowl until smooth.

Halve the peaches and carefully cut out the stone. Stand the peach halves rounded side up and slice each one into 6-8 wedges, holding them in shape.

Divide the cinnamon butter between the pasty rounds, spreading it evenly to within 1cm of the edges. Arrange a sliced peach half in the middle of each one.

Brush the pastry edges with egg glaze and dust the peaches with icing sugar. Transfer the pastries to the hot baking sheet and bake at 220c for 12-15 minutes or until pastry if puffed and golden.



Serve warm with a generous helping of fresh cream.

Some pics showing some of our almond trees.

Angela's Lemon Chutney

Like many of us here in Spain, my good friend Angela had a glut of lemons from her trees. You can only drink so many G&T's so she decided to make a lemon chutney.

Angela & hubby, David, came to us for dinner last week and she kindly gave me a jar of her chutney. Upon arrival, she said to me "I've got something here I'd like you to review" LOL.

Angela doesn't get overly involved with cooking and mostly sticks to what she knows, but occasionally she'll be inspired to have a go at something different. I have to say though, when she does, it's generally excellent; just like her lemon chutney.

During the week, we decided to have my chicken byriani with poppadoms, so I made up a couple of extra ones to try with the chutney.

So, prior to our meal we sat down with the poppadoms and Angela's lemon chutney for a tasting session.

Delicious. Actually, it's so delicious, we can stop eating it. If I had any critisism at all, it would be that I would have preferred the lemons to be cut up much smaller. But hey ho, some might like it that way, so who am I to judge?

Angela found a recipe for the chutney on the net, which is shown on this site, (click to view)

Thanks Angela, for sharing the recipe with us. I'll have to give it a try soon, but I quite fancy using Limes & calling it Debs Lime Chutney LOL.

September 2009 - An Interview With........

Last month I announced that this month I will be interviewing a fellow food blogger. I actually intend to interview one person each month and next month's guest has already agreed (you'll have to wait and see who it is LOL), mainly for a bit of fun but also to give a new dimension to my blog. Plus, as my friends will tell you, I'm too nosey for my own good, but I think that makes life interesting, so there.

This month I interviewed Gill Cox of GillthePainter blog

I have known Gill for a while now, initially from the BBC Food Forum where we are both active members and then via our blogs. We have not met in person yet, but Gill promises if she manages to come to my area of Spain we'll have a glass of wine together. Personally, I think a couple of bottles would be more fun LOL.

Debs "How old is your blog?"

Gill "Although I only started it up in January this year, I have been thinking about it's style & content for over a year. I couldn't quite get my approach sorted for some time. Once it was clear to me, I sat for January and February and got as much of my posts in, as I could. I still have a couple of gems to post from way back though ............. must get round to it. Anyone who is thinking about it, really should get the enthusiasm to start their own blog".

Debs "You've recently been on holiday to Spain, tell us a little about your experiences and the area you visited".

Gill "We don't fly any more. Which leaves our taking the little blue car over the channel the cheapest way possible & through France. We don't usually have reservations, just point towards the good weather, and rely on my booking our next day's accommodation either the night before or at breakfast on the day. Our final last week stop and relax town is more times than not at Tossa de Mar in the Costa Brava. A lovely bay, with charm, buzz, overseen by a beautiful Castle monument with art museum. And we feel completely at home there - which is odd for people who never go back anywhere twice. I take an easel and make up my canvases & paint on the beach, or in the town streets that we visit".

Debs "Tell us about your painting i.e what medium do you use? What do you like to paint etc etc?"

Gill "We had a complete life turnaround 7 years ago. Deciding to leave Kew in West London and moved to Cheltenham. And I changed my entire career & to oil painting here.I'll paint anything if it's not nailed down. A room offers a multitude of compositions to me, as does the outside if I am roaming the countryside.Loose & free interpretations, I'm not a tight detailed type. When not painting what's there physically, I will paint what I feel about something - like my recent "Workshop" painting that I've just sold. I attended a Dan Lepard sourdough day in London, & painted my feelings of the day. Not bread or ingredients, but a snapshot of the moment. I use a limited 3 colour palette, alizarin red, indian yellow & prussian blue. Occasionally introducing a guest colour like cadmium yellow - a bright citrus colour that created vivid limes.& I'm quick. Faster than one of Nigella's speedy speedy suppers".

