Daisy makes

To make 1 batch of Homemade Mayo:

1 egg yolk

1 tbsp dijon mustard (plus more to finish)

1 tbsp red wine/cider vinegar (plus more to finish)

100-200ml sunflower oil*

1 tbsp olive oil

Salt and Pepper

In a round mixing bowl, whisk the mustard and vinegar into the egg yolk.

Very slowly pour the sunflower oil into the bowl whilst whisking. Stop every so often to whisk. The mayo has had enough sunflower oil when it is the consistency of, well, Hellmann's - it is at this point it is stable so you can start messing around with the flavour...

To my standard mayonnaise I now whisk in some olive oil and salt and pepper to taste. I like my mayonnaise quite mustard/vinegary so should you also - add a bit more of each. 

As I said - best served with seafood, or Globe Artichokes, or cold roast ham...

Ingredients

(for 1)

For the shell:

600g of good milk chocolate

some edible glitter

You will need:

a handheld probe thermometer

a glass bowl, that sits on top of a pan

the pan mentioned above

some hot water

a hairdryer

an egg mould - available from http://www.homechocolatefactory.com/

I cannot recommend them enough, they do cheap moulds and they come with easy instructions and they deliver really quickly)

To temper the chocolate:

This is a hard process, made easier with the help of home chocolate factory, but if you don't do it.. your chocolate will actually turn out grainy and, well, frankly a bit ming. Also once you know how to do it, you can't really stop. 

Basically, you need to melt 2/3 of the chocolate over a bain marie. (steaming water in a pan, with a bowl on top, but not touching the water). Using your thermometer, checking that it does not go above 44 degrees Celsius.

When it has all melted, stir in half of the remaining chocolate and stir until it has melted. Then repeat with the other half of the chocolate. The chocolate should go to about 28 degrees Celsius, so you can then use the bain Marie again and heat it VERY VERY SLOWLY to 32 degrees Celsius, but no more.

Brush the egg moulds with non-toxic glitter and then pour the tempered chocolate into the moulds. Tip the moulds so that the chocolate spreads every part. Then put in a fridge for five minutes to set.

If the chocolate has hardened than you can melt it to 32 degrees again, or if it is just the sides, use the hairdryer on a low setting to melt the sides.

Keep pouring into the mould so that you have a thick shell but keep some of the chocolate back for later.

TO MAKE THE CREME:

Ingredients

25g softened butter

1 tablespoon of golden syrup

500g of icing sugar (you wont use all of it, but you will use a lot)

1/2 pint of hot water (again, you wont use all of it)

Some 'egg yellow' food colouring

In a bowl, cream the butter and syrup together until very light and fluffy, beat a tablespoon of icing sugar at a time, when it gets too thick, add a splash of hot water and then keep adding the icing sugar. Repeat this until the mixture is very white.

Take some of the mixture out into a smaller bowl and stir in a few drops of food colouring at a time until it looks like this:

Now we are ready to fill the egg. Pour some white 'Creme' into one side only of the chocolate shells. Using a teaspoon, drop some yellow yolk in the middle of the egg.

Now, melt the remaining chocolate with a hairdryer and pour it ontop of the icing.

This will form a barrier so that the white and yolk are held in place until eating.

Put back in the fridge until it has set.

Assembling the egg!

Wash your hands in cold water and dry them - hot hands mean finger printed egg.

Take out the shell without the icing in it and using the hairdryer around the very edges of both sides to melt and form a glue, stick the sides together.

Put it back into the fridge for a final time.

When set, pop the egg out of the mould and wrap as you please!

HOORAY!

Here is the creme egg between some mini Easter chocolate shapes, a plain milk chocolate and a dark chocolate and ginger egg (made by pouring the tempered dark chocolate over crystallised ginger). 

ingredients

(serves 4)

2 small fillet steaks, taken out of the fridge for an hour and marinated.

2 cloves garlic

1 tsp grated fresh ginger

2 tablespoons mustard, (this is a wasabi substitute)

1 tablespoon soy

1 tsp brown sugar

1 packet of young spinach leaves.

large handful of frozen peas/broad beans/edemame

some salt and pepper

a kettle full of hot water

enough soba/wheat noodles for 4 people

Some sunflower oil

For the Marinade: cover the steaks in 1 tablespoon of mustard, and 1 tablespoon of soy and the garlic cloves.