Debs "Where does your food enthusiasm come from?"

Gill "I lived in Spain when I was 20. It was my first taste of beautiful food I believe. I still savour the memories. But I didn't start cooking well till later though. My first book was "Feast of Floyd" given to me as a leaving present in my late 20's. It came from there. It's still the first book I pick up when I'm looking for a good food recipe".

Debs "What is your favourite area of cooking?"

Gill "Spain. Spanish cooking with fine Spanish olive oil is hard to beat".

Debs "Tell us a little bit about yourself".

Gill "I'm 46, married for 13 years to an incredible man called Tony. We met whilst both working for Chase in London - which no longer exists".

Debs "Have you ever been, or are you currently involved, with cooking as a job?"

Gill "No. I question whether I could cope with the pressure. I would like an artisan food job, like a farmers' market stall, but I don't think it's meant to be as I don't feel driven to do it".

Debs "If you had just one wish for some new kitchen equipment, what would you want?"

Gill "It would be the whole kitchen, Debs. I work in a tight confined space with no more room for expansion. But the more I learn, the more I need these days".

Debs "How do you spend your time when not cooking or painting?"

Gill "We have always been film fanatics. In London we would go to the movies 4 or 5 times a week. Here it's 2 times a week as there is little turnaround. And we are hikers. At least once a week we have a 20 mile walk back from a Cotswold village of choice. If time is short, we walk to Broadway, which is 10 miles from the pretty town of Winchcombe".

Debs "What's your favourite type of food to eat?"

Gill "I enjoy spiced food. Not necessarily spicy, although that I do enjoy. But food with a blend of well selected spices in it. Sumac is my favourite at the moment".

Debs "What is the best and the worst restaurant you have ever been to and why?"

Gill "The best? The Manor House hotel at Oban, recommended by a banker friend who was born there: http://www.manorhouseoban.com/The_Manor_House.htm I've heard about meat that melts in your mouth & thought I'd tasted it before. But it was nothing like the local food we ate here. And overlooking the bay you could see the seals bobbing by. The worst?TGI Friday.Huge plates of ugly looking cooking the one time we went. SABENA".

Debs "Is there any dish you have always wanted to make, but have thus far been a little scared to try?"

Gill "I'm intimidated by the thought of cooking live crab. I think that's the only thing I haven't tackled & mastered yet. It sounds stupid but the legs creep me out. I feel a little that way with lobster but I've overcome that. Not crab though".

Debs "Do you have any funny, after dinner, stories you'd like to share with us?"

Gill "entitled "the pool, man!". It was a couple of years ago, when we drove around Sicily for 3 weeks, winging it from town to town.Sicily is beautiful, quite the best food in Italy I've eaten, although I don't have much experience of native Italian food or travel. So towards the end of our touring, we head towards Agrigento, famous for the Valley of the Temples.One curiosity is, 5 miles away from the town, you can almost touch it as you are arriving ............ you are whisked around a meandering, modern, concrete European new road, that adds an unnecessary half an hour to the approach - more road, more Euro money, and is reputed to have entombed tens of poor Sicilians who have fallen out of favour with "you know who" during its building.So, after a long drive we pull into the quiet 4* Hotel Kaos, just look at that pool: http://media.expedia.com/hotels/1000000/890000/885700/885697/885697_40_b.jpg for 4 nights of no driving. The next day after breakfast, we load up with a towel, sunblock & a thumping good read and head for that pool.But strangely, no-one is in the water. How odd I think, till Tony dips his toe in and run's back to the sunbed to nurse his wound. That's got to be the coldest pool in the Med, no-one can get in.So, always up for a challenge even though I'm a useless swimmer, I decide to show these weak livered, bed wetting Johnny Foreigners a bit of British upper lip and stamina.Slowly, all eyes peaking at me I'm aware, I slide my beach babe body (I might be lying a bit there), I slide body into the pool. Whoosh, my eyes are watering, but I've done it. I never have the pool to myself so I'm doggy paddling up, I'm doggy paddling down - having a rare old time of it.What's that??!!! Another person's come into the pool too, so I've lost the moment and pootle over to one corner of the pool. But I don't get it, the bloke is swimming straight at me --- eeek don't splash.So I swim over to the centre of the pool.Blow me, he's power swimming right at me, some sort of territorial thing going on. Sod that! so out I get, back to the warmth of my sunbed and towel.And the man proceeds to assault the diving board - triple loop in a pike position of a dive, not a ripple. Then he grabs the underside of the diving board, lifts his full body weight up with his feet crossed and performs body crunches. Out he gets and he's doing press ups on the board - one! two! three! - the other arm - one! two! three!What a wazzock, so I nestle down to reading my book.Nope, no can do. He's out of the pool now, striding round bellowing into his mobile phone - so he's German is he. Why doesn't his wife say something to him, I would.But as he's approaching my sunbed, I begin to giggle.I can't stop laughing, it's uncontrollable now the closer he gets. No no, don't come any closer I'll wet myself.He's trying to talk on his mobile while he passes, but he's staring at me wondering why I'm delirious with laughter.Well I'll tell you, Heinrich. Your left gooly is dangling out the side of your skimpy trunks. I thang u. "
That's all folks.