Boil the noodles for 3 minutes, then drain them (keeping back a pint of the water) and plunge them into freezing cold water.

Fry the steaks in a non-stick frying pan in some sunflower oil. Should take about 3 minutes on each side.

Set the steaks aside on a warmed plate.

De-glace the pan with half the kept back noodle water and add the spinach, the rest of the mustard and soy and the brown sugar and stir.

Drain the chilled noodles and add them to the pan with the peas. Stir until all is piping hot and the spinach has wilted, if looking sticky, loosen with some more of the noodle water.

If there is any juice from the cooked steak, add that to the pan too.

Carve the now-rested steak into thin slices.

Ingredients

(Serves 5)

about 700g potatoes, skin on, cut into chunks.

some olive oil

1 large red onion, chopped finely.

2 cloves garlic, crushed

some thyme sprigs

100g chorizo chunks

1 glass red wine

500ml passata

1 teaspoon brown sugar

200g raw prawns

salt and pepper

Some manchego cheese to serve.

Preheat the oven to 180/gas mark 5

Put the potatoes into a pan of boiling salted water and cook for about twenty minutes.

Meanwhile, in another pan, sweat the red onion and garlic and thyme in olive until it starts to go translucent.

Add the chorizo and cook it until it starts to brown, then the red wine, brown sugar and passata and simmer it for about ten minutes. Then salt and pepper to taste.

When both the sauce and potatoes are done, pour the potatoes into an oven dish and drizzle with some olive oil. Then, stir the raw prawns into the saucey pan and then the sauce on top of the potatoes.

Bake for about 15 minutes.

Serve then with the manchego cheese.

(or wait til the next day for a picnic)

NB:

http://www.howdoyousaythatword.com/word/chorizo-chorizos/

Ingredients

(makes 10)

About a kilo of leftover mashpotato (made however you like), cold

1 tablespoon dijon mustard

3 small salmon fillets, cooked, skinned and flaked and cooled

200g smoked salmon, cut into chunks

3 scallions (spring onions), chopped finely and all used.

salt and pepper

A large handful of plain flour, sprinkled on a large plate

1 tablespoon sunflower oil.

Preheat the over to 180/gas mark 5

In a large bowl, mix all ingredients together and form into 10 balls, then press down to make pattie style shapes. Dip them in the plate of flour on both sides.

Heat the oil up in the frying pan and place half fishcakes into the pan until they are  browned on both sides. Set aside on a baking tray and do the same to the second half.

If you are not using them right away then after cooling, they can be stored in the fridge for a few days or the freezer for a month.

If you are, finish cooking them in the oven for 20-25 minutes.

Be careful when moving them from the tray to plate as are quite delicate straight out of the oven.

Serve with veggies or salad.

JOEandSephs is from a man with very high standards. He is proud of every single flavour, as they are made with all natural ingredients but not at the cost of taste or texture. If it doesn't taste like what it says on the label, he wont be selling it. Here's the better news: unlike other popcorn, it is popped with hot air, instead of oil, so is actually better for your (or so I told myself whilst I munched my fourth free sample bag).

There are over 20 flavours at JOEandSEPHS.

Try the Goats cheese (it really does taste like goats cheese)

Also try the Caramel, pepper & Chili (named by tasters as the willy Wonka Popcorn) because it takes 8 seconds for the chilli to hit you.

Get 'em at:

http://www.joeandsephs.co.uk/home,

OR at Harrods, Harvey Nichols and the Camden Food company, or

Ingredients

(serves 5)

For the dressing:

A large handful of basil, parsley, chives; chopped.

1 large garlic clove, crushed

1/4 cup sunflower oil

1/4 cup olive oil

juice half a lemon

zest 1/4 lemon, finely grated

2 tsp Dijon mustard.

some salt and pepper

For the salad:

400g ready cooked prawns

1 packet sugar snap peas

1 packet green beans

2 tomatoes, de-seeded and diced

1 head of little gem lettuce, leaves separated, washed, dried and torn in half

1 small packet of ready to use leaves.

Crusty bread to mop with.

To make the dressing:

In a pan, put the oil, the herbs, the lemon zest and garlic on a low heat until the garlic starts to bubble then immediately take off the heat and leave to cool (this is to make the garlic slightly less harsh).

In a big bowl, mix the mustard and lemon juice then whisk in the cooled oil.