Gill is taking on a new venture with her paintings. She has just received the keys for her new studio, read all about it here

I'm sure you'll all join me in wishing Gill every success for the future.

I would like to take this opportunity of thanking Gill, not only for her time in compiling this interview, but also for all the help she provided me with when I started my blog. I am no computer expert and did have a few hick ups along the way, but as usual, Gill came to the rescue.

Chicken Byriani (serves 2)

There are times when you just want something which is not only tasty, but quick and oh so simple too.

My chicken byriani is one such dish and we had not had it for a while. It's great to eat with poppadoms and so filling too.

1 Large skinless chicken breast, cubed
1 Small onion, finely chopped
2 Cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp Vegetable oil
50g Butter, cubed
200g Rice
1 Stock cube, dissolved in 300ml boiling water
1 Green chilli, deseeded and finely chopped

Spice Mix:-
2 tsp paprika
1 tsp Ground ginger
1 tsp Garam masala
1/2 tsp Hot chilli powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric
1/2 tsp Ground Cardamom
1/2 tsp Ground cumin
1/2 tsp Ground coriander

Heat oil in a pan, cook chicken & remove (keep warm). Add onion, garlic & chilli and stir fry until onion has softened. Return chicken to pan.

Add spices and stir well to coat. Add the butter and stir to melt, then add the rice and stir well to coat in spices & butter.

Pour in the boiling water/stock and bring to a boil. Turn down to a simmer and cover until rice is cooked through, checking & stirring occasionally.

Add a little more water if necessary.

Serve immediately with poppadoms.

Profiteroles (makes 12)

One of my favourite desserts and so easy to make too. This recipe comes from Mary Berry's Complete Cookbook although I have made 1 slight change. I like a warm runny chocolate sauce over my profiteroles, so I used a different method to that which Mary Berry uses. Enjoy.....

This dessert makes it ideal for a dinner party because everything can be prepared ahead and assembled at the last minute. Your guests will be impressed too when you bring the profiteroles, stacked up in a serving bowl, to the table with the warm chocolate sauce running down.

60g Butter, cubed
75g Plain, sifted flour
2 Eggs, lightly beaten

Put the butter in a saucepan with 150ml of water and heat until the butter melts then boil.

Remove from the heat and add the flour, stir vigorously until the mixture forms a soft ball.

Leave to cool slightly, then gradually add the beaten eggs, beating well between each addition, to form a smooth shiny paste.

Butter a baking tray and sprinkle with water. Put 12 tablespoons of the mixture onto the try.

Bake in a preheated oven at 220c for 10 minutes, then bake at 190c for 20 minutes. Split each profiterole and cool on a rack.

Fill each profiterole with whipped cream and keep refrigerated until required.

For the chocolate sauce:-
2 Cups of milk
4 tbsp Flour
4 tbsp Cocoa powder
4 tbsp Sugar

Place the sugar into a bowl and sift into it the flour and cocoa powder. Mix well to combine and set aside.