Assembling the salad:

In a pan of boiling water, add the beans and sugar snap peas and bring to the boil for 2 minutes. Drain them and immediately plunge them in cold water to stop the cooking. Or put the drained beans and sugar-snaps back in the pan, with a sieve over and run cold water over the pan until the water overflows and goes cold. Drain again and dry.

Add the prawns, peas and beans and tomatoes to the dressing and toss. 

Add the lettuce and toss just before serving.

Ingredients

(Serves 2)

200g fresh spaghetti/linguine

200ml creme fraiche

a large handful of frozen peas

200g smoked salmon

Some black pepper

a large handful of parsley, chopped

In a large pan of boiling water, boil the pasta and peas together for 2 minutes.

Meanwhile, slowly heat the creme fraiche and smoked salmon in another pan big enough to be able to mix the pasta and peas in once boiled. The smoked salmon will turn the colour of cooked un-smoked salmon 

Drain the pasta and peas, but keep back a little of the cooking water.

Add the pasta and peas to the heated creme fraiche. Should it start to stick, loosen with a little of the cooking water.

Homemade Jam

This may sound a little ungrateful (and very bitter as I have never been able to make jam) but when someone comes to stay or for lunch and they bring a jar of homemade jam part of me wants to cough "show off" whilst thanking them hugely. Just kidding, although I will say, the best jams in my opinion end in berry, so what on earth am I going to do with a jar of Damson jam.

HOWEVER, when someone comes to lunch and produces a jar of honey, saying, "This is from my bees" -well they can be as smug as they like.

Second Hand Presents

This might just be a Scottish trait, but there are some Presents that have a slight second hand air to them. This may be the fact that your guests have forgotten to change the card on the box of chocolates. Or maybe it is that you remember giving it to them a year before when you went to stay - cringe. I bet some people have some presents sitting in their house that have been in several of their friend's cupboards before theirs. Really, what we should do is put a stop to it, not just to save embarrassment but that sooner or later they will come back to you.

Last September, Granny gave us a jar of Edible Rose Petals. We thought, they must have been given to her by someone else. Until I went to Fortnum and Masons, and there sitting in a stand signed 'foodie presents' were the very same Rose Petals. Well if they are good enough for Fortnum's.

Really Good Presents

This Easter, our house was full of people. We got a lot of great presents, but two were pretty special. One was from my Uncle, and one from a friend of the family - Mags. Think of this as a public thank you letter, Mags brought us some amazing cheese from Paxton and Whitfield that she had picked herself. Such a cracking present - there were actually fights over who had eaten the most.

Ingredients (in this one)

(serves 4 large portions)

8 eggs, beaten

handful of grated cheddar or crumbled goats cheese

2 onions, sliced

2 cloves garlic, crushed

handful of fresh thyme leaves

4 tomatoes quartered and roasted in a preheated oven at 180 degrees Celcius for twenty minutes

1 carrot, grated

a handful of fine beans, chopped

some tender-stem broccoli, chopped

Some olive oil

Some black pepper

In a non stick frying pan, fry the onions, garlic and thyme in the olive oil 'til they are translucent, then add all the vegetables. 

Preheat the grill on a medium heat.

Meanwhile, beat the cheese and some black pepper into the eggs. Make sure all the vegetables are evenly spread over the pan then pour over the eggs and cheese.

Keep on the stove for about 5 minutes, then put the whole pan under the grill until the tops starts to go golden brown and the frittata is cooked through.

Take a large plate and put it upside down on top of the pan, flip the plate and pan over so that the frittata it now bottom up and free of the pan.

Ingredients

2 big plum/beef tomatoes per person

2 small eggs per person

About a tsp salted butter per tomato

Some black pepper

Preheat the oven to gas mark 6/200 degrees Celsius/180 fan.

Carefully cut the top off the tomatoes, (if using plum, cut a tiny bit off the bottom so that they are able to stand). Remember that the top should be big enough so that a yolk can fit through it. Using a teaspoon or small knife, take the seeds and flesh out of the tomato so that they are hollow. Put a bit of butter into each tomato and into a roasting dish and roast for about 10 minutes, or until the butter has melted and the tomatoes have started to soften.

Crack an egg into a ramekin, pour the egg into one tomato at a time. Repeat for all the eggs and the tomatoes.

Grind some black pepper over the tomatoes.

Roast for about 8 minutes for a soft yolk.

Ingredients

(for about 12 breakfasts)

4 cups jumbo oats

2 cups oat and bran mix (can buy it at the supermarket)

1/2 cup grape nuts

1/2 brown sugar

1 cup mixed chopped nuts

2 cups mixed seeds (sunflower, pumpkin, sesame, hemp, linseed)

3/4 cups sunflower oil

1/2 cup water

1 tsp of salt

tsp vanilla extract

Some dried fruit, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven 180 degrees Celsius/gas mark 4

Mix together all the ingredients in a bowl.

Spread the granola on some baking sheets and bake until lightly golden. Make sure you turn it with a spoon every 15 minutes, and swap the sheets around in the oven so it bakes evenly.

Leave to cool before adding the optional dried fruit and storing in an air tight container.

Should keep for months.*

*We have never actually tested this because it usually gets picked at and finished after about a week - It is really good.

Ingredients

(served 2)

75g orzo per person

10g dried Porcini mushrooms

about 2 pints boiling water

1 onion, chopped

some butter

some olive oil

about 4 chestnut mushrooms, chopped

2 sticks celery, diced 

handful frozen peas

pinch of thyme leaves

large glass white wine

Parmesan and black pepper (to serve)

In a boil, soak the Porcini mushrooms in the boiling water for ten minutes. Keeping the water, fish out the mushrooms, chop half and keep the other half whole.

In a pan fry the onion in some butter and olive oil. Once translucent, add the thyme leaves, chestnut mushrooms, the chopped Porcini mushrooms and celery and cook for about five minutes.

Turn down the stove and add the orzo, coating it in the mixture. Pour in some of the wine, stirring whilst you do. Once it has been absorbed add some more. Repeat this until the wine is finished, then move onto the porcini water and do the same.

Add the peas with the last addition of water.

The risotto is ready when the Orzo is cooked through and the liquid has been absorbed.

Ingredients

(serves 5-6)

1 Butternut squash, peeled, deseeded and cut into chunks

1 tsp ground mixed spice

1 large onion, chopped

2 carrots, peeled and diced quite finely

1 tbsp thai red curry paste

1 tsp fresh ginger, chopped

1 tsp fresh lemongrass paste

the seeds only of 3 cardomen pods

2 kaffir lime leaves

Some sunflower oil

A kettle of boiling water

salt

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius/gas mark 4

In a roasting tin, mix the butternut squash with the mixed spice and some sunflower oil. Roast for about an hour, turning after 30 minutes.

In a large pan, fry some onions and add the curry paste, lemon grass, ginger, cardoman seeds and lime leaves. Loosen with water when it begins to stick.

Once onion is translucent, add the butternut squash, and raw carrots and just cover with the boiling water. Simmer for 10 minutes. 

Turn off the heat, remove the lime leaves and blend with a handheld blender, (or in a blender). It may be too thick, so thin with some more of the boiling water until it is the consistency of paint. (I know people say that and it sounds silly, but it is actually supposed to be this consistency)

At this point, and only once it is blended, add salt to taste. 

Organ Shaped Potatoes

Last night I found this heart shaped one and showed my parents.

My father responded, "yes, but have you seen my potato that looks like a kidney?"

"No", I replied. Thinking, that's not that exciting, surely a lot of potatoes have a slight kidney shape to them.

He showed me..

(the fact that it is shrivelled means he has been keeping it for a while, maybe I should tell him to put it in the freezer)

"I'm going to give it to Charles," he said.

Charles is our friend who has just had a kidney removed.

Ingredients

(serves 6)

1 sheet ready rolled puff pastry

3 eggs, beaten

3 large cooking apples, peeled

The juice 1/2 lemon

About 3 tablespoons light brown Muscovado sugar

1 tablespoon demerara sugar

handful of fresh blueberries

1 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius / gas mark 4

Roll out the pastry thinly and place on a greaseproof paper lined baking tray.

Grate the apples around the core into a bowl, mix in the lemon juice, 2 tablespoons of the sugar and 3/4 of the beaten eggs and mix.

Place the apple mixture into the middle of the pastry , and sprinkle over the rest of the sugar (and cinnamon if adding).

Brush the sides of the pastry with the remaining egg.

Cook in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until the sides of the tart have puffed and turned golden.