Place the milk into a heavy based saucepan and heat gently to just below boiling point (DO NOT BOIL or this mixture will split and become grainy).

Quickly add the dry ingredients and whisk until the sauce thickens and is smooth. Cover and leave to cool slightly before serving.

TIP: The prepared sauce can be left to cool completely and kept in the fridge until required, it can then be warmed through in the microwave. Will keep for several days too.



Pile the profiteroles onto a serving bowl or dish and pour over the warm, runny chocolate sauce.

Chicken with 40 cloves of garlic!

I've heard about this dish many times and it's been on my list of 'dishes to try' for sometime. Once I'd made up my mind to give it a go, I googled it, as you do, only to discover far too many to view.

The main thing I noticed was that a lot of recipes called for the garlic not to be eaten with the chicken, but rather more as a paste spread on toast or biscuits. Well, stuff that, I wanted to eat the garlic with the chicken. So I ignored all the recipes and made it my way.......

1 Whole chicken
4 Whole garlic bulbs
Salt & Pepper
Olive oil

Clean & prepare your chicken and place in a roasting tin. Rub olive oil all over the skin and season with salt & pepper.

Cut the top off each garlic bulb and place the bulbs around the chicken in the dish, drizzle with olive oil.

Cover with foil and roast.

Remove the foil for the last half hour to brown off nicely.

As there were 4 of us, we each had our very own garlic bulb served with the chicken, carrots, green beans, roast potatoes, yorkshire puds and gravy.

Using a knife scoop the garlic out, mash it up and enjoy with the chicken meat.

Delicious and fun scooping out the garlic. Some people made a total mess of their garlic, but I'm not mentioning any names.

Nicely full and all stinking of garlic we waited a little while before completing our meal with profiteroles. Recipe to follow shortly, yum.

Chicken, Radish Sprouts & Pickled Spring Onion Salad (serves 2)

I was inspired to try this after reading a similar salad which was posted by fellow food blogger, Andy Oliver of The Cooks Broth, Master Chef runner up 2009.

Andy's salad is a little different and he added daikon, but I had just bought some lovely radish sprouts and thought these would not only look nice, but give a very similar flavour to the daikon, it worked well.

TIP: when taking photos for blogging, don't have too many drinks beforehand and you may remember to add the salad dressing before taking the pictures and eating, DOH. Personally though, I blame our friends, Sue & Tony, because they invited us out for a couple of early evening drinks before they go off on holiday for 3 weeks. Needless to say a couple turned into too many LOL.

Photo, minus the salad dressing, not quite the finished article DOH

Andy's salad includes quail and is quite different, please see his recipe for Quail, daikon & pickled spring onion salad here

2 x Skinless chicken breast
2 Red chillies
Radish sprouts
Shredded lettuce leaves
Fresh coriander leaves
Few pieces of sushi ginger
Pickled spring onions (recipe for this on Andy's blog, The Cooks Broth

Marinade:-
2 tbsp dark soy, mixed with a little honey to sweeten
1 tsp chinese 5 spice
1 tsp white sesame seeds
1 tsp rice wine vinegar

Dressing:-
1 tbsp dark soy, mixed with a little honey to sweeten
Juice of 1/2 a lime
1 tsp sasame oil

Mix marinade ingredients in a bowl and add the chicken breasts. Cover and leave to marinade in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours.

Remove chicken from the marinade and cook by your preferred method. I chose to roast as a safer option after a few drinks (damn it, I really must become T Total).

Meanwhile, place shredded lettuce leaves onto serving plates, then thinly slice the cooked chicken breasts and place on top of lettuce. Top with radish sprouts, slices of chilli, sushi ginger and pickled spring onions.

Lastly, don't forget like me, to drizzle over the dressing and enjoy.

Here in Spain we don't get some of the lovely ingredients like UK and other countries. For example all these micro herbs and such like I hear a lot about these days. So, upon visiting a supermarket I don't go to regularly, due to the fact is not close by, I was so excited to find these delightful radish sprouts. They really are quite delicious with a real kick. They remind me of mustard cress, but with a far more intense flavour. I shall now have to come up with other recipes in which to use them.

Boozy Chocolate Truffles (naughty but nice!)

Don't eat too many at once, you may just get merry!!!!

Everybody loves chocolate truffles don't they?


I really wanted to make these with Ameretto. But, it's misteriously disappeared from the drinks cupboard. Wonder who polished that off, there are only the two of us and I certainly didn't finish it!!!!!!!!!!!

These are so simple, if a little messy, to make. All you need is 200g chocolate (minimum 70%), 200ml cream & a little (or a lot) of brandy.

Break up the chocolate into small pieces and place in a bowl, over a pan of simmering water. Don't let the bottom of the bowl sit in the water.



Slowly and gently let the chocolate melt. Be patient; don't turn up the heat and rush this process or the chocolate will split and become grainy, yuk.

Once melted, take off the heat and stir in the cream & 6-8 tablespoons of brandy (or booze of your choice). Mix well.

Then leave to cool. Once cooled, place in freezer for approximately 1 hour to become really firm.

Now for the messy, but fun part.

Have bowls of coating ready. I used chocolate vermicelli (sprinkles) plus cocoa powder.

Using a melon baller, scoop out balls of chocolate just like you would with your ice cream scoop. Knock it out onto your hand and roll to ensure it is a definite ball.

Drop into one of the coating bowls and roll about to ensure it is coated evenely.

Continue making & coating balls. Half in one coating and half in the other.

Place each into individual paper cases.

Unplug the phone, turn off the mobile, lock the door and devour.

Or, you could put into presentation boxes and give as gifts, as I did. Only a limited few though for our friend Andy's birthday.

Mamta's Chicken Curry with Saffron

Mamta is an active member of the BBC Food Forum and also has her own website, called Mamta's Kitchen where she shares her wealth of cooking experience and recipes. I should however point out that Mamta's site shows home cooking, not restaurant food.

I have been promising myself for ages to try her recipes and 'al fin', I finally got around to it. So glad I did, her chicken curry with saffron was a delight. My husband was sceptical at first and I did have to remind him, this is not restaurant food, but good home cooking by an indian lady.

He was pleasantly surprised and now wants me to try more recipes, watch this space. Looks as though I may have to give Mamta her own label LOL.

I did make one slight adjustment to the recipe by adding only half a teaspoon of ground cinnamon, instead of the suggested 1 teaspoon; only because I'm not really that keep on cinnamon in curries. I have to say I would not have known there was any cinnamon in there at all. Which pleases me greatly.

I was eager to really enjoy the different elements of this dish and did not want to serve it with anything which might detract from the flavours, so I served with plain basmati rice. It really didn't need anything more.

For the full recipe, visit Mamta's Kitchen, here

Having access to some of the world's finest Saffron here in Spain, made this dish an even better prospect to try.

Thanks Mamta for sharing your recipes with us. Will be back for more very soon.

Chinese Style Fillet Steak

I've had a chinese recipe book for more years than I can remember (probably about 25) called Chinese Made Easy by Douglas Marsland and whilst sorting through my cookery books recently, I re-discovered this book with renewed interest and decided to try a new recipe.

Flicking through it, I had forgotten there were some interesting recipes I had always wanted to try, but never seem to get around to it.

Having some fillet steak in the freezer, I decided to try the chinese style fillet steak, we were not disappointed. The only changes I made, was adding extra garlic & ginger and omitting the sesame oil.

Verdict. Yum, yum, yum.

340g piece beef fillet
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tbsp hoisin sauce
1 tbsp dry sherry (or shaoshing wine)
pinch of five spice powder
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 tsp salt
1 large onion, peeled and cut into eighths
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
2 tsp minched garlic
1 level tbsp cornstarch
60ml beef stock

Cut been into thin slices and combine with the soy and hoisin sauces, sherry/wine and five spice; marinade for minimum 15 minutes.

Heat 1 tbsp of the oil in a wok, add onion and salt and stir fry for 1 minute. Remove onion with slotted spoon and set aside. Heat remaining oil in wok and add ginger, garlic and beef. Stir fry 1-2 minutes until beef just loses its pinkness. Do not overcook, or it will become tough.

Blend cornstarch and stock and stir in to thicken. Serve immediately.

It was so good and will now have to try more recipes from this book.